Thanksgiving with the moms

I haven't been blogging much this past week because we have had company. Julie's mom (left) and my mom (right) both flew in last Monday and we have been pretty busy ever since.

Of course the biggest activity was Thanksgiving.  Julie put on a great meal with help from the mom's.  It is always a multi-day event in the kitchen and I just steer clear unless instructed to do otherwise.  Here was the 21 pound guest for the evening.  He was accompanied by tons of stuffing cranberry sauce, potatoes, pumpkin pie, Deer Valley carrot cake and more.  I think I ate my body weight in food.

For last year's Thanksgiving, Julie and I were going on a trip down to warm, sunny southern Utah.  We had to cancel it because of two heavy snowstorms.  With no Thanksgiving dinner planned, Loris Benson came to our rescue and had us over to join their festivities.

This year we were able to host the dinner.  On the left hand side you see Seth, Loris and Bill Benson.  Seth is their son and he recently left a big job in NYC to live the calmer, more outdoorsy life in Denver.  Thanks to Loris for a wonderful soup and veggie, filling out the menu.

Last night we trekked into Salt Lake to hit the Costco for some more Christmas lights and then to Temple Square to see what you can do with a big church, 50 bajillion lights, and three months of prep.  It was pretty spectacular.

Our timing was such that we missed the numerous choirs they had singing, but the visuals alone were worth it.  I guess I am going to have to step up my game for Christmas lights.  Are we allowed to say that any more?  Do they have to be Seasonally Adjusted Lighting?

Another day, another trip. My mom is a very avid bird watcher and has traveled the world in search of winged species.  Oddly enough, I kept seeing one right here in Salt Lake that she had never seen, the Chukar.  I've only seen it out on Antelope Island, out in the middle of the Great Salt Lake.  So, we went in search of...

Finally, right before the sunset, we found a collection of the little guys.  The picture stinks, but a Chukar is a Chukar.  Add one more to moms list.

A more interesting sight along the way was the ever present Bison.  This one wandered out right in front of our car.  One year I am going to have to go photograph the annual fall Bison roundup.  They do this to keep the population from overtaking the island.

Another mammalian find was a fat, waddling little porcupine.  We got close enough to get good pictures, but not so close as to piss him/her off.  How do you tell whether a porcupine is a male or female?  I wasn't going to check.

Jasper (my dog) wanted to chase the "furry" little animal, but we left him sitting in the car.  No need for an avoidable trip to the vet.

The most interesting sighting of the day was a very long ways off, so the photos are marginal.  (I need a 500mm lens for Christmas).  We saw an animal standing out in the shallow water, stalking some ducks and geese.  It was a coyote, and we eventually saw a second one a few hundred yards away from the first. I'm not sure how they planned to sneak up on the waterfowl with nothing to hide behind, but then again, I am not a coyote.

Then we heard coyotes howling from the hillside behind us.  The ones in the water started tilting their heads and howling back in response.  Back and forth they went.  Now I am pretty sure that any duck that might have been unaware, had a good idea of who was there.

We have had lots of other adventures during the week.  Shopping on Park City's Main Street.  Dinner out at Mustang to celebrate Julie's birthday.  Hot tubbing. Long walks around town. Tonight we plan to grab a drink up at the Montage Hotel.

The only downside of the week has been the lack of snow.  Sunny is OK to a point, but let's start dumping the white stuff!