Final Weigh-In

The Results
The competition is at its end!  Thank goodness.  A co-worker asked me how I felt at the end of losing 10 pounds.  "Hungry." was my reply. 
"Do you feel energetic and full of life?" 
"No.  I feel hungry."

Fortunately, I do not have a scale here at home.  Because since the completion of my goal, I'm sure I've doubled back.  In fact, last night we hosted a pie night with our neighbors, and fully took care of two pies.  I have sampled gorged myself on everything I'd been saving up while on the diet.  There is even a carton of eggnog in my fridge.  I'm so very glad I'm not stuck to that diet THROUGH Christmas!

The Take-Home

• The accomplishment for me meant dropping into a weight bracket that I've not previously seen in over 10 years. 
• I have a new-found respect for hunger. 
• The workout regimen required for this will be a great segway into my next goal:  Windermere Marathon 2011.  Last year I began training for that marathon at a weight of 193.  This year I begin at 169.  Somehow, I think that's gonna make a difference.

Your Results
Anywho...if you took the 10-pound challenge, post your results here, and I'll make a trip to Spokandy next week.  Cause you've earned it!

Weigh-In Day #3

Admittedly, I am weighing in more often than once a week.  I have been keeping daily...sometimes twice-daily tabs on myself.  My original intent was to lose all the weight in the first 2 weeks and not have to suffer for the third week.  It's a good thing I did that, because the extra effort I maintained (and subsequently doubled...twice) barely got me to where I needed to be.  I would be suffering now otherwise...kinda like Fatty.

Today (after my noon-time workout) I weighed in at 170.5, which means I have 1.5 pounds to go!  I'm staring disaster in the face, though:

Jamie wants to celebrate her birthday at Maggie Moo's.  Yes, THAT Maggie Moo's.  I think it's impossible to go into Maggie Moo's and take in less than 1500 calories.  In fact, I take it as my fatherly duty to limit the caloric intake of my children by "trying" their individual shakes.  (It's amazing how their shakes are always gone first!)

I've mostly cut dairy from my diet already to make the cut, but there's no way I'm ordering one of those lactose free or sorbet-type drinks when I go into a place with a cow in the logo.  That's just not right (unless you have to, of course...for reasons other than a diet).

I'm pretty much committed to balance the calories by exercise.  Maybe I'll run home from the ice-cream shop. 

How about everyone else?  Final weigh in is on the 23rd.  Britt, how about that lump sum loss?

By the way, I've got some Spokandy Pastel Mints for everyone that makes the cut!

Santa...

Together, these girls are finally daring enough to confront the big man in red! Santa was a real winner at this year's ward Christmas party. In fact, he was the best part of the night...aside from the great cookie spread. Seriously, a lot of effort was put into decorating Santa's room.

Weigh-In Day #2

As it turns out (and fortunately so) Fatty has postponed today's weigh-in until tomorrow.  But I still feel the need to check in and report here.  This past week I put in a lot of effort to reduce my portions, forego treats and basically starve myself.  (Just ask Sarah, I made plenty of noise about it!)  And I exercised almost every day.

BUT...but, I could not bring myself to walk away from a few certain treats.  Generally the week went pretty well, but on Saturday, Sarah was baking sugar cookies.  Sarah makes the most amazing sugar cookies.  Soft and moist with a perfect mild flavor.  Add sugar sprinkles or frosting or frost and sprinkle, and you've got a real treat.  I really felt great about only eating 3 cookies.  HOWEVER, I probably ate 3 cookies worth of dough as I helped roll them out!  And all of this happened BEFORE we took those cookies to a Christmas party where everyone else brought cookies to share.  I do take pride in stating that I ate only 2 cookies there.  You know...self control.

Despite all the effort I put into the week, I'm down only 1/2 pound, weighing in at 173.5 today.  4.5 pounds to go in the next 11 days.

On the good news end of things, the snow has melted enough for me to ride my bike to work again...should help a little.

Weigh-in Day #1

I signed up for Fatty's challenge last week because it was silly, ideally helpful, and promised the chance for some sweet free gear.  Then today, he upped the schwag list.  Take a look.  Among other things, the prize-list now contains a new bike, snowshoes, a wheel set, a bike trainer, and many other sweet items.  My ability to forego part of my lunch just increased!  (Yet I find myself scraping the last bit of gravy from my bowl.)

The great part is that he has opened entry to anyone who is now willing to try the challenge in 2 1/2 weeks.  That's right.  If any of you that signed up under my challenge (including you, Britt) would like to go for the gusto, just sign up over at fatcyclist.com.  Otherwise, stay tuned for the announcement of my completely insignificant prizes for all who make the grade.

My sister, Brittney, has entered under the assumption that her weight loss might not count in this challenge.  There were no rules as to how the weight must be lost.  In my opinion, you're going to go through much more pain and suffering giving birth than anyone else will burning calories.  Have at it!  And eat some ice-cream for the rest of us, will you?

So far I've found that the word "diet" makes me hungry.  It makes me crave cookies, candies, and cups of hot cocoa with ice-cream (preferrably mint-chocolate chip).  I now know that a cup of hot cocoa with a couple spoons of mint-chocolate chip ice cream chimes in at about 250-300 calories.

Despite my inability to withstand all the sweets this week, I dropped from 179 to 174.  As predicted.  The last 5 pounds will not be easy.  I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.

How's everyone doing?

Welcome Winter!

Sarah and the girls got out last week and put together this impressive little number.  His name was Poncho.  Was...because the next day it rained.  Then Caitin tackled him.  You know...cause she's like that.  Now Poncho is a headless snowman.

Before the rain, though...we had an all-time record snowfall for the month of November in Spokane.  Something like 18 or 20 inches.  I guess it's not THAT big a deal.  Not big enough to know the exact amount.  (OK, I looked it up:  25.9 inches...Samsonite!)

About 14 of those inches fell while we were away for Thanksgiving.  Amazingly, we came home to a completely shoveled driveway, and most of the walks clear!  That's just how awesome our neighborhood is!  Seriously, we can't thank them enough.

Challenge

Yeah...first post since Halloween.  Nice.  Seriously, though...nothing really happens in November.

Holiday Challenge
Yesterday I signed up for a challenge that I will be pressed to meet:  Lose 10 pounds by Christmas.  My starting weight is 179.  So my target weight is 169 (I know...had to break out the calculator for that one.) 

There are a couple of reasons this will be challenging:

• It's the holidays.
• I haven't had eggnog yet this year.
• I am not as die-hard a cyclist as I envisioned prior to the snowfall.
• The last time I weighed less than 170 was in 1999.

My lowest weight this year was 174, which was actually measured a couple of weeks ago (Thanksgiving was a bit glutinous).  I anticipate hitting that point again by the first weigh-in:  next Monday.  That is, if I can steer away from the seasonal treats that are already starting to pop up here and there.

Fortunately I Have a Plan:
My simplified plan
Eat less.

My detailed plan
Smaller portions.  Try to exercise.

That should do it.  My saving grace will be replacing my cycling effort with a decent snow shoveling regimen.  3 hours last night. 1 1/2 hours this morning.  I'm well on my way.

Anyone else want to join me in this challenge?

Halloween 2010

Please excuse the tardiness of these photos.  After finally getting everything done for halloween, we could not get the pictures to upload.  We're happy to be back to a normal schedule this week.  Happy Halloween!

Princess Tiana and her Frog.



Tinkerbell

Inspired Riding

I don't fully understand cause-oriented riding/running/whatever-sport-you're-into events. And yet...I participate in them here and there. Mostly, I participate for selfish reasons. ie: I want to accomplish a certain goal, and the event provides the venue and support I need to do it. Those instances provide a bonus feel-good moment when the registration/donation money leaves my coffers.


BUT THEN...there came to be the most ridiculous charity ride ever dreamed up. Not very often do you ask a friend what their training goal is and they say: "I want to ride 100 miles on my bike without moving." - Say again? That's what the Fat Cyclist did a couple of years ago to raise awareness for breast cancer which was slowly and painfully taking his wife away from him. He hedged a bet that he could do it, and everyone that bet against him and "lost", ended up paying the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

Last year he did it again, but he opened it up as a race for anyone to join in their own specific category. I was following his blog by then and thought the proposal was so ridiculous, there was NO way I could NOT sign up. I won the 100 Miles of Nowhere In the Middle of Nowhere category. Despite the cause-oriented nature of the ride, I didn't gain the benefit of the cause until I had ridden over 75 miles. That's when I started wondering to myself, "Why in the world am I doing this?" The answer was awesome.

This year tradition became solid with the third annual 100 Miles of Nowhere. I signed up immediately and began getting ready (by putting the date on the calendar). And...I had a bit of a setback when my bike was crunched by a car. Then my summer became insanely busy and I lost sight of my goal to complete this race. Fortunately, Fatty never stipulated a solid date for the race:

"This year, the “official” date of the race is Saturday, May 8, and the time is whenever is convenient for you.
And, thanks to the flexibility of the event — i.e., it’s just you, really — if May 8 doesn’t work for you, you can do it another day.
Like in October, if you feel like it."

Which is perfect. I'm doing it on Friday, October 29.

Why now? Because a good friend of mine - Adam, was recently re-diagnosed with cancer. He fought the same cancer 6 years ago, and won...but that devilish illness snuck back in. Read about his battle here. After his first round of Chemo last week, he is now suffering. I cannot do much to alleviate his pain and nausea. But I can dedicate 100 miles of effort to his name.  United with Adam.

So here it goes! The date is set and I'm training again. (Which is to say...I've marked the calendar.)  It's about time I finally earned that awesome shirt I've been wearing since May!

Indian Summer

The last few weeks we had great fall weather.  Temps in the mid sixties.  Caitin wanted to rake leaves and jump in them.  I didn't know what we could get off our one piddley tree, but it was enough.

 They had a lot of fun.  Caitin would jump and then rake the leaves up for Jamie.  Jamie would jump and rake them up for Caitin. 

 Caitin is really good at raking.  Maybe she should start a part-time job.

 Here is Jamie rolling out of the pile after attempting to do a somersault through the leaves.  Caitin started the whole somersault thing so naturally Jamie followed.

 Ready.  Set.  Throw!

 

Halloween 2010 - Teaser

Here's some hand-made goodness that will adorne our girls this halloween.  Yes, they have tried them on.  No, you cannot see yet.  Guesses as to who we've got here?

Ode to Ice Cream

Maggie Moo's, I love you so.
You're flavorful and kind.
And when I lumber out your door,
you stick to my behind.

Helper Kitties

Obviously kitties are good at helping around the house.  Skippy seems to be more affectionate, while Jellybean likes to cause trouble...and Skippy always joins in:

A Useful Wind

I (Sarah) don't take to the wind kindly but on occasion it has it's usefulness.  Caitin and Jamie had been asking for a kite and this is what we came home with.

Jamie was the first to try it and did really good.  She had a huge smile on her face as it danced through the sky.  This might have been the first real kite flying experience that she can remember. 

Of course, immediately after she saw Jamie having fun, Caitin reminded us that it was her turn.  She did equally well.  We had a really great time as a family. 

About Me

Last week I finally plunged in over my head into the Boy Scouts of America.  I have been associated with the organization for the better part of my life, but as a leader I have struggled a little more with the premise of being deeply involved.  One thing I've been bothered by is the image (because I am terribly superficial). 

I know a lot of great (and amazing) men who have been scout leaders and are still very normal people...but there are always the few who are what I have dubbed "Super-Scouters" because for them everything is "Super!"  I should never have generalized the rest of scout leaders and workers under that image, but I did.  The fact is, I've watched several of the leaders I know do so much good that I can no longer sit by and be weirded out by those few (and really it is a small minority).  I realized today that I have always wanted to be a great scout leader, but have let that negative image keep me out of it.  OK, hopping off the soap-box now.  Just had to get that all out. 

Here's part of what I mean:

This here is my first complete BSA uniform (socks included).  I know, I know...no neckerchief and woggle, but I've got that now too.  I spent 3 full and intense days in leadership training last week, and another 3 days are in my near future.  I enjoyed myself thoroughly, and learned a great deal.  That's the woodbadge training for anyone wondering. 

ALSO, another thing about me is that I haven't given up running, despite the pain and suffereng that the marathon caused me back in May.  I decided to throw in for this year's Spokane Labor Day Fun Run.  It was 3.1 miles (5K for you metricized folks), which turned out to be perfect. 

 I trained for an entire week for this event.  It paid off too! 

That's 2nd place in my age category!  My time was 20:56, which I believe is faster than I ever ran a 5K in high school.  (I have not yet verified that.)  By the way, I'm not just representing my high school in color...those shorts are authentic Buckaroo training gear!

Just a couple things about me.

Camp-cation (Part 2)

In preparation for camping at Priest Lake this year, we heard from several people that there are natural waterslides up the canyon above the lake.  The Park Ranger informed us that the hike to these waterslides is generally pretty easy, and that there are smaller slides for kids to play on only 1/4 mile in.  Perfect.  Our kids begin tiring right at that point on any hike.  With our friends in tow, we headed up the mountain. 

As we drove up the canyon I realized just how much I miss being able to view rock formations like that.  Having grown up surrounded by sandstone outcrops and vertical canyons, I find it strange to live where any "cliffs" around are difficult to find and rarely reach higher than about 50 feet.  Of course, I have no pictoral evidence of any of this.

OK, ok, enough of the reminiscent boredom.  Here are the pictures:

The stream cascades down this clean granite path, which was really fun to climb around and look into the different pools.  The water was very refreshing, but not too cold.  In fact, after getting in the first time, I really felt like dunking my head under...it felt that fresh.

The first of our group to brave the slide was our friend Katie.  After witnessing her successful run and splash into the pool, her husband Steve and I eventually ponied up.  Pay no attention to the apparent squeal of my voice...someone must have dubbed that over the real video.

I was not actually dressed for getting wet on this hike, but once we were there, Sarah used the greatest device she could muster:  "You have to do it for the blog!" she said.

For the blog.  Hmmmm...perhaps my priorities are slightly skewed.  My great-grandparents never would have understood the persuasion of such a foreign sentence.  And yet, I did it.

Camp-cation (Part 1)

Quick note:  I'm all about the miniseries lately.  This here is a 2-part series.

We like camping.  We are a camping family.  We hang out with camping families.  Does it even matter that most camping families really only camp once a year?  No.  No, it doesn't.

What really matters is that a camp of this caliber:

Can fit in a minivan...

...and that little girls get their hot cocoa, cookies and marshmallows for breakfast every morning.  Despite this perfect wake-up routine Jamie would whine, "I want to go home!" Every.  Morning.  We're still working on that little Jamie.

Most of the time though, she was all smiles.

One great thing this year was playing at the beach.  Priest Lake is known for its beautiful water and forests.  We really, really, really enjoyed the beach!  Fortunately our first full day we spent entirely on the beach, because the next day a wind storm moved in bringing large swells to the north end of the lake.  It was still fun with the swells, but not quite as serene. 

Guess what else is fun about camping?

The air mattress.  Like a trampoline, only better...cause Mom and Dad are up in arms, and have no way to bring calm.  The fortunate part is that this craziness only occurs the first night.  The beach was good to us.

Stay tuned for more action as we explore the Granite Waterslides!  Next time on, "Camp-cation"!

Kitties

Nickel left us last week when we believe he was accidentally poisoned.  He had such a large territory, that it's pretty amazing he made it home to let us know.  We found him laying peacefully under the rhododendron bush.  We held a burial service and said goodbye to our first kitty.

I guess we are no good at kitty separation.

Meet Jellybean...

...and Skippy.

What do You do in the Summertime?

On a trip to Lemhi, Idaho, we spent time with family doing all the good stuff.  We had bonfires in front of beautiful sunsets,

 hung out with Grandpa,

 camped out in tents with cousins,

 rode horses a couple of times,

 shot a few rounds,

 and competed in the "Grandpa Games".

But how can you beat going and hanging out with buffalo?  You can't.  They're just awesome!

Pa Blankenagel - Trek: Inspiration

Ma certainly has the marketshare on interest, as her post was read by more than twice as many people as any of mine!  And her writing is excellent...definately better than mine.

I don't want to go on and on.  I really don't...except that sometimes I do want to.  Particularly when there is something really great to discuss.  It's about time to wrap all this Trek stuff up, though, so I'll quickly summarize a few things:

The trek, for me, was fun.  It was semi-challenging, but mostly fun.  It could have been tremendously challenging, but our kids were ready to work.  With everyone jockeying for the most difficult pulling positions, our responsibilities as Ma and Pa were made light!  Seriously, these youth were amazing at not only jumping in to help at any time, but also watching out for eachother.  I later heard from one girl's mother that her daughter explained, "It was the little things that made it great.  We stopped for a rest and the boys picked us flowers." 

Through blistered feet, dehydration, exhaustion, and additional loads to carry; these kids never complained.  They talked and laughed and encouraged eachother and whenever the trail turned up, they dug in their toes.  No one said, "That is too steep for us."  We pulled our carts up hills that were difficult just to walk up.

One individual hill stuck out to me.  We were missing our two eldest boys and Ma, and we had gained an 8-pound baby (named Sarah Zion) that had to be carried and a 40-pound rock (named Chuck 'The Rock' Norris) that rode in the cart.  The slope was steep enough that, for safety, only one cart would go up at a time.  Tall grass laid down over the rough surface to create an unpredictable and slick surface.  The hill began at about a 3:1 slope, and then the trail banked left and became nearly twice that steep.  As we approached the turn, I thought there was no way we would make it up the steep section.  I yelled something like, "Great job!  Keep a steady pace!"  Up we went.  Each step I took got shorter due to sliding.  Our progress slowed, and just before coming to a complete halt, 3 young men - recently returned from the Battalion - latched onto our cart, and propelled us quickly up the remaining 30 feet.  We cheered and hollared thanks to the young men who were already headed down for the next pull. 

The attitudes and demeanor of these youth was inspiring!

Personally, my greatest challenge (as I have already alluded to) was to securely pack the cart.  A very close second though, was witnessing my daughters chopping carrots with my knife...using a cast-iron dutch oven lid as a cutting board.  With every tink...tink...tink I could imagine the cutting edge curling over.  After a few minutes, one daughter innocently said, "Pa, this knife isn't very sharp!"

I forced a smile and said, "Oh yeah?...Sorry about that."  Fortunately that broke the ice between my knife and I, so I was later willing to use it to teach the boys how to play Stretch.

There was a lot more that occured out there, but I'm going to finish up here.  The trek will forever be a part of us, and we look forward to watching our children grow.  And we'll hope - with fingers crossed - that we can do this again!

Ma Blankenagel - Trek Day 2: Family Challenge

Well, we all know that I don't write as well as "Pa," but I would like to let you know about the family challenge we recieved on day two at lunch break. I was expecting to be spiritually uplifted with my family but got it in a different way than expected.

I knew before the trek that each family would get a challenge that they had to participate in. However, I didn't know what our challenge would be. I decided to go and get a scroll that I was to read to my family. As I pre-read it, I was okay, but as I read it aloud to them the tears started flowing: I died during childbirth, leaving an eight pound "rice baby" with the family and not being able to be with them anymore. It was hard to read and I don't know why. I had only known "my family" for a day or so but I felt like they were really mine. I didn't want to say goodbye to Brandon and leave him to do so much hard work. I wanted to help out. I was looking forward to this day. I guess that we never want to die. I remember my mom saying something to the fact that she's not scared of death but of not being there to help out her family when we needed her. Looking back, that's how I felt.

I gained composure and walked away with the dead. We headed down the trail to an air conditioned truck which we rode in back to base camp. There we were greeted with sandwiches, fresh fruit, lemonade, salad, and chocolate cake. "So this is what celestial life is like!" was the joke of the day. We sat around in chairs on a shaded porch for about an hour and were then hauled up to the camp where we would meet our families again. We decided to hike a little up the hill closer to where they would be coming around the bend and found out that we would have about an hour before the families would be there. We baked on that mountain side! It was mentioned that we could sing to the families as they came around the bend to boost their spirits and tired bodies so that they would make it to the camp.

After A LOT of practice, the songs which we sang were "Come, Come Ye Saints," and "How Firm A Foundation." This was the other spiritual uplifting I recieved from my Heavenly Father because He knew I needed it. The singing was okay for the first few families. But as my family came around the corner I could no longer sing. Emotions took over and tears flowed freely, again. Here was my family that made it and especially my husband! It made me think about how loved ones who have passed beyond the veil must feel as they once again see their family that they left behind. To see them "make it." It was overwhelming. And I must say that I wasn't the only dead one who had emotional problems along the same lines.

Then to see my oldest sons, who had been taken for the Mormon Battalion, come around with other families who had lost both parents or who needed strength to pull the handcarts; was rewarding. They could have just stayed with their family, letting others struggle but decided that they had enough energy left to help out. I was proud!

I will never know what my family went through on day two. I still to this day wish I hadn't died, but I recieved the spiritual manifestations that I was hoping for on this trek; just in a different way. I would gladly go again if they asked me!

Pa Blankenagel - Trekking: The Terrain

The reality of the Trek really set in as we rounded the last corner in the busses and could see 23 handcarts lined up in a stackyard.  Each handcart was labeled with a family name and was surrounded by gear.  My heart started beating, and my mind began racing determining priorities and how to get organized and ready.  Every person I'd talked to that had been on the previous trek spoke of many times re-packing their carts.  I wanted to break that tradition, but with only about 10 minutes to pack and tie down the load before ruffians carrying pitchforks began pushing us out of the country, I had no choice.

We started down a gravel road.  There was not much to cause me worry about our load, but in short order the road turned to a trail, and eventually a path.  Granite and Basalt boulders littered the path along with the occasional stream crossing.  Everything above the side-rails of the cart began to shake loose. 

At first we got by with shoves, pushes, and tightening the orange twine that criss-crossed the load.  In short order the twine was a jumbled web that tied this to that and attatched to the side rails.  The web was still only semi-effective against the harshness of the trail.  By lunch I was ready to start over!

We were traversing pasture lands east of Lake Roosevelt near Fruitland, Washington.  The terrain in this country is hilly with a good variety of vegetation.  Sometimes we had the luxury of shade-trees that gave respite from the heat, but more often we were in the open prarie with the sun beating down.  Our path was commonly cambered to one side as we crossed foothills, and our load would shift and lean over the cart rail into the steel wheel that ate away at anything soft if not tended to quickly. 

The first steep hill we climbed was composed of switchbacks up a grassy slope.  After the final hairpin turn, the ground became too steep for grass to remain under much traffic, and the silty ground was covered more with cobbles and gravel than anything green.  This last rise was steep enough that several men would join in to drag and push each cart up the dusty hillside.  Once on top, our women were allowed to rest for a few moments while our men went back to help a couple more carts before moving on with our own.  This pattern of effort became particularly important in the coming miles.

On day two we rose above the semi-forested foothills into a high prarie where the grass grew upwards of five feet tall.  The yellow stocks of grain would lay down in the trail along with green and purple bramble that created a tangled slippery carpet that rose and fell where boulders still littered the path.  Some larger boulders had been removed by lead carts, and tiger-trap holes remained to claim our feet as we pushed our loads.  In these grassy lands, the soil was still terribly dry, and our footsteps created dust that rose with thick pollen.  The few in our company who were subject to allergies suffered immensely even with medication.  These grassy slopes rose and fell, and gave no relief of a level push.  Our footsteps would not purchase, and we took extreme care on the descents by turning our carts backwards and letting the cart down in front of us with every person employed on a handle or a wheel.

Under these rough conditions, one family chose to take a running start at a climb.  Their ma slipped on the grass and fell in front of the wheel of their cart.  Their momentum carried the cart over her thighs, and she had to be carried on to camp in shock, but fortunately only bruised.  Having already crested the last climb of the day, I left my family to help those behind, and found this family's cart well cared for with at least 5 extra men helping out. 

Even with the challenges of this terrain our companies moved with amazing speed, which, I understand, challenged the support personnel as they tried to stay out of view!

We had our own challenges and troubles, which will be the subject of one final Trek post.  I've just about convinced Ma to speak up about some of these, as her perspective on the challenges is particularly touching.  I could write and write about this Trek, but capturing the immense spirit of the experience is impossible.  We've even talked about it, wondering what made it so wonderful, and discover only that we cannot put to words why we would not hesitate to accept the challenge again.

Pa Blankenagel - Trek Day 2: Good Morning

As we woke up on day 2 of the trek, we knew very little about what lie ahead.  Two things we did know were that we were cooking our own breakfast and that we would be pushing the handcarts a long way.  Pa's and Ma's from each family were getting up and making a bit of noise, but I slept until it was good and light out.  I dressed in my dirty clothes from the previous day, anticipating the refreshment of clean clothes on the third day.

Breakfast went well.  We had a couple of potatoes left over from dinner, so we added them to our eggs and sausage for breakfast burritoes.  Honestly, I've not had such a great breakfast on a camping trip.  It was hearty and tasty.  We had the great privelage of having a Bishop and his wife join us for meals.  They were very complimentary, and were even willing to help out.  As it turned out, they stuck close during the day's travel too.  They were not above digging in their heels and also uplifting us with encouraging words and pioneer stories.  Bishop Johnson's wife is Hawaiian, and when they arrived at meal time she always said, "Where the food is, there we are also!"  What a pleasure to become acquainted with them!

Ma and I were called to a camp meeting with the company leaders (the Stake Presidency) after breakfast.  I assigned a few tasks to our children and off we went.  In the meeting we discussed a challenge that would come near the end of the day and how we needed to help.  This challenge was proposed and accepted on the spot by all in attendance.  It would be hard, but we could do hard things.

We arrived back at camp to find our site mostly clear, and the cart half-packed!  I really loved that our children did not murmer, but dug in and got things done!  The dutch ovens were clean, and everyone had tidied up their gear.  Within about 20 minutes we were in line with our company and ready to move forward!

Pa Blankenagel - Trek Day 1: Gathering

** Sarah "Ma" and I spent last weekend on a Pioneer Trek, pushing handcarts across mountainous terrain with a "family" of youth ages 14 to 18.  We carried absolutely no electronic devices.  Thus there are no pictures to share at this time, but a camera crew did document the event, and we expect to see (and share) the result in November.  In the mean time, we'll try to describe a few experiences.

We've been preparing for the trek for some time now.  We went to a couple of training meetings to receive basic instructions on first aid, preventative care, and dutch oven cooking.  A list of equipment needs was provided, and in the week leading up to the trek we finally got around to filling the list.  We even contracted my mother to come care for our children while we were gone.

On the first day of Trek, Sarah and I loaded our gear and made our way to the church.  We went to our family meeting room and waited to meet our children.  They came in one at a time.  I'd say they seemed a little apprehensive, but generally ready for adventure.  A couple of them were all smiles, and that became contagious.  Soon it was time to move to the opening devotional, but we were still missing one of the nine children, Miranda.  We sat down at the front of the chapel, and then I went out to the sign-in area to find out about our missing child.  No word yet. 

At the end of the devotional, we sang "Come, Come Ye Saints".  As we started the 4th verse the first line struck me:  And should we die, before this journey's through...  We were already missing someone from our family.  She was extremely close to making it to what promised to be an amazing spiritual experience, but had not made the cut.  I choked up.  Which was a sign of things to come.  Honestly, I knew this was going to be a spiritual weekend, but for it to start with such emotion shocked me!

Then what joy...as we boarded the bus, Miranda found us!  We hadn't even left town, and failure was overcome.  I know, I know...silly little occurrence, but it meant a lot to have everyone there.

Forging Ahead

We just spent a weekend with about 200 youth on a pioneer trek.  It was amazing.  (More to come on that subject.)  In preparation, I decided to finish building a knife that I had started with the scouts.

I had three basic things to do on this knife to prepare it for the rigors of trekking:

1.  Harden the blade

2.  Attach the handle

3.  Build a sheath

The most tricky part would be hardening the blade, as I do not have ready access to an asedaline torch.  Here's how I did it:

I dug out a little propane torch and tried to warm the blade, but I couldn't get it hot enough.  Then, Monday night I had a thought to use briquettes to keep it hot while I moved the torch flame up and down the blade.  I discussed this with a co-worker who does some forge work, and he suggested setting up a blower to stoke the coals. 

Essentially, I ended up with a mini forge that worked quite well!  Not pictured here is the coleman blower (for air matresses) taped to the pipe. 

I used my daughters' playdough for a quenching medium.  This was the messy part of the job.  I mixed the playdough with motor oil and then placed it in a groove I'd cut in a block of wood.  I added  more oil to the mix for good measure.  The idea is to mold the clay to meet the shape of the cutting edge so as to mainly harden the cutting edge, yet keep the back edge somewhat ductile.  (I'll now refrain from a discussion on the properties of steel and phase diagrams.)

I used the torch a little, but eventually abandoned that, because the coals were doing quite well at warming the blade.  As soon as it was red hot, I pulled it out and quenched it.

I loved seeing the smoke roll off with the quench, but worried what people walking by might think about the column that was rising from behind my fence.

Here's the knife and sheath after use on the trek.  It held up well for the three days, although it took me over an hour to re-sharpen it after it was used to chop carrots on a cast iron cutting board!  I did cringe when I saw that happening, but afterward, I was not afraid to play Stretch (a game requiring throwing the knife into the dirt) with it.