The birds have landed.

Last Saturday, Gloria got up early to work in the back yard. She spread fertilizer and grass seed and then raked it over a bit to cover the seeds with a shallow layer of earth. It took her all morning and part of the afternoon.


Then she came inside and did the washing and began cooking the evening meal for the full-time missionaries. She prepared tinfoil dinners with pork, potatoes, carrots, and broccoli inside each one. She was also going to have some delicious baked squash, but she was cooking it separately, and it wasn't cooked enough when they arrived. Therefore, we just had to go without it. I felt bad, because it is really good with butter and sour cream. There was also a tossed green salad with fresh garden grown tomatoes, lettuce, and onions (she forgot to include some fresh mushrooms) with a choice of two salad dressings. Finally, there was scrumptious desert consisting of a lemony-flavored blend of lemon jello and cottage cheese, covered with a thick layer of blueberry pie filling, and topped with freshly-whipped cream. It was "excellente!"
Both of the missionaries had double helpings of the meat and vegetables. Oh yes, how could I forget the fresh baked rolls with honey butter? Elder Farmer, from Seattle, mentioned that it was the first tinfoil dinner he had been served during his eleven-month old mission so far. And his companion, Elder Carey, I think, had never had one before in his whole life. He is from Texas. In fact, he lives very close to Macy and Nate's new home in Spring, Texas. I'll have him look them up when he returns home. Anyway, the next day was Sunday, and the Ward Mission Leader raved on and on how the missionaries really enjoyed the meal. That made us happy. It was a little funny, because they had been working all day on a service project in East Carbon. The day had been quite windy and somewhat cool. They wore only short sleeved shirts and both were somewhat chilly when they arrived at our house. After the meal, they headed for their car and the wind was blowing quite nippy by that time. I said to them, "My mother always said that a wise man always carries his coat." They both just kind of grinned but didn't say much, as though they didn't want me to think they were a pair of wimps. But, after I closed the door, I looked out through the glass window in the door and saw that they had opened the back doors to their car and were retrieving their suit jackets to put on. People are interesting.

There's not a whole lot more news for now. We're looking forward to having the Merrell Family down for the weekend. We're trying to keep the back lawn area damp in order for the seeds to germinate. The last too days, the sparrows have been feasting in certain spots, mostly near the fence line. Gloria tied some small ropes with old CD's attached to them from the fence to the trees to help ward the little pests away. Someone had told her that it helped keep them away because the sun reflects off the shiny side of the disk and scares them. At least, that's the theory. Now we'll see if it works. That's why the title to this post was used.

It's time to sign off for now. Chau!