Travels with Lar

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

January 16 – 20, 2012

 This was a work trip. I really don't mind going to Ottawa. I think it is a beautiful place. But in the middle of January – really? It is just cold – still beautiful – but cold. And it is always dark – a long ways north so that in the winter the sun sets earlier and rises later. I didn't see much of Ottawa this trip. Besides, we had an ice storm one night and a snow storm another night – which meant driving around wasn't going to be a lot of fun. So my pictures of Ottawa come from postcards this time.  Oh, and you will notice these are spring time and summer postcards.

This one could have been a winter picture.  In the winter, this canal is a favorite ice skating area.  My class said I sould go down and ice skate on the canal.  I don't think so - there wouldn't be anyone there to take me to the hospital.

The class went well.

The motel was nice – and it was only 1 kilometer from the office so I walked all three days.

It was an okay trip.

Memories

January 10, 2012

1812 Overture

I have many memories of my high school years.  Many of them I would like to forget. And many of them I have forgotten.  But occasionally something will happen that jogs one of those memories to the fron of the grey matter.  Today, I had a grey matter jog event. 

As I have been driving, lately I have been listening to classical music.  I have now been listening to Tchaiskovsky's music.  On the CD, the last piece is the 1812 Overture.  I do like that piece, and not just because it has cannons.  It was one of my father's favorites and so I grew up listening to that stirring music until it plays in my head.  One time in high school, that familiarity really saved me a lot of grief.

I don't know if Mr. Shull hated me or liked me.  I think he was disappointed in me because I had some promise that he saw, but I never really applied myself to music.  You see, he was my junior high and high school band teacher.  In fact I would have to say he was one person outside of my family who had a great influence on my life.  I, like I alluded to, I think he saw talent in me that I never bothered to develop.  But he did his best to try to inspire me, along with a lot of other students.  He was elected as Teacher of the Year by the Colorado Education Association during my junior year.  But I digress.

There were times in band when we worked grueling schedules to prepare for a concert or a competition.  Day after day after day, we would play and practice the same thing.  Some of them were fun, but many got to be "old" with too much repetition.  But right after a concert, it was exciting to see what Mr. Shull would pass out for the band to start working on next.  On one such occasion he walked in and passed out a symphonic band arrangement of The 1812 Orchestra.  I was excited because I loved the music.  There was also trepidation because I knew it was HARD.  Actually, I knew it was too hard for a high school band.  Still, it would be fun to play it for a while.  I couldn't see how we would ever practice enough to really perform the music.

Anyway, he passed the music out and then went to his podium and put the score on his music stand.  It looked like an encyclopedia.  He said that he wanted to see how well we could sight read it.  He raised his hands to start, then dropped his hands and said he wanted one of us - a band member to direct this.  And then, without waiting for volunteers he looked at me and said, "Larry, come and direct it."

WHAT?  This had to be some weird joke.  Overnight he must have decided I needed humbling, or humiliating.  I was frightened.  I was not the most social person in high school, and even though band was really the center of my social experience, I didn't know many of the people in that band very well.  I went to the front and Mr. Shull gave me his baton and he just walked away.

I opened the score and looked at it. 

Each page was one line of music, with each parts in the band shown.  How in the world was I supposed to know what was going on.  I looked at it and suddenly realized that I could read that music.  I knew that music so that it just played in my mind.  And with that, I knew what was going on in the score.  And so, I stated to direct.  I must admit that we had to stop a couple of times.  Sometimes it was because I needed to figure out where we were.  Sometimes it was because I needed the band to figure out where we were.  But in the end, my high school band sight read The 1812 Overture with me directing.  And at the end, the band gave me applause.  It felt good.

Ant then Mr. Shull walked up and said, "Okay, pass that music in."  It was just for sight reading. 
We weren't going to play it.  But for me, well I appreciated knowing that just once I got to direct The 1812 Overture and I did it alright. 

Mr. Shull never brought that experience up, but there were other times when he would stand up and say, "I want one of you to direct this," and more than half the time he chose me without waiting for volunteers.

Christmas Poem - 2011

Did we mention that this year was crazy busy over Christmas – well we only got about 20 Christmas Poems actually mailed out – so for all of the avid readers, here is the 2011 edition:

It's the night before Christmas, the halls decked with holly.
The lights and the tinsel make Santa Clause jolly.
So he jumps in his sleigh and he dons his red hat,
And flies to the south, to see where we are at.

Andrea's clan had a big change this year,
They left Southern Cal, and went without fear.
A brand new culture they are learning to taste.
They are now in Virginia at the Quantico base.

The move took two months and to save them some fuss,
While Ben found a house, they spent six weeks with us.
They played in the mountains, and explored all about,
In August, with Nana, they left and went out.

Ben's new assignment has less deployment,
For him and his family that means more enjoyment.
Their home in the woods means Andrea's looking
For ways to spend time besides cleaning and cooking.

Michael's found love, with a Colorado girl.
Jasen's happy out East, his head's in a whirl.
"Diary of Dork", are Emma's fun books.
Spencer's king of his class, with his style and his looks. 

Mat and Andi's family had some big changes.
Like nine months in Leadville, over yon mountain ranges.
They loved the life style with its camping and bikes,
But 12 feet of snow and the cold there – well yikes.

Then they move one more time, a less lofty scene.
To a town in the foothills that's called Evergreen.
They think this is better, and why? Well to start
It got a McDonalds and a closer WalMart.

Mathew has a new job, HR for a mine.
He likes it a lot, it's more than just fine.
Andi's adjusting to all that has changed
Her schedule and life style are all rearranged.

Andrew likes his new school, he does great in his class.
Mylie does active sports – she love games that go fast.
Wyatt is so happy to play cars some more.
They are happy each morning to see deer out their door.

Erica and Rich did their level best
To not change their house - or at least their address.
But they did do construction, they finished downstairs
To build for their daughters, their own private lairs.

Rich keeps on working, providing the best,
Erica's busy just feathering the nest.
Alice has pre-school, self-assured and so bright.
Evy is precocious, but her smile makes things right.

We miss Aaron's hood-winks, his talents and smile.
To recall without tears has taken a while.
Our reunion this summer was not all about fun.
We all went to the temple, Aaron's work was all done.

A Louisville duplex, Brea and Ben's new abode.
The old Stones's homestead is just down the road.
They are making it theirs, they are making it cute
And they wake every morning, as the train blows its toot.

Brea helps REI selling boots for the trails.
Ben's working at Croc's driving internet sales.
They try to be active; they have lots of friends,
And with their church callings, their pace never ends.

Michael's out on his own with his lovely new bride,
Named Taylor, his help-meet, his love, by his side.
In South California they're making their marks,
And their family has Tonks, when she's happy she barks.

They both have a job and they're both taking class
And finals just ended, they're glad that they passed.
And coming this spring, their life's changing fast,
Cause then they're expecting a wee baby lass.

Larry and Margaret thought it was wise
To buy a new home with a bit larger size.
It gives them more room where visitors stay.
And it gives them more room where grandkids can play.

Larry traveled a lot, what more can we say,
You'd just have to blink and he's flying away.
All over the States, but that was not all,
Israel and Malaysia were two ports of call.

Mar worked real hard and finished her schooling
To become an RN, the last year was grueling.
Then she studied some more, and doing her best
She just took and passed the national test.

Santa's back on his sleigh, all the presents are gone,
But our hearty good wishes he carries along.
To all of our friends and family, too,
He's taking our love and best wishes to you.

Events

Christmas Season - Family Time

Christmas was really family time this year. We had a number of events and each of them filled somebodies house to the brim. It is so nice to have adult children. No one has to do everything. They just get together and say, "you bring this and you bring this and I'll bring this – and voila – an event happens. Mind you, this is all happening in spite of all of the regular Christmas season craziness.

December 18 – Family Birthday Party
We opted to have this at Mat and Andi's house. December is the birthday month for Erica, Lar and Mathew so we all get together and celebrate them together. This year's attendees – Lar and Mar and Grandma Baker (3), Mat and Andi (5), Erica and Rich (4), Breanne and Ben (2), Ricky and Deanna (6) – Total 20. We ate, played with the Wii and other games and just did family things.

December 24 – Christmas Eve
We have the big holiday dinner on Christmas Eve. We held this one at our house. Lar and Mar and Grandma Baker (3), Mat and Andi (5), Erica and Rich (4), Breanne and Ben (2), Michael and Taylor – who flew in from Southern California early that morning (2), Ricky and Deanna (6), Sean and Heather (2) – Total – 24. We mostly just ate and played.

December 25 – Christmas
This is an open buffet sort of get together where we just eat all sorts of goodies we put out for the day – and of course show everyone what we got for Christmas – and play with it. Lar and Mar and Grandma Baker (3), Erica and Rich (4), Breanne and Ben (2), Michael and Taylor (2), Sean and Heather (2) – and the Missionaries (2) – Total 15.

December 26 – FHE
We just had fun with Brea and Ben, Michael and Taylor, Michaels friend Amanda and her husband Neal. Danced to the Wii and played Psychiatrist after eating Pizza.

December 27 – Baby Shower
Breanne and Erica had a Colorado Baby Shower for Taylor. It's a girl,s thing with food and games and just talking – Total 12. No wait – Michael and I kept a low profile and watched kiddos – 5 of them – making a Grand Total of 24.

December 29-30 – Play Day and Goodbye to Michael
Not a real event – just a good family time. It happened at Mat and Andi's. Breanne and Ben took Michael and Taylor up to Mat and Andi's on Thursday night. They ate and played games and Breanne and Ben came home and left Michael and Taylor there. Friday, Mar and Lar drove to Mat and Andi's. We had pizza and just goofed around. Then we drove Michael and Taylor to the airport where they flew home after a brief delay. Over the evening, Mat and Andi hosted 11 – just for fun.

January 1 – Not it's not a New Year Party – It's Ben's Birthday
We had Ben's birthday party at our house – dinner, presents and games. Lar and Mar and Grandma Baker (3), Mat and Andi (5), Erica and Rich (4), Breanne and Ben (2), Ben's parents, Ron and Nedra and his sister Rachel (3), Bens' brother's family Jessie and Becky (6), Ben's friend Danny and his wife Ammy (4), and our missionaries (2) – Total 29 – Yikes.

January 2
No one came over. We took down all of the Christmas decorations. I have to go back to work tomorrow. I guess it is over – until February – when we are having the February Birthday Party at Erica's, because she will have her remodel finished.

Henderson Molybdenum Mine

Mine Tour


December 28,2010

Note: All pictures came from the internet - we didn't take any as per the rules.
Michael and I left a little after 10:00 to travel to the Empire/Berthoud Falls area up the I70 corridor. It was beautiful day with temperature in the 50s in Longmont, which translated to the mid 30s at 10,000 feet. As we drove, we talked about fantasy, about the Lord of the Rings, about Balrogs and Orcs.
What better topic when you are going to the roots of the mountains. We stoped in Idaho Falls for a little lunch.

We arrived at the Empire Henderson mine at 12:20, exactly when Mat asked us to be there. He had arranged for us to get through the gate. He had everything set up for us inside. He had it all arranged. We watched the safety video and learned the two big rules for our tour. Always have three points of contact when getting on equipment, and keep arms and legs and other body parts in the equipment at all times. Mat then talked to us about what we were going to see. On a side note, when Michael arrived last Saturday, I was talking to him on the way home from the airport and he said he didn't know anyone who really liked his job. I told him to talk to Mat. Mat loves his job. He has learned so much about how things operate in the mine. And he just loves being there.

After orientation we went to get equipment. It consisted of iron toed wader boots, a hard hat with a light and battery pack, and a belt with an emergency respirator. Mat took us to meet Steve. He is a trainer at the mine and he had set up a tour using a "buggy" so we wouldn't have to walk. If Mat had taken us, we would have had to walk and we wouldn't have gotten to see even 1/3^rd of what we got to on the buggy. We really appreciated Steve, and he was such a nice guy.

Steve checked us into the mine and we went to "the cage", which is the lift that takes you down 2500+ feet into the mountain. At that point, with the mountain above, you are some 5000 feet underground. The cage was scary at first. It is not smooth like a normal elevator. It is a bumpy ride and takes a couple of minutes to get down.

First stop was to get the buggy, which is really a tractor outfitted with seats. We drove a little ways through "drifts" which are some of the horizontal tunnels in the mine. That in itself was cool. At that level they were well lit. We visited a warehouse where they stored everything they needed in the mine, which of course had to be brought down in the cages.

We also visited a "refuge room" which is an emergency gathering site. It is equipped with food and water supplies, a first aid station, oxygen and communication gear, just in case something bad happens underground. Over the history of the mine, the refuge rooms have only been used for drills, but everyone in the mine has to be familiar with all of the operations, which is why I think they took us there first. A note about the Henderson Mine. They have a lot of visitors from government officials (Senators, Representatives, etc.) and foreign dignitaries because it is considered one of the safest mines in the world. It is used as an example of how mine safety can and should be done.

We then started going into the drifts. Steve took us to a place where we could see what the Molybdenum looked like in its ore state. It was also a place where we could turn off our hard hat lights and be in total and complete darkness. Pretty cool.

He then drove us to a place where a loader was loading "muck", the mined out ore, into a "chute", a hole that drops the muck down where it can be crushed. There was quite a bit of dust there but the ventilation system in the mine made it very easy to breath all of the time. This loader was a huge front end loader, and it was brand new. Michael and I got to sit in it and it still had that "new car smell. The driver was a little bit disgusted that they had scratched his loader when they were bringing it down in the cage. They brought it down in three parts – the bucket, the front end and the back end which were hinged together so the loader could negotiate the corners in the drifts easier. The drifts are about 5 yards wide so the equipment had to be made to manipulate in that size area. Pretty cool.

Next Steve took us down a ramp to almost the bottom of the mine. This was the level where the muck from the cutes was crushed. We saw the crusher. It is a giant machine that works like a mortar and pestle. It is a gigantic piece of equipment that one would never expect to find at the root of a mountain, and it had be brought down and built on place. Pretty cool.

The muck is dumped in and if the rocks are too big, they get crushed down to a manageable size. The crusher is loaded by giant dump trucks. Now when we say giant dump trucks, they still need to manipulate in the drifts, so they dumb sideways into the crusher. Each one carries about 80 tons at a time. Michael and I got to do a "ride alone" on a dump truck while they made one pass from the chutes to the crusher. Maximum speed was 13 miles per hour, but in that environment it felt a lot faster than that. The truck backs under a chute and then the driver uses an automated hatch to fill his own truck. Then he drives back to the crusher and dumps. The whole procedure takes about eight minutes. My driver told me that he had been doing this for about six years. He said you had to be pretty alert or you would hit a drift wall and then it reminded you that the mountain didn't move. Even that big truck lost that encounter. Let me tell you, that was pretty cool.

Steve then took us one step deeper. After the crusher was done, the muck dropped down and was automatically loaded onto a conveyor belt – the longest conveyor belt in the western hemisphere. It takes the muck to the mill 14 miles away (10 miles underground) on the other side of the continental divide for processing into "chemical grade" Molybdenum. The Moly from the Henderson mine is the purest in the world.

Then it was back to the surface and I'm glad I didn't need to walk back up that ramp. It was a real cool experience. Mat told us that the first time he went down into the Henderson Mine he told Andi it was an experience he would remember forever. I can see why. I feel the same way. I learned so much and saw things I never could have imagined.

Thanks Mat. Thanks Steve. It was more than way cool. It was awe inspiring.

Final Note:  A number of years ago, the "caving" processed used to mine at the Henderson mine caused the top of the mountain to collapse causing the Henderson Mine Glory Hole.  No one was hurt, in fact most of the miners didn't even know it happened.  WOW.

http://www.climaxmolybdenum.com/worldwidelocations/usa_colorado_henderson.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henderson_molybdenum_mine

Little Miracles and Tender Mercies

December 18, 2011

I came home from church on Sunday.  Mar told me they just called from church to ask if I knew where any more deposit slips were.  I didn't, but I went right back to look.  After checking everywhere, I decided to look everywhere again and found them tucked back in the deep, dark recesses of a drawer.

Why a tender mercy:
       They tried to call me on my cell phone, but I had it turned off.  This was the reminder to me to turn it back on because . . .

We went on Sunday up to Mat and Andi's house for the December birthday party.  During that trip, the cell phone became a life line between Andrea and Mar as Spencer went in and was diagnosed and operated on for acute appendicitis.

Why a tender mercy:
      The week before, Ben was out of town.  If he had been gone, well this would have been so much more of a problem and disaster for Andrea.

When we got home from the party, there was about 1 1/2 gallons of water on the kitchen floor.  The dishwasher had sprung a leak.

Why a tender mercy:
      The dishwasher was leaking a little bit before my last trip (for two weeks).  I wiggled some pipes and it stopped leaking.  And then it didn't leak again until after I got back.  If it had leaked that much while I was gone, well that would have been at least a $200.00 plumber call.  As it was, I turned off the water to the dishwasher and then fixed it the next day in one hour for $7.00.

So many times, the miracles and mercies in our lives are just a matter of our Heavenly Father watching out for us and then scheduling and arranging things so that they are not as shattering as they could be.

Let us be thankful for all of our blessings - and let us recognize those blessings when they come.

News Line

December 6, 2011

NCLEX

After finishing the Registered Nursing program at Front Range Community College, Mar still had one MAJOR obstacle.  She had to take the national NCLEX test to be licensed as a Registered Nurse.  She was promised that if she used on study program and did 5000 questions in that program, that she would pass.  Mar's frantic preparation took her to 7000 questions, and if she missed one she would read and understand the answer.

The NCLEX is a computer adminisered test.  It randomly selects and presents questions - well sometimes not so randomly.  As you take the test, if you miss one question, it will schedule another similar question for you to answer.  It is set up so that you have to answer at least 75 questions.  After that, the program decides how many to ask to really determine if you are quilified.  It could go up to 175 questions. 

On December 6, 2011, Mar went and took the test.  It stopped after 76 questions.  She found out two days later that she had passed.

WHOO WHOO - YEA _ WOW_WEE

And she even got her license card in the mail. 

So she is official.  We are so proud of her.

(On a side note - she is having a hard time figuring out what to do with herself no.  She isn't answering questions every hour, or waking up worrying about the test.  But she can actually read a book and enjoy things.  Now she has to decide what she wants to be when she grows up.)