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This year started out with another travel adventure, a trip to Arizona in February. We stayed in Nadine and Marvin's (Kate's sister and brother-in-law) place in Happy Trails until the end of March, and loved it so much that we decided to make the trip again when the weather started to turn. The ladies enjoyed being together for Valentine's day dinner. We found a place we like to stay, and returned this past October. The weather is much milder than Washington, and we think we will continue this as a yearly outing. With a  heavy heart, we sold our travel trailer, thinking that we wouldn't be using it very much with this new plan, plus it was getting very expensive to tow. We also wanted to avoid further depreciation and the traditional Clallam County status symbol of an old travel trailer with blue tarps over it rotting in the yard.

Kate has been busy while we were in Washington dog-sitting: a couple of times on Vashon Island for her brother, and another couple of times for a local breeder, where she cares for a dozen Shelties. Lots of work there! We also had a sleep-over for almost three weeks for Bomber's friend Duke, a long haired Dachshund. He had stayed with us for a couple of weekends prior to that, and the two got along famously. It was with great sadness for all of us to learn that Duke fell ill and passed away this past November, at age three. Only the good die young - he was a very sweet and friendly pup and we all miss him.

Bomber is doing well after we had to have another infected cyst surgically removed. That was difficult for all of us, as he is getting older (10.5 years) and we get concerned when he has to be put under anesthesia. He recovered well, and our happy, peppy puppy is back! Funny how Bomber has changed from a zany 6-month old pup to a mature 10 year old.

This past summer was a working summer for Rik. There was a ton of repairs to be made on the guest house, the lower trim boards on the west side were rotten, and had to be replaced, as did parts of the siding underneath. Some painting and trim replacement was completed as well. Then the same problem on the main house with the bottom trim board. No rest for the weary homeowner... Rik also spent a few weeks working with his friend Jim on a deck project, and next summer he will put all that newly-gained knowledge to replace the deck on the house. Whatever time was left over, Rik spent working on some ham radio events: the Northwest Cup Downhill Bicycle races, The Discovery Marathon, and the CCARC Club's Field Day exercise. A little time was spent on the Leave No Trace Boy Scout weekend, and Rik is serving Sequim Venture Crew 1490 as the Venturing Committee Chair.

Rik went on a motorcycle road trip with his son Erik and friend Ray. We spent eight days on the road, and our goal was to see some terrific scenery and ride three of the AMA's America's 15 Best Motorcycling Roads. Rik and Ray rode from Sequim and met Erik in Issaquah, then all three rode to Idaho for the first night. From there, Rik & Ray rode down Washington Route 129 and Oregon Route 3, from Clarkston, Washington, to Enterprise, Oregon (AMA ride #15), while Erik rode to Walla Walla for a motorcycle repair. Erik met us in La Grande, for night two. From there, we rode back into Idaho and visited the Warhawk Air Museum. Then it was north on U.S. Route 12 through Lolo Pass Idaho and into Montana (AMA ride #9.) We spent two nights in Whitefish MT, and spent the day between riding the Going to the Sun Road through Glacier National Park, Montana (AMA ride #6.) What a spectacular day that was. Returning to Washington on the North Cascade Highway was the final highlight. Rik will is making a movie of the trip, and the preview is on YouTube.

A really fun thing that Rik and Kate did was to go to the Phoenix Zoo Lights display with Nadine and Marvin. This is a spectacular night display of over 3.5 million lights that decorate the zoo, many of which are in the shape of zoo animals. The highlight for us was a camel ride! We rode Dale, a Dromedary who was very friendly and wanted us to pet him after the ride. What an unexpected fun thing, and we didn't even have to travel to Egypt!

Mom and Sharon are doing well, we actually got together for a family portrait. And finally, I guess I would be remiss if I didn't mention that Rik lost thirty pounds this year. Diet and exercise.

PS. If you missed it last year or need a refresher course, check out Kate's Snowflake Factory!

At the start of the new millennium the Dali Lama issued eighteen rules for living. Hover your mouse over the scrolling text to sop scrolling