Category: Stephen

Olivia really hit home tonight, while I was tucking her into bed she said to me, "Daddy, How old will I be when I am your age?"  I guess I have never stopped to think about it.  When she is my age or in the so called prime of her life I will be approaching the final stages of my journey here on earth.  As I sit and think about this I think about the parallel to me and my Dad.  He is twice my age as well, that gives me comfort knowing that he is in better physical condition than almost every 36 year old I know. He is making a great and memorable story with his life.

Still it is good food for thought to always remember we live life in stages, and right now my stage is set for me to be a young father of a very loving and happy family.  I love them, and  plan to cherish every scene of this play we call life!

I was born 50 years too late

We have been talking about going to see the old house that my mom grew up in for quite sometime now, well today we just buckled up and did it.  I couldn’t belive how excited the kids were to see the old antiques and run down buildings.  They reminded myself of me when I would go visit this house when I was a child.  I couldn’t help but smile when I noticed old pieces of machinery that was there over 30 years ago when I made my first voyage out there.  There was still the old horizontal shaft gas engine left in the same place I last played with it.  The house has caved in now but there are still several side buildings that are standing and have an amazing story to tell if the walls could just talk.

I am grateful for my rich heritage that I can reflect upon and draw strength from, to see what they went through makes me fell I can survive in my nice warm bed with my fully heated home and bathroom just feet away.  They just don’t make them like they used to.

treasures, an old rusted bearing and a sprinkler head		old style of power outlets, very modern for 3rd world countries
Grandpa Sperry used to take me out to feed the cows in these old trucks	It leans but won’t give up	Gas Engine I worked on when I was a kid
Lex loved the Honey Wagon	It made it feel more real as we were freezing cold out there

It has always been my motto that if I can’t build it myself then I don’t need it, or at least it means a lot more to me.  After hearing that the family dehydrator that we have been using for years had finally bit the dust, I thought to myself I wonder if I could build one.  The concept seems pretty straight forward a lot of air and a lot of heat.  So I went to work with the help of JT, we built a 2′ x 2′ x 4′ box from some of dad’s scrap OSB (Plywood to Jodi).  The next challenge was to design some type of a tray system, I planned on using 1/2" square holed chicken wire but found it to be pretty spendy.  So I purchased a couple cheap sheets of 1/8" Masonite board, same stuff they use for white boards.  It was cheep and also somewhat water resistant.

The first round of 10 trays took about 36 hours because of the wimpy little fan and heater I had.  We took a late night trip to the local DI and found a powerful window fan.  With it installed drying time was cut in half, now we have 24 trays being dried a night.  I gleaned a bunch of tiny little apples from the Sugar High School apple trees, all from the ground. No apples were picked in the making of this fruit leather.  We cranked out over 15 gallons of apple sauce from what most would call the waste apples.  It just makes me smile to think about that when I munch on a piece of the final product.  I took a roll over to Mom to give and told the kids that mom used to give it to me as a kid, now i can make it and give it back to her.  Lily said, "And when we get old we will make it for you and bring it to you."  I can hardly wait.

Comments:

John said…

Great work. I was impressed with the creativity and make it work attitude. You have an amazing mind and drive. Keep up the great work.

Monday, November 02, 2009 8:46:05 PM

Anne said…

Very cool! The leather looks yummy:).
Monday, November 02, 2009 8:57:30 PM

Mom and dad Parker said…

You better get a patent on that, everyone will want one.

Monday, November 02, 2009 9:23:12 PM

Jodi and I at the Great Kaplan show

Well here we are 15 years of marriage.  I told Jodi I never thought I would be married for 15 years, I didn’t think before I spoke.  What I meant is I never imagined myself this far down the road of life, it is nice to know there is life after 30 🙂  Life has been good to me, I can honestly say I would not be near the person I am today without Jodi helping to round off the rough edges.  Thanks Jodi for the good times…and a couple bad.

Alexis and the girls made us a cute little card, it is fun to see the kids now make us cards intead of us making them for each other, we have arrived.

For mutual tonight we took the boys to the Haunted Mill, it was a lot of fun.  I was more fascinated with the old machinery than I was worried about getting spooked.  It was a cool place with underground tunnels and old hand made pulley’s and belts.  We were standing around the fire trying to get warmed up again when I mentioned to the boys that today was my 15th anniversary.  I told them I was married in 1994 and almost all of them laughed and said they were born in 1994.  I guess I should feel old now but I am sticking with Dad’s philosophy, "you are as old as you feel and act."  I act about 12 and feel about 30 so it balances out pretty well.

I came home for lunch to do Jodi a favor and get the riding lawn mower started.   I graveled to myself upon finding the battery dead, most likely my fault for leaving the key on. I had to jump it from my tractor, after it started I noticed the front tire was low on air so I thought I would top it off.  I pulled up to the house and parked it in front of the garage door.  As I jumped off to open the door I must have bumped the mower into drive because it went jolting forward into the garage door.  It plowed right through like a hot knife through soft butter.  At first I was in shock like that couldn’t have just happened.  Then it turned to that sick feeling you get when you know you just spent a bunch of money you didn’t want to spend, for something you didn’t want to buy (again).

Just to top it off Jodi must have heard the mower out there so she pushed the opener to open the door for me.  Next thing I knew the door was in pieces hanging in the air the track completely bent in half and 3 panels looked like crumpled aluminum foil.  I said to myself, "I could have done without that."  Like Dad always says, "there needs to be opposition in all things."  Sometimes I create too much opposition for myself, or maybe i just need a license to drive a lawn mower!

Comments:

michelle said…

I can’t believe that. I’m sorry about your door. Way to have a good attitude. It will probably be one of those stories your kids tell their kids and everyone will have a good chuckle about.
Friday, October 16, 2009 8:40:45 AM

Patricia said…

Stephen, so sorry to hear about the door. Isn’t it crazy how things happen? What a story. All in all, I am so pleased at how kind and good you are to Jodi. Thanks for being such a good husband for her. I know she appreciates you. I hope she tells you often. Good luck with everything. Mom Baldwin
Saturday, October 17, 2009 9:45:56 PM

pre race mtg

One more year of the great AMA challenge has come and gone.  It was a great event almost 3 times bigger this year than last.  Next year we will go for triple digits.  I was not planning on riding until the day of the race so I had not been training for it.  I rode it cold, it still hurts to sit down.  It was definitely a challenge for me.  I really enjoy the course though, very scenic and very fun.  Come ride with us next year.

I was still putting my helmet on when they said go
Jodi and Mom ran the aid station at mile 20		Thanks a ton to Mom and Dad they were the chase vehicle and filled in the gaps for us.
Dad had to test the bike out	I had a flat right before the race began so I almost was left behind

For as long as I can remember September has been the month for canning.  Growing up I was the official cranker on the victorio, I have taken that to the next level using my power drill to crank now.

We picked tomatoes in the morning and had canned over 110 bottles of juice by 3 PM.  You can’t beat a good bowl of mac and maters on a cold winters day.

Red Fish Lake

Sometimes it is nice to take the long way home.  Even if it takes you 3 times longer.  We came home from Boise via Horseshoe Bend, Banks, Lowman, Stanley, Red Fish, Galena Summit, Sun Valley, past Borah Peak, Mackay, Arco, Howe, Mud Lake then on home.  It was one long day almost 9 hours straight, but the things we saw were worth every minute.  Priceless scenery.  The secret places of scenic Idaho.

it was a little cold and windy, hard to tell from the picture	Sawtooth City	Galena Summit
Looking back into Sun Valley, dirt road was the best part		Borah Peak highest point in Idaho for you out of towners

Comments:

michelle said…

Wow-quite a drive. Lots of beautiful scenery. Looks like some fun family memories.
Wednesday, September 09, 2009 7:19:41 AM

John said…

Great shots and great looking people. It reminds me of some long “shortcuts” Dad used to take us on when we were kids.
Wednesday, September 09, 2009 5:17:04 PM

Trevin and Matt invited Mason, Dad, and me to climb Borah Peak, and I am glad they did, it was a great time being with Dads, Grandpa and the boys.  Mason woke up at 4:45 AM and was stirring around the house it’s a good thing because my alarm was not set.  We were on the trail at around 8:00 AM and worked our way up the steep hill, we peaked out at about 12:00 PM.  Pretty good time considering how steep it was and having Matt and Mason with us.  I think they actually sped us up because they were so excited.  Another great memory.  Mason wants to climb Table Rock now that he heard Dad talking about it, so we will have to see what is next.

one last climb and we are there	we made it
		the base of chicken out ridge
	getting too hot
bad timing on that shot
		looking up to chicken out ridge
the summit is in view

Comments:

Trevin and Stephanie said…

I chickened out before I even saw the ridge. Good climb and impressive time.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009 10:36:49 PM

Paulo said…

Karma and I are in for Table Rock! Just give us a heads up!
Wednesday, August 19, 2009 11:46:37 PM

michelle said…

Way impressive! I would have been a major chicken! Those boys are quite the hikers. Good job.
Thursday, August 20, 2009 8:33:45 AM

John said…

What a great time. I am jealous. We need to get in a hike before the snow flies. Matt and Mason are some great hikers.
Friday, August 21, 2009 7:03:13 AM

Magan said…

Oh man Mason that is awesome.
Monday, August 24, 2009 6:14:25 PM

That is the beast behind us

What a birthday!   We woke up around 5:30AM, Dad came and picked us up and we were on our way.  Dad, Paul, Hayden, Mason, Jodi and I taking on Teewinot.  The 50% chance of rain had us a little nervous but worth the gamble.  I told Jodi that all I wanted for my birthday was to have her climb Teewinot with me.  I know it was a great sacrifice for her and I really appreciated it.

We were at the trail head at exactly 8:14 AM I liked that since my birthday is 8/14.  Mason was the leader for the first mile and he about wore us right out, pretty fast pace to say the least.  It started out steep and just kept getting steeper.  I was concerned that is may be a little much of a climb for Mason but he proved us all wrong.  He was strong like an Ox.  We made it to the tree line at about 10:00 only 1 more mile to go.  But this is where it gets seriously steep, you have to put it in 4-wheel drive.  We call it heart break hill since it is just a brutal steep and relentless climb.

By about 11:15 we were at the snow glacier, I love this part of the climb.  You have to climb up about 100 yards of steep snow kicking your feet in to make steps as you go.  Mason enjoyed it as well, Jodi I think she had a little different idea about it.  She smiled but I think she was pretty nervous.  At about 900 feet from the top our plans were modified, Jodi grabbed a big rock as a hand hold and it pulled free from the mountain and crushed her hand breaking her finger.  I was so sad for her, it made me hurt to look at it.  It was all mangled and bent out of place.  Dad quickly volunteered to stay with her and help her back down to safety.  It was a hard situation I was torn, do I stay with Jodi or do I take Mason to the top.  Dad made the decision much more apparent, I am thankful he was so selfless to sacrifice for all of us.

Paul, Hayden, Mason and I kept climbing up to the summit, Mason was a little mountain goat.  I tied him to me just to be safe.  He climbed like a champ, I was impressed.  We peaked out at about 12:20PM from the summit it is just breath taking, the view and the exposure are in contrast to each other.  I prefer the view but the exposure a rush as well.  we took some photo’s from the top had a quick bite to eat then headed back down because it was starting to sprinkle and hail on us.

Dad and Jodi were waiting for us at the bottom of the snow glacier, Mason was pretty excited to let mom know he made it.  The decent is much more pleasant than the climb.  We enjoyed the walk down and took some pretty pictures as well.  We were back to the car by 4:00PM.  What a great time we all had, Jodi is a real trooper, thanks for spending the day in the mountains with me!  It will be a day I will cherish forever.

what a view, the grand directly behind us and Mt. Owen to the right
close up of Mount Owen, Paul and I climbed it last year, you have to jump across that crack at the top.
the tree line just before heart break hill		the 10,000 foot kiss
		one tired little man and Dad too
		ouch!
	is that a real smile?	the idol and worshiper
this is really living
heart break hill	Jodi is in major pain	don’t look down
sweat back		heart break hill
	the snow glacier, this is for real