Merry Christmas

And there went out a decree from Ceasar Augustus....

An Impromtu Hike can be a spirtual experience

Saturday, December 22nd. A great day to do some last minute preparations for Christmas. Hopefully time to bake a little and sew up some bags for the gift we were making for several people on our list. We didn't jump out of bed because we thought that we had all day to get everything done.

JVA and SLA just discovered that the Bear and his girl are not going north as planned. New plan, they would leave Monday AM. So as we have been putting JVA off for many years about hiking Devil's Chasm. Our latest excuse had been that we needed to wait until the Bear was home. So, as the moons had finally aligned with Jupiter and Mars it was time to attempt the assent into the wilderness of Cherry Creek.

We stopped at Safeway to purchase some lunch stuff and off we went. As we drove past Picket Post JVA called on the radio and told us that we should climb this also as we would probably be done and back by early afternoon.

We turned off of the pavement onto Cherry Creek Road and realized that we didn't have a map. I told them that the road would take us there even though Abe was remembering a turn somewhere. So then we started discussing who was right. We drove through Cherry Creek which was running quite nicely. Our explorer would have been too low and would have probably ended up with an engine full of water.

For once, I was right and we arrived at the correct location to begin our assent. Seeing how much water there was in the creek coming off of the mountain we knew that we may have some problems with the climb. We walked and walked and went up and up and discussed whether we were on the right trail. All we knew for sure is that if we followed the creek up we would get where we needed to go. The higher we went the colder it got. There was ice on the trail wherever there was a little water.



We had attempted this hike several years ago - JVA's Junior Year a few months after he had his ACL surgery. We had gotten a late start and had not completed the hike the closest we got was within viewing distance of the ruins in the previous picture. We got to this rock that we had to get over and it took two people - one pulling and one pushing to get several of us up the rock and through the rabbit hole that you have to get through. That time there was no water in the creek - or very little. When we got to this rock, the waterfall was rumbling over one side of the rock, but the place you have to go up was dry.

This picture was taken on the first hike. We took pictures this time also, at the end of this blog showing the water in the creek.

We got to this place and I was having one of my really bad, scared of heights days. JVA and da bear decided that they would help me up, so one pushed and one pulled as I was telling them that it would be better if I just stayed at the bottom and waited for them. But they managed to pull me up. I told them that this was like child birth, it was that painful. JVA said that he was scared. I asked him why and he told me that he was scared that they wouldn't be able to get me back down the rock.

Whe we got to the top of the rock I realized that this was the place that we had to cross the face of the waterfall the last time we were there. The difference was that last time there was no water and this time you would get soaked. So they decided to go up and around the waterfall. Knowing that this wasn't an option for me, I told them that I would just wait. We had Bella and Blue with us so I thought the three of us could just sit here and watch the water flow while we waited. Abe decided that he would wait with me and we would start heading down. After the other four had left I really got scared. Here we were on top of this rock and we needed to get the dogs and me down.

We went under the one rock and into the rabbit hole to the top of the rock. I helped blue and bella down for abe to help them slide down the rest of the way. And that is when I had the most horrible extreme attack of fear that I have ever had. As I was sitting there with abe and the dogs in the creek below I started thinking that I wouldn't ever be able to get down. That they would have to sedate me and air evac me out of this place. Then I decided that this was ridiculous, so I closed my eyes and asked the Lord for strength to get down the rock. Immediately I knew I could do this, so I told abe to help guide me and told him that I needed to do this right away. I laid down on the rock and he guided my feet, then I slid the rest of the way down. When we got to the bottom I realized that I wasn't alone getting down. That I truly had help.

We continued our return trip to the car marveling at the blessings that we have received. After 30 minutes or so the rest of the group caught up with us. They decided that it was farther than they thought and they would come back in a few months, starting a little earlier. Maybe by then the Bear's girl won't have her wrist in a cast. (she out hiked all of us, even with her arm broken)

They asked how abe had gotten me down and he told them that he didn't. So I told them that I had prayed myself down. They were amazed. But then, so was I.

Phone Home

This morning my home phone rang and before I could answer it it stopped. Then my cell phone rang and I raced into the bedroom to answer it. It was our bear calling from New York, jut wanted to let us know that he is back in the states. He'll be back home in mid December for awhile, then out of the military a few months after that. Yes, he's bringing the girl back to meet the family and if we don't scare her off.....

It was Brain Surgery

We had to drive into the desert on Saturday to repair do some maintenance on one of our geocaches.

As we were trying to get out of Cooltown we had to stop and wait for a really huge funeral procession to get by. Back on the road and a few miles out of town we noticed a firetruck blocking traffic. This time we had to detour as there were some power lines down on the highway. We thought maybe we should go home and give up for the day.

Finally we got to where our cache was located. A previous cacher told us that our "half a brain" was now two quarters of a brain. They recommended that we take some JB weld or something out to repair the cache. I disabled the cache when I found out that we had a problem. We even got an email from a cacher who planned on being in the area and wanted to know if they could fix the cache for us.

So with some gorilla glue in hand we preformed brain surgery. Feeling we had accomplished a lot for the day we headed home. We placed one more cache on the right road so that we could encourage more people to find our newly repaired half a brain.

Pardon me

So abe finally did it.

He was finally pardoned by the governor, or he officially retired, whichever makes the best story as both are somewhat true.

He would love to become a fisherman full time, but....

A weekend of halloween and fun

Friday was the annual MLT Halloween bash, leaner, rhayn and gwen came to town to help celebrate.

Good food and fun for all.

















Saturday abe, JVA and SLA needed to sight in their rifles for the big deer hunt. So since leaner was in town and Beth and Gav were over (mom and dad were out of town celebrating their anniversary) we decided to invite everyone out for a picnic at Coyote Pond. Fishing wasn't the best- too much duck weed. But Beth and Rhayn each caught a fish. Gwen decided that G'ma was the best chair at the pond.





That evening it was on to the next halloween gathering -Trunk or Treat. Beth and Gav put on their costumes, but G'ma didn't have the right makeup for either of them so Jack Sparrow had a pretty scraggly beard. They participated in the costume parade, fishing pond, bobbing for donuts, face paininting, haunted house, etc. Bowls of chili and fritos and homemade rootbeer. Of course the highlight was the trunk or treating in the parking lot. We brought home more candy than we took with us.

Sunday we are making cookies for my RS board meeting and the kids have parts in the Primary program.

Kentucky

Early in October I had to go on a trip to Kentucky. In between conference sessions we managed to visit the Louisville Slugger Museum and watched them make baseball bats. We also took a taxi ride and spent a few minutes at Churchill Downs. The weather was almost perfect even though we thought that it would be cold.



One evening, our group went to the restaurant at the top of the hotel. This is a picture from the bathroom at the Rivue. Notice how great these sinks were. We even had one of the men check out the men's bathroom to see if it were as cool as the women's. (It was the same).

The challenge

Okay leaner here goes:

Artistic, unless whatever I am doing needs to be random, and everything I create tends to be symmetrical.

Not a loud person, or a party person, pretty much content with quiet and solitude especially at work.

Never at a loss for words, if you give me enough time, just don’t expect me to respond quickly. I need to think through what I am going to say.

Although not the most nurturing of individuals, I love my family and enjoy them. Watching the kids grow and change and now getting to know each of these grandchildren is truly the most important thing I can imagine.

Release and a call

Sunday, our bishopric was changed. abe was released for approximately two minutes and then recalled as the 1st counselor in the new bishopric. The interesting thing is that our bishops wife happens to be my 1st counselor in RS. That is a lot of leadership in two families. I called the bishop today to verify that we were going to leave everyone in as it now stands and he told me that his wife needs something to do. Pen-nut you are very familiar with our new bishop and his wife. I think they were in your ward or at least in your stake. He has already served two different times, abe told him that maybe this time he will get it right!

Callings

So now that I have called all of my children to tell them about this, I guess it is okay to blog about it.

A week and a half ago I received a phone call. I was asked if I could meet with the bishop that evening. We were sitting around minding our own business and were pretty much settled in for the night. I went ahead and got dressed to meet with the bishop. Knowing that because abe is in the bishopric, the chance of me having a heavy calling was pretty slim. So I was shocked when the bishop extended the call he had in mind; we were wrong. I have had 10 days to get used to this responsibility. So many amazing things have happened during the past few weeks that point to preparation for this calling. When we left the church that night, abe asked me why I was so quiet. I told him that I feel utterly and totally overwhelmed by this responsibility. Being called as the RS President isn't something that any sane person aspires to. But then I guess I never have been totally sane.

Where were you when the lights went out?

For those of you who don't live in the great state of HOT, you may not know that we had a power outage after a severe thunderstorm. We were sitting around having a nice meal, celebrating JVA b'day and our other J who also had a b'day. The wind started, followed by thunder and lighting and then massive amounts of rain. We watched our tree in the backyard touch the ground because of the strength of the storm. Then the power flashed off once and then again, this time it did not come back on.

We thought that it would be on again before too long and so we pulled out the lanterns and watched the storm. When the rain quit our road was like a river. Everyone went home and abe went to the church for a few minutes. When he got home we went for a drive to see how far the power outage extended. Most of town was dark, but there were a few lights in various places. We went home and opened our bedroom windows and then went to bed. We hoped that the power would return soon. At six thirty AM my phone rang. It was one of my teachers telling me that school was canceled. We had a meeting scheduled with some business & industry people that afternoon- we decided that that wasn't happening. I got up and went to school to find out what was going on.

Abe had therapy and then a doctor appt, so we went to the valley. We also went to a movie and returned home to a dark house. We spent the night with our niece - thank you hairball. All of our children were without power also, so they had to find other placed to be. Hairball and her brother had powereven though we all live in the same town. G'ma also had no power so she spent the day and night with hairball.

Friday AM and still no power. We went home and changed clothes and decided to drive up the mountain to get out of the heat. It was almost 4 PM before our power was restored.

We have gone over this a few times in our mind - what could we have been more prepared with? We had a generator that we borrowed, so our freezer and frig were okay. We could have slept at our house and we had enough water and food. Our phone worked, but not everyone has our cell phone numbers. This was a great preparedness exercise. Our bishop has been asking us to see how prepared we are. We decided that next time we just hope it isn't quite this hot. But I guess that is part of an emergency - it has nothing to do with convenience. We kept thinking that our power would come back on and everything would be back to normal.

We are all back home, no worse for the wear.

Priorities

Three AM and driving home from the emergency room. It was a Saturday EARLY morning and I had been out all night helping a member of our church. Her husband had fallen in the parking lot after the football game and so I volunteered to drive her to the hospital and sit with her. Thinking it surely couldn't take too many hours. It was nine thirty when we got to the hospital. He was in immense pain, tied down to the board that they strap you to. We talked and got to know each other better during the long night. I had a ten dollar bill in my pocket and decided to buy a bottle of water for $1.25. I put the bill in the change machine and it gave me the correct amount of change - $10 in quarters!! I only had my pants pockets - no purse. So I walked around jingling the rest of the evening. At 2:30 they had finally decided they were taking him to a hospital in the valley and so we decided to head home as soon as he left.

Six-forty AM - brie brought maddie over as she had to work. I tried really hard to open my eyes as we started the DVD of Finding Nemo for her. By seven thirty it was obvious that any thought of sleep was far gone. So I got up and tried to get something accomplished. Eleven AM and finally we could take a brief nap.

One-thirty PM - time to get ready to go to the temple - we were going with the rest of the bishopric for the 4 PM session. The nap we had at least was a reprieve for awhile, and so I was awake during the session and the meal afterwards. By the time we got home though I was ready to sleep.

Priorities- what comes first? I managed to fit it all in, and I really didn't think that was possible at the time. I guess when we have the right intent we can accomplish miracles.

Just some pics

A birthday phone call















A ruined visit to the Besh Ba Gowah ruins. Can't complain about the rain in Arizona though.















Keeping cool in the desert.















Pioneer children sang as they walked.....















Feeding grandpa's fish

HD

We have been looking at TV's for the past few months. Our current TV has been trying to die, making weird noises and you can only turn it off and on with the remote as the on/off switch broke sometime also. Flat screen, LCD, High Def, etc. All pricier than were willing to pay. Last week we spent a few hours in town and stopped to pick up Season 10 of StarGate SG1 that had just been released. (yes, this is what we do for fun) We walked through the TV section and again looked at all the offerings. Abe decided that we didn't want anything smaller than a 32" TV. We noticed one in a box with $100 off tag on it. We looked at the model on the wall, it of course wasn't marked down. We asked one of the salesman if this were the same model. It was, so we asked if they had to charge the reduced price. Yep. So we went ahead and took the plunge.

We got home just before a huge dust storm that was blowing through the valley. We carried our 400 lb old monster TV out of our room and uncrated our new 32" wide screen HD LCD TV. Plugged it in and attached our lovely antenna - no we do not have cable. We let the TV program itself and it found stations we didn't even know existed. We get all of the stations from Tucson and Phoenix. There are four PBS stations, all different all the time. Everything is clearer than it has been for years.

Is this a good thing? I don't know, but last weekend we could finally let Rhayn watch Shrek 3-D with the 3-D glasses. Best of all abe can actually work the remote!!!

August desert pics

We have finally had a monsoon season. Here are some pictures of the area outside of San Manuel, toward Peppersauce. These pics are for LVH, except for the one Ocotillo - that's for leaner.

Flew the coop

Our third pair of mourning doves this summer hatched just fine. Their parents had determined that our plant wasn't good enough for them, so they tried a different place. A few days ago I was outside putting some plants on stands that we had purchased (clearance at Loews). I went in the house to do something and Blue walked over to me. I looked down and saw that he had brought me a baby bird. It was still alive, he had carried it very gently in his mouth. I couldn't put it back in the nest so just put it in the plant which is about fifteen feet from where it's mother sat with the other baby bird. JVA came over later and he tried to put it back in the actual nest. But the nest wasn't made very well and the two babies wouldn't fit. So JVA put both of the birds in the plant and we hoped for the best. The next morning I looked out and there was the mother bird with the two babies. They both flew away today. Our retriever had saved their lives. I tried to get a picture of the last baby as it sat on the fan blade, but it flew away.

Do Bears?

Camping has been something we have done for years. Not the trailer with all the amenities in a campsite with electricity, water, etc. The tent, air mattress, sleeping bag type of camping. When our kids were little we always took them with us and everything was well. Since becoming grandparents we have been anxiously waiting for the grandkids to be old enough to take on a trip sans parents. Before we went to SD for vacation we took a few days and went camping with the Raginin'Az group. We also took Beth and Gav with us. We drove twenty plus miles down a dirt road, away from the crowds and traffic. Away from people. We set up our tents and campsite. The weather was perfect.

By day two things were great, except for an accident by one of the younger campers. This camper tried to "go" in the forest, but didn't really know what to do. Now one thing is one, but two is a totally different thing. We turned this situation into military hands and after some amazing and detailed instruction everything was resolved. Except one of the other young campers mentioned that they were going to wait until we got home to perform this bodily function.

2nd Lt took control of the situation and before long we had a training session on "pooping in the forest". The training including the proper method of squatting and what options you have to use to prop yourself up. Taking the shovel, TP, and some wipes into the forest, the training also included a simulation and where to dig and how to lean. Upon the return to camp it is necessary to wash your hands with water - in case there may be some solid matter remaining from your trip. A quick wipe of the hands with a baby wipe and then some anti-bacterial lotion and you are back to play.

The things we take for granted!!!

Your Personality is Somewhat Rare (ISTP)

Your personality type is reserved, methodical, spirited, and intense. Only about 6% of all people have your personality, including 3% of all women and 8% of all men You are Introverted, Sensing, Thinking, and Perceiving.

How Rare Is Your Personality?

Redemption

So as we were checking out geocaching in South Dakota we noticed that we had inadvertently forgotten to log one that we had found two years ago. Usually I wouldn't remember every cache, but this one was quite a pain to find. A mosquito infested swamp, teaming with ticks, only a tenth of a mile from the car. We did find it and we had to pick each other for ticks afterwards - kind of like a new song they are playing on the country stations. Anyway, I decided to log it almost two years after the fact. When I asked abe if he remembered our experience he actually remembered this one. But then he said that I couldn't be mad at him anymore for losing our ice cream cone antenna ball. After all, we didn't get that at our 600th find. it was really our 601st find. Takes all the fun out of him losing it after all.

Third times a charm

So I haven't taken time to write for a few days. I am sure that I have been extremely busy. Anyway, just wanted to let everyone know that our new "bird dog" Blue hasn't scared off our newest entry into the maternity ward plant. Here we go waiting for this newest dove to hatch her eggs. abe went to water the plant and he noticed the mom sitting patiently on her nest. I would think it would be way to hot under our porch to birth anything. Hopefully Rhayn will be able to come see this one before it hatches!