Why wake up early?

I got up about 5:40 yesterday. The full moon was just setting behind Jupiter Peak over in Park City. The sun was just coming up so the mountain was catching some early light.



I took a series of pictures. It is interesting to see how quickly the moon moved down. You don't get long to get the shot.

This year's first big hike

Julie, Jasper and I took a hike up Bald Mountain over at Deer Valley. We've been getting in some good long walks but no real mountain hikes. When we got to the base, our favorite hike was still closed due to snow and mud. The alternative was pretty good though.

Julie, back in the forest.



The view from the top looking out over the Jordanelle Reservoir and off into the Unitah mountains.



Steve and Jasper with the mountains of Solitude and Brighton in the background.



Still some fields of snow big enough for skiing (and dog snowball fetching). You get a better idea of the sie if you notice the jeep track running up the right side.



A good first hike and some nice scenery. Many more to be done.

A little fawn

This came from my dad and Colleen.



Colleen's note with a very important warning:

Yesterday while Doug was working in the woods, he found this fawn nestled at the base of a tree. He curtailed his work in the area for the morning and I took some pictures. It is common for the doe to leave a fawn while she goes off to forage. A fawn remains still and, with its natural camouflage and lack of scent, is very difficult to spot or be sniffed out by dogs or other animals of prey. Never "rescue" or touch a fawn as this will leave your scent on it, making it more vulnerable to animals of prey and less appealing to the doe.

Thinking Thin - End of Week Two

Yeah! I am still in the phase of easy lose. Hope the momentum keeps up. This week I am at 184. Down 4.6 pounds so far.

In other positive news, I shot a 94 golfing yesterday. My scores are beginning to go back down.

I haven't been shooting pictures lately (lazy) but I have to fix that this week. There is a momma moose and her two little ones that wander through the neighborhood almost every day. The little ones are about a month old and stand about the size of a big dog. Pictures to come soon!

A joke from a friend

The Smiths were unable to conceive children and decided to use a surrogate father to start their family. On the day the proxy father was to arrive, Mr. Smith kissed his wife goodbye and said, 'Well, I'm off now. The man should be here soon.'

Half an hour later, just by chance, a door-to-door baby photographer happened to ring the doorbell, hoping to make a sale 'Good morning, Ma'am', he said, 'I've come to...'

'Oh, no need to explain,' Mrs. Smith cut in, embarrassed, 'I've been expecting you.'

'Have you really?' said the photographer. 'Well, that's good. Did you know babies are my specialty?'

'Well that's what my husband and I had hoped. Please come in and have a seat'.

After a moment she asked, blushing, 'Well, where do we start?'

'Leave everything to me. I usually try two in the bathtub, one on the couch, and perhaps a couple on the bed. And sometimes the living room floor is fun. You can really spread out there.'

'Bathtub, living room floor? No wonder it didn't work out for Harry and me!'

'Well, Ma'am, none of us can guarantee a good one every time. But if we try several different positions and I shoot from six or seven angles, I'm sure you'll be pleased with the results.'

'My, that's a lot!', gasped Mrs. Smith.

'Ma'am, in my line of work a man has to take his time. I'd love to be In and out in five minutes, but I'm sure you'd be disappointed with that.'

'Don't I know it,' said Mrs. Smith quietly.

The photographer opened his briefcase and pulled out a portfolio of his baby pictures. 'This was done on the top of a bus,' he said.

'Oh, my word!' Mrs. Smith exclaimed, grasping at her throat.

'And these twins turned out exceptionally well - when you consider their mother was so difficult to work with.'

'She was difficult?' asked Mrs. Smith.

'Yes, I'm afraid so. I finally had to take her to the park to get the job done right. People were crowding around four and five deep to get a good look'

'Four and five deep?' said Mrs. Smith, her eyes wide with amazement.

'Yes', the photographer replied. 'And for more than three hours, too. The mother was constantly squealing and yelling - I could hardly concentrate, and when darkness approached I had to rush my shots. Finally, when the squirrels began nibbling on my equipment, I just had to pack it all in.'

Mrs. Smith leaned forward. 'Do you mean they actually chewed on your, uh...equipment?'

'It's true, Ma'am, yes.. Well, if you're ready, I'll set-up my tripod and we can get to work right away.'

'Tripod?'

'Oh yes, Ma'am. I need to use a tripod to rest my Canon on. It's much too big to be held in the hand very long.'

Mrs. Smith fainted.

A movie recommendation

Last night Julie and I watched Juno. It was a wonderfully well acted, quirky movie. The plot was odd. The music was different. We both loved it. Ellen Page, the your actress playing Juno, is amazing and I would expect to see a lot more of her over the years. It won the Oscar for best screen play and was nominated for best picture, director and leading actress.

Rent it!

Thinking Thin - End of Week One

One of the distinct advantages to having a metabolism built on bags of Fritos, bottles of wine, and Costco-sized jars of nuts, is when you finally stop your body goes into shock. It thinks it must be on a remote island, starving to death. All just because you added some protein, threw out some carbs and didn't snack as much. It makes losing weight pretty easy for the first few weeks. Then your body goes "Hey wait, we aren't really starving are we?" After that you have to earn each pound.

End of week one: new weight is 186. Down 2.5 pounds.

Oh yeah, it snowed two inches again yesterday and it is 31 here this morning.

You have got to be kidding me!

Let's see. Yesterday I had a guy out working on the landscape irrigation system. Last night we were out grilling fish on the porch. This morning I have a 9:30 tee time with Rob. I wake up at 6:00 and look out the window.






It is still snowing. Meanwhile, back in Raleigh, today is supposed to hit 100 with humidity.

I'll take the snow.

Think thin

One of my favorite movies is Animal House and one of the most memorable lines is from Dean Wermer telling Flounder: "Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life."



Well, time for me to take a health tip from the movie. My weight has gone from 181 to 188 over the past year. I feel it. I look it. Some part of it is from my love of beer and wine. I am hoping to use the break to Park City as the transition for my new diet and exercise. Enjoy my suffering. Today's weight is 188.6.

On the more positive note, my cholesterol dropped from 210+ to 158. I should be a poster child for oatmeal and cinnamon!

A tale of two cities

We left Raleigh, which is close to setting a temperature record today. The high is predicted to be 98 with the heat index way over 100.

We arrived in Park City yesterday. We drove through a bit of wet snow coming up I-80. The high was 48 with drizzle.

One is 15 degrees over normal and the other is 15 degrees below. Time to fill the hot tub.