Yesterday, August 14th, we took off on another ATV trail ride. The day was perfect. Sun shining, but not too hot with a breeze blowing to help keep it fairly cool. Altogether, there was 8 ATV's and 9 people. This time we started out on an old trail that we have done before, transitioning over to a new trail. The new trail was really beautiful, but rough. This above picture was an easy part of the trail. It was very rocky. And did I say rough? The new trail is called South Canyon trail. It was mostly in the trees, so that made it really nice and not too hot.
We did have an accident. One of the ATV's got stuck on a log ramp we had to go over. It got high centered. When it finally went forward, the rider, who was standing at the side, went flying and landed on the ground. Of the two guys that were pushing from the rear, one went down and hit hard, but did not break any bones. But he was dizzy for a few minutes afterwards. The other was able to catch himself, so he just stumble. It could have been worse, but wasn't. Which we are thankful for.
Most of us decided that even though the trail was beautiful, due to it roughness, it is a trail to take maybe once a year if that. Today we are sore and stiff from fighting the handlebars yesterday.
It was a fun ride. And I am sure everyone is ready to take a new trail here soon.

Late last year, I noticed that on the driver side seat in our motorhome, there was a wore out spot that could only get larger. Well, on our recent trip to Texas, the hole definitely got worse. We had talked about finding a set of seat covers in a truck stop, but never got around to it. So while we were in Texas, I decided to make a set of seat covers. First off, I decided on what color I wanted. Didn't want to use regular yarn, due to static electricity, so decided to use cotton yarn. More durable and easier to throw in the washer when needed. Well, I looked in Hobby Lobby, Michael's and Walmart. could not find the color on cones that I wanted. As I had no idea how much yarn to start with, did not want to buy the small balls of yarn. And figured that it would take quite a few of those balls to use for two seat covers. So at the Walmart in Kansas, changed the color I really wanted. This color that I chose will go all right with the color, it is just a light color and may need to be washed often. But my plan was for the covers to be turn inside out when needed, or around. The back becoming the front when needed.
Had no pattern, just basically took measurements and started crocheting. I fitted the covers to the seats. I finally finished the last cover a couple of nights ago. They fit really good on the seats. Husband likes them also. A big plus, as he does have to sit on them. I do believe that they will work out just fine and last quite some time.

A recent visitor to our home was our friend, Jane. As a hostess gift, she gave me a new knit/crochet book. It was how to get started on knitting/crocheting with wire and beads. The patterns are necklaces, bracelets, and earrings. I found the easiest pattern to practice with. Don't know if the wire I used was the right size or the beads that I also had leftover from previous craft projects. This was my first time crocheting with wire. It is an experience. I have done necklaces in the past with beads and thread. Remember those '70's crocheted necklaces every one had??? Spent the large part of the time threading the beads on the wire. Once I got into the swing of things, it went fairly fast. In fact, I crocheted these three strands in a couple of hours. And that counted putting the beads on the wire. I am gonna get some more wire and beads to do more of these simple necklaces. Found a pair of earrings to do also. It was fun to do these strands.

The latest addition to the family. This is Alice. She is a rescue pup. They said that she is 1 1/2 year old. And maybe that!!! She is all pup. We went and picked her up on Monday, the 22nd. She has been adjusting to living here and I think she has decided that this is her domain. Angel has been good about accepting her, only have problems when I am holding Angel and Alice wants to be held. And being a pup, she is curious as all get out. I have no need for a kitten, she does just fine unraveling a ball of yarn with no help. The latest project I am working on, she has managed to get out of the basket and taken it all over. Good thing that it is Swifter covers, so she can't hurt them. Marshal fixed the gates and holes in the fence to keep her in the yard. Good thing. She is always going to the gates and looking for a way to get out. She is completely house broken, so far, no accidents in the house. We are now having a discussion into her barking habits. She feels that she should bark at every little noise and more. She does know what NO means. But she is pushing the envelope. Will take time, but she will be completely at home, well, she is completely at home now!!!!!!!!!!!

How can anyone not love this face???????? LOL

I fell in love with him all over again. He is such a sweet, lovable child. But then he is 2 1/2 years old and is full of it. He is into everything. Yes, even though I am his grandma, he is a very smart child. Took him all of 5 seconds to learn how to turn on grandma's camera and wanted pictures taken of him. Three days was just too short of time to spend with him. We got acquainted in seconds, and had fun over the next three days. We wrestled, boys like that, we blew five million bubbles and just general had a ball. Hated to leave, but hoping for a return visit soon with Mason. Oh, yes, and his parents.

Got look real close for some white spots and you will see antelope. If you click on the picture, a larger view will come up and you can definitely see antelope. Couldn't get any closer than this to them and the telephoto lens on my camera isn't all that good. But I tried. Took this picture outside of Laramie to the west on our way home. This was the second day on the trip home from Hooker. After staying 4 nights at Hooker and spoiling grandson, we went over to Boise City to spend a few days there to visit with friends. And to see what the weather would be like on the trip home. When we left Boise City, a storm was moving in, so we traveled on the leading edge of that storm, slipped in between that one and one that was leaving the eastern plains of Colorado. By the time we got to Cheyenne, the storms had passed us by. But west of Cheyenne, the roads turned to solid ice in most spots with some snow on top of them. I drove very slowly on those roads. About 5 miles outside of Laramie, the roads cleared up completely. We spent the night in Laramie. The temperature got down to -6, is that is 6 below. The water in the motorhome froze up real good, so we had no water. There was some water jugs in the Jeep that had water in them, so thawed them out to use. And ate breakfast at the truckstop. By late morning the water lines had thawed out, so that we had water. This was on Saturday and that afternoon, we pulled into home. Unloaded most everything out of the motorhome and did some resting for the rest of the day and Sunday. I am now back in the swing of things.

Here is the results of our second night on the road. Marshal pulled into friend's yard right into a mud hole. I was able to get the motorhome out of the mud hole. After spending the night, we hit the road. Down through Texas we went and spent our 3rd night at Albany, Tx. We arrived in Temple, Tx in the early afternoon. That was on Friday. Marshal's sister passed away early Monday morning. We then stayed around until the following Friday. So we stayed there for 8 days.

While there, received a phone call from the foster family that was attempting to adopt out a small poodle for the Bannock Humane Society. We were on the list, but was third on that list. So we expected not to be chosen for this adoption. I explained how we were in Texas due to a family emergency, but the foster family agreed to keep Alice until we could get home.

From Temple, Texas, we headed to Comanche, Ok for Marshal to visit with an aunt and cousin. He had not seen them for more than 50 years or so.

Then it was towards Hooker, Oklahoma to spend time with grandson, DIL and son. Grandson is a joy to be around. He is 2 1/2 and so darn smart. Took him like 5 seconds to figure out how to turn on my camera so that he could see his picture. Then I had to take several pictures of him. And we had some wrestling matches over the day. No one won, but we had a good time. I am gonna spend most of the time with grandson.

We will head towards Boise City on Wednesday morning. Spend a couple of days there before we head on home.

If ya want to see more pictures, just click on the link to the right My Photos.

We received bad news several weeks ago. Marshal's sister just older than he was dying of cancer. We knew that she had it, but did not know how bad she really was. So we talked and decided to make the trip to Temple, Texas to see her one last time. We left home on March 1st headed southeast. Weather was good, mostly sunny, but still some cold temps. No storms at all, which was good. Knowing that we were making a long trip in a short time, we hit the road early in the morning. And ya'll know me and mornings, but I was able to get up and get ready. Our plan was to make at least 500 miles a day. Total mileage was around 1500 to Temple, Tx. First night was spent at Laramie, Wy. Not quite 500 miles, but pretty darn close. The weather was still holding out, which was fine with us. Took some pictures of the snow across Wyoming. Not as much as there could possible, but enough on the higher elevations. As we traveled across Wyoming, realized that we could be in Boise City, Ok for the second night. Having friends there, know that we could find a place to park for the night.

Marshal's son talked Marshal into making a trip to visit and get into some warm weather. So we took off last week to spend a week in the Phoenix area. And get warmed up. Going down, the roads, weather and everything was just fine. Cold, but traveling was okay. We stopped the night at Page, Arizona, where it was much warmer than at home. Seemed like the further south we went, the warmer it got. We arrive at the son's middle of the afternoon. Sure was nice to finally get warm. Didn't do much while there, other than spoil granddaughters. The son did purchase a new smoker, so Marshal and son were smoking a turkey and trout. Mainly they would get them started and I was left to watch so the meat did not burn or get over smoked!!!!!!!

Whenever I went any place in the house, I was followed by my boss, Angel and the kids protector Lola. Didn't make any difference where I went, both would follow. The dogs got along just fine. As long as Lola left Angel alone, they were fine. Lola just wanted to play with Angel and Angel doesn't know how to play. Angel did get close to the swimming pool one afternoon and Lola let her know that she should stay away from there.

The last day we were there, the temps fell down into the 50's and they were all cold, looking for coats to wear. Marshal and I were walking around in short sleeve shirts. We thought it was a heat wave.

We left the area after visiting with friends in El Mirage. Headed home with the weatherman saying that storms were headed in. After spending the night at Richfield, Utah, we managed to arrive home in a timely fashion.

I did take quite a few pictures of the kids and the snow. Click on the link, My Pictures to the right to see.

There are times that I like to take my laptop computer with for different projects away from home. But I don't want to haul out the big heavy computer bag I have. And at these times, I really don't need to take the power cord, extra discs, etc, just the laptop. I have been looking at the computer sleeves that are for sale in the stores. Well, it got me thinking. Why buy, when I can go to my yarn stash, find some yarn that I like and make a sleeve for the laptop. And viola, I did it in a couple of days. This will help to protect my laptop when I take it some where with me and I can leave the laptop in the sleeve when I do use the big bag.
I used a cotton yarn, size h hook and just crocheted a bag with a flap to fit the laptop. It is gonna work just fine.

Today is Christmas Day. The day we celebrate the birth of Christ. Savior of the world. This is Angel in one of her Christmas sweaters. I got her two, but one is too small, has to be replaced. She does like her sweaters. She also received a new blanket that I whipped up in a couple of days. She really likes blankees. Our first Christmas in a long time without our George. He is missed very much.

No pictures this time. Just some thoughts on this time of the year. Have been sitting here all day long looking out the window at the fog. We have had a very cold fog here and it doesn't look like it is gonna lift anytime soon. Visibility has been no more than 1/8 of a mile if that. And that is in town, so out on the highway, it is probably worst.
It is December 20th, four more days to Christmas. I have done all my shopping, although tomorrow, I am thinking of getting Angel another sweater. I have gotten her already and the past couple of days I did crochet up a quick blanket for her. As if she really needs another sweater and blanket. But as this is our first Christmas without our George, trying to make it special for her.
As Marshal has a doctor's appointment tomorrow and we didn't want to brave what the weather could be this year, we are staying home for the holidays. Which is fine. I would like to be with Mason this year also, as he is older and will be more fun on Christmas Day. I sent off my packages the other day. I do believe that this is the last year for packages for Christmas. It just costs too much to send the packages. My thoughts are to send gifts on birthdays and probably gift cards for Christmas. That way, it won't take too much out of the wallet this time of the year.
The countdown for Christmas is on and in 4 more days Christmas will be here.

On Saturday, September 26th, we headed out again with the gang from the Senior Center for another ride. Turned out to be the perfect day for a ride. Not too hot and not too cold. The weather was perfect and autumn like. Well, it is autumn as you can tell by the above picture. The leaves are really beautiful. The reds and oranges were so bright and pretty. In some places the aspens were just changing, or in other places completely changed and falling, or not even changing in some spots. The trail we took were good in most places. One side trail that I took, I should have gone up instead of down. It was hairy about halfway down. Then another spot, going down hill, the whole bunch of us had trouble. That spot, I did the downhill for about 50 feet or so sideways. Was glad that it wasn't longer than what it was. We had a crew of about 10 ATVs and 12 people. One couple had never gone off road before and they really enjoyed the ride. All the trails we took we could go back in the Jeep or pickup and have just as much fun.

As you notice in one or two pictures, Angel was having fun with the ride. She does like her rides. I did take a lot of pictures and it was hard to pick just one to start this off with. Click on My Pictures to the right to see more.

We aren't gonna have good weather much longer for the rides, so have to put the ATVs up for the winter. Hate that. Well, Marshal's won't be put up, the plow will go on it and we will use it to plow the driveway as needed.

I have finally completed the latest Christmas gifts. I found a free pattern for a crocheted back pack. I fell in love with the pattern. So decided that since I really haven't come up with something for two granddaughters, that this would be perfect. I made one in different shades of green also. I do love the pink one though.

We have just returned from our latest adventures and we had a good time. Yes, that is Angel in the above photo. More on that later.

For several weeks now, I have been bugging Marshal about going some place, just to get away. So he decided that he would head to Washington. Well, after doing some thinking about it, he decided not to go. But I kept talking and told him that we could head over to the Cub River and spend a few days. He could fish, Angel and I could ride the ATV in the mountains, and George could sleep. He finally agreed that it was a good idea. Cub River is only like 50 miles from home, so it isn't that much a big deal to take the trip over there. Only takes us like 2 hours to make that trip. You ask why does it take that long to go only that far. Well, first off, it is only about an hour over there to the road that heads back into the mountains. And then maybe another half hour to the campground. We go 14 miles from the highway and about 10 of that is dirt, washboard road. So have to go very slow on the dirt road. Oh, and watch out for those idiots from Utah that only know two speeds. FAST and FASTER!!!!!!!!! No matter what the conditions are!!!!!!!!

So last week in between doctor's appointments and what else that was going on, I managed to get the motor home loaded and we hit the road on Thursday, August 20th. Got there around noon and the campground had one site occupied. So we had the pick of some of the choicest sites. Found a double site, and got all set up. The double was just fine. Our friends the Jones were joining us when George was done with a doctor's appointment on the same day.

Weather was pretty decent. Not too hot and not too cold. Expected it to be really nice and cooler than what it would be in the flatlands.

Thursday we kinda of rested and just sat around. Angel and I did check out the campground and all sites close by. Got used to riding the ATV again.

Friday morning, I sat around visiting with Judy Jones and just relaxing. Friday afternoon, we climbed aboard the ATV's and headed to the Cub River ATV Trail. It leaves the campground, goes down to the river and winds up and over the mountain. It goes along the main road, but away about 25 to 50 feet. Checked out several things that I had not seen last time I was at the Cub River. Found the spring coming out of the mountain that ended up down at the Cub River. That was neat. Yes, I took lots of pictures. By clicking on My Pictures to the right here, you will see all my pictures.

Friday turned out to be pretty hot, especially if a person was in the sun. So since Angel was in the sun all the time in her basket, I devised a canopy to go over her basket to protect her from the sun. Yes, it is Mickey Moused, but it worked just fine to give her shade as needed.

On Saturday, after Marshal was done fishing, we took off on another trail ride. This time to the German Dugway. My main idea was to end up at Copenhagen Basin. That is, if I could keep the others going. This trail was not an easy one. Several spots on the mountain going up were really rocky and very slow going. Didn't have to go down to first gear or 4 wheel drive, but it kept me pretty slow. Lots of wonderful scenery to see. Once we reached the top of the mountain, the others did not want to go further, so we turned around and went back to the camp. I really enjoyed this trail. I know that my son, Stanley, would be envious of his mother. And he would have fun on his dirt bike taking it. LOL

I forgot to mention, Thursday night, a few more people came into the campground. But on Friday evening, it was like a gate had opened up and the campground filled up quickly. There was only like 3 sites left empty. One thing we noticed, most of the vehicles had Utah plates, very few were Idaho. Saturday was very noisy due to all the people in the campground.

Saturday evening the clouds started moving in, but we didn't think anything of it. Come on, it is August in Idaho. It did cool off some though. Sometime after midnight, it started to rain. Not too much at first, but by sun up, the rain was coming down real good. Those that were staying in tents sure were miserable. LOL

On Sunday morning, it finally quit raining. Got to watch those that were in tents try to gets things dried out. But it was too cool to really dry things. Marshal had put down our awning on Saturday, so most of our outside stuff was dry or damp. Since it was halfway decent and the guys went fishing, Angel and I loaded up and headed out to Franklin Basin. It was a half way decent ride. Some rough spots, but not as bad as German Dugway. So we made pretty good time. Saw a couple of roads that tempted me to see what was down them, but I resisted. Since I had told someone where I was gonna be, figured that it would be best to try and stay pretty close to my announced route. We did end up at Franklin Basin and it was a pretty spot. Somewhat cool, but livable for us. The night before I had taken a good look at the topo map to see what roads were available in Franklin Basin. So I chose the road to Egan Basin to make a change in scenery. Not a long road, but nice ride. Towards the end of the road, I looked down at the road to check things out, lifted my head up and in front were two very nice good size bucks. They were fantastic. So close, that I could almost reached out and touched them. I stopped, killed the motor, and reached for the camera. The whole time, they did not move more than 50 yards away from us. Got some good pictures of them. Sure do wished that I had more of a telephoto lens on the camera though. They finally left for parts unknown, but gave us a few minutes of staring at each other. Then it was back to heading back to the camp. Coming down the canyon that leads to Cub River, we scared up another buck. He got into the trees before I could get close enough for a good picture. But he was curious about us. Must have been my red hat from the neighbor and Murdock Chevrolet!!! LOL

About lunch time, Marshal came back from fishing and the clouds let loose. We had a good ole mountain cloudburst. The rain came down hard and heavy. At several times, the water was running so fast through our site, that I wondered if we needed a boat. It rained like that for a good hour or so. Since there wasn't much else to do, I had read quite a bit, in fact, finished up the three books I had left and I did some serious work on a Christmas gift while we were there. I took a nap. When I woke up, most of the people had cleared out of the campground and the rain had quit.

That afternoon, we loaded up and headed for the Franklin Basin. Marshal and the rest wanted to see it. So away we went. I did take down Angel's canopy, as it wasn't needed due to the clouds. We arrived at Franklin Basin and decided that since it was still decent, we would go as far as where the road ran into the highway in Logan Canyon. Well, about 5 minutes after we made that decision, it started to rain. At first, thought it was just a quick shower, and then it turned into a deluge!!!!!!!!!!! Everyone, except I, had a rain coat, but George had an extra one that I could wear. And we decided to head back to camp. I took Angel's extra blanket and wrapped her in it, put her on the seat in front of me and leaned over her. That was to help protect her as much as possible from the rain, and to help her stay warm with my body heat. And we headed back as fast as we could go in the rain. About halfway back, the rain let up some. Then almost the way back, we stopped for a minute to rest up and the rain quit. I took off my gloves, leather by the way, wrung about a quart of water out of them. Wrung Angel's blanket out and got quite a bit, but she was damp, not real wet. My pants were soaking wet and heavy from the water. About the only thing that wasn't wet was my boots, (water proofed) and my sweater and tee shirt (had the rain coat on). As the pants were my last clean pair, I had to dig a dirty pair out of the laundry to wear for the next two days!!!!! LOL Everything back at camp was soaking wet, even having the awning out did not protect any of it. We called it early that night. Oh, and Angel was just barely damp, except for her head, which was outside of the blanket. She did not suffer any ill effects from the ride. It was a real fun day for all.

For most of Sunday night, it rained. And it came down good. Still raining come Monday morning. When it finally stopped, we got things ready to head home.

Altogether, we did a couple of good rides, Marshal caught like 15 fish, we ate 9 of them and brought home the rest. It was nicer coming home, as there wasn't any dust on the road, due to the rain.

I am now ready to take off again. Hate sitting at home.

The above picture is of my surviving great uncles on my dad's side of the family. Yes, great uncles. Both are in their 80's.

My great grandparents, John Albert and Marthann Priest Hunsaker were married in 1900. My grandmother, Hortense, was born in November, 1900. She was the oldest child. They had ten children, all that lived to adulthood and raised families of their own. The youngest being born 28 years later. For several years, my grandmothers were having children within months of each other. One of the places that my great grandparents lived, was at Bothwell, Utah. The house they lived in, is still there, remodeled some, but still there. All of their children and several grandchildren were born there.

My grandmother, Hortense, was a sickly person, having had polio as a young child. So my father and his older brother spent a good many years growing up in their grandparents home.

One of my cousins brought some stuff that they had found in the attic of an old house they used to live in. In this stuff, was two postcards, one written by my grandfather, Howard Smith to the Hunsakers about the health of my grandmother, Hortense. The other written by my grandmother to her parents. Both cards were written in 1934. I now have them in my possession. It made my whole day to get these postcards.

One of the things we did was shared memories of our childhood and memories of stories we had heard while growing up.

If I have figured it out right, we had 4 generations there. It is kinda of hard to figure out the generations, as we had the uncles, children (my father's generation), grandchildren (my generation), great grandchildren, great great grandchildren and maybe one more generation. All together we had 52 people. Out of the ten children, there was only 3 with no representative there.

It was a fun day and we really enjoyed ourselves. We will have another reunion next year. More pictures can be found by clicking on the link My Pictures to the right.

A month or so ago, husband and his son made plans for us to meet at Jacob Lake, Arizona and camp out together. The idea was to have a long weekend, kick back and visit. The kids have purchased a pop up camp trailer and are pretty anxious to use it as much as possible. Which is good for them and the granddaughters. Although there were a few problems, it was basically a good weekend and we all had lots of fun.

We left a day early. Even though we could have made the trip in one day, we are retired you know and it is nice to just ramble along down the road taking it easy. Which we did. We left late enough in the morning to miss the commute traffic in the Salt Lake and Utah valleys. Hate that commute traffic. We spent the night at RV Corral in Kanab, Utah. A nice park with nice size sites and full hook ups. They also had wireless internet, so I was able to get on line and do some email. The next morning, it was a leisurely 35 mile drive to Jacob Lake up on the Kaibab.

Some of the sights we saw while on the road, I did manage to get some pictures of. You can click on the link, My Pictures to the right and see them. But I will tell you something about some of them. First off, I saw a sheep camp heading down the road. I thought that a certain uncle of mine would love to see a picture of that one. I did try to get a picture of the side, but for some reason, probably I was too slow taking the picture, I didn't get it. Oh well. Another sight that brought a chuckle to me, even though I didn't get any pictures of them, was in Kane County, Utah and Fredonia, Arizona. In the small communities, money is really tight, so they make do. One way is to take patrol vehicles, put a dummy in them and park them just pass the speed limit signs. This is to fake out the tourists going through town and make them slow down. Saw several in like Mt. Carmel Junction, Mt. Carmel, Kanab and one other, can't remember the name. Then saw one just outside of the rv park in Kanab and on the road in Fredonia. I am sure the locals know all about them. In like 4 days, none were moved or changed spots.But I did notice that vehicles were slowing down when they came to them. 

Now to the rv park we stayed at in Jacob Lake.  It is called Kaibab RV Camper Village.  On one of my Yahoo RV groups, I asked if anyone had stayed there and what their impressions were.  The main one that came out, was that the park had problems with the electricity staying on.  And it was possible that the park would run out of water, especially at night.  There is no water on the Kaibab, so it has to be haul in.  So with these facts in hand, we went into the park.  First off, we did arrive like 11am.  Most parks the check out time ranges from 11am to 1pm.  Upon entering the office, I found the clerk on the phone and having trouble handling that.  As we weren't in a big hurry, it was no problem.  The clerk was handling a reservation over the phone.  The more she talked, the more I realized, she is the type that has trouble chewing gum or walking, or talking.  And definitely not three at one time!!!!!  She did good to muddle through one item at a time.  The son had paid for both sites for one night to reserve the sites.  I told the clerk to separate the two, apply one charge to me and charge me for two nights.  I thought that I was pretty clear.  But it took her a good 15 minutes talking to herself to finally come to that conclusion.  Then she says that Karl would direct us to the site and direct us in backing up.  I explained that we preferred to do our own backing.  We have a system and it works for us.  She said fine, but it was company policy.  I say, I don't care about company policy.  Well, the guy comes into the office and I explained about our backing up.  He said that was fine with him.  So off we went to the site.  First off, notice that it is still occupied.  No problem.  Well, Karl says we can either take the empty site right next to our site or park in another part of the park until the site was cleared.   Well, I look at the site he says we can have.  Well, there is a large tree in the middle of the site and just about 8 feet away is a large boulder.  Our MH is a 102 inch wide unit.  No way, we are gonna get into a site that is maybe 8 feet wide.  So we opted for parking some place else.  The unit in our site finally left and we moved over to the site.  Several hours later, the son and family show up.  And Karl is leading them.  Now the son is a novice when it comes to backing a trailer.  Well, Karl, had him completely screwed up within 5 minutes.  And then he raises his hand and starts to spin it.  I told Marshal to help his son get into the site and told Karl that Marshal would talk the son into the site and he could get out of the sun.  In less time then what it took Karl to get Earl messed up, Marshal had them into their site. 

The electricity only went out three times.  And I made a trip to the office each time.  And came away with the feeling that they really didn't care.  Each time they were blaming other campers in the park, and I got asked if I had turned all our electrical on at one time.  Basically it was shoddy workmanship.  They had too many units on a breaker switch, which needs to be changed out.  As this problem has been ongoing for several years, I don't see it changing anytime soon.

While there, we made a trip down to Lee's Ferry so that Marshal, Earl and the girls could go fishing.  Well, it was so darn hot there, 109 in the shade, they only stayed about 30 minutes.  We stopped at Marble Canyon Lodge and I took a serious look around.  Used to stay in the area quite a bit many years ago.  Some changes, but I could still name off the different buildings. 

Another day, we went down the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.  Took the road to Cape Royal.  A road that I have always wanted to take.  It was well worth the trip.  Then it was to the lodge at the rim and other than lots of people, it was still nice.  We did manage to see the true male tourist.  Had to take a picture.  He had black shoes, black socks and shorts on.  So typical!!!  LOL

On Sunday, we loaded up and headed home.  The kids headed south to Gilbert where they live and we headed north.  The trip home was pretty quiet.  Nothing to speak of.  We spent the night in Nephi, Utah at High Country RV Park.  And then on home the next day. 

We have a group within our Senior Center that love to ride our ATV's out on the trails of Oneida County. And we have lots of trails to ride on. This ride has been in the planning for several weeks now and we were finally able to get out and do it. Our destination was the Samaria Mountains, southwest of Malad. We all pulled out outfits to Woodruff, Idaho and parked in the field next to the house of one couple going on the ride. Lots of room, as you can see we needed it, from the picture. We had 11 ATV's with a total of 15 fifteen people. And 3 dogs.

We hit the road around 930am and headed to the mountains. The country has really dried out since it has quit raining, so the roads were really dusty and we had to spread out to stay out of each other's dust. Most of the vegetation is still pretty green, but you can see it turning brown. Didn't see any wildlife, unless you count cows and birds.

There is a legend that there is stolen gold or silver, whatever hidden behind an iron door somewhere in the Samaria Mountains. According to the legend, the loot came from a stage robbery. And the robbers hide it behind an iron door. This is suppose to have happened back in the 1880's or so. To date, no one has really found the treasure or if they did, haven't said anything about it. Well, we didn't find it either. But then I have no idea where in the mountains it is suppose to be.

We did see some really nice country and traveled through 2 states. Was able to see south as far as Brigham City, Utah and the Great Salt Lake. North was Elk Mountain, just north of Malad. West into the Pocatello Valley and towards Utah. East was the Malad Valley.

Saw quite a few wildflowers that are still blooming. Due to the moisture we have had this year, they are still really nice. The wild roses were the most surprising. Blooms were really big, bigger than I have seen wild roses before.

We were gone like 5 hours and had a ball. Only problem we found, when we got back, none had escaped the dirt. We were all filthy.

To see more pictures, click on the My Pictures link to the right.

Here are a couple more pictures of me holding the 2nd place plaque that we took in the 4th of July parade and a picture of our float and the ladies and gentleman that rode the float. We are still pretty up in air celebrating our win. This was the first year for the Senior Center to have a float in the parade and to take a prize sure does make all of those of us involved with the project feel real good.

Today across our great country, we celebrate the 4th of July. A wonderful celebration for all of those that enjoy it. And this is Angel and I at the wheel of our truck fixing to get into the parade held here in Malad. On Friday afternoon, the Board of Directors came to my garage to decorate the trailer belonging to a couple of the directors. We spent 2 hours decorating. Well, really we spent about an hour actual work and another hour goofing off. But if paid off for us. We had 7 volunteers from the center wanting to ride the float. And they truly enjoyed the ride. The weather today was not perfect, but close to it. The whole hour we were in the parade, there was a breeze to keep our volunteers cool, but not cold. The morning was mostly cloudy, so they weren't in the sun too much. This is the first year that our center had a float in the parade. The main idea was just to get some of the seniors out and about. And to let others know that there was a senior center in town. Our director, her husband and a couple more members of the board rode their ATV's behind us with signs advertising some of our activities.

We did not expect any awards, just wanted to get out in front of the public. Well, we were awarded 2nd place in the non commercial catagory. Needless to say, we floated through the parade. Thrilled all of us so darn much, we may come down some day!!!!

I will make a recommendation at our next board meeting that this be a yearly thing for the center.

Click on the link to the right, My Pictures to see more pictures of our float.