Deseret, Cactus, & Texas: April 2018

Pioneer Pass, Pinal Peak, Nurd Berger

Felicia is in Texas this week with Grandma James... and seeing Eric and Krystal. They are all doing well. I have been watching the dogs. Van and Kris are adding to their house so they can have a bigger dining room. Grandma Reese tells me Neal is doing well at church and dating a lady. Tanner and Celine are having a baby girl soon. Janet will be coming home this week. I think the elevator is finished in their house.

I went for a ride on Friday to the mountains above Globe, AZ. I tipped over on my bike at this spot where a pine tree had fallen across the road.

For some reason, I couldn't lift the bike back up so I prayed for help and decided I should hike down to the main road and try to find someone.

After walking for about 1/2 mile these two gentlemen in a GMC pickup came along and agreed to help. They were my rescuers that day. I think their names were Ken and Russ.

It always makes your day to find nice people on the road. That was the second time this week that strangers helped me. I was down at a Walmart by work when my truck battery died. I had to grab some young men at Blake's Lotaburger to jump my car.

Anyway, when I finally got down to Globe I found this place called Nurd Berger to eat. It was a tiny little restaurant, but kind of fun.

Rolled Ice Cream

Felicia and I went to get rolled ice cream at the new shop in Tucson. It takes a long time to make it. So long that they give you long board games to play while you wait.

There were three cold plates at the counter where they pour liquid ice cream mix and then start stirring and chopping while mixing in fruit or candy ingredients until it all freezes. This mixing and freezing takes quite awhile.

Then they flatten out the ice cream and cut it in strips and roll it up and stuff it into the serving bowl, which all is rather tricky to do.

Anyway, It is fun for a little change but the ice cream is not that great of quality. You pay for all the labor that goes into the process.

Krystal graduated at BYU-I this past week demonstrating commitment and a lot of hard work leads to success. Quite an accomplishment.

Felicia is getting ready to fly to San Antonio to see her Mom and Eric and Krystal.

Gordon and Alison and the boys are doing well. We saw the firs glimpse of Tommy's new teeth.

Things are going well here. We were able to get our pool pump repaired. Felicia is trying to arrange for new flooring to get installed in the living room. I had some mystery illness last week that we couldn't figure out. Maybe it was Valley Fever. I got a chest x-ray and blood tests, but so far, I am normal. I am now feeling better so it doesn't matter what it was.

Terry reported all the things he is doing to bring Janet home. He is having an elevator installed, he got a wheelchair accessible van , and the shower was remodeled for accessibility. We keep praying for Janet to become aware.

A Wrinkle of the Brow

Felicia and I went to see the movie "A Wrinkle in Time". I had heard this was a great children's book and Felicia had really enjoyed it. Clearly the book must have explained things that were lost in translation in the movie. I was mostly following and enjoying the story up until they kids are transported into the other dimension via some means that I missed entirely. At that point I was mostly bewildered. Bewildered by seemingly random CGI effects, Opra Winfrey's eyebrows, and the silly dialog spewing from the 8-yr-old. I tried to find something in the movie to latch on to, a believable scientific theory or some deep spiritual meaning. I didn't get it but Felicia liked it.

Our pool pump motor bearings died this week...again! It was less than a year ago that we got the new motor from Leslie's but I was so frustrated with teenage technician and the two weeks and multiple visits it took the to do the repair, I decided I would get a technician who does this regularly. He said that if I removed it and left it on my porch, he would charge $220 otherwise $400.

I took a picture of the surprisingly complicated wiring...

...and put the pump on the porch for him to pick up.

Eric and Krystal received word that the puppy they were buying was born this week. I hope they don't end up regretting this step.

Gordon and Alison returned home from visiting Houston. While there, they had some family photos taken in a bluebonnet patch that turned out really nice.

Historic Conference

Wow! Just finished watching the April 2018 General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. What a conference! I am now an Elder again. The announcement to combine High Priests and Elders Quorums at the Ward level will certainly make coordination of move and cleaning assignments easier. I think HTing has been evolving for the last 2 yrs to be more of a ministering-focused activity. They have been telling us lately that we can count making contact if we can't make it into their house. Sometimes my only contact with a family in the month is going over to give a blessing or just talking on the phone. My take on it is that the Elders Quorum President may need more support than he currently has to keep up and coordinate all the assignments.

Of the temple announcements, I was most interested in the India and Russia announcements. We will all learn to say Bengaluru (we used to know it as Bangalore). President Nelson certainly started out with a big splash. Having an a Latin and Asian heritage apostle is another big moment for the restored church.

It was great to hear about Haley's baptism commitment! It is rewarding to see people's lives change for the better.

I took Felicia for a motorcycle ride on Saturday. I got a helmet intercom for Christmas and this was the first time trying it out. I thought she might like riding with me more if she could talk to me ...but no.

Eric and Krystal have been helping take care of Grandma James on weekends...giving Kevin and Tammy some time off. Gordon and Alison and the boys are in Houston for Easter. They seem to have enjoyed their Easter baskets.