It *should be* warmer.

We've had a cooler than normal Spring here in the upper part of Utah. It's been delightful and due to the abundance of rain, too, it's quite green. Typically the green of the grasslands are already starting to turn brown by now. Despite the beauty of the weather, I feel the need to complain about the weather forecasts. Time and time again, the weather forecasts will state, "we SHOULD BE 80 today." Accent mine on the "should be". There is no SHOULD BE in weather. There are averages and typicals, but there isn't a SHOULD BE. UGH. It chaps my hide! "The average is around 80," or "typically we are at 80" -- both have the same amount of words but mean so much different than "SHOULD BE". It's especially annoying when you realize that there are only 100 or so years recorded when figuring out the averages they use. It's a miniscule sample of years when you think of how old the Earth really is. Who's to say what SHOULD BE the temperature today? I seriously need a mocha...

Trapped!

We went to an early dinner at Tucanos in Orem today...and ended up ~trapped~ on the highway for three hours. Our departure was about 25 miles from home. Much of the time we were at a complete stop while the heavy snow and high winds pelted the car. It was kind of fun for the five of us...for the first hour. The second hour the cramped car seemed to become ever more cramped with each passing minute. There were cars off the road all along the stretch of I-15, but luckily, we arrived home safely and without incident. Well, except if you count the missing three hours that were deducted from our lives along the short stretch of highway...we shall never see those hours again...

Silence

I love the silence that heavy snow can bring. The five lane highway which is just outside my front door is muffled to the point where almost all I hear is the sound of my computer whirring. On most days, I hear every muffler's gutteral burp and every tire's gripping roll. Once the plows drive through, the silence will be over and I'll hear the cars slogging through the mucky moisture.

Spring is coming!

Despite the ultra chilly air outside, there are sure signs of Spring showing.

A couple of days ago -- robins. Five of them in the yard on a rather cold day. We don't typically see them until late February or March.

Secondly...new lambs being born in the back 40. Sure, they always seem to show up at this time of year, but the renewal of life grants a little bit of hope for the warmth of Spring, doesn't it? These little desert painted sheep twins were born yesterday. They're still covered with ewwwygewwygoo, but they look pretty spry despite the 10 degree weather.

Things I Learned on My Autumnal Vacation

The first thing? Photo booths at wedding receptions are AWESOME. At Kim & Chester's wedding (Congrats by the way!!), they had the booth by PartyBooths.com, a parcel of silly props, and several hours of booth availability to take fun shots. It was a great diversion for guests and it kept wee ones very busy. Not only that, but the typical party favor of a few Hershey's kisses on a stick is now a very personalized remembrance photo(s) instantly printed out for guests who participate. OH and another brilliant idea? The bride did a "dollar photo session" -- similar to the "dollar dance" where you get one-on-one attention with the bride/groom on the dance floor -- only with this, you pay (ahem...DONATE) to get a photo taken with the bride. FUN stuff! For their money, the bride and groom also get a CD with all of the photos taken at their reception ...and all of the photos are also availble online for all of the guests to see, too. I really can't recommend this idea enough.

Next item -- Minnesota can be WARM in October. I was thinking it would be oh, I dunno, 60ish for highs. Au contraire. 80s! So, there I sat with a huge suitcase full of cool weather clothing and only one short sleeve shirt. Yeah, poor planning on my part.

Next item -- Working in the office...no matter how hard I try...ends up being a LONNNNNG week with very long hours. I worked for half of my time in Minnesota and I was ever so grateful that I planned a week off after HELL week which was filled with training, meetings and many more meetings.

Next item -- Attending a meeting in person became very important due to the unique announcement that started it off. If I had been on the phone listening in, I'm quite sure I would have been saying, "What? What did she say? I really misheard something. Please tell me what she really said..." I know some people from work read this, so I won't be divulging the particular surprise publicly. Trust me when I say it's an amazingly unique announcement. I really feel a lot of sympathy for the couple involved as it's a very complex situation. I hope all turns out well for them.

Next item -- My coffee obsession had me traveling all over small northern and central Minnesota towns in search of a good mocha..."Is there a Starbucks here? A Caribou? A Dunn Brothers? Anyone??" Sadly, in towns under 15,000, trustworthy coffee chains are VERY hard to find.

What was NOT hard to find -- BIG stuff (http://www.biggirlbigstuff.com). Which reminds me I really need to update that site! I've got several entries from the summer contest, several from Kimmy and now several happen-upons from my autumnal tour of small town Minnesota. I "captured" a fish, Robin Hood, a bowling muffler mand as Paul Bunyan and his trusty Babe with bowling pins in its mouth, a deer and a sea serpent --- all without even trying to find 'em. I did see a giant hot dog on a roof, too, but it was raining and we were cranky. That will need to be "captured" another time.

Finally, my hubby can be pretty brave. While traveling into a small town, we noticed that a house was just starting to catch fire and that no one was stopping to even investigate the situation. He turned the car around and parked out front. At this point, he jumped out of the car and was going to make sure no one was stuck inside. I told him to NOT open the front door as that's where most of the smoke was coming out. By the time he got to the front of the house, a cop car pulled up...and immediately following him...a distressed homeowner. She had just gone into town a scant few minutes before this. She shouted out that no one was inside except for her cat. So, Ivan came back to the car unscathed and we watched the firetrucks pull up. It took them quite a while to even get water to the hoses, and by that time, it was looking REALLY bad for the house. The photo shown here is my hubby to the right and the homeowner getting consoled by the police prior to the firetrucks arriving.

Busy, busy!

So much going on, so little time to blog.

I've been canning up a storm of goodness -- primiarly apricot and plum. The raspberry onslaught is just beginning. So far I've made apricot jams and butters; canned whole apricots; dried about 7 batches of dehydrated apricots and froze a bunch, too. Then there's the plum jam and plum conserve. The latter is usually super yummy. I couldn't find my original Ball Canning book recipe, but I think this one ought to be just as yummy -- It's primarily plums, oranges, walnuts and sugar. It's a very holiday-y taste.

We've been working at re-doing are front room/entry. It's been covered by ugly wallpaper for 80+ years. Way past time for a facelift! We peeled a good four layers off the wall and three off the ceiling. I've never, ever sweated enough to drip off the tip of my nose....well, until it was 100 degrees outside and I was steamin' my butt off. A good pore cleansing, to be sure. Here's the mid-strip look:



And finally, the post-paint look. We haven't installed the flooring yet nor completely refurbed the woodwork. All in good time! The green is called "Feldspar" It's basically a light Mountain Dew tone. It really makes the woodwork POP from the walls. I picked out the color and loved it, but when I started painting I was a bit....ummm..scared. Now that it's up, I'm diggin' it!

After the wood flooring is laid down, I plan on getting this rug (linky) 'cuz it's funky and even maybe a wee bit arts & crafts like the house. When the room is completely put back together, I'll post more pix.

Finally, we've got a wedding going on this Friday. Ivan's youngest daughter is getting married. Much to-do over this to-do. Luckily, I'm a relatively minor player although I think we're paying for the reception. Ahhh the beauty of a traditional "father of the bride pays for the reception" gig. The truly lucky portion -- it's a super low-key barbeque. Not by our design, but rather the bride's. Gotta love a girl with simple tastes! :-)

Oh, I almost forgot about my weather report. I'm sure most of you heard about the huge fires in Utah. While we've recently gotten rain and have broken our several week stretch of 100 degree weather, I was able to view a sweet fire right near downtown Salt Lake City. Got some cute photos of firemen, I did. Oooh, yes, I did. Ya gotta love the fireman's stance on the left. It was hot, hot and hot in many ways, that day. :-)

Burnin' in Utah

It's hot, dry and firey here in Utah. I'm about 100 miles north of the big Milford Flats fire. I think it was supposed to be sunny today, but now, there's nary a mountain to be seen through the valley. It's all just a thick haze. With any luck it will keep us from getting up to the 100 degree mark again.

Speaking of the heat, this is turning out to be much like my first summer in Utah -- the hottest ever on record. The good thing is that now I've got central air to keep me from dryin' and fryin' in the late afternoon heat. We've had quite a long string of 100 degree heat so far and it appears that the forecast is calling for even more. Also, if you're in Texas and you've got some extra rain, please send it this-away. We need it!