The White House Project

Some pictures from the weekend and not in any specific order:Ann Bancroft - arctic explorer. She has amazing stories to tell...

Becky Lourey - former senator and ran for governor

It was fun to see Mom's bringing their young girls as well...

Marie C. Wilson - founder and president of The White House Project. She also started bring your daughter to work day....

Eveleth City Councilor Liz Kuoppala :)

There were over 100 women and girls who came for the weekend despite blizzard like weather. A funny story: Ann Bancroft was notified of the weather and was told it would be understandable if she couldn't come. Ann's response: "my reputation is on the line here". It would be difficult to explain why you could ski or dogsled across both poles, but couldn't make it to Tower due to bad weather.

Here's Jen....

The steering committee with Winona LaDuke...

Winona LaDuke....

What a great weekend, very motivational. I was talking to a 15 year old girl who after one session over the weekend, decided to run for class president. She wants everyone's concerns to be heard and have all the students in her class be able to say what they want. Her motivation? Her coach!!!

Visitors

We had some new visitors at our house while I was at work yesterday. Duke went nuts ... and the moose didn't care. Apparently Duke thought that if he barked real loud and headed toward the moose ... the moose would be intimidated and leave. Nope. I hope he doesn't end up learning the hard way. Wish I had been home to see Tia jump up onto the deck. :) They bedded down behind the snowmachines and trailers in the trees. Cars came and went ... and they stayed. Don't know where they're at this morning ... hopefully not on the driveway! School bus comes in 20 minutes.



This second picture here has mom with 2 calves. 2 are sort of hidden in the trees.

Thanks Elizabeth!

Elizabeth,
Thank you so much for calling me and asking if I would be interested in attending Go-Run!

This past weekend, I was fortunate enough to spend the weekend with Liz and Heather and 100+ other women and listen to so many people talking about making positive changes in our society. From elected officials to campaign managers to people who started their own organizations they all very neatly stated what got them going and how they were able to do it. We heard the struggles they had to face and how they overcame each one. I was amazed with Ann Bancroft and will be watching for her next trip in a few years! Someone that I have admired for quite sometime is former Senator Becky Lourey. Ever since Liz told me about her adopting children with disabilities, I knew that I would like to meet her some day. I was fortunate to be able to do so this past weekend. The amount of people I was able to talk to, learn from and be inspired by was amazing.

Thanks again for the amazing weekend!
~jen~

Happy Birthday Charlie

Happy 40th! May your day be filled with apple pies, good luck, and at least some relaxation!

This morning Machelle and I went to McDonalds for breakfast before heading to work. While there we placed an order. It took a little while, but then one of the workers handed me a box and said they were all ready. This morning I handed Charlie his gift. At least a few times a week he is wanting me to pick him up a couple of apple pies from there, so today he received 40 of them! Everyone in the resteraunt was laughing when I was walking out.

Debbie, I am so sorry I missed your birthday! I hope it was everything you wished for and more! I was up north and couldn't get on the computer and things were hectic so couldn't even call you.

~jen~

Enjoying Alaska

Us up northers here aren't ready for the snow to go anytime soon. My green beans and zucchini might be, but the humanoids in the house are not. You can tell this is the first winter for most of the folks in this house. They screech for joy when the white stuff starts coming down. We had some more of it this past week and I thought I was going to visit the ditch for the first time this season ... made it home tho' without ditch diving. :) gets the caboose ride on the way in ... with all the sleds.

Today we went up the mountain to play. Was so much fun! 10 folks (Tia and up in age) plus 1 little baby, 5 snowmobiles, sleds and snowboard. Was a magnificent day!

Tia gets to ride up in the sled with the sleds. On the way back she hopped on the back of a snowmachine. This is NOT the way to ride. Mighty bumpy back there.
Wally's Taxi Service ... the only way up the mountain after a fun ride down.

Anna's getting warm!

Brock is getting good on the snowboard.

More laughs and screams than a ride at Disney Land!

We spent some time at the first spot and then moved on to a much better one. Nice snow that was deep. Steeper sledding and boarding hills, and more fun for daring snowmachine drivers.

Absolutely incredible!

Taking a rest ... we had hot chocolate at the first place ... I think we've found food again. :)

Always a Dr Pepper along for Jari.

Kevin & Jari cutting a corner. Kevin had a video camera along and got some good biffs on it. Camera just doesn't do this place justice. Impossible to catch these mountains. My kids' expectations of "sledding" have become quite high.

The clouds started rolling in. The light was getting horrible. Though bright enough to see, you couldn't differentiate one hill from another ... bad news when you're moving along quickly. Started snowing when we hit the parking lot and was still snowing when we got home. Nice wet stuff that should freeze nicely for the morning drives to Anchorage.

I think we can all see why our kids love it here and maybe we're not quite ready for winter to be over yet. Maybe we'll get one more day of this ... the mountain already has much less snow on it ... won't be long before more boulders are poking through the snow. 'Tis fun!

brainerd snow

what grandma and grandpa see out their door

across from their laundry their wing on the left

grandpa snow blowing

he didn't want to bring the snow blower all the way to their side so he's shoveling

steve with the plow on his truck

-posted by debbie for grandma!

Happy Birthday Frans

Wishing you a very Happy Birthday, a great weekend (not too warm), and a very good 36th
year. It isn't as easy as Jenny thinks to post on this Kuoppala Blog. The words don't always
show up at the top. I tried sliding the blue bar up, kind of jerking the top but the magic
words didn't show up. Then when I went and relooked at some postings and came back to
the first page, there by magic were the special words. So here I am, can be the first to wish
you a Happy Birthday on the Kuoppala Blog. dk

Up nort a'ways

Kinda curious how all of you nort'ners, Alasakans, are thinkin'.

Most Minni-snowtans are ready for summer... "gittin sick of this stuff". But coming from the Grand Canyon state, land of everlasting sunshine... Do you guys want winter to last forever? Whats goin on in your heads? You've prolly already written a book about it on here, but I find I'm getting too lazy to look ;-)

You do seem to be out enjoying the "weather", thats why I ask :-)

Charlie

Snow and spring gardens

I loaded these pictures on backwards and am too lazy to turn them around, so this is weekend going backwards. We went to Seward and Whittier over the weekend. This would be an avalanche on the way home on Sunday. No. We didn't see it happen ... just plenty of avalanche chutes that were full.

If MN snow is getting you down right now ... just think. This could be you. There was so much snow in Whittier it was downright amazing. Not much to see there ... will have to go back in the summer and see it from a new perspective.

Stopped at the tunnel going into Whittier and walked around the car. Have you ever seen such a thing. All 4 rims had these interesting icicles on them.

Sunshine through clouds ... the drive from Seward to Whittier.

Whittier

Sunday morning dawned absolutely beautiful. So glad we were able to enjoy a sunny day.

Playing "follow the leader" ....

Quite a blustery day to be walking around town ... but walk we did!

Still smiling. On our way to eat out and visit the hardware store for some refined shopping!

The garden ... transplanted tomatoes and green peppers last night. Not sure the green peppers were ready to move to a bigger pot ... but they're finally growing and green. All the window sills in the living room and kitchen are now full of plants. Yikes! Amber is busy giving greenery away .. she has too many. :) Mine are looking ... so far, so good ...chives didn't come up and only have 2 dead ones that I pitched so far. Will be interesting to see what I have to plant them in next! Will I own my own dirt by then or not ... THAT is the question.

Time for a shower and to head for work. Have a great day!

SNOW

Yuck! For those of you in AZ who are getting toasty, come on up. Saturday was beautiful - 50 degrees - and I'd kicked the goats outside thinking spring had sprung, and for the most part, the snow had melted (except in the woods, in shaded areas, etc.) and I was dreaming of tulips coming up. Now, we are buried again. Not sure how much we got, but it's a lot (some say 2+ feet)!!!! Not fun. I didn't take pictures, but probably should have. Didn't come to work yesterday due to the snow and the mess. The ground had already begun to thaw and we had perfected our "multi faceted water reduction system" - trenches all over the yard - to drain the water, and the yard was clearing up beautifully, 'tis no longer. The positive spin: we were able to follow the trail one of the turkeys had left and found a nest with 8 eggs! Now, to see where they go next!!!! For anyone able to send a little warmth this way, we are gladly accepting it. Heard just now, that we may be pummeled again this weekend, either rain or snow depending on the temperature :(
Heather

A keeper this time I think....

The few other dogs we have tried in the past have not worked out very well. The kids were always scared to go into the back yard the whole time. They are very excited about this one and have been out walking here and playing with here since we got her. Almost two years old pure bread yellow lab. Jenny seen her on graigs list so we went to look and the girls got along well this time. Her name is lady Girl

How does her garden grow?

Have never done pickles before, but am hoping with my cumcumber patch that I can can a few jars at some point. Hadn't really thought about where all my vines were going to tangle. Guess I still have some time to think on that one! :)

Bean plants have hit 10" tall ... only lost one so far!

Window #1 with peas, beans, cukes, corn ...

Window #2 with zucchini (can you already taste the bread?), peas, beans, tomatoes, onions.

Need another trip to Wal*Mart for some more peat containers. Still have radishes, carrots and broccoli to plant. Problem ... I am going to run out of room for indoor gardening at some point here. My peas don't need to climb according to the seed packet. Plant some plants near each other and they just love to intertwine. That is good. How long do cuke and zucchini vines get? Can you just see the rail around my living room strung with greenery? Would be a hoot until the landlord came by. :) More transplanting coming your way soon!

Planning to head south this weekend to do some sightseeing. Haven't been anywhere south of Anchorage (Jari has ... not the rest of us) to see anything. Maybe take along a book to read .. swim suits for the only hotel in Seward that has an indoor pool ... eat something I haven't cooked ... and not care if the bathrooms get cleaned or not!

Grandma sent pics for me to put on...

Grandma...if i messed up on these you can add a comment...but you sure made it easy for me!

Lori Ylitalo Alajoki and Roger Alajoki Lisa Ylitalo, Lori's twin, was Maid of HonorDarwin Lake was Best Man
Roger's parents Elsa and RubenPicture of Priscilla Ylitalo didn't turn out.
Lori's maternal grandfather Hugo Johnson of Mt. Ironand some of Lori's brothers behind him

The new Menahga church taken before Ken Skoog's funeral

A wood carving in the Forbes Cemetery in one piececarved from a tree on which the top had died.

-Debbie

Looking for input

Hey all, I'm looking for any advice or suggestions. I am thinking about buying a house since the market conditions are almost perfect-being that I don't have to sell one. There are several houses on the market that are extremely well priced and it seems crazy to miss out on them. One new listing in particular caught my eye-built in 1900, rather small @940 sq. ft, average lot @ 10,000 sq. ft or so, needs a lot of work (most of which I know a guy that can do), best of all it's priced at 67,500. A few hangups are involved- I don't know yet if any liens are attached to the property, not sure of the extent of work needed as haven't viewed the property. Mostly though, there is the issue of getting the 70k from the bank. How difficult is it to get financing? What discounts etc. are there for first time homebuyers? Any tips you can offer would be appreciated, at least it'll give everyone something to post, thereby increasing volume on the blog
First things that will have to be addressed is income. My new job is going OK, but I starting on a program that gives raises 3x annually for the first 3 years until I will have reached top pay for the position. Inside of two months I'm doing twice as much work as the guy on first shift-to the point where they've actually pulled him out and he's helping others in the shop. That should deserve a raise right? The boss actually told me the other day that I'm the best guy other than himself they've ever hired for the position I'm in. Sounds encouraging right? Now I have to just screw up the courage to ask him for a $6 per hour raise, which is about what I need to get into a house and pay all the other bills (that's also equivalent to top pay). Wish me luck. Looking forward to hearing any comments. #9

DON'T FAINT

I realize I am long over due for participating on the blog. I do not have any excuses either now that the painting is done and the carpets are all shampooed and the closets and drawers are all cleaned. Amazing what you can find to keep you busy when you are not working. I did find that we had a large number of hidden pets in our house called "dust bunnies" that I never knew we had. The funny part is that if you walked in to my house right now you would never know that I have spent hours cleaning like I have never cleaned before.
Good news is that I am going back to work soon. Cabin fever no more! My kids find it alarming that I am begging to go back to work. haha
My boss does not predict a monumental year by no means and things will start out very slow but work is work!
I had a thought the other day that I wanted to share with you. We have several Kuoppala's turning a new decade this year. Susan and Mitchell will be 10, Denise will be 20, Jennifer will be 30, Charlie will be 40, and I will be (cough cough) 50. I thought it would be cool to get a picture of all of us together and then take another photo 10 years from now. We can see how much we change in 10 years. Hopefully we can all get together some day soon and do this, thought it would be fun!
I love all of the photos that have been posted and spent several moments reading back through the archives...I will try and not be a stranger on here.
Take Care All!
Farmington Jo

Gardening at Marjanens

Just a few pictures of my "gardening" in March! Must take more pictures this week, but they seem to be growing nicely. Must have given one bean plant too much water as it sort of wilted on me! Had some plants down in basement windows and they start wilting. Moved them up to living room windows and they perked right up. Maybe they need to hear human conversation or something. Will be challenging finding large containers for transplanting when they are ready ... but I'm up for the challenge! Looking forward to cucumbers, zucchini, onions, tomatoes, peas, beans, corn and more! Should I manage to harvest one vegetable ... you are all welcome for lunch! My gardening abilities have never been of the harvest variety.

Birthday wishes

Happy Birthday Becky! May your day be filled with sunshine, laughter and love! Wishing you the best today and everyday!

~jen~