Invisible Creatures

Here is a run down of our kid's activities:

Eric had a 3rd date with the same girl.

Haley did a photo shoot of essential oil and then went to celebrate with the Hare Krishna's at the biggest festival of colors in the western hemisphere...located in Spanish Fork, Utah. Brittany went with her.

Gordon's family returned safely from Disneyland and John ate a raw potato.

I had several things to do on Saturday; oil and coolant change on the truck, haircut, and re-coat the patio roof. The Women's Conference was in the evening so I figured I could go for a ride during that time.

The truck maintenance and haircut went quickly. The roof coating took a while. Cleaning and prep are the longest things. Last time I did it, I purchased a 5 gallon bucket. I only used 2 gallons so I resealed the container for later use. When I reopened it yesterday it was all dried out. This time I only bought 2 gallons.

While coating the roof, I saw this pretty little house finch on the ocatillo out front eating something in the blossoms. Every time I tried to get a picture it had hopped to another branch or just flew away.
Here are my pictures:

Here is what I was trying to capture (courtesy of Dave Welling)..

My motorcycle ride that evening didn't go much better. I took my new (not smart) phone on the ride because it had a good camera. It turned out that it was too slow to get unlocked and get the camera started. I missed getting any picture of the animals I saw.

I saw a Border Collie on the lower part of the trail near some rural houses. It came right up to me but I couldn't get the camera out fast enough for it, let alone the 4 deer and 3 javelina I saw later.

I rode into this nice little valley.

Kitchen Lizard

I came home from work on Tuesday and found a lizard in the sink. Felicia was out doing Jazzercise or tennis or something.

I managed to capture it in an empty jam bottle and take it outside. I have no idea how it got in the sink. It makes me wonder if there are anymore running around the house unseen.

Eric is still in CNA training and has a one week break coming up soon. He was nearly kicked out of his apartment because he wasn't a BYUI student but he was able to get his status reinstated. He has had a couple of dates lately but nothing serious.

Haley did some hiking with some folks in her ward. She was able to take this nice photo.

Gordon and his family are in Disneyland.

Felicia took the dog, Christie, to snake avoidance training. It is warming up and she saw a snake last week. Apparently Christie learned very quickly. Shock collars are a wonder.

I went back to Chiva Falls this weekend. I hadn't been since Gordon and I had the quad disaster in '09.

We had a special Priesthood Meeting today and I was assigned to go visit an inactive member named John Conte. I gave him a call but the phone was disconnected. I went to the house and found the house was empty with a for sale sign and a realtor lock. Now if I could just figure out where to move the records...

No Relief for You

We enjoyed talking to all the family on the Google hangout, but it was chaotic.  Everyone is in need of divine help in choosing the direction they should go with their lives. We pray for all of you every day. We are blessed as a family in many ways even though things seem unsettled.

Mom has the house on the market now. Here is the Link.

BYU is playing in the NCAA this week against Ole Miss.

I had was stranded on my motorcycle yesterday trying to get to the Saddlebrook golf course or Biosphere.

Here is the report of the ride.

Mount Kleenex

This was a sick week. A cold hit me on Monday evening. I stayed home Tue and Wed to keep from infecting people but continued to work from home. I stayed home Thu because I felt awful. By Friday I was mostly OK. Kirby has developed an uncontrollable fetish for used kleenex. He would follow me around and lurk over me waiting for me to set one down. Garbage cans had to be set up high.

Felicia took Kirby to Windsor's veterinary office to get his teeth cleaned on one of the days. That kept him out of my hair for a while.

During the time I was confined to bed, I was able to listen to many chapters of Tolstoy's War and Peace. Even though Tolstoy doesn't categorize it as a novel, I would call it a historical novel. It chronicles what life was like among the Russian aristocracy during the Napoleonic Wars between 1805 and 1812.

I found this interesting because we would have had relatives living in what is now the Czech Republic (then the Bohemia/Selesia part of the Austrian Empire) who could have been involved in some of battles. Of course, War and Peace has a lot more to say about peace than war. This is a large book.

I am listening to the Librivox recorded version on the way to work (free). I expect to be finished by winter.

Have you ever wished you owned some dental picks? These were $6.95 from Amazon.

Friday I fixed the oil seal on the Honda CRF230's shift lever. It was jostled loose by a rock I hit while riding last week. The dental picks were perfect for grabbing and removing the old seal.

Saturday morning, I rode up Mount Lemmon on the KLR while Felicia was at the club. The KLR is getting old. I had to add a quart of oil before the ride.

It always puzzles me when I see someone driving their sedan up the backside of Mt Lemmon. This Impala was carrying an older couple up the road. They had lready passed several rough sections when I came across them.

I was taking a picture of what was left of the snow at the top when this fellow on my dream motorcycle came by (a KTM 1190 Adventure R).

He was behind me coming up the back side. I followed him down the front side.

We chatted briefly at a stop sign. He had an Alaska plate. He said he rode from Prudhoe Bay. Amazing.

We are all still praying that Eric can find an internship. He did a 12 hr shift with a CNA on Saturday then watched a movie at Hannah's place. Haley got her first big paycheck (one covering two weeks) and feels rich. John seems to be saying 'dada' now.

We decided to try the Wild Garlic Grill Saturday night. It is in an old time drive-in restaurant building and parking was crazy.

The food was affordable and good. Here is the salad.

...and the ribs

Mountains of Kleenex and randomness

So Bryan was battling a cold this week and went through lots of Kleenex.  Kirby decided he loved the used ones and would search for them on the nightstand or anyplace Bryan had left them.  In the middle of the night, we heard this chewing (?)sound coming from the dog.  I turned on a light and opened up his big mouth and yes there was a kleenex which I removed.  nasty!

Sunday rolled around and we were in church when Bryan asked if I had a Kleenex?  I had exactly 1.  Ok, so I gave it to him and the high councilman speaking told a story that was incredibly sad.  I had a huge lump in my throat and no tissues to blow my nose!  I managed but Bryan went out to his truck and got himself  some Kleenex to get through church after sacrament meeting. He also gave me some.

So Mr. Kirby finally had his teeth cleaned this week.  It's one of those things that I put off due to the expense.  We went to a vet that has really great rates on dental cleanings and everything else.  Kirby had to forego breakfast.  Picked him up 6 hours later and he was groggy the rest of the afternoon.  It was good that he didn't need any teeth pulled.  His breath smelled so bad I was concerned that could happen.  Now I need to work on brushing his teeth which he hates!

Checked in with Haley and she's doing ok.  She got to drive her room mate's Scion XB and loved it. She's dreaming of replacing her elderly car.

Eric got to work a 12 hour clinical shift at a care facility.  So far he seems to accept doing these menial tasks that aren't pleasant.  He wants to work with people but the CNA is just an entry step to get to where he hopes to work.

And that's a wrap.

Yah, dontcha know?

We wish we could be with all our kids to help them through there challenges, but it isn't so. Not at the present time, anyway. Haley has settled into her job, Eric is trying to find an internship to graduate, and Gordon and Alison are watching Johnny grow.

We went to see McFarland, USA. It is a good motivational and feel-good film. My understanding is that the exaggeration of truth in the film is that it took 8 years to get the team to a state championship, not just one, as shown in the movie.

I had some time to ride this weekend and met two guys from 'Minne-sohhh-ta' out  on the trail. They had the distinct Fargo area accent.  One of them said they work for Microsoft and can pretty-well work from wherever he wants so he decided to abandon the cold this winter and come live in Catalina, AZ. They were at the sign-in Kiosk when I rode up. I decided I could show them how to get up the trail.

This guy, Jeff, was on a Suzuki DR 650. I guess he was afraid of running out of gas so he packed along a gas can.

I forgot the other guy's name. As you see, they had matching helmets.

 He had a Honda XR650R with a street legal light kit. I was on the CRF230L

 I got to the top and tried to get a picture of them coming up but they went into the trees just as I was snapping this

 Here they are riding to the big switchback turn near the top.