Belated Mother's Day

 I have tossed a few ideas around on what to post.  Meanwhile I received these in the mail.  Enjoy.

For the sweetest Grandma!
Happy Mother's Day!

Doesn't Rochelle have the most fabulous hand print?  I admire her creativity.

Some Chickens Never Learn

                 Are chickens even teachable?  We have put up so many barricades to keep the chickens out.  The neighbors to the west of us have called the police about our backyard neighbors’ menagerie at least four times.  The chickens didn’t bother me when they were at the top of the hill.  I wasn’t even bothered about them venturing into our yard.  Taking over the front yard seemed a bit much.  I drew the line at their overtaking the deck . . . which in itself would have been no problem but their bowl movements were/are.  I don’t like that!

                I recall 3 Nephi 10 in which Christ compares himself to a mother hen.  He gathereth his children as a hen would gather her chickens.  I have personally never seen that happen.  There are several hens that will invade our yard – no peeps though.  The youngest I’ve seen were small in size but still able to identify it as rooster or hen.  The hens overall don’t seem protective – especially when we find eggs that have been pecked.  That is definitely NOT a motherly thing to do.

                The white chicken refuses leave our porch.  We have shooed her off more times than the neighbors have called the police.  She finds ways to get  back in but then has a problem figuring how to get back out.  She seems to look for the most obscure spot to lay her eggs.  There have been seven that I know of – though the most I have seen at one time was four.  That was yesterday and I found her on the porch again this morning.  Perhaps she does have maternal instincts and has chosen that particular spot in order to hide her eggs in hopes that they will become children.  Perhaps that was why she was trying to get back in – to make certain her eggs weren’t being  pecked or stolen. 

Unfortunately for her they will  never hatch.  They now live in our fridge or have long since been eaten.  It almost makes me feel sorry for her that we are not able to communicate with one another. I don’t want to be a threat to her but I don’t particularly wish to raise chickens either.  I don’t want them gone as badly as the neighbors to our west – but I do understand where they are coming from.  That is a lot of animals for that plot of land.  Again, I don’t mind sharing my yard but I should not have to deal with cleaning up their large mess from my own porch.   At the same time I would much rather deal with the chickens than to have the drug house in our neighborhood as we had in West Valley.

Things That Glow

           Glo-E Bear

 

          I think it was the Christmas after she had turned three when Tony gave Jenna a Glo-E teddy bear for Christmas.  It came with a wand and a story book. 

Jenna kept the name Glo-E and was fascinated that the bear was able to change color.  Glo-e was only a fad, however. Hi-Five had always had a special place in her heart and has always been her number one.

The above is not the best picture we have of Hi-Five – the way he looks at present.  You can read more about Hi-Five in this post.

On December 3, 2008 the preschool had sent home notes that they were having a teddy bear party in honor of the letter B.  Bear starts with B.  But so no child would feel left out about not having his or her own teddy bear the note said that another stuffed animal was welcome in its place.

Jenna was torn.  She really wanted to take Glo-E to show him off but she didn’t want to leave out Hi-Five who wasn’t a bear, but she loved him so much (still does) and ended up taking both.

I happened to be there that day and remembered Jenna sitting with her teacher as she answered questions about the toys and filled out the form with both names.  I did not hear the entire conversation but have this as a momento

 

Constellations

 

I was never into astrology but I do remember watching the star shows at Hansen Planetarium.  For the most part I was puzzled as how they were able to get certain images out of a set of stars.  Some I could see, but others required a lot of imagination.  For the most part I have not been able to see the constellations for real in the sky except for the swan (whose proper name I don’t even recall) and the Big Dipper.

As I have mentioned in some other posts, I don’t normally have an awesome view of the night sky nor have I seen stars all that many times usually because the skies have been overcast or on occasion full of smoke.  Thus I appreciated the times that I am able to view the stars – which has lately been in the form of the Big Dipper.  

I tried taking a picture of my view but it was just too dark.  Even this illustration isn’t accurate to what I see.  The sky is a dark blue and if I move my head back and forth, the stars appear to be twinkling. It is really the blinds that block the light while the opening through the slats allow the light to shine through.

 Butterflies

Jenna and I were visiting on the front porch when a UPS truck pulled up.  I hadn’t ordered anything but my birthday is coming up.  I thought possibly something that Roland had ordered for me.  No, it was a Mother’s Day gift from my eldest son, his wife (who I’m certain was the one who sent) and daughter.  What a surprise.  So unexpected.  Wind chimes that Jenna decided needed to be hung up right then.  We had each taken several pics as we had hung them, before the wind blew them down.  She took a couple of pictures at dusk, but I did not get any pictures of the glow.

You Missed the Excitement

 I heard the truck pull up and heard the footsteps come up our driveway.  I looked out the window and saw a man whose expression said he definitely was not happy.  I was alone except for Bonnie.  Roland had taken Jenna and a friend to Roseburg for the youth stake activity. 

I opened the door and cautiously peered my face around the deck.  It turned out to be the couple from behind us.  She said that Penelope had fallen out from the fence that they had put up (I would think a repair is now in order?) 

Penelope appears to be three times larger than she was in this picture: 

Our neighbors had a large carrier with them to put her in.  They climbed the hill and got her.  I was in awe watching them.  They both wore flip-flop type sandals – not the appropriate hill climbing shoe.  I forgot to ask them if they are getting enough eggs for themselves.  I will have either Jenna or Roland ask next time one of them climbs the hill.  I am glad that Penelope chose our yard to escape to as the neighbors west of us probably would not have allowed them in their yard.

After they had returned to their house, I saw them hammering reinforcers into the ground.  Now if they could just get a reinforcement for their chickens.

Yesterday's Mother’s Day

           Jenna always asks before hand: “Are you excited about Mother’s Day?”  “Are you excited about your birthday?”  “Are you excited for Easter?” or whatever it is.  Generally I’m not.  But I’m not necessarily unexcited.  For the most part I just think of it as another day.  There may be moments when the whatever event is showcased or spotlighted – particularly Easter but then it seems forgotten.

          There was a Mother’s Day Tea Party scheduled at the Grand Victorian.  I have never been to a tea party other than the pretend parties I would have with Jenna and her stuffed animals.  I really don’t care for tea and I haven’t worked my way up to socializing with a bunch of woman I probably don’t know.  Thus Jenna and I resorted back to a time when we had still lived in Kearns.

 

          After we returned home from church Jenna returned to the corner where we had passed some children who were selling pink lemonade – a very weak drink at that.  We had inherited a tea set from a hoarder and Jenna asked them to fill up the teapot while I prepared a tray filled with crackers, cheese and the “almond bark” the girls had made in young women.  Jenna had already warned me that there would not be much in the way of almonds. 

          Midway through our “tea” I announced that I had to have some real food and took out some leftover chicken out of the fridge and she decided to have a leftover pizza.  It was a simple Mother’s Day, no hoopla.  I already posted about my early gift (the Yeti water bottle) which I have used from the moment I received it.  Roland also purchased chocolates in three forms: a chocolate almond candy bar, package of chips ahoy and some glorified milk duds (which seem to bring on a headache whenever I eat them)

          Once again, there hadn’t been a Mother’s Day program or even just a performance of primary Mother’s Day songs.  It’s different.  Not a terrible difference – just a change I still haven’t gotten used to.  But I think I actually like it more than not. 

          I’ve been reading facebook reminders all week about what Mother’s Days past have been.  One year I was told that I would not have to do the dishes.  I thought that meant that either Biff, Randy or Roland would do them (Tony was out of town) but they didn’t.  They saved them for me to do on Monday.  How thoughtful.  Tony said he would have done them if he had been home.  He would have.  Ooki had also volunteered if he was still with us.  That was a given. 

            No breakfast in bed.  We all tried the new cinnamon cheerios together.  I thought they tasted like I think wood would taste - kind of a nuts and twigs assortment. I don't know why we continue to try new Cheerios products.  The multi-grain are the only ones I have liked.  The rest of them have gone from "not so great" to "kind of horrid". 

Anyway, that was my mother’s day this year.

Let's Make It a Game Night!

             Pre-pandemic I loved Wednesdays.  It was my short day whenever I would sub – usually for Coffenberry.  The staff there would work with me on my schedule.  The third Wednesday was the day that seniors could meet up at Roseburg cinema to watch a featured movie.  It was cool to have sponsors which made that possible.  

            Though I enjoyed the opportunity of seeing movies for free on the third Wednesday, I looked forward to the second Wednesday of each month.  That is when the ward offered a pot luck luncheon.  Afterward there was a group of us that would hang around and play games for an hour or two.  Though I enjoyed the luncheon itself, I enjoyed the games even more.

Pre-pandemic we had scheduled nights to play with different couples in our ward or sometimes we would invite my friend, Carol.  When we would play in teams, it was usually her and Roland against Jenna and me – not always but quite a bit.  We had even tried to set up a game night with a couple who had just moved into our work only one or two weeks before the stay-at-home order was given.  Thus fourteen months later we finally set up a game night but made it a night to eat dinner first – which I don’t think is necessary but Roland thinks he needs to feed anybody and everybody who happens to drop by.

We decided to have it at their home as they have a lot more room and we wouldn’t have to feel crowded.  She made the dinner and Roland ended up making the dessert as mine had failed.  We’d taken out a handful of cards – at least one per game we had brought and asked which they would like to play.  Any sounded good and Roland ALWAYS wants to play Baulderdash and so we numbered the boxes and picked the first game that way.

After dinner we ended up playing a partial game of Whatzit and then played a game of Baulderdash.  We are hoping for another night (or regular set up) to play the two plus games that we hadn’t played (or even brought with us) on Thursday night.  I think we need to cut out the food so that we have more time to play games without cutting into anyone’s sleep schedule.  We may have overstayed our welcome.  I hope not. 

It was fun for Jenna and I to play our party games with other people and not just her and I.  Pre-pandemic we had even played games with the missionaries on occasion. We have missed playing games. 

Thursday Trip to Roseburg

          As mentioned in prior posts – to get from point A to point B in Salt Lake city did not require the same route.  In fact, there were several options – unlike Douglas County where the option has been “Go this one way” or “Don’t go at all.”  Pre-pandemic an alternate route to Dillard had been pointed out to me.  On Thursday I decided I would take said route when I volunteered to drive to Roseburg to pick up some dry cleaning for Roland.  Of course I took Jenna with me.   I took the long scenic route to Roseburg.

          So the red line indicates Main Street.  At the end of Main Street there is the option of veering to the left or veering to the right.  The left (marked in dark red-brown) crosses the bridge over South Umpqua River.  Your choices beyond the bridge are a parking lot overlooking the river, or getting on the 108 ramp that will lead to either Roseburg or Grants Pass. 

 

                  I have personally never driven the road on the right – the one marked with pink – the one that leads to NE Dole Road.  The next three shots I have used the snip tool for this site.  This is the scenic view.  This is the long way around.  This is less traveled.  I cannot even visualize Roland taking this route. 

 Here is the view of the bridge (same as what's marked in red-brown above) and Dole Road (marked in pink) which is what I drove on Thursday.

It is awesome to have multiple views of the same river.

          Jenna and I walked along these railroad tracks in this post.

 

We stayed on Dole Road until we got to Dillard 

We remained on Highway 99 through Winston

And continued back side to downtown Roseburg (which I have driven once before using exit 120)

I chose to come in on Stephens so that I could be on that side of the street when I made a left hand turn onto Garden Valley Blvd. The only left hand turn I had made during the entire drive was the one from Stephens to Garden Valley.

The cleaners in located between the Jack-in-the-Box and Walnut Street (though access to Walnut is on the the opposite side of the cleaners).  I could not make a turn into said area from Garden Valley Blvd. if I had taken exit 124.

After we retrieved the items from the cleaners, we continued onto Garden Valley Blvd and came home by way of I5 starting at entrance ramp 124.  

 Thus coming home was quicker than going to Roseburg.  I think it was worth our time. I was especially excited that I had only had to turn four times during my trip and that only one was a left-hand turn.