Idaho (and Oregon) Ellingsons

2010-01-05T12:29:00.019-07:00

Sorry eveyone. I kept saying it was Julie's turn to update - but she successfully outwaited me. We have a ton to update. We'll start with Jeff.

Jeff’s Update:

Jeff has had an extremely eventful year. From January until late March, he prepared and worked out for the Discus in the spring. His sophomore year, he was very disappointed with his performance at the State Meet. He had gone in with the furthest throw in the state, but just didn’t seem able to relax enough to pull off a big throw at the meet. This was the very first time that Julie or I had ever seen him nervous and be effected by pressure. He ended up 3rd that day with a medium throw as compared to the throws the rest of the year.

We purchased a 35’ parachute which we hung from the rafters in the gym and threw all winter into the parachute. He opened the season with a meet at Mountain Home. Jeff was the only athlete there from a 1a school. All others were from 4A and 5A schools. They seeded the throwers and Jeff came in with the best PR so he was in the final flight. As he came up for his first throw – the meet official read his name and then said, “Camas County – Oh, you’ve come to throw with the big boys, huh?” Where after, Jeff blew all of them away. He threw 154’ 3”, 2nd place was in the low 140’s.

We are pretty sure that he injured a deep abdominal muscle at that meet, (a very typical discus injury as he struggled the rest of the year to approach that mark again and he demonstrated an inability to straighten up tall in the ring. He went on to lose only one meet (YMCA Invitational which draws athletes from the entire state as well as Oregon and Nevada,) for the entire year and finish up with a first place throw at the State Meet. He then took the summer completely off as we wanted any possible injury to heal itself. (Which his football season showed it did heal completely.)

Late Spring Camas County High School had its prom. Jeff had Whitney Davis fly from Silverton, Oregon to attend Prom with him. It is the next best thing to impossible to get Jeff to dress nice so it was a welcome change to see him looking so handsome. (Sorry if I sound like a father, but I just think he is a handsome young man.)

Anyone who knows Jeff knows that he functions on his own time-clock. Since CCHS is so small, all of the kids from the high school are invited to the prom. They perform a grand entry procession where the parents are invited and the kids make a formal, announced entry to the Prom. The entire community comes to watch. This year, the entire community waited for Jeff and Whitney to show up. They were 45 minutes late. They just took their time at dinner in Ketchum and didn’t see any need to hurry. As Randy Jewett would say, "It's just Jeffy being Jeffy!"

His summer was spent traveling between Oregon and Idaho for the most part with a single trip to Provo for EFY. Julie and I nearly had to hog-tie him to get him to go. He had a lot of fun and asked if he could go again next year. (He can’t; school, Mission, all those things plus he will be too old.)

He and Julie made an incredible visit to the College of Idaho (I had to work and missed it.) The school made a big production out of making him feel both welcome and wanted at the same time. The financial offers they made were beyond what we expected, especially since this was the first visit to the school and the first time we had met the coach. We have since narrowed our search down to the College of Idaho and no others and have communicated with the coaching staff on a continual basis. They even came to Jeff’s last football game of the regular season to see him perform in an athletic situation. They exchanged emails with us all through the state playoffs and we feel like C of I will be a great home for Jeff.

In early August, Jeff began football. He was still at Camas County High School. (Just as a reminder, CCHS has 47 kids total – with six senior boys on an 8-man team.) Something was missing. He didn’t have the speed, the drive, the determination, or the power he demonstrated the year before. Part of the problem was the nagging desire he has had to return to Mount Angel for school. With the recession making my job situation significantly more precarious, Jeff and I finally packed up and left for Oregon leaving Julie, Jason, Lahia, and Jaxon in Idaho. Jeff played three games in Idaho and 13 in Oregon – making a 16 game season for him.

CCHS went on to win only one game. Kennedy High School, (which he had gone to and started for as a Freshman,) lost their first three games and then one other in the regular season, and then came into the playoffs polished and looking unstoppable. The newspapers had Kennedy picked to lose the first round playoff game. They said that the team they were playing, Lakeview, just had too much play-off experience and Kennedy couldn’t handle them. The game was played at Lakeview High School (middle of nowhere next to the California border in central Oregon.) Kennedy won 57-0.

The 2nd round was against Heppner, who was the team Kennedy lost to the very first game of the year. Again, the papers picked Heppner as an overwhelming favorite. The game was a muddy, soggy mess, as it rained hard all week and the game was played on grass. The boggy condition of the field slowed both teams down significantly. Kennedy slopped its way to a 7-0 win. Heppner was emotionally crushed; they had honestly thought this was their year to win it all. I stood out at the edge of the field and listened as their coaches and parents literally threw temper tantrums, complaining that the field was so wet and muddy that it stole their championship from them. I thought to myself, wasn’t it muddy for both teams? Didn’t it slow down Kennedy as well?

This win put Kennedy in the State Semi-Finals against Knappa High School. Knappa was the returning State Champions and the team that had beaten Kennedy in the 2nd game of the season 56-18. Again, the papers overwhelmingly picked Kennedy to lose this game. Knappa’s parents had already purchased State Championship rings for their boys – so they would have them at the Final when they won. Kennedy played one of, if not the most exciting game I have ever watched and won 21-14, placing them in the State Finals against Scio. I stood next to three sets of Knappa parents at the end of this game as they discussed what to do with the rings they had already purchased. What avarice.

This put Kennedy in the State Finals against a tough Scio team. Kennedy had lost its regular season game against Scio, 14-7. The Final was a great game, but, unfortunately, Kennedy lost, again, 14-7. Placing 2nd in State is something to be proud of, but the loss hurts none the less. We are proud of the football season Jeff had and extremely glad that he and I relocated back to Oregon.

Compared to Jeff’s junior year, he did not have the stats. His junior year, he rushed for 1,268 yards and 14 touchdowns. This year he rushed for a little over 600 yards and 8 touchdowns. His junior year, he was the offense. This year, he was merely a part f a very powerful offense and he played a blocking and short yardage roll instead. We wondered how he would adjust to not being the focus, but he had no problem with it. He said it was a small price to pay for winning and going to the State Finals.

This past football season also allowed Jeff to escort Abby Bochsler as one of the Homecoming Princesses. Abby and Jeff have been best friends since the third grade. We love Abby and are so happy she got to be one of the princesses. I think both he and Abby look wonderful and they had a lot of fun. We couldn't be more proud of Abby if she was our own daughter. (Editorial note: Sorry for spelling your name wrong Abigail - it won't happen again.)

With Jeff and me living in Oregon with Stefani and Jeremiah, Jeff has a lot of time to play with his nephews and they literally worship the ground he walks on. He is a great uncle ad spends time down on the floor with them playing with, sharing his time, and loving his boys.

2008-12-15T19:27:00.004-07:00

My Turn:

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper - Gifts bags if you're in a hurry.
2. Real tree or Artificial? Real, However, I am seriously thinking of an artificial because I can't have an Oregon Nobel
3. When do you put up the tree? When we can - usually around the 10th but it is now the 15th and no tree in sight yet.
4. When do you take the tree down? After New Years
5. Do you like eggnog? Yes, yum
6. Favorite gift received as a child? My horse when I was 12.
7. Hardest person to buy for? That's alright Lahia - it must be common. I love my father in law but he is hard to buy for also. However, Jeff gets harder and harder each year. He is SO picky about clothes worse than a girl!
8. Easiest person/people to buy for? Stefani, Doug and for Lahia and Jason who give lists! YEAH.
9. Do you have a nativity set? I used to but Doug broke them when he didn't wrap them after Christmas.
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? I'm really not good at sending cards.
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? A juicer - Doug thought that I really wanted one - he didn't listen to me. We were laughing about his grandpa juicing everything and he thought that I wanted one. [Doug] - Here is a small editor's note: She did, in fact, tell me that she wanted a juicer, along with an ice crusher. It was for Mother's Day - not Christmas.
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? It's a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, and Elf.
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Usually in November
14. I don't know because I'm not sure what the question was.
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Sugar cookies with frosting, fudge, eggnog
16. Lights on the tree? White and lots of them
17. Favorite Christmas song? Lots of them - Oh, Holy Night and Santa Baby and everything in between (almost)
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? I go where my children are. Staying home because they will be here this year.
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixon, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen and Rudolph
20. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Both - one present Christmas eve, the rest early Christmas morning-unless the children are too young (let them sleep) or older (make them sleep in.
21. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? When you can't find the gift you want to buy!
22. Favorite ornament theme or color? Silver with about any color and I like a lot of different kinds of ornaments
23. What do you want for Christmas this year? My grandchildren with me all the time and new slippers, wallet, jewelry Stef makes, kisses & hugs from my grandchildren, laughter with my children and did I say fun with my grandchildren?

Here you go Lahia....

2008-11-29T22:35:00.002-07:00

Boy's Name: Jesse James
Girl's Name: Jennifer Joan
Occupation: Judge
Color: Jade Green
Something you wear: Jewelry
Beverage: Jamba Juice
Food: Jam
Something Found in Bathroom: Jergen's Soap
A Place: Jerusalem
Reason for Being Late: Jury Duty
Something you Shout: Jump!

Important Announcement!

2008-11-17T18:25:00.004-07:00

Christmas Eve, December 24th, at 7:00pm we will have the 1st Annual Ellingson/Barkley Family Christmas Skits. (Remember the Nutcracker? Along that line guys.) Each family is encouraged (please read, expected, or maybe even ordered,) to come up with a family skit. Everyone that wants can come up with their own as well. For clarification, Jason, Lahia, and Jaxon are one family unit. Jer, Stef, Kohen, and Jonas are one family unit. Julie, Jeff, Mette, and I are another family unit. And any other combination can be put together, after the initial skits have been completed. Remember, we are looking for quality here - top the nutcracker - no average, middle of the road stuff now - serious effort has to be put into this. The proud sponsor is seriously putting up a $150.00 prize to the top skit. This is real!

5 New Updates - That should keep many of you happy for a while.

2008-11-04T10:19:00.000-07:00

Snow is here!

2008-11-04T10:08:00.005-07:00

Here's what was waiting for Julie and I when we got to work this morning. There was just a little skiff of snow on the cars in Fairfield and no snow at all on the ground. But at about Bellevue, we started seeing snow and everything was covered when we got here. Winter is here and the cold is on it's way.

Here are the trees outside the front door of our office. Notice the leaves have not fallen completely off. Fall came late and then winter decided to not follow suit and just dumped snow while the rest of us were not ready yet.

Halloween, 08 Murder Mystery!

2008-11-04T08:47:00.016-07:00

I stole many of Stef's pictures as mine didn't come out very clear.)

Here's the entire cast (Top Left:) Stef, Laurie (behind Stef,) Stephanie, Mike, Jer, Jeff, Mark, Doug, Jason (I love how somber and serious he is - reminds me of the old photos taken of the real west.) (Front Row, seated:) Lahia, Angela Kay, Dana, Connie, Julie, and Sally.

Jeff (ala J.T. Stroder,) played a deputy dying to have athority and dying to be in charge. He was rather dim-witted (which he did incredibly well - so well, in fact, that Stef felt the need during the play to let everyone know that he wasn't really that dumb, he was playing a part,) but honest character. At times, Jeff stole the show.
This is me - I played a washed-up, semi-lunatic, "genuine Civil-War hero!! I mean, I was a decorated hero and a Founding Father of the town of Catcus Gulch." That is, until my property was stolen for nickels on the dollar by that no-good theif of a railroad representative and his tramp of a wife.
Julie played a local Indian drunk who owned a trading post. (A little side note here - I am daily amazed at how beautiful my wife is.) She spent hours and hours on this costume. It was detailed, intricate, and beautiful. She won best costume for this. (Spoiler alert - never share a flask of cactus juice with her.)

Jason was the semi-honest (just don't play him cards, sheriff trying to solve this complicated murder. His costume called for a duster overcoat, a cummerbund, a vest, and thena shirt (followed by his garments,) he was about to melt on us. He beat us all at cards and sorted the details out great.

Lahia played a "Good-Time Girl" at the local casino. She grew up not quite acepted by the white community and not accepted by the indian community. Her plight as an outcast made her desperate, so she took measures into her own hands to secure her own survival.
Stef was the owner of the bar we were standing and drinking in and the narator, (as well as the wutho of this year's mystery.) She did an incredible job pulling all the peices together and making it all fit.
Jeremiah was a traveling Preacher/Bible Salesman (or was he?) He won this years best actor. This part was writen for him. Should he ever decide to become a criminal - he would make a great conman.
Mark and Dana (along with Mike) were easily the most sleezy, underhanded characters int he mystery, and they played their parts great. Mark was smooth and oily - it would be easy to believe he would steal a man's property (for nickel's ont he dollar mind you,) Dana was great. She has had three years worth of underhanded, despicable characters and she has nailed each one. Is there a pattern here? Maybe we should look into this.
Stephanie was a barmaid and helper to the bar's owner. She played the part well and added fun to the overall mystery.
Angela Kay was "just passin' through town," but she was certainly involved in everyones business for a stranger to town and she just happened to be in the middle of everything. Coincidence or not?
A lady of breeding and quality stuck, due to the unfortunate murder of her late husband, inthis little backward town. She would love to bring class and dignity to the town, but the citizens just won't let her. She morns the loss of her husband, but enjoys the money he left her. she woiuld love to find out who killed her husband, but she witht he meager clues she has gathered, she is no closer today then when he died.

Sally is the town florist and gosip. She did a great job of spreading rumors and droppig inuendos. She is a true belle stuck in this dirty little town.

Mike was the infamous gun-slinger lawman "Doc" Holliday. This was MIke's first year with us. He was spectacular. As stated above, he played the part of the oily, sleezy gun-slinger fabulously. (Hint: Next years part is nothing like this one - however, it should be fun.)
Laurie played last year with us. Her personality is just so fun that she makes the entire mystery fun to be a part of. She was the daughter of the deceased and was bound and determined to save her inheritance as well as not jeopardize her engagement to the infamous "Doc" Holliday. One thing was certain, she had no patience for her poor uncle that was shorted by that deceptive, conniving railroad man.

2008-11-04T08:40:00.002-07:00

The Camas County High School Senior Class has 13 students. I have never been associated with a school this small. The Junior class is even smaller and the Sophomore class is even smaller still.

Volleyball Team Went to State.

2008-11-04T08:35:00.000-07:00

Julie and I were casual fans last year of the girl’s volleyball team here at Camas County High School. We attended most of the home games. This year, with Mette on the team and having gotten to know all of the girls on a much more personal level, we only missed 3 of their 24 games. The girls had an incredible year. Last year, they took last place in their District, winning only two games. They got a new coach this year and worked very hard all year long. They ended up taking 2nd in their district and going to State for the first time since 2000. It was an especially fun year to be a part of. Now we look forward to basketball season. These girls learned that they can be winners – we’ll see if this translates into the basketball season. (By the way, Julie is going to be the Stat keeper for the girls so she gets to travel to every game this year.)

Football Season is Over!

2008-11-04T08:32:00.002-07:00

Camas County High School had a fairly poor season. They won two games and lost seven. That’s two games more than they won last year. I think next year they have the potential for breaking .500 – we’ll see next year.

On a more positive note, Jeff did have a fairly good season, despite not really having any blocking up front for him. He rushed for 1,269 yards and 14 touchdowns. That made him the #1 running back for yardage in the State (1A Division II) and the #2 in the State for all divisions and classifications. He averaged 7.21 yards per carry. With Camas placing tied for last in their league, there is a pretty slim chance that he will have any league honors, even though he lead the league in yards. (This is why I do not like voting on All-League and All-State Honors, there is too much personal conjecture involved and politics. In track, on the day of the District Meet, if you beat everyone else, you are the league champion. No one votes, you prove it yourself.)

We are a little bit worried as it appears there are no offensive linemen returning to block up front – it might be a very tough year for Jeff coming out of the backfield.

New Pictures.

2008-09-27T20:12:00.002-06:00

I just wanted to share a new picture we took today.

A Long Over-Due Update!

2008-09-27T13:47:00.004-06:00

You’d never know it from our blog, but I honestly do enjoy writing each update – I just never find the time. We’ve had a very busy start to the new school year. With Jeff playing football and Mette playing volleyball, we have an athletic event 3 if not 4 nights a week. The other nights are filled with church and homework. Today is a Saturday and I came in early to work, but I found that my mind was wondering and I having to do the same tasks over and over again because I just don’t have the attention span today. So I gave up and decided to read back through the older posts on everyone’s blogs. It has been a fun morning. I feel re-energized and committed to keep mine updated better.

The two pictures here were taken just outside the front door to my office. You can begin to understand why my mind has wandered so much today; It is incredibly gorgeous outside right now. I feel like I should be spending my time outside, probably taking pictures, instead of sitting inside on one of the last nice Saturdays of the year. Snow is just around the corner, as it is below freezing now in the mornings when Julie and I leave for work.

Jeff's Football:

Jeff's team this year is better than the team last year and he has had a very good season so far. He has played four games so far and he has a total of 511 yards rushing and four TD's. With five games left, he could easily gain over 1,000 yards this season. The really exciting thing is next year. The team only looses 3 seniors, but has a lot of freshman that are coming along and will fill in nicely. We are looking forward to next season with baited breath.

Mette's Volleyball:

Mette arrived here having never played volleyball. The school got a new coach with a long history of winning behind him. The Camas County voleyball team only won 2 matches last year. They have had a very winning season and are improving significantly each week. The very first match this season was against Carey, which the girls lost in 3 straight sets. Last Tuesday the Camas County girls blew Carey off the court, wining 3 of four with scores of 21-25, 25-14, 25-12, 25-15. It was exciting and fun. They have worked hard and Mette is becoming more and more comfortable with the team and the game with each passing day.

My Baby - 27 years.

2008-09-01T11:56:00.006-06:00

Here is a picture of my baby. Can you believe this is the mother of four and the grandmother of three? Sorry to get all sappy and drippy on you all, but i think she is more beautiful today than the day I married her 27 years ago. As far as I can tell, she only has one flaw - her cats, but I even tolerate the cats and their annoying habits just so I can live with her and spend time with her. This past year has been incredible; we see each other litterally all day long as we commute to work together, work in the same office together, and then commute back home together. In my personal prayers, I thank God daily for her.

The beauty of Oregon.

2008-09-01T11:36:00.013-06:00

I moved to Oregon when I was 15 and have traveled around and through the state many, many times however, I am still awe struck by the diversity and beauty of the state every time I travel in it. Below are just a small sampling of what I love in Oregon. (We took a trip in late July and early August of this past summer.)

The rough and tumble Oregon Coast on a calm, beautiful day. It is even more beautiful on a nasty, stormy day.

The lush green folliage is always filled with abundant life - here is a dragon fly.

Multnomah Falls. The double falls are spectacular.

The Columbia River Gorge looking at Crown Point and on eastward to Beacon Rock.

The Columbia River Gorge is easily one of the most beautiful places on earth.

Below and West of the South Falls at Silver Creek Falls State Park.

Same Falls, closer view.

Here is the South Falls, which you can walk down to and completely under. I'm sure you can see why it is one of my favorite places in Oregon.

Kohen, Jeff and I standing in front of the North Falls at Silver Creek Falls State Park. Mette, Jeff, Kohen and I got to spend the day together walking around the park and looking at the various water falls.

Little City of Rocks - Outside Gooding, Idaho.

2008-09-01T10:55:00.008-06:00

When I was younger, many, many pounds lighter, and significantly more stupid than I am today, my oldest brother, Mark and I used to rock climb. I can distinctly remember the day that I decided I was done climbing. Julie and I had moved to southern Califonia and I had met up with a man about my same age in our church that had always wanted to learn to rock climb. We worked for a complete spring and summer gradually climbing harder and harder routes on taller and taller rocks and mountains. Our goal was to climb to the top of Tahquitz, a granite and quartzite moutainous outcropping in the San Jacinto Mountains of Southern California. Finally, we felt we were ready. We chose a fairly simple, yet exposed route up the 900' - 1,000' rock face; studied guide books and pictures and made the trip in the late fall, early winter of 1988.

At about 200' from the base of the rock, a huge granite flake peeled off the mountain with me on it. I pushed myself away from the falling rock peice, which was about the size of a small automobile, so that it wouldn't land on me and I dropped about 35', bouncing off a rock and pine needle covered ledge and slid over the edge to a 100' plus drop. Somehow I had the enough of my senses about me to grab into a deep crack in the rock wall and pulled myself up and onto the ledge i had just bounced off. I watched, horror struck, as the huge boulder that I was on top of only moments learlier continued on down the hill landing with litterally an earth shattering thud and then a crack as it split in two peices about 100' below where I was. When the adrenaline flowing through my body finally subsided, I felt a sting and a pain shoot from my right hip all the way up my spine and into my head. My ears were ringing (and would continue to do so for nearly a week,) and I couldn't lift my head. I laid there for what felt like forever assessing my body and trying to move various body parts until gradually I could move all of my body and I knew I hadn't damaged myself too badly. Laying there, I thought, I have a wife and a family to take care of. I couldn't do that crippled, paralyzed, or even worse, dead. That was when I quite climbing for good.

Anyway, I told you that long story so I could tell you about a place called Little City of Rocks between Gooding, Idaho and Fairfield, Idaho. Mette and I drove there and wandered through the rocks. The entire time I was walking around I kept thinking to myself, "I wish I had know about this when I was a climber." It was spectacularly beautiful. The pictures I have included do not do it justice. You really can't tell the size and sheer exposure of these rocks. When we were climbing actively, Mark and I discovered a incredible and very remote site to climb years ago, called the Menagerie outside of Sweethome, Oregon. It was a series of lava tubes that time and water eventually erroded the earth from away from to expose a handfull of incredibly beautiful climbable rock pillars. At the time, we thought it was the coolest place we had ever seen. The Little City of Rocks is the exact same geologic formation, only ten times larger with litterally a thousand or more possible climbing routes, rocks, and locations. If we had lived and grown up here, I probably would still be rock climbing.

Abandoned Idaho Update.

2008-09-01T10:45:00.008-06:00

I haven't included any Abandoned Idaho pictures in quite a while. Here is one new one and one of my favorites. The first is an outhouse all by itself sitting out in a grazing meadow on the highway between Fairfield and Gooding. The second is an abandoned minning shack (which I have included in our blog before, I just like it,) which sits on the back side of Dallar Hide Mountain off of what is barely a passable road almost 15 miles south west of Ketchum.

Finally, Mette Arrived.

2008-09-01T09:49:00.005-06:00

Back in late December of last year the school contacted us and asked us if we would be willing to host an exchange student for the last semester of lthe year. Julie and I have talked about hosting an exchange student for several years, especially a Swedish exchange student so I could re-learn Swedish, but we always thought we would wait until all of the kids were out of the housebefore we did it. For some reason, the idea of doing it now instead just caught our attention and we thought that we would look further into it.

The student they were looking to place was an 18 year old boy from Bogota, Columbia. The more we read his profile the more we knew that he just would not be a good fit here in Fairfield nor a good fit in with us. He liked living in big city and all the activities that big cities offered. He liked going to discos and clubs, and he liked going to cultural events and places. He talked about having servants at home and liking to occasionally help the cooks in his house with meal preparation. We thought he was going to be absolutely miserable in our little house and especially disappointed in our little town. We passed on him, but asked if they had anyone from Sweden, and especially an athlete from Sweden.

They showed us three possible students; one boy from southern Sweden, a soccer player who was going to be a senior, a track girl also from southern Sweden, also going to be a senior, and a junior girl from northern Sweden who had participated in track before. Julie and I instantly settled on the senior girl from southern Sweden; Mette Ericsson. It was like she jumped off the page at us and we knew she was going to be a great fit with us. However, we were still worried about how disappointed she would be in our little town.

We first contacted Mette and her family in January of this year. We exchanged emails and pictures almost weekly for seven months before she arrived. We felt like we already knew her and her family well by the time she finally arrived in late July and she just slipped in and became a part of us. She has been here for a month and half now and we feel like she has always been a part of our family. She has definitely stolen all of our hearts and we are glad she is here. She is playing on the Camas County High School volleyball team right now. She plans to play basketball and run track. It’s going to be a fun year, although very busy making it to all her games and matches as well as Jeff’s.

Jeff's Birthday and Welcome Mette Party!

2008-09-01T09:42:00.004-06:00

Two days after Mette arrived was Jeff’s 17th birthday. We invited almost all of the kids in the Junior and Senior classes from school to come celebrate and to meet Mette. I didn’t count but we had most of the kids from the school and quite a few of the parents and friends. In all it was a very fun day. The kids played silly kids games on the lawn until after dark. It was a lot of fun. We cleaned up from the party, packed our bags, jumped int eh car and drove to Oregon to see our kids and grandkids. We arrived Sunday morning just in time to see our third grandson, Jonas for a brief second before he was packed up and taken up to Doernbecher Children’s Hospital in Portland. We cover more on that in the part on our trip to Oregon.

The Jewett Family.

2008-08-31T20:51:00.006-06:00

One of the greatest treasures we have found here in Idaho is the Jewett Family; Randy, Wendy, and JD Jewett. AS a matter of fact, one of the primary reasons we moved from Carey to Fairfield was the opportunity for Jeff to be coached by Randy. We met Randy and JD during the track season Jeff’s freshman year. I spent some time talking with Randy and knew almost instantly that he and I were cut out of the same cloth. We were impressed with his passion and concern for his athletes and we wanted Jeff to be a part of his program. Jeff and I visited the school early in the summer after his freshman year. Julie, Jeff and I drove through Fairfield several times mulling the decision as to whether or not we should move or just stay where we were. Finally, after two weeks of football practice at Carey, Julie and I just felt compelled to come to visit Fairfield again. We called Randy up and asked if we could come walk through the school one more time. That was a Friday afternoon. We walked through the school on Saturday morning. Spent time talking with Randy, met Wendy for the first time, and met JD again. Julie, Jeff and I were all convinced that Fairfield was supposed to be home for us. We attended the little Fairfield Branch the next day and one week later, we lived in Fairfield.

As the year progressed and I got the opportunity to work with Randy in coaching both of our sons in the discus and shot put with him and as we traveled and spend hours and hours together, we began to feel that the Jewetts were much more than friends, they were family. We look forward to a long and enjoyable future as Jeff has Randy for two more football seasons and two more track seasons. Our only real regret is that JD was a senior last year we will not get to coach him during track this next year. The successes that Jeff and JD had made this past year one of the most exciting, fullfilling years we have had in track ever.

Big Update - Sorry it is so late.

2008-06-05T19:25:00.004-06:00

We’ve been terrible at updating lately. I blame it on Julie – she’s not sitting here to defend herself, so I’ll just blame her. I now know how to edit the blog - so it is really Doug's fault because he would never show me how to write on the Blog - so there! We’ve had an eventful couple of weeks since our last update. We had the State Meet; we had family come here to Idaho, and then we traveled to Oregon to clean out our stuff from the Mount Angel house and to bless Jaxon.

State Meet:

Jeff came into the State Meet seeded #1. He struggled with his form all through warm-ups and never seemed to settle into a good rhythm throughout the competition. He released the discus very, very high and just couldn’t adjust it downward. Jeff has never had difficulty in competitions his whole life. We have seen him literally dozens of times pull it together and win on his last throw. He just couldn’t do that this time. He ended up placing third. Jeff was very, very disappointed. I honestly think that he had more pressure on himself than he had ever felt before. He had a huge cheering section. Jason, Lahia, Jaxon, Jer, Stefani, Kohen, Vivian, Mark, Danna, Angie, MJ, Emmy, Julie, myself, and numerous people from Camas. In all there were close to 20 people. If we are to be honest with ourselves, he is a sophomore; he will be back two more times. He should be proud to go to State and proud that he was the only sophomore, amongst all seniors on the stand. We are all proud of him!

Family here in Idaho:

We have always felt that Mark, Danna, and their kids are simply an extension of our family. We were glad they traveled all that way to see Jeff throw and to follow us home and spend some time with us. It was great – we love them all. It was great that Julie’s mother, Vivian came. The day she got ready to come, Matt got sick. She didn’t want to miss Jeff’s competition, so she left him home and drove the entire way by herself. There’s a reason our kids have always spoken so lovingly about her. She shows her love at every turn.

We had Jaxon and Kohen come as well – oh yea, they brought their parents with them. I can’t even begin to explain how fun it is being a grandparent. Both Julie and I love those two little boys immensely.

Back to Oregon:

Jeff traveled home with the kids and has been there ever since. Julie and I drove home with Vivian last Thursday night and got home at about 3:00am Friday morning. We went to the house and began pulling our stuff out of the house. We all expressed how much we loved the house and we all hated to see it go. We talked about re-building another one, but not for Julie and I – there is just too much house there for us now, but if we built one here for one of the kids, that would be great.

Julie and I are home now – Jeff is still in Oregon and will be, spending time with both Kohen and Jaxon (and their parents too, I guess.) We miss him every day and we miss the rest of the family as well. By the way, Mette is going to be here in exactly 50 days.

Dizzy Brunette No More!

2008-05-20T21:20:00.003-06:00

Finally!! An answer to my vertigo, at least this makes the most sense. I had another episode on Sunday and still have some dizziness. When I called my doctor, he referred me to an ear, nose, throat doctor. Long story short, the doctor was very thorough and asked me lots of questions and did an exam. He said that he thought that it was related to the accident and his reason was that when there is a whiplash situation, it usually does not just affect your neck. Whiplash can affect ears and eyes also. All the tissues surrounding the whiplash area can be inflamed and stay that way until completion of healing. Well. I was taking Tylenol PM until about mid-March. I decided, after going through a full bottle of it, I would discontinue it completely, right before my parents came to visit. That is when I had my first vertigo episode. Every night before I have had an episode, I had a knot in my neck and stiff and sore. Since I did not have Tylenol pm in my system or any anti-inflammatory medicine, that is how it affected my inner ear and surrounding tissues. He suggested many different medications (steroids, valium, etc) as a solution for now until the swelling goes completely away but he said that since Tylenol pm was working during the night, he would stick with that and then for me to take Naproxen during the day. He also wants me to do physical therapy to help with all the above. I am SO Grateful to have some direction. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Grandsons, Track, and a Moose!

2008-05-19T09:50:00.003-06:00

This has been an interesting week. The week started with Jaxon Taylor Ellingson being born. Jaxon is Julie and my 2nd grandson, oh, and he belongs to Jason and Lahia. Julie flew home early Saturday morning to be with Jaxon, Lahia, and Jason during the delivery. She returned Sunday. A quick trip but well worth the time and money. Jaxon had a bit of a rough entry into the world, but both he and mommy are doing well now. I am jealous of those who have gotten to see and hold him. I haven’t yet and I won’t until this next weekend.

That gives me two grandsons now and the third one on his way. This is going to be so much fun with these three boys so close in age. I can’t wait to watch them in sports and life. That brings up an idea I have been mulling around for a while. I think we need to make a family rule, fathers don’t coach sons. Uncles coach nephews, grandpa coaches everyone, and fathers become spectators for their sons. I think this will help in maintaining peace at the various homes and ensure the next generation of state champion discus throwers and shot putters. (Can you even begin to imagine the base of knowledge we will have built by the time these boys are ready to throw? They should be nothing short of incredible.)

Jeff had his district meet this past week. We haven’t reported much so far this season about the other young man from Camas County that I have been coaching. His name is J.D. Jewett; he’s a senior. Jeff and J.D. met last season prior to us moving to Camas County. They have been great for each other all season. Pushing each other and encouraging each other. Wednesday afternoon was the first day of the District Meet. Jeff’s first three throws blew the rest of the field away. All three of his throws in the preliminary round were over 150’ (45.72m,) with his longest being 152’ 3” (46.41m.) (For those of you keeping track, that’s a new PR – his old PR was 147’ 8” (45.01m.)

J.D. struggled in the preliminary round and barely made it into finals. To that point, his PR was 129’ 11” (39.60.) In the finals, J.D.’s first two throws were very short and a sector foul. This Conference and District does something weird. Instead of alternating turns and measuring a throw at a time, they have the throwers step in and throw all three throws and mark them in the field with pegs. They then measure them. A thrower can take all three throws at a time, or take two and save one to the end. J.D. saved his final throw. At that point he was in 7th place. Only the top 4 go to State.

The next throwers went and the positions between 2nd and 4th changed with every thrower. When Jeff came up, Jeff was in first with 152’ 3” (46.41m,) the boy in 2nd was at 139’ 0” (42.37m,) the boy in third was at 138’ 1” (42.09m,) and the boy in fourth was at 135’ 5” (41.28m.) Jeff didn’t throw any further in the finals; however, all six of his throws were further than the 2nd place throw. This left J.D. the only person remaining to throw. He needed a PR to go to state. More precisely, he needed 135’ 6” (41.30m) to go to State. He stepped in and the discus sailed to the wide right. I was sure it was out of sector and I was just sick in my stomach, because I knew he had thrown it far. The field marker marked it inbounds, but just barely. When they measured it, it was 137’ 5” (41.88m.) We all went nuts. That meant both boys were going to State together.

Then yesterday in the shot put, Jeff just didn’t seem to be able to put it together. He only threw 39’ 4” (11.99m;) remember, his PR is 42” 3” (12.88m.) He placed 5th and will not be going to State in the shot. J.D., on the other hand, showed up ready to throw. He threw 43’ 10” (13.36m) his 2nd throw and won the District Title. It was both an exciting day and a disappointing day.

Julie had a unique experience on Friday morning. When we got into the office, she was talking with several of the field guys. They asked her if she had seen a lot of wild life crossing the Camas Prairie on their way back up into the mountains. She told them she had seen just about everything that lives in Idaho except a moose. About 20 minutes later she got a call from one of the job site superintendants telling her that if she wanted to see a moose she better get to his site as soon as possible. She took the pictures to the right of the one-year old calf that was meandering around the job site. This is the same job site I took the picture of the wolf’s paw print from a few months ago.

152' 3"

2008-05-14T20:51:00.002-06:00

Jeff became the District IV, 1A Discus Champion today. He threw 152' 3" (46.41m.) All three of his preliminary round throws were over 150' 0" (45.72m.) Tomorrow is the shot put. I'll update then.

Shoes!!

2008-05-12T10:08:00.002-06:00

If you look closely at the picture below of Jeff throwing, you will notice on his right tow, the shoe is worn through and has a gapping hole. He loves the feel and grip of these shoes and they are not made anymore, so he continues to wear them. He has other shoes, and they don’t have a hole in them, but these are the ones he prefers to wear. This is their third season, 2nd full time season. In the 8th grade, he used them only occasionally as they were just a little bit too long. Last year he switched off between these and his black-soled Asics. This year he has thrown almost exclusively with these. If they make it to the State Meet, it will be a miracle. They look pretty ratty and beat-up, it’s going to look like his family is so poor they make him wear shoes that have his toes hanging out the fronts.

45 meters.

2008-05-08T19:36:00.003-06:00

Jeff threw 45.01 meters today in the discus (147' 8".) He is the 2008 Sawtoothe Conference Champion in the discus. He won today by more than 25'. Next week is the District IV 1A Championships, he has to place in the top 4 to move on to the State Meet. At this point, he is leading the entire 1A state in the discus. We are excited to see what he throws next.

His throws thus far this season have been very, very consistant. He has only had one bad week. Today started off like it was going to be a bad day, but he came around in the finals and pulled off this new PR. It seems that he just doesn't do well in Carey. I've already said that we hate their rings. We also hate that the wind blows constantly there and to make it worse, it is always a tail wind, which if a discus thrower doesn't adjust to, pushes the discus down to the ground short. Terrible place to throw. Luckily we don't have to throw here again until next track season.

27 Years!

2008-05-08T19:31:00.002-06:00

Today is Julie and My 27th Anniversary. 27 years ago she and I knelt across the alter and made sacred convenants and vows. As I drive to or from work each day, I have an hour to an hour and a half to ride and talk with her. 27 years have made her more beautiful, fun to spend time with, and more my dear sweet companion. Thank you for the years dear; I wouldn't mind 27 more.

Camera update.

2008-05-03T11:32:00.002-06:00

We gave our camera to Jer and Stef when their's broke. We keep forgetting to get a new one. Sorry we have had no pictures lately. We'll get one next trip into Twin Falls.

T-Shirts Guys!!!

2008-05-03T11:27:00.002-06:00

We need ideas and sizes for the t-shirts. I wanted to get them screened and ordered on Tuesday of this next week. So far we have two ideas - only one of which is any good, and it is only marginal. Come on guys - I look to you for the ideas here - I build houses, I don't make up catchy slogans. Hurry up, time is running out.

The school's colors are gold and almost navy blue. I was thing gold colored shirts with names over the left breast and a slogan on the back. The best so far is:
"We are Jeff's Athletic Supporters!"
Do we have anything better?

Jeff's Meet - May 1st.

2008-05-01T18:07:00.002-06:00

Jeff had a sunny, not warm, but sunny meet today in Carey, Idaho. We've said before that the rings in Carey are terrible for both the Shot Put and the Discus. He threw well, in spite of it. We are just about to taper his training in preparation for District and State Meets coming up - in the mean time - we have stepped up his lifting and running and so he came to today's meet with a sore hip, sluggishly slow feet, and generally tired. He still threw a new PR in the Shot Put of 42' 3-1/2" (12.89m) and threw 142' 4" (43.38m) in the discus. In all, it was a good day.

The weather right now is just completely crazy. We had 72 degrees (22.22c), sunny, warm with a very light wind on Sunday and Monday of this week. Then on Tuesday and Wednesday it snowed and got down to 29 degrees (-1.66c.) I'm ready for some nice spring weather.

Jeff is leading the State!

2008-04-27T06:46:00.003-06:00

Jeff had two track meets this past week and we finally had some good weather for the 2nd meet. His meet on Thursday was in Gooding. He had a good day in what felt like near-hurricane conditions. The wind was blowing hard and it was only 41 degrees (5 c.) He threw 140' 4" (42.77m) and won. At that point in time, he had the 3rd longest throw in the State for 1A schools. To that point in the season, he had not been pushed at all.

He came back on Friday night at the largest invitational met in the state with the top 24 throwers from every division. He came in seeded 15th. He took 7th. More importantly, he threw a new PR - 146' 4" (44.60m) and is now the #1 discus thrower in the state for 1A schools. We are really looking forward to the State Meet. We are hoping to build on this past weekend and improve some more.

Remember everyone - Friday, May 23rd, at Boise State University, at 10:30am. Everyone get t-shirt suggestions and sizes to me no later than this coming Friday, May 2nd, so we can get them all produced.

We are way behind - lots and lots to update!!

2008-04-16T19:32:00.008-06:00

We have been a little amiss in keeping our blog current. We have had a medical procedure, a couple of track meets, a grandbaby to kiss, love and spoil; in short, we have been very, very busy.

Kohen first: On April 4th Kohen flew in to spend time with us. Oh yea, he brought his parents with him. He got to stay and play with grandma and grandpa till April 12th. He came to help grandma feel better after her little bout with the doctor, and he did a great job in doing so. We thought he was the cutest little guy in the world before he came. Afterward, we knew was the best grandson ever. He has the sweetest personality and disposition and he loves to smile and play.

We really appreciated Stefani and Jer coming along so that Kohen kept them up at night and let us sleep. They also helped take care of Julie while she was recouperating. Stef was irreplacable. But more importantly we, both Julie and I, were incredibly impressed with how good Jer and Stef are as parents. Their little boys will be truly blessed to be a part of their family.

That brings up Julie's medical procedure. It is absolutely incredible what modern science has developed. She had an outpatient alternative to a complete hysterectomy. She went in at 7:00 am Monday, April 7th and Stef and I brought her home at about 1:00pm. She experienced some cramping and discomfort, but nothing like full invasive surgery would have caused. Within a week, she was back to work and she is doing well.

Jeff had a track meet last week in Gooding. As this Spring has progressed, instead of getting warmer, it seems to have started getting colder and colder. There was a nasty, strong, cold wind that just about cut through us. It felt like it was going to snow at any time, but it didn't. I posted his results last week. His shot put was way down, his discus was fairly close to what he threw the week before.

Tomorrow has all the ear-markings to be just as bad, except this one is at Carey. The wind blows more and their ring is terrible. We'll see what happens.

April 10th Track Meet.

2008-04-11T08:24:00.002-06:00

Quick results - I'll post video and pictures tonight.

Discus: 139' 9" (42.60m) 1st place.
Shot Put: 38' 8" (11.79m) 3rd place.

Not a good day in the shot - Discus shows consistency - but we've seen better in practice.

More later.

2008-04-03T20:39:00.002-06:00

This is our first attempt at loading a video - let's see if it works.

A New Camas County High School Record

2008-04-03T19:29:00.003-06:00

In the first team meet of the season, Jeff beat the old Camas County High School discus record. The old record was set (by an LDS boy named Bruce Funk, his mother is still in our Branch,) back in 1972 and was 135' 5-1/2" (41.29m.) Jeff threw 140' 9" (42.90m.) Prior to today, the furthest he had thrown in a meet was 128' 8" (39.22m;) that's a 12' 1" 3.68m) PR for him in the discus. He threw 40' 5-1/2" (12.33m) in the discus, also a new PR. His old shot record was 38' 6", nearly a 2' PR. In all, he had a good day.

There wer 9 schools there today. He placed 1st in the discus (second place was 129' 11" (39.40m,) and he placed 3rd in the shot put. We are excited that he has had such a good start to the season. Keep watching back here for more updates. His next meet is one week from today, Thursday April 10th.

Still Snowing!!

2008-03-29T08:47:00.002-06:00

Three times this week we have awoken to fresh snow on the ground. Tuesday we had about 5" of new snow here, then Thursday, we had another 3" - 4" inches, and last night, we had another 3". We are throwing the shot put in the snow, the discus we are traveling to Gooding to throw so we are out of the snow. I cn just see us losing our two white discii and not finding them until the lawn maintenance crew runs over them while mowing in June or something like that. I would love to have clear ground.

Jeff's meet in Carey this coming Thursday (April 3rd,) has been moved to Gooding because there is still too much snow on the ground in Carey. Hopefully, we get to go to Gooding today to throw. It needs to warm up first. When I went out and shoveled the snow off the driveway this morning, it was 9 degrees.

Hail the size of ping pong balls, torrential rains, and elk turds!

2008-03-19T20:06:00.002-06:00

We had two track meets in the last two days. Both turned out to be very, very interesting. Tuesday's meet was in Weiser, Idaho. We had a toreential rain with unbelievably huge hail stones. The discus ring was like an ioce skating rink with a combination of mud, rain, and hail. Needless to say, Jeff didn't have a great meet and the meet was completely canceled before he got to the shot put. Today's (Wednesday's) meet, was a little better, no hail, just mud and rain. The most interesting part of the today's meet was the pile after pile of elk turds in the throwing sector. We don't have another meet until April 3rd. We have a lot to work on and we hope the weather cooperates and we really get to see where the boys are distance wise.

The Meet was Canceled!!

2008-03-13T20:48:00.001-06:00

We woke up this morning to a layer of newly fallen snow. The wind picked up all day and the Track Meet was canceled due to ice, snow, and rain. Jeff's next meet is Tuesday of next week followed by another one on Wednesday.

Busy Saturday.

2008-03-08T22:06:00.004-07:00

We still have about 18" to 24" of snow on the fields here in Fairfield, so we traveled into Boise today to throw on grass. It was overcast, raining, and windy, but no snow on the ground. In all, it was great to be outside. We could watch the discus fly and see problems that have crept in because we only see it fly about 30' into the net. The picture to the right shows two or three of the things we are working on right now. With several serious errors present, Jeff still threw 142' (43.28m.) When we sort things out and work, peice by peice cleaning up the errors, I think he'll end up somewhere in the upper 150's by the end of the season. It should be a fun year in all.

We also stopped off this morning before we went and threw and got contacts and glasses for Jeff. He has had them before, but just refused to wear them. With him getting his driver's license this coming Summer, he has to have his glasses or he will never pass the vision test. They sent him away with two weeks of contacts to try them out and new pair of glasses. Get used to this sight, he has to either wear the contacts or the glasses from now on or he won't get his driver's license.

I was sorting through old video tapes this evening and I came across video footage of Jeff in the fifth grade throwing both the shot put and the discus. For those of you who remember her, Elke is in several of the videos, always fairly close to where ever Jeff is. She was a very, very cute little girl. (She still is.) He had some natural, smooth abilities, even back then. His shot put release at 10 and 11 years old. (Compare body positions from the 5th grade with those of the 10th grade above.) It has been a tremendous amount of work since then, but it has also been fun, I hope for him, I know it has been for me.

Jaxson, Lahia, and Jason All Weekend.

2008-03-02T19:47:00.003-07:00

Thursday night all three, Jaxson, Lahia, and Jason flew in to spend the weekend with us. It is amazing how much we have missed them. We had a very leisurely and relaxing weekend. As Lahia is about 14 months pregnant (at least she looks like she is going to pop at any moment, or so a little old lady in Relief Society told her today,) we didn't do anything wild and crazy. Jason and Jeff spent most of the time playing one game or the other; whether it be Guitar Hero, or some computer game that they all play on line. It was great for the two brothers to spend time together. Lahia just reconfirmed the fact that she stole our hearts several years back. We love her and feel it a privilege to have her in our family. She is going to be such a wonderful mother.

Jason, Jeff and I threw Friday afternoon and evening. Jason has always had a quicker eye ( note the singular, as there is only one eye now - oh, I'm not sure that's funny or if that's just mean,) than I do and he can diagnose a problem and come up with a solution faster than I can when it comes to the discus and shot put. I have told him for years that he needs tobe coaching as he has a huge amount of information to pass along to the next generation of throwers. Julie and Lahia went into Gooding to do some shopping. Mind you, there isn't a lot of shoppingto be done in Gooding; it is only slightly larger than Fairfield. Friday night we didn't do much at all.

Saturday morning we got up, had a great breakfast, puttered around the house, and then went into Twin Falls for maternity clothes, DVD's, music CD's, lunch, and just time together. There is the most incredible store in Twin called Imagination Station. It is a toy store specializing in toys that foster imagination and intelligence. We love the store. Jeff and I were excited to show Jason what was there. Jasona nd Hia bought a new board game that Jeff and I teased them about all the way home, only to find out that we really liked it and had fun playing it. We had a great dinner and went to bad late, after playing games.

Sunday was fast sunday and both Jason and Hia bore their testimonies. Wonderful testimonies that filled my heart with the knowledge that my son is heading his life int he right direction with the right woman at his side and is going to be a great patriarch. It's wonderful to see the next generation with stronger convictions and faith and know that the conviction of the gospel will continue for many generations to come.

Sending them off at the airport was hard; very, very hard. I hate it when my kids leave as I have always wanted them to be near us and for my grandkids to be close enough that I cna be an active part in their lives. Now, Julie, Jeff, and I are going to do everything we can to get everyone to relocate here and be our neighbors.

As a side note. All of you from Oregon that have passed through Boise, whether in a car or on a plane. When you think of the environment around Boise, don't you think of barren, treeless landscapes filled with blowing sage brush and an occasional small, undernourished tree? Jeff and I have gotten a kick out of the big sign to the left at the Boise Airport. Off all the things I think of when I think of Boise, it has never been trees. Maybe they could call it the city of a tree. Or even the city of a couple trees, but never, the City of Trees as if it were covered with trees. I would love to meet the guy or guys that named it such and fly them into Portland and say, "Now here is a City of Tress, certainly not Boise."

Indoor Throwing!!

2008-02-26T21:12:00.004-07:00

At the end of Football Season this past Fall, we bought a giant parachute at a military surplus store. We hang it from the steel rafters in the gym and throw the discus into it. It has worked great in stopping the discuses and has allowed us to continue throwing with snow on the ground. Jeff has progressed nicely this Winter. I think the first meet he will get to throw in is March 13th at Declo High School. I have no idea yet where Declo is, but I will find it on the map. We have not thrown outdoors yet and I am a little bit worried that we don't get to see the discus fly very far, so we don't know if he has developed problems with the release of the discus or not. In general, and for the short flight that we can see into the parachute, he looks very, very good for this early in the year. With his weight lifting class at school and the throwing repititions we have gotten in, it should be a fun year. If you have the time and can arrange it, it might be worth saving the weekend of May 22-24 in Boise this year. He has a good shot at placing very high at State this year. To the right is a pictures of Jeff throwing into the net.

Fun Memories!

2008-02-26T13:29:00.005-07:00

We got some pictures of Mette this past weekend. I thought it would be fun to share them with you all. In her letter to Julie, she asked what foods I liked when I lived in Sweden and it got me to thinking. In Kalmar, I lived right over a bakery that made the most incredible sweet rolls I have ever eaten. I got to know the owners fairly well while I lived there and they sent me home with their recipe for the rolls, but I have never made them. I need to dig the recipe out and see if we can make them. They were basically a cinnamon roll with bits of chocolate baked inside it.

I also remember lingon berries on Swedish pancakes. When I say pancakes, I mean more like crepes than pancakes. Very, very thin with lots of eggs mixed in the batter. I put butter and Lingon berries all over them.

I also loved fruit soup. I have never liked soup both before or after my mission, but this was great. It was kind of like fruit kool-aid, but thicker and hot. I had a little old lady who lived in Karlstad that made it from scratch for us every Sunday afternoon and she would put ice cream in the bowl as well. It was wonderful.

When I lived in Hässleholm, we had a family there that would invite us about one every other week for dinner. The wife made a meatball in a brown gravy that was incredible. It was made by mixing both beef and pork with a little bit of egg and corn syrup to hold it all together. She said hers weren’t really Swedish Meatballs, she called them Not-Swedish Meatballs. I have incorporated some of this into my recipe for bar-b-qued hamburgers, those of you who have helped me make hamburgers know what I am talking about.

During my 2nd Christmas in Sweden, living in Kalmar over the bakery, the same bakery made a potato ball that was basically the size of a base ball. It was boiled potatoes mixed with flour and rolled out like bread dough with bits of beef and\or pork sprinkled in the middle and formed in the shape of a ball. They would drop the balls in boiling water and boil them until they floated to the surface. I don’t remember their name for the life of me, but they were definitely one of my favorites. I made them for a couple of years after Julie and I got married, but I totally forgot about them until last night reading Mette’s email.

Most of you know that as Mormons, we don’t drink alcohol. When I lived in Göteborg, (for my first Christmas in Sweden,) we pasted a little corner store everyday on our walk from the bus station to our apartment in Angered, (where Marabou Chocolate was made.) The owners of the market made and bottled there own Christmas drink that was great. He called it ”Glögg.” We would stop off and get a ½ liter bottle each every night. It was after about three weeks of buying this that we read the label and discovered that it had alcohol in it, not much, about 1%, but still had alcohol in it. We felt foolish, here were two Mormon Missionaries stopping off and buying a bottle of booze each night before going to bed.

Prior to my mission, I never really liked potatoes, mushrooms, onions, or garlic. I don’t know if it was the Swedish food, or my tastes changing as I was getting older, but I came home loving all of the above, especially potatoes and mushrooms.

Some of the things that I absolutely hated was Split Pea Soup. We had a little old lady in Karlstad that had us over for dinner every single Thursday (or was it Wednesday.) She said that it was customary for Swedes to eat Split Pea Soup on Thursdays. I hated it. It was all I could do keep it down and not throw it up. I hated lutefisk. There is nothing else to say about it except lutefisk is the worst thing any human can ever eat. It was never intended to be eaten by living, breathing people. The also had a rotten egg that they would eat as well. I can’t remember the name of it. It stunk horribly and tasted even worse.

This was fun remembering these things. Thank you Mette for the question and all of the thoughts and memories it has provoked in me.

Very, Very Odd Weather!

2008-02-24T16:02:00.003-07:00

This morning when I got up to go to church, I had to shovel the driveway because there was about 8" - 10" of new snow that fell last night. By the time church was out, a bunch of the new snow had already melted away. The picture to the right is the thermometer at our house - it shows that it is 40.9 degrees (16 C) outside right now. Water is pouring off the eaves of the house and the streets are turning to mud. (Remember, all of our streets, except two are dirt here.) It should be interesting to see what is here tomorrow morning. If it continues like it is right now, tomorrow just might be icy all over.

We got a package from Mette's family yesterday. It was a variety pack of candies from Sweden. Jeff has had fun with them. I had forgotten how much better Swedish chocolate is than the typical chocolate here in the US. To the right is just a small sampling of what they sent. I asked him if he was going to take and share any of it in Seminary this morning (he only has Seminary on Sundays here.) He said no, then it would be all gone. I don't really blame him, they are very, very good. Tack så mycket Familien Ericsson!!

Mette - Our Exchange Student Took This.

2008-02-18T14:15:00.003-07:00

Mette sent us two pictures she took last weekend looking out over the sunset in Southern Sweden. We get more and more excited for her to come with every letter we get. The Southern Swedish coast doesn't get as much snow as the rest of Sweden. They have a warmer flow coming up from the Mediteranian. It is cold, but not snowy and frozen. I love the pictures she took. I am looking to get a nice new camera before Jeff's first track meet this year. Hopefully, we can all have fun taking pictures this next year. I have decided that I really don't want to hunt ever again, so I think I'll take pictures instead.

New Pictures!

2008-02-17T16:25:00.003-07:00

Here's a picture I took plast night. The colors are untouched - isn't that a beautiful sunset. Here is one of the reasons we love Idaho.

Mark & Dana - Here are the Appliances.

2008-02-15T19:09:00.005-07:00

First, the Double Oven. The cut-out is the same as the cut-out for the following unit: (By the way, this double thing is heavey as heck. Jasona nd I struggled with it.)

http://www.thermador.com/product.aspx?product_id=774

The warming Drawer has the same cut-out as this unit:

http://www.thermador.com/kitchen-appliances-cooking_warming-drawers_traditional-warming-drawers_WD30EP.html

The Cooktop has the same cut-out as this unit:

http://www.thermador.com/product.aspx?product_id=604

Remember, these units are now three years old. They are virtually unused - The oven and warming drawer are unused - the cooktop has minimal use. Look these over - if you guys really want them, they are yours.

What the Wind does to Snow.

2008-02-09T09:34:00.000-07:00

Other than blowing the snow and filling in low areas, (hence, our driveway, the walkway to our front door, sidewalks that have been blown out, and roadways,) the wind creates some of the most unusual shapes and formations. This odd shaped formation is in our back yard, where the wind comes off the Camas Prairie and hits the our house, dumping snow as it is whipped up and over the house, where it dumps a lot more snow. This wasn't here when we went to bed last night, but the wind blew all night and created this light cornice across the top of the drift that's been in the backyard since it first started to snow back in late November.

Snowed In!

2008-02-08T17:09:00.002-07:00

Yesterday, Thursday, all of the roads leading out the of the Wood River Valley (where Ketchum, Sun Valley, Hailey, and Bellevue are,) were closed due to snow, wind, and drifting. I mean every single road. Julie and I had to spend the night in Sun Valley and Jeff was home by himself. We learned a lesson. We need to watch the weather all day and not get caught when it turns bad.

Our Recent Adventures.

2008-02-08T16:40:00.000-07:00

The entire State of Idaho is getting so much snow right now that even the long-time Idaho residents are amazed at how much is dropping.I thought I would include some picture of the City of Ketchum in the snow. To the right is driving down 2nd Avenue (the street Engelmann, Inc. Office are on,) looking straight north at the Warm Springs area. I love when there is this much snow on the mountains how they look as if they were fluffy pillows. (Forgive me for sounding so stupid, but that's exactly what they look like.)

This is the first place I have ever been in my life that has an avalanche warning sign posted on the road. This sign is in the Warm Springs area of Ketchum. There were, in fact, three avalanches two weeks ago in Warm Springs. One that was large enough that it crossed the road and filled the road with snow, ice, trees, and debris that was 8' high. One of Engelmann's customers lost the garage doors and outside doors on the side of their house, along with filling their garage with snow and pinning their cars in the garage for two days.

To the right is a picture of a house that Engelmann is completing right now. I know I say this about every home that Engelmann has built, but this one is possibly my favorite. The owners did the interior designa nd decorations themselves. It is has clean, simple lines. They followed the Craftsman style very, very faithfully and the house and it's minimal use of wood moldings makes the house just beyond elegant. It feels warm, cozy and somehow soothing inside. I wish I could take everyone through it as you would all love the house. Also note how deep the snow is on the roof. That's some serious snow, in case you didn't already notice that.

The last picture is looking westward out onto the Camas Prairie from Fairfield last Friday afternoon. A huge storm was coming in and the wind was drifting the snow deep over the road. Tucked against the mountains to the west is the little community of Hill City. (If you remember, I wrote about it last Fall and included a picture of a prairie log home on the first of the Abandoned Idaho

Series.) It almost looks like a lunar landscape. I love the dark and ominous clouds out on the western horizon.

An Exchange Student for School Year 2008-2009.

2008-02-08T16:23:00.000-07:00

After talking about it for several years, we decided that we are going to participate in the exchange student program. We are going to have an 18-year-old Swedish girl come stay with us for the up-coming school year. We are very, very excited and look forward to a very, very fun year. We are trying to arrange for her to arrive here before July 25th so she can travel with us for a week when she first gets here. We'll leave that night to travel to Oregon. Spend the weekend and Monday in the Willamette Valley and the Oregon Coast. On Tuesday we're going to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and see Thornton Wilder's Our Town that night. Then on Wednesday, we'll sight-see around Ashland and then attend A Comedy of Errors that night. Both plays will be outside in the Elizabethan Theatre. I am esspecially excited to see Our Town. I saw it on film my first year at The University of Portland. I can't wait to see it in person.

We will then travel back and spend more time with family and friends. On Saturday, we are rafting down the White Salmon, one more time. I have honestly lost count how many times we have been on the river, but we love it. (Everyone that is planning to raft with us, let me know right away so we can reserve the proper number of rafts.)

Back to our exchange student. Her name is Mette Ericsson. Her emails to us have demonstrated excelent English. She wants to participate in as many sports as she possibly can (only three here in our little 1A school,) and she sounds very excited to come. We want to make her as happy and have as much fun in the coming year as we can. The picture to the right is her older sister Nelly (on the left) and Mette (on the right.)

Abandoned Idaho in the Snow.

2008-02-08T13:18:00.001-07:00

I haven’t updated the Abandoned Idaho segment for quite some time. Partially because I don’t want to get out and freeze my butt off and partially because I just haven’t been thinking about it much lately. I took pictures of this abandoned house in mid-Fall. I walked and crawled through the entire house. Little by little the old siding has been stripped off the house as well as the wall materials inside. We cover walls with sheet rock now - they covered the walls then with 1x6 t&g boards run at a 45 degree angle and then covered the walls with a wall paper of occasionally just white washed them. There is also an old, broken foundation for a barn just north east of this structure with a date writtne on a door-way entry. I can't for the life of me remember what the date was that is written on it.

More Snow and Cold!!

2008-02-01T13:30:00.000-07:00

Sorry we have been away for so long. When we moved at the end of December, we lost the internet. We will be back up and running next week. It is quite a chore to be connected here as there is no DSL, T1, or Cable internet available here. They have a wireless sender stuck on the side of the grain tower in town and you have to 1) Be in direct line of sight to the tower (which we are,) and 2) Beg, plead, cajole, and almost bribe the owner of the sender to come up from Glenns Ferry and install and antennae at your house. We finally have an appointment and will be back up running next week.

Well, mid-week last week, we had extremely cold temperatures. We had four days in a row where the temperature in Fairfield did not come above -10 F (-23.3 C.) We had two days that dropped below -20 F (-28.9 C,) with the low being -27 F (-32.2 C.) This was followed by three big snow storms in a row. I’ve lost track of the exact amount, but we’ve gotten close to 36” on snow since Sunday evening.

With all of this snow falling on snow that had been frozen hard for a week or more, it created an unstable layer of snow on top of the hard-pack, which caused small and large avalanches all over the valleys here. One of our job sites had built an avalanche burm along the base of the mountain the house was being built next to. As the side of the hill let loose, the guys said the sliding snow hit the snow piled on the burm and launched the sliding snow into the air, scattering it in the wind like a shot gun scatters pellets. They said it was pretty cool. The owner of our company, Earl Engelmann, got trapped in his house for the second time this winter by sliding snow covering the only access to his house by 7’ to 8’ of snow and debris. It’s not just snow, it small trees, low branches, rocks, anything it picks up along the way down the hill.

Off to Jail I go: Next Tuesday, February 5th, I get to spend the day in the Elmore County Jail Facility. Engelmann, Inc. is going be building 4 County Jails in the next 18 months and so I am spending the day wandering through the latest facility to get a feel for the construction methods and procedures. It should be an interesting day, to say the least. I’ll take as many pictures as I can and post them next week.

The Snow is Here For Real Now!!

2008-01-11T09:12:00.000-07:00

This morning, Jeff and I had to shovel about a foot or more of snow out of our driveway so that Julie and I could leave for work. We only had about 7" - 8" of snow last night, but all of the snow in the neighborhood seems to blow and drift in our driveway. Two nights ago, Julie got the car stuck in our driveway pulling in when it had drifted fairly deep during the day. We had to shovel the car out. We are going to buy a snow blower, hopefully this weekend. I feel kind of like Tim "the toolman" Taylor as I'm looking for and at snow blowers. I want one that has enough power to blow the snow out of our driveway, has multiple forward and reverse gears, and a deep enough auger to catch and throw all of our drifts out in one pass. Even more importantly, it has to have all-terrain tires so I can drive it out around our propane tank and not get stuck in the drifts.

Jeff has aquired a new hobby. He collects icicles. You read that right. I'm not talking about little 12" - 18" icicles, I'm talking about 5' 0" to 7' 0" icciles. He has been taking them off of old houses that have pour insulation, (thus the heat from the house rises to the roof, melts the snow against immediatly against the roof, which runs down the roof, under the snow and re-freezes as it pours over the roof eaves,) and then planting them in our side yard. We have an icicles "forrest" second to none right now. I will try to get a picture of the "forrest" this weekend and post it next week. The picture at the right is the first icicle to go into the forrest, he has since added much larger ones.

The Wood River Valley, where Julie and I work, has become incredibly beautiful. As the sun rises each morning while we drive into the valley, I am struck by how gorgeous the mountains are. This morning as we were coming in, there was a slight cloud cover, with an opening in the clouds allowing the sunlight to hit the north wall of the Warm Springs Valley. Julie took the picture at the right as we were coming into work.

We don't have the internet at home yet, so our blog updates will be a little slower and less often than in the past. Hopefully we remedy that this coming week.

What Engelmann Does.

2008-01-11T08:55:00.000-07:00

I thought I would share a few picture of what Engelmann, the company I work for, builds.

We've Moved!

2007-12-31T12:04:00.000-07:00

We found a wonderfully built, nice little house to move into. Julie and I began this past weekend and we will continue moving throughout the month of January. Most of it will be moved this week, with Jeff and I getting the heavy stuff this Saturday. Jeff has a nice bedroom, a clean, large bathroom, and a room for our computers and his video systems and TV. The front room and our bedroom are nice. The only real draw-back is how small the kitchen is. There is more counter space than the last place had, but much less cabinet space. It does have a nice, large pantry, however.

Here is the Living Room.

Here is the master bedroom looking south and then north.

Wind, Snow, and Icicles

2007-12-31T11:56:00.000-07:00

We are in the midst of our first, real, winter storm. The high temperature between Friday afternoon, December 28th , and now, Monday at noon, December 31st, has been 22.3 degrees, with a low of -1.4 degrees. As a matter of fact, church was canceled yesterday because people in the outlaying areas couldn’t get to the meetings. On the back side of the house we just moved into is an icicle of biblical proportions. Literally, it is approaching 6 foot in length and has a diameter exceeding that of my arm. It has been formed from snow melting around vent pipes on the roof, flowing down the roof, under the existing snow, (thus it is insulated and stays warm enough to flow down the roof,) and then re-freezing as it runs over the eave of the house. If the temperature doesn’t jump up over freezing in the near future, this icicle should reach the ground fairly soon. It’s completely amazing how quickly these melt. One day at 35 degree or more and all the icicles are gone, even the big ones like this. We’ll keep you updated.

This picture is looking out our back door. Normally there is an incredible view of the Camas Prairie and on up the mountains to Iron Mountain, the highest mountain around us. We couldn’t see across the neighbor’s yard with the snow coming down and the wind blowing. Of course, the City roads are not plowed on Sundays, so getting around was very, very tough. The wind picked up the snow and drifted it across the roads so that they just disappeared from sight, and in places, they would be 18” to 24” deep in snow.

2007-12-16T16:58:00.000-07:00

Jeff, Julie, and I went to see a movie on Friday night; August Rush. It was so incredible, we left a Christmas party early on Saturday night so we could see the movie one more time. The movie critics panned it terribly. I found it litterally spoke to my heart. A muscian had to have written it. I could totally relate and understand it at a deeply personal level. When I read what the critics had to say about it I thought of the words of Nephi: "Wo unto them that ... revile against that which is good, and say that it is of no worth... For behold at that day shall [the Devil] rage in the hearts of the children of men, and stir them up to anger against that which is good." (2 Nephi 28: 15, 20.) I think we're seeing the fulfilment of this directly in front of us; something wholesome, fun, and spiritually moving is just torn apart by the critics. EVERYONE NEEDS TO SEE THIS MOVIE.

One of the Reasons We Love Idaho.

2007-12-08T15:31:00.001-07:00

Today, on our way home from Twin Falls, coming up out of Gooding and heading into the mountains separating the Gooding Valley from the Camas Prairie, we encountered what at first looked like a few Antelope. We stopped and took some pictures of them. As we drove about 200 yards further, it became aparent that there were a lot of Antelope. I got out of the car and walked over to the top of a little rise about 250 yards from the road, from there I could easily see 300 antelope scattered across the adjoining hillside and down through a little valley leading eastward. They were out in the sun grazing on the grass that hadn't been covered with snow yet on this side of the mountains. It was simply spectacular. I had never seen an antelope in the wild prior to coming to Idaho. I have never seen that many of any wild mammal all in one place at one time. It was awesome.

Let's set Xmas Straight.

2007-12-02T20:56:00.000-07:00

I can dstinctly remember when I was a little boy seeing my mother write "Xmas" on something and asking her what it meant. She said, "It's just a quick way to write Christmas." I thought it was like a secret code that my mother knew. I thought it was the coolest thing I had ever seen.

Several years later, I happened to read a Christmas short story containing the following lines in it:

She glanced at the banner hanging from the ceiling—Merry Xmas!—and sadly added to me, “The world has taken Christ right out of Christmas.”

I immediately thought to myself, "I will never use that abbreviation again. I wanted toh onor Christ in the season and show the world that I loved and worshiped Him.

A couple of years later, I learned the truth behind the abbrviation and discovered that in actuality, the X is not an X, but instead, is the 22nd letter of the Greek alphabet "Chi." It is the first letter used in the Greek word "Christos", or Annointed, as in the chosen King. As in Jesus Christ. The faithful Christians of the first cerntury were persecuted far beyond what we can comprehend. (Think of the saints vs. the lions for one thing.)

It was physically dangerous and life-threatening to be a Christian. The early Saints began tattooing Chi, which looks like the English "X" (see the above greek "Chi,") on the lower palm of their right hands to signal to other Christians that they were believers. This way they could identify each other and thereby feel safe around each other.

Once the Romans discovered this tattoo, it became an instantant method of rounding the Christians up to dispose of them. Litterally hundreds and hundreds, if not thousands, of early Christians died for the honor of having the initial of Christ on their right hand.

In honor of those masacred, the early church used the initial "Chi" when writing Christ, not as a means of shortening it, but as an honor to those who died for and because of the faith, thus honoring the Savior and the faithful martyrs at the same time.

I have chosen to not write "Xmas" when I write about Christmas, but I have chosen to thank the Lord for the faithful forefathers who gave their lives for their faith whenever I read it.

The Cold Has Arrived!!!

2007-12-02T20:09:00.000-07:00

On Thursday of this past week, Julie and I went out to the car to go to work; it was one degree outside. By the time wee had gotten into work (1 hour and 15 minutes later,) it had risen all the way to three degrees. (Now that's Fahrenheit, not Celcius.) The clodest temperature in Fairfield this week was -9 degrees. (By the way, just in case you are sitting there and wondering, that's very, very cold.) Whether we want it or not - Winter has arrived and there is no turning back now.

On a more positive note, Christmas is around the corner as well. Our little town has decorated itself and it looks wonderful, especially at night. Could you imagine an Oregon town hangingg christmas lights, weaths, snowflakes, and bells throughout town. The little high school also has a Secret Santa drawing. All of the teachers and kidsinthe high school enter their names and get drawn. With Oregon being the "Land of the Liberals," could you imagine the monsterous uproar that would be caused by something like this? The ACLU would be here filing suits and injunctions. One more reason we're happy to be here in Idaho. The freedom to worship without crack-pot, liberal, nut-cases making a huge stink about everything.

More Abandoned Idaho.

2007-12-02T19:52:00.001-07:00

Sitting on the Camas Prairie all by itself, 2 miles south and 4 miles east of Fairfield, in the middle of a farmer's field, is the original Camas County School Building. It is very interesting as it is made of hand-cast, hand laid-up adobe. To be honest with you - it is a scarey place to stand in and around as it moves, creeks, and groans loudly with the wind. It appears that there are very minimal foundations, which long ago began to crack and break, as evidenced by the voids and cracks criss-crossing the block wall. What is amazing, is that most of the the adobe is in great shape; like they could be re-used today.

You can see the big North wall boarded up now. It is a huge glass wall made of possibly 100 or more 2' x 2' panes. There are only two or three missing now. It was a single room school with a captains-ladder in the middle leading up into the bellfry above. The old original ladder is in bits and peices with only the sides still whole and semi-usable. I'm not sure when this buidling stopped being used. The old unused school building here in town has a date on the front of 1897, so use of this one would have been discontinued about that time, I would imagine. On a warmer day, I will spend more time here and get better pictures of the adobe to share with you.

Rocks in front of schools.

2007-11-18T07:38:00.001-07:00

Jeff and I have noticed since we got here that every single high school, and many middle and elementary schools, have huge painted rocks sitting in front of them. Camas County High School has two of them; one near the front of the school and one near the rear. We aren't quite sure what the rocks are for, other than to hold paint. However, we have not seen any other schools that have a painted rock 6 or 7 miles away from the school. At the top of the Gooding Pass, right at the Camas and Gooding County line, sits this rock. Painted quite well, sitting off the highway about 50 yards behind a barbed wire fence. We have no idea who put the rock there, who took such great pains to paint the rock so well, but there the rock sits. Since we have gotten here, the rocks at the school have been painted and repainted several times, but the County-Line Rock has not been touched. We don't understand the reasoning behind the rocks. We have asked several peolple why the rocks are in front of the schools and we have been told, several times, they are there so they can be painted. Each time we have thought, "Oh, O.K."

Busy, Tough Week!!

2007-11-17T18:11:00.000-07:00

Well, the effects of the accident are draging on; however, we finally got a car. We like it - it is comfortable, drives very well, and most improtantly, it is an all-wheel drive vehicle. We think it looks nice and we think that it will serve us nicely through our first Winter here. To the right is a picture of the car on the top of the Gooding Pass this morning earlier.

Julie got a promotion and a raise this week. She is now the office manager as well as the Accounts Payable Manager. This gives her significantly more responsibility with a commensurate raise. She is impressive. Everywhere she has ever gone, before too long, she ends up managing. She was born to run things. (I should know, she has been trying to run my life for 26 years now.)

Today we went into Twin Falls for our bi-monthly shopping. While in the mall today, Jeff and Julie got to sit on Santa's lap. I think Santa enjoyed them sitting there. I'm not sure which he got the most pleasure out of, Jeff or Julie. My hope is that Santa isn't a pedophile - it would give a whole new meaning to the phrase, "the season of giving."

New Abandoned Idaho PIctures.

2007-11-17T17:57:00.000-07:00

To the right is a windmill and water storage barn. They are on the way to the Avalanche House. I just like how they sit and look. I find the weathering effect of the extreme cold and then the extreme hot on wood here in this valley to be just incredibly interesting. It makes the wood looks so distinct and absolutely unlike the weathering I've seen elsewhere. In Oregon, at least Western Oregon, there would be a lot of rot in the wood as well, due to the moisture there. The wood is solid, just the surface graining is very defined and actually, quite beautiful.

To right is the original Camas County Hanging Tree. It is what it sounds like - where Cams County hung people. At least that's what we have been told. It is also on the way up to the Avalanche House. Note that for its age, it isn't as massive as you would expect an oak to be. It stays cold here, with snow on the ground until late May, and sometimes even later, thus slowing down the growth of trees here. As a matter of fact, we have been told that if a tree is transplanted here from a lower elevation or warmer climate - it usually doesn't make it the first year.

Muffy says, "I Miss My Jer!"

2007-11-11T20:32:00.000-07:00

Little Miss Muffy has just been beside herself for the last three months. She has had severe difficulty - she's been seeking comfort in Jer's Tai Kwon Do bag and she can't find it anywhere. Just look how sad she looks. Don't you just feel for her? Jeff's room is unreachable for her these days, so she can't pee on anything of his, so now she's looking for something of Jer's. Maybe Jer should send her a shirt or his bag so she can pee on it and feel better. What do you say Jer, be a man and send the bag.

Outdoor Throwing in November!!

2007-11-10T13:45:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it, but we got to throw outdoors today. It was a little cold, but Jeff kept complaining about having to wear the heavy sweater I made him wear. It's supposed to snow tonight and on and off for the next week. We had a good start to throwing. There are some small technical flaws that have crept in since last year, but we have a long time to work on them. In all, Jeff looks very good. Some of the things he has always done well, he still does very well. Some bad habbits he picked up with the heavier discus last year, he also still does. We have a lot of time and we really aren't that far from where we want to be in late May, 08.

We also invented a stupid little game. There is really no discus ring at the school, and remember, this is a K-12 school. There is a jungle gym in the playground. (How many of you had a jungle gym, let alone, a playground at your high school?) We try to roll the discus up the slide, across the top step, down two small flights of steps, down the back ladder, and see how far it can roll. To right is a picture just as Jeff lets one go up the slide. He blew me away in this, which should be expected, he has much more control on the discus than I ever dreamed of having. However, I think I have it figureed out - I will beat him in the upcoming rematch. More news to come.

Across the street from the school, is the original LDS church building - it was built apparently in the late 1930's or early 1940's. It was sold to the Light House Baptist Church when the new branch building was built. (Check past Blogs for a picture of the new branch building.) I was told this week that when the church abandoned the old building, quite a few people quit coming to church, feeling the church was taking away an old friend, of sorts. Isn't it completely ridiculous what people allow to offend them? Makes you just want to say, "Come on! Grow-up and quit being so stupid!" Is it any wonder I never became a therapist?

Throwing Season Starts Now!!

2007-11-08T07:48:00.001-07:00

Well, now that the football season has ended (at least for Cams County High School,) we are shifting gears and turning our attention to throwing. We are starting with base, core strength lifts for the next 8 weeks, then we’ll shift to more Olympic style lifts in early January. We will start with fairly light weights and increase the amounts pretty quickly. We are also going to start working on foot speed drills and some explosive acceleration drills. We are lifting Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Throwing Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Right now it is just Jeff. We will increase the number of people throwing and lifting with us as we get closer and closer to February. I hope we gather a group of about 6 to 8 boys and girls to throw this year. We have pretty big plans for the year. We would like Jeff to place at State in the top three in Discus and top 8 in the Shot Put. It would be great to place even higher. Time will tell.

Jeff Update.

2007-11-04T14:11:00.001-07:00

Well, as you can see to the right, Jeff has gotten a new suit. I was taught by my father that blessing the sacrament is a sacred and important responsibility. One that should be approached with the utmost reverence and respect. To this end, I have felt it is important to be dressed in the very best clothes you can afford, setting it aside and different from average, everyday activities. So, Jeff has a new suit to bless the sacrament in. We think he looks pretty sharp in it.

This past term in school, he also had a science experiment in Biology that consisted of 4 mice. Well, the mice have moved in with us. Here is their new home. They seem to be happy in their new surroundings and have spent the last two days running through all the tubes and into the individual chambers. One of his mice, named Silver Surfer due to his silver color, escaped from the last pen and made his way over to our side of the house. I found him on Friday morning chasing our retarded cat - Orion around the computer room. Now he thinks he's superman, he scared a cat and survived on the outside for two whole days.

Lastly, here is Jeff's football picture this year. I do like Camas County's uniforms. It was a tough year, 0-9. I do think they will be much better next year as they have a lot of talent coming back. I hope that the head coach can come up with more assistance than he had this past year. I would love to volunteer to help, but I don't get home from work until 5:30pm or 6:00pm. I wish I could re-arrange things to make this work out, but I really don't see that happening, at least not this coming year.

Avalanche House.

2007-11-01T09:56:00.001-06:00

Over Christmas and New Years break, 2003-2004, a family from Seattle, Washington, with some friends and family members, were staying in their log home located about 10 to 11 miles north of Fairfield, almost all the way up to Soldier Mountain Ski Area. It had snowed and rained hard for two weeks prior and the winds had come up and were blowing hard. The house, which was 26 years old at the time, was two stories and there was a large, garage building with a 2nd floor apartment above situated a little north east of the main house.

Due west of the house was situated a hill with a 38 degree slope that appears to be 200’ to maybe 250’ foot tall. (As it turns out, 38 degrees is the optimal angle for avalanches.) Between the main house and this hill was possibly 75 to 85 yards of flat land, with only a few young trees and just a couple older trees standing between the house and the hill.

Just the Fall before, the owners had installed a new pair of French doors in the Master Bedroom leading out onto the new 2 story deck, which looked directly at the 38 degree hill to the west.

On January 2nd the owners were down stairs in the main house sleeping in the Master Bedroom with family members in all the upstairs rooms as well as guests sleeping in the apartment over the garage. At a little before 1:30am, a 200’ wide and 10’ to 12’ tall avalanche broke loose from the hill to the west of the house, traveled in an slight north east direction and slammed into the south west corner of the house first, shattering all windows on the south, west, and north sides of the house, including the new pair of French doors. The first floor of the house instantly filled with snow, packed as tightly as if it had been concrete.

The family members sleeping on the 2nd floor awoke instantly as they felt the house rock and shutter. They ran to the stairs, only to find them completely filled-up into the 2nd floor with snow and therefore, completely impassable. They ran to the windows on the west side of the house and found the snow level to be even with the bottom of the 2nd floor windows. They smashed a window out and climbed out onto the snow and then circled the house to see if there was a way into the first floor. The house was virtually an island in a sea of snow. They began digging at the doors to try and open a way into the first floor and then also began digging down the stairwell to get down to the first floor.

By this time, the guests in the 2nd floor garage apartment had gotten out and had begun helping as well. The main house had apparently absorbed the lion’s share of the impact of the avalanche and the garage building was surrounded by snow, but had not experienced the force the main house did. The driveway was full of snow. The main doors to the garage were covered and inoperable. The cars in the driveway were completely covered making it impossible to drive and get help. Some of the guests and family worked at freeing a snow mobile and took it to get help. By the time they arrived at the nearest neighbor’s house, a full hour and a half had gone by.

It was 6:10 am when the Camas County Fire and Rescue finally retrieved the two bodies down stairs. Within the first hour, the guests and family had retrieved one dog, and the rescuers found the other dog safe. He had taken refuge in the fire place. He was safe from the packed snow and had air to breath through the flue of the fireplace. The snow had crashed through the French doors with such force, that more than likely, the two down stairs were killed instantly by the impact.

The house has sat unrepaired and virtually unchanged since the accident. All of the exterior debris from the avalanche has been cleaned up. The shattered and broken windows and doors have been boarded shut, but in all, the house looks easily repairable. It has been on the market a couple of times, but its history has kept it from selling. I would love to pick this house up, repair it and move in. It would be easy to build an avalanche wall between the house and the hill. There are several building here in Ketchum, out in Warm Springs that have incorporated concrete avalanche walls into the structure of the house. With our house in Oregon not selling yet, the chance of us buying it are pretty slim, but I can dream, can’t I?

Murder Mystery - Camera Troubles!

2007-10-31T18:42:00.000-06:00

I'm sorry - my camera didn't work - (or better said, I didn't work it right - I had it set to the wrong setting,) and all but these two pictures turned out real badly from our murder mystery. Everyone looked great this year. I hope someone has a good picture of Aaron Schuff or of Dana Barkley; they both looked spectacular. The play was written very, very well and we all had fun. Jason was the murderer this year, but the evidence really leaned heavily towards Aaron, who played the best drunk I have ever seen. Julie was a "waitress" at the bakery across the street. She played her flapper part very well. Connie was the naive librarian who was about to be jilted by her philandering felonious lover. Sally played the part of the over-loving mother very well. Jer and Mark were great gangsters, Anita was a news reporter, Lahia and Jeff were a farmer and his high maintenance wife, and Dana was the best newspaper boy/bookie ever. Stephanie was the owner of the "bakery" and looked great as a flapper, while Stefani was an antiquities theif and played very convincingly. In all, this years mystery was many, many notches above last years. I can't wait for next years.

Accident Update.

2007-10-31T09:19:00.000-06:00

Here’s an update on the accident we had on Tuesday, October 23rd. Since the accident, Julie hasn’t been doing well. She has had severe headaches. Her neck and back have been tight, knotted, and painful. I have been tight and sore, until just today. I began to hurt today. When I stand up off my chair at work, my lower back has seized up and shot pains up my spine. Finally, 7 days after the accident, Farmer’s Insurance, the carrier for the guy that hit us, got us a rental car. I have no idea if the truck will be totaled or repaired. I’m supposed to go find market value prices for the truck today and tomorrow to ensure that the insurance company prices it adequately.
At right is a picture of the truck that hit us. Oddly enough, we know the guy that was the cause of the entire four-car accident. He is a heck of a nice guy and he was in our Ward in Carey. I was totally amazed that he walked away from this wreck unhurt. At the site, he felt terrible. He apologized to me a couple of times. He said that something had fallen to the floor, he reached down to grab it and when he looked up, it was too late to stop.

Only in Blaine County!

2007-10-31T08:55:00.001-06:00

On the whole, Idaho is a very, very conservative state. It has almost always voted Republican. It’s current crop of Senators and Representatives are overwhelmingly Republican. That is, the whole state except for Blaine County. In the 60’s and 70’s the valleys (they’re called Gulches here,) in and around Ketchum, Sun Valley, Hailey and Bellevue were havens for hippie communes. There are still small vestiges of the communes and there are definitely scads of old hippies still living and working in the valleys. Add to the ultra-liberal hippies the entertainment industry, which weighs in so heavily here now due to the influx of Hollywood and the music industry in the valley now, and you have a great mixture of liberals and ultra-liberals. The results are things such as the Hemp Plus Granola Cereal I found in Atkinson’s IGA. It’s just on the shelf as if it were a normal, casual product. (For those of you wondering, Hemp is just another name for Marijuana.)

Excitment Tuesday Morning!

2007-10-23T13:53:00.000-06:00

On our way to work Tuesday morning, Julie and I got rear-ended. State Highway 75 between Hailey and Ketchum is almost always slow in the mornings. Sometimes it can take 1/2 hour to 45 minutes to travel the 11 miles. This morning, however, we were amazed at how the traffic had thinned out. We were moving along great and didn't hit our first slow-down until about 2 miles before the Ketchum Hospital. The traffic ahead of me stopped, not abruptly, or immediately. It just slowed and slowed until we were all completely stopped. I noted that the truck in front of me had an interesting chain hanging from its trailer hitch. I then glanced in the mirror and watched as the truck behind me did not slow at all. I kept thinking to myself, "He'll stop. He'll Stop," and then wham he ran into us, full force. I remember thinking that I should step off the brake as he was hitting me to let the truck move with the impact, thus absorbing some of it, but I honestly don't remember if I stepped off the brake or not. I know that while I was thinking he was going to hit me, I had my foot on the brake. He pushed us forward into the truck ahead of us, which in turn pushed into the truck ahead of it.

After the impact, which was tremendous, everything seemed to move slowly for just a moment. I looked over at Julie and she was physically fine. There were no obvious injuries. There was glass everywhere, and it took me a moment or two to realize the glass came from the rear window. I then realized that the engine was reving very high. I pushed the gas pedal to check and see if it was our engine making the high pitched noise. It was. I shut the engine off, again checked Julie, and got out of the truck.

The guys from the two other trucks were already out and started talking to me. The guy in the truck immediately ahead of me said, "Man, I saw him coming and I knew he was going to hit you! He didn't slow down or anything." The guy two trucks ahead of me was fairly dazed. I noticed the guy in the truck behind was still in the truck. I went back to him and couldn't get his door open. I hollered and asked if he was OK. He said he was and so I left to go around to Julie's side of the truck.

The only word that describes her is loopy. She was dazed, confused and nearly at tears. I was amazed how quickly the fire department was on the scene. It seemed like only a few minutes before they were there directing traffic, cleaning the site, and checking us.

They got the truck in the rear's door open, as it turns out, it was Jim Stewart from Carey 1st Ward. He was apologetic and concerned. He said that he was driving along and something had fallen onto the floor. He reached to get it and when he looked up, there we were.

It was obvious that Julie was very, very disoriented. The fireman asked her if she knew her name? She replied she wasn't sure. He asked her if she knew where she was? She said she was in a wreck. He asked, do you know where? She said no. She asked me a couple times what had happened.

The firemen put a neck brace on her, put her on a back board and took her to the ambulance. I had to make them let me go with her, they were going to leave me on site.

Suffice it to say - she appears to have had no head trauma. I am still not sure something didn't hit her head. She was seriously confused. The inside of the truck cab was completely amazing. We had Julie's charger for her phone sitting on the dash board. It was shattered into a bunch of little pieces. Our map book, which was sitting behind Julie's seat, was up on the dash board. Everything was scattered about and covered with bits of glass.

We had our seat belts on and that is the only reason we didn't face plant into the steering wheel in my case and the windshield in Julie's case. Oddly enough, the truck we were pushed into was a tall 4x4. His bumper hit our grill and not our bumper. With all that impact, our air bags did not deploy at all.

We are glad to be safe - though a little sore and we are especially glad there were no serious or permanent injuries to any of the five people involved.

Our Weekend.

2007-10-21T16:49:00.000-06:00

Julie and I traveled on Friday, Oct. 19th, down to the lower, southeast corner of Idaho to Jeff's game. Along the way, we had the rainbow at the right skirt and follow us for 15 to 20 miles. I have never seen a rainbow with more vibrant and brilliant colors. I wish the picture could portray the true colors and intensity it had. During our drive, we ran into bright sunshine, rain, snow, hail, and a slushy mixture of all the above. It was the first time either Julie or I had traveled across the barren stretch of desert out in the middle of Central Idaho. I'm not sure I have ever seen a more desolate, dead place. I can understand why the Federal Government built nuclear testing facilities out there. They could have a massive accident and not kill anyone or anything - there is already nothing living out there.

On the trip we traveled through Blackfoot, Pocatello, and the Portneuf Mountains. Pocatello was beautiful; situated in a valley with high mountains surrounding it. I can understand why the settlers stopped there. The Portneuf Mountains were breathtaking with a lite covering of frost and snow. The little valley and town of Bancroft had once been a nice, prosperous rail road shipping center. The downtown area had wodnerful little shops, all closed now and completely run down. When the railroad died, so had the town. The town is situated 5 miles off the main highway - so if someone has no specific reason to travel to Bancroft, chances are, they never will.

The oldest commercial building in town was once a hotel, grocery store, clothing store, and ice cream/malt shop. Its architecture was wonderful. Inside the shops, the ceilings still had the pressed and molded tin tiles of the late 1890's or early 1900's. We went into the ice cream/malt shop, which is operated by the son and daughter-in law of the original owners. It was easily the grossest, dirtiest, filthiest store I have ever walked into.

There was a thick layer of dust and dirt on everything. I looked on the shelves and I saw a bottle of Vaseline Hair Tonic. I can remember seeing similar bottles on my Grandfather Ellingson's bathroom sink. (I looked the product up, Vaseline quit making it in 1966.) She has had that bottle on her shelf since at least 1966. There was enough dirt and dust for it to have sat that long, easily.

Jeff's team lost the game. It was a good game and could have gone either way all the way to the end. That makes his team 0-8 now, with honestly, not a very good chance at winning next week.

Last week's game was in Murtaugh. Like Bancroft, Murtaugh was a railroad center, which is also now situated about 5 miles off the main highway. Whereas Bancroft has kept some commerce and so their houses are at least clean and kept up, Murtaugh is a run-down, hovel infested, mess. I included a picture of a house currently on the market there. I love the pink and I love the fact that it is neither a trailer home or a house - it is a hybrid of both.

At least the drive to Murtaugh was enjoiable as we passed through Twin Falls. I believe Twin, (as it is known here,) is one of the most beautiful cities around. As you enter into Twin from the north, you cross the bridge over the Snake River Canyon. I'm convinced that the pioneers were trudging along the trail and came to the canyon's rim, looked right, looked left, and said, "Damnit Ma, here's where we're staying. I ain't a crossin' that!" And so as the travelers kind of piled up, they made a city.

Jeff and Connie's Halloween Last Year

2007-10-18T21:53:00.001-06:00

I forgot to include Jeff and Connie's halloween pictures from last year. I have promised Connie that I will preserve this picture with my very life if I have to so as to ensure that all her grandchildren and great-grandchildren get to see and appreciate it.

2007-10-18T21:49:00.000-06:00

Jeff!!

It has truly been a great experience for me to spend so much time with Jeff. Since he and I got here, we have spent countless hours together, driving the country side and through the mountains. He has always held a cherished place in my heart, but now, he has become not only my son, but a good, good friend. I hope that we get to continue spending the time we have togehter.

Abandoned Idaho

2007-10-18T21:42:00.000-06:00

Julie and I have begun taking pictures of old, abandoned buildings as we pass by them. They speak volumes of a history that has been truly facinating to learn and study. This house was the first home-steader in Hill City, Idaho. A town 14 miles west of Fairfield on Hwy 20. Hill City was settled because the rail road decided to stop there, for no good reason other than the tracks werestarting to rise into the foothills and they didn't want to lay the tracks through the mountains. Hill City has all but disapeared now. I fell in love with this building.

The following weekend, Julie and I traveled through the mountains from Fairfield to Ketchum. The drive into Ketchum usually takes between 50 minutes to an hour and ten minutes. It took us nearly four hours as we traveled slowly through the beautiful, rugged mountains. We saw this old mining shack at the base of Dollar Hide Mountain - I'm sure it was associated with the Dollar Hide Silver Mine.

Halloween Last Year.

2007-10-18T21:35:00.000-06:00

Last year, we attended the first of what we hope will become an annual event: The Barkley Halloween Murder Mystery. In it, I was Blue Beard, the pirate. I had to grow a full beard. When most men grow a beard, they appear more manly or macho - all a beard did for me was to make me look more and more like Pappa Smurf. I was about as scary a pirate as, well Pappa Smurf would be. It was fun and I hope that it continues for a long, long time. This coming Halloween, the mystery is centered around the depression, boot-leggin, and gangsters. I'm going to play the part of a Senator.

At the right, is a picture of Julie and I together - she was the Black Widow. She was the long time widow of Captain Edward Teach, also known as Black Beard. She looks great. Several people commented on how stunning a widow she was- I'm not sure if I should have been worried or concerned.

Welcome to our new site!

2007-10-18T21:13:00.000-06:00

Sorry that we abandoned the last blog spot - but difficulties with it caused us to just start over again. At right is a typical picture of the streets in Fairfield, the little town we have moved to. It is small, friendly, and yes, those are dirt roads you see. There are only two paved streets in town, the main road through the center of town, leading up to the ski and recreation area 12 miles north of town, and the one next to the schools, although the one next to the schools is only paved for about two or three blocks. We love our town. We feel that this is where we should have settled when we first came to Idaho and we are sorry that we wasted 5 or 6 months before the Lord finally convinced us that here is where we should be.

Jeff has had a good start to the school year. He seems much more relaxed and is enjoying himself here, more than he did in Carey. We would love to say that his football team is better than it is, they are 0-7 at this writing. They seem to have talented boys, just haven't found the right combination to pull off a win yet.

At right is a picture of the high school end of the Camas County School. It is a K-12 with a little less than 200 kids total. The high school portion is less than 70 kids total. It is very personal and appears to be lacking in little or nothing in terms of enthusiastic teachers. As we understand it, the school district is one of the least funded districts in Idaho, but the facilities are by no means sub-par.

Our little branch building is to the right. Yes, you read that right. We live in the midst of Mormon country and yet we have a little branch here. As we understand it, there was a thriving ward here in the past. When the logging industry and the mills here in town died, in the late 70's and early 80's, the town itself almost disapeared. Along with it, so did the ward. We are here hoping to help rebuild the church in our little corner of the world.