The Last Frontier aka North Pole, Alaska: Lovely Weather...

Driving towards home and the clouds always look like they are low in the sky.

I can't believe it is April 26th...the longer we live in Alaska, the faster the months go by. Beautiful weather has hit us, finally! We are getting used to the 60 degree and partly sunny weather. This weekend, Andrew and I ventured outside to fix up our backyard. Note: We live in a townhouse that has a "community backyard" which means we have half a dozen children, ages 2 to 12, roaming within inches of our windows at any given time. They also like to hang around our house and giggle, "Mrs. O'Neill" and they can't believe they live in the same neighborhood as a teacher (Yep, by 1st grade they realize teachers don't really live at the school, really, I used to think this too). So, if anything, Andrew and I are always on our best behavior because small eyes are constantly watching us. That said, our ingenious friends and neighbors, (four doors down) decided to build a semi-permanent fence. It is a beautiful creation and after drooling over the idea, and eventually, their finished product, I convinced Andrew to put his man-skills to work...next weekend. He builds, I help, we'll paint it a pretty color, and we become the isolates of our townhouse row...yay!

This Saturday we ventured to our friend's house and took apart a raised garden bed (8 feet long!) dug out all the soil (LOTS of it), and re-built the garden bed in our backyard. Andrew used his saw and cut the size of the bed down to 6 feet, a much better fit for our plot of land. I supervised the construction, took a few pictures, and held my breathe as Andrew pounded a sledgehammer right over my hands...exhilarating. My plan is to plant tomatoes, peppers, carrots, and anything else that will grow for us. Planting starts June 1st so I still have time to do some research.

Notice the black cylinder pole-like things rising from the ground. They are part of the septic system and they are here to stay. Curiously, I popped off the top of one of those, took a whiff, and almost choked on that awful sulfur-magnesium aka bathroom smell, and Andrew stood next to me laughing and said I deserved it for being so dumb...I was curious!

After construction was over, we cleaned up our yard a bit, put out a patio table and four chairs, and of course, a fire pit...something that we are very excited about!
A few pictures of wild-man Andy chopping down a few birch branches. I knew his $36 sledgehammer/axe would become a favorite toy...

Going...

Gone...

I have been battling a hoarse voice for the past couple of days. On Friday I could barely talk and unfortunately, it had to be the night of the military brigade ball. We went and had a great time, despite my 80 year old smoker's voice, no joke. Everyone that I talked to would give me a weird look if I didn't first pat my throat and say "loz my voiz" so it was interesting. Of course, our camera was M.I.A. but Shannon, my friend (the one who built a fence!) took some great photos. Here are a few of the evening...

Our neighbors and friends in the middle, the Wardwells, and our friends on the right, the Benjamins...with a baby due in September!

The guest speaker, an Army big-wig, had a nice little speech for the evening. The beginning was funny as he compared the two military posts in Alaska: Fort Richardson in Anchorage and Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks. He cracked jokes at their differences and these are the only two that I remember but they are very true...
1. People in Anchorage vacation down in Hawaii, while people in Fairbanks vacation down in Anchorage
2. People in Anchorage check the stock market in the Anchorage Times while the people in Fairbanks check the Newsminer to see if any of their friends got arrested last night

Like I said before, Fairbanks/North Pole is quite an interesting place with lots of interesting people, and the Newsminer lets you know about every little antic that takes place.

One more funny thing, I was reading the Newsminer when I came across the tiny "News in the Nation" section and GUESS WHAT? Camp Hill, PA was one of the three articles! It talked about how the prison in Camp Hill (they had a picture of it!) was getting rid of tower guards and how it could be detrimental to the safety of the prison system. I meant to take a picture but forgot and Andrew burnt the paper in our fire pit so you'll just have to take my word on this one! Now that is big news! Camp Hill, PA prison system in our local Fairbanks paper! Very cool and almost concerning that there is not bigger news than that in the nation...

Last but not least, I took a walk up a large hill near our house and snapped a picture of our townhouses from up there (way in the background) It has hit us, this is our home!