Nice one, Bran. :)

The previous entry was Bran shooting for and H.P. Lovecraft sort of description of our first night at a seriously somewhat unusual cabin. Some events were real, although the Lovecraftian language may make is sound more ominous than it was. More coming...sorry I haven't finished our trip stuff yet. We have tons to put up, but not that much time. Stay tuned...

Glimpsed We the Forgotten Crimes

It was a bright and sunny day, the kind survivors find completely inappropriate to the trauma that would take place. The cabin itself seemed innocuous, the last in the line of its kin on a gentle slope. It was this ashen exterior that should have been the first warning. Inside lay eight beds, faded and cracked mattresses limply hung on the drab iron frames. Much of the interior was that worrying grey that can only be found when time traces its fingertips across the alabaster naïveté of first hopes and dreams. Bare bulbs stared reproachfully from their wire cages, cobwebs dangling the husks of insects doomed by their attraction to unnatural light. Some considerate soul from times passed nailed a pie tin to the chimney to cover a rat's nest in the hole that once siphoned smoke from a long lost stove. Unfortunately, the tin refused to stay in place; almost as if some eldritch force insisted on keeping its portal to the material plane.

I chose the bed closest to the door, though it had undoubtedly witnessed its own share of violence. The crimson plastic case that once held the fire extinguisher was barren; the cover lay in shards before it. Across the room my reflection stared out at its source from the looking glass. It was not a faithful reflection, and for the sake of my sanity I used the mirror sparingly. Michelle accompanied me in exiting that ominous room.

Outside, the pallid bark of the trees dominating the landscape took on new meaning, as if the trees themselves had absorbed the terror, or perhaps merely the deathly pallor of the ill-fated encampment. Circling round the abode where we would be forced to sleep, we happened on the stairway and the only entrance to the attic. The way was barred by a simple wooden partition, barely waist height. It was not this that stopped us though, but the sign that hung in silent witness against the crime that must have occurred in that very loft. "CLOSED", written in the brazen letters of authority, in that unquestionable cant that held such power in the isolated wilderness. We continued our inspection of the cabin, and in so doing, entered a shed that held many dusty coils of hose. Leaning against the wall was a lone crutch, but in that forlorn aide to the invalid we knew a dark history rested, untouched and unknowable by the minds of men. We exited, only to be accosted by the warden, who warned us to avoid such places. Thus chastised as we were, we knew now who to fear and who undoubtedly was the heir to unspeakable guilt, at least of indifference to terrible crimes against human decency.

Night fell and, for a few hours, we had light. I fell asleep, soundly and deeply, but others not so fortunate as I were subjected to the faint ruckus of contesting rodents. At times something would roll across the attic, perhaps a bone propelled by the foul scavengers that infested the accursed place. Morning came, and as siblings are wont to do, my sister and I strolled in the mists of morning, wondering at the grace of the natural world. Our stomachs reminded us of our duty to the needs of body, and so we turned back. It seemed we had to witness one last scene of horror; a bone lay beside a stream, picked of all meat by insensitive vermin.

Trip Outline Part I

Well...so here is the deal. First I'll outline the trip, then comment on specific details and some fun quotes. We first flew to SLC on Saturday (July 11). Our plane was delayed and it was a hassle, but I won't bore you with the details. My brother Brent met us at the airport and took us to his home. As they say in Utah, church was attended, cousins reunited, good food eaten, and a wonderful time enjoyed by all. The following Monday we headed down to Gooseberry Creek for Jamie's extended family reunion. It is just past Salina, Utah, for those of you who know what that means. About a half hour before we arrived, I was looking at the scrubby flora and was beginning to have evil thoughts about Jamie's aunt Mary, but it turned out nice (and I apologized). Up in the canyon there were a lot of quacking aspen and cedar. It was nice. There will be a story about the cabin later, but after a short moment of wondering if the kids and I were going to be comfortable and have fun, it turned out to be a lot of fun.

Gooseberry Memorable Events:
* Haunted cabin - pictures to follow...
* (Re)building a raft for fun - " " "
* Amazing stars...You could see ripples in the milky way. I guess 8,000 feet of altitude and little pollution filled atmosphere does that. I stared in wonder each night.
This picture is the closest I could find to what we saw, but it is only a sliver of it, and it does not capture the majesty of the sight.
http://www.atu.edu/msi/STARLAB/SL%20Cylinders/Astronomy/Milky%20Way%20Galaxy%20Starfield.jpg
* Lots of stories and fun games

Bran was a little bored at first, but then when we were talking his attention perked up when he realized that around the table there were 4 or 5 people who had lived in Japan. We had some great talks with everyone.

Finally blogging again - tennis now, trip later...

Well, we had an eventful trip, and have many wonderful memories. Thanks to those of you who had a hand in supplying them. There are fragments of our tale on Facebook, but more details coming here later. In the meantime, it is tennis season, and Michelle is enjoying her high school sport experience so far. She has been working hard, and made the JV team. She had her first doubles match yesterday, and they won in two sets, although the second set went 7-5. She made some good shots, got very hot and tired (it was over 90 here yesterday for a change), and outlasted the Midpark doubles girls. We'll put up a picture later...

The birthday girl

This is from a week or two ago, but one of the things Michelle got for her birthday was this lime wedge floatie. It has been so cold here that this is what she resorted to. I thought it was cute (and sad): today is the first hot day we have had for ... a long time, and tomorrow we are leaving for vacation. : (

Chipmunks and Celery

The other day Bran and I were walking over to the rec center to exercise and on our way we saw a chipmunk run across the sidewalk in front of us. Looking at the small size of the little guy, I commented that it would take a few of them to make a good meal. Brandon replied that "They the animal equivalent of celery - they would take more energy to catch than they would provide (as nourishment)." I guess I'm glad we have other options. We are starting to work on packing and things. See all you westerners soon!

Chris Rice

Michelle and I are interested in Chris Rice, a singer-songwriter with Christian tendencies. Some of his work is overtly Christian, some is just wholesome and fun.

His most famous song is probably the one about cartoons being saved, although it is more silly than some of his other stuff. You can see a video someone made for it at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWFJ_rykyA4

Our favorite song is actually his lemonade song. It is hard to listen to it without breaking into a big smile. Lemonade is from his album called, "What a Heat is Beating For", and you can hear it all at:

http://music.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=music.artistalbums&artistid=1792689&albumid=8166636

A scout is....

I recently got back from a very eventful scout camp, and my family was debriefing me on the camp happenings. I commented that sometimes the scouts didn't embody some elements of the scout law and Michelle looked perplexed. I began to quote the law: "A scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous..." As I got to "courteous", Michelle started to giggle. I continued, "kind, obedient...", and here the fits of laughter began. When I got to "clean" she was hysterical, and when I finished with "reverent" she was laughing so hard that she was silent because she lost her wind, and was just shaking convulsively - then she broke into sobs of hysteric laughter. By that time we were all laughing so hard that some of us were crying. I guess that might have been an editorial comment on her expectations of boys her age.

Baptism fun!

Recently our young friends Eric and Winter got baptized. They are grandchildren of one of my home teaching families, and took lessons from Sisters Allan and Nelson. We had a good time, and they are great. The sisters took them out to Kirtland, which they really enjoyed, and on the way back they played an alphabet game. Winter got to the letter "J", and was wondering what to add to her list of things to take on a trip. Sister Nelson mentioned that Jesus started with J. Eric piped up with, "Choose Jesus, Winter. He's got your back". We thought it was pretty funny.

House Guest from...

Well, I came home the other day to find we had a house guest. Actually, I just came home to these pictures, and I did not immediately recognize the familiar face. I love the biker one the most.

Great week!

Well, a lot is going on this week. First of all, Cameron got a paid internship at the Pleasant Grove Fire Station, much to our surprise. He is not that interested in a career in that area, but says it is a lot of fun and he is having a good time. They also pay better than other jobs he applied for, so that's good.

After months of delays (tree too green, rain, etc., etc.) we finally had our annual tree burning event. Every year after Christmas, we let our tree dry out and sent it up in flames. Yes, we are a family of pyros, and we are proud of it. This year Brandon snagged a couple of extra trees off the tree lawns, and we made a night of it with the YW group present. No sentient being was harmed. There was a strange dance that took place around the burning trees that I hope the neighbors did not notice. If they did notice, I hope they don't know it was a Mormon group. Still, it was much more appropriate than some wiccan events I have heard of.

Finally, and most wonderfully, our young friends Eric (11) and Winter (12) Werner were baptized today. They are great kids, and have made a lot of progress. I have been the home teacher of their grandparents off and on for years, and the time was finally right. The sister missionaries (Nelson and Allan) have been great, and the kids learned a lot. I am looking forward to seeing them blossom in the gospel. Pictures forthcoming.

Yes, despite rumors to the contrary, I am still alive.

I usually try to update at least once a month, a goal that seems so reasonable most of the time. Well, dear readers, as you can see it has been much longer than that now. Several people have been bugging me about it, and since my own mother is too polite to be one of them, I figured I really am behind. The end of the school year is always a crazy time for me, but now that the spring semester is over, I find myself with a moment for an update.

Recent news items:
Cameron decided to stay in Utah this summer and work there instead of coming home. We will see him in July when we make our summer trip.

Summer trip - We are headed out to Utah, Idaho, Nevada, California, Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, and ... okay, I'm exaggerating. It seems like we are attempting to hit every western state, but we are actually only sleeping over in three. Jamie's family is having a reunion in Utah at Fish Lake, so we will fly to Utah, steal Cameron away (or at least his car) and head down there. Fun fact about Fish Lake: near Fish Lake is a huge "clonal colony of a single male quaking aspen tree". It is estimated to be the heaviest known living organism in the world, weighing in at about 6,615 tons. Personally, I am skeptical and estimate it to be only 6,613.5 tons, but I am not a botanist. And I don't have scales that large to check my work. I may have also miscarried a number or skipped a decimal or two. Who knows? For those dying to read more, you can check it out on Wikipedia under "Pando (tree)". Yes, it has a name. It insisted. Maybe we'll steal a "start" and compete with an Ohio clone.

After meeting up with Jamie's clan at Fish Lake, we'll be heading up to Idaho to hang out with Jamie's parents. While we are there, Jamie has insisted that all of her children are going to find out what it is like to climb a mountain at least once in their lives, so we will be hiking Table Rock Mountain in the Tetons. The hike starts at 7,000 feet and goes up to over 11,000. We are all exercising to get in shape for it. Well, Michelle and Cam are lagging behind, but we hope they will soon be exercising too. You can see pics of the hike linked from my Facebook page if you are interested.

After that, we will rent a car and drive out to California to spend some time with my family. I don't know for sure what our activities are going to be, but tennis is likely, and maybe water skiing, although with the drought we may end up skipping rocks across a mud puddle. If we can find one. I'm leaving the planning in my sisters' capable hands. We had a great time last time we were out. Finally, we will fly back to Ohio from California and probably find that our yard is a jungle, the pool is generating new life forms, and the cats are only mummified remains, but hey, that is the price you pay for visiting family. We really are looking forward to it. Well, except for the yard part. Actually, Jamie and Michelle were a little bit bummed to learn that the family reunion was the same week as girls camp, but we are soldiering on anyway.

In other news, Michelle finally rode some serious roller coasters. After years of going to Cedar Point (the best roller coaster park in the world - and no, I'm not kidding about that), Michelle finally got up the courage to ride some serious rides. She went with her class from school, under the clever guise of conducting physics experiments. Why didn't I think of that when I was in 8th grade? She had a lot of fun. She was actually the brave one in the group who tried to talk her friends into the scary rides. Times change. Pictures forthcoming as available. Michelle also went to Washington DC on a school trip, and got to see many interesting things. I'll let her blog about that if she is so inclined.

Well, I have more to write (obviously, since I haven't written in forever), but this will have to do for now. Happy Memorial Day everyone. We appreciate the sacrifice of those who have given their time and their lives for us.

And you thought you knew us...

After dinner tonight we were watching a bird, which flew away after being scared by the appearance of Sugar, our interested if completely incapable hunter of moving creatures, large and small. Our dinner conversation took a turn that was typical of us. After thoroughly discussing our cat's hunting history (dismal) and determining she would never survive much past our demise, Michelle remembered a commonly held maxim about pets: if you die in your home, dogs would not eat you, but cats would. Michelle's interpretation of this somewhat dubious fact is that cats are smarter than dogs because they have better survival instincts. We then went on to speculate about our specific cats, and Brandon's observation was that the cats would probably starve unless some other scavenger opened up a body first. Then, in his words, the cat would finally notice and think "Hey! There's meat! Where did that come from?". we all agreed, and reflecting on what a weird (and yet completely normal for our family) conversation that was, we had a laugh and I decided to write it up. So now you know. Normal people really are just people you don't know that well.

Hey all!

Happy New Year. Or whatever this is. We are freezing here. Actually today is very warm, compared to recent days/weeks (months? - it seems like it). It might actually get above freezing. Well, I have lots to write of course and little time, like usual. I will post a picture that we took over the break so that you can see that we are still alive and somewhat healthy. We planned on getting a "real" family picture, but it didn't happen for reasons I won't bore you with.

Cameron is back at school now, and is working on a research project using an electron microscope and measuring very small objects. Something about ... well, truthfully, I don't fully understand what they are doing, or at least why what they are doing is important. If you want to read about it, you can go to: http://www.physics.byu.edu/faculty/chesnel/

Jamie is the Young Women's president now, and is adjusting to the weight of her new responsibility. I am still working on "catching up" at work, but the stress is lower this semester. We are still on track for a visit to the west this summer. There is more to write, but I have to get to a presentation today. FYI: If you are bored and want to seem some remarkable music, here are a couple of excellent videos you might check out.

Diana Krall interpreting an excellent Joni Mitchell song. My favorite version - Case of You
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGrsc5FeQDs

Paul Simon offering an solo acoustic verion of the Beach Boys' Surfer Girl. He is an amazing guitarist.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXHsARkfDbw

Something fun from Sesame Street and James Taylor - love the tuba bass.
Jelly Man Kelly
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjNteHSCCSg

I love this version of another Joni Mitchell - I guess she is the theme this time. Big Yellow Taxi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsPh_8Dxl3E

Joe Walsh and Don Felder jamming. Often the Eagles are "super-produced" by the "Lone Arranger", Glen Frey. Here they are jamming and doing some interesting things. There is actually a decent amount of Eagles jam material available now. Incidentally, their Farewell I tour DVD is well worth the price.
Turn to Stone – Eagles jam
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hh3_SSZElXg&feature=related

Enjoy!

(Books and movies next).
P.S. I almost forgot this one. It is a tender song from the movie Once. I won't recommend the movie because it is rated R, but this song is very nice.

Movie song: Falling Slowlyhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoSL_qayMCc