Rush Hour In Rural Utah...A Trafficless Existence

 This morning I drove to the great metropolis that is Salt Lake City. I hit the highway at 8am.

The top picture is our rush hour in rural Northern Utah.

The second picture was taken an hour later between Farmington and Centerville. I know it looks like few cars are on the road in the second picture, but it took me several miles up north until I saw as many cars that surrounded me down south.

It took me a while living up north that I realized I never even think about traffic. Not that we went many places when we lived down south, but traffic was a constant consideration whenever we needed to go anywhere. During the day--usually not a problem. Need to go to Layton at 5pm? Might as well wait a couple of hours. Now, traffic is an afterthought. 

Living among so few is an adjustment. Our neighbors have accepted a trafficless existence. The problem is, it's not going to last. More and more are moving here all the time (like us...). Soon, the locals will be remembering the time when they never took traffic into consideration when traveling to Brigham City, or Logan, or Ogden.

We know those days are numbered. For now, I'm enjoying the uncluttered roads.

Who Knew Puzzles Had Accessories...?

 Over the summer we scored a couple of items at yard sales--both having to do with puzzles--both were made to make the puzzle-putting-together-process easier.

They're both great.

A few weeks ago, we decided to honor Labor Day by putting together a puzzle, Eric Dowdle's North Shore. Great puzzle. Since this was the first puzzle we attempted after finding these puzzle accessories, we thought we'd try them out., Here are my grades of both items.

Roll & Stow

I wasn't sure about this one. It's a large piece of felt with some white stickers shaped like a large puzzle piece stuck in each corner. I thought the felt piece was too small. And, I suppose when working larger puzzles it will be too small, but for our 1000 piece Dowdle, it was perfect. The Roll & Stow comes with the felt and large cardboard tubes. Once you finish the puzzle (or if you're not completely finished...), you can put the tube over the puzzle, then just roll it up and stow it away. We didn't try the Roll & Stow until we finished the puzzle. We rolled it up and could have stowed it away if we wanted to.

Rating: A+

Sort & Go

My wife picked up the box at a yard sale. The yard sale organizer told my wife that the product was amazing and they were only selling the one because they had two. Of the two accessories, I thought this was was more practical. You can sort the puzzle pieces into six trays and if you want to take a break and put the unfinished puzzle away in the stackable tray, just stack up the trays and you're good. The trays prevent having a big pile of puzzle pieces containing even the smallest fleck of blue on the table waiting for the family dog to come along and eat a piece or two. Those who put the puzzle together used the trays and liked them.

Grade A

I was unaware of these accessories. I'm unaware of a lot of things that are available out there. But, if you're a puzzler and you don't know these exist, you ought to try them out. Hopefully, you'll agree with me and like them both.

Oh, Arcade...Where Have You Gone?

 

My side gig takes place near a location where I spent countless hours as a kid. Almost every summer day my friends and I would go to the Lagoon pool, swim for a few hours, then walk around the park. We'd inevitably find ourselves at the Lagoon Arcade. I think it was called the Penny Arcade.

It's been called many things since it was built decades ago.

I believe it was first built as a dance hall. There's even the old wooden floor. Can't say for certain, but I think much of the wooden floor might be original where teenagers and parents danced the night away to first big bands, then rock and roll legends. 

Then again, since I know nothing of how long a wood floor lasts, I might be way off.

As a kid, we'd check out the pinball games. We'd check to see if any adult had played a pinball game, earned a credit or two, but left not knowing (or caring...) they had a free game. Finding a credit on a video game was golden, mostly because we had no money to play games ourselves. All three sides of that huge space were lined with nothing but pinball games.

As we grew, the arcade evolved. Video games came into their own and transformed the arcade into a palace of electric entertainment. We were older and had some money at that point. We'd even play a game or two.

The modern arcade turned into a place to earn points to buy stuff, stuff I don't care much about. There's no Asteroids or even Mortal Combat. Why have those games when much more impressive and challenging games are found on everyone's phone?

Still, I miss Tron and Missile Command and Galaga and Dig Dug and Centipede Dragon's Liar Pac Man Donkey Kong and Frogger and Zaxxon and Tempest and Joust and Journey and dozens more.

Maybe it's just a miss my youth. Still, looking at the space I once loved, I can't help but feel bad for how far it's fallen. Too bad...those were great times.

Give Thanks...For "Grand Teton" By Andrew Fowler

 They sat us in the basement--must be because of the reservations we made days earlier. Without the reservations, it would have taken a long time to get into Herms Restaurant in Logan, Utah.

Oh, the food was definitely worth it.

As we waited for our food, because of where I was sitting, I spotted a painting on the wall, and because I had seen those mountains from that vantage point many many times in my life, I knew immediately, the painting was of the Teton mountain range...

And I knew it a view from the Idaho side.

Personally, I like the Idaho side of the Tetons better. It's probably because my grandfather and my mother and my cousin's kids grew up with that very view in their east windows. I've seen that view hundreds of times visiting the homestead that was built in 1906 and remains in the family still today.

I don't have anything against the Wyoming side of the Tetons per se. I think the Idaho side has more personality. The Wyoming side looks like a huge knife with a jagged edge, the Grand Teton being the highest of those edges. The Idaho side offers something different. Even Table Rock is unique.

I don't know Andrew Fowler--never heard of him, actually. Several of his paintings hung in the basement of Herms Restaurant and they were for sale. I checked out his Instagram account, you can access it by clicking: HERE. I like his style, and I especially love the painting he did of the Grand Teton.

I'm glad I recognized the mountain. I'm glad it was accompanied with so many incredible memories, memories of family mostly, of cool summers, of knowing I was loved and valued by parents, grandparents, cousins, and those who had passed on.

I'm also grateful Andrew Fowler used his talents to create the image that hung for sale in a Logan Utah restaurant.

Rules For Diving Into Donuts...The Pie Dump

 We have family visiting, which means, among other things, we've been eating out..

A lot.

There's a local eatery called The Pie Dump that we just had to take our out-of-town family to--they had to experience it. Yesterday I posted a picture of my daughter and a sweet role she bought. It was, in a word, huge. 

I noticed something as we left. On the wall were the rules of a contest...an eating contest...a contest that is called...

Diving Into Donuts.

Here are the rules:

The participant must give us permission to take photos and videos and post them on our Facebook page.

Challenger buys 6 doughnuts.

Challenger has employee or owner set timer.

Challenger gobbles doughnuts as quickly as possible.

If the challenger has time quicker than pervious WINNER their name is added to the top of the winner board and money is refunded.

I'm not a big eater, but I have respect for those who are. I don't know either Bryan McLaughlin or Tytan Allred, but I salute you both.

Maybe my kids will one day take the dive. Maybe not. It's fun to see a small local diner have some fun.

I Mean, I Know It's True, But...

 I saw this posted on social media last night.

It made me laugh.

Funny, there's so much "information" out there. I'm sure there's a similar story out there about how this is not true, how the opposite is true. To be honest, I have no idea if the headline reveals truth or not. I have no idea to prove...

Left-handed people are the smartest.

Scientists have no doubt studied this topic for as long as there have been left-handed people. Are they really smarter than non-left-handed people. Being left-handed myself, I must agree. And since my mother-in-law and son are both left-handed, I'm sure they will agree, too.

I really don't think much about being left-handed. I've never found it to be a hinderance or an inconvenience. Even using right-handed scissors...since there were never enough of those green-handled once in elementary school, I adapted and used the right-handed ones. I trained my left hand to adjust and pull instead of push. The paper gets cut. No problem.

I've read other papers that say left-handed people have shorter lifespans due to their "disability." Do I believe that? I'm sure they have facts and proof to support their conclusion. I haven't worried about it. Maybe it's true...maybe it's not.

Then again, do they have shorter lives because they're smarter?

Now, that's an interesting thought.

Some left-handed person should look into it.

Turning Apples Into Apple Crumble...Delicious

 Last year we planted a couple fruit trees...one apricot, one nectarine, and an apple. We missed out on the nectarines this summer, the apricot harvest was subpar, but the apples...they were the last to ripen. 

And boy, are they good!

Our little tree was so overburdened with apples, it was sagging, working tirelessly to provide delicious food for the family that planted the tree, watered it, and kept it safe. I only picked about 2/3 of the fruit so make Apple Crumble.

My wife had never before made that particular dessert. She hit it out of the park on her first try. The picture does not do it justice. 

It's strange to be able to grow our own fruit. I don't know why. I guess because we--as have almost everyone--are no longer tied to the land as our ancestors were. They literally had to grow enough food to survive. That kind of incentive is hard to beat. I'm sure kids complained back then about weeding the garden, watering the crops, and everything that comes with growing food, but I'm sure they understood better than people do today how important it was to put in the hard work.

When the last apples are picked (and hopefully used for more crumble...), the year's harvest will have come to an end. We can then look forward to what our little trees do next year. We hope for nectarines and more apricots, but if the apple yield is the same, I won't complain.