converting to yurting

I spent last Friday night in this yurt in the Uinta mountains with 9 great women from my ward and one great dog named Sammy. We cross country skied in with all our stuff before dark and then skied a bit the next day on some trails. It was absolutely beautiful and the weather was perfect. One of the best parts were the stars. I don't ever remember seeing stars like that. Almost didn't look real. A gazillion of them and they all looked alive. It was awesome.

philosophical question

A bunch of these beautiful cedar waxwings were outside my window this morning. Something I usually miss being in a cubicle everyday with not a window in sight. So do they come by every morning when I'm not there and I just happened to catch them or did they know I was home and stop by for a visit? Either way, they were gorgeous.

yellowstone meets appalachia

Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring was playing on the radio on the drive into work today. This is probably my favorite piece of music of all time. It takes me to very specific places and times in my mind and heart. My parents had a time-share in a cabin in Island Park, ID and we would go there for a couple of weeks every summer at least. The cassette of Appalachian Spring was always popped into the tape deck as we entered the West entrance of the park. The crescendos and decrescendos of the music served as soundtrack to the majestic vistas that unfolded to us around each bend in the road. Now that we don't have the time-share anymore and some of those sharing the trips are gone, this amazing piece of music is always a quick way for me to be transported back to that beautiful place and great times.

sorry, but while we're still on the subject

Sorry, it's RaNkin/Bass. But while we're thinking about something so pleasant, let's just imagine some repeating harp trills and take a step back shall we?

this kills me

I imagine this being said in a loud Charles Nelson Riley voice.

And on another note, may I just say that I turned on network television for the first time in a while last night looking for the beloved Rakin-Bass Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer special that I thought was going to be on. Instead it was The Rockefeller Center lighting of the Christmas tree (probably called a holiday tree now) holiday special. Except for Harry Connick Jr. who actually sang instead of lip-syncing his songs, and an appearance by Kermit and Miss Piggy, I was horrified. I couldn't stop thinking about the great and spacious building. It was all so uber fake and commercial it made me a rather queezy. All these people "celebrating Christmas" just to sell their crap-o-la. The coup de gras was Beyonce singing Ave Maria in a dress with a neckline down to her navel and lip gloss that you could see the reflection of the camera in. Hello!! And teenage boys singing about how all they want for Christmas is a new girlfreind? Barf! I must be getting old. I guess I don't mind so much that my new hd hook-up doesn't work so well. I'm sticking with netflix and I guess I'll just have to break down and buy all the good old Christmas specials on dvd.

i love acupuncture!

There have been many weekends since that last "last weekend" and many of them have been filled for me with a case of hives that has been filling my waking thoughts. Instead of going the regular doctor and steroid route, I thought I'd try acupuncture. I'd done it a few years ago, but couldn't keep it up because of the cost. I was willing to pay almost anything for some relief and it really wasn't too bad. It's been great. Still trying to get the hives under control, but I feel better and it's so relaxing. He's worked on my back, shoulder, and wrist from all my mousing as well. Yea!

last weekend's camping trip

Last weekend was marvelous! Camped with two great women up at White Pine Lake. That's up Logan canyon just about 4 miles from Tony Grove lake. As you can see, it was beautiful. It rained most of the second day we were there, but it was so beautiful we really didn't mind. The only other little glitch was an errant herd of cows that was there. Apparently we set up camp right in the middle of their pathway out of the canyon and were quite upset with us come nightfall. Another sign of this had been the "gifts" they had previously left all over the campsite. Luckily Cinda grew up with cows and knew how to drive them down to the next campground:)

It didn't seem like the pack was trying to kill me this time which made a big difference. And I felt like I'd packed better and knew more of what I was doing. I was able to carry more weight more comfortably. Also, we weren't climbing up and down gigantic boulders and rock walls. That probably had something to do with it too.


This is my first attempt at fly fishing in several years. Lisa was kind enough to let me have a go. And . . .

A little brook trout I think. We let him go.

We ended the trip by attending a sacrament meeting in Logan. It was the primary program. As singles we don't get to see those much. The highlight was the impromptu interpretive dance by a three yr old on the front row to Called to Serve with imaginary pistols in his hands. Awesome!