End of Fall...Winter's Coming.

Hey there everyone. It's been a few weeks, a few scratches and scuffs, and a lot of sweat and sore bones since my last post--but....we have a closed in house and heat!!!! St. Steve flew in from Akiak the second week of September to help with the "winterizing". I'm proud to say that I was able to insulate and run all the electrical wires prior to his arrival. My wonderful rock climbing/co teaching friends Mark and Karen Martin spent a total of 8 hours during the course of 4 seperate days helping me put the tin roof on (doesn't it look good?). We also wrapped most of the exterior house in felt to waterproof the outside, however little did we know that our little Healy area would be hit by hurricane force winds (gusting up to 50 miles per hour) which ripped all of our hard work off of the house and into the "boreal" forest surrounding the cabin....I think that I would have spent a few hours pouting over that if I didn't have the hope of St. Steve standing next to me when I discovered the mess. After Steve and I raced around, in the craziest winds I've ever seen, boarding up all the windows so that no more insulation would fly out the window, we began a 3 day marathon work session that resulted in total exostion and a imense sense of satisfaction. Steve's last day with me consisted of 7 hours of stove installation in which 4 of those hours where spent on the roof, with bloody hands, cutting the tin to fit the stove pipe. A 5 hour late night drive back to Anchorage to catch his 6AM flight back to the village, and then a full day of teaching--God Bless You Steve.... The days and weeks of my life that have followed have been rich with teaching all day, wood collecting, chopping, loft construction by night. I must say though, it's been very nice and cozy sleeping in the cabin, no matter how nippy the mornings are after the fire goes out.......electric soon to come....just have to jam a copper ground pipe 24 inches into permafrost, no problem..."smile". As a side note, the wildlife that has been stopping by to check out my home in the middle of their home, has been amazing. Apparently my house is located on the direct mirgrantion route of millions of geese (see in one of the photos) who have been flying over day and night for the past 3 weeks, I've seen 4 Great Horned Owls (or maybe the same one 4 different times "smile") this past week. Moose tracks are everywhere, no bear "yet" but always keeping an eye out. The big fuzzies should be settling in for their long winter nap here soon. I figure my neighbors have a bit more to worry about than I do with the mischievous big fuzzies, being that they both have 100's of juice salmon hanging off of their fish racks and all the food I have around the house is a candy bar and some gaterade.."smile" However, all the animals might be acting a bit off right now with the passing of their hero "Mr. Croc. Hunter"---Steve Irwin. An amazing man-I'm so thankful to God that I had the opportunity to meet (work for) Steve while I worked at the Australia Zoo in 2003. Meeting Steve and Terri and working at the zoo..just being around great hearted passionate people and apart of such a awesome wildlife conservation movement..helping to make a differnce in the world.for wildlife.. It was one of the greatest experiences of my life. Terri especially is a wonderful lady and was very nice to me, please prey for her and their kids...she is a Christian, leaning heavily on God right now for strength, and is asking the world for continued prayers.... Thank you!