On the road...again

Monday kept me busy. Haircut in the morning, then the grief support group at 1 pm, followed by a meeting with the realtor at one of our rental homes. Because it is a duplex, the most likely buyer would be an investor, so I was happy that both tenants want to remain in place. I offered to let them sign new one year leases to ensure stability, but don't know what they will do. Hope to have a contract at the end of the month.

Tuesday I spent six hours at Adam's rent house working on a new parking spot for the tenant. They have two cars and only one parking spot and there is no legal street parking. I had the large tree, adjacent the one parking spot, removed last month. So while we had a break in the rain, I needed to level the ground, install some 4 x 6 timbers and toss in some gravel. Shoveling one ton of gravel reminded me that I still have some muscles; they constantly reminded me all evening.

Wednesday we were back to rain again. Had my monthly maintenance chiropractor appointment first thing. Then I removed the headlights from the Model A and drove out to a friends in Yellville that is restoring a 1931 Model A. Part of the innards of my headlights were rusted and broken and in need of replacement. Tom was able to spot weld the new pieces in place for me. The original idea had been for me to drive the car to his place, but since it was raining, only the headlights went. Now I need to find some wire connectors and time to install everything.  One of Rebecca's tenants moved out; this is the house that was completely painted last spring, and new vinyl planking installed in the 36 by 8 foot laundry room, kitchen and dining room. Last fall the tenant ripped up over 50% of that floor because of a water leak; it doesn't make sense to me. But he did purchase tile and mortar sufficient to do the entire floor, so it was not a total lose. But, I will need to repaint most of the walls and trim again. The husband is an Army disabled vet and the wife works at one of the nursing homes. After seeing how they lived, I have my concerns about ever going to a nursing home!

Thursday I left early to drive to visit Miranda and family. Deborah is about 2.5 hours on the way, so I stopped to visit with her and Hailey before continuing on to Tulsa. With Dan's pending move to the Bentonville, AR area around summertime, they need to complete some work on their current home so they can put it on the market later this spring. About 200 square feet of masonite lap siding needed to be replace on the north side of the house. How do you paint the siding that is 16 feet long when it is raining?

Miranda demonstrates the indoor painting booth!

I didn't get a photo once we removed the old siding, but here it is one half way through.

And here is the finished product:

There were some other items that needed attention as well. Replace a broken window, replace a bath sink p-trap, repair a kitchen drawer glide.

Dan was released as elder's quorum president today. Good sacrament meeting talks. Excellent lesson in Sunday School about the need for the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

Exciting Adventures in Arkansas 9 February 2020

Does not seem that long ago that I was sitting at this computer composing last week's letter; time does move on in spite of my efforts to try to slow down.

The first Monday of the month the grief support group gets together at a local restaurant for lunch, prior to our meeting. I attended for my first time this week and enjoyed a good breakfast for lunch and got to know some of the group members better. I also set up for Empty Nesters for that evening since I was in charge. We had our usual potluck meal and then a program. I had invited everyone to share a short, but faith inspiring story about how windows had been opened in their search for family names; how they had overcome roadblocks in their searches. When you have some members that go back to the Restoration era, it can be challenging to get everyone to stay on topic; but even with about 25 of us, we heard from a majority of them within an hour.. And they all had good stories and testimonies to share.

Tuesday it rained, again. The pond is as full as it has been in the past year. I spent time scanning. Most of the photos are done, so I retrieved a container that had a couple of notebooks of letters. So I spent some time going down memory lane (I can't scan them without reading them first!), reading Sandy's 1968 letter commenting about my letter to her wherein I told her we would probably be nothing more than just friends (glad that wasn't true!), to her letters while I attended OCS and then during 1980 when I returned to Okinawa for another 6 months. In the latter, she shared insights into the children, the difficulty some had with their homework, the challenges of attending church with five young children and the support she received from ward members, of obtaining fruit from Sally and canning - a lot. But there are a lot more letters to go. I also had a closing in the afternoon of one of our rent homes (two down,more to go). By the time I got my check, it was about 8% less than what we had paid for it 13 years ago. But it did provide us a good monthly income during that time.

Wednesday I spent a couple of hours at the family history center; with drizzle weather, we had no patrons, but I was able to print off some names for me to take to the temple. Then more scanning in the afternoon.

Thursday I woke up to a light dusting of snow on the ground. Within 24 hours it was gone. I inspected the elder's apartment, a task that is to be done every six weeks. The last time I inspected we still had sisters. Not much changed. I connected with two of our tenants in a duplex; I want to put it on the market and would prefer that they stay.  Having renters will be more appealing to a potential buyer. Both were agreeable to my proposal and the realtor and I will do a walk through on Monday so he can price it and we can get a contract written.

Friday I was up a little earlier and headed off to the St Louis Temple. I arrived in time to visit with a member of the temple presidency who then set me apart as an ordinance worker. I scheduled to work three shifts, Tuesday morning and evening and Wednesday morning the first week of each month. This will require my driving up Monday afternoon, and returning Wednesday afternoon. I am looking forward to this new phase in my life. I spent the afternoon completing work on the names I had taken and then headed off to the Comfort Inn. But I stopped at the distribution center to obtain the appropriate 'uniform' for the temple.

Saturday I returned to the temple to complete more ordinances and then started home about noon. My normal routine is to stop at a St Louis Bread Co for lunch. They have some food I have become fond of. Enroute, I stopped at Costco and resisted the urge to buy some delicious food that appealed to me. Some things would spoil before I could consume them (or I would get fat eating just so it didn't go to waste); some come in such large quantities, that even if I froze them, it would take a couple of  months to eat them. I did have a list of three items, and walked out with about 12. I returned home safely and just as the full moon was peeking up over the horizon; a beautiful sight.

It had been over a month since I last ran, so I broke out the treadmill and managed to run four days this past week. I am taking it slow and building up. 

Today we had good talks on why we need to pray, found out prayer is a form of work. Then we heard about the importance of temple work. I was invited to dinner by a ward family and enjoyed the food and the visit. Then dashed over to another member home for a Come Follow Me discussion. The Maples had invited two other couples and myself; it was a fun evening discussing 2 Nephi 6-10; lots of different perspectives. And we scheduled to rotate between homes meeting once a month.

February has arrived

Busy week.  I was invited to a church member's home for dinner Monday night and I asked if I could bring a desert, thinking I would make a chocolate cherry cake; as I prepared to make it Sunday afternoon, I discovered, much to my embarrassment, that I was out of cherries! So the first thing Monday I was at the market buying the needed cherries so I could come home and make a cake. Then I went over to the neighbors to haul off some wood to my burn pile.  Attended my grief support group in the afternoon; I am learning more names to go with the faces which is helping me to feel more comfortable with these people and create a good feeling about attending. Then it was off to a wonderful dinner; the elders were invited so there was a total of 10 around the table. Good food, fun conversation and an uplifting FHE. And the cake was great.

Tuesday I kept busy. I had taken the used truck hood and tailgate to get painted and the guy texted me first thing that they were ready and could I drop the truck off so he could install them. Argh! how do I get the truck into town and back home again? I was impressed to call a couple in town and they were willing to help. They met me at the place where the truck was and brought me home. And they suggested someone else who could probably bring me back in the afternoon. And he was able to do so! And the truck looks much better.

Wednesday I was gone by 6 am to go to the St Louis Temple with a good friend. He had not been to the temple for around 40 years (his admission) and felt it was time to go back. I was honored that of all the people he could ask, he invited me to take him. We only did one session and returned home. Due to his medical issues, we did not stay to do more.

Thursday I was on the road again; this time to Russellville and a visit to Andy's family. I arrived in time for lunch. Kera had started tiling the kid's bathroom and so I was able to assist her and we got it done before bedtime. They had previously ripped out the old shower and cabinet, installed a new tub and gotten things ready to tile.

Friday we cleaned the tile, Andy textured areas to match the original walls, we made a trip to Lowes and got the vinyl flooring installed. But that last process involved removing the vanity, which required disconnecting the p-trap and water lines, removing the sink top and finding temporary places to store all those items. These jobs always take longer than anticipated!

Saturday, Kera and Andy grouted the tile and Aaron primed the walls. Once they were dry, Kera and I painted the walls. Then we installed the new toilet, only to find out that the replacement shut off valve purchased previous day, was not correct. That entailed a trip to the local hardware store. Once the correct valve was install, Andy and I got the toilet installed in the afternoon. So now the bathroom has a usable toilet. After a couple of trips to Lowes, the decision was made to stain the old vanity and reinstall it. So Kera was busy staining it that evening. Still some work to do before the tub is operational.

Aaron and I took a couple of hours off during the afternoon to go watch the latest 'Starwar' movie, which neither of us had seen. I was duly impressed. I always like it when the good guys/gals win. That evening we played the obligatory game of 5-Crowns; I was not the high scorer. Charlotte joined us; she does not have a good poker face.

Today in church we heard some good testimonies on the Savior and His love for us. Sunday School was good. It is interesting as I visit different wards to see the dynamics of the members and their actions with other members. Everything is not perfect, but the people are mostly loving, caring and understanding of those who uniquely different.

Today was a day sandwiched between two landmark dates for me: Saturday was the 4th month since Sandy's passing and tomorrow will mark the 49th anniversary of our baptism into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. No regrets there at all! One of the top three decisions Sandy and I ever made (getting married, joining the church, sealed in the temple - in no particular order).

Week ending 26 January 2020

Last Monday I was still in Mt Vernon with Jonathan and family and Miranda and family. Kristy spent a couple of hours assisting me with some financial matters that need the attention of one much smarter than me. Then Dan and I braved the freezing weather to install an exterior light at their barn. After a quick lunch, I was on my way home, with a stop at Aldis.

Tuesday was a catch up day. Visit the bank to close an unused account, get the oil in the truck changed - that ended up being an expensive oil change: the radiator was found to be leaking in a couple of different places and needed to be changed, and so it was - signing a contract on the rent house I had been preparing to go on the market, and scanning more documents. And the realtor called in the afternoon to say he had an offer on the house! Since the offer was less than desired, we discussed a proper counter offer. And it was accepted! On the market less than 36 hours and I have a signed contract. It is a cash offer, so the closing date is two weeks away. We bought this house 13 years ago; it sold for about the same price as we paid for it. So I won't see a profit in that sense, but it did pay good rent over that period of time and was paid for.

Wednesday I spent about three hours in the family history center; after all that is my calling. Later in the day I made a batch of cookies for the Thursday night activity. 

Thursday evening was a family history activity which I hosted. We discussed ways and means to record personal and family history and then what to do with all that information. This was billed as a one hour activity with punch and cookies. It was a productive session with about 27 people present and there were lots of cookies. In preparation for this activity, I dug through the 'archives' looking for suitable material to share and found letters dating back to the late 1960's Sandy and I had written. Of course I stop to look at them and this opens the windows of sadness and grief. But it is not all that difficult to cope with; in fact I find a certain joy in reviewing our lives together over the past 50 years. A new concept I read this past week sums up my feelings:  "For many people their grief is their most vital connection to that which is lost."

Friday was tax day. I worked on getting stuff organized to pass on to my accountant. 

We did have a lot of gray, cloudy drizzly days this week. Friday we had big white snow flakes which melted as soon as they contacted the ground; the temperature was just above 32 degrees. But it show looked pretty. This week my weather station decided not to function; I suspect it needs a new battery, but I was not about to go out with temperatures in the mid 30's and to replace it.

Saturday the church youth had organized a wood cutting service project. There were sufficient youth and adults to split into three separate groups to cut and split wood for those in need. I was asked to assist; they needed my truck and trailer and I was a bonus. We had three young men, one young women, and five adults in my group and we spent almost 5 hours splitting wood, loading it in the trailer and delivering it. Our group did not have a hydraulic splitter to start with, so we did the maul thing for the first hour. Then two splitters arrived; good thing because those 30 inch cuts of wood were not easy to split by hand. Evidently the need to clear wood was greater than the need for wood; I still have at least a rick's worth on my trailer. Anyway, I came home and took a long nap.

Today in church one of the youth speakers addressed the new youth program and its four goals. The final speaker lost her husband less than a year ago and commented on how at times when she is in despair, going outside herself is the best thing to do; such as look for opportunities to help others. That thought resonated with me. Later this evening I have a dinner appointment with a church couple.

Sunday, 19 January 2020

Sunday, 19 January 2020

This may be somewhat disjointed today. I am writing from Mt Vernon, MO and don't have the advantage of my calendar to refer to. Monday I did some work at the 'house to put on the market' before attending the grief support group. This week was a good session, at least for me. I rushed home to make a chicken enchilada dish for empty nesters. The county judge was a guest and he discussed his responsibilities, including that of maintaining 700 miles of roads, the 911 center and facts like even the sheriff can't purchase a vehicle without his consent. We also had a briefing on the 911 web sight that allows you to sign up for emergency phone texts in the event of an emergency (tornado, severe weather, etc).

Tuesday I had originally planned driving to Mt Vernon to get some financial assistance from Kristy, but then their internet was not cooperating, so I stayed home. I was able to get the interior of the 'house to put on the market' finished so it could get cleaned.

Wednesday is a blank except I did attend an Eagle Court of Honor for two brothers. Good presentation. One of the boys had received a $5000 grant to build a homeless shelter. With the help of ward members, scouts, volunteers and donations from local builders, he built a small shelter for three on a trailer. It is currently in use in a neighboring county.

Thursday I went to the auto junk yard. The clear coat of paint is worn on the hood of the truck and is starting to rust. The tail gate took a hit when I backed into a tree a couple of years ago. It was time to make some cosmetic improvements; so I found a junk yard with the appropriate parts, purchased them and dropped them off at a guy in town that does paint and body work on the side. I should have them back in a week. 

Friday I spent two hours with the lawyer putting the final touches on a petition to the court to modify Sandy's trust. While it made sense when she initially set it up the way she did, reality indicated it was not the best way to proceed. So now, all six children and three 'no longer minor' grandchildren need to sign the document, have it notarized and then mailed back. Once all nine signed documents are in, then a request needs to be made to get on the judges docket; she will review it and hopefully approve and then I can proceed with some of Sandy's trust holdings.

Friday evening I spent an hour cleaning the chapel. Then later, Miranda and family arrived. The original plan had been for them to come for the weekend and they would help with some of the around the house chores. But that plan was modified when Kristy called on Tuesday asking if I would be available to come for Jonathan's ordination to the office of a high priest, preparatory to him becoming their ward's new bishop on Sunday. So we decided to drive up Saturday evening and spend time there and return to our separate homes on Monday. So Miranda's family helped finish cleaning the chapel Saturday morning and then Dan, Alex and I went to the 'house to be put on the market' to cut a tree down. That project took two hours and three pick up loads of debris, but the deed is done. We did manage to leave Mountain Home about 4 pm, stop in Branson at Chick-filet for dinner and in Springfield at Andy's for a hot fudge sundae before arriving at Jonathan's house.

Today a new bishopric was called, sustained and set apart. The former and new bishops and their wives were invited to share testimony. It is odd not to turn my head when members call Jonathan "Bishop Fox".

12 January 2020

Attended my grief support group Monday afternoon. We had two new attendees. Always interesting to hear others stories about the loss of loved ones. I came home feeling more depressed and lost than usual; did this class cause these feelings? I still find them beneficial and will continue to attend.

The local area has two utility companies that provide electrical service:  Entergy and the local Coop. My experience with Entergy this past week reinforced why I really really really like my Coop. Over a three day period of time and with a combined time of over five hours, I was finally able to get a service request for power to an empty rent house. Day one was like this: after waiting for 20 minutes the agent informs me that their system is down; please call back in an hour. So I waited 90 minutes, waited 15 minutes and was told the same thing. I repeated this one more time with the same results. Day two: after 20 minutes of waiting (their music is repetitive and monotonous) the agent takes all my info and then at the last keystroke rejects the request; so the agent transfers me to another agent hopeful their computer will be more cooperative. But this involves waiting another 20 minutes, providing my info again and then at the last second - opps, sorry the system died. Day three was a repeat of day two, until the second try. I finally got an account set up! I don't understand how this company gets away treating its customers this way! I can drive to my local coop in 15 minutes, have a face to face meeting with a representative and have power turned on in a matter of hours.

So that means I spent several days this week at the rent house. My realtor came and looked at it, gave some suggestions on needed improvements and we discussed options. Hopefully it will get on the market in the next 10 days. I painted and did the normal repairs due to normal wear and tear. I was able to get the exterior pressure washed and the rain gutters cleaned out before the rain. In March I hope to have another house to prepare to put on the market.

Thursday, I became completely chicken-less. Having given all the hens and one roster away a couple of weeks ago, I finally advertised on the local trading post the last four roosters. I got one call and they came out and took them. They have a small farm with chickens and needed roosters and were pleased with the size and look of mine.

This was a week to remind us that it is still winter time. Friday night a storm blew through with heavy winds and rain. I slept through it. But judging by the water run off, it must have been a heavy rain. We recorded almost 3.5 inches of rain in less than two days. Then Saturday afternoon we had a light dusting of sleet. Today it is just cold, in the mid thirties now. I love my fireplace insert! It keeps me toasty warm.

In church today, we heard from a young lady (Alexa) who reports to the MTC in 10 days; she shared some unique experiences in her life that helped her gain a testimony of the Gospel and Heavenly Father's love for her. She was followed by our Brazilian sister who is animated, outgoing and very vivacious, even when giving a talk in sacrament meeting. She compared the attitudes of Johan with Paul in preaching the Gospel. I stopped by the hospital to visit two of our brethren who temporarily reside there.

Now to prepare for another busy week and hopefully meet with great success. May your week be equally productive!

Happy New Years

Last Sunday evening I was busy packing my suitcase and saying goodbye to grandchildren prior to my 0 dark 30 Monday morning departure. Adam was gracious enough to get up at 4:15 to take me to the Medford airport for my flight to Denver. No problems getting to Denver, where I had a 3 plus hour layover. Being hungry I found the food court and while I would have loved to dine at Chick Filet, their line was way too long (yes I had the time, just not the patience); so I had breakfast at McDonalds. I had borrowed a couple of Louis L'Amour books to read and managed to get two of them finished. I prefer them while traveling since they require no brain power. I actually arrived early in Springfield where Jonathan picked me up and brought me to his house - just in time for dinner.

My stay with his family was low key. The weather was cooler and windy, but sunny. They had a couple of barn related jobs to do, and I was able to assist there. And then there was the leaky kitchen faucet which required more work than it should have, but didn't leak when I left. Jonathan's family invited several other families to join them on New Years Eve; there was lots of yummy food to sample and of course, a lot of game playing. It has been years since I stayed up until midnight on New Years Eve, but I did this year.

I drove home Thursday noon and arrived home to find all was well. Friday was spent trying to organize and get back into a recognizable routine. I learned that the tenant we had given notice to move, actually moved two weeks earlier than anticipated. I plan to sell the house and need it empty. So I took a walk through to check it out. Should be relatively easy to get on the market; I will know better next Tuesday when the realtor does a walk through and gives his recommendations.

I came home from Oregon with a developing cold. Started with a sore throat, then a cough. By Friday night it was interrupting my sleep. Today it is greatly improved, so I am happy.

Saturday, Deborah and family arrived about noon; they will depart after dinner tonight. Nice to have laughter in the house and more people to share dinner with (that they made). Sarah was able to rake up a section of overlooked fence line.

We had a good fast and testimony meeting followed by our first Come Follow Me lesson on the Book of Mormon. This should be an enlightening year of study.