Fall has come to Alaska, the fire weed that was once a vibrant  magenta, has now begin to spread its seed. It is a downy seed similar to a cattail. This leaves behind the shell where the flower was, that is beautiful in its own way.

This next to the many  trees, i.e. Popular, Black Birch, and White Birch, give the eye a rich contrast  in color.

The days are also getting shorter, the sun is now coming up after 8:30 and setting at about 6 pm. This causes a beautiful golden glow on the mountains and landscape, they look at times as if they are a painting.

The volcano’s are absolutely breathtaking in this light.

Illiama

With the fall and the cooler temperatures it is now getting into the upper 30’s at night and 40’s during the day.

This has caused us to get moving on the Land , to get the drive way put in so we can move out, as the R.V park is closing because of the cooler weather.

We hired some one well know here, Raymond Drake , to put in our driveway, and level out a pad for the 5th wheel.

As we drive on it, it will become compressed and set up like concrete.

Next we needed outdoor storage so we purchased a large storage tent (big enough to fit the front of Randy’s truck in to give you an idea of the size.)

He built it on skids so it can be moved around as needed, and then staked it down .

As well as we purchased a ready-made barn from a family in Sterling AK, size 10 x 20, this can be locked for the security Randy’s tools,

Moving day for the RV finally came Sept.24th, it was a stressful experience. I had just finished working 3 night shifts in a row, and had to come home and pack up the 5th wheel so we could close it up, and get it road ready. That was just the beginning of the trials that awaited is !

The road to our property from the oil road is very steep and winding. It drops from 1250 ft, about 1000 fr to our driveway.I have tried to get pictures many times , here is one,it does not give you a clear picture but at least you get an idea.

Poor Randy lost sleep over thinking about getting our 40 ft 5th wheel plus a long bed pickup down that steep road without damaging the pickup or the 5th wheel.

When we got to the bottom of the hill he had to turn it all around and back it about 1/8th of a mile turning sharply into our driveway, and I had the very  PLEASENT job of guiding him.😂. After 3 hours we did it!

Yes we are still married, and Yes we still love each other!

I have to say though,a beer never tasted so good though! We sat outside viewing the mountains watching the sun set , amazed.  What we had planned for , dreamed of was here! It was amazing!

We have had 2 snows already this year. The first one was up high, where we live. An early snow even for here, the middle of September It was a very wet snow, and melted before the day was over.

Homer  is at sea Level , and we are about 12 miles east, the temperature  drops 3 to 5 degrees from Homer to our place. So many times we can expect snow before Homer gets any.

We were not moved up to the land at that time, they were still putting in the drive way. However the snow only stopped them for a day.

The next snow was only about 6 inches, and that was mostly in Homer. Which was early for them as well.

The roads became very icy , with this snow, mercifully we were still at the RV park so I did not have to drive far in it.

After we got moved out Randy got busy winterizing the RV, by skirting it , using foam board all around the bottom of the trailer.

It was a dirty, challenging and tedious job, to get all the pieces cut to the right size and angle ,then screwed in place, to the fram he had built under the trailer.

The barn, and 400 gallons of  propane, were delivered on the same day. It was a busy day.

We placed it on the north side of the RV to give us further protection from the north wind.

The next project was to put in a septic system, our man, Raymond Drake, who built our drive way , also built  septic systems. The soil percolated well, so after the engineer designed it they put it in below where our house will go. it is  nice because it opened up more of the land and view.

We still need to haul our water but Randy has figured out an ingenious way to fill the water tank from inside the  camper, it looks like a giant IV.

We get our 6 gallon jugs filled outside of Safeway. There is a public water tap, outside the store where many people can come and fill water containers for free.  Many people in and around Homer do not have running water so it is a very common occurance to see people filling containers for there home use.

We are blessed in that we have found a fresh water spring on our land. We plan to tap that next spring for our home.

So every trip to town we bring back water, we now have enough to take quick showers and to keep up with the dishes.

We make runs to Soldotna about every 4-6 weeks, the groceries are cheaper  there as well as building supplies. so when we go we always have a full load coming home.  Last time we went we bought a 30 ft. snow blower, insulation, groceries. our truck was packed.

Our last item we needed before winter was 4 wheeler. We needed one incase the Road became impassable.

As well as the fun we will have taking it on trails and on the beach to go clamming in the summer.

I am now a full-time employee of South Peninsula  Hospital, and am currently going through the orientation process.

I am working nights 7pm to 7 a.m so I am driving in the dark to and from work. Moose are a constant threat on the roads ,so Randy placed a light on our truck that is impressive. It lights the road up like daylight.

I will leave you with some beautiful pictues of seanry we saw this a.m. 10\27

The above 3 pictures show different angles of the 3 glaciers around us. This a.m. snow was swirling on top of them.

That pretty much sums up our life so far.

This winter we are drawing up our house plans, and getting everything lined up to start building this coming late May.

I will keep you posted.