10 July 2008 – Thursday

I spent the morning putting in some 12 volt lighting down by the new pond and along the path. I used some lighting that I bought as a close-out 2 or 3 years ago at Lowe’s. It is high quality all metal lamps from Malibu’s architectural selection. I bought two complete sets of 10 lights each for just $15 a set. The great part of this was that I was able to use the spotlights to light up the yard art lanterns that Mike and Cindy gave us 5 or 6 years ago. I have been trying to come up with a way to light them since I got them and this seemed to work. When the sun went down I went out and looked and while they do not give off a lot of light they look good.

The morning just rushed by and before I knew it, it was time to take my bath so we could go to the 7th Ave apartments and see what they looked like. Thomas – the man who called earlier in the week met us there. At first we could not get in because none of the keys we had worked, but Thomas crawled in through a window and let us in. The guys left a lot of mess in the kitchens – food, unwashed dishes, etc. but it was not as bad as it could have been. It is going to take a good day to clean up and throw out everything but there we are not going to need to do as much painting as I thought.

We will probably hire Thomas to manage the apartments for about $150 a month including keeping up the yard. Even then if we can get $1400 or so rent plus utilities we will be cash positive for the first time since Daniel ran the place. We are going back on Saturday morning to start the clean-up.

The rest of the day was quiet and peaceful. I read, sent some e-mail, and had dinner. After dinner I went over to the Berges to say thank-you for taking care of our Geraniums while we were gone. We had a great time talking about yard and service at the MTC. They are good couple and we should do things with them.

09 July 2008 – Wednesday

Worked in the yard – mainly pruning and weeding – until it was time to get cleaned up so we could go to SL to pick up the boxes from Indonesia. Before we went to Cindy’s we stopped at Little America and had a nice lunch. As I paid the bill I realized that it was 2/3 of a month’s wages for some members in Central Java. Serving there has given me a different perspective on the cost of things – at least things that are not really needed. We could have had a very nice lunch in Indonesia for 20% of what we spent today. We could have had filling lunch for half of what I tipped the waitress.

After lunch we went over to Cindy’s. I walked around the yard and noticed all the great plants that they have. I am jealous of their lavender plants. They are much better looking than mine. We had a nice talk until it was time to go see ‘Walle’ with them. It was an interesting movie with a great story and little dialogue. I enjoyed it but wondered how young children and teenagers would think it was worth watching.

We left for home right from the Gateway Mall and made decent time even with the start of rush hour traffic. I took a book out and just sat under the oaks reading until the light started to fade.

It was a nice day but I need to get busy doing something spiritual. I am becoming too comfortable just doing what I want and avoiding responsibilities.

08 July 2008 – Tuesday

As usual I spent the morning working on the yard. Each day I find more to do, more to clean, more to prune, more to weed. Today was spent mainly on the North hill – major work that took hours but when I was done it looked really good. At least Mary can see what I have been doing.

When I get really tired I take a break and read under the oaks. It is so peaceful and quiet. It is like I have a private park with only the sound of the water feature breaking the stillness. Birds fly in and out of view. If the wind comes up some of the bells and wind chimes can be heard.

I spend one of my breaks reading from the SS lesson from Alma. I have not been spending any time reading the scriptures and that is not good. Hopefully I will make time each day for doing this. Another break is used doing some things for the HP group.

One thing happened that I count as a blessing. I got a call from a man who manages some of the apartments near ours on 7th. He called to say he had mowed our lawns and done some clean-up. I asked him if he was interested in managing our apartments when we go on a mission and he said he was. He thinks we can get about $700 per apartment plus utilities if we rent to couples. If we could do that, even if I pay him 10% for managing and taking care of problems, we will do better than we have over the last three years. It would be great to get this worry off our minds while we are away. We will meet with him on Thursday and walk through the apartments.

Since I work on the yard all morning and part of the afternoon, I have not been taking my bath until about 3:00. This makes for a rather strange day but it works for me.

Mary spent much of the day getting things ready so we can do our taxes and doing some genealogical indexing. She fixed a great dinner – eggs, bacon, biscuits, and gravy which we eat outside. After dinner I head for Lowe’s to get the things I need to work on the sprinkler system. For once I can get everything I need in one trip – I hope.

We watch some TV together – it is great to have TIVO again. We get to watch three shows in two hours or so.  Now I am working on this journal – I am behind, while Mary is doing our last report for the ERS Jakarta. Next month it will be up to the Rebers to get it done.

07 July 2008 – Monday

Another busy morning and early afternoon working on the yard. The first thing I did was go over to the Creers and cleaned up the morning glory that grew in the week that we were gone. It is amazing how fast it grows. It took me a good 45 minutes to clean up just the area I worked on a couple of weeks ago. I decided to see if Round-up did anything to stop it’s growth. The area is such that there are some large open spaces so I can spray the MG without damaging any of the other plants. Lynn Wardle worked on another area last week and it looks much better also. Hopefully in a month or so the front yard will look much better.

I plant most of the plants we got from Oregon. Most go on the North hill where they can be seen from the kitchen and bedroom, but I put a few in pots around the front door. The Berges returned our geraniums while we were in Oregon. They look great and I must go up and thank them.

Note – I just looked at my hands and between the dry climate and working out in the dirt, they look like old man’s hands again. I guess it is time to go back to Indonesia.

I spent part of the day dividing hostas. They can be divided about every 2-3 years. I am not dividing all of them – I want some to grow into huge mounds. That is what they do at the hosta nursery we went to and they look great. The large and extra large leaf ones are especially impressive.

We got a great surprise when Cindy and Krista stopped by on their way home from California. They seem to have a great time there. Cindy went to the big book fair and they also went to Disneyland. Mike and Tyler joined them later.

In the afternoon I went to Lowes and Costco before taking Mary to dinner at Café Rio. I really wanted to gorge myself on one of their salads so I did not eat any lunch. We went early enough that we did not have to wait in line and the food was as good as I remembered. I wonder how it would go in Indonesia?

So it was a busy day and a lot got done.

04 July 2008 – Friday

For me it was a really laid back 4th.  Somehow I managed to miss the big parade. The rest of the family left me reading in the hammock while they went. I did not realize that I had missed it until they got home. Bummer.

The rest of the day continued to be quiet with everyone reading, the kids watching TV, napping and not doing much. Tom worked some on the office – he tore out the last room that is going to be remodeled.

In the evening we all went to the highschool and watched the fireworks. I tried to take pictures but only a couple of them came out well. I have been very lax about taking pictures since I got home. There was one little scare when Shauna realized that Kelli was not following her. She quickly found her but it was tense for a while because it was quite dark and a large crowd.

Mary was a trooper and walked to and from the fireworks.

05 July 2008 – Saturday

We went to Salem so we could go to the Farmer’s Market. Even knowing about where it took us a number of tries to actually find it. We did get to see more of Salem than we usually do but I think we could have done without the experience. It is a nice market but we were not really into buying much. I bought one plant – I should have bought a couple bells but didn’t – and we got a couple of other small things. I did not think that there were as many interesting things as usual but perhaps because we already had so much to take home, I was not really looking closely.

Back home we had another quiet day. Taylor’s ankle continued to hurt but she did not think it was really bad. As the day wound down I started packing the car and by the time we were getting ready for bed it was 95% of it was packed. All we had to do was throw in a few things we needed for the night and we would be ready to take off tomorrow morning. We said goodbye to everyone before going to bed – we told them they did not need to get up to see us off at 4:30 in the morning.

It has been a great trip and it was fun to be with Tom and his family. William and Kelli are growing up very fast. Shauna’s business is doing great and Tom has become very good at building things for the office and home.

We did not do as many things as we sometimes do when we visit but I think we both enjoyed just relaxing and not having any real responsibilities or plans. The next time we come we will do more traveling and sight seeing but this time it was just relaxing and getting our dental papers filled out. Shauna says that I will need more work when we come back in August or September.

06 July 2008 – Sunday

The trip home was interrupted by me getting a speeding ticket – and expensive one – about 2/3 of the way across Oregon. We had also got stopped not far from Tom’s house by a policeman because one of our tail lights was not working. I should have realized that was an omen and been more careful the rest of the trip. But other than that the trip went quickly and without further trouble. The car got about 28 miles per gallon even at freeway speeds.

It was great to visit the Oregon Piers but it was also wonderful to get home.

3 July 2008 – Thursday

Today was my dentist day. I had my teeth cleaned and then Shauna put me to sleep so she could take care of all my problems. I woke up some 7 hours later remembering nothing about what went on. I am told that with Tom’s help I walked from the office to the house and carried on a conversation, but I did not remember any of it. The nice thing is that by the time I woke up my mouth hardly hurt at all.

When I did wake up, I had a bowl of cereal and went right back to bed.

I should mention that in the morning I took a nice long walk while it was still cool. I love looking at all the plants and flowers that grow so well here. I almost want to move here just so I could enjoy gardening almost 12 months out of the year.

William and I had a good time playing with his cars. He is a very sharp young man and if you take the time to talk to him, he can clearly talk back. We shared eating Cheetos together – he brought them to me and was happy to sit next to me and eat.

2 July 2008 – Wednesday

I slept pretty well but woke up a little early. After trying to go back to sleep I got up and went to Roth’s to get fresh pastries for everyone. The mornings are perfect here with a crispness in the air that reminds me of spring and fall in Utah.

During the morning I took William for a walk. He seems to love to walk and explore. At one point he stopped to play and when I said for him to come on, he did not want to. So I told him ‘goodbye’ and started to walk away figuring he would get worried and follow me. Instead he said ‘goodbye’ and started walking in the opposite direction. So he called my bluff and made me go back to get him. Once I got him turned he did not give me any trouble and was happy to walk with me back to the house.

When we got back I laid down and took a short nap. I woke in time to drive with Tom up to Southern Washington to get some things Shauna needed for work that they did not have time to order because of the short 4th of July week. It was a nice drive and we talked about a number of things. We stopped at Roarkes on the way home and had hot-dogs.

Mary and I went plant shopping. I had promised myself that all I was going to get was some mallow plants, but of course that is not what happened. We ended up with three plants from Al’s – one was a different mallow – and then a number of things from another nursery including a nice hanging basket for only $15. Now we just have to get them home without destroying them, plant them and hope they survive our next mission.

Tonight was the girl’s night out – Shauna, Mary, Taylor and Kelli went to Salem to see a movie while Tom, William and I stayed home. We did not do much – mainly sat around and read. William watched TV and rode his trike. When the ladies arrived home they said they had a great time and the movie was great.

01 July 2008 – Tuesday

I slept like a rock – the new guest room is dark and quiet. I was surprised to see I slept until 6:30 (7:30 Utah time.) I got up and went to Silverton to get fresh pastries and the newspapers. It is kind of a morning ritual for me to do this.

When I got back I found I was tired and soon found myself going back to bed and sleeping for another couple of hours. I guess the driving really tired me out. Both Mary and I have spent much of our time reading – it is great to just relax.

William is the king of the hill – he loves cars, his tricycle, and running around. He is very good natured and easy to get to smile. He got a large splinter in his foot and so Shauna took it out with a needle while Tom and I held him still. He of course yelled and cried but almost the second we were done he stopped and started smiling again.

About 1:00 Mary and I went into Salem to get some lunch and to pick up a banner for Shauna that will be used in the big 4th of July parade. It was for the Grand Marshal. We had lunch at a place we found some 4 years ago and liked. The food this time was OK but not outstanding – at least my food was that way. Mary really liked her’s. After eating we went to the Wild Bird shop and looked at the latest outdoor art objects. We will probably go back and buy something before we go home. I told Mary we could not buy any more indoor art because we have no room. But we can buy outdoor art because we have lots of room there.

I should mention the huge field of California poppies that we saw on our way into Salem. I took a picture but I am sure it does not start to show how magnificent it really is. I want to go back and take a couple of more shots before we head home.

We ordered in Chinese for dinner. Of course Tom had hot dogs because he does not do Chinese. I only ate a small serving because I was still full from lunch.

It was a good, relaxing day for us and it does not seem like it could possibly be almost 2 years since we were here last. Both Mary and I have been spending much of our time reading some of the many books we missed while we were gone. Lucky for us Tom buys almost exactly the same authors that we like the most so we have lots of reading to catch up on.

30 June 2008 – Monday

I was up at 3:30 but Mary was up earlier because she did not sleep well. We were on the road by 4:06 and picked Taylor up at about 4:40. Taylor and Bob were dressed and sleeping on the couches in their living room and when I knocked on the door Bob sprang up like a Jack-in-the-Box.

The trip to Oregon was uneventful with full stops for breakfast and lunch it took about 13 ½ hours for the 850 mile trip. The weather was nice and the traffic was light except in Eastern Oregon where there was an unusually high amount of traffic that often kept both lanes slow.

It was nice to get to Tom and Shauna’s house and see them, Kelli and William. Tom has done a lot while we were gone – both in the house and in the office. He has become very talented with building things and I hope he can help us with our house when we get back from our next mission. I want to do a lot of remodeling and painting. I hope I am as enthusiastic about it as I am about the yard.

I am so far behind in posting pictures I may not get it done before we leave again…

29 June 2008 – Sunday

As I was starting to write this entry, the sun came over the mountains and filled the roomwith light. Another beautiful day in Utah. After being home for over 3 weeks, I am finally sleeping and feeling good. Maybe I have finally acclimatized. The morning rushes by as I take some pictures of the yard, read the SS lesson again, start to clean up the living room because Mary is having the RS presidency over at noon, and catch up posting this journal.

It was a busy day around here. At 11:00 I went to a HP group leadership meeting where we talked about all of our duties, programs, plans, etc. Alton Thygerson is going to be the executive secretary – a first we think for the stake groups – and Howard Campbell will keep minutes, etc. Tom keeps Genealogy and Temple work while I get missionary work. I am going to try to be better at promoting missionary work this time than I was before we went on our mission.

Since it was the 5th Sunday there was an adult combined meeting where the bishopric talked about 3rd Nephi and what it meant to them. They encouraged all members to read 3rd Nephi and ponder what is taught. I thought Nate Tanner made the best presentation as he talked more about the spirit of what he found in 3rd Nephi rather than the words. Before the end of the meeting the new HP Group leadership was sustained and after the meeting we were set apart in the bishop’s office. I felt the spirit as President Jackson set me apart and I tried to remember what he said that made me feel it the most but by the time I got a pen in my hand, I had forgotten. It was something about helping each member of the group use their talents but exactly what I do not know.

We went into the last 20 minutes or so of SS with Jane Poggio teaching again. She did not realize she was supposed to but since no one else had been asked, she bravely stood up and taught. Since I had read the lesson a number of times, I did what I could to help with what I think were good comments and thoughts.

It was a patriotic theme for Sacrament. I usually am not excited about such programs but Sven Wilson gave an excellent talk in which he outlined 5 things that he felt a gospel centered patriotism should exhibit: Equality, Stewardship, Consecration, Humility and Gratitude. I kept notes so I could go back and review these thoughts later.

After the block meeting we went to sister Karen Parkinson’s and made a home teaching visit. Later I went to the Clark Christensen’s and did a rather short HT visit and arranged to do a better one on the second Sunday.

The evening was spent eating dinner, watching some TV, packing for our trip tomorrow, and going to bed early.

It was a good Sabbath day and I often felt the spirit of the meetings and the songs. It is good to be able to fully participate in the meetings. It is one thing that I did miss while in Indonesia. I could feel the spirit there but I could not really become involved in the lessons.