Go go go!

 I like to keep myself busy, and there certainly is a lot to do in the month of June! It's easy to think, "Ugh, there's not enough time to do everything I want to." But I'm trying to tell myself, "Isn't it great that I have so many wonderful things I can do?"

June is a wonderful month for trail running, with all the wildflowers; and since it stays light later than at any other time of the year, it gives me time for longer trails I don't usually do, partly because they don't have shade, which means they're not good during the height of the day. 

Wasatch penstemon and mulesears

There are all these thistles growing, and I think they are invasive, so I enjoy stepping on them. It's so satisfying to feel them crunch under my feet!

Wasatch penstemon

I think the sego lilies are more abundant this year than any other year I've seen.

Nootka rose

First Richardson's geranium of the season

Utah sweetpea

Cutleaf balsamroot

mushrooms

Sticky geraniums

My singles ward is part of a conventional stake, and recently they asked for volunteers to help with a service project at Camp Piuta, a Church-owned camp near Kamas. I was reluctant at first, but then I thought, "Don't think of it as a service project, think of it as a road trip to Kamas!" So I rode up with some other men to the camp. We helped clear erosion around the cabins. It was a beautiful location, but I felt awkward since I'm not good at manual labor. 

The only reason these glacier lilies are still around is because the elevation is so much higher there. They're mainly an April flower around here.

I continue to do pro bono editing work for Wayfare magazine, which has taken up quite a bit of time. But it means I'll get free admission to the Restore Gathering in October. We are getting close to finishing the second issue, so it's crunch time. I'm sad that crunch time had to be at a time of year when it's best to be outdoors. But it's OK. Wayfare has been a pleasure to work on.

On Monday this week, I was off for Juneteenth, so I watched the movie Miss Juneteenth, which was at the 2020 Sundance Festival, one of the years I worked there. I bought it on DVD when Top Hat Video went out of business in January. It was a decent movie; I give it a 7/10. It's not rated; it has PG-13 or R-level language and PG or PG-13 themes.

That evening I went to Target. The Impulsive Buy has a shared spreadsheet for us reviewers, and I looked at the spreadsheet on my phone to see if there was anything I needed to look for. I was wearing my running shorts at the store, and the shorts have mesh pockets with holes. I put my phone in my pocket, and the flesh of my leg started doing things on my phone. It shifted some of the columns in the spreadsheet, and it also typed this message in the spreadsheet. I was super embarrassed but also amused. 

It's hard to put things in strikethrough, so I'm impressed my leg knew how to

Another thing I like to do in June is to look for goathead plants to eradicate, but I haven't done as much this year. On Wednesday, I found a few that I pulled up from someone's parking strip. But then I noticed a wallet on the ground! I looked at the stuff in the wallet, and it belonged to a Venezuelan permanent resident with a generic Spanish name. The wallet had important things like a social security card and credit cards. I was going to turn it in to the police station to have them return it. But then I realized, "As a historical researcher, I do sleuthing for a living. I can probably do as good a job finding this person as they can." So I looked for his whole name (including middle name) on Facebook, and I found someone from the same city in Venezuela. So I sent him a message. And it was him! He didn't speak English, but thanks to the internet, we were able to message each other, and he came to pick it up. (I might have had him pick it up at the police station, but it was closed, and he seemed eager to get it.) So I went to save the world by picking goatheads, and instead I saved the world by returning a lost wallet.

And I have also spent some time picking cherries from my sister's tree. But I've been so busy that I haven't had time to pit them yet. It's a hassle, but it's great to spend a few hours pitting the cherries, then freezing them, so I can use them to make cherry crisp, cherry cobbler, cherry chocolate pie, cherry omelets, and cherry salsa all year round. 

I also have to spend time with my brother's youngest two kids, who have come to spend a few weeks here. Franklin (15) has enjoyed showing me pictures of their cat, Pudding, and he likes to play with and find Reggie. I told him, "I'm glad you like Reggie," and he said, "I love Reggie." And how could you not? 

I took this picture, but it looks like a Reggie selfie

Reggie weighs about eighteen pounds. The average weight of a male cat is twelve to fifteen.

Then on Saturday, my cousin flew in from Indiana to surprise her parents, so we took her down to meet them at Yuba Lake. I was happy to use my paddleboard for several hours and also do some swimming. I'm still not great at paddleboarding, and I fell in a few times. But I'm glad I was able to stand up for some periods of time. The great thing about a paddleboard is that you can stand, kneel, sit, lie prone, or lie supine. I do enjoy spending time at lakes, even though I haven't done that much of it.

I'm hoping I'll be able to catch my breath a little bit so I can do even more fun things!