CLICK FOR: HOME PAGE
****************
NOTE: For full information about my High Uinta Mountains books, including the original one with index which will not be part of the printed book on Amazon.com....return to the Home Page and scroll down.
What follows was originally a Preface before getting to the book, but now I'll make it actually the beginning of the book.
*********
El texto esta en ingles, pero LAS FOTOS EN ESPAÑOL!
*************************************
Preface
Now let's get to what will be my 3rd book....or 5th counting the redoing of my Uintas book divided into two for Amazon.com. but until the Fall only part of this chapter will be available as my life saving daily hikes continued through the winter with almost daily new discoveries added to all the chapters and making them complete and inspiring.
READ ON TO SEE THE ORDEAL I HAVE GONE THROUGH
TO GET THIS "IMPOSSIBLE DREAM" COMPLETED.
I'm likely not capable of actually portraying adequately what I have gone through, but it has been my greatest.....
CHALLENGE to NOT GIVE UP....WITHOUT A FIGHT!
Gratefully the Lord has blessed me so far to do a lot more than I envisioned possible when for a time I couldn't walk...and other times after a couple of mini-strokes I began feeling like...
"THIS MUST BE WHAT IT IS LIKE TO DIE!"
Some thought I should have been put in a Rest Home, but the Lord gave me new life, with the help of several guardian angels....tongue in cheek, and so I look forward every day to adding to and improving this inspiring for me book of miracle, after miracle, after miracle in the DIVINE CREATION which I do my best to explain and show with wonderful heavenly photographic representation of
THE WONDERS OF THE DIVINE CREATIONS of NATURE!
My INTENTIONS are to "bless and brighten" your day with VISIONS created by to the LIGHT of our SUN without which there would be no DIVINE VISIONS of CREATION....described in the song
"SCATTER SUNSHINE"
with a few of the words below...more added later:
Scatter
sunshine all along your way.
Cheer and
bless and brighten
Ev’ry
passing day.
Scatter
sunshine all along your way.
Cheer and
bless and brighten
Ev’ry
passing day.
I pray each of the marvelous & miraculous VISIONS I will show
you will literally "bless & brighten" all your days, and
you will literally "bless & brighten" all your days, and
hope we all will importantly be moved to seek the
DIVINE LIGHT that is given freely to all of us and HIS creations blessing us all with a productive and wonderful lives.
********
CHAPTER 1
A CRIPPLE'S CONTRIBUTION to HUMANITY BY
NEVER GIVING UP.......WITHOUT A GOOD FIGHT
and
SHARING THE WONDERMENT of NATURE
INTRODUCTION
This effort actually began as sort of a PERSONAL JOURNAL documenting my efforts to overcome being a cripple, and building my faith by focusing on what I have called
"VISIONS of NATURE"
during my many years of exploring the High Uinta Mountains....Utah's ALPINE WONDERLAND.
during my many years of exploring the High Uinta Mountains....Utah's ALPINE WONDERLAND.
In that effort and sharing it I was thanked many times by grateful friends, some who directly thanked the effort of sharing with saving their lives. My sincere desire is that my sharing of my struggle, and in a sense, triumph, will also SAVE LIVES as well as
ENHANCING THE LIVES OF ALL WITH THE INSPIRING DIVINE VISIONS of NATURE!
That experience of actually saving lives from the 20 year long High Uintas Project/challenge had me deciding for my personal benefit and benefit of others to record this experience....photographically as well as with what this educational experience for me might reveal.....that I would be able to enjoy during my twilight years with a big format printed book, but also share with others to bless your lives.
So I begin by introducing the effort to any who might be interested
and pray it will be a blessing for you as it has been for me....but you have to know how it all evolved from what seemed like it was my tragic ending.
MY NEAR TRAGIC ENDING....AND NEW LIFE!
So I have to begin by reviewing for those who are new to my story, how I turned what seemed like a "tragic ending" into becoming a "recovering cripple" and actually producing a book full of the ....INSPIRING CREATIONS of NATURE....
like maybe you've never seen before....otherwise my mini-hikes in the foothills will be laughable to real outdoorsmen and outdoorswomen.
I also have to beg forgiveness for what also might be "laughable" to botanists and real experts, who might recognize I am most certainly an amatuer with some inevitable mistakes....except for the photography which is pure truth & light as well as my sincere efforts with hundreds of hikes in the foothills of Timpanogos and many hours of research.
******
So from the onset....best to know,
"I am a grateful recovering cripple,"
as more than 3 years ago...in 2020...after a seemingly botched back surgery, my right leg died or went into deep sleep making it useless. I couldn't walk, nor stand up and was confined to bed.
As I laid there in bed the muscles in my legs began to disappear shockingly with just bone left reminding me of holocaust victims, so I went to work doing every kind of exercise I could think of lying in my bed.... beginning with isometrics all the time.
This was basically tightening the muscles of different body parts and holding each for 10 to 30 seconds and then repeat, and repeat....then on to the other leg, arms, abdomen, chest and entire body as I couldn't let happen to my body, because of disuse, what had happened to my right leg.
This was basically tightening the muscles of different body parts and holding each for 10 to 30 seconds and then repeat, and repeat....then on to the other leg, arms, abdomen, chest and entire body as I couldn't let happen to my body, because of disuse, what had happened to my right leg.
My focus was on my whole body, but with the dead leg receiving special focus, so importantly I would push hard with both legs on the cabinet at the foot of my bed, holding it, then again, and again trying to force the dead leg to wake up and do what the other leg was doing. Eventually one leg at a time....at least first trying to teach my dead right leg to stiffen so I would hopefully be able to at least stand up.
I figured it would get my circulation going better, help my blood pressure problem that at times was dangerously out of control, keep my muscles from atrophying and disappearing, prevent all of my organs from also going to sleep, and of course keep from losing all of my strength.
Then using my good left leg to help lift the dead or sleeping one as well as with my hands moving it through the movements to remind it what it was supposed to do....so I worked at forcing my dead leg to hopefully wake up and keep up with the rest of me.
In the middle of that giant struggle I had to be taken back to the clinic groaning continually with pain in a wheelchair loaned to me by my good friend Garth Norman, with Jesse, my son, pushing me.
At the clinic they were shocked exclaiming,
"That's not what was supposed to happen!"
X-rays, and an MRI followed and then being wheeled again with constant pain, to the hospital for an emergency surgery with my continual pain that moved me to the front of the line.....to get me out of there fast so as to not scare the other patients.
After the surgery Jesse took me home and he and Nephi, another wonderful son, literally carried me into my little house (I'll show it to you below). The procedure helped some, but I still couldn't walk, nor stand up with a useless right leg and it took me more weeks of intensive exercises in bed in my tiny mobile home first achieving being able to maintain that leg stiff so it wouldn't collapse ....otherwise I would immediately fall as the leg had no strength....like it was actually dead. Then I finally got outside with walking canes Jesse got for me and then a walker my daughter Mahana brought me. She also came daily to change my bandages, bring me treats, and always a more than welcome smile.
Jesse and Nephi were incredible during those difficult weeks and months doing things I couldn't quite do for myself yet..........some disgusting tasks, but never a complaint.
NOTE: I feel I have to add something really important here. My kids were smart enough to know I needed to do as much as I could for myself, so they let me do all I could, even some difficult tasks, as they knew it was for my good and an important part of the solution!
Jesse went to work while I was totally shut-in building a porch at my entrance with a ramp that had a railing that has been a blessing. He, Nephi and Mahana doing unending things to help. Marcia "Nita," my daughter, also helping with critical visits and special food I needed. The special food needed was caused by first having had Covid-19 in March 2020 that I got through fine, but then the surgeries....all upsetting my digestive and sleep systems requiring the special foods.
All my kids gratefully helped, but thankfully let me do all I could for myself. They were life savers during a period when I was pretty useless with even the thought, perhaps mentioned already, that mybe I would have to be put in a Rest Home of some kind.
NOW MY TINY HOME....ALSO A LIFE SAVER!
The two or three who visited me....were shocked to see my tiny 7'x11' home...a picture of which I'd best insert below for the rest of you. In my Mountains of the Maya book I tell the story with some detail how this all happened.
The two or three who visited me....were shocked to see my tiny 7'x11' home...a picture of which I'd best insert below for the rest of you. In my Mountains of the Maya book I tell the story with some detail how this all happened.
One visitor, prior to me becoming a cripple, was a wealthy friend who was embarrassed with what he was seeing, and with grim determination blurted out,
"How can you live this way?"
What he was really saying was likely, "Aren't you ashamed to live this way?"
I tried my best to explain that a simple life is what I actually believed in, especially now being alone after having lived for 35 years among needy Mayans where he had visited us once and went through the Great Earthquake of 1976 that killed 25,000 Guatemalans.
I went on to explain that most of our 35 years there we purposely lived a simple life not out of reach for our Mayan students and employees if they accepted the Good Life Principles we taught and were willing to work hard for a better life.
I should outline briefly what those principles were so you won't misunderstand:
1. Cleanliness in all aspects of living...using a special system we invented to convince them of the invisible world of microbes.
2. Proper well balanced nutrition...again convincing them of its importance with a special system we created.
3. Live in a healthy, cleanable house & homesite that would be mentally stimulating.
4. United families, parents loving children, children loving parents.
5. Education for all...young and old.
6. Hard work, but learn how to work more effectively with vocational education we offered to all interested.
7. Once achieving the Good Life, share with others.
It warms my heart now....many of them calling me Papa Cordell, as it worked pretty good and today they are property owners, live in their own healthy homes in their own community...and have smart phones, all being my friends on Facebook, so in many ways I achieved my objective as today they are all better off than me, which doesn't embarrass me in the least, rather gives me that warm, fuzzy feeling....that some of you might understand!
For example, at our Center for Indian Development in Guatemala I'll insert a picure of right now.....that a sociological study made by Guatemala's National Electrification Institute...INDE, called:
"AN OASIS OF HOPE & JUSTICE FOR THE POOR."
For example, one of my Vocational Students, Felix Rosales, from a remote village, who we see below in 1976 as a student learning to drive a tractor...and also became a convert and soon became the first native Poqomchi/Mayan to become a fulltime missionary for the Church SUD....
...just became the President of the new Coban LDS Temple!
Below we see the Valparaiso Community I organized for my people.
.JPG)
**********
Apparently I didn't convince my wealthy friend as I never heard from him again and he soon passed on leaving his giant mansion behind!
IRONICALLY MY TINY HOME A GREAT BLESSING!
But, once my ordeal and challenge of becoming a cripple began, I must say that my simple tiny home has been a blessing and key element of my survival as when needing to sit up, slide down to the end of my bed to use a portable toilet Jesse got for me, stand up, get some food, or take sponge baths, and eventually a shower...no matter what... there was always something to grab onto to help pull me up, or move me along. And, having lost most of my balance ....especially when closing my eyes to wash my face, or dry it, pull a t-shirt over my head, or in the dark, etc. I would instantly begin falling, but I couldn't really fall as in every direction close by there was a wall, a cabinet, or something to prevent a deadly fall.
But, once my ordeal and challenge of becoming a cripple began, I must say that my simple tiny home has been a blessing and key element of my survival as when needing to sit up, slide down to the end of my bed to use a portable toilet Jesse got for me, stand up, get some food, or take sponge baths, and eventually a shower...no matter what... there was always something to grab onto to help pull me up, or move me along. And, having lost most of my balance ....especially when closing my eyes to wash my face, or dry it, pull a t-shirt over my head, or in the dark, etc. I would instantly begin falling, but I couldn't really fall as in every direction close by there was a wall, a cabinet, or something to prevent a deadly fall.
I have lived in it since 2013, during the cold months parked alongside Jesse's home in American Fork and with all my glitches since 2020 pretty well permeantly parked at Jesse's place.
From it I have managed the Guatemalan Foundation at no cost
as a 50 year non-paid volunteer until retiring it on its GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY in 2017 which I celebrated alone with a Hot-fudge sundae at McDonalds... and then I went to work writing a book about my
"Impossible Dream" in the Mountains of the Maya.
.jpg)
My tiny home has also been my office from which I managed my
HIGH UINTAS PROJECT,
writing a two volume book that came to be known as
THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE HIGH UINTA MOUNTAINS....
full information on Home Page.
Now a 5th...this BOOK about the VISIONS of NATURE.
*******
So, back to the story and....
...NEVER GIVING UP.....EASILY! You've maybe heard too much of Churchill's famous phrase with me adding on the EASILY, so let's change it again a bit to:
NEVER GIVE UP.....WITHOUT A GOOD FIGHT!
I was forcing my dead right leg to keep up with the good left one.
Gradually it began to work, and with my fierce independant streak I gratefully inherited from my mom and dad, I even learned to drive my car tucking the useless right leg back under my good one, and driving with my left leg.....grateful for an automatic transmission!
Gradually it began to work, and with my fierce independant streak I gratefully inherited from my mom and dad, I even learned to drive my car tucking the useless right leg back under my good one, and driving with my left leg.....grateful for an automatic transmission!
The funny part of that was on my first venture out with the car. My boys, Nephi and Jesse, noticed the car was gone and panicked, worrying....A LOT....and waiting for me.
On my return
They evoked "THE 25th AMMENDMENT :" on me and
TOOK THE KEYS AWAY FROM ME,
like as though I was some rebellious, untrustworthy teenager! I finally showed them I could do it safely and got my keys back. Now, a few years later I'm back to driving normally with both legs as my efforts finally worked and.....
...MY DEAD LEG CAME ALIVE!
A major part of my COMEBACK was when my good friend Paul Edmunds, one of my wonderful 400 customers from when I gratefully worked from 2009 to 2012 for LORIE PAULSON at Reams Supermarket in Springville.... ......but Paul gave me a "Luxury style walker," and to build back my leg muscles in the summer of 2022 I began going on hikes..... gradually increasing the distance from American Fork, and months later finally getting up to Lone Peak High School in Highland (9 or 10 miles roundtrip), and then....
I decided to do the HALF MARATHON DISTANCE (13.2 miles) all the way to Alpine and back. NOTE: From 1994 to 2007 I had done 14 consecutive half marathons in Guatemala's famous Coban International Half Marathon competing with the Kenyans and other international stars until reaching 72 and not able to make more trips to Guatemala to supervise Foundation projects because of lack of funds....so no more Half Marathons.........UNTIL 2022!
During the night before attempting to go all the way to Alpine and back,
I dreamed of doing again the International Half Marathon in Coban, Guatemala and ....
......I FINALLY BEAT THE KENYANS DOING IT WITH MY WALKER!
NOW BACK TO REALITY....
The next day...of MY HALF MARATHON WITH MY WALKER.... was a hot day, and I'll confess it took me all day.....at least 6-7 hours! On the return along the North County Boulevard (a divided highway) I was stopped by two police cars who said that they were getting 911 calls from motorists about...
... an old guy with a walker on the highway that
... an old guy with a walker on the highway that
maybe needed saving!
Apparently I didn't look too good, but I assured them I'd make it home alright.
Then two beautiful young ladies, one in a Mustang convertible, stopped to save me. In her attempt to get me into her car she told me it was 96 degrees! WOW, was it sweet talking to them but.....
.... I was one strong 86 year old guy, thanked them and finally made it home by myself with my virtue intact!
I was finally building muscle again, and then moved to the parks on grass with no aids, learning to walk like a baby, in the beginning with the help of my infant Guardian Angel, TED...
.....you'll see TED again below a few pictures when we get to the hills where we are inserted in the foothill montage of my 2023 efforts to
NEVER GIVE UP....WITHOUT A GOOD FIGHT!
Part of that was TED teaching me to fall like a baby so I wouldn't kill myself and learning to get up again with no gadgets to help me!
NOTE:
With my misaligned spine you see below.....my spine surgeon told me a fall would kill me, and gave me strict instructions to use trekking poles if hiking in the foothills.
I hope all of you friends know that Ted is a fun figment of my imagination who I haven't seen...yet...but maybe he's there as I couldn't have made so much progress by myself!
Eventually I graduated from the 7" stairs seen above to 11" stairs at the American Fork Amphitheater that even in the warm months I would often do every other day alternating with hikes in the foothills.
Then, when the weather was too cold in the winter
or snowing I discovered the.... .......INSTACARE 4 floor building..
...with a drinking fountain, restroom and soft chairs on every floor, as well as a snack bar near the pharmacy.....also of course with all the EMERGENCY SERVICES NECESSARY for an old guy maybe pushing himself too much!
WOW, WHAT A WONDERFUL BUNCH of FREE EXERCISE
MACHINES....ALL OF THEM THAT HAVE HELPED SAVE MY LIFE.....for an even BETTER DAY IN THE FUTURE!
There I enjoyably and safely persisted with my preparations for
SPRING IN THE FOOTHILLS
and when Spring 2023 came, off to......
Behind the beautiful trees of Pleasant Grove we see
THE FOOTHILLS OF MOUNT TIMPANOGOS
coming alive with Spring and we see here the fairly restricted area I mainly focused on during the summer of 2023. Below you see me all over using the previously hated trekking poles that I always said were for wimps!
NOW LOOK WHO THE WIMP IS ........
In this montage I show two of my 2023 triumphs getting to the VALLEY VIEW SPOT going up the front of the hills, rather than the easy, safe way going up the canyon and switchbacking to the SPOT as I did my first time in 2023 represented in this Chapter 1.
Chapter 2 will be built around switchbacking up the front of the mountain the "LONGEST but SAFEST WAY."
Chapter 3 will feature "THE HARDEST...and MOST DANGEROUS WAY but SHORTEST." I will be honest admitting at times being in trouble and how I found a solutions.
Chapters 4 and 5 will be built around other hikes up the canyon and switchbacking to "THE SPOT," spiced up by my every-other-day shorter trips just in the foothills I did all Spring, Summer and Fall to keep alive with at least 140 hikes from March 15th to November.
Chapter 6 will be built around my last hike to the VALLEY VIEW SPOT ending the year in style on December 31st going up the canyon and then at the SPOT waiting for sunset pictures with which the book will conclude. Once those photos were taken I had to head down as quickly as possible...all the way with no rest.... as I had to get through the dangerous stretches, like the
"ROCK & ROLL"
with enough light to do it safely, and then made it to the Trailhead by dark with my hands almost frozen to my trekking poles as I had not started that hike intending to do the SPOT, so had no gloves!
%20(1ab).jpg)
Here is the first in the series I took on December 31st with me peeking at the camera.....I kept it up until the sun was out of sight, then headed down...FAST....you know FAST for a recovering cripple!
All hikes with my Nikon camera and special 18mm x 400 mm lens producing over 5,000 photographs and counting....likely the best collection in existence of the foothills of the Wasatch.....what's maybe missing I will do my best to get during the 2024 season that I can tell you now May 25, 2024 has been an avalanche of new discoveries, new amazing photographs, and so far LIFE SAVING EXPERIENCE.
I'll admit all my hikes are done carefully and VERY SLOWLY and SAFELY as a fall could kill me! Actually going slow—with the STALKING PACE, blesses me.......my physical complications and age bless me even more by forcing me to go even slower which makes possible SEEING the STUNNING WONDERMENT of
NATURE
I want to share with all of you.
I want to share with all of you.
**************************
I will level with all that in my hikes I experience constant back pain.......and other complications of being in my 88th year...but all made not only bearable and possible but something I look forward to as I am blessed being able to recognize inspiring beauty and fascination...in flowers, plants, trees, insects, animals, reptiles and in the rocks, lichens and new, mosses & birds, as well as the skies with their incredible clouds and wonderful sunsets...so I never tire of doing this at least every other day in the hills and canyons—and early on the other day on stairs.
NOTE: By 2024 I have had to do the hike in the hills every day...when temperature was above freezing, and maybe a dozen bad days at Instacare.
—otherwise my blood pressure gets out of control scary, back pain worse and once 3-4 days of "resting" had both of my legs beginning to go to sleep or die with no feeling, brought on two mini-strokes and for the first time since 16 years old when I experienced an NDE and shouted "I'm a dead man," I actually felt like it was the end and I asked myself,
"IS THIS WHAT IT FEELS LIKE WHEN ONE IS DYING?"!
But I learned my lesson that I have to keep moving
EVERY DAY or DIE!
So, in spite of the pain and so far losing 5" in height, I exercise daily in the FOOTHILLS OF MT. TIMPANOGOS!
THE PLAN
I began early in the Spring documenting with photos each plant as they germinate and spring to life, then follow their development to blossoming, and continue to the unique process of reproduction...some plants with spectacular systems I'll show you
with some...meaning....."the whole story" on a few, good detail on many and magnificent conclusions on all.
I will show briefly that whole process for a lot of plants,
with more emphasis on extraordinary plants that quite literally are STUNNINGLY SPECTACULAR and INSPIRING....wonderful witnesses for me of our WONDERFUL CREATOR.
.....BUT HARDLY ANYONE NOTICES!
Perhaps because you're low on testosterone, don't have a long zoom lens or you concentrate more on making long hikes fast like MARATHON BACKPACKERS wanting to set a record or quickly get back down to
Perhaps because you're low on testosterone, don't have a long zoom lens or you concentrate more on making long hikes fast like MARATHON BACKPACKERS wanting to set a record or quickly get back down to
ARBY'S..."where the meats are!"
NOTE: A good level of testosterone, for man or woman, will help you have a better mood, and enhance your ability to recognize and appreciate beauty....yes in the opposite sex, but also in the
beautiful VISIONS of NATURE, and even in the CHAOS OF NATURE! So, if you don't recognize amazing beauty in what I'm going to show you, you need a good dose of
ANDRO 400 Max, or equivalent!
.jpg)
Just in 2024 AMAZON now offers this effective product and
now an even more potent Booster
ONE MORE NOTE on THE PLAN
As the previous 8-9 month period (March to December) has been expanded to 12 months I have been discovering so much more that the supposedly "finished chapters" are being added to and by the end of the 2024 growing season I will complete the Divine Visions of Nature with more discoveries, more identifications, expanded research on medicinal & nutrition information, and other fascinating facts all of which will be included online, and then in the
final BOOK.
*****************************
LAST COMMENTS
This will be an online book, at
the end converted to an eBook with 6 chapters ...the last couple finished online after the
season is over with the evolution of most plants going to sleep with their last gasp of life in the foothills until next Spring.
I
will then convert that into a printable book version with page numbers, footnotes, references and Index.......the link to download it to your computer might cost a donation to access ..and if
you want it printed you can take it on a thumb drive to COPYTEC or your favorite printer, or maybe we'll get it on Amazon too.
NOTE: The color pictures will not be the tiny ones most reference books of recognized organizations have in their FIELD GUIDES to WILDFLOWERS. The final print version will be large format, 8.5" x 11.5" as are my other books. I might even try FOR ME 11" x 13" as is photographer Willie Holdman's wonderful book, TIMPANOGOS.
The finished version will be large format....quite expensive to print due to many hundreds of color photos. But at least one will be printed as I'm old school and need that ONE....FOR ME........to thumb through and be continually inspired when I GET OLD needing to remember all the hundreds of awakening moments on my hundreds of life saving therapy/hikes in the FOOTHILLS OF TIMPANOGOS!
With that "FOR ME" it will likely occur to you that this whole effort is actually selfishly FOR ME.... which is true as it actually began to keep me alive and continually remind me gratefully with a personal photo/journal.
However, remembering my NDE as a 16 year old teenager, the message being
"I WAS SAVED TO SAVE LIVES....in some way,"
my decision was quick to share with all interested.
I sincerely hope it will be enjoyed by many and be life saving for a few others as has been the case with my HIGH UINTAS books, and with the MOUNTAINS OF THE MAYA book that describes
saving thousands with the potential of much more than that in the long run!
************
NOW
LET'S GO HAVE SOME FUN
LET'S GO HAVE SOME FUN
learning about all the unending inspiring and beautiful
VISIONS of the LORD'S CREATION
in the foothills of Mount Timpanogos!
I WILL STOP HERE UNTIL THE BOOK IS FINISHED IN THE FALL WHEN YOU WILL BE ADVISED HERE, LIKELY IN AN EMAIL TO MY FRIENDS & ON FACEBOOK.
***********
**********************************
No comments:
Post a Comment