A Child's Prayer

 Ally said the prayer to bless the food.  Biff started out helping her but she took off with it on her own.  She did a good job. I was impressed.  I was amazed that she actually ate all that was on her plate without complaining.

3 Days in St. George

bottom two photos found on this site: https://churchof 
jesuschristtemples.org/st.-george-utah-temple/news/

 We spent Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in St. George where Kevin and Tara have been living the last year or so. They had been living near Buffalo, New York when we saw them in 2020.  Archer had been born on Jai’s 16^th birthday.  He was three months at the time we saw him last.  Now he is almost two and has a baby brother born 2/22/22 which was on a TWOsday.

Richard made breakfast each day we were there.  The first day he made french toast with bacon and eggs and Kevin made tater tots. I did some laundry on our first day there.  Jai had hoped to go to Arctic Circle sometime during our travel as she has fond memories of having gone while living in Utah.  We went to one in St. George.  I don’t think anyone was impressed with the food.  Afterward we went to the Alumni Creamery – a chapter of BYU creamery.  That was good.  I have missed BYU creamery chocolate milk. 

Kevin wanted to play pickle ball with Richard and had taken us to a pickle ball court but it was extremely windy and we weren’t there for very long. I didn't know that the wind blew in St. George. The next day Kevin took us to Pioneer Park where we climbed rocks.  

I would have loved seeing more of this; Thank
you Aaron D. Adams for the eagle project

Apparently I wasn't ready for the tackle of the climb

Kevin and Jaime crawled in spaces while Richard and I held back with Archer.  We also toured Brigham Young’s winter home in person (I had toured it myself virtually just last year; this post) 

We ate at a place called Hawaiian Grill and had dessert at Nelson’s frozen custard.  I have not had a lot of frozen custard in my life, but have always enjoyed it.  I wasn’t disappointed.

Richard and I had been put up in the room next to Archer’s.  He was having a rough night our third night there.  I had gone into his bedroom to see if I could calm him down.  I would sing to him – which seemed to work, but then he would cry again whenever I would stop.  Finally Kevin offered to take over.  He fell asleep in the rocker holding Archer.

Tara was the one who normally slept in as the baby kept her up, but on Thursday she got up and let Kevin sleep in after his rough night with Archer. We went to Smith’s market place as I was in need of some toiletries and something to sooth my dry throat. Jaime and I both had dry coughs and she had nose bleeds as well as the air in St. George does not offer the same amount of moisture as western Oregon – which is why we moved initially.

We’d gone to the Dinosaur museum and temple visiting center.  The temple was closed due to renovation.  This is the original.  We also passed by a second temple that is being built in St. George.

Day 2: RUSHing Headache

I believe we went to Rush Funplex directly after eating at IHOP.  Ally was so excited. I rode with her and Biff and had Claire ride with Richard and Jaime – just in case we separated.  Tony was pretty much on his own. Three kids in car seats. 

When Ally saw me in the front she asked if I would ride with them.  She said she was glad I was with them because she likes me. Biff zigzagged his way to the fun center where eight of us had never been.  I don’t know how many pictures Jai had taken.  I know I took a couple with her phone, but not on my own.  This is pretty much how Rush made me feel:

NOT taken at Rush but shows same trippiness feel

And that’s only the visual.  I think it was the loud noise that contributed most to my headache.  I was already disoriented.  Each time we passed a sign or anything indicating the BYU logo I would think, “That is the same sign as BYU.  Wow.  Didn’t think I would ever see that in Oregon . . . oh, I’m not in Oregon.”

Same with Seagull Books.  It took me longer to process information than usual. It was as though my mind and body had separated.  For the most part I didn’t even know where I was. RUSH just made it worse.  Jai and I left for a bit to go out to the car for a breather.  We ran lines from a scene and returned. 

When I learned that Rochelle had taken the youngest to the car I returned to the parking lot to visit with her.  Rochelle felt just as tripped as I was.  She is the one daughter-in-law with whom I share the most in common with.

We then took the gang out to Famous Dave’s for dinner.  All four of the grandchildren ordered mac and cheese and Jaime ordered from the children’s menu also.  The rest of us had our food served to us in a garbage can lid.  We all enjoyed samples of ribs, pulled pork, chicken, potato wedges, coleslaw, muffins, corn on the cob and baked beans.   

For more info about Rush, see here. 

I’m Not About to Cook Eggs for a Dog!

          My aunt had a Scottish Terrier when she was ten years old – or perhaps Heather was a family dog.  I barely remember the pet dog.  

I of course don't have a picture of Heather
but copied the photo from this site:

Grandma and Grandpa had planned to take my aunt to Europe and had asked mom and dad to house sit while they were gone. Taking care of Heather was part of the deal.

          My mom had not grown up with pets nor seemed fond of them.  Grandpa had left instructions and told my mom that Heather needed to have two fried eggs each morning.  Mom said there was no way she was going to fix eggs for a dog and so my dad made the eggs for Heather each morning during their stay.

          Whenever Roland cooks eggs for the dog I always think of that experience that mom had shared with me.  For the most part Bonnie will get scrambled eggs rather than fried eggs – except this morning.  I fried up the white part but the yolks were still runny when I put them in Bonnie’s bowl.

          As I have mentioned in previous posts, there is a slew of fowl who come into our yard and expect to get fed.  This morning they were following me around like I was a magnet and they were all made of steel.  

The owners told us that if we ever find eggs we can keep them – which we probably would have done anyway.  We did not know they were roosting right beneath our deck.  Roland sends Jenna out every morning to gather what she can find.  The first time she found 24 but because we didn’t know how old they were, Bonnie got them all.  

The two that Bonnie ate this morning were dropped before they made it into the house – hence why Bonnie got them instead of us.  We don’t give her eggs often. Roland purchased a bunch of chicken organs for Bonnie when he and Jenna were in Grants Pass last night.  Dogs enjoy eating hearts and livers.  They seem to give Bonnie energy.

Light of the Ward

Yesterday was National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.  I noticed the flags lined up and down the bridge as we made our way to the Ward Christmas party.  

We had a brunch this year.  A 10:00 morning meal is great for so many reasons.  Breakfast.  Everything is catered.  No setting up of tables, decorations and so forth just to take it all down again (at least not by the ward members) no responsibilities of signing up to bring a dish in addition to reminder calls and a hodgepodge assortment of food.  I think the greatest plus is that it is light enough to see where we are driving.  The light invites.  Driving in the dark often seems so dismal.

Roland had been asked to play Santa Claus who hasn’t been a part of any ward Christmas that we have been a part of in Oregon.  Roland had memorized a speech about how our focus needs to be on Christ rather than Santa – for Santa wants to worship Christmas in a righteous way and that is why he gives – to follow Christ’s example.  I don’t remember his word-for-word speech, but that was the gist of it.  On Saturday he had spent a good amount of time (not to mention money) looking for bells to announce his arrival.  But when we arrived at the center, he learned that the costume didn’t fit.  At the last minute someone else was given that position.

There were eggs, biscuits and gravy, and pancakes for breakfast.  There was also a program put on by the primary and young women of the ward.  Excellent food.  Excellent company.  Roland ended up driving Jenna and her friend back to the house without me and I ended up catching a ride from somebody else.  But I couldn’t just leave.  I had a friend drive up all the way from Medford.  There were things on her mind that she wanted to share.

At 2:00 there was a primary baptism.  One of the girls had been a sunbeam in my class when we had moved into the ward almost four and a half years ago.  What I thought was most awesome about the baptism was seeing two sisters stand as witnesses for the baptisms.  It is my first time seeing that since it was revealed (see here).  The sister next to me said she wished she could have taken a picture.  It was truly a sensational moment.

We were told that there were some paper hearts on a back table.  We (the congregation) were asked to write notes on hearts to give the girls so they will remember their baptism.  I don’t remember anything about my baptism and had desired to provide them both with as many details as I would like to have in regards to my own baptism.  The hearts were small and I had written tiny – perhaps too tiny.  They also have pictures that have been taken to commemorate the day.  Perhaps my notes will make more sense alongside the pictures.

I had a brain freeze as I wrote - thinking how awesome it was for one of the newly baptized to have both of her grandmothers stand in as witnesses for the baptism.  She is such a special spirit.  I love watching her sing.  She knows all the words and really puts her heart into it.  Her grandmothers witnessed the baptism for both girls.  What a treasure.  

Jenna and her friend had decorated the tree and were watching “A Muppet Christmas Carol” when I returned.

At 5:00 we were scouring for a table at Pizza Palace.  We told the missionaries that we would meet them there.  We had chosen believing that the light parade would be last night, but that will be next week.  Yesterday was the lighting of the Christmas tree.  I don’t know who conducted this year.  The event was supposed to start at 4:00.  It has been cold and wet outside ever since.  Jenna had wanted to go but decided that she would rather eat pizza with the elders.  She really enjoys their company – especially one that she dubbed Elder Connecticut, but he told her not to call him that.  I told him that she preferred it as it has more syllables than his last name – which he understood.  They both feel that long words are more fun to say.  She asked if she could call him “Elder Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia” which he agreed to. 

We parted ways before 7:00 as they had another appointment and we had to get Jenna’s friend back to his house.  I listened to the rain fall as I typed this so I could post it this morning.

Another Sense Dulled - Maybe Even Lost

I can remember staying home from school one day when both my mom and I were sick.  She made us a really great lunch consisting of halibut, baked potato and corn.  Neither one of us was able to taste anything on our plate.  The only real difference about the food itself was the texture on the tongue.  Otherwise the taste was pretty much the same.

I had forgotten about that incident until yesterday when I added salt to the chicken noodle soup and later on the spaghetti (never in my entire lifetime have I added salt to spaghetti before) because I couldn’t taste them.  I couldn’t taste the pancakes or egg I had this morning.  I couldn’t taste my orange juice or medicine.  Great for the medicine.  That stuff is nasty – and I wonder if that is what dulled my taste buds in the first place or if it is this sinus infection.

I still don’t feel  as unhealthy as I did in May when I wanted to die.  Still, I don’t feel great.  If my taste buds are now a permanent condition, it will be so much easier to lose weight as I normally eat for enjoyment and not necessarily out of need.  Right now there is no enjoyment involved.  So why bother.

A Light at the End of the Road

          Garden Valley Blvd runs northeast to the north. It loses the name “boulevard” and becomes just “road” somewhere before the Riverdale Grange and winds and turns along with Umpqua River.  I don’t know if where Umpqua starts and Roseburg ends.  The Lighthouse Center Café and Bakery is on Fort McKay at the end of Garden Valley.  According to Google, it takes only 20 minutes to get from one end of the street to the other.  It is more like 25 – 30 minutes.

          In this post I mentioned having a winning ticket at the drawing that is held before the Wednesday movie starts.   We had driven out there at the end of August during Roland’s staycation.  We did not have the coupon, but we had driven so far out of the city and into the country and outskirts of civilization that we had to order something.

          Roland decided he wanted to drive out there yesterday as we were in Roseburg anyway (it’s still a 20-minute drive from the intersection of Stewart and Garden Valley which makes it a 40 minute drive from Myrtle Creek).  We arrived two minutes before it closed thus we still haven’t used our coupon.

          Here are some photos I took the first time we went out:

North Umpqua River

Jenna thinks Oregon should call itself "home of the blackberry bushes"

grapes behind the fence

we passed a lot of grapes

a view from Lighthouse Cafe

I believe these are jellies and other assortments

pieced together photo of post office and cafe

side view (parking lot was quite full that day)

Jenna taking pictures of Umpua River (first pic)

Lots of prestige houses and an assortment of mailboxes

Let’s Compare

         Compare means estimating or measuring a difference or similarity.  For instance, you may compare the prices that are in one store compared to the prices in another.  Or you may notice the name brands generally have higher prices than the brands you have never heard of.  Albertson’s used to have a knock off brand called Janet Lee and Smith’s Food King had actually marketed one called “No Name” if you can believe that.  Today the most common knock off that I am familiar with is “Great Value” found at Wal-Mart.

          I’ve compared my life to Salt Lake with the one I have in Oregon.  I’ve compared the library systems, the transportation, the road conditions, and education.  I am always comparing the weather to itself.

          We may test the waters by first getting our feet wet.  We may practice for events that may or may not come to pass – for example, we have prepared backpacks in the event that we do have to evacuate with only a moment’s notice . . . we haven’t had to use them however and don’t really know if we are as prepared as we think we are.

    

     

          Sometimes the actual event does not have the same results as did the drill.  For example, the fire drill compared to the evacuation that I discussed in this post

          We compare how we think we should feel to how we felt or would like to feel.  We compare how we look  - we compare to ourselves, to others, supermodels, celebrities.  We compare our brains to others.  We compare our lives. We compare our size, our shape, our skin tone, our weight, our hair . . . .

          We compare the time we spent in school learning a trait or skill to finding a job in the real world where your schooling time does not count as “years experience”.  We compare others success or luck to our own.  There have been a few days in my life which I have compared to Alexander’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

          I have noticed different personalities within different cartoons.  For example, I think the Peanut Characters all represent a different personality.  Lucy is the uptight controlling personality.  Charlie Brown is the one who may allow himself as a doormat; his intentions are noble, but he often allows himself to get bullied. Schroeder is so focused on his music that he doesn’t pay much attention to anything else.  Linus represents wisdom – even with his blanket.  I have also compared Winnie-the-Pooh characters to different personalities in this post.

          We compare the taste of food.  We describe the taste by comparing to familiarity.  We compare how food is prepared.  We compare cooking styles.  We even compare how it looks to how we think it should look.

          We liken the scriptures to our own lives.  Often instructors will teach with a modern day twist comparing the scriptures to the latest movie or works in literature.  Jesus made comparisons through parables.  We make comparisons to help ourselves learn – to grow and develop.  We use analogies.

          Speaking of scriptures,  I like having two or three open books to compare verses side by side . . . there are some of us who still use books.  And how many times have we compared books to tablets or modern day technology?  Finding information on Google is less time consuming than looking up information first in the card catalog and with finding the book and then in finding the information in the book itself.

          In 2016 somebody compared our libraries to being on life support.  Voting “no” on the November ballots would pull the plug while voting “yes” would keep the doors open.

          We tend to compare the past to the present and find the pros and cons with each.  We compare the growth, the technology and the paths we have taken as individuals, as a country, as the human race.

          Two comparative posts that really stood out to me are this one as I felt had a lot of good quotes about self esteem and self worth.  I love the quote about not comparing “our behind the scenes moment to somebody else’s highlighted reel”.  So often we measure ourselves by how we are seen by others.

        and This one as it compares Christmas symbols to our beliefs in Christmas – though many are just legends it is great to have “meaning for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear” to verify the reason behind a symbol that is used such as the candy cane and Santa Claus

          I suppose I don’t really need to explain further or give more examples.  We’re all guilty of comparing probably often.

Were we Prepared for the Storm?

              Okay,  this will be my last  post about last weeks fire.

            We have been more prepared than many others, but still not as much as we had hoped or believed.  There is only so much that can be stored and used before we run out.  As Roland couldn't get the generator working that first day, he used a jump start from the car to hook to the fireplace.  It was our only source of heat for a while.  But the car jumping device did not provide the amount of power that the generator had.  I was also afraid of killing the cars. 

            Roland had gone to the store not just once but two or three times to replace items we had used (such as gas and batteries).  How fortunate it was that he was able to use a credit or debit card as there have been many who have not had the opportunity to use their cards in natural disasters.  If residences are able to find a place that's open, I understand that cash is the preferred method.  I hate when there are businesses that prey upon the weakness or panic of the public.  WalMart offered snow brushes for removing snow from windshields.  In the entire time, we've been here, we have never encountered the challenge of needing a snow brush.  To me it seemed that the target was not out of concern to the public but how to use the panic to make a profit.  That irks me.  

            Though we have many flashlights, Roland went ahead and purchased some more.  We now have enough flashlights for every room, both vehicles, and our evacuation bags - which fortunately we have never had to use either.  I wonder how they will fare when there does come a time we have to rely solely upon only our backpack supply.  Granted, they are heavy.  The weight alone seems it would sustain us for a few weeks.  But we won't really know unless we are faced with the challenge of having to use them.  We didn't seem as prepared for the last week of February though we had believed we were.   Thus it makes me question how prepared we'd be without the opportunity of having a car to drive or a destination to drive to.

            On Wednesday we moved everything from one fridge and freezer to one location to hook to the generator.  Some food had thawed out and Roland boiled an entire bag of ravioli, but I cannot eat it all and so I packed up containers to share with the neighbors.  By that time, many had gone elsewhere – probably to stay with family.  I think both of our neighbors across the street are on oxygen and the family next door has two small children.

            Jenna had taken the snow shovel to assist neighbors with clearing out their driveways.  She wanted to do it to raise money and asked Roland's advice.  Of course, Roland and I always provide opposite answers.  He had that Walmart attitude of preying on the weak and making a profit and I told her to do it for blessings.  She decided to take my advice but didn't reject any payment when it was offered. I believe she made more money that way.

            I returned to eat my own ravioli and have been eating ravioli every day since.  The mail was delivered on Thursday for the first time last week.  Our power returned Thursday night.  There is still one school in the district without power Friday morning. Another message that school will be canceled for Friday.  They expect to resume on Monday.

           I am grateful to the power company who still has workers out there continuing to restore power to so many who don't have it still.  Four days is nothing.  Many of those currently without electricity are also without water.  I pray that they will have the strength to survive and hope that their struggles will be lessened that they may return to the way things were.