A lovely chaotic week

Monday AM I called the lady at the lawyers office about rearranging our trust assets; she would have to check with the lawyer (our stake patriarch). He called a couple of hours later - could we meet at 4:30 that afternoon, and bring our tax consultant?  I was impressed that he personally called and that he had time to meet with us that day. After almost two hours of diagrams, explanations and questions, we learned that yes we can shift all the rental homes into Sandy's trust for tax purposes.  He also explained a method that would shelter our assets in the event long term nursing care is required; we opted not to go that way.  Sandy was beat after that session and we came home to a wonderful dinner prepared by Rebecca (again!). Then Kristy arrived that Monday evening with her five children.

Tuesday I took Isabelle to mow Deborah's overgrown rent house yard while I cut back the brush growing through the fence on from the neighbor's yard.

There was much fun and rejoicing as cousins were able to play and have fun. We spent one evening having the grand children ask Sandy questions about her growing up and her childhood; it was well received by all. Then Wednesday afternoon Kera with three children arrived and Kristy left in the evening. More fun activities over the next couple of days. They especially enjoy making bead thingies that are then ironed.

I had gotten Sandy and later two of Charlotte's siblings Fox t-shirts for working at the house a couple of months ago. Charlotte liked it enough to buy her own and here she is with Sandy.

Sandy saw Clifford again on Thursday. Then I took Callie with me to Deborah's rent house to clean it out. The tenant had moved and left a lot of stuff behind; like 1180 pounds worth! They also left an abundance of fleas and roaches, ugh! We bombed... twice to knock down the population. Then we loaded trash, clothes, sofas, and other stuff into the trailer and delivered it to the transfer station.

While Kera was here she helped Tom implement his  vision for a new mail box. It was an early birthday present and She did an amazing job painting Foxes on our new mail box.  All of us are thrilled with Kera's artistic talents. We hope this will help people better identify our house.





Friday Kera took her children home in the afternoon. Matthew was able to mow Adam's rent house and we got an offer on his house. Unfortunately, it was for less than we were willing to accept and countered. Have not heard back from the potential buyer. Around 8 pm Friday, a family of four that were good friends of Rebecca when they lived in Iwakuni drove from Ft Riley Kansas where the husband is station, to visit for the weekend. Again, lots of fun with their two children, 6 and 8.

Here is Rylee with her friend Taylor:

Today we again had some great council from the pulpit. Kaden, Lacey Arndt's 12 year old son delivered an impressive talk about the Family, a Proclamation to the World. I had submitted the names of three youth to serve as Temple and Family History Consultants; they were called and set apart today. Their initial purpose will be to visit all the youth, see that Family Tree is downloaded in their phones/tablets/devices and that they have four generations researched. If not, they will assist them to do so.

Our next family guests arrive Friday when Deborah and children come to visit. And next Saturday is the 3rd Annual Pie Fest at our house. Rebecca has already started making pies that can be frozen, but the real baking will start in earnest later this week. Family and friends are invited.

Sandy update:  her health is slowly declining. She has traded her will to win this battle with cancer to one of finding joy and happiness in her remaining time and leaving with dignity.

There is an elephant in my room!

The first part of the week was spent in a variety of activities, most of which involved sweating since they were outside. There was a fence to uncover from unwanted underbrush growth, a pasture to bush hog, a lawn to mow and a garden to weed.  Any one need any beans?  We got plenty!

Wednesday Sandy had her first CT scan since January. Thursday was an uneventful to us July 4th. Friday Sandy had an appointment with the oncologist about her scan results.  No improvement; all areas only showed increased cancer growth. The most growth was in the abdominal cavity and the liver; but the doctor said the liver is very resilient and lower on the extended pain level. The immunotherapy treatments evidently have not been successful and therefore will not be continued. We left feeling disappointed in the results since our hopes and prayers had been for improvement; however, it did not come as a real surprise. Sandy had been 'slowing' down over the past few days: increased pain, less appetite, less energy.

Which brings me to that big elephant in the room; we can address the final days issue without fear.We can officially acknowledge that Sandy is dying, we just don't know how long she will remain with us. Sort of like the Second Coming of the Savior; we know it is coming, but not the date, so we do all we can to be prepared for that time.

Friday evening I drove to Springfield MO to pick up Rebecca and her four girls. I can't drive through Springfield without stopping at Andy's Frozen Custard; they have great hot fudge sundaes. After logging over 24 hours of terminal/flight time, they were bright and cheery when they arrived.

 We were home by 1230 am. So you know that Saturday was a slow day for all.  We did get to Walmart to stock up on food.

Today we had church. Good testimonies were shared and we had a good lesson on the importance of the holy ghost in our lives. It was pointed out that we need to help our children learn to recognize the spirit and then act upon its promptings.

Rebecca is now busy making waffles for dinner; after all, we need something scrumptious to put the strawberries on!

Summer has arrived!

Congratulations to Ben on his perseverance and patience in finally getting his septic tank installed!!

Monday AM I went running. Then showered and got the last couple of items completed on the rent house so we could meet with two different realtors later in the morning. One came prepared with some comps for the area; she had evidently scoped out the house in the previous days and had a good knowledge of the area and quoted a price range lower than we had hoped for.  The second realtor has been rated number one in the area for the last couple of years and brought his assistant with him. They addressed a variety of issues, such as potential market (investor or first time buyer), concerns about home inspections, loans, and other items we had not considered. We liked his approach and marketing strategy, but our sense of loyalty to a good friend pulled us his way. We hope to have paper work signed tomorrow and have the house on the market. Sandy had a chiro appointment later in the day.  Since she has not felt up to driving lately, I am now "driving for Sandy' full time.

Tuesday was the birthday of one of our sister missionaries; another ward member invited us to join him for lunch to celebrate and we had a delightfully low key meal at the local Italian Restaurant. How does anyone ever eat all the food they serve? We brought home enough for two more meals!

Wednesday I went running again. Then took truck to the mechanic for a new ignition key and then Sandy to the chiro in the afternoon. She is doing well enough that she does not need to return unless she feels the need to.

Thursday AM Sandy had an appointment with Clifford. I brought her home at 10 am so she could change before driving to Jonathan's for the night. We made the required stop at Harry and David's for medicinal chocolate and then at Andy's Frozen Custard for the mandatory hot fudge sundae. We spent a quiet evening with the MO Foxes, although Jonathan was with the scouts on their high adventure camp.  Aaron was also at the camp.  Charlotte and Matthew were visiting for the week so we got to visit with them as well.

The purpose for this trip was obviously to visit family, but also to have a shorter drive to the theater in Springfield that was showing "The Other Side of Heaven, Part 2".  So Friday mid morning, Kristy and Isabelle drove their car to Springfield and we met them at the theater to view the film. Some dramatic anxiety inducing scenes with a powerful message about forgiveness, service and love of the Savior. Worth Watching!!! And since we were in Springfield, and there was an Andy's nearby, we had to stop for another hot fudge sundae before we headed home. We made a quick stop in Harrison at Aldi's to stock up on staples and were home by 630 pm. It was an early night to bed.

I was up early Saturday morning to be at the local college to run the Red, White and Blue 5 k sponsored by the Mountain Home police department. I was nervous about running since sickness kept me from training for four weeks and I only had 12 days of practice to prepare. It was a hot and humid morning that greeted us. I started off faster than anticipated and slowed throughout the race, but still did better than anticipated. And I did not die!  It was my slowest time ever (maybe I am aging), but was under 35 minutes (by one second). Unfortunately they lump all those over 60 age into one group; I was 4th, so no metal for me this year. But I suspect I was the oldest one there. Maybe if I ran faster... I came home, ate, weed whipped the yard, showered and then took a two hour nap!

That evening we had stake conference at the stake center. I baked chocolate chip cookies to give to my traditional families and we took three members from our ward to enjoy the evening session. As always great messages from the mission and temple presidents. The best part was a panel with recent converts and fellowshipping couples talking about why they were interested in attending church, join, and continue to do stay active. Great missionary moments were shared. It was a late night.

Today we attended the Sunday session of stake conference that was broadcast into our local building. Again we had talks on conversion, ministering and loving the way the Savior loves.

Some photos:
First of the interior of the house we hope to sell:

We had one hen sitting on eight fertilized eggs and they all hatched Wednesday.

Don't know where this guy came from, but he showed up Thursday morning in the chicken coop:

Charlotte with Sandy.

Good times in Arkansas!

Another busy week for the Foxes, at least from my perspective. It was a bit of a challenge for me to juggle working at the rent house, keeping the home front fires going and getting Sandy to her various appointments. With her back troubling her, she opted not to drive this week.

Monday the van had a date with the oil change doctor. 6.4 quarts of oil! It is more convenient and easier to let the mechanic change the oil since it now requires special tools (and a lift helps too). Then off to the rent house to install the floor in the laundry room.  Difficult to work around the water heater when you don't drain and move it. Then home to get Sandy to her chiropractor appointment in the afternoon.

Tuesday I was able to spend most of the day at the rent house.  Painted and installed quarter round in the kitchen and laundry room. Was also able to paint the floor in two of the bedrooms. I tried to match the color of paint with the current one since Lowe's no longer has that color.  I thought "Death by Chocolate' was a good match! And it was. I was able to get Sandy to the Relief Society activity that night. They were doing an Escape Room, and since the priesthood may have a similar activity, Sandy can't tell me about it.

Wednesday was interesting; between an 1145 doctor's followup appointment and a 3 pm chiropractor appointment, I was running back and forth from working at the house then back to pickup Sandy. I did get the rest of the floor painted and the porch painted.  We had invited the sister missionaries to dinner and I was able to get dinner prepared on time.  One of the sisters wanted a fudge making experience, so following an enchilada dinner we made fudge. While I sent a good portion home with them, I am still enjoying it.

Thursday I started mowing our yard while still cool; then took Sandy to her weekly appointment with Clifford; then to a disabled church member to mow his yard and then back to our house to complete mowing it before picking up Sandy.

Friday I left the house at 430 am to get to the church for our monthly trip to the temple.  Actually had 14  people who wanted to attend,and needed two vehicles. We managed to get some amazing work completed while there.  Part way through, a thunderstorm blew through with a lot of thunder, which was audible in the temple. We left in the rain and only proceeded 20 miles before we ran into some serious traffic. We never did see the original accident that tied traffic up, we just knew it took us three hours to go what normally takes 90 minutes. Did not get home until 10 pm.

Saturday was up to help a couple unload a U-Haul truck into their newly purchased home. Fortunately there were plenty of hands and we were done by 9 am. So I came home took a short break and was back at the rent house to complete the last minute items now that the floor was dry. Besides, we have two realtors coming on Monday morning to offer their opinions on pricing and such.

Monday was the first time in a month that I went running. There is a 5 K the last Saturday of the month that I have run several times in the past and am hopeful I will be able to do so again this year. I was able to run again Wednesday morning and then on Thursday and Saturday evenings.  Nothing impressive, but at least I can still run. Not sure about next Saturday; will have to see how next week goes.

Today we had great talks (again) in sacrament meeting. The stake young women's camp director didn't really talk about girl's camp; rather she shared some experiences about her first son who exhibited a strong will at an early age. She was prompted to spend one on one time with him reading from the Book of Mormon. Changed his perspective, and hers as well, and the challenges diminished considerable. The next three were young women who addressed girl's camp.

Local rainfall:  over three inches in the last 36 hours for a monthly total of 7.8. We have had 39 inches so far this year. Just in case anyone was interested!

This next week promises to continue to be exciting. Realtors on Monday, going to Jonathan's Thursday so we can view "The Other Side of Heaven" Part II at a Springfield theater on Friday and then Stake Conference next weekend.

A fun week!

 Happy Fathers Day!  I would like to pay special tribute to my sons and sons-in-law for assuming their sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, and to teach them to love and serve one another, observe the commandments of God, and be law-abiding citizens wherever they live.

It was a beautiful week with lovely weather the entire time.  Following the adage that it is easier to maintain a weed free garden than to retake it, I spent time each morning removing all those pesky unwanted volunteers.  We have enjoyed snap peas and fresh lettuce so far.

I spent time at the rent house each day this week.  Finally got the interior painted; pressure washed the exterior; hired a friend to paint all the exterior trim and the front; and on Friday I installed a floating floor in the kitchen. I am hopeful that work on this house will be completed by week's end.

We had a week of loud laughter and the sound of little feet up and down the stairs.  Miranda and her four arrived Tuesday afternoon (they brought pizza for dinner).  And then Deborah with five of hers (Sarah was at girl's camp) arrived Wednesday.  Miranda prepared yummy lumpia for dinner Wednesday.  Thursday evening I had invited the sister missionaries for dinner, so we had hamburgers and hot dogs.

Some of the grand children had expressed an interest in earning money; the challenge was to find things for young ones to perform successfully. The chicken coop had gone several weeks without being mowed; it was interesting to watch Ethan trying to push the mower in the tall grass.  He had the desire, but it was almost more than he could do. So I helped him some. But they were very helpful in getting several chores done, and even more important, inspired me to work off a couple of items on my to do list as well.  It was a win win situation. And it was great to see how well the cousins worked together in accomplishing a common goal.

The highlight was on Friday afternoon.  A dead tree had fallen; with the prospect of a bonfire, I had plenty of help cleaning up the debris and putting it on the burn pile. Then after dinner, the coals were ready for roasting of smores and the day ended on a most yummy and happy moment.

Since both families were leaving Saturday, the girls planned a Father's Day meal for Friday; Deborah  fixed Bourbon Street Chicken and Miranda baked a rhubarb pie. Miranda made some peppermint patties and peanut clusters (some of which have been consumed during the typing of this blog).

And then by 1 pm Saturday, it was suddenly very very quiet. We do enjoy and appreciate family visits. Sandy did learn a painful lesson this week:  do not pick up 25 pound grand children:  she hurt her back and has been to the chiropractor twice already. Friday she connected with her primary care physician (actually it was a nurse practitioner) who prescribed a steroid, non steroid, and something else.  Unfortunately, these caused some nausea with upset stomach. A check with the family pharmacist (thank you Robert) confirmed that she needed to cease taking the steroid if she wanted to overcome the nausea. She was better today, but did not trust her stomach to attend church (that was a good decision). It's tough for her to keep adding problems to her life-- abdominal issues, then back pain, then nausea and not being able to keep anything down.... Despite her set backs, Sandy continues to amaze me with her positive attitude and perseverance.

Sad news of the week: my computer screen died and a new one was ordered but won't arrive until Monday. (It was interesting how the grand kids clammored to play on the computer, but once it was dead, there were no complaints and they happily played board games or played outside.) One of our chickens died and worst of all, our long haired calico cat, Athena, died.  Not sure what was the cause of her death, but it was clear she had been dead for a couple of days when I finally found her.

We hope next week will bring better news. On the plus side, we had excellent speakers in Sacrament meeting with one young man leaving on his mission early July.  It has been impressive to see him mature. We had a good Sunday school lesson on the Atonement of the Savior. It helped remind me of the importance of taking the sacrament to always remember the great and eternal sacrifice of the Savior.

Garden Reclamation Week

I determined that after four weeks of total disregard for the garden, that this was the week to reclaim the wheat from the tares. Monday I started at 630, spending about 45 minutes on my hands and knees (easier on the back) digging out weeds. Not bad for a guy who could barely get out of bed the week before. Then I came in and got breakfast for the two of us, showered, and took a nap! We both had an appointment with our attorney concerning a trust Sandy is contemplating. Then I was off to the rent house to paint the interior. That evening we had empty nestors; I baked a cake for that event since we weren't sure if Sandy would be up to this activity. Fortunately she was and we had a good time visiting and having a short lesson.

Tuesday, I was back in the garden by 630 and worked an hour.  It is cooler at that time and the sun is not high enough to shine on the garden; good time to be out there. But the chickens are noisy! They keep up an almost continuous stream of cackling and whatever other sounds chickens make. When I headed off to work at the rent house, Sandy headed off to the oncologist for her immunotherapy appointment. The doctor is scheduling a CT scan before he does another infusion. Hopefully that will transpire in the next 10 days and will give us an idea of what the cancer has been doing these past 5 months.

Wednesday was a repeat of the week; in the garden by 630, work for an hour, breakfast, clean up, short nap and then back to the rent house. This particular house was built in the 50-60's time frame, when the dams were being built. It has a solid concrete foundation; the interior walls are genuine lathe and plaster (try putting a nail in the wall). It originally had two bedrooms, about 9 x 9 foot. The living room is 12 x 20 foot and the kitchen 12 x 16 foot. You can see where the emphasis was back in those days. The 2 car carport had been converted to a decent sized bedroom and we upgraded by adding a laundry room when we first purchased it in 2004. And it only has one small bathroom. But it has character.

Thursday...yes back to the garden for weed therapy. But I was able to complete the wall painting in the rent house. Next is the trim.

Friday more early morning garden weeding (see the title of this post). I am 90% complete; but then I get to start over again next week. We have enjoyed lettuce and snap peas so far. When I woke up, the clocks were flashing, indicating a disruption in power (why I like wall clocks!). I checked on line news and discovered that a substation 3 miles from us had some type of malfunction or lightening strike and the entire station burned to the ground! The electric coop official said in his 30 years experience, this was the first time he had heard of this happening.  The fire initially plunged a majority of Mountain Home into darkness; we probably only lost power for a couple of minutes since we live near another substation. But 1100 customers were without power for an unknown period of time. I went out to check on some of my ministering families to see how they were doing without power. Evidently there were some members who purchased generators back in the 2009 ice storm that did not bother to run them periodically to ensure they were operable. One brother was busy repairing several of those overlooked generators. One member has a friend near the damaged substation; when he looked outside and saw the flames his first thought was, It's the Second Coming!

We had a date with the Drakes to go to the St Louis Temple and they picked us up at 3 pm; we stopped in Rolla for a Mexican dinner and arrived at our hotel by 830 pm.We were up and at the temple by 830 am Saturday and enjoyed a wonderfully spiritually time there until we left about 1230 pm. It is always a joy to serve in the temple and soak up the wonderful spirit that is there.We also brought home Saul, a young man from our ward that is headed to the Mexican MTC in three weeks. He spent the past week as a volunteer in the temple. What a great experience for him prior to serving a mission. We stopped at Olive Garden on the way out of town, then had a DQ milkshake in Cabool and got home by 7 pm.  Sandy held up well for the entire trip. We did have a dying chicken when we arrived and I had to take care of her. But we do have one hen that insists on nesting; so we obtained some fertilized eggs for her to sit on.

Today in Sacrament meeting we heard from our stake patriarch and his wife. Some powerful spiritual thoughts were shared on revaluation and feeling the Holy Spirit.

Where did April Go?

Monday I met an electrician at one of our rent homes to see about installing an electrical outlet by the kitchen sink. What, there isn't one there now? No. We have owned the house for 10 years and never paid attention to this shortfall, until when doing a recent walk  thru that the tenant had run an extension cord up over a doorway so she could have power at that countertop. A relatively easy fix.

On Monday and Tuesday I worked around the rain to trim back some overgrowth at another rental. It is easier to cut it back now rather than wait a year when the underbrush grows out of control.  Next step is to spray some bush killer on it.

Wednesday Sandy met with her primary physician (per her suggestion) as a follow up. She was gone less than an hour, and it is a 15 drive to the office.  How much care did she really receive?  She did ask for a prescription to prevent seasickness. She saw Clifford on Thursday morning and then her favorite home health nurse visited on Friday. Not much to report on her condition. I refer to is as 'flat line'; no minor changes up or down.

Friday I had my hearing checked; it has been 15 years since I officially had this done. I was impressed with the thoroughness of the procedure. They checked for hearing and clarity. Yes my hearing capacity is degrading, but not significant to need any aids. And the checkup was free!

Friday evening we invited the sister missionaries and a friend to dinner.  The sisters were able to attend. Made one of my favorite recipes, onion cheese pies. Now that I am doing most of the cooking, there is no excuse for me not to enjoy some of those meals I really enjoy, but may not have eaten often since Sandy was doing the cooking.  Then, maybe the reason they were so delicious at the time was because they were a rare treat.

The tenant in Adam's house unexpectedly moved out and I spent time Thursday and Friday taking care of things there. Any trash they left behind was in the nine full trash bags they left. I just needed to find sufficient space to deposit those. And why is there a towel in the cabinet under the bath sink? And why is it wet?  And why is there a full two gallon container under the p-trap under the kitchen sink? What, you have only lived here two months and can't report these problems? The bathroom needed a new drain; simply fix. One of the drain lines had separated under the kitchen sink. Again an easy fix.  Still don't understand why people can put a basin under the leak to catch the water, but can't pick up the phone to report the problem.  The frustrations of land owners.

Saturday was an interesting day, but that story starts a couple weeks ago. Somehow the ward leadership became aware of a destitute family of eight (four generations) and reached out to assist them. One family in particular has been very support of their efforts to help them get on their feet; they extended the proverbial 'go the extra mile' to running a marathon. For example, one morning while the husband and wife were in McDonalds a complete stranger ask why the sister was looking so discouraged. So she shared her concern about a family that was being evicted and had little furniture.  This man said he had a three bedroom house full of furniture which they could have. With help from ward members, housing was obtained and yesterday was move day. There was a great turn out of members of all ages and by early afternoon, they were settled into two new to them homes.  As we moved the parents of four young children into their new place, it was obvious it was not quite ready for occupancy. The property manager had been assured it was all finished, but it wasn't. We discovered that the water heater wasn't functioning and the frig was the same.They did get a frig later in the day. I noticed that neither toilet functioned and paid Home Depot a visit for the necessary parts. Didn't feel right leaving them without a working toilet. 30 minutes later all was well. 

We had a good testimony meeting today; good faith promoting testimonies were shared.  And we had an inspiring discussion on why the Jewish leaders had difficulty accepting the Savior for who He is and why we have trouble seeing the good others do because of our preconceived ideas.

The best news:  it isn't raining!! and the sun is shining brightly.