Picto Diary - 01 to 06 March 2024 - Don't Mess With Texas

Above: Palisades. Ivins, UT. 01 March 2024.

Good morning! Image from Palisades Homeowners Assn. Facebook post. We're in Park City in the snow today.

Above: LSDM Friday Colloquium, 01 March 2024. Wasatch Bagel. Park City, UT.

Suprise (and welcome) guest, Carolyn Phippen, candidate (R) for US Senate (Utah).
Note: Notes are mine (SDT). Mistakes are mine. Carolyn Phippen is welcome to correct/clarify notes.
Takeaways from Carolyn Phippen remarks:

I can win. I'm going the convention route... no signature gathering. I can win the party's nomination with a 60% win in the convention vote. I can win the primary given the more numerous than normal number of candidates on the ballot who "buy their way in" to the primary via the signature gathering route.

I am against additional funding for Ukraine. The average age today of the Ukraine soldier approaches fifty. We have been complicit in destroying a generation of an entire country's young men. Our role in Ukraine has been unconscionable. Fears of Russian adventurism into NATO lands are overrated. We have serious problems at home, such as the porous US border, that should be prioritized over US adventurism abroad.

I am a supporter of Phil Lyman for Governor of Utah.

I am the only true conservative on the ballot for Utah US Senate 2024.

On US debt: We need to start making cuts on the discretionary budget. Momentum can then build to tackle entitlements, now two thirds of the US budget.

Above: Bishop and Carolyn Phippen. Wasatch Bagel, Park City, UT. 01 March 2024. Carolyn Phippen, candidate (R) for US Senate, Utah 2024. Carolyn running for retiring Pierre Delecto's seat.

Above: Iron Canyon Court. Park City, UT. 02 March 2024.

Getting hammered. Driveway boilers can't keep up.

Above: Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. Park City, UT. 03 March 2024.

Hailey family. Progress report from Drums and Mynduveroan. Drums continues to excel in music. His Caleb Chapman Soundhouse band, Deep Pockets, will travel to France this summer. Mynduveroan is making regular trips to Ocala, FL to participate in eventing with her horse, Glynda Goodwich.

Above: Alta Snowfall. Chart retrieved from internet on 03 March 2024.

How come Alta hasn't updated its chart for 2022/23 snowfall of 905 inches? YTD 2023/24 snowfall exceeds 500 inches. Alta claims a 550-inch annual average snowfall. So, it looks like 2023/24 Alta snowfall will reach, and likely exceed, 550 inches e.g. two years running snowfall exceeding annual average snowfall, with five weeks remaining during the snowfall counting period. Look, I'm not a scientist. I don't know if the earth is cooling or not. But, just in case it is, shouldn't we do something?

Above: Nastar Racecourse. Deer Valley, UT. 04 March 2024.

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Note the handicapped skier on the course. This competition included competitors from Park City's National Ability Center (NAC), an organization which facilitates outdoor activity for handicapped participants.

Above: Big Stick ski run. Deer Valley, UT. 05 March 2024.

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I captured this image just after skiing this run. One of those few ski days where I zoned. Pre break, skiing was more workout than fun. Light snow and low visibility. But the snow was good and, though I had to work a bit harder, I felt I could make it to the break... then ski out with twelve runs accomplished for the day. Post break at my office at Empire Lodge, the sun came out. Perfect snow... perhaps two inches on top of the groomed surfaces on which I like to ski. So, I skied seventeen runs, five beyond the twelve I had hoped to ski. Apart from feeling a bit dehydrated, I was, well, in a skiing zone. The water fix could wait.

About 11:45 AM I rode up the Viking lift with a sixty something guy. Here's my recollection of the dialogue:

Mwah (sic): Good morning.

Texas: Good morning. Wow, these conditions are great. What a great day.

Mwah (sic): Local?

Texas: I was born in Louisiana, but I moved to Texas thirty years ago.

Mwah (sic): I like your governor. He has cojones on the border crisis.

Texas: Texas is hot, hot, hot! Texas is firing on all eight cylinders. I love living in Texas. People are trying to figure out a way for Abbott to get a fourth term. He's fantastic. Look. I'm about ready to become the person the left accuses me of being. I'm ready to lock and load. Let them come after me and find out the mistake they made.

Mwah (sic): Well, we've only been on this lift for two minutes, but I have the sense that we share a lot in common in terms of our political views.

After separating from Texas at the top of the Viking lift, I smiled to myself about the guy's comment about how the left stereotypes Trump supporters: gun totting, redneck cultists etc. The best work I've seen to disabuse of this absurd stereotype is Salena Zito and Brad Todd's book, "The Great Revolt."

The authors categorized 2016 Trump supporters into six categories:

Red-Blooded and Blue Collared
Perot-istas
Rough Rebounders
Girl Gun Power
Rotary Reliables
King Cyrus Christians

My fellow lift rider from Texas seemed well heeled and was likely in the college educated (more likely petroleum engineering than English Lit) Rotary Reliables category. Texas was not a redneck cultist by any stretch of imagination. But he was so angry at being mischaracterized by the left, that he said he was thinking about becoming one. Funny!

Above: Eckard Middle School. Summit County, UT. 05 March 2024. (file image).

Summit County Republican Party Caucus. As I was a state delegate two years ago, I was charged with being host of the Thay:4 (Thanes Canyon) precinct caucus. There were fifteen in attendance (as opposed to five last year). With only one nominee for state delegate put forward, I unenthusiastically put my own name into the nominee group. I lost to an enthusiastic forty something tech type who immigrated from California to Park City two years ago. Over half of the fifteen participating caucus goers were there to support this fellow's bid. It was fun to be part of the grass roots political process for a couple of years.

Above: Jordanelle Reservoir. Deer Valley, UT. 06 March 2024.

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Image taken from Jordanelle ski run. In the SE quartile of the image is the base area for the new Mayflower hotel, real estate and ski project set to open in 2026. Mayflower will be managed under the Deer Valley brand making Deer Valley a close second to Park City, already the largest ski resort in the US, with 750 skiable acres.

Addendum:

Very interesting, thanks for sharing, Steve.

Drummer J,
Lehi, UT

We are so sorry to hear about the trouble your grandson has been having and glad that he seems to be much better now. What a scare for all of you! We wish him well!

Best regards,

Kate and Ken,
Salt Lake City, UT

Nice note lost in the ether.

Bob,
Atlanta, GA