Prop 8 overturned in California!!

Thank god for legal reasoning!! Prop 8 was overturned yesterday by US District Court Judge Vaughn Walker. What a great way for Ginger and I to celebrate our 20 years together and 2 years of marriage. (legal in California) Hopefully this will pave the way for the Feds to finally give us the equal rights we ALL deserve.

20 Years!!!

We had a relaxing 20th Anniversary Day (2nd year marriage day! HA HA) - Golf with a friend. Sushi dinner with same friend and her partner. Yes we do golf in Alaska, although we did come across fresh bear scat on the path to the 7th tee. :-) The greens were wet and slow but we had a great time.

Summer or Fall?

Rain continues today...it is beginning to feel like fall but we are certainly not ready for summer to be over. Nikan and Bruno have needed their rain slickers this week, soon may need their fall sweaters. :-(

A new archery range opened by our house. It is pretty awesome - great space, great husband and wife owners. They offer target practice and techno hunts. The cool thing is that because both the husband and wife shoot it very comfortable and inviting for men and women. I am enjoying just spending time hanging out, shooting and learning from some pros.

Tonight we went to shoot and hang out. Mary is exploring if this is a sport she can get into. On my third round of shots I had what is called a "Robin Hood." This is when two arrows are shot into the exact same spot. Some go their entire life never doing this...I have now had two "robin hoods" in the short time I have been playing with my bow and arrows - Tonight the owners took my arrows and hung them on the "Wall of Fame." It cost me two arrows but is pretty cool.

I am looking forward to participating in a couple of archery leagues this winter.

Hope all is well with each of you.

Seems that my school got a visit from a black bear today. Picture came from the Anchorage School District Website as my school is located in the same building as the district office.

Seems the bear paced back and forth for a bit before wandering off back into the woods. That would be on the public green belt trail. :-)

Garden Update

Corn fields, Chinatown and much more

So Ginger mentioned we saw lots of cornfields in Indiana, some knee-hi and higher. She left out the part about our rented Garmin GPS failing a at critical moment, missing highway 30, resulting in us wandering around small towns and by-ways like Kouts. (is it pronounced Koots or kOUTs?) We did not stick around long enough to find out. Indiana does it's road work in the summer apparently, just like Alaska. So we had to wander much farther on country roads then we wanted to. However, the lush green farmland and beautiful farmhouses (of which some would be mini-mansions in San Diego) were nice sites to see, if we had not been on the road an hour, maybe 2? longer. Anyway thanks to my sister-in-law and brother's directions the trip back to Chicago airport was much quicker and direct.
Speaking of getting lost...we took the "El" train/subway from north shore Chicago to Wrigley Field for the Cubs ball game. Quite the cosmopolitan experience for us Alaskan folks. Coming out of Wrigley after the game we needed directions back to the El station. We boarded the correct train...standing room only, very congenial if a bit close for personal space. Thanks to the hotel's printed instructions we got off at a stop thinking it was the one near our hotel. Confusing signs and confused Alaskans (us) caused us to make a decison to get back on the El going in the opposite direction. Before we could blink twice, maybe 30 times, we were in Chinatown and downtown Chicago was far off on the horizon. Kindly folks around us confirmed we were indeed going the wrong way. So off the El in Chinatown, back on and heading the other way, yet again. We got off at the stop we originally thought was ours and sure enough, after climbing out of the subway's bowels we found we were in the right place. Good thing we are flexible and had no pressing appointments. Overall the trip to the mid-west was enjoyable and seeing my brothers & families was the highlight of the trip for me. The heatwave that hit Indiana on the weekend, I could have done without. Yikes, how do people live in that weather!! Sunday we happily boarded our plane and were greated by a cool Alaskan breeze once we were in Anchorage again.
Our next door neighbor, Mary, puppy sat the dogs for us and we were worried they would fall in love with her and not want to stay with us! No worries there, though Mary comes to visit often, we are still their Moms.
Hope all is well with you! Enjoy the summer.

Chicago 2010

We traveled to Chicago for the National Charter School Conference. We had a great time visiting the city before and after the conference.

The Shedd Aquarium and Adler Planetarium offer more to see in the time we had, but we did see a good chunk of both. We did get to visit the Taste of Chicago twice. This is a yearly event in Chicago that began in 1980 that draws 6 million people annually. It runs for nine days and showcases many (over 200) restaurants in the Chicago area. The first night I was able to sample "Chicago Pizza" from three different restaurants.

The Cubs game at Wrigley Field was a truly awesome. The field was very intimate.

During the drive to Fort Wayne to visit with Mary's brothers and their families we saw lots and lots of corn fields. :-)

Tonight we are going to see a minor league team of the Padres play ball. Complete with fireworks after the game.

Happy Independence Day to you all.

Enjoy the pictures...

Chicago 2010 Slide Show (click here)

Boys of Summer

Cleaned/Organized the Green House today. Planting is over...now just "growing."

Asking the important question - Mom are you done yet?

Boys of Summer

A dogs life...

Summer Garden

Hi to all - Thought it would be fun to share the progress of my summer planting. The weather has been warm for the most part and I spend a good many nights (in the daylight) outside working in the yard.

Most of these pictures were taken about 8pm last night.

Life's simple pleasures...

Going to Chicago for a conference, thought to myself...I wonder if the Cubs will be in town. I have always wanted to see a day game at Wrigley Field.

I am pretty stoked as the Cubs are in town while we are in Chicago. And I was able to get us tickets for a day game after the conference finishes.

There are a few must see parks for the rabid baseball fan...I have been to Fenway Park a couple of times with our best buds, I have walked around and poked my head into Arlington Park (Texas Rangers), and I have toured SafeCo Field (Seattle Mariners) - and there are others I still wish to visit. But, I dreamed of going to Wrigley as a kid, never thought I would make it. Rather than print the tickets out at home I am having them mailed to the house so I can have the souvenir. :-)

On another note - Mary turned me on to MLB.com AT BAT 2010 app for my iPhone - I get to listen to the Padres EVERYDAY! I am also following the Redsox and Mariners when the games don't conflict with my hometown Padres!!! Mary's recent comment - I can't believe I told you about something that feed right into your biggest addiction!!!

Let the planting begin...

Spring is in the air, even with these little silly snow bursts we had this week. These are the veggies I am planting this year. Some will reside in the greenhouse. Others will go into the raised garden box I will build on the bank. (two kinds of lettuce, broccoli, zucchini, yellow squash, cantaloupe, corn and cabbage...might be adding some carrots, peas and green beans - not sure yet)

Flowers that I planted today
These will go into hanging flower pots and into a flower bed next to the house.

This is the coolest strawberry planter in the world
Just waiting for Home Depot to have strawberry starters.
15 holes...

Need I say more...I have two of them (buy 1 get one 1/2 off)

The whole sha-bang from today...notice the blueberries in the back - starter plants that will be going in along the side fence. The little pots in the center I purchased a couple of months ago because they were so cute I was afraid they would be gone by the time I got ready to plant. Not sure yet what will end up in them, probably flowers or herbs. Put lavender seeds in for now.

The milk carton was a gift from a friend - Jerusalem Artichoke

Final note...we also put in a sliding glass door dog door today...Nikan and Bruno figured out that they could go outside but waited at the front door to be let in - one step at a time :-)

The dog door can only be open when we are home as the moose (multiple) like to wonder the neighborhood...

15 Simple Truths about Food

15 Simple Truths about Food

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Fridays

Great end of the week - morning/early afternoon of work, mid-afternoon of archery (and a nap), early evening (42 min, 6+ miles) bike ride to school (good call by Mary to have me use my mountain bike and not my racing bike), spaghetti dinner @ school, evening walk with the dogs...life is good! Should mention that it is 9pm and getting dark

Most important and fantastic news of the week - Our nephew Reid and his wife Katie had their baby yesterday (April 1)

Owen Carter Wise (7lb, 4oz)

Because it is always worth seeing "the boys"
This is the new bed I bought that is really meant for one dog.


Bow sight almost zeroed in to the bulls eye!
Got a nice grouping jut below the bulls eye.

Sunset from our driveway

FRIST Robotics Competition

I arrived home this morning after 9 days in Hawaii with our Robotics Team for a competition. We saw the sites and played with the robot, finishing 19th overall. We were in 9th going into our final qualifying match only to make a fatal mistake that got us disqualified in that match dropping us to our final standing of 19th.

We were chosen to participate in an alliance in the finals. We were knocked out in the quarter finals, but we had a good time.

I did arrive home to almost an addition hour of daylight. Sunset tonight was around 9:00p. Can't wait to see daylight in the morning before going to work.

Spring Break

Bruno - showing off the newly plowed track in the backyard.
Snow was still falling so may have to be out there again tomorrow morning.

The "moot" I had to shovel today. We got so much snow last night it was all the way up the retaining wall. We don't trust our boys not to go visit the local moose.

The plowed area in the backyard for the boys - without the plowed (or shoveled) area Nikan and Bruno would have to tunnel to the places they choose to do their business.

Moose taking her daily walk on the trail behind our house. Nikan was going crazy while I took this pictures. We relish the days that she walks by without the dogs knowing.

Walking the trail!!!

Spring Break has gotten off to a cold and snowy start. Monday found me with a friend in my ice fishing hut hoping to catch a big one. While we caught lots of little rainbow trout (6-8 inches) the big one escaped us. My friend did have a whopper on her line at one point...I am sorry to say it ran off with our best lure (the Swedish pimple). I am thinking it was a good 30 inches - at least that is what we are telling everyone.

It has been snowing for a couple of days but the bulk of it dropped over night. I spent about 1 1/2 this morning with the snow blower clearing our driveway, the neighbor's driveway and our yard.

We are seeing an abundance of moose these days. I say two by the highway today just chomping away. It is great to see these beautiful animals up close, unfortunately it is these brave (hungry) ones who venture too close to the highway and/or on/off ramps that tend to end up getting hit.

I was hoping to visit Seward later in the week but the recent volume of snow has also brought avalances. Two avalanches today in the Girdwood area closed the road for several hours. We will have to see how the weather shapes up tomorrow before making a final decision about a road trip.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures.

Still here...

Hi all,

Sitting here in the dining room watching the trail, snow and trees hoping for a moose to wonder by. I am excited that it is still daylight and 6:23pm! Our hopes of an early spring were dashed this week when a blizzard rolled in on Thursday. A few more days (weeks?) of winter is not the end of the world but I can feel that "break up" is on the way.

February is always a crazy month in the land of dark. It is the time when we have settled into the routine of living life in the dark just to have light slowly creeping back. By now we are getting more than 5 minutes more of daylight each day...about 40+ minutes more each week. And trust me when I say it is a crazy, crazy time!!! My error this month was taking a class for re-certification credit during this crazy month! Yikes...The class was called The Rage Within - uhm...what was I thinking?

This winter has been a fun one...not too much skiing but I have been enjoying Ice Fishing. The joy of fishing year round is awesome. Last time out I hauled in a nice 22 inch trout (Arctic Char)! We don't generally eat trout but had to have this one. Not bad but not our favorite. In the future they will return to the water for another day.

I did get to spend a few days at the begin of February in Seattle visiting with my Mom, Aunt Jan and Uncle Rich. We had a blast! See you all same time next year :-)

I also traveled last weekend to Fairbanks with the Robotics team to compete with our "little bot". It was a great experience to let my inner geek come out to play. In March I will be traveling with a larger Robotics team with the "big bot" to Hawaii for a four day competition.

Finally - Fur Rondy began yesterday and we braved the cold to check out the Snow Carvings and the Fireworks. Fur Rondy is the celebration that leads up to the Iditarod next weekend. It is all about the Fur Traders. For reference, fireworks in the first picture were at 6:45p and it was about 24 degrees with a bit of wind. We all had toe warmers in our shoes and hand warmers in our gloves. Gotta love winter.

Hope this finds you all well!

A few pictures of the last couple of months - sorry they are in reverse order of the events.

Fireworks for the Fur Rondy Celebration (Mary, Lynette and Kathryn)

Mary and Kathryn waiting patiently in the cold while Lynette and I take pictures

Snow Carving - doesn't look finished...6:30p and getting dark

Carvers were working on this - this picture is from behind but I wanted to get the full effect of the boat on the halibut. This was the best one we say although there were some close seconds.

This yearling greeted me in the neighbor's driveway when I came home from work one day last week. The moose have been out and about in droves lately. We have one mom who takes walks on the trail every afternoon.

22 inch Arctic Char!
Ice Fishing Heaven

The boys enjoying a "winter pug party"

First Tech Challenge - Robotics Competition, Fairbanks AK
The "game" was two on two basketball

Mom and Jan
We were out for a hike! Amazing to have NO snow in Seattle at the beginning of February.
Even saw trees in bloom!