One week to go!

Today I took the girls to the grocery store to check on their applications. They haven't interviewed anyone and they probably will only hire one person. They will call for interviews next week. So we will see who gets it. Lars is getting a little cranky! He is on overload with all the meetings and he has ADD and can't sit that long without raising his had and going to the bathroom so he can stretch his legs! You can tell when he is going to freak when he gets that look in his eye, and we all ask; have you taken your meds yet? We love that big hunk! The girls are getting ancy for school to start and so is Trace. Early to rise means eary to fall down and CRASH!

A new day.

Having Lars gone for most the day is nice! He dosen't have time to worry if I am getting the things done that I need to. I am used to getting up and leaving at 6:45 with the girls and comming home at 4:00pm. Now I get to wake up when Trace does and eat breakfast with them and keep up with everything that is going on. Not that much is going on right now, but just getting caught up on all that I have missed this summer! And that is PLENTY! There is a grocery delivery barg that comes out of Seattle and delivers right oto the docks! We need to order some food for the winter, it is quite a bit cheaper than buying it here at the local store. Today it is raining in sheets! It is so cool! And the wind just carries the sheets right out to sea. Tonight clam chowder! Elyse hates potatoes and Trace hates everything but Salmon. So it should be a hit!

Get ready and Go!

Lars woke up at 7:30 am and started his new job! He has inservice all week and the kids don't starat until Tue. Sept. 6. I can't wait to see if I get to sub. for any of the girls classes. Trace starts Head Start on Tue., but Pre-School doesnt' start until Oct. The teacher is having a baby any day. If I get the job I will drive the bus to pick up the kids and work from 10:00 to 12:00. Then 1:00 to 3:00 and drive the kids home. I think will really like it. I am still working on getting Neisha a math class that the school dosen't offer. Alg. II of all things. She has to have 3 years of math to graduate, and that means that she either takes the lower math class or do it over the internet. She already has 16 credits and she needs 22 to graduate, so her and Elyse should be out the same year. I will be loosing 2 kids! I am not sure I am ready to loose one!

Mud Surfing in King Cove, AK.

Today was a Blast! We took off on the 4 wheelers and went over to Belkoftski Bay. It was the muddiest mess I have ever been in. Every 100 ft. was a mud bog from hell. Lars was stuck in everyother mud hole. Thank goodness our neighbor Paul had a winch. I had to be pulled out 3 times. I wouldn't have got stuck if I didn't have Trace on with me. You have to haul ass and ride standing up to maneveur across the mess. Lars had 30 ft. roosters flying behind him, whoever was behind him was wishing they weren't that close. By the time we got to the shore line all you could see of Lars was a huge black man. He took off his glasses and then you could tell how deep the slude on him was. We began the ride with 5 4-wheelers. The Post Master, she lives 2 houses up from us. Paul and Marlene, She is the School secretary and they live 3 houses down form us. Pauls sister Jane and her daughter Zena. Connie, a good friend of Marleen's. Ok, so we got to the shore line and ate some snacks while Trace and Zena collected Dungenous Crabs on the beach. About 1/2 went by and here came 15 more 4-wheelers. Some with 2 people on them. I have never seen that many people all on 4-wheelers that knew eachother. Well Annette the History teacher and her family showed up right after the 15. so know we have a group of 25. We rode down to the waterfalls that fall right into the ocean. You have to ride through it. We got off and checked in the rocks for starfish, but only saw some huge bear tracks. They measured 12 inches wide and 14 long. Yea we got the hell out of there! We headed back which was just as much fun as the trip there. You could here me laughing everytime I got stuck. I felt bad to slow everyone down, but no one really cared. They were enjoying watching Lars fly through the mud in a frantic zig zag to stay on top of the mud. Well we got to a spot that we had to go one by one until you got all the way across. It was my turn and all the sudden everyone started pointing and laughing at something behind me. So I stopped and looked and there lay Lars on sprawled out on his back in front of his wheeler. All you could hear was that little Lars giggle. He finally stood up and everyone began to clap and yell, He's up and he's ok! Trace was begining to think that we were never going to get home. HE thought we were going to die in the black mud! So did I until we finally hit the main road! We will all be soar tomorrow, but I will never forget the good time that we had. On our way home we saw a dead grizzly bear. They said that there was a wounded bear and that it was probably the same one and it finally died. They wanted to go and get some claws off it or some teeth, But it stunk so bad that you couldn't get within 100 ft. of it. When we got home we ate tacos and sprayed everything off. Including Lars! I woke up in the night and couldn't see out of one eye. I went to the mirror and my right eye was swollen shut. I must have got bitten while we were mud surfing. I was covered in mud, how would I know! Tomorrow Lars starts all the inservice and computer training. School starts next week and I substitute for the History teacher on Friday. My first time being a Sub! Ya Hoo!

Polka Party Anyone?

Today we watched Treasure Planet and ate egg mclarsens. Lars dropped Weezy and I off at the school to get some things done and work on the blogg. We have a Polka Party to go to tonight. They are raising money for the Eddie Mack Scholarship. We have found two large salmon berries to enter in the contest. They weigh them, measure them, and then choose a winner. There is also a lady that plays polka music and is bringing her band. This shall be interesting and fun! We eat dinner there and dance the night away, adults and kids.

What the hell?

This morning we woke up to 5 baby mice. The mom ate half of one and the rest died. It was a blood bath. What is it with all the animals being pregnant with out us knowing. Greater the goat and now Charli the mouse. We are not excepting anymore animals as gifts. We rented the movie Duplex which totally tripped us out, but laughed hysterically. Had a little din din and hit the sack.

Meet the neighbors.

Woke up and ate waffles and had home made buttermilk syrup, man was it good! we had our first visitor for the day. He lives three houses away. He brought over a wild mouse to put in Traces hamster cage, also to get a look at Neisha. The damn thing ran the treadmill all night. The girls had Grace, Heather and Kelli come over. They hung out with them on the Ferry and like to play barbies with them. yeah thats right I said barbies. Thank goodness there still good girls around. We made homemade pizza and breadsticks and went to bed early.

Partying with the Teachers!

Well it all started by a phone call, then another. Still no one answered the phone only the answering machine. We couldnt get out of bed no matter what. The storm has never stopped. I cant wait until I get used to the wind, then maybe I'll get some sleep. We finally got up and ate breakfast and went to Lars' classroom. We made some copies and laminated a bunch of stuff and called it a day. The Gypsy needs some TLC so Lars cleaned the engine and found out he needs to work on the starter and do a tune up. I made dinner while he was outside talking to CJ on the phone about hunting and fishing. We love ya CJ and Lisa! We had also got invited to a teacher party at the headstart teachers house. At 6:30 pm we went and met all the teachers Lars will be working with. There was a lot of great food from Salmon, asparagus, BBQ wings, to Capers. I had heard of Capers in a movie and now I have actually tasted them. Excellent! A little cream cheese on a cracker topped with Capers. After visiting for a few hours our friendships grew. It is good to get to know who u will be working with before u are thrown to the wolves. Lars will fit in great. Came home and read the Hobbit to Trace and went to bed.

The girls are getting ready for school.

Today I took the girls to meet with the principal. Elyse has a bunch of testing to do this year. Utah and Alaska have seperate test so she gets to do it all over again. Neisha has as many credits as Elyse so she has to meet with the Superintendant. They don't have a math class for her to take. No trig or calculus. She has to take 2 LA this year and she should be able to graduate with Elyse. It pays off to take all the hard classes and get strait A's. Go Neisha! As for Saije she is taking woods and Computers. She has also went out for Cross Country. She came home after running 1 1/2 miles. She borrowed Neisha's shoes to run in and didn't get to finish the 8 miles. She got a huge gash in her ankle and is bleed everywhere. Making Neisha's shoes not so cute anymore. Marilyn is sending us some meds for Lars and Elyse so she is going to look for Saije some good running shoes so she can actually run instead of pick up boys! Which Saije was approached by two boys and they wanted her phone #. She laughed and kept running. Elyse and Neisha applied at the Grocery store. Elyse wants to make $ but do nothing to get it. Neisha just wants to make $ to get off the Island! We had a doozy of a storm last night. It kept us up all night! I thought maybe we were'nt in King Cove anymore! The teachers are already taking the first friday off of school. They are leaving on the Ferry to COld Bay to hunt Ptarmigan and Caribou. Lars is going crazy trying to figure out the hunts around here. Maybe next year - Yea Right!

Figurin things out!

Today I took the girls to meet with the principal about their schedules. Saije ran with cross country and the shoes killed her. Made some wheat bread. Elyse and Neisha applied at Gould's food store. We had a really crazy storm that kept us all night again. The teachers are already asking for days off to go Carabou and ptarmingan hunting over in Cold Bay. They leave on a Friday on the Ferry and return on a sunday. Lars is going crazy tryin to figure out the hunts.

Job hunting

Trace woke up ate 4 bowls of cereal and watched Little Nemo 3 times. Everytime he saw the Halibut he'd yell, Hey Dad! There's a Halibut! I din't think I ever noticed it before, until Lars hooked a real one! Trace picked up on the fish named Nr. Johansson right off! At 1:00 we headed over to meet with the principal. What a nice guy. This is his 2nd year of administration. He and Lars should get along great. We will bring the girls in tomorrow and meet with him to get there schedules worked out. He is also the counselor and Coed Volleyball coach. The girls have been trying to get a job. Today I took them into a chinesse restsraunt and while we were there I checked out their prices. It would cost about $60.00 to feed our family! I think we won't be eating there EVER! I am learning to cook everything! We also set up the band room. Mainly Saije's drums so she can get praticing. Trace is going to be an awesome drummer also. Saije has been giving him lessons.

Cold Bay and back.

Today was another beautiful day. It did end up raining, but we had a blast. We hopped on the 4 wheelers and headed to Cold Bay. The road to Cold Bay has been temp. stopped. It reaches a Habitat Refuge that is abour 7 miles long. After that it is finished to Cold Bay. Lars talked to one of the locals, and he said that they are looking into buying a hover craft that holds about 4 cars and it can take them back and forth across the refuge. As we rode along the shores we saw 2 baby Red Foxes. We had them eating smoked salmon about 10 ft. away from us. Trace loved it. Neisha wanted to take them home! It did begin to rain so we headed home. The whole trip we never saw a single bear, they were all married with lots of children! Just kidding! We got home and ate Halibut Alyeska. Trace took one bite and spit it out on his plate and that made it hard for Saije amd Elyse to eat. The rest of us finished and Trace ate hot cereal for dinner! Elyse and Neisha made salmonberry cheese cake for dessert. It was very good, I am proud to call them my own! (SMILE)

Exploring King Cove

Today we woke up and ate bisquits and gravy. We then loaded up the 4 wheelers, and gased up. Then headed for the hills. We decided to go check out the hydro power plant. For the next 4 hours we climed mountain after mountain. We rode to the top of the first peak and looked over the south end coast. We saw at least 5 whales! With the binoculars you could see their shinny skin. We didcided to go up another peak and we came to a huge waterfall. WE had to hike in. One waterfall turned into many waterfalls. There ended up being a deep canyon so we will have to go back and hike the other side to get up in there. We didn't see any bears, but we did come fully armed. Lars brought a 357, a 22, and a shot gun. On our way out we crossed a patch of berries, both Salmon and Blueberrries that we hadn't seen on our way in. We ate more than we should have and Trace loaded his pockets with blueberries to take home to Neisha. She loves them, and I thought that we could make blueberry pancakes in the morning. Elyse amd Neisha stayed home and put together a family video with all of our pictures that we don't have saved on a disc. Elyse did the music and it turned out great! After dinner we watched it and hit the sack!

Girls night out!

Today was a windy one! I wanted to stay in bed all day., but no ! I went in and got the blg caught up and Lars worked on his class room. We met the High School Social Studies, Alaska History, and World History teacher. Her maiden name is Larsen. I know almost as many Larsens as I do in King Cove. We fit right in! Elyse and I made a couple loaves of bread. Saije and I made garlic toast. Neisha and I made meatballs for the spegetti. and Lars and Trce took the garbage down to the canisters. If you leave your trash outside guess who comes to visit? Yes, the Three Bears! After gettin' our chores done, I drove the girls down to the teen center. They played pool, video games and listened to music and read magazines. There is a parent that hangs out with the kids. There is also pizza, drinks and candy. While I was gone Lars and Much caught some more Humpies! Trace's fish stories are great. The fish seem to be getting bigger! Now the fish is a 20 pds.! We cut them up and put 'em in a brine and we will smoke them tomorrow. Fish, fish, fish, that's all those boys think about.

Calming down and getting buisy.

Trace and I hung out at the house all day and Lars and the girls attacked the classroom. It is going to need alot of cleaning once we sort things out. Trace and I went through all the pictures of the family and we are trying to get them in order of dates. We are going to record them onto a video camera so we can have them incase they get damaged. A few have in our travels but not too many. We have alot of stuff gone through. They have a co op so we can take alot of the good clothes that don't fit the girls anymore. Saije is growing like a weed! Nothing fits her anymore. She is going to have to start wearing mine! It has been very windy and rainy today. Trace didn't even get to play out side. Our phone got turned on today! Neisha had a heart attack and called everyone she knew! The girls are going to start the recording tomorrow if we can get all the pictures located. It will be a fun project. Elyse is going to choose all the music and get it all groovy! A word from the Muck: What are eyeballs made of? How did god make my hair? I love the Muck!

A Berry Fun Day!

This morning we all got up at 9:30am. ate hashbrowns, eggs, and toast. Then off we went Salmonberry picking! We drove in all directions. First to the dump. Toxic berries! Yuck! Then toward Cold Bay. Lars had one foot in the truck and an arm out gathering berries. He wouldn't let any one out until he felt comfortable that there were no bears around. Lars brought a 22, 357, and a 12 gauge. Just to be safe! It was a beautiful day for picking and hiking. There are alot of places we would like to do day hikes, or just ride the 4 wheeler to the top and look out over the ocean. Well we found a place to pick berries and they were everywhere! We just hoped that the bears didn't like that spot as well. We drove down to the end of the road that is being built to COld Bay and didn't see any bears. Maybe next time! There is a Salmonberry contest this weekend. They weigh them and messure them. Saije and Lars have the biggest ones out of our family. We'll have to see. Trace has been working very hard to tie his shoes. He'll get it one of these days! We need to go picking one more day, we came home with about half of what the recipe calls for.

A visit to the classroom.

No one got up early. We went to Lars' class romm to check it out. That room is a mess. One of the teachers poked her head in for a min. and asked if we found everything ok. Lars said it is a little un organized. The only thing we got done was the blog, and everything out of the cupboard. It was time for lunch so we headed home. After we ate we all went for a cruise down to the beach. Lars caught a humpy and I caught a steel head, 6 pds. It faught like crazy and I caught it on a fly rod. When we came home we had a visitor. Our next door neighbors Jason and Kim. They brought over a fresh Halibut and 3 jars of kippered salmon! Kim also gave me a cookbook. Everyone so far has been very nice and accepting. I also met an Aluet laday with the last name Larsen. She could see my name on the back of my sweatshirt and introduced herself. She came to King cove in 1970 and met her husband here in the cannery. We also baked a cake and Saije frosted it and Trace did the sprinkles. He said that we are celebrating his birthday. I swear he has 4 or 5 of them a year. That makes him about 20. Maybe he is part dog. He did love to be in the dog house with Molly. Oh and his dad seems to be in the dog house alot! Just Kidding Lars! After a few guitar lessons and hearing Elyse's poems we went to bed. At Midnight! No more cake after dinner!

Salmon and Onions!

Well I woke up at 8:30am, but never got out of bed until Trace woke up and wanted cereal. It is pretty drizzly today. Lars and Trace caught 4 Hunpies a nd we put them in a brine to smoke them. I love smoked salmon. Oh we got our P.O. box today. Lars wanted his mommies hamburger casserole for dinner. WE were all sitting around the table when Trae announced load and clear. "Mom what are these white things?" First I explained that they were rice. THen after a long dispute he found one and put it on my plate. It was an onion! Usually I have to make one without onions and chinesse noodles and one with onions and chinesse noodles.I had hoped that I didn't have to do that anymore, but I guess I do. So I picked out all five, luckily I went easy on the onions. Trace is cute and smart! After watching Peter Pan we went to bed!

You owe me a dollar!

Monday Aug. 14 2004. The date dosent' seem to mean much to me anymore. We woke up ate breakfast, and unpacked a few more things. We did go to the store and gabbed some groceries. We have alot of food storage, thanks to my ancestors. It's just eggs and cheese that seem to be in constant need. Lars and Trace have been scouting for the best fishing hole. They caught and released a few Humpies (coho salmon). There were 2 boys under the age of 7 down fishing with a pellet gun. They didn't own any fishing poles. We saw a family stomping on the heads of the fish to catch them. Now that is a first! When Lars had a fish on the boys asked if they could real it in, but that was the Mucks job! After they were done fishing the boys asked Lars if he would take them home with him. He said no because his wife would kill him, I already had a tribe to feed. Good call! Well we finally got ahold of someone in the lower 48. Marilyn was glad to hear from us. We ate fish tacos and had some visitors. Don and Heidi that showed us our way to the house. They brought us some salmonberries and mossberries. They are in season right now and make great jelly. So that's what we will be doing when the sun comes out. I read the Hobbit to Trace and went to bed.

Keep on keepin' on!

WOke up a 10:30am, made pancakes and ruined 2 pots of coffee. Our first visitor was a boy named Troy. WE made Trace stay inside and help put things away so we knew were he was while we were unpacking. He calls the laundry room the Sauna Room! It is the hottest room in the house. The girls and I got alot done. Lars has everything situated in the trailer. We have to stake it down so it dosen't blow out to sea. Robert, our Landlord/police chief said that the last radio tower and a 4 wheeler ended up in the sea so steak it down! For dinner we finished up the chowder and or 2 visitor came. It was LoriLi and Marissa, they brought over some blueberry muffins. Lori Li will teach 3 and 4 with Lars. She has lived here for 25 years and Marissa was born here. Today we have been feeling sick. Trace keeps saying mom, make the swaying stop! WE all feel like we are still on the ship, but worse! Shortly after Lori Li left the goulds came over to test our oven. We do need a new one. A work from the Muck: Why do we call feet feet? Lars had to begin in the greek era on that one. Trace lost interest quick.