KEEPING BUSY

I have been looking for a part time job for the past 6 months or so, ever since I felt like we were really settled into our house and there was nothing left for me to do.

I have applied for a number of jobs, mostly dog related. For some reason I was never motivated to start my dog walking business back up here in Park City.  Although it is a gorgeous place to go out and hike, the off-leash laws are much more stringent here, and they have far fewer off-leash dog parks. They also have a lot more predators.

The bears and mountain lions we had in Washington,  I would frequently notice their scat around Tiger mountain. They tended to be nocturnal and shy around people. So seeing signs of those when I'm hiking around here don't freak me out too much. The major concern around here with dogs are the moose. Moose aren't afraid of anything, and will make themselves at home pretty much anywhere. They have a very short temper and are totally unpredictable. They especially hate barking dogs getting in their face and will trample them to death. They will charge just about anything which annoys them, which is just about anything on any given day. In the spring you have to extra careful of the mama moose with young being aggressive, and in the fall the bull moose are flat out crazy because it is rutting season.

I applied for jobs at doggie daycare places, and even got hired at a local rescue ranch working in its adoption center.  After 1 day I decided it wasn't for me. There is such a high turnover of animals, being rescued and then being adopted that there really is no time to develop relationships with the animals. Good news for the animals, but bad news for me. Also because the animas were there such a short time, no training was being done, so a lot of the animals had bad habits and weren't that pleasant to be around. Pretty much all I was doing was cleaning kennels and litter boxes and feeding. And doing laundry.  Lots and lots of laundry. I did, however come home with 2 kittens I adopted from the shelter.

So I started looking around for other things I might enjoy. The Utah Olympic Park- the venue for the ski jumping and bobsled events from the winter Olympics is very close to our house. I thought it would be fun to be a docent at the museum, or work in the gift shop at the park, so I submitted an application.

Within a few days I received a call from the chef at the café at the park wondering if I would consider working in the café, although I hadn't applied for a food service job. After meeting him for an interview, I was intrigued.  However, I have never in my life worked in food service, so I had no idea what I was getting into. So we agreed I would give it a try for 2 weeks to see if I liked it. I have decided I do! It is fun! We haven't really gotten into the busy season yet of summer, so I may regret my decision when we are swamped with customers. But for now it is a hoot!

BIRDS OF A FEATHER 5

Now with spring officially here in the high country (7000 feet), my bird feeders have been abuzz with activity. Lots of baby birds following mom to the feeder to perch on a branch fluffing their feathers and demanding mom to feed them.

The red-tailed hawk nesting in the evergreen tree on the golf course is still vigilantly sitting her nest- although I think her eggs have hatched because she spends more time perched on the side of the nest, bobbing her head down into the nest like she is feeding babies. The nest is so deep, I won't be able to see the hatchlings until the are ready to fly.

I have had some new visitors to my feeders-

Although I have lots of sparrows as shown above, I have been seeing a new variation lately- the White -Crowned Sparrow.

Just yesterday for the first time we had a Western Tanager visit the feeder and he was back this morning as well- such a gorgeous bird!

Spring is for lovers- bird lovers, that is!

SPRING IN MY STEP

This is my first Utah spring and I am impressed with how green everything has become in such a short amount of time.  It seems that we go from snow on the ground straight to daffodils. I assumed that when you have this much snow, there would be a period of melt where everything is wet and muddy.  Not so, at least not here in Park City. Maybe because the climate is so dry, but the snow literally seems to evaporate rather than melt.

The golf course was actually green underneath as the snow receded. Our lawn was a different story, it was brown when the snow left, but not for long- only a week or so.  The hillsides were the last thing to green up, but they, too, have come around.

Lots of tulips are showing their sweet faces in the neighborhood which amazes me.  In Bellevue, I could NEVER keep my tulips safe from the deer. While we have so much more wildlife here, the tulips are untouched. Blows my mind.

I knew leaving Bellevue I would miss the Thundercloud Plum tree we planted in our yard when Rachel was about 7, as well as those throughout the neighborhood. But, behold, we have blooming trees in our yard here- not sure the variety, but they are lovely!

It is one long discovery process to see what is growing in our yard, as things sprout up left and right. I asked a friend in our ward that gardens, to come over and do a walk-through of our yard to tell me what plants were ornamentals and what were weeds- kinda like the wheat and the tares!

I am pleased to report that I have day lilies, lupines, Shasta Daisies, Peonies, oriental poppies, iris, daffodils, hyacinths and some thornless canes that really look like raspberry plants. Many of those plants were in my sizeable garden in Bellevue that I had planted and nurtured for 25+ years and was very sad to leave. What a joy to find them here! I am just missing the roses and dahlias that I had at home.

Oh there is no lilac bush here- gotta have a lilac!

DOG SHOW MANIA

I love dog shows.  I love dogs, and I love dog people. What better place to be surrounded by both?

Last week I attended the Utah Valley Kennel Club's dog show held at an equestrian center in South Jordan.

I heard about the show from one of the doctors that Chuck calls on professionally. He would be there showing one of his own dogs.

Behind me the judging of the Bernese Mountain Dog class is taking place- My favorite breed of dog, with Golden Retrievers being a close second. Naturally the judge and I didn't agree who should win, but that is part of the adventure.

I feel most like myself when I am surrounded by kids, dogs or flowers.

ARCHES

Southern Utah, east or west has gorgeous scenery and lots of interesting places to explore. Chuck and I spent Monday in Moab, and more particularly Arches National Park.

Some of the rock formations made from sandstone were so fascinating......

To me, this one looked like Nefertiti.

This is balancing rock, for obvious reasons.

This is known as the "Three Gossips"

Although we were told that geologic arches are rare, Arches National Park has over 200 of them. We hiked out to a number of them, hiking over 8 miles that day.

I forgot the name of this one.

This is "Landscape Arch". The public was allowed to walk underneath it until 1991 when a large slab broke off and fell to the ground, narrowly missing about 6 people who were standing underneath. Now this is as close as you can get.

This is the famous "Delicate Arch", the image of which has come to represent southern Utah. It even appears on the Utah License plate.

That is Chuck standing underneath it. You are able to walk right up to, and under this arch, although the terrain behind it drops off very sharply.

Until a couple of years ago people were allowed to climb it. That ended when rock climbers got to the top and dropped ropes over the side that were tied around the top and jumped off making it a giant swing. Someone miscalculated the depth of the drop and a girl jumped off tied to the rope and hit the ground and died. 

Chuck got fancy and risked his life by walking to the rear of the arch to catch the setting sun shining through.

Petrified sand dunes- you can see where the sand was swirled by the wind and then solidified.

The weather was pretty volatile that day. At times roads in the park were closed due to flooding. The resulting clouds were gorgeous....

this one looked like an atomic mushroom cloud

The scenery was mind-blowing every where you looked.

FAMILY (or should I say couple) UPDATE

It has been such a busy week, I hardly know where to start!  I have lots of photos to share, but will do that when I have more time to share activities.

Monday, Chuck took a vacation day and we headed south to Moab. Neither of us had ever been there before, but have been impressed with southwestern Utah and our trip to Zion National Park, so we thought we would give southeastern Utah a try.

Moab, itself, is a cute little town with lots of activities to offer- hiking, biking, off-roading, white water rafting and paddle boarding, to name a few. This trip south was all about going to Arches National Park. This year is the 100th anniversary of the forming of the National Parks, and we hope to explore quite a few this year.

A major bonus of being old- at age 62 and older you can buy a lifetime pass to all the National Parks for only $10. I am serious about the lifetime part- the pass expires when you do. Another perk is that if you bring a senior with that pass to the park you get in free as well! That has to be the best deal in America.

Wednesday, Chuck and I went to Welfare Square in Salt Lake to fulfill a ward cannery assignment. I felt like old episode of "I Love Lucy", where Lucy and Ethel are trying to package the chocolates coming at them down the conveyor belt much to fast- only I was trying to screw lids on jars of spaghetti sauce as they were flying past.

Friday, I headed down to South Jordan to attend the Utah Valley Kennel Club Dog Show. I love dogs and dog people and a dog show is the perfect placed to be immersed in both.

I have started a new job here in Park City. I am a "Local Childcare Consultant" with a company called Cultural Care. This company recruits foreign Au Pairs to come to the US and provide childcare for American families.  My job is to be the liaison between the foreign Au Pairs and the host families. Amazingly, currently there are 22 au pairs affiliated with this one company working here in Park City, which is a dinky little town! It will be my job to screen potential host families, and then once they are matched with an au pair I will help with being a resource for both family and au pair to help things run smoothly. I plan monthly activities for the au pairs to get together and socialize as well as training meetings on child safety issues (water safety, accidental poisonings, proper use of child car seats, etc.). I might actually get to use my degree in French as the largest percentage of au pairs come from western Europe!

Chuck and I are starting to feel rooted here in Utah. We have both officially gotten Utah license plates for our cars and Utah driver's licenses (an open-book test, btw).

We both have callings in church- Chuck is the High Priest Group Leader and I teach the 12-13 year old class in Sunday School. We have spoken in church and have already had our turn to clean the building.
We have visiting and home teaching routes that have allowed us to meet interesting people, and our Home teachers and my visiting teachers have been in our home frequently. There is a very fun "empty nester's" group that gets together for fun activities about every quarter. We are feeling very incorporated into this ward. It is a good place to be as we get back to being a couple, making new friends and facing new challenges together.

GRANDMA DUTY

Becca bought 2 tickets to go see NEWSIES at the Paramount Theater to celebrate her birthday, and invited her sister Rachel to come to Bellevue for a girls weekend.

Rachel drove to our house on Friday to leave the 3 grandkids with us while she flew out of SLC to go see Becca. Then flew back in today, stopped long enough to have dinner at our house, grabbed her kids and hit the road for the 3+ hour drive home.

Chuck and I had a crazy busy time chasing around a 5 year old, 4 year old and 18month old toddler. They were great! Well behaved and helpful to me and their sibs.

The weather wasn't that wonderful, so other than a little bike riding and a walk on the golf course we mostly stayed inside.

Grandma's jetted tub was a big hit. Little toy boats, some sponge sea monsters and warm water kept everyone happy.

Chuck's gym downstairs helped Douglas get the wiggles out.

While playing dress-up was more Evelyn's taste.

It was a great weekend- but now I need a nap......