If it's Thursday, we must be in Price, again!

The day started out nice and sunny. Then I took a nap at 2:10 p.m. and awoke when the alarm on my clock radio went off at 3:15. At about the same time, Gloria returned home from work and I dragged my creaky old body out of bed and noticed it was overcast outside and looked like we're about to receive some rain.

I spent most of the morning trying to recover some files from a 3 1/2 inch diskette that I had done using WordPerfect back in 1989, including some letters that I had keyed and sent to James while he was in Chile on his mission. I had to do quite a bit of reformatting the files into Word. There were some other documents I had put on the disk that I got a few chuckles from as I recalled the circumstances or reasons why I had created them. I enjoy being able to look back in time and recall interesting experiences that at the time weren't very enjoyable and seeing how they turned out.

Gloria is enjoying the Bernina sewing machine I bought for her on Ebay this week. It's like the one that Suzette and Terry bought for her while we were living in Clarkston, WA. She literally wore that machine out; and Bernina makes excellent, high-quality, durable machines.

We learned of two people we were somewhat acquainted with who died recently. One was a lady in our ward who suffered for several years from Alzheimer disease and the other was a woman who often substitute taught at the high school who had undergone surgery but was later put under induced coma and was never able to be brought out of it. We're planning to attend a grave-side service for the sister from our ward tomorrow, May 21.

Mary is doing better after her surgery. However, she still needs to stay down and not rush things too fast. She's under doctor's orders to do no lifting for five to six weeks. Melanie is doing a lot to help with the children during the day while Tyler is working. And the older children, Alicia and Canyon, have been taking turns staying home from school in the afternoons while Isaac goes to school. And members of the ward are helping with evening meals this week and next Monday. Gloria and I want to be able to spend a couple of days helping her, as does James while his family is in Arizona for a week and a half.

School ended for Gloria today. Graduation exercises for the seniors was this afternoon. However, she is on a year around work schedule and will be working on through the summer. At least, that's what we think is going to happen. Who knows with the employment situation these days. The superintendent of schools retired this spring and the newly hired superintendent was introduced to the high school staff on Monday of this week. Gloria was favorably impressed with his background, experience, and overall philosophy about education and hopes he will be as successful here in Carbon County as he has been in other districts.

Well, it's about time for me to "bag it." My eyes are getting blurry and my fingers are getting tired. So, I'm "off like a dirty shirt." Until next time.

Happy Trails To You

It's Saturday night and I find myself glued in front of out computer again working on the blog.

This morning, Gloria was up early and did some exercises on the Nordic Track. Then she did some preparation for her Primary class tomorrow. That's what she was doing when I got up around 6:15. I powdered my nose and put on my jogging pants and a short sleeved shirt and some socks. Then I headed for the kitchen.

Out came a large and a small frying pan--the large one was cast-iron and the small one was Teflon coated. I put some frozen hash-brown potatoes in the cast-iron pan and some turkey bacon in the small one. After the bacon was done, I turned on the burner and put the bacon on a plate covered with a napkin and then I mixed three eggs and a little milk in a Tupperware measuring cup and finished warming up or cooking, the potatoes. When they were done, I pushed them to the side of the pan while I poured in the eggs and scrambled them to just the right consistency. I announced to Gloria that breakfast was ready and proceeded to dish the bacon, eggs, and hash-browns on to separate plates and placed them on the table with two plastic cups and a gallon of 1% milk. There was also placed some salt and pepper and catsup for flavoring. Bon apetit!

Just as we had finished eating and started to clean up a bit, Gloria telephoned Mary for some reason, I don't recall what. As Mary answered the telephone and Gloria began speaking to her, Gloria sensed in her voice that something was wrong. Mary explained that they were in their car and on their way to the hospital. They were going to leave the children at Melanie and Randy's house while Tyler drove Mary to the hospital with severe lower abdominal pain. She started having them last Monday and Tuesday but didn't do anything about it thinking that it would eventually go away. It didn't. Finally, she spent a sleepless night last night and early this morning before deciding to take her to the Emergency Room for professional medical treatment. Tyler telephoned us and told us he would keep us updated throughout the day with information on Mary's condition.

After finishing breakfast, I washed the dishes while Gloria began gathering the dirty laundry to be washed. Then, I headed for the computer, again. I got involved with trying to figure out how to download YouTube videos into my blogspot. In the meantime, Gloria had headed to the out of doors and had planted two rows of our tomatoes that we had grown from seed. Around noon, she took a quick shower and went with Sister Wells to see Sister Norton's (a different Sister Norton than the one we home teach) new kitchen cabinets.

After testing her blood and taking an ultra-sound scan it was determined that Mary was having an ectopic pregnancy, where an ovum has started to grow in one of her fallopian tubes. She required surgery as soon as possible. The doctor informed them that it is considered an out-patient procedure and would not necessitate having to stay in the hospital overnight. Because it is a macroscopic procedure no incision would be necessary. However, the doctor told her that she was not to do any lifting at all for about six weeks.

When Gloria returned from Sister Norton's house, we had some lunch and then she headed outside again. This time she was going to mow the lawn again. However, after doing the front lawn, I coaxed her to go with me to get some things I need to finish the hanging tomato planters (three to be exact) that I bought last month but have never finished. We went to Surtherlands and Wal Mart. I got what I needed, and she got a bunch more garden paraphernalia that she needed, including some plastic painter's drop cloth to cover and protect the freshly planted tomatoes from potential frost and wind. When we arrived back home, she had to quickly get the tomatoes covered before a threatening dark storm cloud blew into Price and brought some rain and even a little hail. What can I say. You never can second guess Mother Nature. Right?

Mary's surgery went as planned and she was sent to recovery about an hour after they began. After spending the afternoon in recovery, she was released to go home. Tyler was instructed to be sure to help her get up each day and walk around the house, in spite of whatever pain she may experience, which may be quite severe for the first few days. He was told that the fetus was about six or seven weeks old. They were able to completely remove it, along with the beginnings of the umbilical chord. Had Mary gone another two weeks before seeing a doctor, they probably would not have been able to save her life. So, it was potentially very serious business indeed.

Anyway, we finished the bacon and cooked cabbage for lunch today, only this time it was covered with mozzarella cheese, and we also had a lettuce and tomato salad. And this evening, Gloria prepared an omelet and more salad.

Thank Goodness It's Friday

That's right, it's Friday again. Where has the time gone so quickly?

I had high hopes for Thursday. But the late night on Wednesday made more tired than usual. During the day, I found myself dosing off a little every once in a while when I was reading or trying to concentrate on something. I usually spend a lot of the time in the morning going through my e-mail and then checking what is going on around the state by going the KSL.com for the news.

I am scheduled to present the lesson in my High Priest Group meeting this coming Sunday. This week's lesson in No. 10 and it's on the Scriptures. I've read the lesson through once and Melanie spoke on the telephone about the May issue of the Ensign. She said one of James' high school classmates, a girl named Jan Madsen, was pictured in it with her husband and three young children (two girls and one boy). As I was looking through the Ensign to find the picture, I happened to notice the talk given by Elder Todd Christopherson of the Quorum of the Twelve, on the subject of the Scriptures. So I read it. It was very interesting and informative and I plan to use parts of it in my lesson presentation on Sunday.

Last night before I went to bed, I telephoned the three families Gloria and I visit as Home Teachers. Two of them are actually single adult sisters: Sisters Norton and Payne, and the third is a retired couple name Gwynn. I scheduled times when we could visit them this evening. So, we met with Sister Norton at a little after 4:00 o'clock, Sister Payne a little after 5:00, and the Gwynns at 5:45. And since this months home teaching message comes from the May issue of the Ensign which contains the April General Conference talks and reports, I decided to briefly review Elder Christoperson's talk on the Scriptures. By 6:30 we were back home having visited all three of our families and before the 15th of the month--two months in a row.

Gloria prepared franks and cooked cabbage for dinner. We haven't had that for quite some time. We also had some left-over corn on the cob. It was another early night to bed for Gloria again. I stayed up until after 10:30 myself. Then it was. . ."To the bed, to the bed, to the bed, bed, bed. To the bed, to the bed, to the bed, bed, bed." Oh, you know how it goes!

Dr. Stilson here I come.

I didn't have a whole lot to do today. I got up and had a bowl of cracked wheat with Gloria before she had to go to work. I needed the minivan today, so I drove her to school so that she would be there as close to 7:00 o'clock as possible.

We've been keeping our eyes on a used Bernina 1120 sewing machine on Ebay. It's the same model that she received as a gift from Terry and Suzette when we were living in Clarkston, Washington in 1979. She used it for so long that she literally worked it to death. She loved working with it and was broken hearted when the technician she has service her machines told her that even though it was a rugged machine and a well-built one, it was worn out and it would simply cost more to try and fix it than it was worth. So, we're in the hunt for a replacement. There have been several bids on this particular one, but I didn't want to bid until right before bidding closed, which would be around 4:55 p.m.

My appointment at the dentist was for 1:00 this afternoon. I didn't know how long that would take, but I figured it shouldn't be more than an hour or two at the most. I showered around 11:00 a.m. and got dressed into my street clothes. I left in plenty of time before the scheduled time and was actually 15 minutes early. Within short order, I was directed to the appropriate room and prepped by the dental assistant. Dr. Stilson showed up about 10 minutes later, applied the Novocaine, and after another 10 minutes began removing the old cap on my tooth. Then came the removal of the new cavity, inserting the new silver filling, and polishing up the work. Within about an hour I was finished and on my way out the door.

I came home from the dentist's office and waited until Gloria called from the high school to have me come and pick her up. She had an appointment with her visiting teaching companion, Sister Janet Beach, to begin their monthly visits that were scheduled to keep them busy until about 7:30 later in the evening. It had started to rain when I went to pick Gloria up after she called at about 3:35. She was running a little late because of the amount of work that she had to take care of for the day before leaving so she barely got home and changed into a dress before Sister Beach arrived to pick her up. They were scheduled to visit four sisters--and Gloria had been lucky to get them all scheduled on the same evening and after only one call to each of them.

At 4:30 I opened my Ebay account and logged into the sewing machine being auctioned. There had been 19 bids up to that point, but the last bid made had remained the same most of the day. At about 4:53 I put in my bid with about a minute and a half left. It then showed that mine was then the highest bid. I then bumped up my maximum bid amount by about $40 just seconds before time was to run out in case someone made a higher bid before the auction closed that would out bid my initial offer. After time had elapsed, I reset the screen to see the results. When Gloria returned home from visiting teaching at about 7:45 later that evening, I told her that she was the proud owner of a Bernina 1120 model sewing machine just like the one she had loved so much before she had to send it to the sewing machine grave yard. She is now the owner of four different sewing machines of various kinds, including her mother's old vintage Singer in a wooden sewing cabinet, and one serger.

We were both pretty tired by then. I hadn't had my daily nap, again! And with all the things that had happened today, our comfortable bed was quite inviting. I don't even remember what, if anything, we ate this evening. Oh well, they say that fasting is good for the soul.

Gloria was in bed by 9:00 p.m., but I got enthralled in reading some material on the Internet and didn't get to bed until close to 11:00 o'clock. When will I ever learn?

Another Double Day

It's Sunday and we're back from church. We have the early schedule this year, 9:00 a.m. to noon, so that gives us more home time in the afternoon.

We started out yesterday morning breakfast of pancakes with pure maple syrup and turkey bacon. Then it was haircut time for Grandpa. It was that or the purchase of a dog license. Later, while he was working on a Power Point presentation most of the afternoon and evening, James was working in the kitchen on his laptop computer while Gloria and the children went to Penney's to exchange some clothes for Laura and Bradley that Gloria had sent to them but were the wrong size. After Penney's, they went to Dinosaur Park over near the 7th-8th Ward's Chapel. They had a fun time there for about an hour before returning to the house.

Around 1:00 p.m. everyone but Roger went to swim at the Wave Pool. However, Gloria did not swim and Bradley didn't want to have anything to do with the waves. They stayed for about two hours and then came home and took some quick showers.

For dinner, we all went to Winger's to eat. It was about 6:00 o'clock by then. Gloria had received a coupon card worth $25.00 from the counselors at the high school for Professional's Day so it actually only cost about $16.00 to feed all six of us. It wasn't too bad, except it was pretty and we had to wait some time for our food. We watched some of the third game between the Lakers and the Jazz. The Jazz ended up losing it at home. One more loss and they're out of the playoffs. Oh well, we don't watch them much anyway.

After dinner, Gloria and the girls watched the new version of "Pride and Prejudice" (the one with the pink Bible) on video, while Bradley watched a video about some children that helped save the life of a Panda bear in China. James was still working on his laptop and Roger was still trying to finish up the Power Point presentation. (It's an unprofessional attempt on something for Gloria for Mother's Day.)

Around 9:00 we all started to get ready for bed. By 9:40 lights were out and it was prayer time and then beddy-bye.

This morning Gloria was up around 5:30. She took a shower and worked on her Primary lesson. She woke me up a little after 6:00 o'clock so I could get up a take a shower before the children and James awoke. We had warm cracked wheat cereal and biscuits with honey-butter for breakfast. Everyone then got ready for church and we were out of the house at about 8:35.

The Young Men's Presidency were the speakers in Sacrament and the Young Men and their leaders sang a medley of songs for the intermediate hymn. James and I attended Sunday School Gospel Doctrine class while Gloria and the children were in her class with her two class members. Then James and I attended High Priest Group Meeting while the kids and Gloria were in Sharing Time.

We arrived home a little after noon and Gloria proceeded to put Sunday Dinner together. Laura's sugar count made it necessary to delay eating for a while so it would go back to normal. We eventually roast beef, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, green salad, biscuits and more hone-butter. Then we topped it off with Heavenly Hash or Blueberry and Pomegranate ice cream. Pretty tasty!

While James took a much-needed nap, Gloria and the children played some games in our bedroom and Grandpa worked on his presentation on the computer. Then Bradley wanted to watch a video and so did the girls. So, the girls and Gloria were in the small bedroom, along with Grandpa, and Bradley was in the living room.

When James woke up, and the videos were over, it was time for our guests to start putting things together for their trip back to Kaysville. Everything was rounded up and stowed into the car and by 7:30 p.m. they were on their way "over the mountain." Stephanie was due back from New York to the SLC Airport by about 9:00.

By 9:00 Gloria and Roger were ready for bed, but not until having spoken to Macy and John by telephone, and to Audrie, of course.