Teenaged

Yesterday marked the conclusion of a neat family reunion on my mother's side of the family. This year, the reunion was held at a lovely campground currently owned by our church. There were cabins, each holding a handful of people in one room, and many more in the adjacent room.

One cabin was set aside for all the teenaged cousins. They're a rather large, tight-knit group, with a few boys and an quite a few more girls. They bedded the boys in the inner room, and the girls stayed in the outer room with my grandmother and my mother's oldest sister, Linda.

On a whiteboard on the wall, someone claimed the territory by marking the words:
The Teen - & - Aged Cabin.

Fluffy the Cockroach

The beginnings of a deep sleep were beginning to swirl around in my head when I heard a squeal from Delores down the hall. I don't know how, but in an instant I was at her side anxiously rasping "What, what? Are you OK?"

And then I saw him: a cockroach about the size of a small mouse. We had left a door open in the house for about an hour, cooling the apartment down, and this scurrying little critter must have darted in during that time.

Delores urged me to kill him, and I looked about frantically for something sturdy and flat that would do the trick, being barefoot and uninterested in grimy cockroach guts all over my feet. Not wanting to startle the critter and drive him off before I got a good shot in, I grabbed the first sturdy squarish object in sight: a tall box of fireworks.

Without a thought, I brought the edge of the box of fireworks squarely on the back of our visitor. He darted away with the speed of a mouse! Now I was startled and I brought the box of fireworks down again. Crack! The critter paused only a moment, and then darted for the safety of the tangle of computer cords near our desk.

"Oh, no you don't!"

Finally recognizing the danger of trying to exterminate cockroaches with a box of unspent fireworks, I grabbed the next best thing I could reach: the power strip next to the computer. Thwak! No good. He was gone behind the hutch now.

Ohhh! That was it! I found the can of RAID and I hunted that cockroach down within an inch of his life. There wasn't a corner of the house untouched. I silently and wearily dared the critter to bare its cockroachish little face.

In the morning, he was there on the floor, not two feet from where he was originally sighted, lying on his back twitching weakly. With smug victory on my face, I walked him to the toilet where he could wash off. It was back to the sewer for our Brigham City sewer cockroach, and a day of glorious victory for the Keith.

I told Delores, and I called him Fluffy, which Delores observed probably stemmed from Harry Potter; Fluffy was Rubeus Hagrid's three-headed hellhound. I guess if it had been a big dog, the box of fireworks might have come in more handy, eh?

Visiting the Falls

Last week, I hiked into the hills with a hand full of Delores's family. We traveled my favorite local trail; one surprisingly close to metropolitan Salt Lake valley. Not far from Highway 89 near the hills of Layton starts a seemingly nondescript trail. Dusty switchbacks bordered by scrub oak and citizen mansions cunningly conceal the jewel of nature's beauty hidden around the hill and into the canyon.
Quiet suddenly, the dusty trail gives way to lush foliage and running water. As we approached the trees, I chuckled to overhear two nieces quarreling over who got to stand nearest to Don. It made me smile. Clearly, Don loves his children and is loved in return. Will Abigail want to be near to me wherever we go? I think that would be neat.

I chuckled even more at one point because Don suggested that one of them could walk by me, and thus save the dispute. Both girls looked at me with baleful eyes. Clearly, I was no substitute for their father.
From time to time, the trail leads to small waterfalls sprinkling a refreshing spray across the trail, or great fallen logs housing busy colonies of very large ants. The children spotted wildlife, climbed up steep paths, and scooted down steeper drops. At length, we arrived at a wonderful waterfall that filled a small pool at the end of the trail. It was two hours hiking, and we all flopped gratefully on the rocky shore and gobbled up granola, sandwiches, and treats.

While sitting on the shore by the falls, I called Delores from the cellular phone. It worked! The connection was very strong. Two hours walk away from the nearest home and we had sufficient coverage to talk. This surprised me, particularly when I consider the dead zones along my daily commute.

We walked down the trail much more quickly than we climbed up. At the end, some of the children seemed tired enough to trip on level ground, yet we all departed happy and cheerful. This was a truly wonderful experience. Here are some pictures of the trail.

	The Waterfalls of Layton Not far from Highway 89 is a quiet trail with some wonderful scenery. I went there with a handful of Delores's family last weekend. It is hard to believe that there is one of nature's jewels only a few paces from the road!
	Basking in the Sun Ben and Isabel, sitting on a rock and enjoying water and treats.
	Duaine on the Switchbacks It was fun to catch a photo of Duane...catching a photo!
	Hills around the Corner Around one of the corners of the trail was this scene.
	Hills around the Corner ... and this one.
	Grandpa with a Camera Delores's dad continues his avid collection of family memories.
	Resting by the Wayside They might be young, but our little troupe received praise from some passers-by for making it all the way to the falls.
	Running Water The dusty switchbacks quickly give way to green trees and running water. Soon, all that can be seen is lush and beautiful.
	Ants These little critters were working busily away on an enormous log that has been across the path for several years.
	The First Falls One of the neat things about this trail is all the eye candy. Here, the river splits around a rock formation and splashes through.
	Arrived at the Falls At length, we arrived at the falls. We had to stone-hop across a piece of the river to arrive on a dusty shore. There, we enjoyed the spray of the falls, lunch, and some time to sit and enjoy the scenery. It was a wonderful hike!
	The Don's at the Falls The Don Dorton clan celebrated the refreshing victory.
	Tiny People We were so small compared to the falls.
	Like a Pitcher The top of the falls looked like the lip of a pitcher, worn down from so many years of rushing water.
	Mountain Lagoon This picture, taken from a ledge on the nearby mountain wall, shows the collecting basing where the rushing water pools before continuing down the mountain.
	Glance Back to Smile Everyone seemed to have a good time. Jocelyn could tell you about all the small wildlife we encountered on the trail.
	The First Falls One of the neat things about this trail is all the eye candy. Here, the river splits around a rock formation and splashes through.

Flowerpot Gardens

Delores and I planted a vast garden this week. Our anticipated crop will include every imaginable vegetable, provided one's imagination is limited to a handfil of small plants soaking up the sun in our aparment window. In one long pot are onions and chives. Another boasts basil and something else -- I can't exactly remember. With only a handful of plants, one might think I could keep them all straight, but I already look at the moist dirt in the pots with anticipation for the surprise. What did we plant, and where?

It feels refreshing, really. I haven't had a garden, even a flowerpot garden, since I lived with my parents. We kept a small handful of fruit trees, clumps of zucchini and pumpkin, rows of corn, and even carrots which, due to the native Utah clay, often turned out to appear like short, fat, orange toes. Having a little something to watch grow is so very different than the day-in and day-out routine of writing software.

Delores makes it fun as well. She filled pots with dirt and drew furrows in the soil with her fingertips. Handfuls of dirt were saved for Fergusen, the family plant. She is always full of sunshine and laughter.

When I woke the next morning, my neck and shoulders ached like I had planted acres of rocks. It took me some time, and the help of Delores, to figure that it was likely because I bought our dirt while walking home from my carpool. I had walked home from the store with two large bags of soil, one over each shoulder. A half of a block later it was two large bags under my arms. Shortly later it was one bag across my back somewhat with the other clung to my chest like a cherished teddy bear.

The little adventure ended and our garden is planted. I wonder how large the plants will be when Abigail is here? I guess we'll see.

Apartment Warming

Today, most of both families came to spend some time in fun and games at our new apartment. To my surprise, everyone seemed to fit in the space we had available. That was stunning!

After enjoying some light summer food, many of us retired to the lawn for games of checkers, darts, and water balloon volleyball. It seemed to me that everyone had a great time.

It was really neat to me that so many people were willing to come. Family came from Provo, West Jordan, Salt Lake, and Brigham City. This was the first time we had combined so many from both families since our wedding almost two years ago. This is something we very definitely want to do again.

Practice Labor

Sometimes it takes several grueling hours with a pickaxe and a jack hammer to make a fella feel like a man. Other times, there are more sensitive things. I enjoy going with Delores each week to our Bradley Method® birthing class. We sit in a room for a few hours with other couples who are as excited about there baby as we are about ours, and we learn how to prepare for and embrace labor.

Strange enough, this helps me feel like a man. We alternate between different activities in the class, from traditional school-like learning to practicing relaxation techniques and massage. I get to spend the entire time practicing and dreaming about providing for Delores' every need during labor and birth. Each moment is about taking care of her as only a husband with all his love can. I get to be her labor coach; the fella who is there every moment and is sorely missed even for the briefest of trips to the restroom. Yup. I'm going to do all that and somehow not faint. And I can't wait (although I need to wait until we at least have a place for our baby to sleep).

There's no table saw, forklift, or anything else manly about it except my love for Delores and my deep hope that I can be a decent father to my baby. And yet, to me, I feel that I am facing a rite of passage; one that, if I succeed, I will be a man. Two calendar flips. That's all the time left. And with the next calendar flip only two-some-odd weeks ahead, I can hardly contain myself.

Notes on Code

I finally finished enough of my development weblog to deploy! This has been a monumental effort for me. Although there is yet more to do, I am just thrilled to have some tools available to give back to the web development community.

Come see my new site, at www.notesoncode.com. It's a modest site, but its my work and I'm pleased with it.

I think I'll write some short articles on tips and tricks to get the most out of some of the tools I use at work... and then I'll write about... oh, I'm excited. Thanks for being excited with me.