North Ridge of Webb Canyon

We climbed up the north side of Webb Canyon up to this rock pinnacle and then past it to a cabin!

   So this week we picked a hike right behind the house. Whew! I am so tired.  Not that long - about 6 miles total - but we climbed 2500 feet in two and a half miles.   

    










I was feeling it on the way up and on the way down in my legs.





 Good for the heart, too.  My heart was beating fast on the way up because of the climbing and I still got cardio on the way down because all of my slipping and sliding was keeping the adrenaline going. I thought I might take one false step and Dad would get to carry me down.



It was well worth it though.  It was the best week of the year for color - probably for the decade because I can't remember when the colors have been so vivid.




Remember these Jerusalem Crickets?  They are the biggest bugs I see here in Northern Utah.  I think they are scary looking with those red heads.










Bowser totally enjoyed the hike if not this picture - so undignified!










Here is the cabin at the top. When we were hiking down we actually met a guy who helped build it.  He said the old one (who knows when or who built it originally) was washed down the mountain in the floods of '83.  Every deer hunting season for a few years his family would pack up cement or metal or wood until they finally finished it.  It is utilitarian but at least a place to stay and get some shelter.  It is probably used in the winter mostly.




Just Gorgeous!!!!

A Night at the Symphony

     Enjoyed a night at the Utah Symphony last night courtesy of my parents.  They performed two symphonies and a piano concert-all by Russian composers.  Just some general information: a concerto is usually 3 movements and lasts about 30 minutes, a symphony is usually 4 movements and lasts about 40 minutes. I was thinking this was going to be a long one but luckily they were all on the short side.  In fact Prokofiev's 1st piano concerto is designed with no breaks and only lasts about 16 minutes.
     They were showcasing an up and coming young artist, Denis Kozhukhin, who is Russian himself.  I think that if I had just listened to the concerto over the radio I wouldn't have liked it so much but watching him play it on the piano was something else.  His fingers were flying. I call it finger fireworks.  It was A-Ma-Zing.
      They also had a guest conductor, Garry Walker, from Scotland.  He was fun to watch.   When he would want the orchestra to get a little lighter he would be hopping from foot to foot or sometimes just hop on one foot and sometimes look like he was going to just take off flying.  I enjoyed him and he was energetic enough that I can see how he stays so thin.

Wonderful World

Can you believe the color in the mountain above our house?  I guess the wet spring paid off because the fall colors are beautiful this year; the kind that make you stop and take a moment to catch your breath and enjoy.
     My cousin also posted this video with it's beautiful video and wonderful John Rotter song.  I think you will enjoy it.

   

Biggest Loser -Week One

     Well, after a week of 1200 calorie days and lots of sore muscles from hiking and weight-lifting I think I might have won the first week.  You don't get anything but nyah-nyah-nyah rights but that is worth something.  Truthfully, I think her scale is like mine and it does vary by a pound or two every time I get on. 6 lbs
For the last week we should probably all weigh ourselves 3 times and take the average to make it fair. But I will take my 6 pound weight loss this week.
     The weather here has been so great that it has been easy to be active.  Yesterday it hit 81* in Salt Lake.  Matt brought up friends and enjoyed a day of boating.  Who would have thought you could be going out without wet suits on October 15. Speaking of Matt, he decided to join the dating pool again. If you have some phone numbers of girls for him now is the time to let him know.
      Bryan's Dad had a knee replaced on Wednesday and they sent him home on Friday.  I was really surprised that they felt comfortable sending an 86 year old home to take care of himself but I went by to see him today and he does seem to be doing great although moving slowly.  He had to put Marian in a care facility. I wish I could just take her in but that is the bad thing about our house.  She can't negotiate the stairs.  She seems to be accepting it okay even if she doesn't quite understand why she can't be home. It does seem to be a really nice place.  It smells good and the workers are always getting them out of their rooms and holding activities.  While I was visiting her today they made us a smoothie and were just very friendly and caring.

     Today I got to have a new experience.  My sister Jen volunteers at the Salt Lake Temple.  They were having a special devotional at the very top (5th)  floor of the temple where they have a big assembly hall. I think I counted around 700 people on the main floor.  We were up on the balcony. It was fun to see and Pres. Eyring spoke and he was good. It is really pretty in all its cream colors. After, we went over to the South Visitor's Center where they have a really good cut out model of the temple.  I couldn't believe the likeness and detail and it helped me get a lot of the orientation of the temple straightened out in my head.  I'm always confused when I am in there on what floor I'm on. I recommend it. One thing I didn't know was that those big round windows swing open. A guy climbs up on the inner ledge and pushes one side out and they just pivot nicely on the center axis. They had them all at a 90 degree angle. It actually cooled it off quite nicely and I got to look out at Ensign Peak.
      I didn't think I would get exercise today but between chasing Bowser down when he ran away and climbing all those circular steps up the corner of the temple I did okay.

The Biker and the Antelope

Luckily this guy is okay.  He probably can't  believe his bad luck. I'm sure not many bikers have been run into by antelope.

Biggest Loser - CanyonWoods Style

     So yesterday Diane approached me and said "We're doing a weight-loss competition for 6 weeks. Go weigh yourself at Megyn's today."  This was a tough decision because I know I'm not going to win but I also know that I'm not doing well on my own initiative.  I decided that this would maybe give me the jump start I need to get back on track after a month of vacation. There are 10 of us from the neighborhood.  Some, like me, could stand to lose a few pounds. Others, like Megyn and Jenny, are totally fit already.  I think they just can't step away from a challenge.  It will be interesting to see who wins; someone who has the weight to lose or one of those that we know already has the discipline From the weigh in I could tell that I had been taking it way too easy the last little while but maybe that will help me in the competition since I'm starting off pretty fat.
     To go along with this, some of the men also we're having their own competition.  Bryan was not interested all. I was hoping he would because it is easier to do it together. He did promise to try not to sabotage me by bringing treats home all the time (which he loves to do).
     Also, he was off work today (unfortunately, they are always so slow that he is off work a lot lately-retirement keeps getting further away) so he said he would go on a hike with me to give me a good start.  We looked at the mountains in the east -snowy.  We looked out to the west - we decided to climb Frary Peak on Antelope Island.  It was a good decision.  We didn't get there until 2:30.  The weather was perfect; overcast and about 60*.
     The hike is about 7 miles and you climb around 2,000 feet.  It was pretty hard and Bryan led the way.  He was like a man on a mission.  I didn't keep up but barely.  Up at the top the last 1/2 mile was a little rocky to climb but the view on top was 360 degrees and beautiful. It is fun to be up there with the survey marker from 1892.  Unfortunately, once again, we forgot a camera. (Mia -We need you!)  I will steal someone else's images.
     Up there we could see that there was some rain coming down in places.  We decided we better get going and as we hiked the wind changed directions and we could see that it was raining all over the Wasatch front.  Luckily we never got caught in any storm.  Luckily with the storms the had last week the ground was still a little wet which helped the slipping that you get from the dry ground going down steep hills.  We booked it. Bryan couldn't resist taking a short-cut which he thought would cut off a lot of time.  I jogged down the other way and when I got to where they joined I couldn't even see him.  He was only 1/2 way down. Lesson learned. It is fun to beat him sometimes.
     We were both proud that we did the hike in 3 and 1/2 hours.  On the hike-Utah page they said it would take 4-5 hours.  It is so nice at our age to be above average.
 

Slinky and tennis ball

Here is the answer.  Is it what you thought?  It does seem counter-intuitive.