Christmas 2009

This Christmas was pretty good. LaRue and I got a some nice presents. One of the things we are excited to watch is one of LaRue's presents - the fourth season of Alfred Hitchcock Presents:



I got a really fun game - Arkham Horror:



Earlier in the week Robin, Emily and the kids came to Vernal for a couple of days. It was really nice to have them here.

Then on Christmas day LaRue and I drove to Provo to see Andy, Laurie and little Asher. It was a fun visit. We also went to see the movie Avatar in 3D. We quite enjoyed it. The 3D was really good.

I only took a few pictures. Here is a link to some of the images: Christmas 2009 pictures

Death of USA

Thought this had some interesting statistics -



Professor Joseph Olson of Hamline University School of Law, St. Paul, Minnesota, points out some interesting facts concerning last November's Presidential election:

* Number of States won by: Democrats: 19 Republicans: 29
* Square miles of land won by: Democrats: 580,000 Republicans: 2,427,000

Population of counties won by: Democrats: 127 million Republicans: 143 million

Murder rate per 100,000 residents in counties won by: Democrats: 13.2 Republicans: 2.1

Professor Olson adds: "In aggregate, the map of the territory Republicans won was mostly the land owned by the taxpaying citizens of the country.

Democrat territory mostly encompassed those citizens living in low income tenements and living off various forms of government welfare..."

Olson believes the United States is now somewhere between the "complacency and apathy" phase of Professor Tyler's definition of democracy, with some forty percent of the nation's population already having reached the "governmental dependency" phase.

If Congress grants amnesty and citizenship to twenty million criminal invaders called illegal's and they vote, then we can say goodbye to the USA in fewer than five years.

We now have more people not paying taxes than paying them. Those people will continue to vote for those who want to give them more “entitlements” unless we decide to do something about it.

Trash Man

About a month ago Andy put together this image of a "Garbage" man; a figure made from garbage. It is for a campaign to curb underage drinking by the group Parents Empowered.



Last night LaRue was watching the local news and saw a report of the campaign using Andy's garbage man. You can watch the video and read the story here: KSL News

Another Tree Update

Slowly but surely the willow is getting a haircut. Looking a little a little more bare:


Some of the branches in a trailer the tree trimming man is using:


LaRue by the first load of branches:


And a picture of some of the pretty yellow leaves of the apricot tree:

HDTV Fiasco

After upgrading my Dish receiver and switching to the digital output for the HDtv it still wasn't very good. It's like taking a 3x5 picture and blowing it up to 8x10. It loses resolution.
Bottom line - I have put the old tv back and boxed up the HD unit. It goes back to the store Monday. The picture on the old set is much better with my present equipment.
If I could find a new big CRT tv I would buy it instead.

Tree Trimming

We're finally getting the monster willow tree trimmed. Hooray!

Here are some pictures of the work so far. First a couple of the piles of limbs in the yard -





And here's a shot looking up -



"And now for something completely different..."

Our old main tv has been dying by inches lately. First the remote could not turn it on and off. Then the remote stopped being able to control the volume or mute. And, no, it wasn't the remote.
So, I figured it would be a good time to upgrade to HDTV. As a side note, try to buy a big tv at your local "mart" that isn't a flat screen HD type.
A couple of days ago I broke down and picked up a nice new HDTV. I moved the old tv from it's perch and setup the new one. I got all the cables connected, turned it on and.....looks fuzzy. Channels have ghosting around the images. Text is jaggedy.
Well, the problem is my old (10 years) Dish Network satellite receiver. It is only capable of putting out an analog signal.
Long story short - I contacted Dish Network and they said because I have been a longtime customer, I qualify for a free upgrade to an HD receiver. Yep, free with no additional monthly fee. And for now I'm not going to pick up any of the HD channels; maybe sometime in the future. I'm just excited to get a good picture on the new tv.
On a related note, I have a little DVD player (not Blu-Ray) that will up-convert to 1080p. It looks fantastic on the new tv.

October Update

Well, October has been a busy month so far.

It was time to put new plastic on the roof. The new metal roofing will be installed next spring/summer. So, it's another winter of plastic. Gary and Liz plus Andy, Laurie and Asher came out for a weekend to help.

Shortly after, LaRue and I took a 3 day weekend to go to Provo for a doctor appointment and then up to Roy to see Robin, Emily and the grandkids. We took Brighton's birthday presents to him. He was 6 on the 14th. Since he and LaRue share birthdays we celebrated both together.

When we got back LaRue and I had a small birthday celebration for her. We bought her a digital picture frame that holds up to 3000 pictures. It also plays music. We are going to sit down and decide which pictures she wants to put on it to begin with. I also gave her a DVD - The Proposal. We saw this in the theater and both really liked it. I am looking forward to watching it again.

For quite some time Liz has been talking about how she wants to get the old blue truck and take it to Provo so Gary can tinker with it. So, today Gary borrowed a big truck from a friend and came out to pick it up. We bolted a hitch to it and hooked it to his truck. Then off it went.

Here are some pictures of it all: October Pictures

Family Reunion

Over the August 1st weekend all the descentdants of LaRue's parents - Paul and Ruth Hansen - gathered at the Great Basin Experiment Station above Ephraim for a first ever reunion to celebrate what would have been Paul's 100th birthday.

The station is located at approximately 10,000 feet in the mountains outside Ephraim in the Manti LaSal forest. Paul was one of the men who worked at the station. He retired after 40 years with the Forest Service.

Here's a list of attendees:

Nathalie Hansen

Laura & Don McGraw
Adrienne McGraw & Marcus Young with Patrick
Holly & Teddy Perez with Sage
Rachel & Jason Buchholz with Hawthorne

LaRue & John Bailey
Andy & Laurie Bailey with Asher
Robin & Emily Bailey with Brighton, KD, Christopher & Joshua
Elizabeth & Gary Millett

That Friday everyone except Andy, Laurie, Asher, Liz and Gary arrived in Ephraim. The next morning the rest of the kids showed up and everyone drove up into the mountains to the station. We got things put into the houses where we were staying the night. Robin set up a large tent for the kids.
Most of the folks took off on a hike to the area of the beaver dams. Afterward a large buffet dinner was prepared. there was a lot of visiting followed by a special DVD presentation that Andy put together with some old pictures of Paul and Ruth Hansen. It was a really nice slideshow set to music. Nath passed out binders she had put together with information and their parents. LaRue also had packets for everyone to add to the binders.
In the evening everyone gathered behind the houses for a campfire and marshmallow roast.
The next day it was a nice breakfast followed by more visiting and picture taking.
On Sunday afternoon people began packing things up for the return to Ephraim. Marcus and Patrick left early in the afternoon to catch their flight back to California.
Later LaRue, Andy, Robin and Liz drove to an area called the Frog Pond to hike around some more.
At the end of the weekend we all drove back down to Ephraim. Andy, Laurie and Asher opted to drive back to Provo. Liz and Gary also returned to Provo. LaRue and I stayed another night in Ephraim.

There were a lot of fun things that happened and much more than I can write about here. So let's go to the pictures.

We all took pictures and I have put together just a few of almost 500 pictures taken by me, Liz and Don. Here's a link tot he photos: Family Reunion Pictures

July 4th

It was a busy weekend here at Bailey Acres. There is a link to some pictures at the end of this entry.

Robin and family came out early Friday morning. Robin had hopes of repairing a car to drive back to Roy. But when he got to checking he found out the problem was the timing chain and he wouldn't be able to replace it with the tools he had with him. He contacted a friend who said he could do it for him. So, Robin towed the car to his friend's house and left it there.

About that time Liz and Gary arrived. They brought a 32 foot ladder with them to help with some tree trimming. Gary and I took the ladder over to the neighbor's backyard and got up on his roof with some tree trimming equipment. Gary cut a bunch of low hanging branches and then managed to saw down a couple of fairly big limbs. We got it all loaded in his truck and hauled it off.

The next morning we all went downtown to watch the July 4th parade. It began, as usual, with a flyover by four F16's. Awesome.
The little kids all seemed to enjoy the parade quite a bit.

After the parade we all met at the pavillion by the church to have a little picnic with Emily's family. It was quite fun.

Then Gary, Liz, Robin and I went back to the neighbor's yard, fully extended the ladder and leaned it up into the tree. Robin climbed up and cut a lot of smaller and two quite large branches down. I had to get the chainsaw to cut up the branches so we could load up Gary's truck again.

That evening Andy and Asher drove out and arrived just in time to join us all at the house to watch the city's fireworks display. Where we live is just a couple of blocks from the park where they launch the fireworks and we have an excellent view from in front of our house.

The next day we all attended church with Emily's family for the naming and blessing of Joshua Nicholas Bailey. After church Robin, Emily and the kids came over to food and then they had to drive home to Roy. Liz and Gary took off for Provo a little later in the evening while Andy and Asher stayed for a couple of extra days to help with some work in our backyard.

Here are some of the pictures from the last few days - July 4th

Movie Night

LaRue and I went to see The Proposal last night. We both loved it. It was funny, cute and really enjoyable. Yes, the movie was predictable, but it was a fun show. Highly recommended. We intend to purchase this one when it is released.

On another note, we saw this cartoon in the Salt Lake Tribune about the announcement of the end of Kodachrome film:

Shooting Grandpa's Guns

Here's a short video of Robin and LaRue shooting 100 rounds with Paul Hansen's rifles to celebrate his 100th birthday -

Trip to Las Vegas

The trip started Saturday May 30. LaRue and I packed up our stuff and drove to Provo to visit the kids.
We had a nice lunch with Andy and Asher and spent the night with Liz and Gary. During our stay in Provo we invited Andy, Laurie and Asher to go to Las Vegas as well to see the show. LaRue and I had tickets for the 7 PM performance. Andy and Laurie got tickets for the 9:30 PM show. That way we could babysit Asher while they went to the Beatles Love.

The next morning LaRue and I took off for Mesquite where we had reserved a room for the night (cheaper than staying in Las Vegas and only a little over an hour away from Vegas). Andy, Laurie and Asher followed that night so they could travel while Asher was asleep.

The next morning we all journeyed to Las Vegas. Andy had booked a room at the Mirage (where the show is). He made a reservation online for a room with two double beds.

When we got to the Mirage he went in to register. We parked and consulted the map they gave him to find the room. As we rode up to the 26th floor Andy told us that when he registered they told him his reservation for the two double bed room was not available so they upgraded his room for free.

"Guess how big the room is?" Andy asked us as we got off the elevator. "1200 square feet."
Yep, he had been upgraded to a suite! It was really something. (see the pictures)

LaRue and I decided that rather than drive back to Mesquite after the program, we would just camp out with the kids. The two sofas in the suite wer each more than long enough and comfy enough to sleep really well (which we did).

Since we had most of the day to spend in Las Vegas we all did a little walking and sightseeing. We walked down the street to the Bellagio Hotel and saw a cool water fountain music display. Then inside the Bellagio we visited an indoor garden setting. It was really pretty.

The show:
Awesome! The sound system and the music were supurb. The Cirque du Soleil performance was outstanding. I bought the CD/DVD combination of the Beatles Love music about a year ago and seeing the performance with the music was phenomenal. I would say it is a must see for any Beatles or Cirque du Soleil fan. I would love to see it again.

Tuesday LaRue and I traveled to Ephraim. Then it was home on Thursday.

Here's a link to information about the program. Be sure to check the various links there: Beatles Love

Now to the pictures: Trip to Las Vegas

Love

Just a quick entry tonight.

Well, it was quite a show. In a word - awesome! I would love to see it again.

I have some pictures to process and organize for uploading. It will probably be the first of next week. I will also post a longer entry about the entire trip.

Road Trip

LaRue and I are headed to Las Vegas to see a show! It's the Cirque du Soleil's presentation of The Beatles Love. We saw a special on tv about the show almost a year ago and have been dying to go. So, I finally got everything arranged and we're heading out this weekend.

I can hardly wait.

Star Trek

LaRue and I went to the new Star Trek movie over the weekend.

Awesome!

Without a doubt it's the best movie we've seen this year; maybe even the best movie in the past few years. We both want to see it again.

The actors portraying the all too familiar Star Trek characters were almost perfect. Kirk, Spock and Dr. McCoy were dead-on with Mr. Scott, Sulu, Chekov and Uhura being excellent. And it was really cool seeing Leonard Nimoy again as Ambassador Spock.
The story was good with great effects and music. Lots of action and a ton of cool Star Trek "moments". I got a kick out of seeing the green skinned girl since I'm familiar with the story of the green dancer in the original series and how there was a misunderstanding between Roddenberry and the people processing the film who thought her green skin was a mistake. And I thought it was really cool hearing Majel Barrett Roddenberry as the voice of the computer.

This will be a definite purchase when it becomes available.

Meeting Joshua

This past weekend LaRue and I drove to Roy to meet Joshua Nicholas Bailey.

LaRue and Joshua

Robin and Joshua

Emily and Joshua

We also surprised them by bringing Emily's mother out with us to visit.

During the weekend Robin took us to the Hill Aerospace Museum. It was pretty awesome. The one thing that struck me was the fact that we have gone from Kitty Hawk to the Stealth Bomber in only 100 years.

After the museum we picked up some items and had a picnic on their back patio with Robin doing some grilling.

Here are some pictures from the trip: Meeting Joshua

New Grandson

We got the call from Robin at 2:30 this morning. Emily has had their 4th child. 9 pounds, 1 1/2 oz, 22 inches. Mom and son are doing fine.

Here's a picture:


And here's a link to a YouTube video Robin uploaded:
Joshua Nicholas Bailey

Weekend Visit

It's been a rainy, dreary day. But to brighten the weekend we have a little visitor:



Asher came to visit and brought Andy and Laurie along.

This afternoon Andy and I swapped out the stereo in the Alero for a new one that I got for my birthday - full story over at JohnStuff.

LDS Film Festival DVD

We got our copy of the LDS Film Festival Best of 2008 dvd yesterday. It features Andy's Butterflies movie. We watched a few of the shorter films last night. They are all very good.

Here's a link to pick up a copy of the dvd - Best of 2008

Continuing DSL Saga

Well, the phone guy finally came today and got the DSL up and running again. However, he must have crossed a wire or something because we're suddenly with our caller ID. So I called this afternoon before coming to work and arranged to have him come back in the morning and fix that. Sheesh!

Still thinking about switching to cable, though. Matter of fact, I have often thought of dumping the landline phone completely and going with a good cell plan. That and cable internet could actually be cheaper. Hmmmmm.

Thinking of Switching

I am seriously considering switching internet providers. Lately our DSL has been experiencing a lot of drops - very annoying. I called the cable company to get some information about subscribing to just their broadband service (not tv - got that covered).
It turns out that for the same price I am paying for a 1.5 Meg connection for DSL I can get an 8 Meg connection with the cable.
The only drawback is that our main email address @easilink.com would no longer exist, but that would be a very minor adjustment.
Anyone have experience with cable broadband?

A Couple of Movies

Recently LaRue and I rented a couple of movies. The first was Slumdog Millionaire.



We both really liked it and can see why it got the Oscar. And for me the scenery and hearing the language brought back a lot of memories. Recommended.

Then the other night I stayed up and watched the latest James Bond flick - Quantum of Solace.



Mediocre. There was plenty of car chasing, foot chasing, blow things up action....but the story was just not there. I don't think I would even recommend renting it.

Asher Surgery Pictures

LaRue and I returned yesterday from going to Salt Lake last Tuesday to be with Andy and Laurie for Asher's surgery on Wednesday at Primary Childrens Hospital.
The surgery went well. The doctors removed the cyst from his liver, but also had to take out his gall bladder.
He is recovering well and might be going home Sunday.
Here are some of the pictures I took while we were there - Asher pictures

Saw This on "From the Mind of Murph"

Over at From the Mind of Murph I read this reaction to the recent episode of HBO's Big Love:

Does the “B” in HBO stand for Bigot? Because I’m sure that the “Big” in Big Love does, indeed, stand for Bigot. In a world where almost nothing is sacred, why is it that HBO thinks that smearing the sacred practices of other people all over the airwaves is acceptable? Last Sunday, HBO broadcasted a sacred LDS temple ceremony on its series Big Love… and I say, a pox on HBO and Playtone! A POX!
There are things in this world that are off limits to the prying eyes of the world, and what the LDS people choose to do in their temples is one of those things.

According to the AP:

“HBO said it did not intend to be disrespectful of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and apologized.”

*Cough* Bull-crap!

"Obviously, it was not our intention to do anything disrespectful to the church, but to those who may be offended, we offer our sincere apology," the premium cable channel said in a statement issued Tuesday.
But the ceremony is an important part of the "Big Love" story line, HBO said.”

Do you know what “But” means? “BUT” means “disregard everything that we just said, because it’s a lie intended to make us feel better about being total bigoted scumbags.”
“Important to the storyline?” My rosy white hindquarters it was “important to the storyline.” Do you know why they did this? They figured that it was a great way to tick off some folk they don’t really like anyway, for a couple of extra points in the ratings. Well congrats HBO… ya did it. And it only cost you your souls… if you had any to begin with.

Later in that AP article, they say that HBO went to great pains, and even hired a consultant, to make sure that it was absolutely accurate.
So, who was their consultant? A Temple President? A Stake President? A General Authority? No! They hired some excommunicated slug with a beef against the Church! Ha! Hey HBO! You got ripped! Hope you didn’t pay him a whole hell of a lot… 30 pieces of silver maybe?

So here’s my thing. The Church is not calling for boycotts… but I am!
Tom Hanks (exec. Producer) & Bill Pullman… you are both dead to me, your sucky movies will no longer be allowed in my home. Well, no… Bill’s just some dumb actor who doesn’t know his head from a hole in the ground, and who’s trying to keep his job. So until shown otherwise, I’ll keep Bill around, but Tom… I’ve heard what he has to say about Mormons and I think that he’s one first class bigot… so all of Tom’s sucky movies are going away, ya friggin’ gut slug!
HBO… I don’t subscribe to your service… and never will.
I urge my readers (all two of you) to do the same… pull the plug.
Lets show the scumbags who’s really in charge!

Oh, and if you’re LDS and a fan of the show… Shame on you! For shame…

Smiling Grandson

Asher has started smiling! Andy sent us some pictures. Here's one of them:

Taxe$

Well, LaRue and I had our taxes done this past weekend. And, for the second time since 1977, we have to pay. The first time we had to pay was in 1979. We had a little part time job in 1978 that did not withhold anything and we ended up owing that money. Now with all the kids married and no longer our dependents, along with the fact that there doesn't seem to be anything the average person can use as a deduction anymore, we owe a little bit. I guess I'm going to have to file a new W4 and have some extra money withheld for the rest of this year.

Movie Review:

We rented Changeling over the weekend. It's based on the true story of Christine Collins who discovers her 9 year old son missing and her subsequent fight to get the Los Angeles police to find him. Several thoughts -

First the good:
1. I think it accurately depicts the look and events as they happened in 1928. The film looks authentic.
2. I have no doubt that women were often treated as lesser citizens as portrayed.

Now the bad:
1. I think the film inaccurately depicted law enforcement personnel as all corrupt. I believe that there were then (and I'm sure now) some bad cops. But I also believe that the majority were (and are) decent, honest people.
2. Angelina Jolie's portrayal was NOT Oscar material. She seemed to have one and only one expression throughout the entire movie - distressed mother.

I think the movie would have been better if it had been shorter. It runs 2 hours and 20 minutes. Half an hour could have been cut out and the story might have had more impact. I noticed several points in the latter part of the movie where it could have ended but kept on going.

If you're interested in the events surrounding this particular case I would say rent the dvd - don't bother to buy it; you'll probably only watch it once.

Rooftop Fun

You'll no doubt remember my entry from last October when Robin and I put plastic on the roof (original entry here)
Well, yesterday the wind came up and REALLY blew. So much that it pulled up this section of the back:

It also didn't help that the wood strips we used to tack down the plastic had weathered and weakened over the winter.
Anyway, LaRue and I climbed up onto the roof and spent a hour getting the plastic tacked down once again. This time I used some heavier wood and screws. That should hold it for the next several months.

Christmas 2008

I'm finally getting around to posting some pictures from this last Christmas. We had Gary and Liz with us.
Here are some of the pictures: Christmas 2008

Asher Andrew Bailey

I am testing out the Flickr photo site by uploading the first pictures of the neew grandson - Asher Andrew Bailey.
He was born January 1st, 2009. He was 9 lbs 8 oz and 20 inches long.

Here is a link to the set of pictures (each image can be clicked for an enlarged view) -

Pictures of Asher