. . . Fathers and Sons

Webelo overnight was at the Settlement Canyon Wig Wam this year. The Wig Wam is basically some land under the dam that was donated for the scouting program by a land owner many years ago. The main building is pretty sad, but there is a nice wide, flat, open space for camping.

Hyrum and I went and set up our tent among a miriad of other fathers and their webelos. We ate dinner that we had brought. We decided to try some freeze dried spagetti. I was surprised at how good it tasted. Then, we ate some freeze dried ice cream. The spagetti was better. After dinner, and before the evening campfire activities, Hyrum and I went up the mountain for a short hike. We saw two seperate groupings of dear. Hyrum really liked seeing some wildlife even though we were still in town. We decided to walk toward the dam. We had just about finished our hike and needed to turn back to make the campfire opening, when we stumbled across a skeleton of a deer. We crouched down and studied the parts and kept a rib and some of the teeth from the skull to show the other boys. Hyrum asked me how the deer died. We talked about the different possibilities including local preditors, old age, etc. . . Overall the evening was pretty fun.

On Saturday morning, after a very rocky nights sleep, we arose and went to have breakfast with the group. The day was spent in classes where Hyrum was able to earn several requirements toward pins for webelos. I enjoyed the time spent watching him play and work with the other boys. He is well-liked by the other boys and is freindly and respectful to the leaders and other parents. I was pleased to see that. I really admire my boy!

The very next week, May 20ish, was the father and sons outing up Ophir Canyon. I decided to take Ethan and Hyrum on the outing. It did not start well. We arrived only to realize that Ethan, who was not yet potty-trained, was wet and we had left the diaper bag on the couch at home. I called Natalie and had her meet me at a half way point to bring the diaper bag. I took Ethan and left Hyrum to play. Needless to say, I arrived again at camp just before dark. We built a fire next to the creek and roasted marshmallows together and just hung out until about 10:00pm. Ethan was tired, so we went to sleep. I had a really good night's sleep, surprisingly. Below is a picture of Ethan still sleeping when I got up to get the fire going.

Me and Ethan getting warm by the fire.

Hyrum and Ethan getting ready to roast marshmallows.

Ethan slept well. He was bushed!

We had a great breakfast, which the ward provided. There was as much as we could eat. Hyrum climbed up the side of the mountain with the other boys while Ethan and I sat by the fire.

We packed up soon after Hyrum returned and drove further up the canyon to the end of the road. There is a beautiful glacial bowl at the top of the canyon. We got out and hiked for about a mile further up the canyon together until we were off the trail and clearly in a wilderness area. We looked around and enjoyed the quiet sounds of the breeze in the trees, the birds, and the small animals of the forest. What a great experience to have together!

. . . Irrigating w/ Sprinklers

This is the way my back yard looked after the sprinklers were in. I was not sure that the pvc was deep enough.

I was able to get some good (rock free) dirt from a new home build. The guy charged me for the price of placing 4 dump truck loads in the middle of my front yard. I hoped it would be enough to bury these pipes deep enough that they won't break when the tractors came in to drop off the sod. As it turned out, I did have two breaks.

You may notice the yard is still full of weeds. No, I do not kill these. I cover them with dirt about 3-4 inches thick and lay sod on top of that. So far, that has worked just fine.

I need to say something about this yard. After we moved in, we learned that this was the last home built in the neighborhood. In Tooele, that means that everyone else cleared their yards of all the debri (especially rocks and boulders) and dumped it in the last remaining vacant lot. Well, there were so many rocks in our yard that the machine I rented to dig the trenches could not even break through them. That is the other reason the trenches are a little shallow.

Eventually, all the pipes were in and the dirt was spread and rolled "flat." It was time for the sod. We ordered some shade resistant sod from St. George instead of going with the local sod. This was the advice of a trusted landscaper. Apparently, the grass doesn't react differently when growing under a trampoline or a tree. It stays unform with the rest of the lawn. It is also hybridized to be draught tolerant but still grow a wide blade. So far, all true. Very pretty grass!

. . . ROCK SCREENING

Here are the steps down into the secret garden. I am going to leave the blocks a little scattered because in my mind I see one day there will be ground cover between the blocks and the steps and some crawling, vine-like flowers flowing over the blocks. Then the blocks will just kind of poke out between the leaves and flowers. Hey, its my vision. You don't have to see it now. You can see it in a post a year or two down the road.

In the little secret garden area, I have my little system going. On the right you can see where I am digging terraces for the planting beds. The large flat rock in the bottom right of this picture actually is the marker for where the water will flow over the edge from the water fall. Yeah, a waterfall. I am putting a waterfall in the secret garden. There is also going to be a secret path and a few little secret statues hidden in the foliage. Am I still the only one who sees this without laughing? Just wait!

Ethan and I built the rock screen on the right. I didn't measure one board! It is just perfect. The little red wagon slides under the screen and catches almost all of the fine soil that falls through. It is at just the right angle to get all of the fine soil separeted from the rocks. The rocks slide down to the bottom. I haul the rocks away to use for an underground drain at the side of the house. The fine soil gets shoveled into the wheel barrow Where it is mixed with some spagnam peat moss. This mixture is then shoveled right back into the bed ready for planting when the walls go in. The larger rocks that I find under the ground are being set aside for the water fall and the wall.

I just love it when a plan comes together. This is about an hour and a halfs worth of work on the beds and steps. Just perfect for a weekday evening after work.

. . . LANDSCAPING

My first adventures in landscaping were on my second house.

I did the worst sprinkler job imaginable. All of the sprinklers were in the center of the lawn. Okay, it seemed like a good idea at the time. I was planning on having a lawn with rounded corners. When the money ran out, I settled on the traditional lawn and the corners kept drying out. Imagine that.

My next sprinkler job was done for a neighbor and that one was done right. I am hoping that I can use what I've learned for my current challenge.

The Current Challenge:

The previous owners of this house apparently had the front yard sprinklers done by a friend (not a bad job). The problem is that they filled the yard with the extra sod from several neighborhood jobs and did not prepare with top soil. The result is a bumpy, patchy lawn with bare spots from shallow rocks. The back yard is unfinished and in my opinion will be easier than trying to fix the front.

This will be the subject of subsequent posts on this blog as it will take a while to complete.

Here are some "before" pictures of the project.

. . . Caesarian Sections

Okay, I am not even pretending that I have any experience in actually having a c-section. This is more my adventures in witnessing, caring for, and nurturing the healing of said c-section. For some reason, I was under the impression that the skin was flexible enough that the doctor could cut an incision about the size of the vaginal opening and then stretch the skin to the desired width or at least to a large enough width to recieve a baby through. Boy was I wrong. There is actually an incision about a foot long, I kid you not. I did not want to see the blood and everything during the operation so I stayed on the safe side of the curtain. Well, once little Matthew made his debut, I was over at the table where they were cleaning him up ("wow, his head is round", I observe, like a complete nimrod.) It was then that I had the experience I had not counted on. Natalie and I were talking back and forth about the baby. I looked back for a minute and observed THE OTHER SIDE OF THE CURTAIN. I saw Natalie's uterus lying on her stomach. Needless to say, I will never forget my adventures in Caeserian sections. By the way, they did put the uterus back and Natalie seems to be keeping her guts intact nicely.