Track Meet - It must be Spring!

Went over to Mandan Saturday for a middle school track meet. Most of my photos were crappy but this one was of the 2nd place 8th grade 400 meter relay team. I also have a short video of the start of the 8th grade 200 meter final. Hunter is straight ahead in lane 3. I stopped the video about halfway through the race as they were like ants across the field.

Local birds

I took the boys over a coulee to sled in the big new powder and while I was there I caught this Meadowlark in flight.





On the ride back to the house Hunter snapped this pheasant rooster taking off from the snowy hillside.

We've done our best to enjoy the snow day.

More Winter.

So we managed to avert any major flood damage after ice jams caused the Missouri to back up into the city. It started snowing last evening about 7:00 p.m. and as of this morning at 9:00 we'd received 14.5 inches of new snow. Needless to say, we hadn't even gotten rid of the old snow (which has been on the ground continuously since November 5, 2008) so we will easily make April 5 with snow on the ground, and with the kind of year we've had I'm not altogether sure we won't hit May 5, which would be six months of winter. So much for the calendar.
Here's a photo of the famed railroad bridge over the Missouri from about noon today.

Snowboarding Vacation

So we drive to Bozeman over spring break, and the snow is okay for late winter and we all go Saturday, and then Will gets sick and he and Tami stay home and then Luke is getting sick but toughs out Monday only to get wretchedly ill on the way home and is diagnosed with Influenza A at the ER Tuesday night. Now everybody except Hunter is sick. Not the perfect end to a bit of family time.


My only real crash was getting off a chairlift the last run of the first day, and then there was this little mishap while trying to figure out if I could video while boarding:

Rather proud of myself as I didn't swear out loud.

Hunter spent most of his time high on the mountain with his friend Chris doing the black diamonds and tougher blue runs, so one of the only pictures I have of him is of the boredom stage in the Bridger Lodge snack bar.

On Monday Luke was determined to go to the top of Pierre's Knob and board down the Blue trail and if he dared down a short Black diamond run called E. So here is the view from the top looking southeast:

So after an incredibly painful 20 minutes inching down a catwalk we arrive at the deciding point: Do we take the Blue or the Black?

He chose Black, and successfully navigated his first Black Diamond run. Not pretty, not fast, but safe, sound, and successful. Good work, Luke!

So despite the illnesses and Tami having to miss out on a couple of days, it was an okay trip.

Spring break boarding trip to Montana

We are going to Bozeman next weekend to do some spring break recreating. Here is a lousy video of Hunter tonight on his new gear riding the icy hills down the coulee that runs down to the Missouri river. Will post much better video from the mountain next weekend!

8th Grade B1 Champions

Hunter's team won the B1 tourney for the second year in a row. Here are a couple of his free throws.

Valentine's Day Concert

A quick trip to Jamestown yesterday to attend the NDSTA Middle Level Honor Orchestra performance. This was Hunter's last year at this event. Next year as a ninth grader he will go through the high school music contests, and be eligible to play in the All-State Orchestra at that point.

The concert was very good, and pretty well attended considering how far the parent's and extended families had to come as only the bigger towns have strings programs. H was the assistant concertmaster which, barring the incapacitation of the concertmaster, requires no extra effort on his part. He played very well and we were proud.

Celebrating the life....

31 degrees and brilliant sun when we buried the old Dad today. They'd cleared a lot of snow so we had someplace to stand. Every step of this process went smoothly; the visitation at the funeral home on Sunday afternoon, the prayer vigil on Sunday night at St. John's, the funeral today at St. John's, and the burial at Rosehill Cemetery this morning.

The outpouring of sympathy from all our old friends and relatives, the neighbors, the parents of our high school friends, etc. was overwhelming- it helps so much to have someone to hang on to when you're feeling a little lost.

Some of my oldest friends- Hubie and Bob- made it to the funeral. My cousins Keith and Marcia and their spouses from the Altringer side were there. Incredible flashbacks to my youth when we would go to Spiritwood for Christmas, and a few Thanksgivings they came up to Minot.

5 days of bad sleep and too many decisions and trying to make things easier for my Mom, and I'm pretty much out of gas. I'm going back home tonight as the boys have to go back to school tomorrow, and I need to get back to work.

I miss you Daddy.

Love, Shorty

I miss the old man tonight....

I got to Minot late last night, but in time to help Mom, Sue, and Pat finalize Dad's obituary and make a few of the final decisions.

I just wanted to get a few things down when I haven't had time to analyze and reanalyze.

My Dad was a man of his generation: Speak softly and carry a big stick. He wasn't very good at showing emotion and the words were few and far between. He did really soften up as he got older, and the grandkids really pushed him to open up and show more of his big heart.

His was a kind and gentle soul. Always the defender of the underdog, the weak and the lame, he was not a man who coveted things or money. A "good enough" car and a "good enough" house were all you really needed. He was proud of soldiers and admired the military but was greatly bothered by war and the death and destruction that is so common.

He loved his Minnesota Twins and his Minnesota Vikings and was always able to say "there's always next year."

All the Towle's and many members of the extended Towle/Knudson clans will be here this weekend to help us celebrate a life. The funeral will be Monday morning, January 19th.

In the words of Steve Goodman:

"...no one ever knew a more charming creature on this earth than My Old Man."

I got the news today....

I got the news today... My Father, Don, died this afternoon at his home in Minot. He was 82, and had been through a lot of health stuff lately. My mom was at the hospital (working) when the ambulance brought him in. I think he was probably ready to go- no nursing home, no long hospital stay, etc. but it still comes as a shock.

We spent some good family time together over Christmas, and watched his beloved Vikings lose to the Eagles on the Sunday after.