StanleyWheeler

 

Strange things are done in the midday sun

By the men who moil for adventures;

The canyon trails have their secret tales

That would make you spit out your dentures;

The Firehouse ruins have seen strange doin's,

But the strangest they ever did see

Was that day on the brim of the canyon rim

With my dad, my son, and me.

(With apologies to Robert Service)

The picture above was taken from a point part way up the canyon wall. Notice how the near wall on the left has a nice gradual slant to it. We couldn't get to that. Our path--and I use the term "path" only in the generic sense of what we left behind--went nearly straight up the canyon wall.The few spots that had a hint of a gradual slope were more thickly brushed than the Withywindle and twice as mean. Somewhere along the way I barked up my shin, but I don't know whether it was on rock or a limb. Anyway, we survived.

I spent most of the week around Blanding, UT, with a trip to Moab in the mix as well. We saw some cool ruins, got to look around in the house where my dad was born, tried to get to Wilson Mesa, and got to spend time together. Did you know that you can play cribbage with poker chips? If you've forgotten the cribbage board, you can. However, I don't recommend trying it with a pinochle deck. We picked up a cheap deck of regular cards at the dollar store but we couldn't find a cribbage board. In fact, only one person we asked even knew what cribbage is. None of the store people knew what it was.

I've included a little more of the tale in my newsletter. (You can click the newsletter tab at the top of the page to sign up for the letter).

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On the writing front, Truth in Flames is burning toward the exciting conclusion. I can count the remaining chapters on three fingers or less. Fire and flame has been a constant theme in this 5th installment in the Tomahawks and Dragon Fire series and the saga combines various types of flame with the fire for freedom.

In reading, I've finished Speak Like Churchill, Stand Like Lincoln by James C. Humes (I have included notes from this in the newsletter), and The Vampyre by John Polidori. I'm still reading A Man Called Intrepid and a couple others.