The wander returns once more!

 Headed out not sure whether heading to Homer or Seward. Just drive, time to decompress from all the stress of things..off to see more of this beautiful country side and mountains.

Each time I see the mountains they are different.

The clouds shift….the haze moves revealing or covering the mountains within minutes.

 Drove down Funny River Road...dead end but beautiful drive!

I found myself headed to Homer as when the tide goes out the eagles come into the tidal areas to feed. Having been on Whiskey Gulch and Deep Creek beach before I headed to Deep Creek.

 I had driven down on the beach areas before when I went fishing soooo….mistake!

As I drove ‘lil blue off the sandy road area as I had done before the front tires sunk in. I stopped and tried to back up…..nope. So I went forward a bit more and tried again….no….sooo figuring if I could get across the rock area onto the hard pack sand I could turn around and give it a bit more gas and go back thru…no…tried to back up into the rock area….made it about 10 feet when the front tires dug down into the rocks…stuck!

Seeing I was stuck…the tide was going out….what the heck…take some pictures of the eagles feeding. No I didn’t think to take a picture of ‘lil blue stuck.

So I hiked back to the building with all the skidders that launch the fishing boats….fisherman lined up and mad.

I realized the kid standing there was possibly the one to talk to as the fisherman were giving him all kinds of flak.

No skidders today! The guy had gone fishing and taken all the skidder keys with him!! Yikes!

So off I hike to the camping trailers to find a 4x4 owner.

Sure enough the first camper was the camping area host. He graciously gave me a ride up and out to the gas station…yup the guy was fishing and he was not coming back in for a stuck vehicle as it had been an exceptionally high tide and I was not the first to be stuck that day.

Lesson learned…check before driving onto beach!

So off we go to the general store for a tow strap…$38 later..back down we go….fortunately I had a Reese hitch….yanked me out in a snap!

Once again I’m on my way towards Homer. 

Pictures of the skidders and area

Thunk, thunk, thunk….rocks coming out from under the car!! OMG! Lots of rocks….I listened to rocks hitting the underneath of the car for about 20 miles!!! Stopped after about 1 mile to check to be sure the tie rod ends and front end were okay and just rocks…whewww…just rocks.

I decided to drop in on freezengirl (Faith) as she emailed last week stating she was very sick and I was worried with her only being here a few months if anyone was checking in on her and how she was doing.

Knocking on her door I was greeted with a great big smile and excitement of seeing me again. Little Freddie her dog was as friendly as before too!

Gosh did we talk up a storm!! Finally crashed at about 1 a.m. 

Woke up to a rainy day with the mountains completely clouded in.

So another day of ratchet jaw talking! Such a wonderful time. Again we crashed at about 1 a.m.

I had planned on camping on the spit but was sure glad Faith had offered for me to stay with her and little Freddie dog. Thanks Faith! Had a fabulous time!

This morning (Monday) woke to a beautiful clearing day. I phone snooky as I have been doing every morning to catch up on what’s going on back home.

As I headed out for the day I am missing Dan being with me on the adventure again. Not the same when you’re not sharing such a wonderful adventure with the one you love so much.

On the way back I stopped at the Blue Bus and has a chili burger!!

I have lots more pictures and will post tomorrow as it is suppose to be rainy.

finally things are happening!

Today the winds were just right and all through Kenai the smell of the ocean was very noticeable! The air smells so clean and crisp. I could stand for hours and look at Cook Inlet. As we are only 3 miles inland from the Inlet many days the smell of the ocean is present.
Well finally things are happening! yayyy! the surveyor showed up, all pins were found and marked. Took 2 days but even the center line in marked. 

The property pins on the abutters are into the cleared land, the tree house and a very small portion of the garage. So that can be dealt with easily enough. The neighbor sounds like he'll be reasonable about things. 

So here are the pictures for hubby to see. I will go back and get better pictures of what is over the line for you hon.

I have tromped the property pin to pin 4 times now through all the brush, machete hacking/slashing about every 2 steps. Taking care not to cut the Mountain Ash growing! A 5th hike around  for running florescent tape to show where the driveway and clearing is to be for the house. Beautiful property! Lots of moose crap and bear scat everywhere!

 The far lake front property pin..hey hon we own further than we thought! Nice area for launching the kayaks!

 Center pin of the two parcels

looking across the lake from the center pin, yes we look at "lil" brothers cabin!

 The lakefront pin next to the neighbor who cleared down to the waterfront.

 Looking up from the road pin at the neighbors garage

 this is how far onto our property the neighbor has cleared, full length of the boundary line, from lake to just behind their garage

 For three days now I have attempted to get to Skilak Lake to take pictures and hopefully see some bears...but each time I get close the cell phone rings and I have to return to Nikiski. 

 These two day I just needed my space...just drive baby drive, listen to the oldies tunes on the radio, unwind and see some more beautiful Alaska views. I didn't stop to take pictures these 2 days as I just needed to be moving. Had hoped to get to areas where I could hike or at least walk around some place new then take pictures but...NOoooo!
I get the wandering feet thing going when I am sitting idle for any length of time here. So much to see and explore.

Two days in a row while driving, I was called back for the surveyor.

Then today I managed to get all the way down the dirt road to Skilak Lake and had turned around at the Sterling Hwy and was about 5 miles back on the Loop road, only to be phoned again. 

I had left a note on a house that was selling a temporary electrical hook up box and wire (brand new). So once more and headed back little over an hour drive to pay for the box an meet my "lil brother with his truck to load it and take it back to his cabin. gosh a pickup would be nice but not practical at this time, especially seeing 'lil brother has one. 'lil Blue is getting mid 20's for gas mileage so that's good. Gotta get it into the garage and have tie rod end checked and the "check engine" light that came on.

I did take some pictures of driving into Skilak Lake area!!!

These are dip nets out in front of a fish and tackle store

Dip Netters on the Kenai River

you can just barely see the mountains in the back ground. It was 64 degrees today and hot!

 The Skilak Loop Road...miles and miles of dirt road, I did see a bear! He stood in the middle of the road but by the time I shifted 'lil Blue into neutral and raised the camera he was going into the bush. Got a fuzzy shot of bear butt...not worthy of posting...bummer. Now if I had my snooky here with me he'd be doing the driving an I just be taking pictures so I would have gotten that shot! Miss you hon and Rosie.

The scenery is just breathtaking...lots of posted and well walked trails, as this is a wildlife preservation area. I did notice that most all of the hikers were packing a weapon! Lots of bear scat in the road so they are plentiful. I do plan on taken "V" (my stainless 44 mag V comp) with me an doing some hiking.

hummm...wonder what these berries are and if these would make good wine??

I have to go back! Still itching to get back to Seward and Homer. I do want to head north towards Anchorage but there is so many motor homes on the road. I still haven't decided if I dare drive the motor home to far...time will tell. 

I did buy a good quality small tent for $7 at a tag sale along with a new sleeping bag for $15!! Score! 

Today 'lil brother and sis-in-law bought me the neatest dish rack for the motor home. They presented me with this white rectangular plastic box and said guess what it is....no clue. As I opened the case the dish rack pops up! Cool item and it fits in the kitchen drawer of the motor home.

Amazing what one finds at garage sales here and inexpensive too!

Tomorrow is WAITING once again for the guy who is to bulldoze the land clearing. 

Of course sitting watching the lake is great for some of the day. Yesterday at some point I heard the Loons yakking up a storm on the far end of the lake. Sure enough there was an eagle flying around down close to the water near their nest. The eagle is still around and I will try to get pictures of him as well but he likes to stay at the far end of the lake.

Dan I took this for you know who!!! you'll have to find out his email and send him the link to see this.

Brrrr…cold and extremely windy this morning, the furnace kicked on a couple times and it is set at 50! Lot colder outside than inside….Company (relatives on SIL’s side) came for the weekend, great people, great times and stories. Finally warmed up by 1 p.m.

Update on the property pins: well….Fri. evening the surveyor called to tell me that he shot the line and it fell in the middle of the abutters garage. He has to come back and shoot from the lake side up as the neighbors garage is in the way. (On our property!) Lots of encroachment issues of old trees from the land clearing are on our property and new ones also and the angle of the property line it looks that all but a small corner of his garage is on our property…yikes.

As usual Sat. off to tag sale…small world….in the midst of the conversation about the encroachment issue with the fellow who came to visit …a fellow garage sale man started walking our way. He introduced himself…

Turns out he is the Borough assessor who deals with these issues. Information exchanged and he told me a lot of what my entitlements as a land owner are in this situation. Said he will be seeing me soon after the proper paperwork it filed regarding encroachment. This is a very irritating situation.

Later that evening….lots of talk of what our plans are for work here and how we ended up in Nikiski instead of Homer, seeing hubby will be in marine engine repair…..explained the land price situation…..

He had asked earlier the day before to walk our property and offer his opinion of how to open up the land for building as this is what he does for a living. Suddenly he wants to go over to the property…soooo off I go with him…he asked who brush cut the trails into the property….me of course I said…well after showing me where the driveway should come into the property and where the house should go  he dropped a bomb.

It’s not often someone tells you that they like you for who you are, what you’ve done and what your trying to accomplish, but he did! Then he started talking about different properties he owns in Homer…long story short….I am going down to look at a lot, commercially zoned, 5 min walk from downtown Homer, just shy of 1 acre and a price we could afford.

Phone my snooky at our scheduled time and tell him about the offer.

What a mind reeling turn of events that keep happening and  how plans keep changing….I am the flexable one…snook needs convincing that land (hard assets) are better than stock market and invaluable to our future plans.

I have no idea how the cards are going to fall now but am trying my best to keep all the cards from flying everywhere!

Woke up with a wicked headache…yikes…sat around all day waiting for the surveyor as he said he’d call and be over today to finish up…. I had made my usual timed phone call to snooky to discuss more about the land offer, how much of a blessing it is if it works out….then waited some more….well crapweasel I waited until 6 p.m. and said the hell with him.

I took off to find things to photograph. Plus I needed my space…

Stopping at the store I grabbed roasted chicken, a peach and cheese an off I went.

I sat for a long time at the overlook and watched the beautiful mountains as clouds lazily swirled down and around the peak.

I was hoping to see Fata Morgana but no luck. Fata Morgana is the most spectacular mirage you can witness. I waited and waited. It was still a beautiful sight and very relaxing. The mountains were hazy to begin with. You don’t get many crystal clear days for mountain shots here.

The fog below started to climb from the ground. Finally I was calming down from the weekend, stress, offer of land deal, and decided to drive future down onto Kalifornski Rd towards Homer.

Found a fabulous road that followed along the inlet then into an old fish cannery. What a view these homes have that leads to the Old Cannery, I didn’t take any pictures there as there is no shoulder to park on. I will go back on a clear day a backpack my gear to get shots.

Here are the photos from today.

This afternoon sitting looking at the lake...the sun glistened like glittering jewels dancing on the water surface.  

that is a bird fling not a dust speck on my lens

watching to clouds swirls down around the mountain

this is the view from directly behind me from taking this mountain shot

Entering the Old Cannery site...also looks to be a very nice campground with restaruant, gift shop and lots to see...will have to go camping there for a day or two.

this is a close up of the sign in front of the old cannery, you should be able to click on any of these photos to enlarge them

hope to get back here soon to explore as there is alot to see and photograph. Gotta get to Homer first so I can take pictures of properties to share with snooky and see what kinda deal I can work out! Sorry you guys back there are still suffering from the heat...I would have loved it to have been 10 degrees warmer this morning!

day is not going well

The day started out great...sun-shining at 5:30 a.m.! yayyy! so far every morning has been overcast until mid day.

I headed right up the road with the motor home to have the carburetor installed. About 2 hours later the phone call came from the mechanic...the carburetor was slightly damaged due to no packing but easily fixed. Ok.....I head out with 'lil brother for the usual trek for garage sales....we stop at the garage to see the issue. We return...I head to the grocery store and bank 20 miles away.

another phone call from the mechanic....the carb was installed but not delivering fuel during idle....something is wrong with the carb...the fuel lines etc have already been customized for this carb and old one can not be put back on....so fix carb. Says I should call where we ordered the carb from for a refund or money off.

I come out of the store only to discover that in my piss off about the carb I locked the car with the key in the ignition...crapweasel..I have never done that. Soooo....$20 later the cab company unlocks the door for me. 

I phone Dan to tell him about the carburetor issues and that he needs to phone the place we bought it...he's having a real bad day already. There was no invoice in the box with the carb (we had it shipped to Alaska so it would be here when I arrived) 

At least when we are together we can sound off the each other about such irritating things like this. Several phone calls later with Dan he is getting no where with the company we bought the carb. from. Now I have to have the mechanic call the place on Monday as they say because he took it apart instead of returning it the warranty is void. Well there was no option of returning the carb and waiting for a new one and I don't want another one of their "rebuilt" ones...this guy is already fixing it....an I don't want to pay for a piece of junk. Hell to be with limited phone service so Dan is dealing with the phone calls and I am emailing them. Mechanic will talk with them on Monday. 

I am seeing the check book taking a big hit on this one and I'm trying my best to stay on a tight budget. With no money coming in as neither of us is working money is tight.

Well onto more pleasant things...I did try some different settings as I am not happy with the photos I have been taking. So here they are...same mountains different setting and hopefully better photos.

I am seriously missing my snooky and Rosie my kitty! Would be better if we were together going thru this stuff.