Buck!

 Spotted yesterday along the Jordan River Parkway.

He's a pretty good size!

The new treadmill!

 Santa brought us a new treadmill for Christmas!  Skyler has really taken to using it the last few days.

Getting a pretty good workout last night!

A box of rocks!

 Grandpa gave Skyler a rocks and minerals set for Christmas.  He made the box to hold them!  Skyler and I have been having some fun trying to identify each specimen reading the information cards that came with the set.

WOW!

Merry Christmas, 2020.

 When Mommy asked Skyler what his favorite part about yesterday was, his response?  "Having everyone together as a family."  Yes, that was all that mattered.  Thank you family for the gifts, but mostly thank you for coming over and being together even if it was only for an hour.  (We all wore masks and stayed apart.)

I had originally planned on a beef tenderloin for Christmas Dinner.  However, the tenderloin is good until the 12th of January.  Prime rib instead last night!

Maizey even got a rib to chew on in the basement.  Merry Christmas everyone!

First time in 17 years.

 Last night was the first time in 17 years that we had Christmas Eve dinner at our house.  Normally we would go to Grandma White's, but due to COVID, we did a Zoom with her instead.  I made scalloped potatoes from scratch, honey mustard Brussels sprouts, and used the Instant Pot (best idea ever) to heat up our Cure 81 Hormel Ham that was compliments of Mommy's work.  

Scalloped potatoes topped with Irish Cheddar.

Brussels Sprouts.

Christmas dinnerware.

Look how moist the ham is!  The only way to heat up a ham from now on.

All set.

My plate.  I had 3 servings of the ham!  SO good!

Yep.

 This pretty much sums it all up for me this year.

Antelope!

 A whole heard of them!

Spotted a few weeks ago on our first attempt to hike Butterfield Canyon.  Skyler left his boots behind so we didn't hike.

The great conjunction of 2020!

 Mommy's friend Rachael sent these great pics to us last night.  We enjoyed watching and looking at the planets through binoculars on the driveway.

Rachael lives in the avenues so she had a great view.

She also has a telescope!  Wow!

Some much needed mountain time.

Saturday was so nice that we decided to head out to Butterfield Canyon and hike a bit.  Perfect weather, clean air, and some fresh snow.  What a great day!

Juniper wonderland.

Scrub Oak "tunnel".

Skyler disappearing in a maple tunnel.  It froze hard enough in November that the leaves are still on some of the trees.

 

Technical difficulties.

 AGAIN!!!!  Grrr....  I can't get blogger to upload any photos today.  Try for tomorrow.

Charcuterie board.

 This was dinner last night.  Highly satisfying!

Not the prettiest.

Even Skyler enjoyed it.

More astronomy!

 Expect a few more of these kind of posts in the coming days.  The last time the two planets aligned was 800 (!) years ago!

Taken 2 nights ago. Picture courtesy of Mommy.

Christmas alignment of two planets.

Keep an eye to the sky the next few evenings as Saturn and Jupiter are set to align.

Photo courtesy of NASA.

 

Clam Chowder.

 This was hard.  I've been craving some homemade clam chowder lately.  This is probably because it became a Christmas Eve tradition when I was a kid.  Mom would always make it and I would steal the clams that were draining as she did.  It was the first "real" meal I made 30(?) years ago for one of my parent's anniversary meals while Mom took my sister to some venue downtown.  I attempted to make clam chowder 2 weeks ago and just couldn't.  I broke down as I read the recipe.  Somehow this past Sunday, I was able to overcome the emotions and made it!  SO GOOD!!  Thanks Mom.

Creamy goodness!

Chess.

 Skyler got to play chess separately with Mommy and Grandpa last weekend.  He's pretty good at the game.

Deep in thought.

Joy.

 We sent Brad Wheeler a Christmas card and he sent me this picture last night.  If you want some incredible music to stream, check out KUAA.

Our card hanging on the mic in the studio!

Lego train snowplow!

 He got rather creative and set this up on the patio yesterday.

He built a "plow" for the front of his custom built locomotive.  Surprisingly, it actually plowed snow!

Happy Birthday Altair!!!

 Happiest of birthdays to my wife, life partner, soulmate, and best friend!!  My life wouldn't be the same without you.  

Happy Hanukkah!

Continuing this week's food theme, we celebrated the first night of Hanukkah last night with Latkes, otherwise known as potato pancakes.

They were highly satisfying!  What a treat.

Hamburger lunch!

 Continuing the food theme this week, we went against Mommy's hamburger ban and had them for lunch Tuesday while she was at the plant.  Extra tasty on an English muffin!

California style.  Onion, lettuce, and tomato.

Some legit Ramen!

 Meatless Monday this week consisted of some homemade Ramen complete with a hard boiled egg and the last of our garden grown cabbage.

The tofu marinated all day in soy sauce, ginger, garlic, and chili paste.  SO good!

An exceptionally good pizza night.

 Made by me Saturday evening.

Kind of amazing that this kind of pizza can be made at home.

Good weekend.

We got our tree Friday evening.  He was SO excited!

We borrowed Grandpa's track and rolling stock for a train around the tree.

Making videos of the train on his iPad.

 

Just watching "Bill Nye the Science guy"!

 While sitting in an office chair and wearing Roller Blades!

Totally normal!

Wow!

A great cover of "No Werewolf" by the Frantics.

The dog loves rice!

 Years ago, Maizey got put on a boiled chicken and white rice diet for a short time due to a reaction to some anti-inflammatory meds.  Fast forward to anytime I make white rice, she goes bananas for it!  Last night was no exception, she begged incessantly until I gave her a bowl.

"Rice on my nose!"

Old school fun.

 Skyler and Mommy playing "Pong" on his iPad last week.

The cat was also entertained.

Calzones.

 Saturday night usually means homemade pizza.  This last Saturday we shook it up a bit and made homemade calzones.  Delicious!

Skyler helped make the calzones.  This is his, I branded it with an "S" so we wouldn't mix them up.

Pepperoni, cheese, and fresh basil inside.

Abandoned aerial tram part 2.

 Photos are in reverse order.

Obligatory selfie at the top.

Looking down into Pine Canyon where the Anaconda Mine once was.

Wooden tower in the center of the frame on the mountain.

Tower framed by two trees.

Mommy exploring.

One more of the tower.

Square nut on some tower remains.

Carrier cable on the ground.

Looking south into another side canyon.

Cable saddle amongst the wooden remains.

A hike to an abandoned aerial tramway.

 We set out towards Tooele yesterday to explore the old mine aerial tramway located in Pine Canyon.

Where we were headed.

One of the tram towers is visible in the shade on the mountain against the sky.

Remnants of the last tower closest to the smelter.

Possibly the foundation of the hoist house?

The western most tower still stands.

Looking northwest towards the Great Salt Lake.

Part 2 tomorrow...