New Years Eve Approaching

Woke up this am with a bit of a cold. Just what I need now. I am planning on finishing scanning some the negatives today from the TN trip. Should have them online in a few days.

Need to get the rest of the New years eve stuff done today. Bit of a scalled down version this year.

Look for a newly designed web Page Soon.

Scanning pictures

Tonight I tried to start scanning some old 35 mm negatives. Boy is the digital age much better. Scanner is having some mechanical problems as well as some windows compatibility issues.
Once I finally got it working, it was disappointing to see how the negatives have started to deteriorate. Color is fading, and there are scratches etc on them. Some have never been out of the sleeve and there are still defects. I got about 3 rolls scanned before the scanner stopped. I think I will give up for tonight on it.
I had to listen to dominic the donkey before I signed off however. That will pick any one up

Christmas Day Animal pics

Under the favorite pics link (on the left side of the page) There are some new pictures of Allie and Emma. Some may enjoy the link above to Dominic the Italian Christmas Donkey.

Christmas Eve Dinner

The Christmas eve dinner was delicious!!!! All the prep time was worth the work and wait. Our travel buddie could not make it because she is sick. Do to some fast action of someones part our Jewish friends could not make it.

OH WELL OUR TRAVEL BUDDIE JUST WALKED IN.
SO I will have to cut this short.

Starters:
roassted red pepper humus
Crab dip


Menu:
citrus crusted skewered Mahi Mahi
stuffed clams casino
salmon with light cream dill sauce.
Mussels fria diabalo
Stuffed calamari with red sauce
seafood scampi (lobster scallops shrimp)

chocolate bunt cake

Christmas eve preperations

Well the prep for Xmas eve started on Sunday. It was time to start making the stuffed calamari. They are yummy but a pain in the butt to make. Dad made the sauce so that is a big help. Here are a few pics of the calamari process.

After stuffing them the ends have to be sewed together. They are then lightly fried and placed in the sauce to cook. I will post more on the complete menue later

Winter wonder land

Just in case the last test post did not work here it is again in another format. Dec 16 2007 snow storm, Added a bit of christmas spirit to the Front of the house.

Ho...Ho.....Ho

Some winter weather posts

www.flickr.com

More of thetravelbuddies' photos

Winter weather update

Sunday Night we did get some snow. The winds picked up in the evening and the lake snows off of Ontario started up. I guess all totaled we got about 20 inches in my area.

I did add a few new pics of Allie and Emma under the my favorite pics links.

Big snow storm?

Well the roads may not be great because of the snow, but where the hell is this big storm or blizzard? Very disappointing. the snow did not even interfere with opening the gate. I guess we will see what the evening will bring.
Hope to get some new picture updates posted soon.

Time goes By

Well Christmas is fast approaching. We don't even have all the decorating done yet. It is going very slow. There is a slight problem with the Allie and Josie relationship. It started a few days ago, Josie started stalking and attaching Allie. She will attack for no reason. She beats the hell out of the puppy. So we can not leave Allie alone for a second. I think we are going to have to get a water spray bottle to spray the cat when she is after Allie. I hope to get some Christmas pictures of the girls once the house is done.

new picture

New picture of emma and allie under the favorite picture section. Pardon the mess from all the fake snow on the ground, finally getting the Christmas tree up.

Allie and Emma

Allie has been with us now for 3 weeks. She is turning out to be a smart and pretty well behaved puppy. Emma and she are getting along very well. Allie can almost do any thing she want to Emma with little protest. It is kinda comical to see then laying in front of the fire together. Yesterday Allie was between Emma's paws. Her head was as big as each paw.
House breaking is going slow. I think she knows that is bad to go in the house, because she is hiding when and where she poops. I think that because she hates it out side so much it will be a real challenge. Both dogs were kind of happy to see the snow the other day. Emma has always like to play in the snow.
Tequila and Allie love to wrestle and swat each other. Josie on the hand still hates her, but is becoming more tolerant

bearfoots

For those of you who dont know, Bearfoots are bear figurines created by montana artist Jeff Fleming. He has ben dong this for a number of years now. http://www.jeffflemingbears.com/ to see some of his work. We Started collecting them in 1999. Just when you think you have about all of them he comes out with a ton more. Here are a few of the christmas collection.

Speaking of christmas, the decorating is not going well at all.

Christmas Spirit.

Tomorrow is Dec 1st and I still do not have one single Xmas decoration up. I hope to get some done this weekend. There is so much stuff to put up and set up. It seems a waste it you get it up too late. The last few years have been warm so the outside decorations were easy. It is supposed to snow tomorrow

I can not get to much done alone either. I need Chris to be home to help move the TV and furniture ect. Some of the first things to go out are the Christmas bearfoots, so all the furniture needs to be in place. All the regular bearfoots need to hibernate for the holidays. For any one who does not know what a bearfoot is I will post a few pics.

interactions

NAP TIME

But not for long

First Christmas stuff

Ok check this out. Is this a drunk Santa?
I feel sick

http://www.travellogonline.net/zzsanta.html

Not such a nice day for a swim

Yesterday was a bit sunny, but I would not say that it was a great day for a swim. Allie thought other wise I guess. While I was cleaning out some of the pond filters, she decided to go into the larger pond. She swam to the edge, looked a little shocked and got out. Then in her confusion of what the heck was that, she wandered and fell into the smaller pond.

She got out ok but was shaking a bit. So in the house we went for a nice warm bath and a towel dry. Hopefully she will know what to water looks like the next time. She still may need another bath since she still has somewhat of a pond smell.

Later Emma and her hiked it around the block

Hope everyone has a great thanksgiving. Allie followed Emma around the block all the way the other day. A nice long walk for her. It has been raining like crazy here since yesterday, in fact, we broke a record. Now it has turned to Snow flurries. I guess it was a good thing that it was not all snow.

Today's menu.
1 pumpkin-peanut soup
2 Turkey with gravy
3. mashed potatoes
4. fried corn with sour cream and beacon bits (southern favorite)
5. stuffing
6 rolls
7. Pumpkin and pecan pie

DOGS

Allie has been in the house for almost a week now. I am very happy that Emma is adjusting better than thought she would. Allie is even starting to right over her back with little reaction.

She is also in the biting stage, in fact my ear was a bit bloody last night. Good thing there were some left over spider man bandages in the medicine chest. She is also not as scared to go outside, although she still does not like it much. I do have her taking a "pee" ever time she hits the grass the first time. She likes to follow Emma around outside, and I think Emma ever likes it. Tequila has adjusted well and will play with and swat her. Josie on the other hand, will come into the same room but is not to thrilled to have Allie around.

First Snow

Saw the first snow flakes of the season today :( Just a few flakes but that was enough. Winter is on the way!!!!!!

Kauai OCT 2007 up and Running

What do you know, the page is online earlier than planned!!!! I also have a new bear video about ready to go, that link should be up tomorrow. I also will be working hard over the next few days to introduce the newest member of the family...... A NEW TRAVEL BUDDY I HOPE.....

I am trying to decide if I should just make a new page for all the stuff other than travel or just have different links. I need to consider how much space every thing will eventually take up on the computer.

Emma Dog

There are some new pics of emma from oct on the some favorite picutures link.
About 75% of the kauai site is ready to go. I hope to have it on line by sat at the latest. Keep checking back.

Trying to hold on

The last few blooms in the garden. They may be weak but they are still trying to hold on. Nov 11,2007

Missing Summer Already

It is only Nov 5th and already we are missing the warm weather. Now that we are on standard time it is already getting dark at 440pm. It is cold and damp out with light rain. So Hear I sit in front of the fire place with a hot cup of coffee. Boy is it going to be a long winter. They are calling for some snow this week. Will keep you posted and see what happens.

I hope to get some energy to work on the hawaii web page this week some time.

End of October

Happy Hall0ween!!!!!

I hope to start working on getting the Kauai Oct 2007 pictures posted soon. So please check back.
It is also really hard to believe the Oct is just about over. Where did this month go.

Kaui update 3

Wed..... Up early for conference. We then drove to the north shore. We got as far as princeville but it rained most of the way. So we ended up just heading back to Poipu. Diner that night was some fresh opah fish grilled in butter sauce.

Thursday....Conference then some local beach time. Chris went to see Lealani Revirea Bond preform at the Hyatt. I still had my head ache so I stayed back. Later that night we went to burgers in paradise for diner

Friday... Last day of conference. Beach for the day. Chris went to see Lealani again. Fresh ahi for diner again.

Saturday....... Today was kinda of a nice lazy day over all. Chris had to steam in the morning, then we drove over the north shore. This time it did not rain but the waves were crazy. We went all the way to the end of the road. It looks like Kee beach may be washed way. It was kind of hard to tell since there was not place to park. We had a great sweat and sour pork for lunch . After getting back to the condo, we napped for a little while. That evening we went to see Leilani Reviera bond. Tonight was a special night because she had here Keiki hula show with here. She runs a non profit organization to preserve native hawaiian song and dance. They really put on a great show. After words Chris introduced me to her and her husband. She was very proud to show off her new 2 month old grandson. Cocktails were 11.00 a piece here. Good thing the show was free. Later we walked around the hyatt a bit before going to walmart for last min things to take home.

Sunday..... Well this is the last day of the trip. I am sitting at the airport waiting for my flight to Portland OG. Chris has already boarded his flight to La. I Am still waiting for a gate agent so I can check in. I guess that this will be as good of time as any to try and update the blog a bit.Today we slept in a little bit until about 830. We were allowed to check out out late, so we did not have to leave the condo until about 430 pm The flight from lihue to Honolulu was at 640 pm We had beagles for breakfast then packed for little while and headed for the beach. We went back to PoiPu. It was a wonderful day at the beach sunny and a light wind. There were already 2 seals there when we arrived. A little later another seal made an appearance in the water however there were too many people around for it to come a shore. At about 100 we stopped at the store and picked up some sushi and fresh Hawaiian style ahi poke.We had lunch at the condo, did some laundry and finished backing.

KAUAI Hawaii Update 2

Monday night...Diner we made a great pork stir fry with this garlic sauce we found in the asian food area at walmart. It was called Sugoi garlic dipping sauce and glaze. http://www.sugoihawaii.com/. We added some rice, salad and lomi lomi salmon....ONO!

Tuesday.... UP early for the conference. Katsu Chicken from L&L for lunch. Later that afternoon off to PoiPu beach for a little sun and to watch the sunset. This time there were two Hawaiian monk seals on the beach. Chris found a health club and steamed. I am still trying to get over a head ache that started Sat am.

Tonight we plan to cook up some steak on the grill with some salad and sushi

Kauai Hawaii Update

Well we arrived on Kauai safe and sound. We awoke early On Sat in Honolulu. We spent a few hours on Waikiki beach. The weather was perfect. Not many people on the beach either. We checked out of our hotel about noon. Of course we had to make a run to Costco. Chris could not wait a day to get his discounted antihistamines.

Before heading to the airport we stopped at Zippys for some lunch we had the katsu chicken and the terri beef, both were as good as ever. All served with 2 scoops of rice and macaroni salad. We also tried something different the fresh tripe stew. It was actually very good not having to smell it being made was a bonus.

We then headed to the airport and caught our 22 min flight to Lihue Kauai. Picked up the rental car and were on our way very quickly. Stop at walmart and on to our condo. When we arrived at the condo, the lock box which was to contain the key was not there. It was getting dark and I was getting cranky. The on Island manager responded very quickly and we were into the condo. The condo itself is very nice. Much larger than expected as well. The only down side, The air conditioning no work so good. It is pretty warm in the condo most of the time. The grounds are beautiful. Could not find a great place for diner since it was getting late and a Saturday eve, so we found this little mexical place. The food was good and the prices were ok

Sunday.... was a lazy day. Hit the beach in the am. Joined by our buddy the monk seal on the beach. Did some grocery shopping, napped and cooked some fresh Ahi tuna for diner.

Monday.... Up early to attend the conference that started at 7am. After word some beach time, with the monk seal again at Poi Pu Beach. Right now the air is so clear with little humidity so you are actually able to see the island of Ni ihau off in the distance. So that about catches things up right now. Kauai being the garden island is holding true to its name this time. Flowers and trees in bloom every where. Hope to start shooting some photos soon.

Aloha again

WE have arrived safe and sound, The flight was filled with people who stayed awake on the whole flight. So needless to say we are a bit tired right now. It is 600pm here in Hawaii. We arrive a few min late about 300. The temp was about 88 and it was sunny.

We are all checked in at the queen kapiolani hotel, our favorite here. We have reservations for 730 at the Sheraton Waikiki. Crab legs here we come. It was a bit late when we finally got to the hotel so there was no beach time. We will make up for that tomorrow. Remember you can always get us by cell phone or now email.

Aloha

Well we are off on our next big adventure. It is about 415 AM and we are getting ready to head to the airport in a few minutes. Of course the weather in Rochester is cold and rainy today. But in about 15 hours it will be hot muggy and Aloha Friday!!!!! Hopefully a mai tai on the beach and all you can eat crab legs listening to the surf roll in.
I will try and keep this updated on a regular basis along the way.
Aloha

test picture upload

Let try some words before,

and after the pic of a Fall Flower

Some Fall flowers

Happy Columbus Day weekend

Hard to believe that it is Columbus day weekend already. Time is just flying bye.

The link to Katmai by air in the Alaska site is not working correctly. I have tried to modify, delete it and is always is there with the wrong link, It shows the pictures alright, but it is through an external site. I may have to just move that link under another section. The Hawaii portion is under construction but I have not work on it much.

It is incredible that it is Oct 6th and the weather is sunny and it will be in the high 80's. I am out in the yard having coffee and looking at the garden that still has blooms. There are yellow hibiscuses, dahlias, clematis, geranium(wild) black eyed Susan's, day lily's and a few other flowers in bloom. Soon the leaves will fall and the plants will still be full size. This will make for a real mess of a clean up. the ponds still have all the tropical water lettuce and hyacinths growing. The pool is still open too. I may even try and take a dip today. That may be a first!!!! Swiming in Oct in Rochester NY.

DONE!!!!!!!!!!!

THE ALASKA SITE IS DONE!!!!!!
Thank god. it took a lot longer than I thought it would. I am happy with the results though. I Hope that I don't find anything that needs to be changed or updated. Upload should be between 430-530 today
I am now starting to work on the Hawaii trip from the summer of 2006. The cruise aboard the Pride of Aloha. I know there are a few people waiting to see those pictures. I hope they are all up and running soon. This is Columbus day weekend. Hard to believe that time is going by so fast. The weather has been great. It is still very warm. I most likely will be away for most, or at least part of the weekend. I should have some time to work on the site however.
It will be interesting to see how I can update the site while away on the next trip. I am thinking I may just use this space as a general journal entry, since it is so easy to update. Then Later do a summary page with all the photography. I will have to just play it by ear and see how things progress.

Counter working again

It looks like the counter is working again! Great, because I don't even remember where I downloaded it from. So would be touch to reinstall it.

As far as updating goes, hallo bay camp picture are complete and nursing cub. The general scenery picture of Katmai will be done by 530pm today. That means I still need to update the Kenai and Denali pictures. I don't think those will take too long tomorrow because they do not have a lot of writing associated with them

Longer than thought

The udpating of the large files(compression) is taking longer than I thought it would. I really am happy with the results. I have also found a way to make more of this blog update on the web page as a live feed. The only think I have not yet fiqured out is why the picture dont carry over. I will keep on working on that.

The other thing that I have noticed is that the counter does not seem to be working. I have hit the site many times, refreshed and all, but It stays at 132.

UPDATING TO CONTINUE

I am in the process of updating the Alaska picture web pages. I am compressing all the large files (8-10 MB) to sizes that are acceptable for web pages. I have found a program that will batch process and compress. The difficult time is pulling off the pictures off the CD and placing them in categories to link to. I really think that picture are more dramatic this way. I am also able to add some text to elaborate more on the setting and situations.

problem solved

the smoky mountain page fall 2001 is online and ready to go.. Lots of bear pictures there!!!!!

There must have been a problem with the server!!! every thing is working smooth now

Problems

I am trying to add some additional updates to the site. Some better Alaska stuff, as well as a whole section on previous travel. This will initially contain some smoky mountain bear pictures from the fall of 2001.

When I try and contact the site from the biulded I am getting some error messages. I hope that this is just that the servers are down or something simple like that.

ALASKA SITE IS UP AND RUNNING

The alaska part of the site is up and running. It may just need a little clean up.

Moving along

it is Sat am. I have the hallo bay pictures and page up and running. My goal will be to finish the entire Alaska diary and picture posting by Sun pm. Then some site clean up, and letting people know the site is running.

I do need to by a cheap wireless mouse for the laptop. This finger pointing stuff is for the birds!! Really slows me down.

HEY!!! who knew... this has spell check

More comming

I hope to have the alaska bear pics and all the hallo bay links up by friday eve.

bear floor Routine

Click here to see a bear going through his aerobics.
www.bearfloorroutine.blogspot.com

Pictures/video added

Since this site will deal mainly with tavel and photography. I have added some links at the upper left to some pictures and video. Lets see how they work.