Bishop Hart

For those who get the title of this entry... Yes, on Saturday (27th) I was called to serve as the bishop of the Sitka Ward. By Sunday afternoon I had picked 2 councilors, been set apart and had a big head ache. Oh, I had also removed my beard... see other post.

For those not familiar with the LDS way of doing things, let me give a bit of explanation. We believe that God has a prophet on earth. At this time it is Gordon B. Hinkley. He is the president of the Church. He along with 2 councilors make up the First Presidency of the Church. On the local level we have wards, which are units covering a specific geographical area. Here the Sitka Ward includes all of Sitka. In Utah a ward might be 3 blocks long and 3 blocks wide. In each ward there is a bishopric consisting of the bishop (ie, me now) and 2 councilors. Bigger than the ward is a level referred to as the Stake. This is a group of wards...5-10. Here the Juneau Alaska Stake covers all of the south east from Yakutat to Whitehorse, BC to Wrangell and Petersburg. There is a Stake President with 2 councilors in the Presidency.

All of these positions are non-paid. As a bishop I could spend 20 to 40 hours taking care of church related matters. We don't ask for this opportunity; we are "called". This calling is accomplished by inspiration/revelation to the Stake President and to the First Presidency. I am asked to fill this calling. I have the chance to say no. However, in the Church we as members have a commitment to use our faith in Christ to serve in any way we can. Most bishops serve for a period that can range from 3-6 years. The leadership of the ward or stake comes from the local members, so the former bishop will continue to attend and serve in another way. One of my councilors is also another former bishop who has been serving as scoutmaster.

This is a scary thing to have come to you, but with the support of Lori, the local members, the stake leaders, and the guidance of the Church authorities, I will learn the ropes and do the best job I can. Any questions please ask.

"But Your Feet Show it.. They're Longfellows

Meg and Charles memorized 2 poems each for a poetry competition sponsored by the Arts Council. Locally it was held at one of our coffee shops.. very appropriate.. The winner by a judges panel goes to Anchorage to compete for the state title... then the winner there goes to Washington DC for $50K in scholarships. Most of the kids were part of the Drama/Debate team at Sitka High. Meg took a close second and Charles (who only memorized his poems the day before) did really well himself. Meg will still get to go to Anchorage since the rules say they can send a runner up. That will take place later in March. Let's see... Meg is going to Ketchikan for DDF, Anchorage for DDF, Anchorage for poetry, and Idaho with jazz choir for a jazz festival... all by the end of March... What great opportunities!!!

The Debeat Goes On

This version of the DDF season was our own meet at Sitka High School. Schools from Haines, Ketchikan, Juneau, and Mt. Edgecumbe(here in Sitka) participated with Sitka High. As mentioned before... when any team or group travels here in the southeast the students are housed by the community. We hosted 2 young men from Juneau. One nice thing about these kids is that they all know each other and are friends with many. Lori and I participated in our own way by being judges. Lori did a round of drama.. solos I think, while I did extemp. ( need something basic). We also made sure the kids were fed and comfortable. After the Saturday part of the meet we attended the awards/command performances and then chaperoned at the dance.

Meg and Charles both had another good meet. Charles and his partner, Barret, took 4 in the debate section. Meg had 7 events and was in the finals in 5 of them. She is now 4th overall on the team and will go to the state meet in Anchorage in March. Charles didn't make the state team, but as a freshman did very well. He will go with the team to the regional meet in Ketchikan in February.

A Dog and His Beach

Here in Sitka, even with the ocean right next to us, we have very little in the way of the traditional beach. Around here they are referred to as "rocky" beaches. Our one and only "sandy" beach is only that way when the tide is out and then only about 100 feet wide.

Now compare that with southern California. Just in Long Beach there is a 5+ mile stretch of beach with sand stretching from the water back almost 1/4 mile. As a dog who loves the water, D'Artagnan was in heaven being able to run on the sand, jump in the water, and get knocked over by the waves.

Long Beach and Huntington Beach both have designated areas for "dog beaches". D'Artagnan also loves other dogs. Now he has water, sand, and other dogs. Talk about a happy camper. At Huntington where there are surfing size waves, he got smashed a few times, but always came up looking for more. Since we humans give "people" attributes to animals, you could say that the his face showed ecstasy. Kind of like the old cartoon dog who, when given a treat would pop into the air and float back down with look of pure joy. (yes, that will date some of us).

Disney Week

Every time we go to So. Calif. we go to Disneyland. There must be some law that requires you to do so. Even when we lived there we tried to go once a year. In over 40 years of going to The Magic Kingdom I still feel the "magic" when I go under the train tracks as you enter the park.
The only mistake we made was going the week after the 25th. The park was full and they quit selling tickets at 11am. California Adventure was closed to new people shortly after that. It was the most crowded I can ever remember. Thank goodness for the "FastPass" that give you a time frame for getting into a short line on the "big" rides. We still were able to get on everything we wanted. As usualy it was a long day, but the weather was perfect. Space Mountain was open again, Pirates of the Caribbean had some changes, but not to dramatic, the Haunted House was changed to reflect the "Nightmare Before Christmas" and we don't know if that was a permanent change.

After the StarTours ride Lori wanted to get a picture of me and the kids in one of those "put your face in the movie picture" things. It turned out pretty good. Charles is the hardest to recognize since he was the Samuel L. Jackson Jedi. They had to darken Charles up and he has a bald head.The day after Christmas we went into Hollywood to see "The Lion King" on stage. This was the kids big present this year. It was at the Pantages Theatre and it is a really cool art-deco place. The production was really fun. The costumes were amazing. My mom went with us.

The kids wanted to find a rock-n-rol show to attend while we were there. I found a Ska show at the House of Blues at Downtown Disney. This was the first show Lori had been to with the kids. It was a first-wave Ska band called the Hepcats. First-wave is calypso with R and B plus brass. The current 3rd-wave is ska/punk and still pretty fun. The only down side is that I had to pay $3 to have them hold my camera that I had in my pocket... No pictures allowed.... BUT cellphones were allowed people were still taking picture with their stupid camera phones!!! What a rip-off. We still had a great time.

In addition to all this Disney stuff the kids got as their Christmas Eve video.. Cars. So a very full Disney experience.

Golf Time

Since we have an un finished (and probably never complete) golf course here in Sitka we need to take advantage of playing when we travel. Being in Long Beach for longer than usual gave Richard, Charles and I a chance to play. This is the first trip to L.B. that the boys have even played golf. We played at El Dorado Golf Course. This is where I have played the most due to being on the Millikan High golf team for 2 years and this being our home course. Plus it was the closest to home. The condidtion is much better than way back when because the city leases out the course to a course management company who has done a nice job with all the city courses. We actally played on New Year's day and started after the "twilight" rate (p.m. cheap rate) started. We only played 9 holes and could have played more, but they were tired and hungry and not playing too well. I played to my average self; not bad since I hadn't played since April. Charles lay off showed some and Richard hadn't played for about 4 years. Still we had a great time. It was sunny, about 68 degrees and we were out in "nature".

California Dreamin' or Eating or Something...

One of the good things or bad things in visiting Long Beach is the variety of places to eat. In Sitka we have 3... count them...3 Mexican/Pizza places. The only national places we have are MickeyD's and Subway... so we never eat there when down south... Plus one of our past favorites just reopened and of course we had to go there.
So we had breakfast at Ruby's at the end of the Seal Beach pier, breakfast for my dad's birthday (76th) at IHOP with my Aunt Susan and her husband Bill, lunch at In-N-Out Burger (about 4 times), ice cream twice at Baskin Robbins,
dinner at Bob's Big Boy, and dinner at a nice Indian place in Belmont Shore. Those are the ones I have pictures of... The Mexican food at Baja Sonora is always good as was all the food we bought at the grocery store that Lori cooked for us.

It's a good thing we walked a lot and played tennis, because we need to get rid of some of those good tasting calories.

Beach Weather

Well, here we are in Long Beach visiting my parents. While we are enjoying great weather, sun, warmth, we have committed most of this trip to helping my mom get a little break from my dad. He is in the mid-stages of Alzhiemer's and even though he can do much himself he is dependent on my mom for a lot. So Mom is spending a lot of effort keeping him safe. Our job is to entertain Dad, allow Mom to get out of the house, and to do some chores she needed doing.

We did take a break to go to the local "dog" beach at Belmont Shore. D'Artagnan really enjoyed running on the sand, playing in the water, and the other dogs. In Sitka we have a very small area of sandy beach... at low tide, so he is in heaven. So far the weather has been completely clear and in the mid-60s.