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.