Christmas with the Reynolds

Unfortunately I was in Seattle for Christmas and did not get to spend it with my family, but I still got a good dose of holiday cheer from the Reynolds family. Gene(my sister's husband's brother, who pilots a Chinook Helicopter(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CH-47_Chinook -if you don't know, now you know) for the Army), his wife Tami(who is also a helicopter pilot), and thier two energetic munchkins, Christian and Abbey, graciously invited me into thier home for Christmas dinner and an impromptu dance a thon.

18 hours a day

Still kicking at sunrise...

Storm Recovery Seattle

There was a strong storm which went through Seattle last week knocking out power to 1.5 million people. A friend of a friend works for a storm relief team called Recovery Logistics Incorporated, which was called to Seattle to help restore the cell phone network, and called Friday at 6pm to see if I would be available to go. I was able, and I met them two hours later with my bags to work all night loading 50 8,000lb diesel generators on to tractor trailers and then headed straight for the airport. We chartered a flight from RDU to Seattle Saturday morning.

In a day and a half we "commandeered(took over without asking)" this parking lot and set up the operation.

I work in the Logistics Command Post. We track the generators, electricians, and truckers, and have been working in 20hr shifts. Needless to say we are exhausted, but everyone is working that hard. We have made huge progress in the past few days, and now I have time to put up a post.

Storm Recovery in Seattle

I am in Seattle doing recovery work for the big storm which knocked out power to 1.5 million people last week. The local news station King 5 ran a story about us on the evening news tonight. Here is a link to the clip.

http://www.king5.com/sharedcontent/VideoPlayer/makeASX.php?title=www.king5.com/ki_122106recoveryco.wmv

dog

Affle Ouse

Elkin Creek Winery

Sarah and I went out to the wine region of NC last night and stayed at Elkin Creek Winery. There are a few little cabins just across the creek which can be rented, which were very nice, but if you want to stay there you should call because they are not listed on the websight.

This is Ryan Hudgins(left) and Head chef Jesse Williams(right). We had a damn good meal. If you are in the area, it is well worth a stop.

www.elkinmill.com

If you look in the background of this pic you can see the brick oven they use to cook this sourdough bread using an eleven year old starter. Yes, it was awesome.