The back corner of the Nikiski Senior Center is usually where Janet Varvais can be found during the week. Janet donates up to seven hours a day at the center making clocks out of saw blades, making beautiful oil paintings and decorating ceramic items. Whatever she makes is then sold at the center and the money goes toward a building fund for the new Nikiski Senior Center.

“That is the life of this kid,” she said with a smile.

The center is filled with Janet’s crafts. Kitchen bowls of all sizes, planters and decorative pieces adorn a table near the front while her oil paintings and clocks can be viewed on the walls of the center.

Janet moved to Alaska from California where she lived for more than 50 years of her life. She came to visit her niece, Sue Tauriainen, and fell in love with the animals and vast nature. She said the nature often inspires her oil paintings.

Janet moved to Alaska in 1985 and joined the Nikiski Senior Center in 1986. She said the center is very close to her home, only four miles one way, and is a great place to be involved with.

Having a close connection is good since Janet’s son lives in California and her daughter in Indiana.

She said the center has become a great place for comradely and it gives you activity when you are older.

“It is family,” she said.

But the time at the center has also given Janet at chance to hone her art skills. She has entered her arts and crafts in the Ninikchik Fair for the past five years and has ribboned each of those years. She has also won first place awards for her oil painting.

One of those years, Janet entered something into every division and won grand champion.

“I had something in every division, oil paintings, jams and jellies, everything,” she said.

In the evenings, Janet is able to take out a prepared meal and watch her favorite games shows or curl up with a cross word puzzle.

Janet said without the assistance from the state of Alaska, she would have a more difficult time.

A caregiver visits Janet up to three times weekly to help her with everyday needs, including planning meals.

“Alaska is good to its old people,” she said.  

Around town

Congratulations to LoRetta Cook, winner of the Nikiski Grouch competition. With one can she raised $332 (25 cents per vote) for the Lions Club. LoRetta is the activities director at the Nikiski Senior Center.

A Natural Gas Extension Project meeting will be held June 27 at 6:30 p.m. at the Nikiski Senior Center. For more information, call the Nikiski Senior Center at 776-7654.

Happy birthday wishes this week go out to Doug Anderson on June 30.

Happy anniversary wishes this week go to Jim and Patty Herrick on June 28 and Richard and Arlene Bringle on June 29.

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Julie and Lee Bowman moved to Alaska in 1966. “We only had 2 days for our honeymoon when we got married so it was our first big trip,” Julie said.

They decided to come to Alaska for a year long adventure. They packed everything they owned in a brand new 1966 Chevy Bellaire and a four by six-foot wooden trailer and hit the road. Once they got settled that year long adventure turned into a life-long one.

In 1969 they bought their homestead off Robinson Loop where they still live.

“I like having my nice quiet place here on the farm,” Julie said. “It’s my own little corner of the world. We’re nestled in among the trees and fields. I love it here.” Lee and Julie grow a big vegetable garden and raise chickens and ducks. Although other people now harvest the hay fields, the flower gardens and greenhouse still keeps them busy.

One of the newest additions to the farm is a 9-month-old puppy named Cinder. She is a mixture of Australian Shepherd and Black Lab. “I call her my Shepador,” Julie said. To help focus some of Cinder’s seemingly boundless energy they have started her on agility training. Between that and chasing tennis balls for as long as she can get anyone to throw them, usually Cinder is willing to calm down and go to bed at night.

In 1993 Julie started her own home business called Julie’s Ideas. “First I started out selling Alaskan collectible marbles and marble games I designed and made. Then I added knitting and then came sewing Polar Fleece, which kind of took over,” she said. Julie knits personalized Afghans for baby or wedding gifts and makes a line of knitted Alaskan Afghans. She makes just about anything you can imagine out of polar fleece; from hats, mittens and underwear to windblock, waterproof coats. She is probably most known though for her warm fuzzy socks.

“Just a few days ago I had a guy show up on my porch. He was holding to pairs of my camouflage fleece socks in his hands that were totally worn out. He asked if I was the lady who made the socks. He had purchased them at a store in town on his last trip to Alaska and loved them so much he wanted to get more,” she said. “He tracked me down by asking someone in Sterling if they knew ‘the sock lady’, and someone pointed him to my house,” she said with a laugh. He bought several new pairs and left happy.

Around town:

If you have any news you would like mentioned in this section of the paper, please feel free to drop me an e-mail or give me a call. If you don’t call, I can’t print it. J

A loving husband, a successful father, a geologist, an army colonel, a college professor, an astronaut and a good neighbor is not an exhaustive list by any means to describe North Fork neighbor Palmer Bailey. While talking with Palmer in his log home near Nikolaevsk, I was impressed with his zeal for learning and passion to share that knowledge in practical ways with others.

Palmer met his wife Bonnie while they were students at the University of
North Dakota where he earned a degree in geology in 1970. They have two daughters, Laura (Bailey) Lyons of Rutland, Vermont, and Sara who will be a sophomore at Taylor University this fall. Both daughters are graduates of Nikolaevsk School.

Upon graduating from UND, Palmer joined the U. S. Army as a combat engineer. The Baileys were stationed in Germany as well as in 8 different states-including Alaska. While stationed at Fort Richardson from 1975-1977, he served as a captain under then Colonel Norman
Schwarzkopf. During that time, the Baileys enjoyed camping and fishing trips to the Lower Peninsula. In 1980 Palmer completed a master’s degree in geology and was appointed to teach at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. In 1986, the Army selected him to work as a scientific
officer in the astronaut office at Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston. His last assignment was as commander of the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Lab.

After serving his country for 25 years, Palmer retired from the military and moved his family to the log home he built near Epperson Knob in 1995. Retirement from the military did not mean a rest from using the knowledge he gained during his career. Currently, Palmer is conducting research on Bering Glacier and plans to spend three weeks in July in Iceland observing volcanic glaciers as part of a research team with Earth Watch International. Sara joined her father on the Bering Glacier this summer as camp manager for the research team.

In addition to glacier research, Palmer continues to use his education by teaching astronomy and geology at Kenai Peninsula College in Homer and astronomy for Taylor University.

Even though educational and research activities keep Palmer very busy, he graciously finds time to help others. In 2004, the Anchor Point Chamber of Commerce presented him the Golden Deed Award for his role in helping Star Tangman build a new home after her husband died of cancer. The Baileys host an annual community 4th of July picnic and softball game and share their bountiful garden with their neighbors.

Around Town: Sativa Kidd, Esther Knox, and Jesse Cozzini had birthdays on June 25, and Caleb Cozzini’s birthday is tomorrow. (June 28)

Some people have a lot of accomplishments and adventure at an early age. Such is Stewart Blakeslee. He graduated from Soldotna High School in 2001 with splendid talents in music. In one instance he entered statewide competition as a choir member. Students in this competition made vocal recordings of required songs. Judges listened to the tapes and picked Stewart as first chair, all-state tenor; which is a fancy way of saying “state champion tenor.” Blakeslee was also among the top five trumpet students in his school band.

Stuart’s musical abilities appear to have a genetic component. His grandpa was a professional trumpet player and his grandmother was a tap dancer. These grandparents met at Hollywood. Stuart’s dad also played the trumpet and sang for the congregation at Kasilof Community Church.

Dick and Jane Blakeslee, Stewart’s parents, moved to Kasilof in 1995, when Stuart was in 7th grade. Blakeslee’s became involved in the local Boy Scout program. Dick was an assistant Scout Master and Stuart became a Star Scout. Dick and Jane both made careers in the U.S. navy. Stewart is proud of them and believes the navy teaches values useful for success in any endeavor. So he joined the navy himself after graduation. Though he could have pursued music with the navy, Stewart wanted to do something different. He chose aviation ordinance work and made two trips to the Persian Gulf aboard aircraft carriers. On the first trip his vessel participated in the opening phase of the war with Iraq and stayed for over 10 months. On the second cruise his carrier was diverted to another battle –the people stricken by tidal waves from the Dec. 26 earthquake in the Indian Ocean. His ship took a lead role in assistance by providing food and medicine via helicopters. Ships in escort of Stewart’s carrier recovered floating, bloated bodies. Thousands of them.

Dick Blakeslee was also a retired maintenance man for the post office. Locally, he was well known for building dogsleds, both full size and scale model ones. He learned about making dogsleds from pioneer Kasilof musher, Chuck Raymond. In a sad loss Dick died in a 2004 Kenai River boating accident. Having survived two heart attacks, his heart is suspected to be the cause of his passing away. Jane was with him when their canoe overturned. Family and friends are consoled in Dick’s fondness for hunting and fishing. “He died doing something he loved.” Stuart said. Jane has worked for years at Gottschalks but recently went to work for Alaska USA Federal Credit Union in Soldotna.

During training in San Diego, Stewart met Victoria Meador at a beach bon-fire. That was during high school spring break in May 2002. Later, in the Persian Gulf, Stewart invested some of his dollar-a-minute phone calls in his girl friend. They married at Everett, Washington in March of 2004.

After four years active duty Stewart opted for Inactive Ready Reserves. He has just been hired by Peak Oilfield Services and plans to attend Kenai Peninsula College at some time as part of the benefits for joining the service. Blakeslee’s are expecting a baby in late August. Jane has moved to town to be near work. Stewart and Victoria are living in the house Stewart grew up in. It’s on Crooked Creek Road and unlike the creek, the road is straight; minus tiny undulations that resemble a washboard.

Around Town

Kasilof River personal use (PU) fishery closed 11 p.m. June 24 and dipnetting opened an hour later. The 2005 PU harvest estimate is 32,600 reds. Though the fishing has been great of late, 2006 numbers may be down a skosh because the cool spring seems to be delaying salmon runs area wide. For the same reason king catches were higher this year. Crooked Creek kings usually run earlier than the PU fishery but the lateness of their run steered them into the friendly nets. Remember, PU catch numbers must be reported to the Fish and Game.

Folks from Kasilof Community Church are leading a Dynamic Class for parents of babies through teenagers (and Grandparents too) at Tustumena School. Their promotional says, “Learn how to connect with your child or teen. Parents will learn while their children are learning. Bring the whole family.”
The classes are on Sunday nights for eight weeks. They run July 9-August 27, 6:30-8:30. Cost is free. According to their information, “Babies will be cared for by a loving nursery staff, children (preschool-6th grade) will enjoy fun classes and games designed for their age levels and 7th-12th grade will be meeting on the school soccer fields for games. (soccer, basketball, etc.)

Twelve-year-old Sam is the youngest son of Greg and Sheila Reser. “I have three brothers and two sisters,” he told me, and grinned as he counted them off. “Zach (18), Ian (16), Miles (14), Jessica (8) and Miriam is 6,” he said.

All the children are home-schooled using the Accelerated Christian Education curriculum. “Mom and Dad teach us,” Sam said. Does he like school? “Sorta,” he shrugged, “but I like it best when I get done. I ride our horse, Spring and our donkey, Eddie.”

Mom reminded him that he also has chores. “I don’t really like cleaning up after our cows,” he admitted. “But we had it easy this year ‘cause we used Mr. Noah’s tractor to do it.” The Resers have two cows, “a little boy cow named Belvedere” and his mama named Bella. Sam helps to milk Bella twice a day.

Noticing a deep cut on one of Sam’s fingers, I asked what had happened. Sam told of trying to walk the bull while holding him by a rope. “He took off running and dragged me, but not very far.” The rope cut his finger and he admitted, “Uh-huh, it hurts.”  Mom laughed a bit and said, “He tried to get out of milking because of it.”

I asked Sam if he liked fresh milk. “I like Bella’s milk better (than store-bought) he admitted. “We make butter from it, too.”

Sam got to see Bella deliver Belvedere. “He has no horns,” Sam said. “Do you remember what that is called?” asked Mom. “He’s ‘poled’,” Sam replied. Sheila shared that Bella is also ‘poled’ (hornless) and that 50% of her calves are born that way.

The Reser menagerie includes lots of chickens, 6 dogs (4 beagles and 2 Australian Shepherds), 20 baby bunnies and 8 big bunnies. “I feed the bunnies and Ian names ‘em,” Sam said.

The brothers share a room and that seems to work out pretty well. “We don’t fight,” he said. A roll of his eyes was all the answer I got when I asked if he got along with his sisters.

Sam likes to play chess – having learned to play when he was in the Young Marines. “We played chess a lot on our sleepovers,” he said. He also likes video games (“after chores and schoolwork,” Mom reminded him), playing outside or working. “Me and my neighbor, Harley, play soccer and basketball,” he said. “And I like to go to Mr. Chase’s beach site,” he told me. “I get to help sometimes.”

Sam would like to be a helicopter pilot when he gets older, and “maybe join the Marines.” He is looking forward to lots of family coming to visit this summer.

ABOUT TOWN:
Most dads try to bring up their sons to be as good a man as they meant to be. Spenard Builders Supply

Tricia Cooper moved to Alaska when she was 13 years old. “My dad was a pastor and was called to preach at a church here. We moved from Florida and I had never seen snow,” she said. The school she attended in Florida had at least a thousand kids. That was a bit different from attending Cook Inlet Academy where there were just a handful of students. “It was a great experience going to school with such a small group of kids,” she said. Tricia now works in the office at Cook Inlet Academy.

Tricia and here husband Ed live on a road that is named after their 14-year-old daughter. Ed and Tricia were having a hard time deciding on a name for their soon to arrive baby girl when she received her copy of Reminisce magazine in the mail. She joked that they should name the baby Dailee Reminisce. Ed liked the name so when the baby was born, that was the name they chose. They were later able to name the street where they live and chose Reminisce Court. Tricia recently wrote to Reminisce Magazine and they published a picture of Dailee and told the story of how she got her name.

“One of the things Dailee dislikes most about her name is people saying ‘Dailee, like the Daily News?’ I told her it could be a lot worse. When my Mom found out that Dailee was to be named Dailee Reminisce she asked if we were hippies or something. She now loves the name Dailee but has nicknamed her “rosebud” due to Dailee’s beautiful rosebud shaped lips.”

Tricia and Ed also have a 19-year-old daughter named Janet who is married and lives near by. “Janet told me that when she has kids she would like to name her first daughter, Hope Dailee. Now that is a message we all need to hear,” said Tricia.

Family is obviously important to Tricia. She wanted to make sure I told you about her husband Ed. “He is the most incredible man and the hardest working and most loving person I know. I couldn’t ask for a better husband or father for our girls,” she said.

Tricia says she likes living in Sterling because of the small town feel. “I have a friend that won’t go to garage sales with me any more because I have to stop and talk to everyone I know,” she said with a laugh. “But I wouldn’t have it any other way. It would go against my nature to not visit with friends”.

Around Town

LaVern and Beverly Wahl are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary on June 24 at a 6:30 potluck at Christ Lutheran Church, Soldotna. Bev was a teacher at Sterling Elem. and LaVern taught at Soldotna Jr. High. Come and join their festivities.

From: “Joan Hansen” hansjoan@alaska.net>
To: news@peninsulaclarion.com>
Subject: Kenai Neighbors Colum for June 20,2006
Date: Thursday, June 15, 2006 11:36 AM

morris:safe

KENAI NEIGHBORS COLUMN for JUNE 20, 2006

    Playing in the snow with noisy machines or sharp skates and fishing from dawn to dusk aren’t the only major sports in Alaska, you know. Probably the third most popular sport in our area is the art of garage-saleing. Aficionados of this sport are voracious in their pursuits of hidden treasure.
    I’m not an inveterate proponent of this sport, but occasionally I go along for the ride, and recently found a treasure, indeed.  Her name is Rebecca Matthews.
    Rebecca was born and raised in the Kenai area, the grand-daughter of early homesteaders Rex and Estella Eagle. Her mom, Donna Atkins, was also raised in the area near Silver Salmon drive on the Spur Highway.
     Mother to three kids, son Jack, who goes to Kenai Middle School, Marissa who will start Kindergarten at Sears Elementary, and Amber, “our sunshine child who is almost three”, Rebecca leads a busy and interesting life.
    After work at ACS, Rebecca devotes most of what spare time a single mother has to a hobby that she has turned into a small home entrepreneurship. Browsing the Internet one day she spied a piece of attractive jewelry and said, “I could do that”. So she tried it, and as a perfectionist, fine-tuned it, and found she was good at the craft.
    Rebecca forms polymer clay into miniature various-themed beads or collectibles. She forms tiny shapes, bakes them and turns them into a final product, such as jewelry, and then markets them on a ‘well-known auction site”. A favorite theme is her “Alaskan Critters”.
    Rebecca says that working with polymer clay is “almost like playing with Play-Doh, only it is a finer form”. Her work is tedious and “takes patience because you have to work slowly”. Her kids sit and sculpt with her scrap clay while she works, so it becomes a family project.
     Rebecca says of our area, “My roots are here. I can’t imagine living anywhere else. I’ve lived other places while traveling with the military, and everywhere has something beautiful to offer, but Alaska is the most beautiful place of all. The people here are the inner beauty. This is my home.”
     Look for Rebecca at the Saturday Market, which, she says, has grown  this year to having over 30 booths.
AROUND TOWN:
    Visiting at the Art and Barb Waters  home is Tom Coon from Columbus, Ohio, Art’s best buddy from fifth grade and the best man at their wedding 37 years ago. They have plans to catch the Renaissance Fair and do some gold-panning. Will there be fishing involved?
   Be sure to take in the  KDLL  summer solstice event tomorrow, June 21, at Diamond M Ranch on the Bridge Access road. The art and musical festivities begin with music from 2 p.m. to midnight and beyond to celebrate our longest day. There is no admission fee. Just bring the kids, an umbrella and a chair or a blanket, wear something warm and plan to have a good time.

L. Marie Lee stood in her well-lit craft room recently showing me the many photographs of her and her husband, Frank, aboard the Coral Princess, a 2,000 passenger cruise ship that left Ft. Lauderdale for a ten-day voyage in May to Jamaica,, Costa Rica, the Panama Canal, the Cayman Islands and Cozumel.

The cruise was a gift to the couple from their five children to celebrate their 50^th wedding anniversary. Neither had been on a cruise before and the experience was a positive one for the Alaskans.

“It was hot and beautiful,” Marie said.  

While the day we visited was not hot, one look through the couple’s living room windows revealed Bishop Lake, one of Nikiski’s beautiful spots.

Marie said her husband had always wanted to live on a lake, so when searching for a home in the area about four years ago, this home seemed to be a keeper.

After 32 years in Palmer, the couple wanted to move to a less populated area. They spent four years looking for a home with the help of Fred Braun.

After four years, the search came to a quick halt. While spending a few weeks in Europe, Marie called home to find out how everything was going, she thought her husband was joking when he told her they only had six weeks to pack up and move in.

In their three years living in Nikiski, Marie said the house has been through many transformations. The home is also a place for Marie’s other passions, giving massages and styling hair. Her craft room has an area for her styling chair, sink and products, as well as a room especially for her aromatherapy oils and massage table.

Sitting in front of the picture windows overlooking the lake, Marie recalled her trip to Alaska in 1953. Her parents drove a Studebaker car on the Alaskan Highway with Marie and her three younger siblings to North Pole.

“We thought it was an adventure,” she said with a smile.

Four years later she married Frank, who was in the Air Force at Eielson Air Force Base.

The couple has since lived in Colorado, Utah, Oregon, as well as Willow and Cascade, Alaska, but Nikiski seems to be the spot they were looking for.

While the location of the home is picturesque, the remote location often makes it hard to meet others in the area. Yet Marie gets out and stays active.

Marie is a part of a quilting group as well as a member of the red hat society and enjoys genealogy and scrap booking. Many of Marie’s beautiful quilts that adorn her home, as do her cow, butterfly and John Deere collections.

While she said her kids tell her she should slow down a bit, Marie loves to keep busy.

“That is what keeps me young,” she said.

Around town

North Kenai Yoga will offer a senior yoga class a 3 p.m. Fridays at the Nikiski Senior Center. For more information, call Virginia at 776-3495.

Happy Birthday wishes go out this week to Ken Lee on June 26.

Have a wonderful Summer Solstice on June 21.

While rummaging around at the flea market held at the Kenai Peninsula State Fairgrounds a few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of meeting some new neighbors who were there selling their wares.

Roy and Irene McGraw came to the Kenai Peninsula on vacation 20 years ago and decided then that they wanted to return and live here someday. At that time they were from Flint, Michigan, but soon after their trip they moved to Panama City, Florida. “Here we are 20 years later, and we finally made it back,” Irene said. “We love it here.”

In April, the couple traveled from Florida with Sue, their Chihuahua, in their 5th wheel camper. They found and purchased a log home in Anchor Point and moved in the end of May. So far, they are thoroughly enjoying all the wildlife that abounds in this area. “We wake up and are serenaded by the sand hill cranes,” Roy exclaimed.

Roy said that he is enjoying his retirement from Grand Trunk Western Railroad.
Fly-fishing has been his lifelong passion, and he has been tying flies professionally for 45 years. Roy belongs to International Game Fish Association’s “10 to 1 Club” and explained that he gained that status by catching a 23 pound 9 ounce White Amur grass carp on a 2 pound test line with his fly rod. He holds four world records for fly fishing: two for arctic char and two for lake trout which he caught at Great Bear Lake in Northwest Territories, Canada. Roy willingly shares his knowledge with those who desire to learn fly-fishing skills. In the past he has done workshops for the Boy Scouts in Florida and commented that he would be willing to share his knowledge and expertise with young people here on the Kenai Peninsula.

Around Town:
Ninilchik Traditional Council held their first community kickball game on June 14. Char Florence said that they had a great turnout of 20 kids and really had a blast. Kids of all ages are invited to join in on the fun held every Wednesday from 6-8 p.m. on the track field behind Ninilchik School.

I heard that the Pampered Chef party held at Annette Sutton’s home on Berussa Street was a success. Annette told me that one reason she had the party is to get to know her neighbors.

4-H Junior Market Stock members held their Lower Peninsula farm tour on June 10. The tour started in Ninilchik and ended with a cookout hosted by Tommy and Teri Stephens on East End Road in Homer. Over 20 kids were in attendance and excited to have Lt. Governor Loren Leman join them on the first leg of the tour.