Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to Family and Friends!

We spent Christmas Eve at Miranda's fixing the plumbing repair of the previous Saturday and then patching holes in the wall and installing baseboard.  There might have been some last minute shopping, but nothing serious. When we knew that we would be traveling/visiting family the two weeks prior to Christmas there was serious incentive to shop and wrap early. That evening I made cinnamon rolls; it is tradition!  

The children did not appear until 630 Christmas morning, which we appreciated.  They might have been a little confused though. The tree had been in the family room when they went to bed, but during the night had been moved to the family room, along with all the presents.  I told the boys that the Grinch had come to steal their Christmas, but we prevented him from taking it too far. After breakfast began the fun of opening presents. The children had a great time opening gifts, enjoying what others had received and playing with some items.  They became very engrossed putting their lego sets together. 

Love these pajamas of Miranda:

Miranda fixed a scrumptious dinner of turkey, ham, veggies and several pies which had to wait a couple of hours to be eaten because we didn't have room to enjoy them right after dinner. I do love her pecan pie!

Sandy and I drove home on Wednesday; enroute we visited Jonathan and family briefly to pick up one of their butchered lambs to deliver to the local Chinese healer Sandy visits. After 20 days, it was good to be home again.  Our house sitter did a great job in our absence. It took a couple of hours to unpack and get things organized.  I spent several hours on Friday and Saturday on the mower beating the leaves into submission.  In places where they were thicker, like along the fence line, I raked them onto a tarp, hauled them to the burn pile and set them ablaze. I managed to get most of the yard done. This has been an interesting year for leaves.  Normally they take a couple of months to all fall from the trees (mostly oak) and some years they linger into the next spring.  This year they were 90% gone by early December.

Today marked the end of an era; this was the last Sunday of the three hour meeting block for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints which has been the norm for about 40 years. Next Sunday the Church will implement the two hour meeting block, providing us more Sunday time to strengthen our homes in gospel oriented study. This truly is an exciting time to be alive!

When my 45 year old Westminster chiming clock of emotional value to me was officially pronounced dead, brother Steve thoughtfully presented me with this Regulator clock which has a Westminster chime. Compared to the grandfather clock chime, this is more delicate.

Off to GG's

On Sunday afternoon (9 Dec), Tom, Miranda and Sandy started the drive to California. We got well through Oklahoma before stopping. Alas, that next morning Tom dropped his phone... from just a short distance... and it konked out.  Sad day.  On Monday as we traveled we stopped at a Sprint store to see if they could do anything.  They couldn't, but sent us to another store close by.  The phone wouldn't turn on at all. The guy said he could check it out... but most likely it was toast and the data could not be retrieved.  That night we ordered another phone from Swappa.com.

Tuesday was not such a long driving day and we arrived at Grandma Marion's house before 5 pm. It helped that we gained two hours on the drive out. Cynthia and Jim came over with dinner.  It was LOVELY to see them!

Miranda, Deborah and Sandy drove to the beach Wednesday morning and joined Cynthia and Jim for a walk on the beach; good time was had by all.

 Later that day, Steve and Kathy and Sue and Steve arrived and Sally came down from Downey. It was a wonderful mini-sibling's reunion. Deborah and Andy also arrived.  We went through the house discussing what was important for each person to have. Some things had been "dibbsed" years ago... and were no longer important.  Other things rose to the top.  What I loved most is that there was no arguing or squabbling. People were quick to defer to someone who wanted it more.

Thursday we left about 9:30 for the hour drive to Riverside Memorial Cemetery, a military cemetery where dad was interred and mom would be as well. We were allowed only a short 20 minute ceremony, but it was sweet and moving. They did military honors of taps and flag folding, as mom had been an Army nurse in World War II. Then Jim offered a Presbyterian service intermixed with the grandchildren offering memories of GG (Great Grandma Marion). They were touching.  Finally we sang "All Through the Night."  When we were little, after we were in bed, Mom would go to the piano and play and sing this lullaby.

Afterwards we had lunch catered by Olive Garden at a room in Cynthia's building. It was fun to chat with all the cousins and nieces and nephews.

Then, they came back to Marion's house and chose the things that were meaningful or interesting to them from Mom's house. It was pretty chaotic! Both Thursday and Friday afternoons. Again, there was no quarreling or arguing, everyone acquiesced to the passion of another. However, there was some disadvantage to Tom and I staying there.  We almost lost our suitcase, our coats, the grounding mat and the diffuser... among other things... to eager gatherers. We ended up putting our name on our things.  Tom even tagged me! Mom's clothes were put out on racks and many of them also found happy homes.  We did suffer some collateral damage; one grandchild took the silverware on Thursday (we had to go out and buy plastic so we could eat); another took the dining room table and chairs on Friday (fortunately there was a card table and we borrowed chairs).

Cynthia stayed away those days. While she was happy to have things go to people who wanted them and get the house emptied out, seeing Mom's beloved treasures and familiar clothes walk out the door was very distressing.  Sue and I packed up all the clothes after Friday, so Cynthia would not have to do it.

Friday was the memorial service. Tom took Deborah, Miranda, Andy and Jonathan to the temple to do the 7am session so we could be back in time for the service.

We set up a display table of Mom memorabilia and the grandchildren practiced singing "All is Well."  Mom had chosen a number of favorite scriptures and poems or stories she wanted read at the memorial service. Sue and Steve played an introductory song with alphorns and organ.

The pastor read a number of the scriptures. Each of the siblings took time to read a story or poem.  Sally and her family reminisced about Mom as did Steve.  It was a lovely service. Jim was the final speaker.  As he stepped up to speak, he lost his balance and fell back to the ground. Fortunately he was bruised, but okay, and like a trooper, sat and read his part from the pew.

We had a reception after the service and met many of Mom's friends, her caretakers, accountant, Aunt Ruth and cousins Janet and Sherrill, and others who came to say farewell. And after that, sandwiches and fruit for the family. Jonathan flew in Thursday night so he could be there for the service. A few other additional great-grands arrived Friday as well. They, too, took some of Grandma's treasures. Some were leaving on Friday so they packed up all the dining room set-- table, chairs, buffet, china cabinet.  Measuring spoons, silverware, toys, pots and pans, book shelves, clothing and costume jewelry all disappeared.  One sibling thought the two folding chairs Cynthia brought over were fair game... and they disappeared.  We had a card table and a few chairs available for nine of us for dinner.

Saturday Cynthia spent with family, Tom and I went to the temple, Tom had used Jonathan and Andy power to pack the car with a desk (for Miranda), book shelf, decorated stool, nesting tables, lamps and other treasures we were taking home, so Steve kindly drove our kids to the airport when they departed. Steve and Kathy then spent the afternoon with their kids and Kathy's side of the family.   Sue and I packed up clothes.  Many items were claimed.  That was good. Cynthia will have much less to clean out.  All in all, it was kind of a slower, recuperative day for us.

Sunday we went to a local ward for Sacrament.  They had a lovely Christmas program with beautiful music. Most of us headed over to the Presbyterian church after sacrament to support Cynthia and Jim. They also had a beautiful musical performance. We had leftovers from Thursday and Friday for lunch.  Then Sally and Steve came down and we had a reading of the will and disseminated the good quality jewelry. I had long admired and desired a woven gold necklace.  Mom had designated it for Sally, but bless her heart, she let me have it. (If I die first, it goes to Sally.) That's the kind of love and sharing the siblings have done. I have worn it every day since that day. One necklace designated to Kathy, Mom had already given to me.  I will send it to her as she'd really like it.

This really has been a wonderful week. It's been a time to remember our remarkable mom and how much she was loved by everyone who knew her.  She made an impact on people she barely met and those who knew her well. She was a peace maker and always had kind words for everyone.  She was quick to forgive. One of her caretakers threw out all her watercolor paintings.  She was so upset. Yet she forgave the caretaker and moved on.  How delighted she must have been when we discovered envelopes full of her art work and every great grandchild was able to claim a GG original to take home with them if they wanted (all 65 or so of them.)

As Sally called people to tell them of GG's passing, almost every one had a Marion story to tell. Her stock broker had sent flowers one time when she was in the hospital.  She painted the arrangement and sent it to Ed as a thank you.  He had the painting framed and hung it in his office.  She was so active in her church serving as she was capable-- from being a deacon and on the session to later in life, writing notes to those who no longer could come to church. She was generous with her money giving to many, many charities-- like 50 or 60-- and always had a tender heart for people in need.  She put one Kenyan girl though years of schooling.  Someone said to her, your kindness will help a thousand people.  And surely as the Kenyan girl benefits from her education, generations to follow will be blessed.

Sometimes it was a sad time for us as we'd think of something we'd like to do with Mom... and then remember that it will no longer happen. But it was hard to be sad for Mom.  I knew she was delighted to have passed. She fought the good fight.  She never gave up, always working to keep up her energy and balance even going to the gym with her personal trainer. But she was tired. I'm convinced that when she woke up on the other side she said, "Yahoo!  I made it. I finished the race!" and she was delighted to greet Walter and other family members who had passed on ahead.  The poem I read was called, "I'm Free."  Basically it said, don't be sad for me, I'm free.  God called me home and I'm happy to be there. So don't be sad.  Enjoy the great memories and be good to others.  When I first read it, I cried, thinking about how I missed Mom.  Then I realized I had to read it as if I were Mom.  She would mean the words and be confident and happy.  I was able to read it at the memorial without crying.

We enjoyed the great legacy of love Mom and Dad passed on to us. If you were family, you were loved. There was nothing more important than the loving relations between family members.  You don't hold grudges. You allow for differences of opinion-- religion, liberal, conservative, etc-- and disagree without being disagreeable. It is a cherished legacy. We are so blessed!

On the Road Again

We covered a lot of ground, literally, since last week. We started off in Laguna Woods, and are now back in Broken Arrow, OK.

The downsizing of GG's belongings continued on Monday. Tom took the remainder of her clothes to a Women's Shelter and Steve went with Cynthia to the American Legion to provide new homes for wheel chairs and walkers. Tom spent time loading the van in anticipation of a Tuesday departure. That evening eight of us (less Sally and Steve) went out to eat and had a delightful time. 

Tuesday Tom finished finding space for the last of our stuff and was able to leave a tunnel in the back so he could see out the rear view mirror. His brother Stephen had thoughtfully brought him a Regulator Clock which he made a comfortable travel space for. We were able to say our goodbyes to everyone and be on the road by noon.  We made it to Williams, AZ to spend the night. Wednesday night we spent in Tucumcari, NM and we arrived at Miranda's Thursday evening. The trip was uneventful.  We did have some strong tail winds; in fact our gas mileage increased 3 mpg for that segment of the trip.

Sandy handled the trip well, but needed Friday to recuperate. Tom did 99% of the driving.

We spent the next two days relaxing and activating our new phones.  That means after 12 days without my own cell phone, I am now connected again!  And with the same number...except we just learned we aren't getting incoming calls.  Both mom and I now have Samsung Galaxy 7s, which means we are only a few years behind.  The Verizon store was near a Chick Filet so we had to stop for lunch...and Andy's frozen custard was a short walk from there, so we had to indulge there also. On Saturday, Dan and I tackled a leaky external faucet problem which taxed our plumbing abilities and our skills at not burning the house down with the torch needed to melt the solder that was next to a stud.  It took more time than expected.  And, there is still a very small leak; but that should be a relatively easy fix tomorrow.

9 December 2018

Greetings from Shamrock Texas!  Wait, what are we doing there?  We are enroute to GG's funeral and memorial services in SoCal.  But first...we need to bore you will all those mundane things we accomplished this past week. To be honest, there really isn't that much to report, but I will try to stretch things out anyway!

I spent three mornings this past week installing paneling in the two downstairs rooms for the ceiling at the rent house, finishing the trim and doing touch up painting. I told the tenant I was finished, but there is still work to be done - at a later time (much later). Fortunately other than storage, those rooms aren't used for anything else.

Sandy was busy coordinating with cancer centers in Tulsa and SoCal so she can continue with her treatments while we are on the road. A big Thanks to Cynthia and Miranda for their assistance; it appears she will be able to at least get a treatment in SoCal.

As we were preparing for our driving trip west, Miranda offered to drive out with us (and fly back home). We kept a close eye on the storm named Diego which was forecasted to bring multiple inches of rain and some ice from New Mexico to Arkansas over the weekend. Not what we wanted to have happen since that is our driving route.  We had originally planned to leave home Saturday morning and drive to Broken Arrow where we would stay with Miranda's family. The original plan was then to leave on Monday AM to continue the drive. We had scheduled rental home inspections on Friday morning and did not want to cancel those so we could leave that morning.  The last time they were scheduled they were canceled due to weather. But according to the weather report, if we left on Friday, we would miss the storm.

I like to take goodies to most of the tenants, so on Thursday I made multiple loaves of cranberry nut bread.  Actually I five times the recipe and had just enough for everyone.  And it made the kitchen smell good!

It never ceases to amaze me, but only reinforces the need to perform these walk throughs, the things tenants don't bother to tell you about. And even though they know we are coming, they don't have a list of things to report.  For example: Me: Any problems, leaks, etc. Tenant:  No.  Me: Ah, what happened to the bathroom door knob. Tenant: oh it was sticking so we removed it. Me: wouldn't it be nice to have a replacement?  Tenant: Yes.

We didn't find anything major, just several minor repairs to be made. We have been blessed with good tenants 95% of the time.  It is the 5% that makes the rest look so good.  One tenant needs to live in the country so he has ample room for his collection; he has one RV, three pickups, one SUV, one motorcycle and two small trailers parked in the driveway. Then there is the garage stuffed with 'stuff''. This is also the guy whose truck advertises that he is 'handyman'. Yet, his back door did not latch so they just stuck a rock against it to hold it closed.  The striker plate was missing a screw so it was not aligned properly. Took me less than five minutes to resolve this issue!

I was home by 130 PM. Sandy had packed the suitcase and I was able to get things loaded into the van and we were on our way by 3 PM. We did a dinner stop at Deborah's and then continued on our way to Miranda's and were there before 9 PM. And we beat the weather.  Oh, the weather never materialized! Parts around Mountain Home had some snow, but at our house, according to the neighbor, we just had a few flakes.  All that worry for nothing. But leaving early gave us all day Saturday to spend with Miranda's family.

Today was the Primary Program in their ward, so we were uplifted again by the sweet children's testimonies in song and speaking. Their meetings start at 1200; we left after Sacrament so we could start our trip west, hence why we are in Shamrock.  We wanted to break up the drive so it would not be too much for Sandy.  She has again, done amazingly well.

Sandy started the week off slowly, but continued to gain energy and strength as the week progressed. And she is still going strong. Wednesday about 9 PM she mentioned that her ostomy bag was leaking and that it needed replacing. Now there are a couple of times it is not good to disturb me: at meal time and bed time. But I humbled myself and replaced the bag.  But the humbling wasn't over.  Within 30 minutes it was leaking again.  So I got to replace it again, only this time you can be sure I was more  alert and attentive to my efforts.  That bag stayed on until Sunday morning when I replaced it again so she would have a fresh bag for the trip.

It is fun to have Miranda with us for the drive out; I appreciate her sharing the driving.  It was a family sacrifice for her.  First, she left Dan with the four children.  He will be taking the two youngest to Kera's on Monday and friends will help care for the two school aged boys during the week.  And then on Tuesday, Deborah will drive to Kera's and leave her two youngest and drive to the LR airport with Andy. Friends will assist Ian with the other four school aged children. It is a great blessing to have loving family and friends to help out when needed.

And I found a new home for the three roosters; we have a church family that has a variety of animals and will add them to their 'farm'.

We hope Savannah has a successful birthing this week!

Tis the Season to be Jolly!

Sunday 2 December 2018

It is the last month of the year, a time of joy and happiness as we prepare for the Christmas Season in earnest.

Let me begin first with an update on Sandy's status.  She continues to exhibit what for her has become her new normal for good health. Prior to each every two week infusion she has lab work done to confirm that she is capable of receiving the infusion.  This week, the doctor stated that the lab report showed normal functioning liver and kidneys and that her red blood count was up to 11.4 (it was 10.2 a month ago).  She did have some type of short term bug Tuesday evening until Thursday evening. We drove to St Louis to attend the temple on Friday, spending the night there.  She did not sleep well and spent part of the morning sleeping in the car while I was at the temple.  Then she slept part way home.  This morning she woke up with a fever, and a leaking bag. She called her doctor who prescribed an antibiotic for the fever; after reading the warnings I have to wonder which is worse, the disease or the treatment.  "WARNING: this drug may cause very bad side effects." By the time I returned home from church, she was feeling much better.  Because the lab report sounds so positive, we assume this recent illness is not related to the cancer.

It was a busy week for us. I spent a couple of mornings working at the rent house (still).  On Tuesday we joined the sister missionaries in teaching a part member family and then attended a family history event honoring our Hispanic heritage. We even had several tasty dishes to enjoy. Wednesday morning Sandy had her visit with the wound healing center; the wound continues to heal and appears healthy.  That afternoon I had my appointment with my doctor for an annual physical.  It is difficult to find a lot of joy in knowing that I am one of his healthier patients when Sandy struggles with her health issues.

Thursday morning, Sandy had her Chinese healer appointment followed by seeing the oncologist and receiving her immunotherapy infusion. The sisters joined us that evening for a dinner of breakfast burritos.

Then on Friday we drove to the temple with a single sister that just moved into the ward.  She had previously lived in Arizona where she had served a mission in Louisiana  as an employment specialist and also worked  at the temple. We enjoyed chatting up and back. We spent the night, attended the temple in the morning and drove home, arriving about 6 pm.

Today during our third hour of meetings, the bishop had a great slide show showing the new 2 hour block meeting schedule that starts in January.  It was helpful in clarifying how it will actually work and resolved a lot of people's concerns. I hope that we can follow the spirit of this inspired change.

The wind has been very active this week and the trees are bare of leaves.  I worked on raking them onto a tarp and throwing them on the burn pile, but I can't seem to get caught up.  This week I will attack them with greater enthusiasm and aggressiveness. The three roosters that hatched last June have come of age.  The poor hens are not accustomed to such attention and I fear it is time to eliminate the three trouble makers.

Here are some pictures from Thanksgiving at Jonathan's:

Hope that all of you have a great week and have time to focus on what is of greater worth.

Thanksgiving Week

Sunday 25 November 2018

Happy 19th Anniversary to Miranda and Dan on Monday!
Happy Birthday to Kristy Fox and achieving over the hill status Tuesday!

Monday was busy:  I had lab work done for my upcoming physical and then went to paint the rooms at the house I have been working on. Also met with the heat and a/c man about running ducting into those rooms. That is about when Sandy called to inform me that her 97 year old mother had passed away the previous night in her home. It is always so sad to lose someone that has a strong positive influence on your life; she was a great lady!

Tuesday, after accomplishing a lot of items on the need to get done list, we loaded the car and headed off to Branson to do some shopping. Sandy was capable of doing more than she had thought; maybe spending money is good for your health. We dined at Olive Garden and she had healthy servings of their salad and salmon. We spent the night there so we could shop some more before heading to Jonathan's on Wednesday.  Again, Sandy was able to walk to a variety of shops without feeling weak. We did find a lot of things on the shopping list to purchase. And she spent a lot of time at 1/2 of 1/2! She stated that it is easier to walk than just stand still. I had to make a supreme sacrifice to bypass Andy's Frozen Custard so I could connect with Miranda and Dan just west of where Jonathan lives to pick up a BioMat they had picked up for Mom (they were on their way home from the Kansas City Temple).

We spent an enjoyable evening with the Fox family, trying to get caught up on all the news and family happenings.  Thursday morning Isabelle and I participated in a local 5K run. She has been doing the couch to 5K routine and had never run much further than 2 miles, so this was new territory for her.  And she did amazing! I was not familiar with the course and my watch did not synch properly, so I just ran without any time reference and let my body set the pace, and we ran together.  About the 2 1/4 mark, Isabelle had trouble breathing and had to slow for a short time to catch her wind.  I kept on going, finishing 48th out of 277 registered runners; she was not far behind.  I placed 1st in the over 70 male group (the 3rd place guy was 80); Isabelle was 3rd in her age group.

We came home to help with dinner preparations and relaxing.  Jonathan and Kristy have fine dining down to a science and are great cooks; each has their own area of expertise and the older children have their own specialties they cook.  They had invited another family over for the Thanksgiving feast; lots of yummy good food to enjoy. And we had wonderful fall weather as well.

Friday we were up and busy with farm chores.  Actually, I spent a good portion of the day helping Jonathan attached a very bright LED light to his tractor; it took some time to mount it on the roll bar, run the wires and such.  And it was cold!

Saturday we finished the tractor light and worked on a malfunctioning exterior outlet that powered the pump for their fountain.  While it worked prior to the fire, there is no juice there now.  I traced the wire back to the house where there was still no power.  Who ever installed the exterior outlet in the beginning, placed it at ground level facing up.  Even though it had a sealed box, it was still full of water.  We were able to extend the wire about 18 inches above ground, install a GFI and a new weatherproof box.  Now it is time to call an electrician so he can determine why there is no power.

Kristy has a 40th BD this next week and we could not pass up this opportunity to properly recognize this milestone in her life.  Jonathan tried to get her out of the house so we could arrange a small family party, but she wanted to stay home and visit.  So, we had to clandestinely make arrangements around her presence. The older children went shopping for the appropriate black party favors; one of them made a cake, but told her mom is was brownies. Then while Isabelle distracted her outside with the animals, we where able to make a chocolate truffle cake and hide it in the refrigerator.  Then after dinner, Jonathan took her to the barn to show her the lights on the tractor, and everyone stepped up and decorated for the occasion. You will have to wait a few days for the pictures.  Anyway, Kristy was greatly surprised and was most appreciative of everyone's efforts. And the cake was delicious.

Sandy stayed busy this week reading, talking, playing games with the children and other sedentary tasks and remained in good spirits the entire time.

Today we attended church and enjoyed the various meetings.  They have a great ward with a lot of good people. Heard some great council on gratitude and the blessing it is to show gratitude.  After a turkey sandwich, we headed home in some cold nasty weather.  We arrived about 7 pm and are glad to be on our own warm and snug home.

It was a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday and we thoroughly enjoyed spending time with the MO Fox family.  We are truly a blessed family!

The Week that Was

Sunday, 18 November 2018

We awakened Monday morning to a light dusting of snow on the ground; but it didn't last long since the ground was not cold enough and the air temperature was too high. But it looked nice for a short time. Sandy's ministering sister visited her in the morning and brought her some chocolate chip cookies. Because she is trying not to eat much sugar, I am forced to eat all this type of goodies she receives.  And that is not necessarily a blessing to my waistline.

Tuesday morning Sandy had lab work done prior to a later in the week scheduled infusion. In the afternoon she returned for a followup with the dermatologist about her cracked and swollen lips and itchy skin.  The meds he had previously prescribed had done their job well and she is recovering well. 

The elders quorum was scheduled to unload a U-Haul truck on Thursday, then on Wednesday evening and then first thing Wednesday morning, when the temperature was in the 20's. A sister was moving from Arizona and her brother, who lives locally, was there to assist the four of us and the driver to offload a 26 foot van into a 20 foot storage shed.  The driver had packed the U-Haul and must have had super natural packing powers; there wasn't any extra space. And when he was done packing the storage shed, it was much the same.  I was able to help until 9:30 since Sandy had a 10 am appointment with the wound healing center. They always change out her bag, which had been on several days this time.  The smaller wound seems to be healed over and not draining.  The larger one is healing nicely, showing good color.  We asked the doctor several questions, such as:  what happens to the drainage if the wound heals over? Will she always be on an ostomy bag? Turns out that Sandy is an anomaly; neither she (with 20+ years medical experience) nor the surgeon (over 30 years experience) have ever seen this type of wound before and don't know what to expect. So for now they are tracking her progress (which has been very good), ensuring the cleanliness of the wound and surrounding skin area, and seeing her every two weeks.  Home health comes once a week and only changes the bags if there is a leak.

Thursday morning Sandy met with Clifford for his treatment and then right after had the infusion therapy.  The latter takes up to three hours; first she sees the doctor who reviews her lab results from earlier that week, then they order the meds and the actual infusion only takes about an hour. There was good news:  her red blood count was 10.1 two weeks ago.  This time it was 10.9. She had a lot of energy this day; in fact at her normal bedtime she didn't feel like going to bed and stayed up another hour or more.

While she was busy doing her thing, six of us drove out to a member's home about an hour away to cut firewood.  My original thought was to cut wood for this member and then anyone else in need.  This brother turned down the offer of wood, but he did arrange with the owner of neighboring land that had been logged, to cut any downed timber.  We found plenty of oak to cut and split.  I had taken the trailer and we had it mostly loaded when someone else showed up.  Turns out that while we had permission to cut the wood from the owner, he had just sold the wood to this guy to cut for firewood.  Not a problem, we were just about ready to stop anyway. On the way home we dropped off a rick or two of wood at a member's house and brought the rest back to our house for future dispersal.

Friday Sandy was still feeling good.  Miranda, Dan and children arrived about 6 pm; we had also invited the sister missionaries for dinner.  I made Mexican chicken casserole (my first time) and it was pronounced tasty.  The purpose of our gathering was to review the next day's race strategy. The White River Marathon/half marathon/5K was the next day and Miranda, Dan, one of the sisters (with mission president approval) and I were running the 5K. The non running sister needed a female companion and they found a young family that was willing to be up early to keep her company and then get her to the finish line while the other four of us headed to Cotter for the race.  I especially like this race; this is the 14th year for this event (my 3rd year to participate) and proceeds go to support a community in Kenya. With about 700 runners participating in the three different running events it is a massive undertaking, but they have all sorts of volunteers that support them.  Because it is a Boston Marathon qualifier, it is a chipped race and they have your race results available immediately after the race.  Runners like this marathon route because it is flat! I like it because in the first mile, 3/4s of that is downhill. And they give each finisher a nice medallion. And they have food! in the building where the awards are handed out. Dan took 1st in his age group, 23rd of 150 runners.  The sister missionary was 2nd in her age group and I was first in the over 70 male group (53rd of 150).  I should mention, there were only two in that category.

It was in the high 30's when the race started.

Dan finishing 24th overall for the 5K.

Miranda is on the left and the sister missionary to the right, nearing the finish line...and just before she passed me at the finish.

Here is your fearless leader at the finish line.

The awesome foursome after the race.

The shirt the sister missionaries made for the event.

I still had about two or three rick of wood in the trailer and put my work force to work stacking it.

Today we are a little stiff and sore.  And at church today, there was a family of seven from Dallas; they had come up so the Mom could participate in the marathon.  When pressed, she admitted to being the 4th female to finish the marathon. Not bad for a mother of five children!

We look forward to traveling to Jonathan and Kristy's for Thanksgiving, with a brief shopping trip in Branson this week. We hope all of you have an enjoyable Thanksgiving!

November News from the Ozarks

Happy 243rd Birthday to all Marines!

Thank you to all veterans for your dedicated service and sacrifice, past and present.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Kristy Fox's parents, who until this past week, had a house, barn and 8 horses and were enjoying life in Paradise, CA.  I am sure they have exciting adventures to share about evacuating from the area amidst the fire. The barn and house were burned to the ground.  All 8 horses survived so far, but need food and water.    Last minute update, Kristy just sent this link: https://www.sfchronicle.com/california-wildfires/article/Cowboy-volunteers-ride-to-the-rescue-of-horses-13381324.php#photo-16485085

We have been down a nostalgic road recently. It all started last Jan/Feb when we packed up the downstairs and stored those items in the garage preparatory to going on a mission.  When those plans were modified, I slowly brought things back into the house, mainly items we would need.  So, several totes were still in the garage until we purchased the van, and needed more room if we were to park the car in the garage (I am a firm believer that the purpose of the garage is to park your car in it!). So many of the last remaining totes were emptied and put back in their place in the downstairs. The nostalgia began when I opened one that had old VHS tapes (okay, I realize using the term 'VHS' means 'old' and it isn't necessary to state the obvious).  Amongst all those tapes were all three of the 'Back to the Future' series.  So we had to watch them. These had obviously been recorded off of AFRTN when we lived on Okinawa in the '90s because one of them had a 'TC-3' in the bottom right corner and the movie was occasionally interrupted with typhoon condition updates reminiscent of typhoon parties.

It was a quiet week for Sandy; only one medical appointment, and that was with Clifford. She did set a new ostomy bag replacement record this week; in fact she set two.  The wound healing center nurse had installed one on Weds 31 Oct. It was still holding up the following Weds!  But Sandy called home health to have them send a nurse to replace it since it is not good to keep the same bag much longer.  Her favorite nurse, Wanda came to do the replacement.  And this is where the second record may have been set.  She used a different style bag and it leaked within hours.  I did a temporary tape job that evening, and then again in the morning before another nurse came to replace that leaky bag. So far it is holding up.  but one never knows how long a bag will hold up.

Monday evening was empty esters with a Thanksgiving theme, to include turkey and dressing.  I made a green bean casserole.  There were no left overs. Tuesday night we had the sister missionaries join us for dinner.  And since my casserole of the previous night was well received, I made green beans again to go with lasagna.  No, I did not make the lasagna; it was a freezer meal Miranda had made months ago and we had not gotten around to eating it yet.

I spent a couple of mornings at the rental house working on mudding and sanding the drywall we installed.  I am within a couple hours of being ready to paint the walls.  Then Adam's tenant moved out and left 1040 pounds of stuff behind.  I know because that is how much the dump said I dropped off at their transfer station in town. I was curious why the peel and stick 12 inch floor tiles were mostly removed from the small bathroom. The previous guy had removed the water tank from the base, painted it black and then reinstalled it. He did not get it sealed properly so water was leaking on the floor and loosened the tiles. Fortunately no damage to the wood floor and I have replacement floor tiles in the garage.  But, why would anyone go through the effort of painting the tank black??  By the way, I had a spare toilet to replace the partially painted one.

We drove the 60 minutes to West Plains to attend the evening session of Stake Conference Saturday evening.  Something is wrong when I leave my house before 5:30 pm and it is already dark. I guess they call it daylight savings. The Sunday session was broadcast to our local building.  We received some great council from members and leaders alike. The mother of 8 children shared that we need to love the Savior before we can love His children and we can learn to love anyone if we give our time to them. A ward relief society president shared how it is an exciting time to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and how we need to remodel our homes so they are build on the firm foundation of Jesus Christ. One of the things she said, and which I am pondering was that we are being prepared for greater things yet to come; so what am I preparing for?

Sunday President Jones asked us,as we partake of the Sacrament, to listen to one revelation of what we should do or change.. and then do it.  The temple president said that the Savior understands our burdens and invites us to lay them at his feet.  And that temples represent the Savior's redeeming and exalting love.

Elder Palmer, an area 70, asked: How can we be converted and then slip into inactivity? The answers:
      1. maybe we were just going through the motions. If we act for the praise of men or to get blessings, it might not be enough.  It needs to be because we love the Lord and want to follow Christ.
      2. Sometimes we become offended.  Then we are distracted and set aside things we know are true and fall prey to the adversary. The steps may include discouragement, despondent, distracted, disobedient, doubt and falling away.
      3. Sometimes we take a wrong turn.  Then the evil one comes and takes away light and truth. Disobedience can cause us to lose what we have, for the spirit won't dwell in unholy temples. Even if we've been given the gift of the Holy Spirit, it's not enough.  The spirit can be taken from us like the talent from the unworthy servant.

True conversion involves remembering our divine identity, striving to follow the Savior through love for him, and getting rid of things that don't bring us closer to Christ. The Holy Spirit is essential for conversion. Where we focus our time matters too.

Sandy had a good week; more good days that not so good. She did get out to walk several days. She seems to be eating more and is very dedicated to what I call her medical protocol. We joined the sister missionaries visiting a part member family on Friday and spent about two hours visiting/teaching them.

Fall has arrived!

Happy birthday to Jonathan (Wednesday)!

We were blessed to have Kristy, Miriam and David for the first couple days of the week.  The two children were busy with home schooling and Kristy was able to spend time with Sandy and assist her with her needs.  On Monday, I took Miriam with me to do an apartment inspection of the sister missionary's apartment.  I go more for the visit with the sisters than concern for the neatness and cleanliness of their apartment (that is not a concern).  We have a new sister that is straight from the MTC, but is mature and eager to do the work.

When Kristy arrived, I told her there were two projects that required her help.  I called them 'getting over the inertia' projects.  Longer ago than I wish to remember, I purchased a scanner for the purpose of scanning family photos and storing them digitally.  Kristy was able to show me how to use the machine and get me started.  In the past week I managed to copy almost 200 photos; and that is only a drop in the bucket.  The other overcoming inertia project was tying the springs in the love seat.  The springs are different heights; which ones go where was the problem.  But Kristy noted another problem:  I had run the webbing under a center support brace, and not on top.  So now I need to purchase some more webbing to fix that mistake and then proceed with the spring tying.

Tuesday morning I spent taping the Midway house downstairs rooms; these chores always take longer than expected.  In my absence, Kristy was able to get Sandy to her doctors appointments and stop by the cancer center and find a suitable wig (just in case).  one those appointments was with the dermatologist about her swelling and cracking lips. he felt it was not a reaction to the infusion and gave her some cream to apply and they are much better That evening, Kristy prepared a delicious meal for us and the sister missionaries; Miriam made brownies - an essential item for the ice cream and chocolate sauce. Then she and her two children headed home.  It was a delight having them here; they did some small and simple acts of kindness that we really appreciated.

Wednesday Sandy had her appointment with the wound healing center. Her wounds are healing nicely and she was given a good bill of health for two weeks.  They also installed a new bag and as of today, it is still good, 4+ days later.  This may be a new record.  That night was the annual church Trunk or Treat at the church building.  Because it was raining, all activities were held indoors.  We had close to 200 for dinner and the activities.  We have some very creative people with amazing talents of transforming themselves into interesting characters.

Thursday Sandy had her appointment with the oncologist, just prior to her next immunotherapy infusion.  We waited almost an hour to see the doctor, who said that her blood work indicated kidney and liver were within norms. Because she had a 2:30 appointment with Clifford, and they were at least 30 minutes behind schedule with their infusion patients, Sandy rescheduled for the next morning. And she was able to connect with Clifford.

On Friday, she drove herself to her infusion appointment, got her treatment without any problems and was home within two hours.  I was able to return to the house and work on more taping and mudding.  That evening Deborah and family arrived to spend the weekend.  We feel the love of family!  On Saturday her children had a fun time playing in the leaves that have been falling with great gusty.  In the past week, we had five consecutive days of rain for a total of 4 inches.

We had a moment of silence in honor of our mirrored shower door. The mirror was spotting and looked unsightly, so it needed replacement.  But due to safety regulations, shower doors can not be made of mirror, only tempered glass.  So I took the old one in to get measured; a week later they called say the glass was in, so I returned with the door.  They later called to say that the glass company sent them the wrong size and it would take another week to get the glass in.  And, oh by the way, they broke the mirror removing it from the frame. So we went a week with only half a shower door and had no wet floors.  It took some time to get used to the different sight picture when walking into the bathroom.  And now it seems strange to have two clear doors. But I will get over it...

Sandy has felt better this week and actually got out walking three days, one day in a light drizzle.

We have experienced some very beautiful fall weather, with magnificent colors; unfortunately they only last a couple of days and then the wind blows the leaves off.

These three are from our back porch:

Friday evening we had a brief rain shower complete with hail.  This is what our deck looked like:

We are on our own this week, but have plenty of food in the freezer and a warm fire in the fireplace! And I would like to take this opportunity to wish all the Marines a Happy Birthday next Saturday, and a big Thank You to all the veterans on next Sunday!

Where did this week go??

Sunday 29 October 2018

Did not seem like a busy week, but it passed me by quickly.  Monday  I had an appointment at the Toyota dealership in Harrison (50 miles west of us) to get two keys and fobs made. I found the fobs on line much cheaper than the dealership price.  I found it interesting that a Toyota dealer would have a 1930 Model A Ford parked in their showroom, but they do.  That night at 1030 pm Sandy woke me up from a sound sleep and said her bag was leaking.  We didn't want to call the home health nurse knowing it would be over an hour before she would arrive, so I replaced her bag, solo, for the first time.  Not the best time for me to do this for the first time; while the body may act like it is awake, the mind wasn't.  But, the bag was replaced and all seemed good.

Tuesday we planned to go to the temple mid morning.  Unfortunately, I did not do a great job installing her ostomy bag and it started leaking early in the morning.  Sandy was able to connect with the on duty nurse and explained we wanted to go to St Louis and could she please come early.  And she did.  And we were able to get on the road about 11 am.  It was a beautiful drive with so many fall colors creating a beautiful kaleidoscope of brilliant colors. Just short of the temple, Sandy indicated that her bag was springing a leak and we needed to detour to the hotel first and do a repair job.  So we did.  Some paste and tape and she was good to go.  We were able to enjoy an evening session at the temple and then dined at the St Louis Bread Company.

We did another morning session and then headed home arriving in time for dinner.  We had a great time in the temple and an enjoyable drive home.  The new to us van performed well and the change of vehicles is growing on us.

Thursday Sandy attended a luncheon at Gaston's on the White River; one of our former ward members had invited a lot of the sisters she knew to join her for lunch and 18 came to enjoy a good meal and a have a fun time visiting.  I was able to work more on the Midway house installing drywall (still) for part of the day.

Friday I returned to the drywall site and am almost finished...finally.  Then I can start mudding.

Sandy got a ride to West Plains for the annual Relief Society retreat.  She left at 830 am and got home about 230 pm.  She had a good time.  Meanwhile, one of the ward families stopped by on Monday to inform us they would be at our house on Saturday to rake the leaves.  And they came and cleaned up most of the leaves.  Some were mulched and others put on the burn pile.  Took them less than two hours. And before the next crop of leaves falls, the yard looks rather nice.

We have certainly be blessed by friends and family.  We had a very tasty meal of taco soup delivered on Friday, the yard was raked on Saturday, an elderly sister insists on doing our ironing (I call her 'Iron Woman') and Kristy, with Miriam and David arrived late Saturday evening to spend a few days hanging out with us.

Kristy made a delicious enchilada dinner tonight and we shared it with a young couple from our ward. And both David and Miriam showed their youthful cunning by beating me in games of blockus.

Here are 3 generations of beautiful Fox women!

Fall has arrived in the Ozarks

Sunday 21 October 2018

Our /week started with Tuesday since I don't remember anything worthwhile about Monday!

Tuesday I worked more on sheetrock and we got ready for Miranda's family.  They (less Dan) arrived late Tuesday night and stayed through Saturday morning.  As usual, they brought fun and laughter to the home.  Ethan wanted to rake leaves into a big pile, so he and Miranda worked hard at building a large pile which then got transferred to the burn pile. Alex helped me make chocolate chip cookies one day. Miranda cleaned the house and prepared yummy meals for us. The boys had fun playing games, and of course Rachel delighted us all with her captivating smile and laugh. She has also found the lower cabinet with the storage containers and likes to pull them out and hide them.

Sandy had her weekly appointment with the wound healing center on Wednesday afternoon.  The wounds seem to be healing nicely.  And she is still wearing the same ostomy bag from that day without any leakage!  We invited the sister missionaries to dinner and had an enjoyable visit with them.

Thursday she had her first immunotherapy at the oncologists.  Took less than three hours and this time there was no reaction.  She then had an appointment with her Chinese healer.  She did not seemed overly tired by day's end. And we had the sister missionaries return for a second night of dinner.  One of them is a runner and received permission to participate in a 5K run in November; her running companion will be Miranda, since she and Dan are running as well. The other missionary is returning home this week.  Our sisters over the past year or so have been doing amazing things for the members and the community.

Friday I helped drive a group of seven from our ward to the St Louis Temple, leaving at 4:30 am and returning about 9:00 pm.  We had a great time.  In my absence, it rained about an inch of moisture and Deborah arrived in the evening.

Miranda left Saturday morning and things got a little quieter. It was a quiet day for all of us. I did take some time to familiarize myself with our 'new to us' van. I think we have the paperwork snafu solved so that we can get it registered this week.

We had a good Sunday with excellent sacrament meeting talks and subsequent class lessons.

This next week we hope to make a two day trip to the temple.