The gift of a day!

Rene Martin called at 6:15 AM and told us that school was cancelled for the day. I naïvely thought of all the many things I could get done with the extra time. I ordered another classes photos, I’d already started the fire in the Blaze King. Then I called K.C. Thomsen—next door—and he said he’d [...]

Multi-Tasking

So we had a busy weekend of playing house. Holy cleaned and straightened (the house looks wonderful—thank you Holly), while I worked on the straightening out the electrical system. We now have the light at the end of the walkway that Holly wanted me to put in last year, ready for the coming dark winter [...]

Christmas Letter 2009

Here’s a link to our Christmas Letter (pdf) this year, which is actually pretty cool, if I may say so.  We had it done, printed, folded, stamped and put into envelopes (but not licked) before Thanksgiving Day. Merry Christmas Windows Live Skydrive: CLICK HERE Google Docs: Christmas letter 2009 If you want a printable size [...]

New Steps!

In Alaska, in the winter, footing can be very treacherous.  Especially in SE Alaska.  i grew up in Barrow, and it’s really not that slippery there for most of the year.  In the fall when the snow comes, we skip right past 32 degrees F and go right on down to the sub zero temperatures.  [...]

John Caleb washing dishes?

I was washing the dishes the other day when I stepped away for a while.  I came back to the sink to find that my helper was having a great time.  The only real down-side was he was still wearing a brand new diaper. Recently, Holly noticed that some of her friends who have clean [...]

25 Random things

I grew up in a place with no trees: Barrow, Alaska the most northern city (village) in the North American Continent I now live in a rain forest: Southeast Alaska. I walk to work 1.24 miles every day no matter what the weather is like.  Mark walks with me.  I do it to save on [...]

Severe Electrical Problem

On Monday Holly called me at work and said that her mother had called her to say that the dryer had made a flash and a loud noise and then the Toyo Stove (Laser 73) had shut off along with a bunch of lights.  The breakers had flipped. It was during the 4-minute passing period [...]

My shoulder hurts, but I don’t have cabin fever.

I just shoveled the porch, the driveway, the sidewalk, and the steps.  I like to leave the snow on the hand rails, as a measure of what’s fallen in the night. Here’s a shot that shows the partially blue sky, which is much welcome, the 18 year old minivan/SUV that we bought this fall from [...]

The Bathroom Sink fell off the wall…

While I was out of town in Anchorage for training, Holly called saying, “Matt, the sink in the bathroom fell off the wall and it smells really bad.  What should I do?” I asked, “What?” She said, “The bathroom sink fell off the wall and is lying on the floor.” I queried, “What, the sink [...]

Tough week: living in a log cabin

No one likes the smell of mildew in their home. Here in our little cabin we had a kind of tough week.  I picked up the mattress to check under it, knowing full well I could be in for a bad sight, as our mattress was lying directly on the uninsulated floor.  When we got [...]