General Store - Lonetree, Wyoming

 Along the road to Flaming Gorge Dam is the "town" of Lonetree. The only feature of a town is the general store and a garage to house the fire truck. This just happens to be the place you turn off the road to go the King's Peak. Notice their mail box 30 feet in the air. This is the first time I have ever noticed the mail box.

I have always noted the parking meter. Alone on a desolate dirt road wirth tons of other parking is the only parking meter in all of Wyoming - I think. Just kinda funny.

Just Lying on our backs - in the middle of the road....

The other night, Janene and I went to Flaming Gorge Dam. We got there about 10:00 at night. Once we got checked in to our motel room, we jumped back in the truck and drove a little ways up the road where we pulled over, turned off the lights...... and looked up! I almost fell over. I lost my balance and thought I was falling into the sky. We decided to lay down in the middle of the road and look up at the night sky. The Milky Way was incredible. There are no big cities anywhere near here and the moon was over the horizon. With no light pollution, we could see stars everywhere.

We stayed there (in the middle of the road) for over half an hour, watching the sunlight glint off satellites for brief moments, trying to count all the shooting stars, and feeling really, really... small. We marveled at God's handiwork and at the fact that in all the universe, He knows each one of us. He knows all our fears, our joys, - our secret thoughts. I was reminded of the eighth Psalm...

"When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;
What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and has crowned him with glory and honour."

It was a powerful moment. A brief moment when I think I understood a little bit, however tiny, of the Love that Our Father has for us, that He would offer us all that He hath, and why he sent His Son to redeem us. It's a little bit strange that I felt what I did, especially when the natural man reaction would be to say that "we are nothing but a speck in the cosmic dust of eternity".

I was grateful for that small precious gift. After half an hour, we heard a car approaching and had to get up before getting squashed.

Eating Chinese Tonight .... and just about every other night.

Ping and Haiyan have been cooking up a storm in our house. They go up in the garden and pick what they want and then they work their magic in the kitchen. They have raided our stash of garlic and added spices brought from China.

Here is just a sample of the fare. It may look strange, but it tastes great!

Sam calls his Grandma

Mikey is not the only one who calls Grandma. Sam calls a lot. Sam is able to make all sorts of things out of paper, especially super airplanes and helicopters - with missile launchers and all. Here he is with a new present for us.



The other day, he was at home while his dad was in Washington, DC. He and his brother Ben were not being very good. They had not gone to bed when they were supposed to the night before - and it looked they were not going to bed any time soon. So Grandma did what grandma does best - she bribed him! She promised to give him a treat if he went to bed early.






Busted again! Kids have minds like steel traps. They never let go and never forget.

A Phone Call from Mikey

On the first day of April, we got a phone call from Mikey. You have to hear this to believe it.







It took us a while before we realized that this was an April Fools Day joke. I was soooo disappointed. Little did we know that it might actually happen now.

Hang up? he said after it was all over. It seems someone put him up to it.

Some Like it HOT!!!

I have always liked my water hot. I love to hang a towel up over the opening to the shower, turn up the water, and have a steam bath. It's good for my sinuses. I even ordered a special Scald Guard faucet for our kid's bathroom so that it would be hot in my shower, but not in their bathroom. After Lily got burned, Brooke has been on a crusade to get me and everyone she knows to turn their water heater down. See her blog below

http://freebairnfamily.blogspot.com/2011/07/burn-clinic-update.html

About a month ago, I made the ultimate sacrifice for my grandkids. I have turned my water temperature down so far that I can now stand in the shower with the water on full hot. You can see from my water heater knob that the temperature is where I used to set it when we went on vacation.

No kids will get burned at my house!

Nose, Nose Anything Goes

When I saw Andrew yesterday, I thought he had a huge bonk on the head. I was just sure that he had taken a tumble or was drop kicked by his big brother. I was wrong, On closer inspection, I found that he was just......

    
GROWING A NEW NOSE!!! 

Tribute to a Hero

Attending the funeral for my friend was quite the experience. Steve earned a place in history as the fire department really put on a show about his passing. Besides the incredible funeral procession, the fire department erected a huge flag on the procession route.
Hundreds of firefighters from all over the state came to pay their respects, here lining the street to the cemetery.
Steve's body was loaded onto one of the fire trucks draped in black with all the pall bearers riding with the casket. If you look closely, you can see Steve's turnout gear and helmet on the front bumper.
I wish I had taken this picture. This was taken by a professional photographer as the fire truck passed under the draped flag.
Fire trucks from all over the state were there in the procession. I have no idea how much money this must have cost. The fuel costs alone must have been staggering.
There was a full motorcycle escort through the entire route. At the cemetery, there was a lone firefighter demonstration, the worst bagpiper I have ever heard, Steve's last call on the radio, a presentation to his widow and a helicopter flyover involving the Life Flight choppers and others including KSL TV's Chopper 5.
As I watched all this unfold from Grandpa Blaine's and David's grave sites (Steve was buried about 50 feet away), I couldn't help but think of all those I have known who would have merited a better show, but received none. Both of my grandfathers are heroes in my eyes. I remember when Diane's dad died, there was a choir made up of all the Eagle Scouts he inspired. He was a hero. In all that was said and done at this funeral, I wish that all the humble and valiant men and women I have served during my time conducting and helping to conduct funerals over the last four years could have been better recognized for their efforts. I will remember Steve, but this final salute may be what I remember more than his service to our community.