KIDS ARE GREAT!

I Love Kids.

They are so honest and unpretentious and innocent

She didn't think this was that high when she was on the ground!

Holy Stink WHOA!

A Bad Hair Day Would Bother Some!

A Bad Hair Day Can Be Dealt With But

Losing Your Head Is A Different Story!

She Saw That On Television.....................................

This Guys Has Been Waiting All Day For The Watermelon...................

Watch Out Grandpa!

A Future Artist

In The Making?

Wait Til Mom Finds Out!

She's Wondering What The Heck He Thinks He's Doing!

This Guy Just Wants To Ride!

And This Is Just A Few Of Them

THANK HEAVEN FOR ALL THE KIDS AND THEIR INNOCENCE!

Changing Leaves

I am up the canyons very frequently and I watch. It is now Labor Day weekend and two weeks ago I started to notice color change in the hills.

August 25, 2009 was when I took these pictures and there is definite signs of changing leaves.

Some more from the 3rd of Sept show even more coming.

Soon there will be lots of color and some fantastic views.

Here are some pictures that were taken on the 23 of Sept, 2006. I took them because it was the first snow of that year. It is interesting to look at though. The very top shows beautiful blue sky with white fluffy clouds just like summer and then there is a good 6 inches of snow on Timp, gorgeous white stuff. Going a little lower there is the reds and golds of fall colors and finally at the botom is still nice green leaves on trees and bushes.

A combination of seasons and colors in one picture on one day.

I Love Clouds

I love clouds! They can be very white and fluffy and almost like popcorn balls or sometimes they can dark and black and look almost mean and angry.

I can remember when I was a kid I used to spend time laying on my back in the grass and just looking up at the clouds and trying to pick shapes out of them. It was a fun activity and sometimes the shapes were amazing.

Sometimes sunrises or sunsets will cause lots of different colors in the clouds!

And sometimes I think the clouds were just sneaking a peek over the hills or mountains!

Or around the trees...............

Clouds over Bear Lake are very nice..................................

But there is not a lot difference from the clouds over Deer Creek or in Provo Canyon!

It is definitely trivaility but I still love clouds...............especially the late summer clouds!

I Love My Deck!

I love my deck! It is not a big deck, it is just a little deck, but I love it and it serves me well!

It is probably about 6 feet wide and about 15 feet long, just the right size for a table and chairs to fit in. It has some privacy to it but it still affords a good look at the sky to the west and also the the southeast.

On the southwest corner of the deck there is a good sized locust tree that covers most of the southwest area of the deck and helps make sitting on the deck more comfortable most times of the day.

There is another tree, a Schwedler Maple, that sits to the southeast that is mature enough to have become good sized. These trees along with some other smaller ones help to make things cooler and more pleasant on my deck.

The Maple tree has a nest of hummingbirds in it and they are frequent visitors to my deck to have breakfast or dinner or maybe just a snack. They are really interesting to watch when they come, but they are wary.

I think they are also very camera shy! Every time I get the camera out they disappear!

Turkeys!

One of the really nice things about the deck and where it happens to be is that it is in the pathway of the canyon winds. Even though it is several miles to Provo Canyon from here, in the mornings there is a breeze that comes from the canyon and makes things very pleasant on the deck and that is usually repeated again in the evenings.

It is usually more of a breeze than a wind, and it also makes a nice rustle in the leaves and it keeps my wind chimes chiming.

More Triviality

The weather that we enjoyed this spring was very wet to say the least. We had a good amount of late snow and also a heavy amount of rain. It has all been very good for the water supplies.

All the reservoirs around the area are full; Jordanelle, Deer Creek, Wanship, Echo, etc. are all full to the brim.

Even Lake Powell has received a huge boost in its water level. It was very low before but they have said on the news reports that through this spring the water level has risen 30+ feet which is a fantastic amount of water.

And there is still snow on some of the mountains. The front of Timpanogos is about clear now but the back still has a good amount of snow on it. Lone Peak still has quite a few patches on it as does Nebo.

There is one little squiggle just to the south of Lone Peak that still has snow in it. I guess it really isn't a squiggle but more like a little arc.

I was told when I moved to Utah Valley that this arc was a good water gauge and to watch it. The story was that if there was still snow in that little arc in June then that meant there would be enough water to get a good corn crop.

A few days ago when I drove to Salt Lake I even noticed a few patches on the Oquirrh Mountains north of the copper mine. That means that we have a good water year going for us and we will have plenty of corn to eat.

A couple of years ago I took some pictures of the first snow fall in this area. It was really more than a couple of years, it was more like three, it was the 21st of September in 2006.

My son was going to school in Arizona and roasting in the heat and hating it and missing the snow so I took pictures of the mountains and the new snow. It was an early storm but not too unusual. It was a fair amount of snow also.

Looking at the snow still on the mountains the first of July and then comparing to the new snow the latter part of September that doesn't leave a lot of time that the mountains are snowless in that high country.

Geneva Remnants

Geneva is now gone!

I have read that it covered up to 1700 acres when it was in operation and now that it is gone that ground is being developed for other uses, along with a huge amount of residential development that is taking place west of the old Geneva site.

It looks like the town of Vineyard which is just west of the old Geneva site looks to grow like gangbusters because of all the new homes that could be built in that towns area.

One really neat development that has happened though is the new Harley Davidson dealership that has been built across the street from the northeast corner of the old Geneva site.

It is at 555 South Geneva Road in Lindon and it is a fantastically neat new building.

They have a large selection of motorcycles and who could help but love a Harley!

But they have also constructed a very unique building and even kept some of Geneva in the whole process. The new building is constructed of recycled material that I have heard comes from the old Geneva plant.

It may sound crazy but it is something that is well worth a trip by to see and even stop to look at the Harleys!

Triviality

It seems like we have had more than our share of rain this spring. We have had rain most days for the last 2-3 weeks, or at least in June.

When I went out west the other day I noticed a number of hay fields with hay still sitting in them. Some was baled but some was not.

I think the farmers have had a hard time this spring because of the rain.



Typically the first crop of hay in this area is cut around the first of June and then after drying for
a couple of days it is baled and then gotten off the field so the next crops growth can get going.




In situations like it has been this year instead of cutting, sitting and drying a couple of days and then baling it gets rained on and then it is wet and has to go through the drying process again before it can be baled. So the hay has to sit for another few days and probably will have to be turned over with a rake to facilitate drying out.


If the rain keeps coming back every day or two as has been the case then this process is lengthened out. Also the rain and moisture can cause mold to grow in the hay and that is not a good thing to have especially when it is fed to horses.


Moldy hay can cause heaves in horses. The dust from the mold gets into their lungs and causes them to cough and have a very hard time breathing.

Some of my best friends are horses!

I had a mare that had a problem with heaves. She was a real good riding horse and was just given to us. We had a close family friend who owned her and had rode her for a number of years but then quit riding for some reason and was just boarding the mare and told us to come and get her and ride her if we wanted to, so we did.

She was a pretty little sorrel with a blaze face. She stood about 15 hands, and was not a real heavy build but had great stamina. She was amazing in the mountains, she would go all day. She was no youngster, I don't know how old she was but she was up there and it didn't take long to realize she was prone to the heaves.

When I could keep her on pasture she was fine but winter or when we were without pasture she had a hard time. With hay she would have problems. I had to switch and was feeding her alfalfa pellets and cubes and she would do fine on those.

Not all horses that get moldy hay get the heaves and not all hay that gets wet gets moldy but it can be a problem and I guess because of all that I seem to notice when the hay sits in the field and gets wet.

At the same time though one of my favorite things to do is go for a ride in the evening in hay country when the hay is down and getting ready to bale. When things are dry and the hay is has been cut the drying process creates an aroma in the air that is truly fantastic and never forgotten!

I LOVE HAYIN' TIME!