We had the chance to attend the first birthday party of Sammy last evening. It was great to be there with the family and see Sammy work over his birthday cake. One of his gifts was this cool vehicle that he immediately took a liking to. Of course, being a chip off the Simmons block, he decided he would rather stand on the seat than sit on it. It made me a little nervous, but I was the only one concerned.



Sam is at the perfect walking stage to grab on to the handles and just go, which is what he did. His dad pointed him down the hall, and he made several circuits.



Aunt Bubby knitted a pumpkin stocking cap for him, and though he wasn't too enthused, there was no question that it looked cute and fit his pumpkin head.



Here is the moment we were all waiting for. Sam's eyes are big as he anticipates diving in. What he was really interested in was the candle. He went straight for it while it was lit, which caused Grandma Nellie to spring into action to prevent a burn.



I really think he enjoyed licking the candle more than eating the cake, but I didn't get to ask him. It was a grand occasion for a very cute little boy. Glad to be included.

Buboppy

Fall on the Mountain

Yesterday afternoon, Bubby and I went up to the University Mountain Cabin for a meeting. Actually, it was my meeting and she came along. I won't bore you with the meeting details, it was long and of only mild interest. We did get a mediocre Dutch oven dinner for our participation.

However, we have been watching the leaves turn on the mountain and wanted to at least have a look. So, on the way home we stopped for a couple of photos. The light was right and the colors bright.



One of the things that always interests me is the subtle details that surround us if we simply look closely enough. I thought this little sprig undergoing the change was quite remarkable. Not the best photo, but you get the idea.



Of course we are early enough that the reds are at their peak and the yellows and golds are just starting. It was fun to be in the mountains, and our Bubby was lovely amid all of that color. We encourage all of our readers to enjoy the fall season, where ever they are.

Buboppy

Quiet Weekend

Evelyn found the sunglasses in the toy box on Sunday. She does look very sophisticated in these goggle eyed shades.



Being completely female, she immediately recognized the opportunity to use them as an accessory to call attention to her pretty eyes and face!



And of course, Mr. Drewfy was there, too. He is such a handsome guy! I was trying for a better photo, but of course he wouldn't hold still long enough for the slow camera I was using. I think this one pretty much captures him.

As for the week past, this was a stressful one for me, and I fear my concerns infected the household. Several 2:00 AM wake ups for me, and unfortunately for Bubb. On Thursday, I formally interviewed for the Dean's position. I think it went reasonably well. The search committee brought two external candidates onto campus, and I was the third. I didn't see either of the other candidates, so I really don't know first-hand their viability. I hope that I will receive word about the position in the next ten days.

After all the missed sleep and restlessness, Bubby and I decided to stay in Friday night. We had some left overs in the refrigerator, and we dined elegantly on those. We did run to The Cow for some dessert, and shared it with Dan and Rosalyn after their kids were in bed. Nice to have a quiet evening. I can tell we are slowing down, about all we look forward to is hibernating at home.

On Saturday morning, we rose early and picked up a load at Daniel's destined for the dump. You know how our Bubby loves to go to the dump! Saturday's outing was no exception. We were able to unload our old mower, and we hauled a lot of large boxes, a pallet, and some yard refuse for Daniel. We had completed our errand and were back home by 8:30 AM.

I had the opportunity to play in a mini-golf tourney with some students at 10:00 AM, and Bubby went to do the compassionate service thing at a funeral at 11:00. We rendezvoused at about 3:00 at the house. Bubby wanted to make a Costco run, which we did, in fairly short order. Including the stop for dinner at Jimmy John's our total time, door to door was about 2 hours-fifteen. Not bad. We defrosted the freezer, did a little grocery shopping and that was our Saturday.

Sunday I taught gospel doctrine and Bubby did VT interviews all afternoon. Dan, Rosalyn and kids came over for a turkey breast, mashed, stuffing, and garden vegetables. Bubby almost missed out because of her interviews. We had some pound cake, cream the most beautiful raspberries (thanks Costco) for "bessert". Andrew was turning his nose up at it, until he recognized the whipped cream. Then he got interested. I had fun trying to build lock blocks with he and Evelyn while we waited for Bubby. Andrew loves to move in on whatever I am building, and take over. Fun to push his buttons in the process.

Glad for a quiet weekend. We needed it.

Buboppy

Happy First Birthday!

This is a love letter to Leo. If you don't like mushy stuff, don't read on.



Happy Birthday, Leondus! We wish we could be with you, today. We know that you will have a grand day with your Mom and Dad. It is hard for us to believe that one year ago today you arrived in Dallas to change all of our lives, for the better. Your aunties and uncles all wish you a great day, too.



We love you, too much! Be seeing you soon.

Buboppy

Early Fall Fishing

I realize that many of our readers don't care, but for those who do . . . Yesterday, I took off early from work to run down to Sand Hollow. I invited Daniel to join me, but he decided his lawns needed mowing (he spent the weekend in Provo). I am sure Rosalyn is grateful for his sense of duty. That meant that I went alone, something that makes Bubby "nervous".

My trolling motor is on the fritz, and I haven't had a chance to look into it, so there was a lot more boatsmanship in this trip than usual. I caught several of my fish after casting and trying to reposition the boat mid-retrieve!

Anyway, I was successful. I probably caught about 25 fish, 10 of which would be considered keepers (in the 1.5-3 lb range).



These photos are representative of the larger fish. The water is very warm, and we are just coming off of a full moon, but I caught fish pretty consistently, particularly on a watermelon and black pepper, or a baby bass, colored hula grub. This combo has been working for me most of the summer.

I had a ball, but got home late. Bubby was anxious because it took me so long. I hope to repeat this activity at least once a week this fall.

Buboppy

Adventures in Laminate Flooring

Sarah has been working on Aaron to install a laminate floor in her kitchen, hall, pantry and bathroom all summer. The landlord had purchased the materials and they have been taking up space in the basement ever since the Wells moved in. Aaron has been a little reluctant to tackle it, since he has never done one before and he wasn't quite sure about all of the details.

They asked Bubby and I to come up on Labor Day weekend and assist in the process. I explained that while Bubby would be wonderful and corraling the children, not only did I know nothing about laminate floors, I still can't crawl around on my knees. I can get down, but it takes a major effort to get back up. Aaron said he mainly wanted moral support for the project, so we drove up on Friday afternoon. All of the adults had a lovely Thai dinner at Thai Siam in SLC Friday night, including Daniel and Rosalyn.

On Saturday morning, we started early. In the photo above, we have moved the refrigerator out and Aaron is taking off the last of the base boards so we can put down the floor. At the suggestion of Auntie Nell, I reviewed the process on YouTube, so I had some idea what we were doing. Aaron figured it out very quickly, and he did the hard work while I measured, cut, and ran errands for him.



The first thing I did was talk Babsy out of doing the bathroom. Everything I have read doesn't recommend laminate in water prone areas. That was a strong argument. Of course, I didn't want to take up and reinstall the toilet, mainly because the wall shut off behind a toilet tends to build up calcium deposits and leak when it hasn't been shut off in a long time. I could see us with a leak in the bathroom and no plumber available on a Saturday afternoon.

Ever her Daddy's girl, Katie got really interested in the process. It wasn't long until she had her own hammer and was imitating what we were doing in the kitchen. Fortunately, the power saw made so much noise that none of the kids was even remotely interested in it.



Here is pretty Kate working along. She dragged scrap pieces in from outside and put them along the wall in the cracks to be covered up by the base boards.



We were on the home stretch in this photo. We still had the pantry to do, but we had just covered the kitchen and were moving fast. Sarah was right in the middle of it, showing far more agility than I did and bending very well at the middle for a women who is nearly 8 months pregnant.

Daniel and family arrived in the afternoon, while we were finishing the pantry. Daniel got involved in nailing back base boards. Sarah and I put wood and metal thresholds in to give a clean line where the flooring type changes. I showed Bean the wonder of quarter-round, and Bubby and I left SLC at about 6:00 PM. I had to teach Sunday School, so we couldn't hang out after the work was done. I know that Sarah is very happy with the efforts, and I am sure she will enjoy her new floor. Lucky landlord, he got free labor!

Bubby and I had a lovely, quiet Sunday. She was feeling her tonsils, so we just hibernated. On Monday, she had a Labor Day list to accomplish. Realizing that if I didn't do something, I would be involved in her list, I worked my own. I washed both cars, swept out the garage, mowed and edged, then got called in. One of Bubby's projects was to organize our food storage (we call it Smith's) in the basement. When she got down there, she discovered that some of the cardboard boxes had gotten wet, hatched a pest, and were in total disintegration. It took she and I nearly two hours to clean up the mess the pest left. I went back to my list, but Bubby wrenched her back soon after and that was the end. You should see the mess in the basement. She can't do anything about it right now. It has to be killing her.

She could barely make it up the stairs after pulling the muscle in her back, and I found her immobile on the living room floor. She eventually made it to bed. I put some Ben Gay on her and it helped. Today, she stayed home from work, but seems better. She is over at Daniel's now, keeping an eye on Drewfy and Sister. I don't think she could pick Evelyn up in her current state, so I hope all goes well.

Buboppy

Late Summer Fun

We are way overdue on this posting, so I will catch you up quick. The challenge is related to photos, which I just got off of Bubb's camera yesterday.

While Booty was here, we made an early morning run to Sand Hollow. We were on the water before day break. Booty and I had a blast, and caught some great fish, as you can see from these photos.





The weekend before classes started, Bubby and I drove down to Flagstaff to meet up with Larry and Johanna and Dave and Janet. We were guests in Dave and Janet's home. The purpose of our trip was to visit an exhibit of the skeleton of Therizinosaur that both Larry and I helped excavate a couple of years ago. We had a grand weekend with these friends, and it was really fun to get together.



Dave is the curator of geology at the Museum of Northern Arizona, and a very big fish in the vertebrate paleontology world. He is also a very nice guy, and a good friend. The first thing we visited in the museum was an exhibit of Dilophosaurus, the famous spitting dinosaur from Jurassic Park I. Dave wanted us to see the skeletal elements of this predatory dinosaur for comparison to the exhibit we had come to see.



This is a front shot of Dilophosaurus. Notice how narrow the rib cage and body chamber are. Also notice how narrow it is at the hip. Dave says this is typical of meat eaters. They don't need a big fermentation chamber like the plant eaters do.



This is the opening plaque for the wonderful exhibit we traveled so far to see. Unfortunately, our interior photos in this area didn't turn out very well. We were not supposed to take flash photos, which severely limited our effectiveness. Dave offered to send us professional images of the exhibit, which I have not yet received. Suffice it to say, the exhibit was outstanding, one of the most educational I have seen. The skeleton on display represents the most complete ever found. The only major element missing was the head.

Therizinosaur is somewhat of an enigma. It has many characteristics of a meat eater (tearing teeth, huge claws, etc.) but its abdomen and hip anatomy suggest plant eating. The mystery is unsolved, but the exhibit explored this enigma, as well as how the body of this specimen, which was clearly land dwelling, was found 60 miles from the nearest shoreline of the Cretaceous Interior Seaway.



One cultural opportunity bears mentioning. It is Hatch chili season, and they were for sale in the parking lots of many of Flagstaff's markets. One had the opportunity to choose as little as a quarter case. There were three levels of "heat" and the whole thing was very interesting. Traveling Bear was clearly enjoying himself in a sweater that Bubby knitted for him.



This apparatus is what roasts the chili. Fun to watch. The whole thing takes less than two minutes and includes the hot roasted chilies being placed in plastic bags to sweat their parched skins off. Booty says that similar opportunities are currently available in the Big D. Who know that this was such as southwestern phenom?



Johanna and Janet in the kitchen working with removing the skins from a case of the chilies. We were trying not to use water, although it makes things much easier. We froze most of the peppers before we brought them home.



I am involved in cleanup in this photo. Stretched out in the foreground is about one fifth of the chilies. We brought some home, shared with Dan and Rosalyn and made ourselves some chili verde. Even though we bought medium heat chilies, it is plenty hot. I am hoping to get the leftovers in a burrito this week.

Buboppy