Keebler/Beaver Adventures 2015

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By the end of 2014, we'd transported the best of our Christmas holiday decorations from Fairbanks to Sun City and we looked forward to a belated celebration with Robin, Meg, and Ari who'd scheduled their return from Christmas in Hawaii through Phoenix to celebrate the New Year with us.

January

 

Jack and Ari butchered pomegranate . . .

. . . and pineapple.

We brought in the New Year with fresh fruit and, for Robin and Karen, an afternoon hike at Thunderbird Nature Reserve.

Robin taught Karen how to email a photo to herself from her phone.

In mid-January Karen and Jack drove to Albuquerque where Jack spent the next few days helping out while Robin was in Australia.  Karen commenced a road trip in Southern New Mexico and Arizona with Mary whom she picked up in Santa Fe.  They returned to Albuquerque for dinner with Jack, Meg and Ari before heading south.  

Antelope graze along the road at The Very Large Array

After two nights in Socorro, NM, they drove through the Gila National Forest and spent the next nights in Silver City, NM, Bisbee, AZ and Tucson before driving North to pick Jack up at Phoenix Sky Harbor airport on his return from Albuquerque.

Silver City boasts art shops and fine restaurants.

In Bisbee we stayed at the historic School House Inn where our room was The Principal's Office.

We visited Fort Huachuca where Mary's mom was stationed as a WAC in WW II.

Karen can't pass up an opportunity to visit the hummingbirds here in Tucson.

 

We spent the next couple of nights in Sun City.  After taking Jack to the airport for his yearly sojourn in SE Asia, Mary and Karen spent an afternoon at Badger Springs north of Phoenix. 

Jack is off to SE Asia

                                       

Ho Chi Min may be welcoming Jack to Vietnam.

Jack and ex-pat friends at jazz club in Bangkok

February

While Jack spent his six weeks in Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand, Karen joined Randi, her grad school friend, for a week in and around Las Vegas, Nevada where Randi's sister and brother-in-law shared their time-share condo with us.
 

The fountain show at The Bellagio

Pool Time

Really low water at Hoover Dam!

Red Rock Recreation Area west of Las Vegas

The atmosphere in Las Vegas didn't appeal to us as much as side trips east to Hoover Dam and west to Red Rock Recreation Area. We visited the latter two days in a row before driving back to Phoenix.
   

March

Once Jack returned to Sun City we looked forward to our long awaited Spring Break week with Ari who flew unaccompanied from Albuquerque to Phoenix.

28 March  - Ari awaits her baggage at Phoenix Sky Harbor.

We'd made reservations for a one-day trip on the Grand Canyon Railway.  Intrepid traveler that Ari is, she had yet to see the Grand Canyon.

Grand Canyon with Grand-Ma

Ari found Grandpa's shoulder convenient for writing in her journal.

Of course we had to buy an official photo.

 

April

After a couple of days of pool time in Sun City, we packed up the camping gear and headed for Colossal Cave Park in Southern Arizona. 

Ari was a great help at camping, but between the bugs and a broken camp bed disaster that sent the three of us into hysterical giggles for the next few days, we gave up on camping and spent our second night in a motel before heading to Albuquerque in time for E. Bunny's annual visit.

S'mores with gigantic marshmallows

Once Jack and Karen returned to Sun City, Jack put an ad on Craig's list and sold all our camping gear.  

An enterprising young man bought all the camping equipment.

Easter 2015 in Albuquerque                                                                                 

 That sneaky E. Bunny visited during the night and hid eggs all over the yard and in Ari's bedroom.

Once the hunt was over Ari dressed for Easter dinner in one of the dresses Grandpa had brought her from Thailand. 

With Spring Break and Easter behind us, Jack and Karen headed back to Sun City to pack up for their return north in mid-April.

May

Back in Fairbanks we hustled to catch up on our social life while preparing for Spring Tozi Time. We caught up with some of our young family friends like AJ, EJ and SJ Worley and Trevor, Deanna and Roxy Miles. 

We checked out a new distillery south of Fairbanks in Ester.

Time for this ruffed grouse to strut his stuff for the ladies

We had the young Worleys (Aaron, Silas, and Erin) over for dinner

Roxy Miles

Mothers' Day Brunch at Pike's

Jack likes dessert best at Pike's brunch

Spring Tozi Time was 14 May to 13 June.  It was just the two of us with brief visits from and a couple of outings with neighbors Russ & BJ and Tom & his brother John who returned to the Tozi for the first time in 40 years. Our album for this time is at



https://picasaweb.google.com/108347193693937021447/NewAlbum1505140613Tozi?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCIL7g5DTz4znLg&feat=directlink

View from the Outhouse 15 May 2015

View from the Outhouse 12 June 2015

June

Back home in Fairbanks we were back into "catching up on our social life" mode while preparing for our Fall Tozi Time trip.  Walks at Creamers' Field Wildlife Refuge, meals on our deck, running into friends we hadn't seen over the winter at the Farmers' Market and First Fridays at the galleries, meeting friends at Hoodoo Brewery, Midnight Sun Festival in downtown Fairbanks, and enjoying the return of summer birds to our yard are some of the things that kept us busy in Fairbanks until the end of June.

Irises bloom at Creamers' Field in June

Ready for lunch on the deck

Jack gets his baby fix at Farmers' Market where we ran into longtime friend Heather and her sons.

New friends Ashley and her son Odin at HooDoo

Long-time friend Deanna at Hoodoo

Plastic covered lawn debris formed an unintentional bird bath appreciated by pine siskin in our yard.

Then there was Fathers Day for which we got TWO new recliners for the price of one at Fred Meyer.

You'd have thought it was Mothers' Day!

July

We spent the first 8 days of July at a Blume family reunion that brought us together with all of Jack's children and their spouses, grandchildren and even two great grands in St. Louis.  We enjoyed our stay with brother Jim and sister-in-law Judy.  Jack's niece, Julie and husband Paul hosted the event at their home where all the kids and some of the men enjoyed the ample pool.

We always enjoy spending time with Jim & Judy.

Brian, Robin, Meg, Jack, Karen, Phil and Kim met for a meal at one of Kim & Phil's favorite eateries.  Ari is hidden behind Grandpa.

Photo by Robin

Ari enjoyed the large grassy yard and the swimming pool.     

The whole fam-damly:  On deck are Karen, Brian, Meg, Kim, Jay, Wendy, Megan holding Stella, Cohen and John; in the pool are Robin, Jack and Ari.  We missed son-in-law Phil who was not feeling well.

Siblings who started this whole thing:  Jack & Jim in back; Dianne, Joan, and Bev in front.

We had a great time despite the rains in St. Louis in early July that flooded the original venue for the reunion -- brother Jim's river house on the Meramac.  By the end of our stay, however, we were becoming concerned about the fires plaguing Interior Alaska, especially those threatening our Tozi property from both the north and the south. 



Back in Fairbanks we (mostly Jack on the computer) stayed updated on the Bandana Creek and Spicer Creek fires and on conditions in Tanana, nearest village to our Tozi property, where elders and families with children had been evacuated to Fairbanks.  Up to 400 fire personnel camped out in the village, the population of which is around 250.   Our Tozi neighbors who were in Tanana -- Dale, Russ, and Tom -- were invaluable contacts for us.  At one point Dale braved the Tozitna River in his hovercraft to help the smoke jumpers deployed to protect the Tozi properties.

Jay deciding he needs to refinish the bench

Meanwhile, Karen took responsibility for staying caught up on our social life.  On 12 July, birthday and wedding anniversary of our late friend, Pam, Karen and Pam's husband walked at Creamer's field and visited Pam's bench there.

Joyce and Julian came up from Anchorage for Golden Days and we went to Thai House with Gloria.

Ashley & Deanna

We had Deanna, Trevor and Roxy over for dinner along with their friends and our new friends, Ashley and son, Odin.

August

We continued monitoring the Alaska fires while planning with Robin for our Fall Tozi Time which would be from mid-August to mid-September with Robin, Ari, and Robin's friend/colleague Josh joining us for the first two weeks, timing determined by Ari's school schedule.

Earlier in the year, Meg had accepted a visiting faculty position teaching economics at Mt. Holyoke College in Amherst MA.  Robin was able to continue working at Sandia National Labs in Albuquerque as a principal research scientist in physics by telecommuting and physically commuting when necessary.  Meg arranged for Ari to attend Amherst Montessori School in a class including 2nd, 3rd and 4th graders.  She needed to be back in MA to start school 31 August.

Jack and Karen packed in a full schedule of Fairbanks activities with Ari -- Farmers' Market, Tanana Valley Fair, berry and mushroom picking, visiting the Alaska Pipeline near Fairbanks -- the weekend of 15-16 August while Robin and Josh did a short camping trip in the Alaska Range.

Robin and Josh went camping

Ari was a big help to Grandma at Farmers' Market picking out Fennel for one of her daddy's recipes

Ari met a pipeline pig . . .

. . . and actual goats at the fair with Grandpa

 

We flew to the Tozi 17 August --  Ari and Grandma by direct charter and the guys commercial to Tanana and then shuttling with the charter to Tozi.  We were all eager to see the impact of the fires in our area that had exceeded 300,000 acres.  The photo below taken from the air shows an area about two miles south of our place.

(17 August by Robin)

The lusciously green photo below also taken from the air shows how fortunate we were to have been spared by the fires that stopped within two miles north and south of us.

The stretch of water flowing left to right and curving around the peninsula is the Little Tozi that is joined at upper right by Daghislahkna Creek to form the Tozitna River.  The notch in the tree line to the left of the photo exposes three tiny light-colored roofs that are our place. (17 August by Robin)

27 August - Ma Nature exacted her price for our escape from the fires after 3 solid days of rain.  Imagine the Little Tozi swelling to cut across the neck of the peninsula shown in the photo above.  Yeah, the current was flowing right through our yard and dumping into the river in front of the Summer House.  That water fall carved a hole in the bank undermining the dry earth beneath the Summer House.

Prior to the flood there were at least six feet of bank between the Summer House and our slough. That six feet and more were eroded by the current.  Jack and Robin felled trees across the chasm hoping to slow the erosion. (Photo by Robin)

Had we arrived, as we had last fall, on 1 September or had we not had Robin and Josh with us this trip, we'd have lost the Summer House.  Jack and Karen could probably have saved the outhouse by tying a rope from it to a tree, but Robin did that before he, Josh, and Jack set to pulling the Summer House back from the bank.  After trying several methods, one of which broke a come-along, Jack remembered we still had the chainsaw winch used to move the house back from the river in 1985.

We have a separate album of photos documenting the flood of 2015.  It can be viewed at:

https://picasaweb.google.com/108347193693937021447/15082728FLOOD?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCNu6mqOyivv1vgE&feat=directlink

Robin, Ari and Josh left two days after the flood, leaving us with an appreciation of our good fortune insofar as it could have been a lot worse.

Robin & Josh did the heavy lifting to put stuff like our Franklin stove back in Summer House before they left.

At the end of the kids' stay Grandma and Best Girl walk to airstrip (Photo by Robin)

And they're off! (Photo by Jack)

By 30 August the river was receding and we had our first snow -- just a dusting that was gone by the end of the day.

Note the Summer House has been moved 30' back from the bank's edge.

September

We managed to settle in and count our blessings for the remaining 18 days of Fall Tozi Time.  We enjoyed a brief visit from Russ and BJ during which we all went up Dag Creek to Moose Slaughter Slough. Russ grilled T-Bones for our picnic lunch.  

Russ & BJ following us up Dag Creek

After a one-day delay due to weather, we returned to Fairbanks in time to celebrate Jack's belated birthday with another steak dinner. Karen was able to purchase new potatoes and brussels sprouts that morning at the last day of the Farmers' Market.

Later that month while running an errand in North Pole we came across a cow moose and twin calves who weren't the least bit intimidated by our car on the road inching along so we could take photos.

Not a two-headed calf nor Siamese twins, but best shot we got of the twin calves

Seth is one of our adopted kids.  He works as a naturalist at Toolik, a research station on the North Slope of Alaska in summer and winters in Costa Rica.  He had a schedule that had him in Fairbanks for R & R whenever we were gone to Tozi or St. Louis.  It was convenient for us and for him that he could stay at our house though we were like the proverbial ships passing in the night. We finally were able to connect with him in late September and see him off at the airport.  We went with him and Jay to Hoodoo brewery before heading to the airport. 

Farewell to Seth at Hoodoo Brewery

Seth, Jay and Karen (Photo by Jack)

As if fire and flood weren't enough, Ma Nature inflicted 14" of snow on us in a surprise 25 September storm.  We considered ourselves fortunate to have power outages for only two days; many Fairbanks and North Pole residents had outages for up to a week.  With the leaves still on trees, snow laden branches and whole trees lean on or fall on power lines.  Many of us recall a similar snowstorm in September of 1992.

Our driveway out to the road

We don't usually have a tree in front of the RV, but then, we weren't planning on going camping anyway.

A power outage has its romance.

October 

We were able to get together with Trevor, Deanna and Roxy for dinner at our place and for a farewell to us at Hoodoo.  We also hosted Tozi neighbor Tom who was in Fairbanks for his annual visit to the VA clinic.  Tom enjoyed meeting our long time friends, Milt & Lisa, whom we had over for dinner while Tom was with us.  It had been way too long since we'd seen Milt & Lisa

Roxy got her dad (Trevor) to help her don a wolf hide that normally hangs on a wall in our family room.

Farewell to us at Hoodoo with Trevor, Andre, Jack, Karen, Ashley and Deanna

Tom, Milt, and Lisa.

With Jack's and Jay's birthdays a month apart, we usually celebrate them together.  This year Jay and family joined us for dinner at The Thai House.

Jay and son Aaron (AJ)

Silas (SJ) and mom, Erin (EJ)

Jay and Karen got in a last wintery walk around Wander Lake at Creamers Field.

And, perhaps the best farewell of all, before we left for Arizona in early November we had a wonderful view from our deck of "the mountain," now restored to it's Athabascan name, Denali.

November

We spent the first 4 days of November packing to take advantage of Alaska Air's Club 49 privilege of two free checked bags per person, bidding a winter's farewell to more friends and arranging for a house sitter.  We joined Doug & Joan Braddock for a glass of wine and to meet their new puppy, Juniper.  Khoa, this season's house sitter is a pharmacist who plays classical guitar.

SNOWBIRDING

It wasn't Monday, but . . .  

We flew south 5 November. Our second evening in Sun City we visited our most recent favorite Mexican restaurant Rio Mirage Cafe where margaritas are $1 Monday evenings.  

Then we jumped right into socializing with neighbors whom we treated to moose roast and salmon we packed frozen into one of those free checked bags -- the one we use on our return to haul inexpensive frozen meat home to Alaska. Karen met grad school friend Randi at St. Francis restaurant in Phoenix for lunch which they followed up with viewing the justifiably highly recommended movie Suffragette. 

We'd arrived just in time to have brunch with Karen's cousins Jim and Darlene at Butterfield's in Paradise Valley before their AZ vacation ended and they returned to MN.  

Then it was time to head for Albuquerque for Thanksgiving with Robin, Meg and Ari who planned to spend the holiday at their Albuquerque home.  Meg took advantage of being able to work in her Albuquerque office as she continues her research activities while teaching at Mt. Holyoke.  Ari stayed on for a week with Robin and us after Meg returned to MA.  Then we got "colds" and ended up not returning to Sun City until after two weeks in NM.

Quality time with our favorite 7 1/2 year old included re-enacting and reinforcing Blume/Kohout family traditions.

Butchering and sharing a pomegranate with Grandpa

Chocolate candy-making is a Blume family tradition

Baking holiday pies with Grandma

                                                                                           

Meg's tasty and pretty salad wasn't traditional, but her table setting was.

Traditional grandpa carves traditional turkey.

We played cards Thanksgiving and other evenings.  Ari was a formidable player at  traditional Blume/Kohout family card games -- gin rummy, 500, and contract rummy.  She's mastered dealing and organizing/holding her hand.  Grandma can't wait until she's playing Bridge.

Later in the week we got Robin and Ari to do some modeling:  Robin's cycling gear shows you can take the boy out of Alaska, but . . .

Ari proudly showed off the Elsa dress (from the movie Frozen for those who don't have kids or grandkids) made for her by her mom.

                                                                                            

Note the shoes!

December

Back in Sun City we launched into some socializing, prepared for a low key Christmas, and started taking care of dental and optical issues.  We got together with fellow Alaskans Don and Carolyn Gray for lunch and were able to show them Robin's latest project with his new toy, a drone.  It's an awesome video, Tozikaket Bush Camp from Above, filmed during Fall Tozi Time (including the aftermath of the flood) and finalized while we were in Albuquerque so we could have a DVD and put it on both our computers.

Robin, Meg, and Ari celebrated Christmas with Meg's sister Sara and husband Nate at Nate's parents' in Connecticut.  Ari met her only first cousin-not-removed, 1 1/2 year old Charlie.  We think that's pretty cool, but without having our kids here for the holidays we decided to go low-key.  We decorated without a tree, played Christmas music and planned to spend Christmas doing dinner and Bridge and a movie with friends, Deanne and John.  Karen made cookies to give along with Jack's and Ari's candy to friends, our new next door neighbor in Sun City, and the mail lady.

 

We made two trips to Algodones, Mexico to Jack's dentist where we were able to share a box of cookies with the dental office staff.  We also discovered a wonderful restaurant in Yuma, AZ where we plan to have lunch again before Jack's next appointment in January -- Julianne's Patio Cafe.  Seven macaw's entertain diners from a garden next to the patio and a peacock roams the patio begging bread from diners.

 

We had a sort of traditional English Christmas Day dinner with Karen's college friend Deanne and her husband John -- rib roast by Jack, Yorkshire pudding & other sides by our hosts.

John

Deanne

We joined Deanne & John for a Boxing day outing to see raunchy and fun movie Sisters. We also enjoyed a SKYPE with Ari during which she did "show and tell" with her Christmas gifts. For New Year's celebrating we plan to do dinner and movies (Starwars for the guys and maybe Brooklyn for the gals) with Randi and Bill.

SEASONS GREETINGS!

We're looking forward to 2016 and hosting whichever friends and relatives might come our way either in Arizona or Alaska.  Jack will spend his customary six weeks in SE Asia from 22 January to 4 March.  Karen is hoping to come up with an adventure or two to do on her own in February.

Meanwhile we're wishing a wonderful holiday season and peace and prosperity in the new year to all who've shared another year of Keebler/Beaver Adventures with us either in person or through scrolling through this newsletter.  We're eager to share our guest rooms both in Sun City and Fairbanks with friends or family who travel our way.