Yello!

I’ve had a request for some news on baby Bandit, the little llama born in early June. As you can see in the pictures that we took today, she is doing well. Evidently the third time really IS a charm and her mama llama finally got the hang of the whole motherhood thing. Mother and child (along with our other two llamas) have enjoyed the summer running in the pasture eating lots of tender, green grass as well as hay bales. We recently ordered a small llama halter so that in a few weeks we can start getting her used to being haltered and worked with.

Francis and I have just returned from three days at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Fun, fun, fun! Even though we are far from being real bikers, we love watching all the bikes, bikers, and excitement that goes along with one of the largest motorcycle rallies anywhere. We camped at the Buffalo Chip and took the bike on a short drive yesterday down to Deadwood to take in the sights. Thursday night we enjoyed hearing Joe Walsh & the James Gang and Ted Nugent in concert. Friday night we spent most of our time at the Full Throttle Saloon which is billed as the largest biker bar. It lived up to it’s reputation with good music, shopping, great food, and lots of varied entertainment. For the third year in a row, we had a great time at the rally. The pictures that follow show Francis and I at our campsite, Francis in front of the flags in tribute to those who have fallen in Iraq, mainstreet Sturgis and one of my favorite bikes at Thunder Road.

Kalie just started her new job last week when the new Runza place opened in Albion. She will work both at the drive-through window and at the counter. Of course Francis, Jenna and I couldn’t resist surprising her on opening day by going through the drive-through. We ordered just one chocolate chip cookie and then snapped her picture when we pulled around the corner and up to the window. After all that, we parked the car and went in and ordered our real meal. The Runza’s were great and it was fun to see Kalie at work on her first day in the fast-food business. She worked every day this week and with her senior year of school starting next week, she’s going to be a busy girl! If there is anyone out there reading this from outside of Nebraska, I may need to explain that a runza sandwich is ground beef and cabbage baked inside of a yeast bread roll. Runza is a Nebraska-based food chain that puts out some good food.

Francis and I recently returned from a week of visiting my brother and sister-in-law, Glenn and Pat and seeing the majestic sights of Alaska. Friends Denny and Shelley went along and we all had a great time. We flew into Anchorage and spent a day seeing the city before boarding the train for Denali National Park. At the park, we took a daylong tour into the heart of the park where we saw moose, caribou, a wolf pack, grizzly and black bears, Dall sheep and red fox. The one thing we were looking forward to seeing, but actually saw very little of, was Denali itself – Mt. McKinley. Evidently the massive moutain is only visible 20% of the time due to the usual cloudy conditions. We saw just a glimpse of it through a small gap in the cloud cover, but even that is more than most of the visitors to the park get to see. Later in the week, we all rode in Glenn’s truck from Anchorage down to Homer where Glenn and Pat live. They built a beautiful log home there a couple of years ago upon their move from Honolulu to Homer. A highlight of the trip was our two days of fishing. Glenn has an awesome boat and the fishing skills to go along with it that made our experience with deep-sea fishing so rewarding. I caught a 32-inch halibut and trolled with the boat while the others caught pink, silver and king salmon. We also caught shark, but released them back as we did with the smaller halibut. Glenn let me drive the boat, which was really fun – especially the second day with 4 foot waves. Pat grilled our catch and it was superb!!! We brought a big box of our frozen fish home, so I hope I can prepare it as well. If any of you ever get the chance to visit Alaska, I heartily recommend it. It was truly amazing to see the tundra, permafrost, glaciers, volcanos, mountains and the ocean all right there together. I can hardly wait to go back!