Of Pictures

The Christmas tree is officially up and ready for the holidays.

2011-12-11T17:36:00.001-06:00

Denali was out!!

2011-11-11T13:31:00.001-06:00

The webcam idea is not going to work but I will post some photos of Denali when I get back home near a computer. I was inquiring about a flight seeing tour and while I was doing that I saw what I thought was mount forager. I drove quickly to where I had breakfast earlier and asked where the best place to see the mountain was. I went there and spend about an hour taking pictures. I have plenty. How perfect !!

2011-11-10T21:01:00.001-06:00

So I rolled into the Denali cabins at 5:30ish... About an hour and a half later than I thought. The weather is about 10 degrees and actually doesn't feel as cold as it would in Wisconsin because of the dryness of the climate in Alaska. I called my buddy and will be joining the wedding party in about an hour. I am going to take a walk around the town and see what I can see.

This is where the webcam is located.

2011-11-10T16:10:00.001-06:00

62.32150ºN 150.09802ºWI will try to be there around 2:00 your time....GMHere is the link to the camhttp://www.talkeetnaair.com/web-cam

On my way to AK!

2011-11-10T10:51:00.005-06:00

My very good friend Pete is getting married this weekend on 11/11/11 at 1:11 AK time. I will blog my trip to visit him as I go and post pictures after as I don't have a way to transfer them yet. The blog is being kept primarily to communicate with my school about my trip to Talkeetna, Alaska. I am hoping to find a web cam somewhere in Talkeetna to stand in front of and wave to the classes on Friday around 2:00 pm. I will send the website to some teachers and also post it on this blog....

Right now I am sitting on the plane waiting for a little food and bev service. I should arrive Anchorage around 4:00 Milwaukee time. I will blog again when I get to my Talkeetna cabin...I think I have wifi there.... Ohhhh the food was just wheeled by it smells just like the food in the lunch room. Mmmmm....mmmmmm......good.......

Oh Christmas Tree 2

2009-12-17T14:36:00.002-06:00

It's a beauty

Oh Christmas Tree

2009-12-17T14:34:00.002-06:00

Goofing around(I mean enhancing)

2009-07-17T07:34:00.003-05:00

Japan Continues

2009-07-17T07:19:00.002-05:00

Japan 2009

2009-07-16T07:01:00.005-05:00

Baby Buddha Bibs

Osaka, Dotonbori Bridge

New York City

2009-05-03T06:16:00.003-05:00

A hotel in New York. hmm..

New York City

2009-05-03T05:57:00.004-05:00

Start Spreading the news

Central Park

The Bird, Budapest

2008-12-14T15:20:00.001-06:00

Slovakia, The Vatican

2008-12-14T15:17:00.000-06:00

The Tree 2008 .......Merry Christmas!!!

2008-12-08T22:01:00.004-06:00

Brewer's Sausages Visit

2008-12-08T06:54:00.004-06:00

The real Milwaukee Brewers Sausages visited Shannon's Birthday Party this weekend.

Interestingly enough Shannon is five now, the Chorizo's number, and Kieran is three, the Italian's number..

Poplar Creek cut your own Christmas tree farm.

2008-12-06T10:22:00.003-06:00

We headed out to get the great Dwyer tree for Christmas.

Randy from Poplar Creek Tree Farm took pity on me and brought out the chain saw. God bless Randy.....

We loaded the tree into the truck the best we could, it is a little big. And by big, I mean wide....

Here it is standing proud.

We have the sheet on top so it doesn't scrape the ceiling, this year we cut it perfectly.

Birthday hands

2008-11-27T07:42:00.004-06:00

Me in the Smart Car

2008-10-25T15:11:00.000-05:00

Smart Car in England

2008-10-25T15:00:00.001-05:00

Kerry wanted me to put this picture up to show what kind of car we had in England.

More From the WI Trip

2008-10-11T08:25:00.003-05:00

Door County and River camping

2008-10-11T07:29:00.003-05:00

These pictures are from our trip to door county and also a trip we took down the Wisconsin River in the Kayaks this summer.

Kerry in Door County

Matt in Door County

Kerry by the dells.

Our Primitive Campsite on the Wisconsin River

The Windy City

2008-09-20T07:57:00.000-05:00

Grandpa Ky wants some Cheez-It's

2008-07-30T07:17:00.006-05:00

Hello all,

I have a senior citizen dog named Ky. Last night he wanted some Cheez-Its while I was setting up for a camping trip.

He goes in for the Cheez-It kill. While in there, he just stays in that position until he has eaten all the crackers... about 3-5 minutes... I have about 300 pictures.... : )

These pictures are after he has consumed the Cheez-Its from the box and now wants his old grandpa head out of the box. When he was younger this was no problem. Now that he is 14 1/2(he will tell you, "and a 1/2") he needs a little help. Here he is asking me for the help.

This is a glam shot for his modelling career, he prefers the White Cheddar Cheez-It

Good Old GrandPa Ky.

Frog and Fisherman

2008-07-12T17:10:00.002-05:00

The Flood and the Horicon

2008-07-12T17:08:00.001-05:00

Sharing the Dam......

The Flood of 2008

2008-07-12T08:07:00.003-05:00

Shannon

2008-06-07T07:42:00.002-05:00

Memorial Day

2008-05-31T16:28:00.003-05:00

A Spring Daisy

2008-05-18T14:41:00.000-05:00

Steven's Point Brewery

2008-05-11T16:38:00.000-05:00

Petrin: Communist Memorial

2008-05-04T14:28:00.001-05:00

Cimetiere du Pere Lachaise

2008-04-27T08:00:00.009-05:00

Second snowiest winter season ever!!

2008-03-22T10:58:00.005-05:00

Kieran

2008-03-08T16:08:00.004-06:00

Kieran sure is cute. : )

My New Nikon D50 !!!!

2008-03-08T07:34:00.003-06:00

These were all shot at an iso 1600 speed setting and some have been lightened with iphoto because I didn't know what I was doing at the time. : )

Wind Farm

2008-03-01T17:38:00.002-06:00

A trip to the cottage....

2008-03-01T17:35:00.006-06:00

We took a trip to the cottage today to see how much snow was there....

The Hot Springs

2008-03-01T07:17:00.003-06:00

Here are the Chena Hot Springs.. Outside Temp around -1..
The springs are about 1 1/2 outside of Fairbanks.

Storm 08

2008-02-09T11:41:00.000-06:00

AK blog

2008-02-02T21:37:00.000-06:00

Start looking at the Alaska part of the blog on January 14th and work up from there

The Ice Museum

2008-01-22T18:43:00.001-06:00

We went to the Ice museum the night before I came home.
The ice museum is in the town called Chena Hot Springs.

A knight jousting

A Wedding Chapel

A candle

The whole Museum.

A bear bed .

People can stay in this room for a night. The cost for the room is $525.00 per night. So far they have had 2 people make it the whole night. The bed is made of ice and there are two animal pelts on the bed. I am sure you can bring your own sleeping bag as well. The room is 20 degrees Fahrenheit.

An Igloo

The knights jousting again.

A Glass. : )

Pete, Dolores, and me at the ice bar.

The outside of the ice museum

An ice bed

An ice outhouse

Me in an ice bed

This is outside of the Chena Hot Springs. The frost has covered the trees and the basketball hoop.

Stuck in the ditch, the Museum, and Ester

2008-01-19T14:00:00.000-06:00

I drove Dolores to work today and found a person who had run off the road. We attempted to tow him out but couldn't. The police came and offered to help him but he refused the help and a few hours later he was still in the ditch. Eventually he got the truck out.

Pete took me to the University Museum which was very cool. They had a lot of exhibits including a big Grizzly Bear, and a crazy outhouse. There was also an exhibit on the area that Pete is studying.

Ooooh oh a grizzly.....!!!!!!

Good thing they had an outhouse on premises , the grizzly was scary

The Alaskan Range was out again and I got "a few" Pictures.

In the evening we went to the Blue Loon for dinner which is near Ester, AK. Afterwards Dolores went home and Pete and I went and shot pool in a bar in Ester.

This is a neat car that was parked outside of the Blue Loon in Ester

Here is the pool table where Pete beat me 3-2....

This is where I work on the blog. The place is called Gulliver's and they have free coffee, good bagels, and free WIFI. What else could I want......

Tomorrow we will be going to Chena Hot Springs.

A trip to Santa's house

2008-01-18T13:09:00.001-06:00

This morning the temperature was 10 degrees above zero and it almost felt warm. We had a snow storm last night that left us with 10 inches of snow on the ground this morning.

We had to shovel out which wasn't so bad because the snow is so light and dry up here. While 10 inches of snow overnight might close schools in Wisconsin, in Alaska schools stay open and the streets were all plowed by 8:00 . They don't use salt on the streets because if the snow melted, it would turn straight to ice and the road would be very dangerous. They put pea gravel on the roads which provides some grip. Overall the streets are very snow covered all the time but in good condition for driving.

Today we went to The North Pole to visit Santa and thank him for all the gifts. Unfortunately he wasn't home, I heard he was still in Florida on vacation. We did look around the house and took some pictures. We were very lucky to find Dasher and Prancer in the back yard. I am sure they were resting up from Christmas.

This morning I saw some of the Alaska range from the top of the hill that Pete's school is on.

After the North Pole I went to the Cold Climate Housing Research Center and took a tour of a building that they are using to test different features of construction to maximize energy and keeping the environment clean in the process.

Pete, Dolores and I went to Geraldo's pizza place for dinner. Pete and I discovered Geraldo's when I drove him up to Alaska a few years ago. While we were in Geraldo's we noticed a picture on the wall which is the same picture that I took of Venice and currently have on my family room wall. We took a picture though it is not that clear.

My trip to Nordale Elementary School

2008-01-17T12:45:00.000-06:00

I went to Nordale Elementary School and met with the teacher, the principal, and also some children. The experience was very interesting and the people were very nice. The school has been open for three years. It is state of the art. Interestingly, the support materials and technology are similar to Racine. Both the teachers and the principal gave me books about Alaska and Fairbanks. They would like me to share them with the teachers and students at West Ridge. This is the main entrance to the building . In the background is the main secretaries desk These are wall hangings in the main entrance to the school.

This is the main hallway of the school with classrooms on either side. They have a bunch of tutoring classrooms for the tutoring program and staff that they have. The classrooms have 4-5 computers and they have 3 wireless ibook labs just like the two that we have.

I did recess duty and I have some pictures to prove it. The temperature was 0. Everyone was happy to get outside because they hadn't had recess for the last 5 days.These are a bunch of 4th graders.

Look at the red cheeks : )

The district hires reading tutors to come to schools and tutor students in reading. The position is paid at $12.00 per hour and no benefits. They can only work 15 hours per week.

This is the lunchroom. It is actually one of the smallest lunchrooms that I have seen.

After meeting people in the school, I headed for lunch at a little restaurant called Wolf Run. After lunch I returned to the cottage for a little nap and to wait for Pete and Dolores to have dinner.

I am writing this on 1/17/08. The temperature when I got up this morning was 10 above and we got 10 inches of snow on the ground last night. This is the most snow they have seen in years. The snow is very powdery and light. It is much easier to shovel here than in Racine... Even when we have light snow, it is never this powdery... Today we are going to go to the North Pole and Visit Santa's Workshop. I am going to leave Santa a note thanking him for all the gifts that West Ridge students received. Hopefully he is back from Florida...

Talk to you tomorrow

The weather is breaking !!!!!!

2008-01-16T12:19:00.000-06:00

Well the weather broke today and I saw a few -6 degree temperatures. It really makes a difference. Things work and it is nicer to be outside. Things still freeze like you wouldn't expect because the weather feels so nice. Right now it is 10 below which actually feels pretty good. No hat or gloves needed going in and out of the car. I just looked at the weather report and it said that the high on Saturday will be 21 degrees above zero. I bet we have nicer weather up here than you do in Racine. Here is a picture of 48 below from the other day

Here is the famous outhouse. It has a light in it that helps with keeping it a little warmer when it is 48 below....

I think I have shaken my cold/flu. I keep feeling a little better each day. I went into Fairbanks today to see the Ice Museum. unfortunately it is closed in the winter.

This a statue commemorating the Eskimo/Inuit people who are the native people of this land.

This is downtown Fairbanks.

I went to the Fairbanks historical museum and the dog musher museum which are both in the same building. Both museums are connected and very rustic. The museums told the story of a great flood in Fairbanks in 1968, and the history of dog mushing. Mostly pictures but some small exhibits as well.

The Dog Mushing Museum.

I also took a picture of the daily news miner building where the web cam is. I took the picture from the opposite direction, facing the web cam.

I went to the Water Wagon where a lot of people get water for their houses. Some people put the water in big tanks that they keep in the back of their trucks. We fill five gallon jugs and keep them on the sink. Under the sink is a five gallon bucket to catch the waste water. I just did the dishes and I had to heat the water on the stove to make the soapy wash water. I noticed that the waste water bucket was close to full so I had to take it out to the woods and empty it.

We went to see a show called African Footprints. The group is an African Dance show that is starting their US tour here in Alaska. They flew up on the same plane as I did. I sat next to one of the guys and spoke with him on the way up to Fairbanks. He told me that they had to travel three days to get there. I can't imagine what it would be like to come from a place like Africa to Alaska where it is 40 below zero... They are on their way to New Jersey now...

48 below and the outhouse

2008-01-15T12:29:00.000-06:00

Well I have had two big experiences here. I have felt what 48 below feels like and also what it is like to use an outhouse in 48 below. Forty-eight below is so cold that it is beyond words.... The difference between 20 below and 48 below is significant enough that 20 below feels better than 48 below. Not great, but better.

So while I don't have any good pictures of the outhouse yet I can tell you a couple rules about using an outhouse in really cold weather.

Make sure that you bring toilet paper from inside. This may sound funny but while there is toilet paper in the outhouse, it is 48 below zero. The paper that you bring from the house is a little warmer.
Make sure the outhouse you are using has a Styrofoam seat... They are much warmer than wood slabs or porcelain. I can't even imaging what porcelain would feel like. Brrrr...
Make sure you only use the outhouse if you really have to otherwise find a store to use the public toilet.
Use it fast.

I will stop talking about the gross stuff now...

It is not easy getting daylight outdoor pictures because there is not much daylight to work with.

This is a picture of were Pete and his girlfriend park their cars. To the right of the black truck is a path that goes through the woods to their cabin.

This is the Ice Bridge that runs on the Chena river. The Sun you see is at 12:00p.m. which is as high as the sun gets in the sky.

This is the road around Pete's house. See how the snow is hanging on the trees? The snow will stay there until a wind blows. Most of the time there is no wind in Fairbanks so the trees always have this snow on them. Thanks goodness there isn't any wind. The wind chill would be very dangerous...

This is the Sunset over Fairbanks

Today, I hope to call the person that invited me to visit their school. Tonight we will be going to see African Footprints at the Colosseum.. I am also going to go into downtown Fairbanks to an ice museum and see the rest of the sites..

Oh by the way, the weather is getting better and I might actually see above zero today or tomorrow. The forecast changes everyday so I never know what it will exactly be like... I suppose that is not much different than the "lower forty-eight.

Stay Warm.....

Hello from Fairbanks

2008-01-14T16:25:00.000-06:00

Hello from Fairbanks,

I am finally getting on a network and am able to update you all about my travels to Fairbanks.

I arrived in Fairbanks on Saturday at 6:00p.m. which is 9:00p.m. your time(just after the Packers beat the Seahawks... Go Pack!!. The temp was about 22 below zero which Pete explained wasn't too bad. (I explained to him that, yes, it is very cold).

We went to the cottage(shack)

after the airport, and then to dinner at Pikes Landing.
This is a picture of a bridge that runs across the Chena River which creates a shortcut from the restaurant.
That night the temperature reached the high 20s below zero. When we returned from dinner we decided to take a short hike to Pete's other cabin. This was a very cold walk that helped me understand what 20 below felt like. We hiked no more than 5 minutes and when we arrived at the cabin I was done being outside. The cold is alright as long as you are not moving. Once you start moving you create wind chill against your skin. My forehead was exposed and by the time I got to the cabin it felt like I had an ice cream headache.

The next day Pete and I went and got coffee and donuts and went back to his place to eat them. It was still 25 below zero and we were expecting the clouds to clear out and the temperature to drop to near 40 below. Here is what it looked like at about 10 in the morning.....This is a picture looking out of Pete's Window.....

Pete, Dolores and I went shopping and then back to the cottage to watch the Giants beat the Cowboys... After the game we went to Dolores's house for mostacolli. We had some mostacolli and noticed that the temperature had gotten to 30 below.

We went to a bank clock to take a picture.

Pete told me that he thought that the temperature would get colder over night so at 4:00 in the morning I woke up and checked the weather and it was 44 below zero.

Pete came over and we got another Picture taken in front of the bank clock.

The clock shows 38 below zero but by the cottage it was 44 below. The cottage is in the valley so it is cooler because the cold air sinks and the warm air rises.

I tried an experiment in the morning. People told me that if you throw water into the air it will evaporate into the air before it hits the ground. Can you guess what happened?

We took some pictures of Fairbanks in the morning when it was 40 below.......

Next on the agenda...

On the plane I sat next to a lady who is a teacher in Fairbanks and she invited me to have a tour of her school.

I also sat next to a guy who was in a show called African Footprints. Hopefully we will see that. I will be doing these two things sometime during the next few days.

I have actually been feeling a bit ill the last two days so tonight we are going to go out to dinner and call it an early night. Plus, it is too cold to go outside much...

I will send an update again tomorrow....

Matt and Kerry New Years at Two Dogs

2008-01-06T15:15:00.001-06:00

Pete

2008-01-06T13:48:00.001-06:00

The 2007 Dwyer/Geiger Christmas Tree

2007-12-10T20:55:00.001-06:00

Ky Socks

2007-12-09T09:47:00.001-06:00

2007-11-25T09:39:00.002-06:00

2007-11-25T09:38:00.004-06:00

Two takes on this picture...

2007-11-25T09:38:00.001-06:00

Winery Napa

2007-11-25T09:37:00.003-06:00

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French Laundry

2007-11-25T09:36:00.001-06:00

Faces on the Wharf

2007-11-25T09:35:00.001-06:00

2007-11-25T09:34:00.003-06:00

Golden Gate

2007-11-25T09:34:00.002-06:00

Vineyard Napa

2007-11-25T09:33:00.003-06:00

Golden Gate

2007-11-25T09:33:00.001-06:00

Painted Ladies

2007-11-25T09:32:00.001-06:00

2007-11-25T09:31:00.004-06:00

Lombard Street

2007-11-25T09:31:00.001-06:00

China Town San Fran

2007-11-25T09:30:00.001-06:00

Fortune Cookies

2007-11-25T09:29:00.001-06:00

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Gellert Baths

2007-11-23T07:29:00.001-06:00

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Fisherman's Bastion

2007-11-23T07:21:00.001-06:00

Krakow/Slovak border Tatras in the distance

2007-11-22T21:46:00.005-06:00

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Peeing Statue Prague

2007-11-22T21:45:00.001-06:00

Auswitz

2007-11-22T21:44:00.001-06:00

Prague

2007-11-22T21:43:00.001-06:00

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Cubist Building

2007-11-22T21:42:00.001-06:00

Lennon Wall

2007-11-22T21:41:00.001-06:00

Coexist

2007-11-22T21:40:00.003-06:00

Krakow Head

2007-11-22T21:40:00.001-06:00

Prague Mushrooms

2007-11-22T21:39:00.001-06:00

Fred and Ginger

2007-11-22T21:37:00.001-06:00

Nuns on the altar

2007-11-21T22:03:00.000-06:00

EU Parliment

2007-11-21T22:02:00.001-06:00

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The Vatican

2007-11-21T22:00:00.003-06:00

Rome

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Koln

2007-11-21T21:58:00.001-06:00

Belgium

2007-11-21T21:57:00.003-06:00