Drilling Article

Utah State University wrote an article about our geothermal drilling project. Check out the story here: http://www.usu.edu/ust/index.cfm?article=48194

Research Project Started

Well, my graduate school research project has finally started! This is what I have been waiting for. I am very excited to see what we discover. This is site number one out of three. All three sites are located on the Snake River Plain of Idaho. This site is near Burley.

For more information and updates regarding the Geothermal Exploration Project formally named HOTSPOT see the official blog at http://www.icdp-online.org/front_content.php?client=29&lang=28&idart=2939.

This is the entire drill site with pretty much everything we need and/or have on site. Yes, it is as small as it looks. It has lots of amenities relative to many other drill sites, namely electricity that is not provided from a generator and a water well.

Here is a picture of the drill rig and the box where the drillers will spend the bulk of their time. The pipe in the foreground is the pipe that will eventually be fed into the ground to retrieve our rock core samples up to several thousand feet under the surface. 

Another shot of the drill rig as the boom is raised into position. 

A Visit to Fawn's House....

Sebastian started his interest in horses when we went to the Rigby Rodeo (which we had free tickets to). As he watched all the cowboys and cowgirls he decided he really want to ride a horse too and tried asking us. Of course the answer was no, but he didn't understand why. When we moved to Logan that weekend we found that in our backyard, pretty much, we have a public equestrian park. So he started hearing them and seeing them more often, and again, asking to ride them. Then I had a bright idea, my mom's good friend, Fawn, has always offered for me to come over with the kids and come ride horses or go in the pool etc. So I told Sebastian that next time we go to see Grandma Dickson we can try to go to Fawn's house and ride some horses. We ended up going to Washington just a week or two later for Brady's son's blessing so we had our opportunity. It was great. Fawn was thrilled to have us and it was so much fun! Hopefully she is up for us doing it every time we visit. Because I know Sebastian will ask!=)

So serious. I had to wake Sebastian up to come see the horses. It took him a while before he got on one. But I knew he would be so sad if he didn't...so finally, he was ready....and then he didn't want to get off.

he loved it, even with all his seriousness

Madison was so sweet and helpful

This is the most expression I think I was able to get out of Sebastian. He was so serious about the whole thing...but he loved it. And he has not stopped talking about "going to Fawn's house"

No one was really a fan of riding with Paige....didn't help that Paige was kind of wiggly and not sure about riding horses anyway

Sebastian definitely was not up for sharing his horse

Cora was actually the best fit for Paige...Cora loved the horses. She didn't care which one she rode on, as long as she was on one

Me and Paige. Fawn gave me the reigns and I steered Sparkles where I wanted her to go. It was actually pretty cool...and Paige liked it much better just being with me.

Goodbye Griffey

It was announced yesterday that Ken Griffey Jr. is retiring immediately. His career was legendary; 21 seasons, 13 all-star appearances, 10 gold gloves, 1 AL MVP, 630 home runs (fifth highest of all time), and one of the smoothest swings of all time. His career started and ended in Seattle. Griffey, you will be missed my me as well as millions of others. Farewell and enjoy the hall of fame.

You Know There is Love in the Home When....

Last night Sebastian wanted to go to sleep in our room. Chris went ahead and made him a bed on our floor and we told him that we would move him later (when we went to bed). He wasn't so into that idea, so we just said goodnight so he wouldn't worry about it. When we were ready for bed I went ahead and moved Sebastian. He stirred a little and opened his eyes a few times. As I was checking on Paige I heard Sebastian stirring and saying: "mom...mom..." so I asked "What Sebastian." His sweet reply was: "Mom, I love you." Then he closed his eyes, rolled over, and went to sleep. Later we checked on him again and he mumbled "I love you" again as he was 3/4 asleep. We use the word love a lot in our home and I think it must really be sticking. Sebastian tells us all of the time that he loves and that we are the cutest or coolest, or the best ever. He really is such a good sweet boy. Such a joy in our lives. And I am so glad that he can feel our love in the home.

Pigmentary Glaucoma

For the past few years when I finished a high energy physical activity such as running, swimming or basketball I would come home and cool down and sometimes the pupil in my right eye would dilate until it was very large. It would be accompanied by a severe headache most often. As I started regularly playing basketball this spring the dilation started happening more often and was becoming a concern because I could not do much while my eye was acting up.
Elizabeth, "The Wise One" as I now call her, convinced me to go to the doctor and get examined. Our family practice doctor did not know what was causing the pupil dilation so he referred me to an opthalmologist (an eye specialist). I saw him and he determined that I have a rare case of glaucoma called Pigmentary Glaucoma. The diagram is included for the following explanation of what my condition is.

General glaucoma refers to high pressure in the eye. There is fluid in the eye to keep it inflated. The eye is always creating and circulating this fluid. So when the eye creates fluid faster than it can drain the fluid the pressure builds from the inside out and pressure builds causing what we know as glaucoma. This condition can be dangerous because the pressure inside the eye can cause damage to the optic nerve ultimately creating vision damage or loss. 

Pigmentary Glaucoma is a certain type of glaucoma that is present only in young near sighted males, which fits my description exactly. This type of glaucoma is caused by the lens bumping or colliding with the back side of the iris and chipping of pigment cells. The cells float around in the eye fluid until finally they try to go out the drainage system, and much like dirt or hair in a drain, it starts to clog and slow the drainage. Thus, the slow drainage causes a build in pressure. Pressure in the eye is measures in mmHg (millimeters of Mercury). The standard or normal atmospheric pressure is 760 mmHg at sea level. Eye pressure is measured as mmHg above standard. A normal pressure in the eye is 15 to 20 mmHg above standard. My right eye is double the normal pressure at almost 40 mmHg above the standard 760 mmHg. Luckily we became aware of the situation before any vision damage has occurred. Sometimes this type of glaucoma fixes itself over time, sometimes not.

There are several things to do to regulate the pressure in my eye. The most common is daily eye drops. There is also a laser surgery that can open the drainage a little bigger to allow for more drainage. For now, I am going to use eye drops to help regulate the pressure. There is a good chance that I will have this condition for the rest of my life. 

Yes, you are remembering correctly, it is my right eye and my right ear that have had problems. So, it seems that the right side of my head is aging much faster than normal. I wonder what is next...

Boise Half-Marathon

A few weekends ago Elizabeth, all her sisters, Eric, and Twyla met in Boise to run the Boise marathon. Elizabeth was planning on running the full marathon but injured her foot a few months earlier which impacted her training so that she was not fully ready for the full 26.2 miles. Elizabeth and Twyla ended up running the half-marathon while everyone else, ran the full marathon. Elizabeth ran the half in 2:25:45, which is about a 10:30 per mile, not including bathroom stops; amazing, I know. While the girls were having fun together in Boise I was at home with the kids. Now I have a lot more appreciation for how much mothers do on a daily basis. My wife truly is Superwoman!
Here are some pictures of the event:

All smiles before the race

Elizabeth and Twyla at the finish

All the finishers plus mom