Wouldn't You Know It . . .

Now that I'm back at work, the weather has been pretty amazing.  My only consolation is taking the long way home over the pass after work, as I did Friday.  Friday was a full day of work, a nice motorcycle ride, out to the Grand for a date night dinner (Goldfish had one of their amazing salads - the Cashew Chicken, I beleive - and I had the pork tenderloin.  Both entrees were great, as was the clam chowder!), then we popped downstairs to the pub to see who won the KCUB roundtrip airfare drawing (congratulations Lynda!), then we headed home and watched the movie "Date Night" with Steve Carell and Tina Fey.

This evening, at Goldfish's insistence, I started in on the decorations for the Halloween Party.  I got a few minor decorations hung and figured out how I wanted the buffet table arranged and got the spider web hung behind the table.  A couple more evenings and I should have the place decorated and ready for Sunday night!  I still need to come up with an idea for a cool pumpkin carving for this year . . . . and ideas??

Show Your Support for KUCB ! !

Tomorrow is KUCB's One Day Radio Pledge Drive - everyone on the island, stop by Burma Road Chapel and renew your membership or make a new pledge!  Everyone who pledges and pays at the $125 level will receive a new limited edition KUCB sweatshirt and an entry into a drawing for a round trip Alaska Airlines ticket to Anchorage or Seattle.  They are giving away coffee and muffins in the morning and pizza at lunch - what's not to love?  You can also make a secure pledge on their website at www.kucb.org - that is how Chico likes to make his pledge, he's a long-time fan!

For those of you who admire Unalaska from afar, no worries - you can stream KUCB 89.7 live over the internet, make an on-line secure pledge, and be part of the family!  We love our Unalaska Community Broadcasting!

Odds and Ends . . . .

Paw-Paw gets cuter by the day as his winter coat fills in.

Also cute is my mother-in-law who flew out for a visit and is shown here picking berries with Chico.

And for cute overload, you have the mother-in-law, the wife AND Chico . . . 

Goldfish has been experimenting with monkey bread . . .

This one she brought to a double birthday party where it went over pretty well . . . she's making another one for the Halloween party this year . . .

Speaking of the Halloween Party, someone has been getting in the mood . . . I need to get started on the decorations.

While the old '79 black Ford has been replaced with a  much newer green one, it still helps out around the place, especially when there are heavy things to be towed . . . .

And the snow is beginning to make an appearance now and then.  King crab season started a couple days ago, and Mother Nature began the season with a bang with the weather shrieking out of the North one minute, then out of the South the next, with rain driven by 50 knot winds sounding like buckshot on the side of the house.  It has been fairly warm though, just not great weather to get anything productive done outside.  We're out of dry wood for the stove and have actually been running the furnace for heat, just doesn't seem right so early in the season . . . . that's all for now, off to bed, Monday morning is fast approaching!  

October Already?

This is a great time of year to "take the long way home", riding along the ocean to Summers Bay and cutting over the pass, coming out the other side right near the house.  A two-and-a-half mile commute becomes a 10 or 11 mile commute, but by the time I get home all the troubles of the day are gone and I'm ready to enjoy the evening.  I think I have photos on the point and shoot, and photos on the DSLR, but for tonight we're just going to have to make do with these two shots I took with my cell phone on the way home.  Photography is really 90% being there, and 10% equipment anyways.

You can see we're starting to get some snow in the moutains - and, one morning right on my doorstep - and it seems like more and more I wait to ride the motorcycle until the afternoon, switching over at lunchtime.  We're starting to plan this years Halloween party, and just got a few decorations in the mail today that we had to check out before bed.  Goldfish is making her rounds, turning off the overhead fan, banking the wood fire, checking the dog's water dish and the locks.  I'm so very grateful I got some primer on the south wall of the house just before it turned cold because I'm not sure there will be many more days this year warm enough to paint.  I got to talk with my sister briefly at work today while I waited for the computer to finish cranking out a backup disk for the Seattle Office, but I need to call my sons, and my Dad, and my brother, and my other sister, most of whom are heading to bed in their time zones by the time I get out from work each day.  I miss them all, and wish they were closer.

I'll try to blog more, and not wait until I take just the right picture to illustrate what is on my mind.  This was the 603rd post on this blog - not bad for 3+ years of island life.  The great thing about just posting snapshots from the cell phone is they are much smaller files and upload much quicker at our slow island internet speeds.  Cheers everyone, I'm off to bed to listen to the wood crackling in the stove and the rain on the metal roof, the dog snoring on the floor beside me as I drop off to sleep . . . .