8 year lapse

It has been around 8 years since I posted something on this blog.  Since the last post we have been busy having and raising these cute little guys and gal.  And we have traded fishing with Uncle Ben for the subways of NYC.  Every few years I remember the blog, and think I am going to go back and update all of my adventures and family experiences.  It may never happen, but I am grateful for the 9 years spent there.  What a gift to Cindy and me to have had that time there.  We will see where we end up after two more years in NYC.

Two he

good times down town

During the Iditirod there is a festival down town. This is one of my favorite events, the out house races. This paticular outhouse represents a first impression I started to notice when we had just arrived. There are little to no building codes in much of Alaska. It turns out that a plastic tarp and house wrap work well enough for many, many Alaskans as permenant exterior protection from the weather.

Feb-Mar 09

I know what you are thinking, how did he get something with a track that long stuck. Carb frost, the carburator was sticking so the machine jumped between stages of wide open and idleing. I just needed a little shove and I was on my way. We rented this 800 ski doo and a 600. It was a day full of trouble. We didn't know there was a little valve that would defrost the carb on this machine. Greg Harr and I had purchased a late model, low mile machine. This being it's maiden voyage for us, we opened it up on a open field and siezed the engine. After towing it back, we headed out again. I was now doubled up on Aaron Butikofers antique trail machine. This thing had metal skiis and nubbs for tread on his track. Ironically, it was the only machine that never had a problem. The 600 we rented I ended up losing controll of doing a hill climb,(actually on the decent) and wrapped it around a tree. I was spared any major injury by being deflected, as I went over the handle bars, by my guardian angel. Lessons learned: Always bring at least one ex-college football player and a couple of extra buddies with you in case you need to peel your machine off a tree.

Our new hobbie Feb. 2009

There is over 5o miles of lit trails through Anchorage, so we have decided to take up Cross country skiing. My intitial impression, not much fun, but good exersize. The trees get beautiful after a few weeks at -20. That is frost on everything, it builds up just like in a deep freeze. It was about -17 this night. My face was exposed only for the photo.

we cut down our tree this year. Here is the After and Before.

largest beaver dam in the world

Out of all the beaver dam's this is the biggest one in my world. I not sure what he was trying to catch, all the fish were on the other side of it trying to get in.

Trip to Jim Creek Glacier on My Birthday

For my Birthday this year I did not get the opportunity to have my foot race, which I love, so I did the next best thing- took a long ATV trip to the local glacier. I saw some good sized bear tracks and alot of red dying salmon. I am waiting for my buddy Drew Ballard to come out here so we can do some trapping! I saw a Linx, they say very few people see them in the wild.

This is my favorite place to lay out and get a nice tan from the neck up.

Surviving the glacier

A picture from my kitchen

Every thing is extreme here, even our pumpkins

There is my cute wife in her giraffe outfit at the state fair. We did not get hardly any sun this summer, so the biggest pumpking this year was only 907 lbs. It dumped 2 ft of snow in April and today it snowed pretty good and it is only Oct 5th. Warm weather is only a distant memory to us. It barely broke into the 60's this summer.

Prince William Sound with the In-Laws

Brenda and Scott, my beloved in-laws, came up and spent 10 days with us. After splitting a momma black bear from her cubs , on our ATV's, and having her stand up so we could get a picture. We called a patient of mine and had him take us to the Prince William Sound. It was a great time watching Brenda pull fish in. Actually, we all were able to catch a few while Brenda was rebating her hooks. It was alot of fun, we never knew what was going to be on the end ot that hook.

Watch out for the deep spot

I towed by buddy Gregg Harr 12miles out of Jim's Creek after his rig shredded a belt. I was told there is only one rule crossing water, don't let off the gas!

Big race

Cindy and I entered a very competative race while we were vacationing in Spokane.

Mendenhall Glacier, Juneau Alaska

For my Sister...

In an effort to reward my sister for the nice things she has said and for all of the attention she has given me, I am going to make an valiant effort to post today! I have a very talented and special sister. Thank you Tiffany!

4-Wheeling on the Tundra

We went 4-wheeling with our good friend Greg Harr and his two sons. It was crazy! David rented a "Rhino." It’s one of those bigger 4-wheelers where you sit side-by-side with the passenger. On the drive there David and Greg took turns sharing stories of how amazing these Rhinos are, how they are able to go where nothing else can. We had only been out riding a few minutes when we came upon an open - very wet - marsh. (You have to remember for this next part that before this I had only been 4-wheeling in the dry Utah desert, which turns out to be very different from the spongy Alaska tundra.) So of course I put the Rhino to the test, I was sure it could take the marsh. I went ahead full speed, and got royally stuck. Long story short, David and Greg spent the next two hours trying to get us unstuck, bringing each 4-wheeler in to help, and getting each new one stuck. There was a point when I was seriously worried; if we couldn't get unstuck what would we do - what could get them out? But thanks to Greg's super winch, and to David's and Greg’s efforts of tearing trees down to put under the wheels - we were freed. The best part was watching David try to keep everyone clean so that we wouldn't dirty his truck!

Hike

Inside Passage

My parent's had a wonderful Alaska inside passage cruise trip planned for over a year. My Dad had been looking forward to taking this trip for many years. As it turned out the their trip was scheduled for the second week David and I moved to Alaska. So I fiqured why not see how much it would cost if tagged along (fun for them, right!). The third person cost was only $99 (they just had to share their room with me, he he). Whahooo!!! Needless to say I went. Here are some pictures of our trip.