Where the buffalo roam

I spent this past weekend sleeping in a tent on an island in the Great Salt Lake. It goes without saying that late February is not the optimal time to be camping on Antelope Island. So why would I subject myself to the freezing temperatures and whipping winds? For college credit, of course. The course was called ‘Outdoor Camping and Cooking’, and carries the weight of 2 credit hours for two nights of being exposed to the elements.

I don’t have pictures from the event because I didn’t want to take the digital camera and risk damage from the snow and temperatures that were to fall. It turned out to be a good idea. Within hours of arriving at camp the cold had sapped the batteries from my phone, Palm, and iPod. Not that I needed any of those items, and I was asked to leave them at home.

I won’t bore you with the minute by minute details, but there were some highlights. We were left to our own devices for dinner Friday night (I, like most, stopped at Subway on the way) and lunch on Saturday. We were assigned to work groups for the other three meals. Our group decided on eggs with hash browns, onion, pepper, bacon and eggs. It is an easy meal, and easy cleanup. We awoke at 7 on Saturday and started the briquettes. We decided to cook all of our meals together in the dutch oven. Since they were my ovens I was left to do the cooking. The two girls (sisters) who bought all of the food confessed that they forgot the eggs, a key ingredient to egg breakfasts. So I made them try to bum eggs from other cook groups. They only came up with two, so I made them cut the onions and eggs. Despite the lack of eggs, the breakfast turned out well.

Dinner Saturday night was pot-luck style. There were six cook groups, three assigned to main dishes, two to desserts, and one, ours was assigned to appetizers. We made garlic and bacon potatoes. But again a key ingredient, this time garlic, was left behind. But if our incomplete meal was no good, you wouldn’t know. I didn’t get to try it because the others inhaled it too fast.

But of all the meals the best was breakfast this morning, when we made scones. They were lovely, and I will make them again.

I found that I was more well prepared than most. We were given instructions on how to stay warm, but I guess those instructions were too hard for some. I took a one man tent, two 4 inch thick foam pads, a sub zero sleeping bag and an extra quilt. I slept very well. Others, many others, complained about freezing all night. Too bad for them. People also spent a lot of time whining about toes and fingers that were freezing. Again, too bad for them. I was toasty.

I really enjoyed the trip. When we made camp we were watched by a head of buffalo. After we made camp they kept away, but were never too far. We also shared our space with several coyotes. They sang us to sleep Saturday night. We also participated in a service project, where we cleaned up camp sites. It wasn’t the most glamorous project, but we did a lot of good.

Though it was fun to spend a couple of nights learning some new things about the outdoors and roughing it, I enjoyed getting home today, taking hot shower, and nap in my own bed.

The following is a conversation I had Friday night while we were all visiting about the campfire.

Blonde: So, has anyone here ever camped out during the winter?

Me: I have.

Blonde: Really? So, like, it is possible to do it? I mean, people can do it?

Me: No. Don't go to bed, or that's it for you.

She didn't talk to me again.

'Samantha-rella'

Recently Samantha attended the birthday party of her friend Madison. The party was a princess theme, and at the end of the party each child got the chance to pose as Cinderella. Take a look at Samantha's. The expression says it all, doesn't it?

Kipple

In Phillip K Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? the characters refer to junk as ‘kipple’, claiming that kipple multiplies itself, and eventually takes over. Had Kate not stepped in on behalf of her mother, Pat’s house might have been consumed by kipple. Pat is in the process of looking for a new home, but in order to show her current house to prospective buyers, she needed to de-clutter. This is where Kate came in handy. Kate does not form emotional ties to worldly objects, and has no qualms about tossing things that are no longer of use. A case in point is a group of boxes where Drew has been storing his books for years. The books have not been on a shelf in more than a decade, and not cracked in an even longer time. Her point is that there is no reason to keep the books if he’s not going to ever read them. Her logic generated some hard feelings, especially when applied to some beat up chairs and a piano that doesn’t work, both of which belonged to Drew’s grandmother. But at the end of this President’s Day weekend Kate had won the battle with the kipple, and Pat’s house looked great.

When it comes to emotional ties to worldly objects Kate and I are at odds. I am a pack rat. I keep everything, either because of the sentimental value or because I am afraid that I will need it some day and not have it. This way of thinking came from my father. He won’t throw anything away if it works or if it is fixable. My favorite is his sawzall, which I tenderly refer to as ‘Mad Max’ because it reminds me of a weapon one might see in a Mad Max film. He can afford a new saw, but he prefers to fix the old one. For years I have said that if Stretch took everything out of his garage that he could build a whole house with it. My sister’s dryer recently broke, and when she told my dad about it he told her not to buy one because he had one in the garage. Why? Who knows? The funny thing is that I could spend hours sifting through his garage looking for a tube of construction adhesive, where he would take two seconds to locate it. So my penchant for keeping stuff was a learned behavior. I have Utah Jazz ticket stubs from when I was 8 years old, but I can’t tell you why.

The only reason that I have my ‘precious’ is that I have them stashed in a tub where Kate can’t find them. If she ever did I would have to follow her to the cracks of Doom to prevent her from tossing them, coughing “golllum!” all the way.

It appears, though that my children have learned the ways of the pack rat from me. Whitney is the worst, and I think it is a byproduct of her OCD. I am still trying to figure out how I can get rid of the old origami that she got for Christmas and is still cluttering her desk.

For Patrick it was his Mickey Mouse blanket. It was a quilt that someone made for him when he was an infant, and by the time we got it away from him it was little more than a rag, much like Linus’ security blanket. Kate stitched the tears so many times it was more like a ‘Frankenstein’s Monster’ blanket. I know it couldn’t possibly keep him warm as a blanket, yet he spurned any other blanket. Finally Kate made him a quilt with trucks on it, and he surrendered the Mickey Mouse blankie.

P and Samantha also have a night light in their room that they refuse to part with. At one time it was shaped like a duck, but the frame and the bulb are all that are left now. It’s probably a fire hazard, but I can’t get them to go to bed without it on.








Speaking of ducks, Samantha has duckandbear. They have to be mentioned together, because they are never apart. One is a pink 9 inch square fabric with a bear head in the middle and the other yellow with a duck head. Each has a satin edge, and she rubs the satin against her lips while falling asleep. If duckandbear cannot be found at nap or bed time, there is no nap or bed time and Armageddon is at hand. These tattered mementos are so important that Kate had to rush to the mall and search for one that was dropped there a little more than a year ago. Kate was in such a hurry that she rear ended a kid in his dad’s Infinity and cried not because of the accident, but because of the fear of losing bear (which fortunately was recovered).



Where do we get our penchant for keeping crap that is of no value? I have no idea, but until I figure it out I am not going to part with my 1989 Junior Jazz trophy.

Young love, Part II

Kate and I learned a valuable lesson tonight. When children are filling out Valentine’s Day cards for school peers, it is a good thing to proofread and edit certain cards. Whitney’s teacher sent home a note asking that when our child was filling out cards for classmates that she think of compliments for each one. She was asking for thoughtful compliments, and not just the generic ‘You are nice’ on each one. So Whit began the work of individualizing each one. Look below to see the card that we had to veto.
That is the card that no third grade little boy wants to get…

Not Gonna ‘Dew’ It!

Today marks the third consecutive day that I have been on the wagon. As part of the dental work that I am getting done I am in the midst of a tooth-whitening program that runs 14 days. I had to go in and get molds of my teeth, which I fill with a whitening agent each night and place in my mouth while I sleep. The instructions given to me with the bleach indicate that for the agent to work, I cannot consume coffee or soda pop during the treatment. The coffee part is easy for me, since I don’t drink it. I knew that I was dependent on cold caffeine long ago, but never thought about how hard it would be to kick it. I usually have a Coke to get things rolling in the morning, and then a Mountain Dew in the afternoon to keep momentum up. On the weekends it is even worse. When I am up past midnight doing homework or updating my blog (as I am now) I take the Dr. Pepper intravenously.

I can handle the lack of caffeine from the standpoint of being drowsy. At work I can usually get up and walk away when I get tired. And I have been downing great amounts of water, which keeps my bladder full and helps me stay awake. What kills me is the headaches. Tylenol has helped to offset that.

I know that getting away from soda pop is good for me in more than one way. I have heard thousands of lectures about what soda does to your teeth. I have also witnessed what soda consumption does when you are trying to train for a marathon. I have also heard people testify that they have dropped weight just from laying off of the soda pop. Not that I am concerned about that.

In another eleven days my program will be over, and I will have endured the exile from the pop. By then the headaches will be gone, and my system will be clean. By then I will believe that I do not need caffeine to function. I also know that I am too weak to stay off of the junk forever. But hey, all things in moderation, right?

Ah, Young Love...

With St. Valentine's Day fast approaching I thought it would be fitting to post the following on the blog. This is something that Kate recently discovered on the back of the bathroom door.

Then this afternoon when I arrived home from work I discovered this on the piano in the front room.

I don't know who this Ray Green kid is, but chances are he isn't good enough for my daugther. We'll see. I realize that Ray Green may just be nine years old, but he needs to understand that if Whitney gives him this hand-made valentine card and he rejects her, I may just have to kick his ass...