Utah Library Association - May 12 - 13

All Photos from Zion's National Park: Zion's Canyon

Late last fall I submitted an application to speak at the Utah Library Association Conference in St. George with Annie, Regina, and Cheryl. Luckily our proposal was accepted.

For more details about the conference itself see: http://librarybanter.blogspot.com/2010/05/utah-library-association-may-2010.html



May 12th Driving to St. George
Early in the morning I picked up the minivan from Enterprise. This would have been easier if they hadn't advertised it as the Airport Enterprise Office and located it on Yellowstone instead of out by the airport. Regina met me out at the airport and we searched around and then finally realized that the address on the website had an address on Yellowstone. Very misleading advertising. Next we picked up Cheryl and headed south.



In Orem we snagged Annie and went to lunch at a great place called Mimi's Cafe. It's one of her colleagues favorites and I could certainly see why. More driving followed. I drove and drove and drove and then stopped and switched with Cheryl. I then fell asleep. What I didn't know was that the snow was awaiting us at the upcoming mountain pass. All the bad weather we encountered occurred while Cheryl was driving. The best part is, Cheryl is an extraordinary driver and we were safer with her than with anyone else in the car.



We bypassed Kolob Canyon, instead, we drove directly to The Best Western Abbey Inn where we were staying. I knew we'd be going to Zions the next day and didn't want to spoil it for Regina by seeing Kolob first. Zion's is spectacular and it may have seemed less so if the scenery of Kolob was viewed. For dinner we went to Pancho & Lefty's for Mexican food.



Then we stayed up working on sequencing and timing of our presentation, uploading it to the website and otherwise working.



May 13th Conference & Zion's
The Best Western provided a free continental breakfast then we drove over to the Dixie Conference center and attended conference sessions.



Later we met at the van and headed for Zion's. It was spectacular. We parked the car and got on one of the free bus things that patrolled around and around the park. You can get on any of them and then get off at any stop and back on any other one coming around. It was awesome. We got off and looked and then got back on. At one point the others decided to take a hike up the mountain. I stayed on a lovely bench overlooking a scenic valley and watched the birds.



Birds for the day included
Robins
Yellow rumped warblers
Yellow warblers
Western tanagers
Chipping sparrows
Wild turkeys
American goldfinches
Lesser goldfinches
Turkey vultures
Possibly a plumbeous vireo
More likely a canyon wren



Driving to and fro
Red tailed hawk
Osprey
Crows
Ravens
Magpies



St George:
House sparrow
Common grackle
Great tailed grackles
Mourning doves
Brewer's blackbirds



That evening, really late, we stopped for dinner at Olive Garden. We also practiced our presentation for a last time.

For more photos see: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jsemenza/sets/72157625367830621/

(Written Dec 2010)

Honor's Tea

Kay was out of town for this event which is how I got involved. She had paid for a table and needed to fill it. Peter called me and a couple of other people and then I took over. I love asking people to things so I get to spend time with people I enjoy... Our table had the most men, Nick, Jim, and Keevan. We also had myself, Maura, Sandi, Karen, and Janet. The tea was awesome and it just kept coming. I was truly wired by the end. I love black tea but don't drink it often because of the caffeine. EEEP. I took photos with my phone and sent them to Kay so she could be involved. It really was lovely, with good food and entertainment ranging from awesome to not so awesome. This kind of fund raising event is a great idea. I hope they do it again, whether I'm involved or not.











Other sizes of the photos can be found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jsemenza/sets/72157625367976389/with/5217782753/

Journal Entry - Rocks & ILA Regional

Rock Show (Pocatello) April 4th

Every year the local gem and mineral club hosts a rock show at the county fairgrounds and every year we go. This year I found three lovely pieces of red coral that I had to take home to use for future necklaces.


ILA Regional in Soda Springs April 30th

I went as Academic Vice Chair to the regional conference in Soda Springs http://www.sodaspringsid.com/. I drove Spencer & Regina down with me. Unfortunately we arrived a little late and missed the first bit of the Keynote speaker John Brown, writer of Servant of a Dark God http://johndbrown.com/. He spoke about his experiences being a writer. It was delightful. Spencer went to the Kindle session and he brought us back a wealth of information about using them in the library. We used this info to inform our own decisions and policies when we purchased three for ISU in July. I sat out and talked with librarians and vendors. I believe the networking and vendor schmoozing pays off. I attended Nick's session on his work in Soda Springs. He did a great job, very interesting. I must say that the food provided for this regional conference was the best conference food I've ever had. It truly was outstanding and the range of sessions was solid even though I only attended two.

Louis L'Amour

What you must understand is that as a child/youngster/teenager I was horse crazy. I read every horse book in my grade school, the local public library, both of my jr. high school libraries and my high school library. And by every book, I mean EVERY book, both fiction and non-fiction. It didn't matter that I owned a horse, what mattered was that I was obsessed with horses. I was quite thrilled when my jr. high burned down, not just because I got out of school two weeks early. I was thrilled because I'd get a whole new library when I got back. What I didn't know then was that books cost tons of money and the library would be 1/4th the size of the previous one. *SIGH* In jr. high, I had hit a dead end as far as horse books were concerned. I had to branch out.

Louis L'Amour was part of the branching out. His books may not have had horses as the main characters, and they weren't in the card catalog under the subject horses, but horses WERE present. I read aka devoured all that I could get my hands on. Over the years I purchased or was given most of them and I still have them. I was 13/14 and I loved the heroics, the horses, the style.

The majority of them are quite predictable and I haven't read them in a long while. I started re-reading L'Amour about six months ago. What I didn't realize when I first read them was how accurate he was in describing landscape, people, and history. I mean the books felt correct and authentic, but I had never seen a cholla so I just didn't bother with trying to put that concretely into the described landscape. Now I know that every place is accurate, every bush, every plant, every little thing.

Over the past couple of years, I have driven through every state, and through every environment in his western novels. I have studied the plants and seen the sunrises. Now his novels are still quite predictable but his descriptions of the landscapes and locations are amazing adding a depth to the books that I had previously ignored. Additionally, I found a website that includes many of the maps from the stories. see: http://www.louislamour.com/Maps/map_title_all.htm. Not every book is represented but many are.

Another thing I really like is that his slim novels can be read in a couple of hours. It's like a really great brownie, familiar yet still delicious. L'Amour's lengthier works are less predictable and take longer to read. My favorite of these is “Last of the Breed”, a book about a Native American pilot captured by Russians in Siberia during the cold war.

I’m not rushing to re-read all of his books; I have about 125 of them. But you’re definitely going to see me type “Finished ____ by Louis L’Amour” in the status line of Facebook and Twitter more frequently.

P.S. In Jr. High during my branching out I also discovered “The Lord of the Rings”. Thank heavens for a really great librarian.

Hanging Out and Driving Home

Journal Entry March 2010 (Written December 2010)
Friday March 26th - Monday March 29th

Photos are from the Santa Rosa NM to Price UT Drive.



FRIDAY MARCH 27 - Shopping and Hanging out
Our last full day in Italy TX. First we went shopping at a little place in Waxahachie that sells my size clothes. Wonderfully it was chock full of white, yellow and turquoise blues. I couldn't believe it. I love yellow and rarely find it. After shopping we went home and played games and hung out. Sydney beat all of us at a strategy game, which was the cap to the evening. Went and visited Nan & Gary's house, it's lovely with the new paint, walls, shells, and rag rugs.

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SATURDAY MARCH 28 - Departure
I talked with dad a bit in the early morning before he left for work again. Nick and I stopped by Melinda's to see what she'd done with the place, then took a tour of Tessa & Mike's menagerie. We then took to the road heading back towards Santa Rosa. We started listening to our book and realized that we didn't have that much more of it to go. I called the Barnes & Noble in Amarillo and arranged for a copy of the next book 'Blood Rites.' It was waiting for us when we arrived. It was the perfect time for a break. I then started reading that book out loud in the car. We did not finish the book and I ended up reading it aloud at home to both Nick and Shanna. This started a new tradition of reading while cleaning up after dinner. As the reader, I think I got the best part of the deal.

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SUNDAY MARCH 29 - Driving home day 2
And we drove and drove and drove and tried to take back roads and got turned around and the wrong direction and then back on track and it was stunning, the red rock and evergreen trees dusted with the power of snow. Gorgeous. We stopped again in Price for the night.

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MONDAY MARCH 30 - Home
We've aged. No longer are we willing to drive 12-20 hours in a stretch. It just wasn't happening our bodies didn't want to and neither did our minds. It just takes a long time to get to or fro Texas. We had a great trip and really enjoyed being together.

For more photos of the drive home see:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jsemenza/sets/72157624106927164/

Birding around San Antonio

Journal Entry March 2010 (Written December 2010)
Thursday March 25th

This was a very busy day. We started birding in the parking lots of the hotel and adjacent McDonalds.

It continued from there as we used the Great Texas Birding Trail maps to find lots of great places. We got a day use pass for a couple of private lakes.

Black vultures on the wing

Tree full of Great-tailed grackles

There were more fields of flowers to be seen too...

After lunch at Appleby's, we walked around the Mission Espada grounds.

And after much driving about found the Mitchell Lake Audubon Center. We saw a great number of birds this day. Many of them new to me. The flock of black vultures on the dumpster at one of the private lakes was awesome in every sense of the word. And the grackles displaying for mates were amusing.

Bird list:
1. House sparrow
2. Common grackle
3. Great tailed grackle
4. Rock doves
5. Starlings
6. Cliff swallows
7. Mocking birds
8. Black vultures
9. Mourning doves
10. Cattle egrets
11. Scissor tailed flycatcher
12. Crows
13. Kildeer
14. Crested caracara
15. Turkey vultures
16. Barn swallows
17. Coots
18. Savannah sparrows
19. Great egret
20. Pied billed grebe
21. Mallards
22. Double crested cormorants
23. Common moorhen
24. Blue winged teals
25. Neotropic cormorants
26. Osprey
27. Glossy ibis
28. Spotted sandpiper
29. Song sparrow
30. Red tailed hawk
31. Red winged blackbird
32. Gadwall
33. Great blue heron
34. Eastern meadowlark
35. White winged doves
36. House finches
37. Cardinals
38. Cliff swallows
39. Kestrels
40. Northern shovelers
41. Blue gray gnatcatcher
42. Swamp sparrow
43. Loggerhead shrike
44. Common yellowthroat - Jenny only cause she was searching the reeds with her binocs

And finally a fixed wing cargo bird that kept psyching us out.

I found the book 'Bird Brains: The Intelligence of Crows, Ravens, Magpies, and Jays' by Candace Savage at the Refuge and read it to Nick and Melinda while we drove home. The family went to the new Chinese place in Italy for dinner. Surprisingly it was really good. Later a very tired group of us played Scrabble.

For photos see:
Birding day 2 - http://www.flickr.com/photos/jsemenza/sets/72157624106750920/
Mission Espada - http://www.flickr.com/photos/jsemenza/sets/72157623982568747/

Birding our way South to San Antonio

Journal Entry March 2010 (Written December 2010)
Wednesday March 24th

Melinda's Car & Nick's Coffee

Nick, Melinda and I took off for San Antonio. The plan was to meet up with Nanette for lunch somewhere along the way. The plan worked. We birded and met them just north of Austin for lunch at Wendy's.

Black-bellied whistling ducks

Then they took off to go to a cave and we continued our birding adventure. By now, Nick had figured out that Melinda and I don't sit for hours looking at a bird. Instead we drive around looking at cool stuff. We get out and hike down interesting trails in the middle of nowhere and generally go and see what's out and about.

From the bridge we could see kinglets. Frisky kinglets flicking wings and darting about. Unfortunately they didn't stay still long enough to identify the top of their heads. So we have no idea if they are ruby or golden...

This was a lovely deserted stretch of park. Notice the big spiny prickly pear cactus on the left.

Nick had to investigate it...

That day we saw 43 bird species including:
1. Eastern phoebe
2. Northern cardinals
3. Great blue heron
4. American crows
5. Great tailed grackles
6. Common grackle
7. Black vultures
8. European starlings
9. Carolina chickadee
10. Mourning doves
11. Osprey
12. Kildeer
13. American coots
14. Double crested cormorants
15. Forsters tern
16. Red wing blackbird
17. Roadrunner
18. Mocking birds
19. Pied billed grebe -- We saw this on a pond beside the road, it was bobbing along and then Nick shouted "THAT DUCK JUST SANK!" it was awesome.
20. Orange crowned warblers
21. Barn swallows
22. Chipping sparrows
23. Black bellied whistling ducks
24. Ring necked ducks
25. Mallards
26. Lesser scaup
27. Turkey vulture
28. Cedar waxwings
29. Lapland longspurs
30. Lark sparrows
31. Eurasian collared doves
32. Eastern bluebird
33. Kinglets
34. Eastern meadowlarks
35. Vesper sparrows
36. Bank swallows
37. Cliff swallows
38. Rock doves
39. Kestrels
40. Red tailed hawk
41. White wing doves
42. House sparrows
43. Great egret

Additionally gray squirrels and cottontail bunnies

On the trip I got notes to look up Ogilvy's book "Ogilvy on Advertising"

I also needed to look up the history of 'cast aspersions'

From the OED:
6. A damaging report; a charge that tarnishes the reputation; a calumny, slander, false insinuation. Esp. in the phr. to cast aspersions upon.
1596 Spenser View State Ireland Pref. 2 Which may seeme to lay‥any particular aspersion upon some families.
a1661 T. Fuller Worthies (1662) Bristol 37 As false is the Aspersion of his being a great Usurer.
1692 King James II Let. 2 Apr. (BL Stowe 158 f. 61) , Even that precatuion [having witnesses at the prince's birth] was not enough to hinder Us from the malicious Aspersions of such as were resolved to deprive Us of Our Royal Right.
1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones IV. xi. vii. 155, I defy all the World to cast a just Aspersion on my Character.
1859 ‘G. Eliot’ Adam Bede I. i. v. 113 Vindicating myself from the aspersions.

It was a LOT of fun. We crisscrossed around birding in Waco and Austin and San Antonio environs. The spring wildflowers were out in force this weekend and they were gorgeous. Fields of blue and red and orange and yellow were all delightful. We ended in Southeast SA at a Best Western. The desk clerk gave us directions to one of my favorite Mexican restaurants EVER. It was filled with locals and for good reason.

For more photos see:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jsemenza/sets/72157624106750920/

Day in Dallas

Journal Entry March 2010 (Written December 2010)
Tuesday March 23rd


We arranged to meet Jeff & Randi at the Aquarium. They were late, not just a little late, but really late. We sat in the parking lot, then we sat in the building, finally we started wandering a bit. Thank heavens for cell phones.

The Aquarium is outstanding with lots and lots of birds and plants and of course fish. After the Aquarium we went to the Spaghetti Warehouse for lunch and then over to the Dallas Museum of Art. The exhibits had changed since I had last visited and it was fun to wander around and look. We had a great time with Jeff & Randi. I miss them.

When we got back did a little birding around town with Melinda and Mom. We saw, not this Jaguar which was at the aquarium, but:
Northern shovelers
Ring necked duck
Blue winged teal
Red tailed hawk
Starlings
House sparrows
Eastern phoebe
Barn swallows
Kildeer
Wilsons snipes
Eastern meadowlark
Mourning doves
Kestrel
Great tailed grackles
Common grackles
Savannah sparrows
Great blue heron
Harris sparrows

For more Day in Dallas photos see: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jsemenza/sets/72157623916716030/


Nor did we see this penguin in Italy TX, it is another denizen of the aquarium.

Domes

Nick & Jenny drive to and visit Italy Texas
Journal Entry March 2010
Written December 2010
March 22nd (Monday)

In Texas, time to show Nick a few more domes. :) Dad took us around to the nearby Gymnasiums, apartments and around the business complex. He then took off with Nick to show him more plans and stuff. Me? I took a nap.

Mom and I did some shopping then we made Mexican food for those who wanted to come visit. This was pretty much the only day we spent with Dad. He was always out and about working for some big shot in Dallas.

For more dome photos I've taken see: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jsemenza/sets/72157623903629464/
For more on monolithic domes, including plans, photos and other information see: http://www.monolithic.com/

Drive to Price UT then to Santa Rosa NM then to Italy TX

Nick & Jenny drive to and visit Italy Texas
Journal Entry March 2010 (Written December 2010)
March 19th - 21st (Friday - Sunday)

The plan was to drive the freeway for as much of the trip as possible, stopping in the great plains flyway to do some birding, but weather intervened making the road through Wyoming, Colorado, and Kansas a crazy mess of snow. The plan changed, we'd drive through Utah and take the southern route to Italy TX.

We left in the late afternoon on Friday and drove to Price. We had originally planned on getting to Green River but a miscommunication landed us with reservations in Price. This miscommunication was a real blessing. Passing Malad ID we found deer. Deer, hundreds of deer, were scattered in clumps along the fields, streams, and canyons on both side of the road through any area devoid of civilization. It would not have been safe to continue once night had fallen. Additionally, the snow caught us in the canyon leading to Price. AND we were both exhausted. Nick had been reading Grave Peril by Jim Butcher and was close to the end. I read it aloud and finished it.

The next morning we left bright and early and headed out across the red desert and canyon of Utah. It was a stunning though confusing drive. Nick and I were listening to the book Summer Knight by Jim Butcher and forgot to pay attention to the driving directions on occasion. This led to many a scenic detour. Eventually we arrived at our next stop, Santa Rosa NM. Dinner at a local Route 66 diner where the song 'Get your kicks on route 66' started haunting me again.

The rest of the drive passed uneventfully, we finished Summer Knight and moved on to Death Masks by Jim Butcher. Regretfully we were unable to finish listening to this. Before we left I signed us up for Audible. An audio book club that allows you to download a book a month for ~$15.00 and more books really cheaply compared to cd prices. This book club has been extremely useful. We called as we neared Italy and the extended family met us at the local buffet restaurant that Dad likes. It was great to see everyone.

I've uploaded pictures of these days to: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jsemenza/sets/72157623847229968/

Final day in Anchorage

Our last day in Anchorage, Melinda and I slept in. The hotel graciously allowed me a later checkout (3:00 p.m.) so we hung out, talked, ate lunch in the hotel and napped. About 3:00 Arlene came by to pick us up and we headed out. The snow had fallen and was continuing to fall. They may have had to truck in snow to cover the street for the Iditarod, but now ... There was also quite a bit of wind blowing drifts hither and thither. There was no parking at the museum so we went to the Alaska Native Medical Center, which Arlene has discovered has a nice collection of native art.

We drove around hoping for Ravens and finding public art, lovely snow covered trees and silly signs. Full circle, we had dinner at the same diner we stopped at on the first day in Anchorage. They have post offices that stay open really, really late. Who'd a thunk that 9:30 pm would be a busy time at the post office? I sent my box home via priority mail, much cheaper than taking it
on the plane. Arlene dropped us off at the airport at 10:00 p.m.

After checking our bags Melinda and I got together and played boggle at the Chili's inside of the airport. At 11:30 we had to stop and head for our respective gates. I hate the parting part. My flight left at midnight, completely packed and headed for Seattle. I had dumped my water bottle before going through the TSA checkpoint at the Anchorage airport. Once in I decided to buy a new bottle, but was thwarted by the $3 price tag. I'm just not going to pay that much for a bottle of water. In line to get on the plane another TSA approached me and asked me if I had any liquids, other than the little stuff in the plastic baggie. BWHAHAHAHAHAHA (in my head) No I said, I wouldn't pay 3 bucks for a bottle... She suggested that what she does is bring her own bottle and fills it at the water fountain. :) She had to move on and test someone elses water. Why yes, I did the happy bum dance for that.

Once on the plane I hoped for sleep. I was sooooo tired. Sleep eluded me. At Seattle I recharged my phone, hunted down a less than $2 bottle of water and waited for my next flight. On this flight I closed my eyes and hoped for sleep but once again... There's a chance I got the 1-10 minute out, but overall I don't remember sleeping at all. In Boise we stayed on the plane for a quick turn around. I texted Nick asking him to pick up breakfast for me. He met the very tired me at the Idaho Falls airport and the food was waiting in the car. Funny, I wasn't able to sleep in the car on the way home either. Once home though... Poof out like a light.

I had a lovely time in Anchorage. The people were great, the conference was interesting and my presentations were fine. Melinda and I had great fun with Arlene and I got to see Anchorage in it's snowy glory. Marvelous.

Monday, Out and About

Today, it was very cold, and then not so cold, and then kinda cold. The morning wind blew snow off the ground and at us. Min and I walked over to the Snow City Cafe to meet Arlene for breakfast.

Spent a chunk of the day driving around to parks and other areas where we could watch ravens or scenery or get out and hike around a bit. What we found were lots and lots of ravens playing on the wind. A few magpies tried to play on the wind like the ravens, but they just didn't have the stamina for the prolonged soaring and swooping bouts. A single bald eagle flew across our path as we watched the ravens. The hiking only occured after the wind had stopped and the temp had gone up a bit.

We got a great tour of the public library's special collections area.

People watching and talking at a local coffee shop

Went in to Title Wave Books which carries both used and new books and was overwhelmed by the number of titles I wanted to leave with. :) good thing it was a short visit.

Another short stop was at the Iditerod's official hotel and it's gift shop.

Dinner at Beartooth with it's fantastic fish & chips (fresh halibut & garlic/cilantro fries). Page met us there so we had a lovely time talking and laughing. By the time we left the wait to get in was over an hour.

Back to the hotel early to begin packing and readying for tomorrow. Tomorrow is Tuesday, we check out of the hotel at 3:00 p.m. and catch our planes at midnight. It's going to be a surreal day.

As for today, it was lovely. Arlene is a fabulous guide, she's funny, she's knowledgeable about the area's history and people, and she's endlessly willing to go and try things out.