As we age, we develop new ideas, refine some, drop others. I am going out on a limb to admit what many already know about me. I am getting older. Yes, this thought comes with the beginning of a new year because I usually have to think about what year it is before I can remember how old I am. But with the thought of my age,  I am now ready to revise the definition of COLD.

We have been having a cold-snap (notice the lower-case letters) with temperatures like -30 to -40. Well, this morning we have -51 F. This number is more than my age so I am calling it COLD.  Whatever happened to the idea of global warming? We need to remember to keep every bit of skin covered as frost-bite happens more quickly. One can be burned by opening a door with a bare hand.

The puppies have fleece booties that fasten with Velcro type straps. They work great to protect from the cold when going out for regular visits. The problem is the time required for four feet to get dressed for a puppy who’s already eager to go out. We’ve had more puppy puddles since the cold-snap began.

One more reason to want the warmer temperatures!

By the  way, Brian says he getting accustomed to the colder temperatures.

Not me!

Sure, the title is meant to lure you into reading more!
Nenana has increased by eight feet. These eight feet, quickly followed by four more feet, just ran past me here in my dining room. Let me tell you about the latest 4-H project. On Tuesday, November 25, we met two Guide Dogs of the Desert puppies-in-training at the Fairbanks airport.
Gabrielle is now attempting to raise Bo, a puppy that we hope will be trained, when he is grown, to be a guide for the blind. Bo is a black four month old German Shepard.
Elliot is also puppy-raising, but his pup is Cooper, a male, three month old black Lab.
Sponsors of Guide Dogs of the Desert are given the privilege of naming their puppies. We will likely have them until they are just over a year old when they return to CA for their training. We do not receive any financial benefit from this.
One big reason Brian is involved in Christian radio is because of how God used it in Brian’s salvation and spiritual growth. It is a way to ensure that others can also be blessed in this manner. In a similar way, we are really grateful for the work others did on our behalf before Gwen, Brian’s Seeing Eye Dog, was trained for him. We’re trying to help other blind folks to be blessed with moblilty and greater independance.
Check back later for pictures.

When Brian says that it’s minus twenty-two and that it has warmed up, I’m glad to be sitting on the couch with a phonics lesson to do.

We had some guests of the younger type for supper the other day. The subject of my age came up. No, I’m not 87 nor am I 500 years old. (Actual guesses!) But we did some counting and found that I am older than Gabrielle (17), Simeon (11), Michaela (5), Guest A(6), and Guest B (8). They also found out that next year, they would have gained five more years but I will have aged only one more! What fun we all had…and of course, we did talk of lots of other things!

Because of the memories of last year, I think having a peanut butter sandwich for Thursday’s dinner would be fine.  Not everyone else in the family thinks like I do. Much to their delight, someone came today with a TWENTY pound turkey for us to have for a more traditional Thanksgiving dinner. Now I am also looking foward to having some fun in the kitchen while teaching my children how to wrestle that big bird into the oven!

We were having a typical homeschooling time. The older three are sometimes pretty independent which allows me short bursts of time with Michaela. She was working on the Hundreds chart learning to count from one to one hundred- really learning to keep her mouth and her index finger going at the same rate. She got to the number ‘eleven’ and instead of ‘uh-leven’, I wanted her to say ‘EE-leven’. No problem. So she started again: eight, nine, ten, ‘EE-leven’, ‘EE-twelve’, ‘EE-thirteen’, ….
Whatta sweetie we have!

Whoa! Brian just reminded us that five years ago today, we left Cedarville to come to Nenana.
He says it was a Wednesday then as well.
How many things have changed since then… But our great God is still the same loving heavenly Father watching over us and guiding us.
We are so thankful to be in this adventure because of folks who pray and give and love us.
Please pray for VFCM and the upcoming board meetings (November 2 and 3) whenever you hear about our great governor, Sarah Palin. Yep, you probably should pray for the national election, too!
Thanks.

Of course, you know that small children do say things that older folk find amusing. This comment was made while a young person was being wheeled around and around in the Fairbanks Wal-mart: “I wish we needed all the things that we want.” I guess that it is well known by this person that God does, indeed, meet all our needs.
Someone was having a ‘focus problem’ in a recent church service. A parent quietly whispered about a potential consequence and added, “Do you understand me?” This small child replied, “No, not all the way…but I don’t want to, especially.” I am glad to know that honesty is important (to that child) although complete obedience needs more work!

In the second T&T AWANA book one of the four questions is “Why should I go to church?” There are eight answers with supporting Scripture verses to back up those answers. I really think that some kids need an answer like “Because I said so”, but so far, that is not an issue we have had to face. I thought of another really great reason for us to go the 26 miles to Anderson to attend church services. Before I write it, I do acknowledge that it isn’t a spiritual sounding answer for a missionary. Just don’t tell.

This morning when we were about a mile from church, a mama moose and her calf were about to cross the road in front of us when they suddenly changed plans.  The calf turned and stumbled off the road while mama hurried ahead of it. After we passed, they both got back on the road and our children watched from the rear windows of the truck. We saw a second pair along a diffferent stretch of highway several miles away while on our way home this afternoon. You may think that I would have some great pictures. Or at least some really fuzzy ones. Or just one, stinky, really blurry one. You wouldn’t wat to hear that for the last Three Moose -Pair sightings our camera has been in the bottom of my backpack. We have NO pictures to show.

To see some really nice photos, ask my mom and my nephew, Tim. They had their cameras ready.

I realized that Time was passing by but I didn’t realize that it had its pilot’s license. We have been busy with 4-H service projects and individual projects and the Tanana Valley State Fair and the Nenana flood and wrapping up the end of “school” work from the spring. We also enjoyed a week of vacation and another week when Grandma and cousin Tim came. We visited Denali National Park and the Alaska Museum with them.
That’s the highlights. Continue reading to get the more detailed view.
Gabrielle took a First Aid project as well as a Bread Basics project for 4-H. (I admit that I chose that bread project for her out of selfish motives. UMMM!) We have enjoyed the learning processes for muffins, sourdough bread and pancakes, tortillas, biscuits, waffles, as well as (near weekly) whole wheat bread. I was confident in her tortillas and bread to think she would have a blue ribbon. Gabrielle wasn’t well enough aquainted with 4-H and fair shows to know.
She was SO surprised that she earned a blue ribbon for each of her displays ( ww tortillas and ww bread). I was SO surprised to also see a Best of Class ribbon on the bread as well as a Grand Champion Ribbon (for all 4-H baking projects). Well, we do eat well here at the Blairs!
Elliot and Simeon did Plant projects and with the cooler wet summer we had, the projects evolved into something less than what they had planned. (I am the mom and I do reserve bragging rights.) Their 4-H leader was VERY impressed with the notebooks the boys put together. I gave some suggestions and they developed their own ideas. The notebooks include narrative of what work was done in the area of plants as well as some collections of seeds, buds and blossoms, even some Latin names. I am hoping that the notebooks will continue to grow as the boys learn more about different Alaskan plants.

                                                     The waters in Nenana are going down.  We don’t know yet the extent of the damage.  We know some people have lost their homes.  Our street is still flooded but it appears the waters are down about 8-10 inches from their crest on Sunday morning.  Adam has stopped using his canoe because the water is too low in some of the intersections.  We have only ventured out to go to KIAM, stuffing our feet into garbage bags and then into an old pair of shoes.  On Sunday the water was up past our knees. 

At the height of the flood we had close to eight inches of water in the back shop behind the station where the FM transmitter is located.  Art, our engineer checked it out on Monday and said it appears no water got into the transmitter, so we should be able to turn it on again once we’re sure the water is low enough.  It appears we’ll have minimal damage to the building or to things in the shop.  The studios and offices are built up higher so no water damage happened there.  We’re thankful to God for sparing us from major damage.   

Monday, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin signed a disaster declaration which should allow residents in this region affected by the flooding to get asistance from the government. 

Saturday I mentioned we were having sewer problems.  That was a short lived problem fortunately.  Since then water and sewer have worked fine and that is a pleasant surprise to me with all the flooding. 

The Tanana River went below flood stage Tuesday morning and is now about a foot below the flood stage. We don’t know how long it will take for the waters in town to go down, but it was encouraging to see that they’ve gone down about six inches since yesterday.  Waters only decreased about an inch or two from Monday to Tuesday.  The forecast has rain in it almost every day through next Monday, and it appears that while the waters are going down, we won’t be totally dry here anytime soon. 

Brian         

What an adventure our lives are lately! We found a new way to get across the street to the radio station on Sunday morning.  Do not try this unless your street is under water–Ha! I used a pair of shoes destined for the trash and two trash barrel liners for my hip-waders.  We have seen some canoes and small boats being paddled up and down our street. The trucks aren’t out there any more: it is just too deep.