A Tale of 2 Speights

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Holi

Spring is a beautiful season. The days are growing longer and warmer, the trees and plants are blossoming, and thousands of young people are throwing colored powder at each other. Yes spring is the time for Holi, the festival of colors that is celebrated in India or at a Hare Krishna temple in Spanish Fork, UT.

On the 28th of March Rette and I as well as our brother Quinn and Wes set out to join in all the fun. Unfortunately the popularity of this celebration has grown and coupled with the pleasant weather and small traffic capacity of the rural roads we missed out on the good times.

At least we did manage to catch it last year so we can still share some of our photos with you.

Here's Rette in front of the temple it's quite a beautiful building out in the middle of nowhere.

The temple also has a large collection of llamas and some other animals. Normally you would think that this would for the purpose of having a large supply of llama meet, but I don't think that they eat them.

To celebrate you buy your bags of colored chalk and you have to wait till someone lights fire to this effigy of a witch before you start decorating your friends. I'd tell you the signifigance of this but I don't remember it so well and I'd probably tell it wrong, plus I'm feeling lazy and I don't want to look it up. But believe me it has some importance, especially because it starts off the chalk throwing.

Afterwards you end up looking like some of my buddies.

Or like Rette and myself. If there is a Hare Krishna temple near you keep this in mind for next spring, it's a really good time.

Monday, March 23, 2009

Antelopes and Islands

Just off of the eastern shore of the Great Salt Lake is a little gem of a state park known as Antelope Island. Even though the lake may not smell great and the island isn't much more than 15 mile long ridge that comes out of the lake I'm always impressed with how pretty the views are from the island.

Rette and I have been out there a couple of times and just recently went for a hike up to the top of the island in preperation for all the walking we'll be doing in South America.

Despite the islands namesake the most notable habitant is the mighty buffalo. There is a herd of about 500 of them kept on the island. They're easier to catch with a camera as they are larger and not as swift as antelope.

Rette and I and our friends Petra and Andy set off on the trail for Frary Peak, the top of the island. On the way up we ecountered a couple of grazing buffalo. Rette had brought her parafoil kite and we decided that this was a great spot for kite flying.

We thought that the location was great and the buffalo were probably enjoying the show because no one had ever flow a kite for them before. A fellow hiker however didn't agree with our location or activity and was very concerned that we would spook the buffalo and cause them to charge us. I tried to be polite to the man but I thought he was being a bit paranoid. We were quite a ways off and wouldn't a spoked buffalo run away from you and not towards you?

Maybe my time in Alaska being around large bears with large teeth and claws made me less worried about large animals with horns. Anayways we continued on to the top stampede free and even made it back down to our car.

Which looked like this. Those are brine flies plastered all over the bumper, the windshield was even worse. They hatch in the spring on the Salt Lake and luckily they hang out down by the water so they didn't bother us on the trail. I'd just think twice about riding a motorcycle or bicycle out to the island while smiling.

I do think that the buffalo and the antelopes appreciated us flying a brightly colored kite over their island. Even if some people thought we were stupid.

Monday, March 9, 2009

Fun on Wheels

Recently some members of the group Breaksk8 came to Salt Lake to do a performance at a skating rink. Rette and I decided that this was a good oppurunity to work on our own skating skills.

As you can see Rette was a little dissapointed because she had to wear the child skates. None of the adult sizes would fit her. I also want to point out that I am wearing the wristband and headband that were chosen for me by my nephew. I think that they make great skating accesories.

My nephew told me that the wrist band serves to protect from injury and enhance skills, and I think that it's true. I managed to impress one of the guys from breaksk8, that's him in the background watching me spin on my hand. Rette on the other hand didn't need a wristband to impress.

I must say that breaksk8 was a lot of fun to watch. The moves that they do are hard enough with the proper footwear, not to mention roller skates. As I found out dancing on roller skates is not as easy as they make it look, even if you know how to dance well.

Everyone had a great time, especially James on the left there.

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Green Resolution

For Christmas, Travis got me a book called "Farewell, My Subaru" by Doug Fine, which records his efforts to reduce his carbon footprint. A former journalist, he quits his job and moves to a remote New Mexico ranch and tries to live locally.

This has inspired my new-year's resolution of taking my habits to a darker shade of green. Hopefully, I too will have a few good tips and updates as my efforts unfold month-to-month.

A movement against plastic shopping bags has created a small amount of awareness. However, even in eliminating the mode of transportation for food, we are still faced with a problem. (Even if the horrible feeling of plastic bags digging into your fingers is solved.)

(FACT: Sea turtles are one of many animals who ingest plastic bags thinking they are eating a jelly fish. After the animal dies, the plastic bag will remain even after the body has decomposed.)

A box of cereal will have a cardboard box and a plastic bag to keep things fresh. A bag of Reeces Peanut-butter Cups has the outside plastic bag, a wrapper around each candy, a cardboard platform, and a final piece of waxpaper. Even to make dinner, (let's say fajitas,) there will be a plastic bag from the tortillas, a plastic container from the sour cream, a glass bottle from the salsa, plastic bags that brought home the onion, peppers and tomatoes and a foil wrapper from the seasonings.

In short, we all know that trash adds up fast. And nowhere faster than the kitchen.

So taking the plastic bag effort a little further, I have made smaller bags for bulk foods and produce. On a routine trip to the store today, I bought flour, quinoa, rice, granola and dried chickpeas in bulk. All of which would have come in paper, plastic or tin. I also brought home apples, lettuce, mangos and mushrooms in my new bags as well.

I still brought home a fair amount of packaging that will be thrown away, but hopefully over the course of my new bags, it will add up. I figure today, I eliminated 10 plastic bags, 1 paper bag, 2 cardboard boxes, 1 styrofoam container and at least 12 tin cans. It's a start, anyways.

The bags were very easy to make. My sewing machine is old: it was made somewhere between 1930-1950. Needless to say, its stitching capability is limited to a single, straight forward stitch. I didn't rely on a pattern to cut the fabric, (I chose batiks since the weave is tighter than other types,) and just eyed the size as I cut based on the quantities I normally buy. Using a fold as the bottom, I hemmed the tops of the bags to prevent fraying and then stitched the sides of the bags, being sure to double-stitch the corners for reinforcement. And that's it.

Tip: get your resuable bags as souvenirs from trips, or make them yourself from favorite old tee-shirts. They will remind you of your fun adventures every time you use them.

Hopefully this simple step will cascade into others I can share. But if anyone else hears of daily improvements, please send them my way. They will be greatly appreciated.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

A New Addition

Travis got my Christmas present early, and said it's my duty to write and introduce Gus. And might I just add that although we now have a cat, this in no way puts us into the category of "cat people." We fully intend on adding to the furry friends once we have a yard and a bigger place.

We adopted Gus from a no-kill shelter that brings in pets weekly to one of our stations at work in hopes of finding homes faster for them. The cats in the facility live in a giant communal cat-room, and out of the 50+ cats begging to be pet we ended up taking Gus home.

With his black mustache, my parents and co-workers thought his name should be Adolph or Hitler. But we decided that since he doesn't hate Jews, Gus it is.

He's super fluffy, with wild curly whiskers that get stuck in his ears and nose, causing him to sneeze. He took care of his right eyebrows by sniffing a candle on our coffee table already. He kept getting stuck in the couch, and didn't mind at all when we trimmed his claws to fix the problem. The greatest thing about this cat, is his shedding is unnoticeable.

We don't have to worry about him finding trouble when we're not home, because his favorite thing to do is just laying around. If anyone sits on the couch their lap is fair game to him, and he never passes up an opportunity. When he's relaxed, he crosses his eyes and drops his jaw so we can see all of his teeth and tongue. It's pretty creepy.

He's getting braver, but for the first few days we had him he was terrified of the furnace and would run and jump into the bathtub whenever it came on. I'm not really sure why the tub registered to him as the safest place in the house.

In other updates, Travis and I are very excited to be going to Portland for Christmas even though we won't have much time to enjoy it. We should be getting our place tickets for South America this week as well, and are eagerly planning that trip.

Thanksgiving was wonderful, and it was great to have my family come and visit. We had a great meal and got to go out to Antelope Island for an afternoon. We also enjoyed the lights at Temple Square, and my dad got to show off the true "Mormon Hub" (as he calls it) to the foreign exchange student Orm, a sweet girl from Thailand. She was very impressed with the lights and decorations, and bought a few ornaments to send home to her family.

I applied for a job with the AP, and should be hearing an official word this week, although one of the reporters I worked with in the legislature last year said he thinks I've got it. It would be a great opportunity, to say the very least.

Our ward Christmas party is over, and all together now... WOO HOO! The food and entertainment was great, and a little over 150 people came. Travis and Joey Guertz did a break dance routine and had Santa join them for the last little bit. It was a great introduction for the big man.

We look forward to seeing everyone soon. Happy holiday-ing until then!

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Hitchcock Was Right

Alfred Hitchcock classic The Birds inspired fear in many people for our winged companions. Pretty far fetched movie you say. Well what if Mr. Hitchcock was right?

About a month ago Rette and I decided that while her mother was in town we would make a trip to the Tracey Aviary to check it out, the aviary that is, not Hitchcock's thoery that birds are evil.

I was impressed with the variety of birds that they had there. Some of my favorites were the golden eagles, and the emus. The emu especially caught my interest because of the sound it makes. When I was standing near the emus I kept hearing this low pitched thudding noise, which I assumed was coming from some construction going on in the aviary. After listening for a little while and goading the emus to speak to me I realized that the sound was coming from them. They make a very guttural thumping/clicking noise in their throats, their beaks don't open. This made me appreciate the emu even more.

The best part of the visit was when we got to feed some of the birds. If you pay $2 extra at the gate they let you go into one one the enclosures and feed a type of Brazilian Parrot, I forget their actual name. They give you these little sticks with pieces of apple stuck on them and you hold them out and the birds will land on you and start eating.

When you first step in and hold out the food 20 or so birds flying right for you is quite intimidating. However, they quickly settle down and begin enjoying their apples and the opportunity to be so close with these beautiful birds really is something.

Despite their being so adorable these birds posses very hard sharp beaks which make me a little uneasy and in this case rightly so. One of the birds becoming bored with his apple began to peck at my finger right below the finger nail. This hurt quite a bit but because I had several birds on my hands and arms I didn't want to just violently shake them off, so I had to try to slowly brush off the offender. He easily left but not before cutting open my finger. I don't know if it was the cold or something else but it bled quite a bit. The aviary worker who was with us felt really bad for me and kept apologizing for the behavior of this bird. It wasn't that bad I'm glad that it happened to me and not my wife or her mother if it had to happen to one of us.

I seem to have bad luck in these situations as a similar thing happened to me at a Petco several years before. One of the workers was showing off a bird and asked us if we wanted to hold it. She instructed us to hold out our index finger and the bird would perch right on top. I remember asking , "these birds don't bite, do they?" She assured me that they did not, but as soon as I stuck out my finger out to take the bird from her it latched on my finger with its beak, not its feet. I think this one hurt worse than the pecking incident. Once again I couldn't just shake the darn thing off because the Petco lady was standing right next to me. She coaxed the bird into letting go, but this took several painful seconds.

Despite the injury I still had a great time at the aviary. As we left with my finger bandaged my wife and mother-in-law asked me if I should get checked out for bird flu. I told them that I'd take my chances.

Here's a blurry image of the attacked finger.