Fun With Foam!

I never knew there was such a thing as a FOAM MACHINE before September 2018! What a great invention! It's kind of like a bubble blower, except that the bubbles are miniature and stick together and feel SO SOFT, delightfully slippery, and soapy, too.

My little sister (in the green skirt) could scarcely believe her eyes, but refused to run in and join me in spite of my invitation.

Even when my son Zack buried me in the stuff, I couldn't get enough. Once the machine quit jetting out the foam, I sat in the bubbles up to my chin until they slowly popped, not realizing that the soapy residue sinking into the ground created MUD!

Carolyn gave up on me, but no worries!

 My husband, Bob, hosed the mud off me before we left my granddaughter Rylee's birthday party.

There were far fewer adults in the heavenly foam soup than children, perhaps a ratio of 3 to 50.

What about you? Would YOU dive in?

Write Here in Ephraim 2018!

Guess what?! I'm headed to the 8th annual WRITE HERE IN EPHRAIM conference this weekend! (You can come, too! My son, Professor Andrew Robert Bahlmann, designed the logo. Good looking, right?) 

The conference is in, (no surprise!) Ephraim. (Not Mt. Ephraim, New Jersey. Turn around and head to Ephraim, Utah.)

Click here to check out the exciting schedule, where I'm presenting a class on brainstorming. (Fun stuff, Maynard!)

AND HERE ARE ALL THE PRESENTERS!

CLASS DESCRIPTIONS

(All the links are in Google Docs. Hope they open for you!)

Conference held in the Noyes Building, Snow College Campus

HERE'S THE SNOW COLLEGE CONFERENCE WEBSITE!

Do you like writing?

Dust Devils

Once upon a time, I was in Manti when a tornado blew through.

(I didn't see it, though.)

To make up for that lost experience, I see a bunch of dust devils when I drive Utah's highways and byways.)

There are lots of other names for dust devils, such as "sand pillars" or "dusters" or even "willy willy's." (What?!)

Have you ever seen these atmospheric whirlwinds where you live?

How about this: have you ever tried to get in the middle of a whirling column of air to see if it would pick you up and take you on an adventure?

(Well, the emergency room COULD be an adventure to some people...)

Unwanted Walking Companion

My sister Carolyn and I met someone on our walk last week.

Well, we met someTHING.

 The funny thing is, when dogs rush at us with barking throats and slathering tongues, Carolyn stands her ground, puts her hands on her hips, and tells them to leave.

When we ran across this little fellow small enough to step on (if you don't mind the crunch!) she nearly climbed up onto my shoulders. 

I sent a picture to Bob, and he said it was, indeed, a tarantula. (I have my shoe in the picture for size reference. Don't quibble if it doesn't look like a shoe to you. The only time I completely cover my foot is when I ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO, such as in 12 inches of snow or places that don't accept open footwear. Believe it or not, there are such places!)

Also keep in mind that my footwear is a glorious size 11, so that makes the tarantula even bigger than you first thought on seeing it.

Perhaps we should have used one of Carolyn's shoes... but I'm not sure she would have survived the trauma of having her footwear in such close proximity.

From what Bob told me, and what I read online, tarantulas rarely bite people. If they do, it may feel like a bee sting.

Worse than a bite, if threatened, tarantulas can scrape stinging hairs off their abdomens and flick them at intruders, which can cause a painful rash. (And a bald tarantula belly!)

Tarantulas may sometimes eat their own legs.

I prefer to keep my legs intact so I can keep on walking!

Do you like to go on walks?