Spring Flowers (?)

Ah, it's always fun in the spring time in Cedar City! Flowers abound. Of course, some of them start out looking like some sort of alien growth in my yard. Yikes!



That's really the beginnings of rhubarb in the back yard. Those same few plants you gave me oh-so-many-years-ago, Robert. They just keep coming back. They don't spread or get obnoxious at all, just the same three plants. It freezes well (harvested Rhubarb). I made cobbler from last years' crop just yesterday and we enjoyed it for our Sunday dinner dessert.


And I happened to notice this when I went out to get the paper one very frosty morning. Cute little yellow things. It's the only one that survived from last year. It gives one hope, doesn't it?




Here are some fun shots of kids flying kites in Sunny Southern California. Alexa and cousin Olivia had it down--they were flying and driving at the same time. It is so much fun in their cul-de-sac. And that's just OUR crew--no neighbors. This was Sunday afternoon, the 22nd of March.






A little out of order, but this was the major reason for Mike taking us all to California--to meet up with his brother, Jack, and nephew, Cory. We all met and had dinner together on Saturday night. Jack is at the far end of the table, Cory at the front right.


Then, after we came home from California, Tandy and Kids came, too! Damian is still at a training camp in the desert for another week or two, and since it was spring break for Alexa, they wanted to come to Cedar City and spend time HERE. Well, here and Kanarraville. So they did. I rode with Tandy home to So Utah on Sunday night and we dropped into bed at 3 a.m. YAWN! And then her poor kids ended up being sick most of the week they were here! Poor kids. Poor MOMMY! It was vomiting and diarrhea. But, BEFORE they got sick, Gail and Caroline came from Richfield on Monday and they played and played and played and played! Then they played some more. Here is one rather funny thing they found to do on an evening at Grandma Linda's house. What a patient Grandpa, Uncle Eric and Mommy/Aunt Tandy they have!

The Yurt

The day was so sunny,
The day was so cold.
The day, just last [Presidents' Day] Weekend
This tale did unfold.

We drove up the canyon
On the steep, snowy road
To Cedar Breaks Monument vista,
And from the car we did unload.

We strapped on our snowshoes
Amidst the dazzling, white fluff,
And commenced our short journey
That would make our thighs buff.

We crunched under blue skies
With our flat, holey shoes,
And searched for the Yurt
To rest, and maybe snooze.

The landscape, like diamonds,
More beautiful than a rose
Made our eyes squinty
And we looked like Eskimos.

As the time ticked on by,
My sartorii screaming,
I glimpsed a lovely sight--
A tent chimney steaming!

The ranger at the Yurt
Opened the door in greeting,
Pointed to the stove
Where hot cocoa was steaming.

***************

Thanks to Eric for that much of the poem, Seussical-style. We ran out of steam, so that's all there is. Feel free to contribute your own lines ;-).
Hope you enjoy the photos! We enjoyed our trip. The Yurt is the Winter Ranger Station at Cedar Breaks National Monument. http://www.nps.gov/cebr/yurt.htm
It was my first trek in there for me, but I don't think it will be my last. It was fun. Robert, Sarah and Amanda came with me, so it was just the four of us. And I LOVE icicles on snowy trees! I took way more pictures than what are posted.

Night Snowshoeing

This is the third time in my life that I have gone snowshoeing in the moonlight. The first time was with Katie. Do you recognize the cabin behind us? It's the SUU sheepherder's cabin! That's where Eric and I went on Monday night. I won a free trip with the SUU Outdoor Recreation Center at a party, for me and a guest. I chose Eric. Mike doesn't like cold stuff and he still had achey knees from the two days of the "World of Concrete" Expo in Las Vegas last week (does that sound exciting, or WHAT?!)

There's a picture of the group of us,
one of me kneeling by a tree. Really, the one behind it was much cuter, but once I tipped over, I really couldn't move. I was already the last one getting back to the cars, so we were in a hurry.
It'd be nice to know how to adjust the aperture and lens settings on our camera to take a beautiful picture of the moonlight glistening on the freshly fallen snow that night, but I couldn't even see the knobs on my camera, much less figure out what to do with them. I was lucky to get the shots I did just to prove we were there.
The other pictures are of Eric Making a snow angle. The snow just POOFED up when the kids fell down into it. I missed that on film ,too. Honestly, shooting in the semi-dark is HARD!

But, really and truly, the moon was so bright, we didn't even need the head lamps we all had. Earlier that day, we'd had some very serious snow showers--white-out conditions, actually, for some of the periods. It was intense. I was so disappointed. But by evening, the clouds all cleared away and we had perfect conditions for our outing. Except the road up the canyon was a wee bit icy, and that's why we ended up where we did instead of up at the top in a place called "Chrystal Canyon." THAT one opens out on the very top of the mountains and you can see forever. Next time.
There's a nice scene of snow on the fence by a tree. The snow was much deeper up higher and further out of the trees. There's a group shot, but I have no names. Just Eric on the front right. The picture with me in the group shot is on someone else's camera, but since it was dark and I didn't know any of the kids, who knows? Maybe they'll post some on the SUU outdoors page. I'll send them MY group shot just for kicks. So enjoy figuring out what the pictures are!

Things that go bump in the night

We have this new furnace that works WONDerfully! However, there is something different about it that has caused Gail's imagination to run wild. It seems the chambers in this new furnace are a bit larger than the previous one, so the pressure and the heat expansion causes the walls to "Thunk". We mostly hear the metallic "Thud" when the furnace turns OFF. It's just the metal chamber wall bending back into place when the heat and pressure are off. So this is how Gail's mind works:
When the furnace is running and blowing, there is a lot of air pressure going through there. Then the air pressure goes off. Next, she hears a "Thud." In her mind's eye, she is picturing some small, trapped rodent or a squirrel or something, kept suspended and spinning in the air while the air is blowing, but as soon as the air shuts off-- THUNK! "There goes that small animal again!" What an imagination. Silly girl. So of course, now we ALL think about it each time the furnace goes off. Sometime soon I believe Mike will get down there and screw a supporting metal strip across that wall in the chamber to keep it from thunking with the expansion and contraction. It thunks when it first heats up, too. We just don't hear it because of the noise of the fan. Someday. In the mean time, we just cringe a little, wondering if there really IS some small, trapped creature living in our duct work! ???!!! [not really, but it makes for a fun story] ;-)

NEWs

These are things that are new. New to me, new to my house, new to the family. Just NEWs.

These are my new shoes. I don't always wear such goofy socks with them, but it was "wear red Friday," and I had on an SUU shirt, so I wore SUU socks. These are CUTE work shoes that are actually comfy. I have been trying for a long time to find some of these and finally got them. And I really like them.









This is my new Dishwasher. I kind of got it for Christmas. It wasn't installed until January and I'm still figuring out just how to get it loaded the most efficient way. It works VERY well, but it still has to have the lower plate installed (it had complications)down by the floor and THEN it will be blissfully quiet. Now it's just sort of quiet. Way quieter than the other one was.














This is our new Furnace. It was installed a couple of weeks ago. Our other one was not working well at all. We used to have to turn the thermostat clear up to 80 so it would turn on, let it run until it reached about 70 or so, then turn it back down to 60 or so. Then we'd just have to watch and wait and hope it didn't really get 60 degress before we noticed it was getting cooler in the house. Brrr. This is nice, to set it at 70 and have it BE 70 degrees. Ahhh, creature comforts.















THIS is the new hot water heater. It's lovely. Mike installed it sometime in about November, I think. Cold showers are the pits. I'll say no more.















THESE are the newly organized storage shelves I assembled with odds and ends in my storage space under the stairs. A "Before" and "After" shot would have been MUCH more descriptive. Suffice it to say that the before was piles of broken up boxes, bags, piles. Even a broken light bulb (I did it). Now, it's neat, clean, organized and there is space on the floor still! All the shelves in my storage room have been sorted and organized pretty much now. I'm a very happy camper. The storage room was my un-accomplished summer project. Now (January, just a little late) it's finally done.