What is that smell?

Okay, I realize that the blog is stale enough that it is starting to stink. What can I say, it seems we have had a busy time at home, ever since we returned from Minnesota.

The weekend we arrived home was UEA weekend for most of the state of Utah. For some odd reason, our local school district opted to take the opening weekend of the deer hunt off, instead, but I digress. Sarah and her family came for a visit over the UEA weekend to give themselves a break and Aaron some much needed undisturbed study time.

We had a really fun time together, but I couldn't tell you what we did from day to day. The weather was beautiful most of the time, so we did a lot of outside things.



Maggie got her pumpkin hat from the Bubb. She wasn't too enthused about it, but I guess she doesn't like shoes or socks, either. We were lucky to get this photo.



Saturday was homecoming for SUU. before accepting the dean's job, I never paid much attention to this event, but it is very much required of me now. My loyal supporters donned their SUU wear and lined up on University Blvd. to cheer us on as we passed. Here is Miss Kate looking like she is enjoying the fun. The outfits were purchased for a June family photo, and purchased large enough so that the girls could get some wear of them.



Jake got to visit Arthur Hale was he was down. Art is, hands down, the best, and fastest, barber that ever tackled a young man's hair. by the time they figure out he is cutting their hair, he is done.




Although a little out of focus, this is an angelic version of Drewfy. By the way, he has now taken to calling himself that, which is kind of cute coming out of his mouth. I wasn't there to see it, but I guess he had a serious meltdown over a balloon, and nearly had to spend the parade in his family's car.



Lydia also got her hair trimmed, but by Stacia Glausser. She was having lots of fun along the parade route.



There wasn't much of a photo of Evelyn, so I took what I could get. Bubb was the photog, as I was in the parade. The kids certainly made a serious candy haul.



I know you can't tell, but that is me in the convertible. Rhonda borrowed it from her husband, and we spent the parade perfecting our waves. My college was the "winner" because of the fire balls, tee-shirt canon, and other activities. Not sure what that means, except there was a $500 cash prize. That almost covered the candy we threw out!

Buboppy

Sunday in St. Cloud

After a full Saturday of fishing, meeting Larry and Johanna's friends, Jim and Chris, and dinner, we woke on Sunday anticipating a relaxed day together. Bubb and I got ourselves over to the St. Cloud, MN, ward for sacrament meeting. It was an interesting experience. Their ward, which is the largest in a relatively new stake, has about a 60 mile diameter. What that means in practical terms is that all announcements are held until after sacrament meeting, when the largest number of members is present. The other interesting thing was the noise level in the chapel before the meeting. It was a gab fest with a lot of people really happy to see each other. At first it was a little off-putting, but then we realized that these folks are scattered so far and wide that they are genuinely excited to see each other on Sunday morning. It's a weekly reunion with others who share your faith and values.

Upon return to the Davis home, we were treated to biscuits, sausage gravy, and scrambled eggs. Miss Nichol joined us for this occasion, which was a treat for us.



Here is a photo of Nichol beside her newish Toyota Fit, which she loves. Nichol is living near her parents, working as an admin assistant for a meat packing company, and seems to be doing fine. She is interested in triathlons and competes regularly. She is now setting her sights on Iron Man competitions, and we even talked about he St. George Iron Man, but she has decided that the elevation changes on the 102 mile bike loops (about 3,000 feet) might take some of the fun out of it.



A little later in the day, we went for a drive and a walk. We drove to a local granite company called Stonecrafters, and took a walk through their open air stock piles. It was really interesting to see the rock, all polished and cut into slabs, from all over the world.

We then drove to the little community of Rockville, MN, and took a walk in this park which is near the site of an old granite quarry. Larry tells me that there are over 200 granite quarries in Stearns County, which is where we are. We even saw a bald eagle in a tree in the park.



We then drove up to a low hilltop and visited the Assumption Chapel in Cold Spring, MN. This beautiful, and quaint, catholic chapel is built entirely out of local granite. Cut and fitted blocks for the exterior walls and polished and slabbed for the interior. You can read about it's history on the web, but it was built in memory of the 1877 Grasshopper Plague that occurred in Minnesota. At first we wondered if this insect plague was coincident with the Mormon cricket infestation that is famous in Utah history. Of course, the Utah event was in 1848, so no, they are not related. Here are Larry, J, and I standing at an outdoor alter built of Cold Springs granite.



The exterior of the little chapel looks like this. It was really pretty in the past-its-peak fall setting.



We saw this pretty little flower on the grounds, which seemed to have survived the first local frost well. Unfortunately, we don't know what it is.



Finally, Bubb took a photo of one of the windows on the interior. It was a nice little spot for a visit in the late afternoon.

Today is our last full day in MN. We have some shopping planned while Larry and Johanna are working, and then we going to attend the funeral mass of one of the "sisters" of the abbey associated with the College of St. Benedict-St. John's University. It is our first Catholic mass, so it will be interesting. Maybe some photos.

Buboppy

A Fishing First

On Friday and Saturday, Bubb went on a quilt tour with Johanna, and Larry and I went fishing at Sagg Lake, a small morainal lake right on the CSB-SJU campus. We were literally fishing within a stone's throw of Larry's office. It is really best that there isn't a lake like Sagg near where I work.

I don't have any photos from the quilt tour, so if you don't like fishing photos, you can browse elsewhere now.

Larry made arrangements for us to borrow the Biology Department's row-boat, and we launched about 10:00 on Friday morning. I brought gear from home, since Larry doesn't do a lot of fishing. The rods that I could pack were pretty light duty, the one I was using was actually an ultralight! That will figure into some of the later pictures.



After catching this one, my first fish, I wondered what we were in for. I had brought a lot of scaled down gear, but even this fish took a 4 inch lure, and had it deep in his itty-bitty throat.



Larry started out throwing a 2" crappie jig, and caught this nice sunfish as his first effort. He remarked repeatedly how much fun he was having. Have a created another avid fishing buddy?



In this photo, you can see my 5 foot long, ultralight fishing rod working overtime on the first sizeable bass I caught. We were working the shallows around some lily pads, and the big fish always dove for the submerged weeds, etc. It was interesting to get them up to the surface most of the time.



I caught about five of these in sizes ranging from about a pound to nearly two pounds.



We had some equipment problems that we needed to solve, so we left the lake, ran to the hardware store and bait shop to obtain the needed supplies and to grab some lunch.

When we got back on the water, we were prepared with worms, small gold hooks and bobbers. Larry is the unofficial champion slayer of sunfish, or sunnies, as he calls them. He must have caught 25 the first afternoon. He was giggling like a kid.

On Saturday morning, we started a little earlier, because there was weather coming in. With our equipment problem solved, rowing around the lake was a breeze. This sunfish was the grand champion, and the first fish caught on Saturday morning.



I was casting a crappie jig (yellow and white) along the area in front of the lily pads, and Larry was dipping his worm into the pads themselves. All of a sudden, I got bit by a big fish. Here he is coming to the boat. You can see the tiny crappie jig in his mouth.



He was a nice northern pike, the first one I have ever caught. Of course they are toothy, and a little intimidating, but we got him in for his photo opportunity.



By the time we wrapped it up, about Noon, I had caught five of these, in various sizes. The first one was the largest, but they were all caught on the deep water side of the lily pads, where they lay in wait, hoping to ambush bait fish.



We ended the day the way it began. Larry caught this beauty as the final fish. What a great couple of outings. I can't believe that I had the chance to do this.

Poppy

We Visit Aunt Valene and Appley Farms

We had an uneventful trip from Las Vegas to Minneapolis. In fact, we were lucky enough to have an empty seat between us on the flight from Phoenix to MSP. Johanna, and Nichol, picked us up at the airport, and we drove straight to St. Cloud, about 90 minutes west on I94. After a lovely dinner of French dip sandwiches and some conversation, Bubby and I went to bed.

We rose early, packed overnight bags, and jumped into our chariot, Larry and Johanna's new Hyundai Santa Fe, and headed for Akron, IA. It was about a 5.5 hour drive, through fields of corn and soy beans, all ready to harvest. We arrived at Aunt Valene's house without any difficulty, thanks to our trusty companion, Tom Tom.



We were lucky enough to have lunch there with Cindy and her son Derek. It was grand to see them both.



Here is the object of our quest. A very agile and generally chipper Aunt Valene. We enjoyed visiting with her very much. Bubby was in heaven.



After lunch, and Derek's return to his college dormitory (he is playing organized basketball for a small four year college in the area), we got to witness an amazing transformation. Cindy shed her work clothes, donned her riding togs, and mounted up for the eight mile bike-ride home.



About an hour later, we rejoined her, this time to enjoy the hospitality of Appley Farms, which is just over the South Dakota border (that's right, we were in three states that day!). Even though Akron, IA, and Appley Farms are only separated by eight miles, there is a state line in there somewhere.

Here are Cindy and Bubby with Max, Cindy's Boston. Max really liked Bubb, can you guess whether his feelings were reciprocated?



Of course it is harvest time at Appley Farms, so Dan was really busy. However, just before dinner (a delicious affair that included some amazing chicken wings) we got a tour of the farm, that included an opportunity for Bubb to crawl into the combine. Dan was a tired, but very kind host to show us around.



We did get a chance at some photos of Dan and Cindy. They are trying to adjust to empty nesting, since Brian is married and in graduate school, Lauren is attending the University of Minnesota, and Derek is playing BBall. I think it is an easier adjustment for Dan than it is for Cindy.



We spent a restful night at Auntie Valene's, enjoyed a lovely breakfast of fresh scones and juice, and were on the road back to St. Cloud, MN, by 9:00 AM.

It was so great to see Valene doing well. We doubly enjoyed reconnecting with Cindy and meeting Dan for the first time.

We needed to be back in St. Cloud by 3:00 PM, because we had tickets for dinner and a lively play back in Minneapolis. We saw "I do, I do", and got home about midnight.

This trip has been a whirlwind, so far, but we are really enjoying ourselves. That is the primary reason it has taken so long for our first posting.

Buboppy

Conference Weekend

We did it! Bubby and I were able to spend the entire weekend in St. George. It was absolutely heavenly. I fear it won't be a regular occurrence, but even if it only happens in October and April, it will be fun when it comes around.

We were able to take in a temple session on Friday afternoon, walk around St. George early on Saturday (we got to see all of the marathon preparations), have breakfast with the Englesteads, watch four sessions of conference together (great talks by so many), have a visit from, and lunch with, Drewfy and Evelyn, and even got home on Sunday in time to pick the garden (the tomatoes are MAJOR).

I have to admit, I missed having someone to go to priesthood session with. It is a lot more fun to go together. I hope my boys had a fun time where they were.

Busy day ahead. Leaving for Minnesota tomorrow morning, spending the night in Las Vegas tonight. Lots to get ready before we go.

I am sure we will have photos to post next time. We are going to visit Aunt Valene on Wednesday!

Buboppy

Buboppy

October 1st

OK, I'll admit it. I am sitting at my desk (have been since 6:30 AM), not wanting to do what next needs doing. Tim O'Brien is jamming on "Turn the Page Again" (thank heavens for my iTunes work-playlist), and I going to post something. I should be working.

Not much unusual about this week. I did get to participate in the annual Thor's Thunderbird Classic golf tourney on Monday. It is a classy event hosted by Entrada in St. George. We had a grand time, ended up -7 for the tourney (-16 won), and I was glad for the diversion. Best part, I was at work the whole time. Played with a donor and a couple of potentials in my foursome.

Bubby has been busy at work. It is advisory board season (happens a couple a times each year). That means she has to arrange lots of catering, take and type minutes, create agendas, and generally oversee the process for the seven or so boards. She had two of them, back to back, on Tuesday, so she missed the chance to hang out at Drewfy's in the afternoon.

It is the beginning of faculty evaluation time for me. This is part of the administrative load each fall, a ritual of sorts. For the most part it is encouraging to see what a great faculty I have. Lots of dedication and outstanding accomplishment. However, there are always a few who need some encouragement. Even one or two that need to be threatened to shake them out of lethargy. Of course, I have worked with these people for years, like them on a personal level, which makes it hard to have to honestly evaluate their efforts. I missed a little sleep this week working out how best to proceed. Not whining, I asked for this job.

Bubb and I are headed for St. George this afternoon. We are doing the Temple, a little shopping, watching all the conference sessions, but mostly we are escaping. It's marathon weekend, so we may have a photo or two to post on Monday.

We did get to Skype with Leo this week. He (finally) got his birthday present from the Bubb and I. He looks so cool sitting on it, scooting up the hallway. Laur says he won't let them leave it outside. I guess he even rode it down the hall to fetch a roll of paper towels for her. Conjures up quite a mental images, doesn't it?

We love our grandkids. Every single one of them.

Buboppy