"Carnival" night at McMillan Elementary School. You could dance in the darkened gym with dorky pre-pre-teens. You could wait in line for an overpriced hot dog or hamburger dinner (and pay more than they asked for, like I did.) Or, you could spend 10 minutes with a bunch of screaming kids in a pit of soap bubbles. At home you have to pay these kids to get in the tub. But, in front of public and peers they will fork over good money for the priviledge. It didn't take long for Laney to aspirate some bubbles and choke and gag for a while. Fun over.

We meddle too much.

We meddle.

River?

People don't like to be meddled with. We tell them what to do, what to think. Don't run, don't walk. We're in their homes and in their heads and we haven't the right. We're meddlesome.

Letter to the Editor

Here

Marathon Bike Tour

I did the Salt Lake City Marathon Bike Tour last year and had a lot of fun. It was really my first introduction to “racing.” I decided a while ago to do it again this year. But, I'm not in nearly the shape I was last year at this time. And, I may be 15 pounds heavier than I was last year same time. So, as the day approached I wasn't too thrilled and didn't expect to do very well.

Like last year I was going to wake up early and just ride down to the U, because it seems to help if I get some 45-50 minutes warm up. But, Jeff Barton called and offered a ride and I took them up on it. We went a little early because we didn't want to get stuck way back in the pack at the start and we wanted to try to ride around a little and warm up first. As it was, it was so cold there that we just stayed in the car. We were able to get pretty close to the front for the start. Probably within the first 150-200 people out of about 1600.

I didn't have nearly the trouble with slow pokes in front of me this year as I did last year. I started even with Jeff Barton and his son in law Brandon. Teal and Craig were ahead of us and stayed there the whole ride. They changed the route this year and had us go through sugar House park. It may have actually been the real marathon route for us this year. I did more passing than being passed. I was staying behind a husband and wife team on a tandem again. This seems to be a pattern for me. I did this in the Century ride last year.

A group passed me on lower Holladay Boulevard. Brandon was in the group. So, I latched onto the tail. I stayed pretty much with this group for the rest of the ride. For the first little while on Van Winkle there were some wild ones in the group and it was a little dicey. After a while it seemed to settle down some. Except we would get fast and string out and then slow down and bunch up a little. I think the leaders wanted someone else to take the lead and no one wanted to.

The route going into Salt lake was a little different this year also. We went up a slight grade up State street and that strung out my group for good. I wasn't going very fast at this point. Then we went down South Temple and wrapped around Gateway. Brandon was about 100 feet ahead of me going down the stretch. He didn't know I was gunning for him. So, I was able to catch him at the tape. Teal and Craig had come in a couple of minutes ahead of us. Jeff came in a couple after.

I turned in a decent time. I was within 1 mph of last year's speed. So, I was pretty pleased with it, considering my shape.

Walker Wedding

This is a picture from the Scott Walker Jodi Haney "Wedding." They actually got married about 2 months ago. But, they did a formal shindig on 11 April. Scott's mother is from Scotland so the all got into their Scottish kit. There was even a bag piper. It was very nice. We had been to the SL Temple in the morning to do sealings with the Youngs before Charlie left on his mission. We were real anxious about not being late to the wedding. So, we left the temple a little early. We were 15 minutes late to the wedding. But, ended up waiting an hour for it to start.

Hmmmmmmm?

People today believe that man evolved from apes but can't accept that men can become Gods.

Iowa

Is it time to start talking about revolution and secession?

(40.240131963149764, -112.19346208869865)

I've never owned a gun. We changed that in the middle of January. I went to Cabela's and bought a little Browning Buckmark .22. Now some will say why bother? If you want a gun for home defense you should get a shotgun or at least a bigger caliber. If you want a gun for hunting you need a rifle with a more powerful round. If you're buying for concealed carry, it's probably too bulky.

I didn't buy it for home defense or for hunting or concealed carry. But, if it came down to it, I wouldn't not use it simply because it is a small caliber.

Jensen and I took it out early in February to break it in and kill some rocks. We went to a spot out on Highway 73 (click on the link above.) There was a small pit that had been excavated for some reason. We had some things to shoot at besides rocks, a can , a bottle, a box. After we ran through 300 rounds. We used some “stinger” rounds with muzzle velocity of about 1640 fps. They were lots of fun.

Yay Steelers!

We got this really nice gift of a Super Bowl growl towel from Chris Hoke. But, I don't have the heart to tell him there is a little smudge in the lower left hand corner. I might just have to wash it out.