BUGS!!

Now that I have Gabe and my camera back, I will take pictures this weekend of the birds, bugs and everything else spring in Alaska.  It's been too hard for me to go outside because of the mosquitoes.  They are as BIG AS MAYFLIES with green eyes that just stare at you saying "Come to me!"  They are AWFUL.  We heard mosquitoes were bad when we moved up here but these are ridiculous.  We bought something called the mosquito magnet to help with the problem.  It's been hooked up since Monday night and it is awesome!!  The bugs it catches has to be in the hundreds.

I'll take pics.  I promise.  Hope you have had a good week!!

This is to Heather.  There are spiders in Alaska so I will save one for you when you get here!!

WARM weather is upon us!!!!

Yesterday the temp almost hit 60 degrees and I was outside with a short sleeve t-shirt on, at least while the sun was shinning!!  It was a beautiful day.  The sun came up before 6 am.  The sky had dark blue-gray clouds that looked like rain.  I was going to go outside and play in the rain.  It's been so long since I have seen rain!  Then the clouds left and the sun was shinning brightly. 

I went to the Fairbanks Outdoor Expo.  All it really had were fishing charters and ATVs for sale.  Really wish I could have bought an ATV.  We could use it all year round.  I did buy habenero pickled garlic.  I know it sounds crazy but it is crazy GOOD!!  Haha!!   There were candy apples and fudge too but I wanted savory.  I can't wait to cook with it when Gabe is home.

We have no more snow on our roof.  It has all melted.  YEA!!!!  Now if only the huge ice puddles left by the melting roof snow would melt.  I really think I might get stuck going to work.  The road we live on is dirt.  No gravel!!!  My little Subaru struggles to make it through one part of the road.  I'll try and take pictures tomorrow when I go to work.  I guess I need to drive Gabe's truck and use the 4WD but I like the Subaru better.  

Hope you all had a good weekend!!  I will try and take pictures and post them tomorrow!!

Snow, snow go away!!

SNOW!!!!!

I'm just a little tired of the snow.  It snowed twice today, once this morning and once tonight.  After it snowed this morning it melted.  That's nice but it was SNOWING while it was melting.  My dogs really don't like to be outside when it's snowing and I don't either.  I don't wear enough clothes.  It's April.  I shouldn't have to wear long underwear.  It's not normal. 

One good thing about the snow was it hid all the trash that is piled up on the side of the road.  Since it started to melt, I have see two wrecked cars that I never knew were on the side of the road because they were covered with snow.  The snow is pretty but I need to see GREEN!!!!! 

When Gabe gets back I think we will go fishing.  Just so I can pretend I am back in Mississippi fishing for catfish.  That should be fun.  I will be out of the house and outside.  That's what I miss the most about the South.  Being able to go outside and play most of the year without freezing my tail off.

Gabe has the camera in DC so I will try to take some pics with my phone.

Hope you have a good week!!

SNow in April?!?!?!?

The Breakup is hard to do.  It has been SNOWING for the past two days!!!!  Not Happy!!  The snow now covers the ice patches in the yard and on the road which makes walking Buster so hard to do.  I have to walk him for the next three weeks because Gabe is in DC.  I can’t go to the dog park because the snow and ice melted and it is one big water puddle full of dog mess.  It is nasty.  The other day I walked on post with some friends.   It was really nice because we walked by the river and got to see that even in Alaska the Canadian Geese are around.  That reminds me of home. 

Not much going on this week other than organizing our house.  The downstairs is almost complete and to the point where we can start living down there.  Gabe is happy because he has his pool table set up and he is going to get a wet bar.  When I’m pregnant he puts in a wet bar!!  Why couldn’t he do this in Texas?  We are going to have BBQ’s this summer and I can’t wait!!  We can play inside and not have to deal with all the mosquitoes.  Supposedly they are worse here than they are in MS.  We’ll just wait and see. I didn’t know they could get worse!

Sorry I am rambling.  The daylight now is insane.  The sun rises before 6 and sets after 9!!!  It is so hard to unwind and go to bed when it is light outside at 9PM!!!!!  The good thing is when I have to take the dogs out to go to the bathroom it is always light!  This way I am not scared of a moose charging me in the darkness.  

Gabe has the camera in DC so I am trying to take pics with my phone.  The first pics are of the melting and the other ones are of the snow the past two days.  this is our front yard from across the road that is still frozen! 

Hope you all are enjoying your warm weather and your POLLEN!!  HAHA

 This is our front yard.  Once again it is completely covered in SNOW!!

Spring is coming!!!!!  The temperatures are above freezing, which feels WARM!!!  I can go outside with just a jacket and be comfortable.  It’s crazy how fast we have adjusted to the weather.  In Alaska, spring is called The Breakup.  The ice on the rivers and lakes are breaking up and disappearing.  The snow on our roof and in our yard is melting.  The only bad thing about it is the roads and driveways are now sheets of slippery ice.  Most main roads have been scraped clean but not the side roads where we live.  While walking the dog yesterday I slipped and fell before I could even try to stop myself.  (The little one and I are fineJ)  I had even bought new shoes so I wouldn’t fall.  Guess I need a new pair!

This weekend Gabe decided to clean our front yard.  Now that the snow is melting, you can see all the dog poop, ours and the neighbors, that has frozen and not disappeared.  To accomplish this, Gabe got out his old golf clubs and decided to practice his swing.  It was pretty funny.  When he would hit a pile of poop it would fly into the woods and make a thud sound if it hit a tree.  These piles were frozen solid!!  He had to stop after about 10 minutes because there was so much and the ground was so frozen it was hurting his wrist.  The shovel became his next weapon against the poop.  He would scoop up a pile and fling it into the woods.  It took him a while to clean the yard.  We even had to scoop up the YELLOW snow!!  Now our yard is clean.  YAY!!!

I’ll try to take pictures of the breakup for you!  Hope you have a good week!!

Ice Carving!!

WORLD ICE CARVING CHAMPIONSHIPS!!!!

This place is incredible.  It is about 5 acres of ice sculptures and ice playgrounds and ice slides!  I’m amazed at how cold it really is up here when these sculptures can last outside for over a month!!  Yes over a month.  Just think about that.  It has been below freezing for that long and above freezing for only a few days this weekend.  Some of the sculptures had fallen because the sun was shining directly on them.

The carving started in February and lasts until the sculptures fall apart and melts.  The detail these artist put into their sculptures is amazing.   You could see the scales on the fish and the expressions on the people’s faces.  We walked around awe struck that people could take a few blocks of ice and turn them into art.  I mean GREAT ART!!    People in Fairbanks use ice sculptures for yard decorations instead of trees and shrubs.  It’s crazy up here.

I had on so many clothes that I actually was too warm.  They had an ice maze.  This ice maze was like the corn mazes we have in the South.  I had a hard time going through it because I kept sliding and there was nothing but blocks of ice to grab.  It took a long time to go through it because I had to walk so slowly.  Gabe got to go on the really long slides while I had to go on the kiddy slides.  Even they were fast.  It was hard to stop.  

Only here where it is so cold can you have something like this where ice can sit out for a month without melting.  CRAZY AND COLD!!!

Have a good week!

Ice Fishing!!

About a month ago, we had the chance to go ice fishing with Gabe’s Company. It wasn’t the true Alaskan ice fishing adventure I expected. We were told all we had to bring was bait and ourselves, so we did. The Army seems to always forget to tell you everything. When we got there, there were no poles for us to use and all the holes were taken. Regardless, we had a good time.


In order to get to the cabins where we were going to fish we had to drive to the middle of a frozen lake. Let me tell you, it was scary to see the huge cracks in the ice. I’m glad Gabe was driving because I would nothave done it. Our GPS had our little car on the screen driving in the lake. We thought it was funny so we took a picture.

When we got to the cabins, we were surprised how small they looked on the outside but how big they were on the inside. They were little wood cabins built on the ice with a small wood stove inside for warmth. The stove was set up off the ice to keep itfrom melting the ice. There were four holes drilled in the ice and four chairs beside them. The holes were about FIVE FEET DEEP!!!! Yes FIVE FEET DEEP!!!! This lake was solid. We were not going to break the ice by driving on it or buring wood in the stove.

One thing that kept me from having a great time was the fact Buddy was with us. Since he is so long and small I kept worring that if his back or front end slipped in the hole, he would go all the way down. I was so busy watching him I couldn’t even fish with the poles we borrowed. He stayed in the cabin with us because it was warmer. Buster just ran around outside on the lake. It was crazy watching him run knowing what was under the ice.

We didn’t catch any fish and no one else did except one person by 3:00 in the afternoon. The one fish that was caught was too small to keep and had to be thrown back. Next winter I think we will get reports on the lakes and see if any of the fish are moving and biting. They did that this time and the oxygen levels were low and none of the fish were moving.

We did have a good time hanging out with people in his Company and spending time outside. That was the fun part. Being in the middle of a frozen lake is something you might never get to experience in Mississippi. I remember the pond in my backyard freezing and playing on it, but that was about 20 years ago. I wonder if it will happen again?

We only took a few pictures because we are awful at remembering to take them. I’m trying to get better at taking pictures when we are out on adventures. Anyway it’s now my bedtime so I hope you all have a good weekend!