Night out in the igloo

Madison and I spent the night in the igloo last night. We got all decked out in our fleece and down jackets and didn't get cold a bit. The inside of the igloo is about 6 feet x 5 feet and about 4 feet tall so it was big enough to stretch out and get comfortable. But the tunnel was only about 2 feet by 2 feet so Madison had to pull me in on the sled.

All I want for Christmas... is mommy home

Paige knows how to use her "skills" well. We told her it would be a smaller Chrsitmas since they already got the Wii ( yes, I sucombed to video games, but only action ones or ones that bring the family together)... Back to her "skills"..... she gave me a list of at least 20 things she wants for Christmas and gave them a color that matched a key to indicated how much she wanted them and in what order. The only thing on the "must have- please please" was she wanted her mommy to be home for Christmas instead of working.

Well, I did get it off and we spent a fairly quiet but good ay. I loved how Craig really took some steps and was a big participant, he even did the day-after-thanksgiving sale run!!! He would walk to the thrift store and pick out the "finds" carefully. Thanks Craig!

Well, mom happens to work with the aunt of "Jackson" the son on Disney channels's "Hannah Montanta", and she was able to get personalized hand autographed pictures of Jason, the actor playing Jackson. Big hit for both Madison and Paige (each got their own).

Paige and Madison also had fun making adorable gifts, Paige made the snowman out of a sock, and Madison made a vase out of a cider bottle and they were beautiful! Avery's Christmas was beond her belief. She woke up at 6 am and came in and said, "Santa didn't come!?!?!" I said, I know, he will - go back to sleep. It was my way of telling her I wanted more sleep. Then a little later she came in and said "SANTA DIDN'T COME!" By that time I was more alert and realized she was under the impression that Santa was "coming over" and not just stopping by with his presents. It made for a good joke.

Madison and Paige are so creative she made Avery an "airplane" out of a cardboard box. We all got scarves.

One of our traditions is that we ask Santa to hide the stockings and that that is the only thing they can open until mom and dad wake up. Not only that but we can't open presents until everyone has found their stocking. We didn't quite stick to the rules though this year, the older girls practically pointed it out to get the morning rolling. Ha Ha.

Avery seems so adorable lately. She keeps saying with a very angry voice " I can do all by mine self!" Or "is this llours?" (she doesn't say the y's well - she sounds chineese.) She was very excited to get the "go fishing " game. All of these are either preceeded or ending with "'Cause I'm twree (three) now". Yes, she is three now, and more than ever loves her blanket and her "kid shows". My favorite is when she tries to stay up later by using her finger and thumb to indicate a small amount and says "I want to watch a kid show just a little bit" or "I want to eat some popcorn jusst a little bit" or "I want hugs and kisses just a little bit". Well, Little-Bit, you just got your nickname. Hey, if her "little bit" works for her, we might want to laugh about it later instead of growling when it is 10:30 pm and my 3 yr old is more awake than I am.

Hope your homw was filled with love like ours. Love ya! Jeanna

Madison's 4 Week old Mini Rex bunnies

Madison is the proud parent of 6 living 4-week-old bunnies (one died a few days ago of a cold). She has really blossomed her responsibilities and taken very good care of them. We are planning a trip to Portland for a family Vacation the weekend of Valentines, which also puts us in close proximity for the Northwest Mini Rex show, hmmm what is the chance of that happening so randomly? :) We hope to show some of her rabbits as well as sell the bunnies since they will be a perfect age for both.

We found a really adorable way to make my little 9 year old look like a princess. What do you think? At least I think so.

The Black picture is identicle to one of the does (mothers) and the others all look like the Tri-color Buck that sired all of them (sneeky little Buck kept jumpin' over thewire wall and got to both of the females).

The other ones are what you call "tri-color" which is a dark orange/red spots with dark black spots on the white fur. I think we got a pretty good mix.

Avery's Birthday Party

Happy 3 years old

What your pond looks like when it goes to -4 degrees

It got so cold last night that the surface of the waterfall on my pond froze making an ice bridge. As the water came off the water fall it stuck to to the bottom of the ice bridge extending it about 8" out over the pond.

Ambrose the Amber-bottomed Antelope

(Sung to the tune of Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer)

You know Dancer and Dasher and Prancer and Vixen
Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen
And Rudolph
But who do you recall?
The most famous antelope of all

Ambrose the amber-bottomed antelope
Had a very shiny bottom
And if you ever saw him
You would be sure to spot him
All of the other antelope
Used to laugh and call him names (like diaper rash)
The never let poor Ambrose
Join in any antelope games (like Monopoly)
Then one foggy Christmas eve
Santa came to say
Ambrose with your bottom so bright
Won't you be my back-up light
Then all the antelope loved him
And they shouted out with glee (Yipee!!!)
Ambrose the amber-bottomed antelope
You'll go down in history (like Rudolph!)

Why I Love Christmas

Paige 12-13-08

Christmas is one of my favorite holidays. You get to decorate your home but I’ll tell you what I like about that later. The number one thing I like about Christmas is that my whole family gets to be together and spends a little time with each other. The second thing I like about Christmas is that my house is never boring! Whenever I get into the Christmas cheer all my friends and family seem to pay more attention to me. Before Avery (my youngest sister) was born, it was just my sister and I. But when you-know-who came into my life. At first it was all about her but as she got older it got better.

Our Family Traditions

My favorite family tradition is when it’s Christmas Eve. Each person gets a pair of pajamas. Another favorite tradition is that every person hides somebody else’s stocking. Recently my family has added a tradition two years ago. The Monday before Christmas we randomly pick a game that another person had bought.

My Favorite Christmas Times

My favorite Christmas time was two years ago. My family went to Utah for Christmas. We stayed at my Aunt Karalynne’s house. Lyman and Corrylynne (my cousins) were there. I got my first ten littlest pet shop that Christmas.

Our Christmas Decorations

I love to help my dad put Christmas lights on the roof and M.P.H. sign. Some people don’t know the meaning of: go 25 mph. It is my Sister and my’s job to put the ordainments on the tree while my mom and dad put the lights on. Avery just likes to put the star on.

My Favorite Christmas Songs

There are many Christmas songs. But my top ten are: Silent Night, Let It Snow, Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer, Up On The House-Top, Winter Wonderland, Jingle Bell Rock, Angels We Have Heard On High, Away In A Manger, Deck The Halls, Jingle Bells and of coarse many more!
I hope you like the many wonderful things that I like. Merry Christmas!!

Paige and Madison in the Snowflake Parade

Paige and Madison were in the Klamath Falls Snowflake Parade on the Pelican School float. You can see Paige on the following news video at 1:21 minutes. Paige is in the pink coat and Santa hat at the back of the float. Click on the full screen button (second button from the right) for a better view.

http://www.heraldandnews.com/articles/2008/12/10/multimedia/doc493ed8ec99d8b054307868.txt

Paige's flute solo

This is Paige's flute solo at her elementary school Christmas party. Can you believe she has only been playing the flute for two months?

Madison and McKayla at the Christmas Party

Job interviews: Salt Creek, Moab

I am applying for a job in Moab working on a project in Salt Creek in the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park.

Here are a few pictures of the sites along Salt Creek:

Angel Arch and The Molar

Angel Arch

The All American Man petroglyph

The job is working for USGS (same agency I am working for now) but for the Water Resources division. Half of my job would be working on a project assessing habitat condition in Salt Creek for the Park Service and the other half of my job would be helping on other projects in Canyonlands, Hawaii, Guam, American Samoa, and Costa Rica. We would be living in Moab.

Madison's day shooting with dad

Hay, this is madison as you can see I went shooting with my dad we shot a head of a baby doll and we shot two computer`s ok I now who would shoot a computer they cost lots of money. But it was not my computer I do not now who`s it was. I found them dumped on the side of the trail.

Meet our Lionhead bunnies (Paige's 4H project)

On the tan carpet is the youngest of our adult Lionhead Rabbits. Her name is Kioki. She is the tan colored (Tort) with a really dark nose.
Next is our two bucks. The black and grey one is called Ash, and the much lighter one is called Cinder. Poor Cinder lost a lot of his mane trying to clean himself after he got tatooed. Yes, we believe in tatooing....our rabbits only. I think after helping tatoo the ear numbers we have officially zapped any desire our daughters have or might have in the future to get one on their own bodies.

We have a litter due fom our female tort, Chiphira (meaning little lion cub) tomarrow Dec 3rd. These rabbits tend to be hard to successfully breed so we are crossing our fingers. A Lionhead rabbit is exactly how it sounds. It is a dwarf rabbit with a mane like a lion. Once you see these rabbits you'ld think you were holding a seddated lioncub.

Last weekend Craig, the girls, and I all transformed the large dog kennel that Craig used for his dog into a weather resistant rabbit hole. We fit 3 rabbit hutches, and 4 hanging cages. It was such perfect teamwork that we all were on cloud nine. Now it is bunny watch time...... any hour now we will have brand new baby bunnies.

Madison's Breed of rabbits she chose have a coat that is silky soft. Ever heard of a velveteen rabbit? No, not the story, the actual breed. You can immaging its coat feels like velvet, however it is no match for Madisons Breed she picked out. She picked Mini-Rex bunnies. The name doesn't give it's "wow"ness like it should but it is so soft that you almost can't tell you are touching anything. Pictures to come later when her rabbit kindels (gives birth).

Paige and Madison's Littlest "Pestshop" (LPS) collection

I hate my dad! he is so silly and mean. He's the one who calls all my cute little petshops pests. We have about 125 pets but Christmas is yet to come. Send me pictures of your collections. Maybe we can trade??

Cool News from Klamath Falls

Mike Rowe from Discovery Channel's "Dirty Jobs" was in town this past month doing a show on how a local company collects goose down from bird hunters during the fall goose hunt:

http://www.tulegoose.com/dirtyjobs.htm

Also this month, Discovery Channel's "Monster Moves" was in town documenting the move of a 100-ton locomotive snow thrower to a local train museum.

http://www.ktvl.com/news/plow_1188000___article.html/snow_chiloquin.html

http://www.windfallfilms.com/monstermoves/index.html

Craig's Work

Here are some cool links to some of the fish restoration activities in the Klamath Basin:



Chiloquin Dam Removal: http://www.usbr.gov/mp/kbao/multimedia/chiloquin_timelaps.wmv

This is the project I have been working on for the past couple of years. The dam was just removed this past August. We will now be looking at how fish move upriver without the dam there.

National Geographic article on the Klamath River restoration: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/12/klamath-river/rymer-text


Everyone working on the fisheries in the Klamath Basin was excited to have a feature article in the December issue of National Geographic outlining some of the things we are working on. The next big thing is the proposed removal of four old power generating dams on the Klamath River downstream from us and the reintroduction of salmon into the Upper Basin. Hopefully by the time I retire I will be able to walk down the street and catch me a 40 lb Chinook salmon.

Williamson River delta restoration: http://www.katu.com/news/10892556.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MMYcSGgEq4
This is another big project our office is working on-- the restoration of the Williamson River delta. Here is some video of TNC breaching some of the levees in dramatic fashion.

Nauvoo Trip 2008

In July, we caravanned back to Nauvoo for the Putnam family reunion.


Avery riding the covered wagon at the Independance Visitor Center

Avery had a lot of fun catching lighting bugs.

Pagent

We drove up to Martin's Cove on our way back to Utah. Here we set out on our 3 hour tour as happy pioneers.

Then it started to rain and lightning had to run for cover.

And then we got attacted by a rattlesnake on the side of the trail...

and then it started... when can we get back to our air condioned car with our DVD player, why did we have to come all the way up here to see this, I'm hungry, I'm tired, I'm wet, I need to go to the bathroom but I'm not going to go in the bushes because there are rattlesnakes in there...

Devil's Gate

We spent two days in Utah for the Ellsworth Family reunion.

We finished our Nauvoo to Salt Lake trek at This is the Place Monument and found a plaque dedicating a tree to Edmund Lovell Ellsworth, Craig's GG grandfather who led the first handcart company to the Salt Lake Valley.