I’m seriously concerned about politics in our country these days! It’s not so much that I don’t like nationalized health care and some other issues and trends - it’s the fact that NO ONE CAN TALK REASONABLY anymore!!
Thanks a LOT, Democrats. Thanks, Republicans. Thanks lobbyists, celebrities, protesters, and Glen Beck.
When I taught college writing, we’d do a little section on logical fallacies and now and then I’d find a good example of one being used in the news. Now that’s all I hear. Everyone has traded reason in for sloppy emotional rants. That will never resolve anything! Continue Reading »
I forgot to post a link to this video I made of my nieces and nephews at Bear Lake this summer. Don’t expect a masterpiece - it was shot pretty quickly because there was too much sailing and eating and talking to do and because the kids’ patience wouldn’t last forever. But the kids love it and it’ll be great as they grow older to look back and laugh at.
When 14 year old cousins James Gough and Frank Johnson discovered Timpanogos Cave in 1913, they didn’t travel along the upper passage where tours go today. That area was very narrow and has been excavated to make it roomy enough for most visitors to get through without too much trouble (if you don’t count the unlucky ones responsible for naming the stalactite “13 Stitches”, formerly known as “12 Stitch”).
Instead, they took the lower passage, now off limits, and protected by such things as light sensors so we know if anyone goes out of bounds. The only chance to get down there is on special projects such as the one going on now where resource rangers are removing as much of the man-made junk as possible. Continue Reading »
For my day off today, I spent six hours riding the trails above the Alpine Loop with Curtis and Olin. It felt so great to spend another perfect late-summer day outside! Being outdoors seems to lubricate the heart and the cooler, dry air feels so much sweeter in my lungs.
We stopped to chat with mountain bikers and cute trail runners and I got to wondering how many moose and cougars we miss as we speed along with our eyes glued to the trail. Then a few minutes later, a giant bull and cow moose ran across the trail about 20′ in front of Curtis. Continue Reading »
As you may have noticed, I don’t usually post anything terribly personal here on my blog. You get some observations and adventures, while I save the rest for conversations with close friends or perhaps when someone is interested and asks (even though the blog is pretty much read only by friends with whom I’d have no problem sharing more personal details).
I’m not planning to change that, but in this case, I will post this beautiful youtube video of one of my favorite hymns and let it do the talking for me. I love the lyrics, the harmonies, the variety of tempo and tone, the subtly-developing crescendo, and especially the sincere emotion so evident in the performers’ faces! I’ll post the lyrics below. Continue Reading »
is the most wonderful time of the year, no matter what any old holiday music may claim!
It’s warm and cool. The days are still relatively long. There’s SO MUCH to do!
The only problem I’ve ever had with autumn is dreading its eventual end - but this year, happily, I’m not feeling that.
Maybe it’s because I’m outside A LOT, thanks to working at the cave. Maybe I’ve finally grown comfortable with the fact that autumn can last quite a while here in Utah Valley. It certainly helps that the leaves have barely begunto change.
I used to wonder where all the great people were. Where is all the excellence they could produce? Why does Hollywood put out so much mediocrity, for example? Movies cost $millions to make, so why doesn’t someone go over the script one more time and make it twice as good with a few revisions? Continue Reading »
Every month during the summer, the resource rangers at Timp Cave put up their nets along the American Fork River and catch bats as they swoop down for a drink before setting off to hunt for the night.
<– Cami examines a bat after extracting it from the net.
I went up tonight for some pizza and to check out the action. It was pretty cool! We caught about 20 right around dusk, then one or two later on. They took various measurements, then marked their head with a green marker to make sure we didn’t measure the same bat twice. When releasing them, they’d record their chatter to compare the “dialect” to bats from this or other areas. Maybe you’ve heard of the same thing happening with whales and other mammals. Continue Reading »
