Duck Creek autumn leaves

 

What a great conference day!

Wow, what a great conference. We stayed at home and watched on Saturday and then on Sunday we went to Grandma's. She fed us one of her scrumptious meals for lunch and then we all had a hard time not nodding off during the afternoon session. I think I won the staying awake contest. Paul and Grandma lost. Wasn't Elder Holland fantastic?! Of course, he's kind of a favorite around this house. After it was all over we took Grandma up by Duck Creek to see what was left of the leaves. With the sudden cold snap last Wednesday, they went very fast. There weren't a whole lot left, but she was happy to see what there was. It was freezing up there. Then we stopped by the Borrowman's on the way home to help eat the "tons of spaghetti" they had left from Ryan's dinner. He made homemade sauce with the last of the tomatoes and peppers from their garden. It was yummy and we were glad to be able to help them out with their leftovers! We also got to see their little bull calf...Chuck, as in chuck roast! It was a really nice day.

Genghis has a made a new friend next door.

Last week at church the neighbors informed us that Genghis has made friends with their puppy, Gunner. He's kind of a big,clumsy,slobbering,type friend, so he has to be kept in line. Genghis likes to lay on the wall between our house and theirs and when Gunner comes over to say hi they touch noses and do the sniffing thing, but all the while Genghis keeps one paw up in the air and has to occasionally give Gunner a little tap if he gets a little bit too fresh in his sniffing or nose touching activities. I have yet to see this take place for myself. Genghis seems to look forward to getting out to that area of the yard a bit more now. The neighbors gave me this picture that they snapped.

I love this sign!

Today is the St. George Marathon. I think it's great that people work so hard and feel so good when they accomplish their goal. It's nothing that even remotely appeals to me. Give me a bike ride or a long hike and I might be interested. Paul and I did go out and take a walk this morning and crossed paths with those out doing the Mayor's Walk. While on our walk we spotted this sign...I love it! They've had it out other years too, but I've never gotten around to taking a picture of it before. What a sense of humor so near the finish line! I wonder if the runners think it's funny.

Conference has been great so far. I also got bread raising before it started and into the oven while it was on. Had fresh bread/toasted cheese with banana chilies, apples and homegrown tomatoes with chilies for lunch after the first session...mmm good! Almost time to head back for another feast, for the spirit instead of the stomach. Happy listening to all of you.

Trail Views

 

The trail on the Red Hill...my backyard haven

This morning I just had to desert the treadmill for the trail on the Red Hill. I had already finished my scriptures (I usually read them on the treadmill), so there was no reason not to. The treadmill is great when it's just too blasted hot to get outside, but it's no substitute for the real thing on a morning as cool as today. I am so lucky to have a trail like this right in my own backyard. The distant views are breathtaking...Zion, Pine Valley,the Arizona Strip, Utah Hill. The close up views of the crazily shaped red rocks, the desert plants and occasional critters; lizards, birds, foxes, Gila monsters, deer herds, hawks, condors, ducks, desert tortoises, to name those that we've seen, are worth the effort too. It's so cool to be able to escape to an out of town type environment without even leaving town. I have noticed of late that someone has been doing a lot of upkeep on the trail. Today I came across the good Samaritan in the act. It's our own Bob Owens who has been making new cairns, closing off short cuts and putting in steps on the steep parts. He said he does it to help old people like himself have an easier time of it. I told him I was certainly benefiting from his work along with my grand kids. I guess I'm old, but they aren't! What a haven we have to enjoy right in our own backyard! I guess I have the desert tortoise to thank for not having any other backyard neighbors. Thanks be to the desert tortoise!

A Day At Grandma's

 

A day with the grand kids

Paul had a scout camp out and Weed and Derek were moving, so the usual week end past time of hiking was not an option. Instead I had a grand kid day with the little Smiths. We had a lot of fun doing assorted things. We started our morning out with a little hike up the Red Hill and over and down to the pond to feed the quackers some breakfast...they were very hungry. The would take whole pieces of bread right out of your hand if you didn't watch them. In route we stopped at the little amphitheater where the girls performed a short number from Lion King and Tasia performed the ABC song for Grandma and Zade. After hiking back (knock knock jokes were performed at the amphitheater on the return trip) to the house we made owl cards and pasted bird feathers that we had collected at the pond on them to make them more realistic. Genghis thought they were pretty realistic and kept sniffing the feathers up. After that we got out some old jewelry that Grandma Poulsen gave me and dolled ourselves up...then we looked liked so much like princesses that we made a tent castle, with neighboring jewelry store, cafe, dog kennel and nursery and sold goods and ate pretend food. Pretty soon it was time to head outdoors again to our tree house palace with Genghis guarding the entrance along with Zadegator in the mote below (he was swinging). We got hungry soon and needed peanut butter and royal jelly sandwiches in the tree house palace. Zade fell asleep at his post while eating and went in for some Zzzz. The rest of us had a story break and then we got the mail and enjoyed looking through all the catalogs and eating princess sized apples. As we perused the catalogs we turned down page corners on all the pages that had something we needed or that someone we know needed. Almost every page had something. With that job finished we then visited Grandma's beauty parlor for pedicures and manicures. We looked so good afterwards that jubilation was in order and Zade couldn't sleep through it and woke up. We decided it was time to head for the Town Square water park to cool off in the Lazy River. Almost no one was there and we got wet all over and had a great time. Then mom called and we headed home to meet up with her. A snack of Marshmallow Mateys was consumed in the tree house palace while waiting for her to get back. It was a fun busy day. The only thing on our list that we didn't get done was to visit the pet store. We'll just have to get to that another day. (Paul had the camera on the camp out, so I just had to use the cell phone camera...sorry for the poor quality.)

Autumn leaves?

No, these are some forest fire baked aspen leaves.

Autumn's Aspens

While out hiking, that little Primary song, Falling Snow, just kept playing in my head and I kept trying to think of how to change it for this season. Here's my attempt at a re-write for autumn. (Don't laugh!)

Floating down, gently down,
See the swirling aspen leaves.

Shimmering, fluttering,
A glowing carpet 'neath the trees.

See each leaf brightly quaking,
On swaying boughs of white-barked trees.

Coral leaves, golden leaves,
Drifting softly on the breeze.

(The original song, Falling Snow, by Lois Lunt, has been shortened by quite a bit in the new Primary Children's Song Book. I like the older version in the older editions better.)