Well hello again

… did you notice it has only been a few days and yet I privilege you with another post. Let’s start with Rose and her tadpoles… I think they are doing good there are still 10 of them and their legs are growing like mad. There is one though, that is growing a HUGE air bubble under his chin, the optimist in me is thinking it is his “Croaker” pouch, but I think he may be suffering from some thing else. Speaking of frogs you must check out this blog.

Tonight we are expecting house guest again, last week we had 4 unexpected visors and tonight I am unsure of when or even who will show up…but I can deal with that ‘cause I am hoping to score some free Godsmack tickets out of the deal. It is kind of nice having so many out of town visitors.

Today, the girls and I went and got some fresh lake water and a few more plants for the tadpoles; and since we were already at Goose Lake we decided to take advantage of the SUN, yes I said SUN!!! Yes Mother Nature was finally in a SUNNY mood… not partly Sunny, not partly cloudy… but SUNNY!!! The girls enjoyed swimming and building sand castles and I laid back and finished another book and soaked up some skin cancer. I am a happy mom, and then I heard that the weather is about to change again (so says Jacky on Channel 2). I wish Mother Nature would quit being moody, maybe, do you think it could be menopause?

Lately I have been asking the girls for reading material. Last it week it was The Last of the Really Great Wangdoodles (recomended by Rose and Byrd), this week it was The Princess Bride and Stoner and Spaz (recommended by Tay). Everyone knows The Princess Bride but Stoner and Spaz was a new one to Tay and I. When we hit the library yesterday it practically jumped off the shelf. It is a great read if you are dealing with Cerebral Palsy and issues of a teen. It is about a 16 year old boy with CP coming out of his shell. It really put some thing into perspective for me… like DRUGS, SEX, and how difficult it is for a kid like Tay to find their “clicks” if they are even lucky enough. It really opened the door for some good discussions between Tay and I. Tay told me today, she needs to start writing her own book, an autobiography, I agree, there aren’t too many books written from a CP kids point of view

I am about to start a Dean Koontz book about a disabled little girl with psycho parents called One Door Away from Heaven. I haven’t read Koontz for a awhile now, his books were beginning to become the same ‘ol same ‘ol… I hope he does not disappoint me this time… or else I am going BACK to the Junior Section.

Trips to Goose Lake and reading is not all that’s been going on … I can now reach a $1,000 game on Solitaire … with no problem…. SOMEONE PLEASE TAKE ME TO VEGAS!!!!

I did not need to see this...

It been quiet on the home front, we have just been catching up on some much needed rest and house work. The girls are starting to get bored just hanging at home, and it only took two weeks of being out of school.

I have several extra kids each day and I don’t understand where they come from… I plan a day of cleaning and next thing you know I have several extra kids…who don’t do chores!! One playmate a day does NOT statify my children. Last night at 10:30pm Byrd wanted to call another friend (she had three friends over throughout the day) to come over to play…ACKKK… I guess she wasn’t ready to stop.

Yesterday was JD’s birthday, with the amount of kids around you would have thought he was 10. I should have planned better party games like maybe a piñata or pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey ….So much for a quiet day with my family. It was nice to get some adult time with the Buffalo and we had a rare sighting of the Prudoeman (you made JD’s day)…I don’t see many adults, unless they are picking up kids from the free daycare.

Evenings have been exciting with all of the new reality shows….”Treasure Hunter” and “So you think you can Dance” are a few of my new favorites. I really got a shock the other night while watching “America’s Got Talent”… I was in the kitchen and my youngest says “Hey look its Grandpa Stan”…. My oldest says “I was not gonna be the first to say it… but it does look like him!”…. I just have to ask “DAD just what do you do when you’re in Vegas????”……

I wish my father would have warned us, I did not need to see this!!!

Residential Lots For Sale – Prime Land?

On our “Vacation” to Anchor Point we were driving the back roads of the little city. Let me tell you…for those who have not visited…Anchor Point is a SMALL settlement along the highway as you are headed to the end of the road, Homer. In the year 2000 Anchor Point had a population of 1,845 people - Males: 988 (53.6%), Females: 857 (46.4%). That number may increase in the summer months, but I doubt it.

Anchor Point has grown somewhat since I was a kid but not much. New business pop up all the time but only 5 have made it through the years….the Inn…gas stations … grocery store…. tackle shop…and of course the video store; just the necessities. They have tried to develop the area but it the only businesses moving in is the Meth Labs.

Once they tried to get a boat harbor....why does AP needs a boat harbor is beyond me, with the mouth of the river, beach launching and the fact that Ninilchick and Homer are just 15 minutes away. Needless to say the boat harbor project failed. After that, the backer of that project decided to develop some lots in the middle of town behind the school. We are talking acres of prime land, most lots in that area go for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Half the lots were developed into residential and in between those lots he created this…

You may be wondering what the HELL??? Well it’s not a lawn….You see with a population of 988 males and 857 females they really needed a golf course in the middle of town. This is just one hole….the rest of the holes are stern around the new residential neighborhood.

I don’t know about you but when I am outside enjoying my view of the inlet I would prefer NOT to have to wear a helmet.... And when someone yells BIRDY I expect to see a bird, not a white ball that may (or not) be a product of an exploding meth lab.

Picture of the Day

I finally got my film back....so I will start sharing some photo's.... and maybe a story or two!! This is Lou (aka Melissa my niece) and Rose, we were at Rose's school picnic.

Camp Beatification Award

The Prattler has mentioned that the Wolf Clan has lost the Camp Beatification Award for the Hole in the Wall Campground. I would have to agree with this decision… we did not have time to add to our own space; seeing how we had spent so much time beatifying the space around us this year.

I would like you all to know that we have just now finished digging the rest of the beach gravel out from under the bed liner of the Pretty White Chevy. Do you know how much gravel a short bed Chevy can haul??? A LOT!!! Oh and seeing how the Kitchen had yet to be dug out of the shed when we arrived…and it still needed the fixtures, plumbing, counters, and shelves…. Then there were the signs….

The Moose – This is the winner of the Beatification Award…Do you see what we ( the Wolf Pack) have done so that they could win the award this year?

This is the Krok Pond - if you notice there is quiet a zoo around here … with Man eating Krok’s and Crain’s, (not shown…Dragons, Cats, Dogs, Snakes, Donkeys, and Babies.) With the help from a Moose calf the wolves were able to complete quite a landscape for the moose to enjoy.

With creating all of this I would have to say we did not have time to spend on our own site... But I do expect you all to make up for it ….I would like a few loads of gravel hauled in to level out our parking pad. I would also like a “Crib” to be constructed so that my camper has a place to rest for the winter. Also, you must not forget the “No parking on the Foliage” sign, for my flower bed….

I do believe though that the awards should not go to the moose but the Beatification Award should go to the builder of the “Duck House”!! This is the multipurpose room that the Prattler was building all spring. We use this building more then any other in camp… it acts like a Museum, Library, Game Room, Little Girl Club House (funny how we can’t get them to use any other outhouse), and a POOP House (notice it is handicap accessible). This was a true blessing … its hard to poop in the woods when the leaves have not yet bloomed.

Maybe next year JD can plant a Toilet Paper Tree….

6th Grade Graduation

What a couple of weeks… The last meeting/s of Girl Scouts (Byrd’s Troop) went well. We had a great end of the year awards BBQ and all went smoothly. Amongst, planning an Awards ceremony for 13 girls and their families I spent my days with my sister’s two toddlers (Lou and Buddy). I am now SURE there will be no more kid raised under my roof. What a handful!!! The Babies and I spent the majority of the time at school enjoying the last few days of school and all of the activities that they shove into a week. Although the picnics were fun and all, my highlight was watching my oldest daughter Graduate from elementary school.

Monday evening Tay and I spent 3 hours shopping for a dress to wear at graduation, the poor girl (after learning with Bratt-Knee) I had to say NO to every dress out there…. Too short, no straps, to low cut. A few of the dresses were perfect…but all the nice things about them disappeared when you are sitting in a wheelchair. I never thought about this aspect of her being in a chair… but we found that not every dress looks right when you are sitting. Finally we found on for $9.99…WHAT A DEAL!!! This allowed her to get a new pair of shoes. I tried to talk her into getting some my size, since she is not walking her shoes do not need to fit and I could always use a new pair of sandals, but it didn’t work she saw right through my plan!!! Oh well!

For shock effect and to display her independence or her individualisms…Tay talk JD into allowing her to add a bit of color to her hair. So Tuesday night, Tay and I sat down and added red, BRIGHT red streaks in her hair. We put two in the front and then died the ends. As school the next day she had many complements. Tay’s kindergarten teacher gave me a funny look and made a polite comment about it. I guess she thought I was a little more conservative then that. Although I did not totally approve of the die thing, JD was not either, I do not regret letting her do it. In fact I feel as if it was a stepping stone for her…”DARE TO BE DIFFERENT.”…”LOOK AT ME” … her first baby step into becoming her own person. As I remember it…. Jr High was the start to figuring out who I was.

(not a very good picture...but the red up front is braided and pulled back)

Yesterday at Tay’s graduation, her speech went well. Two kids from each classroom introduced their teachers she was articulate and used lots of big words. She did her speech with a young man. We will call him “the silver child” This young man will break many mothers’ hearts, as he would be the perfect man for any daughter. Just look how my child looks at him. I wonder????? He likes to be called “Golden Child” but he got demoted silver last night around ten; when Tay and her friends pranked called him and he hung up on them when he found out who it was, he said we was trying to sleep.

(Tay and "The Golden Child")

As the teachers introduced each child (somewhere around 60 kids) they would say something about their school career, when it was Tay’s turn to get her certificate the teacher went on and on and on….I guess they really liked Tay. All of the teachers kept teasing her that she was such a joy to have as a student and so smart that she should just bypass the next 10 years of school and come teach at the elementary school. I feel for the kid that was recognized for spelling “yacht” …that poor child, even I can spell that!

Tay looked so mature in her dress. I just wish I had noticed just how much cleavage was visible with this dress. It was not the dress it, which was very conservative…. It was those boobs she inherited from JD’s side of the family. When everyone says she looks like Valette, it’s not just the blonde hair. I can blame JD’s side of the family because I didn’t get my boobies until 8th grade. Hopefully the other two will be late developers like I was!!

(Tay and Nokia - Best Friends Forever)

So with one child in JR high … I feel like …. Well not so young …. Where has the time gone??? Will she be ready for the real life in 6 years????

Rumor has it ....

... They test thier children also.

Day one....May 20th

What a wonderful vacation. No need for a search party…we made it home. It took a little longer then we had thought …JD had to drag me home!

Just guessing I would say this is my 27^th year on the river for Memorial Day. It was a very quiet week compared to others we have seen. My sign that I am now official old… when campfire talk consists of cures for gout and current medications we are all on. Other then the old people talk around the fire we got a few good outing in and saw some amazing things…I will start working on the photo’s and the stories will come.

It was a hot week and we all got a lot of sun while we were out of town. I sure hope I am not the only one sporting a tan that appears as if someone has held me up by the heels and dunked my head into a barrel of self tanning lotion.

Day ONE – Saturday May 20^th…

Arrival day…The camp was muck, not just muck but sinking sandy mud that just builds up on your shoes so after ten steps it is as if you are walking on platform shoes. As I looked around the camp wondering WHY!!!! WHY AM I DOING THIS??? Ten days in this MUCK!!! Why am I the only Alaskan girl without extra toughs?….and then I saw my flower bed. I landscaped it last year, as everyone else did productive chores like digging a poop house hole, hauling in wood, water, and gravel, I worked hard to beautify camp. I hauled in rocks and transplanted plants. Everyone teased that nothing will grow in the sand that any work I do will just get ruined. Well when I pulled in to camp that cloudy muddy Saturday, I saw flowers …Tall and strong. Yellow, pink, white, some tall others short. They were so bright admits all the muck. Some little Golden Grammy thought enough of my efforts that she planted some silk flowers…what a wonderful site!! If it weren’t for those flowers I would have stomping around like a buffalo. As the week went on the muck dried up and the REAL flowers grew. A few stay fire weeds, some wild geraniums and some sort of yellow daisy that grows by the beach, when I left they had grown 6 inches. Come forth of July I think I will try some chocolate lilies.

This is my favorite plant of all…with all the tools that go missing in the “Hole In the Wall” we thought we had better start growing our own.

So HA HAHAHAHAHA to all that thought my landscaping was a futile act. Maybe while I am gone someone will paint me a sign quoting our great friend Ranger McCampbell….”No parking on the Fol-i-age”!!!