A Day In The Life - 09/10/2011: Burn, Baby, Burn!

 I decided that I needed one of those cool burn barrels that lots of people in our neighborhood use to make a fire while they sit in their driveway or on the back patio.
I had this 50-gallon drum from my sojourn in Tucson that the goats used to climb onto and so I cut off a third of it.

 Jennie had this stainless grill hat came with her new sink that she didn't want. I got out my trusty cutter and trimmed the corners off of it.

I took the short barrel and cut some breather lines in the lower part of the barrel and then painted the whole thing black.

 I had cut the grill a bit on the large side because I wanted it to fit into the rings of the barrel. I jammed one corner into the groove and then did my hammer thing with my rubber mallet . . . and when that failed, a few taps from teh 4-pound sledge convinced it to co-operate.

Knowing that this thing would get really hot, I trimmed a couple of would spacers, tapered them to match the curve of the barrel and fastened the handle to my new cooker.

We tried it out on Halloween. It does a wonderful jon of keeping things warm. We may have to find a few more reasons to use this portable fireplace.

A Day In The Life - 08/27/2011: A Ride In The Park

Today we took Jase over to the McCormick Ranch Railroad Park. The expression on Jase's face after we came out of the tunnel was priceless. Then it was off to the train museum and the train store. And there was almost no one there. We bought our tickets and the guy walked out and took us for the ride. Now that is what I call perfect timing.

A Day In The Life - 08/20/2011: Alice In Wonderland Striles The Back Yard

 I found these really fun tea cups that are about 12 inches across and are actually planters. So I bought a couple of them. I still have not put anything in them, although I did try out my lights in them (they cast such a pretty pattern of light - too bad you can't see it when they are in the cups).

So I put some short rebar sticks between the the blocks in the wall (the great wall of Ricardo) and hung the lights out over the lawn side of the wall. and each night they come on and shine for most of the night all from the solar power cells in the tops of them.

A Day In The Life - 08/19/2011: Fandango Music and Dance

 We went to the Changing Hands bookstore tonight to watch a performance. They often have not only authors come to speak but musicians come to play. For Free! We saw a young man named Drew Bennett (who looked amazingly like our own Drew) who played some great Salsa.

But to night it was Fandango music with its 12-beat rhythm and a couple of dancers who also danced to some of the music. It was obviously very hard work because the dancer was totally wet from dancing so hard. And, of course, we bought the CD.

A Day In The Life - 07/16/2011: The Mormon Battalion Visitor Centor

 On our trip to San Diego we got to visit the new and improved Mormon Battalion Visitor Center. It really is new and improved with new displays and a fun, interactive tour of the facility, starting with the covered wagon out front that several people had to try out.

 Part of the tour is a discussion about how the men who left the migration west to serve in the Mormon Battalion were outfitted. David Clark was the guinea pig for this one and he played it up big time and made it very fun.

 Outside of the center they have a gold panning exhibit since many of the men were also involved or responsible for the finding of gold at Sutter's Mill in California. They have seeded the water with something that looks like gold. And they were collecting them like they were real gold.

 Those who were not panning were hanging out in the patio and enjoying the scenery.

 The little kids didn't have a chance with these young adults panning their little hearts out.

 And then we got to have our digital group picture taken. We were a large enough group that we were split into two tours and therefore, we got two pictures. Have you noticed how the married leaders have managed to avoid most inclusion in the photography on this trip?

But we did manage to catch Ravae and Bill Johnson as well as Bishop and Sister Tyler in this one. Good Catch!

A Day In The Life - 07/16/2011: The Crystal Palace

 On our visit to San Diego with the Young Single Adult ward, our first stop of the second day was to the San Diego Temple to do some baptisms. The place looks like a crystal palace. And here we have the princess in front of the castle.

 The temple is situated on a hill overlooking the I-5 San Diego freeway. It always surprises me to come around the curve and see it rising above everything and looking so majestic. And it is just as ornate and majestic inside.

This is the group:
Back Row: Glen Farnsworth, Adam Cockrell (nearly hidden),David Clark, Noor Sabbah
Middle Row: Deveney Haws,Becky Connelly, Camille Benson, Haley Merrill, Lindsey Olsen, Ashley Harris,Barbara Clark, Andrea Parry, Chelsey Walker, Jordan Cooper
Front Row: Aubrey Davis, Rachael Kenney, Belinda Rosenlof,Lauren Bast, Laci Smithson, Sarah Westover, Camille Steven, Catie Rasmussen

A Day In The Life - 07/15/2011: To The Beach!

 We went with our Young Single Adult ward (don't even ask how Gaye and I got involves with a ward that is either young or single) to San Diego. Today we drove from Phoenix to San Diego. The beach and pizza is the first stop. I just had to rent a bicycle to go zipping along, testing my nimbleness at avoiding collisions with people who are clueless that there might some life form besides themselves on the roadway. But I managed to do it with a smile on my face.

 Gaye and I walked from the south end of Mission beach north to the pier. The view of the whole south end of the beach was wonderful. The weather was perfect for a stole of a couple of miles each way.

 The Pier has bungalows that you can rent with places to park. But anyone can walk out on the pier to fish or to look.

 The sunset was spectacular.

 We gathered for dinner. First a few . . .

. . . and then a lot. You can always catch singles with food because they are active and poor (mostly). And this was a great group to hang out with.

A Day In The Life - 07/14/2011: The Garden Takes Over

I knew it was inevitable. The surprise was who the perpetrator was. I kind of expected the tomatoes to muscle the other plants out. Or, perhaps the squash would out-root the others. But those Armenians are really sneaky. First they wandered through the other plants - from the right side of the row to the left and when they met the bird net it was up to the sky. But as that take over was completed, they reached out to the right and across the path to the other bird netted side then again to the top. But was that enough?! Not for those seedy guys. Across the holding ropes they went to take over the other rows as well. Overhead they wandered until I had cucumbers dangling inside and out, up and down,big, small and curly. Sometimes I even had to fight my way in because it was growing over the door so much. It will be too bad when I have to cut this all down?

How the cucumbers took over the garden.

A Day In The Life - 07/09/2011: A Party For Jess

We had a party. It was the first time that we all could get together.And, as often happens, all of the guys (and Jess) had to go kart racing. But this time it was at K1, not F1. They have Tesla karts. I mean, they are electric rather than gas-powered. They tended to pick up quicker but not top out as fast. It was very fun. We will have to try them out again.

The next picture is not very good but it was the only shot I had of Hero trying to play the air hockey and just not being quite tall enough.The video is better. It seems like all of the kids enjoy playing a few rounds when we get together so I guess I'll have to keep it.

Hero in Action at the air hockey table . . .

Finally, we gathered for food. A few more family and friends arrived and it was a full house - full of noise, full of fun and laughter and full tummies. My kind of day.

And the kids were mostly content to eat and play out in the yard. Life is gooooood.

A Day In The Life - 07/08/2011: Gaye Gets Her Ring

Back about the beginning of the year Gaye's wedding ring expired. Literally. It snapped right at the bottom of the ring. I guess that it just wore out. I told her that it was most likely from too much hand holding but she thinks it was from too much house work. . . Nah!








Well, we were at the Mill Avenue Street Fair in March and met a lady, Judy Lazar, who had a shop there and she does custom designed jewelry. As we talked she started designing a ring with the features that Gaye was describing and suggested some things that she could do. At the end she had done this really cool ring (as you can see) and Gaye was adamant that it be done in white gold. Then Judy and I explained to her how the diamonds would be swallowed up in a silver color and Judy showed her some examples of the same pieces done in white gold and yellow gold. She decided to do the yellow and it turned out marvelous! If you have not seen it, ask her about it. She would LOVE to show it to you,

A Day In The Life - 07/06/2011:Scouts and Air

The Venturing Scouts came over to do a woodworking project at my place. And boys, generally being curious creatures, were checking things out. Eventually they got around to John Millard's favorite tool in my shop - the air compressor. He and Malachi Reynolds (back to us) were shooting air into each other's mouth to make their faces wobble and flap in the wind. It was pretty funny.

A Day In The Life - 08/24/2011: Catching Up

I believe that summer has wilted me. Although I still enjoy the heat much more than the cold, it is just a bit more than I would order from the weather menu. The shed is warm enough to roast most of everything and I now have kiln-dried wood. It is so bad (or Gaye wants me out of the house so desperately that we are actually talking about getting an AC unit for the shed. But that also means insulation and then drywall, etc., etc. So I am waiting until it is cooler. :)
But, on a lighter note, the garden is . . . surviving. The Armenian cucumbers have taken over. They have grown from one end of the straw bales through all of the tomatoes to the bird netting and up to the roof, reaching for the tree branches. They have traversed the strings connecting the stakes to the other bales. They have crossed the walking paths to the front of the cage and now cover most of the front, including the door. I have been collecting cucumbers by the bushel. Ok, it is only four or five at a time but that is more than our family can consume.
The tomatoes are surviving. They have tomatoes that refuse to get ripe. But I figure that when the weather cools off some they will again make merry music and a few tomatoes more before winter takes her toll.
The straw bales are beginning to sag. I believe that they have about composted themselves to dirt and will most certainly not last another season. But it has been a fun experiment. I will try it one more season. It was really nice not having to deal with weeds or bugs or preparing soil so I am inclined to do more of this.
But the squash did not like the bales at all. I think that they did not like the hanging down to the ground. Even the zucchini which everyone can grow did poorly in that environment.
Next season will be peas, carrots, lettuce (several varieties) and spinach with possibly some bell peppers.

Gaye and I went to James and Zephane Vaterlaus wedding reception last night. It was fun to mingle with family and a few other friends that we saw. And we got to meet Zephane's parents which was very fun.

A Day In The Life - 07/04/2011: Let The Fireworks Begin

Our Fourth of July BBQ grew this year. Not only were Gaye and I here (she hadn't sent me to my room yet) , and Quentin and Jase were here but Jennie and Kyle joined us and with them came Chelsie Walker and Porter along with Amy who came from the far west side of the valley.
After grilling steaks and hot dogs on the new BBQ we all managed to fit around the table and enjoy the traditional potato salad and fruit with strawberries and angel food cake and whipped cream.

Afterwards we headed out tot he yard to do a few fire crackers left over from last year. There were poppers, smoke bombs, black cats and sparklers. I guess that the rockets and roman candles got used up last year. Guess I'll go see what is still available tomorrow to stash away for next year.

Jase is still learning how to use these things. After watching us throw fire crackers and smoke bombs, when we gave him a sparkler he tossed it out onto the lawn. Quentin tried to explain that you don't throw these but he may not have quite gotten it yet.

A Day In The Life - 07/03/2011: My Shy Wife

 I never realized how shy Gaye is. All I wanted was a photo for my phoe so that when I answer it I can see her cute face. And she just got this really cute hair cut. But first she hides in the laundry room...

 Then against the wall in the living room . . .

and finally on the couch. I never did get that picture. How sad.

A Day In The Life - 06/27/2011: I Hop, You Hop, to IHOP

 Gaye and I went to breakfast with Q and Jase this morning. Jase was in such a good mood and was very fun to be with. He was a bit on the loud side but it was happy-loud as opposed tot he other kind.

 He ate his food and he and his dad made faces.

And then there is the I-can-hug-harder-than-you contest. I think Jase is winning here.

Oh, yes - the food was pretty good also.

A Day In The Life - 06/25/2011: The Birthday That Wouldn't Die

Our wonderful friends, Doug and Deryn Reed, took Gaye and me to dinner for my birthday. They wanted to do it earlier but I told them that Gaye was out of town for the week and wouldn't be back until the 24th. And if you buy into that one, I have a bridge over the Grand Canyon that is for sale. Applebee's was a great place to have dinner with great people like them. And they even knew our waiter. I figure something was rigged.

A Day In The Life - 06/24/2011: The Last Of The Rocky Mountain High

The last day in Denver. Got to cram more fun into our trip.
So, we are wanting to visit the Denver mint but the schedule has been full for a month. But we hear that they take walk-ins. So we park by the Library/Museum complex and walk the three blocks to check it out. When we get there at 7:30 (a half hour before the first tour) we find that they do take walk ons and give them stand by tickets. Then we learned that you can't take purses, jewelry, food, knives or a million other things with you - and they don't have lockers to store anything in. So we get a stand by ticket for 9:00 AM. We walk back to the car to drop off everything. We have already checked out of our hotel so everything is in the trunk of the car.

 After shedding all of our worldly belongings we start back to the Mint. About half way back, Gaye breaks her sandal. So she sends me back to the car to get her tennis shoes. I am about half way there when I realize that I need to take her sandals with me so that she won't have to carry them around the mint with her. So, back I go. Got the sandals (and instructions to throw them away) and I am once more going back to the car. Got her shoes, got back to her and we got to the mint on time and even managed to be included in the 9:00 AM tour. (The people after us we not so lucky.) They were making pennies and Quarters that day. No samples were given.

 Then it was off to the State capitol. Did you know they fought in the Civil War?
They were having a quilt show in the capitol building and had them hung all around everywhere for three floors. We took the tour. It was very informative about the state. And then you can hike the additional 100 steps from the third floor to the top of the rotunda where you can see the view. By state law, no building can be built so tall that you cannot see the mountains from the top of the capitol building. So the view was really good.

 Gaye sat on the step marked at one mile high. Then we discovered that there are actually three places marked with that distinction because of better methods of measuring altitude. Hope we got the right one.

We had read about this restaurant in Denver that was established with the goal of being able to serve a nutritious hot meal to anyone. You pay what you can afford and if you can't afford anything then you work for your meal. The salad ingredients were mostly grown in the yard behind the place. It was good and so much like the United Order that it was a pleasure to eat there and contribute.


Some how we managed to get back to LIKS Ice Cream Emporium. I think that it was to get a better picture. Yes, I am sure that was what it was. It had absolutely nothing to do with the ice cream, even though we did do another taste test there.

Then we were back at the library. Denver has a bike borrow program where you can borrow a bicycle for a small fee and ride it to another borrower rack and check it in. It works kind of like Red Box.
We still had some time to kill before we needed to head off to the airport so we went to the Larimer street mall. We bought a few souvenirs for people back home and then to the theater to watch Green Lantern.
Finally it was time to head to the air port. Thank you St. Garmin.