The Aleutian Ballad

A friend at work called me this morning about a tour boat that had a cruise ship cancellation so was offering locals a special price, we jumped at the chance and I am glad we did. The boat could have carried about 120+ but only had about a dozen passengers so we had an amazing trip. We saw seals, lots and lots of eagles, rat fish, king crab, tanner crab, snow crab, box crab, and octopus. Here are the pictures.

The crab pot on board

Becca holding a King Crab

Chet Holding a King Crab
Nat holding a King Crab
Nat holding a Box Cab
Nat holding a Tanner Crab (called Opilio Crab on the TV show the Deadliest Catch)

The next group of pictures is of eagles that they feed with herring to get them in close.

Mat Rats

Nat is wrestling in a group called Mat Rats. Next year he will be wrestling for the middle school team. I'm impressed at how much he has learned and how much stronger he has become. You can tell he's about twice as long as the kids in his weight class. Hmmm, I wonder why?

Songs That Get Me Through

I put a list of songs together that get me through the hard times. I could just go on and on for days listing songs and music, but then I would rather hear from you. What are the songs that help you. Let me know.

Church Snow Day

Today an hour before church we received the call that church was canceld due to snow.  So we went for a walk instead.

Looking down the road toward town, the kids school is at the bottom of the hill.

Nat and Becca on the road, our house is beyond the trees to the left.

Our Eagle Tree, the dark mass in the dead tree in the middle is the eagle's nest

Christmas Choir

Here are pictures of the Christmas Choirs at Ketchikan Charter School.  The top one is Nat's class and the Bottom is Becca's.

They both enjoy singing and miss the formal choir from the school in Utah.

Christmas Trip to Metlakatla

On 13 Dec 08 our scout troop went on a trip to Metlakatla on the island of Annette which is an Indian reservation.  The first night we camped out on point Davis which is the southern most part of the island.  It was the first time since arriving in Alaska that I was able to sleep under the stars.  Along with the clear night was a meteor shower so we also had the treat of a lot a shooting stars.  before breakfast we explored abandoned WWII barracks, anti aircraft gun platforms (the guns are long gone) and watch towers.  We spent the rest of the day doing service projects in town and Christmas caroling that night.  The next day we had attended church which is a satellite of our ward (connects each week via teleconference).  We went home on the Inter island ferry. 

PRICE PROTEST — The price of regular gasoline came down by a dollar at the Safeway service station during a demonstration against high gas prices on Saturday. About 30 people participated in the action, which was organized by Ken Horne. The demonstration began at 10 a.m. Saturday and continued for about two-and-a-half hours. Westside Service had lowered its price on regular unleaded fuel by Friday.Staff photo by Tom Miller

We went Christmas shopping on Saturday. When we stopped to put air in the tires, the price of regular gas was $3.50. When we came back into town from Walmart the price had come down a dollar to $2.50. I was impressed that the protest actually had some effect. I was also very grateful to these people, who stood out in very cold weather for a very good cause. Things are tough enough right now, without the gas stations gouging us. So, let's hear it for the freedom we have to make these kinds of protests.-Liz