What a Bright Moon

             I got up about a quarter to three to

visit the bathroom. 

I noticed the moonlight spilling

into our room. 

The room was as light as

it is at 7:30 p.m. 

I could see it through the skylight on

my return and then

I drew back the curtain to

check out the brightness. 

It looked like a giant

headlight in the sky. 

I don’t remember ever seeing

the moon shine so brilliantly. 

It hurt my eyes to look at it directly

same as the sun.

Hope They Weren’t Murder Hornets

              I remember “murder hornets” mentioned briefly in May.  I didn’t even know if it was a real thing or not.  Apparently they are twice the average size and will slaughter bees and hives within the matter of minutes.  I haven’t heard of any harmed human cases.

          This morning Roland had given Jenna the assignment of filling one of the bird feeders – which she has done before but not with the dramatics that were felt today.  Both Roland and I heard her screaming and crying.  Evidently there is a hornet’s nest nearby and over a dozen had inserted their stinging swords into her.  It didn’t appear that they had attached her legs, but there was evidence of their vulgar action between both shoulders and neck, her arms (mostly by hands) her head and face. 

          She usually has her hair up but happened to have it down.  Perhaps the hornets were drawn to the overgrown “nest” piled around her head.  Both Jenna and I do need our hair cut.  It seems to grow just past the shoulder and stops in length but continues creating a thickness of layers that can’t be stopped.  I can cut our hair – but I don’t have the talent for thinning it out.

          We found her at the bottom of the deck apologizing between screams and tears.  Roland tried to shake the hornets away and got stung in the process.  Just one hand with multiple stings.  Nothing compared to her.  They removed more hornets which buzzed around the bathroom and Roland closed the door on them.  I told her to take a shower in my room and drown the critters.  I think I smashed five more as she continued to scream.

          I told her to douse her hair with water so we could drown the beasts and then she washed her hair and brushed it and I put it up for her – something I have not done since she was a child.  I rubbed an aloe based cream and gave her some aspirin.   I don’t like when Jenna is unhappy.  I don’t wish for those screams and tears to haunt me, but will be willing if it will make the pain and trauma be taken from her.  Why did Coffenberry choose this vermin to be their mascot?

Four Missionaries and the Big Question Mark

 

                Jenna had attended a class and learned that our ward now has two sets of missionaries.  I met them today.  The one who has been in the area the longest had been called to serve a country in Asia.  I think he said his calling location was changed before he had arrived to the MTC.  His companion had served four months in Japan before being transferred to Myrtle Creek.    The other two elders were called to Spanish speaking missions: one to Mexico and the other to Peru.  Though they are no longer serving in those countries they are still on a Spanish speaking mission.  Interesting.

            The ward counsel was told that church services would be starting up again.  This is the third time that’s been announced.  Would be nice to have it be the final time.  The plan is to restart on September 13 (a Sunday, not a Friday) and we will wear masks, social distance, and sing if we choose (with our masks on).  Only one speaker will be assigned and then we will return home.  It will definitely be different from the last meeting we attended the first week in March.

            There will be church for three weeks before General Conference.  This ward has always held fast and testimony meeting the week before General Conference.  Big Question right now is if we will get to have that this month?  How would that work?  That hasn’t been planned out yet.  I suppose I will have more detail as we approach September 27.  Hoping we will be able to meet.  But it won’t be the same – I’m guessing for the rest of the year.  How will we celebrate Thanksgiving or Christmas?  The same way we spent Easter? 

            I hope we have a new president to be inaugurated in January.  President Trump deflates hope.  Did I share this video already?

From Plastic to Masks

         Too often when Jenna and I had gone walking she would want to pick up litter and collect treasures.  I wasn’t overly fond of having her touch all that she did but tried to make a habit of bringing two plastic bags for each walk – one for the garbage and one for the treasures.  It was her idea to beautify the earth and so I did not want to discourage her from trying to clean it up.  The litter she found mostly consisted of paper though occasionally we would find straws, wrappers, or sticks from suckers. Her treasures would include rocks, leaves, shiny things, clothing items (which would get washed before I’d allow her or her stuffed pets to wear them) and pine cones.

Her thought process today is really not much different.  She’ll continue to collect things to be thrown away or whatever may grab her interest – including masks that have been left in the parking lot.  She hasn’t touched any of the disposable ones but found a black cloth mask in the parking lot yesterday morning.  That went into the washing machine the minute we returned home.  She washed her hands and I took a shower as we had both touched it.

Our car appeared that it had been through a dust storm – though I wasn’t aware how horrible it looked until I got behind the wheel and my view was quite distorted.  I washed both cars after we had returned home.  I didn’t figure their cleanliness would bring on rain (which happens in many cases right after the car gets washed) but did see the wind blowing later in the day.

Before the pandemic our governor created a law to remove the plastic though it has seemed to be swept under the rug as more pressing issues have targeted this year.  I don’t see plastic littering like I used to.  We do have a new concern.

Perhaps I Have Contributed to Her Happiness After All

         Before Jenna was born I started keeping a journal for her – writing it in first person as though she were writing it – guessing what she was thinking.  I ended up with 10 volumes from 2004 – 2013.  I had stopped printing pages the year that my mom passed.  I continued with scrapbook pages left in the computer and flash drives and continued our first year in Oregon, but then allowed her to take over - which she has discontinued.

Anyway, we have been rereading through her books during this pandemic.  I appreciate having recorded what I did as there is much I have forgotten.  I remember myself having been uptight all of the time – but perhaps not as often as I had believed.  I had always felt blessed with such a happy girl and wanted to help her stay that way – trying hard to stay positive though not always successful and it shows in my writing particularly when her sisters would visit.

I was not so much against her sisters as I was their deranged mother who brought Satan into our lives. I unfortunately accepted his influence and allowed myself to be angry and sad.  At first it was Frances who wanted to be there and Pamprin didn’t want anything to do with us.  I thought of her as a spoiled brat.  Eventually the roles were reversed.  Frances seemed to have given up on life and Pamprin seemed to not like to be with her mother and sister but had asked Roland to pick her up – which I would not have believed if I hadn’t recorded it.  When Jenna was newly born I did not like Pamprin to be around her but when Frances was no longer in the picture, I thought that Pamprin was really cute with Jenna.

Jenna and I enjoyed taking walks.  I’d push her in the stroller or pull her in the wagon until she decided that she could just walk on her own.  The first neighborhood we lived in was loaded with sidewalks.  I have always preferred walking to driving and sidewalks made it easy.

We walked everywhere.  To the store, to the gas station, the school and even to the library – and that was on the other side of a busy street.  It amazes me that we crossed it on foot all the many times that we did.

Jenna loved to explore – still does – and I allowed her to explore in yards of neighbors and taught her to be respectful and had even assisted with discoveries.  I was never in a hurry and so allowed her to take her time.

Jenna had gone to the local elementary school for two and a half years.  Two years of pre-school and half a year of kindergarten. From where we lived South Kearns Elementary was less than a ten minute walk for one who just walked and did not stop to smell every flower, pose with statues, stop for every fire hydrant, and observe snails and other critters.  We always left the house at least a half hour early as it always took more than twenty minutes to get there.  The return home always took more than thirty.

Jenna had a friend whose mom had asked if I could watch her child between when school ended until she came home from work.  Thus I would pick up two girls from kindergarten.  Jenna and Kas had not been friends prior – even when the school year started and I would walk both of them to our house – both sulky because neither one wanted to associate with the other but in time they did become friends who did better with one another on the walk home than at our house.

Kas was high maintenance which nobody (including her mom) could understand.  I had never met another five-year-old that was that pristine.  Everything had to match and be in order.  Jenna had more important things to care about and it was obvious that clothes were not a high priority in her life.

One time we were walking towards our house and the wind was blowing. Both Jenna and Kas pretended that it was blowing so hard that it would send them backward.  I don’t think it took us two hours to get home that day though I do know it was more than forty minutes.  Kas’ mom must have left work early that day for when we finally made it home she was parked in the driveway.  Both Kas and Jenna seemed miffed with me as “I hadn’t allowed them enough time to play together.”  Oh, they had been playing the entire time!  I wasn’t the one that told them to walk backwards and in the direction the wind carried the leaves.

We moved that year to a less developed neighborhood where sidewalks were almost non-existent.  We often walked in the middle of the street as we aimlessly moved through the neighborhood rarely without a destination.  We could walk to the church and trailer park.  No shops within walking distance though we did walk to the gas station on occasion.  Jenna rode the bus to school.

When first grade started Jenna was attending another school – one that I had to drive to.  I would drop her off each morning and return for her in first grade.  I was left alone in the parking lot as I waited for her to cross the field with her friend Isaac.  They were always the last two – never in a hurry.  Fortunately, neither was I.  I enjoyed the solitude of being the only one left in the parking lot.  We were both happy and at peace.

By second grade we were carpooling.  I would pick her classmate up in the morning and his mom would pick them up after school which worked out well for all of us except Jenna because her classmate’s mom was always in a hurry and Jenna wasn’t able to dawdle for more than a year.  But her classmate moved and I was responsible for getting Jenna after school. Sometimes I was in a hurry because I was also dealing with my mom who had dementia.

I think by allowing Jenna to explore and not being in a hurry, I have contributed to her happiness.  Some parents deprive their children from being children by saying “don’t” and “no” more often than they say, “yes” “take your time”. 

Rescuing Penelope Junior

 

         Roland enjoys watching educational programming mostly to get ideas on how he might do things.  One of the programs he watches is Homestead Rescue.  We recently watched an episode called Under Siege (here) in which the Raneys go to Montana to help a couple that seem quite resistant (I personally would have just told them to forget it – but Raneys apparently have more compassion than I do).  The couple say they want free range pigs.  However their pigs have torn up the property in the process and the piglets don’t survive. 

I was reminded of that show this morning when one of the younger pigs escaped into our yard again.  This time it was just the spotted one who did not have his companions with him (I’m guessing he’s a teenager who doesn’t do well with restrictions).  The pig is not our responsibility, but at the same time Jenna believes it is her calling to make certain the pig at least stays in our yard – which he did not today.  We called, texted, left messages and Jenna followed the pig from yard to yard until it decided to turn back and head toward ours.

Meanwhile the owners got the message and sent their oldest son into our side of the yard.  Poor kid.  He was still in his pajamas.  Jenna took a huge amount of pictures and laughed as she watched the son chase the pigs and feeling frustration.  Neither Jenna nor Karl were wearing the proper shoes for climbing hills or pig chasing.  Karl’s dad assured us that the pig would be easy to catch.  I think that is why Jenna was laughing so hard.  We don’t know the pig’s name but have dubbed it Penelope Jr. as it looks much like its mom. (Jenna does know the names of the four adult pigs but none of the three teenagers or the three baby piglets who look like they'd have an easier time escaping)

Crawling through the fence from their yard to ours is evidently not a challenge, but returning is as it is uphill and the bricks are in the way and have not been completely knocked out but could be soon.  Jenna took a picture of the pig finally being caught – scooped up in a net.  

Hilarious . . . but not.

Update

 Jenna found the pineapple mask had dropped between the passenger seat and shift stick.  I'm happy to know that I didn't contribute to the parking lot litter after all.