Beautiful sunset

We had such a beautiful and intriguing sunset tonight, I had to share them with you. If you look closely, you can see a guy on a bicycle.

COLD NOVEMBER 2011

Here it is, only November...and a very COLD November at that. We have had about 1 1/2 weeks of zero or below. I've already got "cabin fever" When it's so cold we don't get out much. It takes me longer to get all my hats, gloves, boots, long johns, scarves and Angel's booties on-then it does for our walk. We did brave it on Nov. 18th, for about 15 minutes though. That was all we could handle. I did not succeed getting and keeping Angel's booties on for very long. :)
So you wonder what I do when it's so cold. Me too...sometimes I don't do very much, just watch a movie with Tom or something. I also love to bake to warm up the house the little and make it smell soooo good, mainly on the weekends. You know comfort foods go a long ways. It adds to the waiste line more during the winter, too.

More Alaskan Beauty

Just had to share a little more beauty of Alaska. I hope you can catch the rays of sun shining through the clouds. It was beautiful.

What is it?

Can you guess what this is? I know what it looks like, but...

Stitches of LOVE

My good friend, Lisa, who is part of our adopted family up here, crocheted this afghan for me. I absolutely LOVE IT! It is exactly my favorite colors. She worked on it off and on for quit a while. I am going to really enjoy it!! THANK YOU LISA!

More fun sister time

My youngest sister Glenda is so intrigued by the tide change, that we went down to the dock and watched the water come back in a couple times. It is amazing how FAST the tide changes. It was a beautiful fall day here in Alaska. Vaughn came in town and hung with us for a while also. It was GREAT to have them all here.

Sister time

Two of my sisters came to Alaska to visit, just for a long weekend. It was sooo nice to have them here and to sit and talk. Wanda, my oldest sister, on the far left--is retired, lives in Southern Colorado and is enjoying traveling whenever she can. Then there is Glenda, my silly youngest sister. She is such a joke ster, is there is such a word. We had such a great time.

Karl's knive

When we found out Karl was being promoted to Chief Petty Office--we were very proud and excited for him! Tom had this knife that his dad had given him. He had it engraved for Karl --They were both Chief Petty Officers--dad (grandpa Nogle in 1944) and Karl 2011. I thought that was a pretty cool idea for Tom to give this up and share with his nephew. Dad Nogle had scratched his name on the knife handle, it's kind of hard to see, but it's there.

Time goes on

Pretty cool picture of my favorite lake, Cheney Lake

My goodness, it's been over a month since I've posted anything-again.!

Laurie--You inspired me again to share some of what's been going on, since I do not very often on fb either. I'm amazed at some of the comments on fb, and I don't figure very many people want to know what I'm up to. If they really care and want to know, they know how to reach me other than fb. --I don't have any small children or grand children to brag on, so...I need to find other things.

So....since this is kind of a place where I can share a little part of our life here in Alaska.

One of the ways I know to do that is through pictures of our beautiful land up here.

I'm not really in the mood to write much, so this wll be a short post

I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of 2 of my sisters this Thurs-just for the weekend. Tom is taking Thurs. Fri. and Monday off. I'm getting off early Thurs. Off on Fri. and they leave @ Midnight next Sunday night. I'll have more to share after that. Their time here will be to short, but...I'll take what we can get.

Enjoy Gods beauty

Our good friends Glenn & Lisa were in town, so we took a drive to enjoy the beautiful sun shine! We have not had very many days like this for a while, so it was delightful to get out and enjoy.

It is very rarely that we have clear days and Mt. McKinley or Denali (the one on the right) is clear. MOST of the time it has clouds on at least part of it. We were able to enjoy Gods beauty in it's fullest today.

Lisa, Glenn and Tom overlooking the inlet and downtown Anchorage.

It was a beautiful weekend to get some yard work done also. Anything, that needed to be done in our yard while the sun was out, I did it.
I got some weeds pulled, although there is still plenty left if anyone wants to come and help me. ") The lawn got mowed, and the hedge got trimmed. Some raspberries got picked and the weeds got cleaned out of our chain link fence. Now, that was fun...not! Although I really enjoyed just being outside.
Now next weekend there will be the back yard to contend with. I hope it's as nice then as it was this weekend. Especially since we have next Monday off for Labor Day.

More Alaskan beauty

Mt. Foraker--17,300 ft high

The Alaska Range, including Mt. Foraker (our left-Mt. Susitna & Mt. McKinley on our Right) standing so proud and beautiful. Tom took these pictures July 2008, when Brian P. was up here.

A couple GREAT views of the tallest mountain in North America, Mt. McKinley otherwise know as Denali, (or "the GREAT ONE") standing @ 20,320 ft tall. Pretty amazing. There is a story behind the name, but I'll explain that later. :)

Very few climbers have succeeded getting to the top of Denali, and there are people falling and either getting killed, doing what they love to do, or get hurt pretty bad. We do not get the see the top if Denali very often. This July day in 2008 was a rare view! So...enjoy. :)

Near end of summer beauty

I've been slacking on posting, but haven't done much to post about. So...her you go. It was finally a beautiful sunny warm 70 degrees today, so of course I had to get out and enjoy it and finally take some pictures of my favorite lake and the surrounding mountains, along with the fire weed in the foreground. Some people make fire weed jelly, that is quit tasty.

Here is another shot of more flowers around the lake that is near our home. It is just so peaceful and beautiful, and lot of people out tonight playing with the ducks and geese that are getting ready to go South pretty soon. We we have to enjoy them while we can. It was delightful.

MY PEONIES BLOOMED!

I couldn't believe my eyes today when I went to check on my lonely little peonie and it was just blooming as pretty as could be!!! I had serious doubts whether it was going to make it or not, but...it DID!! YEA!!! The little things in life--It smells sooo good, just like I remember from MANY MOONS AGO! AWWWW---

Thoughts

I don't have any pictures, so...here goes.

I talked to my sister Alice tonight for about 2 hrs. It was soooo great to talk with her again, since the last time I saw her was the day after they had been up to their property and saw their devastation from the fire. My heart just aches for them.
After talking with her for a while I know one of the things that she will miss most are the pictures of her kids when they were little. Some of the other things can one day be replaced when needed. She said the outpouring of love and support, even from people she doesn't know, has been AMAZING! It is fantastic. They have had people volunteer to help go through things, people have offered them tools, saws, $$, whatever they need. Right now though, their immediate needs are being met. They have a furnished apartment in town where they have been living for 4 years while they have been working on their "dream home". As we were talking tonight they realize how fortunate they actually are. Alice & Alan at least have another home to go to, where some people that were living up there, had to find someplace to live. Others LOST EVERYTHING, and only got out with their cloths on their back.
Alice told a story of a newly wed couple that had just finished their home, and were just moving in their furniture and putting up pictures when they had to evacuate. When they returned EVERYTHING was burned. Although, their friend had left his pickup up there. Now listen to this...The pickup was burned inside and out, but...his BIBLE and ID that were left on the seat of the truck were NOT burned. That just gives me chill bumps. They are an amazing witness to the community. He told Alice, that "I guess God just wants me to be a city guy for a while". Their new home they were building was way up in the mountains. Pretty amazing.
Another thing Alice told me was Alan was going to make some sort of a sifter, to take up to their property as soon as they are allowed back in, to sift their stuff to separate the bigger things. The forest dept. is afraid trees could fall or more fires could still start because it is so dry. Anyway, Alan soon realized he doesn't even have a hammer, nails or anything like that. So...he had to take a step back, take a deep breath and rethink the whole process. Whewwww-Needless to say, Alan did NOT have a very good day today.
She says most days are ok, although she will be going through the grieving process for quit some time. It will be VERY interesting to see what the next chapter in their lives has for them. Only God knows and only time will tell.

My sister and her family

We got to see my sister-Alice (on the right) and her hubby Alan on the other end, with their daughter Dawn Marie and her 2 kids. I had not even met the youngest till this year. It was GREAT to see them. They had just been allowed back to their home after they were evacuated for 1 week because of the fire in Los Alamos, NM. Their homes in town were not damaged this time, but my sister and her hubby's dream home that they had been working on for over 10 years, was a total loss. Along with their storage shed, that had most of their belongings in it. All their tools, a tractor, 2 camper trailers, pre digital pictures (baby pictures of Dawn Marie and her sister) , furniture and lots of other things. Last I heard they were not even allowed back up there to go through their things until this week, because of the hot spots. Alan was making this an environmentally safe geodesic?? home, to try to help with Alice's allergies.
We are VERY THANKFUL they were not hurt physically anyway. It will take a while to recover in other ways. They could use your prayers.

Look at those beautiful smiles! It was soooo great to see them again and hug their neck!!

Uncle Tom and Aunt JoAnn with Ramon and Airanna.

Just for fun

Big cousins posing for the camera.

Not sure what they aren't looking at...LOL

The girls--Left to Right==Marlynn, Breanna, Penny, Lindy, Mom (gradma, great-grandma, aunt) Muriel, Debbie, & JoAnn --I loved seeing and hanging out with these gals. Family is the best.

Hmmmmm...?????/////

Mom and I--She is the neatest lady and doing really well. I cherish my time with her.

Lon and I being silly.