In Honor of George H.W.

We've had a tree in our backyard since the very beginning that has gotten very large. A couple months ago the power company told us that we needed to trim it away from the power lines.
I borrowed an electric pole trimmer from Brent Gardner and did this on Saturday. I wasn't sure this tool was going to do the job. But, it worked out great. Many of the branches were too thick to have cut any other way. Jensen helped and we mostly cut just lower branches. A secondary motive for doing this was to allow a little more sunlight on the peach tree that is nearby. After we got done the tree looks like a broccoli.
Many of the branches I cut up for firewood. I was planning later on getting a big dumpster or a chipper/shredder to dispose of the smaller branches. They ended up in a pile on the back lawn and it was soon evident what was going to become of these. Jensen and Laney started working on a little hut made from these remainders. It's exactly the kind of thing I would have done when I was young. It will probably be there now through the winter. Jensen said it was a really fun day. She especially liked climbing in the tree to fasten a rope to branches so we could try to keep them falling on our side of the fence.

Journal Entry Kinda Sorta

Many of you are wondering about Ailsa's writing. Things are kinda on hold for now. She is still writing. But, school eats up a lot of time. Probably needs to focus on one story at a time. That has never been her style. Her latest "Andwyrden" that I was helping her edit, she wants to majorly rework. This after the first three books were in finished form and the fourth was nearly there. I think she feels a little bummed that Stephanie Meyer has stepped into the vampire romance arena before she could have a crack at it.
Jensen is trying to do everything and mostly succeeding. She is the one who brings the most sunshine and the least amount of strife into the household. She and Ailsa get along swimmingly, which we love. But, often Laney feels left out.
I haven't been cycling nearly as much the last couple of weeks. The weather is much colder and it is too dark in the morning to drag myself out of bed. I will occasionally get a ride in during the evening of a weekday and sometimes on Saturdays. But, the last 4 or 5 weekends have been gloomy while the weeks have generally been great. Figures.
I recently changed the first counselor in my Bishopric and the new guy is helping to inject a little but of new vigor into our efforts. I didn't initiate the change. But, now it seems like it was probably a good thing.
Laney is following in her sister's footsteps and is very conscientious about completing all of her school work and not getting into trouble at school. She is growing her hair out so she can donate it to locks of love. It is almost long enough without having to give her a crew cut when she is shorn. I think I'll do the same thing. Do you think the Stake President will mind?
We had the Bishopric over for dinner a couple of weeks ago and Lenore fixed a very yummy meal. Roasted pork and creamed corn and roasted potatoes. She has been reading a lot lately about the Mountain Meadows massacre and the Polygamists. If there is ever any controversy she wants to read about it.
We went as a family to see Transformers last Saturday and enjoyed it a lot. We are all pretty big Shia LeBeouf fans. Did anyone else notice the fairly marked Religious/Conservative memes in this film?
We are all looking forward to Thanksgiving together and enjoying The Hoke's river house. Thanks Kim and Ed!

Naughtius Maximus Numero Trois

Almost every time I come into the house from the garage, Tommy is waiting there trying to get out. He often succeeds. He probably spends a lot of time outdoors every day. We try to limit his outside play, though, mostly because of the unfortunate episode from his past when he stayed out for about 36 hours and scared everyone.
He's pretty good about coming back though. We often leave the garage door slightly up for him and often find him waiting on top of one of the cars for us to let him in the house.
Nearly once a week he will return from his romp in the neighborhood without his collar. We know he gets into scraps with other cats. I imagine some neighborhood bully cat with a series of cat collars painted on the side of his litter box.
When he was young he would climb the canopy of our bed a lot. At a certain age, or perhaps a certain body size, he stopped doing it. However, now that young Digory is around and climbing the canopy, Tommy has taken to it again. It is funny to see them tightrope walk the rails with their tails whipping around like a propeller.
They will often just perch near a cross member where they can balance more easily with three paws on one axis and a fourth on another. I have fun teasing them when they are in that position. I touch tap them on the fourth, outboard paw. They can't just pick it up because they would lose their balance. They try to swipe at my hand. But, they aren't very well poised to do that either.
A couple of times Digory has jumped from the canopy to the top of the bookcase. The other night he spent most of the night sleeping in a basket on top of the bookcase.

Italian FHE at Young's

Saturday after I had been out and came back home, Lenore told me that Michelle Young had called and said and Italian Saint was here visiting in town and would we like to come over for a Family Home Evening Monday night. Lenore couldn't remember who it was. So, I was a little surprised to arrive monday night and find Giuseppe Pasta. You would think that Lenore could remember the name "Pasta."
We had an enjoyable evening with Brother and Sister Pasta and the Burrups, Ashbys, Bensons and Youngs.
I most likely met Brother Pasta on mymission when I was in Torino, before he moved to near Bergamo.
Brother Pasta told us how things were going in Italy. He has served as the Church Public Relations head for some time. He has previously served as Stake and mission President. Last June he was at Palazzo Chigi for the signing of an agreement that further formalizes the Church's standing in Italy. This is one of the hurdles that needs to be cleared before a Temple can be built there. It still needs to be retified by Parliament. He said that there really aren't enough members attending the Madrid and Swiss temples right now to warrant a temple in Italy. Most of the people who attend the Swiss temple are Italians.

Jensen's Senior Picture

Labor Day Hot Tub Pic

The Heavyside Layer

You know how our family is with nicknames. The latest for the cats are: Tommy is called "He who must not be tamed." He is the more manly in attitude and demeanor of the two males. He struts around looking very tough. He's always trying to get outside so he can go marauding with his homies. Last week he got out and Jensen tried to lure him back with some catnip (Kitty Crack). He attacked her arm and she has really bad scratches and a bite, scarred for life. Digory's name is evolving to Diggy and then the logical progression of Doggy and now also Snoop Diggy Dogg. Funny thing is I think he is actually tougher when it comes to fighting than Tommy is. But he looks and walks like a bit of a pansy. Here's some fun video of Digory the first time we put a collar on him. He does some really funny dance moves.

Near the end of July when I was doing all my riding. Barry Miller at work mentioned that he was doing the Jordanelle Triathlon this year. We got to talking and put together an ARB team to compete against him. Darren did the mile swim, I did the 25 mile bike and Tom did the 5.2 mile run.

This was kinda fun. It was held Saturday 25 August and took a big chunk of the day. It was very cold when we got to Francis. I was glad I brought a sweatshirt. There was much standing around waiting for the start. But, I entertained myself chatting with the other Olympic Relay cyclists.

By the time Darren got to the transition after the swim I was the only one in that group left who hadn't started yet. I did manage to pass five of the relay riders on my leg because we came in fifth overall and there wasn't anyone on the run who was significantly faster than Tom. The ride was tough. The route had a slight incline on the way out. They say on a TT that you should hold back a little for the first third or so. But, knowing it was a slight downhill on the way back I felt I should push about as hard as I could. Still, I didn't want to blow up.

I managed to keep my average heart rate quite close to my maximum. I maxed out at 173 and the average was 167 for the whole race and 169 for the first half. There was one rider who I was behind for several miles trying to catch and pass. It was a 56 year old woman. So I gave her some praise and encouragement when I did pass her. I did the ride at a 20.8 mph pace which was second overall for the Men's Olympic Relay. I averaged 24.66 MPH for the second half. Results are here.

The shuttle system after the race was really backed up with a long line. So, I rode my bike back into Francis to get the car. There was one climb on this route that I wasn't looking forward to. Many people were riding back. But, most of them walked their bikes up the hill.

I saw the Buckwalters, Scotty Johnston, and Bishop Workman who was there cheering on a son and son in law. Maybe we will do this next year. I hope to have a TT bike by then.

ITT

After the 1000 mile month in July, I took 2 days off from riding and then on Friday 3 August I did a time trial to see if I could better my best average speed for a 20 mile plus ride. I stayed down in the drops the whole time and tried to concentrate on keeping my shoulders low and using a low cadence. I managed to do the ride in just slightly over one hour and upped my best average speed from 21.8 to 22.3, which seems like a significant increase, meaning I can do better still. I got up to 35.6 mph in a dead sprint while merging into the left turn for Vine Street. Then on the little rise up from the creek near the Church I also sprinted and just about blacked out.

San Clemente Redux

This year at San Clemente was marked with good weather (very little cloudiness) warm water (in the low 70's most of the time) and perhaps a little less noise and confusion around the apartments because of the maturing group of kids.

We stopped in Saint George and stayed with Grandma and Grandpa both on the way there and on the way home. I flew home Saturday the 11th and back early Monday the 13th, so I wouldn't miss three Sundays in a row and so I could attend Tyler Schumann's missionary farewell. I saw Shauna Robbins and her daughters on the way home and Missy's Dave on the way back.

I haven't flown since the increased airline security of a couple of years. Boy, what a hassle. I'm surprised there hasn't been mass revolt.

We were awakened about 7am the first Monday morning with construction going on right next door. We were reminded of our Italian vacation and how the generous landlord dealt with a similar problem.

The first night I was repeatedly awakened by Ameer who was pounding his head on the floor because he couldn't sleep. We fixed that real quick and told him to quit doing it.

Despite some attempts I didn't see Chris or Stuart or Toni this trip. We borrowed Ed's very nice new unused surfboard (10'2" Robert August) and the two boards that we usually borrow from Sean and did as much surfing as possible. I think we might have missed two days. The best day for me was the second Tuesday when we went to "Old Man's." I had a great time and was finally getting the hang of it again. But, I was always sore; my arms and shoulders and my knees. Near the end of each session I could barely push myself up off the board.

I didn't go cycling a ton, only 219 miles and only saw one rabbit. My last ride a guy on a Carbon Kuota TT bike passed me right before the turnaround. I caught up to him. But, every time I went to pass him I couldn't fight the wind. So, I just stayed in his slipstream for about 8-9 miles.

I didn't get called an old man like last year. But, once while I was lying with my eyes closed on the hard sand near the tideline I overheard someone ask, "is he dead?"

There was really only one day where there were some OK bodysurfing waves. Of course, when I picked up the boards from Sean he said, "you should have been here last week."

Laney got braver and braver in the water throughout the stay until she was using the boogie board a little and playing in the smaller waves. On the last day I took her out to where the big people hang out and she had fun with me holding her. I got her into a little trouble with one larger wave though. I tried to get her out past where it would break. But, we didn't make it. So, I tried to throw her over it. She came up sputtering. But, not to much worse for wear.

We ate plenty of Cassano's pizza and soft serve ice cream cones. The kids went to the Spectrum one day and I went with Ailsa and Jensen to see Bourne Ultimatum one night. We have so much fun on this vacation, it makes it hard to leave.