Ahhh @#$%T Moment

This is not a normal event in my life, however, it does happen a lot and I often find myself in a precarious situation, especially when I am driving to a work location during or after a storm. These pics would be better if they were bigger.

I was lucky enough to spend Thanksgiving day at home and eat turkey and pie mmmm -- this never happens when the rig is drilling, but we were waiting on cement and I headed for home. It rained the evening before and continued to rain during the day, so I knew it would be a challenge to get back to the rig. The road is carved through a clay formation (Colton or Wasatch Formation) with an occasional sandstone bed here or there that doesn't make the clay any less slick when wet. I got called out and left home at 6:00 am Friday morning and didn't think about getting any chains.

I was able to negotiate three quarters of the road in four-wheel- high, as always though, four wheel drive can get you into more trouble than two wheel drive. The only other choice would have been four low, but that would be too much power and gotten me no where. I didn’t want to get out and walk to the rig. I had too much stuff to carry. On past the drill camp -- a flat place where trailers were housing drill crews, air jammer crews, and the mud man -- I drove and I didn’t see the GMC Yukon partially blocking the road until it was too late. So seeing that there was a narrow path around the Yukon, I kept going hoping to ease around this object. Slip sliding along from one side of the road to the other, fish-tailing driving diagonally up the road, I tried to stay in the middle between the Yukon and the ditch. I didn’t want to end up in the right side ditch tagging the boulder along the side of the road. Been there, done that, and I have the rights to the tee shirt. I also did not want to tag the Yukon that would make a bad situation worse.

The boulder is in front of the suburban, you can’t see it but is along the side of the road and half as large as the suburban. Maybe it is green vehicles, but the Ford pickup became bruised and paint was left on the right side of the Wild Cat road above Emery during a fall storm. You can see that there is three inches of mud on the road and it was just like driving on ice.

As I started going around the Yukon, I powered out and started sliding down hill to the left toward the Yukon. Luckily, I was able to stop just inches from scraping his back fender and bumper with my front bumper. I was through! I couldn’t go forward or backward with out clipping the Yukon or sliding off down the canyon. As you will see in the picture below, there is probably two feet at the most from the rear left tire to the edge of the road; because of my position on the road and with the Yukon, my direction of travel could not be controlled with the steering wheel alone. The slick and sticky conditions of the clay would pull me to the left into a mess.

I did the only thing I could think of. I reluctantly got out into the mud, got my computer and walked to the drill leaving behind everything else praying that no one would try to come up the road slide into me. I soon as I got everything up and going, I would get help and get the green machine off the road.

To make a long and funny story short, I found a kind soul to help me slide down the road to the camp. Here is one more view for the fun of it: fun, fun, fun. As I walked to the drill, which was a mile more up the road, I slipped and slid just about falling three or four times.

Muddy Week

I just thought I would show you what I have been walking through all week. It hasn't rained or snowed for a week, but clay holds the water. There is no drainage to get the water off either. It would help also if it were summer and the water were evaporated off. You can imagine what my shoes, clothes, and camper look like. Good thing the camper is not mine. This picture was taken on Sunday the 30 of November and it still looks the same today Thursday 4 December. It is just stirred up more and thicker, and not as soupy.

My Version of the Venison

This is the story of the unlucky deer. After spending a Saturday in the mountains - we hunted around middle mountain all day on opening day - Rachel and I went out to one of the local farms after school on Monday. We left about 6:00 hoping that Nikki would be able to join us, but she had something else that needed to be done so we left her at home. Hailee was not yet home from volleyball practice.

I thought we would hunt on Clyde Magnuson's property east of Castle Dale which is called the breaks by the locals. I trapped beaver one year out on his places, so I was familiar with the lay of the land. Rachel and I parked at the duck pond and walked along the road looking for any sign of deer there might be. One of Clyde's hired hands told us he had seen some antelope out there but not any deer. We saw a lot of antelopes tracks and I knew there had to be there deer because of the alfalfa fields. We only had about an hour to hunt before dark, so I wasn't to hopeful that we would be successful.

We walked for about 30 minutes along the back road and then stopped and glassed the area. We wouldn't have time to walk to the creek and hunt along the cottonwoods that were to the south of us and the fields near the creek showed no sign of deer or movement. We stood there talking for about 10 minutes and then I said to Rachel that we needed to head on back before it got dark. We turned to go and all of the sudden a deer jumped up from behind some brush and a lone cottonwood along the edge of the field. It ran away from us but Rachel noticed that it was a buck and so the shooting began. I shot first and thought I saw dust so I thought I missed it. The deer went into some willows and we thought we were through. As I turned to start walking down the road Rachel said, "look dad, there he is". She then shot and I also shot again and we saw the deer stagger and then fall. We went and found the deer and started a long night of cleaning and bringing it home. As we cleaned it, we figured out that both of us had hit the deer but Rachel put her tag on it and as far as I know, she is the one that brought it down.

BIRD RECOGNIZES WINDOW JUST A LITTLE TOO LATE

With the remodel/addition to the house, we now have a big picture window in the dining room/kitchen. The other day, I was sitting at the computer in the office which is next to the kitchen with the door open. The house was quiet, Jack was working out of town, the kids were at school, when all of a sudden I heard this, "fwump!" Something hit the window. I got up and checked if the window was broken. No cracks. Thank goodness! I went back to my computer work. Later in the afternoon, I was walking through the kitchen and there was a huge mark on the window that I had cleaned just a couple months previously. My first thought was, how did that get there and what is it? I looked closer and then remembered the fwump from earlier that day. It was the mark from the bird that hit the window. It was a big bird! If you can't see it, the big round blob is the body of the bird. The half circle above is the head and you can even make out the eyes and beak that were smashed down into the body. Then of course the two lines going up and down from the blob are the wings. Jack measured and the wing span is approximately 16 inches. Pretty big bird. I did check to see if the bird was dead and I'm happy to report that there was no evidence lying at the foot of the window. I would imagine, however, that its' mental capacity has been somewhat diminished.

Honey Harvest

Well, the bees were busy this summer. They made a lot of honey. James and Shawna are in Arizona, and someone should and needs to get the honey from the bees. Hmmmmm, Lorie, can you get the honey harvested while I am working in Colorado? No, she is canning peaches and apples that we were blessed with this year. I had planned on harvesting the honey anyway so finally the day arrived where I had chosen to take the honey from the bees.

Now, I had this all figured out: just smoke the bees, get them drunk on old straw smoke, and open the hive. I had been practicing this all summer and hadn't gotten stung yet. Now for the real thing. James had gotten me a hat with a net so my face would be protected from maddd, crazed bees. I looked for my long sleeve white tee shirt (the bees like white objects that do not appear to be bears or threatening).

I opened the first honey super and there was some bees and a little honey. It was not capped but I took it any way. Then came the next honey super. It was loaded with capped honey comb and bees. Well, I will just smoke them good. Then I lift the box with 10 frames of honey comb weighing about 50 pounds off and set it a side (bees and all). Now there are hundreds of bees flying around my face and head butting me trying to convince me to leave their golden nectar. Nope, I am not through yet. Now I pry the third super from the hive. This super is on top of the brood box and the bees are as numerous as the sands of the sea. I lifted it off and set it a side and NOW THERE are THOUSANDS of BEES in the AIR. One bee somehow made it into my veil protecting my face and started buzzing around my ear. I knew it was going to sting me so I swatted it and prepared for the worst by ripping my nice hat and veil off. My glasses went somewhere on the ground. I don't mind getting stung, just not in the face. Oh well, it stung me and now I was in a mell of a hess, bees all over. Bees in the air, bees crawling on the ground, and bees all over the honey. Up to this point it had gone very well.

With bees all over the ground, I didn't want to kill or anger gobs of bees by stepping on them. So, what do I do. James is in school, Kelly has done this before, better call him. He told me to go on and finish loading the supers with the honey into my pickup and bring them to him. This was the plan all along as he has a honey extractor. That is a story for another day. Shawna and James were surprised that I only got stung once. Actually, so was I, I thought I would get stung a lot as I had never done this before. These bees are quite docile and easy to work with. They do sting if they get in your face as I have found out, but all in all, not a bad work out for an afternoon. No one was there to help me or take pictures so you will have to imagine it.

Colorado Drilling

Well, the Wyoming work is done for a while. The company grew too fast and now is struggling. I am now doing some drilling in Colorado north of Grand Junction. In fact, it is about 15-20 miles due north of Mark and Dani's house. The picture of the country side, terrain, and the rig is below. The trailer is next to my pickup; it was a 36 foot trailer. It is designed to carry two four wheelers, it has a bedroom, shower, bathroom, and a of course a kitchen. The four wheeler bay has been converted to be an office with a sink for washing samples. One problem though, the sink has no water nor is it hooked up to drain. So I have to wash samples in the kitchen sink. This is where I live my life away from home.

The Derrick is a triple, meaning that it can stand three lengths of 30 foot pipe on the floor. When we trip for a bit, there will be 5,000-10,000 feet of pipe standing on end. Now on to other thing that may be more interesting.

I went to Colorado to help finish Grandma Thomas' estate. There is 80 acres of land that was hers and Grandpa Thomas'. His dad surveyed for the US government in the early 1900s and late 1800s and as part of payment, the government deeded him some land in southern Colorado in the San Juan Mountains. I, my dad, and Kelly went up to find the survey corners and place fence post at the corners so that the children of Harold and Bertha Thomas would now know where their land is and what it looks like. The picture of the cadastrel survey post was placed in 1987 before Joseph F. Thomas surveyed the property, but I did find a tree that may have been used in the original survey as a corner tree for section 1 and 2 of T32 N, 4 E. It was fun working with Kelly and Dad, although at times it was hard to determine who was the boss.

We found the SE corner to tract 5 of the property. This marker is the one shown and it is the center corner of Section 1. The eastern property line goes from this marker north for 1/2 mile to the North Center corner, which is the NE corner of tract 1.

The elevation of the property is 10,000 feet above sea level. The air was thin and walking with steel posts was difficult for one who is not in shape, boy how I miss being 20. The property had been logged and was very healthy. New growth was occurring and the remaining trees were free from beetle damage and very healthy. The days, both Thursday and Friday were warm and sunny with threats of rain by large dark thunder clouds during brief periods of the afternoon on Thursday.

Life in the fast lane

Funny, I have not been able to catch up on my blog. We are as busy as the rest of you out in the real world. Harvest is here and the peaches, apples and pears are great (pics to follow later).

The last adventure, well it is a funny one. The little girls (Nikki, Rachel, and Hailee) and I went to Tyler Rasmussen's reception the Friday of Labor Day weekend. I looked at the directions which were for a chapel in Provo, yea, that should be easy enough to find. It was north of the Provo Temple, in the Indian Hills subdivision in northeast Provo. James and is family live to the west of that area near Edgemont and so, hey, this is easy to find, I know the locality.

Well, we left Castle Dale at 6:00 that night thinking that we would arrive about 8:00 and have time to visit with friends and family. I had called my cousin Rochelle, she and her sister Ranee were going to meet us there where we would have a small reunion with the cousins. I told the girls that I would buy them a good dinner after the reception, so we just bought a snack when we stopped in Price.

We arrived in Provo at about 7:50 and proceeded to drive up to the temple and follow the road behind it toward Indian hills. We drove down Iroquois drive and couldn't see a park next to a church. We did find several churches but not the one that we were suppose to find. We then drove in to the Rock Canyon park to see if that was the park but I wasn't convinced because there was not a church nearby. Then the self doubt creeps in and you begin to believe that you are lost and you didn't see or read the directions right. Then, with me pride takes over and I hate people thinking I am lost. In the work that I do, I travel to all sorts of places that I have never been to and never get lost or loose my way except when I am looking for receptions or weddings. So, I did take it a little rough specially when I am with my girls and start to look bad. Boy, do I hate that. It doesn't happen much, but it does happen.

Well to make a long story short and after finally making contact with Rochelle - she left her cell phone in the van while she attending the reception, I leave my phone in the car also when attending public functions - she directed me to the chapel and we got to see the bride and groom get into their car. I did see Uncle Lynn, Dorothea, and Dianna in the parking lot. We followed them to Ed and Carolyn's house and we did get to see family from Arizona. It was fun and it was worth it, however, we didn't get to see Rochelle or Ranee, that was sad. And the girls still think I am lost.

School Starts Again

Well, it started again, summers over and school -- that great institutition which suposedly teaches our childern reading, writing, and arithmatic but probably excells more at teaching social ideals best left to parents to teach -- has started again. Don't get me wrong, I send my children to public school every day, but I miss them and I hate that I have to schedule my time around theirs. Oh well, on to happier thoughts. It has been a busy summer and where the time has gone no one knows.

The girls and I went riding the ATVs in the mountains yesterday (Saturday) and had an enjoyable time. Jackie was down from Logan to see a friend before college started and she wanted to ride the 4x4s in the mountains. We went and road where we rode during the great deer hunt of 07: the day we almost froze. I took a lot of pictures but since Jackie was taking the whirl wind tour of the Wasatch Plateau I didn't get any pictures of us. I did learn a lot. There are still several snow banks on the plateau in the old glacial cirques from the last winter. It is amazing to see the remenant snow and where they are located. I felt like I was traveling along the plateau ten thousand years ago at the end of the last ice age.

The plateau expresses the latest episode of alpine glaciation so well, it is a wonder that it is so unrecognizible to the average person. I forget that being schooled in geology helps me to see these unique features easier than if I had not been schooled in the subject. Here are some pictures of the platuea and the snow banks along the head of the cirques, and the "u" shaped valleys, and the back side of a horn (North Horn Mountain). The pictures also show the beatle kill of the spruce trees. The Manti-La Sal National Forest lost 90% of the spruce due to a beatle infestation about 4-5 years ago. The evergreens seen in the picture are firs and not spruce. This is a sad tale to tell for another day that shows how wrong and stupid the environmentalists are.

We had a blast riding. Rachel was driving the four wheeler and I was on back. She was driving respectibly well not bouncing me around very much, so I grew board. I was carring my .380 and shot it at a river bank while we were moving and scared Rachel with the loud bang. Jackie was riding ahead of us with Hailee on the back and they even looked back also. Rachel told me and I quote "what did you do that for stupid". I guess I am going to have to teach her to respect her elders again. We all had a laugh and I don't care if they keep me in line if they think they have to.

Beeeeez Beeeeez and More Beeeeez

Well, Shawna here is the bee blog finally. You have been after me for a while to get this written, so I am writing it now before I write any thing about our little vacation to Colorado (hopefully James the 1st will get this before he comes home).

These are the bees. James wanted to start an new hobby and I wanted to get more production from my apple trees. I provided the place and he provided the bees. I am so happy. I am not much of a beekeeper, I leave that up to Kelly and James. I do need to learn how to take care of the bees so that James and Shawna can continue their lives with army and schooling. It works out well because I learn about another hobby, get lots of fruit production, and lots of yummmy honey.

I had some pictures of the hive when I added the honey super on about July the 9th, but I think they are on Hailee's camera and so I decided to get into the hive again. Not just for the pictures, but to inspect the bees and make sure that everything is going good. I also had to put the inner cover on the right way so they wouldn't get to hot.

I opened the hive later in the day at about 7:00 in the evening. This is the time when all of the how to books say DON'T OPEN THE HIVE, so I was a little nervous. The grape vine was in the way and I didn't want to make the bees mad brushing away the grape vines. I haven't been stung yet this year and I didn't want to end a perfect record. I have never seen so many bees. I have never been with Kelly when he opens his hives during the summer months. That many bees can be slightly intimidating. I usually move real slow but being uncomfortable I found myself trying to hurry too much. On with the story dad.

I took the honey super off and it didn't look like they had done much during the last week. It is probably my fault though because I didn't understand what the inner cover was and when I did I was in Colorado visiting my mom and dad. So I removed the HS and then started prying out a middle rack from the upper brood box. It was stuck to the bottom rack as the bees have connected the upper and lower racks with comb and honey. After I removed the rack, I placed it in the extra brood box that James left and pried out about 3 more racks so I could have room to work. As you can see they have been busy and there were many bees. They were all about home from the days work. I saw no burr or other strange comb but I did see rice grain eggs so the queen is doing her job. There is capped brood and capped honey also. I also think I placed the HS on at the right time because there were about 7 full racks out of the 10 in the upper brood box.

I scraped off some of the honey and comb gluing down the one rack and just felt like this was the wrong time to be playing with the bees because as you can see in the picture, I am in short sleeves and I have no bee bonnet net either.

I probably could have handled one or maybe several stings on my arms but if one would have flown up my nose or any other orifice from the neck up, I probably would have dropped a rack of honey and bees and then I would have had a real mess. So after scraping off the one bottom rack, I put the racks back in the brood box and then the HS, and then, just to make sure that the girls

(bees) were happy and content, I added the bee feeder with a gallon of water and sugar. I did this because Lorie thought I should. I then put the inner cover on and now I hope that the bees will make lots of honey.

After Rachel and I were through, I pickup what was left of the comb that I had scraped off and fought the bees for a taste of the honey. It was the best honey I had

ever tasted. It had a different taste or flavor that I had never tasted before. I am a real fan of Kelly's honey and I like it because it is crystallized. This had a different flavor and I was puzzled as to what the flavor was. After I thought about it and was talking to Shawna that night, I realized that the flavor was due to the cinnamon we had used to get rid of the ants. Any way, I still haven't been stung yet this year.

Shriners Parade

Back in May of this year in Newcastle, I was witness to a very interesting parade. The Shriners organization is pretty strong in this part of Wyoming and they had a parade. I don't know if it was specifically to initate new members or what. One person watching the parade told me that it was an initiation. The initiates were dressed in various flavors of bathrobes as you can see in the picture. They were assigned the task of horse poop collection.

It was fasinating watching these old men, for the most part, play with different things. There were turtle cars, and small truck go carts, and model A go carts, and horses, and floats, and snowmobiles, and there was even a band that rode a float playing some tunes that I didn't recognize.

The Shriners have several hospitals around the country where they give free care to children. This, I think is a very noble cause to have fun and donate time and money for. As far as I understand this good orginazation. Have fun looking at the pictures.

Devils Tower

Well, I actually wrote this chapter a week ago but my internet connection was very poor and I couldn't save it so, here I go again and start catching up.

Devils Tower: many of you remember this from the movie "Close Encounters of the Third Kind". This is where I first heard of it. What a dumb movie. A grown man playing in his potatoes just like the little brother in "A Christmas Story". After the movie, I became acquainted with the geologic feature through one or more geology classes. It is about 60 miles from Newcastle so, I decided on one of the days that the drill was down to go and see it for myself.

There is an Indian ledgend about this land form. It tells about several Indian maidens who were out gathering berries or doing whatever maidens do. While they were gathering berries, a giant grizzly bear began chasing them. They prayed to the Great Spirit and he rescued them by causing a portion of the earth to rise up and lift them above the great bear and out of his reach. Anyway it is a pretty good story except I am left to wonder how they got down. The cliff is very steep. I may not have the whole story right.

Now on to the geology of the tower. The rock making up the tower is volcanic. It is a trachyte: a volcanic rock composed chiefly of alkali feldspar containing little quartz and plagioclase. As you might see in the picture, there are columns of rock. These are formed as the magma cools and forms 4, 5, 6, and 7 sides columns just as when mud dries there are usually 5 sided columns. There are two theories as to what it really is: one suggest that it is the eroded remnant of a laccolith much like the Henry, La Sal, and Abajo mountains of southern Utah, the other theory is that it is a erosional remnant of a volcanic neck. I like the old volcanic neck. The columns comprising the tower appear to be coming from a vent. There are volcanic flow structures with solidified columns in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado. I have seen other flow structures similar to this. It would be interesting to visit Ship Rock, New Mexico and see if the old volcanic neck remnant there is similar to Devil's Tower. Then again, each volcano is different and depending how deep the magma solidified would determine how quick it cooled and this may or may not have formed the column structure seen in the tower land form. Probably discussed it too much.

Changes Are Good - Right?

I've had a couple changes in the past week. First of all, I picked up a little side job a couple weekends a month. I have a little neighbor lady (Lecta) who is somewhere in her 80's and lives in her own little house right next to her daughter who takes care of her. Well, the daughter (Julie) announced in Relief Society that she needed someone to watch Lecta a couple weekends a month so I volunteered. The perk is that she pays me to do it. Lecta is not hard to take care of but is not remembering very well any more. We took her with us to see the fireworks on the 4th of July and she loved it. She even remembered that she had gone two days later. I took over the "Love Comes Softly" series as well and she watched 6 of them by Sunday. (She can't get much by herself). Anyway, I enjoy Lecta so I think it will work out well taking care of her since I live right next door. My second change is that Sunday I got released from my Primary job which was teaching 6 - 7 year olds in Primary and am now in the Nursery. I don't mind doing a round in the Nursery, other than I'll be reminded every week how much I miss my little Brooklyn and I really love my Primary kids. I'm so sad. I had Becca, Calvin, Cory & Jack. They are so cute. I guess I was inspired to have them over last Monday to make M&M cookies. I thought being released as Young Women's President or Relief Society President was hard. This is even worse. For some reason I became very attached to my kids. Jack has only been to Primary about 4 times this year and he was there two weeks in a row now. His mom came up to me Sunday and said he talked about coming to my house all week. In fact she said that Monday night he took charge of the whole dinner and told his brother that he couldn't have a cookie until he ate his brocolli (sp?). She said he didn't feel good Sunday but he wanted to go to Primary and he did. That was the first time all year that he was there two weeks in a row! I hope he keeps coming. Oh well. I'm sure I'll come to love the Nursery kids as well.

My First Attempt at Blogging

Well, I've never done this before but decided I would try it even though Jack isn't here to hold my hand and guide me through it. Yesterday, the 5th of July was Jack's and my 24th anniversary. I realized last night as we were praying that I have now been married longer than I was single. That's a mildstone in life isn't it? Jack had to go meet with a hydrogeology client near Richfield in the morning and didn't get home until 5 pm but that gave us the evening to go and do something. I realized the girls (Nikki, Rachel, and Hailee) had plans when Nikki came up to me in the early afternoon and announced that she thought Dad and I should go and do something this evening for our anniversary . . . something that would get us out of the house. Hmmmm. Well, we went to a movie (Get Smart) and when we came home the girls were all dressed in black skirts, with black shirts and looked very much like waitresses in a very fine restaurant. We were directed downstairs where the lights were low and a table was set with a tablecloth and all the trimmings. Our menu for the evening was framed and sitting on the table and candlelight surrounded the room. It was extremely romantic and cozy. Dinner included: shimp cocktail for an appetizer, then salad followed by raspberry sorbet to clear the pallet. We then had the main dish which was marinated steak and a baked potato. Then it was finished off with fruit kabobs and an ice cream sundae. I'll never forget the evening. It was perfect. Aren't families wonderful!!

Southern Utah

I am home from Wyoming and visiting Lorie and the girls, at least that is the way it feels sometimes. I have been home since the 1st of June and will have to go back in a few days. To catch everyone up with what we are doing is the item to day. Lorie and the girls have been working very hard and the mudroom and the yard. By the way, it has been cooler this year than any other year I can remember. It has not gotten above 80 degrees yet, and usually we are well above 80 and into the 90s. Girls camp in Little Bear is usually very hot. This year the girls will be cold at Little Bear. It has also been very windy. The little apples on the trees appear to have been sandblasted: they are pitted as if it has hailed. It hasn't and hopefully we will get some fruit. The wind is blowing about 50 mph right now. It is pretty fierce. Nikki and the little girls are going to girls camp tomorrow and I hope the storm will blow through so they will have a nice day or two.

Lorie and I went to Ticaboo last Thursday to do a pumptest. I needed an assistant and so she came with me. James Dayley came down last Monday to help me but when we arrived at the Uranium mill, they told us to come back as they were not ready for us. So James and I went gold prospecting in the Henry Mountains instead. We only had a couple of hours and all we had time to do was to stop and look at some old placer diggings. I will find a good place to placer so gold someday.

Greybull Wyoming

I am now in Greybull, Wyoming working for the same company drilling for oil underground. Here the oil is in traps caused by faulting. Yes, it is time for a short geology lesson: the faults have trapped the oil and not allowed it to migrate away, so the oil is trapped and can be drilled.

I will probably go home via Yellowstone Park to Logan -- I am sad that none of my kids or wife will be with me to see the park -- where I can stop in and see Jackie. I will take some pictures and post them so we can plan our trip to Yellowstone next year. Brooklyn will come and visit and have so much fun.

Lorie and the girls are planting the garden, taking care of the yard, and working very hard. They even cleaned out the garage and Meagan knows what a task that is. They love me so much to take care of my tools and help me out. I will spray fruit trees when I get home this week.

Behind in all things

No posts of late, am I bad. We had our granddaughter down for about three weeks, two of my sons (in law) graduated, the bathroom flooded again (so we are going to fix that problem and now are remodeling the downstairs bathroom), the yards are behind due to the house remodeling, and summer is here. Hopefully we will get over it and eventually I will catch up and get to play. I have some pictures of Devils Tower that I need to blog about and also a little parade. Nikki took 7th and 8th in the 200m and the 100m at the state tournament last weekend. We all got burnt watch her. Life is great and full of joy.

The Geology of Rushmore

Well it just would not be right to go to Mount Rushmore without some geology pictures and discussion. Picture 1 shows a close up of the pegmatitic veins and pockets that can be found within the granite that makes up Mount Rushmore. I have a picture of Lincoln with a pegmatic vein around his head and one that cuts across his face just above the left eye, it resembles a scare such as Andrew Jackson. You can see gray quartz in the center of the picture and to the left. The quartz is surrounded by large mega crystals of potasium feldspar (oligoclase) with perthitic texture. I brought some samples home in case you want to see it. The crystals are large 4-6 inches. Not a very pretty color but the crystal shape is mostly complete and it is a good specimen. There are also books of muscovite mica that are also in the picture. I need to play with the photo on photoshop to enhance the picture so you can see all of these minerals clearly.

Picture #2 shows the relationship of the granite intrusion to the Precambrian mica schist. The intrusion when it intruded the schist deformed it as you can see in the photo (again, I need to enhance this picture). You can see the curved bed of the schist and the granite surrounding it. The schist looks like a tree root, but it isn't. Also you can see where groundwater has flowed along a fracture in the granite and altered the feldspars to clay. I have another fine picture if you would like to see it. Just ask me and I will email it to you.

Picture #3 shows the actual granite that the presidents are carved in. I believe it is anyway. These polished slabs of granite line the walk way that leads toward the view of the carvings. In the walk way are 15-20 posts that are also tiles with the granite. Each post has four state flags one flag on each side of the post, and below each state flag is a granite slab with the name of the state carved into and the year it became a state. I took pictures of each of the states and their respective flags that are important to our family: Wisconsin, Colorado, and Utah. Nobody lives in California yet so I didn't take a picture of it. If anybody is sad about that I can go get a picture of it another day. The granite may not be actual granite from the mountain but it is very nice and it looks like it came from the rubble on the talus slope. You will notice the biotite and pink feldspars and gray quartz.

Mount Rushmore (part II)

This will be a short blog, just a note describing the feeling I had walking around. It was really very patriotic walking around. I found myself humming "God Bless America" and thinking about the greatness of this country. I think there is something special about this country. It is the only country where the church could be restored in this time and really the only country where the headquarters could exist. Looking at the figures of Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln were inspiring. When you read about the lives of these men, you know they were inspired. They were also very religious.

Mount Rushmore (in the light)

Ladies, now you know what Mount Rushmore looks like (during the day time). I had some extra time today girls and Lorie, since the hole was completed this morning (they don't need me for hole completion). Time off, oh what shall I do? I am only 60 minutes from Mount Rushmore. Never been there. Oh, wait a minute, I was there once and there is a very funny story. Should I tease you? Oh, I guess will just spill the story for those of you who don't know it. I suppose MSJNRH and their beautiful mother are already rolling around their desk. Well the story goes like this.

Once when Meagan was a Freshman at BYU, we decided to spend Thanksgiving at Grandma and Grandpa Stoehr's house. As per our usual travel itinerary it was to be a trip straight through to Shawano, WI, spend a few days visiting friends and family, enjoying a nice turkey dinner, then traveling back home by way of Provo to drop Meagan off ready for classes on Monday morning. This all takes place in the space of five days starting on Wednesday and arriving late Sunday night. Kind of a mystical, magical tour in whirlwind fashion. It is better than a trip during the 60's. Anyway, on the way home we thought about stopping at Mount Rushmore, if there was time. We traveled west along I90 and wouldn't you know it, we got to Rapid City, SD about 10:00 pm and looked at our trusty United States Atlas and "oh, we are only 60 minutes away from Mount Rushmore, let's go see it. We will do a drive by and stop and look at the carver granite heads Dear. I also think at night they have lights, so we can see them from the road and we won't have to stop; we can get driving again and still get Meagan home in time for class on Monday". I don't remember who said that; it was probably, me the party animal. An hour and a half later we are at the gates looking for the lights and the heads. Hey, wake up girls, were here. There weren't any lights. No body was at the gate to take money. Where were the lights? I know I heard something about lights and how spectacular the view was at night. Where were the lights? Dad, we're going back to sleep. So, we went to Mount Rushmore and never saw the four presidents. In U.S. history when my girls are asked, "Have you been to Mount Rushmore", they say "yea, but we didn't see anything". Well here it is in its full glory. Oh, and by the way, the park does light the mountain for two hours every night for two hours after dusk. Just thought you would like to know what it looks like. By the way, it wasn't the same with out you girls or Lorie Darling, but I did chuckle the whole time I was there. You were all missed very much. (Part two later)

Bees, Bees, Bees

James (Shawna’s man) has had a hankering to become a bee keeper. Kelly sent him a magazine and Shawna got him a subscription to the Utah bee keeps society or something like that. He bought a colony of bees and have waited patiently for them to come. I wanted the bees to pollinate the fruit trees in our orchard. Now I will have an abundance of fruit if the frost doesn’t nip the blossoms. Finally the bees arrived. James and Shawna put the bees in the garage and we began to look for a place to put the hive. We found a place and made a protection from the wind out of plywood. Then we boiled three gallons of water and put twenty pounds of sugar into it to make food for the hive, until they could find flowers and food for themselves.
It was fun to watch James care for the bees, he was gentle and careful with each one, he did not want to hurt even one. We watched him spray the comb hangers, grab the queen and pull the cork out so that the worker bees could free her, and then dump the bees from the container into the hive. No one got stung except James and that was at the very end after we had closed up the hive and were leaving. We plan to have lots of fruit and honey for our bread.

Archery is Finished

Nikki, Rachel, and Hailee finished the archery league they were members of and received many prizes for basically being there. I think they have enjoyed the experience and learned a lot about archery equipment and marksmanship.
Nikki actually shot a balloon containing a piece of paper that would get her another prize. As she walked up to shoot the arrow, the person in charge told her to use the second sight on her bow. She didn’t want to and worried that the arrow would hit the floor due to her experience of aiming and shooting this winter. She how ever did what she was advised and as she knew the arrow flew low, but the arrow did not hit the floor, instead it popped the balloon just above the floor. I was proud of all three girls because they were timid – not sure of themselves among experts who understood the equipment they didn’t. They did very well and with practice will be better.

Brooklyn Visits

Meagan and Derek had to get their car registered so that they could drive it to California. This is a car that David (Derek’s brother) so kindly gave them as he has no need for it now. They brought Brooklyn and left her while they went and did their business. Lorie and I took her out to see her favorite animal (Duchess). She loves to look at her but is not sure of her safety. Since Duchess is so active and energetic, we leave her in her pen hoping that soon they will learn to get along together. Lorie then took her to the trampoline and sat her on the tramp. Brooklyn jumped and ran around and had a grand ole time. I told her to show me her somersault and she turned toward the edge and started to roll. I could see her going off the edge and ran quickly to the side she was rolling toward, but she was unable to roll over and didn’t go off the edge. She didn’t cry very much while her parents were away and it was great to see her play and enjoy life. I can’t wait till there are more.

Fire at Hunter Power Plant Farm

On Wednesday the 26 of March, my firefighting skills were put to use . A couple of twin brothers who farm south of Castle Dale decided to burn the grass on their farm land. The wind was blowing at about 25 mph and there were gust of about 35-40 mph. It burned from about 10:00 until we were able to get the fire under control and put out. During the first part of the fire and until about 4:00 pm we were fighting small grass fires that would spread easily with the wind. Coals and sparks would blow from the center of hot spots that were previously thought to be under control, would burst out into flame and then the wind would whip it into a frenzy of flames and smoke. I smelled like a grass and leaf bar-b-Que smoke house. It took us about four hours to get it under control. We had two trucks from Ferron, Orangeville, Huntington along with two from Castle Dale. One Firefighter from Ferron went down and an ambulance was called to assist him. He was transported after some time to the a health facility and was later released being healthy.

Pruning Time

Trees, trees, trees, it is spring time and pruning has to be done. Shawna helped me prune some of the trees and learned what a tough job it is when you know what you are doing but have not the experience to actually make the cuts. It has taken me 8-10 years to think I am an expert and every year when I begin the task I have to think how the tree will look in the future, how the fruit will affect the tree, how this years growth will affect the tree for the next several years, the shape, and the height. Thanks to Shawna we were able to get all of the trees pruned except for the Wolf River and the Transparent apple trees.
Hailee took over when Shawna left to go back to BYU. She pruned peach, apple, and pear trees at my side and we spent one whole Saturday on the back orchard. Hailee and Lorie helped me prune the apricot tree in the front yard. They did a wonderful job.
For those that care and hope you all do, we are going to plant five more hopefully ten more trees. Brad has ordered five Cameo trees for me and Shawna is going to help me graft five Jonathan trees. These will help us to make the best apple juice ever made.

Ticaboo

I am working south of Hanksville doing a spring and seep survey for a Uranium mining company. They are gearing up to mine again and need to comply with permitting regulations. The landscape is beautiful. It is dry and in some places very barren. To me a geologist, it is very awesome to see the Creators hand in the formation of mountains, plateaus, plains, and the other multiple land forms seen and encountered. I think of all of the many possibilities that exist and the God has given us to use and discover in this world and I think it is a wrong to hide it awaynot to be used as many individuals would have us believe. I don't believe there is any such thing as raping the land or destroying the land. The earth will out live us all and change faces many times as it has done so in the past (so much for my soap box).

It is fun traveling the outlaw trails going from spring to spring I wonder if Butch Cassidy ate lunch along the same path. He was an outlaw and I don’t like to glorify, but for some reason it is fun to think about this country that he roamed and the wildness of the land almost invites the mind to travel the same paths. Here are some pictures that so the land and what I am looking for. These pictures are of the south side of Mount Hiller.

Cabinets Come

Thursday – I went to work in Ticaboo chasing springs and seeps for a Uranium mining company hoping that when I arrived home, I would get to look at the cabinets that were installed. Well, I came home to a disappointed wife who related to me that the cabinets installers were not able to come and install cabinets until tomorrow morning on Friday. I was home trying to work in the office with the installers installing cabinets. I couldn’t work without bothering them and asking them numerous questions while gawking at their work. They worked hard and fast and by 8:30 that night were finally finished. It was fun to see Lorie go through the kitchen and open doors to her cabinets. There was only one problem and it was with the appliance garage. There is an electrical receptacle that needs to be moved before the garage can be installed, so it just sits on the lazy susan waiting for the receptacle to be moved. We have since brought in the refrigerator and the cook top. I was going to bring in the ovens but did not get time to move it in yet. Soon as the counter tops will be installed along with appliances and I will be able to be fed good food again. Oh, I miss the food Lorie cooks.

Kitchen/Diningroom

After replacing some of the plywood sub-floor in the kitchen, Lorie and I began laying the floor in the diningroom. We laid out a baseline and then started in the bay window. The first piece is the most difficult because if it is not parallel to the baseline, which also should be parallel to the wall, then when you get to the opposite wall, the lines will not be attractive and your wife will rightly complain and make you take up the floor. I don’t want the floor to look like some idiot laid the floor who didn’t know a board from a nail. This comes from drywall experience and could we tell you stories about that. Not knowing or having much experience with a wood floor, I do not know what to expect in the next few years. It is beautiful, and it is wonderful to hear Lorie ooh and aaah about her new floor. Teak wood is different to work with I have found out and I have learned a few hints about this type of wood. I hope it will look this good in years to come. It is always fun working with Lorie.

A long week

It has been a very long week. Tom, Tina, and their family came out and stayed with us as you know Saturday night and left on Sunday to go and visit Temple Square. Lorie invited them to stay with us as they were returning home Tuesday night. They arrived about 10:00 pm and and we stayed up and talked again as we did on Saturday night. Wednesday morning we took them out geocaching to the desert. We went to Butch Cassidy's hideout and took some pictures. Lorie read the Cassidy book we have as we drove. Tom really got into the book; Lorie even read a chapter late that night to Tom before we went to bed. After we found Cassidy's hideout, we went to the lookout on Cedar Mountain. Lorie and Tina had made sandwiches for us to eat. They were good and we all had fun. It was sad though because Nikki, Rachel, and Hailee had school all day Wednesday and could not go with us to the desert.

On Friday, Lorie, I and the girls went to Meagan and Derek's to see them and the little Sun Spot. Lorie found a stick pony and bought it for Easter. I have Lorie do these things so I can give it to Brooklyn and get all of the accolades. Lorie then took me up to SLC to look at counter tops. We are getting a granite counter top because I am a geologist and like igneous rocks. Lorie also would like on. We went to two warehouses and it was amazing, I was like kid in a candy factory. There were blue anorthosites chuck full of blue labradorite from Canada and Norway; granites from Brazil that had different degrees of metamorphism from meta granites to very foliated gneisses. There were granitoid slabs from all different parts of the world. The one she picked out is a good one and I can bore all of the relatives when they come to see us by explaining how it formed and what minerals are in the slab.

When we returned from SLC, we went out to eat with Meag, Derek, Shawna, and James. We took the little Sun Spot also as well as the three little girls. We missed Jackie very much, so we made her an Easter basket and we added a little surpise to her basket so she could go and buy a shirt or something. We went to eat at Los 3 Amigos. The food is pretty good. Everybody filled up on chips and we ended up carting out food for Saturday. Lorie, I, and the girls enjoyed spending time with the girls of Provo for Easter. Next year I think it will be Jackie's turn to have us come visit her for Easter.

Inbetween all of this, we have been installing the floor for the Kitchen-Dining Room. What a job. We finished tonight and my knees are in a bit of pain. I will need some ibuprofen to be able to sleep. Lorie racks out the floor and I pound them together and nail them down. It is fun work but it can be a pain. We worked Thursday, Saturday, and Monday, and we finally finished it Monday at about 9:45 pm. Nikki, Rachel, and Hailee feel like they have really suffered because of the clutter. Lorie has suffered the most and I am just bugged and can't wait to get the house finished. THE FLOOR IS FINISHED AND WE ARE READY NOW FOR CABINETS. They should arrive between now and Thursday and they will be installed on Thursday. That was our week and I am tired, my arms hurt, my knees are rubber, and I can't keep my eyes open any longer.

BBall, Plays, and continued Kitchen work

I am home from Wyoming and happy to be with family again. I am behind as Hailee played in a championship basketball game that I was able to see in February before I went to Wyoming. She had a chance at a couple of freethrows, and played very hard to help her team win the championship. Alas, in the closing minutes of the game they committed two or three different fouls which helped the other team get ahead and eventually win the game. She felt very bad and thought she lost the game as the coach called one last play and Hailee couldn't pass the ball, so she found herself open and took the shot. She missed and they lost the game by two points. Rachel was the manager of the team and she is seen here with her friends where she is video taping the game for the coach. She was also a great score keeper. She would rather video the game that work at the scorers table.

Nikki was one of the nuns in the Community Theater's play of the Sound of Music. She was also a girl at the ball. I didn't get to see this play but I know she was terrific. Lorie saw the play twice and took the pictures. Actually, we have a pretty good setup right now: she takes the pictures and I blog about them. That could change when she gets the bug.

We have kitchen cabinents coming the end of this month and as you see we are tearing up the original subfloor of the kitchen. There was some water damage and believe it or not, it was easier to tear up the floor than to scrape off the old linoleum. Mom and Nikki started tearing up the floor and when I got back from the dump and lumber yard, I began to help them in the demolition. We had started to lay the new floor down when Tom, Tina, Casey, and the girls arrived. Tom helped me finish the floor, it was just like old times but he is a good carpenter and he really helped me get it done. We then went out to eat with them and the girls. It feels like this is becoming the never ending project. We plan on having the kitchen done by mid April and then the ribbon cutting will occur on Mother's Day. Then we can concentrate on the rest of the house. As you can see, there is no sink in the kitchen. We have a new diet plan: no cooking equals no weight gain. Acutally, Lorie is wonderful and cooks meals in what kitchen we have and she and the girls wash dishes out in the laundry sink in the mudroom. Hopefully, the whole house will be done by Christmas. The kids are tired of living in chaos, and I am tired of the clutter. I still have to build a pony wall for the new kitchen sink and bar, build a wall to close off the kitchen entrance by the stairs and the outside garage door, and then lay the floor. Then the cabinents will be here and be installed and then countertops. Yeah.

As you can see Casey had a blast driving the Hummer around on Sunday after Stake Conference. He is all boy and he really likes all of the girls, but I think Nikki was his favorite. He even told Lorie, "I not having any fun because Nikki is asleep," so Lorie told him to go in and wake her up and he did. Nikki came out smiling. It was really fun to have them here. Isn't family wonderful?