Adventures at Mule Creek

I've made lots of young friends. One of them asked me if I was a professor here. We were at the gym together being stunned by the strength and ability of a young athlete. I told her I'm a student. When I told her my age she said I didn't look older than 49. Ha!! She's my best friend, now. I checked out a house for rent in Ephraim. I'm worried about winter. It was built in 1907 and it's still got the original everything. The living conditions in this town are deplorable. The rent is outrageous for places  that are uninhabitable. After looking at that house,  I think I can handle  winter in my trailer. I painted and drew a lot. This is my trailer park. I call this the I-deal Trailer Park 1- My Trailer. It's painted on a late summer evening as the sun was setting. The trees in the park make it bearable in the summer heat. Also, I drew my first self- portrait. I couldn't use a photo. It was hard.  Something great I learned this week i...

Today was my first day at school. I remember watching older people go to school when I was in college. I wondered what that would be like. Well, now I'm here to tell you. Institute: We studied about Jesus. There's nothing better than that to start the week. Visual Culture: What is it like to be an artist? What do we aspire to with art?  The teacher is a sculptor. He said when he went to school here years ago, there were no sculpting classes. He had to learn sculpting from two watercolor teachers. He decided he wanted to help others so the path they take in art,  won't be as embarrassing and hard as the one he did. Who wouldn't want to learn from someone like that? Thank you, Brad Taggart! The gym: Chuck and I braved the gym. There were young, handsome strapping men and women there. We overcame our fear and did our wimpy workout. Those younguns can't help but admire us for trying.  The RV park is cooling off. It's been extremely hot. Luckily, we're in a p...

A couple Sundays ago we went to church in Mount Pleasant.  Then we decided to take an afternoon drive.  We were still in church clothes, had no food and only 1 quart of water between us, but we went anyway.  For better or worse, we're becoming more spontaneous. Sheep Camp We drove up Spring City Canyon, then along the Skyline Drive to Fairview Canyon, and finally down Fairview Canyon Road. The roads were pretty dicey in places, and very bone jarriing most of the way.  But the views we're incredible, and the wildflowers amazing.  It's fun to explore new areas and make them our own.

When we arrived at the RV site, the children greeted us at our trailer. Alan was very excited to tell us he was starting soccer. He invited us to his game. We went back home for birthdays and to prepare for fall. When we woke up on Friday morning Chuck's boss let him know he was fired.  Now what?

On the road between Mount Pleasant and Spring City One of the things we love about the Sanpete Valley is the opportunities for cycling on beautiful, relatively uncrowded roads.  We've done a couple of rides on the Mountainville Highway, a paved road that runs from Fairview to Mount Pleasant, east of Highway 89 and closer to the mountains.   Summer Morning Cyclists are not as rare as you might think in this rural area.  One morning we met a group of 4 women on racing bikes out for a training ride.  We would have asked more about them, but they weren't waiting around to answer questions. On another morning, riding north along the Mountainville Highway, we came to a downhill section with hillside to the left and fields to the right.  A group of deer were feeding in the field.  As I approached, they began to mill about, and then they lined up and jumped the fence, crossing the road and heading for the hills.  I ended up right i...