Almost There...

My last day at Green River (Monday May 16th) the weather took a turn for the worse. I didn't feel bad at all about spending the entire day at the library! There were a few scattered showers along with strong winds and much cooler temperatures. I was quite happy being inside and got a lot accomplished.



When I left Green River the next morning (May 17th) it was cool and windy. There had been some heavy rain during the night. The drive on U.S. 6 over the mountains wasn't too bad. A few snow flurries but mostly drizzling rain.



However, once over the mountains, the Utah Valley was covered with gray clouds that were hugging the ground. And it was steadily raining. U.S. 6 linked up with I-15 near Provo and I turned north toward Salt Lake City. I didn't get far, perhaps 15-20 miles, which was not quite half way there. The temperature had dropped to 39 degrees. Driving conditions were terrible. Along with the rain and fog/clouds there was heavy road construction and the spray coming up from trucks and other vehicles reduced the visibility to nearly nothing.



In the rear view mirror I could see the clouds breaking up. There was some blue sky showing and even a little sunshine. I turned around and headed back to Provo and stayed at Utah Lake State Park. It actually warmed up to 45 degrees, which doesn't seem like much, but it does make a huge difference.



We had scattered showers the rest of the afternoon. When it wasn't pouring it was lightly misting. The gray clouds would move in for a while and then, briefly, the clouds would break up and the sun would make an appearance. Off to the east were the snow-capped mountains and once, for about 15 minutes, they could be seen in all their glory. It was one of those times that you just kind of shake your head in wonderment at what Mother Nature gives you in-between all the cruddy stuff! And then you grab your camera and shoot like crazy... Although, I was a little frustrated by the tall weeds that were growing along the little stream running on my side of the fence, it was still a beautiful sight.





The Mountains hovering over Provo during a brief lull in the rain on Monday, May 16th.



Then the clouds moved back in and blocked out the sun once again. It rained most of the night. The following morning was cloudy, foggy, dreary, and raining but I headed north once again. There didn't seem to be as much traffic as there was the day before and visibility was much better. It was still a little nerve-wracking with all of the construction going on and I was a happy camper when I arrived at the RV Park/campground that would be my home for the next two weeks.



Carol and her husband (and the Yorkies) arrived shortly after I did and with frazzled nerves too – I can't imagine having to pull a big rig through that construction zone and all that traffic and in lousy weather conditions. We managed to hook up and made plans for our first ever visit to the Family History Library. We were eager to get to The Library, but we both had “chores” that needed done first - Thursday was a catch-up day.



We made it to The Library on Friday (May 20th) and were a bit overwhelmed, to say the least! I'll be in Salt Lake City for about two weeks before I need to head back to Indiana. Plenty of time for research. Yeah, right! Is there ever enough time for research?

Wedding Belles :: Aunt Pat and Uncle Bob

The topic of the upcoming edition of Smile for the Camera is 'Wedding Belles' and since I have no family pictures (none, zilch, nada) of any ancestors in their full wedding regalia, these will have to do.



The photo on the left is one of my all time favorite family photos. They look like movie stars! It was taken in the spring of 1945 and is the engagement picture for my Aunt Pat and Uncle Bob.

The other photo was taken on the occasion of their 50th Wedding Anniversary in June 1995. Time took it's toll, they aren't as "glamorous" as they had been 50 years earlier, but they were still a nice looking couple. And they were both very nice people. Their two older children were about the same age as my brothers and I and we spent a lot of time at their place while growing up. They only lived a couple of miles from us until 1960 when we moved closer to North Webster.

Patricia Eileen Phend, the daughter of Victor and Hazlette (Brubaker) Phend, and Robert Glen Reiff, the son of Ralph and Lillie (Wissler) Reiff, were united in marriage on June 17, 1945 at the Larwill Methodist Church in Larwill, Indiana. Pat was born in Columbia City and Bob in Pierceton. In 1943, Bob enlisted in the U. S. Army. He served 6 months then the government thought he could better serve the country helping his parents on their farm.

Aunt Pat was a busy "stay at home" Mom while her four children were growing up. She, and they, were very active in school, church, and 4-H activities. After all of the kids were out of high school she worked for nearly 20 years as an attendant at the Mid-Lake Laundry in North Webster. Uncle Bob was a farmer, and for 36 years was also a bus driver for North Webster Schools, which in the late 1960s became a part of the Wawasee School Corporation. In addition to being a bus driver, Bob was also the head custodian at the school in North Webster. At that time, one building housed the elementary, middle school, and high school. (It was the same school that I and my siblings attended, as had my father. In fact, we had some of the same teachers!)

Uncle Bob passed away on February 17, .. and Aunt Pat still resides in the old farmhouse where they lived so many years together.

Why Being a Picture Freak Can Be a Good Thing

It drives my family nuts that I'm a picture freak. If I had a dime for every time one of my kids said, Mom...enough with the pictures, I'd be (a little) rich. It really isn't so fun that I have a camera stuck in their faces many times when they'd like to just enjoy the moment.



But every once in awhile it is a good thing that I'm a picture freak. For instance, I have been known to be so engrossed in grabbing a great shot that I don't react like I normally would. That can be a great thing. Like when this guyslitheredright in front of me.



I was so excited that he was right there, so close that I could get a great shot...that I forgot to be scared that a creepy crawler was practically within reach of me. Instead I was screeching, oh my goodness...I can't believe I had the camera out for this!!!!



In the back of my mind I had the thought...I bet I freak out over this later. But I didn't. Even now, when seeing the pictures I am just thrilled I got the shot.



So see kids, I'd be even more neurotic if I didn't take pictures all the time! There is definitely a bright side to this obsession of mine!



Living the life in sunny Florida!

Broken Black Diamond Crampons..the soft shoe shuffle?

June 1



I have rewritten this blog to make it more current and in my opinion more accurate from the details I have been able to gather from the climbing community in the last 4 months.Black Diamond has offered no new publicinformationsincethe third pair of broken stainless crampons became public knowledgein mid Feb of .





Since then I have been made aware ofseveral more pairs of cracked or broken crampons by their owners. Crampons that the owners only identified because of Rafal's original blog poston the subject.





Until recently I have been a big fan of the Black Diamond horizontal crampons for most conditions. Sabertooth to be exact. But I have also used the Serac. They both climb exceptionally well. Big fan until they started breaking. BD has yet to acknowledge they have a problem. To the opposite in fact, they have publically denied any problems. Despite continuing to quietly replace PRODUCTION crampons as they crack or break and are returned to BD.



I will no longer climb in mine.



I have personally verifiedearly versions of both Sabertoothand Serac Pro andClip models failing. All have hada similar failureandposition on the front of the crampon.Thankfully the only broken crampons I have seenaretheearlier versions before BD added material to thefailure area. Those same crampons can still be found on Black Diamond's dealer's shelves.



I first noticed that added material and design changein the early fall of .



snip from a comment byBill Belcourt of Black Diamondon Gravsport:



"these changes would improve the life of the crampon in the failure mode that Rafal saw"



The original commenthere:



http://www.gravsports-ice.com/icethreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=8972&page=4











The heads up and photos courtesy of Rafal. More here:

http://rafalandronowski.wordpress.com//02/15/broke-my-crampons/



In email conversations with the owner of theseSabertooth Pros said they were usedonly witha Nepal Evo. The Evo isa pretty rigid bootby today's standards. I do not believe these crampons, which were sold at retail and not prototypes, were abused in any way.



BDdisagrees:



http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1004766/1

















1st gen Sabertooth is on the right in the picture above. 2nd gen version is on the left. At the area of the break BD went from approx. .53" to .70". across the flat or a 38% increase. The cross bar between front points gained 24% in a similar fashion, . 50" to .62"

Ragweed

Ragweed. This is the weed that is making me sneeze, and itch with allergies. It is just one form of ragweed as there are many many different times from what I understand. This is the kind that grows here in our desert but is not a native plant here. I fight it and fight it and it always seems to win. On the plus side the horses seem to think it is as good as candy although how they can eat the stickery stuff is beyond me. These are little ones that escaped my figures and hoe. I have seen them get up to six feet tall with multiple stems full of flower stalks and seeds. And it is a very ugly, very tiny flower.

Strange Onions

I think these are called Egyptian Onions. They grow in strange ways.

Greetings from... Maine!

Okay, so here it is Friday and I still haven't posted anything about Ohio and New York and very little on Vermont. I left Charlotte, Vermont Tuesday just after noon and arrived at my first cousins place in Belfast, Maine that night. They live just an hours drive from Acadia National Park so on Wednesday I got the "grand tour" of Acadia. You'll probably get really tired of me saying that something is "awesome" or "beautiful" but 'tis true. It was. It started out as a bright, sunny day but quickly turned overcast and cloudy. But at least we didn't get any rain!

My cousin's place overlooks a tidal river with a view out into the bay. Beautiful! (Yeah, that word again!) I'll be here a few more days but will be busy having some fun and "catching up" with my cousin (at least 15 years since we've seen each other) so don't know if I'll get anything more posted anytime soon or not. But eventually, I will. Not doing a whole lot of genealogy research either right now - just enjoying myself and Mother Nature.

Till later, Becky

Double the Pleasure, Times Two

Easter Sunday I had the pleasure of meeting, in person, a gentleman whom I have admired from a distance for over three years. I first met Stephen Danko via his blog in late .. and then when we learned that we had the same personality type a few months later, we both thought it would be neat to meet each other sometime. It's hard to believe that we finally have! Thanks to Kathryn Doyle (whom I had met last August) and her husband, we had a delicious Easter dinner and a wonderful afternoon talking and discussing all manner of things. Thank you, Steve and Kathryn for a most pleasant time!

Kathryn Doyle, Stephen Danko and Becky Wiseman. April 4, ...

The weather on Easter Sunday was miserable. It was chilly and rainy with occasional torrential downpours. I was so glad that it was Steve that drove to meet us! I was even more pleased on Monday morning when I awoke to sunshine. It made the drive to Stockton to pick up Sheri Fenley (The Educated Genealogist) much nicer. After a big hug from Sheri, we drove on to Sacramento to have lunch with Craig Manson (Geneablogie), another of the early geneabloggers whom I've wanted to meet, like forever. (Craig has been blogging his genealogy since September ..!! and I found him in the fall of ...) There was no awkwardness in meeting, it was as though we had all known each other for a long time, and in essence we have. But there is nothing quite like meeting for the first time someone you have “known” online. I really didn't want our time together to end, it was so much fun! Thank you, Sheri and Craig, for an incredibly pleasant day.

Craig Manson and Becky Wiseman. April 5, ...

Becky Wiseman and Sheri Fenley, slightly out of focus but happy! April 5, ...

Craig has written his impressions of our get-together, as has Sheri (who also has more photos).

For some more fun, check out Randy's post for another recent GeneaBlogger Meetup in Australia! Cool, Randy!

Crazy Horse Volksmarch - out on a limb

A volksmarch is a "peoples walk" they are usually 6.2 miles long. Once a year the family that is carving Crazy Horse Memorial opens up the sculpture to people and allows them to walk up to and out the arm of the sculpture. I was working 7-3:30 and Gary was scheduled 2-10 so the Manager let me go shortly after 10 a.m. to go and do the walk. It was an amazing experience.

Entry to the event is 3 cans of food for the local food pantry and a $3 registration fee.

and we're off!

The walk goes through the woods and you catch glimpses of the Monument. You can just make out the people out on the arm

Signs point the way -- or you can just follow some of the other 6,000 people

They do a few blasts a year. They are bringing in some people from Canada to work on the hand and horse's mane starting tomorrow.

There are 4 check points along the way with water and snacks.4 boxeson the card are marked at each checkpoint. The first box was A the 2nd N the 3rd N and the 4th E. It spelled out ANNE thename of Korczak's daughter who passed away suddenly a couple weeks after we arrived. I thought it was a beautiful gesture.

We're getting closer and getting differentperspectives of the Mountain





We pass aMountain Goat grazing

We're almost there!

Ta Da!





The Head is 87.5 feet tall

The armis 263 feet long. The horses head will be 219 feet. The sculpter will be 641 feet long and sculpted in the round. Overall height 563 feet. What a tremendous undertaking.

The view goes on forever

What an incredible experience but now it's time to go back to work

Poor cowhas probably been trying to cross the road to greener pastures all day!

How true.

My favorite Hike ever!

To learn more about Crazy Horse Memorial go tohttp://www.crazyhorsememorial.org/

You've Got The Cutest Little Baby Face

This one's for Aubi. How cute is this sweet dog? This is one of Jack and Diane's babies. I am so in love with their dogs. Can you see why? Tell Dad that Mom needs a Maltese for her birthday, ok?

Lau Pa Sat festival dining and what happens when you overeat!

For months I have been craving for real Asian food, made from real Asian ingredients and spices. So while I was in the airplane from Dubai enroute to Singapore, I have been daydreaming of Asian chows, hehe. I cannot wait to indulge! I finally arrived in Singapore just before lunch and we went straight to my sisters’ place and deposited my baggage, then we set off for some grub to a nearby hawker place. I had lovely and hearty prawn noodles. Ummmm, exactly what I needed after the flight, something warm. The rest of the afternoon I slept. Massive jetlag. I have to rest and catch up on sleep because in the evening I am going to eat again! *grin*



For my first dinner in Singapore, we went to Lau Pa Sat. I have never been here and SisterJ and Myrrh were pretty sure I would love the place and the food. They live in the Central Region in Singapore and Raffles is just one ride with the metro.









Lau Pa Sat on Raffles Quay

Website: Lau Pa Sat



A quick look at the website and this is the history of the building:



‘Lau Pa Sat (or ‘old market’ in the Hokkien dialect) was Singapore's first wet market that dates back over 150 years ago to the time of Sir Stamford Raffles, the founder of Singapore. It was subsequently converted into a famous gourmet paradise and has been gazetted as a national monument since 1973.’



Indeed, a taste of Singapore’s past served fresh.















Isn’t this place beautiful? So Victorian-style. Monumental I should say. I am loving the latticework going on. Wrought iron, lattice work, milky white hues. It’s like an oversized gazebo from England.



As you might have been aware of, I am a culture, history and architecture lover, so yes, SisterJ and Myrrh were right on the dot. I love the place! Thank you so much girls for bringing me here. Salamat. We will come back here though during the day, okay.



It was a weekday when we were here and we arrived quite late—blame it on me for oversleeping because of my jet lag, thus many vendors in the Lau Pa Sat main dining area were already closed. So we went outside where there’s more choices. Oooh, the excitement is building up. My mind is running. My palates are ready. I want some seafood! I also want some vegies! Kangkong!!! I want them all spicy! Ach, piggishness strikes!

















It proved difficult to order because I want to taste a little bit of everything? You can practically order from any of the food stalls, it does not matter where you sit, they will bring you the food you ordered. And the menus are long. So much to choose from, it is a bit overwhelming.



Asia is the ultimate food mecca in the world and Singapore is no exemption either being the queen bee when it comes cheap food thrills and the food hawker enterprise. The country of course has a vast array of hygienic/clinical restaurants but why would I go there when I can have these somewhere else, like back home? I will stick to the local theme of the food game and satisfy my tastebuds with local eats at the hawkers. For now, for this trip. And I know I am in good hands here at Lau Pa Sat.



This is what we finally ordered



Food for three hungry people...








Spicy Kangkong (water spinach), I missed this soooooo much.







Spicy Chilli Crab.







Chicken Pandan with lots of chilli sauce, hehe.







Stir-Fried Egg Noodles with tauge and choy sum.








Steamed Choy Sum (or could be Gai Lan) vegetables with fried garlic and oyster sauce.







Beside Lau Pa Sat building is a street that has been closed for diners. SisterJ and Myrrh told me that the street is a normal functioning street with road traffic during the day. It is only in the evening that the road is closed from traffic and transforms into a roadside extension dining area of Lau Pa Sat. Lots of vendors grill satays here. This street smells so good.



And I heard that during the weekend, on Friday and Saturday it is a festival here where many working professionals get together for booze, extend their happy hours to dinner, and into the night. Cheap beer, cheap food, al fresco dining, fun atmosphere, all in all, just cool.













The aftermath effect



After having had our fill, this is what happened....



Experiencing tummy pain. Severe pain. Bloated tummy. My sides are hurting. I could not stand straight! I had to walk slowly like a limping old woman while my sister helps me. What is happening to me?!!!



Well obviously I got sick because I over ate and I am not going to apologise for this behaviour (hehe)! If you look at the pictures though, there were really not a lot of food. I mean those 4 servings are for 3 people. How can that be too much? Unfortunately, I’m one of those unlucky people with small, sensitive and strange stomachs, so when I overeat, I will most likely get sick. Literally sick that I cannot even freaking move my body. Not joking. The cure is time, so I usually stand immobile for half an hour and then I move around a little bit (light walk) for another half an hour.



Plus the spice and chili. I had too much that my stomach went ballistic, it ballooned. This on top of the pain and discomfort. Luckily they have manzanilla back home in the apartment.







On the positive side (see I am a half full glass type of person), this is one of the reasons why I think I will never ever become too fat to handle (flabs and those little love handles are excluded okay). Because my body at some point surrenders, it cannot tolerate over eating.



Nevertheless, this looks like a [insert sarcasm] very promising start of my Singapore trip. It’s just been day 1! Goodness heavens.