Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Hurricane Katrina


I've read a ton of stuff on Hurricane Katrina but have had a hard time finding photo's, until now. Thought I'd share them.

I sure feel bad for these people, they deserve all the prayers and help they can get.

This photo came from this slide show of 31 pictures. I also found a few more slideshows...

This slide show has 80 photo's, this one has 22, and this one has 30.

I can't imagine what it must be like down there.

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Search

If you want to search for something on a specific site, just go to blogger Google and type in as an example, 
Bossco site:http://just-our-little-family.blogspot.com/

This search will bring up everytime I've mentioned bossco on my site.

Sunday, August 21, 2005

Gods Love

I'm reminded of Gods love each time I read these verses. Jeremiah 3:19-21 & Hosea 11:1-11 are just so sad, the way He reveals His broken heart really shows how much He loves us even when we've turned from Him. They're my favorite because the verses really show Him like a parent, only better than any parent could ever dream of being. They show His nurturing, His heartbreak, His loyalty, and His rightousness. Especially in Hosea I see His emotions, it really brings Him out of a book and into my heart reading passages like that. He will always love us, so so much, even when we are so undeserving.

Psalms 32:10 (NIV)Many are the woes of the wicked, but the LORD's unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in him.

Psalms 103:16-18
(NIV)
the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD's love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children's children - with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts.


Jeremiah 3:19-21
(NIV)
"I myself said," 'How gladly would I treat you like sons and give you a desirable land, the most beautiful inheritance of any nation.' I thought you would call me 'Father' and not turn away from following me. But like a woman unfaithful to her husband, so you have been unfaithful to me, O house of Israel," declares the LORD. A cry is heard on the barren heights, the weeping and pleading of the people of Israel, because they have perverted their ways and have forgotten the LORD their God.


Jeremiah 31:3
(NIV)
The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.

Hosea 11:1-11
(NIV)
"When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. But the more I called Israel, the further they went from me. They sacrificed to the Baals and they burned incense to images. It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms; but they did not realize it was I who healed them. I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love; I lifted the yoke from their neck and bent down to feed them. Will they not return to Egypt and will not Assyria rule over them because they refuse to repent? Swords will flash in their cities, will destroy the bars of their gates and put an end to their plans. My people are determined to turn from me. Even if they call to the Most High, he will by no means exalt them. "How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I treat you like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboiim? My heart is changed within me; all my compassion is aroused. I will not carry out my fierce anger, nor will I turn and devastate Ephraim. For I am God, and not man - the Holy One among you. I will not come in wrath. They will follow the LORD; he will roar like a lion. When he roars, his children will come trembling from the west. They will come trembling like birds from Egypt, like doves from Assyria. I will settle them in their homes," declares the LORD.


John 3:16
(NASV)
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.


1 Corinthians 13:4-7
(NIV)
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.


1 John 3:16
(NIV)
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.


1 John 4:18
(NIV)
There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

I'm sure there are many more verses showing his love, these are just the ones I know of at the moment.

Saturday, August 20, 2005

More Roadside Attractions

This is one of the last roadside attractions I can think of, maybe Marty will remember more.

Something I use to watch for on the slope was a special kind of flare line. From what I observed they had 4 different kinds. The most common flare line is huge. They sit like an Olympic flame a couple stories high, the GC's and flow stations usually have one or two (always lit). I thought they were sorta neat. The second kind of flare were about one story tall and seem to come in clusters of 3. The third kind sat horizontal and usually came in pairs. Marty just may correct me later on all this.

But my most favorite, and rarely seen all lit up are these. You'll have to click on it to see it closer but there are tons of them, all lined up and lit in a row. They always reminded me of birthday candles. The one bigger flame is one of the horizontal kinds sitting a ways a way from the "birthday candles"


(photo courtesy of Marty)

This is just a small example of how much extra natural gas they have up there that's just burned off because they have nothing better to do with it. What a waste. I bet what you see right there would heat my house for quite a spell this winter.

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

Sunday School

I teach Sunday school on Wednesday nights for the 3-4 age group. Tonight in the middle of the lesson about church one of the kids looks at me and asks with such a tone of doom, "Did you know we die?"

Like a deer in the headlights, I so badly wanted to run but all I could do was stare. Heh, of all the people she sees in a day she asks me. I don't have kids and I've never even thought of a four and half year old asking me this question, but (gulp) ok...

I look and there are 4 other little faces (with 4 sets of huge eyes) looking up at me waiting for an answer. The girl who asked is the oldest in class and very ready to be moved to the next age group, she always has something to say and would be ecstatic if I just moved over and let her teach the class. I should add that she has known about death for over a year and her mother told me no one they know has passed away anywhere near recently. The other 4 are younger, not ready for this stuff and by the looks of it, have never even thought about it... till now. Why this came up on my shift is beyond me.

So I say, "well.... yeah, its ok though hun we all die, but it won't happen for many many years" (I hope) I continued by saying "and we go to Heaven to be with God, which is better then here or anywhere you can imagine. In Heaven we will get to be with God, Jesus, and all our loved ones; we will be happier than we've ever been"

She just stares at me for a few seconds, then exploded into tears. All attempted communication with her after that was useless because she was crying so loudly. I felt horrible, then I look over and the 4 other little ones who are stunned, are just staring at her with their mouths hanging open. Lovely. So the assistant teacher takes the little girl who's bawling into her lap, hugging her, and trying to make her feel better while I did my best get the others through it. I will add that they all were laughing and smiling by the end of class, so you don't think too poorly of me.

I usually try to be prepared by over thinking everything, why on earth have I never thought about getting a question like this?

Sunday, August 14, 2005

Roadside Attractions

On the slope, or in Prudhoe Bay, there are 2 very large sides of the field with 3 Gathering Centers (or Flow Stations) on each side and tons of drill sites all over. When I worked up on the slope with Marty there were certain things that always caught my attention while commuting about the field. I always told myself I would get pictures of the little things that entertained me up there, but we didn’t get a digital camera until about a year an a half after I quit that job. Now that Marty has the old digital camera up there he has been so sweet as to hunt down things he never noticed and/or never found all that entertaining, just for me. I am just jazzed to get the pictures. They are really nothing much, but that whole place is completely flat, with out a single tree and the wildlife isn’t there to entertain at your beck and call. The stuff to do up there is work, eat, and sleep. They do have a movie theatre, swimming pool (that was broke the whole time I worked up there), gyms, and email access. But after working 12 hours a day, 7 days a week all I wanted to do was go to bed after dinner. So it was the little silly things that kept me entertained. These aren’t the only things, but just a couple to start with. I should add that I told Marty he should post these on his website since they are his pictures at his job, but he isn't as into roadside attractions as I am. haha


This is drill site 1. There is only one other drill site that looks like this one. I use to think it was a great building up there because it looks like a semi. It even has headlights. I can say with almost 100% certainty that it was not built to look like a big rig. From what I learned they would build a drill site and then build additions to the building as more wells were added to the site, this one looks like there are 3 add-ons.


Marty and I lived at a camp on the east side of the field called MCC, this lake is right next to it. Apparently somebody else got tired of the scenery and added his own roadside attraction. This is as close as Marty could get to it but every summer the guy who build it would dig it out of storage and put it in the lake for the rest of us to enjoy. I just found out the guy built it just for the slope. I think he did it for free, although not sure of that. I don't know the guys name (I would love to give him credit) but he just retired and the care of the boat has been passed on to someone else. How nice of him to leave it up there. It sits on the water all summer and constantly shoots 4 jets of water out.


I never actually saw this when I was on the slope. Marty saw it and thought I would get a kick out of it. I don't know what its for but Marty said it moves from drill site to drill site, although it doesn't look very movable. I swear this one had to have been built deliberately to look like a train.

Thursday, August 04, 2005

Tornado!


A tornado is seen from Sand Point on Monday in the Aleutian chain, about 600 miles west of Anchorage. Sam Albanese, warning coordination meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Anchorage, confirmed that the funnel cloud was a tornado after talking to residents and seeing photographs.



Tornado spotted near Sand Point is apparently a first

CAPTURED: Twister was photographed touching nearby peaks.


Residents of Sand Point witnessed a weather phenomenon that elders say is a first-time occurrence.
They looked across Popof Strait to nearby Unga Island last week and watched a tornado touch two uninhabited mountains.
"You could see the clouds twisting and debris spinning off of it," said Jaclynne Larsen, 30, a teacher at King Cove who returns to her hometown each summer.
Sand Point, population 908, is on Popof Island, one of a dozen or so Shumagin Islands 570 miles southwest of Anchorage near the tip of the Alaska Peninsula and the start of the Aleutian chain.
Larsen was at home with her mother when a friend, Dwain Foster, alerted them to the funnel cloud. He ran up their stairs and told them to grab their cameras.
Sam Albanese, warning coordination meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Anchorage, confirmed that the funnel cloud was a tornado after talking to residents and seeing photographs. Tornados originate in clouds accompanying severe thunderstorms and touch the ground, unlike water spouts and dust devils, which originate from Earth's surface.
"It's very rare for the Alaska Peninsula," Albanese said.
One reason for the small number of reports of tornados in Alaska is the size of the state and the small population, he said.
"If it has happened, it probably wasn't observed," he said. "We don't really have the means to observe this."
Tornados start in severe thunderstorms, but the National Weather Service's system for detecting lightning strikes does not extend to the area near Sand Point. It's the same story for Weather Service radar, which can alert observers to tornados.
Larsen ran outside with her camera, looked to the southwest and saw the tornado.
"It lifted off one mountain and touched down again on another mountain," she said.
She watched for 15 to 20 minutes.
"It just lifted off of that one and dissipated," she said.
Larsen, 30, had never seen a tornado on the islands. Neither has her mother or grandparents, she said.
Susan Shoemaker, a police department dispatcher and wife of the city's public safety director, was in the parking lot of the Alaska Commercial store when she saw the tornado. She had lived in Kentucky and recognized the funnel cloud.
"We all gawked at it for a while," she said.
Larsen and Shoemaker said the temperature was about 60 degrees and winds were calm. Even more unusual for the island's maritime climate, it was humid and muggy.
Larsen, who teaches first and second grade, will be incorporating the tornado into her science lessons.
"I'm saving the pictures for when we do the weather unit," she said.
"It probably won't happen for another 100 years," Shoemaker said.

I have never heard of a tornado in Alaska. First lightning, now this.