A hummingbird nest

we found while hiking in Capitol Reef National Park.

What is with a monsoon cycle in May?

I love the lewis flax in the front lawn.

hiking trail close to home

Hiking shoes

Phlox flowers  
Blue bird  
Wild onion  
Mountain top  
Bad dog  
Boot glissade  
Humming bird  
Dead bunny  
Wild mushroom  
Sore feet  
Deck chair  
Cold beer  

After 10 years, the kitchen.

When we bought our house 10 years ago, the FIRST thing we HAD to do was renovate the kitchen. 10 years later, we finally did.

Crazy Bristlecone in Capitol Reef

I need a desert fix.

Lots of ducks!

Crocus in the yard

Skiing Cedar Breaks

We had a great weekend skiing at Brian Head and Cedar Breaks. Made up for a lot of missed skiing to have a weekend this great. We skied some north facing powder inside the monument and managed to climb back out again. Skiing among red rock hoodoos was fun-fantastic.

Click the video below ( but turn the sound down).

From cedarbreaks

Just So You Know

 

Linda shaking Barack Obama's hand last year.

Stansbury Island Sunset

 

An evening hike to view the sunset.

Hey! 2008!

...don't let the door hit your ass on the way out!

Xmas 08

 

Linda skiing lower greely

 

Mount superior in the morning

 

people asked if I was cold

One sunny day in February 2009

One sunny day in February 2009 an old man approached the White House from across 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., where he'd been sitting on a park bench.

He spoke to the U.S. Marine standing guard and said, "I would like to go In and meet with President Bush."

The Marine looked at the man and said, "Sir, Mr. Bush is no longer President and no longer resides here."

The old man said, "Okay" and walked away.

The following day, the same man approached the White House and said to The same Marine, "I would like to go in and meet with President Bush."

The Marine again told the man, "Sir, as I said yesterday, Mr. Bush is no Longer president and no longer resides here."

The man thanked him and, again, just walked away.

The third day, the same man approached the White House and spoke to the Very same U. S. Marine, saying "I would like to go in and meet with President Bush."

The Marine, understandably agitated at this point, looked at the man and Said, "Sir, this is the third day in a row you have been here asking to Speak to Mr. Bush. I've told you already that Mr. Bush is no longer the President and no longer resides here. Don't you understand?"

The old man looked at the Marine and said, "Oh, I understand. I just Love hearing it."

The Marine snapped to attention, saluted, and said, "See you tomorrow."

-copied from an anonymous email

Yes We Can

 

Party celebrating Barack Obama's victory in Salt Lake City.

Self filling bird feeders

 

Solar space heat and domestic hot water

 

 

The natural gas furnace that was in my house when I bought it was ANCIENT. It may have been installed in the 50's. So I knew that I would need to replace it. When my natural gas company wanted to change the formulation for our gas mix, they needed to get my furnace inspected. Rather than pay to get that dinosaur inspected, I decided to upgrade to a solar system for space heat. I looked at ripping up my floors to put a great product - Warm Board - in, but wow. I just didn't want a whole house remodel project that large. Then I found that an Air Handler which has an aluminum finned radiator to exchange hydronic heat to ducted air can be retrofit to my existing ductwork. Neat.

My system comprises of:

5 Stiebel Eltron flat plate solar collectors
Navien tankless heater which I hope I rarely ever use
Stiebel Eltron SBB600S 160 gallon Thermal Storage tank
Life Breath air handler
Axiom Pressure Pal to keep glycol levels topped off
Controls and pumps and pipe - Lots of pipe

My stystem overheated today. But no biggie. The axiom will top it off next time the pump engages.

Why this system? I had heard about evacuated tubes. They are way more efficient than flat plate collectors. They work on cloudy days. They work better at colder temperatures. If I lived in - cough - Hudson Wisconsin - cough - I would definitely use evacuated tubes. But the flat plates have another advantage. In September the sun is getting pretty close to full gain on my syetem, yet the heating season has not yet begun. My system dumps heat. Evacuated tubes don't do that. They are too efficient to dump heat. If I were to buy an evacuated tube system, I would include at least one flat plate in the system so that I could radiate heat at the moon in late summer when I am taking in too much heat.

Natural gas in Utah is WAY cheap. The economics of this system, however, will still make sense. With the incentives and tax rebates, I will have payback in 5-10 years. If gas prices go up payback will be quicker. If we care about energy independence, natural gas prices will go up as we transition from imported oil to domestic natural gas for use as a transportation fuel. If I need to buy a car before EREV cars are available I can buy a CNG car which I will be able to fuel with the natural gas I have saved. Money will stay here in Utah rather than go to the middle east, and both Al Gore and T Boone Pickens will be happy with me.

Lofty Lake

 

In the Uinta's, off Mirror Lake Highway.

First Snow