Not the pumpkins: those were $3.33 each. The ice shaver was $1 from a garage sale. To make a delicious ice shavee, you will need the following ingredients:
Ice
Jello powder
Step 1: Grind up the ice
Step 2: Liberally dust it with jello powder to taste. If you're gourmet, add a teaspoon of lemonade powder for an extra kick.
Step 3: Mix it all together.
Step 4: Hop your kid up on sugar and red dye 40 an hour before bed. Which may explain last night's experience...
Yesterday, Child and I went to my brother-in-law's family's land to relax a little. While there, Child took Ash out on an inner-tube for a little casual floating around the pond. The water was freezing cold (so I heard; water isn't my thing, particularly freezing cold water), so most of the kids stayed on the inner-tubes.
Of course, the problem with that was that when Child started floating downstream, she could either get into the ice-cold water, or end up in the Gulf of Mexico. Due to logistical reasons (I was holding an iPhone) her husband was unable to save her, but fortunately my brother-in-law swam to her rescue.
Friday afternoon (5/28/2010), Child and I left Idaho and drove the four hours down to Provo. There, I dropped her off at her parents' house and drove another four hours down to southern Utah. In the North Wash area, some friends and I hiked a canyon known as "Monkey Business."
I'm not sure if some of the people want their names posted, so I'm going to leave them off. (I've become a little more sensitive to this issue as of late...)
Sometimes it's hard to tell where a canyon really begins. Most of the time, a few shallow gullies through the desert come together into a wash, which eventually turns into a canyon. The wash we started down came to a nice, abrupt drop-off, though, albeit one that could be hiked around and downclimbed.
I liked this multi-level shot. Traffic jam in the canyon. Actually, someone else was taking a picture from the front, but for some reason I liked this better. I think it gave a better idea of the 3D nature of canyons.
So the below picture isn't anything particularly spectacular, but it amused me. It looks like S. is squeezing through a tight spot, which he is...only this picture isn't right-side up. It's sideways.
The picture below is actually the correct view. He's lying on his side, squeezing under a boulder.
I realized after picking my favorite pictures from this trip that none of them were just normal pictures of the canyon. It's like anything you do a lot: the activity itself becomes a little ho-hum, and it's just the little out-of-the-ordinary things that become interesting. Anyway, I scrolled through the pictures and found this one just to show off the canyon itself.
This picture was taken by one of the girls that came on our trip, and I just liked it for some reason. It doesn't have the pretty orange and reds of some of the other parts of the canyon, but it has a very...canyony feel to it.
One of the most common canyon creatures you'll see are small lizards. Like the canyon frogs, they have the ability to climb straight up the walls, and they're fun to watch as they scurry around.
This was one of Child's favorite pictures so I threw it in.
I liked this one. We reached a narrow section of the canyon that was easier to stem over than go through. A lot of the time, the group was spread out so much that it was hard to get a picture of more than a couple people at a time, but this time I managed to catch them all together.
This is what's known as a "guided rappel." The trick is to guide the rappeller into the pool of water.
And everyone's least favorite part: the climb out. This climb is known as the "Kelsey Exit," named after the man who first found it, I believe. I've actually been up it once before while leaving a different canyon, and it has only gotten worse. The rock is primarily rotten sandstone, so everything you touch is sandy and slippery. Not only is it steep and hard to climb, but you constantly feel as if your handholds and footholes are going to break, crumble, or slide. Not fun.
The other day I downloaded all my photos off my iPhone, so I decided to post a few of the top pictures here. Forgive me if I've already posted any of them.
This first one is from a date night that Child's parents gave us. They watched Ash while Child and I went to an Egyptian museum that was hosting a date night for couples. We did Egyptian-themed activities like writing something in Egyptian hieroglyphics (mine says supercalifragilisticexpealidocious) and having a mummy-wrapping contest.
Child in a mummy wrap. We were playing Pirates' Dice with a cousin of mine. The rules clearly state that since it's a piratey game, you're allowed to try to peek at other people's dice. Leaning over towards the other players is suspicious, though, so I just stuck my iPhone over his shoulder and took a pictures.
A few weeks ago the animal shelter had an appreciation luncheon for all the area rescues, animal control officers, and volunteers. I was invited for old time's sake. This was a cake that one of the shelter employees made; it's sort of a tradition at the shelter. (Don't worry, the litter box was washed really well before she used it for the cake.)
Nothing like buying your precious darling a "Minnie the Fiend" blanket...
A story on CNN about hackers messing with Comcast's homepage had the following image:
Why is the hacker wearing gloves? You can't really type with gloves on, and what exactly is their purpose? Are you trying to keep from getting fingerprints on your own keyboard?
September refused to go without a final hurrah. This pictures is a little late, from the last day of September, but I wanted to post it anyway.
We had our first taste of snow on the mountains. You can tell from the picture that it didn't make it down to the valley, but it was enough to let us know winter is coming. I always enjoy the changing of the seasons.
Of course, right now our relatives in Wyoming and Idaho have REAL snow. I don't think I envy them yet, not in the beginning of October.
Burro Wash! A canyon in Capitol Reef Park. My last canyoneering trip of the year, according to Child. For some reason, she doesn't want me to be gone when Nine is born. I'm not sure what the big deal is...
Anyway, five of us went on this trip. From left to right Rob, me, my brother Enoch, Mike, and Randall. I took Enoch on this canyoneering trip as a birthday present, so I hope he enjoyed it. He seemed to have fun.
At the very beginning, Randall's GPS wouldn't work. We also had a topographical map so you'd think we wouldn't have a problem, but when your only directions are, "leave the trail when you see a faint miner's track going roughly southeast," and that miner's track isn't on the map, then the GPS coordinates all of a sudden become more important.
After debating about the relative "faintness" of a track we saw leaving the main trail, we finally kept going. After becoming thoroughly lost and facing the prospect of either scaling a sheer 200 foot cliff or doing a three mile end-run around a mountain, I finally suggested Randall try his GPS again. This time it worked, and realized that the first track we had seen had indeed been the correct one.
We backtracked, but rather than go all the way to the proper ascent to the saddle we were looking for, we struck off a little early (or a little late, if we had been going the right way) and found our own way up the cliffs.
Here's a shot looking down. Straight down.
With that sort of drop below us, and nothing but loose sandstone underfoot, you can understand why Rob is a little cautious in his climbing.
At the top at last. We stop for a break before slipping through a crack in the wall behind us and immediately seeing...
Burro Wash.
After a bit of downhill scrambling, we get into the first narrows. There's four main sections, with the possibility of water. Considering the heat (101 degrees) and the openness (and therefore sunniness) of Burro Wash, we opted to forgo the suggested wetsuits. It was a good decision. There were only a handful of pothohles with water, and it was never more than waist deep. Coming out of the water, we dried in minutes.
Between four sections of narrows were plenty of sunny, open spaces.
There were also four or five rappels.
Either the water or a conservationally-minded hiker placed this log to hold up the rock overhang.
There was also a snake.
And our first water. It actually felt sorta nice considering the heat, and considering that my feet were burning up in my neoprene socks and water shoes I was wearing.
Hanging out over a pool of water for a rappel.
A water slide. Except despite what the sequence of this picture and the next would have you believe, there was not actually any water at the bottom of the slide. It had apparently already dried up, along with most of the potholes.
Ooh! Rookie mistake! Getting the route description wet.
Interesting rocks. They reminded me of popcorn.
I was trying to take this picture while I was hanging half-way down a rappel, but I still had the camera in video mode from something, and while I was trying to change it with one hand without dropping the camera and keeping myself braked on the rope, the picture subjects below lost interest.
The hike out.
Sorry for the brief descriptions on most of the photos. It took so long to upload them that I've sorta lost interest, and Child is making dinner downstairs.
