Photo from Mon & Tue

Photos in no order.
Panning for gold. The trough holds heated water (a courtesy for we non-Alaskans).

 The lines to get gold weighed.

Antique snowmobile.

 Dogs taking a dip after run around lake.

 The Discovery III, our sternwheeler.

Alaskan pipeline. Haven't talked to anyone, including a wildlife biologist, who has anything bad to say about pipeline. All think benefits far out with negatives. Seem very happy with inspection levels & cleanup efforts after leaks.

More tour buses here than cars, at least it seems that way. Bus driver told us the morning "rush hour" lasts 10 minutes. Evening rush hour is worse, it lasts 15 minutes.

These folks know how to brace a building! These rods are about 2" in diameter. The building is the airport terminal. This area is only one story.

More later. So far VERY interesting. If I were 30 years younger this place might even beat out TN.

Fairbanks, Alaska

We left our home in Centertown, Missouri at 10:30 AM yesterday, Monday. We arrived in our hotel room at 11:50 PM Alaska time, 2:50 AM Missouri time. It was a LONG day.

Prices are HIGH in Alaska. 2 breakfast buffets were $37.97. It was okay but not nearly as good as an $8 country ham breakfast from Triple D Diner in Crossville, TN. After breakfast we boarded a bus and at 8 AM we left for a riverboat cruise. Our sternwheeler riverboat, the Discovery III, displaces 280 tons and can operate in water that is only 42" deep.

Lots of interestng narration about the sites along the river. The most interesting was a kennel that bred and raised sled dogs. The guy who owns the place came out to talk to us while the boat "idled" next to the riverbank. He had a good size 4 wheeler sitting near the shore. They brought out 8 sled dogs and harnesed them to the 4 wheeler. As soon as a dog was in harness and they moved on to harness the next dog the dog in harness would throw himself against the harness try to pull te 4 wheeler by himself. They actually had to tie the 4 wheeler to an anchor to keep the dogs from running off with it. Once all 8 dogs were harnessed the guy got on the 4 wheeler, untied the anchor rope and the dogs were off and running. The guy said the dogs would pulll the 4 wheeler about 20 mph on the straight sections of the path.We watched them pull him around the perimeter of a small lake, probably about a mile. When they got back as they unharnessed the dogs the dogs ran to the edge of the water and jumped into the 45 degree water for a swim. When they took off with the first set of dogs the other dogs still in outdoor pens went nuts. The guy said it was because they knew they were soon going to get a chance to pull the 4 wheeler.

More happended along the trip but typing on my tablet is a pain. We docked back where we started at noon and had a great lunch at the place. A hearty beef stew, steamed vegetables, salad, good bread and a brownie. All served family style at long table with benches on both sides.

Then it was back on the bus and a trip to an old gold dredge and mining site. A train and open passenger cars took us around the site and we learned a lot about Alaska gold mining. They gave everyone a small sack of gravel, maybe half a cup, and we "panned" for gold. After you washed out the gravel you put your small flakes of gold in a little container and took it to the Assayers Office. The gold Kathy & I found is supposed to be worth $35 at todays gold price. We have it with us.

The Alaskan pipeline runs through the old gold mining area. We walked under it going in and out. We learned a lot about it.

Then it was back on the bus and back to the hotel for a nap. We walked a few blocks to a Thai restaurant for supper. Kathy had some kind of soup, a HUGE bowl, which she said was good. I had a cashew beef stir fry. The waitress asked if I wanted it "mild"and i told her medium. Wrong choice. It was good but to spicy to really be enjoyable.

Time to go. Have some photos I would like to include but Kathy just shut the balckout curtains and left me in the dark. Its 10PM. Tomorrow we board the bus for a 3 hour bus ride to Denali (at least one stop along way) and a 2 night stay there.

God is good, may He bless you and yours.

Lydia's Dance Recital

Today was Lydia's dance recital. There were several sessions. She was in the 1:00PM group. There must have been at least 50 girls, and 3 boys, ranging in age from 3-4 to teenagers. Most were in ballet but some tap danced and performed "modern dance(?)". They performed in groups based on their age. Lydia was cute as a button and did well, not that I am biased 😉.

They performed at the Miller Performing Arts Center in Jefferson City. It seats about 900 and I bet there were close to 500 people in attendance during her performance. 8 of them were Kelsey, Andy, Nolan, Amy, Marshall, Elaine, Kathy & I. After her group was finished, but before all the age groups had performed an announcer came out and said that we were under a tornado warning. We all had to go to the gym in the "basement". We all had to file down the stairways, probably about the equivalent of 4 stories, to the "basement" level. Everything was very orderly. The warning ended at 2:00PM and we left directly from the gym. The next performance was scheduled to start. I don't know what happened with the few kids who did not get to perform during Lydia's session. There weren't even any blown down leaves. It was raining when we entered but that had quit by the time we left. I don't think there was any significant wind.

This is the Miller Performing Arts Center. The lower level seats about 600 and the balcony seats another 300.

Isn't she cute.

It rained some more after we arrived home. It didn't rain long but the rain was heavy. We had 1.5" for the day.

We are getting excited about Alaska. Monday we drive to Kansas City and fly Fairbanks, arriving late Monday night. Tuesday we are taking a 3 hour riverboat cruise and might get a chance to pan for some gold. Weather is supposed to be partly cloudy with a high/low of 68/42.
Wednesday we take a bus to Denali National Park. We will be in the Denali area Thursday & part of Friday. Weather forecast is for snow and high/low temps of 29/23.
Friday night we stay in Anchorage. It is supposed to be partly cloudy with a high/low of 57/48.
We spend Friday morning in Anchorage and then travel to Seward where we stay Saturday night. Rain and 47/41 temps are forecast.
Sunday, June 4th we board our ship and head south along the Alaska/Canada coast, arriving in Vancouver, B.C., Canada Sunday, June 11th. After disembarking we go to the Vancouver airport and fly back to Kansas City. We will spend Sunday night in KC and drive back to Centertown on Monday.

God is good, may He bless you and yours.

We Are Doing Fine

Not much exciting going on so there hasn't been much reason to post anything. Actually their still isn't much reason 😊, but I thought I would let folks know we are OK.
We are getting excited about our upcoming trip. Only a few more days before we fly to Alaska. We will be gone for 2 weeks.
God is good, may He bless you and yours.

Keeping Busy, Busy Enough Anyway

Last Friday I went over to Kelsey and Andy's to cut up a tree that had fallen over during the spring. I must not have really want to cut any wood. I had a splitting axe, some felling wedges (in case I wedged the saw tight) and a bucket with an extra chain and some tools ready to go. I left them in the shed. I made about 6 cuts part way through the log and wedged the bar tight. Called Kathy and asked her to bring me the splitting axe and the wedges. Before she arrived I managed to use a big chunk of broken limb as a lever and free the saw. The entire "root ball" had rolled up out of the ground when the tree fell. I finished cutting 8 pieces out of the log before making a cut near the roof ball because I thought there would be enough dirt in the bark that I would dull my chain. There was and I did. The bucket with the extra chain was still in the shed. I loaded up what I cut and went home and unloaded it.

Friday night was Lydia's graduation from preschool. She is the last one on the left.

 They sang a couple of songs, with motions.

 Posing for pictures with friends.

Saturday I cut up the remainder of the tree. I had help loading it in the trailer.

Saturday evening I went to a fundraiser at the New Bloomfield Because He Lives Cowboy Church. New Bloomfield is about a 30 minute drive from our house. It was over 4 hours of good old country gospel music, it was great. The last guy didn't start until 8:30PM and he was the best of all.

The setting was an indoor arena with folding chairs and lawn chairs. People came and went during the 4 hours. I doubt that there was ever more than 60 people their at any given time. I took the photo below before things started. Note the 3 ladies near the center of the photo, near the arena wall.

They looked like Grandma, Mom & Daughter all sitting their with their noses in their phones, texting.

I went back Sunday morning for church. The guy who was the best singer during the previous evening led the music. He sang a lot of good old gospel music, I could have listened to him for hours. He did some pretty good preaching between some of the songs. The Pastor had a good message about the character of the "virtuous woman" described in Proverbs. He didn't let the guys off the hook either. He called them to be "virtuous men". He told them that if they wanted a "virtuous woman" they needed to think a little bit about where the best places would be to look for one, and to think about the places where they probably would not find one.
There were 40-50 people at the service. Dress was very causal. There were 4 guys in the row in front of me. Looked like a Dad and 3 sons. The son's looked to be in their mid-20's. One of the sons wore a long sleeve shirt with what looked like a fresh dirt stain on one of the elbows. He wore a well worn pair of cowboy boots and spurs. About halfway through the service he got up and walked out of the arena for awhile. Watching him walk off and walk back in it was easy to see he was HURTING. It looked like it could have been his ribs, or his right him, or his right arm, or all 3. He didn't look dirty enough to have been thrown by a horse before church, but I wonder if maybe he had been kicked by one. After the service I saw him up front with the Pastor praying for him.

Sunday afternoon Kelsey had a Mother's Day diner for the family. I think there were 16 of us there. A good time was had by all.

Kathy watched Nolan today. I spent a couple of hours doing research and writing a "Letter to the Editor". After lunch I forced myself to go out and get a little exercise. I split 4 of the pieces of wood I had cut and my back said it had enough of that. After a break I spaded up a 30 square foot area for Kathy to plant a few garden plants.

The high was in the high 80's today, it is still 82 degrees at 10PM.

Good is good, may He bless you and yours. 

Busy Week

As I noted in a previous post I went to Van Buren, MO Monday. Below are images that will give you a little idea of the extent of the flooding in Van Buren.

This is a plan of Van Buren. The black arrow points at the location of the First Baptist Church.

This is what the church looked like before the flood.

And this is what it looked like during the flood.

Van Buren is not flat. The river is a long way down a hill from First Baptist. I heard that 111 structures had been flooded in Van Buren. Sad.

Tuesday Kathy & I took another load of supplies down to Doniphan Missouri, 437 miles round trip.
Van Buren & Doniphan are both on the Current River. During the drive to Doniphan we were within 10 miles of Van Buren but Doniphan was not ready to receive the supplies Monday, when I went to Van Buren. Missouri Baptist Disaster Relief were setting up a tent kitchen in a Doniphan parking lot. They are planning on turning out 7,000 meals a day.

Going to Doniphan we drove through Ellington, MO. Kathy and I volunteered at Logan Valley Christian Retreat, near Ellington, during November 2011. I spent 3 weeks down there the summer of 2012 or 2013 helping them build a house. While there I worked a lot with Bruce Tremaine. Bruce is a full time self-employed carpenter and the Pastor of a small church in Ellington. We became friends. When we left Doniphan and headed home I tried to call Bruce but didn't get an answer. We decided to drive by his church in case he was working at the church, but he wasn't there. I tried calling again and got Charlotte, his wife. She said Bruce was working and that he would be sad he missed seeing us. On our way driving out of town Kathy said, "Looks, isn't that Bruce?" and is sure was. We stopped and had a good visit with him and his son Lance, who works for Bruce. Bruce told us that he had put sandbags around the doors at the church and siliconed the doors to seal them. He said that no flood water had got into the church other than a little that wicked in through the carpeting. We didn't go out to Logan Valley but we learned that while flood waters did not make it into Dave & Sue's home (the camp owners/operators). The have a dike that protects their walkout lower level. The water did flood their septic area and 3" of "stuff" backed up into their lower level through floor and shower drains.

Yesterday (Wednesday) I thought I better get a little exercise after sitting in a vehicle for over 800 miles on Monday & Tuesday, so I walked 2.5 miles on the treadmill first thing in the morning . I planned on mowing the lawn but riding the lawn mower isn't much exercise. Then it was off to Men's Breakfast & Fellowship for an enjoyable morning of gabbing, eating & studying. While at breakfast I asked Larry Farley, the guy who I helped pour foundations a couple of weeks ago, if he had managed to clear all the mud off the foundations, we have had a LOT of rain after the foundations were poured. He said he had worked many hours on them and was in the process of forming about 80' of a 30" high wall. He hoped to get it poured before the rain started yesterday, it was supposed to start raining at 2 PM. I asked if he wanted some help and he said he would love some. I came home from the restaurant and mowed the part of the lawn that was the tallest and then went to his house. I left about 5:30. Fortunately we only received a few sprinkles during the afternoon. Larry, Billy (Larry's son-in-law) and I were able to finish the forms and pour 5 yards of concrete. Larry was still building forms right up to the minute before Billy & I put concrete in the last section. He still needs to form and pour another 100' of perimeter wall but work we did yesterday will divert any runoff from new rain away from the site. I was POOPED by the time we finished pouring the last of the wall.

Kathy attends a Bible study on Wednesday evenings so we don't eat until late. She came home, grilled some pork chops and soon after eating I went to bed, which is why I am up writing this a 3:30 in the morning 😊.

Kelsey dropped Lydia off about 7:30 yesterday evening so that Lydia could do a "sleep over". Kathy and Lydia were out planting flowers when I went to bed. Andy will pick her up this morning and take her to preschool.

God is good. May He bless you and yours.

Cancelled Camping Trip

Weather has been beautiful here the past several days. Our yard is still soft from all the rain but it is drying out.

Several months ago I watched a TV show that featured Lebanon, MO. It looked like an interesting place to spend a few day. It is about a 2 hour drive from here, pulling the travel trailer. Last Friday I made reservations for a campsite at the state park very near Lebanon for Tuesday & Wednesday nights this week. We have the trailer ready to go except for hauling out some food and clothes.

Early last we I received an email, part of a mass emailing to all people who are certified in at least one of the Missouri Baptist Disaster Relief disciplines. It mentioned 4 sites across southern Missouri and 2 in St Louis where DR (Disaster Relief) would be sending work teams. One of the requests was for "runners" to haul supplies down to the teams. I replied that I would be willing to do that, before making the camping reservations. I didn't get a reply so I figured they had all the "runners" they needed. This morning as I was finishing readying the trailer I received an email saying they needed "runners" as soon as possible. If some could come this morning it would be great.

I took a shower, put on clean clothes and about noon I called them to see if they still needed help. They did so I told them I would take a load somewhere. I ended up taking a load to Van Buren, Missouri. I hauling bottled water, Gatorade, throw away coveralls, gloves and ShockWave (after places are "mudded out" and the wet wallboard, carpet, etc. is removed, they spray the area with ShockWave to kill any mold). It was a 390 mile round trip.

Kathy and I volunteered at a camp in southeast Missouri in Nov 2011. We did some sightseeing while we were down there and Van Buren was one of the places we visited. We had lunch their and got an ice cream cone from a small ice cream shop. Most of the outside mud had been cleanup up but from what I was told it was almost impossible to believe that the river had flooded so much of the town. The Disaster Relief guy I visited with while we were unloading said that many of the owners of small businesses in the little town had said they would not reopen their business. Sad.

It was a nice day for a drive, and the scenery was beautiful. Hwy 19 between Salem & Eminence is a 45 mile BEAST!  The two lane pavement is not bad but I don't think there is one 1 mile stretch in the entire 45 miles that doesn't have a curve. Quite a few with posted speeds of 30 mph and MANY with posted speeds of 40 mph. There is even a bridge, maybe 150 yards long, that is only one lane. Not because of construction, it is just to narrow for two modern day vehicles. No flashing lights, no stop lights, just a sign that says one lane bridge ahead. You come around a corner and you hardly have time to stop if there is a car/truck already on the bridge coming toward you.

Kathy had Nolan today or she would have went with me. We decided to cancel our camping trip (30% chance of rain Wed & 60% chance Thru) and do some more "running". We pick up another load between 7:30 & 8:00 tomorrow morning. We won't know the destination until we are loading. We could get sent to Neosho, MO which is over 210 miles from here, down in the southwest corner of MO, almost to Oklahoma and Arkansas. Or we might get sent to Doniphan, MO, which is about the same distance but down in the southeast corner of the state. Or maybe West Plains, MO which is straight south of us about 180 miles, just a few miles from Arkansas.

Nolan checking out the kitchen.

The Hollywood Starlet having breakfast with Papa last Saturday. She had a cheeseburger & fries for breakfast.

Then is was on to the park. California has a wonderful city park with asphalt walking paths and lots of playground equipment around the perimeter of the lake. (It was a little muddy, but we had a good time.) Lydia checked out the lion.

She tried her hand at the balance table. The squares that cover the ground look like concrete but they are thick rubber.

Then it was on to the stepping stones. The first time she stepped from one to the other then she decided to crawl from one to the other.

And finally she climbed the wall.

She made it to the top OK but then got a little scared and called for me to come get her down. I "talked her down" and she did just fine. But I could see it was really hard for her to see where she could find places for her feet on the way down.

God is good. May He bless you and yours.

More Rain

Over 2" more rain today and it is still raining. We are far past the point of this rain doing us any good. The ground is saturated and it is all of it is running into waterways.

Yesterday I mowed our lawn. It was to wet to mow but it was the driest it will be until maybe Saturday.

I purged the "cherry juice" (RV antifreeze) from the water lines in our travel trailer and "sanitized" the water system by filling it with water containing 50 ppm chlorine, leaving the solution in the lines for 4 hours and then flushing the system with fresh water. I still need to check the tires (1 may be low), and make sure the hot water heater, furnace/AC, stove, etc. are all OK after the winter.

Lydia & Nolan got a kick out of a small squirrel that came up on the deck eating bird seed. The squirrels are a real nuisance. So far I've killed 4 and Andy has killed one shooting them with my pellet gun, standing in the house and shooting out the door in the photo.

Yesterday evening I fired up our wood fired boiler. The overnight "low" was 58 and it has now dropped to 50. Tonight's low is supposed to be 45 with tomorrow's high/low forecast at 60/51. The boiler also preheats our hot water. Our heat pump is very efficient at these temperatures but no matter how efficient it is it can't compete with the dollars worth of gas I burned cutting the wood that will fuel the boiler for several days.

This morning was our Men's Fellowship breakfast and Bible study. One of the guys told about a dairy farmer in southwest Missouri who had 32 cows killed by lightening. The story is at:
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/lightning-kills-32-dairy-cows/
I don't remember ever hearing about cows being killed by lightening but I guess it isn't all that uncommon.

God is good. May He bless you and yours.

I'm Still Alive

Though some of you might think I had kicked the bucket because I haven't posted anything for a long time. We have been traveling.

On Thursday, April 20th we drove to my Mom's in Coldwater, Michigan. Sunday, April 23rd we drove to our place in Crossville, Tennessee. Then on Thursday, April 27th we drove back to Centertown, Missouri.

On Friday night we went to the Moose Lodge in Fremont, Indiana for fish. It is always good but that night it was awesome. People in the photo are Kathy (my brothers wife), my Mom, Kathy, Cindy and Nancy (Kathy's sisters), Ed (Cindy's husband), Doug (our son), Anthony (Doug's husband) & David (my brother).

Before leaving the Moose Cindy handed out a bunch of her famous cookies and I got a bunch of her tomato juice hootch.

Chasen & Colton, David's grandsons, certainly enjoy Cindy's cookies. So does Ashton, his other grandson, but I didn't manage to get a photo of him.

 

After setting in Mom's barn for 17 years David got his Chevelle out last fall and now has it back on the road.

We enjoyed having a chance to catch up with Tom (Kathy's brother) and Mary Lou (his wife) while in Tennessee. Kathy took the photo below out one of our cabin windows.

On the way back from Tennessee we stopped for lunch at a Southwest Grill. I don't think I had eaten at one before. Lunch was excellent, and while not cheap it was a good value. Dinner/supper prices looked a little high (I'm cheap) but the prices on their lunch menu were reasonable.

Friday through Sunday we got 6.75" of rain at our place in Missouri. We needed rain, but not that much that fast. Our pond needed water it was at least a foot below the bottom of the overflow pipe Friday morning but it was overflowing by Sunday PM.

Water flowing through the overflow pipe and over the spillway/path.

And running down to a pond on a neighbors property. When its full this pond comes almost to our property line.

Water flowing under our driveway feeding our pond. The pond also gets fed from runoff from the other side of the house.