Corn Grows: Week 13

You know, corn doesn't change much after about week 11. It's just about ready to harvest and we'll probably pick some tomorrow for dinner. So instead of showing you the corn again, I thought I'd take you on a tour of the neighborhood. It turned so much cooler the last few days, that its finally been cool enough to be comfortable outside. I refilled the bird feeder with birdseed and Anna and I had fun watching about 3 dozen finches devouring the seed all afternoon. We also spotted a few hummingbirds at the feeder.

This evening, I decided to take Nacho for a walk up in the foothills. It reminded me of what a beautiful area this is. No matter where we have lived, there has always been a beauty about the place. In Massachusetts, it was walking through the forest and hearing the maple leaves crunch under your feet. Here, it has to be walking in the foothills and looking out over the valley and the Great Salt Lake. The worst part about the walk is getting up the hill (about a 50% incline...which is fine for about 100 feet, but the hill is probably a thousand thousand feet long.) Once we made it up to the top, its a fairly level walk along the road.

This is looking out toward the Oquirrh Mountains toward Salt Lake.

There are a couple of small little canyons with small streams (or at least trickles). It is noticeably cooler in there.

This is looking down over our neighborhood above the new park. There is a series of switchbacks that are a lot easier to go down and gives a beautiful view of the Great Salt Lake and the valley.

About half way down the switchbacks looking over the park. I always worry that Nacho will find a stray rattlesnake and think he can take it on. I've only seen one rattlesnake in the foothills, but apparently they are plentiful.

Looking back up the foothills from the park bottom. It doesn't look nearly as high when you look at it from the bottom.

And what corn update would be complete without a picture of the corn. Nacho graciously posed after our walk.


In other news:

We finally had Anna's birthday party. Sara graciously offered to do a Mad Science birthday party for us. She brought all of the supplies and experiments and all we had to do was sit back and watch. It was hands down the best party we've ever thrown, thanks to Sara.

Making slime with the girls.

Anna's cake had test tubes filled with candy, so each girl could decorate her own slice. The middle of the cake had a beaker will dry ice and water. I love the look Anna has on her face in this photo. I think she enjoyed the party.

Anna with her haul of gifts from her friends.

My banana trees are doing well. Hopefully next year they will be twice as tall with bigger leaves.

Sara brought me some beef spare ribs and I grilled them up with barbecue sauce and made a very tasty cucumber/tomato salad.




And finally, here is a better picture of Dan in his pink tuxedo at the Quinceañera last week. Doesn't he look handsome in pink?