Pictures in and around camp

We've seen dozens of varieties and colors of flowers on the mountain. Most are gone now except some yellow flowers. I would like to be a photographer for a calendar company.

Down in the valley

One of the many little mountain lakes or ponds. When you get up on top and look down there are glittering jewels of water everywhere.

Some of the rocks and boulders are really huge. There are rocks in really neat settings that would be a great place to sit or stand upon for a family picture.

There are a couple of sisters who are the camp 'naturalists.' They speak to the YW about the beauty that surrounds them. They identify the various plant life such as the abundant flowers.

Deer

More deer...a doe and two fawns...a very common, everyday sight

These moose drew quite an audience. Some missionaries went right up to them. I am not that crazy. Even though they don't seem fazed or threatened by humans, I wouldn't want to take chances especially when they have young. The cow is laying down and the calves are up looking around. When the calves are really young they are quite cinnamon-colored. Some of the adults are nearly black. Until this past week I had not seen any bull elk, then a transmission went out over the radio that there were two bull elk and a cow in one of the camps. We were nearby so we buzzed on over to check them out. I'll have to post pictures of them later. I was even more leary of them as they were so big. My little digital camera only has a 3x optical zoom so I can't get very close shots while staying a safe distance. Yesterday Reed got a new camera with a much better zoom. Yeah!

This is the 'traffic jam' created by missionaries wanting to get a good shot of the moose in the preceding picture. Oftentimes a wildlife sighting starts a flurry of radio activity directing everyone to where the action is. Reed and I are on either side of the missionary on the ATV in the center of the picture.

Deer heading to her watering hole

I have seen 3 and 4 point bucks. Some missionaries have reported seeing huge antlers. Reed went on one ride in which he saw a buck with a large rack that went nearly straight upward. Another one he saw had very broad antlers. There are private hunting groups that will soon be here. The fees charged help support the camp. They can't shoot in populated areas or around campsites. We have to stay away from the back country during certain hours. Heber Valley Camp contains about 8800 acres of which only about 600 acres are developed. We've been told to expect to see more animals because the wildlife will head into the safe havens of camp to keep away from hunters.

Camp Bertha Stone Reeder in Early Spring

This shows a cabin and a small cooking station. The cabin sleeps 16. The restrooms and showers are in a nearby building. Some camps have small cooking stations, some have medium sized pavilions and others have large pavilions or a mixture of all three kinds.

Close-up of cabin. It has a front and back door. Inside is one large room with built-in bunks and a cement floor. The camper supplies his/her own sleeping bag and air mat or foam pad. The cabins are built from a kit. Supposedly the kit costs more than $65,000 and the cement work costs over $10,000. This season the camp could accommodate about 2000 YW at a time. Camp Rebekah is under construction and will ultimately have 22 cabins. Eighteen of them are supposedly going to be completed by the time the missionaries go home in October. The medium sized pavilions and the large pavilion will probably also be completed. The construction crew and volunteers are making remarkable progress. Maybe it helps when they played with Lincoln logs as a child.

One of the shower/restroom buildings is on the left. I think this camp has 22 cabins. They are arranged in 6 campsites with 3 or 4 cabins per campsite.

Each camp has a sand volleyball court and an outdoor amphitheater

There is a white tent in each campsite. It comes with some cots. That is where the priesthood brethren sleep. I feel so sorry for them when it is cold and snowy or rainy.

This is what a large pavilion looks like. It can seat about 250-300 people. It has a large commercial kitchen with a walk-in freezer. The back part of it is where the Stake YW leaders usually stay. They have carpeted floors, indoor restroom facilities and even a washer and dryer.

This is another view of the pavilion. You should see it when it is full of YW seated at tables for supper! You should hear the noise too! We have Sacrament services in a pavilion like this.

Animal Pictures

We have our hummingbird feeders here as do many other missionaries. There are several different varieties of hummingbirds that visit our feeders.

Legacy Lake has ducks on it as well as some of the smaller ponds around camp.

There are many kinds of birds here, some I have never seen before.

One missionary said he has counted 68 different varieties of birds here on the mountain.

Deer in velvet...common sight, although does are more plentiful

Moose on the loose

Grouse

Little Cottontail Bunny --I've only seen a couple of these. One was by the admin building and when it hopped away it truly looked like it had a white cottonball for a tail.

Some kissing moose --they are so gangly and long-legged that they appear awkward. We hear animals walking/crashing through the trees and underbrush all the time. I get so I practically ignore the noise. The other day I heard some animals coming but didn't even look up. I got a scare when I heard a snorting sound like a horse just a few yards away. It was a cow moose and two calves. I was alone so I backed away slowly. The calves started nursing.

Counting down the days...57...56...55

We have less than two months left. October 17th is our release date. We have many, many families in camp this week and next and after that there will be mainly weekend campers. When our workload on the Challenge Course winds down we will be assigned some other tasks. A change is as good as a rest.

Just a reminder: The Heber Valley Camp Fall Open House will be held from 1-4 p.m. on Saturday, September 13th. It would be nice to see some familiar faces!

Sometimes it is downright chilly especially when riding a 4-wheeler. The morning temps have been in the low 40's. Things are still relatively green for this time of year. Occasionally we see the leaves on a tree or bush that have a tinge of color change. Legacy Lake is now being drained.

It has been a while since I have seen a moose although others have reported recent sightings. We still see many deer daily. A 3-point buck was grazing outside our window the other day. It stood up on its hind legs to eat some service berries. I saw a 4-point the next day. Both deer still had lots of velvet on their antlers. While two deer wandered within feet of us, a mother grouse and her young wandered in and around the deer. I suppose it is sort of like the Garden of Eden.

Nothing exciting has been going on here. Since the Schvaneveldts are still in our house, they are going to school in the Cache County School District for residents of Nibley. They transferred their church memberships to Nibley 1st Ward. I am missing the baby blessing of Jodi's little one in Oklahoma this coming Sunday. Her name will be Olivia. I am also missing a baby shower for Candace on Saturday in West Jordan. It is sort of hard to not be there for these events. We do plan on attending Tanner's baptism.

One of these days I will post a whole bunch of pictures, but don't hold your breath.

Overnight at Robin's

For P-day we left the mountain and dropped off the car in Provo at a Toyota dealer. Andrew picked us up. We met Robin, Ashlyn and Katelyn at a Chinese Buffet for supper. We watched the girls while Robin and Andrew attended the Mt. Timpanogas Temple for Ward Temple Night. We stayed in their 'guest suite.' On Friday we rode into Draper to see the new temple under construction, shopped at Cabela's and had lunch at Wendy's. Friday was also Andrew's birthday. We enjoyed playing with the girls. It is hard to believe that Ashlyn is 4 and not 10 or so. She sang three songs to us: "Called to Serve," "If the Savior Stood Beside Me," and "I Am a Child of God." She read many books out loud. We had fun on the playground behind their home. Ashlyn ran all over the place chasing butterflies with her net. At Wendy's, she read the menu and said, "I'd like number 9, the chicken nuggets." She calls us Elder and Sister Conlin instead of Grandma and Grandpa. She amazes us and delights us with her antics and funny sayings. She thinks pretty deeply for a 4 year old. She claims her favorite composer is Beethoven and she says she likes his 9th Symphony. She knows how old we are, when our birthdays are, and how old each of us will be on our next birthday. After our car was repaired we had Robin drop us off and we came back to the mountain.

We had visitors!

We were very happy to have Marilyn and Gary Adams and Jennifer, Abigail, Sadie, Emmaline and Isabelle Pollard come to Heber Valley Camp this morning. They are staying in Park City. It was great to see them. They took a tour of our humble abode, visited Legacy Lake, attended Sacrament Meeting with us, rode around various campsites, looked through a cabin under construction at Camp Rebekah and walked the trail to see Challenge Course 5. We had a good time visiting. Bret's mother has scheduled some cabins in Camp Marjorie Pay Hinckley for a family reunion around Labor Day 2009. Jennifer was able to scout out the facilities so she can report back to her mother-in-law.

August Birthdays

August 8th--Andrew Burkhardt (31)
August 10th--Courtney Schvaneveldt (13) Wow, a teenager!
August 10th--Miles Hawkins (1)
August 21st--Tanner VanWagenen (8) Ready to be baptized!
August 24th--Owen Hawkins (3)

Happy Birthday!

Darn Critters!

We had an appointment in Provo to get our windshield wipers fixed. It turned out it wasn't the switch that needed replacing afterall. Some of the little critters here around camp had climbed up and chewed up some wiring, insulation etc. Lucky for us, it cost only $388 because the technicians were able to solder, wrap wires etc. Otherwise it would have been $2000 for a new wire harness which would have taken 14 hours labor to install. We have put mothballs all around and under the car to hopefully deter the animals from getting up under the car. We were also advised to put our car ventilation system on 'recirculation' instead of 'outside air' because it closes some doors or vents that might provide animal access to the airconditioning.


P.S....8/19/08 Other missionaries suggested that we contact our insurance to see if they would cover the repair bill. They said the worst they can tell us is "no." Reed called the insurance company and explained the situation, they asked us to fax them the repair bill with diagnosis, we did, and we received notification that they are sending a check to reimburse us. To make things even better, since we haven't had any claims, they are waiving the deductible! Hallelleujah!

Bits and Pieces

A picture taken at the Utah Olympic Park

Pretty scenery up American Fork Canyon

Our state flower, the Sego Lily

This picture was taken while we were on an ATV ride. I have never seen so many varieties of wildflowers. With the wet spring the flowers have never been so plentiful and beautiful. On one ride we saw flowers that were red, orange, gold, yellow, pink, lavender, dark purple, blue and white plus several in-between hues.

A deer by Reed's 4-wheeler

This is a very typical sight. We usually see several deer each day. Bucks are few and far between. Does with a couple of cute little fawns are really common right now. I think the animals feel peace and reverence here on the mountain. They aren't very skittish; they wander amongst us. We have had a badger and weasel on our challenge course. There are thousands of 'pot-guts' or ground squirrels. They often stay on the gravel roads as we drive by...only to run away at the last opportunity. Occasionally there is a 'grease spot' in the dirt where they didn't make it. They hibernate early so we won't see them much longer.

We only have one week after this one with the Young Women. The last two weeks in August are full with families. Starting in September most of the campers will be here on weekends only. Because we won't be running the challenge course everyday, we will be assigned other duties such as painting, staining, cabin construction, cleaning, trail upkeep, thistle removal, clearing dead trees, repairing the dam etc.

Our mission is for 6 months or 26 weeks. We have been here 15 1/2 weeks so we are on the homeward stretch. I have put about 500 miles on my 4-wheeler around camp. Reed's 4-wheeler front tires have been worn nearly bald because his vehicle is always in 4-wheel drive. Mine stays in 2-wheel drive until I need it, then I just flip a switch. I guess you could say one of our missionary perks is that we have free gasoline for our ATVs. Gas and diesel fuel are available at the maintenance building. We just sign for the amount we pump. ATV gas and our utilities are included in our rent. Another perk is that we occasionally receive $5 coupons for food at the best hometown drive-in, Dairy Keen. The owners of the drive-in are members of the church and are very generous. They also pay $75 dollars a month toward the support of any of their former employees who are serving on a church mission.

Last week on p-day we went home. It was good to see the grandkids. Jill took us through some of the homes they have under consideration for purchase. They were very nice! One of the main purposes of the trip was to have our windshield wipers fixed. Unfortunately the switch they needed would have to be ordered so we returned without having the repair done. We had no precipitation from June 11th until the last week of July. It was then that we noticed the wipers didn't work. On the way back to camp our odometer reading on the Avalon was 88,888.8 miles.

I think the hottest part of the summer is past. We don't have air conditioning. We open windows and make the best of mountain breezes. Sometimes we use a fan and sweat it out. Generally it cools down at night but often we have to close our windows because the campfires stink up our cabin and make it hard to sleep. When we sit out and visit with neighbors in the evenings we usually grab a jacket. Our temperatures are probably at least 10-15 degrees cooler at this elevation than in the valley below. Since the days are getting shorter and it doesn't get light as early in the morning, I wonder if I will have to start setting an alarm to make sure I am up by 6:30 a.m. The only time we set an alarm now is for Monday morning when Reed has to get up at 5:30 a.m. to get to a 6 a.m. meeting.