New Toys

I got the coolest toy a few days ago.  I'm really having fun playing with it.  It's a little speaker that I can hook up to my MP3 Player.  It's surprizing loud and sound pretty good.  Much better than any of the computer speakers I've used.  And it's really cute :-)  I added my chapstick just to show the size.  It's pretty tiny.

Ice Luminaries Part 2

Homer 'finally' got some cold weather. Close to zero at night, which is plenty cold for me. So I got a couple of ice luminaries made in time for my Christmas party. In fact, one got ignored a bit too long and froze solid, but it still looked nice in-between the other two :-)

Storage Shelves, Part 1

I got my first set of storage shelves built and painted. I had the lumber cut at SBS, so all I had to do was screw it all together and then to the wall.

I almost painted the wood frames bright green, but then decided to use up some of the trip paint left over from building.

They're pretty sturdy and should work out just fine. I still have one more closet to do, I'll try to get it done the next time I'm at home.

Ice Luminaries

Last week when I got home I decided to try to create a couple of ice luminaries. It's fairly simple. Fill a balloon full of water and put it in a bowl. Set the bowl outside and check it after 24 hours.

The first time the ice wasn't quite thick enough so I set it out again for another 12 hours.

Then I brought it in, peeled off the balloon and chipped/melted holes in the top & bottom so the candle could be inserted and have a chimney.

Unfortunately, the warm weather the past couple of days has melted most of it. Maybe it will be colder the next time I'm home and I can try again.

First snow of winter pics

Here are a couple of winter pics. I took the first one in Homer on the 26th. It was the first real measurable snowfall that I saw. Though it warmed up later that afternoon and most of it melted away.

And then this one I just took out my office window. It's been snowing up here for 5 or 6 weeks, but with the wind blowing today, and the sun trying to break through the clouds, it really looks like winter now.

Guest Room Table

I've been messing around with this project for a couple of weeks, but now it's finally finished. Patty found this little table at a garage sale earlier this summer. So last time I was home I took it apart and sanded it. Boy was that a mess, and it took me most of the day. But the painting went a pretty well. I like how it looks in the guest bedroom. Let me know what you think...

Roof Overhang

One of the design & engineering issues was the overhang of my shed style roof. As I recall there were several calls to the engineer about it, and we needed special roof trusses. I get a lot of wind up here and no one wanted my roof to peel away.

However, it needed to extend out over the windows enough to block the sun in the summer time so that my house doesn't overheat. And this summer it worked great. On the few sunny days we had, the window seat area would be in full sun, but most of the living room was in the shade.

Now that we're deep into fall, the angle of the sun has dropped below the overhang. I'm getting full sunlight all the way into the back of the kitchen. Even a little sunshine will heat the house up 6 or 8 degrees. And the dark floor absorbs the heat and then radiates it out once it gets dark. Which helps keep my heating bill down.

BUT, it also illuminates every tiny bit of dust :-)

Winter Lights

Last year this time I put up strings of white icicle lights along the front of the house. I really like to have them on in the evenings when it's so dark. So this year I decided to try some of the new LED lights.

The LED's give off much less light, and the white is a blue white, instead of a yellow white (and the moon is up over the house, but it's not showing through the fog very well).

And then I decided to add this string of Christmas stars. I'm not sure I like them as well as the old style white icicle lights. But I'll try them this winter and see how it goes. At least I got them up before it was too cold. It wasn't bad out side this afternoon hanging them.

Fuel Stop

We had a lunch time visitor, just long enough to refuel. I wonder why he was flying around up here, especially in today yucky weather. He came in and parked next to the regularly scheduled ERA flight from FAI.

Step 1, Sanding

I decided I'd go a head and start the work on the table for the lamp in the guest room. It's been sitting in the closet for a couple of months. So I went a head and started sanding off the old finish so I can paint it.

What a total pain. Those legs too hours to sand down.

And wow was it a mess. Sawdust all over the living room and kitchen. But it's done, and the saw dust is cleaned up. Enough for today.

Fall Pics

Fall is definitely here. All the colors have turned and it's COLD. Sunny though which has been nice since it was cloudy and rainy all summer.

Saturday I went with Darlene when she took Izzy for a walk. We went up the hill behind our houses to the next road. What a view from up on top. The 2 empty lots we walked up are still for sale :-).

And then yesterday we had BBQ over at Darlene's. Sat outside on the deck for a while, but it finally got too cold so we moved inside to eat.

Fairbanks Trip, Part Three

OK, so Fairbanks was a month ago and I should have posted these pics a while back. But, at least I'm getting caught up :-)

When I left Fairbanks I stopped at one of the first scenic overlooks and took a few pictures of the Willow Creek Fire. It's been burning all summer.

Fairbanks Trip, Part Two

Livengood mining pictures...

Time to burn...

Well, I cut all these branches off the spruce trees back in June. Finally had a few dry days and it's supposed to rain tomorrow. So, it was time to get them burned. Plus I had a couple of piles of cut down alder that needed to be burned too.

Patty's propane torch made getting the fire started really easy.

I spent a couple of hours hauling wood over to the fire, but kept it pretty small. Didn't need to start the neighborhood on fire. Marge & Darlene both helped which was great.

Finally it got down to coals. Carol came by and we had a glass of wine & visited for a while. And Paul & Dylan stopped by when they finished Darlene's cable rail on her deck. All & all it was a great evening. I need to put a fire pit in the back yard next summer once I get the yard going.

This is Darlene & Izzy from next door.

Fairbanks Trip, Part One

I haven't been up to Fairbanks to visit in way too long. I'm guessing the last time was in 2000 or maybe 2001. Anyway, I finally braved the long drive and spent last weekend in Fairbanks. Stayed with Gwyn. Glenda was working days we didn't get much chance to visit. But we did go out for dinner on Sat night and chat for a couple of hours.

On Sunday afternoon we went up to Livengood with Richard. He is going to do some gold mining on his property and wanted to drop off his camp trailer. It was really a pretty drive. Only about 1.5 hour drive out of Fairbanks.

While we were walking around I found an old woodpecker nest. It was only about 5 feet off the ground. Kind of fun to look into.

Foggy Saturday Morning

Fall is definitely here. Look at the yellow brown color of the tundra. I took this early on Saturday morning. It was very clear except for a little ground fog out on the other side of the airport. You can just see the top of the gravel stockpile protruding up over the fog. Usually it's the other way, if the ceiling lets you see the gravel stockpile then the jet can land.

N190PE

It's been a pretty quiet week for visiting planes. This time of the summer, we usually have a lot of them. There was a pretty little Gulfstream 3 that came in a few days ago, but I didn't get a picture.



Here is one that landed at lunch time. I googled it, it belongs to the Dept. of Interior. Someone from Washington DC must be out on a tour. I came in from Galena, but I'm not sure where it was headed.

Platform Beds Finished

I finally got the 2 platform beds finished. They're pretty sturdy and colorful, so I'm happy with my first wood working project. Although the entire project became much more complicated than I originally planned.

Once I had the back guest room emptied out, I decided to repair a crack and repaint the walls. They'd really been scuffed up when the concrete floors were poured. Linda and Sally were here on Sat & Sun. Sat afternoon they helped me repaint the back bedroom. Since they both know what they're doing, it went really fast. And it came out great. So the back guest room looks clean and new.

Here is Sally taping and Linda getting the paint ready.

The master painter :-).

Then we put the pieces together. I had a little trouble and broke a drill bit, but they went together pretty quickly. Though once they were together I decided I needed to paint the edges of the plywood platforms. I didn't like the white showing under the mattress when it was put on the bed. So the new paint had to dry for a couple of days.

Tonight Valda helped me move the mattresses, then I made up the beds. I really like how they look.

Now I just need to sand and paint the nightstand table so it can replace the 2 blue totes I'm currenly using. It's currently in pieces in the living room. One step at a time :-).