P.J. The Pizza Maker

I swear that JoAnn made at least 300 rolls over the holidays. She even got a new Bosch bread mixer to keep up the pace. Our old Kitchenettics was about 30 years old and some of the plastic parts finally gave up. Anyway, one night she was making rolls for the next day, and P.J. had to get in the action (You'll notice I call him P.J. now instead of Parker since that is what he prefers; sometimes he won't even answer to Parker). Of course he has to be in the middle of the action, and since his Daddy works in a pizza store, he decided to make pizza. As you can see, he worked at it pretty hard.

The Humanitarian Service Room

On Wednesday evening last, the Wilcox & Plyer Families spent an evening at the Humanitarian Service Room in the Murray Deseret Industries building. Dustin couldn't go because he had PJ and nobody under 12 is allowed in. That left JoAnn, Senta, Burke, Richie, Greg, and me to carry the load. It all began when JoAnn asked me to look for some kind of service project we could do as a family over the holidays when Richie was here.

After a few calls, I found out that a few of the DI's (with more to come) have what is called a Humanitarian Service Room. They are open during the day and volunteers can walk in and participate. They are open some evenings by appointment. We made an appointment and went in the evening. We were the only ones in the service room which is good since it wasn't all that big. As for the service we provided, Richie and Burke worked on sanitation kits, Greg and Senta worked on the sergers, and JoAnn and I worked on sewing machines, stitching together the pieces serged by Greg and Senta, into book bags. The bag I sewed together didn't look quite as nice as this one, but the Sister who was helping us said she had never seem someone who hadn't done it before, come in and finish a bag in one evening. I actually finished one and parts of two others! JoAnn also brought home the materials for a couple of crib quilts that we will be working on over the holidays.

Those of you who are asking what on earth were they thinking assigning me to a sewing machine should know that I do have some experience. Many, many years ago, I ordered a coat from a company that sent all the pieces to you and you had to sew it. I thought it would be a good experience for me to sew a coat. And I did, and it turned out OK. So everyone had a fun, fulfilling evening where we did something (even just a small something) for someone else and we all felt good about it. We'll probably go again to the West Jordan store when they get their HSR opened up and running.

Unfortunately, there are no photos for this post. I told myself I would take a camera and just as we were pulling out of the parking lot after we were finished, I remembered the camera. Doh!

Thirty First Year

When I went to work on Monday, December 1, 2008, it was the first day of my thirty first year working for the same agency. Known then as the Division of State Lands and Forestry, it is now the School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration. Given this momentous occasion, I thought I would some post some information and photos on this blog to document some of the people I work with and the way things look at SITLA.


This is a panoramic photo of the "Public Room" so-called because this is where the public comes to look at our records (click on the photo to get a better view). The books you see lining the walls contain copies of state land records dating from statehood. There are copies of all the Certificates of Sale and Patents issued, ownership plat books, mineral lease records, and copies of the original surveys of the entire state. Oh yeah, the handsome guy at the desk is Michael.



This is a panoramic shot of my cubicle. It may look messy to the untrained eye but I know where everything is (unless I forgot about it and then it doesn't matter). To the knowledgeable bureaucrat, it may appear that my office is somewhat larger than the typical 10 X 10 regulation size. Several years ago, in an office reorganization, Gary and I ended up with an empty office between us. So one Saturday, we took our tools and went to work and made two offices out of three.



This is my boss, Kim Christy. He's a good guy, really. When he meets someone, it's only a matter of minutes before he has assigned them a nickname and put their phone number in his blackberry. I remember meeting him a couple of years before he started working for us and thinking "I don't trust anyone that friendly".






These guys, members of the "Drinkmobile" all, from top to bottom are: Kurt Higgins, Industrial Lease Administrator, Ute fan, and world traveler; Daran Baggs, the computer guy, painted pumpkin distributor, and inveterate mountain climber; Gary Bagley, Telecommunication Lease Administrator, BYU fan, and founder of the "Drinkmobile". The "Drinkmobile" leaves the office most days between 9 AM and 10 AM and heads for the local Maverik where we fill our cups with liquid refreshment.


This is Adam Robison, the Agency Forester and Cary Zielinsky, Contract Forester. I manage the Forestry Program because nobody else would take it and I got stuck with it. I'm now quite glad it happened that way. I've learned a lot and have been able to spend some time in the woods with a couple of guys who can operate any piece of machinery at light speed, build anything, and fix anything. Cary is even an inventor; check it out. Amazing guys.



From top to bottom, this is Diane Durrant, who was my secretary for a number of years and who now keeps the sales program running smooth, and Linda Bianchi who helps me through the red-tape all bureaucrats have to live with.

So there you have. Just a small sample of the people I work with and the things they do. If they weren't all so great, I wouldn't be looking forward to my next 30 years. OK, maybe 6 or 7 more years.

Thanksgiving 2008

Thanksgiving this year was at Mimi's Restaurant. The food was not nearly as good as home cooked but the cleanup was so much easier. After dinner, we went to see Australia the movie. It was OK but I think Nicole Kidman has done something weird with her lips. They don't look normal. After the movie, we went over to Senta's for pie and Guitar Hero. Burke has quite the setup, one person can sing, two can play guitar and/or bass, and one can play the drums. As you can see here, Parker looks like he is going to be a drummer like his dad. To everyone who reads this, thank you for your love and friendship!

The Pumpkin Part of Halloween

The first two photos are of Parker and Senta's pumpkin creating night. Senta had been to a Plyer family party the night before and they had a lot of colored, sticky styrofoam stuff that they cut out and stuck on the pumpkins. The features are all Parker's decision. The next couple are of the real pumpkin carving a couple of days later. As we were getting ready, laying down the paper, getting the carving tools and sitting on the floor, Parker walked over and said " what doing guys?" We all got a chuckle out of that. The last photo is of the newly carved pumpkin with a lit interior candle on the front porch looking scary.

The Miracle Rod

Many years ago, I was browsing through the junk at State Surplus. Near the door, there was a garbage can full of confiscated rods and reels. Gary Bagley and I were looking through these poles and I noticed a G Loomis rod with a Daiwa reel. I didn't know too much about fishing equipment, but I knew G Loomis was a very good brand. I bought the pair for $15.00 and took them home. Richie was fascinated with the rod and reel and was bound and determined to find what they were worth. He searched catalogue after catalogue. Finally he came in the room smiling and told me the rod was worth $150.00 and the reel was worth $100.00. Needless to say, I was amazed. Several years later,I took Greg fishing at a small reservoir on Cove Mountain above Annabella known as Anabella Reservoir. We were in a small raft and it was a windy day. We weren't catching anything and the raft was filling with water so we decided to leave. Greg was using the G Loomis rod with a cheap reel on that particular day. We we got to shore, to our horror, we noticed that the rod had fallen out of the raft. We went back out to see if we could find it on the bottom (it is a fairly shallow lake) to no avail. The very next year, I again took Greg fishing on Annabella Reservoir (the reservoir has a large population of freshwater shrimp which makes the flesh of the fish bright orange and as the water lake gets lower in the fall, the fish are fairly large and easy to catch). This time, we had Lou Brown with us and a decent boat. I was using a fly and a bubble and Greg was using a spinner. We had been fishing for an hour or so when Greg hooked into what we thought was a fairly good fish. As he reeled it in, it became apparent that it wasn't a fish, it was the G Loomis. That was a good fishing trip.

Pumpkin Patch

Last Thursday, we (me, JoAnn, and Senta) took Parker to a pumkin patch in South Jordan to pick the perfect pumpkin. After giving Parker a ride in a wheelbarrow, he choose a rather sad looking pumpkin (look for it carved in my next blog). The thing is, we moved it around next to other better looking ones but he always choose the same one. Anyway, it was a nice evening in the pumpkin patch. One regret I have is that I forgot my camera and had to use my cell phone. That is the reason for the less than HD photos.