Hogan's Halloween

Howling

It would be neat for this time of year to have wolves howling at a full moon set against a creepy old house. Instead, we have howling winds, a big moon and a creaking house withstanding the force of nature.

Last night on my Facebook status I wrote, "Mighty winds in the Mat-Su; the witch flew by, Toto too." That kind of sums up Mother Nature right now.

I planned to go to Walmart for groceries after work but when I could barely walk to my car from the commuter van and saw a Walmart cart corral tipped over, I figured it was safer to head home. Good thing I did because I found outdoor furniture strewn about, UPS packages blown around too! I nestled in thinking our birch trees would snap over. Andy worked 13 hours yesterday due to staff shortages and he said it was like that all day in the Valley.

Parts of Wasilla lost power, but thankfully not us. The Valley has breezy tendencies, but winds gusting to 50mph are expected through Saturday. I think it could make for a spooky Friday night as we watch a scary movie and carve the pumpkin!

The other unusual thing is the lack of snow cover. I think we'll make it to November with no snow! The mountains continue to show more white but I only saw spitting flakes with rain a few days ago. How is it that Southcentral AK is the only area without snow?! Oh well, feels more Halloween-y!

Better brace myself for any flying monkeys, horses or fences as I leave for work today.

*Amy

A Fall Ride

Some unusually spectacular fall weather prompted us to take the new four-wheeler off the home trail to the Knik River Public Access area. It's an adult go-cart land for motorized vehicles set in Mother Nature. The weather was sunny, about 47-degrees, and windy. We threw on the long johns for the first time this season and loaded our Grizzly into the Silverado.It's a myriad of muddy trails near the Knik River and the sand dunes give you a great view of the Knik Glacier and beyond.

Those photos were just to prove to our parents that, yes, we wear our helmets. I thought it would be funny to drive off and leave Andy stranded but as you'll see in the video, I had a change of heart!

We were glad to see only one abandoned vehicle and that there wasn't much for hooligans in the area. It's cleaned up so nicely in the Butte that maybe next time we'll leave the gun at home. Another ride will hopefully take us all the way to the Knik Glacier. The snow arrived on the mountains as we played outside and it made for a nice parting shot.

*Amy & G3

Decisions

Andy & I (mostly Andy) have endured many questions and decisions lately regarding the wedding: theme, stationary font, printing pictures, back and forth on honeymoon ideas, cake design, etc.Whew! We've got a lot accomplished on a pretty advanced schedule, I think. I figure I'll keep working on things and get ahead for the time when I'll fizzle and need a break.

There's one decision that is plaguing me lately and I think Andy's not interested to figure it out any time soon...

...what costumes to wear for Halloween. SHRIEK! SCARE! BEWITCHING!

Halloween holds great potential for us this year because 1) It's on a Saturday, 2) Andy has the weekend off from work, 3) our 1st time celebrating the Ghoulish holiday together. Oh the ideas for what to do and who to be! We've batted around a few, but it's really been ME pushing the dress-up as I want to get crackin' and hit the thrift stores for materials.

Andy has expressed interest to be Danzig. Do you know who or what is that? Me either. It's an 1987 heavy metal band. That would be pretty stellar if he really wants to go for it.

I'm advocating for a Clark Kent and Lois Lane team. Wearing our glasses and pursuing our natural life-saving and journalistic natures...there are many versions and eras to explore within this theme.

Another idea drew laughs from us the other night, but was so good I've forgotten it. Guess the pursuit will continue, assuming Andy actually wants to get in the spirit and have some fun for one year. Not that the pressure is on or anything!

*Amy (the witch)

Know Thy Neighbors

I've lived in Wasilla over a year, Andy longer, and we still don't know the neighbors. That's no reflection on them; relationships are a two-way street. I've consulted with other Wasilla residents and learned that "keeping to ourselves" seems to be the norm. Doesn't mean we don't see them coming and going, though. Andy even waved to Camo-man yesterday as we worked in the yard. So for this post I'd like to offer what we know about the neighbors, and what we've made up about them.Guy Across the Street: aka "Camo-Man," aka "Rock-Man," perhaps "Steve"

FACT:

• has built extensive odd rock walls around his property, maybe has Irish heritage
• seen/spotted wearing only camouflage clothing, except for the one time Amy regrettably caught him in a bathrobe by the garage door
• owns a Mustang, big truck and a four-wheeler
• has "man days" when the buddies show up to drink and fix things
• they had a "man sale" during the garage sale season of 2009
• owns a black cat that occasionally crosses the street to us
• front room light is on every Saturday night, but dark during the week

WHAT WE'VE MADE UP

• odd schedule so could be ex-military or a North Slope worker
• could have wife and children but we can't see them because they wear Camo
• only gets fresh air to drive four-wheeler, go hunting with man friends or to wash the Mustang
• Best Friend is "Denim-Man" who came over this weekend to work in the garage

Family Next Door

FACT

• Mother & Father NOT together but were still living together; she owns a hair place
• elementary-aged twin girls
• middle-school boy with bad bleached hair
• boy drives dirt bike or four-wheeler around the property in a circle
• trampoline and deck is never used
• will see the kids for a few days or not at all
• Latino ethnicity and will sometimes play festive music outside

WHAT WE'VE MADE UP

• not much, but will curse the kids when they drive the darn motorized toys around and

around

• may have had to perform community service in order to explain the terrible-looking white

-washed rocks lining the driveway, Tom Sawyer style

• Father is kicked out of house now and the kids go there, why we don't see them?
• they don't leave the house when the temperature drops below 55-degrees
• cooks tasty food at home that we want to eat

MISC. NEIGHBORS

• Yellow Dog--lives down the street and when we go on walks it wonders into the street to

join us with a wagging tail. Yellow dog is actually a blonde lab.

• Man with Pipe--lives in the subdivision just over from us. He walks two tiny dogs every

night with probably his wife. He always has a pipe. We always wave to Man With Pipe.

Perhaps we can invite them all over for the post-wedding 4th of July BBQ in 2010. Then we can

get to know them, or maybe it's just more fun to guess what's going on with Camo-Dude.

Yellow dog is especially invited to the BBQ because he's the friendliest out of everyone.

*Amy

Famous Websites!

Yes, we're still engaged! We're nearly half-way thru the engagement and enjoying our timeline. The other week we did have an outdoor engagement photo session as it's included with our wedding photography package. This morning we received the 150 pictures from that stunning fall morning. The only fault with any of those images would be the human subjects. Melissa, our photographer, is simply wonderful, and adventurous.

Right now we're the main blog on her website! A few of the shots are shown here [link]. If you decide to visit and don't see us as the first blog entry, just scroll down. Melissa describes the action of the Saturday morning pretty well!

***

Another webpage of note is one that involves Andy's career! National Geographic has created a series following Alaska State Troopers. It debuts Oct. 14th. Click here for the show's interactive website [link]. We had fun seeing and listening to his coworkers in the Valley. A lot of content is dedicated to the AST at Nome post. There's a feature in which you actually listen to dispatches. In one dispatch from Wasilla you hear a revving engine and sirens...that's our taco-loving, mexican train domino-playing & wise-cracking buddy! Another dispatch really cracked Andy up; one of his former trainers talks about moose crashes.

You won't see Trooper Gorn in the show, but we'll try catching some future episodes dedicated to their courageous line of work.

*Amy

Shroom-Tastic TWO!

We've had a lot more mushroom growth around the yard as you can see. Andy took these pictures before cutting the grass last weekend. We had fun exploring and staring at the mysterious Dead? Living? fungi grow and grow until cut down. What individual little characters, huh? Should have spent some time researching edibility! I guarantee everything you see is legal. :)

On a side note, speaking of Andy as photographer...we've received some very nice compliments about photos taken & shared on the blog. Although I default to the main arranger and writer on this site, I want to say that Andy takes all the good pictures and is far more proactive about it. His stories are the images, often. He took 99% of the pics. during our weekend to Valdez (below post), but I was able to take one picture of our Blog's Photographer and Fisherman. It makes me happy seeing him do what he loves to do.

*Amy