It's an Osprey

How About That View!

Replacing some windows.  This was in April.

HEAT YAY!!!!!

Hear in Alaska, heat is so important to a comfortable retirement. I installed a wood stove right off the bat and we will use that as much as we can but I really wanted a toyo heater for the house so I could keep the place warmer at night when the temps drop to -30 to -50  The toyo runs on heating oil and here in north pole, it is actually cheaper to buy fuel [about 2.30 a gallon right now] then to buy firewood and I have not had the time to go cut the wood myself.
So a brand new toyo runs about 2200.00 for the big model that we have. There is a unit called Monitor stoves but the company went out of business. However, there are plenty of parts still on the market and all of the service companies around here work on them. we were able to find a brand new Monitor still in the box for 800.00  we are Happy. so we took it up to the cabin and installed it. Wow, it works fantastic when the house is cold the wood takes so long to warm up but the heater works really fast
I was able to talk a guy down on a used tank. Most tanks around here are about 300.00 for 300 gallon used.. The razman got one for 125.00

The Ravenous Roof

I wasn't the only one on Mr. Toads Wild Ride.  Raz had a run in with the roof.  It tried to eat him for lunch.  He bruised his ribs up pretty good and his back was all scraped up.  He couldn't move much without a lot of pain.  This is after he sprained his ankle a couple weeks before.

Then a couple weeks later he got real sick with a kidney stone and massive kidney infection.  He ended up needing emergency surgery and we had to go to Anchorage for that because the only Urologist in Fairbanks was off fishing somewhere.  (That's just how it is up here).  The docs told us he was nearly septic by the time we arrived and they rushed him into surgery at midnight.  At the ER in Fairbanks they had pumped him full of several rounds of high powered antibiotics. In Anchorage they removed the stone, put a stent in him that went from his kidney to his bladder and pushed more aggressive antibiotics.  When they biopsied the stone they discovered the infection was not due to the stone but that the stone was due to the infected kidney which had been sick for some time.  They also found that the stone was the rarest kind and required a whole different regimen of meds.  

Now, anyone who knows Raz knows he is a big grump when it comes to him being the patient.    He has a notorious history of being crabby and verbally .... Let's say 'colorful' with the medical staff.  So, on the 7 hour drive down there I had to get up to him and give him the what for.  I am very proud to say what a total gentleman he was the whole time in the hospital.  He didn't cuss anyone, he didn't throw his food tray, he took his meds, he didn't rip out his IV.  He was a good patient  and that is saying a lot considering he had a long tube and a string up his Willie, annnnnd in spite of the fact that every nurse on the floor came in to look at it during the shift.  He finally told the nurses they couldn't look at it anymore.  He told them they had their fun, they got to whitess his magnificence and now they would all have to go home and cry because he wasn't going to show it off anymore.  Lololol.  It was great!  He was great.  For being in so much pain and being poked and prodded so much he did really great.  He healed up super fast without any complications and was actually better than ever afterward.

 We are getting older for sure but as our friend Fred said, "you've still got one more homestead in you".  Dispite our mishaps and bruises we are still young in our spirits and are loving life and this awesome adventure we have chosen for ourselves.  Thank you all for the prayers and well wishes you sent our way.

More on the build. phase two

So this phase is the master bedroom and the QUEENS work room that I am not allowed in after the build is done. LOL  but as you can see. we lined the floor with black plastic stapled in each row by lorie. then the insulation get put in and the deck put down  we are still using the osb because I bought a ton of it at a great price. Shaine and Katy lent us some scaffolding which really was a big help because Chad and Lorie were out of the picture at the time

the master bedroom walls went up first

and then the QUEENS work roomSo despite all the problems we had over the summer, we managed to get in build enclosed and wrapped and tar paper on the roof and nailed down. Check out the end pics

The Great Gray

So you just have to know how majestic the Great Gray Owl is. We have one on our property. The very first time we went to the cabin to check it out we noticed huge piles of bird poop on the deck. After taking to the guy that read the meter or the power, we learned that we had an owl that would hang out in the open rafters of the porch. I decided to close the rafters because when he would launch, it was weakening the rafter joints. But that wasn't the end of  HOOT!!!!! That Is what we named him.

So Lorie was sitting on the couch the last trip that we made for the year and just before it got to dark, there was HOOT . We watched him for a minute and then he launched and oh my gosh' BEAUTIFUL Now one of the reasons we are a little concerned is that Chena is about the size of a rabbit and would not be to much of a match for HOOT . She has been scared by him before and knows when he is around. but they are beautiful to see and watch.  Sorry. I have not been able to get a pic yet but google one when you have time. I think I read that they are the biggest owl in the family.