AAWWW

It was nice to have Glenn & Lisa with us a few days and to get out and enjoy the outdoors away from the house this past week. It was nice and sunny and getting warmer every day. LOVE IT!!
(This picture was suppose to be with the next ones but, somehow it didn't post)

Beautiful Warm Sunshine

Our friends Glenn & Lisa were visiting us for a few days and we went to investigate this snow blower on the front of the train that is no longer in service. It was quit amazing how big that thing was. Glenn works with heavy equipment, especially snow blowing equipment,  for the state of Alaska, so he was especially interested in how this works.

 

 

We also stopped by Potters Marsh--hoping to see the snow geese that are migrating through. We did see them fling but not on the ground. There were lots of other ducks, seaguls, one single lonely sand hill crane, an eagle, and a muskrat ?? or something that was sneaking along the edge of the water, looking for lunch. It was fun to watch the ducks quickly move away from where he was heading. They did NOT want to be his lunch. :-) 

Signs of Spring

I hadn't noticed that my poor little tulips were trying to come back to life after their long winters nap. Once we removed the snow and ice off them, they are looking MUCH better with each passing day. I'm amazed that they are so reselient and bounce back year after year, after being burried under leaves and snow for ice for several months. 
This week was a BIG turning point where more and more signs that Sping is ALMOST here!! THANK YOU LORD!  I heard my first Woodpecker and Robin of the year today. My peonies and Rubarb are also peaking through the ground along with my bleeding hearts. I love seeing signs of new life. It's amazing how God had all this planned out for us a LONG time ago.

 

Video of breakup April 15th

This is the video that was suppose to be posted later. I had forgotten how to upload it until I tried again. :-)

Near the End of Winter-(I hope)

With our RECORD snow fall, over 11 FEET  this winter, it all had to come off some time. It had been warming up the first of April and finally on April 2, 2012--ALL the rest of the snow and ice that was on our roof decided to come down all at once. Luckily we were home on that Sunday afternoon. It sounded like a big plane or freight train going by.  

Guess where it landed??? RIGHT ON OUR WALKWAY!. Thankfully no one was  there when it came down. There was a LOT of ice and snow combined and it was very hard packed when all that weight came tumbling down. Tom was contemplating how we were going to move all that off our walkway. Thankfully a neighbor came over and helped chip and shovel it away.  Thank for Lord for good neighbors.

This is our back deck after a lot of the ice and snow fell off the roof, even though we had "snow stops" on the roof to try to help prevent this. But...because of the weight of all the ice and snow, it just tore them right off the roof. Now, guess what we get to do this summer? Put them back up and repair our roof, and get ready for next year. :-)

About 4 or 5 feet of hard packed snow and ice from our roof, on our walkway.  

Tom and our neighbor made it through, YEAH! We now have our walkway back.

BREAK UP in Alaska

WE SURVIVED THE RECORED BREAKING SNOW FALL FOR ANCHORAGE WITH OVER 134 INCHES! WHEEEEEWWWWW!! NOW LET THE MELTING BEGIN.
AS WE WALK OR DRIVE AROUND ANCHORAGE THERE ARE A LOT OF PEOPLE OUT CHIPPING AT THE ICE AND THROWING THE SNOW OFF THEIR YARDS. HOPEFULLY IT WILL BE GONE BY JUNE. :-)

This was suppose to be a video.

Our Lodge

This is the lodge we stayed at with a back view of someone???? Hmmmm.
I wonder who??? :-)
The room had a little refrigerator, one bath, ONE MIRROR, TV, and 2 queen beds. One thing that we could have used more of were the mirrors. Everywhere we stayed, they only had 1 mirror in the room. What's up with that?

We were within walking distance of the edge of the Mighty Grand Canyon. It was amazing to walk to the edge and see the vastness of the canyon and the fantastic view with all the different pictures within the BIG picture. Does that make sense?



I LOVED THIS BEAUTIFUL FLAG FLYING SO BEAUTIFUL IN THE SOFT BREEZE WITH THE BEAUTIFUL BLUE SKY IN THE BACKGROUND.

One little bite

While we were enjoying an ice cream cone and taking in the breath taking view and the warm sunshine at the Grand Canyon, this little guy decided he wanted a chunk of my sisters hand. He was very use to getting fed, and was pretty aggressive. In the short time we were there, 2 people got bite. NO rabies, and there are signs up to warn us about them, but they kind of come out of no where when you sit down to rest, and enjoy the warm sunshine. We found out where the clinic was. Only a band aide to stop the bleeding. She's ok.  

 

Trying to be creative

My niece has taught me to look for different opportunities to look at things. I found this tree that was a perfect frame for the castle across the canyon. My older sister was surprised, but liked it, so she took a picture just like it. Hopefully it will inspire her to look at things a little differently.

It's amazing how one little tree can change the picture completely.

Then there is this plant with the snow behind it that was pretty interesting and fun to get a good picture of it.

Once you start looking for different ways to see the same thing, it's amazing what you can find.

Sunset at the Grand Canyon

They should call the Grand Canyon something different, like...??? I'm not sure what, but ...the Grand Canyon just doesn't describe it appropriately. We were mesmerized with it. Especially at sunset.
Hopefully one day you can go and enjoy this amazing place like we did. We were able to walk to the canyon's edge from our lodge where we stayed. That was pretty cool.  

Move beautiful art.

Here are a few more beautiful artistic pictures. It's amazing how the shadows change things. I thought it was pretty cool. I liked the ship that you can see and the balancing rock. As we sit there watching the sun set and the shadows cast their amazing shapes and figures on the Grand Canyon, it was absolutely AMAZING how a few minutes times difference, made a BIG difference and changed the pictures completely.

Grand Canyon

Because of our side trip to the Petrified Forest, we arrived at our destination at the Grand Canyon in the DARK! Do you know how hard it is to try to find where your going when no one has been there before, and it's very difficult to read the signs in the dark. No GPS--only 3 back seat drivers trying to help read the signs in the dark.? :-) We finally did arrive safely at the MIGHTY MAJESTIC GRAND CANYON of Arizona.

We were very fortunate and able to take a helicopter ride over this FANTASTIC place. We are just about to go over the edge for the first time in this picture. Alice and Glenda were sitting on the sides with the windows. They took it ALL in and absolutely LOVED it! Wanda and I, on the other hand, had to do some deep breathing a time or two. HAHA

We could see for miles and miles! So many beautiful colors and things to see. It was amazing!
The Colorado River making its way through the MIGHTY GRAND CANYON.

FANTASTIC!

Just look at all the different texture and colors.

The greatest artist at work. :-)

AMAZING, so many different layers the earth.

BEAUTIFUL!

This amazing cross where the edges of the canyon and the river meet.

Inside the helicopter. Thankfully, everything worked great while we were in the air.

Every view was different and sooo AMAZING! We have one FANTASTIC GOD and artist to create all of this for our enjoyment! Thank you LORD!

Moving on down the road

On Tuesday after a trip to the Cracker Barrel for breakfast again, we loaded up the truck and took off for the Grand Canyon. Wanda drove most of the way. Traveling with my 3 sisters in the truck, having some fantastic quality time and conversations with them, was the best! It was FANTASTIC!
No radio, & no cell phones. :-)
As we traveled on down the road from Albuquerque to Arizona , we took a side trip to the Petrified forest. As you can tell by the picture, the wind was blowing and it was still pretty cool from the storm that went through a few days ago. It was amazing to realize how long it takes for things to become petrified,  

 This log felt like glass. It was amazing.

Glenda, JoAnn, Wanda & Alice posing for another picture taken by some nice gentleman. Then we took his family picture. It was a nice trade off.

This little guy was trying to stay warm. When I first walked up to him he moved a few inches then came back  stayed on that rock. It was pretty cool.