Utah woman oldest to climb seven continents’ highest peaks

The amazing Carol Masheter, at age 65, says she is now the oldest woman to have reached the top of the tallest mountains in all seven continents, a feat completed in four years: Denali, Aconcagua, Elbrus, Kilimanjaro, Vinson Massif, Everest and Kosciuszko. It’s likely she will keep the record, because those who issue permits for Everest in Tibet have since decided no one over 60 can attempt the climb.

Masheter, who arrived home in Salt Lake City from Australia Wednesday morning, said that attitude makes no sense when held up to death-rate statistics for big mountain climbs. Older people have better survival rates, she said, likely because they have better endurance and judgment. "Each climber needs to be evaluated on their own merits," she said.

Masheter’s merits can be traced to her childhood in Orange County, Calif., where her parents loaded chores onto her and her siblings and didn’t pay them any allowance, but did pay them for chores her mother and father normally took on. Her parents required the kids to tithe to their church.

Masheter says she has saved 10 percent of her income for herself since age 8; by the time she was a freshman in high school, she was considered so responsible and organized that her neighbors would have her take care of their homes while they were away.

So you could say Masheter was in training all her life. But it wasn’t until she was 50, when life dealt her multiple blows — over a period of about 18 months, her sister became ill, Masheter lost her job as a university professor, her mother died and the man she loved left for someone else — that she started climbing.

That was in 1997, in South America. "I was discovering my talents rather late in life," she said. And they weren’t knitting or playing bridge. "Mountaineering," Masheter said moments after getting off her plane and hugging a gaggle of welcoming Wasatch Mountain Club friends at the airport, "saved my life.

Rush Limburgh Deserves A Caning

Position, power or audience is no excuse for despicable behavior, under any circumstances. I. of course, refer to conservative pundit, Rush Limbaugh's ignorant rant in calling a young lady a slut on national television. Rush knew exactly what he was doing and showed himself to be the bigoted idito that he is know, now proven to be. I am not a liberal, but a voting conservative, who can separate the issue from the person. Not so Limbaugh. Whose treatment derogatory comments about a law student who testified about birth control policy defies any kind of acceptable norm. Just because someone has the right to do something, doesn't mean they should do it. That, is called, responsibility.

A flower company is the seventh advertiser to pull its ads from conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh's radio program in reaction to his derogatory comments about a law student who testified about birth control policy.  ProFlowers said Sunday on its Facebook page that it has suspended advertising on Limbaugh's program because his comments about Georgetown University student Sandra Fluke "went beyond political discourse to a personal attack and do not reflect our values as a company."  The six other advertisers that say they have pulled ads from his show are mortgage lender Quicken Loans, mattress retailers Sleep Train and Sleep Number, software maker Citrix Systems Inc., online data backup service provider Carbonite and online legal document services company LegalZoom.

Limbaugh apologized to Fluke on Saturday after calling her a "slut" and "prostitute" resulting in him being criticized by Republican and Democratic politicians and prompted several advertisers left the show.His "apology" does not appear to be motivated by a realization of being totally wrong, but by advertisers rushing to drop him, in other words, when it hit him in the pocketbook. I hope people continue to send the strong message that this kind of behavior, by anyone, regardless of their politics, is simply offensive and repugnant.

Despicable Last Act of a Coward and a Murderer

Police say the fire that engulfed Josh Powell's home in Washington state Sunday, apparently killing him and his two young sons, was deliberately set -- and as far as they're concerned, that concludes the long-running investigation into the disappearance of Powell's wife, Susan.

"This is not a tragedy. This is a double homicide," Pierce County Sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer told The Los Angeles Times.

Josh Powell had been a person of interest in the disappearance of his wife, then a 28-year-old stockbroker who vanished from their former home in Utah in December 2009. He had denied any involvement, brushing off questions about why he took the boys camping in the middle of the night during a snowstorm on the night his wife vanished.

"This is a guy who murdered his two kids, and probably murdered his wife. I don't know what Utah police think, but as far as we're concerned, this is pretty close to a confession to the crime," Troyer said.

Powell had been seeking the return of the couple's two boys, 5-year-old Braden and 7-year-old Charles, who had been living, on court orders, with Susan Powell's parents since September.

A social worker was delivering them to Josh Powell's home near Fredrickson, Wash., for what was to have been a supervised afternoon visit. Police said Powell let the boys in but then barricaded the door against the social worker. The social worker immediately called a supervisor, saying she smelled gas, and at that point the home exploded into a hot, fast-burning fire.

It was very emotional yesterday watching the funeral of slain Ogden Police Department officer Jared Francom. I was amazed at the outpouring of community spirit and law enforcement camaraderie, which touched my heart. It was wonderful to see both so evident. My thoughts are with his widow and their young children for their tremendous loss. I wish them peace as they fight through this very difficult and heart-wrenching time. I also feel for my friends in the Ogden PD. The funeral also made me remember more vividly the service of my friend Myles Prebble who died while involved in a marijuana recovery operation when he fell from a helicopter and was killed from the fall. Law Enforcement is a difficult and sometimes unappreciated job, but so necessary in this nasty world we live in. So Jared, rest in peace, and in the knowledge your colleagues will not forget you, or any of our other fallen.

Go Mitt, Go!

I like Mitt Romney and hope he does well, but this cartoon is dang funny and deserves another look.

Ted Turner's 11 Voluntary Initiatives

Here are CNN CEO Ted Turner's 11 Voluntary Initiatives... more good food for thought. These were recorded by Sir Richard Branson, who further asks, "How would you change or add to these?"

1. I promise to care for planet earth and all living things thereon, especially my fellow human beings
2. I promise to treat all persons everywhere with dignity, respect and friendliness
3. I promise to have no more than one or two children
4. I promise to use my best efforts to help save what is left of our natural world in its undisturbed state and to restore degraded areas
5. I promise to use as little of our non-renewable resources as possible
6. I promise to minimize my use of toxic chemicals, pesticides and other poisons and to encourage others to do the same
7. I promise to contribute to those less fortunate, to help them become self-sufficient and enjoy the benefits of a decent life including clean air, and water, adequate food, health care, housing, education and individual rights
8. I reject the use of force, in particular military force, and I support United Nations arbitration of international disputes
9. I support doing everything we can to reduce the dangers from nuclear biological or chemical weapons and ultimately the elimination of all weapons of mass destruction
10. I support the United Nations and its efforts to improve the conditions of the planet
11. I support clean renewable energy and a rapid move to eliminate carbon emissions

I WOULD ...

I just wanted to share some expressions of humanity and kindness from a very wise man, George Albert Smith:

• I would be a friend to the friendless and find joy in ministering to the needs of the poor.
• I would visit the sick and the afflicted and inspire in them a desire for faith to be healed.
• I would teach the truth to the understanding and blessing of all mankind.
• I would seek out the erring one and try to win him back to a righteous and happy life.
• I would not seek to force people to live up to my ideals, but rather loive them into doing the thing that is right.
• I would live with the masses and help to solve their problems that their earth life may be happy.
• I would avoid the publicity of high positions and discourage the flattery of thoughtless friends.
• I wound not knowlingly wound the feeling of any, not even one who may have wronged me, but would seek to do him good and make him my friend.
• I would overcome the tendency to selfishness and jealousy and rejoice in the successes of all the children of my Heavenly father.
• I would not be an enemy to a living soul.

Weirdness!

Investigators are trying to determine why a woman caused $10,000 worth of damage to a large expressionist painting at the Clyfford Still Museum in Denver, Colorado by punching and scratching it, then removing her pants and sliding down the artwork. Carmen Tisch, 36, faces charges of criminal mischief in the December 29 attack on the painting, said district attorney spokeswoman Lynn Kimbrough. The painting, referred to as 1957-J-No. 2, is valued at more than $30 million. The large montage of black, white and burnt orange swaths with a sliver of yellow is from Still's middle period. Yikes.

New Years Resolution I Aim to Obtain

I will told old this year! Like 56 years old. I know there is something I have to do if I want to stick around with my beautiful wife for many years. I have to get more healthy within the limitations of what has already happened to me with my diabetes and already beating cancer. So I need to eat healthier, lose weight and get fit (well, at least fitter) because I am simply not. My Dad died of a heart attack when he was 57 and his dad died of a heart attack when he was 61. It ain't gonna happen to me because I have too much to lose  and have to many things left to accomplish. I need more time to grind off many of my rough edges for a start. So 25 pounds or 11 kilos off this year, and it will stay off. Smarter in what I eat and when I eat it, and I need to use this altitude to become more aerobically capable. So here's to a new year and a newer me.

Painful Lesson: Shot in the buttocks by best friend!

Excitement turned to pain after a man suddenly received a shotgun blast to the buttocks while bird hunting with several companions Sunday. Piper the yellow labrador was the trigger dog behind the blast the sent his 46-year-old hunting companion to the hospital. Somehow, caught up in the excitement of the hunt, Piper set off the shotgun that struck Brigham City native Robert Cottingham in the lower back and buttocks. Box Elder County Sherriff's Chief Deputy Kevin Potter says that Cottingham was hunting with his son and brother-in-law at the north end of the Great Salt Lake near a bird refuge sometime before noon. While the hunting crew was retrieving a wounded duck from the water, a 12-gauge shotgun was left resting inside the hunting boat they were using.

Cottingham says that the dog was in a marshy area of the lake and jumped into the boat hitting the 12-gauge in such a way that it discharged and shot him from about 6 feet. Cottingham says that some of the blast was absorbed by a duck decoy onboard and that decoy may have saved his life. A medical helicopter was called initially, but canceled after Cottingham was treated by medics at the scene. He was taken to the hospital where 27 birdshot pellets were removed from his backside, yet several pellets could not be taken out. Cottingham is expected to make a full recovery. Cottingham says that he is normally very aware when it comes to gun safety and, as a take away lesson from this, to never become complacent with a loaded weapon and of course to always use the firearm's safety.