It's been snowing...still. Monday was the first day of spring. Work is good. Nothing new to report. Here are some new pictures from work. I have to use one for the newsletter. Which one do you like?

1. Really happy side view


























2. Not so happy side view

























3. Really happy more straight on view






















4. Kind of akward if you look at it too long more straight on view















I know, they all look so wonderful how can you decide. j/k I wish one of them just looked normal! and in answer to the question you all have but haven't asked = yes I have to have the mule deer mount in the background.

What's up? Today was a good Sunday. We went to church and then headed out to Kori's family's house. We wen't for a little bike ride, had some lunch and went horseback riding. It's still a little too cold for horseback riding. Kona did so good to. She kept up and stayed a good distance from the back of the horses. She's growing up to be such a good dog. I'm really tired and my hands and feet are sore from being so cold. Peace out!

the conformed

so, I am making my first post from my brand spankin new computer. That's right I got a lap top. The only bummer about internet is that I get wireless...from the neighbors and the signal strength is really weak. This means I get really slow internet if I get it at all. I'll have to talk to them on monday. The neigbor is Jim from work and since I live on Fish and Game property I'm supposed to be able to pic up on his internet.
It's still cold here. Just when I thought it was going to be spring it snowed again. I left Kona home alone all day yesterday when I went to work for the first time. Everything was fine when I got back which means I'll leave her from now on. Unless she wants to come (jumps in the truck as I'm leaving).

Well I just got home from my grandma's funeral and I don't have any pictures. Yes I brought my camera, but it never left my backpack. oops. Things went well, it started off with me convincing my boss that I could pull things off this weekend without actually being there and me driving down to Utah. The plan was to bring all my dirty laundry to the house, wash it and only take to California what I was going to wear. Well, I got there to late and we left too early so I ended up taking my gigantic summit duffel completely packed with clothes for a 2 day trip to California. Then in the car I got to play business woman and make tons of phone calls and get things situated for when I was gone. We got to my grandma's house and my cousins Beth and Yvonne and my brother Bruce and my mom were there. They had bought tons of ice cream, reeses peanut butter cups, York patties, and a chocolate moose cake. yum! We chatted for a while, ate dinner and went to bed. The next morning the funeral started at 10. However my watch was still on Idaho time so when I woke up at 9:30 I freaked out to see every one else still not ready. It was only 8:30 though and everything went surprisingly smooth. We had some gorgeous flower arrangements and my grandma had a cute casket that had pink lining with flowers embroidered. I don't think I like open casket funerals. I like to remember the person for who they are to me. Not laying with a straight face and discolored skin in a box. That's not my grandma. I just don't like it. Maybe it gives some people closure though. Being in her house without her was enough closure for me. My mom was supposed to sing a duet in the beginning but the lady that was singing with her has the flu. So Bruce, Sterling and I were forced to get up and sing with her right there on the spot. And in case anyone was wondering I have a sore throat and can barely talk...let alone sing and hit notes! But believe it or not my mom has done more embarrassing things than that to me so I got up and we gave it our best effort. Then it was sharing time and my mom got up first. I was planning on sharing but my mom started to cry and it started me and I decided I couldn't do it. Then Sterling got up and he made me laugh so I decided I'd better get up there after him. So has any one ever heard of that directors tactic where they have funny parts of the movie/play right before the sad because if they can get your laughing emotions going they can play off of the fact that you've let your guard down and there's a better chance that you'll cry? Well I'm here to tell you that it's true. I got up and shared a few childhood things and then some more recent memories and lost it at the microphone. I've never been able to do that before. Normally if I start to feel like I'm going to cry I'll close and sit down. Yesterday however I just kept going. Beth even handed me a tissue. I did a couple of other things I usually don't do yesterday to. I got into my mom's makeup bag and I put a bunch of it on before the funeral. Well, I guess it wasn't a lot for most people, but it was the most I've ever put on myself. I wore some coverup because I broke out on my chin and I have dark circles under my eyes (as if coverup really helps that), mascara, eye shadow, eye liner and a little bit of blush. It was kind of fun. Anyways, moving right along. My mom sang a really good solo of the Lord's prayer. She's sung that song forever. I think she has perfected it. After the funeral we had a luncheon and took some pictures and everyone went back to my grandma's house and did paper work and official stuff for hours! We also did a little sorting and giving away of grandma's stuff. I hung out with Beth's kids most of the day but I had a really bad stomach ache so I wasn't too much fun. Then at about 9:30 when everyone left, Sterling and I picked up a couple of his friends and went to anglers Lake and went fishing. We didn't catch anything but it was fun to hang out with Sterling. He knows quite a little bit about fishing and has decided he really likes to teach it. I left at about 11 and he stayed the night there with his friends. I have to admit, I was a little worried about him. When I left his friends were soaking mini marshmallows in lighter fluid, putting them on the end of a stick, lighting them on fire and flinging them. I'm really glad I'm not 15 anymore. We left for Utah early this morning and got home a little after 7. I'll go back to Idaho tomorrow after I take care of a few things here. I left Kona in Idaho with a man named Don. I hope she's ok. I'm sure he'd call if there was a problem. Ok, I know this is really long. Sorry, I hope Brian's not reading it. He hates long stories about other people...oh well though. My throat hurts when I try to talk so it's actually somewhat soothing to be able to communicate painlessly.

Well, life has been getting better as Kona is finally house broken, I found my mailbox, and we're starting to go out on projects at work. I found out there's funky stuff in the water at my house so I'm either going to get a filter or start buying water. Sheesh!

Now I have bad news: my grandmother passed away on the 26th of February. She died peacefully in her sleep and the official cause was congestive heart failure. I'm going to Hemet this weekend to attend her funeral.

On a lighter note, here are some pictures from the fish hatchery.

















Here's a great view of the lake, mostly frozen but the fish still survive. They instinctively go up stream to spawn, so we don't even have to catch them. They swim up these ladders and right inside the hatchery.



















Once they're in side, we sedate them with MS and carry them over to get squeezed. That green tube being used has a needle on the end of it and we put 5-7 psi of pressure inside the fish to get the eggs started. Then we squeeze the rest of the eggs and all the air out by hand. It's most important to get all the air out or the fish will float, and die. 50% of the fish die naturally when they spawn and the rate of death at a hatchery is actually a little less than that. Plus our fertilization rate is higher and it gives us the ability to "grow" fish for other lakes.

















When we're done we send them back out to the lake through this tube that has running water in it.


















Here's a bucket with fish eggs from 7 females in it. After we get it we literally just pull out a bag of sperm, dump it in and stir it up. After about a minute we rinse off the sperm though because we don't really want "slow swimmers" to pass on their jeans. Then we pressurize them to sterilize and put them in trays to incubate. They're very sensitive the first 23 days. They can't dry out, be moved, or exposed to light.

Well, I guess that's a wrap! I'd better get back to work. I have my first evaluation today...I'm a little nervous.