We lived through the Bountiful Hurricane

We are lucky like that.  While tending Briggy and Christian in Bountiful while the rest of Mike's family was vacationing, the Big Wind blew in.  The sound was one of the scariest parts, as it screamed through the night till noon the next day.  Of course as the trees fell, the power lines went with them.  It was cold, dark, and a little un-nerving.  Mike's home had minimal damage while some of his close neighbors had some major problems so we felt very blessed. 

This is the big tree across the creek from Mike that became uprooted and fell into another huge tree, breaking off limbs and branches.

Mike's deck iron railing was crunched by a branch from the uprooted tree.

His neighbors were not so lucky. Many trees fell on homes . . .

. . . or cars.

This roof is not covered with snow.  It is white where the shingles were torn off by the

ferocious winds.  Some gusts were over 100 mph.

Notice the downed power pole behind the home.  Some homes

received extensive fire damage from this kind of scary scenerio.

It took some high winds to snap this mature pine. Thousands of trees were lost in the area. 

One golf course alone lost 500 big trees!

Just a little peek at some of the devasation and the power of Mother Nature . . .

Another old friend bites the dust.  

Dangerous clean-up work. The guy in brown has a chain saw.  We watched he and his crew put two trees right in the creek, narrowly missing our deck and another deck further down.

They had to have a man attach a chain and pull

both trees down with a big backhoe.

I was so nervous for this guy as he climbed two trees we knew

were just about to fall.

Bountiful: City of Beautiful Trees and Gardens, is mourning the loss of many of its mature beautiful trees.  But from what I could see, most people were very "lucky" that the trees fell away from homes and property. 

What did I learn from this storm?  People are precious and property can be replaced.  Home insurance is a blessing. Be prepared with flashlights, candles, warm blankets, and some stuff to eat without having to be cooked.  Try to have a charged phone and ipod ready to go.  It is also nice to have relatives out of the storm's line to "visit" while the power is off. 

I also learned that the LDS Church is amazingly organized.  The priesthood guys were out contacting neighbors to check on them. As soon as the storm died down, the ward was out in numbers to clean up the mess.  It was awesome.  They even canceled church meeting so they could get everything off the roads before the next snowstorm hit Sunday night.

I am sorry I could not make these last paragraphs un-centered, but that is the way of the blog. 

Max and LeGrand

LeGrand remembers his brother Max even though he was only a little boy when Max died.  That terrible scouting accident is still a horrible memory for the little town of Blanding and especially the families of those most directly affected.  A troop of young scouts was riding in the back of a truck on a dirt/gravel road when another big truck  hit them head on.  Three young boys were killed and the scout leader later died of injuries and a broken heart.   

This picture was taken not long before the accident.  It is comforting to have a snapshot of time that helps us recall pleasant moments.

Grandkids and Photo Halloween Fun

My own kids were sadly cheated on the whole Halloween Thing.  We had a football uniform, a newspaper bag, and a prisoner uniform.  These served our family well and cheaply for many years.  If the kids didn't want to be a newspaper boy for the 4th straight Halloween, we figured they were too old to Trick-or-Treat. 

But now our childrens' spouses have attempted to stop the sins of the parents and transform Halloween into a mystical and wonderful holiday for our grandchildren.  And what could be more fun for Grandma's new interest in photography?  Thanks for indulging me by allowing another camera invasion of your territory!  Just in case any of you get desperate, I think we still have the newspaper bag.

Home in the Blues

To celebrate our return home, we loaded the 4-wheelers and headed to Wagon Wheel Trail on a beautiful sunny fall day. This view looks back into our beloved Colorado.  We just can't help ourselves!

It was nice to be missed.  Duck Rock greeted me warmly!

Fall colors were amost gone, but still gorgeous.

Still looking east towards our mission boundaries and Idaho Springs.
Gotta quit looking back--we remember what happened to Lot's wife.

Sleeping Ute still snoozing.

LeGrand's vision of the rest of our lives. . .

. . . which would include having as much fun as two old geezers can legally pursue!

Colorado Animals

The following pictures are a sample of the interesting animals we have had encounters with while on our mission in Idaho Springs, Colorado.  Disclaimer--we saw a cougar, but I the one pictured here was actually a stuffed mountain lion.  Other than that, I took the pictures and this is what we had the privilege to witness with our own little eyeballs.

This rare white deer made her appearance close to the LDS Chapel outside of town.  We finished cleaning the building and were rewarded with an "up close" experience with her.  We never saw her again.

She wanted me to take the side view.  So vain. . .

She traveled with  another doe and a fawn. Notice the contrasting colors of the deer.

"No Hunting!"  The smartest deer in Colorado. Do you see that doe sticking out her tongue at us? One word:  Jerky.

                                                                        Buck in the velvet.

Elk early in the Spring.  We keep watching for them--we'd like to see them now!

 

Very odd cow.

Wait--is that a ...

Go Cougs!

Unfortunately, there have been a few fatalities here in the Rocky foothills where these big kitties have killed children.  People around here are cautious but quite protective of these mountain lions.

This little chipmunk found a red M&M on the trail. He just beat me to it.

Regular accesory on the lawn of a family in the Branch.

Cute, but dumb as the post he thinks he is hiding behind.

Marmot:  these are generally large ground squirrels who live in high mountains.  They live in burrow, often within rockpiles, and eat moss, lichen, roots, flowers and grasses.  Weirdly, they whistle really loud to communicate with each other. They looked like little bears with long black fingernails.

That's marmot, not varmit.

Pica.  Cute little tiny animal found at high altitudes.  It is also known as the "whistling hare" due to its high-pitched alarm call when diving into its burrow.  They are lightning fast!

Mountain Goats are funny animals.  Playful, hearty.  I call them four-wheelers on the hoof.   They have inner pads that provide traction and cloven hooves that can be spread apart as needed. Also, the tips of their feet have sharp dewclaws  to keep them from slipping. (Thank you Wikipedia.  You are never wrong.)

We wondered why these mountain goat and sheep seem to lick the rocks.  They lick the lichen from the stone!  Also, you can find the mountain sheep (these pictures are of goats) along the freeway in the spring licking the rocks along the road to find the salt that the highway department dumps on the asphalt for ice control. The mountain GOATS are too proud to be seen close to the highway. Nice digs, huh? That is what I call a room with a veiw!

The nannies travel in pretty big herds, tending the little babies.  They are very attentive moms.  They better be--you should see the cliffs those kids play on. The steepness of the terrain is their best defense against their enemies.  They can navigate steep cliffs that their natural enemies don't dare attempt.

Mount Evans is over 14,000 feet in elevation.  That is where these animals love to be.  It snowed a few flakes on us on July 23rd so you know they do not mind the cold.  They have two layers of wool to insulate themselves from the fridgid temperatures.  They are shedding the top layer in these pictures.

These little kids were adorable.  They reminded me of our grandchildren--playing, teasing, climbing over each other, wiggling, getting into mischief constantly! (My grandchildren NEVER get into mischief.) They gathered in groups and played and teased each other the entire time we watched them.  The nannies would occasionally try to break up the fun, but the kids would be right back at it.

I tried to get a shot of them while they were still but they would knock each other off the ledge and one of them was always scrambling to get back on top.

This was the game "I'm the King of Bunker's Hill."  Finally, one of the nannies came over and tried to knock all of them off the very steep rock and show them who was boss.

Breathtaking scenery!

Of course, we have daily contact with domestic animals:

Everyone in the Foothills has at least one dog, or two, or three.  These we called this bunch  "the Guardians of the Porch."  Early on, we started carrying doggie treats to make friends with our contacts' animals.

These dogs had a great place to live.

Where's my doggie biscuit?

And of course you have to have cats to annoy the dogs.

The queen upon her throne. It really wouldn't be a bad life as a cat at this mountain cabin unless you remember they are always being threatened by coyotes, wolves, bears and cougars.  It's good they have nine lives. That darned old chain of life thing. . .

Hummingbirds can hover in mid-air, fly backwards, and exceed forward speeds of 34 miles per hour. But they can't figure out how to fly back out of an open garage.  That is one of nature's greatest mysteries.

We hope to get some pictures of some more animals before we leave for Utah, but it rained so hard today we didn't get out on the road, so I took the opportunity to blog some of these pictures.  Maybe I will eventually figure out how to download a short video segment so the "King of Bunker's Hill" game with the mountain goat kids can be published.