We finally got to visit Esmae and her parents

Grandma doesn't mind if here thumbs are in the picture, but not the rest of her!
Is this a sneeze or a yawn? Vote now!
Joe looks like a Dad. Pat looks like a little brother. All is well in the world.
I really like this "Mom and Baby" portrait. I wasn't going for any special look when I took the shot, but the result is very nice, I think.

We enjoyed our visit, and already miss little Esmae. She is going to be a real source of joy and stress for her parents, who seem to be slowly de-analing as the days go by. We are really looking forward to February and her blessing.

Here are some early pictures of Joe for Ashley. Can you see Esmae in Joe anywhere?

I don't know how old Joe is in these shots,s but I think he was around two or three.

My surgery

Ashley's account of her labor and delivery inspired me to give an account of my recent knee surgery for all to read. Basically, it happened like this: (By the way, I'm not responsible for any negative reactions to blood and gore.)

I went into the hospital at about 0600 and got put in a pre-op room. The nurse told me to take off all my clothes and get on the bed. Luckily, I had one of the fashionable hospital gowns that they give you. I got some meds and after a while the anesthesiologist came in and asked if I had any allergies. I said no and he said that now we were just waiting for the doctor. A little after 0700 the doc came in and took out a magic marker and put a big X on the knee to go under the knife. Right after that they wheeled me into the operating room and slid me over onto a cold table and draped me with cloths and stuff.

Then I woke up in the recovery room and my left leg was wrapped and padded from my groin to my ankle. A little while later I went home.

I hope you weren't too grossed out by the graphic portrayal of my surgery. It was nothing compared to Ashley's delivery. My knee continues to improve and we are such proud grandparents.

My knee has been fixed.

The doctor tells me that my knee has been fixed. So why does it hurt so much?

I went in at 0600, which means I had to get up at 0430 so I could shower with antimicrobial soap, for my knee scope yesterday. I was on my way home at around 1100 with a dressing the size of a basketball around my knee, and extending from my ankle to my groin. I can't take it off until I go back to see the doctor on Dec 2. I'm not sure how the bathing thing will work, since I'm not supposed to get the dressing wet. There is a theory floating around about wrapping it in plastic, but I have my doubts that that would work. I may have to let Cathy give me sponge baths for a while. I'll bet she would be excited to do that. She pretty much waited on me hand and knee, or I mean foot, yesterday after I got home. It was a unique experience trying to sleep, too. I couldn't roll over on either side. I pretty much had to lay flat on my back, with one pillow under my head and another one under my knee. I did not sleep very well.

Hooray for Vicodin!

2012 at 1210 in 14

No, it's not some secret code. We went to the theater on Saturday and watched 2012, the 1210 showing in theater 14. I wanted to see it because I thought that the special effects would be spectacular, and they were. Cathy and I thought it was a fun movie to watch. Gene and Ann were a little more critical and could point out all the implausible things that they thought made it a dumb movie, and the truth is I thought it was a little over done and corny in places, but the special effects were, in my humble opinion (or IMHO as they say when texting or commenting on blogs), a lot of fun to watch. One effect that really stood out for me was the eruption of the super volcano in Yellowstone. Starts out big, and gets suddenly BIGGER! HUGE! No, I'm not shouting. The good guys are always cheating death by seconds or inches, which is overly lucky for them, but if they got killed right off, then what? Or if they got away clean with 30 minutes to spare, they would be long gone before everything went to hell, and again, then what?

If you are looking for a lot of plot and great acting, this is not your movie. If you like non-stop chaos where the forces of nature take no prisoners, go see it. I thought it was fun. So did Cathy. We went to be entertained, and we were.

It has been many days

Yes, many days since my last post. Much has happened. We have a new car, a 2010 Toyota Camry. The Jeep had a sensor light going out on the transmission, and instead of replacing the sensor light, we were told that it wasn't sold separately and we would have to buy a whole new transmission for $4000. We thought that was crazy, and didn't think the Jeep was going to be reliable any more, so we traded it in. The Camry is sweet.

Soon (next Thursday), I will have my left knee scoped. I have a complex tear to the meniscus that they are going to fix. Hopefully I will be back to working out soon, because I have goals for sprint triathlons next year. I haven't been able to run or swim, and I walk like Walter Brennan.

Soon also, we will have a new granddaughter, but that is out of our hands. All we can do is wait.

Love to everyone!

Final triathlon post

Rebecca is back!
And she finishes!
Everyone seems to have enjoyed themselves, or are at least glad it's over. Let's do it again next year!

more tri...

Rebecca goes out on the run.
Here's Jennifer approaching the finish line.
Jennifer finishes, ahead of Travis and Rebecca.
Travis is not far behind, though.
Travis finishes.

Only one more triathlon post to go!

and more....

Well, Joe is done. There are still people out, though. Travis is next in on the bike.
And Travis is back out, this time without the bike.
A few minutes later, Jennifer arrives.
Then Rebecca.
Jennifer starts her run. Rebecca is right behind, but her photo will be on the next post. Blogger would only let me upload five. This is the last leg of the race for everyone.

Still more tri...

Joe got back from his bike ride shortly after the others left on theirs (top photo). He then transitioned to the run (second shot). The third shot shows him approaching the finish and the last shows him crossing the finish line. Way to go, Joe!

More to come....

Triathlon continued...

So, now that Joe's away on the bicycle, The others start coming out of the water. Rebecca and Travis at more or less the same time, then Jennifer a few minutes later. The order of the pictures is all screwed up but every time I tried to fix the problem I got an error message and couldn't publish the post, so what you see is what you get.

The Black Canyon Sprint Triathlon

Cathy and I got up at 0545 and drove to Montrose to watch 4 of our children (yes, Travis, you are one of ours too) participate in a sprint triathlon. When we got there, we didn't see any of them, so after calling we learned that they were still at their hotel because they didn't start until nine, and it was about eight. We wondered aloud why they didn't call us and let us know, so we could sleep in another hour too, but they didn't, so we suffered in vain. Anyway, the first photo shows the wait. I didn't get any good swim shots because of restrictions and conditions, so the second and third show Joe, who was the first out of the water, transitioning to his bike. He was first in the water and first out for our group.

It's late, so the tri coverage will be continued on the next post...

That's Uncle Jesus!

Cathy and I were watching the grandkids the other day, and Kendall was sitting on my lap "reading" one of our photo albums. We would look at the pictures on the page, and I would ask her who the people were in the picture. She was getting pretty good at picking people out; "That's Uncle Joe," "That's Mommy," "That's Aunt Becca," "That's Mia," "That's Grandma." This went on for a while, until we came to a picture of Rebecca in the Stake Center with a picture of Christ on the wall behind her. I asked who Becca was, and she said, "Thats Aunt Becca." Then I thought I would test her gospel knowledge, and asked her who it was that was in the picture on the wall in the photo. She only hesitated a moment, then exclaimed confidently, "That's Uncle Jesus!"

From the mouths of babes....

Saturday temple trip

I went to the Monticello Temple last Saturday. It was our ward's turn to clean the temple so I (and some other ward members) went early. We were scheduled to clean the building at 4 p.m., so I arrived at noon because I was scheduled for initiatories. I did those until the 2 p.m. endowment session. I went through that session for Cathy's brother Ronnie, so now his work is done, except for sealing to spouse. I got home at about 2030.

The best part was when we got to Moab Vern Howell, our high priest group leader, bought dinner for us. He paid for seven of us in all. Nice.

Cleaning the temple is a unique experience. You have to do it in whites. Also you can't stand on anything and only clean as high as you can reach. I guess it's a liability thing.

I had an MRI on my left knee today. Hopefully I will get some answers as to why it hurts all the time. I have been in more or less constant pain for about a month. I can live with it better if I know what is causing it.

Take care, everybody. Love ya!

Saturday's September 12 project

I saw photos today of the big Tea Party in Washington D.C. held on Saturday. There was one overehead shot that looked like a half mile of people wall to wall in the street. It made me think that there was a Verizon customer in there somewhere and all those other guys were his network, like in the commercials.

On Saturday Cathy and I were in Tooele enjoying some time with Joe and Ashley, and, of course, Inga. We had a nice little visit. We took them a crib for the baby, and of course I left the important parts here at home. Lucky for us Joe is coming down in a couple of weeks to participate in a triathlon, so he can take them back with him. Erik says it is an expensive crib, like $500 or so when it was new. Only the best for our grandchildren.

Mia is sick at the moment. We wish her a speedy recovery. Everybody enjoy life. We love you all.

Grant and Cathy's Excellent Adventure

Cathy & I just got back from a trip to Nashville to see Pat, and by extension, Nick. We flew out late on Saturday August 8th, arriving at our hotel at about 11:30 p.m. Since the next day was Sunday, we didn't do much. We toured the Grand Ole Opry Hotel and Convention Center later in the afternoon, after Pat and Nick came over to our hotel. It was an amazing hotel, with three separate indoor gardens with waterfalls, streams, foot paths, and the like. It was impressive and of course I forgot my camera. It was pricey; it cost us $18 just to park. Later on we went to the movies and watched G.I. Joe. Kinda corny but fun anyway.

On Monday Cathy and I went to the Grand Ole Opry museum, then the gift shop, then got tickets for Tuesday night's show. That afternoon we went with Pat to Falls Creek Falls State Park. Pictures 4 thru 7 above were taken at that park. It was fun, but was a lot of driving. Cathy showed her grace by missing a step and falling on her backside. She scraped her leg and twisted her foot a bit, but is still strong for a 55 year old lady and we didn't have to call the paramedics.

Tuesday was kinda quiet except for the visit to the Grand Ole Opry show. It was part twangy and part country rock, and was also a live radio show so there were commercials between acts. We thought it was a lot of fun.

On Wednesday we were going to go with Pat and Nick on a riverboat ride but it was cancelled, so we ended up eating lunch and taking in another movie, this time Harry Potter, in IMAX 3-D. It was only 3-D for the previews for a Scrooge cartoon and the first 13 minutes of Harry Potter, but it was enough to impress. The IMAX 3-D is awesome. Later in the afternoon Cathy and I went to the Grand Ole Opry show, which is also a live radio show so they had commercials. Some was twangy and old style, some was modern country rock, and it was all fun.

Thursday was taken up by a trip to the Apple store, the electronic one, and a driveby of music row. Then after lunch we went to Pat's house and picked him up. We went downtown and stopped at a skateboard store Pat wanted to look at, that happened to be about a block away from the Country Music Museum and Hall of Fame. Pat actually didn't mind touring the museum, so we did. It was a lot bigger than the Grand Ole Opry museum but not as interesting.

Friday we got up at 0800 for breakfast, then went back to bed and slept until noon. We went out and got our souvenirs and gifts, ate lunch, and went back to the hotel. We didn't go to sleep all night, in fact I read, because we had to leave for the airport at about 0345 to check in for a 0600 flight. We got home at about 0930, all jet lagged up.

On the photos, the second one I took inside the Country Music Hall of Fame gift shop. The third one I took because Pat said that they called the tall building with the spires on each end the "Batman Building". Easy to see why. The fancy suits were on display at the Marty Robbins section of the Grand Ole Opry museum.

We are glad to be home.

A little boy's dream came true

Like most little boys, when I was little I thought it would be way cool to ride in the locomotive of a train. Also like most little boys, I never got to. Until last thursday. On that day, I attended training on railroad safety, and after lunch we took a ride on a pair of diesel locomotives hitched back to back. We rode to Palisade and back, and on the way there, I was in the trail locomotive, so I was watching where we had been. I sat in the conductor's seat, which is on the left side of the cab. It has a speedometer, and showed that we hit 68 mph on the ride to Palisade. On the way back, the conductor took my seat, so I stood behind the engineer. They had been in the lead loco on the trip out. The were in the lead loco again on the way back, which was the trail one out.

I stood behind the engineer on the ride back, and we hit 70 mph. It was a hoot. We rode a BNSF locomotive, and it was way better than working, I've got to say. The picture is of the type of locomotive we rode in, but the colors were different.

Happy Birthday Ashley!

Happy Birthday to our favorite daughter-in-law! We will be sending you a card with a gift shortly, but in the meantime, here's a rose for your enjoyment. We have a ton of rose bushes, as you know, but even then only occasionally do we have a flower that is really unique, such as this one. I happened to notice it a couple of evenings ago while saying good night to Jennifer and the grandkids, and while there was still some light, I grabbed my camera and took several shots. Only three came out the way I wanted, and this one is the best one. It's a very beautiful rose, Ashley, kinda like you are to us. Again, Happy Birthday and we hope your day is a great one! We love ya.

By the way, did you notice the rain drop?

Call your congressman

I was listening to talk radio on the drive into work today, getting my mind filled up with all that evil conservative propaganda I like to listen to when the substitute host for Neal Boortz put out the phone number for the congressional switchboard in Washington, D.C.. The guest host's name was Herman Cain, by the way, just in case anybody asks you. Anyway, Herman wanted people to call their congressman and tell them to vote against the next big socialist government power grab boondoggle disguised as national health care. He said if you call the switchboard and give them your zip code they will connect you to your congressman's office. The funny part was when he gave the phone number, and he swore it was the correct number. He didn't give the digits, he gave the letter equivalents for the digits.

Are you ready for this? The number for the congressional switchboard in Washington D.C. where you can call your congressman is (drum roll please), 877-SOB-USOB!

Somebody in D.C. has a sense of humor. I haven't tried the number yet. Maybe I will.

The constitution was made only for...

...a moral and religious people.. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. John Adams.

Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters. Benjamin Franklin.

I have wondered why so many of the citizens of America are so willing to let the federal government meddle in almost all aspects of their lives. It seems like the citizens of our nation in these last days are willing to give up their freedoms to a massive nanny government. It is because morality and religion are scoffed at by a lot of people, especially those who consider themselves the elites. We are in the last days and men have become lovers of their own selves, without virtue or honor, and their focus is on little else. "And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. Matthew, 24:12.

I would love to see freedom make a comeback, but with the lack of honor of many of the people in power, and a lot of the regular people in this country too, I am not very optimistic, and I am almost always optimistic. I think I am making this post a downer, but I believe that we as americans are on the downhill slide. We are doing the Nephite thing, and the only way the nation can return to greatness is for its people to become moral and virtuous again, especially its leaders. Again like the Nephites.

Ya think that'll happen?

Hello, everyone!

No, I'm not dead. Although Billy Mayes is. And Farrah Fawcett. And Michael Jackson. I'm still here though, just haven't been much of a blogger for a few weeks. My profuse apologies to everyone who was anxiously waiting to read my words of wit and wisdom. I am not writing much tonight, because it's late and I have to go to work tomorrow, but I just wanted to check in and say hi.

So Hi. And goodbye. For now.

Grandkid pictures!

Here are my latest pictures of the grandkids, except for the one that is still not here yet.  These are nice,  appropriate pictures, nothing outrageous here, because Ethen is shown busy creating his plate, Loralei and Mia are the fashion models, and Kendall is trying out the grown-up rocking chair.  No chance to use them for blackmail when they are teenagers.  Well, maybe the one of Loralei and Mia because there seems to be some shiny, foreign substance around their mouths.  They are all very handsome (Ethen) and beautiful (the girls).  We missed them about 5 minutes after they left, except for Loralei because we get to see her lots and we are glad.  

My vote for "Empty Gesture of the Day" goes to...

...celebutard (a term I first heard on the Neal Boortz show and really like) Mia Farrow for declaring today that she is going on a hunger strike to stop the fighting in Darfur.  Boy, that'll really get all sides to the negotiating table!  I can see the Darfurians (?) now.  They are probably thinking, "Whoa, we better stop killing each other or the great has-been actress Mia Farrow might go hungry for a couple of days!  We must have peace!"  Does she really think that anyone but her gives a flying darn if she eats or not?  Her grocer probably wouldn't even notice that she quit buying groceries, as thin as she is.  

The last time I saw a picture of her she was so skinny that if she stood sideways and stuck out her tongue, she would do a great impression of a zipper.  She must really expect results fast because I don't think she can afford to miss too many meals.  

I guess she feels good about herself for "taking a stand."  A meaningless stand, but a stand.

Loralei's Easter adventure

Loralei was at our house for Easter morning and went to church with us.  This is a picture of her wearing her Easter dress.  I took three shots, one that shows the matching shoes and another that was more of a close-up, but I couldn't get her to stand still and the facial expressions weren't that flattering.  This was the best of the three, so it's the one you get to see.  She had a lot of chocolate from her Easter basket so she was all wound up.  She stayed wound up in church, too.

Saturday night she colored eggs with Cathy, and had a great time.  She made sure we each had an egg with our name on it.  Sunday morning she gave me mine and told me I wanted it for breakfast.  

After she went home after church she got another Easter basket with more chocolate and presents from the Easter Bunny at her own place.  That's almost better than Christmas.