Squaw Peak

Today i didn't have to work, because the cracks were still wet from yesterdays all day cold stormy day. So today i took the opportunity to go hiking up Squaw Peak in Provo.

I usually do this hike twice a year. Jon, a friend from work came hiking with me, and gave him a chance to get out of the house, and away from his wifey.

We have been getting a lot of rain lately, so the mountains are looking pretty green.

Maybe one of these days this summer if i can gather some friends together, and find some time off work, i want to go hike down in Zions national park, and also go river rafting down the Snake in Jackson Wyoming.

Anybody wanna go?

I caught this butterfly for Averie on my way back down the hike.. She loved it.

Hanksville

This week for work i went to Hanksville for work to do some asphalt resurfacing. Hanksville is such a little podunk town, but it is around some nice places to see. It is located near Greenriver, and i guess between Moab and Richfield .. (southern Utah)

We rolled up after the first day of work to our hotel, and started laughing at how run down the place looked. We usually stay in a Best Western or a nice place, but there wasn't much there. I found a dead cockroach in the bathroom, but i guess overall it wasn't too bad.

The steak house was a joke though. I left hungry, and i got a $12 meal.

It's nice to travel around and see other parts of utah. There's a lot of beautiful places to see, but i never get to enjoy any of the sight seeing since im always working.

We were 15 miles south of Goblin Valley. I went there once when i was in scouts when i was 16. It's a pretty cool place to camp and run around at night and play night games.

Goblin Valley

Ryan Shupe & The Rubberband's New CD

May 27th marks the release of the long awaited cd. For those who are not familiar with RS&RB, they are a local band from utah, all LDS and returned missionaries who have hit the music scene big in 2005 when they signed a record deal with Captiol Records. Their first album was called dream big which gave them two CMT music videos.

They usually play a lot of concerts here and around Utah during the summer. they also tour the U.S.A.

Ryan used to be my neighbor. He is my mom's home teacher. Bart, the drummer also used to be my home teacher back in the day.

I was just over at my mom's house this afternoon, and Ryan came over to say hi, and i was trying to show him how to ride my unicycle, but he didn't come close to getting it, even using me as a brace. Then we played catch with Ryan and my little brother Jace for a while. Ryan is a cool friend.

They are playing at the Sandy Amphitheater June 6th to celebrate their new cd release. Be sure to check them out. They are the best live concert i have ever seen, and are way better than any other major artist out there. Even though they music sounds country, they are more of a mix between, country, rock, pop, and bluegrass.

For more info check out their home page at http://www.shupe.net/

Elder Cannon is home

I went up to the SLC airport last night with my buddy Dave, and some other friends to pick up Dave's little brother Jake up at the airport. He finished his mission in Houston South, Texas spanish speaking. Ben made a funny poster with spanish stuff with mixed up accents on it.

Jakes parents went out to Houston to pick him up, and so they were there to.

Afterwards we went to Outback Steak house and got some good grub.

Then we went over to the stake presidents office so Jake could be released. It was cool to hang out with everyone and to see Jake again. It almost seems like he wasn't gone for too long at all now that he is back.

What's going on with me this week...

Oh what to write..? I would write a little more often, but then i never know what i could write about. I always want something that is interesting or funny. But these days i don't do much other than work all day long, then i come home all tired and hang out.
Dave and I went to go watch Ironman on friday night. It was pretty sweet. I liked it, and recommend it to anyone 13 and up.
Other than that, i recieved an email from Sheila. She's having a tough time adapting to the mish in Northern chile. She hates the area. It's in the middle of the desert. I've never seen an uglier place. Google earth shows it all. There isn't a single plant around, just dirt and sand everywhere. But she likes the work, and likes her American companion. I bet she's wondering why she wanted to go out there, but i think she'll slowly get over the cultural shock and start liking it a little more.
As for me, not much else going on. Just hanging out, and playing with my nieces Averie and Kaylie.

Summer work

Now that school is out, im back into the full swing of things with work. This is the 5th summer that i have been working for Big Red Asphalt.

I do the maintenance part of it, so i actually don't lay asphalt.I found this pic on google, but this is pretty much what i've been doing. The red kettle is the same one that we use.

We've been doing a lot of work for the church. Crack sealing is putting a rubberized black tar in the cracks in pavement. This extends life life of pavement by a lot.

Cracks happen when freezing temperatures occur. Water gets into the asphalt and when it freezes it expands. Another type of sealing that i do a lot of in the summer is seal coating. Seal coat also extends the life of asphalt by sealing the entire surface to prevent cracks from ever starting.

Seal coat is a black liquid material that contains some lime and sand in it. When it dries out it solidifies. In the little pic you can see it being sprayed on. Normally the first coat is put on by spreading it by hand using 4 and 5 foot squeeges, then the second coat is sprayed. That's what i do most of during the summer. Big Red has one of the best seal coat set ups in the U.S. Most of our trucks were built by my boss. All i know is that all the other seal coat companies envy us and our trucks. This is work that needs to be done, so it keeps the company busy, and it is very profitable.

Being the begining of the season i'm feeling pretty sore right now. The good part about the job is that it puts me into really good shape, and keeps me really tan.

Here are a couple of pics that i took last summer with my phone camera. Pictured is my friend Javier. We were doing a job at Berylium plant in Delta last summer and had to wear their outfits.

The worst part about the job is the cleaning. In order to do the seal coating the lot has to be extremely clean so that the seal coat can bond to the surface, and not the dirt. We have these blowers that blow dirt around. Last summer Javier and i got pretty dang dirty one morning after cleaning a lot in Salt Lake. It really makes you appreciate a nice hot shower at the end of the day.

Javi is a cool guy. He'll be working with me again this summer. I also work with some other cool guys and friends from school. I helped a lot of them to get a job working with me.

It is a lot of work, but it teaches you to work hard. After every summer i am also filled with tons of determination to return to school and get my school work done, so that i don't have to do this for the rest of my life. The best part of it is the pay. So far, i have averaged a dollar raise every year that i have worked. Lets just say that in 6 months i made more than most of my friends made in 12 months.

Workin on the Rodeo

This weekend I had to get my Isuzu Rodeo ready to pass another year of Saftey and Emissions tests. I'm amazed that my rodeo is still kickin. It's a 92', so it's now 16 years old. It's weird to think that at one time that it was kinda new and pimping.

(This pic is old, but the only one i have of my rodeo)

So my buddy Kurt helped me to change the sparkplugs and the wires. That was interesting, because we found out that whoever changed the spark plugs last (a lube shop in Provo) put in the wrong size spark plugs. After pulling out the plugs, we discovered that the arched tips of two of the plugs were broken off. It's amazing that the vehicle was still running smooth.

So the nex day i was making sure everything was looking good on the Rodeo before i brought it in for the tests, and as i was adjusting the side mirror on the passenger side, i accidently broke the mirror in half! I wasn't too happy with that. Can't pass the safety without the mirror. The glass shop wanted $30 dollars for a new one. I headed over to checker auto and found a reflective material that can be hand cut to the size you need by using scizzors. So i figured why not... besidees, it was only $11 bucks. Well i cut it out and put it in, and took it back over to the shop and sure enough it passed the saftey test. I don't think the lady got a really good look at it, but she was surprised that i had gotten it replaced so fast. Looking at the mirror from a distance looks real, but it really is a piece of crap. I can't see a thing with it.

Well overall, my mission was accomplished. I got the rodeo to pass another years worth of inspections. Lets see what will happen next year.