Picto Diary - 19 to 28 February 2022 - Horses and Whales

Above: "Three Dog Day." Park City, UT. 19 February 2022.

Bishop takes care of the family dogs while whole fam damily (both families plus Granny) enjoys the sun in Puerto Vallarta.

Above: Screenshot of mustang stampede from TV series, "Yellowstone," episode 4, season 4. 19 February 2022.

Circa 1999 I was on my first "Big Dog" (hat tip Clem and Dr. G) motorcycle ride in the Pryor Range of southern Montana. A group of us, riding large dual-sport motorcycles, on exclusively back country dirt tracks, came to the top of a divide. There, splayed out before us, about one hundred yards away, at "ten o'clock," was a herd of at least seventy wild mustangs. We were shocked to see this view and stopped immediately. Our appearance startled the horses, and they began to stampede, racing from left to right, right in front of us. This wild mustang sighting was the most thrilling wildlife scene I have witnessed.

The motorcycle has been the impetus for me to have many tremendous wildlife sightings. The scene from "Yellowstone," shown here, also shot in Montana's Pryor Range, but for the wrangler driving the herd, was very representative of what we saw over twenty years ago. In the "Yellowstone" series, the pictured mustangs were stolen from an Indian tribe. In the scene shown here, Kayce Dutton, Livestock Commissioner, and son of John Dutton, owner of the Yellowstone Ranch, is helping the Indians retrieve the stolen horses.

It is highly possible that the horses shown in the "Yellowstone" screenshot are descendants of the same herd we saw back in 1999.

Above: Electronic Organ, LDS Chapel, Park City, UT. 20 February 2022.

Hymns from LDS Hymnal I played today on pictured organ while accompanying congregational singing: 259, 191, 86, 153.

Two female LDS missionaries, assigned to Park City Hispanic ward, were today's speakers in the Park City Ward (English speaking). One was from Eugene, Oregon and the other from Omaha, Nebraska. The Omaha girl was of Hispanic origin and doubtless was well prepared to speak Spanish to her ward members. The other girl... I don't know about her Spanish. In a world where many young people seem to be unfocused and on a wayward track, I was impressed with the passion these young women had in their sacrificial and selfless quest to help others.

As I sat unmasked at the organ console, I noted that about three quarters of the two hundred plus strong congregation was masked. The ward leaders, including the Stake President, sitting on the stand behind the podium, were also masked. I was aware that LDS leadership had strongly urged, but not "mandated," members to wear face masks while attending church services.

The ambiguous mask guidance issued by LDS Church leaders has been cause for some dissonance in certain wards. Some members who have chosen not to wear masks have been called to account from speakers at the pulpit, for example. I have been told by some members whose experience I trust that a majority of people in rural wards do not wear masks at church services. Conversely, mask wearing appears to be de rigueur at urban LDS wards. I noted yesterday, reading from my Facebook feed, that Church leadership has now punted the mask guidance policy to local ward leaders.

I do not believe in wearing face masks and believe the science has long supported this position. I have been puzzled at why LDS authority has tilted towards strongly urging mask wearing in the face of the widespread social problems the practice engenders, the increased potential for disease, and in the absence of supporting science. I would have thought the best tack for leaders to take would be to affirm that mask wearing was an individual or parental decision and to stay away from the controversy altogether. But then, I'm not a prophet. I'm sure the LDS authorities had their reasons. There could be a ritualistic rationale for encouraging masking. LDS people, in fact religious people generally, are accustomed to ritual. I think we're all genetically programmed to accept ritual and if we don't have a church to provide it for us, we'll seek it somewhere else. Masks, I believe, play a ritualistic role for the unchurched.

Notwithstanding, I'm not an anti-mask zealot. Generally speaking, over the last two years I've tended to avoid places where mask wearing is required. When I have to go to a location where masks are required, such as a hospital, I suck it up and mask up. TIMDT and Mwah (sic) returned to the restaurants when they were reopened, locally, in April of 2020. Accordingly, we masked up while entering the restaurant but unmasked when we were seated. I have avoided discretionary air travel because of the mask regs in aircraft and in airports. It pains me to see large numbers of people willingly, sans questioning, compliant with an unnecessary mandate. I have traveled by air twice in the last two years, once to pick up a motorcycle I had purchased in Pasco, Washington, and the other to attend an unmasked campaign event, with four hundred in attendance, in Miami Beach, Florida (the contrast between the masked church service today and the unmasked campaign event in Florida last week was stunning). Despite large reductions in air travel, we haven't stopped traveling. We've put thirty-six thousand miles on the Sprinter in the last 18 months.

Above: Desert landscaping. Palisades subdivision. Ivins, UT. 21 February 2022.

I'm out on a walk with Freddie while the family is in Puerto Vallarta. I love the desert landscaping here. However, the Joshua Tree on the left and the Saguaro Cactus just next to the house are not indigenous to this area. There are indigenous Joshua Trees within 40 miles, but the nearest indigenous Saguaro is 300 miles away. Its self-evident that less water is required to support the desert landscaping.

Above: Grrr parasails. Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. 21 February 2022.

TIMDT and all of our kids and grandkids have been spending the week in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. They sent some videos of their whale watching excursion.

Circa 2010 I was with friends riding motorcycles from Santa Rosalita to Guerro Negro, midway down the Baja Peninsula. We had crossed by ferry the rolling Sea of Cortez from Guymas the night before.

We went gray whale watching in Guerro Negro. One time, one of those old girls came right up to me sitting in a rear corner of the open, eight-person boat. She lifted her big head out of the water, stayed stationary there, only four or five feet away, and just stared at me with her tennis ball sized left eye. Must have been fifteen seconds. Then, she slipped under the water surface.

Later, a whale some two hundred yards away sounded. On splashing back into the water, she stayed near the surface and started heading our direction. We gasped. It looked like we were about to be rammed. Thirty or forty feet before the "ramming," the whale dove and passed under our boat in thirty feet of water. The water was crystal clear. We looked down and it looked like a school bus was passing under our boat. The whale was toying with us. I have long wondered if school bus whale was the same as the old girl that gave me the evil eye some minutes earlier.

Above: Platinum Sound and Mastering Labs. Bountiful, UT. 23 February 2022.

Bishop is executive producer of nine song recording of original big band compositions by Jay Lawrence,

Michael, sound engineer and Jay, composer monitor the recording of David Halliday on the tenor sax.

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Johann Palmstruch
Deer Valley, UT. 24 February 2022

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Johann Palmstruch
Daggett
Deer Valley, UT. 25 February 2022

Above: Johann Palmstruch, retired President Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta (2007 to 2017) instructs on Fed policy at LSDM "Cocktails and Crudites." Bishop's home. Park City, UT. 25 February 2022.

Above: Bishop and Torquemada, 47-year friends. Met in Oz 1975. Attending LSDM event for Central Banker, Johann Palmstruch. Park City, UT. 25 February 2022.

Above: Maui, 'Cake, Torquemada, and Pat. "Cocktails and Crudites" LSDM event for Johann Palmstruch. 25 February 2022.

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Johann Palmstruch
Witwatersrand
Deer Valley, Utah.
26 February 2022

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Johann Palmstruch
Witwatersrand 27

Above: Johann Palmstruch and Bishop. Deer Valley, UT 27 February 2022.
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Witwatersrand/
Bishop and Palmstruch fifty-year ski friends. First skied together at Fariah Ski Resort, Lebanon, 1972.

Above: Witwatersrand at Deer Valley. 28 February 2022.
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Witwatersrand

Addendum:

Steve,

Hard to just let it go, I know. I want justice for those two women.

My good friend and mentor, Hyrum Smith, died of pancreatic cancer. Two weeks before his passing, he made a plea to us as his former associates to “let it go” no matter what the bugaboo. I thought it was curious counsel from someone who knowingly only had days left to live. Of all the charges with which he could have left us, that’s the one he picked.

There have likely been times in my life when I have done something wrong or stupid like those women in your lift line did. The fact that they colluded with the maze manager makes your case particularly irksome.

Still, if held to account, I would want mercy. It’s the same ol’ conundrum: justice for others, mercy for me.

I love your emails. Great pic of you and Joel, too!

Best,

Gordon,
Salt Lake City, UT

Sigh! I'm thrilled that you're enjoying my "career" in luxury. When I was an undergrad in Illinois, Steinbeck didn't make the cut for academic-worthy reading in American lit—too common or something—though East of Eden was a current movie, so I had to read the novel to find the dirty parts. Nobody had ever heard of Stegner—except Bill Mulder, long-time gentleman professor at the U of U, and my Uncle Grant, who had been undergrad classmates with Stegner at the U. Faulkner barely made the cut with the novelette, The Bear. Later, I discovered that the common thread here was "regionalism," and the Great West was obviously not part of the civilized world—mostly because the publishing houses and important critics were all on the east coast. Once I came home to the west, after four years in Illinois and four in Virginia, I did my own evaluations and put things in PROPER PERSPECTIVE—i.e., the real American heroes are the ones attempting to mold a manageable civilization out of wilderness—in every case, seeking an Angle of Repose.

My real reason for responding, though, is to remind you that our mutual friend, John Lambert, did all the repointing and repairs on Father Lamy's (Latour's) cathedral a decade or so ago, and I had the remarkable pleasure of joining him at the start of the project and, again, at the finish two years later. They selected replacement stones from the original quarry, which was thereafter permanently closed to the public.

Happy reading!

Diana,
Mayfield, UT

A central theme of "Angle..." is contrasting the hick west with the elite east as seen through the eyes of Susan Burling Ward. Stegner is a brilliant writer. He got some recognition for this book. The Pulitzer Prize. And yes... to your comment about real heroes. I wonder if the Canadian truck drivers will receive hero recognition when the winners and losers are sorted out? Nice hearing your comments! What a great experience that must have been in Santa Fe with John Lambert!

SDT