Painting Injury

I don't want to hear anyone else say, "If you don't like the way the paint turned out you can always paint again." My elbow has been killing me since I first started painting 2 months ago. Two weekends ago it hurt so bad that I was in agony just trying to start my lawn mower, and I finally decided that it was time to see the doctor. From what I could gather from his explaination I have hurt a tendon that connects to my elbow and a nerve that runs down my lower arm. (After I left I thought that I should have had him write the names of the nerve and tendon down for Ang, but I wasn't quick enough.) As a result I get to wear these loveley braces for the next 4 weeks. I also opted to get a steroid shot in my elbow now rather than wait a few weeks to see if the braces take care of the problem and risk having to go back. Even though the doctor claimed that he was injecting a pain killer along with the steroid that was the most painful injection I have ever had in my life. I never want to paint again.

Hike #2: The Fiasco

I sat inside all day Saturday watching the rain. By noon on Sunday the clouds had started to break up and the blue sky looked so inviting that I decided to get out and go for a hike. I usually hike Baer Canyon in Kaysville or Adams Canyon in Layton, so I decided to break out of my rut and head to Ogden.


Last year Steph directed me to a trail that I really liked but I couldn't remember how to get to the trail head. She couldn't remember which canyon I was talking about, so she directed me to the trail heads for Waterfall and Taylor canyon. (Looking at the map at the trail head it was Beus Canyon that I had been trying to find.)

I decided that I wanted to hike up Waterfall Canyon, but since I had never been there before and the trails weren't clearly marked, I ended up in Taylor Canyon. That was fine with me. Back in the horse and buggy days there had been a hotel at the top of Malan peak. It burned down years ago but apparently the boiler still sits in the clearing, so that seemed like a good thing for me to explore.

The sky was still overcast in Ogden when I started out on the trail, but it didn't look too threatening. I had been hiking for about 20 minutes when I noticed that the clouds above me had become quite black and threatening. I decided to keep going.

It sprinkled lightly for the next 20 or 30 minutes, but it wasn't anything too bad. Then it started to hail. It hailed really hard and although the hail stones weren't big they really stung. After pushing through that for about 10 more minutes I decided that the smart thing to do would be to turn around.

After a few more minutes the hail stopped and it began to rain quite steadily. I was about 20 minutes from my car when a bolt of lightning hit nearby. I don't think it hit the ground, but the lightning and the thunder were simultaneous, so it must have been quite close. I had my headphones on at the time and when the lightning hit I got a deafening hiss of static through my headphones.

At that point it really started to rain hard, and by the time I reached my car I was completely drenched and my hands were numb with cold. As I sit here typing this about 2 hours later, the sky is completely clear and bright blue. Steph and I might head up to Snow Basin for a hike next weekend, so I will let you know how hike #3 goes.

For Liv

Happy birthday, Olivia! I hope that you received your rat-with-a-wig dog card, and I hope that you appreciated it. I love you and miss you. Have a great birthday!

Love,
Jen

What The *#@^!

Being the conscientious citizen that I am, I was reading through my voter information packet when I came upon this little gem.

Those of you who have lived in Utah during the past decade may remember "SuperDell" as the owner and annoying spokesperson for Totally Awesome Computers who drove his company into the ground. Later he became known as the crazy guy who was arrested for flying a small plane low over the freeway in North Salt Lake, and the crazy guy who was arrested for pulling a gun during a road rage incident in a residential neighborhood. Nowadays he is the extremely annoying and obviously insane spokesperson for Money Train Title Loans, and apparently gubernatorial candidate. Notice that his alleged running mate was apparently too embarrassed to submit a photo or a statement.

I was not impressed by Karl Malone years ago when he told a reporter that running for governor of Utah "...do interest me. It really do." However I am more impressed with Karl than I am with this yahoo. With people of this caliber running for public office it is no wonder that our country is in such a mess!

Could It Be A Park?

This is a shot of the old Clover Club lot near my house. They have been talking about turning it into a park for at least the last four years, but nothing has ever happend. A few weeks ago the started mounding piles of dirt on the lot. There are three big mounds of dirt, and each of them is a different color. Every day they drive front loaders around and they smooth down the tops of each mound then they pile some more dirt on top. Could this be the beginning of a park, or are they just paying some guys to play with dirt? Your guess is as good as mine. It reminds me of when I was little and there was a big mound of dirt in the spare lot across the street from the Wilson's house. Colby and I loved to play Cowboys and Indians on the "mountain".

Fall

I have an awful cold today and I feel like I've been run over by a truck. However, after lying on my couch all afternoon looking at this view, I knew that if I didn't get out to see the leaves in the canyon today they might be brown next weekend.

I'm not a great photographer, and my camera is a third generation hand-me-down piece of crap that is literally held together by duct tape, but I think that the pictures turned out okay.

Got The Munchies?

Apparently someone had the munchies while I was at church this afternoon. Despite the fact that she had plenty of food in her dish, and that I had given her a large pig ear just before I left the house, she was apparently so hungry that she had to steal a loaf of bread off the counter and eat the whole thing. Yes, it was an entire loaf of bread that I just purchased last night, and yes, this is all that was left when I got home.

You might think that she wouldn't be hungry for the rest of the day, but she drooled and pawed at me while I ate my dinner, and she eagerly licked my plate when I was done.