Panoramas!

I was going to buy a small pocket camera to carry at all times so Andrei offered to let me use his since he rarely uses it. I was playing with it today and discovered that it can take panoramic pictures by stitching together up to three pictures that you take in a row! Wow! What fun! So you guys will be guinea pigs. Let me know what you think! Now you can see our mountains as we see them! :) Here are my first attempts to use it. The first and third are of the sunset out front. The middle one is behind the house. If you double click on the picture it will take you to a larger version of it. Then you'll need to use your back button to return to the blog.




The weather continues to be spectacular! It has been so sunny and mild and just delightful! This is definitely my favorite time of year so far! I've been driving Rodney's snow machine a little bit too! What fun!!!! It is a bit big for my taste, but it sure is fun driving all sorts of places! :) You really need to be careful though of where you take it. I've heard plenty of stories of people losing them through the river, on the glacier and in avalanches. This is avalanche season with the warm temperatures and the sun shining on the mountains. The snow becomes unstable and tends to shift if disturbed. Even along the road to Palmer you see a lot of mini-avalanches and rock slides. Maggie says this time of year scares her the most with the rock slides. We may get to really appreciate the lack of guard rails along Long Lake so they can plow off the rocks!

It is nice to be able to see the road signs again! ;) The snow seems to really stick to them and now that it is melting, we can see where we are going again! I'll put the warmth in a perspective that those who know him can appreciate. The other day when we drove to Palmer Andrei was complaining that it was too hot in the car! He wanted me to turn on the AC!!! That sun really does beat down on you up here! I have no idea what causes it, but that sun is STRONG!

We were driving to Palmer for his most recent Volleyball game. The guys played very well, but they lost to the Palmer/Wasilla team in VERY close, very intense games. They'll have another shot at them in about a week when they come out to Glacierview for a game. We'll have the home court advantage then! Surprisingly, despite them having twice as many players as we have, we still had at least 3 times as many supporters as they had at the game on their turf! This is such a tight community it is like everyone is family! There is so much support that it is incredibly touching. The community here isn't big - the community list with phone numbers fits on two sides of an 8 1/2" x 11" piece of paper - but it is certainly close! They pass out the community phone numbers just as a normal course of business! :)

Not much other news right now. Rod VanDaam is feeling a lot better from the virus, but has to go back to the doctor on Friday to see about the fluid around his heart. Rodney's fingers are still bothering him quite a bit, but they are slowly improving. Earl and Elaine are getting back into the swing of things here. I'd made a chicken pot pie for them to eat the day after they came home and inadvertently found the direct route to Earl's heart. He apparently loves chicken pot pie! Let's not tell him that it's about the only thing I cook well! :)