DL Trial and Persistence

 

        I don't know what it is like in other states or if COVID is to blame for the system or what have you - but just being able to land a test driving appointment is no small feat.  A person has to visit the site not only daily but multiple times throughout the day - hourly if possible.  Jaime started her search in June or July and finally landed an appointment with the Roseburg DMV on September 9th but continued her search until something opened up in Canyonville.  September 10.  Had we known then what we know now we would have just kept both.

We arrived a half an hour early to appointment.  The room was the busiest I have ever seen it. She wasn’t able to check in until 15 minutes prior to the appointment time.  We had proof of insurance but no expiration date.  She was dismissed and could not take the test.

We were given information for third party testing – which she did in Roseburg.  The instructor had her turn onto a one way street – which she has never done before.  She made the turn for the furthest lane over and was failed.  She didn’t know.

She was gracious about it afterward saying it was probably a blessing that she hadn’t been tested in Canyonville and had to learn about the one ways as Ashland is full of them and she would like Ashland to be a regular destination.

Meanwhile I checked DMV on a daily basis and signed her up for multiples.  Her first appointment was in Roseburg – their waiting room was a far cry from Canyonville – more empty seats – no waiting at all.  They took her before the allotted check in time.  She was told she ran a red light which she says she did not do.  Next appointment: Grants Pass. 

Grants Pass is what I consider the halfway mark between here and Medford Temple.  The drive was between 40 and 60 minutes.  When we arrived there was a line outside the doors.  Everyone was being turned away due to the servers being down.  The biggest problem – Jaime didn’t even want her license.  Why all this hassle for something she doesn’t even want?

The last test she took was in Roseburg.  Meanwhile I had booked four more appointments – three in December.  Thankfully she passed at her last appointment (third party taken Oct 7) and in an unfamiliar car. Another from the friend group received his the following day.  She thought she would be the last of her friends to get her license but had him beat by 25 hours. 

Yesterday she took her first long drive by herself.  She went to Medford to meet a group of friends and drove herself home after the activity.  I am so happy for her and pleased with her decisions.  She really is an awesome human being!

Snowed In

                I probably mentioned in a few posts that the geographical boundaries are huge in the ward where I currently reside.  We don’t have snow but there are some members who woke up to snow.  Some made it to church.  At least one family was snowed in and unable to make it to church.

          We took Jaime back to Ashland.  During our drive we encountered some areas of slow moving traffic due to snowfall.  It’s weird to think about.  It does look pretty in the hills and mountains and brushed on trees.  We did not encounter any problems.  Oregon snow (at least the western end) has nothing on Utah snow.    

240 hours

Ten days have pass

since I have last written

lots of driving 

in the car

a lot of miles

a lot of time.

Spring Break

in the car

10 days to

visit three sons

and three sibs

in the car

Lots of driving

We'd gone north 

to drop off Bonnie 

and then the high school

for parent teacher conference 

and then our way 

out of town

First to Layton

to see Biff and

his wife and

daughter

We ask Tony to

bring his family

as well

 

They drive up from

Salt Lake and we

eat breakfast

11 in all

 

And then we go to Rush –

a family fun center with

overpowering loud music and

neon lights 

bowling, bouncy houses,

lazer tag, arcades, rides,

did I mention LOUD

 

I think it is called RUSH because

you are getting the same kind of rush

that you might get from drugs – or

so I assume. 

I have never done drugs. 

No desire.

I was already disoriented from

being in the car. 

I don’t need further add to the cause

 

Did we have dinner?

Or did we part after Rush? 

I can’t remember. 

I didn’t write it down. 

 

More driving.  Pizza. 

Back to hotel for playing games.

I think that was my favorite day.

Taking over the lobby.

Surprise visit from Aunt Julie.

Monday’s drive to Salt Lake

Trolley Square

Valley Fair Mall

Roland likes to shop

Jai and I would have

liked to ride the train

however we did not.

 

We did reminisce at

West Valley Library

before we got back

into the car and drove to

Su Casa.

My sibs had already

reserved a table.

 

I don’t remember Patrick

having been so tall. 

He’s always been tall,

but not that tall. 

Maybe I shrunk.

 

Jenna is freaking that

Kayla’s kids have grown and

are getting taller still. 

She asked them lots of    

questions as Roland and I

continued to visit with

Patrick, Sunny and Kayla. 

 

When Bill arrived I asked

Roland to trade places

with me so I could more

easily visit with my sibs

while he visited with Bill  - 

who separated his boys.

 

That was our entire

activity in Salt Lake before

we went back to the car  

to spend more time

on the road driving

to St. George.

 

We stayed with Randy and

his family for four nights  

On Tuesday Randy took us

to Pioneer Park. 

We climbed rocks. 

It wore me out.

We then went to

Brigham Young’s Winter home.

 

Randy drove us in the

company truck. 

Roland fixed breakfast three

mornings we were there.

We spent a lot of

time in the car or

the truck on the roads to

go out to eat or

shop or explore

It was dry.  Not hot

but dry

 

Jenna had a nose bleed

I don’t know how I lucked out

The air was not very nice

to either one of us.

Jenna and I had cold

cereal on Friday and

Randy and Roland had

hot cereal. 

We left shortly after that.

 

Next on the agenda

was Las Vegas. 

Normal drive is 1.5 – 2 hours

but longer during construction. 

It took us 3.5 hours!

 

We arrived at Corey and

Joh’s who said

we could spend the night.

After we brought everything in

we went back to the car and

drove on the strip to find and

to explore Coca-Cola and

M&M world

 

We drove some more

as we had tickets to

the Omega Mart

Las Vegas is NOT

a fun place to drive

Omega Mart was trippy

 

Drove back to Corey and Joh’s

Jenna stayed up and

talked with Joh while

Roland and I went to bed.

Corey and Joh wished to

sleep in the following day

Roland, Jenna and I

played a few rounds of spades

before we called them

on the phone as we

(well, mostly Roland)

wanted to load up

the car so that we

could be ready to go

after taking them to IHOP

Our final visit

 

 

More drive

We hit every tiny

town in Nevada on

the way home 

in the car mostly

for nearly 2020 miles

2020?

That sounds familiar,

Doesn’t it?

Backtracking to Earth Day

This post really has nothing to do with Earth Day . . . it just happened to take place last week: Thursday April 22nd.

 

            I woke up early and thought I would surprise Roland by lowering my bed and snuggle with him.  However when I started scooting toward him, his side of the bed began to rise and then he told me he thought I was doing it.  I didn’t have his remote!  But neither did he.  We searched for it on top of the bed, removed the covers one at a time and looked beneath the bed.  I lowered my side and climbed on the bed to see if the remote had fallen between the crack that separates our mattresses. It had.  Only it hadn’t fallen as far as the floor but had somehow nestled itself under my mattress.  I had to use a long object in order to push it out.

            I took Jenna to seminary so that Roland could go back to bed if he wanted.  I just stayed in the parking lot and read on my kindle.  When I leave the parking lot I most always turn right unless I have to go to Dollar General or I know the middle school is letting out.  However when we left the parking lot last Thursday I turned toward Dollar General as I figured the road was better shaded than the one that takes me downtown (and I have to look toward the sun to see if any cars are coming)

            Roland chose to work on some Mothers’ Day cards and asked for an extended list.  We ended up with over 80 names.  He made another trip to Roseburg to get the cards printed while I stayed at home to work on the list.  I also decided to make the beds as I had washed the sheets before he left (taking Jenna with him).  I had raised each side of the bed in order to get the sheets on, but when I went to lower his side it wouldn’t budge.  Are you freaking kidding me?!?!? 

            I put fresh batteries in the remote and it still was not working.  It was in a position I knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep in and so I decided I would trade him sides.  It wasn’t bad for napping, but it hurt my back to sleep that way all night long and ended up on the couch.  But not before planting peppers and onions and setting up the second chicken coop fence – which thus far has worked.  I had collapsed from exhaustion.  I heard Richard’s phone go off and the caller asked for me but I was just so tired – for three days!  I have had a few moments of alertness, but the tiredness has not gone away. 

Every Day is Saturday: Days Two and Three

             Cow Creek was given a huge amount of vaccines for their tribes and those working at Seven Feathers.  By the first week of March it was announced that any friends or family of those employed at Seven Feathers.  The announcement said that candidates had to be at least 65 years of age.  But when we called to get Roland set up, it was learned that I could be vaccinated also.

Roland and I received our first shot on March 16.  We were given cards which provided a date indicating when we would be available for our second shot on April 13.  We hadn’t heard from the clinic and so went down to see if we could get in.  That’s when we learned that April 13 was not the accurate next shot date but the date of eligibility.  We still had to set up an appointment. The soonest we could get in was yesterday.

Now just to backtrack a bit.  If you are a faithful reader you will remember we spent Roland’s first day off washing cars.  The weather was HOT nearing 90 degrees.  Could anything beat the excitement of washing cars?  The next two days offered awesome weather.  Overcast skies, cooling wind.  Perfect yard work weather in my opinion. So here is a summary for the rest of days 1 and the start of day 2. 

Day 1

            After breakfast and a bit of TV, Roland went out to use whatever machine while I tried calling the bank and a pharmacy to see if we can schedule an appointment for Jenna to receive a shot as the state will now vaccinate anyone over the age of 16.  I felt like I was getting the runaround with machines talking at me and providing choices – but none applied and I wasn’t allowed to talk to a human.  Roland decided we would all pile in the car (except for Bonnie who we left at home) and drive to said places to talk to humans.

            Our first stop on the agenda was at the saw shop as Roland’s appliance needed fixing.  With mask over face, Roland went in while Jenna and I waited in the car.  It was small enough that the shop employees could take care of it without calling a specialized mechanic. They figured they’d have it ready for him within a day or two.

After that we ran to the bank.  Again, only Roland got out of the car while Jenna and I waited in the car while Roland knocked on the door of the bank to see if he could set up an appointment.  After that we went to Safeway Drug.  Roland took Jenna with him, but they returned in less than a minute.  Although Safeway does offer a vaccination drug, it is not that one that Jenna qualifies for and so we had another number,  name and website for another runaround.  At least we knew that we’d end up at the fairgrounds on Saturday but would feel better about getting that appointment scheduled rather than just show up.

After that Roland decided to treat us to A&W for lunch.  Enjoyed the rootbeer.  It’s been a while since I’ve had A&W.  No frosty mug.  Only 5 persons allowed to dine at once.  I don’t think the food was worth it.

 Day 2

The reason for our visit to the bank was to sign some paper work which required two signatures plus a notary.  We met our friends who were on their way to the coast for a few-day getaway.  I was grateful that they allowed us their time.  I’m certain that signing documents was not the highlight of either of our “va and stay cations”

I had told Jenna that I would take her out for a scavenger hunt as soon as I returned home (pictures to come) and Roland dropped me off in the driveway and backed up to the side and told me to take the Saturn as he would need the bigger car in the event that his garden tool was ready to pick up – which it was.  He left the house before Jenna and I got into the other car.

Most of the scavenger hunt could be done at home, but there were a few places that we needed to drive to.  I told Jenna to take different pictures from the ones that I took and we would each enter the contest.

Roland said he had knocked out some of what he had planned but was on the couch when we returned.  He took a couple of naps which I think is a remarkable way to spend a vacation.  I know he hasn’t slept well for whatever reason and so I am glad he is taking it easy. More to come.  Aren’t you excited?

Let's Just Leave the Clock Setting Alone

https://www.timeanddate.com/news/time/usa-canada-start-dst-2021.htm

 Daylight Saving happened on March 14^th this year.  Oh, joy.  After a month and a half of not being able to drive to the church in the morning there finally came a time that I could leave the house at 7:10 and then gradually at 7:00.  For about a month after Christmas I had left the house at the very time that seminary got out before Jenna’s instructor volunteered to bring her home until it was light enough for me to see.

https://dlpng.com/png/6598304

The first week before spring break was too dark for my eyes – but I didn’t have to go to the church until this week as the six youth were in quarantine the week before spring break started.  Thankfully, after the youth returned to their normal routine it has been light enough to leave the house by seven.  That gives me an extra ten minutes to drive around the creek instead of crossing over the bridge that leads to downtown.  I prefer going around the river as I will encounter only one school bus – if that.  I don’t want to leave too early because I then have to stop each time it does. 

As a youth it felt like we set our clocks according to General Conference which gave us six months of daylight and six months of standard.  But now they have it set at the second week in March and the first week of November which gives us roughly eight months of daylight and four months of standard.  So why not just get rid of standard?  What is the point of changing the clock for just four months?  Seems like there are many more inconveniences associated with clock setting than not.  Let’s just keep the clock where it is and not have to reset in November. 

https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/health/wellness/advice/a21905/adjusting-daylight-saving-time/

My First Car

          The first car that I had ever purchased was a used chocolate brown Volkswagen Dasher.  The only images I can find are of hatchbacks but I am certain that my car had a trunk.  I didn’t want a hatchback.  The saleman had tried selling me a Ford Pinto.  I did not want a Ford Pinto.  I did not care for the salesman’s tactic. I went and found another salesman.

not exact but think similar to what I had

          It was a cute little car, but NOT a spontaneous one.  I would have to warm the car up at least an hour before going anywhere.  I would let it warm up and allow the car to run for about five minutes and then I would have to give it an extra few minutes before I was seriously ready to go.  I don’t even know what year it was or how many years I had it.

           When I left for my mission, I allowed my brother Patrick to drive my car  - though I don’t know how often he used it – but I know he did use it.  Just before my mission ended a bird had flown into the grill and Patrick had asked a friend of ours to help him with the damage.  Replacing the grill cost more than Patrick could afford and so Dan made a temporary fix using wood as a temporary replacement.  It seemed to work at the time.  I’m sure it wouldn’t pass inspection however and I know it would be cause to pull over today. 

 

not exact but similar to how it looked

          My grandma had purchased a car for herself just before my mission.  It was a white Plymouth Duster which she didn’t drive often herself but had either me or her daughter drive it.  I remember driving her to a funeral of a kid whom neither one of us had known – but she had been friends with her mom and so had gone to support her.  One thing that I really do enjoy about most LDS funerals (or at least the ones I have been to) is even if you don’t know the person before the funeral, you will definitely know something before the funeral ends.  I like LDS funerals.  I like how they pay tribute to the life of the deceased.

 

tried to find a Plymouth Duster
without a background - no success

          After Grandma Helen died and the family was cleaning the house and marking her belongings it was decided that I would get her Plymouth Duster.  In time I understood why she never wanted to drive it herself – or why so much of the time I would just see small old ladies behind the steering wheel of this monster tank (I thought the Duster was huge).  It’s because nobody over 5’2” could feel comfortable driving.  My grandma was six feet tall - or close to. I’m 5’4”.  I could never wear a hat while driving as my head touched the ceiling as it was. 

 

          My brother, Corey, borrowed the Duster while going to school in Ephraim as he was in need of a car and I worked downtown and took the bus.  The best feature about that Plymouth Duster was that the heater worked – almost too well.  We’d have to turn on the defogger when it rained or was cold.  I remember I would always drive with one coat sleeve over my left arm as I had to have the window open.  The rest of me was still hot.

 

         

The Temperature Has Dropped . . . Immensely

           My sister had posted a picture of the snow that fell upon the Salt Lake area.  We haven’t had snow.  We haven’t had much in the way of rain. 

          The sun teases us.  It seems to invite us to go outdoors to play.  After all, the skies are beautiful.  The trees are gorgeous with color.  It’s enticing – at least in the afternoon.

           Last month I was leaving the house at 7:00.  I would drive to the church to pick up Jenna.  I could see at 7:00 though it was more of a challenge to leave at that time by the end of the month.

           For most of this month I have not even been able to at 7:30.  I had made arrangements for someone else to bring her home.  Next month we set our clocks back.  Thus it will be even darker.

           The last three mornings brought freezing air – below freezing.  I’m okay with it.  True, I don’t like the biting cold.  But it is better than the scorching heat that we had.

           I wish it would remain a constant temperature all year long.  None of these high and lows that have been brought by Global Warming.   I want to enjoy the fresh moist air without feeling too hot or too cold.

A Week Without Internet - well not quite . . .

         I’ve heard it said that the road to hell is paved with good intentions – meaning if a person doesn’t act upon the thoughts he or she has the purpose is unfulfilled.  For three to four weeks the leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint Western Region representatives have been asked to call those that they preside over for ministering assignments call those that they minister to in order to learn how long it would take for everyone in the area to be contacted.  We were given a heads up that we would be making calls on Saturday for a mock earthquake drill which would go into effect that morning.  All of the calls were to be made within a two hour frame beginning at 8:00.

My plan was to offer a fervent prayer before I started calling each of my sisters as I have not had much success at finding many who will answer the phone – especially on a Saturday morning.  No time is a good time and there is no way an earthquake can be scheduled so that everyone could be notified by email.  Chances are high that we will be without internet during an earthquake, possibly without electrical power or cell phone reception.  Ward members would have to be contacted another way.

On Thursday I remembered the mock earthquake would be taking place for Saturday morning.  I hadn’t set a reminder.  I hadn’t checked my email on Friday.  It did appear that the RS pres had tried contacting my phone on Friday night but I was unable to return her call.  I had forgotten about the mock drill. 

On Saturday morning Jenna had turned on a “scary” movie to add to her “31 days of Halloween” that she has attempted each year.  Roland had started out watching with us but seemed to have disappeared for a while. When he finally returned had said he had gotten hold of five of his families.  Earthquake drill!!!!  Oh, no!  I scolded myself for not having remembered and started calling those sisters I have saved to my phone – without having said a prayer before I started.  Of course not a whole lot of sisters had answered their phones.  I left messages with most of them – though I predicted it would be in vain. 

I had told Jenna that I would drive her and another young woman to the dollar store so that they could pick out items for the upcoming activities scheduled for tomorrow and the following week.  As I was headed in that direction anyway I decided to check on two sisters that I hadn’t gotten a hold of.  I pulled into one sister’s driveway sat there while talking on the phone with three different sisters.  By the time I got to the young woman’s house I had received two more phone calls indicating that we were out of time.  What??? It was barely 9:30.  But apparently they had changed the time from 8:00 to an earlier time.  I must say I was quite flustered before 10:00.

Roland has a yard project going that should have been finished but is still in the works.  I don’t know if I was out there with him when he accidently cut the cable.  So on Saturday we were without cable which was not big deal for Jenna and me personally – but losing the internet was a big deal.  Roland would need it for work Monday and Jenna would need it for school.  Jenna asked if she could just stay at the church after seminary in order to do her schooling.  Richard thought he could join her by bringing his work to the church if it came to that.  The earliest the cable company can come is on Thursday.  I currently really don’t need the internet – though I learned there are times in which I can/will miss out by not having it.

  On Sunday Roland was able to get a temporary fix for reception until the cable company can get here.  I was going to remain offline until a more permanent fix.  Only I was asked to post something to the Relief Society page.  I had messages and checked them but not my notifications.  I remained offline yesterday and today Jenna asked for assistance with a question on migrating ancestors and needed to make a connection to find a story that isn’t much of a story after all.  I decided I would go ahead and post to my blog instead of waiting the six days as planned. More to come.

Long Day

            The RS Pres. asked if I would pick up a food order in Winston.  I Googled the address but I did not like the option it showed on how to get there.  I DON’T wish to stay on the freeway so I can exit at 119 just so I can return back down.  There had to be another way.  I blew up the map and paid attention to the landmarks that were near the dentist office that I go to.  The addresses are on the same street!  I’m not going to get off 119 when I can get off 112 and work my way up.  That’s what I’ll do.

            Yesterday morning – before I was even out of bed – I thought about two streets in Myrtle Creek that don’t go through.  One cannot get from the post office on Broadway to a resident who lives towards Chestnut or Neal.  It ends at Spruce on one side and dead ends on the other.

            Same thing with Spruce.  You can’t get from the 7^th Day Adventist Church to the Catholic Church for example.  Once you hit Division you are at the school, and Spruce doesn’t continue until Rice curves into it above the hill at the corner of Coffenberry. Though a person could walk the distance of Spuce, I suppose.  Cross into the school parking lot and climb the hill and go from there.

            I am certain that I have mentioned before that the kids have a running joke about Coffins and being buried  (Coffen/berry) in the cemetery so close to their school.  The other day I received a text that asked if I would be working at “Cough and Bury” last week.  I laughed thinking she had typed it in that way on purpose, but really it was Google recording her dictation. 

Catholic cemetery, vineyard and Church taken from Coffenberry

            Yesterday I traveled close to 80 miles – which might not seem like a big deal to some people, but I personally am not used to driving that many miles in just one day.  I went 15 miles to the church in Winston(took about 35 minutes), 15 miles return (somehow that was shorter), another 7 miles to deliver (drive wasn’t as long as unloading), to homeward church from there (another 10 or so miles) stayed for 90 minutes, back to Winston for the dentist and return home. 

            Wrote this post.  Slept great last night.

MLK Banker, Stubborn Healing and Mormon Deer

            We have not adopted a celebration tradition for Martin Luther King Jr. Day – though Jenna did have a nice suggestion:  watch Tangled because there’s that song “I have a dream” – only we couldn’t seem to find our copy of Tangled and the Myrtle Creek library doesn’t even carry anything that recent. 

            We had three bananas that were somewhere between brown and black.  I planned to purchase some vanilla ice cream to make smoothies or banana ice cream.  This would be in honor of “milk” day as my niece had initially thought MLK to be.  I had told reader’s to refer to her blog in this post, but alas, she has made it private and so no one will have that opportunity anymore (including me).

            Roland suggested we play Monopoly – and though it’s not mine nor Jenna’s favorite game, it is an opportunity to play games with Roland – and at his suggestion no less. 

            Jenna has now decided to set the timer each time monopoly is played with a two hour limit.  It was good for Roland to focus on something other than his pain.  They both dubbed me as banker which is really not a coveted role for me.  In our household, the banker makes the rules whether they really exist in Parker Brothers instruction book or not.

            All tax fees and other expenses go into the middle of the board giving free parking a purpose – to win the pile of cash that each player contributes when paying fees.  I decided that we would deal up half the properties and no other properties could be purchased or housing/hotel expenses until we had each been twice around the board.  Properties could be traded to fulfill an expense – for example, if you land on Boardwalk and have to pay 1400 but do not have that much, player can give up properties as agreed by Boardwalk owner.  Player DOES NOT have to mortgage properties in order to obtain funds.  And you don’t have to build evenly.  If you want to buy one hotel for one property and only one house on the remaining properties, with me as banker, that is allowed.

            I was out of the game after an hour and a half.  I had landed on Boardwalk.  I gave Jenna all of my unmortgaged property plus the less than 100 dollars I had in bills, but the three mortgaged properties I had were returned to the bank – plus all of the housing which is removed when the player loses and has to be repurchased by the new property owner.

            Roland landed on Boardwalk three times during the game and he was finally busted just before Alexa went off.  But Jenna wanted to continue playing forcing Roland to mortgage most of his properties and sell his houses.  But then he landed on Baltic or Mediterranean – both of which had hotels.  So he lost.  That was funny.

            During our game of Monopoly Jenna had played a variety of music on YouTube.  As we listened to Abba, she pointed out “I Have a Dream” and so after our monopoly game and ice cream making, we found some other songs on YouTube to celebrate “having a dream”  We listened to Abba, Tangled, this one, and of course, Martin Luther King, Jr (here)

            As we are down to half a driver and there is a family in my ward short a car and also providing rides for Jenna – we loaned out our second car.  As Roland planned on driving Jenna to the church this morning I wanted to make certain his back was up to it. So I had him help me move the cars so that the one to be borrowed was behind.  He moaned and groaned as he got into the car, but he is stubborn enough to make it work.

            This morning I went along for the ride when he dropped off Jenna.  We were quite near downtown when Roland started honking his horn.  Until we approached closer, I hadn’t even realized there had been a deer in the road (it was still dark and raining).

            Whenever he pulls into the lot, he has a habit of going all the way toward the grassy area before he turns around.  He likes to see how many deer are parked out on the lawn.  I told him we had already seen one deer for the morning and he shouldn’t expect the deer to be camped out in the rain. 

            I don’t know if it was him or Jenna that suggested that there was a difference between the one we saw in the road and those who “go to church”  I think it was Jenna who suggested that some of the deer get made fun of by the other deer because of their desire to be so close to the Mormon Church.  That made me laugh.