Winter Wonderland

While much of the rest of the country, except Hawaii, laments the heavy snow and related problems, we wish more snow was here. Heavy snow to us means winter fun and spring/summer water, which is badly needed in this semi-arid part of the country. Kids wait for school buses in shorts, a T-shirt, and a light jacket in 25 degree weather as their Father clears 4-6 inches of snow off the walk before going to work. We are just set up for it here and it has to snow "feet" before the system starts to breakdown.

We have been here for 7 years and this year I finally broke down and bought a snow blower. We have a corner lot and in the past I used a plow attachment for my lawn tractor to clear the 200 or so feet of walk.....and often my neighbors 100 feet or so. Around here it is usually the first one up in the morning that does the walks because the machines make it easy to do. This year I decided to buy a snow blower because the past two years there has been so much snow that the lawn tractor would bog down pushing it down the sidewalk......I often had to plow two or three times in a big storm just to keep ahead of the snow. The reason is that as you clear the sidewalk you create a trench in the snow and there is nowhere for the snow to go until you reach the drive, or the end of the walk, so it eventually overloads the tractor. A snow blower throws it to one side and truly clears a path. My new blower throws a 25 foot rooster tail of snow and clears everything in about 30 minutes.....with the plow it was over an hour to get the job done. I guess I can also claim a carbon footprint improvement because last winter I filled the tractor tank up after every second event......the snow blower has half the tank size and its been used four times on one tank.

The big winter benefit here from snow is outdoor sports. We have a nice little ski hill nearby (about 30 miles away) that we have used a few times and I even went over to the "dark side" and learned the basics of snowboarding; but Jane and I got rid of our downhill skis a few years ago. They were 20 years old and needed to be replaced.....the cost was so much for the number of times we would use them that we just rent skis when the urge to share the slopes and wait in lines calls us. These days we are into cross country skiing and snowshoeing. No lift lines, no crowds and all the exercise that you can handle. The Cache National forest is literally just outside our door, so we can walk up to a nearby trail head, or for a bigger challenge just drive 20 miles up a nearby canyon.....then snap on the skis and disappear into a white wilderness of absolute "quiet". In the upper canyons, at about 7-8,000 feet we sometimes don't see another person all day in 2-4 hours of skiing. The evidence of wildlife is everywhere but you rarely see it because cross country skiing is not "silent" and they have plenty of time to get to cover.

A couple of weekends ago Jane and I went up a trail called Temple Fork and encountered about a foot of fresh powder. Jane is a lot fitter than I am, and I carry the pack, so with those excuses I'll admit to her breaking trail. Here is a picture of her at the top end of the run, well up the mountain, still smiling and urging me to go just a little bit further. Jane still runs Marathons, and trains even in the Winter. She has attachments for her running shoes that enable her to run on ice and hard pack snow; and she has a pair of snowshoes made specifically for running across snow.

My main exercise is the walk from my desk to the men's room at the factory........and an occasional two hours jaunt through these mountains on skis. You can see from my picture what the depth of the new snow was. Jane, at 125 pounds was breaking trail and compressing it by about 6 inches, then her pet Walrus (me) came along in her tracks, at 185 pounds, with a 20 pound pack, and crushed it down to the hard pack. The pack has safety items in it, tools for repairing skis, camera, snacks, water (you drink A LOT of water cross country skiing--or should) and something hot to drink. It took us a little over an hour to get this far up the mountain....sorry for the lack of pictures but the camera battery died......but only 45 minutes to get back down.

When we started there was another skier about 200 meters ahead of us, and he was breaking trail from the roadway, so we had the advantage using of his track. We stopped to use a Forest Service outhouse (loo to my UK friends), and so he got well ahead. It took about 15 minutes for us to cross and return the 100 feet or so to the loo from the trail because it hadn't been used for many days and the unbroken snow was well over two feet deep. As we headed up the mountain he was coming back and warned us that it was almost impassible to "skinny skis" beyond a bridge. After thanking him we pressed on knowing that we had done this trail in new snow before but glad he proceeded us for part of the way. Most back country skiers use a version of a downhill ski for this back country because of the deep powder......they are wider than skinny skis, with steel edges and a flare to give control on downhill runs.....and they can lift the heel for gliding and climbing. We don't have them, so we made do with our conventional cross country skinny skis and managed to more than double the distance from the bridge and get well up the mountain. Along the way we passed Elk trails.....they look like a narrow snowplow track through the drifts, and deer.....they look like a series of Sitzmarks as the deer bound from spot to spot, and finally, a big cat (a Cougar) trail near the end of our push up the mountain. The cat track was very interesting and quite fresh because it was snowing and I could clearly see the claw/pad mark in the snow where it stopped.......as well as the tail drag in the snow between the landing spots as it bounded through the deep snow.

At our end point we stopped for some snacks before heading down, then at the halfway point it was a stop for hot chocolate. All in all, a great day on the mountain.

Custom Parts for the Harley

One of the disadvantages of living in Northern Utah is the cold, snowy winters and icey roads. NOT safe for motorcycles and definitely too cold for comfortable riding. I ride for fun and if I am concerned about how warm I am and if I can keep the "Shiney Side Up" I will just wait for warmer weather. So, in winter I add chrome and other custom parts. A lot of Marines use Tattoos to showcase the Corps and their unit affiliations......I never was much into ink and needles, so I engrave my Harley. Last year I ordered two custom engraved parts, and a third is supposedly coming this month.

The two parts below are the derby cover and the horn cover. You can click on the images for a larger, more detailed view. The derby cover has the US Marine Corps emblem and the words Chi Lai RVN '67 - '69 hand engraved into it. The horn cover has my Squadron emblem engraved into it....a diving Nighthawk. The part still due is the Point Inspection cover engraved with my rank insignia....a US Marine Corporal. I am just started on this bike as there is plenty of chrome left to engrave.....AND I have the tank and fenders for custom paint. Strangely, engraving is relatively inexpensive....custom paint can cost a ton of money. I just saw one custom paint job at the Harley Store that cost $4,700. Enjoy these....I DO!

Yellowstone Ride

Click on any image to get a larger view with more detail.

The first picture is of Jane and I next to a geyser pool, all decked out in our motorcycle riding best!

Jane and I moved to Logan, UT in October 2002 and every year afterwards, when the snow melted, we vowed to take a trip to Yellowstone National Park. I was there for an environmental conference about 15 years ago, and we have seen many History and National Geographic stories on this, the FIRST, National Park in the entire WORLD, but until October 2009 we had never been there together. That is inexcusable considering we only live about 260 miles from the park. So, to rectify that gross lack of National Pride, and to get Jane out on her first long motorcycle ride on my big black Harley, we headed out for a long weekend, the first week in October. As luck would have it, I was even able to get a cabin at the Old Faithful Lodge......we would be the last visitors of the 2009 season in the cabin. We discovered on arrival that the Park was shutting down, closing up and getting ready for its famous winters. However, they keep the main Lodge open, and provide "Snowbus" tours of the park, and local outfitters rent snowmobiles to lazy people incapable of using human power to get around in winter (are my biases showing yet!). The very hardy visitor can stay at the Lodge and cross country ski in virtually unlimited deep powder terrain.....however, that was not for us this time. The "bus" is parked in the front entrance of the main lodge.

We packed up the bike, both of us limited to one saddlebag and shared space in a rear rack bag, with a tank bag for maps and riding snacks. The plan was to take different scenic routes up and back. Up, we went through Tincup Pass to the Targhee National Forest, across through Jackson, Wyoming and into the Park; then through the Park to the Old Faithful area. Returning, it was out the a different Park gate and through Jackson again, but changing our return to travel through Star Valley, Montpelier, around Bear Lake and down Logan Canyon. We lucked out the entire trip with spectacular weather and the deciduous trees were changing colors all through the high mountain country. Literally every turn in the mountain highway gave us a new colorful vista of turning trees.

The ride up was fast and comfortable as we took what is the route of the Lotoja 205 mile bicycle race that leaves from Logan and terminates in Jackson every September. This is also something I have wanted to do as a part of a road bike relay team but there is a business event every year that falls on race weekend, so I haven't been able to do it. Elevation changes are steep, with miles and miles of narrow two lane "motorcycle road" through the mountains. We traveled up Swan Valley Highway, through the Palisades and past the Palisades Reservoir, stopping at an Alpine themed hotel that had a private park at the Junction of Rt 22 and Rt 34. The place was virtually empty and the owners kindly allowed us to rest and have our lunch in their park. From there we took Highway 22 to Jackson connecting with Highway 191 that runs along the border of the Grand Teton National Park. I had planned to enter the Grand Teton National Park and run through it, past Jenny Lake to view the spectacular Grand Teton peaks at their base but a huge fire was burning in the Park and the connecting road to Yellowstone was closed. We headed on up 191 and entered Yellowstone leaving about 35 miles from the Park entrance to our cabin site. Smoke from two major fires was making breathing a little difficult but the roads were still open. Shortly after entering the park we came upon a line of cars slowly moving along a winding section of the road with a cliff face on the right side. It was hard to determine what the hold-up was because the road had not been crowded prior to this section. It turned out to be a lone Bison (American Buffalo) walking in the road ditch beside the road....everyone in cars was slowing to take a picture, safely ensconced in their fully enclosed cars and motorhomes. On a motorcycle its a little different as we were about to pass a 2,000 pound wild animal with horns, that is easily spooked and can run faster than a horse.....and it was about 5-6 feet to our right side. This one seemed nearly asleep as we passed, although he was steadily plodding along. Too bad we didn't have a camera out as we could literally "see the whites of his eyes". Shortly afterwards I had my first riding challenge. The bike, with Jane, I and our bags, weighed something over 1100 pounds and it has highway tires....about 17 miles into the park there was a massive flashing sign that said "Motorcycles Take Care - Extreme Hazard" after which I came upon road work that lasted about 7 miles. The traffic was one way, escorted by park vehicles, and the road surface was "red clay, overlayed with gravel and sand. They were resurfacing the roadway and this was the only way into the park for us. I had never ridden on that kind of a surface, and it is about as bad as it gets for a cruising motorcycle. To make it even worse, they were spraying water on it to keep the dust under control. I quickly did a mental review of the techniques for riding on wet clay (visualize ice), gravel and sand; and then headed forward with Jane saying...."You can do it Honey".....she's always my biggest supporter, and considering she is sitting behind me with no personal control of the machine, she obviously had supreme confidence, even if mine was a bit shaky. The bike was more than just a little "squirrely" for seven miles, with not too many stops for traffic....and once we hit pavement again I felt much more confident regarding our return route.....which was over this same road. Another few miles and we rolled into the Old Faithful village just before it started getting dark.

The next day was to be our only full day in the Park. We started with a terrific breakfast in the main Lodge and headed towards the turnoff for the "Grand Canyon of Yellowstone". Unfortunately, it was "not to be", as the second large fire in the Park was burning near the connecting road. The Ranger told us we could proceed but if the road was closed we would have a 200+ mile diversion to get out of the Park then travel to Cody, Wyoming before we could head South and re-enter at the West entrance to return to our cabin area. At first we were going to give it a shot, and rode about 25 miles beyond the section of the road threatened by fire; but the wind seemed to be picking up and we decided there was plenty to see on the West side of the Park without the risk of a road closure. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. It is impossible to describe the different geysers and bubbling mud pots in any way that does them justice......you just have to see them. I thought this was an interesting picture of a lone pine next to bubbling mud pots.....how does it live!

After a full day of "touristing" on the bike we settled in for an evening with a "cheap dinner" at the Old Faithful grill. It was good that we did because it closed that night and was not open for breakfast the next morning......we were "forced" to use the main Lodge "again" and suffer through yet another fabulous full breakfast. This is the picture of a small part of the interior of the main lodge.

After breakfast we packed the bike, checked out and spent a few hours looking at sites that we had passed the day before. The only geyser we saw multiple times was Old Faithful, which was literally outside our cabin area and it spouted on a predictable cycle enabling us to view it several times. There is also a walkway that we took on our departure day, that covers the entire geyser field in that area.......allow plenty of time and go with the Ranger on the guided tour.....it all takes about three hours to complete the transit. Among them are flows of hot nutrient rich water that has bacteria in it. The Rangers can tell the temperature of the water by the color of the bacteria, such as this red bacteria....sorry I'm not a Ranger and can't help you with the obvious question.

These two images are of the Castle Geyser, one near the end of its erruption and one with Jane near it to establish the scale. It was once much larger but early tourists chipped off pieces as souveniers. It makes a loud roaring sound very different from the other geysers in the area. and it errupts almost as predictably as Old Faithful.

We found out several very interesting things:

1. Yellowstone is the first National Park ever established in the WORLD. The entire US National Park system finds its genesis in this fabulous place......as do the rest of the Parks around the world. The theme has always been conservation, not exploitation and the model set by Yellowstone has been responsible for National Parks being preserved for the ages rather than being exploited like Theme Parks.

2. It has the largest concentration of geysers in the world. Iceland was once a major geyser area but their national development of geothermal energy has killed all of the geysers in Iceland by tapping the sources and diverting it for the production of energy. This destruction of a National Treasure cannot be recovered because once a geyser is extinguished it rarely starts again. Some in Yellowstone met a similar fate when early tourists threw trash in them, or damaged them but they are rigorously protected now. There is a national effort to stop geothermal energy development in the surrounding States as nobody knows how extensive the feed water system for the geysers is....it may extend over hundreds of miles and hundreds of thousands of acres.......Iceland is the example of how poor attention to conservation can destroy something like a system of geysers for everyone.

3. All of Yellowstone National Park is essentially the caldera of a "super volcano" that is dormant.....but NOT EXTINCT! That is the reason for all of the activity....magma is just below the surface fueling that natural wonder.

The ride home took us over the section of the road under work (again).....but I was quite confident this time and didn't worry so much about the squirrely front wheel, over the connecting road to Grand Teton National Park, along the base of the Tetons.....unfortunately still a bit hazy with smoke, out the Teton Park entrance, through Jackson, Hoback Junction and Star Valley, then canyon carving through the high mountain passes of the Bridger National Forest was exciting. We saw most of the wildlife that we saw as we left the park, including this very large bison. Jane is in the foreground and the bison is across the river a couple of hundred meters away. Given that scale of reference you can see that this is a very large animal.

We stopped several times on the return and found ourselves having to push it a bit to get to Montpelier and around Bear Lake so that we could get out of the isolated areas before nightfall.

Here is the bike at the Bear Lake overlook to see the Lake just as the sun was about to set over the mountains. We decided not to wait for it as it was getting colder and by the time we would get through Logan Canyon it would be "well and truly" dark. A good dinner at a Logan Restaurant ended our ride on a positive note......when we got home the "cat" was still alive (we have a cat sitter) and the house was right where we left it. Jane told me she thoroughly enjoyed the ride and had new confidence in my ability to handle my big motorcycle......she is up for more long rides to natural wonders all over the State and surrounding areas so long as we keep it under 1,000 miles and three days. She really soldiered on with this trip.......750 miles in three days, through three National Forests and two National Parks. There is a lot to see around here that fits that criteria and you haven't seen the country until you are immersed in it on the back of a big iron horse.

Kitchen Renovation

NOTE: Click on any image to get a larger one for better detail.

After several years of living with "somebody else's kitchen" Jane and I decided to give this one a major workover. It is one of the things that has always bugged us about this house and one of the things we resolved to fix "someday". Well "someday came" about two months ago when the silicone seal around the sink failed and the Formica counter swelled from a water leak. The counter top was going to have to be changed and the problem with an older kitchen is if you change anything "ya gotta change everything". So we finally took the leap into those expensive "major home renovation" waters by heading for Lowes. The original owners "spared ALL expense" when they did the kitchen, using good appliances but with no attention to detail....everything was serviceable but the entire effect was "1970's cheap" even though the house was built in the late 1990's. As we are going to sell this place after I retire in three years and move to someplace "warm" we didn't want to spend the money to change the cabinets but everything else was "fair game".




Jane kept busy cleaning things up, as I worked, to keep the dust out of the rest of the house. We covered the furniture with drop cloths, and the doorways to the dining room and main hall with plastic sheeting, but it didn't stop the fine stuff from migrating.







Here is what it looked like before most of the work was done.....after I ripped out the counter top by slicing it into large pieces with a Skilsaw and then striped the Formica backsplash off the wall behind the range.










We elected to have the work "best done by professionals".....DONE BY PROFESSIONALS. So the granite counter top and the plumbing reworks were done by appropriate contractors. I have done plumbing but I try not to do it anymore, particularly on older existing plumbing. Something always breaks, doesn't fit, or leaks and if a professional does it they are liable to fix it....they also have all of the necessary tools and the parts are in their truck. In my "adventures in plumbing" I always make at least three trips to Lowes or Home Depot for even the simplest jobs. The granite counter tops were a no-brainer, particularly after Jane saw them do the work.....I came home to watch the final finishing work but she watched them bring the pieces in and level them. The counter top was 52 square feet and one single piece (of three) weighed over "seven hundred pounds" and it was hand carried and installed by five "very large" young Hispanic men....all of whom I am sure are destined to have back problems by age 40. The other two pieces were easier to bring in but fitting them and making the joint with the large piece was a work of art. They also installed the stainless steel undercounter double sink.....and the entire countertop job took them about 4 hours. They were followed by the plumber for the dishwasher and double sink, and the appliance installer for the refrigerator; leaving me the tasks of installing the trash compactor, gas range, microwave/hood, mosaic tile backsplash and the undercounter LED lighting.


The next weekend Jane and I vowed to finish the work and managed to get most of it done. The old gas range had a simple hood, with a carbon air filter. The new hood was integrated with a "huge" microwave oven and this involved installing a new electrical outlet in the cabinet above the microwave, then installing "hangers" on the wall. Once that was done Jane and I lifted the monster into place and bolted it to the base of the cabinet.


The next weekend was dedicated to doing the tile backsplash. It is two inch square natural river rock with a dove gray grout. This involved changing all of the "white" outlets to new decorator outlets with snap-on covers in a silver gray finish. I didn't realize how many double outlets had to be changed until I got started....there are five of them and when it came time to cut the tile it involved custom cutting six tiles for each of the outlets. Needless to say, the tiling job ran over into the week and I was working "after work" to get it all done so we could reclaim our kitchen.


The undercounter lighting was an adventure in itself. There was nothing available that was small enough, and subtle enough for this counter arrangement. I ended up purchasing some small LED arrays and custom wiring them into the undercounter edges, with the wiring running up through small conduits inside the cabinets, terminating at the new outlet I installed to power the microwave.

As the final touch we changed all of the cabinet and drawer pulls from bright brass to brushed nickel......the brass just didn't "cut it" with all of the new stainless steel appliances.


The final result is below. It was finished in time for us to get familiar with it before our family appeared for a week over Christmas. The new appliances made cooking that big Christmas dinner much easier and the new kitchen both looks good and is easier to maintain than the old one was.


This is an overview of the entire kitchen. Behind me are windows looking out to the front of the house. The granite bar overhangs more than 12 inches, so I made supports to assure the granite will not crack and drop on someone sitting on the stools. A lot of people do not support overhanging granite but after reading a lot on-line I was convinced that it is unsafe if you do not support an overhang of greater than 12 inches.






The tile backsplash turned out to be one of the best features of the new kitchen and was well worth the effort.





















The undercounter lighting is particularly useful along the back wall, and the new undercounter stainless sinks make counter cleanup much easier. We went with a faucet that is also an integrated sprayer that pulls away on a stainless hose. Jane really likes the single handle for the faucet and the soap dispenser built in to the counter top. It makes for an uncluttered look with easy maintenance.