So you don't know what you got till it's gone . . .

Fresh fish. Man, it's just something missing from our diet. Who knew that in one fast year we would still be looking for good fish. OK, let me back track a little here.


Since this weekend marked our one year anniversary moving to UT we wanted to have a little celebration dinner. We have a real nice bottle of chardonnay from Napa that is just yelling at us to have for dinner so we thought it would be good to get some halibut and have a nice dinner. I figured I would pick up some halibut from Costco as that's been the best looking for as long as I can remember. (NOTE: the halibut I remember was seen in AK Costco) So I wasn't really anticipating problems when I stopped at Costco to pick up some for dinner on Saturday till I looked at what they had to offer. ICK. like as in REALLY ICK. So, I mulled the salmon and decided to go over this with Terry.


We figured there MUST be a seafood market in SLC. After all, the grocery stores actually have fish selections, but I wouldn't buy fish there as they have NO idea how to handle it and who knows how long it's been there. So we look on line and decide to find one that had very high ratings in downtown SLC near Temple Square. This is really downtown. We left our house about 11 am and headed out. Once we get to town and to the area we are supposed to go (cause we did certainly look this up on Google and had the map in hand) we realized it's Saturday market at the Pioneer park and you can hardly get near the fish market. We only had to drive around a few blocks before we could even get in the parking lot for the business but we managed.


So the fish market is on the end of this fancy market/deli place that basically you need to have the right shoes on, carry the right purse, etc to even be in the place and be taken seriously. This was not boding well. Then we find the doors to this place and walk in. UGH. First instinct was to turn around and walk out. Ever smell the bottom of a dock? This was worse. And while they list tons of types of fish, there was hardly ANY display. What a disappointment. One of the guys was trimming a large tuna and couldn't even cut it his knife was so dull. The halibut selections sucked. Plus were the tail pieces with skin on still so by the time you trimmed them you would have paper plate thick pieces. We quickly backed out and went to the car.


So, we figured we would find ourselves a burger and a phone book and try for another market. We got ourselves situated in town for the proximity for where we needed to go and had lunch. Found another market and after several times of flipping back and forth in the phone book maps we had an idea where we needed to go. After lunch we headed out and for the most part drove right to the area. There are large business clusters on both sides of the road so we have to figure out where in the world this place was. Course we picked the wrong side of the road first and had to back track and cross over to get to the other side.

This market was attached to a restaurant and also VERY high end. The fish at least didn't stink which was nice, but they had the halibut pre cut in small pieces, skin on, and were priced $6.99 and in very small print EACH. WHAT THE HECK? This fish was priced out at like 18.99 a pound. OH MAN were we ruing the day we could pull out a chunk of fish from the freezer that Terry caught and enjoy it!

So we headed to one of the Costco's in SLC to see if their selection was any better. At $10.99 a pound it's still pricey but it's a celebration and we weren't feeding anyone but us so we made our selection and headed home. Home by 4:30 in the afternoon. Home after trucking all over the west end of SLC trying to find our way around. Home after driving in all new areas we hadn't ever explored before. (and will likely not again) ; - )

So, we get home and open the fish and whew what a smell. It was all I could do to not chuck it. I rinsed it well, and trimmed it, and Costco's was ever so clever in packaging it and tucked a good 8 inches of thin tail meat that you really can't do a whole lot with under the filet making it look bigger. SUCK HEADS. This piece was at least without skin, but I still have to clean it up and slice it up. We ended up with 4 measly pieces that I put in a baggie with some olive oil and spices till the grill was ready. ALL the garbage went out immediately. baahh. ICK.

Got our salad made, got the wine out of the fridge so it had a chance to warm up a bit, had a white table cloth and napkins and made the little green folding table outside up to look extra special and we had dinner. The BEST part was Terry absolutely outdid him self with the grilling on the halibut. Once it was seared he moved it off the heat onto the foil and closed up the grill (with the holes still open for the heat) and we sat and enjoyed our salad first. Then the fish came off and it was PERFECT. Absolutely PERFECT. It no longer smelled or tasted or even hinted of fishy it was delicately seasoned and done PERFECT! Man you couldn't ask for a better meal. The salad was good, the wine was better, the fish was the best.

Here's to one year land locked in UT and hoping our son gets the fish sent soon. !!!

And to all you folks in AK! RELISH THAT WILDLIFE! Eat hearty, savor each and every bite, cause we are jealous!

ME

to Acclimate

we are approaching our one year anniversary here in UT. In fact Saturday at about 5 pm will mark one year. whew, several days drive on the road with the cats. Several stressful hotel rooms, the poor kitties being boarded for like 10 days while I was in Montana, Terry had to travel to Vernal UT, and then back to Montana to then have both of us travel for a few days in NE MT to visit his family in Sidney. Poor poor kitties. they were sick, tired, lost a lot of weight and still purred when we held them. They must have had the strangest thoughts.

Not unlike ours as we viewed our new home. At least our new area, and man it was gorgeous. Trees of every variety, flowers blooming, ornamental grasses of all types I can imagine everywhere. Lucky for us the local BYU (yup, that is THE BYU) was having away games cause our landing spot was across from the stadium and they had a room that would take cats. For all of 5 days we were there. SO GLAD our Realtor located a condo in Sandy UT for us on short term. We got it for a month and then weekly after that. We only needed a month.

In that time we have made decisions that will affect us for awhile. We set up banking (and changed our banking since then) we bought a house (and remodeled it already with more to come) I had work (and for my safety and sake left that and looked for something else) I found great work and am still there (Thank you God) We made a February trip back to see family in AK (cause EVERYONE in AK is Family no matter what) We have agreed to foster our daughters two cats (and haven't killed them yet cause we learned never to say "what's the worse that can happen cause it will ) We travelled to Napa CA to see our daughter and son in Law and on up to Oregon for a dear friends 60th birthday, And we have seen a great deal of this state and really enjoy this a lot!

But back to acclimating. We now feel that 80 isn't so bad cause it's better then 100. And we are realizing that when you have 80's to 100 + that 50's and below are chilly. It may have to do with the fact that you are now in tank tops and shorts where you wouldn't have been in AK but again with the acclimating. The weather is exactly what we had when we moved here and with that it's much cooler than a month ago so it's Divine! A year ago we were suffering and VERY glad we had air in the car. The other night we did make the decision to close up the house cause the lows would be in the low 40's for the night. In AK the house would still be wide open with fan's on to bring in the breeze. We no longer travel with coats in the car all the time but have to remember that we'll need them in the near future. We no longer travel with rain coats either cause for one thing the rain is warm, and it won't last all day for sure only a short time no matter what and afater that you will dry out and not get hypo thermia. Another cloud may come by and rain some more, but in general you only have to wait it out.

We still marvel at some early termination dust on the mountain and every one here didn't even really notice. The snow melted the same day probably before noon, but it was there, and a special sight when you watch and follow the intricate cycles of weather. We appreciate that when you travel from home to the southern part of the state is gets hotter even though it's well past sunset. We are eternally thankful to experience all of this.

So acclimate we will, I hope we can handle the cold this year, cause it's nothing like we are used to and promises to be yet another fun winter, but oh wait........ it won't be for another two to three months. ; - )

Mag

Zion National Park 2009

WOW. What a great weekend we had. The weather was grand, the vistas were astonishing. Here we are in Springdale with a view of the cliffs.

We arrived in Hurrican UT Friday evening in time to settle in for the night. It's a 3 to 3.5 hour drive so since I could skedaddle out of work a little early that made for getting out of town easier. A decent enough room at the Travel lodge for a great price. Funny though, we had to stop off in a little town Toquerville first to drop off some paint to the local dealer. He lives in Toquerville and the store is in Cedar City but since we were coming through later we just dropped it off to him direct. We met at the 'little' post office and made the exchange. It was dark by then and the temps outside had been as cool as 72 degrees, until we started descending from Cedar City. We watched our outside temps go back up to 85 degrees. Welcome to the southern Utah climate. So from turning the air conditioner to warmer for a while, to more cold later was very weird.

On Saturday morning we went into Cedar City for the horse parade. I was expecting a lot of horses but need to remember it's a small town out west and they do the best they can. We found the most perfect place to sit and enjoyed ourselves just the same. Apparently Cedar City has LOTS of parades. It's a great little town with a lot going on and we had a good time.

From there we went to the park. For the first day we just took the drive through the park, tunnel and on to the other side. Stopped along the way to take pictures and admire the amazing views. Yes pictures will come soon.

Saturday night we went out to dinner with the dealer we delivered the paint to. What a fun night, good food and lots of laughter!

Sunday we got up early so we could take advantage of the cool temps and better light. It wasn't quite the gronk of doom but 5 am is early. Got a hearty breakfast at the local JB's and on we went to the park. Our goal Sunday was to park at the lodge and take the shuttle bus up Zion Canyon. You can not drive your cars into the canyon during peak season but the shuttle is free, and while not a whistle stop has lots of stops you can get on and off at your leisure.

We opted for some of the easier hiking areas as we aren't exactly versed in hard core hiking. The Emerald Pools hike went very well and we pushed ourselves up to the middle pool before descending and taking the Kayenta trail out. it's about a mile and a half and in places you are climbing up stairs that have quite the steps to them. We saw dear, birds, and a little lizard's tail. He was too quick to see him entirely, just saw his tail.

From there we hopped back on the bus to the end of the road and walked the trail to the Temple of Sinawava. We made it most of the way back and decided to call it quits as we were hot and tired and sore so we headed back to the bus for the ride to the lodge. Probably another couple of miles of just walking on cement that is covered with sand on my poor foot didn't do it a world of good, but the sights were amazing!

From there we headed out and stopped for some fresh apple cider at a place in Sprindale. Found some homemade soap and some cider that we're going to spin up with some cinnamon and ice cream for some great smoothies. Should be really good.

Off to work today, I'll work on some more pictures later this week. We had three cameras along and I need to figure out what all to compile. Plus Terry took some really nice little video clips I'm hoping will post on the Gmail account. I'll be sure to give it my best shot.

Till then, Happy trails to you . . . .

8 years ago today

I had planned on taking the day off as we just got our newest member of the four legged crew spayed and I didn't want to leave Goldie home alone.

Terry's co worker called at an ungodly hour to have us turn on the TV. At that point the towers were still standing but certainly not for long. As the phone was ringing, I had no idea what ungodly hour really meant. It wasn't long before I knew.

The horror as we watched was over whelming. We called our children, we prayed for people we never knew. We prayed for ourselves and our country.

We are still at war with the evil people in the world to keep America and others safe from this kind of terrorist act. Even at that the liberal front thinks we have gone to far.

Do you think the family, friends, and co workers of the people in the Trade centers, pentagon, and jets think so? DO YOU??

Get up AMERICA, WAKE UP America. Freedom, liberty and justice are at stake here. Also the lives of MANY MANY service personnel. They are out there for us.

Fly your flags today and always!

Thank a service man for their service!

And for heavens sake be thankfull of EVERY THING YOU HAVE.

ME

Wow a year ago today we were heading to St George Canada

Well on our way to America and new things. Geeze we fixed up painted stained and sold the house in AK. Spent a couple of nights in beautiful downtown Spenard in Anchorage figured out what to do with the cats that were coming with, sprained my ankle at 6 Rob Lees (thank you very much and please fix your friggin entry way. )

We made it to Destruction Bay and spent our first night under the most incredible stars I've ever seen. It was a miserable night however, freaked out cats, I had caught a nasty cold, and it was down right freezing cold. However, I would go back just to see the stars.

Funny, when we drove up to AK 19 years ago I swore I wouldn't do that drive again. But I would do the drive we did coming south again in a heart beat. The Cassier Hiway was definitely worth it.

Now Utah is feeling familiar. It's almost a year that we arrived here since we spent some time in Montana catching up with Family so on the 26th we'll officially be here a year already. But the weather is more familiar, not quite as hot as the last couple of months and the evenings are cool. Plus we are used to it getting dark at night all year round. LOL so we aren't adjusting for that anymore.

We are presently planning for a garden next year. This gives us several projects this fall to help the time go by. I want to take out the chrysanthemums that are along the front of the house and put in some purple sedge grass. It's not supposed to be a perennial here but I've seen it in some major plantings so I'm willing to give it a try. There is a cute blue grass clump as well I want in front of the sedge grass. These stupid mums are just too big where they are and I believe the neighbor would LOVE them. He has the stupid bushes with thorns, and equally hates them.

Also the rose hedge between our houses is going to get a major overhaul. Like cut it down to about a foot tall, cover with leaves and apparently here a plastic bag and let them set for the winter. They are too tall and unruly when left to their own devices.

We continue with our big plans to finish the basement here. This will include a half bath at the bottom of the stairs, a master on the other side and finish the bedroom and laundry area. We need to fit a closet in and still have room for laundry. The master bath will be a 3/4 bath with a shower. We'll leave the tubs upstairs. One of our thoughts is to look on a local real estate site to see what the value is of homes that then would add up to 5 bedrooms and 4 baths. That's only finishing the basement. If we get good reports on that we may try something even more daring.

The garage here sucks and needs a lot of help. Size is a major concern as even though it was supposed to be a 2 car garage you couldn't really get two cars in here. Even with our less is more change of pace. SO Depending on the market and all we'll look at extending the garage 8 feet into the side yard. Doing some cement work, changing the front of the garage to have two doors with a fair space between them, finishing the garage right, then move the shed over so it's still in the same proximity to the back of the garage that it is now, and fix the back patio and increase the size. As long as we are going to have cement work done, have it all done. The back step out the patio door is horridly designed and seriously I don't think it's legal. so that needs addressed, and the increased patio would be a huge welcome addition to the back yard.

Well we can still dream can't we?

It's been good here in UT! It should only get better!

ME