Starr's Cave Delperdangs: June 2009

Wow, how time flies. Its already been a month and a half since I last posted and a lot has happened. The trip up to Alaska went well, thanks to all that babysat our little Eme.!! Deane and I spent some good time with the entire Griffis family as Jerry was on leave from Iraq and had fun running around and loading the Uhaul...it took 2 days to load and 9 days to travel the 3500 miles back to Iowa. It was a good adventure with no major breakdowns. Lots of brats, beer, camping, driving, and we even posted an Iowa plate at the sign village in Watson Lake. We saw quite a bit of wildlife through Yukon and Alberta...we chalked up 5 black bears, 1 grizzly with cubs, a lynx!, wood bison, 5 caribou, a few pronghorns, and one near miss with deer. We drove though Montana to see the old haunts and met up with some friends...thanks again Grant for the hospitality...the checks in the mail. We made it back and didn't want to get in a truck for a long time. Apparently we did a good job as we haven't found any broken items yet. Now we just have tons of boxes to go through.

It was great to get back to see Iowa in June...a lot warmer than Alaska, and a lot greener. I could notice Eme got a little bigger and she is very close to crawling. I would like to say that Amanda and I are the motivation for her to crawl across the room, but it is actually the cat she is most interested in. Since I've been back I've been contacting the NRCS offices locally, sounds like I'll be able to volunteer here in Burlington and maybe get my foot in the door...again. The day camps start here at Starrs Cave next week, so Amanda will have her hands full of kids again. I started a Trees Forever class the other night on native plantings that meets monthly and sounds like that will get my mind gearing towards plants and agriculture again. So all in all, life is good...just have to sell a house in AK and a Blazer...anyone interested??

Eme on the Jubilee