Fall fever is upon us.

Well, the fall colors are starting to explode and picture do no justice for the real thing! In fact the wind has been kicking up the past couple days and blowing the color out. It has been a little chilly, but very fall-like and so nice. In a sense the pressure is on a little as we know that the snow will fly soon. Last week there was what is known as 'termination dust' on the mountains above anchorage. In fact I took my mom and dad up to Whittier on Friday and we noticed termination dust on the peaks of the Chugach Range. What is termination dust you ask? In the earlier days, the first dusting of snow on the peaks of the mountains was referred to as termination dust because it would mark the beginning of 'work' terminating for the winter. Clever. In the mean time we will continue to prepare for the winter. There are still several little things that need attention so we will keep busy. It was a nice visit with my folks. They were thoroughly impressed with the area we live, as well as the beauty and open space that Alaska has to offer. They will deny this of course if asked, and enhance the myth that Alaska is a barren, frigid wasteland.....as primitive as can be! Truth to that or not, they did enjoy it.

On the home front, work is going well for Maryann. She has fallen right into place at the hotel, and is looking forward to what may lie in the near future for her. It is nice not to see her having to stress so much about all of the cabins she kept up on. Believe it or not, as much as she enjoyed the money and the flexible scheduling that she had most of the time, she had to put up with a certain extent of bullcrap, and because she took her job so seriously felt alot of mental envelopment even after her day was done. I of course don't miss being woke up in the middle of the night by her wondering if she forgot to leave on the heat at someones cabin, or if she forgot to shut off water somewhere, ect. Mind you neither or none was ever the case, it just always played on her mind because she was devoted to making sure all was right with what she did. So it is a nice change for her. And it gives her more free time to work on her art. I have also been keeping busy with work. I am working regularly and independently for 2 different property management firms, as well as a couple of personal clients that I have picked up. In fact I got a call from someone the other day who was referred to me by a Realtor I don't even know. So my name is spreading. This is good! I am also going to take a Real Estate Pre-License course at the end of October in Kenai to prepare for taking my Alaskan Realtors License exam. I am pretty excited about that actually. Something I have always wanted to pursue as I would enjoy working with people, helping them to find their dream home. I feel that all of the experience I have in maintaining homes would be an asset to most any office, and put me at somewhat of an advantage with looking out for my clients' best interest. In all of the years I have worked so closely with Realtors and Real Estate offices, I have learned a bit, seen things I would agree with...and some that I would do differently. So I feel it will be a good challenge for me to pursue this. I would keep up with some maintenance work as I like keeping my hands a little dirty, but would love to spend more time involved in Real Estate. I have to take my hat off to Barry Ward Realty. They were amongst the most professional people I have ever had the honor of working with. Barry himself is an incredible businessman, and the way in which his office conducts themselves is a credit to his professionalism. Some of the best advice we had in selling our home came from him, as well as his agents. That was definitely an amazing display of teamwork!

Another great achievement for me was the recent completion of my pottery studio here at home. It is up and totally functional now, and with the help of Michelle earlier on is freshly painted and feels great to be in. It is about 176 sq. ft. which is much larger than what I had to work in in Dorrington, and I am able to keep everything within the actual studio, whereas I had to do the clay, and firing process separate to the studio and garage back in Dorrington. I have a portion of it dedicated to my lapidary equipment for stones, and the majority to the pottery. So it ought to be an exciting time in there this winter. And starting on Wednesday I have my first pottery students. Not one, but two! They want to learn pottery, and I will do my best to pass on to them what I have learned not only from my instructor but from raw experience. I am both sacred and excited! This teaching thing is very new to me, but I think I would feel really good about watching someone learn and grow into something I have become so fond of. So wish me luck! And no....it's nothing like in 'Ghost'!!!

John is doing great. He has been in school now for a few weeks and despite what he would have one think, is doing good and making friends. I do believe he is enjoying himself, and especially with the freedom of driving his own rig. He is still active with the Explorer Program through C.E.S. and is already beginning some ride-alongs. He has been going fishing as much as he can, and in fact took me down to the Kenai river the other night to try for some Silver salmon as they are running now. What a relaxing evening it was. He had these cute little bells mounted on our poles, so we were able to prop them up on their own, and just kick back. It was funny at one point his bell did a little jingling and of course he jumped. But blew it off as the current, as the current is a little strong and the dinging was lite. But I quickly pointed out to him that his bell hadn't dinged all night long, and told him I had a feeling he had something. Sure as hoot he caught a nice sized trout. Now I think he was way bummed that he came for a salmon and walked away with a trout! But fish is fish man! Made for a great memory at least.

Well, that is the haps for now. All is well, except for the well which is still spitting out some pretty nasty water. Just incredible that the previous owner lived with it. Mind you I think we are a little spoiled with the wonderful water that we had in the mountains. But there is no doubt that this water smells like butt, and is just nasty! We did invest in a reverse osmosis unit of which I still have to install, so when that is in hopefully we will at least have good drinking water and can hang up the bottled water scene. And the water softener unit we invested in earlier on has made a tremendous difference with the softness of the water. The hair and skin gleam!Speaking of which, I am a little parched and some Crystal Geyser sounds good right now. Take care to all, and we will keep you posted!