Crocuses mean SPRING!

Just thought I would share a picture of our front yard taken on March 23.  The crocuses and forsythia are always the first to bloom. 

We had such a mild winter and it seems like we have had a warm spring, but in fact, the crocuses are no earlier than in other years. 

March 10, 2011

March 17, 2010

March 16, 2009

I am pleased to see that the bulbs have been naturalizing. Since 2009, the clumps have gotten quite a bit bigger.  My annual treatment of bone meal is working!

Deck skirt from recycled wood

This weekend was one of the first nice weekends of spring.  Yesterday I rode with my teammate Alison for a long hard ride on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail.  It was awesome.

In the afternoon I thought I would finish a project I had started last fall. As always, things take longer than I expect. I worked until dark last night and all day today - just finished the last two deck skirt panels to match the one I made last fall (hanging on the right in this picture). When Drew gets home I will have him help me hang the two new ones under the sides of the deck that need skirting.

All of the little lattice work on the inside is recycled cedar strips leftover from when we built the pergola two years ago. The strips were destined to be kindling but I saved them! 

I got to use the table saw, compound miter saw, two different types of nail guns, cordless drill, and electric drill. Power tools make a woman feel, well, powerful.

But now I have to clean up the garage because last week Drew cleaned the garage. He even washed the floor! Now there is sawdust from door to door.  :-0   Cleanup is not nearly as fun as playing with power tools!

Quick trip to Las Vegas

This past week we went to Las Vegas for some sun and to have a look around. 

The riding was excellent. Drew and I rode around some of the trails out at Blue Diamond on Wednesday afternoon.  Due to a flat tire (no tubeless tires on Scotty yet :-( ), we were out almost until sundown, which made for some pretty light.

We found our dinner, complete with tasty beers, in the Whole Foods Market.  They were even handing out wine samples at this Whole Foods.  I wish we had that in SLC!

We rode Blue Diamond again on Thursday morning, this time with our personal guide and friend Erica, who showed us some fun side trails. 

We flew back to SLC that afternoon.  I love the window seat on this flight.  Just after take off you have Lake Mead and the Hoover Dam.

You can't really see the dam in this picture, but you can see what a "good" place it was to put a dam - the canyon gets narrow downstream (top of the picture) of the damsite.

But the real cool part is flying over Saint George, where we go to ride the Zen trail and Race Course, which I could easily pick out from 35,000 feet.  I could also see notable geologic formations and hydrologic features.  

The geologic map of the Saint George area is available in two really cool interactive formats on our Utah Geological Survey website.  Check it out if you want to geek out for a while.

Virtual geologic map overlay in Google Earth

Utah Vector Geologic Map

Another brush with fame and a nice little visit

Seems our previous fame was not enough, and we are on to new exposure.

Drew's brother and his coworker, Mike, were passing through Salt Lake City so they stayed with us last night. In return, Kirk treated us to breakfast at our favorite breakfast joint, Eggs in the City. ABC channel 4 just happened to be doing a spot on their morning show from the restaurant, so we became extras on the show. Plus we got free cheese blitzes - famous ones that had been showcased on TV!  The week is starting out pretty good.

Oh, yeah, that is not me between Drew and Kirk, that is the manager at Eggs in the City.  She is a sweetheart.