4th of July

The kids invited Lynne and I on a 4th of July hike (Timp Trail). I thought it would be a great last chance workout before my weighin. We started in the morning and hiked for about 4 hours. The hike is essentially up or down hill depending on your location. Great leg workout.

It is a very long hike to the top of Mount Timpanogos and Lynne and I only made it a 3rd of the way. Jimmy, Rachel and Amy went much farther up the mountain.

It has been many years since I hiked this trial so we decided to check out a conveniently posted map. We quickly realize we did have adequate time to reach the top of the mountain. I do want to hike this again when I am in better shape.

The three speedsters left Lynne and I in the dust. Up, Up and away. As they vanished into the trees we decided to take our time enjoying the beautiful trees, animals and scenery. This was a great idea as I could not walk very long without stopping.

Soon we spotted a red checkered beetle. These Clerid beetles love to eat flower pollen and were found primarily on this flower. I usually do not see many red Clerids most often they are yellow and black.

I think larvae are very interesting. This is a tiger moth larvae or possibly a tent caterpillar. I am leaning towards the tiger moth larvae.

A little farther up the trail and we reached the first and largest water fall along the trial. Lots of water was rushing over the falls and Lynne crawled up on a rock for a look.

Lynne wanted me to get wet but this is far as I went. The mist was refreshing.

About 30 minutes from the fall we saw this magnificent shot of water falls, snow, plants and rock.

Lycaenidae is a family of small sometimes beautiful iridescent butterflies. This is a common species found in this area.

This interesting flower was found about half way up the mountain. This is the first time I recall seeing this drooping beauty.

The drooping beauty develops into this wild and crazy seed head.

The young whipper snappers hiked far high enough to reach the snowline.

Jimmy and Rachel stopped for a little rest and some liquid refreshment.

These two have been playing with each other ever since they were knee high to a grasshopper. It was good to see them get together this summer before Amy joined the Navy. She is currently in boot camp. Good luck Amy!

We all made it back down safe, tired and thirsty. We headed home for a little rest before we going to the Stadium of Fire that night.

Garden Update

This year I have really enjoyed our garden. Everyone has pitched in and pulled weeds, watering, tying up tomatoes and inspecting pumpkins. There is something about growing your own food. I find it very tasty and rewarding. For instance today I had a cup of cherries, and salad from the garden. I will be having fresh peas for a snack later tonight.

One of my favorite peppers this year is called 'Holy Molé . It is not very hot but has a great spicy flavor. This plant is the first hybrid of its type and shows the hybrid vigor by producing a large number of peppers on each plant.

Look at the size of this pepper. Good stuff !

I love onions are one of my favorite foods and I grow it every year. Check out the size of this plant. The bulbs are just starting to form and will get three to four times larger than this. All of the white tissue is very tasty.

Jimmy and Richie are inspecting the okra and lettuce. Our okra has not been growing to well this year. We hope it will take off as the heat increases. The lettuce of choice in the Glassford garden is romaine.

Gotta love those beets. We picked some of these colorful leaves and put them in our salad.

Our peas will finish up their existence in our garden the middle of next week. After pulling up all the peas we will plant some more bush beans. We plant the variety blue lake for the string-less pods.

The cucumbers are setting fruit and are suppose to get 12-14 inches long. We have not grown this variety before and are looking forward to some tasty cuks.

Here is a shot of most the garden. You cannot see the pumpkins and some of the winter squash in this shot. These are growing in the orchard. We planted some pole beans along kennel fence and look for them to start climbing soon.

Since we are having a giant pumpkin growing contest I wanted to show you how the plants are doing. The pumpkin above is Grandpa G's. Notice the two liter pop container he is using for a watering device. I plan to use a similar system to provide water for my vine roots. I will share my set up later.

The large pumpkin plant here is all the Richard's (three of us) pumpkins.

This is Little Richie and my pumpkin. This pumpkin has the largest stems and will soon take over all pumpkins in the patch. At least this is my prediction.

Jimmy's pumpkin is doing very well. His started off the best and we are starting to catch him. He will be hard to beat with his early growth and his pumpkin dedication.

This is one of the fruits from Jimmy's pumpkin. We are starting to get many little fruits but so far they are not in position for us to keep them. Within the next week we will have a pumpkin set.

Mine is much fuzzier and we also have some green round fruits instead of yellows. We will keep you posted on the garden and hope you enjoyed seeing some of our successes.
Happy Gardening !

Tibble Fork

We were going to go to Schofield Reservoir but we were going to get some afternoon thunderstorms so we decided to hit Tibble Fork. The bit was hot and everyone caught fish. Gold cast master lures

Grandma was the first in and first with a catch. The fish quake when they see the yellow dragon.

It took a little while but Heather soon followed. She is using her new pole. I don't know what she called it, I think she calls it 'The sparkling Pixy'.

Lynne was using a cast master and needed assistance to dislodge the hook.

Fish on.... its a big one.

Holly Hannah this women can set a hook. We call this a Roland Martin. He is a famous bass fisherman that taught the angling world how to set a hook. Lynne has perfected this method. Some times she can gut the fish before it is out of the water. Congratulations Lynne!

Grandma and I get a simultaneous hook up.

Grandpa and I stand as proud anglers and look forward to fresh fish for lunch. We enjoy eating our catch. I know that some of you don't like fish but give different species a try. You might find one of them appetizing.

Now this is the way you set the hook San Diego style. Nice job !

Amy retrieves her catch with expertize and honorably displays her future meal. We are very proud of Amy's service to her country and family. We are praying for your success in the Navy.

Grandpa uses the famous red hook impaler while Amy proudly looks on. It was fun to have you here Amy.

As usual we needed a funny fish pose picture. Grandpa and Rachel are displaying the I can balance on one foot method while others give the I can make a goofy face too try. Lynne nice cheeks....(please do not read into this statement).

Tibble Fork is a beautiful location surrounded by snow splattered mountains. An enjoyable place to take the family and practice your inner hunter.

Lets go Fishing

We decided to go fishing so we drove up to our old stomping grounds, Payson Lakes. The fish were really biting

Grandpa is baiting his hook with a little cream colored power bait with a dash of sprinkles. Grandma has the "Yellow Dragon" in hand and ready for the games to begin.

Heather was in charge of images this trip so she got a little carried away with the camera. She was asked and consented to post a little blog on our Payson trip but you all would have waited until Christmas break for that to happen.

She did catch the first fish but would not touch it. I did see her bait the hook. She is making progress. Good job!

The old man still has skills. Grandma and Grandpa limited faster than anyone. They hit a sweet spot in the lake and the poor fish did not have a chance.

Richie insisted on catching his fish with a cast master lure. Sometimes they work well here but most often we catch them on bait.

Lynne reals in a nice pan fish. You can see the fish fighting on the bottom right hand of the image.

She will bait her hook but I gladly help her take the fish off the line.

Back up readers because Heather is getting ready to cast.

I hit the fish over the head to knock it out before placing it a plastic bag and the eye flicked out. See the eye by my index finger. Heather thought it was interesting.

Richie used the luck of the rhino reel and brought in dinner.

Here I am counting the fish to make sure we do not go over our limit.

Heather caught another fish and it flipped off the pathway and headed towards the waters edge. She would not touch it with her hand but placed her big feet on top of the persistent fish.

After much encouragement she would not pick it up with her bare hand but did use a baby wipe and placed it over the fish and threw it up towards me. Good baby step! Next time perhaps she will use her bare hands.

On the way out we spotted this young buck running across the road.

Happy fishing to all.