A white Christmas

I finally returned from my nice 2-week vacation in the West among family and friends. I went to Colorado first to spend time with my sister Julie and her family plus my dad, Jarom, Emilee, and Cody came up from California and Arizona. Later I went south to Safford and Yuma to visit family and friends. In all it was a lovely trip.

I arrived in Colorado before Dad, Jarom, Emilee, and Cody, which was nice because I was able to spend a little time with the Smacks before the Christmas commotion began. We had a lot of fun. I went to 2 Ft Collins Eagles games with Ted. The Eagles won both games! The Eagles are very good and have won the national championship 2 times in 7 years. The first game they won without having to break a sweat. They dominated the game from the beginning and shot nearly 3 times more shots than the other team. The second game ended with the Eagles winning by penalty shots. I was excited that it went to the penalty shots round because I had never seen penalty shots in person. At the second game Ti, Tate, and Joe came with Ted and I. Ted only had 4 tickets, so he had to figure out a way to get as ticket for Joe. Joe was not going to go, but he was so enthusiastic about watching his Eagles play that Ted didn’t have the heart to leave him at home. In the end another man gave Ted an extra ticket for free. What luck!

After the first hockey game Ted and I went to Walmart to buy stocking stuffers for all the kids and family. After what seems like half the night and multiple calls to Julie to figure out what to buy, we came home with a large Santa bag full of goodies. Ted bought so much stuff that the puny stockings could not hold half of what was supposed to go in them.

The rest of the family arrived late Saturday night from Becky’s. Ted immediately started preparing carne asada. Nothing like carne asada as a midnight snack! Ted made it his personal duty to fatten everybody up. He figured that if everyone was not several pounds heavier by the end of the Christmas vacation then they obviously have no idea how to celebrate the holidays. We had carne asada, salsa, pork loin, smoked turkey, sausage, loads of candy in our stockings, fruit, and numerous other side dishes.

One of Ted and Julie’s friends came over dressed as Santa Claus. After all the boys sit on his lap to tell him what they wanted, he gave them some candy. Then he makes Julie sit on his lap before he would give up his big present from his bag. He brought the boys a Nintendo Wii! They are expensive even if you can find them. The boys were so excited and played as much as they could over the next few days. I must admit that I played my share of tennis and bowling, too, as did all the adults. It is a pretty fun set up. For those who do not know. Wii is an interactive video game. You use a controller in your hand that recognized hand movements and makes your player on the screen make the same hand movements. When playing tennis, you use the controller like a tennis racket. When bowling, you move the controller like you would use the bowling ball. It does a good job of mimicking your movements, so it is like place real life sports. You even get tired and sweaty like when playing real sports. It has several different sports like baseball, boxing, tennis, bowling, and golf.

My holiday tradition: the flu

Unfortunately on Saturday I started to feel the beginnings of the flu. I hoped that it was only an obnoxious cold that does not hamper the celebrations too much. I was wrong. I got the flu with all its body aches, stuffiness, headaches, sore throat, and clogged everything. I was sick for the next 10 days. That was the worst flu I have had in several years. After a week of being sick, I started feeling much better only for the flu to settle in my ear in the form of an ear infection. Luckily the infection was not bad enough to prohibit me from flying home.

I never get sick outside of the holidays. I am single and live quite a sterile life away from any disease vectors. However, during the holidays I spend time with children. I love my little nieces and nephews, but my body cannot defend itself from the relentless barrage of diseases that they have passed around among all their little friends. I hopelessly fall ill to the whole suite. I feel like the poor Indians trying to defend off the onslaught of small pox, measles, and cholera brought to the Americas with the European settlers. In the end it is a hopeless battle. Last year I got pink eye, an ear infection, a sore throat, and a cold. The 3 Christmases previously I had the stomach flu. I guess that is just the price I have to pay to spend time with little kids.

Winter Park and lots of snow!

The day after Christmas we all piled into the Julie’s Denali and Ted’s truck and went up to their condo in Winter Park. Winter Park is one of several resort towns in the Rocky Mountains dedicated to skiing, snowmobiling, fourwheeling, hiking, biking and enjoying the outdoors. The condo was so nice, and we had so much fun. Too bad Jason, Joe and company could not join us in the fun. We were there fore 2 nights. On the second night we went sledding. I was a little worried about the cold because I was still sick. However, Ted bundled us all up from his store of winter clothes that were sufficient to cloth half of Winter Park. Though it was 5°F (-15°C), I was quite warm the whole time. We went innertubing at a hill where you can sled down the hill then use the sled lift to return to the top of the hill. It was so easy to sled numerous times in the hour that we were there. We must have gone about 10 times in 1 hour. We went down several times holding on to each others’ tubes in a large hurling mass. We would change positions within the mass has slid down the hill, so the ones in front could end up in the back by the time we reached the bottom of the hill. Later we made a large string of tubes where each person would hold onto the tube strap of the tube in front of them. We could move around like a large snake as we jetted to the bottom of the hill. One hour seemed like such a short period of time, but it was a good bit of time - enough time to wear out all the kids and get our feel of excitement. Afterward we headed down to the Jacuzzi for a little relaxation. It was a rather interesting experience, considering that there were 7 adults in a hot tub.

Heading south to warm country… NOT!

Next I headed south to what I thought would be warm country. Boy, was I wrong! Safford was cold and windy. I intended to call in coyotes, bobcat, and foxes in Safford, but the weather was too windy. Windy weather makes calling in predators nearly impossible because predators don’t seem to be out hunting that much in windy weather. For those you do not know, calling is a method of attracting predators to you to hunt them or in my case to take pictures of them. When calling coyotes and bobcats I make the sounds of scared/wounded rabbits to attract predators that would like to eat the unfortunate rabbit. While calling, I sit very still and am completely camouflaged, so that the predator cannot see me. It is a lot of fun. Coyotes, foxes, and a bobcat have come so close to me that I could almost reach out and touch them.

Though I did not get to go calling, I did get to do other things like see a lot of family, especially the Kempton’s and the Curtis’s. We stayed at the Kempton’s, which was fun. I have now stayed at the Kempton’s since before all the Kempton cousins left home. I would go over there then go hunting all day in the hills. Those were good times. Sadly I have only gone hunting once, since I left Arizona.

Jason Brimhall has his horses at the Kempton’s. He has a nice little broodmare band of 9-10 and a total of 15. He raises quarter horses and of course has to supply the market with what it wants, which is color. He mostly has grulla, buckskin, and palomino mares, and his buckskin stallion throws good color. Jason, Traci, and I went a short ride through the hills. I did not realize how long it has been since I last rode horses. I was a small buckskin mare and was using a small saddle, which made it worse. After 10 minutes I was already saddle sore. The stirrups were so high that when I took her at a good lope I bounced all over in the saddle. On the way back I switched horses with Traci because Traci was riding a taller bay mare with a larger saddle. Finally I was comfortable! After returning to the house, I took the kids on short rides. My mare decided that she was tired of riding and started playing games with me. She tried to back up into the ditch to get me scared. She sideswiped a fence post and a telephone pole in an effort to hurt my leg. Finally I got mad and started kicking her hard in the flank and did not let her get away with it. She desisted in her mission of sabotage and noncompliance and started to obey me again. Dad did not go with us because he had to cook carne asada for the New Year’s party that night. (I think that the real reason he did not go is because he does not know how to ride horses. Cooking carne asada was just a convenient excuse. I think all those stories of roundup when he was 8 years old are fabricated stories that he has perpetuated over the years to a gullible audience. I need to see him ride to believe.)

On New Year’s Eve we went to Jay and Dustin’s nursery where we lit their branch pile on fire. It made a nice bonfire for an hour. Then we went to Kevin and Kristi’s for a New Year’s party. I am not sure what everyone did because as usual I fell asleep before midnight. I assume everybody had fun. I must say that I enjoyed my late night nap. I awoke and found a group of people putting together a puzzle, so I joined to finish it. Sadly I did not get to do the tradition Safford New Year’s activity. Every time I have been in Safford during New Year’s I have hunted on New Year’s Day. Instead this year I went out to the ranch with Dad, Aunt Barbara, and Jay to talk to Pete (and take pictures).

Hackberry Ranch and the 111

Seeing the ranch was a lot of fun because it looked almost decent. Last time I visited the ranch, the drought was so bad that there was hardly a blade of grass on the range. The range received some rain, and the effects of it were noticeable. The cows and calves were fat. We visited several stock tanks and deeded lands within the ranch. The purpose of the trip was to discuss the details of the ranch with Pete, the manager. However, I was more preoccupied with taking pictures. I encountered several sparrow species at the stock tanks. Sparrows are without peer my favorite birds, so I was excited to find so many of them and get some excellent photos (to be posted later on my website).

I paid attention to some of the discussion with Pete and just shook my head at all the regulations and people-pleasing with the BLM that goes on in order to be left alone. The BLM is a bureaucratic mess as is every government institution. However, bureaucracy has its advantages at times. The San Simon River (ephemeral wash) runs through the Hackberry Ranch. The feed in the flood plain is excellent, especially during the winter. The BLM wants fewer cows on the river, but cannot do anything without public approval. An environmentalist group opposed the measure to limit cattle on the river because they want to remove all cows not limit the number of cows there. The BLM now has to rewrite the whole regional plan because of this dispute, which will take months if not more than a year. As a result the range along the river is left alone and our cattle graze there as they always have because there are no fences to keep them out. For the cows’ sake, disagreement should continue indefinitely.

On another note, the ranch is not what it used to be. I have heard stories that the ranch held at least a couple thousand cattle. When Grandpa William Ellsworth bought the 111 (called 111 because it is 111 sections, and a section is one square mile or 640 acres or 256 hectares), he was guaranteed 800 head on the ranch. He went out there to look and stopped counting at 1,500 head. The 111 could barely support a tithe of that many cows now. That was the fate of most of the desert grasslands. Climate change and overgrazing changed the range from semi-arid grassland to arid shrubland. Probably nothing can be done to reverse the current trend.

After our trip to Safford, Dad and I headed to Yuma to spend a few days before I flew back to Miami. Tony Whalen (my old boss and Dad’s friend) took us fishing on January 3 at Senator’s Wash. It was so nice to get on the water and do some fishing. Tony loves fishing and goes out every week in either Yuma or Lake Havasu where he lives. We have a rivalry going on because he knows that I have only once in my life caught less fish than someone else with whom I was fishing. In the case that I cought the same number of fish as someone else, I always caught the larger fish. That holds true for every time Tony and I have fished together. Sadly for Tony, the precedent still holds. He caught one striper and I caught two. Haha! For the trip between all of us we caught 5 striped bass while trolling (another friend caught 2 fish.) The weather was cold, and I guess the fish were not in feeding mode. At this same location we have caught many more fish.

Dad got more bites than anyone but could not land a single one! He needs to work on his fishing technique. Fittingly Tony Whalen repeatedly invites him to go fishing in Lake Havasu. Dad needs to take advantage of this invite and learn how to fish. Could you ask for a better offer? Use of Tony’s guest bedroom, all the fishing gear you need, a boat, and beautiful Lake Havasu. It sounds perfect.

Thank goodness for Skype

I left a trail of Skype through Colorado and Arizona. First thing that I would do when visiting a place was install Skype on their computer. Skype is a program that allows one to talk with a webcam for free over the internet. I used it to talk to Patrícia in Brazil. It was so nice because we could see each other while we were talking. It would have been a cold and dreary vacation if we could not have spoken to each other for one month. I already linked Julie and Jason linked to my account. Let me know if anyone else wants to set up their account, I can help them with it.

One funny thing that happened with Skype occurred after I returned to Miami. I was talking to Patrícia in Miami on Saturday, and I must have left Skype on at Aunt Debbie’s. It popped up on Aunt Debbie’s computer, and she did not know what it was. Patrícia could not figure out who was talking to her on my account because it wasn’t me. That left us scratching our heads for a while.

Traveling home

Finally after a nice vacation, I returned to Miami on 5 January. I left San Diego on a red eye and arrived in Ft Lauderdale the next morning. I decided to take the train to my house because it is an easy trip of only 1+ hours. The tran to take me to the train station from the airport was late, and I arrived just in time to see the train leave. I had to wait for another 2 hours for another train! I took the train to the elevated train station where I caught the train to my house (a station is only 2 blocks from my apartment). I fell asleep and missed my stop. I got off at the next stop and had to wait nearly an hour for the next train to take me back to my stop. It took 4.5 hours to arrive at my house. I was so tired that I did not go to the track to watch the first big stakes races at Gulfstream. I was sooo disappointed.

Now I am home and back in the grind. I have so much work to do. However, I enjoy my work, so it is good.

Finally!!!

I finally upload all the photos from Emilee and Cody's wedding and reception onto my Picasa online photo album. My public galleries are here. Sorry for the extreme delay (but I think that most of you have probably already seen these photos).

First time shooting

When Patricia found out that I own guns, she started begging me to take her shooting. Finally we went shooting on Saturday. She loved shooting my Ruger 10-.22 because it had a scope. I suspected that we would be at the shooting range for few hours, but it turns out that we were there from 11:30am to 5:30pm! She did not want to stop shooting. I would shoot one 10-round clip, and she would shoot 3. By the end of the day she could shoot 10-round groups the size of a silver dollar at 25 yds. I did not think that that was too bad considering she just learned how to shoot. Also she wants to buy her own gun because she is tired of having to share my gun. By the end of the day Patricia was bouncing off the walls because she was so excited from shooting guns all day.

Now she wants to go hunting, especially for birds. She hates anything with feathers. Now that she is learning how to shoot, she says that she loves birds... loves to kill and eat them. When we go hiking, she takes my binoculars to look at birds. The first time she was looking at birds I thought that this was rather strange, considering her dislike of birds. Then I heard her softly making the sound "bang, bang, bang". She then asked me if she could put crosshairs on the binoculars, so she can act like she is shooting all the birds. I guess whatever it takes to get her to go birding.

Ted said that he would take her duck hunting. If she wants to go, she has to learn how to shoot a shotgun well if she wants to go. She was so disappointed when I told that she would have to use a shotgun (and not my .22) to hunt birds. She would like to use a rifle with a scope instead of the heavier shotgun. She asked me why she could not just shoot the ducks sitting on the lake. I told her that it was illegal and unsportsman-like. She didn't like these reasons. I guess that she likes the idea of shooting little ducks as they swim peacefully on the lake. She'll just come with my .22 and blast them all. Thank goodness that there are laws on which birds and how many you can kill because she would depopulate all of south Florida if she had the chance.

Her friends and family freaked out when they heard that she shot a real gun. In Brazil guns are only allowed with a license that is difficult to obtain, so seldom does anyone ever shoot a gun, let alone own one. Her mother was exasperated when she heard that Patricia actually shot a gun and now she wants to hunt and kill something. When she told everyone that she went shooting, they all asked the same thing, "You shot a real gun that shoots real bullets?" It seemed so normal for me to go shooting, but for them it was so strange.

The place in central Florida where I will conduct my research has wild pigs, and they are a nuisance. I have permission to hunt them with a bow. I can't wait till she shows to her family and friends in Brazil pictures of her with her first pig that she killed with a bow. They will go nuts. Her parents will really wonder what is happening to their little daughter here in the US.

Patricia's baptism

Last Sunday (9 December 2007) Patricia was baptized!!! We decided to have the baptismal service before church at noon, so that she could be confirmed on the same day. She leaves for Brazil on Saturday, so she wanted be baptized and confirmed before she left for the holidays. She was so excited to be baptized last week. I skipped my morning meetings, so that Patricia and I could go to church together. It turns out that I needed every bit of the morning to get ready. On my mission I was always nervous before baptisms but not like I was for this baptism. I wanted make sure that everything was ready. I called the missionaries several times to make sure that the font was filling properly. Meanwhile I was trying to finish everything including my talk on the Gift of the Holy Ghost. I had already looked up some scriptures on the talk, but I had not yet prepared what I was going to say. The fact that it was Sunday morning and I had not finished my talk disturbed me along with the fact that I was bumbling everything else. I spilled something on my white shirt, which required washing. I did not have time to dry it, so I used the iron to dry it more quickly. Then I got my pants dirty. Then I made a mess of an ironing job that Patricia fixed. The entire time Patricia was calm and laughing at me for being so anxious. Finally we showed up at the church 15 minutes before the service started, which was just enough time to dress in our whites and start the meeting.

The missionaries and members had prepared everything. About 30-35 people were there, which is very good considering that it was an hour before church. The 2nd counselor in the Elder's Quorum presidency conducted. He was only a member for 5 months before he was called be part of the EQP 7 months ago. He was so excited to conduct. The talk on baptism was given by Jorge Oliveira, a fellow Brazilian and new member. He was quite emotional when talking about his baptism and the importance of the ordinance. I gave the talk on the Gift of the Holy Ghost. I told them some experiences that Patricia had. For example, when she told me that she wanted to be baptized, I asked her why. She said that she had felt the Spirit of God too many times during this year to deny that God has actively guided her to the church. She then said that Spirit that she has felt at times, she wants to have with her always. I just thought that you could not get a better answer than that for why you should be baptized. Of course, I got emotional during my talk. After the baptism the Relief Society welcomed Patricia to the Relief Society and told her to get ready because she would receive a calling as soon as she returns from Brazil.

My branch president (President Beck) welcomed her to the branch. He, too, was rather emotional, which was unexpected because he is not a real emotional person. He gave a really special message. He first had her stand next to him and asked all the members who were converts to raise their hand. About 50% of the audience raised their hands. He then told her that she was not alone and 50% of the church entered the church like she did. He told that in the church we take little children and teach them how to feel and recognize the Spirit. We take youth and help them recognize and obey the promptings of the Spirit. We help those who felt the Spirit once but due to sin and neglect do not feel it anymore and help them feel it again. We take those that have never felt the Spirit, help them feel it in their lives. He said that that was the purpose of the church. I thought that was a succinct example of what we do in the church. Without the Spirit everything we work for in the church is in vain. He then said that he was so happy at this baptism because she was dating me. The branch president and I have worked closely together because I am the clerk for the past 2 years. He told Patricia that I was very special to him and had a great help to him as branch president. He said that he was so happy that she was in my life. I was quite touched.

Instead of a closing hymn, we had a special number. I was not aware that the program had changed to add a special musical number. Several branch members and 2 nonmember brothers of a member sang a hymn in Portuguese. They did an excellent job, especially the two nonmembers. I later found out that the two nonmembers were Brazilian musicians. They saw the music for the first time a few minutes before singing it. It was a very special baptism.

Immediately afterwards in sacrament meeting I confirmed her. Then President Beck asked her to bear her testimony. She did an excellent job, and afterward she told that she felt so much peace that she was not even nervous. I was shocked that she accepted. She had asked me several times during the week if she was going to have to speak. She was scared to death that she would have to speak during the service. I told her that it was not necessary, but she could if she wanted to. She also asked me if she would have to pray in church, and I said that most definitely she would be asked to pray at some point. In Relief Society they asked her to pray. After church she remarked that she did not expect that she would be asked to speak and pray so quickly. Well welcome to the church.

In the end every man that had a part in the program was emotional, and none of the women were. That was rather strange.

After church we had a Christmas dinner and then a musical presentation of the Living Christ document. The branch did a really good job. They were not the best singers in the world, but you could feel their testimony in what they sang. People sang in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, German, and Korean. Then the two nonmember Brazilian brothers got up and one sang while the other played the piano. They preformed "I heard him come" by Afterglow. They practiced it for the first time 1 hour before. The brother who sang knows some English, but the other brother does not. They had never heard how the song was usually sung, so they performed it like they wanted to. I turned out really nice. I do not understand how they could practice a brand new song in a foreign language for little over an hour and perform so well. Also they arrived from Brazil Saturday night at 11pm and stay up talking to their sister all night. I guess that is the definition of talent. It was such a good day that they are now very interested in the church.

Everyone is so friendly to Patricia, and she already has several friends including a good friend name Patricia!

Life just gets better and better

Well I must say that life has been good to me these last few months.

I have some extremely good news to share. Patricia is getting baptized!! She decided to get baptized during Thanksgiving, and she is receiving the last discussion today. She is so solid. It has been so exciting to see her grow in the gospel and see the experiences that she is having. She understands the whole plan of salvation. For example, she is already so excited about the temple from work for the dead and temple marriage to having a place to worship away from the world.

The branch loves her. That is one thing that my branch is good at is making people feel welcome.
She decided to take the discussions with the missionaries alone. She wants to have no other influences because the decision to get baptized is her own and of no one else. I have to wait outside the door, while they teach her. She does not let them get a way with any vague explanations that are not scripturally backed. Last night they had the 3rd discussion on the plan of salvation. She asked a several questions that they did not know how to answer. Then after explaining many different things to her, they decided not to read a bunch of scriptures on the subject because of the time. She told them that she was not interested in their explanations unless they are accompanied by scriptures. After a question and answer period that was supposed to be a discussion, she gave them a lesson on how to teach more effectively. She told them to give a short overview/objectives of the discussion, so that the investigators would know where the discussion was headed and understand why they were talking about certain principles. Also she told them to ask open-ended questions to the investigators to find out what they know and understand. Then she told them that their principal purpose in teaching investigators was to teach true principles from the scriptures then their resolve concerns. Later after the discussion she asked me why they did not teach missionaries how to teach. Well, I thought that they did. However, she really likes her missionaries, and they provide a comfortable/spiritual atmosphere in the discussions.

Now she is a little missionary. She has already spoke to several people here, and is preparing a little crusade in Brazil with her friends and family over the holidays. She now feels the pull to help her family learn about the church. They are supportive of her decision, but she wants them to know what she now knows.

Next time I write, she'll be a member!! It is so exciting!!

The unexpected

Well life goes on. I have quite busy with life and work and church responsibilities.

I am starting to feel more and more the pressure of work and the need to get everything done. I am finishing my proposal presentation right now, which I will give the first week of school next semester. I then will start gearing up for my field season. I am also looking for more funding for my current research projects. I have proposed to conduct some expensive research, which requires a $190,000 grant over 3 years. I submitted a NSF grant this summer for $325,000 over the next 3 years. I hope and pray that it gets funded. If not, I have to move on to the next funding opportunity. I think that the worse part of research is the constant scrambling for research money. While in graduate school it is especially stressful because time is short.

Church is great but busy. Tithing settlement time is always a busy time for clerks (I am the only clerk), and it started last week. This Sunday we will start setting up appointments. Luckily it is easier to do this in a small singles branch.

I have taken a few pictures, but I have been so busy that I have not been able to put the pictures up. Here is a photo of a beautiful sunset of the Everglades and 2 pics the sunrise over the ocean.

Life has been a quite a bit more busy this last few 2 months than before. For those who feel that I am well on my way to being the old bachelor, it may come as a shock that I am dating someone. For those of you who thought that the last sentence had to have been a typo, I'll repeat it. I am dating someone. I know that this is all strange, considering that most of you have never seen me with a girlfriend. Well, it gets even stranger, her name is Patrícia.

Let me tell you all a little of her story.

She is a first-year PhD student, working in plant physiology surrounding the isotopic fractionation of oxygen in the synthesis of cellulose. She is from São Paulo, Brazil. The evolution of our relationship has been interesting. She came to the lab last year for a month. At the time I thought that she was a little sissy brat. She thought that I was mean and was actually afraid of me (I really do not why, but oh well). When she arrived here this year, we saw each other one day before I left for Colorado for reunions and research. I told our colleague later that day that I did not think that I could handle having a little "princess" in the lab for the next several years. After I left to Colorado, she told the same colleague that she did not want to talk to me because she was afraid of me and thought that we would always be at odds. I guess that we resolved our concerns. It was soon afterwards that we started dating.

Now this let's go back to the beginning of the year. In January, she met someone who was a devout evangelical Christian. He taught her about the gospel. Though she was Catholic, she knew very little about God and nearly nothing about the scriptures. As she learned about the gospel, she found new meaning to life. She was not looking for anything at the time or felt any need to change, but once she learned about the gospel she committed herself to it. I did not know anything about this experience, but once she arrived this year in July I quickly felt that there was something very different about her.

She knew that I was Christian because she asked me what I believe last year. She asked me about the gospel again this September. I was shocked at how much she knew and how she felt about the gospel. She was so interested in learning more. We really liked to talk and study the scriptures together. She even watched both Saturday sessions of conference with me. Well in the end we also realized that we had more than just a mutual interest in the gospel.

She comes to church with me, and everybody at church loves her. She is very intelligent and wants to know the answer more than the superficial Primary answers to gospel questions. She'll ask me a question and I'll tell her what I think, then she'll say, "Ok, now what do the scriptures say?" I have had to study many questions because I did not have the answer (from the scriptures) offhand. She is so special, and it is exciting to see her grow in the gospel continually as God works with her.

This last little while has been quite wonderful. I can't complain at all. I found an absolutely gorgeous, extremely smart, nature-loving biologist who loves the gospel. All I can say is that life is good, real good.