July Jubilee

July 1-15

 MONDAY  --  I had to get up earlier today to get my walk in as we were asked to transport the sister missionaries to W. Lebanon so they could do their grocery shopping.  When they were finished, we had to hurry back and finish getting ready for our afternoon shift at the Memorial.  It wasn’t long before the people started arriving for FHE.  The numbers seem to be gradually increasing.  Tonight, the attendance was 34 people including the missionaries.  After we returned home from FHE, Elder Harman came over and helped install an air conditioner in our bedroom window.  I think it ran all night trying to cool things down.   

Pres. & Sis. Stoker with out-going missionaries

TUESDAY --  I  met Elder Osborn early this morning to go golfing at the Montague Club in Randolph.  The greens are almost back to normal compared to how they were a couple of months ago.  We had a good time but it soon become HOT and MUGGY.  The car temp. showed 89 degrees on the way home but the humidity is really high as well.  I hurried to get cleaned up and ready for our afternoon shift at the Memorial.  Things were slow until late in the afternoon when President Stoker brought all the missionaries who were going home over to see the Memorial  (Boston Temple is closed for cleaning)  I took all that group on the “tour” and also golf carted the missionaries down to the old foundations and things at the bottom of the property.

WEDNESDAY -- We are back to the early shift again.   We left directly from the Memorial and drove to Costco in Colchester, VT (80 miles--by Burlington) to get some new tires on the Subaru.  I ordered them two weeks ago and this is the first appointment they had we could make it too.  I dropped Rhonda off at the mall in Burlington so she could go shopping while I got the tires.  I went back to the mall and followed her around a while until she was finished shopping.  From there we headed home  through Montpelier so we could stop at Big Lots and Subway.  We finally made it home about dark.  I spent the rest of the night catching up on the Wimbledon Tennis I had recorded.    
THURSDAY - [p-day] I got up early (5:45am) and went to weed the garden.  There was no hoe there so I finally had to raise Osborn’s garage door to get some equipment.  I was nervous about waking them so early but I had to get to work.  After weeding for a while, I returned home and Rhonda was up and going.  We spent most of the remainder of the morning doing the washing, ironing, etc.  We ended up going to West Lebanon in the afternoon,  It seems there is always something we want or need in town. 

Happy 4th of July

FRIDAY -  Things started early again this morning. 

We were at the Memorial to blow up a 100 or so helium balloons to take to the July 4^th parade in Randolph.  After finishing the balloons we went to the FM shop and checked on the float. We were the follow vehicle for the float so we took the back roads through Bethel to Randolph.  We got the float unloaded and found our place in the parade line- up.  I was blown away by the numbers of people who were there for the parade.  Before we had gone half way, we were completely out of balloons and candy and even the pass-along cards the sister missionaries had. There were thousands of people.  Rhonda walked along side/behind the float while I was the driver in the gator pulling the float.  It turned out to be a great day.  Not too hot and humid as in the past couple of days and without any rain which threatened all day long.

After getting the float loaded, we headed for home and had time for a quick change of clothes and  lunch and then it was time to go to the Memorial for our afternoon shift.  Things were pretty busy most of the day and in the late afternoon, there was a charter bus of kids (they said Liberty, UT but lots of the kids were from Las Vegas)  We finally left about 7:30 but the bus was still there and the kids were down by the stone bridge.  It turned out to be pretty much a twelve hour day but we seemed to do OK but I’m glad we don’t have to do it every day.

SATURDAY -  We were up and going earlier than usual this morning as there was a bus coming before 9:00 am.   Our report was the bus was from Richfield, UT but there were more not from Richfield that from there but I ended up knowing several of them and it was fun to interact with them.  Wayne Jenkins was the tour director.  Rhonda visited with him and his wife, Kathy. This bus was also adults so it was quite a bit different giving our “tour” to them compared to the tours we do for the students.  Before we had finished with the bus people, members from the Belmont, MA ward who were camping at Camp Joseph started coming and along with the ward people and the visitors who drove in we were kept hopping all day long.  We didn’t get anything else done besides give tours.  At the end of our shift, we had talked to over 100 people and quite a number of them were non-members.  We went home for a little rest and then in the evening, we were back to the Memorial for the monthly Sr. couples party.  The Likes were in charge and had pizza, etc. while everyone else chipped in some type of “goodie” so we all left stuffed but had a good time.  We played “hoky-poky” type games.  It was a little different but quite fun anyway.    

SUNDAY   (Remembering my Dad’s birthday today) Today was Fast and Testimony meeting and Rhonda had to play the organ so I sat on the stand with her.  It seemed like I was really hungry when we got home so I soon had some things cooking on the stove.  (mainly corn on cob)  After eating, I spent about four hours watching my recorded Mens Wimbledon Tennis final.  I also spent a couple of hours getting a lesson ready for FHE on Monday, I am working up a presentation on giving prayers.  I made a comment to Elder Osborn that some of the new converts may have missed the lesson on prayer so now I get that opportunity.  Hope all goes as planned.    

MONDAY    I got up quite early and went for a walk and washed the car.   I did a little more preparation on my presentation and cleaned up a few things in the apartment.  When we arrived at the Memorial, there were people all over.  A bus had arrived without prior notice so everyone was hopping.  Then a cloud burst hit and dropped a lot of rain in just a very short time.  As the rain slowed up, the group decided to hike down to the foundations and stone bridge.  There were quite a few (older adults) who couldn’t walk so I was nominated to run a shuttle service for them.  I made quite a few trips up and down to accommodate all their needs.  We no sooner got them all back to their bus and the heavens opened up again with another down pour.   After we finished with the group, people kept coming and I was busy all afternoon.  For FHE, I ended up changing my lesson as the three people I thought should hear the "prayer" lesson were not going to be in attendance.  So, with Rhonda’s help, we had a sing-along of old time songs like “Comin' around the mountain, Edelweiss, You Are My Sunshine, and Home on the Range.  It turned out to be a fun time and I think everyone enjoyed it.     

TUESDAY  --  After my walk, I tried to catch up on some bookwork and a few things on the computer.  We went to the Memorial early for the missionary meeting but again, I didn’t get to participate as visitors kept coming.  We ended up giving three tours during the hour.  We are mainly busy all day every day, especially now that the pageant in Palmyra starts today and the Boston Temple is closed for a couple of weeks for cleaning.  Before we finally made it to bed, we had a couple more cloud bursts which really put water down in a hurry. 

WEDNESDAY    There are several large groups of YW staying at Camp Joseph who are coming to the Memorial in the afternoon today so we traded Osborn’s our morning for the afternoon to give them a little better break.  So, for the morning, I rousted Rhonda out of bed before she was really ready and we went to W. Lebanon golfing at the Carter Country Club.  It is a nine hole course and was kind of fun but it is hilly so we got a good walking workout.  Stopped at Wendy’s for our chicken sandwich and headed home to get ready for the rest of the day.  Once at the Memorial, there were several groups in progress and the YW soon came so we were back to work for sure.  We were kept pretty busy and some stress as the second group of YW that came to see a movie, the projector wouldn’t work.  Elder Osborn and I tried everything we knew but eventually had to call Chris Zundell in Salt Lake to fix our problem.  It is so amazing that he could fix it from SLC  and we are 3000 miles away.  By the time the day ended, we were pooped!  We were glad to get to the apartment.    

THURSDAY --  We had a little change in our routine today as we went shopping in the morning.  Didn’t end up getting a lot of things but it is nice to have the outing.  In the afternoon I went golfing at Randolph with George, Kent and Mike.  George and Kent are pretty good and then there is Mike and I.  Mike just got his clubs by the dumpster at the Green Valley apartments.  We played best ball teams and George and I lost as Mike made three birdies by chipping from 20 + feet off the green with his six iron.  We were kind of dodging the women’s league around the course so we got in a few extra holes but it was fun.   We didn’t get home until dark.  Rhonda had gone to the Farmers Market at the South Royalton Green (park) to provide some accordion music. 

 FRIDAY   Went for a walk early then walked again to get a newspaper at the Midway station. We found out there was a picture of Rhonda playing her accordion at the Randolph Parade on July 4 on the front page of section B so I had to make sure we got a copy.It was pretty neat and good publicity for the Memorial.  When we got to the Memorial, Rhonda and I were the only ones on duty to take care of the tour bus from Murdock Travel.  Most of the participants were from parts other than Utah.   We were kept pretty busy for the entire day -- even late closing up as people were still here at 7:00pm.   

SATURDAY -- We were up and going early as we had another “balloon” blowing up party at 8:30am getting ready for the South Royalton Home Days Parade. 

Sister Ginny Mcshinski (90) in the So. Royalton Parade

Since it was our time to be at the Memorial, Rhonda and I didn’t get to the parade.  We had visitors as soon as we finished with the balloon blowing experience and they continued most of our shift during the day.  As soon as we got back to the apartment, we changed our clothes and headed to Applebee’s in W. Lebanon.  (It has been quite a while since we have had a "date night").  

SUNDAY  --  We were scheduled to have Sunday afternoon off at the Memorial but there was a bus coming and Osborn’s decided they needed some back-up so we were back there shortly after 3:00 pm.  About the time the bus was to arrive, Elder Osborn got a text saying our Mission President (Stoker) was bringing some of his family in a little while.  Sure enough, the bus, Stoker’s, and three or four groups of people all arrived within about 5 minutes of each other.   With all the people, I gave one of the tours to the bus people and Rhonda volunteered for some of the car guests, saying she had taken the Stoker’s several times before.  Once we finished with that group, more visitors had arrived and we were busily engaged in trying to meet everyone’s needs.   

MONDAY --  There was quite a crowd at the Memorial today.  Osborn’s and Likes both had different groups going when we arrived.  Once things kinda settled down we were able to hold our own until the Heritage Tours bus arrived.  Another 57 people. Rhonda and I did the tours through the visitor center.   Besides their usual time in the residence and writing in journals, etc. at the monument, Bro. Eliason didn’t know what to do to kill some time so he ask me to lead the group down to the old foundations turnpike road and the stone bridge.   
We ended up joining them for the meeting and didn’t get home until after 10:00pm.  
    

Oops, missed little Rachael

TUESDAY --  When we arrived at the Memorial there were people all over the place.  I looked inside the visitor center to see what I could do to help and one of the patrons came rushing up to me and introduced himself as Jared Jepson,  He had his family here from Texas (6 boys, 1 girl).  I hardly got a chance to talk to them much because of the number of people but Rhonda got a chance to do a little visit and Jared called his mother and Rhonda talked to her for a few minutes.  We saw several people that we had known from American Fork.  Matt Price and his family were down from a year stay in Canada while studying with the Army.  Just before we were ready to lock up we found Jenet and Michael Erickson (Jenet Jacobs, daughter of LaDawn Jacobs) walking around the Memorial.  They had parked in the residence parking lot so we missed them initially.  We stayed with them quite a while after lock up time but it was fun to see them.

Jared's son, Joseph didn't want to be in any pictures except this one by Bro. Joseph

HT Fireside

Spring Has Sprung

June 16-30

Showing our Float with Pres. & Sister Stoker

SATURDAY   Morning came before I was ready but we were scheduled to open the Memorial this morning.  The first thing I did was vacuum the home as they were getting ready for a Senior Missionary dinner at noon.  As soon as I finished with the vacuum, people started arriving for tours.  Mixed in between the tours was an “interview” or just talk with the Mission President.  President Stoker is really a good, understanding man.  It was great to just visit with him for a while. Once the Seniors started arriving for the dinner, so did the guests so I didn’t get to visit much nor did I get to eat my dinner with them.  I ended up taking my plate of food to the apartment about 4:00pm and eating part of it there.

I designed the banner for the back of the float

Elder Mooney, Wilsons, Polls

Skidmores, Pettingills, Mooneys

Egans & Makensie, Pres. Stoker (back of Sis. Campbell)

Makensie, Stokers, Harmons

Osborns, Polls, (back of Likes)

Shortly after, we headed grocery shopping via Quechee to see the balloon festival.  There were no balloons so we just drove on for the groceries.  After getting our groceries and our stop at Wendy’s we headed for home.  MISSIONARY BLESSING   Just as we were to turn on to the freeway, we were hit from the car behind.  A 15 yr. old girl was driving with her mother and just ran into the back of us.  It sent us for a jolt forward.  Luckily there weren’t any cars ahead of us and none turning onto the freeway.  The car had a couple of places where the paint was scraped off.  We were certainly blessed as it could have been so much worse.  The mother thanked me for being so calm with her daughter who was in tears and could hardly talk.     
SUNDAY -  Sacrament meeting at 10:00am.  I was just sitting there when the organist came and asked me to lead the music for sacrament meeting.  The organist (Sister Doyle) got sick and Rhonda ended up playing the closing song.  The Relief Society president made a 7oz chocolate milk shake in recognition of Father’s Day, kinda nice and thoughtful.  From the Church we went directly to the Memorial and opened for the afternoon.  For several hours there was a steady stream of visitors who came to visit with us.  Then a little lull and then as usual, a “swarm”  (if I counted right there were 5 groups) who showed up the last 45 minutes of the day so we were quite late in getting home.  All of our children checked in by phone and wished me a Happy Fathers Day.It was good to hear from all of them.  We have certainly been blessed with a good family.     

Played the accordion for FHE "sing-along"

 
MONDAY -  Once we got to the Memorial there was a steady flow of visitors.  That kept us pretty well busy until time for family home evening.  There were 35 of us here for that so we had a room full.  Sometimes I wonder if there is going to be enough food to go around but it always works out.

Trish Hawkins brought her girls for a visit.

TUESDAY - We had over 25 visitors come during our shift which kept us busy most of the day, especially in the early part. One of the visitors who I took on a tour said he had been the Executive Secretary to the Area Authority of the New England Area for 17 years.  He was never able to talk them into holding their meetings at the JSBM.  When I took his family down to the old foundations he said it was like “Heaven” to get to see all the early history of the Church in this area.  He was a large guy but very humble and grateful.  Mixed in with the tours, Rhonda did her weekly teaching of Sara Dunkle on the piano.    

The kid-size bag works alright--just a little top heavy

WEDNESDAY    -   Our morning shift started right of with several visitors.  Trish Hawkins from A.F. (Beverly Meyers daughter) came by.  She lived in New Hampshire for several years but has just moved to Virginia.     After getting home we decided to go shopping so we could do other things tomorrow.  We even went shopping at “Listen”(comparable to our DI). Rhonda bought a kid's golf bag (only choice) for her few clubs that we brought out.  It was such a nice day we decided to hit a few golf balls out on our grass before dark.

THURSDAY   I got up fairly early and decided to rotate the left side of the car tires as the back one is wearing on the outside corner.  After that, I went to the Memorial to our garden to weed.  I weeded about as much as I dared as some of the veggies are not big enough to dig around them yet.   Later, we decided to drive to a place called Texas Falls.  It was kind of a neat place and it was amazing how the water had washed various whirlpools as it would swirl around the rocks.  From there we backtracked to the White River Golf Course between Rochester and Killington.   

Hole #6 with the WHITE RIVER behind the Tee

We got there just after 4:00pm which started their twilight hour so we paid for 1 round and got to golf two rounds.  It was kind of a hard course and we were walking.  So after the first 9, we were a little tired but decided to go again and look for Rhonda’s watch which she discovered she had lost.  She thought it was on the 1^st tee but we were not able to locate it so we played 6 holes and by then we were near the club house and very tired so we decided to call it quits.  These 15 holes took us three hours.   The course reminded us of Wasatch State Park as we were about the only ones on the course and lots of trees, etc.  I left a card at the club house with our phone number on it in case someone would find the watch and turn it in.


FRIDAY -  I hadn’t been up very long before my phone rang and it was the guy at the golf course saying he had Rhonda’s watch.  Blessed again!   I took a short walk and then spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon washing and ironing.  I decided to wash my Temple clothes.  Pressing all those pleats was a little different but I managed to make it.   We had the afternoon shift at the Memorial and happened to drive in right behind a car of visitors.  Starting with those people and for most of all the rest of the afternoon, we were kept busy greeting and escorting visitors through the Memorial.   I wore a short sleeve shirt to work for the first time.  However, the evening was cool, even had to put on a sweat shirt to sit around the house.    
SATURDAY  We had the morning shift and there were people waiting for us to open up as we arrived.  Several groups came before the Spanish contingent. (A group from a Spanish speaking ward in MA, about 35 people in the group). 
Rhonda directed the tour thru an interpreter so she had to improvise a little but did a great job of giving them the essential facts and story of the monument.  The missionaries said that over half of the group were non-members.  It was back to the long sleeves today and in the evening, I put on the sweat shirt again to just sit around the apartment.    
SUNDAY - Today was our Sunday off at the Memorial.  Rhonda had to play the organ and accompany the special musical number as well.   Then she had to teach the Sunbeam class in primary.  They keep her busy with all her talents.  After lunch, we relaxed for a while then took a walk.  It felt so good to be out that we decided to go for a little relaxing drive in the car.  We drove through some beautiful back roads.  There were “farm stands” along the way and I would figure they were so far from the “beaten path” than no one would find them. One thing for certain, it sure is beautiful country !  
Sister Osborn gave me the book Joseph Smith, Rough Stone Rolling as she just finished reading it.  It is pretty long with small print and is hard to read but I will give it a go.

The flowers add such color and beauty to the site!

The newly-planted flowers and beautiful peonies

MONDAY -  Today I hardly had time to do anything except give tours of the Memorial.  Several large groups came as well as the individuals/small groups.  I missed everything of the family home evening except the eats.  By the time it was time for dinner, it was well passed time to close the Memorial but we never close if there are people here to see/listen even if it is past closing time.  We were quite late getting home.  We did receive another MISSIONARY BLESSING today.  While Rhonda was out taking pictures of the Spring Flowers around the monument, she somehow fell backwards off one of the steps and fell flat on the walk way to the Monument.  Apparently Elder Harman saw her fall and rushed over to assist her.  We were blessed as she didn’t get any large bruises or cuts and she was able to bounce right back up and was OK. 
TUESDAY-  I got up earlier than usual and watched a little of Wimbledon on TV before going for my walk. The afternoon shift was pretty slow today.  It seems like a dismal day outside and I guess not much is stirring. 

WEDNESDAY -   We are on our usual early shift today.  Once we got home and had lunch, it started a light rain.  We were supposed to go golfing with the Harman’s.  When they got home, Kent came over and said he was game if I was so we decided to at least go and see (Rhonda & Tammy were not game).  If nothing else, we could pick up Rhonda’s watch.  Once we got to White River and picked up the watch, it was raining pretty good but Kent wanted to give it a try so we headed out.  They were supposed to have league later on and some of the guys had gone early and picked up their golf cart so all that was available was the “convertible” variety.  Before too long we were soaked to the bone but still having fun so we kept going.  At the end of the first nine we checked in and the owner said the league was cancelled so we could play any holes we desired.  So, we played another round plus an extra hole.  I must say, after you get soooooo wet, you can’t get any wetter.  My club grips got pretty slippery but in spite of the weather, we had a great time! Surprisingly enough, I was even playing quite well.   We didn’t get home until dark and it took a while to get dried out.  Everything we took was completely soaked and is taking a while to dry out.  Too bad Rhonda and Tammy missed all the fun!!    
THURSDAY - Spent most of the morning watching the tennis recordings I had missed.  After noon, we headed out in the car driving on the back roads toward Barnard, VT.  All of a sudden out in the middle of nowhere, we were stopped on a one lane road.  There were a couple of ambulance vehicles ahead of us and soon the State Trooper passed us by. We eventually saw a couple of pedal bikes (front tires bent in a figure eight shape) being loaded into a pickup truck.  I didn’t find out more than that.  The guy that stopped us on the road wasn’t very nice so I didn’t dare ask many questions.   We eventuall arrived at the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller Museum, Farm and Rockefeller Mansion-- part of the National Park System.  We walked around the grounds for a while before moving on.  Our travels then took us to the Sugarbush Maple Farm.  (Wrong time of year for Syrup). About the only thing they did with the cheese is cut it and then wrap it in their own label.  It was processed elsewhere as part of the co-op.  They had a few animals outside in some pens but nothing too interesting.  After that, we finally made it to W. Lebanon and did our grocery shopping for the week.  It was nearly 7:00pm when we finally got home.  
FRIDAY  - Today marks the 170^th anniversary of the Martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith.   Saw some early tennis on TV then for my morning walk and back in time to watch a couple of the tennis matches I wanted to see.  Once we got to the Memorial, they had been busy all morning and continued for a while. Then things tapered off until the end of the day (as usual).    
SATURDAY - Osborn’s asked us to change to the afternoon shift today.  We started off busy and seemed to stay that way the rest of the afternoon.  I had one interesting thing happen during one of the tours.  I was explaining about Joseph’s leg operation when a little eight year boy just blacked out and fell backwards flat on the floor.  His Dad broke his fall and was at his side and he soon recovered and was OK.  One of the reasons Osborn’s asked us to change was they had invited the Olado and Oparowski families for dinner as well as us.  As usual, we were on shift and visitors came so most of the party went on without me.  By the time I finally got to my dinner (warmed in the microwave) I was more than ready for it.  It was a delicious dinner but the visitation lasted too long for me.  It was after 9:00pm when we finally got back to the apartment.

Spring planting is finally done.  It is going to be exciting to watch the colorful flowers take hold and spread!