Camp Desolation Christmas Menu

I'm reading a book called "A Rocky Mountain Christmas: Yuletide Stories of the West". I was expecting some Christmas stories from our pioneer ancestors and things like that. But it is more of a history of Christmas in the Rocky Mountain areas. So it is more of a history book than a story book. But it has been interesting to read.

My favorite part tells about a group of explorers in 1848 that found themselves in an area in Colorado during a big and long snowstorm. The game had been scarce and there was a real possibility of starvation. The explorers experienced many hardships. They named their log outpost "Camp Desolation". Cold and miserable, the men were determined to celebrate the holiday. One member of the party recorded this whimsical Christmas dinner menu.

Soup
Mule Tail

Meats
Mule Steak, Fried Mule, Mule Chops, Boiled Mule, Stewed Mule, Boiled Mule, Scrambled Mule, Shirred Mule, French Fried Mule, Minced Mule, Damned Mule, Mule on Toast (without the toast), Short Rib of Mule with Apple Sauce (without the Apple Sauce)

Beverages
Snow, Snow Water, Water

The Lord's Love Through Us

This isn't much of a post. It is just something I read and liked.

"The Lord's love is often delivered through others as they respond to promptings of the Spirit. Are we hearing and following those promptings?"

"I fear sometimes we see the Lord's love only in the big events of our lives; we must also see His love in the smallest of things.
Don't underestimate your ability to share His love through a simple, genuine gesture such as sitting next to another sister and making her feel welcome."

(Bonnie D. Parkin, "Eternally Encircled in His Love," Ensign, Nov. 2006, 109-10)

The picture I found on a friends website. She is a beautiful lady in my ward that paints beautiful pictures. Her website is Marla Duggins

What I am Thankful for This Month

Okay with all the exciting and special things that have been going on in some of my family member's life's, what I am about to post about is probably just silly. But it has been consuming my life lately so you all have to hear about it. And it is long. So skip it if you need to. Especially you sisters who have more important things going on than to read my rant.

For the about 3 weeks I have been in some pretty strong pain.

3 weeks ago I had 2 teeth that had very large and old fillings. I needed to have them crowned so that the teeth don't break or so the old fillings will not break or fall out. I decided to get one done now at the end of this year so that my insurance would cover it, and do the other one this January when my insurance started over for the year. A few days after I got my pretty new crown, my teeth really started to hurt. It hurt half of my whole head, and down into my neck and down my left arm. I made an appointment with my dentist and we discovered that the filling in the tooth that I didn't crown had come loose and was getting an abscess in it. Since it was heat sensitive, and not just cold sensitive that meant that it needed a root canal. I was very bummed out because my dentist didn't dare do the root canal because the roots were curvy and they went into my sinus cavity. He gave me the names of a few Endodontists that he recommended. An endodontist is a specialist that deals with the nerves, soft tissue and roots of a tooth. The soonest any of them could get me in was about 10 days later. 10 days! I was in terrible pain almost all the time. I'm a wimpy girl that hates pain. I was taking 4 Advil and alternating them with 3 Tylenols way too often. I was getting sick to my stomach almost all the time from the pills. Every night I would wake up every 2-3 hours and need to take some more pain pills.

So I was trying to keep up with all my normal responsibilities at work, at home and in my calling. Oh my gosh! I am almost useless when I am in pain. I had a house to clean, I had a job to do at work, I had a room to empty in the basement, I had a work Christmas party to go to, I had Thanksgiving to deal with which included making a bunch of pies, a lesson to prepare, I had a newsletter to make, I had a Relief Society Christmas gift tags to make, and so on. It was one of the busiest little stretches of my life. Plus I wasn't in the right state of mind for talking to my family. I couldn't respond on my family site and I was too sick and in pain to even email my sweet niece who I love to talk to. These were all so hard to do when I was in so much pain, and sick from all the pills! When the painkillers didn't help anymore, I got a prescription for Lori tab. I didn't take them very often. I couldn't take them at work at all. And I was afraid of getting addicted. So the few nights I finally gave up and took one, I was a dumb jelly log on the couch all night long.

Finally the day to get my tooth fixed came along. Let me tell you how cool and talented Endodontists are. In 45 minutes, he was done. And they have the coolest equipment! They need to know when they get to the bottom of the root with their files so they don't file too far in. They way they do that now days is with an electronic continuity meter. They put a metal wire on the side of your cheek, that wire is connected to a meter. The other wire of the meter is clipped on the metal file. When that file hits the soft tissue at the bottom of your root the meter beeps. This is because the meter sends a small current that I couldn't feel. But the current runs through your soft tissue and the meter beeps when it detects it. Is that cool or what? I think they used to guess, and then take more x-rays to see if they got far enough. He also used cool digital x-rays that were ready instantly and can be emailed to my dentist. And he had an instrument that looked like a microscope on an arm from the ceiling. He did most of my root canal by looking at it through this thing that looked like a microscope.

I went home that night and had the first night in a long time with not very many drugs and not much pain. For a couple of days I felt a little better, but not all the way. Then the pain started coming back. Oh my gosh again?! I had heat sensitivity again, and a lot of pain. Since with tooth pain the pain radiates everywhere, it is hard to tell which tooth is the problem. I went into the another Endodontist because mine wasn't in. In his tapping around we couldn't decide which tooth it was. He thought it was my new root canal and it just needed more time to heal. A root canal takes the nerve out of the inside of the tooth, but the outside of the tooth still has a web of nerves that gets inflamed and swollen from the procedure. He thought I'd be fine in a while and I should give it another week or two. I could only give it 2 days. I called my Endodontist and he had me come in. He put cold on my teeth that were in the general area of the pain and when he put cold on the tooth that had my new crown on it, I went through the roof! Usually with extreme cold, a tooth will have a sharp pain, but it will go away in a few seconds. This one kept getting worse and worse with every second. He had tested that exact tooth when I came to him the first time a week before and it didn't do that. Fickle little tooth. So anyway, he gave me another very complicated root canal in about an hour. This tooth had 4 roots that curved to the back of my head.

So within 1 week I had 2 complicated root canals. When people hear about 2 in one week, they feel sorry for that. But I am quick to tell them the blessings of root canals, dental insurance, dental professionals, and new technology. One of my insurances is maxed out. So I have to pay at least couple hundred dollars. But let me tell you. I am so thankful for dental insurance. Without it I would probably be paying about $1500 dollars per root canal. And I am so thankful for the dental professionals. I am thankful I am not a pioneer woman. I don't know what kind of a woman I would have been in pain all the time. I'm sure I wouldn't have gotten anything done. I think I would have been known as the mean old lady that never smiled. Last night I went to bed with no pain. I didn't wake up once because of pain. I don't have to take any Lori Tabs any more. My tummy feels better. I am feeling fabulous! And I can get stuff done without getting distracted. And I can email my sweet niece again.

Beautiful Poinsettias

I love poinsettias. They are so beautiful. Every year I like to have one at my home. Some years I have even gotten them to last till spring!

Every year at my work, they always do such a good job of decorating the whole building with beautiful poinsettias. And they are the big, healthy expensive ones that I can't afford. There must be over a hundred of them, maybe even 200. At least they decorate the areas that clients and viewers see. And they decorate the offices of the big wigs. But they never decorate the shop where I work. I've complained to my supervisor before about the lack of poinsettias in our area. But it does me no good. My area is always cold and messy, and full of tools and equipment. Basically it is an ugly and dismal area. We try to keep it cleaned up, but there is only so much we can do. But this year I "borrowed" one of the poinsettias that would have been put into the newsroom. I figure if anyone complains too much, I will give it back. But meanwhile it is brightening my area. So if you notice one less poinsettia when you are watching the news, don't say anything about who has it on her tool box. We'll see how long it lasts here. My boss might make me put it back. But I will only put it back if he comes to me and makes me.

The picture I posted I just found on the web. I don't have a camera here at work today so I can't show you "my" poinsettia now. Maybe later, if it stays longer than this weekend.

A nice Blend

I found this on Kristy's blog and tried it. I like cats and dogs. Pets are the best!

You Are: 60% Dog, 40% Cat

You are a nice blend of cat and dog. You're playful but not too needy. And you're friendly but careful. And while you have your moody moments, you're too happy to stay upset for long.

Are You More Cat or Dog?

Flutes

I am teaching myself to play the flute. My husband gave it to me for my birthday this last year. I’m not very good. I have a tendency to try to play by ear. But I really want to learn the notes. So I have been trying to concentrate on how to do that better. I am getting better, slowly. I thought I’d be embarrassed to play my flute in front of my family, but I have gotten over that. In fact, I will even play when my kids have friends over. My family hears me making mistakes, and sounding wrong quite often. I don’t think I drive them too crazy yet, or at least they haven’t told me that I do. And my husband says he thinks it’s relaxing for him to listen to me practice. Although I think he may have been telling me a little white lie.




I like flutes very much. There are many different types of flutes with different sounds and different sizes. I have a very pretty flute. I think it is a C Concert flute. That means it starts at middle C and goes for 3 octaves. But I only know about the first 1 1/2octaves.


I finally bought the large print spiral bound book of church hymns. I am teaching myself to play some of the hymns in it. I am currently working on “The Spirit of God” that is on page 2. I love that song, and it is kind of fun to play because it goes all over the range of notes that I know how to play. I have learned how to play the song that my Great Great Great Grandfather wrote called "High on a Mountain Top". It's pretty cool to play something that your ancestor wrote.


This flute is very much like my flute.

I have a new plan to help me enjoy Christmas this year and to keep more of Christ in it. The other night, I had a list of stuff I should have been doing. I was starting to get a bit overwhelmed by all I was supposed to do. So instead of doing any of it, I skipped it all and played my flute for about an hour or so. I found the Christmas hymns in my new music book and started learning them. I think it will be a nice way to relax, a nice way to bring more Christ into Christmas, and a way to improve on something I really want to learn. It was fun. I am still overwhelmed with too much to do, but at least I enjoyed the other night’s flute playing

My son Travis has gone on the deer hunt with us for many years. But this year was the first year Travis had his own tag and his own rifle. Bryan got a spiker, I can't wait to eat that one. It's little, so it should be really yummy. Travis's deer is a 3x2. It's pretty big too. Remember Travis is almost 6 feet tall. Then you get an idea of how big this deer is.



I'm so happy that Travis is a hunter. Because now Bryan has another hunting buddy. Bryan likes to hunt really hard, and I am more of a casual hunter. I like to stay in camp and read books for a good portion of the day. I also feel like I have less pressure to shoot a deer myself. I do enjoy going on the hunt, because I think it is good family time. And I don't have a problem with shooting a deer, although I do think they are pretty cute. I just have a problem shooting a running deer, or a buck with a bunch of does around it, or a buck hiding in thick trees. And the perfect shot just never seems to happen for me.

Bryan processes the deer himself. He bought a meat grinder today so we can try grinding some up into burger. I've never had venison burger before. It should be interesting. We thought we'd try mixing venison with some ground beef, since the venison is so lean. It needs some fat to make burgers with.

The Flying Dutchman

Last night Bryan and I went and saw the opera "The Flying Dutchman". It was a nice evening. We went to dinner first at the Olive Garden, then we walked over to the theater.

The opera was an interesting story. It was about a sailor who had been cursed to sail the seas and could only go on land once every 7 years. The curse could only be broken by finding a woman to love him, and be faithful to him to her death.

The opera was good, but not one of my favorites. I think the orchestra was the best part. Especially the overture. You could almost feel the rolling ocean in the orchestra music.

You can tell the story was written over 150 years ago. A ship's captain meets the Flying Dutchman and agreed to arrange a marriage to his pride and joy daughter, Senta, for a shipload of treasures. Senta was going to sacrifice her life to save the dutchman who she never met, and was also going to be an obedient daughter and pledge her love and life to the dutchman. To add interest to the story, a hunter also loves Senta.

Fun at the zoo

This last year we took my grandson Gabriel to the zoo. He has a lot of fun there. I think Gabriel likes snakes more than his Papa does.



There is a nice little play area at our zoo. Here is how Spiderman probably got his start.



Have you ever seen a cuter turtle?

We had a bunch of fun.

Flower Slide Show

I am trying something that I don't know if it will work.

This is a link to a slide show of some very pretty flower photos.



The Colors of Flowers

My Tags

Here is my family when it was new.







This is a picture of me when I was target practicing in the desert.

Three Generations

This my husband's dad, my husband and my son. We are looking out over the town of Manilla. That is Flaming Gorge in the back ground. Click on the picture so you can see my father-in-law's face. He is a lot like Bryan.

I have the worst time getting Bryan to take off hats, sunglasses and smiling in a picture. It's hard to get a picture of him looking happy.

Manilla is a nice town. We wouldn't mind property up there one day.

Today I saw a hummingbird tongue!

How cool is that? She was sitting aways up above me, just behind a branch so I couldn't get a good picture. But I did see her flick her tongue out a few times. I don't think I have ever seen that before.

I have been sitting out under my tree for the last 3 nights trying to get a good picture of my hummingbirds. They will feed like normal every evening if I sit on the other side of the tree. But if I move my chair to the side that gives me a better shot, they avoid the feeder. They will come along for just a few seconds and then flit to the other feeder.



Does anyone know how to take a good hummingbird picture? Or do you know what kind of hummer this is?

Reading With My Son

This first picture in this post is Travis while we were reading the first Harry Potter book together all those years ago. He was big then for a little boy. But scroll down a bit and get a look at the big manly guy that is in this second picture! That is him now that we just finished up this last Harry Potter book. Wow how he has grown!

Travis and I just finished reading the last Harry Potter book. All I can say is Wow. What a wonderful series. And this last book was the best of them all. I really enjoyed the whole series. And I am really going to miss reading them. My son Travis and I started reading the first one when Travis was probably about 7 or so. I started reading it with him in the hopes that he would learn to enjoy reading as much as I do. I had heard that it was doing that for kids, but it was a ways above Travis's reading level. So we read it together out loud. We love it so much that we had to keep reading them as the new books came out. When book 6 came out, Traivs was by then old enough to read them on his own. And being as busy as we always are, he had to read that one on his own. But we decided to read this last one together again. It is so much more fun to read it together, so you can talk about what you are reading about as you go. And it is very nice quality time together.

This book was sad in parts, and other times sad but happy. I had a few times where it was hard to read aloud because I was crying. Yes, I know they are fictional characters. But after you have read so many of the books, You can really get attached to and feel like you know the characters. I don't usually read a book more than once. But I'm pretty sure I will read this series again. Maybe I can share it with some of my grandchildren too.



I hope that Miss Rowling writes more books. I really like her imagination.

Travis and also read the Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe together a while back. I cried trying to read it aloud too. I'm such a wimp.

My Grammy

This is my Grammy. She popped in one Sunday afternoon a few weeks ago on her way home from a Jehovah's Witness convention. She was able to spend the night and visit with me and my family. It was very nice. I don't get to see my Grammy very often. She lives about 45 minutes away. It's hard to find the time. But my family and I have been trying to do better about going to see her lately.

Isn't she pretty? I have always thought my Grammy was an amazing lady in many ways. I like to think I got some of my independence and brains from her.

Our Bryce Canyon Fun

We went to Bryce Canyon a few weeks ago. This is me and my very handsome husband. We don't always get to spend as much time together as I'd like. That is one reason why I love the trips away together. We stayed in Red Canyon Campground which is just a few miles out of Bryce Canyon. It is ons of our favorite places to go. The area is so beautiful. I love all the red rocks and cliffs. And the weather was perfect. It usually stayed around the mid 80s. We had so much fun! We are talking about going there once a year.



I like to sit by Travis. He is so big and manly that it makes me look petite. And isn't Kayla just beautiful. I had a very nice time spending time with them both. Next year I want all 4 of my kids to go with us. And maybe some other family members too!

Our Campground

Here is what the campground looked like. We usually avoid the camp grounds since we have a nice big trailer and we don't want to be around a lot of people. But the camp ground is really nice here anyway. And there is running water, and showers too! And there are red cliffs to look at right from your camp spot. I think we should have another family reunion here at this campground. In the evening we listened to Native American flute music and ate roasted marshmallows with chocolate.



Here are the cute little critters that visited our campground. The ground squirrels and chipmunks were our constant companions. If we were not careful, they would climb right on the chairs or tables we were using! That startled a few of us sometimes. The bird is a Blue Jay. We also saw Ravens, and snakes too!