Cute Dog

Cold weather must be making everyone sleepy.

Cute Husband

This is how I like to find my husband - fallen asleep while turning the page of one of his intellectual tomes.

Snow Scene at Dusk

Still snow and ice outside. Driving can be risky as Becky found out. It was perfect for me to stay home and work on the computer all day.

Snow scenes

Yay! No school!
Hannah discovers how uncomfortable hailstones feel in bare feet.

Dan's new Recipe

Dan tried a new "flat" enchilada dish, that was not only delicious,

it made Hannah sized portions.

Half Marathon Results

Remember Gwen ran this in 1:35.
How did Marilynn and Gloria do - did they come close to beating Gwen's time? We broke our 4 hour goal, but by applying a complex formula dividing out the added weight of wet rain gear and subtracting out waiting in porta-potty lines, and dividing our combined times by four, shows that we came pretty darn close to beating Gwen!
Marilynn's competitive spirit only came out at the very end, when going through the stadium, she had to sprint and pass a couple of the marathoners. Unilke this good dad who ran through with his daughters
(Photo by Jim Bryant, Seattle PI)
How about that Jason? His time was 2:00:24, not quite making his goal of breaking 2 hours. But he had to waste a lot of time passing slowpokes.
How did that athletic marathoner Rob do? Due to a cold (NOT due to wimping out!) he was cozy in bed while some of us were trekking through the snow to get to the start.

Candid Snapshots

Dan reading a funny article in a magazine

Wayde trying to break Garrett's Snoodoku record

Gloria and Garret looking at archive family photos

Garrett has unique strategy for his battleships

Heather and her dog Cooper who is nervous about cameras

Becky, studying, again

Cooking Thanksgiving Dinner

Heather contributes two beautiful eggs, a green one and a perfectly round brown one, both from her very own chickens, to making the sweet potato-pecan pie.

Joce makes an attractive apple pie.

Making the turkey shaped butter, was the only failed dish.

How do you open this?

Becky checks the instructions.



Bummer. It was not Wayde's fault that it did not have enough time to harden.

As it was, he was forced to use the bathroom as his kitchen.

How to wake up Becky

Put a penguin pillow with the words, "Wake up" taped onto it, next to her head.

Who is in charge here?

Not only did Garratt decide that Becky should sit at the head of the table, he raised his hand and waited for her to call on him before he talked at dinner.

Those Goetch Boys

can be so entertaining

Lots of pets

At least three cats, a dog, guinea pig and chickens (outside) at my mom's new place. I asked if the cats don't sleep on the resident's beds, and Mark said, "Oh yeah, and most of the residents like it. The ones who don't, push them off." Makes sense.

The Other Side of the Camera

To see the picture of me that Bates took while I took a picture of him, you need to go to his blog.

Home for the Holidays

Who do we run into on the ferry - Brooke and Mel, who ran into the Whites!

This is their "real home" isn't it?

Six Day Races

Jeff's presentation at Eagle Harbor Books was a fascinating and well attended event. He talked about his book and documentary movie.

I attempt to distract the author while he is signing books.

Calling all Artists

Faithful blog-reader, Jenny is looking for donations of items that can be sold at a fund raising auction on December 9th. The Industrial Designers of America have a yearly trip that gives students a behind the scenes look at the design and architecture world. Of course we want Jenny to take advantage of this opportunity.
Here are some ideas right from Jenny:
"pillows, bags, scarves, hats, jewelry, prints, wall hangable art, usually not stuff that's too "out there" or takes a lot of interpretation. It's pretty close to the holidays so things that could be given as gifts are also great. But I'm also just looking for ideas of stuff I could make...inexpensive, not too time consuming, etc. The auction is on the 9th of December."

Gift certificates, corporate sponsorships (tax-deductible!) are also great ideas.
I was thinking of donating 500 photographs of Becky playing volleyball, but I guess there may not be a big market for that outside my family. I know we have some great jewelry makers and knitters out there!

Are you Prepared?

Dr. Jason helped organize the presentation on Pandemic Flu. The two speakers were Dr. Longini from Fred Hutchison who has been "waiting 30 years" for a flu epidemic and Dr. Lindquist from the County Public Health who has the power to shut down the schools or even the ferry system if needed to control an outbreak. (Thank you Jason for helping me write out two important words in my notes: Hemaglutinin [H] and Neuraminidase [N], although I decided not to use them.)
Here are just a couple of things to think about. How many other people (with possible contagous germs) touched that doorknob or counter before you did? Wash your hands a lot and don't touch your face. Every three days the size of an epidemic doubles. How bad could bird flu possibly get if there was an outbreak? In 6-9 months there could be 2 billion cases. Everyone should have at least a two week supply of food and water available.

Cozy by the Fire

...now all we need is for Dan to come home and make us dinner!

Becky leads Volleyball Team to Fourth Place in State!

OK. Maybe the reporter is biased.
But what gave her that extra energy?

to dive for balls...


to pass right to the setter...

to execute back row hits...

to whip out the way when a ball is headed out of bounds...

Here's the secret. A Gatorade patch on her back!

BHS VB wins 8am match!

see volleyball link for lots more photos

Dan at Work, John B at work, John V not at work

At last I got to see Dan in action. He explained everything very clearly to everyone at the board meeting. It would have been clear to me too, if I understood what he was talking about. It had to do with defeasance bonds, escrow and stuff. John B explained about how the extra 84 cents at the end of the year would be needed for rounding errors. (I think that was on the 5 million dollar bond, not the 55 million dollar bond.)

Donna led the meeting for the first time since John retired. There he is, pictured below with his granddaughter and son at his retirement dinner. He looks too young to retire? He is actually retiring from one job to start another.

Coffee Break

Steve and I get coffee just like the old days!

Flood!

Edgewater Park in Mount Vernon is a little closer to the water's edge right now.
After I drove over the bridge (in left side of panorama photo) on my way to Anacortes this morning, and I saw fallen trees rushing downstream in the flood, I was afraid I would not be able to go back the same way in the afternoon. I was right. Schoolchildren are out piling sandbags and the National Guard has been called out.