Fathers Day in Wasilla

So Michael and I tried out his perk at work to fly over to Anchorage and spend fathers day with Miles and Kathy. We left some great weather in Sitka but they had just as nice at their house. I think the top temp we saw was 82. We hadn't seen that in awhile. Do have to say they have more mosquitoes than us.Get up in the morning, shower and spray yourself with deet to survive getting eaten to death. They are actually having a bug spray shortage in Anchorage. May have to send them some LOL  We were glad to get back to our mid 60's.... whew and we are sweating! LOL Went on a day trip to Talkeetna to wonder around and have lunch. It's not very big so it doesn't take long. Always have to hit K2 Aviation where Michael had stopped on his cross county test when he was getting his pilots license. Always have to get a new shirt! Had a great time visiting the folks and some other people we enjoying seeing when we are there.

Talkeetna Moose

Town of Talkeetna

Burger time!

Old time grocery store shelves. That's like long ago!

Town the other direction

Runway  lol

Kathy's favorite store

They had the most beautiful flower baskets every where

Relaxing at K2

Mount McKinley from Talkeetna

Beer!

Rare view of Mt. McKinley range

The Cosgroves for fathers day

Finally I relax

Miles and his John Deer

Lake Eva Reflections

One of my favorite things to do when I am certain places is look at all of the reflections you can see in a lake. These are different times of day at Lake Eva and I think they speak for themselves.

Lake Eva- 21st Wedding Anniversary

Well we had such a good time the first time we went to Lake Eva we decided to do it again. The weather was absolutely beautiful! We actually got a bit sun burned. Yes, in Alaska, sun burn. LOL
This trip was to celebrate our 21st wedding anniversary making it extra special. We danced on the deck and serenaded each other because no one else was there to tell us to shut up. lol We walked to the beach on Saturday which is a nice easy 1.9 mile walk. Michael caught 3 fish at the ocean but none were keepers. I found a huge shell and a crab shell that was intact but no body. I love that stuff. Still no bear sitings which is fine with me. We took the boat to the small island next to the cabin that Michael calls the Pirates island. Did not find a treasure chest. haha He fished every day but wasn't until today when we were waiting for Harris Air to pick us up that Michael landed his salmon. It snapped his pole and when he heard it snap he grabbed the pole and flipped the fish into the boat. Wish I would have been there to see that. The forest service came in this morning with us leaving to do maintenance on the cabin, cut a tree down and burn the poop in the outhouse. Wondered if they flip a coin to do that little chore! Yuck!

Fishin fishin

Relaxing on deck

My bear whistle from George at Harris Air

Michaels bear whistle by Marlin

Field of flowers

This little tree growing out of a rock

My crab and shell

No fish was harmed in this fishing expedition

Hello world!

Tonight's dinner!

Harris Air Beaver our ride home

In Doors Garden

So we started a garden inside since it is a bit chilly outside and I must say

it is doing quite well. In the pots we have Chives on the top shelf, 3 pots of Aloe, Zucchini, then a few tomato plants, next to them is Rosemary, the big stack is Kale with assorted greens around it and Lemon Basil that I had from my last Aero Garden that is doing great in a pot. We harvested enough greens for a nice salad to go with the beautiful salmon Michael caught at Lake Eva today.

Provolone Cheese

So we have been making cheese for a few months now and really enjoying it. Have broken into some and so far all we have tasted has been quite tasty if I don't say so myself. LOL
Michael has been away working so I decided to tackle one of our nemesis cheeses.....Provolone.
If you remember the first time we made it, it takes a few hours. So you get bored and anxious and first there is one beer and a glass of wine to pass the time, then the next thing you know your temperature has gone up to 136 instead of 102-105. OOPS  It didn't stretch and do what it was suppose to, but we finished it off, brined it and aged it. We have since then eaten it all and it was quit good. Today I was very diligent in watching my temps and times, no wine or beer , duh, I started at 10am. Still it did not do like it should have. I am sure it to will be quite delicious when we decide to eat it but would still like to have one do what the recipe says. Oh well. What is does do, all the time, every time, it makes a lot of dirty dishes. As we do not have a dishwasher I wash it all by hand. If you notice by my stacking job, it is all in the cutting board resting on the side of the drain tray. lol  With that sucker I can almost stack dishes up to the ceiling, if strategically washed in the correct order for stacking. It's quite a science you know.hahahha

 And now with a glass of wine in hand I bid you good night and sweet dreams.
Cheese is now resting comfortably in it's brine for the night....................