| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| jo Thompson |
Posted - Oct 04 2006 : 9:39:48 PM
My husband Paul is out in the Aleutians, Dutch Harbor, for ten days, so I am posting like crazy! He described how far away he is, it is like laying down the state of alaska over the united states, and I am aware of how big our state is. It is different here you know, we need to be prepared just as you do, but I worry more..... The winds were almost 70/mph last night. emergency generator, snow tires. I know our neighbors and we look out for one another. My neighbor's husband is a guide in Cold Bay and I took her dinner tonight and we visited. Thank goodness for friends and neighbors, we talked about the loss of those poor amish families, such grief and sadness, and how we have each other.......... thank you maryjane for giving us a place to learn about other lives and trials......... goodnight from alaska...
"friends don't let friends eat farmed salmon"
http://homepage.mac.com/thomja/Anchorage/PhotoAlbum14.html |
| 19 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| jo Thompson |
Posted - Oct 09 2006 : 12:03:28 PM
Pam, she'll be arriving just in time for VERY short days. Make sure she leaves with good lighting for her home. Selections are much more limited up here. She can do some last minute shopping in Seattle and ship up just in case. It sounds like we have shopping, but trust me, the selections are not the same in the lower 48 and everything is definitely more expensive. Once she has an Alaska driver's license she will be able to shop in Seattle with no tax added on. She'll tell you all about it once she's living up here! We buy lots of second hand from people leaving the state because shipping it back south is prohibitive.
She will LOVE the ferry, how many babies??? At least she'll be so busy with her little ones she won't have time to think about the winter in Fairbanks. Does she have any idea what -38 feels like!! Make sure she leaves with lots of winter duds for the babes....... jo
"friends don't let friends eat farmed salmon"
http://homepage.mac.com/thomja/Anchorage/PhotoAlbum14.html |
| Photobugs |
Posted - Oct 08 2006 : 11:24:20 PM
My daugther and son-in-law just got their orders (Army)for Fairbanks. She flew up and spent this last weekend looking for a house to buy. She found one! Originally they were being sent to Germany, all of their belongings were sent there. Now they have to send them to Fairbanks. They may get them by Christmas. Her husband is in warrant officer school and graduates in November.
Anyway, they ahve six kids and she felt they needed to buy a house right away so they would have a place to go when they get there. Staying in a hotel with six kids while trying to find a house would not have been fun. So I am glad she found something. She says she likes it there. She found a small mall, with an Old Navy, which made her happy. She says they have Lowe's, Home Depot, Fred Meyer, Safeway, Joanne's, Michael's...what else could one hope for? They will be doing some remodeling on the home right away. It needs new carpet, paint and kitchen cabinets...but this will be an adventure. The house is six bedroom with a family room. It is in an average neighborhood and 1.4 miles to the kids school.
They are in Virginia right now. They will travel by ship from Seattle up to Alaska...which I hear is a beautiful trip.
I will post from time to time on her life there.
Pamela
"I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!" |
| Libbie |
Posted - Oct 08 2006 : 7:17:59 PM
That word, "haven," really does describe it here, doesn't it? I always feel like I've just walked into a cozy room full of friends when I'm here...
And, Jo, in this case, it feels like I can have a little slice of the Alaskan lifestyle in my very own high desert living room! I can almost feel the very much shorter days happening with you, and am so glad that you are choosing to tell us about your life!
XOXO, Libbie
"Nothing is worth more than this day." - Goethe |
| katie-ell |
Posted - Oct 08 2006 : 05:00:27 AM
The warmth and friendship between the gals posting on this thread just make me so happy. Thank you, Jo, for sharing bits of your life with us . . . and all the farmgirls in all the states -- thanks to each one for being so generous and friendly. This site is such a haven. |
| westernhorse51 |
Posted - Oct 07 2006 : 7:03:27 PM
Jo, I love reading your post's so much. I always wanted to see Alaska at least once in my lifetime. Reading about it on your post is a way to learn about it. Keep it coming, ok??
she selects wool and flax and works with eager hands Prov.31:13 |
| Aunt Jenny |
Posted - Oct 07 2006 : 08:42:53 AM
How wonderful to hear about Alaska! I am not much of a traveler...always happiest to stay home, but Alaska is for sure a place I would love to be one day... closest I have been to the weather is Northern Minnesota..I LOVED it there..it was quite a few years ago that I lived there. I would love to live a simpler life for sure...we are sort of in between here in our tiny town...there are alot of things we have to travel to find..not like you by any means...but enough to see that I would like it. Husband..hmm ..I doubt he would be as happy.
I just got to see my 26 year old son (second son)Casey yesterday on his way home from a hunting trip in Wyoming..he lives in Calif where most of our family does..on the Central coast...I sure hope he someday settles down HERE...so I know how you feel.I hadn't seen him in over a year..way too long..and it looks like it will be 6 months before we go out there during spring break and see him again...it is hard to be so far apart.
You take care...and know that we are loving hearing about Alaska and are here for you to talk to if you are lonely!!
hugs from Utah!
Jenny in Utah
Inside me there is a skinny woman crying to get out...but I can usually shut her up with cookies
http://www.auntjennysworld.blogspot.com/ visit my little online shop at www.auntjenny.etsy.com |
| jo Thompson |
Posted - Oct 06 2006 : 10:18:07 PM
oh Teddie! so so good to hear from you off in Georgia. My son Bill is 26 and just bought his first home in Seattle! He's my gem, hope he comes here again soon, I just spent a few days with a few weeks ago! jo
"friends don't let friends eat farmed salmon"
http://homepage.mac.com/thomja/Anchorage/PhotoAlbum14.html |
| jo Thompson |
Posted - Oct 06 2006 : 10:14:59 PM
Teddie, We looked at the same moon! Early this morning when I drove into the city, it was so bright, and haloed by clouds. Beautiful..... same moon different places!
"friends don't let friends eat farmed salmon"
http://homepage.mac.com/thomja/Anchorage/PhotoAlbum14.html |
| theoanne |
Posted - Oct 06 2006 : 3:02:10 PM
JO,
So good to hear from you. I know you miss your sweetie. Seems much too long away from each other. Is your son in Oregon or Alaska?
Here in GA it is fall. Today it was mid- 70's. The leaves are just starting to change now. This AM (6:30) the moon was huge,and full and a beautiful peach color. I think fall is my favorite season.
Hang on Paul will be home soon. TEDDIE |
| Carolinagirl |
Posted - Oct 06 2006 : 1:41:44 PM
I can't even imagine such a short day of light! My body works so much with the daylight that once it starts getting dark I can feel my body winding down. I would really have to work hard to get used to that!
Sometimes I think that it would be so much easier, if only by necessity, to live simply. No fast food around; I wouldn't eat fast food. No close bookstores- I wouldn't waste lots of money on books and never get around to reading them. That kind of thing.
It's really neat to read about how other people live, about how much different it is from how I live.
Kim in NC |
| Julia |
Posted - Oct 06 2006 : 09:58:44 AM
Hey Jo, where you and your hubby born? I was born in Bandon, but grew up in the Woodburn area, Hubbard. Also lived in West Linn and Albany. Hubby and I are now on the coast.
I remember having all the lights as well as candle/lanterns burning during those loooooong winter days. And yes the color of the sunsets. We do miss the Northern Lights. The most incredible sight! And then there is nothing like a moose in your yard, or bear,ect...
"...the setting sun is like going into the very presence of God." Elizabeth Von Arnim |
| Tina Michelle |
Posted - Oct 05 2006 : 10:44:10 PM
thank you for sharing about your little corner of the world.
we are quite a ways away from each other..me and my family wayyy down in Sunny Florida near the Gulf of Mexico...and you and your family wayyy up in moose country...how cool is that! that here we can learn about others on a computer website...and be so far away/ yet share bits and pieces of the tapestries of our lives.
who says technology isn't good for something??
~Seize the Day! Live, Love, Laugh~ |
| jo Thompson |
Posted - Oct 05 2006 : 9:48:58 PM
hello back to all of you..... My husband and I were both born in Oregon Julia. It seems like there are quite a few up here. It really is an amazing place, I don't know if I could live in Tok though, that really is almost the bush...... For those of you who haven't been here, it's kind of amazing. There are really only a few roads that cover the state and it is HUGE. Often, it requires a bush plane to get you out to where you'd like to go. My neighbor has an airplane hangar and guides out in Cold Bay leaving his wife and small children for 4-6 weeks at a time. People do not survive simple accidents (usually involving airplanes) frequently for lack of emergency medical care and poor accessibility. In such a modern country it is surprising how basic alot of folks live in this state. They actually subsistence hunt and fish to survive. In many villages there are no markets and they use a snow machine to go shopping! We flew out to Ekwok out west, and drove a boat 3 hours to buy a few pepsi's and ice, only to find that the woman who sold out of her shed was only open from 2-3 PM.
As to the winter and dark...... The winter is easier than the summer for me! We try to do so much in the summer because the days are SO long. The peach alpenglow skies of winter are unbelievable and I don't know if they exist anywhere else in the world so beautifully. I am so excited when I see a neighbor take their sled dogs out, some evenings you can hear their evening "howl".
In December the days will be very short, so I really "light up the house" The sun comes up around 10am and begins setting around 3 pm I guess, but it's a long peachey sunset.
So I do love Alaska, because it is harsh, and life isn't so simple, but so rewarding! If I could just grow a tomato! Or occasionally go to Target! We do have a few box stores so don't feel sorry for me, Anchorage is a fairly large city and it's an easy commute for me.
The most wonderful thing about having less is finding out what you really need.......
So Paul is coming home from Dutch Harbor on Saturday with Black Cod. It is only 800 miles away! Just a short plane trip! I love reading about your lives, thank you for reading about mine......
"friends don't let friends eat farmed salmon"
http://homepage.mac.com/thomja/Anchorage/PhotoAlbum14.html |
| Lavender Cottage |
Posted - Oct 05 2006 : 11:17:26 AM
Hi Jo-I enjoy reading about alaska and other places too-so post away!
Keep warm-keep safe! :)
Ellen in MI (We are having a beautiful fall day here-sunny, a slight cool breeze and the leaves are changing!) |
| Carolinagirl |
Posted - Oct 05 2006 : 10:41:52 AM
I've never been to Alaska, but it's on our places to visit list. It all sounds wonderful, until I think about how far it is from the South! :) We considered moving there once, but nothing ever came of it. It seems like it would be an entirely different life from where I am...
Kim in hot, humid, waiting-for-fall North Carolina |
| Julia |
Posted - Oct 05 2006 : 10:23:31 AM
Hi Jo! Boy did you bring back memories. We lived in Tok for a time, a ot colder then Ancorage, but still the whole generator, keeping an eye on each other... whereas I have good memories, there are things I don't miss and am grateful for a more temporate climate. Just had a friend move to Ancorage area. I told her she should start a journal of daily life. I don't think a lot of people really understand how life can be up north. Do keep us posted as to your winter doings. It is much like reading a novel! Warm hugs, Julia
"...the setting sun is like going into the very presence of God." Elizabeth Von Arnim |
| CabinCreek-Kentucky |
Posted - Oct 05 2006 : 09:01:18 AM
jo .. we were in anchorage during summer solstice .. and it was lovely ... tell us about living there during the 'darker' months. friends are wonderful to have! xo
True Friends, Frannie
CABIN CREEK FARM
KENTUCKY
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| Kelly43 |
Posted - Oct 05 2006 : 05:21:11 AM
Jo, we're so glad to hear from you so post away. I agree with jp reading your post is like visiting with a modern day pioneer. Aren't you proud of yourself that you can deal with such extreme conditions? I know I'm proud of you. I am also thankful for all my farmgirl friends. Sometimes just reading their posts can cheer up a lousy day. It's also comforting to know that you always have a friend out there, no matter what, who will be with you through it all. Hope this day will be a wonderful one for you!!!
Kel |
| jpbluesky |
Posted - Oct 04 2006 : 10:44:23 PM
Jo - really enjoyed reading your post. In this quiet hurricane season we are having thus far, I forget how prepared we all must be for our weather. (How can I forget a thing like that?) 70 mile an hour winds can do some damage, and I hope your trees can withstand that. Glad you have your neighbor (how far away is she?) and that you have MJF to read and communicate with all of us. Reading your post gave the feeling of a modern day pioneer - Alaska is still a frontier of sorts. Keep posting - it is great reading!
Peace |
