Saturday, February 28, 2009

Day 59 Feb 28



The girls were outside today having a good old snow fight. Josi was chasing Cadi around the yard with a shovel full of snow. She got her! I do love to hear them giggle and play together. They are the best of friends right now. I hope that lasts their entire lifetime.

Friday, February 27, 2009

Day 58 Feb 27




The moon and Venus are just incredible tonight. Unfortunately my knowledge of night time photography is not... But had to post these to say at least I tried. I need to read up. Anyway here's the moon and Venus and the boat harbor at night...

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Day 57 Feb 26




Last night it snowed and blew really hard. This afternoon a friend came into the preschool classroom and told me that I had to go check out the lake. During the windstorm thousands of snowballs formed in one certain area of the lake. Almost like snow crop circles! It's like God decided to have a snowball fight and got a whole bunch ready!

Update...I received this information from a friend...
Listed below is an excerpt from a website that explains how they form. If you want to know more about this phenomenon, go to the website listed below.

Here is how they form. First, the ground surface must have an icy, crusty snow, on which new falling snow cannot stick. On top of this, a couple centimeters (about an inch) of loose, wet snow — that sticky kind that makes good snowballs — must have accumulated. The optimum air temperature appears to be around the freezing mark, from -2 to 2 oC (28 to 34 oF). Finally, a strong and gusty wind, usually blowing at 40 km/h (25 mph) or higher, is needed to build the snowroller.
Snowroller formation begins when the wind scoops chunks of snow out of the snowfield or pushes giant snowflakes downwind. These "seeds" roll, bounce and tumble, like snowy tumbleweeds, over the surface under the herding of wind. Additional snow then adheres to the seed, and the snowroller grows until it finally becomes too heavy for the wind to push. Snowrollers leave behind a characteristic track linking the snowroller's origin to its final resting spot.

The snowroller's path can be straight ahead or erratic depending on how the gusty wind pushes the roller along. Sloped terrain may also assist in the formation and movement of the snowroller seed as the force of gravity assists the wind force pushing on the rolling snow body.

Once the snowroller becomes stationary, it enters its next stage of existence. Further snowfall may bury or surround the roller and hide its track, thus making it indistinguishable from snow covering rocks, vegetation or bumps in the surface. If the snowroller remains exposed for any length of time, various processes will work on the snow transforming the snowroller into a rather unspectacular lump of snow. Eventually, the snow melts, thus ending the life of the snowroller.

For additional information and other images check out the link below!
http://www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/elements/snowrollers.htm

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Day 56 Feb 25



I almost missed today and then I decided to go upstairs and take a sleeping child photo. So much for that. Child supposed to be sleeping is listening to her Ipod! The other one though is sound asleep with her face turned to the wall...

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Day 55 Feb 24


The principal at our school also happens to be a good friend. He and his wife taught in Taiwan for many years and when they moved here they quickly became like another Uncle and Aunt to my two girls. He is always presenting them with gifts that have something to do with China. This year for Chinese New Year he gave them each their own abacus. Josi has already figured out how to do a lot of the numbers. Maybe she will be able to barter in China using one!

Monday, February 23, 2009

Day 54 Feb 23


This is Mt. Eccles Elementary School. I have spent 27 years in this building. 5 as a student and 22 as a teacher. We have preschool through 6th grade. This next year we will be starting on a huge renovation which will include the addition of a gym. I have to teach several more years so i can enjoy the new building!

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Day 53 Feb 22



A beautiful day for skiing.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Day 52 Feb 21



Okay, JoAnn asked so you all get to see some of Cordova. This is Main Street. Yes, this is all there is...

Friday, February 20, 2009

Day 51 Feb 20





What can I say? God outdid himself today. How could I pick just one?

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Day 50 Feb 19


The Full Circle Farm box came last night and inside was a box of pure heaven! Tastes of summer packed into little purple balls of flavor. Didn't take long for Cadi and me to devour them!

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Day 49 Feb 18




I had to get gas today. The car has been beeping at me for several days now. So when I drove into the gas station Cadi asked when she was going to get to fill up the car. I said, "Today" (mind you she has never asked before) So I showed her how and she filled it up. Can't wait for her to offer on one of those days when it is blowing and raining sideways!

What are you paying for gas right now? I'm so glad we are no longer over $5.00 a gallon. Plus it feels like spring and the mountains were peeking out of the clouds and fog. Today was a great day!

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Day 48 Feb 17




So it's pretty late today and I needed to find something to photograph before I head to bed. This was my grandma's cookie jar. When she died I got it and it's been sitting on my shelf reminding me of her for a very long time now. She always had cookies in it and sometimes when I open up the jar I can still smell the cinnamon refrigerator cookies she used to make...

Monday, February 16, 2009

Day 47 Feb 16


I had a little bit of a health scare on Saturday. I checked myself into the ER because I was having some pretty intense pain in my chest. I decided I could ignore it after several hours when it didn't get any better and actually got worse. I was afraid it was my heart. But after being hooked up to the EKG and then being checked out for appendix and gall bladder problems the doctor gave me a drink that had some novocaine in it. Immediate relief. So the diagnosis was GERD and I was sent home with a RX for Nexium. After two days I could be their poster child! I'm feeling back to normal!

week 7 layouts




Everything is from Weeds and Wildflower Life 365

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Day 46 Feb 15



Valentine's day has come and gone and I didn't acknowledge it so today I have pictures of my two favorite valentines and the carnation I got from one of the sweetest 5 year old boys on the face of the earth. Have I told you how much I love teaching young children?

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Day 45 Feb 14



Can't limit myself to one today. It's one of those beautiful days. Cadi is up on the ski hill and Cadi and I went "out the road" for a little while to soak up the sun. I had to get a picture of our winter residents the swans. I'm always amazed that this is where they come to spend the winter. I think I would find someplace a little warmer!

Friday, February 13, 2009

Day 44 Feb 13


AND THE WINNERS ARE...After much debate these are the choosen stuffed animals that will travel to China. Josi thought that maybe they should see which of the animals had been made in China and take only those. Not too many were eliminated. Then she bargained enough that I said that she could take two small animals. Cadi is takin Whiz the tiger because Cadi was born in the year of the tiger. Josi is taking Pinda the panda because Pinda has been almost everywhere with her and she was small enough that she pushed me over the only one limit. The final choice for Josi is Kimmy the horse. She can fit into her pocket if need be. Now if I only knew what clothes we are going to take..

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Day 43 FEb 12


We had the preschool Valentine's party today and this is the cake that showed up for snack time! I told the mom she was an overachiever! The cake was really yummy and different so I thought it must be homemade. The mom told me after school that she mixed a yellow cake mix and a pound cake mix. I'll have to remember that trick!

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Day 42 Feb 11



I stopped by The Net Loft to buy some yarn after school today and decided that some of the yarn there would be today's picture. Then I decided that the flowers had to be in here too. We are blessed with the most amazing store in Cordova. It started years ago in the net loft in a fisherman's warehouse. I got to work there serveral summers BC-before children. It was such fun to work in a store with such beautiful colors and textures and smells. Now the store fills a two story building and has all sorts of supplies for almost any craft you would like to do. Sometimes I just go in to listen to the music and get my eyes and brain filled with color!

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Day 41 Feb 10


I decided that I needed to show the other member of our family. This is Bailey. We've had him about a year and a half. He come out of a pound in Oregon and after he came home I realized why he was in the pound. He loves to run! When he first came home his nickname quickly became DDFH which was short for Demon Dog From Hell! He also has a Native American name-Wind Barker as he loves to just sit outside and bark at the wind! Actually he is a very sweet dog with just about 2% evilness! We love him, he gets to run once a day but he always comes home, and he can't bark between the hours of 10pm and 6 am. Those are the rules and now that we all understand them Bailey is a loving memeber of the family. He is however almost impossible to photograph!

Monday, February 9, 2009

Day 40 Feb 9


Hey look who's living in my house. The new snare drum player in fifth grade band. The first semester she played the bells, but she brought this home last week. She's doing well. She's got a good sense of rhythm and tempo and she said the band teacher actually has a real pair of drumsticks for her to bring home tomorrow! So now I have a drummer named Cadence living in my house!

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Day 39 Feb 8


I got this money on Friday. The woman at the bank was surprised how quickly it came too. I took the picture today. Somehow having yuan in my hands make the trip seem even closer! Only about a month to go!

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Click to play Iceworm Parade
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Click to play Survial Suit Races
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This is one of the event in the Iceworm Festival. As you can see we were blessed with a beautiful day!

Day 38 Feb 7


Today was the Iceworm Parade and other activities for the Iceworm Festival. I'll probably do a slideshow of all of the other. This is a shot of Cadi warming up before the parade. Just loved the shot for some reason.

Friday, February 6, 2009

Feb 6 sunset slideshow

Click to play Feb 5 sunset
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I didn't get my beautiful snowy day picture, but when we got out of school I headed to the bank to pick up the chinese money they ordered for me. By the time I got done there the sunset was looking spectacular so we headed down to the harbor. Cadi and a friend of hers just needed to get out an run for a few minutes so I got these shots.

Day 37 Feb 6


Later on I might have a picture of a beautiful snowy day. Right now I have a picture of one of my snow shovels. We were dumped on last night so in keeping with the theme of the week...simple things that keep life enjoyable. I'm thankful for shovels!

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Day 36 Feb 5


Seems like this week has kind of taken on a theme on it's own. The simple things that make life so enjoyable! So today's picture is of one of my favorite places to get and get rid of books. Shirley told me about this site about 2 years ago. As the girls outgrow books, we post them on this site and then as people request them we get new books for them to read. Right now I have a bunch of credits so I'm going to go shopping today! If you haven't checked it out before and you have a lot of books in your house you need to clean out, you may want to go check out this site:
paperbackswap.com

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Day 35 Feb 4



One of the hard things about living in rural Alaska is you just can't expect to get any good produce. I was raised on canned fruits and vegetables...BUT about a year ago an organic farm in Carnation Washington started delivering boxes of produce to Cordova. The whole deal is pretty easy. You sign up for whatever size box you want for how often you want it. Then you go online and see what's scheduled to be in your box. If you don't want some of the things you can make substitutions. So our family gets a small box every other week for a cost of $40. This is a picture of everything that was in our box. Life is much better now in rural Alaska!

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Day 34 Feb 3



"If you woke up this morning, it's time to celebrate!"
-Joe Takash
I'm celebrating that someone invented kleenex!

Monday, February 2, 2009

Just in case you didn't see this and would like to get angry tonight...

I can't get the link to work but you can copy and paste to see this news report on Exxon.
http://www.cbsnews.com:80/video/watch/?id=4771082n&tag=topHome;topStories

Day 33 Feb 2


Well, the cold the preschoolers and kindergartners have has finally caught me. My nose is drippy and my chest hurts. So I'm thinking tea tonight. This is a picture of my favorite tea. It's jasmine tea that one of my friends brings back for me whenever she heads to China to do crane research. I only drink it once in awhile because I don't want to run out. Whenever i drink it, it takes me straight back to China! The cup and teapot were from my trips.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Week 5 LO



LOs for week five. Everything from LIFE 365-Weeds and Wildflowers design.