Funny Christmas Picture

We got together with all of the kids a week before Christmas to get a few family photos together so we could add one or two to our Christmas letter. We decided to be a bit zany on the last shot and the results are above.

Crazy kids!

So sorry.................too Long!

Oh.........dear...........I've been gone for way too long.

Just to catch you up, everyone in our family is doing well and all are healthy and happy. We're having Bobby and his lovely bride Nico over for Thanksgiving supper tomorrow night. Dale, Tera and Austin will be spending Thanksgiving with Tera's family.

Bobby started a sales job with a company that contracts with Comcast several months ago and has steadily worked his way up to a managerial position. He seems to like his work and we are so glad he's found his niche. Dale, Tera and Austin spent a week in Florida last week and made sure to spend a few days at Disney World. Austin was very excited and a real chatter box on the drive home from the airport..........I don't think I've ever seen him so animated. And from what I hear, he is now an avid Mickey fan.

Because he had a remodel job in Goldbar, Bob and I spent several weeks living up at our cabin in Index last Summer. It is so beautiful there, and we both really enjoyed the slower pace you find in small towns like Index.

I hope to start adding family information to my blog soon, so dear friends, please forgive me for ignoring it for so long. I hope some of you have been checking in to see if I've posted anything new. And please check back soon for new entries.

Berry Robbing Robin!

I found this image in a local newspaper this morning and just had to add it to my blog. I think it is stunning and only wish I had the equipment and talent to take such a photo.

Weekend at La Push

Bob and I spent a long weekend at the town of La Push a few weeks ago. I spent several summers at La Push when I was a child and wanted/needed to go back again. Despite the fact that it rained most of the weekend, we managed to get out and do some sight seeing. We went to Forks to see what kind of impact the "Twilight" series was having on this normally depressed area. There wasn't much to see in that regard, but we did pass Billy Black's cabin several times. I had forgotten how starkly beautiful it is at La Push. I really hope we can go back again soon, but I would hope the weather is a bit less wet. The sculpture of the boat at left is a bronze in front of the new Coast Guard station at La Push and it is quite good. (click to zoom)

 

It has been absolutely ages since I blogged, so I knew it was time when I downloaded the picture above. We went to Westport Washington to visit our good friend Lani and also to do a bit of clam digging in March. Thanks to my Grandmother, I have been digging Razor clams since I was a little girl. She dug Razor clams during the depression to make ends meet, and there is actually a post card at the coast with her picture on it that is still available for purchase. I love the taste of Razor clams and I love the digging environment. Bob hadn't seen Lani's new home, and both of these things created the perfect excuse to visit Westport.

We went out and participate in the dig both of the days we were there and came away with our limits each time.

The official recipe for preparing Razor clams is this:

Crushed saltine crackers
Razor clams
A couple of beaten eggs
Hot oil

Clean the clams. Heat oil in skillet. Dip clams in egg wash, then in crushed crackers. Fry approx 4 minutes on each side and eat.

Simple!

And thank you again Lani. Thank you for sharing your beautiful home with us. We had a wonderful time.

;)

The Large Billed Reed Warbler

Afghanistan protects newly rediscovered rare bird

By KAY JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer Kay Johnson, Associated Press Writer Sun Feb 28, 5:55 am ET

KABUL – Afghanistan's fledging conservation agency moved Sunday to protect one of the world's rarest birds after the species was rediscovered in the war-ravaged country's northeast.

The remote Pamir Mountains are the only known breeding area of the large-billed reed warbler, a species so elusive that it had been documented only twice before in more than a century.

A researcher with the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society stumbled upon the tiny, olive-brown bird during a wildlife survey in 2008 and taped its distinctive song. Later, a research team caught and released 20 of the birds — the largest number ever recorded.

On Sunday, Afghanistan's National Environment Protection Agency added the large-billed reed warbler to its list of protected species, which was established only last year.

Mustafa Zahir, the agency's director-general, acknowledged the difficulties of trying to protect wildlife in a country preoccupied with the Taliban insurgency. On Friday, suicide attackers killed 16 people in Kabul, the capital, and thousands of Afghan and NATO forces are fighting to root out the hard-line Islamists from their southern stronghold.

But Zahir, who is the grandson of Afghanistan's former king, said the discovery of the large-billed reed warbler provided some welcome positive news.

"It is not true that our country is full of only bad stories," Zahir said. "This bird, after so many years, has been discovered here. Everyone thought it was extinct."

The bird's discovery in Afghanistan kicked off a small flurry in conservation circles.

The large-billed reed warbler was first documented in India in 1867 but wasn't found again until 2006 — with a single bird in Thailand. The Pamir Mountains, in the sparsely populated Badakhshan province near China, is now home to the world's only known large population of the bird.

The Afghan environmental agency also added 14 other species to the protected list on Sunday. It now includes 48 species including the rare snow leopard, the Asiatic cheetah and the markhor, a type of wild goat with large spiral horns.

While conservation efforts are in their infancy in Afghanistan, there have been some recent successes. Authorities in Badakhshan last week seized a snow leopard from villagers who had trapped it and planned to sell it. The snow leopard — one of an estimated 150 left in the wild — will be freed once its injuries from the trap are healed, Zahir said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/as_afghanistan_rare_bird

Cheese Grater Supreme

We bought this cheese grater at a junk shop out of the Olympic Peninsula about 10 years ago and I wanted to post a picture because it deserves recognion. It has been a faithful cheese grater and has never let us down. It grates the hardest of cheeses with ease and without complaint. If I were the prior owner of this cheese grater I'd be very sorry I gave up this wonderful kitchen tool.