Hello World.

I am thinking of getting my blog up again.

Suggestions welcome.

That's all.

Excitement...

Yesterday was an interesting day. Seth started a small fire in the back room with an aerosol critter fogger. It still stinks back there. I would go into more detail but I don't feel especially creative right now.

In the evening things were more relaxing until about 9:30, when a drunk showed up outside. Mind you, Dad was in phoenix all day (and the day before), so Mom called Mr. Hayah for help. The police picked the guy up, and we didn't find anything wrong on the property. It was almost 11 before I got to bed that night. I slept in this morning.

On Monday Dad and I installed my new desk. It's just some plywood covered with hardboard but it is quite nice. It has plenty of room for 30" monitors, speakers, and junk.

Wet!

That is a word that well describes the environment around here about now. The precipitation has not been absent this winter. Much to the contrary. Right now our driveway is what you might call "soupy", and shoveling over a foot of snow off of the B-ball court last night was nothing to laugh at.(No, I did not come close to removing all of the white stuff.) Oh yeah, there was also a crusty layer underneath. And that was before the driveway was soupified. Oh well.

Matt's like of his thumb has been cause for entertainment lately:





Watch at youtube.com

Stuff

Here I post some videos that I have taken around the house. I explain them as I go:

Here Matthew was splashing in the tub:




Watch at youtube.com

The string was soaked in alcohol. The mirror broke when it was dunked in cold water.

Last night we got a few inches of snow. Thanks to the blade on the Toews' pickup, there is not much snow on the driveway.  It was all covered in snow this morning.

Post-earthquake Imagery

Here is a link to some post-earthquake satellite imagery in Haiti:
http://www.google.com/relief/haitiearthquake/#imagery

Not much in this post

Our spot on the globe received another snowfall since my last post and it has stuck around for quite a while. I suppose it can be attributed to the cold weather we've had. Yes, it has been very cold.

The other night Matthew was quite humored:
Watch on Youtube


That's all for now.

The scoop

Lets see... I'm not feeling very inspired  but here goes:

We have had 3 snows now, although one was hardly enough to count as a snow. last night/this morning we got over an inch but it is mostly gone now.

I got my driving permit on the 17^th. I drove from the cattle guard to Leupp on the way home from town in the dark. I have only driven to the post office twice since then.

Matt is growing and eating well. He has been having cold hands, feet and legs; but other than that he is doing well.

Oh yeah, we went wood-cutting on Friday. We go south of Winslow and bring home oak from the national forest. We want to go back soon because we found a stash but we didn't have room for all of it. With oak, you don't have to worry about packing it in, since it is so dense (heavy).

Yesterday we were cutting insulation for the shop. We were using crosscut saws until Mr. Toews broke out the chainsaw. The mess looked a lot like snow.

There's the scoop. Now for the multimedia:

Here's a few pics...

From Misc 11-29-09

And some videos:
Watch on YouTube




That's all folks.

"Normal" life soon!?

We have been traveling a lot this year. I mean a lot. The nice thing is, we don't have travel plans for anytime soon. I have been sick for almost 2 weeks. It started in a minor way sometime around the time we were leaving KS (Sep 30). Once home, it took only a few days to develop into a full flu of some kind. I am on the road to recovery, with lessening cough and congestion. God is good.

I almost got my driving permit yesterday. My "certificate of birth" was inadequate as ID, and so I sit at home with no permit. It is rather odd. We must pay $23 to get something that they will accept without hesitation. Maybe Tuba City MVD will accept it. Oh well, praise the Lord anyway.

Life has certainly been different with Matt around. Mom especially must feel the change. But it is a good change.

Here are some pictures:
Seth with a rabbit^
Look out Daniel, he's get a hammer!^
A prickly picnic supper, TX^

Matthew is Home

Here are some pics and videos of Matt since he's home.

Muslim Demographics

I just watched this video today:
Muslim Demographics
The world is changing...
Maybe the US won't fall to China after all.

Time

If they don't start putting ball bearings in clocks there might be heat damage to the clocks.

It hard to believe that summer is almost here. Time is flying so fast and yet, we are to make the most of our time (Ephesians 5:16). But I don't always use my time in the best way. "But He gives us more grace..." (James 4:6) As the clock spins we wonder how to make the most of every opportunity. How do we spread God's kingdom as we live life? We trust that He will show us.

By now we must be breathing air from halfway around the world, considering all the wind we've been having in the past few days. Everything has been thoroughly sandblasted. However, a couple weeks ago we got ~2 inches of rain (which is quite near the average annual rainfall). One inch was slow and soaking; 1 fell in 20 minutes. (These statements are fairly confidently guessed).

I am behind in my schoolwork due to long travels. I was planing to do algebra through the summer anyway, but I guess I have more to do. My parents are having me do more practical hands on things than bookwork. They are also customizing my work. What I mean is that I am doing more of the things that are fun and easy, e.g. what I likely will do for a living. I like that.

I had better get on with the other aspects of life.
God bless,

-Bryce

Home at Long Last

We Have arrived home from our long journey as of around midnight on Friday morning. It was a blessing to see friends, make new friends and enjoy Christian fellowship. We were gone for over 6 weeks so it is good to be home. Below is a map of out trip. It is not completed yet so stay tuned...


View Spring '09 Route in a larger map

Spring is Here

The winds have picked up very much. To prove my point, here are some pictures:

These were taken a week ago. There are similar conditions today, but not nearly as bad.

We had some snow this week, accompanied by great gusts of wind. Sometimes the snow looked like it was almost falling horizontally instead of down. There wasn't much so it is all gone now for which I am thankful.

Lord-willing, we will be leaving on the morrow for a long round-about journey to Flatland (aka. Kansas). We hope to stop in Albuquerque, and Denver on our way there. Hopefully Dad will be able to do some work there so it could well be a month-long absence from Terrainland (aka. Arizona).

15 is Old

Or at least it rather seems so. I am having back trouble, believe it or not. Hopefully my new insoles help. You know, the jump between 14 and 15 just sounds bigger than the jump between 13 and 14, but that's just a personal opinion.

(If you aren't following, I turned 15 on the 12^th.)

The Toews have all returned from their cross-country trek as of Wednesday night, which is when Nathan arrived from Iowa, where he stayed for a Youth Bible Conference.

This morning Nathan and I rode our bikes down to K-town (Kykotsmovi). It was generally downhill, but I was still tired. See map at bottom.

The weather has been really nice lately, with high temperatures in the mid-60s. Looks like we may get some snow tomorrow though.

View Larger Map

Not exactly "warm and sunny AZ"

Remember the "max. 4 inches" that was forecasted for Hotevilla? It was more like 10"!

Note birds in center.

The trailer was used to haul away some snow.

This past Sunday, the Miller family, as in the week before, had no church members join it for worship.

On Tuesday, January 20 we went hiking with the Toews near Page, AZ in Water Holes Canyon, a 2-hour drive from home. It was amazing! There were places where it was a tight slot canyon, and others where it widened out to a deep wash with 50-100 foot high rock walls. Email me if you want to see the pics. We ate supper at Pizza Hut after going to Horseshoe Bend.

The weekend of the 31st to the 3rd (2:30pm Sat to 9:4 pm Tue.) was spent in Phoenix. We arrived home around 2am Wed. morning.

We are now taking Hopi language lessons from a kind lady living Kykotsmovi, AZ.

The ground is rife with snow right now. Max. 4" is forcasted. Before the sun set there was quite a lot of wind too.

Zoom out to see my placemarks.

View Larger Map

Snowy AZ

We have been coated with light powdery precipitation. Almost all day yesterday it came down. I'm guessing 4 inches or less fell. What's more, it wasn't on the radar map. We caught some air on the sledding/skiing hill. A lot of air was obtained by enlarging a jump that gave you lots of air before we enlarged it. Be warned that it has great potential to be painful on a sled - I speak from experience. OR you might loose your sled like Seth did.

Seth and I playing a game from Uncle Chris.
Seth is wearing his hat from Uncle Nate's.
Sledding and skiing.

Brrr!

It's cold outside. There is snow on the ground. Sunday night the temperature got down to the teens. We are supposed to get more snow, maybe enough to ski on. (-8 ------ I just got interrupted from my post because UPS brought 2 packages of which 1 was a brown-paper covered plywood box that was securely nailed together. I took my handy Leatherman Tool and pulled enough nails to open it. The 2 packages ended up being from Grandpa. ------ Back to my original plan of posting: The weekend before last, we took Grandma to the airport in Phoenix and on the way, we stopped at Tonto Natural Bridge: another postcard place. It was AMAZING and well worth it. It will take too long to explain it in one post so I will post a few pictures:

Tara by a Parry's Agave

This waterfall is under the bridge

Looking out from under the bridge

Again, email me if you want more pics.

Also on our excursion in The Valley we had the opportunity to do some bee-removal, and it was very interesting. The bees were in the wall of a mobile home and filled up the whole space between 2 studs. It was a very strong hive. The only reason that the occupants of the house didn't spray the bees is so that we could have a chance at the honey. There was one problem: the bees were africanized! Sooo... our bee suits did not do the greatest job of keeping the stings away. Dad and I were both stung through our leather gloves and were still swollen a few days later. We got a gallon of honey out of the deal but we only took half of it because Dad was sick of dealing with it - and I don't blame him. It must be noted that Dad did most of the work because I was easily dissuaded from the painful task. I ended up soaking myself with the garden hose and walking down the street to rid myself of the remaining brutes. After squishy shoes and a few strange looks I changed into dry clothes and remained in the house till Dad was done. I had to wear my flannel pajama pants because the only pair of jeans I brought was drenched.

More Holiness Give Me

More holiness give me, More strivings within;
More patience in suff'ring, More sorrow for sin;
More faith in my Saviour, More sense of His care;
More joy in His service, More purpose in prayer.

More gratitude give me, More trust in the Lord;
More pride in His glory, More hope in His Word;
More tears for His sorrows, More pain at His grief;
More meekness in trial, More praise for relief.

More purity give me, More strength to o'ercome;
More freedom from earth-stains, More longings for home;
More fit for the kingdom, More used would I be;
More blessed and holy, More, Saviour, like Thee.
-Philip P. Bliss, 1838-1876

Grandma (Paternal) has been here since the 21st when we brought her home from Denver, CO where we had been for Mom's TMJ treatment. We had dinner with the Hannah family while we were there, as well as going swimming with the Greens and walking ~2 miles across Denver Tech Center. Grandma has been really helpful. The day before yesterday, she washed windows and since she's been here she helped Dad to clean and oil 4 sewing machines. They all work good now. We've had snow and rain so it seems like winter is just about here, if not already.
These pictures are all from our trip to CO. If you want more, e-mail me. The hoar frost is from a road that was supposed to lead through Great Sand Dunes National Park. Streets and Trips for some reason took us on this road that dead-ended at a trail head. I can't remember where exactly but it was beautiful anyway. Maybe I will find out where and post it later.

The Latest Happenings:

I was sorting through a pile of 2x4, 2x6, and 2x8 pieces mixed with sawdust (scraps from a truss factory) on Saturday. It had been setting for a long time and it was wet in the middle as it was not covered. Anyway, I was sorting out the pieces that were big enough to stack with a manure fork, kinda having fun since I hadn't been doing active work like that in a long time, when: ..."Hey, that's a black spider! I wonder if there's a hourglass on its underside!" I took my fork and flipped it over to reveal the red hourglass characteristic of the black widow! Well I found me a stick and got the monster to crawl up on it and headed straight for the shop, where I knew there was some spray...the creature is now dead beside the shop with a larger relative of hers making for a total of 2 deadly spiders. I also found several other spiders positively identifiable as non-deadly, some that were unidentifiable, a few beetles, countless red ants, and 1 wind scorpion. At the time the weather was cold enough that I was wearing a jacket. It wasn't the clearest day from what I can recall but the only change in weather from then till now is that it rained over the weekend and it is sunny now and thus warmer. I have now put my heavy quilt on my bed.
Other things I have been doing lately are:

• Tarping wood
  
• Fixing bikes
• School (which I should finish soon)
• Basketball
• Having a science experiment fail twice
• Reading (including the Bible and In His Steps)
  
• And more

GOD IS GOOD!
Psalm 32-33