Rejected Facebook posts

This blog is really the place for me to post things that are rejects from Facebook. I used to post a lot more things on Facebook (especially 2010/2011), and now when I look back, I cringe at how awkward or corny those things were.

Also, it is totally obnoxious when people constantly brag about how perfect their lives are: their myriad vacations, their perfect bodies, their fashionable clothes, their gorgeous spouses, etc. When I'm blogging about my life in general, it seems less bragging, since I'm discussing the less glamorous parts--and if people don't want to hear about it, they don't have to read it.

Not that I have anything to brag about, especially this week. So here are a few thoughts:

• Ever since my grandparents' story was featured on it, I've been reading the blog Keepapitchinin. This week there was a post of George Q. Cannon's advice on keeping a journal. I really like keeping a journal, and I have an entry for every day since December 23, 2014. (On the rare occasions I have forgotten to write, I made up for it the next day.) After spending four years in the historical field, I really came to appreciate journals. I love that I can look back and see what I was up to at any given time. I have a good memory, but even I forget things, and it's nice to have a reminder. I don't think there's a right or wrong way to keep a journal; you can do handwritten or electronic; you can write emotionally or strictly factual; mundane things will be more interesting than you think years from now. Some advice I do have, both for your personal life and for future readers, is to put first and last names of everyone involved. Sometimes I regret not putting in names of people from my mission, and as a historical researcher I was frustrated by only partial names. This blog functions as a journal of sorts, but I like having more than one record. There are some things that are worthwhile in the journal but not the blog, and vice versa.
• This week I saw the Leonardo museum's models of SLC buildings. I was impressed.

The temple's a no-brainer, but they also got the Assembly Hall, the seagull monument, the Tabernacle, and the visitors' centers.

• Among trail runners, I'm not that good, but I am glad that seven or eight miles is no longer difficult for me. Street running is exercise, but trail running is a hobby.

This "rock solid buddy" also said "keep me or rehide me."

I like springbeauties. I used to think these were phlox, but now I'm 90 percent certain they're springbeauties.

•  Desserts are officially out of season, but be on the lookout for some reviews.

•  A year from now, it will still be Easter season, and I'm excited for that. But it's a bit premature to be excited for that, because between now and then, there will also be Fourth of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, all of which I like more than late Easters.
• This week's unusual vegetable dish was green pea custard, which was decent, even though I messed up the recipe. It's worth trying again, though not as good as tomato zucchini cobbler. (Two years ago I made mushroom asparagus pie and quite liked it. But then a year ago I made a variation of parsnip wheat berry pie, which was not good, and so now I'm scared to do the mushroom asparagus again.)

• I had to fill out taxes this week. I have found not one but two songs about Tax Day. One is pro-tax. The other is weally anti-tax.
• While I was searching for those songs, YouTube reminded me of this gem my coworker showed me last fall.
• When I heard of Barbara Bush's failing health, all I could think of was Barbara Brush.

  

  Courtesy

Where the buffalo roam, where the people and antelope play

It has been on my bucket list to run to a mountain peak.

But as much as I say I love trail running, I'm really not that good at it, so most of the Wasatch peaks are out of the question.

But there was one that sounded entirely doable: Frary Peak on Antelope Island. According to the research I did, it was 6.5 or 7 miles round trip, with a climb of 2,000 feet. That's the same distance as North Canyon to Rudy's Flat, my favorite default trail, but a little steeper.

So on Wednesday, off I drove to Antelope Island. I hadn't been to the island since September 6, 2010. I even got there without using my GPS.

It was really a perfect day. It was overcast but not rainy. This would be a miserable hike in the sun, especially in the summer, because there is almost no shade whatsoever. I also hear it's very buggy, but bugs were not an issue at all on Wednesday. It was about 50 degrees, which is perfect running weather.

Lately, my body has not been cooperating with my intended runs, so I was worried I would be up on the mountain, feel sick, and have to walk down. But it cooperated this time. I also worried something bad would happen to me and I'd be on the mountain all alone, but there were plenty of people there, so I wasn't scared of that. I think Davis County's spring break enabled more hikers and families to be there.

It was a little challenging. I had to take many stops to take pictures and drink water, which are really just excuses to catch my breath. But I've been on harder trails. It would be steep, then level off for a bit, then get steep again. I wondered if I was taking it too easy, but I did pass many hiking groups.

Once I got to three miles, the trail split. From what I had read, the shorter trail was more technical and went directly on the ridge of the peak. By going to the right, the trail was safer but longer. No one is more afraid of slipping than I am, so I took the longer trail. Once I passed three miles, I did almost no running, since it was rocky, steep, and tricky. I wouldn't really say I was scared, but I was frequently uncomfortable. I was glad I had my Camelbak instead of a water bottle, because I was glad to hold on to the rocks and branches. It was about .6 miles past the three-mile mark to the top.

I made it to the peak and ate a snack before I headed down. I passed an older couple whom I had passed on the way up. The man seemed surprised I was already going down, but I made it to the peak and looked around. What else was I supposed to do? I was a little chilly at the top, because it was windy, and I had lost heat from not running. I wished for some gloves. But it was all right.

Once I made it past the more challenging portion of the trail, I ran all the way down. Rather than be selective about my pictures, I just thought I'd throw them all here.

This was pretty early in the hike. You can see the parking lot.

That is a gneiss rock.

You had to walk through the rocks in the background.

Yellowbells are out!

Most of the snow was gone.

The radio tower was at the three-mile mark. I didn't see a road leading to it, surprisingly. Past the tower the trail got more difficult.

The only snow on the trail was on this more challenging portion, which certainly didn't help me feel at ease.

They had registers in the little mail box. I broke the door off, but I think it was already broken. There was also a weather-worn Book of Mormon inside it.

I like gneissic foliation.

This might be Tintic Quartzite, which is 500 million years old.

My wildflower identification books don't tell me what these flowers are. I've seen them on a vacant lot in the neighborhood, so I wondered if they are a nonnative groundcover, but what would they be doing on Antelope Island?

After my successful run, I went over to the Island Buffalo Grill for lunch. On my way over, I passed a group of cars stopped to look at buffalo. I don't think buffalo are that interesting, since they're all over Yellowstone and Antelope Island. Then a little later, I saw an antelope running parallel to the road! I have never seen an Antelope on Antelope Island before. I slowed down so it could cross the road. I made it to the restaurant, where they had veggie burgers, my favorite food, but I had to get a buffalo burger for the novelty of the thing. Mostly it tasted like ordinary beef.

But I will have to go back sometime this summer, because it's on my bucket list to swim in the Great Salt Lake.

Happy Easter to You!

I promise that this week's post will be more lighthearted than last week's. (Some of the people who usually like my posts didn't like last week's.) But let me just get this out of the way first:

It is in extremely poor taste to compare sincere, politically engaged teenagers to Nazis. If you share such memes or videos, you will rise to the top of my list to unfriend. I have already unfriended one person for this reason. That's all for now.

Moving on to my lighthearted promises:

Yay for spring! I am happy we have "popcorn" on our apricot tree this year, because we didn't last year, and subsequently we didn't have any apricots. I'm looking forward to apricot jam, crisp, and maybe meringue pie in July or August.

This week I went through some old stuff and got rid of things. My mom got rid of my x-rays from when I was nine years old. I feel like society has two conflicting sets of values. One is that we should reduce, reuse, recycle; we should be thrifty. The other is that we should simplify our lives and not be hoarders. I sometimes have a hard time reconciling these two things.

I love to make dishes that include vegetables prepared in unusual ways, because otherwise it's hard to get veggies. At Eastertime, I love to cook with carrots. So this week I made carrot pie with phyllo crust. It also had dates, raisins, and onions. It was decent.

"When his mother says, 'Oh Sonny dear, how about some carrot pie?'"--An obscure Easter song you have probably never heard.

 Last week I also went to JoAnn and got  materials to make Easter pillowcases, which I finished this week. Note that I had to get materials that had Easter candy. (I also got materials for St. Patrick's Day and Independence Day, the latter of which has popsicles on it.)

This is really random, but I put it on my bucket list to write the lyrics for a musical album, so I made an imaginary Easter album. I say "imaginary" because it will never exist, since I don't have the musical know-how to put it to music, nor the knowledge of copyright/royalty laws to cover songs. But I have often wondered why we have so much music for Christmas and so little for the other holidays. So I wrote Easter lyrics! Of all my holiday playlists, Easter is the worst, so it needs some help. I make no claims that my lyrics are good, but let's be honest, very few holiday songs are lyrically sophisticated. Even Sia released a delightful Christmas album with very simple lyrics ("Puppies Are Forever!"). My own songs have the following titles: "Happy Eastertime," "Happy Springtime," "Take Care of Your Pets," "Nests," and "Happy Spring." The imaginary album would also cover the following songs: "Eggbert the Easter Egg," "The Foggy Dew," "I Wish I Was a Whisker on the Easter Bunny’s Chin," "Bring on the Blue Sky," "Nature’s Easter Story," "Eggbert the Easter Egg" (a different song with the same name), "Easter Mornin’," "Every Spring the Easter Bunny Never Sleeps," "Here Comes Peter Cottontail," "Sonny the Bunny," and "Those Crazy Peeps."

I also wanted to see Peter Rabbit before Easter, because I had no interest in seeing it at any other time of the year. It was visually appealing, but unfortunately that was the only thing appealing about it. Sadly, more people have seen/will see that movie than another British movie about anthropomorphic animals, Paddington 2--even though I give Peter Rabbit 4 or 5/10, but Paddington 2 10/10. (The first Paddington gets 9/10.)

On Friday I attended a mission reunion, this time with my first mission president. These reunions are attended by fewer and fewer people as time goes on. My first mission reunion was eight years ago! I talked to people who are much better at life than I am. They have steady, interesting jobs. I got nothing. They have nice houses and property. I live with my parents. They have multiple children. I...adopted a cat. One even has cattle. Again, I have a cat.

Today he woke me up because he was chasing the bird shadows on my blinds. It is a shame he can't go outside, because he would be a fantastic mouser.

Oh well. At least I'm a published author, which most people can't say.

I did typical Easter things with my family--egg hunt, getting baskets, coloring eggs, and Easter dinner.

Eight years ago, my BYU FHE group introduced me to using colored crayons on eggs, and it changed my life.

 Easter morning meant Lent is over, and so is my counting calories. You can bet that I binged on candy and carrot cake today, especially since I can't have any candy after Easter is over. (This isn't entirely true, as I can eat candy early if I'm reviewing it, and I am planning on some reviews soon.)

I am so happy that the trails have thawed out. I've had a hard time being motivated lately to go running, but dry trails should bring back motivation. (However, not counting calories will bring less motivation.)

Glacier lilies kind of freak me out, but they mark the return of wildflower season! Next I will watch for yellowbells, phlox, and arrowleaf balsamroot.

Can we talk about conference for a minute? I almost feel like President Nelson did more in one conference than President Monson did in ten years. The surprises just kept coming. I have no problem with white American Apostles, but I think it will be good all around to have more diversity. I think it will be great to have more inclusive elders quorums, and ministering rather than home/visiting teaching. But TBH, I would have preferred announcements about a two-hour block or a new name for Mia Maids. (I had another thing on this list, but my mom said it would be better left unsaid. Maybe I could tell you in person.)

It was on my bucket list to make a layer cake, so I decided Easter would be an ideal time. In 2012, I independently decided carrot cake was an Easter dessert, and since 2013, lots of carrot cake products have come out at Eastertime, showing I'm justified in my opinion. (There have been carrot cake M&Ms, candy corn, Hershey's Kisses, Hostess Donettes, and Little Debbie Rolls.) Carrot cake is my all-time favorite dessert--mostly because it's delectable, but also because I love vegetables prepared in unusual ways. This was the first time I ever made a layer cake, and the first time I really decorated a cake like this. If it were at a store, it would end up on Cake Wrecks, but I like it for my first try.  It was tasty and pretty, though the frosting wasn't the greatest. (In my geology classes, I learned that the freeze-thaw cycle wreaks havoc on landscapes, but today I learned it also messes with the texture of cream cheese.)

"It may be silly, but it's a dilly, and it's the only [layer cake] I have ever made."--Another obscure Easter song you have probably never heard.

I'm sad Easter was early this year, but at least it was in April. And next year it's on April 21, giving me three more weeks of jellybeans!

Happy Easter!