Anatomy of a Pigeon Loft

 Building the floor-- Wednesday (after going and buying all the supplies.)

 Moving the floor to the semi-permanent location near the doors for easy access in winter.

 Grandpa and Isabelle painting the floor to seal it.  Notice the shorts and short sleeves. (Thursday morning of Thanksgiving.)

 Notice the scarves and hoodies, the gray day and the 19 degree weather of Friday.  Oh, and the walls going up.

 Friday was a long day with walls and rafters going up.

 The handsome men hard at work!

 The beautiful woman also hard at work!  And having fun.

 Saturday while we went to see cows, Tom stayed back and worked all day... in the freezing cold... without gloves or hat... until past dark.  But the roof got almost all done.

 Monday they finished the exterior and even had a few hours to relax.

So much progress was made and it looks LOVELY!.  

Still, there's more to do. Now Kristy and Jonathan need to do the interior-- paint, nesting boxes, screening off the rafters and dividing the room for rollers and homing pigeons, building storage area, landing pads... and eventually an aviary of wire on the outside.

I'm afraid the job isn't even Mostly done.  It will take a miracle!

Happy Thanksgiving

It has been delightful being at Jonathan’s and Kristy’s for Thanksgiving!

Monday we tried to catch up on all the loose ends.  My friend Dorothy is not doing all that well.  I agreed to be her Power of Attorney for health Care and so have tried to keep up with how she is  doing—long distance.  She seems to be deteriorating rapidly and I hope to put her into hospice this coming Monday.

Early Monday morning we went out to Jennifer (Steinman’s) house for breakfast.  She and her new husband had promised us a special breakfast and this was the only time that we’d be together.  It was a delicious breakfast—rich French toast—and a special syrup plus bacon, juice and altogether tasty.  We had an unusual treat on the way out—two rainbows that arched completely across the sky.  It was lovely!

We left there to go and check out a house.  We had our contractor with us this time looking at everything.  It was great, and I was planning on putting in an offer, until he crawled under the house to look at the foundation.   Ummm.  There WAS NO foundation!  Little piers all over.  Some had settled…. And in some places there was about 8” of space between the dirt and the floor.  You just can’t buy a house with no foundation.  I went to look at choice #2, and it did look much better the second time… but they want more than I could pay.  I thought to lowball it, but there are other offers coming in… so I guess we wait.

Tuesday we left early and drove to Kansas City in time to go to a session at the temple.  Then we continued to Jonathan’s house and arrived about 5:30.  It was a good drive and so fun to be welcomed by all the children.

Wednesday Tom and Kristy dove headlong into the pigeon loft project.  They’d been emailing plans back and forth for the last week or so.  They shopped and bought loads of materials then constructed the floor that afternoon.  Thursday, even amidst Thanksgiving day preparations, they built some of the sides. 

We had a great Thanksgiving.  Lots of food.  The neighbors—the Cooks—came to dinner with their 5 kids.  For me, most of the day seemed to center around eating and visiting.  What can be better than that?  Tom used some of the Cook boy labor to get more work done in the afternoon. 

Friday the temperature dropped.  It was 17 degrees in the morning and warmed up to a chilly thirty four.  And the wind!!! It was dang chilly!  But they pressed on.   I worked on some of my spec assignments.  And I entertained a book.

Saturday was mostly more of the same.  We went in the afternoon to go visit a farm with dexter cows and a possible bull for sale.  It was fun to chat with them.  In the late afternoon and evening, I went out and helped Tom for an hour or so as he finished shingles on one side of the roof.  Again, it was very chilly.  I was impressed with Tom’s endurance.   We rested in the evening with a movie (Spiderman) and then Tom soaked in the tub for a while.

Today was special. Just before stake conference last week,  Jonathan and Kristy were released from their callings in the ward and stake.  They were part of the ward that was realigned and now attached to the Indianola Branch. So this was their first Sunday there.  It’s a bit longer of a drive, but the building is very pretty and the branch members very welcoming.

Since it was Miriam's Baptismal day, we spent time doing hair.  For Miri it was braids so she didn't have to dry her hair after the baptism.

 Then we had a sandwich brigade making a pre-baptism snack so people wouldn't starve.Kristy and I had made a few dozen sandwiches, cut in quarters, and some chips, to take for a tide-over snack for those attending the baptism. Some friends brought a few other snacks that were well appreciated.

After church Miriam was baptized by Tom.  Jonathan gave a great talk on covenants and covenant keeping.  

 Great family photo.  I might have gotten into one picture, but I was hiding in a quiet room, talking to the hospital on the phone about Dorothy's care. They did not qualify her for hospice.  Sigh.  So Monday they will move her to a nursing home.

This evening we dined on left-overs.

Sneak peek for next week:  Monday we celebrated Kristy's Birthday.

Tough week.

It’s been a tough week.  Sometimes it seems like all around me hard things are happening.  Jeanine Andrus’s son died unexpectedly this week and her other son is battling cancer. Then Dorothy Collins was diagnosed with liver cancer. Then Ceil Dinsmore’s daughter, Dana went in for surgery and they learned the tumor she had in her brain was cancerous (but they think they got it all.)  And today Lanetta Bogart’s neighbor came to church to tell Lanetta her house was on fire.  It burned to the ground.

Still, we had some great talks at church today.  One was on having gratitude in times of adversity.  Bro. Howald told a great story about a man riding on the train with his blind daughter.   The man was tired and really wanted to go to sleep, so another passenger said he’d watch the daughter while the man slept.  The father put his daughter on the man’s lap.  Before he dozed off he leaned over and said to his daughter, “Do you know whose lap you are on?” She said, “No.  But you do.”

He talked about how the Lord loves us. John 16:33 says, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace.  In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”

Shall is covenant language.  It doesn’t mean maybe, might, or if you’re lucky it won’t happen.  You WILL have tribulation—troubles, trials.  That’s part of life.  But Christ says even with tribulations you should be cheerful and at peace.  The Lord is in charge.  These tribulations are for our benefit.  They can be a blessing to us.

Bro. Howald said that when we go through hard times we can be like that little girl.  We don’t know why we need this, but we can trust our Heavenly Father, just as she trusted her earthly father.  He knows why we need that trial and how it will bless us.

Tom said that when he came home this afternoon, he said, “Thank you house, for still standing.”  Loss helps make us grateful.

I think, perhaps, I have an addiction.  I can’t stay away from houses that need some TLC. Scott Kelley called and said they may be moving back to Mountain Home, and could I check to see if they could get 20 acres for $30,000-40,000.  So I checked out Zillow and Realtor.com.  I can’t filter out cheap houses… so… I found some cheap houses, too!  And it looks like our duplex in St. Louis might sell… the one with the non-paying tenant… So I might actually have some money.  And Susan has some money… so.  We went and looked at homes.  The problem is, when you buy it with IRA money, you can’t work on it.  And that takes some of the fun out of it.  But we have a really good handy-man.  So we will have him take a look and if the numbers work out, we’ll likely put in an offer.  (Oh, then Scott called back and said, no… they decided to move to Ohio.)

This week I pulled the last of the beets. We have the last bowl of ripening tomatoes on our counter.  Winter is coming.  We’ve had frosty days and our garden is ready to be put to bed.  We need some more horse manure to put on it, then, I think I’ll turn the chickens loose in the garden. 

A week ago or so we had some sadness with the chickens.  Something scared them and they all vanished from the pen.  We searched… and two returned, but that was all.  So we have two skittish young chickens who don’t lay eggs (instead of 3 skittish non-laying chickens and two old biddies one of whom occasionally laid an egg.)  They also have changed their lifestyle and now spend most of their time in the chicken coop… hiding from monsters?  The good side of that is that I don’t have to wait until dusk to close up the coop.  I can do it any time in the late afternoon.

Tuesday was a fun day.  I was interviewed by one of the co-owners of AWAI for their Professional Writer’s Alliance.  My thirty minutes of fame. But it was easy to answer the questions and she did a great job of interviewing.  

Most of the rest of my working week was spent on spec assignments.  I stewed over the Weiss assignment.  It’s in the financial field and really very competitive.  I learned a lot and I finally got something I was pleased with.  And I’m really glad IT’S DONE!  If I get this assignment it will truly be by the grace of God.

I’d invited the missionaries to dinner, but they had to cancel.  They said what if we just call you when we have a free night.  I said fine.  Might be peanut-butter sandwiches, but sure.  So as we were looking at houses on Thursday, they texted: “Can we come to dinner?”  I’d thought about breakfast burritos, but hamburgers seemed easier.  We invited our neighbor, Barbara, over and had a nice evening.

Friday I made a dessert—Banana split cake—and then on Saturday I cooked a turkey for the Ward Thanksgiving dinner.   They planned on 130 people and I think 175 showed up.  Still, we had PLEANTY of leftovers.  Must be a loaves and fishes thing.   It was nice to visit with all the members.

This morning I got a call to see if I could lead the music in Sacrament.  Fine.  Then walking out of sacrament, the missionaries asked if I could teach the Gospel Principles class.  Ummm sure!  I’d read the Relief Society lesson so I could support one of my visiting teaches who was teaching.  But I hadn’t read the Gospel Principles lesson.  Fortunately, the lesson manual is laid out so it’s pretty easy to teach.  I felt like my Kenya Mission background kicked in.  Need a talk?  Need a lesson? Sure!  And when you are teaching about basic principles… ya know the material.

I visit taught a sister after church.  Then the choir is practicing before and after church for the Christmas program.  And then I talked with someone… and then went to the hospital to see Dorothy… and now it’s blog time and time to write to the missionaries who are serving from our branches in Kenya.

More of the Same

This week I had a chance to teach seminary again. Since I’ve been stake seminary and institute supervisor, I really have not taught seminary.  Although I’ve been teaching the teachers how to teach.  So it was interesting to get back into the classroom.  One has images of a rapt class delving into the scriptures and finding treasures they immediately apply in their lives.

The classes went pretty well… but the students were, alas, human… and teenagers to boot. Several are serious about the gospel.  Some are much more interested in boys, guns, baseball and friends.

I’ve continued to work on AWAI spec assignments.  I turned in some fun ones.  Now I’m trying to write one for Weiss financial.  Argh! It’s a tough market.  Highly competitive.  And I’m quite intimidated.  But I need to do this.  I need to push beyond my comfort zone.  How will I know if I can compete if I don’t try?

We voted early, but watched the Tuesday election. It was a disappointment to us.  I really thought the country needed to go in a different direction.  However I think fear, despair, and depression are not of the Lord.  The  prophet said, “Your future is as bright as your faith.”  I will pray for our country and for greater faith.

Wednesday I went in for the first step in getting a crown on a tooth.  It was an old filling and decay had gotten under it.  It went well.  That evening I had a meeting for our Christmas program.  We are inviting the community to the event.  We will have nativity scenes around the cultural hall, a program of music and the Christmas story from the Bible, and refreshments.  I’m on the committee.  I helped write—or condense the script for the program.  I think the rest of my duties are to smile and nod… but I’m not sure.

Our neighbor Barb had her first book sale this week.  I helped her with the classified ad and helped her get some of her stuff out and set up.  She had turned one of the rooms in her garage into a mini bookstore.  There are shelves all around the walls with books on them—thousands of them.   She has lots of clothing and collectables… but the books are her first love.  Amazingly, on the first day, a woman who owns a book store in Yellville came in and bought probable 150 books!  So it was a good day for Barb.

Thursday I went to Yellville and worked on clay with Marian.  I glazed some of my dishes.  Marian threw some pots on the wheel.  Later I watched a video on throwing pots.  Ohhh. It looks so effortless.  I’m sure it’s not… but now I want to try that.  Glaze is a science, too.  I tell you, pottery is complex!

Friday I went visiting teaching.  Tom has been spending time out in the back 40 burning downed limbs.  I think he has great job security.  He’s also been staining the deck railings.  He wanted to do the deck, but  hasn’t gotten there yet.  He’s been helping others.  Monday and Friday he went to Richard’s to help him build his barn.  Saturday he helped a family move.

Then he came home with two teens and they spent a few hours collecting limbs and burning them.   In the evening we heard that Sister Dale, one of the 90 year old sisters I visit was in the hospital with heart troubles.  So we went and visited her.

Today I spoke in church on things I learned last week in Stake Conference.  It was a good talk, I thought.  The speakers from last week had been phenomenal… so it was easy to take their words and share them.  

Here were a few things they said:

 There was a story of a disobedient missionary.  He asked the mission president: “What do you want me to do?”  The mission president said, “You are asking the wrong question.  What do you want to do?”  The missionary said, “I get it. You don’t just want me to change my behavior.  You want me to change my very nature.”

 Elder Pickerd (an Area 70) talked about becoming converted.  He said “Be sensitive to the spirit. “There will be something that touches your life to change.  If you are sensitive, the Lord will show you what to change.”

When we know the truth, we need to share it. Our mission president told the members: “Pray for missionary work. You will get it. Then follow the promptings of the spirit. We stand at a moment in the history of the church that we will look back on and say, “That was amazing!””

Elder Pickerd said: “This is a miraculous time in the church.   The Lord is hastening the work.  More missionaries, more genealogy—2 million names a day added to the data base!

When we walk with the Lord, we can do miracles.

            --D&C 123:17  “…let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God…” 

Spec Week

I came home all charged up to write spec assignments from Bootcamp.  And that's been my priority for the week.  International Living has a real estate arm and I spent a good part of the week researching the ins and outs of buying real estate overseas.  Sounds interesting, but there's a deep difference between buying to live in and buying as an investment.  As always, with the investment, the way you make money is when you buy.  If you buy right, you'll be able to sell for a profit.  Interesting reading.

I feel encouraged about writing these specs. Patricia and I were talking about confidence.  Sometimes I have it and think, sure people will want my work.  Other times I wonder what I have to offer.  I do feel that the Lord wants me to go this direction, and I awoke with an epiphany.  If I can't have confidence in myself, I can have trust in the Lord.  If the Lord wants me to succeed, I can have confidence in that.  So when I have confidence in God, I have confidence in me.

We had many, many ripe tomatoes and Tom was done with salsa making.  So Tuesday I roped him into helping with spaghetti sauce making. This effort (the roping part) was made a bit easier since the tractor died and he could not bush hog.  No matter how spicy I make the sauce, Tom complains it is bland.  Ah well. I asked him if he ever liked spaghetti sauce.  He couldn't recall any he liked.  So I guess it's not profitable to try to please him (at least not when it comes to spaghetti sauce).

 Wednesday we had a Fall Festival and trunk or treat at the church. I made white chili for that and it was a fun evening. Some people had great costumes: Frankenstein and son:

Superman, Wonder girl, and Supergirl

.Toward the end of the month I need to start collecting data for my calling at Stake Seminary and Institute Supervisor.  I need to check the WISE program online to see if the teachers have put all their attendance in.  Then they need to send me their number of student reads (the number of times students read the scriptures).  We had a new-substitute-soon-to-be-called teacher... and I had no contact information for him.  I have one teacher who never answers his phone or email. Arrgghh!  We had training on Saturday, but I really wanted the data before then.  How does it feel to want?   Somehow it seems I shouldn't have to call each one and ask for the information.

Thursday we drove to south of Yelleville to visit Richard.  Tom worked on building his big work shed while I visited with him about his artwork and other things.  He takes duck, emu, ostrich, and turkey eggs and carves them. Some look like lacework.  He's looking for a way to sell them.  They sold by word of mouth when he lived in Florida.  Arkansas is not quite so erudite.

Friday we went to visit Sister Dawson and others on our visiting teaching list.  She is doing much better.  She's in a nursing home, but off oxygen and starting back on walking.  Her daughter did tell her one of her dogs had died (the old beloved one).  And she seemed to take it okay.

Saturday we went to Springfield for my seminary training, Tom's priesthood training, and the Saturday evening session of Stake conference.  We had a great time.  Powerful messages on becoming converted.  One speaker said, "If the Savior were to come, likely he'd come to the Saturday evening session of Stake Conference."  There is always a great spirit there.  One brother spoke about leaving home and joining the Marines.  He talked of going into Desert Storm and the miracles that helped him return to church.

We spent the night again at the Petersen's.  What a great couple! It's always so fun to visit with them.  And she makes a mean granola for breakfast.  It's so full of pecans, walnuts, almonds, raisins and fruit, I don't know how much oat and other grains can be stuffed in there.

Sunday was great, too.  Speakers talked on temples and faith.  We had the Mission President there on Saturday and the Temple President there on Sunday.  Floated home on the spirit.  On the way home we were blessed with awesome fall colors.

AWAI Bootcamp

I didn’t get a blog for two weeks ago, so here goes:

Two weeks ago, on October 22, I left to go to Miranda’s.  I thought I’d leave early and go and play with clay with Marian a bit.  But it didn’t work.  Good thing!

It took me until Noon to get out the door as it was.  I did fit in a short stop at ½ of ½ and found a sweater and a crotched over-jacket I could not live without.  Hey.  Recreational shopping for $6.50… how can you go wrong?  And I wanted the sweater for the seminar.

I had a great time visiting with Miranda and Dad and Camden and Ethan.  Tuesday we went to the zoo and walked and talked with Miranda’s friend and her two little ones.

Wednesday Dan took me bright and early to the Tulsa airport and I caught my plane to Atlanta and then on to West Palm Beach.  I have a Mastermind group that meets via Skype every 2 weeks.  Kay, from Atlanta, recently joined the group.  I met her in West Palm Beach and we carpooled together to the Del Ray Beach Marriott for the AWAI Bootcamp.

Another of the Mastermind group, Patricia, arrived earlier.  She and I roomed together.  We had a great time!  We were very compatible and talked and encouraged one another.  We signed in and went to the “Overview for Newbies” and then hit the Bootcamp running.

It really was amazing.  It was a blend of “how to write better,” marketing yourself, and networking.  I have never been to a convention where it was easier to meet people.  Everywhere you went you struck up conversations.  When we went to meals, we’d want to take a group. As someone walked by, we’d ask, “Want to come to lunch with us?”  “Sure!” and we go out and sit and visit and learn about each other’s goals and strengths.

I find it a bit amusing that every field has its “rock stars.”  Those are the top performers, the most experienced or well known in the field.  We had several there.  Bob Bly—who has published 80 books—said, “We are just people.  We are not gods.  Richard Armstrong is not a god.  Hershel Gordon Lewis is not a god, Clayton Makepeace is not… well…maybe Clayton…”

Even the “rock stars” were incredibly generous with their time.  They were easy to talk to. Several months earlier, I’d downloaded a free book of Richard Armstrong’s.  I’d intended to just glance at it, but found myself reading it straight through.  So I wrote and told him how much I loved his book.  He graciously replied.  When I found out he was going to be at Bootcamp, I invited him to go to lunch with me.  He said, there may be other people there, but sure, we can do lunch.

At Bootcamp, we met a few times, but never got connected to visit.  At the end of Bootcamp, I’m sitting at a table helping another writer with a project, and he comes up and says, “I’m so sorry we didn’t get together earlier, would it be all right if we visited now?”  How cool is that?

And the professionals were VERY good. Clayton Makepeace took us through his process in video landing pages, and again in turning features into benefits.  Wow!  It’s amazing to watch a master at work.  On the last day, Patricia, Kay and I wanted a picture taken before Kay left (early).  So we went to the podium where the AWAI logo was.  Clayton was sitting on the stage edge talking to someone.  He got up to move out of the photo, but we invited him in and he was kind enough to join us.  Apparently he enjoys drinking.  He said, “Yes, I may lose a few brain cells, but only the weak ones.  I figure it’s survival of the fittest.”

( Patricia, Kay, Clayton, Me)

When I had checked the weather, it was supposed to be sunny everyday but Friday.  Then, flying in, we hear about hurricane Sandy.  Thursday it rained and was very windy!  It felt like a hurricane coming.  That night the windows shook with the wind.  But on Friday it was less windy and Saturday was nice.  The Marriott is just across the road from the beach, so I was able to go and walk along the beach twice.  Higher tide than normal, I think, but fun to smell the salt air.

Friday we had a job fair.  Lots of people from different marketing places came to look for copywriters- Stansberry and Associates, Weiss, Oxford Letter, Agora Publishing, International Living, Dani Johnson—about 50 businesses total.  I skipped the health ones as I don’t want to write in that field and narrowed my connections down to about 10.   Part way through the power went off in the hotel.  So they brought in lanterns… and people used cell phone light and we continued to connect.  The problem was with maybe 500 people in the room and maybe 100 talking at the same time, it was loud!!!  Still, I made some good contacts and will follow up with spec assignments and thank you notes.

Saturday the bootcamp wound down.  I was wound down, too.  Saturday night we crashed and packed. We had to leave at 6:15 am to get to the airport on time.  I flew back to Tulsa and one of Miranda’s friends picked me up.  I rushed to change and made it to church almost on time. (Miranda and Dan headed to Utah on Wednesday to deliver a car and visit.)  I had planned on spending the night anyway and driving home on Monday, but I got barn fever and decided to head home on Sunday.

I got home about 7:30.  It was good to be home!