A Day In The Life - 8/7: Return From Utah

Quentin and I stayed at the Residence Inn in Provo. Let me amend - I stayed at the Residence Inn. Quentin, on the other hand, went and had some fun with Nick Rasmussen on Friday night and then, when Jon Hendricks got off work, they went and hung out with some of Jon's friends until who knows how late (or early). All I know is that at 1:00 am Jon is knocking on people's doors inviting them to come over and hang out.
The next morning, Quentin and Jon had a basketball game scheduled for 8:00 am. There were probably a few minutes between their fun and the game for them to sleep.
When the basketball game was over, Jon and Q came to the hotel and we went over to Jon's Dad's house. Q and I had a great visit, with everyone anxious to show me their wonderful garden. I should say "gardens", plural. They not only have a great vegetable garden behind their house, they have corn growing by the shed, several grow boxes and hanging planters on the porch and a new place over the new root cellar for another one. It was spectacular.
I decided that our route home was to be via Las Vegas. Jennie had asked to use some of my M&M dispensers at her new job at the University of Phoenix but I was reluctant to lend that stuff. But, since I had to come home anyway, why not through Las Vegas by way of the M&M store? Now THAT was a fiasco.
We got to the store with no problem, thanks to the Driod GPS Navigator. But then, there was nowhere to park. Finally I stopped and told Q to drive around the block until I got what I needed. I had a bus honking and some security guy telling me I couldn't stop there - but then it was too late. I was out and Q was gone.
The store was crowded and busy, busy, busy. I finally picked out a couple of items and then had to wait in the line for several minutes to check out. I walked out the door and down to the corner where we had turned and called Q. He was already right at the corner where I was, so I jumped into the car and we were off.
The next stop on the tour home was Quentin's choice. He wanted to drive over the new bridge at Hoover Dam. It is a span that is costing hundreds of millions of dollars to allow traffic to bypass the dam itself. There would certainly be some spectacular views of the Dam from up there.
This is the view of the bridge and waterway looking over the edge from the top of the Hoover dam.








Unfortunately, the span is not yet complete. It looks good from down where we were located but there are still cranes on the top doing some sort of work. Rats! It would have been great to be able to cross way up there and Gaye has no desire to cross it in any manner whatsoever. I guess another trip with Quentin is in order. :)



This statue of the early climbers who helped set the footings for spanning the river and getting equipment across and down seemed an appropriate setting for this place with the new bridge in the background.






This is the new view point across from the visitor's center. By the way, on Saturday at 6:30 pm, it is closed.

A Day In The Life - 8/6: Mission Reunion

I received an invitation from a missionary sister (Carol Sanders Cluff) with whom I served in Switzerland, to a 75th birthday celebration for President Gary O'Brien a few days back and so I decided to attend. Gaye could not come with me because it happened to be the first official day back to school for teachers and she had to be there. But Quentin wanted to visit Nick Rasmussen and Jon Hendricks who both live in the Provo area and my activity was in Midway, off through the canyon from Provo so he came along.
We rented a car (since Gaye and I have decided that one car is all that we need because we commute to work together) and we were off at 5:00 am after a late night (11:00 pm) finishing up work and a really early morning (2:00 am) to do some work tasks before leaving. We took the Lee's Ferry route rather than the Page or Las Vegas routes because Google suggested it and because I don't usually go that way. The view from the west of Lee's Ferry back toward the east was splendid and so we made a quick stop to take the shot and see what was at the local roadside stands there.
When we arrived in Provo we had some time after checking into our Residence Inn to grab something to eat. We chose a place about a block west of the hotel. It was named Zupas and they are a gourmet sandwich, soup and salad place. I chose the Lobster Bisque and a Turkey, Bacon and Avocado sandwich with Honey Mustard dressing and a couple of strawberries covered in chocolate. Q had the same sandwich with a salad. He did not miss out on the extra strawberries, either. The soup was to die for and the sandwich was simply fantastic. It is a good thing that there is not one of these places in Mesa or Gaye could retire from cooking. But she'd have to get a second job to pay for my new addictive habit. It was really yummy-good.
The party/reunion was wonderful with one minor exception: not a single companion of mine was able to attend. I did see many people I know and loved from the mission but I missed those who I worked with. I imagine that Harry Payne would have been there if he could have made it and perhaps was. He always loved a good gathering and a good laugh.
As you can see, President and Sister O'Brien are looking great - healthy and happy. It was wonderful to talk with each of them again and hear their thoughts about the mission. It is said that no other mission president has been so successful in that mission as President O'Brien was.
John Lewis, one of my zone leaders, was there (on the left) and Rick Steadman, our mission musician, was also there. Rick, along with Carol Sanders Cluff and Roger Johnson and some others, master-minded this gathering. Thank you!












Chris (Millet) Kirschbaum also attended. She has lived for many years in Alaska and has recently moved to Utah again. She was one of the great sisters who was in my district. She and her companion had an exciting incident at their apartment in St. Gallen. They had to heat their hair curlers by boiling them in a pan on the stove to get them hot and moist so their hair would curl. They got forgotten and burned uo leaving this horrible residue all over the walls of their apartment. It would not scrub off. They called us and we came over from Herisau and we spent our P-Day helping them re-paint their apartment kitchen. That was a blast and so funny. It was the district humor for sometime after that.


Lynn Fredrickson (center) was one of those elders that was a bit earlier in the mission than I was and seemed elusive because I saw him at mission conferences but never worked with him. He was a great elder and worked hard but, unfortunately, I never got to know him well. He has been back to Switzerland more than 40 times since his mission, mostly on business with Hewlett-Packard. He also lived in Belgium for a while. The Elder on the left (Elder Stewart?) was another that I heard about but never got to serve with. I guess that you can't work with everyone. Too bad!
The grand-children of the O'Brian's performed some musical numbers for their grandpa. It was very fun and funny. One was a rendition of, My Favorite Things from the Sound of Music but with adjustments to make it personal to their grandpa.

A Day In The Life - 8/4: What A Day!

I have been testing out the new phone for the past couple of days, trying to figure out where everything is an how it works. What a frustrating event! Of course, I took a few photos with the built-in 12Mp camera. I need to use the new features a lot better.
Quentin bought me the thumb drive at the left. It is actually much smaller than my thumb but the macro setting on the camera works just fine. This picture made me think back to Monday when Gaye realized that when we traded phones she had lost a voice mail from her Dad, who has since passed away. Having that voice mail, a message to her from her dad, was comforting to her. It made her cry that she had lost something that was so precious to her. So I went to the computer archives (thank heavens for backups) and found several audio files that I had made on a couple of visits with Gayle and Audrey that has him discussing different things with Gaye, Dawn and Gaylen. These won't replace what Gaye lost but at least she is not without the ability to listen to her dad's voice.
The lawn is mowed,
I need a chair.
I see a weed,
Sprouting up out there.

Get out the spray -
I'll kill that weed
Before it grows
And turns to seed!


Ariel and Jase are cooking together, making pies and soup using the dog's water and dirt from the play area. They will be sad if I ever get around to building my garden boxes.
Ariel is so creative and really uses that imagination. Paul and Jess brought the kids over for dinner . . . actually, we didn't have the kids for dinner, although they would have been very tasty. They ate a minuscule amount of dinner with us so that they could go play again.

Omah gives Hero a squeeze as she is rushing by on her way to somewhere. Many of the pictures that I took were way too blurry. I guess it is either flash (much too harsh) or perhaps the sport shot mode for this kid.

And to end it all, I was really frustrated. After taking all of those pictures I could not get my phone to connect to my computer so that I could get the pictures off of it. I tried a myriad of things on the phone, looked for instructions on-line and finally went to cool down by watching some TV. Then Quentin tried it and also failed. So, at his suggestion, we shut down the phone, pulled out the battery and the simm card then started it up again. This time when we connected it to the computer it connected just fine. Now I know why pirates said, "Aaarrr" all of the time - their Droids weren't working right! (Not to mention the scurvy.)

A Day In The Life - 8/3: Tuesday Dinner Guests

I think that our kids are becoming old people! They come over for dinner fairly often and we love to see them and catch up on all of the fun things that they are doing. But lately they have started coming over earlier and earlier. And not just Jennie and Kyle but the other kids also. Pretty soon we'll be having lunch for dinner, and breakfast for lunch. Then were will we be?
Mom cooked up a great chicken and pasta dinner last night and we all ate until we were about to explode. I was so stuffed I couldn't fit in any ice cream! If she'd only had some J-E-L-L-O.

A Day In The Life - 8/2: Flowers

When I am at work I often take a break and walk around the complex (or a little father afield when I get carried away) and I enjoy checking out the types of plants and flowers that the various locations have planted that both look great with lots of flowers and still manage to survive the heat and scorching sun of Arizona. I keep hoping to someday get things together sufficiently enough to buy a bunch of plants and create a nice flower garden in the backyard. I have identified several varieties of Lantana, Buganvia, some sort of orange/yellow Bottlebrush-looking thing. And then there is this one to the left. I don't know what it is but it stays nice and green all year, seems to do well in the heat, and here it is July and there are lots of flowers on the plant. This is one that I think I would like to add to my collection of probables for the yard. Can anyone identify it for me?

A Quiet Sunday: 8/01/2010

This was a quiet Sunday. I didn't have to get up until 6:00 AM. I am still needing to run some manual processes for work every morning during the week and every evening 7 days a week. But this weekend I also got to run end-of-month processes on Saturday morning and beginning-of-month processes on Sunday morning. At least I can do them at home.
This quiet Sunday I also needed to be at the church building at 8:00 am so I could meet with Dwayne Cope who was going to help me figure out why the church membership and finance program was not working for me.
Dwayne figured that we could just reboot the computer and a new version that I was supposed to get would start installing automatically. That did not happen. So Tom Carter, the computer specialist, was called and he came over and manually installed the new version.
Now things began to happen that I had never seen before. I started getting messages from the message system and most of the banking statements arrived (but not June). Things began to work wonderfully. Dwayne and I went through all of the bank reconciliations from the past that had not been done and that was a breeze. The only thing left is to get that one last bank statement and do the reconciling and I will be ready for the audits this month.
Then I had Bishopric meeting and our usual church service meetings. Following that was the monthly Break-the-Fast gathering to eat together.
And then there was the seldom found, nothing to do on a Sunday afternoon. Gaye and Quentin and I sat on the back porch while Jase and the dog played in the yard. The monsoons are in full swing and so, although it was fairly humid, the temperature was only in the mid 80's, not the usual 110+ temperatures of July in the desert. I am ready for the week ahead.

A Day In The Life - 7/31: Clean the Church Building

I think that there are a few things that inspire me to take a photo. Family is the first one. There is nothing like being able to remember family and friends - especially when death takes its toll. You just can't have too many pictures when that situation finally occurs. Another reason for me to take photos is to remember great places and events that I have seen. But one of the other reasons I take photos is because of things that make me chuckle.
Like this photo of Noor Sabbah as we cleaned the church building. Here he is with toilet paper (or probably paper towels) wrapped all around him as he cleans the glass in the building. This is one that should probably get posted on the church bulletin board.
This was my big workout day. Cleaning the church (two hours of pushing a vacuum around came after mowing and trimming two lawns. I get to do Mom and Dad's lawn while they are away in Idaho for the summer. So I am getting all of the exercise I can stand.)
And that was not the end of my fun for the day. Gaye and I went over to the Verizon store and got the new phones activated (applause here) and the great service people helped us transfer our data from our T-Mobile phones to our new DroidX phones. How thoughtful of them. They helped us with accessories and put the screen covers onto the phones for us. And this was not a quiet place. In fact, I don't think these people know what quiet is. They have been stand-in-line-and-wait-your-turn busy every time I have been there. So it was even more impressive to me that they took such good care of us and spent about an hour getting us all set up. If this is the norm, no wonder they are doing so well in the market place.

A Day In The Life - 7/30: Dinner With My Sweetie

Ah, yes - all that phone excitement makes me hungry. But where to go to get great food. Grimaldi's in Gilbert, it is. And off we go. As always, it is great pizza. We had scarfed most of it when I remembered to get the picture. (Item appears larger that it really is.) It was a fantastic pizza. White crust perfectly done with ham, mushrooms and olives. And we took those two last pieces home. Yum!

A Day In The Life - 7/30: The Phones Arrive

The gadgets finally arrive. I had to laugh because it seems that everyone was more anxious than I was for these things. Quentin just could not conceive that we had ordered them through the mail, which would take an estimated week to arrive, rather than driving to another location to pick them up immediately. I guess that is one of the blessings of getting older. Almost nothing is urgent any more except being ready for the next life.
So these boxes arrive. "Very shiny," says he. "Quite stylish," says she. And then, back into the box they go to await another day to get them activated . . . which means giving up the old clunker phone I have had for the past five years which, in its simplicity, did nothing but send and receive calls. No camera. No internet. No GPS Navigation. What it did have was a teeny-tiny screen which showed the time and a couple of symbols if someone had left you a call or a text message. (OK, it did do texting and a couple of really cheesy games, too.)
This phone will be fun, they said. You can do everything, said they. But don't do too many of those things or your battery will be dead, said he.
So, the solution for me is to keep my iPod 32 Touch for all of my music, photos, and PDA applications (notes, to-do lists, etc.) and games. Those things eat up the battery but if the iPod battery goes out I still get calls. I will use the Droid for phone functions and data functions, like GPS, email and internet lookups. And when I can eventually get connected to the Verizon site so I can download my pictures from the on-board camera, I can quit carrying around the little camera in my pocket all the time for these daily (almost-daily) photos.
This is not a small change and Gaye and I will be having lots of fun (and frustration) as we wander through the labyrinth of stuff that it can do and add all of the "cool" applications to make it more friendly and useful. And, now that we are back on the same phone system with most of the kids, we can again talk about what new applications they have found for the new excuse for a phone.

A Day In The Life - 7/26: Lounge Lizard Cat

This picture just made me laugh. This cat, who I have renamed "Itchy Brother" with his white sibling, "Great White Brother", loves the windows. He is constantly poking his nose through the blinds or watching the birds and action through the glass door. At times I have even seen him running from window to window to follow the action of his brother who was outside.
Here he is lounging in the sun from the window on the top of the couch cushion - that is until in his sleep he rolls over between the cushion and the couch. But what humors me is that this does not phase him a bit. There he lies with his back feet just pointing to the sky and his belly exposed to all the world. He is definitely in Cat Heaven. Forget the dog's life - I'll take the cat's life any time.

School is About to Begin - 7/25/2010

It was another wonderful day - so great, in fact, that I completely forgot to take pictures! Darn! It was another gathering of the kids. This time, however, it was Ben, Jenn and their kids along with Jennie, Kyle and Quentin. We ate and the kids played outside. But the purpose of the visits was left until last when we had the back-to-school blessings. I am not sure how the tradition of coming to me for a blessing began but I am pleased to be able to do that with Ben and Kyle. Also, sadly, this time also included a concern for Emma and a special blessing for her.
Emma has been diagnosed with some ailment of the optic nerve which has caused her to lose almost total vision in one eye. She see's colors only - no shapes and detail. Not only would that make it harder for her to be able to see depth and stay focused, it removes that redundancy that helps to ensure that we have a backup to our ability to see. Now that backup is gone. The biggest concern that the doctors have no idea what is causing this problem and there is the fear that it might happen to her remaining eye. That is scary.
She has gone to have an MRI and it did not go too well. Being young it was very hard to remain perfectly still for the long minutes required to take the image scans. So this blessing was also so that she would be able to complete that hard and scary time of being inside that huge, noisy machine for many minutes without moving. I know how hard and very, very noisy that is, having had one for my arm only 4 months back. To hold my arm in the awkward position that they put it for the 20 minutes it took was painful. And my head did not even have to enter the tube. I can only imagine how hard it would be for a child having to have their head go into this machine.
All of the blessings were given and time spent together was over far too soon and off they went on their way. All of the kids with their back to school blessings, Gaye and Jenn with their back to school teacher blessings and Jennie with her new job blessing. How grateful I am for the Priesthood and the ability to provide blessings of comfort and healing. How thoughtful our Heavenly Father is in providing an opportunity for us to have a closer relationship with him and with each other through the priesthood.

A Day In The Life - 7/24: New Phones

I slept so late today I can't even believe it. I guess my candle needed rejuvenating. But after I got up at 8:30 Gaye played with Jase for awhile and then I finally got out of bed so we could go phone shopping. I have been putting this off for about 9 months now. My phone, which I got about 5 or 6 years ago when I first went cellular, is still working. It still calls perfectly from just about anywhere I need it to . . . except girls camp. I also have an iPod Touch where I keep all of my music, photos and games. But three things motivated me to finally do the dirty deed.
First, is that the DroidX has a huge screen, runs on a Google operating system and is open application (no restricted like the iPhone.) It will run any applications written for it without somebody voiding your warranty if you download something that is not authorized.
Second, I recently traveled to Dallas and even got quite lost a couple of times (which was really cool because I never get really lost) and Quentin had his phone which comes with a "Garmin" application that uses the GPS and Google maps to provide driving directions. That was worth the price of the phones right there.
Third, the real clincher was that rumor has it that the internet connection will go to a usage-based fee soon rather than getting unlimited usage for a flat fee. I don't really want to do that so that was the final motivator that I needed to get my bones in gear.
So, Gaye and I ended up buying two phones (which will be shipped to us in about a week), switching our plan from T-Mobile to Verizon and spending a lot of $$$ to do this. But I think it will be a fun adventure and we are once more the envy of all of our kids. :)
Now I need to buy the accessories - belt clip, car dash dock, extra charging cables/docks for car or work, ghost armor, etc., and figure out how to do my email to it. That will be an adventure in and of itself. Human Detected! Got to go.

A Day In The Life - 7/23: A Day With the Kids

It was a glorious day which began with the arrival of Hero and Jessica at 5:15 am. I had volunteered to watch Hero for them while Paul went to the Army recruiter's again to do some more work on his re-enlistment.
Gaye was going to Tucson to spend the day with her mother so I was on my own to watch and entertain her.
So, we played, spun in the computer chair, did Noah and the Ark, Legos,
trains and puff balls.
We played inside and out. We bounced the ball (until the dog bit it and put a hole in it.) Paul arrived back at the house around noon and just in time for a spectacular lunch of Mac & Cheese.












Later Jennie and Kyle stopped by so that I could work with Jennie on her DIY projects, filling and gluing some wood cracks. That only took a few minutes and then we were done until they both dried.






Paul was still hanging out until Jess arrived since he didn't have a ride home - Gaye had our car and Jess had their's. When she showed up they got Quentin to go and get Jase.

Hero and Jase played in the back yard while the kids hung out on the swing and the lawn enjoying time together. Finally, Gaye arrived back from her trip to Tucson.

We all went out to eat at Texas Roadhouse but it took forever to get us seated and then they had to split us between two booths because they had several other very large parties there and just had no other place to put us. They did a great job of taking care of us and the food was delicious.

A Day In The Life - 7/21 - The Second Half

And now to the reason for all the problems with getting a couple of tools. The Varsity scouts came over to begin the process of making knives. The current scouting leaders in our ward are newbies and so I try to help out since I have been doing this for about 15 years and, in this case, I have the equipment to build knives.
So, a couple of boys, John and Mark, and a couple of leaders, Brother
Larson and Brother Angel. I think that they really enjoy making the sparks fly as they begin shaping their piece of steel into blades for their knives. I guess I will have to do another one.

A Day In The Life - 7/21: Home Depot Hell

I thought that this was going to be a simple purchase. I needed another sander and a grinder for a Scouting activity (see the next post for more information about that.) There is a Home Depot just around the corner about a mile and a half away. So off I went.
At my friendly neighborhood HD they didn't have a bench sander like I was looking for. They sent me to the next closest one which was 8 miles
away at Val Vista and Broadway.
When I arrived, they had but one sander - but that is all that I need. I get it and the cutter with some supplies and it is back home. At home I begin to unpack the sander and find that part of the housing has been broken. Also, the grinder is missing a piece - the wrench. So it is back to HD to return them.
I have no problem getting my money back and then I am off to the next closest Home Depot which is at Val Vista and Warner. They have several in stock and so I get the sander and grinder there. I head home again to unpack a second time.
At home I find that the wrench is included this time but the housing on this second sander is cracked. It must be a bad packing point. Back I go again.
This time, after returning the sander, I open the next one while still at the store and check it to be sure that I am not going to need to make another trip.
Finally, after about 60 miles of travel and 4 hours I got the tools that should have been a simple 15 minute purchase.

A Day In The Life - 7/20: Mutt and Jeff

Gaye and Jennie are doing some DIY projects and one of them is a little cabinet that was once a night stand. And while they have it apart, Itchy Brother, the cat is checking out all of the secret hiding places. And the mutt is checking out the cat.

A Day In The Life - 7/18: Legos

Legos, the perfect building set for little kids and big kids alike. You can grow from the simple piling of blocks to the more sophisticated sets. And, as you can see here, it even becomes a generational thing where dads and grand dads build with their children.






Quentin and Jase are playing with a set that has been around since our boys were little.

A Day In The Life - 7/17: Another Movie - Inception

Yes, it is another movie ticket stub. This movie, however, was much better and the ending is great. Don't give it away! This is the movie about people who get into your dreams and steal your secrets, or maybe help you to steal someone else's secrets. It was a very interesting plot with great graphics to compliment the storyline. Recommended!

A Day In The Life - 7/14: Off to the Movies

Yes, it's a movie ticket. Actually, it's a move ticker stub. Quentin and I went over to the theater and hit up the Sorcerer's Apprentice. It was an OK film but not a great film. Nicholas Cage was just not quite believable to me as a sorcerer. I would still recommend it as a very fun movie to see, but it is not a keeper.

A Day In The Life - 7/13: Something's Afoot

OK, so the walking Thing got a little over done. Actually, it was probably the shoes. Although those desert boots are really comfortable they are not walking shoes. The result was a big fat blood blister hovering beneath those oddly-shaped toes. Well, back to the bicycle.

A Day In The Life - 7/12: The life of a Dog, that is

I took the dog for a walk. She didn't survive as well as I thought she would. A short walk around the neighborhood, a mere 2 miles, just wiped her out. But a few days of taking walks with me has improved her. She now goes on a three mile walk in 100-degree heat and holds up very well.

A Day In The Life - 7/08: Inheriting a Dog

When Jennie and Kyle sold their home and moved to an apartment they needed a place for their dog, which appears to be some sort of Rottweiler/hunting dog mix. The way she pounces on everything is what makes me think that she has some hunting dog in there somewhere.




She is only a couple of years old and has lots of energy and little stamina - goes full blast then stop and drop. She LOVES to play with her toys, race around the yard and dive into the lawn for a little roll time.






One of her toys is a stuffed, now unstuffed, pig. She pounces on it, shakes it, tosses it in the air and chews it like it was bacon on the hoof. She will need another one soon. There are bits of stuffing scattered all over the lawn every day after she plays.

A Day In The Life - 7/07: The Office is Changing

We have decided that it is time to re-do some areas of the house, including the office. The first step was to buy another office chair when we were out at IKEA and get it assembled and ready for use. Gaye did the honors because the new one fit her better than the one that we already had.






The next step was to take all of the Cd's, DVDs and VHS Tapes off of the shelves, remove the shelves from the office wall and re-mount the shelves on the wall on the landing above the stairs. Then we had to go through all of them and decide which items we no longer wanted, which went to Bookman's and which went to the dumpster. Finally, we took all of the Cd's, removed them from their cases and put the disks into a sleeve binder.

A Day In The Life - 7/05: I thought I Would Never See The Day

This is a picture that I thought you would never see. Me, with my minty white, hairless programmer's legs which have not seen the light of day in about 40 years (except for a rare swimming expedition). But when we were in Dallas I saw Bo in a pair of shorts with legs that looked just like mine. So, while we were in Carlsbad Ben and Jenn made a stop for some stuff at Wal-Mart and I saw a pair that were long enough and had cargo pockets, which I am a big fan of - lots of places to put my stuff. So, I took the plunge and got a pair and actually put them on and went out in public.
Then I remembered why I don't do shorts. Originally I quit wearing shorts because dirt bike riding was just too hard on the knees without some denim between the knee and the dirt I was falling into, or between the leg and the exhaust pipe. But today's concern is that I am already chilly at most people's comfort zone so adding exposed legs in, say, a theater, is a bad idea.
So I will probably get a couple more pair of them but they will remain clothing for bike riding, hiking and other outdoor activities when it is over 100 degrees (which happens all of the time in Arizona.) Although, considering my record for falling off of bicycles recently, perhaps that is not the wisest decision. Stay tuned for more.

A Day In The Life - 7/04: Piromaniacs at Large

It's the Fourth of July, we've just been to New Mexico where fireworks is the third largest industry so it is only right that we do some celebrating with the kids and grand-kids.
First we get their attention - Oooo, a Spark-ely.





Jase picks up the habit quickly and is soon waving and twirling the sparking sticks in the night air. Trying to set the lawn on fire is a major activity of the night.













Hero is a bit more reluctant but with a bit of coaching from her dad she picks up the habit as well. She is still not certain that this is the sport for her. I guess drum majorette and waving a baton is an acquired taste.






Now that we have the junior piros well on their way to a life of crime we can sit back and watch their parents blow up bigger, better and more colorful (as well as louder) piro-technica. I think that the dog is hiding under the couch.





Paul is demonstrating holding a sparkler and talking at the same time. Wow, I guess it really can be done.









Jase has become a two-fisted sparkler. "No, Dad, you can't have one - it's mine."









The party was a success. Lots of fun and food. The kids are worn out and all of the evidence of our illegal activity is . . . left at . . . my house. (oh dear.)

A Day In The Life - 7/02: Cloudcroft, NM

After leaving Carlsbad we headed towards Tucson but made a couple of stops along the way. The first (no pictures, darn it) was at a little roadside stand that sold jams, jellies, nuts and a variety of trinkets. They also had a mini-farm with pigs, llamas and goats. It was over grown with huge old trees which made it a very shady, pleasant place to stop. We bought several jars of jams for my home teaching families (and one of pumpkin butter for us).
Farther down the road was the town of Cloudcroft, which I always want to refer to as Cloud City - too much Star Wars, I guess. It is a touristy little town dressed up in old west store-front facades with lots of antique, jewelry and western wear stores, food, outdoor gear and a bar or two, which may have been the attraction for all of the bikers that were there as well. I had to get a really cool belt that looks like it has barbed wire in it, with the matching wallet. IT was a very fun place to stop.