Iditarod Restart in Willow last weekend

Sorry for taking so long to get these pictures on here Laurie!
For those of you who aren't in the Bebo Land ... the kids and I went to the Restart of the Iditarod in Willow last weekend. We took a shuttle from a high school ... the way to go. :) Although next year I think it would be fun to go out on snow machines. There were even small planes landing on a runway on the ice! We got there early enough that we could have gone to see dogs and teams, but didn't. I'm use to Phoenix crowds where you get your spot and don't wiggle out of it lest you lose it. We were halfway down the line and I couldn't hear anything the announcer was saying so headed up to the Start Line. I think we may have stayed through about 20 some teams leaving .. there were 97 I believe. The day was beautiful and sunny. The bus driver was warning us about sunburn on the way out there. "Face your backs to the sun ..." Alyx and I looked at each other like "are you nuts??? ....bring it on!" It was a fun day ... next year I know where to catch the start of the Junior Iditarod as well. This lake is not the place it has always been. It used to leave from Wasilla, but I think with traffic .. and this years ice and open water ... the Junior one left from this same place. Learn something new all the time! I also have a tip as where to go in Anchorage for awesome viewing ... so welcome next year and we'll do both days!

Some of what we saw or did

Trip to AZ went well. Drove through Sedona but didn't stop as street re-construction all the way
through town. Stopped at Matazuma Castle; took pictures; spoke to a couple who lived in Hibbing while he was teaching and now retired to our neighboring town of Crosy! Their
daughter is married to Tom & Jare Klabchek's son but not the one Anita used to baby sit.
No parking places in close proximity to art galaries so didn't stop. Night at Diane Barber's in
Prescott.

Seniors' Camp was the largest to date, about 90. Interesting presentations.

Spent AZ time at Frans and Jennys. The 5 girls are so cute. Trina is too young to be shy and
she loves to smile and talk. On President's Day we drove to Lake Havasu City to see the London
bridge that I had seen in London in 1957. Toni and Alanys were at a sitters.

I was sick during most of Winter Services. Urgent Care on Sat. Pneumonia! One 400 mg.
pill really perked me up so went to church Sat. evening and Sunday.

Monday we left AZ. Frans gave a tip to drive in the carpool lane so we did good time. It went
right on to I-10. In Midland, TX, we toured the childhood home of Pres. George W. Bush.

The MN Twins went fishing on the Sabine but water was so muddy from recent rains that they
didn't have any luck fishing. Didn't have to clean fish :). Elsie did her usual of cooking up a
storm and haven't dared to step on a scale yet!

On the way home we stopped at the Dealy Plaza in Dallas. Last time there was in 1976. They
have a beautiful display now on the 6th floor of the School Book Depository but no pictures
allowed. Next to Oklahoma City. We hadn't taken time to go into the museum last time we
were through. We had thoroughly enjoyed the outside display but we missed lots by not going
into the museum. A tear jerker. No pictures allowed.

Drove through some very heavy rain leaving Oklahoma City. One 18 wheeler on it's side.

Home happy, tired, lots to catch up on but it will get done. dk

Dogsledding in Ely

Michelle and I went to Wintergreen Lodge on Sunday for a day of dogsledding. So here are a few pictures of a fun filled day!



One of the new additions to Wintergreen! There were four pups that were four days old.



O'Ryan, Thor, Dixie, Knud and Ellwood took us approx 20 miles.

Whether it was going across the frozen lake or over bumps in the swamp and the beaver dams or ducking trees in the woods, laughter rang out clearly and loudly. All muscles in the body were worked and were sore for several days after, but the gut hurt the worst because of all the laughing. A beautiful day, in the higher 20's and clear skies, so when taking a lunch break we just had to walk around and take some pictures of the beauty of nature. This pic was taken right outside of the lodge where we ate and where we later relaxed before heading home.

~jen~

Hey all
Life in Farmington is the same ole same ole, just waiting for spring to come so can blow the dust off of the golf clubs and see if I remember how not to hit the ball.
Missi has mixed thoughts about my new job as I'm on second shift 2-10 (pm) and we don't see a whole lot of each other any more. So I'm not sure what married life is like yet, doesn't seem to be a whole lot different though.
I'm working at a shop in Farmington that manufactures poles for lighting, flags, etc. My job is fitting multipiece poles together, manipulating them to make a good fit. Pretty boring overall, but it pays the bills, I work inside!!!!!, and it's close to home. Nice to have a five minute commute after having been too used to up to one and a half to two hour drives one way (even up to three at times). Loving the five minutes, maybe I'll keep the truck.
If anyone is interested the company I work for is called Valmont-Farmington division, it's a small part of a large corporation, 43(?) locations worldwide, 1.5 billion dollars in sales 2007.
Anyway, time to go to work. Catch you all later.
Ivan

Howdy Peoples!

I havn't been here much for a while...

I just added a link to our dirtbiking page in the links area. I put a couple of very poor quality videos on that website, and I'm hoping to get a bunch of video of the kids riding this summer.

Wonderful "warming" weather... as long as we don't get those March Blizzards!

I'm ready for summer.... how 'bout you?

Charlie

The Beauty of Life...

A new life is growing, already inspiring smiles and dreams...

New kid

Here's a picuture of "Lucky"

New kid on the ranch

Yesterday or the day before, Shawn pointed out how my black goat must be pregnant as she has a bag on her. We were both amazed as she is just so fat, that we didn't think she would ever get pregnant.

So, last evening, I was out doing my evening chores - 9PM or so and heard my big fat black goat (Chubs) crying. Sure enogh, she's in labor. Well, she sure isn't conditioned to delivery due to being very huge. Shawn came and helped and we got one out, cleaned off, breathing. Make another temporary shed in the garage and move her and baby in there as it was cold outside. Comes to the delivery of the next one and neither Shawn nor I could get our hand around the head. Denise was able to and got the kid out. We tried to make that little thing breathe, but just couldn't get it to.

Then, Shawn checks to make sure there aren't any more kids and.... another one. That one didn't make it either. I was really worried that Mom wasn't going to make it through the deliveries, but she did and the first baby (Denise appropriately named it "Lucky") and Mom are doing fine.

Now to get the baby to suck, but for now, milking and feeding with a syringe. Needless to say, a late night, early morning, and a lot of work when I get home. Will have to leave work early to check on the "kid" :)

Bubba

We lost Bubba - he died last week. The hard part is when you buy a goat from an auction and you have no idea how old they are. I think he was getting old and this winter was just too much for him.

Our new land

Here's the "before" pictures from our new land. Can't wait until we are done with clean up next summer and can provide the "after" pictures.She was kind enough to clean out most of the kitchen....

Here's the house....

One of the sheds was already taken down, but here's the other (well part of it; Shawn had already destroyed half of it) The sheds were filled with clothing, stuffed animals, tons of junk.

The garbage was all thrown in the yard. This is already after a truck load had been hauled out. There is nothing worse than going through someone else's garbage, but we have to. There is so much glass, etc. than get be harmful to animals later if we don't get it cleaned up. As snow melts, there will be so much more.

As of now, the house is down, a lot of garbage has been hauled out, sheds are down, and the scrap iron needs to be hauled in. Then there will be more work as the snow begins to melt.

Here are my new kids

Here are some photos of my new "kids". Both boys. As of yet, I have no names for them. Any suggestions?

Momma and her babies

This one is more photogenic than the other one and will stand still long enough to take advantage of the photo op....

Four, Nine, Four, Nine

Ok. I have to share! As I've said Tristan is growing and learning by leaps and bounds.
Well, last night we were climbing stairs and he was counting them and was all the way
up to six when he got distracted....so I was wondering without the distraction, how far
would he go??

Gary called this morning and told me he was counting the letters on his diaper box
and counted all the way to ten. : )

Thought I'd share in the excitement! : )

Wanna do some reading!?

Heather called me Friday afternoon and asked what my plans were for the weekend. I had told her that I was planning on running out to Brainerd so could see Mom and Isa before they leave for their annual winter travels. She told me about a large book sale that was happening at the mall in Hibbing and that Tom and Steph and the boys were going up there for the weekend, as well. My plans then changed, because I really didn't think I had enough books! Okay, Mom & Isa, you might want to disagree with me, on that statement. Since the two of you have helped me move how many times and my books always came with each time! But. . . I don't have enough yet. I am missing so many books on each of the Presidents, and so many authors I don't have yet. So on Sunday morning I stopped at the gas station and filled my car with gas and off I went up North! I did really good, and left with only three bags (Heather had 4, though was only going there to get one)! Heather, Steph, Denise and I had fun looking through tables full of all sorts of books and we all got a wide variety to fill our reading needs for a short time at least!

Instead of reading in the afternoon, when we returned, we opted to do something else. Shawn, Heather and the Kako's went ice fishing and Denise and I went to Velma's for a visit. Always nice to see her! She is so full of love and laughter and knowledge! I headed back way late and didn't make it far. My eyes couldn't be propped open with toothpicks any longer, so decided to close them in the Wal-mart parking lot in Cloquet. Slept good and continued to drive southward. Made it as far as Forest Lake and then the snow arrived. Cruise control had to come off and I just crept along to Cannon Falls observing 3 accidents.

As soon as I got into the office I sent off a few emails and read the ones that I have received. One of them was from my high school principal. The only ones who were at Cherry during the time that he was there was just H,I and J and he left the summer after J graduated. Amazing to hear that during part of the time living in Howard Lake he was actually the superintendent in Cokato. If I wasn't quite so self-absorbed at that time, I probably would have known that and gotten in touch with him earlier. Its always a great feeling to be able to thank the people who have had a huge influence in my life. And I am fortunate that I have been able to track him down to do just that. Now the books are sitting in my car and I can hear them calling for me, so I must get busy. If I can get things wrapped up here, I can at least answer one of them today.

~jen~

Name search

We are looking for a name for our farm (so we can label our produce with the farm name). I'm looking for suggestions:
So far:
Lindula Farms
Admiral Acres
Cedar Crest

Other suggestions? There will be a prize for the winning name that both Shawn and I can agree with - Good luck, as it may be impossible :)

A couple photos...

It has been too long since I posted, and my posting specialist is at school... I can't remember how to arrange the pictures and comments, so they will be in random order. We went to the range for the evening of the 15th wish Denise a happy birthday. We were able to watch as Laurie and Denise came with the dogs down the last bit of Keenen road. It is an awesome thing to watch! Once inside and warmed up, we had birthday cake and a visit. Brian tussled with Tristan; little causins played together; Kathryn enjoyed different toys; and Sarah entertained us. ...Eric is close to securing/landing a job. He successfully completed the testing and the interview stages. He still has to pass his background and psych portions. (These sound simple, but neither is. For example, not only does he need to fill out a bajillion pages of detailed questions, but he also has to handwrite a biography. Handwritten so the writing can be analyzed.) When asking others in the field what to wear for his interview, the answer was definately a suit. So, here he is, all spiffy in his new suit. ....The remaining pictures are from a progressive dinner we had as a fundraiser for the congregation here. Our house was the final one, where people came for dessert and entertainment. We had chocolate roll, searved individually to 46 people. The entertainment - planned by others on the committee - included winter trivia. Mother & Isa and Pete are pictured here deep in thought on the trivia.

-b

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Wayne,
Happy Birthday to you!

Wishing you all the best not only on your birthday but the whole year through!
Heather and Shawn

Howard Lake Update

Figured I would say what I did the last few days, since I haven't posted a comment for how long! ~ On Friday I worked half a day and then went to St. Paul. There was a legislative hearing regarding the mining industry and was curious what was going to be said. Very interesting and very glad I didn't chicken out in going! I went to the apartment and slept. Woke early on Saturday and spent the morning crafting and rearranging. That evening I had Sonja and Kiana Wuollet over for supper. Was tons of fun! Slept all day Sunday and am now ready to work for the week! ~ Hope you all were able to enjoy the beautiful weather this weekend!

~jen~

Busy in Brainerd

This Kuoppala Blog is so quiet. I'd like to know what everyone is doing. We are busy in
Brainerd. Your father has started scrapbooking his life and he is doing an absolutely
fantastic job. His penmanship isn't the best so he is typing his comments under pictures,
etc. Uses copy machine in the office to shrink articles, reports, etc.

We purchased a new Singer sewing machine. My old Necchi was not doing a good sewing
job anymore. I still use the old Singer and will use that for carpet rags when the weather
gets warmer so rugs can be woven in the garage. Have to make 3 graduation quilts for
spring '09 so am sewing top No. 1 now. It takes awhile to sew and then the quilting will take
longer! I'm using the new machine for this sewing. Didn't think this old brain would learn
the new machine's threading, etc., but I got it.

Minnesota has been an icebox lately. I think it was -35 in Embarras this morning. Should
warm up this weekend. Hope this finds everyone healthy and happy. dk

Clinton Township

Oh yeah, I forgot about this on the other post, so here I am again. I guess Bob isn't running for township supervisor again. Jeff (he's on the board) asked Shawn if I would be interested. Of course Shawn told him that I would be. The problem is that the filing deadline was 5:00 yesterday. I got home too late and Shawn was following up with Jeff today to see if I could still get in. We will see. May as well follow Mom's footsteps and get on with Clinton Township :) If I can get in, will likely attend a training for the White House Project - Liz is involved in that project - to learn how to run a good campaign - I may not have any competition. We'll see tonight, how it turns out!
Heather

Land for sale

I just heard last night that Broar (?) Isaacson's place is for sale. Miriam is selling it. 40 acres if anyone is interested.

Shawn and I closed on Julie's land yesterday. We are going to have a bit of an issue with her. The furnace was to be left in the house and she took it, so we are planning on pressing criminal charges. Need to send her a serious message or she will just keep coming back. She was hoping we would save her fence posts for her or go and pull them out. I don't think so. The purchase agreement states that fencing, etc. needs to be left, so should be interesting if we see her back here in the spring. Anyway, we will be working on getting that house down soon and working on increasing the size of a pasture for animals. Can't wait! It's so weird to think we own all the way to Hwy 37. Now, to buy land going the other way - Just kidding!
Heather

Happy Birthday Denise

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Denise,
Happy Birthday to you.

Heather and Shawn

Happy Birthday Jari!

Jari:
Here's wishing you a very Happy Birthday. May you be filled with fun, laughter and love today and every day throughout the year!

~jen~

Birthday wishes for Missi

Wishing you a Happy Birthday (on Sunday)! Wishing you fun and laughter on your birthday and everyday!
~jen~

Happy Birthday Laura

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Laura
Happy Birthday to you.....

Wishing you the best!
Heather and Shawn

Happy Birthday Ivan!

We had girls crafting night in St. Paul last night. H was working on next year's christmas cards and J was working on gifts that will be given late for this past christmas! We all know who is on top of it and who is NOT!

We both wish to say Happy Birthday to you, Ivan! May your day be as wonderful and as special as you are!

~h & j~

Funeral in Eveleth

Pete Peterson, 71, of Iron was a classmate of your fathers. We went to the funeral today in
Eveleth. He had throat cancer. Survived by his wife who is a resident in the Eveleth Nursing
Home as has had MS for years. Their one son graduated with Jen. He has 2 children.

Other classmates there were Russell Putikka, Don Lampi and Wilmar Salo. Gail Peterson,
Pete's niece, played and sang. Told Gail I really miss her painting classes. I asked how her mom
was doing and that was an obit we had missed. She had passed away 12-10. Gail's dad was
Pete's brother.

Gail's aunt, Eleanor Anderson, was there. Wilhart is in the Buhl Nursing Home. Some of the
others there were Rickers, Briskis: John, Bob and George. Bob was using a cane. George had his arm in a cast. Audrey Wiita, Hartlieb's, Pete Kemp and more. Pete said the Fire Dept. meal
will be on 2-9th. That's the day before we leave for AZ.

Couldn't go to Garys on Christmas Day so went now. Looks nice with all the windows in.
Wood stove is hooked up; was nice and warm. Tristan was napping in the truck. dk

AZ christmas fun continued...

Lindsey had to have ALL of our lights up...she begged and begged Frans until he finally got them all up! They had fun hanging them!Frans and Lindsey singing on christmas eve at Paul and Kendra's....We had to get Lindsey and Kierstyn out of bed on Christmas eve to hang the stockings and put the magic key for santa on the front door (from Anita), and put out cookies and milk for santa...good thing we didn't forget all those things! Opening gifts on Christmas morning... (Lindsey and Alanys)

The girls loved their new jammies from Grandma K! (Alanys, Kierstyn and Toni)And they LOVE their new trampoline from santa!!Toni with her new sleeping bag from Wayne and Becky...had to sleep with it the first night! She used it this past weekend when she stayed the night with my sister Heidi....She was so excited to be bringing it along to use!
Baby Trina's first Christmas!

It's been a while!

This will be kind of a long post....Here are a few pictures of our christmas festivities. We had an awesome christmas, it seems to just get more and more fun every year! It was a bit stressful at times with all the running with a new baby, but we still managed to make it to everything, and still had a good time. Frans spent a few hours trying to fix 3 strands of lights from last year that no longer worked.....got them all working again...but in the meantime, I had already been to the store and back to get new ones....my patience lost out!The girls having fun making a gingerbread house....Kierstyn in the sunday school program...you could hear her loud and clear!Lindsey in the sunday school program..did a great job saying her piece!Kierstyn got this pencil from school....caught them making their wish list to santa...ALL the girls HELPING me bake some cookies....oh dear!
continued in another post above....

Where is everyone?

I like to look at the Kuoppala blog to see what is going on with whom. However, it seems to be realitivly quiet.
Anita - thanks for positing. Sounds like life in Alaska is great.
Becky - how are things going for you?
Charlie - how are things there?
David - How are things going? I keep hoping to see a post from you Jody to let us know how you are doing.
Elizabeth - what is new with you?
Frans / Jenny - how is life in AZ?
Gary - I know he doesn't blog.
Ivan and Missi - how is married life?
Jen - how is work going, what is new with you?
Laurie - how are you doing? How is Tristan?

I would love to see more posting by everyone. If life is just too busy, can you just let us know that? I hope everyone is doing well. Jody - I think about you often and pray that the surgery goes well!!!
Heather

Christmas Break ends in Alaska

It's over.
No more sleeping in until noon for teens in this house.
Mom can't sleep 'til 7:00 anymore either.
"Homework done yet?" will become my chant.
Lunch money pit starts filling again.
Brisk morning walks to the bus stop at 6:30 a.m.
Tomorrow morning Tia gets a ride to school ... after that ....
she is going to catch the bus at Ray & Brenda's in the morning.
Should have had an extra house key made ... oops!

Other than that ...

We are still on the house hunt. Parts of every weekend seem to be consumed with house hunting. What a nasty job when you're of that squeeky Finn variety person. We want everything for nothing. Lost one .. working on the next.

Today Jari & I, along with Amber, Ryan & Nolan, Anna and Tia, went for a Sunday drive to Trappers Creek. Was a bit smaller than I expected! Alyx & Brock declined coming with us. Can't imagine why. So ... I finally saw my moose and saw more than one! No .. I didn't get a picture. Car was moving too quickly. At least I know they exist now. I keep looking and can't find any. For some reason they seem to be in Anchorage. Listen to the traffic report in the morning and you hear "watch out for the intersection of J Street and ______ .. there's a moose in the intersection." I am not kidding. This place is great.

The weather today is a tad chilly again. House doesn't even feel warm, yet it really is. The colder it gets outside the chillier it feels in here. 5 degrees out there now but we saw cooler than -11 today. This outside chilly stuff has it's benefits. New Years Eve I watched folks coming into the house with drinks and salads. You don't need room in the fridge ... the deck works just fine.

And ... I'm threatening to go try ice fishing. They don't use an ice house. Do you suppose a tent with a tent warmer would work? I have those!

Happy New Year!

For New Year's Eve we had people over at our house: Laurie, Tristan, Kathy, Lorrie, Liz, Randy, Shawn, and myself. We had a bonfire and rode the 4 wheeler - spinning all over. We had chicken wings, Shrimp scampi (I made it for the first time ever). It was a lot of fun!

On New Year's Day we had (for Eveleth Horizons) a grand opening of a sliding hill. It was a lot of fun. There was a lot of work done by many people to make the event happen. Citizens wanted a sliding hill, the parks commission wanted a sliding hill and the City supported it. What an asset to the city....

Laurie and Tristan....

Tristan bundled up....

We had a snowmaking contest....

"The old snowman on the mountain"

Not sure of the name for this one....

"Samantha" the Hula snowgirl

Anyone want to come up and hit the sliding hill?

What did others do for New Years? Dave and Jody - did you have your annual New Year's party?

Wishing everyone the best in 2008 - May you find peace and health in the year ahead!

Heather