Flying Kent Couch

Kent flew today instead of Monday. I just did a google search for Kent Couch and there were 760 stories about his flight. From his website, you could even track the flight, but we didn't know that until he had already landed.

his website is www.couchballons.com

We had trouble getting it to work - i'm sure because millions of people were trying to use it. All the news organizations are carrying the story, so you can take your pick of who you want to read. According to CNN, he landed in Cambridge Idaho - he was aiming for Boise. I couldn't get my map to work, so I don't know how close to Boise he got. At one point, mid-morning, he was farther north than he wanted to be, but he got his course corrected and headed back towards Boise.

In the interviews, he said he would do this every weekend if he had the time and the money. I'm sure he will be on all the news shows this week.

Balloon Man

Brian's cousin, Kent Couch, is planning another big lawn chair balloon flight this weekend, probably on Monday, but it might be a different day, based on the weather. He plans to fly from Bend to Boise. He wanted to fly to Idaho last time, but evening thunderheads over the mountains convinced him to come down outside LaGrande, where his dad lives.

If you don't remember = Kent and Brian are first cousins. Kent's dad and Brian's mom are brother and sister. Alicia read a story about it on MSN. Idon't know what other news companies will follow the story.

check out holiday blog

Blake had a great idea to activate the Holiday blog for the 4th of July. You can get there by clicking on the link that says Family Christmas Blog

The picture of the flag I posted is our neighbor's flag at sunset. Their son, Ron, brought it home to them after his tour of Iraq, so it is special to us all. Ron is in Afghanistan now and Mike is in Iraq, along with both of my nephews named Josh., and also Barb and Paul's grandson. Our hearts and prayers and gratitude are with them.

One Year

Happy Anniversary Alicia and Justin. A year ago today we were in Anchorage at the temple. Congratulations on your first year. We love you. MOM and DAD

busy, busy, busy

Sorry I don't have a picture to blog today. If you have forgotten what we look like, please look thru our past blogs. hehehe

Brian got a call a couple weeks ago from some guy who was looking for someone who could weld and since Brian is off work for the summer, he said he'd do it. Turns out they are preparing to lay some kind of cable in the inlet. They bought a bridge in Florida and trucked it up here in pieces and they are welding it together to make a barge to use to lay the cable. They didn't have any welders on their crew that were used to this kind of welding or used to welding out on the spit (their workers are from Florida and are freezing out there in that ocean breeze all day).

also they needed another welding machine... so after the first day, Brian took his welder down and gets paid for the use of him and his welder. Justin got in a few hours after his day job a couple times, but now he and Alicia are really sick so he hasn't been down to the spit for a couple days.

It is such an answer to our prayers, I can't even begin to tell you how blessed we are to have this come into our lives at this time. We have a couple projects around the house that HAVE to be done this summer, like putting in a completely new septic system, and we have been scrimping and worried about how to afford it, and now we can get it done. We are all very excited...... yeah, you city folk don't have to worry about where the water goes when you are flushing your toilets - trust me, when you have a 15 year old wooden septic box, you think about stuff like that alot.

Justin sold both of his big burl bowls this week to a lady from Chicago. It was cool - she bought one for a dear friend who was going thru a rough time and when it got there today, she loved it so much so went right to our shop and bought the other one for herself. YAY !!!

It's fun to keep busy and to not have to sit out in the sun in a parking lot or danky old building on holiday weekends hoping for people to buy your crafts. I wish someone had thunk this up years ago.

Happy July - pray for me, I'm supposed to play the organ in church for the entire month. YIKES !!! I don't even really know how to play the organ. I have an electronic keyboard at home and I just push the button that makes it sound like an organ. hehehehe ahhh, small wards are great.

LOVE YOU GUYS, Charlotte

Heather tagged me...

Heather Carlos tagged me and I usually don't do these but . .

5 Things I was doing 10 years ago: 1. working at the mental health center 2. crying every day because Alicia was graduated and leaving for college 3. putting in my gardens 4. building on our house 5. taking care of 8 ducks and 2 geese and a dog and a cat and 24 chickens

5 Things on my to do list: 1. shampoo the carpet 2. plant the garden 3. finish bracelet kits for young women' camp 4. make and design all the stuff for our web shop 5. start Christmas presents 6. weed the flower bed 7. clean up the after winter mess in the yard 8 organize and paint the house 9. Redo the window coverings for the living room. (I know it was only supposed to be 5)

5 Favorite snacks/foods: 1. potato chips 2. Chocolate (I've been on a Whopper kick this summer - yum) 3. Real popcorn, with real butter and salt. 4. Ice Cream 5. strawberries or watermelon

5 Things I would do if I was a billionaire: 1. Build a dream home / artist colony compound where my family could all come to live someplace warm or tropical 2. Shop on etsy and Amazon and lots of other places
3. do Charity work
4. buy cool trucks and cars and computers
5. Help our moms and kids

5 Bad habits: 1. I eat too many treats 2. I never follow through 3. I always plan more than I can accomplish 4. I'm lazy 5. I get nervous and let my phobias get in the way of living my life

5 Places that I have lived: 1. Homer Alaska 2. Pendleton Oregon 3. Medford Oregon 4. Salt Lake City Utah 5. Joseph Oregon

People I tag: 1. Barb 2. Joanna 3 Ted 4. Marilyn 5. Nicole

No pink for me - YAY

We had a couple interesting days of poking and prodding in Anchorage, but in the end, they didn't throw me in the hospital and start chopping me up, so that is a victory. Below is the graphic details if you want them, if you don't just stop reading now and know that I won't be walking around with a Susan G. Komen pink ribbon with my name on it. YAY.

The breast lump is completely gone and there is not any follow-up planned for it. They think it was just ancient scar tissue like from a too tight bra or from pulling and tearing that muscle too many times. It is right on the rib cage and I pull that muscle all the time.

We are waiting on biopsy results for the uterus - but she didn't find anything that looked like cancer. The ultrasound showed lots of thick lining in the uterus, which is what we said all along - a condition I have had treated several times before, and after a lot of pushing and prodding, the ultrasound guy finally found my ovary. The ultrasound girl in Homer couldn't find it - but it turned out she wasn't looking in the right place. They thought it was hidden, but it was just in a different place. It still has a large cyst on it - a little larger than a tangerine, same size as the last CAT scan 5 years ago.

And so there you have it - you know everything that we know at this time. I know that most people keep this scary stuff to themselves, but I think that just perpetuates the fear of the unknown. I am a big advocate of sharing health information with each other so we can support each other in our fears and our struggles. It's just who I am and what I do.

Thanks for your prayers and support. I'll post again as soon as we hear the test results. Charlotte

HAPPY Birthday, Allison

Happy 4th Birthday Allison. We love you. Aunt Charlotte and Uncle Brian

Happy Father's Day

I have been thinking about fathers and grandfathers this week and I think that I have been singularly blessed with such a great father and grandfather and husband. It is very rare for someone my age to still have a father AND a grandfather in their life and not only am I thankful that they are both still around - I am so thankful that they are such kind, loving, intelligent men. They have taught me so much about how to treat other people and they have taught me how to live life --- with a smile on my lips and a song in my heart. THANKS GUYS - I love you more than you can know.

Brian is such a great father and husband. I think as the kids get older they appreciate more how much he has taught them (it's probably that way for everyone, I guess). He is such a hard worker and a great provider. He was so patient in teaching the kids how to work. He is so kind in taking care of me and no matter how tired he is, he makes sure I am taken care of before he sleeps or before he goes to work. I'm glad I drove that rickety old U-HAUL over those treacherous mountain passes 30 years ago and married this guy. I love you. Char

Cranes

This afternoon, when we were out splitting wood, two cranes lit in the neighbor's yard, and then nine more started circling and circling the house, then they landed also. We had 11 cranes just outside our windows, feeding. It was very cool. Went fishing this morning, salmon are very late getting here, but caught two nice steelhead. Brian

Choke

I have to say that not since Cliff Claven choked on Final Jeopardy have I seen someone go down so quickly and in such flames as poor Richard did tonight on Top Chef. As I was counting the dishes and realized that Stephanie and Lisa were tied I could actually see my blood pressure rising. THEY CAN"T GIVE IT TO HER !!!! I kept yelling over and over. Whew ....... in the end talent and class won out and the best person won. Now on to the Battle Royale - also known as the reunion show and then ON to Project Runway. YAY for summer TV. Char

Chicken Run

Heathcliff lets the turkeys know he is the boss.

Nobody wants anything to do with these grouchy guys - good thing they have each other to hang with.

the solid black ones are black sexlinks like we raised in Joseph. The speckled ones are barred rocks.

Saturday was also the first day of yard time for the chickens and turkeys. Heathcliff, the goose, knows that he is responsible for the safety of all the smaller fowl and takes his duties very seriously. He keeps that big white bucket there next to their gate (he thinks the bucket is a fellow goose, but that's a little personal for a public blog, so we won't go into that)..... to appreciate this story, you just need to know that he has "sacred" areas - the white pole, the fire barrel, the bucket. Nobody is allowed to touch them.

He prefers the chicks to be inside their fenced area where he knows they are safe and he will often sleep outside their pen at night to be sure they are safe. But when they enter the yard, he has trouble letting them explore. So these pictures are of the yard and everybody trying to make their way in the world. In the videos he finally left his bucket and went over to defend his barrel and then some chicks got too close to the bucket and he had to go back over to defend it.

On a funny note that we didn't get recorded, the turkeys are pretty mean this year. Some of the chickens were in Gabby's yard and she was cool with that - the goats and the chickens get along really well. So when the turkeys wondered over to Gabby's fence she went over to meet them and one of the turkeys bit her ear and she pulled back in amazement and then leaned back to the turkey to see why he had done that and then the turkey took a nip at her nose. She didn't care for that at all. So far, the turkeys have bitten everybody, I think. They aren't even afraid of the goose (I'm afraid of the goose, for crying out loud). So I can pretty much guarantee that the turkeys will not make it thru the summer. Nobody likes to get nipped by a turkey.

First canned fish of the season

King salmon are the biggest salmon and are the most tasty fresh, but they have the highest fat content, so they don't freeze well, especially for long periods of time. This year, as part of our goal to be self-suffecient, we decided to can our kings instead of giving them away. We think the high fat content will be good in the canned fish. We always get a good feeling when we think about having a larder full of canned goods and especially in hard times like these, we need to have that security of having food put up for winter.

Cranes on the pond

Yesterday after the fish were caught and canned, Alicia and Justin hauled firewood and Brian worked on somebody's boat. While I was waiting for the canner to cool so I could unload it, I noticed something out on the pond. It turned out to be our cranes. It was so sunny, I couldn't see what the pictures looked like until later in the evening. One is just what the pond looks like from the deck. You can see that it is getting more grown over every year. We don't get to see as much of the pond as we used to, but it is much safer for the ducks to have places of retreat when the eagles attack. Charlotte

We have a pair of wild ducks - maybe 2 - that are nesting on the pond this year. I don't know where the cranes are nesting, but it is somewhere in the neighborhood. On Alicia's blog, you can see closer views of the cranes. My dad asked me which was the male and which the female, and I don't have a clue. I would assume the brighter colored one is the male. In these pictures, they are too far away to tell the difference.

First Kings of the year

Whoo Hoo!!! Spring is here, the Anchor River fishing is great! I caught these two on Saturday morning before work. I am going again in the morning, before work. Alicia and Char canned these up, in jars, and we grilled part of one for lunch. Umm good! Alicia is going to can some moose from last fall tomorrow. Brian

PS

Thanks for all the cards - Gabe's writing looks just like Blake's did at that age - EXACTLY - I can even tell that he is trying to make the letters. Cool . Also thanks for the calls - sorry I missed you - I haven't left the house in a month, literally, and we just sat at the restaurant and talked and talked and then we went to the library and the drug store and came home.

Alicia and my friend Margret took me out for Chinese food today and we made a date for next year - same time, same place - so I can't die this year, because I have a date for lunch on my 56th birthday. Margret is from Germany, you know, and as we sat there, the song, "Edlewiess" came on and we all got all misty. She is going home next week and taking her 2 youngest to visit her family and the song reminded her of a cabin in the mountains she went to when she was young and she is going to take her kids there on their visit, now. So that was fun to think of that and plan it with her.

I think I've been going out for Chinese on my birthday for about 50 years now. Amazing, isn't it? Then we ran in to a person we worked with 12 years ago - and hadn't seen since. And we saw Shannon, who has been away at college for a whole year, so it was a good day.

I also got a bunch of books at the library book sale to make into journals to sell on ETSY - and yes, all you book protectors out there - they were all poorly written, unheard of books. Alicia was overseeing my purchases and you know she won't let me deface anything close to classic. If you want to see what they look like when I'm done - you can check one out at our ETSY shop - thewindfarm.etsy.com

Then, since I was downstairs and outside, I went out to meet Gretta and Gabby and the chickens and turkeys. The turkeys are really getting big and a couple of the chickens are really large. And I was surprised how strong Gretta was - she couldn't figure out where to push me since I was wearing a dress and the wind was blowing - it was funny as she tried to push into it and the wind was there.

Okay - time for Top Chef - I have to go see who gets thrown under the bus. hahahaha Love, Charlotte

Big Day for Charlotte

Well, today is a big day for me. When I was 16, I looked around at everyone I knew and I decided that no one really needed to live more than 55 years. I mean, it was okay if you did, but it just wasn't for me. After the age of 55 it seemed to me that your body just couldn't do all the stuff that a 16 year old wants a body to do......

so flash forward a few decades and today i turn 55 and I am terrifyed that I have jinxed myself and that I am going to die this year. I keep trying to convince myself that if I change my thinking I won't die, but I'm not sure if it is too late.

So I'm trying to think lots of positive thoughts and make plans for future years and such, but in the back of my head, I'm still 55. YIKES ! ! !

Funny Birds this year

We have this funny robin in our yard this year. He has the weirdest songs I have every heard from a robin - and I have been a fan of robins for more than 50 years now.

This one has a screechy sound when it comes into the yard which is really weird and then it sits in the tree every evening and sings and sings. It can imitate the chirping/chortle of a hungry eagle (which isn't really a sound we like to hear in our yard, but it is funny that the robin makes it). Then if you sing a song to him, he only has to hear it twice and then he adds it to his song and so then every time you hear him, he will sing robin songs for a while, then throw in a couple eagle chirps and then sing your song to you. And he can learn a new song from you like every day, so it is really fun.

I've had other birds do this, but not to this extent and I don't remember a robin being this way before.

The swallows came late this year, and they are not really here in numbers and haven't even begun to nest yet. I hope that means a long hot summer, but up here, we never know what that means.... it might just mean a late, cold spring and we can attest to that. brrrrr
Brian and Alicia went mushroom hunting this morning and found a foot of snow still covering the mushroom ground.

It is almost midnight on Memorial Friday which usually means miles and miles of cars from Anchorage, but a semi overturned this morning up by Cooper Landing and at 10:00 pm, they still hadn't fully opened the road, so it is unusually quiet. YAY !!! All the traffic really gets to me on Memorial Weekend. And Mya and Heathcliff have decided that the highway is now part of their territory to defend, so they bark or scream every time a big or noisy vehicle drives by. You can imagine how restful that is. Plus of course, we have had a steady stream of boats and trailers in here this past 2 weeks getting ready for fishing season, so Mya is all distressed about the customers driving in her driveway and bothering her dad out at the shop.

Looks like they got the highway open - the crowds are starting up. Usually some of us would be down at the bridge waiting for someone to look at their watch and yell, " IT'S MIDNIGHT ! ! " and then splash, splash, splash all up and down the river as the king season opens, but the river is really high and full of mud, so nobody here is going fishing at midnight - not to mention we all have the flu and / or a cold or both in some order. Thank you Brian and Justin for bringing home different illnesses for us to all catch. hehehe

So if you guys like videos, I will try to get a sound byte of the bird singing, but if videos don't work for you, I won't bother.

Love you guys - have a good weekend. Love, Charlotte

Another day, Another kick in the pants

Two items to report today - 3 if you count Blake's XBOX dying again - but you'll have to go to his blog and read his story and the comments about his story to get all the details. (For those that don't know - Blake is our son that lives in Seattle).

Anyway, the saddest of the two events is that Brian's Uncle Roy died this weekend. Thank goodness for the Wallowa County paper being so timely in reporting these things....... No one from the family has called or written to let us know, even now. Uncle Roy had been very sick for a long long time so his death was not unexpected - we just worry most about Aunt Leona being alone now. They were so close - like my grandparents did, Aunt Leona moved into the nursing home to live with and take of Uncle Roy and to help him to not be afraid while living there. May we all be so blessed to have that much love in our marriages when the end nears.

Secondly, Brian called this evening and said that because of lower enrollment figures, his hours will be cut to half-time in August when they start back to school. Major bummer. It isn't that much money, but it is steady and has great benefits. Major, Major bummer. It is still possible that it will work out - but they won't know until August and who wants to sit around for 4 months while they decide if you will have a job or not. GRRRRRRRR I am so bummed, I can't even put it into words. Just the idea of trying to support all 4 of us and knowing that one of my other kids is in job flux as well, is overwhelming.

Now what do we do???

I was looking forward to naming one of our Desperate HouseGoats after Edie. Now she has left the series I don't know what we'll do..... I guess we will name one of the next ones after Ben (although I think that is a weird name for a nanny goat, but since Ben asked us to name one after him, we will). I guess Ben and Bree sounds good when you hollar it across the yard. We have two "G" names now. hehehehe

Desperate Housewives News

Will Edie ever return to `Desperate Housewives'?
When Edie packed up and left Wisteria Lane at the end of Sunday's "Desperate Housewives," viewers were caught by surprise.
The sudden exit of the neighborhood's blond troublemaker has fans wondering how this plot twist will affect the ABC hit series, and whether Nicollette Sheridan, who has played Edie during its four seasons, will be back.
For weeks, rumors swirled that Sheridan was out of the show. Both ABC and Sheridan's publicist, Nicole Perna, have been tightlipped in response to inquiries about her imminent departure.

But creator and executive producer Marc Cherry was slightly more forthcoming. Yes, Edie's gone, he told The Associated Press on Friday. Then he added: "She won't be back for a few years."
What could that mean? Hadn't Cherry already announced he will bring his series to a close at the end of the 2010-11 season, just three years from now?

How 'bout those Lakers

All 8 of them that are on the floor at once.....

I watched the middle of the night rebroadcast of the Laker/ Jazz game tonight. And in the middle of the overtime, I remembered why I quit watching NBA.

If I couldn't win a game without buying off every ref in the league, I would be too embarrassed to show my face in public - especially, if I was always going around claiming to be the best player ever in the entire history of the game... past, present and future.

In other words, if any other team or player had backed into another player and forearmed them to the floor, it would have been called as a big foul, but not Sir Kobe or his lackie.. I think it was fisher. Ticks me off more than I can say.

Thank Goodness that Boozer and Kyle Kover saved the Jazz. Stupid Lakers, I just cannot stand them. Char

For all Moms and Kids

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?cl=7769235


You'll have to watcha couple times to get all the words. But it is Hilarious ! ! !

what is Festevus???

Denae asked about Festevus and I realized that maybe others weren't up on TV or movie speak like our family is... well, we aren't "up" on it, we are obsessed with it.. I don't think we have any original conversations anymore, we just do a bit from some TV show or movie. There is one for almost every situation when you watch as much TV as I do. That's actually an interesting story, too. When I was young, TV was new and I literally grew up and old along with TV. I was very active as a child, but i LOVED Tv and my parents always said I watched too m uch. I guess they can take that back no - I have put it to good use.

And actually, I used to do bits from TV when I was a kid and a teenager and drove my mother crazy with my antics. but that is another story. ON TO the explanation of Festevus. OH, another side note - if you google Festevus, my blog is like the 8th entry that shows up. hheheh

Festevus comes from the Seinfeld show. I didn't realize until I looked it up today that it is actually part of the Christmas season. I was thinking it could be any time of year. George worked for this company that let you have off for religious holidays and he wanted an extra day off for something, so he told his boss he needed Festevus off. and his boss wanted to understand, so he makes George bring him to the family Festevus celebration. so they throw this together.

The part I remember is before the meal, you have the : Ceremonial airing of the Grievances.. and everyone goes around the table and airs their grievances for the year and then you have feats of strength and then you wrestle to see whose grievances get to be settled.... so it ends up like all family dinners - a giant screaming match and people punching each other out.

The holiday begins as all are seated around the table and the head of the house says, "Let the airing of the grievances begin..."

EEE - EYE -EEEE -EYE - OOOOOOO

Well, We have done it. We have finally and completely lost our minds. Today the kids went and bought 2 milk goats. One is milking now - Gretta. She is 2 years old. The other was born in Feb. or March - Gabby. And she will have to grow some and have a kid before she can give milk. We had them out in the pig pen, but we couldn't see them out there and it was too windy.

so Justin quickly put wire around the lean-to at the bottom of the back stairs, where the goose usually eats. It is still pretty windy today so he is going to put some plywood up to enclose them in a little. Gabby is shivering from being too cold. She keeps trying to nurse on Gretta, but Gretta wants nothing to do with it. She isn't Gabby's mother.

I didn't realize they would bleep bleep that much. Gabby's sounds just like a baby crying, but Gretta sounds like a goat.

So, within a couple days, we will have goat cheese and goat yogurt and butter and milk to drink. I hope we like it. We also can use it to make soap. Alicia makes really good soap and the goat milk makes a really really nice soap. I guess we will be spending our Saturdays down at the farmer's market this summer after all.

When we first moved to this house, I planted about an acre to 5 kinds of clover and about 7 kinds of grasses/ grains. We will be staking the goats out to graze on that and also on the weeds in the front by the highway. We just traded our neighbor last fall for possession of the land right on the highway so we can keep the weeds trimmed down now and keep it looking better.

Also, thru our etsy site: thewindfarm@etsy.com, we are going to be selling alder chips for BBQs and smokers. Blake gave me the idea on his birthday because he puts hickory chips on his BBQ and I was thinking how many acres and acres of alders are here and going to waste and they make a wonderful BBQ smoke so we are going to harvest them and sew little cotton bags and sell them. Hopefully, we will sell some in town, too, especially to the tourists. AHHHH, you have to love an economic recession. It's really keeping us on our toes.

Look for pictures and a video of the goats and the chicks on Alicia and Justin's blog later. Also today, we moved all the chicks and the turkeys out of the green house and into their newly expanded chicken house. The poor turkeys had grown so much they had to walk all slunched over inside their coop. Our corn is almost 2 feet high, so Justin wanted to get the chicks out so there would be room for his corn to keep growing in the green house.

Busy Busy fun times. Brian is thru building the foundation for the oyster plant. They are waiting for a grant for the money to build the building part of it. So for now, he just has the school and all the boats and tractors getting ready for the start of fishing season. on some days, he gets to sleep 6 full hours before going to work (and one day last week, he slept until almost 8 0'clock. WOW). Of course, now the dog is used to getting up at 6, so by 7 she really has to go out and comes to wake Brian up anyway. No rest for the wicked, I guess. hehehe
Charlotte

Happy Festevus, Blake

Actually, It is Happy Birthday Blake - but as I was typing, the computer offered me Happy Festevus, and I am such a fan of the Festevus holiday, I thought I would offer it instead of a Birthday.

Let the airing of the grievances begin.........

If I was in Seattle, I would bake you a cherry chip cake with almond flavored, cream cheese frosting and vanilla ice cream.

But I'm not in Seattle.... The cake still sounds good though, hmmm brb




hehehe sorry . I'm back
I don't have a cherry chip mix. I wonder if they still make them.
Anyway - Have a Happy, Happy Birthday and know that we love you and will be with you in spirit all day. LOVE YOU SON, Mom and Dad

Fourth of July Salad, For Barb Gulley

Justin breaking the rules by adding Cool Whip to the salad on Easter ! ! ! !

This is the salad we made for Thanksgiving. It has such a wonderful Sunshine look and taste to it.

Fourth of July Salad was traditionally served in my " home of origin" at the height of summer, since that is the only time that fresh peaches are available. We always had it at the Fourth of July BBQ.

My dad invented the recipe and always makes it. The only change that has ever taken place to the recipe is something I learned as a 4-H leader to protect the bananas. I'll give the recipe and then tell you the rules.

The recipe is adaptable depending on how many fruits you start with. This is the basic recipe that fits a 20 oz. can of pineapple (or whatever size they make these days that is close to that).

1 20 oz. can of pineapple slices or chunks, in own juice

5 or 6 bananas

5 or 6 medium size oranges

5 or 6 peaches

about 1 cup Sugar, depending on the sweetness of the peaches

Drain the pinepple juice into a really large bowl. slice the bananas into the juice and swish them around to be sure each slice is coated in the juice. Peel the Oranges and separate and tear each segment into bit sized pieces into the bowl. Peel the peaches and slice into pieces that are about the same size as the orange pieces, into the bowl. Cut the pineapple into the same sized pieces, into the bowl.

Adjust the amount of sugar according to the sweetness of the peaches and sprinkle the sugar over the top of the salad. Mix GENTLY, by hand, cover, and refrigerate until cold. (preferably over night).

NOW the RULES: Originally, only fresh peaches were allowed. We have tried experimenting with frozen peaches, with mixed results. the Carpers have to use canned peach slices, drained...because we have always lived in places that didn't carry fresh peaches and oranges at the same time. So for Carpers, the salad became a winter food because that is when oranges are available. (Obviously when using canned peaches, a much smaller amount of sugar is used... some people don't put sugar in at all, but we find sugar makes a better juice).

When the salad is setting, NO ONE is allowed to eat it until it is time to be served. (at Carpers, the cook is allowed a small bowl, for quality control purposes)

The mixing has to be done WITH YOUR HANDS. No exceptions, BRIAN ! ! !

So there you have it. My sister, Sandra, who lives in California and has access to all kinds of funky fresh fruits, tweaks the recipe except on the 4th of July. I know sometimes she adds raspberries or strawberries or other kinds of fruit. I imagine she uses less sugar because she eats healthier than some of us.

THANKS DADDY. We love you and love your salad and your BBQ's.

Taste before serving

Our fav show right now is Top Chef. We usually blog about it on Blake's blog, but I beat him to it this week.

All I have to say is : TASTE your food before you serve it ! ! ! I don't know how hard that is.

And I don't know that Dale needed to attack Lisa like that. Talk about sour grapes. If it had been up to him, they would have made deviled eggs.... so I'd say she did more than just make the bacon.

And as someone who eats salmon a lot, I can tell you they needed a lot more than just butter in those baggies. Not to mention the scales. YUK ! ! !
Charlotte

Prophet of God

For a couple months, I have been wanting to watch General Conference of our church on TV instead of listening to it on satellite radio. It was always our intent to be able to watch Conference (and BYU TV) when we got this satellite system, but they sold us the wrong satellite dish, so we have just made do with listening.

But for some reason, i really wanted to watch this one. I had been praying that we would be able to afford the new satellite dish in time for conference, and then I decided that it was just my vain desire to have a new satellite and more TV channels and therefore, I probably shouldn't be praying for something like that. On Friday morning, Brian did get a new boat job and I could have used the money for the new satellite, but there wasn't time.

So I set the DVR recorder to record the radio version of Conference that started at 8:00 Saturday morning and we intended to listen to it later. I set my alarm to get up anyway, but just as I leaned over to turn off the alarm and go back to sleep, the Spirit whispered to me that they would be sustaining the new prophet in the morning session and I should get up and participate.

for those of you not of our faith, we are asked to "sustain" all new workers in each area of our church. Twice a year, we "gather" in a world-wide conference and there we can raise our hand in the sustaining process to show support of our prophet and apostles. It isn't a vote, it is a covenant to show that we will follow them and help them.

Because our prophet, President Hinckley died this spring, this would be our first chance to sustain our new prophet, Thomas S. Monson. I met Elder Monson when I was 10 years old. My mom and sister have met him at other times since then and he has been a great blessing to our family and I fully support him being the new prophet. And I wanted to be able to raise my hand with everyone else, in real time, to promise my support.

We have tried many times to watch conference on the computer, but it is always broken up and it freezes and is no annoying, it just can't be done. I decided to turn on the computer to conference so I could see the picture and then turn the sound on with the radio version. It turned out, we didn't need the radio as the computer, somehow, played all 4 sessions of conference without a blip or a beep. So I got to watch conference after all. My prayers were actually answered. WAY COOL ! ! ! But there was more.

Only 15 times have we had a new prophet. And the session when we sustain the new prophet is a very special event, called a solemn assembly. I had forgotten that would be the case when I got up to watch. No one else was here and I couldn't contact them to share the news and have them come watch with me. So it was my own special experience.

When the session started, President Monson seemed to me just the same as he always had and I was a little disappointed. I wanted to see him as the Prophet - not just the nice Elder Monson. Then the process of sustaining him came. In a special session such as this, each quorum or group of the church stands to vote, world wide, so by the end, he has been sustained 8 or 9 times. The camera would pan out on the audience and show each group rise and then would close in on the face of President Monson.

And there was what I had needed to see - I could see on his face that as each group stood, President Monson was given the charge by the Spirit of God to take care of that group and I could see him "becoming" the prophet. The mantle of the office literally fell on him as I watched. It was the great need that my subconscious had been wanting and needing to see. Others in the conference, and even President Monson, mentioned that they felt and saw the same thing.

I did not doubt that President Monson should be the new prophet. I did not question that at all and I didn't understand why I would need to see him accept the mantle of the office until later in the Conference and I realized that I was given this gift to share with others, so here I am sharing this with you. I saw with my own eyes, the hand of God creating a new prophet to guide His church here upon the earth. I know President Monson is indeed a Prophet of God. I know if we follow him, he will lead us where we need to go. Love, Charlotte

Whose idea was this? ? ?

Who decided that the world needed to have Cancer in it? Isn't there enough pain and sorrow and sadness in the world without Cancer?

Cancer has touched our lives a lot lately. There are some things in life you can look at and say, okay, I can see how we will grow from this trial or that, but I think cancer is just the straw that breaks every camel's back.

It is just the experience that is too much for anyone to bear. So, here are our prayers for all those who have been destroyed by this ugly machine ... the patients as well as the family and friends that have been drug thru hell by the big C. We love you all.

funniest video

This is the funniest video - please be patient with the breaks in buffering - it is so worth it. I remember watching this the first time on SNL and laughing myself silly over it. Ahhh, how funny when life imitates "art".

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4122944961711350389

Okay, this is the final straw

http://www.breitbart.tv/?p=62964


http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=7095154&ch=4226722&src=news

China, et al.

I feel kind of bad because when I first mentioned boycotting the Olympics because of Tibet, it really wasn't an issue. Things in Tibet hadn't really begun to escalate and I hadn't heard of any Olympians who were actually thinking of boycotting.

I have a childhood friend (Heather Mitchell McLean) who has met the Dali Lama and is one of his disciples, so I don't take the issue in Tibet lightly. But I also didn't mean for my blog to become a great political debate.

Earlene and I going to the Olympics is sort of a joke/ fantasy - okay, it is a total joke/ fantasy, but I want those who are interested to know that we don't take the situation in Tibet lightly or as a joke..... so I just want to separate the two issues here and now and let everyone know that:

1. We aren't going to the Olympics --- unless President Bush intervenes and asks us to represent our country in the event.
2. Personally, I respect the people in Tibet and Taiwan and wish them the best of luck in gaining and maintaining their independence from mainland China.

Love you all, Charlotte

Olympic official: athletes mulling Beijing boycott

Olympic official: athletes mulling Beijing boycott
Sun Mar 16, 4:04 PM ET
BERLIN (AFP) - International Olympic Committee vice-president Thomas Bach said a number of top athletes were considering boycotting the games in China over the bloody crackdown on protesters in Tibet.
Bach told Bild am Sonntag newspaper he understood the athletes' concerns about the situation in Tibet but said he was advising them to participate.
"They will realise when they assess the situation that it is better to make an appearance than to stay away. That is a symbol that will be noticed by the public," he said.
Asked if human rights had been a concern when Beijing was selected to host the August Games, Bach said the IOC believed the intense focus on China would have a positive effect.
"We are of the opinion that the Games will help China open up. But we cannot solve the problems that UN secretaries general have not been able to solve for generations," he said.
"The Olympic Games can foster change and be a catalyst for a solution but they are not a panacea."

check out our shop

We set up our shop on etsy today. You can find us at : http:// thewindfarm.etsy.com

Charlotte's New hobby

Now that we have DSL, we spent the money to go wireless with the other computers in the house, so I have been using Alicia's computer in the evenings to entertain myself (Brian works nights, remember).

So I was checking blogs, and our friends in Missouri - Ben & Denae Katzoff - have all these links on their blog and I thought it would be fun to go blog jumping and that was really fun and I thought that would be my new hobby - just randomly reading blogs of people I don't know. Then one blog led me to a really interesting blog that led me to another and then to another and i finally ended up at etsy.com

It is the coolest site - all handmade stuff. It is all the rage right now. They have all different categories and it changes, literally, every minute because people are always putting their stuff on there. It only costs 20 cents per item and 3.5 percent when you make a sale, so it is much more reasonable than most galleries or web sites.

So now my new hobby is just spending hours and hours going thru all the stuff on etsy. It is great. We are going to put a bunch of stuff on there really soon. I'll let you all know when. Justin just finished a really beautiful burl bowl today. It is our first official item ready for sale. Check it out. I find it really inspirational. I've made pages and pages of notes of stuff that the entries on the site have inspired me to try to make. Happy Crafting.... Charlotte

Rockin' & Rollin'

We have been having swarms of earthquakes for a couple weeks. I have only felt one tiny jiggle - this house is great for that. The only earthquake we ever really felt was that giant one that ripped the state open in 2002. Anyway, if you are interested in earthquakes the site we use is: http://www.aeic.alaska.edu/Seis/recenteqs/index.html

It changes all the time. As the legend on the map says - white squares are within a day, the yellow 12 - 24 hours, orange 1-12 hours and red within the hour. If you click on a square, it shows you just that earthquake, and a closer map that is labeled so you can tell where it is. Then below the map it tells you the details of the quake and below that it tells how far it was from everything. Enjoy.... Charlotte

Top Chef & March Madness questions

So Top Chef first: what exactly is chicken piccatta and does Andrew have worms, Tourette's or is he on crack???

Second for March Madness: why are they making those poor Oregon State Beavers play again? Just call it a season and wait for baseball. HEY - Beavs are National Champs in Baseball - not the first Pac-10 team to EVER go in a winless basketball season. Just switch seasons in Corvalis already.....

Little known fact: the first team to win the National Basketball Championship was the Oregon Ducks - in 1939. Charlotte

Leaked Photo

The press leaked this early photo of the routine, thought I would share it with you all. I think they look great. Love Alicia

Call for more data

Okay, PEOPLE, I can not make these important decisions without all the data.... I did not know that Laura had already hand-sequined our swim caps and now they have already been sold on e-bay. and Grandma Marilyn had already arranged housing for us all, thru our cousin, Bill (Marriott,of course). And knowing how close we are to that branch of the family, our accomodations were probably really something "special".

Now I find out that Earlene has been working on our choreography. And I found a source for our suits while watching Project Runway - there is a giant "House of Spandex" in New York. Sandy and Susan are headed east for some meetings, perhaps we could impose on them to stop by and get us a couple yards of spandex for our suits.

If I had thought ahead, we could have volunteered to be clients for project runway and they could have designed us new costumes for our show. Does anybody know Heidi Klum??? could you call her and see if they are filming season 5 now, so we could have the costumes before this fall??

Also, I feel bad because Jed and Paul don't have cable tv. How will they see us perform?? Could someone sponsor some cable coverage for them?? Also, does this interfer with Paul competeing in the Olympic Iron Man Triathalon?? Does he want his outfit to match ours?

Also, we will need to arrange transportation. If we go right now, I might be able to ride Justin's snow machine north and hope that the sea ice is still in tact and I could cross the "land bridge" between here and russia and then just zip down the coast to china? ? ? But spring is definitely on the way - it is 40 here today and 25 in Fairbanks, so that ice window is closing REALLY fast.

Also, if I perform in the Olympics, how will this affect my disability status?? Anyway, no concrete decisions have been made. Earlene is still a kid, so has more years ahead of her in the sport than I do, so I can see how she is not ready to hang up the towel. Let's keep the dialogue open and going. I'm hoping to post some pics of Earlene and i performing in past Olympics - if I can get photoshop to work. Keep checking back. Charlotte

Retinking the decision

Okay, I am willing to reconsider the retirement issue. I just hope the press doesn't dig up that ugly business about the hydraulics :). hheheh nervous laugh, change of subject. Charlotte

Lies, all lies

Brian forgot to sign his name to the comment on the entry below - he claims that the news came as such a blow to him and his eyes were full of tears .

Passing of the torch

I tried to get a picture of the Olympic torch, but I couldn't get it to post.

anyway, I have been thinking a lot lately and with Earlene's busy schedule and with her family of grandkids growing every day, I have decided that it is only fair that I let go of my dream of winning Olympic gold in Synchronized Swimming in the 2008 Olympics. I just feel that I need to look outside myself and be willing to sacrifice my personal goals for the greater good of our extended family.

I personally am not completely comfortable with the whole China / Taiwan / Mongolia political situation. I know that the Olympics is supposed to transcend the whole political issue, but I'm just not big enough to let by-gones be by-gones, I guess.

But I really don't want my political views to be out there in the international Olympic arena, so if any of us are interviewed about why the best team in Synchronized Swimming is (literally) hanging up their towel, please refer them to the position that Earlene is needed by her new and growing grandchildren.

also, there is no truth in the rumors out there that we were caught with illegal hydralic lifts built into our swim suits in the 2004 Games. I think anyone who caught our performances in those games could see that we were running strictly on our own power and have never had to resort to illegal activities to maintain our place in the great history of the Games.

thank you for your continuing support of our endeavors thru the years and please support our privacy during this difficult time as we pass the torch to a younger generation.

The Whisler Girls --- Earlene and Charlotte

tagged by Denae

Denae kATZOFF tagged me on her blog, so I thought I'd post my replies on my blog and Alicia and my mom each posted their replies on their blogs. Anyone who wants to do this is tagged! :) Charlotte
what is your occupation? retired from being an administrative assistant
*what are you listening to right now? goose is honking , but mostly silence, it is the middle of the night
what is the last thing you ate? ummm, hehehe chocolate chips
*do you wish on stars? DEFINITELY
*if you were a crayon what color would you be? a purple/blue hybrid
*how is the weather right now? cold
*last person you talked to on the phone? voting pollster
*do you like the person who tagged you? absolutely*
how old are you right now? 54 and some days
*your favorite drink? A & W Rootbeer
*favorite sport to watch? college football
*have you ever dyed your hair? Who's asking and WHY? Did somebody say something? It was Brian, wasn't it?
*your favorite job? crafter
*any pets? Scruffy (cat), Mya (dog), Heathcliff (loud screechy goose)
*favorite month? august
*favorite food? probably chocolate
*what was the last movie you watched? Elizabeth, the Golden Age
*favorite day of the year? Dec. 21
*what do you do to vent anger? cry or listen to loud music
*fall or spring? i like them both the same, actually
*hugs or kisses? kisses, I think
*cherry or blueberry? cherry
*living arrangements? living with my husband, and daughter and her husband
*when was the last time you cried? today - at the end of Fiddler on the Roof
*what is on the floor in your closet? WOW - it is a big closet. Boxes of supplies, like garbage sacks and rubber gloves and such, shoes, luggage, water storage, carpet cleaner, other stuff I can't remember
*who is the friend that you have known the longest? My husband, Brian or my sisters
*what did you do last night? started my first altered book and watched movie
*what inspires you? music, sunshine, scenery, old books, old architecture and art, quilts
*what are you afraid of? the unknown and nightmares
*how many cars have you had? 24 at least-1956 Dodge or Plymoth, 1955 chevy, 1960 chevy, 1967 toyota corolla, chevy camaro, F150 ( probably 7 or 8), wood-panel station wagon, tauras, GMC pickups (3), F250, escort (4), durango,
*how many keys are on your key ring? 5
*how many years at your current job? 8 years, 7 and 1/2 months
*favorite day of the week? wednesday
*where have you lived? Lakeview Oregon, Medford Or, Sidney Montana, Billings Montana, Pendleton oregon, Pleasant Grove utah, SLC Utah, Denver colorado, Joseph OR, Homer AK, Tok AK,
*first cd you ever bought? 1st "album" was 1964 - the Beach Boys to get the song Help me Rhonda
*favorite vacation? Oregon Coast
*favorite tv shows? Medium, Gilmore Girls, Top Chef, Project Runway, Desparate Housewives, and Real Housewives of Orange County (I admit it, trashy as it is, I like them), Grey's Anatomy
*5 things on my to do list today: order some groceries, put money in bank to cover mortgage, take a shower, finish reading my martha stewart magazine (I'm trying to reduce the amount of reading I have laying around), write to my sister
*Snacks I enjoy: A lot of people don't know this about me, but I will snack on just about anything
*What I would do if I were suddenly a billionaire: after paying off all my debts and all my family's debts, I would buy a very remote property and build a giant artist colony for my family to all come and live together
*3 of my bad habits: laziness, staying up too late and sleeping in late, and not eating right
*5 jobs I have had: baby sitter, secretary, insurance examiner, census taker, garden designer
*5 things people don't know about me: I wanted to go to fashion school, I try to always be honest, I always thought that people should only live until the age of 55 ( until about 5 years ago, when I decided that I should live until I am 203), I dropped out of high school for a year and then went back to graduate and go on to a year of college

TAG !!! IF YOU HAVEN'T BEEN TAGGED YET, You are it !!!

Mya, the service dog

Our dog, Mya, is so smart and loves to help out, so we decided to try to teach her to be a bigger help around the house... Sandra and Susan will remember I have wanted to train a service dog ever since they were here and we saw a TV show about them.

So I want to train Mya to carry the laundry downstairs and to get her mouth stronger, we have been having her carry an empty ice cream bucket. She is getting really good at learning it is work, not a game. Usually, she just carries mail or dirty socks, but yesterday, we had her carry some stuff up stairs that we needed up there and she just put her head up and walked around like she was carrying the crown jewels of Europe.

But coming back down the stairs, she grasped the bucket by the edge instead of the handle and then she tried to trot down the stairs.... I think she only landed on like 3 of the stairs... Apparently, you can't see if you have an ice cream bucket attached to your face. So now we know, she has to carry it by the handle. She wasn't hurt, but it was scary to watch.

We'll try to get some pictures of it one day soon. I really need to learn how to post pictures (well, I've learned to post pictures, but I haven't learned how to get them off the camera into the computer, yet).

Charlotte

A chicken in every pot

We got these chickens at a warehouse store in town owned by our friends... they come frozen in a block for restaurant use and they are already seasoned and ready to cook. We had a bit of a time getting them separated and wrapped, but now we have like 20 whole chickens in our freezers. They are the chickens that all the grocery store delis broil up and sell for $7.00 a piece.

so the last couple Sundays, I have taken one out frozen and put it into a pot to cook all morning. they are so handy and taste so good. Last week we made chicken and dumplings and then Chicken dumpling soup ( the left-over dumplings stay in the water and we add veggies and noodles and flavors and it makes a good soup - the dumplings thicken the soup and flavor it.) Today we are going to have chicken and dumplings and tomorrow, chicken pot pie. We make a really excellent chicken pot pie - Thank you Pier, for the recipe, all those years ago.

Anyway, the lengthy posts I have been posting on our blog and other people's blogs seem to be the result of this new medicine I am taking. I woke up one day last week and was ready to write my great American Novel... but I always think faster than I can write, so I usually only write a page or two and then get distracted. So this medicine is to be titrated up - which means that gradually I take more and more and then we lessen other drugs (in this case, the one that calms me down). So by this week, I was up til 4 or 5 every morning and then getting up at 9 or 10 AM, ready to rock and roll.

Finally Friday afternoon, I went in to lay down and all of a sudden I pushed my emergency button and Alicia came running in and I said, do you think we could fix the broken couch and put the TV where the stove used to be and my chair where your couch is now and cut the broken half off of Dad's couch with a cutting torch? She just looked at me and then went to tell the Life-Line people that she was with me and I was okay.
By the time she came back in, I was so tired and wanted to just lay there and die and then while she was standing there I said, "HEY, I had Dad buy some frozen strawberries, do you want to learn how to make strawberry smoothies, or should we make some strawberry jam today..... no, never mind, I'm too tired.....WHEW, I know I'm acting funny, but I can't stop ! ! !"

she excused herself from the room and went and called my case manager at the mental health center and it just happened that Dr. Burgess' office is next door to Margarets, and they both had a few minutes to spare, so he called Alicia right back and told her how to fix me. What I was doing was called rapid cycling and it happens to some one like me when we take upper drugs and don't get enough sleep. So he stopped the new drug for that day and had me take some of the calming drug and everything calmed right down.

the reason I am telling you all this, is because of our lesson in Family Home Evening this week, which was to listen to Pres. Eyring's talk on Remembering to keep track of the Hand of the Lord in our lives.

It takes at least six weeks to get in to see Dr. Burgess. He is NEVER available for phone call help because he has SOOOOOOOO many patients. He is leaving on a month long vacation next week, so if this had happened next week, he wouldn't have been there. Most of Margaret's job is out in the field, so we never catch her in the office. The chance that she would be in her office in the middle of an afternoon and Dr. Burgess not having a patient at that time and Also, the chance that Alicia would actually call someone for help ----- it is all a miracle. A genuine, old fashioned, New Testament, Hand of God, Miracle. So that was the Hand of God in our life for this week. No denying it. What a blessing to have the Holy Ghost tell Alicia exactly what to do and when to do it and the help was right there.

Also, both of them talked to Alicia a little bit and gave her kudos for calling them and also gave her support to get thru the situation. We are so blessed to have these wonderful people in our lives for help and support. And I'm so blessed to have Alicia here to take care of me.

Happy Sabbath, Charlotte

At least the flu is good for one thing

So, Joanna, forgive me - I don't have 2 sick babies to take care of while I had the flu and Brian was pretty much well while I was sick.... I am always buying classic books when I find them cheap at Barnes & Nobles when we make our big trips to Anchorage. For some reason when I am standing there surrounded by wonderful books for $6.95 each, I suddenly develop a burning desire to read the great classics of the literary world, to recreate the great gardens of the world in your own yard, yoga-tai chi-aran knitting-all about the world of leprechauns or all about the world of fairies {very similar worlds I found}, how to draw or to learn to cook _________ ( insert : pastry, greek, 783 italian dinners with only 3 ingredients, ancient Chinese {which actually started with a live chicken and 3 chapters of what you could do with all the parts that came off the live chicken - way too graphic for me to actually try}, french, every day breads for all occasions, etc., etc., )

Then I get them home from the big city and think , "WHAT was I thinking?? Reading makes my head hurt." and then they get put on my shelf to look pretty with all the other books I bought the last 12 times I went to the city.

So, to make a short story way too long, at church, people are always quoting C.S.Lewis. For some reason, I have always thought that C. S. Lewis and Lewis Carroll are the same person and so I thought that the guy who wrote Alice in Wonderland was the famous religious author. and then last year, we watched a Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe and we really liked it and i thought, well maybe there is more to this alice in Wonderland guy after all (I had tried to read alice when I was a child and as most do, found it to be terrifying, so had no desire to go there again). I had heard that they were making another one of the Narnia books into a movie and since we liked the first one, I was interested in learning about the second one.

Now those of you you are fans of the Narnia chronicles from your childhood will think it weird that I have never read them at all, but I just was never exposed to them. Anyway, last fall, Barnes & nobles had the complete Narnia chronicles on sale in one volume for $9.95 and I figured, HEY, a classic like that is a bargain at twice the price, so I brought it home.

The first thing I realized when I looked at it was that C.S. Lewis and Lewis Carroll are not the same person, so that made me feel better, but still, it is a really big, heavy book and holding big heavy books hurts my upper torso and lots of times, reading makes my head hurt. so it sat by my chair gathering dust until last week when I had the flu.

and I'm thinking, HEY, my head hurts anyway, and is going to hurt anyway, I might as well do some reading. So I picked up the Narnia book and didn't put it down again, basically, until I was done. I did go to sleep at night, which I usually dont do when I am into a really good book, but since I did actually have the flu, I did have to rest. Plus I found myself wanting to think about each book and the symbolisms in it, so I read it more slowly that I usually do.

So the point of my post is: if you haven't read the Narnia chronicles from start to finish, I heartily recommend them. They probably would have been too intense for me as a child - I could never stand when animals got hurt or died and so I probably would have been a mess if I had read them at that time. But I'm older now and I didn't cry once. I was very proud of myself. Please read them if you get a chance. Love, the newly literate -- Charlotte

blizzard video

Turn up your sound and listen to the wind howl - and think - this is on the protected side of the house. BRRRRR !!!!!

fun this week

These are still pictures of the blizzard - then we realized we could take a video so you could actually see the wind and listen to it.
I went up to the scrap room by myself one evening and made a bunch of cards - I send homemade cards to my visiting teaching ladies every month and they are adding more people for me to write to - so I thought I better prepare more cards. I am really bad at matching colors, so usually I completely rely on Alicia to mix and match for me. I did these by myself so I'm very proud of how they turned out.

Brian gave me a gift certificate for the scrapbook store for Christmas and I used it to buy some of these papers and flowers and unlike what I usually do, I went right home and used them.

Love you all, Char

Only in Alaska

We had a freaky thing happen at the high school yesterday. A mama moose and her yearling bull calf were hanging out over the weekend at the high school. They had charged the late night custodians so that they couldn't shovel the snow off the front walk of the school. Our high school has a large courtyard/ veranda and this time of year, moose seek out places without snow and they found the area to their liking.

Of course, we can't have moose charging kids and workers as they get really agitated around schools and have been known to kick people to death is school yards.

s0 anyway, yesterday morning the police and the custodians chased the mother away, but it just made the bull angrier. They ended up trying to shew him with rubber bullets and pepper spray and finally they decided they would use their tazers on him. INSTANT RAGE - he charged right at the officers and at about 3 feet away, they had to pull their weapons and shoot him. Right on the steps and deck of the school - in front of the windows of the classrooms. I'm surprised it hasn't been on the national news.

Some kids were shaken and dismayed and felt he didn't need to be killed, but he really did - you just can't have charging moose around schools. The police hauled him behind the school and had a charity come harvest the meat. I'm glad Brian wasn't at work when it happened so he wasn't in on the decision making and so the kids can't get mad at him for it.

I don't have a picture of it, but I imagine the story will be in the Homer News or the Homer Tribune next week. We always have to have a big controversy this time of year to help us all get thru the winter.

My friend sent this

Thought you might like this one so I'm sharing it with you

Hot Chocolate

A group of graduates, well established in their careers, were talking at a reunion and decided to go visit their old university professor, now retired. During their visit, the conversation turned to complaints about stress in their work and lives. Offering his guests hot chocolate, the professor went into the kitchen and returned with a large pot of hot chocolate and an assortment of cups - porcelain, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the hot chocolate.

When they all had a cup of hot chocolate in hand, the professor said, 'Notice that all the nice looking, expensive cups were taken, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. The cup that you're drinking from add s nothing to the quality of the hot chocolate. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was hot chocolate, not the cup; but you consciously went for the best cups...and then you began eyeing each other's cups.

Now consider this: Life is the hot chocolate; your job, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life. The cup you have does not define, nor change the quality of life you have. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the hot chocolate God has provided us.

God makes the hot chocolate, man chooses the cups. The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything that they have.
Live simply.Love generously. Care deeply.Speak kindly.And enjoy your hot chocolate!'

Organization question

We have started our New Year's organization push. I've been hearing alot about putting music and files and such onto computer drives - jump drives or small hard drives.

I am wondering if that can be done with tax records? I keep lots more tax records than I need to and so I have boxes and boxes of them lying around. It just occured to me this week that maybe I could scan them onto flash drives and get rid of the paper. Has anyone else tried this and does anyone know how the IRS feels about it?

In reading thru their regulations, all I found was mention of keeping records on microfiche, so apparently the regulations have kept up with the computer age.

Any suggestions or ideas or anecdotes you can share about this subject? Thank you, Charlotte

Our New Year

Space man Mylan



OOps I got 2 of this picture posted - it's cute

Beana in her monkey pajamas and her Christmas jewelry.
Justin on Christmas eve - smile on face, pain pills kicking in.
metal work Brian is doing to repair blown up boat.
more blown up boat repairs
Mylan in snow mobile hat.

We finally have snow and snow and snow. Poor Justin is still laid up with his bum ankle. They still say it is just a sprain, but it has been 2 weeks and he can still not put any weight on it.

Brian has been working on the big boat project - you can tell from the pictues, it is a very complicated project. He had 17 days off from the school and has worked most of them on the boat. He still has a ways to go to finish it. In case you missed it, the boat belongs to a charter fisherman and another welding company was doing some work on it and blew it up. The insurance company totalled it and the owner bought it back from them and Brian is working to rebuild it. The money has been a great blessing to help us get thru the winter months, especially with the cut in Alicia's hours and with Justin being home in bed with the bad ankle.

For New Years Day, Autumn called to see if they could come over for dinner - she was cooking an asian dish and wanted to share it and I said we were planning a Chinese feast as we usually have on New Years, so we combined meals and had a great evening. Mylan kept wanting to wear the snow mobile helmet. It was really funny because it is so big on him. We took a few pictures, but you really can't get the spirit of the thing. We were all laughing ourselves silly. Then Beena tried it on and it was so heavy, it kept tipping her over so we didn't get any pictures of that - just of her helmet head and the look on her face when she got up from being tipped over. They are going tomorrow to buy their house in Kenai, so in a month or so they will be moved up there. We'll have to go up there to go shopping more, since they will be living there and we will want to go see them. It's not that much difference - we drive 30 miles to see them now and will drive about 50 miles to see them after they move. but we will really miss them, especially for church and for scrap booking.

I haven't taken any pictures of the snow yet this year - maybe I'll send the dog out to play and get some pictures for you this week.

Love, Charlotte

Brian and Charlotte and Mya

Brian and Mya - Mya is sure she is a lap dog.... but she REALLY isn't. Brian looks the same as always.
This is my new hair cut and new glasses. We tried frosting my hair after our friend Rachel cut it, but it didn't look too good, so one night I looked in the mirror and said, OKAY, I have to change this, so I colored it myself. Alicia usually does it for me, but she was on her honeymoon.
I really wanted to get a newer look for glasses. Since Medicaid pays for them, I don't get a lot of choice, but when he pulled these out of the box, I knew they wre just the ones I wanted. But with the new haircut, I kind of look like Harry Potter sometimes. But it is good to update one's look every so often. I used the trick of hiding my chins with the crossed hands underneath. That's a new look too, my usual trick is to look up - we have some dandy pictures of me trying to hide my chins by looking up.

Anyway - this is us for 2007. Love, Charlotte

another blog

Just wanted to post on here, for those that I didn't have email addresses for, that Justin and I have made another blog, for the two of us. Right now we're putting pictures from our trip on it, and we'll try to keep it up to date. Mom and dad will keep posting to this blog. Just one more to add to your list. Thanks! Alicia

oh, ps, there's a link to the right that leads to our new blog.