august posting

here's a bunch of pictures from this past month:

me and eli decided that we were going to swim across the southeastern section of lake havasu, near where the bill williams river dumps into the lake. i'm proud to say that we did it without drowning or getting hit by a boat! we actually had vona come along to kayak alongside of us just in case we needed a bit of help (she towed the blue kayak behind her but i'm proud to say that we didn't need it) and more importantly, the kayaks served to make sure that boats saw us. this is in a section of the river that is a no wake zone that not many people wander into because it leads nowhere. occaionaly a boat will come in to go fishing or to park so the people can go swimming. we swam all the way across and then decided that we were still in pretty good shape so we swam back across to the starting point. on the way back vona decided that she wanted to give it a try so eli tied the boats to himself and towed them to the boat launch. all in all i swam 1.08 miles! wahoo! it's 0.54 across and next time that we swim it we plan to swim it four times and see how we do. and don't worry, we'll take the same precautions next time. :)
this is a picture from the coziest hotel that i've ever stayed at in a little town in california, palos verde. we occasionally stay there to do surveys at a wildlife refuge there. if you can't tell what's in the picture, all those things are cockroaches. they were in all the corners of the room, in the kitchen cabinets, there were little bugs that crawled over us a night (fleas? bed bugs?). at least this time we got a room that the toilet actually worked in. yeah, i have to admit that it was funny staying there because it was such a novelty. i've never stayed in a place like that so it was a good experience. i probably won't be going there again after this summer although i will remember it with fond memories.
a rattlesnake! my boss, murrelet, went to use the bathroom and found this little treasure right where she had planned to go. have i mentioned that i love snakes? not!
this picture was taken just north of yuma, arizona at imperial wildlife refuge, where we would occasionally stay at a usfws field house while we were doing surveys. that night there was a huge storm and the sky was in turmoil. after the storm i got to see one of themost beautiful sunsets that i've ever seen. the picture does not do it justice!
and me and vona at imperial wildlife refuge, up on the viewing deck.
me and vona on a kayak survey in yuma, arizona.
my sister, carolyn, and her daughter, catheryn, came down to visit both sets of grandparents in phoenix and safford. due to how my work schedule is arranged i can choose when to take my days off for the month (two for every week, plus holidays) and was able to spend a week with them. it was a wonderful breather to escape work for a while and to get to know one of my neices. she loved me!
this is catheryn, carolyn, and grandpa deKay.
grandpa deKay, catheryn, and grandma helen catherine deKay - whom catheryn helen is named after.
after we were in phoenix for a few days we headed down to safford to visit my mom's parents. on of the fun things to do when we were little was to hold and haul around all the new born kittens and puppys that were born on granna joy's property every summer. this kitten is just 10 days old.
my great grandpa bought this cabin back in the 1930's up on mount graham outside of safford. it's been a long time since i've been able to spend some time up there so me, carolyn, catheryn, granna joy and papa went up to the cabin for three days. we got to hike to the bear cave, read a lot, and just spend some time breathing in that fresh mountain air. ahhh! it was wonderful!
every time i pulled out the camera to take pictures catheryn would start smiling while looking right at the camera. she knew that we would say smile everytime that we pulled it out so now she's got that practice down without even having to tell her to smile. she's a ham!
i thought that this picture was so funny. she kind of looks like a sherlock holmes chewing on a pipe. i'm sure carolyn is trying hard to break her of that practice while she's young! haha! :)
funny coincidence - me and carolyn were actually in the process of reading the same book - the proper care and feeding of husbands, by dr. laura schlessinger. i had picked mine up in a goodwill in yuma and her husband, curtis, had checked this out of the library for her. even though i think dr. laura is quite rude and over the top on the radio i was quite impressed with the book and it helped me realize things that i can do better in my marriage. i highly recommend this book to everyone.

one of my cousins told me that i'm pretty good at using the timer on my camera. yeah, i'm sure you thought that i really was sleeping, but in fact this is completely posed. even though this wasn't completely "natural" i stayed there for a long time thinking on that rock. it's the most perfect thinking rock ever!papa and catheryn... again, catheryn is a sucker for the camera.
and, to finish off, me and catheryn in papa and joy's backyard. this time it's me who is acting up for the camera!
it was a fantastic vacation for me and i'm now ready to work hard for one more month until i get to go home. and then shawn comes home!!! yipee!!! :)

see shawn. see shawn run...

so it's been a while since i've posted and, honestly, i don't have any good pictures to put up right now so i decided to do a shawn showcase! :) some of you have never met my wonderful companion so i wanted to give you the opportunity to get to know him a bit. at least you'll know what he looks like after this, right?!

for our honeymoon we took a cruise down to mexico and had a blast! the picture below is shawn sipping a pina colada at a little cafe on the beach. isn't he quite the looker?!in june 2007 we had our alaskan wedding reception and shawn's mom, dad and brother were able to come up for it. while they were here shawn came up with a few things to do to show them the alaskan way of life. we all went halibut fishing and some of the family got a bit nauseous while on the boat but we did not lack fish because of it. shawn's mom was actually the best fisher among everyone. she caught a king salmon and actually got two halibuts on one hook. that'll teach her boys and husband that you can never best mom! :)
last summer we did a bit of hiking and this hike (harding icefield) was absolutely beautiful on a sunny and clear day. we actually ran into a little black bear and shawn entertained himself by taking some pretty close-up shots of it. in this photo below i look a bit funny because i had set up the timer on the camera, ran over to where shawn is and slipped on those wet boards in the process. i think i was recovering from the rush and slip at the time the camera went off.
every year my family goes dipnetting for salmon at the mouth of the kenai river. if you want to know more about the process just ask me and i'll go into greater detail. in the photo below, shawn is wearing a wet suit and waders, the combination of which tend to keep you a bit warmer than going in one or the other or wearing just shorts and a t-shirt (which some crazies actually do!). you may think that he's actually displaying a graceful yoga pose, but in reality he's emptying out his waders from all the water that he acquired while standing in the ocean.
i'll try to put up more pictures of us and since he's overseas at the moment most will be archived photos. the pictures that you've seen on previous posts represent what i work in every day so i'll try not to overdo those. as i have great adventures i'll make sure to dutifully document those with my camera so that you can experience them with me!