Woodys Tidbits

Friday, August 27, 2010

Canned Air is a Miracle

A couple of months ago I had a crisis that really caused me a great deal of consternation and worry and fretting. As some background I need to add a little history. It was all because my computer was giving me all kinds of fits.

About six years ago I bought a computer. It was a great tool, It had acres and acres of storage space to put music, pictures, data, all kinds of stuff. I went to work trying to fill that empty space and I did a pretty good job of it. I saved pictures of all kinds; family, scenery, things I liked and things I thought were neat, all kinds of things. I am a big music fan so I saved all kinds of music; cowboy, pop, rock n roll, oldies, folk, classical, I had all kinds. It was amazing what I could save on this computer.

The computer that I had before the second one had an 18 gigabyte hard drive and I used to worry about running out of space but I was told several times by my computer expert friend that I should not worry because I had oceans and oceans of space.

I have never been too certain how much area a gigabyte takes up but if 18 of them makes oceans and oceans of space then a gigabyte must be a pretty big area. Then I upgraded to the newer computer and it had 120 gigabytes of storage. That is a whole lot more than 18 gigabytes and that also meant that with the newer computer I could save anything I wanted. If 18 gigabytes was oceans and oceans then 120 gigabytes of space really put me on a roll.

Hooked on Nostalgia

I really love the mornings and taking time to sit on my deck, especially Sunday mornings. I love the quiet of a Sunday morning.

Although quiet is relative because even in the best of times quiet is not really to be found down here in the city.

That fact was really evident a while back when I took a ride down the west side of Utah Lake. I wanted to take a look at what had been built on the south end of Saratoga Springs, a new city that has been built on the northwest end of Utah Lake, and there has been a good number homes built over there.

What really surprised me though was as I drove to the upper part of the homes going to the west I stopped and got out of the car to walk around a bit and I was struck by the silence. I have a hard time describing how peaceful it was.

That is something I dearly miss that comes from my days as a kid in the middle of 55 acres of pasture that I grew up on. Roaming those pastures it was always quiet. Maybe the baa of the sheep or some cows mooing but other than those interruptions it was always quiet.

Something else that I have missed from then is the call of the Kill Deer and the song of a Meadow Lark.

Back in those days Murray, Utah, was a small town and the surrounding towns, Sandy, Midvale and even Salt Lake were much smaller and there was not the noise going on all around.

I miss those days and the quiet time and also the small towns and especially dirt roads.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Moon Lake has Ground Squirrels

Last Month we spent a couple of weekends at Moon Lake in the camp ground.

We camped right next to some friends who are the campground hosts there this summer. One of the things we noticed very quickly was the small wildlife. The humming birds were almost like mosquitoes, they were everywhere and not just a few but all over. The feeders that were out would have 4-5 hummingbirds on them at a time.

The ground squirrels were almost the same. They were everywhere. While Dan and I stood talking two of the ground squirrels climbed right up the stairs to the screen door on the trailer and were just leaning up against the door trying to see in through the screen.

One of the nights we were cooking dutch oven food and decided to ask the friends if they wanted to join us and share in the food and they accepted the invite.

As we were sitting by the fire talking while the food cooked we could look right over into the areas where our friends trailer was parked and they had things fixed up like a little patio. They had a cover for shade and a table and chairs.

It was only about 30 feet from where we were to the trailer and as we sat there Rachel suddenly asked what the deal was with the watermelon. There was a watermelon sitting on the table outside the door and it was rocking back and forth.

We went over to see what was happening and found that there was a ground squirrel behind the watermelon pushing it trying to get it to roll off the table. On the ground right below was another waiting as if he was going to catch it.

It was just like a Chip n Dale cartoon. It was absolutely bizarre. If that watermelon had rolled off and hit that squirrel on the ground I doubt he would forget it very soon. The worst part is we did not have a camera. I wish I had a video of that. It would be priceless.

I really do think that these squirrels have spent too much time in a campground around people.

Friday, July 30, 2010

My Deck is Changing

I still love my deck and it is still very much the same as it was last year.

The hummingbird feeder still draws the little critters but they are still very wary.

And the Locust tree on the corner of the deck is still lush and full and very pleasant.

But I have noticed a change this year. Things are changing and we must be going tropical.
This year when the leaves were budding out and getting ready to pop I noticed some very loud screeching coming from just outside by my deck. And lo and behold.......

Look what I found.

This ain't no hummingbird.

We must be going tropical because I think Parrots live in the tropics.

I was not aware of that big a change in the climate but they keep talking about 'Global Warming'.

Is this evidence?

Honestly, I really don't think so..................................

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Murray, Utah, My Home Town

I grew up in an old style service station in the center of Murray, Utah. My dad and his two brothers had a gas station called the Three Swede's Quality Oil. It was at 5050 South State Street in Murray. That was before there was a lot of natural gas used and people heated with fuel oil. The station was also a fuel distributor and had trucks that delivered fuel oil to people.

From the time I was 7-8 years old I was working at that station every chance I got, at least I called it work. Anyway by the time I was a teenager I had pumped gas in at least half the cars in Murray. What is amazing is I still remember gas at 15 and 16 cents a gallon.

The Murray Liquor store is now on the site where the station was.

The elementary school I went to, Arlington Elementary, was right across the street from from the station and just a little north. It is the Murray City Hall now. We lived right up behind the elementary school where there was a couple of old duplexes on Jones Court. We lived in the one at 5000 Jones Court.

I don't know when they were built but they were old then. Now they have a natural gas meter in front, when we were there we had a stove in the dining room, center of the downstairs that heated the whole place and it was with fuel oil.

Days of YORE

I have admitted to being an old fart, I grew up in the 40s and 50s before all the technology changed the course of life. Don't get me wrong, I am not against technology but given the world I grew up in I am still trying to catch up with the waves of the future that I now live in.

I didn't see a TV set until about 1952-53, and then it was like watching a picture show through a snow storm and there were only 2-3 channels to watch at best. There was the test pattern though.

I used to get up on Saturday morning and go down and sit in front of the radio to listen to my favorite programs. At 9 o'clock a dog would bark and then this voice would say "That's my dog Tige, he lives in a shoe. I'm Buster Brown and I live in there too."

That started the Buster Brown Show and his adventures helping and saving kids but he always came back to the shoes where he and Tige lived.

Right after Buster Brown would come the Howdy Doody Show along with Buffalo Bob and Clarabelle the Clown and Froggy and his magic twanger.