Beneath the Wraps

          A member of the ward had told me about the Burger King in Canyonville - which by the way is not called "Fast" Burger King or "Express" Burger King with good reason.  I'd forgotten about his comments until one day I decided to stop there on my way home from working at the school.  I could have seriously driven home and back before my order was ready.   And I had only ordered two items!           I don't know how long it was (a couple of months, I would guess) when I decided to give them a second chance.  No.  The post office would beat them in a race.  I have usually just parked the car and gone in and didn't realize that the drive-through would be faster (though not by much).  Roland and I were at the DMV in Canyonville and decided to stop off at Burger King on the way home.           A...

Knock-knock jokes are question-and-answer jokes, playing off of words typically ending with a pun.   For example: person 1:          Knock-knock person 2:          Who's there? person 1:          banana person 2:          banana who? person 1:          Knock-knock person 2:          Who's there? person 1:          banana person 2:          banana who? person 1:          Knock-knock person 2:          Who's there? person 1:          banana person 2:          bana...

          I can't even seem to pinpoint the month when Marva and Shelly came back into our lives - or even why. Roland would cram gospel truths down their throats and Marva really did want to learn.  Shelly was more interested in having a father-figure in her life.  Unlike her mom, she is not interested in boys.  But neither of them are in relationships.  Marva is usually quite positive but doesn't know when to give her mouth a rest.  Shelly is too needy and clingy.            I believe the Elders started teaching her in November.  We had set up an appointment in our home.  We were stood up twice when she was having the discussions in our home.  I don't know how many more times she was stood up after they moved her to the church.  In this case, it was Marva who had chased after the Elders rather than the other way around. She begged for them to start teaching her ...

Right next to Penny Pinchers Gas Station is the road that leads to Pioneer Cemetery.  UP to Pioneer Cemetery It goes UP and just one lane. One lane going up and houses on the way. Are you kidding me? Which of the lucky drivers gets to back up if there are two that meet? We didn't know how steep the road was nor how small the cemetery is or that it is fenced in. Roland said he had been curious and so we went to see it right after we got gas. Neither of us had our cell phones - nor had I thought to bring a camera photo by Steve Mattos We were just going to the store to return some items and hit Penny Pinchers on the way. The cemetery was interesting I guess.  But it was a one time trip I'm certainly not going to drive there No, sir-ee, Bob! I'm not driving UP UP UP and risk falling to my death. Most of the markers did not have any kind of identification to indicate who might be buried beneath...

              Okay,  this will be my last  post about last weeks fire.             We have been more prepared than many others, but still not as much as we had hoped or believed.  There is only so much that can be stored and used before we run out.  As Roland couldn't get the generator working that first day, he used a jump start from the car to hook to the fireplace.  It was our only source of heat for a while.  But the car jumping device did not provide the amount of power that the generator had.  I was also afraid of killing the cars.              Roland had gone to the store not just once but two or three times to replace items we had used (such as gas and batteries).  How fortunate it was that he was able to use a credit or debit card as there have been many who have not had the oppor...

            Even before Jenna’s two friends and most of their family had perished in a fire (see  here  and  here ) I have been paranoid of open flames and space heaters and such. During the power outage we had candles.              At first, Roland had placed a candle in one of the sinks so that we could have light in the bathroom.  Gradually it moved above the sink so that we could use the sink without putting out the flame.  He made sure there were no towels near or anything that could catch on fire.  So a few days later when I told Jenna to do the same thing, Roland went with her to make certain that the area of the bathroom she picked would be safe.  She started her candle in the sink also.  But her sink is evidently shallower than ours and the faucet was made out of plastic which I hadn’t even known was a thing.    ...

            Before we had the generator hooked up, we decide to move everything from one freezer to the other.  The ice cream was extremely soft.             “Jenna, would you like to have ice cream for breakfast?”  “Like I’m going to say ‘No’”  On Tuesday morning Jenna had ice cream for breakfast. I am such a great mom.

             Even though I knew I had two classes coming up, I had agreed to fill in for one of the aides during the last two weeks of February.  Technically, my two classes started on President’s Day which I had off.  Still, I struggled through that first week and did not make the best grades compared to the other ones I have been getting.             It snowed on the last Sunday in February.  The next morning I had three messages on my phone:  “Buses will be delayed for two hours on Monday morning”  “Buses will be delayed for two hours on Monday morning”  and “School has been canceled for Monday."  I thought I'd take advantage of having the time off and get a better jump start on my classes than I had the week before.  I was able to listen to the live lecture and had completed one discussion post before taking what I thought would be a short bre...

            Share an experience that you have had with when the power went out             For the most part power outages provide positive memories for me.  I know that might sound strange, but except for one time that I can recall, the experiences have been great.   I don’t even remember all of the details about the unpleasant power outage.  In my mind, it took place during the course of several hours, but in reality, it may have only been minutes.  I would guess that I was seven.              Mike’s parents were out of town, and my parents had agreed to watch him – I'm guessing for the weekend.  Mike and I were the same age and my brother Patrick was two years younger.  Mom said that she and dad had gone over to a neighbor’s house for an activity.  I don’t know if they were on a different powe...

            I recall a time when we were  living in West Valley and the water pipes in the neighborhood had burst.  There were at least five of them shooting geysers.  This problem took the water company well over 24 hours to repair.  I don’t recall what time I noticed the geysers sprouting in various locations.  It must have been during the summer months when the sun sets later as it was still light enough to drive but late enough that I would be getting ready for bed within a few hours.  I don’t imagine it was a great night for Granger-Hunter as they had set up crews at each geyser and worked throughout the night and into the next morning using artificial light to help them see.             Roland had purchased a 50-gallon water tank several years before.  We had emptied it in Kearns so we could take it with us to West Valley.  We filled it back up – fortu...

I can strike a match to light up a room or start a fire to toast marshmallows I can play different versions of match game For example, I've tried to learn about which flag goes with what country by matching one to the other I can attempt to paint the shutters and trim to match the rest of the house. I can mix and match socks I get tired of trying to match assignment problems with the responding exercise found in the book an electronic book I might add I would like my clothes to match Occasionally I would like to match the face to the voice We've been through quite a few furniture pieces that didn't match. you remember this scene from Frasier?  We had worse cases than Martin's chair. Some librarians and instructors will read books and set up an activity The activity matches themes based upon the book There is a lot of competition in the retail business.   So many try to match anot...

I was supposed to work this week but  the schools have been closed  first due to the storm and then  because we were part of  many that were without power.   During that time I've  had so many thoughts  going through my head  and have jotted a bit  on paper - some on my  laptop but nothing concrete.   I still have classes next week and  the week after that. I am grateful for the generator that gave me enough power to at least start my assignments  Amazingly I have finished up and can finish a few other things that got neglected during our power outage. I realize that four days is nothing compared to some others who have experienced without for much longer.  Roland's sister for example,  had gone two months as she lives in Puerto Rico and  Hurricane Maria was quite unkind. I'd rather lose electric power than running water - even if it was  equivalent to riv...