It's That Time!

Iditarod time!

Just watched the news tonight and saw that there are 96 racers this year! Lance Mackey pulled number 6 and Martin Buser number 13.

Cabela's Iditarod and The Official Iditarod website joined together and now they will be teaming up to bring the news from the trail as one. Hmmm, wonder how that will go? Here is the link to the forums, which should be fun. Forums by Cabela's for Iditarod. And don't be missing Jon Little's Iditarod stories. Here is a list of Iditarod links.

The Iditarod Restart will begin at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, March 2, in Willow, on Willow Lake. A finite amount of public parking will be available at the Willow Airport, located at Mile 69.5 of the Parks Highway. In an effort to accommodate as many race fans who wish to view the Race Restart and at the same time eliminate chronic traffic congestion, the Iditarod Trail Committee is again offering a free shuttle bus system from a variety of pick up points. Jon Little

I have been working with video for Anchorage Native Musicale (check them out at ANNLF's Blog) so I won't really get into blogging and blogging visits until I am done with that. Tomorrow we will be at West High and again on Saturday. I am skipping out on Show and Tell Friday for that reason.

Iditarod Trail Invitational has bikers, walkers, and two skiers out on the Iditarod trail. I've been keeping an eye out for Jill Homer of Up In Alaska. Most bikers have made it into McGrath.

The Iditarod dog mushers will be on the trail too very soon. I am looking forward to the race again this year.

Have a great weekend everyone!

oh boy...

[Picture of Raegan with a toy light bulb.]

I've been reading about Obama. Not because I was interested in voting for him but because of what other bloggers have posted or said about him. This morning after stopping by a message board that I visit, I decided I would see just what this guy stands for since so many seem supportive of him.

On my Google searches I ran across another blogger, Ken Berwitz at Hopelessly Partisan. He has a lot to share of Obama (and of the other candidates too). I've been planning on voting for Ron Paul and now I am wondering what in the world do "white supremacists and skinheads" find so pleasing about him? Read Ken's comment in response to "Ron Paul Can't Buy Respect" at The New York Sun's ePaper.

I did read a lot of Obama today including this at Ken Berwitz's blog:

For months - up to and including just yesterday - I have been warning you about the racist and anti-Semitic connections of Barack Obama. The connections mainstream media have barely told anyone about, as Mr. Obama rides his flying carpet above reproach or criticism.

I am not impressed with what I read of Obama, voting for him was never a consideration for me but I had to take a peek. The media continues to sing his praises. Well maybe not Fox News, called Faux News by New York's Daily News, so I feel like maybe Fox is not as slanted in their reporting. I wrote to NBC's Today Show and told them "I am sick of seeing Hillary and Obama and would they please show us the REST of the candidates????" But.. you think they would listen to me?? NOOOOOOOOOO!

I've learned of the 2008 issues related to Christianity which I am interested in, (or should be!) have been stated at the Christian Coalition of America's website. One of them being "Net Neutrality." I've never heard of this being an issue until I read it here.

If "Net Neutrality" legislation does not pass, consumers will have to pay an additional fee to have a website. The cable/telephone monopoly will be dividing the Internet into a "fast track" and "slow track." Our grassroots, who cannot afford the additional fees, will have to be on the slow track, which will mean that many of our websites will be passed by because the general public will not have the patience to go on the "slow track". Read more at CC.ORG.

For pete's sake, this world changes so fast. Don't be putting my favorite websites (Christian) on a slow... track!!!! That would truly be discrimination, wouldn't it?

There are more issues that we should all be aware of at the Christian Coalition's website, stop by and read about them.

Now that I've been reading so much I should have a better idea of who I would want to vote for....

No, I don't.

oh boy...

...big sigh.

I feel the same way I feel when trying to teach myself java programming... !!!???!!!

Pray without ceasing!!!!

Because we definitely need more Light shed on the subjects!

Muskrat Push-ups

[Photo from www.wpclipart.com] (In my opinion, muskrats are not a very beautiful critter.)

Today we went to church and afterwards had breakfast as usual then came back home. In a few hours we went down to the lake and Doug took me out to see the muskrat push-ups that we could see from the house while Klint, Calli, and Kris built a fire to enjoy.

I've never seen the muskrats do push-ups in the middle of the lake! That is different. They take mud and grass from the bottom of the lake and push it up through a hole in the ice and keep doing that to keep the hole from freezing up. Then they can come up through the ice and... do whatever it is that muskrats do! I guess they could be coming up to peek at us - to see whatever it is that we might be doing.

In the past Doug would set traps for muskrats on the Hay Flats. He skinned and tanned them and then we used them in skin-sewing projects. Today he said, "If I knew somebody that could skin-sew I would trap them." I said, "You just leave those little guys alone!"

These little critters are busy all year. They don't appear to hibernate at all. They eat fresh water clams here at the lake. They litter up the banks of the lake with the shells, lots of shells. I am always surprised by how much fresh-water clams this lake produces. The muskrat can be seen diving down and then coming back up with these clams as they swim back to shore to eat them.

I am positive that I saw the eagles carrying off two large muskrats last summer. I saw an eagle come flying over the treetops - just barely making it and then flying across the lake with a perfectly limp and unmoving muskrat in his talons. The second time I saw one come up over the trees and fly down our driveway straight towards the house and barely cleared it before flying across the lake to their nest.

That is one of the aches of nature - dying to live.

Show and Tell Friday

Visit Kelli for the list of other bloggers showing and telling today.

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I just had to share my husbands woodworking skills. He is so precise and careful.

This is the cradle that he made for our youngest grand baby. Doug made one for Kim too but I don't have a picture of that one. Klinton and Calli haven't had a baby yet. They've put their order in with Doug though. They told him that they just know that when they do need one, the one he makes for their baby is going to be the VERY best one, with him having practiced on the first two!

Beautiful!

Christmas 2006. It was a day to remember - for us all. When they came over to exchange gifts we had them close their eyes, then the guys carried it out of hiding and set it in front of them. Tears, tears, tears.

We love you Chris and Karla... and big snuggles to all the boys and Baby Raegan! (Calvin is snuggling Raegan's pillow in one of the pictures.)

Thanks for taking a look at my show and tell! (I almost forgot too!)

Yippee, the spellcheck is working again!

Only So Many Hours In The Day

Here I am, keeping busy - just like you!

I've been busy doing updates on the Anchorage Native New Life Fellowship website. I can spend hours on seemingly trivial little things, and if I begin reading about webbuilding or anything related to the site I'm working on, I lose track of time.

I've also been studying with Andrew Murray. I opened a little book "31 Days of Prayer" on the shelf which my daughter Marie had given as gifts when she was involved with the youth at church, several years ago.

As a young man, Andrew Murray wanted to be a minister, but it was a career choice rather than an act of faith. Not until he had finished his general studies and begun his theological training, in the Netherlands, did he experience a conversion of heart. In a letter to his parents, Murray wrote, "Your son has been born again. … I have cast myself on Christ."

According to Murray, the church does not realize that "God rules the world by the prayers of his saints, that prayer is the power by which Satan is conquered, that by prayer the church on earth has disposal of the powers of the heavenly world." -Andrew Murray, CHRISTIANITYTODAY.COM

While reading about him online, I found audio files of this book: With Christ in the School of Prayer.

Fur Rondy is gearing up to happen here in Alaska. Anchorage Native New Life Fellowship is also underway with their week-long Native Musicale. This is annual winter event that people from villages all over Alaska participate in. 41 years this year, and it's still going strong!

Mom is coming back out to us in the Valley, and my sister Kotya will be out to attend the Native Musicale with her family too! I am looking forward to many happy coffee times!

Little Things

It's just the little homely things,
The unobtrusive, friendly things...
That make the world seem bright.

...The everyday-encountered things,
The "just-because-I-like-you" things
That make us happy quite.

...The can't-you-see-I-love-you" things,
The hearty "I-am-with-you" things,
That make life worth the fight.
Author Unknown
This partial poem is from Poems That Touch The Heart, and compiled by A. L. Alexander.

Picture is of Chewy and is one that I've named "Waiting for Spring."

Goodies

For his valentine's treat I made Doug his favorite chocolate chip cookies. I took two cookies and filled the middle with one of his favorite ice cream flavors "Moose Tracks," then I topped it off with hot fudge. He loved it. Too much chocolate for me! I am not a choc-a-holic but I had a small serving of fat-free vanilla ice cream. Yep, I had a cookie, it was the last chocolate chip cookie; I make sure the last cookie of the batch does not have any choc/chips and that one is always for me. YUM!

Doug came home from work with an impressive giant bouquet or yellow roses. It is beautiful. It has a lot of greenery in it which is different, but pretty. We went out to dinner at Best Western's Lake Lucille Inn. They were having some Valentine's specials going on - I think that the menu prices were jacked way up! I enjoyed their yummie salad and soup bar while Doug munched down on some shrimp.

We went to the pet shop to get Chevy food and then to the grocery store to get ice cream.

We had a fun evening together.

I skipped out on the Show and Tell Friday this week but probably will join in next week. I know what I want to share too... but you gotta wait until then! I plan to check out the participating Show and Tell Friday bloggers though, I enjoy looking.

It's the BIG I Love You Day!

I want to share the WEBSITE I MADE, oh how many years ago?

"O Holy Night" plays on the start page. I love, love this Christmas song! It brings tears to my eyes when I sing it.

My heart I gave to Jesus Christ when I was young and after realizing how much He loved me. It was then that I began a lifetime of learning how to love Him in return; even learning how to be faithful ---loving Him, loving my husband, loving my family.

I had graduated from eighth grade and it was time for all kids my age to go away to attend high school. I had applied to the same high school that my older sister, Millie and two older brothers, Don and Toby, were going to. It was a Bible-based boarding school. I was accepted but there was not any room for me. I waited on pins and needles right up until the plane scheduled to take my older siblings away landed to hear if anyone else had dropped out of attending the school and there was one more bed available. But nope. I stood and watched the plane get smaller and smaller as they flew off to school without me.

Dad said that I should go to Kodiak to go to high school. I balked at that idea. Graciously Mom and Dad remained quiet about the whole situation. I ended up staying at home that year. I think that it was hard for them to send off another child. That had to be so tough on village families then!

Someone (I still don't know to this day who it was), concerned about me being at home, not attending school and probably wondering what I would be busying myself with sent me a correspondence Bible study. It was on the life of Christ. There was a short reading, encouragement to read God's Word, then a quiz to complete. Upon completion of each lesson I folded it up, stuck a stamp on it and mailed it out. About a week later I would get it back with a golden star, a note from Rose Nabinger with a new lesson to complete.

I did it. I would read, I would read. The more I read the hungrier my heart became.

As I read about Jesus Christ in the Gospels and how He had died, my heart was overwhelmed with how much He had loved me. He endured such beatings, and spitting. I had several encounters of being spit on while I was young and that made such an impression on me ---that He endured being spit on! It is so humiliating.

I had always considered myself a "Christian" because ---my parents were! My parents were ostracized because of it. (Old Harbor is a strong Russian Orthodox village.) Even though the village is RO and that church's foundational beliefs are Christian, at that time the attitudes and actions of the people were not Christian towards my parents.

My Dad had been the lay reader of the church and had challenged the church's stand on venerating the icons (pictures) inside the church. My parents spoke with the church leader Targonsky. Finally, Dad and Mom ended up making a decision that they could not continue to attend the church when the people that they loved were encouraged to cross themselves, kneel down and kiss the icons. Their decision was not made lightly.

The result of all that for us kids? The other kids in the village spewed out the words they were hearing at home, "Christian!" "Missionary!" So I THOUGHT ---that is what I am. As I read the Bible and the studies, I soon realized that I was responsible for myself, that I personally had to choose to believe or not to believe. I could not gain Heaven on the merits of my parents, but only on believing God's word myself.

When I was fourteen, I knelt beside my bed and cried. Cried for I had just realized how much God loved an insignificant little girl. I prayed and told Him that I did believe that He was God's Son. I believed all that God's Word said. His Peace overwhelmed my heart that night! At that moment, I knew it was the Truth because the Holy Spirit in my heart confirmed it. I realize that Peace was the Holy Spirit entering my heart ever so gently, ever so triumphantly - never overbearingly.

I am thankful. This is the greatest Valentine story of love.

Because of His love abiding in me --- I can love too.

My home website speaks of Doug's love for me, I thought it would be a good thing to share today. My other loves are there too... my children. I hope that you will have the time to stop by that website for a visit with myself and my family. CLICK HERE.

I hope you have an especially great day - determining once again to faithfully love those around you - God has blessed you.

My Painting

Click here to create your own painting.

I saw this on Faith's blog. It's a personality painting. It's a fun thing. Try it.

WEBCAMS

MY NEW DISCOVERY: I just found the Tesoro Iron Dog Rules PDF!

WEBCAMS are up for Nome Restart and the Finish at Fairbanks. CAMS are being sponsored by the Greater Wasilla Chamber of Commerce. They seem slow to me when I looked but at least they are working. Maybe they are slow because they are so busy? Anyway, give it a try.

I learned yesterday by reading the Iron Dog Blog comments that Team 23 had trouble with Jeff's a- arm, and Mark had coolant problems before they scratched in Galena.

Iron Dog Start video posted at Doug's Synthetic Lubricants Blog. Check it out.

Nome and Scratches

My daughter Karla's husband Chris on a snowmachine, ha!

So the fast riders have made it to Nome and those with troubles have scratched --- include Team 23. So bummed about that! Not sure what is going on, only saw that they got to Galena - pulling one of the sleds in. First team into Nome was Minnick and Olstad (16). Four teams are there as I type - 16, 8, 22, and 14. 10 and 18 are on the trail to Nome.

Team 21 got their parts and have been back on the trail, right now they are heading for Kaltag.

I tried to find information about required layovers and the rules of the race, but can't find anything. Maybe Tesoro Iron Dog will post those on their website eventually, right now I have no idea what sort of layovers are required, I just keep seeing the racers declaring layovers. Enquiring minds would like to know...

Iron Dog has lost a total of 12 Pro teams so far. 28 Teams continue to run.

I found a fun article online. It's a good one for describing what it's like to race the Iron Dog as rookies. That year, 2005, Team 14 were rookies too and yet they won the Iron Dog, not only beating the veterans but winning despite challenging weather to boot!

The young, up-and-coming team of Marc McKenna and Nick Olstad were able to stave off the host of previous and most experienced Iron Dog winner's to win the 2000-mile race back and forth across the last frontier of Alaska . Up and over 3 mountain ranges and back, team #14 crossed the finish line with a running time of 52:59:40 setting a new course record for this route. Followed by the team of Scott Davis and Todd Palin who crossed only 20 minutes ahead of the third place team of Kenny Kleewein and Randy Hunter.

Just in case you didn't realize - Randy Hunter and Kenny Kleewein of TEAM 21.

Read more about the 2005 Tesoro Iron Dog Race and rookies Skeet Black and Larry Kropp at SNOWMOBILE.OFFROAD.COM

Their story is fun!

Good luck Team 21! Good job to all the front runners.

A Short Break

A short break while the front-running Iron Dog racers are declaring lay-overs.

Here's a bit of a show and tell, check out my daughter's blog Alaska According To Marie. She put up a great poem that I really enjoyed, I thought you would too. So stop by and be sure to leave her a message too! Enjoy the beautiful photographs that she shares too, she loves photography.

Can You Imagine?

How tired the guys must be?

Oh my word, they've been riding hard and going so far and still riding HARD! I have been a passenger on a comfy 4-wheeler, gone on long rides on trails and I got sore! These guys, are going lickety-split down rough trails. I bet there are some very cool videos to be had along the trail from these guys flying over it!

I just peeked into Tesoro Iron Dog's updates and was looking at the times. The front guys are just minutes apart. Team 22 (Palin,Davis) and Team 14 (McKenna, Quam) are pretty much traveling together (checking into Ophir at 9:48 and 9:49)! No time for rest. The first two teams (check into Ophir 9:22 and 9:25) are only 23 minutes ahead!

Team 14, McKenna (Anchorage) and Quam (Eagle River) are veterans. McKenna took first in 2002 and Quam was in second place in 2002.

I am so thankful I don't have to do this. ha

Our Team 21 - still getting left behind in Rohn waiting for parts. So sad. Darn! I hope they are getting their parts as I type and can get back on the trail soon.

Team 23 is holding in 11th and continues to run with the fast crowd on the trail to Poorman! GO Team 23!

Tesoro Iron Dog has had one rookie team with troubles on the trail. A rescue was sent out for them. I don't know if that means they got lost or what. They are at a place called Helicopter Lake Cabin with their last check in done at Shell Lake.

Troubles

At first we saw on the Iron Dog site that Team 23 scratched. I am guessing this was a mistake because now Team 23 appears to be in 13th place and on the trail to McGrath. So they are okay!

Team 21 is having mechanical problems and are waiting in Rohn for parts. Oh no.

Right now leading the race with the shortest travel times are teams 16, 8, 14, and 22. They have declared a lay-over in McGrath.

I am bummed about team 21. I hope they can get parts in time to get back on the trail.

Team 42, the Wounded Warrior Project team that had their sled stolen were able to get another sled and back into the race before the start. I see that they have scratched and are spending the night in Skwentna. Not sure why and I'm sorry to hear that.

He and Hastings are racing the Iron Dog to raise money for the Wounded Warrior Project, a nonprofit based in Florida that helps severely injured war veterans transition back to civilian life. ADN.COM

This race is so much faster than the Iditarod Sled Dog Race which is coming up really soon too! After that... I know that spring is just right around the corner! Yippeeee!

Right Now Team 21 is in 4th!

Team 21 was the 11th team out of Big Lake and right now they are only two minutes ahead of the winning team # 22 and in 4th place! I am excited for them. Their on the trail to Puntilla now.

Team 23 seems to be showing signs of troubles, and that is too sad! One place says that one of them Scratched, darn. No way to tell if that is true or a mistake by the webbuilder right now.

You can watch the team Stats on Tesoro Iron Dog's site. Pro Class Race Statistics. Can't dilly dally around with this race, it's gonna be over in hardly any time at all! Check in often and enjoy!

It was so cold at the start but Doug should have video of some of the sideline fun soon, I hope.

Right now we are getting a bite to eat, we been being bited by Jack Frost all morning, afternoon! Fun times.

Whew!

Picture of my grandson AJ on his little snowmachine.

Oh my goodness, I've never been so busy in blogworld as I was after entering Show and Tell Fridays! I hope that I visited everyone that participated. It was fun!

Tomorrow is the start of the Tesoro Iron Dog so we will be over on Big Lake watching the guys take off. My husband and I sponsored two teams this year. A two-stroke team and a four-stroke team. You can see more of Team 21 and Team 23 at my husbands blog, Dougs Synthetic Lubricants.

Visit Tesoro Iron Dog's website to watch where the teams are on the trail. They will be tracked with GPS. There also is a List of WebCams that you can view.

I am excited to keep track of the race this year.

Show and Tell Friday

Visit Kelli at her "There is no place like home" blog for a list of others that share on Friday's.

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Several times that I have visited with Mrs JoJo and Connie H they've been sharing with the Show and Tell bunch. It was fun to see. I wanted to join and share this week too.

I enjoy doing beadwork so I will show a couple pieces that I've made.

My biggest accomplishment is Doug's guitar strap. I designed and beaded it myself.

The guitar strap was a very long and tedious job for me.

He really likes it and he is worth the effort!

It took me about eight months to complete.

The peyote-stitched hybiscus is the flowery headpiece I designed and beaded for a young lady getting married. She was originally from Hawaii and wanted something made for her hair that reminded her of Hawaii. I made a hibicus flower. It took some figuring out and several attempts but I got it! I mounted the flowers on a comb. I made several strands to go around her head and down her back. The hairpiece was designed to sparkle in the light. She was very happy with it. Whew! Sometimes it's hard to please those brides!

I hope you enjoyed seeing my beadwork.

Thanks for visiting. You can see more of my beadwork on my other blog. Connie Marie's Beads.

Sweet Snowy Girl

She is already one, I just don't know where the time goes but I do know that it seems to be going faster and faster - anyone else agree?

Doug sent this to me in email today. I agree with the "concerned citizen"!

What do we do with our family members or friends who won't stop using drugs? I have beeen wondering about that all day today. Seems that some people just can't control themselves when it comes to ingesting hurtful substances. Isn't there something we can do when that happens? Can't we call our ----ombudsman or something??? ha

Like any OVER-indulgence, our bodies, our families, our friends, even our minds get warped. Everything is perfectly legal when it comes to living a Christian life, but over-indulgence is a sin. It does not matter what it is - chocolate, deep-fried foods, sugar, alchohol, even prescription drugs. Taking too many vitamins and minerals can be hurtful! When we over do anything - it's to our own hurt. We need to be moderate in all things.

I encourage you to have a drug-free, non-over-indulging and practicing moderation day today. (I'm still getting the 500 internal server error when I try to run the spell-checker, is it me?)

Windy Voting Night

Doug and I braved the cold winds in Wasilla to check out the voting. We got to the Republican polling site and were floored by all the cars there.

As we drove into the lot we could see a line of people down the hall and out the door and into the parking lot and - all standing in the wind! I rolled down the window and asked, "You waiting to vote?" "Yep!"

Oh my word. No way, I would not agree to stand in the wind for who knows how long in order to vote. I can't believe that people were expected to!

We decided to get some dinner and went to the local grocery store and ordered Chinese food. I fixed a big salad and we ordered hot tea. This is the way to wait to vote! Doug and I enjoyed each other for dinner. Afterwards, we picked up groceries and then went back to the polling site.

There was still a long line down the long hall and clear back to the door we had just walked through. "You want to wait?" Doug asked, "Yeah." I smiled and looked around.

I've never been to a caucus vote. I didn't realize that we had to be Republican in order to put a vote in for Ron Paul. My old voter registration has an 'R' on it so I figured I was good to go, but I wasn't. I had anticipated that it might be a problem so I had filled out the paperwork to make myself a legal 'R' before we got up to the front. I didn't keep the ones behind me waiting as I filled out the form. :-)

The windchill in Wasilla last night had to be subzero stuff. As we were driving home I noticed that the temperature was 17F! I could not believe it. It has been so cold! I was happy! As we got closer and closer to home we started losing degrees until when we finally arrived home we were at -22F!

Oh bleah!

Kind of the same way I feel about how things are shaping up in the potential-presidential field.

It's so good to know that nobody gets into high political power unless God allows it. His Will will be worked out in the spiritual arena - no matter who is in office here in the US of A.

"Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God." Romans 13:1.

Speaking About Valentine's

Got this video in email. Right now the hot topic is Valentine's and relationships between men and women, it really relates. It's a beer commercial --- but it's funny. See if you think that it illustrates some possible reasons why it was decided that man needed help ---so woman was made.

The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him. Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field. But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh. Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'woman, for she was taken out of man." For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. "Genesis 2:18-24.

Somebody... help the man. hehehe

Marriage Monday!

Marriage Monday at C H R Y S A L I S

The topic is Valentine's Day and I have decided to share my most memorable one. A first confession, I don't even remember which Valentine's Day! So much for that part of MEMORABLE!

My husband Doug readily agrees that he always needs to be prompted in order to remember to remember special occasions. Sometimes I will purchase a bouquet of flowers and then say to him as I smell them, "You are so sweeeeet! I love my flowers." Like my son's wife always says, "Everyday is Valentine's Day for us." I do say the same for my marriage relationship too.

BUT about three years ago (already), Doug totally floored me when he planned out a special evening and night for us on Valentine's Day and all without "prompting" from me. I will never forget it. (My daughter Marie helped him.)

He called me to say, "I'm on my way home, be ready to go for a car ride." (I love going on car rides.) He said to pack an overnight bag for both of us. "Oooooo!" So I did. He got home from work, showered, we left and began to head North.

It was snowing so hard that evening that we could barely tell which side of the road we were on. I kept my nervous mouth shut, tried to remain as happy... and loving as I could under the scary circumstances. I didn't want to spoil the night with fearful outbursts!

Big ol' trucks would zoom past and blow snow up all over our car and each time I thought for sure that we were going to die. I quietly wondered where and how far we would have to be traveling.

A long hour and a half later we turned off onto the Talkeetna Spur Road then he began searching the highway for the right roads leading to the Talkeetna Chalet Bed and Breakfast and the room (Denali) which he had reserved for us.

Wow, Doug, how cool! He does not do stuff like this so I was quite impressed (except for the heavy snowfall highway ride). We found the right place despite the heavy snowfall. I got out of the car so relieved to be there and in one piece even!

We checked out the room and even found chocolate-dipped fresh strawberries in the refrigerator! We decided to begin our evening together with the hot tub! We walked out the door, across the deep snowy yard, took off our robes, and climbed into the hot tub.

Big, beautiful snowflakes fell and melted on our faces as we looked up into the sky. This felt so good! After about an hour we were relaxed, hot and ready to get out. We reached for our robes and found them all crusty with snow and frozen! BRRR! We kept laughing and sinking back into the water before finally braving the cold, grabbing our robes and running back to our room.

After showering, getting dried and comfy we began to search the full movie shelf. We wanted one that would be fun/romantic to watch. I saw a Jack Nicholson movie and said, "Oh he is so funny, let's watch this, About Schmidt - it's says something about retirement." (We were interested since Doug had been talking about his eventual retirement, we hoped soon.) Doug didn't care, "Whatever you want to watch is fine with me" (his standard reply to the question). So, I put the movie in and we climbed under the warm covers.

The movie wasn't funny. It was sad. Soon we thought - "it is depressing." We continued to watch it. Soon his wife ----died! I laughed and looked at Doug and said, "Oh dear, not too romantic is it?" Too late, we were commited to finding out what would happen to Schmidt in his retirement years.

I believe this has been a great adventure and wake up call to many Americans as to what is important in life and why we should cherish every moment of it. ~A movie watchers comment.

It ended up being a good movie to watch together; a good reminder to value each other and the times that we still have together. It was sad, but it made us thankful that we were still able to be together. We were reminded of the more important things in life; how we need to value our husband-wife relationship; value the joy of our children. We did not want to forget that it is these things that bring lasting satisfaction in life. People should not waste whole lifetimes only pursuing financial wealth (although that is necessary) but to keep chasing after a wealthy trust in each other, a lasting relationship, and even the joy of keeping a rich love relationship kindled with each other and our family. These are far more important than riches. The emptiness of the end of a relationship via death is coming and we should value what we have together now.

Even if I can't remember the exact year ---I won't ever forget that evening together and the values that were impressed upon our hearts.

Thanks so much Dougie, and thanks for the "About Schmidt" movie, Jack Nicholson (a favorite actor of mine). Jack Nicholson's new movie "The Bucket List," is another good-values instilling movie! I watched it at Century 16 recently with my daughters Marie and Kim.

Be sure to visit e-Mom for more Valentine's Day related stories and information from other blogging friends.

The 2008 Tesoro Iron Dog

It's that time once again, the Tesoro Iron Dog, the 1,971 mile race to Nome and then back to Fairbanks.

I just finished reading about Charlie Potter (Team 42), an Iraq war veteran. He was disabled and has spent time recovering from nearly losing his arm during an enemy attack. He is running the race to prove that one can recover from losing so much to gaining enough back to run the hard race to Fairbanks via Nome. Now I see that his racing snowmachine was stolen! Read about it here.

Today we spent at the Wasilla Sports Complex. Doug bought a booth at the Tesoro Iron Dog Safety Inspection Festival and we got to spend most of the day seeing and talking to people interested in this yearly event.

Doug and I decided to sponsor a team (two sleds) by supplying their machines with AMSOIL via his business Doug's Synthetic Lubricants. We have never sponsored an Iron Dog team before but thought it would be cool to support some guys from the town that we live in. So meet Team # 21. Charlie Potter is also from Big Lake.

A video I found from YouTube of Team 21 in 2007.

This video was taken last year. Randy said that they didn't have good luck last year since one of their engines "burned up." David Branholm and Randy Hunter, Jr. will be riding on Polaris IQ 600's, we are excited to watch the Iron Dog Race to see how they do this year!

The race will start on February 10 and they all will be leaving from Big Lake, Pro Class begins leaving at 11 A.M.

I didn't find out what happened with Charlie Potter's stolen sled. I wish I would have read about this before I went to the Complex today so I could have found out if Team 42 is racing or not. If I find out I will share. Our beautiful Governor Sarah Palin's husband will also be running again he and his partner of Team 22 continue to be the fastest team to try to beat!

Go faster Team 21! :-)

May God keep you all safe.

What's up with the spell check ? It has not been working since I got back!

Winter BRRRRRRRRRR-irds!

How do they survive?

I watch at the window from my warm house and wonder how those little feet stay warm. God's creating ability goes further than I could even imagine ---in all ways!

I would have been ecstatic to have created even one of these such cute little birds, but I am positive I would never have forseen the trouble of trying to keep it alive when it got so cold!