Yellowstone with Friends

YELLOWSTONE WITH SHANNA, HEATHER, DUO, REGINA, & DAUGHTER KATRINA (SAT AUG 28th)



Weather Forecast from http://wwwweather.com/
You can never tell, but right now it says "high of 56 degrees, low 35 degrees (F) with scattered thunderstorms, 40% chance of rain." We decided to go anyway. The picture above was taken somewhere north of Rigby.



Image of Osprey in Island Park

Shanna and I drove to Enterprise to pick up a minivan in the morning. Unfortunately they didn't have any left. Fortunately, they let me take the suburban for the same price. It was AWESOME to drive. I felt very safe. Everyone met up at our house and we loaded up and headed out. We stopped to take pictures of clouds and did a brief bit of shopping in West Yellowstone. Shanna and Heather were after earrings. Shanna had saved up since the last trip and bought a set of hand carved & painted purple hummingbird feather earrings.



Image of Roaring Mountain (notice the dark gray sky)

Storm clouds and rain followed us into the park, though mostly it was drizzly and spattery kinds of rain. We headed to Mammoth stopping along the way, for Roaring Mountain.

Image - Heather, Duo, and Katrina looking at the Bison, taken by Regina.

for Bison. We spotted this Bison on our way past. It required us to drive a bit further in order to turn the behemoth I was driving around and go back. It's always funny how surprised passengers are at the Semenza willingness to stop, turn around and take another or better look.



for Sheepeater Cliffs



Image of a view at Sheepeater Cliffs (the basalt cliffs behind us on the left)



for Ravens

This bold bird was in the parking lot at Sheepeater cliffs. I have quite a few photos of him online at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jsemenza/sets/72157625368422743/



for Waterfalls.



and for the Hoodoos.



Heather found ripe currants and shared with those of us in the car. Regina had just been talking about going berry picking for these very berries, from her aunt's cabin in Siberia.



We got to Mammoth and got out. Heather had said something about there being less water going on in Mammoth but it wasn't until I saw it that I realized that it was about 25% of the water that had been flowing in the pools last time I visited. Quite a letdown. We were talking about where to walk when the rain picked up. We turned to return to the car and the sky opened up and dropped lots of water and then hail. We were all glad that we hadn't gone too far down the trail. We sat for awhile but it didn't seem to let up. Next stop Mammoth General store. Luckily we found a parking space. Shopping and ice cream cone eating took up some time but the rain continued. Back into the car and then we went looking for the missing Elk. Usually there are Elk all over Mammoth, but not one was there this day. We drove down and around the campgrounds but there was no sign.



Giving up we headed back towards West. (Image taken in Monument Geyser Basin)



A couple more stops for the thermal features of Monument Geyser Basin.



Image - Regina & Katrina on boardwalk in Monument Geyser Basin



A rest stop in the park for a break yielded our elk sighting of a mom and a youngling.



There was a division of whether to stop for dinner but it was out voted in favor of continuing. Since we had the time and had been talking about it we swung out to Big Springs in Island Park.



This was probably Katrina's favorite stop. We used up all of our quarters getting food to feed the fish and the 'ducks' or rather, the Blue Winged Teals. Then off we went to home. The only bad part about this day was that Shanna and I didn't think about returning the car that evening, which we could have done. Instead we had to get up early and return it first thing in the morning. Ack. We'll both remember to do it differently next time.



Image of Big Springs, Island Park

While we were in the park (probably during the storm at Mammoth), West Yellowstone was hit by a serious microburst. Interestingly, none of us noticed the damage on our way home... Microburst: http://www.localnews8.com/weather/24815467/detail.html

More images from the trip can be found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jsemenza/sets/72157625368422743/

(Written Dec 2010)

Journal Entry - Huckleberries & Garage Sales

HUCKLEBERRY PICKING (FRI 13th)
Image from Small Goat Garden Blog: http://smallgoatgarden.blogspot.com/2009/08/idaho-huckleberries.html

With Maura, Shanna, Heather, & Duo, I left work early and we drove up to the Huckleberry patch Northeast of Idaho Falls. I didn't find many huckleberries, it was late and the bushes had been picked over quite thoroughly. Still, it was nice to be outside in the forest with friends and squirrels. One chattery fellow was most unhappy with the invasion into his territory.

Heather & Duo had other obligations leaving Maura, Shanna and me to find dinner. We ended up waiting a long time for a table at the Brownstone Restaurant and Brewery http://brownstonebrewpub.com/. The food there is always good and the service is also, even if you do have to wait 30 - 45 minutes to get a table.

GARAGE SALE - FINALE FRI & SAT 20 & 21

Nick came home to continue/finish his repainting of the trim on the house. Heather & Duo along with Jim & Maura hung out and we did a big combined garage sale. The highlight for me, was the picking up and walking off (by two of the three college guys) of the old sofa we had in the basement. Nick and I purchased it for $15 from Salvation Army oh, 13 or so years ago. We sold it for $15. After we had packed it all in we went over to celebrate at the Five Guys Burgers. I don't go for burgers very often, but Jim loves them. I was surprised at how much I liked it. It's a whole different kind of burger.

Applesauce Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

I seem to be in the mood for baking. This week's cake:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Grease and flour a 13"x9" pan or two 8" or 9" rounds

2 1/2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 1/2 cups applesauce
1/2 cup water
2 eggs

Mix ingredients into large bowl (I usually cream the sugar, shortening and eggs, and sift fork stir the dry ingredients before adding them all together with the other liquids)

Don't over mix this batter

Bake oblong ~60 minutes, layers ~50 minutes. Toothpick test will come out clean.

Frost with cream cheese frosting.

Sorry I don't measure my frosting
~2 tbsp Butter, a bit of vanilla, cream cheese, milk and powdered sugar

Summer Projects... June & July

PAINTING
Shanna painted the hall downstairs (walls & ceiling) a bright white to bring more light to the library. Our hall is long and five feet wide and we've lined both sides with varying sizes of bookcases. The white really helped lighten it up. She also painted the back stairwell with Nick's help. This was really tricky because of the woodwork and the heights involved. Again, we went with a bright white to bring light into the dark space. Between that and the recently (2 years ago) installed back door with window you can clearly see the stairs. Meanwhile, Nick was painting the trim around the outside of the house. He changed it from the 80's cornflower blue to a classic black. I couldn't believe the difference it made. We'll have to finish repainting the outside pieces next summer. He managed to finished all of the windows on the main floor, the outside door trims, and the garage doors and windows. The big garage door had been painted blue and it showed all of its flaws. He painted it white to match the house and the trim black and it looks like a whole new door.

Nanette and Sydney, while visiting decided to help us move our library. We had to move it into Nick's office so that Shanna could paint the downstairs hall. It was quite an undertaking but moved quite quickly with their assistance. During the painting, Shanna got marked by the white hand. It took a lot more effort to put it back with just the two of us.

ROOF & TREE
I arranged for Randy Stone to come and replace our roof. We went from an asphalt tile to a light gray steel. I chose the light color for its reflective and energy saving properties. I couldn't bear to go with straight white. I wanted a neutral that would not stand out. Our white clapboard style ranch needs to remain lovely but neutral. It doesn't have any architectural finesse and so it needs to blend into the background and let the gardens and greenery steal the show. You really can't get worked up about light gray, for good, or for ill. It was perfect. It was fun to have him here. He had lots of suggestions for improving the place and with any luck we'll be able to hire every year for a project. (Don't forget the tree dude showing up to trim tree back so they could roof - Shanna) That's right. He left small stick debris everywhere, but my tree in the back looks much better and he cleared the limbs from hanging over the house.

MOVIES
A confluence of events triggered buying dvds on an enormous scale. First, the tv/vcr/dvd combo in my office died. Instead of replacing it, I bought a new computer. This computer has a big screen, a dvd player and a cute little adapter that allows me to view my cable tv on my monitor. I completely lost the ability to play vhs movies in my office. This is a problem since most of my collection is in the vhs format. C'est la vie, or so I thought.

Second, Nick took off for Rawlins with his computer, no tv, no vcr, only the built in dvd player. And we had about 15 dvd movies.

Third, I really wanted to simplify my living room. I began by cleaning, and cleaning out. As Shanna and I worked I realized that the big barrister's bookcase holding videos was, if not an eyesore, a clutter station. It needed to go. What would enable its removal? We needed to condense our movie collection. We'd weeded it earlier that year so that wasn't an option. Soooo we decided to replace the vhs' collection with dvds.

I started small ordering our favorite dvds used from Amazon. It was going to be a slow process. Then we found out that the local pawn shop sold used ones for less than the shipping price of Amazon. WOOT that made us buy a few more. Finally the last piece to the marathon buying was the closing of Hollywood video. Every weekend for many weeks Shanna and I would go to the Pawn shops, and Hollywood snapping up dvds for $1-$3. As the weeks wore on the prices at Hollywood got cheaper. Other Hollywood stores were closing and shipping their remainders to the one in Pocatello or Chubbuck. It was a bonanza. We were able to replace a large chunk of our existing collection and pick up quite a few others that we had wanted to acquire.



On the last day of the Hollywood closeout the pickings were slim but only $.25 per dvd. I called Nick and he okayed us spending his money. Shanna and I began by alphabetizing the horror section. It was the largest collection left in the store. Then we picked out one of every title. We piled movies and piled movies and then left the store with 400+ horror dvds. I did call Nick and asked him if he was really serious about buying them, and he was. We brought them home and serpentined them across every surface in his office. He now has enough movies to last a few years. Shanna and I had a great time laughing and buying and so did the rest of the people around us, when we told them we had been tasked with buying every one they had left, excepting the duplicates.

GARAGE SALE
By the end of July we found ourselves in possession of several hundred vhs movies that we didn't need or want. It seemed a shame to give them to the DI. So we started setting up for a garage sale. We sold quite a few to friends and then more at the garage sale. It was awesome. We used these funds to reinvest into the project. This was our first garage sale and Shanna and I realized that it was pretty easy to set up and this triggered a couple more such activities. (We also let our friend join in and bring and sell some of their stuff to)-Shanna

MY BEDROOM
I have wanted a summer white bedroom for a long while and this summer I made it come true. I found the most delicious white comforter set with a lovely little green border at TJMAXX. My room was airy and white and lovely. We set the bed to four posters and hung the white sheers on it. Shanna and I found two green palm leave paintings to hang on the wall where the red Persian rug had been. The decorative pillows were all white and it was awesome.

The green is much less yellow and more leaf green in person...

Upside Down Peach Cake

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Butter cake pan (I used oblong, two rounds would work)

Pour 2/3 cup melted butter into bottom of pan
Spread on top of butter 2 cups of light brown sugar
Peel and slice peaches, layer on top of brown sugar (calls for 3 cups, I'd use more next time so that the layer is thicker, the peaches shrink a little when baked)

Cream together:
2/3 c shortening
3 1/3 c sugar
4 eggs

Add
4 tsp baking powder
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/3 c milk
3 1/3 c flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp mapeleine (original recipe calls for 1/2 tsp almond flavoring)

Bake (350 degree oven) oblong for 60 minutes, rounds for 45 minutes

Baking time may vary depending on material of pan so keep an eye out, the top should be golden brown and a toothpick will come out clean from the cake part. If you push the toothpick in too far it will pickup the peaches/sugar mixture.

Nan & Gary & Sydney & Erica & Hannah Visit

The visit was very nice lots of talking and doing and eating.



On Saturday June 26th we decided to go to Yellowstone. I handed out the radios, and off we went. First we stopped in Rexburg to round up the rest of the available Clarks (Tess, Ashley & Family). Then we stopped in West Yellowstone where Shanna and I did a little shopping (jewelry at one store (hand painted raven feather earrings on bison bone, amber and turquoise earrings ... and I was out of spending money), everyone else did a lot of shopping. We snuck off quietly and got milkshakes from McDonalds, then gathered the crew and headed into the park. I paid for the park fee for the other two cars and paid for a year long pass for our car. It's a new thing I'm trying, generosity. I need to remind myself that I have plenty of money for the things that are important. Anyway the park was awesome (as always). We saw lots of ...



1. Rockdoves
2. Red winged blackbirds
3. Brewers blackbirds
4. Brown headed cowbirds
5. Crows
6. Ravens
7. Juvenile Golden eagle
8. Bald eagles
9. Osprey
10. White crowned sparrows



11. House sparrows
12. Tree swallows
13. Kestrel
14. Trumpeter swans
15. Sandhill cranes with babies
16. Cinnamon teal
17. Great blue heron
18. Chipping sparrows
19. Mountain bluebirds
20. Rough winged swallows



Elk
Bison
Vole
Ground squirrels
Chipmunks
Coyote - There really is a coyote in the picture below. It is near the tall & smallish trees on the left side. He caused quite the 'bear jam' in traffic.



Thermal features
Water features
Mountains
Trees
Gorgeous scenery



It was a lot of fun. They are a nifty family to travel with. We stopped at the Fountain Paint Pots and the Midway Geyser Basin. At Old Faithful Shanna and I let the others go off and we rested. I was tired (I didn't figure out till months later that I'd been taking my thyroid med wrong all these years). Anyway we sat under the trees at the back of the parking lot and watched the ravens. I started making notes for my crow oracle deck and talked with Shanna about it. On our way out of the park we stopped at the regular Firehole Lake drive spots.



Afterwards we stopped for dinner at our regular diner in West Yellowstone. Gary was tricksy and paid for our dinner which pretty much evened us out, but I didn't care. It was needful for me to act in a generous manner. I have a lot more money available to me when I behave that way. We got home late, but not too late and crawled into bed. I'm sure that Nanette has many more details of this trip in her head than I do. Shanna probably does also. All I know was that it was fun, and lovely and I really enjoyed it. (Most if not all got sunburned as we all forgot sunscreen-Shanna)



For more photos from this trip see: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jsemenza/sets/72157625368277499/

(Written Dec 2010)

Journal Entry for June

INTERVIEW FOR INTERIM DEAN Fri June 11th

This spring Kay decided to take a job with Bowling Green State University in Ohio. It's near her sister and mother and a good opportunity with good pay. I couldn't blame her a bit. The Provost's office sent the library staff an open letter requesting recommendations for someone from the staff to serve as interim dean. I was surprised and honored to be nominated by my colleagues. One in particular wrote an amazing letter, and led the charge so to speak. I was further surprised to be interviewed and thought I did well. It was exciting and thrilling to be nominated, but it was not meant to be and I think it has turned out well. Sandi is doing a great job.

---

KAY'S FAREWELL PARTY Fri June 18th

The library hosted a large farewell party at the library. Lots of irises, books, shakespeare, photos and people. We will miss her. I will miss her.

See library news post at: http://libpublic2.eol.isu.edu/blogs/ln/wordpress/?p=766

Gardening

Nick came back from Rawlins to spend the Memorial Day weekend gardening. When he left I'm sure he was ready to just not return. We worked like dogs. In the end I had summer squash, zucchini, pumpkins, tomatos, carrots, lettuce onions, peas, strawberries, bell peppers, chard, beets, basil, mint, and many more herbs and flowers planted. Our garden yielded many crops, which I ended up giving the bulk of to other people (primarily lettuce & squash). Apparently without Nick here to water and tend and cook and eat we just don't use up enough on our own. Next year, if Nick is gone for the majority of the summer I'm going plant lots and lots of flowering shrubs.



Meanwhile, Shanna took over the maintaining of the sprinkler system and mowing the lawns. She did an awesome job. She found buried sprinklers that Nick had never discovered. Our lawn was covered in little sprinkler flags waiting till he returned to help her fix them.

(Written Dec 2010)

Birding At Bear Lake Migratory Bird Refuge With Melinda

Melinda drove to Utah with Mom for a very short family visit. I met her in Logan and we took off birding. The Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge http://www.fws.gov/bearriver/ has a stunning array of birds. I kept saying, what species I expected to see and lo and behold it would show up. The best was as we were leaving, I mourned the loss of spotting a curlew and one immediately flew by. It was a delightful day.



We saw:
Tree swallows
Barn swallows
Bank swallows
Cliff swallows
Western kingbird
Coots
Redheads
Gadwalls
Ruddy ducks
Yellow headed blackbirds



Red winged blackbirds
Magpies
Robins
House sparrows
Starlings
Cinnamon teals
Mallards
White faced ibis
Avocets
California gulls



Western meadowlarks
Ravens
Great blue herons
Cattle egrets
Bullocks oriole
Horned larks
Franklin's gulls
Western grebes
Vesper sparrows
Snowy plovers



Killdeer
Double crested cormorants
Canada geese
Grasshopper sparrows
Snowy egrets
Black necked stilts
Wilsons phalaropes
Northern shovelers
American White Pelicans
Brown headed cowbirds



Clarks grebes
Marsh wrens
Forster's terns
Black crowned night herons
Pied billed grebes
Common terns
Brewers blackbirds
Greater yellow legs
Eastern kingbird
Northern harrier



Great egret
Long billed curlew
Willet
American Kestrel

and a Muskrat

We had a really late lunch at a Mexican restaurant who's name escapes me. The interior looks like a Mexican street market. Then back to Dave's where I had to say bye. *sniff*

Photo's from Bear Lake 2009
(Written Dec 2010)

Utah Library Association - May 14 - 15

All Photos from Zion's National Park: Kolob Canyon

May 14th Conference/Presenting



I realized the night before that I would need to download the youtube videos to my computer and play them directly from there instead of pulling them from the internet. The internet at the conference center was too thready. So for the most part of the conference day I sat behind the exhibits area and downloaded, first a program to pull youtube videos to the computer then the videos themselves. It was tricksy with the internet being difficult and took about 4 hours for me to accomplish. ARRRGH. I am very glad I did it, cause the presentation went very smoothly.



For lunch we were invited up to the reserved table. This was a big mistake. Some of us were smart and left before the speaker began, but not me. NOOOO I had to stay and listen and then had to get up and walk out because he was running long and I had a computer that needed setting up for all of us. However, the luncheon speaker was fantastic. Music, creativity, scenery, a lovely presentation that I hated leaving early.



Our session, unlike the others I attended really did incorporate active learning techniques. I used the Cephalonian method, Annie used learning teams, and Regina used a hands on exercise. Cheryl began the session with a lecture that had lots of useful and helpful URLS which kept the note takers busy. All in all we did very well, especially for a two hour last session of the conference time slot. Our attendees stayed and a few others came in. Only one left and she told us why during the break.



I looked for dinner on the internet using the open door between the two rooms to facilitate the flow of information and suggestions. We settled on the 25th and Main restaurant. It serves sandwiches, salads, and cupcakes. I overdid it on the cupcakes, but what I didn't know was that the sandwich I ordered came with a full helping of food poisoning.



I started cramping in the middle of the night and got up and down and up and down. Eventually, I prayed that things would improve. I was doubled over in pain and relief seemed to escape me. Moments later things started to come up and out and I've never been so happy to be barfing. It was an excrutiating night. I was mostly awake and in the bathroom for one reason or the other. In the morning, we had planned on leaving early, early to visit Kolob, I declared an emergency and had Cheryl drive me to Albertsons where I bought a bottle of Pepto. It started to help immediately.



May 15th Driving Home

We took off. Dawn was breaking over the mountains and though I felt like 10 miles of bad road we went to Kolob canyon. The lighting was exquisite. The scenery gorgeous and the flocks of Western Tanagers surprising. Then off we went towards home. Cheryl and Regina took turns with the driving. After dropping Annie off we stopped at Thanksgiving Point for lunch. Though I just stayed in the car with my napping and my bottle of pepto. I've never been more grateful to get home and go to bed. I had a horrible ending to an otherwise amazing experience.



For more photos see: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jsemenza/sets/72157625367951323/

(Written Dec 2010)