Curly Passes

Sad day at Bailey Acres - Liz's little dog, Curly, died today of Cushing's Syndrome. He was 12 years 3 months and 26 days old. In dog years that's approximately 86 years and 3 months.

Frosty World

A little fog has put a nice frosty covering on the trees.

More Snow Pictures

You wanted some more snow pictures....





These next two illustrate how the city plows the snow and manages to bury you in your parking spot..

First Snow

Here's what we woke up to this morning....6 inches of fresh snow.

Thanksgiving 2007

This year all the Baileys met in Provo at Andy and Laurie's house for Thanksgiving.
Robin, Emily and the kids drove down from Logan on Wednesday. Liz also drove to Provo on Wednesday. LaRue and I drove out early Thanksgiving morning.

It was a really fun time with everyone. Then the next morning we decided to do some shopping. Yeah..on Black Friday. But we didn't get up at 4 Am to do it! Even at that we got a few good bargains for Christmas.

Robin and family went back to Logan on Friday. LaRue and I decided to stay an extra day and come home Saturday. Liz and Gary also drove out to Vernal on Saturday afternoon.

I did manage to take a few pictures. Here's a link to some Thanksgiving Pictures.

Boycott Veterans Day Sales

Personally, I plan not to shop at any business holding a Veterans Day Sale. I think the day should be devoted to honoring our veterans, not scrambling to get the best buy on a new pair of jeans.
Some of our holidays should be more sacred than sales oriented.

I also plan to start wearing my earbuds while shopping at WalMart ... any store that is already playing Christmas music.

Best Commercial

Funny Because It's True

SCHOOL -1957 vs. 2007

Scenario: Jack goes quail hunting before school, pulls into school parking lot with shotgun in gun rack.
1957- Vice Principal comes over, looks at Jack's shotgun, goes to his car and gets his shotgun to show Jack.
2007 - School goes into lock down, FBI called, Jack hauled off to jail and never sees his truck or gun again. Counselors called in for traumatized students and teachers.

Scenario: Johnny and Mark get into a fist fight after school.
1957 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up buddies.
2007 - Police called, SWAT team arrives, arrests Johnny and Mark. Charge them with assault, both expelled even though Johnny started it.

Scenario: Jeffrey won't be still in class, disrupts other students.
1957- Jeffrey sent to office and given a good paddling by the Principal.
Returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again.
2007 - Jeffrey given huge doses of Ritalin. Becomes a zombie. Tested for ADD. School gets extra money from state because Jeffrey has a disability.

Scenario: Billy breaks a window in his neighbor's car and his Dad gives him a whipping with his belt.
1957 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college, and becomes a successful businessman.
2007 - Billy's dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy removed to foster care and joins a gang. State psychologist tells Billy's sister that she remembers being abused herself and their dad goes to prison. Billy's mom has affair with psychologist.

Scenario: Mark gets a headache and takes some aspirin to school.
1957- Mark takes his aspirin, gets over his headache, and is able to concentrate on his classes.
2007 - Police called, Mark expelled from school for drug violations. Car searched for drugs and weapons.

Scenario: Pedro fails high school English.
1957 - Pedro goes to summer school, passes English, goes to college.
2007 - Pedro's cause is taken up by state. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that teaching English as a requirement for graduation is racist. ACLU files class action lawsuit against state school system and Pedro's English teacher. English banned from core curriculum. Pedro given diploma anyway but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot speak English.

Scenario: Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from 4th of July, puts them in a model airplane paint bottle, blows up a red ant bed.
1957 - Ants die.
2007 - BATF, Homeland Security, FBI called. Johnny charged with domestic terrorism, FBI investigates parents, siblings removed from home, computers confiscated, Johnny's Dad goes on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.

Scenario: Johnny falls while running during recess and scrapes his knee. He is found crying by his teacher, Mary. Mary hugs him to comfort him.
1957 - In a short time, Johnny feels better and goes on playing.
2007 - Mary is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces 3 years in State Prison. Johnny undergoes 5 years of therapy.

New Link

I have added a link under the Family Sites list on the right to Don McGraw's new website. Very well done.

A Little Outside Work

LaRue raked up and sorted through a pile of apples. There's a big pot simmering on the stove making the house smell great.



John attacked a rather large bush that lived at the corner of the house.

Other than that - John is just getting over a bout of cold/laryngitis that shut down his voice for a few days. LaRue has been working outside doing some painting and yard work. And she's been playing with her new leaf blower (she overworked the old one and it died).

LaRue's Birthday

In addition to the big film festival, this weekend was also LaRue's birthday! She and I went to Provo by way of Ephraim. In Ephraim LaRue and I spent a few hours with the chainsaw cutting wood for her fireplace along with fixing a wheelbarrow and leveling her stove. Nath had prepared a nice meal and picked up a cake for LaRue. Then it was on to Provo for the film festival and another birthday celebration.

Robin, Emily and the kids along with Liz all came down from Logan for the birthday and the showing of Butterflies.

Here are just a few pictures from the birthday - LaRue's Birthday.

Final Cut 2007

This last weekend was the final showing of Final Cut 2007, the annual film festival by students in the BYU Department of Theater and Media Arts.

This year Andy's film project Butterflies was shown under the Advanced Narrative Student Projects catagory.

LaRue and I went to Provo and attended the festival at the BYU campus. It was awesome. All the films were very well done.

When Butterflies was showing the audience laughed more than they had during any of the others. And I heard people around us commenting on much they liked it. It was really nice for Andy to sit in the theater and have the audience really enjoy his film.

Butterflies is the story of a shy little boy who gets "butterflies in his stomach" when he has to participate in Show and Tell at school. He has to conquer his fear by getting the butterflies out of his stomach. Although I'm probably prejudiced, I thought it was a very funny and touching film.

I have scanned the Final Cut program and you can see it here - Final Cut 2007.

Birthday Pictures

Last Saturday the 22nd we all celebrated Christopher Eugene Bailey's first birthday. His actual birthday is September 19, but everyone came out to Vernal for the get-together.
We're still waiting for more pictures to come back from developing. But here is a link to a few we took over the weekend - Birthday Pictures

Annoying Starlings

We have a problem with starlings flying into our yard enmasse and scaring away all the little finches that LaRue feeds. Today she had me download a bunch of sounds of predator birds - owls, falcons, etc. - and burn them onto a CD. She is taking the CD outside and playing it whenever she spots some of the starlings.
Now Bailey Acres sounds like an aviary full of P.O.'d raptors!

Drivers License Tip

As one of our kids can attest, if you do not pay a traffic ticket in a timely manner, it can lead to a suspended drivers license. And even though you eventually do go take care of the ticket, you also need to go to the Drivers License Department with proof of payment and get your license reinstated. Otherwise, you might unknowingly end up driving for a year and a half on a suspended license.

Liz's 21st Birthday

Liz turned 21 this past Monday the 3rd. And last weekend Andy, Laurie, Liz and Liz's friend Gary all came out to Vernal to celebrate the big event.
We managed to get a few pictures from the weekend. You can see them here - Liz's Birthday

Anniversary Picture

We finally got a picture taken by Don and Laura of our exciting anniversary. Click this link to view - Anniversary Picture

30th Anniversary!

It certainly doesn't seem that long, but today LaRue and I have been married for 30 years.

Here's a picture of the card we received from Nath:



We appreciated the card from Nathalie so much. Maybe there will be more in the mail tomorrow.
Or phone calls today from the kids.

These pictures have been on the website for quite some time, but here's a link to the wedding pictures from that day:
Wedding Pictures

"New" Car

Earlier this summer Robin was given a car that wasn't running. He got it fixed up and we bought it from him. It's a 1995 Hyundai Elentra. It has a little crumble to the fenders, but runs really well.
It's been nice to have a car this summer that we can rely on to take our little excursions.
Here are a couple of pictures:

What We've Really Been Doing

The summer has been busy with lots of things other than the couple of fun trips.

LaRue has been working in the yard a lot. She is in the process of moving her hollyhocks.

She has also been able to do some long awaited sewing.

And, of course, there is her almost daily routine with the leafblower. Boy it will sure be nice when stuff stops falling form the trees!

John has been trying to do a little reading -

The new Harry Potter. He's only 7 chapters in and he's had it over a week.

A really fascinating book - especially if you're LDS. Here's the description on Amazon.com:
Tracing the Earth's origins from long before it came into existence, this book explores in vivid detail each important event that occurred until mortality began for Adam and Eve. The author also examines the surprising and significant effects of the fall of Earth itself. For those who enjoy contemplating both the findings of science and the revelations of God, this will be an extremely stimulating and provocative study.

And we have the usual other activities to thrill and excite us:

Dishes
Laundry
Ironing

But best of all - TV!!!

More Pictures

I have processed and uploaded some new pictures. These were taken over the span of a couple trips this last month.
Here's a link to the pictures: July Trip Pictures

Recent Cartoon

This cartoon appeared in the Salt Lake Tribune recently. Quite appropriate.

July 4th

As with every 4th of July we have a parade in Vernal. And before the parade we get a fly-over by fighter jets from Hill Air Force Base. LaRue and I usually just hang around long enough to see the jets and then head home.
This year the jets were accompanied by a bomber. Unfortunately, I didn't think to carry my camera. Dang!

But when we got home I managed to get these pictures of a B-17 that was circling our neighborhood. Awesome!

Fire Update

As of Tuesday it's consumed 35,000 acres. Here's one website to check - Utah Fire Info

Fire

Yesterday (Friday) at work we got calls on a wildfire north of the small town of Neola which is located about 10 miles north of Roosevelt. Here's a map showing the location of towns in the area:



Neola is about 30-40 west of Vernal.

As of Saturday evening the fire had consumed over 15,000 acres and is still burning out of control. The communities of Whiterocks, Tridell and Farm Creek (not on map) have been evacuated. Folks in Neola are opting to voluntarily leave as well.

The first two years LaRue taught school she lived and taught in Whiterocks.

There have been 3 deaths from the fire. A 63 year old man and his 43 year old son who were in a field purchasing hay from a 75 year old man. The fire took a sudden turn and they were caught. An 11 year old boy (son of the 43 year old) managed to run to safety. The others died.

By clinking here - Fire Pictures - or on the small picture at the top of this post you can see a few pictures I took from here in Vernal.

Some New Pictures

I have finally taken the time to post a new set of some recent pictures which we've been keeping in the digital camera for the last few months (more than the fingers on one hand). I have picked some of the better ones and created a new web-album. Here's the direct link: Some Recent Pictures

Robin's Work

I have added a link under the Recommendations catagory to Flying Sensors. It's the company where Robin is presently working. They design and build robot airplanes. They have a couple of short videos on the site of robot airplane fly-overs. They are under the Sample Images - Industrial selection on the right menu.
Pretty cool stuff.

I got my name in lights with notcelebrity.co.uk

A Few Graduation Pictures

I have posted a few pictures from the trip to Provo to attend Laurie's graduation. Here's link directly to the pictures - Laurie Graduation.

I have also (finally) added a picture of Christopher to the top of the site. He's 5 months old in this picture.

Graduation Day

It's Laurie's graduation this Friday! LaRue and I have procured a rental car to make the trip out to attend the festivities. Andy will be graduating in the fall.

We're really looking forward to a little trip out of town. And, on the way back we're going to detour up and over Wolf Creek Pass. It's a bit out of the way, but a really nice drive. Wolf Creek Pass is closed during the winter since the snow plows don't maintain it. But it just reopened this last week. Here's a link to some pictures taken a few years ago when we met Andy there to have a picnic that turned into a rain storm - Wolf Creek Pictures.

Birthday

(*Note* the images below are not the best resolution. I kind of rushed the photo imaging)

Here's me turning 55!


Robin and Andy spent most of the day playing with my birthday presents (Shure SM58 microphone, Behringer audio mixer and USB interface for the mixer to the computer). They were having fun playing "radio stars". For me that means I no longer have an excuse not to start recording my own podcast and drumming up some freelance audio work.


Robin brought Kjerstine along for the weekdn. Here she is discovering the tulips in front of the house.

Picky, Picky, Picky

Last week I came home to find this notice on the front door:



We had pushed the truck up onto the lawn last fall at the request of the city so they could work on the road (resurface with that crappy tarred gravel).
The rear bumper of the truck was just barely over the water meter. There was at least 18 inches clearance above the meter cover.

In case it isn't clear, the text the meter reader crossed out was "dirt, bark, debris". Now I'm thinking just how lazy do you have to be not to brush away a little dirt or bark off the cover of a water meter? And, for the record, I had no problem lifting the cover and seeing the meter with the truck parked over it. But I pushed the truck up a bit anyway.

And since the truck has been there for the past 9 months you can tell how often the city reads the meter so that I get an accurate bill.

LaRue's April Fool Joke

Last weekend Andy and Laurie came out for a visit. So, LaRue decided to play an April Fools Joke on them. Saturday evening she announced that she was going to bake a Southern cherry pie (Andy loves her cherry pies).

You should have seen the look on his face when on Sunday we decided to have some pie. Andy started cutting into the pie only to discover it wasn't a cherry pie - it was a cotton ball pie!



But being good kids, they tried to choke down a few bites:




You should have seen them think twice when LaRue next offered them some ice cream.

Inconvenient Truth Pt. 2

As a follow-up to the earlier post - here's information about an extremely environmentally friendly house:

Designed by an architecture professor at a leading national university, this house incorporates every "green" feature current home construction can provide. The house contains only 4,000 square feet (4 bedrooms) and is nestled on arid high prairie in the American southwest. A central closet in the house holds geothermal heat pumps drawing ground water through pipes sunk 300 feet into the ground. The water (usually 67 degrees F.) heats the house in winter and cools it in summer. The system uses no fossil fuels such as oil or natural gas, and it consumes 25% of the electricity required for a conventional heating/cooling system. Rainwater from the roof is collected and funneled into a 25,000 gallon underground cistern. Wastewater from showers, sinks and toilets goes into underground purifying tanks and then into the cistern. The collected water then irrigates the land surrounding the house. Flowers and shrubs native to the area blend the property into the surrounding rural landscape.

And who owns this antithesis to this house profiled earlier (Al Gore's)?
Click to continue...

Grandma and Christopher

Quick Update

I haven't done any website updates lately. I've been down sick for the last week along with battling some dental difficulties.

Last Thursday we got a surprise visit from Emily and the grandkids. I got a couple of pictures of LaRue with Christopher which I will post later. He is really cute. He just beams when you smile at him. And thanks for Brighton there is no chewing gum left in Liz's stash in her bedroom.

I also added a link on the right under Family Sites to my brother George's Photo Blog.

Inconvenient Truth

In light of Al Gore winning an Oscar for his documentary, here's an "inconvenient truth" for you courtesy of the Nashville Electric Service -

The average household in America consumes 10,656 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year, according to the Department of Energy. In 2006, Gore devoured nearly 221,000 kWh — more than 20 times the national average.

Last August alone, Gore burned through 22,619 kWh — guzzling more than twice the electricity in one month than an average American family uses in an entire year. As a result of his energy consumption, Gore’s average monthly electric bill topped $1,359.

Since the release of An Inconvenient Truth, Gore’s energy consumption has increased from an average of 16,200 kWh per month in 2005, to 18,400 kWh per month in 2006.

Gore’s extravagant energy use does not stop at his electric bill. Natural gas bills for Gore’s mansion and guest house averaged $1,080 per month last year.

“As the spokesman of choice for the global warming movement, Al Gore has to be willing to walk to walk, not just talk the talk, when it comes to home energy use,” said Tennessee Center for Policy Research President Drew Johnson.

Road Sign

Every since the kids were little there was a running joke in reference to a common road sign.
The sign is the Do Not Pass sign you see everywhere.


We always thought it would be fun to add the word "GAS" to the bottom of the sign. The other day LaRue spotted a magazine ad for an anti-gas medicine that used this image:

LOST pt.2

As mentioned in a previous post, we're catching up on LOST.
Last night we watched "In Translation" from Season One. The back story is about Jin-Soo Kwon and his working for his father-in-law. In the scene where he goes over to a man's house to deliver a message we see the man's daughter TV. And on the screen is this shot:

So, we're wondering - what's Hurley doing on TV??
If you know, don't spoil it for us. But I am wondering if his story puts him on some sort of television program before becoming LOST.

Valentine's Cards

I scanned the covers of our Valentine cards to each other and the one LaRue received from her friend Roslyn.

Here's the one I got from LaRue:


Here's the one I gave her:


And here's the card from Roslyn:

We're Lost

LaRue and I have started watching LOST. It was never convenient to catch it when it aired, so we're going through the DVD's.
Right off, it's much easier to follow without the commercials. Plus, being able to watch a couple episodes at a time really helps you to follow the storyline(s).
We're only about midway through the first season. As soon as we get caught up I'm going to find some good LOST podcasts to listen to. Maybe I can find some now with older programs that won't have any spoiler information.
I've also been taking my Heroes programs and converting them to play on DVD.