Ahhyeah.comDoug, Brooke, Denver & Carson Porter

I start another new job on Monday. So now I will have a full 40 hours a week. I will be working from a friend at church that runs a realty. I’ll be building him a website, doing some photography of homes and other work. I think it will be a lot of fun. God has provided again for us. Now we will have some extra money to buy baby things. Brooke is feeling better off and on, but more on. Thanks for all of those praying for us and for the baby. Today we also got our refrigerator fixed. It wasn’t cooling all the time and was making a weird buzz. It was still under warranty but we had to pay for the service call. Better than the whole thing. I’ve been finding a lot of old friends from Pine Island on MySpace. I’m really thinking about starting a website with all of my Pine Island pictures, memories and links to others from PI.

I just sitting here waiting for a dvd of a wedding to burn so I thought I would update this. Yesterday morning we went to the baby doctor (i would rather call it that than ogbyn or whatever). This was our second time for this pregnancy. We went about a month ago to do an ultrasound because we’ve had one miscarrage before. This time we could see the heartbeat! So, we went again yesterday and got to hear the heartbeat. It was very strong and fast. Everything was normal so hopefully this time God gives up a baby. When we were at the counter setting up all of our future appointments, Brooke asked for a glass of water. I was like, Huh? and then she passed out. It was so weird. She’s never passed out before and we’re not the type of people to be stressed about anything. I think it was her Hypoglycemia. They took her in a room and gave her some juice and she was all better. It was so weird. Anyways, she’s pregnant! So she went to work and I went to the church to edit videos for VBS. Our theme this year is setting sail and pirates. The pirate video went well but the other video didn’t. Instead of having a special speaker I prerecorded missionary John Leonard and have been cutting out pieces of 5 minutes or so through out the week. Well yesterdays came out to be too long and compared to the first two days, not a lot of action. Hopefully I will do better today. I have heard of about 4 kids giving their lifes to Christ and getting saved so it is all worth it. I’m off to video another clip for the pirate theme, edit some video and then Vacation Bible School from 6:00 – 8:30pm.

Greater Des Moines Community Foundation is where Brooke will start work tomorrow! She had her interview yesterday and starts tomorrow! How kewl! It will be just enough to cover our budget and exactly what we wanted. Here is a link to Greater Des Moines Community Foundation. Her hours will be 8-5, Monday thru Friday. God has perfect timing.

Operation Christmas Child is basically a great way to send presents to children overseas. My wife and I participated this year at work and sent 2 shoe boxes full of small gifts. Here is an email from the famliy including pictures!

Hello from Almaty!
Hi, Douglas and Brooke

we are sending you some early pictures. Adil is dressed in a jeans jacket and our Anelya is with a stripped hat on her head.
we will send some more pictures to you next time

I thought it would be fun to do a live blog. I am actually in Chipolte right now in Minneapolis, MN with my laptop and cellular internet connection. I’m here with my cousin Brian and his two boys, Mattathias & Nathanael. We came to the cities to pick up Brian’s Leatherman (tool with a knife in it) from the airport. Last weekend we went to Las Vegas to the 2006 International Consumer Electronics Show and we decided to carry on all of our luggage instead of check it and forgot it was with us. So Brian left it at the Business Center to pick up later. Anyways, now we stopped at Chipolte because he’s never been here before. Here is a picture:

We would also like to say hi to our wifes, Brooke & Andrea, who are back at home in Rochester and Newton. Hi! We miss you! Ok, gonna go now. Bye.

This is all the states I have been to.

create your own personalized map of the USA
or write about it on the open travel guide

I cannot believe this, I am so mad right now, You have to read this article and then the opinion from Alabama House of Representative, Jo Bonner. It is about 1st, 3rd, & 5th graders taking a sex survey in school. I will post the survey if I can find it anywhere online. We gotta do something about this people!!!

[News Article]
House Scolds Court on Sex Survey Suit Toss WASHINGTON, Nov. 16, 2005

(AP) The House voted Wednesday to scold a San Francisco-based federal appeals court for dismissing a lawsuit by parents outraged that a school district surveyed their young children about sex. Over objections from some Democrats who complained Republicans were seeking the kind of judicial activism the GOP normally denounces, lawmakers voted 320 to 91 for a resolution that said the decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals “deplorably infringed on parental rights.”The resolution says the 9th Circuit should rehear Fields v. Palmdale School District. The unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel earlier this month said that “parents are possessed of no constitutional right to prevent the public schools from providing information” on sex to students. “What we are speaking to here is a case in which a court, I believe, far overreached the issues involved in a case and declared parenting unconstitutional,” said Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Pa., who offered the resolution.But Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., said Congress shouldn’t get involved.”Here we bash the court for not creating a new constitutional right never before proclaimed … in order to overturn a local school decision,” he said. The Palmdale School District, north of Los Angeles, had given the survey to first-, third- and fifth-graders, but dropped it in 2002 after parents complained. It was part of a program to gauge early trauma and help youngsters overcome barriers to learning, and asked students, among other things, how often they thought about sex. Wednesday’s vote was the latest example of lawmakers chafing at a decision of the 9th Circuit, which has angered conservatives and some Democrats with rulings like one in 2002 that declared the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional when recited in public schools. House Republicans are pushing legislation to divide the circuit, which covers nine Western states, into two pieces, arguing it’s gotten too big to be effective. The Bush administration supports the move but it’s meeting resistance in the Senate.

The bill is H. Res. 547.
[News Article End]

[Opinion]
Court says schools can ask about sex

I was outraged by the recent ruling of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stating that parents no longer have a say in what public schools teach their students.

You may have heard that the court held “that there is no free-standing fundamental right of parents to control the upbringing of their children by introducing them to matters of and relating to sex in accordance with their personal and religious values and beliefs.”
The case involved parents who sued their local school district after their first, third and fifth grade children were given a survey containing graphic questions about sex.

The survey asked questions such as whether the children ever thought about having sex or touching other people’s “private parts” and whether they could “stop thinking about having sex.” These were questions asked to first graders!

The San Francisco-based 9th Circuit has a history of legislating from the bench. The most notable example is the 2002 decision that reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools is unconstitutional because it contains the phrase “under God.” Thankfully, the decision was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The House is taking steps to split this overburdened court, thereby creating new vacancies for President Bush to fill. This plan would create a new 12th Circuit consisting of Arizona, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska, leaving the 9th Circuit with California, Hawaii, Guam, and the Northern Marianas Islands.

I am hopeful that the president will fill the four longstanding vacancies currently open on the 9th Circuit, and I encourage him to continue appointing the strong, constitutionally-minded justices he has in the past.

Last week the House passed the Private Property Rights Protection Act of 2005. The legislation was passed in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s narrowly-decided Kelo vs. New London case, which ruled that a property’s potential for economic improvement outweighs an individual’s right to his property.

The House legislation enhances the penalty for states and localities that abuse their eminent domain power.

My staff and I work for you. Please call if we can be of service.

Jo Bonner represents the people of this area in the U.S. House of Representatives.
[End of Opinion]

I took some pictures last night of our first snow here in Minnesota and it was also Lily’s first snow ever! We wern’t home for it but Brooke’s Dad said she was wagging her tail and licking all the snow! I got some pictures of her too in the snow.

Taco Bell Parking Lot

Here I am hooking up Lily while she tries to lick the snow.

Here are some pictures of her playing & runing in the snow.

This is our van this morning. We drive it just in case the roads were bad. It wasn’t that bad and we got to work an hour early. Oh well better safe than sorry. I have some more pictures of the drive this morning on my camera that I’ll get taken off tonight and get put on here.

Search in Iowa for Two Escaped Killers

Tuesday, November 15, 2005
DES MOINES, Iowa — Two convicted murderers have escaped from the maximum security portion of the Iowa State Penitentiary, jail officials said.

Martin Shane Moon, 34, and Robert Joseph Legendre, 27, were last seen at 7 p.m. Monday. Their whereabouts are unknown and officials are investigating how they escaped, said Ron Welder, spokesman for the Penitentiary in Fort Madison.

“It’s too early to speculate,” he said.

Legendre and Moon were serving life sentences for murder.

Welder said authorities in Iowa, Illinois and Missouri have been alerted and more than 30 officers and canines were initially ordered to search the area.

Gov. Tom Vilsack on Monday night offered further aid, including state troopers and aircraft to assist in the search. He also requested that amber alert strategies be implemented to warn Iowa residents of the situation.

The inmates were working inside penitentiary walls for Iowa State Industries when the escape occurred, Welder said.

Fort Madison police reported a stolen 1995 gold Pontiac Bonneville with Iowa plates 776-NOW. They said they are unsure whether Moon and Legendre are responsible for the theft.

Legendre was convicted of kidnapping and murder in the state of Nevada and was transferred to Iowa in December 2004. No other details of his crime were immediately available.

Moon was convicted in Clarke County and sent to prison in 2000 for the 1990 shooting of his roommate, Kevin Dickson.

According to court records, Moon, Dickson and others traveled to an abandoned farmhouse near Winterset, allegedly to meet a drug dealer. Dickson was shot and killed at the farmhouse.

Moon is a white male, 6 feet, 185 pounds with green eyes and brown hair. Legendre is a white male, 5 feet, 11 inches, 178 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes.

More information will be released Tuesday morning, officials said.

The Iowa State Penitentiary was opened in 1839 and is the state’s only maximum-security institution. It can hold up to 550 inmates.

We traveled to Iowa this weekend for my nephew’s birthday party and dodged 8 tornadoes. We hit rain in northern Iowa but nothing unusual. The unusual part was the wind. Not so bad on the way down but the way home was very windy. While we were at my cousin’s house in Newton, Iowa his weather alarm went off for a thunderstorm warning but only a tornado watch. The sky did seem a little spooky but I remember taking pictures using moonlight so it couldn’t have been that bad. When we left the wind was horrible. I followed a semi a good hour until the Mason City exit that was having a lot of trouble keeping the trailer between the lines. I was for sure he was going to eventually crash. It definitely helped me stay away. My hands hurt pretty bad from pulling on the steering wheel. Once we got to I-90 in Minnesota the wind was behind us and was a normal drive. That night in Rochester, MN the wind was really bad and noisy all night. Today I got an email forwarded to me from my cousin about the weather. And found some pictures of the storm.

Eight Tornadoes Hit Central Iowa Saturday Evening – Updated to Raise the Damage Rating of the Stratford Tornado to F3

Last updated Monday, Nov. 14, 2005 at 10:45 a.m.

Damage rating (F-scale) for the Stratford tornado has been raised to an F3 upon further examination of photos. The damage rating for the Woodward tornado is still preliminarily an F2.

Eight (8) tornadoes touched down across portions of central Iowa Saturday (Nov. 12, 2005) afternoon and into the early evening hours causing damage, some significant, in the towns of Stratford (Hamilton county) and Woodward (Dallas county). Unfortunately, there was one death and one other person with injuries of unknown severity in Stratford. Elsewhere, no other
injuries have been reported.

Two National Weather Service Storm Damage Assessment Teams from the local NWS Office in Des Moines/Johnston, IA travelled to the most damaged areas Sunday morning (Nov. 13, 2005) to assess the damage and assign damage ratings (Fujita Damage Scale-click here for details) on the tornado tracks. One survey team covered areas from Minburn through Woodward, then north of Madrid and finally Ames to Gilbert. The second team covered from northwest Boone
county and Pilot Mound, into Stratford and as far northeast as Williams. John McLaughin of KCCI-TV was very helpful, as he flew the tornado tracks and provided information on beginning and end points, track continuity and path width.

Preliminary Local Storm Reports for this event can be found by clicking here.

Eight tornadoes occurred in the following counties:

• Boone
• Dallas
• Hamilton
• Hardin
• Monroe (A brief, short track tornado that damaged a barn.)
• Story
• Webster

Images and Maps

The following is an image capture of the NWS Des Moines WSR-88D radar reflectivity about the time one of the tornadoes was hitting the south side of Woodward, which is about in the center of the image:

The following image is a screen capture of storm relative velocity at the same time:

Boone-Webster-Hamilton County Tornadoes
(Stratford)

A long-lived tornado tracked through several counties across central Iowa during the late afternoon hours of Nov. 12, 2005. The tornado path is estimated at 15.1 miles long and between 100 and 150 yards wide along the damage path.

Tornado (1) initially touched down just west of E Avenue (just south of Boxholm in northwest Boone county), one half mile south of Boone county Highway E18 at approximately 4:27 p.m as an F1 tornado. The tornado then tracked northeast across E Avenue, hitting a farm just north of E18, damaging the home and some out buildings. It also flipped over one pickup truck and killed two horses at this location.

The tornado continued northeast, spreading debris across F Avenue just north of 125^th Street as it maintained F1 intensity. Two additional homes were damaged with outbuildings destroyed as the tornado tracked northeast across G and H Avenues near 105^th Avenue. It then intensified to an F2 tornado as it crossed the Boone/Webster county line. Another home was heavily damaged and a large outbuilding destroyed just north of the Boone/Webster county line. The tornado quickly moved northeast, crossing 390^th Street and headed toward the Des Moines
River, weakening to an F1 tornado.

A continuous, but weak damage path was observed crossing the river as the tornado tracked across open farmland and land adjacent the Des Moines River. The tornado has been rated an F1 tornado during this time. After crossing County D64 in Webster county, the tornado struck another farm near 370^th Street and Washington Avenue, damaging the residence and destroying a machine shed along with most of its contents. The tornado again intensified to an F2 at this location.

The tornado then headed toward Stratford, crossing the Webster and Hamilton county line just west of County Road D54. The tornado entered Stratford at 4:46 p.m. on the west-central end of town, heavily damaging many homes with F2 intensity. The tornado crossed the city park and then exited the city near the north-central portion of Stratford. Additional homes were damaged in north-central Stratford, with an F3 rating at the home where one fatality occurred.

As the tornado left Stratford, it continued on a northeast track, lifting and dropping to the ground several times as an F0 and F1 tornado. It damaged three additional farms northeast of Stratford with the last damaged farm north of 320^th Street and west of County Road R21 in
Hamilton county.

Tornado (7) was a brief touchdown just south of Williams in Hamilton county. No damage was found from this brief tornado and it is not shown here.

The following image depicts the damage survey for the “Stratford” tornado. Again, any damage or F-scale ratings are still preliminary.

NWS photos of damage along the path of the “Stratford” tornado follow:

Overturned vehicle near E18 and Highway 169 west of Pilot Mound in Boone
county.

Damage to outbuilding and grain bin near E18/US 169 in Boone county.

Board embedded through roof of home near H Ave. northwest of Pilot Mound in Boone county.

Machine shed roof damage near H Ave. northwest of Pilot Mound in Boone county.

Home heavily damaged near 6 Avenue north of Pilot Mound in Webster county.

Belt buckle split post and became embedded in it near G Avenue in Webster county.

Large machine shed destroyed near 6 Avenue north of Pilot Mound in Webster county.

Homes heavily damaged throughout west central and northern sections of Stratford. F2 damage (preliminary).

Debris accumulating from heavily damaged homes in Stratford.

Cinder block bathroom in Stratford city park destroyed from tornadic winds.

Home heavily damaged in Stratford on northern part of town. Preliminary F2 damage.

Dallas-Boone County Tornadoes (Woodward)

Tornado (2) touched down one mile west of Minburn in Dallas county according to the aerial survey. The tornado tracked northeast for about eight miles, producing F0-F1 damage before intensifying near Highway 141. The tornado produced F2 damage at a farm one mile southwest of Woodward, and continued to produce F2 damage through the south and east portions of
Woodward. The tornado dissipated one mile northeast of Woodward. Severel houses slid off their foundations in Woodward, and a double-wide home was flipped upside down into the street. Total path length was 11 miles.

Tornado (3) touched down in open fields one mile northwest of Madrid. It hit a home three miles north of Madrid on Highway 17, producing F1 damage. One other farm site sustained damage as the tornado moved northeast. The tornado dissipated after a six mile track.

The following image depicts the damage survey for the “Woodward” tornado. Again, any damage or F-scale ratings are still preliminary.

NWS photos of damage along the path of the “Woodward” tornado follow:

Flattened garages and damaged homes in south Woodward. F2 damage.

Garage offered no protection for this car in Woodward.

House slid off foundation in Woodward. F2 damage.

Double-wide home flipped on top in Woodward. F2 damage.

Boone-Story-Hamilton-Hardin County Tornadoes (Ames
& Gilbert)

Tornado (4) started just west of Ames near the Highway 30 and Lincoln Way Split, according to the aerial survey. The tornado produced F1-F2 damage on the northwest fringe of Ames. It weakened as it moved northeast, before intensifying again and produced F2 damage to a farm site just south of Gilbert. F1 damage occurred as the tornado crossed highway 69. The tornado
dissipated three miles south of Story City after a 10 mile track.

Tornado (5) was a short-lived satellite tornado that was on the ground for 1.6 miles ending at the southwest edge of Story City. The aerial survey showed very minor damage.

Tornado (6) developed one mile west of Roland and tracked across the extreme southeast corner of Hamilton county before entering Hardin county. The tornado produced damage up to F1 intensity to rural farm sites in far northern Story county and five miles south of Radcliffe in Hardin county. The KCCI-TV aerial survey indicated the track was nine miles in length.

Tornado (8) was briefly sighted near Blakesburg in Monroe county. The tornado produced minor damage to a farm building but was not surveyed and is not on any of the following maps.

The following image depicts the damage survey for the “Ames-Gilbert’ tornado. Again, any damage or F-scale ratings are still preliminary.

One NWS photo of damage along the path of the “Ames-Gilbert” tornado follows:

Metal building destroyed just south of Gilbert. F2 damage.