Oh Brother!

My brothers, Don on the scope and Toby at the window. Don was the one that pulled me out of the wall when I hurt my leg. I don't remember it at all, my memory was all wrong, but that was a story for another post.

Doug came home on Thursday and told me that Don is having hip replacement surgery. Next Friday. Of course, I have been reading all about it online. I pray that this will bring him more mobility and less pain ---that is the whole reason behind having this type of surgery.

I know only one other person that has had hip replacement and the results were not good. He developed a bone infection. I know that any type of bone surgery has a high chance for developing infections, so I pray that Don won't have one.

August 16, 2002, Don was hurt in an explosion at Prudhoe Bay here in Alaska while he was at work. He was burned, broke both his femurs, and his hand. His back, knee, wrist were hurt. His burns were bad on his face, ears, forearms and his left hand. But he healed faster than normal, I believe, because so many were praying for him throughout his ordeal.

No one asked me to do it. No one told me I should learn how to do HTML. I wanted to learn. I studied day and night and then one day I checked online to see if ANNLF had a website. They didn't, so I began to build one. To practice my HTML coding, I told myself. I never knew I would use this knowledge to share information about my brother - online.

When Don was hurt and after I saw him at the hospital so sedated that he did not even respond to our visit, I wondered if he would even make it. As he flew to Harborview Medical Center -Burn Unit in Seattle my heart was so troubled and I prayed for him and his family, then I began to put information about his condition online so that our family could read it.

It was therapeutic for myself. As other people asked about Don I began to tell them to check that website. I posted any new information whenever I got it. Doug began telling his co-workers (also at Prudhoe Bay) to go to the website if they wanted to read Don's latest condition report.

Soon many people were visiting the site daily to read how Don was doing and see pictures that were posted there. Concerned people, even strangers were praying for him. They checked in every day to see if any new news was out about his recovery. Pictures I posted at the site were even used on the evening t.v. news shows as they reported on Don's condition.

I added a Guest Book so that people could leave Don messages online. Don heard from people all over the world and they were praying for him. Cards and messages of encouragement came in. Through it all, God blessed Don with a quick healing.

Now he will have this hip replacement surgery next Friday.

Pray that the physician's will have wisdom as they go in and remove the damaged tissues and then put in the new hip.

Pray that he will not even get one little bit of infection.

Pray that he will heal quickly.

Old Teachers, Old Friends

by asross

I saw this photo while I was at Webshots. I did a search on Old Harbor, Alaska and one of Alan Ross's (Kodiak Canuck) pictures came up. Other lady is Alan's wife, Linda.

Violet Able loves the LORD and she loves us too. That is one thing I knew whenever I saw her. She moved to Prescott Valley, Arizona so long ago.

I used to use Webshots a lot in the past. I have not uploaded any new pictures for a long time. I was shocked when I opened the site to check on another person's pictures. It has had a facelift!

Too Big To Be Little, Too Little To Be Big

We went hunting on Saturday night and stayed out until Monday evening. The colors were "splendid," as my grandson's Tucker and Gunner would say. After the days of rain we have had, I believe that the sun came out just for us! We were dressed for rain since it was raining lightly when we started out.

We had just a few sprinkles on the way in and then it didn't rain at all the rest of the time. When we woke up on Sunday morning and drove out on Monday afternoon we had sunshine. Today it is raining. I am thankful for rain, but I am more thankful it waited until we came home!

Our sons, Klint and Kris came out for an afternoon hunt and to help us set up camp. That was so nice of them both! After their evening hunt they went back home. That evening my son Kris told of seeing bear tracks not far down the trail. I tucked that bit of information in the back of my mind.

I didn't have to set up the tent or anything, just stay out of the way. Doug normally does the cooking when we go tent camping, so I should love tent camping, shouldn't I?

Well, if it weren't for two things I probably would be out camping all the time. One, my body hurts! Two, I could not find one toilet out there! (Not listed here by most compelling.)

The subject stinks, but it is something done when out camping/hunting in Alaska. Alaska does not have nice campgrounds with bathrooms here and there to use way out in the toolies. We bike up into the mountains where the wild animals roam, the weeds are tall as my shoulders, we hear noises I've never heard at home and unless you live on Anchorage's Hillside - tracks not normally found in your backyard.

After reading that God instructed the Israelite's specifically to keep their camps clean, we keep ours clean. God walked through the Israelite's camp protecting them and delivering enemies into their hands and God required that it should be kept clean unless He should turn away from them when there is anything indecent. Dueteronomy 23:12-14.

My kids have gone on some "low impact" camping trips where the way that they got rid of their natural emissions is truely ugly! They had to smear them into the rocks with their shoes! HORRORS! I have also heard that some campers carry their stinkers back out with them in bags. Imagine how horrible that would have been if God asked Israel to do that? Millions of bags of stinkers. I guess there is a reason for having rules like these but I hope it never comes to that in Alaska. Alaskan's, please take care of our countryside. Take out your trash. Look back at your site and see if it looks natural, no litter! Please stop shooting cans and bottles and leaving the mess. Clean it up!

At first light the next morning we heard moose. A bull was chasing a cow and her calf right next to our camp! I don't know which one was bellerin' but one of them was making lots of noise! That was exciting!

Since I am slow climbing out of our tent, I missed everything. By the time I was out, Doug was gone too ---checking out whether or not the bull was legal to shoot.

So, there I am, all alone and thinking about those bear tracks but mostly the one that left them there. And now, I felt like I was being watched. I listened, looked around, then decided I am going to make a fire. Bears don't like fire, I hoped.

We had kept a clean camp. We stored our food away from our tent. I wondered if my movements might look like a nice morning play-thing to a bored bear that might be watching me from the golden shrubs. Sort of like a cat with a mouse.

I kept scrounging around for dry little twigs. Peeling off some of the birch bark paper. Pulling off the dead, dry spruce twigs. cracking them to small size and putting them in a pile in the fire pit.

For forty five minutes I worked on keeping the little fire going. Then I saw Doug at the edge of camp, [whew] he pointed and made our bull moose sign without talking. I nodded, afterall I already knew that a bull had run through earlier! I went back to fire keeping. Doug didn't move but waved and pointed again, and signed bull again ---but with more feeling. So, I stepped back from the fire to get a better view out of our camp site, I looked and there was the bull... watching me!

Doug says he had been watching me in camp since I had zipped out of the tent! (By zipped I mean zipper---) Doug realized he was not of legal size so even if he was almost frozen he had stayed out there enjoying watching the bull, watching me. It ended up that this bull was too little to be big and too big to be little.

No wonder I felt like I was being watched ----I was!

Long Lasting Marriages

It's our anniversary, our 33rd! We got married in a double-wedding ceremony with my husbands brother and his wife way back then. Our son Kris was looking at a picture of us this morning, he says, "Wow, you guys were in a whole different world back then weren't you?" Yes! I guess we were.

No computers, no instant news-anytime of the day, no online friendships, no easy to access information, no cell phones, no little palm thingy's that beep at you to remind you that you better not forget your anniversary! This world is incredibly instant. With our recent traveling, it seems smaller too!

I would put up one of our wedding pictures but, in order to do a scan of an old photo, I would have to turn on my old desktop, then run the utilities on the printer, print of test copies, and then see if the scanner will still crank up for me. That is really stressing out my lazy-making instantaneous that I am so used to now! You know how it is, if the microwave cooks longer than 2 minutes... "Why is this taking so long!!!?"

Today, I decided to see what the world is saying about how to keep a marriage together long enough to be considered "an old couple that has been together so long that they are beginning to look a lot like each other!"

Ladies Home Journal a magazine I used to read a lot has stuff to say on this topic. Looking back, deepen trust, communicate [YUP! good one], fight fair [um...], defuse power struggles, respecting--accepting differences, be money smart [I agree!], make love.... "wiggles eyebrows" [yup Becky, we do... still at 52!], and team up. All good things but not why we are still together.

How about Dr. Phil? He seems to be a big relationships person...A Good Marriage... after being married for 28 years [oh wow, purdy good] heres his thoughts on what makes marriage work. "The quality of a relationship is a function of the extent to which it is built on a solid underlying friendship and meets the needs of the two people involved." [rereading that] Friendship, okay. You get what you give, win/lose..., forget whether you are right or wrong, the question is: Is what you are doing working or not working?, no right or wrong way to fix a relationship, [reads on down] Communicate! [Yeah, that's important] Make sure your sentences have verbs. Remember that only 7 percent of communication is verbal. Actions and non-verbal communication speak much louder. [I can speak without saying a word! So I agree with that non-verbal stuff] Good advice, but still not what I am looking for.

Equality In Marriage Institute... it's a closed institute, but lets check out their Partnership Tips..from the Pros archive.

The Time is Now
If you are ever going to love me,
Love me now, while I can know
The sweet and tender feelings
Which from true affection flow.
Love me now
While I am living.
Do not wait until I'm gone
And then have it chiseled in marble,
Sweet words on ice-cold stone.
If you have tender thoughts of me,
Please tell me now.
--Unknown

[nope]

..."Kiss good-bye and hello. Throw a hug while you're at it", ..."establish a love account and make regular deposits.." [Gary Smalley said that?], "I got gaps; you got gaps; we fill each others gaps." -Rocky, Well, here is something ... Frank Pittman said, "The secret to having a good marriage is to understand that marriage must be total, it must be permanent and it must be equal."

Checking Google again. Oh, "The best marriage advice I ever got", lets look at that...Redbook [raising eyebrows]. Okay, it's not there either but "Attack the issue, not each other" is very good advice for living together as peacefully as possible.

There are a lot of good words online.

The advice I have is quite close to what Frank Pittman said. I believe that marriage should permanent. Unlike Frank Pittman who believes marriages are permanent, period! (My own words.) I believe that some marriages should end because of abuse and oppression, but never for because--- "oh well, we fell out of love" or"we didn't have anything in common anymore". (I have not read any of Frank Pittman's books, I have just scanned what's being said online, forgive me if I got the wrong impression.)

I heard it once said that too many people get married, burn the bridges behind them but secretly make certain there is always a boat anchored out in the bay. I say, burn the boat too! Once I say "I do" I have no business messing with little boats that are anchored out in the bay no matter how tempting they may be to sail away. It will always be with another person that you have to learn how to love no matter what anyway!

Dougie, I love you... no matter what. I don't want to climb into any boats out in the bay--so make sure this one does not get any leaks!

Slathering on the tar.... Happy 33rd Anniversary, my sweet, sweet man.

EWWWWWW!

I have a serious case of spider creepy crawlies going on here tonight. I have been noticing a lot more spiders the last week or so and I think it's because it's cooler now and they are moving slowly out of sight rather than getting out of sight before I see them.

Doug has been bring wood to the porch so maybe that is why I am seeing a lot more of them on the deck. I was out there with him yesterday and saw this big spider crawling on the ceiling of the deck. Big, orange-colored, ugly thing with a puffy, puckered looking back.

I remember a nightmare I had when I was a little girl. I saw a spider in the corner of the room and it began to crawl towards me and as it did it kept getting bigger and bigger until it just loomed over me. I think I had a fever so that must have been a sick dream!

I know this spider problem will just keep getting worse until they finally freeze--- because they can find all the spots in this log house that is leaking warm air out. They just zero in on the warmth then wiggle on in like it's their own welcome to my home porch!

TOnight, I was getting some work done and printing out flyers when my son Klint stopped by. I went downstairs to show him the jewelry I had created for a bridal fair that Karla will be participating in. After visiting a bit, he left and I took my little dog out to go potty.

I didn't go very far because it's DARK outside! I am still used to it being daylight when I go outside at night and I hate it gets dark earlier in the fall. I am pretty positive that I can feel all sorts of creepy crawlies out there hanging from the ceilings and from the trees! So I says, "Go potty here! Chewy!" After he finally quits peeing, I jerked his leash towards me and we hurried back in.

I am always checking the floors as I walk around my house and that is when I noticed that right where I was standing at the table talking to my son there is a big ol' smooshed spider on the floor!

EWWWWWWWWWWW! I groaned, as I looked down at my bare feet!

I'm going to bed!!!!!

Too Many Hunters!

It's still moose hunting season here in Alaska. We are hunting in Unit 14. (I think). Anyway, yesterday we decided to take a ride out the highway in the afternoon to see what we could see. We mostly saw --- other hunters!

On the way up the hill we even saw a Trooper coming out. He stopped us to inform us that there had been an illegal moose kill up there and asked how long we have hunted in this area. As we spoke with him I could not help but get a very strong feeling that just because we hunt up there we were suspects! (Suspects again, I thought to myself.)

I was having trouble rolling my knee-boot tops down and my calfs were getting too hot so after I got that impression I said rather indignantly, "WE did not see that moose kill!" I pulled harder on my boot and rolled my eyes for effect.

That reminds me of Kevin's little ditty on his blog "Life in the Bay" --- "Where men are men and women roll their eyes!"

Anyway, the public servant Trooper looks around Doug at me and at my boots and continues to say that if we learn who was involved or hear anyone bragging about shooting this moose, to call and let them know at 892-FISH.

We continued on and were on the look out for this dead moose. It was probably a too small bull since whoever killed it took the time to cut off his antlers before, we think, becoming too nervous to salvage any of the meat. We never did see it on the way in. We smelled it but only saw it on the way out. We did see bear tracks in the area it was rotting.

The 4-wheeler trail is really bad now that so many hunters have been using it. It could be a lot worse if it was raining. After going through many atv-sucking bogs We found a very nice spot to stop at so we parked the bike then walked in a little further.

Beautiful countryside and so quiet! I totally enjoyed the time we had together sitting on damp moss, quietly visiting, batting a gazillion bugs and munching on pilot bread, chocolate candies, cheetos, peanuts, cheese, and drinking soda pop and water. (Happily, Doug knows what is important on hunting trips!)

After an hour or so we got up and went on a walk deeper into the trees. We saw lots of moosey places with moosey droppings and moosey beds, but no moose! Then we decided it would soon be getting dark and we should probably head back out.

On the trail back out we stopped one more time on top of a golden hill, to listen for what we could hear. We heard something!

Scritch, scritch, scratch... just right over there. Way over there in the distance we could heard moaning and grunting. Moose? We looked at each other with raised eyebrows. Other hunters? Yeah, other hunters, we nodded.

We sat there listening. Moan, scritch, grunt, scratch. That was the noisiest "moose" I have ever heard. ('Cept for the one moose that ran right past me up on Baldy.) After we listened for a while we decided Doug should do his own scritch, scratch on a tree. He found a hard piece of thin log then took it to a tree and dragged it a few times. We listened.

QUIET!

I think those hunters heard that. We better go home before we become targets!

If it stays dry today (it's overcast now) we want to go out again today. I'm thinking about buying one of those hunter orange hats!

You Scratch My Back...

Relationships with other persons is like the business world. You scratch my back and I'll scratch your back. Reciprocal. It is not the same as what Christian love is. It is a way that comes from the world. Or is it? I'm thinking about the verses - "...do unto others as you would have them do unto you." "If one would have friends, he himself must be friendly.(My paraphrases.)

Christian love --loves others even if there is no return back-scratches. It is weird to the world, which is busy scratching backs that have already scratched their own.

I sometimes wonder what it would be like to walk physically with Jesus Christ in the world. I realize we have the Holy Spirit to help us. Jesus said that this is better than Him being with us physically, everyday. To actually watch Him with my own eyes is something I long to do. I know it would change my life and how I give or return back scratches.

When I hear of physical abuse going on it makes me angry and makes me want to hurt the abuser. Returning hurt for hurt.

These are things we don't talk about. We hide our fears and our hurts behind smiles and then return to scratching backs that have already scratched our own. Loving those that love us. Hating those that hate us.

My mind is jumbled this morning and I am rambling.

Happy birthday, Mom.

I'm going to go walking.

Love One Another

September 11, 2001.

It has already been five years. A long time for ones closely related to those that died. I have felt their heartaches. I still do.

I spent the morning watching President Bush and his wife, Laura as they honored those that died and stood with those left behind but have gone on with life.

Emergency workers and their stories. Newspeople and their stories. Stories coming from the children that experienced 9-11 first hand then and the thoughts they have now. Once again a feeling of great sadness enveloped me as I watched pictures of the Twin Towers falling and heard the people screaming. I cried when I felt the hopelessness of firemen and doctors as they shared how they tried their best to save.

And all this death was for what? For religion? For a god?

I remembered those that have asked, "Why did God do this to us?"

God? My mind questions their question.

I think of His love for mankind. I think of the words His Son said: "By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."

"All religions are the same." "Chrisitanity is just as guilty as Islam is for killing people for their own causes." I am reminded of the Crusades. God's Son said this: "By this all will know that you are MY disciples, if you have love for one another." Read more.

The world becomes a fearful place from those that kill in the name of their god. "Christians" that use God's moral standards to hurt others also make our world less secure. One cannot say they love God and have actions that are hateful. Killing is hateful!

I saw the changes that terrorism has brought into our lives while we traveled to Houston, Texas and then on to London, England, UK recently. As I emptied my carry on luggage and took off my shoes to be scanned I realized that we all have become terrorist suspects!

As we traveled it would have been an easy step for me to become anxious and fearful wondering what could happen ---but, I know the One that knows it all! Even if a terrorists should end living in my body for me today or tomorrow, that is all that will end ---for my spirit will live on.

9/11 brought on many security changes for the whole world, but my eternal security has never changed, this knowledge helps to take away fear.

"I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. O Death, I will be your plagues! O Grave, I will be your destruction! Pity is hidden from my eyes." Hosea 13:13-15

Remembering London

I have had several people ask me what I thought about the trip to the UK. I give my answer here based on what little of the UK I have seen and even the little of London I have experienced.

I found London to be very fast-paced. London is a busy city! We stayed only in London. I never got to wander in the country, the countryside is what I love to see whereever we travel to. I think that is where the real locals live.

The first time I went to Hawaii, I went with my husband, his brother and his wife. We had 14 wonderful days there which we began in Maui. We all loved Maui! The last week of our stay was in Waikiki. We left Maui and arrived in Waikiki. The hotel room was not as nice. The area was crowded. It was so commercial!

That evening we wandered out on our own ways discovering the streets of Waikiki. We walked on wide busy sidewalks and browsed in the many, busy, noisy, pushy shops. When we ran into brother and wife I was surprised when she just stood there and cried. She did not like Waikiki that much! If we had traveled to Hawaii and only visited Waikiki without experiencing Maui's slower-paced beaches, her opinion of vacationing in Hawaii would have been seriously tweaked!

"You are staying in the best area of London" said the shuttle-taxi driver. We stayed in Chelsea Harbour. The area is well-kept and had extra security too. The hotel was beautiful and the service was excellent, but very spendy. We were not real close to any of the sights one would want to see while in London. At first, we took taxi's here and there before we decided that was just too much money! The last few days we bought day passes for the city bus which worked out great and was actually fun.

If you love to shop - London definitely has the shops. I saw a lot of big name clothes shops on Sloane Street. Gucci, Christian Dior, Prada, Jaeger, Valentino and more I can't remember. I saw many bookstores too, so if you like to shop books, London has it. Shoe stores? Yup, lots of those too! London is a great place to spend money.

Beautiful building architecture is all over in London. I stood still in wonder beside many buildings imagining the people that did all that work! We went to church on Sunday (the day we arrived) at St. Paul's Cathedral. What a beautiful church. Painted ceilings, tall columns, sculptures, and stained glass artwork kept my eyes busy during the whole service! Oh, the choir sounded very angelic as their voices wafted throughout the whole building! (I have never heard angels sing, but Doug says he can almost hear them while biting into a fresh-baked, warm chocolate chip cookie.)

I loved the earphone's available while you tour buildings and historical places. You get it with a purchase of an admission ticket. Hold it up to your ear and listen to your own private tour guide. Interesting to watch others wandering around with them held up tight to their ears.

New archeaological discovery in the Ukraine that some think may be another Stonehenge.

This is the last bit I have to say about our trip "across the pond." Did I love London and would I return?

I can't honestly say that I loved the huge city, but if I could get a place that had easy access to more countryside, a car to ride in wherever we wanted to go, and not so much security going on at the airports (which I know ---they are protecting me, and thank you all so very much), yes, I would return to London to do more exploring.

Looking back, even though we saw a lot of countryside from the tour bus and even though we walked and walked 'til our feet ached, we barely saw London.

I feel like messing...

...with the blogger's design. So, I am going to try a different background. I hope I don't lose everything, but if I do... it should be fun! I b--log back!

LoTR Personality Test

Take the test and let me know what you are. I saw the test on Constance from Texas' site.

What LoTR Character Are You?

Jet-Lagging

I am suffering from jet lag. My head is spinning and I can't think very good. Bit disoriented, I think.

The feelings of disorientation encountered as a result of crossing time zones are known as jet lag. Symptoms include fatigue and general tiredness, inability to sleep at night, loss of concentration, loss of drive, headaches and general malaise. Jet-lag occurs when biological rhythms are disrupted as a result of rapid transitions across multiple time-zones. Such desynchronization of rhythms also occurs in nocturnal shift work employees who transfer to night shifts.

A classical rhythm is represented by a sine wave, fluctuations occurring cyclically about a mean value rising to a peak and half a cycle later dropping to a trough. Twenty-four hour rhythms are known as circadian (about a day). An example of a biological rhythm is core temperature. We can find the characteristics of rhythms using the mathematical technique of cosinor analysis to determine the mean, the peak, the amplitude, and the time the peak occurs (the acrophase). Jet Lag symptoms and treatment.

I decided that I am on a quest to encourage as many people that have to fly a long ways ---fly first class if you can! Oh my word, what a difference it makes to fly first class! Especially if you are flying across the ocean! The chairs from Anchorage to Houston, TX were bigger and we had more room, the food was excellent, but in Business First (Continental Airlines) when we flew to UK, the service was incredible, the food was satisfying and the chair... the chair was sleep-able!. OUr comfort was their business! Every person should be so blessed to be able to fly like this. It is not just a little better, it is incredibly better to fly Business First (Continental Airlines). See the chair here.

I don't see my husband suffering with jet-lag like I am and I tried to look up why we suffer from jet lag and tried to read it but my mind would not compute. Maybe he sleeps more in between flights than I do. He loved the chairs on the flights to and from London.

We had so much room around us. The chair lays back into an almost bed-like position so we could actually sleep. I never sleep on planes but when I flew there I slept! Traveling BusinessFirst was a first time experience for me. I loved it.

So far, I have two suitcases unpacked and have seen most of my family already. Yesterday we even went out moose hunting! My voice got all croaky by 4 p.m. like I was up late at night and I forgot my body has been on London time for 8 days. It was 1 a.m. in London when I began feeling the results of lack of sleep.

So I say, I am back in Alaska and we are back safely too! Saw many, many people from all over the world and I hope this feeling I am having is not a flu because it feels kind of like it.

You know what? Alaska is sure a beautiful place!