Beneath the Wraps

 Ally said the prayer to bless the food.  Biff started out helping her but she took off with it on her own.  She did a good job. I was impressed.  I was amazed that she actually ate all that was on her plate without complaining.

bottom two photos found on this site:  https://churchof   jesuschristtemples.org/st.-george-utah-temple/news/   We spent Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in St. George where Kevin and Tara have been living the last year or so. They had been living near Buffalo, New York when we saw them in 2020.  Archer had been born on Jai’s 16 th  birthday.  He was three months at the time we saw him last.  Now he is almost two and has a baby brother born 2/22/22 which was on a TWOsday. Richard made breakfast each day we were there.   The first day he made french toast with bacon and eggs and Kevin made tater tots. I did some laundry on our first day there.   Jai had hoped to go to Arctic Circle sometime during our travel as she has fond memories of having gone while living in Utah.   We went to one in St. George.   I don ’ t think anyone was impressed with the food.   Afterward we went to the Alumni Creamery – a chapter of BYU creamery. ...

I believe we went to Rush Funplex directly after eating at IHOP.  Ally was so excited. I rode with her and Biff and had Claire ride with Richard and Jaime – just in case we separated.  Tony was pretty much on his own. Three kids in car seats.   When Ally saw me in the front she asked if I would ride with them.   She said she was glad I was with them because she likes me. Biff zigzagged his way to the fun center where eight of us had never been.   I don ’ t know how many pictures Jai had taken.   I know I took a couple with her phone, but not on my own.   This is pretty much how Rush made me feel: NOT taken at Rush but shows same trippiness feel And that ’ s only the visual.   I think it was the loud noise that contributed most to my headache.   I was already disoriented.   Each time we passed a sign or anything indicating the BYU logo I would think, “ That is the same sign as BYU.   Wow.   Didn ’ t think I would ever see tha...

           My aunt had a Scottish Terrier when she was ten years old – or perhaps Heather was a family dog.   I barely remember the pet dog.    I of course don't have a picture of Heather but copied the photo from this site: Grandma and Grandpa had planned to take my aunt to Europe and had asked mom and dad to house sit while they were gone. Taking care of Heather was part of the deal.           My mom had not grown up with pets nor seemed fond of them.   Grandpa had left instructions and told my mom that Heather needed to have two fried eggs each morning.   Mom said there was no way she was going to fix eggs for a dog and so my dad made the eggs for Heather each morning during their stay.           Whenever Roland cooks eggs for the dog I always think of that experience that mom had shared with me.   For the most part Bonnie will get...

Yesterday was National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.   I noticed the flags lined up and down the bridge as we made our way to the Ward Christmas party.    We had a brunch this year.   A 10:00 morning meal is great for so many reasons.   Breakfast.   Everything is catered.   No setting up of tables, decorations and so forth just to take it all down again (at least not by the ward members) no responsibilities of signing up to bring a dish in addition to reminder calls and a hodgepodge assortment of food.   I think the greatest plus is that it is light enough to see where we are driving.   The light invites.   Driving in the dark often seems so dismal. Roland had been asked to play Santa Claus who hasn’t been a part of any ward Christmas that we have been a part of in Oregon.   Roland had memorized a speech about how our focus needs to be on Christ rather than Santa – for Santa wants to worship Christmas in a righteous way an...

I can remember staying home from school one day when both my mom and I were sick.   She made us a really great lunch consisting of halibut, baked potato and corn.   Neither one of us was able to taste anything on our plate.   The only real difference about the food itself was the texture on the tongue.   Otherwise the taste was pretty much the same. I had forgotten about that incident until yesterday when I added salt to the chicken noodle soup and later on the spaghetti (never in my entire lifetime have I added salt to spaghetti before) because I couldn’t taste them.   I couldn’t taste the pancakes or egg I had this morning.   I couldn’t taste my orange juice or medicine.   Great for the medicine.   That stuff is nasty – and I wonder if that is what dulled my taste buds in the first place or if it is this sinus infection. I still don’t feel   as unhealthy as I did in May when I wanted to die.   Still, I don’t feel great. ...

          Garden Valley Blvd runs northeast to the north. It loses the name “boulevard” and becomes just “road” somewhere before the Riverdale Grange and winds and turns along with Umpqua River.   I don’t know if where Umpqua starts and Roseburg ends.   The Lighthouse Center Café and Bakery is on Fort McKay at the end of Garden Valley.   According to Google, it takes only 20 minutes to get from one end of the street to the other.   It is more like 25 – 30 minutes.           In this post I mentioned having a winning ticket at the drawing that is held before the Wednesday movie starts.    We had driven out there at the end of August during Roland’s staycation.   We did not have the coupon, but we had driven so far out of the city and into the country and outskirts of civilization that we had to order something.       ...

          Compare means estimating or measuring a difference or similarity.   For instance, you may compare the prices that are in one store compared to the prices in another.   Or you may notice the name brands generally have higher prices than the brands you have never heard of.   Albertson’s used to have a knock off brand called Janet Lee and Smith’s Food King had actually marketed one called “No Name” if you can believe that.   Today the most common knock off that I am familiar with is “Great Value” found at Wal-Mart.           I’ve compared my life to Salt Lake with the one I have in Oregon.   I’ve compared the library systems, the transportation, the road conditions, and education.   I am always comparing the weather to itself.           We may test the waters by first getting our feet wet.   We may practice for even...

              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...