Picto Diary - 08 to 14 May 2023 - Utah 1033 Foundation Leadership Awards
Above: The Monk. Salina, UT. 08 May 2023.
Today I drove the 350 miles (I-15, I-70, US 50, I-15, US 189) from Ivins, UT separating our two residences... the other in Park City. Halfway between I stopped to visit The Monk at his cattle ranch, The Bar J, in Salina, UT. Last year The Monk sold the more part of the Bar J, located at a higher elevation about 20 miles distant, to a Texas buyer. But The Monk still grows alfalfa and runs cows at the lower ranch, The Bar J Ranch, where he has set up a temporary residence. The Monk said he bought two bulls this year, one in Nebraska and the other at the Redd Ranch in Paradox Valley, Colorado. Several years ago, I accompanied The Monk and his son Dan Jr. on a bull buying visit to Paradox. The Monk grows several hundred acres of alfalfa, watered with the assistance of four new Zimmatic irrigation pivots. With record snowfall in Utah this year, The Monk says water will be plentiful.
Some may puzzle about why the Monk, whose business and banking business career took him to most of the world's capitals, and then some, would choose to live the final quarter of his life in the desiccated landscape of a central Utah cattle ranch. The Monk, over eighty years of age, gets up early, works hard herding cows, aligning pivots, driving tractors, hauling feed, and then he goes to bed late, spent. This is retirement?
I look to Ralph Waldo Emerson for explication of Dan's seeming hard work self-flagellation at a time in his life when he could, justifiably, relax. Emerson said, “the land is the appointed remedy for whatever is false and fantastic in our culture.” There is a groundedness (no pun intended) in living off the land. There is rootedness (again, no pun intended) being dependent on the land in a world where many seek fulfillment in the narcissistic transitory and non-substantial. I love these visits to the Bar J Ranch where I can interact with a man who, even at eighty plus, seems to have grown in authenticity with each succeeding visit.
Above: LDS temple undergoing restoration. Salt Lake City, UT. 09 May 2023.
Image from Zions Bank headquarters.
Above: 1033 Foundation Leadership Awards Ceremony. Zions Bank. Salt Lake City, UT. 09 May 2023.
Dave Kaufman, Utah 1033 Foundation MC's. Three awardees, scions of police officers, awarded scholarship grants after successfully competing with transcripts and essays as adjudicated by a 1033 Foundation scholarship review committee. The essay requirement was a tough one. "What should be the role of the Federal Government in funding a college education. The winning essay answers ran the gamut "no federal funding" to "feds should provide some assistance to students with strict oversight." I, a governing board member of 1033, was on the scholarship review committee.
1033 Foundation's primary purpose is to provide cash payments to the families of fallen officers. Since 1033 Foundation's inception in 2012, ten Utah police officers have been killed in the line of duty. The last policeman fatality was in May 2020.
I was seated next to a senior Utah Highway Patrol (UHP) officer who was there to witness his daughter, a BYU Law School student, receiving a scholarship award. I asked him what a top-of-mind concern for UHP was. He answered, "speeding is worse. We have many drivers on our interstates driving at speeds in excess of one-hundred miles per hour."
Award winning daughter of UHP officer responded to my question about number of her class at BYU law school. "About 120," she said. She added, "next year's class is only ninety. Apparently, they had fewer applicants.
Tore Steen, Utah 1033 Foundation co-founder, with Mona Steen, and current Chairman was in attendance at the awards ceremony.
Above: Toe Trail, Snow Canyon State Park, Ivins, UT. 11 May 2023.
TIMDT encounters desert tortoise. Freddie, apprehensive, steers clear.
Above: Maverick. Fillmore, UT. 11 May 2023.
Pitstop. Freddie takes a drink.
Above: Peterbilt and His Highness in front of His Highness's new Tesla Y. Wasatch Bagel, Park City, UT. 12 May 2023.
LSDM:
Penn
His Highness
The Actuary
Wisconsin
Greenwich
Peterbilt
Snowville
Bishop
Topic (s) du jour: Robot housewives, ball caps, highway fees for EV's, UT water.
Above: Iron Canyon. Park City, UT. 12 May 2023.
Boys and their toys.
Above: Parkchella (car show) event. Park City High School, Park City, UT.
Elite Panic, Park City based rock band, performs at Parkchella.
Addendum:
OMG, Taylor! You truly believe this? Poor Margaret.
Academy Theater,
Salt Lake City, UT