Shadow Void

Places I’ve Been

I've not been to any exotic locales, but I've seen quite a few places from cities to natural wonders. I've stood in national parks, historic places, and on hallowed ground. I've witnessed the majesty of Niagara Falls, Yellowstone Falls, and the Rocky Mountains. I've seen the city lights of Denver from mountain heights and peeked into the Earth via a hot spring at Yellowstone National Park. Somehow, I make it sound so much nice especially since you do not smell the sulphur stench that the Earth breathes out. I have stood where soldiers bleed and died at Little Bighorn. I swear that I felt the death at that place. When I was younger, I stood within a cave after walking a mile up a mountain trail. I stood beside the Pacific Ocean and felt its cold water retreat across my toes. I've stood at the bank of the Mississippi River and thought about the people who were forced to flee westward into the unknown. My feet have walked the sidewalks of Toronto, Salt Lake City, Chicago, and let's not forget the countless times, they've walked me though nature's splendor. I've stood with giants in Muir Woods. Giants who have stood in this land since before my forefathers came to live upon this land. Saw seals in San Francisco bay while looking out over the waters. I've stood within the borders of a prairie dog town in Wyoming, and saw the lack of fear in the babies' eyes, while at the same time seeing the wisdom in the adults' whistles of warning. My feet have placed me in a corn field where I felt dwarf compared to the crop about me. I've felt a stir within my heart when I stood in the spot where a martyr was shot while imprisoned in Carthage, Illinois. My eyes have watched cranes dance in under the Indiana sky. In Illinois, I've seen a family of wild turkey enjoying their breakfast in my campsite. In the quiet of morning, I've seen deer feeding in clearings. I've walked where pioneers, soldiers, and Native Americans walked while visiting Fort Laramie in Wyoming. Felt the ruts of wagons moving forward in Iowa and Nebraska, knowing their destination was the barren landscape of the Salt Lake Valley. I've witnessed for myself the wonders that man has to the power to create along with God in that valley as well. I've dug arrowheads where Native Americans camped and shaped their flint. I can't describe the peace that I've felt in the shadows of a forest. Well, I had better run!

My mini-vacation

Going On A Small Vacation

Just so you know this was started last Friday:

I’m sitting here at my house while, I wait for my parents to finish packing or whatever it is that they are doing. Wouldn’t it make sense to have everything packed the night before with expect for the maybe the food? To me, it is totally logical. You spend the day before getting packed and going to store, so that the next day all you have to is pack the car, pack the food, and then go.

We are driving down to Nauvoo, Illinois, and we are camping at Nauvoo State Park. It’s at least a six hour drive down. Here, it is 7:00 and we still haven’t left yet. We’ve packed the car, gone to the bank, and now we are home again. Oh wait, we are again. This chaos is aggravating. I will admit that I am not the most organized person in the world, but I can’t stand being idle, being late, or not leaving on time. One good thing came from making a couple stops. I got batteries for my camera and a new memory card for it also. Oh lets not forget that they bought food also. Sadly, though it is 8:00 p.m. or around there, and we are still in NW Indiana.

We arrive in Nauvoo at or pretty close to 3:00 am. I woke up around 8:00 am. It was a beautiful. The temperature was nice, and there were cottontails in camp. At least six of them, they didn’t seem to mind me being around as long as I didn’t come to close. A little bit later everyone got up. We had breakfast, and then much to my surprise everyone sort of sat around. My dad and three nephews sat or stood by my brother’s mini-van and watched a dvd of "The Thing". Let’s not forget, they also had their electronic games. To me that isn’t camping. Sure, I had books and paper to write on. I also brought my magic the gathering playing cards. I just figured with so much to do and see, that we would be something.

Finally, we are going to go do something. We are driving out to Carthage, Illinois. Nauvoo by the way was a large Mormon settlement along the banks of the Mississippi. Right off hand, I can’t remember how many people were living there but, it was a fairly large city. There was some contention towards the church and it’s leaders, so much so, that at one point Joseph and Hyrum Smith were arrested and taken to Carthage. Joseph was the prophet of the church and Hyrum is his brother. They were held at Carthage jail awaiting trial. Sadly, they never saw their day in court. They were killed by a mob. Okay. so we visited the jail. After that, we drove out and saw some other things. We stopped at a small park, that has a waterfall in it. Sadly, there had not been enough rain for there to be water for the falls. We also stopped at a arch bridge, which was built at the time of the Mormons being in Nauvoo. I’m sure there has been some restoration done on it. After all, it’s been something like 136 years since the martyr of Joseph and Hyrum. We also went geode and fossil hunting, which was a lot of fun until I fell and gave scratched myself up. After, I got cleaned up and was going back to join my nephews and brother, a bunch of turkey vultures started flying overhead. We also went shopping in some of the little stores in Nauvoo. No, I didn’t buy anything. I wanted to be out seeing stuff. Dang sorry, no camera! After coming back to camp, we had lunch and dinner. Later in the day, we went to Iowa and watched a tugboat and a bunch of barges move through the lock. On Sunday, I went and tried to get a few pictures of the restored buildings in the Nauvoo restoration area. It was just too hot to do all that walking. We eventually packed up and left Nauvoo and headed for home. My dad and brother are train lovers, so they had stop at this steam engine that is parked in a riverside park in Iowa near Fort Madison. There is also a tiny restored fort, we stopped at. I managed to snag a few pictures.

* There is picture of two guys dressed as soldiers. I know the picture is bad but the guy in standing in back is really handsome. Wow…he was handsome. Any way, I am sure he was straight. Well, maybe pretty sure. Any way, enjoy the pictures!

Pictures will be posted in one of the photo albums.

Grandparent Memories

Grandparent Memories

This post is going to be a bit weird in that it contains couple stories in one post. It will lack any binding element to connect them. I just wanted to share a bit of my past with you.

Blueberry Bat

My dad’s parents lived in the country in a county south of where we live. My grandparents owned several acres. They farmed several of the acres. On two of those acres, they had several large, fertile blueberry bushes. Each year, we went out to pick blueberries. Sadly, we haven’t been out since I was in 4^th grade. Any way, back to the story.

I don’t remember all the different events leading up to the story. I do remember being at my grandparent’s house. Their house was a on a hill and you had to walk down the hill to get the bushes. I remember walking down with my family and my grandma. My dad might have stayed up in the house with my grandpa. See, grandpa had suffered from a stroke and didn’t get around very good. Any way, we each had our container to place the ripe berries into as we picked them. As I was picking and snacking on the berries, I came to one section of the bush. When I looked at one clump of very fat ripe berries, I noticed a bat hanging upside down. My actions must have disturbed the bat. He was screaming his little lungs at me. He must have been scared silly. I screamed out "bat".

In a heart beat, my family gathered up around me. My older brother was the "critter guy" a the time. My grandma told him to go up to the house and grab an empty Pringle’s container. My grandma always had Pringle’s in the house. Very carefully, the bat was transferred from the bush into the can. After being put into the container, the bat and my brother headed to this old storage shed. I guess, the bat was released there. I went on gathering berries.

SageBrush and Dunes

We were in Utah one year. My grandparents drove us out to this state park. I don’t remember the name of the park. We were actually on the edge of this state park. The area, we were in was filled with sand dunes and sagebrush. There must have been other plants, but I remember there being sagebrush. When we arrived, I started talking about there being rattlesnakes. Since there were rattlesnakes, I refused to get out of the car. I wouldn’t budge. I am not even sure how my grandparents and my parents managed to get me out of the car. Once they did, I enjoyed myself big time. We, my brothers and my sister, spent a good part of the time running and leaping from the top of dunes. What is completely amazing to me was that we never went back. Funny, how things something happen.

Keep in mind, that my mom's mom is my only living grandparent.

My Trip To Utah

First off I'm so glad to be back home in Indiana.  The following is written to the best of my ability.  There will be pictures added later.

First day on the road:

Stopped at Golden Corral for dinner.  Not much of an appetite, I think because of news that a friend had passed away.  ( Got the news as we went to drop off some stuff at the church. ) The Golden Corral was in Joilet , I think.  Right now we are at a rest area in Illinois.  Saw a cute guy dressed in all black.  He had a very nice butt.  We made very brief eye contact.  I wonder if he was up for the Chicago's Pride parade. 

Tuesday

Had breakfast at McDonalds in Iowa.  Currently, we are in Nebraska enroute to a house in that used to be in my mom's family some 150 years ago.  The house is octogan shaped.  There is a pic that will be posted.  Sadly, there is only one pic.  We are now in Wyoming.  We are out at another rest area, where there is a small prairie dog town.  I had a chance to feed them, but not directly from hand.  Got pictures of dad feeding them.  Currently, it is 3:34 p.m. M.T. and I expect to be my grandma's house in 3 minutes. 

June 29th

It didn't take long for the talk to turn to all the family news.  As always , those cousins who aren't married are a part of the dicussion because everyone knows that, if you are older than 25 and not married than you are a threat to society.  I somehow managed to not be a part of that convsersation.  Rather it is because no one wants to offend or whatever, my name was not mentioned at all.  I do not mind at all.  From the sound of things, I am going to be visiting an aunt and uncle.  I love my family dearly but I'm still stuck in the closest.  It's very hard to be here and not have access to the gay community.  It is shame though, I'd love to go out and do something.  As you might have figured out, there will not be any internet access.  It would be sweet to run into someone who has visited the Shadowvoid.  Don't worry, I didn't!  We are headed down to Orem.  Remember the aunt and uncle that I mentioned.  Their new house has six bedrooms.  The place is almsot a mansion.  It was nice to visit with my family and meet with my cousins and their wives.  We went down to install a dryer.  We were down there till 10:30 p.m. Mountain time.

Thursday

Woke up had breakfast and went with dad to CompUsa.  Came home and had diarrhea.  I've been feeling completely yucky.  Dad is out at the Family History Library in downtown Salt Lake City.  Mom and Grandma are out making sure that Grandma's errands are done for the day.  Leaving me with solitutde, but I hate this icky feeling.  I took my anxiety medication and I hate the results.  I feel so jumpy.  I am really thinking of not taking at all.

Friday

Still not feeling one hundred percent.  My grandma's neighborhood has an infestation of giant land snails.  I don't even remember when it started, but I've been out twice to look for snails.  Sometimes, I find snails and sometimes I don't.  Went out and helped my Grandma do some yardwork.  Not trying to over do anything.  I am kind of tired of laying around and sitting.  I miss my pets and my nieces and nephews.  My aunt is here along with one of my cousin's and his wife.  I should be out visiting, but not really in a social mood.  Went up to City Cemetary with my Mom, Dad, and Grandma.  We are up there looking some family graves and then to record the info from off the gravestones.  Later in the day, my uncle and my two cousins showed up. 

Saturday

I'm feeling better.  Good enough to venture our.  Went up to the Family history library with mom and dad.  Saw the glbt community center near one of the high schools in the Salt Lake Valley.  Would love to have one in my home town.  It's awesome see the community in Utah having such support.  Guess, I am going to a LAN Party with one of my cousins.  We played computer games for four hours.  Got back around 10:30 p.m.

Sunday

Went to the church with Grandma at her ward.  Things always seem a bit colder at her ward than at home.  The guys seem a bit unfriendly, but with my being shy, maybe that can't be helped.  Had a small gathering of family over at Grandma's house.  One of my cousin's has a 17 month old little girl.  I saw her last year and she was bit smaller.  My uncle said she wouldn't warm up to any of us, but I managed to get 2 kisses and two high fives.  Not to shabby for a cousin that she only sees once a year.  Spoke with Stephanie, my niece, apparently Aiden, my great nephew, is getting another tooth.

MOnday, 

Things seemed really slow today.    We went out and saw some old family homes.  Some dating back to the late 1800's to the early 1900's.  I think we found all but one of the houses.  Not to bad huh?

Tuesday

Supposed to go shooting with my cousins. Now, you don't know this but I don't really care for guns.  Guns to me mean only one thing, death.  I don't want to go shotting at all.  I tried to come up with an excuse not to go, but they wouldn't hear of it.  Dad is supposed to go hiking, and I would do anything to switch places with him.  Ends up dad doesn't want to go hiking.  So it seems that I am going in his place.  We took a short hike up to Ensign Peak.  From that vantage point, you can look out over the entire village.  Saw some quail.  I am not sure what species just yet, but I do believe they are California Quail. 

Rest of the trip

Sorry this part is not kept up nice and neatly.

We didn't really do a whole lot.  Though every time that I saw, signs for Hoogle zoo, my mouth drolled.  I know I've been there quiet a few times, but I never grow tired of it.  Sadly, I never did get up there.

Being with family was wonderful.  On the way back home, I saw a pair of what I believe to be Mountain Bluebirds.  It was wonderful.  Not much else to say really expect for that I missed everyone.

Things to do or Places to go

This is my list of things that I would like to do or palces I'd like to visit before I die:

1.Africa:

Egypt - to see the ruins and pyramids cruise the nile

Kenya - to go on a wildlife photo safaria

Rwanda - to see the mountain Gorillas

2.South America:

Brazil - cruise the Amazon

Costa Rica - Experience the rain-forest

4.North America

Visit mexico

enter a shark cage somewhere in the Red Triangle

Visit Yellowstone park again

Visit Mt. Rainer

Visit Hawaii

Alaska - see a live Kodiak bear , hike, whale watch

4.Europe

Visit London, Scotland, Ireland

Visit Berlin

Visit Rome

Visit Greece

5.Visit Australia

I don't see myself traveling out of the country to be honest, but it would be nice to do some traveling maybe into Canada.

Two Days in Scout Camp

I got to camp late Monday night.  The boys were very much awake when I arrived.  That first night was hot and sticky, I had a horrid time sleeping.  Sometime during the night, it decided to rain. It rained from about 1:00 a.m. to at least 7:30 a.m.  Upon arriving, I was told that the person in chrage of the dining hall was a bit of nazi.  She was really not that bad to be honest.  Tuesday morning was spent running around camp getting myself checked in.  Overall the food wasn't bad in fact on Thursday night, the boys will be having Steak, potatoes, corn on the cob, and dump cake.  I told the boys, if the meal stinks it's because they burned it. 

Boys being boys, there were times when our campsite looked like a warzone.  Tuesday morning when I got up there were shoes left outside the tents.  All of them were soaked.  Some mornings there were clothes left out not to mention backpacks.  I will say this for being from three different troops the boys were pretty well behaved.

Scout camp for me provides opportunity to bird watch or just enjoy nature.  This time was no different.  My first full day in camp, it was sometime around 9:00.  I was sitting in a chair near my tent and just got the feeling that I wasn't alone.  Looking around the tents, I didn't see anyone, so I looked in back of me.  Glancing back, there was female deer.  She stomped her front feet a bit and flashed the white on her tail.  It was pretty clear to me, that she wasn't happy with me.  I didn't move because I didn't want her to feel like I too big of a threat.  A little later that same day, I had gone to the laterine.  Walking up to our little hand washing station, I heard a very loud buzzing noise.  Looking to my right, I saw a bunch of bees flying in and out of a crack in this maple tree.  I realized pretty quickly that we had an active hive of bees.  I've seen the man-made boxes that we use for hives, but I've never a wild bee hive.  Didn't see the honeycombs or any part of the interior of the hive, but all day long there was steady stream of activity coming and going out of the hive.  Okay, you know about the deer and bees, but the best is what to come.  On Wednesday, I very quietly walked back into camp after breakfast.  No one else was with me so it was really quiet.  Instantly, I noticed that once more, I was not alone in camp.  Pecking in the grass near my tent, where a group of birds.  There were at least 8 babies, 3 adults, and one slightly smaller bird all the same type.  This time, I didn't need my bird book to identify these birds.  I was looking at a family of wild turkey's.  When they saw me, they rushed away from my tent but not to far away.  They gave me enough time to grab my camera and take a few pictures before they ran away and hid.  Then when my nephew, B., came back, I told him what I saw.  He wanted to see if we could still see them.  We hiked a short distance down the trail, when sure enough I saw the group again.  The film, I have in camera is sort of old so assuming it's still good, I'll post the pics once I get them developed.

I'm not going to type out every single detail of the trip, but believe me when I saw that I'm glad to be back.