Homer Boat Yard

During the storm one of the places we went was the boat yard. It hadn't been plowed at all and except the main lane, there weren't even car tracks anywhere. Marty was having way to much fun pushing snow in the car and goofing off. While we were back there we ran into several boats we know.



The "Middy" is named after Marty's Grandmother. At one time it was owned by his grandparents but Marty said his uncle Burt ran it as long as he could remember. He said his Uncle Burt usually fished in the same areas as they did. Good times I guess. I had only heard of the boat a small handful of times and when we turned the back corner in the boat yard Marty said "whoa!" He hasn't seen the boat in 5 or 6 years.


I use to work for Halibut King Charters, we are still very close to the owners. This is the lead boat "Miss Minmar" tucked in for the winter.


This is HKC's secondary boat "Halibut Endeavor"




I took these pictures of the same HKC boats back in summer of 2002

So nice to take a drive down memory lane in the boat yard. Its a cool place to cruise through. Speaking of which, any friends and family reading this will have to give Marty a hard time next time you see him....
He got lost on the main lane in the boat yard during fridays storm, hehe.

Farrar Sea

I got this picture off a fishing website. The Farrar Sea is a boat my brother worked on right out of high school. I think the boat is 100 ft. long. It was a great boat for him to learn the fishing trade. I know they fished for different types of crab and cod, not sure what else.


This is a picture of the Farrar Sea in Friday's storm. It was parked across from my parents boat in the harbor.


brrr


We had to go down and check on the boat and shovel it out, that was even more brr. I made Marty let me shovel it since he did moms driveway. Such a hard worker he is.

Friday

This was Friday morning. The snow flew all night long.


This was taken on the spit. It was a slow drive out.


All the businesses on Cannery Row whitewashed.


While driving off the spit we all of a sudden came out of the storm and the snow stopped for the day.

A bit cold

The cow house I mentioned in a previous post.

Wuff

Bossco loves Thanksgiving. Every year after the Macey's day parade the dog shows come on.

This was leaving Wasilla on Wednesday, we couldn't see very far.



This was just leaving Anchorage. The snow was streaming off the top of the mountains from all the wind.



This was out on Turnagin Arm.



This was taken while driving through the mountains.



Driving straight into the clouds.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well we made it to Homer. We're safe. We're sleepy after sitting over 5 hours in the car. Have all sorts of pictures I could post but they'll all have to wait till we get home. In the meantime I will post one we took while driving through the mountains. We got lucky with a beautiful drive part of the way down.



Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. Don't eat to much.

Rehab

I'm sure most of you have no need or interest in this post. I only posted it because I'll lose the info if I save it anywhere else. I have a friend who has lived a hard life for a long time. Its too long of a story to go any further, but... On the off chance anyone else knows a person who needs long term drug or alcohol treatment here in Alaska, here's the lowdown.

There are several places between the Valley and Anchorage that can help those who want it...

Anchorage locations:
Clithroe (in house) ~ 276-2898
Akeela (in house) ~ 565-1200
Provedence Break Thru (Out Patient) ~ 562-7325

Valley locations:
Nuggens Ranch (in house) ~ 376-4534
Matsu Recovery Center (out patient) ~ 376-4000

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Information on the top two....

Akeela House

• Waiting list depending on when you apply
• 18-24 month in house facility.
• Transition housing for phasing into living sober on your own. This is where members get out and get a job too.
• After care program.
• Billing can be delt with later, minimum fee of $15.00 a day from the first day.
• Visitation time and family support are encouraged but any visitors must go through a screening process.
  

Nuggens Ranch

• 6-24 months
• 12 step program
• Will work on the ranch from the start.
• Waiting list sometimes up to a year.
• Minimum $5.00 a day to say there. Billing can be delt with later.
• $15.00 for doctors visit (if needed)
• 1st 30 days can't leave, afterwords only with a pass. Visitors may come anytime.
  

************************

All of these programs require an assessment. Some of these places do the assessments, some don't. Assessment fees are from $50.00 (Clithroe house) to $300 (Nuggens Ranch) I didn't find out if it matters where you get the assessment when I talked to each place.

There is no excuses, if a person is broke, disabled, whatever it be - it is still possible to enroll. They accept anyone who WANTS to be there. Pretty sure they even accept those who are forced by law.

I've found that these places can help an addict more than I can. These places are use to the games, lies, tricks, and in some cases theft. So the best way I can help a person who wants it is to encourage them to one of these places and then be a support during and after.

All of this may seem odd for me to post. Most people do great with AA but there are some who are so extremely addicted places like these are nessesary for them to get away from the old life and back on their feet.

Tree Houses

I just came across some pictures today and it dawned on me I haven't blogged some things from this summer as I intended. Hopefully I'll have some time to get to the rest of this stuff soon.

A few years back when I was training for manager at Halibut King I did a favor for the old manager and took her little boy to a friends house to spend the night. The neighborhood I took him too was around 7 miles out East End Road in Homer. Despite living in homer over 20 years, I'd never been beyond the first house on this street. There are some nice houses and some cute houses in this particular neighborhood but those haven't been the ones to stick in my mind.

The first house I remember on the drive is in the middle of one of the Willard's cow fields. No one has lived there in decades, I guess you could say the house has gone to the cows. Driving by it makes me want to sneak up there and go inside. It looks a bit like a little old Indiana farm house that has been neglected enough to fit right in with the horror flick of choice.

After going by the cow field we took a left onto another dirt road and first thing to rip my attention to yet another left is a house that is covered in blue tarps. The roof, every wall of the house and even better, their fence. I call it the blue tarp fortress. It's been that way ever since I first discovered it a few years ago. I really need to get a picture of atleast the cow house but the reason I haven't is because of an even stranger set of homes in that neighborhood....


This is the main house. It's hard to tell because of the tall grass but let me assure you that the home is held up by nothing more than the pole going thru the home and sticking out of the top (it maybe an old tree trunk still in the ground, not sure). I've only taken pictures from the driveway but I am dying to go knock on the door and ask for a tour. But somehow I have this feeling he prefers his privacy. I've heard from people who have met him that this one has 2 floors, electricity, a monitor for heat, a bed, TV, and small kitchen, but no running water or plumbing. He lives in this tree house year round I guess. But all that is hear-say. I've also heard that there's been articles in I think the Anchorage paper about his houses. I say houses because he has a few of these on the property.


The tree house to the right I have no idea what is use for (as you can see its built around an actual living tree), and the other tree house in the center seems to be a finished green house/solarium. The "house" I showed in the first picture is located just out of this shot to the left about 20 yards. The 3 domes that sit on the ground in front of the solarium have looked the same for several years, unfinished. I have no idea what they're for but I know they're not livable like the other "tree houses". I left both pictures full size so you can click on them and zoom in.

I took these pictures just last summer when my nephew came up to visit. We stop by to show him and got these shots. I also saw that just beyond the tree house in the first picture, he's building yet another tree house that will be even bigger than the first two, more hidden behind some tree's, and closer to the outhouse.

The kid in me just loves the whole idea of this place, but I don't know how he lives in such tight quarters.

Indiana Tornado

I was just at my cousin Bill's site and saw my aunt nina's house. The house looks alright but has had some minor stuff blown off of it and the garage door I guess got pulled in a bit. It makes me sad to see there place in such a state. The part that really gets me is the tree in their back yard. Silly I know. Its a pine tree they cut and had in their livingroom for Christmas I think 15-20 years ago maybe longer by the looks of it, anyway after Christmas was over they planted that tree and it's been standing, growing there - till the tornado hit on Sunday. Sadly the tree looks as though it didn't have a chance. Anyway I've dug up some old pictures I took when I was down there to give you some before and after pictures. The after pictures are from Bill's site.



This is a picture of Nina & Kerry's house in 2003 when I was visiting


This is a picture of it last summer.
This is a current view of the same driveway and the fence to the left. It's very odd, they've had that house since before I was born and I've never seen in the neighbors yard, I remember trying to see in the cracks when I was a kid but that didn't work. Seeing this picture of that neighbors yard is just sooooo strange.

This is a picture of the garage damage. Hard to see the way the door was pulled in but you can see some roof damage





I took this picture this last summer. I left a few towels on the deck after we gave the dog a bath, it otherwise wouldn't have those kinds of thing laying around. Anyway, that large pine tree is the tree I was just talking about. This is it's fate now.

Indiana Tornado

I found a few more pictures. These I got from the CourierPress along with the comments.



"The deadly early morning tornado left it's footprint in an empty cornfield after striking Ellis Park on Sunday."




"The wall and roof were ripped off this home on Stonegate in Newburgh Sunday morning during the tornado, exposing a bedroom."




"Power lines were toppled by Sunday's tornado, shown here along Indiana 662"







"This house was blown completely off it's foundation near Elm St. and Outer Lincoln Ave. during Sunday's tornado"

Indiana Tornado

~November 6, 2005 Tornado~
I've spoke with a few of my relatives from Indiana. Everyone is ok, their homes and belongings all ok except my Aunt Nina's house. I guess the tornado came really close and damaged her garage door, pulled down her fence, an old pine tree in the back yard, and won't have power back until maybe Friday. The house is otherwise fine and they are just living by candle light. As I said before the tornado hit at 2 am on Sunday morning, most people had no warning. As of now there are 22 people dead and a lot of property destroyed. I guess my Cousins have been out with their camera's getting different pics. I talked my cousin Bill into starting a blog and posting those photos. If you get the chance stop in and say hello to him and his wife.

I guess the tornado first touched down in Henderson County, Kentucky and made its way up to Newburgh and Evansville Indiana which is where several of my family members live. I'm not sure where else the tornado hit.







These 3 pictures I got from a yahoo site. Its of Eastbrook Mobile Home Park in Evansville. This is where the tornado did most of the damage and also where a majority of the deaths took place.



This picture was taken near Industrial Park. I got it from this website.

So again, if you would keep the people of Indiana and Kentucky in your prayers, I'm sure they could really use them.

Idn't he cute?