Sudan

Well, for those of you who didn't know, it is time for Taylor to try new adventures in the linemen world and he is heading to Sudan Jan 25th. Yep, Africa. It will be an amazing opportunity. He will be there with 5 other lineman from the states. He will literally be getting the "hell out of Dodge" on Dec 24th. I think this is his biggest xmas gift. I have linked a video here to show all of you what he will be up to in southeastern, sudan.

http://www.nrecainternational.org/news/video/Sudan_2009/Sudan.htm

So from here on out I hope to report to you new and interesting things that come up while one lives in a small village in southeast, Sudan.

Have a wonderful holiday season. May you be blessed with good memories and lots of love.

halloween bonanza

Happy Autumn! We have had one snow here at the beginning of Oct and since then have seen all sorts of weather. Today is gorgeous and a great day to finish up some more yard work. After a super fun night last night it's great to get outside and enjoy more of the weekend.

So now let's talk about Halloween. What a great day it was. I usually get dressed up like every other year. I secretly love to dress up and become some goofy character. This year I was able to do this twice.

Kori, Eric, Bjorn and I all ran the Run Like Hell 5k in the morning bringing back the 80's.

This was supposed to be a pic
ture, but as you can see it is an extremely exciting video. Ha Ha!

I got some great 80's gear from a friend and we even had a great compilation of tunes that would have brought us all back, however it didn't want to work in the boom box. So fortunately, the Salt n Pepa song Push it got us going on the radio. We had a fun race and Bjorn showed his true brilliance by putting his hat in front of his face as we ran into the sun. Super cute!!

After a little nap and some super cute tricker treaters. Ok, gotta tell ya that one of the little guys probably like 3 or 4 actually said Trick or french fry. It was priceless. I dont' think I will ever forget that little fireman. On to the rest of the night. I got to experience the Rocky Horror Picture show with some friends. We had a little pre funk at Chandra's who has the best collection of costumes. Hence the wig in the photo.





We had a fabulous time! The audience was really interactive and Chandra made the night by having everything we needed to play along with the film. If you haven't gone to a live performance of the show I highly recommend it. Very funny!!

So that's it for now. When something else new and exciting happens. You'll get the goods here.

Solo backpacking and climbing south sister

Well Yeti and I went on yet another adventure together and here are the ramblings that go with such events:

I made a decision this weekend to finally go on a solo backpacking trip. Mostly because everyone I would have loved to have along couldn't go. So I decided it was fate and went for it.
The above is a picture of the absolutely perfect rock that I made myself comfortable on this morning to journal, read and drink tea. If I had it my way I would have been there all morning, but I had calls to make by a certain time so that my peeps new I was ok. So, I sadly left this morning after a long stint with this rock.
Carl lake is a beautiful decent sized lake tucked up at about 5000 ft in the Jefferson Wilderness. After getting there in the rain on Sat night it was amazing to wake up this morning to a beautiful clear sky and truly take in the area and stare in awe at the beauty that surrounded me.
My humble abode kept me dry and out of the weather last night. The rain did eventually stop but man, the wind was crazy. thought for sure at some points that Yeti and I were going to get blown across the lake..
The puddles that you see in this photo disappeared by morning. Hard to believe, but the earth must have just soaked it up greedily. I took this from my tent and that was as far as I got on Sat night. Thank goodness for those contraptions that make a Thermarest into a chair.
Yeti enjoyed himself immensely checking in with me every 2o minutes or so. He finally found himself in the tent and had a nice aroma of wet dog. He indeed thought he had gone to heaven and once the morning came I was almost there with him. If Taylor would have been there it indeed would have been a little slice of paradise.
The weekend before me and a good friend Colleen hiked up South sister, We had a great morning and made record time. But mostly we had lots of fun cruising in the alpine terrain and trying to not get rocks in our shoes. We rewarded ourselves with a beer and a burger. Life is good!

Green lakes Hike, ah the wildflowers

My sister came to visit a few weeks ago and one of the highlights of the trip was an amazing hike in the 3 sisters wilderness. We came upon few people the first 8 miles but loads of wildflowers.





The above doesn't do it justice but none the less still worth showing. The pic on your right is a cascade Lily. One of my favorite flowers is an asiatic Lily so you can imagine how psyched I was to find we have a cascade variety that grows wild. Oh, it smelled so good.

Taylor and I will get to see each other in less than 3 weeks. Things are still going well with him down in the good ol. city of Dodge. Send your prayers that Taylor will land an apprenticeship up here in the NW.

Back from Oklahoma

Taylor has officially been working in Kansas now for a little over a month. The company he works for is Mid Plains electric based out of Nebraska. After visiting Oklahoma recently I can't believe he can work such long hours in the heat. But take what you can get, right?

I flew to OK last week for Taylor's stepsister's wedding. We had a great time! Taylor has a super cool family. I wish I could say I had lots of pic's to post but my camera was a little wiggy. I'll do my best.
Above is a pic of Taylor and his sister Christy.

Here Amy and I are getting down! Do we look like we are doing total white girls moves or what? I think at this point we are the only people on the dance floor while Beastie Boys played.




The photo above is an example of how my camera was being wierd, but a cute pic of Mysha (the bride) none the less.

Well, that's it for now. If I'm dedicated I'll try to take more photos of interest soon and post something exciting!!

Love to all!

Taylor update...

Well, it's not completely official but it looks like Taylor will be heading to the great state of Nebraska. I know, I am exaggerating a little with the great. He spoke with a company this morning and will be heading that way on June 13th. No keg and cake party yet though. We'll keep you posted.

OMFG it's about time!

Well, my good friends I found myself adequately motivated to give you a long ass update. So grab a coffee (or tea) and a comfortable spot to sit. Here it goes...

Let's start way back in Feb when I flew out to see Taylor in Boise. First can I say that after six weeks without seeing him he looked DAMN good! We had a great time going up to McCall, ID and got in a short day of snowboarding. McCall had also recently had a snow sculpture contest. Pretty amazing stuff. Crap! i just realized that the pic's I wanted to post are on Taylor's computer. ah well! Maybe you'll see those later. Taylor and I had a great time and were super happy to be able to get some powder turns together.

Now fast forward to March 1st when my good friends Shana and Colleen joined me in running the Napa Valley Marathon. Here Shana and Colleen are modeling their wonderful attire that will promptly be thrown away at the beginning of the race. I know that may sound weird to some. But it was a pretty cold morning, but running in cotton just won't do.
We arrived a day before the race and enjoyed
the beauty of Napa .We went to a fun winery that had an amazing cheese and wine selection and had a little picnic.

Our race went as well as a marathon can go. "Why", I thought at mile 15 "am I running this?" The 1/2 marathon is such a more pleasant distance. Well, I finished anyway. It poured down rain but the mustard blooming in between the vines was quite beautiful. We all had personal bests and proceeded to enjoy some PBR and of course an in and out burger. Delicious! We shopped, did some wine tasting the day after and learned to walk without initiating our quad muscles. It was really funny to see people all over town hobbling around. The finale for my legs and my stomach was a great dinner at the Culinary institute. Why do you ask were my quads a factor? Well in order to get to the restaurant you had to walk up three flights of stairs. Let's just say I looked 80 especially coming down.

The next adventure was back to Boise to see Taylor's graduation. It was a really good time. All of of Taylor's family came, along with my Dad. Lots of good conversation and fun to see how Taylor had just spent the last 4 months. Part of graduation was a lineman rodeo. Per Eric's request here are some photos of Taylor's cute bum from below. (Eric didn't actually request cute bum pic's I added that part) In this shot Taylor is attempting to carry an egg (raw) up to the top of the pole in a little basket and then put the same raw egg in his mouth and not break it. This is timed and the egg can't break. Well, it could have gone better. Taylor had a good showing but lost points for breaking the egg and hot dogging.
In the other photo Tay is in a relay race that involves pulling up an 80 lb weight. His team came close to winning, but no cigar.

At the actual graduation Taylor was awarded the academic achievement award and was nominated for the most prestigious award "the eagle award". The fam and I were super proud of him. The festivities that night were pretty mellow. But the following night is story worthy. After a afternoon of bar hopping with my dad and Taylor's sisters. We were outside enjoying a decent Boise evening and noticed a country bar across the way. It was brought up that there was a mechanical bull. Lauren then challenged Taylor to the task in a joking manner, but he took the challenge much to all of our surprise. Not sure if this video will be light
enough but I'll put it in anyway.




I then decided to partake in this option also and had a nice gal in front of me giving me a coaching lesson. After the initial sex ride they like to see the girls do. I held on for dear life and felt I represented pretty well. Staying on for a record of 1 mintute 50 seconds. Boy, does that make your legs tired! Pretty memorable night. Good fun!

The next morning, much to my delight, we packed all of Taylor's things and he moved back to good ol' Bend.


So the last blog worthy info would be my last race. Again, my friend Shana (who always gets me to sign up for these things) and I headed to the beautiful North Umpqua where we ran a 15 mile trail run. It was so beautiful! And hilly as a mo fo! I knew it would be challenging but come on? Really? Did they really need to add in the extra two miles and make us climb 1000 feet in a mile and then at the end make us do it again. Well, Shana and I persevered and finished. Much to our surprise and delight we both placed first in our age divisions.

So that's that. Love to ya all for your patience and enjoy the holiday weekend.

Help I have lost my desire to blog....

As you can see from my lack of postings I have not yet gotten into a rhythm with this whole thing. So I hope to in the near future to get some more posts up. here is what you have to look forward to.

A weekend with Taylor in Boise and skiing at Tamarack..

A girls trip to Napa for a marathon...

well I guess that's really all there is to post for now. I have great plans to work on this for the weekend. So for those of you waiting in anticipation for our so very exciting life just keep checking back and I hope to fulfill your wishes.

Salut!!

If any one wants to see more photos of NLC go to:  www.flickr.com  and search for Northwest Lineman College 2009 on the home page and, then search for the same thing again on the second page under the "people" tab (not the "photo" or "group" tabs). I'm of course taking all of them and in very few.

Here are some photos from the first sunny day we have had since class began three weeks ago. Boise is an inversion bowl.  I am hanging my first double crossarm.

Taylor update...

Well, officially Taylor has been in school now for two weeks. He has gotten up on a pole 3 days and he's loving it. Other than trying not to walk funny after climbing all day, he's learning alot and thinks he'll really enjoy the work. He has not only started to make new friends but has managed to connect with many old friends from the Moscow area that now live in Boise. He even ran into a buddy from way back at a random bar watching football. Good times catching up with his friend Dane. The instructors sound like good ol' down to earth fellas that say it how it is. The total class size is 101 dudes. They are broken up into 3 classes. As I have heard many times from Tay he is stuck in the smallest classroom that used to be the equipment room, but they are all managing. After a couple hours in the classroom they go into the yard where they either climb, play with trucks or learn about the ground workings of Electrical stuff. All I know is Taylor is in heaven because of all the new specialized tools he gets to use and learn about. The funniest term I've heard him use so far is "the elevator" This is when you are climbing an old, used up pole and you slide down an area that has nothing for you to find a purchase on with your boot gaffs. (sorry if i spelled gaffs wrong, Tay) I do find that quickly Taylor is talking over my head about all sorts of lineman terminolgy. Can't even come up with examples right now. Overall, I think he is really enjoying himself. As I get pic's from him I'll post em and give you all a better idea of all that he is doing. Thanks to quick technology and webcam's using Skype, I think we'll make it through this pretty quickly. Take care everyone and send Taylor good climbing vibes. :)

The joy of riding

Yesterday was the first day of the season for me and my board. I know, it's a bit delayed but that's just the way it goes this year. As I was gathering all my gear and calling the snow phone. I realized how very much I had been anticipating this day. It seems that my love of snowboarding can go into hibernation when it's just not available. But let me tell you, the joy and love are BACK! As I headed up to the hill with Nine Inch Nails thumping and enjoyed the anticipation. I remembered yet again why I love to live here. The mountain was not so busy and the skies where huge and blue. It would be all groomers today, but at this point I don't even care. As the chair swung around and scooped me up I looked around and just took it all in. The trees stood out with their vibrant green against the backdrop of shiny white. I unloaded from the lift and realized with some sadness as I buckled my bindings that this is the first time in years that Taylor is not with me to enjoy the first run of the season. A moment to smile about Taylor and then gravity and need took over and away I went. The feel of the glide of the snow and the pull of gravity is such a wonderful feeling. You feel truly free. Muscle memory takes over and the flow comes back. With each turn you gain momentum and let the wind caress your face. Ahh, it was good to be back. For all the other fellow snow riders out there. I hope you too have been able to get up to the slopes and enjoy all it has to offer.

1180 miles later...

Well, the last few weeks have flown by. The weekend before xmas Tay and I headed to his future home site Boise, ID. We rallied through the long desolate road called highway 26. Beautiful and very remote. Our mission was to meet Taylor's potential roommate. We found our way to a quaint irish pub in downtown Boise, The Ha Penny. I was thrilled to see they had Boddington's on tap. We downed a few pints and Jonene and her friend met up with us. After another pint it seemed that it would work out fine. The next morning we headed over to check out the digs and found that it should work out great. He even gets a spot in the garage. Fabulous! We headed out to Kuna to check out Taylor's school and after a mere 14 hours of being in Boise we once again got on the dreaded highway. Much to our dismay there was alot more snow but as we got closer to Bend it got sunny and dry. The trip was made even better by a little text message from our great friends that at 2:08 on Dec 21st Bjorn Thurston Blankenship made it safely into this world. We were so excited and the rest of the trip flew by.

Now fast forward two days and yes, once again we are back in the car. I thought about decorating it, but never did quite find the time. We braved the crazy roads and made it to Tacoma, Wa to spend the holiday with my Dad and Margi. It was super fun to see my sis and my step sister and my little niece, Lili. All in total Dad had 17 people over. The wine flowed freely and we had a fantastic italian dinner. It was really fun to see my little niece and her friend Johnny open their gifts. There is something about kids and the joy that they excude. It's just pure happiness and very catching.

The day after xmas once again we got into our lovely home away from home, dog and all and headed to my mom's in Yakima. My sis caught a ride with us and we had smooth sailing over Snoqualmie pass. Mom was great as always and it was good to be in the home I grew up in. We had a yummy steak dinner and were excited to give my mom her cool stained glass window that we had made for her stairwell. Can't wait to see it installed. She loved it!

Saturday came up quick and we headed back to Bend and much to our delight the bridge that was supposed to be closed and cause a long, annoying detour was actually open. That was a very nice surprise and we got home before sunset.

So this week has flown by and Taylor is getting ready to leave on Sunday for Northwest Lineman College. Sad but inevitable. I'm not letting myself get all weepy until after he leaves. So to everyone Happy New Year. I hope this year brings you peace and all that you wish for.

And for a good laugh. We were fascinated by this display of ultimate red neckness and thought you all might enjoy!