Rickety – Page 4 – Mostly about Utah

Then And Now

December 5, 2011 by rickety Leave a Comment

Rick and Jill 1980

Paul and Megan 2011

Windstorm Preparations

December 4, 2011 by rickety 2 Comments

A long line into the sewer district. There is another line visible further to the east. Click to enlarge

In preparation for the approaching storm, scenes like these were repeated all along the Wasatch Front. There were temporary waste collection sites at LDS Church stake centers and at other locations. After helping in our ward, Dan and I drove through several streets in central Kaysville and found hundreds of people and dozens of trailers being loaded. It was an impressive sight.

Follow a laden trailer if you don't know where to go

Because men were driving the pickups, directions were provided without having to ask

Though the line was long we didn't have to wait long

Unloading

Even minivans were drafted into service

The line as we drove for the exit

Kaysville Windstorm Part 2

December 4, 2011 by rickety 14 Comments

Kaysville 14th ward members turned out in force to clean up

It is not often that the Governor warns the citizens of Utah about the weather. But he did just that Saturday night when he urged residents along the northern Wasatch Front to prepare for another windstorm, forecast to begin at 5pm Sunday.

After Thursday’s windstorm, most residents have not had time to completely clean up.

In preparation, our stake president instructed wards to have their priesthood organize to remove branches and other debris that could become airborne in the approaching high winds. Accordingly, in our ward at church this morning the priesthood were asked to assemble in work clothes at 1pm. There was no asking for volunteers, it was just assumed that all able-bodied men would respond — which we did.

We collected all the green waste and took it to the Central Davis Sewer District where it will be converted to ground wood waste and mixed with biosolids, then composted and sold to the general public. It was quite the operation (follow the link for photographs), with armadas of pickups and trailers.

There were large tree trunks to deal with as well as branches

Chains saws were the weapon of choice

Sister Blair handed out hot chocolate

Dan and I, after we had finished within our ward boundaries, drove to my daughter’s home for a branch meeting. There we removed part of a tree that was entangled in the power line to her home. The power is still out from Thursday’s winds. When we had finished cutting down the branches we asked Sarah’s ward members if they would take away the debris and they immediately dispatched ten men to her backyard.

With the power still off it was a good time to clear away the branches that were stressing the power lines

Dan did most of the work under my skilled supervision

Sarah's ward had an efficient operation in progress

Ever wondered what was inside those Mormon steeples? Nothing, at least now there isn't

Mmm, I was wondering where that chair of ours ended up

Normally, Mormons view a Sunday as the sabbath day, a day to be kept holy. Occasionally, and this is the first time for me, members have to work together on a Sunday to secure their communities.

Update

The high wind warning was cancelled but some gusts did hit 40 miles per hour.

Davis County Windstorm Cleanup

December 3, 2011 by rickety Leave a Comment

Working on the roof Saturday with my four sons

Yesterday we only had two hours before dark on Steven’s roof. After helping pull out two tree stumps at our neighbor’s homes, we headed back to Layton to finish the repairs to the roof. We nailed the last shingle by 4pm.

Steven with his roof, good as new. The new shingles don't quite match but they will keep the rain out

Earlier in the day it seemed like the whole of Davis County was on the move. While driving to Layton we saw truck after truck filled with broken tree limbs. The line to the landfill, or rather the Green Waste Recycling Facility, was quite long.

A common sight all day along Highway 89

Notice the truck on the left carrying what looks like power cables, no doubt needed for repairs

Several trucks headed for the Green Waste Recycling Facility

As we headed towards the landfill there was a convoy of vehicles leaving, having shed their loads

A long line at the landfill entrance

Mark Reporting from Bountiful

Our power was out from 8am until 2am the next morning. Luckily the temperature was in the low 30s during the day and low 20s at night. We have experienced other East winds when it was below zero. I spent much of the day [Thursday] on my ham radio with emergency responders in the area, sharing information and keeping up to date on what was happening.

It was a good opportunity to test out emergency preparedness plans / equipment. Serious enough to warrant their use, but not life threatening. The Davis County Amateur Radio Emergency Service was the main communication system for cities, police departments, hospitals and other emergency responders. These are hobbyists volunteering their equipment and skills and they did a fantastic job. At one point one of the Centerville Emergency Communications Center responders was heard on the radio saying:

A big spruce fell on a neighbor’s house about 20 minutes ago. The whole neighborhood is there cutting it up right now. I love this community. In some places in this country, we would still be waiting for FEMA!

Connie surveying the damage in Bountiful

A dead tree in the cemetery

This tree was snapped off at the truck

Layton and Farmington Windstorm Cleanup

December 2, 2011 by rickety Leave a Comment

My sons repairing the wind damage to Steven's home. He's the dude wearing sunglasses in December

Other cities besides Kaysville had windstorm damage. Over in Layton my son Steven had his brothers helping to replace lost shingles. I stayed on the ground in a support role, fetching tools, bringing hot chocolate that Adelaide made, and picking up all the broken shingles scattered all over the lot.

My grandson Bryson helped by pointing with his stick to each piece of shingle and saying, “That one there, this one there, Grandpa.” Over in Farmington, my daughter Sarah, snapped some photographs of Heritage Park from the Frontage Road. She was driving past and was struck at the sight of all those tarps.

From left: Paul, Steven, Dan, Jake

Bryson supervises the cleanup. Grandpa you missed one!

Looking over Heritage Park at all the tarps

It looks like almost every house lost shingles

Rachel, my daughter-in-law, was driving back from town and as she approached her home she saw a woman and children picking up the broken shingles around the house. She was so embarrassed that she drove right past. She waited until they were gone before going back home. Later when she was telling me her story she said, “I wonder if they picked up the back yard as well?”

Kaysville Windstorm Damage Continued

December 1, 2011 by rickety Leave a Comment

Here are some more photographs of the hurricane force winds (up to 102 mph) that struck northern Utah today. My previous post showed damage to buildings, fences, and trees. Dan and Jake braved the weather and took photographs of some of the damage in Kaysville. The video shows the force of the wind.

See: How to heat your home when the power is out.

Signs of Windy Weather

The wind must have seemed like hell in Ogden

Where is the missing sign?...

...right here down the street

Vehicle Trouble

Not in My Backyard

This is my backyard. This morning Dan had to search for my garbage can and rescue my barbeque from blowing away. The shingles on the ground belong to someone else. Are you missing any?

The Force of The Wind

When Dan was shooting the video he held the camera as steady as he could. The wind was too strong and once knocked him back a few steps (at the 11 second mark) but he kept his balance.

Kaysville Windstorm Damage

December 1, 2011 by rickety Leave a Comment

Today hurricane force winds caused much damage in Utah. As many as 50,000 customers were without power at one point. The National Weather Service recorded gusts of 102 mph in Centerville. Dan and Jake braved the high winds and took photographs of some of the damage in Kaysville.

See: How to heat your home when the power is out.

Lost Siding and Shingles

Downed Fences

This fence is (was?) my neighbor's

Downed Trees

This is (was?) my daughter's tree

Downed Fences by Downed Trees

Kaysville windstorm downed fence by tree

This is my next door neighbor's tree. It took out his fence and bent our corner post

Kaysville windstorm downed fence by tree cleanup

By the time I got home the tree had been removed from the road

This evening my son Paul fixed the post with his come-a-long. We will fix the rest later

I have a few more photographs to show in my next post.

Temples and National Parks Visited

November 28, 2011 by rickety Leave a Comment

Most of the time I am happy to stay at home so I have to have a few visual cues to prompt me to take a trip once in awhile. One of them is a large map of the United States on my wall with push pins indicating temple grounds visited (green), temples where I have performed ordinances (white), and national parks visited (red).

I am missing a few national parks that I can’t recall for sure visiting. Not shown but visited are the Nauvoo, Dallas, London, and Washington D.C. temples.

The Utah white and green pins, minus Brigham City, are the temples I visited on the 2008 Utah Temples Tour.

The Nevada and California white and green pins are from the 2010 California Temple Trip. The green Arizona pin is the Mesa Temple and the green pin in Canada is the Alberta temple. The red pin over the border is Glacier National Park.

Seeing all those temple pins has me making plans for an Oregon-Washington-Vancouver-Idaho Temples Tour in 2012.

The national parks pins I added this evening. Just looking at the map makes me want to get out and visit a few more parks.

See, the visual cues are working on me already.

Rickety signature

Past Pictures: 25 Years Of House Anniversaries

November 27, 2011 by rickety 4 Comments

1987: 1st year house anniversary. Only four children

Each year in October, on the anniversary of the day we moved into our home, we take photographs of our family on the steps and just the children in front of our tree. Jill’s idea was to build up a collection of photographs to look back on.

1990: 4th year house anniversary. Daniel born in 1989

On this the 25th house anniversary year, we collected as many of the photographs as we could find and display here one for each year. Some are temporarily misplaced, so there are gaps in the record. However, we expect to find the missing years eventually.

1991: 5th year house anniversary

On the first house anniversary, Jill wrote:

We had a birthday party celebrating the day we moved into our home. Sarah brought the puzzle home from church so we put it together. Steven made the decorations. We all gave a present to the house by picking up all the garbage scattered around outside. Then we took some family pictures on the front porch. Inside we sang “Happy Birthday Dear Home” and celebrated with cake and ice cream.

1993: 7th year house anniversary. Using our tree as a backdrop

1987 Journal entry:

Monday 26th October 1987
We had a very fine FHE — the 1st birthday of our home. We even had a cake with one candle for refreshments. We took 2 photos of the family outside the house. The actual birthday is the 15th of October. Jill did the lesson — seems like Jill and I at one time were hard-pressed to come up with a lesson and didn’t like to do it. Now we both don’t like to give up our turn because we see it as a chance to teach the children something that we’re anxious for them to learn. We still have family prayers and read books to them. They like that.