Another night on the Gulkana

Here are a couple of pics from the last float trip:

Often, when we're full in the raft or we have some adventurous folks around, we'll have guests follow us in the raft with some of our kayaks. A couple of nights ago, the weather was glorious, the mountains were in full view with their fresh snow (Audie was snowed on during his early morning bird tour two mornings ago!), and two fellows from California were having a great time river kayaking for the first time in their lives.

It's really hard to take photos and paddle a raft at the same time, reason why I don't often have photos from the float trips, but I happened to bring my camera along this night because just the night before on our trip we floated underneath TWO Northern Hawk Owlets sitting on a branch together, just watching us float right underneath them. I was bound and determined to be lucky and see them again that next night. Well....not as cute a pose, but we did find them. This little guy was sitting right on shore...

And his mom was in the spruce overhead, getting harassed and dive-bombed by two Arctic Terns. 
 And below is Audie, teaching our California kayakers and our rafters, a group of Italians, about our river. 

The winter larder

Fruit in Paxson is a problem. Produce in Fairbanks is marginal at best, and often as not looks fine in the store and then is rotten two days after we get it back home. Fairbanks is the end of the line for produce transport from the lower-48, and it shows. So this summer I decided to hook up with a special fruit supplier that a friend recommended to me, a supplier whose first stop is Alaska directy from California. My first delivery not too long ago I got 16 pounds of Rainier cherries, a crate of apricots, and half a crate of peaches....just to try it all out. What heaven! Fruit not spoiling, ripening on schedule, and so juicy and full of taste...It reminds me of life when I lived outside the state and good fruit is a given.

So we've nearly become fruitarians this last week, gobbling all this yummy fruit. Even with the small order I got, we are over-run, especially with cherries. So once again, thoughts have turned to winter and preserving this wonderful fruit. My first try with cherries is to freeze them. Here I was dunking them in cold water to preserve juice, cutting them in half to remove the pit which can lend an off-flavor if kept intact, then dunking the cherries in lemon juice diluted in water to prevent browning. I then freeze them flat on baking sheets so they are individually frozen, and then into freezer bags they go. Of course, after doing this for a few hours Audie came in the house and told me there is a cherry pitter in the back recesses of the top cupboard, one I had never seen. Will be doing some more bags today and will definitely save time instead of cutting them in half. 

I'll be getting more fruit deliveries, and hopefully our wild blueberry and raspberry season will be good this year too. 

And here's a quick shot of our first tour group breakfast in the Gathering Room. Thank you, Big Birders! It was a pleasure to host your group.

Good people

While we always seem to attract wonderful guests here, this last week has been exceptional! Happy, happy people. Lots of interesting folks staying and new friendships being formed.  

And while it's always sad to say good-bye to guests when they eventually have to leave us, yesterday I felt a true pang of regret. Martin and Lisa, honeymooners from South Africa, who stayed with us for four nights, charmed us from our immediate meeting in the office and throughout their stay exemplified who we consider to be our perfect guest: enthusiastic, easy-going, super friendly and inquisitive, nature lovers, and active explorers doing lots of hiking and kayaking during their stay. They left this wonderful note in their cabin's journal upon their departure:

11 June, 2009

Audie & Jenny - 

Words are quite hard to find to describe the disappointment at leaving here this morning!  After four nights in one of the most idyllic spots, in great comfort with friendly smiles and awesome hospitality, amazing activities and just all-out maximum relaxation, it's really hard to leave!  If we ever come back to Alaska we'll come stay here for much, much longer!  The highlight of our honeymoon so far!

Martin & Lisa

Cape Town, South Africa

It warms my heart! We definitely plan to keep in touch with them.

We also had stay with us for two nights a wood carver and we hope soon to be stocking his art in our gift shop! I think this will make a for a unique cabins gift shop indeed: selling the art of our prior guests! Also leaving this morning was a traveling trio of ladies who unfortunately only had time to stay with us for one night, but who were so full of jolly good cheer I wished they could have stayed for three or four or more nights! We had a couple from Anchorage who were here bicycling for their anniversary. A professional bird photographer here for three nights who came back every day with amazing photos, including one of a Smith's Longspur singing on top of a lupine! And there have been many other interesting guests too...just a string of good people lately.

We've been float-tripping a number of times. Lots of guests renting kayaks as the weather has been so fantastic. Even had a girl stop in who was camping in her RV, but was driving by and suddenly decided it was a perfect day to kayak. She stopped in, took a kayak out for a few hours, and then went on her way!

Dining at The Boathouse

So here's the last construction project to share with everyone for this year:

Our cabins, as most of our potential guests know, or should know, do not have kitchens in them (except the Guest House). The cabins were constructed this way by design: kitchens lead to messes, to sometimes lovely bread-baking smells and oft-times not so lovely oniony smells. We have always had grills available for guests to cook on, but this is not always enough. For the last few years, we have had the idea of a Community Kitchen in mind, one large kitchen that guests can share, where cooking messes and cooking smells are kept far from the peaceful restfulness of the cabins. And now after a few years of pondering what design we preferred, the walls are finally up!

And within five days, the structure was complete! We had a wonderful Austrian couple stay with us for one night right before construction started. They came back a week later to stay again, pulled in the driveway and were shocked to find such a large new building!

We had originally wanted a very airy outdoor pavilion-style kitchen, with insect screening around all the walls, but due to structural and snow-load considerations, we added more plywood walling than we had first considered. However, the kitchen is still quite large and airy, with expansive screened windows and doors all around. The right side of the building will be our raft, kayak, and bicycle storage area: hence, the name The Boathouse.
The inside is nowhere near finished. If you will be staying with us this summer, I doubt we will have anything ready inside except a large grill, but you are welcome to call and ask before you arrive. There is lots of finishing work to do inside. A grass picnic area will be adjacent to the building on the left, along with the dining tables inside. We think it will be a wonderful addition to our guests' stay here. 

Pictures speak louder than words

And they will definitely have to on this post as I've got some time to post pics, but no time to do much writing. Lots of busy little bee activity these days:

Now this was a big surprise! It's wonderful to feel like the luckiest girl in the world, and boy did I feel like it when presented with my engagement present! 

A sunning deck. Just for me. On top of our second story building, and well above tree line. 10 feet by 12 feet, and with expansive views to forever! 

The staircase was put in as I'm uncomfortable with heights and I once slid most of the way down this roof one winter climbing up here when it was quite icy. To access it, I climb the steps to our Gathering Room and walk on to the first story roof to the left, which is almost nearly flat. Then I can climb onto this step/ladder to get to my special place!

The view down from the top. This was constructed when I was on an overnight trip to Fairbanks. Besides being a wonderful place to sun (no shade from trees, no bugs as it's so high), it's also a perfect, perfect, perfect yoga spot and I've started doing my morning Sun Salute up here, looking directly at the eastern sky. 

It's the most endearing and love-filled present I've ever received, and I feel lucky that it's from my wonderful guy.

The Land Cruiser out on its first summer foray....taking a little break from construction projects, of which I'll post pictures probably tomorrow.

And a chicken shot. Happy, happy birds. The chicken yard encompasses a good extensive section of forest, and our birdies really turn into jungle fowl once again! Here are 5 of the 16, nestled in dirt, and living the kind of life a chicken is meant to live.

Safe and sound despite...

....a highly irregular move! Pics from the piano moving below. I'm a couple of weeks behind in getting pictures posted because, despite a sour economy and dire predictions of tourist levels, we've been very busy these last few weeks. 

Here the guys are getting the piano out of the truck that Audie and Alan drove north the beginning of this month:

They didn't carry the piano up the stairs as we designed the second floor deck so the side railings could be dismantled easily and large objects brought in with the skid-steer.

This is a 100 year old antique piano. A family heirloom. I really wasn't breathing while taking these pictures!

After surviving a possible second-story topple to a certain death of splintering wood and mangled wires, she entered safely to our new Community Room! The piano still is not set up yet, though my fingers are dying to do some tinkling. Work is now mostly finished upstairs so hope to have her reassembled and lovely music emanating from her soon!

Haphazard Blogging

So, as should be quite obvious, the 30-Day 30-Blog Post Challenge was abandoned shortly after its inception. Complete and utter failure, though I was quite satisfied with myself for attempting to do it and therefore certainly succeeding at remembering the existence of the blog more often and starting to get into a rhythm of regular postings. But it was not to be. No feeble excuses here...let's just say life got in the way.

Here is a recap of the last few weeks:

Astonishing week-long, sunny (cloudless too), tan-inducing, warm weather followed by another week of yes-you're-still-in-the-arctic-dear cold winds with snow. Yes, snow. It always snows at least once in May. I didn't post to the blog during the warm week because I was quite busy attending to a medical condition of mine: lack of Vitamin D! I'm now summer-tanned and full of serotonin.

Other news is that Audie was not here the first two weeks of May. He and his buddy Alan flew south to the east coast and drove back to Alaska a large truck stuffed to the gills with treasures, the most important treasure for us being a grand piano that has been in Audie's family for a few generations. The piano will be going upstairs in the new room, and I will be the pianist. I studied piano for over 13 years when I was growing up. During my last two years of high school, I was practicing over two hours a day. A very serious study it was, and once I got to college I had no more time for it, was tired, and needed a break. I've been missing it greatly the last few years, so Chopin is coming to Paxson! 

I have pictures to post of the piano being moved upstairs, and other pictures to post as well, but it's been a long day and need to get to sleep soon. Let me say, however, that I do hope the blogging will get in gear again because as of the last few days we now have HIGH SPEED internet! And wi-fi! After years of cursing at increasingly slower and unreliable dial-up, we have now joined the modern age with a satellite dish. And also, no more fighting each other for internet usage during downtime as we each can get our work done on our respective computers. It's a big relief. 

More harbingers of summer

Our first Varied Thrush....oh, it's wonderful to hear birdsong again!

And white fur turning brown....
Also back in the neighborhood today and announcing his presence most vociferously was our Merlin. I didn't get a chance to see him but heard his characteristic call all day.

And another harbinger of the new season upon us: our first official summer guests last night! Usually this time of year is pretty quiet. No winter-recreation guests as everything is soggy, and summer guests usually don't start arriving until mid-May. But Carol and Mike from Chicago showed up last night so I can now say our official summer season has begun!

I think the Incas would still be cold..

I wish everyone could see what I see now. Paxson Mountain, swathed in a strong, unrelenting sunlight (the best kind!). At such times, what a mighty mountain she appears to be. Though much smaller than her mightier cousins of the Alaska Range, Paxson Mountain is still a formidable prominence. I am listening to Andean music at an insane volume...music from one imposing mountain range is appropriate music for another imposing mountain range, I think. I stomp my feet in time, I dance, I run, I breathe deeply of our pure mountain air. I feel lucky to have tramped through the Andes; I feel lucky to live in the Alaska Range. Gulls have arrived and are staking out their claim to the river; an eagle flies overhead; swans are arriving searching out open water. Just today on a walk I began to get excited about kayaking our rivers again, feeling that great surge of being at one with massively flowing water is so thrilling. 

Why the Andean music? I forgot about it the last month or so, but today I'm thinking about my friend Marie who is flying off to Bolivia tomorrow for almost a month. She'll be hiking two massive mountains there: 15,000 and 18,000 ft. They make the mountains pretty big down there, as they do here!

Am I goofing off? Absolutely. Should I get back to my window washing and floor scrubbing? I guess so. Spring cleaning may be necessary for the mind and body, but it's the spring viewing, the watching of the revitalization of the forest and tundra, that is necessary for the soul.

Spring Cometh

For the last few days our friend Sebastian was in town and visiting, and before dinner one night Aurora decided he was her new best friend. While she'd met Sebastian many times before, I've never seen her cuddle up so much with him. While Aurora is a very friendly dog, she can sometimes be a little shy, very unlike her brother Borealis. But the other night, she decided Sebastian was her bud. Not surprising, really. We were so happy to see Sebastian again and proud to celebrate his latest accomplishments: this year's winner of the Yukon Quest and second place in the Iditarod! He's a dog man and Aurora likes this!

Spring, spring, spring: I'm finally, finally, finally feeling like it's here, at last! Even though there are still mountains of snow melting everywhere, today I noticed the first buds of the Siberian Irises poking through. The greenhouse warmed itself up to 60 degrees today and the soil is ready to be worked. I'm in the mood to do a pretty thorough spring cleaning. Lord knows the house needs it after being shut up tight all winter. While not exactly balmy out (high in the 40s today), I still flung open some doors to let fresh air flow. The temp was in the 60s in the sun today: I believe I actually got a little color!

Flooring is almost finished upstairs. I will have to take some more pictures. I laid down on the new wood floor today, with the sun streaming through the windows, and I almost cried: I felt so happy, so satisfied, so full of peace and purpose. To see a long-awaited-for dream come to fruition; to see the room become more beautiful every day, and more beautiful than I ever imagined it could be. What a lovely feeling.