Hiking at the Garden

An Apostle Speaks at Airforce Academy Chapel

I had the privilege of attending an event at the U.S. Air force Academy Chapel. President Dieter F. Uchtdorf spoke to the graduating cadets that were of our religion. The cadets sang a couple of songs before he spoke. My friend that attends a singles ward told me of an experience that her friend had. He was a cadet and was asked to take President Uchtdorf on a tour of the academy. A bunch of fellow cadets asked him why he was dressed in his whites that day. He was having a hard time explaining who exactly President Uchtodorf was and what he meant to the members of his church. Another cadet explained it very well to everyone. He asked if they knew who Peter, James, and John were in the New Testament. They said that they did know who they were. He said, "Well, President Uchtdorf would be "John"." The other cadets then understood very well what position in our church President Uchdorf held.

The story that President Uchtdorf told to the cadets was an experience that his wife had when she was young and lived in post war Germany. Her mother was pulling her along in a red wagon. They came upon an American Soldier. Sister Uchtdorf was really taken with this soldier especially after he bent over and gave her a piece of chewing gum. She had never had chewing gum before or even knew what it was. She put it in her mouth and chewed, and chewed, and chewed. She finally asked her mother what in the world it was she was chewing, and her mother tried to explain it to her. After chewing it for quite sometime, she took it out, wrapped it up, and saved it to chew some more later. Needless to say, this soldier left a positive and lasting impression on her. Some time later, some missionaries knocked on their door. This was after her father had died. Sister Uchtdorf answered the door and immediately remembered the soldier that had given her the gum because these missionaries reminded her of the soldier. She ran and told her mother that some missionaries were at the door. Her mother told her to send them away. She went back to the door then went back to her mother. She said, "but Mom they are really really nice". He mother said, "Okay, well invite them in then." Needless to say they were baptised and now she is married to "John" or an Apostle of the Lord. President Uchtdorf told this story to remind the cadets that they too can make a lasting impression on people that they come in contact with all over the world and they should be kind and set the best example that they can.

For me, it was well worth attending this meeting to hear an Apostle of the Lord in person and feel of the spirit that he carries with him. It is an experience that has made a lasting impression on me. I'm glad that I was able to attend.

Ute Valley Park

We were going hiking with a friend today. Unfortunately, he had to help another friend of mine move. By the time he was done, he was to exhausted to go hiking. The dog and I decided that we would not let that hamper our hiking plans on such a beautiful January day of 43 degrees and not a cloud in sight. We decided on Ute Valley Park. We quickly discovered that there were lots of people including bikers that were taking advantage of the nice weather. We purposely walked right past the trail that led back up to the way we came and decided to walk farther. I never bothered to look at a map of the park and didn't even know what the main trails were. We got off on a side trail and quickly discovered that there were no other hikers around anymore. I looked down in the sand and snow and noticed that there were no shoe, dog, or bike prints. We walked a little further and I quickly noticed some very big paw prints with huge claws in the prints. I surmised that those were much bigger then any dog I had even seen. We decided that those very well could be bobcat or mountain lion prints. I reminded myself that the bears would be hibernating this time of year. We came upon another side trail that seemed better then the one we were on. I noticed dog prints and shoe prints and felt much better. We followed this trail because it was going in the direction that we wanted to go. This trail led us down to a creek bed that was frozen over. I decided to keep the dog on his leash. I didn't want him to sniff out a snoozing bobcat or mountain lion or a hibernating bear. I usually let him off his leash when we go through trees or steep parts but not today. The trail went right onto a frozen creek bed. We slipped and slided our way up the creek stepping up icy little waterfalls. At one point, I could hear the water running under the ice and could hear the ice cracking. I didn't worry too much, because it would have only been ankle deep if the ice broke. At one point, the dog made it up an icy waterfall. I struggled a bit getting up the ice so he used all of his 41 pounds to pull me up. There were still no people, no dogs, no bikes, no voices, no nothing except the shoe prints and dog prints in the snow. As we were walking down this frozen creek bed, I saw perfect napping spaces for wild animals under these huge rocks. I was relieved that when I looked back into the crevices there was nothing there sleeping. I then saw a cave that went back into and under the rocks. I was almost positive that if I went back in that cave like crevice we would have found a hibernating bear. I was glad that I had decided to keep the dog on his leash. The last thing we needed was him to sniff out a wild animal or a hibernating bear. There was a fairly steep, icy, and narrow spot where the dog scrambled down and was about to pull me down so I threw the leash on down knowing that he would wait for me. There were still shoe and dog prints so we kept following that trail. Finally, we came up and found the main trail. I now knew exactly where we were. We quickly passed a mom and her kids and their big black dog that Aspen had to say hi too. We back tracked and walked for quite some time until we were back at the trail head we started at. We called it a good two hour hike and went home.

Beware of Deer

It was a peaceful Sunday evening in October 2009. I was taking the dog out one final time for the night. It was almost dark. As we went onto the grass, three very friendly looking deer came by. We live near a mountain so there is lots of wildlife that we encounter. We assumed that these were doe's, because they didn't have antlers. There was a bigger one and two smaller ones. A smaller one ran up into the bluff. The bigger one stayed by the bluff. The other smaller one started walking towards us with it's head down. My dog was on his chain. I was holding onto the chain plus the chain was hooked to a wooden post. The dog was not barking but wagging his tail and wondering about this deer that was looking so friendly. I decided that it was really quite unusual behavior for a deer to be walking towards us. They usually run away. I decided that the dog and I would go back into the patio and shut the gate. I started pulling on the chain and moving myself and the dog backwards into the patio area. Without warning, the deer took off on a dead run directly at us and started trying to trample the dog. The bigger deer was standing back by the bluff still and making some snorting noises. The dog started barking and took off running as far as his chain would allow. He had jerked the chain out of my hands but it was still secured to the post. The dog and the deer ran around the corner and were out of my view for about 15 seconds. I ran after the both of them and started yelling at the deer and waving my arms. I grabbed the dogs chain and pulled him back into the patio. I shut the gate and kept watching the deer. It now was looking like it was going to run and jump the fence into the patio. I started banging on the wood and yelling. It finally walked back over to the bigger deer and they ran up onto the bluff. The dog and I were a bit shaken. Now we have never thought much about deer. We usually just leave them alone and they leave us alone. We do, however, think of them much differently now. They are bigger then we are. They weigh a lot more then we do. Their hooves are deadly. When we go out for a walk and run across some deer, we walk way out around them and give them a lot of space. I was concerned that maybe the dog was hit by one of the deers hooves and I was terrified that he was hurt. When I thought about it further, I realized that I never heard the dog yelp so he must have escaped all contact from that deer. The dog is not to fond of being trampled to death, so he doesn't wag his tail at deer anymore. He is perfectly happy to give them their space. If they look like they are getting too close, his communication with them is a growl and lots of barking. Shortly after this happened to us, I heard a story on the news about a lady that wasn't as fortunate as we were. She was actually trying to feed a deer. The deer trampled her and wouldn't stop attacking her until it was shot. Luckily, the lady lived but was seriously injured. People laugh when I tell them I was nearly attacked by a deer but I take it seriously. I asked my oldest son where he was when the deer was attacking us. He said that he thought the dog was just barking at a rabbit and I was scolding the dog for barking. I told him that he could start taking the dog out when it was getting dark.

Nature up Close and Personal

We live fairly close to a mountain and often find wildlife in our own backyard. It was early on a weekday morning. I had to visit our Denver Branch and had to get an early start. At 5:30 a.m. I decided to put the dog outside on his chain so that he could go potty. I left the back door open so that I could keep an eye on him while I put my laptop in its case and got my things together. I heard some magpies (meat eating birds) squaking. They are pretty noisey birds anyways. There must have been 5 or 6 birds squaking. Pretty soon it sounded like they were screaming. I started to worry about the dog and decided that I had better go check on him even though I could see out the back door to where he was at. As I was walking towards the back door, I wondered if those magpies were after my dog because I had never heard them screem like that before. I walked outside and saw a Bobcat sitting about 3 feet from my dog and looking at eating him for breakfast. The dog was facing the opposite direction and didn't even notice the bobcat. He was a little confused by the screaming magpies. I grabbed his chain and pulled him into the house very quickly. I watched the Bobcat. It had very long legs and was much bigger then I pictured a bobcat to be. It must have been twice as big as my 41 pound dog. The bobcat finally decided that it's breakfast was gone so it left. The magpies were screaming, because the bobcat was so close to their nests. My dog owes those magpies his life. Even though the bobcat was looking at eating my dog for breakfast, I must admit it was very majestic looking.

Green Mountain Falls

It was the 4th of July weekend of 2009. The dog and I wanted to find a place where we could hike next to some water. Someone at work told us about Green Mountain Falls. We printed trail information from the Internet and started on our way. It was partly cloudy and very nice. Not too hot. We parked by the lake and walked up some streets to find the trail head. It wasn't very easy to find. There were no signs to point the way. I pulled out my GPS and it got us there. There is no parking by the trail head. By the time you walk from the lake to the trail head you feel like you have already had your hike. There were not many people around and the clouds were getting more ominous. We made it to the trail head and noticed three hikers coming down. As we got closer, we discovered that they were three rough looking males with a dog that could have eaten my dog for lunch. We prayed that they weren't drunk and would not pay any attention to us. They passed by keeping their dog close to them and saying hello. We made it to the first waterfall and decided we had better get back before it started to rain. We picked-up our pace and got back to the road wishing that they had parking closer by. It started to thunder very loudly. My dog is terrified of thunder and started going nuts, barking, running, pulling on his leash, and going in circles. Now the rain was a down pour and we became drenched very quickly. We took refuge under a nice thick pine tree and waited for the down pour to stop. It was too late. The dog and I looked like a pair of drowned rats. The three males and their dog were running down the street more soaked then we were. Soon the down pour turned into a drizzle so we went to the Post Office and sat on the bench outside. Some young adults came and sat by us. They spend the summer in Green Mountain Falls and live in another state back east. They love the summers there even though it had rained every afternoon this summer. We called it an adventure and headed back to the car. Fortunately, I had a towel in the trunk for the dog to sit on. We went home and both took a bath separately of coarse.