Not a Lot

I was downloading some pictures from my phone the other day and realized that I had taken pictures when we were at the horse show a few weeks ago.

Here are the adults both texting as they watch the show.

Butch and Cindy Lu enjoyed a little extra attention.

I spent some time leading Grace and Ava around on one of the horses. Ashlyn wasn't interested.

I just like this tree. If you look close at the trunk it is all broken and cracked, but it's still alive and flourishing.

The leaves in the mountain have all changed now, and they are falling like crazy. They will be bare pretty soon.

Here is my sleepy weasle lounging on the bed. She started chasing a coyote today but she came back as soon as I called to her. I was very proud. I have been worried about what would happen the first time she saw a deer, but I figure a coyote is every bit as interesting as a deer so I think we'll be okay.

If You Have a Pet You Need a FURminator!

I was talking to my dog's trainer a couple of weeks ago about shedding, and he recommended a tool called the FURminator. I've been using a regular brush on Shady but when I use it I only get a dozen or so hairs in the brush and she still sheds like crazy. I throw a sheet over my bed but after only one night of her sleeping on it it is absolutely filthy. So I went to Petco today and in a moment of reckless abandon decided to splurge on the $50 grooming tool. After one use I have to say that I am in love with the FURminator! In just a couple of minutes I had amassed this fist sized wad of fur. It would have been a bit bigger but one of us decided that it looked like something she would like to eat, so she took a big bite of it. I will be using this tool on a daily basis and hoping that I have a much cleaner house, and a much less furry bed.

At Long Last

Three and a half years ago I planted a mimosa tree in my yard. There are several of them in my neighborhood and I love the feathery pink blossoms. The first summer that I had the tree it grew from about 4 feet to about 6 feet but it didn't bloom. The next spring I waited in anticipation for it to do something but it never did. April and May passed by without any sign of it putting forth leaves and by June I admitted that it wasn't just a late bloomer, it was dead. I decided to cut the tree down before I dug up the root ball. When I unwrapped the tape at the base of the trunk I found several tiny green shoots growing out of it. I decided that since the tree was trying to live I would give it a chance. I cut it down to about 6 inches from the ground and I watched it grow. It grew really fast, about 5 or 6 feet that summer, so I was hoping that it would make it. The next spring I found that it had died down to about 3 feet, so I trimmed it back and decided to give it another chance. It grew several feet again last summer, but it never bloomed. This spring I found that it had again died back somewhat, but not nearly as much as it had in the past. Still, I was getting really irritated with the tree. I told it that it had better do something besides look weedy this year or I was done with it. Again, it has grown quite a bit this summer, but there have been no blossoms until I went out yesterday to mow the lawn and found six blossoms. Today there are nine. My poor little weedy tree is finally starting to look like a real mimosa, so I guess I will keep it around.

Fall Colors

I took my camera on my hike this evening so I could capture some of the great fall colors out there. It's amazing how much they have changed just in the last week. Nothing exciting to report. I did try to take a picture of Shady carrying a 3 foot branch in her mouth but she was always moving so fast that I couldn't get a photo to turn out. She carried that branch for about 10 minutes and she was clearly thrilled with herself.

Fernwood Trail

Shady and I hiked the Fernwood Trail in Layton this afternoon.

This is the view from the bottom of the trail.
Later we got to a spot that was burned a few years ago.

One happy coonhound enjoying the trail.

These are the tops of the mountains. We got close but we didn't quite make it all the way to the top today.

Here we are at the top looking down.

Here are a few statistics courtesy of the cool GPS unit Mom and Rick gave me.

Elevation at the trail head: 5228ft

Elevation at the point where I'd had enough: 7792ft

Total gain in elevation: 2567ft

Total miles round trip: 4.1

Trip duration 2 hrs 56 minutes

First Week of School

Well the first week of school is behind me now, and there are only about 41 weeks left until summer break. Just kidding!

Wednesday was our first day with kids, and by the end of that day I was seriously wondering if I sold everything I owned and drained my bank accounts how long could I live in Mexico? Thursday and Friday were much better days, so I guess that I will stick it out for now.

I seem to have good students for the most part and so far the kids are happy and doing well. I have a lot of new kids this year so it will take some time to really get to know them.

Anyway, between working and hiking with the coonhound I don't seem to have much time for anything else, so at least I am keeping busy. I will actually be glad when the weather gets cooler so we can go hiking right after work and I might actually feel like I have time for something else in the evenings. I have found a new trail in Layton that I am really enjoying right now.

Coonhound Update

After a week of hoping that Shady's wound would heal I finally gave in and took her over to Eric's for some stitches. Because the wound was so old he had to give her anesthesia and trim the edges before he could close it. He didn't find a pellet, so unless she licked it out it was just some kind of a puncture wound.

I had to work that afternoon, but I wanted to keep an eye on her because she was so doped up, so I took her to work with me. She slept for about an hour before she got up and wandered groggily around my classroom. After a few minutes she managed to find a stuffed fish baby toy. It is made of several fabric textures and it has rubber fins and a squeaker inside. She spent the next two hours just standing there looking dazed with that fish in her mouth. Occasionally she would bite it hard enough to make it squeak, but mostly she just stood there. I wish I had taken a picture of her but I didn't think to do it.

I have definitely learned my lesson about taking her to other vets. The one in Kaysville charged me $120 to look at her and give her antibiotics. He told me that if I wanted him to stitch the wound it would cost me about $350. Eric gives me a nice discount, but before the discount his price to look at her wound, give her anesthesia, stitch her up, give her a rattlesnake vaccine and antibiotics was only $180. Enjoy the vet bills, Mom!

Jef, there is a waterfall about 2 miles up Farmington Canyon. I've been going to Adams canyon which is between my house and Grandpa's house and it has a waterfall 1.3 miles up. I also just found out that there is another waterfall in Adams canyon just above the car park. I wish I had known that when I took Mom and Rick up there a couple of weeks ago.