Love the House I Live in

         Though Roland seemed anxious to purchase a house right away, I still don’t know what city I would like to make my permanent resident.  I love Myrtle Creek. Everyone’s been so friendly and it really did not take long to warm up to things.

         Roland has always looked at the house itself.  My primary concern is with the neighborhood, the ward, the area itself.  The house is only secondary.  But I do love this house we’re in right now – though we are just renting and haven’t even bothered looking at a house to buy – though Roland still seems anxious to do that very thing. 

        School is so expensive, and if we can find a home now, Jenna will have a better chance of going to school in Oregon for a much lower cost than her brothers.  MUCH LOWER – but we have to be homeowners.  But I also believe we need to be making more money than our budget allows at this time.  As renters, we do not have to pay property taxes.  I find that to be a plus right now.  

         I do know we’ll need to move eventually.  But let’s let Jenna do a year or two of middle school at least.  I thought I’d want to move her to a bigger high school, but I’m finding that I really like those that graduated from So. Umpqua High.  But I don’t know that I could last six or seven years more in this county.  Eventually I’m going to need to go back to public transportation. 

         I don’t remember yellow flowering plants with thorns even existing when I lived on the east side of state street growing up in Salt Lake City.  But after I got married and moved to the west side, thorns were an everyday part of our life.  Both houses we were in.  We couldn’t help but step of them. 

      They were constantly being dragged into the house and it seemed to house needed to be swept and vacuumed more often, but somehow thorns were always left behind.  I could never go barefoot in the house, let alone outside.  In Myrtle Creek, I’ve been able to do both.  And it’s been wonderful.

       When we lived in West Valley, there was no garbage disposal hook-up.  I am so used to scraping garbage out of the sink and throwing it away that I forget we have access to a disposal in the house where we currently live.

         We also have a place to put our table and call a dining room

         We have a lot more closet and cupboard space and just a lot more space.  It is so awesome to be able to walk from room to room without bumping into walls or furniture because everything is narrow and small.

         We have water pressure!  Something else I have truly missed the last 5 ½ years.  I love being able to do dishes in more than just a trickle of water.  I can even do dishes when the washing machine is running – something I couldn’t even fathom in West Valley. Taking showers is also a lot nicer.

         I had a laundry room when we lived in Kearns, but not in West Valley.  My desire was to move the appliances outside, wall up that area and have more elbowroom.  The washer and dryer are now in the garage where one might think I have more elbow room, but with a refrigerator on one side and a car on the other, the space might actually be tighter than in West Valley. 

         In West Valley my washer opened to the left and my dryer to the left opened down.  It was kind of a bother to attempt to push clothes over one door and hope they would land in the dryer or at least of the door – though I wasn’t happy with having too much weight.  Now my doors open opposite directions.

         I found a system that lessens the inconvenience of having two doors in between the washer and dryer.  I take the clothes out of the washer and put them in the basket.  I put the basket on top of the dryer and clothes the washer drawer.  I move my body over to the tiny space in front of the dryer and take the clothes down and put them inside.  Wish I would have thought to do the same when we lived in West Valley. I’m not complaining because there are so many other features about the house that I love.

         I love having shelves to put things.  I love having a coat closet (not that we’ve had a need for it as of yet) None of the houses I have lived in have offered coat closets.

         I love having access to electronic communication, for I still miss those that we left behind in Utah.  I am grateful that Roland was able to bring his electronic position with him and still has a job regardless of where we live.  

         I love being able to breathe.

Reminiscing Parades

          Today we attended our first parade since arriving in Oregon.   

         As we sat on the curb to wait for the parade to start,  I was reminded of a time Roland had taken Jenna and I to Midvale to watch the Cinco de Mayo parade.  I remember our eternal wait for the parade to start and how unpressed I was when the first 5 -13 vehicles that followed the emergency vehicles (which usually lead the parade) as the utility trucks and yellow construction vehicles that followed (not to mention the firetrucks)  were seen on a day-to-day basis when we were living in Kearns.

          This morning I wondered how similar the parade might be to that one – but than my expectations weren’t very high (good thing) though. I did to expect to see more floats and perhaps less monster trucks or big wheeled vehicles or whatever you call them.  

            I also thought there would be at least one band.  There was only one instrument that made its way into the parade - and not one that I expected to see.

organ player in the cart provides only music 

          Yesterday the annual three hour parade was held in Salt Lake City Utah.  I knew that it would not last that long but was surprised that the creek in Myrtle Creek lasted nearly 40 minutes.  All entries could be entered last minute.  Salt Lake participants start a month or two ahead – at least.  Even with the youth parade that is held the week prior, entries are created ahead of schedule and not just an hour to five minutes before the parade gets started.  (see this post)

            Many of the floats, bands, etc. get the opportunity of being in both parades.  Or maybe it’s just a selected few.  I don’t know.  I like my parades short and quick. Today may have been quicker but some of the monster contestants were either showing off or the drivers were just having a hard time with moving so slow – as it sounded though some had actually restarted their engines.  But what do I know about monster vehicles?  Nothing.

          We had actually seen more farm equipment here in Oregon than we did at the parade we had gone to in Star Valley, Wyoming.   

            Each time we do watch a parade – no matter how small – we are introduced to one thing that we have never had exposure to at seeing in a parade.  Today’s unique interest (maybe not those who recide in Myrtle Creek or surrounding areas – but to us) it was the logging truck. 

          My favorite thing to look at though was this dog – who seemed to want to play fetch each time the candy was thrown.  His reaction made me laugh.  He really was fun to watch.

          Jenna had a great time at the park – playing games for rocks and prizes.   

          She could have played longer but we dragged her away.  We may return for fireworks – but just did not want to hang out for twelve hours. 

           Today is the last day of the festval.  Our sleepy little town has been wakened – well for this weekend at least.

Riddle Cemetery – I’m Just There for the Ice Cream

Billion Graves is a website that encourages volunteers to take pictures at cemeteries to post online and also volunteers to transcribe information from the pictures (once they are online).  I have personally known a few genealogical nuts that have found ancestors through these gravesites – usually missing spouses or children that have been buried along side of the names they already have.

For those who are really into family history, it does seem convenient to have this site, as they are able to visit many cemeteries from around the world without the expense of actually having to physically travel.  But only the recorded sites may provide the needed information.  There are a number of graves that have yet to be photographed and transcribed.

Last night the girls and young women of my new ward had the opportunity to take pictures to load to the app. of said website. One of the leaders referred to Riddle Cemetery as a virgin cemetery – meaning it has never been photographed or documented.

When we arrived, there was a sign that announced that the cemetery was legally closed from 7:00 pm to 7:00 am.  The activity started at 7:00 pm. Some were afraid the gates might get shut on us or that we would be arrested.  I personally don't think that law is enforced.  We worked at the cemetery (undisturbed) for just over an hour.

Many headstones – especially older ones – actually don’t provide a lot of information.  Names.  Sometimes years.  Sometimes just a death but no birth.  Sometimes marked unknown.  We actually skipped over the unknowns.  I wonder how many others were overlooked.

Jenna had Roland’s phone and claimed she had downloaded app – whether she did or not is unknown at this time.  I followed her with my notebook to write down what I could see not knowing how well it would translate to film. (Actually there was a lot of information on the stones themselves that had been worn out over the decades; I had brought tracing paper to cover and shade or try rubbing information onto the paper - but did not work out to my expectations)

 Now I wonder how many of us were photographing and recording in vain as I don’t know what has actually been sent to the app and what has not.


Riddle has several graves with this kind of marker. 

This one actually had more information than most.  

 

I did find an entire family, or so I believe – several circles with just names.  And then finally two stood together with two names and dates.  Perhaps they were the mom and dad of those others buried beneath?  

Further down was this actual headstone.  Perhaps the grandparents?

And then there were a few with gifts placed all around the statue. 

In Salt Lake, the cemeteries are cleaned out right after they’re decorated.  It is weird to see a cemetery that seems to stay decorated.  A lot of the flowers were plastic or silk and not actual plants.  I don’t know how long things stay.  I know it is longer than Salt Lake though.

And then there was one that was facing a different direction than all others: 

At first it appeared that the backside was blank, but when I looked again I did see an inscription.  But I have no clue what it said

Many of the girls didn’t actually understand why we were there – though several of us tried to explain it to them.  Jenna was mostly just interested in the friendships that she’s made and for the ice cream treat that was promised after our hard work.  

 
I’m quite certain that we did not even get half of what was there.


When I tried to go to the site to see if anything had actually uploaded, I learned that volunteers that transcribe names off stones don’t necessarily do it with cemeteries where they may have been.  Or at least in my case.  I signed up to be a transcriber – but thus far all the stones have been from Wilson Cemetery or Sunset Memorial Park – both located somewhere in Oregon.  I think Sunset might be in Coos Bay, but I’m not sure.

It’s nice to know that I can assist in somebody else’s research – even if it’s only in a small way.  I don’t enjoy research myself and as I’ve stated in several blogs, family history (beyond those I actually know and have known in this earth life) just isn’t that important to me.  But I know many who thrive on it, and I don’t mind doing the transcribing.  It kind of makes me feel like I’m doing my part.  And that’s a good thing.

I’m happy that I’ve had this opportunity.  I have enjoyed living in this area.



* I didn’t mean to desecrate any that are deceased or those related.  If anyone related to those I mentioned or pictures I posted feel offended, I will gladly remove them from this post.  Just let me know *