I found this article on how drinking blueberry juice improves memory. I think I better get some! I need it. Yesterday proved it. I did stupid…twice. Help me Rodrigo!

Last night I went to Albertsons, got a Red Box movie and bought a few groceries. I came home, came in the house, wandered around for a bit doing this and that and then wondered where the groceries were. I looked and looked but they were no where to be found. Not in the house. Not in the car, inside or the trunk. Not in the garage. I didn’t put them away in the cupboard and forget. I even checked the microwave since I have heard of really dim people putting their food in there and not remembering.

So I got back in the car and went back to the store. They weren’t anywhere there. Not in a cart, not on the ground, not at the check out counter, not in costumer service. So the nice store lady told me to gather up those same groceries again and she gave them to me. Wow. Nice lady. Dumb customer. I’m sure she thought I was a little old lady with no mind. She might be right. I can’t imagine what happened to the groceries. I remember wheeling the cart out of the store, picking up the bag of groceries (I remember because it was sort of heavy) and after that it is a blank. All I know is they never made it home. Could Aliens have snatched them??? I did have some delicious things in my bag…plain yogurt, wheat germ and Italian seasoning. Yum. Just what I think Aliens love to eat.

My second stupid was making a delicious loaf of whole wheat bread with extra fiber and then forgetting to add salt. First bite into a steaming hot slice of bread told me of my mistake. I hate it when that happens. Without salt it tastes so bland and ugh. I had the salt sitting right there too ready to add. I am losing it. Help….. Get me some blueberry juice quick!

We’ll see what today brings. I am on my way to the grocery store to buy some of that blueberry juice. I hope I make it home with it. I hope I make it home…..

Well, I dreaded this estate/garage sale with more passion that you can imagine. I hate doing this sort of thing. Really HATE it! I was almost sick thinking about having strangers come into my home and pick through my treasures and offer a pittance of what I paid for them. Orie was stressed to the max as well. We don’t do this as it goes against our personalities. I think we would rather give it away or throw it away than have folks come and pick through our junk.

But I got through it and actually had a little fun with some of the folks which for the most part were quite friendly. Orie mostly hid out….the big chicken! I couldn’t believe how many people showed up. They started coming an hour early and were pretty steady until late afternoon. And they bought the stuff we considered junk. It was unbelievable. We put out all the junk for sale just because maybe someone would want to buy it and sure enough, they did. You know the saying, “One man’s junk is another man’s treasure”. It is true apparently. As for the good stuff, they passed it up for the most part and settled for stuff I would have thrown away. And I got paid hundreds of dollars for it. I did sell some good stuff and got paid a fair amount for it but really people won’t pay much for 2nd hand stuff. They give you a quarter for something you paid $20 for and then try to talk you down from the quarter if they could. Most people are pretty stingey that come to garage sales. A quarter, come on. You have to be kidding. I just laughed and said “okay” and I guess they went home feeling happy. Merry Christmas to you!

Kyle and Megan showed up early and spent the day helping us, for which we are extremely grateful. They were a lifesaver in helping as well as lending us much needed moral support. Kyle is a natural salesman for sure! But he did get trigger happy towards the afternoon and started marking things down without my knowing so people would hand me $10 for a nice coffee table I paid $200 for and I was quite shocked. I actually thought about beating him. He sold Megan’s Cabbage Patch doll she saved for all these years for 25 cents. I was aghast. It was a genuine Cabbage Patch Doll for petes sake. But what do you do when some stranger hands you a quarter after Kyle priced it that low….have an argument with him right in front of them? Surely someone would have paid a dollar!!! Oh well, 75 cents more is certainly nothing to worry about but it is the principle of the thing….a quarter is nothing. For a quarter you can’t even buy something you chew for a minute and then spit out… like a pack of gum. It is like they got it for free and felt okay about that. Don’t they know I stood in line for hours 25 years ago and paid a tidy sum for that precious doll? Have they no shame about handing me a quarter in exchange for my treasure that I sweated blood and tears to buy for my daughter’s Christmas gift long ago? Cabbage Patch dolls were the rage! That’s all people talked about back then was where you might possibly find one to buy. It was a fight to get one and I’m not kidding! Surely by now that doll must be an antique and worth many times over the $60 I paid for it. 25 cents! Good grief! It is a good thing money doesn’t buy happiness because I couldn’t buy much from what I got for that doll. And so with a catch in my throat and a tear in my eye I watched that doll and all those wonderful memories go out the door in the arms of someone who may or may not have any appreciation for or take good care of that treasured doll. Sigh.

The weird thing is that as the rooms become empty in this house I feel strangely liberated. Although my ‘treasures’ are almost all gone and I hate to see them go for reasons stated above, I actually feel light and liberated from the weight of all this stuff. It feels kind of good to walk through the house and see empty rooms so clean and tidy and devoid of stuff. Less IS more I guess. Less dusting, more freedom. Less clutter, more open and tidy. Less stuff to worry about, more important things to spend time and money on. Oh and speaking of money… with the sad and scary state of our economy these days I have a new philosophy…spend it quickly before it is gone! But what do I spend this little wad of cash on…surely not more stuff? Hmmm. How about wheat? I can eat wheat. I can’t eat stuff. It may actually come down to wheat being far more valuable than gold, silver or any stuff. Yep, I’m buying wheat!

In the course of the events that came out of this adventure I was asked to write exactly what happened from my point of view. I decided to post it here, not to embarrass Joseph because it will (sorry Joseph), but to once again say thanks to him for what he did that day. He was ten years old and he saved my life. I will never forget his bravery and what happened that day.

“On August 1, 1997, my son, Joseph, and I were at our remote cabin at Crooked Lake, Alaska. Crooked Lake is located about 1 ½ hour car ride north of Anchorage. The cabin is across the lake and accessible only by boat. Joseph and I were there alone for a day or two bonding and playing in the lake. We planned to meet up with the rest of the family at a ward campout later that day on the Kenai Peninsula.

“It was about noon. Joseph was in the cabin and I was outside trying to light some charcoal briquettes to cook hamburgers. I searched but couldn’t find the lighter fluid, so I poured some gasoline on the briquettes and threw a match on them. The fumes immediately lit and flashed back to the gasoline can, setting it on fire and creating a huge torch of fire coming from the gas can. The grill and the gas can were set right in the entry way of the cabin and fearing it would set the cabin on fire I tried to move the can with a shovel I saw sitting there. I was panicked and shaking and could hardly think. Unfortunately, I only succeeded in knocking the can over and spilling gasoline and flames all over the wooden entryway and the forest outside. I realized then we were in big trouble as the fire was blocking Joseph’s exit from the cabin. My panic increased as I tried again to remove the can from the area by lifting it with the shovel. In my haste I tripped and fell down spilling more gasoline that spread the fire quickly in the dry forest. I fell right into the flames setting myself on fire.

“Joseph, meanwhile, heard my screams, ran to the door, and saw the fire. By then its flames were very high with lots of black smoke so he was unable to get out of the cabin or see where I was outside. It was spreading quickly and was already a major problem. Joseph took immediate action. Using a 7-gallon water container that was inside the cabin, Joseph fought his way out of the cabin putting out the fire as he went. He then managed to put out all of the forest fire with the container as he filled and refilled it with water many times in the nearby lake. How he could even lift and carry that container filled with water is amazing. It was a remarkable feat for a small 10-year-old boy! He saw that I was on fire and got that fire out and somehow I managed to get to the lake as he worked. (I can’t recall getting to the lake. I hit my head when I fell and am not sure if I was dazed by the fall or just panicked and in shock.) The entire time Joseph remained calm, cool and collected. He never panicked but just did what needed to be done.

“While I cooled my burns in the lake, Joseph continued to work at putting out the fire and preparing to get me to the doctor by organizing our things. I knew my leg and arm were burned badly as the pain was severe. I knew I could not get out of this situation by myself and wondered how my ten-year-old son would be able to manage.

“Joseph and I had commented several times earlier in the day at how peaceful the lake was since there was no one else there besides ourselves. Our isolation suddenly became a huge detriment in needing to be rescued. As our cabin is accessible only by boat and then there is a 25 miles car ride to the nearest town of Wasilla, I couldn’t imagine Joseph being able to get me across the lake in the boat and then drive the Suburban into Wasilla. I didn’t know what to do except pray. And I did.

“Almost immediately we saw a boat go by across the lake. We couldn’t see who it was or where they went but I told Joseph he would have to go find them and get help. The only boat available was a small aluminum V-bottom boat with a pull start motor. Joseph had never driven it before alone, but he immediately agreed to go for help. With confidence and determination he got in the boat, managed to start it, and took off zig zagging across the lake. I was pretty scared for him. There was no weight in the front of the boat and consequently the front end was tipped high and he couldn’t see where he was going, but off he went weaving his way across the lake.

“Dusty, the family dog, took off swimming after Joseph, following him several hundred yards before turning back when Joseph disappeared around a bend in the lake. Dusty, a year old yellow lab, was normally not sedate and always on the prowl for little fishes and playing in the water. This time, however, he came back to the dock and sat down on the edge so he was beside me and licked my hand that was holding onto the dock. He stayed by my side until help arrived, obviously aware I was hurt and in need of help and trying his best to provide what comfort he could.

“After a short time Joseph came back having successfully found the owner of that boat we had seen. Joseph told me they would be coming to help shortly, and they did. It turned out to be Dave McCarrey and his son Jake, acquaintances from Anchorage and members of a neighboring ward, who had come to the lake for the day to work on a friend’s cabin. Dave and Jake immediately set to work getting us, our gear, and our boat across the lake and me to the hospital. Being members of the church, they were able to give me a much-needed priesthood blessing on the spot.

“It was determined that the burns I had were indeed serious 3rd degree (full thickness) burns covering my left arm and leg which required skin grafts. It was an incredibly painful ordeal and took several long years of recovery time for me but I am grateful to be alive and able to walk again. I am so grateful to Joseph for what he did. He risked his life and saved me, himself, the cabin, and the surrounding forest from a devastating fire. Had he not had the courage to do what needed to be done we would have lost all of that and ourselves. There is no doubt. He is a very brave and courageous little boy. He is my hero.”

In May 1998, Joseph received the highest award for lifesaving that the Boy Scouts of America gives. It is called the “Honor Medal With Crossed Palms”. It is given out rarely and has never been awarded before in the State of Alaska. The governor of the state of Alaska, Tony Knowles, presented Joseph with the medal at a special ceremony and luncheon attended by over 100 dignitaries, media, and invited friends, and relatives.

The cat is out of the bag so I may as well confess it. I am not perfect. That statement normally would produce no more than a “ho hum yawn, so what else is new” response, but add to that “I’m the bishop’s wife” and the eyebrows raise and the tongues start clicking. Haven’t we all grown up with the sure knowledge that all bishop’s wives are perfect? Aren’t they pillars of strength, towers of endurance, skyscrapers of faith, and above all, aren’t they perfect examples of women who never raise their voices above soft and loving whispers, especially to their perfect children? I can’t speak about the perfection of other bishop’s wives but all those I have known did seem quite perfect, so I am the lone exception in the perfection department. I may as well admit it since I have been caught red handed, a couple of times now actually.

The first time was on a Sunday afternoon not long ago. I was in my room reading and having a few quiet moments away from my always exuberant children when I needed to call my husband, the bishop, who was at the bishop’s office. I picked up the telephone and dialed. Almost immediately I heard someone pick up the telephone.

Thinking it was one of my children in the other room doing their usual trick on the extension planning to listen in and jabber, I quickly yelled in my mean mommy voice, hoping to get them to hang up before someone answered at the church, “Hang up that telephone!” You can imagine my surprise and immediate humiliation when I heard the voice of the ward clerk who had apparently just picked up the telephone in the office to make a call. “I’m sorry Sister Orien,” he replied apologetically. He then obediently hung up the phone. Oh grrr.

Have you ever been so embarrassed you couldn’t do anything but laugh hysterically? That’s what I did. It was horrid. How could I ever face the ward clerk again? Oh Humiliation! I could see his accusing eyes silently saying, “You’re the bishop’s wife and you are not perfect.” So, he was the first to know, besides of course myself, my husband, my children, my parents, my siblings, my friends………

Not too many weeks passed when a few more people also knew. It started out innocently. The perfect bishop and his not-so-perfect wife were retiring for the evening. I had turned out the lights and crawled into bed next to my husband and was enjoying a quiet moment of conversation when I heard a noise outside. I said “shhh” and we listened for a moment until I was sure I heard it again. He didn’t. I insisted I heard something and made him get up and go check it out. He did so reluctantly. After walking through the house and turning on lights and peering out the windows and back door, he came back to bed and announced smugly that he was right…I was hearing things again and there was no one out there.

I was just drifting off to sleep when I was awakened by an unmistakable giggle right outside our bedroom window. With my heart pounding I opened the window and peered out into the Alaskan spring-time semi-darkness. There I could see half a dozen kids crouching beneath my window. Thinking they were some rowdy neighbor kids who had earlier been running up and down the street and were now prowling around our back yard, I yelled out in my mean lady voice, “What’s going on out there?” No reply. Again, in an even meaner woman voice, “What’s going on out there?” This time they all began to slowly move around the house and out the gate. Seeing they were about to escape with no explanation or apology for their sneaking around in my yard at night, I again yelled out, this time in my meanest witchy voice, “What’s going on out there? This time I was answered by a horrifyingly familiar and sweet voice, “We were just leaving you an Easter surprise.” And with that they fled the yard. I immediately knew who it was out there and it definitely wasn’t any rowdy neighbor kids.

I fell back onto the bed in horror at having yelled at them in all my mean voices escalating on up to my mean witchy voice. I had been caught again! My husband hadn’t said anything but finally asked, “Who was it?” “I am pretty sure it was the Mia Maids and their teacher,” was my reply. While I was groaning in embarrassment at having yelled at those sweet young girls from the ward, my husband began groaning and muttering to himself, “Oh no. Oh no!” for reasons I couldn’t imagine. He then told me of how he had walked (paraded) through the house flipping on lights, peering out windows with drapes open, peering out the door and walking outside and all this dressed in only his “undies”. He agonized over what they saw and he wondered how as their bishop he could stand before them with any dignity the next Sunday and try to ignore their twinkling eyes and grins as they envisioned him parading around in his undies on that revealing night.

As we both groaned and wished we could re-live the past 15 minutes there came a sudden knocking at our front door. Mind you it was late, past bedtime for innocent people. Who could be knocking/pounding on our door so loud and so late at night? My humiliated husband refused to go to the door and insisted I go. I groped around in the dark for my robe as I tried to hurry with my heart pounding in time with the pounding on the door.

I finally managed to get to the door, flung it open wide, and stood blinking at two stern-faced policemen. Their very noticeable car with its bright flashing lights stood outside for all the neighbors to see and wonder about if they happened to be up still, which I noticed they were.

The police demanded to know what was going on at our house that night. I protested my innocence and ignorance of anything having gone on…until they pointed out the very noticeable decorations in our front yard. We’d been T.P.’d. It was a sight to behold and a huge mess. Those Mia Maids had certainly not skimped on the T.P. What had we done to deserve this, I wondered? Had word gotten out about me and had someone decided to “Charmin” me to death? Those stinker Mia Maids! How did they know?

It took a few minutes to convince the police that it was just a friendly prank perpetrated by the Mia Maids and misinterpreted by the neighbors who had alerted them. They left scratching their heads about who and what were Mia Maids, and pointing out a lovel y Easter basket on the porch as they did so. Our embarrassment faded a little now with the thought of how close that Mia Maid class came to being hauled off to jail if the police had shown up just a few minutes earlier. Now that would have been funny…at least to the imperfect bishop’s wife!

I emailed the photo to my siblings and told them he was the “date from hell”. They wrote back wondering why I said that and wanted to hear the whole story. They might have heard tidbits of this story before but they just didn’t know which skinny kid was the culprit until I found this photo. I am sort of hoping my children and grandchildren don’t read this as it doesn’t reflect too well on my character, but in the interest of a good story, here goes.

When “Skinny Kid” asked me to the Prom I thought he was very nice and I looked forward to having a good time with him. As it turned out he wasn’t a nice kid and I had a rotten time. It all started out with him showing up for the date drunk. I didn’t know he was drunk. I didn’t know what alcohol smelled like and had no idea why he was acting the way he was, kind of stupid and quiet. We went to the dance at the high school gym and just sat down. He didn’t talk. We didn’t dance. We just sat there. Finally I asked him if we were going to dance and he said that he was too drunk to dance. I was shocked. I got mad and told him I wanted to go home so we walked out the door and he took me home. Why I ever let him drive me home when he was drunk is beyond me, but I did? I guess I hadn’t seen the ads about not letting friends drive drunk. Or wait, that was probably before those ads or maybe before even TV was invented….it was a long time ago.

Well, the next thing I know it was a week later. I was walking out of the local judge’s court in our small town after talking him out of a traffic ticket I had gotten previously for going 37 in a 35 mph zone coming home from working at the drugstore. Grrr! Give me a break! As I walked out, who should happen to be walking in but an old friend from grade school with an uptight air about her probably caused by her very uptight father who exuded the “better than anyone else” attitude. She asked what I was doing there and for some insane reason and probably because I wanted to shock her socks off and knew exactly what would happen, I told her I had been there to pay a fine for speeding and told her a cock and bull story that got me in big trouble later. Good grief! Why do I ever open my mouth?

I told her the story of my going to the prom with “Skinny Kid” who was drunk which was true enough, but then my imagination ran wild and I told big fat lies about what happened after I decided to go home from the prom. I told her that I took his car keys and drove myself home. I said I was so upset and mad that I was crying and drove way too fast down main street…100 mph. I said a cop stopped me and found a bunch of beer in his car (same beer he used to get drunk with). The cop thought it was mine and arrested me and took me to jail and thus I had to appear at court. The more I fabricated the bigger my friend’s eyes got. It was wonderful. So for a few days I enjoyed by ability to shock my pious friend.

Then one day after school Mom and Dad called me into the living room and with such serious eyes and voices asked what I had been up to. I had no idea what they were talking about. They pressed and pressed and I couldn’t for the life of me come up with anything too naughty that I had done. Not that week anyway. Finally Dad said he had spoken with pious friend’s father the previous evening and was told that “Ruth bears watching”. I instantly knew what they were talking about and started laughing. I almost rolled on the floor I was laughing so hard. They were not impressed but when I told them the whole story Dad made some comment about the pious father that made me think Dad wasn’t too impressed with him either. The subject was dropped and I never got in any trouble for my big fat lie or my imaginary misconduct. Mom and Dad were pretty cool. And I learned a good lesson, be careful who you lie to. They might believe you.

So, that’s the story of the date from hell with “Skinny Kid”. And needless to say, I never went out with him again….but I did keep the photo. I can’t imagine why. Maybe so I could remember this story and blog about it someday.

Caroline’s sister Annette also came to visit, as did Nathan and Joseph, thus making a good sized crowd which added to the fun. The weather was gorgeous their entire stay and the days were amazing with the sun out in all its 24 hour summer- time glory. Caroline and Annette were amazed that ‘night’ didn’t really ever come even though the clock said otherwise.

We love the lake and the Lake House so it was fun to be there all together for a couple of weeks. We have spent so many wonderful days there with family and friends over the years and this summer was no exception. One euphoric moment for us that actually brought tears to my eyes was pulling 3 of our grown up adult sons slalom skiing behind the boat…all at the same time. We haven’t done that since they were little boys and weighed a lot less so it was quite a feat. To see them going around the lake together like that having so much fun was wonderful. I am so happy they are good friends and enjoy being together as a family.

We were sad to see them go home but we were happy to welcome Erin, Jason and their girls when they came for a month long stay. It was fun to have them here too. We had a great time and enjoyed every minute of our time with the two smartest and most beautiful little granddaughters ever (no exaggeration, no bias)…and their parents too of course. I posted lots of photos of their visit as well.

Now, to address the “stuff” title on this particular blog. Orie and I will be heading out soon on a mission for the church, so we have decided to sell our home and all that is in it. We are down to the nitty gritty of pulling ‘stuff’ out of the cubby holes and closets as we empty the house. Oh man! The stuff we have stuffed into this house for the past 22 years is unbelievable. We have been pulling it out for weeks and there seems to be no end to the ‘stuff’ we have accumulated. Of course it would help if our six kids would come take their ‘stuff’ and stuff it into their own homes. Jason did whittle down the boxes of his stuff this summer into one small box and the rest he tossed with nary a backward glance. I wish I had done that multiple times over the years.

Anyway, this house is a DISASTER like you wouldn’t believe with ‘stuff’ covering the entire floor space. We can hardly walk around. How much stuff can be stuffed into a house? Well lemme tell ya…lots! It is unbelievable. I had no idea we had all this ‘stuff’ until we pulled it out. The next house we build will have very few closets so I can’t ‘stuff’ them. Closets are bad!

I would advise anyone considering buying any ‘stuff’ not do it. You’ll only have to toss it out later or worry about where to store it until the day your kids can toss it out when you are gone. They won’t want it. Trust me…Megan has let me know she is not interested in any of my ‘stuff’. It is junk to her.

Yep, it is downright diabolical what happens when you open the closet doors and start pulling it all out. I can’t believe that I actually carted all this stuff into my house one thing at a time and paid good money for it. Orie is amazed that I have 15 pairs of outdoor shoes and a boat load of dressy shoes and I am equally amazed that he has four (4) double burner Coleman gas stoves…and equally amazing boatloads of other items he never uses. Why didn’t I wear out one or two pair of shoes before buying more….lots more? And why didn’t he look harder for that Coleman stove before he bought 3 more? I could go on and on.

In addition to the question of why did we buy all this stuff, I am asking myself another question: Why oh why did I save good things to use or wear ‘someday’ and in the meantime wear or use the old stuff? I have a beautiful set or Noritake china that my brother bought for me in Japan when we got married. I have used it maybe twice in the last 36 years as I was saving it for a special occasion. Now I wish I had used it every day and enjoyed it. I must have a mental illness! It’s Insanity!

My best advice is this: if you aren’t going to eat it or use it all up in the next couple of weeks or few months, or if it can ever be labeled ‘stuff’….don’t buy it. Don’t go shopping and you won’t be tempted. One person does not need a boatload of shoes or Coleman stoves or ‘stuff’. Save your money.

From now on I vow to simplify and get out of the mode instilled in me by my Depression Years aged parents of saving everything you ever buy for a rainy day. I saved and stuffed this ‘stuff’ for the past decades only to now toss it out. I hope I don’t live to regret it someday and wish I had all that ‘stuff’ back. Wouldn’t that be ironic and more insanity?

Our good friends, Larry and Paula Call, invited Orie and I to ride in their sailboat from Alaska to Seattle at the end of May. We jumped at the chance and were eager to go. Then one day they called and said they had a change of plans and instead were selling their sailboat and cruising in the Greek Islands…in a couple of weeks. I remembered that Megan and Kyle were looking for another cruise to use the credit she had for missing the Caribbean one and we figured out they and the Calls were looking at the exact same cruise. They invited us to come along. We are not usually so impulsive but we decided to go along as our last experience had been so wonderful…and Orie was retired afterall. When our friends, the Moreheads, heard about the trip they decided to come as well. We ended up with a group of 12. The more the merrier on a cruise! Afterall, no one has to cook or clean up after anyone else so a big group just makes for more fun and more friends to go around with.

We flew into Venice Italy on May 26 and spent several days enjoying that fun city before we set sail for some other really fun ports of call in Turkey, Croatia, Greece and Italy. We sailed at night and arrived in each port early in the morning so we had all day to explore. We have hashed over many times which of the twelve ports was our favorite but can’t really say for sure as they were all fun and had some wonderful things about them. I think the consensus was that everyone loved Venice Italy first and Rome Italy second. Maybe it was because we spent more than one day in those cities and got to do and see more and enjoy the evenings there. I posted photos of each port in the photo section of this blog so you can check those out and see if you can tell by the twinkle in our eyes which port was best. Some of the highlights I really enjoyed were walking the fortress wall in Dubrovnik Croatia; hiking the Valley of the Butterflies in Rhodes Greece; swimming in the warm pristine water on the beach at Rhodes; riding the 4 wheelers to tour the island of Santorini Greece; shopping in Turkey (amazing prices on “genuine fake watches” and leather goods); driving the Amalfi coast south of Naples Italy; eating the best Italian food in my life in a little beachside restaurant in Sorrento Italy; seeing all the “Old” rocks in almost all these locations; enjoying the evening stolls and vibrant nightlife in Rome; strolling the wonderful little streets in Venice looking for the next gelato shop; eating gelato; and sailing out of Venice along the Grand Canal as the ships loudspeaker played inspiring Italian music. Wow that was cool!

Dinners each night on the ship were a blast. We had a large table that seated 12 so we crowded in around it and spent about 2 ½ hours each night at dinner. We ordered just about everything on the menu and tried some very different things than we would not usually order at a restaurant. It was all delicious and a lot of fun. Kyle and Larry often wondered if their appetites were bordering on obscene but if they were we were all right there too. The dinner time conversation was great. We laughed and talked about our day, our dinner and our plans for the next day.

After dinner we each set off (sometimes together and sometimes separately) to various venues on the ship to finish off the evening entertainment. Among our favorites were “movies under the stars”, the clean comedy shows, ping pong, the hypnotist show, and very often listening to the piano playing of Ray Coussins, former pianist for Frank Sinatra. He could tickle the keyboard so wonderfully and powerfully that he broke piano strings. He is amazing!

There were a few down things and disappointments that happened, such as one in our group having to spend a large sum of money for a personal seminar on pick pocketing, but we all learned from his experience and he was good to shake it off. Our hats were off to Larry and Orie for being such a good guides in each port. They did an excellent job of figuring out the best alternatives for the days adventures and making them happen. And special thanks to Larry for being willing to take the heat if “on a scale of one to ten we were ticked off” about anything. I for one was never once “ticked off” about anything and just enjoyed every minute of our time on this cruise. It was great and I am very happy I got to go.

I didn’t get to go to Disneyland as a kid and neither did my kids. I guess we were deprived and probably grew up maladjusted because of it. So, when Joseph was hired for a summer internship in Los Angeles I had my hand up first and high to go with him and help settle him in. I was excited to go to Disneyland and so was he. We talked about it with high anticipation for months.

On our first day in Los Angeles we jumped on the freeway for the hour or so long drive to Disneyland with high expectations of a fun and enjoyable day. The first indication that things might not be as fun as we thought was the traffic on the freeway. It was definitely not fun! The 5-6 lanes on each side are narrow and all the cars and trucks were going pell-mell down the freeway at 80mph. I was terrified and sure we would die before we got to have any fun at Disneyland!

The next indication that this might not be quite as much fun as had hoped was the very long lines of cars we saw as we turned into the parking area. We waited in that first of many lines for about 20 minutes to pay the $12 to park. The next line was waiting for a train to take us to the ticket booth to buy the ticket into the park….about 10 minutes. Next was the security line where they checked out our backpack to confiscate our contraband sandwich we stashed to stave off hunger and avoid having to buy their $4 bottle of water and $10 turkey sandwiches .…10 minutes.

Next was the ticket booth line. It was very long and we waited for about an hour in it. Those tickets cost $94 each. Ouch! For that price Disneyland must surely be really really fun!

The next line was at the gate to get in. It went fairly quickly…maybe 5 minutes…so finally we were in the park and the fun could begin… just as soon as we stopped being aggravated by the lines we had just stood in and smarting over the high price of the tickets. That took about 20 minutes. So we strolled along Main Street looking for the fun to begin, which we were sure would happen soon, but first we had to stand in another line for our first ride of the day.

So, after thirty minutes in that line we were finally on our first ride, a nice sized roller coaster with lots of dips and rolls and speed. I really didn’t want to go on it. I don’t do roller coasters. I throw up. Always have. What was I thinking getting on this thing? I had thirty minutes trapped in line to think of a way to escape but didn’t find one. The only thing those thirty minutes did was work up my anxiety level to a 10. I came to Disneyland to have fun. This wasn’t fun. I did not want to go! But I couldn’t leave Joseph to go on it alone while I stood outside like an old wimpy woman so I bucked up and went. I wouldn’t say I was totally miserable but it was close. The best part of the ride was knowing I did it and now it was over and I would never have to do it again. As I looked at all the other “old” people like myself who went on that ride I couldn’t help but wonder if they were nuts or what for getting on it. The disclaimer they post before you get on is enough to make a sane person back off and run away. The sign says don’t go if you have problems with your heart, back, neck, dizziness, are old, or if you just really want to live another day. I am pretty sure I fit in each and every one of those categories.

Anyway I can proudly say I survived the roller coaster but it was just the first of many more scary rides I went on that day. I hated all of them (except the tamest which was Indiana Jones where the scariest thing is a fake cobweb in the face). The worst was the one called “Space Mountain”. It is a fast and jerky roller coaster ride in the dark with LOUD sounds and BRIGHT lights blasting and assaulting your senses. I HATED it. It was horrible. I wasn’t alone this time. Joseph hated it too. It scared us both and we wanted to go home. So we did. That was it for us. Disneyland…bah. We had spent the day waiting in long lines only to be subjected to almost certain death. Not fun! Disneyland to us could be called “Mousewitz”. You know…like Auschwitz in Poland, home of the death camps. Yep, it’s definitely Mousewitz…the place where they try to kill old people like me, either by scaring them to death on the rides; or making them walk around all day in the heat only to have to stand in long boring lines on tired legs; or by starving them to death because they can’t afford the food there.

As we drove around Los Angeles over the next five days it also occurred to me that I got the same terrifying feeling and sick knot in my stomach as we drove the freeways that I got on the roller coasters at Disneyland. Next time I want to be scared out of my mind without standing in line to pay $94 for the privilege I’ll just get on the freeway there.

Here’s our list of why we like to cruise:

1. The food is fabulous! We ate gourmet meals each day with no pressure of where to go, how much will it cost, or will it be good. We ate in the dining room each night and it was wonderful fine dining with no stress. Our hats off to the chef on delicious food that was presented so nicely. We ate in the buffet for breakfast and lunch and in between. It was delicious too. Everyday there was a different theme so we ate way more than we needed to but it was hard to resist. The best part was I didn’t have to cook, clean up or worry about spending one minute of the vacation preparing food. Everyone in the family could order and eat just what they wanted and I was stress free. Fabulous!

2. The weather was perfect. The sun was out and it was so nice to soak up some warmth and sun to warm up our bones from the long Alaskan winter.

3. The beaches were beautiful. We loved being on the beach sunning, playing in the water, snorkeling and just enjoying the gorgeous scenery. The Caribbean is unbelievably beautiful.

4. There was something for everyone on the ship or on shore. We had no problem finding something fun or relaxing to do each day. Grandpa and Grandma were content to relax and swim in the adults only “Sanctuary” when we needed quiet time. It was also fun to hang out at one of the two large pools where all the action was. There were 6-7 pools on the ship…one for every kind of enjoyment. The ship has lots of activities, shows, seminars, etc. so we were never bored…unless we wanted to be. Our shore days were great too. Some islands were best to just lounge on the beach and others had fun things to see and do. Our favorite island was St. Thomas where we took a taxi to the other side of the island and spent the day at the most beautiful bay I have ever seen. It was called “Magens Bay”. We felt bad our Megan couldn’t be there to enjoy it with us.

5. Spending time with the kids and grandkids. I loved being able to see them each day and hang out doing fun things. The grandbabies were so cute. I loved that part! It gave me a taste of what it would be like to live on the same street.

6. Movies under the stars. Each night we watched movies on a huge screen while laying on our padded recliners with fresh popped popcorn and breathed in the moist warm night air under the stars. It was a blast.

7. Room stewards are wonderful. Every time we left our room our steward came in to tidy up our room. I wish I had one at home. Come to think of it, I guess Orie does have one of those at home….me. But I want one of my own!

8. Cruising is cheaper than living. We figured it out that if we gave up our home, cars, and life on shore and all the bills and taxes that go with that life we could actually live much cheaper by cruising year round. Afterall, on a cruise you don’t need a home or a kitchen to make meals, a car to go shopping for food to make the meals or to take you to the beach or anywhere else. Each morning when you wake up you have been taken to a new and interesting place or beach. Cool! You wouldn’t have to do much laundry except for a pair of shorts and tee shirt once in a while. The ship does the rest. And, as for health care, there is a doc on board so minor things are covered. And, did I mention taxes? Just think of all the taxes you wouldn’t have to pay!!! Hmmmm. I am seriously considering it…. If you don’t ever hear from me again, look for me or imagine me on a cruise somewhere. I could definitely get used to that life, at least until I felt like I needed to be productive or some such thing. It would be interesting to see how long it took until I felt like a total slug.

Dusty came to our home as a cute little blonde-haired pup in 1995. Orie and the kids had been talking about getting a dog but no definite plans had been made. Orie did say IF we got a dog he favored a Yellow Lab so Erin began scouring the paper and found an ad for some lab puppies. The two of them jumped in the car and went off to “look”. Little did I know they would come home with one of the pups….a registered Lab named Dusty. We all fell in love with him at first sight. He was a cute little fella.

Joseph claimed Dusty for his own, and maybe he was. He might have been a birthday present for Joseph. Anyway, Joseph loved him and they developed a cute relationship. Joseph wanted to sleep with him and cried when Mom said no to dogs in his bed. So Joseph dragged Dusty’s little bed into the entry way and slept on it with his new little doggie friend for several nights until that got old. (Mom later learned that Jason and Joseph let Dusty in through their bedroom window and he did sleep with them quite often …probably until they realized how much hair he shed and what a mess that was.)

When Dusty was a young dog I took him to obedience school. He didn’t do very well with some of the commands we tried to teach him. He never could do a proper “sit”. He had to repeat the class and still didn’t master some of the basic commands. But at home the kids taught him lots of fun tricks so he wasn’t dumb…maybe just a bit distracted by all the other dogs in class? Spencer taught him how to play dead. Dusty would lay dead still on his side when commanded and not move until released. Spencer would put a treat just out of reach near his nose and then make him lay there. One time Spencer walked away and forgot about him only to come back half an hour later and find him still laying there in a large pool of saliva with the treat at this nose and his eyes focused on it. Dusty also learned to hold perfectly still with a treat on his nose and not eat it until he was told he could. He was very good at these tricks and we had a lot of fun with him.

Dusty was a really fun dog to play with outside too. He loved to retrieve and the kids spent hours throwing and hitting balls for him to bring back. He was very athletic and fast and would often end up with grass in his mouth as he raced hard and scooped up a hard hit tennis ball. We spent many hours outside playing retrieve with Dusty. The family used to play baseball in the front yard and Dusty always liked to be included in the game. Usually he played in the outfield and would retrieve the balls and bring them to home base fast enough to tag out the runner. One time when we were playing Dusty was in his usual position in the outfield. All of a sudden he decided he wanted to change positions and play catcher so he raced in and jumped up to catch the ball just as Joseph was swinging the bat to hit the ball. So, instead of hitting the ball, Joseph hit Dusty square in the eye and knocked him goofy. He staggered around for a few seconds and fell down. Joseph was mortified and fell down on Dusty crying and wailing loud enough for the neighbor to come running to see what was happening. We took him to the vet and had to leave him there for 4 days while the vet tended to him. Doc Odum was a special kind of vet and with love and tender care managed to save Dusty’s eye.

Dusty was a very good watch dog so if anyone or anything came into the yard he made a big fuss with his deep bark so anyone within a quarter mile could hear him. Moose came into the yard frequently so he chased after them barking ferociously and dashing in and out and around their deadly slashing feet. We would watch in horror as the moose, irritated by his barking, would charge and kick at him. We feared for his life whenever a moose was around. I think a moose may have grazed him with a kick a time or two but it didn’t make him stop chasing them. He could not and would not leave them alone until later in his life when his eyes and hearing grew dim. I knew he was getting old when he sat on the porch and just watched the moose walk through the yard. It is probably a good thing because his arthritis got so bad he couldn’t run anymore and would never have gotten away from those deadly hooves.

I think Dusty loved swimming more than anything. We took him to the lake with us and he loved swimming and playing with the kids in the lake. He could not stand to be left out if anyone was in the water. If someone was going waterskiing he had to go. He was a menace though as he would race back and forth in the boat from front to back barking like crazy and watching the skier. One time he nearly scared us to death when he was flipped off the front of the boat and run over. It was always a chore to contain him inside the boat so we tried sneaking off and leaving him on the dock. He would bark and howl and make such a commotion that was deafening. Then he would jump in the water and try to follow the boat around and around the lake trying his best to catch it. Some days when he was younger he would be in the water swimming most of the day.

Dusty loved to race the kids into the water. It was a fun game they played. We would all be sitting quietly on the dock, including Dusty, when one of the kids would jump up and run for the end of the dock and jump in or pretend to be jumping in. Dusty was always alert and would jump up as fast as lightening and beat them into the water. They did this over and over. It was quite entertaining to watch. He loved to dive into the water and would do it by himself if no one else wanted to play his game. Even the last summer Dusty spent at the lake he when was nearly 14 years old and had a hard time getting around he would go down to the lake and swim around a bit. He always wanted someone to go with him though but if no one was willing, he would eventually go by himself. Most often he would stand at the door and whine and beg until finally, usually Orie, would say okay and walk down to the lake with him while he swam.

We will miss our Dusty dog. He was faithful and loving friend. He had a gentle nature and he always had a friendly wag of his tail. He loved our family and we loved him. We were glad to have had him with us for 14 years and wish it could have been longer. Good bye Dusty. Happy trails.

It all started out a couple of weeks ago when the Sacrament meeting speakers didn’t show up because they forgot to re-set their clocks with the coming of daylight savings time. The conducting bishopric member said he had dreamed in the night that the speakers would not show up and he had some ideas about what to say if that happened and he ended up being the speaker. He gave a great talk worthy of having prepared for weeks. The bishop then got up and filled the rest of the time with another uplifting and amazing message, especially for it being on the spur of the moment. It takes talent and bravery and the gift of the Spirit to do that.

The couple who missed their opportunity to speak were asked to give their previously prepared talks today, but again when the meeting began they hadn’t shown up. Uh oh. The bishopric member got up to announce the speakers and noted that they were not there yet but were expected at any moment as they had called to alert that they were having car trouble. In the meantime the counselor turned the time to the other counselor who hadn’t had the opportunity to be a fill in speaker the last time this happened. He spoke for a few minutes and then was tapped on the shoulder by the other counselor. He nodded and prepared to conclude his talk. We were sitting in the back so I glanced over to the back door and noticed the clerk standing there indicating to the bishopric in the front that the speakers had arrived. The counselor was just about to quit speaking when he was tapped on the shoulder again by the other counselor. We aren’t sure what was said this time but whatever it was the speaker was a bit rattled but kept on speaking and actually gave a fairly long talk. It was very good by the way. I kept wondering where the speakers were. Why didn’t they come in?

Meanwhile, the bishop, who must have also been wondering, signaled for his teacher-age son to come to the front and sit next to him for a little conference, which he did. Afterwards the son left the stand and went out into the foyer. Those of us in the congregation had no idea what was happening out there but we did note the scheduled speakers still had not entered the chapel.

After the counselor concluded his talk, the bishop got up and hoping they could hear him asked that the speakers please come into the chapel and take seats on the stand. He talked for a bit and then repeated his request. He actually repeated it in several times and several ways with a bit of desperation in his voice. He finally asked if the brother would at least please come in and just give a short testimony…all this while the minutes were ticking away and we were wondering what was going on with the speakers out in the foyer. Surely they must be embarrassed at being late and didn’t want to come in. (As I write this I can’t help but start chuckling at the scenario that was unfolding out there in the foyer…now that I know after the fact what happened.)

At this point the bishop asked all the men in the congregation who had ever served in the military to stand and he honored them. I am not sure why he did that but it was nice. A time filler perhaps??? Then he asked a man who is moving out of the ward to come forward and bear this testimony. Speaker #2. Once again the bishop asked the speakers to come in. It was then that my daughter Megan and her husband poked their heads in the chapel and as the bishop was vocally wondering what had happened to the speakers and asking yet again for this brother to come bear testimony my son-in-law Kyle began walking up front and said out loud that he would be happy to bear his testimony. I was sort of shocked and wondered if he was nuts or what. When he got close to the front the bishop who was at the microphone said something to Kyle indicating that he didn’t need to come up and then he asked another man to come bear his testimony. But Kyle ignored him and just kept right on walking up to the front, climbed the steps and sat on the podium behind the bishop. At this point the suspense of what was happening with our speakers and why was Kyle on the podium so willing to speak when he clearly wasn’t invited to do so was killing me and I could hardly hear what the next speaker was saying. I kept looking back at Megan and she was smiling broadly and clearly enjoying the moment.

I realize this is confusing and hard to keep straight which speaker I am referring to, but I didn’t want to use names here to protect the innocent. Anyway, after the 3rd speaker sat down the bishop stood and then invited Kyle to come forward and speak and bear testimony. He introduced him as a fairly new convert and stake financial clerk. Kyle finally got the microphone and before he bore testimony he briefly explained what none of us had known about what was going on in the foyer and why he found himself on the podium speaking in the meeting. As he sat on the stand waiting for a turn and wondering if he would have one, it must have dawned on him what was going on.

It seems the clerk who was waiting in the foyer for the scheduled speakers to arrive had mistaken Kyle and Megan for the scheduled speakers and when Kyle and Megan arrived late he had invited them to come forward into the meeting and take their places on the stand. Kyle and Megan had no idea of what had been going on the chapel and thought he was joking and just laughed and of course didn’t go in. Then the bishop’s son came out and told them his dad said to come in and at least bear their testimonies. Kyle and Megan declined to do so still thinking someone was playing a big joke on them. The son insisted so finally with great reluctance Kyle and Megan came in the chapel and that was when Kyle said out loud that yes he would come forward and bear this testimony and bravely walked to the front. He had no idea the bishop was talking about someone else and being a good sport that he is and very obedient he marched right up to the stand.

At this point I was about to bust up laughing about the whole scene, but the sincere testimony Kyle bore was excellent and he was able to salvage the meeting and give the uplift we all needed. But now after the meeting here at home as I think about it…..I am laughing! I will never forget the look on Kyle’s innocent face as he sat on the stand behind the bishop wondering why he was invited from the foyer to come to the podium and speak. I guess I’ll have to get Kyle to give further light on what was going on in his mind. The rest of us were pretty confused and thinking he was awfully eager to speak and a fabulously good sport. A little humor, suspense and intrigue are always kind of fun to have in Sacrament meeting. It makes for a memorable one that won’t soon be forgotten, especially by Kyle. I am betting he is never late to another Sacrament meeting.

I don’t really do much on it but recently I got “tagged” to write 25 random things about myself. Others were writing their 25 random things that were entertaining and interesting so today I decided to write my 25 random things. It was kind of fun. I posted them and then decided I would post them here as well as it makes a good list for me to work off for future posts on this website. If any of these 25 items pique your curiosity and you would like to know more, let me know and I’ll put it at the top of the Que.

Here they are:
1. My greatest blessing and joy is my family.
2. I think I am a people person as I love people…most of them anyway. At least I find people quite interesting and love watching them and trying to figure them out. It has become a favorite pastime and fun game I play when I travel. Come vacation with me and play my fun game!
3. I have something in common with cats. We each have nine lives. Otherwise we aren’t fond of each other. (Shhhh….don’t mention the ‘not fond of’ part to my cat-loving sister, DeAnn. She’s very touchy on the subject.)
4. I enjoy reading mystery books with heroes that are smart, quietly funny, humble, nice, and incredibly brave. (Sounds like a good description of my husband.)
5. I have the cutest and smartest grandbabies in the world. I am not kidding and I am NOT prejudiced.
6. I am absolutely STUPID when it comes to putting anything together or installing/operating any electronic device.
7. I love spending time at our cabin. I enjoy the euphoric contentment of its beauty and exhilarating high of its fun.
8. I am a morning person. I love it when it is finally time to get up and can’t wait to get going with the day.
9. I wish I had a road grader so I could make all the rough roads smooth. I got to drive one once. Loads of Fun!
10. I attended BYU for four years. When asked what I majored in I have to respond with the question, “Which year?”
11. I was once known for being the “Washington State Junior Yodeling Champion”.
12. Of all my siblings, I was the only one with the ability to drive my kind and gentle father to say “SPH” …twice!
13. For me, if it’s a vacation there has to be water and a beach.
14. I love to cook up a big meal if I have folks who will eat it with relish. Otherwise I can’t get up the enthusiasm to do much in the kitchen anymore.
15. Once in a while I am right and my husband is wrong.
16. I could eat Thai Food every day.
17. I used to think I was the smartest kid in my first grade class. That was a long time ago. Now I try hard to keep my mouth closed so I don’t reveal too much. Sometimes I forget to do that.
18. I am amazed by my husband’s photographic memory. He remembers EVERYTHING except where he put his keys, wallet and credit card. Both the ability and the disability can be aggravating.
19. I love it when I dream that I can fly. It is exhilarating and the most fun I have ever had either awake or asleep.
20. I can’t read about, listen to, or see anything to do with children being abused or hurt. It makes me sick.
21. I love taking and looking at photos…especially photos of the grandbabies.
22. I speak Spanish - taught to me by a boyfriend in Spain who spoke no English. (Long ago boyfriend…not current.)
23. I used to imagine myself as an “Annie Oakley” riding the hills on my horse. As a kid I rode a saddle over a barrel in the garage for years until I finally got a real horse. My enthusiasm went away when that horse nearly killed my friend, then me, then my future husband. Riding horses is dangerous and not fun! I still like to look at them though.
24. I used to work as a “soda jerk” (sadly, a lost art) in the local drug store earning $1.25 per hour. Besides dispensing sodas I made exotic sandwiches made out of beef tongue. The locals loved them. Yuk!
25. I would like to own and drive a cream colored luxury sedan with all the options/trimmings…that never gets dirty.

Following the Swiss tradition of the Bailey family, Caroline made their famous family cookies (see her blog and photo). They were delicious. In addition and following the tradition of my family going back several generations I made “Pop Bellied Cookies”. They are raisin filled cookies made with sugar cookie dough and we LOVE them. I posted a picture of them in the photos section. As I said, these cookies have been favorites for years going back to my grandma, then my mother and now myself and siblings. I am pretty sure any weight gain I have had over the years can be blamed entirely on these cookies. They are so delicious! I make a quadruple batch and then we eat them as fast as we can before they are all gone.

One of the things I hoped for while the kids were all home was lots of snow so we could ride the sleds and explore the trails around the lake. It is so much fun. We got the snow all right but shortly after we also got hit with a huge low pressure system of cold, no…. more than cold… it was frigid weather. It was the coldest we ever remember in the last 30+ years here. On New Year’s Eve it was negative 30 at the cabin. Brrrr shiver shiver. We had some good snow machine rides before the cold hit but once it did we were pretty much stuck inside. That was okay too though as we had plenty to do and kept ourselves well entertained.

Just as soon as Jason and Caroline left Alaska to head home the “Pineapple Express” came through Alaska and our temperatures shot up 80 degrees to +50. While the warm weather is nice, there went the snow…gone in a couple of days. Jason reports that the frigid weather followed them to Iowa City where it was negative 40 the other day. It’s a good thing they have nice warm coats and don’t live outside.

We had a good time with the kids, miss them a lot and look forward to the next get together. We have a plan for that…..next blog.

The fluke started with a series of events, the first of which was Reed’s graduation from college. At this point Orie and Reed had not met. Reed’s parents had a farm outside of Ephrata and left their 19 year old daughter in charge of the family farm while they traveled 800 miles to Reed’s graduation. Orie and the Nielsen’s daughter, Ruth, had met a few weeks prior to their trip and were just beginning to date.

Orie stopped by the farm one day to say hi to her when the next in that series of events occurred. The cows got out. A neighbor came by as Orie was visiting to let her know that the cows were out in the lower field and she needed to get them back inside the fence. Ruth set out to take care of getting those wandering cows in and Orie offered to help. As they were walking down to the field they passed the corals where the horses were kept. Orie, never having lived on a farm or ridden or horse, but having watched Bonanza and Rawhide and other TV shows with horses and cows, suggested it would be good to ride the horses down to the lower field and “round ‘em up”. Ruth, wanting to impress Orie with her horsemanship skills and knowledge of “rounding ‘em up” said okay and jumped on one of the horses. The problem was she didn’t take the time to put on the saddle or bridle. She rode the horse around the corral a bit and then jumped off to let Orie on while she got another horse and the saddles and bridles. Orie got on the horse, not realizing that a saddle and more importantly a bridle is pretty important in riding and controlling a horse, especially for a beginner.

It was at that point that the next in the series of life and career changing events occurred. Orie didn’t know anything about horses and the horse knew it. The horse immediately took off running as fast as he could toward the fence and just as he was about to run into it, he stopped suddenly which threw Orie over his back and into the fence. He hit the fence full force with his body and crumpled to the ground landing in a pile of cow and horse manure. It was a scary thing to witness but seeing him laying there on the ground spitting out manure was, at least for a few seconds, quite funny to Ruth until she realized he was badly hurt.

It was only moments after the accident and just at the right time that Ruth’s future brother-in-law unexpectedly showed up to see how things were going on the farm. He and Ruth were able to get Orie to the hospital in town where it was determined he had broken his back, his hip and his ribs. When Orie recovered enough to go back to the University, the Army decided they didn’t want him anymore and thus his military career was over before it had really begun.

It was at that point that Orie surveyed his situation and decided accounting would be a good choice as there would always be work. He started taking accounting classes and fortunately found out he had a knack for it. He continued dating Ruth and despite her responsibility in ending his military career they eventually married. When it was time to graduate the economy was very poor and there were few jobs around, even in accounting…..except in Alaska and California, and who in the world would want to move there? Orie and Ruth did.

They packed up their stuff and shipped it on a Tote barge and arrived in Anchorage in the fall of 1976. Orie came to find a place to live. Instead of spending much time looking, he was immediately shipped out to a remote native village for his first job. What an adventure that was and a whole different story. As Ruth was expecting their 2nd child she wanted to make sure she had a roof over her head and a bed to sleep in before she came to join Orie in Alaska. Orie promised he had both so she got on the plane. It turns out he fibbed just a bit. The bed was actually an army cot… for one person. Ruth slept in it one night and grumbled the whole time. They bought a real bed the next day.

The rest is history. They fell in love with Alaska, made it their home and raised six children here. Orie became a partner with Ernst and Whinney which later became Ernst and Young and when they pulled out of Alaska he and Ruth decided they couldn’t pull up their deeply sunk roots and didn’t leave. Orie approached Dave Cottrell and Bob Mikunda and they agreed on a partnership and thus grew the largest Alaskan firm. It turned out very well and provided Orie with a wonderful career as an accountant, even if it did start out as a fluke.

Orie will be retiring at the end of this year, so in the tradition of his firm they had a nice dinner and congratulatory party for him on Saturday night. After dinner they showed a power-point-presentation on his life that was fun and cute. It was entitled “The Secret Life of Orie” because they decided that very few people at the firm knew the “real” Orie. It wasn’t until after they got some photos and a sketch of his life from his sneaky wife (that would be me) that they started to realize there was a whole other side to him…thus the title of the slide show.

The slide show was divided into a dozen or so chapters of his life, such as “The Stud Muffin”, “The Family Man”, “Military Career”, “The Accountant”, “The Athlete”, “The Sportsman”, “The Mentor”, etc. etc. There were some great long forgotten photos that I dug out of some deep dark places that surprised even Orie as he hadn’t seen them in many years. I sent them via email to the kids who were shocked and surprised by their stud muffin dad. Hmmm…perhaps beneath that conservative accountant exterior lies a pretty cool guy! Who knew?

At the conclusion of the slide show Orie and I were invited to come up front and accept a most generous gift of a cruise. Yea! Can’t wait! (Hmmm…I hope he takes me with him.) Then Orie gave a short speech that I’m sure was different from any other speech given by a retiring accounting partner. He talked about the Old Testament Joseph who was sold into Egypt by his brothers. He said there were several lessons to be learned from Joseph. 1) Don’t give up on your family. 2) Work your way up the ladder by doing good, working hard and hanging in there. And, 3)Save some of your money. All good advice for those young staff accountants just starting out.

He got some good laughs when he asked me the question of how many weeks he worked out of town one year as a new staff accountant. I replied “48”. I know because I crossed them off one by one on the calendar that year as three little ones hung onto my legs. He then asked how many children we have. After I replied to that question (6 at last count) he pointed out that one could be out of town a lot and still have time for important things. That got a good laugh, especially as most folks at the firm view Orie as very quiet and not prone to say something like that and also because they all know none of them have ever spent that many weeks out of town.

Congratulations Orie on a great career. Plans for retirement are being worked on, coming along nicely and will be announced later on. I can assure you his plans won’t involve sitting around. One thing he hopes is that it will involve play time with lots of grandchildren. Come on kids. Time to do your part for our retirement!!!

You see, I figured if I ignored it then it would go away. I tried that a couple of times when I was pregnant and didn’t feel quite ready to go through another pregnancy just yet. It didn’t work then and it hasn’t worked now for this. In fact, now that I think about it, there have been quite a few times that I have tried to ignore things hoping they would go away and they didn’t. Ignoring them only made things much much worse. Like the time I had a bad abdominal pain and just kept popping pain pills for days hoping the pain would go away. It didn’t. That was the time my colon blew a hole and it took two life saving surgeries to finally make it go away. Or the time….actually I don’t think I want to go there right now on this blog because you all might think I was just a little dumb. Forget I started to mention that one. So, moving right along….

Anyway, I have this problem. Okay, here it comes…you see, I shake. Not all over. Just my hands. Actually it is just my right hand most of the time. I first noticed it when I was about 24 or 25. It happens mostly when I am doing something in front of people, like signing a credit card receipt, or taking the sacrament, or teaching a class. It has gone on for so long I don’t notice it too much, but obviously others do. It is embarrassing. For instance after I taught the gospel doctrine class a couple of weeks ago a man came up to me after and asked if I was shaking because I was nervous or because I was fasting. I didn’t know what to say because I was totally unaware that I had been shaking. I asked a couple of friends after if they noticed me shaking. They said yes but I had done it for so long they didn’t pay attention anymore. Arrrggh!

I am pretty sure this shaking is something hereditary because several of my siblings have “the shakes” as we call it. My mom and her brothers had the shakes. No one has died of it….yet. Well, actually they did die, but they didn’t shake to death. In our family we just shake. I didn’t think it was something to worry about but now that people are noticing it and making comments I am thinking it must be getting worse and maybe it is something serious.

One funny story….we had a man working on a project at our house and as he was lifting something he was shaking pretty hard. I rushed over to offer my help and he declined saying he was okay, he just has the shakes. I was thrilled to hear someone else had the shakes so that started a conversation about them. He told me having them comes in pretty handy sometimes and the best time was when they got him released from the high council. Apparently he threw the sacrament water over his shoulder one too many times as he sat on the stand. I couldn’t believe my ears that others had trouble with the sacrament. For some reason that is a time when the shakes really start up. I can’t figure it out. I do know that it doesn’t help when the deacon holds the tray so high I have to reach almost above the level of my chin. Oh boy, the shaking really sets in then. I almost can’t get it to my mouth. So embarrassing! I am sure the entire congregation is watching each week to see if I make it to my mouth or throw it over my shoulder.

So, enough is enough. Starting tomorrow, I am going to get to the bottom of this shaking business. I will begin by googling it and see what that brings up. And if that scares me bad enough I will begin to think about calling my doctor for an appointment….maybe sometime next year if it hasn’t gone away by then.

For instance, on my last trip to Salt Lake we went out to eat and as usually happens, she needed to go potty. I took her and as I was getting her situated with the paper toilet seat cover she started complaining that she didn’t want the paper cover. I told her she had to have it and plopped her down on top of it. She complained louder so I told her she had to have it because it was ‘the law’. She immediately countered with a very loud “It’s NOT the law”. I said it was the law. She said it wasn’t. Back and forth we went with all the ladies in the restroom giggling by this time as they listened to our banter. It was actually quite funny to see this cute little girl sitting on the potty seat dangling her legs and demanding that sitting on the paper cover was NOT the law.

Later as I told her mom about it she laughed and told me she probably said that because they use that same line about ‘the law’ in getting her strapped into a seat belt. Now THAT is the law whereas sitting on paper in the toilet is NOT the law. She’s no dummy. They both can’t be ‘the law’.

The real corker potty story, so far anyway, happened on the trip to Las Vegas. As usual we were sitting in the restaurant when she announced she had to go potty. It must have been a ruse to explore, however, as just as soon as we locked the stall door she announced she didn’t have to go. Being the smart grandma, I told her I would go first and then she could go. I started putting the paper down on the toilet seat just like I had taught her before and as I was getting myself situated to sit she started fiddling with her busy little fingers. I don’t like her to touch anything in the restroom as all the germs make me nervous, but those busy fingers started touching the toilet and the paper causing it to shift a bit so my sit down was off and turned into more of a crouch. So there I was in a vulnerable position when her little fingers really got going touching lots of germs and filling me with concern. I expressed my concern with a stern “Kate, don’t touch that” which furrowed her brow and made her decide to bolt from the stall. We were in the larger handicap stall so there was plenty of room for her to get away from me where I couldn’t reach her while in my stance.

She unlocked the door and threw it open exposing me to the stares of half a dozen women washing hands and waiting their turn to use the facilities. They all turned to look at the commotion of course and started giggling at my obvious predicament. I gave a couple of louder ‘Kate’calls to close the door but my loud voice only strengthened her resolve to keep that door open and get away from me. I managed to grab the bottom of the door and pull it closed momentarily, but with her pushing it open it was a see-saw battle. She pushed and I pulled. We bantered back and forth. “Kate, close the door”. “No”. “KATE, CLOSE THE DOOR”. “NO!” The door opened and shut, opened and shut with our pulling and pushing. I am stronger than her but my position weakened my effort and she was close to winning. The snickering ladies were having a great time but I was NOT. This was extremely embarrassing for me but not for Kate as she continued to scowl at me and fight to get away.

Finally after what seemed an eternity, I got myself up and decent again and shut and locked the door and held it tight while I waited for all those ladies to exit the restroom. Some were so slow! My dignity was gone but at least I didn’t want to see their mirthful eyes up close. I’m sure they left that restroom with a funny story to tell while I left with very little dignity and holding tight to the small hand of a cute little girl who was oblivious to the scene she had caused.

Anyway, I spent time in Salt Lake City with Erin and her cute family; in Spokane with my twisted sisters and their families; and capped it off with 5 days in Las Vegas with Spencer and his two cute doggies. It was while I was in Spokane that my sister reminded me of a saying my dad used to have that ‘you could get used to anything’. After this trip I decided he was partly right and partly dead wrong. Let me explain…

I had a great time in all three places but it wasn’t until I got to Las Vegas that I really got warmed up. Much to my dismay cool to cold weather has followed me around for the past year as Alaska didn’t have a summer this year so I didn’t get my fix of warm sunshine. Oh, we had June, July and August all right so technically it was summer, but it was such lousy weather we aren’t counting it. So much for global warming. Just ask any Alaskan and they can tell you exactly how many days of warm sunshine we had. Two! Yep, 1, 2. We all counted. It was so depressing.

So, when I left on this trip I was counting on some warm sun in Salt Lake. I needed it, badly! My mental health and well as physical health needed sunshine. (Seriously, my doctor tells me I need more Vitamin D so my bones don’t melt away.) Well that didn’t happen. I about froze there and it even snowed one day. Spokane wasn’t much better and I had to wear a jacket there too. I had hoped to get enough Vitamin D pumped into my bones to last me all winter when I returned to Alaska. It didn’t happen in Utah or Washington.

Las Vegas was my last chance and I was not disappointed. The weather there was glorious. It was 80 degrees sit-by-the-pool-soak-up-the-rays wonderful weather. And I did just that. I didn’t waste a second on the strip plugging quarters in the slots. I parked myself by the pool and enjoyed the warm soul-healing sunshine everyday and loved it! I decided right then and there that I could get used to this. Not hard at all. It wasn’t too hot, it wasn’t cold at all. It was just right! I felt the tension in my neck, shoulders and back created from huddling up shivering just melt away like magic. Yep, I could definitely get used to this! Dad was right about that. But, now that I am back in Alaska shivering with the rest of the ‘frozen chosen’ I am thinking Dad was dead wrong in his saying. I am not sure I can get used to the cold now that I have seen the other side of the coin. Hmmm, who flipped that coin and sent me packin’?

And by the way, now I know what that saying about “what goes on in Vegas, stays in Vegas” really means. What’s going on there is some great winter weather and that definitely stayed in Vegas! I am back in Alaska and it definitely isn’t here. Brrrrrr.

What is BODY WORLDS?

BODY WORLDS is a first-of-its-kind exhibit where visitors learn about anatomy, physiology and health by viewing real human bodies. The bodies are preserved through plastination, which is a groundbreaking method for specimen preservation invented by Dr. Gunther von Hagens in 1977. BODY WORLDS 3 & The Story of the Heart features more than 200 authentic human specimens including whole body plastinates, organs, translucent body slices, and a special presentation on the heart.

At first when I saw the bodies I didn’t realize they were real bodies. I thought they were models made of plastic or some other material. There was a large crowd and as we viewed the exhibit it didn’t take long to realize that even though there were a lot of people it was very quiet and everyone spoke in hushed tones. It was almost reverent. I wondered about it and then when I found out these were real bodies, not models, I understood the reverence being shown. These bodies are real people who gave their consent, during their lifetimes, to use their bodies for plastination and specifically for the BODY WORLDS exhibits. We were informed that independent ethicists have reviewed the Institute for Plastination’s donor program and protocols and verified that the specimens were properly donated for the purpose of public exhibition. The Institute for Plastination has more than 8,000 donors on its roster, and nearly 800 of them are Americans.

Why are they real human bodies? Why not use models of other materials?

Real human bodies show the details of disease, physiology and anatomy that cannot be shown with models. They also allow us to understand how each body has its own unique features, even on the inside. As I saw the different body parts and how they really look I was particularly interested in the body parts that have given me trouble. It helped me in understanding my body to actually see those body parts that are real and not just a drawing. It is fascinating. The body is a work of art and a miracle in the way it was put together and the way it works.

If you are interested in the “plastination” process or the exhibit check out their website and if you get a chance to view it sometime, do it! It is awesome. http://www.bodyworlds.com/en.html

So, last week as I was sitting in the ER for the third time in 2 weeks attempting to pass yet another kidney stone a nurse was once again asking me to rate my pain. They use a chart with those little faces that start out with a smile and end in a big time grimace as it moves up the scale. I tried to give an accurate answer but giving birth to a kidney stone is one of those painful things that takes concentration to endure and being asked a stupid question that makes you lose that concentration just makes matters worse. I quickly thought back on some past experiences with pain and tried to remember how I would have rated those and compare it to this time. I was thinking “why doesn’t she just look at my face and compare my smile or grimace to her little chart? I need to concentrate here so I don’t pull my hair out and writhe around on the floor making loud wailing noises and make a fool of myself.” But wanting to be a good patient and not wanting to mess up on this test I tried very hard to give the right answer.

I actually can’t remember now what rating I gave that kidney stone but it was obviously not high enough as I was ushered back into the hard plastic chairs of the ER waiting room for TWO more hours while folks with smiley faces went first! It wasn’t until I got into one of the back rooms and was asked to pee in a cup and they saw that it looked like tomato juice that I finally got some attention. Shortly after that I had a CAT scan and then soon after a doctor came striding into my room. “You are one tough lady” she said in admiration. “If I had three stones this big in me I would be bawling my head off and laying on the floor.”

If I hadn’t been so bent over in pain and concentrating so hard on NOT bawling and laying on the floor writhing around I would have hugged her! At last, someone who understood and could give me the proper sympathy! It made my eyes tear up just thinking of how wonderful it was to know she realized this pain was #10 pain and I didn’t even have to point that out on the silly chart. She knew! I love that doctor! I wish they had given me a rating chart for doctors and I would have definitely given her a #10 and then we’d be comrades, both of us at the highest level of our expertise.

Well, the kidney stones have been dealt with. A surgery, a stent and yet one more trip to the ER. I think they are gone. I hope they are gone. I pray they are gone. Yet there is a little twitter now and again way down deep that makes me think there might be at least one more just biding it’s time until I am least expecting it and it will demand to be born. May it be a #2 or #3. I can deal with those numbers. Those faces are only slightly frowning. It is the big grimace that scares me.

By the way, now that this episode is past, I am getting lots of advice on how to get rid of kidney stones in two or three easy steps. Just drink a six pack of Classic Coke followed by a bowl of asparagus; or drink as much pure lemon juice (no sugar) as you can force down followed by eating a bunch of parsley; or drink a gallon of orange juice; or various others I can’t quite recall as they were given while I was in my pain-drug induced stupor. I hope whoever it was that called me will call me again so I can write it all down. I promise to follow their instructions to the tee. I will do anything so I don’t have to face a nurse making me choose which smiley or frowny face I am on that stupid scale.

The first event which we looked forward to for two years was the homecoming of Joseph from his mission in California. He arrived home on June 10 looking handsome and bright eyed. He loved his mission and the people there but didn’t quite know what to do with himself at first as he made the adjustment from being very busy to not so busy. He managed to figure it all out though and kept fairly busy with a part time job at a bike shop and a part time job helping the folks at the Lake House. He has gone back to college now and left us alone and missing him.

The month of July was pretty crazy with activities and guests. Everyone was excited to go fishing, play at the Lake House, tour the state, and just relax. We had all of our children home except Erin and her family as they were expecting a baby right in the middle of all this. We were thrilled with the birth of Anna Sophia Lowry who was born on July 21 in Salt Lake City. Megan went down for a week to help out and then I went down for a couple of weeks. Anna is very cute and a good baby and a wonderful addtion to their family. She resembles her sister Kate but has her own look.

The Hammerman Triathlon in July was another big event for us. Orie, Jason, Joseph, and Kyle all signed up to do the full triathlon with Megan, Caroline and Nathan signed up to do a team triathlon, each one doing one leg. Orie trained faithfully all winter and was ready for the race. He wanted to redeem himself after last summer when he took off for the biking portion without his glasses and crashed and burned when he couldn’t see the trail. The rest of the Orien family particpants trained minimally but figured it would be fun anyway. Joseph tried hard to learn how to swim by practicing in the lake each night and did improve but realized swimming is not his strong suit…yet. It is weird that although he grew up on the lake and water skied and played in the lake constantly, he didn’t learn to swim well. Oh well, he is a good biker and runner and figured he could make it up in those areas. A couple of days before the race Orie and Kyle decided to ride the biking course to check it out. They found it was an extremely hard course and so hard in fact that Kyle crashed and got a concussion and had to withdraw from the race. Nathan missed his plane and arrived too late to race so the Megan/Caroline/Nathan team had to withdraw. So that left Orie, Jason and Joseph as the only Orien family partcipants. They all did well, finished the race and had a lot of fun. Orie finished first in his age bracket (the old guy bracket) and therefore qualified to participate in the National Exterra Triathlon in Nevada in October.

Fishing was a big part of our summer and was really fun. Thanks to the efforts of everyone we got enough to feed us for the winter and some for them to take home. We love salmon! It is fun to catch them and delicious to eat them. It was a blast watching Spencer dip net salmon at the mouth of the Kenai River. He was a maniac! No one on that beach caught more fish, was as tough and hard working, or had more fun. The look on his mud splattered face was priceless each time he hauled in a net full of fish. He figured out the technique for catching them and hardly missed an opportunity. It took three of us on shore to take care of the fish he hauled in.

And, speaking of fishing, we had our annual end of the season float and fish down the Kenai River last weekend. It was a gorgeous sunny and warm day so the float was soul soothing and pleasant to say nothing of the fun of catch and release fishing for rainbows and dollys. The topping on the cake that day was a bear encounter that turned out well with no one hurt. As we were finishing up our day of fishing at the mouth of the Kenai River Orie noticed a large round object floating in the river just downstream. It seemed to be heading straight for another fisherman who had just flown in and parked his float plane on the shore at the mouth of the river. We suspected it was a bear and it was. A big one! The fisherman saw him but just kept on fishing and the bear swam right on by him and headed for shore with a silver salmon in his mouth. Nathan and Kyle got so excited about the bear they wanted to get in our raft and float by for a closer look…so we did. We sat off shore for about an hour watching the bear eat salmon after salmon. He would wade out a bit and come back with another fish in his mouth and then proceed to eat it. Meanwhile it was starting to get late and the fisherman walked back down river toward his airplane but Mr. Bear was between him and the plane. We watched in suspense wondering what was going to happen. The bear was right on the shore and the fisherman had to walk very close to get by him and to his plane. The fisherman made several attempts to get by him but about the time he got within 20-30 feet of the bear, Mr. Bear would raise his head and look threateningly at the man, prompting the man to scamper back a ways. It wouldn’t have taken that bear more than a few seconds to reach that guy and make mince meat of him. We were on edge and afraid we might be witness to a bear mauling, at least I was. I think the boys were enjoying it. Anyway, we all sat there quietly spell bound by the scene. Finally the guy gave up and decided to be patient and sat down on the shore to wait it out. We wondered what was going to happen and how many more fish that bear would eat. The fisherman was sitting too close for my comfort so we were trying to figure out a way to rescue him and had just begun our manueving to fetch him when the bear decided his tum tum was full for the moment and he wandered back into the woods. The guy made a dash for his plane and in a snap was in it and airborne. The show was over so we started up our motor and headed across the lake for the car and home. We got some pretty good photos but were sure wishing we had taken the telephoto lens camera with us. Who knew we could have a chance to get some great bear shots.

So, although it is September 1 and summer is officially over, we have lots of fond memories of a fun summer to think about all winter and as we contemplate the fun we antcipate the next summer. We are getting it all planned out to the day. That’s life in Alaska. We live from summer to summer with a long blur of cold winter in between all the fun.

Our friend Paula is a very courageous breast cancer fighter who exemplifies a truly inspired attitude and unfailing spirit. Those of us who know Paula stand in awe as we watch her fight this disease with grace, humility and depth of character. We are honored to call her our friend. We pray for her speedy recovery and restoration to full health.

Paula Power Team: Rita Debenham, Julie Green, Melinda Harr, Heidi Henrie, Lindsay Hibbert, Yael Hickok, Julie Jackson, Shelly Lewis, Kira Morehead, Kristi Morehead, Trachelle Newman, Ruth Orien, Megan Orien, Nichole Skinner, Stanzie Smith, Donna Swenson, Sharlyn Thayer, Jen Thomas, Catherine Thomas. and Debbie Williams (a breast cancer survivor).

We played in the lake during the day and had a great time inside the cabin at night with no outside distractions or temptations. At night after playing games together for hours we would lie down all snug in our beds and talk until we finally fell asleep. It was cozy and warm and filled me with joy to have our children all there with us talking and laughing and enjoying being together. The children enjoyed hearing Orie tell them stories about his youth as well as a series of stories he made up about a boy and his dog. It reminded me of the old TV show “The Waltons” where at the end of each show they showed the house and you could hear all of them saying goodnight to each other as they went to sleep.

It was like that in our old cabin….a comforting feeling of being loved and secure and knowing all was well because you were together safe and sound. Sometimes there were rainy days and storms that kept us inside and I actually loved them almost as much as the sunny days. On those days we stayed inside playing games, stoking the fire and reading books. I read the book “Summer of the Monkeys” to the children several times and they read it to themselves many times afterwards. We read scriptures and discussed gospel topics and told stories we all made up. It was a bonding time. As the children grew into their teenage years they often brought friends to the cabin and we managed to squeeze them in using double-decker camp cots and adopted them into the family for the day.

Our kids often reminisce about those times at that old cabin and how much they loved it there. There was something special about being there and it wasn’t the niceness of the cabin. It had to do with the feelings and fun we had being together. I treasure those times of being close to our children and having them gathered with us.

We can sit for hours staring intently at our laptops totally engrossed in the world we view there as we surf along the world wide web virtually ignoring those around us in the same room. In my own family I am often amused as I notice all of us enjoying a nice quiet day at home while everyone sits with their computer on their lap engrossed in their own private thoughts and whatever is on the screen. We used to interact…talk, laugh, play games, eat together, exercise, even fight…something! We used to invite friends over for an evening to eat, have some conversation, games and fun. Now we just stare at our laptops as if in some sort of trance. Once in a while we might make a comment on something we are reading, laugh at an email, squawk about some politician, but mostly we sit quietly, our thoughts totally within ourselves.

So when someone says computers have increased communication, they aren’t talking about communication within the walls of the home and with the family. It’s pathetic. And yet not pathetic enough that I want to give up my laptop….yet

I was blessed to witness two of my children marry in the temple in ceremonies that sealed each together as a couple for eternity. Megan was married on November 24 in the Anchorage temple to Kyle, and Jason was married December 28 in the St. Louis temple to Caroline. Both occasions were sacred, joyous, and incredibly touching and beautiful. Words here cannot describe the wonderful blessings that were pronounced upon these young couples as they knelt at the altar of the temple. It is the best start any couple can make as they begin their journey down the road of marriage and life. I am thrilled for them, not only for their choice of a marriage partner but also for their desire to live their lives in this new family unit directed by their Father in Heaven. For I know that is how they have the best chance for success and joy in their lives and in their marriage.

I think back on the years of raising these children and recall the many challenges that accompany being a mother…the sleepless nights caring for them as babies and children when they were sick and later on when they were teens and out late; the thousands of meals I prepared; the loads of laundry I did; the large number of diapers I changed; the trips to and fro taking them to this and that; the countless prayers offered in their behalf that they would be safe, be good, study hard, love the Lord, and someday find the “perfect” companion for them and be worthy to enter the temple to be sealed to them for eternity. That is the goal. It was wonderful to see them reach that goal.

So for two more of my children those challenges I experienced have been all worthwhile as this dream, desire and prayer of my heart has been fulfilled. They are launched and I feel very good about it. It makes me incredibly happy to see them so happy and heading down a good road.

About the time of my last post I received an assignment to teach early morning seminary to 25 youth ages 15-16. That assignment has consumed me to the point I sometimes feel I have no life other than seminary. While a rewarding and sometimes a fun assignment, it is never-the-less extremely time consuming and difficult for me. I have never had the opportunity to teach much in a formal class setting so there is a steep learning curve in figuring out just how to approach teaching 25 sleepy teens at 6:00 AM every morning on a gospel subject. We are studying the Old Testament which is quite intimidating to me as I had never read it all the way through cover to cover. How do you teach smart kids about something I am just learning myself? I can tell you it has been done with lots and lots of reading and studying and even with that I am often only one day ahead of my students. But I am learning a lot and finding the Old Testament to be fascinating with great stories of heroes that always teach a principle that can be applied to us right now in our own personal lives. Growing up in the church I have often heard these wonderful stories but somehow never recognized all the great principles they teach. I love learning and applying these principles to myself and I am enjoying trying to help my students figure out how to do the same.

I find getting up at 4:30 AM each day to be the easiest part of the assignment. It is exhilerating to me to be up early and see the world so still and quiet. I enjoy that part of the day immensely. And then I am quite amazed when 6:00 AM rolls around and 25 sleepy students come trooping in to my class. Each day I am amazed I didn’t bore them to tears the day before and run them off. Then again, I may have bored them to tears and they are just there because they are good kids who will give a newbie teacher one more chance to do better at conveying the wonderful messages taught in the scriptures.

By the way, our seminary class is being held in a nearby Catholic church. Our chapel burned last March and hasn’t been rebuilt yet so we were so thankful to have Father Tom offer his church to us for our seminary classes. He and his parishioners have been so nice to us and their generosity in turning their building over to us for that hour is very much appreciated.

Aside from seminary, the other big word in my life and the lives of all us Oriens is weddings. Yes, plural. Weddings with an “s”. Two of the Oriens have announced engagements and made wedding plans that occur within a month of each other. Megan is marrying Kyle on November 24 in Anchorage and Jason is marrying Caroline on December 28 in St. Louis. So life at our house is abuzz with wedding plans. Fun Fun Fun! More on all that later!

As an Alaskan, I love that reaction. Alaskans are very proud of their state and proud to live here. It is an conversation opener and a great way to meet new people. We love to brag about “The Great State of Alaska”. Besides being geographically set apart from the lower 48, we are set apart by the innumerable unique features of this land of the far north and the abilities, attitudes and mind-sets we develop from living here.

I have noticed there are four main catagories to the things we brag about and keep track of up here…sort of like they did in the Old West in keeping track of very important things they did by putting a notch in the belt or gun barrell. I think the number one thing an Alaskan will brag about is how long they have lived here. Afterall, it takes a certain toughness to live here and the longer you stay the less of a sissie you are. Second is how big was their biggest fish. Third is how many times they have gone to Hawaii to escape the winter. And fourth but not least or last is how many times they have driven the Alcan (Alaska Highway) …or how many times you have not driven it. My husband liks to brag that he has never driven it and never will. Betcha he’s wrong about that if I have anything to do with it! Having just completed the drive up the Alcan for only the second time in 31 years I have a few thoughts to share about the trip.

I made the drive with my daughter Megan who needed a companion to bring her car home. Google maps says you can do the drive from Couts Alberta Canada (border crossing on Interstate 15 out of Great Falls Montana) to Anchorage Alaska in one 18 hour day. That’s 3729 kilometers or 2,317 miles. Humpf! Are they nuts? That’s about 129 miles per hour. It is obvious the Google folks have not driven that road and seen the frost heaves and winding mountain roads that slow you down to 40 mph or less for hours. And there are quite a few construction stops on parts of the road.

Megan likes to drive fast but having gotten a very expensive speeding ticket in Canada at Fort Nelson the last time we drove her other car home in 2005, she was restrained a bit more than usual. We figured we would make it in four days of hard driving. We did and we enjoyed the trip. The scenery is gorgeous. I love to drive along and gaze out at the marvelous scenes of farm land, mountains, rivers, lakes, and wildlife. We saw lots of deer, moose, goats, sheep, wild horses, buffalo, porcupine and black bear. They are right along the road so you have to be careful not to run into them. The towns are are few and far between and that’s okay. There are just enough to gas up, take a potty break and keep going. The road seems endless and it almost is. It is amazing to me that there is a road that goes from clear down in the lower 48 all the way through Canada and into Alaska. It is a long long way and goes through miles and miles and hours and hours of total wilderness. The road was originally built mostly by the US Army as a supply route during World War II and has been improved upon a great deal since then. It is mostly paved but due to frost heaves there are sections that are gravel and work goes on continually to grade and smooth.

We made friends with half a dozen other folks traveling the road one day and developed an interesting comraderie. We played leap frog with each other all day long as we passed them and they passed us stopping at times at the same place. When it was our turn to pass them they would wave their arm out the window to give us the okay signal and then wave and smile as we went by. One couple was driving a large 1980’s model Mercury that must have sucked up the expensive gas like crazy. The woman told me they had been on the road for 11 days from Toronto and were heading for the Yukon. I told her we were heading for Alaska. A few minutes later she told Megan they were heading for Alaska too. Her toothless smile made me wonder if she was missing more than a few teeth. In the end no matter how fast we went or how fast they went we all ended up at about the same place by the end of the day. We played follow the leader all over Whitehorse looking for a place to stay or gas up and forge on.

As I mentioned, Megan likes to cruise along as fast as she dares go and keeps an eagle eye out for police cars. We rarely saw any police. Being the law abiding citizen that I am but mostly not wanting to take a chance on getting an expensive ticket I kept right at the speed limit. For that reason Megan didn’t like it too much when I drove. She wanted to giddy-up and get home quick but I enjoy a more leisurely pace that doesn’t scare the beejeebees outta me on curves through the mountains. Just outside of Fort St. John there are lots of curving roads going up through the mountains where the visiblity is zero to get around any other slow vehicle. I was driving and happened to get behind the slowest moving motorhome we encountered anywhere. He was poking along at 30-40 for nearly an hour and I couldn’t get around him. Finally there came a break with some straight road and visibility so I put the pedal to the metal and zoomed around him got back in my lane and slowed down just in time to see a Canadian trooper flashing his lights right behind me. That mean guy had been hiding someplace just waiting for someone who was tired of following a slow vehicle to speed up in the only place for miles one can pass. He pulled me over showing no mercy at my explanation and triumphantly handed me a ticket for $197. I thought lots of bad thoughts about him being a weasel and a snake but kept them to myself as I could envision myself being cuffed and stuffed if I had voiced them. I could appeal of course if I set a court date sometime in the future and came back to their town to see the judge. Grrr. That, my friends, is what you call a “Speed Trap”. No doubt they make a good amount of money each day on folks who get caught just as I had. I wondered if the motor home that I was following was planted to set me up??? My husband thinks so. It sure was nice to get sympathy from him when I got home instead of the look over the top of his glasses and the murmur “I hope you learned your lesson.”

Anyway, I have another notch in my “Alcan belt” and feel pretty good about it. I could do it again and actually want to. I’d like to take it a little slower next time but not because of that mean ole trooper and his unfair punishment. I’d like to smell the roses as they say and enjoy a stop for more than just gas and potty. It is such a beautiful place it deserves more than just a passing glance from a car window at 60+ mph.

So what are my scores and how many notches do I have? 31 years; 45 lb. halibut; 4 trips to Hawaii; 2 trips up the Alcan. Ouch! In looking at my scores and bragging rights, they don’t look so good afterall. In fact, they are quite measley. I better shut up and get busy.

P.S. It is acutally 2296 miles from Couts Alberta (border crossing) to Anchorage and took us 45 hours. Salt Lake City to Anchorage was 54 hours.

To preface this tale, let me say this. At the time I am having an adventure, I often cannot see it that way nor would I describe it as an adventure as I am not real fond of what is happening. Afterall, adventures are traditionally thought of as fun. Well, my family decided years ago that when some bad things happen we would call them adventures as opposed to calamities or mishaps or dirty rotten luck. It makes them a bit more palatable. And eventually after enough time has passed I really am able to think of that time as an adventure, at least most of the time. Some things that have happened to me will always be just plain bad dirty rotten luck!

The particular Alaskan adventure began in the spring of the year when the snow is almost gone and the warmth and smell of sunshine fills me with exhilerating joy after a long dark winter. I love to throw open the windows and let that warmth and smell filter into the house and my soul. Spring is here. Ummm. Summer is coming! It’s a heel kicking feeling. Afterall, summer is the reason we live here…but that’s a subject for a different blog.

We live on a treed acre and a half lot on the hillside so moose often walk through our yard. The moose in question came wandering by before we had “Dusty the Dog” to bark like crazy and run him off. This moose wasn’t the biggest guy I had ever seen. In fact he was a bit on the small side for a moose and even looked kind of scrawny. He stood at the edge of the grass next to the woods for a long time. Each time I looked he was there…not typical moose behavior. All day he stood there. Later in the day I could see he was lying down. The next morning it was obvious he was dead, cause unknown.

We wondered what to do with him. That was the beginning of the adventure…

I spent a frustrating week (that’s seven, count ‘em, 7 very warm days) on the telephone with every agency in town that I could think of that might come get this moose off my front lawn. Days passed with no luck in that regard as we endured the pungent and horrific smell of that poor oozing dead moose wafting indoors and making us quite nauseated. You would think there is a government agency whose job it is to fetch dead moose off people’s front yard and properly dispose of them. Unh uh. Nope. Of that I can testify.
Fish and Game and all the rest of them said, “Not our problem”.
“Can I bring it to the dump?”
“No, that is not possible” they said.
“Well, can I bring it to city, state or federal land and dump it?”
“No way” was the emphatic answer.
“What do I do?” I cried.
A shoulder shrug was all I got.

To the rescue came a friend with an idea. She called the Anchorage Daily News and reporter Sheila Toome published a front page article and photo asking the public the question of what to do if a moose drops dead in your yard. Now that got results. The next day at 4:00 AM my telephone started ringing. Newspapers from all across the country picked up the story and folks from Florida were the first to call me with advice. Calls came in rapid fire all day from hundreds of folks with how to handle that dead moose.
“Cover it with bags of lime” was the most popular answer.

Because of her article in the paper, good news came in a phone call from reporter Toome. She obtained permission from the City Dump for me to bring the dead moose there. Unfortunately there was no way for me to get it there. I called several enterprises to get an estimate on what they might charge me to take my dead moose to the dump. “$350 was the answer”. Whew! It didn’t stink that bad!

Finally a young man called who was the answer to my dilemna. He said he had just gotten into town and needed rent money. He said he would take away that stinky moose for a mere $50.
“Yippeee Skippee I told him. You’re hired. Come quickly.”

He and his girlfriend arrived shortly after in his Subaru Brat already half filled with a huge tool box. I looked at the space left in his very small pick-up and tried to compare with my eyes the size of the space and the size of the dead moose. I couldn’t imagine how it would fit.

While I called the dump to let them know the moose in question was on the way to its final resting place, the young man and his girlfriend loaded the moose into their truck. The last I saw of them was a sight I will never get out of my mind. Mr. Moose was indeed much too large for that small truck. The best they could do was get most of the body inside the back end of the small truck. As they hurried off with their shirts pulled up over their faces to cover their noses, Mr. Moose had his head hanging out the back of the truck and bounced helplessly on the road as the truck drove away. As happy as I was to see him go, I was sad to see his demise end in such an undignified and almost hilarious way.

I learned a valuable lesson with this adventure. If a moose ever dies in my yard again I am going to save myself a lot of trouble and money. I will hook a chain around his legs and drag him out to the side of the main road and let the highway department deal with him. (After dark of course.)

P.S. The reason I entitled this blog “The Moose Lady” is because a subsequent newspaper article 2 days later gave a follow-up of what happened to the moose. I got my 15 minutes of fame and was recognized at a stop sign in downtown by a pedestrian who looked up and saw me and said outloud, “It’s the Moose Lady!”. It wasn’t exactly the notoriety I had hoped for in my 15 minutes of fame, but at least I got it!

This afternoon while attending a game at the state basketball tournament I received an alarming telephone call from President Cox, president of the Anchorage Alaska Temple. He and I have been in touch frequently today regarding the message on the temple telephone system as we try to keep it current with what is happening regarding the operation of the temple since the fire at the chapel next door. In the phone call he indicated that he and Sister Cox had just arrived at the temple to finish up some laundry and found water pouring out the doors of the temple. What a shock that was!

I hurried to the temple and found several fire trucks and municipal pump trucks, various other service vehicles and lots of people working hard to remove 5-6 feet of water that had filled the bottom floor of the temple. The peaceful, reverent and holy atmosphere that usually greets me as I enter the doors was not there today. I waded through 6 or so inches of water to the steps inside that go up to the main floor of the temple. People were scurrying everywhere with hoses, machines, cords, etc. as they worked to remove the water. President Novakovich, who is well over 6 feet tall, said he had waded in water past his waist and that was after the water had receeded. He said it was difficult to walk and sort of like trying to go up a fast flowing river as it was flowing so fast.

Apparently a six inch water main line coming into the temple had burst it’s cap due to extremely high pressure probably caused by all the water used to fight the fire yesterday. I’m not sure how it all works, but it is obviously all related to yesterday’s events. Anyway, water burst the cap with such extreme pressure it blew a large trunk of tools through a wall and sent water gushing through the bottom floor of the temple and flowing out the front door.

I spent the rest of the afternoon until early evening making telephone calls cancelling appointments to come to the temple and sometimes reversing arrangement we had just made the day before. In making all these phone calls it reminded me how many people are involved in the day to day operation of the temple. Lots!

We aren’t sure what will happen next week with regard to the operation of the temple and how long it will take to clean up and repair the damage. We are due to close on Friday anyway for a two week maintenence so perhaps it will be a three week closure. I hope that is all it takes to get the temple operational again. And I wish that was all it was going to take to have our chapel operational. It will be a year or more before that happens. We are all wondering what we will do in the meantime. Plans are being formulated by our leaders to continue on with having our meetings and worship services and we’ll just all pitch in and make it happen despite hardships and inconvenience.

It certainly gives me pause to think about the blessing it is to have a wonderful place to meet and worship…one I won’t take for granted after this. I think about other blessings I have and hope I don’t have to lose them in order to really appreciate them.

It appears to have begun in the roof. Speculation is something electrical in the ceiling might have been the culprit. Neighbors smelled smoke at 3:30 AM and called the fire department. At this time, 3:30 PM, the fire is still burning. I went to the temple next door to the chapel at 8 AM to call folks planning to come to the temple to let them know the temple had to close as the roads and parking lot were blocked with fire trucks. Between canceling appointments I watched the fire progress. Not withstanding valiant efforts by multiple ladder trucks with huge water cannons blasting the fire, it was useless and the fire burned on. The fire-resistant shingles and the fire-resistant barrier between the top roof and the bottom had the fire sandwiched and made it impossible for the firemen to get to the fire to douse it.

When I left the temple this afternoon the roof over the middle section of the building had pretty much burned and collapsed but large flames were still visible. I don’t know when they will finally get it out. Meanwhile the enormous amounts of water they have poured onto the roof has filled the building and done plenty of damage that will be nearly impossible to repair. I was told by the FM group man that the Church Risk Management Team had instructed them to salvage nothing inside the building.

This is the second time this building has been destroyed by fire. The first time was by arson just as it was nearing completion back in 1975.

I have posted photos of the fire burning, after the smoke cleared and the interior damage.

We had a fabulous time and were pretty tired at the end of the day. One reason we were so tuckered out is we had to unstuck the snowmachines big time at the very end. Orie was in front of me and got bogged down in deep snow coming up the hill so we spent a couple of hours digging him out. I want you to know my method of getting him unstuck worked and saved us much more time and energy than Orie’s method would have but it was still very hard work for a couple of old duffers. Yea for my understanding of physics! (p.s. I found out just how heavy snow machines are. They are VERY heavy. You can’t just pick them up and adjust their direction of travel with ease.)

Ruth

The most popular person in the family was definitely Kate. At fifteen months she has already learned how to gain the attention of all around. She is adorable and charming but if that doesn’t work she screeches like a dinosaur and that always works. She is learning to talk and sign her words as well. She has a signing vocabulary of about 30+ words. Grandma Ruth learned she can communicate perfectly well and can tell her just what she wants and be quite forceful about it. When babysitting one night, instead of Grandma putting Kate to bed, Kate told Grandma to shut her eyes and go to sleep. Grandma thought it was hilarious but Mommy Erin did not!

Jason left for St. Louis on January 1 to visit his girlfriend, Caroline and her family. Nathan went back to work in Washington, D.C. and Megan left for a job in Phoenix. Spencer and Jason Lowry had to go back to work at their jobs. So, since the party was over we left and came home. It was definitely a fun time for us. We have a great family and enjoy them so much.

We came home to Alaska on January 2 to find gobs and gobs of snow. It snowed 22 inches on January 3 on top of the 3 feet we already had. We went up the Lake House later in the week and had to walk through snow up to our waist where it had not been plowed. Let the snowmachining begin!

I left Anchorage on August 24 and came back on October 20. I met Nathan in Salt Lake City and we drove to Washington DC the first week in September where he has a new job. The drive was a first for both of us and we enjoyed it very much. I loved seeing the countryside and realized emphatically how much space there is in America. It is beautiful! We stopped in Nauvoo Illinois and Kirtland Ohio to see the church sites. We loved seeing them and gained deeper understanding and appreciation for the early Saints. There is an inspiring yet reverent feeling in both places.

We arrived in Washington DC and got Nathan settled in his apartment and job. I stayed with my sister Gayla and her family for a week and enjoyed bonding with them as well as sight-seeing around the area. Allen was so gracious in being a tour guide and taking me to see places he had seen a thousand times already.

I flew back to Salt Lake City and rotated staying with Spencer and Erin/Jason /Kate for a few weeks. I am totally addicted to my little granddaughter, Kate. She is so adorable. I loved spending time with her. It was so hard to say good-bye and come home.

I also had a great trip to Spokane Washington to visit my two sisters, DeAnn and Rosalin and their husbands. We had a wonderful time together as we tripped down memory lane each day literally and figuratively. They both have beautiful homes and have carved out a wonderful life for themselves on that beautiful mountain north of Spokane. They are both as anxious for Gayla/Allen to join them next year after they retire as Gayla and Allen are to get there.

Orie came to Salt Lake City the middle of October for a visit with the kids and Kate and then we traveled to Saint George where he participated in the Senior Games Triathlon. He did well and loved being a participant. He wants to do it again every year until he is 85. I am not sure why he wants to stop then, but that’s what he said.

From Saint George we traveled to Las Vegas where Orie had a conference for work. We were thrilled to unexpectedly meet up with some good friends from Anchorage who were there for a different conference. We enjoyed touring the mountains outside of Las Vegas and eating at the buffets and chatting for hours each night. I am happy to report that once again I avoided putting so much as a nickel in one of the slot machines. The quicker I was out of the casinos the better I felt.

I am now back in Anchorage where winter has set in and I am shivering. It is very beautiful though and that makes it a wonderful fairyland that sings to me. We enjoyed a weekend at the Lake House where we were thrilled to only have to flip the switch on the wall to turn on the lights as the electicity was finally put in a couple of weeks ago. So, with telephone, DSL for the computer and electricity we are in business and can enjoy all the comforts of home while relaxing in fabulously beautiful setting. We are inviting several families to the Lake House to spend Thanksgiving and ride the snow machines. It should be fun!

Erin, Jason and Kate arrived in Alaska in mid July and stayed for 2 1/2 weeks…which wasn’t long enough for grandma and grandpa. Kate is a delightful little girl and her grandparents are addicted! We spent a lot of time at the Lake House and lost track of the number of times Jason Lowry water skied on “glass”, although we got some good photos with their new telephoto lens so we can remember how great it was. Kate was initiated into “lake life” and took to it like a duck to water. She loved the boat rides and particularly loved seeing her mommy and daddy ski behind the boat, waving to them continuously with her cute little arm. We miss her terribly and can’t wait to see her again. We are hoping the trek to Alaska and the Lake House will be an annual trek by all the Orien kids, grandkids and so on for years to come.

FYI: I had my colostomy take down surgery on June 20. It was successful and I am feeling very well. My main occupation while recovering has been supervising the work at the Lake House. I really enjoy watching others work!

Ruth

President Owen said that the Arcadia ward where he attends church is 85% Oriental. In the mission they have 92 Elders who speak English, 8 who speak Chinese, and 48 who speak Spanish. There are more languages spoken in that area though and indicated Joseph will probably learn some of each. They have Samoan and Korean branches and 2 Mandarin Chinese wards. Other than that it is English and Spanish wards throughout the mission.

An interesting note is that Bobby Shane, who was Joseph’s best buddy for years when they lived down the block and then moved to Chicago, is now just 23 miles from Joseph as they both serve their missions.

He was also informed a couple of weeks ago that he had been accepted into the accounting program at BYU, so that was great news. Again, congratulations Joseph!

The entire family gathered for the week to take part in the graduation and celebration. Orie and I came from Alaska, Megan came from Arizona and Uncle Harold came down from Boise. The rest of the family was already in Utah. We had a great time that included lots of family meals and chat and a couple rousing games of golf in which Orie won despite Spencer’s ability to drive the ball 400 yards.

We also celebrated Joseph’s 19th birthday yesterday and bought him a ton of white shirts and a couple of suits in preparation for his misson. He will be spending the next month back home in Alaska before returning to Utah and the MTC before heading out to Los Angeles.

Well, it’s official. I am addicted to my sweet little granddaughter. I am going to miss her soooo much! I have had the best time being here with her for the past couple of weeks. She has a delightful personality and is so much fun to play with. While I have been here she has learned a couple of new tricks including crawling (well, dragging herself) much to Grandpa Orien’s delight. He is determined she do the correct amount of crawling before she walks and has encouraged her as much as possible with tempting toys just out of reach. The most tempting toys are the electronic ones so she must be her daddy’s girl. He has also enjoyed giving her horticulture lessons each day as he takes her around the yard. She seems quite interested and willing for her daily lessons. We can’t wait for her to come visit us in Alaska in July.

I also had a great time in Spokane at my sister’s homes, Rosalin and DeAnn, for a short four day reunion. Gayla and Allen came out from Virginia and their son Reed and family from Portland to check on the “French Chateau” retirement home the Nelsons are building, so I stopped there before coming to Utah. Being an avid genealogist, Allen gave us all some lesson in genealogy as well as some assignments to spur us on in our research. We had a great time together and enjoyed chatting, reminiscing, laughing and eating. They are great sisters and their husbands aren’t bad either!

There were a lot of guesses, most of them in far off places like Hong Kong and Russia. Since all the other Orien brothers had gone on foreign missions, we all figured Joseph would as well. Or not! Maybe that is a good reason why he didn’t get a call to a foreign mission, because all the other brothers did. Only Melissa guessed correctly….sort of. The rules of the game should have been defined a little better so the guess was more specific, but she played the odds and guessed the United States.

Drum roll………….

Joseph will be serving in the California Arcadia Mission (East L.A.) entering the Mission Training Center on June 7, 2006. His cousin Stephanie Nelson served there 10 years ago and loved it and so will Joseph. Besides being a great place to teach and preach and serve, it has other wonderful advantages:

Ummmm, nice weather. No winter coats, boots, gloves and hats. Yea!
He can eat the food and drink the water and not worry. Yea!!
He can get packages from home easily. Yea!!!
Everyone speaks English…or some version of it. Yea!!!!

Congratulations on your call to serve Joseph!

I was very pleasantly surprised this morning when I logged on to see her sweet face sitting at the top of the page. It seems her father, Jason Lowry, decided the kiwi was out and Kate was in, so he made the change and I love it. The kiwi is off my list anyway as I can no longer eat them (seeds) and Kate’s adorable face is something I will never get tired of seeing. So thanks Jason. Good job!

By the way…the little red marks on Kate’s cheek happened during her nap the other day. No, she didn’t have fun with a sharpie when she was supposed to be napping. Apparently her mom missed one tiny little fingernail on Kate’s right hand, so Kate decorated her face the painful way.

“Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming: wow…. what a ride !!!”

First let me say the Orien family had a fabulous Christmas vacation with those of us who were able to be home in Alaska. I loved having the kids here and enjoyed our time together very much. We enjoyed some fun times at The Lake House as it was nearing completion.

This month of January I have had experiences which were life threatening, life saving and life changing. I have learned a thing or two but most of all I just want to say how happy I am to still be here among living. I love my fabulous family and wonderful friends and am ever so much more appreciative of them and their goodness. They are awesome in so many ways. I realized as I thought my life was over on this earth how very much I love them and wanted to stay here and be a part of their lives for years to come. It pained my deeply to think that was not going to be the case. I am glad it turned out the way it did. I thank my Heavenly Father for prayers answered, priesthood blessings given, and a dedicated and talented doctor. I am especially appreciative of Orie and Megan for their loving care through this. Megan is an awesome nurse. She has a gift for tender loving care and compassion coupled with knowlege and professionalism. I can’t imagine how I would have gotten through this without her. Thanks Megan!

I had emergency abdominal surgery on January 8 and again on January 15. It seems I have diverticulitis (I had no idea) that had perforated my colon. The first surgery attempted to repair the colon but it ruptured again and I had to have surgery again. The surgery was a life saving one but has left me incredulous at my situation. I never thought this would happen to me. I am looking down the road to a further surgery in 4 to 6 months to put me back together again. Until then I am left with lots of emotion and deep humility.

I have been learning a good deal about having a healthy colon and how important that is. It seems that eating right is critical to one’s well being. Imagine that! I thought I ate healthy but apparently not healthy enough. I have been learning about the importance of eating a high fiber diet and avoiding junk and sugar foods. My doctor tells me that drinking Metamucil each morning is very important…for all age adults. It may save you from ever going through this ordeal so drink up! He also tells me the new guidelines on the pyramid food chart are to know and follow. Lots of fiber!!! A good balance of good food which eliminates the junk stuff will literally save your life. Trust me, you don’t want to go through this as I have… so eat that fiber. I remember my dad saying to me constantly, “The whiter the bread, the quicker you’re dead”. And “An apple a day keeps the doctor away”. He was absolutely right. So pay attention and be smart in what you eat. It will save your life.

We put up some “No Tresspassing” signs around the property. The snowmachiners have cut a trail that goes from Big Lake to trails further west and cuts right through the side of our property. There is a trail for them to use just to the north of our property and over the hill, but they like to buzz the lake so they have made a new trail. They cut down trees and put up markers just in the last few weeks. We posted it but don’t have high hopes it will keep them out. It would be nice if snowmachine people were the kind that respected private property.

The house is very quiet now that all the kids have left. It has been thirty years since Orie and I were alone with no children in the home. I don’t know quite what to do with myself. I like it better when the kids are here and there is hustle and bustle and lots going on. I love being a part of their lives on a regular basis. Maybe I could sign up to be their nanny too….

Kate was blessed with wonderful parents. She has a loving hands-on Dad and a adoring capable Mother. I think there will be lots of teaching and learning going on with her. I can see it already. While her parents will be very diligent in raising and teaching Kate all the things she needs to know, she will also be teaching them. She already is. It is fun to see. Jason and Erin are well prepared and ready for this very special opportunity but I think they might learn a lot along this road of parenthood. We all do.

I have been a keen observer this past month of those with troubles. I have seen how different people handle similar troubles. My friend Carol LaCroix has been faced with trouble which has made her very sad, but she is not discouraged. The opposite is evident in her attitude and spirit. She is determined to go forward in life with faith, hope and happiness for her life and her children and finds joy in life and living. Her attitude is an inspiration to me.

The troubles on the southeast U.S. coast these past few weeks with Hurricane Katrina have beem devastating to those living there. Amidst all that trouble I have seen quite a few vignettes on TV that were indicative of this same up-beat attitude in those folks. The verse in 2 Corinthians 4:8 comes to mind, “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted but not forsaken; cast down but not destroyed.”

We bought an old cabin on the lake in 1985. It was old then and is really old now. It is tilting to one side a bit as the log foundation is slowly decaying. Each spring as we boat around the corner of the bay heading toward the cabin , we strain our eyes to see if it is still standing. So far, so good, but this year it is getting kind of scary looking as it has tilted so much the porch boards have popped off. We wonder if it will fall down on us as we sleep some night.

Joseph was born a couple years after we bought it and has grown up there spending many happy days with the family. Spencer was the first to waterski. He was eight. Nathan was next. He was six. The rest followed along shortly. Orie pulled them in a 12 foot V bottom aluminum boat with a 7.2 hp motor. He would lean as far forward as he could to get the boat on step and get the kids out of the water. They used a couple of real wide plastic red and white stripped skis we borrowed. They worked great. The kids just popped right up out of the water and had a blast going round and round the lake. We have had various and sundry toys to play with in the water and enjoyed many many hours of enjoyment on that lake.

Night time was fun too. We hauled out the sleeping bags and matts and all bedded down in one small room sleeping shoulder to shoulder all in a row. We would play games until we were too tired to keep our eyes open and would finally lay down and talk until we all fell asleep. It sort of reminds me of the TV show about the Walton family and how they would all say goodnight to each other from their beds. That was one of my favorite things about going to the lake. It was really fun to all be there together talking into the night and falling asleep together. All summer long we spent as much time as we could at the lake and hated going back to town where it was noisy and crowded and filled with blacktop. Even rainy days were sort of fun as we would all get out a favorite book and read all day while a crackling fire warmed and brightened the cabin. The kids got really good at making fires but I never could get the hang of it very well. Mine always smoked too much.

I could go on and on with remembrances of good times at the cabin. There are lots. Maybe some of the kids will make comments about that. And then there was the one really really bad time, but it wasn’t the cabin’s fault so I won’t mention it. We’re just glad it didn’t burn down.

Anyway, what this is all leading to is that there is a new era about to begin for the Orien family at Crooked Lake. We are building a new cabin! Wow. We can’t believe it is going to happen. We bought another piece of property on the lake just down from the old cabin and are about to begin construction. The well is dug and the foundation and septic will go in this week. The builder has sharpened his saw and can be seen rubbing his hands together in anticipation of getting this show on the road. We can’t wait. It will be a little bigger and nicer cabin with room for friends to come visit and even spend the night. It will have running water, a flushing toilet and lights that turn on with a switch. It will be a little more like a small house but most importantly, it is on Crooked Lake, the most beautiful lake around or maybe even the U.S.A. and we will love it. We won’t forget the old cabin and the fun times we had there, but the new cabin definitely will provide opportunities to add to that collection of fun times and good memories.

I posted some pictures of Joseph (and one of Megan) having fun on the water this week. I’ll post some pictures of the cabin as it is being built. There is one taken from the old dock looking down the lake at the new cabin site.

What ticks me off is that is the second bag of my garbage this bear has made off with in the last week. If I had known he was going to hire himself out to be our new trash collector I wouldn’t have paid the garbage bill this month and saved myself $40.

I posted some pictures of Mr. Bear in the Summer Fun section. He is quite a handsome fellow…all shiny and black with no visible scars. I suspect he is hanging out in the trees marauding and pilfering from the homes around here. No wonder he is such a handsome and healthy looking bear. He is dining on the finest garbage the hillside folks can throw out.

Orie and I returned home Saturday morning about 11:30 AM. The garage door was half-way up and I almost ducked under it as I usually do to enter the garage and go into the house. For some reason I decided to walk down the sidewalk and go in the front door. Orie followed along.

We walked into the house, up the stairs and into our bedroom to change clothes when we heard a big commotion by the kids downstairs. There was lots of yelling and obvious excitement.

It seems just as Orie and I walked into the house Jason, with baby Sadie whom we were babysitting, walked out the kitchen door into the garage to see what Dusty was upset about. As Jason described it, Dusty had his back hair standing 3 feet tall as he stood between Jason and Sadie and the bear….the bear being a very large black bear with his jaws firmly clamped onto some free breakfast inside a garbage bag. Mild mannered Jason who never raises his voice at anyone or anything managed to raise it this time and yelled out, “Get Outta Here!” to the bear. The bear looked at him, understood, decided to obey and ambled slowly out of the garage with the garbage bag still clamped in his sizable jaws. Jason, with little Sadie still securely enclosed in the front pack, hastily retreated back into the house. Meanwhile Dusty finally found his voice and courage and figured he would take the credit for the removal of the bear from the garage and began barking. Hearing Dusty’s ferocious bark the bear dropped the garbage on the front lawn and scampered out of the driveway and disapperared into the trees.

The paper has been full or reports of a black bear(s) roaming around town this year so I called Fish and Game to report that a bear had been so bold as to come into our garage and see if they were interested. They were. The weekend guy asked lots of questions, one being did the bear have a tag or collar. Jason, whose mind had turned to mush at the too close encounter had no idea. Megan, who had witnessed the escaping bear from her upstairs bedroom window, said it had an orange tag in its ear. When I relayed that information to the F&G guy, he groaned, called the bear a bad boy, and said the F&G honcho would be calling me on Monday.

After the excitement died down I thought about what might have happened if I had ducked into that dark garage with Mr. Bear standing there choosing which garbage bag he wanted for lunch. He might have chosen me!

I drove the streets of Hyrum, Utah last month on a brief visit to that quaint little northern Utah town located in beautiful Cache Valley. The memories flood through me each time I go there and drive the circuit around town and I always feel quite nostalgic. I love to drive slowly along and see the old homes and buildings and recall days gone by.

I was born in Hyrum but my family moved away to Washington State when I was six years old. Over the years we visited Hyrum often and I heard the stories told by my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and older siblings of the experiences they had and the things that went on there, who lived where, and how we were related. There are lots of stories and I enjoy hearing them. I love visiting the cemetery and seeing the names of my many ancestors chiseled in the weathered stone. It makes me feel connected to them to visit this small town where they walked and lived and died. Seeing all this reminds me of my heritage that has so many roots in that small town.

My great-grandfather, Ira Allen, was the founder of Hyrum, along with several other grandfathers who joined him in the trek to northern Utah. My brother Nick went to great effort and did a wonderful job writing and publishing the history of Ira Allen. It is wonderful to read about him and others and their lives in Hyrum. It keeps me connected to them. It is a heritage to be proud of, to be remembered, and passed on down to future generations.

Our family has always enjoyed “old things”. We love to visit the antique shops around the country and challenge each other with “if you don’t buy that, I will”. The Nielsen siblings have visited and admired the “old stuff” in old shops in several of the western states and always managed to come home with some wonderful find. Old stuff is good.

Rosalin has created the “Cynthia Lane Room” in her new home near Spokane where she has a wonderful collection of Aunt Emma’s “old stuff”. Rosalin has carefully restored her furniture and placed many of Emma’s “old things” in and around the room for all who come to visit and take a step back in time. They can pay a visit to Aunt Emma’s Hyrum house in that room. It’s fun and it’s wonderful. It’s very nostalgic.

So, why this passion for “old things”? Isn’t new better? Some may think so. Most of the Nielsen siblings don’t. We like old things. They have a history. They tell a story. They connect the previous generation to the present one. Just because things get old and weathered and sometimes run down, doesn’t mean it is junk and has to be hauled out of the house. Old things can be resurrected to their former beauty with some work and TLC. And, they just don’t make things like they used to.

Now to my point. As I drove along main street in Hyrum that day last month I expected to see the homes and stores in downtown Hyrum that have been standing for many years. My great-grandfather Ira Allen’s home is on main street. As I approached the downtown area I expected to see the stores that have been there since my mother and father were kids. There was the drug store, the barber shop, the cafe, the dress shop and others. They were stores I remembered visiting many times as a little kid. My mom and dad shopped there. My grandparents shopped there. They were old stores but they were full of memories and made up the downtown Hyrum for so many years.

But that day as I drove along I was shocked to see that downtown Hyrum was now nothing but a heap of dirt. The stores are all gone, bulldozed down and thrown unceremoniously in the dump. It made me very sad and empty to see it stripped and abandoned.

Everywhere you go around the country there are cities that point directions to the “historic district”. They are fun to visit and in some places these historic districts have been restored to become quaint and fun tourist attractions. Sure, progress marches on and new things replace old ones, but it is sad to see the old stuff bulldozed. It is too bad the Hyrum officials couldn’t have figured out a way to keep, refurbish, or rebuild their historic district instead of leveling it. Those involved in rebuilding Nauvoo have certainly figured a way. Visiting Nauvoo is a wonderful experience in taking a step back in time to appreciate our heritage. Hyrum has lost its historic district. Hyrum will never be the same. It has lost its appeal and warmth for me and I will definitely avoid downtown Hyrum next time I go there.

I really like it that Jason has set this website up so I can show off my photos to anyone who has an interest. I love photos. I would plaster my house with them and probably could if I printed them all out and tacked them up. I have a Sony 5.1 digital camera that is small enough to tuck into my pocket and big enough that I don’t blur the pictures too much when I shake as I snap. I take it along all the time. I love to capture the moment and then re-visit it over and over as I gaze at the pictures later. I can put the memory stick into the TV and put on a little slide show for the family on the spot.

So…anyway, I will probably be posting lots of photos. And if no one else enjoys them, I will. I have a feeling there will be lots of photos of my grandchildren. Be watching for them after September 15, 2005. Erin is having a girl and I can’t wait! My first grandchild. I hope they don’t name her Ruth. That name is nice except people always think I am saying Bruce when I say it over the phone. Megan is hoping for an Anna but I think Erin and Jason have another name in mind. We’ll see. Maybe I should ask everyone to give suggestions???

Okay. That does it for this blog. Wow. How did I go from introducing myself in my first blog to asking what everyone thinks Erin and Jason should name their baby girl? I guess my mind is what the kids these days call “random”. Jason will probably use his admin privileges and delete this one. I probably need a while to get the hang of this…