Two Down, One to Go

        

         We had been told by our friend (the one who lives in McMinnville) that we would have two months to reside before changing over to Oregon plates and driving.  We’ve been here for almost two months now.

         We somehow believed that we would have to take the tests in the big city of Roseburg, but someone had suggested that we go to Canyonville.  I hadn’t thought of a DMV even existing in Canyonville.  What an awesome thought.

         Roland happened to be off work for pioneer day as he is still on Utah clock.  The South Umpqua ward tries to do something for the days of ’47 to honor the pioneers who traveled across the plains.  I’m told that the pioneer celebration always takes place a week earlier than it does in Utah as Myrtle Creek has its own celebration around the same time as Utah has theirs. 

         So on July 24^th, we went to Canyonville so that Richard could take his test first, and I went across the street with Jenna to take pictures of her playing in the park.  We weren’t there for very long.

Yesterday Roland received his Oregon driver’s license in the mail.  He now has two valid driver’s licenses – one from Oregon and one from Utah.  His Utah was never punched.

         He had seemed nervous about the test for some reason.  I do not know why.  Roland is a great driver.  If he thought he would not be able to pass, what chances would I have at passing?

         The questions had mostly common sense answers.  There really wasn’t anything to be nervous about.  I actually did better at the test than he did.  My Utah driver’s license was punched and I was given a temporary piece of paper.

         Now we just need to change our car plates from Utah to Oregon.  NOT an easy task. ALWAYS red tape in Utah.  It hasn’t ended for us.  I wonder if it ever will.

         For some reason we arrived in Oregon without the title to the car we are currently driving.  We sent an application to Utah to get a replacement title.  Paperwork sent back with the reason that we still owed our credit union for the car.  We DON’T owe our credit union.  The car had been paid off over a year before we moved to Oregon.

         So we get the credit union to send a letter that says we have indeed paid for the car and we return the paperwork to the state of Utah.  It is returned to us again because the letter clears us of a car – it doesn’t give the make or model number. So we call the bank again. 

      They said they would send a certificate for the lean.  They also sent an email so that we could print it up and resend off again.  But the printed copy seems distorted, as we appeared to be out of blue ink.  So I expect that Utah will send it back to us. 

       Meanwhile we have the hard copy – which does appear to be a lot more acceptable than what we printed out.  Meanwhile our two months are running out.  Fortunately I don’t think it will be a major concern right now in Myrtle Creek.  There are certainly more pressing issues going on in our surroundings at this time. 

       There have been so many ideas come to mind about what I’d like to post, but I find that if I don’t write it down the second that I think about it, it often doesn’t get written at all. 

         This morning I take Jenna to school for registration.  She is not excited.

Back Up to June 4 & 5

         Denise and I didn’t always communicate.  She likes to use the map.  I like the GPS.  She had issues about trusting the GPS.  I can no longer navigate from a map without becoming nauseous.  I’ve just never seemed to be able to move forward while looking down. I don’t know why. The exception was when I was on my mission and did the navigation as my companions drove around.  But that was over 30 years ago.

         Anyway, Denise and I had moments of oddities, but we never got on each other’s nerves to the point that we became emotionally upset about it.  I suppose she had every reason not to trust Siri.  After several hours on Highway 140, Siri seemed to be getting bored as she directed us to take the “unpaved road” First of all, really?  Second of all, there are no roads – unpaved or other except for Highway 140.  But the Garmin took our car off the path and stuck it on the side in the middle of the black screen and Siri kept advising us to get on the main road.  I shut off the Garmin.

         Garmin reset once I plugged back in, and we were on the road.  As mentioned in this post our plan was to go to the Medford Temple to do a few names that she brought.  She had wanted to go Thursday night.  Again, I misunderstood her.  We were both so tired.  I sensed she was in pain after having driven all day.  She took a nap for longer than she had hoped and so we did not make the temple until the following morning.

         Unfortunately for us, the Medford Temple does not open on Friday until 3:00.  We were hoping that she would have had me in Roseburg by then and on her way to Newport.  Friday turned out to be a sensationally LONG day – but that’s for another post – or maybe four.

        

         The main draw for Denise to drive that route in the first place was to go through the Medford Temple.  She handled it well.  Took lots of pictures.  There was a sister working in the garden who took pictures of Denise and me in front of the temple – so that was nice.

         So here are some pictures that were taken days 1-3.  All before Denise and I parted company:

Salt Lake Bountiful Flats under water

the salt sticking out reminded me of glaciers

Lucky Reservoir

falls at Lucky Reservoir

Highway 140 had some very sharp curves

Medford Temple

Road Trip

The story of Noah teaches us that we need to be prepared.  It is drilled into us as boy scouts or members of the church – to always be prepared.  Sometimes we are.  Often we’re not.  And sometimes we think we are and then life takes us in a completely different direction – or else the answer doesn’t come as soon as we had hoped.

My sister-in-law, Sunny, had had a calling to serve in the primary presidency at one point.  Once a month, each member of the presidency was asked to create a sharing time.  Now this was back before Pinterest or SugarDoodle.  Each month she would read and pray and study and pour out her heart and soul.  It always seemed to me that she wouldn’t receive revelation for her sharing time until Saturday night or the Sunday morning in which she needed to present the activity.  I thought that would drive me nuts.  And it does, but my last minute revelation or movement seems to be more about my life than presenting lesson.

My dad was a very organized individual.  He would always plan things out.  When we took family vacations, he always made arrangements on how far we would travel from one point to the next and in which town we’d stay and what activities we’d do – with some leisure.  I don’t recall having ever made motel reservations, as we would look for vacant signs and something hopefully with a pool.  Mom and I seemed to use more spontaneity after his passing.  More times than not we had a plan in place, but I remember taking road trips in which we would drive to nowhere in particular – or else we would start out with one destination in mind (the arches in Moab for example) 

and change our minds at the drop of the hat (why not go to Bryce and Zions instead.   

And hey, while we’re at it, why not hit the north rim of the Grand Canyon.  How far can it be?)

The problem with not having planned or made reservations is that we had her mother (my 70 plus year old grandmother) whose bladder wasn’t used to such fullness from one area to the next.  We had to stop – we had to get a room with a toilet.  We had to get a bed.  And there was nothing between the Jacob's ladder and Fredonia, Arizona.  It was a long drive in the dark before we finally found a bed and breakfast.  Two more miles and we would have been in Kanab – which we were the next morning.  But I don’t think we were even using a map at that point.  GPS was a foreign myth.  And mom had a lousy sense of direction besides – but hey, we got some excellent pictures (whatever happened to those?)

Some things need to be planned for:  scheduling appointments, attending graduations, weddings – even funerals – though many of those don’t seem to come with as much notice as does a wedding or baby blessing. 

Sunny would always plan for family members to attend baptisms, priesthood ordaining, and so forth.  She contacted family members weeks in advance.  And it was always an eventful occasion.  My boys were, “Oh, by the way, I’m being ordained this morning” and then wondered why so many family members didn’t attend.  Not that I ever set a great example.

As mentioned in an earlier post, Roland and I wished to be married in the temple – to start life on the eternal path (so to speak) and would make a date and change the date and change the date again – hoping that we’d have a clearance and would be able to go through the house of the Lord.  Ah, but God’s plans didn’t seem to exactly mirror our own.  Until finally I was fed up with the “celestial red tape” and decided to ask my bishop to marry us right away.  Everyone in attendance (including the groom) was given an eight hours notice or less.

That seems to occur A LOT in my life.  Take this road trip for example.  Roland and I had both known that when/if we went to Oregon to secure a rental, it would be at the drop of a hat, and it was.  Corey had initially agreed to go with me and had made arrangements – and though we had an address, we didn’t have a key nor signed the final papers.

Denise, who recently moved from Newport, Oregon, lives in my ward and told me that she would be driving to Oregon tomorrow.  Roland called on the rental yesterday and we looked into options on getting me to Roseburg first to take a look at the house and then to seal the deal so that we can move in ASAP – I decided to call Denise and ask her to change her plans to leaving earlier and a different route and I would pay for the gas (which I would have had to do on my own anyway)

Denise and I actually share the same first name (which is neither Denise nor LaTiesha) and today she drove us from West Valley, Utah to Winnamucca, Nevada.  Tomorrow we will go as far as Medford.  And then I may have to go all the way to Roseburg to meet with the property manage rep, or perhaps she’ll agree to meet me at the address where I wish to live.  We've taken a few pics, but I won't be loading them from the camera until after I return home.

I had reservations in Roseburg for tomorrow night, but they have been cancelled – along with my car rental.  Tomorrow Denise and I will try going through Medford Temple – or perhaps we’ll have to wait until Friday morning.  And then I will look for a rental car there (hopefully one I’ll be able to drive one way to Salt Lake) and a room in who-knows-what-town I’ll end up in?  Don’t know how I’m getting home at this point.  Denise and I will be parting company on Friday.  And then I guess I’ll play it by ear. What is up with that?

April 5: Tillamook, Pacific City

            After we left the cheese plant, we went to the Blue Heron Cheese Company for more tasting and petting zoo.  Roland purchased some pet food to feed to the goats – one greedy goat in particular

every goat for himself - this was the greedy one I think in every picture

            After leaving Tillamook, Beth directed us to the Pelican Pub parking in Pacific City so that we could see the ocean – and feel the ocean – and the sand. 

            Jenna had taken her shoes off, but I had not.  And the tide pushed over my sneakers and my clean shoes were no longer.

shoes looked and felt worse than shows

December 31st and New Year

         Roland had come home early on Wednesday.  He probably shouldn’t have even gone in.  He slept most of the day.  He needed to.

         I took Jenna to the library for the afternoon countdown.  I have been to the library on December 31^st before.  But the last day of 2014 was different.  The library was overly quiet – except for children in the library.

         It wasn’t crowded.  Less crowded than I have seen the WV library – EVER. Roland had told us to leave early in order to get a good parking spot.  I honestly don’t think it would have mattered what time we left.  The turn-out wasn’t as good as it had been the last time we had gone for the New Year/afternoon countdown.

Jenna decorated a hat and asked me to finish her noise maker while she went to participate in games.  I wished Anna had been with us as I think she would have enjoyed the parachute game.  I don’t know if the library near where she lived had offered a New Years celebration or not.

 I left Jenna in the auditorium while I went to the teenage section to read.  It felt like the library was closed. It was actually kind of awesome just to feel peace and enjoy my reading. 

I returned for the countdown.  Two years ago I could have just stayed put.  The children were loud enough that you could hear them no matter where you were in the library.  There was a lot less children on December 31, 2014.  Even from the auditorium they didn’t sound even half as loud as they had two years prior.

As we passed the park, Jenna expressed her desires to go there.  It was cold.  But the air was clean still and not filled with the pollution that’s come with the New Year thus far.  We went home to get Highness and returned to the park.  I walked the dog while Jenna played.  I also took a fair amount of pictures.

Jenna always wants to stay up for the New Years countdown.  When I was growing up, my family had always played games on New Years.  I was willing to play games with Jenna, but she wanted to watch Aliens in the Attic. So we watched that followed by Little Shop of Horrors before we shuffled and dealt cards to play Go Fish.  We were playing cards when we heard the fireworks and the clock marking the New Year. 

We finished our game and played another – though I don’t recall what it is we played.  Cranium, I think.  And then we went to bed.  Not a typical New Years celebration.  But typical that someone was sick.  This year it just happened to be Roland.

        

         I am surprised that he was feeling well enough to donate blood the next day.  He had an appointment on New Years’ Day.  One had to have an appointment in order to donate.  They weren’t taking walk-ins yesterday.  That was my first time ever not being able to get in without an appointment.  But because it was New Years’ day, Red Cross didn’t have a full staff.

         We were at Red Cross for a long time before Roland was hooked up and producing blood.  It took him less time to bleed than to wait and be checked in.  I read four chapters, I think.

         We did get our game playing in – only a couple of hours though.  We went to Bill and Kayla’s and played a couple of games.  One was called Mad Gab – which we’ve never played together before.  And one was called Whatzit – which is puzzle solving which I’m not terribly good at.  Jenna played that one with us, and she is good.

         I’m in awe at all the birds I’ve seen – even on December 30th which was an extremely windy day.  What surprises me more than the birds are the fall leaves that have continued to cling to the trees.  Those are some major STRONG leaves!  January 2^nd and they are still there.  Nature is puzzling lately.

Holidays are the Hardest - Missing Traditions

Pie Making

         I can’t find a reference to mom’s traditional pie making event. I suppose it could have started with her children.  I do recall having assisted with pies at least once in my childhood.  Kayla says she remembers a time when it was just her and Corey that did it with mom.  I don’t think I ever viewed it as an actual tradition until Ellen and Kimball were small.

            My mom made a huge assortment of pies on the Wednesday before  Thanksgiving each year.  The grandkids looked forward to assisting with rolling out the dough and filling the pie with whatever they chose. 

            We’d have apple pie, banana cream pies, coconut cream, chocolate cream, cherry, lemon meringue and of course, pumpkin.  More pies were added to the dinner each time new grandkids were added to the family.

            I don’t remember how often my boys had made pies with grandma.  At least twice – and they have fond memories.  And I have pictures of some of the pie making events.  Jaime may have been a baby when some of these were taken.  Neither Jenna nor I recall her ever having had the opportunity to assist with rolling out the dough or wearing an apron.

            It wasn’t long after Jenna was born when mom announced her last year for her annual pie making event.  Each year after that we ate pies that had been made in the bakery department of various stores.

            My boys had just recently commented on how much fun they had had making pies – and then Kayla had posted a message in facebook about the yesteryear tradition.  I got overly sentimental and cried for nearly a half hour.

            I miss the family that I grew up with. I miss so many traditions that we shared at one time.

 Hand Made Nativity

            When I was growing up, I loved “Dip n Drape” dolls.  I remember going with mom to look at pattarns and material for the project.  We settled on a nativity set as it was closed to the holidays.  I remember buying Styrofoam balls and cones and craft sticks and following directions.  I was in high school at the time.

            It was a good first project.  We had it on display just once a year – usually on top of the piano – where the entire thing fit nicely.  And many of the flaws were overlooked – like one wiseman who had the appearance of having a “stuck-up” personality.  And one wiseman who’s arms were heavier than his body – and was giving a present to lean on so that he did not appear as though he was trying to do push-ups.  And the baby Jesus became a permanent part of what Mary held in her arms – though it probably looked like she was dropping him.

            I had intended on making a manger – so that it would appear that she was placing him in.  I had intended to make camels and sheep – though realistically the seven pieces I had took up quite a bit of room both on display and then in storage.

            It boggles my mind that the set has been around since I was in high school – making it roughly thirty-five years old now.  Mom hadn’t taken it out the last few years that she lived at home.  And I took it back before we sold her house. 

Growing up, I never thought of our house as huge.  It was an average sized house.  It had three bedrooms, two baths, living room, kitchen and unfinished basement.

            Over the years my parents put in the money to have half of the basement finished and added a back room addition to the house.  The house included five bedrooms, three bathrooms, kitchen, living room, family room, game room, dining room, laundry room, storage room – not to mention it had an attic. 

            I’ve lived in two houses since I’ve been married.  The two houses combined did not have as much space as the house I grew up in.  So of course there is not nearly as much storage room

         I had put the nativity up last year.  I had to put the wisemen on a different area than the other four pieces.  Roland had suggested that I part with it last year.  I just didn’t have the heart to throw it away – though many of the dolls were beheaded.  I had planned on making it one more round.

We have even less room for it to be displayed than we had last year.  Plus I’ve been cleaning out my shed and either throwing out or donating a lot.  (12 yard bags and counting) but I still couldn’t bring myself to throw it out. 

         I knew if I donated the dolls to the thrift store, the majority (if not all) would get thrown away, and so I put it in the classifieds and someone picked it up less than an hour after I had posted for free.  She didn’t seem to mind the fact that many of the dolls needed to be repaired.   I hope it works for her and that it may be around for a few more years at least.  

  

Christmas Lights

I remember one year going with my sibs and mom to temple square.  It was Christmas night and the weather was really quite awesome.  We had gone downtown to see the lights.

This year the November was nice weather overall.  Cold, but bearable.  Excpet the last day.  It was cold and bleak and actual typical of so many November days that I can remember – although the last few years have seemed to make an exception.

            I was surprised at how warm the weather seemed yesterday – well, in comparison to Sunday.  Jenna and I started out with a beautiful morning.  I had dressed in layers, but had taken the top layer off as I headed back home.

            I had dressed in layers while picking her up.  I had stripped both layers down while waiting for school to end.  Both Jenna and I carried our coats to the bus stop.  But by the time we reached the crossover, we both had our coats back on.  It cools down quite drastically once the earth rotates away from the sun.

            Roland had given me a camera for Christmas last year – only he had given it to me before Thanksgiving so that I could take pictures and get a feel for it before Christmsa.  It was a nice camera.  A red Nikon which I liked a lot – that is until pushing the power button no longer did anything.  

It had died before Roland and I had taken to Jenna to Disneyland at the end of August.  I hadn’t had the camera an entire year.  That was truly upsetting.  

            I was hoping the battery was the problem, but I had the battery tested in addition to another working battery put in my camera.  I was told my best bet was to send it into the manufacturer – which I did.  I never heard back from them.

            The other night he produced another camera meant for Christmas.  This time a Sony W830 – which may take me a while to figure out.  I’ve had Sonys before, and I like them, but they have all died as well.  And I don’t expect this one will last much longer than the Nikon – though I welcome the opportunity to be proven wrong.

            I told Jenna that we should go downtown to see the lights.  December started out with quite pleasant weather and I though since it was so nice that we should go last night. I suggested to Roland that we go see the lights for family home evening.    I would have just taken Jenna on the train if he had not wanted to go. 

            Downtown was crowded with patrons who had come to see the lights and take pictures.  I really don’t have the hang of my camera.  It will be a while.  I did get a few okay pictures – among a bunch of duds.  Thank heaven for Photoshop, huh?