Rhubarb ready to eat

These photos were taken at 9:28pm. In less than a month from the time we shoveled off the snow, the rhubarb is ready to eat. It will grow to about 2-3 feet in another month. This year we will have to freeze more because we ran out in the middle of winter. Made too many rhubarb cakes at work. Here is a great Rhubarb Sauce for pancakes:











1 or 2 cups of rhubarb
1/2 cup strawberries
1/2 cup raspberries
1/2 cup blueberries
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Boil it all together and mash it
Add about 1/2 cup of brown sugar
Tastes great on crepes, waffles, or pancakes.

Spruce hen and rooster

There was a Spruce Hen rooster (i guess he's called a rooster) in the yard. In the top photo you can see the hen on the end of the log along with the rooster. I have seen lots of hens and not too many roosters over the years. He waves his tail around, moves it sideways, and flicks it open and closed like a fancy Japanese fan.

Chocolate Lab

Here is our cute new puppy. We took lots of photos to remember how small she once was. If you think of a good name let us know.

More Rhubarb

Here is the rhubarb about 11 days later. Notice there is snow still around the edge of the plant. The baby leaf is opening nicely.

Lois' sister Donna

We had some fine pictures of Lois and her sister Donna in the 2002 rolls of film. Also a good family photo. The one sad thing about living in Alaska is that it is so hard to visit relatives in the lower 48.

Lois Ann, Aunt Margaret, and Tim

Been spring cleaning recently and discovered 5 rolls of antique film from 2002. We sure like the convenience of digital photography.

Rhubarb growing under the snow

I shoveled the snow off the rhubarb plants so they would grow quicker, and this is what was there.

Easter pictures for Holly

Holly, here are some photos of Abigail and Grace for you. Perhaps this can be a little happy birthday greeting for you. By the way, is your birthday tomorrow (AU time) or the next day (AK time)?

Easter Email

Dear Family and Friends,
We hope you are all doing fine this Easter. We just arrived home from a good church service and are going to the Tauriainens for dinner later this afternoon. It is kind of cool out today, even with the sun shining it is only in the high 20's. Much of the snow has melted with only about 2 feet left to become liquid.
The first weekend of April we were in Kirkland, Washington visiting Heidi and John. They were doing fine and the weather was very nice. They called it SPRING! John and i played several golf games while Lois Ann and Heidi shopped. We could only afford 9 holes with the ladies shopping the same time we were golfing. On the 3rd and 4th of April we took a ferry ride over to Victoria. There are some photos on the blogs of Butchart Gardens which were beautiful.
On our arrival back in Alaska it looked like spring had arrived here although it was a little cooler. Just as i was thinking our second spring was here it snowed 2 more inches over everything that had melted. The second spring will come soon....
March was a very busy month. They had the Arctic Winter Games here on the peninsula. Young folks from many of the northern countries come to compete in many games like hockey, basketball, soccer, volleyball, badminton... and also lots of native games as well. Lois Ann and a lot of the secretaries and teachers volunteered with helping out. They have been having these events every couple of years for about 20 years now.
Hockey season ends in March so the Bantam hockey team i help coach went to Fairbanks for the final tournament. They finished in second place out of nine teams. So that was a good ending to a very successful year. In three other tournaments this year we had two firsts and one other second place finish. Some of the boys had not skated on a team before.
Holly is doing fine in Perth, Australia. She is applying for a visa to stay longer. Amy Stynsberg is also over there and Karen Rose Tauriainen is going over soon. That will be nice for her.
Christoffer is up in Anchorage electrifying the docks for now. He has been praying that the snow keeps coming so he can keep snow machining on the weekends.
We hope you all have a nice SPRING!!!
God Bless You,
Mark and Lois Ann

Taxing Times

This is not my favorite activity of the year. In fact it is the least favorite thing to do and therefore it gets put off until the last minute. I did get taxes sent in on the 15th even though we had until the 17th this year.

A few years back there was a contest somewhere online for the messiest computer office space. At tax time i could come close to winning the prize. If anyone knows the web address of the messiest home office space let me know.

Some family portraits

This is a great picture of Heidi, John, and Johns Dad Chuck.
This was taken just before we left for the airplane. The camera was sitting on a glass table.
Can you see Lois Ann, Heidi, and John in this photo? This is not Alaska unfortunately, but Victoria, BC.
Almost looks like Christmas.

The Coffee Photos

It was amusing to see about 10 'coffee cup photos' of John and Heidi when we went to Butchart Gardens. It was cool outside as you can tell by the jackets and the coffee helped to add some warmth.

What is different?

I wish i knew how to make the photos switch from one to the next in a flash presentation but you can still play the game this old fashioned way.

Christoffer

This is Christoffer with his new sled. He has been "breaking it in" this past week.

Last hockey game of the season

Sunday night a hockey puck did this. We were all sitting on the bench between periods 1 & 2. I took off my helmet because it was hot. The goalie was standing by the boards and another player was on the ice shooting some puck toward the goalie. One shot went over the boards and i stopped it with my forehead. The cut was superglued at the emergency room.

Start-up of Plant 2

Here are a few photos for my friends at the ISLAND up north. Some of you may remember that plant 2 was shut down. These photos prove that urea is going to the #2 warehouse. Since the ice incident earlier this winter the coastgaurd has not allowed as many ships up the inlet, so we are now storing some product in the old warehouse too.

The conveyor belt came from a north road gravel pit. A dumpster is sitting on top of it. Scaffolding supports the corners. Some slanted plywood inside the dumpster directs the granules toward the middle. Quite the operation!

Tournament Time

We had a great time in Fairbanks for the Bantam tournament. The boys did very good, coming in 2nd place out of nine teams. You can see the score before the start of the 3rd period to the right of the top photo. Unfortunately, the score was the same at the end of the period. This is the Big Dipper rink in Fairbanks and it is great place for a championship game. The ceiling is mirrors. Above each goalie on each end, you can stand at the glass windows and see the game. There are trophy cases on the top floor with trophies and photos going back to the early 1900's. My favourite picture is one of some ladies on the ice with long dresses and hockey sticks in their hands and ice skates on their feet.

Chena Hot Springs

We took a 50 mile trip to the hot springs after the friday game. It was windy and below zero at the time of the photos. You can see the icicles hanging from Ian's hair.


In the bottom picture we are all in the big pool. I wish i had not missed an earlier photo op. There were about 5 middle aged women with hair that was white from the frost. They looked much older.