Heather - Are you home?

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=460&sid=8661042&pid=0

Yesterday I drove past a horrible wreck on the freeway. It took me over an hour to get to Draper - and I got off the freeway at I-215 at Redwood Road  to avoid the backup. On the way back to Salt Lake, I saw it from the northbound lanes. It was a maroon Montana van just like Heather and Joe's. There is a link above to the pictures.

Immediately the thought crossed my mind that this could be Heather. Since it was obvious that nobody could survive this crash, all sorts of pictures came to mind of my daughter and her little family being scraped off the pavement. Then reason kicked in, and I realized that it had been a couple of hours and someone would have called me. I had my cell phone, so - no problem, right?

As I got out of my next appointment and headed for home, I couldn't take it any longer and called Heather at home. I was never so relieved to hear my daughter's voice. She assured me that she was fine, but that she had been thinking how scary it was to pile six precious souls into one vehicle and go hurtling down the road at 60-70 miles an hour. Any one of those trips could end up like the guy I saw on the freeway.

I realize now that there is a family somewhere who did get that phone call. They found out that their daddy isn't coming home any more and that many other people were hurt because of him. Somehow, we think that because it didn't happen to us, it is OK. There is something wrong with that, don't you think?

The Unveiling - and the love of a sister.

Some things aren't very pretty. The bottom of Janene's foot looks pretty good. The part that looks like peeling skin is really just fluffy cotton that was stuck after removing the wrapping. Notice the smile on Janene's face - NOT!!! That's because she is looking at the top of her foot, a much different sight.

Here is Janene's new foot. The word "YES" was written by yours truly to verify to the doctor that we were going to operate on the left foot. This explains why Janene has been in so much pain. It kind of looks like one of those little dolls we used to have with the X's for eyes. Janene has kept her foot up and packed with ice, so there is not a lot of swelling. Do you think it looks like a lady's foot yet? Fit for a glass slipper?

This has been an eventful week. Janene scared us a time or two. If you want to know why and how, call her and talk to her. She can tell you about it if she wants to. I will only say that Devennie and I didn't sign up for this. We will both do whatever we can for Janene, but if they had told us what was going to happen, we would have said no.

Devennie was incredible. Not only did she drop everything in Oregon to come here, but she stayed up all night with Janene the first few days, and was so worried and scared that she couldn't sleep the rest of the time. She spent a whole week caring for her big sister. I don't know how we could have done this without her. I marvel at the love that sisters have even though they live a thousand miles apart. It's just like how Morton dropped everything in his life when David died and came here to care for us. Some bonds can never be broken by distance or time.

KA BOOM!!!

2.1 Miles Away

The other day, I left Janene at home while she was recuperating. At 9:13 AM, she heard a big boom, louder than any sonic boom she had ever heard. It rattled everything in the house and even knocked over a dish in the china cupboard. It turned out to be another explosion at the Silver Eagle Refinery across the street from where Shon works. Shon's boss, Ray Keller, was interviewed for the news because it knocked a light fixture down onto the head of one of our friends, Bill Duffin, in Ray's office. Since this is not the first time this has happened, Ray's secretary got up from her desk, ran out, got into her car and took off.  Ray was quoted on the news saying " If you see a scared woman driving south toward Moab going 100 miles an hour, tell her to please come back."

I am glad we don't live closer. It was a lot worse down there with several homes being condemned. Ray said it brought to mind the thought that at any moment, our lives could be over. It made him think "Am I ready for that possibility?" That is an all too familiar thought for our family.

Movie Nights

With Janene flat on her back, we are getting to watch some movies we have never seen. We watched a movie called The Bachelor that compared unmarried men to wild mustangs. Our RS Prez, who is a wonderful woman, devoted entirely to her calling, she brought over about twenty movies. The next was a Tom Hanks film called BIG. It was a cute film that made you think how important it is to have a childhood but also that you don't want to go back and do it all over again. It would help if you had a TV Guardian to watch it. Our favorite (so far) is this Sidney Poitier movie called "A Patch of Blue". I recommend this movie to anyone, but especially to our kids. It gives you an idea of what it was like to grow up in the 50's and 60's, although the lives portrayed are anything but what my life was like with kind and loving parents who taught us that all of us are children of God. We have more in store for us including chick flicks from our RS Prez. They include Shall We Dance, Return to Me, My Fair Lady, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Must Love Dogs, Miss Congeniality, The Family Man, Tuck Everlasting, Sabrina, and Chocolat. Any suggestions on which to see next?

Clawfoot Girl is Home

These beautiful feet belong to my bride. They are pretty crooked. Now one of them is pretty beat up. The doctor cut one tendon, lengthened another, and cut the bone to her big toe up high and then screwed it back together with a plate.

Seems to me like that would have to hurt, but here is Janene on the way home from the hospital calling all of our kids to let them know she was finished with her surgery. So far, so good. We will see what the next two or three days have in store for us.

Goodnight, Mr. Garden

In the middle of the growing season, our garden looked like this.

Yesterday, we put the garden to bed for the season. We pulled up all the old plants, saved the last of the fruits and vegetables, and plowed everything under. We had some fun making a garden salad. You take all the unripe plants and put them in the food processor, vines stalks and all and make this huge salad. I even made a pesto and cilantro relish with just a touch of rotten apples. Of course you have to have an eight horsepower food processor (chipper shredder) to make this work. Next year we will have lovely compost to help the rest of our garden grow.

All we have left is our little English garden with our Brussell Sprout trees and our red cabbage. I'll probably have to scare off Peter Rabbit to protect the last of this year's crop. This has been a productive year for our garden. We are just finishing off our last melon, and we have the squash and potatoes all stored in the fruit room. It looks like Janene will get one more batch of chili sauce out of the tomatoes and peppers that are ripening in the basement. We have really enjoyed growing our own food and having enough extra to share with our family and friends.

Masonic Work

OK - So I will never malign a brick mason again. This week, in my spare time, I have been re-laying the bricks on the front of the house under the new windows. Prior to this, I was found complaining that the bricks along the side of the window were not even or level. Once I started putting in the new bricks, I realized how hard that is do do. After all, the bricks aren't all exactly the same size. And the mud - the mud is just a mess. How can anyone get it exactly right?

I had the same thoughts about plumbers. You know the old saying "The only two things a plumber needs to know is that $%*! flows downhill and payday is on Friday". That thought went up in smoke the first time I tried to solder a fitting to a piece of copper pipe. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't stop the connection from leaking. Maybe I can retain my disdain for lawyers. Do you know any good lawyer jokes?

More from Conference

 I thought I would post the other two links to songs we sang in General Conference. There are some good pictures of Janene in there. You can hardly ever see me, but there are some good ones of Adam Gerber, David Landon, Diana Rogers, and some more good friends like the Haddocks, Thiriots (and their Uncle Lawrence), Kyle Wilson and Reed Hunter. Thanks to Chad for showing me where to find these.

http://broadcast.lds.org/genconf/2009/10/20/GC_2009_10_202_KnowThisThatEverySoulIsFree___eng_.mp4

http://broadcast.lds.org/genconf/2009/10/20/GC_2009_10_212_IKnowThatMyRedeemerLives___eng_.mp4

Obama's Windows

Here's some pictures of the windows President Obama helped buy for our home. Yesterday Janene and I installed the new windows in our living room. We made kind of a mess. We had to remove the sheetrock to get the old windows out and then cut them out of the frame with a sawzall since they were nailed in behind the brick.

We had to remove some of the brick because the new windows are smaller than the old ones so they don't have to be tempered. Of course, it didn't help that the bricks were falling down anyway. The new windows will go well with the new siding we installed earlier this summer. I will get to learn how to be a brick mason tomorrow as we lay new bricks. Well, they aren't really new bricks. We saved old bricks that match by burying them in the back yard under the redwood stairs.

Now it's time to get them out. We are glad we saved them. It would be hard to match this old brick. The windows are low-e, argon filled and are supposed to be very energy efficient. That is how we got President Obama to pay for 30% of the cost. I hear there is also a Questar rebate, but we haven't figured that part out yet

.

Even though the house was a mess, we still had our grandkids over for Nathan's birthday and root beer floats. We also got to spend some time with little Ben. (Someday we will probably call him Big Ben) For now, we are glad he's little, cute and snugly

Video of Janene and Robin in the Conference Center

 I stumbled on this video of us singing in General Conference. It was on You Tube. I'm a little embarrassed to admit I was looking for talking cat videos for my sisters. Somehow, this video came up. I must be a cool singin' cat.

Let Zion in her beauty rise.

Long Lost Disneyland Photos

Hey Brooke!
I found that picture we took in Toon Town.

Oops! Wrong trip. Sorry

More about Tucson

Ok, so you know that we were in Tucson. We had some fun there. Here we are at the opening reception that had a western theme. Our grandsons are going to end up with some of our regalia. Why were we smiling? We had just eaten some incredible food. The chefs at the Marriott really know their stuff. And -- Josh from work looked pretty funny with his cowboy getup. ( We didn't know at the time what we looked like)

We went on a jeep expedition in the Sonoran desert with some new friends. Our guide was Chris (shown here holding the coyote skull). She was a newbie to the job and we had to teach her how to take the Jeep out of 4-wheel drive, but she really knew all about the desert plants and wildlife. We went with Edna and Zeev from Israel. If I closed my eyes, Edna sounded just like one of our other friends from Israel. Her accent was just like Dina's.

We spent quite a bit of time with Peter and Michael from the island nation of Barbados. They told us about their lives in Barbados and Janene really wowed them with her stories about being a beekeeper. I think we scored big. We got an invitation to visit them in Barbados and see their business and sights around the island.

I just had to put up a picture of one half of the big and spacious building we got to stay in. You would think this was our summer palace in Babylon, the way we were pampered and spoiled. I especially liked their shower head. It sounded like a jet engine when you turned it on. I think I have bruises on my back from the water pulses. And then we had to come home to our dribble head. We love our home, but sure wish we had more than 25 pounds of water pressure.

Tucson Vacation

Janene and I get to go to an industry convention once every year. Last year we went to Florida. This year we visited Tucson, Arizona. We always stay at a very nice Marriott resort. Marriott's Starr Pass Resort is located in the Tucson mountains with this canyon view behind the resort.

Janene and I went for an early morning walk in this canyon and had the whole canyon to ourselves. It seemed that no hotel guests wanted to be out among the coyotes, rattlesnakes (18 different varieties) and cacti. There were tons of saguaro cacti all over the place each one, just a little different from the next. We saw cactus wrens with their nests inside the cactus. Janene stared down a coyote for a while.

We took an afternoon break from the conference sessions to visit the San Xavier del Bac Mission. This mission was begun in the 1600's with this building being completed (not the right word since the east tower was never finished) decades before the Declaration of Independence was written. We have a tendency to forget that the Catholic Church founded missions all over the southwest when Mexico was part of the Spanish colonial empire long before the earliest settlements in Plymouth and Jamestown.

The interior of this mission was incredibly ornate in the baroque fashion, all hand crafted with crude hand tools at the farthest reaches of the Spanish civilization. The cement and plaster was made with a kind of glue made by boiling down cactus and squeezing out the juice as an additive that has held the cement together for the last 300+ years. We were there at the same time an Indian family was celebrating a wedding. All the bridesmaids we dressed in brightly colored homemade dresses and the altar boys were dressed in brilliant white clothing. This building is a brilliant beacon on a dusty desert plain.

Singing in General Conference!!!

Today, we woke up early and drove in to Salt Lake and were soon seated in the choir seats at the LDS Conference Center. Janene and David Landon and I will be singing in General Conference next weekend and attended a dress rehearsal today. We will be providing the music for the Saturday afternoon session. We have been training and practicing for almost a month. There are very strict rules and we are not allowed to miss a practice or we are kicked out. I missed one practice when I had the swine flu, but somehow they overlooked my naughty deed.

It is a humbling experience to sit in those seats and to worship the Lord through song. Years ago, I had the same privilege to sing in General Conference with Dave before he died. We sang in the Tabernacle then, and Dave and I worked it out so that we sat next to each other - me in the bass section and he in the tenor section. I would never have taken on that challenge without Dave's prompting. This time, I didn't hesitate to make the commitment. I remembered the spiritual growth I experienced the last time. We are all looking forward to this experience. You can watch for Janene in the center of the soprano section. She is sitting next to a lady with the whitest hair of all the sisters. I hope someone records this for us. We would like to have a record of it. Oh, yes. You will be able to spot me easily. I will be the one picking my nose - just like in kindergarten. Arghhh! I hope I have learned something since then.

What a difference an hour can make.

After spending a week recovering from swine flu, I was fed up with being cooped up in my room, isolated even from my bride. It started out as a great idea. Why not head out for a nice leisurely stroll along the shore, sitting in a chair, sun on my face, catch a few fish, take a nap. It was an idyllic thought.

 

SO HOW DID IT COME TO THIS?

It started out innocently enough. A few sprinkles on the water. They actually helped the fishing. But pretty soon we were getting 1/2" hail and it was falling so fast, we had to seek shelter under the closest pine tree.

We were stuck with the hail falling around us for about an hour. Lighting was striking all around us, and we were afraid we were going to have to make an escape in the middle of a storm. The hail was getting deep and we were afraid that we would not be able to get the stroller over the mile long trail.

It would be a long cold walk.

Little Lily had no problem with any of this. The lightning didn't bother her. She was content to lay in her stroller with hail piling up on her blanket. We had to shake the blanket off several times to keep her dry.

Mikey liked his little nest at the foot of a tree. If it weren't for the constant crack of the lightning and the freezing wind, it would have been fine to stay there all day.

After an hour, the storm ceased. We took this as our cue to hightail it out of there. Through the whole  mile long slog back to car, we were cheered by the thoughts of the heated seats in Brooke's Honda Pilot. I should have taken pictures of Brooke pushing the stroller through the snow, slipping and sliding, falling at times, but all the time laughing at ourselves for thinking that this could be a relaxing afternoon. We knew better. Good times in the Uintas is stolen time in the month of September. Sometimes you get away, but most of the time you get caught and pay the price.

Harvest Bounty

Last week we took a little bit of time to pick some of the veggies from our garden. Janene has been picking tons of tomatoes, potatoes, onions and peppers. On Monday night we brought down about two hundred pounds of produce.

All of the plants are just loaded with goodies. Even though we had a cooler growing season that slowed things down, we made up for the slow grow by planting enough plants. The tomatoes and peppers are doing ok, but the melons have had a hard time this year. We got three or four canteloupes that were a bright yellow color.

We even got some our heirloom tomatoes to grow well this year. Here is our Mr. Stripey tomato. We just picked a few eggplants as well. I wonder what we are supposed to do with them.

Once you pick 'em then you have to eat 'em, can 'em or give them away. It has been a bunch of work for Janene the last few days. She has worked till the wee hours of the morning putting up fruit with no help from me.