Friday, March 31, 2017

Hardward Ranch Elk Ride

I saved an article form the Great Outdoors section of the VIA AAA magazine a few years back about hardware ranch up Blacksmith Fork Canyon.  Too late this year, but the ride is great fun, and the herd seems to always increase in size.  You can go to the visitors center all year and see elk across the mountain meadow.  I remember as a scout going to the ranch and helping with conservation projects, or bringing in the cut hay or bailed grass.  We had some good times there.  One of our scouts' dad worked at the ranch so we got to go there a few times.  That would have been the Hyrum Fourth Ward at the time which included the ranch in its boundaries.  Check out their website.

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Argentine Foot Bath

Argentina, especially in the capitol (Buenos Aires Federal District) the sidewalks are made of tile.  This really is very nice looking, and the are efficient, unless a tile comes loose.  Then you have problems, especially when it rains.  It does rain a lot in Buenos Aires.  The moisture gets under the tile, and then when you step on the tile it works as a little pump and squirts water on your feet and ankles.  You can protect yourself with an umbrellas, but there is no protection against the little foot bathes coming from below.
An example of a tile sidewalk

Sunday, March 19, 2017

Driving 100

Can't say I have been that fast often, but one time, in the Grand Prix I had purchased from my sister, I was challenged to see if I could do 100.  This is the first car I had ever owned.  It was while driving to Blackfoot for my field placement at the State Hospital there.  I traveled with Blair Gardner and Mary Ellen Spackman.  Blair challenged me, "Can this thing do a 100?"  So we got off the freeway after Pocatello, and found some back roads on which to try out the Grand Prix.  It hit 100.  However the springs were so loss it didn't do so safely.  The car was really bouncing.  Scared me enough that I slowed down as quickly as we hit 100.

That car, likely because of the springs, had a bad habit of hitting the differential case on the bottom, which would push the casing into the differential and it would make a terrible noise.  I had to get it fixed a few times, once in the garage and once a friend of Weldon's in Tintic.

Friday, March 17, 2017

Caleb's: Our Days of Color

Our many days of color By Caleb

The many different days I change colors.  Sometimes I'm happy and sometimes I'm sad.

When it is a pink day it reminds me of flamingos.

Sometimes I feel lonely on gray days.

Then comes a purple day.  I feel as sleepy as an owl.

I love my days of color.  I hope you do too.

I don't know what grade Caleb was when he wrote this, but I really like it.  I don't know if it was an original poem.  But I am sure he did the pictures, and the use of color is great.

Thursday, March 16, 2017

Poetry I Like: Silver Boxes

Silver Boxes



My words were harsh and hasty

And they came without a thought.

Then I saw the pain and anguish

That my bitter words had brought.




Bitter words that I had spoken

Made me think back through the past;

of how many times I'd uttered

Biting words whose pain would last.




Then I wondered of the people

I had hurt by what I'd said;

All the ones I had discouraged

WHen I didn't use my head.




Then I thought about my own lifd,

Of painful words I've heard;

And of the times I'd been discouraged

By a sharp and cruel word.




ANd now clearly I remember

All tne things I might have done;

But, by a word I was discouraged

ANd they never were begun.




Lord, help my words be silver boxes,

Neatly wrapped up with a bow;

That I give to all so freely,

As through each day I gladly go.




Silver boxes full of treasure,

Precious gifts from God above;

That all the people I encounter

Might have a box of GOd's own love.




Michael Bright 1989