8 things huh??

Well apparently I’m supposed to list 8 thing about me that most don’t know about me since I was tagged by Erin a couple days ago. So with out further adieu….

1. My wife reads the blogs of “The Office” characters.
2. I used to have a trap line in 2nd grade hunting the elusive Alaskan rabbit.
3. I only read books on airplanes. (I have the internet the rest of the time.)
4. I have read all of the John Sandfod books on airplanes, and the entire time was listening to Nickel Creek on my ipod, so now when I heard those songs it makes me think of a police officer in Minnesota chasing down serial killers.
5. To piggy back on Laura’s post I enjoy shoveling snow especially when there are huge Valdez snowflakes falling from the heavens. I especially enjoy when a really big one lands on my face or down the back of my neck.
6. Erin and I have our very first Christmas tree set up in our living room this year. (I got to put two of the four ornaments on it.)
7. I went on a routine climbing trip with Jeremy out in Wyoming and ended up climbing the Grand Teton.
8. We didn’t have running water sometimes in the winter living in Northway. Having to use the outhouse in the cold dark night I’d get scared walking back to the house with the dark forest to my back and jump out of my parents bunny boots and scamper back to the house leaving the boots in the edge of the trees.

New Home

The day we drove back from Wisconsin to Cook we picked up a u-haul and as soon as we got home loaded it all up.  The next morning we were up at 6:30 in the morning and drove all of our belongings down to Baxter.  We met property manager at 11:00 AM to finish up paperwork and to pick up our keys.  We had all of our stuff moved into the apartment by 12:30 and were on the road again to a furniture outlet in St. Cloud.  We found a superb deal on a couch and a love seat which we promptly bought.  We had to go over to the distribution center to pick them up.  We had both pieces of furniture stuffed into the empty u-haul and back to Baxter we went.  Erin and I managed to get both out of the u-haul and up the stairs into our apartment.  We spend the evening putting things away and making the place look somewhat presentable.  We then invited Mike and Axton over for a little dinner.

Here are a few pictures of what the place looks like now.

There is also another spare bedroom, but it had boxes in it right now, so I’ll post pictures of it when we get it somewhat setup.

I’m Back by Popular Demand ;)

Well, I know its been forever and a day since I last posted.  So its time to get back into the swing of things.  Erin and I are both on our Christmas breaks right now.  We had a very nice time down in Cook, Minnesota.  It was nice hanging out with family.  Erin being the ambitious person she is initiated the creation of a skating rink in the lake.  She and her dad got to work with the snow blower clearing off the snow on the lake.  Unfortunetly the snow blower broke part way through.  So it was shovels from there.  I was able to help out with the end of the process.

After we had the ice cleared there were a few bumpy patches.  So Jim and I cut a hole in the ice with a chain saw.  It brought back memories of crabbing on the Bering strait.  With the hole cut we got out a couple garden hoses and a pump used in the summer to empty the rain out of the boats.  We flooded the rink with a about an inch of water.  The next morning we had a nice skating surface.

[QUICKTIME http://www.bbryson.com/movies/skating.mov 320 255]

At times there were many of us out there skating.  I had to go in spurts.  My new skates that Erin helped me pick out were rough on the arches in my feet.  I could skate for a while, then have to take them off and let the feet rest.  Erin was out there the whole time. She is fun to skat with.

Erin got us an awesome christmas present this year.  I was really surprised. She bought really nice tickets to a Minnesota Wild Hockey Game.  For those of you who don’t know.  The Wild is Minnesota’s professional hockey team. Here is a picture of us at the game.

This is where we were sitting.  Nice seats.

The game was awesome.  Minnesota ended up winning 5-2.  We stayed at a hotel right accross the streat, so we didn’t have to worry about traffic.  Really had a great time.  Looking forward to attending more of those next year when we are living considerably closer.

I flew home to Valdez on the 27th of December.  It has been snowing really hard since I’ve been home.  A week before my arrival they had 29 inches in 24 hours.  That wasn’t were it stopped they enededd up with about three feet in that storm.  We have added to that another couple feet by now.  Its fun to watch the big flakes falldown.

Yesterday Abby, her husband Steve, and I went out snowshoeing up Hogs Back a mountain behind Robe river.  Our approach to the base was quite the ordeal.  We missed the groomed trail that takes you right to the beginning of the ridge.

Making our own trail we criss-crossed a stream at times in the water trying to step on the big rocks to keep our feet out of the water.  When we were in the snow there was about a foot of fresh snow that we had to break trail through.  When we finally made it to the base of the ridge is when the real work began.  Snowshoeing uphill and having to break trail at times is tuff work. Since I am really out of shape, it made the whole process that much more enjoyable.  ;)  No it was a lot of fun.

The views were beautiful and the weather was warm with out any wind.  The whole trip ended up taking about 6 hours.  I am really feeling it today.

Thats kinda how break has been going.  I will be back to work on the 8th.  I’ll fill you in on my exciting adventures a little  more often now.  Hope everyone has a safe and fun new years.