Help! It's Been Too Quiet, Too Long

Susie and I took Amber up to BYU Idaho on January 2 and returned on January 4 to an empty house.  It's just the two of us now.  Empty Nesters.  I've been concerned for 33 years that we wouldn't know how to get along when it was just the two of us again.  Amber must also be concerned.  She has been the sole excitement in our lives for the past 6 months.  Amber called and said she was coming down for the three day weekend, and bringing two of her roomates.

I think Amber is trying to break us in slowly.

Today is Monday.  Amber, Brittney and Liza are leaving this afternoon and rather than risk putting us in shock with a quiet house again. They've obviously conspired against us.  Justin, Pam, Joel, Bailee, Sydney, Aubrey, Cory, Stacey, Emily, and Katie all crashed our house this morning.

Never a dull moment at our house when the kids are home.  However, although Susie may have a different view,  I don't think that the two of us are really that dull.  There's got to be a little spark somewhere.

http://www.maylin.net/Fireworks.html

2011 In Review

A new year brings the opportunity to review the accomplishments of the recently expired year.  Here's some statistics for your leisure time review.

Family Statistics

• Number of Children:  6
• Number of married children:  5
• Grandchildren:  12
• Grandchildren born in 2011:  2
• Sequential years with a new grandchild: 9 Years & running

(Do we need to draw straws to see who will keep the trend alive?)

2011 S-10 Pickup Statistics
Miles driven:  12560
Gas Purchased:  579 gallons
Cost of Gas (it wasn't priceless):  $1953.26  (Avg $3.37/gal
Miles driven to work:  4,800
Fun Miles:  3286

• Grand Canyon:  1208 miles
• San Juan River:  827 miles
• Zion girls trip:  821 miles
• Zion Virgin River Trip:  746 miles
• Boise Trip:  686 miles

Miles Driven to who knows where: 4,480

My Personal Exercise Statistics:

Activity          Miles Time    Rate
Bike                 609   37.5   16.2
Run                  109   15.9   6.9
Walk                105  30.1   3.5
Hike          128   67.7   1.9
Swim                1    1.2  .95   (new PR for rate)
Boating             121   36.7   3.3
(Some rates are off due to rounding errors)

Campout Statistics
Number nights trying to sleeping out:  36
Ambien Pills required:  36
Ambien Pills available:  35
The cost of 1 Ambien Pill on a sleepless night - Priceless

Racquetball statistics
Racquetball games played:  89
Games Won:  81
Games Lost:  8

Cutthroat games played:  25
Games won:  25
Games Lost:  0

Estimated calories burned through exercise:  170975
Calories per pound:  3500
Theoretical fat burned off:  48.85 pounds
Actual weight lost:  8 pounds

Thank goodness for junk food.  If it wasn't for the junk food, I would have wasted away to a mere 152 pounds.

Happy New Year!

2001 was a fantastic year and a lot was accomplished, personally and as a family.  Amber finished her first year at BYUI.  We had a fabulous family reunion in Southern Idaho.  We welcomed, not one but two new additions to the family - Aubrey and Marcus are definitey keepers.   Susie was able to spent 3 weeks in Arkansas with Melissa and family.  I was able to do my outdoor things.  All in all, a pretty good year.

The Plan
We had big plans for the end of 2011 and the start of 2012.  A day off on Friday, Saturday (New Year's Eve) we drive with Amber to Boise and participate on Sunday as Jason and Kim bless their new little son.  Then on Monday, we drive to Rexburg and spend a few days visiting family and dropping Amber off at BYUI for her second year.  Ah - such nice plans.

What Really Happened
Wednesday, Dec 28 Amber has three wisdom teeth removed.  Thursday Susie comes down with a cold.  Friday she passes it on to me - we cancel the Boise part of the trip.  Saturday (New Year's Eve) Amber's face turns yellow, Susie gets worse and I'm trying to fight off a sore throat.

Saturday evening I go to the store to get a movie and snacks. - we're not going anywhere, might as well enjoy the time at home.  At the girl's request, I pick up Sarah's Key from Redbox, then I go into Walmart and pick up some Red & White Sparkling Grape juice, gluten free potato chips and Peanut M&Ms.  I poured the girls each a glass of grape juice and presented them with their movie and snacks.  Amber couldn't eat the M&M's - duh, she just had her wisdom teeth out.  Susie couldn't eat the M&M's either - she's allergic to peanuts.  Did I mention that one of the bags of potato chips were Jalapeno?  That didn't go over very well either.

Then I went back upstairs to grab some cheese cubes.  You know that I love cheese - so soft and smooth - just like, ah never mind - lets just say that I love cheese.  I took one bite.  What's that crunchy stuff in the cheese?  Warning! Warning! crunchy stuff doesn't belong in cheese.  As I'm spitting the cheese out, I feel this hole where one of my teeth is supposed to be.  Oops, that temporay crown that was put on two weeks ago just cracked in half.

So here we are. Sunday morning, just the three of us.  Susie has her cold.  Amber's face is yellow and she has hives.  I have a sore throat and a sensitive mouth.

I sincerely hope that 2011 was an enjoyable and rewarding year for each of you.  As I look back on 2011, I see growth in each member of the family and I know that you certainly had a positive impact on my life.  I am very optimistic that each of you will have a happy, rewarding and thoroughly enjoyable New Year!

The New Year is here! 

Forget the Aches, Colds, Allergies.  

It's time to PARTY! 

Merry Christmas to All

Christmas is here - well almost.  It's 8:00 in Utah on Christmas Eve.

Last night Amber, Susie and I went to Salt Lake for the Mannheim Steamroller concert.  This is the second time we've gone.  We went two years ago and enjoyed it immensely.  Last year we went to the Delta Center to see TSO (Trans Siberian Orchestra).  It was fun, but the mood wasn't the same and I much preferred Mannheim Steamroller.  I like TSO's music, but I didn't care for their performance.

About noon today I read an email that Mel sent me on Thursday.  She had already run about 13 miles.  I hadn't run anything - well that's not quite true.  I played 3 games of racquetball and shot hoops with the young men for about 2 hours.  Some stop and go running in those events, but nothing close to what Mel did.  I also did a 4 mile walk on Wednesday during my lunch hour.  I'm into a little cross training, don't want to get to sore from just running

I responded to Mel's email with my own stating what I had done during the week.  An hour later I got a message that she had just finished up a 5 mile run in 51:10.  Way to go MEL.

I've been a competitive guy lately, it runs in the family.  I think I got it from Justin and Jason.  When we lived in California I took Mel with me and the scouts on a hike up Mt. Baldy (10,068 feet) when she was no more than 9.  All the boys took off, Mel and I just hiked at our own pace and we caught up to the troop when they all stopped at a creek for a break.  Mel wanted to keep going, so we did. Half of the scouts jumped up and ran to get ahead - can't let a 9 year old girl beat them to the top.  As we continued to hike & climb, we passed more and more of the boys.  By the time we got to the top.  The only boys that were ahead of us were Justin and Jason.  I think they would have rather died than to let their little sister beat them to the top.

So I packed up my stuff and headed to the base gym.  I spent 29 minutes on a treadmill (lots of motion, no progress - felt like a squirrel in a cage) before it crapped out so I switched to running circles around the indoor track (10 laps for 1 mile).  Now I'm making progress and running in circles is a little bit better than running in a squirrel cage, but harder to keep my speed constant.

Final result, I ran 6.3 miles in 58:10 miles.

Thank's Mel for the motivation.

Merry Christmas Feliz Navidad

You want to do What? Really? Come on, be reasonable!

It's the end of the year and I'm looking for ideas to keep me motivated and working out next year.  I know that Mel has big ideas for fun things to do, so I gave her a call.

Earlier this year she ran a half marathon.  That's 13 miles.  Now she wants to do a marathon.  Thats double the 13 - a total of 26 miles.  I've always been told that when you have a goal that you want to achieve, break it down into smaller units so that you can see progress and have bite sizes pieces to work on.  I decided to apply the idea of breaking it down into smaller steps.

26 miles = 45,760 yards

26 miles = 137,280 feet

26 miles = 1,647,360 inches

Maybe that's not such a good idea!

Fortunately Mel is a better thinker than I am.  She broke it down into weeks before the big event and activities to achieve each week.  Look at her blog to see the details.  She's working out six days a week.  Two days of cross training, 3 days of short runs (if you call 3 miles a short run) and a longer run (7 miles) on Saturday.  And that was for week two!   The shorter runs get longer and the longer runs get huge.  The marathon in on April 21.  She had 125 days to prepare.

Go Mel!

I've never run anything over a 10K (6.3 miles).  However, after talking with Mel this evening, perhaps I have a new target for 2012.  Can I train in Utah and keep up with Mel as she trains in Arkansas? Wow!  That's a big commitment.  I've started to break it down, not into feet and inches, but into time.  Can I dedicate at least an hour a day to working out and 4 or 5 hours on Saturday?

I have two weeks before the new year starts.  Two weeks to write-up my own plans and then decide on my commitment.  I'm not sure if I can put in the time and miles (I still have a life and the Grand Canyon is calling me again).  But it sure sounds like a challenge, and I've considered doing a marathon but never taken it past the 'considered' phase.

Where has the year gone

It's December 11, the month is nearly half over.  Where did 2011 go?


It's been a delightful year.  Two new grandchildren has blessed our lives and only our own precious little baby is still at home (sorry Amber, could resist rubbing it in a bit).  Amber will be off to school in a few weeks and then it's just Susie and I.


Susie, Amber and I went to Boise on Dec 3rd and met Marcus.  Cute little guy.  Definitely another keeper!  Twelve grandkids and they've all  been keepers.  They've been fun too.  If I'd known the grandkids would be so much fun, I would have had them first.
As most of you know, I spend a fair amount of time at the gym, trying to stay in shape.  This last week while I was working out in the gym when I spotted a gorgeous young lady.  I asked the trainer who was near-by: "What machine should I use to impress that sweet thing over there?"

The trainer looked me up and down and said: Try the ATM in the lobby."

Sounds like I have a lot more work to do to get in shape.  I just looked at my numbers this afternoon.  I'm now up to 161,316 calories burned off this year and I've done at least one workout every week.  Yeah! if I can just hang in there for 3 more weeks, I will have been successful in meeting that objective.

I must admit that a lot of my calories burned comes from my activities in the backcountry.  Fun things, like floating the San Juan or Green Rivers in a kayak, or hiking in Zion or Grand Canyon National Parks.  I always try to be safe, particularly in the backwoods because you never know when you might come across a bear or cougar.  Since Susie got after me a few years back for doing a solo hike on Mt Borah, I've tried to keep safety in mind.

When it comes to bears, my personal favorite bear defense gun has always been a Beretta in .22 short!   I've found over the years when hiking in bear country I never leave without it in my pocket.  Of course we all know the first rule when hiking in the wilderness is to use the "Buddy System".

For those of you who may be unfamiliar with this it means you NEVER hike alone, you bring a friend or companion, even an in-law, that way if something happens there is someone to go get help.

I remember one time hiking with my brother-in-law in southeast Idaho, up near the Tetons.  Out of nowhere came this huge brown bear and man was she MAD!  We must have been near one of her cubs.

Any way if I had not had my little Beretta I am sure I would not be here today.  Just one shot to my brother-in-law's knee cap and I was able to escape by just walking at a brisk pace.

Sorry about that.  Susie told me that I need to focus on the topic at hand and quit telling stories. However, there is a risk that if I don't pass on the stories from my internet friends I'll start telling stories about my own family.  And that might be embarrassing.  Like the time that ... ah, guess I'd better stick with the internet stories - they're safer.  Besides, I don't want my grandkids saying the same thing about me that Justin has said about his grandfather.  Before Justin got married, he told me that he needed to apologize to my dad.  As the story came out, it seems that everytime we went to Grandpa Brown's place, Grandpa told the same stories (Ah yes, I remember those stories).  Then, when Justin and I were putting a new roof on our house, Lamar, an older gentleman in our ward, came by to lend a hand.  The reason for the apology -   in less than an hour, Lamar had told Justin the same story four times!

The List

About November 1st of each year, Susie has taped blank sheets of paper on a wall above the stairs. Each member of the family had their own sheet with plenty of space to list the things they were thankful for.  We were supposed to write one item each day.  Susie thought it would be a great way to reflect on what we were thankful for.

I HATED THAT LIST!

Why, only once a year, did we celebrate Thanksgiving and why did I have to list the things that I was thankful for on this silly list?  Didn't my actions demonstrate the things that I was thankful for?

 I wrote on the paper - but not every day!  Sometimes I would write a whole weeks worth at one time.  One year, I filled up the entire page on Thanksgiving Eve.  Perhaps it was my way of protesting.  I wrote the obvious things like:  Susie, the kids, the church, a job, home, peace & quiet, etc.  ( I even itemized the kids names, it filled up 6 lines instead of one.)

WHY DID I HATE THAT LIST?

This year, there is no list.  Five of the six kids are married and gone.  Amber is claiming to be an adult, but she lives here while on break from school.  Justin, Pam & family have moved out.  When Amber goes back to school in January, Susie and I will be on our own for the first time in 33 years.

WHERE'S THAT SILLY LIST WHEN YOU NEED IT?

• My Parents - they did their best with what they had to work with - Sorry about that mom & dad.
• My Wife's Parents & Grandparents - I never met Susie's mother, but I know she is a wonderful person.
• Six Fantastic children that have taught me what it means to be a dad.  Why don't children come with a parents manual?
• Two very special women that my sons married.
• Three exceptional men that married my daughters.
• Twelve grandchildren, unique in their own way and each bringing a special joy into my heart.

And last but definitely not least:

• A wonderful wife that truly believes "Always & Forever & No Matter What."  She has put up with a lot over the past 34 years and loves me in spite of my faults and has always been very supportive in everything I've done.

Thank you.  

You are what makes Thanksgiving special to me.

I love you

Oct Updates

The 4th Annual Columbus Day Hike is officially over.  The fantastic four and one old dude hiked from Lee's Pass at the Kolob area to the Grotto in the main Zion Canyon, exiting down the Angel's Landing Trail.  It was a fantastic time.  My trip report will be posted on my Outdoor Adventurers Blog.

We returned home from Zion late on Friday and then on Wednesday I was off to the Gates of Lodore for a rafting/kayaking trip down the Green River with Mr. Eller, kids and friends.  What a hoot.  I was able to break in a new inflatable kayak going through such rapids as Triplette, Disaster I and II, Hell's Half Mile, and SOB.  The weather was great, the water was wet, and the kayak performed as advertised.

A few days after getting back home, I went to the base and had the bodpod done again.  I'm under 190 pounds for the first time in 20 years or more and my body fat is down to 20.6% pure lard.  Earlier this year I was 199 pounds and 26% fat.  Several years ago, before I was rescued by a friend who invited me on a bike trip, a trip that I failed to complete, I weighed in at 234 pounds.  What a difference 45 pounds makes.

Where did the summer go?

It's now Oct 2, 2011.  Summer is over, where did it go?

It's been a very active summer time, hopefully the autumn season will be just as busy.  My activities during the 'summer' include:

1. Whitewater rescue course on the Green River (3 nights), May
2. Joel, Annaleise, Madison and Brianna's birthdays (3 of them on the same day)
3. Overnight backpack on Indian Trail (1 night), June
4. Kayak trip down the San Juan River (4 nights), July
5. Green river canoe trip (4 nights), July 
6. Katie's birthday, July
7. Zion National Park (Subway, Kolob Arch) (4 nights), July
8. Burley Spudman, July
9. Family reunion (3 nights), August
10. Bailee and Pam's birthdays, August
11. Bike the Bear (1 nights), August (I made two loops for a century bike ride)
12. (I'm over 55 and had physical this year, do I need to add a special test for over 50 males?)
13. Zion National Park (Virgin River, Angels Landing) (2 nights), August
14. McKenzie's birthday, September
15. Justin, Pam and family moving from our home to Bountiful, September
16. Keith and Sheria's visit from Texas (& 2 new family members), September
17. Nampa, (3 nights), September
18. Aubrey's birth, September

Upcoming Activities include:

1. 4th Annual Columbus Day Hike (Lee's Pass to the Grotto)
2. Float trip down Desolation Canyon
3. Emily's birthday
4. Thanksgiving and lots of birthdays in November, along with our anniversary.
5. Christmas and more anniversaries and birthdays in December
6. Grand Canyon trip (Hermits Rest to Monument, Indian Gardens, Phantom Ranch)

Can I squeeze in a skiing trip?

Many of these activities have helped me in achieving one of my goals for this year.  This goal was to have at least one workout each week.  Thus far I've been able to achieve that goal.  A few weeks were a little iffy, but I was at least able to get at least one, one hour walk as a minimum. I've kept a activity journal and have included in the journal an estimate of the number of calories burned for the activity.  The number of calories comes from the Food and Exercise Diary and while I can't guarantee it's accuracy, at least it is pretty consistent.  Thus far this year, I have burned off over 122,000 calories.  It's a good thing I eat a lot!  If I didn't eat so much, I would have wasted away to nothing.  At approximately 3500 calories/pound, I would have burned off over 35 pounds.  For each of the last 3 years, I've averaged over 121,000 calories burned through my workouts.  That's the equivilant of about 105 pounds of fat.  If I lost that much, I'd be under 100 pounds.  (I'm not even close to 100 pounds).  

Unfortunately I also struggled to keep my weight in the neighborhood of 200 pounds.  What am I eating and whatever it is, it must be way to much.  In late August, I did another bodpod test.  I'm down to 24% pure lard.  That's a big improvement from the over 26% fat from my first time in the bodpod.  After getting this number, I decided to use the diet portion of the Food and Exercise Diary.  I didn't create a diet, I just started keeping track of what I eat and logging it in every day.  Once again, I don't have a lot of confidence in the exact calories recorded because I had to make estimates on the quanity and content of some of the foods, but once again, I think it is close. Once I finish deso trip, I'll make another appointment for the bodpod and get some updated numbers.

The Burley Spudman - I did it

Today I did the Burley Spudman triathlon.  The last time I did the Spudman was 2008.  A man in the heat ahead of me had a heart attack and drowned, and so they cancelled the swim and changed it to a duathlon for my heat. I registered, but missed out in 2009 and didn't register in 2010.  I wanted to do it again and see if I could reach my goals so in January I registered and today was the big event.

My goals are the same as they were three years ago.
1.  Don't die
2   Finish the event in under three hours
3.  Finish the run in under 1 hour

However, last time I tried, I was three years younger.  Now I'm a senior citizen.  I'm also not quite as active as I was three years ago, I'm trying to hang in there, but the 'JOB' takes more of my time than I would like.  I haven't been able to train as much.  So far this year, and before today's event, I've biked 252 miles, ran 45, and swam .15.  That's a whole lot less preparation than what I would have liked.

I don't have my official times yet, but inspite of the lack of training, I think I achieved all three goals:
1.  I'm still alive
2.  I believe that I was just under three hours, however I did take a lot longer than usual in the transistions.  I hurt my left foot last week just as we were beginning the hikes at Zion National Park.  It is still pretty tender, so I wanted to make sure that I had my foot properly protected for both the bike and the run.
3.  I finished the run in 57:43 (unofficially).

Once I get my official times, I'll compare it with my goals and my other years times to see if I've improved.  I feel like I did about the same on the swim - Just keep my head afloat and I'll make it to the exit point.  However, I feel like I was a bit sluggish on the bike.  My bike-o-meter quit working and I haven't replaced it yet.  Without being able to monitor my times, the only thing I could really concentrate on is trying to pass or at least stay even with the folks just ahead of me.

The run was the event I wanted to focus on.  In the past years, after doing a swim and bike ride, it was really hard to do the run.  This is the first time in five tries that I've had my run under 60 minutes.  Needless to say, I'm happy with the results.

Me and my bike, After the finish

The race was a well organized event.  From my perspective it went very smoothly even though the number of participants and spectators was huge compared to my memory of past events.

7 Aug 2011 Update
I retrieved the official results yesterday.  There were 40 finisher's in 55-60 year group.  I came in at number 27.  Swim time:  23:03;  Bike time:  90:53;  Run time:  57.42;  Overall time  176:07 ( 2:56:07).  So I met all three of my goals.

Historically, my times are as follows:
Year                   Swim                    Bike                    Run                      Total
2005                  27:43                     77:55                 64:14                   2:49:53
2006                  23:59                     87:50                 87:22                   3:29:11  (calf muscle injury)
2007                  23:50                     72:39                 61:50                   2:47:09
2008                                                74:56                 59:13                   2:16:41  (duathlon)
2011                  23:03                     90:53                 57:42                   2:56:07

Note:  Some of the segment times in different years included the transitions and some did not.  So the numbers listed above are not truly accurate of the real segment times.