Passing Time

Riley is over visiting Megan and the boys tend to crowd them. So, I decided to keep them busy and play around with the computer. The temp is -16 outside, so we won't be. Good news though, we're gaining daylight!

Christmas 2008

The kids pre-loot on Christmas morning.

All around the table

From the left Cody (standing), Justin (standing out), Kathy, sis Jennifer, Louis, Cathy, the backs of Jenny and Angie.

Cathy and Judy - I love this picture.

Eddie and Jacob

Premeditated Deception

Cathy was walking up the stairs and saw this little bit of "artwork" that appears to be signed by the artist. She called Colton down and he denied doing it. She knew this, but needed to ask. Then she calls Justice down, believe it or not, he denied it too. Actually, when she asked him about it, he said "read it...it says Colton." So I called Colt down and told him he would have to be punished for having done this. I told him it wouldn't be so bad if it were pencil instead of ink. Then Justice proclaims from up the steps, "It is pencil." Then I asked him how he knew and he said he watched Colt draw the picture. I finally decided the lies had gone far enough and got him to confess to his actions. He said he was drawing on a piece of paper and it got on the wall. I guess he just went with it. Besides a spanking for his art and lies, he had to clean the wall.

An Edlin's Idea of Winter Fun

Now you see 'em...
...now you don't.
We love doing this. We get under a tree burdened with a load of snow. Then we kick the tree. For a few seconds, it's white out conditions. It's more fun if your coat has a hood. Otherwise you get a bunch of snow down your neck. We had to kick a lot of trees to get this picture. The timing was tough. They had fun getting it just right. Now, right after I took this whiteout picture and put my camera in my pocket, Justice yelled "Eagle!", and a bald eagle drifted just above the trees right over our heads. It was the coolest thing! I hoped that it'd land in a tree, but it didn't. I couldn't get my camera back out in time. 

So I posted this one. We saw it in town yesterday. It's looking right at me. Awesome.

'Round the Christmas Tree

Don't look at Colt's shirt tail.

My ladies.

The Rest of the Ride

These are the rest of the pictures I wanted to share from our "hunt" turned "ride". 

This is a frozen creek that I thought was pretty interesting. The shelf is where the water first froze. About two feet below that is where the water started to freeze again. As the water supply started to decline, the ice couldn't support itself and broke through. We could here water running where I was standing when I took this picture. My foot broke through once, to water. It wasn't deep, but it was enough to convince me that I didn't want any part of me wet for the rest of the day.

We took this picture on our way out. It wasn't long after that darkness moved in.

Colt and his ginger bread house

Colt's class made ginger bread houses a couple of days ago. This is his before we ate it. You'll notice a sidewalk stone missing. It was a Hot Tamale and it was irresistible. I couldn't help my self. He got way more upset than I thought he would. As you can see, he recovered.

First panoramic post

My friend Eric got a pair of snow machines last week and we've been chompin' at the bit to take 'em out huntin'. We hunted. We saw two rabbits, five moose and two ferret looking things. Minks? Three of the moose were bulls, nice but sub-legal. Next year. When our ride started, we couldn't see the sky anywhere. After we had lunch and started back, a brisk wind kicked up and blew the sky wide open above us. This view inspired me to try out the panoramic function on my camera. It worked pretty good. It makes the terrain look sloped, but otherwise, it looks pretty good. We're looking west at the Chugach Mountains. Knik Glacier is up the valley to the left. Wasilla is out of the valley to the right. Anchorage is on the other side of the mountains.

A bit cold

The temperature has gone to the cellar and stayed. I think it hit 2 today, it's zero now. These are the trees in our back yard. We haven't had recent snow, it's just so cold that any moisture in the air clings to the trees (or any cold object for that mater) and they get this frosted appearance. Today we had eagles all over town in the trees. I don't know if they're always there or if they just stood out because of the frosted trees. We must have seen about ten of them.

I finally got some roasts out and marinated some meat for jerky. This is caribou and I pulled moose off the smoker this morning. Of course the temp drops like a stone when I decided to do it. It makes for some less than idea conditions. I have to put a cardboard box over the smoker and then insulate the box so the temp will stay up. It makes it harder to get the meat dried just right. Colt and Justice sampled the moose and it passed for flavor.

Snow fun

Cathy and the kids made a snowman in the front yard. It's been warm today, so we thought the snow was going to be better than it was. It didn't pack very well, so he's not a very big feller.

Smiles for all of us.

How many snowmen have you made with moose turd smiles? These were from the visitors we had last month. The nose is at risk of becoming smile material. It's a carrot. I realize the picture isn't very clear. Sorry about that.