Jamestown College Choir in concert

They were so good that I had to hear the concert twice! The choir came through Bismarck on Monday, March 14th, at the end of their California tour. Michael and I went to the concert that evening at First Presbyterian. Tom was in Dallas so he missed it. Their home concert was scheduled for Sunday, March 20th, at the Basilica in Jamestown. Tom wanted to drive over for it, so I decided to go with him. The concert was even better this time, and I loved hearing all the music again. Above: Austin is in the middle of back row, Jeff is holding down the Tenor I section, with the red candle just above his head.The cousins posing with their biggest fan. Jeff's hair is a lot shorter than when I saw him on Monday. I hear that campus stylists-in-training were vying for the chance to cut his locks. Such handsome men in their tuxedos. Wish you all could have been there!

Backyard Nature with Joel

Well, I'm now done dog-sitting and I'm back at my house on Highland Avenue. It's been rainy and cloudy all Spring Break. But, this morning I got up and was looking out the window and saw all these creatures in about 5 mins. I would've taken pictures (they were only about 5-10 feet away through the window) but I believe my camera was stolen by the airlines coming back from Miami. So, you'll have to take my word for it.

The Mockingbird. A very common TN bird. Very playful and fun to watch (much like a Kingbird.)

The Squirrel is the obvious frequenter of our yard. They are all over the place here in Cleveland, TN.
Next is the Carolina Wren. Our neighbors own a few birdhouses and these wrens occupy one of them.
Blue Jay. These birds are very aggressive but incredibly skidish. A brilliant example flew down and landed right by the window. What incredible blue! I think there's some Prentice blue in there somewhere.
I saw the female Cardinal first. She hopped around the corner with her brilliant red beak.
Not far behind was the male Cardinal. What a pair.
This was the new species I have never seen before, much less in our yard. At first I thought it was an oriole but after some research, I found it is the Spotted Towhee. A very pretty bird. You might call it a Luxury Robin.
The Spotted Towhee, pair of Cardinals and the Carolina Wren all appeared at the same time

Dogs and Luxury

Bridget and BB like to cuddle in the morning on the king size bed.



Well, it's spring break. I am currently dog-sitting for the Holsingers. Dr. Holsinger is the Lee U Wind Ensemble director and well-known concert band composer. They have two pups and are out of town for the American Bandmasters Association Convention in Norfolk, VA. They've been gone since Wed. morning and won't be back until Tuesday night. So, I've been staying here at their lovely home... making myself at home! It's awesome to get away from my messy roommates and that wreck of a house (don't even get me started). Hope everyone is doing well.

Feel free to post a pic or paragraph of your recent or past life.

ps. How about that Darren Phelps?!?!?

STATE MEET

ON TO THE STATE SWIM MEET!

After the prelim meet this past Wednesday, Darren qualified for section finals in four events. From sections finals, advancing to the state meet is achieved by either meeting a state qualifying time or by placing first or second in the championship heat. Darren will be advancing to State in the 500 Free.

Finals Reults:
200 Yard Medley Relay - Darren swam the breaststroke and their relay team placed 3rd
200 Freestyle - Darren knocked 2 seconds off his best time and placed 4th
500 Freestyle - After swimming the best time of the night on Weds, Darren came back and beat his previous best time by 7.33 seconds, beating out the two guys he lost to at this meet a year ago, set a meet record time and CRUSHED the state cut off by 7 1/2 seconds!
200 Freestyle Relay - 4th place in this meet, but the relay team set a new Kennedy team record at this distance.

The state meet is at the UofM late next week.

Denver wildlife

After missing a photo of the backyard raccoon, here's a couple shots I took in the last week. the fox picture taken at the church, which is in our neighborhood...and we saw a pair of coyotes sniffing around a prairie dog field last Sunday. Pretty cool that they're both within city limits.

Jazz at The Walrus

Here's a picture from Michael and my gig on Monday night at a local restaurant/bar called the Walrus. Grandma was here and she accompanied my parents and Austin to listen. We played from 8:15pm-12:15am with a few breaks and had a great time.

Our band is called Nodak Summit (since we're all from ND but we aren't always here) Zach is an incredible drummer now living/gigging in the St. Paul area, and Darrin is a bass player living in Georgia. John Krueger is still in ND teaching music at Cathedral Private Elementary.

From L to R: Zach Schmidt (drums), John Krueger (alto sax), Darrin King (6-string electric bass) Michael (piano), Joel (tenor)


*note that I am wearing an old tie that Dave made for Grandpa a while back.

Lunar eclipse

we got up to see the eclipse this morning between midnight and 1:30am. Used a 10x zoom with tripod. So the whole time, I'm watching and taking pictures, I can hear something rustling and, and sniffing coming from the alley...eventually, a racoon popped it's head over our fence! Didn't get the camera off the tripod in time to snap a pic. bummer.

Midwest Customs (not really)

Here are a few pics of my 2006 Toyota Corolla LE (5 speed). I'm very pleased with this car and plan to update the shift knob to something custom. I'm hoping I will be able to carve something from a nice piece of wood and then use a wood burner to inscribe the shifting map.

As you can tell, the rear and back side windows are heavily tinted which gives the car a nice secure feeling. It also changes the driving experience slightly, making you feel like you are in a cockpit rather than a glass box.

The 6-disc CD changer is another sweet feature. Speakers aren't bad either. There are even little speakers at the bottom of the A-pillars (at the top of the front door hinges).

106K miles, one owner (drove mostly highway), and the car looks like it's brand new IN and OUT.


I decided to name my car: "Rambi" after Rambi the Rhinoceros from the Donkey Kong Country video game for Super Nintendo. I'd say the resemblances are stunning. They both say, "Don't mess with me."

this is just a tribute

Austin.

Competitor.

Flowing.

Out with the old. In with the new.

Here is a photo of our new car with a similar shot of the dear departed Subaru. The new car is smoother, quieter and I'm enjoying it. The Legacy was a bit more fun to drive and handled more like a sports sedan, so I'm missing it a bit. but not the nagging "what's next?" in car repairs. There were 395,636 Accords sold in '07 alone.





Check out the tires. Brand/Model: Fierce/Instinct. Complete with flame graphics on the sidewalls. Fast and Furious III, here I come.

Menacing Mantis

Saw this guy hanging out on the grape arbor. He looks like something out of a si fi movie. Pesky bugs beware. (note clothes pin for scale)

Let it snow let it snow let it snow

In my 50th year I decided that it was time to buy a snow blower. Actually during my 49th year when we set some kind of record for frequency of snow fall, I made up my mind. I bought it used, but runs great. I really gave it a workout today going through lots of wet, heavy snow. Here is Darren. He is happy because he will be using it to clear a couple of neighbor's driveways.

Home theater

We finally got a plasma TV this year, but had it sitting on the old TV/media stand, so couldn't take advantage of the reduced space of a thin monitor. I just finished a built-in, by building into our walk in closet and hanging the monitor. What a difference in space, and look. I matched the wide molding to the rest of our basement. I have in-ceiling speakers and all the wires/cables are hidden in the walls. Trouble is, now Julie can't rearrange the room around so much...

Family Photo

found this on my camera! (sorry for the delay)

Love you all!

cabin closing

oops.

not sure how this happened.


the new wheel set-up on the lift is the bomb.

all docks and lifts are in except for the main one. lines are blown, water off, gate closed. another year. oops. not sure how this happened.

oh yeah, forgot to tell you about my summer (#4)

Finally getting back to ND in June, I had the privilege of hosting my buddy Andrew on his way up to Alaska. What an amazing beard. We had a great time hanging at the lake: sailing (nearly tipped!), diving and relaxing.