Now I know how they boil a live Frog

Some friends of ours live about an hour away near a little town called Downey. I say they live near there, because they actually live in an even smaller town called Swan Lake, but Downey is the subject of this blog.

Just outside of the town of Downey is a hot spring resort called Downata. (That's Down at a Hot Spring). This is one of our favorite places to go as a family. There are pools, slides, hot tubs, and play areas with water heated naturally by the springs. Unlike many hot springs I have been to, there is no unpleasant sulphur odor associated with this one. The water is very warm, in fact in the tubes for the slides, it is so steamy it is hard to breathe.

By the end of the day, all of us were tired and happy--and unfortunately, even with sunblock, burned to a crisp. Thanks to aloevera gel, we have gotten through most of the sunburn process- pain, blister, peeling, etc., but we still looked like boiled lobsters for the next week, and lepers for a few days after that. I'd still go back again tomorrow (and we might). I just need to find a more waterproof sunblock, or recoat more often :o).

Take care, put on some more sunblock. Stick

Remote Control?

A while back, my wife was dropping my daughters off at our church. The lot was fairly empty as they walked from the van. The son of a friend of ours had just pulled in in his little truck. He jumped out and started walking towards the building. What he didn't see was that his truck was following him towards the building! Evidently he had accidentally bumped it into neutral, and it was rolling along slowly behind him. My wife and daughter both yelled at him, waving and pointing at his truck. Not being able to hear exactly what they were saying, he turned, smiled, and waved right back! He finally did notice the truck, but not before giving an opportunity for my wife and daughter to later laugh at his expense.

Check your brake and have a great day. Stick.

After nine months in school, our principal has decided to enforce the dress code that has been ignored for the entire year. Up untill this year, the dress code has said that girls cannot wear shirts with straps less than two finger width, and no spaghetti straps are allowed. This year, apparently without any discussion with the school board, teachers, parents, or students, the principal decided to change the dress code. It now says no tanktop type shirts are allowed at all. No one knew about this change, and it has not been enforced. With rising temperatures, many of the girls are beginning to wear these types of shirts, and they have been making them either go home and change, put on a school provided t-shirt, or be suspended for the day. Needless to say, this has been met with some resistance. In one of my classes, the girls asked what they could do about it. I told them that they could start a petition, getting enough signatures-including signatures of parents- and they could possibly change the rule back to what it was before. They took it a step further, and organized a protest where as many girls as were willing, came to school today wearing tank tops. I told them this makes there cause look rebelious, not sincere. I guess we will have to see how this turns out. I agree with their right to try to change this rule, even though I don't necesarily agree with what they want. If nothing else it will be interesting to see the results.

Take care. Stick.

Tiger Pride

Today was Tiger Pride day. On this day, once each year, our students go out into the community and give a little back by cleaning up the area. Of course, some give back more than others, but over all a good effort. I am always impressed by these kids. You can tell they have grown up with parents who taught them how to work--many of them have parents who farm (When we talk about a farm around here, we're not talking about your basic little 500 acre hobby farm like back east, or somewhere. We're talking about 35-40,000 acre farms). My group was scheduled to pick up in two of the local parks, cleaning up litter and branches. Just before we left, the school secretary came to us and told us that the city was bringing in some sod for one area of the park we were going to--6000 sq. feet of it! We bent to it, and with these kids, we laid that all in under an hour! I just wish I could get them to work that hard on school work :o).

Ther are some great youth out there coming up. They have drive, ambition, and they aren't afraid of work. It gives me hope for my future, and the future of this country.

Take care, and have a great day! Stick.

Springtime in Idaho...NOT

Except we rarely saw sun :o)

Which way should I go?

My wife and I drove to North-Central Wyoming on Thursday. We decided that we would go by way of Yellowstone Park since it is a much shorter route, and traffic would be light this time of year. We left at 4:30 pm., and expected a drive of about 7 hours. When we reached West Yellowstone, it was snowing (Yes, this is in MAY!), so we stopped to ask if the roads were open through the park. The store worker we talked to said it was probably snowing, but the roads were open, so we proceeded into the park.

Our first hint that something was wrong should have been the main entrance to the park. There was no one there to take our fee for entrance, but there were also no signs, or anything else to warn us of what we would discover once in the park. We drove between 60 or 70 miles towards the east entrance of the park before we came upon a sign that said, “Road Closed ahead”. Due to this closure, we had to back track 120 miles, and circle around the park through Jackson Hole, Wyoming. We finally arrived at our destination at 6:45 am. after driving all night. Nowhere did we see any signs, and noone said we might not be able to drive through the park, so we endured 14 hours driving in rain and snow, doubling what we should have had to do. We found out that the road was to open at 8:00 am. the next morning. I’ve never been so tempted to ignore a road sign in my life. I desperately wanted to drive right over the sign and continue on our way.

Take care, and check your maps. Stick.

At Long last

I have not blogged in some time, not because I had nothing to say, but because I have been so busy. I would have something happen, and think, I need to blog that. Next thing I know, I've forgotten what I wanted to blog, or it has become irrelevant.

Just to let everyone know, if you want to see what Idaho looks like in the spring, I'll try to post a picture of our recent spring weather. If the picture doesn't work, just imagine the worst winter storm you've been in, and you'll be close. :o)

I'll try to post again later today to tell you about our recent trip, for now, take care, and have a great day.

Stick.