Hot June

I had to work on Memorial Day (driving the mini train), so it wasn't very exciting. In the evening, we roasted hot dogs at my sister's house, but it was a pretty low-key holiday. Someday I won't work in the tourism industry.

Wednesday was my day off, and I decided to run up North Canyon. My plan was to run to Rudy's Flat, then run farther if I felt up to it. Even though it was warmer than it has been for a while, I felt surprisingly good, and I thought I would turn around at five miles, making it ten miles. But I didn't even notice when I hit five miles, so I ended up going down to Elephant Rock before I turned around. I did this run three times last year, but this time I went on parts of the new trail, which made it exactly thirteen miles when I was done—the longest trail run I have ever done! It was exactly one year since I first did that run, but I didn't plan it that way. I like to do these long ones once in a while so I know I can still do them—and now I don't need to do one again for a while, especially since it will be hot.

I saw plenty of interesting things, such as showy stickseed,

someone's shoes,

and a snake. It might have been a rattlesnake; I didn't see a rattle, but its tail was blunt instead of pointy, so maybe it was just a young snake that hadn't developed a rattle yet.

Even after such a long run, I still did almost all the things I feel obligated to do on a day off. But instead of going out to find goathead plants to pull up, I just played Super Mario Galaxy instead. Oh well. If I ran thirteen miles, I guess I'm entitled to relax a bit. June is the month when I seek out goathead plants, so I found a few that had sprouted this week. (Last month I saw that Provo had a community event to get rid of them, but that confused me, because I have never seen them before June!)

The mulesears on the Woodbriar Trail have peaked! There are few things so visually stunning.

And apparently North Salt Lake has been building a new portion of the Wild Rose Trail that goes through all of the city's new developments. So I went on part of it, but I didn't have time to see all of it before it got too late. I've been doing later, shorter runs now that it's hot again.

Friday was our earliest 100-degree day ever in Salt Lake. I'm glad we hit it, because if it's going to be that hot, it might as well be significant. 

On Thursday, I got to work in the print shop for the first time this season. They're so short staffed that it's only staffed about three days a week. It was good to be there again! It's my favorite place to work in. I'm just sad I won't be there more often. So if anyone is looking for a fun summer job, you can come to This Is the Place, and then I'll get to be in the print shop more often.

Today was my first time teaching my Sunday School class in person, and it was awkward. I still don't know the best way to teach teenagers, but I remember being their age, so I can't fault them for not participating more. Last time, no one joined on Zoom, so I didn't take my laptop this time. But someone did join via Zoom today, so I just had to use the app on my phone, which was a little awkward. I'll be sure to be more accommodating next time.