Solar Eclipse Week

Back in mid July, I had ordered some eclipse glasses preparatory for the solar eclipse on August 21.  The price for the glasses was very cheap.  But you had to look carefully.  Some of them said they'd deliver in September... or you could pay $39 for them to arrive in time for the eclipse. So my glasses were due to arrive by August 4th-- before Rebecca left, so she could share some of them with Miranda or Jonathan's families (the cost of 10 was the same as the cost for two.)  Umm. the shipping date kept getting pushed back.  Then, they shipped... but the delivery date came and went with no glasses.  Finally they arrived on Saturday- two days before the eclipse!  Hooray!  So Tom and I went out periodically and watched the eclipse.  It was pretty cool.  Deborah got some great pictures.

This week I made airline reservations to go to my writer's conference in Florida. I made sense to combine this with a trip to Mom's so I will go and visit her from October 21 to November 2.  I decided I didn't want the stress and time waste of looking for prices between three airports in this area, two in Florida and two in California.  So I called USAA travel and they were very good and very fast.  I had specific times I wanted to depart and arrive and of course when you go on the travel websites, they don't give you a comparison of times and prices for each leg.  My only error was that I asked to fly out of Fayetteville, instead of NorthWest Arkansas Regional airport.  So my first booking had me leaving from North Carolina?  Oops.  Fortunately, you have 24 hours to make changes without penalties.

I have been busy and prosperous with my writing. This was the most profitable month of my writing career.  Nice!  I wrote a speech for the CEO of my cannabis cypto-token start-up.  I have a large project I need to get started on that will take serious amounts of work.  And I had an interview with a leading marketing firm in Torrance, CA and may have some work from them.

Tom finished Deborah's kitchen and wondered what he should do next.  That was quickly solved. We had a tenant move out of one of our duplexes and it needed a paint job throughout the house (It had been 6 or more years since that had been done. And the garage needed a bazillion nail holes patched and then painted.  He did a lovely job and it looks great.  He finished just in time for the new tenants to move in this weekend. The old tenant left an old mower there, so Tom was able to mow the lawn twice before bringing it home.

Our beans have been prolific!  We have been enjoying fresh beans. But we have also been sharing them with church members and with the food bank.  I keep thinking they are on the down hill... but each time we pick, I'm astonished! The tomatoes, however, seem to be on their last vine.

Our missionaries decided to host an art show.  They invited everyone in the ward and any of their friends to bring art to display-- fine art, fabric arts, three dimensional art.  It really was a lovely show!  We filled the cultural hall with art.  It was an opportunity to invite friends and to see the talents of others in our ward.  I had a number of complements on my artwork, including from a professional artist in the ward.  Felt good.  One of these days I'd like to go back to painting.

Tomorrow I leave to go to Miranda's for the long awaited birth of Baby Girl McClellan.  I don't think she has a name yet.  It will be fun to play grandma for a while.

I guess that's all the news.

Changing tides

The weather has cooled off, family is gone, and it feels like the tide is changing. I know we will have more hot days, but with clouds and rain, it just feels cooler. My ICO white paper is finished. One brochure is finished, another one coming to a close. I have just a little job... and then? With most of the projects out if the way, it seemed like a pretty relaxing week.

I do have a client who is supposed to be sending me a check for a big project. Then I will have about 2 months of work to do. It will be a sales funnel. I haven't really done one of these, so it will be a little demanding and stressful, although I've done portions of most of it.

But for this week, we weeded the garden and picked pounds and pounds of green beans and tomatoes. We've given some away at church and some to the food bank. We've asked neighbors if they want some. The green beans are nicer than they've been all season. The tomatoes, I think may be on their last leg. We've had wilt creeping up the leaves and now most of the leaves are brown and drooping.

With fall ahead, it's time to think about going to visit Miranda when her baby is due. A week from tomorrow I travel and baby comes on the 29th. I also need to look ahead to our Auxiliary training for Relief Society in September and our Woman's Nauvoo trip in October.

In the meantime, all the names that Aaron has collected have been weighing on us. So on Thursday Tom and I drove to the temple. We worked Thursday and Friday and got more than 30 ordinances done. It was lovely to be in the temple. Friday was our ward temple day, and we got to participate with several ward members for some of the sessions. We stopped at Panara Bread on the way home and Tom got a pecan roll for his birthday treat. On the way up and back we listened to part of the "Gregor the Overlander" series. It made the time pass quickly.

Tom was wondering what he would do with himself after he finished working on Deborah's house and kitchen.

 He got that done Wednesday and the new tenant moved in on Thursday. However on Friday we learned that the tenant had moved from the duplex and it needed nail holes in the walls patched and a new coat of paint throughout the house and garage. It also has a tenant scheduled to move in at the end of this next week. So Tom has much to do.

Tom decided to get the truck detailed. I admit I didn't expect to see much improvement. Wrong. It really came out looking great. Waxed to a shine, seats clean and floor mats sparkling. They painted the wheel wells (Or at least cleaned them so they looked freshly painted) they cleaned up the engine compartment so it sparkled as well. I was impressed and Tom was happy.

Today I drove to Mountain View, MO for branch conference. My friend Jennifer was called to be in the Stake Primary Presidency, so she needed to travel there as well. We carpooled and had a lovely time chatting all the way up and back. This is a small branch that struggles to attract and keep members. But there is a lot of strength there. I gave the RS lesson on the Power of the Book of Mormon. It was the source of my testimony and I have seen the blessings that come from reading it and living its principles. I also had a new counselor sustained and set apart today. It's nice to have two counselors again.

And our little chick is now old enough to roost... but still under mama.

Two Weeks

It’s been a busy/happy/sad two weeks. All good things come to end and it ended with Rebecca and family leaving. But in the meantime, it was good and busy.

July 31 (Monday two weeks ago) Rebecca and kids, Andy and Family and Deborah and kids and Tom and I went to Silver Dollar City for the day. The older kids ran off to do the more exciting roller coaster rides. Tom and I hung out with the parents and the little kids. So we mostly visited while they went on rides or became the accompanying adult for the kids on rides. It was fun to see everyone.

Deborah came to Mountain Home after Silver Dollar City, so we had a chance to visit with her and Ian was able to come up for part of the week as well. Deborah and Rebecca had some bonding time and the cousins played well together. We got some needed rain— one of the reasons Ian was able to come. He had grand plans to sand and paint their shed… but with the rain….

Deborah’s house had also come up vacant and she and Tom had decided that the next time it did that, they were going to renovate the kitchen. This was a complete gut and new cabinets, flooring, sink, countertops and stove.


And Tom decided the house needed painting inside as well. So Deborah’s visit to Rebecca actually became more of a work effort. Rebecca and I became the babysitters for the days when she went out to help. Fortunately her kids are pretty good. Ian went out and helped as well and they got a lot accomplished.

I spent some time working on my cannabis Initial Coin Offering white paper and some other stuff they wanted done. And I worked on a brochure for Exceedia, an Equifax partner that helps banks and credit unions use data to target loans and bank services.

The General Relief Society President and some of the counselors from the general board of the Young Women and Primary were going to be in Miranda’s stake over the weekend. They were going to have a meeting for all women ages 8 and up on Friday night (a broadcast) and then leadership training on Saturday. It was for the Oklahoma and Northwest Arkansas area, but I wanted to go and learn. So with my stake president’s approval I went to the meetings. I left on Friday about noon. This was the same time that Deborah and Ian were leaving to go home. It was also the same time Rebecca and family were packing up to go to Jonathan’s house. CHAOS!

However Rebecca did her usual marvelous job of shrinking her footprint until there’s nothing left. Tom went off to work at Deborah’s house with 16 people in the house and came home to a totally empty house. We had a little laundry to do and a few beds to remake.

The women’s meeting and training was excellent. We were reminded of the need to leave the 99. They have a good support group and can take care of themselves. Go show the Savior’s unconditional love to each one that has strayed. And be grateful for the 99. They are the ones that inherit all the father has. We were invited to ponder on “Why has the Lord called me to this position? And listen for the answer. I came up with some insights, and even weeks later, they continue to come. The overall message? Prepare sisters to be confident to meet the Savior.

It was fun to visit with Miranda, Dan and the boys. I got to see a little of Nathan too. Most of our visiting took place at 1:30 am when the tornado sirens went off and we stood or sat in the living room waiting to make a beeline for the under-stairs closet if we heard a tornado. It was really blowing rain! Nathan seems to like his job more. The warning expired, and we crawled into bed only to be awakened by a flash flood alert on the phone. Grumble. I’m on high enough ground I don’t have to worry about that!

After church I grabbed a quick lunch and drove back home. That is why you didn’t get this letter last week.

Monday I played catch-up. It’s been nice that the jobs I’ve been doing are hourly. So if they ask for more revisions, no problem. I turn on the clock and start working. However, I did feel like I needed to be accessible to get the work done promptly. In the afternoon we had the carpets cleaned and then in the evening we went to our Empty Nester’s family home evening group.

Also, our neighbor, Ernie, has had some health issues, cancer of the gall bladder. He also has family that seems to drain his account when they stay with him. A few weeks ago, our other neighbor saw him at the mail box. He looked terrible. Said his family had left him with no money and nothing to eat. So she took him in and doctored him. Made sure he took his meds, took him to the doctor to find out what was really wrong and how serious it was, (Ernie had thought it was liver cancer.) and learn what his prognoses was. (He should make a full recovery.) It was left to Tom to talk with the family and say, no, he doesn’t want you in the house, please move your stuff out. And to Tom to help him with his finances and get his bills paid off and back on track. Monday afternoon was the time he and Ernie and family met. After some yelling, it seemed to work out okay.

Tuesday I went to help Tom at Deborah’s house. We installed the cupboards, upper and lower. We put on some of the countertops and some of the soffit or box above the cupboards to the ceiling. It made a big difference.

Later in the afternoon I had a phone call with a new client, doing a brochure for a business broker (he helps people sell their businesses.) Then I went out with the missionaries to teach an investigator.

We felt sad that Rebecca had left on Friday and it was a rush. So we drove to Silver Dollar City and spent time there with them on Wednesday. Then she took a child on to White Water and we took Marian and Callie back to Jonathan’s and Kristy’s. We had a delightful visit with them, spent the night, and canned 21 quarts of peaches the next morning.

 

We left before noon on Thursday to head back to Mountain Home. Tom had a mole biopsied about 2 weeks ago and it was cancerous. So he went back for a 3pm appointment to have them remove all the edges. We thought we’d timed it better, but we actually drove directly to the appointment. No time to go home first. The doctor said the cancerous part was very thin, a good thing, and this should take care of it. However since he’s had one episode, they will follow him much more carefully for the next few years.

 

Tom thought it wouldn’t be that much- maybe an inch. after all, it was a pretty small mole. However, they make a diamond shaped incision so it can be stitched and hold better. And thus he has a 3.5 inch incision on his back with 13 stitches. It’s a bit ouchie. However, he was glad he wasn’t in Kristy’s hands. On Thursday morning, he’d watched her castrating piglets.

It’s been nice to have these jobs where I can do a little bit here and a little bit there. Fixing and correcting things doesn’t take as much time and concentration as creating the piece in the beginning. But I was a little concerned I’d spent 3 days doing other things. I got mostly caught up on Friday. I spent some time working on the Nauvoo trip our Relief Society has coming up in October.

Rebecca had brought home some rabbit livers from the Maples. (They grow and butcher their own rabbits.) Um. Tastes like chicken. So we cooked the livers and they did taste pretty much like chicken livers.

That evening we watched a movie Deborah had recommended. The Queen of Katwe is a story of a Ugandan girl from the slums of Katwe and how she became a chess champion. It brought back many memories of Kenya. And it renewed my appreciation for the gift of being born when and where I was born. We have such blessed lives!

Today we had a farewell from Gerry Rasumssen who is going on a mission to the Church Headquarters in Salt Lake City. Sounds like an interesting mission. She could serve at the museums, the headquarters building, family history center, etc.

Tom had Bishops Youth Discussion after church with 21 youth in attendance. Last night we prepared the ham and cheese sandwiches with the sauce of yumminess to go on top of them. They were a great hit.

Returning Home

I had a delightful time in California. It was so nice to be with siblings and family. I wondered if this was like life-after-life. You have wonderful people back where you were from whom you love… but you also have people you love where you moved to and you find joy there as well.

I had this ICO white paper I’ve been working on. I would get up early to work on it. Finally on Tuesday I felt like I had it just about licked! Wow! Felt like a weight had lifted off my shoulders. It’s funny. While I was working on it, I thought, why am I doing this and putting myself under pressure. Then, shortly after the weight was lifted, I thought, Hmmm. What else could I be doing? I have decided to only take projects I love. I don’t need to spend time working on things I don’t have any interest in.

I visited Mom on Monday and Tuesday. She’s enjoying the food and physical therapy is working her hard. Monday afternoon Cynthia and Jim came over and I helped Jim get on Facebook. We gathered friends to invite and set up his profile. That evening we went out to a lovely Italian restaurant on the lake. We sat outside and watched the boats go by and felt the soothing breeze. It made dinner charming.

Tuesday I did laundry and packed and visited Mom. Sally came to visit with Lisa’s little one Amelia. I guess Sally didn’t get a lot of “quiet” visiting with Mom with Amelia running around, but I’m sure she was entertaining. Sally and Amelia and I met at Cynthia’s and Jim’s for dinner of great hamburgers and salads. Then I drove home with Sally.

The next morning she took me to LAX and I flew out of there. It was a direct flight from LAX and got me to Kansas City much more quickly than if I had flown out of Santa Ana. Although we had a slight delay leaving, we mostly made up for it and only arrived about 20 minutes late. I got the shuttle back to my car and headed home. I got home about 10pm. I listened to a mystery, adventure book on CD. Alas, I am two CDs short of the ending…. And the heroes still don’t know who the murder is who is out to get them.

Thursday was a recovery day for me. Tom, Rebecca and kids, and Andy and Kera and family went to WhiteWater in Branson. They met Miranda and her kids plus Isabelle and Miriam. The girls helped Miranda keep track of her little guys. They had a good time.

Friday I did some picking and weeding in the garden. I worked on a brochure for a mortgage product and worked on transferring my bitcoin from its holding place that will not accept new coins from the split that is coming on August 1^st. Delaney went to an Activity Day’s girl’s sleepover. She seemed to have a good time.

Saturday Tom took the canoes to have the scouts go canoeing. Josh and Aaron went and enjoyed themselves. We played the worst game of Five Crowns ever. We were distracted with phone calls, texts, kids asking about things. We skipped round 6. Katie worked with her hand of 9 cards while the rest of us were dealing with 8… and we didn’t know it until she laid them down… and so on. But a fun time was had by all.

It was so nice to sit on a bench full of Fox kids and grandkids. In fact, we took up most of two rows! I went in early to be trained on a new church initiative on self-reliance, which is really God-reliance with efforts and faith on our part. I talked with the Stake President about a new counselor for my RS presidency. And I learned of training to be held in Tulsa next Saturday and so will visit Miranda and go to that.

Travels with Mama

Kathy and Steve had been staying with Mom while she was in rehab. But they were looking forward to a trip to Italy for Steve’s work. Mom was doing well in her rehab— getting stronger and not much pain. She was also getting tired of southern food, so we discussed flying her home.

Steve make the flight arrangements. Cynthia worked with the rehab center in California, and I drove up to stay with her for the duration. I stressed about how to get the mama, the car and me all to the airport plus put the car in long-term parking. Mom needed to see the doctor on Thursday. The rehab center wanted to wait for the last physical therapy reports to send the records to the California Rehab center. But the CA facility wanted to review mom’s records before they’d agree to accept her. Thus, we asked the Missouri place to send records on Monday.

On Thursday morning, when no records still had been sent, I said, SEND THEM NOW. They did. While we were at the doctor’s Cynthia called to say the CA Rehab center said she was too healthy, they would not take her. What? The orthopedist said she had to only put 50% weight on that leg for another month because he didn’t see any evidence of bone growth. So she was barely hobbling along. We went back and forth with the therapists in Missouri saying in effect, “Any facility should keep her based on these criteria” and the CA facility saying, “We don’t think she’ll qualify for Medicare… but if you give us $15,000/month in advance, we can probably take her.” So poor Cynthia made 45 phone calls, got informed, got more records transferred, and the second rehab center said, “Sure we’ll take her!” It wasn’t until 6pm before our 3pm flight the next day we knew for sure mom had a place to go.

We decided to have Mom go with a transport service that would take her wheelchair to wheelchair. I left before them to park the car. We arrived around the same time, but had some trouble connecting, partly because the driver told me he was at door 14 (I was at 12) when he really was at door 9!

But we got mama in the wheel chair, her walker, her carry bag, my carry bag, and myself all to the gate without too much difficulty once we got someone to push mom. We had about a 2 hour wait for our flight since we got there a bit early. I had asked them to wheel chair mom into the plane, but they didn’t. She used her walker to get into the plane. Fortunately, we were in the first row. Then, once boarded, we had a 2-hour delay. There was no air conditioning on the plane and it was in the 90’s outside, so it got pretty warm in the plane. But Mom likes the heat. And if we got off the plane we had to take all our stuff, so we just sat there.

It was nice flying first class. The stewardess was attentive and we actually got a meal in flight. We also got bags checked for free. And it was roomy with enough leg room for mom to stretch out her leg. We used my computer bag for a foot rest.

Cynthia rented a Lincoln Continental to pick up mom. And she brought some food from Pollo Loco as well. The car was a comfortable ride for mom. Since the plane was so late, traffic was mostly gone and we made good time to the Laguna Hill Health and Rehab Center. By the time we got her all checked in and unpacked and I picked up Cynthia’s spare car, it was after10pm.

(Midnight central time.) A long day for all of us. But Mom was a real trooper! She is amazing!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, other exciting things were going on. Tom left on Tuesday with Isabelle, Marion and Josh to go to youth conference in Nauvoo. It was a long 7 hour drive back to Nauvoo since we’d just done it for the wedding. But the youth seemed to have a good time. They were able to see one of the pageants and tour historic Nauvoo. The also took family names to the temple and did baptisms.

And while Tom was gone, Miranda came up on Wednesday and she and Rebecca baked 20 pies for Tom’s birthday open house pie-fest that was held on Friday evening. They had 50-60 people come and ate up all but 4 of the pies. Miranda headed home on Sunday and the house should be quieter for a little bit.

This week I have been working on a white paper for an initial coin offering (ICO) for a blockchain company dealing with legal cannabis. They’ve been continuing to refine their objectives and model, so it’s kind of like trying to hit a moving target. Plus, the rough draft was put together by a committee. Well, everyone just added their ideas. But it took me a while to realize this as I was trying to organize and make sense of the duplication and redundancies. When I’ve had time in the mornings or evenings I’ve worked on this.

Here in California, it’s a quite house with no Mama. But I feel her everywhere as I see her neatly organized drawers and small notes. I visited her Saturday and Sunday. Saturday evening I went to dinner with Cynthia and Jim. They have a movie group the associate with. It’s 4 couples who get together and eat and watch movies. One member was in the industry. He gets all the movies to review for the academy awards, so they have quite a selection to watch. They were an interesting group of people and it was a delightful evening.

I somehow missed my usual ward building, trusted Waze… which will NOT tell you to simply turn around! Ended up circling a residential area and was told I had arrived when I was on a deserted stretch of road in front of a closed gate. However, I recognized a meeting house down the hill a bit and was able to drive around a canyon and find the entrance… only a few minutes late. It was a great meeting.

I learned that Ishmael also had 12 sons. That the prophecy in Genesis meant that his offspring would fight among themselves and others… as the middle easterners have. I learned the Abrahamic covenant held priesthood power. And that the power came from ordinances. In Joseph Smith’s vision, the other churches claimed to believe in Christ, but “denied the power thereof” or in essence, denied priesthood ordinances and covenants. And finally, we learned about “reproving betimes with sharpness.” And that we are slow to reprove because it’s more important to love the person than to fix the problem.

Week After

I don't know what happened to the letter of the week after the reunion.  I thought I wrote it... but it's not here. I'm going to put this as a place saver in case I have it. If not here are the highlights:

• Ordered a computer for Tom's birthday. Josh wanted it ordered in pieces so he could put it together. He did... I think.
• Did the final reviews on the eToro financial book. Deborah finished editing it and now its in their court.
• Worked on a new white paper for an initial coin offering (ICO) for a blockchain company that wants to promote legalized cannabis.
• The cucumbers are producing like crazy and the beans are coming on.
• Thursday we drove to Nauvoo for the wedding of a ward member on Friday. It was a delightful wedding in the Nauvoo Temple.  Tom performed the ring ceremony at a reception dinner later in the day. We also went to the temple the evening before and the morning before the wedding to do more work for our kindred dead.
• We drove home on Saturday. A younger sister from the ward drove up with us and so it was nice to have company.  The hotel we chose was dated, smelled too much of air freshener, but had comfortable beds.
• Sunday I had a Stake RS presidency meeting. I also learned that I would be in charge of the upcoming auxiliary training since the president who was to do it would be released. So I spent time organizing that.  I also spent time pondering and praying about a new counselor for my presidency.

REUNION!!!

Oh! What a glorious family reunion! It was so nice to see everyone. Each family pitched in and created wonderful food. Ricky Patton especially made such delicious guacamole. Jonathan said, "This is so good my taste buds are doing a happy dance!"

Monday was the morning service project. It took fewer people than anticipated to move the bridge. So we had more volunteers that weren't needed. The "come along" did a lot of the work as they tied it from tree to tree and moved the bridge back into place.

After lunch all the sibs and Jim went to visit mom. We practiced a few songs to sing to her. One of them was a lullaby that she used to play on the piano after all of us kids were in bed, "Sleep my child and peace surround you all through the night." It was emotional for me as I realized the song had come full circle from mom lullabying us to us lullabying the mama. It made it hard to sing. Susie said I couldn't think about it, I just had to sing it... and don't look at Mom. We did "The Lord bless you and keep you," with a 7 fold amen. And "Lift Thine Eyes." Sally joked that we were singing three songs, but she only knew two of them. The tenor on the Amens was very tricky for her.

We visited and sang the songs. Mom seemed to be doing better, but not her cheerful self. After visiting her, Cynthia and Jim went back to the reunion to work on dinner. Steve, Sue, Sally and I went to look at rehab centers for mom. It seemed best to have her go into one to get stronger and healthier before she flew back to California as she was not doing much walking at all yet. We liked the first place quite well. We went to visit two more, and decided that the first place was best.

We were looking forward to Ricky's pulled pork sandwiches but we were late for dinner. We got a text that all the pulled pork was gone. We were so bummed! We spent the next half hour trying to repent of bad feelings. The feelings were unjustified. They had saved back three little sandwiches for us. It was delicious and enough and I were happy!

Tues was a rainy 4th of July. 22 of the reunionites went off early and ran in a 5K race. They all did well and had a fun time, although the uphill ending was challenging. The youngest of our runners was under 10, I think, and Tom was the most senior runner of the 144 runners, except for one 73 year old.

I gave a class on cryptocurrencies in the afternoon and we had a talent show in the evening. Some people went to see the fireworks display. It was too late for me.

 The talent show.

It was fun to see family members teaching other family members. A group of interested teens surrounded Steve Horman as he taught about fishing. Crocheters listened and learned from Deborah and Kathy. Some of Sally's kids taught exercise classes in the morning and Aaron offered a night sky class with his fantastic telescope. Kristy's class on personalities was a big hit and others enjoyed Dan's class on wills and trusts. Kristy also offered several archery classes.

Kristy brought some large Legos and they entertained kids for hours. They built towers up to the ceiling. They had to climb on stacked chairs to reach the top parts. Others occupied themselves with Lincoln logs. We brought the plastic beads you arrange on pins and then iron to melt them together. Every day kids, teens and adults were at the bead table where large pans of beads covered the table. We melted together creations of stars, dogs, circles, names, trucks and cars and all kinds of other creative things.

One afternoon the kids did bubbles. One day they had water fun with water balloons, slip-and-slide and kiddie pools. While the weather got hot during the day, it cooled off for evening events. And although they said ticks were bad this season, I only heard of one person getting a tick. That's a miracle.

Kids went swimming most every afternoon. Some went to ride the paddle boats. I mostly stayed inside. We worked on jig saw puzzles and chatted. We finished two or three puzzles. Then Mom wanted us to do the puzzle she brought. It was a 1000 piece puzzle of impressionistic houses and trees. Wow! Was it hard. Truly the puzzle from hell.

 Every piece put in was celebrated as a victory. We finally got most of the houses put together, but not the central tree and dabbled sky. When it was time to put it away so we could leave, I thought we could donate it to the retreat center. Sally said, "I'm throwing this thing out. No one should have to go through that!" I was easily persuaded.

We planned pancakes and muffins for breakfast. Wednesday was Sally's family's day for food and it was a great choice. They looked at all the leftover food and said, "We can use this!" They made breakfast burritos for breakfast with leftover baked potatoes, bacon and unused tortillas and eggs. They whipped up relish trays for lunch and dinner and used up extra broccoli, carrots, celery, and ranch dressing. That went along with the potato salad and worst (hotdog) dinner.

Tom brought some clocks for Steve to work on.  He was explaining what needed to be done to this clock work.

Wednesday night everyone helped clean up. We did the last clean up on Thursday morning and were out by 10:30. Various family members had gone to visit Mom during the week. Tom and I visited with her on Thursday on our way out of town. She'd been moved to the orthopedic ward. Along the window ledge we counted 30+ cards the kids and grandkids had made for her plus a few store-bought ones. The nurses said they'd never seen so many cards before for one person! That's our Mama! We love her! She got moved to rehab later that day.

We drove home and got home about 7:30 pm. We stopped at the orchard and bought a lug of peaches. Then we had to unpack suitcases, extra food, the blankets, towels and sheets we'd brought etc. We had piles of laundry to do! And Rebecca sent some of her laundry with us as well.

So Friday we spent unpacking more and doing laundry and folding sheets, towels, clothing, etc. I also picked up the pieces of the copyediting of the financial book and researching Initial Coin Offering (ICO) white papers. Rebecca and crew arrived later in the afternoon and the fun began.

Saturday I drove with a friend to Harrison to be with her as she went to a hypnotist. It was an interesting experience and I learned a lot, even as it took up the whole afternoon. Tom and Rebecca worked on making 4 batches of peach jam. That should keep us in jam for the next five years. I went to bed early again. I think I have some sleep deprivation from the reunion I am still recovering from. 

We are not doing choir practice through the month of July. It feels a bit odd coming to church close to 10am instead of 9. We had good speakers. I may post some notes I took from one of the speakers about Satan's tactics and how to combat them. Tom had BYD and had about 20 teenagers in the discussion. Rebecca made peach cobbler on Saturday night and Callie made a cake. So that plus ice cream kept them happy.

It's been a great week with many happy memories.