We are BEAR Aware

Three years ago three Grizzly bears were born in the Moran area of Wyoming and on our recent trip to the cabin we saw two of the triplets (they have grown a lot in three years haven't they?) just below the dug way on the Pacific Creek road about 3 miles from our cabin. (we saw their brother a few weeks a go at String Lake when Dave's family was at the cabin ... see David's earlier bear posting). While we weren't as close as this picture looks (telephoto lens and computer enhancement does wonders) but we had a great view from about 200' for about 20 - 30 minutes. During this time we saw the bear with the blond face (top in this picture) make a mock charge at her sister and I was amazed at how quickly she moved! She covered 30' in about one second. If you ever have a bear charge you; you had better start spraying your bear spray when they start charging, or it may be too late.
This was our first view of them as they crossed Pacific Creek. Our first clue that there was something to see was that several cars parked on top of the dug way were already stopped and looking.
After watching them in the willows just below the dug way for about 15 minutes they crossed the road right in front of us and then started munching Service berries 50' above the road. It's a bit hard to see the bear in this picture because she is laying on her stomach munching away. They eat the berries, the leaves and the stems ... guess that kind of pruning encourages next years growth.

After eating berries for a while one of the bears went looking for her sister and when she found her, she again made a mock charge like the one previously described ... however, this one wasn't as aggressive as the first but still pretty menacing if you were on the other end of the charge.

This experience was far and away the best bear viewing any of us has ever had!

Chicago!!!!

So, while I was on a roll, I thought that I would edit my Chicago videos and share a bit of that trip with you all as well. Smachnova!

Quebec City, Quebec

My adventures in Quebec City, Quebec! It is a lovely city. I am glad that I had a conference there, otherwise I may have never in my life discovered its charm =) The conference was amazing and I think that our presentation went very well. We had good questions afterward ... and one of the best compliments was that the moderator of the session suggested that our data would be of benefit to people with recent spinal cord injuries who are in the early stages of the adaptive process.

This statue is a symbol of the inuit people of Quebec. The statue is a symbol of the friendship between the people of the great North of Quebec. The statue is on the grounds of the Quebec province capital building which is across the street from the conference center. I love this picture because you can see the statue, the conference center where I did my first professional research presentation, and the symbol for the celebration of the 400 year anniversary of Quebec City (from what I hear it is the oldest city in North America)
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Flowers on the grounds of the Parliament building
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Vieux Quebec (400 ans vieux) and the Chateau
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This is a poster which was at the conference. It is describing a theater in which the performers have aphasia (the loss of ability to speak and/or understand verbal language due to a cerebral lesion). It looks like an awesome form of communication and theater.
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I think that this poster describes well the disability rights movement ... the desire not to survive on "compassionate" daily bread but rather to have barriers removed (societal and physical) so that they can participate fully in life and contribute.

One of the plenary session speakers was a woman from South Africa who had polio as a child and her ability to use her legs was severely compromised. The message of note for me was not so much what she overcame nor the specifics of her disability but rather how much she had to offer to the world. She was a vibrant and inteligent woman. To me, to think of the loss of her contribution to the world is very sad. For me the rational for disability rights is very reciprocal. On one side that people with disability may have rich fulfilling lives through participation but also so that we as a world and a society can have the contributions of all people.

Welcome to Washington

Stacey and her girls came down on Saturday to help us move in. Stacey brought us some wonderful Albertons fried chicken (second only to KFC) for lunch. That was great as we didn't have any food in the house at that point!!

She also brougt a cake. She asked them to make it in the shape of washington with Rhodedendrons. We got a rectangle with roses instead! The kids loved the cake and all the frosting.

After a day of unpacking Crystal and Stacey ran to the store and bought some corn and had Fried Chicken salad with the leftover chicken. It was fun to watch Rachael and Chas eat corn on the cob without their teeth!

We are excited to be in Washington with Family. We can't wait to see everyone in October!

Montreal, Quebec

Here is a video of my adventures in Montreal, Quebec ... more to come of Quebec City, Quebec!

Mom handywork going to Africa

I have spent the last few weeks sewing 36 dresses out of T-Shirts with cotton material gathered onto the bottom. They are for the humanitarian effort of the Church and they are going to be sent to Africa.
It was rewarding to me to dig deep into my old brain and bring back some of the sewing skills, and creative skills I used to have making clothes for all you little piggies.
I made them from size two to size 14-16. The Church provided the tee-shirts.
This is the last dress--now I can clean up my sewing room and get ready for pajama making!
I tried to make each dress as perfect and well-made as I knew how. I tried to make them cute or pretty because they were going to Heavenly Father's little daughters in Africa.

The Move Part 6

Missoula, MO/ Spokane WA - Puyallup WA.

Sunrise in eastern Washington. I left Spokane at 4:30 AM in order to get here in time for signing the closing papers. It was so cloudy when I left that I wasn't sure if I would see the sunrise. It took a couple of hours but I finally got this.

The drive from Spokane to Washington was great. I think eastern washington is more empty than eastern Idaho and thats saying something! There had been a lot of rain the night before so when the sun came up I was treated to this rainbow. Finally Home. This was taken shortly after closing. At this point we didn't legally own the house. It was such a pretty day that I couldn't resist.
This is one of my favorite features of the house. It has a skylight above the stairs which gives natural light to interior of the house. Once again it was a great day here so I snapped the picture.

Crystal arrived the day after I did. She spent a day with David and Lana and rested up a bit before going the final 300 miles. Thanks to David and Lana for hosting the tired travelers!!

We are getting settled into the house now. The movers arrived on friday. Friday and Saturday were spent unpacking and trying to figure out where to put things. None of the houses in Washington seem to have any storage. Everyone parks in their driveways here and leaves their stuff in their garage. Right now we have joined that trend although I'm doing my best to get that corrected!!

Jordanelle Triathlon Safety Volunteers

Dad and I volunteered as a safety boat crew this morning at the Jordanelle Triathlon near Park City, Utah. Our job was to assist the lifeguards patrolling the swim portion of the race.

Here we are just before the first swimmers began the race. You can see them queuing up at the top of the boat ramp in the background.


The lifeguards paddled in kayaks close to the swimmers. When the swimmers got into trouble a kayak would run to their aid. If the swimmers needed more help, the lifeguards would signal the safety boats, and we would move in to help. The rules of this triathlon allowed swimmers to get assistance with no penalties. They could hold onto a boat or flotation device for as long as necessary as long as they didn't make "forward progress through the swim course".



We helped two swimmers in trouble. Both of them were in the sprint distance division; apparently (as we were told in our pre-race briefing) many people choose to compete in the half-length sprint distance for their first triathlon. One of the swimmers named Matt (he told us as he sat on the swim ladder on the back of Dad's boat) was having trouble breathing in his wet suit (it was a size too small... or he was a size too big), the other guy had a problem with his leg (but I think he just was having a panic attack). Both swimmers got a little break and then kept going although Matt didn't make it much further and ended up being picked up by the next safety boat. Most importantly, nobody drowned on our watch!

One of the great things about sitting around watching other people struggle is that you get to talk about your own struggles through life. Dad and I talked about many things today. One of our favorite memories together was climing the Grand Teton... and although I don't have a photo of us on top.... OF COURSE Kristie does... so here that is... in my photo there were four of us: Dad, Kelly, Jayson and (a VERY green) me (altitude sickness... BLECH!)

It was a beautiful morning on the water, and it was a lot of fun to watch the swimmers up close and personal. Most importantly, it was GREAT to spend time with my Dad. He's such an amazing guy (I love you Dad!) And, look David and Matthew... WE GOT OUR SHIRTS! (Click on "WE GOT OUR SHIRTS" to see the link to David's site).

I've decided that getting a shirt from volunteering is more fun but not quite as rewarding as from doing the race.

It's GREAT to spend time with you Dad... thanks for making life FUN!

The Move Part 5

Day 5 - Gillette Wy - Missoula MT/Spokane WA

This day was the last 'big' day. We got a late start from Gillette since we got in so late the night before. We got our first glimpse of the rockies near Sheridan Wyoming. It was a sight to see. Crystal and the kids stopped in Missoula. They stayed in a hotel that had a waterslide inside. I thought that was really cool but there are a lot of hotels along I-90 that offer the same service. I kept going to Spokane since I had to be in Puyallup Thursday morning. We ate at the last know cracker barrel in Missoula and then I was on my way.

A trading post near the little bighorn. After paying for souvineers for the kids I joked to Crystal that I felt like I had been scalped. They were actually reasonable as far as souvineers go, I just hate paying for them. The owner of the store actually was very polite and spent 10 minutes talking with us and and our trip. I believe he was a Crow.

Markers showing where red and white men fell at the little bighorn. As you can see the markers for the indians are much much newer. I think they were only put there a few years ago. This was one of the highlights for the trip for me. I didn't know we would be passing so close to the battle site. We spent an hour there and I could have spent 3 more. I also learned that Custer was an idiot in this instance. He made so many military mistakes and was so concieted that he dug his own grave.

Crystal's big fat pregnant feet. She did really well until this day. For whatever reason her body decided it was tired of sitting in a car! I"m not sure if I should put this picture on the Blog as it is proof that I made my pregnant wife drive across the country.

Chas and Merriweather Barjona at the three forks of the Missouri. This is where Lewis and Clark quit paddling upriver and went looking for horses from the Shoshone Indians. Driving across the country has given me a greater sense of what they accomplished and how amazing an undertaking it was.

Is there any doubt why I am excited to move to the west. This was just outside of Bozeman MT. The wind was howling and we got a good rainstorm. I had Chas with me and I took this picture driving down the Interstate. From Butte to Missoula was so georgous! If you ever have the chance make the drive.

The Move Part 4

Day 4. Rapid City South Dakota to Gillette Wyoming.

The Corn Palace in Mitchel South Dakota. This building is used for concerts, fairs etc but the outside is the cool thing. The corn palace is decorated once a year with corn husks, stalks etc. The stars, flags, numbers and the rest of the building are redecorated once a year. As we walked up to the building we could see birds flying up and taking bites off of the building.

Much of our route is along the path that Lewis and Clark took. This is a replica of the coin that they gave to indian cheifs as they went up the missouri river. The indians couldn't read the latin phrase on the coin that translates to 'it sucks to be you'. Seriously, it really was neat to see the path they took. I recently read Undaunted Courage by Stephen E. Ambrose. It was a great read and I would reccomend it to anyone. Being able to see where Lewis and Clark walked was really cool. The fact that they made it through what they did only losing 1 man (to appendicitis) was incredible.

!There were acres and acres of sunflowers along the freeway. They were beautiful! It was a nice break from the corn.

We swung through Badlands National Park. It was very pretty. I was bummed that we were there in the middle of the day. In the evening or morning it would be incredible. Like everything else on this trip we didn't stay very long but were glad to see it. We also drove by a Minutman nuclear missle museum. I now know why they pu the nukes in SD. If they blow up there won't be any casualties. No one lives in SD. Only tourists driving through.

Wall Drug. It was pretty cool to see. The best way to describe it would be all of Jackson Hole condensed inside of 1 city block. The kids saw lots of (junk) things to by as souvineers but we held out!

Maybe the hightlight of the day. We were on our way up to Mt Rushmore and were looking for a place to park the car so we wouldn't have to pay the entrance fee twice. Crystal pulled into a driveway and we saw 'Grizzly Encounters' or something like that. Where we were parked we could see into the bear exhibit. There was several bear cubs playing and roughhousing. The kids LOVED watching the bears. I loved that we were able to do it for free. :)

Barjona and the kids visit mt rushmore. I must confess that I thought the carving would be bigger. After seeing Stone Mountain up close the 4 presidential dudes looked kind of small. After seeing all the tourist trap garbage on the way up to the mountain I'm not sure I would go out of my way to see the monument again. The country not marred my mini golf courses was impressive to see.

It was dusk as we left Mt Rushmore. We were in a hurry to get back to the other car but we spotted a doe and her fawn on the side of the road. We pulled within 15 feet of them and started taking pictures. Normally wildlife flees at the site of a car and at the click of a camera but these two were not spooked at all. I think it is safe to say they have seen a lot of humans before.

It was a great day. We got to Gillette about midnight. Our kids were troopers and even though they were tired they didn't complain a bit.

The Move Part 3

OK. I am a day behind. If I don't post yesterdays activities now I will never get it done. More to come later!!!


Monday was spent in Nauvoo. We spent too much time there and then ended up getting to South Dakota much later than we wanted to.

The gardens around the houses and displays in Nauvoo were amazing. These Rose of Sharon flowers were the size of small dinner plates. I couldn't resist putting a picture of them up.

We were able to make rope the way the people in Nauvoo did. The kids thought it was a lot of fun. It was interesting to me as well. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the machine that braided the rope. We also learned how the pioneers made candles (animal fat, YUCK) bread (in a brick oven) and cloth. They were incredibly resourceful people who made the most out of everything.

The finished product. It became a jump rope.

This place was the kids reward for putting up with all the tours of the houses. This was called Pioneer Pass times. As you can see we are wearing period clothes. We played all sorts of pioneer games and had a lot of fun. The kids didn't want to leave when we told them we had to go! We are posing with a Corpse Flower that was being cultivated by the missionaries. From what we understand they are very rare. The name fits. The flower smells like a dead animal. Charming. The missionaries there that day had the same model of camera as I do so we spent 30 minutes talking shop, comparing lenses and playing with settings. It was a funny contrast from old to new.

The Members of the church certainly sacrificed a lot when they left Nauvoo.

The Oxen Ride were definitely a favorite of the Kids. The Oxen were named Gary and Gabe. Until today I thought that Oxen were a special Breed of cattle but they are not. They have to be a 4 year old male, listen to verbal commands and a couple of other things. Any type of cow can be and OX. Emma even kissed the Ox on the right! The oxen were nice enough to fertilize the trail when we were riding in the wagon.

Emma and the magic onion ring. It was lucky eights for lunch. After lunch we drove like mad so we could get to Sioux Falls, SD. We ended up pulling into the hotel a little after midnight.

I have seen more corn on this trip than I have ever seen in my life. It seems that no fields are left untilled this year and that they are all growing corn. I suspect it has something to do with ethanol and high corn prices.

The moon has been rising beautifully at night the whole trip. You can almost drive by the moonlight across Iowa. This was taken at a truckstop somewhere in Iowa. Invariably gas prices were higher at the truck stop that the one we were going to stop at 5 miles before