The Climb

I made a commitment this year. New years resolutions are fine, but I made my commitment in October. The commitment was with the 16-18 year old boys in my Ward at church. We actually committed together that we would climb Mt. Baldy once each month for the entire year. I had been climbing fairly regularly before that so I was in pretty good shape, for the shape I was in. Our home happens to be on Baldy, and according to Google Earth, the elevation at our front door is 1912 feet and the top of Baldy is 2992 feet. For those of you who are Google Earth inclined, there are grid coordinates for the house and the top of Baldy at the end of the post. Instead of hiking the traditional trail, we start at my front door and go up. The trek is considerable steeper this way, but the climb is more interesting. In this photo taken from my office in Eagle River, you see Mt. Baldy and our house is the one on the extreme right side. We begin climbing up through the woods for several hundred yards and come out into a saddle where you get the first view of the city. There are beautiful blueberry bushes there and in September, Robert and Bethany and the kids and I picked a bunch right there.

Our first hike was up through the frozen blueberries. There was no snow and we stopped to eat several times, but made the summit, enjoyed the view for a few minutes, and came down again. The trip up was about 30 or 40 minutes and down was about 15.

The next hike was in November and it was getting dark by then. We were hiking on a snowy evening in the dark. Headlamps are useful, but everything is white and the reflected light from the city and the sky makes it reasonably well lit even without. The night was beautiful and it was ghostly beautiful with the snow and the clouds and the fog and the light. Two adults and three young men made the ascent that evening. We adults were fortunate that the young men are patient with us. The lights of Eagle River and Anchorage make a beautiful sight from half-way up the mountain.




In December, we had a hard time finding the right day, but finally did on the 30th. Actually, only one young man was available, but Nathan and I were undaunted and Nathan on snowshoes and me with my crampons slogged our way up through snow that was hip-deep in places. It was really cold, like 15 degrees below zero, and my toes got pretty cold.

Nathan and I soldiered on through often hip-deep snow and not only were my toes cold, but I was getting a bit tired so I suggested to Nathan that perhaps we should consider turning around. He then uttered those immortal words, "Bishop, I didn't come this far to turn around half-way to the top." Totally humiliated, I kept climbing for another half hour, but it was by then getting late and my toes were really cold. I prevailed on his better judgment and he saw the wisdom of not having to carry me down, so we turned around and came home.

February's climb followed a thaw and a freeze so the surface was crusty and crampons seemed right for two of us, the other two choosing just boots with ice axes. The summit was breathtaking and the whole trip took about two and a half hours, and sliding down was a carnival ride. Unfortunately I forgot my camera.

The March climb with the boys hasn't happened yet, but my son, Robert, and I decided to give it a go last Saturday. We donned our crampons and after trudging through the soft snow through the woods, we came out on the sunny, crusty south-west face and crunched our way to the top where we spend some time admiring the view and refastening the crampons which had had some problems staying on. Retying crampons in foot deep snow with icy fingers isn't much fun. Anyway, from the top I could hear a far-away voice and when I looked down toward the house, I could just make out a pink object on the front porch. I called Beverly on the cell and sure enough, she had seen us and wanted us to know it. From the top the house is due south and here is a close up of it from there.


These other three pictures are to the north of Blacktail ridge.....



And to the west of Eagle River and the Knik arm of Cook Inlet. We made the trip down in short order using ice axes to self-arrest and control our slide. The year isn't over and the differences on each climb are interesting. It is sometimes difficult to predict what the proper gear is, but we have found on each occasion that it is way too easy to overdress as climbing straight up is a workout.

Grid Coordinates for our home are :
61°19'54.39"N 149°30'1.88"W

Grid Coordinates for the top of Mt. Baldy are:
61°20'9.53"N 149°29'34.81"W

If you paste these coordinates in to the Google Earth search bar, it will take you right there.

Frigidly Yours

Global warming continues to disappoint. We are convinced it is our turn! How great to extend our growing season and enjoy a bit warmer winter, but since Algore began pushing his agenda, we have had colder summers and colder winters. Is that fair? You don't suppose old Al is more interested in making money on selling carbon credits by scaring the world than anything else? Last year everyone was freaked out about the Arctic ice pack melting and being at low levels, but this year the ice levels are what they were in 1979. Go Figure. Anyway, thats not exactly what I came to tell you about.

Christmas brought us some frigid temperatures which hung around for about 3 weeks. We don't ususally get temperatures quite that cold. How cold,you ask? Well, the high was in the neighborhood of 17 below zero. I had to wear a hat! And my hat hair is not a pretty site, which meant I even had to comb my hair! Many were complaining that their heaters would not keep up with the demand. I was shocked to find temperatures of 60 degrees in my office when I came in in the morning. Needless to say, we didn't get much done outside during that period.

Finally, the Chinook came through and all the ice that had formed during the cold melted. A layer of water on top of ice equals........Slipperiness. School was canceled for three days because the roads were disastrous. The parking lots were so slick and the wind was so bad that cars would blow across the lot. We have seen that before, but this was definitely the worst. I put chains on my car and I never really had a problem, but with school out the parents of our patients all wanted their children seen despite the weather, so I had to work the whole time. How sad.

The rain finally went away and I sanded our driveway with three loads of sand and now we are back to normal. The average temperature in January is about 10 degrees. The days are getting longer. Except for the snow all over and the temperatures, you would be tempted to think about Spring coming. How exciting.

Christmas

Well, I'm not sure how it happened, but I completely missed the month of November. I'm sure lots of important things happened in November, but most of them are slipping my mind right now. Talkeetna seems to have been the subject of several of these blogs, and Beverly and I decided to celebrate Thanksgiving at the cabin, so we loaded up the trailer with two snow machines and a cargo sled and drove up the highway uneventfully. We made the trip in to the cabin in the dark on a trail that hadn't had hardly any use, and other than getting one machine stuck for a while right outside the cabin property, we had a nice time together and even cooked mini-turkeys (Cornish Game Hens) in the wood stove for Thanksgiving dinner a day late. The bear put a small hole in the surface of the cabin and we didn't realize it until the floor kept getting wet. I finally patched the wall and we kept up a dizzying pace of reading, watching movies on the portable DVD player, and relaxing. The trip home was also uneventful.

The month of December has been a little more hectic. Shawn and Rebecca got home from their visit to Idaho (Shawn is home from Iraq, by the way) on Wednesday, and on Friday, the 5th of December we loaded up all the kids and grandkids in 3 or 4 vehicles and after an hour or so of paperwork, secured the permits to cut Christmas trees on Ft. Richardson. There were lots of nice trees, and Beverly and I opted for a tree that we calculated would fit in our atrium. In fact, I paced it off once it was on the ground and cut it off, wrapped it up in a tarp, and heaved it onto the ladder rack on Tyson's truck. We got it home and since we had enough help with everyone there, we brought it right in and measured it again, and without further cutting, put the stand on



it and stood it up. The ceiling is 24 feet and the tree was 23 feet 6" after adjusting the very top


for the angel, so it fit perfectly. I swore last year that I wouldn't go quite so tall again, but it fit, so what could I do. The snow then started to melt off the tree, ran down the trunk and filled the stand to overflowing, so we mopped up water for a while. I spent parts of the next three days repairing light strings, lighting the tree, and putting up the ornaments and after it was all done, it was...and is... quite beautiful. The top two pictures are of the tree lit and then ornamented. The last one is the view from outside in the valley below the house. Wait till it comes to taking it down...but that's another story. Anyway, the next night was the ward Christmas party at church which was fun and for which Beverly did lots of cooking. She also was very busy with her cub scout den for 3 meetings this month, held a gourmet cooking class here for the ladies from church, organized everything non-musical for the high school choir concert on the 12th (costumes, choir trip, visits to the grade schools, tickets for the concert, etc.), and then did all the shopping and cooking for our office Christmas party on the 19th (prime rib and lots of yummy desserts). We had an adult Chrismas party for our church group at a lodge near here and had waffles, and now we are in coast mode until Christmas eve when we will have our traditional Christmas eve program for which we have invited about 40 people. I love Christmas, but I am always worn out by the time it gets here. Today was the Christmas program at church and Jennifer directed the choir in two beautiful numbers and the spoken and musical messages all testified of Christ, his birth, mortal ministry, atonement and resurrection.

Last Thursday and Friday at work we held our deband party where we had scheduled 7 and 6 patients on the two days to get their braces off as Christmas presents to them. Now the end of the year brings closing out the books and doing the end of the year payroll. Beverly is the bookkeeper so that will keep us both a little busy. Our website for the practice is just about ready to kick off. You can see the temporary site now, but in about two weeks the full site in all it's glory can be found at www.erortho.com . Come and see it.

We had planned for Sarah and Chris to join us for Christmas, but thanks to the Global Warming, snow has been dumping from Colorado to Seattle and literally hundreds of flights have been cancelled including theirs, so we still don't know if they will make it. We hope so.

The Lord has blessed us beyond our ability to measure. We are so fortunate to have our wonderful family; parents, children and grandchildren, our health, our faith, our country and even our occupation. We wish you and yours a joyous Christmas and a wonderful and prosperous New Year.

Eldon and Beverly

The Slushes of October

Beverly and I have threatened to go out to Talkeetna repeatedly this fall. She booked me off a week and I was determined to go. While she was driving up with Rebecca, I told her we were going and so, this past Monday we spent the day finishing up details and getting ready, and...way to late in the day...we left. I wanted to be gone by noon, but so many things come up and we finally were underway by 5PM. The disadvantage of leaving late is that you also arrive late, and this late in the year, late means dark. The drive was uneventful and we were the only vehicle in the parking lot, so we got unloaded and loaded into the 6 wheeler and we took off up the trail. It didn't take 100 yards for us to find that the trail was going to be wet. We had rain, then snow, then melt on top temperatures just below freezing which resulted in lots of standing water on the trail. Some of the water was a foot deep and a hundred yards long. Because the water is on the verge of freezing, there is a floating mud/snow/slush combination which is pushed along in front of the 6 wheeler like a tidal wave, and flowing along the sides and over the floorboards. Each time coming out of the water, I would have to sweep 6 inches of slush off the floorboards. As time went on, it would build up under the gas pedal and the brake making it impossible to push down on the gas or let off on it. After a while, the cooling system in the 6 wheeler started to fail and 6 miles into the 10 mile trail, it overheated with antifreeze spouting out the top of the reservoir. I put my thumb over it and scooped the snow out from around the fan, and it eventually cooled down, and we drove on. The snow was pretty deep the further we went and if you could see behind us, you would have seen the tracks of the differential in the snow. The 6 wheeler handled amazingly well and we drove right to the cabin, unloaded and chipped some of the caked-on ice off the 6 wheeler, and settled in for the night. We arrived just after 9 PM, which is about normal-4 hours door-to-door. We finally went to sleep and relaxed the next day (Tuesday) until I decided to go out and see how the machine had fared. It started right up, but the front axle wouldn't engage which meant it wouldn't back up very well. I finally got it turned around and eventually it warmed up enough for the axle to begin working and then I drove up the trail to see what it looked like in the daylight. About 8 inches of snow had fallen in the night and it was still snowing hard. I drove up the trail, pushing snow the whole way with the front bumper and thinking that much more snow would high-center us and we would be tromping snow in front of the machine the whole way out. I returned to the cabin and told Beverly that we needed to leave. She was thrilled. Not really. We both love being out there and it was quite an ordeal getting there. We wanted our two-day vacation, but turning it into a 6 month vacation with no way out wasn't that attractive and option, so we packed up, loaded up, and started out. We pushed snow the whole way, except when we were slogging through slushy water. The engine overheated again, but I discovered that if I kept the engine speed up, it would be OK. It just got hot if it was left idling. This meant Ihad drive faster than normal, but the trail was a little smoother with all the snow. I'm glad we hadn't waited another hour, because the snow was building fast. When we got to the parking lot, I had to shovel about 8 inches off the trailer before I could load the 6 wheeler, but the truck started normally and we headed for home. We stopped in Wasilla and had dinner and then came on home. On the way up to our driveway, we hit an icy patch and not only could we not go up, but we slid back down, so I eased it into a spot on the side of the road with a little room to go around, unloaded the 6 wheeler and the stuff, and came home with the 6 wheeler. Today I will go put chains on the truck and bring it home. Another Alaskan adventure! What could be more fun?

Alone again, naturally

Gilbert O'Sullivan sang that song about 30 years ago and I still remember the words. It seems that it's sentiments are occasionally appropriate. Like now. Rebecca has been counting -not crows-but cuckoo birds in Lake Havasu City and Yuma on the Colorado River all summer as I mentioned previously. Beverly flew down to help her drive home. She showed up at the airport at 10:00PM on the 28th of September for a 2:45 AM flight hoping to get on a 10:45 flight which had extra seats. The airline wouldn't allow her to switch because it was not the same day as her scheduled flight (3 hours away). I guess they haven't discovered that the time thing is continuous. Anyway, she did get to Phoenix about 3PM the next day and she and Rebecca loaded up the car clear full (with a 400lb. lathe my Dad wanted to send me as well as lots of other stuff) and drove to Safford where they stayed the night. They drove out spent the night in Santa Fe and arrived in Colorado Springs to visit Sarah and Chris. They plan to leave tomorrow (Monday) morning, spend the night in Driggs, Idaho with Shawn's parents, and then drive North for Alaska, probably spending about 4 days on the road. No hurry, but today we got 6 inches of snow.

Last Monday was my birthday and, although my wife left me, the ladies in my office made a beautiful cake, took me to eat at Red Robbin, gave me some cash and told me I had 20 minutes in Home Depot to spend it, and generally made me feel special for the day. That evening Robert and Bethany et. al. came over and made me spaghetti and fed me way too well. Friday Carolyn and I and her kids went apple-picking, and Saturday we spent the day canning applesauce. Robert and Bethany and family as well as Carolyn and Curtis and family spent the night and we watched General Conference today. Jennifer and Tyson stayed home as their kids have both had Hand, Foot and Mouth disease and they didn't want to infect anyone. So, it has been an enlightening week. The kids have protected me from loneliness, winter arrived, and I got to play with my cute grandchildren. Catheryn had patience for me.



















I remembered from childhood a picture of me under a blanket and I couldn't find it, but Mom did. My other favorite was me sitting up. Still, these pictures of Catheryn are awfully close. It is just possible that I was almost that cute once. Not much danger of that now.

The older kids were popping around like ping pong balls. It is such a thrill to see them all playing together, enjoying each other. Keith and Rachel fit in well too, when they are not incubating a disease. Love marches on.

I know. Its boring to hear people complain about the weather. We have weather all over. It is just that we have had more than our share. It has rained nearly every day for the past 3 weeks. Finally, we have had 3 days of sun. It is just that now that its sunny, its also in the 20's at night and fairly chilly during the day. I have been taking pictures from my house that show the same view at different times and sometimes on different days and they are pretty dramatic.
Also pretty. The leaves are falling...read that -gone- now....and the three days of autumn are beautiful. I had the 16-18 year old boys from church spend the night Friday night and we hiked Mt. Baldy (the mountain we live on). Our goal is to hike it once a month for the entire year, rain or sleet or now or gloom of night. So far we have made two trips and have taken different routes each time, and the hikes have been quite vertical. As the snow starts to make the trail slipperier, we may find hiking from the other side with snow shoes will be easier, but coming down just gets better.

I just took Beverly to the airport. She is flying to Phoenix where she will meet Rebecca. Rebecca has, by now, counted every possible Cuckoo bird in Arizona and since she is done, she is coming home. Beverly is joining her to help her drive. She is bringing all her stuff, and all the rest of the stuff she can stuff into her car. They plan to spend 10 days or 2 weeks on the trip and will have great tales to tell, I'm sure.

Jonathon is still on his Mission in Uruguay. We hear from him weekly and he is having a great time preaching the Gospel and loving the people. He has about another year to go.

Our lives are so blessed by our children and grandchildren and the beautiful place we are fortunate enought to live in, our friends and associates, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Until next time.
Eldon

Summer Gone and So Much To Do

You who are probably wallowing in global warming wouldn't understand, but the Alaskan Summer is over. We actually never really had an Alaskan Summer this year. It was more like an Alaskan Teaser. I actually kept track of our cold weather this year because I became a beekeeper this summer,and bees don't do much unless it is 60 degrees outside. They are, after all, cold blooded insects. Anyway, we didn't break 60 until 27-29 May when it was 62 degrees, and not again until the 13th of June. The closest we got to 70 was 69 degrees on 2 and 4 July. Since then we have been in the 50's and low to middle 60's. This is unusual. You can see how concerned we here in the subarctic are about global warming. It's our turn. For all you polar bear worriers, the pack ice decreased last summer, but we added more this year than we had when we started losing it last year. The planet cycles, but the enviro-wackos don't. They just file more lawsuits.

Robert and Bethany and the kids lived with us for a month or so, but moved in to a nice house on Ivy Home Circle off of Tradition right here in Eagle River. They are very excited and enjoying being in their very own home. They haven't closed on it yet, but will soon. Carolyn and Curtis also moved into a duplex in EagleWood and they too are quite happy about the change. Beverly and I are probably the most pleased because all of our grandchildren live within about 3 miles of us and we see them often.




Rebecca is still in Arizona counting cuckoo birds and she and Beverly will drive up together in the car that Sean bought on Ebay from Iraq. I guess you have to have something to do in Iraq. We hope he will be coming home in October.

Sarah and Chris graduated from BYU Idaho and Beverly and I flew down to attend their graduation ceremony. We were very pleased that they had reached this important milestone and that I got to shop at the Military Surplus Store in Idaho Falls.














On the way home, we stopped for two days to attend a DeKay family reunion north of Seattle 70 miles or so and had a great time reweaving our family ties. Sarah and Chris moved to Colorado Springs and Chris has found work in the computer field, which happens to be what his degree is in. They called a few days ago to inform us that Sarah is pregnant and in about 8 months and 1 week should have a new baby, if everything goes according to the normal plan.





We, selfish as we are, look forward to the arrival of another grandbaby with great excitement.


The two most recent babies, Catheryn (above) and Thomas (below) are growing up and have just about escaped the blob stage, so they are becoming much more fun.

So, our lives go on. Hopefully this post will lessen the criticism I have gotten from my children for being an infrequent poster. I now only have about a thousand other things to catch up on. Middle of the winter and I might get it all done. Or not. But for now, lots of love from Alaska.
Eldon