Battenkill

This is an old post that's been stuck in draft limbo for a long time. Rather than just kill it off, I thought I'd cripple it forever with some really surface level thinking. I won't write a novel. I couldn't even write an essay. 

Maybe just bullet points?

- The upper Provo
- A bamboo rod that's been in the family for almost 50 years
- Very modest success (lost one on the line, a couple of strikes)
- Some of my favorite people ever
- Freddy looking wider than usual (sorry man... my bad)
- Jordan looking creepy (sorry man... it's you)
- Nate as his usual, hyper-generous, river-guide self
- A camera to fall back on when fishing was slow
- The lightest of rain

Called to Swerve

I teach Sunday School every few weeks at church. It's also sometimes called Gospel Doctrine. I like the sound of that better. Sunday School? I mean, anyone can teach that, right? But the Gospel stuff... combined with the Doctrine part? You really have to know what you're doing to tackle that sort of thing. Wouldn't you? You would think so. And yet... they have me teach Sunday School every few weeks at church.

The image above is a remedial photo-finger-painting I made on my iPad while Anne (a fellow instructor) was teaching two weeks ago. Thinking she might enjoy the image, I emailed it to her after church. I almost emailed it during church, but thought she might think badly of me for sending her emails from the back row while she taught her lesson. I'm pretty sure she's impressed with my self control.

Invasive Species

We've been to Pocatello twice in the past couple of months. Once in late October and again at Thanksgiving. I suppose eastern Idaho won't sound all that alluring to most... but for us it is. It's a short drive to a place that feels like having a country house (sorry Ken and Annie)... much in the same way that St. George (sorry Todd and Bill) feels like going to a beach house. Pathetic? Probably, but you have to make the best of things.

Hopefully we haven't quite worn out our welcome yet up there, but we'd have to be close. Inviting oneself somewhere frequently can have that effect. An important note: If you're going to impose on friends or family living in the country, fall is a great time to do it.

A few photos below of what one sees and does... and please don't drop off before the end. I wouldn't want you to miss one of the few fish I've caught in recent memory.

Falling Off

Apparently I haven't posted since October 15th. Ugh. Not sure what's been holding me back. Guess I just haven't been feeling it lately. I suppose I put pressure on myself to be clever or insightful or something. Not a good idea... those moments are too few and far between to rely on for content.

We've been busy mostly. Fall was beautiful here and it actually lasted more than a week. Or maybe summer just ran long. Either way, it was something to be grateful for. It's only just now getting truly cold and the snow has yet to really fly. Those with season passes get uptight, the rest of us who only dabble in winter sports don't seem to mind.

I don't know that I have a million things to say about the last couple of months, but I do have a fair amount of photos. Everything I post may be way overdue, but still worthwhile I think. Guess I consider this a bit more time capsule than news report.

Lamb's Canyon

Fall is my favorite season by far. 

To be honest, I go a bit mental about seeing the leaves at their peak. Of course, I never actually see them during this time. I see them later... when I remember what month it is... and when they look more like they are diseased than autumnal. Fortunately, I also like this kind of thing too... (photos in a minute). Not sure the family feels the same way about all this as I do, but they graciously, briefly humor me anyway. This time we took a quick trip up to Lamb's Canyon to see what there was to see. See for yourself what we saw. Not pictured: The squirrel that assaulted Eden after she quite logically decided to straddle it's home. Pictured: Eden's semi-terrified reaction. Hailey couldn't make this little adventure so she went up later on her own initiative. Atta girl Hailey... I knew I liked you best.

And Yet...

Another year of poor gardening comes to a close. The chile peppers didn't go anywhere. The basil was a bust. Even the tomatoes went down in flames. Who can't grow tomatoes? Apparently us.

And yet... Just when we were ready to completely write off the whole endeavor... hope has been ever so slightly restored.

While the strawberries didn't exactly yield a lot of fruit, they didn't die. And because they are perennials, they might have even established a firm footing with next season in mind.

The pumpkins pulled off a comeback in the nick of time. There won't be many of them and they won't win any prizes. They will however, make Tracy happy whenever she goes out to check on them. This is, for me, almost entirely the point.

And perhaps best of all... Blackberries. In an unexpected turn, the vines I hate have produced something I love. Will there be more? Enough to make a truce? Or better yet a pie? Stay tuned...

Ascent

Tracy and I have taken up hiking!
Okay, not exactly.

We did, however, take the following three steps toward becoming hikers:
1) We bought a map of the hiking trails along the Wasatch Front.
2) We looked at (but didn't buy) hiking shoes at REI.
3) We actually went on a hike. (not our first, but not too far from it)

It's probably also worth noting that if you live in Utah and don't hike, you'll be viewed dimly... not unlike the way you'll be viewed if you say you don't really like dogs... or kids. We don't have anything against hiking... except the incessant climbing part. As it turns out, if you live in a valley, and decide to go somewhere... anywhere you go will be uphill. Drastically so if you live in the valley we do.

We looked at the map and picked out a trail to follow in Big Cottonwood Canyon... the name escapes me. What didn't escape me was the listed distance, difficulty rating and elevation gain. .8 Miles, "Easy" and about 500 feet. This looked promising. We agreed that the key to our hiking success was to start slow and work our way up from there.

Like most, or maybe even all, of our plans... it began to unravel quickly. We couldn't find the trailhead we were looking for, so we took an alternate instead. Lake Blanche, the sign read. One way distance: three miles. Now I'm no good at math, but I was pretty sure 3.0 miles is longer than .80 miles. It was. The sign didn't really say much else. Whatever... We were here. Let's do this!

How did it go? I'll just cover the high points:

• Tracy is in better shape than I am... as apparently is everyone else. As toddlers and old folks made the return trip down, she was patient and waited while I frequently pulled over for a breather on the way up. I did do better than she on the downhill portion of the hike... maybe she does need those shoes afterall.
• We never quite made it to Lake Blanche... Dinner Plans and low blood sugar cut the hike short. We were probably only about halfway in... later research revealed the hike to be a roughly five hour endeavor. Three hours and a half hours up, and hour and a half back. The internet also revealed the elevation gain... 2500 feet. Yikes. If you're unimpressed, keep in mind that the starting elevation for this hike is over 7000 feet. Don't worry, I'll always provide more reasons to be unimpressed.
• Even though we didn't make it all the way up this time around. It was so worthwhile. Time together, doing something difficult and new. It was also a nice reminder of a simple truth. We live in an amazing place with even more amazing places a short drive away.

Rest assured... endless uphill trail to Lake Blanche... We'll be back.

Fly By

Visitors to the front yard a little while back... Yet another reason to love having a camera with a shoe-mounted flash. I can't find the exact name of the first one... almost the length of your hand. The second one feeding in the flowers (shot after dark) is called a White Lined Sphinx Moth. At first we thought it was a Hummingbird. Dorky? Yes... yes it is. Guest photography by Eden.

Svenhardcore

If you're going to buy a Svenhard's Danish Variety Pack (30 Count) from Costco... and I suggest you do. You should and (inevitably will) eat them in roughly this order. The Breakfast Claw is pretty much a guaranteed #1. It is nothing short of multi-textural cinnamon sandwich delight. Positions #2 (Cheese Horn) and #3 (Berry Horn) may vary by individual, depending on your level of fondness for faux fruit filling or simulated cream cheese. Actually, both fillings are probably legit... but I still like them just the same. Raisin-ette at the #4 spot may surprise you... I can't say I wasn't taken aback. If you detest raisins (some do), you'll agree to disagree. Unaffiliated others will, I think, find the Cinnamon Claw to be the lesser of the two. Hyphenation aside, the Raisin-ette is at least trying. To be honest, I think the Breakfast Claw might be to blame. When you see what can be done with cinnamon and frosting in the very same variety pack, it's just so hard to forgive.

Two additional notes... I'm not really sure why some of these are called claws and some are called horns. Maybe the shape? Sort off...? I could Google it, but honestly... it would probably take at least three clicks.

Also, as passionate as I am about anything you can buy in a 30-pack from Costco, this was mostly an excuse to mess around with my new studio lights. Thanks Amazon.