Joyce and Scott recently sent this picture which has inspired me to post a short blog. That and the fact that I'm about due to post another one. Afterall, it has been a while.

Pictures are really wonderful. They can evoke many memories. It's hard to believe that Amy was ever that small and that someone's hair was that long (not that it's all that long). Seeing my grandmother and my father in the picture also brings back many happy memories.

I am really grateful for our family and for the great memories we share. I look forward to building on those memories for many years to come.

Everything is bouncing along reasonably well here in the Southland. Mammoth has received its first snowfall of the year (not much, though) and the temperature is a bit cooler today. Fall is in the air (as much as you can say that in Southern California). The days are definately getting shorter. I am now ususally back to the house after my morning bike ride before the sun is really up. During the summer it is awesome to be on top of the Sacred Heart hill and watch the sun come up. It will be a few months until that happens again.

Have a great weekend and be good!

Midnight Roadie?

Is this really proof that Sean is a closet roadie? Pictures don't lie!

Have a great week!

I tried this once and the blog disappeared. Hopefully this one will post. The gist of it is that our new kitchen floor is in. Hopefuly the counter tops will be in next week and then we hope we are off to the races for the finish work. Could it be that the end is in sight? Naw.....

See you all in Park City really soon.

The Kitchen Project is still moving although at what appears to be a slower (snail's) pace. Here are some pictures of the new floor that was put in last week. The counters should show up next week and then we hope things will pick up and move rapidly (?) toward a conclusion. We can only hope.

Logan scores a take down!

This is your lucky day (or perhaps I should say week) - you get TWO blogs from me! This one, however, is really going to be more pictures than anything else. Some of you, I don't know who, have expressed some interest in seeing a bit more of how our kitchen remodel is progressing. To accomadate that wish, here you go. The cabinets are in as I have said. We are also expecting the flooring to go down over the next several days (so you can count on more pictures later this week). In any event, here is what it looks like today. Enjoy, and let us know what you think (that's how we check up to see if anyone is actually looking at this site!).

It has been a little while since I last updated my blog. It seems life has been busy, but I guess we really all need to make a little time for keeping in touch. A lot of water seems to have been flowing under the bridge.

Colette is now out of her cast (two months in a foot cast just wasn’t fun for her at all). The foot is on the mend, although she still has a little bit of a limp (fading really fast). The good news is that we’ll be making a trip to the boot fitter soon to get her a new footbed for her ski boots. How exciting is that? Ski season must be just around the corner – I know because we’ve started to receive all of the ski magazine equipment reviews in the mail! Pray for a big winter!!

Colette and I had to take an unanticipated trip to Memphis and northern Mississippi last week. Her brother, KMac, passed away unexpectedly (heart problem – 43 years old). This was hard on all of us because we loved KMac dearly. He had an unusual ability to enjoy life and make friends with anyone and everyone. He was able to see the humor in anything and always made you smile. We were amazed at how many people came to the funeral from all over the country. Once you became KMac’s friend you were always his friend. He will be greatly missed by those of us who knew and loved him. Our lives are better because of him. I am grateful to know that we will one day see him again. Thanks, KMac, for the years you gave us. We will always have happy memories of you.

Our kitchen remodel is moving forward. Some days progress seems slower than others. The room is now painted and the cabinets are in. The flooring goes down next Monday. We have a garage stacked with more appliances than we know what to do with.

The granite for the counter top should be with the fabricator now so having them installed can’t be too far off – can it? It is really coming together nicely. We are really excited and invite all of you to drop by to see it when it is done. (We are, by the way, getting tired of eating off TV tables in the family room.)

The Jeppsen family reunion is getting near. We have four Seadoos (sp) lined up for Saturday the 1st of September and it looks like we might also have a “speed boat” booked. It should be a lot of fun. We’ll start things off Friday night with Pizza in the Park (everyone can try out the hotel pool in the afternoon or just explore the town of Park City). Check the Land of the Jeppsen blog site tomorrow for more details.

Sean is back from the Air Force. Logan is not sure how to react to having a brother again. If you check Sean’s blog you’ll see pictures of his latest work of art. He has been hard at work painting his old Cannondale mountain bike. It actually came out real nice. You’ve got to love the skull on the head tube!

Kelsey is down to the last few days of her “Nannyship”. I think she’ll be sad when it comes time to leave the “kids” and come back to Utah. She seems to have had a great time in Michigan. Amy’s summer work is also winding down and I think she is looking forward to a little time off.

I know we are sure looking forward to seeing her in Park City.

Eric is in the final stages of preparing for the infamous LOTOJA race the week after the family reunion. Why anyone would want to race on a bicycle for 200 miles in one day is anyone’s guess. Having done it myself once (at a pace much slower than what Eric travels at) I can assure you it is a “suffer fest”.

Sorry for so much miscellaneous rambling. I’m sure there is more that I ought to say – maybe share some deep thoughts or something – but time is short and there is work to be done so keep smiling and “blog on”.

O.K., I'm back. For those of you in the know, we are about to launch into a major remodel of our kitchen. We are at the point of no return and need to select the style of our cabinets. Attached is a picture of two different designs (sorry that I couldn't seem to get a picture that didn't have a light reflection, but hopefully you get the drift). Anyway, we need you all to weigh in on which of the two styles you might favor. Take a look and let us know.

By the way, I hope to have another blog soon with some pictures of our trips to Hawaii and Florida. I've been a bit busy and haven't had a chance to get it done. Soon..

The world as seen at 5:00 a.m. or thereabouts is often dramatically different than what one might observe later in the day after the sun has come out. As you know, the early morning hours often find me on the road on my trusty Canondale bike. Things are different in the wee hours. The world is still at peace and I find it a wonderful time to be alone with my thoughts.

There are few cars on the road and with the exception of one “crazy” newspaper delivery guy (that has seemingly repeatedly tried to run me down, consistently driving on the wrong side of the road with his radio cranked to an unbelievable level on some Spanish music station) the few cars on the road seem to be driven by sane people. Something you can’t say about drivers later in the day.

It seems surprising how much wildlife (and by this I mean animals – the other kind of wildlife is usually out after dark in the evening) is out and about at this time. I regularly encounter deer, ‘possums, coyotes (not the Mexican kind) and the ubiquitous skunk. The deer get just as confused with a bicycle light as they do with a car’s headlights. I have had a number of close calls when deer have dramatically reversed course out of confusion at just the wrong moment. The ‘possums are just fat and slow. The coyotes want nothing to do with me but the skunks, watch out for the skunks!

That “dead skunk lying in the middle of the road stinking to high heaven” is a regular occurrence. A skunk running down the road just as you sail around the corner on your bike isn’t that uncommon either. When that old skunk’s tail is up and bristling, watch out!

So far, in spite of numerous close calls I have managed to avoid disaster. Like this morning. I was riding up the hill just past the Rose Bowl when I noticed something unusual off to the side of the road in the shadows. I foolishly slowed to get a better look and guess what? A highly agitated skunk with his tail up was looking very ready to unleash his defense systems. I’m not sure how I avoided the impending disaster, but I did (Logan might have loved it if I hadn’t). In any event, that probably got my heart beating faster than any of the hills on my ride. Whew!! Bullet dodged!

I hope everyone’s well out there. Stay in touch.

Sean has correctly thrown down the gauntlet and challenged some of us to be better with our blogging. I am responding to the challenge!

It often seems our lives are so common there isn’t much to share. That said, when I ponder it, I realize perhaps things aren’t so routine at all. In considering blog topics I thought you might be interested in my abduction by aliens over the weekend, but no, here in LA that is just too common. It happens up Big Tujunga Canyon all the time. Since I ride my bike there regularly it is bound to happen to me occasionally as well. One needs to take it in stride!

I have been in San Francisco that last two days (there seem to be a lot of aliens roaming the streets there, for sure, for sure!). The weather was nice and I got done what needed to be done so that was a success.

This morning I hopped on my bike at 5:00 a.m. for my usual ride and went sailing down the street. - Note that is very dark at 5:00 a.m... - As I flew around the corner off La Crescenta to Pine Cone my light disappeared! I looked down and there it was pointing straight at the ground and hanging by is battery cable. I stopped looked at the light, hooked it back on its mount and set off once more. Lo and behold! As I whistled past Two Strike Park the light fell off once again and my world went dark. This time I astutely assessed that there was a problem. I beat a hasty retreat to the garage and managed a quick repair, salvaging my ride for the most part. Not that there is any point to this story other than stuff happens.

Mom and I are headed to Mammoth this weekend. The mountain actually received a foot of snow the other day so we will squeeze one last trip out of the season. We’ll share some pictures next week (don’t you just love pictures of Mom, Dad and the dog at play?)

Be good and blog on!!

Yes indeed, I still am in the game. The abominable snowman and his main squeeze had a great trip to Mammoth earlier this week. Spring was very much present on Monday and winter came back on Tuesday - snow (about 6"), wind, fog... all of the fun stuff! We did have a great time though. Check out this self portrait of the "fun couple", not bad for a couple of old coots. Let me know if you actually find this blog. If you do, I might actually try to write something a tad more interesting. Anyway, bring on the snow......

Yes, I'm still in the game.

Check this out. I'm just testing this.

Testing one, two, three, .....

this is a test post to see if I can make this function. If SCJ get's this, you can give me a comment back so I know I'm connecting.