The Old and The New

Can you tell which is the old and which is the new? The new microwave is a little larger. The new range has a larger oven window. Both of the new are Whirlpool appliances. The old ones were General Electric. The old ones were surely depreciated. The new ones work very nicely. We are certainly very happy with them. The plumbing in the guest bathroom was the next thing to go. When Beth was here Saturday evening she tried to take a shower, but the plumbing failed and water started dripping on the table on the floor below. As I type this the man is still here. He had a large task to do. He estimated an $800 charge. I may get a little discount for being so old. He is in the finishing stages right now. I should have recognized that some water was leaking under the floor in that bathroom as the floor started to buckle and some tiles cracked loose. I re-grouted those, but still did not know that I had trouble until Beth's aborted shower. I hope I am through taking care of depreciation for a while. Merry Christmas. gwh

Depreciation

Old

A neighbor let us borrow this book. When he took it to the Church Historians Department, they told him there were only three copies in existence and this is one of them. I was pleased that he trusted us enough to let us have it for as long as it took both of us to read it (probably over a month). The title is Life of Joseph Smith by George Q. Cannon. It was published in 1888. As you can see it is very fragile. I didn't find out too many things that were new, but I felt differently about some of it because George Q. Cannon has a grand mastery of the English language and his descriptions and impressions were moving to me. From the picture you can tell that the book is barely holding together. We were very careful with it, and the pages were only turned twice - once by each of us. Clarine finished before I did. So we kept it another couple of weeks while I finished it. The descriptions and recording of the mob actions in Missouri and Illinois pointed out to me in a very vivid way how primitive and lawless much of our country was in those days. Right while I was reading it the elections took place with Proposition 8 catching much interest -especially in California. Some of the reaction of those disappointed in Prop. 8 caused me to think of how Missouri and Illinois treated the Latterday Saints - too a much lesser extent of course. But I guess we still haven't totally learned to live by the "rule of law." I thought that you might just like to know about this book experience. gwh

Tamales

Clarine was anxious to know how Phillip made tamales. They worked out an agreeable time for today, and Phillip came with many of his fine cooking things as well as some Masa (corn meal paste), chili sauce, and some left over turkey. We put our left over turkey with his supply. Phil soon showed us how to take a corn husk, spread on some Masa, turkey and sauce and roll it up to be steamed for about 45 minutes. We made about fifty tamales in a couple of hours. We kept seventeen of them here and they are now freezing in the freezer compartment for later use. Each of us ate two of them for our lunch. They are good , substantial and provide variety to a meal. Kim was going to come too, but her schedule got too jammed up. It was an interesting exercise. gwh

Sunset - 1 December 2008

As is usually the case in trying to get a picture of a bright sunset, by the time I got my camera, it had faded some, but it is still quite gorgeous, I think. I will take this time to say that we had about 30 guests for Thanksgiving. As you might expect with that many diners, many people ate with their plates in their laps. Clarine invited all of her family for four generations. There were many that were able to make it. Some held their own Thanksgivings or went to their spouses side of the family. I think Clarine was very happy the way it turned out. The next day Phil, Lisa and family brought Beth out and we grazed on leftovers. On Saturday and Sunday and today we have been eating the same thing as well. It does taste good still. Beth stayed the night and we drove her back to Lisa and Phil's Saturday morning before we went to the temple. They delivered her back to BYU as they went to Utah County to visit Lisa's folks.

The weather has been mild the last week or so. We had some rain on two days, but it didn't turn cold afterwords. We have turned on some Christmas lights. I went to Walmart and bought three more timers today. Some of our existing timers have become fully depreciated. Tonight the lights on two timers are glowing. There are two more timers to set - and a third one if we so desire. I have been reading your communications with interest - e-mail, blogs, and I had a nice phone call from Diane on Thanksgiving. We have geese and ducks on the lake - no ice yet. It hasn't been cold enough, but it does put frost on the lawn in the mornings. gwh

Poinsettia - promised blog

Our guests arrived shortly after 4:00 PM today. Dinner was all ready as it had been in the slow cooker since 8:00 this morning. (Kim brought some wonderful tasting pumpkin bread.) We went out to the dock to feed the ducks, feed the fish, shoot wrist rockets and take some pictures after we ate dinner today. I tried to take a picture of Jalayne and Chris. I was going to put them in profile against a bright sky, but alas, a dark row of houses appears right where the profile of their faces should have been. Elliot gave me a wave that covered part of his face as I took his picture, AND the promised picture of the beautiful poinsettia mentioned in my previous blog is now included. gwh

Having spot and blemish

This week Clarine and I visited the dermatologist. He abused the top of my head and the side of my face somewhat. He cut out three samples from her that were biopsied and found negative. They were on her back and a little risque to show in pictures. But we seem to have a good bill of health in these pre-cancerous matters.

With regard to my previous blog: I still haven't got my new mouse and keyboard, but Phil, Sheridan, Zach and Max came out on Friday. Among other things Phillip literally scraped some stuff off the ball in my mouse as well as swabbing the mechanisms inside with a que tip and alcohol. It worked. My mouse now moves as freely as ever. So eventually I will have three mouses. One was for my lap top, but Phil says I need Bluetooth in my lap top for it to work. So I have a very nice little laser mouse that I am not able to use. While they were here the children (us kids) went out on the dock and shot sling shots and fed the ducks. We shot many pieces of smooth glass far out into the lake.

We have been on the entertainment circuit the last two nights. Friday night we attended a musical that had been written for our stake to perform in lieu of the road shows this year. It was about Alma and Abinadi and was excellently done. Last night Clarine and I went to the tabernacle to witness a production by the orchestra and bells on temple square. It was professionally done and the presentation was beautiful to see and hear.

We expect Kim Chris and family and Jalayne to arrive momentarily for a visit. We will dine and visit and enjoy each other. Clarine's grandson, wife and two kids are staying a lot of the time for the next week as well.

Our Christmas cactus is blooming again. I have included a blurry picture of it. Two days ago Clarine bought a great, large poinsettia. I took a picture to show you it's beauty. Alas! my computer and camera are doing some conspiracy theory, because under today's date the picture I found was one from last fall which I think I already included in a blog. Oh, well enjoy it again! I am not going to go through all of the hassle to get another picture of the poinsettia and include it with this blog. I suspect there will be a time before the plant withers and dies that I will send you a picture. Anything else I was going to say has evaporated. Perhaps it can be reconstituted and forwarded at a later date. gwh

Mouse

My mouse is not happy. It is not dead, but some times I would like to shoot it, as it is quite intermittent and jerky as I try to maneuver my icon. One can tell that I am desperate for blogging material when I have to pick on a crippled mouse. Anyway an ad from buy.com came in my e-mail and advertised a mouse and keyboard made by Phillips for $12.99 with free shipping. I made a management decision and ordered it yesterday. It should arrive soon. I don't need another keyboard, but for that price and the chance of eliminating my frustration with my mouse, I couldn't go wrong.

I have been doing things that are really quite routine, and we are leading quite a mundane life. We have gotten back into visiting the swimming pool that last two weeks. Things are all winterized and ready for the bad weather. Clarine got me to put up some Christmas lights yesterday, because the weather was nice and warm. There are still more to put up. Maybe tomorrow. I am not putting any power to them until at least after Thanksgiving. Even then I may be able to hold out for a little longer. The Canadian geese that are staying for the winter did not migrate with the larger groups that took off earlier in the fall. There are some ducks. I don't see the turtles any more. I wonder if they have hibernated in the mud. Perhaps my next blog will be really exciting. What else can I say but, "GO COUGARS!" gwh

Lava Hot Springs - Edition 2

The ATTENTION sign says that the number of trout limit on Chesterfield Reservoir is 2. I stood by the sign designating the historic restoration of Chesterfield, Idaho. There were several old red brick homes, a red brick school and a red brick church that have been restored along with a mercantile shown in the previous blog. It is shaping up to be a very nice restoration project. Two more photos of the Soda Springs area are included. One is of Hooper Spring where oodles of naturally carbonated water comes forth in a very nice stream. We made some root beer with it, but it was a little flat. A picture of the geyser mentioned in Edition 1 is included. Now you can tell me who was closest in their estimate of the height of the geyser - Clarine, 100 feet; Dan, 35 feet; or George, 50 feet. I lost many photos of the restoration in the transfer process, as well as some other pics in the area. The bottom line is that it was an excellent week. We are now back in the usual mode of operation.

Lava Hot Springs - Edition 1

Karen Hill Restored Mercantile - Chesterfield, Idaho

The condo - Lava Hot Springs, Idaho

Dan's office - Pocatello, ID

Last week Clarine and I went to Lava Hot Springs for a visit of one week at a condo in Lava Hot Springs, Idaho. We did a lot of things. One day we drove to Pocatello to visit Dan at his place of work. His sister-in-law, Karen Hill also works in that office. Dan, Clarine and I went to lunch at the Sizzler. We had a fun visit before driving back to Lava Hot Springs. It is only a short 30 minute drive between the two cities. We drove to many cities (towns) in the southeastern part of Idaho during the course of the week - Soda Springs , Montpelier, Ovid, Paris, St. Charles, Garden City, Grace, Treasureton, Oxford, Clifton, Dayton, Preston, Bancroft, Chesterfield, Round Valley, and several other places that don't come to the top of my mind just now. Dan drove down to Lava and spent some time with us Thursday. Among the places we went besides Lava were the Dempsy Creek area, Soda Springs , Hooper Springs, and we tossed some bread to the fish in the Portneuf River. At Hooper Springs we shot sling shots at some steel charcoal grills. We saw the geyser erupt in Soda Springs. It spews for about ten minutes. Clarine says it goes a hundred feet high. Dan said 35 feet and my projection was that it goes about fifty feet. Someday perhaps we will read how high it goes. This is only the first edition of the trip summary. I have some more pictures for which I will include another blog.

We returned home on Friday, and I mowed my lawn and winterized (burned out the gasoline and changed the oil) in the lawn mower. That night was Halloween. Clarine had about a hundred young visitors to whom she gave out a can of soda and a Twinkie or a Hostess Cup Cake. I told her word would soon spread, and surely enough we ended up with only a few Twinkies. She gets a real delight out of having all of those young people come. Her brother-in-law works for Hostess and provides her with Twinkies and cupcakes. He says that all she needs to do to repay him is to make some of her good potato salad, and bring it with her on a visit. We went right back to our temple assignments the next day. When we got home that night, I drained the sprinkler system and got it ready for winter. My timing was about right as it turned cooler today and stormed. gwh

More big fish

There were big fish just under the surface of the water again this morning. Alas! the water was so calm and the reflections so extreme that the images of the fish did not show well - or at all for that matter. But they were there just about in the center of the picture. Oh well, you will have to take my word for it. The picture is quite good any way, don't you think?

I will take this opportunity to tell you that we are going to see the opera, Madame Butterfly, this evening. It was composed by Giacomo Puccinni. It has beautiful music. The story is a little sordid and sad. This American naval officer comes to port in Japan, has a liaison with this beautiful geisha, "marries" her and leaves. She has a child. She gets word of his ship coming back to port, gets very excited, only to ultimately find that he has his American wife with him this time. Upon this discovery she stabs herself and seemingly sings forever before she dies. This all provides the background for some of the most wonderful music in all opera.

Yesterday was a great drain on me emotionally. Clarine and I picked up Jack Weber and Chris Headen and went to the temple worker devotional in the upper floor assembly room of the Salt Lake Temple. It holds about 2,000 people and every seat was used. A second session was held three hours later, so that all workers and their partners could get to a session. President Monson talked in the first meeting and President Erying spoke in the second. Emotionally I was overcome in that setting with all those people arrayed in their white clothing. I shed many tears, but stopped short of sobbing. The things I heard were grand - including the singing. It seemed that angels must have joined in, because the sound was so rich and full in that hall. I had a Sunday School class to teach when we got home, and I still had tender feelings. It is always good to have tears come over wonderful things.

We are leaving to spend a week at Lava Hot Springs this Friday. We are planning on Deanna and Dan Allred joining us for some of the time. We don't do anything risque, but we have lots of fun talking and associating. We play games, take in sights for miles around and generally do things that don't elevate our heart rates very much - just what the doctor would suggest for people of our genre. Dan and I both have wrist rockets now (more than one each), so we and our partners can shoot until we run out of things to use for ammunition. I bought a few bags of glass pebbles to make a handy supply.

Evelyn came on the 8th of October. She didn't run low on things to occupy her time. I think her main excuse for coming was to have the three-month followup with her eye doctor following her eye surgery. Everything seems fine in that regard. The Sunday that she was here Kim,Chris, Elliott, Quinn, and Jalayne came and visited. We had more good times. She flew back to Japan on the 14th.

I am enjoying our beautiful Indian Summer weather. Clarine and I got our annual flu shots last week. We both felt some symptoms. Clarine is still dealing with a sore throat. We are hoping for that to be gone soon. I am sorry the picture of the fish did not turn out, but everything can't always be just perfect. I feel that life is really quite good. gwh

BYU vs USU

Friday, October 3, 2008, I drove with my son, Kenneth and his son, Alex, to Logan to attend the above referenced football game. My granddaughter, Jalayne, planned and coordinated it all. She and her parents hosted and treated. We tailgated and ate in the large parking area at the side of Jalayne's house. All of Callie and Dan's children (and spouses) and grandchildren were there. Clark brought some of his friends from BYU. That is the sum, total of us. I think there were sixteen of us. We had a good time associating. Callie and Dan needed to be neutral in their cheering as they have children that attend USU and Clark and they went to BYU. Ken, Alex and I could let it all hang out for BYU, but we were very controlled in our exuberance. The game was no blowout by any means even though BYU won 34 to 14 . Our tail gating repast was pizza, soda, cookies, baklava, chips and dip, jerky, and plenty of other stuff. It was a wonderful social occasion and my congratulations to Jalayne for setting up such a fine party. gwh

Samuel T. Russell and Marina Ivanovna Nikitieva

May I be the first to openly announce that the above couple are planning wedding bells. The planning is not finalized enough so that I can give date or place. I think I am doing pretty well just to be the one that has permission to give the preliminary announcement. Sam is from Woodinville Washington and Marina is from St. Petersborg, Russia. They both served in the Russia, Novosibirsk Mission, so they sort of have two languages in common - English and Russian. They are in Salt Lake today to do a temple session. This evening they will be in Provo for their mission reunion. Tommorow is conference activities. It is thought that Marina can get a ticket for the Conference Center being from a foreign country. They will be here through conference as will Kenneth and Alex, Mike and Emily Jensen. Any others can come and camp out for conference too if they wish. gwh

Grass Eating Carp

Cosmos - I saw some grass eating carp frequenting the vicinity of my dock. So I hastened to get my camera. Alas! when I got there there was nothing but bass, blue gills and regular carp. The targeted carp were very large - say 3 feet long and weighing 10-15 pounds. So, since I was primed to take pictures, I homed in on the Cosmos.

I found a perfect rose, so I clicked it too. In the fall the "red berry bush" gets fiery, so I shot it as well.

I saw some lovely geraniums, and I took their picture also. Well I guess that's it for taking pictures of grass eating carp. gwh

Mt. Olympus (Holladay) 12th Ward - 50th Celebration

Last night Clarine and I went to the Mt. Olympus (Holladay) 12th Ward 50th Anniversary Celebration. There were many people there. Most of them I knew. Some newer ones I did not know. I took nineteen pictures which are quite representative of the people there. My children who lived there in the ward with us for many years will recognize most of the photos. To the rest of you who view this blog, just realize that you too will some day age as the rest of us are doing. Some notables that I did not get pictures of who were there were Jim Pingree, Elder Ballard (the first bishop), Byron Turner, and many others my family would recognize. These that I have included will give you a flavor. gwh

Paul Lowe

Robert and Helen Wells

Laura Monson

Re-creation of the "Loniches" roadshow in which Kenneth participated. (Randy Packer - far left, Matt Clark - center. I don't remeber the others.)

Jay and Eva Layton

Jean Lowe
Bob Monson
Nate and Bonnie Wade
Mary Jordan
Marjean Halvorsen

Arlene Packer
Jan and Norm Nelson
Norma Child and son Dave
Clayton Williams


Mary Farley

Pearl Angelos
Gus Angelos, Bill Farley
Bill Pratt
Marilyn Pratt
And there you have it. There were lots more pictures (untaken). It was a very nice event. gwh