A second earthquake hits California. Arizona Bay, here we come!

It sure was a busy weekend. I took Friday off work so we could go to Matt's wedding reception in Lindon on Thursday evening, and we spent the night at Mike & Ali's. We couldn't stay long the next day, since we'd planned on camping with my sister Sam and her family. They just bought a trailer similar to mine, so hopefully we'll all get out more often together.

Traci and I got to the campsite (near Farnham Dome) a couple of hours before Sam and Mark on Friday afternoon, and there were these two black dogs (nearly-adult lab pups) milling around about 1/4-mile away, but no matter how I called or whistled, I couldn't get them to come near our camp. When Sam and Mark showed up, the dogs followed their vehicles right up the road and into camp, and that's where they stayed all weekend. Michael is severely allergic to dogs, so that turned out being a bit of a pain in the ass, but they were pretty well-behaved dogs.

We did some hiking while we were camping--Saturday after breakfast we headed west of camp and placed a geocache, and later that same day a few of us hiked down to a nearby pond. That turned out being quite an experience. The pond was pretty stagnant--no new water was flowing in--so the water was murky and especially muddy near the edges. There were what appeared, at first, to be tadpoles swimming in the shallows, but after I picked one up, I nearly threw it back. It looked more like a miniature horseshoe crab (about an inch or more long), but with a more segmented body and shell. These things were really creepy looking, and there were hundreds of them writhing around in the mud. After playing with them for a few minutes, I walked around to the man-made earthen dam that held all the water in, and I fell into a sinkhole. The water had, apparently quite awhile ago, cut under the dam, but left the top intact. One of my legs fell through crotch-deep, so I landed a little contorted with the rest of my body sprawled out on the ground. Besides a nasty bruise on my knee, I'm alright, but I could have easily broken something.

Congratulations to Ty and Mandi--they had their baby boy just a couple of hours ago! Welcome to parenthood. =)

I got a little bit more done on the playset today, but I had only about 2.5 hours between when I got off work and when it became too dark to work. I didn't do anything at all yesterday--I kept waiting for the rain to stop, but it never did. I figure I've got several more days left until it's finished, but it's coming along quite nicely. It's certainly been a learning experience, and I've enjoyed all the carpentry work--I'm finally getting a lot of use out of my combination square. =)

I finally got a chance to try my new backpack out. I loaded it up with 37 pounds of water in 2-liter bottles and went for a hike to Pioneer Park. It was late Saturday night, and Michael and I were bored, so we both set out to kill some time. It was a pretty short hike, and all that weight didn't seem to bother me--I really need to try hiking a couple of miles to see what I'm really in for. What's funny is that, when I removed the backpack after getting home, my balance was really off and I kept leaning forward and almost falling down. Can't wait to see what the effects are after a real hike.

This would never have happened if only firearms were outlawed in Illinois. Oh wait...nevermind.

Bleh...I haven't felt like updating this site lately, even though I don't have a lack of things to post about. Camping last weekend was so-so...it wasn't as cold as the weekend before, and nowhere near as fun. I placed a geocache while I was up there. I hiked about 4 miles over the course of a few hours, in several directions from camp, before finally finding a place to stash it. The canyon is awesome--the rocks are deeply pitted and eroded--and I'd like to go hiking there again sometime when I get the chance.

On my way home from work today, I got the Taurus up to 105 MPH, so apparently it isn't governed at 100 MPH like I'd previously thought. It even had much more in reserve, but I backed off because a slight curve was coming up and I didn't want to risk getting clocked at the top of Price Canyon, where a UHP trooper is often parked, busily passing the time.

I actually started working on the kids' playset this this week, but I've still got quite a bit left to go. I've spent several hours just cutting all the lumber, and I hope to get a lot of the construction done this weekend. I've also spent a lot of time doing some carpentry work on my trailer--I've added some new storage, and I hope to build a new storage box on the rear bumper soon as well.

I downloaded and installed Firefox Preview Release 0.10 today, and it worked fine for awhile, but lately it hasn't been loading images like it should. It'll load some smaller images, but it won't display the larger ones. I haven't tried closing it out and restarting it or rebooting my machine, but if that doesn't work, I'll either have to revert to an earlier version or use IE until they fix the problem.

I bought a lantern and stove today, but I've been mulling over the decision about which ones to buy for more than a month now. I went with butane/propane fuel, just because of the small size of the fuel canisters. Propane was the other choice that I was considering, but for some reason the propane stove cost $25 more than the butane/propane, even though the lanterns were about the same price. I never even considered liquid fuel models--I can't stand having to deal with leaks and spills, especially in my backpack where all my food is. The only drawback to butane/propane is the cost of the fuel cylinders. They're nearly $4, whereas a propane cylinder twice the size is under $2. I sure hope I stick with this, but that's just like me not to--I often spend a lot of money on hobbies that I grow tired of quickly.

With all the media attention Nutty Putty Cave has been getting lately, my cave site has been getting quite a few hits, so I've started a sort-of blog there. I've also added some GPS coordinates and pictures, and I added a comments link just like I did for the poll a while back.

We're going camping at Bear Creek Campground again this weekend. It was such a nice place that we'll probably camp there a couple more times this year, though it's probably not the best summer camping spot due to its low elevation. We're going to camp closer to Huntington Creek this time, rather than near the highway, just for a change of scenery. The campground is so large (compared to most of the Forest Service campgrounds further up the canyon) that there are several different "areas" to camp in, and each one has a different look and feel. The timber is much thicker towards the creek, and there's a lot more brush, plus there's a bridge crossing the creek and a trail that I'll have to follow.

There's also a waterfall, shown on the topo map of the area, about two miles up Bear Creek Canyon. I might hike up there if I get the chance, but only if Traci has somebody to keep her company with the kids back at camp. Her parents aren't sure whether or not they're coming, but if they're not, I'm sure we'll have a good time anyway, likely with the campground all to ourselves.

The weather couldn't have been more perfect for camping this weekend. In fact, I wish we'd brought along enough food and clothing to stay tonight as well. During the drive over on Friday, my truck was going terribly slow, and I was beginning to think something was wrong with the engine. It took me about 15 miles of driving towards Huntington that it was just a small headwind, but apparently that trailer handles like a barn in the wind.

The campground was nearly empty when we got there, though we were all worried about it being crowded for the Labor Day weekend. My sister and her family showed up a few hours after we got there, just before dark, and it was getting really windy. We didn't have a campfire because of the wind, and it eventually started raining, so we put all our kids to bed and crowded into the trailer for some card games, drinking, and bullshitting.

It's funny, there were signs at the campground entrance prohibiting firearms and alcohol, and I was seriously breaking both of those rules (however, the no firearms rule is technically not valid). The fridge in the trailer wouldn't hold my 5-liter box of wine, so I brought a 32 ounce Powerade bottle full of wine with me. God, I'm such a fucking redneck.

Anyhow, after a somewhat cold and wet night, we had a blazing fire going the next morning which stayed lit almost the entire time until we left this afternoon--I didn't bring nearly enough firewood, so we had to scrounge it from the surrounding empty campsites and elsewhere. Last night was spent around the campfire, roasting marshmallows and popcorn chicken, along with some other juvenile hijinks.

We did most of our cooking outdoors, either over the fire or on the barbecue. The cold weather made the campfire all that more inviting, and the kids seemed to keep themselves busy enough that the adults got a lot of relaxing and socializing done. I told Traci that I want to go camping every weekend for the rest of the year, until she gets sick of it, because I know that I won't. We've only used the heater in the trailer once, but I think it'll get a good workout in the coming months.

I was in Provo for work today, and while I was up there I bought a backpack and sleeping bag for hiking. The only other major purchases I need to make are a stove, lantern, and tent--and probably a case of MREs. Next week, I'm going to load up my new pack with some dead weight and go for a hike, probably up at Price Rec. I've been up the hiking trail there a couple of times, but I don't think I ever followed it to the end. It looks like a pretty easy four-mile hike (on a map, anyway) from there to Ford Ridge and back, but I doubt I'll have enough time to tackle that one.

When I got back into town this afternoon, the air was hazy and smoky to the point that the sunlight that filtered through it was orange. There's a wildfire burning about 30 miles away, and though it's been burning since August 7th, it's finally gotten big enough (and the wind is blowing the right direction) that it's affecting us. There's even been ash falling most of the afternoon, which is kind of eerie. Reminds me of that scene in Dante's Peak.

We're going camping for the weekend with my sister and her family at Bear Creek Campground in Huntington Canyon. I'd never been there before Monday, when we went just to check it out, but it's damned nice. The only thing that sucks is that I took a classified ad out in the paper, trying to sell the Mazda, but we won't be here to answer the phone.