OUR SILVER HAS TURNED TO GOLD!

It has been anther long time between postings,
and so many things have

happened that it is hard to know where to start.
We have, however, been thinking about posting
about a wonderful experience we had recently.
Let me have Cheryl, mom, g'ma, gg'ma tell you about it.

Belated Thank You

It has been just a month since we were treated, by our children,
to a lovely 50th wedding anniversary celebration

Every day since the special event, we have thought about
the beautiful decorations,
(the color scheme reminiscent of our wedding)
the delicious food, candy bar, clever wishes (written and hung)
and loving friends and relatives.



Everything was perfect down to the last impressive detail!
We especially appreciated the kindness of dear friends
and the support and love of our children and
grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

How grateful we are for blessings of marriage,
family and the promise of eternal life together.



Thank you Regan, Vanessa, Lisa, Craig, Cristin, Peter, Shauna, James,
Darin and Elisa. (+17 grands and three g'grands)
for sharing your beautiful home and yard your artistic talents,
treats, long hours of planning, work and presentation
and for just being there to share the occasion.

Many "thank yous" to Alicia for her expertise with event planning,
and also to the fun photographer as well.

Love to all and sincere thank you's from Dad and Mom,
G'ma and G'pa, GG'ma and GG'pa

PS
We have especially enjoyed going to the Shutterfly site

and looking at the fun video and photographs.

We would also be amiss if we did not mention the monthly
celebrations we have enjoyed. The flowers, framed pictures,
books and all have reminded us each month of
how blessed we are to have such a wonderful family.

3 Generations of Climbers

Last Saturday we (Darin, Miriam and myself) took the day to go rock climbing at the Rock Haus. We started in the morning and climbed for about 3 hours, then took a break, grabbed a bite to eat, and then headed back for a couple more hours on the wall.

What a fun day! Darin and I took turns belaying each other and Miriam. We weren't quite ready to let Miriam belay either of us. I was totally amazed at how quickly M took to climbing to the top.The first time or two, she became hesitant and wanted to come down without reaching the top, but after a few tries, and lots of encouragement, she made it, and from then on, every time she tried she went to the top. She even surprised us on one climb that had some overhangs when she worked her way through the overhangs and on to the top.


I'm afraid that if we are going to keep up with her, her dad and I will need to go take some lessons.


We had a fun day, and it was great to see how confident M became after pushing herself a little and overcoming the initial fears. Maybe there is a lesson here that the rest of us could learn from. If a 6 year old can do it maybe the rest of us should try things that at first seem a little difficult.

I am tempted to go take a lead climbing class. That looks like it would be a lot of fun.

Is This Someones Idea of a Sick April Fool Joke?

After two storms that dropped mud out of the skies (not RAIN, but real MUD formed by dust from the western Utah desert that had blown in and mixed with a slight amount of rain - - just enough to drop the dust out of t he sky in the form of mud), the weather changed for the better and it started to snow. We woke up on April Fools Day to greet nearly 8 inches of the white stuff.

Thank goodness I hadn't put the snow blower away for the season. I guess the water will be good for the veggie seeds I planted last week. Beets, spinach, turnips, lettuce and bok choy. The tomatoes, melons and squash won't go in for another 5 - 6 weeks. Beans, corn and peas a little sooner than that. We keep thinking that any moment someone will yell "April Fool!!" and the snow will go away. If that doesn't happen, we will just have to sit here and continue our discussion on global warming.

Who would have ever thought?????

Tomorrow (March 18, 2010) will mark the day of the most significant day in my life. (Other than the day I was born) It is the anniversary of the day that my sweetheart and I were married in the Salt Lake LDS temple. Since that day, 50 years ago, we have been on an exciting, wonderful journey. We can only hope that the journey we began 50 years ago will continue many more years in this life, and then for eternity. That marriage 50 years ago brought 5 wonderful children into our lives, and then they have each brought a partner and little ones into our lives. These are precious people whom we love, cherish, and for whom we will be forever grateful.

It is hard to put into words all of the feelings that accompany this celebration, but I can say that I will be forever grateful for the woman who said "yes" and who has brought so much into my life and whom I love so very much.

Another 10 days in paradise

It would not feel right to leave Florida without posting about the last 10 days. To leave the sub freezing weather in Cache Valley to spend time in the lovely 75 degree sunshine in Florida is something we look forward to each winter. That break enables us to go home and endure the rest of the winter. Other than going to the beach, shopping, reading a book or two and just laying around, we just don't do a thing. (oh I should add that we do have some fun things to eat, and occasionally think about what might be going on at home.) Everyone should be so lucky as to have a sister who has a winter home in Florida.

A Fun Day on the Wall

Regan and I got a day pass at the RockHaus and had a fun time climbing. Tackled some overhangs and some climbs rated at 5.5 to 5.8. (and some with no rating at all) Tired tonight, but well worth it for the fun time we had. Let's plan a family climbing session for everyone next summer. Height is a little over 30' with 2 challenging overhangs. Maybe a lead climbing class is the next adventure we should explore.

A Few More Veggies From The Garden

We have had our first frost and there is snow in the foothills. (and it is only the 2nd of Oct.) We picked a few of the squah that were growing, and most of the onions. There are still lots of tomatoes and a couple of 15# zuchinis. It is a fun time of year, and we are enjoying the pears, apples, plums, cantalope, squash, and everything else that has grown. We also threw a hand full of wildflower seeds out on the back slope that have turned in to a beautiful display that we have been enjoying. Hope everyone else is having an enjoyable fall season.

If It's not Scottish (or Irish) .... It's Craaaaap

A while back, the Center was invited to have a booth at the first Cache Valley Celtic Festival. We accepted the invitation, and last week we spent the day talking about family history with many of the festival visitors. They had Highland games competition, bagpipes, Celtic dancers and singers and many clan and commercial booths. I was able to make a couple of presentations in the Opera House on family history. The whole day was filled with many exciting and educational events. BUT ... There was only one thing wrong with the day. Most of the participants were wearing their clan kilts....most of them except me. :(

After the festival ended and we packed up and went home, I started feeling a need to have a kilt. I had checked some out with one of the vendors at the festival, but he didn't have the tartan I wanted in my size. Needless to say, the next several days were spent checking out kilts on the internet, and mine arrived this afternoon!!!

For those of you who may not be Scottish or Irish, a brief word of explanation. The kilt is in the Irish National tartan. The little green things on the socks are called flashes, and the knife is really; a Sgian Dubh (knife). The black bag is a sporran which replaces the pockets that the kilt does not have. The kilt pin represents the thistle and a sword. I hope I have answered the questions you might have except for one, which we will deal with at a later time.

The kilt is very comfortable to wear, and I am looking for occasions where it would be appropriate for me to wear. Like the title of my blog says: "I'll Never Grow Up".

More Petroglyphs

A friend, Gary, and I went out this past week to do some work at the mine, and to search again for some petroglyphs in the mountains east of Nephi. We had searched previously, but did not have good gps coordinates. This time we had better coordinates, and also had some help from someone in Nephi who knew the area and the glyphs we were searching for.



This first glyph is the one from the Fillmore area which we had seen before. In the same general area is what is referred to as the "map rock" which contains coordinates for locating what some say is buried treasure.



The next two pics are the Nephi glyph. It was a challenging hike to the top of the mountain where this one was found. Challenging, but worth while! Some might say "Why in the world would anyone climb to the top of a mountain to look at some scratches made on the side of a rock?" But to view what someone carved many years ago, and to try and decipher the meaning, who put it there, and why in this specific location is part of the intrigue that keeps us looking for new sites. When you look at these glyphs, you see that they are not like any ordinary American Indian glyphs. This type of glyph is found in only 25 - 30 sites in the western US. I will try to post some links to sites that might explain a bit about them. Until then, Gary and I have our own theories as to their origin and when they were created.

Summer Garden

It has been quite some time since I posted anything to the blog, but today when we started to fix something to eat, I knew I had to show what we are having for lunch. Everything in the picture was just picked out of our garden. (except for the frozen spinach which we picked and froze a few weeks ago) This is when I think that maybe it is worth the effort. There are a lot of other things growing that we will post some other time. Bon appetite!

A Few More Beads

I'm still not sure what I am going to do with these beads or where I'm going with the whole thing, but I thought it would be fun to post a picture of a few of the latest beads I have made. I'm afraid that this is addicting. These are a little nicer, and it is fun experimenting with different colors, techniques and types of glass.

For those with inquiring minds, (and you know who you are) who want to know if I also made the penny, the answer is NO. .... just the beads. The beads are also actually all about the same size, the perspective makes the back ones look smaller than they really are.

Two Posts in ONE Day??

This may establish some sort of world record! (at least for me) TWO posts in a single day??

It is only 10:15 (PM) and i thought I would post a little about my latest adventure. For a number of years I have had the idea that I would like to try what they call lampmaking or flameworking. That is just another way of saying making glass beads. I have talked with a friend who has done a little work with glass, and I have noticed different books, catalogs, youtube videos about the process. (If you want to see how it is done, just search youtube for "lampmaking" or "glass beads" and you should find any number of videos about the process.)

I finally took the leap from thinking to doing. I found a small kit with a torch, glass rods, mandrels, bead release, marvers and a gas tank holder. Another stop at Home Depot for a bottle of Mapp gas, (hotter than propane) and I was ready to go. (After watching a few more videos of he process.) The first couple of beads were just for "practice" and then I got serious about it. After having a couple of beads fuse to the mandrel and break in the process of getting them off, I finally made a few beads that look halfway decent. It seems that each time I work with it, I get a better picture of what I am doing and what I need to do to make a decent bead.

If you will give me a little more practice time, I will start taking orders for specific sizes, colors, shapes and all. If anyone has a bracelet that they can hang a bead or two from, let me know and I will custom make some for you. My sweetheart has also suggested that they could be placed on a cord to use for a necklace. Just another thing to explore and play with to see what it is like and if I can actually do it.

Not a great picture, but it gives you an idea.
A different colored background would be better.


Any suggestions for the next project????

The Yak is Finished!!! (almost)

The yak now has 6 coats of varnish on it, the hatch covers are lashed down, the tie down cords are installed and the yak is ready to throw into the lake. All that needs to be done is to re-install the foot rests and the install the foam pads for the hip braces. I finished it up about the middle of January, and I''m thinking that I should have started construction in March 2009 so that the waters would be ready by the time I finished, or that I should have taken another 3 or 4 months in the construction.

I guess it will just have to wait for spring to come and for the ice to melt off of the local waters before I can go out. In the meantime, we have started work on a yak for Darin. A different model, and one that is challenging. The hull and deck are put together; and the next time we can work on it, we will fasten the hull and deck together and start fiber glassing the whole boat, top and bottom.

I have added a couple of pictures, and will add another one or two of the completed yak when I can get them taken in a way that lets you see what it really looks like. One picture was taken while the yak was still in the enclosed shelter I made so that I could apply the vanish without a lot of dust specks settling into the fresh , sticky varnish. The other pic is of my sweetheart paddling across the family room floor with the life coat and paddle that my children were so nice to give me for Christmas. Maybe now we will have to build a yak for her!! LOL

I am, giving serious thought to making a folding yak or one with a seal skin exterior (plastic or canvas) I think a lot of the challenge is just to make it. Later we will face the challenge of actually propelling it through the water and keeping it upright. (or learning to roll it or make a "wet exit" if necessary )

Not Finished Yet!!!

Just one more post to fill in the next steps in constructing a yak. When you get to the varnishing stage, any minute speck of dust will disturb the finished surface, to it is imperative that you work in a dust free atmosphere. The way to achieve this is to dust the table, blow dust off of it with an air compressor, mop the floor (twice) then put up plastic walls and ceiling to keep any stray dust particles from finding their way to the wet varnish. (If they can find a way, they WILL)


Before you start, you change into cleanly washed (dust free) clothes, spray water on the floor to settle and trap any dust, and then get out your foam brush and go to work. Also, because of the toxic fumes in the varnish, you wear a special respirator that traps the fumes and only gives you clean air to breath. It's really quite fun to be at this stage! One coat of var, then you sand everything with very fine sand paper (400 grit). After sufficient drying time, another coat, sanding, another coat etc. until you have 6 or 7 full coats on the yak. When I get to that point, I'll post again, and show how to finish installing the accessories.

More Yak Building

After the basic shape has been formed, the hull and deck fiberglassed, and everything has been given several coats of the epoxy, it looks like a kayak. Two hatches were cut in the deck which give access to storage space for food, camping supplies and other necessities. Also, the coaming was installed. This is the trim that goes around the opening where you sit inside the kayak. One thing that should be mentioned is that between every coat of epoxy everything has to be sanded which results in many hours of sanding. Because of the toxic epoxy dust this creates, much of this work was done outdoors. It is so nice that the weather cooperated. As you can see, it took a lot of clamps to to fit the flat coaming to fit the curved deck, and the hatch trimming around the openings for the hatches.

Kayak Building 101

Well, I guess that it is about time for me to post a bit about my most recent project / experiment / adventure / or whatever you want to call it. A number of years ago, I had wanted to build a canoe. Because of all that was going on at the time it was an impossible dream so we bought a canoe. Recently that dream was revived and I am beginning on the finishing stages of not a canoe, but a 17 foot kayak.
I have debated about how I should blog about this project since the blog runs backward in time but the kayak was built with time going in the opposite direction. What I have decided to do is post a picture of the kayak in a nearly finished state with one coat of varnish on it and five or six more coats to go. When the varnishing is complete, I will put the rigging on, the seat, the foot rests and a few other parts and it will be ready to throw in the water. Then I will go back and show a few of the major steps in the process of it's construction. The picture at the top shows the yak after it's first coat of varnish.

After ordering the kit which contains most of the materials necessary for construction I went to the lumber yard and bought lumber to build a table on which to build the yak. After constructing the 20 foot long and 2 feet wide table, I laid out the wooden parts that came in the kit. I then began to fasten the parts together with epoxy and then I drilled small holes along the edges of each piece and wired the pieces together. After the pieces were wired together they were formed into the basic kayak shape. At this point, a mixture of epoxy and wood powder was used to fasten the pieces together. Then the interior was coated with epoxy. After putting on the epoxy, a layer of fiberglass was put on the bottom of the hull and coated with epoxy. It was nice having Daren there to help with this part of the project. The next step was to put the deck over the hull. It was nice to have a helpful wife to help hold the deck in place while it was nailed down.
After nailing down the deck it is covered with a layer of fiberglass and more epoxy. The fiberglass hanging down from the deck will be trimmed off. It is at this point that it begins to look like a real kayak. I wanted to do a little personalizing so I took some wood veneer and created a circular decoration which I epoxied on the front of the deck. Well, that is probably enough for tonight. Stay tuned for the next installment coming soon to a blog near you.

Have You Seen My Epiphyllum Oxypetalum?

The responsibility for this whole fiasco rests with our East Coast daughter, who will remain unnamed in order to protect her good name. But.... about 4 years ago, while we were visiting with her family, she gave me a small piece of a leaf she had started to root in a glass of water. I took it home and stuck it in a glass and then later potted it in a growing pot.

It started growing, and soon had taken over a corner of the kitchen. It sprouted numerous leaves and then the leaves started sprouting leaves. Then all kinds of long shoots started growing. They wound their way up the side of the cabinets, across the top, across the doorway and then across the next cabinet. one very small flower like bud appeared and then died and dropped off. I finally cut off a bunch of the stringers. (78 feet was their total length)

Not much more happened except some new shoots and leaves started growing. Then..... the other night, Chere Bear called me and said "look at this!!" There was a long stem with a large closed flower bud on it. We watched it closely for a few days because we knew that this flower would bloom at night and then be dead the next day. We did not want to miss it! Then one evening, we saw that the bud was starting to open. We were amazed at how beautiful and fragrant it was.










It continued to open up.

We watched it for a while and then turned in for the night. I checked it once in the middle of the night and it still looked fine except a couple of the little petals that were starting to droop. When we checked it the next morning, it was gone. It is a little sad that such a beautiful and fragrant flower comes and goes so quickly. (I guess there are some lessons about life that the flower could teach us) We are so happy that we were able to see the whole process. We don't know if, or when the plant will bloom again, but this one flower makes all the care and climbing vine mess worth while.

going... going.. gone!!

It was just 24 hours from when it started to open up until it was completely gone. :(

We will keep you posted if or when it ever blooms again

Hey....That was fun. Let's do another one.

One thing that happened this summer, is that a friend and I went to Pocatello, Idaho and found another of the Fremont/Mystery glyphs. This has similar designs as the one in Fillmore canyon and the one on the cliffs above Cedar City. Now we need to get to the ones in Nephi, Manti and Ogden. Anyone want to further the interests of science by making a donation to our gas fund? Please send them to me directly, and we will give you recognition when we complete our final report.

The first picture is of the left side of the glyph and the second is the right side. a small section in the middle is missing because some idiot thought it would look nice on his coffee table.. I should also note that the chalk was on the glyphs when we found them. We did NOT put the chalk on them. Interesting to find the same characters in such different locations. Also, I suspect that the horse and cow are more recent additions.


Oh! One other thing I have accomplished this summer was to memorize all of the elements in the periodic table. (some 100 or so... all the way from A -Actinium- to Z -Zinc) It was fun, but now there is no more room in my head for any other information. It's full...I hate it when that happens!

I am once more posting on my blog.

Due to the numerous requests, (3 in all) I am once more starting to post to my blog. When I have something more to say, I will post it.

Has it been that long???

Hey, do you remember that one time I didn't blog for over a year?

I cant believe that it has been so long since I posted anything. I guess I had a blog block or something like that. Others have posted about the wonderful family reunion we had at Ponderosa, so I won't say anything about that other than it was a wonderful experience. It was so much fun to be with the family, to do some geocaching, hiking, eating, and to enjoy everyone's company.

The most recent adventure has been a trip to the Southern Utah to explore pictographs petroglyphs and dinosaur footprints. I have put in a few pictures and will explain a tiny bit about each one. Our "tour" was conducted by a friend I used to work with who lives in Cedar City. Our first stop was at the "lion's mouth" cave west of Cedar city where we saw a collection of beautiful pictographs. Our next stop was at the "Parawan gap" where we saw numerous petroglyphs. Scattered over the rocks there were hundreds off glyphs and every place you looked you saw a new one. One that is especially interesting has been interpreted as the astronomical marker relating to the solstice. I understand that each year a number of people gather at the gap to celebrate the event and to see where the sunlight shines in distinctive ways on the petroglyphs.

Lion's Mouth Cave pictograph

Parawan Gap petroglyph

Our next stop led us to a rather strenuous 3/4 mile hike to the top of the cliffs overlooking Cedar city where we saw an unusual glyph which has no resemblance to American Indian petroglyphs typically found in the Western United States. There are fewer than 30 such glyphs that have been identified. They are located in several Western states and are most likely created by members of the John Fremont expedition as they passed to this area. I had previously seen a petroglyph with similar characters in the mountains east of Fillmore, Utah. It is difficult to see the characters. I have added a photo of the Fillmore glyph that I have edited to make the characters more legible
Cedar City "Fremont" glyph.

Fillmore "Fremont" glyph.

After a good night's rest (Thank you Lisa and Craig) we went to two sites with another unusual type of glyph. These glyphs are commonly called "water glyphs ". For an interesting discussion about these glyphs go to www.waterglyphs.org where you will find several theories about them. These glyphs are nearly always found on horizontal surfaces with the long "tail" part running to the edge, of the rock. The tails are usually 2 to 3 feet long, and the circular part is usually 18 to 30 inches in diameter. Waterglyph at Bullrush seep.

They are carved unusually deep into the rock, and if you pour water in the circular part it slowly drains into the tail and over the edge of the rock. We saw several of these glyphs in different places, and at one spot, we found a Spanish cross carved into the rock. The horizontal line at the bottom indicates the direction of travel. This cross was probably created by members of the Escalante/Dominguez expedition as they passed through this area.


We were told about one glyph that is on the cliffs over looking the town of Orderville. Our guide had not seen it but he gave us the best description he could of where it might be found. We parted ways and decided to try our luck in Orderville. We took a strenuous hike to the top of a cliff overlooking the town and much to our surprise and delight found the "missing" water glyph!
Another strenuous hike to the bottom of the cliff and we were on our way back to the house.

Before we left Ponderosa to head home, we had another fun surprise. We looked out the window and found a small herd of deer wandering through the backyard. There was a four-point buck and several does. The picture taken through the window does not do full justice to the scene we saw. But at least it gives you an idea.

We headed home after a couple of days of fascinating exploring thinking that it would be hard to find anything more exciting than this experience. How wrong I was! Within minutes of arriving at home we were thrilled to get word of the arrival of a new grandson. Congratulations to Cristin and Pete and family we are looking forward to seeing you in a few days..