I would rather lose power than running water

            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 – fortunately – and Roland took it as an opportunity to explain to Jenna the value of having it.  He showed her how to remove the water.  We did have drinking water in the refrigerator and used the water from the barrel to wash our hands and add to the tanks over the toilet bowls after we had flushed. We were still conservative using the logic: “If it’s yellow, let it mellow.  If it’s brown, flush it down.”  I don’t know how many gallons we ended up using.  Probably 5 – 10 as we were asleep for much of the time our water had been shut off.

            Even before that experience, I was sure that I would rather be without power than running water.  With our most recent experience the was frigid like river water as we had used up our hot water source – but still.  We could flush the toilets and I have been truly grateful for that.  Losing power can have its perks.  Losing running water does not.

            Jenna had placed a cup on the table that remained there during the power outage.  This is a picture of what the cup does when you feel it with a cold beverage - only it turned that color without actually having a beverage inside.

Our house was cold for the most part.  Our source of heat had started out in only one room.  Roland had managed to get heat in our room the last night we didn't have power - but even then, we had the window open wide enough for the cords to fit through.  It was warmer than it had been but still cold.  But I don't think so cold that the cup would have turned orange.

            Though it remained cold outside and Roland is not a big fan of the cold, I think we both agreed that we would rather deal with the power going out during the cold months than during the months of heat, sweat, and flies.  I do much better in the cold.  I keep better.  My left hand was so close to being healed and hadn't itched at all during the power outage.  Now that the power has returned, my hand feels raw again.

Word: Match

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 another's price

I have never owned boots that have matched my coat.

Some people display their photos in all matching frames

Sometimes I get frustrated with web sites that never match

what I am searching for.

match pictures to real items

I love it when Jenna's enthusiasm mirrors my own.

Up And Running

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 river water.  
Okay to drink, but not 
to bathe in.

Thoughts, thoughts
so many thoughts
I hope my mind does not
forget what I wish to write

Dash #MT42 My mom, the Caregiver

Name a strength that you really admire about your mom

            My mom was raised in San Francisco but had moved to Salt Lake after she married my dad.  His family became her family.  I remember mom as a caregiver to three particular family members starting with my dad’s maternal grandmother – though I don’t have many memories of her when she was healthy.  I don’t know why.  I was old enough that I should have more memories of her at her Magna house than I do.  It was a very teeny house where she had raised her family.  It boggles my mind, really.

            I don’t know how old I was when she was sent to the nursing home – or if her mind was slipping at the time that she was brought in. It saddens me at how many elderly are left at nursing homes and rarely, if ever, visited.  This was Grandma Helen’s mom.  I remember mom picking up Grandma H. to visit Grandma Greenwood.  Often we would go visit without taking Grandma Helen.  
            Corey still had curls in his blonde hair and would often get mistaken for a girl.  He developed a love for the elderly at an early age and would often make his own rounds as mom visited with Grandma G.  Many of the residence would claim Corey as their “granddaughter” and though Corey wished that he’d been recognized as a boy, he enjoyed the attention.  In a way, I suppose Corey believed that they were all his grandparents.

            I don’t recall how many years my grandma was at the nursing home.  I don’t remember how many visitors she received, but I do remember how diligent my mom was about visiting her.  I also remember sharing a Christmas miracle with Grandma G. when she sang Christmas carols with us one year.

            Grandma G. died two days before my Aunt Alice was married.  Grandma H. had asked me to speak at her funeral.  I mentioned how her mind and body had been so frail that she would not have been able to attend Aunt Alice’s wedding any other way except in Spirit. I believe Aunt Alice was Grandma G.’s eldest grand-daughter.

            As Grandma H. continued to age, mom would drive her to doctor appointments and the store for medication and other errands.  Grandma H. had taken a bad fall and broken her leg.  As she couldn’t get around, she was put in rehab.  She never came home.  As I recall, she was still wearing the full-leg cast when she passed away.  I believe that mom was with her.

            Corey said he remembered coming home and found Patrick was doing the dishes and wondered why.  He later recalls the phone ringing and hearing Patrick say, “I can’t right now.  My grandma just died.”

            Corey said he figured something was up when he saw Patrick was doing the dishes and was shocked at the news he had related over the phone – wondering if he had misheard, but didn’t want to ask as if he was wrong as it felt morbid to say that is what he understood.

            I helped my mom take care of my dad.  I did not have the experience that she had had with my great grandma and grandma.  I loved my dad and it was hard watching someone who had taken care of me lose his ability to physically control his legs and speech among other things.  I’m sure that it was harder for mom to watch her spouse go through that.

            I admire my mom for her service.  She is such a great example of devotion – not just to my dad, his mother and grandmother, but to each of her children as well.  I really miss my mom.

Anticipation

            Next week the class is expected to answer 3-5 interview questions for our discussion post.  We have been given 20 to choose from.  Each seems to have the ability to become a "dash" question. Again, the topic of "dream job" and "where do you see yourself . . ."

            Okay, let me get one thing clear.  I think the term "dream job" is an oxymoron.  Here is why:  The word "job" does not necessarily represent pleasure though "dream" indicates something that would be favored.  A job for many is a menial task involving a paycheck.  They go to work to collect earnings in order to make ends meet.  Some people genuinely do love their jobs.  Others struggle with their day to day efforts of being employed.  A job can be gratifying but not always.  I think a job is very different from a career.

            A career is a choice of occupation and having opportunities to advance.  This also comes with a paycheck, but a good employee will be focused more on the outcome and accomplishments rather than just the paycheck itself.  A dream for me would be to have coworkers that I look forward to seeing each day, to strive for and achieve the same goals.  A dream would be to better ourselves and those around us - whether it be in the community, a specific organization (such as a school) or the environment.  I am much more interested in creating a positiveness among others than just working for a check.  My "dream job" would be looking forward to going to work each day.  The paycheck would just be a bonus.

           I also like the idea of a job career landing in one's lap as the two examples I mention in this post. To have a job created when you hadn't even thought to dream it, well that would be a dream come true.  And as I mentioned in this post sometimes we have to go off course to make dreams happen.

            I have three more weeks of my two current classes and one more week of my assignment as a substitute aide with the school district.  I don't know how those going to school full time in addition to a full time job are able to do it.  I will have a dash post for Monday but may not be able to post again until Friday.  We shall see.

Time Spread Too Thin

Online work

Check

Turned in

Both Classes

Have even received

my first week's grade

in one class

Resumes, cover letters, references

so many weaknesses

Next week will be

setting up a LinkedIn account

and preparation for

mock interviews

I'm getting the

experience that will

take me to a job

career opportunity before

the end of the year

I even have my interview

set up

Now to build confidence

and prepare to answer

questions

word: TRANS

The word "trans" all by itself means "denoting or relating to a molecular structure in which two particular atoms or groups lie on opposite sides".  The word "trance" means "a half-conscious state characterized by an absence of response"  I have used the word "trans" in a couple of posts when I meant "trance"  Whoops!

Truth is, I didn't know that "trans" was a word all by itself and so when spell-check accepted the spelling, I did not bother to look for a definition, but just assumed it meant "a half-absent state of mind"

The prefix "trans" means “across”, “beyond” or “through”  I have "transferred" many pictures from my camera onto my computer.  I have watched Roland transfer food from the stove top into the oven in order to keep it warm.  Jenna's school records have transferred from one state to another.  I had transferred to five different areas during my mission

My blog posts are full of examples of transportation including the bus, the train, water and feet.

Translation is the ability to communicate one language into another - weather verbally or written words.  Accounting is a language I haven't fully been able to translate.

A Transgender is a person who was born one sex but typically feels trapped when he/she has the desire or the instinct to believe he/she is the other and will make that change.  Jenna has many friends who are transgender.

To transform is to change into something else - such as a caterpillar into a butterfly,  a sawmill factory into Millsite park - and even the park itself has gone through changes or transformations since we arrived in Oregon to what it is right now. I remember having the opportunity of having reels of film to film transformed or converted to VHS.  Now we are transferring things to CD rom and flash drives. Beautiful (because they're possible) transformations!  We have also transformed t-shirts into book bags.

I've had problems with the transmission on various cars.  It's always a transition to adjust to our way of living after a loved one has passed.

Sing Your Favorite Hymn

          Last week we were short a speaker.  The counselor who was conducting the meeting announced that he would be calling on some members from the audience to share their testimonies.  It reminded me of a time when I had lived in mom's ward and what took place when the speakers were absent. The bishop at the time would conduct special meetings that became quite popular with the youth - though I can only remember being in attendance for two of the meetings.

          He had announced that the scheduled speakers hadn't shown for whatever reason and apologized to the organist for not having made arrangements with her, but had invited each member in attendance to think of our favorite hymn and if we felt prompted to do so, we could each take a turn coming up to the stand to say what our favorite hymn was and why we liked it.  We would then sing the hymn as a congregation.  On those days, our congregation truly worshiped the entire meeting through music.

          I enjoyed listening to others share their testimonies on why the hymn was a favorite for them.  I enjoyed watching the enthusiasm of the youth and sharing discoveries that they had made.  I enjoyed singing.

Dash #555 Pets

 Did you have any pets during your childhood?

          There are posts that I have shared about adopting dogs during my married life.  I think the only pet from my childhood mentioned is a rabbit I had received from an aunt one Easter (see here) but Pinky was not our only pet.

A German shepherd pup had wandered into our yard one year.  We tried finding its owner and kept him for a couple of months as I recall.

          Patrick wanted to keep it and gave him the name "Junior".  He tried training the dog, and paid bail money when he was caught by the pound.  I think that happened twice before he decided he really couldn't afford the cost.  That is how Houdini was from this post.

       

          For years before and several years after Junior I had gone through at least five cats.  Mittens, Blanco, Inky . . . I don't know what happened to all of them or how long I had each one.  I don't suspect any of them made it a full year.  I don't even remember one of the names.  I don't know if they ran away or were stolen (I had attempted stealing a neighbor's cat at one time).  Mom told me that there was one that she found in the dryer. I think it was Blanco. Her neck had snapped.  Sorry for that gruesome detail.  I don't remember it personally.  Mom told me that she couldn't deal with it and called a neighbor to remove it.

          The cat that was with me for the longest was "Patch".  I don't know how old I was when we got her but I know I still had her when I was in junior high.  I considered her to be my cat and figured I was in charge of naming her and tried out different names like "Jelly Bean" and "Marshmallow".  Unfortunately I never did settle on a name.  We kept Patch in the basement.  As our washer and dryer were also located in the basement, mom would meet up with Patch whenever she was doing laundry. She started calling my cat "Patch" because of a grey mark surrounding one of her eyes.   

          I remember Patch disappearing and hunted in the basement for her and found her under the stairs along with a litter of 5 kittens.  Mom would not allow me to keep any of them.  I don't remember how many years I had her.  I would think more five to ten.  We had to put her down.  I wish I had better memories to share.

          Corey had gone through a series of cats also.  I have more and better memories of his cats than I do my own.

           Never had a goldfish - but had purchased goldfish for the boys after I got married.  I also think that either Patrick or I briefly owned a turtle.

Conspiracy Spending

            GAAP stands for generally accepted accounting principles .  At least once each year businesses who have stock investors have to go through an audit.  GAAP sets guidelines for business owners to keep accurate records so there is no question about how revenues are made, how money is spent and if there is a profit.  As there have been a number of business owners or other workers who have been found to be dishonest (such as these examples) GAAP has seemingly created so many conditions over the years that the audit can be rather time consuming.  This set of guidelines is set to protect the investor as well as the consumer.

           Stockholders can feel more secure with their investments as long as GAAP continues with guidelines, but paying taxes is not the same as investing stock.  Sometimes the government - or some aspects of it rather - can seem to be just as corrupt as some businesses who have failed due to dishonest records.  So who looks out for the taxpayers' money? GASB requires governments to use full-accrual accounting that tax payers may have the opportunity to understand about the governments capital investments and holding as the government should be watched just as much as the for profit business.

                GASB guidelines assist not only with the financial reporting but the fiscal policies as well. In a nutshell, GASB is to the government like GAAP is to the world of business.  Guidelines and regulations for GASB are there for the benefit of the taxpayers as GAAP is there for the benefit of the stockholder.  For the last three weeks I have had to write assignments about GASB.  In my last report I commented on three specific public roads and the amount spent on each project. According to my understanding, the government has to break down that cost to an exactness:  The amount spent on each crew member hired, not only the cost of building material itself, but the cost spent on supplies to insure the safety of the workers, cost of traffic lights (if applied), paint, concrete, tar, and so forth - even the costs of for the temporary method of traffic flow set up until the major road had been fixed.

                I have been wanting to rewatch "Capricorn I" for some time and finally took that opportunity yesterday morning.  I realize not everybody has been or will be a big fan of the movie, but I still enjoy it.  Elliot Gould plays Robert Caulfield, a reporter who has a friend who works at NASA.  When his friend disappears just after making a comment about the mission to mars, Caulfield starts to investigate.  Meanwhile,  Kelloway, played by Hal Holbrook, tells three astronauts (played by James Brolin, Sam Waterson, and O.J. Simpson) that there is a problem with a product and that the government has so much funding on the line they can't afford anything to go wrong.  Thus the three astronauts are driven to a warehouse where they are told to "perform" their mission on a set to save face basically.  When the astronauts realize that they the charade can't last forever, they realize they have to escape the warehouse as their only means of survival.  Their destination is for finding a reporter and camera crew. Made in 1977.  I thought it was a good movie.

                I am so grateful I had already turned in my final assignment as I know my mind would have taken me in a totally different direction and gotten myself in deeper than where I needed to be.  "Capricorn I" is NOT based on a true story . . . but then again (see here) . . . it gives you something to think about.  How far would the government or government sponsored programs be willing to go to keep the public from knowing the truth?  I thought about Deep Throat (here) and Watergate (here), agent orange (here) and wondered if people really disappear when trying to uncover scandals such as these.  Surely those are not going to show up on the accounting journals:

                10,000 to knock off Elliot Whitter,

another 8,00 to hire Alva Leacock to pretend she has been living in Whitter's apartment for a full year,      70 dollars for forged magazine subscriptions and other mail,

               6,000 to tap into Robert Caulfield's breaks,

another 2,000 to for hiring a team that find planted drugs in Caulfield's apartment. 

                2 mil for the helicopters sent to chase the three astronauts, on and on and on . . .

of course the funds would never get recorded in that manner. 

I am done with accounting!  Five or six classes left.  Should be smooth sailing from here on out.  I start two more classes tomorrow.

Side Note:           I don't remember the first time I saw "Capricorn I" but I have some fun 
                    memories                  - both which involve my brother Patrick.

                1)            I was with my mom and Patrick was sitting with a group of friends a few rows back.  The film stopped in the middle of the movie, and it was announced that it would be a few minutes before the projector would be running.  I made a bold move up to the front of the theatre and announced that it was Patrick's birthday and asked those in attendance to sing "Happy Birthday" to him.

                2)            Patrick recorded the movie from a local TV station.  Parts of the movie had been cut out to make room for the sponsor's ads - unfortunately Hal Holbrook's speech had been one of the scenes that had been cut.  Everytime Patrick had friends over who were not familiar with the movie, he would pause where the scene had been cut out and explain what was going on - kind of important to the movie.

                My favorite part of the movie is the end - to watch the expressions of those in attendance to honor the three astronauts - Brenda Vacarro and Hal Holbrook especially as they have the best expressions.  For the full episode of Capricorn 1 see here.

               

255 students in 75 minutes

          I have assisted with Vision Screenings before when I was living in West Valley and Jenna was going to school in Taylorsville.  That was probably five years ago.  There was a nurse at one station and at least three other stations with six volunteers, perhaps seven (someone must have served as a runner).  Vision screenings were done in the hall in front of the auditorium.  Two aides worked in teams.  One would stand at the eye chart and point to pictures or letters and the other would sit and record the results of each test of the student - they would also have to find each student and mark the set of duplicate directories that we were all given.  Yesterday's testing went so much smoother.

          The Elks Club brought this sophisticated equipment that would read each child's eyes.  Each class had been given stickers to pass out and most students who came through the line had a sticker.  Some did not have them and were pulled aside to wait for the man who seemed to be in charge.  The students would stand in line and sit at one of five chairs when they became available. All of this was done in the library.

          Three members of the Elks club were receiving information from the stickers and taking pictures.  Two of our aides were recruited as well after having had a crash course on working the devices.  Initially, I was going to be one of those aides that would be helping to test, only one of the devices was not working properly. Another aide was trained on how to work it once the problem was resolved.  I would have liked the opportunity to sit down.  At the same time, I would have had a hard time trying to read the stickers as half of the library was not well lit (I think for proper use of the equipment),

          We were done with all thirteen classes in 75 minutes!  Record time.  I really don't know how many students were present today.  255 is just an estimate.  There were several who were absent yesterday as the weather was too cold or else it may have been just to get a jump on the holiday weekend (that seems to be a pattern). 
         Yesterday was a pretty good day overall.  The rain did not start pouring until after school was out.  It poured hard.  After eight-plus months of our rivers being dry or extremely low, they now look to the point of overflowing.  We shall see.

          Snow at the top of the hills yesterday morning.  It appeared the rain had removed most of the snow before nightfall.

Gray and Gloom

It's Raining

It's Pouring

All the Snow has melted

The sun is gone

the Skies are gray

And these are

some photos from

the last few days

Yesterday afternoon the hills were green.  This morning they are capped with snow.