July-Aug-Sep-Oct Update

Its been awhile since an update. I was gone most of June on a fire assignment to Santa Fe, NM. But life resumed back in Moab in July. Jenny came down with two friends - Saul and Swarga to visit in the middle of the month. We went for a nice hike up in Arches National Park.

Towards the end of July I celebrated number 58. Yes - grey hair is predominate now.

Along with other presents, I bought myself a 2007 KLR650 motorcycle to replace my poor worn out 1980 Susuki. Now I can ride on dirt roads and go to the mountains if I wish.

In mid August I took a motorcycle trip on the Goldwing down in to New Mexico and eventually up in to Colorado where I attended a Goldwing motorcycle rally in Salida, Co. We all made a trip up to this lake by Leadville one day.

Over Labor Day week end, Rindy/Shane and Clinton/Natalie came to visit and play. So we made a quick trip to the mountain for a picnic and picture at the family tree. Glad to have others at the tree besides Mary and I this year.

Later in Sept I took a real nice two day motorcycle ride to visit Kodachrome Basin State Park by Cannonville, Ut. Hiked there all morning. One of the best rides I have made.

Here I am hiking on the Angels View trail. This is a real pretty little park.

Then at the beginning of Oct., Mary and I made an overnight trip to SLC and spent one morning at Hogel Zoo. I really enjoyed checking out the critters. Haven't done that in ages. Here is Mary and the tigers.

And that is the highlights of the last several months. Not too many adventures on the farm. Got the haying done for the year. Took some cows to market. Had our irrigation dams wiped out by a flood one day. And fixed a lot of farm equipment. :)

May - June Update

Here it is July already. Where is the time going? Summer is half over already it seems. The days are already getting shorter.

So for a May project I finally decided to do something about the dirt patch between the carport and the yard. We gardened there numerous times, but it never worked well. This was always just a weedy mess, so we decided it was time to make it look nice.

Here it what it was like when we started. It's not obvious, but the railroad tie wall was about to fall down, so first I had to rebuild it. If you look at the ties in the next picture they are a lot longer and straighter.
Then we got 12"x12" patio blocks from Lowe's in GJ. It was a heavy truck load, and we layed out five rows of them on sand we got from the big hill across from Arches park entrance.

Then I planted plants that are suppose to stay low but spread out in a carpet type fashion. Had to redo the watering system for them. Maybe they will stay alive.

And finally we added some "cinders" that I had left over from when I put them in the front yard 10+ years ago. Overall I think it is a nice effect. The only problem I see so far is that the ants love to dig holes in the cracks between the patio blocks. They think it is cool.

So at the beginning of June, on the 11th to be exact, I got a call asking if I wanted to run down to Santa Fe, NM for a little bit and help out with some fire action down there. Sure I said. I went down to help out in what is called "Expanded Dispatch". The people on the fire line call back to the dispatch and place orders for things they need - more engines - food - equipment, etc. My job was to take those orders and "process" them and make sure they go to the right people to complete them. Paperwork job, but I get to stay at a motel which is nice. This picture shows my work spot.

The closest I got to the actual "South Fork" fire was looking out the front door 30 miles to the north and seeing the smoke come up from the mountain. Worked for me. I was there 3 weeks.

I got to have one day off and went to downtown Santa Fe. Santa Fe is celebrating their 400 year anniversery this year. It is the oldest, still functioning city in the United States. They have a real messy road system. The roads follow the paths of wandering burros and are just wide enough to allow two burro carts to pass each other. The following picture is the downtown plaza. Around the plaza are 100+ tourist shows all selling the exact same thing - chinese made navajo jewery.

Well maybe some the jewery is authenic, but it still all looks the same. The following picture is at the front of the "Palace of the Govenors" which is where the city rulers lived and worked for 200+ years. Apparently there is a daily lottery system as to which location you get to spread out your jewery blanket.

I got back to Moab, July 3rd. Weeds are high everywhere. And it is hot here. But nice to be home. Time to fire up the goldwing and go for a ride though.

February - March - April - UPDATE

It was a long hard winter here in town - but at least it was tourist free. Finally winter let up and allowed us to get out of the house and back working on the farm - plus other good stuff.

For Christmas I got this nifty wind vane. When the snow finally melted off the roof, I was able to get on top and install the vane. It is topped with a Goldwing motorcycle. I like it.

One of our first farming projects was to extend an irrigation line. Had to hurry up and get this done as this is the end of a long Irrigation Company line and they could not put water into the line until this was done. It went pretty smoothly.

Finally a couple of really nice days were upon us and I had to go for a motorcycle ride. The bike had been sitting unstarted since November. Last winter I was able to ride a little bit every month. Not this winter. For my first trip I rode over to Capital Reef National Park.

I spent a couple hours that morning hiking the Rim Trail to the top. Great views. Great weather. Sore feet. Out of shape.

In April the wife and I headed up to the Salt Lake area for a special event. On the way up we visited daughter Jenny in her new apartment that she recently moved into. She was sick though, but she did manage one smile. Almost done with college this year and only one more semester to graduate.

We also got to see our snake charmer daughter Rindy and husband Shane. We visited her briefly at one of their shows. Now I know why our house always seemed to have an extra assortment of bugs crawling about when she was younger. I think she invited them in.

The big event of the trip was the graduation ceremony for Clinton and Natalie. Both were graduating from Weber State University. We are pretty proud parents. President Monson spoke at the opening ceremony.

Congrats you two. It is quite an accomplishment. Don't they look cute. :)

Cows and Snow

This has been an interesting winter. An early snow in November set it off. That was followed by an 8" snow storm and very cold temps, and another snow storm. In the midst of all this a calf was born on New Years Eve night. We discovered the poor little thing New Years morning. It was doing ok though. Another calf was born about a week later. And another one about a week after that. At least the 3rd one was born on a sunny afternoon.

Warm temps and rain melted off most of the snow, but apparently Mother Nature didn't like that so she struck back yesterday with another 4" snow. I cannot build fancy stuff like my son Clinton, but I did build a basic 3 ball snowman to ward off the evil spirits.

Winter - GO AWAY!!!!







First calf born this year on New Year's Day.













This is the third calf.

Isn't he a cute looking guy. Either one. :)

Christmas 2009

Christmas has come and gone. It was definetly different this year. None of the children came down to join in, so it was just the wife and I. But it was alright. We enjoyed a nice christmas. When we open presents, we always take turns. Last year there was 7 of us, so it took a bit before your turn came around - this year it was quite fast - "What, my turn again?"

Our christmas tree was a little smaller this year. Only 12' tall. Usually its 15' and smacking the ceiling. It is one of the prettier trees that we have had in recent years. We can't fit big bushy ones in the house, so we get these tall skinny spruce trees.

Here we are christmas morning. Just the two of us. The cat, horses, and cows were kept outside.

I got several nifty gifts. One of them was a wind vane with a goldwing motorcycle on top. Cool.

Mary got her weight in candy/nuts given to her. That is what she wanted - that is what she got - a FIVE year supply.

Here is me with my stash. A nifty tie, new shirt, a "snuggles" blanket, tax software, and a real fancy high tech toe nail clipper. What more can a man ask for. :)

Merry Christmas all and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Thanksgiving 2009

Daughter Rindy hosted the event this year. Made it easy for most people to travel to. It was a nice day and a good dinner. Now to get ready for Christmas.

Surgery

Life on the farm can be tough at times. Fences to build, hay haul, cattle to wrestle. It wears the body out, and suddenly one day - poof you have a problem.

My poof started on Tuesday 11/10. I went for a walk to the library. On the way back I got stomach pains. I little indigestion I figured. I had just drank some very expired milk. The pains persisted though the night, but by next morning they were not too bad. It had now concentrated to the lower right quadrant. But during the day the pain got worse. "What side is the appendix on?" I asked my nurse wife. "Left side" she says. But later on I looked it up on the web page and the appendix is on the right side and I had some of the symptons of an appendicitis.

I went to a water board meeting and then afterwards we were going to a church dinner. As I got dressed for the dinner, I kept thinking, there is something odd about this pain. Maybe I should have it checked, so we went to the emergency room. After some tests which took almost 4 hours, it was determined that yes - you need surgery for your appendix. Luckily the surgeon was in town and by 10pm I was knocked out and under the knife.

What followed was two and a half long days in the hospital recovering. Not a fun experience. I slept well the first night, still drugged from the surgery. Thursday was ok - hooked to an IV and having to get out of bed about every hour to go to the bathroom. But as long as I had pain pills it was tolerable. I survived the hospital food and another night sleeping in a uncomfortable bed where they wake you about every hour to check vitals or iv or something.

By Friday morning I was feeling better though and ready to go home. No says the doctor, we can't release you yet. So I sat all day Friday being bored. Friday night was the worse. I was off the IV, but I couldn't get comfortable and the staff still checked on you hourly. It was a long long night.

Finally Sat morning came and I was feeling good. No longer needed pain pills and everything was functioning good. I was up and walking well. The doctor came in at 11 and said "Yep you are out of here". He didn't have to tell me twice.

Good to be home. Now just a couple of recovery days of lounging around in my jamies with the wife waiting on me hand and foot. Yep - I'm doing good.

Here is me in the hospital Mary brought me flowers. :) Yes I was in pain.


Here is my battle scar. I knew you wanted to see it.