26 September 2014 Friday.
Its a pretty autumn morning. Over the last few months Bruce has aged rapidly. His right front shoulder has become painful so he could hardly put weight on it. The last 4 days he has lost that sparkle in his eye, like life was getting unbearable. I called Dr. John Calhoun asking him if he would make a house call. He said sure, he would come Friday morning 8:15. 
 Dr. Calhoun arriving right on time. He came to the back gate when Bruce saw him he got up wagging his tail to greet him. I was surprised that Bruce even got up to greet him, but Bruce is polite greeted him with a tail wagging. Bruce knows Dr. Calhoun. After examining Bruce he said he has a large tumor on his shoulder and that the cancer has probably spread to other areas of his body. We could buy Bruce another 4 to 5 weeks by putting him on pain meds. The pain is a constant throbbing. I told him to proceed with putting him to sleep, that he had suffered long enough. Bruce was always cheerful and "happy to see you." Dr. Calhoun went to his car to get the medication. We had Bruce lay on a 4 inch foam pad with that big colorful blanket. Dr. injected a serum that put Bruce to sleep and mixed with potassium to stop his heart. Dad knelt down beside Bruce scratching him, Bruce went to sleep peacefully, Doc Calhoun checked his pulse, he was gone. Bruce had that big "love that scratching, its time for a nap," look on his face. 

After Doc. Calhoun left Dad and I lifted Bruce into the wheel barrow wrapped in the colorful blanket. Dad wheeled him down to the pasture under the willow tree and parked him next to the deep hole that Jeffery dug for me with his backhoe. We lowered him down and Dad put a thin layer of dirt over him. Jeffery will be back this afternoon to back fill. Dad told me to get a head stone to mark Bruce's spot.

Its pretty quiet around here today. I go outside and it does feel different knowing I am here completely alone. I always felt there was someone here with Bruce around to help me if I needed it.
He was a good dog that we all connected with. He had that kind loving personality, he was patient. I would see him put up with a puppy tugging or crawling over him and Rosie wanting to wrestle but he never lost his temper.  I have seen many male dogs not put up with that for a second, they would growl or tie into the puppy.
I am sure he's having fun seeing Nana, they were such good buddies.

How to find the Jump Creek Stone Face

INSTRUCTIONS

To find the stone face, head up Jump Creek (southward, upstream). Climb up past the big falls and the jump point. Continue in quite a ways till the creek makes a horseshoe turn (the arch of which points west). Not too far after that horseshoe is complete, the rocks on the RIGHT will start to be less jagged and more smooth. You're looking for two round holes in the rock. They're the eyes, up above your head.

As another landmark, which is hard to see if the tree leaves are thick, on the left side of the canyon is a longer rock that stands out alone, part of the steep wall face that has been cut off, isolated to form a pillar. Up next to that lone-thumb pillar (on the south side of it) is the best place to view the face.

The Washburn Sense of Humor

Chy, you inspired me to post again!

Going back to Page was pretty sweet. Dad told us the story of when some Hollywood bigshots came to town and announced they needed lizards for a movie and would give rewards to kids who brought them lizards. Sounds like a dream for a little kid. He also told us how when he was a kid he was chucking rocks off the cliff in Giffords’ back yard, and he slipped, tumbled down the cliff, and woke up inside a while later. Finally, he told us the story of when he (and Andy?), as pretty little kids, hiked down the canal and under the tunnel under the highway to the canyon’s edge—Grandpa tanned their hides for that one.

It was an awesome reunion. For me, one of my favorite things is the jokes. I love the Washburn sense of humor. Here are a few moments I didn’t want to forget:

I was sitting under a tent out of the sun on a beach chair next to Jay and Andy. And here came Big Jeffers walking by, with his shirt off, and noticeably a little chubbier than he was a few months ago. So Andy leaned toward Jay and slyly said, “Your son’s starting to get that married look.”

Dad and Mom didn’t love being sandy and sweaty and hot all day long on the first day, so they second day they weren’t too eager to go back to the lake—not when the alternative was the peace and quiet and air conditioning of the beach house in Greenhaven. I did a photoshoot with Uncle Ted that morning. Then we went on the Hummer Adventure with Otis. Then Mom and Dad drove around Page with me while I tried to find some people I’d worked with on my mission. This made for a long day, but I was excited to get back to the lake, even if it was only for the last hour and half before the sun went down and everyone came in. Mom said, “I’m not sure it’s worth it to go out there for just a hour or so.” And Dad said, “Yeah, if I’m going to suffer, I’m going to suffer for longer than that.”

Uncle Ted, Otis, and Moze picked me up at the Greenhaven gas station at 4:15am on the morning of the second day. Then we drove on dirt roads for about an hour to get to Alstrom Point, which is a cliff high above Lake Powell on the north side. And there we took photos as the sun came up. It was pretty sweet (worth being that tired for, I think). On the way back, Moze was telling Ted about how there was a dispute over some reservation land between the Hopis and Navajo. When Moze said the Hopis finally took the land back, Ted rolled his eyes and said, “Indian givers.”

Little Jeffers, who’s now bigger than me by an inch and about two pounds, challenged me to a race across the bay. We took off swimming, and I gave it all I had. But he still beat me by about a yard or two. As I stood dripping on a rock on the far side, hunched over and panting, I teased him with a quote from the movie Gattaca, which has a scene where two brothers swim out into the ocean: I said, “Jeffers, you know how I almost beat you?—It’s because I didn’t save any strength for the swim back.” And Jeffers said, “You know how I beat you?—It’s because I couldn’t stop thinking of the movie Jaws.”

Lake Powell June 2013 Washburn Family Reunion

DC Adventure

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http://dctemplelights.lds.org/

Mom, Dad, Tan, and Trav head to Washington D.C., Dec 2012. 

I AM PEACH PIE’S RECKONING

My Testimony of the Sacrament

I bore my testimony yesterday. The night before, actually, it came to me that I ought to. Call it a spiritual hunch. Here’s how it went:

My name is Travis and I’m scared to death of being in front of large crowds [which is true, but I found out later that some people didn’t believe me]. I live in 308 with five guys who are all the man, and you ought to stop by and get to know them.

So I was talking to Annie earlier today, and I realized I have a thing or two to learn about delegation, which is why I’ve been the main guy in charge of sacrament for the last several weeks. But it turned out to be a blessing too, because it got me thinking about how important that ordinance is.

The other day I had a friend tell me that he had left the church. We had been friends for a long time, and this came as quite a shock. When he told me, he kind of had this smile on his face, and for a moment I thought it might just be a really bad joke. But he was serious. And it was a heavy thing to have to hear, and then to bear. That’s still be weighing on me, and I’ve thought a lot about how that sort of thing happens and how it can be avoided. I think the key might be in this ordinance we partake of every week at this altar right here [and I held my left arm straight to the side and gestured with an open palm toward the white cloths covering the sacrament].

I’ve been trying to think of the perfect metaphor for all of this—I’m an English major and I care about that sort of thing, and if you think of a better one I want you to come shake my hand and tell me about it. The first metaphor I came up with is this: You know when you’re out on the beach and it’s a little too chilly to get in but you just can’t resist touching the water so you take your shoes off and wade out to where the waves wash up past your ankles? You’ve all done this—I know you have—you dig your toes down into the sand and scoop out a little divot, and as the first wave washes up the divot fades into a subtle dent, and the second wave turns it into just a shadow of a circle, and by the third wave it’s gone. We mortals are just like this: we’re constantly crumbling, constantly fading back into what we used to be, regressing into the natural man. If you want to keep that hole in the sand, you have to keep digging it out, constantly, because the waves of mortality are washing over it, trying to erase it. But that’s why I don’t like this metaphor, because a divot doesn’t well represent the noble thing I’m talking about.

The next metaphor I thought of was food, and we’re reminded of this today because we’re fasting. You can’t just eat a ton of food on Sunday and then get by for a week. In fact, it’s hard to even get by for 24 hours—just a single day without food is extremely difficult. No, our bodies need constant maintenance. We feed them three times a day, give them plenty of water, and then we lay them down to shut off for 8 hours so they can regenerate.

Our spiritual livelihood is the same way. If we leave it alone, for even a day, it starts to die. It requires constant maintenance in order to remain living. A testimony has to be constantly fed, rejuvenated, and regenerated. If we leave it alone, it will die. The sacrament is a weekly rejuvenation—it helps to defend against this process—but in it is the promise to take Christ’s name and always remember him. That means constancy. It means more than just a covenant at the sacramental altar once a week. It means we remember him always—that’s a very high percentage of our time. It means we’re fighting spiritual atrophy—we’re praying to him, and we’re reading our scriptures, and we’re reaching out to our neighbors as true Christians do, and our thoughts are turned toward him constantly. And if we do this, then we reap the rewards—he promises to send his spirit, which is the thing that sanctifies us and protects us from that mortal crumbling. I know he’ll send his spirit if we honor this promise we just made, and it will keep us in the right way. And I say this in the name of Jesus Christ.

China

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south america

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Clan MacWashburn

We had a verrry serrrious discussion on the way back frrrom the rrrugby game. Mostly about ourrr noble herrritage.

(Click the wallpaper to see it big.)

“Eating outlawed donuts in outlawed whole milk.”


“And would ya be willin’ ta trade all the days from this day ta that for one chance—just ONE CHANCE—ta eat whatever ya fleedin’ want to?”


“And they ate like warrrrrior poets.”



“William MacWashburn ate feftae donuts. Feftae, if it was one.”






Dang, there were a few more funny ones, but I can’t remember them... Anyone else want to get on here and edit and add them? 

Swirlbread

I sneak into the kitchen and 

try to toast some swirl bread 

while no one’s looking, and, 

before I know it, 

my roommates are circling the room 

like vultures, 

making comments like, 

“That sure smells good,” 

and 

“Where’d that come from?”

It’s at that moment that 

I have a major internal struggle—

between selfishness and charity. 

Usually the charity side wins 

and I shoo them away. 

That bread’s really unhealthy after all. 

Ghosts on the Loose (East Side Kids)

It's Friday the 13th!

Here's another classic for you : )

Africa Screams (Abbott and Costello)

Lake Lowell Ice Journey

View Lake Lowell Ice Journey (27 dec 2011) in a larger map





The photos of the trip are here:

https://plus.google.com/photos/102167105057814879309/albums/5692524936028367089

Captain Scarlet!

Merry Christmas, everyone : )

The full thing's available on my YouTube channel (ecksdot).