Nov-Dec Executive Summary

Regretfully it has been a long time since we posted anything. In looking back, there's a lot of ground to cover...so you'll have to suffer through two collages. The first is of Thanksgiving with Erika's mom and step dad in Bozeman. We really had a nice time. Matt and I enjoyed games on the Wii (no tennis elbow this time!). Finn loved his rock climber guy (upper left corner). Turns out it is pretty challenging as you have independent up/down controls for each arm/leg. I still haven't made it to the top (maybe too old). Erika, her mom, and Finn all enjoyed preparing and cooking an amazing feast (see photo left-center), and Matt won over Finn's heart with popcorn and 4-wheeler rides. In the end a quick trip, but a really nice visit.


Winter has arrived in Salt Lake City! I think one of the great things about owning a new house is experiencing all of the seasons and finding things you really appreciate. There are so many positive things to mention...like the fact that the road doesn't get salted/plowed immediately after a storm like it did at our last house (busy street). But the main thing is the great community. Last Sunday we were invited to a "roundabout party" as my neighbor called it - visiting four homes all surrounding us and one home of a neighbor's daughter who is married to a guy named Crazy Dave who Chip used to fight fires with (small world!). We had a great time getting to know our neighbors (and Finn playing with other kids) and as Erika put it, it really sealed the deal that we've found our home. Besides that, we've been hunkering down a bit. Fight off colds, getting Christmas lights up, XC skiing (once for Erika's b-day), and just enjoying the winter.

Halloween Weekend

Finn and I had a nice Mommy and Son weekend while Chris was in San Diego visiting Chip. Saturday we made pumpkin spider waffles in the morning and dressed up to go hang out with friends up in Summit Park in the evening. The leaves continue to fall off the huge maple in our front yard. A week ago we raked five bags of leaves. Today we filled three more and the tree is still not bare.

Fall Update

We've been slacking on the blog front lately so I decided to throw together a hodge podge of what we've been up to recently. Well, I guess this one is mostly about what Finn has been up to.


Our big helper:

Cleaning the windows with Daddy

















Raking leaves and jumping in the pile too, of course











Checking in with the lemon verbena to see if it is "happy" or "sad" ( we dug it out of the garden to overwinter in the house)


Harvesting the end of the season tomatoes before it freezes (and sampling a few to ensure they are still of the best quality)



Making his own batch of pizza dough, each step of the way, by my side (while I prepare my own ball of dough

House Full of Family

We've never had so many people staying in our house - and it was fabulous. Dad flew out from Wisconsin for a visit and then Brock, Amber, Madison, Isaac, and Hannah (Sampson too) decided to drive down from Bozeman to join in on the family fun.

The weather was more winter-like than Fall. We spent a fair amount of time just hanging out around the house. The kids played together non-stop. We ventured out for a snowy trek up to Cecret Lake. We all worked up an appetite and drove down the road to the Snowbird parking lot where we scarfed down our sandwiches and then caught a jam-packed bus up to Octoberfest. I think we set a record for the shortest visit at Octoberfest. We did a quick walk through past all the booths of items for sale, paused briefly to listen to the polka music under the warm tent, stood in amazement of the line people were willing to stand in for a $9 sausage and then turned around and headed out. I think that is one of those things we can now say, "been there, done that" with no desire to go back again. The event was good for people watching if nothing else. I'll look for photos on Amber's site since I forgot to bring my camera.

Misinformation

Yesterday we put out a press release for a new earthquake publication. If you search Google News for "Utah earthquake" you'll find the stories - some good and some, well, pretty bad.

Interesting to see how news get skewed:

1. Our press release: NEW UGS REPORT DETAILS HISTORY OF WASATCH FAULT EARTHQUAKES NEAR NORTH OGDEN. Salt Lake City, Utah -- A recently completed study has found that a major earthquake struck the Wasatch Front between North Salt Lake and North Ogden about 500 years ago. The study, which focused on the Weber segment of the Wasatch fault zone, also found evidence of six earthquakes of magnitude 6.5 or greater recurring about every 1500 years.

2. Associated Press: Big earthquake rattled Utah 500 years ago. SALT LAKE CITY — Geologists say a major quake could strike at any time in Utah, with new research showing the last large temblor along the Wasatch Front was more recent than previously thought. (Hmmm, a little misleading)

3. Huffington Post (hah!): Utah Earthquake: MONSTER Quake 500 Years Ago Rattled State (just plain sensationalism - before you blame the liberal press I'm sure Matt Drudge could have come up with an equally bad heading).

4. Standard Examiner - North Ogden: The problem with averages, said Chris DuRoss, a geologist with the Utah Department of Natural Resources, is that when you add two numbers together and divide by two, you get a third number that never happened. (what!? I never said that)

So our story went from a new report about an earthquake at 500 years between North Salt Lake and North Ogden, to a large earthquake on the Wasatch fault that occurred more recently than thought, to a MONSTER earthquake that rattled the state! OK, and the really enlightening thing: Our local Fox channel got the story RIGHT.

LPC

This last weekend we celebrated our ten-year anniversary. Rather than stay at a bed and breakfast (as my dad suggested), we headed to the mountains. Our intent was to climb up to Lone Peak Cirque, camp, and climb. But weather and old age held us back. No matter though, we camped below the cirque at 9200', enjoyed time to relax, drank Pinot Noir from sunny boulders, cooked Indian food, and watched a half dozen mule deer stroll through camp. Our revised plan was to get up at 6:30 am, hike the 1.5 miles to the cirque and climb...but after an entire night of storms we opted for just a morning hike up to the cirque...which was beautifully carpeted in orange. Despite these setbacks, and an orthopedic surgeon's dream laundry list of body aches (cranky knees, guitar-string IT bands, high-heel neurmas, and a flexy pelvis...) we soaked up every minute of time together. And by Sunday night, over pizza and beer, the aches had subsided (temporarily) and we toasted to our accomplishment: topping of ten years of marriage with a trip that proved to be more painful than giving birth (according to E). Anyway, enjoy the photo-video, and if you need more - try looking at the photos on my Picasa web album:

http://picasaweb.google.com/cduross/LonePeak10YrAnniv#

-Chris



"One word frees us of all the weight and pain in life: that word is love." --Sophocles

Uinta Backpacking

Mommylessness

Last weekend Erika, Finn and I, and our friends Stefan, Jess, and Greta spent time in the Uinta Mountains. Except, Erika was backpacking with high-school students, and Jess was backpacking and climbing Kings Peak with friends. That left Finn and I and Greta and Stefan. We forged new ground in a mommyless night of camping and best of all got some fishing in (no photos, sorry).

Ready to hit the lake and go fishing.

Throwing rocks for Hudson and Cooper.

Ooooh - that was a good one!

Greta connecting too.

Matching camp hats.

Stefan and Greta.

Finn and Greta in their "house."

Relaxing after gathering firewood (and charcoal).

Contemplating a hike after a kinda rough morning.

I Strongly Agree with the Wasatch Fault

OK, a few things to catch up on. This July I was involved in a FEMA Region VIII (intermountain west region) Interagency Steering Committee meeting (aptly named "RISC") in Salt Lake City. I was asked to give a talk on earthquakes at the meeting and organized a field trip to view the Wasatch fault in person. The trip was by far the largest I've led (over 150 people) and was really popular:
As a reward (at least in my mind), I was asked to participate in a flight over Salt Lake Valley, following the trace of the Wasatch fault. We had two blackhawk helicopters, and with the doors wide open flew at 500 feet for about 45 minutes. I took about 200 photos, some of the best are below.
The fight was basically an exercise for what would happen after a large earthquake along the Wasatch front. FEMA, state, and county representatives would likely fly over the fault rupture (break at the surface) to survey the damage to infrastructure, and where I come in: to assess the potential for earthquakes on different parts of the fault, review how the earthquake ruptured the ground, and determine where to send field teams for a more thorough scientific response. It was hard not to be a little giddy during this whole thing as it really was a dream come true. But in the end, it was a serious exercise (kind of).

My seat, staring at the back of the pilot's head. We had internal "comm's" (radios) and I was given a feed to the pilot - in case I wanted to change our route mid course!

We first flew north, with the intent of surveying any damage to the oil refineries. The Wasatch fault is along the base of the mountains in the far left part of the image.

From there we followed the trace of the fault south, circled over the three hospitals all located within spitting distance of the fault (which could be a real issue) and then moved on toward Parley's Canyon. This photo is looking directly west toward downtown Salt Lake City. The fault is right by the prominent Z curve in the road. Chip and Audrey can probably locate their old house.

Flying toward Parley's Canyon we about flew right over our house! Unfortunately, Finn was naping at the time. Our house is in the color part of the black and white photo above.

Flying up Parley's was amazing. It's a pretty narrow canyon and the gusty winds made it pretty exciting.

Mountain Dell reservoir. One question is whether or not some of the large reservoirs in the Wasatch Range will be affected by a large earthquake.

Once out of Parley's we continued south, past Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons, and then out into the center of the valley. Here is a shot of Little Cottowood Canyon (center-left) and Bells Canyon (center).

Last one, flying back into the airport, we had a great view of downtown Salt Lake City. The fault runs left to right, where the roads suddenly go steeply uphill in the upper-center of the photo.

The "Little" Things that Bring a Smile

Top left: Eight years ago I had a sizable collection of orchids. Slowly they all died, never to bloom again. This one has stood the test of time and recently enlightened me with a second bloom.

Top right: A comforting cup of Earl Grey infused with lavender along with the requisite milk and honey.

Bottom left: Echinacea - becoming a new garden favorite

Bottom right: Stalking the local wildlife. Hummingbirds and dragonflies abound in our backyard. They both provide a worthy challenge to photograph.

Window Seat

We were supposed to go to Driggs this weekend, but since I've been feeling sick, we opted instead for a weekend of rest, recovery, and yard work, followed by fireworks and more yard work. Here you can see the view out the front window improving dramatically.

Just a reminder about how bad it was.

Movin' dirt - one of the few things I'm good at.

The neighbors thought the "grass" looked good at this point (no where to go but up).

Not quite finished...but lookin' good.

Did we mention that we love the view?
You guys are going to get sick of Mt. Olympus photos I can feel it.

Here is the much improved parking strip. You can tell that Erika vented some pent up artistic energy.

OK, and no blog posting is complete without paying homage to our offspring, who is smartly pointing out the dog in the comic strip (while "good dog Yea Yeah" is ignored).