D. Gardner

Today's happenings

September 2, 2008 by D. Gardner Leave a Comment

The internet is making it easier to find and connect with old friends. I sent a message through Linked-in to John Hall, a fellow that attended high school in St. George with Liz. He was always fun to hang out with. He is living in France working for Mercer.
I also talked to Mike my brother today and he has sold a couple more of his web videos. I also convinced Charles to buy the movie “Stardust” last night. It’s definately a fun movie.

Gustav the Storm didn’t do much damage, the Dow Jones Industrial average was down .26 % and Oil was down $5.75 a barrel today. So when will gas go down?

Jake eats rats every 5 to 7 days

September 2, 2008 by D. Gardner Leave a Comment

Jake is my nephew Sessel’s pet snake. He’s some sort of python boa constrictor that is about 20 inches long. He’s big enough to be eating the medium size rats. On Saturday we went to the pet store and bought a live rat and took him home.

Sessel opened the top to the snake aquarium, held the rat by the tail, and dangled him above the snake. It was amazing how quickly, less than a second, the snake grabbed the rat out of the air, wrapped his body around the rat and started squeezing. The snake had grabbed the rat by the face so the rate wouldn’t be able to bite him. Jake also kept clear of the rats hind legs so he would not get scratched. And in less than 10 minutes the rat was swallowed by Jake. I am sure that scene is repeated thousands maybe millions of times everyday. It was brutal.

20 year highschool reunion is in September

August 31, 2008 by D. Gardner 1 Comment

Because of the my 20 year high school reunion is comming up I have been contacted by a couple of people from school. Three girls from my seminary class have contacted me Genia (Shy) Spencer, Nikki Allen and Justin Rylander. I have contacted a couple of people through facebook, John Krause and Kevin Couderman. It’s fun to think about the great time I had in High School. For the most part the stress, what little there was, has all but been forgotten and only the good and fun memories remain.

But I do feel like it is all in the past and I for sure don’t believe that I or any one else can bring that fun back even for a few moments.

Life for me has always had it’s magic. Where ever I am and what ever I am doing it seems like I am blessed to be having a magical time.

High School was magic, it was fun, it was exciting and it was freedom.

Texas is Hot!!!

August 30, 2008 by D. Gardner Leave a Comment

Today, Charles, Sessel, Tony, Aiden and I helped Daniel and Chelsea move into there new apartment on the third floor. The high today in Austin was 97 degrees Fahrenheit and the humidity was between 60% and 70%. It’s been a while since I hung out much in the humidity. The humidity wasn’t that bad but the 3 flights of stairs I was not prepared for. We worked for a couple of hours up and down those stairs. It was good to feel the sweat. In Utah it all evaporates and you don’t really get that soaked. I actually wish I had an excuse to do that kind of work every day. I would definately be stronger and in better shape. Food tastes so much better after working hard.

After the moving we went to Ikea to get a desk. They were out of the desk Charles wanted. It’s been a long while, maybe 6 or 7 years since I have been in an Ikea. Ikea feels more like an art gallery, well maybe the gift shop in an art gallery. But definately not a regular store.

Charles showed me around his neighborhood, Steiner Ranch. He showed me a couple of pools were I will probably do some lap swimming next week.

We got some food from HEB also. It’s been over two years since I was in an HEB. We got some of their root beer and stuff to make omelets for dinner tomorrow.

Talking to Amanda on the phone today she said she wants to move back to Texas. The schools here are definately better than in Utah. I don’t know if she would be able to handle the Heat. 🙂

Driving Texas – 12 hours Day 1 – 15 Day 2

August 29, 2008 by D. Gardner Leave a Comment

We started yesterday about 7:30 MST from Salt Lake. Daniel and his family in the truck towing a trailer and me driving there car. About an hour into the trip coming down the canyon into Price the car started making a rumbling sound. By the time we had reached the bottom of the canyon the sound had gotten worse. I was praying that it was not serious and we could get it fixed and be on our way. We stopped and discovered that the lug nuts had not been tightened properly the previous week when Daniel had the tired rotated. We were blessed it wasn’t something more serious and we were on our way.

As were driving I saw a farm that was growing, what I estimate was over 100 acres of sunflowers. I am always chewing on sunflower seeds to keep me alert. I mused, “What if the sunflower seed I am eating were grown right here”. I also thought, “It looks like as if one sunflower could fill one of these bags of sunflower seeds I have with me in the car”

We drove Through Albequerque and stopped in Santa Rosa. It was 10:30 PM MST when we stopped. We had been on the road for 15 hours.

Friday we got started between 7:30 and 8:00 AM MST. We drove through POST Texas, where my grandfather had lived as a child. There were tons and tons of oil wells in Post. So I can see why my great-grandfather was their with his family. I wondered if any of the oil wells I saw had been drilled by my great-grandfather. My grandfather had told the story that Mr. Post or Post cereals had invented the Post Toasties. A predessesor to the cornflake and wheaties. My grandfather still called cornflakes Post Toasties. other than all the oil wells agriculture is the main industry from Post to Lubbock and beyond. I saw some corn and some other type of crop that I could not identify. It was short maybe 18 inches off the ground with hearty stem about the size of my thumb around and it had white flowers.

The trip was pretty uneventful and we arrived at Tony’s house about 8:30 CST. We had been o the road for 15 hours.

Tony and Sunam were very gracious and bought us some texas barbeque from a place called Smokey Mo’s. As always Texas barbeque is the best.

Aiden it much taller than when I saw him last.