Loss

Forgive me father-blog for it has been three weeks since my last post. I have had internet/computer has had issues.

I haven't been ready to write either with all that has happened. We lost 2 family members on the same day. Our sister-in-law Tonya in Idaho lost a damn good fight to diabetes. We lost Diane with a blockage to the heart and suffered a heart attack, something we didn't even have a clue on our radar.
There was a lot of good and bad, many emotions and a lot of love in the past 3 weeks.
These last few months since May have been very emotional. There have been so many losses. I am not really ready to share all my feelings here just yet. I haven't had the words or just can not find them. I just know it hasn't been easy. I don't know how we didn't get to say to them so many things.

In remembrance of some love ones lost in September:
September 8, 2005 Anna Dillier (Joe’s sister)
September 13, 1966 Robert Allen Bennett (Diane’s baby brother, 7 days old)
September 13, 2008 Diane Bennett (Mom of our kids)
September 13, 2008 Tonya Dillier (our sister-in law, Gary’s wife)
September 22, 1998 Joyce Horne (Barry’s Mom)
September 22, 2000 Parley Love (my grandpa “Popa”)
September 22, 2002 Don Love (my uncle)
September 24, 2001 Richard John Pajares (Jamie's Dad)

We love and miss you all.

PS look at the comments on my previous post.

Weekend Update

Friday morning Stephani, Bailey, Lulu and BB Queen met at my house to walk over to the Farmer’s Market with Ozzy and me. All of the dogs were extremely well behaved! Ozzy did not try to kill any ankle biters. I later did errands and then went to NACVA HQ to give seated massages to most of the usual suspects.

Joe, Ozzy and I went to Fish Lake Friday night. Saturday am Joe and Keith worked on the deck. They have been pouring the footings. Keith has a plan and Joe jokes that you could land a helicopter on it when it is completed. Keith drove down with his sister Jackie. They stayed at Kevin’s cabin because Kim and her son Griffin came down Saturday after his game or practice. They went to Loa to get more supplies for the deck.

We went to Richfield with Charlie and Joyce. Saturday was their 39th wedding anniversary. The boys went golfing and girls went shopping. We went to dinner after. We ate entirely too much because we had Mexican food.

Sunday morning, we were woken up by Keith calling to invite us to breakfast. Kim and Jackie had made ham, bacon and pancakes. Kim added cinnamon and fresh peaches to the pancakes. I ate three, again entirely too much food.
While Keith worked on the deck, Joe worked on the boat. Ozzy and I went on 3 longer walks throughout the day. Kim, Griffin and Jackie came by and enjoyed the sun with me on our cement part of the deck. They went home and Joe & Charlie went fishing. Since Joe got back late after dark we decided to spend the night and get up at 6 this morning. There were not as many deer around the cabin but as we drove out there were plenty deer. A lot of fawns!

As we drove through Sigard, we got caught behind a school bus. They stop at EVERY little kid’s house! I remarked on how in the city when I waited for the bus, there were at least 20 kids that converged on our stop. Maybe it is because in the winter it is so cold.

About the time we went through Santaquin and Payson, the SIRUIS dj commented about Gary Coleman running over some guy in a Payson bowling alley. The poor guy moved in the middle of poe-dunk nowhere to get away from people folling him around with cameras. He cannot even go bowling in peace.

When we got home our sweet neighbor across the street was doing yard work. I saw our garbage can was put out for us. I knew it was John. I yelled over to thank him and he told us he did another couple of favors too. Saturday he came over to bring us corn and tomatoes. Our garage door was open, apparently from when we left about 7 pm until whenever he came by on Saturday. He put the veggies in the garage and shut our door. Nothing was missing or out of place. They could have stolen at least one of the 2 cars with keys in the ignitions. Also on the front porch was a bag full of miscellaneous produce. I have 3 other neighbors who most likely gave it to us. Yep, we are lucky to have such a great neighbors and live in a great neighborhood!

An AfFAIR (fiasco) To Remember

Being the dork I am I waited until the very last day (this last Saturday) and the very last couple of hours to take my photo entries to the Utah State Fair. It was in part due to that I had been working the days and times when you could enter.

After I worked the USANA conference, I went to the fairgrounds at about 3:15 pm. Standing in line, I had a conversation with the two people ahead of me about how the mounting should be…apparently I can't read.
“1. All entries must be permanently affixed to a mount board that is approximately 1/8" to 1/4" thick. The mount board can be a standard matte or foam core NO wood, masonite or cardboard NO framed, glass covered, or shrink-wrapped entries except as allowed in the Fine Art Photography PH6 NO hanging devices or other protrusions on the back or front of prints Front (over) "mattes" and edges/borders that are an integral part of prints are acceptable.” What I read…(besides, blah-blah-blah, the mattes you chose should be fine, just glue it.)

Therefore, I drove madly to the Wal-Mart on 13th South. Um, that is the biggest Wally World I have been in AND one of the scariest! I bought several frames, double sided tape and a water. Then I drove back to the fairgrounds. I threw the 3 prints into frames, Mickey Mouse style. I hope the one stays put. Meanwhile when I am doing this I am cursing myself for waiting this long and doubting myself and the quality of work for Fine Art category.

I wait in line again, I get up to the guy who is in charge of accepting the entries for the Fine Art category. I told the story to him that I had to run and buy the frames.
Him – You know that the Fine Art category is juried now? (I have no idea what the hell he is talking about, does that mean I am kicked out if they think it sucks? Btw, I still don’t know)
Me – uh, ok I guess, I am stuck with it now
We do all of the paperwork. I look down at my entry paper what he wrote. Lot 1 for all three prints.
Me- I meant for each of these to be in different categories.
Him – yes, Fine Art category there are no lots (divisions like action, pets, children, landscapes, etc (my heart sank)
You see the plan was that I was going to win 1st place in all lots (this was before all of the self-doubt, etc)Me – oh, I see
Him – oh, do you have your digital files of these?
Me – no! I was not planning on being in the Fine Arts division. My heart sinking again.
Him – we need it for all entries
Me - Can I email it?
Him – no, I don’t do email
Me - Can I bring it tomorrow or the next day or next? Sometime, anytime?
Him – do you know where the Wal-Mart in Taylorsville is?
So I took it to his house on Sunday. At least I hope he got it.I will go to the fair next week to see how it compares with it all or if they even hung my photos. I really would have made some different choices had I known. Like I would have skipped the “Cowboy Up” print.
Well, I guess I will give it a shot next year. It is not like I won't have another 1000 pictures I have taken in 2009 to choose from! They never called me to tell me to get this crap out of here so I guess it is ok. We shall see!

Patriotic but Lazy

Today I finally took down the 4th and 24th of July decorations.

There really is a reason for it though. First, there was the main holidays already stated, and then there were the Olympics. I felt it my duty, my honor and privilege to leave them up for that, well then I kept forgetting to take them down. But THEN came Labor Day. How American is THAT? And what about the Democratic and Republican conventions?

I took down the ribbons and banner today. From my perch on the couch, I can see the front door, which is donning the lit American flag. Perhaps I will take it down and sing Taps in my head.

I might just put the flag back up for Patriot Day, September 11th. Or should I just enjoy it from the couch? I bet I could leave it up until we vote in November!

Post Surgery Update on Kate - BENIGN!

Since my last post about Kate, I had a chance to talk a little to George. They needed the O+ blood for transfusion. They need a couple days to prep the blood. I can always be available in the future should there (hopefully not) be any more surgeries. I haven't donated blood for a while and I am wondering why. I will soon.

It turns out that they have been struggling this last year with Kate having bouts of vision problems and vomiting. Like George said, "who would put vision problems and vomiting together as a brain tumor?”

They checked in Tuesday night to Primary Children's. The best surgeons in the country are there and I would not feel comfortable knowing she (or any child) would be having surgery anywhere else.

Yesterday the surgery started later than scheduled due to the surgery ahead of Kate's. They did not start hers until 5 pm. It was supposed to start at noon. How nerve racking. Surgery in general you just want to get over as soon as possible. Especially poor little Kate not being able to eat.

An email from their friend who is keeping several of us in the loop.
"Hi Everyone, Definitely a long night for George, Heidi and Kate. Heidi said everything went well. The tumor has been removed and it is benign, great news. All of Kate's vitals are great, clear lungs, good heart rate. She's off to the MRI and they will have more information later today. Again, when Heidi calls me I will send out an email right away. They will let us know when visitors are permitted. It sounds like it will be at least a few days. Talk to you soon. Joie"

I will keep you updated as I hear.

Well, I am off to get ready for my day at the USANA conference doing seated massages (today through Saturday).

Wildlife Weekend

Keith, Shasta, Joe, Ozzy and I went Friday night to Fish Lake. We saw two huge bucks (no really - tall, wide and lots of points) just outside of Scipio.

Saturday the boys prepped the cabin for painting. Ozzy and I went on a short walk. My camera battery was dead so I grabbed Joe’s. At least I had something when the osprey was flying RIGHT over my head. I could have gotten some killer pics, but got a couple of mini videos that will be on FlickR. It flew with us as we walked. It reminded me of when we were in Maui one time and the whales kept jumping as I walked the boardwalk. I loved it!

Then the boys went golfing and Joyce and I went shopping in Richfield. I decided to get Joyce off of the mountain before she really went cabin feverish. We stopped on the way back so I could take pictures of three wild turkeys. Hey! That is a sign that I am going to be a better bowler.

Then we came back and grilled up some brats (Joe and Charlie call them BraCTwurst...drives me crazy), steaks and fresh fish. It was a complete feast with: grapes, blueberries, honey-loupe (a yummy hybrid of cantaloupe and honeydew melons from the farmer’s market), farmer’s market bread from Volker’s, feast with pasta salad made from basil from our yard, farmer’s market tomatoes, mozzarella and parmesan cheeses. We completed dinner with chocolate covered cinnamon bears.

Sunday Keith and Joe painted the cabin then went fishing at Mill Meadow with Charlie late in the afternoon into the evening.

About 5 minutes after they left, a doe and her fawn were in front of the cabin. They were chowing on our tender aspen at Skyliner Diner. I’ll have those pictures and a lot more late today and this week.

Ozzy and I went for a walk that ended up being just under two hours. It was late afternoon most people were gone so there were a bunch of animals out. We saw a lot more deer. There were spikes, does and fawn. They could have been the same 3 we kept pushing down the hill. Besides the deer, I saw: a variety of birds, chipmunks, squirrels, a rabbit, water snake, about 3 water rat things, a beaver in some rocks then a beaver swimming by the dam. I also watched some fish in less than a foot of shoreline water feeding on the bugs. They surfaced like sharks. I think they were just big carp. I also saw a fat – 3 inch caterpillar by our cabin.

They came home so late and with cleaning the fish, we ended up spending the night and leaving early Monday morning. The decision came because a big pretty moth landed on Joe’s shoe. We debated but the prospect of getting home after 1 am and possibly hitting a deer wasn’t what we all really wanted.

Besides, Joe named the moth Bob Jr. Which shouldn’t be confused with Bob the antelope hanging in the cabin. Bob the antelope will be another story another time. The moth hung out on his shoe for a long time. I want to say at least 45 minutes. He had to pry it off to come in the cabin. Although Joe was quite attached to it too. Either it was eating his shoe or laying eggs. Maybe we will have moth babies. At least they will be cute.

I Need Your Help Please Vote!

Either something is up with Blogger or I am just a pure idiot. I have been trying to do a slideshow or copy and paste...arrgggh Very frustrating! Anyhew, see the voting tool on the right?

Or go to my FlickR page http://flickr.com/photos/89746220@N00/sets/72157605886832484/