Yard Sailing

                Today is the 4^th annual city-wide yard sale.  It’s cooler than it has been in prior years but hotter than it has been all week.  A lot of baby stuff up and down the city drive.  I didn’t realize there were so many babies in the city as this seems to be more of a senior populated town.

          Roland and I ended up leaving our own city and making an excursion between Winston and Roseburg.  We ended up with an entire dinette set (though we had initially only wanted a table) and he spotted these adorable dishes that was a reminder of the first dishes that we had ever purchased together – but a more complete and bigger set.  That would mean getting rid of ALL the dishes that are currently in our house to make room for more dishes that we really don’t need, but it was a beautiful thought.

          Roland does not wish to move again.  At the same time, I think he does.  I am kind of the same way but would like to see Jenna finish high school where she is currently at.  She says she would prefer finishing high school there.  The biggest draw for her would be to move to somewhere smaller – but I think her academics are limited as it is.  I think somewhere smaller would make it even more limited.

We Have a Pill for That

          Several years ago my friend Peggy had gone to several doctors with odd symptoms that no one could seem to figure out.  Out of frustration, she did her own research.  She checked out books from the library (because this took place long before Google existed) and spent countless hours at the library until she thought she had figured it out and reported back to her doctor and said, “This is what I have.”

          Fibromyalgia wasn’t a word associated with the 20^th century as it is today. Commercials now are exploding with drugs and advice to “ask your doctor” – not that the pills will cure you.  They will assist with whatever ails you while we sit back and collect cash.  Hey, and if it doesn’t work out to all expectations, there are also ads inviting us to join whatever bandwagon the attorneys may have set up so that we can sue whatever company for making us sick.

          It blows my mind that the FDA has approved all these “miracle” medications that help our heart, diabetes, chronic breathing, both physical and emotional pain, depression, bladder issues, stomach cramps, birth control, and anything else you can think of.  This century (thus far) has conditioned us to take drugs, sue companies, and stay home and glue ourselves to the internet.

          Jenna will borrow my phone and show it to her friends.  “Do you guys want to see a dinosaur?” she’ll ask.  The very idea of a flip phone is quite laughable to them.  I remember a time before flip phones.  I remember a time before cordless.  I remember being charged more for other area codes as they were long distance.  I remember cigarette commercials.  I remember the glamour that marketing tried to convince went with the tobacco products.  I remember reading an article about 5 different spokesmen for different brands of cigarettes.  When the article was published all had passed away from distorted breathing or heart failure except for the Marlboro man who at that point was existing in an iron lung and death was hovering over him (and had been for some time; See examples here and here).

          Where is our focus?  What are our priorities?

This is the Way it Should BE

Currently, the temperature is 56 degrees.  

Alexa says the high will be 73.  

This is why we moved to Oregon. 

 This is how the temperature should be EVERY day.

Finances in Retirement

       I don’t recall where the email was sent from or why I accepted it.  I registered both Roland and me for a seminar on social security.  He had been asking me questions when I had taken my Sociology of Ageism class.  I thought we could attend this together, have questions answered, and have a free lunch.  I enjoyed the lunch part but had found my Ageism class much more informative than the seminar. Except for a few facts that apply specifically to Oregon, there isn't really much that I learned.

       During my school course, I had completed four assignments.  The subjects were as follows:  “Websites for the Aged”, “Financial Options for Elderly Care”, “Age of Retirement” and “Life After Retirement”. I started off my first paper by defining “Baby Boomers” which is/was an unusually high amount of births that took place between 1946 and 1965.

       I used a quote by Lena Horne to start off another.
 “It is not the load that breaks you down.  It’s the way you carry it.”  
       In my report I talked about how individuals may choose to save into a retirement plan but that there are situations that may come up that cannot be controlled – such as paying for the expenses of a loved one, economical situations or perhaps being scammed.

       I talked about social security in at least two of my assignments and how it was introduced in 1935 as part of the New Deal. Social Security was designed to benefit the elderly after they retired. President Roosevelt wanted it to work more like an insurance investment while others wanted to benefit through welfare.    I used the example of Ida May Fuller (here) 

       The community in which I currently reside is made up mostly of retirees.  Seniors are the backbone of our community.  We all need to feel useful no matter what age.  I think there are many seniors who are naturally hard workers. I enjoy working with them and spending time with them.  I suppose I always have.

       I mentioned a few entrepreneurs who did not start their businesses until after 50 or 60 years old.  One example I used was Harland Sanders who was 62 when he and Pete Harmon made an agreement to create the first Kentucky Fried Chicken.

       I talked about situations that may prevent one from their dreams – such as my dad, who had been forced to take a medical retirement.  I also mentioned the hardships of finding a retirement home.  Medicare does not pay for long term and finding an assisted living, particularly with memory care, is not an easy task on a limited budget.

       And then there are my own personal resources with Social Security of people I associate with.  The thing is, SS started out with more than 50 people contributing their tax money to one welfare check.  Today it's more like 2.5 for everyone.  We left before the business segment of the seminar (which I hadn't even known about) which I'm certain would have interested Roland more than did the SS, but we were both tired and he seemed anxious to get back to work.  

       We returned to Roseburg this morning for the Senior movie Wednesday.  It wasn't well attended.  I noticed eight different seniors leave not even halfway through "Men in Black".  Some seemed to like it but I think most were disappointed and would have rather seen  "A Dog's Journey".  I know I would have.

Dash #44 Three Values

 

          There are definitely many values that our parents instilled in us, but the three I would pick to answer this question would be prayer, family and service.

Prayer

          From an early age, we learned that we could communicate to our Heavenly Father through prayer.  We were taught not only to ask for things but to thank God as well for the many blessings that we had.  And there truly were many.  Mom and dad were able to help us understand what the blessings were.  Especially dad.  He had tremendous faith and find the blessings where we could not such as in car failure or his swelled foot (here)and in his final years could see the blessings with his deteriorating health.          

          I remember on several occasions seeing my dad kneeling in front of the green chair which I dubbed “the prayer chair”.  After mom passed, the green chair went to live in Kayla’s home and remained there until recently from what I understand.

Family

          Each of us was important and our parents made certain that we knew we added value. It was important for us to respect one another and treat each other kindly.  They did not show favoritism.  They taught us to work together and took an interest in everything we did.  They would support our dreams and include us with big decisions – like where to go and what to do on vacation or the décor of the newly finished basement.  I don’t know that I appreciated that so much at the time, but I certainly do right now.  I wish I had been able to pass that on to Jenna’s brothers.

Service

To the best of my knowledge, neither of my parents ever turned down a church calling.  Both were diligent in their callings – even when they were discouraged or really did not care for the calling.  For example, my mom taught a primary class in which one youth, in particular, would act up and had made her calling difficult.  She had made an appointment with the bishop to ask if she could be released.  Another child in her class had called my mom from another state (back in the days before cell phones, and often calling another county was long distance, let alone another state) to thank my mom for a lesson she had learned.  It convinced my mom to stay with her calling despite the temperamental youth.
 Mom cared for dad’s family as they became her own (here).  Both of my parents served others until they started losing functions in their brains.  I learned a lot from each of my parents and am grateful for their examples in my life.

When I Was a Youth

          I remember going to a resort when I was a leader of the young women in my first ward.  There was a thirteen-year-old who enthusiastically asked, “Could we take all the mattresses downstairs and put them in a pile and jump over the balcony into them?  Wouldn’t that be fun?” 

           At thirteen years old I would have agreed with her. But I had become a rational fun-sucking adult.

           “No.  That does not sound fun.  It sounds dangerous.  If you land the incorrectly, you could break your neck.  No.” 

           I am through with school.  I no longer have to sign in each day or take care of assignments, assessments, and discussions.  My last class was called “Biological Psychology” where we were introduced to the brain and functions.  We’re told that the pre-frontal cortex does not fully develop until after our mid-twenties.  Oh, that would explain why some of the other presidency members seemed to make illogical choices as well.  I was the only one not in my early 20’s.  Only 35 and the grandma of the group.

          I remember my own mom being afraid of heights.  There were several amusement park rides that she did not care for.  I had always thought of it as an irrational fear until after I had Jenna.  I have turned into my mom.  Roland and I are definitely not fun parents to be with at an amusement park.  She has every right to think of us as fogies.  When did that happen anyway?

           I don’t worry about Jenna in Myrtle Creek the same way I did in Salt Lake. If she is with her friends or at a community activity, I know that she is in good hands.  In Salt Lake, I’d be fine with some of her friends, a bit leary of others, and distrusting of situations although not her personally.

           Jenna is rarely intimidated by others (I would have said never, but there was the incident with kindergarten in a strange environment) and does not give in to peer pressure.  She is comfortable in her skin.  She loves the gospel.  She is not afraid to be herself.  She definitely has a better grasp on being than I ever did.  I wish I had been more like her.

           I also believe that being a part of a smaller school is helpful to her situation.  There are fewer people in all four grades than there were in just my graduating class.  All the schools I have been to in Salt Lake have had auditoriums and high school (occasionally junior high or middle school) musicals.  There has also been a “little theater” in addition.  The high school she currently attends has a little theatre with uncomfortable car-seat bucket style seating.  

           We went and saw her perform in 12^th Night the other night.  She then went to a game night/cast party and did return home until after 3:00.  Okay, that was rather late and she should have called – but the location where the party was held does not get the best reception.

          I’m so grateful for the opportunities that she has and her ability to continue making friends.  I don’t remember ever feeling close enough to anybody to want to hang out with til 11:00 or 12:00 – let alone 2:30.  More to come.

The word STRESS

What causes stress?

            Moving causes stress – especially when the moving date has changed and you are not prepared as you believe you have more time to pack everything.

            It is stressful looking for a house to move into.

            A job can be stressful – especially one that lays on the pressure for an academic advisor to reach the unreasonable goal of ten starts each month.  How can an academic advisor seriously be accountable for a student changing his or her mind?  Especially when the referrals given come from people who were searching for jobs and filled out a school interest on accident as they believed it was a part of the job application?

            Stress is trying to fill out a job application online or take a test for school when the Wi-Fi seems to have troubles staying connected. The very words “Blackboard Collaboration” give me stress.

            Stress is dealing with unreliable transportation.  Perhaps you were in an accident or you need a transmission and finances are tight.  You take public transportation but get stuck waiting for the bus that doesn’t arrive on time because it’s been rerouted.

            Bomb threats, fire drills, lockdowns.  Trying to believe it isn’t real but just a routine. But what if it’s not?

            Finances.

            Stress is dealing with a parent who used to have an active mind have distorted memories and her reality is quite different from your own.

            It is also stressful to have another parent who needs 24/7 care and sleeps while you’re awake and vice-versa.  You become stressed because you feel weak because you have lost sleep with worry.

           It is stressful to watch your children make poor choices and live soap opera lives.  It hurts when you don’t even know them.

            Cell phone provider.  Cell phone itself.

            A court-happy Ex-spouse           

            I can also stress something that I feel is important.  To stress something is very different than to feel stress or be stressed.

Mangled Cherries

There is not a large amount of time from the time cherries ripen to when they need to be picked.  The race between getting them picked before the birds eat them creates an even smaller window of opportunity.  I don’t like being in the yard when the sun is blazing nor do I have the confidence in myself to climb the hill.  But I have made a conscious effort to do my part this year.

Wednesday was my last day for subbing. Before I left the house, I took a bucket to the top of the hill to pick some cherries.  When the bucket was a third to half full, I made my way back down the hill and left the cherries on the kitchen table. 

          Yesterday I retrieved the cherry pitter from its storage spot and punched cherries for about an hour or so.  Perhaps the cherries weren’t ready after all as many of the pits remained attached to the cherries.  I would have preferred an assembly line but as Jenna was at school and Roland was at work, it was just me removing stems and pits.  I washed  (rinsed) before sending them through the pitter.  I checked pitted cherries to weed out more pits.  Rinsed pitted cherries.  Checked for more pits.  Measured 24 cups and filled three one-gallon bags. 

          Roland took out our last two bags of frozen cherries and combined with two cups of fresh cherries and made a cherry pie.  This morning Jenna helped me to pick some more cherries before I took her to school.  It’s her last day.  We picked until the sun made its way toward the top of the sky.  Perhaps I’ll pick some more tomorrow morning.

Dash #27 Ditto

                I don’t know that dad really had a motto he lived by.  The quote I remember him saying most were: “If wishes were fishes, we’d all have a fry” which is quite a mouthful for my dad. 

I believe his favorite word was “ditto” as it provided him a way to mimic someone else’s complete sentence.  

My dad was not a big talker

Field Day

Field Day is a way for the elementary schools to transit from the last week of school to beginning the summer vacation.  The idea is for children to have fun playing games and friendly competition. I remember volunteering for Field Day at South Kearns Elementary.  I believe I had signed up three different years.  I know we got rained out at least two years, but there may have been one room in which we were able to complete the competitions.

There were a parachute and relays, water games, racing with a spoon and keeping contents from spilling over.  I don’t remember being involved in another field day until yesterday as I had agreed to sub this week.  It felt weird going back after having been off for a month.  

I felt awake when I left the house but somehow grew tired after having entered the building.  I don’t know why.  Every time I entered a classroom I seemed to go deaf. I was constantly asking students to repeat themselves.

We didn’t have to go out for recess or take classes to the lunchroom.  Instead, we sat with the classes as they ate their sack lunches while watching a movie.  That gave a bit of time for the instructors to have their lunch before field day started.  There were both outdoor and indoor activities for each class to go to.  I’d been assigned to stay outside with the older kids for the first half hour before we switched up with the younger kids who started out in the lunchroom.

I don’t know all the activities that took place.  I had been assigned the station with the tether balloons and squirt cups.  It was so dang windy that the tether balloon wasn’t going to happen.  It also blew down the cups that we were supposed to set up and have the children squirt down with water bottles – which seemed fun for the majority of them who participated.  

I also saw a bubble station in which the wind seemed to work in their favor and dressing up and racing in oversized close.  Didn’t quite get that one, but the kids looked as though they were having fun.  I don’t know any other outdoor activates that may have been on the other side of the building. 

The indoors offered activities related to science.  The table I stood at offered this:

http://familyscienceandengineering.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/GlueClueSample.pdf

http://familyscienceandengineering.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/GlueClueSample.pdf

        

          Friday will be the last day of school.  According to Jenna, school should have ended last week but was extended to make up for the week missed in February.  I don’t know if that’s accurate as I remember that school was still in session when we moved to Oregon, and we did not move in until June 17.  I thought having school that late in the year was crazy – but I don’t know.  Perhaps they got a late start due to fire season . . . I know it wasn’t snow as the residents here hadn’t seen snow for eons until the year we moved in and have seen it almost every year since.

High School Musicals

          Hillcrest High has held some amazing performances throughout the years as well as some not so amazing.  Since I can remember, the high school plays had always had HUGE casts. If you were a student in band, choir, or the dance club, it was mandatory for you to be a part of the play.  I don’t know if it was just at Hillcrest or if it was the entire Jordan School District (now Canyon Schools) that made it mandatory.  I can remember going to only two other plays outside of Hillcrest – each in a different district.

           For instance, mom and I had gone to Kearns High to support a co-worker who was playing Jasper B. Biggler in the musical “How to Succeed at Business Without Really Trying”.  Jasper’s personality was so identical to Jack’s that we didn’t really consider it acting.  We heard the same thing about the guy playing J. Pierpoint Finch.  That is pretty sad.

           At Hillcrest, it was also mandatory to see the play if you took certain classes.  I remember being graded for my commentaries which included sets, performance, choreography and overall production.  I must have given feedback on the plays themselves.  Kismet and Brigadoon?  I dare you to give me just one memorable song from either musical.  It did not help matters any that the sound system sucked and so I missed a lot of dialogue and overall didn’t understand the stories themselves. I often wondered why they would torture both performers and audience members with unfamiliar musicals.

           When I was a sophomore, the Hillcrest production was “My Fair Lady” a musical I actually enjoyed.  Costumes were nice from what I can remember.  The sound system was not the greatest at that time and seemed to have worsened each year I was there.  The drama teacher had told us of an incedent that had happened during the production of “My Fair Lady” – though I don’t know if it had taken place in my sophomore year or another year prior to that.

The joke was suppose to be between two members of the band.  I’m thinking one may have played the French horn.  To make the scene pass quicker, he said with an announcer’s voice: “Here they come out of the pen, the race is on.  Up in the lead is Madman Dasher with Snoop Dice riding his tails.  Oh, this race is close. Trailing behind is Blue Scarlette” – I don’t know what names were used for his horses or what was said exactly.  The point is that the “joke” became public knowledge as the words spoken had somehow reached the boy’s instrument and the mike had picked up the sound from the instrument.  Thus even though everyone on stage had to pretend to be watching a horse race and the only sounds the audience was supposed to hear were the horse hoofs, the words of the false announcer could also be heard.  It probably was a different year as I can’t imagine that poor sound system (which could barely pick up individual voice) could pick up something over an instrument.

           Over the years the sound system and productions improved when Corey had attended school there. He played the part of Marcellus Washburn in the production of “The Music Man”.  At that very same time Jenny, who attended Highland High, had landed the part of Sarah Brown in “Guys and Dolls”.  Jenny was another co-worker from Snelgroves.  She shared her enthusiasm with everybody saying, “Come to my play”.  “Music Man” and “Guys and Dolls” both fell on the same weekend and it turned out Jenny could only go support Steven during Hillcrest’s opening night and Corey would be able to attend Highland’s closing night.

           There isn’t room on the stage for 200 kids to performs, and the choreographer had started putting students in the aisle.  Thus during certain numbers, the audience could watch students dancing next to them in addition to the ones on stage.  Brandy and Jenny, who had come to Corey’s performance together, sat wide-eyed as they watched the dancers move in sync.  One commented that the choreographer must have used a whip and chain.  The participation of cast members at Highland was nowhere near the student body at Hillcrest.  When the play was over Jenny said, “You can come to my play if you want to.”

           Several years later Hillcrest put on its own production of “Guys and Dolls”.  I remember mom getting upset when a couple of kids behind us started talking rather loudly.  The guy had said to the girl something to the effect of “I can’t believe you dragged me here”.  I could see the displeasure on my mom’s face.  I leaned over to her to tell her that I believed it was part of the production.  They weren’t talking about seeing “Guys and Dolls” but were performing and referring to the revival that was part of the story.

          Once again, Hillcrest chose to put on another production of “My Fair  Lady”.  Kayla was involved with choir at the time and so had to be in the play.  The school had decided to divide the juniors and seniors from the sophomores.  The oldest group was assigned to find costumes to wear at the horse race while the sophomores had been assigned to dress like “serfs”.  At first my mom felt anger that students might feel “labeled” as to their assigned clothes but decided finding a costume for a poor commoner would be easier than some ritzy outfit.

           My favorite production seeing performed at Hillcrest High was “Fiddler on the Roof”.  The special effects they had were so awesome.  And at the end when they are all leaving was so effective as each cast member would leave the stage and all of them were walking down the aisles as though they were really leaving. 

Dash VB#3 Values & Beliefs

Do you feel your beliefs and values are shared by most of the people you are surrounded by each day?  Or do your beliefs set you apart from those around you?

The answer to both questions is “Yes”.  Allow me to elaborate:

Less than half of all those living in Salt Lake are LDS.  Not all LDS are active.  Though many wards have great support and members work well together, there are just as many whose members may go through the motions each Sunday but may not carry it out the remaining six days – like the “Come Follow Me Program”  -  I’m just curious.  Although I have good friends in the Church who really do live a Christian life 24/7,  I didn’t often feel my values were the same as others living in Salt Lake. As a whole, I usually felt so uptight with the hurriedness, the crime, profanity, dysfunctional relationships, etc.  I was part of the minority – which is not a bad thing.  Evidently, I’ve been part of the minority my entire life but was unaware.

          Here, in the entire state of Oregon, the LDS population is less than 4%.  In Myrtle Creek at least half the population share standards, values and beliefs that are common enough to hold to the community together.  Overall I see people who serve others, who are concerned for others’ welfare, and who live Christ-like lives.   Oh, I know not everybody does.  There is still evidence of crime, profanity and dysfunctional relationships.  But I haven’t been uptight or experienced the stress that I did while in Salt Lake.  I miss my friends and family that I left behind.  I value the friendships I have made in Oregon.  I am more at peace.

       Of course, some of my beliefs are different than those around me.  As I explained in this post, my views on death are different than the average. The LDS church is the only I know of in which the talks that are delivered during the meeting each week are given by members of the congregation and not the same minister each week.  In fact, I will be delivering a sermon tomorrow in my ward.

 Many of my values are based on religion and the way I was raised.  I'm grateful for my values.