VETERANS DAY

VETERANS DAY, originally uploaded by POONDOG64.

Happy Birthday Marines

John A. Lejeune's Birthday Message (1921)


On November 10, 1775, a Corps of Marines was created by a resolution of the Continental Congress. Since that date, many thousand men have borne the name Marine. In memory of them, it is fitting that we who are Marines should commemorate the Birthday of our Corps by calling to mind the glories of its long and illustrious history.

The record of our Corps is one which will bear comparison with that of the most famous military organizations in the world's history. During 90 of the 146 years of its existence, the Marine Corps has been in action against the Nation's foes. From the Battle of Trenton to the Argonne, Marines have won foremost honors in war and in the long era of tranquility at home. Generation after generation of Marines have grown gray in war in both hemispheres and in every corner of the seven seas [so] that our country and its citizens might enjoy peace and security.

In every battle and skirmish since the birth of our Corps, Marines have acquitted themselves with the greatest distinction, winning new honors on each occasion until the term "Marine" has come to signify all that is highest in military efficiency and soldierly virtue.

This high name of distinction and soldierly repute we who are Marines today have received from those who preceded us in the Corps. With it we also received from them the eternal spirit which has animated our Corps from generation to generation and has been the distinguishing mark of the Marines in every age. So long as that spirit continues to flourish, Marines will be found equal to every emergency in the future as they have been in the past, and the men of our Nation will regard us as worthy successors to the long line of illustrious men who have served as "Soldiers of the Sea" since the founding of the Corps.

The Art of Jump Pictures

Almost by accident I discovered how much fun jumping pictures are. It is nearly impossible to jump for a picture and have a grumpy face. A little over a year ago 2 missionaries serving in our area wanted a picture of them that clearly showed their joy in serving a mission. We decided that a picture of them jumping in the front yard might be worth a thousand words. They agreed and the rest is history, sort of. I quickly discovered that getting a decent picture of someone jumping is easier said than done, at least for someone of my skill level in photography. I have had so much fun taking hundreds of pictures of friends and family jumping I'm afraid this is going to be a long-term project, and hopefully one that continues to improve in terms of my photographic ability. I have learned that many others share my passion for jump pictures and there are many thousands of images on the photo sharing web site Flickr. I have a link to my Flickr page on this blog so check it out if you have time. To all my friends and family who are growing weary of jumping for my camera, ... uh sorry, but I can't kick the habit.

Happy Halloween Everyone

I love Halloween, even if it isn't a real holiday. And the way I celebrate the day it has no correlation to anything remotely evil and in my universe it's a time to watch children of all ages have fun dressing up and enjoying treats of all kinds. If you find a connection with Halloween to some sort of unspeakable darkness, don't tell me about it. I had a great time in my happy little world!

Fall Leaves

Morp

Last Saturday was Morp (prom spelled backwards) at Brighton High and Kylie and her peeps wanted some gun pictures and since they are totally politically INcorrect but totally appropriate, I helped them out. We had a blast doing them and the kids got to hold some awesome guns. I heard rumors they all had a good night.

Ward Halloween Party

We had a rocking Halloween party and nearly everyone wore a costume but Brenda Sim took home the bacon, that's her on the right. Marsha is too nice to be a witch but the costume worked. The other pictures are of the clever Kris Shaw who thought it would be funny to come to the party dressed up as .... me. Yep, camera, M-16 short brown hair, the whole shebang. I guess I should have taken off my mullet wig for the last picture to make a real comparison but you get the idea. My self esteem? Gone :)

A Few Recent Photo Shoots

Fall is my favorite time of year, all the way through New Years Eve. Football is on every channel and the temperatures are down from summer and the colors pop with the light of the changing season. I've been lucky enough to be invited to take some family pictures of friends and here are a few from the past week.

A Week Later

It's been a while since I've spent much time around a newborn, Kylie is nearly 18 and might think it was a little creepy if I tried to hold her like this. Heck I would think it's creepy too. I stopped in at Christensen's today to give Everett, or as he would prefer, Jesus Richard, (don't judge that name until you hear the whole story) his official Marine Corps Bear in full MarPat digital cammies. Since our area of Utah is green and we are close to the mountains his bear came with the woodland digital pattern and I have to admit I was pretty excited. I live a few doors up the road from JR and his family so I can enjoy all of the benefits of a week old newborn and miss any of the downside. I'm not sure he cries and for all I know he sleeps all night long without a stir. That's my perspective as a neighbor, Wyatt and Andrea might tell a different story. But here we are a week later and I'm thinking newborns are pretty dang cute.

JUMP

David Lee Roth is someone I rarely quote, actually I never quote him, but Summer Adamson's jump immortalizes his famous song. Thanks Summer, the check's in the mail :)

Everett Joseph (Richard) Christensen

Better late than never. Everett Richard or as he prefers, JR, was born Thursday and boy is everyone happy to get him here, none more than Andrea. I waited to post this until she had a chance to post her pictures, but now it's fair game. The best story I've heard for a long is how Andrea asked for her camera when the doctor said "push". He told her he had delivered around 4,000 babies and thought he had seen everything ... until Andrea asked for her camera to document the birth from the other end :) And I thought I loved taking pictures. Glad you're here JR!

Plumbing Sucks

Last week before I left Manti I noticed the ground was squishy around the sprinkler box and sure enough I found a leak. The problem is, the pipe is old black inch and a half and is rusting away in the clay soil. This isn't your fathers clay either, this is cement clay. While I was chipping away at the ground with the shovel I wondered what the pioneers thought when they tried to dig or plant in this mess. I have a whole new respect for them! Anyway, I had the help of a neighbor putting the pipe together and just when we thought we had fixed the broken piece ....

This was the darkest part of the repair, and no I didn't swear. A new hole blew out along the old pipe after each new section was replaced. I hate plumbing.

This was the happy ending.

The Neighbor Boy

It was a slow night at the Smith house until John decided to wear Kylie's shoes. Wow what a change! It reminded me of some other posts about shoes ... in a weird sort of way.

I Survived Another Birthday

Two of my favorite people each gave me a card and they are both keepers. I tease Andrea about her hippy stuff in her house and occasionally in her art so I really appreciated the thought on her "hippy" themed card that she made. Kirsten found the other one that cracked me up. I'm so completely not even close being dorky. In fact my picture is next to "cool" in the dictionary. Haha. Thanks to everyone that helped make this one of the best birthdays.

The Harvest Moon

This full moon is known as the Harvest Moon for obvious reasons and while driving to the house after a meeting toinght I realized how much ambient light the moon provides. The picture of the girls was taken strictly with ambient light. Holding still even when sitting is hard for 15 or 20 seconds so the focus isn't crisp but Ilike the effect.

The End of The Garden 2009

It happened last night, 22 unforgiving degrees. I figured it was coming and I'm not complaining too loudly because last year it froze on Labor Day so the garden had an entire month longer this year. I'm disappointed in the pumpkin crop though. I sure can't figure them out. The months of May and June were cool and wet and maybe the buggers didn't get a good start at life but I think I only averaged 3 pumpkins per plant and I expect more than that. Is a garden worth all of the work? Don't ask.

SNOW!

I love Utah for a number of reasons but the changing seasons ranks at the top of the list. Yesterday it was 87 degrees for a high, today it was 46. That is dramatic even for Utah and the snow creeping down the mountains put a smile on my face. I had a hunch I better get up to the mountains before the storm hit so I could get pictures of fall leaves. The weather said Brighton and Silver Lake had 10" of snow now. Sweet!

Excitement

Since it's suppose to snow on Wednesday I thought it would be a good activity to head up the canyon and get some fall leaf pictures. Silver Lake was awesome and I might need to go back up after the snow. As we emerged from the canyon I slowed for the intersection and boy am I glad I did! I had the privilege of calling 911 and luckily no one was injured.

Skyline Drive

A friend asked me to take their family pictures in the canyon above Manti yesterday so we had the chance to cruise along Skyline Drive for the last time this year. At almost 11,000 feet elevation it might be buried in snow next weekend. I'm surprised how slow the leaves are in changing this fall. The sunset and what leaves we did see changing, made the trip worthwhile.

Favorite Shoes

I saw a post on a friends blog about shoes. Dancing shoes, running shoes, fancy shoes, tap shoes, ballet shoes, maybe even more types of shoes than that. When I was watching Dancing With The Stars the other night they had a dance tribute to Patrick Swayze and one of the professional dancers was barefoot. That could be her favorite pair of shoes because she seemed pretty confident and capable in her footwork. So here is my favorite pair of shoes, or boots actually. I have to wear shoes on Sunday and during tax season when I regularly wear a suit to work but the rest of the year I pull these on. If they are good enough for the Marines keeping the bad guys away, they are good enough for me. When I had the chance to do my part keeping bad guys at bay I wore black boots and had to spit shine them. This is a little easier.

Manduca Sexta

Last Saturday I was digging up some potatoes and carrots in the garden and admiring the harvest when I noticed something moving. Turns out it was this HUGE moth pupa. At first I thought it was giant grub but grubs have legs and are generally white. They get as big as this bad boy but I've never seen a proboscis on a grub. After some research on the internet I found a professor at the UofU that studies the olfactory glomeruli of the noctuid pupa and he was kind enough to identify this brute as a pupa of a Sphinx Moth sometimes referred to as a hummingbird hawkmoth because of the proboscis that the moth uses much like a hummingbird. Anyway, this thing creeped me out.

Garden Week 17

I should have waited one more week to pick the pumpkin but I just couldn't do it.

A Friend Dropped By

I had some time on my hands while in Manti so I thought I would try some of my new photo equipment. I don't have a twin brother :)

Ridgecrest Fair

Ridgecrest Elementary PTA had a fair on Thursday and our friend Kris Shaw was the boss so she asked if I could lend my weeny roasting skills. This job didn't pay very good but I always like people watching and in between serving hot dogs I had the chance to take some pictures.

The Dead Spot

I finished mowing the lawn today and sat down on the porch for one of three 32 ounce cups of water that I try to guzzle every day. I tried to get the lawn mowed yesterday but by the time I headed to the shed to fire up the lawn mower it was pouring rain. Luckliy I beat the rain today. I like yard work but I like having boys around to help more than I like doing it myself. For the better part of the past 15 years I've had Michael or Bret, or both, around to manage lawn mowing responsiblities. They both started mowing at about 8 years old. Since Bret is busy in Taiwan and Michael is hanging out in Santa Barbara I'm now the lawn dude.

Like I said, I finished mowing and sat down on the porch and realized how good the lawn looks. Maybe it was the cool wet spring or the warm late summer, or neither. Maybe it's the fertilizer from IFA, whatever, it looks as good now as it has for a long time. I thought Michael and Bret would be pleased. While I was lost in that thought I realized that the dead spot of grass that traditionally has been right below our front porch has nearly filled in.

The dead spot has been there for as long as I can remember because all the kids and their friends, like normal children, never had time for steps. If the steps are in a direct line to the door, fine. If there is the slightest detour, forget it. Short cuts rule. This was definitely a short cut to the front door plus if you leaped from the threshold an 8 year old would land exactly on the dead spot. Grass is no match for the pounding of dozens, maybe hundreds, of kid leaps in a single day. So you can imagine what an entire summer would do to this little spot of earth.

Kylie is 17 now and I think she has jumped off the porch once or twice this summer to get to her friends car quicker. I know the mail carrier appreciates the short cut but that amounts to a pair of feet per day. I like to sit there and watch people go up and down the street but most of the time I'm barefoot so that doesn't do much damage to the sod.

I thought the dead spot was going to be permanent and a few times through the years I put sod down in a futile attempt to keep the grass lush and full all the way to the porch. I even remember thinking I should give up and pour concrete there since the grass would be worn to the roots by late spring every year. That dead spot drove me nuts - until now.

Picture Day

The lovely and talented Morgan Harper asked me to take some pictures for her peeps that she wants to enter in princess contest. I live with a princess by the name of Kylie so all I can do is wish Morgan good luck. All in all it's been a great day, BYU won, Notre Dame lost, I spent an hour taking pictures of princesses and I had a tuna fish sandwich for dinner.

I Got A New Lens!

Because of my favorite peep and photographic master Andrea Richard Christensen, I was inspired to look for a prime lens to add to my meager collection. After a little research it became a need, not a want, so the money was pilfered from the grocery funds and I ordered the 1.4 50mm USM Canon lens. Sadly it's not the 1.2 and the lens looks kind of dinky on my camera but with some practice I think I can squeeze some good shots from this baby. Here are a few from today and last night. Thanks to Calvin Richard for his toothy grin and to Sparks for your photogenic faces and Kylie's willingness to humor me as I maxed out the aperture.

Garden Week 15

The past two weeks have been on the hot side but the garden has exploded, enjoying every sweat inducing degree. When I pulled in the driveway tonight I could see these bad boys before I even stopped the Yukon. If you get brave and check my post of one year ago, Labor Day weekend 2008, you will see that we had temperatures below freezing which is very common at this elevation in the high mountain valleys of Utah. Not this year, at least not this weekend. The amazing part of this is that I am not, nor ever claimed to be, a gardener and if you look closely (or not since they are taking over) at the last photo you will see the curse of my existence, weeds. How real farmers and gardeners keep weeds out I've yet to learn but I will still get the last laugh tonight as I wolf down a few big red tomatoes.