May 25th, a few notable things happened on this date in history. Let’s walk down memory lane.
In the year 1787, the Constitutional Convention formally convened in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Even though years prior we thought we had worked out the mechanisms of this fledgling country, there were some issues. The States were still united but the road was bumpy. Without a stable government commerce was suffering. Taxes (revenue) weren’t being levied and uprisings were common.
This new convention would hem and haw until Sept 14, 1787 when they would sign their newly created Constitution and submit it for ratification. It only took about 4 months to lay the foundation for our two house system. Wow, that’s pretty fast considering how long it takes our modern politicians to act.
Also of note was Ford’s announcement in 1927, that it would not longer manufacture the Model T. A staple to early 20th century Americans for transportation.
The Model T was desirable for a number of reasons: low cost, durability, versatility, and ease of maintenance. Anyone with a few tools and thinking skills could alter or repair these mass produced marvels. Unlike modern mechanics which need a IT specialist to program the time and FM channels.
Fast forward to the last quarter of the 20th century and an event far more personal to myself occured. A joyful birth of a baby girl named Elizabeth! Happy birthday to a wonderful lady who’s gift of encouraging reading in children has touched countless young ones and continues to do so.
Do you or your kids watch YouTube or TikTok? Are you tired of being bombarded with culture de jour that perhaps doesn’t fit into your idea of “wholesome”?
Yeah, me too. So what do we do about it?
I’ve threatened many a time to just turn off the d@mned internet. I get very weary of all the junk I see on the two subscription channels that we have. And the free channels, well, I guess that’s to be expected. But we all know that modern life is difficult without connectivity, and getting moreso. I do long for a simpler existence. Off-grid and disconnected sounds better every day. Except for keeping in touch with loved ones part.
In the mean time, instead of mindlessly scrolling YT shorts I’m trying to focus more on subscribed channels that we know, and content creators that we trust, like The Outdoor Boys and Simple Living Alaska. Positive messages, useful how-to’s and interesting real life is what I aim for. Things that I like and want my kids to watch & learn from. I’ve also been posting more videos to my own channel. Which for now is pretty sparse but hopefully in time will be full of Alaska Life and our weird & wacky unique lifestyle (but not that sort of weird).
Besides my own channel, coming this fall, AB will be officially launching his own YT channel as part of his schooling. He is very excited about this to say the least.
You can sub to my channel here. Peruse a few Alaska videos and let me know what you’d like to see.
I’m also giving Rumble a try, check back in with me to see how that goes!
Last Friday we stayed home from work due to Dean being under the weather. So the kids and I used the opportunity to start on the garden plot, do a little barnyard clean up & to get some fresh air. The garden plot was quite the mess.
Before, tall grass, wadded up tarp.The strawberry tipi, tire stacks and compost bin. And Panda Bear.The old greenhouse frame. She’s a lean’n. And both doggos.The two existing raised beds.Before pics.
We enjoyed watching the goats and ducks being released from their winter quarters and go a little wacky on the barely there green grass blades
First thing we did was assess the old derelict greenhouse frame. It needs to be disassembled, repaired and re-sheeted with siding and greenhouse plastic. Lil Bit and I took stock of our materials so we could plan the new structure. As it is currently, about 15 feet long and 8 ish feet wide. We’d like to maintain that size, just move it over to the left about 2-3 feet.
Then we found a couple old pallets that we hauled up to the garden plot to add to our existing compost bin. The original bin was filled up over the winter with kitchen scraps and barn litter. We’ll let that side sit and work this summer to add to our beds next year.
Then we got started on the clean up part. Thing 2, AB and Lil Bit all pitched in. We cut down all the wild raspberry canes, some Willow shrubs and tall grasses down. We raked up dead grass and leaves to fill our new compost bin about half way. The kids hauled barn litter over and dumped into the old bin. I gave some of the raked up dried grass to the goats, they loved it.
I cleared out the strawberry patch of last year’s dead leaves & weeds, cut the runners loose and mulched with fresh straw. We topped off the two beds and all the tire stacks with more soil. And we stretched an old tarp (that we repurposed for ground cover & saved from going to the landfill) out over the area we just cleared to keep regrowth down to a minimum. We will eventually top this with sawdust and wood chips for pathway maintenance after we build the new beds.
This tarped area is where we plan to construct two more raised beds and put additional tire stacks around the fence perimeter.
Second compost bin.Beds with fresh soil.Huge tarp! This is about 1/3 of it doubled over. Have plenty left for the greenhouse floor After pics.
Lil Bit’s 4H project is gardening so she has been busy tending her starts in the mini greenhouse in our bathroom. And getting more excited by the day to start her outdoors garden & greenhouse.
Lil Bit’s starter garden. She’s got bell peppers tomatoes, squash, cucumber and a big pumpkin on the right.
While raking and checking for signs of new growth we discovered the lilac Thing 1 planted last year has some buds on it!! It’s always a happy day to see your plants made it through the winter!!
Rhubarb patch coming to life!
Besides the greenhouse renewal & new raised beds to build, we have some fencing repairs to make. I’d also like to test our soil this year so we can make amendments based on need. We’ll see how that goes. 🤪So our work isn’t done but we feel good about getting it started.
On April 30, 1789, George Washington was inaugurated as the first U.S. President. *Insert some witty comment about last great president.*
In 1803, Cajun cuisine became an official mainstay of the American diet when the United States purchased the Louisiana Territory from France. At the bargain price of 60 million francs, the equivalent of about $15 million American dollars. Now we have Étouffée and Muffelettas, a deal at twice the price.
In 1926, a pioneer of female flight, Bessie Coleman died. She was the first American woman to obtain an International Pilot’s license from FAI. She learned French and went to France to get what America had denied her due to her skin color. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. Determination looked good on you Bessie! Blessed memory!
On this day in 1945, Adolf Hitler and his newly wed wife Eva, committed suicide in his bunker in Berlin. There’s no joy in the loss of any human life. But…
In 1975, the horrid Vietnam War ended as the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon (AKA Ho Chi Minh City). fell to Communist forces. We still see the damage done to this day both public and private.
Yesterday was our “end of year” field trip. We’ve still got a few weeks left but a little early celebration never hurt anyone.
Before we boarded we spent some time exploring around the docks.
The Sovereign, a City of Seward tender. Lil Mister observing the suspension and breaking system of these old railway cars.Giant puffin mural.Carved sea otter benches.A cool old padlock, somewhere there’s a key to this heart…Spray foam fixes everything!The three munchkins with Dean & I reflecting.He’s so adorable.
Major Marine Tours out of Seward took us out for a 4 hour tour. (Glad it wasn’t three and the weather wasn’t rough.)
Captain Marcelle navigated the “Kenai Fjords 360” throughout Resurrection Bay like a boss.
First thing we see after leaving port are Dall’s Porpoises swimming with our boat. They look like little baby Orcas. They were quite amusing swimming and jumping out of the water, crisscrossing in front of the bow.
Once we were underway the Capt put this nav map up for us to reference. It helped keep our bearings for sure.
Then we saw a bald eagle perched on an enormous rock. We spotted a sea otter in Thumb Cove.
After traveling past Fox Island we saw some Stellar Sea Lions sunning themselves on Mary’s Rock. Captain Marcelle was terrific for getting us excellent views of the wildlife. We had a beautiful day, sunshine, 41-45° air temp and no sea swell! Simply gorgeous spring day!
We cruised past Barwell Island on the east side of Resurrection Bay, which has some WW II era bunkers. Then the best thing happened, another vessel alerted us to a pod of three Orcas just two hours into our tour! What an awesome inspiring moment!
We also experienced a mirage, called fata morgana, of Montague Island. It made the island look like a plateau instead of the peaked mountain tops it has. Once we changed position and could look back at the Island you could once again see it’s peaks and valleys. So weird!
Besides the abundance of wildlife that we saw and learned a few facts about (did you know there were 10 types of Orcas worldwide and three types that frequent our Alaskan waters?) we also learned about history (WW II, Russian exploration, President Harding and the Good Friday Quake) and geology when we passed some unusual rock formations of pillow basalt. It was quite the learning experience!
Our route was the red one. It would be nice to take the blue one some day!
We peeked into Carol’s Cove to observe 6 Harbour Seals on our way back towards the west side of Resurrection Bay where we had a great view of Bear Glacier. Lil Bit was excited for this one, she really wanted to see the seals. It’s nice to see them elsewhere, than in our nets stealing our fish! Then we spotted two coastal mountain goats on the sheer face of the mountain side! And another Harbor Seal in the water along the Callisto Cliffs.
Lil Bit observing the Harbour Seals with binoculars.There were 6 seals sunning themselves.
Nearly 4 pm and our tour is about over, what a wonderful experience! I love seeing the rugged beauty and bounty of Alaska. And seeing landmarks like Cain’s Head which we’ve explored a couple of times on foot. I think Lil Bit counted 8 species in total that we spotted today. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves! Little Mister was most comfortable on the bow feeling the wind rush through his hair. Thing 2 wasn’t in too many pics as he enjoyed the freedom of roaming about the boat at will.
I’m very grateful for the homeschooling resources we have with IDEA and the rich experiences we get to have thanks to their efforts. Trips like these would be out of reach for us without them.
Alaska on my mind... 