Monday, December 31, 2012

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

I´m gonna come home now

If you´ll have me, I´ll come home. Love you all.

Monday, November 12, 2012

Good News!

Punctum Books, out of Brooklyn, has just agreed to publish American versions of two books published in Belgrade by Zarko and myself.

REPETITIONS



VAMPIRES
&
A REASONABLE DICTIONARY

Monday, October 29, 2012

I love NY

BE SAFE TOM AND KELSEY AND BIX!!!!! Lucky thoughts coming your way. http://www.weather.com/news/weather-hurricanes/nyc-evacuation-zones-20121028 and this cute puppy

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

photogenic bunch


Sunday, October 21, 2012

Athlete and Artist




Henry Atigan is 5 Months Old

and beautiful to boot!

Monday, October 1, 2012

From Fairbanks

Thanks, Ben, for the photo and for the sitting-and-dancing video. Saw Henry in a new light. What an expressive face.


Thursday, September 27, 2012

Family


Kelsey just sent this beautiful photo:


And with Sam flying off to Spain this morning, Ben and his family in Fairbanks, Tom and his in Connecticut, and the rest of you busy with your families and careers, I've been thinking about family.

Last night I told Maren and Tim and Sam that I worry about each of you when I can't sleep at night. Sam said "it's not all about you" and Tim asked which one I worry about most and I said Tony and I thought they were right to make fun of me.

Okay, so I'll continue to worry, which is also a form of wishing for the best for you guys. But the flip side is that I'm also very proud of you. I admire you deeply.

In short, worries and admiration and awe and hope add up in some way to love and family.


Sunday, September 16, 2012

Equinox Marathon

Times for the Equinox marathon in Fairbanks (51st out of 297 men and if he had been a woman, Ben would have come in 10th.

Way to go Ben!

47. Rick Johnson, 3:57:23.4;
48. Dustin Madden, 3:57:30.3;
49. Christopher Miles, 3:58:05.6;
50. Edward Debevec, 3:58:21.2;
51. Benjamin Abbott, 3:58:28.0;
52. David Bloom, 3:58:41.7;
53. Myron Dosch, 3:58:47.7;
54. Robert Jordan, 3:59:13.8;

p.s. -- return Nate's phone calls!

equinox: stacking light for the coming darkness

8 feet high, 8 wide


Monday, September 10, 2012

After the end of the world

I dreamt last night that we were all moving into Nate and Ellie's place after breakdown of the world economy. It was kind of like a mix between Waterworld and the Swiss Family Robinson. To get into the family compound you had to climb into a basket and pull yourself up a rope. Inside we all gathered in a cluttered entryway to rifle through the items we had found on the side of the roads. One leather boot. One tennis glove. One frayed bungee.

We had plenty of food and we weren't in fear, in fact it seemed like our biggest problem was just keeping busy. We spent our time growing food and having long dinners around tables made from industrial sized wooden spools.

When everything falls apart I hope we can make this dream happen. Where should we rendez-vous? How will we get in contact with each other? What skills do you each bring to the table?

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Utah County Fair

Ciara won the green jello slurping contest. Kids riding the Berry Go Round. Tracy won first prize for her pencil drawing of an Angel Oak tree. Jake got 2 blue, 1 red and 1 white ribbon, Ciara got 1 white and 3 reds, Regan got 1 blue, 2 red and 1 white for their various medium artwork. We had Lego creations, water color, pencil and pastel.





Rainbow over the prison









Friday, August 24, 2012

Just wanted to say a little thank you to you guys.  Mar and B sweet get together two weeks ago, meant to tell you after but it was way nice to get together.

Dad, thanks for having a birthday party, and thanks lyn for setting it up.  Dad, we've got your present at our house along with some notes from the boys that we forgot to bring to the restaurant.  Love you so much, I helped Daniel Hardman(?) yesterday in the shop switch out a tire.  He works under Sam at UVU.  I don't remember his last name exactly but he lives just at the mouth of Provo canyon by mama chiu's.  He said hi and we had a nice conversation about biking and language while I helped him out.   

On that note the shop is looking for online review and I get a little bonus if you leave one and mention my name in the review.  Not that I don't get paid the big bucks at MDC but a little extra is always appreciated.  If you guys go to here . All you have to do is click on the write a review and tell about your Maddog experience. 

Love you guys and thanks for being our family.  Sam it was nice to see you down at the DJ'ing wonderfulness at Mar's shop.  Best dance party ever. 

Lastly I've talked with some of you about doing a monthly little get together, similar to Grandma's, just an excuse to get together and play, or hang out, or whatever.  When would work with you guys?  Let me know and I'll try set up the first one.  Low pressure like I said just an excuse in our busy lives to reconnect.  Otherwise it can be hard to see each other. 

Simon just started 1st grade at my school and I asked him how it was going and He said, "I fraking love it.  I like the Chinese teacher even though all the other kids hate her." why do they hate her? "well they just don't ever know what she's saying."  Love my kids.  

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Good News!


Wildrides, Wildflowers

Good news this morning from Mark Baily at Torrey House Press. He and his co-manager and editor Kirstin Allen have decided to publish Sam's and my Wildrides, Wildflowers. Here's their website: http://torreyhouse.com .

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Happy Birthday to the BEST dad I could have ever ever imagined. Thank you for teaching me to be true to myself & for loving me no matter what;) Dad, you are amazing, wonderful, and SO LOVED. I Love Love Love YOU.

Happy Birthday Father, I love you I love you, I am proud of you, And I care about what you have to say in conversation or in not conversation. I never felt weird about introducing you to my friends, in fact I have always enjoyed it. You inspire me to be good and to be creative and to work I love you I love you. Here's to another 63 with you. Oh wait, that would mean... hmmm... nevermind. Just I love you

Friday, August 3, 2012

Just found this beauty on the interweb. For everyone who never saw my little band thing. We enjoyed performing too much to really practice, so give it a break. And get sucked into the F dragon experience.

kinda pretty the other night



Sunday, July 22, 2012

Money and the Human fly trap:

Just wanted to put out the disclaimer that this post has two parts.  The first is ol for all readers the second is probably somewhere around 16+ and male readers will understand this in a more intimate way.

Part 1 Money

So on Friday the van ran out of gas and we found out that if you run a Chevy out of gas there is a good chance that you will over heat your fuel pump, in which case you will find a friend with a trailer and tow your car to the mechanics where they will inform you that it is almost 700 dollars to fix.  There's also a chance that your fuel pump will be ok. 
On that afternoon Phin was playing with the rear automatic window and it stopped moving.  After being a little frustrated I proceeded to take the car door apart and see what I could see.  After removing the nice looking part what is revealed is a clear peice of plastic that is tarred around the edges to hold it to the door frame.  Under that are some wires and the metal shell that protects the window.  I unplugged the wires and tested them with my trusty volt meter and found that the required 12v(love google) was there.  I shook what I could and banged a little with the idea that what's good for the TV/VCR/old nintendo is probably good for the car window.  Replugged it in and found that nothing had changed. 
Next thought was that if 12 v is not enough why not give it more power.  I grabbed the extension cord from the garage and six inch lengths of electrical white and black wire(been working on clementines room and I had just snipped this off the night before) and proceeded to insert the black and white wires into the positive and negative holes of the extension wire(I know good idea right?)
These I then very carefully touched to the exposed ends of the motor wires.....


ehhrgekjhsopuer(said the overloaded motor)

nope didn't work, why not try it again?...

lkowegjfpiughw( said the overloaded motor again)

Well why not one or two more times just for good measure...

asfhjgqwgfip....iagsdfilguaig.....akjhgewfyugesiyofga.......akjhfgyuiagyifgaisgfkagilrewfakjsyegfyugaiaweifuyg.

I think I got it.  I removed the wires and replugged the actual wire back on.  Lets turn the key part way and try the switch.

vishhhhhhhhhhhh.(goes the window as it slides smoothly upwards)

Lets put the door back together and happily whistle a tune that cost nothing but some time. 
This fix was much more satisfying then the fuel pump.

Part 2 Human flytrap

Saturday morning I was riding the ridge trail at the top of the alpine loop and was on the last couple of meadows back toward the car after a good 8ish mile ride and the rider in front of my crashed and ended up with his mike in a bush that was issuing yellow jackets like a smashed Cheetos bag.  He ran down the trail and I grabbed his bike for him.  We both moved down the trail.  He said thanks, he was allergic and didn't want to get stung.  He rode off and I took the moment to enjoy the beautiful outdoors by relieving myself while standing over my bike in the middle of the trail.  I love the out of doors, and I love when fluids and solids and gases leave my body.  These two loves fit together wonderfully.

As I reached into my liners to pull out my circumcised friend I noticed that I had a case of surfing wiener.  This is the technical name for when your body feels you are going to hurt yourself so causes everything to retract.  If you are circumcised this also allows you to see what you might have looked like if you had not been circumcised as the head retreats and the foreskin covers. 

This sight always makes me chuckle a little so I did. 

As I shook my self to cause the foreskin to retract I noticed something on my head.  I shook again and realized that I was looking at the most amazing thing ever(insert clever penis joke here).  Somehow earlier in the ride a fly had somehow gotten into my liner and ended up on my head.  What it(the fly) didn't know was that I am one of the very few human flytraps.  My foreskin sensing that it had a meal within easy reach very slowly reached up and trapped the fly between it and my head. 
After 7-8 miles of riding what I uncovered between my foreskin and my head was a very dead but very well preserved fly.  Oh what a death.  I thought of taking a picture but then realized that I frequently give my phone to my students to access the Chinese dictionary app and that I really like my job.

When relating this story to a group of friends the first thing that they asked about was if I had taken a picture.  I told them sadly no.  When I told Ellie she thought that taking a picture would be a horrible idea.   So for the next time the human flytrap dines I would like to take a very informal poll and let you all, my family, decide what I should do. 

Love you guys and lets go for a ride. 

Dad as editor of the blog I give you full rights to remove this post if you deem it inappropriate.  Love you

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Plants

Check it out erryone. My goals in higher education have always centered on being featured in a professionally-produced youtube video. I'm so proud, I can hardly write this without breaking down into fits of a single tear, slowly rolling down my proud cheek.

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

OUTSTANDING

Outstanding Senior Thesis
Department of History
Utah State University
2012


Samuel O. Abbott


congratulations Sam!

Friday, June 29, 2012

Loving the summer

  It has been way too long since we posted. I finally downloaded pictures from my camera to the computer so here are a few of the kids enjoying our yard.
 Clementine is walking now, and she is much happier.  She loves to be outside and her knees have been permanently grass stained over the last few weeks, but maybe it will start to wear off now.
our dandelion princess

Simon is the chick whisperer
Phin wanted this chick to be Ferb

Simon and Phin helped me plant carrots and onions in our spiral garden.

Lemon loves water!



Tuesday, June 19, 2012

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAREN!

as thoughtful as you are beautiful

we're proud to be family!

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Happy F day Dad

The blowing outside my cabin
    and the constant tinkle of windblown mosquito bodies against the window
        remind me how
I love you Pops

I LOVE YOU DAD!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Fathers Day Dad... You truly inspire me to be a better person daily. And, to challenge myself. I LOVE you with ALL I got!!! You are the most wonderful, incredible, fun, and loving dad I could have ever imagined. (maren)

Monday, June 11, 2012

Ben's Tour de Fairbankes

Ben came on strong! in the final stage, tied for 9th place, moving him up to 15th place overall. Since we share his genes (I only half of them, the rest of you all of them), we too must be fantastic athletes, at least potentially.

Amazing, Ben!

Men Open/Expert

Stage 5 Results

1. Jeff Ellis, Speedway Cycles/Humpy `s 3:06:56;
2. Tyson Flaharty, Goldstream Sports, s.t.
3., s.t.efan Hajdukovich, Raven Racing, s.t.
4. Logan Hanneman, Raven Racing, s.t.
5. Daniel Folmar, Kaladi-Subway, s.t.
6. Andrew Duenow, Kaladi/Subway +2:07;
7. Brian Bonney, Pipsport, s.t.
8. John Lackey, Speedway Cycles/Humpy `s, s.t.
9., s.t.ephen Ball +6:46;
10. Tim Berntson, Speedway Cycles/Humpy `s, s.t.
11. Wyatt Mayo, Raven Racing, s.t.
12. Benjamin Abbott, Goldstream Sports, s.t.
13. Patrick Terhune, Goldstream Sports +7:39;
14. Justin Nash, Kaladi-Subway +7:50;
15. Shawn Cross, Goldstream Sports +12:47;
16. Joel Buth, Goldstream Sports, s.t.
17. Richard Tilton, Kaladi-Subway, s.t.
18. Tony Brugliera, Kaladi-Subway, s.t.
19. Tom Peichel, Kaladi-Subway, s.t.
20. Dashiell Feierabend, Goldstream Sports +14:48;
21. Jim Button, Goldstream Sports +20:13;
22. Josh Snow, FCC +20:54;
23. David Shaw, Goldstream Sports +30:02;
24. Bill Fleming, Kaladi-Subway, s.t.
25. Pete Wilda, Goldstream Sports, s.t.
26. Jim Winegarner, Kaladi-Subway, s.t.
27. Ryan Ruesch, Goldstream Sports +30:14;
28. Joe Huebner, Goldstream Sports, s.t.
29. Riley Troyer, Goldstream Sports +30:22;
30. Brian Young, Goldstream Sports +37:01;
30. Frederick Harbison, Raven Racing, s.t.
32. Christopher Knott, Goldstream Sports, s.t.
33. Bill Hrinko, Goldstream Sports +41:54;
34. Mike Beiergrohslein, Speedway Cycles/Humpy `s +42:13;
35. Chris Wyatt, Goldstream Sports +52:04;

Final General Classification

1. Daniel Folmar, Kaladi-Subway 6:25:40.00
2. Jeff Ellis, Speedway Cycles/Humpy's +1:10
3. Tyson Flaharty, Goldstream Sports +1:23
4., s.t.efan Hajdukovich, Raven Racing +2:38
5. Logan Hanneman, Raven Racing +6:15
6. John Lackey, Speedway Cycles/Humpy's +8:52
7. Andrew Duenow, Kaladi/Subway +11:44
8. Tim Berntson, Speedway Cycles/Humpy's +12:42
9. Brian Bonney, Pipsport +12:49
10. Justin Nash, Kaladi-Subway +19:18
11. Richard Tilton, Kaladi-Subway +21:59
12. Tom Peichel, Kaladi-Subway +22:42
13., s.t.ephen Ball +24:35
14. Tony Brugliera, Kaladi-Subway +25:13
15. Benjamin Abbott, Goldstream Sports +26:00
16. Shawn Cross, Goldstream Sports +26:47
17. Patrick Terhune, Goldstream Sports +29:31
18. Jim Button, Goldstream Sports +30:02
19. Wyatt Mayo, Raven Racing +30:24
20. Joel Buth, Goldstream Sports +30:51
21. Dashiell Feierabend, Goldstream Sports +36:37
22. Joe Huebner, Goldstream Sports +52:29
23. Josh Snow, FCC +54:50
24. Jim Winegarner, Kaladi-Subway +56:07
25. David Shaw, Goldstream Sports +57:48
26. Riley Troyer, Goldstream Sports +57:54
27. Christopher Knott, Goldstream Sports +59:47
28. Bill Fleming, Kaladi-Subway +1:00:28
29. Pete Wilda, Goldstream Sports +1:01:56
30. Frederick Harbison, Raven Racing +1:05:26
31. Ryan Ruesch, Goldstream Sports +1:10:25
32. Brian Young, Goldstream Sports +1:12:06
33. Bill Hrinko, Goldstream Sports +1:18:07
34. Chris Wyatt, Goldstream Sports +1:30:48
35. Mike Beiergrohslein, Speedway Cycles/Humpy's +1:36:35

Sunday, June 3, 2012