Palo Duro Canyon

We spend a decent amount of time at an area state park - Palo Duro Canyon. It is claimed that it is the second largest canyon in the United States. We spent Memorial Day there doing some hiking and playing in the water. Our area rainfall has been above normal so far this year and the result is an abundance of wildflowers in Palo Duro Canyon. I do not recall ever seeing so many Indian Blankets in the many years that I have been going there. There was quite a variety of flowers and colors to enjoy.

This Memorial Day also happened to fall on Amy's birthday so she got to choose what we were going to do. She likes to hike and usually two of the children do as well. However, Cyrus is usually our complainer and he made good on that description this time as well. We used to take him on regular hikes in Palo Duro Canyon which he greatly enjoyed when he was younger. At 10 he seems to have outgrown that enthusiasm for hiking. Deveny gives out before we are done and ends up on Amy's back or my shoulders. Alonzo tires himself out by going nonstop even when we are making a rest stop.

You could hear the buzz of bees as they made their way between the many flowers. You could see a bee in almost every flower on the prickly pear cactuses that were in abundance. Cyrus had the opportunity to chase some lizards. However, those lizards were too darn quick! We would try to corral them but they would make a dash past one of us.

At one of our rest stops we noticed a spider web on the cliff beside us. Upon closer inspection I noticed the nice little spider happened to be a Black Widow. Luckily, none of the kids were curious enough to check it out more closely before I noticed what it was.


To see more pictures from our day at Palo Duro Canyon go to my web album.

Yes, Squirrels are Evil!

The very same day I made the previous post, our cable company informed us the problems we had been having with our cable reception (ghosting) was due to squirrels chewing up our cable wires!

I even have a picture of one of the little terrorists.

Squirrels Evil?

Okay, I've liked squirrels for some time. As a kid I remember my Great Grandfather feeding a squirrel that would come right up to him. I enjoy watching them run around the yard burying nuts and looking for previously buried nuts (which they seem to only find again by chance). Even after we had one romping around in our attic, I still did not hate them. Now, however, they're crossing the line. First one car and then another have been attacked by these little beasties. How does a squirrel attack a car, you may ask? They chew on your wires, that's how.

The first vehicle was one I was getting ready to sell and was parked in the back of our house. After I took care of some minor repairs I noticed some wires had been chewed on and the hood insulation used to start a nest of sorts. The wires were to an electrical connection on a sensor that caused the check engine light to come on. With some soldering and additional wire I was able to fix the problem.

A couple of weeks later, I am driving my car (that is parked in the front) during a warm day to run some errands for work. I notice my air conditioning is not blowing cold air when it had just the afternoon before. I figured maybe it needed to be charged so I got a can of freon or whatever they are calling it these days. However, as I was checking that out, my neighbor noticed some wires had been chewed on and severed near an electrical connection for the air conditioning. Another car had been attacked by a squirrel!

No, I haven't witnessed a squirrel doing the deeds but they are pretty much the only critters we have running around that I have seen and can list as suspects. There's been a couple of regulars as of late. My wife is not appreciating their presence as they seem to be digging all over the place looking for their lost food storage. Also, it seems I'm not the only one that has had similar problems. There is actually a website called Squirrels Ate My Wiring with tales of this type of squirrel shenanigan.

Maybe it is time to look up some of those squirrel recipes. Is there a squirrel season? Do I need a license?

Meet the Robinsons

There's not much at the theaters right now for kids. Spider-man is in the spotlight but it is not the best movie for the younger ones. A movie our family enjoyed is still around - Disney's Meet the Robinsons. It is a good movie with a good message.

Meet the Robinsons was in the works before Disney purchased Pixar (who had a partnership with Disney for Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Cars and etc.). With that purchase, Disney made Pixar's John Lasseter (who directed Toy Story and others and had worked at Disney many years ago) Chief Creative Officer of Disney Animation. Pixar's Ed Catmull became president of Disney Animation (in addition to Pixar). They reviewed what was currently in the works at Disney Animation including Meet the Robinsons. There is a lot of talk about how the movie was vastly improved because Pixar came in and "fixed" it. Well, I won't argue that but the movie was largely done already by the time John Lasseter, came into the picture. Here is a quote from John Lasseter (made at a stockholder meeting if I remember correctly):

"... the day after the announcement of the merging of the two studios, Ed and I walked in the Disney Animation Studios, and there we got to meet all of the artists. And each of the directors took us through all the films, and the one director, the young guy named Steve Anderson, was directing this movie called "Meet the Robinsons," which was the next motion picture that's coming out from Disney Animation Studios. And he talked about this story, which is about a boy who is given up for adoption and he always wondered why. Why did his mom give him up?

And, as he told this story, Steve mentioned, "I'm adopted." And his personal story touched me so deeply that when I finally saw the movie, which, by the way, I have to say, it was about 80% finished when Ed and I walked into that studio. I looked at it and it was like the film didn't have in it what Steve's personal story had.

His personal story story brought me to tears, right, and I thought, ah, this feels like it's had too many cooks trying to stir this soup. So we gave him a lot of notes, some really strong notes. We were very honest with him about the movie, but then I gave it back to him. I said, Steve, make the movie you want to make. Tell your story.

And he came back with changes to this film, minor changes, but it made all the difference in the world, and this movie about Lewis, the main character Lewis, who is focusing on the past, and he's wondering, why did his mom give me up? And he wants to focus on his past, but this focus actually takes him to the future, where he meets this amazing, crazy, wonderful, appealing group of characters that actually
turns out to be his future family.

And he learns through this experience to look forward in life, not to look back. And this story, it's Steve's story. We're really excited about this. I'm very, very proud of the film and what Steve and his crew have done. The film is really beautiful too. They have a stylization in this film that is really striking."

So it is a personal story that teaches an important lesson. No wonder the story is touching (and it seems many are agreeing with that assessment of the movie).

"The Mormons"

I am posting this at both my blogs. I don't post often on religion as many are more articulate and complete on the subject. I have linked on this blog some great blogs on the subject of my religion and I will probably add more links as time goes on. My religion is very important to me and essential to my life. Thus, I feel it important to include this post here.

As a believing and practicing Mormon I have to take issue with the recent broadcast of "The Mormons" on PBS. I am surprised so many are calling this a thoughtful presentation of my Church and religion. The presentation missed so much. I found this article by Maurine Jensen Proctor to be a great response and to reflect my feelings on "The Mormons" quite well. I do not believe a responsible approach was taken in this production, not that I have a problem with the subjects that were touched on, but largely about what was left out and the lack of balance.

Belgian Cartoons/Comics

My mother is from Belgium so I thought I would mention two Belgian cartoons/comics. The first is one that many in the US are probably familiar with - the Smurfs. The little blue folk were created by a Belgian who went by the pen name of Peyo. While the cartoons have not been on TV on a regular basis here in the US since the 80s, a movie is in the works (CGI - Nickelodeon Movies).

Another famous Belgian creation is Tintin from The Adventures of Tintin by Hergé. This example, however, is not as well known in the US. With a movie being produced by DreamWorks, that may change. A lot of research went into Tintin's adventures, creating a lot of historic and political realism. The Adventures of Tintin ran from 1929 to 1986 (Hergé died in 1983 and his final work that was finished posthumously came out in 1986).