Wednesday, December 29

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

So the last couple weeks I've been taking care of the Post Office since our post master left to Anchorage. She's been stuck in Dutch Harbor now for almost a week waiting for a plane to come home. We got about 4 flyable days this month. All the mail is sitting in Dutch Harbor waiting to come over. I still never got Roni's, my hubby's or my Christmas presents in yet. Not to mention my dogs are running really low on kibble. The puppies ate up all the puppy food and are eating adult food, which I don't have much of anymore. I ordered their food just after Halloween too!!

The weather has been acting funny. Some days it's cold out with an even colder wind chill... other days it's in the low to mid 40's, calm but foggy. Today is one of those warm, calm foggy days! I was able to get my Christmas cards in on one of the planes and got most of them back out (all but 10 that I need addresses for). They are finally getting to people the last couple days. Late but at least they got out!!

Veronika had a great 1st Christmas, opening presents from the grandparents, Aunts and Uncles!! We had a couple for her that we got back when we went to Seattle in Sept-Oct. I can't believe that she's already 9 months old!! She's been out of me for as long as she was in me!! She has all 4 top and bottom teeth for a total of 8 teeth!! She's currently 28lbs and 30.5in long!! She loves to pull up to standing and "cruise" around on anything she can hold onto! I've been slowly getting her to eat more chunkier foods, she loves fish and veggies and fruit!! I'm waiting on more baby food that my sister Ivy send down for her from Wal-Mart and Fred Meyer. Oh and I finally put her in size 5 diapers! Here at the Post Office she's been able to try out a walker, but only goes backwards! I think it's funny!!

The puppies are going to be 9 wks old tomorrow, time goes by way too fast. I already have to administer their 9wk puppy shots tomorrow, which I am not looking forward to doing. They all know their names and are learning simple commands. They are fully weaned and eating kibble now. Next week Chi Chi and Ashes will be ready to go to their homes! The rest I'm keeping, which includes Diego, Juarez, Tinker Bell and Snookii! So in a lil over a year I should have more puppies to sell - all of my puppies have full registration, fully de-wormed, will have their 2nd puppy shots and hopefully get their rabies vaccinations! The parents have great temperaments and I am getting them pad trained (potty trained). I just love having Chihuahuas! They will fall in the 6-8lb range! I am currently writing up a puppy contract by combining the contracts from my 3 previous Chi's!

Other than that the island has been pretty quiet. Josy and Tim threw a big dinner at their place on Christmas Eve, which is also the birth date of their youngest boy Ian! Veronika had fun being around all the family and friends, but by 45 mins I believe she got overwhelmed with everyone and started to get fussy. But there was a lot of great food and I had a great time! On Christmas we had a big ham dinner at my parents house with more family and friends! I love living where we are with most of our extended family!!

My nieces had a great time enjoying all the gifts I got them for Christmas! I had a great time shopping for them. I am still waiting for some stuff to come in for them. I heard I have like a plane load of stuff sitting at Pen-Air cargo waiting to come over to me. All the stuff I ordered from Kohls, Petsmart, Walmart, Amazon, Victoria's Secret, Wet Seal and a hand full of other places!! Well most is UPS, which is considered cargo and the rest was sent thru the USPS. Either way I should have a lot of stuff over there waiting to get to me that I've been waiting almost 2 months for!! Hopefully the weather clears and we can get some planes in and get all the stuff sitting over there over here!!

I still can't believe it's going to be 2011 already... I remember the whole Y2K frenzy like it was yesterday!! This year went by way too fast!! I am trying to upload pix of Veronika over the last couple months but blogger is having one of those days where it doesn't let me upload pix and when it does it goes super slow... but hopefully soon I'll have updated pix of her over the last couple months!!

Well I hope everyone has a prosperous, safe, fun New Years!! Take care Bloggers and we'll be "seeing" you next year!! Much love from my family to yours!!

Thursday, December 16

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Wow really I haven't blogged at all this month?

Nothing really to blog about. The weather has been crappy all month. Blowing 60mph+ and gusting even higher. We haven't had a plane all month :( I'm patiently waiting for all my christamas gifts and cards to come in so I can get them back out in the mail. And I here I ordered everything last month!!

The temps have been hovering around freezing, the wind chill getting into the teens and 20's. Some days it warms up to around 40, melting all the ice. We still haven't gotten any snow yet that's stuck on the ground....

My puppies are getting bigger and bigger, I gave them their first puppy shots last week. I think it was harder on me than them. Everytime I'd give one a shot they would start to scream and run around like 10 secs after getting the shot and I would just want to cry.... but at least they are getting their vaccinations!! They are officially 7 wks old today... only a couple more weeks and the ones that are leaving us can go to their permanent homes! They all have such great personalities and know their names well now! I am starting to teach them basic commands such as sit, lay down and come here. I love when I go home and call for them and all my chi's come running to me!!

Veronika is getting bigger and bigger too! She's all about wanting to stand and "cruise". She'll walk if you hold her up! She's been able to get out ma ma and da da when she wants. She loves to play patty cake and clap her hands! And when she hears this certain bath toy that sings she gets so excited knowing she's going to take a bath! I'm starting to feed her more solid foods, but she still loves to eat her Gerber baby foods and cereals! I moved her into size 5 diapers this last Sunday and she's fitting 18month and 24 month/2T clothes! I just can't believe how fast the time is going by!! In a couple weeks she'll be turning 9 months old!! I still bring her to work with me, once I get her weaned I can start to leave her home with her dad, or if they grandparents want her she can go visit with them!

I missed the season finale of Hell's Kitchen last night due to power outages. I think the city needs to upgrade our generators and get all new ones. These ones are getting pretty old and starting to break down more and more.... it would only be smart to replace the generators since we got all new wiring laid down in town! Gosh my house got cold in the hour that the power was off, and I need to invest in more flashlights. Veronika didn't seem to care that the power was off as long as we had the flashlights lighting up our room! The puppies were scared and wondering why it was all dark though!

Oh please oh please I'm begging Mother Nature to give us a break in this crappy, windy weather for some flyable days so we can get mail on and off the island!! I would really like to get my neice's their christmas presents before christmas!! And I'd really like to be able to get my christmas cards in so I can get those out too.... We took pix of Veronika and family pix by using the timer mode and made picture christmas cards! Just hope the weather breaks so we can start to get planes once again....

Yesterday the Tribe threw an Elders Recognition Potluck (which they plan on doing every month). They recogonized George McGlashan, who happens to be the oldest person in the village at a young age of 84. There was lots of food and a really good powerpoint presentation of his life and family. He is my great-uncle (my grandma's brother). It's really nice for the Tribe to do that for our elders! Looking forward to the next one! I was soooo full when I went back to work, they had the potluck at lunch hour. Veronika was happy to eat all the great food there too!

I can't believe there is only 15 days left in 2010 and 9 days until Christmas!! I swear this year went by too fast!!

OK well take care and happy holidays bloggers and blog readers!! Until next time, ta ta for now (TTFN)!!

Wednesday, December 1

Monday, November 29

Monday, November 29, 2010

As November is starting to end, we are still lacking snow! But we did get some frost this morning! The mountains are frosted over with some of the white stuff, but it's definitely not the fluffy white stuff we've all been waiting for!

So after over a week of stormy weather, good 'old Mother Nature decided to grace us with some nice weather and the planes have been able to fly! I'm slowly getting in some of my orders from a month ago... still patiently waiting for all my xmas gifts to come in! I have been shopping up a storm online lately with all the great sales!

Yesterday we put up our tree and decorated it! Veronika had a blast watching me put all the decorations on, then you should have seen her bouncing and swinging her arms while giggling when I finally plugged the lights in!

We had an awesome Thanksgiving! My mother and aunty Jen cooked up a feast and the whole family ate at my aunty Jens! Veronika filled herself up on turkey, ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn and some cranberry sauce! On the 23rd we got to celebrate a big thanksgiving dinner at the Safe Harbor Church - a big thanks to everyone who helped Gary and Margo with that. Then they auctioned off some quilts that some of the local ladies made (they are trying to get money for more quilting supplies).

My puppies are going on 4 weeks and 4 days today! They have had their second de-worming and are starting to run around and play, getting into everything! I have 2 long haired chi's and 4 short haired chi's! They all have their own personalities already! It's so cute!! I love chihuahuas!! I got their CKC registration papers in and am waiting for the AKC to get back to me so I can see if I can have them AKC registered too. Veronika loves the puppies!! I don't let her get too close because I know she'd probably hurt them by grabbing them too hard. She's really good with petting my adult chi's and she loves our lab Tug!!

I met with this really nice couple today who have been keeping updated by my blog! It's always nice to meet with my blog followers! Their son and daughter-in-law were here in Akutan taking care of the Safe Harbor Church, it was nice to hear how they were doing!

I have to get a move on my Christmas photo/cards. I am still trying to figure out if I want to use older photos or just use the self timer and try to take new ones. But I have to get going on that before Christmas passes! I still can't believe how fast this year has gone by and that we only have 32 days left in 2010!!!

Else where in town everything is slowing down. The boat harbor project is stopped right now as far as I know, so that the workers can celebrate the holidays at home, not to mention it's winter time. But we do have people coming in to look at the possibility of where to put the road that will take us to the head of the bay where the boat harbor is being built.

We've had some local City employees working on parts of the boardwalk, fixing broken boards and reconstructing some of the bridges that needed to be replaced. The store has been getting in some Christmas toy and gifts in the mail, but they won't be ready until most of it comes in and gets priced. We usually put it all down in the store all at once when it's ready and people come and "power shop" for gifts! I'm happy I have all my shopping done with already!!

Here are some recent prices to some of the stuff sold at our store: a can of soda is 1.00 but a 6pk is $4.50, onions and potatoes are both $1.14/lb, milk is $1.70 and $1.95 for 2% and whole, meats are reasonable priced: hamburger is $3.60 for 1lb, ribeye steaks are around $5-6.00 per 1/2" steak. Bacon is $5-6.00, chicken nuggets and fries are $5.00, bread and eggs are both $2.25, candy bars are $1.10 each, toilet paper ranges from $2.50 for 4 rolls (angel soft) to $16.75 for 12 rolls of Charmin, paper towel is $7.65 for 3 rolls, sliced American cheese and 1/4lb brick cheddar are $5.00 each, yogurt is $1.15. A twin box of chicken stuffing is $3.75, a taco bell taco dinner kit is $5.20, chips range between $4.75 and $5.75, breakfast cereal between $4.75 and $7.00, can milk is $2.75, a pack of cigarettes is $9.30. From the city #1 diesel fuel costs $3.21/gallon and #2 diesel is $3.16, gasoline is $3.48/gal. Those are some of the recent prices we pay for stuff here on the island. Occasionally the store gets produce from either the cannery or from Safeway in Dutch Harbor. So that gives you an idea of some of the prices for stuff here in Akutan, which isn't bad compared to most rural villages! We're lucky that the freighter (Coastal Transportation) come here from Seattle (where we get most of our groceries) and we don't have to air freight it all in!

I've been sprouting some bell peppers and will see how great I can get those to grow. I also have an apple tree sapling I'm trying to grow. The bell peppers will be for my canary Sylvester, that's if I can get them to grow, they are just starting to sprout out of the ground. I have a red-factor canary. I just love how he sings!! Doesn't take back the fact that I miss my cockatiels.... they were starved when we were down in Seattle... so I ended up getting a new bird. There was no way I could replace my hand-raised from a chic cockatiels so I got a completely different kind of bird. My parents had a canary when I was younger, I loved the songs those birds could sing. So I figured we'd get one to sing for us! He's a great bird!! Veronika loves to sit and watch him flutter along in his cage, sometimes when she's in her high chair she just sits and stares at him instead of paying attention to me while I'm trying to get her attention to eat!! What can I say, I love animals. It was a dream of mine to be a veterinarian... that or a flight attendant! One of these days I'll move out of the village and pursue one of those careers...... but for now I'm loving my life here in Akutan, raising my daughter in my home town! I'll always love it here, this is home!

Well until next time TTFN!!

Tuesday, November 16

Tuesday, Novembe 16, 2010

Darn how did 2 weeks blow by so quickly? I'm getting bad at trying to keep this updated... I'm on my facebook all the time though..... Facebook can be addicting!

So the puppies are starting to try to walk and their eyes are open! They got their 1st deworming on the 11th (2wks old). They are just the cutest! I love chihuahuas!! Still waiting on their CKC regirstration papers to come in, but I got in their puppy shots (2 for each puppy at weeks 6 and 9).

Veronika is mastering sitting up on her own, she's starting to try to climb up stuff if it's in her way. She's such a tough little girl! She finally got caught up on her vaccinations last week. She was a little late due to no vaccinations avail on the island here. Had to wait for a doctor to bring them down. So now she's all caught up with all her shots, just needs to go in next week for her 2nd flu shot and she'll be good until her 1st birthday. I can't believe how fast the last 8 months have went by.... what happened to my little 7lb 10oz baby?!?! She's about 25lbs and just under 30 in long now! Next week I'll make sure to get her official weight and length for her baby book!

She loves to eat anything we eat! She had some ham last night, and loves steak (I chew it up for her 1st). She loves mashed potatoes, corn, green beans, peas, turkey, carrots, pears, apples, bananas. I just started to give her Gerber yogurt and the Gerber graduates meltaways and puffs. She's getting good at crawling with her tummy off the floor, she's quick too! I have her in #4 diapers still but thinking of putting her in #5s here soon. She's squeezing into 12 months clothes still but I mostly put her in 18 month clothes but she's getting ready to move into all the 24/2T clothes I got for her when we were in Seattle.

The weather here has been pretty nice actually... but that doesn't stop the airlines from not making trips. One day the plane broke down and they had to wait for a part to come in, other times they use the Saab flight that goes from Dutch to Anchorage (or Anchorage to Dutch) to give them the weather - but then the Saab is usually flying up in the cloud level and they say that its foggy inbetween.... the Saab needs to fly lower in order to give the right weather and not be above the clouds when they give the weather. The Goose doesn't fly up as high as the Saab does! I'm still waiting on some movies that I ordered 3 weeks ago..... mail has been moving sooo slow.

Speaking of mail, I ordered some xmas stuff for my neices! I hope they like what I got them! I love shopping at Kohls and getting Kohls cash!! Today I think I'll use my Kohl's cash and order some stuff for Roni! I can't believe it's already the holiday season of the year! I need to get a good picture of my family for xmas cards! Think we'll do it the same as last year and send out picture cards!

The temps have been going up and down lately. We get snow then it rains the next day, then it snows again. We have windy days and calm day and foggy days. The usual for this time of the year! But the hills have been staying frosted with snow at least, looks better than the dead brown grass look that we'll be stuck with until the island starts to turn green again.

Nothing much going on in the construction department. Parts of the board walk are being repaired/replaced including a bridge that needed to be taken care of awhile back. Happy they are getting that taken care of. The new LED street lamps are installed, make it looks like someone is holding a bright light over my yard at night!! Other than that pretty slow everywhere else. I haven't heard much about the boat harbor project, but the company taking care of that are still here doing their thing.

King Crab season is coming to an end, most of the boats have put away their gear, made the last of the deliveries and heading home until oplilo season starts. I wasn't able to make it up to the cannery to take any pictures since most of the boats came in at night time, and I don't like to take Roni out in the cold unless I HAVE to! A 10K box of crab was 198.00 this year from the cannery here on the island.... that's like 5.00 more than last year! Still didn't stop me from getting a box! I've been undulging on it lately... I love it dipped in melted butter... if not another way I like it is stuffed in halibut and baked!! Mmmm mmmm good!!

My hubby is currently making a model of the tug Gyrfalcon for one of the Captains. He's been slacking on making it... mostly the small detailed stuff left to do, but he's busy working on it to hopefully have it ready around xmas time to give to him.. if not by this new year. It's tedious work, but it's beautiful once he's done with it!

Lets see what else is going on here on the Rock..... The school is planning their yearly trip that's funded by APICDA, not sure where they are going this year but hopefully it's informative and a great learning experience for the kids! They usually have a great time! I remember going on our "fisheries" trips when I was in school!! Great times!

Ok well I hope all is going great with everyone else out there! Take care and until next time TTFN!!

Tuesday, November 2

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

OMG I am getting so bad at updating my blog I'm so sorry about that everyone!

Gosh I have to look back to see what I last wrote about :S

well I'll just start from a couple days ago. So Halloween went off great, except for the fact that like 8 of the younger kids didn't make it to my house for trick-or-treating so I ended up with way too much candy. Not to mention that I took Veronika out trick-or-treating and ended up with a lot more candy! She was the cutest little black kitten!!

Veronika now officially has 4 teeth that have popped out of the gums and 1 more that might come out any day now. She's just over 7 months old, and is starting to crawl, but she still prefers to roll to get around! She's at 29in long and 24lbs 8oz at her 7 month mark, she also got her first flu shot!!

On October 28, 2010 around 4:55pm I was made a grandma!! My pups Cali and Roscoe had their 1st litter of puppies!! 6 beautiful little pups were born - all ranging in color from black and white, to brown and cream! There were 5 females and 1 male. I am probably going to keep 4 of them for my "breeding" stock so that in a couple years I can start producing beautiful purebred chihuahuas for people who want them. I'm probably going to charge between 300-400 a pup, and they will have their CKC registration papers! I am looking into AKC and seeing if I can get them registered with them too (Cali is registered with both, Roscoe is CKC and Dante is AKC)

We officially have snow on the ground as of yesterday!! Been getting colder and colder everyday! I carved 2 pumpkins this year, one is an owl on a branch and the other is Tinkerbells face! They turned out really good. I hope to get some pix posted here soon!!

Well I'll make sure to try to keep up on my blog, again sorry about that I know I have to stop procrastinating with it!! Hopefully more tomorrow!!

I woke up early and voted today!! Every vote counts!! I hope everyone else is casting their votes!!

Well until tomorrow, TTFN!!

Friday, October 15

Friday, October 15, 2010

Wow I have soooo much I have to update on my blog!! I'll get around to it this weekend hopefully and catch everyone back up!

On the short note, we went to Seattle last month, we were gone a little over 2 weeks. Veronika had a great time and she was the best little traveler ever! She got to meet her Great-Grandma Lillian, went to the top of the Spaceneedle and all around enjoyed our trip. We spent a week in Anchorage before flying down to Seattle for a week.

The weather has been pretty wet and warm in this part of the state lately.... snow is on it's way though....

OK well I hope to get this updated soon! later

Friday, September 17

Friday, September 17, 2010

Well I'm hoping and praying hard for a way to get off the island so we can make all our flights. Trying to make it up to Anchorage for Veronika's vaccinations, she's due for her 4 month and pretty soon her 6 month vaccinations.... We're supposed to leave tomorrow, but we're hoping to make it out today if possible. There was a boat but it only took so many people and I don't know how they picked the people they took, but they picked like 6 people to go over this morning. Left my hubby, Veronika, the corps 2 auditors and me here still. And I believe Father Kashevaroff and his wife are still stuck here too..... I just hope that the weather clears up for the plane to make a go for it and we can all make it over to Dutch Harbor to make all our flights and not have to deal with stand-by on the airlines.......

I'm not really in the mood to write anymore, but I have some other stuff to post when I get around to it.....

Please pray for us to make it out! Thanks!!

Monday, August 30

Veronika Raelene - July & August Pix

Picture of lil miss Veronika Raelene Tcheripanoff
July & August 2010
Months 3 & 4
July 1, 2010 - Alaskan Grown!
July 2, 2010 - in her Blues Clues hat from Grandma Vera
July 4, 2010 - getting food at the potluck
July 4, 2010 - with cousin Bella
July 4, 2010 - With her Daddy
July 4, 2010 - My lil family
July 5, 2010 - 1st skiff ride!
July 5, 2010 - 1st picnic ahead of the bay
July 5, 2010 - Ahead of the bay with cousin Tasha
July 6, 2010 - working hard with mommy
July 6, 2010 - Just so sweet
July 6, 2010 - Hello :)
July 6, 2010 - talking with Aunty Ivy on messenger
July 6, 2010 - learning how to work a computer
July 8, 2010 - fresh out of the bath
July 9,2010 - Hmmmmm
July 9,2010 - 1st time holding rattle/ring
July 9,2010 - conspiring....
July 10, 2010 - On the ferry
July 10, 2010 - On the ferry
July 10, 2010 - On the ferry
July 10, 2010 - On the ferry
July 14, 2010 - holding on and sleeping
July 16, 2010 - in her high chair
July 17, 2010 - 1st time having squash
July 17, 2010 - 1st time having squash, mmmm
July 17, 2010 - 1st time having squash, finger licking good
July 17, 2010 - happy after eating squash
July 17, 2010 - my baby gir!
July 18, 2010 - 1st time passing out in her high chair
July 18, 2010 - Just so sweet with her pink butt ruffles!
July 18, 2010 -In her Weeboks from Aunty Ivy,
saying "Hey mom they are on the wrong feet...."
July 18, 2010 -my beautiful baby girls!
July 18, 2010 -love my baby girls!! Roni with Cali
July 18, 2010 - sitting with her daddy
July 18, 2010 - on the right way now!

July 18, 2010 - Weeboks on the right feet now!
July 20, 2010 - 1st time pulling the part that makes sound!

July 20, 2010 -Daddys little girl with a barrett in her hair!
July 23, 2010 - found her toes!
July 24, 2010 - all happy waking up on the ferry
July 24, 2010 - bringing cousins and aunties home on the ferry
July 25, 2010 - 1st time in her Bumbo chair
July 26, 2010 - kisses from cousin Easton at his baptism
July 26, 2010 - 1st birthday party for Raemie,
being held by aunty Shannon
Kadance 3yrs, Aaliyah 1yr (will be 2 in October) and Veronika
My sweet neices!!
From oldest to youngest!!

Our Hands (Veronika, Aaliyah, Ivy and Me)

Aunty Shannon, Cousin Kadance, Aunty Ivy, Cousin Aaliyah, Veronika and me!
July 31, 2010 - Babies and parents!!
My generation and our future generation!
July 31, 2010 -playing on the bouncer thing with her aunty and cousins

July 31, 2010 - Aunty Shannon and Veronika
August 4, 2010 - 1st time falling asleep in her Bumbo
August 4, 2010 - getting ready to go back to work with mommy
August 7, 2010 - pic taken with my cell phone in Dutch
August 10, 2010 - wearing 12month clothes!
August 10, 2010 -1st time at Bayview Cafe
August 11, 2010 - in her outfit from Aunty Ivy
August 12, 2010 - Staring at her "bugs" on her car seat handle
August 13, 2010 - woke up and played with her toes!
August 14, 2010 - 1st time having sweet potatoes!
August 14, 2010 - 1st time having sweet potatoes!
August 14, 2010 - fell asleep after eating sweet potatoes!
August 16, 2010 - 1st time in her activity center
August 18, 2010
August 18, 2010 - I love her in purple!!
August 18, 2010 - in a cute outfit from Daddy!
August 19, 2010 - in a cute yellow outfit from Daddy!
August 19, 2010 - fell asleep in her stroller holding on to one of her bugs
August 19, 2010 - sticking her tounge out! So cute!
August 19, 2010 - I love this angle on her!! So cute!
August 20, 2010 - in another 12month outfit from Daddy!
August 20, 2010 - kicking back at mommy's desk
August 21, 2010 - looking cute in an outfit from mommy!
August 21, 2010 - had to change her she got dirty in the previous outfit...
She loves being a princess!!
August 20, 2010 - 1st time having green beans
August 24, 2010 - tried to put pig tails in her hair.... look like horns!
August 21, 2010 - 1st time having peas!

August 22, 2010 - getting ready to have bananas!
August 22, 2010 - 1st time having bananas! Mmmm
August 28, 2010 - 1st time going salmon fishing ahead of the bay
August 25, 2010 - gummy smiles!
August 25, 2010 - born to be wild!
August 25, 2010 - born to be wild!
August 27, 2010 - playing peek-a-boo and got her laughing hard!
August 28, 2010 - 1st time in her jenny jump up
August 28, 2010 - pretty in pink
August 28, 2010 - smiles!
August 28, 2010 - Pretty and perfect like mommy1
August 25, 2010 - sweet dreams!
I have a couple more to post but I have to find them... hope you all liked the pictures of my baby girl over the last 2 months!!! She's growing up so fast!! But I will get a couple more that I like posted once I get them uploaded... I thought they were uploaded already but obviously aren't on here...