A tenth of of degree from Hades..... Welcome to Alaska in summer

Alaska has seen record breaking temperatures this past week - enough so that we made the news in the lower 48 even - they didn't report the correct temps out there but they were close!  A cousin from Pennsylvania emailed to let us know we had made the news all the way out there!  94 in Big Lake.  That is the hottest I can remember it being here since we moved in 2005.  It hasn't been just one day either - we have had weeks of  hot, hot, hot!  There is no end in sight - forecast says at least one more week of these temperatures, and maybe hotter.  After that who knows - pray for rain for us!

I know it only says 91, but  - NO AC in my car!  I pulled into the shade at our house and took the pic before it hit the 94 mark!  TO me, at least it matters not if it is 91 or 94 - both are the same level of hell!

We had a fire break out across the lake from us last night at about 10:00 pm, and gave all of us a good scare!  Initial report said that it was started by a wood pile that spontaneously combusted!  We have been evacuated from our home for large fires twice over the past years and this is the second one that has started within a 1/2 mile of us in the last 3 years!  My "bug out" bag was packed last week because I knew that this might be an issue!  A "bug out" bag is a bag or box that you put all your "P's" into;  Important Papers (passports, wills, certificates,etc), Pills or medications, Pictures, Pet/livestock items - and dont forget the pets too - and people! 

Above you can see the helicopter over the smoke - this pilot had just taken a patient on a life flight from Galena who had been mauled by a bear and then came right out to help our firefighters find and fight this fire!  That is a military helicopter.  They are helping with all of our fires.  We cannot thank our firefighters and service members enough!  When he got low on fuel, another chopper came to relieve him.  It was a beautiful sight of the one helo peeling off toward the airport and the other beginning his work!  I wish I had got it on film but the dogs were barking, people were showing up in the yard and my phone was blowing up with all the offers of help and the check ins!

There are 113 fires burning in Alaska right now as well. Those did not make the "outside news" according to the cousin, however.  One was started by trailer chains dragging on the road and creating sparks, a few from cigarette butts, and one from an ATV that backfired and set the grass on fire.  Most of them have been pure carelessness.  People setting bonfires, and campfires.  At 90 degrees in Alaska you do not need a "warming fire".  Keeping in mind that my winter coat is literally a vest also- I have never been one to complain much about cold!  

Above - smoke from the "Montana Creek Fire" taken from Oilwell Road about 25 miles away from the fire.  I know it really looks like clouds but it is all smoke!  Photo credit Aimee Matteucci.

If you haven't seen the article yet - take a look at why Alaska feels hotter than the rest of the U.S. - its science!  Check it out HERE!  Our 75 degrees feels hotter!  We do not have air conditioning at our house - as a matter of fact I don't know anyone who does have it in their house. As I said earlier,  I don't even have it in my car currently - just needs recharged I'm sure but....that's how little we usually need it here!  Alaskans don't even know the rule that if the windows are down on the hot days, the person with the windows down has the right of way!  I learned that one in Arizona when it was 116 degrees!  If you have your windows down in that heat you have no AC!

So.....we have every window covered with sheets, curtains, and blankets to keep the heat out of the house and we have also made a little "swamp cooler" from a laundry rack, a fan, some towels, and I also added a "fish box" to fill with ice that doesn't show in the picture.  A fish box is a styrofoam box used for keeping fish frozen in shipping!  Fill it with ice, and put some ice on top of the wet towels and let the fan blow through it - ahhh nice cool air!

I have been doing the rain dances, and we have been watering here at Wicked Raven and at the school - almost daily at both places.  Trying to make sure it's wet in case of fire and wet to stay alive in the heat!  People, pets and plants!  My drillers are a little leery of drilling until we get some rain - not only does welding add to the heat of the day behind a drill rig that is pushing heat out, but it also makes sparkss of...yes fire!  Hoping to have some rain before we start drilling this week!

I hope wherever you are you have a lovely balance of sun and rain, and no fire unless you plan it!

Blessed be and stay cool!

A new Michaelangelo?

As most of you know - Alaska and specifically the Big Lake area had an Earthquake of 7.0 on the Richter scale back in November of 2018.  It shook the people, the homes, and schools, and it nearly destroyed our Middle School.  It still remains to be seen what will become of the Middle School building and if it will have to be torn down and rebuilt or if it can be used again with repair.  Se we are all together under one roof as Houston Junior Senior High for the foreseeable future.  We lost some staff, and some student families, some of them just left because it is HARD now.  And it is hard.  We lost some programs, that hopefully will come back when the situations with our space gets sorted out.  Our kids are so resilient, and so reassuring that good things are coming, so we stay positive and we keep marching on.

Above is my home office nightmare after the quake!

Our TV.....luckily we had another one in the spare room that we could use.  Yes that IS a hockey puck on top of it - not sure how that happened!

Some of our teachers and staff helped students create a video about our experiences during the earthquake.  Houston Earthquake Video see it HERE

This coming together came with a lot of angst, and stress, but it also brought with it a lot of wonderful things:  one of my favorites is that we have music in the hallways before school, all different genres to expose the kids to a broader musical sense, we have more hands to help even though we have more kids, we have new programs for summer and throughout the year, and another of my top favorite things that came with our new people is the art!

We have lots of art at the High School before the earthquake, murals, mosaics, mobiles and paintings, but the Middle School had some really creative ways to create and display art, and still include learning.  Folks were able to go over and gather some of the important items that needed saving from the Middle School after the earthquake and  they brought some of the art back to the High School.  I now have "Girl with a Pearl Earring"  by Johannes Vermeer hanging on my ceiling!

Isn't it a beautiful ceiling tile?  Yes!  It is a ceiling tile!! It was painted by a student during her Middle School days named Angela or Angelica C?  It has faded a little over time, and this one doesn't show the year.

Here is Snoopy!  On the ceiling of one of the Admin. Secretaries.  There were about  a dozen that were brought over, but I could only get pictures of a few!

Here is the cow that jumped over the moon!  They are so fun!  I think this one is in the nurse's office!  

Some of them are very fragile and can hardly be handled, I am surprised they made it through the earthquake at all.  We do have at least one that is taped together!  

This one is a ribbon puzzle.  If you look at it a certain way you will see a face in the ribbon.  Then you won't be able to see the ribbon, only the face, until you look away for a bit and then you have to find the face again!  I wasn't able to find a date or who painted this one.  

We have "The Scream" recreated eerily on a tile and Van Gogh's "The Chair" as well.  Those pictures didn't come out well enough to post - Ill try to update later if I can.

There are also a pair of eyeballs that stare at you as you come into the entryway - not on the ceiling - and of course I forgot the picture of those!  Very fun!

So now even when I roll my eyes in exasperation I can play it off like I'm really looking at the art on the ceiling or the walls!  It keeps things interesting and is a great conversation starter and creative inspiration for us and the kids.

We will keep marching on, and putting things back together, and finding ways to create and keep it fun and interesting!

I hope you can say every day - I arted!

You know your compost is great when.....

I have been a fan of compost and composting for as long as I can remember!  When we were kids one of the "chores" was to take the compost out to the bins.  It was never a favorite chore of anyone - usually the compost in the bucket had started to "turn" so to speak and was stinky and a bit slimy often.  However, once I saw and smelled the results of the compost pile, I loved the outcome!  Good finished compost is the most beautiful black soil you can get anywhere!

I have written about my rolling composters before a little bit and my pallet compost bin as well.  I have two rolling composters and three pallet ones.  I get about a bushel of compost per summer out of the rolling ones and a couple of bushels out of the pallet bins.  It is never enough, but it is better than none!

Above is one of my rolling composters - the black one.  The organics go in the opening(anything that is not fat, milk, or meat) and where the legs attach is a bar with some small paddles on it so when you roll the compost barrel the paddles stir the stuff up and keep it aerated!  Its a great system.

The other day I went out to "harvest" the compost out of this one and lo and behold I open the lid and what do I see?  A whole tomato worth of tomatoes growing in the darkness in the composter!  You know your compost is good when the tomatoes sprout up from a tomato that was put in the bin more than a couple of weeks ago!

So I potted them up and once they are a little bigger Ill separate them into bigger pots and see what happens!  I remember the tomato that these are from - it got lost in the bottom of the fridge from a salsa making event that we had here one night.  This particular tomato had a moldy streak through and through and so into the bin it went!

Ill keep you posted on these little buggers and what they produce.  It is always an adventure when you have an unknown tomato plant to see what happens.  I love a good garden adventure!

I hope you get one once in a while too!  

Lavender for Luck!!!

“There are some things I know for certain: always throw spilled salt over your left shoulder; keep rosemary by your garden gate; plant lavender for luck; and fall in love whenever you can.” -Sally Owens- Practical Magic

One of my favorite movies of all time, Practical Magic gives this Magical and life advice that may or may not be originally from Shakespeare.   

Lavender for luck outside my 

front door!  It is freshly planted but it will fill in the pot by mid-summer.

I know that Rosemary is for remembrance - it really has been proven to be a memory booster among other things -but I have always wondered why plant Lavender by the door for luck?  Maybe so that as you pass through, a bit of the luck will waft up and dispel the negative that might try to follow?  Lavender has been used for that purpose.  Dispel negativity.  I haven't been able to find a really good answer for the question even in the Magical realm, but Lavender is also known for calming nerves, quieting the mind, allowing for good sleep and also for being a disinfectant when used in cleaning products (also it smells heavenly)!  If I had to choose just two plants that I could keep through the winter, in ideal conditions these two would be my two - Rosemary and Lavender.




However...and luckily, I have not been made to choose just two and  I don't have ideal conditions either inside the house or outside to grow Lavender - Rosemary I can do  indoors all year but I have tried Lavender six ways to Sunday and it just doesn't thrive.  But, Oh, these summer months when we can have it like that special treat that only comes once in a while - that is what fresh Lavender is to Alaska.

Photo Right - two Rosemary plants that live in the house almost year round - I sometimes put them out for a bit in the warm of summer - usually Mid-June and let them soak it up for a few days at a time.

I do have one tough little Lavender plant that has lived through 6 winters now outside, and it is coming out slowly but surely, but I will never have that majestic, magical, purple field of wonderful that is "as seen on TV" so to speak!  It is extraordinary to harvest a bit of that magic each summer and know that it grew due to my magic!

This week we have been working on getting planters and containers planted, and getting things spruced up since it has finally warmed up a bit here.  We spent last week hardening off the plants that were to go outside, and culling out those that weren't going to make it.  One of our projects, other than the Lavender for luck outside MY door was to get a little bit of beauty outside Reed and Riley's door!  Including Lavender for luck!

Because they live in a bit of an industrial area, making room for gardening for now is limited to containers of various sizes and shapes, and making use of some of the bounty of friends and family that have been shared!  These have some Asters, Alyssum, Dianthus, and Lavender, as well as a flower that I have not been able to identify so I can remember the name (in the top pot in the back).  Im sure it will come to me in the middle of the night through my Lavender dreams, at which time I'll write something unintelligible on my bedside notebook and still won't know the name of the plant in the morning!

But when they pass through their door, maybe a little luck will rub off, and they will definitely have wonderful summer smells to calm, fortify, and bless them as they go about their day!

May you have Lavender for luck, Rosemary for remembrance, and all the Love that you need!

Blessed be!