Starting to freeze!

This has been one looooooooooooooooong week!!! I've had a cold which felt better yesterday, but I have abused myself too much the last few days and I'm really feeling it again today. I'd say this is the first one in 15 yrs that hasn't turned to a sinus infection or pneumonia, but I'm not sure I can say that yet! No school tomorrow though so we can sleep in a bit! We were up late last night making final barge runs and getting ready for the cement pour today. We had to make our last runs yesterday because the lake is starting to freeze. Rodney has had to break ice to get into the camp-side dock for the last few days and he REALLY had to chop to get out the other day after we left the boat there over night! That's the end of our boating for the year!

Fortunately Rodney was able to purchase an ATV on Tuesday, just in time for freeze up! It is an older 4WD 600cc Yamaha Grizzly. It has a trailer which was really handy hauling back groceries and more of those blocks yesterday. Eider was digging under them and ruined about 5 of those foam blocks at a small furtune. Yes, I noticed that I miss-spelled fortune, but then I decided that it fit. Rodney says he'll get a picture of me coming down the hill with my grocery-getter but if I'm wearing a helmet, I'm not sure how you'll know it is me. Personally, I'd prefer a smaller one or a small motorcycle for every day errands and getting around, but this is handy for hauling stuff. We do have a smaller one coming too if the guy ever gets it finished! Apparently he isn't hungry enough. This is Alaska where a lot of people kind of work on their own schedules, or maybe they won't, you just never know.

I'd like to take some pictures of the ATV trail, but I was just too tired today to make another run! One problem with the ATV trail right now is traffic! Twice I've almost run into someone coming or going the other direction. The trail is narrow enough that in most spots you can't pass each other. Yesterday Rod had to back up for me to get by, today I backed up for Doug. Our back yard looked like an ATV parking lot this afternoon! I wasn't smart enough to grab the camera when the opportunity presented itself, but I'll try to remember to do it on Friday when we do the final pour (I think). The trail is really kind of pretty! It needs some more work to make it more smooth but that will probably have to wait for next year. There's still too much to do before the real snow and freezing. I hear rumors we may get some snow tonight or tomorrow. At this point it will probably stay once it does snow. So many people have commented about the unusually mild and nice fall we've had. It can't last forever, but boy have we appreciated it as we pour concrete!

We've been having some trouble off and on lately with the alternator which charges the batteries so we have a new one on order. No one knows how old the current one is so I guess that means it should be replaced. Today it seems to be working ok, but yesterday we ran the generator most of the day to charge the batteries after we got to the point where we could only run one light the night before.

One last barging photo for the year! Nate is at the front, Earl close behind and Rodney driving the boat. They are taking the boat and dock out as I type so this should be the last one this year. Hopefully that means we have everything here that we need for the project - the big stuff anyway. We can move stuff in by ATV or with the Bobcat or stuff like that if need be but the barge is the easiest way for the large or heavy items. We brought the king sized mattresses over last night so the "shack in the back" should be ready any time we need it for visitors!

Here is the photo of today's pour. It would have been nice to have one additional body available so that Nate could work with the mini-ex, making the most of the time they have it rented, but unfortunately we needed the body helping with the concrete job. It went smoothly though so they were done fairly early today, allowing Nate time to get back into the excavator to work on a spot for the propane tanks and the ditch running the line for that. You can't see Doug Theissen in this picture - he's the one behind the cloud of cement. Brian and Rodney were hauling buckets and Rod was tamping the cement to make sure it got to the bottom of each hole.

Here you can see more swans (adult with youngsters) in our cove which is just starting to freeze. We don't have as much ice as the other side of the lake. It covers most of that one arm of the lake where we dock on the camp side to about 2" thick right now, maybe more.

This picture isn't the best but it was so funny I had to share it anyway. Naughty Ellie was trying to get comfy in the laundry. I'd have chased her out of there but the kids were supposed to have put away their laundry almost a week ago (after the mass laundry day) and never finished the job. I think the flash didn't go off or something. Oh yeah, we got a new dining room table too! The first thing Ellie did was find a chair that wasn't pushed in and walked across it! Between Naughty Ellie and Digging Eider, we're about fed up with dogs today! The dining room table is second hand, but it is big and solid so it pretty much met our criteria. It is amazing how much second hand stuff goes for here! ANY little piece of junk table at a thrift shop will go for $50! Crazy! We found this on Craigs list for a decent price. The top is SOLID oak. It weighed a TON and we had to take the front door off and do a lot of wiggling to get it in, but it is MUCH better than eating at a card table! And it is now Ellie approved so that MUST count for something!

So that's it for now! I'll try to post this weekend with pictures of the trail and the ATV parking lot!