11/2/2008

I put up some Christmas lights today.  Why so early???  A couple of reasons.  The first reason is that back in PA you could always count on at least one day somewhere in the middle of December when the temperature would hit the mid fifties, or even the mid sixties.  So, there was always opportunity in December to put up lights.  Well, here in Alaska, you might see temperatures hit the mid thirties in December, but not likely.  We are pretty much in a deep freeze from now until the end of March.  So, I thought I would get the lights up now while the temperatures are still mild (mid twenties).

The second reason is that we are losing daylight fast.  Right now, our daylight is about 8 hours (actual sun in the sky) and about 9 1/2 hours including dawn and dusk.  By December 21st which is only a little over a month away, we will be down to about 5 hours of sunlight and only 7 hours including dawn and dusk.  So, we will lose 3 hours of sunlight in a little over a month.  So, back to the second reason, with our lack of sunlight, I thought it would brighten things up a bit to have lights up.

I Will take some pictures and get them on the website within the next couple of days.  They look really nice with the snow all around.

11/4/2008

There are so many "firsts" for me here in Alaska.  You know ... first time I touched a glacier; first time I saw a moose staring me down from ten feet away; first time I saw a grizzly in the wild; first time that I have been in the habit of carrying a loaded weapon with me when the kids and I go outside to play; etc ...

Well ... today marks the first time that I voted for a convicted felon to represent me in the US Senate.  Actually, it is the first time that I voted for a convicted felon to represent me anywhere!  I am sure that you have all heard about the trial of 84 year old Ted Stevens who is our one and only senator from the state of Alaska.  Last week, he was convicted of lying on his forms that disclose the source of his campaign donations.

If you heard any of the news reports about the trial which took place in D.C., you know that the prosecutors in this trial were even worse than the prosecutors in the O.J. Simpson trial.  They lied; they blatantly broke rules relating to how and when to introduce evidence; and there is evidence coming out now that they actually coerced witnesses while they were on the stand!  I do not know how the jury was able to come away with a guilty verdict, and I do not know how the judge did not throw the case out.  Anyway, he was convicted.  He will appeal, and I have to believe that he will win the appeal.  However, I still think that he is going to win the election today.  We will see ....

11/7/2008

Left for Phoenix today.  Steve Rasmussen got Nascar tickets from work and we met in Phoenix for the Checker 500.  The tickets also got us in for the Saturday Nationwide Series race, so I had to leave on Friday in order to get there in time for the Saturday race.

11/8/2008

Met Steve this morning at the hotel when he arrived from Boise.  It was great to see him!  Steve's dad and his dad's friend accompanied us to the race on Saturday.  Steve's tickets got us into the garage area and into the pit area.  Got some great pictures of the cars and even some drivers.  I got a picture of Steve getting Jeff Gordon's autograph for Taylor.

What a cool experience to be in the garage area.  It was actually really strange to think that Nascar actually lets regular people off the street to get within inches of the cars, garages, and drivers.

Check out the pictures.

I spoke with Rhonda today and she told me that her and the kids met some friends at a local lake for ice skating.  She told me that they played a pick-up hockey game and it looks like Andrew has some natural talent.  He is interested in signing up for hockey.

11/9/2008

Back at the track today with Steve for the Sprint Cup race.  Again, we got into the garage and pit area.  We were able to see the cars being prep'd for the race.  We also got to see all of the Nascar testing that goes into each car.  It is a pretty intense procedure.

Even if you are not a Nascar fan, you really need to experience these cars racing by at 200 MPH while they are just inches from each other.  It was a great race to watch, even though Jimmie Johnson really dominated the whole race.

Of course the best part was to get to hang out with Steve for a couple of days.

11/10/2008

Flew back to Anchorage today from Phoenix.

11/15/2008

Noticed fresh bear tracks in the back yard today.  I thought all of the bears were in their dens by this time, but apparently not.  A friend told me that if you can see the claw marks in the tracks then it is from a brown bear (grizzly).  If you do not see the claw marks, then it is a black bear.  The claw marks were very obvious.  I guess we have a grizzly still stalking about. 

11/18/2008

Signed up Andrew for Hockey today.  He is incredibly excited.  His first game is Saturday.

11/20/2008

We went to Sports Authority today to buy all of Andrew's hockey equipment.  He is counting down the days until his game.  Check out the pictures of him with all of his equipment on.

11/22/2008

Andrew had his first game today.  His team won 8 to 1.

11/23/2008

Danny worked today at a church in the downtown area that primarily ministers to underprivileged families in the downtown area.  The church donates food to families for Thanksgiving.  The food will be distributed to the families tomorrow night.  Today, Danny and other children from our church bagged food and prepared for Monday when the food will be distributed.

11/24/2008

All four of us worked tonight at the downtown church where food for thanksgiving is distributed to underprivileged families.  It was an incredible blessing to be able to serve in that way.  The food that was bagged and prepared yesterday was arranged sort of like a market.  The families would then walk through the "market" with a volunteer and the volunteer would fill their bags with food for Thanksgiving.

Danny and Andrew both had separate jobs in different parts of the market.  Andrew worked with some families bagging their food and then he worked behind the Yam table handing out yams to families as they came by with the volunteers.  Danny enjoyed walking around the market with families and helping them collect the food.  It was fantastic to see them serve with a joyful heart!

11/27/2008

Today was our first "white Thanksgiving".  I know that we have had the occasional snow shower on Thanksgiving back in PA, but we truly had a white Thanksgiving this year.  We received about 8 inches of fresh snow during the few days leading up to Thanksgiving and that fell on top of about 10 inches or so of existing snow.

The Isaacs invited us over for Thanksgiving.  Rhonda and I realized that yesterday was our first Thanksgiving ever that was not with one of our families.  A little sad, but it was nice to be with good friends for the holiday.

11/28/2008

Andrew played hockey today.  It was a significant day because although he has been at two games prior to today, he has not felt comfortable enough to get out on the ice.  His coaches have done their best to encourage him to get out there, but he just has not been able to.  Today, he was able to get out on the ice.  He did great and he he said he had fun.  It was so much fun to watch him play.  It is definitely an answer to prayer!

Steve Isaacs and his son Ivan David took Danny to an annual college basketball tournament while Andrew was at his hockey game.  Danny said he had a great time with them as they watched two basketball games.  The fun was not just from the games though.  Sarah Palin was in the arena while Danny was there.  As a matter of fact, Danny actually met her and got her autograph and got his picture taken with her!  There happened to be another friend of mine at the tournament as well and he saw Danny hangin' with the Governor and he took a picture with Danny standing with her.  I will post it here as soon as he emails it to me.

Another significant event ... We felt our first earthquake today.  Of course, we have experienced thousands of them already.  Anchorage gets over 4,000 earthquakes per year, but in 11 months, we have not felt any of them until tonight.  I was just sitting in a chair watching TV and I felt the chair shake a little and I heard some stuff on the table rattling.  Rhonda came out from the bedroom and said, "Did you just feel that?"  Yeah ... I felt it ... our first earthquake!

11/30/2008

Well we have had our first real snow storm of the winter.  We have had snow on the ground since September, but this weekend brought our first "real" snow.  We got about 14 inches of snow over Saturday and Sunday.  The really neat thing about the snow out here is that since it is so cold, the snow stays everywhere.  Back in PA, when it snows, even a big storm, the snow melts off of the trees and roads and buildings pretty quickly and you just end up with snow on the grassy areas.  Here in Alaska since it was well below freezing during the storm and since it is now getting close to zero, the snow stays everywhere.  Every tree branch, every road (even highways), every building is covered with powdery snow.  It is really beautiful ... like a postcard.

Andrew had four hockey games this weekend (Thanksgiving day, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday).  You could see him improving with each game.  It is so much fun to watch him play.