Why Worry?

My Great Grandma Martell had this little saying on the top of her TV...

There are only two things in life to worry about:
Whether you are well or whether you are sick.
If you are well, then there is nothing to worry about.
But if you are sick, there are only two things to worry about:
Whether you are going to get well or whether you are going to die.
If you get well, then there is nothing to worry about.
But if you die, there are only two things to worry about:
Whether you are going to go to heaven or whether you are going to go to hell.
If you go to heaven, then you have nothing to worry about.
But if you go to hell, you'll be so busy shaking hands with all your friends,
that you won't have time to worry!

So, Why Worry?

Books I Can Remember Reading

I grew weary of searching back into the history of my posts to find this list. I am posting updated today.

Here is a growing list of books that I have read. (In no particular order)

Books I can remember reading:

1. The Book of Mormon (15x English 5x Russian)
2. The Holy Bible
3. The Doctrine and Covenants
4. The Pearl Of Great Price
5. Jesus The Christ (Talmage)
6. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
7. The Russians (Hedrick Smith)
8. Russian Short Stories
9. Joseph Smith The First Mormon (Donna Hill)
10. The Miracle of Forgiveness (Specer Kimball)
11. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoevsky)
12. The Brothers Karamasov (Fyodor Dostoevsky
13. War and Peace (Leo Tolstoy)
14. Anna Karenina (Leo Tolstoy)
15. Standing For Something (Gordon B. Hinkley)
16. As A Man Thinketh (James Allen)
17. How To Win Friends and Influence People (Dale Carnegie)
18. Where Eagles Rest (Hyrum W. Smith)
19. To Grow In Spirit (Christensen)
20. Cold Sassy Tree (Olive Ann Burns)
21. The Millionaire Next Door (Thomas J. Stanley, Lori Prokop, William D. Danko)
22. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (Stephen Covey)
23. The Education of Little Tree (Forest Carter)
24. Gone to Texas (Forest Carter)
25. Lonesome Dove (Larry McMurtry)
26. Dead Man’s Walk (Larry McMurtry)
27. Streets of Laredo (Larry McMurtry)
28. The Walking Drum (Louis L’Amour)
29. Crossfire Trail (Louis L’Amour)
30. Hondo (Louis L’Amour)
31. How the West Was Won (Louis L’Amour)
32. Callaghen (Louis L’Amour)
33. The Warrior’s Path (Louis L’Amour)
34. Last of the Breed (Louis L’Amour)
35. The Haunted Mesa (Louis L’Amour)
36. Sackett (Louis L’Amour)
37. Lonely on the Mountain (Louis L’Amour)
38. The Life of Insects (Russian) (Viktor Pelyeven)
39. Lone Cowboy; My Life Story (Will James)
40. The Call of the Wild (Jack London)
41. Mountain Man (Vardis Fisher)
42. Treasure Island (Robert Louis Stevenson)
43. Man are from Mars, Women Are From Venus (John Gray)
44. Retire Young Retire Rich (Robert T. Kiyosaki)
45. The Last Kingdom (Bernard Cornwell)
46. The Pale Horseman (Bernard Cornwell)
47. The Lords of the North (Bernard Cornwell)
48. Sharpe’s Rifles (Bernard Cornwell)
49. Sharpe’s Tiger (Bernard Cornwell)
50. Sharpe’s Triumph (Bernard Cornwell)
51. Sharpe’s Fortress (Bernard Cornwell)
52. Sharpe’s Trafalgar (Bernard Cornwell)
53. Sharpe’s Prey (Bernard Cornwell)
54. Sharpe’s Rifles (Bernard Cornwell)
55. Sharpe’s Havoc (Bernard Cornwell)
56. Sharpe’s Eagle (Bernard Cornwell)
57. Sharpe’s Gold (Bernard Cornwell)
58. Sharpe’s Escape (Bernard Cornwell)
59. Sharpe’s Fury (Bernard Cornwell)
60. Sharpe’s Battle (Bernard Cornwell)
61. Sharpe’s Company (Bernard Cornwell)
62. Sharpe’s Sword (Bernard Cornwell)
63. Sharpe’s Enemy (Bernard Cornwell)
64. Sharpe’s Honour (Bernard Cornwell)
65. Sharpe’s Regiment (Bernard Cornwell)
66. Sharpe’s Siege (Bernard Cornwell)
67. Sharpe’s Revenge (Bernard Cornwell)
68. Sharpe’s Waterloo (Bernard Cornwell)
69. Mater and Commander (Patrick O'Brian)
70. Post Captain (Patrick O'Brian)
71. H.M.S. Surprise (Patrick O'Brian)
72. The Mauritius Command (Patrick O'Brian)
73. Desolation Island (Patrick O'Brian)
74. Fortune of War (Patrick O'Brian)
75. The Surgeon’s Mate (Patrick O'Brian)
76. The Ionian Mission (Patrick O'Brian)
77. Treason’s Harbour (Patrick O'Brian)
78. The Far Side of the World (Patrick O'Brian)
79. The Reverse of the Medal (Patrick O'Brian)
80. The Letter of Marque (Patrick O'Brian)
81. The Thirteen Gun Salute (Patrick O'Brian)
82. The Nutmeg of Consolation (Patrick O'Brian)
83. The Truelove (Patrick O'Brian)
84. The Hobbit (J. R. R. Tolkien)
85. The Fellowship of the Ring (J. R. R. Tolkien)
86. The Two Towers (J. R. R. Tolkien)
87. The Return of the King (J. R. R. Tolkien)
88. The Silmarillion (J. R. R. Tolkien)
89. The Crystal Shard (Salvatore)
90. Streams of Silver (Salvatore)
91. The Halfling’s Gem (Salvatore)
92. Homeland (Salvatore)
93. Exile (Salvatore)
94. Sojourn(Salvatore)
95. The Legacy (Salvatore)
96. Starless Night (Salvatore)
97. Siege of Darkness (Salvatore)
98. Passage to Dawn (Salvatore)
99. The silent Blade (Salvatore)
100. The Spine of the World (Salvatore)
101. Servant of the Shard (Salvatore)
102. Sea of Swords (Salvatore)
103. Canticle (Salvatore)
104. In Sylvan Shadows (Salvatore)
105. Night Masks (Salvatore)
106. The Fallen Fortress (Salvatore)
107. The Chaos Curse (Salvatore)
108. The Eye of the World (Robert Jordan)
109. The Great Hunt (Robert Jordan)
110. The Dragon Reborn (Robert Jordan)
111. The Shadow Rising (Robert Jordan)
112. The Fires of Heaven (Robert Jordan)
113. Lord of Chaos (Robert Jordan)
114. A Crown of Swords (Robert Jordan)
115. The Path of Daggers (Robert Jordan)
116. Winter’s Heart (Robert Jordan)
117. Crossroads of Twilight (Robert Jordan)
118. The Talisman (Stephen King)
119. The Tommyknockers (Stephen King)
120. The Dark Tower (Stephen King)
121. The Drawing of Three (Stephen King)
122. The Gunslinger (Stephen King)
123. Song of Susannah (Stephen King)
124. The Waste Lands (Stephen King)
125. Wolves of Calla (Stephen King)
126. Wizard and Glass (Stephen King)
127. Skinny Dip (Carl Hiaasen)
128. Battlefield Earth (L. Ron Hubbard)
129. The Hot Zone (Richard Preston)
130. The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be (Farley Mowat)
131. Penny (Ruth Stringer)
132. Dragons of Autumn Twilight (Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman)
133. Dragons of Winter Night (Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman)
134. Dragons of Spring Dawning (Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman)
135. Dragons of Summer Flame (Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman)
136. Time of the Twins (Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman)
137. War of the Twins (Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman)
138. Test of the Twins (Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman)
139. A Fine and Pleasant Misery (Patrick McManus)
140. They Shoot Canoes, Don’t They? (Patrick McManus)
141. Never Sniff a Gift Fish (Patrick McManus)
142. The Grasshopper Trap (Patrick McManus)
143. Rubber Legs and White Tail-Hairs (Patrick McManus)
144. The Night The Bear Ate Goombaw (Patrick McManus)
145. Real Ponies Don’t Go Oink! (Patrick McManus)
146. The Good Samaritan Strikes Again (Patrick McManus)
147. How I Got This Way (Patrick McManus)
148. Never Cry “Arp!” And Other Great Adventures (Patrick McManus)
149. Into The Twilight, Endlessly Grousing (Patrick McManus)
150. The Bear in the Attic (Patrick McManus)
151. To Draw Closer to God: A Collection of Discourses (Eyring)
152. Jonathan Seagull (Richard Bach)
153. Uncle Vanya (Chekhov)
154. The Client (John Grisham)
155. A Time To Kill (John Grisham)
156. The Firm (John Grisham)
157. The Pelican Brief (John Grisham)
158. The Rainmaker (John Grisham)
159. The Runaway Jury (John Grisham)
160. The Brethren (John Grisham)
161. The Summons (John Grisham)
162. A Painted House (John Grisham)
163. The Innocent Man (John Grisham)
164. The Spy Who Came In From The Cold (John Le Carre’)
165. Stay Fit and Healthy Until You’re Dead (Dave Barry)
166. Dave Barry Turns 40 (Dave Barry)
167. A Hitch-Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
168. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (JK Rowling)
169. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (JK Rowling)
170. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (JK Rowling)
171. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (JK Rowling)
172. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (JK Rowling)
173. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (JK Rowling)
174. The Old Man and the Sea (Ernest Hemingway)
175. Of Mice and Men (John Steinbeck)
176. The Grapes Of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
177. The Lord of the Flies (William Golding)
178. The Work and the Glory, Pilar of Fire (Gerald N. Lund)
179. The Work and the Glory, Like a Fire is Burning (Gerald N. Lund)
180. The Work and the Glory, Truth Will Prevail (Gerald N. Lund)
181. The Work and the Glory, Thy Gold Refine (Gerald N. Lund)
182. The Work and the Glory, A Season of Joy (Gerald N. Lund)
183. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
184. Beyond Band of Brothers (Major Dick Winters)
185. Conversations With Neal’s Brain (William H. Calvin, George A. Ojemann)
186. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
187. Angels & Deamons (Dan Brown)
188. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Ken Kesey)
189. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
190. Speaker for the Dead (Orson Scott Card)
191. Seventh Son (Orson Scott Card)
192. Alvin Journeyman (Orson Scott Card)
193. Prentice Alvin (Orson Scott Card)
194. Enchantment (Orson Scott Card)
195. Holes (Louis Sachar)
196. Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (Lewis Carroll)
197. Great Expectations (Charles Dickens)
198. The Scarlet Letter (Nathaniel Hawthorne)
199. The Great Gatspy (F. Scott Fitzgerald)
200. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Samuel Clemens)
201. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Samuel Clemens)
202. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (Samuel Clemens)
203. Everything Is Illuminated (Liev Schreiber)
204. The Monkey Wrench Gang (Edward Abbey)
205. The Iliad (Homer)
206. The Odyssey (Homer)
207. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Roald Dahl)
208. Beowolf
209. Oliver Twist (Charles Dickens)
210. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
211. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (C.S. Lewis)
212. Prince Caspian (C.S. Lewis)
213. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (C.S. Lewis)
214. The Silver Chair (C.S. Lewis)
215. The Horse and His Boy (C.S. Lewis)
216. The Magician’s Nephew (C.S. Lewis)
217. The Last Battle (C.S. Lewis)
218. The Screwtape Letters (C.S. Lewis)
219. Mere Christianity (C.S. Lewis)
220. Starship Troopers (Robert Heinlein)
221. Dracula (Bram Stoker)
222. Robinson Crusoe (Daniel Defoe)
223. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
224. The Wine Dark Sea (Patrick O’Brian)
225. The Commodore (Patrick O’Brian)
226. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
227. Mr. Midshipman Hornblower (C. S. Forester)
228. Lieutenant Hornblower (C. S. Forester)
229. Hornblower and the Hotspur (C. S. Forester)
230. Hornblower and the Crisis (C. S. Forester)
231. Hornblower and the Atropos (C. S. Forester)
232. The Happy Return (C. S. Forester)
233. A Ship of the Line (C. S. Forester)
234. Flying Colours (C. S. Forester)
235. The Commodore (C. S. Forester)
236. Lord Hornblower (C. S. Forester)
237. Hornblower in the West Indies (C. S. Forester)
238. Born To Run (Christopher McDougall)
239. The Sword Song (Bernard Cornwell)
240. Beyond Band of Brothers (Richard D. Winters)
241. Band of Brothers (Stephen Ambrose)
242. Agincount (Bernard Cornwell)
243. Gulliver's Travels (Jonathan Swift)
244. Achieving Your Life Mission (Randal A. Wright)
245. Artemis Fowl (Eoin Colfer)
246. Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident (Eoin Colfer)
247. Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code (Eoin Colfer)
248. Call of Duty: My Life Before, During and After.. (Lt. Lynn "Buck" Compton)
249. A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens)
250. The Warrior Heir (Cinda Williams Chima)
251. Les Miserables (Victor Hugo)
252. The Day Breakers (Louis L'Amour)
253. Lando (Louis L'Amour)
254. The Sacket Brand (Louis L'Amour)
255. Mustang Man (Louis L'Amour)
256. Conagher (Louis L'Amour)
257. Mojave Crossing (Louis L'Amour)
258. Galloway (Louis L'Amour)
259. Treasure Mountain (Louis L'Amour)
260. Lonely on the Mountain (Louis L'Amour)
261. The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins)
262. Bloody Jack (L.A. Meyer)
263. The Curse of the Blue Tattoo (L.A. Meyer)
264. Under the Jolly Roger (L.A. Meyer)
265. In the Belly of the Bloodhound (L.A. Meyer)
266. Odds Are You're Going To Be Exalted (Alonzo L. Gaskill)
267. Achieving Your Life Misson (Randal Wright)
268. Mississippi Jack (L.A. Meyer)
269. Catcher in the Rye (D.J. Salinger)
270. Mustang Man (Louis L'Amour)
271. The World According to Garp (John Irving)
272. My Bonny Light Horseman (L.A. Meyer)
273. The Rapture of the Deep (L.A. Meyer)
274. The Five Love Languages (Gary Chapman)
275. The Winter King (Bernard Cornwell)
276. Enemy of God (Bernard Cornwell)
277. Excalibur (Bernard Cornwell)
278. From Missouri (Zane Grey)
279. Freakonomics (Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner)
280. The Appeal (John Grisham)
290. The Help (Kathryn Stockett)
291. Treasure Island (Robert Louis Stevenson)
292. The Maltese Falcon (Dashiell Hammett)
293. Henderson the Rain King (Saul Bellow)
294. The Quick and the Dead (Louis L'Amour)
295. Bossypants (Tina Fey)

Family Home Evening

This is a video of the maiden voyage of the Slide Fire on the AR-15 that essentially makes it a fully automatic rifle. This was my Family Home Evening activity for Monday.

Snowy River

I watched "The Man From Snowy River" again this weekend. It's a movie based on a poem by Banjo Paterson. I've always loved poetry, and westerns. This is both. The poem talks of what I think are the coolest sections of the movie I watched. I am also posting a reading of that poem, by some Australian, with clips from the movie illustrating the points of the poem.



The Man from Snowy River


There was movement at the station, for the word had passed around
That the colt from old Regret had got away,
And had joined the wild bush horses - he was worth a thousand pound,
So all the cracks had gathered to the fray.
All the tried and noted riders from the stations near and far
Had mustered at the homestead overnight,
For the bushmen love hard riding where the wild bush horses are,
And the stock-horse snuffs the battle with delight.

There was Harrison, who made his pile when Pardon won the cup,
The old man with his hair as white as snow;
But few could ride beside him when his blood was fairly up-
He would go wherever horse and man could go.
And Clancy of the Overflow came down to lend a hand,
No better horseman ever held the reins;
For never horse could throw him while the saddle girths would stand,
He learnt to ride while droving on the plains.

And one was there, a stripling on a small and weedy beast,
He was something like a racehorse undersized,
With a touch of Timor pony - three parts thoroughbred at least -
And such as are by mountain horsemen prized.
He was hard and tough and wiry - just the sort that won't say die -
There was courage in his quick impatient tread;
And he bore the badge of gameness in his bright and fiery eye,
And the proud and lofty carriage of his head.

But so slight and weedy, one would doubt his power to stay,
And the old man said, "That horse will never do
For a long and tiring gallop-lad, you'd better stop away,
Those hills are far too rough for such as you."
So he waited sad and wistful - only Clancy stood his friend -
"I think we ought to let him come," he said;
"I warrant he'll be with us when he's wanted at the end,
For both his horse and he are mountain bred."

"He hails from Snowy River, up by Kosciusko's side,
Where the hills are twice as steep and twice as rough,
Where a horse's hoofs strike firelight from the flint stones every stride,
The man that holds his own is good enough.
And the Snowy River riders on the mountains make their home,
Where the river runs those giant hills between;
I have seen full many horsemen since I first commenced to roam,
But nowhere yet such horsemen have I seen."

So he went - they found the horses by the big mimosa clump -
They raced away towards the mountain's brow,
And the old man gave his orders, "Boys, go at them from the jump,
No use to try for fancy riding now.
And, Clancy, you must wheel them, try and wheel them to the right.
Ride boldly, lad, and never fear the spills,
For never yet was rider that could keep the mob in sight,
If once they gain the shelter of those hills."

So Clancy rode to wheel them - he was racing on the wing
Where the best and boldest riders take their place,
And he raced his stockhorse past them, and he made the ranges ring
With stockwhip, as he met them face to face.
Then they halted for a moment, while he swung the dreaded lash,
But they saw their well-loved mountain full in view,
And they charged beneath the stockwhip with a sharp and sudden dash,
And off into the mountain scrub they flew.

Then fast the horsemen followed, where the gorges deep and black
Resounded to the thunder of their tread,
And the stockwhips woke the echoes, and they fiercely answered back
From cliffs and crags that beetled overhead.
And upward, ever upward, the wild horses held their sway,
Were mountain ash and kurrajong grew wide;
And the old man muttered fiercely, "We may bid the mob good day,
No man can hold them down the other side."

When they reached the mountain's summit, even Clancy took a pull,
It well might make the boldest hold their breath,
The wild hop scrub grew thickly, and the hidden ground was full
Of wombat holes, and any slip was death.
But the man from Snowy River let the pony have his head,
And he swung his stockwhip round and gave a cheer,
And he raced him down the mountain like a torrent down its bed,
While the others stood and watched in very fear.

He sent the flint stones flying, but the pony kept his feet,
He cleared the fallen timbers in his stride,
And the man from Snowy River never shifted in his seat -
It was grand to see that mountain horseman ride.
Through the stringybarks and saplings, on the rough and broken ground,
Down the hillside at a racing pace he went;
And he never drew the bridle till he landed safe and sound,
At the bottom of that terrible descent.

He was right among the horses as they climbed the further hill
And the watchers on the mountain standing mute,
Saw him ply the stockwhip fiercely, he was right among them still,
As he raced across the clearing in pursuit.

Then they lost him for a moment, where two mountain gullies met
In the ranges, but a final glimpse reveals
On a dim and distant hillside the wild horses racing yet,
With the man from Snowy River at their heels.

And he ran them single-handed till their sides were white with foam.
He followed like a bloodhound in their track,
Till they halted cowed and beaten, then he turned their heads for home,
And alone and unassisted brought them back.
But his hardy mountain pony he could scarcely raise a trot,
He was blood from hip to shoulder from the spur;
But his pluck was still undaunted, and his courage fiery hot,
For never yet was mountain horse a cur.

And down by Kosciusko, where the pine-clad ridges raise
Their torn and rugged battlements on high,
Where the air is clear as crystal, and the white stars fairly blaze
At midnight in the cold and frosty sky,
And where around The Overflow the reed beds sweep and sway
To the breezes, and the rolling plains are wide,
The man from Snowy River is a household word today,
And the stockmen tell the story of his ride.


Andrew Barton Paterson ('Banjo')

Hawaii, Just as Awesome As You Think It Would Be

Mark, Mike, Jill, Kendra, Amy, Sara, and I, (with others joining in) had a great time in Hawaii. (Oahu and Maui). These are a few of my pictures. Can't wait until I get some from my friends' cameras. Some noteworthy events that happened:

1. Mark got sea urchin in his buttocks and had to get it out.
2. Mark peed in a bottle to soak the buttocks in and stem the poison's pain
3. Hatota, the spear fishing guide, unknowingly and accidentally drank a bit of said bottled urin.
4. Waterproof camera was dropped in the middle of the night, in the middle of the ocean, and with divine intervention, was found by Hatota.
5. Strangers saw Mark's naked buttocks.

Christmas Day Double Fist

This is a picture of an original print by Gabe Leonard called, "Double Fist".
My brother Chaz gave it to me for Christmas. It's one of the coolest things I have. Thanks, Chaz! It's going some place in my home where I'll see it every day.

No, not in the bathroom.

Merry Christmas 2011

click pic to enlarge

Being A Man Is Rough.... Especially In The 50's

"Eaten Alive By Killer Pigs"
"The Big Cat Clawed My Guts"
"Masculine Inadequacies Drive Women Nuts!"

Trotting With A Turkey

Every year, we run the Mesa Turkey Trot. I do it mainly to keep humble. My humility is highest when those old women pass me on the sixth mile. By "old", I mean "not teenager".

(Note my dad's 1994 Turkey Trot T-shirt. He took second place in his age group this year. Way to go, Dad! That means one man, age 65-69, likely cheated.)

Happy Thanksgiving

I like this Russian.