Memorial Day 2011

Well, Memorial Day 2011 has turned out to be a lot like Spring Break 2011 - cold and snowy.  This is what I woke up to this morning.

I tried to take the coonhound for a hike up Baer Canyon this morning.  We didn't even make it to the bridge before I gave up.  The trees were all weighed down with snow and had flopped down onto the path.  Within about 10 minutes I was soaked to the skin and freezing from trying to fight my way through them.  It is now 1 pm and the snow has not melted, so we may not be going back there this evening  According to the KSL weather page we've hit an all-time record for wettest spring. During March, April, and May so far, we have receieved OVER 10.26 inches of water in SLC. That's the most in at LEAST 150 years. We hit the record for May as well- over 4.76 inches.  Our current snow pack total for the state is 381% of average.  Many areas of the state are around 450% of average, and the Toole mountains are at 750% of average.  I think it is safe to say that we don't have to worry about drought this summer!  IF WE EVER GET A SUMMER!

Yesterday my slinky weasle discovered a duck nest near the bridge.  She managed to steal an egg and carry it for several minutes in her mouth.  When she put it down and I realized what it was I tried to take it to put it back but she quickly ate it.

Bad slinky weasle!

All of this rain and snow has made for some nice waterfalls.   

Since I enjoy hiking so much I am going to try to start up a little dog hiking business this summer.  If I could get just one client a week it would pay for my hiking shoes.  And since I go through a lot of hiking shoes I could really use it!  I've found at least one person in Salt Lake County who does this, and another up in the Park City area, so apparently there are people who will pay for this.  If you know of anyone in the Davis County area who would pay me to hike their dogs check out my web page at www.adoggonegoodtime.blogspot.com.

A Little Excitement

I went hiking up Baer Canyon today in the pouring rain, because I am an idiot and because my dog is incapable of understanding that we don't hike in the rain.  On my way back down the canyon I noticed a camp site that I had first noticed on Saturday.  I noticed it because it is a little bit off the trail and in a place where I have not seen campers before.  You can't see it from the trail if you are on your way up the canyon, but it is clearly visible as you are going down.  I took particular notice of it today because even though the rain was pouring down it looked like there was a lot of gear strewn around the camp site.  It didn't seem like a rational person would leave all of their gear out in the rain and most people would be back to work or school on a Monday so I decided to go up and take a closer look to make sure that everything was alright. 

When I got to the camp site I could see that there was a bunch of food, towels, dishes, backpacks and other miscellaneous gear strewn all over the place.  Some of it, especially the food, was clearly being ruined by the rain.  I called out and when no one answered I decided to check the tent.  The tent had a little padlock, not through the holes in the zipper pulls themselves, but through the strings that go through the holes in the zipper pulls.  I got it open enough to see that there was no one in the tent, just a couple of big stacks of books and sleeping gear.  The site is at the base of some cliffs, and it concerned me that possibly some kid had gone climbing around on those cliffs and had fallen and was hurt somewhere, but I couldn't see anyone nearby so I decided I had done my duty to check around and I went home. 

Once I got home I knew that it was going to continue to bother me that someone could be out there hurt in the rain.  I decided to hike back up and break into the tent to see if I could find some identification before I went to the police.  I got back up to the site and untied the strings holding the padlock in place (not the smartest way to secure a tent) and went inside.  I thumbed through a couple of books and peeked into a duffle bag but didn't see anything that might identify the person.  As I was about to leave I noticed 2 composition books hanging in a little net up near the top of the tent.  The first notebook contained some really bad poetry, but the second note book was a journal.  On the first page of the journal I read that this guy was planning on spending the next 4 months living in the wilderness on a spiritual journey, and that he was planning to support himself by selling drugs.  He hoped to make around $10,000 this summer.  I thumbed to the last entry which was for Saturday, in which he mentioned that he had just come back from a hike and was drunk.  Again, I worried that he might be hurt somewhere, especially if he was hiking around under the influence of drugs and or alcohol.  I also decided that I should probably get out of there fast if there were a chance that a drug dealer might come back and find me rifling through his things.  I tied the padlock back on and hurried back to my car. 

I drove over to the Fruit Heights City Building only to find that it was closed for the night.  I wasn't sure what to do, since it wasn't an emergency and I didn't want to call 911.  As I was headed back to my house to look up non-emergency numbers in the phone book I saw a Kaysville cop pulled over on the side of the road.  I pulled over behind him and waved him over to my car.  I explained what had happened, and that I was worried that since it didn't look like this person had been back to camp for a couple of days he may be out hurt somewhere.  The cop thought it was more likely that he could be out tending the spot where he is growing his drugs.  Apparently they have been dealing with quite a bit of that in these mountains lately.  He put me in touch with the deputy who was on call tonight.  I explained what I had found and she told me that they would head up and check it out.  She called me back a little while ago to let me know that they hadn't found anyone around the camp, but that they would keep it under surveilance for the next week, and if he hasn't come back by the first of next week they will send out search and rescue to see if they can find him.

I worry about snakes when I hike in the summer.  I vaguely worry about mountain lions in the winter, but mostly I worry about slipping on the ice and breaking something.  It never occured to me to worry that I might run into drug dealers and/or drug growing operations up there in the middle of nowhere.  It may be time for me to at least invest in some pepper spray to take with me when I'm hiking.

Projects

Now that spring is theoretically here it is time to do some work on the yard.  In my back yard I have a little flower bed that has been fenced off with chicken wire since I got Shady because she is a digger.  I have planted some Rose of Sharon's and a butterfly bush and I've wanted to fill the rest of the bed in with rocks, but I haven't wanted to spend the money on it.  Mom suggested that every time I go hiking I put a few rocks in my pocket, but that would take forever.  However, my cheaper side has won out and I am taking her advice.  Every time I go hiking I bring my backpack and when I am done with my hike I find somewhere close to my car that I can go to gather rocks.  I fill my backpack with rocks, then I dump them into a big box in my trunk.  It takes 4 or 5 backpack loads to fill the box, then I take them home and dump them in the bed.  I have been doing this for about three weeks, weather permitting, and my bed is about half full. 

The rocks are all fist size or bigger, and they are all different shapes, colors, and types.  Ideally I would have loved to fill it with all river rocks, but I don't know of a source close enough to a parking spot where I could gather enough of them.  Once I've got it all filled in with bigger rocks I will start collecting pebbles to fill in the holes.  Hopefully by June I will be finished with this project.

This is my hanging garden.  I have 2 zucchinis, 2 heirloom tomatoes, one cherry tomato, assorted hot peppers and some strawberries.  The pepper planter has 2 bell pepper plants that will have to be pulled out when they get bigger.  The markers fell out of 2 of my pony packs and I couldn't tell which ones were the bell peppers and which ones were the Cayenne peppers, so I put in 2 of each then planted the other 2 in my ground bed.  I bought a couple of brackets for the strawberry and pepper planters to hold them out to the side of the frame, but I can't find them anywhere so I had to improvise with some temporary hooks.  It's driving me crazy that I can't figure out what I did with them!

I have also planted lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, some pole beans and a few onions in what used to be a flower bed.  My lettuce seedlings just started poking through the soil today, so I am happy about that.  Marie gave me lettuce from her garden last fall, and I have never tasted lettuce so good in my life.  I am hoping that my lettuce turns out as well.  And yes, the fence behind the planters definitely needs paint. 

Here in the foreground you can see my mimosa.  It is officially dead.  Technically the roots may still be alive, but I am not going to give it the chance to grow back this year.  I am sick of it dying down to the ground every year, and you can see the pear tree in the background that will be taking its place.  I talked to the guy at the nursery about the mimosa, and he said that mine is a common problem.  Some people have great luck growing them, and others have them die back every year.  He said it doesn't seem to matter how you fertilize or care for them, some of them do well and some of them just don't.  Mine didn't.  I'm sad because it could be such a pretty tree, but lately I have been obsessed with eating pears, so I am looking forward to having my own source.

Spring Break 2011 - PARTY!

Or not.  It really wasn't much of a party

. 

On Saturday I did yard work - mowing the lawn for the first time this season and weeding the flower beds. 

On Monday I borrowed Jo's truck and went to the dump for some compost.  I didn't think that I could use a whole pickup truck full of compost, and I was worried about what to do with the leftovers.  As it turned out, I went back to the dump for a second load and I could really use a little more.

Tuesday was a rainy day, so it was devoted to housework.  I scrubbed all of my floors on my hands and knees, which only happens about once a year.  Tuesday night I went out to dinner with Julee, and upon parking I noticed that my front driver's side tire was completely bald on the inside.

Wednesday was devoted to getting new front tires and a front end alignment on my car, and fertilizing the lawn.  Later that evening Shady and I explored a new trail up above the shooting range.

Can you find the coonhound in this picture?  She is well camouflaged.

This is what I woke up to on Thursday morning.  I was NOT happy about having to take a hike in this.  I managed to do it all winter long and I didn't mind it, but I really can't take it anymore!  That afternoon I took my taxes into an accountant. I get a $23 refund this year - woohoo! That evening I joined the Thompson's at Cracker Barrel for Ashlyn's birthday dinner.

Friday morning after once again hiking through the snow, I ran some errands then I picked-up Ava from day care and we went to see Hop.  I am not a fan of mixing live action with animation, so I found it to be kind of creepy.  Ava seemed to enjoy it.

It is now Saturday and it is still snowing steadily for the third day in a row.  What happened to spring?!  I've spent the whole day doing geneology, and now I'm at the end of my spring break.  It's back to school again on Monday, and in case you are wondering there are 39 days of school left.

Still Breathing

I haven't posted anything for weeks, but that's because there hasn't been anything happening in my life.  I get up, go to work, hike with my hound, fix and clean up dinner, then I have about 2 hours until it's time for bed.  Not a very exciting life to say the least.

I've still been wanting to lose a few pounds, so I decided to try Atkins.  It's been a week and a half and I've lost 3 pounds, but I've been stuck for several days now.  I figure I'll stick with it for another week and see how things are going, then reassess.  

I've also been wanting to make a garden in my yard, but I haven't been sure how to go about it.  The main stumbling block for me has been the expense of a rototiller.  I just can't justify it for the small garden that I would want.  I was at Big Lots last weekend and they had Topsy Turvy planters for $4 each.  I bought 7 of them and I am going to do a hanging garden with tomatoes, zucchini, hot peppers, strawberries and pole beans.  Then I decided I will just plant lettuce, broccoli and cauliflower in my flower bed.  I think my hanging garden will be cool, but you can judge for yourselves when I get it constructed and post the pictures.

Big Lobster

Okay, so I really have nothing to post, but my lobster, Bruce, was trying to steal this zucchini this morning and drag it back to his lair.  It was too heavy so he just climbed on top of it and started gnawing on it.  I've never had a lobster this big before.  He's about 6 inches long and he could grow to be about 12 inches long.  I'm hoping we can keep him alive that long.

Coonhound Lost, Coonhound Found - And More!

Two weeks ago on Sunday I took the coonhound out for our morning hike at 8 am.  I admit that sometimes I don't keep as close an eye on my animal as I should.  I was hiking along when off in the distance I heard her start to bay.  I could see that she was about 1/4 mile ahead of me, and she was chasing 2 deer.  I used the shock collar on the highest setting over and over again, but either she was out of range or she simply didn't care.  I plowed through the snow for about an hour hitting the shock collar and whistling for her, but I had no luck.  I finally decided there was no sense in me walking any further, so I turned around.  I went down to the store and purchased poster board and a fat marker and I made 6 lost dog signs.  I tacked one up at the trailhead where I lost her and then I moved north (the way she had gone) tacking them up at each of the next 5 trail heads.  At each trail head I hiked for a ways calling for her and hitting the shock collar, and asking everyone I met to be on the lookout for her.  After I had put my signs up at all of the trail heads I went back to the one where I lost her and I hit the trail again.  Again, I hiked for about an hour calling for her.  I came to a point where up ahead the trail curved around a hill and I thought, I'll go to that point and call for her again, then I'm giving up.  Just then the stupid animal peeked her head around that curve.  She had been gone for 4 hours and it took us another hour to get back to the car, so needless to say we were both exhausted.  I have never seen her so tired before.  Once we got home she slept all day and through the night.  She only got of the couch once to get a drink and do her duty outside.

As you can see from these pictures we've had a lot of snow in the last few weeks.  A couple of weeks ago the snowpack totals for the state were over 200% of average.  It has warmed up somewhat this week and the snow is melting now, and we have that wonderful Utah smog covering the valley.  There should be a couple of storms this week and hopefully they will clean out the air a little bit.

My resolution for the new year has been to cut way back on my sugar intake.  I'd like to say that I was giving it up entirely, but I know myself too well for that.  I have found a web site with the most delicious looking gluten-free, sugar-free, low-carb recipes.  Today I made biscuits.  I haven't had biscuits since I was diagnosed with celiac disease, and it has been one of my greatest hardships.  This evening I ate 2 heavenly biscuits and nearly wept for joy.  Later this week I am going to try the black bean chocolate cake.  Anyone who is interested can check out the link to Healthy Indulgences on my blog list.

I have also discovered Winco Grocery Stores.  They are building one here in Layton, but I heard that there was one in Roy and I decided to check it out.  It isn't as cheap as I was led to believe, but they have a huge selection of produce and all sorts of self-serve items in bulk bins that I was really excited about.  They have all sorts of nuts and candies (including sugar-free) as well as dried fruits, baking products and mixes, spices, cereals, granolas and all sorts of things that I'm sure I was too overwhelmed to notice.  They even had bulk gluten-free flours.  I use a lot of flax and some tapioca flour and the bulk stuff is cheaper than I have been paying at the health food store so I was thrilled about that.  I tried to use the peanut grinder to make my own peanut butter but I couldn't get it to work.  They also have their own bulk organic honey straight from the hive.  Seriously, there are signs warning you not to open the lid and let the bees escape.  I don't know that I will go out there every week, but I will definitely be making Winco a regular trip.