Since We're Moving...We're Having A Yard Sale!

You know how you do an internet search for something, like "Hot Tubs" and the next thing you know, you get ad after ad on every social media site you visit for hot tubs?

Well, turns out the same thing happens when you put your house on the market. The "Moving?" mail just never ends.

We are moving. Our house is under contract and we've found a house up north, Tremonton, to be more specific. My family and I moved on our street in 1970, fifty years ago. One by one, everyone's left, and now, we're the last Taylors to live on a street that was just a dirt road when we first arrived.

Fifty years, half a century.

First, my father left. Well, he didn't leave, so much as he died, and only four years after we moved there. He never saw the dream house he designed and built be finished. My sister and brother moved next, left for college, then got married. Then, my family moved into the basement where I grew up and we stayed there for six years. Once our house was finished, we moved across the street. 

That was seventeen years ago.

Next, my mother joined my father and passed away in 2007. We alone remained.

Until now.

This Friday and Saturday, we're having a yard sale. It'll start around 8am and go until around 2pm both days. It's going to be sort of a strange yard sale. We've got a lot of bookshelves, and I mean a lot. We don't have many clothes (yard sale killers...), but we have furniture, books, household items, and even a chest full of antique model trains and train tracks. And, we've got a huge entertainment center. You know you want/need that.

If you're in the area, check out the sale. You can get location information from our house listing site by clicking: HERE. Even if you don't need bookshelves, furniture, some clothes, books, household items, and antique trains (I'm not mentioning the entertainment center, because you need that...), and just want to say "hi" and "good-bye," stop on by. We'd love to see you.

Thanks in advance, and have a wonderful evening.

Thanks Physics...And My Mom For Saving Us A Lot Of Time And Trouble

We're cleaning out our basement. That's a big task normally--lots of packing and moving of boxes, that is after you've sorted out things you want to keep and thing you don't.

Which brings me to two huge plastic water barrels.

We wanted to keep the barrels, but not the water.

I remember filling them up. We snaked a hose through a basement window and turned on the water, but we couldn't do that to empty them--water doesn't run uphill...

Unless you apply physics.

I remember growing up when we irrigated our garden and trees by siphoning water from a ditch. The ditch was behind our house and most of what we watered as downhill, so no problem. But, we had cherry trees that were several feet above the driveway. As a kid I knew water would reach the driveway, but how would it go up to water the trees? My mom explained the concept of siphoning. 

As long as the water source is higher than where it empties, and there's no air in the tube/hose, the water will drain, even if the tube/hose goes higher than the source. I was counting on this concept to work in order to drain the 100 gallons of water we needed gone.

I filled up a hose, made sure the draining end was lower than the barrels, and shoved the end into the barrel. I checked the exit and we had draining water.

Success!

I could have repeated the process for the second barrel, but instead we used a pump to pump water from the first barrel into the second and had both barrels siphon away.

It was fun remembering something my mother taught me to help us out.

It's Like A Sky From A Video Game...That Hasn't Finished Downloading

It was my son that said it best. "The skies look like they're from a video game and they haven't finished downloading."

He's completely right.

Every summer, we got these skies. It's fire season, after all. The smoke from fires from far away states join us in our little valley. Many of my friends have posted similar pictures on social media--when you can stare at the sun without frying your eyeballs, it's definitely picture-worthy.

Tonight, we're supposed to have hurricane-strength winds where we live. Hopefully, they'll blow all this gunk away. The air will be cleaner, for a few days at least. Until the next round of fires, anyway.

Question--if the wind takes the smoke away, where does it go...Nebraska?

What we really need is a couple of days of rain, rain to put out the fires, rain to clean the air. Water is a natural cleanser, perhaps the best here is.

So, if the sky hadn't finished downloading, maybe "download" means something wet.

We can only pray it does.

Well, #RunChat...Pretty Much Everything

Tonight I was doing a little Twitter browsing (the world's a much better place when I don't...), and I came across a tweet that posed a simple (yet, not...) question.

"What aspect of your running right now needs to the most improvement?"

Oh, #RunChat, if you only knew.

There are so many excuses to not run. The list is almost endless. Time, equipment, an ever-aging and aching body...you name it. Plus, where I live, there's long hill I'd have to climb at the end of my run and that's not something I look forward to. Of course, I could get in my car and got to a park to exercise. But, that requires more work and time.

And during this time of year, I'm sorry but I'm not going outside more than absolutely necessary when it's 100º or warmer--nope.

I could just start by walking. Walking is better than not walking, but the old excuses come into play again. I suppose the biggest excuse and the aspect that needs to the most improvement for me is attitude. Attitude is keeping me from getting off my tail end. Attitude prevents me from getting up early to avoid the heat, it stops me from leaving the house in running gear, it prevents me from running.

Tomorrow begins a new week. We're also in a new month. The days are getting cooler, and other excuses currently in place will change. So, will I begin running again?

Time will tell.

Good-Bye...To A Prince Of A Man

I saw a post from a family member a day or so ago; that's when I found out. And even though it wasn't unexpected, it's still a shock when the news is confirmed. You can link to the Salt Lake Tribune article: HERE.

I first met Peter Freed when I was sixteen years old, but his influence affected my life for years. We moved to Farmington in 1970 and soon, we were going to Lagoon almost daily in the summer, every day, except Sunday, that is. My family bought a pool pass--it was around $35 for the whole family for the whole summer.

And we went every day, every year, for years.

When I was sixteen I was hired as a groundkeeper and we cleaned the park--a great job for a teenager because we had to clock-in at 4am. You save money when you have to go to bed around 9pm in the summer. It wasn't until I began working in the entertainment department that I really appreciated Peter.

Lagoon's an interesting place and when you work there off-and-on since 1982, you see trends, you see behind the scenes. Most patrons go to Lagoon for the rides. The games, and food are bonuses. But, for a chosen few, it was the park's entertainment that drew them, especially the locals. They would go to every "Music USA" performance, or Countryside, or to see the Lagoon All-Star Band. And from what I understand, Peter played a huge part in the creation of those shows. Because of his influence, entertainment is a central part of the park to this day.

Peter was a quiet man, a reserved person. He was not loud or bombastic. He watched the patrons from his little office window near the park's entrance, and he came to see as many shows as he could, always from the back, always allowing others the better seats, the better views. You could tell he loved the shows, loved watching people enjoy themselves.

I'm sure there are amazing stories of the man before he and his brothers took a risk on an amusement park in a small Utah town. And, I'm sure if I heard about them and the part he played in the military and in other business dealings, I'm sure I'd learn of the same quiet man, someone who seemed to always want others to Have Fun.

Peter was one of the good guys, and I'm glad I knew him.

Decisions...

We took the family to a local eatery last week. Looking at those waiting in line, I snapped a picture and put in on Instagram. 

I thought it turned out great.

I blurred everyone but my son. He's staring at the menu wondering what he wanted to eat. This may have been the first time he ever ate there--maybe you can see it on his face. The good news is he found something he liked. Things turned out well.

I don't post a lot of pictures on Instagram...only a few this year. If you happen to follow me, you'll see this is true (my Instagram handle is: Hyggeman, if you're interested in following...). I like Instagram and follow many of my friends. I'm sure I could get more people following my account if I posted more.

Getting followers was something I used to pursue. Not so much anymore. I figure if others are interested, they make those decisions for themselves. I have friends who can number their Instagram followers in the tens of thousands. Good for them, I say. But, they have to work hard for those numbers (either that, or they are extremely good looking and people like to see as much of them as possible...). So, that's not really an option for me.

Yes, my son had decisions to make. I decide if/when I'll post any pictures on this particular social media site, and everyone out there decides what they're going to do with their time.

Decisions all the way around.

What Might Have Been...

So, if the world had not been shut down, I would most likely be either watching a DVR-d game of a Utah win, or deleting the recording. I'd either be a happy fan, or hopefully bummed but respectful of a quality opponent. 

But, as it stands, I'm neither.

I'm numb...

And considering what might have been.

Decisions have been made by those who feel they are doing what's best. I'm not going to argue the decision, mostly because it doesn't matter what I think. It won't change things or make a canceled game suddenly appear. No, the score will not be in the history books, players will not become heroes or anti-heroes, and parents and fans will not be able to brag or suffer.

The funny thing is, I probably wouldn't have even watched tonight's game live. It's been a system of mine for the past couple of years. I'll DVR a game and either watch it if it's a win, or delete it if it's not. It saves time and I find I'm a much calmer and well-adjusted person by doing things that way. Two years ago, I was forced to watch the game live--because I was actually in Rice-Eccles Stadium on a very cold November evening when Utah rallied and beat BYU in the final minutes--one of the greatest games I've ever seen, live or otherwise.

Every Utah fan (it seems...) believes tonight the Utes would be celebrating their tenth win in a row. Fans for BYU feel differently. Personally, I'm not sure #10 is such a given. The biggest disappointment is we'll never know what would have happened tonight, other than one fan base would be happy, the other not.

What might have been.