Finished Wolf Willow by Wallace Stegner last night. It is mostly non-fiction about the area where he grew up in Saskatchewan. My favorite books by Stegner is Angle of Repose, Beyond the Hundreth Meridian, and Mormon Country. I enjoyed Wolf Willow because it is social history about the West. Although it concerns a specific part of Canada, it could easily translate to most of the settlement of the West -- irrigation, rainfall, buffalo, cattle, wolves, coyotes, and most importantly, the blue sky. All of those "Western problems" were part of this country long before Anglos came and will always be something we have to deal with by living here. All of those words are held in both good and bad esteem. As for me, I try to conserve when and where I can, I planted globemallow and red yucca because they don't need much water, and I enjoy eating red meat. I'd love to see the buffalo roam, I consider spotting a coyote an omen of good luck, and I would be thrilled to see a wolf in the wild as long as I wasn't considered dinner. I have some friends who are cattlemen and they have the right to protect their property so they see coyotes and wolves in a different light. But it's okay because we both live here, and we have to figure out how to get along for us to continue living here.

If there are any spelling errors, please forgive. I broke a tendon on my right ring finger and am wearing a lovely finger splint for the next 6 weeks day/night and then another 6 weeks at night. The finger just keeps jumping out wanting to press additional keys so although I am trying hard to keep track of additional letters in words, it might happen without my control.

B and I just got home from a 3 hour tour. Yep, a three hour tour (thanks Gilligan)! We rode our bikes from home up Snow Canyon. I had a hard time making it up the Canyon, but B followed along and gave encouraging words to my weary soul. We ride together to the base of the Canyon, then he takes off to ride to the top, and then comes back for me. My goal today was to make it off the bike path and in to the road before he came back -- that is about half way. I was just getting started up the road when he met me. I was so hot -- not smokin' like making it up the hill fast -- I was burning up with heat! Our room was cold when we got ready so I put on one of my warmer jerseys, along with an undee-shirt and a vest. After we passed through the gate, I took off my jersey and just wore my undee-shirt and vest. I had to stop a few times to rest. I was a lot cooler, but boy was my head on fire. I was so glad a breeze kicked up and by the time I got to the top, was feeling a lot better. I put my shirt back on and had a great down hill on the bike path. We rode through town and made it home in one piece.

Next stop is la chicken tostada pollo con frijoles negros y arroz con salsa mediana, no crema, and Diet Coke with a lime.

I read two books this week that essentially address the same subject: what does our faith mean and how do we show our faith? Both books agree action in and of itself isn't always a demonstration of faith but our hearts and thoughts can lead us to position faithful action. For example, a person can attend church, teach Sunday School lessons, and even donate large amounts of money to charitable organizations but not treat his neighbors very kindly. After reading both of the books, there are questions about my own faith and action. For example, instead of reading books about faith, I should be reading the books of my faith. I realize faith is personal and is based on free will; our God will not force us to be faithful. I liked both books and would recommend them. I'd also recommend The Book of Mormon. In the spirit of my son's serving a Spanish-speaking mission, I am reading it in Spanish. Surprisingly enough, I can also understand it. But I'm slow. Reading aloud helps. Many of the passages bring me to tears -- especially in realizing when Nephi writes that the book will be saved and prepared for us to read now and I am reading now in Spanish. This somehow connects me to something greater . . . I can't quite put into words.

The first book is Have A Little Faith by Mitch Albom, the same author who wrote Tuesday with Morrie, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, and For One More Day. The other book is The Holy Secret, by James L. Ferrell, who also wrote The Peacegiver.

We are also watching our neighbors' dog. Since he is named Buddy, the two Buddys get a little confused when I call either one of them, or both of them. All of the dogs are getting along very well. Right now, little Buddy is sleeping on the couch while the other Buddy and Buster are outside. We walked up The Hill and everyone, including the humans, are enjoying the calming effect of exercise. When I feed little Buddy, I give big Buddy a kibble, then Buster, then I put down a handful to little Buddy, who gobbles it up while the other two wait somewhat patiently for their pieces. I repeat a bunch of times until little Buddy has had enough to eat. I tried putting the other two dogs outside while little Buddy ate his food but they seemed hurt. And little Buddy doesn't seem to eat when I leave him in his own backyard. This way, I know he is eating and the other two dogs get some "candy." B gave me a pretty good compliment. He said, "You are almost as good a Dog Mom as my Mom." Everyone who knew her agrees she was the Greatest of All Dog Moms so I took this compliment with a huge smile on my face! Thank you, GTO, for showing me how to do it right!

We went with L & R to Hardware Ranch. It is a winter elk sanctuary. There were about 350 elk in the meadow. The sun was shining and everything was so bright and warm. A good day and a good visit.

We walked all the dogs (Buddy, Buster, and Prana) up the canyon three different times.

I also got to feel the baby kick!

I'm in the process of reading The People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks. She is also the author of March, which won a Pulitzer Prize, and Year of Wonders. The one drawback to the books is there is usually come sexual aspect that I don't care for and I think is unnecessary for the story to progress. It sounds somewhat prudish but I'm a firm believer in "if there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy" and I like my books to fall into that category.