256 pieces without sharp edges

If you follow Cassandra and Artem's blog or Emily's blog, you have seen reference to this.  We have a picture of Cassandra with the final product  - a beautiful Mario afghan for Ayla.

Fluke update

Fluke started eating (a little, but on her own) on Tuesday.  We were very, very excited!  She gets more and more like herself each day.

 It looks like Fluke is giving Cassandra a little of her own medicine - holding Cassandra down for a bit.  You go, kitty!

Adventures with Fluke (the cat)

Michelle drove to Delta on Saturday, December 18, to do the cat exchange with Gregg.  Fluke (Cassandra's cat for many, many years) was going to spend Christmas with us because Gregg was traveling out of the state for Christmas.  We were excited to have Fluke here when Cassandra and Artem arrived.  Fluke got sick - she kept throwing up all the time, was very lethargic, and wasn't eating.  We called several veterinarians but none were close to home.  On Tuesday, December 21, we picked up Cassandra and Artem from the airport in Anchorage.  We didn't take Fluke with us (and to a vet) because of the long (and cold) drive.  We all arrived home in Copper Center around 1:00 AM.  Stan and Michelle got up early the next morning to do the final clean of Stan's last house in Valdez.  We collected Fluke and dropped her off with the vet in Valdez.  Fluke ended up staying, having surgery, and stayed some more.  Stan, Cassandra, and Artem drove down on Christmas Day to pick her up.  She still wasn't eating or drinking.  She needed antibiotics and also needed to be fed with a syringe.  Hopefully Fluke will feel better soon.

Christmas 2010

Christmas wasn't the same without the whole family in Alaska.  Here are a couple pictures of us opening presents, the house with some decorations, and the Christmas tree.  We didn't have to drill holes to add branches to the tree this year.  It was a perfect tree.

  

 Where are the Hall stockings?

Cassandra turned 30

Cassandra was home from Russia for her 30th birthday.  We can't believe how time flies.  Thirty years!  That's 3 decades!  How can it be when Stan and I only feel 30 ourselves?

Christmas Project (over 25 years in the making)

Our project for the Christmas vacation is to finally rush the chairs Stan and Virginia gave us while we were still living in Minnesota.  Oh, that was a long, long time ago.  I will post pictures we have and more as the process progresses.  They will be added to this post.

Thanksgiving

It was a warm day so Stan and Michelle decided to go snowmachining.  It was a lot of fun.  Michelle only got stuck twice which was probably a record for her.

Stan by the Copper River.

Michelle with overstuffed pockets (there were four pair of extra gloves) and too many layers.  She didn't get cold so it must have been the right choice.

When we returned we began our preparations for Thanksgiving dinner.  It wasn't a turkey and we didn't have family or friends to share our dinner.  We are so sad.  Boohoo.

But we are looking forward to having our families close to us again. 

The Work Begins and Ends...

Stan and Michelle spent all day Sunday and the evening of Tuesday processing the caribou we got. The bones and scraps went to Eric and Cynthia for their sled dogs. The canned meat was very tender and the back straps were very good. Oh how we love Alaska!

Caribou Hunt

Stan got a wild hair and decided to go caribou hunting October 25.  We got our permits at 8:00 AM and headed north.  We got 2 caribou, loaded them onto the pickup, and were home by 2:00 PM.  Now the work really begins.  Stan had to build a contraption to hang the caribou in the garage.  It has been a long time since we had fresh wild game in our freezer.