Getting ready for Pioneer Day

We have one week until Pioneer Day, and I have been doing things to get ready. 

I had a bit of a battle on the Wikipedia article for Pioneer Day. I was removing things that were simply not true; someone had misinterpreted the source cited, and even that source was inaccurate. But then someone kept adding the false stuff back in! Ugh! It was very annoying. But I think they've stopped now.

Periodically I will go to Google News and type in "Pioneer Day" to see what comes up, to help with my research. In so doing, I discovered that KUER, the local NPR station, asked people to submit recordings of how they celebrate Pioneer Day. So I submitted one where I talked about my research and the fact that I have a Pioneer Day playlist with songs about pioneers and other elements of Utah history. They liked my recording, so they set it to music and plan to play it on the air! 

But then they got back to me and asked if my playlist is publicly accessible, because they thought it would be fun to incorporate music from it into my sound bite! But my official playlist is not publicly accessible—I still buy music (for a few reasons), and a majority of the playlist is not available on streaming services. I have no fewer than seven full albums that are not on Spotify (eight if you count a random concert CD I found at DI). But I made a sampler playlist with some of the songs and shared it with KUER. I usually listen to music from my phone when I'm driving, but I'm switching to NPR in case I hear myself on the radio. (But like everyone else, I hate hearing recordings of my own voice.)

I used this as an opportunity to add to my Pioneer Day playlist. It had 184 songs when I recorded my clip, but now it's up to 235. I decided to add the Killers' Pressure Machine to my playlist, since it's about the town of Nephi, even though it's darker and grittier than most of the music. I really enjoy finding and collecting music for every holiday.

Saturday morning, we attended Bountiful's Handcart Days parade, which hasn't been held since 2019. They held it a week earlier so they could have it on Saturday morning instead of an evening. I approve, since it's cooler in the morning. I enjoyed the parade, perhaps more than I have in the past. But perhaps the best part was hearing the commentary from my fourteen-year-old nephew Franklin.

Then we also watched the fireworks from my sister's driveway in the evening. Since Pioneer Day is kind of niche, and so many people seem to hate it, sometimes I wonder if it's going to die out. But all this shows it is still very much alive and well. Providing me with research material for years to come!

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This week I was also happy to do some things for the first time since my eye surgery.

On Thursday I got a haircut. I don't like talking about haircuts, because I am unreasonably insecure and weirded out by talking about hair. But this was my first haircut where I didn't have to take my glasses off! I could actually see in the mirror and tell what was going on! (I have been going to Trolley Square Barbers for four years, because I finally found a barber I feel comfortable having conversations with. He's really interested in Church history.)

I'm supposed to wear sunglasses whenever I'm outside for six months after my surgery, so I invested in some Ray-Bans, which are better than the cheap patriotic ones I got. I put my new sunglasses on, put my cheap sunglasses in the case they gave me, and then promptly lost the case. I'm glad I didn't have the expensive glasses in the case! Maybe it will still turn up.

Anyway, I mainly wanted some good sunglasses so I could get back to trail running. I ran up the Woodbriar Trail and then Mueller Park. It felt great to get back on the trails and work off some Fourth of July excesses.

Richardson's geranium

fleabane

I'm hoping to have more fun preparing for Pioneer Day this week!