Trip 2010 - Mt Rainer?

The guys and I are thinking about climbing and camping on Mount Rainer next summer. I need to start training.

After the Taste of a Million Leaves

A small man sat in a crowded room listening to the whisper of a thousand words spoken around him. Worries of here, and laughter at the shallow folly of it all. Alone his mind drifted to the sounds behind the chatter he couldn't quite hear it but he could feel. It had always been there and always would be. He, like the others, shoved it to the back, to be forgotten and re-forgotten. Piled high in front of it is the temporal smallness of all the rest. It is this wall of momentary distraction which had blinded him for years; kept him shut off from the real, the immortal, the forever. Not today, he screamed silently at the mob; not today, no more, forever, for me! He saw for the first time the death he died a little each day, moment by moment. Shrinking into a smaller man, more fearful, more paranoid of these momentary concerns that rest on the backs of mortals, on his back. On top they ride and drive to mock him and revelled in their master of the moment, for the moment is all there is to the man who cannot see through and into eternity...

Friday the 13th and 911

Yesterday at 3:30 while working in my home office I heard a yell from the backyard. I looked up to the window and saw my wife stumbling down on the lawn below, and a second yell came, "Taft!" I ran down the stairs and into the back not knowing exactly what had occurred. I got to my wife as she was laying down to the ground, she had a large three or four inch gash across her forehead that was clearly down to the bone. Blood was flowing fast, down the side of her face, in her hair, on her cloths. I helped her to the ground while she said, "get something." I dashed back up the stairs to the closet with medical supplies. I was worried I wouldn't find what I needed, I was mad at myself for not knowing better where every supply was and how much we had of things. Thankfully, we had what I needed and in seconds I was back at my wife's side with a box of large bandages.

I covered the wound on her head and applied light pressure to try and stop the bleeding. Blood had completely covered her ear by now and I told my oldest son, who is 12, to dial 911. I couldn't see how I could get her to the hospital with that much blood and knew she would have to be feeling dizzy, light headed, and could pass out if we tried. At that moment I noticed a equally large gash down under and across her chin. It was just as large if not larger and also clearly to the bone. Blood was flowing quickly from this area as well. With the forehead wound more or less attended to I turned my attention to her chin. She was in a lot of pain, cold, shivering, and embarrassed (even though she didn't need to be). I took some gauze pads and with moderate pressure held them against her chin to stop the bleeding. Apparently, I did an OK job according to the paramedic, although I didn't know anymore than what I had learned in scouts.

About this time my son had 911 on the phone and I asked him to give it to me, I told the operator what was going on and that I needed a paramedic. I knew they would send the whole cavalry and so did Shanna, which is why she didn't think we needed 911; but I could see her state and she couldn't. Within minutes an ambulance, a fire truck, and two cop cars were screaming around the neighborhood. They first went up one of the other Huntington road, avenue, street, or circle around here even though I had been sure to say Place, Huntington Place. No one ever finds this street on the first try. The delay was short and soon I had 6 or 8 first responders in the backyard and that made me feel better, they would really know what to do. In moments Shanna was in the ambulance headed for Littleton hospital.

Timing is always perfect with these things and the kids were getting out of school in minutes, so I went to the school and counted the 8 minutes till the bell rang, condemning each second I had to wait knowing the love of my life was without me in even a few moments of need. It was unbearable. The bell rang, I had my oldest (who goes to middle school) run to the door of the elementary and tell my other two grade schoolers to hurry. Quickly they came and we were back to the house where I dropped them off then I sped to the hospital. Thankfully all of these places are within a few minutes of our house.

At the hospital I found Shanna we she was doing OK and we waited for not quite an hour till a doctor that specializes in face injuries finally arrived. Nurse Susan had already given a local anesthetic which was clearly quite painful for Shanna. The doctor took about an hour stitching her up while I waited on the other side of a drawn curtain, the doctor didn't want me getting nauseous, I don't know if I would have or not but in any case, the doctor did a great job and next week the stitches will come out.

The final chapter in the story (thus far) is that in the middle of the night she was feeling pain and took some of her pain meds, they don't say anything on the bottle about taking it with food and within 15 minutes she was doubled over in the bathroom dry heaving with nausea. I brought her some water, rubbed her back until that passed and then we finally got back to bed. This morning she is feeling pretty good, sore, bruised, and puffy - but she looks great and she even woke to an alarm at 6:30, baked blueberry muffins, and took them to the visiting teaching breakfast at a friends house - insane but amazing. I am at home with the kids and very anxious to have her back here soon.

Read more here, with pictures...

Hook?

One cowboy, a known killer, stood at the bar drinking whiskey with his friend a hardened lawman; the lawman lamented the pressures he felt by people and relationships in his life; these connections had a life of their own and had turned into that which he had never envisioned or intended. The killer counseled his friend, and the response came from the lawman "Is that supposed to let me off the hook?" Another shot of whiskey and the killer said; "There is no hook my friend, there is only what we do."

Baja Rack for The Mule

Thanks to my good buddy Shane @ FJC Mag, I have a new Baja Rack to demo on the FJ and write an review article in next month's issue. I will be putting the rack on tomorrow but you will have to wait for the magazine issue for the scoop... no spoilers ;)

The Greatest Speech Obama will Never Give

The Peace (Keepers) Prize by Thomas Friedman

Life in a Baseball Game

If life is a baseball game;
then I am in the bottom of the 3rd inning, runners at the corners, with no outs.

Autumn Falls on Colorado

Sitting alone in my home office, just now, listening to some solemn music, looking into the back yard. It's snowing; a good sturdy dusting in the overcast evening light. The ash tree has a proud red canopy under which hints of yellow remain. Standing nearby is six rows of now very crisp yellow stalks of corn, making up a good portion of a humble garden we grew this summer, now gone. As I sat reflecting, watching the snow, chatting with friends, tapping my wool clad toes to the music - I saw a brilliant red fox, walk my property. On the top of the fence he trotted by on his way to some other task. It was a magical, beautiful sight, and I thank God that I was allowed to take it in...

Trying to Be Still

I don’t know if this is what I have learned from recent reading in the scriptures or not, but what has been on my mind of late is how insane I can be driven (and therefore, sad, angry, and unhappy) if I try to track all the things in this world that I am supposed to make better… my job, my kids, my calling, my marriage, my extended family relations, my friends, my boss, my subordinates, the list just seems to go on and on. And each of those items have many sub items and it can just make my head spin. Especially kids, raising kids and trying to “figure out” how to grow them into productive responsible adults is so overwhelming to me that spending any significant time on the subject easily drowns me and I feel the urge to give up. So I have been pondering about how to deal with all this because honestly there are days when I just want to run, and run, and run… into the wild and away from the pressure. But instead, my long time roots in the gospel keep me from doing that (for which I am grateful). My mind has been pulled back to the basics, the foundation – I need to be a kind and loving person where ever I may be standing and do good things – I feel as if the Lord has been telling me this. Do that, and leave the rest to him.

“Be Still, and Know that I Am God.” Psalm 46:10

The Pacific

This will be the highlight of my 2010.

HBO : The Pacific : March 2010

Pictures from the Trail Run

Link to the forums thread

FJ Winch Testing - Illinois Gulch

Yesterday I finally got back into the amazing mountains of Colorado with the FJ to hit some trails. It has been since spring so a 4wheeling trip was way over due. I met up with Shane (creator of FJC Magazine) and company in Woodland Park, CO - that is a wonderful little mountain town, I could live there someday. We headed for a trail called Illinois Gulch where I had been earlier in the spring of this year. Everyone had a after market bumper and winch and the trip was to specifically test the winches and get some material for a new article for Shane's magazine. This was my first trip since the lift and bigger tires on my FJ (the MULE). The trail was fun, pretty moderate, but then we got up to MOAB Hill. The main obstacle. I had made it up the right line stock, but it took a lot of calculation and gentleness to do it, this time the right line was cake, and I also took a slightly left-center line and that was awesome! The center line is the hardest and completely out of the question in stock condition. Didn't scrape anything, crawled right up just like I had seen the line in my plan :) it was a FUN day! I will post pictures as soon as I get copies of them, you can see videos and pictures of MOAB Hill on the link I posted above. Here is the post I made earlier this year when Adam and I hit this trail.

When all Roads lead Down...

A lonely girl sat in a valley full of twisted roads and cryptic signs. As the sun rose and the noonday sun waxed strong overhead, she considered her path. Destinations afar off, none clear or concerned, waited for the girl, and her plight. In the evenings she sat in the embrace of the darkness, wondering. In the mornings she wrestled with the weight of it all.

Days of time later, with few clues to go on, finally she stood. She place a boot on the road, and said goodbye to her shadow. Into the wild she would wander, she determined, for if all roads lead down then travel she ought.

Running to Stand Still

Oh, so many tasks, running so fast, all in the attempt to stand still. One moment I am all caught up in the idea that I have a plan and things are going to go this way and not that way; the next moment I have to take a deep breath and remember I am on this big rock of ours taking one hell of a ride and in the end who knows where things will end up. In either case I am OK with it, I have to be, what is the alternative? Kick against the pricks I guess...

TwitterFeed

I just connected this blog and American Sage to my twitter account via RSS feed. cool...!

American Sage - Sovereignty

http://www.americansage.us/post/Losing-Our-Sovereignty.aspx

What's in a Rating?

I find it funny that members of the church I attend get all caught up in the ratings of movies. Specifically the R rating. So many figure that all R's are evil and all others are open for their own analysis, and generally OK. What I find so funny is that people latch on to rules like this and afterwards feel no need for critical thinking. This rule originates from numerous talks given by numerous church leaders in which they are trying to make a point. The point being "don't partake in vulgar, degrading, pornographic, or gratuitously violent media," this would include books, magazines, Internet material, music, etc. The point is often lost and what is retained is, "don't see R rated movies." Many will find disgust at a movie or a person watching a movie like Frost\Nixon which is rated R, but find no significant objection to a movie or a person watching a movie like Lord of the Rings with all its violence because it's PG-13. We need to think more clearly than that. The former has a few F words and one second long nude image that is not very sexual and the latter has blood and violence through much of its 3 hour tour. There is no question that Frost\Nixon is less damaging to my soul of the two and it has significant historical value to boot. For the record I don't have much issue with either show. Take the F word; we find it offensive and crude and that is fine, but let's not kid ourselves and give it too much power. It means no more or less than if I were to shout the word "FORNICATION!" at you, or "INTERCOURSE!!!" If I did you would find me odd and probably take little offence. I am not saying it is dumb or wrong that we find the F word offensive, that's our prerogative. We find many sounds offensive, like nails on a chalkboard, and there is nothing wrong with that. We can like or dislike what we chose, but let's keep it in perspective. Now, back to the subject at hand. Another example I would submit is the movie Saving Private Ryan. This movie is rated R for violence, and admittedly is more violent than Lord of the Rings. However, I feel there is more value and therefore a better choice to watch Saving Private Ryan than LOTRs. Saving Private Ryan is an historical account of an event that our nations people actually experienced, an horrific event that changed them and changed us as a nation. Personally after watching Saving Private Ryan I have never looked at a WWII veteran the same way again. Watching that show deepened my gratitude for what they did for us and the world tremendously, and I think most Americans would be better off for watching the sacrifice they made, as hard as it is to see at times. In summary, I believe there are principals that should guide our lives and the better we understand those principals the more wisdom we will have when establishing our own rules for our lives. I am not saying my rules are the best rules, but understanding the principals bring wisdom; rules without understanding of principals has limited ability to ennoble us.

American Sage - New Article

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Lake Watanga, Colorado

Yesterday I returned from the Colorado high country after a four day backpacking trip with some great friends. The destination was Lake Watanga in the Hells Canyon / Indian Peaks area. The trail starts at 8,400 feet and the lake is at 10,800 feet and is five miles. It was great trip. The weather was more temperamental than I had experienced in the high country on most previous trips. Swings of temperature of 10-20 degrees hour by hour was common as storm fronts moved in and out quickly. We got sun, rain, fog, hail, and the last night it froze and we woke to a layer of ice on everything. It was a beautiful place, one of the prettiest trails I have hiked on. The lake was beautiful and the fishing was good. I caught 2 and the group caught 6 total, they tasted great! Here are some pictures in no particular order:

Rule #1 in the high country, always have enough firewood. We ran a fire the entire four days and left the camp with 3 logs for the next adventurers.
Wild flowers of many colors were everywhere, these were a few.
The lake was beautiful!
The view from camp was superb!

Another pic of the lake...

The hike in was majestic, this is right as you get to the lake.

This was the daily grind in the mountains :)

Like a glass mirror, one day I spotted a bald eagle in the reflection of the lake. It circled above the lake for a few minutes. It's white head and massive wingspan clearly visible as it started out low and climbed into the air.

Looking back at camp from the rock on which we fished.

Looking at the lake from camp.

This was at the trail head getting ready to go. The hike was pretty solid, going in we handled it well. It was all quite steep but the very steepest coming right at the beginning, so we had fresh legs. However, that steep part came at the end on the way out, getting down that was about all my legs could handle. The ranger said although the area is gorgeous these trails are some of the least popular because of the difficulty of the hike.

Fishing from the rocks!

Cooking and eating our catch!

I was lucky, they were not...

Relaxing is an essential part of fishing.

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