Godzilla Bug!

This morning's little surprise was a monster looking bug wandering through our garage. He was about 3 inches long and looked like a giant roach with the horns of a steer. I herded him out before snapping this shot.

Fernane's visiting

Julie's mom, aunt and uncle have been here for a few busy days. We have caught the local's concert, the Utah Symphony, aerial ski jumping, the farmer's market, the Park Silly market, a round of golf, and dinner with friends. They even brought us some good luck. Yesterday we had our first measurable rain in 43 days. It was a good hard half inch! That's a lot for a desert environment.

Today was their last full day here. We ended with a gluttony fest up at Stein Erikson's. The buffet is hard to leave without eating 10 or 20 thousand calories. We made up for it with a big hike up Bald Mountain to take in the splendid views.





I lied. We really took the ski lift up and down Bald Mountain. The only calories we burned were walking back to the car.

Anyone can do 100 push ups!

OK, maybe, maybe not. I was reading through a blog I follow and saw a pointer to a web site that claims that they can have most anyone doing 100 push ups in only six weeks. It isn't selling anything. They are just volunteering a program they think works. So, I offer to be your test victim. I did the initial test and did 20 clean push ups. I did a few more but they got pretty sloppy. I have now started week two. At the end of six, I'll offer my test results.

Visit http://hundredpushups.com if you want to read more.

Dinner at Riverhorse

Another quick blog with the phone. Practice makes perfect. This is
Julie, her mom and her aunt at one of our better local restaurants.

My new cell phone

Last week I managed to kill my cell phone. I decided to replace it
with a new iPhone. Pretty impressive. I am blogging this from the
phone and have included a picture I took with it.

Lost in Space

Last night we watched as the International Space Station roared overhead. I didn't take a picture because even with a 60 power spotting scope, it was still just a bright dot. It sure is a fast moving bright dot though. It crossed the entire night sky in about 5 minutes. That made it look more like a comet than a star or a planet. Pretty cool.

For those in the Salt Lake area, the planetarium has a nice calendar of what you can see and when at http://www.clarkplanetarium.org/astronomy_nightsky.php.

Watching the Police

Julie and I were joined by Loris and Bill Benson in a trip to go see The Police and Elvis Costello. Some of these "older" bands are more like tribute bands. They don't include the original band members. Others probably should switch to new musicians because the originals are old and tired. The Police were absolutely fantastic. They had everyone on their feet the entire night. Sting, who is now 56, still has a fantastic voice and he can wail on the bass.

Bark in the Park

Julie and I took Jasper to the Park City "Bark in the Park" festival. It was nicely attended, which isn't a surprise since about 50-75 percent of families in Park City have at least one dog. I would guess there were over 100 dogs and their humans in attendance. They had demos, booths and competitions.

In the first competition Jasper entered, he got a DNF (did not finish). It was a simple race from one line to another, but he didn't quite get the idea. He sprinted about 20 yards and then turned to play with the dog running next to him. Then he just ran around having fun, but never crossed the line. Oh well.

In his second and final competition, he got to play frisbee. At least this was something he completely understands. He focuses on the frisbee as though there aren't any other dogs around. He got third place with a very stylish catch! His prize was a dog dish and a plastic frisbee. I think what he really prefered was the froen peanut butter Kong he got when we went home.

Watching the dogs compete was entertaining. Numerous labs were entered in the frisbee contest, but most seemed too interested in sniffing dog butts or playing in the water. One standard poodle was able to sky for huge air, but just couldn't seem to time it right and never caught the frisbee. Oh well.

After the competition, Julie took Jasper off to the side and threw him some more frisbee to wear him out.




Speed and timing.



With fairly good air.



This is Jasper's first prize! Yeah dog!

Thinking Thin - End of Week #?, I forget

Still working on my bold new physique. My weight is down to 179. For the first time in many years, I have broken back into the "normal" category (from overweight) using the Body Mass Index. If you want to calculate yours, try here. I have always hoped I was just big boned. Then I realized that you don't have soft, floppy bones around your waist. Damn!

Back to the mountain top

Another trip up into the mountains, this time with our friends Zack and Michelle (and of course, Jasper the dog). It was a nice day, with highs in the low 80s. Great for hiking. The only downside is the haze, which has been drifting in from all the California fires.



Zack and Michelle. We met them here in Park City, but they left us to move to LA. At least they come back to visit.

July 4th

July 4th is a big day here in Park City. It starts with a big parade, moves into a big gathering in City Park and ends with the traditional fireworks. Everything is well attended and it seems like the whole town is out for the party. Happy Birthday America!!

The day started early. Rob Schumacher (on the right), is home builder and our chair space acquisition manager. Rob got up at 4:30 and drove down with a pickup trucks loaded with folding chairs. He set everything up to claim our shady space for parade spectating. Yeah Rob!



Here we have Lisa, Julie, Kathy and Loris. All have big smiles since three of them just ate a wonderful breakfast up at the Morning Ray Cafe.



Park City's parade isn't much different than other small town's. Lots of people having lots of fun, but not necessarily and serious floats. The Rose Parade this is not.



Every time I see these stilt/shoe/springs I swear I have to get some. They go bounding along with huge leaps. I saw them first in Cirque de Soleil and have loved them since.



Lisa, smiling up from the curb.



One of the crowd favorites was the motorized coolers that you could ride. Only in America!



Our friends Zach and Michelle are in town from LA. Here we have Julie, Michelle and Bill.



At the end of the parade, Julie and I walked back up April Mountain. Everyone else grabbed a ride. Yeah Julie for being a studette!



We ended the evening with a nice gathering at the Benson's house and then trekked up to the water tower to watch fireworks. I was too lay this year to drag along all my camera gear, so no fireworks pictures.

And I end with a single picture that offers several warnings. First, we should all really watch our weight and try to stay healthy. Second, no matter what your body style, you should think about what you are wearing out into public and ask yourself "is this OK?"