Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Jodhpur Track at Kincaid Park

We spent some time at Kincaid Park on Sunday. Specifically, the Jodhpur Track at the West end of Diamond Blvd. It was my first time there. We were there to join Kim and the family watch Alexis race her souped up 4-wheeler for the first time! She is in this picture and is # 88.

1500 acres of land in Anchorage which was first used for a military ground-to-air missile site which then became park land in 1978. The southwest border of the park is the former borough car dump, an area now used for motorcross activities.

I read that the Municipality of Anchorage is currently updating the Kincaid Park Master Plan at the MX Alaska website. (This website uploads the winnings of the races held there.) Comments for the motorcross still being allowed in the park are being taken now until their meeting July 29th.

After spending just one day at Jodhpur Track I have to say that I saw so much family activity, working together and care for the participants I feel that this is a good thing. I really believe Anchorage Municipality has a very good thing going for it's citizens and for those that drive clear from Big Lake, Wasilla (us) and other places by providing this place for kids to have a structured racing facility. My vote is to keep it!

When my daughter called and asked if I would sponsor Alexis in Motorcross racing I had major mixed feelings!

"Alexis is going to race???"

"Yes, she is."

Well, I didn't know what to say at first; after thinking about it and talking to Kim about my concerns for Lexie's safety, I realized that no matter if I sponsored her or not, this was going to happen. So, I asked, "How much sponsoring do I need to do to get #1 Grammaloo! put on her bike???

:-)

Doug has also sponsored her and is supplying her with Amsoil products.

She has very good protective gear and the Mini Quads are more cute than dangerous. I am not being an ostrich and burying my head in the sand to dangerous situations that she may face but I know Alexis will be sensible while she rides too.

Alexis races in the Mini Quad division. She has a 90cc 4 wheeler which is the same bike that we have watched her ride for a year already. The last time was up in Belanger Pass and she handles the bike really well and carefully too. The biggest problem she encountered over and over was it kept getting clogged up somehow from going too slow. Besides that bike was not made to be taken to all the places we have gone with her riding. Clear to the tops of mountains and deep in the soggy bogs!

She has done very well everywhere, even though she has had a few crashes, I think this is going to be a fun thing for the whole family.

Now we just need to figure out how to get to church and still make it to the races on Sundays!

Friday, June 23, 2006

Strange Site

This white cross and what appears to be a grave was seen off of Alascom Road, off of an ATV trail near a lake. It is the first time I have ever seen a grave on a 4-wheeling ride, so it seemed rather strange.

We got back to camp and told the rest of the family and when they heard it all thought it was strange. One of my daughters says that she could see some deranged person burying someone's child back there and with that thought floating around in my head and after the rest of the family left Doug and I to a night alone there -I had a very troubled night with dreams I don't want to remember.

When I woke up Monday morning I immediately decided I should call the Troopers. I called my daughter who was at work by then and asked for the Palmer Police number. I talked to my husband and he left me thinking I probably was over-reacting, then I thought I probably am a silly woman and I didn't call anyone.

So, out there is this grave of something (pet?) of someone (small child?) or maybe part of someone's weird sense of humor (prank?).

Up In Belanger Pass

Doug and I with Chewy.

On The Way

This is the whole family except we are missing Tony, Kim's husband. We were on the Glen Highway and heading for Belanger Pass.

Thursday, June 22, 2006

We're Home!

Now that I am back at home, it feels like this week went by so fast! I wanted to post and say that I am home but don't really have time to say much more.

We had some RV troubles!!!! We need to get it taken care of since it is still under warrantee but when we called the RV Sales, they said, well it's the 4th of July weekend and it's a long one and we are really backed up with work and ...basically, you are screwed! haha

Anyway. I'm home. I love my house! I love my yard! I love my coffee maker! I love my bed! I love my lovely bathroom! I love my view! I love the lake! I love taking care of my poor wilted flowers...

I will share pictures another day, especially of what I wrote about previously, the gravesite. I decided not to report it.... yet.

Monday, June 19, 2006

Checkin' In From Glenallen!

We are in Glenallen today. We started a trip on the Glen Highway and will be traveling along taking enjoying Alaska for a few days or so.

Our whole family was able to be with us (minus Tony who is at work) for Father's Day. BTW, I hope Dad's everywhere had a very good Father's Day.

We spent our day with Doug riding 4 wheelers up through Belanger Pass. I am not sure I can even upload a picture with this whimpy dsl connection. I have a poor connection and I can receive email but I cannot send. The owner says it's because a lot of people are online at the moment. So if I can't upload now I will do some pictures of this trip when I get back to my comfy office chair.

One evening Doug and I took a short ride from camp and while out boon-docking (making our own trails) we got back on another 4 wheel trail that took us right past a grave site. It was surprising to see this because we were not expecting it. It is a small grave and has a white cross on it. I didn't quite know what to think about it and still don't know if this is something we should report. We thought it could just be someone's very favorite dog that died out on the trail, etc. It's a fairly new grave since there was not much growth on it. What would you do after seeing something like that?

After our Sunday ride with our dear ol' Dad Doug -the kids all packed up and pulled out of camp. Boy was I ever LONELY!!!! I told Doug, "I think I just want to go home too." He says, "I KNEW you would do this!" lol Anyway, after a hot shower, some dinner and a quiet, quiet, quiet nights sleep... I guess I did feel better. Now I am enjoying the rest of our trip to Doug's great relief!

A touching memorial for Trooper Heck was near the area we camped. The Glenn Highway between milepost 128 and milepost 189 has been designated as the State Trooper Bruce A. Heck Memorial Corridor.

It's really sunny up here in Glenallen, but too many horseflies! When it cools in the evening then it's just the normal mosquitoes. We just got back here from a social event here at this wonderful (we are repeat customers) Northern Night's RV Campground that the owners Rich and Tomi do for their campers. Cobbler and ice cream on the house! It was delicious and we got to listen to some of the other campers there. From Canada, Missouri, Oregon. More but those are the ones I remember. They were talking about the light that won't go away. One guy says he practically has to put a bag over his head so that he can get some sleep.

I cannot upload any images here so I have found some websites to share instead.

See you next time I find a connection!

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

It Was Fun!

The movie was great! We all enjoyed it and the car characters were fun. My favorite character was..."Mater", the hillbillie tow-truck! But all of them were funny! Even the little bugs were flying volkswagens!

Take the grandkids to see it, they will enjoy it.

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Cars

We are going to see the Disney/Pixar movie "Cars" tonight. My daughter Kim and her family are going to see it and they invited us and the rest of the family to join them. At one review site they give Cars a 3.8 out of 5 based on 29 reviews. All the movies that we end up loving in our family have low reviews so this should be an awesome movie! I won't look at any more reviews until I have made up my own opinion!

Aw! Isn't he a cute, red stock car! "Lightning McQueen!" See this picture and read all about the creators at iTV

I had the original Disney Pixar site as the link to see, but they are too crazy about their links and photos being shared/stolen or whatever! I decided to link up with someone that allows us movie goers to pass on the word about this movie by sharing a picture of him!

Paranoia about stealing copyrights is getting a bit aggravating! Like-- how will I make money on a cute little picture? Tonight, I am tagging along with a hoard of our grandkids to see this movie and at prime time too! (Last moview we went to was $9.00 a piece!) So, let me show a picture or two of this cartoon character or any other character I decide to share, I think I and other viewers/bloggers are promoting their successes when we do.

Last night we had a birthday dinner for our youngest son, Kris. The whole family made it except for Chris, our daughter Karla's husband. He has a work schedule where he needs to get to bed earlier than normal. Besides the family we get to have Charlotte, her brother and her parents with us too. It was a fun evening.

I roasted pork and beef roasts. We had potatoes, salad, jello, steamed broccoli and bread rolls besides the cake which we didn't have candles for. Our eldest son, Klint made a candle from toothpicks then stuck them into an old musical candle holder and we sang to Kris. He tried to blow it out but the wood kept re-igniting, so it ended up being a homemade trick candle!

Afterwards we all walked around the lake! That was fun. We all tried to catch up with the pregnant lady! BTW, Karla is expecting! :-) Shhh, in case they are not telling anyone yet. [hehehe] I ended up in last place after making sure all the tired, little feet made it home safely.

All that and not one picture! I didn't even have time to catch a few videos on the trail we were so busy trying to keep up with Karla.

Next time ---we are leaving her home! :-D

We all love you Pregnant Lady!

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Friends & Fiends On A Park Bench

[PICTURE WOULD BE HERE IF BLOGGERS
ENGINEERS HAD FIXED IT BY NOW]

This story was written by me. One day I was thinking about how we go through life believing little suggestive voices all day long. They usually have done a great job of convincing us of how little we mean to one another and mostly to God. I wrote this story to combat those lies. It does not have much to do with sharing Alaska, but it does share what this Alaskan thinks about. I hope you enjoy it but mostly I hope it makes you aware of these types of lies.

Lies
Written by C.M.VanWingerden

It was midday, the sun was bright, the clouds were fluffy and light with a gentle breeze. It was a perfect day to be outdoors so I decided to walk in the park. While I strolled I saw a friend. I had not seen him for so long. I hurried over to greet him.

He sat on the park bench with his shoulders stooped. He appeared to be carrying a heavy burden on his back and was oblivious to the beauty around him. I could hear talking. It appeared that he was involved in a lively conversation.

I heard him reply, "I know, I know, I have nothing to offer people or even my family."

"Yes, I am just a loser."

I looked around the park for anyone that he could be talking to and when I didn’t see anyone I looked for a cell phone. I knew he had been talking to someone, but to whom?

For a second his eyes brightened as he looked up and saw me approaching. I leaned down and gave him a hug, "How are you doing? It's been so long since I've seen you! What have you been up to?"

His eyes darkened even while I spoke then he turned away. He nodded and looked up at me angrily, "I am doing fine!"

I didn’t know why he was upset but I smiled and asked him again, "Good, so what have you been up to?"

"If you cared you would try to see me more often", he replied, "You know where I live!"

I could see and feel hatred as he glared up at me.

I backed up as I felt the anger in my own heart begin to take control. I thought to myself, "Who do you think you are anyway? What makes you think you can talk to me that way?"

Then suddenly and unexplainably for a short time, I was allowed to see the spirit world that occupied space around both us. Each evil spirit scrambled over each other as they worked to jumble up his very tired mind with so many accusations that I could see he had chosen to believe. I jumped when an evil one sprang over to me, whispered with a sneer, "He is a loser." "You should not even talk to him!" "Who does he think he is?"

I recoiled in disgust.

I watched as they shouted into his ears words that he listened to, accepted, and then repeated to me as he heard them.

They said, "She does not like you!" He said, "You do not like me!"

They said, "Look at her, she despises you." He said, "Look at you, you despise me!"

They said, "If she liked you she would come to see you more often!" He said, "If you liked me you would come to see me more often!"

They said, "Why would anyone love you? You're a loser!" He said, "Why would you or anyone love me? I'm a loser!"

They said, "She’ll never hang out with a drunk like you!"

He stopped talking and held his tongue with bitterness in his eyes as he sat there looking up at me. He kept this accusation to himself not wanting to believe that he was a drunkard for fear that if he did he would truely become one. The lies raged on.

He turned away and fought back the tears as he grieved for what seemed to be the truth about himself and then he continued to believe the lies.

"I am a drunkard."

"Yes, she does not want to hang out with drunkards."

His heart wrenched with pain from believing so many lies for so many years. He leaned down to cover his face with his hands.

The evil spirits squealed and danced around in wicked delight. I hurried to his side; put my hand on his shoulder while shaking my head. I tried to tell him, "No, none of that is true!"

He shoved my hand away and continued to listen, but I could plainly see that he was not listening to me.

Their words rang shrill and pierced through the air. I shuttered as I watched their evil, hateful control over his thoughts grow even more.

You are a loser!

She could never love someone like you!

You don’t really need her or anyone anyway!

Remember what you did last week? Nobody would ever understand!

You are a weak person; you could never give up alcohol.

Some people just don’t have what it takes to make it in this world, you are one of them.

Look at her; she’s thinking you are so pitiful.

You might as well stop by the store for the only thing that works for you, alcohol!

You should just end this crazy life, kill yourself!

No one would notice you were gone anyway...

I tried to explain to him that I could see what was going on. He would not listen to me. He chose to listen to them. His blindness to their tactics and to the hatred they poured into his life everyday only grew worse as he sat there believing lies. He allowed them to control his mind with their evil words.

That was the day my spiritual eyes were opened to my own acceptance of all the lies spewed into my mind. I too have listened and believed them throughout my life. Sadly, the acceptance of those lies has continued for years. I tell you now so that you can be made aware of why you may have hatred, bitterness, lust, jealousy, envy, self-pity, anger, or any other hateful feelings in your own life. Those feelings will lead us on to destruction if we continue to live our lives believing lies.

Each evil spirit comes to us full of hatred. They plan to destroy us in whatever way they can.

They will use:

  • Alcohol/Drugs
  • Pride
  • Music
  • Sex
  • Wealth/ Materialism
  • Popularity
  • Lies
  • Flattery
  • Religion
  • Work/Busyness

    It does not matter what it is, they use whatever we allow them to use. It will be used to wreck our homes, our families, our friendships, but mostly our communion with God. They'll even use good things. If it takes our minds away from worshiping Jesus Christ, they will use it.

    Lift up your hands and rejoice! There is hope for us! We have the power given to us through Jesus Christ’s victory over Death and Sin. That power is given to us to overcome those evil strongholds working in our minds and hearts; we just need to turn to Jesus Christ for help.

    He listens to us everyday, patiently waiting for us to call out to Him.

    Help me, Abba Father.

    The evil will scatter with just the mention of His name.

    "For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 (NIV)
  • Monday, June 05, 2006

    Raindrops On Apple Blossoms

    Don't sit under the apple tree with anyone else but me!

    Every spring I walk over to the apple trees, lean over then search for any sign of life! It's an iffy thing to plant an apple tree in Alaska, but so far we have been blessed with beautiful blossoms and actual little apples from two apple trees in our yard. One is a crab apple and the other is a Norland apple. My daughter Karla and her husband Chris are wondering why their apple trees have been slowly getting weaker. I suspect a cold ground.

    Alaska's native trees roots grow along the surface because the ground does not have summer enough to warm up very deep. Some places never completely thaw! So rather than dig a hole deep as the pot we are transpanting from the nursery we dig a larger diameter hole then spread the roots out to catch more heat. That keeps the non-native trees and bushes happy. If the ground does not warm up then the roots do not work right. But at the same time, if we don't get rain, then the ground dries up and the trees with shallow roots are in trouble too.

    I've also heard that roots don't grow up, they only grow downward.

    There is a good object lesson in all of that somewhere!

    Anyway, I am thankful for the apple trees, they are so beautiful in the spring for a week or so before they drop their petals and begin to grow little apples.

    The first year that we had apples actually grow, we did not breath a word of it to our grandchildren for fear that they would yank them all off. Well, one day, our granddaughter Ashlee found the little baby apples and she picked off every one of them then began stuffing them into her mouth! The rest she held in her hands. With all the wind and coldness, the amount of apples that survive far enough to harvest them are very few and with greedy Grandchildren the chances of getting just one beautiful bowl of apples is rare! I wonder if she will even remember her joy of finding apples on a tree and eating them?

    I am always so happy to see the blooms and watch the apples grow as much as they can. I sure hope thre trees get strongly established and that they survive longer than I do --- then others can still enjoy their beauty long after we are here.

    We got a bit of rain here and I could almost hear the earth sighing with as much thankfulness as I felt! Thank God for rain! It is good.

    "For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame. For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God; but if it bears thorns and briers, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned." Hebrews 6:4-8