At Grandma and Grandpa's

Today was a bit rainy, but we had the grill going anyway with fresh salmon and a rib roast.  Sydney helped harvest some rhubarb so her mom could bake a cake.



 Then while she was waiting for dinner she got grandpa to play with her.

Little girls have a special way of convincing grandpas to wear flowers on their hats and play Barbies.  When you're two anything is possible! 

Flowers in my Backyard

During our short growing season I like to surround myself with color.  I have a couple of perennial beds, a couple of wildflower beds, and numerous tubs, boxes, pots, and hanging baskets of flowers on my deck and around my yard.  When winter comes and our long daylight hours turn into long nighttime hours I can still enjoy the flowers through my photographs.  Not quite as good as the real thing, but enjoyable all the same.

Another Red Barn

This is another of the barns I saw in the Skagit Valley in Washington in January.  From a distance it looks to be in quite good shape..  If you enlarge the photo you will see that the red metal siding looks to be put on a little haphazardly, with no trim around the doors and windows.  Here and there things look a bit crooked and just don't seem to match up right.  It all adds up to give the barn character.  

You can see some sheep under the lean-to roof and it looks like they have access to the inside of the barn.  The sheep appear to have nice wooly coats to keep warm in mid-January.

Click on the barn below to check out more old barns at Tricia's Barn Charm.

Wild Delphinium

I was asked whether the delphiniums in my last post were in my garden or if they were wildflowers.  Those delphiniums are all in my garden and are domesticated varieties.  We do have wild delphiniums, the Larkspur, but they aren't nearly as showy as the garden variety and the blossoms are smaller.  I have some of the wild ones blooming at the edge of the woods on the other side of my yard, so I took a photo for comparison.  The wild ones are just about done, with the blooms reaching to the top of the stalk.  The garden variety are still climbing the stalks and will be blooming for a while.  Delphiniums thrive in our climate and come back year after year.

Delphiniums

The Old Creamer's Dairy Barn

 I've posted many photos of the old dairy barns at Creamer's Field, but most of the focus have been on the two Iowa-type barns with the cupolas on top.  Those barns were built in 1938 and 1950 by the Creamer family and their distinctive styling grabs everyone's attention.  However, behind those two barns is an older log barn.  The first portion was built around 1915.  Because the hills near town had been extensively logged for spruce to power the steamboats and the gold rush, it was necessary to go 40 miles upriver on the Chena River for suitable timber.  The size of the barn was doubled in 1928.

The newer barns were needed to house the growing herd of cattle and hay for the winter, but the older barn was still used for hay storage.  Now instead of cows in the fields you are more likely to see Sandhill Cranes, as you can see off to the right in the photo above.

I've taken many photos of all the barns over the years.  The first photo was taken in August of last year and the second was taken in May of this year.  The photo below was taken in July of last year.

 As you can see from these two photos, the siding is off of this side of the barn.  All the barns are being used right now for storage by the Alaska Dept. of Fish & Game.  They are in the process of building new storage buildings on the edge of the Refuge and all of their materials will be moved out of the barns and into those storage buildings.  Then the Friends of Creamer's Field will be able to renovate the barns and have access to the interiors for various activities.

I took the photo above and the one below on Saturday when I attended a presentation about the old Creamer's Dairy.  Normally the area up next to the old log barn is not accessible, but we were able to get close and peek up inside.

You can see there are a few gaps in the boards.  I am looking forward to being able to go inside all the barns.  They are an important part of Fairbanks history.  When the dairy closed down in 1966 it looked like the barns and the land would be sold to developers interested in building more housing, but the people of Fairbanks raised enough money to purchase the option and eventually in 1979 the Creamer's Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge was created.  The buildings were admitted to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.

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Click on the barn below to see more old barns at Trisha's Barn Charm.

Who's Been Eating the Lettuce?

This afternoon I was at the farmhouse by the old dairy barns at Creamer's Field.  The Friends of Creamer's Field have planted a garden that is similar to what was planted by Mrs. Creamer back when it was a working dairy, only about a fourth the size as it was back then.  The Creamers operated the dairy farm from 1928 until 1967.  You can check my Labels section in the sidebar to find out more about the dairy and Creamer's Field. 

As you can well imagine, having a garden on the edge of a wildlife refuge can make for some interesting visitors.  It seems a woodchuck has found the garden to be a great place to hang out.  There are three species of marmots in Alaska, and the woodchuck is the species that lives in Interior Alaska.  This is the very same species of woodchuck or groundhog that lives in the eastern part of the country.
He is used to people being around and most of them enjoy watching him as he raids the garden, so he was in no big hurry to find a hiding spot.

We have seen woodchucks in our yard the last couple of years, including one a few weeks ago that visited Marty's shop and got shut in for a while.  Marty had quite a time getting him out as he kept hiding under shelves and in inaccessible areas.  Finally Marty just left the overhead door open and the woodchuck eventually made his way outside.  Once he found himself outside he hightailed it into the woods.  It's amazing how fast they can move when they have such short little legs!

Fishing

I took some photos of the flowers in my garden today.  Later I discovered there was a little action happening that I didn't see. 

Do you think he caught anything?

A Piece or Two Missing

One of the barns we saw last month while we were in the Skagit Valley in Washington looked as if part of it was missing.  I'm not quite sure what was going on.  If you enlarge the photo you can see that there are quite a few shingles missing and blue sky visible through the roof.

The view from the opposite end really didn't explain anything either.  Unfortunately we were unable to get a view of the barn from the back as it looked out over the fields with no other roads anywhere near.  I have a feeling that this one won't last too much longer.

The barn seemed like a perfect candidate for adding a vintage treatment.

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Click on the barn below to see more old barns at Tricia's Barn Charm.

Alaska Tea Sampler Winners

Last night I drew the winners of my Alaska Tea Sampler giveaway....

.....and the winners are:        Mamabug @ Mamabug's Nature Photos
                                              Ruth @ Ruth's Photo Blog
                                              Granny @ grannysgarden

I am thrilled to see Alaskan teas going so far away, to Mamabug in Florida, Ruth in Canada, and Granny in Australia.  Please take a few minutes to visit their beautiful blogs.  Mamabug, Ruth, and Granny, click on my profile and there is an email link where you can email me your mailing address and I'll get your tea on the way.  Then we can sit and enjoy a cuppa from Alaska together! 

Sydney at Jingle in July and Last Chance for Giveaways

Today was our Jingle Bell Run.  As I wrote in an earlier post, which you can read by clicking HERE, because of our cold winters, last year we had our first Jingle Bell Run in July.  Today was the second year for Jingle in July, which is held in North Pole at the Santa Claus House.  We had beautiful weather and of course Santa was there too.  I have been working on the organizing committee, so the success of the Run has been exciting.  Last years Run had 208 people signed up to walk or run, and this year we had somewhere around 460, not counting the many dogs.  We had several participants from out of state, including as far away as New York, Washington DC, Florida, and even a couple from Switzerland.  Last year we raised $17,000, and it looks like we have more than doubled that amount this year.  Before the race an aerobics instructor led some warm-up exercises, and my granddaughter Sydney got into the spirit of it and followed along.

She was quite stylin in her yellow sunglasses and rain boots.

My team was Reindeer on Vacation, and Sydney did put on her reindeer antlers for a little bit.  While she was waiting for the start, she stocked up on some essentials for the walk.

She did some walking and running, hitched a ride or two with her auntie, and rode some in her stroller.  At the end of the  5K walk she was all tuckered out!  I believe her rock collection grew a bit along the way.

Tomorrow after 10:00 p.m. Alaska time I will be drawing three names to receive an Alaska Tea Sampler and I will post my winners Monday.  If you want to be including in the drawing leave a comment on this post or on the original post if you haven't already.  The teas are Wild Rose, Cranberry, Raspberry, and Blueberry.

The other giveaway is for two books and to be eligible for that drawing you need to go to the Jingle in July website and donate at least $15.  You can still donate for Jingle in July by clicking on the logo below, and your chances of winning the books are very good as no one has done so so far.  If you do, be sure and let me know.  If I don't give these away now I'll keep them and do a giveaway some time in the future. 

Young Hairy Woodpecker

Yesterday there was another woodpecker at the feeder.  It looked like a Hairy Woodpecker, but something didn't look right while I was taking the photos. 

 When I looked at them on the computer I realized what was wrong.  He seemed a bit big, and the red patch was on the top of the head instead of the back.  In some of the photos I definitely saw four toes, so that ruled out the Three-toed Woodpecker.  Looking closer at my bird books, the juvenile Hairy has the red spot on the top of the head.  We have a limited variety of woodpeckers here in Interior Alaska so that made the ID a little easier.   

It's the time of year when I'm seeing a variety of juvenile birds in my yard and it's always fun to see the young ones.  I don't remember seeing a juvenile woodpecker before, but I think I just wasn't paying that much attention.

Colorful Barn

I saw this barn in the Skagit Valley in Washington a few weeks ago.  I like the contrast of the yellow field in front with the brown wood of the barn.  (Check out my Giveaways below.)

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To see more old barns click on the barn below to go to Trish's Barn Charm.

GIVEAWAY

There's still time to enter my giveaway drawings.  The first giveaway is three drawings for an Alaska Tea Sampler.  If you like tea or need a gift for someone who does you'll love this sampler.  Click on the photo below to go to the post about the drawing and leave a comment if you want to be included in the drawing.

 The second giveaway is a fundraiser for the Arthritis Foundation.  We're doing our Jingle Bell Run this Saturday, and anyone who donates $15 or more will be in the drawing for two beautiful Alaskan books.  Click on the photo below to go to that post and check out the books.  Click on the Jingle Bell Run logo to go to the Jingle in July website to donate to my team, Reindeer on Vacation.  Click the Donate button, find Elaine, and just follow the easy directions.  The drawings are both July 10th.  Good luck!!