My Tractor Experience This Morning...

This snowy morning at work, there was 6 inches on the ground and my boss asked me to plow up the snow in front of storage units next door with a tractor. Yes! A tractor! I was kind of nervous at first because I never driven a tractor before and the tractor he has is an antique. A 1950 something Massey Ferguson tractor and it runs great! It was well taken care of and really nice. My boss said it is like driving a car with a stick but only 3 speeds. I tried it and it was easy! The snow plow was in the middle and under the tractor, between the front and back tires. My boss and I put chains on the rear tires and there I went! It was actually fun! Even in the 15 degree temperature, I didn't even think about it and was having too much fun that I have to tell everybody. I plowed up the whole driveway and parking space in front of the storage units. I thought I did a good job. Now people can get their storage. A van and truck went there while I plowed and they said thanks. I was out there for an hour and the seat was metal and my butt was freezing and felt numb when I was done. I went straight to the wood stove in our shop and warmed up for 20 minutes before we started working. What a great tractor experience!

Christmas is coming, Daniel is getting Fat!

Holy crap, look at all the presents! They are mostly all Becky's though. Everyday, I see one or two new presents under the tree. I wonder if Santa Claus comes to our house everyday during the two weeks before Christmas instead all of them on Christmas morning. I think he wants to get us(the grownups) done before Christmas Eve so he can have more time to do just the kids on that night. How nice of him. I hope we get a good Christmas this year because I feel like I have been a good boy this year. Working hard at work, being nice to folks, and going to church. It looks like I have been a good boy because look at the big two presents below!

Gee, I wonder what's in there?

Merry Christmas. Sincerely, Dancool.

Snowshoeing in Ephraim Canyon...

Willow Creek

Sadie came with me....Duke got lost down at the bottom, so he went back to the car and waited for us. Such a good dog that he waited for us, not wandering around.

Virgil Ash's Mongolian tent at Willow Creek trail. Too bad he wasn't there because I could of paid him a visit in that heated tent.

The town below

I went snowshoeing in Ephraim Canyon today, nope, not Fairview this time. Didn't have enough money to go to Fairview. In fact, I kind of enjoyed Ephraim Canyon more than Fairview Skyline this time, the snow wasn't so deep and you could actually go somewhere and climb hills. I was planning to go to Taylor's Flat and then on the flat part of the Flume trail but since the snow wasn't so deep, I thought I could get a better workout by going someplace more adventurous and hilly, I went up on the Willow Creek Trail. Yes, that is a steep trail and it was a good hill climbing workout, since I like climbing, I went up all the way to Virgil Ash's tent(little below the A-frame house on Bald Mountain) and back down. I made it to Virgil's tent in 45-50 minutes, that is pretty good since it is an elevation gain at about 1,250 feet, on shoeshoes. I really enjoyed this trip and Sadie went up with me, Duke was going to but he got lost when we started going up so he went back to the car and waited the whole time we went(hour and a half). Duke is a really good patient dog. Knows what he is doing I guess. There were a ton of snowmobilers going up and down the Epraim Canyon Main Road, I could hear all them while I was going up the trail. This was a really good snowshoe trip.

Snowshoe! Snowshoe! Snowshoe!

My snowshoe tracks behind me.

It snowed.

Then it cleared up.

Then it snowed again!

Gorgeous.


I woke up Saturday morning expecting there would be a lot of snow on the ground after listening to the weather man all week about how it was going to storm Friday night with 80% chance with accumulation of 2-5 inches in the valleys. But there was not one drop of snow. I thought that was kind of good news and that means I could go up to Fairview Canyon on clear roads and hoping it snowed a lot there. On a beautiful sunny Saturday morning, I ate some cereal and orange juice and got ready. I left at 11:00 a.m. and got to Fairview Skyline at noon and it was snowing a little bit, the roads were plowed though so that was good. On the way, I saw a whole lot of snowboarders, sledders, and snowmobilers. I got where no one was in a forest covered with snow. I strapped my snowshoes on my feet and got my poles and started. It started with a long hill and I climbed and climbed then it flattened out when I got into the forest, it was snowing the whole time. The snow was so deep that it was hard to walk and was making my heart pumping fast. After I got out of the forest, the skies were clearing up with sun shining, it was pretty. I went downhill and got back to the road and snowshoeed on the side of the road for a half of mile until the car. Then it fogged up and started snowing again. I got back at 1:30 p.m. so that means I went out there for an hour and a half. I drove back home in a snowstorm but the roads were still clear. It was a great dinky rinky little snowy snowshoe trip and a good workout! I had fun and plan on going next week and hoping it won't snow that time.

The Truth Behind Artificial Sweeteners

I read out of one of my magazines lastnight and read about nutrition. I read about sugars and artificial sugars. This what exactly what the article said about artificial sweeneters, I am copying it down every letter of it, so here goes:

One way to cut back on sugar without giving up treats is to dupe your sweet tooth with artificial sweeteners. These chemicals are anywhere from 200 to 2,000 times sweeter than sugar, so they pack a lot of sweeteners without the calories.

In theory, these products, such as Sweet 'N Low, Splenda, and Nutrasweet, should help you keep your weight in check. In reality, artificial sweeteners have not been found to help people cut calories and lose weight. In fact, one recent study found the opposite to be true.

In an eight-year study of 1,550 soda drinkers ages 25-64, researchers found that those who drank diet soft drinks were at a greater risk becoming overweight than those who sipped sugary sodas. In fact, for each can of diet soft drink consumed per day, a person's risk of obesity went up 41 percent. While this study may show only that people who drink lots of diet soda are trying(and ultimately failing) to control a weight problem, it also may say something about how the body responds to being tricked. Researchers speculate that offering your body something that tastes like sugar without delivering calories it's expecting may actually sharpen your sweet craving and lead you to eat more later on. In the end, it's wise to use artificial sweeteners much as you do the real deal: in moderation.-Selene Yeager

Myself, I don't, never have, never will drink that shit. In my opinion, you are better off drinking real sugary drinks than artificial drinks. Artificial drinks give me a stinkin' headache anyway, so that is how I know it is bad for me. If you drink artificial drinks, you would gain more weight than you would drinking sugary drinks. I drink 2 cans of fruit punch or lemonade for lunch a day and the rest is water. Water is good for you and most people don't drink enough water. Your pee should be clear or almost yellow, you don't want it to be really orange yellow that it stinks so much which can lead to dehydration and feel more tired. Also, you want to drink a lot water to clean out your system, every day, which can lead from you getting sick all the time.

Here's a list of drinks to stay away from:

Diet sodas

Soda pop (carbonated water)

Hardcore energy drinks

Caffeine

List of drinks is ok with you:

Noncarbonated sugary drinks

Koolaid

Hot chocolate

Eggnog

Milk

Juice

Water(the most important, should drink 8 glasses a day!)

For you Diet Coke drinkers, might as well drink the real stuff(Coca Cola), after reading all this. But don't drink like ten cans a day, you only need one to two cans day. Coca Cola is even bad for you anyway so tough luck. Drink water, if you really care about your health. Tip how to drink water: EXERCISE, cardiovascular fitness with make your heart pump and blood move fast. Your body will be thirsty for water, not carbonated water. Also be really thirsty for juice! Juice is good.

What Dr. James Stevens, R.D. said about real sugar: "How your body uses sugar and what kind it uses depends on whether you're sedetary, active or exercising intensely. Unless you're exercising, there's no need to consume added sugar."

I was NOT miserable...

I had thermals, ski pants, $200 ski parka, thermal socks, thermal shoes, hat, ski gloves, I dressed up like I was going on a ski trip and everybody else was wearing just Levis and $20 coats and casual gloves and shoes. I was so hot and toasty and everybody else looked like they all wanted to just go home. "Be Prepared" Use the slogan. I had a good time except for the part when Snow College lost Butler in a national game in the Rice-Eccles stadium. It was the first time I went to a game in a big football stadium like that, it was fun. In the snow too. I saw Dave Lanier there, and whole bunch of other crazy people I know like us who would drive in a crazy snow storm to get there this morning. I was the only guy in the Elder's Quorum who went with the Elder's Quorum president, nobody else came, a bunch of wimps I guess. Maybe they are a bunch of smart guys because of the snowstorm and can watch it on kjzz tv anyway. It was a beautiful snowy day and I can now I say I went to a national championship game for the NCAA !

New dog blog!

Sadie, Duke, Sandy, and Speedy have created a new dog blog today! It is called "Platoon of Four". Go to platoonoffour.blogspot.com to find out the latest news about the four dogs! It is especially for all the dog bloggers out there!