This is actually supposed to be a cowboy song (bum-pa dum-pa dum-pa dum-pa dum, ridin’ over the trail…) But it works nicely as a ringtone.

Frankie Ring

Happy Birthday!! We love you!!! Hope you like the delicious ice-cream brownie sundae we made for you! Much better than cake!

Poor daffodils. It has been a crazy winter with lots of warm weather (for Michigan, anyway). We’ve had a snowy 3 days since I took the previous picture, and now the daffodils are covered! Do you think they will survive the rest of winter?

January 29th

Our daffodils are poking up out of the ground. I took this picture on January 26th. Wow! Of course these flowers have a long few weeks ahead of them…

So last year we ran from East Lansing, MI to Seattle, WA. And this year we hope to add another 2012 miles or more. So the question is where do we run? One idea is to keep running from Seattle and head up to Alaska, eventually making a trek around the world. If we get our 2012+ miles we would get about to Anchorage, and then in the following year we could probably get to the outer edge of Russia. Or, we could keep running but head south, along the coast and run down towards the bottom of the Americas and either come back up the other side or do something else once we got down there. If we did that we would get about to Navajoa, Mexico and then the following year we would likely make it to El Salvador. Or, we could start once again in East Lansing, and head north or east or south or somewhere else. So help us decide before January is done! Thanks!

Its a blowout so far! 3-0-0-0!! All votes so far for around the world!! Im gonna start getting ready for some winter running in alaska. In the mean time, vote if you haven’t! Lets make this a competition!

Who knew?

John Barton had three sons, all of whom rose to fame — Andrew, the eldest and most renowned; Robert, familiarly known among Leith sailor folk as Robin, and by the English, who held him in wholesome dread, as Rob o’ Barton; and John, who was only less celebrated than his two elder brothers. All of them were distinguished naval officers of James IV., and skilled and daring navigators. They fought in many a stubborn sea fight between Norway and the Canaries. The names of all three brothers, and most frequently of all that of Andrew, occur in Andrew Halyburton’s ledger, showing that they traded more or less regularly between Leith and the Low Countries.

Update 1/4/15: The linked page is becoming increasingly wonky, so the entire passage is now reproduced below.

Continue reading →

This just happened…
 
Keep watching until the end, you won’t be disappointed.
 

Having fun trying out koompa.net for our blog.

Update: recital photos added to the “Christmas 2011” set and the photostream.

New images in the “Christmas 2011” set and the photostream.

Its Dec 21 and that means….. its the shortest day of the year! Up here in the north country that means that we have 9 hours, 2 minutes and 8 seconds of sunlight! Its the same for tomorrow too, but then we are on the upswing. Come January 1 we will have gained over 4 minutes with 9 hours, 6 minutes and 10 seconds! I won’t mention that our sun is not rising until 8:10am now. That is quite a few runs in the dark under the stars. Also, it is our lowest solar noon, with sun only at 23.9 degrees above the horizon. We turn the corner Dec 26 when we hit 24.0 once again. Woot! Ah, the days of summer when we are at 70+ degrees above the horizon! But today its getting up to 40F. I know that January is looking to start off very cold (according to the extended forecast) so i will take these mild winter days with a smile.