Scary stuff at my house last night, Mom was sitting at the kitchen counter and said she did not feel well. Her voice got very soft and was incoherent, and then she was totally unresponsive. Mom got very pale, her hand began to twitch. The bride called 911 as I stood next to mom with my arm around her to make sure she did not fall. To me it looked like a stroke. After what seemed like a life time mom started to come back around. By the time the paramedics arrived mom was back to normal. We still sent her to the hospital were a whole bunch of test were ran. .It appears mom was dehydrated from the stomach flu and it caused her blood pressure to drop. Mom is home with me now puttering around the house like nothing happened. What away to end the year.

There has been a stomach flu going through the family. I had it, my son had it, my bride had it and now mom got it. She got sick this morning and threw up in bed, going down the stairs and in the down stairs bathroom. Plus the dogs pooped in the house, other then that my morning is going well. I got mom in my room while I wash her sheets and stuff. I got the house cleaned up and I am trying to get some liquids in mom. Dehydration is not good for old ladies. I will work on getting the Christmas stuff put away and getting the house back to normal. Christmas is a wonderful time of the year as we celebrate the birth of the Lord, and I love the way it feels. But I really don’t like the way it disrupts the house. If it was just me I am sure I would not put up the decorations, but I have been known to be a humbug. So I will wish everybody happy new years and hope and pray the best for all of you.

Denver 21, San Diego 52 Go Chargers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Merry Christmas

My youngest son is in town with his wife, and all the kids and grandkids were over last night for our taco feast. For over thirty years we have tacos for Christmas eve dinner. It is nothing but fun. But as every Christmas eve for over thirty years I ate too much. I have been awake for hours, no it is not because I am too excited about Christmas. One of the dogs woke me up around 1:00 this morning and I have not been able to get back to sleep. I did some reading, drank some coffee, and watched the news. Now I am just waiting for the family to get up. So again I want to wish everybody

Merry Christmas

I did it, I cleared the base and I am retired!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was really surprised how fast 35 years went bye. I enjoyed my career and it had been good to me over the years but it was time to move on. This is going to be fun....

BobG had this meme on his blog and had the things he had done in bold face, so I decided to copy it and have the things I have done in boldface. Kind of fun :



1. Started your own blog.

2. Slept under the stars. (Some of my happiest childhood memories)

3. Played in a band.

4. Visited Hawaii.

5. Watched a meteor shower.

6. Given more than you can afford to charity

7. Been to Disneyland

8. Climbed a mountain. (Hiked up to the top of a mountain, does that count?)

9. Held a praying mantis. (Lots of times; I think they are cool.)

10. Sang a solo.

11. Bungee jumped.

12. Visited Paris. (

13. Watched a lightning storm at sea.

14. Taught yourself an art from scratch.

15. Adopted a child.

16. Had food poisoning.

17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty.

18. Grown your own vegetables.

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France.

20. Slept on an overnight train.

21. Had a pillow fight.

22. Hitch hiked.

23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill. (Hasn't everyone?)

24. Built a snow fort.

25. Held a lamb.

26. Gone skinny dipping.

27. Run a Marathon. (Are you kidding?)

28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice. (Been to Venice)

29. Seen a total eclipse. (Only of the moon.)

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset.

31. Hit a home run.

32. Been on a cruise.

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person.

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors.

35. Seen an Amish community.

36. Taught yourself a new language.

37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied.

38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person.

39. Gone rock climbing.

40. Seen Michelangelo's David.

41. Sung karaoke.

42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt. (Several times)

43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant.

44. Visited Africa.

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight

46. Been transported in an ambulance.

47. Had your portrait painted.

48. Gone deep sea fishing.

49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person. 5

0. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling

52. Kissed in the rain.

53. Played in the mud.

54. Gone to a drive-in theater.

55. Been in a movie.

56. Visited the Great Wall of China.

57. Started a business.

58. Taken a martial arts class.

59. Visited Russia.

60. Served at a soup kitchen.

61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies.

62. Gone whale watching.

63. Got flowers for no reason.

64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma.

65. Gone sky diving.

66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp.

67. Bounced a check.

68. Flown in a helicopter.

69. Saved a favorite childhood toy.

70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial.

71. Eaten Caviar.

72. Pieced a quilt.

73. Stood in Times Square.

74. Toured the Everglades.

75. Been fired from a job.

76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London.

77. Broken a bone.

78. Been on a speeding motorcycle.

79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person.

80. Published a book.

81. Visited the Vatican.

82. Bought a brand new car.


83. Walked in Jerusalem.

84. Had your picture in the newspaper.

85. Read the entire Bible. (read the new testament a few times.)

86. Visited the White House.

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating.

88. Had chickenpox.

89. Saved someone’s life.

90. Sat on a jury.

91. Met someone famous.

92. Joined a book club.

93. Lost a loved one.

94. Had a baby. ( I helped my wife have a few in my own small way)

95. Seen the Alamo in person.

96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake.

97. Been involved in a law suit.

98. Owned a cell phone.

99. Been stung by a bee.

100. Read an entire book in one day

It has been 12 days since I rolled the ATV, I am doing much better. We are going to celebrate Thanksgiving this evening. I was still in ICU on Thanksgiving so we will go with it tonight. . We have invited friends and family over and I except it will be fun. The bride has a 20 pound turkey ready to go into the oven and I just picked up 10 pounds of potatoes that need to be mashed. The bride makes killer dressing and I will eat myself into a stupor. I’ll open a couple bottles of wine but I won’t partake, I’m still using some painkillers.

The ATV is in the shop getting repaired. I will get it all nice and shinny before I put it up for sale. I do have mixed feeling about selling. The ATV was the most fun I had in a long time and I enjoyed it a lot, but if I can’t keep something with 4 wheels on the ground with out tipping over I am not sure I should be on anything. My daughter says I am allowed to work in the garden and out in my shop, nothing else. I may work a fishing trip in to the mix but I guess I’ll behave myself as much as possible.

I will be going back to work on Monday. I need to figure out where I am on my leave so I can clear the base (I work on Hill AFB) on the 17th and spend the last 2 weeks of the year on leave before I retire. As of January 3rd I will be gainfully unemployed and I am looking forward to retirement. Time for a pain pill and some recliner time., see ya.

Here is my buddy Jim on our ATV ride, so far so good.

Here is the emergency personal working on me on the ATV ride, things not looking so good right now!

Here is what they needed to get me to the hospital trauma unit on the ATV ride, fun level about zero.

Things did not go well, I just got home from the hospital today and I am still in a lot of pain. Broken sterum, seperated ribs, internal bleeding and a busted tail bone. I am doing better now but I have a long way to go.

UPDATE: I feel good enough to write a little

It has been a week and I still have a lot of pain. We were out in the the desert just north of Delle by I 80. I am not sure what happened , I was going along a trail, Jim was a little in front of me. I came to a stop and was looking down at my front tire next thing I knew I was tumbling down the hill with my machine right behind me, when the ATV landed on me was the worst, I knew I was hurt but did not know how bad. Jim came running back up the hill towards me to see if I was okay. I asked him to go back down and get the machine back on it's wheels. I figured I could ride out to the truck. He go the bike upright but I could not get up. I could barley move and I was hurting. I tried for 10-20 minutes to get up and told Jim he should call 911. With GPS and cell phones I only laid on the mountain for less then two hours. I spent the first three days in ICU and I was released from the hospital Saturday.

I am not sure I am going back to work before I retire, all I have to do is finish with the out process checklist

Went to the gun show and I have never seen crowds like yesterday. I talked my two buddies into getting there before the doors opened this has always worked in the past for beating the crowds. It did not work yesterday. There had to be 100 in line to buy tickets and 500 plus in line before the doors opened. The lines just as long when we left 3 hours later. Ammo was flying out the door. I bought a 1000 rounds of .223 and 100 rounds of .380. But I saw guys pushing dollies full of ammo out the door. Everyone I talked to said the same thing “they are worried about Obama” There is one more gun show before Obama is sworn in and I am sure that I will have some more money saved up by then.

But it was a fun day spent with some friends. We had lunch after the gun show and met up with some other friends. Swapping lies and just relaxing. I made Nate drive and on the way home we were talking about close calls we have had while driving. Nate mentioned he has rolled 3 cars in his life. I turned to Jim and said ” I think I will drive next time” But Nate got us home safe and sound. Jim and I finalized plans to go ride our ATVs next Tuesday, I am sure I will blog about the ride. With pictures.

I was going to post about the fishing trip yesterday, but my buddy Nate beat me too it. Check it out

Ann Coulter has a very good piece on the election, I believe I agree with the last paragraph

It has been one year today since I had my first knee replacement,. The second one was a week later. I am glad that I had the procedure and I am happy with the results. I have just spent an hour working out with the Wii fit, don't laugh you can get a pretty good work out if you apply yourself. I am off to see the Doctor that did the procedure and then take mom out to lunch. Got to go the shower is calling my name

With the election of Obama to the office president I believe America has taken a giant step towards socialism. Obama said he needed to spread the wealth around, do away with the 2nd amendment (his proposals on disarming citizens are too numerous to mention), socialized medicine, do away with the 1st amendment by pushing the fairness act (doing away with conservative talk radio). The left has increased control of the house and senate and it will be very difficult for the Republican Party to stop the far left agenda that is heading our way. You will see the wholesale slaughter of unborn children; you will see hard working Americans punished for their success with increased taxes so the government can redistribute money to who they decide is worthy. Can you say welfair state?

In the coming months I believe you will see the true colors of Obama and his wife and their radical and racist views. You could not sit under the tutelage of a “pastor” such as Reverend Wright for twenty years with out the influence of hate that was spewed from the pulpit. I believe America will be forced to turn it‘s back on Israel, Obama is quoted in one of his books that he would stand with the Muslims.
You will not see energy independence with Obama at the helm. You will not see off shore drilling which is needed as a bridge to alternative energy supplies. I don’t believe you will see much done in the area of developing alterative energies most of the research money will be spent on the new, bigger , better and improve welfare state. But what you will see is Obama bowing down to enemy states begging for oil as he bankrupts the coal industry as he stated earlier this year.

Talked with a co worker this morning and his analogy was “it feels like the morning after a car wreck”

The concert was better than great, the dinner was great, the room was great, all and all I had a wonderful time with the bride. I do have to admit it was funny the listen to Amy Grant sing all her old contemporary gospel songs with some in the audience standing hands raised praising God and others rocking to the songs slamming back beers and margaritas. The bride has always loved Amy and we were no more then twenty feet from the stage. Fun time and the bride did nothing but smile the whole evening. Now we start on the next thirty six years

The bride and I are headed off to Wendover for the night. Amy Grant is in concert out there and The bride loves her music. My daughter is coming over and spend the night with mom. This weekend is an early celebration of our 36th wedding anniversary. Should be fun

A lot of snow fell in the yard yesterday. I woke up t about 5 inches of snow and it snow most of the day. The fact it has been warm is the only reason it did not pile higher. This morning there is still about three inches of snow on the lawn. It looks more like January then October. The brides sister and her husband are in town for a visit. Curt (brother in law) had a multi city business trip ending up here in Layton. They will leave tomorrow morning for the drive back to Denver. The weather is going to be nice, that is a good thing. Interstate 80 through Wyoming can be very bad in winter conditions.

I will not be at work at all this week as I am burning up a lot of my leave before I retire. I figure I will be in the office about twenty days between now and end of year. I honestly believe that if you stop work all at once it can hurt you, so I am easing my way towards retirement. Just don't want to strain anything at this point in time.

I had given serious consideration to taking the ATV and going bird hunting this morning. It is cold and raining and should be snowing in the higher elevations (that’s where the birds are). I guess I can be called a fair weather hunter and I would not mind. I’ll try some other weekend but for now there is much coffee to drink and a fire in the fireplace to tend to.

Michelle Obama's intellectually refined racism should give all

Americans pause for deep concern.

I made it home safe and sound, my team the Chargers lost due to a bad call. The referee even admitted it was a bad call but because of the rules he could not change it, Bummer. This past Saturday I took my ATV out to the desert, my youngest son’s father in law (Jim) and my buddy Nate went along. Jim has a ATV but Nate does not. So Nate rode on the back of mine as we scurried around the desert and a dried portion of the Great Salt Lake bed. We each had a number of guns with us and did a little rabbit hunting. I managed to throw two half hearted shots at a rabbit, but were no rabbits endangered by this hunt but there were tire tracks every where. It was just a good time all the way around. The bride and a girl friend left for a four day cruise this morning. Her friend has been under a lot of stress lately and I suggested they take a road trip maybe to Las Vegas and see a couple of shows. Some how it morphed into a cruise, I am still trying to figure that one out. But I am sure they are going to have a good time. Jim, Nate and I are planning to go grouse hunting soon. It will not be this coming weekend, the bride will have just gotten back from the cruise and I could not stand the heat if I left to go hunting. So we have planed to head out the following weekend (Oct 4th). We will take the ATVs out once again and try to cover a lot of mountains around Soldiers Summit. It is a fairly long drive but I just love it down in that part of the state. I spent many a deer hunt down at Soldier’s Summit and have some great memoirs of the area. Jim and I talked about going deer hunting next year. I have not deer hunt in years but I think I could give it a go again. I guess I should break out the old .270 and the 30-06 and practice a bit. I will have to talk Nate into buying a deer rifle, I am sure he will want to come along.

I leave Friday morning for Denver. I am going to spend a few days with my youngest son and his wife. Saturday evening we will go to the Rockies baseball game and Sunday my son and I will be at the Chargers/ Broncos football game. Both my son and I are big Chargers fans and we wear our colors with pride. I will stay out there until Tuesday. The boy wanted me to stay and watch Monday night football with him. It is going to be fun

Monday the bride goes to see the surgeon to schedule surgery for her back. She has been in a great deal of pain and it seems to getting worse. Tuesday she will go see a pain doctor and get her third shot to help with the pain. I hope that it does her some good. She and a girl friend are taking off on the 22nd for a four day cruise to Mexico. So mom and I will be home. I figure mom and I can go crazy with out any adult supervision.

Last week my buddy from Pennsylvania came out for his visit. We trade off every other year. He comes to Utah one year and I go to PA the other. We spend most of our time fishing. It is a great time when ever we can get together; I am already looking forward to my trip next year.

Reading the obituaries this morning and I saw the obit of a man I worked with some twenty plus years ago. Willie Rogers was an interesting fellow, he was born and raised in Texas and was a Texan through and though. Heck of a nice guy, and I had wondered from time to time what had become of him. I saw that he had retired just four years ago. Not much time to enjoy his retirement after putting thirty years with the government. I pray his family will come be okay.

I find things of this sort do make you ponder on your own mortality, and for me causes a great deal of reflection on my own life.

Not much going on in my life. I went to work one day this past week. I am burning up a bunch of leave before I retire at the end of the year. The shed I am having built in the backyard is coming along; the remodel in the master bath is progressing slowly. We had a custom vanity ordered and that may take up to a month. We are redoing the laundry room. Having it painted and tile put on the floor. The bride decided that we could not put the old washer and dryer back in the remodeled laundry room so next Tuesday the new washer and dryer are being delivered.

We were invited to go the county fair with my buddy Nate and his blushing spousal unit. But the brides back in just giving her fits and we declined the offer. At dinner tonight we talked about the bride having surgery on her back. It seems to be the last option.

I bought a new toy the other day. A Polaris sportsman’s 500 EFI ATV. What a blast !!!

I went on two rides this weekend. The first one was out behind Wilard bay. This was pretty much a get me used to the machine type ride. I have never owned much less ridden and ATV. Jim (my son’s father in law) took me out and we put in about 26 miles. The Sunday ride was out of the Bear River services area in the Uinta Mountains, it ended up a 60 miles ride. A lot of fun was had and I found a few places to fish.

The group I went with goes out most weekends. A couple of the guys are both divorced and room mates, and asked if I wanted to go with them every weekend. I explained I like being married and really did not want to move in with them. They assured me that they had plenty of room and I was more then welcomed. I am sure that I will do the once in a while ride with the group but plan on staying with the bride.

This little guy was very friendly as long as there was some food being tossed his way.

Not all trips end up just the way you would like them too. This is the brand new tire and wheel on my brand new trailer I bought to haul my brand new ATV around. I went to the dealer that I bought my stuff from and explained that I thought I should get more then 200 miles from a tire and wheel assembly. They agreed and gave my a new one.

I leave in the morning for Fort Worth; I told the bride I believe this will be my last trip for the government. I am going to retire at the end of the year and I do not want to travel anymore. I was scheduled to travel to Korea in October but I told them (my boss) that I would not be going. 14 hours is a very long time in an aircraft, especially when you are in coach.

I broke a tooth this morning. I attacked a chuck of frozen chocolate and the chocolate won. It looks like it was a very old filling in the tooth and the remaining wall of the tooth is very thin, bummer.
Mom had her second cataract removed this morning and the surgery went well. I have taken the week off to make sure she gets all her eye drops in at the appointed time.
The weather has turned a little cooler, by cooler I mean down into the 70’s with a little rain. Very nice out side which is good for some of the yard work I want to accomplish. I have cordoned off a small section of the yard to keep the dogs in. I am replacing my old wooden fence with vinyl. I have seen the dogs testing the temporary fence looking for weak spots. I am going to have to make sure there are no weak spots. The fence will be down for about a week maybe a week and a half. The new post and mow strip have to set up before the fencing can be installed. I’ll be glad when it is completed so the dogs can rule the back yard again.

The bride and I
Ice burge , just not a very big one

We got home a little over a week ago from our cruise to Alaska. It was a fun cruise and the weather was perfect, not a cloud in the sky for most of the week. Anyone that has spent some time in Alaska knows this is not the norm. We should have seen bunches of rain, but we didn’t.

The bride decided that it would be fun to buy jewelry in some of the ports we stop in. She got some nice stuff and was very happy. There was this Jewelry store she wandered into with me in tow and I sat down to mind my own business when one of the employees offered me a beer. Makes me wonder if he was just being nice or this was a marketing ploy. I guess if you give enough beer to the husband he’ll go along with what ever the women wants.

Like I said all in all it was a good trip, but I would rather go to Alasaka on a fishing trip.

Went to a concert last night, the bride wanted to see Richard Marx. He was big in the mid 80’s and early 90’s. It was a great concert and we sat about 15 ft from the stage, lot of energy and very loud music, good time.

We are going to be very busy today. We leave first thing in the morning for our cruise to Alaska . We depart for the airport about 5:30 tomorrow morning. We should be in Seattle by 9:30, and hopefully we will be aboard the ship by noon. We are taking two cameras with us and I am sure I will post some pics when I get back. My daughter will be watching over mom while we are gone plus her next door neighbor from San Diego is coming for a visit. Mom will be good hands. But if you would like, I would appreciate your prayers for her will being while I am gone. I will post sometime after the 7th of July. I hope all three of my readers will take care,

Went to the baseball game last night, Buddy Nate had four tickets and we took our respective brides. Good time had by all. The home team lost due to lousy fielding. But the food was great and it was just plain home town Americana. We had to leave during the 7th inning. My bride had to get up and go to work. I was more taken back by the view from the stadium. Tickets, food and all it was a fifty dollar night. Not bad for a few hours of entertainment. I do want to thank Nate for dragging me and mine along.

A nice quite father’s day, the bride, mom and I went to brunch at the Little America down in Salt Lake City. I have been puttering around the back yard, just a very nice day.

Mom is scheduled to have a cataract removed tomorrow. The Dr. will remove one now and the other next month. I will be taking time off from work to haul mom around and help her with eye drops and what ever else she needs.


We are having some work done around the house. Pouring a concert pad, I think it is 27’x24’ and having a new fence put in. The concert guys showed up yesterday and started to tear down the fence. Which would be fine except for the dogs, the bride called me (I was on the Bear River fishing) in a panic. I headed home to put up a temporary fence to keep the dogs imprisoned. I figured I had done pretty good job tying some chicken wire into the fence I had put up to keep the dogs out of the garden. Dusty discovered that if he hit the garden fence at a fast enough run he could pop right through. I was giving foxy a bath in the kitchen sink (she was a muddy mess) when the bride yelled Dusty is in the garden, and then she screamed he has gotten out. This is like Det com 4 or maybe 5 in our house. When the dogs get out they take off. I jumped into the truck the bride jumped into her car and the neighbor took off on foot. The little turd locker was seen going between houses and headed for the next road. I rounded the corner and headed down the road; the neighbor was already up there and had turned Dusty back towards the house. As I got home he was in the open part of the back yard running around. Sat in the truck opened the doors and yelled lets go for a ride. This works most of the time and it did again last night. He was home safe and sound and I was installing a chain linked fence at 9:00 that night. I have spent the past hour or so making sure the fence was dog proof. I think I have succeeded.

This is a good read

There has been an Ava sighting

Mom and Ava

















This may be a troll under stairs, never mind it is Ava

It is cold and raining, I am letting the fire in the fireplace die down. I was going into work for a few hours this morning then accompany the bride to the doctors. Mom fell this morning and that change my plans. I believe she tripped so this is not like the last time she fell where she was dizzy. There will be a burse on her face but she seems to be okay. Mom has a doctor’s appointment tomorrow morning and I’ll have the Dr. take a look.

It looks like we have sold moms house in San Diego. The housing market is considered depressed in Southern California and I am glad that we were able to move the property. The couple that bought the place wants to close by June 26. So this should wrap up quickly. I guess I should get ready, I need to run errands. Take care and God bless

Backyard

two fireplaces














Front

Busy, busy, busy, my daughter and her husband moved to a new house this weekend. The move was accomplished with the use of pickup trucks. Not the best way to move but we got it done. The house was built in 1959 and has been vacant for a while. The kids got a very good deal on the place and I think they will be very happy. I know that I like the school district better then the one they left, all in all a much better neighborhood for little Ava to grow up in.


I got a phone call from my buddy Jim wondering if I had smoked the fish we caught last weekend. Like I said I have been busy, it seems that he is a little worried that he may not get his share, he may have reason to worry based on history. I have told him that he wants to make sure that he gets some of the fish he had better be there when I pull it out of the smoker. I have been known to consume a lot of fish in the time it takes to come out of the smoker to a plastic bag. But I will try and be better this time. I just brought the fish up from the freezer to thaw and I will have it in the smoker tomorrow. It will be in the smoker 10-12 hours.

I need to jump into the shower, I am ushering at the second service this morning at church

A wonderful four days of fishing at Flaming gorge with a couple of buddies (Nate, and Jim). We caught a number of fish all were good sized. Most will end up in my smoker next weekend. I was plagued with equipment problems most of the weekend. I had a brand new fishing reel (Okuma) and it froze up solid. I could not get it to turn. It was useless and ended up tossed in the back of my truck. I had problems with my line on a couple of my reels. All the line was new, and my buddy Nate said I must have put the line on backwards. Which may be true but I think I should invest in a better brand of swivels if I am going to do much trolling with spinning type reels. I will have a bait caster before I go back to the gorge, much better for trolling. Lost some nice pop gear trying to bring in a good sized rainbow trout, the fish went under the boat just as it got up to the boat. . Cut the line and was gone. When the weekend was all but done and we had hooked up the trailer to my truck we went to pull chocks and I had a flat tire on the trailer. I pulled the 3 ½ ton floor jack (don’t leave home with out it) from the back of the truck and we swapped out the tire with the spare... But please believe me when I say it was a wonderful four day weekend. The three of us had a great time. Being guys we made fun of each other all weekend, and laughed a great deal.



All the salmon we caught was done by trolling, for those who do not fish this means we hook up about a pound or two of shinny blades, spinners and beads get it down to about thirty five feet in the water and drag all over the lake. It works good, even picked up a few rainbow trout. Now I have been trout fishing for more years then I want to think about. I have done all kinds of angling with a whole lot of different tackle to catch trout. When I watched Nate throw a white tube jig (bass lure) up next to the rocks I figured he was wasting his time. When he caught his first rainbow I figured it was a fluke, then the second one I started to watch him a little more closely (you should keep your eyes on him anyway). By the last day we all were using white tube jigs and hauling in big fish. The trout are in their spawning mode right now and very aggressive. This is the reason the technique worked. But it worked great.



The trip home was uneventful (360 miles round trip), and it was good to get home into a shower and to relax. Having fun is a full time job and when in your mid fifties can just about wear you out. I have skipped the gym today and will start up again tomorrow (maybe).

We leave at 6:30 in the morning for flaming gorge. I know I had said that it would not take long to get the trailer in order, well I lied I have been working on it for two nights. But the trailer is all packed except for my cloths and hooked up to the truck. I am ready for this trip. My buddy Nate will be here at 6:00AM we will throw his stuff in the trailer and be on the road by 6:30 to meet Jim (he has the boat) at the pre-appointed meeting spot. If all goes well we will be on the lake by 1:00 or 2:00 in the afternoon. Talk to you when I get back.

Went fishing today with my buddy Nate, and fishing was fantastic. The catching on the other hand was not so good. Between the two of us we did not have single bite. This is fishing most of the morning and afternoon in two different locations. But we had a good time. The first location was Willard bay. Good place to catch catfish and wipers (white bass and striped bass highbred) I wanted to see how my new knees (double knee replacement last November) would handle climbing over the dike. Going over the outside part of the dike was easy all dirt. The water side of the dike is very large rock all jumbled together. I have what Nate calls an industrial strength rod holder that I also used a walking stick to climb down and back up over the rocks. My leg strength was not what I had hoped and I did not have a whole lot of confidence. But I managed to get over the dike and back, which made me feel good. The second place we went was the Bear River. Much easier, you can drive right to the river or into it if your brakes don’t work.

I have put myself under the gun so to speak. I leave Thursday morning for a fishing trip to Flaming gorge and the trailer is still winterized. I have been putting this task off and I don’t know why. I will work o the trailer tomorrow after a mother day’s brunch at my daughter’s house. It should not take to long to get the trailer ready. Just need to get my butt in gear and do it.

Got home yesterday. The meetings went well and we got a lot done. I pretty much let everybody know that this may have been my last time attending the meetings. The bride and I have talked some about me retiring at the end of the year. I honestly thought I was going go until the end of 2009. But things are starting to happen at work that I just don't want to put up with. I'll have 35 year of service at the end of the year and I think that is plenty. Also I have mom living with me now and I think I should spend time with her. She is 87 and not getting any younger. So much to think about.

Back to the meetings I attended. As you can see not everybody was fully engaged at all times

I'll be out of town for a week. Be back the 3rd of May

The fish where not very big but it was fun to get out. As you can see Nate was pleased with his catch. All the fish went back in the water.

my buddy Nate and I went fishing this past Friday. Saw these birds and Nate asked what kind of birds where they. When I got home I looked them up in my bird book.

They are "Yellow headed Black birds. Go figure

Yes Foxy looks sad. Why is she sad you ask, she has been fenced out of my garden area. Foxy is pure terror on my feeble attempts of putting in a garden. Foxy is a digger, it's true. I believe it is a God given talent she has for finding holes. She will wander around the yard (mainly along the fence line) start digging until she finds the hole. The little darling will look up as f to say " Look dad I found another one for you". Last year when I put in a flower bed I am sure all she heard was bed. That is where is decided to sleep when she was not finding holes in the garden . I think this year is the year I will have a good garden. The dogs are fenced out and mom is here to constantly ask when I am going to get started. Yep this is going to be the year.

There was an Ava sighting at the house yesterday. Ava managed to grab a bag of potatoe chips and wander around until they were gone

Food for thought

I'm still trying to figure out how the Constitution clearly states abortion is protected yet clearly states guns are not.

Mom is home now and is feeling better. She came home yesterday afternoon. It was suggested that she use a walker for a period of time, just until she feels a little more steady. I got her a walker and sat it next to her, when she gets up she walks around it. This morning I ask her if she was going to use the walker. No was the answer so I took it to the basement.

It is snowing today. We had three inches of snow Thursday but it did not stick around to long. Melted by afternoon, this snow looks like it will last a little longer. Spring time in Utah, it will be a month until I feel safe putting in a garden.

I am a bit rattled today. I had taken the day off to hang with my mom, I was down stairs making breakfast and I heard a very loud thump. My mom had fallen; I raced up the stairs calling to her. She was down on the floor not able to get up. I thank God I was home when this happened. I got her back on the bed asking how she was. We sat there for awhile and she said that she was fine, I did not believe her. She stood up a little unsteady but managed to get to the bathroom. I ran back downstairs to turn off the stove. I was cooking ham and eggs. I got back and mom was walking down the stairs, I stood at the bottom and watched every step. I got her on the couch and asked how she was doing. Again all I could get out of her was FINE. I told her she was going to the emergency room and she got up to get dressed. Mom did not make it crossed the living room she was wobbly and had to sit in the rocker. I called 911 and the paramedics hauled her to the hospital. Mom was in the ER for 7 hours, some bone headed administrator would not admit her because there was not neurologist on call. The ER Doc tried and tried to get her admitted to couple hospitals in the area. One was full and one said that it was Davis hospital responsibility to admit her. The ER Doc finally found a DR that would go over the administrator head and get her admitted. I was mad beyond belief. But mom is in the hospital and I hope and pray that can find out what is wrong. They have ruled out inner ear, heart attack, stroke, and couple of other things. I am sure I will post more later.

It has been wonderful weather the past few days. I believe we are in for some snow and rain for the weekend. But spring is here and I am feeling great about it. I am taking tomorrow off from work. I am going to spend the day with my mom and just hang out. I am sure that I will take her to lunch and whatever else she may want to do. I came down stairs this morning and found mom sleeping on the couch. It appears the three dogs were sleeping with her on her twin bed. There just was not enough room so she left. I explained that I would have handled it a little differently but mom said it was okay. The bride and I are going to buy mom a queen size bed this weekend and there will be enough room for everybody. I guess as long as mom and the dogs are happy my life is going well. .

The past few days I have been so tired. I have done nothing out of the ordinary but I am having trouble getting out of bed in the morning and having any energy in the evenings. I fell asleep at work today. Woke up about 30 minutes before quitting time, I just grab my coat, keys and headed home. I got a little cat nap, it helped a little. I have tomorrow off and I plan to sleep in as long as I can. I just hope that I am not coming down with anything.

Most of the snow is gone from my backyard. It looks like I can hold off feeding the birds for awhile. There must be 20 lbs of bird seed on the ground. I'll let the little guys eat most of that before I put out more in the feeders.

I am getting fishing fever real bad, but most of the water in the state is too hard to fish and too soft to walk on. I don't trust the ice this time of the year. Oh well i'll put another log on the fire and just kick back.

I leave for San Diego right from work tomorrow. We have decided that I need to go down and check up on my mom's house. Just need to make sure that everything is going as good as we are being told.

What a beautiful day, blue skies and a warm sun. About noon today I grab a cup of coffee and sat out on the deck barefoot. It may have been only 32 degrees but it felt wonderful in the sun. The day started with a trip to the airport to send my sister back home. Not the best start to the day but it was time for her to go home. I got home and I split a bunch of firewood, I’ll do some more tomorrow. It was wonderful to be able to work outside. Then the coffee and sitting on the deck. The back yard is ¾ covered with snow but you can see it melting. It feels like spring is just around the corner. The weather man is saying that we will have a weekend storm but I don’t think it is going to be a big one. If it is mostly rain it will do a number on the remaining snow. Life just don’t get much better then this

Mom had a wonderful time at her party. Many friends showed up and there was food all over the place. Just a wonderful time

Big party this Saturday, We are having a party for mom. Her birthday is next Thursday but we are having the party this weekend. We went to Sam’s club and laid down about $200 for food. We still have a few things to pick up, like my sister at the airport and the cake. It should be a good time, pictures to follow

My mom has gotten an offer on her house. Much less then we were asking, but we started asking before the housing market crashed. The real estate agent handling the property for us (this is down in San Diego) feels the market has not bottomed out yet. She believes that it will continue down for the rest of the year and then stabilize for a couple years before it starts to climb again. I don’t want to have a house sitting vacant for a couple years. I can see nothing good in that. I am coordinating with my sister on the sale of the house. She has been a little more hesitant to sale at a lower price, but talking with her last night it seems that she is starting to except that it is what it is.

Mom was saying that she missed the house. She had lived in it for 50 years and raised both me and my sister. I can not imagine how hard it must be on her to know she has lost a certain amount of her independence. Mom does seem to enjoy our company but it still must be hard. After all those years she is picking up after me again

To hear the story behind these pictures go my friend Nate's blog and read "well that was an adventure"

This is a three day weekend for me, Monday being President’s day. Plans include clean up the garage so I can put my truck in it, watching Ava on Sunday and going to church, and Monday my buddy Nate and I are heading for the desert. Nate picked up a couple of cap & ball black powder revolvers. So I figured we should go try those out and I should bring along my muzzle loader. I have TC 54 cal. I have not had it out of the gun safe for a couple of years, time to dust it off and make a lot of smoke. I am sure that we will bring a couple of other guns as well. Just haven’t figured out which ones.


I am thinking about getting black powder deer permit this year. I did not put in for the lottery on deer permits but there always seems to be some left over that can be bought first come first serve. With black powder the chances of getting a deer go way down. This can be a good thing; I would not have to field dress, drag, cut the critter up. But it is a good excuse to walk around the woods with black powder rifle. It is also upland game season and I can carry my shotgun for grouse. I really enjoy grouse hunting and with my new knees I am hoping that it will be more enjoyable this year, besides Grouse are so much easier to drag then deer.

I was looking through the obituaries this morning. It is a morbid habit I know but I still do it and I am sure that you do also. I saw the Mr. Dick Tyer had passed away. Dick was the gentleman that hired me from a blue collar to white collar some twenty years ago. He was a very nice guy and I enjoyed working for him. Dick had been retired for some 18 years. Whenever I see someone I have known pass away I tend to reflect on my own mortality. My heath issues in recent years tend to weigh a little heavier. I am eligible for retirement in 9 days but I plan to stay through the end of 2009. There are sound reasons for staying but it reading obits does make one think.

I do believe it is time for more coffee and then it is off to the garage.

I got home from work yesterday and my neighbor had removed all the snow off my travel trailer. The trailer sits on the north side of my house in the shadow of the garage. The snow does not melt in this location. There was close to four feet of snow on the trailer and we are expecting a little more tonight. Not only did he remove the snow from the trailer, he cut a path through his yard so I could get into the trailer to check for damage. The only damage we could find was to the air conditioner cover. It was broke in a couple of places. Made some temporary repairs and I figure to replace it sometime this spring.



I am ready for spring this year. If only so my mom can get out of the house into the back yard and do stuff. It has been much to cold and the snow has been much too deep this year to do much of anything outside.

I went to Florida Tuesday and got back yesterday evening. Left 70 degrees came back to 32 degrees and a lot of snow in the yard. Maybe relocation would not be a bad thing.

I went to work this morning feeling pretty good. Heading down the hall to get a cup of coffee and something in my new left knee popped. Went on about my business and within an hour my knee was killing me. It felt like a tooth ache and ran all the way down my leg. I lasted until 9:00am and I headed for home. After two pain pills and a little bit of rest I am doing pretty well. It feels like a tissue problem. I think what happened was some scar tissue broke loose. My range of motion is good and it does not hurt when I move the knee. I figure that I’ll be good to go in the morning and head back to work. I have a few things to line up for a trip I am going on next Tuesday.

The first of the year we were blessed with a new dog. I blogged about her and how she was tossed out of a car and left in a park to fend for herself. Maggie has blended into the family. In the short time we have had her I have lost a pair of slippers and a very expensive leather jacket to her teeth. When I discovered the jacket ( the end of one sleeve) I looked at her and said" Maggie come here" she was off like a shot, ran up stairs and would not come down. This morning mom brought me my slippers and one of them had been made an open toe model. I hid the slipper and called Maggie. She jumped up in my lap as happy as could be. I held her collar and showed her the slipper, and firmly told her "NO, NO, NO". When turned loose she was gone and would not come back to me. I have the feeling that before she was dumped she had been disciplined harshly for chewing. I am not one of beating dogs, I figure a harsh tone works just as well. I guess that I will not be leaving shoes, slippers, jackets, and anything else I am fond of out over night.

32 days and I am eligible for retirement. I have my retirement package filled out; all I have to do is sign and dated it. That being said the bride and I have discussed this in length. The house will be paid off in 26 months, and I had planned to stay until the end of this year. That would give me a full 35 years on the job. If I wait until the end of 2009 two months from being mortgage free. I do believe I am going to wait, but it is going to be wonderful to know that I can be considered on the 2-10-12 plan. Make me mad 2 times by 10, and I’ll be gone by 12.

The bride heads of to the hospital in a couple of hours. She will have a hysterectomy today. She expects to stay in the hospital until Friday. So it will be mom and me against the world for a few days.

Mexican invasion It is disturbing that incursions by the Mexican army or not reported by the main stream media. Mexico is not a friend of the United States and they allow, and help their citizens to invade us. The ecological damage along the invasion routes is mind boggling. The disrespect shown by the illegal aliens (click on second video)is enough to turn your stomach. We have 50,000 troops alone the border between north and South Korea. For what? A hold over from the cold war, we scared that some starving peasants make sneak into South Korea to find food and work. Our government will not protect our borders but they protect every other border in the world. Just about every place we have been in a war we leave troops. Korea was 50 years ago, we have troops, WWII was 60 years ago we have troops. We have to stand up and protect our own country.

Got a little snow the other day. I do believe there is more now then shown in the picture

We had a pretty good snow storm this morning. I am guessing it end up around 10 inches in my yard. I went out for breakfast this morning, as I pulled out on the main drag my truck went sideways in a few different directions. I was in four wheel drive and that really surprised me. I figured as warm as it was yesterday (got to 50) the roads were wet when the cold front came through and it was ice under the snow. It was an exciting ride and I am glad the bride and my mom where not with me. I would have been yelled at.

Getting ready to go to Maddie's britday party. She is 6 going on 30. Should be fun.