Thanksgiving

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Wine Blogs

I've been listening to wine podcasts, reading some wine blogs, and a month or so ago stumbled on wine library tv. Gary, the host, has a great attitude on wine. I've been telling a few people about his show. Now he's running a contest if you include his link on your blog. Well I have no problem plugging his show and if I had the time I'd love to write and review more wines on this blog, as well as tell you about family life, flying adventures, and other fun stuff.

Unfortunately, Gary's store doesn't ship to Alaska... but I'd still recommend watching the videos... have fun.

Pinot Noir

You’ve heard of the Sideways effect, right? The movie is about 2 guys, one a connoisseur and one a bit of an oaf, taking a weekend trip up to wine country. Miles, the oenophile, loves Pinot Noir and describes it as:

A quote from Miles and Sideways...

“Uh, I don't know, I don't know. Um, it's a hard grape to grow, as you know. Right? It's uh, it's thin-skinned, temperamental, ripens early. It's, you know, it's not a survivor like Cabernet, which can just grow anywhere and uh, thrive even when it's neglected. No, Pinot needs constant care and attention. You know? And in fact it can only grow in these really specific, little, tucked away corners of the world. And, and only the most patient and nurturing of growers can do it, really. Only somebody who really takes the time to understand Pinot's potential can then coax it into its fullest expression. Then, I mean, oh its flavors, they're just the most haunting and brilliant and thrilling and subtle and... ancient on the planet.”

Sounds intriguing, doesn't it? I, of course, contributed to the Sideways effect over the last couple years and tried a few Pinot’s. I’ve only found a couple that really impressed me and I’ve had a few that reminded me of dirty diapers… seriously. I wasn’t a big fan of Pinot, but something always kept tugging at me to try others. Amanda and I took a trip to Seattle a bit ago and I decided I’d go full tilt Pinot. I did flights of Pinot, bought some Pinot, had Pinot at the restaurant. I tried to discover if there were identifiable nuances that I could embrace. Amanda had liked Pinot, but even she couldn’t take the onslaught of Pinot.

There were none. I’ve decided I am not a Pinot fan and I’ve gotten the Sideway’s effect out of my system. Oh, I’ll still enjoy a glass of Pinot when available, but I’m not going to be buying much of it. Big cabs, good blends, even a fruity Merlot are more my poison of choice.

The next target I’m on is Chardonnay. I think Amanda is coming with me on this quest, but we’ll see. More on that later.

Half of summer

So far I think I’d have to say it has been a decent summer here. Last year, with all the rain, I think many of us that live here were embittered. However, this year it was a bit dry – and some fires took advantage – but there’s been some good rain and enough nice days to make it enjoyable.

We’ve taken a few good camping trips in our new trailer. We went king salmon fishing at Montana Creek – had one on and lost it – and a trip to Eklutna and Hope. Amanda’s cousin and wife were in town for a couple weeks and we did a rafting trip with them. And, a boy’s weekend where Connor and Andrew and I went and camped out at Matanuska Glacier.

About that weekend… Amanda had to go to Valdez for work and Grandma and Grandpa were taking the girls for the weekend. So, the boys and I planned a camping trip. We were going to fly to McCarthy and spend the night there checking out the mine. Friday night the plane developed a chronic case of fouled plugs – 2 plugs actually fouled on takeoff at Merrill and I had to abort the takeoff. So, flying was out, which became a good thing since we would have gotten weather in at McCarthy Sunday.

We decided to drive up to Matanuska, about an hour and a half North of Anchorage. We camped on a bluff overlooking the glacier – we literally walked from our campsite to the glacier! It was gorgeous and the night was perfect. We went for a hike, taking Rosa with us. We had to cross quite a bit of the moraine and there were some pretty muddy parts. We came over one hill and there was Rosa, buried up to her chest, in silty quicksand-like mud. I went in and rescued her, losing my shoes and covering myself in mud in the process, but she was saved. I decided a leash was in order and we went back to camp and got that before heading back to the glacier.

That evening at camp we made a fire, ate dinner, and played football in the big clearing. It was great. Over the course of the night the rain came, though, and by morning the valley was socked in with clouds, the rain was still coming down, and we were sleeping in a mud bath. We ate breakfast in the tent and then packed up and headed home. The boys love sleeping in a tent and we all had a memorable camping trip.

Now we are coming up on serious fishing season. The second run of reds is starting up in the Kenai, which means dipnetting, and silvers are starting to show up some places, also. We have a couple weeks planned down in the States but there will be a lot of busy weekends and weeks, I imagine with fishing, canning, smoking… and lots of eating!

Ok, so it's been a while

And I can't sleep tonight. So, let's see... great things that have happened since winter:

• Sold the Eurovan... a bit emotional, but practically it had to be done as we just weren't using it as it was intended. We sold it to a women in Fairbanks who loves it and is living out her gypsy dream, so that's good. We bought a Suburban and a 22' trailer, much to Amanda's delight. We took our first camping trip in it last weekend and I must admit, the extra luxury was nice. I miss the van, but it wasn't meant for a family of 6.
• Amanda and the boys went flying with me! We took a trip up to Talkeetna - a perfect day!
• I took Kiera and the boys up for another trip a week or so later, also. Some family flying has been a blast. It was a beautiful day in Talkeetna... sunny, warm, and the ice cream was great. Unfortunately, Connor didn't feel good on the way home but said he'd fly again.
• Amanda and her 4 sisters all completed the Gold Nugget triathlon. It was a fun week of the Puls family visiting Alaska.
• The boys completed kindergarten

Those are the highlights. I'm sure there is much more that happened and summer feels like it is already moving fast. But, I'll try and put an update up later. Till then...

Rainy Pass Rondevous

Obviously the tailwheel finally got fixed. Dad and I went up and did some practice landings on a lake and a couple swamps. Skis are definitely fun. In case I haven’t mentioned, one of the big reasons for skis was Sara and Sheila and I bought a 3 night stay at Rainy Pass Lodge for my parents; it included transportation to and from.

Rainy Pass Lodge is in the Alaska Range and is one of the checkpoints on the Iditarod race. They were going to be there when all the mushers came through, so they were very excited.

A week before their trip Mike Haney and I flew up for a practice trip. Greg Fischer and another co-worker accompanied us in Greg’s 185 (N185KA). Greg flies up to Rainy Pass all the time and is very familiar with the pass and the lake.

When we arrived at Puntilla Lake (6AK) I did a couple passes checking out the lake strip with Greg talking me through the approach. The weather wasn’t too bad; a bit bumpy, but I wasn’t beyond my limits and so it was a good challenge. There is a large bump in the middle of the runway and I had to land long to avoid that. The landing was pretty good. We stopped, had some coffee and cookies, and got ready to go.

Take off was a little more interesting. The wind was probably about 10 mph and it really blew us around taxing. I had a hard time figuring it out, still being new to skis, and so Mike and I were all over the lake. Mike exclaimed he was going to paint “Arctic Cat” on the side of the plane once we returned. At takeoff I went first and was just about at takeoff speed when I hit that bump in the middle of the runway. That launched us and Greg was on the radio telling me to “keep it off!” That I did staying in ground effect for a little bit to pick up some speed, and then we were off. Of course later I came to realize that all the staff at the lodge were listening to our radio chatter as I taxied all over the lake and through the take off.

The next weekend was the trip to take Mom and Dad up. It was a gorgeous day and we had a very nice flight in. On the way home I tried to fly over the Yetna and see some of the teams coming up. But, being solo and a bit navigationally challenged, I didn’t want to spend too much time in the Iditarod traffic, so I headed back to Lake Hood fairly quickly.

The next trip out there was on Tuesday. I went up to Big Lake and picked up my aunt Susie. We were just going to go up for a visit. The weather was beautiful but very windy, which led to a pretty exciting trip. Flying up the pass it got a bit bumpy. We made our first pass over the lake… you could see the wind blowing snow off the hills and all over the lake. Pilots were talking on the radio – Iditarod Airforce pilots, mind you – about the conditions at Puntilla and the gusty variable winds. They were claiming 10-15 knots but the pilots all agreed it was a lot rougher than that. Anyway, during the first pass Dad picked up the ground radio and gave me some input. Another plane came in under me and landed on the lake, more directly into the wind, rather than the runway. He told me to do the same thing. I made another pass… each pass was a ride… really bumpy, updrafts, downdrafts, heads hitting the ceilings. Luckily Sue had been in a plane wreck before, so she seemed to be doing okay. Anyway, rather then try a tight pattern, which was my first two passes, I went out a ways and took a long final in. That helped… I was set up okay although airspeed was jumping between 100 and 60 with intermittent stall warnings – that can wrack the nerves. Anyway, we went for it and made a pretty decent landing of it.

Take off was thrilling, also, but not as bad. We took off on the lake again, trying to go into the wind. The lake has a lot of wind drifts and is a bit bumpy. So, we put full power in and went for it. Bumped over a few small ones, hit a big bump and took a long bounce, but weren’t at flying speed yet. I let it come back down gently, but let it gain a bit more speed. The next big bump we hit was it, and we were airborne. We roared over the dog teams and gained altitude, heading for Big Lake. On the way out of the pass I was showing a ground speed of 150 knots… typical is 105… that gives you some idea of the wind. As you can see from this picture, the snow being kicked up on the ground was blizzard like.

After that trip I was a bit nervous to head back out. Mom and Dad actually got weathered in on Wednesday and Thursday morning I kept my eyes peeled on the weather sites. Finally I got a call from Steve Perrins at the lodge and he said the weather was great, winds weren’t strong, and there was blue sky. I brought the lodge up a newspaper and some horse feed, picked up Mom and Dad, and delivered them safely to Big Lake. They had a great time out on the trail and I had quite a bit of fun, and learning, flying.

Tailwheel troubles

Planes… I think I am experiencing the full weight of plane ownership, i.e. nothing goes as planned. We put 1863C on skis a couple weeks ago. That went fairly well, especially considering it hasn’t been on skis for 15+ years. I took my friend Greg out to show me around Lake Hood. We did a little taxiing and things felt okay, so I dropped him off and prepared for a flight up to Big Lake. I even called Dad and told him I’d meet him at the airport, so he left. Unfortunately, I didn’t make it. As I pulled away I couldn’t get the plane to go right… I sat there and spun in circles. Luckily Greg had stayed to watch me take off and helped me wrestle the plane back on to the tiedown. Dad was not so lucky… he ended up waiting at the Big Lake airport for an hour and a half before I was able to get hold of Mom to go get him.

The next week and a half has been spent taking apart the tailwheel, putting it back together, putting it on, pulling it off, and having people look at it. In the end the diagnosis was it is worn and needs to be rebuilt.

I got the parts today. There is one pin that I can’t get out. The parts that I got aren’t machined super clean and need some work before they’ll fit (they have some burrs which seems a little sloppy to me). Amanda is getting sick of seeing me spend all this time working on the plane and although I enjoy it, with a young family my personal time is pretty limited to do this kind of stuff.

At the end of the month I have some flying scheduled to take Mom and Dad out to Rainy Pass. And, I’d like to fly around the Iditarod some. But, I’d really like to do some flying before then. At this point I’m not planning to put skis on next year, although it would probably be a perfect winter. I’m sure the frustration will subside soon enough, but I’m ready to get my tail – and tailwheel – in the air!

24 - 7

I just got back from a nice long run outside, actually the longest winter run I’ve done. It was a good evening, the temps were decent, the kids went down early, and I was feeling alright, so I headed out. I had my Skinny Raven-spiked shoes, tunes, and layers as I headed out into the night.

The spiked shoes are amazing. With the thawing we had a week or so ago, there are some hills that are shear ice… I was able to run right up them. The test comes when you have to go down them; you really have to put your trust in the spikes. They do a great job and throughout the run I was able to navigate icy hills and rough, icy terrain with sure footing. Running at night takes a bit of faith, at times, also. Sometimes the path is pretty dark and your putting one foot in front of the other, mentally ready to catch yourself if the ground is too uneven, but also expecting it to be relatively similar to the last step you take, which isn’t always the case.

Anyway, it was approximately 24 degrees out, very little wind, and I went 7+ miles. Almost 8, actually, according to Google Earth. I felt pretty good throughout the run and was pretty encouraged to be running outside. I don’t mind running on the treadmill as I usually get to watch a movie, but I really enjoy running when I am outside.

Dizzy girls

This morning started off a bit scary. When we woke up, Rosa could barely walk. It was like her back legs were giving out, shaking, falling over. I helped her down the stairs, but walking across the wood floor was another challenge for her. Rosa is 12 going on 13 and in relatively good health. She’s gone deaf this year, but still doing okay. So, this morning was a bit of a shock and a bit scary. Both Amanda and I had to work so we left her inside and I made a vet appointment.

Both of us thought about her all day, knowing hip problems are common and usually not a good sign. I took her to the vet this evening. While there I noticed her eyeballs moving back and forth; but, she was starting to walk a bit better. The vet saw her and diagnosed her with idiopathic instability… dizziness. They don’t know why it happens, but it isn’t uncommon. It should clear up in a few days. Obviously we were both very relieved.

Regarding another one of our girls, Carli, I keep meaning to write this story. Carli has been with us almost a year and amazingly it has only been in the past month or two she has known both of the boy’s names… seriously. For the longest time she would just call them “boy.”

At night, during prayers… “Mama, Daddy, Jenna, umm… boy, ummmm… boy. Amen”
When she needed their attention… “Boys”
When we had them go in corners and told her to go say goodnight to Connor, she’d just stand and smile at us. Same with Andrew.
Then, after a while, she knew Andrew but didn’t know Connor.
At night, during prayers… “Mama, Daddy, Jenna, Connor, ummm… boy. Amen”

It was very cute and a little funny. The boys were totally un-phased by it all and took it in stride. But, thankfully, now she knows her brothers names and can even tell them apart.

Maui, Hawaii

Well, obviously we’ve been busy here or I would have found a little more time to write in here before the end of our trip.

Let’s start with the most important things first… I miss my kids! While we’ve been here both Amanda and I think about how much fun they would have playing on the beach, snorkeling, or whatever. This trip was definitely fun for us and good to do alone, but I’m looking forward to spending some time with my children.

Second, we completed our race. It was a 15k (9.3 miles). Amanda did it in 1:41:23 which is under an 11 minute mile… a good time for her. I did it in 1:25:23 which was a 9:10 mile… really fast for me. The course was slightly downhill, which I think helped. The funny thing is Amanda had a really hard time with the heat. Of course, she didn’t follow my lead and try to acclimate when running on the treadmill. During my training I turned up the house heat a notch, had the humidifier on full, and didn’t use our treadmill fan. During the run I felt pretty good. Amanda said she was dying by mile 2 so I think my efforts paid off a bit. The night of the run we went to a luau and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.

Some of the other highlights from our trip…

We took a day trip over to Molokai. It was a fun trip, although the boat ride was a little rough and Amanda got pretty sea sick. On the way back several people on the boat were getting sick as the seas were typical, but pretty big. We did see a whale breach just a short distance from us, so that helped distract people for a little while. While on Molokai we rented bikes from Phillip. Nice guy; I guess his wife went to Service High and skied cross country in the ’92 Olympics (Silver medal). She still skies out at Kincaid a lot and does a lot of training in Hawaii.

Anyway, Amanda and I rode around the west side of the island, about 20 miles out and 20 back. It was a long ride for my butt – it is still a bit sore – but a very relaxing and pleasant ride. The weather was very pleasant for our entire ride.

We spent another day at Haleakala (http://www.nps.gov/hale/) and did a hike into one of the craters. Again, we lucked out on the weather as the clouds that seem to have been there for our entire trip moved out for the day. The park is a very unique and cool place.

Today is Saturday and we are on our last days. An old college roommate of mine lives on Oahu and is flying over today for lunch. We’ll spend the afternoon with him and his wife, whom I’ve never met, so I’m looking forward to that. Tomorrow we’ll probably take the road to Hana and then out to the airport. We spent yesterday snorkeling and lying on the beach. We saw whales about 50 yards offshore – it was amazing. A baby whale was breaching and playing around his mom and put on an amazing show for us.

Like Amanda said, this is paradise, but this isn’t reality. I miss my kids but am still wrestling with the fact that vacation will end, I’ll have to get my mind back in work gear, and the daily chores will start again. There’s some comfort in that, some longing that the vacation would continue.

Aloha

Amanda and I greet you from sunny, somewhat windy Maui, sitting in sight of a beautiful rainbow (which also means a light rain). We have the absolute privilege of being able to leave our kids with our extended family and take a vacation to Hawaii.

We arrived late Friday evening at the Maui airport. We called our rental car agency, Island Car Rentals. We decided that it would be fun to rent a convertible. But, I couldn't justify paying the upgrade fee at one of the national rental agencies. So, we went with a local place and a little older model, which made the price something I could live with.

We called them and they picked us up, then took us deep in a residential area to a small shop. They were nice folks, but it was 11:30pm and the three guys hanging out had started "getting their drink on" with a half-rack of Budweiser. They got us all checked out, gave us some friendly advice, and we were on our way.

We arrived at our condo, the Maui Kai, which is very nice. It is right on the beach and we can look out our lanai onto the Pacific and the migrating whales. We spent today driving around picking up our race numbers, checking out the course, eating lunch, buying groceries, and driving around. We're still a little tired from the late night, travel, and the sun from today. Tonight we're going to cook dinner, take a walk on the beach, and retire early. We need to be down at the race end to catch a shuttle at around 5:30am, so it'll be an early morning.

We'll let you know our results. Both Amanda and I don't feel completely prepared, but we'll see how we do.

Kumala wine

We tried a new wine tonight, Kumala, a South African wine (http://www.kumalausa.com/wines/wine.php?id=183). It was a good wine, nothing special. Slightly sweet, definitely nice fruit flavors, although I didn’t detect the spiciness that they mention. I don’t think I’m a fan of real spicy wines, although a little pepper undertone is nice. Also, in this wine I didn’t taste the tannins.

Although we’ve been drinking wine for several years, now, I find I am still really unable to identify or describe the tastes and smells of a wine adequately. I have a good idea of wine I really like (so far the Shingleback Cab is high on my list) but I can’t exactly describe why. Sideways not withstanding (I liked the movie) I’m not a fan of many Pinot’s. Shiraz is ok, but Merlot’s and especially Cab’s I really really like. In general, enjoying a glass of wine with Amanda at the end of the day is my slice of tranquility… I will pontificate on this experience more later.

New Year's resolution???

Yeah, I'm doing great. Here it is January 9th and I haven't even posted this year. Ahh, but I do have some pictures coming. So far it has been a good year. New Year's day the family went sledding at Kincaid. It was a perfectly beautiful day with tons of other families out. The hill is a pretty wide hill with no real defined paths going up so when you start walking up you're on your own as far as watching out for those coming down. Luckily, we didn't have any major catastrophes.

We are about done with parties, though. The boys birthday is November 18th. Jenna's birthday is January 18th. Between those two dates we have our 4 kid's birthdays, Kameron (6) and Merril's (4) birthday – the kid’s cousins who recently moved back to Anchorage – then my Mom’s birthday, my sister’s birthday, my Grandma and an Aunt both have birthday’s for good measure, and then Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s! Whew… no wonder I don’t want any more cake!

This was the first year in a while my side of the family has all been in town. Sheila and Mike moved are stationed here for a while after three years in Japan, so it was good. Our kids are the same age and they all love each other, so that’s another blessing. We sort of feel we own Sand Lake kindergarten, though. Between Kameron, our boys, and Kiera (Amanda’s sister Pam’s daughter) we have a kid in each of the 4 kindergarten classes.

Amanda and I leave in 3 days to head to sunny Maui. We signed up for a 15K race there (http://mauisurfsandhalf.com/) and then will spend the next week relaxing, doing some hikes, going to Molokai, and whatever else we feel like doing the morning we wake up.