Beneath the Wraps

 When you call a company - any company - make sure you are on their site and not just one that claims to be. Recently just saw another ad for JUSTANSWER promoting pet advice.  DON'T DO IT.  Just Answer is a fishing site.  BEWARE! You don't even have to click continue. This will come up automatically.   DO NOT PROVIDE YOUR ACCOUNT NUMBER!!!    You will be paying far more than just one dollar.

             Garbage day was Thursday when we were living on Jenny in Myrtle Creek.   It was easy to remember when we would load Jaime up in the car to drive her to the church for young women, we would put the garbage out.   The garbage pick up was on Wednesdays after our move to Tri City.   Same days we took Jaime to YW – and we haven’t always been good at remembering.           The garbage would get picked up just before 7:00 and if we hadn’t put it out when she started seminary, there was still time when we observed other cans out on our street.   But now the garbage gets picked up at 4:00 a.m.   Usually the trucks will wake me up.   Surprisingly they didn’t a couple of days ago.   Neither Richard nor I have been sleeping well this week.   We don’t know why.

        When Jaime was little she had this admirable persistence that I don’t recall having seen in many children.   She would go after something and keep at it until she accomplished whatever it is she was trying to do.   She didn’t get upset or frustrated.   She never gave up.   That was so admirable as it started before she could walk.           Two specific examples I remember were when she was in the tub and there was a sliver of soap floating around.   She was determined to pick it up out of the water.   Of course it would slip from her grasp and eventually became smaller and non-existent.   So it was the soap that gave out.   She continued to look for it though.           She would see me remove bottle caps from the water I was drinking and replace the cap.   She tried her hand at removing the cap also until she was finally...

             I don’t bend so well anymore.   My left leg often hurts and I wear lifts under my right foot to even them out.   I got up at 1:30 this morning to take Bonnie out and noticed a pain in my right leg.   What was that all about?   So both of my legs were hurting and I decided that I would soak them in the tub.            The knobs for the master bath broke off a long time ago and I haven’t used the tub for a while – perhaps a couple of times before Biff and his family moved in but never while they were living here.   I did not realize how tight the bathroom was until this morning.   No wonder Biff is so happy not living here anymore! I’m wondering how they were able to get along in such a tight space.  

           Many of us experience a devastation after an automobile accident.  We may lose sleep over replaying the situation in our mind.  We are more cautious when we return to driving.  After a while we return normal sleeping habits and may become a little more lax in our driving habits – or whatever it may be.  Automobile accidents is just one of many scenarios.  I picked that analogy as I think more people may be able to identify with it than to pitbulls or the learning impaired.          Last month Jaime and I had decided to take Bonnie to Millsite just for a change of scenery.  Unfortunately our day did not end well.  I lost a tremendous amount of sleep over the events that took place.  But it ’ s been a month and I have started sleeping better but not have completely relaxed nor do I expect I ever will.          Jaime and I were si...

  A week ago I taught the lesson in Relief Society.   I had read and listened to the talk several times in the course of a month and it just wasn’t resonating with me. As I prayed about how I should go about teaching the lesson I felt inspired to focus on the upcoming conference and how to prepare to hear whatever message we needed to hear for ourselves. I passed out a paper with thoughts I had collected from both the church website and Deseret News.   It starts out with how blessed we are to get to hear the words of God through our prophets and apostles and other Church leaders.   Let me emphasize other Church leaders as we heard from many that serve in other capacities.   And what a great blessing it was to hear from each of them. General conference is a gift that each of us can benefit.   Taking notes helps one to focus – at least it does me.   I know that there were some who were disappointed not seeing Pres. Nelson for three of the sessions. ...

           I LOVE Christmas songs. I could play them all year wrong which is sinful in Jaime’s mind – Halloween should be honored.   What a terrible thing it is to have Christmas decorations displayed side by side the Halloween.   We had taken her to Ashland to visit.   When we picked her up we went to a few second hand stores.   In one we found three CDS – one specifically for Christmas.   Richard played each CD on the way home.   Jaime cringed as the Christmas CD played.   There was one song that played that we both recognized but NOT as a Christmas song.   Jaime accepted “Feeling Good”

 I like sleeping with the  window open if it is  not too cold  or smokey.   Right now it appears the  smoke and the mist are  having a fight.   I think that the smoke  may be winning.  

  I have a drawer where my shorts live or used to anyway.   Weather changed.   Make way for the coats and sweaters!     Problem is – I don’t have enough room.   Too much bulk for just one drawer.     I do love the fall though.   Kind of naughty for the morning temperature to be 67 one day and 43 the next.     I have gone two days now without running the air conditioner.   I would rather have it cold than overly warm   Pretty soon we’ll be turning the heat on.   Bah, humbug!

                 Our Sunday School lesson focused on the latter-day prophets and apostles.  Before getting into the lesson we were asked to share any encounters we may have had with any.  Melodie told about seeing Pres. Monson at a Jazz game and waiting for the elevator with his party.  They were dressed in suits at the Jazz game.  They are dressed in suits every time they are in public.  It’s an image that we perceive.  Could we view them as God’s mouth pieces if they were dressed in tee shirts and jeans?  Perhaps.  They are human beings with their own thoughts but do represent so much more.           Long before being ordained as president, the then Elder Monson had come into Snelgrove’s ice cream parlor with some companions.   Burnt Almond Fudge was a popular ice cream with the general authorities.   President Benson would order a dish of BAF –...

  The other night I had asked Alexa to set an alarm for yesterday morning as we would be picking pears . . . or so we believed.   I had glanced at the calendar and realized that yesterday was mine and Richard’s wedding anniversary.   I started toward the back room to ask him if he wanted to do anything special to celebrate.   I don’t know if I even made it back to the room where he was working on watches.   I am so losing it.   We both are.           Both of us forgot about it being our anniversary.   We went down to Medford to pick pears which we normally do at the end of August.   No smoke filled the air!   It was great!   But we wondered: Do the pears prefer smoky weather?   I have never seen so many puny pears EVER.   The majority were not even pickable.   What?   It was rather disappointing.   Two people climbed ladders and dropped them down to those who would c...

     I have wearing my  sweatshirt the last couple of  mornings.   Mist crawls over  the mountain.   Fall is in  the air.   It would be  nice if it would  last always.