The Detroit Lean???

On our way back from Lexington on Sunday, we stopped in at the Thills for some great companionship and a fantastic meal!  Good to see you all!

garage sale-ing

Hi ya!

So far I've had a very productive day. I left to run some errands by
bike when I saw a sign for a garage sale. I have been meaning to stop
to look for sewing machines for a while so I turned onto the side
street and started following the directions. The garage sale with the
sign didn't look that exciting, but there was one on the way back that
caught my eye (glassware!). Didn't see anything worth hauling back on the bike except for two DVD's. I swung my leg over the bike when I saw the neighbors were having a sale too! I almost missed it. Then, like the Griswold family christmas tree, I see this lonely sewing machine on the ground. Mom told me Singers are always good... and it was a Singer! There was no price, but the guy running the sale saw me eyeing it and said "I'll give it to you for $10 if you take it before
my wife gets back."

So I feel a little bad for his wife, but she had it for sale anyway. I decided it would fit in my pannier (and it did). The bike felt a
little squirrelly but I would too if I had a sewing machine
haphazardly attached to the side of me. So that's the picture. The
pink is my raincoat. I crammed the other bike stuff (locks and tools)
into my purse.

I stopped at the farmer's market for a Pita Falafel and got one of the last ones before they ran out of EVERYTHING. Good thing too, as
they're changing things next week. The sign said "due to increased
pregnancy and decreased productivity." I think it's a couple who owns
it, and the woman is pregnant. Pretty funny. A lady at the picnic
area said "did you just buy that sewing machine?" and I said I did
and she said "oh fun!"

So I got 2 dvd's, a sewing machine and a delicious lunch for less than $20. Oh, and exercise and F-U-N. Riding near wooded areas was
especially nice today. It's been hot (for Alaska!) and something
white is blooming. It smelled so good.

Next weekend I fly to Anchorage to see Brian (we're official now!) so I'm looking forward to that.

Well, I'm off. Got some sewing to do! ;-)

later gators!!!

A day at LGA!

So's on Wednesday, I went to New York, New York to hang out with my Marketing Friends, I tell ya, it was quite a trip! My return flight was canceled so my only task on Thursday was to get from my hotel to La Gaurdia airport (LGA) for a 6:30 PM flight. My hotel was right at the airport, allowing me to take a nice leisurely stroll to my gate.

On the way, I walked right past the American Airlines building and of course I couldn't help but think about the days dad (or grandpa R) spent in this building. Why I bet he even went through this door! It made me wonder what kind of worries he had at his job, did he worry as much as I do? Did he have too much on his plate as I some times feel like? Did he like his job like SOMETIMES I do? Did he like yucking it up with the guys like I do? It's fun to see that not much has changed, I dare say that Dad would think nothing has changed on the outside, but much has changed in the inside, mostly the Airline industry itself. I wanted to ask some one at American Airlines if I could sit at a desk and play with an adding machine for a while, like on the THRILLING days I got to go into work with dad (on a Saturday or Sunday) and sit in the office chair turning in circles and making mile long adding machine tapes...fun to remember!!

One more thing...I really like how New Yorkers really don't mind old stuff. I know in the midwest, this building would have been torn down long ago. I noticed the same thing in many of office buildings I was at. They were old and tired, but functional and certainly usable. I don't feel like they have a fear of the old like we do...hmmmm.

I've really enjoyed my visits to New York - it's fun to be in a huge city, and the people there have been great!

Fahgetaboutit cats!

Sue's Views

Meet "Princess Ruby Bay Patutti" and

"Sir Rusty the Rebel of Rolling Hills"

otherwise known as Ruby and Rusty. Sometimes meatball, or puppy, or kids, or pups or once-in-awhile Ned slips out. Hey Bill, I can't believe how terrible my typing is when I have to type in the dark. That's how I've been practicing lately on the ASUS. I use it in bed, but Ron hates the light on, so I have to type in the pitch black. It's amazing that I dont' know the keyboard better than I do. We're looking forward to seeing you guys. The pups had a super day in their new kennel outside. they love it! I may just go on a sleeopover with them. It's cozy out there. They come in at night, but their happy to be outside during the day. Ron built a nice little dog house and put it inside the 10x12 kennel along with a huge deck for sunbathing.

Love you,

Sue

Heading North

We're on the I-75 now heading towards Michigan. I brought along the I-75 book from Mom's house, and have been amusing myself with all of the comments and hotel receipts from trips in the past. As I read it, I see that a lot of the comments were made by the Jim Rathbun family in what looks like a trip in 1999. Oops! I think this book belongs to you, and you should have it to place among the family archives. I will return it as soon as we are together again. A lot of the information in the book is outdated, but cute little notes from members of your family make it a great little momento. I like this one written at a gas station in Ohio. "Don't stop here, there's a guy with gold shoes and plastic bags on his hands", or something like that. We are spending tonight in Forsyth, Ga. So that we can eat at our favorite restaurant, Grits. I'd post pictures, but the internet is very slow in Georgia, y'all.

Uinta the uintas?

Just got back today from camping around 10,000 ft in the Uinta mountains, just East of Park City. It was really pretty, lots of highland lakes, marshes, and rivers. They're home to Utah's highest point, King's Peak, somewhere around 13,000 feet of elevation. The Uinta mountains are also the only east-west trending mountains in the continental US (I don't think that includes Alaska). We spent Saturday hiking about 10 miles, then came back to our campsite to spend the night. The mosquitos were horrible, but they all disappeared once the sun set and the temperature dropped below 60. It was nice to get back into some cool weather again. Hope you all enjoy your week!

-Walter B.

Sue's Views

Today Ron and Don made a new kennel for the pups, "Rusty and Ruby". We get them on Friday. I've already started to puppy proof the house. We can't wait. There will be two dog houses that will be added to the back of the kennel and we're going to put patio stones down for the kennel floor. The roof will be forest green. I wood-burned their names today for the kennel. I attached a shovel on each name and "Ruby" has a fake ruby on her sign as well. (Aw) James, I forgot to tell you that I sand "Something Stupid" at the Mill last month. I did a duet with "The Wouldman" (that's how he spells it) It went pretty good. I wish you could have been there.

Yakin' With My Sister

Just Yakin' Around
Originally uploaded by sache47

A little cloud cover and no wind made this a nice day to head out on
the ocean with the kayak. We rowed about a quarter of the way around
the island, and then headed back home. Nancy makes a great kayak
partner, and we had a few laughs along the way. She really knows how
to keep the waves from coming over the bow of the boat, most of the
time.

Baby frog

OK everyone all together ...aawwwww!

There are about 20 of the hopping around on the sidewalk by the pond. Jethro thinks they are so much fun but we try to keep him from getting to close. Have you ever seen a frog so small?

Look what I did!

I made my mother proud today! So a month ago I forgot to water my two Gerber daises and when I say forgot I mean I didn't feed them for about a week or more. They were dead, brown and all dried up. I felt so bad so I picked off all the dead stuff and left just a little bit of stem down by the root. I have been watching them grow for a few weeks and look! I have a big beautiful pink flower this morning. I'm sure all the rain we had last night made her happy too. If you look close in the back you can see my yellow pot with just a few leaves growing, that one needs some more TLC. Maybe (if I have proven myself worthy) when my mom gets here she will help me plant more flowers in big pots for our porch? wink wink

Self Portrait Practice

We remembered to tuck!
Originally uploaded by sache47

Look Jim, we remembered to tuck our chins for this self portrait! It
is so much fun having the Thills here for a visit this weekend. The
partying has begun!

Wildlife in The Keys

Physical Science lesson for today...

Sure, Fairbanks is south of the arctic circle, so you would think that if the sun sets at 12:30 AM and rises again at 3am, you would have some darkness. Well, the sun is barely below the horizon those three hours, so it always very light. This was me taking out the garbage at 2 AM - no sun but plenty light to take a picture - With no flash!

It was not party night at Aimee's - We got in late from Chena hot spring, and didn't want to forget the garbage in the "morning". When its light all the time, you don't have any restriction to get things done before it's night time. It puts a funny spin on your life - of course it also puts a funny spin on your sleep habits too!

Stay sunny side up cats!

Aimee's new boots!

Aren't they cute?!? She got them on sale this evening at Big Ray's, downtown Fairbanks!

Rafting the yellowstone!

My friend Ben and I spent the weekend in Gardiner, Montana, the northern entrance to yellowstone national park. Its about a 6 hour drive (8 hours with rush hour traffic, we learned). One of Ben's skier friends (NCAA all-american) is a guide with Montana Whitewater in gardiner, so we stayed in his trailer with a bunch of other raft guides. We got to ride for free! We rode a "mini-me" which is a small 8 foot dinghy, an inflatable kyak called a duckie, and a regular raft on the more technical rapids. I got to go for a swim on the first ride. Kevin, our guide, accidently took us into whats called an eddy drift. They're little currents off to the side of big rivers that flow opposite to the flow of the river, so we just stopped right in our tracks, I was unprepared and thrown off the raft. It really wasn't as bad as it sounds, we pulled over to let the bigger raft pass us. It was still a bit shocking. What a rush, though. Its always amazing to watch the water raging down those big rivers in the mountains. I've always thought rafting was about flying down the river and trying to avoid rocks. Thats part of it, but not all the water flows straight down the river. Sometimes you need to power through waves, sometimes you need to take the appropriate "line" through or around rapids. Its a lot of fun! I've decided I'd like to move to montana, too :) .

Love you guys!

-Walter B.

Perfecting the self portrait

We spent a lot of time on the bus today. The bus is the only way to get thru denali to see the mountain. I couldn't believe how big it was. We were really lucky to see it at all. Only 30% of visitors to denali get to see the mountain. It is many times covered by clouds.

Any who, Shawn and I worked on our self portrature - and I think this one turned out pretty good!

Tuck your chin cats! (Thats what you have to do when you take a self portrait)

Hi from Alaska!!!

Here are a couple pictures from Denali National Park. The first one is Mt. McKinley, aka Denali. We were so lucky to see it! The park is so beautiful! And so huge! It is the size of the state of Massachusetts with only one road, mostly dirt that goes for about 90 miles. We spent most of the day on the Park Service bus, took a hike and marveled at the beautiful scenery. Incredible!

Hi from Washington!

How's it going, Everybody?

These pictures are from a hiking trip we took last weekend. At the bottom of the hike, it was 90 degrees, and at the top (only two miles) there was all kinds of snow! The kids had a blast. Jett was complaining the whole way, "Can we never do this again?" But then it was all worth it when we got to the snow!

Boeing is really fun. My first week was like a field trip every day. I got to walk around in a 777 freighter that was being built. That was really cool. Then I got to go to a meeting with Continental Airlines and see one of the guys from my group give a presentation. Wow! I felt like I was on "The Apprentice" or something. It sure is a different world than watching Spongebob all day with Jett!

Well, I just thought I'd practice blogging to get ready for when Andrea comes out to wisit. That will be a lot of fun!

-Candy

this is easier than i thought

its time for me to post on here...i love reading what everyone is up to now its time for me to join in the fun!

we enjoyed our trip to Michigan in June. then back home and back to work.

i just started my 3 days off, and I'm off for the 4th of July but i have to be to work on Saturday morning. YUCK! our friends are having a blue crab party, it starts during the day time then goes until probably long after the fireworks are over, but i can assure you that i wont be there that long!

that's all for now...promise I'll be better at this!

love to all!

Liz