Beneath the Wraps

             Our Saturn was such a good car and I hated to see it in non-driving, special (and expensive) repair state – especially after all the money we sunk into it.   Brand new tires.   Our cars have a way of getting “killed” right after the tire investment.   So unfair.           Our Saturn was a very good car.   Outlived its 22 years I think.   We put many   miles on that car going from Utah to Arizona and back.   Climbing hills of Nevada and Oregon.   Roseburg and back.   Medford and back.   Many miles. Over 100,000.             In my mind I can hear “taps” being played.   My eye sheds a tear for our beloved car.   I’m sorry that you’re gone now.   My mom is the Saturn's original owner.  Today is her birthday. Happy Birthday, mom.  Miss you.  Look forward to reuniting w...

               One of my uncle’s funeral is tomorrow.   He passed away on the 12 th . It is in Utah, thus I won’t be attending.   I feel bad that I am unable to attend as I look back on the year that we had moved to Oregon.           I had another uncle pass away on the 6 th of June.   He had been battling cancer off and on and finally decided to throw in the towel. My cousin had wanted to have one last Christmas in July party.   She told everybody it was because Richard and I would be moving to Oregon – and who knew when we’d return.   But it was really for her dad – who had passed the week before the scheduled event.   From what I remember more than half the family would be out of town due to other commitments.   And yet the day of his funeral all of the family returned even though so many had said they’d be out of town that day.   Every family member ...

             Someone hacked the facebook account of a friend of mine.   The person than changed her profile to the name of another.   The account that was hacked belonged to a married sister.   The change made was that of a male with profile pic and location created.   That is far as I got.   I didn’t know him but the friend section said that we had two friends in common.   Before taking the opportunity to inquire of each of them I got the word that the account had been hacked. In the RS page a guy’s name was coming up on things that she had posted or commented on or liked.   I deleted a lot of it but some of the likes still remain – I don’t know how to change them.   Meanwhile I have blocked him and sent the word out for my friends NOT to accept any friend requests.   I had tried to report the incident to facebook but couldn’t seem to get passed a certain step.   Why do people do that?   Why g...

               Our Relief Society lesson last week was taken from Shayne Bowen’s talk on miracles, angels and priesthood ( here ).    The same talk was used for one of the talks given during sacrament meeting. An inactive member made the comment that she was meant to be there that day as the message was given twice.   It was a good lesson and I reflected on miracles past and present.   Miracles happen every day. Some are obviously more powerful than others.             When Jaime was still a baby Richard and I had been called as ward missionaries.   Primary baptisms were done at a stake level, but if for some reason only one ward had youth being baptized when the head position was out of town, the ward missionaries were asked to fill the font.   The font took roughly two hours to fill.             One Satu...

            The workout and pool activity here in Myrtle Creek has always been more than reasonable. When they raised their prices this year it did not seem like such a big deal.   In fact, the attendance has increased within the class.   We have never had as much as 8 people show up the first week (or sometimes even the entire first month) let alone 11.   Of course most of us are getting the pass deal – which really is a deal.             A few years before the pandemic there was a fundraiser created to help build added features to the South Umpqua Memorial Pool.   The fundraiser ( here ) took place in both 2018 and 2019.   I don’t know what happened to the money that was raised or what improvements were made.   I don’t see that anything tangible was added.             Initially we were told that the money would be goin...

 Jaime's last week in Ashland Final Thursday and we will pick her up on Friday. I am certain that I am more excited than she is. She would like to stay in Ashland