That’s Gotta Bite

Long before I was born my grandpa took the opportunity to invest in oil lands.  From my understanding his investment had paid for a certain amount of land which different companies would lease in order pump out oil and distribute under their name.  I had heard of Shell, Amacco, Texaco and Conoco but there were many other names that I did not recognize.  I don’t know how often checks were written to each share holder but each check would bear the name of the company who had leased the land.

 After my grandpa had died the checks were made out to my grandmother.  When she died she had made arrangements that each of her children would get 30% of the royalties and the remaining ten percent would be divided among her then eleven grandchildren. I never saw what my parents were getting, but the checks made out to us had always come with a mountain of paperwork.  We had always found it to be such a great waste of money that it would often cost more to send the check than the check was often worth.  Checks that were cut to my sibs, cousins and I would range anywhere from one cent to 35.00.  Two digit dollars were rare.  The average seemed to be two and change if I remember correctly. 

At times we were offered to sell our property or lease it off to another company which also required a huge mountain of paperwork which included duplications that not only had to be signed but witnessed as well.  Often we would go to the neighbors across the street and create an assembly line of signing and passing the papers.  Often companies who had asked would change their minds as I suppose the size of the property wasn’t worth it – not among the grandkids anyway who had grown into twelve of us.

As the years went by the amount of checks had lessened – either we had sold the property off or the land had dried up or what have you – and had exchanged hands so many times that it was hard to keep track of where our checks might be coming from.  I don’t think the amount was ever worth all the hoops we had to jump – particularly those of us whose names and addresses had changed.  Most companies could either get my married name or current address but never both.  Thinking that the address was more important I still get mail addressed to my maiden name.  In fact, there was one address where we had lived that Roland was also receiving mail in my maiden name.  I thought it was hilarious.

Anyway before the coronavirus hit the states but while the pandemic was going on in China we had an outrageous offer on our property rights.  OUTRAGOUS on the part of the company – quite unbelievable for us.  Corey had asked them about the amount on three separate occasions but was told the amount was correct.  He decided to go for it but advised the rest of us to wait in case it was a hoax.  It wasn’t a hoax.  He got paid!  And in turn the rest of us did too.  I mean it would take several years to acquire enough pay checks to equal the amounts we had already sold for.  This offer would have been at least forty.  It was unbelievable. 

The individual we had dealt with had been so enthusiastic for acquiring all this property for his company.  I sounded as if he had been more excited for the gain than we were to sell.  And then COVID hit.  I wondered what had become of him or the company he worked for.  Corey learned that he is no longer employed with that same company but did not know if it was because his choices may have cost the company (well, the pandemic did – but that hadn’t even been a consideration;  what company is going to say, “Oh, we can’t afford to pay that much – there could be a pandemic tomorrow and people might not purchase crude oil anymore”) or if it was just because along with so many other companies in the nation layoffs were necessary.

There have been so many who have struggled in 2020 not just because of COVID but because of weather conditions.  People lost homes due to floods and fires and other elements. And we remain blessed.  We may not have a lot but I know we are better off than so many others.  For that  I am grateful.

Alexa Has Attitude

 

Jenna's rough drawing of what Echo
and "Attitude" might appear as icons

I think I have created a couple of posts in which I refer to “Alexa”.  We have two, an echo and one built into the sound system for the TV. 

Jenna had won the echo two and a half years ago when we had gone to Salem for an open house for the online school that Roland works for.  We kept it over the fireplace for over a year before Roland purchased a new sound system for the television.  He had a choice of making it “Okay Google” or “Alexa”.  I told him to go with “Okay Google” so the two wouldn’t both activate at the same time but he chose not to listen to me and go with Alexa and moved the Echo into Jenna’s room.  But her room is too close and both would activate – at least simultaneously.

We now have the Echo in our room and have an alarm set to go off at 5:15 each weekday morning. Our room is located right next door to Jenna’s and so often both will activate (depending on who is making the request) though there is a four to seven second delay.  Usually the information is exactly the same but sometimes the Echo provides more interesting or need information whereas the one built into the speaker has attitude.  I kid you not.

Jenna has tried drawing what she thinks in her mind – the echo is a helpful student (probably kindergarten age as Alexa had said she was five years in age) while the speaker seems more like a teenager irritated about being interrupted while she is on her cell phone.  There have been times that she has flat out refused to respond.  That isn’t nice.  But seems to fit her personality.  How can an “Alexa” device feel so much different from the other.  Jenna and I like Alexa Echo but do not care for Alexa the other.

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.