Akutan - Village life on the Rock!

Friday, August 12, 2011

2011-08-12T15:13:00.004-08:00

Wow has it really been over a month since I last checked in?!?! Time goes by way too fast!

I can't believe how fast summer has gone by already, and I haven't even gotten a tan!! The island is fully green and most of the berries are starting to ripen up. The reds have come and gone - no one really got any this year, I was lucky to get 6 for my freezer!!! My hubby and his cousin went out a couple days go and loaded up on 400 pink salmon - 60 of which we split and dried, the rest was handed out to people in town!! So with the fish my hubby and mom got while I was in Anchorage and the 60 we just got I have just under 100 humpies drying on my dry rack!! Yay!!! I always send some to my cousin in North Carolina and to my younger sister in Anchorage!!

I went to Anchorage for a couple weeks - I left on the last ferry July and came back on the first ferry in August! I got a lot of dental work done that needed to be done, well not "a lot" but it was a lot of sitting and waiting on standby to get in for an appt!! Thanks to my sister Ivy for watching Roni while I got my dental work done!!! Also Roni is all caught up on her shots, she ended up getting 6 shots total... poor baby.... Then I had appts and had my blood drawn multiple times, followed by an ultrasound the day before I came home. So I did end up having a miscarriage, then I ended up getting pregnant again.... and this time according to the ultrasound, we're having TWINS!!! OMG I can't explain how excited I was to see that!! I've always wanted twins!! Now to just take care of myself and be extra careful and make sure that these two little angels make it to full term!!! I think I'll be done having kids after this though, one of us is getting "fixed"!!! But you should have seen the looks on my sister Ivy's and my face when we noticed the ultrasound tech writing "fetus A" and "fetus B" on the ultrasound screen! I about wanted to get off the table and start jumping for joy!! I couldn't wait to call the hubby and family!! This is the first time anyone on my side of the family got pregnant with twins!! We are due around April 4, 2012 or so according to the measurements taken during the ultrasound!! Please pray for me to make it to full term with both of them being healthy and happy!! I am hoping for the best!!

Other than that it was great to go up and spend some time with my sister and niece!! My older sister and her 2 girls even drove up from Valdez for a weekend to spend time with all of us! We got some pictures taken of our girls!! They turned out beautiful!!! I miss spending time with my neices!!! It was a great couple week get away, but I missed work, my dogs and especially my bed!!! I can't believe there was only a couple days of nice weather, other than that it rained almost the whole time!!! All in all I enjoyed spending time with my out of town family and being able to go shopping!!

I have to go back to Anchorage for my 12 week prenatal check up and to get another ultrasound to check on the babies!! I'm excited!!! Speaking of babies, any day Cali should pop out her 2nd litter!! This time we mated her with Dante (my smaller chi that I rescued a couple years ago, the same chi that CB from Dutch Harbor Dirt watched for me) I am starting a list of people who are interested in a puppy. I am still stuck on what to sell them for but so far I have come up with around $50 for people here in Akutan, $150 for people in Dutch Harbor and $300 for anyone else that I have to ship them to. The prices out of Akutan cost more just for supplies (kennel and what not) and shipping charges. They will be fully registered with the AKC and CKC. They come in an assortment of colors, short and long hair, ranging from 3lbs to 6-7lbs. They have a great temperment and are free from any genetical defects. I am working on writing up a puppy contract. They should be ready for their homes sometime in October (10 weeks old). They will have had their first set of puppy shots and hopefully there is a certified person here on the island to admister their rabies shots! Once we figure out all our expenses we'll set the prices for sure, but those are my estimates so far. Also I am only really selling them to people I know who are going to give the pups a great home and not have them be abused or neglected! I'm going to work out all those details in a puppy contract!

I heard the airport project is moving along great and that it's starting to take shape and starting to look more like an actual runway!! That's pretty exciting. Also the boat harbor project is looking more and more like the projected pictures of the finished product! They are working day and night on both projects! Pretty soon they will be starting the road project to the head of the bay where the boat harbor is located!!

Most of the older kids who came home to visit are all either gone back to where they are going to school or are getting ready to leave, it was great to have them all home for the last couple months! Right now the town is full of younger kids who are here visiting with their parents, it's awesome to see that many little kids running around!!!

Veronika is growing like a weed and learning so fast! She's really good at helping out at almost everything and understands more and more every day! She loves to play outside and chase the older little boys around! She enjoys 4-wheeler rides. She's starting to try to say bigger words, the biggest word she can almost say right is: Sponge Bob! She's such a great little helper! I love her to pieces and thank god everyday for giving me such a beautiful, smart little girl!! I think she's almost ready to start trying to potty train, she likes to point to her diaper and let us know when she's about to potty - and I was told thats the first sign that I can start to try to potty train her!!! They grow up too fast, next thing I know she'll be getting her drivers license, graduating and heading off to college!!!!

The weather here has been beautiful since I've been home!! Flat calm, foggy on days but tipping the scales around 60F+ Perfect weather for drying fish!! :D The fireweed is starting to bloom from the bottom up, when it hits the top blooms that's a sure sign that Fall is here!! I can't wait to start putting away salmonberries, blueberries and moss berries!! MMMMmmmm moss berry pie sounds great right now!!! I was able to save enough sea gull eggs to make a pie in Anchorage to share with my sisters!!! They seemed to enjoy it a lot!!! I'm out of sea gull eggs now until next year!

This Sunday is going to mark another anniversary for my hubby and me!! Officially it will be our 3rd anniversary (court marriage), we hit our 1 year church anniversary on July 25, but we've been dating/living together for almost 9 years already!! I swear time goes by way too fast!! Sunday will also mark 4 years since we first jumped out of a perfectly good airplane while on vacation in Hawaii!!! My hubby and our friend AJ are planning on going skydiving on our vacation (of course I'm not able to go since I'll be pregnant with the twins!). Roni and I will find other things to do while they are out being adventurous!! I'm looking forward to playing with her in the sand and water and showing her dolphins and sea turtles and everything else!! She's going to have so much fun, I can't wait!!! Plus it's going to be AJ's first time to Hawaii so we can't wait to take him around the island and show him everything Hawaii has to offer!!! I don't think he's going to be used to all the heat, but he should do great (as long as there is airconditioning, snow cones and lots of cold drinks!)

I have been doing great trying to get the word out about my Scentsy website and trying to people to order from me!! This month almost everything is 10% off since this is considered a transition month, next month the new Fall/Winter season starts!! There will be a lot of great new products. I love this month's scent "Just Breathe" it's a soothing mix of eucalyptus, lemon and mint. I think it's prefect for the upcoming cold season!! The Bring Back My Bar was a sucess last month!! I fell in love with a lot of the scents and hope I loaded up on enough of them!! Since I don't know if they will ever become available again! Remember you can always order from my website: www.aprilpelkey.scentsy.us and as always for every order you place your name gets put in my monthly drawing for a brick (a $20 value) of your favorite scent!! One winner is drawn on the 1st of the following month!!! So far my customers have enjoyed entering my drawing, I've had 5 winners so far (I started my drawing back in March). And as always I offer free replacement light bulbs for as long as I'm a consultant to all my customers!! It's a great product and I highly recommend it to everyone!! It's safer than candles and it's super easy to change out the scents when you want!! There are 80+ scents to choose from!! Please check out my website and look at the avail warmers and scents! I know you'll love it as much as I do!! And if you'd like to join the Scentsy team and sell it yourself you can sign up from my website!! Good luck and thanks for ordering with me!! Your Scentsy Independent Consultant!! :D

Well I'll try not to let it be over a month for my next check in!! Until then I hope everyone enjoys the rest of their summer and has lots of fun before the first frosts appear (at least to this part of the world!) Take care and thanks for reading my blog!! TTFN!

Friday, July 8, 2011

2011-07-08T13:55:00.002-08:00

Well I'm sad to say but we are no longer expecting due to me having a miscarriage.... :( We were told we can try again in 6 weeks or so.... I'm really sad but trying to not let it get me down. It's what God wanted and He will let me have a second baby when the timing is right.... Until then back to trying again!

The weather has been nice the last couple days and today it's blowing a bit but at least it's dry out! We have that luminous fog back too!! Yesterday it was sooo nice out (the calm before the storm), the sun stayed out until I got off work then it got cloudy, but that didn't stop me from bbq-ing up some fresh halibut that I got from my dad!!

Veronika is getting bigger and bigger everyday. I swear some days she looks a lot taller than she was a couple days ago! She has all of her teeth and she hates to have her teeth brushed but it has to be done! She still doesn't drink any juices (unless the granparents spoil her with some). I still need to get her weaned, but she's down to wanting it only when she's hurt or when she's tired. She is weighing in aroun 32lbs and I have to measure her to get her official height! She is wearing size 3T clothes (can still squeeze into 2T) and wearing size 7 shoes!! I can't believe how fast she's been growing!! Just shows how fast time goes by!!

Still waiting for salmon to show up like they did a couple years ago. I think I'm going to have to have the hubby borrow a net and skiff and go see what he can find out there... my dry rack, buckets and freezers are pretty empty (with salmon at least). My dad has been helping me fill my freezer with fresh halibut at least!! I'm loving using my Foodsaver to seal up all my fish!! I made some pickled salmon from my salted salmon from last year! It turned out awesome, Roni has been eating it up!! I need to send a couple jars to my sisters before we hog it all up!! I ordered some snagging hooks on eBay so I can at least go get me some humpies before all the fish are gone (that's when the humpies show up). Humpies (or pink salmon) are easier to dry!!

I am going to get my flower sprouts in dirt and put them in the window or outside and see how they do.... I think I started them way too late in the season for them to flower this year... but we'll see. My strawberry plants in my old bbq are flowering and looks like I'll have a lil bounty of fresh Aleutian strawberries this year!! I'm excited about that!! I harvested about 15 red bell peppers from my bell pepper plants!! They are sooo sweet tasting!! Even Roni liked them when I washed one and chopped it up!! We shared it with our canary Sylvester!!

The State Ferry is coming in again tomorrow. So I know people are going to do their Dutch run! We aren't going this trip... Saving up for our vacation!! Ohhh the other day we had an actual "cruise" ship come in the bay and they were dropping off passengers in town to check everything out. Too bad they came in really early on a weekend, way before anything was open!! But at least the weather was decent for them!! It was weird they all wore these bright red coats.... maybe it was a security thing with their boat. I didn't stop to ask any of them....

My hubby is really proud of his cruiser bicycle!! I got him a luggage rack, front basket, and a bell and now to surprise him I'm getting him a waterproof speaker set that hooks up to the handle bars and has an iPod hookup. I think I have to get him a new seat here sometime too... I rode his bike the other day and didn't like how the seat felt, he hasn't complained about it yet.... It's so cute how he treats his bike! LOL.... It's a really nice bike though!! He's just happy that he can take our groceries and mail home on it with no problems instead of carrying them by hand from the Store or Post Office all the way up to our house - which is located at the other end of town.

The island is super green right now, and before we notice it, everything is going to start dying and turn brown once again. The 4th of July was pretty nice!! We had a huge fireworks show!! We even had the AVO people and others not from here say that was the best fireworks show they've ever seen in AK yet!! It was over an hr of huge fireworks!!! Roni ended up watching for like 10 mins then passed out!! That girl can sleep thru anything!! The picnic and games were also fun, seemed like we had less games than we usually have but that because they decided to serve food half way into the games and everyone got to fat and full to want to play anymore games. But over all it was a great day! Veronika had a blast playing on the Bounce Around thing that one of the families shared with the kids. Veronika ended up getting a good lil tan, the only part on me that tanned was my feet :(

Hoping we get more good weather days before the summer ends!! Also hoping that we get some fish this year too to put away in our freezers!! We'll see though.....

Ok well I hope all is great with all you bloggers and blog readers!! Take care and until next time, TTFN!!

Friday, July 1, 2011

2011-07-01T15:37:00.002-08:00

How the hell did it already become the 7th month of the year?!?! Time goes by way too fast and there is no way to slow it down and enjoy it!!!

Today it's a beautiful day on the Rock!!! The skies are blue, the sun is out, the wind is almost non-existant and the temp is hovering in the 50's!! We have been getting planes all day but they still aren't bringing any mail or cargo.... still waiting on my orders..... at least mail is getting off the island!!

The island is turning emerald green... people are out mowing their lawns and the ball field finally got mowed in anticipation of the 4th of July (which we are all hoping is a day like today!!) It's funny to hear people complain about it being "hot" outside and here I am in my sweater still complaining about it not being hot enough!!

Veronika is loving her new pair of sandels that she finally fits!! She's been loving playing outside with the kids and running around in the sunshine. She must have tired herself out because she's been napping for almost 3 hrs now!!!

The Alaska Volcano Observatory is on the island working on their seismic stations located on the island. Their helicopter has been running non-stop today, going back and forth and back and forth. It was cute watching Roni get that "what is that" look and point at it!! I keep telling her helicopter and she gives me this confused look! We joke to the dogs that it's not boarder patrol so they don't have to bark everytime it goes over the house!! LOL!!

Tomorrow I will be 8 weeks preggo already!! I can't wait to hear the heart beat and feel those first kicks!! I had the weirdest dream last night that I was giving birth and I had a baby girl... Maybe that's a sign but we'll try to see when I go to Anchorage for my ultrasound when I am 18-20 weeks along. It's exciting to know that I'm going to have a family of 4!!!

I put one of my first Scentsy orders in for the Bring Back my Bar scents!! I can't wait to get them in and start using them!! Jenifer Pelkey's name got pulled in my monthly drawing, there was a good amount of people who's names were entered in the drawing!! I love when I have a lot of names to draw from!! This month's warmer is called Cupcake and the Scent of the Month is called Happy Birthday - Bring back childhood memories of licking sweet, rich frosting off the beaters. Happy Birthday is a “candy-licious” confection of sparkling sugar, fluffy whipped cream, and warm vanilla extract. I can't wait to get that scent in too, I heard it's really yummy smelling!! Remember you can order at: aprilpelkey.scentsy.us :D

Ok well I'll try to get back on here in a couple days, I have to get my camera charged and get ready for all the big 4th of July festivities!!! I wish you all a safe and exciting weekend!!

Until next time, TTFN!!!

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

2011-06-29T17:19:00.000-08:00

First off I'd love to wish my godchild/neice Kadance Marie a very happy 4th birthday!! I hope you love the presents we sent to you and wish even more that we could be there to celebrate with you!!!

So today is the first day we've gotten a plane in since the 14th!!! They brought over a good amount of mail but not even half the amount that they have sitting over in Dutch Harbor!! I got some movies in and my prenatal vitamins but still waiting for the rest of everything to come in!! I did get in Roni's Hello Kitty order!! She got in some really cute HK Vans (shoes) and a couple bathing suits for when we go on Vacation!! I'm excited every day is another day closer to enjoying a relaxing vacation!!

Ohhh I recieved my grades for lessons 1 & 2 of my ENGL 111 course!! I got a 88% (B) on lesson 1 and 96% on lesson 2!! I am currently working on getting lesson 3 completed and sent in before Monday!! That made me excited know that I did great on the first couple lessons!!!

Nothing much has been happening around here. The island is slowly but surely turning green. The berry plants have sprouted flowers and some are already shedding their petals and turning into small berries that will ripen into sweet bites of heaven!! The fish haven't really shown up like they did 5 years ago... so it's been a slow season for salmon once again. Hopefully I get some this year, I just used up the last of my salted salmon in the latest batch of pickled fish I whipped out!! So my buckets are empty and ready to be filled again!!

I can't believe how fast this month went by!! Next thing I know I'm going to be in Anchorage waiting to give birth!! I will be 8 weeks pregnant this Saturday!! I haven't experience any morning sickness like I did when I was preggo with Roni... so that makes me think if I'm having a boy this time around. I do have the usual heartburn though, so I'm stocked up on Tums!! I can't believe that they don't make Rolaids anymore!! I can't find them anywhere!! I'm thinking it's time to start looking at the next size up pants/jeans.... when I got pregnant with Roni I had lost almost 60 lbs prior to getting preggo, so all my clothes were big on me to begin with. This time I'm not so lucky and I know here soon my clothes won't be fitting me anymore. Wish it was easier to shop for clothes other than online!!

I joined Netflix a couple weeks ago. I love how fast they are able to send out my movies when they recieve the one I just watched! Just wish the weather would let us get planes as fast as they ship! I tried to use their instant on your computer/blu ray player option but the internet here is way too slow to deal with that! I was hoping that it would work but I guess not... I love how they offer bluray DVD's too!! This should be cheaper than buying the movies myself!! At least I hope so, at least they offer a 30 day free trial!!

We went to Dutch Harbor on the ferry this past weekend. Got some shopping done, loaded up on Gerber lil crunchies in Veggie dip flavor for Veronika, she just can't get enough of those things!! We also picked up anything else we saw that we needed. I'm always picking up those Starbucks double shots energy + coffee in vanilla flavor, even though I know I need to start cutting all caffeine out of my diet for my growing fetus! We tried to pick up a new broom - we paid for one - but the hubby completely forgot about it and left it at the checkout stand and he didn't remember about it until we were half way home on the ferry!! I couldn't believe he forgot it! Oh well, there is 12.00 down the drain!! I love to load up on fruits for Veronika and me to munch on!! I also picked up some ice cream since I've been craving some Rocky Road Icecream (same ice cream I craved when preggo with Roni)!! I picked up some heavy whipping cream to make my own icecream too!!!

Tonight we are going to cook up some burgers and fries, then I'm going to whip out a couple sea gull egg custard pies before my eggs go bad!! I wanted to make a pumpkin pie too but I think I'll wait on making that!! I also want to make some banana bread!! The damn company that we order from for the store sent us yellow bananas instead of green ones... so by the time they got here they are all getting dark and "bruised" - perfect for banana bread!!

Oh I also picked up my Scentsy Bring Back My Bar samples from Penair Cargo when we went over to Dutch!! I am in love with a bunch of them!! I can't wait to load up on them on Friday (they are only available in the month of July). My top 5 would have to be Red Delicious, Grape Granita, Watermelon Patch, Orange Dreamsicle and Root Beer Float!! Next would have to be Fresh cut cantaloupe, banana flower, coconut palm, irish cream and exotic vanilla!! There are only 20 scents total that will be back exclusively in the month of July! I am taking a list of orders for locals here in the village and will get an order out on Friday!! So if you'd like me to order them for you ASAP get a hold of me before Friday!! You can order them all month but the earlier you order them the faster they can get to you!! :D And as always I have my Monthly drawings I do on the 1st of every month for every order made in the previous month!! The person who gets drawn wins a brick of your favorite Scentsy scent!! Order at: aprilpelkey.scentsy.us I always appreciate any business, if you'd like to have a catalog sent to you please get a hold of me and I'll get that out ASAP!!

Also we had a Tsunami warning the other day. I guess there was a 7.2 earthquake inbetween Nikolski and Atka. The warning was canceled but wow what a feeling of being worried over it! We were in the middle of frying up some fresh cod when we got the call and stopped doing everything to pack an emergency bag then went back to cooking and eating dinner. I always say it's a matter of time before we shake and move since everywhere else on the Pacific plate is moving!! Plus AVO (Alaska Volcano Observatory) is here in town replacing and fixing some of their seismic stations. So it's only a jinx if it shakes while they are here!! I'm waiting to feel the ground rumble and shake. I love the power Mother Earth holds, it just amazes me!! Like I said only so long before we get a good shaking!!

Ok well I'll try to update this again in a couple days or so with anything I might have left out!! Take care bloggers!! Much love to you!! Until next time TTFN!!

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

2011-06-14T12:44:00.001-08:00

Wow has it really been that long since I last wrote in my blog, I feel disappointed about trying to keep this updated :(

The island is slowly turning green! The sea gulls are laying their eggs and I made my first custard pies last night (BTW they tasted awesome!!!). The red salmon are slowly showing up, the bumble bees are back checking on all the new flowers that have bloomed over the last week or so! The salmonberry bushes are budding and some even have their delicate pink flowers fully bloomed! I mowed my yard 3 times already, and it's due for a mowing again! I went on a dandelion killing spree the other day and ripped all those ugly yellow flowers out of my yard! Still debating whether or not I want to spray them with weed killer now....

The temps have been staying in the mid to high 40's and we've actually haven't been hit with too many summer storms. The plane is busy moving processors back and forth for the upcoming fishing season - so there goes hoping for mail!! Pen-Air does get some mail over to us once they finish moving the people, but at least mail is making it out!

The state ferry Tustemena is on it's summer run, making it here every 2 weeks. I like to try to jump on it once in a while for a day trip to Dutch Harbor to go shopping and for a change of scenery! Roni is a great lil sailor!!

My pups are getting big and a handful at times! They range in size from 7lbs to 2.5 lbs!! The long haired females are my bigger pups, so they will probably be the ones I breed with Dante (He's 5.5 lbs). The rest of them I'm going to have to get fixed since they aren't in a safe breeding size! Veronika loves playing with them and playing in their water dish!! They are all so lovey and have great personalities and temperaments. But I do have to tell you they are the greatest door bells!! Although they do like to bark when a 4-wheeler goes by the house, not knowing that it isn't coming to our house!

I harvested a couple bell peppers off my plants! They turned this beautiful red color and were the sweetest peppers I have ever tasted! My canary was happy with the ones I chopped up for him!! Now the rest of the peppers on some of the plants have less competition and hopefully grow big like the ones I harvested!

So I have some great news to share with everyone.... Akutan's population is going to go up by one this coming Valentine's Day, for I am 5 weeks pregnant!!! My hubby and I couldn't be more thrilled!! We put off trying for a couple months until last month and what do you know! Roni is going to be a great big sister! I just went thru Veronika's clothes the other day and put away all the stuff she don't fit and hung up all the bigger clothes that she's going to grow into! I am saving most of her clothes in case I have another girl - if we end up having a boy I think I might sell most of some of it on eBay! Try to get back some of the money I spent on all the clothes I got her... if not I'll find a baby I can hand them down to... I am super excited to be pregnant again though! I had my first prenatal appt yesterday - I hate getting my blood drawn.....

The boat harbor project is zooming along, and they have a lot done up there from some pictures my friends posted on FaceBook when they flew over it! I haven't heard much about the airport project but that is going along smoothly from what I do hear about it! They are pumping away night and day getting stuff done over there! I heard that they had to get rid of a bull cow that has been harassing the workers over there... so they are probably enjoying the fresh meat from the kill (depending on how tough and old the bull was).

Scentsy has a great looking warmer for this month's warmer of the month. It's called Star Spangled and it's the shape of a star with the American flag on it!! I think it's cute! The Scent of the Month is Peach a la Mode! I love how it smells!! And remember next month the Bring Back My Bar sale will be going on, where 20 discontinued scents will be available only in the month of July!! I am excited to stock up on some of them and try ones I never seen before!! Remember you can go to my website: http://www.aprilpelkey.scentsy.us/ to make your orders!! If you'd like to join and sell it yourself you can click on the join button from my website!! I appreciate everyone's business, not to mention for every order you place you get put into my monthly drawing for a brick of your favorite Scentsy scent!! (A $20 value) One winner gets picked on the 1st of every month for the order placed in the month prior! I also offer free light bulb replacements for your warmers! Just let me know if you need one and I'll get it off to you!! Also if you order with me I will send you the monthly Warmer and Scent of the Month fliers with a "Rub and Smell" sample of that month's scent!! Please pass the word on to all your friends and family! If you want a catalog just let me know and I'll get one out in the mail for you!!

So I am awaiting the grade to my first Lesson in my ENGL F111X class... I am hoping I did great, but you never know! It's been 10 years since I last took an English course and the only writing I really do is here on my blog and my FB posts! Other than that I don't really write much, especially academically! I hope to do great on this class, I am currently working on my next lesson which is a reflection resume explaining my objectives for taking this course, my past writing experiences and any out of school writing activities (such as my blog). And I have to start keeping a journal that compiles my thoughts and reflections about my completed writing, my activities during pre-writing and so forth about my journey to improve my writing skills!! I think I confuse myself and make it seem hard when really it isn't.... I just have to change the way I think about the course and do my best to get my stuff together and on paper! I do enjoy the challenge I get for trying to complete everything in timely order!! Feels good to know that I'm taking a college course again!

Well I have some stuff I have to get done here in the office. My co-worker is out for medical and won't be back for a month or so... so it's just me in the office, not a problem for me just more work to do! I will try to get a couple pictures uploaded later this afternoon!! Until then, TTFN!!

Bell Peppers and Veronika

2011-05-25T15:16:00.003-08:00

Store bought pepper on the left, my homegrown pepper on the right!

Another plant comparing store bought to the ones I grewMy Pretty Princess in her cute Hello Kitty outfit!

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

2011-05-25T14:41:00.002-08:00

So we're debating whether or not to go to Dutch on the ferry again this weekend. I just don't like having to wake up around 4AM to get ready and by 5AM be down at the dock ready to board the ferry, then hoping they have staterooms available so I can lay Roni back down to sleep. But I am running low on my 16oz Starbucks Doubleshot Coffee+Energy Vanilla Flavor! I still can't find a vendor who will ship them to our store for us!

My bell peppers are about store bought size, so I was thinking of harvesting a couple and making stuffed bell peppers for dinner! I still don't understand why they are green and not yellow or orange when the seeds are from yellow and orange bell peppers.... I was thinking maybe they would change as they ripen but nope they are all still green.....

So I am stuck on what to write in my Personal Essay for my ENGL 111x course. I have to write an essay about an experience in my life where I learned something about my strengths or weaknesses. So I was thinking about writing about how no matter what you read, advise from other or watch on tv, nothing will have you more prepared to give birth than actually going thru with it. I am working on my patterns of organization, brainstorming and trying to figure out just how to get it started and send it in to my instructor. I'm excited to get my class started!! Looks like it might be a bit challenging but I hope to get a good grade on it!

I hope the weather dries up and starts to warm up, I'm jealous of the weather that Anchorage has been having!! It's nice and warm up there with sunny weather, while it's cold and wet down here... at least it's not as windy as it usually is! Not sure when we last got a plane in, going on a couple days now at least! I'm patiently waiting for CODs to come in from Wal-Mart (Cash on Delivery), I am running low on diapers for Roni so hopefully those come in and soon!! What I don't get is my mother-in-law got her chain saw in before I even got one COD in, and I did hers last before we left! You'd think that the ones I did before that would have made it in by now.... oh well "hurry up and wait" as my father-in-law would say!!

So Veronika is learning who she can wrap around her little finger! She knows I won't budge to her demands but both sets of grandparents and her daddy will not let her cry and lets her get her way! I won't let her rule me over though! She's a great lil girl but can get bossy at times! I still can't believe she has around 12 teeth in her mouth! I think it's time to start weaning her from nursing. She loves to brush her teeth and brush her hair and is starting to learn how to put her clothes on! One day she had her coat and hat on like she was all ready to go somewhere!

I'm looking forward to finally going to steam bath, taking bubble baths and long showers! For the last 3.5 weeks I've been caring for my new tattoo I got begining of the month, but pretty soon it should be fully healed and I can get it wet! Not fair that the hubby is cooking steam bath today and I can't go! Sounds soooo good too!

Oh and did I forget to mention that I think I have the flu that's going around? My stomach doesn't hurt and I'm not throwing up, but I have a fever and hot/cold chills and my body is aching really bad... I know a steam bath would help relax me but I can't be going (see previous paragraph). This is my first time getting sick since before I got pregnant with Veronika! Not to mention I strained/pulled a muscle in my neck and was told that it's going to take 10-14 days for it to heal! And since I'm still nursing Roni and I have ulcers I can only take so much medicine to help me, tylenol doesn't seem to be helping me much with the pain but at least it knocks the fever down! I just hope I'm feeling better and soon!

Ok well I hope all is going great with you bloggers and blog readers out there in the world! Until next time take care and TTFN!!

Signs of summer

2011-05-23T14:44:00.003-08:00

Akutan as seen from the ferry on May 14, 2011

A special effect (sports shot) on my phone's camera

Roni on the 4-wheeler!

A little daisy popping up in my yard!

Humpback whale in our bay, May 22, 2011

Monday, May 23, 2011

2011-05-23T14:38:00.000-08:00

Well it’s getting to be more and more like summer out there!! We had our first humpback whales come thru the other day, looked like a mother and a calf. The weather is warming up and the dandelions are starting to sprout up everywhere. I am trying to pluck them all out of my yard, speaking of which we mowed for the first time this year last Wednesday!! Today is the spring clean up and there are bunches of people outside picking up trash then they are going to have a little bbq afterwards at the ball field! Too bad I’m stuck inside working and I can’t go out and help!

So I am officially a college student once again! I am registered for English 111X thru UAF’s Distance Ed course! I am excited, I just got my booked and class schedule in on Saturday! Going to be interesting to be taking a class again! My first lesson is a Personal Essay about an experience I had that I learned from and shows a strength or weakness. I am trying to figure out what to write about now…… I know for sure I can’t be using that many periods when I turn in my essay!

So we went to Anchorage for the APICDA community conference beginning of this month, was really good to see all of my APICDA family members!! Too bad it’s only once a year that we all get together!! I got a new tattoo from the Inked Monkey Tattoo Shop!! I won a $60.00 gift certificate to them from participating in KWHL’s (radio station in Anchorage) picture caption contest on Facebook. I am really pleased with the work Isidra did!!! She’s an awesome artist!! I recommend all my friends to go see her if you plan on getting a tat in Anchorage!!!

Also while in Anchorage, my hubby got me the new Galaxy S phone for my birthday! I love him lots and I love my phone!! It’s awesome!!! I think the main thing I love doing on it is playing games and getting online!! Right now I’m hooked on playing Angry Birds!! LOL I got my hubby hooked playing that game too!! I loved spending time with my sister Ivy and my niece Aaliyah!! She is and always will be auntie’s baby!!! She even stayed the night with us one night and we got to go swimming and spend a lot of quality time together!! I love and miss them both lots! Wish it was easier to see them instead of having to take a 3.5 hr flt that costs an arm and a leg!!!

Veronika is growing and growing everyday! She’s starting to get some words out and knows what certain things are when you ask her. She’s getting good at putting stuff in the garbage but she’s still to learn that not everything goes in there! I have to keep an eye on what’s in the garbage before I take it out to be picked up! She loves going out and playing in the yard and running around on the boardwalk! She doesn’t really like hard shoes but I have her some of those all leather shoes that doesn’t bother her feet. Soon though I will get her used to regular shoes since the leather shoes only go up to a certain size! I got her the cutest little Extra Tough boots when we went to Dutch Harbor on the ferry!!

On May 14, 2011 – My hubby’s 28th birthday, we went to Dutch on the state ferry Tustemena! It was a little rough going over but we slept thru it all! We got a lot of shopping done; when we were checking out I couldn’t stop and think of that extreme couponing show!! I loaded up on the 16oz Starbucks Double shots Coffee + Energy in vanilla flavor!!! I can’t find a vendor who sells those drinks and I only seem to get them when I’m off the island, so I made sure to clear their fridges of them when we were over there! Those are my morning pick me ups M-F!! It was a nice ride coming back home, I took my hubby and brother-in-law Don J to halibut burger dinner…. My mom could have made a better burger but hey it was still good!

My puppies are getting full grown, they all have their own personalities and I love them all so much! Cleaning up after them is a different story but it has to be done! I hope to maybe build a small fenced in area in my yard for them to play in – going to for sure make sure it has a roof on it so eagles don’t get any smart ideas!!

My bell peppers are almost ripe for the picking! I was comparing some store bought bell peppers to the ones on our plants and ours are about the same size and bigger!! I always tell my hubby “that one is perfect for stuffing” and he always laughs at me! I got my flower and vegetable seeds started and hope they sprout here with in the week so I can get them outside. I believe we are past the danger of frost (crossing my fingers). I also think my apple tree is ready to be planted outside with a support system of course so the wind doesn’t tear it apart! I’m excited to see my flowers growing! I need to get the hubby going on making me flower boxes to hang off the porch now!! Some of the flower seeds I’m going to just sprinkle over my back yard and hope they sprout!!

The airport project is in full swing! They have a full campsite set up! They have cable tv, internet, and telephones!!! It’s pretty exciting to see them getting everything going!! The boat harbor project is progressing faster than I thought it would! They have a lot of work done up there! From the plane you can really see how fast they are moving on that project! I was surprised when we flew home and got to see it! I want to go to Akun now and see what’s going on with the airport project!!

School is out and we have kids returning back for the summer! Always great to see all the kids our town has, too bad most of them leave end of the summer to attend schools elsewhere! I still can’t believe how fast the year has gone by and it’s already around the end of May!! Gosh my baby is going to be 14 months old!!! I am ready to have another baby!!

We are planning our vacation end of the year… budgeting and looking for places to stay and what to do! I want to go on vacation before I have to start paying full fare for Veronika’s tickets! After we come back I will tell everyone what we did and where we went…. Until then this is as much information I will disclose about our trip for security reasons! :D

So my Scentsy project is going great! I love having new customers and hearing feedback from people about the products! I can’t begin to explain how much I love their products and I am excited to get other people hooked on it! I think I have a Scentsy pot in at least half of the households here on the island. I also do a monthly drawing for a brick of your favorite scent. To enter all you do is make an order! Last month my winner was Shannon Williams!! I also offer free replacements on the warmer’s light bulbs! This month’s warmer is called Magellan and the scent is Amber Road: Open a box of treasure, hand-picked from exotic lands, to discover glowing red cedar and resinous incense. To order visit my website: www.aprilpelkey.scentsy.us I thank all of you who checked out my website and ordered from me! Also if you’d like to host a party let me know!!

I can’t wait for the fish to start showing up and the warm sunny days to come! Picnics and going out in the skiff!! I still can’t believe that summer is here already! Oh I saw my first bumble bee the other day, geeez they are huge! Makes you wonder how they even fly?!?
!
I still can’t believe that I’m 28 years old, married with a child and my dog pack living in my home town working hard and trying to make time to enjoy all the little things in life!! Time has a way of slipping right by us and next thing we know it’s been 10 years! This year marks 10 years since I graduated from High School, which I remember like it was last year! Next thing I know I’ll be attending Veronika’s graduation…. Gosh!!!

Ok well bloggers until next time, take care and keep in touch!!

By the way I’m still trying to upload pix from Veronika over the last couple months and from her birthday! Our internet went out for about a month so I wasn’t able to do anything online!

Veronika pix from Sept, Oct, Nov, and some from Dec

2011-04-13T08:09:00.000-08:00

Veronika Raelene

Pix from Sept, Oct, Nov and some from December 2010

Months 6, 7, 8, and 9

I will get around to captioning these pix, but I'm working on uploading pix from Dec, Jan, Feb and March.....

Friday, April 8, 2011

2011-04-08T08:43:00.003-08:00

So we've been getting hit by some pretty big storms the last week or so! Last weekend we got hit with 100MPH winds and got over 2 feet of wet sleet/snow dumped on us, then on Monday the wind switched to a southerly and warmed up to around 50F and melted everything, then a couple days later we get hit with what the weather people are saying was no less than a category 3 hurricane. There was some damage in other villages around this area but everything was fine here in Akutan. Just had a coating of fresh salt water on everything from the wind picking up water off the bay and spraying it on everything! Then yesterday the weather cleared up for a bit and got warm - still not nice enough for a plane though.... then woke up today to strong and cold Northerly winds and a light dusting of snow. It's almost like winter isn't going to go anywhere without putting up a good fight!! It's been a while now since we've gotten a plane..... All I know is that there are a lot of boats anchoring out in our bay because they don't want to be out in the 35+ foot seas outside of our bay! I don't think I'll ever want to see seas that huge! 6-10ft seas are big enough for me!!

Veronika got her 1st ear infection, my poor baby.... and on top of it all she's wheezing and has to get nebulizer treatments to help clear her lungs up. She hasn't really had too bad a fever but at times her temp gets up to 101 or so, so I've been keeping her on infants tylenol when I noticed her temp go up. She's been a little fussy the first part of the week, but once her antibiotics kicked in she's been acting like her normal self once again. Thank goodness!! I was just about in tears when I had to take her to the clinic... I'm happy we got it in the early stages though! I still can't believe my baby is over a year old already.....

So we have the Alaska Volcano Observatory coming out this summer... not sure if that's a good sign or a bad sign about anything... it's been since 1996 since they last came to the island and put up monitors.... we'll find out more this summer when they come in. I'm thinking it has something to do with the plates moving and the earthquakes in Japan.... but like I said we'll know more this summer when they come in.

I have to talk with the airport people about their hotel reservations. I show they are supposed to be leaving soon but word has it they are staying longer... and if they are they have to let me know because I've been taking reservations for the hotel rooms that they are occupying since they haven't told me that they needed to extend their reservations.... so I have to get a hold of them ASAP and let them know what's going on with the hotel bookings. With the weather we've been having I don't think they've been able to get the work done that they wanted to get done by now!

The state ferry Tustemena will be here in a couple more weeks, the first of the year! I hope the weather is nice enough for them to come down! American Easter and Russian Orthodox Easter both fall on the same day (again) this year! I got Roni the cutest lil green dress for Easter! I'm excited to make Kulich (Easter bread) and color eggs with Roni! I got everything I need to make her a custom Easter basket! Most of the stuff I'm going to be eating anyway but she can have the stuffed animals!

Gosh 12 more days and I'll be celebrating my 28th birthday.... I don't know how the years are going by so fast, I don't feel like I'm going to be 28........ But I'm excited! I have my appt set up for a new tattoo when I head up to Anchorage!! I'm excited about that!! Its going to look soo awesome!! I've been waiting a long time to get this tattoo! I will share it with everyone once I get it done!! :D I won a $60.00 gift certificate to the Inked Monkey Tattoo by participating in KWHL's Tattoo Tuesday caption contests!!! So I figured I better put it to good use!! :D

Lets see now, Scentsy is working out great for me here in Akutan. I think I have a Scensty warmer in about 1/3 of the households here and they are all loving their products! I'm happy I can help supply them with all their Scentsy needs! I'd appreciate it if everyone can check out my Scentsy web page and get familiar with the product! Its a wickless candle system that uses a low watt light bulb to heat up a warmer, and you put these highly scented wax cubes into the warming bowl. Which then get melted and disperse the scent through out your home/office! I'm loving last month's Scent of the Month: Jumpin Jelly Beans!! This month's scent is called Flutter - it's delicate orange blossoms and whipped almond cream floating above a bed of bright lemon verbena, creating a dreamy fragrance, like a sweetheart's whisper in the night! I think it smells kind of like an orange cream ice cream bar!! Soo yummy!!! My website is: http://www.aprilpelkey.scentsy.us/ - to order click on the buy tab! Please get the word out to all you know!! You can also sign up to get newsletters via email! And if you'd like you can email me your address and I can send you the monthly fliers for the Scent and Warmer of the month with a "rub and smell" of that month's scent of the month!

Other than that nothing really new happening around this part of the world - other than Old Man Winter isn't going to let Spring in without a fight first! In about a month the island should be starting to turn green and the days will be longer and warmer! I'm looking forward to getting fish: halibut & salmon. I need to dry more salmon this year, I ran out earlier than I usually do! I love living off the land and sea!! Ugggg and I just remembered.... I better start getting my tax stuff ready and out in the mail next week :P I'm a procrastinator when it comes to my own taxes :P

Ok well bloggers have a great time, until my next post, Ta Ta For Now (TTFN)!!! :D

Pix:

My baby bell pepper after the flower petals fell off!

Veronika kicking back under a table in my office, She was kicking her little legs too it was so cute!

Playing with her new MegaBlocks kitchen set we got her! She has that "now what" look!!

My pretty Princess on April 2, 2011

Me! :D

Friday, April 1, 2011

2011-04-01T15:40:00.006-08:00

April is here already!! Sorry I didn't get my blog posted yesterday like I promised! Nothing much going on in this part of the world, all the same as in the last post. Let me see what I can write about... hmmmm......

I did get in my Scentsy April Warmer and Scent of the Month fliers in and the Rub & Smell stickers for the scent of the month - which is called Flutter - Drift to sleep as the subtle perfume of a moonlit spring garden flutter through an open window. Delicate orange blossoms and whipped almond cream float above a bed of bright lemon verbena, creating a dreamy fragrance, like a sweetheart's whisper in the night!! I think it smells a bit like an orange cremesicle!! And I can't explain how much I am loving last month's Scent Jumpin' Jelly Beans! My whole office smells like a fresh spring day!! I have my co-workers drooling over it!! I handed out most of the fliers to people here in Akutan and mailed some out to some of my frequent buyers! Below is a picture of this month's Warmer of the Month:

To purchase go to my website: http://www.aprilpelkey.scentsy.us/ and click on the buy tab! Also I did my Monthly Drawing for a brick of Scentsy (a $20 value) today, and the winner is Karen Vincler! Congratulations Karen! :D To enter my drawing all you have to do is make an order from my website and your name gets put into the pot. Each time you make an order you get another chance at winning!! Winners are picked on the 1st of the following month!

I am still trying to get pictures uploaded of Roni from the last couple months, I think I'll just post what I have now and keep trying to get more uploaded, plus pictures from her birthday! I can't believe how fast the year has already gone by, in 20 more days I'll be turning 28!!! :\ I still can't believe that I'm going to be 28... I remember 10 years ago when I thought 28 was getting kind of old, now that I'm here I don't think that anymore!! Gosh, it's still hard for me to believe that I'm going to be 28 and that my lil girl is already past the 1 year mark! The years, days, hours just seem to go by so quickly!!

My puppies are doing great - they love to chew and tear up everything and I'm happy as long as it's something they are allowed to chew and tear up - like their chew toys and everything else I got them! They are definately some spoiled pups that's for sure! Obedience training with them is a bit difficult, but I'm slowly getting them trained. I think I need to start getting them out of the house more and socializing with other people!! It's just hard to pick which ones I want to take with me, plus with it being cold out I rarely take them out... hopefully the weather warms up soon and I can start walking them around town! (on leash of course).

I have moved Roni to eating Gerber 3rd foods and she's eating a lot of what we eat now (minus all the junk food). She loves to sit with us at the table and eat at meal times! She's getting better with me brushing her teeth now too! Now just to start trying to wean her.... I feel that's going to be really hard on the both of us, emotionally and physically! She's getting so much better at running around, but she's hard headed about wanting to keep shoes on her feet! She'd much rather run around in just her socks or bear footed! Silly girl! When I go to Anchorage I'm going to get her pictures taken with a big number 1!! I'm excited, but I feel like I want to cry at the same time.... she's no longer a baby but a toddler!!!..... But we are trying for another baby, so hopefully sometime this year I get preggo again! One or two more and I'll be done having kids!! A family of 4-5 is big enough for me..... at least that's my thinking for now! I have hoarded up a bunch of 4t and size 4 clothes for Roni to grow into. I think I have to start getting size 5! She's still fitting some 18 month clothes and all of her 2T clothes and some 3T clothes. I can't believe how fast she's growing! She's just over 30in tall and weighing in around 30lbs!

I have been trying to diet and lose weight. Between P90X, yoga, belly dancing, Wii Fit, My Shape on Xbox 360 Kinect, and EA Sports on Xbox 360 Kinect I should be able to whip myself back into shape. I can admit I kind of stopped watching what I ate because I was eating for 2 this whole time (while I was preggo and while breastfeeding) but I think it's time to get my body back into shape before it gets too hard to do that! It's so hard to limit my food intake, cut down my soda intake and not to indulge on snack foods.... but I know in the end it will pay off and I hope to stick to my plan!! By the time I get my body the way I want it watch I'll be preggo again and gain most of it all back again :P

The weather has been slowing showing some signs of spring! I noticed that my grass in my yard is growing, some of the plants around town are sprouting little buds, and the thick beach grass is about an inch and half tall! My bell peppers are putting out flowers and my apple tree is just under 4 feet tall! I think I have to get all my plants transplanted into bigger containers. This weekend I will start all my seedlings, which include: jalepeno, red chili peppers, cucumbers, green onions, and an assortment of herbs and a bunch of assorted annual flowers! I hope to get flowers growing all over in my back yard! Give me something nice to look at when I look out my bedroom window! I am trying to get my hubby to make me hanging flower baskets for our porch and in front of our windows so I can put flowers in those. I don't think my strawberries survived in my old BBQ over the winter, they just got too cold because they are lifted up off the ground. The ones I planted near my parents are looking great though, because they are planted right into the ground! I'm excited to get my green thumb going!

Today the weather is pretty nice and calm. With the smallest breeze that will come along! The temps are hanging just under 40F during the day and still dipping around freezing at night. I heard we are supposed to be getting a really big storm, but it still hasn't made it's way here. Yesterday the weather forecast said it was supposed to blow 50MPH, but it was just as nice as it is today!! The plane made it in a couple times already, but I heard they changed their scheduled flights to an earlier flt in the morning and a later flight at night. But so far they have been coming in as scheduled with a couple "chartered" flights for some of the companies that are working here.

Other than that everything has been going pretty great here on the island! I can't wait for summer time to come - fishing and nice warm weather, hiking and going out in the skiff, picnics and relaxing outside with my family!! Summers tend to go way to fast around here though....

Ok well until next time have a great April Fool's Day bloggers!!!

March 29, 2011

2011-03-28T21:59:00.000-08:00

So yesterday was my lil girl's first birthday! Her party was great, lots of great people and great food! I'm happy that it all went off as good as it did! Now I can de-stress and look back at it as a great accomplishment!! The weather was a bit windy and cold but that didn't stop all the party go-ers from attending my lil Princess' first birthday party! We all had a great time, and even after all the cake and frosting Roni devoured she still made it to sleep on time last night!! She had fun opening her presents when we got home, she wasn't in the mood to open them at the party. A lot has been going on the past month since I last posted a blog. I was in Anchorage during the whole earthquake in Japan and the tsunami warning that they had to deal with here in Akutan. I had my hubby make him and the dogs an emergency bag with everything they would need for at least 5 days! I took my lil sister out to Benihana's for her birthday, we got all dressed up and had a great time with our daughters! I had training and was in Anchorage for a week, I actually made it up and back on my scheduled days, which doesn't really happen much around here! There still hasn't been much snow here... I bought a bunch of flower, vegetable and herb seeds to plant this spring and hopefully put outside once it gets warm. My bell peppers I started a month or so ago are putting out lil flowers/bell peppers and my apple tree is about 3.5ft tall!! The weather has been up and down all month... going a couple days of calm clear weather followed by the usual couple days of stormy weather. On the 19th we got hit with a really strong storm and actually made the news with our "hurricane" force winds. And here I was on the beach trying to get pictures of the huge waves we were actually getting in our bay!! The Airport project is coming along smoothly. I heard they hired some "sea otter" monitors (locals they trained) to count and keep track of the otter population so that they (the airport people and the project) doesn't impact the populations of otters. The boat harbor project is slowly getting started back up again also! They have it pretty torn up at the head of the bay. I'm still just proud of how Veronika was yesterday, she was just as happy as can be! I'm still trying to upload pix from the last couple months, then I'm going to try to post some pix from her party! I'm sorry I haven't been updating my blog as much as I want to.... just haven't been having time with getting everything caught up with in the office - especially since most of our time was spent getting the Shareholder's packets out for the annual meeting. That was a pain in the ass, but we got it done and out with. Talk about a waste of paper having to change everything out a couple times - with 86 packets to make sure have everything in them and the correct copies of everything... at least we got them done and out in the mail! Now to just wait for the proxy/ballots to come back to us! The Akutan Corporation Annual meeting is set for April 30, 2011! My puppies are getting bigger and getting into more mischief. I love them all to death though, they are just the cutest! I love how they get along with Veronika and how some of them love to nap next to her when she's napping, almost like they are keeping watch over her! She loves to run after them and chase them, then run from them as she lets them chase her, it's so cute!! By the way, yes she is up and running around, she's practically masted that in no time! Now she's all about trying to climb up stuff and jump off of it!! Scares the crap out of me but hey kids will be kids and she's just enjoying learning anything and everything she can!! Ok Bloggers, I promise I will get another post in before this month ends!! Take care and "see" you then!! And don't forget about the Monthly Drawings I'm having with my Scentsy business! For every order made in a calendar month, I will put your name into a drawing for a brick of your favorite Scentsy scent! (A $20 value!). To put your orders in go to: aprilpelkey.scentsy.us and click on the buy tab to place your orders! I love Scentsy and their scents! This month's scent of the month is called Jumpin Jelly Bean and I love how it smells!! So fruity and sweet! I can't wait to see what next month's scent smells like. The Warmer of the Month for next month is this really pretty light blue warmer with tiny white flowers adorning it!!

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

2011-03-01T13:51:00.006-09:00

Time is just flying by!! It's already March!! So much to do this month! My baby girl is going to be a year old already in 27 more days. I just can't believe how fast time has went by!! All the milestones my lil girl has acheived over the last 11 months makes me want to cry!! I told the hubby I think it's time to start trying for a lil brother or sister for Veronika!! I've been trying to upload pix but between blogger not letting me and our crappy internet connection it's taking forever to get done!!

I recieved the my order of stuff for Veronika's 1st birthday and realized I missed some crucial items that I needed to get so I ordered those and hopefully they get here in time! Another reason why it's good to order everything early in this part of the world! Always have to be prepared and order way a head of time due to where we are located and how our weather only lets us get so many flyable days - then we have to depend on the airlines to make sure they don't have too many people flying back and forth so we can expect space on the plane for the mail to make it in or go out!!

The weather has been just beautiful the last couple days, the suns been out, the water is flat calm and not a breeze in the sky! Our sun rises have been just breath taking - I got a picture I took yesterday which I hope to get posted! Awesome oranges, reds and pinks as the sun is rising - maybe just another sign that a storm is brewing up. We still haven't gotten any snow, but some mornings it gets cold enough for everything to get frost on it!

I sent home a bunch of flower, vegetable and herb seeds and see how those grow around my house this year! I made sure to get perennial flowers so I don't have to worry about replanting them again next year. I am also going to try to plant an apple tree out in front of my house, it's about 2.5ft tall now and I'm getting ready to transplant it once I find a bigger pot for it! I think I might order a new sprouting coconut palm tree to grow in my house. I had one before but I had some people watching my house and I guess they somehow fell on it and broke it and it died.... here I picked that one up in Hawaii back in 2007. I think I have to get my pineapples transplanted and see if those grow a pineapple or not! They have also been growing since 2007! I'm excited to see how my green thumb works out! :D

The airport project should be starting up this month. Everyone is supposed to be arriving here on the island around the 10th or so. I haven't noticed if any of their equipment has made it here yet though. But on the upside we'll be having a lot of people working and getting things moving in the right direction! I never thought I'd see us getting an airport for the village, I always joked not in my life time, but what do you know here we are getting one!! Going to be exciting!! I haven't heard anything on what's going on with our boat harbor lately, but they are working on the road from town to the head of the bay where the boat harbor is going to be located!

So today is the 1st day for the transition to the new Spring/Summer catalog from Scentsy. There are about 26 scents that have been discontinued and 25 new scents for everyone to enjoy!! Out of the new scents I really like Luna, Cherry Limeade, Go-Go-Goji, Honey, Do!, Sugar and Tea Party!!! There are also around 10 new large warmers, 4 new mid-size warmers and 3 new plug-in warmers! This seasons Charitable Cause warmer is called Piece by Piece, designed to represent the mission of Autism Speaks. 100% of the net proceeds from Piece by Piece will be donated directly to Autism Speaks!!! Also this season there are the new Grab Tabs for use in the plug-in warmers, which will let you chang out the wax in your Scentsy plug-ins!! I urge you to check out my website: aprilpelkey.scentsy.us to learn and purchase any of the Scentsy products!! I ensure you that you will love it as much as I do!!! The Scent of the Month is Jumping Jelly Beans - a scent with crisp pear and apple with zesty lemon and sugar!! Also March's Warmer of the Month is called Dotty -a sunny yellow glossy finish and white polka dots are bright and cheerful. The ruffled warmer dish adds a frilly accent like the trumpet on a daffodil. I totally love Scentsy!!!! I'd appreciate it if my fellow bloggers check out my website and learn more about the product and if you want to, buy from my website!

Other than Scentsy, working and taking care of my baby girl not much else is going on right now here on the island! Hopefully the next post will have more information on the airport project and the happenings around this part of the world!! Until then, TTFN!

Sunrise at 9:30AM Feb 28, 2011

Friday, February 25, 2010

2011-02-25T09:43:00.003-09:00

This month seemed to blow by pretty quick! I ordered almost everything I think I need to throw Veronika's 1st birthday party! I can't believe how fast she's growing! We went to Anchorage for a week for conferences I was attending. While we were up there she took her first steps for my sister Ivy while I was in the shower, then she did it again for my dad when I ran to taco bell to get something to eat! (I can admit I love Taco Bell tacos with lots and lots of Fire sauce!). I finally got to see my baby girl take some steps and I about cried! I can't believe she's going to be 11 months this coming Monday! She can say "mine" and point to things, she's getting really good at saying "bye" and waving when someone leaves or when we're leaving! She loves to be pushed around in a shopping cart and hates her car seat!! While in Anchorage she loved to play with her cousin Aaliyah, they were soo cute together!!

Weather wise it's been pretty warm here in the mid 30s to low 40's. Windy and foggy with some nice days once in a while. The plane has been making trips on the nice days, bringing in much needed mail and cargo! I've recieved almost all of my Scentsy orders, just waiting on payment from some people before I give them their order (I ordered it for them on my card). So far the people who did get their orders are in love with their products and are ready to make another order for more scents! I'm excited about the Spring/Summer scents and new products! I have passed out the new catalogs and I have the 25 new scent samples/testers here in my office for everyone to check out! They will be available starting March 1st! Until then there are 3 days left in this month to get most items 10% off. You can order from my website: aprilpelkey.scentsy.us I totally love Scentsy! I got Veronika and my neices each a Scentsy buddy with a scent pak! I hope my neices love it!! When I went to Anchorage I brought along a scent circle for my rental car and a travel tin to place in my sister's room that I was staying in! I love that I can bring it with me anywhere I go!! The hand sanitizer was great to have in my purse, I love that it doesn't smell like alcohol unlike most hand sanitizers!!

Nothing much going on around town right now, pretty soon it's going to be getting busy with all the airport people coming in and getting things started!! It's going to be exciting to see our airport finally being constructed, and going to be even more exciting once they finish it! Our run way is going to be aroun 5100 feet long (Dutch Harbor's is around 3500ft long)!! I'm hoping that we can get Alaska or Era to fly down here with bigger planes, it's going to be interesting that's for sure! There was a meeting last night for the naming of creeks for the road that is going to be put in from town to the boat harbor, that's located at the head of the bay. I wonder how that went I wasn't able to make it...

The Bayview Cafe is waiting for cooks to arrive so they can open back up here in Akutan. They've been closed for sometime now... Our original cooks, this really nice couple, are running the airport restaurant in Dutch Harbor and their parents are going to run the one over here - once they get a cook. Hurry up and wait I guess....

Well nothing much else to write about for now.... so until next time... ta ta for now!

Friday, February 4, 2011

2011-02-04T10:29:00.005-09:00

Well the last week seemed like it went by quickly!

The weather has been up and down, mostly up this week actually. Today its blowing out but the last couple days were nice enough for us to get our daily scheduled flights from Pen-Air. I've recived almost all of my Scentsy orders in and have been enjoying all the different scents in my wamer! I also got my starter kit in and have all the samples of all 80 scents set out in my office for everyone to come smell. I also have samples of all the other products available: scent circles, travel tins, Scentsy buddies, Scentsy scent pak, room sprays, hand sanitizer, a midsize and fullsize warmer, also the wax packs and bricks (for size comparison). I also have scent samples of January and February's scent of the month!

I'm looking forward to traveling sometime this month, conferences and what not. Gives me time to get some shopping done when I'm not in the conference! I've ordered all of Veronika's 1st birthday supplies now to just get her presents! I can't believe my baby girl is already going to be a year old! Just to think a year ago I was pregnant! I want to try to get pregnant again this year again! When it happens it'll happen though! I love having a baby, watching them grow and learn is just amazing! I still cry a bit when I look at some of the newborn clothes I saved and see how small they are!!!

Well I'm off to get my taxes done with and sent out! I'm still trying to upload pix... maybe I should just post them by month, cause I know I'm missing a lot of pix of Roni the last couple months! She's grown soo much since my last posting of her pix! After getting my taxes done I'll see if blogger will let me get some posted!

Ok well Bloggers I hope to be back on here later and updating you some more about the happenings here on The Rock!! Until then ta ta for now (TTFN)!!

Thursday, January 27, 2011

2011-01-27T15:21:00.002-09:00

Wow has it really been around a month since I last filled in my blog! OMG so much has happened since my last post! Let me see where to start……

So Veronika was a great lil girl on New Years, watching me go out and “ring” in the New Year my shooting off some shells in my 12ga shot gun every hr starting at 9PM. Just after midnight she fell right asleep. She doesn’t really stay up late but it’s like she new to stay up that night! I’ve been trying to get pix of her uploaded from the last couple months, but blogger has been being a pain in the you know what, not to mention how reliable the internet is!

On January 7-9, we celebrated Russian Christmas, another 1st for Veronika! We went starring at people’s houses and ate lots of great food! It was such a blast, I am happy I’m able to share moment like that with her!

We still haven’t really gotten any snow yet this winter, lots of rain and wind… makes me miss my childhood days when we’d get like 10+ feet of snow! I mean it gets cold some days, but the wind blows away any snow we might get, then another storm will blow thru bringing warm temps and rain. Today it’s blowing a constant 40-45MPH, gusting up to 65+MPH with a temp of 44F! There are like 10ft seas in our harbor, with a bunch of boats taking refuge in our harbor. I don’t want to know what the weather and seas look like outside of our harbor if it’s this bad in it!!

I have recently become a consultant for Scentsy products! I love their wickless candles and the 80+ scents you can use in the wax warmers! I have a full size warmer and 2 plug in warmers at my house and a mid size warmer in my office!! I have absolutely fallen in love with their products!! My house and office smell soooo good! You can check out and order their products from my website: www.aprilpelkey.scentsy.us I am still waiting for my starter kit to come in with the 80 scent samples so I can throw a “Scentsy party “ and share the product with everyone else here in Akutan! I hope they love it as much as I do and get hooked on it! Some of the scents I’ve fallen in LOVE with are: Blueberry cheese cake, paradise punch, sun kissed citrus, citrus sun tea, coconut lemongrass, reggae sunset, pumpkin roll, sugar cookie, black raspberry vanilla – just to name a few! I’m still trying out new scents, OMG some of them are soooo yummy smelling! I encourage all of my blog readers to check out my website and get to know the product and hopefully buy from my site! I know you’ll love it as much as I do!!

The puppies are going to be 3 months old tomorrow, already! My parents had to give me back the one they were taking because their male Australian terrier was too aggressive towards her. She’s the runt of the pack, but I love having her back. I just love having all my Chihuahuas to go home to! They all have great personalities and couldn’t be any cuter! And they are just great with Veronika, she loves to play with them and hand them toys and pet them (all supervised of course!) Once in a while she’ll grab one by the ear or tail but they seem to tolerate her abuse and will just lick her.

So speaking of my lil Princess, she will be 10 months old tomorrow; she’s weighing in around 29lbs and still around 30in tall. She’s all about standing up on her own now and “cruising” on anything she can hold on to! I’ve baby proofed the house – installing cupboard latches, plugging outlets and got the door knob “locks” on (its this thing that goes over the knob and you have to press these like button things on both sides and squeeze so it grabs the door knob so you can open it) I’ve also went thru on my hands and knees and removed anything that she could pull down onto herself. She gets around really good! She’s fitting 2T clothes, soon to be in 3T clothes and she’s officially in size 5 diapers! I can’t believe how fast the last 10 months have gone by, pretty soon Roni will be celebrating her 1st birthday!! I’m ready to start trying for another baby!

On a sad note, last week Saturday the 22 we lost the oldest person in Akutan, my great uncle George McGlashan, who lived a great 84 yrs! He married my hubby’s grandma and helped to raise her children, so my hubby had him for a grandpa all his life. It is really sad to lose him; we had his burial at 2pm this last Monday. He will be greatly missed by all of us. My sincere sympathy goes out to my in-laws – my hubby’s parents have been closest to and taken care of George for the longest time. I know it’s going to be hard for them to get used to him not being around anymore. I’m happy that he was at least able to meet Veronika and be in her life the last 10 months! Veronika is and always will be his BOSS!

Everything at the Corporation has been going smoothly, but kind of slow this time of the year. The internet went out for a week last week; I ended up getting a lot of stuff done! I even shampoo-ed the carpets here in the office! The Airport project should be starting up in March, that’s exciting! I haven’t heard much on the boat harbor project, but we had some people here to survey the road that’s supposed to go from town to the boat harbor. That will be interesting to see how they want to go about doing that!

Oh my hubby finished his second model of the tug Gyrfalcon, which he gave to the 1st mate Paul H. He’s being making that tug for the last couple years, and it turned out great! Hopefully I can get some pictures of it posted, when blogger lets me get my pix up! I am proud of all the hard work he did on it and how it turned out! He really likes to pay attention to the smallest details and make sure everything looks good on it, I tell him it’s his OCD that gets the best of him sometimes!

Let me see what else has been going on…. I still can’t believe the 1st month of this year is already going to be over with!! Pretty soon it’s going to be Valentine’s day next month, then Veronika’s birthday in March, then my birthday in April, and then my hubby’s birthday in May, then summer time, and time to put away salmon and halibut…. I swear the years are going by way too fast! I will be turning a young age of 28 this year, already! I remember when I was 17-18 and thinking that 28 was “old”…. Now that I’m at that age I don’t feel old!!

Ok well I’m going to try to get my pix uploaded from the last couple months to the ones I’ve recently taken!! Until next time TTFN!! Hopefully I don’t wait another month to update my blog! I’m sorry it’s taken me forever to get back on here!!

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

2010-12-29T13:36:00.003-09:00

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, 2010

2010-12-16T13:37:00.003-09:00

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)!!

2010-12-01T15:34:00.001-09:00

Contest details

Monday, November 29, 2010

2010-11-29T14:04:00.004-09:00

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, Novembe 16, 2010

2010-11-16T00:42:00.000-09:00

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, 2010

2010-11-02T16:16:00.002-08:00

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, 2010

2010-10-15T17:01:00.003-08:00

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, 2010

2010-09-17T13:59:00.002-08:00

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!!

Veronika Raelene - July & August Pix

2010-08-30T19:23:00.000-08:00

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 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 - 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 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...

Monday, August 30, 2010

2010-08-30T14:41:00.006-08:00

So it's been a week since the plane last came in! I heard we got lots of mail that came in today. I got a couple CODs my hubby send down from Wal-Mart. We are replacing all our glassware with BPA-free plastic cups so that when Roni is old enough to start drinking from cups we don't have any that she can break. Trying to think ahead! :)

On Saturday the 28th we went ahead of the bay and caught 30 humpies out of the creek for drying. That was fun to go up there, it was calm but super foggy. I ended up getting soaked chasing fish down to where my hubby was snagging them out of the creek. I had lots of fun though! Roni was probably wondering what we were doing, I kept telling her we were fishing and showing her the fish. She's such a sweetie! She didn't fuss or anything, but after we got home she fell right asleep. I figured she got a good amount of fresh air and got worn out watching us run around. My mom and Aunty came along too, they watched Roni for us while they picked berries and watched us in the creek! Happy to get fish to put away for the winter! Now to look after them and clean the fly eggs off them so they can dry up and be put away in my freezer! We now have 40 on our dry rack! My hubby went up the day before and ended up getting 10 of them.

Our female chihuahua is in heat. I'm hoping to breed her once and get some puppies from her before I get her fixed. All my dogs are registered and fully papered! I'm excited! So we'll see how that goes along. If she does have puppies I want to keep one and maybe sell the rest for 300 with papers... we'll see though.... after she has a set of puppies I plan on getting her fixed.

I still can't believe it's been a week exactly since the last flyable day, but then again it is Fogust... The state ferry Tustemena should be back here this coming weekend. I don't plan on going on any more ferry rides this year! I should have everything I need for now until we go down to Seattle next month.

I surprised my hubby with a new 160GB iPod for our anniversary! It just finally came in the mail! He's super happy, excited - like a little kid in a candy store! His last one was a 60GB from when iPods first came out and it finally stopped working a couple months ago. It makes these weird sounds inside it.... and instead of paying $200.00 to get it serviced - I figured I'd just order him a new one!! I engraved it "To the one I love, from your wife and baby girl!" Ohhh I wish I had the camera when he opened it! I swear his smile couldn't get any bigger!! It makes me fall in love with him all over again sometimes when I see that happy-excited smile on his face. Reminds me the day I told him we were pregnant, and the day I asked him to marry me, and the day I asked him to go steady! I love him soooo much!!! <3 Veronika is weighing in around 22lbs today (I weighed her at the post office on their scale). I didn't get to measure how long she is now though. She's starting to learn how to roll over from her tummy to her back - hasn't mastered it but is getting the idea! She still loves to play with her feet and always seems to be saying "agooo". She loves when I play peek-a-boo with her, she absolutely loves her "Jenny Jump Up"! I got her watching cartoons, mostly the ones I like - SpongeBob Squarepants, Looney Toons, all Disney cartoons, Care Bears, Rainbow Brite, Gummi Bears, Jetsons. I think she just likes to see all the colors on the tv, pretty soon she'll learn what they are. I need to invest in some Baby Einstein and Dora the Explorer DVDs....

I really can't believe how fast this month as blown by! Its been 5 weeks since our church wedding! Veronika is now 5 months old.... where is time going? Today was the 1st day of school for our kids here on the island. Hope they all do well and get awesome grades!

Geothermal has wrapped up and they are all done doing what they were doing. The boat harbor people left for a bit, but they should be returning here soon. Today is the last day for the cafe to be open for now, the cooks are going back to Dutch Harbor. So it's slowing down a bit here on the island. Still mass people at the cannery though. Our office phones are finally working again, the ACS phone guy snuck in and got everything back in order! Thank goodness. We should be having a Doctor coming down next month to do check-ups on everyone. I'm waiting for them to get vaccinations so Roni can get caught up with all her shots. She's due for her 4 month vaccinations, but the power went out at the clinic and they didn't have a back-up generator and they ended up losing all their refrigerated items (meds, vaccinations and what not). So I had to wait to get her shots done.... I'm hoping to get her 6 months shots done in Anchorage before we fly back home from our trip.

The weather is cooling off, not many sunny days (not like we had that many this year anyways). Temps holding in the low to mid 50's during the day and dipping into the low to mid 40's at night. Pretty soon we will be having our first freeze. Oh we went berry picking the other day. I was having fun telling Veronika what we were doing and what berries were what. The moss berries are still small and the blue berries are tart. The blueberries usually sweeten up after the first frost. The salmonberries are hard to find this year. It seemed like everything started to grow a little late this year.... the fire weed is already blooming (the 1st sign that fall is here). All the Pink salmon are in the creek and the silver salmon are showing up (another sign fall is here). Pretty soon the island will go back to being this dead grass brown color.... Wish summer could have lasted longer....

I have finally got all the pix of Veronika uploaded, now to label them all...... I have a bunch from last month and this month to share! I can't believe how fast babies grow.... what happened to my little 7lb baby?!?!?!

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

Friday, August 20, 2010

2010-08-20T13:08:00.002-08:00

Well what a way to wake up. At 8:40AM today, we experience a 5.3 magnatude with the epicenter being 15 miles West of the village. Shook my house pretty good. My brother-in-law who is working with the geothermal crew cracked a good joke about it. He said "Our drill must have hit the spot!" I couldn't stop laughing after he said that!

Here is link to the USGS earthquake information web site: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsus/Quakes/us2010aebb.php
On their home page they allow you to see all the earthquakes in the US and around the globe, with information showing how big they were, what time and date and what cities it was closest too. Hope you enjoy the link!

Have a great Friday everyone. The ferry Tustemena comes in tonight for it's trip to Dutch then heading back up to Homer. We've taken the last 6 ferries but we're not heading over on this one! Looking forward to our trip to Seattle next month though!!

I have lots of pix of Veronika to share from last month and this month. Once I get them all uploaded I will be sure to get them posted to the blog!! Until next time TTFN!

Thrusday, August 19, 2010

2010-08-19T15:27:00.001-08:00

Not much has happened in the past week. My hubby made it home from his one week in Anchorage, where he had lots of dental work done and finished the week off by going to the Snoop Dogg concert the day before flying home and getting stuck in Dutch Harbor for day and half before catching a boat ride home (he got back around 2AM). I mean the weather was nice enough to fly... but Nooooo the airlines decides to wait and cancels for the day saying the breeze was too much, but yet they made a flight earlier that same day my hubby was flying back from Anchorage. Oh well at least he was able to find a boat and make it home! Then the weather, which was supposed to be blowing like 35MPH, decided to die down and we got a couple flights the next day after he already took a boat. Oh well saves us his ticket to use for another time!

In the past week we had 2 flyable days and got 3 flights in. I am waiting for my new pair of DC shoes to come in! I'm due for new shoes, I've had these ones for a couple years now!

My hubby picked up a bunch of cute 12 and 18 month clothes for Veronika. He has some good taste in clothes, which surprised me. I love all the sets he brought home for Veronika!! She's fitting 12 month clothes now, 9 months is getting pretty tight on her. Next week I'll get her weighed and measured for her records! She's such a big beautiful baby and I love her so much. She's into giggling now and getting a bit tickle-ish!! I love her little giggles! On Friday the 13th she mastered rolling over from her back to her tummy, but hasn't quite figured out how to roll back over to her back yet. More tummy time for her!!

So I got like 15 humpies from the Shangins the other week and hung them to dry. They are almost ready to put away in my freezer!! And guess what?!?! So I was putting clothes away in Roni's hamper and I heard this noise on my dry rack located just infront of my house connected to my porch. I thought "damn cats" and ran to the window to see what was getting into my fish. Usually the stray cats will climb up and help themselves to my fish... but what I saw totally surprised me. Here were two pitch black ravens fighing over my fish!! I ran out to scare them away and one decided to grab a fish and fly off with it, leaving me 14 on my rack. In the 5 years that I've had my dry rack and been drying fish this was the first time having to deal with those damn birds! I thought it was kind of funny, but I was mad at the same time... all that work to get them cleaned and dried just to have a raven take one! I think today I'll put them in my freezer!

Oh did I mention on the last ferry I got hooked up with the Alaska Wireless unlimited plan (cell phones)?!?! I've been loving it, especially when my hubby was gone for 10 days. I swear we would have been burning thru money if we were using the prepay plan!! I love the new phone I got too, I think it's a Samsung GT-B3310. I like how it works and I love the slide out texting keyboard!! I also like how many pictures and video I can store on the memory card it accepts!! Makes capturing moments with my baby girl that much easier when I don't have my digital camera on me!! Its a 2 megapixel camera, not as great as my 10.1 megapixel Olympus, but it gets the job done when needed!!

The weather has been hanging out in the mid to high 50's lately. Feels a lot warmer than it's been most of the summer. The salmonberries are slowly starting to ripen. I had my first couple on my walk home the other day!! Time to get up on the hill and see how the blueberries and mossberries are progressing. Hopefully get to enjoy a mossberry pie here soon. I have to some how get more fish to try to get dried up and some for my freezer, get out and get some salmonberries and get those individually frozen. I like to get enough to share with my younger sister Ivy!

The wind has been blowing pretty good here all summer... we get a couple nice days but they are usually foggy. Typical for this time of the year but not typical for all of summer!! This time of the year I consider Fogust. Pretty soon all the flowers and plants on the island will start dying off and turning brown. The fireweed is starting to bloom, which around here is the first signal of Fall around the corner... something I'm not looking forward to... wish summers around here can last longer... I never even got to go out subsitance halibut fishing (jigging) with my handline this year, that will make this year 2 of not making it out on the water. Last year the hubby wouldn't let me go in a skiff because I was pregnant, and this year because I can't be away from my baby for long periods since she won't take a bottle and I don't want to take her out with us for fear of getting her too cold! So maybe next year, hopefully!!

The people putting in the new electric lines are getting ready to head down to the end of town I live in. It's going to make it difficult with there being no room to put a detour road down that way and they are going to have to remove the boardwalk in places to get the new line placed... hopefully they can get it done quickly. I'm not looking forward to when they dig up my yard... hopefully they can do it nicely and get my grass laid back down nicely so it doesn't look all crapy... but I've seen what they've done around town already and doubt that it will look as nice as it does now... That's going to take a couple years for it to even back out and look nice again... oh well... gotta get the new lines put in so I can't complain too much. They have cut the power out for a couple hours 2 days in a row while they dug around some of the existing lines.

I heard the Geothermal project is going to start to clean up and get ready to de-mobilize here soon. At least a couple week left with them doing their thing. I haven't heard too much of what is going on over there. Guess I have to be nosey and start asking. I also don't know the progress of the boat harbor ahead of the bay. Both crews have been working hard to get their projects finished.

The Cattle Co has been working hard too the last couple weeks. Getting all their supplies over to Akun, including a cement mixer and all the stuff to make cement. I heard they are going to get a warehouse set up out there, maybe even a slaughter house... So there has been alot of work being done on both islands. Pretty exciting to see all the improvements being made around here!

There's been a little quarrel going on over the open apartment in Aleutian Housing Authority's 4plex (on the hill I call it). They have one unit open and we have 2 people trying their best to get it. I wish the best to them both since they both deserve it. AHA will be making their decision here soon, good luck to the both of them! I know some people are trying to argue and make a big deal out of it, whoever gets it gets it, no need to start un-needed drama in this little town!

Ok well hopefully I'll get time to update next week what's going on in this part of the world! And I will try to get some new pix of Veronika uploaded (since I have posted any of her in July and this month)and some pix of stuff around town. Ok well until next time TTFN!!

Thursday, August 12, 2010

2010-08-12T10:57:00.005-08:00

Well the last couple days have been feeling fall-like. The humpies (pink) salmon are in the bay, Josy and Tim Shangin got a whole bunch the other night and I was able to get 15 off them to dry! Thanks alot!

The weather has been pretty foggy most the time, usual for this time of the year. The plane makes 2 flights or more on days that are flyable, usually only 1-2 days a week if the weather permits. The island is slowly turning brown once again and the berries are starting to ripen up. I heard some people have been getting some nice ripe salmonberries... I guss I should wrap Roni up and head up the hill here soon.

My hubby went to Anchorage on the last ferry to get some dental work done. The enamel on two of his front teeth broke off near the gums, so I made his reservations to go up and get them fixed. I feel so fortunate that we are Alaska Native and get free dental/health care. Just another reason to love this great state! He went to his first AFC (Alaska Fighting Championship) last night and enjoyed it! I can't wait for him to get home, thanks a lot to my Sister Ivy for letting him stay with her!

The island has been pretty busy with all the crews here doing work. We have the boat harbor crew (Knik Construction), the crew putting in new power lines (Marsh Creek), and the geothermal crew working with the City.

The Geothermal crew are drilling over in Hot Springs Bay to see what and if we can make/use geothermal power. They have a helicopter that transports the crew back and forth from the village to the camp site. I heard they have a pretty good set up with sleeping quarters, a kitchen/galley, a wash room with shower and washer and dryers, generators for power (Mind that these are all in tents) and a cute outhouse. We have a couple people from town who are working with them, they go over for 3 days at a time doing "swap" outs. They are working 24/7. I heard some people are getting helicopter rides over to see the camp site. Wish I could go but I wouldn't bring my Veronika in a helicopter with her being so young, I'd feel uncomfortable with her being in it.

The restaurant finally opened back up on Monday the 9th. I heard they are going to be open year round, finally!! I had my usual French dip the other day!! Yum yum! I know the people from the cannery are happy they are open again. They have a new buffet set up, takes away some of the limited seating they had, but they have a pretty good selection of oriental food to choose from! :)

My in-laws celebrated their 28th Anniversary on the 9th also. We got them a bottle of Korbel Brut champange to celebrate with. We picked it up in Dutch Habor when we went over on the ferry, which came in on the 7th. The ferry will make round trip runs from Homer to Dutch Harbor every 2 weeks, stopping in various towns on the way down and up. They usually get here around 5AM, takes about a 4hr trip to Dutch Harbor then leaves Dutch around 4PM and gets back here around 7:30-8PM and stays for like 30-45 mins before heading back North. Veronika has rode the ferry roundtrip (5 total) since they first came down on June 26, 2010! It costs $31.00 one way between Akutan and Dutch Harbor. State rooms start at $24 for a 2 berth room with no facilities and $37 for a 4 berth with facilities, both one way.

Well the sun decided to come out today. Its about 58F outside today, a lot warmer than the 49 we had the other day!!

Well when/if I get more time I'll make sure to update my blog if there is anything else happening! TTFN!!

My church wedding on July 25, 2010

2010-08-06T15:32:00.000-08:00

Well the love of my life Demetri "Boy" Tcheripanoff Jr and I got married on July 25, 2010 in our church, the St. Alexander Nevsky Orthodox Church (Russian Orthodox). It was a great day to have a wedding, the weather was nice out and I would say that almost everyone in town showed up. I even had a friend (AJ) from Nikolski, AK who was able to make it here for the wedding!

We had the honor to be married by Father Andrew Kashevarof. I would love to express all my greatfulness to him for being able to perform our marriage ceremony!

I would also like to thank our Tribal Office for letting us use their office building for our reception/potluck! Thanks also to my cousin Kay and in-laws and Trident Church for the food they brought and many many thanks to my mother Vera who did almost all the cooking herself (except for the potato salad, halibut chowder and jello that I made). I love my momma lots for going out of her way to help as much as she did!! I don't know what I would have done without her!!

The wedding ceremony was at 2PM on Sunday, July 25, 2010. I announced on the VHF radio that the time was changed from 3:30 to 2, but I guess some people didn't hear my announcement and ended up missing the whole wedding ceremony, to those of you who didn't make it I'm so sorry no one informed you of the time change. Our original date was supposed to be on August 14, 2010 but Father Kashevarof wasn't able to make it here during that time so we had to reschedule to a time that was good for both of us, so that's why our date was moved up to July 25.

Below are pix from our special day. I hope you enjoy them!! :)

PS. captions are posted under the pic :)

Texting me wondering where I was!

Walking out of my parents house where I was getting ready...

Walking up to the church with my dad Hugh,

My maid of honor my Sister Ivy and niece Aaliyah

Making our way to the church with my family

My dad ready to hand me off to my hubby!

Crowns, Holy Gospel, Cross and cup with wine.

My hubby and his best man, his brother John

First time getting to see each other dressed up!!

The left side of the church

Right side of the church

Igg (one of out crown holders), us, and my dad

with Veronika in the church entry way.

Exchanging the rings

vows

Standing on my Krusnamoms scarf (She passed away in 1997,

I felt honored to be standing on her scarf!)

Standing on my Krusnamoms scarf (She passed away in 1997,
I felt honored to be standing on her scarf!)

The crowns being held over our heads.

Crown holders, father and us

(Iggy holding Boy's crown and AJ holding mine)

Crown holders and us
(Iggy holding Boy's crown and AJ holding mine)

Crown holders, father and us
(Iggy holding Boy's crown and AJ holding mine)

wedding ceremony

Drinking wine

(gee I didn't know it was strong wine from my sister Shannon)

Drinking wine

walking around inside the church 3 times.

cheesing for the camera :)

Almost done, Father smiling at us

Kissing the crown held above his head.

Me kissing the crown head above my head.

Listening to advise from Father Kashevarof

Walking to the front part for our 1st kiss as a married couple

You may now kiss the bride!

You may now kiss the bride!

Our moms and Veronika.
My mom Vera on the left, my mother-in-law Alice on the right

My lil family with the Icons the Church gave us.

Our Families!

Our Families!

Us with our parents

The top of our church

Walking out of the Church as man and wife,

getting bombarded with rice

Showers of rice!!

Kissing while still getting showered in rice

Giggling about all the rice

Newly weds - Demetri Jr and Me

Shaking rice from my hair

Laughing about being showered in rice!

Everyone getting ready to go to the reception

All done throwing rice at us!

Time to go eat!!!

Walking down the boardwalk to the reception

Walking down the boardwalk to the reception,

while still shaking rice from my hair!

Walking down the boardwalk to the reception

Time to throw the bouquet!!

Making sure all the girls are ready to catch the bouquet

Throwing of the bouquet

Catching of the bouquet

Yay, Congrats Janene for catching it!!

Getting ready to get the garter to toss it to the guys

Getting under my dress to retrieve the garter

Laughing hard at him

Pulling it off my leg now...

Ok got the garter!

Asking how he should toss it... me showing him a way...

He decided to just toss it...

look at the guys keeping their eye on the prize!

Jumping to get it.....

Yay, congrats Darren for catching the garter!!

Us and Father Kashevarof at the reception/potluck

Blessing of the food!

Waiting to eat....

Getting in line to get their grub on!

Getting ready to toast to the newly weds,

filling champagne flutes (I had sparkling apple cider)

The best man DJ filling glasses for everyone

Maid of Honor Speech

Best Man Speech

Us drinking to the toast!

Yay!!

My hubby and Father-in-law Demetri Sr

(I love this picture of them!)

Pulling the jello shots out!

Filling punch (Pineapple/OJ and Vodka) glasses,

handing out jello shots and re-filling champagne flutes

to the adults!

My bouquet and icons from the church

The Cakes I slaved over all day Friday!! I love how they turned out!!
Chocolate cake on bottom, cherries in the center, white cake on top, covered in homemade butter cream frosting and covered in vanilla fondant!! With pink edible ribbon, real roses and our acrylic cake topper with our names enscribed on it!
Don't they look awesome! My first time using fonant!

Cake topper

Roses on the other cakes

Cutting of the cake!

Feeding each other cake!

Our cake with some roses

Money, money money!! Always the best gift!

My hubby and his parents - Demetri Sr and Alice

My family with my hubby's family

My cute lil family!

Us with our mothers

Best Man DJ, my hubby, me and my Maid of Honor Ivy

Us with the bay behind us

Kisses!! Us with the bay behind us

I love this shot!!

I would like to thank: AJ, Sandra, Lydia, my sister Ivy,

my mother-in-law Alice and everyone else that

took pictures for us and let me "steal" them!!

Again many thanks to those of you who helped us, gave us gifts/cards,

and of course to everyone who shared our special day with us!! <3

Thursday, August 5, 2010

2010-08-05T16:18:00.004-08:00

I'm still uploading pix from the wedding, hope to have them posted here soon

I can't believe how fast August snuck up on us.... that only means summer is coming to an end here soon and Fall will be upon us...

It's been the usual Fogust (foggy) the last couple weeks, clearing up for a day to let the plane come in with tons of mail... people have been getting to and from the island via boats - thank goodness Trident has boats going back and forth.

The state ferry Tustemena is due in again this weekend. We are all going for the ride once again, my hubby has to go to Anchorage to get some dental work done and he wants to attend a concert before coming back home.

I am missing my sisters and nieces... they made it out on a boat and made it back to Anchorage later that same day.... It was soo good to have them back home for a bit! Its been a while since we've all been home together like that.

Veronika is officially 18 lbs 7 oz and 25 3/4 in long. Fitting size 3 diapers and 6-9 and 9 month clothes. Babies grow so fast!! I cherish every moment I have with her and look forward to having another already!! I take her down to Seattle next month to meet my grandma, her great-grandma Lillian. I can't wait I'm excited about that. I'm tagging along with my dad while he goes to meetings... the hubby and I made an agreement that we won't travel together since it's have to find dependable people to house/dog sit for us. Kind of sucks but at least we know our pups are being taken care of if one of us stays home. Next year will be a differnet story when we go out for our "honey moon" to either Hawaii or Los Angeles. I will have to search around and see who we can find to watch our pups, birds, fish and house.... hopefully someone who we can depend on.... we'll see about it though....

Well I just wanted to get on and say hello to everyone. Wedding pix will be up hopefully soon!! Take care everyone!! TTFN..

Sunday, August 1, 2010

2010-08-01T12:30:00.002-08:00

When blogger lets me I'll get pix of the wedding posted. We had an awesome day with family and friends!! This week has gone by so quick, I'm sad to see my sisters leave but they have to get back to work. It was great to have all 3 of our girls together!!

Yesterday we celebrated Nathan Vincler's 3rd birthday! We have so many little kids here in Akutan once again!! They all had a blast, we tried to get a picture of all of us parents with all the kids before everyone headed home for the day. Yesterday was the nicest day we've had all week since the wedding!!

Well I hope all is great with everyone! I'll hope to get my blog updated by tomorrow!

TTFN!!!

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

2010-07-20T15:48:00.002-08:00

Time has just been flying by!! I can't believe how fast the last 15 days have flown by!! Our wedding is already this Sunday the 25th. I believe I have everything we need, I'm so excited to have my sisters and neices coming in! I will be going over on the ferry to pick them up. This will be Veronika's 3rd ferry trip!!

The weather has been warming up finally, getting in the mid to high 50's during the day and right around 50 at night. We've been having lots of summer fog to! The island is really green and all the flowers are finally in bloom! Not much longer and we'll be on the hills picking berries!!!

The red salmon didn't really show up again this year, pretty slow picking on them... some people got some in their nets but only enough for their stash. I got one and tried to dry it only to have a cat get into my dry rack and eat most of it and a fox ate the rest of what fell on the ground... oh well.. I was hoping to get at least 5 to salt and a couple more to freeze.... looks like I'll be drying pinks again this year.

Well I hope all is great out there in Blogger world! I'll make sure to update my blog with wedding pix and pix from our ferry trip to pick up my sisters! Much love to you all out there!! Take care and until next time TTFN!

Monday, July 5, 2010

2010-07-05T14:23:00.003-08:00

Veronika loved the fireworks last night! Made me so proud and happy to watch her smiling and looking up at all the pretty colors blasting across the night sky! 4th of July festivities were a blast yesterday! There was lots of great food and games played at the school gym. The weather for us wasn't the best during the day but cleared up and dried up for the fireworks show, which lasted about an hour! We ended up having foggy mist in the AM and early afternoon, so most of all the games were played in the school gym instead of at the ball field.

Sarah B kept her status as the fastest pie eater out of the kids division, Carmen B killed it in the watermelon eating contest- there was the 3-legged race, dizzy lizzy, pop the balloon (where a balloon is tied to your leg and you try to be the last one with an intact balloon), musical chairs was super funny to watch, along with some other games that were played. All in all it was a great day other than the misty fog we dealt with early in the day.

My hubby is out halibut fishing with my dad and brother, but they stayed in yesterday to enjoy the festivities, but they headed out early this morning.

I'm going to take Veronika on her first picnic ahead of the bay. I will make sure to take pix and try to get them uploaded! I just wanted to get on really quick to say hello and update a bit of what went on yesterday :) I hope everyone enjoyed their Independence day and kept it safe!

Take care and TTFN

My lil Veronika Raelene

2010-07-01T15:56:00.000-08:00

Wow has it really been 2 months since I last posted pix of Roni??? Time goes by too fast. The first couple are out of order - I didn't want to try to move them around. But they are all labled. Hope you all like! She's growing so fast!

May 8, 2010 - Both our hands

May 4, 2010 - winking and smiling at the camera,
my first pic of her actually smiling!

May 2, 2010 - All bundled up in her Pooh suit

May 2, 2010 - in her cute Minny mouse outfit

May 3, 2010 - Daddy's little girl

May 5, 2010 - Just so loveable!

May 5, 2010 - sucking her thumb

May 5, 2010 - I love this pic, she looks so small
compared to now @ 3 months old

May 5, 2010 - Kooka burping her

May 5, 2010 - with her Kooka Alice as her Grandpa Demetri sang to her

May 5, 2010 - with her uncle John on his 24th bday
May 6, 2010 - with my mom, her grandma Vera

May 7, 2010 - laying in her bassinet she got from her krusna-mom

May 8, 2010 - I think she really likes to get her
diaper changed she always smiles so big!

May 8, 2010 - I love this pix!

May 8, 2010- I love how it looks like she's pointing
to something and "asking" whats that'?

May 9, 2010 - Dressed up for Mother's Day

May 14, 2010 - Looking cute for her daddy's 27th bday

May 19, 2010 - all passed out, so cute!

May 20, 2010 - Chilling in her hat and hoody

May 21, 2010 - catching her smiling away

May 22, 2010

May 22, 2010 - sweet little feet and toes

May 22, 2010 - HA HA HA me seeing what Veronika
would look like with longer hair using my hair

May 22, 2010

May 27. 2010 - with my dad, her Papa Hugh in the
outfit I got from my grandma Lillian, my dad's mom

May 31, 2010 - Watching her daddy change her diaper, so cute!

Baptism/Christening - June 10, 2010

With her Kooka Alice, Grandpa Demetri Sr and her daddy

Krusna mom Kay holding Roni in church

Proud Kursna's Iggy & Kay, thats Natasha on the left (Kay's little girl)

Father Kashevarof putting oils on her feet

Looking cute with her Krusna-mom Kay

Getting dunked in holy water

Clipping her hair

She got mad, as you can see

Proud Krusna's (god parents)

June 5, 2010

Veronika and me on June 5, 2010

June 6, 2010

Veronika's 1st boat ride on the ferry from Akutan to Dutch and back on June 26, 2010

Waiting in line to pick up our tickest and pay for our ATV & trailer

All interested in her "bugs" hanging from her car seat.

With her daddy in our stateroom

Smiling big as she's getting her diaper changed

Holding her up near the plaque in the lobby of the ferry

Roni with the Tustumena behind her.

Here we are with Dutch Harbor in the background

With me near the big painting of the AK Flag on the ferry

Watching her daddy eat a halibut burger on the ferry

Veronika with Akutan in the background, coming back home from Dutch Harbor

1st time eating baby rice cereal - June 27, 2010

June 28, 2010

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

2010-06-30T17:08:00.000-08:00

Well it’s already the end of June… I don’t know how the year is just blowing by so fast… The island is finally starting to turn green, the salmonberry bushes are flowering, my strawberries planted in my old bbq are starting to flower, and the putchky’s are ready to be picked and eaten! Seems pretty mild this summer, temps hanging in the mid to high 40’s with the usual fog in the AM’s. Some days the sky is clear and the sun comes out warming us up into the 50s and sometimes 60s, but that’s only like maybe 2 times a month in the last 2 months… Not too many bees this year… been looking for them and only see a couple here and there… not like they used to be. I really wonder what is happening with the bees and why they are disappearing like they are??

We went over on the state ferry Tustemena on Saturday the 26th. Went over to pick up some stuff for our store and to hoard up some champagne for the wedding. So far I got 10 bottles of bubble and one bottle of sparkling cider (for myself). I got our favors in and the cute little satin bags with our names and date on it for the favors. I got my cake stand in and my cake pans! I am thinking of having chocolate cake in the big one with cherries in the center, yellow or white cake colored pink with salmonberries in the center, and maybe a carrot cake for my smallest tier all covered in white frosting with a pink ribbon wrapped around the bases. Nothing too fancy, as long as it looks good and taste just as great! I am planning on making my own cake I can’t wait. Too bad I can’t get any white fondant to wrap the cakes in to give them that perfect smooth look… maybe I’ll look online and see if I can order some or something... if not regular butter cream frosting will have to do. J On the next ferry I will start to pick up stuff for the potluck/reception and the ferry after that to meet up with my sisters and “bring” them home with me! We had a great time in Dutch Harbor for the day. That was Roni’s first boat ride!! She did great over and back! I enjoyed a great tasting burger with sweet potato fries at the Harbor Café!! Thanks to CB for introducing me to those fries, I love them!! Speaking of CB, it was great to have him finally meet my little Veronika!! We stopped by the hotel and spent some time with him! He bought Roni this cute blue and green dog that she was fascinated with, she loves it thank you!

I’ve been trying to upload pix of Veronika to share with everyone. I can’t believe it’s been over 2 months since I last posted pix of her! Time goes by way too fast! Before I know it she’ll be running around with all the rest of the kids! She’s slowly moving out of her 3-6 month clothes and getting ready to wear 6 month and 6-9month clothes!! I can’t believe how fast they grow out of stuff… I just hope I let her wear everything at least once before she can’t fit it anymore! Time to go clothes shopping… I think I might have to save up and go to Anchorage for shopping….. We’ll see on that one though.

Fish are slowly starting to show up. We got one the other day and got it ready to be dried… but in the middle of the night last night a fox or cat or something got into our dry rack and we woke up to no fish hanging… I was mad about that… time to rig something to keep the animals away… what a waste... at least it was only one fish I guess…. But still L

So I’ve started up workout every day again, feels good to get a good sweat and to feel sore the next day! I have 25 more days until our church wedding, so time to try to lose the last of the baby weight so I can look good in my pictures! I’m getting excited! Both my sisters and my nieces are going to come down, I’m excited to see them, it’s been since my older sister Shannon’s wedding 4 years ago that my whole family have been in the same place at the same time! Plus my younger sister Ivy hasn’t been home in like 4 years, and this time she gets to bring my niece Aaliyah with her!! Plus we take picture of our 3 girls together for the first time!!

4th of July is already sneaking up on us. I can’t wait to enjoy the festivities. I heard we are having a couple contests like Pool contest and a “Rock Band Battle of the Bands” contest. There should be the usual games like: egg toss, balloon toss, bobbing for apples, pie eating contest, watermelon eating contest (the eating contests are what people love to watch and root for people in), the 3 legged race, the one where you balance an egg in a spoon from your mouth, pass the lifesaver from a tooth pick in your mouth, dizzy lizzy, pass an orange using your neck, men vs. women in tug of war, along with a handful of other games. A potluck with great food cooked up by volunteers, followed by a great firework show around midnight!! It’s going to be so much fun!!

Well I hope the best for everyone, take care and TTFN (that’s Ta Ta For Now if you didn’t know)

Monday, June 21, 2010

2010-06-21T16:06:00.005-08:00

Well today is officially the first day of summer... it's cold and windy here in Akutan, doesn't feel much like summer... oh well hopefully it warms up and we see some non-windy days with lots of sunshine!!

I took Roni down to the clinic this morning to get weighed and measured. She is officially 25 inches long and 14lbs 2oz!! That's around 3lbs and 2 inches in a month!! Goodbye to #1 diapers, hello #2!!

We have decided to go over to Dutch Harbor on the ferry Tustemena this coming Saturday. I'm trying to make a lunch date with our beloved CB (Dutch Harbor Dirt). That's if he isn't too busy. :) Pizza sounds good... so does a juice burger!! I found a dog sitter for my chihuahuas so I figured we can go shopping for some of the stuff we need for the wedding and anything Roni might need. That and to get off this Rock for a bit. I have to make sure I pack everything Roni will need for a day, including her car seat and maybe her stroller. Next I have to see about renting a car while we're over there! Yay this will be Roni's first boat ride!!

Nothing new has really happened here over the weekend. The weather has been pretty crappy so we haven't had any planes. My hubby got to celebrate his 1st official Father's Day yesterday! I made sure to make the day as close to perfect for him! I love him so much!!

Tonight we get to enjoy some good ole homemade lasagna from my momma, but first going to enjoy a nice hot steam bath right after work. I had both grandma's wanting to babysit for us, but my mom said that since she gets to be with her all during the work day (since Roni's in the office with me) that her other grandma (Kooka Alice) can watch her :) I'm glad they don't argue and make me pick who gets to watch her!! I still can't believe Roni is going to be 3 months next week, time goes by way too fast!!

When I get time and when blogger lets me get them uploaded. I will post some pix of Roni's baptism/christening :) She was sooo cute in her dress we got her!!

Well until next time, take care and TTFN!

Friday, June 18, 2010

2010-06-18T17:08:00.002-08:00

Just an early post to say Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there in the world. Without you we wouldn't be here!! Hope you all have an awesome weekend!!

On Monday I'm planning on getting Veronika weighed and measured to see how much she has grown in a month. On the 21st of May she was 11 lbs 3.6 oz and 23 inches long! I wanted to wait until the 21st of this month to get her stats done up again :)

Happy Early Birthday to my friend Jessica B!! May god bless you with many more happy years to come!! I can't believe how fast 27 years has blown by!!! Much love to you!!

Think I'll go see how big the putchkies are and maybe have some with sea oil!! Yum!! I heard that some people were already picking some and eating them... they might be small but hey they are big enough to eat!! :D I got some awesome sea oil from my mom the other day!! I love her so much!!

Wow 5 weeks and 2 days until my big church wedding!! How exciting!!!

Have a great weekend everyone, until sometime TTFN!

Thursday, June 17, 2010

2010-06-17T14:34:00.004-08:00

Well lots have happened since my last post.

On June 10th Veronika got baptised/christened with her cousins J.B.3 and Tasha B. in our Russian Orthodox church by Father Kashevarof. She had her first communion on the morning of June 13. She looked so cute in her dress we got for her baptism! Roni's godparents (krusnas) are Kaylyn and Iggy.

Tasha had her first bday on June 7th, but celebrated with a big birthday bash on the 13th of June. We all had a great time and there was a lot of great food! I brought 2 sea gull egg custard pies and a big bowl of potato salad! Roni didn't enjoy having the birthday hat on, so only let her wear it for a picture (which she was super mad and screaming at me until I took it off her).

The state ferry Tustemena came in on the 12th. A handful of people did the round-trip run over to Dutch Harbor and back. I sent my hubby over to get some of the supplies that we need for the wedding and some stuff for Roni. He picked up these super cute vest and rain jacket from CB!! Thank you so much!! I can't wait for her to start fitting them, they are so cute!!

I had my wedding date changed to July 25th - Father Kashevarof let me know of fasting days and when he's going to be available. So I had to change my dates.... I don't mind as long as I get to have my wedding in our church in our faith and I'll be happy! I was happy that both of my sisters were able to change their travel dates so they can still attend my wedding! I love them so much for going thru the trouble of changing their schedules to make it here in time! <3

Roni is growing fast, I can't believe she's going to be 3 months here soon already! On the 21st I plan on going to the clinic to get her weighted and measured so I can put it in her baby book! I have to look for something for her to wear to the wedding.....

I got my hubby a beautiful Tux! I love the way it looks on him! The last wedding he went to he rented a tux, this time he owns his own! I got him Joe - by Joseph Abboud... He seems proud to own his own tux now!

I ordered almost everything I need for the wedding: cake pans, cake tiers, my favors and little bags to put them in. I have napkins (with the original date on them but they will work), the garter set, plastic toasting glasses for everyone else, glass toasting glasses for my hubby and me (with the original date enscribed on them). I have my cake topper and bouquet. I ordered white shoes. I have my dress and veil. I have all the stuff to eat with. Now to start on a menu and to start asking people what they can make/bring to the reception/potluck. So far I know I want: a turkey, spiral ham, roast, halibut fish pie, salmon fish pie, baked halibut, baked salmon, deep fried halibut, aaladix, halibut chowder, potato and macaroni salads, mashed potatoes, spaghetti, assorted veggies, and whatever else I can think of... :) I am trying to think of punch ideas and drink ideas other than the champagne for toasting. So far I've hoarded up 4 bottles of Korbel Brut. Will pick more up when the ferry returns next weekend. I figured 10 bottles will be enough :P I need to get myself a bottle of sparkling apple cider (no alcohol for me since I'm breastfeeding). I'm getting excited!! I asked my younger sis Ivy to be my Maid of Honor. I love her so much for helping me out!! My hubby still have to come up with who he wants to be his best man... he hasn't hinted to me who that is going to be yet... but I told him to get it figured out soon!

I just hope that I didn't forget anything. I have all my invitations out in the mail and receiving my RSVP cards back already! I hope everyone heard that my date was changed to July 25 instead of Aug 14. I tried to make sure I let everyone know!! SO EXCITING!!!

The island is slowly but surely turning green. We mowed our lawn again last night. The foxes are starting to hang out close to town, we have no big dogs to chase them away anymore. All the sea gulls are out laying eggs so we barely have any around town right now. The eagles are plentiful and doing their mating rituals - flying high into the sky and falling back to the Earth entwined to each other. The salmonberry bushes are starting to push out leaves and some flowers - they have a ways to go before you can't see between the bushes though. We've been having pods of humpback whales hanging out in the harbor. One day there were at least 20+ whales in the bay! It was so cool to hear them singing, watching them splash the water with their flippers and seeing their huge tails (flukes) slowly sinking back into the water after they come up to breath. None of them were jumping out of the water though (breeching), at least none in our harbor were but I know that they usually do on the North and South sides of our island. So spring/summer must finally be here if all the signs show it. The temps sure aren't agreeing. It's been pretty chilly out and we've been dealing with a lot of strong Northerly winds. Can't wait for it to warm up, but it's been raining a good amount lately.

Life is good here on "the Rock". We have a lot of contractors here working on numerous projects. A main one being our boat harbor project at the head of the bay. They have been working long hours ripping up parts of the land, digging and moving tons of dirt. They have a lot of heavy equipment and living quarters set up. Pretty exciting to see everything come into play instead of just looking at plans of what we'd like. Still waiting for our restaurant to open back up, I know we have a lot of people who are waiting for the cooks to come back from their vacation!

Well until next time, TTFN!

Monday, May 31, 2010

2010-05-31T10:20:00.003-08:00

Happy Memorial Day!! Please remember to thank those who have served for our great country.

I can't believe how fast the days are going by. It doesn't feel like it's been since the 9th that I last wrote my last blog.

Well my hubby turned 27 on the 14th. The weather has been on the chilly side with a side of fog and rain. The island is slowly turning green. Yesterday 30 sea gull eggs were harvested from Akun Head! I got to make my first custard pie of the year and it turned out awesome!!

I'm slowly getting everything I ordered for my August wedding in the mail. I have to figure out what else I need to get. Patiently waiting for my invitations to get here so I can get them out. I ordered them around the beginning of the month and they still aren't here... wish we had more flyable days... The temps have been averaging in the the mid 40's lately, while the rest of the state is having a heat wave...

The state ferry Tustemena came on the 29th. We had a couple people head out for a couple weeks to visit family. I'm debating when to go to Dutch Harbor and hoard up some champagne for my wedding... I asked CB to price it for me so I know how much I want to spend on it... of course for me I'm getting sparkling apple cider since I'm breastfeeding. My in-laws are supposed to be hosting a bbq tonight with their neighbors, so I figured I'd make and bring some corn bread muffins to share. That's if the rain decides to go away. Been raining/misty for a couple days now.

I finally got my wedding invitations in today so that'll give me something to do. I have 125 cards to fold, envelope and address then get in the mail hopefully tomorrow!! Surprised the plane flew today, that's a good thing though. Bringing over all the mail and freight before all the fish processors start to flood the island!

Veronika has been growing like a beanstalk. She no longer fits newborn clothes and her 0-3 month clothes are getting a bit snug on her. So I'm moving her into her 3 month and 3-6 month clothes. I just ordered her some 3-6 and 6 month clothes, that was fun shopping for her online!! She officially out of her newborn diapers and into her #1 diapers! So sad to see them grow so quickly, almost wish they could stay small for longer but they have to grow up eventually!! She's such a great baby. She only cries for when shes wants to eat, if shes wet or when she's tired. She likes to fight her sleep, just like her cousin Aaliyah did (my younger sister Ivy's baby girl). She's cooing and saying ah-goo now, it's so cute. I love how she smiles back when she's smiled at and her cute little giggle when she finds things funny. She loves her swing that her Krusnamom (godmother) gave to her!! She does so great with me at work too, which I'm relieved about!! Both sets of grandparents spend lots of time with her, which makes me so happy!!

The pups have been taking to her greatly too. Cali and Roscoe take turns sleeping next to her when they can. Dante still gets a little jealous because he thinks he's the baby since he's the smallest, but he hasn't done anything aggressive towards her, thank god! I don't think he will be mean or anything to her, just tries to wiggle in and get some attention too. We make sure to spend lots of time with our pups as well as the baby so they know that we didn't forget about them!

Well I hope that our weather warms up more than it has and let us get some sunny days like the rest of the state!! The island is slowly turning green but it's still mostly brown. I'm happy that we were able to mow our lawn the other day for the first time this year! Its been about a week now and it looks like the next dry day we're going to have to trim it again! Happy that we get to borrow my parents lawn mower. Maybe we'll get our own someday :P

Well I hope everyone is doing great!! Until next time TTFN!

Sunday, May 9, 2010

2010-05-09T14:40:00.002-08:00

Happy Mother's Day to all you mom's out there! Hope you have just as great a day as I'm having!!

Woke up to that beautiful Aleutian summertime fog!! A really thick fog that makes it hard to see our neighbor's house! Then by noon the sun was burning thru it all showing us the beautiful blue skies above!! The temps were in the high 30's this AM warming up to about mid 40"s by mid-day. There was no wind and the water was flat calm, it looked like glass!! There have been a lot of krill coming into the bay and coating the beaches - making a feast for all the birds and some foxes, but also giving this strong fishy smell. Most of the snow is finally going away, only appearing in the gullies's and where it was the thickest. I love the sound of the tweety birds singing away and the sea gulls making all their sounds as they gorge on the krill, and once in a while the screech of the eagles and the caws from the ravens! I think spring has finally made it's way to this part of the world!

Well today is Mother's day, my first offical Mother's day as a momma!! The Safe Harbor Church threw a Mother's Day brunch @ 1pm. They had some ham, waffles, quiche and a big tray of cut up assorted fruit, along with some bagel and cream cheese. The kids raffled off the quilt they made, and they also gave Veronika a quilt! I almost cried when they came up and presented it to us!!!

My hubby is cooking steam bath once again today! My father-in-law and his friend Jason got the water hookup fixed so we have running water in the bath house once again! I guess when my in-laws had their weatherization job done on their house the hose got unhooked and wasn't hooked back up until the other day. So no more packing water! Yay! This time I made sure to pump milk yesterday (which is kind of harder than I thought it would be). I got 4oz ready for Roni if she get's hungry while we're in bath. Last time she cried not even 10 mins after we got in and had to wait for me to get out 20 mins later. So I'm making sure I'm prepared this time! I need to start pumping and storing milk (freezing it) for an emergency stash just incase I need it! She feeds good from her soothie bottles, since she's used to the soothie pacifier (the one the hospital gives out).

I want to wish my friend Simeon V. (1985-2001) a happy 25th birthday, RIP Sim - you will never be forgotten and you are missed dearly!! Wish you didn't have to go the way you did, I know we'd be having so much fun hanging out and everything! Watch over us from up above, much love to you!!

Until next time, TTFN!

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

2010-05-05T14:48:00.003-08:00

Happy Birthday to my Krusna (godfather), my Bro-in-Law Don J, and to my sister-in-law's b/f Brett!!

Well woke up on Saturday to 31F weather and fresh snow.. then Saturday it was sunny and in the 40's. Monday the weather was beautiful, looks like Spring/Summer is on it's way finally!! Yesterday was sunny and warm! My strawberries are starting to grow in my old bbq grill turned planter!! Today the weather is a bit cloudy but still in the 40F's!

The snow is finally starting to melt and the grass looks like it's growing and starting to turn green! My hubby is cooking steam bath, this will be my first time going since before I got pregnant!! I can't wait to feel the heat and scratch/scrub my skin!! Not going to take Roni until shes a bit older, to be honest I'm scared to take her in that kind of heat....

We made a couple Jello No Bake cheesecakes for his brothers big dinner that my in-laws are having!! I heard they are bringing out the BBQ grill and whipping out some awesome food!! I'm lost on what to get my hubby for his 27th bday on the 14th... hopefully I find something...

I go tot he Eye Dr today... go see if my prescription changed or not and check out their glasses and see if I like any of them... its about time I get a new pair! The ones I have now, the lens are all scratched up.. I've had them for like 5 years or so now... about time for a change!

Roni has a slight cold, which sucks! I got saline drops to put in her little nose. So I'll see if that helps her. She weighed in at 9lbs 4.8oz this morning. We both have our 6 week check up on the 10th on this month... I can't believe how fast time has gone by already!! Shes growing out of her newborn clothes already and moving into her 0-3 month clothes!! I try to make sure to take her picture every day, since I doubt she'll be wearing the same outfit more than once, with all the 0-3 month clothes we received for her!!! I'm trying to capture the moment and get my paparazzi on since I know they grow so fast!! I never want to forget how small she used to be!

The plane has been making back to back flights, I think all the incoming mail is caught up, and Trident is moving all their people in and out. I finally got all of Roni's diapers in plus all the dog and bird food we mailed down! Thank goodness because we needed all of that, the dogs were out of their food and the birds were completely out and we don't have cockatiel food at our store!! Not to mention there are no diapers in our store!! So I'm happy I got all that in!! Can tell its almost summer when the plane is flying until 8PM!!

My pups are all doing great! I think they love being home and not having to worry about putting a leash on to go outside!! They all seemed to have missed their big brother Tug (our lab)!!

In a week or two we should be getting our new furnace set up and have our house weatherized. So we'll see how that goes!.....

Ok well until next time TTFN.

PS if you notice spelling errors its because I'm typing with one hand and holding my baby feeding her with the other!! :) I love knowing that I'm giving her a great start on life by breast feeding her, not to mention cheaper for us!!

Friday, April 30, 2010

2010-04-30T16:39:00.000-08:00

Veronika's hand and foot prints @ 1 week old

Roni in her crib

Roni's room:

Still hard to believe we’ve already been home for a week (well tomorrow)!! So far I love being a new mom and I don’t know why people say be ready to get no sleep, I’ve been sleeping pretty good! Roni has been being a great lil girl and sleeping thru the night! I actually have to wake her for feedings or she’d sleep all night with us! I really love having her in our lives and I really love being her momma! Her daddy is just as excited, we both can’t believe how much she’s grown in the past month!!

The day we got home we got to opening all our mail and boxes that we sent home and started to put all the nursery furniture together, we didn’t finish putting everything together until around midnight (we started at 3PM when we got home). We were both happy with how everything looks in her room!! Now to just get her clothes washed up and hang it all in her closet! Lots of pink in her room – hopefully she likes it when she gets older, but for now she doesn’t seem to have a problem with it!

I’ve been bringing her to work with me all week so far, my mom has been loving all the time she gets to spend with her and my mother-in-law makes sure to come up and spend lots of time with her too! She can’t go far from me since I’m breastfeeding and no one else can feed her. I’ve been trying to pump and store milk, but she doesn’t want to take any milk from any bottles and I’ve tried at least 5 different brands of bottles on her! That’s ok with me though, as long as she takes a bottle later on when her teeth start to come in or I don’t know how I’m going to deal with her chewing me up! I’m hoping hard that a plane will come in and bring mail. I only packed a box of newborn diapers in my suitcase and mailed 4 boxes home… which still haven’t arrived since we only had one plane since the one that brought us home! So I’m hoping and praying hard that our weather lets up and lets the planes fly!

Labor and delivery went pretty smoothly, I’d say. I didn’t take any pain meds and delivered her naturally! I’m proud of myself for that! I went into labor around 4:30AM, at 5:30 I woke up my hubby, we went to the hospital at 10:45AM and was admitted into L&D around 1PM. I tried the whirlpool for about an hour but I couldn’t see how anyone can deal with the pain of contractions while trying to sit in a tub! I felt better sitting up out of the water. I didn’t really yell at all at my hubby but I did yell and cry about the pain I was feeling. Mostly saying “Oh my f-ing god, what was I thinking?” and “Holy s**t” and trying to convince myself that I can do this naturally and that it was my plan from the beginning not to get any pain meds! My sister Ivy and hubby were really great supporters reminding me that I can do it and I was doing a great job! I tried the whirlpool, the birthing ball and all the positions they were instructing me to try and be comfortable. Contractions are no fun, especially when they get stronger and closer together!!!

The nurses told me that I needed to empty my bladder and I screamed that I couldn’t get up and move… so with the help of my hubby and a nurse they took me to the bathroom, where I still felt like I couldn’t pee… I dropped to the ground, crawled to the door frame and started to yell that I needed to push! The Dr. came and checked me and told me she was right there and I needed to get on the delivery bed. Which my response was “I can’t stand up!” So with help once again I was lifted to the bed and was instructed to start pushing when I felt a contraction. Within less than 11 mins I got her out!! I was proud of how I took the pain and how quickly I got her out! I can admit that when I saw her head pop out I stopped pushing and yelled “OH MY GOD.. A HEAD!!” then had to be told to concentrate and keep pushing to deliver the rest of her! I started to laugh and kept pushing. I also let the Drs break my water for me instead of waiting for it to pop on its own. I’ve read that it helps labor progress faster, plus it let them know whether or not she used the bathroom inside, which she did. So pediatricians were there for her delivery to check her out and make sure she didn’t breathe any of it in, which luckily she did not! Since there was poop in the “bag of waters” my hubby wasn’t able to cut her cord since she was rushed to be checked by the Drs, but he was able to trim the cord once they were done evaluating her! Then she was finally handed over to me!

All in all I’d have to say the contractions were worse than pushing her out! I really want to thank my sister Ivy and my hubby for all the loving support they gave me!! I don’t know how I would have gotten thru the whole L&D without taking meds if it wasn’t for them reassuring me! We spent 48 hrs in the hospital before being discharged! I received lots of flowers and balloons while “recovering”. I’m kind of happy that I had a roommate because she gave me lots of great info that I never knew, but it also sucked because my hubby wasn’t able to stay the night with us. Roni was with me the whole time sleeping in the room with me, I was happy she got to stay with me at least! I really want to thank my sister for letting us stay with her and for her putting up with my 3 lil pups for the 2 months that we were in Anchorage!! I miss being around her and she misses us being around her, but we had to come back home, 2 months was long enough up there for us! We’re so happy to have made it home all in one day! :D

I still can’t believe it’s been 33 days since I was going into labor!! I still can’t believe how fast my pregnancy seemed to go by! At her 2 weeks checkup she was 7lb 14 oz and grew 1/4”. I tried to weigh myself then with me holding her and subtracted and came up with just over 12lbs. So I’m guessing that’s how heavy she is. Roni is just starting to grow out of her newborn clothes, but still fitting her newborn diapers. (Hopefully she gets her 4 boxes I sent down and burns thru those before moving to the next size…. Hopefully!). At one week old the rest of her umbilical cord stub fell off and I was able to give her a real bath and not just a sponge bath!! Flying home on the Saab to Dutch Harbor was her first plane ride, which she did really great – sleeping the whole way! And she did just as great on the goose flt to Akutan!!

Soon I have to get her baptized, I want to get her a cute keepsake dress but not sure how long it would take for that to get here… both her godparents (krusnas) are excited to have her home and can’t wait to get her baptized. We are of the Russian Orthodox faith, just to let everyone know.

Life with my new baby couldn’t be any better than we’ve experienced so far!! She makes the future seem that much more worth it and I hope I am able to give her everything she needs and more!!! Right now I’m just enjoying watching how her personality is and listening to all the cute girly sounds she makes, even her cries are cute (at least I think so right now!)! I couldn’t have asked for anything better! She makes my life light up and I love waking up to her beautiful face every day!!

I still can’t believe that there hasn’t been a plane since Sunday morning!!! And that winter is still holding its grip here!! Where is our spring/summer at this year???

Well until sometime, TTFN!!

Thrusday - April 29, 2010

2010-04-29T15:37:00.003-08:00

Getting a bath in the tub that my parents got her!

Roni and her cousin Yaya (Aaliyah)

Roni and Me at the APICDA
Community Conference dinner

Eating at Bennihana's for my 27th bday!

Our feet! :D

Hey everyone! So we finally made it back home, which feels really great! I'm so happy to be back home and back at work once again!! Veronika was welcomed by all her family and new friends with big open arms and lots of love! Her grandparents were happy to finally meet their new grandchild (my parents 4th and my in-law's first).

We are not happy about coming back to winter weather though... it's in the 50F+ in Anchorage and around freezing here in Akutan! But other than that it's been great to be home. We fixed up Roni's room, almost all her furniture has been put together and placed where we think we want it. I still can't believe she's already a month old!! All 4 of our dogs have been accepting her pretty well, which makes me super happy! We had the 3 little ones with us the whole time while Tug stayed with my parents, he's wondering what she is but I know he'll be a great companion to her when she gets older!

Tomorrow I will try to get a good size post done up with some pix of Roni's room! Take care everyone, until tomorrow TTFN!

Veronika Raelene Tcheripanoff

2010-04-18T12:57:00.004-08:00

Chillin in her car seat!

Daddy's first time holding her, only mins old!

Proud mommy and daddy in the delivery room!

Miss Veronika Raelene! <3

Just a quick note to everyone!

Miss Veronika Raelene Tcheripanoff was born on Sunday March 28th 2010 @ 8:44PM!!! After 16 hrs of labor (about 6 hrs of screaming labor) and 11 min of pushing... my lil baby girl made her arrival!!! She was 7lbs 10.8 oz and 20.5 inchs long!!! She looks just like her daddy!! :D

Today she's already 3 weeks old!! Time goes by way too fast!! I can't wait to get her home (we're still hanging out in Anchorage) and introduce her to her grandparents, who have been patiently waiting for us to get home!! I miss being at work, but I can say I don't miss all the snow they still have down there! Been pretty slack here in Anchorage... we usually just sit around and watch TV then go out and find something to eat.... I'm going to go into Taco Bell withdrawls when we go home but at least I loaded up on TB Fire sauce!!!

Hope everything has been going great with everyone out there in the world!!! Take care and until next time, TTFN :D

Friday, February 19, 2010

2010-02-19T12:08:00.000-09:00

Wow has it already been 3 weeks since my last posting?!?! Time is just flying right by!!!

The last 3 weeks have been pretty much the same its been all winter - we get warm days with rain and fog the we get super cold temps and light snow then once in awhile we get a really beautiful day (like today!).

We have a fresh blanket of snow coating everything - so beautiful when the hills are frosted from the beaches to the tips of the mountains/hills!! The sky is this baby blue color and the sun is slowly rising over the horizon by 10AM. There isn't a breeze in the sky, the temps are holding at 32F and the water in the bay is so calm it's almost like glass... such a beautiful morning!!!!

I still can't believe how fast my pregnancy has blown right by... I'm already approaching week 35 this weekend. I have all our reservations to head to Anchorage soon to await Veronika's world debut. Her crib set is currently sitting in Dutch Harbor waiting for space on a flight on the Goose, so hopefully we get that soon so we can get it set up before we leave! I am currently packing up stuff I think I'm going to need and sending it all up to my sister so she can hang on to it all for me! Lots of thanks to my parents for getting me the breast pump I wanted and for the cute sets of clothes!!! Love you both lots and lots and lots!! Darn electric pumps aren't cheap and that was our next "big" purchase... but my parents took care of that for us!! Again thanks mom and dad!!

I have some pix of the nursery, I ordered these wall decals I found online - pink, white and chocolate circles and dots. We spent a couple hours taping them where we wanted them before actually making the commitment to peel the backing off and get them placed on the walls. It almost looks like we painted it!! I'm very happy with how it came out (I will be sure to post a pic of what it looks like). I don't know if I ever told anyone but we're going with the pink, white, chocolate, and black color theme for our baby girl!! I still can't believe I have about 5 weeks until my due date!! I still feel like I just found out at week 5!!!

Valentine's Day went great other than the fact that the Cafe didn't have my cupcake order... we went in on Friday was told come back tomorrow - went in on Saturday was told tomorrow once again... so we show up to pick them up on Valentine's day and they say they sold out!!! I was like WTF?!?! I put my order in for them..... so that kind of ticked me off when I was looking forward to them for like 3 days..... my hubby tried to cheer me up by picking up 4 roses and giving them to me - roses don't equal cake... at least he tried.... I got a couple cards from some of the girls here in town - I thought that was cute of them!

Not much else has been going on... pretty quiet and peaceful. Last week I was training the person who is going to temp for me in the office while I'm out on maternity leave. Hopefully everything goes smoothly while I'm out of the office, he seemed to be getting the paperwork down great and everything else is pretty easy to do - mostly answering the phones, cashing checks and putting money on the right accounts (store, hotel, rents).

Uggg my first iPod finally died... it's making these weird sounds when I plug it into the computer and it keeps saying I need to restore it. But when I go to iTunes to restore it I get an error that it can't be restored and I really don't want to pay $200.00 to send it in to get serviced when I can probably just buy a whole new one!! Really sucks... especially when we're traveling around the corner... iPods are a great way to make the 3 hour flight from Dutch to Anchorage pass by!! So we'll see what we'll do with that.... probably deal with it in a couple months when we get back home!

Well I think I'm going to go for my usual at the Cafe today for lunch. I swear Veronika's going to come out either hating or loving French dip because of how much I eat it!!! :P LOL!!! I think it's funny... I'm either gaining too much weight, not putting on enough weight or losing weight and the clinic is worried about my eating habits... I eat, and I eat lots... I don't know why my weight fluctuates so much.... as long as baby is growing great I'm happy!! :D

Ok well I hope all is going great with everyone out there. Rest in Peace to Capt. Phil Harris of the Cornelia Marie who recently passed away due to heart problems. You will be missed but never forgotten! Until sometime, TTFN!

My Belly pix :)

2010-01-29T12:54:00.000-09:00

Here are a couple of my pix I have documenting my growing little bundle of joy!!

Before I got preggo :)

7 weeks 2 days

14 weeks and 6 days

22 weeks 2 days

31 weeks 3 days

Thursday, January 29, 2010

2010-01-29T12:42:00.003-09:00

Today is the first nice day in a while... nice enough for a plane to fly at least, all of the town people who were stuck over in Dutch Harbor made it home today. CB was nice enough to send me over grapes on the last plane we had (which was over a week ago), both baby and I appreciated it!! Red grapes has been one of the only things I've really been craving, mostly any kind of nice crunchy fruit. Apples are another fruit that I've munching on, I can pick up apples up at Trident.

I've taken new belly pix this past Tuesday, the 26th @ Week 31 day 3. which I will post at the end of this post! I still don't really have a big preggo belly unless I really push it out and try to make it look big, but then my little girl starts to kick and move around! I had a prenatal check-up yesterday, I am measuring in at 33CM and put on about 20lbs so far! Not too much longer before I head to Anchorage to await the arrival of our new little bundle of joy! I finally picked out and purchased a car seat and stroller... hard to pick just one with so such a selection out there!!!

I felt what I think was my first braxton hicks contraction on the 24th.. I don't really know what it supposed to feel like but it definitely didn't have the same feeling as when she kicks or moves. It's so exciting that I only have 2 months left to go, but yet the experience of having this little baby growing inside you is amazing and I'm relishing every moment because we don't really want to have too a big family or having our kids too close in age - at least that's our plan. I'm hoping that maybe when Veronika turns 2 we'll try again... but for now I'm loving the feeling of being preggo!

Well I finally got my female chihuahua Cali registered, took forever to get the paperwork in the mail from the breeder. She is now officially named "Dreaming of California Sunshine". And I am so thankful that she's finally getting off her first heat. Roscoe and Dante have been little pains in the butt while we've been trying to keep them separated from her. I've never heard them bark so loud before or cry/whine so much. It started to worry me because Roscoe stopped eating for like 3 days and didn't want to do anything but be as close to her as possible. Of course we didn't let them mate with her, I'm waiting for her second heat before thinking about that :) I'm still excited about getting a puppy out of her from one of my little boys one day! At least I know they will be able to come with their registration papers if the new owner wants them! All my dogs are registered and micro chipped!

Oh speaking of dogs, the Westminster Dog show will be on the USA Ch on Feb 15 & 16 @ 8/7central!! You know for sure I'll be watching that, even if I have to go someone else place to watch it. Did I forget to mention that the City cable TV is out down to the East end of Akutan (where I live).... I don't even know what's on TV or what's going on in the news (I don't really have time to look it all up online).... so hopefully they get whatever fixed and get it going again here soon!! The Miss America Pageant is on tomorrow on TCL too, I'm not going to miss that either!!

The weather has been pretty normal for winter time. Cold and blowing snow for a week then we get a clear day and the planes fly, then another week or so of cold wind and snow. We don't really have too much snow on the ground, but it's a couple inches at least!! A couple days the temps got down to 19F without the wind chill!! That felt sooo cold for here! We had a medivac the other day, we had one of those huge Coast Guard choppers come in and airlift an employee from Trident because of heart problems. I feel so thankful to live in a country where we have people like the Coast Guard who can come in and help us out like that when it's needed! Especially when the weather isn't decent enough for the plane to make it in!

Well I hope that this first month of the new year has treated everyone great and I hope all of you that did make New Year's resolutions kept to your promise to yourselves! Until sometime, TTFN!!

OMG, So I just noticed I never posted any belly pix.. I will make a post of the pix that we did take showing my growing lil bundle of joy :) But here are the 2 I took on Tuesday...

Belly Pix!! 31 weeks 3 days!

Standing normal :)

Pushing her out as much as I can!! LOL,
she kept kicking and I was laughing the whole time

Save the Bunnies on Tangik and Poe!!

2010-01-21T12:16:00.000-09:00

Hey Everyone!! I am trying to spread the word so people can contact the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge and let them know that we don't want evasive action taken against the rabbits on Tangik and Poe islands, they want to ERADICATE all the bunnies off both islands... I am totally against the eradication of the bunnies and would like for anyone else who cares to contact the AMNWR and let them know we don't want any action taken against the bunnies who call those 2 little islands (which are practically rocks with some land on them) they call home.

Tangik and Poe island are about a 20-25 skiff ride from the village of Akutan. We go there in the summertime's to catch bunnies and bring them back for "pets". They do no harm to the 2 little rocks they call home, we DO NOT want them ERADICATED!! Please write to the people below and protest the Eradication of the Rabbits from Tangik and Poe islands!!! We dont' want our bunnies killed off!!! They aren't doing any harm to anyone or anything on those 2 little islands!!! Please help us keep our rabbits!! Thank you for your help!! We have until the 10th of Feb to comment on this situation!!

Here is a copy of a letter I recieved. Here click HERE to go to the AMNWR web site.

Dear Reader:

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is seeking public comments on the Environmental Assessment of Invasive Species Eradication for Habitat Restoration on Tangik, Poa, and Sud Islands . This Assessment analyzes the consequences of two alternatives, a no action alternative and the proposed action of eradicating introduced European rabbits from Tangik and Poa Islands and introduced hoary marmots from Sud Island to allow the native ecosystems to recover. Introduced hoary marmots and European rabbits compete with native burrow-nesting seabirds for burrows, disturb seabirds during egg laying and incubation causing nest abandonment, and alter native plant communities. The proposed project would restore ecosystems for the benefit of native seabirds and vegetation. Uninhabited Tangik and Poa are in the eastern Aleutian Island chain about 12 miles from Akutan and 750 miles west of Anchorage . Sud is in the Barren Islands 60 miles south of Homer.

The Environmental Assessment and other informational materials can be viewed or downloaded at http://alaskamaritime.fws.gov/rabbits.htm
If you need a paper copy of the Assessment or have trouble opening it, contact us at the e-mail below or call us at (907) 235-6546. Written comments will be accepted on the Environmental Assessment through February 10, 2010, and can be submitted by e-mail to alaskamaritime@fws.gov or by fax to (907) 235-7783 or by mail to Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, 95 Sterling Hwy., Suite 1 , Homer, AK 99603.

If you have any questions, please contact me at alaskamaritime@fws.gov or 907-235-6546. Thank you for your interest in the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge.

Steven J. Delehanty
Refuge ManagerAlaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge
95 Sterling Hwy., Suite 1
Homer, AK 99603
Phone: (907) 235-6546; FAX: (907) 235-7783
steve_delehanty@fws.gov
http://alaskamaritime.fws.gov

The Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge
Conserving Alaska 's wildlife and wild lands since 1909

Thursday, January 14, 2010

2010-01-14T15:59:00.004-09:00

Happy New Year Everyone!! Well according to the Julian calendar, today is New Years, which we here in Akutan Celebrate as Russian New Years! Last night we had church (which I wasn't able to attend because I wasn't feeling great, but my hubby went!). At midnight my hubby, brother-in-law and father-in-law were blasting shells from their shotguns, ringing in the new year!!

From the 7-9th we celebrated Russian Christmas - a celebration that includes taking a star (made of wood, glass and decorations) from house to house singing Russian Christmas Carols. After singing most houses provide food or snacks. I served halibut fish pie (which is just pie dough filled in layers starting with rice, boiled eggs, onions, fish, onions, boiled eggs, more rice and covered with a layer of pie dough and baked for 1.5 hrs) with angel food cake for dessert. There was alot of great food served up in those 3 days!!! Thanks to everyone who cooked and fed us and thanks to everyone who shared their voices singing!!

Veronika has been growing and her punches and kicks are getting stronger and stronger everyday!! It's such a blessing to know that she's growing inside me and to feel her move! The whole process of how we grow from an egg and sperm to a newborn baby facinates me! I can't believe how much they change and grow in 9 months!! Then how time goes by fast and next thing we know we're at graduation or their wedding!!! I've been getting some gifts from people, thanks alot! I don't really have a registry and not sure about a baby shower... I'm not setting up my own shower that's for sure!! :P But I do have a baby registry that I started @ JCPenny.com. We're going to order the crib, changer and the rest of the nursery furniture from JCP here hopefully before we leave to Anchorage to give birth!! Only thing I've been missing/craving is red grapes... I asked my in-laws to see if they can have the pilots get some and bring them over for me... so hopefully whenever we get nice enough weather for a plane I should be getting some!!! hopefully....

Speaking of the weather, it has been goofy latey.... warm then cold then warm.. but we have no snow - well today there is a little trying to fall but I doubt it will stick. It's been raining lately with temps in the 40's. Just yesterday and today the temps finally fell to freezing with a little bit of wind (which always makes it feel colder out). I'm still wishing for snow... like we used to have back when I was a teen!! I miss those days when we had 4-5 feet of snow on the ground and more falling down upon us... oh well....

Ok well I hope everyone is doing great!! Take care and Happy New Year!! Until sometime in the future, TTFN!!

Oh yeah I forgot to mention that yesterday the Bayview Cafe re-opened!! Welcome home Lisa and Duy!!! Missed you guys and your cooking!! :D Yay, French Dips!!! :D

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

2010-01-05T15:57:00.004-09:00

Wow I didn't realize that it's been over a month since I've last checked in....

Well we went on vacation in December - we spent about 25 days off the "Rock". I missed my pups so much, it was hard to get on the plane and leave them behind with my brother Tommy... But I knew they would be ok and I was off to enjoy ourselves one last time before our baby is born!

We ended up leaving on the 2nd of Dec - 4 days before we were scheduled to leave. We weren't able to get on stand-by on any of the flights and the one they did get us on ended up having a mechanical and we were still stuck in fabulous Dutch Harbor! A huge storm hit us while we were stuck - winds in excess of 100 MPH causing some damage around the island - for example the huge Gantry crane that loads the huge containers ships over at APL succombed to the wind and ended up crashing to the ground. A mess they are still getting cleaned up. Finally Mother Nature gave us a one day opening where we were able to get on a flight to Anchorage (all on the scheduled day we were supposed to leave!). After spending the night in Anchorage we happily boarded our flight to SoCal!

Lots of walking, sight-seeing, driving around and soaking in what sun we could (it rained a lot when we were down there). We went to all the usual theme parks: Disneyland, Disneyland's California Adventure, Knotts Berry Farm, Universal Studios and 6 Flags Magic Mountain. I had fun on what rides I was able to get on!! My lucky hubby getting to go on all of them, I made him get on a couple twice (Once for himself and once for me!!). I'm going to miss driving around in Beverly Hills and Hollywood - so many expensive cars to be found on the roads in those parts of town! OH, and we got to go spend a little over 4 hours at the L.A. Auto show!! That was so cool getting to sit in all those cars and check them out!! Not to mention see some of the concept cars that might never be put into production, but hey I got to see them!!! I got to sit in a couple of the last of the VW Bugs for sale this year - sat in the droptop version and the hard top version. I liked the droptop!! But the main vehicle I see working great here in Akutan that I really really really want to get is the Smart Car!! OMG those are so cute!! I like the convertible version, gives the feeling of more head space! But hopefully I'll be driving one of those here soon, hell with an ATV... I'ma get me a SmartCar!! :D

After 10 days hanging out in LA, we made our way over to Vegas for the wedding we came down for. My hubby ended up being asked to be a groomsman - he couldn't be any more excited about the wedding after getting asked to be a part of it!! We went and got him fitted at the Tux rental place - 1st time getting fitted or wearing a tux!! He looked so good in it too!! Before heading to Vegas I found the perfect black dress for me to wear, now to just find some cute heels to go with it, yay that means shoe shopping in Vegas!! :D The wedding was a blast, the whole time in Vegas was a blast!! Except for that one time that I went to get the drinks and I didn't get handed back my ID and I didn't notice until the next day when I needed it again. Talk about a panic attack wondering where I used it last and where my ID could be!! Luckiy security at the hotel where everyone was staying had it and I just had to pick it up! See we ended up having wedding rehersals (which everyone was late too.... sorry Sandra).. then after rehersal we all met up at the bride and groom's suite for dinner and drinks... Vegas is awesome and always will be - but me feet hate it there!! Doesn't help that I spent 10 days walking around in LA before walking around in Vegas for 3 more days!! You don't even want to know about the blisters that I got from all that walking... I got blisters on the tips of my toes... WTF? How do I get blisters there?!?!?! Well I know a couple are from the new super cute shoes I bought to go with the dress I got back in LA, what can I say they were super cute... but my feet definately were paying for it later that night and for the next couple days!! It was so much fun spending time with my fellow Akutan residents and showing some of them around Vegas (this was our 3rd time in SinCity). We even drove 30 mins to the Hoover Dam, giggling about crossing not only state lines but time zones! My first time in Arizona and my first time in the Mountain time Zone!! LOL!!!

After the wedding wrapped up we stole my hubby's cousin and drove back to LA for a couple more days of fun in the sun before returning to Alaska. I know we crammed a lot into Darren's head trying to show him as much as we could and get him on as many rides as we could in the 48 hr period that we were in SoCal for! We took him to both Disneyland parks the first day - I don't think I've ever seen that many people in the park any of the times I've ever been there before. I definately don't recommend going during xmas break... OMG there were soo many people!! The next day we drove up to 6 Flags and the guys got on almost every ride in the park in the 7 hrs that we spend there. Then we got to show Darren what real "rush hour" traffic is... 2 hours worth of it to get back to our hotel from the park, bumper to bumper!! The last day we were there we drove to the Hollywood sign, then went to Muhulland Dr to view the city, went to the La Brea Tar pits and Santa Monica Pier. Walked Hollywood Blvd, went to Manns Chinese Theater and Maddame Tussades Hollywood, drove by LA Ink and Pinks Hot Dog Stand, drove up and down Rodeo Dr - all before rushing back to the airport to get checked in for our flight back to AK. We did a lot our last day, not to mention find a post office and get the box of crap that didn't fit in our suitcases mailed back home!! At least the line was short, I was expecting a long long line! Traveling was a pain in the butt... for some reason we got bumped from our original flight and put on the next flight that left about an hour later. Which ticked me off, but what can you do? I'm not going to start fighting and arguing or I might not be able to fly at all.... LOL....

We spent Christmas in Anchorage with my younger sis Ivy and my sweet Cupcake (my neice Aaliyah)... we cooked up a huge spiral ham dinner for the 4 of us... I missed being in a kitchen and cooking!! For a gift to my sister we scrubbed her house down and got it nice and super clean for her!! My hubby did most of the cleaning, I mostly did dishes and vacuum :P I love being able to spend time with my sisters and their babies when ever I can, and being able to spend xmas with my little sis (since who knows when...) is something I'll always cherish! We ended up getting some pretty pink paint for the nursery and shipping it home thru PenAir Cargo the day we were flying to Dutch. We spent the night like we planned and caught the first flight to Akutan in the AM.

All in all our trip was awesome and I'd love to do it all over again... except for the aching feet part and all the rain we endured... I even had to buy an umbrella when we were down there, something I thought I'd never do in The Land of Sun!! But I guess it is their winter and I've never been down there in December... so not like I knew what to expect from the weather other than sunshine!! Only thing that got to me bad was some how losing all our pix off my computer... at least I uploaded most of them online and I was able to get them back (all except a handful that I didn't post). I swear when we flew back from Anchorage to Akutan that my suitcases were full of nothing but stuff for my spoiled pups!! I even brought Tug home a 40lb bag of dog food in one of my suitcases (I didn't trust mailing it, don't know when we'll get it... but I know my bags will make it with me!!), not to mention we picked up all our pups a doggy stocking filled with assorted dog toys then to pick up all the usual chew stuff they like to enjoy - milkbones and rawhide sticks. Spoiled pups, they were so happy to see us come home... I don't know who was more excited - them or me!!! You don't know how good it felt to sleep in my own bed and wake up to my loving pups!!

So I've been home for about 9 days now, the weather is in the 40's - which feels a lot warmer than the teens-20's they were having in Anchorage... but much much cooler than the 70's I was enjoying in California!! For a week after we got home the weather stayed pretty nice, letting us get our 2 flights a day in (or more if there are cannery workers waiting to fly over, that time of the year again... they call it "A" Season). The last day or two we've been getting a little bit of rain and fog with a little bit of wind - bad enough for the plane not to fly that's for sure. New Year's was fun, spending it cuddled on the couch with my hubby and pups watching all the New years coverage on TV, getting up every hour on the hour mark to shoot a couple shells out of the 12ga shot gun.

Work has been great since I've been back, getting back into the routine again... I missed my usual routine!!

I'm already 28 weeks preggo. Baby kicks hard now, then sleeps and wakes up to kick me some more!! LOL... I can't believe I have 12 weeks left to go or so!!! Baby is growing good, I'm still not as big as I expected to be, but that's ok I guess! I've put on about 18lbs or so already though!! I can't wait to hold her in my arms and stare into her eyes and wonder what she thinks of the world!! Her daddy is painting her room pink today!! Should be done with it by the time I get home!! Yay!! Sexy Pink is the name of the color... nice bright pink!! :D We'll paint our bathroom if we have enough left over paint! :D

Ok well I hope everyone is having a great 2010 so far!! Much luv to you all!! Take care of yourselves and keep in touch, as I will try to do so more myself!! Until sometime, TTFN

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

2009-12-01T16:52:00.002-09:00

Wow I didn't realize how long it's been since I last wrote in my blog and how the heck did it become December already?!?!?! I'm not ready for the years to be flying by this quickly!!!!

Nothing really new has been happening. We finally got 2 flyable days the week of Thanksgiving, making that a total of 3 flyable days last month!

Thanksgiving was great! We ate at my parents house in the early PM, then later around 5 we ate again with my hubby's parents. I think we over did the eating part, but the food was all great and I couldn't say no!! I think I have my fill of pumpkin pie, I swear I've been baking up pies for a week and enjoying them to myself practically!! Oh and on Thanksgiving morning around 8:59AM my hubby felt baby kick for the first time!! I was so excited!! He just sat there with this big smile and didn't say a word!!

I'm officially in my 6th month of pregnancy already (week 23 day 3). Baby is kicking away now, feels so cool!! I'm still not really showing but slowly getting a bump that's making it's appearance! I got my H1N1 vaccination yesterday... I never usually get my flu shots (any kind) but since I'm traveling and considered in the "priority group" (since I'm preggo) and they are recommending it... so I broke in and got it... I hate needles!!! I woke up this morning and the shot site is a bit sore... but then again it's been awhile since I got any kind of shots, usually taking blood out - not putting stuff back in!!! I ran out of iron supplements a couple weeks ago and found out I'm low in iron again so the clinic got me a refill, :)

I'm hoping and praying hard that the weather clears up here in a couple days, for I am going on vacation!!! We have a wedding to attend and figured why not make the best of everything and hang out for a bit. Los Angeles and Las Vegas here we come!! I can already feel the sunshine, hear the screams from the amusement parks, listening to the boom-boom of the fireworks blowing up over Disneyland and the sounds of slot machines in the casinos.... I can't wait!!! :D Packing up tonight, I like to be prepared... going to miss my pups but I can't always take them with me, especially now that we have 3 little ones!! Going to start looking for boats going to Dutch Harbor probably tomorrow or Thursday just to make sure I get out of here... never know with our weather what it's going to do out here!

Today was a busy day at work, being the 1st of the month and all.... I got all the billing done up, filed everything, cleaned up the office a bit and got everything ready for my mom for while I'm on vacation! I'm putting my trust in my brother and having him house/dog sit for us, just have to get him up to my house to get the dogs used to him... usually doesn't take long for them to get used to someone, it Dante that takes the longest to warm up to anyone! I know my pups will hopefully be good for my bro and hopefully not be a handful to watch..... With Cali starting her first heat, my 2 lil boys have been "acting" up and trying to get a little aggressive with each other but still trying to be lovey to each other (growl then lick each other then growl)... not to mention that Cali just likes to rough house and chase the boys all over the house doesn't really help with the rowdiness that can go on! It's funny people always ask me if they are always hyper... not all the time! Most the day they just lay around sleeping... until we get company then they are running around everywhere!! Tug will be staying with my parents, he likes to be spoiled by them because they let him get away with alot of stuff - just like a little kid getting spoiled by grandma and grandpa! Plus my parents have an Australian terrier named King that just loves my lab, so at least Tug will be giving him some company for a bit! :)

Well weather wise it's been pretty crappy... during the day it will blow and snow then at night it gets flat calm and clear out! With the moon being as full as it is and with it as clear as it is at night it's like someone is holding lamps outside lighting up the hills! I swear at 4AM last night when I was shutting our bedroom window it was brighter outside than it was when I woke up at 8AM!! These storms bring snow, hail and rain (which eventually freezes over and becomes ice). Right now the boardwalks are completely iced over, I swear you need ice skates to get around that's how icy it is!! Temps have been in the low to mid 30's, but the windchill is bringing it down to the teens or so. The other day it was blowing 76MPH on my porch!! What a storm that was! Complete whiteout conditions and constant 75+MPH winds (gusting even higher). The cable went out for a bit due to the dish getting covered in sleet/snow but with people keeping up on cleaning the dish off they kept the cable on. There was no way I was going outside that day!! ;)

Oh pretty cool I've been having these 4 ptarmigan hang out behind my house on the hillside! At first I thought someone threw a snowball, then I realized it was a bird flying! Those birds better watch out, my neighbors hunt and eat them!! LOL... if only they knew "dinner" was hanging out right there behind our houses... I could probably knock them down quietly with a .22 that's how close they are! I've also been having fun feeding our little rosy finches out my bedroom window!! Amazing how fast a couple handfuls of crushed bread can disappear when 30 little birds are gorging it down!

Well when I get time I'll make sure to update my blog hopefully a little more often than I've been doing... Take care everyone, until sometime TTFN!!

Help me pray for good weather for this weekend so I can get out on vacation!! Our last little get away by ourselves before our baby is born!! I'm not looking forward to all the adrenaline and rides I'm going to be missing out on... but at least I get to go people watching and enjoy a larger variety of foods to fill up on!!! I'm looking forward to xmas shopping too... not to mention the wedding, OMG it's going to be soooo much fun! A lot of people from Akutan going to be in Vegas, most of them for the first time (not only in Vegas but out of state!)! Going to be very interesting and fun, I can't wait!!! Wish us luck with the weather! Thanks!!

Pix of my black lab Tug, Happy 4th Bday!

2009-11-17T17:00:00.005-09:00

Happy 4th Birthday to my lab Tug and his brother Derbin!!
Born November 17, 2005

Tug - Jan 5, 2006 - The day we got him!

Jan 5, 2006 - Look at those ears!

Jan 6, 2006 - First night in the house, passed out in his kennel

Feb 7, 2006 - Such a cute pup!

Growing up fast! Feb 17, 2006

Feb 28, 2006 - Loving his new duck toy!

July 26, 2006 - First time on a boat ride from
Akutan - Dutch on the F/V Oceanic

July 30, 2006 - First car ride from Anchorage to Valdez and back
(not to mention he just got "fixed" so he's drugged up)

First time in the skiff! He loves it! Wearing his life preserver too!

Tug in a valley of lupins! July 26, 2007

1st Halloween Costume! Super Tug! Oct 31, 2006

Happy Halloween!! Bat Tug, Oct 31, 2007

Hippy Tug!! Halloween 2008!!

Oct 3, 2008 - Tug and Roscoe watching me catch
humpies (pink salmon) ahead of the bay! Looking around dad, lol!

Derbin on the left (My uncle Darryl's pup) and Tug on the right (my pup)

Can't believe they are already 4 years old!!! The years are just blowing by!!

Bird Pix

2009-11-17T16:49:00.003-09:00

Pretty Bird

Willy

Pix of Pretty Bird and Willy

Pretty Bird getting a bath, drying her off with papertowel

A couple days old!

A week old!

2 weeks old

Sweetheart at a month old (the male)

Stash a month old (the female)

My baby birds with their pin feathers!

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

2009-11-17T16:44:00.002-09:00

Happy 4th Birthday to my lab Tug!! Also Happy 25th birthday to my cousin Tim S!!!

Well let me see where to start my blog...

My very first pets I got in my house were these pair of cockatiels. Pretty Bird who was yellow (lutino) and Willy who was a normal grey back in November of 2004. I loved those birds, they would whistle and make all these cute sounds along with these ear piercing screams. In April of 2008 they finally became proud parents of 2 hatchlings - which took them about 3 "tries", each time the eggs would just rot and nothing would happen with them so I'd discard them after about 6 months and they would wait a month or two then they start to try to lay again. Each time Pretty Bird was laying at least 5-8 eggs a batch. Finally when we were away on a trip, 2 of the eggs ending hatching!!! The female pushed them out of the nest as soon as they were walking and she tried to lay more eggs while the male bird used all his energy rearing the 2 little ones. He wasn't eating himself I don't think, just eating and regurgitating it back up for the 2 greedy little birds (who were eating on their own but still bothered their dad when he ate to feed them). One day we found our male daddy bird Willy dead on the bottom of the cage - I figured exhaustion from rearing took his little life. Well our little birds are a year and a half now, and last night I happened to find my Pretty Bird dead on the bottom of the cage - feet up in the air, lying on her back just like they do in cartoons... I don't know what killed my Pretty Bird, I'm guessing old age?

I never knew how old Pretty Bird and Willy were when I got them. I just know that I've had them for 6 year and my in-laws we got them from had them for about 3 years, and they got them from a friend in Dutch- who had owned them for a couple years - The original owner was my in-law's friend in Dutch's daughter who had passed away and her mom took the birds. So they eventually ended up with us for the last 6 years, living the great life. A nice big cage, plenty of fresh water and food, a nest box, gravel/grit, seed sticks & millet sprays and lots of birdie toys and all the flying space in the living room/kitchen/dining room!! I'm happy that they at least had baby birdies and we have them still!! I'm going to miss them so much; they were such great birds.... :( Their attitudes aren't replaceable and I'll never forget my first two cockatiels!! We'll dig thru all the snow in our yard to find Willy's grave and bury his birdie wife next to him... sucks to lose an animal family member!! I'm going to miss my Pretty Bird, she was my bird and was so lovey towards me.... I'm going to miss giving her baths and hearing her cute whistles and calls when I walk by the cage :( R.I.P Pretty Bird and Willy - I will never forget my first birds!

Other than my bird passing away. We've been getting lots and lots of nice fluffy snow today! I think I can make a snow man out of this snow! I tried to the other night but the snow was too powdery and wouldn't stick to its self.... but this snow is perfect. I already made a 1 foot ball in my front yard and noticed a 4 foot ball in front of the school!!! I can't wait to get off work and go play in the snow. It's been so long since I actually played in the snow like a little kid!! At lunch hour I even got the 4-wheeler stuck in the snow, took me about 10 mins to get it back on the boardwalk… guess I didn’t expect it to be that deep and thought I could turn around, but ended up getting stuck :P I thought it was kind of funny… about 10 mins later I got the bike out of the snow and was able to get home to cook up lunch!

I don’t remember the last day we had a plane that’s how long it’s been… going on 2 weeks soon I would believe… this winter weather just won’t stop. If it isn’t blowing then it’s white out snowing – always something Mother Nature is throwing at us that stops the plane from making the 20 min trip over from Dutch… I’m not really waiting for anything to come in, I just want my outgoing mail to get out… well I am waiting for my Disneyland park hopper tickets to come in :) And I know I have people in the hotel that are waiting to get off the island and some people waiting to come over. I heard that there aren’t any boats right now going either way… so everyone is stuck until the weather clears up for a plane to make it in…

My hubby and I got invited to eat birthday dinner for my cousin Tim, I made an angel food cake at lunch hour and I’ll whip up some salmonberry topping for it before I bring it down!! I love angel food cake with a salmonberry sauce! Mmm Mmm Mmm!! Thanks for inviting us! Guess I can wait to play in the snow after I eat dinner ;) LOL…

Well I figured I’d post some pix of my birds. I need to take up to date pix of my 2 little birds, they are full grown now! I’m really going to miss my original 2 birds though, but I’m happy to at least have the 2 little ones from my original pair! And some of my lab Tug growing up, since it’s his b-day today! :D I’ll do those in separate posts :)

Until sometime, TTFN.

Monday, November 16, 2009

2009-11-16T12:39:00.001-09:00

Ok well it's been about 5 days since I last posted... a lot has happened in those 5 days... So on Thursday, November 12th my hubby said he saw his cousin Lorraine (who was once married to my uncle so I consider her an aunt still). She said she hadn't heard from her brother in a couple days and was worried about him. My hubby told her to pick lock his front door and break into his house to make sure he was ok!! Well not even 15-20 mins later my hubby said he saw Lorraine's husband walking her home and she was crying... He already had a feeling of what happened...

On Monday the 9th, Lawrence came in to the Corporation office to see if his paycheck was done yet, since it wasn't he said he'd be back later or some other time to pick it up, "No rush" he said. I heard some other people talked to him later that night. No one heard from him on the 10th or the 11th, so by the morning of the 12th his sister Lorraine was suspicious of his where abouts and started to ask people when they last saw him and if anyone knew if he left to Dutch Harbor once again or not... After realizing that he didn't go anywhere, Lorraine got her husband and they broke into her brother's house. There they found Lawrence Prokopioff (Born Sept 1, 1959) at the young age of 50 deceased in his house. The death was caused by unknown conditions he might have even had a seizure, but was most likely alcohol related. Everyone one knew Lawrence's love for his hard alcohol and sadly to say it has taken his life. He is survived by his son Leon and grandson Isiah, his sisters Lorraine and Linda, niece Angelica, and nephews Art, Tim and Jeremiah. Preceded in death by both his parents Helen "Tootis" and Leon, and his brother Leon.

Lawrence will be greatly missed. His giggles and hiccups, his jokes and carefree attitude will not go forgotten!! My furnace will miss you dearly and I thank you for all you've taught me to take care of it on my own!! It's still very hard for me to grasp the reality of the situation, even after burying him in the ground on Saturday. I still feel as if he's here with us and that this is all just a bad dream... but it isn't and it's going to hit me hard one of these days that he's really gone...
My sincere condolences go out to my Aunty Lorraine and her family, Linda and her family..... Aunty Lorraine We All love you lots! Stay strong for us all... you've been thru sooo much... please know Boy and I are here for you just as much as you are for us!! Thank you for everything you do for all of us!! lots of luvs to you!!! <3

Since people did talk to Lawrence on Monday... they had guessed that he passed on Tuesday, November 10, 2009 and was laid to rest in the St. Alexander Nevsky Orthodox Church's cemetery on Nov 14, 2009.

His son Leon had come home for the funeral, making it by boat the day of the burial. Its been at least over 10 years since Leon was last here in Akutan, not the best way to come home to visit... but it was really good to see him again.

Well other than the funeral and trying to deal with those feelings... I've been doing great with my pregnancy! Baby is finally kicking good, I realized that baby kicks a lot once I eat anything! I've been trying to not let what's going on stress me out too much for the sake of my unborn child... no need for baby to feel stressed out because I am... so I stayed as strong as I could, but that didn't stop the tears from falling...

The weather has been crappy lately.... we've had a good High pressure sit over us bringing nothing but Northerly winds... making it freezing cold outside! The temps are hanging out in the 30's right around freezing, getting down to the low 20's - then to add the wind chill it's getting in the teens!! We have a little bit of snow and I"m hoping it sticks!! I tried to go out to make a snowman last night, but the snow was all powdery and didn't want to ball up for me... so my hubby and I built a little snow wall with all the snow in the yard! I don't remember the last time we got a plane, has to be going on well over a week now!! Luckily people have been coming and going on the boats that are still around, so at least we have a way to get on and off the island still if needed (that's if a boat is going to Dutch!). No mail is moving though since we dont' have a "mail boat" like we did back in the day... oh well.... I'm only waiting on some little things for my vacation coming up... Going to go spend some time in Los Angeles before driving to Las Vegas for to watch a couple of our friends tie the knot! I'm looking forward to the warm sunshine and people watching since I won't be able to get on any kind of rides at any of the theme parks! I just hate stressing over my 3 chi's... my parents will take my lab Tug and I'm hoping my brothers don't have any problems watching the pups and my house while we're gone... I HATE leaving them at home and would rather have them with us... but it's just not possible all the time :(

Well I'm sorry to have to share the news of us losing a great member of our community, but I figured I'd at least let everyone know, you know?!?! LP will be greatly missed by all of us here in Akutan!

Until some other time, TTFN