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Barbara has been gone visiting Grandchildren, et. al, for about two weeks, and is due home in a couple of days (Tuesday, August 11). Somehow this cartoon seemed appropriate.

Barbara hasn't been especially generous sharing photos she has taken on her trip, but the plan, after she has caught her breath and is no longer too pooped to pucker, is for her to post a publication containing a plethora of proper (and purloined) photos of the prim and pretty protégés she visited.

Dave Elliott and I are planning another bicycle ride. Dave is "heat sensitive" and so we are going to do the mountain bike thing in the high country, starting August 24, and ending a few days later. The plan is start at the booming metropolis of Tucker, Utah (point "A" on the map) which consists of a truck stop and, because of road construction, Dave could not find on the ground. From there we will follow Skyline Drive, which wanders across the Manti-La Sal National Forest, climbing to elevations in excess of 10,000 feet (or perhaps more, depending on the source you read), and come out on I70 (point "D" on the map). Alternative exit points include Fairview, Mt. Pleasant, Ephraium, Manti, Gunnison, Centerfield, Salina, Huntington, Castle Dale, Ferron or...?

I have been training for this trip most of the summer, but now that the architecture is in place, I plan to focus on mountain biking. Today, I put that plan into action by attempting to ride from my house to Tucson, via the Oracle Ridge trail. Ha!

I left about 06:30, and given that it is about 12 miles to the pavement atop Mt. Lemon, I figured that if I could maintain between 1 and 2 mph, I would reach the top with enough daylight remaining to coast the 23 miles down the front road to Tucson. Barbara's car is at Karrens', and I need to retrieve it.

The fires a few years back resulted in quite a number of new roads being bladed, many over the route that the trail followed. The result is equivalent to a 4 lane trail. I pushed the bike up most of the hills (and there are some steep ones). Going down the roads was great fun, but where the trail left the road, I ran into some problems. The trail dropped and turned, and I dropped but missed the turn. Other than my watch (that had a pin holding the band on tear out) the only casualty was a bruise the size of a half dollar on the muscle above my knee.

That doesn't sound like much (and fortunately it wasn't), but it made pedaling painful, and that, coupled with my general state of fatigue and the fact that I had fallen behind schedule, was enough to convince me to abort the ride. I came out on the Campo Bonito road, and returned to Oracle. If the Utah trip works the same way, it will be a quick one. It is frustrating when my mind thinks I can do things and my body says, "NO!"

Wyatt procured a radiator for the Metro, but I have dragged my feet getting it installed. Last Thursday, returning from a meeting in Tucson, things came to a head. I habitually listen to the engine when I drive, and it started sounding funny. There was sort of a rattling that went away when I accelerated. I pondered that noise, and then it hit me--I had a leaking radiator. I glanced down to find the water temperature gauge in the red, so I shut the engine down and coasted to a stop. There wasn't much water left, and I don't know how much damage was done. The engine didn't seize, but I suspect it came close. After a refill, I had difficulty getting it to start. That is unusual, as the Metro has always fired up almost immediately. I finally got it going (by pumping the accelerator, and nursed it on home. The next morning, before work, I installed the new radiator. It only took 20 minutes (and more than half of that was hunting for tools). The car seems to be back to normal now, but... Does that tale sound reminiscent of the rancher who closed the coral gate after all his cattle had escaped?

Alright, Ameilia, I don't have many photos, so I will throw in another cartoon. I suspect the author had me in mind when he drew it...

We have a monthly publication at work called the "Steth-o-scoop." It contains a section called "the Spotlight," wherein an employee is highlighted. Over my protestations, my boss selected me for the next issue. The articles contained in this section are usually pretty bland. My boss gave me a series of questions to answer, and I decided to spice it up a bit. You might be interested in my answers.

Where were you born and raised?       I was born in Holbrook, Arizona. I have lived various places in Arizona, including Phoenix, Patagonia, Canelo, Tucson, and Oracle. In addition, I have lived a couple of years each in New Mexico, Los Angeles, and Brazil. Where did you attend school and what jobs have you had?       I graduated from Patagonia Union High School, Brigham Young University (chemistry major, microbiology and physics minors), and the University of Arizona (chemistry major and botany minor). My research was in the field of metabolic regulation (carbon assimilation by chloroplasts). In plant physiology research there are basically two approaches: whole plant physiologists (who spray and pray) and organelle physiologists (who grind and find). As a member of the latter and my mantra was: "All plants look the same in a Warring blender." As a result, I came away from that educational experience with a minor in botany at the Ph.D. level, but totally unable to answer questions such as, "What's wrong with my azaleas?"       In addition to medicine, I have had jobs in various fields such as food science (potato product development at Carnation Co.), mining (metallurgical chemist at Magma Copper Co.), waste water (Pima County [anyone have burning questions about sewage?]), law enforcement (forensic biology at the Tucson Police Dept. [it's not like CSI]), and self-employment (Grand Master Alchemist at Manzanita Immunochemicals). By far, my favorite job was working for myself. The best part was that I only had to work half time--and it usually didn't matter which 12 hours of the day I chose... Are you married and do you have kids?       I have been married twice (apparently I am a slow learner...). My first wife bore me 6 children. My current wife came with three children, and together we raised nine (surprisingly, they all survived to maturity). I currently have 15 grandchildren, with 2 more in "in the oven." The most recent addition was born 23 July 2009. What are your hobbies?       I read history in general, and American Civil War history, in particular (ask me sometime why Lincoln was the worst president this country has ever had...).       I am attempting to recover from my addiction to flying. It has been 18 years since I have been pilot-in-command, but I still wake up at night thinking about it. I have owned three aircraft, one of which I wrecked (hey, any landing you can walk away from was a good one, and if you can reuse the aircraft, it was positively great...).       I pretend to be a bicyclist. In 1969 (yes, before many of you were born) I rode from Provo, Utah to Nogales, Mexico. The summer of 2007, I rode form Provo to Roosville, Canada, completing my border-to-border trip in just over 37 years. Recently, on a trip from Alpine to Clifton, I set a personal maximum speed record of 43.8 MPH (not too shabby for a fat old man).       About 6 years ago, I decided to learn hypetext mark up language (HTML the language in which the internet is coded). I failed as a web site developer, but have taken it up as a hobby, and now maintain a relatively extensive personal website. I am currently in the process if posting a 300-page cookbook. What are your favorite movies?       Basically, I lack the ability to sit through a movie, and when (in an attempt to please my wife) I try, the movies' story line always seems to end wrong. Consequently, I don't watch movies when I can avoid them (Does that sound like adult onset ADD?). But give me a well-oiled remote, and I can watch three football games at the same time. Do you have animals?       I like animals, and through the years we have had a veritable zoo at our house, including dogs, cats, pigs, chickens, duck, geese, turkeys, peacocks, goats, sheep, horses, and rabbits (my children also adopted various reptiles, but we don't talk about that...). My last dog, Schrödinger, died awhile back, and I am finding that she may be irreplaceable. While I like animals, I don't think they should live inside my house. My wife disagrees, and keeps not one, not two, but three longhair shedding, fur-ball regurgitating, liter box ignoring, felines. If my wife were to meet a sudden and unexpected demise (God forbid!) I suspect those cats might not survive to attend her funeral. What are your long term plans?       I am looking towards retirement in the next few years, and after that I guess I will just senesce gracefully and die. Then again, maybe not... When I was in my early 20's, I made a list of things I wanted to accomplish in my lifetime. That list included 23 items (such as compose a song, write a book, marry the most beautiful woman in the world [which I did twice], etc.) and the only task on that list I have yet to complete is to build an aircraft. Perhaps that will be my next project... Most home built aircraft require around 2200 hours to complete. That is roughly equivalent to working 40 hours per week for a year.       I also have the impression that I still have one or maybe two "great adventures" left in me. Some of the ideas that I am toying with include sailing a catamaran from Washington State along the coast of Canada to Alaska then on to the tip of the Aleutian Island chain, or sailing a powered boat around the north shore of Canada (has there been sufficient global warming to open up the "Northwest Passage?"), or taking a canoe trip starting at the inception of the Missouri river in Montana and following it to where it empties into the Gulf of Mexico near New Orleans, or bicycling across the USA from Coast to Coast (Which route, San Diego to Savannah or Seattle to Boston?), or... So much to do, so little time...

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