Yes, my LAST Summer Vacation!!!!

This is important to note that to an "about to retire" teacher, the last summer vacation is very monumental! Not nearly as important as Karmen learning how to ride a bike (way to go Karmen, your Mother was WAY older before she could ride a bike - but your Dad was just 2 years old when he did!), not nearly important as Brikell getting baptized (WOW does she looks SPECTACULAR in that beautiful white dress or what! - those good looks are obviously from MY side of the family!), not nearly as important as my finally getting to meet my newest grand-niece, Brooklyn last Saturday, but none-the-less important to mark a final summer vacation!
The first week of vacation I spent at home, SICK, with the stomach flu - 3 days of agony! But, I also got to see my niece, Lisa and see that her surgery has made her look so healthy and I got to visit with my own aunt Lois and Uncle Evan in Logan, Utah.
Terry and I had to go for a cheese run. If any of you out there have never had Gossner's Cheese, you are really missing out on a heck of a deal! We have a yearly trek to Gossner's on 10th North and about... 900 west, I believe, there in Logan. Some of the cheese is economy priced and you can really save a lot of money. We take a cooler and fill it up! $50.00 worth of cheese and we could hardly lift the cooler. We freeze the cheese (goes a bit crumbly but still cooks the same as fresh). Anyway that was out goal last Monday and we had the added bonus of seeing Aunt Lois and Uncle Ev. Brad even came by while we were there (he is getting old but I'm sure not!) - how great to see them all. They were a big part of my life when I started school at USU! I couldn't have gone to college if they hadn't offered me free room and board my first year! I'll never be able to repay that!
And the added bonus of using only about $2.00 worth of gas in our new Honda Civic natural gas car!! Yes, that's all!
I went to Richfield on Saturday to see my father and it cost a little over $3.00! I LOVE THIS CAR! Right now Honda is the only company who makes a natural gas car (only a Honda Civic) and Ken Garff is the only dealer in Utah currently who sells them and the only salesman at Ken Garff's who sells them is Ron Brown - tell him I sent you! Only $500.00 down and wait your turn!
Today, Monday the 9th of June (2nd week of my last summer vacation) Terry and I went up as far as we could go to Mirror Lake. Holy Cow you should have seen how much snow there still is up there - where in the world was my camera? We couldn't get beyond the road up and around Mt. Baldy (the road was still closed beyond that point) - some of the drifts they had to cut through to clear the road were probably at least 7 ft. tall! The road down to Mirror Lake itself, is still completely covered in snow, no attempt has been made to clear that road at all, Lost Lake was just barely beginning to thaw!
I just heard on the news that we may get snow in the mountains again tomorrow night or Wednesday night! Weird. But as I reminded Terry, the summer of 1975, I was hired again as a firefighter for the BLM in the Richfield area and it was so cool and rainy that spring that I didn't report to work until well into the middle of June. But because of all the rain, the fire season later that year was pretty bad! So, will this summer be "wet and hot" or "dry and hot"???? I just want to put my prediction out there for everyone to make fun of .... I predict Wetter and Hotter here in Northern Utah, and Dryer and Hotter in central and Southern Utah. I think there is a Nobel Prize in this prediction!!!
Well, I have a whole load of paper beads from recycled junk mail, brochures, and magazines and old maps that I lacquered tonight and tomorrow I'll get them made into necklaces. I start the People's Market Fair this Sunday! See you there!