Just a Taste

A couple of weeks ago we took a side road, one we'd speculated on taking a number of times in the past, but never had the "time" to do it.  Yet, this time we did!  We actually visited Arches National Park.  And loved it.  It seemed like we'd raced through in the 4 hours we spent being awed at every turn.

These rock figures make me think of sentinels, with a Star Wars kind of look, sort of.

There are several formations in the park that perform various types of balancing acts--like this one above.

This is another of those balancing stones that we saw from various angles.

Low and behold, this is an actual arch in Arches National Park.  Those tiny little figures right under the arch are really people!

I love this tree---in this setting.  There were others that captured my eye, but I just love this one.

This arch was only visible to those who hiked to see it.  There was a deep ocean of sand to wade through, a very hot ocean of sand, I might mention, except for the shaded areas.

Whereas the majority of the rock formations, if I understand it all correctly, are made of sandstone. So, one is not so surprised to find a lot of sand hither and yon, if you know what I mean.

Husband suggested that if we REALLY want to see it properly, we need to spend a few days there and take the longer hikes to see some of the arches we couldn't really see or see very well from the road.

These pictures are just a smattering few of the ones we took.  Now if we were really good photographers . . . well, you can imagine.  Nonetheless, it was a gorgeous day.  I was totally captivated by the enormity of it all.  It was beautiful.  And, again, I think I need a geology professor to be friends with.  So I can pick their brain.  I have so many questions.

I Just Thought I Was Busy Before . . .

For the last two weeks, more particularly the last 8 days, I have been more physically busy for LONG hours each day than I can remember.  I thought that as we aged we'd get to a point when the burdens got a little lighter.  WRONG! And, I suppose that it's a good thing!  If I am still able to work hard physically, perhaps I won't just fade into a nursing home existance!!! in the future.  Here's hoping.

I am grateful that I'm able to do this this kind of work.  Husband and I each drove over 1500 miles (in three days--he in the U-Haul and I in our pickup) and then worked like a steveadores--along with some help from a couple of strong, hardworking young Brazillian guys our daughter knows--before and afterwards, have been furiously unpacking all those zillion boxes I packed, and have been trying to make some order out of chaos for my daughter and her little ones.  (Daughter is working furiously to finish this semester and graduate.  Six more days and she should reach her goal!)  Together my husband and I have been in the thick of it all--(thank Heaven!!!) while we've tried to help the little ones feel like there will be more order in their lives (soon) along with the love, and comfort that were there when they lived with us.

However, last night the exhaustion level along with the knowledge that we have so much more to do in  too short of a period of time, triggered the sneeky, creeping tendrils of self-pity working themselves into my thinking and feelings bginning to stifle my original feelings of accomplishing worthy goals.  They began twisting themselves fairly effectively into my thoughts until I remembered this phrase in the Scriptures:  "when you are in the service of your fellow beings, you are only in the service of your God."  I chatised myself a little and and allowed the "blam of Gilead" to soothe me before I took up my Scriptures and read a little realising that God is always watching over us, is mindful of each and every trial and tribulation we might experience and is always there to assist when we can't go it alone.  For that, I am daily and eternally grateful.

I also remembered that I'll be stronger for each physical, emotional, spiritual and intellectual mountain I climb--even if I slip down a notch or two here and there--IF I keep striving to go forward.  Christ certainly had the most diffiuclt path to follow of any human being.  He somehow experienced every pain, every illness, and endured the consequences of each and every sin each and every one of God's child have or ever will commit--so He knows first hand how we feel and He conquered it all!  It amazes me beyond belief that He loves us all enough to have endured all that.  And knowing that He conquered all and is there and willing to help me conquer all my challenges gives me courage to press forward.  It also helps me realize how puny my challenges are in comparrison!

I'm going to miss my daughter and her three little ones terribly when we have to leave.  I seriously want to have my family--all my family--close.  We'll see where the Lord directs us in the days to come!  In the meantime, I know He'll be watching over them, and me, and the rest of my family.  And everyone else, too!  That knowledge is what lifts me up and gives me joy!  Even in the midst of my challenges!

I've Been a Little Busy . . . But Who Hasen't?

 This little doll, otherwise known as Baby Cakes, has been keeping Grandma and Grandpa busy lately.  We kind of like it that way.  It has a little something to do with why no one has seen much here lately!

I keep thinking I'm going to find an extra minute or three to post something or other, and then it's midnight and I'm exhausted and I haven't posted anything.

So, I'm going to try to post something now.  My #2 daughter and her three children (who have lived with us for the past two years) are now out west.  I drove them out (in daughter's van); my husband and our son drove out a few days later and we had a nice visit with several of my siblings and their various children/children's spouses, etc. including a super surprise visit from one niece-in-law back home for a brief visit from Germany (where nephew is serving in the USAF).

Since we got back home, it's been B U S Y!!!! Crazy busy.  Youngest, or #3, daughter (expecting her second child) has been with us since we got back, so we could get re-connected with her little Doll, our youngest--for now--granddaughter, before our second trip out west--scheduled for this week--with a truck load of household goods (including 30 boxes of books.  30 very heavy boxes of books, I might add) for # 2 daughter who is working to graduate in three weeks with her Bachelor of Science degree at BYU, and on getting settled in a new home, new job (we're praying for), and all the things that go with all that with her three very special, delightful, busy, intelligent children!

Not-so-good news:  Two weeks ago  my mother fell and broke her femur while getting out the car to go into Church.  Several members of the Church who are medical professionals were on the scene and came running to assist as soon as they saw what happened.  Surgery was successfully performed the following day to secure the break so it could heal properly.  She's okay, thankfully, but not progressing with therapy, because she, unfortunately, doesn't like to do any kind of exercising.  We're all concerned for her current/future well-being under the circumstances.  She's stubbornly and avidly avoided almost any and every form of healthful, minimum exercise for at least the past 20 years, so that mind-set is really difficult to overcome in her present circumstances.  My brother and his wife--where Mom's been staying since March of this year--are looking after her along with my nieces and their families.

Also, since returning in early/mid-June, this Grandma, ME, has been dividing her time between getting caught up
     on paying bills
     taking care of #1 daughter after gallbladder-ectomy surgery/recovery
     taking care of Little Baby Cakes during the mornings (while her expectant Mom--#3 daughter-struggles
          with the effects of her new pregnancy)
     trying to stay on top of all the new changes in medical insurance stuff that goes along with someone  
         (read:   my husband) retiring
     working to rearrange our two storage units so that we can divest ourselves of a bunch of stuff by taking it
         to #2 daughter and her three children
     with Church callings
     and breathing and enjoying the summer (WHAT?  Do I get to do that when it's 100+ outside and the
          humidity is 75% or more?  Occasionally, yes. When it's a little cooler)
     and packing.

I know, waa, waa, waa and double waa.  But such it is/was.  And then we load the U-Haul--(Yes.  We are trying our luck with U-Haul once more . . . PLEASE PRAY FOR US!!!  The other options are slim to none.  **Sigh.**)--on Wednesday and pray that everything packed (and yet to be packed), along with the pieces of furniture we're planning to take, will all fit therein and in my husband's truck, which I will be driving so we have a way back home--and I imagine . . . you get the picture.  Buying the gasoline for the gas-hog U-Haul for 1500 miles will be bad enough, but then we're talking 3000 miles round trip for the much smaller truck that's ours, as well.  (Guess that's partly why someone who recently retired is going to be going back to work.  But then they do want him back and were a little loath to let him go, so they said multiple times.  It will be a new job to him, so I think he'll enjoy it.)

So, with all that, the yard is showing the great effects of Husband's labors.  The garden is making tomatoes and peppers for us to enjoy along with a volunteer "pie pumpkin", as well as with the various flowers and herbs planted here and there in the yard and in pots likewise.  And Baby Cakes has become excessively attached to said Grandpa for various and sundry TLC she's received at his hands.  (We are all so grateful for Good Grandpa's and their TLC!!)

I'm not sure how we'll survive once we get back home in August and all the children and grandchildren will be far, far away.  Well, the children who have children will be far, far away. The other two are, fortunately, not so very far away.  I'm getting a little misty eyed even as I type, just thinking of it.  We've missed the three older grandchildren so much since we left them in Utah in early June, and now the youngest will be leaving (about the time we leave to go west) to go back to Georgia and I don't know how I'll survive!

It will be far too quiet and still around here!  There will be no pudgy little cheeks to snuggle and kiss.  No thrilling giggles to hear from tickles being administered, or various games of peek-a-boo being played.  No multiple readings of various books along with the pointing out by tiny fingers of this and that picture, or character, or color, or alphabet letter and the little voice calling out the proper names of all those listed things found in the various books that accompanies the pointing tiny finger . No spontaneous tiny voice singing her own songs or dancing to music on the TV to the delight of her mother and grandparents who applaud and clap with joy at the precious moments. But, there will be other days for future joys.  It will just be so very quiet here till then.

So, I might get caught up on my cleaning.  I might actually get the smaller storage unit emptied and its remaining contents moved into the large one.  I might be able to remember things I need to be doing a little better.  I might be able to sit down to read a book or two.  And I might just sit down and cry in the quiet house that will be filled with sweet memories of when little, precious children graced us with their presence on a daily basis and cluttered the living room with their toys and books, and smiles, and giggles and hugs and kisses.

I've got to be more positive!  I'm planning to go to Georgia for the birth of Baby Cake's sibling when that time comes.  That will certainly be a welcome experience and that thought brings a new smile to my face, as we speak. God is certainly good to me, and us, day by day and week by week.  Challenges abound for us and everyone else we know, but with challenges come new opportunities to grow in so many ways, particularly as we recognize that God's always near and willing to help us on our path as we rely on His loving care and keep moving forward.

Here is little Baby Cakes.

She was pulling faces like this BEFORE the camera came out.  Finally got ONE after the camera came out!  She's teething and enjoys a Popsicle to ease the discomfort.

 

We were dancing and having a great time together--after she danced and entertained her Mom and Grandpa and me first.

(I don't  know why I can't figure out how to flip pictures up 90 degrees to the right when I need to!)

This child has quite a repertoire of expressions to entertain us with!  I can't tell you how much we've enjoyed having her and her Mom with us the past few weeks.  I'm just trying to figure out how we can get her and her cousins in Utah back together again sometime soon!  They would have so much fun together again!

Sorta Missing in Action?

I'm back.  Home, that is.  I was gone out west for a little over two weeks.  Drove out with middle daughter and her three little ones.  And it was hot.  HOT.  H. O. T.  West Texas was like an inferno on steroids and with an insidious HOT wind blowing ninety-to-nothin' to boot.

Utah, on the other hand, started out cold.  As in . . . it was snowing in the mountains and raining/sleeting off and on in the valleys the first two or three days we were there.  Before leaving Utah, however, it finally began warming up.  Husband and son joined us a few days after our vanguard company--work being the delaying factor for son--and joined us.

Our daughter is completing her degree in Zoology with emphasis in entomology at BYU this summer.  She'll be taking the GRE in about a month and depending on how that goes, and a zillion other factors, is thinking seriously about entering the Master's program there as well.

While in Utah, we got to visit with four of my siblings and some of their children/grandchildren and one niece who's folks live a lot closer to us than she does.  Visiting with my family is always good and far too infrequent.  We enjoyed being together, and of course, eating together.  I cooked a few Southern dishes while there including a large pot of gumbo.

There was much traveling on the "under construction" interstate highway in Utah.  Ugh!  A somewhat harrowing experience when one is more used to the laid-back driving conditions of rural (or much more rural) Louisiana.  We traveled daily over the highways and byways between residences of family members, shopping, etc., etc.  One by-product of that driving was that while my husband and I were getting lost (while not far from my sister's home) in search of a certain store we'd visited the day before,  I realized that we were REALLY close to the house (one and only one my parents ever bought) where I'd lived during junior high and high school!  I had to go by to see the neighborhood and THE HOUSE.  I was really impressed.  It looked really nice and well taken care of!

When my family of 10 moved in (back in 1960) there were few houses close to ours.  I remember watching as the other houses were constructed next door (on either side) and behind us.  I remember the grass being planted and how often we had to water it.  Later we planted iris from my grandmother's garden.  And other flowers and things over the years we were there.  That house sold for $16,000 in 1960.  I'll guess it would go for over $150,000 now.  Of course it is over 50 years old and housing has certainly gotten far more expensive--even though it's supposed to be a buyer's market.  Construction is booming in Utah.  Still.

While we were "elsewhere" Louisiana got blistering hot.  And still rather in need of a few good soaking rains.

On the trip back home, Arizona was burning up (as you might have learned through a variety of news sources) and New Mexico was under serious smoke from those terrible fires for endless miles.  Texas was still an inferno as we passed through the western portion of that very large state.  And, yes.  The wind was still blowing furiously.

When we arrived at home, we were blessed to find our lawn (whatever that green combination of who knows what that covers a good deal of the yard is) was actually mostly green.  What a nice surprise!  This area has been baking regularly with 100 degree days consistently for weeks now.

Glad I harvested all those glorious peaches my faithful tree produced before leaving on the adventure west!  I managed to freeze several quarts of the awesome tasting fruit, plus make and can about 4.5 pints of peach jam and maybe 8 quarts + of juice that I'll make into jelly one day soon.  I'm still baffled/amazed by all the luscious peaches that tree made this year!  We gave so many away and still had/have plenty to enjoy!  (Husband cut off the three broken limbs before he headed out west.  Who would have thought there would be so many, many peaches this year!  I certainly didn't think there would be a 10th of what was produced!)

Aside to Bob (Mid-Life Thoughts, Bob):  The peach cobbler was "oh, so good" and I waited (for about 5 minutes) thinking you'd be knocking on my door before I dove into it.  Just so you know!  But, you had more important errands to attend to, I believe.  I did honestly think of you, and ate an extra helping in your honor.

Now we have youngest daughter and her precious little girl visiting.  One little girl is soooo much quieter than two little boys and their older sister!  But, how I miss those little ones still visiting in Utah!  They would have such great fun with their little cousin!

A Lot of Stuff Has Been Going On

Around 1:45 AM on Wednesday last week my daughter came quietly into my bedroom.  I was not asleep, nor was her father.  The wind was raging outside and rain was pelting the bedroom windows.  We'd been under a tornado watch since about 3:00 PM the day before.

"Mom,"  she said, "I just had the weirdest thing happen.  My ears felt like they were going to burst a couple of minutes ago.  I think there's got to be a tornado close by."

Eight minutes later I received a text message from a member of our Church asking if I had a cell phone number for yet another church member who lived fairly close to her and her parents.  Over the course of the next hour we texted back and forth checking on various people and their safety.

Later, after daylight, we began assessing things in the area.  Schools were closed due to lack of power.  Huge trees were down everywhere--though not in our little neighborhood.  My daughter left for her college classes 30 miles away and called every few minutes to report on the damage she saw on both sides of the highway.

We called and checked on various people throughout the parish that we know, checking to see if they were okay.  The damage at my friend's parents' home was the loss of about 7 large trees--no damage to their house or vehicles.  They were without power, however.  The people she asked about having a cell phone number for had lost a huge oak tree that blocked their driveway--it was uprooted and laying the length of their front yard and knocked down their two peach trees, another huge oak tree was down on the other side of their property close to their garden.  Just up the road from them another friend had two large trees down, one barely scraping the roof on the back of her house.

Others we know that have a small home had huge trees literally blocking them inside as trees fell very unnaturally all around the house without leaving a scratch on it.  Everyone in our community and the communities around us are in awe of the destruction that spared most every house they fell close to.  Some did have more serious damage, but nothing was completely devastated as the poor people in Alabama and other places have been.

It seems that--according to the evidence in the trees--and the experience of the folks around us (we've had a few tornadoes around us here over the years) there must have been a number of tornadoes going on at the same time.  Several people I've talked with said it probably only lasted about 10 seconds when the twister(s) were on their property doing the damage they did.

Many people were without power for several days, but graciously the weather cooled and it was reasonably comfortable, compared to the heat we'd been experiencing prior to the wild storm on Tuesday night/Wednesday wee hours of the morning.  We all feel really blessed that the damage was so limited overall to the loss of trees.

I thought our peach tree (which was loaded with peaches for the first time ever) would lose a ton of peaches to the howling winds that night, but when I surveyed things in the morning light--there were no peaches on the ground!  That truly astonished me.

Since then, I have picked peaches and picked peaches and picked peaches and given them away to several friends and neighbors. And this evening, on just one branch, I counted nearly 100 more to go!  These are NOT large peaches--just delicious peaches!  This is the same peach tree that I've mentioned a time or three . . . the one that has been known to begin blossoming on Halloween!  I DID NOT expect to have more than a handful of peaches this year because of the roller coaster ride the temperatures/weather has taken since the tree began blossoming in the winter.  It would be in the 70's and then drop down into the teens.  I don't know how/why it managed to do so much this year, but I am grateful!  Except that we've lost two main branches--they broke under the weight of the peaches!  I don't think I've ever seen a peach tree with "clusters" of peaches before, but this one has many, many clusters of peaches.  Beats anything I've ever seen!

When I'm not suffering with a migraine, I'll try to post some pictures of the peach tree/peaches and some of the uprooted, and twisted off trees around here.  But, I'll tell you now--the pictures do not do justice to the scope of the destruction.

Still, I know that we are tremendously blessed to have only the destruction we've had around here when you compare it to so much of the rest of the country.  My heart and prayers go out to all those who have lost so very much more!

I'm Shaking My Head

It is 8:00 PM.  It is also 82 degrees.  And we haven't had rain of any consequence in weeks.  We check the weather channel and other sources and eagerly anticipate the various percentages of rain possibilities per the prognostications each week.  :(  But, the April showers have taken residence up the country from us--sometimes, apparently in the form of snow, ice and hail, unfortunately.  It amazes me that what is usually a very wet spring month for us is anything but.

82 degrees at 8:00 PM.  Unbelievable.  For April.  This is not June.  Or did I just forget to turn the calendar over???

Disaster Missed, and Other Ramblings

Sunday I was browning a post roast when it slipped from my cooking fork and splashed hot oil in my face.  Ouch.  And.  Really OUCH, again.  I first got cold water on my fingers and applied them to the area around my eyes--where it burned the worst.  But I didn't want to ruin my pot roast, so I slid the pot it was in off the front burner to the back.  Then I grabbed my small rice bag from the freezer and put it on my face.  So essentially I was blind to do much else.  The cold bag was ever so welcomed as immediate relief but can't see with bag covering eyes!  Fortunately, and blessedly I had not been splashed in the eyes with the hot oil!  I am so grateful.


Now, I've been spattered with popping grease from frying bacon and tons of other foods in a frying pan or otherwise, but never like this particular incident.  I hollered for my daughter to please come take over the roast cooking operation.  She was alarmed when I explained what had happened and demanded that I let her see the damage--which I knew wasn't serious, it just hurt like burns do!  She told me to wash the grease off so it wouldn't continue to burn.  (It wasn't, but I was a dutiful Mom and washed--very gently-- around my eyes and patted my face dry and immediately went back to assuaging my discomfort with the cold rice bag.)

The damage upon later assessment was very minor and mostly around the outer edge of my right eye, less so under my left and one small blister under my nose.  (Wasn't able to get the rice bag over my nose while covering my eyes and frankly didn't feel the burn there until much later.)  I'm pretty confident that the cold rice bag inhibited the blistering around my eyes that could have occurred--like under my nose--without its application!

I will ever be grateful no hot oil got into my eyes!  (Do you think OSHA will now require me to wear safety eye gear while cooking?  Just kidding!)

I have been cooking now for . . . let's see . . . about 53 years without a disaster of this kind, though like I mentioned earlier I've been popped with hot grease/oil on many occasions.  The worst cooking disaster I can remember in all those years, however, was when I was canning fresh green beans from our garden some years ago.  A friend and I were co-oping our time and efforts in helping each other with the project.  Because we had several batches to process I got a little impatient and forced the pressure cooker lid off prematurely and got a very nasty steam burn on my fingers of one hand.  Burns are the pits.

I learned after another burn incident with a soldiering iron years before the pressure cooker incident that plunging your hand into a cup of ice water--and mostly keeping it there--numbs the pain and halts the burn.  Yes.  The ice water hurts, too.  You have to decide which hurt is greater or lesser.  I choose (and chose) the lesser of two evils, for me anyway, and that was:  keep the hand IN the ice water.  Numb from cold was more tolerable than hurt from burning.

Now on to more pleasant things.  When finished cooking, the post roast--involved in the near disaster--was WONDERFUL!  It was delicious, tender and wasn't burned up because of my mishap.  I cooked carrots and onions with it and added mashed potatoes, gravy and corn to the menu and we all seemed to enjoy it quite well.

Last night I took the remaining pound of roast and made an Italian roast beef stew.  I sauteed onions, garlic and sweet red bell pepper then added a jar of  tomato basil spaghetti sauce, a can of beef consume, a can of sliced mushrooms, the leftover beef roast gravy, the leftover beef cut into small cubes, some salt, and oregano and let it simmer.  We served it with spaghetti noodles and the leftover corn.  It was pretty good, if I do say so!

Saturday, we had about 8 pounds of chicken breasts (boneless/skinless) to grill--which I did with the very last of the propane in the tank.  (I did have another tank on hand--mostly because I wasn't sure there was enough in the one to finish the job.)  Now we ate some of the grilled chicken with our great salad of greens and fresh tomatoes with mozerella cheese chuncks and cibatta bread.  It was all good.  But the side benefit(s): of grilling all that chicken at once

1. only had to clean/fire-up the grill once
2. we now have 5 freezer bags of grilled chicken to use whenever we need to put a meal together quickly--and we've already anticipated more of those than we have grilled chicken to put into them!
3. thawing raw chicken and then having to cook it is NOT gonna be necessary
4. its much cheaper than buying pre-grilled frozen, or rotisserie chicken 
5. we're happy with this arrangement!

So, I've survived a near disaster, and I've grilled chicken, and I've rambled through it all.