Velouria

It's been a while, hasn't it?

Tonight, I'm a lone man, so I'm just chilling on the ground (since our computer sits on the ground). Thought I'd write about the latest mischief I'm causing.

It's been a long cold winter up here. We've been getting lots of snow. Much more than usual. Up at the Robbins' place, they've got at least 4 ft of the soft stuff on the ground. Down here, it snows, and partially melts, then snows, and partially melts. The lake has been frozen over since the beginning of January, here it is late February and it's still pretty solid. That's something. I'm itching to get back out on it on the paddleboard. I "borrowed" a pair of wetsuit booties from my parents and will use them with my wetsuit as soon as there's enough thawed water to paddle on.

On Saturday, we went for a drive out to Saratoga Springs, a growing community on the northwest side of Utah Lake. There's a bunch of natural hot springs and the community pool is kept at about 95 degrees Farenheit all winter long. We looked at it longingly. I brought a swimsuit (you can never be to careful when there's hot springs around) but Emily and Grace didn't. Some of the locals even offered to let us in. Siggggghhhhh. So we contented ourselves to walk around. I took a few pictures of the natural hot springs down the road. There's also a bunch out in the lake, and as soon as I get the paddleboard in the water and a free Saturday, I'm going exploring.
That's Mt. Timpanogos in the background.

I've also taken up Yogurt making. I've been tinkering with the idea for a looonnnnnggg time and at Good Earth they had a cheap, small, quart-sized yogurt maker. It's really just a mini crockpot that stays at about 110 degrees, to incubate the culture. Simple instructions: Scald the milk just below boiling. Let it cool to lukewarm (about 110 degrees), add culture/starter, incubate for 4-10 hrs, then refrigerate and flavor to your liking. We've done it twice now in a week and I'll make some more tomorrow. My sister-in-law has been making it for a while, so I asked how she does it. She goes a gallon at a time and sets it in the oven on "warm" for 3-4 hours and adds all the flavorings before she incubates it. I've read that for thicker "custard-style" yogurt, add dry milk to the mixture. We've just been using maple syrup and vanilla to flavor ours and it's delicious.

I got so hungry thinking about it, I went and got myself some to eat while waiting for the picture to upload. Mmmmmm.

I'll just keep adding to this post, since many of you catch up on several at a time and I'd just write them in the next post anyways.

This evening it was supposed to snow, but as I left class, the sun was shining, it was a warm 40 degrees and people were out running. Feeling antsy and gluttonous from eating a whole bag of Barbara's Jalapeno cheese puffs for lunch, I went for a bike ride with an hour of daylight to kill. I decided after I was on my way that I'd head down to the lake. About 4.2 miles each way in about 20 minutes (it's tricky getting under the freeway) down Center St. Yup, the lake's still pretty solid. Good if you like ice fishing (which many people have enjoyed this winter). I brought gloves and wore a sweatshirt, but was in basketball shorts and light shoes otherwise. The gloves were just enough. 5 minutes into the ride, I didn't notice the cold. I should be more careful next time though, what if I'd gotten a flat and had to walk back in the dark. Brrrrrr. It did take me a while to feel that cozy warm feeling after I got back.

Emily's in San Francisco with her mom, getting aquainted with the city. They're staying with Kitye's cousin who lives near San Rafael. He's a retired military doctor. He offered to drive them everywhere for the next two days. He sounds like a real nice guy. Kitye and Emily haven't seen him for about 15 years, they tell him they're coming, and he offers everything to them. To keep myself busy the rest of the night, I'm gonna do some homework (just a little) and practice on mah gee-tar, I bought a few weeks ago after doing some research and price checking. Got a great deal off of craigslist on an entry level Alvarez RD8 acoustic. Others worth looking at: Yamaha, Fender, and Ibanez. All have nice low-end guitars. I just liked the sound of the Alvarez the best, personally. That's Princess Aurora rocking out.

Several months ago, I decided I would have to get a guitar for dental school to keep myself busy in the evenings while Emily and Grace were still in Utah. When we had enough to buy one, I started looking around and found this in brand-new condition with a really nice bag being sold by a teenager in Salem, UT for much less than both are worth from the store. Thanks craigslist. Off to go practice "House of the Rising Sun" and "Rivers of Babylon."