Day 26

Ok, here are a few pics from our trip to Moab to watch the Becca run a half marathon. She did great of course, and we had a wonderful time.

So here is the question:

Jessica is on her porch watching the boys ride the 4 wheeler. they come by the house going 10 mph, waving and yelling hello to her. She suddenly realizes that directly 10 feet in front of their path is Alyssa's pet tarantula, Cupcake. She yells at them to stop and because they always immediately obey her, they hit the brakes and in 3 seconds they stop in 4 feet!! Wow, tragedy avoided. Ok, so the boys continue their riding and after a while they make another pass by the house, this time they are travelling at 20 mph ( a little fast for all of our comfort levels) they again yell and flash the peace sign to Jessica ( or maybe it is the Victory sign!) Suddenly Jessica remembers Cupcake and as the boys are exactly 10 ft from the cute little guy, she screams, they brake. The question is; how long does it take them to stop and how far does it take them to stop? Will Alyssa get to snuggle her little Cupcake ever again???

Day 25

OK, an avition question for all of you to figure out, send me your answers on my email or text.

At an altitude of 10,000' above the ground, if your engine quits in the PC-12 you have 1256 square miles of earth available for you to land on. How much of this lovelly earth would be available to land on in the event of an engine failure if you were at 20,000' ??????? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm?

Day 24

........So Nichols and I get to his apartment in about 30 minutes. It is almost dark when we get there. It is the classic eastern Russian apartment building. The exterior is gray crumbling concrete, slowly sinking into the tundra, the stairways are dark and dank, but when you get to the individuals apartment it changes. This is their space, their little world in all that biggest country of the world that they have control over. Nichols apartment is rather spacious, neat and clean, and he quickly gets busy making dinner. I relax on a couch and watch the standard Russian news channel. They still are using a plain gray backdrop behind the older male reporter. No good looking female along with some sort of visuals pertaining to the story. The reporters drone wears me down, and I drift off, but Nichols soon wakes me and we eat a pretty good meal. Nichols is adapting to the life without his sweet wife Natalia, and I think she had done the cooking when she was there.
After dinner there isn't much to do so I doze off again on the couch and stay somewhat warm through the night on the couch. The next morning we are up, eating, sending his little son to kindergarten, and walking back out to the airport. It is chilly but not terrible, in fact some of the snow in the road has given way to mud. We arrive and head up to the tower. It is not quite 9 AM so we check some weather and I go look at my airplane, which faired pretty good through the night. It will require some sweeping off but that's about all. I am back in the tower when the clock strikes 9 AM and almost instantly the phone rings, it is the controllers in Anadyr, and Nichols has a short but positive conversation with them. I ask him " Well. what did they say?" He responds " They say - "With much pleasure, you are cleared to depart". Ha! I chuckle supposing that there has been some rather heated conversations through the night, and the controllers in Anadyr were probably at the bottom of the food chain and got the brunt of the blame. They are anxious to get me out of there!
i get the airplane clean, wait a little longer for the runway to be cleared and then it is back to the good old USA. I enjoyed my stay, it wasn't much of an inconvenience for me, but still it is nice to be headed east, and across the border in about 20 minutes.

Jim and Therese described the phone calls to the state department, the Russian Aviation people, Ted Stevens office and who knows who else. They handled it as well as I imagined they would. Its nice having such good people on your side.

The rest of the story plays out. We must remember that relations between the two countries are still improving. People don't want incidents like this happening during these times when agreements and working relationships are still forming. So, how do they handle it? Well, they handled it as well as it could be, I must admit. I get a letter from the Feds saying I am being investigated about it and that there may be serious certificate action taken against my license. I reply explaining what happened, but shortlly after I get a warning letter from the feds. Now, this isn't terrible, but it does go on my record, so I call the leader of the feds in Fairbanks and ask " hey, whats the deal?" He gives a non committal answer that basically says without saying; We had to do something and this is what was best for everyone. I understand. Blaming the pilot takes the heat off the two countries and the bad press that could affect the relationship. It is really the best solution. So I take it, and 2 years to the day later, I am on the phone to the Feds making sure the record of the warning is expunged as it is supposed to for all warning letters after 2 years. It is, I am happy.

Day 23

Hey, I got a call from Vern Yates this morning! You remember the Candy Man! He had seen the obituary in the paper about Don and was calling to tell us. He wanted me to send a big hello to all our children. He and his wife recently sold their home and moved into a apartment in Anchorage. Their home was sold to Jason Evans and Kiana Peacock! I am sure you remember those names, Jason lived in Nome and Kiana in Kotzebue, she was on the basketball and cross country teams. A few things about Vern, he flew in the Navy, he flew Corsairs ( way cool airplane) and then other planes like Beech 18's and some jets later. He then went to work for Japan Airlines and I think he was with them for some time. After he retired from flying is when he started travelling to the Bush and working for Bowman distribution. He is currently writing a book about his life.


So, I saw Flying Wild Alaska last night. Saw a few people I knew, but mostly it just reminded me of the great flying and people there are in western AK. I think I better start recording more flying related memories:


Once upon a time I was scheduled for a trip that was to go from Nome to Pt. Barrow and pick up 9 Russians to take directly from Barrow to Provideniya (PVS). That trip has a few extra conditions that are there to deal with; one is that we never know the PVS weather until later in the morning, but to do this long trip and get in and out of PVS during the short window that the airport is open, you really need to leave Nome for Barrow before you have received the PVS weather. OK, so as I am getting the airplane ready, Therese gets a message from Moscow that the clearance we had for that day was expired. We both thought this was wrong because clearances are usually good for 3 days and we are in the second day. So we decide to delay the departure until we can talk with the PVS airport and ask about the clearance and the weather. In the meantime we ask the US controllers what they think about the clearance and they all agree that it is good. So, when PVS opens she calls them and they report fairly good weather and also they say the clearance is good.

OK, that's what we wanted to hear, I am out the door for the 2 hr trip to Barrow. When I get to Barrow, I check with Therese and confirm weather and clearance still good and get the green light. So, I begin the process of loading the baggage for the 9 Russians. Now, you may remember that when you live in Provideniya, or an outlying village, and you get to go to America, you are going to take a LOT of stuff back with you. And this group was especially loaded up because the nice people from the Barrow area gave them lots of good gifts also.


So after spending a lot of time loading all I could, and putting on some more fuel, I head out. The trip goes pretty well, As I approach the border I am very interested in how the transfer will go, normally the US controller just hands you aver to the Russian frequency, you tell him Who, What and Where you are, and he will clear you on into their airspace. But this time I wonder if they will, Actually, if they don't allow me in it wont be any emergency for me, I will deliver the people to Nome ( I have plenty of fuel) and the good people of Nome will open their homes to let them stay until we can try again. But, I call them and it is no problem, they give me a clearance to a fix close to PVS and, as I approach, they give me a clearance for an approach and then after having the airport in sight , a clearance to land. We land carefully on that rocky strip being careful so as not to damage the propellers with the rocks. We taxi in and deliver all the passengers to the border guards and Customs and then wait to get them processed. After they are through I go upstairs to the tower to sign out and say goodbye to Nichols ( Ilyas' Dad) and the other controllers. As I sign out they call Anadyr to get my clearance and...... you guessed it, Anadyr says that I have no valid clearance. The other aspect in this is that I only have about 10 more minutes until the Provideniya airport closes. This doesn't give us much time to fix this especially since it is the middle of the night in Moscow and all offices are closed, So, before long I am putting the airplane to bed, the best I can on the ramp in PVS, and heading out with Nichols on a good brisk evening walk ( it is winter) to his apartment.


Before I left the airport I talked with Jim and Therese in Nome and know that they will be all over this issue and know that the people in Russia are going to get a real earful from them.

To Be Continued........................

Day22

Hay, I tried out my heart rate monitor! I went swimming with it and I couldnt get it to work for a while and then I tried moving the transmitter over to my left side, and it started working! I guess my hearts not in the right place! :) Its pretty cool, I was averaging about 135 bpm during the short duration before I had to get out. I am trying to go swimming today and I will take it and then download the info into the fitness program that is available! Really Cool! I am impressed that Luke surprised Becca with a monitor! What a guy! Who else is coming to Missouri for a triathlon this late summer or fall? Maria, are you competing?

Day 21 ?

Well I took a week off, it was my birthday week you know! We had a great time with Jessica and kids, and then we had a great time with the Jensen family!! Thanks to all who came, we love having our children with their families come to visit!

It is interesting that recently I wrote about Don Outwater, I think I was prompted because a while ago I stumbled across a short letter from him written in 2003. He was in a hospital in Seattle at the time. 2 days ago I got a message he wasn't expected to live long and then yesterday I found out that he passed away Monday night. A lot of mixed feelings there. I think the thing about Don the most is how he and I could of been such good friends. I guess most people would look at us and think - what do they have in common? Well we were brought together because of the gospel, and I think that we were given a gift of being able to love each other as much as we did. And so, although I wish I could have spent some more time with him the last couple years, I am grateful that he is over the physical suffering that he endured so long.

I remember that we did some good service for Don now and then, I remember a few anonymous Christmas gifts we gave, and some time spent helping fix his cabin and area a little. He was always interested in what our family was doing and asked about all you kids individually. So you had a positive influence on him. The last few years he was living in Anchorage, with his daughter and her family and then was in a rest home. My memories of Don will be of his excitement when we would take him to his cabin and listening to him whistle while he was there.

Day 2

So, as I was cruising into Casper, WY from the airport today ( in my mini-van ) I was reminded how much casper is like Nome, at least the weather anyway. Yesterday they had a day long blizzard and today it is clear with lots of snow on the ground that is now being blown around polishing everything.



I was thinking the other day about when we had a little accident with one of our single otters. I was on my way from Kotzebue to Nome in a navajo when I got a message that one of our otters was overdue from picking up a group of hunters on the American river. I was asked to go check on it. I knew the approximate area where they would be so I descended down to get under some weather and then headed for where I thought they could be. I tuned a radio to 121.5 so as to pick up and Emergency Locatro transmitter, if there had been an accident and it was going off. Sure enought within about 10 miles I started hearing one ( not good) When I was about 2 miles away from te site I could see a flash from a beacon on the airplane, neaning there was still power to it. I soon had the aircraft in sight. It looked like it had hit a bank of the river on take-off and ripped the engine off to ne side and the landing gear was crumpled. It looked pretty bad. I went right over it down low then circled overhead trying to see any people. Later I learned that the pilot had heard me coming from a good distance and could tell it was a navajo and that it was headed straight for him. I stayed in a circle above the wreck while climbing higher to talk to the office. When I could I reported that it didnt look good and I couldnt see anyone. they were already getting Eric Pentilla and his Evergreen helicopter ready with Mike Owens to come help. I continued to circle overhead. I wanted the people in the airplane to know we were still there and I wanted to be able to relay info to the office once the helicopter arrived.

It took quite a while for the helicopter to get there, maybe 1 hr 15 min or so, They got there near dark and reported everyone was alive allthough the pilot had some injuries. It turned out that the hunters were giving the international signal to me of injured people at the site by laying down on the ground with arms and legs out. The only problem was they had their camo gear on and I couldne see them.! Well I relayed the message and headed to Nome because I was getting very low on fuel. The helicopter brought them all in and the pilot and 1 passenger were hospitalized, well for a while anyway, the pilot wouldn't stay and even with possible internal damage and a big cut on his head from the curled prop hitting him, he went home.

The aircraft was retrieved after freeze up.

Day 19

A few photos from a scout trip to the little Sahara. It was beautiful weather ! Not a bad self portrait there!!

And there is nothing like a scout breakfast!

I am excited about some camping with grandsons this summer!!

Day 18, sort of

So, It is late, and I am finally down my to - do list to where the Blog Post is! I haven't thought of anything profound today, I was studying PC-12 stuff, and while it is pretty cool, you might not find it interesting. But I did start thinking of an old story that all my children are already familiar with but I don't know if it is written down anywhere.

Don is a friend of our from Nome. He is now in his later 60's. He has had some serious health problems in his life. Don owns a little cabin, that I am sure someone is squatting on now, on the Grand Central river. We have all been there, what a beautiful location!

Well, one time Don was driving himself to his cabin and stopped at the Grand Central bridge to see how many fish were swimming around in view. Now, for those of you who haven't been there the Grand Central is a VERY cold, clear river, and at the bridge it is plenty deep enough to jump off of the bridge into its chilling waters. Remember, the challenge is to see if you can actually speak something intelligent whilst swimming to the shore! You are usually so overcome by the cold that it is hard to get real words out!

Ok, sorry, I degress, back to Don. This day he proceeded to the center of the bridge to gaze over the railing and imagine how he is going to catch those beautiful fish down there. He gets there and starts looking, now Don gets really excited about fishing, and I can just see him looking intently at the water and not really being aware of much else. And the next thing he knew, his false teeth were out of his mouth and falllllllllling........splash! You can imagine how you would feel! Well Don doesn't really fly off the handle quicklly and I believed him when he told me that when those teeth went in , he just stood there staring and all he said was " Schucks". He stood there gazing into the water for sometime, and was able to locate the teeth through the clear water, but didn't know what to do about it.

It wasn't too long until a state truck came by and the young driver got out to check out the fish situation also. He started a conversation with Don and Don explained about the sunken teeth. This good man decided to help. He stripped out of his clothes and dove into the river!! I think it would be a pretty good trick to do that and actually get the teeth, but he did! I am not sure how many tries it took him, but maybe he did it in the first one! Hows that for serving someone? I used to know which DOT worker it was , but I have forgotten.

Don asked around town to find out this guys favorite beer and then bought him a case!!

So, always wear clean underwear because you never know when you might have to take off your clothes and get someones teeth!

Day 17

Ahhh, Another satisfied customer!! After a Larapin dinner of Peanut-Chicken vegetables and rice with Bok Choy, Dad somehow found room for a piece of No sugar added Apple Pie!! Imagine that! He has been doing really good recovering from his surgery, the physical therapist claims he is her star patient! He has been walking a lot and doing really good on his eating.



I was glad to hear that my Son - In Laws did such a good job of treating their Valentines today - Way to go guys, well, except Luke, he was a bit of an over - achiever, he gave sushi, flowers, and a couple gift cards. Like dad told him: he may have to stand before the husband committee for such behavior. Husbands have a range of generosity that must be observed or it reflects poorly on the rest of the group! I haven't heard a report from my favorite daughter in law yet on how Jake did but I am confident that it will be positive.



A couple thoughts on prayers: Sometimes we think that praying should be like going through a drive Inn. We give our order to the microphone hidden somewhere on that plastic sign, then we pull up and are handed exactly what we wanted and we go on our merry way.



The way I see it is there are some things requireed for prayers to be efective

We must approach God in the name of Jesus Christ. This way we come as disciples of Jesus, only asking for things that Jesus would approve of. We don't ask selfishly, or for trivial things. If you haven't been receiving answers like you thought you should start by thinking about what you are asking for. A few things that I think would be on the approved list - Humility, a greater capacity to love, the ability to forgive, courage, opportunities to serve, the strength to serve, blessings on those ( and it could be you also) who are having a rough time, and the list could go on, but you catch my drift.


When we approach God in prayer, we need to also be forgiving of others. Mark 11:25 mentions that when we pray we should forgive, to insure that we can be forgiven, but I cant help but think that communication in prayer will happen much easier if we don't have ill feelings toward others obscuring our hearts.

A couple verses earlier in Mark bring up another requirement for getting answers to our prayers. We have to believe that we will get an answer!! It is possible to overlook an otherwise obvious answer to a prayer simply because we don't really believe that we will get one!


If you believe there is a rabbit in a picture then you will look until you see it.


I would refer you to the list I started about what would be good things to pray for. If you have doubts that God answers your prayers, then pray for something from the list, surely you could believe that you will get an answer to one of those things, so really believe it and look for your answer, through the scriptures, through your spouse, through a speaker at church, or a friend. Personally , my answers come in quiet meditative times (often while on a mountain:) )when I am pondering things, especially words from the Book of Mormon.


Congratulations to Jake on his promotion to Driver!!!

Day 16

This is a few hours late, so I will do this twice today. I went to an adult session of our stake conference last night, really good. One of the speakers was from England and gave excellent talk on the need for us to forgive ourselves after we have repented and then to move on. One of the illustrations he used was that we were designed with both our feet and our heads pointed in the same direction! We weren't made to be constantly looking back at what we've done wrong, but rather to look forward to what we are going to do.

I heard that Bob Dylan and Barbara Striesand are both preforming tonight at the Grammies. I would like to hear those two, but not sure I want to bad enough to watch all the show, maybe I can find out what time they perform....

Day 15

The answer is...................Alyssa. The birthday girl!!! I am really glad the Jensens were able to go to the McCarneys house to celebrate birthdays!

February 11th 1986 in Nome Alaska was a foggy drizzly day, with the temperature hanging around the mid 30's. But there was something in the works that would brighten everything up! Yep a beautiful 8lb 13oz girl that we knew had a middle name of Sue, but the Alyssa part didn't come along until about 10 days later! ( the hospital really wanted to get that birth certificate done). We were living in a duplex on 3rd ave. in Nome with a good view of the ocean from the living room. Her older siblings were happy to have her home, especially Becca, who wanted to take care of her. Even as a young child Alyssa was soft spoken and gave serious thought to things before voicing her opinion.

Alyssas first trip to the dentist was interesting, she was about three and Deena had primed her for the experience well in advance. She went when some of her siblings were getting their check-ups, and when it came her turn, all the pre-visit coaching went out the window. She would not open her mouth. Finally the dentist coaxed her into opening up, he got his fingers in there and..... she bit him! So much for that try.

A couple weeks later, the day for another try is approaching, we have been coaching, but it is obvious that more needs to be done. so Deena sweetens the pot: " if you are good for the dentist and do what he says you can choose a Barbie from the surprise box that we have for birthdays. " Alyssa careful considers this prize and responds: " 2 Barbies". ( Lynn, I am sure you have experienced her negotiating skills by now) OK, Deena agrees and off to the dentist it is, and......same results, only I think it was a different finger that got bit this time.

Yes Alyssa had a Tom Boy-ish period in her life that I am sure we make sound like it was longer than it actually was. I always remember the comment by Jake " Alyssa, you're about as close to a brother as I am ever going to get".

Once while on vacation in Arizona, Alyssa witnessed Deena withdrawing about $150.00 from an ATM, she quirried her mom about how much that cost to use that machine, and when Deena responded " about a dollar" Alyssa's eyes got big and she said : " I have a dollar!" I guess I would of been excited too if I could get $150.00 for $ 1.oo.

Of course I should mention the time when she took the snowmachine out for a ride after dark, and she didn't return when expected. I was just going out the door to look for her when she came home, big tears and all telling us she had tipped it over. It was really no big deal , I got it righted and it started right up. She has always been good with equipment, a good driver and also a good shooter!

It was fun to be able to see many of her Cross Country meets and watch her mature in High School. A couple important memories that I have had with her in her adult years have been: After dropping her off for the first time at ISU, I was driving away from the parking lot and I could see that little face way up there in that big Dormitory! Made me get all chocked up. Our Teton hike together, something we all need to do more of, was great, we had to move off the trail to let a cow moose through, and one evening we sat on a big flat rock and quietly watched a gorgeous sunset. Also that was a memorable trip because I met this tall guy that lived upstairs from Alyssa that let me have his bedroom for a night, I think he was trying to make a good impression,............ he did.

Day 14

Today will be a test day. I will tell a story about one of my daughters and you will need to identify which one it is!

I was wathching my daughter play basketball, she was young and energetic! I was on the bleachers wathching as the opposing team had the ball and started driving towards their side of the court. The boy with the ball was going pretty fast and dribbling well. My daughter was guarding him closely when she committed a foul and the boy went tumbling out of bounds and ended up in a heap over by the drinking fountain.

I think that in the NBA nowadays it would of been called a flagrant foul.

She casually walked back on the court with her hands on her sides as if nothing had happened. All the spectators had seen it and there were a few comments going around, so I stood up like the proud father that I am and proclaimed " That's my Girl!" I was followed immediately by a large man in front of me stating " that was MY boy!". A good time was had by all!

Today

Once upon a time in a land, not too far away, there was a beautiful princess and a handsome prince. They didnt know each other until one day when they were at a party and the young prince was bold enough to show the princess one of his war wounds. It was his ankle and it had been hurt in a fight against a most formidable enemy. The princess was quite taken with him, perhaps it was his good looks, perhaps his bravery, or, as I think, it could of been his thick hair and because he was born in the great state of Idaho to goodly parents. They soon fell in love and married in a beautiful temple located in the village of Boise.

The prince was happy! The princess was happy! But, something would soon happen that made them both even happier! Yes, they had a baby. A man child to be sure. He was lively with quick eyes and alert to every sound ( I know, I was there). The prince was so excited. He wanted to give his new baby a gift, he wanted to give him a fine , shiny new sword. A good sword to fight dragons with. But, his mother, the beautiful princess, ( who undoubtedlly was born of a beautiful mother), was also wise and asked her husband to wait and let him grow until he was at least as tall as the sword was long, before he gave it to him. The prince saw the wisdom in his wife's counsel so instead of giving him the sword at that time they instead gave him a name! I don't think I can say it out loud for I don't want any dragons to hear it, but, it starts with Bradd and ends with ock. So, now the young man has turned 4 years old, and is also a big brother to a smiling and snapping curly headed brother named Emmett. But to the surprise of all, The big brother is not a dragon fighter! Instead he is a friend to dragons! He even rides on their backs as they fly across the mountains! But, now listen very closely because I will tell you a secret: sometimes he turns into a dragon himself! Yes, it is true, I have seen it happen! And so what will happen now? He goes to preschool and and he rides a scooter as fast as a strong wind. And he plays with some cousins ( though he longs to see the cousins that live over the Rocky Mountains)

What will happen next in the life of the Handsome prince and Beautiful princess?

today

well, I never mentioned much about Jessica and Braddock on their birthday, so I thought I would share a few thoughts about Jessica.
Her birth was quite an occasion, when Deena went into labor I was quite concerned, it hadn't been that long since my sister had lost a prematurely born baby. I remember at the hospital I ran into Toni Talbott, the wife of a fellow pilot from the aerodrome. She worked at the lab. It was nice to hear her reassurance that premature births weren't that uncommon. However the doc did order up a helicopter to standby to transport her to a larger hospital in Spokane because they thought she would be around 4 lbs. So, when she came out at a whopping 6lbs 3 oz. I was quite relieved. I was amazed at how much pain and work was required of Deena!! I realized that giving birth was a big deal!! well, after about 5 days in hospital to treat her jaundice, we took her home and celebrated her first poopy diaper!! We were living in a trailer not far from Deena folks and we had a water bed that was pretty comfy, but if we wanted we could create a wave that could just about throw Jess off the bed! what else can I say about Jessica? You all know her pretty well! She was a great first child. With all the responsibilities that come with that job! Lots of talent, lots of capability to love. A few random thoughts: " its a tiny bit soaking wet!" "hold you me" and of course " Everyone always says I exaggerate all the time , but I never do". Jessica heard newborn Hannah crying one night. Deena was in bathroom. Deena saw a couple flashes of someone running up and down the hallway(in the dark). It was Jess grabbing Hannah and running with her back to her room! She had thought Hannah had been left.

I guess we may have forgotten to teach her how to swing on a swing set................ Luv Ya Jess!!

the next day

ok, I fell asleep before I shared this last night, so this is technically yesterdays post. I wanted to share another poem, that corresponded with the "man" thoughts. This one by Rudyard Kipling:



IF
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!
Rudyard Kipling

Day 10

I would like to share some of our Lesson today that we gave in our combined Aaronic Priesthood class. We gave a lesson based on a talk by Elder Christofferson. Here is some of his opening story:

Years ago, when my brothers and I were boys, our mother had radical cancer surgery. She came very close to death. Much of the tissue in her neck and shoulder had to be removed, and for a long time it was very painful for her to use her right arm.

One morning about a year after the surgery, my father took Mother to an appliance store and asked the manager to show her how to use a machine he had for ironing clothes. The machine was called an Ironrite. It was operated from a chair by pressing pedals with one’s knees to lower a padded roller against a heated metal surface and turn the roller, feeding in shirts, pants, dresses, and other articles. You can see that this would make ironing (of which there was a great deal in our family of five boys) much easier, especially for a woman with limited use of her arm. Mother was shocked when Dad told the manager they would buy the machine and then paid cash for it. Despite my father’s good income as a veterinarian, Mother’s surgery and medications had left them in a difficult financial situation.

On the way home, my mother was upset: “How can we afford it? Where did the money come from? How will we get along now?” Finally Dad told her that he had gone without lunches for nearly a year to save enough money. “Now when you iron,” he said, “you won’t have to stop and go into the bedroom and cry until the pain in your arm stops.” She didn’t know he knew about that. I was not aware of my father’s sacrifice and act of love for my mother at the time, but now that I know, I say to myself, “There is a man.”

I thought that is a great example also of what a man should be like. A lot of what we see in the world today teaches that real happiness comes from self indulgence and only doing things that are in your best interest. I have long thought that being a parent or a spouse is all about everyone except yourself. I believe that we are successful in those roles as we forget ourselves. When we consider decisions we should think " What is best for my wife and family?

Elder Christofferson again: " Though he will make some sacrifices and deny himself some pleasures in the course of honoring his commitments, the true man leads a rewarding life. He gives much, but he receives more, and he lives content in the approval of his Heavenly Father. The life of true manhood is the good life."

I can testify to the truthfulness of that. I know that times when I have succeeded at being unselfish in serving my family I have felt the contentment that comes from feeling my Heavenly father has approved of my choices.

Now, I need to share another important line from his talk, and it addresses those times when as men we are trying to do it right, but don't quite make the high mark that we are shooting for: "Sometimes men try but fail. Not all worthy objectives are realized despite one’s honest and best efforts. True manhood is not always measured by the fruits of one’s labors but by the labors themselves—by one’s striving."

Isn't that a great truth? Sometimes we try and try and try to do something, only to not reach it. It is easy to feel we have failed, but if it was a worthy objective, even though we didn't obtain the fruits that we were working for, it was not in vain. We will be better as a result of our striving.

The greatest quest we can have is to strive to be like Jesus. And the really cool thing is that He is the one that enables us, through the atonement, to keep striving, to repent and to try again and again and again to be more like him.

That gives me hope.

day 9

OK, Today i read an interesting article in the local paper. It seema the Utah legislature has decided to get rid of a law that made it illegal to openly carry a gun within 1000' of a school. It is still legal to carry a concealed weapon, if you have a permit, within that 1000'. Now I know that if someone was going to cause harm they probably would keep their weapon concealed right up to or maybe into the school. But, if you saw a person with an unconcealed weapom within that 1000' you could do something about it. Now with no restrictions you can watch and see what they plan on doing. We all would do something anyway if we saw someone toting a gun headed towards a school, but it just doesnt seem right to me, even though I am a firm believer in the right to bear arms, to repeal the 1000' rule. The only justification the legislature had was that it might be inconvienient for someone carrying a gun to have to circumnavigate the 1000' perimeter. Give me a break.

Thats another picture in the Casper area. It was about a 20 mile drive outside of town, the last few miles on a dirt road. As I was driving out on it in my rental car my thoughts went back to one time when I was going to a school in Arizona with my boss and one evening we went for a drive in his rental car into the desert. Really into the desert, we traveled thru it at a high rate of speed bouncing all over! I remember thinking " I must remember to never buy a car that used to be a rental because people treat them like this!" Of course, I learned a good lesson from the adventure; I follow his example and have fun! A guy just has things that he wants to do in a car but doen't want to abuse his own !

Day 8

Dad is doing really good now, saw a nurse and pyhsical thereapist today. Tonight he mentioned that he would like to find a job! Thats great! I think he could use it. Help us find places for him to apply. Of course we thought of Wal Mart as a greater. What other jobs are out there for an 85 y. o. man? Dads whole life has been about work, and it would be good to see him doing some again.

I have uploaded 3 pics taken outside of Casper, WY this summer. There is a rabbitt in all three, can you see him?


Here is another favorite poem, this one By Robert Frost:

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth.

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Day 7

We got Dad home today! he didn't need any pain meds in the hospital, and he has quite an appetite.

Well, I believe Alyssa would be a great pilot also! Jessica brought up a good point about the comparison of how I would of scored when I was a new pilot compared to now. The scores would definitely of been different. Now I scored fairly high on the Invulnerability and anti-authority, well, I think they were in the high 20's, with Macho coming next and impulsive and resignation being very low. The purpose of getting the pilots to see how they score isn't to have them correct their attitudes so they will score all zeros the next week, but rather for them to recognize when the high scoring attitudes rear their heads and then correct them.

I believe that early on in my flying days, and I mean really early on, like before I was 20 y.o, I probably scored really high in the invulnerability column. But after my first 9 months flying in Bethel and having 3 of my fellow pilots die in some pretty ugly crashes, I started taming that attitude. I thought of a story that actually involved a friend of mine that gives a good example of the invulnerability that both he and I experienced in our youthful enthusiasm for flying:

My friend that worked at Henley Aerodrome with me was named Rob Cheeley, Rob was a year or two older than me and we got along very well, he had gone to Alaska one summer and worked in a logging camp and he helped fuel my enthusiasm to go to Alaska. One day Rob was on the ramp visiting with an older guy that was kind of an odd duck who had a little homebuilt airplane called a Smith Termite. It was made almost all of wood, it was a high wing single seat tailwheel airplane with a small 65 hp engine. I had been warned, as Rob had, that the aircraft probably wasn't built real well, and we should not get involved in it. Well, Rob was talking to the owner and pretty soon, Rob was obviously getting ready to fly it.

After Rob was in the open cockpit and about ready to have someone start it for him, he motioned for to me to come over, he wanted to talk to me. When I got over he made sure the owner couldn't hear him and then he asked me: " How do you do a loop?" he then explained that the owner wanted to know if his little airplane could do any aerobatics and Rob had convinced him that he was experienced at such things and could go try it out for him! I gave him a 30 second description of how to do a proper loop in an underpowered airplane, reminded him about doubts as to how well the aircraft was built, then gave him a prop ( that means I went out and manually spun his prop so it would start, the common way to start an airplane with no electrical starter). Rob went on his flight, came back in one piece, and told me he had accomplished the loop, although it didn't sound very pretty!

If something had wings and fuel, there wasn't much reason not to fly it! Rob became a Christian, got married to a Hawaiian girl, became a doctor, and started a medical ministry in remote China! I believe if you google his name you can find out about it. Sounds like he is accomplishing a lot of good!

Day 6

The 5 Hazardous attitudes in Aviation;
1. Resignation - “ whats the use, forget it, I give up”
2. Anti-Authority – “ Why should I listen to you?”
3. Impulsivity – “Do it quickly”
4. Invulnerability – Nah, I don’t think it will happen to me”
5. Macho – “ Come on, I can do this!”
These are pretty well known among pilots, and there are online tests that you take to see where you rate in each area. A numerical value is given for each area, the higher the number the more you have that attitude. I think the numbers go from 0-50 for each one. Where do you think I rate? Where do you think you would rate?

2 dangerous words in aviation – “ Watch This”
Speaking of words, who knows the phonetic alphabet? You know, Alpha, Bravo…………

Day 5

Today was spent at the hospital with Dad. He had his hernia operation. Everything went pretty well, they did have to go with a modified anesthetic plan after having some concerns with his heart, but when I left him at 8 pm tonight he was doing well and eating very well. Dad is really good about eating green smoothies even if they dont taste good. OK, another Dad story. Last night Dad shared with us the story of his one other experience with surgery.

It was 1962 and dad was a forman at the PFI papermill in Lewiston. He had an employee that really wanted the first day of hunting season offf, but there were other more senior people that did also so dad informed him that he would have to work. Well this guy didnt want to take no for an answer, and insisted that he was taking it off. Dad said they argued, finally the guy said he was going to the bar that was close to the mill. Dad went home but knew he still had to deal with this, so he went to the bar so they could talk, well, he was still outside when the guy came out and before dad knew it he took a swing at dad at hit him on the right cheek, now it broke the cheek badly because he had a roll of quarters in his fist! Dad went home but Mom took him to the hospital. It was decided, because it was affecting the biones that held his eye in place that surgery was needed. Dad remembers that as they were putting things back together they adjusted the bones until Dad said that his vision went from double to single, meaning they had the eye socket at the right height, and then they put things into place! He recuperated in the hospital for a week and then another week at home befoer he went back to work. The guy still had his job and he met Dad outside the mill and talked about all the repecussions he had had since he hit him ( allthough I find it amazing he still had a job) and asked dad what he could do to make things right. Dad told him to forget it. Dad also reported that he turned out to be a pretty dependable guy that he could call on to work overtime when needed. Later on this guy worked for PFI at a mill at Kamiah and had his shirt or jacket get caught in the machinery and it ended up pulling his arm off. They must of been quick with first aid, because he lived, but while rushing him to a hospital about 20 miles away the car broke down! Luckilly an ambulance came from the hospital and got him.

Hey, Ethan and Matthew have joined the 31 club! Ethan is going to practice dribbling a basketball 31 times each day and Matthew will do 31 jumping jacks each day. Right on guys, we are proud of you!

I thought I would share a story from Dad that I heard for the first time yesterday. We were visiting with some friends, one of whom has spent a lot of time in the South Pacific. We started talking about diving and so I asked Dadif he ever did any scuba diving in Guam. To my surprise he said he had made a hard hat dive! It sounds like it was fairly primitive, the only equipment he had was the helmet, connected to the surface with an air line, with air being pumped to it. Now there wasnt any seal around it, it was kinda like having a bowl over your head and it trapping a big air bubble to breathe in. The dive took place at the end of a loading dock. What was it like? What did you see? I asked thinking maybe there was exotic fish and such. He said all he saw was barbed wire, no fish! I guess we need to remember that the SeeBees went on shore right after the marines " took " the island and the barbed wire was part of the defenses. Anyway, when asked about what he was diving for, thinking that it was maybe to scope out the bottom for planned construction or something technical like that, I was told " We wanted to see if maybe any cases of beer had fallen off the supply ship into the water"! Ahh, now we understand the importance and motivation for the mission!



On a nice summer day Braddock was playing in front of our place with some other kids. Deena was watching him and felt he was starting to play a little too rough for one of the younger kids. So we pick up on their conversation:

Deena: Braddock you need to calm down a little; you are being a little too loud and wild and you are scaring that little boy.

Braddock: Ahhhhhhahahahahach, ( this is my attempt to spell a really long disgusting sigh)
Gramma, when I make the that sound, it means I am tired of hearing that. And I am just tired and I have a Geadache ( spelling is correct).

Deena: Well I think you need to calm down a little, maybe you should come over here and take a rest

Braddock: Ahhhhhhahahahahahach

Day 3

Finish More, Start Less

If I was in the advice giving mode, which I guess maybe I am, (Deena just reminded me while I was proofreading this to her that I am ALWAYS in the advice giving mode) Finish More, Start Less would be a top contender for the best advice with the fewest words. It applies to all aspects of your life. I was going to expound on this quite a bit but I now think it is best left for you to ponder.

Groud Hogs day this week!! I think we will introduce Dad to the movie this week while he is recouperating from surgery. They say that humor helps healing. Have a great peaceful Sabbath day!

Day 2

3 cheers for Maria and Deena!! Both read and have committed to doing! Yesterday brought more drama in our lives. I was cleaning out the back porch area, feelin good, my root canal doesnt hurt anymore and my eyeball is still healing. The only physical thing I could complain about ( because I like complaining) is some pain behind my right knee. It was enough to keep me from running, but walking was bearable. So, I was at the dumpster, wanting to get the lid open so I cold put some large items in, the lid is big, but light. It takes a pretty good jump combined with an upward push on the lid to get it to open. First try, didnt quite make it, try harder, co-ordinated push and jump - OUCH ! something gave way in that right knee. I knew I had messed up bad as soon as it happened. I couldn't believe I had just disregarded my delicate knee in my efforts to get the trash out! Ice and elevation and today I can put weight on my leg as long as I keep it straight. Looking into going to Pocatello to see an orthopedic Dr. that Lynn says is the best this side of the Continental Divide. I will keep you updated.

Did I tell you about the dinner I had the night of my big root canal? Deena had made Turkey, Brocolli, Squash and... something else. I couldnr chew anything solid, so, into the Super Duper Blend-Tec Blender!! It came out as an interesting colored paste, and it was actually quite yummy! The only draw back I see to having every meal that way is every bite tastes the same. In fact if I had more teeth problems I could just tell the dentist to rip them out! He would just need to leave a few that I could open my beer bottles with.

I want to share a really cool poem that was written by Sadie Tiller Crawley:

He stood at the crossroads all alone,
The sunlight in his face;
He had no thought for an evil course,
He was set for a manly race.
But the road stretched east and the road stretched west,
And he did not know which road was the best;
So he took the wrong road and it lead him down,
And he lost the race and the victor's crown.
He was caught at last in an angry snare
Because no one stood at the crossroads there
To show him the better road.

Another day at the self-same place
A boy with high hopes stood;
He, too, was set for a manly race
He was seeking the things that were good.
And one was there who the roads did know,
And that one showed him the way to go;
So he turned away from the road leading down,
And he won the race and the victor's crown;

He walks today on the highways fair
Because one stood at the crossroads there
To show him the better road.


Isn't that good? I want to be that person at the crossroads, that helps show the better way. We all can, with our families, our co-workers, friends, the opportunities present themselves from all areas of our lives. We just need to be courageous, and speak up when we feel the prompting. We also need to be humble enough to listen to others that appear at the crossroads in our lives and give their counsel careful consideration.

The first day

Is 31 days days a long time? Well, I guess it depends on the circumstances, if you are waiting to see the kids and grandkids, it’s a long time. If you are training for a half marathon, ( I’m not) then its not much . If you are committing to write in a blog for each of those days, it looks like forever!

I was planning on starting on the 27th, Jake (and Mozarts) birthday, but a late night at the ER and a Dr. Appointment the next day distracted me. I still want to share some of the family history surrounding Jakes birth:

December in Salmon, ID is a beautiful time of year, cold temps, lots of snow, the beautiful Bitterroot mountains. Deena, ( 8 months pregnant) Jessica and I were enjoying the season, although there isn’t much work that time of year so we were pretty short on cash. Deena’s folks invited us up to their place in Rathdrum, ID for Christmas, and we didn’t have to think twice. We loaded up 10 month old Jessica and headed out in our Toyota for the 320 mile drive. The drive up was a bit of a challenge, I remember having to chain up, maybe a couple times to get over the three passes. And I was soaked and chilled! But, we made it and had a great Christmas . Shortly after Christmas Deena had a few episodes of having contractions, so we went in to get checked to make sure all was well. As it turns out the Doc we saw was the same one that delivered Jessica - ! His recommendation – I don’t want to think of you driving over those three mountain passes at this stage in the game, stay here and deliver , then go home. Again, work was slow, so it was OK by me. So we stayed and waited, and waited…. Finally on Jan 27 we went to deliver. It must have been baby time in Idaho because there was no room in the inn, uh, hospital, so Deena went through most of her labor in the hallway. Shortly before delivering, they freed up a delivery room and we were set. Jake arrived at a whopping 8 lbs 3 oz! He was chubby and healthy and we only stayed about another week before we headed back to our cozy home in Salmon.

Jake has done a great job of being the only boy in the family, I guess his dad and his dads dad were the only boys also! I always heard how I needed to get married to carry on the family name, and it irked me at times , especially when very young and I had decided that the only one I would marry was our cat, Toby! I imagine Jake heard a little of that also, and I wonder if it is time to start talking to Ben….
OK, you decided to see what lame ramblings someone like me would have, but now, now, you have stepped into my trap! This is not just a whimsical browsing of the internet for you anymore, because now you will have to commit to something, even if you say you wont, it will eat on you and you will eventually be compelled to act! This is the deal – If I can write everyday for 31 days then you can do something for 31 days also. Something positive, I hope, like floss, or don’t kick the dog, or wear clean underwear, or ………?? It’s up to you, but if I can do it, surely you can. You know of something that you can do, you are thinking of it right now aren’t you? OK, I also challenge you to make it public, by writing about it on this blog. There you have it, we are on our way now! Remember:
Today is the first day of the rest of this blog…