Falling down on the job again

I was hoping to get back here earlier, but I've been busy. Between putting in a vegetable garden, fighting weeds, and cutting down a small tree, I haven't had a chance to put together something really coherent.

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It's been rainy and chilly the past couple of weeks, then starting yesterday we have gone straight into summer weather.

Picture 1: one of my miniature roses; the flowers are only an inch across
Picture 2: robin's nest
Picture 3: mourning dove nest

Click to enlarge

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Congress is debating a balanced budget amendment; I'll believe it when I see it.

"It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly American criminal class except Congress."
 - Mark Twain

"Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys."
 - P. J. O'Rourke


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 Thought you might like to see some of the photos that my wife took down in southern Utah.

Picture 1: a good reason not to stray far off the roads
Picture 2: view of potash ponds; they are used to extract chemicals from the desert
Picture 3: one of the local inhabitants
Picture 4: sunflower with a small visitor

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For those who have heard of the Gunwalker hearings (the media hasn't given them near as much air time as it should), this is probably one of the best summaries out there.

Deliberately selling guns to known smugglers and cartels in a foreign country is not police work, it is criminal behavior, and the people running it should be prosecuted as such.


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I've been in the mood for almost all oldies, I don't know how many of these anyone will remember.

"I Saw Her Again" by The Mamas and the Papas
"Ring of Fire" by Johnny Cash
"Coming Into Los Angeles" by Arlo Guthrie
"Secret Agent Man" by Johnny Rivers
"One" by Three Dog Night
"As Time Goes By" by Rosemary Clooney
"Purple Haze" by Jimi Hendrix
"How Can I Be Sure" by The Young Rascals
"98.6" by Keith
"Hang On Sloopy" by The McCoys

"Home is the sailor, home from the sea, And the hunter home from the hill." - Robert Louis Stevenson

Well, actually I wasn't sailing or hunting, but I did get home.

We came home Monday afternoon, but I've been so busy catching up on stuff around the yard I haven't had much of a chance to post until now. It was cool and raining here in Salt Lake, so the grass and weeds grew into a jungle. I've also been tilling and planting a vegetable garden, so I've been fairly busy.

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We took our time going to Moab; it is only about a four hour drive, so we did some stops on the way.
One of stops we made was the Natural History Museum in Price, Utah.

As usual, click on the pictures if you want to see the full-size version.  These are only a small portion of the pictures, I may post some more later.

Not far from the town they have been pulling out some mammoth skeletons, such as this guy.

They also had a few dinosaur skeletons, allosaurus, stegasaurus, triceratops, and a few others.

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Coming into Moab, it is necessary to cross the Colorado River.

The first picture shows the highway crossing the river.
The second picture is taken from the bridge for foot and bicycle traffic.

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We spent quite a bit of time south of Moab; our first stop was a small museum in Blanding that was built next to a small Anasazi village. The Anasazi were the ancestors of the modern Pueblo people; their culture collapsed during the time of the 13th and 14th centuries BC. The name Anasazi means "the ancient enemy" in the Navajo language. The ancestors of the Navajo and Apache peoples raided the Anasazi, hence the name.

Some ruins.

Some of the pottery recovered from the ruins.

We next went on to Hovenweep, another Anasazi settlement.

Hovenweep is in a small valley, and has towers along the edge.  I took pictures of some of the towers.

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Some time was spent around the Canyonlands area. There was some wind that day, so the air was a little hazy in some areas due to dust.
The first two are from Sixshooter Viewpoint.
The other two are from on top of Island in the Sky area.

We also saw various wildlife, such as raptors, elk, and pronghorns.

I couldn't pass up some of the flowers blooming at this time.
The first two are cactus.
The third is wild hollyhocks, a type of mallow.
Wild irises.

 












When coming home on Monday, it was fair weather until we reached Soldier Summit.
My wife was driving at the time, and I took this picture(through the windshield while we were moving) of a blizzard we had to pass through. It was actually worse than it looks.

We also stopped by the Sundance Institute to check out the mountain roads in the Wasatch area. The road going over to American Fork was still closed, and snow was still present at Sundance in many of the shaded areas. I got a picture of the sculpture there when the sun was out.

All in all, we had a good time.

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A lot of oldies in this bunch.

"It's My Life" by Bon Jovi
"Lightnin' Strikes" by Lou Christie
"Season of the Witch" by Donovan
"Shape of Things to Come" by Max Frost and the Troopers
"American Pie" by Don McLean
"She's My Girl" by The Turtles
"Brown Sugar" by The Rolling Stones
"Burnin' For You" by Blue Öyster Cult
"Rock Me" by Steppenwolf
"I Drink Alone" by George Thorogood