HOPE It's Just to Gain the Moderate Ground - Don't Expect Him to CHANGE His Tune

While I still like Mitt Romney and support him as a candidate (I think he has the best chance of winning the election and the best chance of being able to turn this country around), I think he is wrong on the Climate Change thing.

Yes, yes, ridicule me all you want. I am a denier. Well, kinda. I don't deny that our climate fluctuates. Temperatures rise and fall. Even if there is a small rise in temperature over the last couple of decades (and I contest that claim for reasons I will state later) it likely has only an infinitesimally small chance of having to do with man's activity.

Years ago the bugaboo was the Ozone layer. You see we kept making holes in it. When that campaign failed to generate the concern and change that liberals wanted to see in the world the topic was dropped and Global Warming, now Climate Change have taken its place.

The two biggest sources of heat for our world are the Sun and the molten interior of the Earth. To think that a fractional increase in a naturally occurring element of our atmosphere can have more influence on the temperature of the Earth than the enormous ball of gas that is burning at more than a million degrees (at its core) (and is close enough that it influences everything else about our world) and the spinning molten/solid/radioactive core of the planet that reaches almost 10,000 Fahrenheit is like blaming the excess heat in your home on the match you just lighted rather than the furnace burning in your basement or the stove that is heating up your dinner.

Now, about the "science."  Scientific inquiry should be motivated by one thing alone: The search for truth. Unfortunately, it is not always motivated by that. Sometimes it follows political or social trends. There is evidence that the stations and instruments used to record weather data are increasingly and incorrectly influenced by their locations near heat sources or "urban heat islands." There is also evidence that researchers have also cooked their data to achieve an aim.

Cool Memorial Day

Although Memorial Day was not a stellar day as far as the weather goes, (since it is the defacto beginning of Summer, I should be a nice, sunny, warm day) I did have some fun interesting thing going on. I was invited to a “man date/breakfast” with several other men from our ward. We went to the Midvale Mining Company and had hearty breakfasts. It was quite enjoyable and a fun thing to do. I don't think I've ever had a man date before.

I thought maybe I had successfully dodged going the the Salt Lake City Cemetery this year. But, We had some time before the afternoon festivities were to begin as Leslie's and Lenore suggested we should go.

We usually have a hard time finding the Lane family markers. We finally did again this year. They are located only slight north and slightly east of the Smith family plots.

The big thing this year was that Christopher Nemelka (not dead yet, NOT a Smith) has erected a marker with his name on it (and also Hyrum Smith's and the url for his website, (Mr. Nemelka's, not Hyrum's)) on a plot right next to Lenore's grandparents. Lenore said we should be charitable in our remarks about him because Muh would just say, “that poor, poor man.”

As we were leaving and making our way back toward the Smith plots we saw Gloria Irion and Elder Nelson and others of their family nearby visiting some graves of their own loved ones.

Dan's Project

“Uncle Dan,” Lenore's brother, has a cute little 425 square foot home in South Salt Lake on a nicely wooded lot. He bought this property in 1996 for about $63,000. He had to do a lot to fix the home. But, he did a very nice job.

I guess he had grown tired and bored and maybe cramped in his little space. He does have a lot of stuff.

He started house hunting maybe a year ago or more. Well, he recently bought another house and last Saturday we went to help him clean it up so he can move in.

I say “we.” Lenore did the lion's share of the work. I mostly walked around with mouth agape. It was so overwhelming for me I couldn't stay long. I washed a few windows and stuff. But, then I left.

Every square inch of the place SCREAMS “tear me down!” Nothing to code. Nothing finished. No window or door that was square or operated correctly. No baseboards. No casements. Lots of kludged repairs and additions. I had to channel the late Norrick Long and say, “it's a piece of crap.” He's basically spent $115 cash for a quarter acre lot in South Salt Lake.

However, Lenore likes the house. It reminds her of Marin. So, we have now wagered a dinner of choice for the person who in 10 years doesn't eat their words on this house. Sorry Dan. I came home with a greater appreciation for the state of our home.

Adjustment Bureau

What an interesting movie! I'm not sure I would say GREAT. But, certainly worth watching just for the shear uniqueness of the story. Good chemistry between Damon and Blunt. She does a great job of emoting just with her face. We had the choice of seeing Arthur with Russell Brand or this one. I think we chose correctly. May have to see it again just to check its staying power.

Great Saturday

Finally, a nice, sunny, beautiful, epic day. This means Spring has broken and Summer is almost here. What a great day for the Rapture. The only thing that didn't go perfect was my bike ride. Really, I think the Adjustment Bureau was trying to make sure I didn't stay too long and miss something at home. Maybe the powers that be felt I shouldn't be enjoying myself too much and too long while Lenore and the kids were working in the yard. I had some persistent mechanical problems (of my own making) and one flat. Still it felt good and I just had to give into fate and cut the ride short.

Yes, I was recreating while the family was slaving away. But, I live for riding and this was pretty much the first day all week where the weather cooperated. The family understands. And it's not like I don't do things around the house and put my back into it when I get home.

There were lots of bugs in the air at the Legacy Parkway. A couple of stretches were just thick with them. One or two made their way into my mouth. (Yes, when I ride I tend to be a mouth breather.) I was home around noon and worked in the yard and then around three, Geri needed help with her air conditioners. Afterwards, I was cleaning up at home and noticed a gnat stuck between my two front teeth.

A couple of times a year we have to beat back the jungle. whoever told Brigham Young that nothing would grow here? We tore out a bunch of vegetation that didn't make it through the winter. There were some hard freezes this year and it showed. We planted more potatoes right next to some volunteers left over from last year. More vegetable garden stuff next weekend, hopefully. A sprinkler repair that I thought was going to be somewhat involved was remedied way more easily with some luck and maybe a little help from the Adjustment Bureau.

I inspected the back fence that is falling down. I no longer think it is due to roots from the Box Elder tree. It appears it is just succumbing to the slope, slowly coming downhill after 20 years. Cheapo me, I'm probably going to try to brace it up using the strength and stability of a couple of trees. It might last for another few years.

The end of the daylight was one of those calm, still, comfortable evenings that I know are not unique to Utah. But it seemed like such a blessing and even a reward for making it through the Winter and the insanely wet Spring. This time of evening, this time of year. It evoked my habitual assessment of Utah: this is what we live here for. It's just so easy to forget from November through March. On a day and evening like this it is very common for me to feel a pervading and universal well being. You just know that millions of people are having the same kind of experience at the same time and it is reassuring and comforting.

Looking for the Summer

I can be unusually singularly minded about some things. I have spent years of my life waiting for the next chance to go surfing, or play volleyball and lately to go cycling. I'm not manly enough to endure cycling through year-round Utah weather. This means that in the winter I might go 3-4 weeks without getting on the bike. I'm lucky to just maintain a semblance of fitness. Also, It is easy for me go up in weight by 15-20 lbs during the inactive winter (not so shocking I'm a pretty tall guy.)

So each year around February March and April I start thinking often about trying to get out on the bike. I used to get up early in the morning to ride and granted, if I were doing that I would have gotten a FEW more rides in. For various sleep and health related reasons I don't see myself getting up early much until the weather gets REALLY nice.

This year has been horrendous. It's so disheartening to try to plan out what rides you are going to get in during the coming week when the forecast calls for yuckey cold, rainy, and snowy weather all week. As I was writing this it started to snow briefly. And typically the nicest weather all week will fall on Sunday, with the exception of Conference weekend.

On the bike I like to go fast and I won't go that fast until I lose a little weight and that won't happen until I can get at least 3-4 rides in per week.

Fun with Place Names

We were just having fun with Oconomowoc, WI. There was only one vowel available when they named that place. Or, a trapper comes out of the woods on an extremely cold day. They ask him where he came from and he' only able to mumble Cnmwc. That's the Arabic spelling.

How I find my music

I've gotten to a crotchety old age where I do not listen to music radio. The radio now is for talk, conservative talk.

But, being a singer and heavily drenched in popular culture, I have to have music in my life. I listen a lot in my free time. With my Borg bluetooth headphone in one ear, people probably think I think I'm some high powered mover and shaker (I really do more ducking and bobbing, dodging and weaving than shaking and moving.) But, the headphone is just so I can listen to music and it is mostly when I ride my bike. (I do also listen to other audio, scriptures, conference talks, devotional talks et al.)

So how do I find new music to bring into my rotation? A lot I get from soundtracks. I have been fascinated with them for 30+ years. I could make a case for their being our current "classical" music. The operas written since Puccini's death are mostly tripe.

My young adult kids do expose me to some music that I adopt. But, I bring music to them as well.

A couple of months ago I watched online a Filmology 2010 compilation video. The background music was quite fun. So, I looked up the content and purchased most of the songs. One that has really stuck with me is called "Little Baby Pines" by the Sunbears! on the Dream Happy Dreams Album. Now, don't those titles just make you feel good! Little baby pines has really stuck with me and the kids love it. You should check it out.

I once wrote that music embeds and invokes memories on a level with the sense of smell, because it attaches to our psyche in many places. It is not unlike the scriptures of Isaiah. There is substance and meaning and appeal on several levels.

What a blessing we have in Music.

Recital

Yesterday Shazia and Ameer had a recital at Gram's house. They both did admirably (he on violin and she on voice.) Shazia packs more volume per pound than anyone in the world and she has great resonance. As she trains and improves her technique will get even better. Ameer was nearly perfect with his fingering and is able to draw a very nice sound out of his instrument. Its funny that most of the music that gets performed at recitals is "showy." It's a little like, "look l can sing this note." Or "I can do this run or this melismatic passage really well."
There were at least two numbers meant to show as well as entertain a more plebian audience like me: "I remember snow" (Sondheim) and "I dreamed a dream" (from Les Mis).

Very well done kids.