Christmas Snow

Two feet of snow on the deck so the table looks like a mushroom.


The last picture of the icicles on the house is small but today they are over 3 feet long, wow.


Merry White Christmas

I thought you should see our new Blaze King wood stove. Paul took out the old drafty frieplace and installed cement board and tile. We don't have the trim around the edges yet but we sure have a warm fire.

And, just in the nick-of-time, we have about 18 inches of snow in our back yard. There used to be a ditch near the street but it's full of snow. It looks like we're having our White Christmas after all.

Today at sunset we had a little color after the snow storm and I thought the icicles were especially decorative.

What a nice touch to a beautiful winter day. I'm loving Alaska and so far, so good. No winter depression and no despair over the cold and snow. I still get out everyday that I want but I DO so enjoy staying home and watching the snow.

We pray that your Christmas is safe and shared with family and friends. We also hope you'll remember the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ and share his good message.

With love from Paul and Karen

What a difference a month makes

This was the view on our way out of Alaska the end of September














This was the view on the way back home the end of October.

The bedroom closet remodel

(The head of the bed is on the west wall)

When we bought the house in Homer we noticed that there wasn't room for a queen bed in the master bedroom. With the closet situated on the west wall the room was only big enough for a double bed. Well, anyone that knows Paul and I, knows that there is NO WAY the two of us will fit in a double bed and get any sleep. Soooooooo, while we were driving to Calif and Nevada, we had a contractor come in and move the closet to the north wall.

VOILA!!! We how have room for a queen bed and 2 night stands, WHEW!!!

We were so pleased with the work because no one can tell it isn't original.

Homer sunsets are spectacular

I just wanted to give you a few sunsets to compare. These pictures just don't do it justice but It's the best I can do for you since you can't be here to see them in person.

Summer vs Fall in Homer

Here you can see what fall has done to our yard. We are waiting to see what winter will bring.
We are safe and warm, the house is well insulated. We have great views from the back of the house toward the mountains and glaciers to the south.

spring and fall at the pad

You can see the water tank in the background. It's pretty and green now.

Here you can see what fall has done. We have a little snow for the moment and no green or flowers.

I did mention Paul's new truck. Here's a picture before we drove it through the mud and snow. It was shiny and clean, now it looks like everybodyelse's dirty truck in Alaska, Ha, Ha

A little snow story

Here are a couple snow stories for you. Above you can see some of the damage done to our tow bar attached to the under-belly of the RAV4. We hit a sudden deep frost heave on the highway in the Yukon that it broke the welds on the tow plate. We had to 'gently' tow the car, with Paul driving it, 15 miles in the dark to the motel. Then we had to detatch it and drive the truck and car separately to Homer (600 miles)

Here you can barely see a moose in my back yard before sunrise. You can see knick-knacks inside the windowsill. She was lying there being covered with snow and I hardly saw her lying on the ground. She stood up, looked around for a little while and finally wandered off behind the trees in the background. You gotta be careful wandering around outside in Alaska.

The lost 2+ weeks

Yes that's LOST not Last. We have been flying so fast the last 5 weeks since we left Alaska that I haven't had time to blog, Sorry.
We have made such record time from Las Vegas and Hurricane to Alaska that I'm having Jet-lag. We made it over the border into Canada (at Lethbridge, south of Calgary) late Friday night. By 8pm Monday we exited Canada and arrived in our home state of Alaska (that's 1850 miles), Hooray!!!

The weather has been mostly dry and the last 500 miles has been sunny. It's was below zero degrees for a little distance and it got up to 36 above once today. There were quite a few critters on the road at night (moose, elk, deer, bison) but today we only saw a momma moose and her twins. OOOOH, yesterday I saw a gi-normous gray owl (looked like a 5 foot wing span). He had just swooped down and caught something and was winging his way back up into the trees. WOW, right next to the road, what a sight.

Well, if the weather holds we will be in Anchorage Tuesday to buy studded tires and a new battery for the car (it's about 5 years old and getting tired) then on to Homer

I'll post pictures when I unpack enough to find my USB cable from the camera to the computer, sorry.

The furniture is on the move

well, as you can see, we got the container full of our furniture picked up and headed towards Homer, Alaska.














It was a real trick to get the truck and crane up my dad's driveway.
The container will arrive in Anchorage about Monday, Oct. 22nd. It's going to beat us by more than a week.

















We should be droping off the motorhome in Costa Mesa that same day before starting out drive thru Utah and Canada.

The trip from Border City,Ak to Paradise, CA in 5 days

This is one of the things that slows the trip down.


The views were different this time of year. In the spring everything is green but in the fall you can get the distinction between evergreens and deciduous trees. It was an ever changing scenery.









This is also a common sight on the road from Alaska.
These two hunters got their 2 caribou.

Home Sweet Homer

This is it, our new home in Homer, Alaska.













It's right in town and it's 2 bedrooms 2 baths. TINY lot but tons of flowers and nice neighborhood.
Come on up and see us sometime!

Clouds or snow?

This was fun to look at. We couldn't tell where the clouds ended and the glaciers began.

38650 Sarah St., Homer, Alaska 99603

Here is our address sign for our driveway.

I entered it in the fair but an error kept it from being judged.

It is the first picture I have ever painted, it's kind of an impressionistic view of the Kachemak Bay from our lot.

The Cabin has a new Driveway

Paul has worked hard to clear out the dead trees and make a DRY driveway up to the cabin. It's a long way, over 200 feet. He's also made a parking spot in front of the door and alongside.

Flower photographers

We stopped along the highway to take a picture of several people photographing the field of fireweed. As we drove away we saw a huge pile of dead pine trees with a single fireweed plant growing near the top, pretty unusual.

Then I just couldn't resist these two poppies in our yard.

Blue Ribbons at the Fair

Lavender seamless pullover sweater.












Baby Afghan










Crocheted baby shoes and free standing embroidery lace bowl. (That purple ribbon is best of class, all entries by ages 19 t0 59)

Views from our home in Homer

Blazing sunset

Pink Poppy












little blue flowers













pink cluster of flowers










What more could you want? The wild flowers around our lot are varied and colorful.