I'm Out Of A Job, But Hey, I've Got a Cool Shirt

After we arrived her over two years ago, we learned that Myrtle Creek has a celebration very close to the time when Salt Lake City celebrates Days of '47.  The ward in Myrtle Creek offers a service project the week prior to the community.

The first year we had gone to Riddle Cemetery and used power washers to clean the stones.  There were several who brought weed whackers to  spruce up the grounds.

Last year we went to the high school.  We brought weed whackers and power washers and paint brushes.  This year our service project was at the VWF.  We cleaned up the outside as well as the inside (at least some members did;  I was bothered by all the cleaning chemicals and chose to stay outside) This year we continued to build upon the equipment of weed whackers, power washers and paint brushes - carpentry was also added to the agenda.  So here are some pictures of what we did:

  

We returned home long enough to unload the car of the equipment we took and to run in and get a shopping list of needed supplies.  K-Marts have been closing throughout the country.  I remember my sister saying that about a K-Mart that was not far from where we had lived in West Valley.  We had also seen a K-Mart close before we left Kearns.  It is now time for the Roseburg K-Mart to fold.

Several workers have been hired to move merchandise and to serve the public for the next month and a half.  We took advantage of the clearance items to fill our cart.  I think it's sad seeing companies forced to fold - mostly because of the increased number of the unemployed - not that I believe retail is the greatest job - but it's something. 

We had left the house at 7:30 that morning and did not return home until 7:30 that night.  I was exhausted.  It has taken a couple of days for me to recuperate. Meanwhile I have only one class on my agenda right now.  For some odd reason I seem to prioritize my time better when I have two.  But I like having just one class in order to spend more time with Jenna.

Young Women's has been cancelled for tonight and she is quite bummed about it.

Wheeler Farm

        I grew up in the Midvale East 4th ward (Church boundary) and each year the members would drive to storm mountain for an annual bbq dinner and ward party.  There were always a variety of activities offered to each age group - though the teenagers (for the most part) would forego any planned activity and try their hand at hiking to Doughnut Falls - and often succeeding.

         Before Kayla was born, the location had changed from Big Cottonwood Canyon to Wheeler Farm - which actually was a shorter drive and more family oriented, but not totally a big hit with the teenagers.  We hadn't taken into account that Wheeler Farm was a safer and more practical area overall.

  

I have seen this photo attached to two blogs; I don't 

know who to give credit to for taking it. I think it's

a great representation but I will remove the picture

if the artist asks me to.  

        I think I appreciated it more after I became a mother.  I have many scrapbook pages of Jenna and Wheeler Farm all from different years.  Her most favorite thing to visit was (and I think still is) the farm equipment.

         On Friday, Randy had suggested that spend some time there as it is free and it would perhaps help Biff to cope and move on.  It was the only overly warm day we had this last week.  It was the only day when the wind wasn't blowing. 

  

        Tony and Rochelle had been unwilling or unable to meet us as her brother was getting married the following day and then moving out to Pennsylvania.  Bittersweet memories of when Tony and Rochelle moved to Texas right after they were married. 

in addition to the tractors, Jenna has always had her picture

taken as she looks through window in the clubhouse

closeup of her and the two nieces who accompanied us

There were many things I hadn't seen before including this; 

Jenna was in Granite School District the entire time we lived in Utah

thoughts and pictures

        I suppose it's not just my physical body that has changed, but my inner being as well.  I used to like crafts and knit-knacks.  I now think of them as "dust collectors" - too bad.  Jeanie and Biff sent a cute figurine for Mothers' Day.  It really is cute - but I haven't a  clue what to do with it.  Currently it is on a shelf next to a "frog" bank. They both look out of place.

        I don't know where I got it from, but I was a hoarder in my youth.  I'm happy to say those days are gone. What is it that possessed me to hang onto all that/this stuff in the first place.  Let's just get rid of everything!

        In addition to weeding out tangible items, I really need to go through my computer files - particularly my pictures and sort them out.  Kill all duplicates.  I did feel organized at one time.  Apparently it was just that one time.

Roland dug an area and planted watermelon seeds

our spinach and beets have grown

our snowball tree does not appear as vibrant

Roland dug a tree root that's sprouting into another tree

while we wait for the air to cool a bit

We had planted a redwood here; it croaked on us

Let's hope the cherry doesn't do the same thing

took this picture last night; planted this morning 

Familiar Faces

            About a year and a half ago, I was on facebook checking out their statistics, though I generally don't put a lot of stock in what results are given.   According to facebook, my husband Roland and I are the most opposite of me and any of my facebook friends.  I can believe that.  According to facebook, my soul mate is Carolyn - who I had known less than a year.  I've now known her for almost two.  The more time I take to get to know her, the more it feels like we have in common.  I guess facebook was right.

            Not only that, but every time I added a family photo, facebook will automaticlly tag the pictures and actually get most of them right.  But every time my mom is in the photo, facebook puts Carolyn's name on the photo instead of my mom's. I guess there is a resemblance.  I do see more between my mom and Carolyn than I do between my mom and Peggy Bird.  Peggy was our neighbor from across the street.  I bet  one was mistaken for the other at least once a week.  None of their children saw it.

            I know I have a face that often looks familiar to most people.  Perhaps that is why people always used to talk to me on the bus; they thought they were talking to somebody else.  I know for a fact that some doors were open to me on my mission because they thought I was somebody else.  We would start our approach and they would look at us and then our name tags and finally figure out I wasn't who they thought I was.  That was weird.

            Carolyn said she thought my mom looked younger than her.  I would have never guessed that Carolyn is as old as she is.  She and my mom are two years apart.  Carolyn is younger.  I had mentioned that my mom had passed away in 2013.  She was quite disappointed and said she wanted to meet mom.

            "You will," I assured her. "But just let's hope you don't meet her soon."

Lost In a Cloud

            As with everything, there are always pros and cons to having a cell phone, internet service, cloud storage, etc.  I must be old fashioned in my way of thinking.  I would like my phone to act as a phone and my watch to tell time . . . although the watch has nearly become a thing of the past for me as I refer to my cell phone for the time and since I don't wear my cell phone around my wrist, it hasn't bothered me the way a watch often does.  It's a nice feature - though not necessary.  It is convenient.

             My first cell phone was through Voice Stream.  My mom and I had both purchased a phone plan that came with this Nokita - a phone my mom refused to give up until after she got dementia.

            I had mine for over ten years and may have had it longer but it seemed to have vanished during a day trip that I had taken with Roland and the boys.  The weird thing is, I don't remember having even left the car - so I don't know how my phone would have.  But whatever.  I had to get a replacement.

            I liked the size of my new phone and had asked mom if she would like a new phone also. She didn't wish to give it up because it had good reception. She didn't trust that the new technology would offer a very long. I think she was onto something.   Seems like many electronics that are offered today are meant to break down.  They become relics in less than two years anyway - so what's the point of making them to last? I like Adrian Covert's description here.

             When Roland upgraded his phone, he decided he would need the internet and thus got a touch screen phone.  That's all well and good for him, but I cannot use touch screens for the life of me.  Either it will not recognize that I am touching the screen or it will be hyper-sensitive and disappear altogether.  The touch screen for me, personally, is way more frustrating than it is worth.  Besides, if I am going to write something, I would rather have an actual raised keyboard and not a postage stamp-sized keyboard that is even more challenging to my actually small fingers that have somehow grown to the size of the entire keyboard. Not to mention having to read in such a limited space.  Give me a full blown monitor, please.

            Roland's last phone came with the option of a built in speaker to use rather than typing it out.  It didn't punctuate - not for me anyway.  Plus it is frustrating to have your words misspelled or butchered at "Google" thought you were saying something else.  And so I'd have to proof-read and make corrections - which actually seemed to amount to more work than if I had just typed it all in myself.

            Phones do not think - or do they?

            I hadn't charged my camera for quite some time, but Roland has a camera built into his phone.  The quality of picture is actually pretty good. I took only four pictures at Jaime's birthday party before the battery gave out.  We used Roland's phone to get more.  I was devastated when we took his phone home to charge it and it wouldn't charge.  It has been persnickety about its connecting devise.

            Roland took it to the big city of Roseburg to see if it just needed a new battery - or what the deal was.  It was beyond repair.  Oh, no!  The pictures!  I hadn't even looked at them.

            Roland not only purchased a new phone, but is now on a different plan.  Now I am impressed by the technology of the cloud.  Restored all the pictures not only to his phone, but I had him photo/Google the internet on his work computer - and there they were.  Wow.

             I was able to pull up some pictures from my computer of ones we had taken in 2012 - which were also from his phone.  I don't know why.  I could obtain pics through his phone on my computer until Dec 2015.  Everything more current had to be obtained through his computer.  Not sure how that works.

             And, okay, I get that the GPS thingamabob (gadget) that is located in the phone would know where we were when each picture was taken, but what impressed me was how it labeled the photos.  They were sorted into places and things.  So the folders were labeled "Christmas", "Sky", "Rainbow", "Cars" - how did it know that?  Okay, the folder labeled "cars" was more of houses though I suppose there were cars in the photos - but it certainly wasn't the main focus.  Actually, I don't know what was.  Roland said I had wanted the clouds.  How pathetic.  I have been told that I am "trigger happy" when I am taking pictures with the touch screen.

            So here are some pics that we discovered in the cloud:

Her pose reminds me of her brother, Randy