Just another day-by-day summary

My parents were out of town this week, so I had the house all to myself, but I did a lot of things that kept me out of the house.

On Monday, I stayed downtown after work because my ward was having a tour of the Conference Center. While I was waiting downtown, I just happened to be walking down State Street when I came across a little museum of the Social Hall that was built in 1852. I had researched the hall before, but I didn't realize part of it was still there. The foundation had been discovered a couple of decades ago, so they took it out but then put it back in the ground, and now there's glass around it so you can see it. I'm surprised at the random things that exist around here.

That night, I found an earwig perched on a light switch. I tried to scoop it off, but instead it went back inside the switch. Who knows what will happen to it now?

On Tuesday, I went to institute. We had a substitute teacher, and he asked who had read the Bible from beginning to end. I was surprised at how few had! That seems a little unacceptable to me--I mean, how can you believe in the Bible if you haven't read it? The substitute is a popular institute teacher around here, but his lesson made me uncomfortable. There was literally a conversation about why girls own more shoes than guys, which seemed not only irrelevant but a little sexist. And then, to close it off, he described the false doctrine about spirits being in awe to learn we lived in the time of Ezra Taft Benson, Gordon B. Hinckley, and Thomas S. Monson. He described it as his opinion, but still--he surely has heard that it's not true! I sat in the back strongly shaking my head.

On Wednesday, I did goathead-picking on Bountiful Boulevard. A woman asked me what I was doing and seemed impressed. She was walking her dog. Then a man who was reading while walking came by, and there was a dog preceding him who went up to the lady's dog. She said to the man, "Excuse me, but I think your dog needs to be on a leash. I was surprised, but impressed, by her boldness. But the man said it wasn't his dog, so there's some kind of irresponsible dog owner up there. If you can't be responsible with your dog, you shouldn't own one.

I pulled some more goatheads on Orchard Drive on Thursday. This is what I pulled in an hour.

See, these plants are evil not only because of their sharpness, but because of their aggressive reproductive habits. One plant can have more than a dozen branches, and each branch has a star every few inches, and the branches can grow for several feet, and each star consists of five goatheads, which stick to shoes, skin, and tires and spread to form new goathead patches. Forget kudzu--these are the most diabolical invasive species. Fortunately, these plants can be crowded out by others.

On Friday, I went to Bountiful's Got Talent. These people were more talented than I am, but it was just a local talent show. These folks won't get a record deal or anything. The quality wasn't as good as the Provo Rooftop Concerts. Those events were mainly dominated by hipsters; this event was mainly families and middle-age to old people.

On Saturday morning, I ran in North Salt Lake's pre-Fourth of July 5k. It was the first organized run I'd done since a Halloween "5k" (note the quotes) in 2011. I don't really do 5ks because (a) I'm not competitive and (b) I usually run longer than three miles, so I don't see the point. I won a ribbon for third place in my age division. But I think I was only fourth, because one of the overall winners was in my division, and I suspect there were only four of us anyway. I was disappointed, because I run slower than I thought. I also ran more than two minutes slower than I did at Provo's Freedom Run four years ago. I don't know if it's because I'm getting older, or if it's because I've switched to trail running, which is of necessity slower. I haven't been doing much running in recent weeks because I've been pulling goatheads, but June is almost over and I will no longer have an obligation. Then maybe I should work on speed. There's always something to do.

Then in the evening on Saturday, my three nephews (and my sister-in-law) arrived from California with my parents. It's good to see them again. Last summer, the youngest, Nathaniel, loved to talk about his hundreds and thousands of moms who lived in houses made of various substances. But now, at the age of five, he only has one mom.

Sego lilies and goatheads

Last Sunday, my ward had a little "stroll" on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail where I frequently go. I was late, so if I wanted to meet up with the rest of them, I would have to run. That was the first time I've been trail running in church clothes (although I changed my shoes and took off my tie).

A few of us went down to a rock overlook where I went on Halloween. As we were coming up, I was delighted to see Utah's state flower, a sego lily! Since I work with Mormon history, I've seen lots of images of them, so I recognized it. However, before that flower, I had not seen a sego lily since September 1999, when I was just turning 11, and on that occasion it was dried up.

But that was just the beginning. As we were going back down the trail, I saw many more sego lilies. I just hadn't noticed them on the way up.

Then on Wednesday, I went on trails around where I got lost back in April. I have always thought sego lilies were rare, but they were all over the place! I had no idea they were so common. It's not like there were seas of them, but their simple white flowers were peeking up in the grass quite abundantly. In order to get to the places where they were most abundant, I had to go up some steep hills, but even in smaller numbers they were in more accessible places. But I didn't have my phone on that occasion, so I didn't take pictures of the flowers, or of the two horned lizards I saw.

In contrast to the delightful sego lilies, I also spent a few evenings this week trying to eradicate diabolical goathead plants. On Wednesday, I filled an entire grocery bag in the space of about half an hour. On that occasion, they were bigger plants that were easier to pull and that were, obviously, more massive.

 The other nights weren't as productive, since they were generally smaller plants. On Friday, someone in my ward saw me and asked what I was doing; when I told her, she said I was "making the community better, one goat plant at a time!" On Saturday, I was pulling them from a vacant lot on Bountiful Boulevard, and some little boys who lived next door came and talked to me while I did so. Picking the pernicious plants can be a bit of a daunting task, so if anyone wants to help me, you're more than welcome. :)

On Thursday, I just happened to be driving through Sugar House. (The reason is because I had gone to Best Buy to get my old laptop repaired, and while I was out that far I wanted to go to Shopko because they have the best selection of Fourth of July candy. Yes, I really went out of my way to get seasonal candy, since Bountiful's (and Provo's) Shopko closed.) Earlier this year when I was doing research for work, I had cited a Sons of Utah Pioneers plaque, since it was the only place that had the information I needed. I had found a picture of it online, so I didn't visit it in person. But as I was driving, I realized that I was passing the very plaque, so I had to stop and see it in person. 

I also had to look at the Daughters of Utah Pioneers plaque commemorating the sugar factory for which Sugar House is named. I was a little amused at the positive way they commemorated it, since the sugar beet endeavor of the 1850s was essentially a failure.  

I also liked the drain covers with the sugar beets. Sugar beets are Utah's state historic vegetable. Spanish sweet onions are the state vegetable. I question the need of having a state vegetable, but apparently we have two.

Ojo rojo

On Tuesday this week, my eye was acting a little funny. You know how when you wake up, your vision is a little foggy? Well, it wouldn't go away from my right eye. It was very red.

I didn't think it was that big of a deal, but my mom insisted that I go to the doctor, so on Wednesday morning I went to the doctor, where I haven't been in five years. He diagnosed it as conjunctivitis and gave me some drops. I tend to have a really good immune system, and it was the first time in my life I've had pink eye.

Since it hurt to look at bright lights (like sunlight), I used my condition as an excuse to do nothing and watch TV (which didn't hurt my eye, especially when I closed it). Ordinarily, I only watch TV if I'm doing something else (usually exercising), but I let myself watch TV this week.

My ward was remodeling another house on Saturday, but I didn't know how my eye would be feeling, so I didn't go in the morning. But then as I was up and about, it was feeling fine, so I went. I feel bad that I was only there a short time.

I was even feeling well enough to go out running in the sunlight. Well, I wasn't running the entire time, because June is the month in which I search for goathead plants to pull them up. You see, in June they usually haven't grown new seeds, which makes them somewhat safer. I did find a vacant lot with lots of goatheads on it. And although the plants haven't grown new seeds, the old seeds are always a hazard, so my fingers always get sore. I wasn't able to pull up all the plants, so I'll have to go back another time. I cannot think of a plant more evil than goatheads, so I feel like it's an important duty, even if it's self imposed.

Inappropriate shoes, Relief Society halls, and Altonah, UT

I had a rather eventful week, going to numerous places where I've never been before.

On Monday night, my ward was meeting at Mueller Park Canyon in Bountiful. I didn't know what was going on, so I showed up late and found out that most of the people I knew were high on the trail to Elephant Rock. I figured if I wanted to meet up with them sooner, I would need to run. I most definitely was not dressed for running, but I did anyway, and I actually ended up running all the way up to Elephant Rock in non-exercise clothing. But I didn't get on the rock itself, so I didn't get to examine it, but I think it's conglomerate (perhaps the same Miocene conglomerate that I see in other trails?). I was actually impressed that I ran all the way to the rock in my Chuck Taylors! But I walked down.

This week was the conference of the Mormon History Association in Provo. I had no intention of going, because it's expensive. But my boss, Reid Neilson, had registered and paid for a women's history tour on Thursday, but he was unable to attend, so he asked me to take his place. So on Wednesday I drove down to Provo and spent the night chez my old roommate Jordan.

When I got on the tour bus on Thursday morning, it didn't take me long to realize I was overdressed. I thought that since I was representing one of the Assistant Church Historians, I should wear a tie. Well, the other Assistant Church Historian, Richard Turley, was there too, and he was dressed more casually. I was probably the least educated person on the bus, but I was dressed most formally. During the entire ride, I felt like I was drinking out of the proverbial firehose--I know so little about women's history, and so little about Utah history after the 1850s, that I didn't have the background context to fully understand and appreciate what we were learning about. But I did try to document a lot of what we learned.

A lot of what we tried to see were Relief Society halls. The Relief Society had kind of been on a hiatus during the pioneer period, but it was revived in the late 1860s, and many Relief Society halls were built where the sisters would hold meetings and do their relief stuff. Our first stop was this building in Lehi, which was originally built in 1868 as a Relief Society hall, but it has had a lot of stuff added on to it. Today, it's a car dealership (I couldn't get a shot from the front).

 We went to the John Moyle park in Alpine, where there are a lot of old buildings. This little tower was built in the 1850s (I think) for them to look out for Indians or other threats. I climbed up and looked out the upper windows. My Mormon readers (most of you) have probably heard the story of John Moyle, especially from the movie Only a Stonecutter. It is commonly believed that Moyle carved "Holiness to the Lord" in the temple rock, but the scholars on the bus said that he probably didn't. They also insinuated that other aspects of his story might not be true, but they didn't explain those. When we were walking back to the bus, I saw lots of horrible goathead plants. I take it as my duty during the month of June to pull up any that I see, but it didn't seem appropriate to do that in front of a bunch of scholars.

I believe this next picture is of the American Fork Relief Society hall, but I'm not sure.

This building is now a Daughters of Utah Pioneers museum, but if I understood correctly, it is the longest standing school in Utah. I want to say it was built in the 1850s.

 

 Then we went down to Provo, where we saw lots of buildings that were really old but have been converted to new purposes. There was one amusing duplex-style house that a polygamist built for his sister wives. Next door was the house of his third wife, but she didn't like the first two wives, so she had her house built at such an angle that she didn't have to look at them and that blocked their view. (I took a picture, but it's mostly just a reflection of me from the bus window.) Then we went up to BYU, where we had some lunch in the Wilk. I thought it would be weird being back, but it really wasn't, just because it was so recent. I knew my way around quite well. Then we went over to the JFSB, where I spent most of my time in college, and we went to the Education in Zion exhibit, which I haven't been to since 2010.

Then we went down to the Provo City Cemetery. I liked going to the Fillmore Cemetery a few weeks ago because it was my ancestors and I knew some of their history, but in Provo I didn't know much. But we saw Abraham Smoot's grave and his wives next to him. Regardless of what you think of polygamy, it's fascinating that nineteenth-century Americans practiced it here in Utah!

  

We also saw the grave of Susa Young Gates, but I really don't know much about her.

Then we went down to Mapleton, where there was an old Relief Society Hall just sitting in someone's backyard. The owner was very nice and let us all traipse in her yard to look at it. It was probably built between the late 1880s and early 1890s.

Then we went to the Springville Art Museum, where a very talented quilter showed us all the quilts she has made for various projects. The quilt pictured here is one she made for the Priesthood Restoration Site in Pennsylvania, because it's the kind of style Joseph and Emma Smith might have used. There was also a quilt made in honor of the Mountain Meadows Massacre, and it had squares with messages from descendants of both Arkansas victims and Mormon perpetrators.

 Then I was done with the tour. Before I headed back to Salt Lake, I stopped at my old default grocery store in Provo. I saw my old roommate Eric Scott West in the parking lot, but I didn't talk to him because he decided he was too good for us, even though he started out as a nice roommate.

On Friday, I went to the funeral for Elder Perry, but I only watched it in the Assembly Hall.

Then that afternoon, I drove a group of us out to Duchesne County, specifically near the towns of Altamont and Altonah, because my ward had a large event at a spacious ranch out there. I had been asked to drive, but I was a little nervous. For one thing, that's the furthest I have ever personally driven. For another, I'm very self conscious about my driving. (Let's face it, I'm self conscious about everything.) Also, I didn't trust my 1995 Subaru to make it that far, so I borrowed my mom's Rav4.

We got there at the end of a talent show on Friday, but we got there in time for the movie night. Big Hero 6 is a good movie, but I feel like it will be largely forgotten in ten years (like Meet the Robinsons and Ratatouille).

The men were supposed to sleep outside, but they allowed us to sleep in a "barn" that housed a volleyball/basketball court. That was a good thing, since I didn't bring warm things, just the tiny sleeping bag that I used for a freezing groundwater field trip a year and a half ago. Then Saturday I spent some time on a low-seated bike, on a rowboat in a tiny pond, and in a pool.

Shane is the only one on the boat, I'm pretty sure, who will see this!

Then I drove home successfully, although my GPS mysteriously wanted me to get off the freeway only to get back on it again.

Now it's back to ordinary, boring weeks. At least for a few weeks.