I returned home from 2 weeks in Alaska a couple of days ago - what a great trip!  I had a wonderful time getting to know my new grandson Connor, being impressed at how much Aiden has learned his first year of school, seeing how much Jack has grown up in the past 6 months, and even teaching my oldest daughter to crochet (Finally! After 31 years!)  As is usually the case though, the time went by way too quickly - but I think we've found our 'next big thing'.

Even before we left Alaska last summer I was saying that I thought it would be great fun to live there for a year - just to say we did it!  Yes, it's cold in the winter - minus 50 degrees cold sometimes.  Yes, there is a lot of snow - on average 60-70 inches a year in Fairbanks (and once it falls, it stays until spring breakup).  And yes, the summer mosquitoes are as big as hummingbirds.  (Okay, that last one is an exaggeration...but not by much).  

But even with those supposed "disadvantages", I think Alaska would be an awesome place to live for a year or two!  Really!  There is no sales tax, no state income tax and they PAY you to live there (via their Permanent Fund Dividend program).  The population density is 1 person per square mile, and there are NO SNAKES.  Alaska is home to some of the most beautiful sights in the world - glaciers, Denali, the Aurora.  

At first Mike seemed a bit hesitant, but either he's beginning to agree with me or he's just realized that I'm not going to give up easily and so we have begun playing with numbers and considering options to make this dream become reality sometime in 2013.  

Making the move to Alaska is a bit like moving to another country (or even another planet).  It takes some serious preparation - from acquiring the necessary winter clothing to having the right kind of vehicle to figuring out how to get there!  And as much as I enjoy living in an RV, that's just not practical for a winter in Alaska.  So we will be making some lifestyle changes as part of this adventure.  I don't know exactly what all of them will be at this point, but I'm looking forward to seeing how all the pieces come together over this next year or so.  

You'll be on your way up!
You'll be seeing great sights!
You'll join the high fliers
who soar to high heights.  (Oh the Places You'll Go.  Dr. Seuss)

As today is the day considered to be the great one's birthday, I find this quote fits very well.  For a second week Pam is doing just this, "seeing great sights"

She is up in Fairbanks, Alaska visiting our daughter, and, "just past the one month mark" the newest grandson. Pictured above are the older brothers at the International Ice Sculpting Festival. Like the Northern lights, it's something you have to see in the winter, which means you have to be willing to endure the extreme cold temps that the Arctic can dish out. For what I am hearing, she is enduring it just fine. In fact, I am getting regular text messages lobbying for us to spend a year in Alaska. I've seen the great summers there, and now she has seen it in the winter, so maybe we can make that happen,

As the Dr. says,
Out there things can happen
and frequently do
to people as brainy
and footsy as you.

Last week-end while I was in Medford, I watched over my grand-daughter. It was fun having a little one stare at me in awe while I cut up random pieces of wood, pounded nails, and tried to create something resembling a chicken coop. I didn't get to finish it all the way, but since the remaining portion is the nesting boxes, outside run, and roosting bars, I have a little more time. The chicks only just arrived at Christa's house this past week.

While I've been busy with the "Tuna does Vegas" play rehearsals, (I hope you are always wandering over a few tabs to read about that), Pam has busy away on a trip to Alaska. Fairbanks, exactly. She likes to play in the snow, and all these above freezing temps here in Oregon have been getting to her. Well, not exactly, you may have heard we have a new star in the family line.

Poor little kid. Getting all kinds of grandma slobber, er, kisses all over his cute little face. I'm getting regular phone pictures every time he opens his eyes. Love it, I do, I do.  They'll be together one more week, then Sarah and I will truck over the hill and bring Grandma back to the little portable house on wheels.

While Pam is (at this very moment) flying up to Fairbanks, I'm staying down here to get into my usual mischief.
What I hope to accomplish this week-end is to build some sort of chicken coop for my daughter Christa. (She has the mail order birds coming in the next couple of weeks, so I'm kinda under the gun).

For material, I'm scrounging up what used building supplies I can find, and that brings me to this story. My brother Kirk is tearing down the old barn shown in the side picture. It was built by my dad in the early 1970's, and over the years has had many different incarnations. In this 1972 picture, it had a set of rabbit pens attached on one end, and a chicken coop on the other. (beginning to see a circle of life thing here).
As I spent the afternoon pulling nails, and taking down boards, I was pulling up memories from the past, and walking down memory lane.
Growing up on this small hobby farm on the Applegate River was full of adventures. Like the time we had a small pack donkey,(Charley),  to use for the family "going back-packing" phase.  I found another use for Charley, tie a wooden sled to a rope and let him pull you up and down the driveway. Yep, that's me in the driver's seat with the full-face helmet on. No, I wasn't that safety conscience, the donkey would kick up rocks and dirt as he ran, and you needed something to deflect it with. And he wasn't so well trained you could get him to move on command. I had a can of rocks with me that I shook loud enough to spook Charlie, and off I'd go.

Here's the barn as it stands today. It's held horse stables, Pigeons, heated wood working shops, hay barn, and general storage. Not a bad life for a solid built structure. I think my brother has plans to rebuild something bigger on the same location, or at least something that matches the rest of the buildings he's rebuilt or newly built.  Still, is was something to pull up nail after nail and remember my dad pounding in each of those as he created our childhood homestead.

I noticed some of the boards on the end still had the gnaw marks from when our rabbits would chew it, and the patched hole on the wall, marking the entrance to the chicken coop. Glad some of the wood will live on creating memories for my daughter and my grand-daughter.

As we travel, we look for opportunities to get involved in things local, to learn new skills, or to just find some fun to do. Here, during our winter's stay in Gold Beach, we found something that fills all three.
It started with a flyer Pam brought home from the resort office, asking for people to come over to the local theater and audition for their next performance. We may have ignored it, but after attending an earlier show in Brookings, we were intrigued with the idea of getting involved ourselves. So one evening we all piled into the car and headed to the open audition of "Father Knows Best" and "Inner Sanctum Mysteries".
The day after the auditions, I received a call from the director offering Sarah and I a part in the show. Sarah got the part of the 9 yr old daughter in "Father Knows Best", I got parts in both, the 15 yr old son in "Father Knows Best", (this is a show about radio acting, so looks mean little, and I can do a fair imitation of a "whiney" teen, and a three in one part for the Inner Sanctum show. That episode had a mysterious voice on the telephone, a brother of a murder victim, and a ghost of the murdered man, all played by one actor, in this case, me.
This was a perfect intro into theater, as there were no lines to memorize, we read our parts on the microphone. There was no physical acting, only what we could interpret and act with our voice, and the only costume we had to put together was to dress in the period of the original actors of the show.
By the end of the short run, we performed the show before a live audience five times, (4 evening shows, and one Sunday matinee)  It was great for Sarah as she gained new skills and new confidence, and I was smitten enough to audition for the next show set for the end of April or early May.  I've been cast as one of three male actors needed for the show, "Tuna Does Vegas" in which we, during the course of the performance play several characters. Lots of different voices, costumes, and this time I have to learn my lines.  (Oh boy, I have trouble remembering my own phone number)
I'll blog more on this over on my tab "Mike's Adventures", if you want to follow along.

I love taking 'crafty' classes whenever I have the chance so when I saw the flyer for Sea Kelp baskets here at the campground, I immediately signed for Sarah and I up for it!  

Believe it or not, this basket - pouch looking thing was made from those big, huge seaweed things you see on the beach.  You know - the ones with the bulb-like thing at the end?  You dry those things out a bit, clean them up and you can make all sorts of things.  The little basket in  my picture was the first (and only) one, but I'm thinking I might try this again.  

You basically just cut off the bulb end (save to make a flower tea light holder!) and then slit open the stalk so you can flatten it out.  Cut pieces to make a basket - square, round, whatever you want - and then sew it together with a yarn needle and waxed twine.  Next time I think I will pre-punch the holes with an awl or scissors to make it a bit easier to sew up.

Then you set your creation in the sun (or in front of the heater) for a day and it dries into a very rigid basket.  Too cool, don't you agree??  I didn't even think to bring my camera to the class for 'in-progress' pictures, but I'll be sure to take some next time.  You can see more pictures of the finished product (including my 'flower tea light holder') in my photo album here.  

Since Gold Beach is fairly close (in the grand scheme of things) to lots of family in the Medford area, we are hoping to be able to get over there to visit frequently the next few months.  It's only 160 miles each way, but if you've ever traveled Hiway 199 you know that that transfers to 3+ solid hours of driving.  Not completely out of the question for a 1 day trip, but not something I'm planning to do anytime soon.  So we took advantage of Mike's mom's 'bed and breakfast' and spent the night this week.

One of the things I noticed on our drive over was all the new (to me) wineries along the route.  There have always been lots of small family vineyards there, and now it appears many of them are venturing into selling their wines.  Feels a bit like the Napa Valley.  :-)

Although Mike prefers trying local beers, I'm a wine drinker.  (Almost always white wine, although I did try a Shiraz wine once that wasn't too bad.)  Most red wines make me feel like I have to scrub my mouth & teeth after I drink a glass though.  So Chardonnay is my favorite 'flavor' and that's what I will usually try when we visit wineries.  I've decided that I'll visit one winery each time we take a trip over to Medford and this trip it was the Longsword Vineyard.  

Small tasting room with just a few tables and counter, but super, super friendly people there.  First time I have tried a sparkling Chardonnay or a dessert Chardonnay - I enjoyed them both, but came home with the sparkling bottle.  If we had more storage room I would have purchased a bottle of the dessert wine, but it would be a very occasional treat and I just don't have the room for 'occasional' treats.  Their website notes that they use organic methods to grow their grapes - makes me even more glad I stopped there.  

We've been in Gold Beach now for about a week and a half and it's all coming back to me.  How much I love the beach - whether it's a southern California flat, warm one or the rocky Pacific Northwest ones.  There is something about watching the waves crash onshore, the birds playing in the wind, and the ever-changing sand sculptures that literally calms my soul.  I've missed this.

Of course, along with that there is the rain.  Which means lots and lots of wet coats and wet, muddy shoes to deal with without the luxury of a mudroom.  We do keep our awning out - at least partially - to create a 'safe zone' as much as possible; but it doesn't always (normally?) rain vertically here.  I'm thinking a simple outside coat rack may show up soon on our front 'porch'.  And some kind of 'shoe garage' is definitely needed!!

After a rocky start (rocky - get it??) our cell service (and therefore internet!) seems to be working well most of the time.  The closest Sprint cell tower signal has to reach down around the bridge and turn left in front of the mountain to get to us and it took a few days to figure out how to do that.  But - knock, knock - it's been strong enough to download movies that past couple of days.  (Yes, it takes all night to download the whole movie, but I can life with that!!  Consistency - even if it's not 4G - makes me happy.)

So look forward for more pictures, more posts (as least from me...<cough cough>) because I truly do enjoy working on this website.  It's just too frustrating when we don't have a wifi signal that can handle uploading more than 1 picture an hour, you know??  

Not too long ago a friend of mine came across a blog post about a big metal chicken.  Yup, you read that correctly - a big metal chicken.  It has seriously got to be the funniest blog post you will probably ever read - especially if you are married.  And female.  (Although Mike did laugh quite a bit upon reading it too...he's unusual though.)  

Anyway, after reading that I became obsessed with finding my own metal chicken.  (And yes, I'll give you the link to the blog post - but not yet.  You'll go there and laugh hysterically and you'll forget you were ever reading my blog post.  So just wait.)  Since we are international RVers (hey, Canada counts and we've been to Vulcan!) I just decided that I'd keep my eyes open.  Surely somewhere along the highways and byways we would come across a metal chicken, right??

Well we did!  We were tooling down some road in Alberta, Canada and as is my custom, I don't usually notice stuff until we are driving by it and by the time I can get the words out, it's back behind us.

Me:  Wait!!  A BIG METAL CHICKEN!!

Mike:  What??

Me:  A BIG.  METAL.  CHICKEN!  Turn around!!  I saw one!!

Keep in mind, we're not driving a vehicle that can flip a u-turn in the middle of the highway.  We're lumbering along in a 33-ft motorhome which requires approximately a 23-point Y-turn to actually turn around.  But Mike's been married to me for over 25 years now, so we turned around.  

And there it was.  This 10-ft tall metal chicken.  I didn't care how dumb we looked, we took pictures of that thing.  Lots of pictures.  It was standing out front of a restaurant near Pink Mountain, Alberta (next to a big Sasquatch statue) but why?  Who knows.  I'm sure Mike was just glad it wasn't for sale 'cause I think that it would have looked awesome standing on top of our motorhome going down the road!!

UPDATE:  I came closer to actually acquiring a metal chicken of my own today.  We were in the Buffalo Bill Museum in Cody, Wyoming and you would not believe what was for sale in their swanky museum store!!

Yeah, I know it's a lousy cell phone picture - but you have to remember I was in this museum store and surreptitiously snapping the photo.  I sent a text message to Mike telling him what I found and apparently the first thing he looked for when he made it to the store was that chicken.  He was afraid I'd bought it and was right then installing the thing on our motorhome roof.  

Alas, the price tag for $120 and I haven't sold enough Santa diaper sets yet this year.  But now I know they are out there!!  

Oh yeah, the original blog post?  It's here - but be warned.  The language is definitely R-rated; so if you'd prefer not to read F-words, just trust me that it's pretty funny.  

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We spent the past 2 days in Yellowstone - doing actual "camping" (which means we had no hookups - no electricity, only onboard water, and no cell service).  Although my lifestyle may lead you to believe that I love camping and that we do it all the time, that's not true.  I like my electricity, water hookups, cell service - my house may be small, but it IS a house with civilization's perks, thank you very much.  

I'll also have to admit that I really didn't know much about Yellowstone other than Old Faithful is there.  And when we first drove in, it really didn't impress me that much - I mean, the scenery was pretty but so was the drive through Montana.  (I know, I know - don't throw tomatoes).  Mike says I've traveled too much.  Whatever.

Once we started doing the touristy things though - viewing the geysers and the bubbling mud stuff I was beginning to agree the $25.00 entrance fee would probably be worth it.  But the highlight for me was definitely the wildlife we saw.  We had up close and personal encounters with bison as well as a huge bull elk.  It was very, very cool!!  The elk even gave us a demonstration of his 'come hither' call - weirdest sound though!  Especially coming out of this HUGE elk - sounds a lot like screeching, bad brakes - really!!


We took lots of pictures and even a video of Old Faithful.  We're uploading them as we can - check out the photo gallery here.