The August Rain

I remember when we moved to Alaska, 16 years ago this week. We never saw the sun for the first 2 -3 weeks. Well, here we are today and it is rainy and overcast. We can almost feel fall moving in. Mushrooms are popping up all around the yard and it is time to mow the grass, but it's way too wet. The days are getting shorter, sunset at 10pm and sunrise at 6am.

August 4 we flew to DC. Yes, 3 months has passed since our last Doc appointment. We had body scans plus the usual tests done. Fred continues to do well. His PSA has started to rise slightly. We are keeping an eye on it, but we are most concerned about how he feels. His energy is good and he does not have any nagging pain. He did spend the night in the hospital a couple of weeks ago with heart issues. With some medication adjustments everything is back to normal. He keeps me on my toes.

About the deck. Yesterday, Fred and I were putting a fiberglass ceiling over the basement patio in the rain. It was so funny. We finally figured out that it was best to lay on our back on top of the scaffolding and reach up to screw up the fiberglass. One time I had rain running down through the deck boards above in my face. Fred couldn't figure out what was taking me so long. I said, "It is dripping down my nostril, just give me a minute." We decided that it was better if Fred laid on his back and I did the fetching. It really was comical.

It was raining again this morning and I said I did not want to work in the rain again today. I was wet, cold and stiff when we quit yesterday. He agreed. We have a couple more hours to finish that project. Surely we will have a few hours without rain in the next couple of days.

Tuesday we finished engineering the steps down the side of the deck to the patio. We have not worked on them much for about a month. The biggest reason was that our help moved on to other jobs and family vacations. Brice and I had put in 4 platforms before he left and it has taken us some time to figure out how we were going to put in stairs to connect them. We have had several false starts and had figured out what would not work. Tuesday we figured out what "did" work and got it all laid out in one day.

We have had a great summer. We have had the best weather of any summer since we have lived here in Alaska. What a great summer to build a new deck. Yes, we have been tired and sore a lot but it has been great to be build something together with some great young men. Now we have a beautiful deck that we will enjoy for many years.

Oh yes, we did work in some B&B guests too. We had people from Kansas, Florida, Canada, Minnesota, Oregon, North Dakota and more. I heard tourism was down about 30 percent. I was careful about the guests I took because of all the construction. My goal was for Fred to have a good summer and to meet the B&B expenses. We did that and I am very satisfied.

We plan to spend the winter outside again this year. Like Fred says "We just didn't get to everything that we wanted to." Our estimated date of departure is the last week of September. Looking it up on the calendar the other day, it looks like 6 weeks. I counted it twice and it still seems to be 6 weeks. We plan to move our dog and stuff down to the camper and then fly over to DC for a Doc appointment the first week of October.

Carrie will be living at the house this winter and the teacher that was here last year is coming back too.

Fred and I continue to look forward the future God has laid out for us.