June trip to Salt lake area

Cody graduated from High School, Marlene had a Doctors appointment and there was a Merritt Brothers and Sisters at Logan last week end. It was a very long trip.

Extended Merritt Family

Marlene's Brothers and Sisters

The picture of the extended family and the picture of just the Brothers and Sisters are not very much different. Marie and Mary are Widows, Beth is divorced. Don, Bonnie's husband is now fighting Colon Cancer. Wayne's wife Karen did not make the trip to Logan and LaVere and Diane are on a Mission. Marlene had a very nice extended visit with her Family.

We drove up on Friday for Cody's graduation that night. The Merritt Family gathering was on Saturday. Monday there was a Big Birthday Party at Clay's house as it was Calab's Birthday. Sunday evening We went to Cody's Seminary Graduation. He was one of the Speakers and was very impressive. He was very well prepared, spoke without looking at his notes and was very confident. Marlene visited the doctor on Tuesday after which we drove back home to St George.

There was some problems with the water at our home at Sandy. We could hear water leaking some where but could not find the leak. I worked most of the day Monday and half of the day Tuesday trying to solve the problems. I also could not get the sprinklers in the back yard to work. Then one of the valves would not shut off. We got the valve to shut down but it needs to be replaced. Bruce called me today to tell me that some men from the Water Department came by and told him that the pipe going from the water meter to the house is broken and needs to be replaced. They shut the water to the house down until it can be fixed. I just hope that it can be repaired soon so the lawn will not die.

It was not a good weekend. I am so glad to be back home where is can recover and rest up, I hope.

Cody and five of his Friends are now here staying at our home while they spend some time visiting some of the sights for a graduation trip. They have been really nice. They got up this morning at 4:30 AM. To hike to Angels Landing for Sunrise. We did not even hear them go, Tomorrow, Friday, they are going to attend the Temple to do Baptisms for the Dead. It is a joy to have be around such nice young people. We all spent some time last night playing Mexican Train Dominoes. We had family Prayer. Cody had me tell them the story of Harry the Grasshopper for a bed time story. It is nice that he would humor hid old Grandpa that way.

Petrified Wood

We have been collecting cool rocks in our spare time. My cousin Dave and his wife Terry were here in St George and took us to a good site to collect Petrified Wood. There was pieces of good quality rock scattered all around the area.

We were able to collect some very good pieces for our collection as shown by the Photos.

The photo above is of the complete slection of rocks that we collected.

We have placed some of the larger pieces in front of and around our Fireplace. They look really cool.

new kitchen flooring

We drove up the road to Kolob reservoir. The road is a little traveled drive through parts of Zions Park that is only known to the locals. There are many summer homes around the area of the lake. The road is paved to the lake and then continues as a up paved road until it intersect with the highway by Cedar Breaks.

There is a steep drop off to to the Canyons of Zion. The Virgin River has a series of water falls as it continues down the almost vertical drop into the Zions Narrows.

There is new kitchen flooring (tile) in the Glad house. It is very important to keep your wife happy. The tile has a rough texture to reduce slippage in the kitchen and is a marbled tan in color to match the cabinets. The old flooring was had a vinyl surface and was really cheap. When it was removed we found that it was almost a surface treatment over paper. We are going to forgo our cruse this summer to help pay for the tile.

Picture of the New Tile

Old Vinyl surface

reflections on red heads and floor tile.

There are many things that are different about the culture here in St George and other parts of Utah. Every where I look I see people with red hair. The River Bend Ward, our home ward, has more than six families with auburn hair. The Silver Mesa Ward had one, the Glad's. Red hair in the Salt lake city area is really quite unusual. I have found that more than ten percent of the folks here in St George have red hair. Retirement provides a person with more time than needed to evaluate useless things.

Marlene is finally having her way. The installer of Ceramic floor is suppose to arrive this morning and disrupt our lives while installing new tile. We are planning in being away from the house as much as possible for the next two days. I hope that my good wife will be happy with our new flooring. I will post some before and after pictures next week. The house is already a mess with moving every thing off of the floor. Pulling the toilet was really easy but not that much fun. The tile company would charge us seventy five dollars for them to do the job.

Anazasi Ridge

There is a special place to see when you are in the St George area, called Anasazi Ridge. It is a short thirty minute hike to a location high above the Santa Clara River. The ancient Indians of approximately 2000 years ago left many petrographs in the area. they are unusual in that they are on the tops of the stones on a high cliff over looking the river, rather than on the vertical faces of rock walls.

It was a great hike. It must of been easier for the ancient people as they had seven toes.

I thought this one was cool as I think that it depicts two people in combat.

This hunter is surrounded by the game he hunts. It looks like a Big Horn Sheep, Deer, Lizard or squirrel and his faithful dog chasing the deer.

The wild flowers are still wonderful these are Desert Daises.

The Prickly Pear flowers are some of the best with coral petals with yellow centers.

This would be a great place to visit on your next trip to St George.

Mothers Day

Today is Mothers Day, a time for our wives to enjoy one day a year with out all the trials of Motherhood, or is it a time for us men keep the kids quiet and not mess up the house too much in our attempts at burnt offerings to Motherhood.

I found the perfect gift for my wife this time. Instead of giving her the traditional gift of flowers that were on sale at Kmart. I gave her something that she has wanted all year "Cash Money" and my driving her around all Saturday morning to Yard and Garage Sales. She did pretty well, a Levi Skirt, nice sweater, a small food processor, more picture frames and so on.

This last week was also a very musical time. We went to a local Mexican Restaurant Thursday Night on Ancestor Square to celebrate "Cinco De Mao". Then went to the free concert that is held there every Thursday. Ancestor Square is in the center of Town where many old pioneer buildings have been restored, it is on the same block as the Brigham Young summer home. The center of the block has been converted in to a small park like area with a rocky stream and grass to sit on.

Friday we enjoyed a concert at Tuachan with Don McClain. He is a song writer and performer. The performance was one of the best. Every one, even the old folks were standing, singing dancing and enjoying some of the older classics that he wrote.

This Monday night we will be attending the "Concert in the Park" that St George City does. We will take our lawn chairs and sit in the shade with some of our friends and enjoy some Blue Grass and Country Music.

We are looking at having new Ceramic Tile installed downstairs in the kitchen/dining room area. Marlene has been unhappy with the vinyl flooring that is in place even though it look great to me. I have had several different contractors come by and give us bids. We are learning a lot about tile. There are Quarry, Ceramic , Porcelain, and Full body type type of tiles. I told Mom that if we get some new tile that she will have to sacrifice a Cruse vacation this year. She seems to be OK with that as long as I take her to lots of concerts here in St George.

Our garden is growing well. We went by Tuesday and planted some more Water and Honeydew Melon. We will have produce coming out of our ears if only part of our efforts are successful.

Life is good here in our little home in St George.

Desert Flowers

We thought that it would be fun to take a trip to enjoy all the desert wild flowers that are so abundant in the St George area this time of year. The Red Cliff National Recreation Area is near Leeds, on the Freeway before you go up the hill to Cedar City. It was a very good choice There are several fun trails to hike. The small meandering stream makes small pools and waterfalls as it descends to the valley below.

The wild flowers were in their best as the weather has warmed and we have had several rain storms the last few days

There was a large Tree Cholla on the trail. It is rather rare in this part of Utah.

The Scarlet Hedgenette grows near the stream where it is shady and moist.

The color of the Globe Mallow is exceptional, the plant has many many flowers and loves the Heat and Sun. They grow in large groups.

If a person looks in and around the sage type of brush you will find some Desert Primrose peeking out

The Desert Marigold is very abundant and in some locations make the whole hillside turn yellow.

It is truly amazing what the desert can look like when nature's best is all dressed up at this time of year.