One Piece

Look!

Over yonder!

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, It is a One Piece.

Here is the famous Samuel in his new One Piece - the first one in Fort McMurray. I especially like the wig his uncle bought to add to the ensemble. It adds a certain something to the over all look.




This is so exciting! Samuel was overjoyed at the arrival of the new outfit. He plans to wear it to Mutual tonight, and to school on Friday in the a.m., and then to the ski hill in the p.m.

Below is my favorite look of the new One Piece.

You need to know the "rest of the story," as Paul Harvey used to say.

We were having breakfast this morning and we saw a car pull up in front of our house. Out pops a Somali cab driver and he slinks to the door looking like he is trying not to be recognized by his buddies. (was he embarrassed by the unknown contents of the box he was delivering?) He dropped the box, rang the door bell and bolted! You would have thought he had been shot out of a cannon. He bounded back to the cab, and sped away - at least as fast as is possible with 6 inches of snow on the street.

Michelle told Joseph to let him get away before answering the door, in case he was trying to be kind of like a secret Santa or something. Joseph retrieved the box, and we immediately started to scheme about how to make Samuel work for it. Eventually we were over ruled by the boss, and just put the box on his bed to await his return from school.

At about 3:15 p.m. he came home, and could not contain his glee at the prospect of the new duds. He carefully opened the box, read the note from his uncle, and then ran to his room to put on the wonder-garment. He stopped by the bathroom to look at himself in the mirror before presenting himself for the unveiling.

I was waiting, in eager anticipation, much like the family members on those remake shows on TV where people "unveil" themselves after some miraculous transformation. Samuel sauntered into the room, looking for all the world like Kermit the Frog, except for the "Sylvester ate the Tweety Bird" grin on his face. I'm pretty sure Cinderella felt the same way after spying her new prom dress from the fairy godmother. It was a magical moment to be sure.

Samuel, my hat is off to you for your fashion style, and bravery. I am eager to hear of the reaction of his friends and classmates.

to be continued...

Thanks a Lot

Yep, 'tis the traditional day of thanks, so here goes:

1. Wife

1a. Children

1b. Parents

2. Gospel

3. Health and health care

4. Grand children

5. Sunshine

6. Mathematics

7, Friction and Gravity

8. Fresh Bread

9. Snow shovels and tennagers to drive them

10. Self Reliance

11. Sunday School Teachers that get their own substitutes.

Happy Thanksgiving to one and all.

Gig 'Em Aggies, (beat the hell out of t.u.)

Hugs and Kisses,

Alan and Michelle

to be continued...

Eagle Scout

Congratulations to Joseph A. Simpson for successfully completing his Eagle Scout Board of Review tonight. As soon as the application is signed at the national Boy Scouts of America headquarters in Texas, he will become the newest Eagle Scout in our family. The email version of the documents has already been sent for approval and signature.

to be continued...

Dear Diary,

It snowed last night. Darn it.

Day Light Savings Time

This is always a sad time of year for me because the days now feel like they are really super short, dark and dreary.

However, this year we did the "fall back" thing really well, too well in fact. Here is how not to do it:

Step one. Be the only person in the house to ever pay attention to Day Light Savings Time and reset clocks as required.

Step Two. Have a son, pick any one of the herd, reset the clocks in the house and not tell anyone he reset them.

Step Three. Get up at about 2 or 3 in the morning because you are old and just don't sleep well any more to check the clocks. Tell yourself that all is well and you still have several hours to try to sleep more.

Step Four. Get up at the regular time, according to your alarm clock that has not been reset, stumble out to the kitchen to reset the already reset clocks that the entire family uses to schedule time, reset said clocks, then get ready for the day. Now everyone thinks the time is really one hour earlier than it really is, making the family late to church yet again (not that it is a habit or anything...)

Step Five. Rush like crazy to make it to church at a reasonable time.

Step Six. Laugh about the time change all day with the family. Make jokes about new found responsibility and usurping.

Now we are looking forward to the winter solstice, because after that measly short day (about 5 hour sun light) the day only get better.

to be continued...

Halloween

From the "Party Rock Anthem" video we present the dancing robot. See the real robot on youtube under LMFAO Party Rock Anthem by vevo. Song is so-so (in other words, I'm old) but the dancing is amazing. Samuel collected all the stuff to make his own version, complete with blinking eye, bling (courtesy of Michelle) and other attire.

I was a curmudgeon, again. (long running theme, like wedgie the clown from the Hopkins household). I play the part well.

Just before Halloween, Joseph took a course in safety and operation of skid steer loaders. Now he is prepared to get a great job ($30+/hr), as soon as our Canadian residency comes through. He passed the course in flying colours, and we hope to get him a job before he has to leave to BYUI in January.

We have a friend here that supplies us with soda from time to time. He sponsors various seminars and he passes us some of the left overs. Today it was Dr Pepper from the Waco, Texas plant - a rare treat indeed, even for the USA. We made a couple of DP floats that were outstanding. Reminded me of days long ago in the summer heat in central Texas.

Here is the dancing robot as promised, with a little shuffle, and a little sponge bob. He was in the costume contest at school, and was runner up to a "lame Charlie Sheen" get-up. Lame and Charlie Sheen seems a bit redundant, eh?

to be continued...

Hugs and Kisses,

How to Carve a Pumpkin in Northern Alberta

The photos have nothing to do with the actual carving, but they capture a portion of the whole experience.

Step 1. Buy a bunch of pumpkins at the local grocery store.

Step 2. Drive into the country far enough for the report of the fire arms to not scare local residents.

Step 3. Use chain saw to fell tree and make stands for the herd of pumpkins.

Step 4. Set up pumpkins and potatoes about 50 yards from where you park the trucks. Forget trying to hit the papas, they are too small to explode anyway.

Step 5. Choose the biggest gun in the truck to kill pumpkins.

Step 6. Load, Aim, Fire.

Step 7. If you are the guy shooting, just shoot close enough to scare the pumpkin.

Step 8. Everyone else: laugh at the guy shooting because he can't hit anything with a scope that is about 8-inches low. Mother or mother-in-law jokes are optional, but way too funny to pass up.

Step 9. Repeat until someone falls down laughing at the "marksmanship" or lack thereof.

Step 10. After about 200 rounds, go set the herd of pumpkins back on the stands and try again.

There were 7 of us shooting this afternoon,, and we spent more than 1000 rounds of .4570, .330 mag, .308, and .22. Then out came the shot guns with the slugs and after about 50 shots at pumpkins we brought out the clay pigeons.

After spending all 300 shells, we tried to hit the pigeons with a semi-auto .22. Too much fun with absolutely no hits.

One of the highlights of the day was watching a 9 year old son shoot a 12 gauge. His father simultaneously caught him and the flying gun after he fell backward from the recoil and let go of the gun.

Joseph with a Remington Defender 12 gauge. We also had a Mossberg and a Browning, both with standard barrels.

Another highlight of the day: Joseph and Samuel are both good shots and are looking forward to next week foe another opportunity to shoot.

So here is the Jack-O-Lantern, courtesy of Samuel. Start with any big bore rifle, then switch to a .22 to finish the details of the face.

To be continued...

Update

Jacob and Brittany have a new blog. It is really good.

Joe Bob says, "Check it out."

click the link on the right.

More quad fun from the trip

Here are a few more photos of the quad trip last week.

This is the road that connects the final track to the dunes (next pic) to the main road, called the Fort Chipewan Winter Ice Road. You know of the show Ice Road Truckers from the Discovery Channel? Well this is very similar, but without the celebrity truckers. The Winter Road opens in late December or early January, nad then the loads of equipment, tools supplies, etc travel north to the diamond mines, and the gad fields, and the other industrial facilities in the far north. This road is easily 30 feet wide, where the main Ice Road is about 40 to 50 feet wide. Plenty of room to race and pass, and do donuts just because.

Here is the final quad track into the dunes. It is one quad wide in most places. Occasionally you scrape wheels on tree trunks because it does narrow down. Now, after the fire, that will probably not be an issue any more. One of the guys with us said he expects most, if not all these trees will fall over the winter, and a new track may have to be made to get to the dunes. If he is lucky, he will only have to clear out about 2 to 3 thousand downed tree trunks to open this track.

Pausing for a moment. We had so much fun. It reminded me of dirt bike riding in Carlsbad, CA years and years ago. Joseph and Samuel have never had so much fun.

The crew on this trip: front row: James, Jaydee, Jeryn, and Julie. Back row: Alan, Jay, Samuel, Joseph, Todd, and Shawn.

It was over cast all day, and later we did get rained on, which was not the best weather for towing out a dead machine, but all things considered, It was a great trip, and I would do it again in a heart beat. I really would love to go in for several days, but I have to figure out the dialysis thing before I commit.

Time out for a few minutes.

New life in the forest never takes long to manifest itself. These flowers are all over the place along the road ways. It is a beautiful reminder that out of tradgedy ( the devestating fire) comes hop and renewal. In a few years, the seeds dropped by the millions of pine cones will have sprounted, and the new forest will be short still, but beautiful. In another decade, when we finally get back into the Richardson Back Country, the beauty will rival othe landscpes we all know and love (pick any one of a hundred spots in the Sierra Nevada).

Quad trip of the decade

I hate to brag about all the great things we enjoy here in Fort McMurray, but here goes nothing...

About 200 kilometers north of town is an area officially known as the Richardson Back Country. There was a huge fire up there this year (more on that later in this post) Everyone here calls the area Six Lakes because there are... That's right, about 100 small to medium sized lakes with fish that beg to be caught. Wall Eye and Northern Pike that fight each other to gobble down your hook. These are no ordinary small fish either, they average about 30 inches long. You have to go camping with a small army just to justify filleting one of these beauties. Of course I caught exactly zero fish this trip too. But that is because I did not do any fishing.

We went to ride quads on the sand dunes. Yes, sand dunes, as in Sahara Desert. We have some good friends that put this trip together and invited us (Joseph, Samuel, and I). The ride in starts in town, then a trip up the road to north, past the "bridge to no where," past the end of the pavement, past the newest oil sands plants under construction, to the end of the road. Really, the end of the road. If you want to drive any further north and you have to wait until the winter road is built in late December and by then the temperature is not conducive to riding quads.

You have to pack in everything you need. Everything. And you have to pack out your trash. No one is there to pick up after you. We packed light, taking only what was essential - food, rain gear, and toilet paper.

Joseph with 15 of the 55 gallons of fuel we took in. We brought out about 6 gallons after 2 days.

After riding for over 3 hours, we came to the area we camped in for the night. The forest fire earlier in the year had burned almost everything. Most of the pine trees were either totally burned up, or in some places, the fire moved through so quickly it scorched the needles on part of the tree, but not all. Some areas you could still see the remnants of the fire retardant that the water bombers dropped trying to control the fires. Some areas the ash looked like snow on the ground.

Our camp site was on the east side of a nice lake called Keith Lake, in the middle of a large stand of Birch trees. It was relatively untouched by the fire.

Arrival at Keith Lake.

After dinner, we all crashed and in the morning we played "who could squeeze the last toot out of Joseph." I was not the winner, thankfully.

After another 3 hour ride north, we arrived at the dunes where Joseph and Samuel posed for a portrait.

The dunes are about 100 acres or so of sand with occasionally tufts of prairie grass. No trees, no bushes, rocks, or other things that hinder boys riding with almost total abandon. There were 8 quads and 9 riders. A good time was had by all. We rode up and down hills, some as steep as 60 degrees. the only wreck of the day was when Joseph and Sam were doubled up and they ended up rolling at the top of one hill. No serious injures. Only sore egos.

Smile foe the camera.

On the way out, the quad Samuel was riding had a serious mechanical failure. We ended up towing that quad out. Joseph was escorting the youngest rider (11 years old on a small 80 cc machine without lights) I offered to trade machines with Samuel because being towed out is no fun at all. Samuel was all too happy to trade places with me, and here is why:

After about 50 kilometers, we reached the trucks and trailers. I had received the best micro-derm abrasion treatment you could possibly imagine. Sand kicked up from the tires of the towing quad in front of me mixed with the cold rain that started to fall steadily. I was soaked to the bone, and the sand was caked on about 1/4-inch thick. That is no exaggeration, 1/4-inch. I could not see anything. I only concentrated on keeping the tail ight of the tow vehicle centered in my handle bars so I would not cause him to skid.

We loaded up the quads, and drove home, arriving about midnight. Was it worth it? Absolutely. Would we do it again? Absolutely. Would I trade places with Samuel again? Absolutely not. He is on his own next time.

Hopefully next trip will be for more than one night, and will include a little fishing.

to be continued...

BTW

All three of you that read this blog occasionally already know that Jacob was married to Brittany Bennion of Casper Wyoming, on August 27th because you were at the sealing. We are very happy for Jacob and Brittany. We would show you some really great photos of the happy event, and the other festivities surrounding the wedding, but we don't have any. You see, they are TOP SECRET, and we do not want any trouble with the feds. At least I think they are top secret because no one will send us any of the photos they may or may not have. We did have a camera with us for the trip from Fort Mac to SLC for the wedding, but we did not have the charger for the camera, and the camera uses a special battery (no slipping out to 7-11 for new batteries)

We did get to see almost all our family from all over the States, which was really cool. Of course we ate and ate and ate - kinda like the pioneers and the walking, according to the primary song. We went to the zoo with the grandsons, and shopped for things not readily available in the frozen north. We really enjoyed the visit with friends from all over the US too.

The main reason for the trip, the wedding, was absolutely beautiful with over 70 friends and family in attendance at the sealing. Brittany's grandfather performed the sealing, and his council to the bride and groom was really loving and kind. J&B are now in school at BYUI, and on the home stretch. She will graduate in April, and he in December 2012. They are doing fine - according to reports, and I am happy to say they have not phoned home to ask for cash or a place to crash for the night because of a .... (complete the sentence using complete and proper grammar. spelling will be graded too.)

to be continued...

Mohawk

Before:

After:

The 2011 Calgary Stampede

Welcome to the Calgary Stampede. This is the premier rodeo in Canada. Joseph and Samuel were invited by thier friend Graeme, who just moved from Fort Mac to Calgary after graduation from high school, to go to the Stampede for a week. They went to several events and concets over the week.

The 3 amigos.

The start of one of the Chuck Wagon Races. Four chuck wagons, fully loaded with barrels of brew, and food bags and boxes, etc. race around the barrels, then around the track. The races are quite a betting format and the prizes are quite large also. This year, sadly, one of the horses had to be put down after a race for a broken leg. I'm glad I'm not a horse.

A high light of the chuck wagon races is the kids event. Go to the video post to see this event. place your bets before you press play. It is a great race, with a fabulous ending.

The 3 amigos, part deux. I guess plaid makes you a cowboy, even with hawian shorts.

Here is a local show band. They were great.

One of the nightly spectaculars to ned the evening. There were shows every night, all different, all amazing.

The week finale.

We may upload more videos later, so stay tuned.

Calgary Stampede Videos

Chuck Wagon Races are probably the biggest event at the Stampede, and the event that most people place wagers on. Teams include wagon drivers, and chase riders. The wagons are loaded with stuff too, and if anything falls out of the wagon, the chase riders have to pick it up and put it back in the wagon before the end of the race, or get a penalty. Things do fall out occasionally, usually in the first part of the race, and it is quite funny to see the efforts made to get stuff back into a moving chuck wagon.

One of the othe great parts of the chuck wagon races is the kids division. Each child must propel the boucy horse and wagon across the finish line. It is really fun to watch:

Helaman's Encampment - part 2

One of the Venturer activities was "Man Tracker." The boys had to bush-whack through unmarked territory to reach predetermined points using GPS devices while evading the "trackers" who were on horseback. As you can see some tried to hide, and did fairly well.
Others did not hide so well, but figured a treat would help them in the long run. Both strategies worked.

Our Venturer group on their tower after reaching the end of the tracker activity and retrieving the goodie bag from the rope above the tower.

On another day the venturers mad various items used by native peoples to hunt for food. These are Adleadles. It is a device used to throw an arrow harder than one can by hand. In the north, in the thick forests where trees grow about 18 inches apart, a bow is not always the handiest weapon. The Adleadle solves the problem of having to string a bow in dense brush by being ready to use in less than a second. I'm not sure how well it works against bear, and I'm not willing to try either. I would rather rely on my friends, Smith and Wesson.

The hair helps the aim.

What do you fix for dinner after a long day in the bush? Why 25 pounds of hot dogs, and 25 pounds of perogies, and 10 pounds of baked beans, of course. And what gets consumed by hungry boys after such a feast is ready to eat? All of it, of course. And what tune gets played after dinner by not only your 21 boys, but all 2500 boys? The fartzel symphony, of course.

Pork and beans:

Perogies and onions and hot dog chunks:

The leaders stood back and watched as the boys, led by Joseph, prepared the feast. We also watched them devour it, saving only a few morsels for us.

Here is Joseph and Helaman. Helaman challenged all the boys of the camp to try to best him in push-ups or arm wrestling. Only a few were able to do so, Joseph being one of them.

Samuel and Helaman. As it turns out Helaman is the brother of a sister in our Ward, so he knew most of our boys from Stake activities.

Through our the week, the boys could approach Helaman, or one of the prophets (the presidents from all the stakes represented at the camp) to answer questions from the scriptures. a successful answer earned you an honour bead. At the end of the week, all the boys that answered all 100 questions correctly took a written test to determine the winner. One of our boys and one of our leaders achieved the 100 beads, and both were "honourable mention" after the test.

Helaman's Encampment - part 1

Helaman's Encampment celebrated 100 years of LDS Boy Scouting in Alberta. In case you are wondering, that is longer than Scouting has been around in the US. The first Scout group was 4 boys under the direction of the uncle of N. Eldon Tanner. Elder Tanner was not one of the original 4 boys, but joined the group about a year later after reaching the age of 12.

As we all entered camp, we were greeted by our guide and led to our camp site. Our Ward group was 21 boys and 7 leaders (including volunteers). Aaronic Priesthood groups from all across Alberta, and some from British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and the Northwest Territories were in attendance. There was even one young man from a town called Slave Lake who traveled on his own to be there. Slave lake suffered a devastating fire that burned more than half the town to the ground less than one month before the camp. This YM lost his home and all his camping gear in the fire, and had to borrow replacement gear for the encampment.

Here is a view of Table Top Mountain, the destination of one of the Venturer Hikes.
Our boys did this hike on the second day in camp. The top of the mountain has a place similar to the diving board on top of Half Dome in Yosemite.

Here is the view out of the front gate of the encampment:

The southern end of Beaver Mines Lake where all the boys, Scouts and Venturers, had water activities. One of our leaders even caught a couple of fish (really more like bait than fish).

The local flora.

Our Scouts getting ready for the canoe activity. One of the boys was afraid of the water (does not know how to swim), but went with one of the instructors. After another couple of boys capsized, the instructor left our boy alone and told him to get back to shore on his own. He did, and won the "scout-of-the-day" award.

Our scouts on their lashed tower, the tallest one built in camp that week.

Our venturers on their "Nephi" boat preparing to "Cross the Great Waters."

No camp is complete without a stick pull or two.

Our Scouts making sheaths for the knives they were given at the encampment. On a lighter note, on the second day, at the daily fireside, the announcement was made for the boys to quit cutting their fingers and put the knives away because the medical unit had used ALL the sutures, and ALL the super glue, and ALL the band aids they had planned to use for the entire week. Not 30 seconds later, one of our boys was on his way to the med tent with a cut on his thumb. His defence? at least it was not his finger.

We enjoyed the fireside speakers every night, and also enjoyed the presentation of the colors (flag raising) ceremonies with the Mountie. To her left is "Tracker", the camp bear chaser. He was busy every night chasing 3 to 4 bears out of camp, and one night had to chase a mountain lion away too.

Helaman had 2000 strippling warriors. We had 2500 Aaronic Priesthood holders, and more than 500 leaders. It truly was an impressive sight, and also great to know that each boy was not alone. There are others in the province that share the gospel, and the priesthood. We were able to see other boys that had once lived in our ward and since moved on to other places.

Here are some of our group with "Big Ed" Mulatani. Ed played with the Rick's College Vikings, the Arizona Sun Devils, and the Baltimore Ravens. He told some stories about his career, Home Teaching, and how his mother taught him the gospel. He also sang "I am a Child of God" and "Teach Me to Walk in the Light" strumming on his ukelele. We also heard from Elder Melchin of the 70, and Elder Gifford Nielson (former BYU and Houston Oiler player) also from the 70. The former General YM Pres and the current General YM Pres also spoke to us at firesides. We were spiritually fed, very well too, I might say.

I cannot adequately express my gratitude for the opportunity to be at camp with my sons and partake of the marvelous spirit of camp and priesthood. Joseph and Samuel are leaders of the YM in our Ward, and I am glad to be their father.