A gorgeous winter day.

Yesterday was nearly a perfect winter day!  No air pollution and clear skies.  We took advantage of this and went for a walk on the Parkway.

 

Look at that blue sky!

Christmas dinner (observed).

We were all too stuffed to eat our roast beast Sunday.  I instead made it last night. Absolutely worth the $12/pound price for choice grade prime rib at Costco.

SO good!  

Paying more has the advantage to not being as gristly and fatty too.

Christmas Eve 1957 Rural Retreat, VA

It's that time of year again. 

Merry Christmas!

Solstice brisket.

Continuing our Hannukah theme, I made a brisket to celebrate the solstice last night.

Delicious!

Winter Solstice.

63 degrees north.

Photo info here.

Matzo ball soup.

Having never tried it but seen it in plenty of movies, I have to say it's divine!

Mmm!

Latkes!

Hanukah means time for potato pancakes or "Latkes".

We even had Hannukah music playing on Apple Music.

Look at this!

A real shitbox car!

Old Ford Galaxy.  Not sure if it had the 427 or not.  Look at the "custom" front bumper!

!

Spotted at Allens Photo yesterday afternoon dropping off a roll of film to be developed.

 

Faraday Christmas chemistry lecture 2022 live!

What an eveninng!  We were all on the edge of our seats enjoying the University of Utah's Chemistry Department's annual Faraday lecture. 

Demonstrating the different colors when we burn different elements in methanol.

Hydrogen and Oxygen filled balloon!

YES!!!

Happy Birthday Altair!!

We celebrated with family yesterday when everyone came over and she opened presents and ate cake.

And speaking of cake, look at this cake my sister made for the occasion!!  

It was as delicious as it looked.

Gingerbread Target?

Skyler wanted a gingerbread Target instead of a gingerbread house this year.  He and I set out assembling it yesterday.  It turned out to be the silly hour after eating excessive amounts of icing!

"Gluing" the walls with the icing.

Pretty happy gluing the Target red balls.

Black icing equals black lips and teeth!

It's the Mustache.

Do yourself a favor and go watch all the videos on this guy's channel.  

Maybe I need to grow a mustache now...

You gotta see this!

'Tis the season.

Altair did a fantastic job decorating our fresh cut Christmas tree this year.

Black and white theme this year.  Skyler made the paper chain.

Good lighting.

After 2 gloomy days, the skies opened up yesterday around noon. 

Wow!

SNOW DAY!!!

Remote learning today due to the heavy snow.  Whew! 

SO tasty!

Throw some leftover stuffing on the waffle maker, delicious!

Savory and crispy.  

Probably due to all the butter in the stuffing!

Warning!!

More B-29 content!

Sunday night meal.

Homemade beef and broccoli!

The secret is to use oyster sauce instead of soy sauce.  Not at all as salty, and still has the umami flavor.

 

Chucky Squirrel!!

These damn hairy rats have moved into the neighborhood in the last few years.  The dog enjoyed chasing this one out of the yard on Thanksgiving morning.  She then proceeded to sniff every square inch of the yard.

They're slightly entertaining to watch.  Slightly...

 

Thanksgiving.

It was a nice time had by all.  Pretty low stress cooking this time.

Ready!

My plate.

Mommy's plate.

Our guest Sarah being entertained by Skyler.  

Sadly, this is probably the last time for her to join us.  She's moving to Colorado. :(

Thanksgiving break.

I probably won't post the next 4 days so enjoy your holiday. :)

 

Now it feels like Fall!

Nothing screams Autumn like Fall tillage!  Skyler got to make a round in Ken's pristine John Deere 4240 yesterday after school.

It was quite a load on the engine!

Here they go!

Skyler was quite impressed by the quiet Sound Guard cab he said.

Sleepy old dog.

Right in our bed!

Snoring away!

Ass clown show, version 3.0

We get 2 more years of hearing more from this asshole.

YES!!!!!!!!

We stayed up (barely) to watch the Artemis I launch last night.  Incredible!

R.I.P. B17 Texas Raiders & crew.

Causeway part 3.

BNSF Stockton, CA to Provo, UT train.

It turned out to be an empty grain train.

Snow squall over the Wasatch.

The Northrop Grumman Ranch!

Everything was painted and nice.  A full time cowboy lives on the ranch!

Entrance to said ranch.  Immaculate!

Causeway trip part 2.

MOW crew working on spreading some more rock.

North arm.

View from the Lakeside quarry.

Looking down to the rails.

The reason we made the trip, machine inspection.

Looking south toward Skull Valley.

Where the old wooden trestle started.

Salt foam!

Old Southern Pacific boats used for trestle construction.  Pile drivers on the bow of each boat.

Green!

We turned north here and followed the Promontory range back to Corinne.

Part 3 tomorrow.  

Also, happy Veteran's Day to all the Veterans (including my Dad) out there today!

A once in a lifetime trip.

I got to go across the Union Pacific Railroad causeway on the Great Salt Lake yesterday!

Starting out in Ogden we were greeted with empty coal train.

30 miles of dirt road ahead.

The weather broke and it was gorgeous.

GSL Minerals brine bridge ahead.

North view.

Pink water of the north arm of the lake.

Looking west.

One of many buried gondola and box cars.

Incredible clouds.

 Part 2 tomorrow.