My Granddad Harold

My Granddad Harold Filleman died last week. He was nearly 89 years old. He was buried today near his home in Duncan, Arizona. I wasn't able to make it home for his service but I did see him about a month ago when I was in Arizona. He was really sick and his body was tired. My Grandmother Jeanette honored him in his wish to remain home and so she cared for him until the end. That selfless act on her part will be something I will always be grateful for.

Some of you had the privilege of meeting my Granddad Harold and you will agree that he was a cowboy's cowboy. I never saw him without his cowboy hat! EVER!! He loved ranching and did just that most of his life. He protected the coast of the United States on horseback during WWII as a member of the US Coast Guard. Even on our last visit with him, he talked about riding his horse on the beach watching for the Japanese. He was father to my dad, Buzz, and his two sisters, HarolDee and Melanie; a step-father to Eddie. There are 13 grandchildren and a slew of great-grandchildren. He loved my Grandmother. You could really see his affection for her as the years went by (or maybe I just noticed it more as I got older).. they loved one another and they cared for each other as well as they were able. My Granddad had a quick, witty sense of humor.

Here are some things that will always remind me of Granddad: tootsie roll banks like he and Jeanette gave us every Christmas; the smell of Marlboro Light cigarettes (he quit YEARS ago but I'll think of my Grandparents every time I smell one of those cigarettes for the rest of my life); "Big Daddy" mexican food; crawdaddy fishing; cattle ranching.. and the list is long.    My cousin Misty said this about him, "He was a real sweetheart and always a gentleman".  In my memory, he will always be tall, strong and genteel.

When we told Kara that Great Grandpa had died, her eyes filled up with tears and she immediately said: "I miss him". Me, too.

Me and Granddad 11/1972

My Granddad and Grandmother Jeanette

Me and Harold cutting the rug at my wedding.  

I could hardly keep up.

The US Coast Guard Hymn

Eternal Father, Lord of hosts,

Watch o’er the men who guard our coasts.

Protect them from the raging seas

And give them light and life and peace.

Grant them from Thy great throne above

The shield and shelter of Thy love.

Psalm 121

I lift up my eyes to the hills-

 where does my help come from?

My help comes from the Lord

 the Maker of heaven and earth

He will not let your foot slip-

 he who watches over you

    will not slumber;

indeed, he who watches over

    Israel

 will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord watches over you-

    the Lord is the shade at your right hand;

the sun will not harm you 

    by day,

nor he moon by night.

The Lord will keep you from all harm-

  he will watch over your life;

the Lord will watch over your 

  coming and going

 both now and forevermore.

"Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner"

In addition to all the catch-up we did last week, we managed to go skiing at Hillberg a couple of times.  I was kind of wondering what an 8 week break in skiing would do for the kids.. I thought we'd be back to square one for sure but I was wrong!  Both Kara and Clay skied better this last week than they have all season.  Here are some pictures of our exploits :)

The view from the top.. Cook inlet and moutain views (sort of).

We were really proud of Kara for ditching her "edgie wedgie", this little thing that you clamp onto the front of kids' skis.. it keeps the skis in a snow-plow so that they're in more control.

Clay-Clay headed down.  He is a total creature of habit.  He went down the same way EVERY TIME.  Knowing him, he probably tried to ski in his old tracks.

Kara and Clayton headed up.  Kara has actually fallen off the chair lift (a short distance, but a good lesson).

Mommy and Clay.  I hate snow gear pictures.  I use my ski poles as a "seat belt" of sorts for Clay.  I can just see him pitching himself off the chair lift in an effort to point out how he's going to jump off one of the picnic table things on the hill.

So I'm a work in progress where skiing (and many other things!) is concerned but until this last week, I thought I was a better skier than my children, certainly better than Clay-Clay.   The kid is like a shot down this ski slope.  He wears his enormous helmet, leans back (poor form) and keeps his skis in permanent "pizza slice" formation and skis STRAIGHT DOWN.  I, on the other hand, am always trying to ski with the correct form as imparted to me by my ski instructor.  I always got a head start on the kids down the hill but, it never failed, about half way down I'd hear my son cackling "HA HA, Mommy!  I'm going to beat you"..  I look over (every time, mind you) and here comes Clay shooting past me singing "Winner, winner, chicken dinner".   Every time, people!!!  I even TRIED to "win" and couldn't make it happen.. even throwing out all my "instruction", I couldn't beat Clay down the hill.  Oh well, gives me something to shoot for next year :) 

Catching up at the Johnson's

It's been a fun week at our house.. Clayton took a couple days off work last week to hang out and get some stuff done at home.  When one is prepared to be away from home for 6 weeks, one generally looks ahead and takes care of one's "to do" list.  However, when one is kept away from home for 6 weeks, it's amazing how stuff stacks up.  Most importantly, Clayton fixed the clothes dryer (sort of sad, wanted a new one) so that towels are no longer taking 4 hours to dry (but I really had my eye on the new dryer that steams clothes!!!).

In addition, Clay-Cay got a MUCH needed hair cut.  Notice Clayton cutting his hair in my bathtub.  I want to say that there is STILL hair in the bathtub that Clayton ASSURES me he is going to clean up.  I'm not holding my breath :)

This is not the greatest picture but it is a snow fort.  The snow is getting a little softer so the kids packed it into plastic containers and made a mini fort.

Kara found time during her spring break week to torment Snackie, our lazy cat.

This is Trooper, our friends' dog. He stayed with us for about 10 days while they were out of town.  It was really fun to have a little dog around the house.  The cats were certainly inconvenienced but we had a ton of fun with Trooper.  He certainly lived up to his name as he tolerated much "love and affection" from my kids and their friends.  We miss him!

Ready, Set.... MUSH!

After 6 L-O-N-G weeks, Clayton and the rest of the 525 made it home yesterday afternoon.  It was the TDY gone wrong, to say the least.  But they're all back and all 14 jets, miracle of miracle, made it back to Elmendorf (the F22s are "fussy").  The volcano that was supposedly keeping them out of Alaska never did anything so the monkeys, I mean people in charge in Hawaii (!?!?) decided to bring all the banished planes and pilots home.  

Today, Saturday, was the ceremonial start of the Iditarod dog sled race.  I know you've all at least heard about it down in the lower 48 :)  It's a 1150 mile race from Wasilla, AK, to Nome, AK.  It takes 10-17 days.  It's QUITE a big deal up here... the mushers are like Alaska's version of a superstar.  It's hard to explain, just take my word for it.. so what they did today was bring all the teams out to do a mini-race through Anchorage.  We took the kids down to the "finish" line and they raced right past us.  The doggies are kind of mangey looking.  I thought they'd be all fat and fluffy but I guess they're dogs of another feather, these working dogs.  Anyway, our kids cheered and waved and it was fun (and cold).

Clay-Clay and one of the first teams.  There are like 12-16 dogs per sled.

The group of us watching the dogs.  A few sleds (who carried paying, sometimes celebrity {Dorothy Hamill} riders) threw candy... but our kids didn't get any.  They liked the candy at the Canada parade so much they heckled other teams.  Not my proudest moment as these guys/gals are practically royalty around here.

I didn't take this picture, it comes from our online newspaper

This is really how the dogs looked jogging past.  They wear little booties and sometimes little cape things.  Obviously, I now want a rescue mushing dog but that's another post for another day.

All of us this morning watching the dogs.  Come to AK the first weekend in March and you, too, can watch the Iditarod dogs mush!!

So now that Clayton is home, we're going to try and make up for some lost time and get some skiing in...  Thanks to everyone who was supportive of my rants while Clayton was gone.  It's good to have him back and to be  "normal" again (ha ha).