Misc. Pictures to go with the ramblings - more at the links above
For over a decade, I've sent out an annual Email about the Controllable Christmas Lights for Celiac Disease ... but this Clark Griswold-wanna-be finally hung up his Santa Hat in 2014 and it only exists virtually now ... HO-HO-HO! ;-)
But many people have enjoyed the trips/photography/etc. I've mentioned over the years, so I'll continue that ... plus toss in some traditional "what the Komars did this year." If for any reason you'd rather not get my annual "mail-all's", please just let me know and I'm happy to remove 'ya.
As implied by the title, I was incredible lucky in 2016 to see a "few" (like hundreds of thousands!) of penguins on a trip to the South Georgia and Falkland Islands again - be sure to scroll down to the bottom for the videos. While I didn't get a chance to visit Antarctica (click here to see those pics from 2009), a major bonus this time was I got to travel with my wonderful wife Wendy. She continues her extensive travels with other trips this year including the Northern Lights (her pics - well done!), France (ladies bike trip), and Botswana. Her company, Natural Habitat Adventures, was acquired mid-year by Lindblad Expeditions ... the combination of these two wildlife-focused land and sea-based Eco/Adventure travel companies is like peanut butter and chocolate - how many of you are old enough to remember that is two great tastes in one ! ;-)
More mundane things in rough chronological order include a Winter trip to Mission Ridge Ski area for the Dummy Downhill - "Vote for Trump to Jump" was HUUUUGGEE with total carnage as seen in the videos.
Some cool pics/videos of my younger son Kyle (sophomore) playing high school baseball in the Spring and Summer. He also got an upgrade to the Colorado Rockies Room as Cargo joined Tulo on the walls. Doing well with his studies and waking up at 5:40 to go into early to lift weights - I should join him!
My older son Dirk is now a HS Senior and just wrapped up his college applications - sure some of you can relate to how much "fun" that is ... and now we "wait" for the responses - thin (rejection) envelope or thick (acceptance) packet. It was a bit of a challenge reviewing his submissions via a slow satellite Internet connection while on a ship in South Georgia pitching/rolling in the seas ... and Wendy was soooo happy that Dirk waited until almost the last minute before the deadline ... NOT! Picture below is of Dirk and I this summer at the top of Colorado 14'er Mount Democrat - no sign of Hillary up there.
In the Fall, we had a HUUUGGEE peach harvest in 2016 - over 1,500 peaches from just two trees. Thanks to my dumpster diving (kids were horrified I did this at their old Middle School), I was able to minimize branch breaking and after a LOT of picking, peeling, and slicing, we've got frozen peaches for the winter! They were especially good BBQ'ed on a new Costco Grill that I picked up in 2016 - this replaces the "Biggest BBQ Grill" ... ;-)
That's enough rambling for this year - Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,
alek