Say good-bye to an icon...

Amidst the hoopla and the roaring crowds for the men's NCAA basketball tournament, nearly unnoticed by most of the folks gathered to cheer for their favorite teams, was the death of an icon of the sport of basketball. "Hot Rod" Hundley, most recently known for being the play by play announcer for the Utah Jazz for 35 years, died Friday at the age of 80.

Legendary, every Jazz fan remembers the "leapin' leaners" and the "frozen ropes" and the "yo yo'in at the top of the key"--descriptive lingo coined by the one and only Hundley. His husky, Texas-accented voice brought the games to life for thousands of fans. Who could ever forget "another gray hair on the head of Jerry Sloan" or "You gotta love it, baby"?

He lived and died with fortunes of  the team he worked for, his voice edged in emotion when they lost to MJ and the Chicago Bulls in two consecutive NBA finals, and his voice tingling with elation and excitement whenever the Jazz won a big game.

No Jazz fan will ever forget the simulcasts, before the Jazz got financially well-off enough to pay both a radio broadcaster and a television crew. Hot Rod handled both jobs efficiently and with aplomb.

As a broadcaster, he was missed when he hung it up. As a Utah Jazz icon, he will be missed by all who knew him. Guys like that, who really care, don't just fall from the sky. Folks like that, who live with passion, are the kind who make the world better, even if it's helping someone to enjoy a sport just a little bit more. They are filled with life and when they're gone, people notice. Good-bye, Hot Rod. You made my life just a little bit better by your exuberance.

Vindication

I blogged about this several weeks ago, and it looks like I had good reason to do so: E-Cigarettes have 10x more cancer causing ingredients than regular cigs

Getting the garden ready

Yesterday on my day off, instead of going out and having fun, I did yard work. Yes, it's that time of year, and since I've sacrificed much of my time in the evenings to watching the NCAA basketball tournament, my time to actually do meaningful stuff is on my days off. Thankfully, March Madness doesn't last that long.

So Ann and I drove down to Riverton to IFA to pick up some blackberry plants. Just last week we had gone to the other IFA and they were out of them (they did have one left, which I bought). I made sure I called first. When I got there, they had a lot to choose from and I ended up purchasing two more blackberry plants, a boysenberry plant, and I was pleasantly surprised to find a huckleberry plant. I snagged that one right up, huckleberries being one of my favorite berries and all, though I'm thinking that I may not have success with it actually living. I remember quite a few years ago, Larry Sagers on the KSL Greenhouse program mentioned that it's very difficult to get huckleberry plants to actually grow in the home garden. Most of them are found in the wilds.

There's actually a place up near Bear Lake that has some huckleberries growing naturally. To the best of my knowledge, it's the closest place to my home that they are growing, and it's quite a drive, so if you don't time it right, you either find them still unripe, or you find that the bears have eaten all of them. If you really time it wrong, you find the bears still there.

I got those planted and also got the metal sheets for my raised beds cut. It actually wasn't as difficult as I imagined it to be--the saber saw worked well for the task. I'll still need to build the frames and fill them up with a combination of sandy loam and compost before they'll be ready for planting. Yeah, I'm thinking the cold season crops aren't going to happen this year.

The rest of the day I did just a few things, including moping because I hadn't actually taken the day off and done something fun.

Secretly though, I enjoyed getting those blackberry and that huckleberry plant in the ground. I'm looking forward to some good berries in a couple of years. And next week, I'm actually planning on getting out and hiking on my day off, so there's great things in store in the near future.

Humor for the day

This is about a year old, but I saw it for the first time today. Check out this link: Dad fills out questionaire for 11-month-old at daycare

Check out this saxy music

A time dilemma

I'm not good with adjusting to schedule changes. Saturday, my work schedule changed from starting at 7:30, to starting at 7:00. This may not seem like much, and over all, I like the idea of getting off work a half an hour earlier, but it puts me in a dilemma. The dilemma is when to write and when to get my exercise in. About a year ago, we changed from an 8:00 starting time to a 7:30 starting time, and I still haven't fully adjusted, and now, I have to adjust again. I do my best writing in the morning, mainly because there are too many distractions for me when it comes to writing in the evening. On the other hand, going to the gym after work is harder, because sometimes I work overtime and the need to get home outweighs staying until 6:00 at the gym to complete a workout.


My workout is generally completed in an hour, but there is drive time, and doing it after work puts me in the middle of rush hour traffic trying to get home. I'm thinking that I'm going to end up splitting my workout and running in the morning (I will have to anyway once it gets hot), and then doing my strength training after work. Running in the morning will still allow me to write for a while, so I think that may be the best possible solution. I'll need to be disciplined to do it, especially since I will need to get up at a consistent time, but that will be possible. The only thing I worry about is running in the dark. I haven't done that for years, and don't have the reflective gear for it. Of course, that can be easily purchased.


So there will be that, and I'll also try to get some cooperation around here with doing some writing at night. My computer just may have to be off-limits to the grandkids and others unless I'm watching a game or movie, or playing a board game with Ann. Of course, this time of year brings a number of things that take away time that could be used for writing—yard work that must be done, and of course the outdoorsy stuff that I always do and that nearly always takes precedence.


I'm glad my time dilemmas are only between things I want todo and not between things that I have to do.

I'm feeling a bit sucky today

Some days, you just don't feel all that great. It can be a physical thing, or it can be something emotional or mental. Sometimes you can't even do anything about it. Like now. For me.

We all feel down sometimes. And we all need to know how to climb back up. I know. You've felt down before too. Maybe you're even feeling so now. So, now, how to climb back up. That's the million dollar question and there often aren't easy answers.

Here's my suggestion. Grab your life by the scruff of the neck and make it do what you want it to do. That's it. Be proactive. Don't wait. Do something. Maybe knocking yourself off dead-center is what you need to do in order to get out of the blues.

It's what I need. Or at least, part of what I need. The other part lies down the road, and only time will cure that part.

Until then, I (and you) need to make the best of what God has given us. We all do. It's those who can do so who end up living happy lives filled with great things. And that's what I want.

Cats are strange

Sometimes my cat Scout is frankly, a moron. First there are the times when she hops up, strides in front of the monitor, walks on the keyboard, and prevents me from interacting with websites. Pay attention to me, she seems to say, not that screen. It can be irritating and endearing at the same time.

The thing that takes the cake though is this morning. I just happened to be in the bathroom, urinating (Sorry for the graphic description. You can stop reading now if you want. But come on, we are all adults here.). Scout hopped up on the bathtub edge, then walked over onto the front part of the toilet, right underneath the stream, and stood there. What was I supposed to do with that situation?

You make the call...

It's great mailman weather

Spring is  here, and with it comes one of the best times of year for mail delivery. I should know--that's my job. There's nothing like being outside when the weather is nice, but not too hot. As an added bonus, I got to deliver an hour off of a walking route yesterday. Now driving around in a truck all day isn't bad in this kind of weather, but getting to do a walk in it is amazing. Walking all day kind of defeats the purpose of enjoying it, but just doing an hour? That I can handle. I used to walk all day delivering mail, up until five or six years ago. It kept me in great shape. The thing is, when I went to do the things I loved to do after walking all week, I didn't want to do them. Hiking doesn't sound fun after packing around mail for 27 miles in a typical week. I finally took advantage of my seniority and bid on a "mounted" route, which is basically another name for a driving route, and presto, my hikes became much more fun.

I never expected to be still delivering mail after this long. In August, I'll have worked for the USPS for 32 years. That's a long time. I'm not really a big fan of government jobs, in fact, I've supported legislation that would be detrimental to my own job, simply to cut down on governmental waste. I'm not a hypocrite when it comes to my ideals and how they apply to limited government. That being said, the need to put a roof over my family's collective heads, and food on our table kept me doing the job for longer than I'd planned. I'd always thought I could go back and finish my degree at the University of Utah, and never realized that there was some kind of statute of limitations on the courses I took. I actually went back to school for a few months to Salt Lake Community College, but again, the family needed my income more than I needed another job and I stopped attending. I learned a lot of math though, and some computer skills.

When all is said and done though, I have other options. I've got one novel completed (not a very good one), and another one that I've completed 58,000 words on. When I get that done, it may not make me rich, but it may help me to end my postal career a bit earlier than previously planned. I'm not counting on it, but I am going to try and finish it to see what will happen. Right now, it's a pretty awesome story line, with a lot of exciting scenes, although most of those scenes have kinks in them that need to be worked out. I'm estimating that it will be around 80,000 words long when completed.

The thing is, delivering mail has its perks. For one thing, the nice parts of the year and being outside. Another advantage to being outside is to not have to hang out with the managers. There are very few with whom I'd like to hang out--too much watching you--you know, the kind of feeling you get when the boss just walked into the room? I know that feeling from both sides, btw. "GG" was the last manager with whom I actually liked hanging out. So "GG", if somehow you're out there reading this, let it be known that you were a cool person to hang out with.

Okay. It's another spring day today, with temps in the low 70s. I think I'm going to wear my mailman shorts today.

Hiking near Heber, Utah

Heber Valley, Utah, is a place where many choose to stay for family reunions, etc. Heber itself is really a gateway to numerous outdoor adventures. If you're an avid hiker, Heber is a location that makes hiking in both the Wasatch and Uinta Mountains accessible. Within just an hour or so drive time, you can be into the heart of the Uintas, up along the Mirror Lake Highway (Highway 150), or up along the scenic Alpine Loop Road, with access to Mt. Timpanogos in the Wasatch Range and more. To say nothing of various walks and short hikes along the edges of the Heber Valley itself. For some great hiking in the Uintas, check out this link: http://www.utah.com/heber/hiking_trails.htm

Of the hikes mentioned in the preceding link, I've done the Bald Mountain Summit, the
Cascade Springs Interpretive Trails (some of them), Crystal Lake Area Hikes, the
Currant Creek Nature Trail, and the Provo River Waterfalls.

Some comments on the hikes mentioned above. The Bald Mountain hike is one of the most spectacular hikes in Utah when you factor in how easy it is to do. Within just an hour or so from the trailhead, you are treated to an amazing view of the many surrounding lakes and peaks of the High Uinta country. Incidentally, you can also join my "High Uinta Lovers" page on Facebook. Here's the link: Clickety-click

Another one in the high Uintas are the various trails that can be taken via the Crystal Lake Trailhead area, just off the road that heads to Trial Lake. I've gone on the trail that heads over to Weir, Duck, Fire, Beaver, and other lakes, as well as the other trailhead from the same parking lot that heads over toward "the Notch", Lovenia Lake, and other spectacular lakes. Amazing scenery along any of these trails, but if you can make it as far as Fire Lake, you're really in for a treat.

A short one, just off Highway 150, is the Provo River Waterfalls Trail. If you are short on time, this is an enjoyable short hike that basically parallels the highway.

The Cascades Springs Trails are nice shaded trails past, of course, Cascade Springs. You won't get a lot of exertion out of this one, but you will enjoy the peaceful nature of the trail. And it's beautiful in the fall. Great for adults and young children.

The Currant Creek Nature Trail winds its way up from the Currant Creek Campground facility, through aspens and then some evergreens to top out with a great view of the reservoir below and the surrounding countryside. This too is great for both adults and young children.

Another great hike is Mt. Timpanogos from the Aspen Grove Trailhead. On this hike, you can go all the way to the top, or do a shorter hike up to the waterfalls. To get to the trailhead, drive out of Heber down Provo Canyon to the turn-off to Sundance Ski Resort and the Alpine Loop Road. Just up past Sundance and a bunch of cabins, you will find the trailhead. Here's a link to a good description of the hike: Mt. Timpanogos, and a map that shows the route to the trailhead: Route: Heber City to Aspen Grove Trailhead

Remember, that most of the high country in Utah has a lot of mosquitoes, until about mid-August when the colder nights of approaching autumn seems to get them on the run. Take bug spray with you for sure if you're going earlier in the season.

Finally, for the real adventurous, and you're going to need a four-wheel drive, high clearance vehicle to even make it to the trailhead, there's Pittsburg Lake, up American Fork Canyon. Here's a description of the trail, written by yours truly: Pittsburg Lake Trail. This is a very cool place. On second thought, I will be your guide. I'm always up for a hike to Pittsburg Lake. Then again, I'm always wanting to go to any of these places. Utah is just amazing.

Saying what you mean

Have you ever finished a conversation and then minutes after hanging up the phone (I still say that, but who hangs up a cell?) thought of some things you wanted to say, but couldn't think of at the time?


I think all of us have. We have all been part of a two-way conversation in which not all is said that one would want to say, and it is only later that we think of something we wished we'd said, but didn't think of at the time—and then the moment is gone.


We often cannot go back and fill in what we left out.


It's kind of like when you drive past a place that holds memories for you. You can't go back and physically be there again to relive that time in reality. But God gave us memories for a reason. We remember the bad as well as the good, and luckily for me, I remember the good a whole lot better and more frequently than I remember the bad.


There are places I go that trigger a sudden memory of something good. Physically, I'm still in the present, but mentally—my mind can recall my favorite times with amazing clarity. That my friends, is called a blessing.


The same thing holds true for a good conversation with a good friend. And, you never know. You may get a chance to say the things you wanted to say and forgot to say. Not all conversations end permanently.


We've all heard the sad stories of people who wish they'd have told a loved one how much they loved them, and then that person dies and that moment is lost for good.


Most times though, we reunite with those very people with whom we wanted to say more. The moment may be gone forever for saying certain things, but the chance to talk again nearly always happens. And then again, you may find the right moment to say what you should have said, in a conversation minutes, days, or even years before. If you get that chance, take it. If you get the chance to tell someone you love them, take it. It too is a blessing.

My favorite song about the moon

We had a full moon this week, and it was beautiful. Here is my favorite song that includes the word "moon". Neil Young's Harvest Moon.

Great songs are part of my life

Music is very much a part of my life. I use it to express my feelings, to lift my mood, to pump me up. While there are some great songs out there, I put In My Life  by the Beatles very high on my own personal list. Enjoy!

Snowshoeing and life

There are times when I feel guilty just for being healthy. This morning, I left my wife, Ann, to go snowshoeing. For the past few days she's been having a terrible time with her RA flareups and extremely dry eyes, both at the same time. “I can deal with one,” she said, “but not both at the same time.”

I offered to stay home with her. “No,” she said. “There's no reason you should stay home and be miserable, just because I am.”

The thing is, she's right—and she's wrong. While there's really nothing I can do to help her—for me, I hate feeling helpless to help--there's something to be said for staying home for the sake of sympathy.

I was gone for five hours. I traveled through some beautiful scenic countryside, up the road to Guardsman's Pass in Big Cottonwood Canyon. I got a lot of good exercise and breathed in a lot of clean air. My blood was pumping and my sweat glands were working proficiently. My legs began to burn as I pushed on toward the pass, but I finally made it. I stood there taking in the view for a few minutes, talked to a couple of snowmobilers who had made their way up to join me, then headed back down.

The rest of the afternoon I've been there for Ann. I'm still trying to figure out how to help the eye situation—I did call her eye doctor and arranged an appointment for next week—and I massaged the area in her neck that's been giving her fits through this flareup. She needed help with her shower and lotion put on afterward. I was happy to do it. Sometimes the strong can only do so much to help the weak and suffering, and the rest must be left up to God and time.

It can be a frustrating experience being unable to help someone you love through their trials. There's something I need to learn from this, and maybe it's just that I can't make everything all better. And maybe it's that even though I can't make things better, I can be a support and a help through the trials. When it comes right down to it, the help we give or don't give in the times of need is what makes us good people or indifferent people. I hope I'm never indifferent to the suffering of my loved ones. That would be a tragedy indeed.

When idiocy reigns

We are ruled by a collection of idiots. The latest, Marie Harf's bizarre suggestion that all ISIS needs to calm down is employment. Those of you who believe such nonsense have such a warped sense of good and evil in the world that it's nearly laughable. Harf's amusing if not so dangerous statement is just the tip of the iceberg of the downright stupidity of the Obama administration. From Eric Holder's statements on the recent ruling on Obama's governmental fiat on amnesty for illegals, to the President himself refusing to call a terrorist a terrorist and using moral relativistic remarks during his speech at the National Prayer Breakfast, we are heading down a dark path from which, if cooler heads do not prevail, we are going to rue the day we took such a path. For a more realistic view of what's transpiring in the world, here's an excellent essay by Graeme Wood: clickety-click

Great day skiing at Alta

I went skiing with my brother, Mike at Alta today. It was awesome! We had a few inches of fresh snow, and the sun was shining, and I only dumped it once.  Here's the pic he took:

One thing I believe in is love...

I just saw this great video about the love Irish Poet, Thomas Moore had for his wife. I love and appreciate great stories of love and wonderful music. Here it is combined in one amazing video: Believe Me If All Those Endearing Young Charms

Share this with those you love on Valentine's Day!

Character lines

“Some people try to turn back their odometers. Not me, I want people to know “why” I look this way. I’ve traveled a long way and some of the roads weren’t paved.”- Will Rogers

Turning back the clock. It isn't easy, nor is it really necessary. I love the Will Rogers quote above. People should wear with honor the lines, scars, or whatever they've earned or even just acquired in their lives. These are the signs that someone has made it through, and often the signs of how tough it was to do so. Is there ever really a finish line? I don't think so. There are always new challenges, new adventures, new highways to travel, and while we're on them, the old ones we've already bested, or that for a short time, bested us, travel with us.

Another quote I've always like is this one by Hunter S. Thompson: “Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!” 

Amen!

Dreams

I woke up about 3 am this morning and tried to go back to sleep because I had gone to be late. I was up for about an hour and finally fell asleep. While asleep I dreamed that I was out walking by a pond and saw some small frogs swimming in the water. I hadn't seen a live frog in years in nature, and I wanted to catch one. I reached in the water and caught one on my first attempt. I scooped it up and put it in a container, then decided to go for one more. I really wanted my grandkids to see the frogs. There were other strange portions of the dream. I really don't know if dreams have meanings, but it seems awfully interesting that I was trying to catch a frog and that I hadn't seen one in years in my wakeful state.
Maybe it's just telling me that there's a goal out there that needs to be achieved, or maybe someone that I haven't seen in a long time that I'd like to see. Or maybe I just wish I could be a kid again and catch frogs.

Thoughts on vacationing

Now, here's my first post vacation blog entry. I think that overall the vacation did both of us a lot of good and we did some fun things, ate too much rich food, and had a lot of time to talk to each other, which is always a plus. We were actually sad to come back to real life, and I'm having a hard time getting back into working...laziness breeds laziness.

On the other hand, I'd have much rather spent a lot more time hiking on my trip than driving. Driving is hard on Ann, but hiking is much harder. Because of the severity of her rheumatoid arthritis, she can't really hike at all, but she still enjoys seeing the beauty of nature. Long rides though are not good for her either. It's really best if we can get to a place where she can stay put, go out for short drives, have something to do when she sends me out to do my thing, and be comfortable. Cheap motels are generally not possible anymore, because the chairs just don't work. When we went to Kingman, Arizona last year, we ended up having to switch hotels after the first night because the one we had scheduled just didn't cut it for her comfort. Thank goodness that the original motel was willing to give us a refund. Ofcourse, I promised to give them a good review on Trip Advisor. On that trip we moved to a Best Western and it was plush, more expensive, but worth it to make sure she was okay.

We have another vacation scheduled down in southern Colorado in August and I'm hoping that their furniture is good enough that she can be comfortable. This usually requires an arm chair that has a high back, or a recliner that is higher off the ground than some of them are, so that she can get out of it if her knees are flaring up. I will check into this as far as possible before we go so that we can take measures to ensure she has something comfortable to sit in.

That's what we really have to look for in vacation planning now. If she's going to be miserable, it just isn't worth going, for her, or for me.

Day 9

Sometimes there are unexpected adventures in life. Day nine of our trip, our journey home, included one such journey. But first, we got up and kind of leisurely got ready to leave our motel in Kanab. We stayed at the Victorian Inn as I had mentioned in an earlier post, and when we left, our first stop was to go and collect some large slabs of sandstone for future use in yard decorating. I had collected two earlier in the week and Ann wanted two more, so we drove down into Arizona, past Freedonia, turning off highway 89A and onto highway 22, back to approximately where I had collected the previous slabs. We found a couple more and headed on our way. Our plan was to take a scenic route, up Johnson Canyon that we had driven up the previous day, and then take a 31 mile dirt road called Skutumpah Road. Skutumpah was rated a 1 on the easiness scale for dirt road travel, and that's as easy as it gets. Two-thirds of the way in, we were in for an unexpected surprise when suddenly the road was wet--mud, then snow and ice. It looked dangerous as the road rounded a hairpin turn and headed down a shelf, covered in snow. We didn't want to turn back at that point as that would add hours to our travel time. This part of the drive takes people into breathtaking vistas on mountainsides. On the downhill side of the road in many cases there was a foot-wide berm, also made of mud, that if we happened to slide into wasn't going to stop us from going off the edge. But in many cases, going to close to the uphill side would create a situation where we might slide into a ditch and get high centered. It was a bit nerve-wracking, especially once we were on the ice. Fun though. It's the kind of road that shows you what your vehicle and tires are made of, and if you have the skills necessary to complete the drive. What a rush!

The snow on the road got to be at least six inches deep in places. This photo shows a bit of the snow and mud.

This steep section included an ice flow. I nearly fell on my head trying to get to the back of the Yota to take the shot.

Once we negotiated the last ten miles, we were treated to vistas like this one:

Looking north from Stutumpah Road

The book had rated the scenic beauty as a 9 out of 10, but until we dared to drive that last third of the road, we didn't see anything like this. Since I'm writing this, we obviously made it. There were no further surprises on the trip, and we pulled into the driveway at around 6:45pm. All told, it was a pretty good trip.

Day 8

This was our last full day of our vacation. Tomorrow we will be heading home. We had decided to schedule an extra day in Kanab so that we could relax and do some things around that area that are fun and interesting to do. Ann wasn't feeling well in the morning so she said she'd be fine if I just took off and did some four-wheeling, which I did. I chose a route called John R. Flat Road, which was supposed to have a rating of 5 in difficulty if I started from the west, and if I started from the east it would be a 4. I decided to start from the east, and then if that went well, to try and climb the hill from the west--that had a 5 rating. Fives require high clearance four wheel drive vehicles, and usually have some rocks that are at least 9 inches high in the road that need to be negotiated. The rest of the road was driving through sand, so I had to take some air out of my tires. Though there were some nice views along the way (this route is near the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument), most of it was sandy roads through junipers.

Most of the way was a sandy road through sagebrush and junipers.

After driving through the sand for nine miles, with no problems, I finally got to the west end where the hard part was. Going down it was a piece of cake. There were two routes, both were supposed to be equally hard, but the route on the right looked easier, so I tried that first. There were some ledges, but I easily negotiated this road and made it to the bottom without trouble. I went back up the same route with no trouble. Then I decided to try the left route that looked tougher. It was tougher, with a couple of ledges that were pretty high that I needed to drop from, one right after the other. When I tried to go back up, I got stuck in the deep sand at the bottom of the ledges and had to back up. I found that I had accidentally shifted back into two-wheel drive. No wonder I bogged down! I shifted into low-range four-wheel drive, second gear, and made it up without a problem. I came down the same way once again. It sure was fun!
After that, Ann and I went to lunch, then went on a drive up Johnson Canyon Road, which skirted the western edge of the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. It was pretty along that edge for a few miles, and then we left the Monument area and were once again driving through junipers.
We went back, played backgammon (which we were both relearning because it had been years since we'd played), then I took a nap. We each had a salad for dinner.
When dinner was done, I went out into the darkness and experimented with taking some pics of the stars. Here is my best one:

That's it. I didn't have my best tripod, so I was wedging the camera with a jacket trying to get pics of the Milky Way. It didn't turn out as good as I'd hoped, but for my first real attempt, I was fairly pleased. They say also that the best time to take pics of the Milky Way is in the summer, because it "rises" in the wee hours of the morning in the winter. I will give it another try in the summer for sure.

Day 7...

It was time to be on the road and headed home. Since we had stayed up so late the night before, we got off to a late start and didn't leave Tom's until after nine. We had been seeing this little restaurant called "Hoosiers Cafe" and yesterday when Ann was going to Great Clips to get her hair cut, I noticed that Hoosiers had a sign that said "voted best breakfast in Mesa". I told Ann that we should try that on our way out of town and she agreed. So this morning we stopped there. It was as good as they claimed. I had the shrimp omelet and it came with fried potatoes and a biscuit with gravy. The omelet was amazing and came with fresh salsa. I gave it a 9 out of 10. The rest of the food was good too, and we ordered a couple of their cinnamon rolls for eating later on the road. I actually gave them lower marks at 5 out of 10.

We actually didn't get out on the road until almost 11 and our first stop would be at Jerome, which is a small mining town that has become an artsy, touristy, restauranty place. We had been there years ago with the kids and I wanted to see it again. I made the mistake of stopping in the museum...Ann stayed in the car and wrote in her journal. The museum had a $5 charge to get in and was pretty much a typical mining history museum. I would have enjoyed it if Ann would have felt like coming in, but as it was, I worried about her waiting outside the entire time I was in there, and so I just rushed through it, certainly not getting my five bucks worth. Another thing is, if you've seen one mining museum, you've pretty much seen them all, except the names of the mine owners change. For what it's worth, it's better to read up about a place you intend on visiting before you go, and then spend the extra time actually walking the streets. Ann couldn't walk the streets either, so I walked up and down both sides of the street, quickly, looking through windows, wishing I could spend more time--I think I could've spent at least three hours there--and then after I ran up a flight of thirty or so concrete stairs, bought some fudge and we headed out of town. I'll say this, Jerome is certainly worth a visit and I will try and go back some day.

We decided to take the route north that would take us through Sedona. We'd been through there years ago, but I had forgotten how beautiful it was. We stopped and took a few pictures and headed on our way. We would be stopping at Kanab for the night and knew that if we didn't get moving, we'd get to our motel after check-in hours were over. We made it at a little after nine to our motel, the Victorian Inn in Kanab. And finally, daily internet access!

Day 6...

On the sixth day of our vacation, we had a hang around Mesa kind of day. We got up late, ate some breakfast at the house where we were staying (cereal and toast for me). Then went out to do some book shopping. There's a new/used book store in Mesa called "Bookman's", and that's the first place we went. They not only had used books, but used cds, dvds, blu-ray, musical instruments, assorted knick knacks (including some wooden boxes) and various other things for sale. I ended up buying myself a book/dvd combo on learning to ski, and a jar of old marbles. Ann bought a few dodads and whatchamacallits and some alphabet books (she has well over 100 ABC books in her collections, and she's quite selective at this point).

We were ready for lunch at this point which was about 12:30 and with an early dinner date planned with Debi and Morris, we wanted to eat a bit lighter during the noon hour, and we did so. After lunch we headed to the Goodwill store and I ended up buying some little computer speakers for the laptop. We headed home after that as Ann wanted to change clothing and rest for a while. I fell asleep on the couch sitting up (I'd woken up in the middle of the night and been unable to sleep), and Ann talked with her brother Tom. At about 2:50 I woke up and said to Ann that if we were going to make the 4:00 appointment with Debi and Morris, we'd better head over to our final bookstore ASAP. We got going, Ann bought a few more alphabet books, I bought a krav maga book.

We were fifteen minutes late to Debi and Morris' house and we drove in separate vehicles to Oregano's, an Italian place that they highly recommended. The portions were large and the food was quite good. I got the garlic chicken lasagna and after the appetizer, salad, and garlic bread, I only ate half of it and took the rest back to our lodgings and threw it in the fridge. Before we went home, however, we visited with Debi, Morris, their daughter Alyson and Ann's mother, Rosalee. It was going to be our last night to visit, so we stayed until almost ten. We said our good-byes, I took a pic of Ann with her mom and we headed home. I stayed up reading, while Ann watched American Idol which she likes and which Tom had recorded for her. I think we actually got to bed at 12:45.

Day five...

Today we got up early and I took Ann to visit with her sister, Debi. Then my brother-in-law, Morris took off to the Superstition Mountains do a little driving around on his Ranger, up to a trailhead to a place called "Rogers Trough". This trail is an 8 mile round trip and leads to some cliff dwellings. It starts out by going downhill. We made good time and  got there around noon. Here are some pics of the area.

Shane at cliff dwelling in Rogers Canyon

Morris at cliff dwelling in Rogers Canyon

This sign was posted in front of the cliff dwellings

I tried to climb into the upper cave, but the way was slick and I had only my running shoes...I had not brought my hiking shoes because that would have necessitated me bringing four pairs of shoes on the trip. Little did I know that I would actually need the hiking shoes.

After viewing the caves and the dwellings, we ate lunch, then started the uphill hike back to the Ranger. It was tougher going up than coming down, but we made it. We drove back down to the trailer (passing by some of the coolest mountains ever, strewn with saguaro cacti), loaded up the Ranger, drove to town, showered and Debi and Morris went with me and Ann out to dinner to Casa Reynosa. It's a place that Debi and Morris frequent and is very good.

Day Four...

Day 4 (Monday): No internet access today, so I'll probably be posting this some time on Tuesday. Today was a day that we just kind of played it by ear. I got up and went running. Being rather unfamiliar with the neighborhood, I wound my way up through the streets of the subdivision thinking that there was no way I could ever live in this 55 plus neighborhood. I really don't like places that only have old people. Kids are for the most part, fun to have around. It has gotten up into the seventies as far as temperature goes, and will be getting up near 80 later on in the week. However, the morning lows are quite cool--in the forties. I first went outside with just a t-shirt and basketball shorts, then decided I needed something under the t-shirt--something long-sleeved.

When I got back from the run, I showered and then made breakfast for Ann and I. Tom is on diet restrictions because of bariatric stomach reduction surgery, and he stays up way late, then gets up way late as well. He takes care of his own food. Ann and I had scrambled eggs, toast, and we each had half an orange. Since Tom cannot eat salt at all, he has none around the house and the eggs were quite bland. I added some of the Missus Dash no-salt seasonings, but that didn't do the trick, so we ended up putting ketchup on our eggs--something I frequently do anyway, but that Ann rarely does.

After that we went on a drive. Our goal was to find a used book store that I had been to in the past. I couldn't quite remember where it was, but I thought it was in downtown Mesa. We found out that because it was Martin Luther King Day, they were having a parade and we couldn't get to that part of town, at least in the morning. So we drove on down the road to see if the book store was not in the middle of downtown, but couldn't find it. I have no smart phone so I used my basic tracphone and called Rebecca and asked her to look up on the internet some locations of used book stores in the Mesa area. We found out that we were fairly close to one of them where we stopped to make the call, so we headed to that store. It was in Tempe and we found it, looked around for a while, didn't find anything we wanted to buy, so we decided we needed to head back to our lodgings, mainly because Ann wasn't doing well with her RA and needed to stay off her feet. We found a deli called Fudgeworks to pick up some lunch. They had sandwiches, soups, salads, and of course, fudge and some other dessert kind of treats. It looked like a dive and I like to find dives that have great food. This place had some really good sandwiches--certainly worth a return trip. I had the reuben (I found out that I like sauer kraut after all), and Ann had a ham and swiss. We got a small piece of fudge to try and some coconut pecan cookies. The fudge was the kind of sugary fudge and I didn't really like it. I like a smooth fudge way better. The cookies were excellent.

After lunch, I took Ann back to our abode and I went out to Wal-Mart (for some food supplies, and some yarn that Ann needed), and then to one of the other bookstores on our list. I will be going back there. I picked up a couple of books. I hope to be able to find the other book store on Wednesday, our last full day here. That one is called Bookmunds.

We picked up a pizza from Bellagio's Pizzeria. It was pretty good. I'm still feeling my back from the skiing crash, but it's getting better every day.

Vacation Day 2

Day 2 Saturday: Let me begin by finishing day 1...we ended up eating at The Three Bears instead of Escobar's in Kanab. The reason being that we had eaten Mexican food the night before. Ann ate healthier than I did. She had an oriental salad. I had linguine alfredo and garlic bread. The linguine was my third choice because they were out of the other two choices I had selected ahead of it.

We went back later and got some shakes. They were fairly good, but not enough hot fudge in my hot fudge shake. I had a hard time sleeping because I forgot to bring my own pillow and the ones the motel provided were uncomfortable to say the least.

So on to day two. We left Kanab at around 8:20 after eating a fairly decent breakfast at the motel. As I'd been loading the 4runner, I'd seen the early morning sun just touching the nearby red mesa tops. Beautiful. I figured that on the way home I could keep this in mind and get up early to take some pictures.

We headed down the road. In Page, Arizona, we took the temporary diversion road 89T down to Gap. We had been on the old highway 89 a couple of years ago, just a day or two before a sinkhole/landslide had appeared in the road and it had been demolished by the slide and had to be closed. It hasn't yet reopened. The new road, 89T, goes mostly across the "Res", and the top speed is 55. This seems so slow when crossing this vast desert landscape and needing to travel hundreds of miles. It was nice when we finally got to Gap where the replacement road met up once again with the old road. I found myself wishing I'd have waited to get gas at Gap because it was 25 cents cheaper per gallon than the gas I'd bought in Page (thinking that the gas at Gap would be more expensive). We made it to Flagstaff at around lunch time and looked for a good place to eat. I knew about the Dog Haus where I'd eaten some of their good hot dogs in previous years, so that's where I wanted to go. Ann wanted something different so I picked up my food from the Dog Haus--it was good, by the way, though not good for me. Ann had something from McDonald's.

We got on the road again and made it down to Mesa. We are staying with Ann's brother, Tom in a house owned by their mother. This house doesn't have any kind of internet connection, so I'm having to wait until I'm at a place with wifi in order to post. We will be at Debi and Morris' house (Ann's sister and her husband) on Sunday. So I will be posting from there, if all goes according to plan. I think I'm going to be in withdrawal on this trip, but what the heck, life's an adventure, right?
 Dinner...we ate at Jack in the Box, but we went to the grocery store to buy some things so that we can make some more nutritious meals.

Traveling is interesting and you have some things happen that you'd never expect. It's best to be prepared, but you can't prepare for every possible contingency--so you have to be able to roll with whatever happens. That's a mental thing.

  I'm tired. I'll be going to bed soon.

Our vacation: Day 1

Our estimated time to leave for our trip was 8 am, and we ended up hitting the road at about 8:23. Our destination for the day would be Kanab, Utah, roughly half way between the Salt Lake Valley and the Phoenix, Arizona area. The driving was fairly uneventful and we found ourselves in Panguitch at around 12:30 where we stopped for lunch at the Flying M Coffee Shop. This place has a small gift shop near the entrance and then further back in was the eating area. There was an oldies station playing on speakers from an old compact stereo system, complete with 8-track tape--state of the art, I know.

I ordered the special, which was a garlic/mushroom stuffed burger and fries. Ann ordered the club sandwich with bacon. I thought the burger wasn't bad, but not great. Ann's club was fantastic, she said. The fries were good, but there were too many--and generally that's a compliment. However, I left a few on the plate that I just couldn't finish.

After lunch we continued on to Kanab, winding our way through some amazing country with red rock peaks dusted with snow. We arrived in Kanab at about 2:30, drove around assessing the town because the info we got said check-in time for our motel was 3 pm, and then about ten to, we stopped at the motel--the Victorian Inn--and were able to check in.

We will be going out for dinner later--probably at a place called Escobar's--provided it isn't closed. One thing we're finding in these smaller southern Utah towns is that a lot of the businesses, including restaurants, are seasonal and winter isn't their peak season. For example, in Panguitch, there were only three choices for lunch, Subway, a convenience store pizza place, and the Flying M where we ended up. Just like when we went through Moab in the winter a few years ago.

I love this quote

I love this quote by Max Lucado, and is it ever true:

“When you are in the final days of your life, what will you want?

Will you hug that college degree in the walnut frame? Will you ask to be carried to the garage so you can sit in your car? Will you find comfort in rereading your financial statement? Of course not. What will matter then will be people. If relationships will matter most then, shouldn't they matter most now?”

Getting packed up kills me

Since our supply of bar soap was getting low, my wife and I decided to take a trip, stay in a few motels, and collect the unused or barely used bars of soap for home use...

Getting ready to leave on a trip is something I dislike intensely, but it's something I do because I like to get gone. So here I am, listening to my playlist on Spotify, “The Saxiest Music Alive”. It's a collection of great songs for the sax. I'm listening to this as I pack up the stuff we will need for our trip to Arizona. Of course, right now, I took a break to write this entry. I'm still listening to the music though.

Undoubtedly in the packing up of stuff, I will forget something, or find that something I had intended to bring is broken or misplaced somewhere. Like my flashlight. It's the black flashlight that I traded my blue one to Brady Bird for years ago when he was a Scout and wanted the blue one. With all the grandkids running around here that won't leave things alone, that flashlight, there on my headboard two days ago, has now vanished into the chaos of our cluttered house. I'm still missing the red-handled can opener, and my expensive can-opener has been missing for months. One day, all of it will turn up, buried now under tons of extra clothing, toys, or gadgets.

The thing I like least about packing is the packing. I think I need to find someone to help who's good at it. If you have any suggestions, I'd appreciate them.

Once we're on the road it's a different story. I find that I've undoubtedly put the food box to where it's just out of reach, and the water jug requires a weightlifter's strength to pry it from where it has slipped and wedged between the seats. I find that our toiletry box is sliding around with every curve in the road, dumping its contents with every bump.

“Get a system,” folks say. “I keep everything I take in a backpack,” says one friend, “then I just grab the pack and go.” Of course, he's saying this about actually backpacking. Maybe I could develop some kind of system like this to use for car trips. I think about doing it every time I have to pack, and then after I come home, promptly forget about it. Until the next time we're getting ready to leave.

One thing's for certain. After we're on the road, too far from home to return, we'll find out we've left behind some of the most important things. Like the time we left the traveler's checks back home on the dresser. Thank goodness we don't still have the Car from Hell.

In the end though, the most important things will be in the trusty 4runner—that being Ann and I. And if we forget the food, well, there are stores along the way. Okay, back to packing, and listening to that saxy music.

My ski report

For the past few months, I've been planning to take up skiing again. At 55, there are a lot of things you begin thinking “it's now or never” about. So, I figured out a day I would go, reserved the skis, bought the lift ticket, and ended up at Alta, Utah.


But let's back up a bit. It had been a long time since I'd skied. I wasn't sure what to wear, what to take, how anything worked any more. The only thing I knew was where the resorts were and that I would need to take a lift to the top of the runs, and point the skis in a generally downward direction. A friend had recommended taking a lesson. Instead, I watched “how to turn” and “how to parallel ski” videos on youtube. I packed everything I would need the night before.


So yesterday, I got up in plenty of time to make it to the ski rental shop and then to the resort by the time it opened. I got on the freeway and was making good time and then all of a sudden, about a mile from my exit, there was a huge lineup of cars moving ever so slowly. We inched our way forward, finally making the exit about twenty minutes later. Then it was on to the ski rental place. I knew the general address of where it was, but didn't know exactly where. I went into Smith's grocery store and asked for directions. The guy I asked knew where it used to be and where it may still have been. “I don't have any reason to look for it,” he said, “but it used to be right up there by Zion's Bank”. I thanked him and found out it was right where he'd said it was.


I drove up to Alta with no further complications. It was easy finding the place to start, because that's where everyone was parking. I got the boots on and began the trek to the area where you first put on your skis. Again, no incidents putting on the skis. The guy at the ski shop had taken the time to show me how the bindings worked, and I got the skis on. At this point there's a small slope that leads down to the first lift. Nervously, I snowplowed my way down this slope, nearly falling. It was going to take a while to get my ski legs back, I could tell.


I managed to get on the lift, sitting next to a guy, maybe close to my same age. “I'm a snow boarder,” he said. “I just started skiing this year,...well, it's been fifteen years since I skiid until this year.”
“It's been 29 years for me,” I said.
“Wow,” he said. “I bet the skis you used 29 years ago didn't look like the ones you have now.”
“No,” I said, thinking about the old pointy ended skis that I had been accustomed to, “they didn't”.


I picked the easiest of the easy runs for my first run. I took it slowly, trying to feel my way back into it. The weather was perfect. The sky bright blue, the sun shining. Apparently though, this was not conducive to good skiing, because with the warmer temperatures, the lack of recent snow, and the melting and then refreezing of what snow there was, the groomed trails had turned into very icy and treacherous places to be for someone who hadn't done it for a long time. I felt the snow beneath me, knowing that if I fell, it was going to hurt. That first run, I made it to the bottom without falling.


On run number two, I had a small fall that I was able to recover from fairly quickly. Then on run number three, I went up the same lift, skied down to another lift and went up further. This was a different kind of lift with a metal post in between two seats, called Cecret Lift. There were warnings about getting ready to stand up as I neared the end of the lift. I was by myself and as I got off the lift, I fell. There were a pair of skis nearby where I fell, and as I scrambled to get up the lift operator came out and said, “watch out for those skis—they're expensive skis,” and apparently they were his. I made sure no harm was done to them and headed down.


On one of my subsequent rides up to the top I was with an Alta employee. “Couldn't ask for better weather,” I said to him.
“Yeah,” he said. “If you can't have snow, you might as well have sun.” He didn't seem too happy about it though and was silent the rest of the way to the top.


I rode up another time with a woman from Chicago. She mentioned the inversion in the Salt Lake Valley. “I've never seen it this bad,” she said. I wanted to say, “you should try living here all winter” or something like that. I've seen it this bad plenty of times. Not that I like it one bit. I didn't say any of that to her, and we continued our pleasant conversation all the way to the top.


One time, I got off the lift and a woman asked me if I'd take her picture. “Sure,” I said. “If you'll take mine.” I took hers then handed her my camera. “I don't see anything on the screen,” she said. I looked at it. The battery was in need of recharging. What can I say? It was my wife's camera, so I didn't think to check the battery before I grabbed it that morning. So much for any photos of my first time back.


I kept to the easy runs thinking that in the afternoon, I'd give one of the intermediate runs a shot. That was not to be. Just a few minutes before noon, on my ninth run, I started down the steepest portion of the easy run I was on, lost control on the icy surface and fell hard, wrenching my back. I knew something was wrong as I struggled to get my ski and hat that were further up the slope. Some kind people helped me gather my stuff and get my ski back on and I continued down, but my back hurt like crazy—not in the spine, thank goodness—but in the muscles of the middle-right side.


I tried a couple more runs after that, but I was skiing defensively, trying not to hurt my back further, not having much fun. I fell on my last run again, not hard, but losing a ski. I was able to get it on all by my little old lonesome this time. I headed to the lodge, took off my skis, went inside to see how much food was, decided it was too exhorbitant, then decided to sit down and wait a while to see if my back would feel good enough to strap the skis back on. I could tell after five minutes or so that it wasn't going to improve, so I packed up and headed home.


Later that evening, I went to Instacare, just to make sure I hadn't cracked a rib. The doc had some xrays taken, and they came up negative. She classified it as a muscle strain, gave me a list of things to do and not do, prescribed some drugs, gave me a referral to a back doctor, and sent me on my way. She told me not to work and wrote me a “doctor's excuse” for Friday and Saturday. So I have nothing to do except write in this blog and watch tv or read. I hate that. I'm sure I'll break the rules. I always do.

Please sign the petition to end tax payer money to fund abortions

Here's the petition link: http://aclj.org/pro-life/stop-giving-tax-dollars-to-abortion-industry

E-cigs, Vaping and the whole smoking thing

I've just got to comment on this because, well, vaping sucks nearly as much as smoking real cigarettes sucks. The vapor hangs like a cloud in whatever place it happens to be. As a mail carrier, I get the chance to deliver to a vaping supply store once a week and the mist that is in that place is frankly nauseating. Sickeningly sweet, and we don't even know how harmful it is. Check out this article from Web MD for just one example: clickety-click.

How much better it would be if no one had to stick any kind of cigarettes in their mouths and inhale anything. Of course, I'm fairly libertarian in my views and feel that for the most part, people should be able to do what they want in their own homes, or if enough distance is kept between them and others who don't like it--for example, if I don't like your smoke or vapors, I should be able to complain only if it's in a place that I have to frequent or traverse. That being said, like regular cigarette smoking, it's a habit most should try and end.

How to keep after your goals even when you get sidetracked

I have taken sort of a sabbatical from the gym since December 23rd. Today was going to be my big day to get back after it. After all, it's my day off, tomorrow's a holiday, and it's the perfect time to get going on those goals even if it's continuing goals. I got dressed in my workout clothes, and headed out to the trusty 4runner to drive to the gym. The battery was dead. I hooked up the charger, but I knew that with all my plans for the day, the workout was going to be discarded, like a block of worthless Velveeta cheese.

The question is, do I let that stop me from getting back after it tomorrow? The answer is a huge, emphatic, "NO"! I will make sure the battery is up and running today. I will purchase a new one if need be, and I will be rarin' to go tomorrow.

You see, sometimes we let little things throw us off our paths to success. If we can catch the vision of how we want to be, if we can keep that vision out there in front of us and focus on it, if we can do these things, we can achieve our goals and dreams. What that means is that a little sidetracking rarely hurts anyone. It's the failure to continue after the sidetracking that derails us from our goals.

If I can leave you with anything this New Year's Eve, it's to get back up after the failures. It's to grab life by the scruff of the neck and make it do what you want it to do. It's to believe that you can accomplish what you set out to do, and then to keep plugging until you make it. You can succeed. You will succeed. Believe.

I want to be like this guy

I just saw this video this morning, Never Leave the Playground. Stephen Jepson, age 72, is a new hero of mine. There's a lot to be said for staying active, and a lot to be said for staying real active. Watch this video to see how fantastic this guy is at what he does. It's amazing.

Today the streets ran with blood

I was out on the street today, just doing my job. I was happy, thrilled, feeling good. It's Christmas Eve, I've talked to people I care about, I'm going to get done early with my mail route and head home--everything is good. Then I see it...red liquid running down the gutter that looked an awful lot like blood. What in the world? I wondered. Where is this coming from? Not being one who is normally afraid to investigate, I turned my mail truck around and followed the blood upstream and saw the dead body.

 Someone hunters had a dead animal that they had just unloaded from a trailer and I saw them out there with a hose, spraying it down. Heckuva lot of blood, and, hey, remember guys, we all live downstream? I'm sure animal blood isn't as dangerous as anti-freeze, but dudes, maybe you can think of a better way to clean up than to make it look like some sort of mass murder has taken place in the neighborhood. I'm just sayin'...

Another great quote

Here's another great quote, this one, by Muhammad Ali:

"Don't count the days. Make the days count."

 

I love a good quote. I love this one because it refers to living in the present and enjoying your days as they come instead of waiting for some day in the future when things will improve. I'm reminded of several years ago when I had in my mind plans for spending a lot of time with my dad when my kids were grown and I was an empty-nester. Sadly, before that point happened, Dad died. We just never know. Making the most of the lives God has given us helps us to have happy and productive lives. Don't short change the present because we have no way of knowing what the future will bring. 

The same holds true for troubles. Don't imagine unforeseen future predicaments. Matthew 6:34 says: "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." (New International Version)

Living in the present helps us preserve the great things and deal more effectively with the negative things. As Matthew says in chapter 6 verse 27: "Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?" (NIV)

 

Treats for the Christmas spirit

Christmas time is a time when insane amounts of treats are passed out and consumed. It's a fact that the time between Thanksgiving and New Years is when people pack on the pounds. Here are just a few random thoughts about treats this time of year.


Interesting treats: If this offends anyone, I'm sorry, but I've seen these decorative bags of mixed cereals, pretzels, and popcorn, on the break table at work. I started putting two and two together. We store our cereal boxes on top of the fridge and generally, there is that last little ¼ cup of cereal left in the bottom of the box that sits there for months. If you have enough of these mostly empty boxes lying around, what a neat idea—dump them all into a decorative bag, throw in a handful of pretzels and a handful of popcorn and voilá, instant treats for the neighbors or the mail carrier! I actually don't know what makes this appealing at all, but it's good for the thrifty.


Best treats: My list of best treats include nearly anything that's homemade, and that doesn't include raisins or walnuts. Raisins are not a hot item at Christmas time anyway, but walnuts manage to make their way into some of the best foods, like fudge. That being said, if I had to make a list of things I like best as far as Christmas treats goes, here's what would be on the list: fudge, sugar cookies, various kinds of candy (the good non-peppermint kind), and anything put together with love.


Worst treats: There are none. If anyone takes the time to do something for you, you should appreciate it. Even if it's a bag of leftover cereals mixed up, whoever gave it to you thought you might like it. Actually, I might like it if the pretzels and popcorn were left out, because then I could actually dump it in a bowl with some milk and have a great potpouri of cereals. That's why I never have those mostly empty boxes of cereal on my fridge or in my cupboard, btw. They get used up by me...wheat chex mixed with bran flakes, etc. Not too shabby.


Suggestions for treats that you don't normally think about: Have you ever thought of doing a service treat? How about showing up, early in the morning after a snow storm and clearing your neighbor's sidewalks? How about rolling in their trash cans from off the street for them? How about visiting them or giving them a phone call just to say “hi”?


My final thought is that everything should be accepted graciously and with gratitude. It's not the food that we get this time of year that's important, it's the love that we feel. More importantly, it's the love that we share, because Christ's love is the greatest of all and sharing our love with others is a great way to honor Him.

Christmas is a time for great food

Food, wonderful food.Usually, around this time of year, we start planning the food for assorted holiday season get-togethers. Christmastime and New Years is the time period when I usually splurge on good food. For example, on Christmas Eve, our tradition is a steak dinner. I bought the steaks (New York) a couple of months ago, and I'd better get them out of the freezer tonight if they're going to thaw in time. I usually marinade them, serve them with baked potatoes, rolls, and some kind of veggies. This year though, instead of the baked potatoes, a couple of wonderful women in our household have decided to prepare au gratin potatoes. That's just great with me.


Sunday night, we're having our family party for Ann and I and our children and grandchildren. It should be great fun, and we've already planned out the menu. We're having sandwiches (with deli meats—roast beef, turkey, and ham), potato salad, pasta salad, chips with guacamole and/or salsa, shrimp, a tray of fresh veggies, and assorted other good things.


Christmas morning has generally been some kind of casserole, but I'll be shaking things up a bit this year. The plan is to make a fabulous cinnamon coffee cake. I'm thinking I'll provide assorted choices to go with it—maybe hot chocolate, orange juice, or milk, and probably some fresh fruit. I may even cook some link sausage. It's already sounding amazing.


If you're going to splurge on food, one of the best times to do so is right around Christmas. It helps build great memories.

Christmas Goodies

And so, a new adventure begins with a bang, crash, boom, and squish. I began making the annual Christmas treats for the neighbors by dropping one loaf pan of pumpkin bread batter, which ricocheted off the edge of the counter, coated the fronts of the cabinets and drawers, then landed, bottom-side down on the floor. There was lustrous applause for this stunt, or there should have been. It has never been so masterfully done. I scraped down the side of the pan, noticed that we could still use what was left and put it in the oven.

Earlier today, my wife Ann had told me that she was glad she won the Ghirardelli  Brownie mix because we could use it for part of our goodies to the neighbors plates. I gave her a sidelong glance, "No, I said, I won't make something out of a box to give to the neighbors." It's a pet peeve of mine, for me only--I don't mind if the neighbors give me something made from a box or nothing at all, I just don't like to do it myself. Of course, the neighbors of years ago who got our sugar cookies with the glossy frosting (made glossy by our children licking frosting off their little fingers and then spreading the remaining frosting around...sorry neighbors, we didn't find out until later), would beg to differ. "Please, give us something made from a box," they might say, or better yet, "just give us the box. We'll make our own." Not me. I'm not making anything from a box.

My next act was to begin figuring out how to ruin more treats. Maybe I could mix Red Hots in with the marshmallow for the Rice Krispy treats, or perhaps add Red Hots to the next batch of pumpkin bread. I like cinnamon, but Red Hots do not qualify.

I'm thinking if I keep my head in the game, I can accomplish with aplomb, burning at least one batch of chocolate chip cookies, scorching the fudge, or carmelizing something that needed to be taffyized.

Really, I need to focus on one thing at a time. If I try to make tacos at the same time as I'm doing a batch of sugar cookies, I'll end up with chili powder flavored frosting on the cookies, and Christmas tree-shaped tortillas. Actually, the tortillas shaped like Christmas trees do not sound too bad, but while I'm creating those, I'll end up with lettuce embedded in the frosting instead of red and green sprinkles. A multi-tasker, I am not.

When I became the chief cook and bottle washer a few years ago, I never knew the trouble it would be--for me, and for everyone else. One thing I can say though, those treats are going to be made with love, even if not with kid's saliva.

Hiking Nebo

After reading this article on hiking solo, from Backpacker Magazine I feel vindicated for hiking alone. Actually, most of the time I have no choice as my rotating work schedule has me off during mid-week instead of weekends. For example, I get every sixth Saturday off, when most of my pals could go along with me. This past summer I had the opportunity of climbing Mt. Nebo, the highest peak in the Wasatch Range. It would have been nice to have a companion on this hike, maybe two of us could cheer each other along. However, there's something to be said for conquering something with your own inner will. Here's the trip report of that hike that I posted at Bogley: Mt. Nebo trip report.

Great quote

I saw this insightful quote earlier this morning:

". . . when it comes down to it, that’s what life is all about: showing up for the people you love, again and again, until you can’t show up anymore." -Rebecca Walker

I love it. 

The Snowman

While I'm on the topic of Christmas, one of my favorite holiday films is this short film about a boy and his magical flight with a snowman. In particular, I'm fond of the song Walking in the Air, but the entire thing is charming. Here is a youtube video of The Snowman in its entirety.

Mary did you know?

Mark Lowry does a fantastic version of Mary Did You Know? Which is one of my all-time favorite Christmas songs. I love it. Here it is: Mary Did You Know?

This one by Kenny Rogers and Wynonna Judd is awesome as well: Click me now!

A rare gem of a Christmas song

I pride myself on finding Christmas songs that are relatively unknown in this day and age. Eddie Fisher has some great Christmas songs, and here is one of his finest nostalgic tunes: Christmas Day
Enjoy!

Addictions: I want a new drug

Sometimes, the hardest battles are those we fight within ourselves. Addictions are some of the toughest--especially when they are good addictions. Most people want to rid themselves of addictions that afflict them, but when the addiction is good and makes one feel good, there doesn't seem to be much of a point, and the will power sometimes just isn't there. For example, what if your addiction was helping other people? What if it was having a friendly conversation with someone? Why, when these things make you feel good, would you ever want to break such an addiction?

The answer is, you wouldn't. There would need to be an overpowering reason why these things were wrong in order for you to have the will to stop doing them. And the withdrawal from such addictions could be just as great as some kinds of drug withdrawal.

Maybe that's why Huey Lewis & the News did the song I Want a New Drug...

Yeah, and maybe that whole introduction was so that I could share this excellent live version of the song with you...just maybe.

Signed, Sealed, Delivered for Christmas

Tonight on the Hallmark Channel we watched a very good made for television movie called Signed, Sealed, Delivered for Christmas. The spirit of the season was felt, and my mind was momentarily clear of other things that have been bothering me today. It's on again tomorrow at 9 am for anyone interested in watching this good Christmas film. Check it out.

My workout plan

If you're thinking of setting any New Year's goals as far as exercise goes, now may be the time to start instead of waiting until after the first of the year. Why? Because getting into good habits sooner rather than later is always best. I try to do mine year round, because it helps with activities I like to do, such as hiking, backpacking, and just about anything else, and I keep consistent on it because at my age, if I quit for even a week or two, it hurts too darn bad when I start up again. Just to help kick start you, here's more or less what I do on a weekly basis. For all my exercises, I rest 30-45 seconds in between sets.

Monday: Running 20-30 minutes. Ideally, it's 30 minutes, but realistically, I often can't get out the door early enough. Then I do my leg workout.

 I begin with 2 sets of 30 reps on the hip abductor machine. Here's what that looks like: Hip abductor exercises
Next I do 2 sets of 15 on the seated leg press machine
My next exercise is two sets of twenty Hip Swings. Here they are.
Next are lunges. I do mine with a twenty pound dumbbell in each hand, two sets of 15, alternating legs. Like this: clickety-click
I then do two sets of 20 calf raises, but I do them differently than most people do them. I raise up as high as I can go, and then just let my body weight (no extra weights) drop me down suddenly, instead of slowly. This actually helps to strengthen the achilles tendons.
Later on in the spring, I will add stair lifts onto a box or platform about 1 foot high, both front and lateral, so that I'm doing 30-35 to the front, then 30-35 with each leg to the right and left.

Tuesday: Running 20-30 minutes. Tuesday is chest and shoulder day, so here's what I do. First of all, this is a rotational thing. In other words, I go through each exercise once (except for the dips, but I could work those into the rotation as well if I wanted to), and then go through them a second time. On the pushups on one leg, the second time through, I raise the opposite leg off the floor, the same thing with the overhead shoulder press.

First I do a couple of sets of 15 dips. Dip exercises. I do mine by raising my legs to the front, so I'm bent at the waist. This helps build the core at the same time as working on chest and shoulders.

Pushups. I do pushups on one of those half exercise balls, called a Bosu Ball. As in the top image on this page: Bosu ball exercises. I do as many of these as I can until failure.

Second exercise is another one on the Bosu ball. With this exercise, I lift one leg as I do the push up. Again, doing the pushups until failure.

Next, I do decline pushups. Again, I do them until failure.

My next exercise is bench dips. A good video of how to do them, from beginner to more complicated is found here. I do 20 repetitions.

For shoulders, I do a variety of raises, with very light weights. My front raises  and side raises I do with an 8 lb. dumbbell in each hand and I do one set of 15. I also do overhead shoulder press standing on one foot as I do so, to increase core stability. I have a 12 lb. dumbbell in each hand for this. For both front and side raises, I raise the weight until it's completely vertical as taught by my physical therapist. I can't find any videos of exactly how I do it, but straight arm side raises and straight arm front raises can be found on this page. Just remember that I do them all the way up, until my arms are over head. For the side raises, I start with my hands down, palms facing forward, then move my arms in a wide arc from bottom (down near my hips) to top. If I can find a video, I'll add it later.

I will often do a set up pushups, then a set of side raises, then the one leg pushups, then another set of side raises, alternating shoulder and chest exercises. This seems to work well. I go through it until I've done two sets of every exercise.

Wednesday: Rest

Thursday: I begin with a 20-30 minute run. Thursday is back and arms day, really biceps and forearms because the triceps is worked on chest/shoulder day.

Here are my back exercises:

First, I lay on a mat on my abdomen and extend my arms out at the side like a bird, my fingertips angled at 45 degrees toward my feet. From there, I raise my arms up toward the ceiling, hands sideways with my thumbs pointed up, 20 reps. Next, I move my arms to the 90 degree position, repeating the exercise. Finally, I point my hands upward at 45 degrees, toward my head, then lift them again off the floor and back down, 20 reps. The idea is to look like you're making a snow angel, only on your stomach instead of your back, and to raise your arms up toward the ceiling and lower them back down.

My next exercise is similar to a swimmer doing the butterfly stroke. Still lying on my stomach, I reach up above my head until my hands touch, then swing my arms down toward my lower back, crossing them above my back, then back up to the above the head position. I do twenty of these.

Next I do pushups, but with the elbows out wide, hands turned in. This stretches the scapulae and increases range of motion. Twenty reps. I wish I had pictures of these exercises. If I find some I'll update it.

The next thing I do is seated rowing. I do two sets of 15 with 90 lbs.

Finally, I do two sets of lat pull downs with 70 lbs. With both the rowing and the lat pull-downs, the object is to engage the scapulae, so with the rowing, focus on bringing your shoulder blades back toward each other.

The only thing I do for my biceps is dumbbell alternate bicep curls. I do four sets of 22 (eleven per arm) with 25 lbs. My forearms are engaged in this exercise as well, and always remember that when you tighten your grip on the bar, and then do any exercise, your forearm flexors are strengthened.

Friday: Running 20-30 minutes. Friday is abs day and I basically follow Coach Nicole's ab workout. I have modified it though and have dropped the leg raise portion of it from my personal workout, and added planking, both facing the mat, and from both sides. I've also added an exercise call the prone extension.

Saturday: Right now, I'm doing nothing on Saturday. In the spring, I will be adding a long run, probably around 45 minutes.

Diet Considerations

One thing I've found is that maybe even more important than exercise in maintaining a healthy body weight/composition is diet. I personally have exercised at times to extremes, and still haven't been able to lose the extra fat around my mid-section. On the other hand, I've found when I eliminate or severely cut back unhealthy food and concentrate on eating stuff that's good for me, instead of just good, the fat begins to melt away. Too bad that celery doesn't taste like cheesecake or that cheesecake doesn't have the same number of calories as the equivalent in celery. That would make for an ideal world.

Dennis Prager on the Ten Commandments

I usually like Dennis Prager's "Prager University" videos. These on the Ten Commandments are no exception. They are well done, and thought-provoking. Enjoy.

Good Reads

A week or so ago I finished a great book by Thomas Williams called The Crown of Eden. It's the first in a series called The Seven Kingdoms Chronicles. It was a very good book that I highly recommend and for those who care about such things, I would give it a PG rating, so it's pretty tame while still being a page turner. Great work by Williams. The sad thing about this series is that our local library is lame and doesn't have it—even though it's rated highly on Goodreads. I've noticed that a lot about the Salt Lake County Library system—if it's not currently popular, and by that I mean it's not a New York Times best seller or a book that has been made into a series of bad movies (like Twilight), it cannot be found on the shelves of the library. Sad, but our library caters to popular culture in many ways. I had to buy the first book and will probably need to buy the second book, which is cool because I like books, but in most cases, with fiction, I'd rather read the book first to know if I want it hanging around my house. With limited space and so many books, it's an issue.


There are some great lists out there of fantasy novels and their ratings. If you go to my Goodreadslist for fantasy books,    you'll see a number of really popular novels and series in the top ten, but once you begin seeing some more obscure titles, you can rest assured that none of these are in the Salt Lake County Library system.


I just started a new series called The Riyria Revelations by Michael J. Sullivan. The first book is called Theft of Swords, and surprisingly, the library actually had it. So far, so good. Highly interesting.