Spring and summer finally arrive

After all what felt like nine months of winter, we skipped spring and jumped to summer. We are finally seeing temperatures hit 80, the trees are greening up and the early flowers are blooming. Yeah! Now we are having day after day of brilliant sunshine.

Now that the weather has warmed up, everyone switches to their summer activities: running, biking, mountain biking, softball, and of course, hot air ballooning.



I was driving to CrossFit the other morning when I saw this balloon landing. When you are subject to the strength and direction of the wind, you often land in less than ideal places. In this case, it was right in the middle of a shopping center parking lot.This is a big no-no but sometimes you take what you are offered.



The warm weather is starting to cause some pretty significant floods. There's still a lot of snow up high in the mountains and it is melting pretty quickly. The Mirror Lake Highway is a very popular road into the Uintah mountains taking you to some spectacular scenery and lots of camping and hiking. Unfortunately, there is still a lot of snow on the road, some has drifted 20 feet deep. UDOT said they still have to remove 250,000 tons of snow before they can open the road.



The weather is shaping up nicely for all the July 4th events next weekend. My cousin Sara is coming in on June 30th.

Running Progress - week 1

Down 2 pounds. Jogged 8.5 miles this morning and walked another 2.5. My arbitrary cut-off between going for a run and a jog is 9:00 minute miles. Hoping to find a 10-mile run in the next two weeks.

Here's a picture of Eric, one of my CrossFit instructors, in a recent competition. He's doing lunges for speed with a good sized weight overhead.

I spent a few minutes checking, and then double checking. There are definitely some muscles that simply don't exist on my body. I think I got ripped off.

Howl the Gilded Moon

A decade ago, Raleigh did an auction of artsy wolves to raise money for non-profits. Most cities have done something similar. Here in Park City, they did moose (huge) and then dogs. Julie bid on and won a wolf statue called "Howl the Gilded Moon". He is quite pretty and lived in the pool/bar room in our house in Raleigh.

Once we knew we were selling the Raleigh abode, we either had to bring the wolf to Park City or find a good home for him. Since he would be irrelevant here in Utah (not part of a city-wide wolf collection) and he was big and fragile, we went with find a home.

We started trying to get interest from NC State's Wolfpack Club. Should have been a great fit, but they were useless. Then we went to the city of Raleigh's Arts Commission. They were very excited to get him, but there is quite the process in place for accepting art for display. He was eventually blessed and now has a new home.



They made him a nice base and some custom plaques. Here is the press release that the Arts Commission just did:

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The City of Raleigh Arts Commission is pleased to accept for its permanent collection the sculpture "Howl The Gilded Moon." The artwork was created by Antonio Colon and Lee Lewis in 2001 as one of 100 fiberglass wolf sculptures exhibited throughout the city as part of the Arts Commission's "Raleigh Red Wolf Ramble" public art project.

The Raleigh Red Wolf Ramble was inspired by other public art projects around the country featuring such creatures as pigs, cows or fishes. Selecting the red wolf as the theme resulted in partnerships with local organizations, including the North Carolina Wildlife Federation. The project created a fun environment while offering educational information on the red wolf's plight as an endangered species.

During 2001 and 2002, the completed wolves were showcased throughout the city in parks, campuses, museums, shopping malls and other venues. Howl the Gilded Moon was exhibited at Crabtree Valley Mall. Following the exhibition, the wolves were auctioned, with proceeds benefitting the Arts Commission's public art program.

Howl the Gilded Moon was donated by former Raleigh residents Steve and Julie Joyce, who relocated recently to Utah. The sculpture can now been seen in the lobby of Marsh Creek Community Center at 3050 N. New Hope Rd.

"We appreciate the Joyces' generous donation, and are excited to add Howl the Gilded Moon to Raleigh's art collection," said Kim Curry-Evans, the City of Raleigh Art Commission's public art coordinator. "The Red Wolf Ramble was a very popular public art project for the City."

Many of the wolves can still be seen "roaming" the city in venues such as the Avery C. Upchurch Government Complex and Sertoma Arts Center.

For more information, contact Kim Curry-Evans, public art coordinator for the City of Raleigh Arts Commission at 919-996-4688.

This morning's full moon

Just a cool view this morning from the deck as the full moon set behind the mountains, about 30 minutes after the sun had come up.



A closer view of the moon with some Park City ski lifts. Can you Park City people figure out which ones they are?



And even the Montage looked pretty this morning.



All this on a day they said was supposed to be rainy. It was 33 degrees when I was taking these shots, so I think the rain might have come down white and fluffy.

Jasper the Wonder Dog!

I know everyone thinks their pets are special and wonderful, but I am quite convinced that Jasper is specialer and wonderfuler.

Today we were out at the city park playing fetch with Jasper's ChuckIt. After a while, a little boy wandered over to watch. Jasper looked at him and decided he should join in. He walked over, dropped the ball at the boy's feet, backed up a bit, and then laid down waiting for him to throw it. I gave the little boy the ChuckIt so he wouldn't have to suffer the agony of Slobber Hands.



Even though the boy could only get 20-30 feet out of a throw, Jasper brought it to him over and over again. When they were both through, the boy gave Jasper a pat on the head and Jasper gave him a quick lick.



I just sat and watched the whole thing take place. When we got back to the car, I gave Jasper a big dog biscuit as a reward, but he probably had no idea why he was getting it.

Nice to have such an easy going, friendly dog.

Uh oh. Time to get serious

Bill Shakespeare wrote: "To die, to sleep; To sleep: perchance to dream". I woke this morning with a similar thought cadence: "To laugh, to cry; To cry: perchance to get outside and start running".

The Jupiter Peak Steeplechase is less than eight weeks away. It's 16 miles of running, up 3,000 feet of vertical and back down. Up is fatiguing. Down is punishing. Anyone with any good sense would be running about 40 miles a week now and starting to do some serious hill climbs. The only good news for me is that "four-tee" and "four-teen" sound pretty similar, so I can say that I am close.

I went back and looked at my exercise log. I have been quite busy over the past two months. Unfortunately, busy mostly means traveling, rowing, CrossFit, hiking, and some stationary biking. I have lots of great excuses for not running: snow, cold, more snow, lots of travel, and of course, even more snow. Excuses don't propel you up the mountainside. My conditioning plan now requires some form of Papal miracle, which is unlikely since I am not Catholic or even religious.

At least I woke up motivated. Perhaps better late than never? I am still packing most of my winter's hibernation fat. Isn't that supposed to come off during the winter instead of increasing? Works for bears, but I guess they stop eating and drinking, and that just isn't going to happen. I would love to drop 10 pounds before the race. Mostly I am just lazy and can't imagine running 16 miles with a 10 pound dumbbell, especially a jiggly one.

Our travels are complete for a few months. The snow has stopped (mostly, perhaps...). No more damn excuses. I need to get back to what worked for my marathon training, a weekly mix of distance, speed, hills and less couch time.

We shall see. This morning I slogged 7 miles and walked 2 more.

Visiting the moms

Our last trip for spring of 2011 was to Maryland and then Michigan, to visit my mom and then Julie's. We spent four days with each, catching up, helping around the house a bit, and getting out for some exploring.

My mom is a very avid bird watcher and is always running at least five bird feeders at her house. Here she is executing her morning ritual of feeding the two Mallards that show up around 6:30. Whose ever heard of ducks coming to a bird feeder?



We got down to Annapolis to see the Secret Garden Tour. In the older parts of Annapolis, the houses frequently have quiet little back yards, blocked off from public view by the house and perhaps a fence. Each year, they hold a fundraiser and open 10-15 of these gardens to the public. Some were quite pretty. One had a gorgeous yard on Spa Creek. I was drooling at the big dock (for an 80' boat), easy water access and oops, the 4.5 million dollar asking price. It really was nice!



While the flowers were pretty, this little cat was by far the most interesting sight. He had just had his summer shave. His head looked so big I thought he would fall over forward. He could easily be the main character of a children's book.



One night we popped down to Alexandria to have dinner with Jim and Kathy Covaleski. It was wonderful getting to see them. Kathy put on a great meal, especially given that she had to get up around 3:00am for a flight the next morning. I doubt she looked quite as cheerful then.



On to Michigan. I couldn't help but giggle at the BWI airport rental car facility. When you turned in your car, you had to take the bus to the airport, several miles away. Can you guess which way to go for the bus? In case you got lost (along the straight line with a 20 foot wide sidewalk, they put these signs, all identical, about every 30 feet. If you couldn't read, it was ok. The bus was actually in plain view the entire walk.



One of the factors that determined when we would take this trip was the high school graduation celebration for one of Julie's cousins' daughter. If you have followed this blog, you might remember that almost every year, Julie and I make a pilgrimage to Michigan to join Bill and Kathleen Donnelly for a Michigan football game. This is Bill with the recently graduated Mehgan. We have managed to catch all three of their kids graduation events. The oldest, Michael, just graduated from Michigan State and will be heading to Chicago to work.



This is Julie's mom holding her new prize. We went to the Verizon store in search of a new cell phone and came home with the phone and a Samsung Galaxy Tab. It's a 7" tablet that runs Android. (Apple fans, think little iPad).

Julie got it configured correctly and Joan got to start playing with it before her trip to Oregon. It's quite the impressive little tablet. Over the next year or three, I think most people who just use their computers for email and web access will toss the laptops and go with a tablet.



I'm always the one taking pictures, so I normally only show up in those odd-angled pictures where I am holding the camera pointed backwards. Julie's mom took this one, so it isn't my usual close-up (a good thing).



A great trip! We got to see lots of family, do lots of interesting things, and even managed to do a good job of eating healthy and exercising, which is our normal travel failure.

After a half dozen trips, it's time to stay at home for a few months and enjoy Park City's cooler weather.

Drive by photography

Julie and I are leaving on a trip to visit the moms (in Maryland and Michigan) so I didn't have that much time, but I did get out and shoot a few pictures. Of course, I took my co-pilot, co-photographer and wildlife spotter Jasper.



There are babies everywhere. These are mystery ducks but I am guessing Mallards.



A pretty duck, but one I have been too lazy to look up yet. I have started bird watching with a long camera lens too often lately. I just snap a shot and look it up when I get home. Anyone?



Bless the people who named this one. None of that odd, hard to remember stuff. It's a yellow-headed blackbird. It's not a great shot, but I wanted to show what is in the next picture.



I've been having fun trying to capture birds in flight lately. Some have very interesting patterns that only show when they fly. Notice the white patch on the wings. The kicker is trying to aim and focus with a 400 mm lens.



I have no idea where my Sandhill Cranes went, so I found another pair. These are just down the road from the local zebra, buffalo and family.



They have two little colts. I wanted to get better shots, but I decided it was more important not to disturb mom and dad.



It was funny to watch them cruise back and forth through the fence. They could do it effortlessly, but mom and dad were much too big. Every time they would get on the "wrong" side, one of the adults would give an authoritative honk and they would come running back.



Leaving the cranes, we stop by the side of the road to watch the Pot Gut Squirrels. They look mostly like squirrels, but group and behave just like prairie dogs. Here's one on guard.



They would yell back and forth to one another. They could belt out quite the call for such little animals.



Some were standing guard while others appeared to be in charge of hiding. This one refused to come out no matter how patiently I stood still.



This one gives you more of the traditional squirrel pose.



And as is often the case, we end with my favorite for the day. How cute!



Off to the sunny (and humid) east coast!

The llamas have returned

Had to make a quick stop by Home Depot this morning after CrossFit. Jasper and I did our normal drive-by to see if the llamas had returned to their summer grazing area. They were there and Jasper was just incredibly excited to get to see them again.



Just like I have posted in the past, as soon as he runs over to the fence, they come over to great him. They are such curious creatures.

A new Google Search feature

Nothing earth shattering, but convenient if you are traveling. Want to find out what the direct flights are between two cities? In Google Search, type "flights from xxx to yyy". The top entry will look something like this:

Flights from Salt Lake City, UT (SLC) to Baltimore, MD (BWI)

Non-stop flights: 2–3 per day, 4h 16m duration Airlines: Delta, Southwest Schedule of non-stop flights Valid through Jun 4 9:55 am → 4:04 pm SLC-BWI - M - W T F S Delta 1106 10:35 am → 4:42 pm SLC-BWI S - - - - - - Delta 1106 11:10 am → 5:25 pm SLC-BWI - - - - - - S Southwest 546 2:05 pm → 8:20 pm SLC-BWI S - - - - - - Southwest 2471 4:25 pm → 10:40 pm SLC-BWI - M T W T F - Southwest 820 4:55 pm → 11:08 pm SLC-BWI - M T W T F - Delta 1114 All flights from Salt Lake City - All flights to Baltimore

I think the most valuable feature is to instantly let you know which carriers have direct flights.

In playing around with clicking "All flights from Salt Lake City", it was great to see that Delta has a direct flight to Rapid City, SD but hasn't restarted the direct flights to Raleigh.