The Last Days.....of January

January 26-31

SUNDAY   We went to Church a little early as Rhonda had been asked to play preliminary music but when we got there she wasn’t needed.  The Church was very cold, both Rhonda and I ended up going to get our overcoats.  From there we moved on to our shift for the afternoon at the Memorial.  We had a visitor from AF but we couldn’t place her.

Josh is a boy from Idaho - working on a dairy farm here

Sunday evening all the missionaries gathered at the Memorial for a nice dinner.  We were eating Johnson’s pork loin plus everyone else contributed an item or two.  I ended up eating too much but it surely was good.  My waist-line is starting to show the effects of too much food and too little exercise.  

Sister Houston replaced Sis. Sumsion last transfer

Sister Tarawhiti is always bright and happy

MONDAY  When I went to warm up the car this morning, I figured it was too good to be true as the temperature was up to 28 degrees.  Sure enough, it soon started to snow and blow and was colder within a few hours.  Several new inches of snow had accumulated by the time we headed back to the apartment.  Going down Dairy Hill Rd. I applied the brakes and started to slide.  We managed to get home OK but it was a little scary.  Home and I relaxed while Rhonda cooked for FHE.  Most of the regulars made it to FHE.  Dyches gave a good lesson and there was plenty of good food so, of course, I couldn’t pass it up again.  
TUESDAY   This is the day we go to the Memorial a half-hour earlier now that the Osborns are the directors.  We have a weekly meeting!  After the meeting, it was our regular shift.  Visitors are still sparse but there is usually someone. 

WEDNESDAY     Today seemed like a very  L O N G  day.  Osborn’s day off so we were at the Memorial all day and with only one visitor to break up the day.   When the day was finally finished, we hurried to change our clothes and loaded up Shefchiks and drove to W.Lebanon where we met the other Senior missionaries at Lui Lui’s for a going away dinner.   

Both the Shefchiks and Dyches leave within the next week so Osborns and Ogdens treated. 

 THURSDAY   -   Today was our day off.  Before we were even up and going Judy Shefchik was knocking on our door to have Rhonda check something out and to show her what they left for her to clean in their apt.  Their car was so loaded that it bottomed out as they went over a bump leaving the driveway. 

Saying 'Good-bye' to Shefchicks

 After seeing Shefchicks off, we decided to take a little road trip to Northfield, VT.  That is where we will teach Institute starting next Tuesday. 

We meet in a room at Norwich University which is the first private military university in America.   After finding our building, we saw several covered bridges within a short distance of each other all going over the same water way.  It was quite a fall but we couldn’t see the falls very good as they were frozen.  Something for another trip.  From there we went to the outskirts of Montpelier  and did a little shopping.  Had lunch at Subway and headed for home via Randolph which we hadn’t seen either.  BYU basketball was on late but I managed to stay awake till the end. 

 

FRIDAY    --We had the afternoon shift today so we took a walk to start the day.  I am gaining too many pounds so need to get a little exercise.  On our walk we went past the recycling station and collected  $3.55 from our empty pop bottles so guess it is worth it.  The weather warmed up a little so I did the bucket wash on a very dirty car.  I still had time before going to the Memorial so I worked on de-barking a couple of my future walking sticks outside.  The clean-up was easier than on the carpet inside the apt.  On our way to the Memorial, I saw that they had trimmed some more Maple trees so I went looking for more sticks.   We had several visitors but still time to mess with sticks.  After getting home and had a bite to eat, I went back to work de-barking the sticks on the kitchen (non-carpet) floor.  I did the three I had and by then my hands and back ached so it was past time to quit, I have been having some trouble with the back lately anyway.  I was glad I had the sticks to work on since Friday’s there is usually not much sporting on TV that is worth watching.

SATURDAY    Fixed lunch for our day at the Memorial as Osborns went with Dyches to the Boston Temple so we were at the Memorial all day.  Things were pretty quiet for most of the day.  Once home, we made a fast trip to Lebanon for some groceries.  We also hit a couple of other stores and found some things on their “close-out” sales so I picked up a couple of sweaters.  They ended up being about $ 10.00/each.   Rhonda also found a few sale items.  We decided they would count for our “Valentine” as candy would not help with the weight problem.  There was a light snow as we drove back to the apartment which dirtied up the car again.  It is a real pain to try to keep the car looking respectful.  I keep trying so it doesn’t look like all the other cars from Vermont all the time.  I stayed up later as BYU basketball started at 11:00pm Vermont time.  It proved to be a pretty good game so I had to see it to the end.