Clinging to summer

31 August 2009

On this last day of August, my fingers are clinging to summer. It is my favorite season here in Cache Valley. The warmth, the green grass and trees with clear summer air, and the inviting mountains all combine to make it a season that I enjoy. But seasons come and go and a crisp Fall will soon be on its way. It was 52F this morning so the evaporative cooler fan did a good job of cooling the house down for the day.

I was enjoying an early morning (7:45) read on the deck late last week as the sun began to flood the valley. As its rays reached Hyde Park, I felt the warmth then enjoyed a treat as the light did its art work in our grass. The dew drops on the top of each blade created a prism and a dazzling display spread out before me as the clear drops began to turn into violet colored drops of "paint". I wasn't able to fully capture the scene but you can get an idea of it in my photo with the blue around each drop.
This time of year also signals the hunt for the Monarch caterpillar. I have been able to gather adequate specimens in the past to supply Louise's class. She has a nice home where they can form their chrysalis then the children can enjoy seeing them turn into the beautiful butterflies. All I could do this year was to go along with Louise and show her my hunting grounds and she had to do the work. Gratefully, we were successful in our hunt. I found it interesting in my internet research this morning that the Spring (1st generation) through the 3rd generation insects only live 2-6 weeks (egg through adult stages). The 4th generation (the one we are dealing with) comes out of the chrysalis in September and migrates to southern California or Mexico and lives 6-8 months where the cycle begins anew.

Last Thursday the doctor took out my stitches (the surgical site looks good) and put on a cast. Oh that original "two weeks of no weight bearing" has turned into a total of six weeks (four weeks in the cast). Oh well, as long as it turns out as hoped.

Gliders, heel, bread --what?

21 August 2009

Gliders
I am not having bad dreams in my post-surgical state. I just have had some experiences in the last ten days that I wanted to share. On Tuesday (11 Aug), the day before my surgery, I was busy in the yard and noticed quite a few planes towing gliders toward our mountains. The gliders were beautiful aircraft as they did their circling to gain altitude. I went to the Logan airport and found out that there were 30 gliders here in a five day competition. The second photo was the last glider being towed to his launch point east of Hyde Park. Tuesday's route was from Logan to Pocatello, ID and back here. There is a local fellow that is licensed to take passengers so I am going to look at that option.

Heel surgery

I just need to document this so I will bore you with some details. About fourteen years ago I started to have problems with my Achilles tendon. It would be very tender at times and in addition to giving up running I had to limit my hiking (for a guy that loves the mountains, a time to complain). I went to several doctors but they all said there wasn't anything that could be done and they did not want to deal with an Achilles that could come loose. Went it got quite tender about three months ago so I said "self, let's find out what is really wrong". I went to a podiatrist surgeon that looked 18 years old (actually he is Janae's age). He took an x-ray and a huge bone spur that looked like a fish hood was under the attachment site for my Achelles. Ya so, so that was the problem! As you can see from the nasty swelling on my right heel, a fix was needed so Dr. Huff obliged on 12 Aug. He took about two hours to detach about 40% of my Achelles, smooth out the bone (he said he used among other things a rasp file; I had told him he could use my Dremmel drill --he declined but he was a good joe about it), and reattach the tendon with two pins that will dissolve. Cool. I am not to have any weight bearing for 4-5 weeks then a boot for two weeks. It will be cast next week for the last 2-3 weeks of non-weight bearing.

My heels on 11 August 2009. Right one was the one to get fixed.

My view from my command post in the family room.

My command post. I have a lap top, my key books, the TV remote and a series of drawers that hold important things like Oreos, cinnamon bears, magazines, etc.

Even though I have been working on projects, this time to sit has been a good learning experience. I have a much better appreciation of those that just can't get around. Little things on the floor get irritating (I managed to vacuum them up). People that you think could drop by for a short visit don't. It made me realize all of the opportunities that I have had to cheer people up have been missed. Well, time to begin anew. Louise and Jared have been super to help. I know it is a terrible time for Louise to help with a new school year but she had not complained. What a sweet heart!

Now the bread thing ---

Our garden has done well this year. We were eating supper the other night and I grabbed my camera and took this shot. Tomatoes, apricots, zucchini, and corn (lots of it right now) from our garden. We will have bucket fulls of tomatoes soon ... not a good year to do much with them. I might take a bunch to the food pantry if our family, friends and neighbors don't want them.

I heard Louise visiting with the Stephenson's last night and how she is going to visit them this weekend. I know she likes to take something baked to them but no way does she have time by this evening. I thought, hey, there are some zucchini on the counter waiting to be used, why not bake some bread. So I did. I used 1/2 C oil and 1/2 C applesauce instead of 1 C oil. I have had a piece and it is quite good.

July 2009 in review

July 2009

As you can see from the many excited faces (thanks Louise and Heidi), we are having lots of fun at the Bees baseball game. The fireworks are the big event of the evening but being at a ball game is also fun. Watching some baseball, eating, some baseball, eating, --- you get the rhythm. The innings wore on until at 10:50 and the game tied at the bottom of the 10th (or 11th), we gave up. The game ended just as we were getting to West Valley City. Oh well, maybe next year for the fireworks. It was still worth it because we were with family.


Campsite #13 at Spring Hollow (3rd dam in Logan canyon) is our favorite. It has the stream from the spring running in the back of the site and it is relatiavely close to Hyde Park so Kristen and other clean freaks can shower every day. Come on, we are out of doors so who needs to shower every day! We had to make three or four trips to the site to secure it but it was worth it. Some good memories have been made there -- think smoores galore.

While the Ford's were running around Alaska (grrrr, everyone (it seemed like) but me went there this year. Just wait until next year), Louise and I went to Tony Grove and enjoyed the flowers. I have loved the mountains and forests ever since I was a Boy Scout. The smell of the sage and evergreens, the clear air, the trails, all blend to make it a good experience every time I go.

We can even have fun in our own neighborhood. Gary Andersen, our neighbor, loves horses and likes to share them. We thought it would be fun to get the Fords and Stephensons on a horse so Gary helped us out. He has a pasture in his backyard so we loaded everyone on two of his horses and rode around the rink. Megan loved the horse and screamed all of the three times we had to peel her off of it. Louise, Kristen, and Janae enjoyed riding as much as the children. I just took a bunch of photos.

June 2009 in review

(Monday, August 17, 2009) It is real quiet around the house. I am sitting in the Lay-Z-Boy chair trying to feel useful while my foot is all wrapped up from my heel surgery last Wednesday. I am finding out how limited a three-legged stool is in its reach. The doctor tells me that I am not to have any weight bearing on my right foot for four (4!) weeks. Man, that is forever in my short term world. Our home teacher gave me a blessing and in it he blessed me with patience so I will be a better patient. Anyway, I got thinking of all the things we did over the summer (Louise is back at school so summer is over for us) and I will share them one month at a time.

June: The WEDDING was the big news and I have already shared some info on that so we will move on to other items.

Early in June we took a hike with Janae and Kristen and children to the fossel beds at Spring Hollow. As always, it is an adventure to see who can find the neatest fossels. Megan, as you can see, thought the dandelion parachutes were the neatest find.


I thought it would be fun to show the Fords a new part of Utah so in late June we drove to Escalante and stayed there two nights. There is a petrified forest area near the town so that made for a fun one mile hike. The boys really liked the cable TV and Cartoon Network in the evening. The adults also enjoyed the opportuity to just kick back and read and visit with no pressure to go anywhere.


Friday was the "travel to see things" day. We drove down the Hole-in-the-Rock road for about 25 miles to get to the slot canyon Peek-a-boo. The drive was fine but getting into the bottom of the canyon was a major event for those that are "height sensitive". Martin took each person across a rock face so we wouldn't loose anyone down the wall (it wasn't that bad but it was the only way move forward). Once we reached the slot canyon and found it uninviting with a large mud puddle at its entrance, we circled around to the back entrance and entered it that way. As you can see from Kristen's photo, it was rather tight in some places but it was still fun.


A number of years ago I (Martin) took Steven and Jared to this area. We went to a dionsaur track area that was awesome so I thought I would take the fam to the same area. Even though a thunderstorm was approaching, I thought I could find the tracks and get the family onto the bluff. Well, sand has been blown in and covered up much of the tracks so it wasn't worth hauling the family up another rock wall. We barely got to the car and out of the sandy road area when the storm hit. We headed for our motel but after a couple of minutes I saw clearing in the west so I turned back to Devil's Garden. I am glad I did. We had fun running around the formations (see below).

Saturday morning was Bryce Canyon time and then home. The scenes were beautiful as the sun shown across the canyon. The hike down into the bottom of the canyon was another adventure for the faint of heart but it was still interesting. It is something about switch backs and little boys that got the females in our group a bit more than apprehensive. However, we made it and made our way back to Hyde Park later that evening. It is truly worth it to make the effort to go places and do things because memories are always created.

August 2009 in review

August 2009

The Fords were busy getting packed for their trip back to the Congo in August but we still had some fun family time. As you can see from his photo, Soren was excited to race his sailboat in the Cub Scout Regatta. Actually, he and Charles had a good time making the boat and it did very well. Excuse being partial, but it was by far the best looking boat of about a zillion little sailing vessels. We made a trip to So. Jordan to be with the Stephensons before the final Ford pack off. We went to the head of Little Cottonwood Canyon and took the hike to Cecret Lake. The flowers were outstanding! We had to have hit it at their peak. Yes, more photos for my hard drive. I was very impressed with the little people on the 1.5 mile round trip hike. It gains quite a bit of altitude and they did very well. Megan got carried most of the way but that was OK. I also appreciated the relaxing feel of the lake.
Louise, Megan, and Claire on the Cecret Lake trail.

We went from the mountains to Jeff's parents pool. It was "fun for some" with splashing and the other antics that go on open time pool play. Louise thought that the water squirters would be a nice little play thing instead of the deadly devices that wrecked havoc at every squirt! Faces, of course, were forbundt targets but some got it anyway. It got really entertaining when Jeff and his co-conspiritor brother aimed them at LaKay (tired from her work) -- "don't you dare SQUIRT" ---- . Wet attire resulted and LaKay retired from the pool area for a while. The big boys didn't miss a beat by then turning them again on Louise, Kristen, and anyone else on the poolside. Actually, it was a nice time and we very much appreciated being able to play in the water.

The water has been high on the streams due to plentiful snow earlier this year. The Left Hand Fork of the Blacksmith is down so Charles loaded up Soren and Anders (new fly rod for him) and we headed up for a good time. As always, we had a good time. Charles did a nice time of introducing the boys to the fine art of fly casting and they did quite well. I took Soren and Charles was with Anders. Both boys caught fish so it was extra special. Charles mentioned something like "Steve and I would have stayed until dark" but the three of us prevailed for an earlier exit. To be continued next year.