Suburban on wheels.

A Madsen Cycle is in my future. I want a black one.

http://www.madsencycles.com/



Nice job Jared!

BNO in Coalville

Chad (owner of the other half of the boat) and I decided it was time to bring the boat back from Echo. All together the Stringhams used the boat 13 times. Chad and family used it 11 times. Not bad considering we didn't start going up til mid July. When we went up last week, we were feeling pretty tough. No other boats on the lake and the water is getting quite cold. On this last rendevous we decided that we should BNO it and show how tough we are, we even brought a huge spotlight so we could play in the dark. Well, every story is an adventure. This one started with just getting through Coalville to the resivoir. Seems that it was North Summit High School Homecoming (Go Braves!) against rival South Summit (Booooo!). Seriouly, who doesn't have a massive parade that shuts down main street so 50 plus floats can go down and then back. Everyone in Coalville was there (except Chad's parents, they were curious what the noise was a block away). We were able to get across the street (which really didn't help our forward progress) and then we had to observe the parade. It was fun to see some small town fun. Best part is that we were able to see some dancing girls on our BNO.







And the Homecoming royalty.


You gotta love that. We did make it to the water eventually after some free candy thrown from the floats. A kind Sheriff let us drive the Suburban and boat right downt the middle of the parade route. Some kid yelled "Nice float."





Once we made it to the water we found the end of the boat ramp. You don't ever want to drive your trailer of the edge of the ramp. It would be a bad thing. We had to go wheeling (another great BNO activity) across the beach and launch from the shore. That was cool. Once in Chad, Steve and I took several runs each, enjoyed the smooth water, were the only boat on the water, had a great view of fall colors and were euophoric from stage 1 hypothermia. Great fun.

I have always wanted to be a surf bum.


Chad just before he pushes his eyeballs to the back of his skull. He is moving to the right, notice the tip of his board.


Scott sporting the 1991 wetsuit, still keeps you warm!

We had a great time, got the boat out just as darkness fell enjoyed a Subway on the way home. We all felt we had one too many Polar King's this summer. By the way N. Summit won their game. Coalvile was a happy place.

Now that boating is over time to look to the hills. Yep, this photo was taken on October 5. See you on the slopes.

Epic.

I went to the dentist recently and my hygenist asked "How was your summer?" Epic was the first word that came to mind. And it really has been.


So much so, that I have not really had time to blog. Last time I blogged it was the first week of June and a lot has happened since then. Here is a brief time line.

June 9-10 went to Bear Lake. Always fun.










June 20 - Megan Summer Stringham 2 years old.

June 21 - Summer Solstice. The real start of summer. Oh yeah.
If you came, you witnessed the melee that it has become. If you didn't, see you next year.











The band played, it was a good time. The attendance count was about 150.

June 22-24 Cedar City for work. We did go to Cedar Breaks. Always cool.














Jake and his HBI harem. Nice.

June 24-July 1

Marsh Family Bear Lake. Exciting, fun, crowded. That is how I describe it.

During Marsh Family Bear Lake I had to come to Salt Lake for a Golf Tourney and for a Grey Dogs gig. Men, take my marital advice, don't do this during family vacation. Sorry Melissa.

July 4 - Nothing burned down.









July 12 - Echo Triathlon
Raced well. Fast out of the water. Passed on the bike. Survived the run. What's new?











July 18-19 Fathers and Sons Campout. Up by Smith Moorehouse. No photos. Just JQ and SQ. Great time. We like to camp together.


July 19 - The Police Concert. I have a man crush. Best concert of my life. Just Awesome.






July-Sept - Are we a boat family? I think we are. We bought into a "training/beater" boat. Man, it has been really fun. We got out 11 times. It has put a cramp in our style but we hope to get everyone out. We even killed a deer with it. The boat's name is now "The Deer Slayer" I have mowed the lawn a lot less. That part is cool. It seems we have wet towels everywhere in the house.

























June - August Swim Team

Jonas and Samantha swam at The Tennis Club this summer. They are studs. We rode our bikes over all but 2-3 mornings. 6 miles round trip plus an hour and a half of swimming. They got some work in. I was proud of them. Samantha and I had a great crash. Both of us got a little scraped up but no harm. More here.

July 20-21 Cub Country.

July 24 - Deseret New 10K. Lost a toenail. Ran fast though.

July 28 - August 2 Scout Camp. 6 days, 12 boys, 3 leaders, 2 showers, 72 merit badges, 12 rank advancements, 1 trip to Evanston ER, and a pair of underwear. I split a .22 bullet on the blade of an axe. That was cool. Be Prepared.






















August 8-9 Ward Campout. The fam damily went. No photos. Sorry.

August 16- Snowbird Hill Climb. I can't believe I didn't beat Levi's course record. Maybe next year.













August 18 - Jack Johnson in Concert. 2nd best concert of the year.










Bubble Toes =Stringham's favorite Jack Johnson song. Thanks Jack.

August 19 - I turned 36. Crap. Thanks for the blog-card Michelle










August 23 Jordanelle Triathlon. Swim, Bike, Run.
















August 29 - The Grey Dogs Rock fest. Imagine a cool band rocking.

August 30 - Fishing at Pass Lake with Doug and Cathy.










August 31 - JQ turns 10. Wow.

September 1 - Labor Day. Kids Tri that ended in a massive hail storm and lightning. Way to go Jonas, Samantha and Robbie. No pictures of the finish. It was under water.
























Sept 4 - Quincy announces he is marrying Fran and moving to Chicago. Fran, welcome to the craziness that is Stringham. She will fit in just fine. We were boating, she wanted to tube. Didn't have a suit so got in in her clothes anyway. Nice. Also the night of the deer slaying. That is what makes memories.

Sept 6 - LOTOJA

So I wimped out this year. I did it as a relay with my great friend Eric. We were in school at U of O. Life was much more simple there. Now we are over programed with lots of kids and lots of responsibility.














Well that is about it. September has been pretty mellow. We have been "taking it easy". Work is awesome too. We are growing and working hard. The highlights of the summer have been riding my bike to and from work 2-3 times a week, bagel dog shoes (ask Jonas), the boat and having an incredible family. Speaking of family, if you have made it this far in the blog, you deserve to know, we have a new model in production, STR005. Specs unknown. Coming April 7, 2009. Life is an adventure. I love it.

Neffs Canyon Backpacking

Another great Scout trip. June 7, 2008.... it snowed on us.

GrandeurPeak

This is a great local hike. Our Scout troop turned it into an overnight back pack trip. Read more on the Troop 181 blog.

Packed up to the "saddle" made camp. Summited in the morning. Best part, landed at the trail head around 10:15. Everyone home by 10:30. I love Utah.

St. George Triathlon May 10, 2008

Triathlon is a pretty cool sport. I have enjoyed it for 18 years. I estimate I have completed between 40-50 races. This was the "spookiest" swim in all those years. 2-3 foot whitecaps coming down. Depending on the direction you were swimming, the waves were either pushing you (very good), breaking sideways over you (bad) or swimming directly into them (very bad) . Melissa said the brought at least 60 people in on the boats. And they ended up cancelling the swim for the other races for safety. I was 18th out of the water. I felt pretty good.

The bike sucked! Oh man, 30mph head winds, and in my style got passed by about 80 people. I hate that part. Lately, I have been using the "I rode LOTOJA last year" bike trainng plan. My power was not at the high end.

Running was good. Same wind, sandblasting red sand. Everything was caked with red dirt. Overall I was satisfied. Melissa did great as well. Outside of no swim, and a buffeting wind. Thanks to Cathy for watching the kids, Quincy, Ralph and Doug for soccer game patrol.

Poor Old Tree

This was the apple tree that lived in our front yard. Originally it was apart of the apple orchard before our neigborhood was a subdivision and it was an apple orchard. The rings indicate that it was over 60 years old. There are now only 2 trees left from the orchard. They still line up in a row. This tree has some accomplishments.

Climbed many times. Bore much fruit ( except for last year, when it produced 1 apple). Knocked my dad unconcious. The night my grandpa had his stroke, he was running (my dad, not grandpa) out the front door and a branch clocked him hard. Last year a neighbor kid, fell out. When I was a kid it was a really cool hang out.

So these, were the tree executioners. The they were "bad a**" They knew how to cut down a tree. It was like watching a chainsaw ballet. And what is really cool is that Dave is the rhythm guitar player in The Grey Dogs. Anyway, if you need a tree dude, let me know and I will give you his number. Thanks for the memories Apple Tree.

ABC Tag - Man Version

This is the post that derailed my blogging for 2.5 months. It is not that funny, but it provides a snapshot of my brain.

A- AC/DC or ABBA. "She was a fast machine" who "shook me all night long"....but, did not "Take a Chance." My vote AC/DC

B- Burritos. Always burritos

C- Car, favorite. 1990 Red Isuzu Trooper. Named Trigger. Purveyor of fun.

D- Dog, How many? 6, Cassie, Meggie, Abbie Simon, Cisco, Ziggy

E- Essential Item. Sunglasses, especially at night

F- Fan of... The Utes, Jazz, Braves, Packers (?, they are growing on me)

G- Gore Tex, this is the good stuff, serioulsy it is cool

H-Hungry? Yes most of the time. See "B" above.

I- Indecision? Sometimes it seems as if it surrounds me.

J- Name of No 1. Son - Jonas

K- Kitchen Appliance (Favorite) - Microwave, followed by toaster oven

L - Lips or Legs? I shave both (in the summer), for women, a subtle combination of both.

M- Movies or Make-Out? Yes.

N- Nuggets or Nouget. Nouget. Especially involving chocolate

O- Oregon. Go Ducks!

P- Pizza. Mmm... Pepperoni and Sausage.

Q- Best middle initial ever.

R- Rock and Roll - The Samples, The Police, lately, Jack Johnson, perhaps I was born in the wrong generation

S- Ski or Sail - Both.

T- Trail or road? Trail if I can.

U-Utah. Best state to live in by far.

V-Volume - I like it at "11"

W-Women- Melissa is the best followed by my 3 daughters

X-X-ray vision, dangerous in the hands of men

Y-Why do I have to go to work every day?

Z-Zorro - 3rd grade Holloween costume.

Great trip to Zion

Last weekend we roadtriped to Zion, had a great trip! I was a little aprehensive. To say our hiking has always been successful would be a stretch. Everyone was great. We hiked into emerald pools and had a great picnic at the Lodge. Spent most of the day in the Park. It was beatiful. On the way back to St. George we stopped at Grafton (the ghost town) to see if we could see Shaggy and Scooby and the Mystery Machine. The weren't there but it was still pretty cool. I remember stopping as a little kid and thinking it was strange. Anywhooo... this trip gave me hope that we can hike as a family. There was very little whinning and lots of laughter. Put one in the win column.

This is why I want to buy a scooter.

Ouch, and I still had a quarter tank before I filled up.

Green Eggs and Ham

This is what happens when you put me in charge of St. Patrick's Day dinner. Green eggs and ham. Mmmmm......

Snow Caves

So, I have never dug a snow cave and slept in it. Until this weekend. I went up with the my scout troop (which I serve as Asst. Troublemaker, I mean Scoutmaster) to dig caves, some with the intention of sleeping, some with the intention of just digging. Here are a couple of lessons I learned.

1. It takes about 2 1/2 hours to dig a quality cave.


2. You get really wet. In the effort of full disclosure, we were caving in snowbanks at one of our scouts cabins. So after getting really wet, I was able to go change and sit by the fire for 3 hours before returning for my slumber. I was still glad to have many layers.


3. When you wake up in the morning you wake up with really sore shouders from chipping and hauling snow, and suprisingly really bruised knees from kneeling in small confined areas chippng and hauling snow.


4. While sleeping in a snow cave the mind plays some wierd tricks on you. You think, "What if a cougar (Not a BYU cougar, although that might be uncomfortable as well) thinks my awesome cave is an awesome cave? Could I fight if off? Would it be afraid of my headlamp?" You also think, "Wow, that cave ceiling is awful close to my head." Then you actually fall asleep, sit up, to roll over and think "Crap/Ouch, that hurt, I knew that celing was too close to my head"


5. Things I am glad I had for a quality snow caving experience: Big Blue Tarp, 2 crazy creek chairs (folded out for insulation) 1 Thermarest Pad, 2 sleeping bags, 2 socks, fleece pants, rain pants, 1 Poly-pro shirt, 1 fleece turtleneck, 1 fleece jacket, 2 sets of gloves, 1 beanie cap, 1 camp pillow, head lamp (to fend of the cougras), Sorels, and a short shovel with a hand grip (and a cabin close by to change and get warm and dry!)

I have to say that I was the only person to make it through the night outside. Man vs Wild, here I come. I have also had many nights camping where I was colder then than I was in the snow cave. I would do it again, minus the visions of cougars.

For more Snow Cave fun check out the Troop 181 blog link. See you in the snowbank.

One of the best days of the year.

There is just something awesome about riding your bike with 4-5 foot snow banks on the side of the road. Makes you feel tough. In my opinion, one of the best days of the year is when you get to ride outside and get off the trainer. I was not the only one with this idea. I counted 54 cyclists in Emigration Canyon, everyone seemed pretty happy. I rode farther and harder than "the plan" called for, but it was great. I was 5 minutes off my PR from the "Slide Area" sign at the bottom to the yellow gaurd rail at the summit, so there is some work to do, but mostly is was fun just to get out and enjoy the extra added hour of sun, thanks to an early DST. Even made it home in the daylight. I have to admit that I am sad to see the snow melt. I would like to get out and ski some more, but the trade offs will be abundant as hiking, Mtn. biking and all the other stuff that clutters my garage can come out and play. See you at the summit.