sketching

I've done a little bit of sketching lately. The oil lamp was drawn at the cabin last weekend and the coffee area at work was drawn a few days ago. I'd like to be like Teri and Lynn who seem to sketch something every single day!

It's been snowing...again. We got a couple more inches last night and they are predicting more. In Petersville, up where our cabin is, got TWO more feet of snow. The snowstick is now at 7 feet of snow! There is a lodge near our cabin and they keep a snowstick outside that measures the snow and then they leave posts on FB.

Moose vs tree - Tree WINS!

Yesterday a moose was casually walking down our street so I stepped out onto the porch to take her picture. As she passed my yard she started to turn up into the neighbors driveway, I think so she could turn into our yard and nibble on my May Day tree. But I told her, "don't be chewing on my tree, go away!" and she did.

I didn't draw in church today because it was my turn in the nursery. I did get spit up on about 3 times......and held a fussy baby. Actually I held two fussy babies but got one to sleep and put her in the crib. Then the next one got fussy and erped on me a few times. I still love babies. My co-worker was my DIL Becky so that was fun to get to visit with her while caring for the little ones.

Out my office window

My office at work has the best window. I get to see moose and moose calves in the spring, an occasional feral cat and kittens, eagles, ravens and numerous chickadees. Yesterday was an eagle, raven, and magpie day.
The ravens and magpie kept harassing this poor eagle. You can see the magpie in the lower right just below the eagle - it kept creeping up and nipping at the eagle's tail feathers. Then he'd swing around and snap at it. The ravens were flying in and out, getting close but staying far away from that big beak. It was fun to watch.

Two other people came into my office to watch also, so it is a bit distracting to getting work done. Last summer I painted this picture for my friend who was retiring. This is that same spot with a very similar story, except in this one there were no magpies.

Weekend is over, back to work!

We found a spot out on one of the swamps with some gentle drifts so we took a little time for doing some small jumps. I don't do jumps, I pull over to the side and take pictures. That's my official job.
I didn't get any shots of in the air, just as they were coming down and landing. It's hard to have your camera lined up for action shots, plus my hands were cold!
Sweetie let Kari ride his Summit which is capable of much higher speeds than the Tundra she was on. After this, he took the Summit back. We had joked about staying away from the trees (I too have driven straight into a tree) but somehow Kari was a magnet for this little bunch. She flipped over the front of the machine and walked away with a few bumps and bruises. Nothing serious. We have now named her "Crash"!
Kari back on the Tundra and ready to head home.
Bye bye cabin! We hope to see you soon!

Today is our 28th Wedding Anniversary. Since we both have to work, we are going to go out for dinner and a movie tomorrow night to celebrate. I was counting back over time and realize I was only 22 when we got married. He was 20. I look at kids who are only 20 or 22 now and think that no way are they old enough to get married! Yet, I guess we were! I still love my sweetie more now than ever.

Mt. McKinley (Denali)

Denali, aka Mt. McKinley
The sky was clear and gorgeous blue. The entire mountain range could be seen. I do realize how lucky I am to have a cabin with this view just moments away.
There are two big rocks sitting side-by-side along the East-West Express trail.
One time long ago Sweetie rode his snowmachine up on top of this big rock, circled around the trees and came back down. We couldn't get him to do it again.

Wake up Sunshine!

I took this pic of our cabin in shadow form.

Happy Animal Wednesday from Taz and Roxy!

More cabin snowy fun

Karie feeding one of the gray jays that hang out when we come around. I buy chunks of beef tallow from a butcher store and Tim cuts it into little pieces. The birds eat seeds, bugs and probably peck at carrion if they can find it. They are not starving - they just like an easy meal. None of them actually seem to eat the tallow, they just fly off and stash it in a tree somewhere for later use.

Action shot of Kari riding the Tundra.

Action shot of Sweetie riding his Summit. He likes to get out in the fresh powder and make tight circles and zig-zags. Here he's is in such a tight circle you can see the bottom of the machine....sometimes he tips the machine so far over that he falls off and has to climb back up out of the snow.

The "reflector" tree. It's a small scrubby sitka black spruce covered in reflectors. It's kind of a crossroads where several trails meet and there is a placard with directions if you are lost or just need directions. Someone mounted an old phone booth out there. Kari tested it out for us....she looks like she's hatching from an alien egg!

My silly dog likes to sit on feet - she does it all the time. Here she is sitting on Tim's bunny boots.I still have more cabin pics - I'll be posting them for a few days more. I hope you are enjoying our trip as much as we did!

Snow Fun

We went to our cabin for the weekend and took our niece, Kari, with us. She was a lot of fun; she hadn't been to the cabin or on a snowmachine for about 8 years. She was a good sport; she didn't mind the cold, no shower, and having to use an outhouse plus she enjoyed our trail rides.
When we first arrived, my husband had to shovel off the porch just so we could get to the door.
Just for comparison - this is the porch in the summer.
Here's a view of the outhouse from the cabin porch. Sweetie will pack a trail over there with the snowmachine and then dig stairs down to the outhouse. Good thing nobody had to go in a hurry!

The little birds were begging for food within a few minutes of arrival.

We go about 1 mile from our cabin by snowmachine to this little a-frame to get water. It is a year-round spring that bubbles up from the ground. Someone has built this little shelter over a garden hose that comes up out of the ground. Lots of cabin people come here to fill up their jugs with fresh water.

Kari

Roxy, testing out the new staircase just carved by TimView from the outhouse! The stairs were a bit steep. After you've been snowmaching for a few hours and your legs are all wobbly it's a little hard to climb back up without a railing!
Taz, taking a peek at mommy!

Happy late Valentine's day to Janice!

Janice is the winner of my valentine paper cutting give-away! She lives right here in Anchorage and is my number one fan - she loved my book Carina. Janice, we are heading to the cabin this weekend, I'll get the valentine to you next week!

Thanks all for playing! I'm supposed to be packing up the food to head out to the cabin in about 1 hour. I haven't even showered yet......better get a move on!

Only in Alaska

I pulled this from the Anchorage Daily News. This is a pic from just a few days ago in my town. Don't forget to comment on my Valentine's post for your chance to win an original valentine cutting!

Valentine Give Away

Happy Valentine's Day to all my blogger friends and family!

I am always a day late and a dollar short....didn't finish this until today. I had planned to finish it last weekend and select a winner today, but oh well. It's never to late to give a gift!

I'll pull a name on Thursday, 2/16/12 at 5:30 pm Alaska time from all those who leave a comment on this post.

The paper cutting is 5" x 7" and my original design. I'll cover postage so go ahead and enter your name to receive your special valentine.

Sunday Sketching

I sketched Tiffany today. I've sketched her before but it was over a year (or even two) ago. She is one of the drawings I posted on my right sidebar with the ponytail. She has a very distinctive nose; on the long side and quite pointed. She is very sweet and her boyfriend announced today that they are engaged!

She was leaning forward with her chin on her hands for much of the sermon, causing her long hair to fall forward across her face, making it hard for me to sketch her profile. I must have redone her nose about 10 times - I still feel like it isn't quite right, but that's what you get.

backyard visitor

This morning the dogs had a surprise waiting for them in the back yard. It was funny to see Taz do a panicked turn in mid-air and scramble to the back porch where she frantically scratched to be let in. There's a MOOSE in the yard. It's happened several times. I'm not sure why she's so scared of them; I guess they are a lot bigger than she is but for the most part, moose ignore the dogs unless the dog runs up barking at them. Both of mine kept a very safe distance and couldn't be persuaded to even walk alongside the garage so they could go potty. I was trying to get them to go outside so I even lead the way, but they wouldn't go.
I let Taz out later and she crept closer, slowly step by step, to get a better view. Still poised to make a mad dash to the back door.
Then the moose hopped the fence and went into the neighbors back yard and around the corner. The excitement is done for the day.

Pretty icicles.

Happy Animal Wednesday

Today I give you "Oscar" (watercolor). This little corgi belongs to a co-worker and she brings him to work occasionally. Because I do not feed him snacks (his owner has asked us not to) he does not come hang out in my office very much. But you can certainly tell who does feed him because he tends to spend a lot of time in some of the cubicles.

When I showed this picture to my husband he said, "It's Oscar, the pig." He is rather chubby.

Taz says, "so when are you going to paint a picture of me?"

Sunday Sketching

Today I sat between two ladies who do not know that I sketch people in church. So I pulled out my sketchbook and sketched my purse on the floor. I figured even if they noticed they wouldn't get paranoid that I might sketch them next. Neither said anything so maybe they didn't notice.
Yesterday I took these updated pictures of our yard. We cannot see our mailbox from the front window due to the high snowpiles. We had just gotten 10 more inches over two days. They are predicting more snow and warmer temps for this upcoming week. I think we've had enough for one year.