Thursday, March 27, 2008

Update

We went to the Orthopaedic surgeon on tuesday, to see what is going on with Justin's ankle. He still can't walk without extreme pain, can't work, etc. So since homer doctors didnt' have anything to offer us, we decided to go to Soldotna to an ortho guy that came really highly recommended. He looked at the x-rays we got in December when the accident happened, and he didn't look at them 30 seconds before he saw where it had broken and been damaged in the accident. So then he showed us, and it was right there as clear as can be. Then he took some more x-rays to see how that fracture had healed, and to see if anything else showed up.

There are 2 joints in the ankle, one that lets the foot flex up and down, and the other joint that lets the foot rotate side to side. The one that got damaged in the accident was the one that lets the foot go side to side. Its actually deeper in the ankle, and harder to treat. He said that we need to wait 3 more months, and if it's still not better, then we'll go back and he'll inject steroid and cortisone into the joint to let it relax and heal. Then he can tell by the way it responds to the shot how it was damaged and is healing. He was really on the ball, and was very helpful in letting us know what's going on. He also said that Justin did tear the ligaments in the ankle, but that they heal themselves, even though its very painful, they just heal themselves. He said his ankle is really badly damaged, but that we just have to give it time.

Then on wednesday we met with the director of the Small Business Administration to get some help with our business to build boats. He is really excited to help us, and thinks its the greatest idea and is going to be very successful. He has big plans for it, and thinks its going to go really far, farther even than we had planned. So that was really exciting, and encouraging.

Other than that we're just trucking along. Justin finished his big bowl, and today I need to get some pictures taken of it, and post it on the Etsy site. Its beautiful, it turned out really nice. Well, I better get going on doing my laundry (I HATE laundry, but oh well it has to be done). I actually used to do the laundry in the hopes that it would be DONE and I wouldn't have to do it anymore. Then I read this funny encouragement book, and it said, that I need to just get it in my head that the laundry will never be done, and to stop pushing myself to get it finished, because it will always be there, so that helped alleviate some of the laundry frustration, but I still don't like it. :)

Monday, March 24, 2008

What's New

I wanted to take a couple pictures of Justin carving on his birch burl bowl (try to say that 5 times fast), since he looks so cute all covered in saw dust. :)

Heathcliff is feeling pretty chipper, with the upcoming signs of spring. Of course with his limited verbal skills, its hard to tell the difference between "So nice to see you""WOOHOO its spring" "I'm out of water" "The mice/magpies are eating my food" and "Hey you kids get off my lawn". They're all just high pitched screaming and pacing around the yard.


Mya has this stuffed alien, that I won at the state fair when Justin and I went in August. Ever since I walked in the door, she has wanted it. So the other day I was re-arranging some things, and she was standing there looking all pitiful/hopeful at the alien, that I decided to give it to her. Now she carries it all over the house. One day the cat held it hostage, which was hilarious, but those pics are on the other camera, so guess I won't post those today. :)


We had a bit of a controversy this easter, regarding Fourth of July Fruit Salad. Justin has his fruit salad with cool whip mixed in, and/or maraschino cherries. Now, no one is allowed to mess with Grandpa's fruit salad recipe - its a time honored tradition. But last time we had it he really wanted Cool Whip, and I said no, so this Easter I thought what the heck, and got him some cool whip. Dad tried to change the recipe further, which was not allowed. So now we're going to have to make fruit salad more often, so we can have different kinds. :) Oh, and we included a video of mom's dire warning for anyone who changed the fruit salad recipe. :)




Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Selling our stuff






Mom found this website where artists and craftspeople can sell the things they make, for a nominal fee. Its called Etsy. (http://www.etsy.com/), so we decided to set up a shop where we can sell the things that we make, since we all make different things. I'm selling cards that I make, and I'm going to sell the fruit baby hats that I knit, as well as the purses. Mom's selling cards, and her fancy scarves. Justin's making wooden, birch burl bowls, that he carves, and we're going to sell those too. We're just going to add things as we make them and come up with them. I think it will be fun, and hopefully work well for us. Our shop is at http://thewindfarm.etsy.com/ . Justin's bowls are so beautiful that I wanted to share them on here. He's making some much larger ones too, but they take a long time. :) We went out on our snow machines this winter and gathered the burls, then we've been drying them in the living room.

And I'd just like to say that I did a darn professional job with the pictures too. :) Alicia

Friday, March 14, 2008

Today was a snowmachining date for Justin and I. The weather was perfect, and the snow is melting fast so we decided to head out and take advantage of it. When the winter started and we got out machines, I was terrified of anything to do with riding them, but every time we got out, I learn more and get better at it, which makes me feel very proud. The second time we went out I had a major panic attack, and had to go back to the truck, so I've made a lot of progress. It was so beautiful today I wanted to show everyone what we saw, even though pictures can't show it nearly good enough. At the bottom is pictures from the last time we went out, and the weather was very different.
Trail through the trees on the way to Caribou Lake/Hills.
Below is me on my machine, the pic above is of the trail on the way to Caribou Lake.

Well, there's a story for the next photo. Usually I'm very agreeable to having my picture taken, I almost never take a picture with my tongue sticking out, but for this particular picture it fits. Right before this, Justin had gone up what I thought was a pretty steep hill following the trail that climbed up where he wanted to go. When I got there, I stopped at the bottom, NO WAY was I riding up there. So he gestures for me to ride up, I gesture no, and back and forth until finally he leaves his machine, slides down the hill on his butt, and comes over to me. We have a short discussion about whether I'm going up the hill or not, and finally he convinces me to get on the back and sit, while he drives us up the hill. So, I hunker down on the back, and holding the handlebars, and I put my head down and sqeeze my eyes shut as tight as I can while he drives us up. We climb for what feels like forever, until I feel the machine start to tip over. I swear it felt like we were tipped over, so I roll over with the machine, and we tip over in the snow at the top of the hill. Well, we were at the top, which I didn't know having my eyes shut still, and we were almost stopped when I rolled us over. But I was scared to DEATH!! I'm not a hill person, and I panicked. So then I was sitting on my machine trying not to panic about how in the world I was going to get back DOWN the hill when Justin got out the camera to take the pictures we'd ridden up there to get, and so we have a picture of me with my tongue out. :) BTW, I didn't ride back down, poor Justin had to ride his machine down, climb the hill and ride my machine down while I slid down on my butt. You'll be able to see in the pictures farther down just how high up we were!!
Just a pic of the trail.
the mountains across the bay from the trail.
I love this picture!
This was up at the highest point I went to. Justin went up higher and got the 4 pictures that follow this. I had gone as high up as I was able/willing to go. :) So I sent him up to get the pictures he wanted. I'm a big chicken. We couldn't have asked for a nicer day to go up there, it was perfect, even up as high as we were, there was just a light breeze.
This was the picture Justin went up there to get. Its looking into Sheep Creek, where we want to go in a boat. We really want to get over in that area.
Another view from up high, this time looking out Kachemak bay, towards homer. And seeing how far up we are I'm sure some of you can understand my being afraid! :)
Still up high. Its so beautiful and quiet up there.
Still up high.



Here's a picture of the place we took off from today. We like this spot because you just dump the sleds off the trailer, and run up the road, and join the trail. Its an easy ride, and a fairly smooth way to get back into the hills.

PICS from last week:
These pictures are from last week, when we went out to take wood to a friend (Nate), and then he went out snowmachining with us. Here's Justin in the front, Nate in the back.
Just as we were thinking about heading back to Nate's house, a storm rolled in and started to blow really hard and pelt us with snow pellets. All the more reason to head in.....
The clouds look so cool though....
More from the storm before we went in.

Me and Justin together last week when we went out with Nate, I'm on Nate's old machine, so he could have fun on my machine. My machine is a lot for me to handle, its heavy and its very powerful The little machine was perfect practice for me, I think it topped out at 25 miles an hour, instead of the 100 something mine can do (not that I've done it).


The video is of Justin doing a wheelstand on his machine. He's the only person I've seen of all the people we've gone out with who can do one. You have to be tall enough, and strong enough to get the leverage to pull the machine up, hang onto it, and punch the gas hard enough to get the front end to pull up. It looks way cool though, definitely worth watching!
Hope you like the pictures of our adventures for the day. :) Alicia