Palmer Highland Games

Bagpiper at the Palmer Highland Games

    Liz and Walter are some of Mrs. Virginia and Mr. David's camping friends they met earlier in their trip. They decided to head up to Palmer for the Highland Games and the three of us voted and decided to tag along. This would be the Staat's first time seeing clans from Celtic countries compete for various events in skills such as strength, baking, and piping and drumming. I, however, went to a Highland Games two years ago back in North Carolina, but I was excited to see what they had in store for my second visit.

    We arrived a couple hours late because it started at eight am, when we were waking up. But luckily, most events hadn't started yet. The big, heavy men in kilts were in the field warming up with the weight for distance while the musicians with snare drums and bagpipes were tuning.

    We stopped to observe the tuning of the bagpipes until the competition of the men's weight for distance began. Basically, an 28(light hammer) or a 56 pound(heavy hammer) ball on a chain thrown from one hand, whoever throws the farthest wins. I thought that it looked funny because the wind-up to gain momentum consisted of many wacky twists and turns, but they could sure throw that thing far.

     While the men continued the weight for distance, women started the Scottish hammer. Throwing a 12 pound(light hammer) or a 16 pound(heavy hammer) ball on a stick- they competed for the place that could throw it the farthest.

Big guys at the Palmer Highland Games

     Many events went on like this but my two favorite strength events were the weight for height and the caber toss!  The weight for height is a weight(56 pounds) thrown, well, for height. At this Highland Games,you weren't allowed to use a spinning technique so the men had to stand still, throw a weight over their head, backwards, and over the bar. This event is also referred to as Weight Over the Bar, or WOB. Jody Potosky won that event reaching almost 19'6"!

   About halfway through the Highland Games, we decided we were going to get something to eat.  With many vendors to choose from, we settled on German food.  We had spatzel on a stick and schnitzel smothered in onions and cheese.  I thought it was funny that we were eating German food at the Highland Games.

Eating German food at the Scottish Games?

    I think the Caber Toss is just crazy (Mrs. Virginia thinks so too) -- especially considering how big and heavy the pole is. A caber is a little shorter than a telephone pole, and not as big around either, but just to get the idea, the athlete picks up the caber without any assistance, runs forward to gain momentum, stops, and throws. A successful throw includes the caber going end over end straight in front of the athlete. The judge decided how many points the person gets based on two things:

1. If the person flips it and,
2. The angle from how far away the caber from 12:00(straight foward) when it lands.

    Sometimes the case is that nobody can flip the caber and the judges get out a different, smaller or lighter caber, this is why there can be no world or country, but only field records, every caber is a different size.

Caber Toss

     Nearby the Tea Tent, were Celtic Dance Performances. An Irish dance academy with many girls were dancing to upbeat music and afterwards a group called the Midnight Sun Cloggers performed for us with many songs including an acapella piece. 

     The best music I heard all day though, were the bagpipes and snare drums. They had many band competitions and solos, which we unfortunately missed, but the opening of the ceremonies(before Caber Tossing and WOB)  was amazing. Every clan had their own band of pipes and percussion and then they joined together. They played Amazing Grace and Scotland the Brave before leaving us to enjoy the rest of the afternoon.

Morgan's First Post

My first airplane ride by myself!

Hello everyone, my name is Morgan and I'll be writing on Roxanne's blog for the next three and a half weeks.

My first view of Alaska from the airplane window.

My flight from North Carolina to Atlanta was my first time flying. It was really fun, until my next flight that day to Anchorage, Alaska which was eight hours long- and I changed time zones.

Me in the airplane's wheelchair. 

After what seemed like forever, the plane landed safely and I was welcomed by a wonderful greeting committee of two- Mrs. Virginia and Mr. David, who I will be camping with for about a month. I forgot to mention that I am still recovering from a broken ankle from a trampoline accident- hiking in a boot with crutches will be interesting, I will be walking in four days, I can't wait!

Me and part of my welcoming committee

Exciting News!

Dear Friends,

A very dear friend of ours has volunteered to take over Roxanne's blog during the next several weeks. Morgan will be traveling with us in Alaska. She is 13 years old and a very talented writer. We hope you enjoy reading about her travels as much as we will enjoy traveling with her!  We invite you to join us for the adventure!

Roxanne... a Tribute

Roxanne (2001-2016)

We called her the 98-pound Wonder... Circus Dog... Roxanne. She could yodel, hop through hoops, climb ladders, and make a six-foot vertical jump from a sit. She only chased golf balls. She crossed the Arctic Circle six times, traveled over 500,000 miles with us, and loved the smell of bison and bears. She thought horses were big dogs but could never figure out what a little dog was. She hiked hundreds of miles with us and loved to swim in freezing water. She had the courage of a lion. She rode in canoes, ferries, hay wagons,and elevators and laid at my feet at conferences, expos, and restaurants. She was a therapy dog, helping the sick, elderly, and foster youth. She was a Canine Good Citizen and too smart for her own good. She was the quintessential Golden, always loving, gentle, adaptable, and happy. For 14-1/2 years, she brought us love, service, loyalty, and joy... our Roxanne.

Roxanne

Dear Friends,

It has been some time since we posted on Roxanne's blog. We lost our beautiful Golden Girl last year, in May, 2016. Rox was nearly 15 years old. It has been such a sad time without her, but we know we will see her again in Heaven.

Rox's blog will continue. We will have guests to write posts, as well as us. One day we hope to have a new Golden to carry on the blog. Our next post will be a tribute to Roxanne. Then we'll share some exciting news. Thanks for joining us!

The Amazing Honey Bee

Honey bees with pollen on their legs

Honey bees are truly amazing creatures.  They are called the most useful insect in the world.  One third of all the food that we eat is pollinated by honey bees.

Bees gather pollen.  They may visit as many as 50 to 100 flowers each trip.  In the process, they pollinate the flowers and help them to make more fruits and vegetables, like apples, oranges, almonds, and tomatoes. 

They also take nectar from flowers to feed their young.  Bees make honey from nectar.  It takes 5,000 flower visits for bees to make one teaspoon of honey. 

Here is what the inside of our beehive looks like...

Bee keepers raise bees to harvest honey and to pollinate crops.  During the summer, beekeepers take the extra honey that the bees make from the hive.  They cut off the waxy top from the honeycomb and drain the honey into jars.  When we harvest our honey, we'll tell you all about it!

Each beehive colony can have as many as 60,000 bees during the summer.  The colony needs as many bees as possible to gather honey for winter.  They must have at least 70 pounds of honey stored in their hive for the winter months.  Beekeepers must be careful not to take too much honey during harvest so that the bees will have plenty to eat when it is cold.

Bees have been mysteriously dying at an alarming rate over the past few years.  Scientists have become bee detectives to determine why the bees are dying.  If you would like to read more about bee detectives, check out this great book from your library:  The Hive Detectives:  Chronicle of a Honey Bee Catastrophe by Loree Griffin Burns.  

We found some fun activities to help you learn more about bees and honey.  Just click on one of these links:

• Bee Activity Book
• Bee Nutty, Bee Cool, Bee Fit  (learn how healthy honey is to eat!)
• Honey Bee Life Cycle

If you would like to read more about our amazing honey bees, check out this book from your library:  The Life and Times of the Honeybee by Charles Micucci.

Fun Bee Facts

Fun Facts about Bees

• One third of all the food that we eat is pollinated by bees.
• In a bee’s short lifetime, she flies the equivalent of one and one-half times around the circumference of the earth.
• Bees can fly as fast as 15 miles per hour.
• It takes 5,000 flower visits for bees to make one teaspoon of honey.
• A bee can only sting once. When she stings, her stinger remains in her victim’s flesh. She dies shortly thereafter.
• A queen bee can lay up to 3,000 eggs per day.