A Note on Purgatory

As many of you are aware, the Wizard puts together a horse race every year called the Purgatory Cup. You can access his website in my blogroll if you like. Well, today was the day of the big event and the whole family went out to help the old man at the track. I just have to say how proud I am of my family for all of their hard work and how proud I am of the Wizard for how he conducts that event.

Here in Utah we have no pari-mutual betting which means that putting together a legitimate event is almost unheard of, but the Wizard does it each and every year. I emcee the thing and the Teenager and the Wife are the wheels that run the show, and they were stars today. The Wizard's wife (my mother) and my brother (known here as Jedora) were also there today lending their support and doing their part. They, too, are all-stars.

Wizard, I lament every year that you do this crazy thing, but I am always so satisfied after its done. We really make a difference to the people of this community and it is rewarding to have that feeling. I hope you keep doing it. I am so tired right now. I am about to pas........zzzzzz.

A Note on My Absence

Well, to say the least, this week has been so incredibly busy. I am involved in an archaeological inventory (survey) on the Arizona Strip about 35 miles south of Fredonia near the Grand Canyon and that involves about 5 hours a day of driving and I have been getting back exceptionally late and leaving very early. Sooo......my blogging has taken a hit.

With that in mind, I have a few fun tidbits of info for those of you who still look in on occasion. The Teenager is now fully boy crazy and is getting in to the high school football games (she likes to cheer on the boys). This past week, her high school team (the undefeated Snow Canyon Warriors) was playing an away game that was broadcast on the local AM radio station. She was desperate to listen to the game with her friends but, alas, couldn't figure out how to turn the radio in the minivan to AM. I should mention that her girlfriends couldn't either. She can program a super-complicated I-pod, but flipping the band to an AM station perplexes her. I just thought it amusing.

Touchdown and Lil Indy are like a demolition team. They are currently planning their next bombing run.

The Wife is currently planning Christmas shopping excursions across the valley and I am starting to get cold sweats.

As for the King, I am just happy about my recent finds. I discovered an Olivella shell bead on one of the sites we were surveying and am now the big hero at my company. The Wife and the Teenager were not all that impressed. How about you, Wizard?

A List of Things You Don't Want to Hear from The Wife

Simple and self-explanatory. Here goes.

1. "Hey, Honey, we need to talk."
2. "Pull my finger."
3. "I don't know why I'm so emotional this week."
4. "I'm so excited. There's a Lifetime movie on tonight I've been dying to see."
5. "I can't remember where I put your shoes."
6. "They're your children, today!!!!"
7. "Did you remember to mail that check?"
8. "I had a little accident today in the van, but it doesn't look too bad."
9. "How much is too much to spend on a Christmas decoration?"
10. "Honey, you really need a shower. Bad!"

A Note on the State of Things

My brother wrote a little bit about 9/11 on his blog a couple of days ago and I guess I need to talk about it as well.

I remember driving to the University of Utah for a few classes and I would listen to an alternative rock station on the way there when I wasn't listening to sportsradio. I thought it odd that they thought the whole thing was a big prank at first. I mean, the DJ was about to crack a joke but he thought better of it, cause he couldn't quite wrap his head around the whole thing. When the second plane hit the WTC, the co-DJ audibly gasped on the air. It was at that moment that I knew things had gone horribly wrong.

I was in the parking lot of the U, sitting in my car, stunned, but I had to get to class. We did very little that day but we all sat there and discussed things in shock. I then went home and the Wife and I watched as both towers fell. It was surreal to discuss with her just how we wanted to tell the Teenager, who was merely 10-years old at the time. We got confirmation that my sister in D.C. was fine and that was a great relief, but we also found out that several people that she know had been killed in the Pentagon. What a tragedy!

Like so many others have said in the last several days, I hope the country unites rather than bickers. I hope we realize the wonder it is to live in freedom and that we will not benefit from in-fighting. Grow up, America!

A Note on Chocolate and Fire

Some interesting happenings here at the castle and out and around in the hinterlands.

The Teenager has been howling recently that she neeeeeeeds chocolate. I think it is a woman thing but...whatever! Anyway, little Touchdown has been overhearing these constant nagging moanings and groanings and decided to take matters into her own hands. She decided she would make some chocolate for her sister. We, of course, thought she was going to use her imagination and come up with some pretend chocolate, but, alas, we were oh-so-wrong.

Yeah, she sneaked into the pantry and found some Teddy Grahams and managed to sneak away with a small handful. She then slyly placed them onto the table next to her crayons. She proceeded to grab a chocolate brown crayon and color the Teddy Grahams a wonderful chocolate color. It actually looked pretty appetizing despite the fact it had to taste like toxic dirt. She was so proud of her accomplishment that she wanted her sister to try them. The Teenager wasn't really up to going along with the charade so we had to burst little Touchdown's bubble. She wasn't too upset, but she was quite disturbed when we told her she couldn't eat them, either. That was okay, too, but she wanted them back so she could "wash" the crayons off and eat them. I almost let her try it.

Later that day, the Wife and I and the kids went out to dinner at a local hamburger joint called "Larson's Frostop". Everything was going along swell when I looked out the window and saw that the median of the main road in St. George was on fire. The city had just renovated St. George Boulevard and created medians and filled the medians with wood chips until the landscaping was ready to begin. So it wasn't a raging fire but rather a tiny smoldering fire caused by an errant cigarette. Still, I saw the fire and didn't want it to spread. I, however, was the only person that noticed the fire or cared that it was burning so I must have looked like an idiot as I walked out to the median in my cargo shorts and open-toed sandals and started jumping up and down trying to put out the fire.

Add to the scene the fact that I can hardly walk due to two quarter-sized blisters on each heel and I must have been quite a sight. Note to self: Do not try to put out fire with sandals on. Fire will burn rubber soles and burn toe hair. After discovering this, I hobbled over to the Chinese Restaurant closest to the fire and asked them for some water to put out the fire. "Wha happen?" said the Chinese guy as he looked out the window to the road. "I don't see nuttin."

"The median is on fire," I yelled.

"Wha?"

"Fire!!"

By this time the patrons of the restaurant are beginning to realize what is happening but the Chinese guy is not. Eventually he got me some water and I put out the fire. I am really a hero, but probably only in my own mind.

The Wife and the kids were only embarrassed.+