Packing, Packing... -- October 25, 2006

Well, I'm exhausted, but at last I can see that I'm making a dent, packing all my personal possessions for storage. The closets are almost empty, the drawers, cabinets and shelves are finally getting bare. I'll do the office and kitchen last. It feels good to have the house emptier, I like it better this way. Next week I'll start advertising for a long-term tenant. My poor dog Cheyenne is obviously worried, she knows something strange is happening, and follows me everyplace.

Except, of course, when she's chasing moose... this time of year they are determined to dine on my lawn. And they're not afraid of anything, least of all an excited dog. They won't even budge when I'm outside taking photos and talking to them. I'll add a couple pictures that I took yesterday.

We had our "From Russia with Fun" FUNdraiser on Saturday night, and it was a great success. We made about $2000 for our new Kenai River Rotary Club projects, and everyone had a good time. We made way too much food, but that's much better than running out. At last night's meeting, we decided to have a "with Fun" night featuring a different country each year. Next year the event will be "From China", the last Saturday in September. It's a great opportunity for the community to learn about a foreign country, and will be educational and fun for us, too. I'll miss the next couple of events, but hopefully when I return from Romania, we can have a "From Romania with Fun" night! I'll keep that in mind as I serve my time in the Peace Corps.

Last night at 4 a.m., I suddenly woke up and remembered that I hadn't cleaned out my kayak, and it's supposed to snow this week. Fortunately I was given a reprieve. After brushing off the ice on the outside this morning, I found the inside wasn't frozen, so I was able to clean it out and hang it up for storage. In Alaska we have to prepare well for freeze-up, so I hope I have everything else done now. I did get help to finish scrubbing and waxing the trailer for long-term storage, had the gravel shoveled into the carport, hauled off an ancient stack of rotten firewood, put away the hoses, and even got a couple of "leaning trees" cut down. But what else might I have forgotten?

Things to Do! -- October 7, 2006

Well, tomorrow is my 60th birthday. Today I dug through pictures, and put together a photo album to take with me to Eastern Europe. It's an important item on the long list of things I need to take with me. I will want reminders of my children, grandkids, and the wonderful life I'm leaving behind. Since we only get 100 pounds for 2 1/2 years, I guess less than half of it will be clothes. And I'll leave a couple boxes of books, to be sent later. I've put my videos, pictures and music on dvds, it's amazing how much time that requires. I should be cleaning the house, so I can show it to potential tenants, but I'd rather do almost anything else instead.

My son Peter in Munich called this morning, so I could talk to his two daughters 6-year-old Miriam and 4-year-old Zarah. In their chatter, they revealed that Pete's live-in girlfriend Judith (pronounced yu-dit) is going to have a baby! So I'll have an eighth grandchild while I'm in Romania. Peter returned to Germany from Alaska the middle of August, and the baby is due May 23rd, fast work. I'm delighted, of course. Hopefully I will manage to get from Romania to Germany next summer to see the new baby. And for both grandbabies that are due, and all the rest of my family, of course, I hope they are all healthy. But I won't worry about them, even in Alaska I live too far away to be especially helpful. My kids are all pretty independent, anyway, and wouldn't want me interfering. They're probably relieved that I'll be away, busy doing something useful.

Tonight my friend Jane is driving up from Homer, we're going to the fancy wine dinner at Mykels, a nice local restaurant. It'll be my birthday celebration, along with a conference planning meeting tomorrow afternoon. I was going to have a "First Annual 60th Birthday" party, but just don't have the time or energy to have a houseful of guests. Going to dinner and a meeting is more than I've done on lots of birthdays in years past.

I finally hitched up the storage trailer to my truck and moved it over by the house, so I will still be able to put boxes in after it freezes up and snows. It needs to have ten years' worth of moss scrubbed off, but every day it's been raining, and I just don't want to do it. I also had a pile of gravel dumped in front of the carport, so need to find some strong young lad to shovel it all in and level it out. I need to ask around. Soon.