Beneath the Wraps

  unfortunately somewhat of a short post.  unfortunate because of lack of contact.                  Before starting my senior year in high school I had gone to San Francisco to visit my Grandma Mary.   Uncle Bruce picked me up at the airport.   I hadn ’ t seen him for quite some time and wasn ’ t even certain that it was him.   I got in the car with him anyway.          I remember spending one day with his wife and son.   They had two cats.   I remember Joe had used two different methods of discipline one for each cat.   I also remember holding him when he was a baby.          When Jaime was two or three she received a child sleeping bag from one of the neighbors.   Bruce was visiting my mom and I happened to have the sleeping bag in the car.   I was having problems rolling it ...

        I just read my brother ’ s latest post in which he mentions paying fees towards a park that he never uses.  It is annoying paying fees for something in which you don ’ t feel a part.  For example there are many paying taxes for schools when they have no children.  Those who reside in Myrtle Creek pay taxes on a small airport.  I remember a man complaining about it. At the time I didn ’ t even realize there was an airport in Myrtle Creek.  And though it ’ s true that no commercial planes will ever land here, and I will never personally train to fly, I do reap benefits of having an airport so close to my house as I had mentioned in this post .         My brother took a picture of himself at the park – I don ’ t know from the photo how big the park is or if there is a playground or walking trail available.  If so, I would think that it has the potential of being a good source of giving children or walkers a pl...

             I thought I would be able to create at least one post today, but Roland just informed me that he has the day off.   I suspect that can change as his boss is a flake. We took Jenna to the airport last night and will be returning for her on Friday.   Tomorrow’s Thanksgiving.   That makes for more wait until I am able to sort my thoughts and post something.           On Friday, the 19 th , we spent the majority of the day in Ashland.   We toured the campus at Southern Oregon University.   I wore myself out.   Jenna ran into one of her friends and made friends with another also majoring in theatre.   Layne will be gone by the time Jenna arrives – unless she chooses to go elsewhere.   Today she will be touring the Dixie State campus only ten minutes away from her brother’s house.           Parent/Teacher conferen...

The airport is within walking distance.   Each year we can hear the helicopters .   Some are looking out.   Most appear carry buckets that appear to be half the size of the helicopter.   Each year the chopper noise increases – or seems to anyway.       More than it did in 2019 when the fires were so close and in 2017 when the entire state was on fire.   We were surrounded by smoke from every direction and wouldn’t have been able to safely evacuate as every direction had fires burning.   Even last year.     Smokey skies can sometimes make for amazing sunsets.   I would rather not have the amazing sunset and have no smoke.   Bless the firefighters who risk their lives to keep us safe. Here is one that Jenna took

            I went to Church by myself last week.   Jenna had opted to go with Roland to pick up Randy and his family at the airport.   Roland and I had picked up a van the day before.   We had also borrowed a playpen for the baby to sleep in.   I am happy I was there for sacrament meeting.   Bonnie’s doctor and his wife were the speakers.   We hadn’t seen Dr. Nay at Church since COVID began.   He still had a mask on his face which made me feel guilty that I wasn’t wearing mine (as masks are now optional at Church) Sister Nay talked about taking upon His name and comparing simple reminders to power bars or power bites.   Reading the scriptures would be a power bar, performing service, being kind . . . Though I have put Sister Nay on possibly a higher pedestal than perhaps she would place herself, it made me realize that even those that seem to be natural at taking upon His name and wouldn’t need power bars do...

After we left Newport, Roland had asked if I would like to get some shoes.  So as we were heading back toward McMinnville, we stopped off at a Fred Meyer’s – I don’t even know which town.  Jenna and I both ended up with rubber rain boots – which turned out weren’t necessary, as we didn’t need them for the car nor for the following morning. On our last day we looked at housing in Beaverton, Milwauke, Happy Valley and Gresham – all suburbs of Portland.  We found a Kmart in either Beaverton or Gresham and exchanged Jenna's cheetah print footies for the only other pair of footies that was available: a meduim hot pink with rubber ducks.  Fit better and she says she likes the duckys and would have chosen the pink pair over the cheetah pair - so it actually worked out great.  Nothing we looked at seemed promising as far as housing that we could afford.  Seems like the market has drawn potential buyers to the area – and they obvio...

            It's now been a week since we flew out of Salt Lake City.  After we landed we went to find our luggage.   Portland is a nice airport.   Portland must have been a connecting stop for most passengers as there weren’t many people standing at the carousel to claim luggage, nor were there many pieces coming out.             Every time I wait for luggage, I think of one time when I had gone to the San Francisco airport and stood behind a crowd of people surrounding the luggage carousel but in no way could get near enough to collect my luggage.             As I saw one piece make its way around I loudly asked, “Could someone toss me that light blue bag?”              I soon realized that I had made a wrong word...

            We had asked Tony and Rochelle to house sit – not that our house needed sitting, but because we wanted them to have time to themselves and we thought that would give them the opportunity.             After they arrived, we watched Walt Disney’s Into the Woods .   I was quite surprised when Ester joined me in the recliner.   She didn’t watch the entire movie, but she was in the recliner long enough for pictures.               Roland slept on the couch and I slept on the recliner while Tony and Rochelle took Ester in our room.   My, she was loud.   Enthusiastic.   Not even close to sleepy.   I don’t know what her parents did to hush her.             I don’t know why I woke up just before 4:00. ...