Saturday, the 29th of March, 2008, was a special day for me. Jennie and I went to the Muckleshoot Indian Casino for the 2007 Drivers Award Banquet, put on by Ruan, my employer. Social time was from 6:00pm to 7:00pm, with the dinner starting at 7:00pm. After the dinner, the award ceremony started. The first awards given out were for years of safe driving with Ruan.

Here is a picture of the award I received for 4 years of safe driving with Ruan.

Following that was the awards for miles of safety.

Here I am receiving the award for Two Million Miles of safe driving overall.

This is a picture of the award.

I also received a few other items from Ruan.

This is a picture of a hat that was given to all the drivers who were to receive awards, whether they were able to make it to the dinner or not.

As you can see, this hat has a special feature. It has headlights built into the brim of the hat. There is a "hidden" switch that turns the lights off and on. Really useful when having to work in the dark.

This is a picture of a flashlight that was also given to all the drivers who were eligable to receive awards.
Every flashlight was engraved with the drivers name, along with the phrase "Safety is First".

We had a fun time attending the dinner. The food was excellent and the company was great. And no, we did not go out on the floor for any post party gambling. We came straight home afterwards. And I am kinda glad we did, because there were spots where we were getting a lot of snowfall on the drive home. There were several areas that received a lot of snow overnight, but there was very little here at home. It all disappeared by Sunday morning.

Need I say more?

Well, here it is, the end of March. I took this picture on the 28th of March, shortly after coming home from work.

Snow? In Seattle? At the end of March? Whatever happened to "Global Warming"? Just because Al Gore says it is so, doesn't make it so.

Global Warming

Where is this "Global Warming" I keep hearing about? Here it is, the 27th of March, 2008, and because of "Global Warming", there were several accidents here in the Northwest, with one fatality this morning. And what was the cause? "Global Warming?" No!!! it was so cold last night and this morning, WE HAD SNOW. Well, acutally, I didn't see any snow on the ground, but I sure saw a lot of cars with a lot of snow on them this morning. It seemed that most of the snow was in South King County, Pierce County and over on the peninsula. And weather prognostications for tonight is for more of the same, probably covering a larger area this time.

Bring on the "Global Warming". I, for one, am sure ready for some warmer weather around here.

Shawnee,Oklahoma - March, 2008

In January, 2008, Jennie and I decided it was time to visit Stephen at Oklahoma Baptist University, located in Shawnee, Oklahoma. So, in March of 2008, we did that. We arrived in Shawnee on late afternoon of March 5. We found out that he had a ping-pong game scheduled for later that evening, so we went to watch. After warming up with me, he played his game.

Notice the concentration as he takes aim at returning the volley.

Good return!! That just goes to show you what concentration can do for you. If you look real close, you can see an orange streak just coming off the paddle.

Waiting for the next serve.

The following day, Kevin showed up from Longview, TX. He had a couple of days off from school, and the next week was spring break for him, so do you think he was going to miss out seeing his folks and his little (?) brother? I think not.

Anyway, that evening, we went along with some of Stephen's friends for a fun night out. We drove to Stillwater, OK, and just outside of town is a place called Tumbleweeds. Thursday nights is "College Night" and the place was packed with mostly college kids. And what do they do there? Why, two-steppin' and line dancing, of course.

Stephen out on the floor with one of his friends.

The song is over and they are leaving the dance floor.

It was kinda fun watching all those people two-steppin' and line dancing.

This is Kerr Hall, where Jennie and I got to stay during our visit to Oklahoma Baptist University.

The next day, Friday, while Stephen was in class and Kevin was still sleeping, Jennie and I drove to Oklahoma City to do "the tourist thing". Hey, why not see some of the sights in places where one has never been.

Our first stop was the site of the Oklahoma City Bombing. It was very interesting being in a place that one hears about in the news and see pictures of on the nightly news when it happened. It really helps put things in perspective from a more personal point of view.



This is a view of the Reflecting Pond. This was put in place to help people heal from the hurt of what happened. After some regrading of the site, the reflecting pond was put in where NW 5th Street passed along the north side of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. I believe the bomb was set off on this street. The above picture is from the west side of the block, looking east.

Again, from the west, looking east across the field that once was the Alfred P. Murrah building. There are 168 chairs in nine rows. Each row represents a floor, and the chairs that are in each row represents each victim, corresponding to the floor they were on. On the near, or west, side of the field are 5 chairs that represent the five victims that were outside the building.

This view is from what was a parking lot on the east side of the site and across NW 5th Street from the former site of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. This view is looking SW across the Reflecting Pond at the field of chairs.

After viewing the site of the Oklahoma City Bombing, we went on a short tour of downtown Oklahoma City and what is called Bricktown. We walked along the River Walk that wanders through Bricktown and got to see the Bricktown Ballpark.

And then, while walking back to our car, what did we see in the distance? Why, it is Ford Center.

Could this be the new home of the Oklahoma City Sonics? Time will tell, I guess.


We returned to Shawnee and later that evening, Henry showed up all the way from Houston. He wasn't going to let his little brother, Kevin, outdo him in seeing the folks. For the first time since August, 2007 at Lake Roosevelt, we were all together again.

On Saturday, all six of us (including Henry's girlfriend, who came up with him from Houston) went back to Oklahoma City again. This time, we went to the National Cowboy Museum.

Me posing with John Wayne. Well, at least a statue of John Wayne.

Kevin and Stephen goofing off with the statue of John Wayne. One would think that with them being college students, they would have done SOME growing up.
This is our whole family, together once again. Who knows when this will happen again.
This is Jennie posing with Ronald Reagan. Well, at least a statue of Ronald Reagan.

We had a very nice trip to Shawnee, OK, getting to see where our youngest is going to school and meeting a lot of his friends. Time to head back home and back to reality.

Lake Roosevelt, July/August 2007

Our favorite spot for our family and friends to vacation at is Lake Roosevelt, located in Eastern Washington. Created by Grand Coulee Dam, Lake Roosevelt has just over 150 miles of navigable water, with about 450 miles of shorline. We camp at the River Rue Campground, located just one mile south of the Keller Ferry, where the Martha S goes back and forth across the lake, providing free service from one side to the other for all vehicles.

Getting the tubes inflated and ready for use.

Our friend Shari surveying the goings-on down the beach.

"Do you know where the fill hole is? I wanna get this thing in the water, it is getting kinda warm out here in the sun." By the way, that is my friend Mike's boat on the left and my boat on the right.

Our "beach camp", complete with picnic table and shade. All we need to provide is the beach chairs and, of course, FOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!

Time to cool off in the nice warm water.

Getting ready to try and get the "flying wing" going and up and out of the water. It turned out to be somewhat successful.

Matt Hogan cutting up the water on the wakeboard.

Now it is Kevin's turn to cut up the water.

Kevin just completing a near wake-to-wake jump with the wakeboard.

There is nothing but fun in the sun when we are here. Air temps generally run 85 to 95 degrees and the water generally runs 70 to 75 degrees.
Our motto for when we are there.....Eat, Sleep, SKI!!!!

Denver Trip - Sept, 2006

In September of 2006, Jennie and I traveled to Denver, CO to attend the graduation of our son Henry from the Redstone College of Aviation Technology. While there, he studied all aspects of aircraft repair, including engine repair and airplane repair.

Listening to the boring graduation speeches.
Receiving his diploma.
Proud GRADUATE!!!!!!!!
Proud parents with the proud graduate. (Is it OK to be proud of your kid's accomplishments?)

While in the Denver area, we did a bit of sight seeing. Here is a gold mine (still somewhat active), that we were able to get a deep underground tour of. The part that we were able to tour is no longer active and we were able to see some of the old tools that were used in this part of the mine. The entrance to the Phoenix Mine underground tour
One of the many wooden pillars used to support the roof. The reason wood was used is quite interesting. If the mine starts to collapse, the wood will start to give way, warning the miners of impending doom, where steel will not,
One of the chutes used to drop the gold-bearing ore from an upper vein.
A look down into one of the played out shafts.
A look upwards to a shaft that is no longer being worked.

After touring the gold mine, we set out on our own adventure, called Geocaching. Check out www.geocaching.com for more information. This adventure took us all over the mountains above, and to the west, of Denver. In the center of this picture is Interstate 70, that runs west from Denver.
A picture of the fall colors from one of the geocache sights that we found.
Another picture from the same sight. The elevation of this sight is about 6500 feet.

Lake Chelan, March 2006

View of snow covered hills from just outside Manson.
Another view of snow covered hills surrounding Lake Chelan.

Overlooking where we stayed.
Another overlook.
View of snowcovered hills surrounding Lake Chelan.
Jennie standing in snow covered parking lot on a hilltop way above Lake Chelan.
Our transportation to the hill top way above Lake Chelan.