Family Fun and Things That Happen Despite Our Objections

Halloween, cutting dead out of the sick tree, a landmark destroyed in the face of progress and civilization, and wind in the yellow grass and rabbit brush. Soon winter will reign and we'll see if we survive to see another spring...

Yellowstone 2018

A most splendid trip to the land of rivers and geysers. I very much love to be with this girl and be with her in these areas.

 

Still in Flux

Firefighting trainings, yellow on the mountain, and the first snows in the high country.

Times, They Are a-Changing

Talks with Papa and hanging out in the kitchen. What makes it all worth it for us. It's great to be with each other.




Sometimes it's hard to keep up, though...

Black Canyon

On the mountain with Ryan and Lucy, scouting elk and looking around for deer.

Mostly just freaking beautiful and more of that.

Autumn...

Autumn on the rise in Sanpete.

Pole Canyon Fire

The first photo is of the Pole Canyon Fire at the intersection of Highways 89 and 6. The second is just north of Ephraim.  The first was taken by Jesse on the job, and the second on my way home from work. One day apart, a world of amazement from both ends of the conflageration.

The Day Before the Pole Canyon Fire Went Nuts...

So there you are- see that tiny puff right of the big mountain (Mt. Nebo) toward the top center of the photo? That's just about the time on Monday the 10th when the Forest Service was saying, "Yeah; we think it's a great idea to let that thing go. 83 degrees at altitude in the middle of September and it's supposed to be around 64? Relative humidity at 7%? Wind gusting at around twenty-five mph? We had a lightning-strike like this earlier in the season with similar circumstances and it went batshit crazy, costing millions and millions of dollars? Hells yeah! Let's monitor it and let it burn!"

Foresters with masters degrees in blather sitting behind desks ignoring institutional and local memory toying with people's lives probably ought to be sent to jobs serving the public and interpreting historical sites. Or something. 

Sure was a pretty, albeit very hot day, nevertheless.

Plen Aire Schtuff

I thought I'd head out and play some games with the tourists and 'visiting artists' on Friday. I was going to sit in front of some of the larger, less lived-in houses of Wasatch front illuminati and paint gaudy dollar signs on watercolor paper.
But then I started sketching the Das Cafe/Freedom Hall building down on Main Street just for giggles and warm up.
Then I began thinking I was being mean-spirited and kinda nasty about the whole thing, and gradually calmed down a bit, thinking I might ought to keep at this while I strategized my protest some.
Then I stayed all afternoon and came back to this sketch.
And I am still working on it...

Anniversary 27

Very glad that Diedre has stuck by me for more than 27 years. I'm not just saying that- no one reads this anyway and it's pretty much a multi-purpose album, screed, and family history thing, so there's nothing to be gained-  so there...
She is the best. She is the strongest. She is the prettiest. She is the kindest. She is herself.

We had a grand drive up to Woodruff, Utah and back over the course of about eleven hours. Good hours spent, and beautiful country seen.

Just a little filter, I'm telling ya. Not much.
This is late summer for us...

Aged Summer Dreams

Summer lasts forever in some dreamer's hearts, and other find ways to keep it going forever in reality.
This old stick is one of my reminders of hope when endless midsummer turns to winter and long twilight.