Beneath the Wraps

              When the stay-at-home order was given in March, there was a great number of people who did stay home but there were many who had the attitude that “I still have freedom . . . nobody tells me what to do . . .” and have contributed to American stupidity ever since. I don’t like Walmart for many reasons but Roland just so happens to have a Walmart card and Roseburg has a Walmart and so we have been there numerous times – though I have not accompanied him as often as Jenna who wanted to go to Roseburg last and I wanted to stay home with Bonnie (the dog) but Roland had me go and Jenna stay. Because there was no iodized salt offered at Costco, Roland wanted to stop by Walmart first to get some.   The last time we had gone to Walmart there was a line of people waiting for consumers to exit the store and were allowed so many at a time (depending on the amount leaving) maintaining a social distancing.   Everybody required to wea...

  https://ercare24.com/five-senses/            I had always been under the impression that if one sense stopped working another may be enhanced.    For instance, my mom has never had a keen sense of smell.   She lost it due to growing up in a smoke infested apartment.   (I think both of her parents were chain smokers) but had exceptional hearing.   Even on her deathbed I believe she could hear well.           None of my senses are sharp.   I control/plus each screen in order to see the font.   I wear glasses and hearing aids.   My sense of smell seems to be a thing of the past.   My taste comes and goes.   I suppose my strongest sense would be touch.           I know Jenna has bathed the dog, but evidently she still has an odor about her.   Jenna and Roland have both mentioned that she expels gas which lea...

          It was the third week of Church for the ward I ’ m in.  My sister Kayla said her ward had returned last month – or possibly in July.  She said that the members will attend every other week in order to allow social distancing.  I think that ’ s great that there are that many in attendance as the last time I had gone to her ward the attendance seemed even less than what this ward has been – a lot of empty pews and much social distancing – even before it was a thing.           Wearing a mask can be bothersome, but it ’ s not a tremendous sacrifice on my part nor am I too proud to wear one.  I appreciate surgeons and dentists wearing masks, all the frontline workers required to wear a mask all day.  Surely if they can do it for 4 – 10 hour shifts, a few minutes to a few hours shouldn ’ t be a big deal for me.  The mask is not the problem.  It ’ s not being able to connect in the way that we ...

            I have been thinking of an assortment of things lately – none seem post worthy however.   I haven ’ t come up with any great ways to transfer my thoughts.   So perhaps I ’ ll just assign numbers.   1.       I ’ ve driven many mornings without having to deal with school buses and I always forget.   Thus I have been leaving the house a wee bit earlier in order to pick up Jenna who does go to seminary in person – at least for the time being. 2.       On our return we pass the middle school which has always had a flashing light signal before the turn.   But I have not seen the signal since mid-summer.   I told the crossing guard about it.   Thus far it isn ’ t working still. 3.       I ’ ve seen a lot more construction signs and reflective cones set up all over Myrtle Creek.   And they somehow become permanent additions as t...

            I don ’ t guess I ’ ve ever had the greatest hearing.   I have always been loud.   Perhaps it was a form of compensation: I needed to talk loud in order to hear myself.   I ’ ve also experienced episodes of dizziness at different stages in my lifetime – most of that within the last ten years or so.   I knew they were related but didn ’ t know to what extreme.   It has mostly been during allergy season or when the inversion lies heavy in the air.   I have been building up fluids behind my right eardrum and have slowly been losing my hearing in that ear.     https://www.drugs.com/cg/otitis-externa.html           I should probably call an ENT to have the fluid removed.  Again, it doesn ’ t hurt, but I do find it annoying.  Meanwhile Roland has ordered some hearing aids for me and I think they will help.  Not only will my hearing become better but I ...

  You came into our lives on a very memorable day as your “mommy” had gone out of town and had left the key with Jenna so that she could and come feed you – but we ended up bringing you home.   You will be with us for nearly three months before mommy returns from Salem.      I have enjoyed watching your tail wag at high speed as though it's plugged in at high speed.  I know you have enjoyed the attention we have shown.   You seem to have a radar nose and watch lustingly as we eat.   We took you to the vet because you have a rash.   We changed your food diet and were given orders not to give you table scraps.   We trick you by feeding your own food from the table as we eat.   For some odd reason you seem to be okay with that.   Better eating off the floor than out of a dish, right?   We already love you, Bonnie. You are such a sweet dog.   December m...

            I had graduated from high school in 1980 and had signed up for college the following year.  I did not have the internet or Google to help me with assignments.  I used whatever reference books I could find at the library.  It wasn’t until after Corey returned home from his mission that we purchased our first computer and added AOL dial-up.  It wasn’t much longer before the Google search engine was introduced.                I marveled at how quickly Corey could find references without ever having to leave the room.  Before that he had been a whiz at searching the card catalogues and familiarizing himself with the library as though it were his profession.  Google seemed to make life so much easier in some ways.             I had not familiarized myself with the search engines or internet as quickly a...

  The air quality was down this morning.   I forgot to see what rating   - moderate.   I went to the Church to pick up Jenna.   I took the dog and had her out of the car when the kids came out of the building from seminary.   They all gave the dog attention.   Today is the last day that they will visit as three of them will start at the high school tomorrow.   I know that Jenna feels bad that she won’t be returning with them.   She is frustrated with the online classes.   But flu season is coming up in addition to Corona.   The air quality hasn’t been great I just checked it and it’s worse than it was yesterday.   How can that be?   I had drawn back the curtains and could see the hills better than just the outline that was provided yesterday.   I can feel and see the thick smoke again.   The air quality report has us back up to hazardous.   My curtains are closed...

  The other night I had a dream that I had been living in my old house in Kearns.   I was serving as a Relief Society counselor (my current role) with the presidency from the ward I am in.   Roland and I had moved to another house during the pandemic but had not told anyone.    from google maps Church was not back in session and I continued to meet with the sisters in our ward.   I wasn’t trying to do it secretively – I really just didn’t think about it.   However, the new area we had just moved to was about to start up with returning to church and I wondered if I should call the RS pres in the ward I’d been serving to let her know I had moved and that my records would need to be transferred to another ward.   I dreamed that the RS president had stopped by my old Kearns house to learn that I hadn’t even lived there for a couple of months.  She called me and I told her that I was just about to call her.  I woke up realizing that I ...

            The first time I remember meeting Ben (not his actual name) was at one of the schools.   There was concern about safety with gang violence and other criminal activity.   After the presentation there was a QA session and Ben provided three phone numbers to call.   One was the local police department, one was for the Sheriff’s office and the last one he gave he said was his personal number.   I had programmed all three into my phone but had only used one and never the other two. Ben had run for office as the Sheriff head cheese – which was not the official title but he had worked under the Sheriff head cheese not as a deputy but an acting sheriff and had run against the head cheese I don’t know how many times.   He was running the year I dragged my husband to an adjoining neighborhood to support his campaign.   I remember liking his facebook page which I guess at the time qualified me as an automatic member of ...

  I would like to be more humble as I have always had a problem with pride. Whenever I think that I have overcome so much of my pride – wham!   I find myself fighting all over again.  And here are just two examples:   1)    When I was in the young women ’ s presidency the YW president had asked me to write a skit for camp – which I did but it took some time to incorporate my ideas.   When I tried to present my idea the YW pres. said it was no longer needed.   The girls had decided that they wanted to do something else – which really didn ’ t even relate to the topic.  At least at the time I didn ’ t think it did.   I felt a bit put out that I had worked on this skit and they didn ’ t even want to listen to my ideas.   And I knew it was wrong to feel resentment.   After all it is the girls who should be involved and they were.   I should have expressed praise or some kind of encouragement.   I tried to shru...

            We fed the missionaries on Friday though the air quality was not that great.   They did not seem to mind as we built and ate Hawaiian haystacks out on our porch and visited for a bit.   I’d given them containers to take home some food which they said they would give me on Sunday.   Sadly that was my main objective for going as I knew we haven’t returned to normal and I thought it would be depressing.   Only the speaker was allowed to remove his mask.   We were told we could sing but had to leave our masks on.   I chose not to sing as the smoke has been enticing me to cough. Several announcements were made before the bishop talked about how many of us are opinionated and often our opinions will put us into a box. There are a wide variety of boxes that exist – in our jobs, in our community, the way we serve (he didn’t say politics – but that is one I had thought of) . . . some people, such as the Pharisees, will...

  The air is thick and white where I live.    *abc - Portland Other parts of Oregon are yellow and orange – like San Francisco.    share from facebook I doubt there is any blue sky that can be seen on the entire west coast.    *abc news *abc - California Forget COVID.   Forget politics and presidential candidates.   People have lost their homes in more way than one. They’ve either been burnt to the ground or criminals have come to ransack and destroy their houses in other ways.   Aside from material possessions which can be replaced are sentiments that are lost. # AP Photo/Paula Bronstein I was watching abc news that provided the following:   I remember the air quality in 2017 not being so great – and according to this chart 2018 was even worse and 2020 is the worst year yet.   I had heard about how bad it was but did not share in bad air quality until after Labor Day.   I feel blessed that this is the worse it has...