Fun above Donner Lake!

Just off the Pacific Crest Trail, at the top of a ridge, is a swing that soars out near the edge of a cliff.  Here is my wife Alana having a fun time.

Family Life

Kids:  Jordan, Katie and Trent

My wife Alana

Tribute to Stevie Nicks - Once in a Lifetime

A short little tribute to Stevie Nicks.  Definitely one of the greatest female rockers of all time and a most memorable baby boomer...  Mysterious, hauntingly beautiful and a gifted song writer with a magical voice.  I really enjoyed her early years with Buckingham Nicks and Fleetwood Mac through her second solo album The Wild Heart...but everything she does is good.  The history of Buckingham Nicks, Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks is really an amazing story of resiliency…a bit too complicated for me, but I sure enjoy her music.  Here's to you Stevie Nicks!

Once in a Lifetime

By Bradley Meister

And in Stevie grew the call

What started in a painted desert

Became a beginning that sparked something new

Despite the travels too far and too soon

Her first song was sad but would not end as blue

Then a young girl made an inspirational friend
who would always be true
The early bird with the pretty song we know

Who would become the future nightbird

And touch Stevie’s life through

Then came Lindsey who she met after school
And it was California Dreamin that made her sound cool
They eventually joined forces and their passions were true
They loved as they struggled but always followed their dreams
And despite all the hardships they worked together as a team

A trip to Aspen while struggling with fear

What would life hold - would her loves always be there?

In a landslide moment, she wrote her father’s favorite song

Then a chance encounter with one of their songs
won the attention and impressed someone new
An offer by a Mick would be the bonding glue

And a new Fleetwood Mac was born with an eponymously album high

Rumours then flew and success was off the charts

Taken by the wind, a talented young woman blossomed into a star
and put the world in a trance
as she tugged at their heart-strings
with just a sound and her glance

Look into her dark eyes and feel the emotion and pulse of her wild heart

The sound of her voice transcends our imagination

Hauntingly beautiful for sure – rapture may not quite do justice

Magical and quintessential
Feminine, vulnerable and with a slight touch of raspy

In a world filled with talent
her voice simply stands alone near the very top
emanating that distinctive atmosphere that is pure Stevie Nicks

It calls within us like that thundering sky
Oh all the days within our lives it tries
It wakes you up with the morning sun
And reminds you again when your day is done
It will pound at your thoughts the whole night through
The inevitable destiny of the spell she's cast on you

So fame soared until days were too long

Life got crazy and sunsets reversed
Band members changed partners and money overflowed

Then drugs became vogue until silver spoons got old
and such was the new life of rock and roll on the road

Names emerged that provided a glimpse of her past

The great dark wing came along and may have been a bold 
Her sisters of the moon were kindred spirits who took form
in a somewhat dark and lonely piece of prose
Rhiannon was the mystical one who could almost possess and control

Sara was a cornerstone of creativity in her heart
And the simple gypsy who loved the floor was just Stevie returning
to a comfort that she knew from before

But perhaps all she really wanted was that real Silver Spring

What may have started as a younger woman’s cherished dream
will likely always be missed

As etched in the memory as a touch that goes unnoticed
or a love that is ignored

More precious and simple than a whole pot of gold

Just someone special to love as Stevie grew old

Perhaps that invitation would have been just fine
But don't tempt fate might be the spoken end of her line

Striking on her own there is first Bella Donna and then The Wild Heart

Others follow and everything she touches becomes a chapter of harmonized emotion
As she weaves words into feelings and spins magical sounds into uncharted bliss

A short visit from a Prince has her standing back at times
but never too far from the edge
as her kindness and love for her dying uncle
emerges in one of her favorite well-known and enduring songs

Stevie Nicks is enchanting – her presence abounds

Once in a Lifetime... we may experience such an aura in a person
the magic of words and a voice that radiates the essence of that in sound

Her songs filled with memories and tribulations and covered in dust

But to many of us, her music goes far beyond 

It's a simple timestep that reminds us of our own
From the chapters of our lives and the ups and downs we've known
Just a place we can come to  -  a place that feels like home

The authentic rock queen whose spell has been cast

The embodiment of near perfection in a league of just her own

She is the master of mentors, the sorceress of melody

the wings of many of our life’s storms and a real gift to us all
A genuine person who became a legend

by simply following her heart and using her talents
to create a unique style just her own

I’m just grateful for her music
and I’m really glad she heard the call 
Thanks for a lifetime of memories
and the dreams you've sent us all

Boeing 737 into SFO runway 28R and Baron G58 Over Idaho and into Boise

ILS runway 28R into KSFO (that's San Francisco, California)

Beautiful sunset on fun FSX flight from Missoula, Montana to Boise, Idaho.

Landing ILS 10R at Boise, ID

F/A-18 Simulator

I have been having a lot of fun flying the F/A-18 simulator.

 

Here is a climbing 9,000 feet per minute turn at Mach 1.1 near Flight Level 200 on the heads-up display.

 

You can see Lake Tahoe in the distance.

 

You have to really stay ahead of the airplane or it can get away from you quickly!

 

 



Getting my trees ready for Christmas

Owl Creek Ranch Activities

I'm starting to get my Douglas Fir and Noble Fir trees ready for Christmas. 

I've trimmed about 25 percent of my trees so far and they're looking great.

Some trees are over 11 feet! 

Lots of wildlife out and about this time of the year.

 

Tribute to World Cup Ski Racer - Bode Miller

This is a small tribute to Bode Miller.  Bode is a member of the US Alpine Ski Team.  He is the most successful male skier in US history and is considered one of the greatest World Cup racers of all time. 

He has 33 World Cup wins, 79 podiums, two overall world cup titles, has won in each of the five ski racing disciplines (only five male skiers have ever achieved this in history), has won 6 Olympic medals and 5 World Championship medals. 

Anyway, a short tribute to a great World Cup, World and Olympic Champion.  I’m not sure any words can really do justice to his amazing skiing…but, I thought I would at least give it a try.

Here’s to you Bode!

Inspiration on Ice

By Bradley Meister 

Bode pushes forward in the start house

And stops at the wand across the gate

He is focused and ready and gets into that place

Matching his mindset and mood

To the rhythm and pitch of the initial course conditions

As he looks down the course

That iconic stoic stance is captivating

His unique style uniquely fascinating

The risks and thrills beyond exhilarating

The admiring world stares waiting for Bode Miller

Moments away from a run that will be inspiring

The time clock starts its countdown

He’s in a place he knows as the zone

In seconds he’ll unleash the many skills he has honed

Flying down the steep sides

Of a treacherous sheet of ice he will own

His motivator starts in on his motivating tone

Then onto the course he is skiing all alone

Remembering the place he has previously flown

That now feels less like a ski run and more like a drop zone

Filled with endless rush as he carves his way home

In a two minute race he will break eighty or more

Screaming down a run most would not dare

Laying on his side with a chiseled base pattern

He rides a tuned steel edge to the limits

Arcing a new curve as he slices through the snow

On a set of World Cup skis that are black and white Head

Down a run he’s quickly repelling

Soaring through the air like a man on a mission

Like fire through the cold

He is now completely ripping

Skiing straight down the fall-line

Releasing leveraged power

As the course crowd goes louder and louder

With the tactics and plan perfectly dialed in

He now steps up the intensity

To the limits of his mind

When he’s really on the edge

He hangs out at the place called “neutrality”

Then waits for his innate talent

To just wed with reality

Then boom he defies gravity

Like he’s from a different galaxy

Living his words and...

"Skiing as fast as the natural universe will allow"

Each run is once chance for gold

Bode will let it all go

The only thought through his mind is skiing sublime

When asked how he does it

I think I know what he’d say…

Inspiration on ice

He doesn’t need to think twice

He’s got the balance of life in his hand

Skiing the circuit and being a husband and dad

He loves his precious daughter

And now has a son and is the two-time proud father

He found the love of his life with Morgan

She improved the quality of his life

You can see it when he skis

He is focused and ready

And turns the skis with ease like he’s running the table

Rolling the dice every time

Lighting up that course when he tucks

With his heart in every turn he is running on the edge

But consistent and steady

Poised like a cat ready to pounce

He’s alert and always ready

Far from a New Hampshire farm where he was homegrown

Living his State’s famous motto to “Live free or die”

Skiing in the backseat as he believed true all along

Frustrating the coaches advice from the sound of their tone

Doing it the Bode way from the start  

In a red barn with the high jumps and squats

And the freedom to roam alone…in the woods by his home

Where he built strength in his legs that allowed for more power

So he could ski off the wall on the Strief

Like when he’s doing a high speed left footer

At the bottom of an ice covered tower

Coupled with the many skills he has shown

Made him a rare five event winner

And put him on top with 33 world cup golds

Each run is once chance for gold

Bode will let it all go

The only thought through his mind is skiing sublime

When asked how he does it

I think I know what he’d say…

Inspiration on ice

Is his prescription for life

In 2002 Salt Lake City games, he was supposed to be down

His body got twisted and he nearly spun around

Then he popped back up and actually flew down

In the downhill portion of a race called combined

And finished the slalom run after turning on a dime

To speed to Olympic Silver with an awe inspiring time

In 2005 at the Alpine World Championship Races

He lost a board on the high speed Bormio downhill track

And nearly finished the race as he continued to attack

He flew down San Pietro and tucked La Konta with one ski

Until he decided to stop

To the cheers of the crowd

To the sounds as Bode rocked

In 2008 he almost won the Kitzbuhel Hahnenkamm race

He did something crazy coming off the Steilhang face

I still think the Italians had the best playback call

“Mama mia” they said… as he skied on the wall

Then Bode came from over a half second behind

Just after the Hausberg to again blow our minds

To close after the Zielsprung

In a high speed mid-air tuck

Was something to see

Surreal for sure

He’s rare company

I could go on and on - there are just too many to list

Every time he gets on the mountain

Is like a masterpiece of skiing bliss

As he flies through air and turns ice into mist

He’s Rembrandt, Monet and Van Gogh all in one

His canvass is the mountain and his paintbrush a ski

Each run a unique piece of artwork

Personally carved for us to see

The balance, the skill and crazy risks he takes

Makes him Bode Miller - makes him history

Bode, when you ski, the world is inspired by your talent

And we are captivated in time

In every turn you push yourself to new record lines

You’ve earned your place in history and set yourself apart

A magnificent Overall, World and Olympic Gold medal champion firmly etched in our minds

The epitome of Inspiration

And a true legend in your time

 

Good luck with the 2015 ski racing season!

 

Solden 2013