Merry Christmas

It's been two months.  Time for another post.

The annual performance of the Messiah by the Cottonwood Community Choir and Orchestra was Sunday.  For 14 of their 16 performances, I've played clarinet in the orchestra.  Playing the Hallelujah chorus is truly a spiritual experience.  That is by far the greatest piece of Christmas music for choir ever written.  Sometimes in the middle of the music, with the choir singing, the trumpet (what a magnificent part it has) playing, the audience standing, I can hardly believe I am a part of this incredible paean to the Lord.

Have a wonderful Christmas and remember why we celebrate it.

World Series

So it's the end of October and it snowed four inches in Salt Lake City yesterday.  Must be time for the World Series.

This year I'm kind of excited.  The Texas Rangers have never been to a World Series in their 49 year history going back to 1961 when they were an American League expansion team known as the Washington Senators.  I saw the Senators play in 1962 when I was in Washington, D.C.  They lost to the Yankees.  From the National League we have the San Francisco Giants, who haven't won a World Series since they were the New York Giants playing in the Polo Grounds, in 1954.  Since I always go for the underdog, this is a tough choice.  Which team is more of an underdog?

In the end, I think I'm going with the Giants.  The Rangers have accomplished something already, just by getting to the World Series for the first time in franchise history.  The Giants haven't won in two generations, longer than the Rangers have been waiting to get there.  So, GO GIANTS!

Backpacking

So summer sort of got away from me.  It was early June and now September is here.  I went backpacking for the first time in three years, and not just once, but twice.  Once with the young men (we took goats).  That was a trip.  I wrote an article entitled "Men Who Walk With Goats" that will be in the September Catalyst magazine.  You'll be able to see it at www.catalystmagazine.net.

This picture is me at Twin Lakes.  I was catching some rays and got a random person to preserve it for posterity.

The second time with with Melinda and Scott Symes and his grandson Aaron.  Scott and I have been going together for nearly 30 years.  This trip was to Naturalist Basin.  We got absolutely hammered with rain going in and nearly quit half way in, but that night it cleared up (though it was cold -- frost the next morning), and then was beautiful.  Here are some pictures.

This one is me pointing to my GPS that shows we're at 11,008 feet.  Had to climb on that rock to get there.










This one is of Jordan Lake, where we camped, Friday morning after the rain.  The rest of the trip was like this.

And here are Melinda and I at the end.  She's my hiking buddy.

Yellowstone Vacation

Everyone is telling me I don't post enough, and since I haven't posted since March 31, maybe they're right. We just got back from Yellowstone with Brad and Mel, Jeff and Holli, Melinda and Leah and us. Courtney and Robert and Steve and Cathy couldn't make it. Boo.

Anyway, the BIG story is the lightning strike. We were walking around the geyser basin at Old Faithful in the rain (it rained almost the whole time, off and on) when it started to hail. I heard distant thunder and thought we should go in, but it was far away. Not five minutes later there was a huge crash of thunder and I thought, OK, time to go. I turned to gather everyone and saw a man falling and another down. Behind me, a third guy was down. His friends were trying to get him up, but I made him stay down until it was obvious he was OK. The one who fell was up and calling on his cell phone, but a third guy was down and not moving. A woman said she knew CPR and started it. Brad and Nancy were observing. I heard Nancy say "he has a pulse" but she kept going. Afterward, Nancy said she had her hand on the woman to pull her off because she wouldn't stop even though the guy had a pulse and was breathing. The woman apparently forgot the training about taking time to assess. All the other kids' blogs will have their versions of the lightning, so be sure to check them out.

Apart from that, there were two other things that really stand out. On Wednesday we went to Canyon Village. I recall a fishing trip with dad in 1962. He and his friends took their sons on fishing trips for three summers. This was the first. We went to Yellowstone. We got there late in the day and everyone wanted to fish so we unloaded the cars but didn't set up camp. While we were fishing a black cloud parked over our campsite and soaked it. The men built a big fire and tried to dry things out. I don't remember that night but the next morning we checked into the Canyon Lodge. I remember the snaking counter in the diner. It looks like elongated horseshoes so the waitress can walk into the U and serve both sides. Good memories from that trip.

Then in 1967 and 1968 we went two summers and stayed in the Lake Yellowstone Hotel. I made everyone stop there, too. It is an elegant hotel, built in 1890 with a beautiful view of the lake from a huge sitting room with a massive fireplace. There is a grand piano where someone plays every afternoon. They serve tea. It is gorgeous. I have put staying there again on my list of things to do.

A memorable trip, made better by having family along. I hope their memories of the trip will be as good as mine. Here are some pictures.

Coco's No Training Day 3

The weatherman threw us a curve ball. Last night the forecast was for potential rain but we were supposed to be on the trailing edge of the storm. Whatever. We have 4" of snow on the ground, the U.S. women's team is playing Mexico at Rio Tinto stadium about 5 miles from here in a blizzard, so Coco and I took the day off.

Instead, here are some pictures from my recent trip to St. George, to get us all in the spring mood.

Coco's Training, Day 2

Today we tried treats to motivate Coco to stay until released when I threw her toy. The last couple of times she really seemed to have the hang of it. Waiting until I said "go get it" before taking off. She is getting good about bringing the toy back instead of running around with it, but she has a hard time giving it up.

As I look at the agility training book, there is so much to do that I wonder if this is a realistic project. The actual training is only 10 minutes a day, but there are all the obstacles to build. Tomorrow we are supposed to have rain/snow so I wonder how our session will go.

Coco's Training, Day 1

Nearly three years ago, when Coco, the family dog for whom this blog is named, and her best friend, Starsky, were mere pups, Brad and I enrolled the two of them in a dog agility class. That's where the dogs run over an obstacle course, like the weave poles, the teeter-totter, the A-frame (up one side and down the other), the tunnel and various jumps. At the time, Coco was far too wild, though she demonstrated a lot of drive. Now I've decided to try training her. We've worked on "come", "sit", "stay" and "back", most of which she does pretty well. She loves to play fetch but she's more interested in tug-of-war when she brings whatever she fetches. But she's learning to give.

Today was the first day of her training. We worked on "stay" after I threw her toy. I can see it will take a while before she learns that command when there's something fun, like chasing a toy. Our first session was only 10 minutes, the recommended time, since dogs' brains are the size of a walnut and their attention span is short.

Be Grateful, Be Happy

This week I'm in St. George at the Utah Bar's Spring Convention. Our keynote speaker today was a psychologist who studies why people are happy. Lawyers need to be happy because we have twice the risk for drug and alcohol abuse and suicide as the general population. It's because we are trained to look for the worst-case scenario.

It seems there are ways to increase your happiness, and happy people are more resilient than those who are not. One way to be happy is to create exciting and pleasant memories. Another is to find a cause you believe in and donate your time or money. This is a case where money actually can buy happiness. But the best way to be happy is to be grateful. The speaker suggested writing a letter to someone to whom you are grateful for something. Instead of sending the letter, take it to the person and read it to them. Keep a gratitude diary. Write down what you are grateful for, why you are grateful and what you did (if anything) to foster that feeling of gratitude. Studies have shown that depressed people who do this are able to overcome their depression by this alone. It looks like the saying "develop an attitude of gratitude" was right all along.