Running Out of Options . . . Best Stay Put

                 After my eldest son’s wife passed away he was given options on how to continue.  An aunt from his mother’s side had offered for him to come live with them on the farm in Freedom, Wyoming.  His in-laws offered to allow him to continue living with them.  Of course Roland offered for him to move to Oregon.  I don’t know what it was that kept him in Utah.  I personally thought Freedom would have been the best choice.  Ali would have gotten to know cousins on the Warner side of the family.  Biff told me that she loved cows (that was when she was two – I have no idea what her interests are at present - wolves?) and she would have had the opportunity to interact with them and learn the ways of dairy farming. 

        Eventually Biff met Claire and thus stayed in Utah for her.  They finally got married.  She had fallen in love with both Biff and Ali.  Ali doesn’t remember Jeanie as she was only two years old when her mother passed.  Clair is her mom – perhaps the only mom that she will remember.  Claire didn’t want to move to Oregon because she was licensed in whatever practice in Utah but does not even work now from what I understand.  She spends a huge amount of time doting on Ali – lately at the hospital.  Ali has been in and out since December.  I recall Jeanie being in and out of the hospital quite often after we met her.  Could Ali be following in her mom’s footsteps?

        I wonder how different things might have been if Biff had brought her to Oregon three years ago or if he had gone to Wyoming.  It sounds like he and his aunt are of similar mind.  Perhaps Ali would have been diagnosed with COVID in Wyoming as well – though I think the exposure would have been less risky there than the wall-to-wall population of people in some counties in Utah.  I don’t know.  We can never know how differently life would have been if we had chosen another path.

        Now it doesn’t seem as if either Oregon or Wyoming are options as Salt Lake and surrounding areas have a wide option of hospitals and clinics.  They may be medically advanced in Portland – but Biff and Clair cannot afford anything in Portland – not that they’d want to come.  I think as long as Ali remains in and out of the hospital, they really need to stay put and take advantage of where they are. 

In the Blink of an Eye

I had made a purchase at Dollar General the other day.  The cashier asked if I would like a bag.  I had momentarily forgotten about the single –use-plastic ban that had been ordered just over a year ago. 

 

https://www.wastedive.com/news/oregon-governor

-signs-laws-banning-plastic-bags-straws/558262/

Dollar General gave out yellow bags before the end of 2019.  Recyclable gray ones were ordered.  They are not as appealing to the eye – nor do they fold over to line the trash can properly.  But they are definitely sturdier.  Five or ten cents per bag is still less than a state tax would be. 

 

I get why it was ordered.  There are so many people who are concerned about the environment and will properly dispose of trash.  There are just as many who are careless – some who just let things fall where they land and don’t bother with disposal.  Sometimes the litter is accidental – like when the wind blows and carries said item away.  I honestly have seen more masks littering the parking lots and streets than I have plastic bags or straws.  But I’ve had firsthand experience with the plastic bag issues.

Newborns are placed in car seats that face the rear of the car.  Today there are periscopes and cameras to check on the child but is still not made available to all who have children. If that did indeed exist sixteen years ago when Jenna was in that kind of car seat, it wouldn’t have been affordable to us as I imagine with many others who have children.

I had run some errands and had allowed the front windows down far enough to create a circulation but not so far down that it would affect Jenna – at least not directly.  Evidently there was enough air to blow a plastic bag onto her face.  She wasn’t harmed, thank goodness, but could have been if the car ride had been longer.

Plastics pollute more than just the ocean. I know some people felt inconvenienced and all too many seem to be upset with Kate Brown and some of her choices.  But then COVID hit and I don’t think a lot of people even considered the plastic ban as COVID is still a hot topic and thus everything in 2020 seemed to center around the disease or fire conditions and placing those that had become homeless due to the elements. 

There are still so many who seem to have it out for Kate Brown and the decisions that were made.  She had run under the democratic party but it was my understanding that it was the Republican party (or at least some of those who had been represented or claimed to be Republican) had campaigned to keep her on – though her name was not on the last ballot and so I don’t know what that was all about.

It’s not like any politician has had a course in how to handle a worldwide pandemic.  I have no issues with Kate Brown or her policies.  I think she is doing the best she can for the welfare of most everybody involved.  I would not have her job for anything.

The Bear

 Here is a less than flattering poem I had written about a substitute teacher that I had only heard about but had never encountered until my junior year.  She reminded me of a school marm from the turn of the century - and I don't mean this century.  Subs have it hard because there is always at least one student who acts up and ruins it for the rest of the class.   Today's feature:

The Bear

If you painted her last name

You’d have a picture of a “Bear”

Or the ancient braud herself

The decrepit lady with blue hair   

 

We see the old grouch

Come back year after year

Why, this lady is so old

She went to school with Shakespeare

 

She was born to be a teacher

She knew that from the start

And after years of teaching

She bought a genuine handcart.   

 

She taught [near] little reservoirs

And on the Mississippi plain

One of her students was Samuel Clemens

Know to us a Mark Twain.

 

When she came to Jordon District

Not knowing how we’d feel

She traded in her ragged handcart

For a second-hand automobile

 

She never had a date

Nor did she ever kiss

Nor did she ever get proposed to

For her name is still “Miss”

 

But if we’re nice to her

She’ll be nice to us

But if we’re obnoxious

She’ll put up a fuss

 

Jordon School district had problems

Added on, we could tell

When the old lady came here

With a name that fit her well.

 

The Worth of Souls

 I came across this poem in between paying bills and studying the Doctrine and Covenants:

Trash is a collection

of once possessed [items]:

 

The doll

who used to stand proud

and amazed everybody 

is now worth nothing

because its face is cracked

 

The sports shoes

 that won every game

has a hole

allowing the big toe to come through

 

The flower pot

that contained some of the

prettiest flowers

is now broken in two.

 

None of these are worthless

unless you

let them be

 

I imagine it was written in 1979 or 1980.  I hadn't given it a title at the time, but did give it a title on the 17th of this month.  I call it Self-Worth.

Where Shall We Go?

           Roland has to take his vacation days or lose them.  He keeps on asking when and where we shall go.  He has a desire to go to North Carolina to see his mom who was supposed to come see us in May of last year – but because of the pandemic wasn’t sent.

          There’s still a pandemic.  We are not in the clear.  It was announced this morning that while some counties have advanced from extreme to high risk, other counties have been set back – ours for example.  We were at extreme and went to high risk but have been told that we are entering extreme again.

          I remember when we were told that the state would reopen in phases.  There would be four phases.  I don’t know of any county in the state who has gone beyond phase two.  I don’t wish for it to sound like I’m living in fear.  I think there’s a difference between fear and being cautious.  Roland will say that he needs to get the vaccine and then he will turn around and ask if we want to go bowling.  I refuse to go bowling during the pandemic.  Heck, I won’t even get into a public pool right now.  How my body has missed that during the summer.

          Before we went to New York last summer, we prayed about our decision.  Opportunities had changed.  Same thing today.  I told Roland that even if we book something we don’t know how things will be in three or four weeks.  We don’t know how they will change tomorrow.  It’s good to make plans – but as there are so many “if” factors right now.  Not only is there a pandemic but several states are experiencing tremendous weather conditions. 

I suggested we just stay around here.  It would be fun to see more of this state and parts of Washington.  Again, we have no guarantees that we would be able to find lodging.  Even so, could we trust it?  How many layoffs have resulted due to the pandemic?  I don’t think traveling at this time is a good idea.  I don’t think all the uncertainties would amount for a great vacation – and yet I am an adventurous.  I always retell situations of the unplanned and perhaps disastrous. 

Roland gave me a scenario of another who is older and Roland asked if he wasn’t worried about COVID to which he received the response, “I can’t stop living.”

I don’t think of the COVID in that same regard – certainly I want to live my life – but not at the expense of my family or my religious beliefs.  God sent plagues to His children in Biblical times.  He tested them. I feel like by going on vacation, by going bowling, by engaging in activities the way that I did before, I am failing the greater test.  I may survive my encounters.  I may have the time of my life.  But what greater blessings will I have missed by giving in?  Even the church itself has not reached phase four.  Who am I that I am better than that?

COVID is still a problem.  It hasn’t gone away.  We know people who have tested positive for COVID.  We know of many who have been hospitalized.  Some people just seem more tolerant somehow while others still have not accepted that all of this is real and that we must proceed with caution. We have a picture of ourselves with Joh's mom in our house when they dropped by 2 and a half years ago.  She passed away because of COVID.   

I am so grateful to President Biden and his messages of hope and encouragement.  Sometimes when I watch or listen to him, he looks and sounds like a general authority.  There is compassion in his voice that we have not had for the last four years.  How different things might have been if we had had a leader who set an example for us to begin with.

Reflection written February 19, 2021

 

Back in the days before Google

– possibly before Travel Agencies

– I don’t know. 

It hadn’t dawned on either of us

to find a travel agency.  I

 don’t recall what grade I was in

– I’m guessing fourth. 

 

The students had been assigned to

make posters of any state of his

or her own choosing. 

I had narrowed my selections down to

Hawaii, Alaska and Colorado. 

 

My mom helped me with the wording and

addressing the envelopes. 

I think we sent my plea to the capital city at

each address. 

We probably had to go to

the library to look it up

– though I don’t know where exactly. 

The internet did not

exist at that time.

I believe I had introduced myself as

a student at East Midvale Elementary in

Midvale, Utah and I was

hoping to get some information for

an assignment I was doing. 

The state of Hawaii was first to respond.

I received brochures so many pictures to

go along with my inquiries. 

I finished my poster several weeks before

the due date. 

 

With only one week left before

our due date (I think we had

been told five or six weeks in advance)

I heard from Alaska. 

Not quite as many pictures but

enough to make another poster. 

I asked if I could make another and

was given permission for extra credit.

 

Two months after the due date I

received a lone pamphlet from Colorado. 

No included pictures.  What’s up with that? 

The state of Colorado shares a

border with Utah. 

I would think their response would have

come a lot quicker. 

I was most unimpressed.

 

Over the years I decided

Colorado meant delay. 

It didn’t matter the service. 

Mail, bus lines, airline connections or

what have you. 

There was ALWAYS

a delay. 

I personally had not viewed

a single exception.

I don’t know what the status is today.

It seems so long ago since

I sent anything or traveled myself

through Colorado.

Pretty state. 

Always ran late in my mind.

A Very Small Piece of Yellowstone Park

We still have not watched the video of my family in Yellowstone . Perhaps I will find more triggers when I go through the tape. The following was written at the end of 1979 

 

Minerva Springs

 

A dream of candy mountains,

drooping like melted wax on a huge candle  

different colors

poured into a [blender]

all cremated

and layered

Hot tubs on each giant ice berg stack

It looks as if the snow miser lives there

But the interior decorator is Mr. Heat.

to view more pics of Mammoth Springs see here

my original wording for blender was Osterizer as that is what I had always called it.  Our blender was made by the Oster company.