Everything's Funnier with Alyssa

I can't quite explalin why but I laugh all the time with Alyssa. I don't think anyone else understands. We went camping last year, just the two of us. We tried to find these slot canyons to hike down and it took us forever. We finally did find it but we got to a part in the canyon that was really difficult. There was a big drop of about 8 feet and a pool of water at the bottom. We had to go around on the side and shinny in this little crack area. When we were coming back, the only way to get out of the crack was to do this splits move you see Alyssa demonstrating here. I was laughing really hard the whole time she was going back. I included the picture of me doing the splits move just so you don't think there was any other possible way of getting out of that crack without falling into the pool of water.
We camped at the famous Clyde Eagle Nest in the San Rafael swell in southern Utah. To get there you have to have a tough car like a Land Rover LR3 to drive way up on the slick rock to a depression that functions as our "nest". Close to the Nest there is an enormous cliff down into Black Dragon Canyon. Because of my exposure to Clyde rituals, I thought we should probably throw rocks off the cliff. The cliff is in a semi circle so we got far enough apart to be able to see the ground underneath each other so we could see the rocks hit. This big one we had to toss off together.One of the rocks I threw Alyssa said got really close to the fence. We could see that some of the rocks turned into powder so the next day we drove down into the bottom of the canyon to check out what was left of the rocks. We discovered that one of the rocks I threw had indeed hit the fence and broken it. Ooops.

All of our weekend activities were extremely amusing and would have been no matter who I was with. But I guarantee you that I laughed more with Alyssa that I would have with anyone else.

Why the "Sirens of Clyde"

We have gotten quite a few questions about the title of our blog, “Sirens of Clyde”. I will undertake to verbalize the why which came through more instinctive than structured thought process.

The title came from the book “The Sirens of Titan” by Kurt Vonnegut. It is a book that we highly recommend, and is the original source for the idea of the “chrono-synclastic infundibula” which is defined by Vonnegut as "those places ... where all the different kinds of truths fit together." It is a place where past, present and future come together. Vonnegut notes that any detailed description of this phenomenon would baffle the layman, but any comprehensible explanation would insult an expert. This is strikingly similar to the Internet, which is still a great mystery to me, and blogging, which allows us to share our past, present and future with you. Through the chrono-synclastic infundibula we can preserve and share our stories. We think they are important enough to be worth sharing, and hope that they are not simply a cog in the machine to brings about the ultimate purpose of humanity as described in the Sirens of Titan (I can’t give that one away, you’ll have to read it).

The second level of the meaning can be drawn from the legend of the Sirens itself. The Sirens would sing to ships that would sail by close to them, and any man who heard their song would be irresistibly enticed to either steer his ship toward the sirens or throw himself into the ocean and swim to them. The problem was that the ships would crash on the rocks and the men would almost always drown who tried to swim.

The term "siren song" refers to an appeal that is hard to resist but that, if heeded, will lead to a bad result. This is a reminder that sometimes you need to deny yourself the things that you really want to do, and steer clear of the temptation to avoid being drawn in. We know that our blog is so exciting that many cannot turn away, but are compelled to read and post continually. You are our favorite people, but we don’t want you to not get your work done because you are memorized by the latest story about those crazy Clydes.

This meaning may also be directed at us, the authors, because we probably spend too much time writing about our little lives when we should be concentrating on our actual responsibilities. In fact, that is exactly what I am doing right now! It is like a self perpetuating chain of irony.

In short: Blog Responsibility.

Canyoneering and Throwing Rocks

There is no better Birthday party than adventuring in Southern Utah. We decided to do just that to celebrate Kevin's big day. We originally had maps of the area we were going to explore. That plan was foiled when I left them in the illustrious "Stans" where we had burgers before hiking. I thought then they would know where to look for us if we never came back, the others thought it would have been more helpful to have the maps with us. So when we started hiking we weren't really sure what we were in for. The hike began so calm...



Then we came to some obstacles. We started by shoving each other up. Usually Chase went first and then sometimes he would take the rope and stick it in a crack so the rest of us could climb up. The cliffs obstacles got harder and harder until the last one we used the harnesses and were on belay incase we fell. We didn't.




The next day we went to what was deemed "mini Kipu Falls", very mini. I was the first to jump in the water. I had tested the temperature with my finger and decided it was cold, but not terrible. I will never trust my finger again, it was so cold I could hardly breathe. This is actally me jumping in the second time because the first jump only had the splash photographed. I'm so dedicated to this blog that I jumped off again just to have a good picture of it to post. (It wouldn't be fair if I didn't mention that Patrick jumped in to, but only from the side where he didn't have to swim so far to get out)




There was only one picture that had all four of the adventurers in it. Here it is. I think it's especially nifty that you can see the reflection from the water on the roof of the overhang above us.



And what kind of trip would it have been if we didn't go throw rocks. Grandpa Hal built this bridge over the Dirty Devil river right by Lake Powell back in the 50s when Kevin was just a tot. It was nice of him to build it so high so it made such a fun past time. Please notice that Patrick and Chase are looking at the camera but Kevin, always dedicated to getting the Grand Rental name out there, sacrifices to show only that back of his shirt.
All in all the weekend was great fun with great family. Now who doesn't like to end with a sappy comment like that.

Good old Timothy

This is Timothy the turtle. We found him crossing the road way out near Far West in Missouri. We turned the car around and drove back to see him. I'm obviously the only one who is really that excited about him. Mom and Dad just want to look nice for the picture, and Joel looks a little suspicious. I wanted to take him home but Patrick put a damper on that idea. At one point we put him down and he walked right between my legs. We made sure he was safely off the road before we left. Timothy the turtle, we salute you.

Torture Mountain AKA Lone Peak

One day Patrick said, "Let's climb Lone peak". What he didn't say was that we were going to get bad directions from an old man that would lead us astray and we would get so tired that we would sit in deer poop and not even notice or care.

So the old man said to take the right branch and we would avoid a shale slide. So we take the right and end up way off track. The problem was that we had gained so much altitude that we didn't want to just turn around. Looking at the topo map we decided that trail must be just on the next ridge over. We thought we would be smarter to just bushwack. The trail wasn't on the next ridge and we then had a choice of bushwacking forward or bushwacking back the way we came. By the time we found the trail we were so tired that we accidentally sat in deer poop and didn't even move when we noticed it.

We camped in a meadow that was about halfway to the top. We originally intended to summit and then camp but with the whole lost thing, we camped half way to the top. Patrick had an enormous blister. The next day it bled all over his sock. Very sad.

We walked a long way to watch the sunset and Patrick thought he had the world in his hand. Really it was the sun.
The next day we started for the summit. It was hard even without our packs. Something odd happened to me. I was only about 500 ft from the summit and I realized I wasn't having fun anymore. I was so tired that if Patrick hadn't been there I would have turned around even being that close to the top. I was happy when I finally got to the top. It was amazing. But I'm still a little disturbed that I got past my fun threashold.
The view from the top was so amazing. The peak was the most cliche peak, super rocky and pointy. I have never been on the top of a mountain that there were many unavoidable death-defying parts to scale before getting there. I think that must be kind of like Everest. I don't know if I would ever climb it again but it was amazing...and torturous.

Halloweens Past

So Meghann and I have always had the tradition of doing a great Halloween couple costume. One year we had a problem because Meghann didn't realize that it was a tradition and planned a costume that did not involve me. Well, our marrige survived this crisis (much because she included me in her costume after the fact).

These are some of the costumes from the past. Which one do you like best?

Luke and Leia (playing of the brother/sister situation)

Bo and Daisy Duke

John Smith & Pocahontas

Punk Rockers (This is the one that Meghann did without me and then included me to save the marriage)

This year: Neo & Trinity!

Toby the Pig

We once had a pet pig named Toby, and in the short time we had together he proved to be the best pig ever.

Toby was adopted off of the Kipu ranch by Meghann. I wasn't cousulted prior to Toby's arrival at our house in Koloa, but Meghann explained to me succinctly and logically why it was that he needed to be adpoted: "I really wanted him!"

Well it became clear that he was meant to be ours after a couple of days. He adpoted us as his parents about 2 days after we adpoted him. He went from being afraid of us to being almost attached to us, never being mor than 1-2 feet away from one of us by choice.

We tried to feed Toby a variety of things that ferrel pigs eat, but being 1st time parents we ended up spoiling him and giving him mostly his favorite food, Half & Half. He would slurp it up out of his dish, usually with his two front hooves in the milk, and would end up with a thick cream moustach. He would smack his lips in between drinks, which was just one of his eerily human habits.

He loved attention and loved to be rubbed and scratched. (see video)

I built Toby a cage in the backyard to keep him safe while we were at work, but this was one thing Toby was not fond of. He knew it meant he would be alone for a while, and he would squeal and squeal when we put him in.

Because Toby liked to be so close to us, teaching him certain tricks was a snap. If we wanted him to go a certain way we just hadto go there first. This enabled us to "train" him to go down the slide and play on the local playground equipment.

Toby learned to swim very quickly and had a great technique. He would use his snout as a snorkel and paddle with all four legs. He wasn't super fond of the water, but would brave it to keep his comfortable 1-2 ft distance from us.

He did like the beach alot. Anytime he was in an area where he could root (dig stuff up with his nose) he was happy and there was lots of opportunity at the beach. He would get alot of sand on his nose.

We still think about Toby all the time. I miss him alot, but in a way I am glad that I only knew him as a piglet because he might be 150 lbs with tusks by now. But he'll always be our Toby, and much smarter than all the other pigs.