Trip to Maple Canyon

We took our mule and joined our friends, Tweet and Wayne Lee and went 4-wheeling in Maple Canyon, a beautiful canyon just out of Freedom, Utah.  For those of you who don't know where Freedom is, it is just 4 miles north of Wales, Utah.  Okay, they are both southwest of Mt.Pleasant in Sanpete County.

This canyon got it's name because it is full of groves of maple trees.  Most canyons in Utah are shrub oak and aspen with evergreens but this canyon is full of maples.  It is also famous because it has extremely high vertical conglomerate cliffs.  These sedimentary rocks vary from finger sized rocks to some the size of a small car.

Climbers from all over the world come to climb this unique challenge.

We didn't see any climbers but we knew that they were there because we saw many empty camp sites.  We felt like we were mountain climbers going up the roads, however, they had deep gouges and huge rocks and most of the first half of the drive was slow and in 4-wheel drive.

We were up so high that we could see great distances.  I think this one is interesting how you can see more and more mountain ranges.  We're not sure why the sky was smoky but we passed some people who said that it was even worse as they drove down from Sandy.  Hopefully these isn't another fire.  We couldn't smell one.

Here's another shot I took from the top of the ridge.

We stopped to have a sandwich and cookie and Wayne's back was hurting so he wanted to go back the way we had come.  We had seen a sign that said, "7 miles to Wales Canyon" and the road seemed to be improving at that point so we decided to part and we kept going on that road and they turned around and returned to the rock climbing.  This is some of the scenery we saw as we headed toward Wales.  The trail was not marked and it seemed that we drove and drove to cover those seven miles.  The road was smooth most of the way and there was no "rock climbing" so we made very good time.  We just kept wondering where we would end up and if we would really end up in Wales.

This was really the first time we saw big patches of color all day.  I think it could have been more impressive had there not been the pollution in the air.

We were both quite relieved when we saw this sight and knew that we were dropping into Wales.  We went one block in the town and then turned north to Freedom and our truck.  When we were less than a mile from the truck we met the Lee's leaving the canyon.  Because of the rough terrain it had taken them almost as long to return the probably 3 miles as it did for us to get to Wales and back to the truck.  We loved the second half of the drive and would love to take people to the mouth of Maple Canyon and then up the other way through Wales to the top of the mountain.  That area would be easy to travel with any 4-wheel vehicle where we would recommend an ATV for the Maple Canyon part.
It was nice to go riding somewhere except from the shop to the garden in the mule.  ^0^

Wondering

Does anyone except Laurel ever read this?

A Sacred Experience

I will explain to those who have been invited to read my blog who do not know my family that my oldest brother who is 5 1/2 years older than me and is now the patriarch of our family had open heart surgery on Monday, September 3rd.  It was a very serious operation and the doctor found that many of his arteries had been blocked, one totally.  He had four bypasses done.  It was determined that he has suffered two heart attacks in the past, although he was not aware of them.  Where the normal heart functions at 60 his heart was functioning at 20.  The doctor told him that he could have had a massive heart attack at any time.  This is especially frightening because he drove from California to Utah two weeks ago and even hiked up in the BYU stadium for the football game last Thursday. 

When Mike and I went to visit him on Tuesday we were amazed how chipper and alert he was.  He had four different IV bottles feeding fluids into his body and was attached to all kinds of equipment.  The nurses told he that he was doing extremely well.  His heart is up to 35, as it was at the completion of the surgery and possibly will be the best it can get because of the past damage.  That will allow him to have a good life if he is wise about what he does. 

He and Judy both feel that they were very blessed through this whole thing.  They are extremely pleased with the surgeon.  Although the surgery ended close to 8 PM he was there with him for a long time after they brought him back to his room in the ICU and came to check on him again at midnight.  He slept at the hospital and was there again early in the morning and had returned once more before we got there in the early afternoon.  They literally have to stop the heart to do this procedure so it is very precarious. 

As we got up to leave Todd got tears in his eyes and touched his chest and said, "I felt your prayers. I have known of prayers for me in the past but I have never literally FELT prayers like I did yesterday. "  I told him that I knew that at least some of my children were fasting for him and that there was lots of praying going on. He answered, "You have very special children."  I told him that they all have a deep love for him and he said that he feels it. 

Next he looked at Mike and was extremely tender in thanking him for being a good man, a good husband to his sister and a good father to my girls and our son.  It was an emotional experience for me.  He looked and sounded more like my father than I have ever experienced.   The veil is very thin at a time like this.  I'm not sure that he wasn't speaking for Dad, too. I'm not sure that Mike has ever really know how Dad or Todd felt about him.  I'm not sure that I have completely known how they felt. 

It is very difficult for me to put my feelings into words and express the sacredness that I felt as I left that room.  I was and am so very grateful that the surgery was a success.  I am very grateful that he didn't have a heart attack and leave us.  I am extremely grateful that I had the opportunity to feel so close to the spirit and to hear and feel the things that I did yesterday. 

Noah Collection Expands to the Hall

With the addition of a few larger arks (and 3 new items) it became necessary to put some new, longer and wider shelves in the hall.



This first one is from Australia.  We saw all of these different animals while we were there.

I looked all over in New Zealand and couldn't find a Noah but I went into a World Bazaar type store there and found this fabric one from India.  I love the red dot on Mrs. Noah's forhead.

A few weeks ago we had a fireside where a Church member from Kenya told his story.  He is a wood carver by profession and does lovely nativities (which I also bought) and Noah's arks.  He has used three different types of wood and then painted some of the animals.  We think that it is a lovely addition to our collection.

Probably my favorite thing about my collection is the variation in the animals, according to the area where the ark is made and the different cultures of Mr. & Mrs. Noah.

2012 Garden

Our garden has been fantastic this year.  We have already frozen corn, peas and beans and have canned beets, a few bottles of tomatoes, tomatillo salsa and green tomato salsa.  We have egg plant, celery, banana peppers, Anaheim peppers, several varieties of winter squash, two long rows of potatoes, two huge pumpkins that have already turned orange, three cantalope, lots of strawberries and we now have a grape arbor with 6 grape plants already planted, a few asparagas, 2 blueberries and both red and black raspberries. Our 50 tomato plants are just starting to bear. The nine fruit trees, almond and walnut trees will be a few years but we feel like we've made a lot of progress in the two years we have been home from China.