Sometimes e-mail inbox includes a lovely surprise! This is one of them:

The accompanying note said:

It occured to me on my drive to Salt Lake that you were not using your camper to its fullest potential. I felt that this picture might give you an idea or two on how better utilize your camper. I firmly believe that it also offers an alternative to retirement….

Now that’s something worth thinking about!

Today is the tenth of September (not for much longer, however). The day between two poignant dates. Trevor was born on September 9, 1971 and had he lived, he would have been 35 years old yesterday rather than being forever 29. Although I had a very delightful day yesterday, he was on my mind during the entire day. I do miss him so very much. And, of course, tomorow is the fifth anniversary of the Al-Queda attack on the United States. That’s another day painfully burned into memory. But today is the in-between day. It has been a very pleasant day indeed.

I’m surrounded by females today. Most of them will be gone by tomorrow sometime. Some have already left. A bunch of folks flew into Salt Lake City on Thursday evening to go to “Time Out For Women”, a Deseret Book event held on Friday and Saturday in Logan, Utah. Nina’s sister Pam, Pam’s daughter Vanessa, and our daughter Dawnmarie came out for the event. Ashlyn (Pam’s daughter and BYU-I coed) and Nina met them on Friday and went with them to the event. They all came here late last night. Dawnmarie had to leave this morning at 7:30 a.m. to fly back home. Vanessa and Ashlyn will leave tomorrow morning some time. Pam will stay the rest of the week and we’ll have a good time with her. They seemed to have had a great time at the event and perhaps Nina will say something about it on her blog sometime. I enjoyed the very brief visit with Dawnmariel. She’s arrived safely back home.

Yesterday I drove down to Salt Lake and met up with my brother Perry and his wife Chris. Our main purpose was to go to the Recreational Vehicle Show at the convention center. As long as we were there, however, we could also do some other shopping (Ashlyn and Vanessa just brought me in some freshly baked brownies!!). We first went to Cabela’s to look at some camping and outdoor gear. We all spent more money than planned, but of course came away with some great treasures that will get a lot of use as we go camping. From there we went to Camping World to continue shopping. I needed a replacement shroud for the rooftop airconditioner on our motorhome. I also picked up a cover and a few other needed items. After lunch at Wingers we then headed for the RV show. It was mid-afternoon when we got there. I thought we’d be there a couple of hours at the most. Three and a half hours later, I needed to leave to head back north. There were some lovely vehicles there! Lots of dreaming … but none of those will be in our future any time soon. It’s always fun to be with Perry and Chris. We’re talking about a trip to Glacier Nat’l Park next year. That will definitely be fun.

So, the day is done, I’m finished, and life is good.

Every Thursday evening, as long as the weather holds, folks meet down at the Corner Market on their motorcycles at 6 p.m. and head off somewhere for a few hours of riding. I haven’t been able to go the past couple of weeks, so tonight was the night. Now the school has started, the weather has cooled down, and the days are much shorter, the number of bikes has decreased markedly. Tonight we had four bikes, but that doesn’t matter much as I was ready to go anywhere. We took the old highway east towards Soda Springs and down through some canyons I haven’t ever been through. Two hours and fifteen minutes later I was back home, feeling good. I really enjoy these Thursday night rides. I’m also kind of surprised at how many people in our neighborhood have motorcycles! Every Thursday night someone new (to me) shows up to go on the ride. My little car has been in the shop for the past week getting a sensor replace for the air conditioning, so I’ve been riding the motorcycle everywhere I’ve needed to go. That has also been fun. We should have decent weather for another month or more, so there should be several more Thursday night rides.

Grandson Michael has started up his blog. He’s put in two posts and I’ve enjoyed reading what he has had to say. Nina told me today that Stephanie also would like to have her own blog as well, so I’ll probably build that for her tomorrow night. The more the better. Life is good!

The assay report is back. While there is gold in the sugar quartz, there isn’t much! Definitely not enough to make it worth trying to get any of it out of the ground. While that’s disappointing, I’m sure the folks that have bought property below where we were prospecting will not miss having a mining operation going on at the top of the hill!

I dis some things around the house and we went up to Idaho Falls this afternoon to do some shopping and eating. I’ve posted some pictures from the day on the picture album. Tomorrow I’ll be going to church on the north side of town as my niece Jennifer’s baby is being blessed. Nina will not be able to be there because of her obligations at the prison, so I’ll be going solo. Mom and dad are driving over from Soda Springs and a lot of other family will be there also. It should be a nice day!

My brother Perry had a few days in a row off, so I took some vacation days as well. He brought his new trailer up and Nina and I drove over in our motor home and met at Hoback Junction, Wyoming, just about twelve miles south of Jackson Hole on the Snake River. We arrived mid-day on Monday, August 21st and left mid-morning on Thursday, August 24th. We had a very nice time. Perry and Chris are a lot of fun to be with. We can talk about anything and everything (and usually do). Perry is eight years younger than I am. He was barely ten years old when I left home to join the Air Force. Consequently, we don’t have any of that childhood baggage that sometimes comes between siblings (we have some examples in our families). He’s very easy going and great to be around. We’re talking about doing some kind of a trip together next summer. He’s recovering nicely from the chemotherapy and they are quite motivated to live life as full as possible for as long as possible. We’d like to be part of that as well. I took a few pictures and have put them in the pictures! album.

Twenty-eight years. Not nearly long enough, of course, but certainly a good start. I asked him what he was doing to celebrate and he said that he was just laying back and relaxing. Sounds like a nice day. Congratulations Jared and Happy Birthday!