Nathanael Goes 12 and 4 in December
 
In Nathanael's first regular match of the 2006-07 season he faced Sergey Litovkin of Juanita.  BCS Coach Bill Detlor warned me that "Sergey the Russian" was a 4A State Qualifier and that Nate was in for a tough match.  And it was tough.  But amazingly, with just a minute remaining in the final period and trailing 9-2,

Nate won his next four matches including a first place finish at he BCS-hosted As Iron Sharpens Iron tournament. This performance earned him the Eastside Star of the Week selection by The Seattle Times.  

He took 3rd at the Mt. Baker Invitational just before Christmas.  He lost his first match there but then won his next three, including the 3rd place match where he pinned the tall Lake Washington HS wrestler who had defeated him earlier that day.

On December 27th he took 2nd at the Powerhouse Tournament at Lake Roosevelt High School in Coulee City in Eastern Washington (for the second year in a row.) 

His performance so far for BCS has been second only to senior team captain David Del Moro.  Last season these two finished tied for most team points over the season.

My new  Nikon SB-600 speed light has helped me take even more amazing pictures of the wrestlers this season.   

December 14th Storm:  1228 99th Ave NE Blacked Out for 116 Hours

Our power went out, along with millions of other folks in the Pacific Northwest on the evening of December 14th.  It was out for four hours short of five days.  This one tree across 14th Street on top of Clyde Hill gave us a good indicator of when power would be restored.  While it was still there, we didn't expect power.

On Friday I got a shower at home with the last of the warm water in the tank.  SPU was never shut down so I shaved and showered there on Monday and Tuesday.  We have gas heated water for heat but that requires electric pumps to move the water to the basement tank from the garage boiler, thus no in-floor heat.  Our wood stove kept the freezing temperatures outside from causing damage inside.  We also cooked on it.  Nate and I enjoyed watching Brad Pitt in Troy on my laptop, which I had charged at SPU. We went to the Bellevue Downtown Library when we needed to get on the Internet. The girls managed to get a shower at Susan's house since her power came back on Sunday.  Nate showered at BCS after wrestling practice.  When neighbors Ken and Lori Smith got power on Saturday, we ran a wire from their garage to our freezer and microwave.  The cold garage made a fine refrigerator.  All in all, we did a lot better than many folks.  We had lots of food, wood to burn, batteries and candles.  The kids missed only one day of school. Their Christmas break started one day early.  

On the down side, when the rain returned on Wednesday the 20th, we discovered that half of our top roof vent and many shingles had been torn off our roof by the 70 mph wind gusts. (On the night of the storm, the family slept while I stayed up and enjoyed the spectacle, with the highest winds between 11:00PM and 1:00AM.)  Jeanne saw rain dripping down the ceiling fan in the exercise room.  Nancy and Annie, with help from Nathanael, put a temporary patch on the roof (midnight to 2:00AM) on Thursday morning.  I gathered repair supplies while Annie relayed instructions via the walkie-talkie. 

Annie says she was having "way too much fun and spread way too much happiness" fall quarter.  It cost her.  She earned an A- in her favorite class Imaginative Writing, because she asked if she could  turn in her final portfolio a few days late. It's her only non-A in her life.  She got an A in my BUS 1700 Spreadsheets course of course.

It's been great to have her home for the holidays.  On December 30th, she got us all to go the Taproot Theatre production of It's a Wonderful Life, done as a radio play.  It was a wonderful night.
    

Christmas 2006

We observed all of our usual traditions.  (Except we picked our tree off the side of the street up the hill from us.  It was huge storm blown down hemlock.)

I sat Sadie the Golden Retriever from the 27th to the 1st.  And on the 31st I cooked a big ham dinner for my family and the Rutherfords.