A Hallie Dale Day

I want to tell you about my friend, Sister Hallie Dale.  She was tiny lady—about 4 feet 8 inches tall.  She and her husband met the missionaries when they had three young children.  They joined the church and raised their girls in the gospel.

They served faithfully in their church callings.  When Bro. Dale retired, they went on a mission together.  Sister Dale took care of Bro. Dale when he fell sick and nursed him for about 5 years before he passed away.

Sister Dale moved into town in the last year of Bro. Dale’s illness and I was assigned to be her visiting teacher a few years after that.  She was in her late 80’s at the time.  She’d progressed from coming to church walking… then walking with a cane… and now hobbling in clutching a walker.

But still she came to church.  She came even though she could no longer see to read the lesson manual or the scriptures.  She came even though she could no longer hear.  In sacrament meeting, they had a special hearing aid that helped hear the speakers.  But in Sunday School and Relief Society, she couldn’t hear much at all.

She came even though she was in a lot of pain with back problem.  And through it all, she smiled.  She was always cheerful and always had kind words.

When we visited her, she was welcoming and glad to see us.  She often wondered why the Good Lord left her on the earth.  She said, “I can’t see.  I can’t hear.  I’m not good for much of anything. I can’t help out.”  But unless you asked her, she never told you how she was feeling. “No one wants to hear about your aches and pains,” she’d say. “So I just decided to be cheerful.”

But each time we visited, we admired her dedication to the Lord and her example of enduring to the end.  She served as a great example to us. She reminded us that being faithful to the end is not always easy.  She had created a pattern of obedience.

Now she followed that pattern.  She came to all her meetings, even when she sat there in silence and darkness—not hearing or seeing.  Her memories of the spirit and comfort of attending must have helped her be cheerful.

She came to church until she was sick and hospitalized just after she turned 90 years old.  About 2 months later she passed away.

Last Sunday was a great fast Sunday.  All the meetings were very spiritual.  I spoke with my visiting teaching companion after church. She’d been in a lot of pain with health problems.  I asked her how she was doing.

“I was in a lot of pain during Sacrament,” she said. “And I thought about going home.  But I stayed on.  I decided this was just a Hallie Dale Day.”

It made me realize that even when we feel like we can’t do a lot, we can always be an example of good and of righteous living.

And our example can inspire those around us to do better.

Who can you set a good example for? How can you inspire those around you to do better?

We're running... We're running... Where are we going?

I am nearly two weeks behind on my blog.  It wouldn’t be bad, except they were a good two weeks!

We had Rebecca and her brood and Miranda and her youngins staying with us.  It was fun to see them interact together.  Ethan kind of did his own thing, but Camden had lots of fun with his cousins—especially Ryle and Callie.

Tuesday we drove to Silver Dollar City.  I was surprised at the amount of fun even the young kids had on the rides.  We didn’t try to see any shows. It was bluegrass Festival… and I’m not that much of a fan of bluegrass.  I might have listened on my own… but with kids in tow, it would not have been fun for them.

The weather was wonderful and the kids had a great time. See Rebecca’s blog.

Thursday the kids took off to visit Jonathan and Kristy.  They went as far as Kansas City and went to the temple. Then they continued on to Iowa on Friday.  When I call, there’s lots of commotion there, but it’s fun noise… usually… I think.

Tom and I had gone to look at some houses.  One looked like it had possibilities, but not at the price they were asking.  It was a Chase bank repo.  Thursday I went in to make an offer.  We had to use the state form. Then Chase had its 10 page form that was pretty one-sided.  It only gave 5 days for inspections—and you had to notify them in writing 48 hours ahead of time that you wanted to inspect.  REALLY??  And the form didn’t guarantee you’d get clear title to the house.

Since I’ve been fighting about a title issue on one of our St. Louis houses, I was not about to deal with that.  The realtor is young, but very conscientious.  He went to his broker with every question. They went to their attorney to have him check out the contract.  He offered some workaround language that would give clear title and we asked for more time to inspect, too.  But I didn’t sign the documents until Monday.

With the St. Louis property, I also checked with an attorney as the title companies seemed to be at an impasse.  So, based on her suggestions, I filed a claim against the Title Insurer.  We’ll see what comes next. One thing that’s come out of it is an article on title insurance.

Friday night we went and cleaned part of the church.  We couldn’t do that Saturday as Tom had a race in the morning. It was thundering and raining…but they ran anyway.  Tom came in second in his division and felt pretty good about the run and about how he felt afterwards. It quit raining later in the morning and we went to the Gassville at the Park festival that accompanied the race.  There were many fewer booths set up.  I expect the rain chased them away.  But it was a fun stroll.

I had a clay image in my mind for weeks—since we went to the seed festival in Marshfield.  I wanted to make a crock.  So Saturday I took time and fashioned it.  I think I’m pleased with it. Although the grass seed impressions may not still be clear after glazing.

I’ve been busy with end of seminary things. We have new teachers called, old ones released.  We have final reports to do and summer training to plan.  And I had GRADUATION!  Last year I was totally stressed out about graduation.  This year I started planning earlier and things went pretty well.

I knew more what to expect.  I knew Bro. Lawson would take care of the diplomas.  I corrected the mistakes in the program from last year, and this time I asked lots of graduates to speak.  That turned out well.  Some were off the cuff, some polished, or earnest and sincere, or scripted and well read. While they were all different, they were all really sweet and powerful.

One boy spoke on “let your light so shine.”  He said he was valedictorian of his class. And spoke on the same subject.  He said, at the end, he kind of bore his testimony about the importance of us being a guide for others and doing good and helping others.  He said he forgot and ended his speech, “In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.” (That got laughter from the congregation.)  But he said that several people came up—including one really inactive member he had stopped even trying to talk about the gospel with—and told him how much his speech had touched them.

Bro. Lawson is always quick witted.  As he was talking about visiting seminary classes, he said he noticed that Zak spent a lot of time “studying Lehi’s dream” i.e. asleep.  I thought that was a cute way to put it.

All of Sunday was a really spiritual day.  While it was fast Sunday, and that’s sometimes draining, this time I felt I understood the scripture that equates fasting with joy.  It was just a great day from Sacrament to the end of Seminary graduation.

I posted a song that 6 of the youth sang at graduation. It’s in harmony and they chose the song, arranged it, practiced it and sang acapella, with no adult leadership.  It’s really amazing!  I think half the singers are children of Branson show families, but still. It was both skilled and mature to accomplish that.

Monday morning we went to the Maples to pick Strawberries. We got there at 6:30am and picked for an hour.  Got about 15 lbs.  Then Tom went to a court case.  A tenant wanted her deposit back after her dog wet the rugs and they had to be changed out.  The judge granted part of the payment of the rugs, but not all due to the age of the rugs.

Then Tom went on to work at Adam’s house.  The tenant moved out and it will need paint throughout and new doors.  The doors had been deteriorating… and were none too good when we bought the house.  So this was a good time to make the change.

I worked on copywriting for a while, and then tacked the strawberries.  We took a break to go to the Empty Nester’s Family Home Evening, then came back and made two batches of strawberry jam before we headed to bed after10pm.   The jam was sure tasty.

I froze some berries and I have been glutting myself on strawberries for the past two days.

Tuesday we went to Little Rock to see an agent about infinite banking.  We’ve been working with her over phone and computer, but wanted to meet her when we signed the documents.  This is a very interesting wealth preservation and growth system. It is how the Rothschild’s kept their money in the family.  It would be a good way to keep money in the family for perpetual reunions.  She’s willing to come and talk to the family about it, if we want. I’m going to try to send out a letter to determine interest.

It took all day, but we had a really nice visit with Rebecca Rice and her husband Bobby about investing and all the ways this vehicle can be used.

And now it’s Wednesday and I will post this… and pictures if I can find any.

Five Clues You Have Grandchildren Staying with You

How do you know if Grandchildren are visiting? 

1. Note chalk on driveway and tricycle left out.

2. A bit larger collection of shoes at the back door.

3. A different variety of toys in the tub. 

4.  A sub-strata on the floor.

5. Larger table with life forms around it.

We have had fun with children and grandchildren here. Rebecca came with her crew.  Then Dan M. had to go to Oklahoma City to help with the tornado relief.  What was Miranda to do all by herself at home?  Of course the solution was to come and visit us!

So it's been delightful pandemonium here.  Camdon loves playing with Rylee... most of the time.  Marian and Callie have been fishing at the pond.  We told them it would be catch and release.  Here is part of their catch:

 Being from Louisiana they are now crawdad catchers.

 And Rebecca bought a $7 fishing pole and I think these are rainbow trout!  A tad small to eat, I think.  I hope they survived the "love"and lived after they were released.

The girls have been taking the children to the library and to the park.  Dad and Rebecca have been running.  I walk the dog occasionally.  The garden is growing.  Chickens are growing.

I am in a slow spell with copy-writing and so have time to work on studying, websites, and such.  I am also busy with Seminary graduation which will occur next Sunday.

I have some pernicious weeds that infected the garden while we were on our mission.  We've tried to be zealous in getting rid of them and they are mostly cleared from the garden.  I noticed some growing in the chicken run and Callie agreed to go in and pull them out.

A few minutes into the pulling she asked, "Where do chickens poop?"
Answer : Where ever they want to.
She decided she was done with the weeding in the chicken run.
New lesson learned in life.

Warrior Dash

This was a week filled with new experiences.  Monday we did in the chickens.  Tuesday we recuperated.  We also planted beans and we worked on covering all the chicken run.  Got about 95% covered.

I’ve been doing an online options trading program.  I’m learning.  Not sure if, when, or how I’ll do with options on my own.  I’d rather find a good expert and follow him or her.

I’ve finished most of my writing work and so things have slowed down there.  I need to market more, but I also thought I’d take this breather to work on my website and get that more professional looking. I want to make some free reports I can send out.  And I have some courses I’ve signed up for that I need to complete.

I completed all the paperwork for Dan Kennedy’s info-marketing course and sent that off.  Done!

I taught seminary on Monday and Tuesday.  It went well and I enjoyed it.  I had good students and I think… I hope… we all learned something.  I know I learned.  Wednesday night the teacher came back, but I still went to church to help a youngish mom work on her parenting skills. I find sometimes I get frustrated when I hear all the reasons things don’t work and no expectation that any kind of change is possible or will be effective.

Thursday Tom and I left for Miranda’s.  On the way out of town we stopped for a “short” visit at the bank to drop some stuff off. We are refinancing one of our properties.  We had a lovely visit, but it was 1.5 hours later that we finally left town.  Throw in a short visit to ½ of ½ (Clothing store) and we arrived at Miranda’s in time for a late dinner.

We drove the truck out so we could bring a bed back for our summer migration of children and grandchildren. But the real reason for the visit was so Tom could run with Dan and Rebecca in the Warrior Dash—a three mile run with obstacles.  Tom had been preparing for it for a while—he’s been diligent with his running.  Good thing.  It was a grueling race.

The heats started every 15 minutes from 8am til 4? For two days!  Tons of people. TONS!!!  Just an amazing money maker, I’d think. Cars and more cars ($10/car) snaked to the race and parked in slightly muddy grass fields.

People dressed up in crazy outfits. Kilts, ninja turtles, a suit and tie (with cut off sleeves and trousers), superman, cave men, lingerie, tattoos, mohawks, skinheads.  Everyone was out to have fun. 

Oh sure. It starts out fun and games! 

 Then the race begins.

We can’t see them at all.  We just count the time until they come around to the last few obstacles.  We watched people jump the fire and swim through the mud for about 40 minutes until our fearless four came round the bend.  Their time was about 44 minutes I think.

 Here they are jumping the fire.

 Now into the mud hole.

 Dan and Randy (a friend) seemed to have energy at the end, but Rebecca and Dad looked bushed!

They finished in all their muddy glory. Notice the color of the "white" shirts.

 Dan brought the children to enjoy the finish and the cleanup.

  

Then they went to a nearby lake and cleaned off.  Rebecca said she felt clean, until she saw the cow pies in the water.  They looked a little more refreshed after the rinse in the lake.... and eager to go again here.

I think the race took a toll on the mental acuity as well.  Tom wandered around looking for his socks after he rinsed off in the lake.  Can YOU guess where they are?

 We went back to Miranda and Dan’s house so the runners could shower and change.  Dad loaded the bed and we took off just after Rebecca dropped Dan off at the airport.  For two tired puppies, they managed the drive to Mountain Home pretty well.  We arrived home about 8pm., unpacked, and went to bed.

Sunday went well.  Tom had Bishops Youth Discussion after church and then went home teaching.  Poor man. It’s 5 pm and he hasn’t had lunch yet.

Squeamish? Skip this blog

Monday was the day to turn our six Cornish crosses into meat. It had to be done.  The breed is meant for meet and has to be butchered at 6-8 weeks.  Their skeletal system can't take the weight.

I wanted to learn how to do this.  I figured if I was going to raise chickens for eggs, sometime, they'd have to go into the stew pot.  In the past, I'd been "fortunate."  All my hens had met their demise via dogs or varmints.  But I was hoping my luck would change and they would live to become old hens with plenty of egg laying behind them.

So I took the plunge and bought the chicks.  Like with children-- once your pregnant, there's no going back. Once purchased.... butchering was required.

So we gathered the supplies and reviewed the videos on http://butcherachicken.blogspot.com/  tables for cleaning and gutting, ice chest to hold the finished birds. Bucket for waste.  Heat for scalding.

I thanked them for their lives as I carried each chicken over to be hung by its feet and its throat slit.  Tom... he kept trying to be gentle... and therefore ineffective.  I figured the most merciful thing to do was to do it quickly.

We had hot water we scalded the chickens in.

Plucking took time, but it wasn't that bad. Next to the killing, I thought the plucking would be hardest.

But actually, removing the innards was the least delightful part.  Still, by that time, you're dealing with something that looks like meat.

By chicken #4 we were tired.  Perhaps emotionally, but also physically.  Um, too bad for us.  We had two more chickens to do.  The Cornish Crosses were too fat to move quickly.  But the other chickens were very alarmed as one-by-one chickens left and didn't come back.

They continue to be more skiddish than in the past.

What have we learned? We can do it. We can turn chickens into meat. By doing six of them, I think we learned it such that we'll remember how.  We also learned it's a lot of work!  It's cost effectiveness is questionable.  So these guys better taste REALLY good.

We stored them in the frig and the next day cut them up and froze them.

Mother's Day

I had a lovely combination Mother's Day birthday today.  Church was nice and Tom fixed breakfast and dinner.    I had asked him to write the blog.  And he wrote about our gorgeous flowers- See below.  But I thought there was more to the week than that.

Actually, there wasn't much more-- lawn mowing, writing, feeding chickens, gardening.  Mostly just the same things over and over.  Although Tom did fix the neighbor's toilet.  And we went to church on Saturday and deep-cleaned the church with about 35 other people.

So here is Tom's entry:

Spring is still alive and well in Mountain Home.  These Japanese Iris are still beautifying our front flower bed and make for a cheerful entry to the house. 

With the Japanese Iris in the background, the peony in front has over 40 potential blooms! 

A happy rose bush is a flowering rose bush!

The rose bush is a suitable background for these happy yellow Japanese Iris.

Can you guess which of these chickens are celebrating their last night in mortality? It has been six weeks, and these three white chicks will be in the freezer tomorrow.  You can tell they are much larger than the others.  They were bred to be fryers; sometimes they just plop down in front of the feeder and eat.  They don’t like to move much either.  Tomorrow is the big day; we plan to butcher the 6 fryers.  No, we have never done this before.  And you can be sure we will give you a detailed report next week, hopefully without all the graphic details!

Painting Week

This past week was enjoyable. Monday I worked on trying to finish up some writing assignments.  I finished the e-book I was writing for the executive coach.  It was to be about 7000 words but weighed in a little more than 9000.  One of my friends said I should be working ON my business as much as I was working IN my business.  I thought that was important.  So I started trying to get my website set up and I’m working more on marketing.

Tuesday Tom had his normal Wednesday meeting and then we drove to Miranda’s. Our goal was to help her paint the trim on her house. Yikes!  That house has a lot of trim.  The good news is that painting the trim really made the house look better.  Here is the original color:

Tuesday we looked at paint colors and even borrowed some paint from the neighbors to see if it would look good as a trim color.  We chose a dark brown—Chocolate swirl- and decided we liked it best of all.  It matched the roof, the stone and contrasted well with the tan/cream base color of the house.

Wednesday was a great painting day.  The sun was out.  It was warm, and we got a lot done.  All of us—Miranda, Tom and I—came in with muscles that told us they’d been working.  Dan had to work and travel that day.  It was so cute.  Camden really wanted to help paint. Miranda is rolling where Camden helped roll.

I was like, EEK! You’re kidding!  But Miranda gave him a little roller and he did an excellent job painting the flat cement surface between the trim and the stonework. He was so pleased with himself. And we were all impressed with his careful work.

That night the temperature dropped.  By morning it was in the 30’s with rain forecasted.  We went out and painted as much as we could.  We’d tried to paint areas that were unprotected.  By the time it started spattering rain, most of the places left to paint were under the porch and patio roofs. Dan and Tom addressed those and worked on painting the replacement for the side garage door.

I had worked hard, and so went off to shopping therapy at Half of Half. I’m pleased to say I kept up with tradition and looked at every purse there. I choose a green fabric one I think I’ll like.  I got a few pants and a top… and a bathroom rug.

That evening we enjoyed a rousing game of Five Crowns… at which I lost miserably.

Friday continued to be chilly. Tom got up early and took Dan to the airport to go visit Melinda. Tom spent the morning working on installing the garage side door. Then he went around and finished painting all places we’d missed and all the trim he could reach.  Where the roof peaks… that was just too high without a long extension ladder or scaffolding. 

Here is the finished trim (except for the peaks on the sides.)

While Tom painted, I worked on two articles that needed to be finished and gotten out.  Miranda and I labeled clothes and items for her “Just Between Friends” sale.  I also got sucked into watching “Monsters Inc.” which I had never watched all the way through before.  Movie watching made writing the articles a bit slower.

We left Miranda’s a little before 5 pm Friday night.  The Brett Family was having a free show on Saturday morning at 10 am. and I really wanted to go to that.  So we drove to Branson via Joplin and Springfield.  It started raining an hour into the drive and between Joplin and Springfield it turned into snow.  SNOW!  In May!  It covered the fields, but didn’t really stay on the roads.  By the time we dropped south to Branson it was back to rain.   

Here's a photo of the snow.  Sorry it's so blurry.

I really enjoyed the Brett show.  Good singing and dancing.  They had a tribute to our veterans and I realized how much patriotism we have lost. And how seldom we as a nation honor families and the roles of mother and father.  The people in our nation are moving in a selfish, hedonistic direction.

I came home to happy chickens, a Dan Kennedy training call, sending out the article, unpacking, and finding something is cutting off my onions right at the dirt line. Cutworms?  Solutions anyone?

Dan had generously offered first pick of his extra DVD’s so we came home with a stash and watched a movie Saturday night.

Today we had a good sacrament meeting and a great relief society lesson on the “tough doctrines” and how the trials may be difficult, but the Lord promises to always be with us and help us get through them with his power, love, and mercy.  The sister teaching it has a daughter that is fighting cancer so clearly she is speaking from experience.