My grandmother had a saying, “The more things change, the more they stay the same”.    Well, today I think it applies to this Neighbor’s section of the paper.  The format of this column will be more like what you may remember from a couple of years ago.  We will be focusing more on your news and community events. 

The only way I will know about these things is if YOU contact me with your news.  If you have a birth in the family, visitors from out of town or you caught a record-breaking fish, send me an e-mail.  If you have a family member deployed with the armed services, give us an update on how they are doing.  If you have an upcoming concert, fundraiser or club meeting you would like to announce, please give me a jingle.  This column will become what you make it. 

The Sterling Elementary School playground is getting a big facelift this summer.  Old, outdated play equipment has been removed and bright fun new play structures are being installed.  While I am sure that everyone is excited to see the new playground, please remember that the playground is closed until all the construction is finished and the space is safe for the kids.

I’m sure that many of you already have heard that Andrew (Drew) Shassetz was in a car accident on Sunday June 10^th.  He is currently recuperating in Providence Alaska Medical Center.  You can check on his continuing healing progress and send a message to the family at their web site at www.theStatus.com. To access Drew’s page click on “Visit a Patient Page” and use the last name Shassetz, and the password Drew16.  I’m sure the whole family would like to hear from their friends and neighbors.

The Sterling Senior Center is running their annual Salmon Count Classic fundraiser.  Tickets are available for $2.00 each until July 31^st at the Senior Center.  Each ticket buys one guess at the number of sockeye salmon that go over the Fish and Wildlife counter in the Kenai River on August 10^th. Get your tickets now for a chance to win lots of cash.

There will be a 90^th birthday celebration at the Senior Center for Luella Barker on Saturday, July 7^th from 2:00 – 4:00 pm. You are invited to join the whole community in wishing this lovely lady a happy 90^th birthday.

The Senior Center will also be hosting their annual Christmas in July sale on July 13^th and 14^th from 10:00 – 5:00 both days.  You can rent a table to sell your handcrafted items for $25.00.    Home-baked goodies will be available to purchase and the Elderberry Café will also be open to the public during the sale.

You can contact the Senior Center at 262-6808 for more information on any of their events.

I spent a delightful sunny afternoon last week at Alpenglow Acres sitting in the shade, a calico cat rubbing circles around my ankles while I visited with Vicki Wood.  Vicki said that their farm was aptly named by some friends from Germany.

“We were sitting in the yard and the sun was setting and the sky was glowing like it does up here.  He looked at it and said ‘Alpenglühen’ (which is Alpenglow in German.)  It describes the glowing light of the setting sun on the mountains,” she said.

Vicki and her husband Jim moved to their farm on Robinson Loop 10 years ago.  They have truly made the property their home.  They have pens full of goats, lamas and horses.  While I was there, their daughter Angeleah loaded up one of the horses and headed off to a barrel racing event at the riding arena.  We wandered around and visited with the goats and lamas.  A large fluffy black cat named Maestro wandered from pen to pen with us.

Vicki and Jim have 4 children.  Jessica is living in San Francisco with her husband.  Stephanie is living in North Carolina with her husband and 3 kids.  Angeleah is still living at home and attending Skyview High School, and Warren is in the Air Force and is stationed in Anchorage.

Even though Warren’s first choice for a base was not Anchorage, Vicki is glad that her son is serving so close to home.  She enjoys having him bring his friends and come home for breaks and holidays.

“I have found that a lot of the guys that Warren serves with come from farms and country areas.  So many of them have pets that they left at home.  I think they enjoy a little taste of home when they come visit here,” she said.

Vicki tries to make a point to give all of the young men a hug when they are being deployed.

“I may be the last ‘Mom’ that will give them a hug before they leave,” she said.

The land obviously means a great deal to Vicki.  She would like to see more people in the area take a stronger interest in Agra-business.

Vicki has worked hard in conjuncture with the cooperative extension office and the local 4-H to raise awareness for the importance of raising disease free animals here in Alaska. 

“Living in such a physically isolated place we could be cut off so easily.  It has already happened with some types of animals not being allowed over the borders.  I think it’s important that people, especially kids, to learn something about farming and where their food is raised.  They need to know food doesn’t come from the supermarket”

“I don’t know if my kids will ever all live in Alaska, but they are all thankful they were raised here.  They learned a lot of good lessons living here.  They learned a respect for the land,” Vicki said.

I never would have guessed that I would walk in to the Sterling Senior Center and run into someone that had spent time in Borneo, but that is exactly what Maggie Bray shared with me.

Maggie studied anthropology in college and was chosen to be part of a team that traveled to Borneo to study orangutans in 1989-89.  they all flew to Jakarta, Indonesia and then flew in a small plane to Borneo.

“I lived with a tribe of head hunters about a 6-hour canoe trip from the closest village.  We were WAY out in the middle of nowhere,” she said.

Maggie shared that she didn’t feel endangered living with the head-hunters.

“They were a little bit afraid of me.  These people there spent their whole day trying to get enough food to stay alive. I was a white woman, and I was a little bit chubby, so they thought I might have magical powers.  They would even bow when they had to cross my path,” she said.

Maggie said the villagers did spend a lot of time laughing at her though.

“They let me try and shoot one of their poison arrows.  It went just a few feet and plopped straight into the ground.  They all got a big kick out of that.  They had to get everyone and show them so they could laugh too.”

Maggie enjoyed her work studying the orangutans.

“They were such mimics.  We all bathed in the river and if you left a bar of soap by the water they would steal it and lather up.  They would rub the soap in their armpits and everything.  Then they when they were tired of the game they would eat the rest of the soap,” she said, laughing at the memory.

Seventeen years ago, after her college adventures were finished and her kids were grown, Maggie moved from Southern California to Sterling.  She had come here to work in the cannery to make money for college and liked the area so well, she decided to return.

“I had a huge garage sale, sold everything and jumped in the car with my dog and drove up,” she said.

Maggie eventually went to work for the State Department of Public assistance and ultimately retired from that position.  She now works part time as an administrative assistant at the Sterling Senior Center.  She has 3 daughters, two who still live in California and one who lives in Glasgow Scotland.  She is a member of the Abundant Life Assembly of God Church in Sterling.

Around Town:

Last week I wrote my Article about John Nussbaum. He sent me the following to clarify something we discussed:  “…some people took what was written to mean that I was saying that our pastor was a “Cowboy” and that was not the case at all.  He is a “Shepherd” and a very Godly man and we do love him.  Also, he is not gone yet.”

Recently, while stopping at a local garage sale, I picked up a neat berry picker for two dollars, and the opportunity to interview the owner of the sale; John Nussbaum. 

 John and his wife Linda have lived in their house off Robinson Loop since 1993.  They moved to Sterling and built this house because they wanted to live somewhere with more room for their horses.

 “We wanted to be somewhere with farm land,” he said.

  They grew a few acres of hay for their horses with a bit left over to sell.  In the past the family had 4 horses, but now they are down to just one.

 “We just don’t ride as much as we use to.”

 Though they don’t spend as much time riding, they still spend a great deal of time outdoors.  One of John’s favorite pastimes is to go hiking.  They like to hike on many familiar local trails; Russian River, Skilak Overlook, and Skyline Trails.  Their favorite hiking spot is the 15 mile Lost Lake trail in Seward.

 “We like to start on the Seward end and hike to the lake in the middle,” he said.

They also like to go hiking in the winter, but they spend more time trapping.  They run a trap-line out Swanson River Road.

 “Some people at work got me interested in trapping.  This year we trapped a lot of beavers.  Linda has been making the fur into hats,” he said.

 John has worked for Argium for 23 years and hopes to continue working there until her retires.

“Half the plant is shut down right now, mostly because of the gas supply.  I’d like to be able to work 8 more years.  It all depends on the company continuing to make money I guess,” he said

 John and Linda have 2 sons; Ben who lives in Soldotna with his wife Jennifer and David who has just moved back from North Carolina with his wife Jenni.

 “David just got out of the Marines on June 1st.  He served 3 tours of duty in Iraq.  He’s going to start working for Sterling Custom Homes now that he is back,” John said.  “We are glad he’s home.”

 John and Linda are members of the Sterling Baptist Church.  John is serving on a committee with several other members of the congregation that is tasked with finding a new pastor for the church.  The old pastor has recently left so the search for his replacement has just begun.

 “We are looking for a shepard, not a cowboy.  Someone who will lead the flock, not drive the herd,” he said.

 John and his family came to Sterling to have more room, but they stay for several reasons.

 “We like it here because it’s close to work, our family and our Church are here,” he said.

 Sounds like good reasons to me. 
 

Louis Redmond may well be the most energetic person I have ever interviewed.  While I sat at a table taking notes, he ran in circles, pretended he was riding motorcycle, drew me pictures of chickens and gave me a detailed explanation of how he would like to check out and read the entire set of World Book Encyclopedias.

 Louis is six years old and just finished kindergarten at Sterling Elementary school.  He had a hard time deciding what his favorite part of school was, but hot lunch, recess and library time all were in the running. 

 One project that captured Louis’ attention this school years was the unit they just finished on eggs.  Mrs. Suzanne Martin’s class hatches an incubator full of chickens during the last week of school.  Luckily for Louis, his grandmother already had a coop for chickens so he was able to bring some of the chicks home.

 He held his hand just an inch or two apart to show me how little the chicks were when they hatched.

 “They were tiny, tiny, tiny,” he said in a whisper, like he was trying to keep from waking sleeping chicks.  “Now they get beside the bigger ones and smoosh down to keep warm,” he said while making little wiggling movements with his behind and miming snuggling in for the night.  Louis is obviously enamored with these particular chicks.

 “These chickens are going with the black ones,” he said.  An important distinction as the black chickens are the laying hens.  The white ones are the ones Grandma is going to butcher this fall. 

 Louis also apparently loves to ride his bike.

 “I go fast, fast FAST,” he said while he ran in circles holding imaginary motorcycle handlebars and making Va-Va-Va VOOM noises. 

 Louis insisted that his uncle made his bike fast “with some garbage and a clothes pin.”  Grandma was quick to explain that his uncle had gotten a piece of cardboard out of the trash and clipped it to the spokes of Louis’ bike to make a clattering noise while he rides.  Needless to say, loud is good when you are six.

 Louis and his five-year-old brother James are spending a little time with their Grandparents, Robbie and Jim Redmon this summer.  This year at the Easter Bunny brought Louis a fishing pole and a life jacket.  Louis has decided that means it is time to go fishing with PaPa (Jim) and catch some “really, really big Halmon.”   After a moment and a little prompting he decided wanted to catch a halibut, but salmon would be good too. 

 By this point in our chat Louis had had enough of talking and was off to explore the rest of the room while his grandma Robbie and I chatted.  She said that Louis loves to eat, play school and play outside with his cousins. 

 “I think we are in for a busy summer,” Robbie said with a laugh. 

 Around Town –

One June 9^th and 10^th from 9:00 – 4:00 there will be a garage sale in the parking lot at Wells Fargo Bank to benefit the Erica Summers Fund.  Erica is currently in treatment for breast cancer

Kim Hodsdon wears lots of different hats; mom, soccer cheerleader, taxi driver, wife, and playground duty, to name a few.

 “I’m usually pretty busy,” she said. 

 I work with Kim doing playground supervision for about 80 kids during the school year.  “Don’t get me wrong, I love the kids, but I am ready to have a summer where no one is running up to me yelling ‘Miss Kim, Miss Kim!” she said to me, laughing.  “Some days it makes me want to change my name.”

 Kim and her husband Mark moved to Sterling from Anchorage 4 years ago this August.  Mark works for Chugach Electric and was transferred to the Peninsula. 

 “I moved to Anchorage when I was 2-years-old, but until we moved here I had never been down on the Peninsula.  When we traveled we always went north.  When we moved here I thought ‘this place is small!  Where am I going to shop?’  Now that I have been here a while I hate to even go into town.  I love living in a small town.”

 Kim and Mark live with their kids: Eric, Ian, Courtny and Kendra.  Next year the three older kids will all be attending Skyview High School while Kendra finishes out her sixth grade year at Sterling Elementary. 

 From the sounds of things, Kim has a busy summer planned.  The whole family loves to go camping and they hope to get some fishing in. 

 “If we go fishing in the river we either need to get the boat in the water now before the tourists get here, or wait until they leave.  It is just too busy in the middle of the summer to do any real fishing,” she said.

 Kim will also spend a lot of time running kids to and from horse camps, soccer games and an occasional trip up to Anchorage.  The family also has a 4-acre yard that needs to be planted to lawn and landscaped.

 Even though Kim started out a city girl, she loves Sterling.

 “I just love the people.  The first year we were here we went to the carnival they hold at the old one-room school house.  I kept meeting people and asking where they lived.  I couldn’t believe how many people actually live in Sterling.  People are just off the beaten path,” she said.

 Kim would like to see a lot of the same changes in Sterling as many folks suggest: More things for kids to do without going into town.  Specifically, she would love to see an indoor soccer facility.

 “We have kids here that are good soccer players but they really need to have a place to play in the winter so they can be more competitive.” 

 Kim laughed when I asked her what her hobbies are.  “Who has time,” she said.  She did admit to taking a class to learn to crochet this winter with community schools.  At least that is a hobby that is easy to pursue while sitting at a soccer game. 

Jennifer Paulk has lived in Sterling, off and on, for most of her life.

 “We lived in Anchorage for a few years, but Sterling has always been home,” she said.

 Jennifer now lives off of Robinson Loop Road with her husband Jake, her 5-year-old daughter Natilee, and her son Daniel Paulk the 5^th who will turn 7 in July. 

 “Jake’s given name is Daniel Jacob Paulk the 4^th, but he goes by Jake.  The name is a family tradition, and we kept with it when we named Daniel.”

 The family also has a Shar-Pei and chocolate lab mix named Coco and a black lab named Chloe’ that they rescued from the pound.  The furry family is rounded out with a cat named Marvin.

 “Our dogs are sure that they are really people, and Marvin thinks he’s a dog.  We got him when Daniel was 2.  He headed-butted Daniel and knocked him down and played with him like a dog.  We said, ‘Oh, we have to get this cat.’  Marvin even loves on the dogs if no one is looking,” she said.

 Jen spends a lot of her time right now volunteering at Sterling Elementary School where Daniel attends. 

 “I went to Sterling (Elementary) when I was a kid and now my children go there.  I love that,” she said

 Jen likes living in a small town where folks know their neighbors and participate in each other’s lives.

 “We love to go 4-wheeling with friends.  We do trail rides as a family.  We all have our own 4-wheelers, even the kids.  Living where we do we have access to tons of trails.  You can start at our house and ride for miles and miles.”

 Jen is also quite the seamstress.  “I’ve been sewing for 17 years.  I’ve made everything from costumes to wedding dresses and prom dresses.  I love to do all the finishing touches like beading,” she said.

Jen runs a business called Just Sew Jen.  “I do hemming, alterations, custom sewing.  Just about anything you would need,” she said.

 Jen loves Sterling’s small town feel, but would like to see a few changes.

 “I really wish that the troupers would patrol on Robinson Loop more to get people to quit speeding.  Drivers need to understand that people are out near the road with their kids and their pets.  They need to just slow down.”

Jen would also like some type of bike trail, possibly one that follows Robinson Loop.

 “It would be nice to have it end at a park where there was some equipment for the kids to play on.  A place you could go for a bike ride and have a little picnic,” she said.  “That would be a really nice addition to the area.”

I have people give me hints about who to interview all the time.  One name has come up over and over, and I finally got Chris Thorne to slow down long enough to have a chat with her.

Chris is a constant volunteer at the Sterling Elementary School.  If you need help with anything involving technology, from finding a computer program to wiring the VCR, Chris is the person you need.  No matter what the question is, the answer is usually, “Ask Chris.  She will know”.

Chris moved to Alaska in  1995 from Las  Vegas.  Her husband Paul had gotten a book in the mail telling how great Alaska was and how, if you were willing to work hard, you could get rich working in the fishing industry.  Chris was pregnant and they didn’t want to raise a family in Las Vegas, so they decided to give Alaska a try.

“Paul went to Seward and found a job and then he called me and told me to come on up,” Chris said.

Since Chris was 8 ½ months pregnant Paul checked to make sure that Seward had a hospital, and since it did, she hopped a plane against medical advice and flew to Alaska.  Just 3 days after she got to Seward she went in to labor.  They took a taxi to the hospital only to find that they did not deliver Babies.

“Who ever heard of a hospital that didn’t deliver babies?” she said.

It was snowing and blowing and they had no car to drive to Soldotna, so the hospital ended up finding a doctor that could deliver the baby. 

“They plowed some old pediatrician’s driveway to get him to the hospital.  He showed up in his old plaid pants and a striped shirt.  It was just nuts.  Since they never delivered babies there Katie was the New Year’s Baby even though she was born on the 21^st of March,” Chris said.  “They sent us home with a ton a baby formula  and other free stuff because they never had babies to give it too.”

Although life in Alaska had a rather adventurous beginning, Chris and her family have grown to enjoy living here.  The lived all over from Anchorage to Clam Gulch, they settled in Sterling in 1998.

“We moved here because someone we knew had a house for sale and we were tired of renting.   We didn’t know anything about Sterling. We didn’t know anyone out here,” she said.

Although moving to Sterling was kind of a fluke, Chris is glad that this is where they landed.

“We stay here because it is a small town and I know tons of people.  We stay here because we love the school,” she said.

Like many folks here, Chris would like to see more opportunities for the kids in Sterling.

“It would be nice to have something like they have in North Kenai.  Something like their rec. center.  A pool and place for classes like Karate and dances.  A place for the kids to just hang out,” she said.

Chris would also like to see all the divergent groups in Sterling start working together.

“We have little communities within the community.  They are all trying to do good things, but they are all working on their exclusive little plans.  If we all worked together instead just think what we could get done.”

In 1974 I was a horse-crazy little girl going to Sterling Elementary school.  One day a new girl walked in with her long hair up in a pony-tail and big cowboy boots on her feet.  Hope had just moved here from Oregon with her family and since we shared an obsession with all things horsy, we were destine to become best friends and riding buddies. 

We had a little chat this week and spent part of the time reminiscing about those summer days spent on horse-back and about the changes that have come to the area since.

Hope recently bought her dream home and moved there with her significant-other, Bob Hensler. 

“Bob and I have been together since 1996.  We believe in really, really long engagements,” she said with a laugh.  “He’s the love of my life.”

While I grew out of my obsession with horses when I got my driver’s license, Hope’s life still revolves around her furry friends.

“Tyone is my 21-year-old registered Morgan stallion.  He was the 1996 Champion Stallion in Hand.  He is just my great bib boy.  Last week he got new shoes and I rode him so much I think we are both still sore,” she said. 

Hope said now that they have the room she is looking for a special girlfriend for Tyone, with plans to try and breed the perfect foal. 

Hope’s furry family also includes a new Pomeranian named Gizmo, her “two-pound terror” of a puppy.  They also have a big tom-cat, Red, that came with the house. 

“We haven’t let Red around the puppy yet because I’m afraid he might eat him!”

As much as Hope loves her animals, the love and pride she feels for her kids shines through.  All of her kids as well as Bobs, who she considers hers too, are doing well.  They are working for the new family business, Drainline Services, attending colleges, working at other local businesses and basically making Hope as proud as punch.  Her oldest, Allen has even made her a picture-packing grandma. 

I asked Hope what she would like to see added to Sterling.  With her love of horses it is no surprise that she envisions a riding facility.

“Nothing goes together better than kids and horses.  Heck, they kept both of us out of trouble,” she said to me with another laugh. 

Hope would love to see a horse riding arena in Sterling that would function like the Soldotna riding arena did when we were kids.

“I’d like to see a low-cost facility for regular people who want to learn about horses.  A place for everyone to ride, train and show their horses.” 

Even though I have not been on a horse in years, just chatting with Hope for an hour made me want to pull on a pair of boots and head for the barn.  I’m sure that if she puts her mind to it, a riding arena in Sterling will be more than just a dream in the future.

Around Town:

A community clean-up is planned for Saturday the 12^th from 1:00 – 4:00.  Meet at the community club and help clean up a winter’s worth of trash.  There will be hot-dogs and prizes afterwards.  Come take some pride in Sterling, help clean up and have fun with your friends and neighbors at the same time.  Call Vonnie Pierce at 260-6647 for more information. 

Barbara Reberg and her husband Mike have lived in Sterling for two years.  Before that they lived in Soldotna.  They enjoy living in Sterling because they are closer to many of their friends.

“The people in Sterling kind of adopted Mike.  We really love living out here,” she said.

 Although I had met Barbara before, I really got to know her when I joined a breast cancer support group she helped to start.  Like me, Barbara is a breast cancer survivor.  Although I’m still quite new to the sisterhood of breast cancer survivors, Barbara is an old hand.

 “I’m a 13 year survivor.  We felt there needed to be a group in town that would truly offer support too all breast cancer survivors in the area.  Since there wasn’t one, we decided to start one.  I think our first meeting was just Renee (Rysdyk), Anna (Jarrett) and me,” she said.

 Since that time the group has grown, and so has their mission to offer support, comfort and prayers for all women facing a cancer diagnosis, treatment, or learning to live a full life after cancer.  They meet once a month at Soldotna Bible Chapel.  Anyone who is interested in meeting with this group can call Barbara at 260-4418 for the next meeting time.

 Barbara is now retired and spends a lot of her time on one of her favorite hobbies; quilting.

 “I learned to quilt 20 years ago.  I had always wanted to learn, so I took a class.  After the first one I just kind of took off.”

 Barbara has made lots of types of quilts, but favors making scrap quilts.

 “Right now I ma really enjoying making scrap quilt jackets.  They’re each different, but they all have kind of an antique look to them,” she said. 

 Barbara sells some of her work at Claudette’s in Soldotna.  She also gives some of her beautiful work as gifts, as I can attest to as I am lucky enough to have one of her mini-masterpieces proudly hanging in my kitchen.

 Barbara says that after she has quilted as long as she can, she loves to spend time spoiling her grandkids; Whitni, Joel, Alex, Zac and Katrina.  She loves to go to their events and spend time with them.

One of the only things that Barbara said she would like to see change in town actually has to do both with her grandkids and with this newspaper.

“I would really like to see the Clarion run more local news, more things about the positive things the kids in town are involved in.  I’d like to see the soccer scores from the 6-year-old’s teams.  I’d like to see when they are having plays at school or events after school.  I think we need to publicize the good things that kids do,” she said.