Christmas 2011

The days quickly come and go but memories do last. This year's Christmas memories are no exception. Louise and I deeply appreciate being able to spend time with Kristen, Janae, Jared and their families the past few days. I will share a few more photos than I planned but compared with the number that I took, it is OK. It was also a delight to be able to visit with Heidi and Steven and their families. We do wish all a very happy and successful New Year.  Dad.

Each Christmas season starts with a flower from the Stephensons. We appreciate the effort made and the nice effect resulting from the beauty of the thoughtful gift.

Janae and Kristen each had lovely trees to brighten their homes. Janae's is shown.

Kristen has a great touch for creating a nice mood. Thanks Fords for the lovely Christmas Eve dinner.

I am so grateful for the good times we can have with family.

This was too good to pass up. Anson made his list and then checked off the things he received. Looks like Santa still has some work to do! That is a full sized sheet of paper.

A mom and her daughters on Christmas morning. Where love is .....

I don't usually get into the picture but I had to add the hat thing.

The gift of self is best but other gifts are certainly fun and appreciated.

All enjoyed the Old Spaghetti Factory meal. Anders had the disadvantage of sitting across the table from me.

Temple Square at this time of the year is a photographer's delight. I was able to hand hold the camera for the photos (1/10 second exposure).

We warmed up in the north visitor's center.

Eirk was the photographer.

Tuesday afternoon: The teachers had a great time talking shop. Thanks Gillettes for your home.

Jeff proudly wore his sweater -- to each his own.

May we never forget -- He is the reason for the season.

Lunar eclipse December 2011

I find looking into the night sky a fascinating experience. However, when I invite others to view the Perseid meteor shower at 2 a.m. or the recent lunar eclipse at 5:45 a.m. this last Saturday morning, there is a scarcity in the ranks. OK, so it is cold and dark but it is still a worth it. I did, however, get Louise and the Fords to take a quick look Saturday morning at the moon. Enjoy.

All photos were taken with a 300 mm lens at f 5.6. I cropped them in PhotoShop. The earlier ones were at 1/80 sec. but the 6:45, 7:00 and 7:10 exposures were at 1 sec to capture the red "hidden" moon. Enough light comes around the earth to illuminate the moon just a bit.

10 p.m., 9 Dec 2011

5:50 a.m., 10 Dec 2011

6:10 a.m.

6:15 a.m.

6:30 a.m.

6:45 a.m.

7:00 a.m.

7:10 a.m. Full eclipse

Panda umbrella

It has been almost five years since Louise and I toured China. We saw the magnificent centuries old buildings of the Forbidden City, sailed down the Li river near Guilin to view the trademark limestone formations, saw the Terra Cotta warriors, and walked the Great Wall. In the midst of all of those memories, we also remember seeing the great pandas in the Beijing zoo. While passing through the gift shop on our way out, Louise spotted a panda umbrella and said "I have to have it." Well, we got it and she has used it in school and other occasions.

I saw a notice in the paper calling for people to bring in their umbrellas for a special article. Louise took it in and the panda umbrella made a splash in The Herald Journal. 

An eye for ... how about six?

Remember that this post is produced by a guy that has collected product on a slaughter house "kill floor" so don't gross out on me. This is high level science!

A few weeks ago Janae mentioned that it would be interesting to have the kids dissect a cow's eye while they were off track. Well, I still have my HyClone contacts (not for the eye) and used them to reserve some body parts for a Tuesday morning. Prior to that we obtained a plastic table cloth, disposable gloves, and scalpels. Erik and I went to the packing plant. I knew we were in for an interesting time when the employee, blood streaked yellow apron and hard hat came walking into the office with a little plastic bag containing six cow eyes. I about lost Erik right there! I put them in our little cooler and headed home.

Once home I trimmed them up a bit and managed to poke me with a scalpel. Don't worry -- "just a flesh wound." The glove I was wearing kept the sample from getting contaminated with B+ human blood.

We assembled 9-10 eager science students -- OK, some were a bit nervous but they were still willing. One was allergic to latex and since that was the only type of gloves we had she was relieved to be an observer. I started off with going through the following visual to explain the wonderful things about the eye. I even got into rods and cones and color blindness, near and far sighted, etc. We then watched a YouTube video on the eye then it was to the table for the knife work.

I did think more than once about five teams of kids with scalpels but the two moms were still there when I passed out the gloves and scalpels so we moved right ahead. I did a demo with one of the eyes. Note that there is fluid between the cornea and the lens (green in the visual). I was tightly holding onto the back of the eye as I cut into the cornea. As I did, some fluid squirted out and onto the arm of an innocent girl sitting next to me. Yaaaaa! came the scream. I'm setting here laughing as I write this -- at least to me it was funny. Anyway, I got through all of the parts. I found the lens very interesting, quite hard yet it stretches as you focus from close to far away objects. What a marvelous creation. I was amazed how beautiful the inside of the eye socket is. It reminded me a abalone shell (see below).

Once we were done I noticed several lenses on the table not doing anything so I thought we could add some personality to the project and there they are smiling at you from the plate.

It was an interesting morning and the kids did learn something about the world around them. Thanks Janae for the idea.