Merry Christmas 2013

A bit late, paper cards were not sent. SORRY!

Merry Christmas From The Skaggs Family (2012)

The holidays are here, and the Skaggs family has been blessed with another year together and many new opportunities.  Plenty of changes in our lifestyle and daily routines keep the important things in perspective.  Here are the highlights of 2012...

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Rodger's activity schedule continues to expand.  He just earned his purple belt in Karate and continues to improve his skills every week.

In his second year of the STEP program (5th grade) Rodger was elected as ASB Treasurer.  After school is Chess Club, and before school is band at Rainier Middle School. where he is learning to play trumpet.  Having three years of piano lessons has him far ahead of his band-mates in music-theory, and using Dad's trumpets means no new instruments to obtain (or larger ones to carry around).  He is also participating in a math competition this winter.


His piano studies have been progressing as well.   He performed two recital pieces this year; a sonatina (Click for the video) and "Crazy Man's Blues (video below).    He also had the opportunity to play a beautifully restored antique Blüthner during a class field trip to the Washington State Capitol.  (Click for the video.)  Next year he will be playing three recital pieces, including Für Elise, of which he played the first theme at his spontaneous recital in Olympia.

Rounding out his artistic ambitions, he played the lead role in the winter play at his school, "The Tortoise vs. The Hare."  (Click for more photos.)






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It's hard to find a starting point to describe Rachael's busy year, so I broke it into groups...

Drama:
Rachael's first play with the Auburn Mountainview Theatre Company last winter was "Final Vinyl" (boogie photo) in which she played multiple roles, including an aspiring musician (what a stretch for her), a "Rockin' Bot," a "Death-Minion Dancer" (her favorite) and "Boogie," a beat-poet / philosopher / hallucination.  MORE PHOTOS

In her second AMTC play this fall, she played "Mrs. Webb" in a musical adaptation of "Our Town,"  (Click for photos) sharing the stage with Chayse (Mr. Webb) a second time.  They were both in the Avenue Kids production of "Aladdin" about three years ago (as was Rodger).

You've heard; "The show must go on!" Rachael takes that seriously, as opening night was less than 24-hours after having reconstructive surgery for a broken hand.  This is nothing new, as she performed in her first-grade talent show within hours of surgery to pin a broken finger.




School:
Is it natural for a teenager to love her school?  She tells me she does when I take her there as the sun is just rising above the cascades, illuminating Mount Rainier differently each morning.  During the fall, she left the house at 6:40am for Jazz Band practice before school.  On days with play rehearsals (Immediately after school) and Marching Band practice or games, she didn't get home until 9:30pm, then again the next day.  Her favorite classes seem to be Japanese and US History, where she is constantly tweaking her website for this "paperless" class (NOTE:  Her website is not exactly politically correct.  I have no idea where she gets that).

Music:
With the complely packed schedule at school, guitar lessons are getting a break.  But on the odd day when there is not a practice or she must wait at school for the next activity, she brings her guitar and jams with friends.

Being in four bands at school provides plenty of music to supply her fix.  For Pep Band at basketball and football games, she plays alto sax, which is also her instrument for jazz band.  She says she hates the sax, but she wanted to be in jazz band, and her middle-school band director had no place for flutes. So, she taught herself a new instrument.  For marching band this season, she volunteered to play sax because there were lots of flutes, and very few saxes at all.  In Wind Ensemble, she continues on flute, but having her hand in a cast created many obvious challenges.  Her alternatives were spending every day in the school library studying music-theory, or dropping her band classes.  She refused to accept either, and engineered a popsicle-stick solution attached to her flute, and continued to participate in Marching Band, carrying the school banner in parades and holding her position (with virtual instrument) during field-show competition.

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Teresa has stepped-up her quilting with a new machine and ambitious projects, already completing two huge bedspreads, plus several smaller projects with Dorothy (Mom/Gma).

She was also approached by her former employer to perform software testing in her area of expertise; home lending.  She is able to do this from home on her own schedule, a few hours at a time, interfacing with the programmers via email and telephone.  This makes it easier to get the kids (and Mom) to their activities and appointments, and eliminates the stresses of a commute to Seattle.  It also provides a sense of contribution beyond self and family that helps to move focus away from the reasons she retired over a year ago.

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After 25 years in local field service with the same company, Donavan is now doing remote technical support for field engineers and customers in the Americas.  The major reasons for this change are more predictable hours, less  chance of further back injury and being able to work remotely from a home-office.  Since the first question everyone seems to ask is; "Are you going to work in your pajamas?" He did this on his first day.  No need to ask (or do it) again.

Although the job is with the same company and supporting similar technology, this is a different area of medical imaging than Don has serviced for so long (cardiac and angiography), so he must be trained on all equipment in this modality (radiography and fluoroscopy) before being able to effectively support it.  He feels like a trainee again, since he is spending more time in North Carolina and Germany than at home.  Usually it is 2-3 weeks away, then 1-3 weeks at home.  Between May and December of this year, he has logged nearly 1000 hours directly related to training.  This condensed schedule was anticipated for the first year of the new job, but it still is hard to be away from the family so much and leave all of the home responsibilites solely up to Teresa without additional support.  One nice part of his last trip to Germany is discovering Bamberg.  It is a 1000 year-old city just north of Nuremburg and Erlangen that was untouched during WWII, and after so many trips in the past 20 years, this was Don's first visit to this nearby gem.  (Click for more photos)

Don's recording studio is coming along.  It has to!  The videos he made for Rachael's marching band and work he did during Rodger's recitals has generated much interest and several new projects.  All of the time spent in hotels over weekends gives him plenty of time to edit, mix and produce tracks recorded on some new audio and video hardware.  A small subsidiary of Silent Knight Productions has also began website development.  It started as a way to showcase the video work, but now has developed and hosted several new sites for external clients, some much more elaborate than a simple webpage.  Click HERE to find samples of audio, video and websites.

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Dorothy (Gma) had many adventures this year.  Last winter, she visited her cousins and childhood friends Barbara (in Stanwood WA) and Betty (in Seattle).  Springtime was a Pacific Northwest tour, with stops to visit family all over Washington, Oregon and Idaho.  Her early summer trip around Eastern Washington didn't turn out as well as she had hoped, ending up in the hospital for a week for some sudden medical issues.

Better fun included a shopping trip to the Seattle waterfront and Pike Place Market, and a visit to Northwest Trek wildlife park.

Her house in Idaho finally sold, and she is once again a full-time resident of Washington State.




Dorothy celebrated her 82nd birthday at the top of the Space Needle, which was her first time.







Another first for Gma was flying!  She is visiting daughter Delynda and her family for several weeks during the holidays.  She says she enjoyed flying, especially how quick it was to get from Seattle to Spokane, and plans to do all of her travelling by airplane from now on.

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That was 2012.  This message was composed before December 21, so if you are reading this after that date, then it appears the Mayans were wrong!  So let's all thank The Lord for another year together and ask Him to bless the one in front of us.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Merry Christmas fromThe Skaggs Family (2011)

If 2010 was the “busy” year, 2011 turned out to be the “new” year for the Skaggs family, with new schools, new hobbies, new toys, new pets, new paths in life, and new outlooks.

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The year started out with the passing of Don’s father, Donald Eugene Skaggs. After a long struggle with Alzheimer’s disease and brain injury, he went home to The Lord on February 4.

Learn more about Donald here.

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Rachael is achieving more fame every day for her acting. She was featured on the cover of the Auburn Parks guide and posters all over the city. She doesn’t care much for it, but they say in showbiz that there is no such thing as bad press.



Rodger composed another original work for piano entitled “Together We Can” that won 3rd place in this year’s “Reflections” contest at the district level. Here is the score and the recording.

Rachael played in a series of concerts at the school. Her band director is the same one that runs the music programs at Mountainview High School, so she is excited about the familiarity with this fall’s transition to the new school.

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In early spring, Teresa’s health took a turn that was expected eventually, but not anxiously anticipated. As part of the progression of her heart condition, it has developed rhythm problems that can cause sudden difficulties. The answer was an ICD, or Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator.  It monitors her heart around the clock, can function as a pacemaker, and will deliver shocks without delay if rhythm problems get out of control. This hasn’t happened yet, but it is there in case it does. Her “personal paramedic” (Teresa named it “Pete”) brings some peace of mind and stress relief.

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Rodger competed in his first karate tournament, taking fourth place in Kata (training forms) and second place in Kumite (fighting).  His school focuses on self-defense and training, not tournament preparation, so it is a great achievement that they swept the trophies for his division. Links above are to videos of his kata and first sparring match.

Rachael played varsity basketball in the spring of her eighth-grade year. The team may not have went undefeated, but Rachael shined whenever they would feed her the ball.  She has played organized basketball since first-grade, but next season, she will be focused on busy high-school music and drama programs, so may not be as active in sports.

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Rodger’s recital piece for the spring was “Mission Impossible” (watch it here) which he also played for his school’s talent show. He got another gig at the annual spaghetti feed and auction, where he provided live dinner-music and attracted the attention of his first rock-star fans.

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We had been discussing a future extended road-trip to the east coast for a while. The main question was how to travel for days and thousands of miles without one of the kids murdering the other. A motorhome seemed like the best solution, but rent or buy? For the length of time we would need it, purchasing a used one seemed to make the most economic sense.

Then a new vacation policy at Don’s work encouraged us to move our plans up a bit, along with realizing that the kids may not want to do it if we let them grow much older. We also wanted to make sure we are all healthy enough to enjoy it. There was still some negotiation involved. Rachael had planned to visit Washington DC this summer with her class, and attend the 5th Avenue Theater’s acting camp in Seattle. Instead, she got a personal trip to Boston, Philadelphia and DC with her favorite history teacher and personal chauffer, as well as tickets to see “Wicked” on Broadway in NYC. Rodger wanted to visit the White House. We had enough time to plan that too, which isn’t as easy as you would think.

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Teresa retired from work in June after 24 years with Washington Federal, for a better chance of improving and maintaining her health. We saw it as a positive change for all of us. Now she can volunteer at school, Don can travel more if needed, and we all benefit from some coordinated meal planning and calendar management.

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Our 25th wedding anniversary was June 21. We celebrated the event in conjunction with Teresa’s parents’ 50th at a gathering in Yakima in July.  Rachael and Rodger performed together for the first time, playing a flute-piano duet that Don arranged just for them, which they learned in just a couple of days. (watch it here)

The anniversary party also launched our road-trip. During the next five weeks, we covered over 8000 miles, 32 states and 18 national parks/monuments. Don maintained a daily web-log of the entire trip including statistics, theme music and lessons learned, which can be viewed here.

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Near the end of the trip, Rachael ditched us in Las Vegas to fly home for Marching Band Camp.  It began a season filled with late-night rainy practices and lots of stories to share with Mom and Dad, who were in Band and Color Guard when they were in high-school.

Don joined the Band Parents Association and also made a video of the season highlights to help celebrate their successes (watch it here) which is already being shown in the middle-schools for recruitment.  

Rachael loves her new school and its possibilities. Music and drama have been her focus, with workshops and auditions for their next musical production. Private flute lessons (at school) will begin shortly and guitar lessons (outside of school) are already starting to click.

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Rodger also started a new school. For the fourth and fifth grades, he was invited to attend the STEP program for gifted students. He takes the bus to a school in downtown Auburn and Teresa volunteers in the classroom each week. Piano lessons and preparation for recital season have resumed. A new karate instructor has also guided him to his yellow-belt.

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In September, Don’s mother Dorothy came to stay with us. The winters are much milder here than in southwest Idaho, giving her a safe place to decide what is next. Her dogs have made themselves at home and are great friends with our other new family member, Chewy, who comes to stay with us from family in Yakima. 

Dorothy and Teresa have been able to help each other keep track of doctor appointments and medication management. We are thrilled to have her with us this winter.

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Other items that just don’t seem to fit into a timeline are Don’s new hobby of wx (weather) hacking, giving him opportunities to void perfectly good warranties and an excuse to hone his programming skills. Two stations are online so far in Auburn and Yakima as well as a dedicated site with live weather conditions at our house.  Rachael calls it "Dad's geek spacestation."  He also keeps threatening to make a studio over the garage with some donated gear and the encouragement of the kids, since their recording session this summer at their Tio's.

Teresa was selected for an exercise study for ICD patients at the University of Washington. She says her commitment to research gives her motivation to exercise, which she might otherwise skip.

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I won’t make any predictions for 2012. We could not have anticipated the events of 2011, so anything for next year would be a wild guess. I hear the world is supposed to end anyway, so why not just try to enjoy whatever comes our way?

All the best and God's love,

The Skaggs Family

Donavan, Teresa, Rachael and Rodger

The Skaggs Family 2011 Vacation, SUMMARY!

No breakdowns or major repairs. No accidents or tickets. No illnesses or serious injuries. Fantastic weather and minimal traffic difficulties. With all of the potential for problems with such a long trip, we have to call this one a resounding success!

A few final notes about the trip…

For the first time in several weeks, it is raining again, to welcome us home I’m sure. Only 0.33" in the past eight hours, but it’s that steady drizzly stuff we usually get around here that keeps the lawn from getting mowed. (I only got about ¼ done before it started coming down.)

 

Teresa retrieved a huge boxload of mail at the post-office today. Among the junk mail and bills was a box from our congressman’s office containing the flags I asked to be flown over the US Capitol on the day we arrived in Washington DC. A couple of 3x5 for the kids as souveniers, and a big 4x6 for the flagpole I want to put up at the front of our property.

  

Speaking of souveniers, here’s a peek at some of the trinkets we collected. Rachael has collected spoons ever since I would bring them home from my travels for her. She needs a new display just for the ones she picked out during this trip.

Rodger decided on hat/lapel pins, and I covered the range-hood of the RV with magnets.  

Teresa picked up a few cookbooks, figuring it would help her in her new career. (Check what she told the newspaper for our anniversary announcement.)

Here are the final statistics for the trip. I hope it answers most of the questions that we have been asked, and provides a little more information than I can usually recall off the top of my head. It should be entertaining at least.

States visited during the Skaggs Family 2011 vacation

Distance and travel days...

• Distance travelled: 8259 miiles
• Average travel day (23): 359 miles
• Longest travel day: 601 miles from Las Vegas NV to Mt. Home ID.
• Shortest travel day: 59 miles from Fishing Bridge WY to Gardiner MT.

Fuel consumption...

• Total fuel purchased: 1109.2 gallons
• Trip average mileage: 7.446 miles/gallon
• Average fuel price: $3.486 (compare to AAA research)
• Highest fuel price: $3.999 at East Warwick Rhode Island on Aug. 2.
• Lowest fuel price: $3.299 at Winslow Arizona on Aug. 15.

Worst traffic...

1. I-90 between Cle Elum and Snoqualmie Pass Washington (accident)
2. I-80 through Joliet Illinois (construction, lane closure)
3. I-95 through southern Maryland and northern Virginia (several disabled trucks)

  Worst road surfaces…

1. New Jersey Turnpike I-95 (toll road). Kidney and back buster. Shook open every cabinet and launched items from sink.
2. Indiana Toll-Road I-90 (toll road). Unfinished repairs in non-construction zones more hazardous than active zones.
3. Massachusetts Turnpike I-90 (toll road). Potholes and asphalt patches.
4. I-95 through Connecticut. 100% construction zone, but no workers present on a tuesday (just lots of troopers writing work-zone double-fines).
5. I-40 in northeastern Arizona. Frost heaves and potholes.

Best road surfaces…
(The thing is that if they are good roads, you shouldn’t notice.)

States, provinces and territories visited (and re-visited)…
Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, (Montana, Wyoming), South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Ontario, New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, (New York), New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, District of Columbia, (Maryland), Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Mississippi, (Tennessee), Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, (Idaho, Oregon, Washington)

National parks, monuments and historic sites visited…

Craters of the Moon Volcanic Monument (ID), Yellowstone National Park (MT, ID, WY), Crazy Horse Monument (SD), Mount Rushmore (SD), Niagara Falls (ONT), Boston Freedom Trail (MA), 9/11 Memorial (NY), Liberty Bell and Independence Hall (PA), Valley Forge National Park (PA), Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial (PA), National Archives (DC), US Supreme Court (DC), The White House (DC), US Capitol Bldg (DC), Meteor Crater Natural Landmark (AZ), Petrified Forest National Park (AZ), Grand Canyon National Park (AZ).

Weather on the road... *

• Average daily high temperature:  89F
• Highest daily temperature:  111F at Las Vegas on August 18.
• Lowest: daily high temperature:  62F at Yellowstone (Old Faithful) on July 20.
• Rainy days on the road (while driving only): 1 (plus 1 shower)
• Rainy days while site-seeing:  1
• Total days (including overnight) with measurable rain (>0.01”):  6
• Total measured rainfall (including overnight):  2.50”

Weather at home... *

• Average daily high temperature:  74.1F
• Highest daily high temperature:   87.2F on August 21 (the day we returned home)
• Lowest daily high temperature:   62.6F on July 25
• Total days with measurable rain (>0.01”) at home:  7
• Total measured rainfall:   0.58” 

That’s right. It rained more while we were on the road than it did at home in the great pacific northwet. Most of it was while driving from Niagara Falls to Gloucester (0.96”) or while we were sleeping or indoors at New York City (0.76”) and that big overnight thunderstorm in Memphis (0.52”).

* (Weather data for home comes from my personal weather station at the house. Temperature data from the road comes from either my weather station on the RV or wunderground.com. Rain data from the road comes from wunderground.com nearest station. Rain data while driving comes from an average of several locations along the route.)

Most used resources during this trip…

• Garmin Nuvi 245WT GPS with traffic reports
• “Exit Now” guidebook (shows RV friendly gas stations, travel centers, food, rest areas, RV dumps, Walmarts, etc.)
• Rand-McNally classic large road atlas
• maps.google.com (distances and surprisingly accurate travel-times, plus aerial views of parking lots and/or access if needed, such as the Las Vegas airport rental car plaza)
• wunderground.com (weather)
• nps.gov (National Park Service)
• rvparkreviews.com (easily locate and evaluate acceptable RV parks in the area before you commit)
• Wal-Mart Supercenters (open 24hrs, RV supplies, and they allow overnight parking in a pinch) 
• Don's brother Dan (a trucker's advice on roads all across the country, available instantly via cellphone)

Best moments of the trip...

• Rodger:  Mount Rushmore, Air and Space Smithsonian, Spy museum in Washington DC.
• Rachael:  "Wicked” on Broadway, Times Square, Grand Canyon.
• Teresa:  9/11 Memorial, Biltmore Estate, Grand Canyon, Visiting family and friends.
• Donavan:  "KA" by Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas, Relaxing final evening in Washington DC, Bicycling in Hastings MN, Spending time with family.

Worst moments of the trip…

• Rodger:  Manhattan crowds and air, Graceland (the boy just ain't an Elvis fan).
• Rachael:  Every morning when we woke her up, Niagara Falls (wet and miserable).
• Teresa:  Bickering kids.  Heat index in Boston, Manhattan and Washington DC.
• Donavan:  Slipping on RV steps in Yellowstone, banging knuckle in Boston subway, the people of the Las Vegas Strip.

This post concludes the travel-blog of the Skaggs Family 2011 vacation. I try to be a very private person, and don’t generally care to share my personal experiences through things like Facebook, Twitter, etc., so this experience has left me feeling a bit exposed. I have seen in the blog-stats that there are many more unique visitors than I expected, and the number seems to grow each day. If you visited this blog more than just once out of curiosity, or if you followed it daily, I would appreciate it if you could leave me a brief confidential note on this feedback form, just so I know with whom I have been sharing our adventures.

Thanks for visiting. Take care and God Bless.

 ~ The Skaggs Family ~

August 21, Day 37: Home At Last!!!

• Miles today:   145
• Trip total:   8259
• Weather:  Scattered clouds.  High 91F near Easton WA.
• Traffic:   2+ hour delay over Snoqualmie Pass from an accident.
• Theme song:  "I'm Going Home" performed by Tim Curry
• Rachionary:  "Bahbublahbluh"  [baw-buh-blaw-bluh] (she's too tylerd from camp to explain it to me)
• Rodgerism:  "Now I'm starting my second vacation."
• Lesson:  Even though it's the end of the trip, trust your instincts and fill up the tank anyway.
• D'oh of the day:  Rodger's piano music (for summer study)
• AWTY?  9

The detour through Yakima meant that we could pick up some things we left there last month without another trip later this week, like Teresa's car and my audio gear from the anniversary party.

Jabberwock is coming home too.  Apparently she put the birdsitters on a new schedule and set of expectations.  If she doesn't get a slice of toast and a fresh piece of broccoli first thing in the morning, she will express her dissatisfaction with the service.

And Jabb has a new friend.  This is Chewy (short for Chewbacca) who is going to come live with us in about a week.  I think he is some sort of poodle mix.  Rachael says he is a wookie.  I don't know if that makes him a woodle or a pookie.

Rachael ditched us in Las Vegas for Marching Band Camp, and Rodger is ditching us in Yakima to hide out in Avo's pool, and wait for his cousin from California to come visit this week.

With no kids, and Teresa driving her own car...

 ...that left just me and Jabb to crank up the jams and fly low (well, in her cage).

Dropping into Ellensburg you get the first views of the Cascade Range and Mt. Stuart.

West of Ellensburg, you can see some of those brand-new wind turbines I mentioned in my political rant the lesson yesterday.  In fairness, I'll bet that 75 years ago someone thought that barn was an eyesore on the mountain skyline too.

Teresa found it ironic that we just travelled over 8000 miles all around the country and didn't hit a traffic jam until we were less than 100 miles from home.  An accident on Interstate-90 just west of Snoqualmie Pass caused a 2+ hour delay.  I'm glad I topped off the fuel in Yakima, even though I had enough to make it home under normal circumstances.  The trip from Yakima to home predictably takes 2.5 hours.  Today it took over 4.5 hours.  I snapped these from the roof of the RV, after being stopped for quite some time.

Some people decided to break out the refreshments and make a party of it.

By the time we reached the summit, traffic was still crawling, and nobody was skiing (oh yeah, it's August).

 

Just west of the summit (where traffic finally opened up again) you can finally see why someone thought Washington should be called "The Evergreen State."  A complete contrast from just 50 miles away in Ellensburg, and for the other 80% of the state east of the Cascades.

Home at last!  It doesn't look like the lawnmower fairy paid us a visit during our absence, but at least the neighbor took care of the tree that had fallen across our driveway (Thanks, Kelly and Tyler).

Rachael made it back safely from Band Camp.  Teresa just picked her up and she was too tired (or tylerd) to even keep her eyes open to tell us how much fun she had.


And that concludes our voyage.  I will compile the statistics and answer the FAQs in a post tomorrow that will close out this blog.  But for now, it's late and I get to sleep in my own bed tonight. 

Goodnight!