You don't have to worry anymore

For all of you out there who have been getting on my case about not having health insurance, I can tell you that today I signed up for a catastrophic type health insurance. If for some reason something crazy happens to me, I now will be covered and you don't have to stress.

A Night at the Symphony

So for the past couple months I've been feeling like I needed a little culture in my life but cultural things usually cost a bit of money. Luckily for me I mentioned this to Marilyn and she told me that the Tempe Symphony does free concerts. Last night was their christmas concert. I went with my friend Sam and we had such a good time. I love the excitement that builds from hearing them tune up and there is something about hearing a symphony live that not even the best sound system can recreate. At the end of the concert, the audience had a sing along of christmas carols with the symphony. I wish I had realized that sooner so I could have gotten a bigger group to go. I'm looking forward to their February concert and I think I might spend a few dollars to see the Phoenix symphony before then.

Trail Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving I was on the Trail. I love being on the Trail for holidays. Something about being with others who are away from their family is very comforting to me plus it gives another TW a chance to be with their family. I will begin on the wednesday before turkey day in which I climbed to the top of long mesa, which I am sitting on the edge of in the picture above. It was a strenous 5 mile hike up 2000 feet of elevation. We started at the base of Squaw Butte (a sacred place to Anasazi because of the box at the top containing letters from both YWs and TWs since the beginning of the program) which you can see in the lower right corner of the picture above. There is no easy way to get on this mesa, but I lead a boys group to the north end in hopes of finding a pack trail to make the uphill ascent easier (no one from Anasazi had hiked the trail in 3 years so we weren't sure if it still existed). We arrived where the trail should have begun, but I could not find it and by this point it was only a couple hours until dark. I discussed with my fellow trailwalkers and we decided to head up the ridgeline that the trail should have been on. I had prayed earlier in the day that I would find this trail and the Creator heard my prayers because halfway up the first ridge, we found the trail. Even with the easier path, it was still a strenuous climb and we got to the top a little before sunset. My legs were feeling like jelly as we crossed the mesa to the cow tank we would be camping at. The final little hill did my legs in and both my quad muscles cramped up. It was the worst muscle cramp I have ever had; I was on the ground crying because of the pain, completely unable to move my legs. One of the camera guys who was following this particular boys band took my pack which he did not have to do (I made him a soapstone bead for his remembrance pouch as a thank you). The others in the band were giving me water, tang, and ibuprofen to reduce the cramping. Well the muscles eventually loosened up to where I could walk and my little leg issue caused us to get into camp after dark, but that band was so awesome that none of them complained even though building a shelter and busting in the dark is tricky.

Turkey day was fun. All the bands layed over on top of Long Mesa which lived up to its reputation of being cold and windy. I got to take in the holiday treats to each band which consisted of a yam, real bacon bits, craisins, cookies and a cornish game hen for each person. Because it was cold I was wearing my capote, a blanket coat, and my fur beanie and mittens; when one band saw me they called me a russian. The game hen was amazing! I boiled the body with my produce and made a spectacular soup. The wings and drumsticks I roasted on the coals. The craisins I saved for later in the week and made two perfect orange cranberry muffins. The yam I ate on potato sunday and the bacon bits I used in various dishes throughout the week.

Friday morning, the cow tank surface was frozen and I had to smash a hole in the ice to get water which isn't uncommon in winter on the Trail. What was funny was watching another TW climb along the fence to the middle of the tank which was not frozen and lean over a cable to get non-grass water. I was impressed that he did it without falling in.

Friday and Saturday I hiked with the girls band and other boys band down Trap Canyon which the picture below was taken in. I had an excellent talk with the girl YW about lessons I had learned from my parents deaths. I did not intend to talk about that but it just came up and I feel I was lead by the sacred wind as to what to say. It was an uplifting conversation for me and I hope for her as well.

I found huge amounts of watercress in Trap Canyon. It tastes like a radish when eaten raw but when its cooked and combined with the powdered cheese, it tastes like broccoli cheese soup. It had been years since I'd last made it and I had forgotten how good it is.

Sunday morning as I sat by the fire making a muffin it began to snow. Just a little popcorn snow and it didn't really stick but its still weird seeing snow on the Trail in November. Since I couldn't do anything to get out of it, I just laughed and caught the flakes on my tongue.

Final D was relaxing. I bounced around between bands teaching skills. It was in the teens both nights that we were there and when I woke up wednesday morning, the part of my beanie that had been exposed to the air had frozen as well as my canteens.

The final night I spent in a lone camp which wasn't bad until some horses from the nearby ranch decided to visit in the middle of the night. Scared me to death. In the morning, I sang songs to myself as I got my fire going and ate breakfast not realizing the boys band down the creek from me could hear. I was a little embarrassed until the TW told me it was a nice way to wake up. It was a wonderful morning as I read from the ensign and my patriarchal blessing; I got great awakenings from both.

As I mentioned earlier, there was a camera crew from MTV filming one of the YWs experience at Anasazi. At first it was a little weird having them filming but after a while you got used to it. This YWs dad died earlier this year and I'm glad I was able to share with him my experience of losing my dad. I know how much it means to have someone who has gone through what you have been through. He is an amazing YW and will do very well.

One more thing. I love shemaghs (the thing always wrapped around my head in my hiking photos). It keeps my head and face warm in the cold, my face covered in the sun and when I get it wet in the summer my head and face stay cool for hours. Those bedouins are smart when it comes to desert living.

Damascus is Beautiful

After talking with many people, I realized that most do not understand what damascus steel is. I know that I explained what it is in an earlier post, but it doesn't fully makes sense until you see it. So I decided to put up a picture of my first ever completed damascus project: a 2-inch blade wood carving knife. This was made from a piece that we had to cut off of my larger billet because it wasn't welding right. It only has 17 layers as opposed to my large billet which will have over 500 layers when it is finished. I forged it using a hammer, tongs and anvil (good thing I took that blacksmithing class last year). With the help of my teacher, we ground it down to shape and put in the main bevel. Then I hardened it, which requires heating the knife until its non-magnetic and then quenching it in oil. In our case we used cooking oil, so the forge smelt like popcorn. I then put it in a toaster oven at 425 for two hours (sounds like I'm giving tips for a recipe). The last steps involved sanding the knife using different grits up to 1500 grit and then etching it in acid. I used muriatic acid that my aunt had. The acid eats away the metals at different rates and causes the pattern to emerge. This part was not fun; the fumes coming off the acid were so potent that I could barely breathe. I should have worn a mask over my nose and mouth instead of just using my hand. After the etching, I put on the final edge and presto! a brand new knife ready to be used, well after I get a handle on it.

Fish Creek Canyon

This morning my friends and I went on another hike out in the Superstition Mountains. We headed for a canyon that none of us had ever hiked before. I love those kind of hikes because it trully is an adventure! There was no trail so we got to route find our way over and around huge boulders. The walls were hundreds of feet above us with saguaro cactus dotting them while in the creek bottom were clear pools and lush trees. Because of the rock scrambling and route finding we did not go very fast and only got about 5 miles in 5 hours but I loved every minute of it. I would love to go there again and get even farther back into the canyon.

A Trail Ride for my Birthday

So my aunt won a two hour trail ride last fall. She wasn't able to use it last year as she was recovering from hip surgery. She called me up last week and asked if I wanted to go with her as my birthday present. Of course I said yes (who would pass up this opportunity). We headed way out to a ranch in Tonapah, AZ for the the ride. It was a perfect day. A storm was blowing in so we had cloud cover to keep the sun off and the temperature was in the low 70s. The ranch was situated on the edge of the Eagletail Wilderness; we had a gorgeous view of the mountains during the entire ride. While we waited for the horses to get saddled the owner gave us a tour of their ranch house which is quite unique. It is 100% solar powered and they have an amazing system of cooling the house during the summer using a cooling tower and the simple science of hot air rising and air currents. If only every house down here could have one we would save a lot on electric bills.

My horse was named swayback and Marilyn's was spot. They were your typical Trail horses: gentle, older, knew the area so well that you didn't have to do much leading and of course they walked faster when we turned around to head back. Our guides took us through desert next to the ranch and it was relaxing wandering among the chaparral and ironwood. I enjoyed maneuvering the washes that frequently crossed our paths. On the way back in, my horse did speed up to a trot every now and then and I loved it; I wished I could have gone faster.

What was really amazing is that later that day and the next, I was not sore. When I first got off the horse, my legs hurt from being stretched for so long but later on I had no problems whatsoever. I think it has to do with all the hiking I've been doing, but what do I know.

Happy Day Its Finished

This is my most recently completed sewing project and it couldn't have been done sooner. I say that because this bag was incredibly frustrating to make. It was my first time working with buckram, fusible fleece and zippers. Plus the pattern was not very clear in spots. My sewing machine has also developed a nasty habit of pulling the fabric in odd ways. Putting the side pockets and straps on took me three tries each because the fabric keep getting stitched on crooked. The worst part was putting on the ends and the binding around the ends. That buckram made it so thick to try and maneuver and then trying to get all those layers through plus keep a sraight stitch for the binding was a challenge. Thankfully it turned out well enough that I didn't have to resew it. The inside is lined with the same blue you see on the outside band and pocket.
You might be wondering what I am going to use it for and I did make it with a purpose in mind. It is going to be my new temple bag. There are two good sized pockets inside, made out of the white material from the outside, to help keep everything organized. I modified both of them from the what the pattern directed; one is two inches wider and the other is sewn in half to create two smaller pockets. Its just the perfect size for everything I need. Now I have a unique bag instead of the one that looks like everybody else.

Lots of great hiking

I realized I did not write anything about last weekend on the Trail. I won't say much other than it was terrific. My young walker was amazing and fun. We did have to battle two lightening/rainstorms, one on saturday night and the other on monday. Saturday's storm came in as the sun was setting, so we got an amazing sunset complete with a double rainbow. We were able to build shelters, and I spent the evening watching the lightening light up the trees around me and listen to the rain. Monday was not quite as great because I was waiting to be switched out which means I did not build a shelter. I still stayed dry by putting my poncho tarp over me and my basket pack. It got a little old sitting there in the rain watching the fire struggle to stay going through the downpour. Once it stopped, I was more than happy to get out and stand next to the fire, which did survive the rain thanks to some pitch wood my young walker found.

Today I hiked Roger's Canyon in the Superstition Mountains with great friends. We went at a pretty good clip making it 9 miles in 5 hours. You start at the top of the canyon and hike down it. At the bottom are 600 year old Salado Indian ruins that are still in pretty amazing shape. One of the rooms still has the roof with its log poles, thatch and adobe. The canyon was beautiful as the leaves were just beginning to change color. The temperature was in the 60s when we started and only got to the mid-70s by the time we finished. All in all a perfect morning to go on a hike.

I love fall. Being on the Trail last weekend and hiking today made me realize how much I love this time of year. I think its my favorite season. There is just something about the smell and feel of the air that excites my soul. I wish it wasn't such a short season, but I guess having to go through the other seasons makes me appreciate when it comes again much more than if it was always autumn.

I didn't take any photos during our hike today and I can't take pictures while I'm with young walkers on the Trail, so I decided to post this one from a hike a few weeks ago. But thats pretty much how I always look when I'm hiking. I am standing on the top of Four Peaks Mountain with Roosevelt Lake and the Sierra Ancha Wilderness in the background.

Damascus Steel part 2

Last nights damascus class did not go as well as last week. I prepared my billet for folding by grinding off the scale. I was able to get it folded at the beginning of class like I had planned, but while we were folding, the billet broke. So we had to tack weld the halves together which is not the ideal method. I then heated it back up and away we went on the press to forge weld it. Well it started off good but then one side began to slip at an angle which made it bulge out on one side, then the other end began to split apart. No matter what my teacher and I tried to do, we could not get the split to weld back together so we cut it off. This sucks because now I have a little less material to work with for the billet, but I did keep the scrap pieces and am going to try thinning them down for earrings, a necklace pendant and maybe a small carving knife. The billet end still had a small split so we just used the welder instead of the press.
After all that craziness, I was able to get a few presses in and begin to draw the billet out for another fold next week. The press made my billet go into a diamond shape, so the first thing I will have to do next Tuesday is get it back into a square, which is not as easy as it may sound. With only three classes left, I don't think I will be getting the layer count I had orginally planned for.

Domestic Goddess

Recently I have been teaching my roommate Jessica how to make homemade jams, as you know by my post on making prickly pear jelly. Well the grocery store next to our house was having an amazing sale on raspberries, so on saturday we made raspberry jam which you can see behind me. While at the store, we also discovered that peaches were on sale for 59 cents a pound. So yesterday we canned 22 pounds of peaches. What a day! It took seven hours, mostly due to having to wait for the water in my pressure canner to heat up so we could sterilize and process the jars. I also wish I had just a slightly bigger stove; we kept having to swap out pans depending on what we were doing.

We used a recipe in my canning book but it wasn't very clear on the best way to remove the peach skins. We tried putting the whole peaches in the boiling water and then the ice water only to realize that it didn't make the skins easier to come off; instead, it made the peaches very slimy and hard to hold while trying to slice them up. I'm surprised we didn't slice ourselves instead. We then figured out that if you slice them before you put them in the boiling water the skins come right off and we didn't have to risk any of our fingers.

We also learned that you really need to pack the peaches in the jars. We thought we had them so tight only to discover, when we pulled them out of processing, that there was half-an-inch to an inch of extra space at the bottom. Next time I will be more aggresive in my packing. It also helps to use the mason jars with regular openings instead of the extra wide. We used the wide ones for my peaches. It did make it easier to get the peaches in the jars but once you add the syrup they could float right to the top. At least the reglar mouth curves in a little to help stop the floating peaches and you can actually measure the headspace properly.
Since this is my first time canning fruit I decided to try a couple different things. I canned some of my peaches in medium syrup, some with cinnamon cooked in, and some canned in honey. I will let you know which I like best.

Next on the list to tackle: apples or pears.

p.s.-the apron I'm wearing is the one my sister helped me make

Making Damascus Steel

Every Tuesday night for the past four weeks I have been learning how to make Damascus Steel. What is that kind of metal you say? Simply put it is laminated steel using two kinds of metal: 1084 tool steel, which for our class was in a powdered form, and 15N20 steel, which has a nickle content and gives those particular layers a shiny look.
You heat them up in a forge until the metal is bright yellow and then forge weld them together using a hydrolic press. Last night was my first time using the press and it was fun to watch the layers of metal being squished together. I started out with 17 layers alternating between the two kinds of metal which was about 3 inches thick before the heating began. By the end of class last night, I had those layers compressed to about an inch thick and ready to be folded back on itself next week. It was crazy to think that I went from having separate layers, half of which were powdered, to a solid bar of metal in just three hours of work.
Now the goal for the remaining four weeks of this class is to get my steel to the number of layers I want with a pattern set in. I am hoping for over 500 layers, which sounds like a lot until you realize that each fold doubles the amount of layers. I should have that layer count in five folds. For the pattern, I am going to experiment with two designs: a twist and a bird's eye. I'm hoping the combo will give the steel the look of a topo map. My ultimate desire is to make a knife out of the finished steel.
I will try and remember to bring my camera to class so you can see the process, and I can have a photo record of what I did.

Anatomy and Physiology: one of my greatest fears

So I began my first anatomy and physiology class this week. I have been terrified of this class ever since I was a student at BYU, and I did everything I could to avoid taking it. I can't avoid it any longer as it is a prerequisite for a master's program I am looking into. I finally bit the bullet and signed up last week to take it online. I was so intimidated by this course that I couldn't even open the book for the first few days without a feeling of panic.
Well I just finished my first two quizzes and so far so good. I must admit that they were both mostly review of material I learned in previous biology classes, but it is making me a little more comfortable with the idea that I might do alright. I haven't gotten to any major memorizing yet. We'll see how I feel in a couple weeks but for now I'm feeling confident.

A fun afternoon making prickly pear jelly

My roommate just celebrated her birthday. She asked that my gift be to teach her how to can jelly and jams. I was happy to oblige.
By far the funniest part was gathering the fruit. We didn't have time to go out to the desert to gather, which is my preferred way to get the best fruit. So we had to settle with gathering in the city. We found a house a few blocks away that had a cactus covered in fruit. Imagine the woman's perspective, who has only been in arizona a month, as she answered the door. Here are two women telling her they make jelly from cactus fruit and wondering if we could pick some from her yard. She agreed since she doesn't know what to do with them; she probably thinks all arizonans are crazy now. In exchange we offered her a jar of the finished project. To keep our fingers from being covered in little spines we used kitchen tongs to pull them off.
We drove around a little more but really didn't find anymore good fruit so we headed home to juice what we gathered. You may wonder how you go about juicing something that has little spines on it and the inside looks like a pomegranite. I will say only two words: steam juicer. You just throw the fruit in there and let the steam do all the work for about an hour. Occasionally we had to smash them down with a potato masher to extract more juice but other than that we just let it work while we watched movies. From the fruit we gathered we had enough juice to make two batches of jelly.
Once we had the juice the rest is just like how you would make any other kind of jelly. My roommate loved learning the process, even though she did get some spines in her fingers (a good method for getting cactus spines out of you is to use elmers glue. Just spread it over the spot, let it dry and then pull off the glue like you did when a kid. Many times this will pull the spine out with the dried glue). Now my roommate wants to learn how to make jams starting with raspberry, yum.

Why Renaissance Woman

I thought I would explain the title of my page to those who may not undestand. I guess I will start with my dad who always talked about being well rounded. It was important to him that we have many interests in a variety of areas. Simply put I agree with him, plus its fun to have so many things to learn and keep you busy. I think it is important to have a knowledge in so many areas to be able to converse with a variety of people about common interests, but its more than that for me. I feel driven to learn as much as I can in so many areas for the self-confidence it gives me in knowing that if push came to shove, I could be able to do it myself.

It has also helped having a dad who was into woodworking and doing home improvement projects all the time and a mom who was amazing at working with textiles and fiber arts. This not only shows you options of things to learn but it helps when you inherit a small portion of their talents for working with your hands.

Many of my projects revolve around primitive technology (I know its a funny phrase but it refers to anything primitive man might have had to build or had to know in order to survive in the wilderness). I have also begun learning more textile arts from a variety of weaving styles to quilting to making simple clothes. Last year I learned simple blacksmithing and welding. Some of my more time consuming projects involve making my own leather, jelly, beadwork, and tatting. I also have my photography which I have been doing for at least the last ten years. Everywhere you look in my room, I have some type of project in progress. My grandma can't believe the amount of things I do, so she was the one who called me a modern renaissance woman.