A Visit to Moab and Canyonlands

So I forgot many things that happened over the last six months in the last post.

We went on a wonderful trip to Southern Utah again. We like those trips. They are cheap and it is so amazing down there! This time we went to the Moab / Arches / Canyonlands area. Again it is the paragon of majesty, especially the Island in the Sky district of Canyonlands. From the viewpoints it really feels like you are on top of the world.

We went to Arches the first couple days, and to the Monticello temple with our good friends Nate and Cameron. It was really nice spending some time on a trip with friends. Here's a few pictures from that:

Each of us couples at delicate arch.

We met this great guy by Sunset arch who we talked to a little and he joined us in a quest. The front of the arch was 30 or so feet up a cliff. As we were leaving we saw some people in the arch, and Nate was determined to figure out how they got there. Eventually we found the back of the arch, and getting up there was pretty easy. When we got up there, some people on the front side asked how we got there as well. They too some pictures of us from below the arch and emailed them.

Joanna and Cameron doing the "flaming arrow." Joanna and Daniel in front of Landscape Arch.

This is Joanna ridin' cowboy in the Needles District of Canyonlands.

A panorama from the south lookout of the Island in the Sky district of Canyonlands.

All of us in front of the Monticello, Utah Latter-Day Saint temple.

Happy Holidays! (and last six months...)

Well, Happy Holidays to everyone! I wanted to post a blog entry before sending out all our Christmas cards and asking everyone to visit our old, stale blog. But if we're lucky most of you have been too busy to look here before now anyway! In that case, I am not too late!

Our last entry was in October, and it talked about something we did over the summer. So as far as insight into our lives over the last six months, there is next to none in our blog. So where to begin? I will try to hit on some of the salient points of our lives, which have been eventful.

1. Still no kids. Some would say this is a blessing, some would say a curse. I would say that it is neither, just working on the Lord's timing here and we don't know what is in store. We can do what we want, when we want, and that is nice, but we're getting to the point where that isn't really as satisfying, we have spent seven years being able to do whatever we want. In reality we have a stronger desire to raise and educate some little ones, and take on that responsibility, take on that new challenge. Trust me, just thinking about yourselves can grow old pretty quickly.

We're still working the fertility front, because we don't have any definitive answers either way in that area. We are also working the adoption front. We welcome any help and advice in the area! It is uncomfortable to be required to sell ourselves. I mean, we both have the desire and means to raise some kids and we think we'd do well at it, but to actually have our picture floating around on cards is a little out of our element. However, it really is necessary if we are going find a baby who needs a nice home, and start a family that way. So we are very grateful for all your efforts out there to help us spread the word. So let us know if we can get you more pass-along cards!

2. Joanna is working at the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. She started shortly after the dedication this summer and has been really feeling blessed by the opportunity. I think our lives have really been blessed by her work there as well. The blessings have come in getting along better than ever, having a stronger spirit in our home, having the drive to visit the temple more often together, and in many other ways. She works there for two shifts a week. She also volunteers at the Bingham Creek Library on Fridays as well, and finds other opportunities to assist in the community. I feel blessed to have a good job that provides us enough to allows her to serve the community and not have to work.

3. Joanna has gone off the anti-coagulants. She has been off now for about a month, and the clot in her subclavian vein hasn't returned. We hypothesize that a long string of events beginning with a bad chiroprator led to all this trouble in the first place. Through the course of some recent physical therapy, we discovered that she has a muscle that somehow got damaged (we think from an ill prescribed heel lift) and pinches off a nerve in her leg because it is so tense. This causes her muscles to tense up on her right side including muscles around the vein and pinch it off. As always these are only theories, but acting on this assumption has shown good results. Now that we have some ideas how to manage this, we think we have some ways and can make some lifestyle changes to keep it from happening again. Plus at this point she has developed many collateral veins so that if it does block off the effect should not be very pronounced.

4. My job has been a particular challenge the last six months. We have been a bit short staffed and as such I have taken on two full time positions, one of which I have been quite new at. I didn't work 80 hours a week, though I did push 55-60 some weeks in these last few months. The real result was that I learned a great deal about managing priorities. I couldn't do either job really well, so I had to just perform the critical items for each job and keep from getting distracted. It has been quite the rollercoaster. A few weeks ago we hired someone to take one of the positions, but it will be a few months before he can really take the reigns.

5. Thanksgiving was really great. We had a big Thanksgiving at my parents' house. Joanna and I, my parents, Ben and Julie and family, Amy and Kevin, Kevin's sister Tiffany, Grandpa Magers, Marilyn, and Julie's friend Becky. It was a special time. The food was wonderful, the company was great, and we sang Christmas carols as well. It was great to have Becky there if only for the piano playing alone, but everyone contributed so much to the great time we had that evening in many ways. My cousin Scott Anderson also dropped by in the evening, it was good to see him and catch up.

6. This Christmas season has been great. I'm ward choir director, and it is a real priviledge to work with our ward choir. We gave a wonderful presentation in sacrament, and the choir sounded like angels. The choir also sang in the Stake Christmas devotional, and at the ward Christmas party, so it was a busy group. Brad, a friend in the ward, also did the persuading necessary to put together a men's quartet. It consisted of Brad, Judd, Danny, and myself. We practiced a few Christmas songs and went out caroling one night. It was hard to make the time for it, but it was well worth the experience.

Joanna and I just spent Christmas at my parents' house we stayed the night Christmas eve, and had a very nice time discussing the gifts of our Savior and enjoying a Christmas movie and some games. On Christmas day we spent the afternoon at Ben and Julie's home with the nephews and nieces, that was a great experience.

There is really so much more that has gone on. I have a couple entries in the draft stages that are my own pontifications on a couple topics which I am hoping to finish up during the Christmas break, and I'll add pictures to this as soon as I get a chance.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a great 2010!

My Driving Algorithm

So many people speak of driving as an emotional thing. Road Rage, getting angry on the road, "I hate that driver", etc.

I would like to provide an alternative description of the problem. As an engineer, this is right up my alley. I postulate that driving is only emotional because humans are executing the problem. And humans have emotion. It really gets in the way of everything when it comes to driving, because the driving situation is best solved algorithmically and logically. Humans are terrible mechanisms for algorithm implementation, but they tend to be the only thing that society trusts these days for actually doing the driving.

There are several reasons for why humans are still best for driving, but one of the chief among them is their superior ability to adjust and react to new stimuli. If a driving computer were given stimulus that its algorithm didn't comprehend, the most likely result would be, well, a crash.

Another reason behind this is an amazing ability of the human being, a capability that computers still have yet to match. What is this ability? I will succinctly state that it is complex pattern recognition. And a human can do it pretty well. The brain is well connected to the human's high quality input peripherals, and does a great job and recognizing patterns in the inputs from those peripherals.

Is it the peripherals themselves, for example the eyes? Well, no, not really. We have cameras that can match the human eyes as a mechanism. Is it our ears? No, there are microphones much better than a human ear. How about the accelerometers in our ears? No, we have better stuff available for computers. The real advantage is the brain, which can detect patterns that are hard to define and very hard for a computer to detect accurately.

While humans have great I/O features and unsurpassed pattern recognition abilities, we have a few shortfalls. Humans are slower to react. And humans get distracted. This wouldn't be so bad if we were multi-threaded organisms, but we tend to be single-threaded, and our ability to context switch isn't on the order of milliseconds or microseconds like a computer, but more on the order of seconds - if we're lucky. And when we are focused on something else, we think we can drive, but the truth is we become severely impaired, due to the fact that our brain stems, for some strange reason, don't have driving built in. Guess it hasn't been around long enough to have evolved. So driving really has to be an engaging process, involving our brain's higher functions. So cell phones, pretty women on the side of the road, dogs, cats, billboards, smoke, car crashes, all these things tend to distract the mind, and reduce our processing cycles.

So one of the first and most important aspects of a good driving algorithm is focus. The driver must stay focused on the algorithm and the goal. If the driver doesn't do this, then abilities to recognize patterns are lessened and the reaction time is increased. If attention waxes and wanes the driver becomes unpredictable, and this is a bad thing. Another appropriate way to increase reaction time is to look around, and look far enough ahead. I often see drivers that look about 10 feet in front of them and have tunnel vision. The truth is that traffic is an organic thing, and the more you understand about what is going on around you, the safer and more smoothly the organism of traffic will flow.

Okay, so on to the driving algorithm that I use. I have honed this over the years, and it may not be perfect, but it has served me well so far.

Algorithm Goal
- Get from point to A to point B as quickly and efficiently as possible

I don't like being on the road. It is much more comfortable to do everything in life somewhere other than in the car. The car serves one purpose in my opinion, which is to get a person from one place to another. Comfort is a luxury that makes it less painful, but no matter what, I'll always like the couch better than a car seat no matter what kind of car it is. So I have realized I want to minimize my time in the car.

All algorithms have parameters. These parameters help the algorithm to stay in control and provide bounds within which the algorithm operates. While I want to get from point A to point B as quickly and efficiently as possible, there are many requirements I need to follow. Ideally, I would drive straight from one place to another. Unfortunately there are things in between. I need to use roads, obey the law, and do it safely. I have listed below several parameters that influence the driving algorithm. Within these bounds, I go as fast as possible.

Algorithm Parameters

- Safety

Safety is paramount. Injury never served to help get from point A to point B. Accidents slow progress down immensely. So I want to drive in such a way as to avoid colliding with other objects. These means driving as fast as possible while staying comfortably within the limits of what the vehicle can do and how quickly I can react.

- Cost

Running into things costs money. That's another reason I want to avoid it. Also, I want to keep wear and tear on the vehicle and gasoline costs down. So I try to drive smoothly and not really push the car to its limits too much. Often drastic acceleration is pointless when there are cars in the way or the next light will be red. Being aware of the traffic around you and pacing your driving will do well to help keep the car in good shape and save on gas.

- Speed

I drive as fast as I can subject to the other parameters. I accelerate mildly so as to save on costs. But moving at higher speeds is more efficient time and gaswise (except above 65 MPH or so) But I am willing to sacrifice some gas costs to go as fast as allowed on highways.

- The Law

The law is always getting in the way of what I want to do. Like stopping at red lights. I'd be happy to treat some lights like stop signs, especially late at night at small intersections. But I sit there twiddling my thumbs anyway.

- Look ahead and pay attention! Offset the reaction time problem.

You can increase your speed and efficiency dramatically if you look around. I try to minimize distractions. No phones, no texting, no looking at things on the side of the street. Look as far ahead as possible. Plan routes, be engaged. If you have people in the car, try to focus more on driving than the conversation. Especially in the city, on the highway, it is easier to be lax about that because there's less stimuli.

Freeways
- Lane algorithm

I can never figure out what people are thinking on the highway. I have a very simple algorithm that I believe all the world should use, and I am mad that nobody seems to get it.

Stay right except to pass. It is extremely simple! No, really! I go as fast as I can, and stay as far to the right as I can. There is no more efficient way for traffic to flow. I never understand the fools that get on the highway and immediately go to the left lane. Why? They operate under a false assumption that just by virtue of being in the left lane you will get places faster. Well, with so many thinking that way, I tend to do most of my passing on the right these days. Oh, and if you are on a cell phone, get in the right lane, and drive slowly enough not to crash into things. Better yet, save your conversations until later.

Algorithm Inhibitors

There are a lot of things on the road that inhibit the smooth functioning of my driving algorithm. Here are just a few:

- Other cars (this is a big one)

Other cars are nothing but a problem. A big problem. I could always do better on the road if other people just weren't there. I deal with this by going around them as much as possible. But the infamous roadblock inevitably happens regularly. Some mousy driver in the left lane scared or clueless that won't drive past some cell-phone impaired driver in the right lane. The mouse parks in the cell-phone driver's blind spot while enough steel for a skyscraper piles up behind them, all the drivers thinking about how much they'd rather be earning money, or shopping, or spending time with grandma, or be home with the kids. And these strange folks are thinking about, well, I never know. Some people seem to love being on the road. They cruise along at low speeds like they haven't a care in the world, and I always wonder where they are going, or why they find being on the road so much more pleasurable than being at their destination. I haven't figured it out.

- Railroad tracks

Railroad tracks aren't really that big of a problem. Most vehicles can go over them at regular speeds without much of a bump. But this goes back to the cars being in the way part. There are drivers that somehow want to prolong their time on the tracks as much as possible, and slow to a veritable crawl to go over them. I never understand this. They are going to pay more replacing brake pads than they ever will on struts or shocks. Plus I have found the faster you go over them, the less you feel them. Again, just go over them at regular speed, there is no problem with it!

- Intersections

Now I like to save gas like the next guy. But intersections are just big obstacles in my driving algorithm. I do whatever I can to get through them within the bounds of the law. I also like to be courteous to those behind me by accelerating when the car in front of me starts to move. The incredible molasses-like nature of traffic starting up when a light turns green is a perfect example of distraction and the pathetic reaction time of the human brain. Or something. I am sure that at a crowded intersection twice as many cars could get through per cycle if people just moved as soon as they could. It is a most regular occurance for the first car to 1) wait 3-5 seconds after the light changes to start moving, and then to accelerate almost as an afterthought. If the light is backed up and it has taken three cycles to get to the front, this seems to have no effect! I like to think, "There are lots of people behind me, they probably want to get through this light. If I move quickly when it turns green, maybe people will only have to wait through two cycles instead." But few others appear to think this way. The light turns green, and they wait the usual 3-5 seconds. The car behind them eventually wakes up to realize there is 30 feet in front of them and they finally start moving. If you are 6 cars back, you could be waiting a long time.

- Speed Bumps

Speed bumps are around for one reason. Jerks that don't go slowly where they should. So now I have to put wear and tear on my car, go slower around the speedbumps and endure the displeasure of bumping over them. They were recently installed in our neighborhood because 25 MPH was something people just couldn't manage sticking to on the street. So now we have to go 15 or 20 over the speed bumps, speed up in between, etc. All because there are a few people that won't just go slow on their own. I really hate speedbumps. They are a visible sign of a lack of thoughtfulness among a part of society.

- Road Hazards

Well, I am just careful to watch for them, and avoid them. This is one good reason to look ahead and pay attention while driving.

- Weather

All cars have brakes on all four wheels. Truck or not. If there is snow, rain, or ice on the road, all vehicles have about the same chance of stopping. Truck or not. A few other tips. When the road is slick, don't accelerate or brake when turning or changing lanes. This is a big mistake. Accelerating or braking should be ginger and only when going straight.

- Slow turners

Just repeat my rant for slow starters at intersections. Left turn cycles are notoriously short. Get the heck through the light! Also, if you are turning right or left off a road, pull over _before_ slowing down, it is much more curteous.

- Hesitant or fearful or distracted drivers

These types of drivers are a big annoyance. Sometimes they are hesitant or fearful because of an impairment. This may be mental or physical. Impairments are legitimate. I try to just get around these types of folks safely and without being rude to them. Sometimes these drivers are just dumb or distracted, or somehow never learned to drive. Of course, there is never a point in getting angry with them or scaring them or road raging them. They exist, I just to my best to get around them and avoid them.

Distraction's effects on the algorithm. I have noticed that the more distracted I am, the worse I execute the driving algorithm, the longer I take, and the more I annoy other drivers. Also, I am less safe. It is important to focus on driving. The brain can really only focus well on one thing at a time. Multitasking in the car is asking for trouble. I know, because I have tried it and it never works well.

Finally, the big question. Why doesn't everyone have the same algorithm? I have fine tuned it for so long, and I really haven't been able to come up with anything better. It is really simple, and it works. Everyone join in! The Daniel Gowans driving algorithm will make your life better too.

Highway 12 in Southern Utah

This is a little late, but I just had to write a blog entry about this!

Jun 12-15 this year we took a wonderful trip to southern Utah to travel Highway 12. Last time we drove this highway was in the summer of 2007. We drove it back then from Capitol Reef National Park toward Zion's National Park and ended up in St. George to visit family. It was a great trip then, but a little too fast paced.

This time we slowed it down a little bit and traveled from Cedar City onto Highway 12 and toward Capitol Reef. It was a spectacular trip. Some of you in the Western states may remember the wonderful and mild spring and early summer we enjoyed. It was the same in this fairly high country down south, it had been raining and it was cool, beautiful, and green. The air was clear and the clouds were unique and of every sort, not just that boring blue sky. This was perfect hiking and picture taking weather.

This is a gem of a weekend trip that many don't know about, even locals. This is fast on its way to becoming a tradition for us.

We started out by driving down I-15 to Cedar City. We drove up Cedar Canyon, which in and of itself is a very pretty drive, and stopped at Cedar Breaks National Monument. We didn't stay for long, but we visited most of the view points. We spoke some with a neat couple from New Zealand who had rented an RV and were traveling the United States for three months. The wind was really kicking up at the northern viewpoint!


Above is at the lookout while driving up Cedar Canyon. That's my GPS on the sign, I wanted to know how high up we were. Spectacular view! I don't remember what dumb joke I cracked to make Joanna laugh.
Above is from one of the viewpoints in the middle of Cedar Breaks. The drop is a couple thousand feet to the trees below. This is the same rock layer that forms Bryce Canyon, where we spent the next day!


This is a panorama shot I made of the Cedar Breaks amphitheater. As will be the theme throughout this entry, the pictures don't do anything justice!



Here is a picture from the Northern viewpoint looking South into Cedar Breaks. The wind was crazy here! The video below will illustrate what I mean. Note the beautiful clouds. No simple blank blue skies on this trip, but rich and interesting sky layers! Parallax scrolling at its finest.

I am yelling in this video, but sometimes you still can't hear it. Joanna was frozen to the bone in a matter of seconds after stepping to the edge. Me, with a little more natural insulation, only had my ears and hands "severely chilled" by the frigid gusts.

That evening we had a rousing nightlife experience in the city of Panguitch, consisting of an exciting visit to the local pharmacy for some allergy medication. Realizing that was all the action we could get there, we headed out and a little later checked in the the "Bryce Grand" hotel just south of Bryce Canyon. It had just been completed, and like all new construction, was working hard to suck all moisture out of the air and earth around it. Every morning we awoke needing to drink about 10 glasses of water. Otherwise though, the room was great.

But what was even better was Bryce Canyon itself. The weather was absolutely perfect in every way. I mean, PERFECT. I really could just go on and on. High 60s during the day, broken clouds that seemed to offer shade just when we needed it, and a mild breeze. We hiked from Bryce Point through the amphitheater to Sunset point on the Navajo trail. It went up and down and up and down through the hoodoos and canyons. There was significant wildlife and the flora was excellent also due to the recent rains.


Joanna at the Bryce Point lookout. I may belabor this point, but the clouds are rockin'! So are the amazing hoodoos. The amphitheater is so majestic, and as usual, the eye popping beauty is only partially captured in photos.



I like stuff that's pretty.




This tree's roots had been exposed by erosion, or something. It was pretty neat to see the roots snaking down the hillside.



The infamous Gowans flaming arrow from my family. Unfortunately Joanna has put all the native Gowans family folks to shame by excelling at her flaming arrow precision crafted stance.




Since it was spring, there was much new growth on the pine trees. This new growth had this remarkable, velvety feel. Joanna couldn't get enough of it. She would talk to the trees and tell them they were pretty. She was right.



After this fine hike, we thought we would hike the rim back to our car at Bryce Point. We had the option of taking a shuttle, but thought the rim would be prettier, and we had the energy still. As we were leaving Sunset Point on the rim trail, everyone was hurriedly hiking to opposite direction. I saw up ahead some looming dark clouds. I talked to Joanna about how it was probably okay if we got a little wet, we had the gear for it. I thought for a second about all the burned out trees on the rim that have been hit by lightning over the years and said, "We should stay inside of the rim as much as we can, and if you feel your hair standing on end, run or drop or something. But we should be fine." Well, the people were flowing faster and they were looking at us heading toward the stormcloud like we were a little crazy.

The wind was kicking up and I was contemplating heading for cover when I was startled by a lightning strike only about 100 yards away off the rim of the amphitheater. CRASH!!!! about a millisecond later, and Joanna and I might as well have been scared deer at that point. She runs into me and I run into her as we bolt into the forest away from the rim. Seriously, I'm glad I went to the bathroom at Sunset Point or I'd have been in trouble! I have never heard anything so loud in my life! It is really beyond the point where you can decide to be manly or anything, it was pure flight mode.

Almost immediately after the crash, pea and marble sized hail started pelting us. Honestly, it hurt a little bit and we looked for cover under the paltry evergreen trees in the fields west of the trail. They weren't much help. As we were now freestyling over the meadow, too scared to go back to the trail, we scared a group of three deer to death as we rounded a tree and nearly tripped over them. They bounded off hurriedly. I've never run into deer before, so that was interesting. At that point I was finally getting over the adrenaline and we stopped and took this video. The video of course doesn't do it justice. There was constant thunder, the hail was very loud, and I was kind of yelling over it all.

We clomped over the uneven ground toward sunset point and waited it out underneath the eaves of the bathroom building, elbowing a place amongst the other tourists. In moments, the parking lot was a muddy mess and there were piles of hail around the buildings where they'd rolled off the roofs.

We took the shuttle back to Bryce point. Which was just as well because we needed to go to some of the other lookouts further south.

As one proceeds south on the Bryce Canyon drive, the elevation continues to rise. As the end of the road is Yovimpa and Rainbow points. I absolutely love the views from up here, and I got out the tripod and took a few pictures. Joanna and I walked the Bristlecone loop, it is peaceful, and quiet, and it smells good. Here's some photos. The first is a panorama off Rainbow Point I think. But it could have been Yovimpa. One faces North, the other South. I wish I remembered!



This is definitely at Yovimpa looking along the edge of the cliff, and a fine wall to my left.




Joanna's kind 'tree'tment of the trees continued. She liked this one. It was cute. I am sure they are growing better because of her encouraging words. She's all bundled up because the wind was a little much for her. It was colder and windier up there.




I wish I could continue to write about everything is as much detail, but Bryce Canyon was certainly a big highlight! We stayed another night and headed out on Highway 12 the next morning. We stopped at Petrified Forest State Park near Escalante. It was really much more interesting than I expected, and there was a plethora of petrified rock all over the place. We took a small hike around, the weather was great, and seeing the rock was a novel experience. There were also some kind of bug out there that were like crickets on speed, and they made their noises in the daytime, and the sound was nearly deafening! Here are some pics of the petrified wood. It was buried, sometimes above the ground. That last piece had wonderful striations!




This was my attempt at "The Thinker" I should have been looking down, but hey, I like to look to heaven when I think:



We drove the "Burr Trail Scenic Road" later that day. It was so pretty! Very remote also. It heads out of Boulder toward the southern end of Capitol Reef National Park, and goes through a pretty red rock canyon. Just before the canyon was a trailhead that was remote and desolate. Joanna and I parked and walked this crazy trail that seemed to be heading nowhere in particular. I have never felt so much like I was in the wild. The trail was overgrown with large wiry bushes, and there were aspen trees with giant cobwebs the size of mailboxes that had leaves and bugs in them of all kinds, like giant spiders or something were incubating within. We saw Mountain Lion tracks in the wet sand of the little creek that were very fresh (I wish I'd taken a picture of them.) After a while, it was just too unpleasant. Bugs, weird noises, it was like a Halloween trail or something and we got the bejeezuhs. We turned around after about 1/2 mile. Great memory though. I'll have to go back when I am in the mood for a wilderness experience.

We continued on to Capitol Reef National Park. Right at the border the road changes to gravel. We didn't want to get Betsy (our car) really dirty, but I knew about some really crazy switchback roads that went down the east side of the reef where the road crosses it and I just HAD to see them. They were awesome! We didn't drive down them, but some crazy folks in a beat up old Audi went tearing down them while we were looking around at high speed. This picture doesn't do them any justice, but the view from this area was incredible.



We headed up over the mountains toward Torrey, UT- the entrance to the better known area of Capitol Reef. These mountains are amazing, reaching over 10000 feet in this area, and there are a number of breathtaking viewpoints where, on a really clear day (and the air is so clean and clear out here) you can see over 100 miles! Here is a view from the mountains toward the south I think:


A picture of Joanna enjoying the view, and our fine Toyota Camry, "Betsy". Betsy is a good hard working car. And she takes care of us when we are in the middle of nowhere.




We stayed the night there, and the next morning took a hike to the "viewpoint" of the Golden Throne, some giant dome of rock high up in the reef. You can't really get to it, the whole hike is just a beautiful walk along the cliff of a wash up to a fine viewpoint. Joanna didn't get this at first, but it became obvious that we were there just to "look around" when we reached the end of the trail:



Here is the "Golden Throne" itself! Behold:




Joanna found a very nice throne of her own while we were hiking the trail:


So that's a brief overview of our trip! It was so great this time. Definitely on a way to being a tradition. We actually returned to Capitol Reef this fall, but that is a story for another time. If you are ever in Utah and want to go for a great weekender, consider Highway 12!

2nd Bedroom Remodel

When we bought our house four years ago we decided to hold off on changing the second bedroom. We couldn't take the thought of completely draining our savings account. I've wanted to change the room so many times. It was an icky pastel green color. I'm one for warm tones and that was just a bit depressing for me. Besides we continue to wait for a child and this room was all dressed up as a nursery. (The picture on the right is of when we first walked through the house prior to purchasing it.)

Well, Daniel just happened to say "yes" one day when I asked if we could redo the room. I jumped at that and off we went. Little did we imagine how much could go into a room that is essentially 10' by 10'.

I'll begin by saying that I had an definite idea of how I wanted this room. I envisioned it with two colors of paint on the wall with a chair-rail separating them and a lovely wood floor on which to display a rug (that's been stored in the basement since moving here).

We began by meeting at the paint store and of course brought the rug with us. From there we went to Western Wholesale Flooring to meet with my father-in-law, Bill, the great flooring salesman. (No lie. He is great. I mean we hmmmed and hawed over samples past closing. And he was so nice throughout.)

Of course before the paint store I removed the wallpaper border and cleaned the room.

Next I had to become the painter once again. (I did spend over three weeks painting our house when we first bought it). My mother-in-law helped me paint on one day and she was such a great help and motivator. I like knowing the names of the paint colors on our walls. So in this room we continued with "Ancient Ivory" on the ceiling and trim. Then the top of the walls got "Waterbury Cream" and the bottom is a nice "Clydesdale Brown."

Following the paint we had the wood installed. We finally decided on some Brazilian Cherry. Such a pretty color.

Daniel did a nice job of being complete with the trim. He installed a window sill along with trim around the window and closet. None of these existed previously. And he was quite clever with how he covered the track for the closet doors. [Daniel: Joanna did an amazing job with the paint as always, and the room just came together really well. It was a fun project.]

Now we both take turns enjoying the room. Daniel likes to sleep on the bed occasionally in the "fancy room" and I spending time in there folding clothes and ironing. Our main floor feels complete now with all of the rooms having similarities with our style of decorating. It's nice to feel cozy at home.

The Ballad of Gopher Gap

Our bishop decided to encourage a ward play. Nothing spectacular or epic, but something fun. Joanna and I decided that it would be fun to be in a play so we volunteered.

The play we presented is entitled "The Ballad of Gopher Gap". A melodrama set in the old west, with the classic villian, hero, heroine, and the unsuspecting victims that go with it. It was great fun and we loved working with the great people in the ward that were also cast in the play.

Joanna and I were cast, respectively, as the heroine and hero. Joanna was Verlinda Springblossom, a beautiful but airheaded heir to the town that wished to turn it into a hummingbird sanctuary. Daniel was Rocky Romance, the well known mountain man and poet of the wilderness who also didn't really mesh well with reality.

We were clueless yet well meaning couple of characters that almost accidentally save the day against a comical villain. Set in the town of Gopher Gap, the evil "Bunco de Sneer" has salted the mine with ore and gemstones. He tricks the foolish easterners into investing in the mine, and plans to make off with their money. Hilarity ensues.

It was a very fun to practice and even more fun to perform to a wonderful interactive audience for a couple of nights. After the 2nd (and last) show, we were all a little sad to see it come to an end. Joanna and I are still quoting lines from it to each other, it seems like everything reminds us of a line from the play, just like recalling lines from your favorite movies with your friends.

Here's some pictures we took around the performance days. Joanna and I never thought we'd play the couple in a play, and it was great! First, the couple in full makeup. Next, the assayer's table and entrance to Spenawampum mine. Next, us with Adam (my brother) and our niece and nephew Alyssa and Ethan. A widescreen shot of the stage with many of the wonderful cast, and lastly I had to include my trucker impression I did as I was shaving off the beard I'd grown for the part.

Still so much to talk about! Our trip to Southern Utah, finishing the 2nd bedroom, and a trip from the inlaws. It'll have to wait until later, but check back soon!

Joanna Clots

It has been a long time since the last entry! And so much to say.

It started when Joanna's right arm started swelling up again. Again, you might say? Well yes, she had a blood clot in her right subclavian vein about two years ago. It was removed by the doctors and she was on anticoagulants for six months. Warfarin is a nasty drug, lifesaving sure, but nonetheless not an enjoyable regimen.

Well, we thought it was behind us when her arm started swelling in late April. Nothing like it did before, but still noticeable. We met with some doctors and Joanna went into the University of Utah hospital for a couple days to have the clot dissolved. It was a successful procedure, but the resultant imaging showed that her subclavian vein was very damaged, and didn't show signs of desiring to widen up again.

Apparently the vein has been pinched repeatedly between the first rib and clavicle, causing damage and causing it to scar and close off. This we knew, but the first time around we thought it may be due to some sort of recent event. This time is was apparent that it is a recurring theme and an anatomical issue of some sort. Poor Joanna! Well, there is a bright side, and that's that a very good network of collaterals had already started forming and widening. This is where small vessels widen to bypass the narrowed area. The best would probably be for the original vein to completely close off and the collaterals to take over, then there would be no vein to pinch, and the liklihood of triggering further clots would be lessened.

I have attached a picture of the veins of the arm and where the pinch took place. Luckily this isn't life threatening, though it is certainly a difficult thing to go through! The changes have certainly set us back a little, one of the effects being the long break in blogginess. Everyone wish Joanna well!

Antelope Island State Park

Last Saturday we went to Antelope Island. It was an incredible visit! I think a visit to the island could be miserable, or, well, AWESOME, depending on the weather. In this case, the weather was perfect. Maybe beyond perfect as far as I was concerned. Is is wonderful terrain and there is something so neat about how exposed it all is.

I don't remember ever going before. Dad told us when we talked with him later that he took everyone when we were young - but I don't know if it is really true. It took about 90 minutes to get there and the cost was a bit pricey ($9 for a day visit). It was all worth it though.

We hiked around a bit and it was so peaceful. That is a rare thing for us with a big road behind us and the regular air traffic above us (even now as I type this there a helicopter noising about). We are lucky enough to have Apache helicopters (up to six at a time) buzzing our house while the china rattles at least once a week. So the silence and solitude were especially welcome.

We enjoyed just stopping and listening to the quiet which included pretty chirping from various birds that were hidden among the rocks. There were almost no trees at all. The terrain is so very unique, like when you run hot water over an ice cube, it kid of looks like the terrain was just carved like a piece of wood.

It was a beautiful day. We were a bit worried because it was raining a lot on the way there. But when we got to the island the rain was far away and it was overcast. So the weather made for perfect picture taking and wonderful views all around.

After hiking for awhile we went back to the car to drive around the rest of the island and upon getting to the car realized we went hiking at the perfect time because the wind was really kicking up and a large dark cloud was getting dangerously close. Within moments of getting into the car the rain came down. It was strange that while hiking we didn't see anyone, but while walking back to the car we saw many people heading up to where we'd been hiking. So they weren't so lucky, they got rained all over.

Here is a 360 degree view and commentary from yours truly from the perch of buffalo point! Those rainclouds in the distance are the ones that eventually showed up and started dousing the landscape.



Driving around in the rain was fun. We'd pull over as we came upon the signs with information about the island and animals. They were very interesting to read. We saw bison and antelope. We also saw different kinds of birds including avocets, black-necked stilts, phalaropes, and of course sea-gulls. It was a good time. We think it would be great to return on mountain bikes, there are some great riding trails.

I have included some panoramas of the area to show how neat the day was and the terrain. Click on them to see the real detail...
































Here's a few pictures of us on top of the Buffalo point on the northwest end of the island. The view from up here was spectacular!

















































































And in case you didn't get a good look at the Buffalo Point contours:































Here's a picture of the rear end of a bison. We should have gotten a shot of his head, they are so flat and triangular!






























In this last picture, the black dots are ALL birds! This island is a very important migratory stopover for many species.




















Indeed, our visit was a wonderful time. Quite unexpected. We were about to not even go when it was getting late, but it turned out to be a unexpectedly enjoyable!