This isn't Kansas

What was it Dorothy said to her dog Toto? "We're not in Kansas any more". I know how she felt, and I only felt that way one other time when I was 19 years old and 10,000 miles away from home. At least there was only a four hour time difference not an nine hour difference or starting today and eight hour difference. That means that right now as I type it is 3:49 pm mountain standard time but it here as I type it is 11:50 pm and I have been awake since 5:00 am. The thought that you are soooo far away from home is a downer for the first few days. If I started walking now it would take along time to get home.

I am trying to get pictures but I can't load them. The internet is german based and I cannot read german yet. I don't know if anyone heard yet about my adventure in Johnannesburg but it was one that most travelers fear just traveling in the states on business. If you miss a flight or lose luggage, you get a new ticket and figure out what to do or where to stay. That is what happened to me in Joeberg SA as they say here and it was mind boggling. I got new flight arrangements and then a motel or somebodies upstairs appartment where they give lodging, up at 3:30 and to the air port so I don't miss the 6:00 flight to Botswana. All this with Jet lag and not much sleep. I don't think I have slept much maybe four-five hours per day. As it is not midnight I will leave you with this little post and hopefully get picture out on the next post. By the way, I almost got hit in the head by a swarm of bees looking at core. There must have been 10,000 bees in the air looking for a new home. Couldn't tell you if they were Africanized or not but it was interesting and James should like it.

Valentines Day

Valentines day is one of my favorites days. It always has been. Maybe it is the lover inside of me or not. Any way, we had a wonderful day. It started out on Friday. Yes, Friday the 13th. I always get the girls a flower and take it to school where they can show off to the other girls and make the boys jealous. That is the main reason I started this tradition is that I wanted to send these young high school boys a message, "My girls are already taken thank you". I never meant for this event to become a tradition, but a week before Nikki, Hailee, or Rachel asked me if I was going to get them a flower this year because Valentines day was on a Saturday instead of a school day. I told them that no I wasn't going to get them a flower and the mutiny began. I didn't let them know that I was going to get them a flower until they got one at school on Friday afternoon.

A couple of weeks earlier, I got Lorie her Valentine day card. I like funny cards not the goofy sentimental ones that are nothing but mush. Then on Friday night we went into Price and I got her a Valentine present, the Pride and Prejudice on DVD. I can't ever surprise her though as she is always with me. We also bought 4 lobster tails, boy were they at a good price, six dollars a piece. Then we came home and watched Casino Royal.

Saturday, Valentines Day, I put up the lights in the garage and tidied up some electrical projects. Lorie cooked the lobster tails purchased the night before and we sat down to a wonderful candle light dinner. Salad, shrimp, asparagus, and a baked potato. We shared our bootie with the girls who kindly ate downstairs, probably because they thought we would kiss or something. We didn't though, it was a very proper dinner. Lorie and given me a bottle of Diesel Colon and all day long the girls said I smelled nice. That is Lorie's and especially Hailee's new favorite smell. We also talked with Jackie and asked her how her date went the night before (Friday Night). She is a good girl and we miss her as she is out on her own living in Logan and going to school. After dinner, I helped Lorie and the girls do dishes and then we retired to the family room to watch Third Rock from the Sun reruns until midnight. It was a great day to remember.

Work on the House

Well, blogging has been put on hold as I have been busy sheet rocking the upstairs and the garage. Lorie, the best wife in the whole wide world has been right at my side helping me get the project done. We borrowed, not sure if the will charge me or how much they will charge, a sheet rock jack so it would be easier to sheet rock the ceiling. Boy, it worked very well in the upstairs and the ceiling is only 8 feet high. It was a different story in the garage where the ceiling is at least 11 to 12 feet high. The jack would only go to about 10 1/2 or 11 feet and we had to lift it up 6-12 inches from there. Hailee helped us a lot and all three of us had aching muscles at the end of each of those days.



Then, yesterday I decided to install the lights in the garage since the ceiling was up. It took all day long as an electrician I'm not. After I figured out what breaker to turn off and remembered how I had wired the lights -- which end was the beginning and where the power was coming from -- I installed the first fixture and then plugged in the lights. Wala, they worked and I didn't even have to redo the project like I usually do. The lights are 48 inch fluorescent lights and they really light up the garage. I can't wait to start wood working or fixing cars in the garage now. There are four of them and they really light up the room. Now I need to finish the upstairs, redo the floor in the old part of the house, put the stair tread on the stairs from the basement, replace the girls bathroom, face the front of the house with brick or rock, cement the drive way, put gutters on, make a walkway around the west side of the house, and hmmm is there anything else, oh yes, I also need to build a deck on to the east side of the house so I can use the office door, and "breath" re square the double doors on the office. Whew, maybe I can get this all done this year. I also want to play in the swell and look for gold and I guess I will never die, I am too busy and have too much to do.

Trip to San Jose

Boy did we have fun. (I just found this and forgot that I had even started writing it). Actually, I got my camera in the mail and now I can show you pictures of the eldest (her family) and San Fransisco. It may also be time for another geology lesson. It was more than I expected. It was, however, a very quick trip. We left on Thursday night and arrived about 2:00 of Friday afternoon. This was after a semi good nights rest in Reno, we drove until 4:00 am on Friday. What can I say, with Lorie one learns to travel and get places. We had to leave Nikki and Rachel at home as they had places they had to be.

Brooklyn likes beaches, so when we arrived Meagan and Brooklyn took us (Lorie, Hailee, and Myself) to a beach near Santa Cruz I believe. The Beach was a California State beach called Natural Bridges because of the sea arches formed by the waves. The water was sooo cold but that didn't stop Brooklyn from running in the water. One time she didn't stop soon enough and a wave covered her. She is quite the little trooper as she didn't even cry. I don't think she shivered. I ran in the waves with her several times but my feet and legs were numb from the cold.

Saturday morning Derek, Meagan, and Brooklyn took us into the city (San Fransisco here I come). Lorie had been there but I had never been in California except for a visit to the L. A. International Air Port. It was great fun and actually a very nice day for the middle of January. A bit hazy but very nice for this time of year from what I'm told. We went to Coit Tower first: this was an amazing place to go as we parked the car near the pier and walked up 200 feet of stairs to Coit Tower. The stairs take you up a steep hill and on either side of the stairs, there are homes. Each home has a gate and fence but they are on the left and on the right. These are nice homes. Not a very good place where earthquakes are frequent but actually safer than on the valley floor. We went to the top of Coit Tower and took pictures of the city and bay area. The picture of Meagan, Derek, Brooklyn, and Hailee are in the back of the tower where there is a garden of sorts.

We then went to Fisher Mans wharf to eat lunch. It was rather nice but nothing to write home about. The Sea Lions were out sunning on floating platforms and it was fun to have Brooklyn show us them.

Then it was on to the Golden Gate Bridge. This structure is simply amazing. I didn't think it was red for some reason, maybe steel gray was what I had in mind. It is huge. There is a picture of Hailee standing by a cross section of the cable used in the construction. I can't remember the amount of wire used in the cable but it is on the sign next to the cable, so you can zoom in and read it yourself. We walked out to the first post or whatever the structure is and looked down into the bay. It was a long way down. Derek and I said it would be fun to ride a bicycle across it and someday I just might. I wanted to see what was on the other side, that is just what I am about, so I told Derek I would pay the toll and we drove across and drove up the road and took some pictures of the bay and the city, the geology of the mountains, and as it was late at night we took some sunset pics also. I don't think I like the red color paint on the bridge. They didn't ask me so it doesn't matter. I was just very surprised at the color.

Derek then drove us home by way of Highway 1 along the coast and that was very nice. I got a passing view of the Melange of the San Franciscan complex. It consists of blueschist facies of metamorphic rock formed as the oceanic crust dives under the continental crust. As this happens parts of both plates are scraped up and it forming the coastal mountains of California. This is important because it is one of the only places where we get to see rock of the ocean plates. It was actually very interesting as I have never seen this type of geology before.

On Sunday after church, Meagan and Derek took us to see the redwood trees. We drove to Big Basin Redwoods State Park. It was a very nice drive a time to get some rest for me. When I woke up we were just about there. We arrived at the park head quarters and walked around and looked at big trees. I always thought this would be boring as I am sometimes not culturally very bright, but it was very interesting. The trees are big and very different than the spruce, fir, and pine that I am use to. What was really interesting was where the trees were hit by lightening and continued to grow. The core of some of those trees was completely gone and growth appeared to be from the outside or bark of the tree. We looked as a cross section of one tree they had on display where they had the rings corresponding with historical dates. This tree was very old and dated back to about 400 years before Christ if I remember right. On the way back we thought Meagan was going to get sick. We drove with the windows down which helped a lot. There was one time when she thought it was over as she had Derek stop the car and got her composure back (I have tough women around me).

It was a great trip and we want to thank Derek and Meagan for sharing their time and making our trip so enjoyable. As Brooklyn would say "It was really, really fun".

Snowman and Snow Angles

During Christmas when Brooklyn was visiting, between snow storms we made a snowman. Actually her dad, mom, and Hailee built a snowman. I suggested they start the project while I shovel snow off of the sidewalks and clean the driveway. Come to find out the snow was very powdery and not very packable. So by the time I got in the back yard to help, there was this snowman on the retaining wall. He was a small bugger but a snowman he was with arms and three body balls of snow, and eyes making him a real person. I felt bad that I hadn't helped and Brooklyn had fallen in the snow, so I made a snow angel. As I fell into the snow with Hailee and Rachel's help, Brooklyn thought they were mugging me and taking my life. She let out a howl and cried "save bommpa, don't hurt him". I don't know if she actually said that but it sounds good. I tried to get her to stop crying and started waving my arms and my feet making a snow angle. She didn't quite get it as she continued to cry. So after getting up again, I found a new place to fall in the snow and start again. By this time her crying ceased and although she was not exactly laughing, she did accept that maybe there was a bit of fun in the snow.

Christmas 2008

Christmas 2008, what an event to remember: getting Christmas trees, putting up the Christmas trees, having everyone home for the Christmas Eve bash, and best of all playing with my favorite granddaughter, I can say that and actually get away with it because she is the only granddaughter I have. My Christmas spirit usually takes a while to wind up due to the hassle coinciding with the blessed event, but this year it seamed I was able to have a child like anticipation for the event. That has not happened for a long time.

A few minor words about the tree. It is customary for our family to travel to the mountains after Thanksgiving and cut our tree and this year was no exception. With permit in hand, we traveled up the Wasatch Plateau looking for the perfect tree. Usually because of snow fall we are limited to where we can get a good tree. This year the snow was late and we were able to get higher in the mountains and look over trees that usually are not accessible to our saw. We found one and brought it home to decorate it.

Our new addition has never had a tree in it so we figured a taller one could be place along the wall that separates the kitchen/dining room from the office, this location is just under the apex of our ceiling. What a gorgeous tree! The tree once decorated decided it did not like our old decorations and just as Lorie was leaving to visit with her Visiting Teachers the tree fell over breaking several of her ornaments from past Christmases. We could not get the tree to stand up so we tied it to the wall with 30 lb fishing line, and there it stayed until we took it down after New Years.

The Christmas Eve Bash is a family tradition: the party starts at 4:00 or 5:00 and if you can make it you come and feast and play games and if you can't make it, no hard feelings and we will see you next year. This year was special because Brooklyn was coming over and she is 2 and 4 months, the perfect age for Christmas. She loved to play on our stairs and have grandpa or aunts chase her - man can she fly down those stairs - it was the funniest thing I ever have seen. She would run around our couch fall down on the stair landing, then rollover on her tummy and slide feet first down the stairs. It was incredible how fast she would go.

Traditional food for the Christmas Eve Bash is something exotic that we either never have eaten or that we seldom eat, so the feast is mostly a treat. This year we had homemade rum cake, homemade fruit cake - I am the only one who appreciates a good fruit cake, oh well more for me - two different salsas, a black bean salsa and some cowboy caviar which was a delicious mix of peppers and black eyed peas. From the moment we start the bash we are playing silly games. One of the most popular is the Hat Game. This game is played with everyone wearing a Santa hat. One person is it (I usually start the game since I am the chosen one) and that person removes his hat when no one is looking and the last one to take off their hat is the looser and they then start the game. This game is played continuously through the night as other games are being played.

We were truly blessed to have had such a wonderful Christmas Eve Bash. Even though we were having such a wonderful time, we do remember the reason for the season and having family together during the holidays accentuates the birth of the Saviour and reason he was born and mission he would fulfill.

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.