A New Year, A New Beginning

Well here we are, January 1, 2014.  The past is behind us and we are looking forward to a new year.  The past couple of weeks have been very enjoyable and fun.  We had most of my family here from out of town for the holidays.  We had Heather and her family from California, Clay and his family from Iowa, Craig was able to make it up from his work in Arizona.  Kay's family was here, of course they live in the area.  The only ones who couldn't join us were Marci and her family from Florida and Kay's daughter Tracy from Oregon.  They were here in spirit though.

This coming year holds a lot of promise in my life.  I have of course made the usual "New Years Resolutions", lose weight, eat healthier, more exercise along with a few others, play more golf, go fishing more, finish projects around the house, smoke a little more meat in the smoker, do more dutch oven cooking and get my tan back from last summer.  Along with these goals, Kay and I will be finishing up our mission at the conference center in August and are planning to summit missions papers next November for a full time mission.  So as you can see, there is lots going on.

To help me with the commitment to golf Santa Kay gave me a new set of clubs for Christmas.  I hope that with the new technology they have my game might improve a little more.  Just have to get rid of all this snow on the courses and the frigid temperatures.  Until then I guess there is always the heated driving range at Toads to help me keep the swing loose and up to date.  I'll have to let you know how that goes as time goes by.

I hope that all my family and friends have a very Happy and Prosperous New Year.

Grandpa Randy

Great Time of the Year

This is as the song goes is, "the most wonderful time of the year".  Christmas was good, got to spend time with our family, both here in in Ogden and in Salt Lake.  Clay and Donita, and Heather and Jason and their families were able to make it in town to spend the holiday and that was nice.  Spent time on Christmas day with them as well as Craig, Tina and Karson at my mother's house.

Today we are all meeting up at Gorgosa, in Park City, for some fun on the tubing hill.  Kay and I won't actually be tubing but we will be there to watch and take some videos.  After tubing we are all going to dinner.  Hope to have fun with all.

The weather has been pretty cold lately.  In fact the mornings are cold with a hazy fog over the fields.  Today the outside thermometer read 17 degrees.  The water tub for the horses was frozen again, I think the heater is history and needs to be replaced. I found an old one in the garage on the farm.  The 10 day forecast shows the highs to between 27 to 32 degrees and the lows to between 8 and 17 degrees.  Looks like winter has set in for a while.

The nice thing about having cold weather here is that it forces me inside to work on some of the things that need to be completed.  My priority project right now is to finish up the office room.  I need to paint the inside of the closet and hang wire shelving.  I also need to replace the closet doors and the office door with new 6 panel doors.  So looks like I'll be busy through the new year.

Until next time, Grandpa Randy

Update, December 24, 2013

It's been quite a while since I last posted anything on my blog, and a lot has happened in my life since then.  I won't make any attempt to do a catch up on everything here today, but I will be adding more information as time goes on.

The one thing I will mention at this time is that during my absent I became divorced from my wife of 40 years and was able to find someone very special to start a new life with.  Her name is Kay and she has given me an entirely new outlook on life.  Kay shares a love for a lot of the same things that I love to do, golfing, fishing, camping, outdoors, church, and she re-introduced me to the sport of bowling again.  I have also gone into full retirement and I feel that I am adjusting well to it.

Today is Christmas Eve.  It feels somewhat strange to know that I don't have to work today and hope that the time will pass by quickly in order for me to return home and start my holiday.  Along with that it also feels great to know that the day after Christmas I don't have to get up and go back to work again.  Don't get me wrong, I do miss most of the people I worked with, I just don't miss working.

I would like to wish a very "Merry Christmas" to all my friends and family during this holiday season. I hope that everyone is doing well.

Yours Truly, Grandpa Randy

The Oreo

"Girls are nice, but oh what icing comes in Oreo's, Oreo's are good because they're the very best cookie ever was". No truer statement has ever been made by mankind. So many people today try to ease the stress on their lives by turning to drugs, caffeine or other things, but I think that the best stress reliever we have ever had, or will have, is just a cold glass of milk and a package of Oreo cookies. These littles gems are the best comfort food you can find anywhere. Mankind was in the habit of dunking Oreos into milk long before retailers started crushing them and adding them to icecream, shakes, malts, flurries, sundaes or cakes. People around the world associate America with "Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie and Cheverolet". But if you take into consideration Scout Camps and Girl's camps then you could definatly add Oreos to this association. So if you have a little stress in your life or you are having a hard night trying to get to sleep, try dunking Oreos into a glass of milk and see what it will do for you. . . . . . . . . Grandpa Randy

My Morning With The Doctor

This morning was spent at LDS Hospital undergoing an endoscopy proceedure on my Pancreas. Last night was a long night as I didn't get much sleep. I was a little nervous about what was to transpire today. After I finally got to sleep I woke up at at 5:45, got showered and was picked up by my friend Chuck. I arrived at the hospital shortly after 7:00 am and got checked in at the front desk. From there I went to the waiting room until being called to get ready for the proceedure. I underwent my proceedure and was returned to recovery by 9:00 am. I then spent the next three hours in recovery getting the fog out of my head and waiting for Chuck to return. While in recovery I was able to share the secret of the correct way to dunk "Oreo Cookies". (I will discuss this method at a later time). After all this I arrived back home before 1:00 pm. My observatons for today were fun, not too exciting, but fun. The entire staff I was involved with were awesome. They treated, me and the other patients, like we were their best friends. You know, they treated me so good that I had a hard time leaving and going home. The best observation I had today was that I realized just how dependent we are on each other.

New Postings

I have made a renewed committment to myself and to anyone who wants to follow this blog that I will be more faithfull on my follow-thru and continued posting to my blog from here on out!

I will post 2-3 times per week, depending on my situation at the time. I will usally schedule my posts to just before retiring for the evening. I also would appreciate any suggestions you may have to improve my efforts. Until then have a great day and we'll be talking at you soon!

I will share with you a funny thing I noticed today at the Intermountain Medical Hospital, (IMC). As I have been riding the elevators in the hospital the last couple of days I noticed that this new, state of the art hospital, does not have a 13th floor. As a remarked about this to the nurse who was riding the elevator with me she told me that not only do they not have a 13th floor, that none of the floors or the wings have a room 13 on them.

Can you imagine, here we are 10 years into the 21st century, and we are still carrying on some of the old superstitions we've had ever since the " Dark Ages". Makes you wondering what kind of medicine they are really practicing now days.

I wonder if any of those alien spaceships people keep getting kidnapped onto have a 13th level or room on them. Oh well, just something else to ponder. Talk with you soon, Grandpa Randy

Another New Experience

I've had the last two days off of work. Yesterday I finished putting new planks up on the fence to prevent the dogs from creating havoc with the neighbor's two Boston Terriers, and today I helped mom finish her taxes. As a result I decided to reward myslef. Not with a Black Angus Burger from Arctic Circle, but with an afternoon trip to the Provo river to try out my new fly reel.

Not only was it to try out the fly reel, but it was to attempt to fly fish for the first time in 42 years. The last time I tried this was the summer after graduation from high school.

Today was a learning experience for me to say the least. I started out at Vivian Park, in Provo Canyon, where I met up with my son Craig. I put my equipment in his truck and we headed further up the canyon. We ended up just across the road from the Sundance turn-off and parked the truck. I put on my waders on and went down to the river.

As I stood at the water's edge my mind reviewed all the articles and books that I have started reading in order to learn to fly cast. I walked in the the river, striped off some line and prepared to cast my fly. A few deep breaths and here I go.

My first cast. Not too bad. Only about 12 feet out, but at least it was in the water in front of me. Let it drift with the current, and now time to haul it out of the water and cast again.

The line goes tight, I raise the rod up and the line follows. The line continues over my shoulder and behind me, so far all is good. I stop the rod at the 2 o-clock position then go forward with it to the 10 o-clock position, just like all the authors and instructors tell you to do. As i stop the rod I notice that the line didn't follow like it was supposed to do. As I turn around I find that I have just hooked my first willow tree. Now I walk out of the river and untangle the fly from the branch.

This was pretty much how half of my afternoon went, until Craig came over to talk with me, and help me get my mind into what I was supposed to be doing. Things went much better after that.

No fish to my credit today, but after 3-1/2 hrs on the river, 1 lost fly in top of a tree, 1 lost fly whipped off the end of my leader in a rushed cast and 2 lost flies dropped into the river and floated away. My overall evaluation for today: "I can do this!" I just need more practice.

I also need to remember: "The worst day fishing is still better than the best day at work."