Last Sunday of 2008

Next week our ward(1) goes from the early schedule(2), 9 a.m.-noon, to the middle schedule, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Maybe I'll be able to get up & go to Sacrament meeting(3). I have had a hard time getting to the library at 10:10 this year. I haven't been to Sacrament meeting, which is the first meeting of the block(4), very many times this year because 9 a.m. is too early for me. I am always so tired that it is nothing for me to sleep 10-12 hours a night.

Today Don-Mikel gave Sharing Time(5) in Primary(6). He did a great job of including the children. I went up for part of it. I missed the first part. He had the children sing, "Do As I'm Doing." He assigned the two boys in his class to stand in front of the Primary & do anything they wanted, but not to follow him. The Primary president said she was watching the boys thinking, "They're just goofing off. They're not following him."

When they finished singing, Don-Mike thanked the kids in Primary for following him & not following the boys. He went on to introduce a scripture in puzzle pieces. Then he showed pictures from the Gospel Arts Kit(7). He showed a picture of John the Baptist baptizing Jesus & then asked how the kids could follow Jesus. That was an easy one to answer, but some of the other pictures were more abstract, like Jesus walking on water.

He asked the children to draw a picture of how they could follow Jesus. By drawing a picture the Sunbeams(8) could participate. The children could then share their pictures with the group. One little Sunbeam got up & she described her picture in detail, LOL. It was so cute. I'm glad she explained it, because it didn't look anything like what she was saying. While the children were drawing their pictures, Don-Mike had the song, "I will follow Jesus," playing on his boom box.

There were several times when I thought, "That's not how we discussed it." I thought of jumping in a couple of times, but restrained myself. I reminded myself that I have been in Primary off & on for over 35 years. At the age of 23, I would not have been in front of a group of teachers & children giving a Sharing Time. He has improved so much since the first time he gave Sharing Time two years ago.

Back in the library(9), I was able to hear part of Don's priesthood(10) lesson on listening to the spirit. The Elder's Quorum meets in a room across the hall & down a small hall from the library. They usually have the door open. As he was telling about our Christmas Day, a couple of people came to the library & needed help, so I could no longer listen. During that little noisy bit of time, someone closed the door to the classroom.

EXPLANATION OF FOOTNOTES:
For my friends who are not LDS, let me explain a few of the terms I have used. It seems like LDS people almost speak a different language.

Sacrament Meeting(3) is the worship service for all members of the ward(1) or congregation. It lasts an hour and 10 minutes. A block(4) is the time spent in meetings. We meet in a block schedule(2) of 3 hours & then we are through & can go home. Each church building has at least 2 wards meet in them. Our building has 3 wards meet there. Our ward has had the early schedule this year. We will go to the middle schedule come January 1 & in 2010, we will go to the late schedule, 1-4 p.m.

Don-Mike teaches the 8-10-year-old boys in Primary(6) or Sunday School. Primary meets right after Sacrament Meeting for almost 2 hours. They have an opening exercise where the children will give talks, a scripture & an adult, usually a member of the Primary presidency or a member of the bishopric, the three men who lead the ward, will give a "talk." A story or something like that. They also sing. Then they have singing time for 20 minutes where they learn songs & have fun with singing. After singing time, they have Sharing Time(5). Every 4th Sunday a Primary teacher gives Sharing Time. A 20 minute lesson with activities, songs, skits to the entire Primary. Our Primary is so small that we only have one session. So, it's a challenge trying to give a "lesson" that will involve children from 3 years old to 11 years old. They then have 40 minutes of class time.

The Gospel Arts Kit(7) is a box of pictures on gospel subjects, Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon, Church History, General (subjects) & Gospel in Action. Some areas of the world do not have a library(9) or a room that is set aside for housing visual aids such as pictures, posters, flannelboard stories & other things like that. There are also TVs, VCR & DVD players w/videos, DVDs, books, office supplies, chalk & eraser, easels, manuals, magazines. All they have is the Gospel Arts Kit. I have been asked to be the ward librarian or the keeper of the library, LOL. Don helps me in this job.

The different age groups in Primary have names. A Sunbeam(8) is a small child of 3 years old.

While the children are in Primary, the adults have their own meetings. Right after Sacrament meeting is Sunday School. After Sunday School, teenagers & adults move into a third meeting. The teenage girls from 12-18 years old are in Young Women. They meet in an opening exercise & then move into class sessions divided by age groups. The adult women from 18 to the elderly, have Relief Society, a women's organization, & are given lessons. The men & teenage boys from 12-18 years old are in Priesthood(10) meetings, also divided by age groups. The Elders are from age 18 to the elderly. They also have lessons &, as I mentioned, Don teaches the 4th Sunday lesson.

How to explain the priesthood? Here is a link to check that out, if you are interested.

Snow caps

Since I couldn't find my phone yesterday to take pictures, I took some today. Snow is still shrouding everything. Look at the snow caps on my bucket garden. The two little yellow things in front of the white buckets are hanging solar lights. They have snow caps too, but you can't see them very well.

Don went out & shoveled Nick's '97 Camaro off. I had wanted a picture of that too. It hasn't been moved since the first snow fall. It was buried, you could hardly tell there was a car under that pile of snow.

It's been lightly snowing all day & it's been a gray day. The mountains are invisible.

This is the first picture I've had of the new porch on the new addition. There is siding on the wall beneath the porch. We were excited that the new siding matched so closely, yet in this picture it doesn't look that close in color. Don-Mike cleaned off the brown truck in the picture so he could go get Luana's snow blower to clean out the new driveway. The truck is a diesel & he had plugged the truck in to warm it up. He came back a couple of hours later & the extension cord had not been plugged in. So, he transported the snow blower in the trunk of Liz. It sure came in handy to clean out that new driveway.

Monday we need to go to the Preston Police Department & get a copy of the accident report so we can get a new panel to fix Liz.

I told Don it would have been nice to have that to dig a path to Mufasa. Maybe we need to put snow blower at the top of our list of "must haves."

Speaking of Mufasa, here are some pictures I took on the way down to feed him.

This first picture is the trampoline that didn't get taken down this fall. Remember I said I pushed the tiller & the lawnmowers under it to kind of protect them from the weather?? The shed in the background is the old chicken coop where Mufasa's food has been put to protect it from the weather & from marauders.

I stepped out the back door of the garage & looked at disbelief in the scene before me. It didn't even look like Eddie & I had shoveled. I stepped off the porch & fell. I'm so glad there was a big snow pile there. The roof on the old garage is metal & the snow had slid off.

This next picture is a shot of Mufasa's kennel. Look at the snow on top. There are some panels to enclose it so that he can't jump out or something can't jump in. I can't believe the snow is piled on top. It's chain link with large enough holes that I wouldn't have thought snow would pile up. It had to have come fast enough to pile it like that. And there is the snow shovel. I can see the handle sticking out of the snow bank. I guess they took it down when Mufasa got out & left it there.

I had to come back up to the house & ask Don to come help me dig out the door to the shed again because I couldn't open it. Nick dug it out for me yesterday. None of us have snow boots. I guess that should go before a snow blower.

Speaking of digging out. We just dug out Mufasa's door yesterday & look at it today!

Don says it will snow all night. I am already sick & tired of snow & being stuck. I got stuck in Luana's driveway three times on Christmas Day. Nick got stuck twice today on his way to & from Logan.

It's been a long time since I've seen snow like this. There must be a lot of righteous people praying for it.

Digging out

Today was a beautiful sunshiny day. It was so bright, it hurt the eyes. I wish I'd had my cell phone to take pictures, but we couldn't find it. The snow was just piled in the trees. It looked like one of those Christmas cards you see with snow in the branches of the trees.

Mufasa didn't get fed or watered yesterday, we were too busy shoveling out & recuperating from our accidents. But today was another day. I'm grateful Eddie was here today to help me shovel a path to Mufasa. I didn't take my walking stick with me. I had a broom instead. We could only find one shovel. Nick had to have the snow shovel to dig out my car.

Finally, after shoveling a path three-fourths of the way down, Eddie gave in & let me take the lead. I only shoveled a few yards, when I gave up & just plowed through the snow that was past my knees. When we finally got to the kennel we could only see one pan. There are supposed to be 2 pans & a large plastic dish. So, that meant we had to shovel to the ground to open the door. Mufasa was trying to push out, but even with his help we couldn't open the door. The snow was piled in front of the kennel which faces south & it was coated on the front. The snow must have blown from the south. There are several inches of snow on the top of the kennel. I guess it's a good thing there are panels up there. I can't imagine what his kennel would've looked like without. How wet & miserable that would be. Mother suggested we put tarps on top & front of the kennel.

We found the leash & put it on him. Eddie held Mufasa outside the kennel while I went in with the shovel. I started digging where I thought the water pan would be. I had to chip the ice away with the shovel. I finally found it. He was so thirsty, he wanted in right away, but Eddie decided to take him for a walk so I could dig my way to the shed for the dog food. That proved to be too much, so again I just forged through the snow. I couldn't open the door. It faces south too & the snow was piled in front of it & plastered all over it.

I wasn't watching Eddie & Mufasa because I was concentrating so hard on shoveling snow. Eddie said Mufasa just laid down in the snow & rolled. I wondered if he was trying to make a snow angel.

I was so tired, I kept falling & was ready to start crying. Nick came down & finished shoveling the snow in front of the door to the shed. He got it open & I got the dog food. Mufasa went willingly into the kennel, we locked the door & left.

The boys carried the shovels & broom back to the house, so I had nothing to steady me on my trek back to the house. I was hoping no one was watching me stagger along the path. They would have thought I'd been drinking liquor.

The next time I'm in Yellowstone & see one of those cool wooden walking sticks, I'm buying it, even if I have to use a credit card. The wooden flag pole I'm using works, & I won't go to the dog kennel again without it, but one of those wooden walking sticks would be so cool. I could even use it for a cane.

Houdini is alive & well. We didn't get the peg at the bottom of the door in the casing & Mufasa was out running around when Don-Mike got here. Again, Eddie's help was invaluable in getting him back in the kennel. They had to do more digging in the snow to find the casing the peg goes in. This time I was at work & didn't get in on the fun.

A day of thanksgiving

I thought today was Sunday. I kept thinking about working a production day tomorrow & Don was asking me to trade days to cook with him. Don cooks Monday, Friday & every other Sunday, plus practically every holiday. So, I was thinking, "How can I do that???" I was also thinking I should've gone into Parenting Bipolar Kids & changed the weekly update before I went to church today. Since it wasn't Sunday, I didn't go to church. It's been such a long day, you could've fooled me.

I didn't finish all my wrapping last night, because I was just so tired & irritable. So, we had to wait for me to wrap my presents. Then after we unwrapped presents, Nick decided he would go home until dinner was ready. He called about 5 minutes later & I could hear him talking to someone in the background about calling someone. He told me he'd call me back. I told Don that Nick was in some kind of trouble & so we left.

We finally saw him as we rounded the corner by Stokes MarketPlace (grocery store). We could see two pickups as our street turns off HWY 91. Nick's green 1969 Chev pickup was in the snow bank with a big black pickup beside him. I thought the pickup had forced him off the road. No, Nick was driving too fast & couldn't make the corner, slid into the stop sign & snapped it off. The black pickup had pulled up to see if he could help. So, I pulled beyond our street in the far lane of traffic that hadn't been plowed, put on my hazard lights, & a city police officer pulled up behind me.

I called Don-Mike to tell him about Nick's accident. He'd been out in his driveway shoveling snow. To answer his cell phone & hear me, he'd stepped back into the car port. While we were talking, a Toyota king cab pickup left the highway, jumped the canal & plowed right into the driveway & broadsided his car. He said, "Oh, my gosh, a truck just hit Liz.!" Liz is his 1979 Chevy Impala. It is Mother's old car & she named it Liz. I thought maybe he had taken Liz & was coming to see what had happened with Nick, so I said, "Where are you?" He told me he was in the carport & Liz was in the driveway.

We were blessed this day. If Don & I had not driven off to check on a phone call that had been cut short, my car would have been parked right where the pickup came to a stop. If I hadn't called to let Don-Mike know about Nick's accident, he would have been out where my car was parked & would have been run over or worse yet pinned between the pickup & car. If his car hadn't been parked there, at the speed the pickup was going & the direction they were heading, they would have ended up right in Mother's living room.

I told Don-Mike I'd call the sheriff's dispatch & tell them about the accident. The dispatcher told me it would be a few minutes because the officer was investigating another accident. I said, "I know. I just left it. It's my younger son. This is my older son." She asked me if anyone was hurt & I said I didn't know. She asked me to call & see if she needed to send an ambulance.

The pickup came so fast, & hit with such an impact, the car was pushed about a foot over. Liz is a heavy car & that panel is pushed right into the trunk. I had to move out of the officer's way so he could take a picture of the damage. It didn't look like the pickup sustained any damage, but Don-Mike said the passenger door was hard to open. Nick explained that the "crumple zone" had collapsed. It's gonna cost the guy a "pretty penny" to get that fixed.

The speed limit right there is 45 mph. Don-Mike said all 4 tires were bald & she, the 18-yo driver, was driving too fast, hydroplaned & flew off the highway. We have stood in Mother's big picture window & watched huge fire engines catch air as they hit the bump where the canal crosses the highway. Her mother explained to me that she was only going the speed limit.

There were 5 people in the car. I was talking to Nick on the cell phone when they started piling out of the pickup. I'm going, "OMG, there must be a dozen people in there." He asked me to take pictures with my cell phone, so I did.

This is how close the pickup came to Don's car. As they were leaving, Don-Mike wanted to know if we should get the guy's car insurance information. I asked them if they had given their insurance information to the officer. They assured us they had. I just hope they had insurance, but she didn't get a ticket for no insurance. We had to give the officer Liz's registration & insurance information, even though she was parked legally in her own driveway.

Don-Mike said the driver was given a ticket for driving too fast for conditions. The police officer told her to be glad it was Christmas Day, he was letting her off easy because he could have given her a "reckless" driving ticket.

Nick got off easy too. He wasn't even given a citation. It didn't look to me like his pickup even has a dent in it.

It has been a wet & snowy day. I spent the day at Mother's. Don-Mike spends most of his time here. He came home about 8 p.m. He asked me if I wanted him to drive me home. I said no I could make it. I crawled at 20 mph., through town. Don had just shoveled about 5 minutes before I got home. It had snowed 12 inches then, but it's supposed to snow all night. I'm worried about Don going to work in the morning.

There have been 2 major accidents on the corridor between Preston & Logan in the past 2 weeks. One was a fatality. One a pickup ran a red light & flew through the air, did a couple of flips in mid-air & hit a utility pole by the Hyde Park Maverik. My friend Kim & her daughter Shari were filling up. If the utility pole hadn't been there, the pickup would've ended up in Kim's lap.

So, we do have many things to be thankful for this snowy Christmas day. Not the least of which is the celebration of the birth of our Savior. I spent about an hour listening & watching YouTube & different renditions of the hymn, Mary, Did You Know.

BratFactor.com

I checked my Freecycle group tonight, firstly to say that I had received two bags of winter clothing for the Kiwanis Club Coats for Kids Drive. Secondly, to offer a black & red computer keyboard that Nick is going to throw away because it is cheap & the legs on the bottom are broken off. While on that email account, I checked the emails from FlyLady.net, BratFactor.com, Every Day Cheapskate, Living on a Dime, & Heroic Stories, five newsletters that share that email account.

At Brat Factor I signed up for Pam Young's 365 Surprise. Every day she sends a short email. I got behind on them because I wasn't checking that email account every day until I added Freecycle to that account. I knew the emails from Freecycle would get lost in the clutter on raynib9@yahoo.com. So, now I check that account everyday. I'm down to 50 unread surprises. Seldom do I throw one of those surprises away. I've subscribed now for almost 3 years & she seems to send out the same ones every year. Every so often I'll search to make sure I haven't saved duplicate messages.

So, why am I blogging about this? The first email I opened today was Oct. 7 & she asked what kind of thoughts you have when you fill up at the gas station. She said she caught herself thinking, "What if ..." thoughts of fear one day as she was filling up her gas tank; thoughts about inflation & how that would inevitably lead to a file in her brain filled with past thoughts of financial struggles.

Today, as I filled up the tank & watched the numbers whirl, I was grateful that we weren't paying $4.12 a gallon as we were in July. A man at the pump across the island from me was telling me that now crude oil production is being cut back so that the price of gas will go up again. I've always been afraid of filling up a car. These thoughts & fears go back over 30 years to my days of living in Salt Lake City & the fear I had of stopping at a strange gas station & having to go in & pay for the gas. I would run out of gas rather than stop & buy gas. I had a hard time going from Cache Valley to the big impersonal world of a city. It was a constant struggle. I've always been full of static electricity & would get shocked when I touched a gas pump. I was always afraid the gas pump would blow up because I touched it.

It's only been the last few years that I haven't been afraid to fill up the gas tank. My family gets the credit for helping me with that fear. I still drive until the empty light comes on. One reason being that I don't bother to check my gas gauge. I forget.

Pam quoted Caroline Myss in the Oct. 7 email:

"What drains your spirit drains your body.
What fuels your spirit fuels your body."

She said she made out a 3"x5" card with an uplifting message that she will take out when she fuels her car to read to keep those "What if ..." thoughts at bay.

Tonight I picked up a box that came from somewhere. Things at my house just seem to suddenly appear, bubble up out of the black hole. Kind of reminds me of the musical, "Brigadoon." I took the box in the bedroom, sat down on the bed & started going through the box. I found a sack of scrapbook supplies from an October scrapbooking seminar a few years ago. I found a planner that I had started to make with laminated pictures & favorite quotes with a few entries from 2001. It wasn't finished & I hadn't finished using it. The only thing I can surmise is that it went missing & now, seven years later, it has bubbled to the surface again. I didn't want to throw it away, but wondered what I could do with the thoughts & pictures. I thought about dismantling the planner & making myself a small booklet of those pictures & thoughts to look at while I was filling up the car.

If I put the box back where I found it, it will probably go missing again with only one or two things thrown away & one thing rescued. Then I wonder why there are so many boxes & messes, sigh.

The "Step-Down Principle"

The University of Idaho extension educators write articles for our weekly newspaper. They are always very interesting. The county agent, Stuart Parkinson, writes articles on gardening & farming. The home economist, Laura Sant, writes articles on cooking, diet & home.

In June, one of Laura's article was on saving money by using a "step-down principle." The example she used was that you could go buy 3 pancakes at IHOP for approximately $5 or you could take a step down & buy pancakes from McDonald's or you could buy premium frozen waffles or store-brand frozen waffles. Each alternative was a step-down & you'd save money.

This was an interesting concept to me. I've been wondering how I could save money since I shop the DI or clearance racks & buy store brands to begin with.

I also subscribe to a newsletter called "Everyday Cheapskate." I don't read them every day & they pile up in the folder called "Cheapsk8" in one of my email accounts.

Tonight, I've spent a couple of hours just reading & enjoying the things I've read. It's a nice break from the book I'm reading about bipolar.

So, I found an antibacterial solution in the Nov. 24 issue of Everyday Cheapskate entitled, "Don't Poison the Family on Thanksgiving" & I thought, "Hmmm, if I leave this here, I'll never find it again." I immediately thought of copying the paragraph here, but wondered if that would be copyright infringement & saw this little sentence at the bottom:

Copyright © 2008 Mary Hunt. All rights reserved. Permission to reprint required.

So, yes, it would be copyright infringement if I copied the whole paragraph. But if I write about it, is that copyright infringement?

To make the solution, take 1 gallon of cool water plus 1 TEASPOON liquid bleach. I looked at it again, just to be sure that it didn't say tablespoon or cup or anything like that, but no, it says teaspoon. It also says to measure carefully. Ok, so I'm not the most careful measurer. It also says LIQUID bleach. I don't like to use liquid bleach. I have holes in clothes & also some towels that were once a pretty color & are now some ghastly shade. The newsletter claims that this solution will not harm wood, paint, marble or fabric. However, the newsletter does not tell me how to store it.

Now, I'm a great believer in 409. I love 409. Is this a step down from 409? Does 409 harm wood, paint, marble or fabric? Will the weak bleach solution clean as well as 409? I guess the only way to find out is to try it.

The hand of God

In my reading today I came across this, "... how I've seen the hand of God in my life that day." I realized that is what I've been trying to do, not how I've been led, but how I've seen the hand of God.

In the grocery store a week ago Wednesday night I ran into Rex Pitcher, a prominent businessman in town that lives in our ward, while I was in the frozen food aisle getting some frozen pizza for supper. I haven't seen him for a long time. Anyway, he owns a plastic processing plant. He said he had some vinyl siding to offer us. The only thing he wanted is that we come out & look at it right away & move it off his property. We can have it. No charge!!! He doesn't know if it will match our existing siding or not. But to come look at it. I was so excited I would've gone right then. In fact, I had to contain myself not to call Don right then. I told Rex that Don-Mike & I could go out the next day. He said, no, he was going to be out of town. Friday or Saturday would be soon enough.

Nick & Eddie wanted pizza & I couldn't afford take out from the local pizza parlor - any of them. I said I'd buy them frozen pizza & garlic bread. I may have told Rex that. I know I did tell him we were waiting for Don's mom's house to sell.

Don-Mike said we could go out first thing Friday morning. It will have to be first thing. I work Friday.

They got enough siding to do our entire house & it looks nice, they've started putting it up. They got enough for our old garage & shed. Woo hoo!!

Freecycle.com

I have discovered freecycle.com. We have a chapter here in Cache Valley. So far, I've netted a garbage sack full of kids' coats, hats & mittens. I've also spoken for 2 sets of sliding closet doors. I don't know if we can use them or not, but we'll get them & see. We just have to get a pickup to Logan to pick them up. I'm hoping we can do that tomorrow.

The Kiwanis Club is having a Coats for Kids drive. As far as I know, this is the first time they've done it. I saw a boys coat offered in Clarkston on the Utah-Idaho Freecycle group. I jumped at it. We emailed back & forth & I told her what they were for. So, she dug a little deeper & came up with the garbage sack full. I dropped those off today. Sandra Tondini, the person collecting the coats, said that she has had several garbage fulls all day today. Her pickup cab is full. I think they have a twin cab. I'm so thrilled that they are getting such a good response & that I helped contribute. She also said that the clothing will be taken down to a dry cleaners & will be cleaned & mended if needed.

I hope they do it again next year. If I had all year to work on it, I could knit or crochet some hats & scarves. I remember doing some mittens for my kids & myself. They were huge & didn't fit very well. I'd like to start knitting again. I started reading Debbie Macomber's series about Blossom Street & love the knitting patterns she's given in each book. I remember knitting used to calm me. Which reminds me, I signed up for an online stress relief course through Don's insurance & the new class is posted each Wednesday. I wonder if I did last week's homework.

Stress is one of my big health concerns. Mother asked me not too long ago what I had to be stressed about.

One of the things I've started doing again is keeping ONE list & not little lists strewn all over. Another reminder, I left it out in the car!!

More about Mufasa

Mufasa finally seems to have settled down a little. Today he finally got fed in the daylight. I hate working until 6 p.m., & coming home in the dark. After Mufasa knocked me flat & I bumped my head so hard, I haven't dared go down by myself to feed him. I'm going to have to start doing it before work.

Today, I got home from Logan & my foray into Christmas shopping & it was still daylight, so Don & I went down to feed & care for him. His kennel needed cleaning out. I got the rake & was raking it up, while Don was holding Mufasa. I commented to Don that it looked like a horse stall. Don commented that he was as big a small horse.

I took one of the sleeping bags that Don & Don-Mike were going to throw away & put that in the corner where he sleeps.

He has been knocking his food bowl over & hasn't been eating his dog food. I bought the brand that Lynette told me to buy, it just wasn't chicken & rice, it was lamb & something. So, when I needed to buy more food, Wal-Mart still didn't have the chicken in that brand. They had more lamb, but I've been worried that he isn't eating. I bought Purina One in the chicken & rice. He gobbles it right up. I know it's not what she wants him fed, but I'm not about to drive to Brigham, just to see if they have the chicken in that brand.

NIck's Christmas present

This is a picture of Nick's Christmas present, a 1951 Willey Jeep pickup. Nick took them with his cell phone.

Don-Mike & Nick picked it up in Farmington (Utah) on Tuesday for $100. The pickup they had taken to haul it back with didn't do well with the added weight. They were only going 35 mph on the freeway. Don-Mike said he did get it up to 45 mph.

Don-Mike had thought of going out to Jim & Donna's near Tremonton (Utah) & parking the trailer there, going on home & getting another pickup. I suggested Loraine Selman's place. Chris & Loraine are right off the freeway in Elwood, near Tremonton.

So, after much debate, it was decided to leave it there. I met them at Loraine's & Nick drove my car home to Preston & Don-Mike & I came on home in the diesel pickup.

We are grateful to Chris & Loraine for graciously allowing us to park the trailer & pickup on their property.

Fire at Big J's

If you live in the Preston area, you know that Big J's was gutted in a fire the first part of October. If you don't live in the area, you may be surprised to hear it. I found a really cool blog called Preston Idaho Digital News. It is one I follow. They have some pictures of the Big J's fire on their blog. I have included that link here. I have mentioned it in passing, but never specifically said, "Big J's burned."

Don-Mikel is an employee of Big J's. Bob & Nancy Egbert, the owners of Big J's & Pizza Villa in Preston & Richmond, Utah, were so well insured that their employees' payroll is covered by their insurance. If the employee does not get another job, their salary is paid by the insurance.

Front door in front room

About 2 weeks ago, Saturday, Nov. 22, to be exact, I made an entry about the front room remodel. A couple of the points were:

• Move door to south corner of room, approximately over heat vent, 36” wide door, like back door.
• Move heat vent from present location to under new window.

But a friend posted a picture of her front door & when I showed Don, he said that's what he wants to do with the door in the front room. The door in the picture is just like the door we installed for the addition. I really like it.

I obtained permission to post the picture here so we have a visual reminder of what we want to do. Hold the control key down & click on the picture, it will open into a new window & is greatly enlarged. Notice the heat vent is just to the right side of the door, under the window. We may be able to do that here & not have to move the heat vent or if we do, it will just be a few inches & not a few feet. The door is in the corner too. That's where I want the door here. In the corner & not in the middle of the room. Almost every house I've ever lived in has had the door against a wall, not opening in the middle of the wall.

With the door in the corner of the room, the traffic is directed along the wall & not right through the middle of the room. I love the hardwood floors, but that's not going to happen here. It will be carpet, at least in Mother's part of the house.