Woodpress

We had a tree removed yesterday, by the skilled and and friendly Dave “E” Tree. Here’s a long-exposure picture of my kids climbing on the wood. (We’re keeping the wood–my wife wants a fire pit where the tree used to be.)

We had the stump removed today. Unfortunately, during stump removal the Utopia fiber line to our house was cut. As far as I know, there wasn’t really any way to avoid it–we didn’t know (or didn’t remember) it was running under the ground by the tree, and neither did the tree guy. Still, he is planning to pay for the repair work (which is fortunately going to be pretty inexpensive if the Utopia guys were correct).

The Utopia repair guys were here a few hours after the line was cut, but didn’t have enough conduit to fix it, so they’ll be back tomorrow. That’s pretty quick turnaround!

Recently I learned that Verizon Wireless had re-priced their Internet plans to be very reasonable, so I’m using my mobile phone for Internet right now.

Update: We’re back online. Total downtime was a little over 31 hours. Good job, Utopia!

Today on the way to work, we stopped at the fedex office so Shaun (my ride) could drop off a package. While he went in and took care of that, I got out of the car and took some pictures of Timpanogos (including this one).

I went back to the car, and while I was putting away the camera someone came over and said “can I help you?” I said “no thank you,” pulled my bottle of water out of the car, then stood there and drank it. I figured he thought I might be rummaging through the car trying to steal something, and that would put him at ease.

He walked away (pretending to do something around the corner, I think), then when he came back past me I said “thanks for looking out for the car.” He smiled at me and went back inside.

When Shaun got back, he informed me that there had been a minor panic. “There’s a guy outside taking pictures!!!” While the guy was outside “helping” me, Shaun told them I was with him, and that I take pictures every day. I had mentioned that morning how nice Timp looked.

When the guy got back inside, the person behind the counter pointed at Shaun and said “he fessed up… that guy’s with him.”

People are really scared of cameras! I suspect if I’d had a pocket camera instead of a big black beast, they wouldn’t have freaked out… but if I’d been up to no good, that’s just what I would’ve used!

Anyway… if you want to rob the fedex office, this photo is for you.

My youngest child just turned 6. She had a Princess-themed birthday party. I took this picture just before the party:

We tried an experiment with an egg. I knew that if you put an egg in vinegar, the shell would dissolve, leaving a rubbery membrane… but my kids didn’t know that, and I had never tried it personally.

I like pickled eggs (boiled and peeled eggs soaked in brine), so I thought this might be an interesting way to make them. I also figured it would be easier to peel them if the shell was just a thin soft film… so we gave it a shot!

1. Egg in Cup of Vinegar

2. Post-Vinegar Egg

3. Egg in Pot

4. Boiling Egg

5. Boiled Egg

6. Post-Vinegar Boiled Peeled Half-Eaten Egg

The results…

It was indeed easier to peel. Once I broke the membrane, the egg just squeezed out.

The vinegar that soaked into the egg prevented it from solidifying as much as a normal boiled egg, leaving it goopy on the outside.

It tasted EXTREMELY bitter. Far more than just the sourness you would get from vinegar. The shell must have dissolved into the egg. I found the flavor of the white part unpleasant, even with salt–and I tend to like strong flavors. The texture wasn’t very appealing either. The yolk didn’t taste quite as bitter as the white, but it was fairly nasty, and not something I am likely to eat a second time on purpose.

Last night we went bowling. My oldest daughter has a high school P.E. class, and for her grade she has to bowl two games with an average score higher than 100.

We spent $70 on bowling, but didn’t manage to get the required score. I disapprove of that grading system, but I enjoyed bowling with my family. I intend to talk to the teacher about the possibility of an alternate assignment.

After bowling, we went to IHOP. Here’s a picture of my son drinking through an IHOP crazy straw.

For my birthday, my mother-in-law gave me a crystal globe.

My dad, Allen Thrower, died yesterday peacefully at home in his sleep. He was 73 years old.

He wrote many stories about his life, which I have begun to post on his posthumous blog at allenthrower.com. There’s also a page about Allen Thrower for anyone interested.

I took these photos on a walk with my kids today.

My instructions for this photo were "go stand by that fence." (No, he’s not actually beating her with a bottle of water in a sock, but that was the effect he was going for.)

Mum’s the word (because I can’t spell chrysanthemum).

Eureka! Eureka! Eureka! Eureka! Eureka! Eureka!

I’d allow them to run ahead to the next corner while I went at my own speed and took pictures. They got bored while waiting at this corner. This is just a candid photo.

This is my youngest daughter. It looks like she’s completely shocked by something in the sky, but really she’s pointing at a stop sign that she sounded out, saying "STOP!"