Idaho

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Visit from Grands

This week brought some happy differences from the mundane run.  Not at all to give the impression that life is mundane though.  The longer I live, the more I realize it is just like beauty, all in the life of the beholder.  There are those people wandering their lives thinking they are a nobody and with nothing great in their character or soul.  Then there are those people who find fascination, excitement, and life in all there is about them.  They are a different breed.

Somehow, I feel like in Richmond, I walk through a load of people with no excitement in their lives.  Life is a labyrinth for them to wander and walk.  There are so few who are in it for the game, and the experience.

The great Samuel Clemens, a fascinating man.  One who watched the every move of those about him with great detail.  Their every movement captured their personality for him.  That is one of the things that made him such a great writer.  He was able to take those little details and wind them into a story and make the characters that much more real. 

Suppose it would be the experience of the riverboat pilot which would teach you even more closely to watch the details of the water.  The slightest quiver could mean life or death.  Just his assumed name of Mark Twain shows a certain yearning.

Earlier this week I was able to pick the brain of a man who I found to be very fascinating.  A silent man in the past, but who gave voice this week.  I wanted to hear his story.  So I started to inquire and found some wonderful stories.

Having William Borah fresh on my mind, I was thinking of the honour of the President of the United States coming to visit you in your home state.  Senator Borah toured with him and introduced him to all audiences that he was presented before.  For some reason this has really lingered with me the past weeks.  President Roosevelt paying one of the greatest honours to a man of the opposite party.  President Franklin Roosevelt went to Republican Idaho and toured with its Senator.  It also showed the distinction of Senator Borah.  This really has hit home with the latest election.

So it was with greatest delight that I wandered through the mind and history of Mel Thompson.  Learning he moved with his family to Nyssa, Oregon in the mid 30’s.  They moved up there and basically homesteaded a new territory.  Knowing many of my own family would move to that same area within the next 10 years I really sought to pick his brain. 

Family history and my delving into history met ironically in the mind of Mel.  He told of the experience when he was still in school that the President of the United States came to town.  Yes sir, little Nyssa, Oregon welcomed the President.  I knew who one of the men was who traveled with him, the same Senator Borah.

These stories come to life for me when I can go to the places these events happened.  But they come so much more alive when I know a person and can learn from firsthand experience.  Like sitting on the porch of the Price home in Malad, Idaho where Senator Borah visited with Helen Daniels Price’s father.

Having been to Nyssa several times in my life, the latest just in 2005 when I traveled out there with a visit to Parma.  The Amalgamated Sugar Factory, with which Dad was closely tied for a good 25 years.  Cannot forget the Sharp family members who moved, and some of which still live in Malheur County.  The Fort Boise replica is not far away either.  Oh, and the elusive Rhoda Christensen Davenport Pappas Halan who wrote letters from there, but that is the end of the story.  I have found no more.

All truth can be circumscribed into one great whole.  That truth certainly extends beyond the theoretical.  That truth engulfs us into it as well.  Funny thought, to consider ourselves the truth, but in essence all things are truth.  Whether we like or live it or not; even our lying is in truth and will be treated as such.  Our lives mingle, intertwine, and are very much related to each other.  How could one ever conceive that their actions don’t affect another?  President Roosevelt, Senator Borah, and in the school yard where the children were let out from class to go out to the street to see the President’s motorcade prove that point.  One of those children had a face, had a personality, and had the name of Melvin J Thompson.

Last weekend, we went to Washington to attend the temple, to see Amanda’s grandparents, and to witness of a baby blessing.  It was a great weekend, but turned even better when Amanda’s grandparents came to stay with us for an evening.  An honour I would be willing to give a lifetime to do with one of my sets of grandparents.  (I suppose I am giving a lifetime to do so!)  It will yet come to pass and I will cherish that day.

We attended the Washington Temple Saturday morning.  Amanda and I were asked to be the witness couple for the session.  That was our second time.  Shanna just thought that was something else.  I wish I could have done an endowment with any of my grandparents, living I mean.  It bothers me even still today my Grandfather, my only living grandparents, chose not to come to our sealing.  For what reason I do not know, and probably prefer not to know.  There again, how woven our lives are together.  That the mere presence, or absence thereof, would so affect me.  What if Mel Thompson had not been in the audience that day?  Who would ever have known?  Nobody would have known, but now I do.  Somehow it rings a siren to my soul and brings back me back to the reality of the past.  It seems so far distant sometimes.  But now that nameless face has altered my life some 70 years later.  Even further, all those who read this will be altered to one degree or another, by this events significance.  That says nothing of all the other individuals present that day.  How many of them told that experience later in life, how many wrote it down, how many family members recall that event today.  I would venture that at least one somewhere, somehow, even if from a recorded record.

Our families were tied a little more closely that day in Washington and the following convo.  The drive back to Richmond brought out the stories of childhood in Pingree, Idaho; Nyssa, Oregon; and Ogden, Utah.  The stories included excursions to the Pacific and World War II and running into Mel’s brother at Pearl Harbor from Air Craft Carrier #77 to his training at Farragut in northern Idaho.  His missing attendance at the Laie, Hawaii Temple by one day was told followed by his bouts in learning telegraphy for the railroad.  Even those appear to be the most ordinary have a life to tell.  Sadly, it is in the eye of the storyteller that plays just as much of a role as that of the listener.  The listener has to seek and find connections, living what is true empathy.  In return, the speaker has to give of himself in such a way for the other to experience it. 

Is it any wonder the gospel works the way it does?  Not only does one have to be prepared to receive, but the giver has to be prepared to give.  Otherwise neither will give nor receive and both will most certainly not be edified.  One side operating just doesn’t work.  It falls on deaf ears, or is droned out before even arriving at the other party.

Too often there are those who are giving for the wrong reasons make it strained.  Those who seek it for the wrong reasons ruin the experience.

Anyhow, it was a fascinating lesson, and I was able to come and grasp some more of the 60’s.  I have really struggled coming to understand the 70’s and 70’s.  I just cannot tell why.  Even though I was born in the late 70’s, there seems to have been some type of disconnect.I have been fully engulfed in Richmond, Utah in 1961 and 1962 through the eyes of Lillian Coley Jonas Bowcutt.  The lifestyle of a lady in her 60’s though just does not seem to portray the era.  Especially this is true in a community which was still very rural and in some ways behind the times.  I just cannot seem to get the culture of the time.  50’s, 40’s, 30’s, I feel like I have a very good grasp, like experiencing through proxy.  In stepping backwards farther, I struggle to back further and feel it is due to the 60’s and 70’s.  Honestly though, I have not much desire for that time.  I don’t know why.  So I push further back into the 20’s and 1800’s without it. 

Anyhow, I never really got to pick Shanna’s brain much.  I got Mel on such a roll that he was not about to give up his shine.  We both were so enjoying it while the others just slept, knitted, or did something else.  So I regret not picking apart Shanna’s past, which I am sure holds many interesting experiences and stories.  Perhaps another day, with the right experiences will open that book.

They spent the night, and we had breakfast together before Amanda went to school and I went to work.  Mel, Shanna, Dennis, and Gwen toured the Museum of the Confederacy and St. John’s Church.  We invited them for dinner, of which they accepted.  We made white chili for their dinner.  They loved it, we put it over rice with corn.  In the end, games and conversation were out as Dennis seemed not very desirous to stay.  So we bid them adieu and wished them well on their drive home.

It was an experience I will not soon forget.  It is a rare thing such experiences happen.  So much has to align for such events to occur.  A man I had viewed as so quiet proved to be very perceptive, keen, and wise.

I don’t like the tone of this little blog, so I think I will be leaving.  I feel like I am condescending or portraying some type of sage.  Which I am not attempting, but failing.  I am so weak at words it is frustration.  What I would not give to have the power and verse of Mark Twain or Hugh Nibley.

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Finally some time to read

Life is great. I have not any complaints in the world. I get off work at 4:30 in the afternoon. Just in time to pick up Amanda from school if I need
to. The tank of petrol in the car has already lasted over a week. The miles on the car don’t even seem to be adding. I love my job. I love what I am doing. I have a corner office. I am now promoted as of today. Life is looking pretty darn good to me. Now if I can just get hired on full time….Another highlight about all of this is that I have time for more personal things. The Lord has poured a veritable landslide on me in regards to family history. The past week alone has kept me swamped in trying to keep up with family history. The Sharp door has opened and fully unleashed some of its storehouse. I stumbled on the first pictures I have ever seen of my Great Grandparents, John William Ross (Jack) and his wife Ethel Sharp. I found links, contacts, even spoke with members of the family who personally knew them. Photos have come from left and right. On top of it all, I received about 50 documents, all original, of correspondence on the Andra/Wanner/Schneider line from Germany. They are all in the German so I have to find a translator, but I have not even started that pile.

The time has been wonderful. It is like the old story of the treasure hunter who was introduced to the cave of mountains of treasure. It all laid before him, and yet there was one clause to the entry. I could only take one thing. That is how I feel. Every moment of every day, there is only
one thing I can do, and i might never have the opportunity again. Great Aunt June to interview. I arranged for Dad and Grandpa to go down to
Victorville, California to visit with her. Grandpa has not seen his own sister for over 50 years. Her daughter is going to start interviewing her for me. She asked me to give her a list of questions I want asked. She should have asked for the host of questions I want to ask.

I finally have time to finish typing up my Great Grandmother’s journals (on my mother’s line) I have typed up another 3 months of her 1962, which has been very interesting. From earthquakes in Richmond and Salt Lake City to my mother losing her finger at Dr. Gibbons office in Lewiston, Utah. These journals are more valuable just to me than I could ever have imagined. Never would I have thought my family would have played so central to some of the stories that are unfolding.

Despite all that I am learning through what is being heaped upon me in family history is the rest of the time I have for personal things. I can
run two or three times a week if I choose. I don’t have the motivation up there just yet, but it is coming. But my passion, my favorite, the
opportunity to read.

I read Borah by McKenna about Senator William Edgar Borah. Who now ranks as my all time favorite politican of all time. Wheeler ranked up there, but there is something akin to godliness in Borah. Which is attested of what happened at his death. They held a funeral for him in the Senate Chamber, but nobody spoke. President Roosevelt opened the solemn assembly, and closed it. Nobody spoke because they believed there was nothing to say. This man had lived it. He was known to all, the whole country over. Europe, Germany, and Russia even paid their respects despite what was happening. He had a whole train dedicated and given to take him home to Idaho. He laid in state in Idaho and the stories of that. I wept at the end. It was as if my own friend had died. What a powerful man.

This week I also read Morris K Udall’s book, Too Funny to be President. Another great book. Another good man. It was interesting to read of him.
He reminded me so much of Cecil Andrus, and then when he talked of Andrus, I was honoured. The book was not so much about Udall as I would have liked, but I sure enjoyed the read. One of my favorites, “If Abraham Lincoln was alive today, he would be turning in his grave.”

I also read Mafia to Mormon today. That was a very interesting read. Not talking of great literature here, but I am glad I read it. The editor should be fired, but I enjoyed it.

So it is. I feel like I have a life that has been given to me. What is even better, I am making more money than slaving those long hours. Who could ask for more. What will life bring next?

Time to close for the night.

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Getting to know you….

Welcome to the Sept. 2006 edition of getting to know your friends. Copy this and paste it onto a new email & change all the answers so they apply to
you.  Then send this to a whole bunch of people including the person who sent it to you.1. What time did you get up this morning? 7:50 AM
2. Diamonds or pearls? A saphire catches my eye the most
3. What was the last movie that you saw at the theatre? Saw the Joseph Smith movie in Liberty, Missouri on the 1st of July.
4. What is your favorite TV show? Home Improvement
5. What do you usually have for breakfast? Banana
6. What is your middle name? Norwood Jonas (yes, two names)
7. What is your favorite color? White
8. What food do you dislike? Who dislikes food? Without it I would die!
9. What is your favorite CD? Right now, Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto!
10. What car do you drive? 1998 Toyota Camry
11. What is your favorite Sandwich ? Club
12. What characteristic do you despise? Ignorance
13. Favorite item(s) of clothing? The ones I wear
14 If you could vacation anywhere in the world, where would it be? Heaven
15. What color is your bathroom? Cream
16. Favorite brand of clothing? Don’t have one
17. Where would you retire to? Malad, Idaho
18. What was your most memorable birthday? 2003
19. Favorite sport to watch? Soccer
20. Furthest place you are sending this? The Moon
21. Whom do you least expect to send this back? ?
22. Person you expect to send it back first? ?
23. Favorite saying? A lack of preparation on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine.
24. Are you a morning person or a night person? daytime
25. What is your shoe size? 10.5
26. Pets? Nope
27. What did you want to be when you were little? Farmer
28. How are you today? Restless
29. What is your favorite candy? Oreos
30. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? Saturday
31. What is your favorite food? Yes
32. Favorite Past-time? Traveling
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Raleigh, North Carolina

Well, it has certainly been a long two weeks in Raleigh, North Carolina. I went down on the 1st and returned yesterday. It has certainly been an experience. I have always been fortunate to end up in the most interesting situations, and there always seems to be something to write home about.I rode down with Larry Grice, who went through license training with me. I have to make a few mentions of Mr. Grice. He has a certain way of doing things. There is this certain twitch, or something, which makes him have to constantly be fidgeting with his surroundings. It seems as though he must be always turning a nob or moving something. Readjusting the volume, changing station, changing the fan speed, turning things on and off, moving his seat, making a strange little laugh, and a whole host of other things. To top it off, he cannot drive smooth if his life depended on it. It is a constant change of speed and use of the brake, and these are not gradual. Faster, slower, jerk here, jerk there, swerve over here, and more constant twitches. By the time we got there, I was car sick and in the front seat. To top it off, my patience was such that I was ready for a rampage.

I don’t know why, but the volume of the radio always worked itself up so that it would hurt my ears. So I would say something so he would have to turn it down again. But in doing so, I had to have a conversation with a man who I could not understand. Between his accent, and perhaps a bit of a lazy mouth, it put more stress to carry conversation. Raleigh is a three hour drive, and if it had been 2 minutes longer, I am afraid I might have found a dead body on the side of the road. Really though, I was so wound up, mad, angry, irritated by the time we got there, I just had to go for a walk. This went on every single time we drove to work, or back, and all the way back here to Richmond.

One day on the way to work he put on Spanish music. I don’t mind a little latin music once and a while, but with his driving, and it damaging my ear drums, and then in the 100+ heat, it wore me thin. Another day, we listened to this preacher lady who was doing something I am not familiar with. She kept putting an ‘ah’ on the endah of herah wordsah, preachinah about Christah, and it wasah loudah, and sheah wasah doinah some sortah singinah, and Larry decidedah to keep the windowah downah, and it was likeah 114ah with heat indexah, and we areah in shirtah and tiesah… I started riding with other people to lunchah and to and from workah.If that was not the end of it, Larry had a few other character traits not so endearing. I found out from the class that he solicited a women in the class for a little sexual favor. Apparently she needed the cash more than her dignity, and he returned at 2:00 in the morning. I really don’t know anything happened, but her roommate supposedly got the low down from her. She is a college student and had complained before the whole class that she needed some dough, and her roommate said she definitely had plenty the next day. I do know that he asked two other married women for her phone numbers during the week. One of which earned him a sexual harrassment complaint to Combined Insurance.

Nicole Moore, who was with us in license training put Larry in his place when he started making comments about her body and such. Larry was always off visiting family and did not do any studying. Then as the week wore on and he obviously was far behind the class, he only complained that there was too much information or that it was not all necessary to know. I learned loads of patience, and wore it awfully thin a few times. He was a absolute mess. After a shower, the bathroom smelled like something was in its last stages of being decomposed by mushrooms. He slept naked and did not make much effort to cover himself in transition between clothes, the bathroom, and the bedroom. While I would be studying or even in bed, he would turn the television on and blast the sound. He would mumble little things to himself, or if they were to me I could not have understood or heard it very well. As if this was not enough, he was black. So, being raised in a very non-black state, Idaho, I never worried about this. Honestly, I do not think I really care or give any thought to skin color. However, when you are with one 48 hours a day, I found myself in places and even in private being extra careful to not be racist. Again, I honestly don’t think I have a racist bone in my body, but somehow with the climate around us, I found I had this fear of being racist. It created an extra cautious talk, reaction, and actions in his presence, more I think from the social and governmental climate we have today. Quite honestly, I found myself reverse discriminating to him! I was more lenient or less vocal with him than I would have been with someone else. I suppose that does make me racist, but in a reverse way. I let him get away with blowing my ear drums out because I did not want to offend him, or because he was…I don’t know what.

The entire week, in the background, was this constant struggle with my patience and with a complete phenomenon I have never encountered before. To top it off, the air conditioning went out in the building we were having our training in. For a week of record highes, it was horrible timing. With the temperature with the heat index between 105 and 115, it was definitely the same indoors. In a room with windows facing the sun the light and heat poured in. The full wall was windows, and they do not open. The heat was stifling. When we would go outside to cool off every hour, we thought it was cool, even though the bank one day said 114. I have no idea what the actual temperature was inside, or if it was just the closed quarters, and tremendous humidity, but that wore on a person too. Quite literally, we would be listening to Mr. Roger Dudley teach us, and I would have sweat running down my face. You could not touch anything and not have it stick to you. It was long, tedious days, and then when we were done, it was back to the hotel for a shower and nap. Both were required if you were to be any form of comfortable. We were supposed to be in shirt and tie all week, he let us come in shorts and t-shirt and we still sweat like none else. Some wore almost too little. This girl straight across from me did not leave much to the imagination, and with a skirt on, it only caused more aggravation to know I could never look that direction.

There was roughly 18 of us in this room for our sales training. Day in and day out, we memorized and went over the 3 policies, the history of the company, and the company ethics. I am a complete admirer of W. Clement Stone and this whole organization. A company with ethics, principles, and something more than just trying to make money. They literally are trying to change the world for the better. It was easy to lose sight of that though when you are so completely uncomfortable. I remember sitting down on the chair the second day and feeling the moisture still in the seat padding I had left from the day before. The gum on the bottom of my chair was warm enough that it stuck to my shoe when I accidentally hit it while shifting my feet beneath me. Gladly, the air conditioning came on and Friday was probably around 80 in the room.

The week proved to be interesting with the people inside the room. There was the has been insurance agent trying to get a new start in the business. Just lost his wife to divorce, or I think forced away his wife, and was a complete know it all. Always had to offer his two cents, tell the corny jokes, and interrupt everyone’s study to critique them, all while he did not do very well in learning the presentation himself. Then there was the Ms. I cannot do anything. Complain, complain, complain about how hard it was, how hot it was, how stupid she was, how her car broke down, how she could not learn the information. Oddly, the information she could not learn, she did not learn. Then there was the military man, who was always right as well, but who thought he was actually in lead of the class. Even with the teacher present, he had to tell us what to do, make sure we knew of his anger, or frustration, and more. Then there was the woman who constantly had things to say that had nothing to do with anything, and she had to share with the whole class. Many tempers flared, many people started yelling at others, mostly back at the hotel, and this was all a show. Then there was Larry, and all the women thought he was a predator or something, there was the little lady across from me who always had the complete following of male eyes, and the dynamics of the class were never boring.

Our poor teacher, Mr. Roger Dudley of Fayetteville, North Carolina was obviously worn by the end of the week too. Even on the last day, he caught several people cheating on the final, and made us all take it again. That did not make the class happy as we did not get out early like we were supposed to, and who wanted to take an hour test over?? I had already been downstairs for 10 minutes when we were summoned back to retake it. Most of what I missed was purely in having lost interest. Word for word phrases I substituted words that had nothing to do with anything I was writing so quickly to get it over with again. For example, rather than writing, Do you drive a car, I wrote Do you own a car. Which cost me the entire question. I was writing so fast by the end that the checker could not read my writing and I missed probably 3 due to my having completely lost any interest by the end of the test.

To add to the situation in Raleigh, right before I left to head out to North Carolina, my computer crashed. I don’t know exactly what happened, but my computer refused to recognize any internet. My wireless card altogether was not even recognized by the computer. So I had to take it in. In the end they had to reformat the entire hard drive! At least they could do a backup of my files. I did not get to take my computer with me, which I had hoped to do. That way I could still run finances and orchestrate what I do from my e-mail. Well, now I was high and dry, and worried about my computer, all my information on it, finances, and who knows what else. Two weeks later, I went and picked up my computer. It crashed twice within the first 30 minutes of having got it back. So I will have to take it in this morning. I was able to pull the Microsoft Money off of it to use on Amanda’s computer, so now I can do the whole financial thing. I am going to try and pull the family history file off so I can use it while my computer is gone. Fortunately I put the couple hundred pictures on Photomax, so I can lose them if I have to. I do have 3,000 songs on the computer, and I hope not to lose them. I have given away, or thrown away most of the CD’s I got them from.

Anyhow, it has been a testing by fire for two weeks. There was a positive side though. I have two close, new friends, Nicole Moore of Norfolk area, and Andy Yauss from Radford. If it had not have been for them, I might have lost my sanity. They were good study buddies and they let me vent to them when I thought I was about to break.

How is that for two weeks! It was the first time in my life I felt like my poor body was not handling the stress very well. I would wake up and my whole body was tense and one big knot in dread of the day. I usually went to bed exhausted, but could not sleep very well due to the stress on the body. Mentally I honestly don’t think I was close to breaking down, but my physical body sure was growing weary.

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Bonified Stately

Another week has passed and things constantly change and go. Sometimes I have to laugh at how quickly the world seems to change. One moment one thing is happening, the next moment all new circumstances have arisen.One month ago, Amanda and I were not in Virginia yet. In fact, we were driving through Kansas and would be arriving in Missouri. A week before that, we were comfortably situated in our little apartment in Provo, Utah. Had not even started packing yet. One year ago, I was unmarried, living and working my life away in Boise, Idaho. I had a wonderful job during the week working for The Gallatin Group, and on the weekends I sprayed lawns in Malad, Idaho. Seven months ago and eleven days, I was married in Logan, Utah. Put me at seven and half months ago, I was working on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.

Now another chapter of sorts is beginning, or at least a sub title. Today Amanda officially starts at Virginia Commonwealth University in the dental hygiene program. It was strange to drop her off at her ride’s home, and come home alone, to realize she is now a student again. Oddly enough, Matthew and Sarah Harris are one of the individuals who Nathan Wayment’s e-mail passed through in its line before us for which we were able to secure this huge home to live in.

Another chapter opened on Friday when I went in to take the Virginia Health Insurance Licensing Exam. I had spent a whole week in class preparing to take the test, and there I was, taking it. I really don’t know what I expected, that it wouldn’t come? It did, and I squashed it! So, now I have certification to be licensed for health insurance in Virginia. Now, I head off to Raleigh, North Carolina for two weeks of training so that Combined Insurance of America can appoint me. Then after appointment, I will receive my actual license from the state. Then I will be bonified and legitimate to be selling insurance in this state. Carrying on in a company of which my Grandmother invested 30 years of her life. Too bad I could not take her residuals!

Life marches on, it continues to amaze me, and go forward. One day it seems that I have enjoyed and endured all I wanted in life, and then another magnificent vista opens before me. Endured not because of pain and torment, but because it just seems my bosom could not contain anything more. My, our, blessings are beyond comprehension. At some points in life, I feel my heart has swelled as wide as eternity and could not possibly take any more. Pain just isn’t an option any more. It is so low, so mean, so vulgar, and something only to distract our mind from the real view. The past weeks I have recognized blessings which have come to me which have been in the pipeline for generations. I recognized blessings that come to me from my Great Great Grandmother Christiana Wilhelmina Knauke Andra. I also stumbled upon one that has passed to me from Regina Friederike Nuffer Scheibel Wanner. Just this week I had one fall in my lap that came from Herbert and Marthan Christiansen Coley. Who would ever have thought that the faith of these individuals would reap and bestow blessings on those who they only could imagine.

Well, time to be doing something more. All is according to plan, as far as I can see.

 

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Nuffer family history

Today I am glad to announce that I completed the Nuffer family history.  As grand as that sounds, that actually is defined as I only finished the book that Larry gave me on the Nuffer family.  I went through and read the entire book gleaning family history information.  It was very interesting.  Much of the history of Preston, Glendale, Mapleton, Providence, and other places in Cache Valley are included.  I have built a greater relationship with my Nuffer ancestry now.  Plus I have learned a good deal about parts of the family I knew nothing about.  There are everything in there about marriages, skeletons in the family, births, deaths, places, and even records of temple ordinances (including second anointings).  It has been very interesting.
This will come as a revelation to some, but I am still typing up the journals of Lillian Coley Jonas Bowcutt.  I am now 9 months into 1961.  I hope to finish the year by the end of the week and send it out to all the family who are related.  I am excited.  I have learned some really interesting things.  She tells of her bout with cancer, having ‘her female organs’ removed, and the comings and goings of neighbors.  She tells of every family who comes to visit.  I have really enjoyed it.  She tells of my Grandma going to get a cancerous mole removed.  She tells of my Mother and some of her reactions to others.  She tells often of the baby, Jackie, and how she seems to be always sick.  She mentions how she is taking care of Ren and how he broke his hip.  She tells of her reading the Book of Mormon and how she wishes she could go to the temple with her sister Edna.  I am building a relationship with my Great Grandmother.  I wish they were a little longer and she would reflect some.  When her own mother died, she tells of the funeral and nothing more.  She tells who came to visit but nothing of the emotional side made it in really.  I wish she would tell something about Joseph Jonas.  The only mention so far is going to put flowers on his grave, and his father’s.
There are two interviews tomorrow.  Both with staffing services.  One is for a legal staffing company.  I would really like to know if they have anything available.  If there are no job offers, I think I will go ahead with the job at Combined.  I have already agreed to start training next week. I have been really impressed with Marc Summers, who is hiring me.  He has been so kind and really gone out of his way to help any concerns I have had.  Not to mention his respect of the LDS religion.  He has openly stated he wants to learn more, so I am interested in taking this job just for the missionary opportunities.  The same in traveling to visit people. I could meet more, have more opportunity, get to know Richmond more by going with Combined than ever sitting in an office.  I did always want a job that would be outside.  Geez, I don’t know why I am even second guessing this.  It seems like it could be all I could want and more.
The bad parts are that I will have training for three weeks.  The first week here in Glen Allen.  Then two weeks in Raleigh, North Carolina.  They pay for all the costs, but that doesn’t help alleviate the costs of living right now. However, once I have a job, they tell me the usual base pay for a week is at least $500.  That is if you are doing the work and just picking up premiums.  He said selling insurance on top of that will only add to that amount.  He said they like to have their people making $125 a day.  He said you can pretty easily make over that.  I think I will give it a try.  The money would not hurt, but more importantly, I need some type of income.  The best part is I love to travel, I love to meet new people, and what an opportunity to share the gospel.  You never know, I could do insurance law some day.  They said they do have a legal department and they even help to pay for some of the schooling.  Sounds like a good idea to me.  We will have to see.  I think I will go with it.  I will wait and see what these two interviews tomorrow bring for us.
by

Ides of July

There is not loads to report for this week.  I have applied for probably nearly 50 jobs online.  I have an interview tomorrow for a position with Combined Insurance.  Who would have thought?  What are the chances? Grandma worked for Combined for 30 years.  I have in essence sold Combined Insurance for 6 months of my life.  That is probably the equivalent that I spent with Grandma out on the road selling insurance.  I sure loved it.  Funny what we remember isn’t it. 
There was a couple of times we went to Soda Springs to sell.  I remember the Caribou Lodge.  It was my first time going over, I must have been about 4-6 years old.  We were in the old 1974 two door Mercury Cougar.  What a car.  As we came down the pass from Lava Hot Springs we hit a pheasant.  The old car took it in the headlight cover.  So when we needed the light, we were Popeye into Soda.  Grandma liked the Red Baron pizza and she promised that she would treat me.  Accordingly, we went and bought one and took it back to the Caribou Lodge.  It was only then we realized that we did not have an oven.  Grandma went down, and knowing the owners well, asked if they would cook it.  They agreed and we ate Red Baron Pizza.  It sure was good.
This was my first time on the road selling with Grandma.  She had taken me several times to other places close like Kimberly, Twin Falls, Wendell, and American Falls. I always felt so loved.  She would buy me clothes and completely dress me for the week.  This week, she bought this little red suit that had zippers over the pockets.  It was a short sleeved shirt with shorts.  She gave me the permission to carry the money if I promised not to lose it.  So I would zip it up in my little pockets and keep it safe all the time.  Made me feel like a million bucks. 
Every morning we would get up and she would make oatmeal out of the packets.  She had a little warmer that you put in the coffee cup and it would boil the water in the cup.  She would pour the water in with the oatmeal and we had the little feast every morning.  She would comb and part my hair with a duck’s tail in the back.  I felt like a little prized doll the way she took care of me.
It was this same week that we stopped at this home to visit some people.  That is one thing I remember, we always had leads.  Grandma never knocked not knowing who lived there.  This house was on a corner or curve in the highway.  I could probably take you there today, even though I was only about 5.  We were sitting in the front room of the home and the people kept commenting on how adorable I was.  Being a little bashful I asked to go in the backyard.  I went out and stood at the back fence watching a baseball game.  Never had seen a baseball game.  I was thrilled, it was warm, slight breeze, and the shining metal baseball bat.  Our visit came to a close and they were begging Grandma in front of me if they could keep me.  She asked me if they could keep me and I remember breaking out in tears. They thought I was so much more adorable.  It would be funny to know who lived there and see if they even remember this.  I very much doubt it.
One of the best parts about being with Grandma and doing this insurance business was that when we set out to drive there, she would give me all the lead cards.  Sometimes there would be up to 200 of them.  It was my job to take a look at the map and figure out where things were.  Then I would go through and organize the lead cards according to street, and then line the streets up to area.  This was a big job coming to towns like Idaho Falls/Rexburg.  I remembered I became quite the pro.  The entire week we came back to the car, I could tell her the house number of the next house, and then would direct her how to get there.  I became a master at map reading and directions.  Even to this day, I can look at a map, get a good feel for where anything is, and I can know how to get where I need to go.  Coming to Richmond, I think Amanda is constantly amazed that I already know where everything is.  I already know the main streets, where they are, and where they go.  Even in church today, changing our ward boundaries, I knew all the roads they talked about.  This has been a great blessing to me.  All thanks to my beloved Grandmother, and Combined Insurance.
It is funny how much we remember.  At least me.  I have noticed that others are not so fortunate.  I remember that same week going to the sulfur mines and Grandma showing me where the Circle A trucks were.  She took me and showed me where my Uncle Doug lived at the time.  (Uncle Doug moved from there about 1987, which means I was definitely younger than 8.  I remember going to Grace, Idaho and Grandma showing me where Evan was raised.  I cannot take you there now, even though I have tried to find it.  Evan and Grandma divorced in 1987 as well.  I remember her taking me to the Minne Tonka caves, Bennington, Georgetown, and even little Niter.  Oddly, driving through Chesterfield a few years ago, it seemed too hauntingly familiar.  I still don’t know if it was from an expedition with Grandma or if it was for family history purposes.  (I did later find family history links)
This weekend we went to Northern Virginia.  Amanda and I have made a commitment to keep President Kimball’s challenge to the Saints that if circumstances permit, members should attend the temple at least once a month.  I have done this ever since I came home from my mission.  I have done it pretty well since I was endowed, except for several months in the mission when missionaries were not allowed to attend the temple.  Accordingly, Amanda and I needed to attend for the month of July and thought now was as good time as any.  We went up Friday night, stayed with Dennis and Gwen Thompson, who I lived with when I worked in Washington, D.C..  We spent the evening, caught up, and planned out Saturday.  Saturday, we went to the temple, dropped Miss Mandy Lundstrom off at the Baltimore Washington International Airport, drove to Annapolis, Maryland; and then crashed back at the Thompson home.  I did 15 initiatory at the temple and Amanda/Mandy both did a session.  We got lost getting there as we talked and passed every single junction for a free way.  Mandy was staying with the Thompson’s.  Oddly, she was the old girlfriend of Brad Hales, my good friend and old roommate.  She was going to ride the train from Springfield clear to BWI with all her luggage. Knowing how horrible that is, how much I hate traveling with luggage, I offered our services.  Plus she got to go to the temple one last time.  Amanda and I then ran to Annapolis to see the historic downtown.  Sadly, we got there 5 minutes after they closed the statehouse.  But we drove around a little longer.  The Maryland Capitol is the longest used Capitol in the U.S..  It has also served at the United States Capitol while the current one was being built.  It was in this very building that General George Washington resigned his commission of the Continental Army.  Wonderful history.  The College of St. John is right by as is the United States Naval Academy.  The town reminds me so much of Britain.  I love it.  I recommend all pay a visit there.  Go to the Capitol when it is open. I did last year and enjoyed it.
Anyhow, we came back to Richmond this morning and got ready and went to church.  They reorganized our ward, but as we did not know anyone, it did not make much difference to us.  At least we don’t have to attend another ward.  It was a good day.  At least we got a new lesson, no more of that adultery lesson we had for the last 3 weeks. 
by

Spraying the world

This past Saturday and Sunday was another log of interesting acquaintances and thoughts.  At least for me.
Saturday found me in Malad again.  I had to leave really early in order to get out of there at a decent time to head to Salt Lake City.  I left about 6:30 from Preston, and started spraying about 7:30 AM.  I am getting used to this early thing.  That does not mean I like it though.
One of the first jobs I did was for a Price family.  I caught my arm on the chain link fence and took a large chunk out of my forearm.  It was a great way to start the day.  I think I might be allergic to silk worm silk.  I walked under a tree with loads and I sneezed pretty regularly for the next hour or two.  I thought my poor lungs would give out by the time I was done.
There was this one lawn I was spraying.  Tim Burnett had this really cool recreation of an old time fueling station, like 1930’s.  He had created it out of all local materials.  Some of the signs were very interesting.  He came up and asked me some questions, then another neighbor, Don Hess, joined us.  Before long we were talking politics in Malad.  I am so dismayed that people go to such great lengths to do what they do.  They passed a bond (what a fitting term, let’s enslave the people) for a new jail.  Now, I have no qualms with a new jail, but what in the world does Malad need a 64 person jail for?  What is more, I am sure they will have somebody from outside design it and it will ruin the downtown spirit of Malad.  From the 20 or so neighbors who ended up weighing in on the street, either joining us, or just catching the conversation walking by, not one liked the idea.  I am not sure how they passed the bond if this is the sentiment.  What was even more disgusting, is that the person who was behind it had much to gain by the building of the jail.  As Tim was commenting, feathering his own nest at the expense of the community.  Whoever the guy, apparently also a policeman, gets to sell his land for the building of it.  Another neighbor commented how odd it is that the water line for the new jail is already being built (the street where we were talking was tore up) yet he still doesn’t have enough water pressure at his home to adequately water his lawn (we spray his lawn as well).  I have to admit,
I am really disgusted sometimes what happens in politics.
Larry drove over in my car to relieve me and finish what I did not finish spraying.  I headed quickly to Kaysville.  There I showered and changed, then Amanda and I headed to Salt Lake.  We found a great little parking spot and headed to Abravanel Hall for A Prairie Home Companion.  It was not his best show, I will admit.  In fact, some of the show was quite the letdown.  Usually they do a really interesting background on the areas that they go to.  There was nothing of that sort in this show.  Plus the news from Lake Wobegon actually was telling a story that he had already told, just with a different setup.  There was some of it which was a really good laugh.  Especially the Coffee Council.  I did enjoy lives of the cowboys as well.  I enjoyed the music the
most.  It was a surprise that Amanda did not know any of the songs.  The classic Americana songs which I remember singing at the county fair or other places, especially the sing songs in England, she did not know one of them.  The ones I thought were well known like Good Night Ladies, and In the Good Ole Summertime.
We finished the show and headed to Kaysville. There, we changed and got ready to attend the temple.  Amanda’s parents were finally able to join us for one.  We drove up to Ogden together.  I enjoyed the session.  I learned some good things this time.  Lately it seems I have been so tired I could not be in tune.  We finished and headed home, happy to have completed our goal of attending all the temples in Utah before leaving for Virginia.
Sunday arrived far too early for me.  We drove up to Tremonton for Jami Rupp’s farewell.  She is a sweet girl.  We then headed south to Brigham City for Jeanette Smoot’s farewell.  We had some time, so we tried to pay a visit to Lenard and Donna Bruderer, but we could not find their house and they were not answering their phone.  We went to the cemetery and walked around.  Of mention was the grave of Lorenzo Snow.  We then went down to the Box Elder Tabernacle with the intent of taking a nap on the lawn under a tree.  However, I wanted to walk around and the building ended up being open.  We watched a movie, took a tour, and the guy asked if we played organ.  I ended up playing the organ for an hour.  I was a bit rusty, but it came back.  One guy who came in for a tour even said he was honoured to hear me play.  (He must not go to church, they play better there!).
We headed to the farewell.  It was good to see everybody, most of which we saw also at Jami’s.  Jeanette gave a good talk as well.  Afterward we headed to the VFW Building for a little luncheon.  It was fun.  I enjoy good company.  It was good food too.
We had to leave to meet Nathan and Holly Wayment.  We were meeting them to sign the rental contract for their home in Glen Allen, Virginia.  We met them at the old Perry Tabernacle, now the Heritage Theatre.  We had a good visit with them.
We paid a visit to Grandpa in Plain City.  He was in a good mood, however he was headed to a viewing for another friend.  He said he liked the photos we gave to him.  We talked some about Hobart Day and I told him about meeting Carma Preece in Vernal.  He seemed interesting to know how she was doing.
Hobart Day was Grandpa’s half brother.  His father, John William Ross, had married a May Day (doomed marriage?) before my Great Grandmother.  He had a son who lived in West Virginia.  He was a preacher and married a Edna Montgomery.  He was knocked blind when he was 21.  Somebody threw something at him and hit him in the head.  He was blind from that point on.  He came out to visit Grandpa three times in his life.  The first two times he brought his wife.  Grandpa was telling me how he used to call him Big Brother.  They took him all over.  The last time he came out to visit, he came alone.  Grandpa was telling me that before he put him on the bus to send him home Hobart day made a few comments.  Something like, “I have been to Utah, been to a Mormon Sacrament, visited with a Mormon Bishop, now I can go home and die.”  Three days later he was dead.  Grandpa said he got a letter or two from Edna afterward she had dictated to someone to write for her.  But he did not know where they were and did not expect Edna to be around anymore.  Hobart died in 1983.
Before leaving we asked Grandpa if he knew Amanda’s Great Grandpa, Walter Wayment Hansen.  He said he did, he even helped him add onto his house.  Amanda found that interesting.
Grandpa had to go and we went to visit Glynn and Chyrrl Wayment.  Nate and Holly arrived right before us.  Glynn and Chyrrl both showed up shortly afterward.  Nate wanted us to stop and visit with his parents so we did.  They obviously knew Amanda’s Great Grandparents, they only lived a stone throw away.  I asked if Glynn knew Grandpa and he pointed to the white house to the south that he owns and said that Grandpa and Floyd Neilson built that house.  He said of course he knew him.  He had nothing but good to say about Grandpa.  The same for Amanda’s Great Grandfather.
We left and drove past her Great Grandparents home there in Warren.  I called Jennie Britzman and asked if she was going to be around.  She said she was.  We headed over.  Richard was there as well.  We were there for several hours.  We visited about life, Virginia, school, and I asked questions for family history.  Jennie’s mother was the sister to my Great Grandmother, Berendena (Dena) Van Leeuwen (married name Donaldson).  Jennie said that many people thought her mother Jane (Jantje in the Dutch) were twins.  She said that she liked Aunt Dena and Uncle Dave.
She told me that her mother used to have premonitions.  She knew of things before they happened.  When they were growing up in California she knew when the earthquakes were coming and would prepare for them.  One time she knew a big one was coming and told her husband, William Frederick Bremer.  He had become pretty edgy about her premonitions and did not want to hear of them.  He would tell her to not speak of them and that he did not want to hear them.  The same was on this occasion.  But she knew a big one was coming so she hired somebody to put guards on the shelves in the pantry to keep the bottles on the shelves.  But the time it took to get her husband to agree and for the work, he was only half done by the time the earthquake hit.  This was in the 1930’s in Los Angeles.  They lost half of everything in the pantry because it was not all guarded.
She knew when my Great Grandmother was going to have her accident.  She tried to convince Dena not to go where she was going.  But she went anyway, and got in the accident that eventually would take her life.
Jennie was telling me about a time when she was going to run to the store.  Her mother said that she saw Jennie flying through the air in an intersection.  But the ambulance was in the way so she could not see how her state was.  She plead with Jennie not to go but she did anyway.  She made it to the store alright, but on the way back she was t-boned by a semi that ran a stop sign.  Just like her mother said, the car was hit, the door flew open, and she flew across the intersection.  She was obviously knocked silly and did not remember any of it.  But it happened.  When they called her mother, she responded to those on the phone, “I know what happened, how hurt is she?”
Amanda commented that my family all have strange gifts.  I thought that was a funny comment.  But I suppose it is true.
Jennie (who turns 90 this year) told me that Uncle Dave (my Great Grandpa) was deathly afraid of earthquakes.  During the 1930’s when he was working in the area as a plumber he did some work in their house, especially after the earthquake.  When an aftershock would hit he would flee from house.  He would always run from the house when anything started to shake.  He commented to her once that he did not want to be in a basement and stuck down there if something happened.  Jennie said she used to like to tease him.  They would go to the window for the room Uncle Dave was in and then start shaking the window or screen.  They used to laugh and laugh to see a man as big as him jump and run outside.  She did not say if he ever knew it was them, but I don’t think he did.  I enjoyed this story.
We headed back to Amanda’s parents.  Mel and Shanna Thompson were there, Amanda’s grandparents.  We had a good little visit.  They were working on family history.  It was good to see them.  I did not know that Mel was born in Pingree, Idaho.
I headed home to Provo for work on Monday morning.  They have given me one last job to finish before I leave.  It is a good little job and will keep me busy.  It is to paint the walls in the crystal department.  I have been working on it since.
Last night I went up and met Amanda and her family at the Bountiful Temple.  We then went up Mueller Park with Rick for family photos.  It was fun.  I don’t know if I will like any of the photos, but it was fun.  Amanda’s cousin Sherise was there to keep us entertained.  We went out to eat Mexican at El Matidor (something like that).  I way overate.  It was very good food.
Anyhow, today we are packing to move to Virgina.  Moving day is fast approaching.  Looking forward to the trip!