Rainy and Windy Still in Juneau

We have had some pretty windy and rainy days over the past several days. We haven't done too much other than small projects and getting out of the way for house showings.  Neil is on very limited duty because of his back injury--he says he hasn't thrown it out this badly in many years.  It is slowly getting better, and he has some muscle massage scheduled to help it heal. He is taking Aleve and some other muscle relaxation tablets and using alternating hot and cold packs to help it heal.

According to our realtor, there are a couple of parties who have expressed interest in the house, and that we might get an offer on the house sometime this coming week.  We also have another house showing on Monday, so it is good to have several people looking at the same time.  So, we are hoping for some good news this week as the weather continues to move towards winter.  Keep us in mind and hope for good news for us.

Thanks for visiting,

Neil and Pamela

A Blustery Week In Juneau

Typical October weather here the last few days.  We have had a good bit of rain and some pretty good winds as well.  On Tuesday, Neil ran some errands to the recycling center and picked up a discounted tool at Home Depot.  After using friend Sam's cordless reciprocating saw last weekend, he decided that he had to have one as well.  Then we went to Home Depot and saw a Ryobi 18 volt lithium ion saw that was on sale because it was a display model.  He went back on Wednesday and since it was still available, he picked it up.  In addition to being cordless, it has a quick change saw blade feature that is really handy.  Talk about an easy way to prune trees!

The Newest Tool in Neil's Stable

He was able to sell his old Craftsman corded sawsall to a friend, so he was able to get a new, cordless reciprocating saw at about a quarter of the price.  Since he already has a Ryobi cordless paint sprayer, and a hedge trimmer, this is the third Ryobi tool in the One + family.  Might there be others added in the future?

Today, Neil had lunch with friend Jeff and then went out to Agg Pro--the local gravel supplier, and picked up about 860 pounds of "B-chip" driveway gravel.  He used eleven five gallon buckets, so 55 gallons of driveway gravel weigh about 78 pounds per bucket.  It would have been best if Neil knew this before he began to unload and spread the gravel.  He used the gravel to put into the ditch along the driveway to help drainage and make it look better, which it does (see below).

The Light Grey Band is New Gravel Next to the Driveway

Neil made the mistake of not wearing a back brace as he unloaded the heavy buckets and threw his back out about half way through.  He is now wearing a back brace and using ice on his back.  It is never a good idea to lift and turn with something heavy!  He will be taking it easy for a few days as his back recovers.

Juneau is experiencing some really high tides this month.  Tomorrow there is a minus 4.5 low tide and then rising up to a 20.3 high tide.  That is a 24.8 foot tide range from low to high tide--something to see.

All is well with us, and we are keeping busy and enjoying being in Juneau. We have another Open House this weekend, so hope that we get some house offers from that.

Thanks for visiting,

Neil and Pamela

Sunny Monday and Yard Work

We woke up this Monday morning to some unexpected sunshine.  We enjoy Mondays a LOT more since we retired.  We stayed at home and did some work on various projects and Neil took the opportunity to take most of the the dahlia bulbs out of their pots, clean them off, and get them ready for winter storage.  We still haven't had any really hard freezes, but it won't be long until we do.

Neil also did a little burning of trash and even did some ditch digging--just a little bit of cleaning out of the driveway ditch to improve drainage.  He plays to add some gravel this week if he has a chance.

While Pamela worked on some of her computer projects, Neil watched both Monday Night Football and game five of the World Series all at the same time.  Life is good!  Thanks for visiting.

Neil and Pamela

Sunday Showing

A quiet Sunday without a lot to report.  We did have a house showing so we made a short trip to Home Depot to look at parts to build a light table to sort 35 mm slides.  We have as lot of old slides that we want to sort to decide which ones to have scanned.

The couple who toured the house today told the realtor that they were very interested, so we hope that we hear something this coming week.  If not, perhaps we will have others interested at the Open House on October 29.

Neil was able to catch a little bit of football and watch the Green Bay Packers win, and the end of the World Series to see the Texas Rangers even up the series two games to two on some great pitching by the Texas starter.

One of the things that Neil has been doing is set up his computers so that all photos that he takes on his iPhone automatically are downloaded to his computers.  Yes that was plural:  he uses the main HP desktop mostly, is writing this blog tonight on the HP mini NetBook, and also uses the Fujitsu laptop that Pamela used to use when we travel.  Anyway, the feature is called iCloud, and is part of the new Apple 5.0 operating system.

There are still some glitches, but it is a neat feature to be able to take a photo on the iPhone and have it instantly accessible on any computer.  One of the glitches is not being able to delete the images off the PhotoStream folder easily, but I think that will be a future feature that is added.  If you want to know more about it, just send Neil a note or Google iCloud.

All is well with the both of us--hope that you are doing well also,

Neil and Pamela

Boat Move Saturday

Another moving experience today.  We helped friend and neighbor Sam move his boat (used to be our boat) over to his house here in Bayview.  He has been working on widening his driveway so he could back it in and still get to the rest of his stuff.  Sam hooked up the boat and moved it out of the way and then we had to find a way to move the stairway that Sam and Neil built to easily get in and out of the boat.

Lining Up the Stairs to Put Across the Pickup Bed

We got the stairs loaded into Neil's pickup and took it all over to Sam's to unload and set up.  While the stairs are a hassle to move, they are so much better than a ladder to get in and out of the boat.  They have been one of the more useful things we did for the boat.

Stairway "Loaded" on the Pickup--Good Thing It Wasn't Far to Sam's

Neil helped Sam unload the stairwell and then they moved all the crab and shrimp pots and some other miscellaneous stuff.  We think it was Neil's Dad who told him that "Just like a woman, in a boat the rigging costs as much as the hull".  If he didn't tell him, he should have!

Neil also helped Sam with a project at his place, so all in all it was a productive day.

There Goes the Boat...Sigh

So now there is a big hole at the back of the house where the boat has been parked for the past four years.  The boat partnership worked out great, and we hope that Sam gets many more years of enjoyment from the boat.  We may even come up and visit in the future and go for a boat ride with him.

The Truck is Now Parked Where the Boat Used to Be

All in all, it was a good Fall day, and we are off to dinner and a play.  Thanks for visiting,

Neil and Pamela

Ducks One - Eagles Zero

As Oregon State Beavers (alumni of Oregon State University) we usually won't talk about Ducks as the University of Oregon Ducks are the state rivals of Oregon State, but this will be an exception.  Neither one of these mascots really instill much in the way of fear, but they did try to make Benny Beaver look a little more fierce in this recent make-over.

Benny Beaver - Mascot of Oregon State University

Donald Duck (thanks to a 1947 agreement with Walt Disney)

It was a quiet stay at home day in Bayview and about all we did was work on the computer and feed a few Stellars jays.  The one that our neighbors call PJ is the most aggressive of all the jays and will regularly take peanuts from Neil's hands and chase off other jays whenever he gets a chance.  He (she?) gets more than their fair share of peanuts, so it is a wonder that he isn't too big to fly!

Anyway, back to the eagle versus duck game we watched this morning in Gastineau Channel.  We were looking out the window, and we saw two eagles diving at something in the channel; when we got our binoculars out, we could see that the eagles were trying to kill and eat a diving duck in the channel at low tide.  Every time the eagles dove to try to grab it with their talons, it would dive under the water.  We watched them diving on this single duck about thirty times, and while there were a few close calls, the duck got away once the eagles got tired of diving on it.  Kinda gives another meaning to "duck and cover".

This Isn't Our Photo, but Exactly What We Were Watching

Pamela and I saw this same thing many years ago on the Cross Admiralty Canoe Route.  We were just paddling out of Salt Lake on the way towards Mitchell Bay when we came upon a mother common merganser duck with seven young ducklings.  We watched a bald eagle dive on the chicks about a dozen times, and each time she gathered them up and they dove at the last minute.  They got away that time, but we saw another mother merganser in the same area the next day, but with only four chicks.  So who knows if it was the same group or not.

Common Merganser Ducks Can Have Very Large Broods of Ducklings (up to a dozen)

I guess that this will wrap up this natural history lesson--thanks for visiting, and we hope that you have a great weekend, wherever you are.

Neil and Pamela

Four Days of Miscellaneous

I haven't posted in the last several days because most of what we have been doing has been pretty mundane--not too surprising to most of you, we are sure.  It has been "typical nasty weather"--Neil's Dad has a dirty joke that uses that line; some of you will remember it.  Anyway, it has been cool with temperatures in the upper thirties at night and only mid forties during the day.

Does This Make You Feel Better about YOUR Weather - We Hope So!

Pamela has been working on her Creative Memories projects and with several of her clients.  She is working on some calendars to sell at the Juneau Public Market in November, where a lot of people shop for their Christmas gifts.  Neil has been working on a few garage and RV projects, including replacing the RV water heater anode, filling the propane tanks, and doing some sorting of gear to put in the RV.  He also emptied out the truck box in the pickup, made sure that the Yamaha generator was ready to run, and did some touch up painting on some tools.  He found a couple more things to put on the SE Alaska Craig's List (a ladder, a trailer hitch step, and an adjustable hitch ball stinger).

This is the Little 2000 Watt Generator We Travel With - Compact and Quiet

Today, we also took the VW in to have the oil changed and getting it ready for winter.  We also balanced and rotated the tires, trying to get rid of an annoying vibration at 45 mph--we think that this did it finally.  After dropping off the VW, we went to the Sandpiper Restaurant for a leisurely breakfast and then to our eye doctor for our two year exam.  All is well with both of us, so we should be set for another couple of years.

This weekend, we have tickets for the Juneau's Theater in the Rough presentation of A Midsummer's Night's Dream.  We have been to their presentations over the years, and they are always fun.  These presentations are in the new McPhetres Hall in the Holy Trinity Church.  The church burned down in 2006, and has been rebuilt with a special space for theater and other presentations--we are looking forward to it.  More Juneau culture for the HagaFinn's!

We have also made plans to go up to Haines for the Bald Eagle Festival in Haines in early November.  Each year, about 1500 bald eagles converge on the Chilkat River because of the warm water that has resulted in a late chum salmon run.  We will go up there for the festival, take some pictures, and have some good meals we are certain.

For information about the Bald Eagle Festival and the American Bald Eagle Foundation, you can go to:  http://baldeagles.org/

Well, this should catch you up on our lives a little bit.  We have another Open House scheduled for October 29, so maybe we will get some house sale nibbles from that.  Wish us luck!

Neil and Pamela

Fall Weekend Gardening

Saturday was a pretty rainy day again, so not much got done as far as projects around the house, just the normal mundane stuff.  Pamela was at a Creative Memories event most of the day and with dinner we watched the Alfred Hitchcock version of The Thirty Nine Steps, which was fun since we had just seen the play that made it more of a comedy instead of a drama.  It was fun to see the differences.

Today we had a very pleasant surprise in that friends Ed and Janis brought over some moose meat from their successful hunt in Haines.  Ed was able to sound enough like "a passionate female moose" with his moose call to call in a young moose.  His hunting partner also got a larger one, so with the caribou meat from a hunt a month ago they had meat to share.  We are really happy that they shared some with us.

Since Sunday was a much nicer day, we decided to do some Fall gardening tasks like cutting back of the hostas in the garden and taking the dahlia pots of the deck to get them ready to pack the bulbs in wood chips for the winter.  We are not planning on taking all of them with us, but Pamela has some favorite colors that we will take with us.

Hosta Plant Before

Hosta Plant After Cutting Back the Dead Leaves

Neil also did a little bit of "getting to know your ladder" stuff with his new Little Giant ladder.  It seems really well built and sturdy, so it will replace at least one of the ladders we have.  It goes from a four foot high folded ladder for easy storage to a seven foot step ladder and a seventeen foot extended ladder.  Here are a few photos.

All Folded Up and Collapsed for Storage

Step Ladder Configuration

Extension Ladder

Anyway, Neil is very happy with this ladder so if you are interested, check them out at Costco.  In a recent post, I mentioned that our larch tree was yellowing this Fall.  Well, the trend continues and it is becoming a really nice color in the garden.

Our Larch Tree is Getting Ready to Drop Its Needles for Fall

Tomorrow is another Monday, but that doesn't matter much to us other than it is sure good to not have to get up early on Monday mornings!  Still no nibbles on the house, so keep those kind thoughts heading our way.

Neil and Pamela

Lowering of Ears and Mendenhall Musings

A Rainbow Over the Mendenhall Wetlands this Morning

I guess it is the end of another work week, but since we retired, they all look the same to us.  We spent some time with house cleaning before going into downtown Juneau so that Neil could get his "ears lowered"--at least that is what his Dad calls a haircut.  After that we made a stop at Costco, had lunch and then Pamela had a massage while Neil went to Mendenhall Glacier and took a few photos.

Mendenhall Glacier is Getting Pretty Narrow at the End

Icebergs on Mendenhall Lake

While at Mendenhall Glacier, Neil took a short video of Nugget Creek Falls with his iPhone.  It is posted below.  There is a lot of water coming out of that valley and dumping into Mendenhall Lake.

It was a nice Fall day here--we hope you had a good one as well.

Neil and Pamela

Tool Time in Juneau

Another good day in Juneau, w with even a little bit of sunshine to top it off.  Neil went out to the airport to pick up friends who were returning from Hawaii, and then worked on a few outside projects.  One of the things that needed to be done is move the fish smoker that he sold on Craig's List to Lemon Creek so it could be moved to Gustavus.  The guy who bought it owns a tourist lodge there and Neil wanted to get it moved from the back of the house.

Good Bye to Our Custom Made Smoker

Since we got a call to show the house on Friday afternoon, Neil decided to move the smoker today and while in Lemon Creek make a purchase at Costco.  Those of you who know us, know that Neil doesn't like gadgets (right?).  Well he now has another one anyway, as Costco has the Little Giant ladder system on sale with a $50 off coupon.  Last time Neil used our twelve foot scissors ladder at the back of the RV, it didn't work very well on the uneven ground.  No falls or injuries, but he had been looking at these ladders for a some time, and Costco delivered!

Here Is Our New Ladder

We think that this ladder will work out well for us around the house and RV.  Neil looked up some of the videos on how the system works on YouTube, and he is looking forward to using it.

Wish us luck with the house showing tomorrow--it only takes one buyer, after all.

Thanks for visiting,

Neil and Pamela

iPhone Updates and Paperwork

A quiet Wednesday at home dealing with some computer issues and paperwork.  Neil was doing the paperwork to make a deposit to become eligible for a change in the federal cost of living calculation for his retirement.  It will only mean about $35 more a month, but it is certainly worth doing.

Neil also spent some time upgrading his iPhone to the newest operating system.  It did not go flawlessly, and there were a few scary moments, but the new operating system got installed and there wasn't any loss of information.  And it all seems worth it, as there are a lot of new features for the iPhone with this new software.

It was a quiet and enjoyable day in Seattle.  Neil talked with his brother in Anaheim, California where the temperature was over 100 degrees.  Neil asked him to send about 20 degrees north for us to use.

Hope you had a great day,

Neil and Pamela 

RV Maintenance and Winterizing

The rain returned today to us here in Juneau, but at least it is not windy and pouring down rain (yet).  It was a quiet Tuesday, with Neil doing some RV maintenance and Pamela working on some of her Creative Memories projects.  Pamela has her lodging paid at a Disney Resort in Orlando in January for a Creative Memories event, so we used an Alaska Airlines Companion Ticket to get there and back.  We will need a break in the weather by January, whether we are here in Juneau or in Oregon.

After reading one of the blogs that he follows by a fellow RVer  Rick at http://rickpaulettervjournal.blogspot.com/ where Rick checked his RV water heater anode, Neil decided to do the same.  Good thing, as it was nearly eaten away at the top.  He was able to find two on Amazon with free shipping, and they should be here this week.  Neil loves Amazon free shipping, because without it, the shipping would often cost more than the products we order.

The Sacrificial Anode from Our RV Water Heater

We are still enjoying the Stellar's Jays on our deck and around the house.  They will follow Neil through the garden and neighborhood, wanting to be handy if a peanut was to appear.  Neil took a picture of Pamela feeding jays earlier this week, but only got her hand and the bird.  He was informed that was not acceptable, so yesterday when we had some sunshine, we got some more photos of the jays with Pamela.  Just as it should be.

One Jay at Fingertips and One Incoming!

Another thing we did today was update the Apple iTunes software on our computers and updated all of the software on our iPhones in anticipation of the release of the new iPhone operating system (iOS5) on Wednesday.  It is supposed to add a lot of additional features, and Neil is looking forward to downloading it and checking it out.  We will be waiting to upgrade Pamela's phone until November or December, and Neil will wait until Spring, probably.

Thanks for visiting,

Neil and Pamela

A Wonderful Monday for October

Another good day here in Juneau.  One of the things that made it a good was that we did not have to get up and go in to work and attend meetings.  We also did not have any rain, and actually had some sunshine with temperatures in the fifties.

Neil worked on replacing some of the rusting parts on the canoe racks.  Why they make things like canoe racks out of anything other than stainless steel in a real mystery.  Neil admits that he is a bit of a nut about this kind of thing and has replaced as many of the fasteners on things that are used outdoors with stainless steel as he can.

Fish Creek Pond Today

Neil also took a short hike on the Fish Creek Trail that is just about a half mile from the house.  It is an area where Neil used to park his VW camper when he moved to Juneau in 1978 to work for the Forest Service.  The trees are a lot bigger now, but the water is just as pretty.

A Nice, but Expensive Foot Bridge

The area is now a city park, and they have constructed a massive foot bridge over Fish Creek.  Neil thinks that the size of the bridge is a bit of overkill--it probably costs several hundred thousand dollars to install.  It is amazing that these public projects get over-built using tax dollars.  The same is true at the state and federal level.  Neil also took a short video of Fish Creek with his iPhone--see below.

The snow in Mendenhall Valley is coming closer to sea level every day.  Neil stopped by Jim and Judy's today and took this photo

High Tide and the Mendenhall Towers Covered with Snow

We hope that you had a good day wherever you are.  Thanks for visiting,

Neil and Pamela

Garage Cleanup and Yakima Racking

Short post today as there isn't much interesting to say about cleaning up a garage, doing some touch up painting,  and sorting through our Yakima rack parts to put a canoe rack on the Volkswagen Passat.

We found out that while the government movers will move a canoe, that because it is bulky it counts for additional weight far beyond its real weight.

So--we decided to take it with us on top of the Passat on the ferry.  The VW is about 17 feet long, and the canoe is sixteen, so it should not count as extra for the ferry.  It turned out that we had all the parts we needed for the racks, so we will leave it together and ready for when we need to move the canoe.

This is Neil's Only Boat these Days

So this is another task that we won't have to worry about when it is time to move.  Neil might even decide to put one of the outboards in the pickup bed so we have a canoe and motor should we ever want it when we get to Oregon.

Fair Winds and Calm Seas,

Neil and Pamela

Dinner and a Bit 'o Juneau Culture

Today was a quiet Saturday at home, working on projects and feeding the jays.  We now have several who will take peanuts out of your hand, which is pretty neat.  We have three deck chairs that back up to the windows, and they keep a close eye on what we are doing.  The boldest one may be the one the our friend Jim Hauck calls PJ.  He (she?) will push all the others out of the way until it has its beak full and cannot pick up another peanut.  They when it flys off to bury it bounty, the others get a chance.

Neil was in the garden today and noticed a lot of small holes that have been dug in the garden.  It is either jays who have dug up their peanuts, or as he suspects the squirrels finding the nuts and digging them up and eating them.  There have been a couple of squirrels who have been running across the garden with peanuts when we haven't been feeding them, so who knows.

The Baranof Hotel Was Built in 1939 in Downtown Juneau

Tonight, we had dinner out with friends Jim and Elaine before we went to a play.  We went to the Gold Room at the Baranof Hotel in downtown Juneau.  The food and service there is always great, as it was again tonight.  Kinda pricey, but you don't go out to dinner to save money around here.  We then drove across the bridge and over to Douglas for the play at Perseverance Theater.

The Perseverance Theater is a  Great, Yet Small Professional Theater

The play was the comedy/farce was written in 1915 by John Buchan, and made into a film by Alfred Hitchcock in 1935.  They had an exhibit about Alfred Hitchcock at the theater, and here is a quote:  "An actor came to me and wanted to know about his character.  I told him it was in the script, but he asked 'what's my motivation?'.  I told him 'Your Salary'."

It was a very funny and creative play in that all of the parts in the play are played by four actors (three men and one woman).  Here is how the theater website describes it:

"The chase is on: Alfred Hitchcock’s classic 1930s film comes to the stage in this Tony-award winning comedy adaptation. Four actors create the entire cast of over 100 characters in this tale about foreign spies, glamorous heroines, sudden captures and narrow escapes. One actor plays Richard Hannay while a second actress plays three women he is entangled with. A pair of actor-clowns portray cops, spies, Scottish innkeepers, evil professors and even the occasional inanimate object."

It was a really fun and enjoyable play, and the four of us had front row seats for the hilarity.  A great night out in Juneau.  If you ever have a chance to see this adaptation, don't miss it.  We are going to add the Hitchcock movie to our Netflix cue.  Hope you are all having a great weekend!

Neil and Pamela

Fall Color on PFD Friday

We mentioned yesterday that we actually had some Fall color in the garden, so we decided to show you proof.  We used to joke that the Fall color in Juneau was grey--and there is certainly a lot of that around, but we actually did see the sun briefly today, so that is a plus.

One of Our Colorful Maple Trees

This Japanese Laceleaf Maple is a Favorite for Obvious Reasons

The Katsura Tree is Loosing Its Leaves Rapidly

This Larch Tree is a Deciduous Conifer--It Loses its Needles Every Fall

Today was "PFD Friday" in Juneau and Alaska.  For those of you unfamiliar with All Things Alaskan, a PFD is a Permanent Fund Dividend--the check that every Alaskan receives in the Fall from the interest on the money deposited for oil lease sales.  This year the amount was $1174 for every man, woman and child who is a resident in Alaska.  As a result, there are a LOT of people from the surrounding villages in Juneau this weekend to spend their dividend.  From the t-shirts that Neil saw on people at the Fred Meyer department store this afternoon, most of the village of Angoon was in the Fred Meyer store spending their PFD.  The timing of the dividend is pretty good with winter and Christmas coming soon.

Anyone guess which gadget that Neil has from yesterday's Blog Post?  Nope, not the baldness helmet or the dancing pet speakers--it is the car computer code reader.  He bought it last year to deal with a recurring check engine light code and it allowed him to clear the code and find out that the oxygen sensor was bad in the engine.  It works on any vehicle with a computer input--virtually all automobiles since 1980 or so.

Yep!  Neil has One of these iPhone to Car Computer Cables for His iPhone

Here is a Closeup of the Raised Bed Garden Beds that are Covered for Winter

We hope that you are having a good October where ever you are.  Thanks for visiting,

Neil and Pamela

Incredible Tech Things

Another rainy Fall day here in Juneau.  There is actually some yellow and oranges in the trees and shrubs around town, and some red in ours from our Japanese maples.  They will probably go fast in the next wind storm, but it is nice while it lasts.  All of the leaves are off the Quaking Aspen trees, and even the larch tree is beginning to yellow and will soon drop it's needles.

We ran some friends out to the airport for their trip to Hawaii (we are very envious) and Neil stopped by to see about upgrading Pamela's iPhone to the regular iPhone 4 (not the newest 4S).  It turns out that she can't upgrade without a penalty until November 20, so we will wait until then, and probably at that time upgrade to the iPhone 4S as it will only be about $50 more that the iPhone 4.


Neil found an amazing website yesterday that had some tech gadgets that even he can't imagine owning (mostly--he actually owns one of the following devices.  You can guess which one).  Take a look at these:

Anti Baldness Helmet

Brain Lightbulb

Dancing Pet Speakers

iPhone BBQ Grill Timer/Temperature

iPhone Bottle Opener Case--I Know Someone Who Could Use This!

iPhone Camera Telephoto Lens

iPhone Car Diagnostic Computer Code Reader 

Light Dims Blackout Dots for LED Lights on Devices - We Know Who Needs These!

iPhone Helicopter Remote Controller

Electronic Finger Tip Measuring Device 

He found all of these, and a lot more even stranger stuff at http://www.incrediblethings.com

You can go there now and order your favorite items for Christmas.  Have fun shopping!

Neil and Pamela