Another one from my travels...

At first I thought, "Wow, what would it have been like in the Suburban."  Then I thought, "What would it have been like to be the driver of the white van and see the Suburban driving at/over you."

Brant

"Rick" must have been right behind me when he took this picture

Winter Campout 2012

In preparation for our 6 year anniversary, I took a few nights off to spend time with the family. Late Wednesday night I got a text message invite from my neighbor to go on an overnight camp to Stevens Lakes near Mullan, ID with him and his brother in-law. Thursday I made a quick trip to REI to rent snowshoes and Friday (24th) afternoon we set off. The hike in was about 3 miles with one really steep stretch where it was one step forward and two steps back as we kept breaking though the snow and sliding down the slope. We arrived at our campsite near 5000 feet just as the sun went down and set up tents by headlamp. Note to self: Check your headlamp case BEFORE packing it to ensure it actually contains one headlamp. Lucky for me there was a spare available to borrow.

The sky was clear and cold when we went to bed, but there was a winter storm warning in effect calling for lots o' snow in the mountains. It started around midnight and snowed about an inch an hour all night and into the next day. I woke up about every two hours to shake the roof of my tent to clear the snow and keep the walls from closing in on me. In spite of that, I was actually warm in my bag all night.

The next day we drug ourselves out of our warm bags around 9:00 and left for home just after 11:00. The hike out was interesting since the trail had been snowed/drifted over. We had some "temporary delays" but found the trail and had a nice hike out in the blowing and drifting snow.

Luckily we made it home in time for our anniversary date: A Spokane Chiefs game complete with cold $5.50 burgers and warm sodas.

My tent is the brighter yellow one on the right. This is the next morning after we dug our way out. My fellow campers had a nice 4 season winter rated tent and slept through the whole night. Their tent was totally covered except for the vents.

This is a shot across the meadow. It's surrounded by steep slopes on three sides and the avalanche warning went from "moderate" to "high" overnight. Don't worry Mom, we were far enough away from the slopes and in the protection of some nice big trees.

Denver Botanic Garden

We visited the Denver Botanic Garden last Monday while Lisa was in Arizona. Think it was humid inside the mega greenhouse?We met up with Leslie and her kids. There wasn't much too look at in February. One lap around the gardens and we were done. Tyler came home with us to spend the afternoon with the boys. They had a good time.

Lisa and I went to Leslie's show last night, "Thoroughly Modern Millie." Good show, enjoyed the tap dancing, thanks Leslie!

Not much going on

It was a pretty slow week. No wounds to photograph, the Jazz Festival is over, yes, it did snow on the last day of the festival. It snowed and the wind blew so hard yesterday that they closed the road out by Colfax. On Thursday the wind was clocked at 90 mph just south of Genesee. Today there are a few skiffs of snow left but the sky is clearing up. That's about all the excitement there is in Moscow for now.

Emails from long lost relatives

So, I occasionally get emails from a Zirker family that lives in south Idaho somewhere. I think my email address must be similar to someone in their family. I've heard about mission calls and experiences, family reunion plans, and babies being born. I even responded to an email once and explained the situation. I nice lady wrote back and apologized and informed me that my email address was indeed very similar to her son's and that her son had lived in Moscow for a while and met Grandpa once or twice. She must have told her husband because the emails died down for a while. Lately though, they have started back up. The most recent one was sent just to me and not to the whole family. Here's what it said:

Tom,

Have you called Tricia and congratulated her on her baby son?

If you done it, good for you.  

dad

Do you think I should answer? Should I tell them that Tricia and I haven't been speaking ever since I told her her new baby looked like a worm? 

Yesterday was a bright sunny day, so we went 80 miles north to the Gettysburg battlefield. It is just across the Mason-Dixon Line (which is market by a sign along the highway) and a couple of miles into Pennsylvania. They have a nice new museum and visitors center and I'm sure the displays were very nice. We were feeling a little cheap, so we skipped the $36/person total package and opted to create our own tour using a brochure the lays out a 24 mile driving tour of the area and a printout of the Wikipedia article on Gettysburg. If I had the money, I might have paid the $65 to have a personal guide ride in our car with us and tell us all about the sites. We saw the guides all over and they seemed to know everything, a true dream job for the Civil War nerds among us. The battlefield is huge (at one point the Confederate line was over 5 miles long) and in the 3 1/2 hours we were there we only saw the major highlights. 

Welcome to the Museum and Visitor Center 

 Kelly took a picture of a barn just for Dad.

 They have constructed a road along the battlefield that pretty much follows the battle lines. The big monuments you can see mark the center of the line of each group of men. They were all built by the state or group that they represent and show a little character of the home state. They usually say "Pennsylvania 5th Regiment," or something like that, and then list battle dates, casualties, and other campaigns they were involved in. Between each of the large monuments there are often small stone markers that show where the left and right flank of each group were. Some groups held a line that was only 50 or 100 feet long, while others held several hundred yards.

 There are a few observation towers around the battlefield that allow you to get above the trees and see the lay of the land. This one was about 80 ft tall.

 Kelly hiding behind a wall on top of Big Round Top. This wall is probably new, but there were still remnants of old walls all over the battlefield.

 The view from Little Round Top, looking down into the Devil's Den. The picture doesn't really do it justice, but from the top you can see most of the battlefield and you can see why it was such an important strategic position. 

 Apparently the Pennsylvanians didn't want to feel left out, so they built this 110' tall monument in the middle of the battlefield. 

 "The Copse of Tress" - this is the group of trees that was the target landmark for Pickett's Charge. This area also represents the high-water mark of the Civil War, or the furthest that Confederate troops ever made it into Northern territory. 

Pickett and others led around 12,000 men from the far treeline and across this 3/4 mile open field. If you enlarge the picture and look closely in the middle of the treeline, you can see a kind of gap or open area in the trees where Pickett started his charge. A few Confederate soldiers made it over the stone wall that represents the Union line before the charge was completely turned back.

You know it's a bad day when....

This is what happens when you are looking up at the roof of a building with a Project Manager and an Architect and trip on a short retaining wall. I did a face plant into a barberry bush. I have been picking thorns out of the side of my face, my stomach, and both hands for two days.
Did you ever wonder what all the antenna look like on West Twin after a late winter snow storm? Kind of cool huh?

Moscow Mountain looked cool in the late afternoon last week so I hurried home and got my camera to take a few shots. I liked this one with the fresh snow on top and brown fields below.

Mom and I spent some time at Moscow Builders yesterday and found a bathroom vanity I think we like. Every time we saw something we liked the salesman would say, "that's an upgrade". By the end of the session I don't think we could have added anything else. We're slowly getting closer.

I just got a call from the stake physical facilities representative that someone has broken a key off in the main entry door at Pullman and they can't lock and unlock it. Ahhh, what a great job but for the members. Hope I can make two more years.

Have a good week. We're excited about this summer. We have enjoyed the blogs this week.

Two can play at this game...

Click HERE

Thank You For The Valentine

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for the Valentine. Riley chewed it up really good and we took care of the Kit-Kat.

Idahonian

I came across a fun link today. Click on it and see how many of the names you recognize.

Idahonian

Ivan's Birthday

Birthday boy in new chair (with sweatshirt on backwards)
Cupcake with two candles

New toy car with driver (love my new camera)


The whole gang (bring back any old memories?)

We just got home from Ivan's birthday party. Lots of kids, noise, and cupcakes with frosting. A good time was had by all. We had a linger-longer after church, dinner at Seth and Lacey's, a birthday party, and then a high priest's social. We are stuffed and tired so we skipped the high priest social.

A hint at the reunion actives: we invited Tiffany, Tara, and families to our Monday night activity at Kamiak Butte. Socializing followed by tinfoil dinners, followed by a talent show at the amphitheatre. So, start thinking about your talent. Don't strain yourselves. Keep it simple and short. More info to follow as we get things nailed down more. Mom and I are anxious to see you all.

Getting exciting...

Yesterday, our computer screen saver started playing pictures from our last reunion.  I think I sat there and watched them for a full 30 minutes.

We have added a few since then.

 Maybe this time the grandkids can play with Grandma's parachute.

 Remember this talent...

And this talent...

I need me some smores!

Brant

We went to the Spy Museum today and I saw this video in one of the displays. It's a really neat representation of the Civil War battle lines and campaigns:

Civil War in 4 Minutes

Click on the link you can watch the video. I tried to embed it, but it wouldn't let me.

We took a drive out through southern Maryland yesterday. It was kind of cloudy and cold, but we still made it to a tractor supply store, an Amish farmers' market/flea market and a local state park called Calvert Cliffs.  The flea market was an eclectic mix of produce, junk, live chickens, Amish store keepers, white trashy junk dealers, and other such things. The produce selection was a little slim, but there were plenty of "Buggy Parking Only" signs and we will probably go back during the summer. 

Kelly playing an ingenious homemade instrument. The little blocks of wood were connected to old inner tube pieces and when they hit the pipes they played a nicely tuned scale. Kelly dazzled us with her rendition of Mary Had a Little Lamb, Chop Sticks, and Do a Deer... 

This park was made almost entirely of old tires (see Kelly's instrument above). I think I am climbing on the head of some kind of dragon.  

On the shore of the Chesapeake bay. The cliffs were kind of unspectacular and we failed to notice that it was a 2 mile walk from the car until we were well on our way. Also, it was kind of cold. You may recognize me old college roommate RyRy in the pic with us. 

Nice Camera

Thought I'd try my new camera with a shot of the moon!!!!

It's been an interesting week. The weather has cleared up and we have had beautiful days. I was driving home enjoying the day Friday about 3:00 and was withing about 300' of our street when I got a call from the Moscow Institute that there was sewer water coming up out of the floor by the restrooms. I turned around and headed up there. The main water line (potable water) from the city had sprung a leak about 10' in from the outside wall under the concrete slab. It found a previous crack in the slab and up it came under pressure. I called Roto-Rooter who inspected it Friday night and then Saturday showed up with 4 trucks, trailers, track hoes, etc.. Dug down outside and cut a hole in the concrete inside and pushed the new 2" copper line in from outside. They finished last night about 8:30. We have a little carpet and wall patching to do but otherwise it looks nice. Roto-Rooter is owned by my old secretary's son and they are expensive but they do a fantastic "turn-key" job.
Yesterday Mom and I went shopping in Lewiston and ended up at Home Depot checking out tile, fixtures, lights, and prices. We ran into Mr. and Mrs. Jim Cash and got the name of several contractors they thought would do a good job. We're getting closer.

What do you think of my "moon shot?" I'd been wanting to try it and see how close I could get. Not bad, Huh?