Everyone Takes the Portage Glacier Cruise

...except for Vince and me.
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Back In Alaska

We Greears have returned to The Greatland from Ohio and Illinois (via Indiana and Seattle). We arrived last night at midnight after a fantastic day in Seattle. This morning Vince went to get the Mel Mobile and found it making even more racket than normal. Matt (our cousin) and his girlfriend Marsha agreed that the van had a serious problem. Fortunately, Vince had not threw a receipt away from the mechanic who fixed the van the last time it broke in Anchorage and we took the van to get it fixed.

The universal joint was broken and Air (the Thai mechanic) lent us two cars to drive while we waited. Air did a fast solid job and even managed to give Vince a ride in his Corvette (no that was not one of the cars we borrowed).

Marsha said, "There is never a dull moment around here is there?" We are now on the road to home.
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We Did It!

To the amazement of everyone (including my parents) my brother Michael and his family and me and my family were able to surprise my dad and his wife Kathy for their 70th birthday parties here in Illinois!

Yes, I put in a blog to throw him off the track and good thing I did because he was wondering! He sent an email saying that he saw the fish and that he hadn't been able to get a hold of Mike...

As soon as I can figure out how to put a picture on from my camera to this computer I will do a full update.

HALIBUT!

Sorry for the lack of blogging. We have been very busy (what else is new) and I haven't had a chance to catch up. The exciting news is that Glen caught a 244 pound halibut on Saturday at our favorite fishing hole.

Glen probably won't need to fish again for a while! He's set for winter.

better picture to follow!

Willie

When Willie was a small boy he lived in Chalan Kanoa Village in Saipan. After school would let out I would "let him drive" my car for a while. What this meant was that he would sit in the front passengers seat and he would point with his thumbs left or right. I would follow his direction, we would blast tunes and cruise the neighborhood.

Tonight, after a tearful farewell with Manuel, we started back to Homer. When we got out of the mountains and into the bogs, I let him take over the wheel. There are no lefts or rights to choose from, but its 1230am, still light out, and we've got the tunes cranked!
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A Long Drive

We are on our way to take Manuel to the airport and we have seen many sights that have never been seen by this Island man before.

"Wow! We are driving through the valley between the mountains."

"Wow! Glacier!"

"Wow! Bears!"

We are having a blast!
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Spring Has Arrived!

Thank you Valda for writing today's post with images! Readers may not realize that Valda is one of the great wildlife photographers in our area. This honor is based the way most such honors are bestowed, someone (me) says it once and then everyone takes it as law. Valda, seriously, you are a great wildlife photographer!

We've been hosting a mom and twins around our meadow, but she is sneaky and she has been keeping the babies out of my full vision. This is why I am not a great wildlife photographer. I won't go that extra mile for the most fabulous shot.

In daily life news: The garden is in thanks to Manuel. He has also built me a duck house. I bought four more chickens yesterday because some creature has been stealing our others. This is where a dog comes in handy. For some reason, when there is a dog around the wild things don't kill chickens as much! I miss you Scratch! Marina has been sick and so today we are going back to the doctor. What else? What else? The minute I press "Publish Post" I'll remember something substantial I was meaning to blog about. For now enjoy these shots from the neighborhood. Thank you Valda!