September 1-14
The summer flowers are still brilliant and add so much color and beauty to the landscape. We were all very sad when the FM missionaries announced they would soon be pulling out petunias and marigolds and replacing them with mums.
Trip to Florida
We were very excited to be able to fly to Orlando to attend Cael Ogden's baptism (Ryan & Rochele's son). We are extremely proud of him! His eighth birthday was Saturday, September 13, and he was baptized on that day.
We enjoyed being in attendance at the birthday party and watching Cael and his friends play games, and swim, and eat, and swim! What fun!!!
Saturday afternoon we had a fun activity riding in an air-powered boat across the Florida lakes and swamps. It was fun looking for "gators" and other unique wild life.
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| Spotted one! Can you see it? |
The senior missionaries September party was at the lodge at Camp Joseph. This was just before Elder and Sis. Egan and their daughter Mackenzie went back home to Utah.
MONDAY --Sept.1 We started off with a pretty easy, late,
morning, I guess we were still a little tired.
We did some washing and a little clean up before doing the afternoon shift at the Memorial. As soon we arrived, Sister Osborn asked me to
go relieve Elder Osborn as he had been busy all morning. We had quite a good number of visitors
ourselves. It really proved to be good
Holiday period for visitors at the Memorial.
The numbers for FHE were down considerable, I guess a lot of people are
having a “holiday”.
TUESDAY -- I finally got
back to taking a walk again this morning.
I am in need of more exercise.
Not a lot happening around the apartment so I watched more US Open Tennis
on TV. There were some good matches and
our missionary meeting was cancelled so I got an extra half hour besides. Once at the Memorial, things have slowed
considerable. We only had 4 or 5 groups
during our shift for all afternoon. It
turned out to be a quiet evening so we had no problem closing on time. Once home, the rains came again and caused
interruptions with the TV so I watched some recorded tennis from earlier in the day. WEDNESDAY -- We went to the Memorial for our weekly all day shift and things were very quiet for the first couple of hours, then 2 groups came near simultaneously so we joined them together. That may have been a mistake because after that larger group, about the only people we saw the rest of the day were either dog walkers or the mail lady. There was not much happening in the evening either so we were just at the apartment.
THURSDAY -- We had the “day off” today so it was a pretty calm, easy morning. We did some washing, etc. before leaving for Woodstock Golf. I got a pretty good deal from Golf Now, it came to $22.50 each for 18 holes and cart included. I think the regular rate is $59.00. From golfing we headed to town as the yellow gas light on the car was on. We had some gas coupons from grocery shopping but we used them all to fill Rhett’s van. There was 1 gallon over so I filled a milk jug and put it in our car, good thing or we might not have made it to the gas station. After gas, we went to Wendy’s. Our chocolate frosty coupons have expired but they said corporate had told them to honor them for a while, which made us happy. We did a little grocery shopping and headed home.
FRIDAY -- At closing time I met this real golden contact, Dave Berry, he works at Walmart in Berlin, and lives in Randolph. He took the B of M and seemed excited to know more.
SATURDAY -- We were back on the early shift so you always seem to get the visitors from Camp Joseph who string along and also there was a Relief Society project helping the FM missionaries with Christmas lights so most of them wanted a tour as well.
SUNDAY -- Today was fast Sunday. Rhonda played the organ at Church. At the conclusion of the meetings, we came directly to the Memorial to find people waiting at the doorstep. We were busy almost all day. I even got the Sisters to do a couple of tours. I was glad for a break to get a chance to eat my lunch. The last hour slacked off considerably but it is now getting dark much sooner than it was a short time back.
MONDAY -- This morning I headed out for a walk and Rhonda met me about half way through so we walked together for a while. I helped her get the salad ready for tonight’s FHE dinner. Sister Machinsky gave the FHE lesson on reasons why she believed. She brought up things l really hadn’t given much thought too. Like for example: sunrises and sunsets, new babies, the universe, etc. She writes beautiful poetry and she recited some nice poems. She also wanted the song that goes: "I believe for every drop of rain that falls, a flower grows....." So Rhonda found it on the internet and transposed it to a better key for Sister Scott to sing.
SEPTEMBER 9 – 15, 2014
TUESDAY We got up early and went
to Randolph (Montague) golfing. We were
the first ones out and played the first nine holes before the fog lifted. It was a rather different look to what we
normally see but it was also very beautiful and so calm. We hurried home to get ready for the early
Missionary Meeting and instead of lasting just the hour as planned, it went
nearly two hours. We went straight from the Memorial to the
monthly Couples Party. This time we went
to Camp Joseph. It is such a beautiful
setting and great facilities. The
Wilson’s (Russell and Laurie) had prepared some delicious BBQ ribs along with
all the other trimmings which each couple brought. It was a very pleasant evening. I could sure tell the nights are starting to
get cooler and dark is coming quicker.
WEDNESDAY -- We spent both shifts at
the Memorial today. We had visitors from
Nova Scotia about as soon as we had the place opened up. The lady was a member but her husband wasn’t
. She asked for a Priesthood blessing so
I got Elder Harman to come help me. We
asked her husband to sit in for the blessing and then ask him about joining the
Church. When they left, he said he would
think about what we had told him. I
think he really felt something in the blessing.
There were a number of people who came today.
THURSDAY -- We did the morning shift today rather than take the day off as usual. We will use our day off this weekend. We were more busy than I really anticipated. At the end of our shift we were mainly trying to pack to go to Florida.
FRIDAY -- We got up at 3:30am and drove to Manchester NH where we parked the car at a Best Western Motel to catch a plane to Detroit, MI and from there to Orlando FL. We were blessed to make the schedule we had outlined and arrived in Orlando about 1:00pm. Rochele (plus the Hansen’s and Ty) were waiting to pick us up at the airport. It was surely good to see them. After a quick lunch, I was kept pretty busy helping Rochele get ready for Cael’s birthday party later that afternoon. He had 6-8 other boys invited and they were pretty active. I set up an obstacle course using several different kinds of balls and it was pretty obvious which kids were sports minded and which were not. We enjoyed some pizza, etc. while the boys all were swimming. You couldn’t get too close to the pool without getting wet.
SATURDAY -- Ryan and I left about 7:30 to fill the font for Cael’s baptism at 9:00am. Once we got the room cleaned (the RS had set up their humanitarian-aid project in front of the font area) and started the water, Ryan left to go get ready. I reminded him to bring clean under clothes as I remember having to make a quick trip for dry clothes after an earlier baptism. While he was gone, I set up the chairs, etc. as Ryan told me. When Rochele came, she wanted things re-arranged so I quickly made the revision. Once the program started Rochele asked Cael to help her as she gave the baptismal talk. She warned him to not be “too crazy” in figuring things out but in reality, he was very creative and thought fast on how to do what Rochele thought was an impossible task. She soon had to change the “rules” to make it fit in with her talk. The rest of the service was very good and there were quite a number of people who attended. I ended up setting up nearly twice as many chairs as the original thought. After the service, I said something to Ryan and he asked me how I liked his wet shirt? He had forgotten to bring a dry shirt so he just put his suit coat on over his wet shirt and did the confirmation. He also forgot to bring dry underwear for Cael ...oops! Other than a couple of mishaps, it was a very nice baptismal. I was sure glad we were able to attend. After the program, we made a quick clothes change and were off to Zac’s soccer game about half hour away. It got pretty hot and humid but was fun anyway. We stopped at the 4-river smokehouse for lunch on the way home. It was on the order of café Rio but with BBQ meats instead of Mexican. It was tasty. I mowed the lawn and got really sweaty so had a quick shower and changed clothes then headed for the Boggy-Creek air boat ride in the everglades. It was pretty neat how the boats could just go over the grass and willows without problems. We were also looking for alligators. I managed to spot a small one as we were going along. It was about3-4 feet long. We got pretty close to it with the boat and stopped for a picture. We also saw another 8 foot female by her nest. The extra 4 -5 feet made a lot of difference on the size of the alligator. It was a fun trip! Glad we got to go because it was questionable as Rochele passed Ryan on the way and took the wrong turn on the freeway so they were stressed but the boat company waited until we could all get together. From the water, we went back to the house and relaxed, etc, finally watching the USU football on tape delay. We had a great day and a good visit but by night, I was wore out and ready for bed.
SUNDAY -- Up earlier than the rest, check my flight plans and they were OK so finished packing for the trip back to Vermont. Ryan took us to the airport (which made him late for Church). Our return flight took us to LaGuardia airport in NY and then on to Manchester, NH. There were 3 empty seats on the plane so we were really blessed on being able to get on the flights we selected.
MONDAY -- I guess I was tired as I was a little later than usual in getting up. Took a short walk to the post office and did some washing in preparation for the upcoming week. Things at the Memorial started off quite busy but fell off just before the start of FHE. There was a nice group in attendance and the food was great so we had a good night.
THURSDAY -- We did the morning shift today rather than take the day off as usual. We will use our day off this weekend. We were more busy than I really anticipated. At the end of our shift we were mainly trying to pack to go to Florida.
FRIDAY -- We got up at 3:30am and drove to Manchester NH where we parked the car at a Best Western Motel to catch a plane to Detroit, MI and from there to Orlando FL. We were blessed to make the schedule we had outlined and arrived in Orlando about 1:00pm. Rochele (plus the Hansen’s and Ty) were waiting to pick us up at the airport. It was surely good to see them. After a quick lunch, I was kept pretty busy helping Rochele get ready for Cael’s birthday party later that afternoon. He had 6-8 other boys invited and they were pretty active. I set up an obstacle course using several different kinds of balls and it was pretty obvious which kids were sports minded and which were not. We enjoyed some pizza, etc. while the boys all were swimming. You couldn’t get too close to the pool without getting wet.
SATURDAY -- Ryan and I left about 7:30 to fill the font for Cael’s baptism at 9:00am. Once we got the room cleaned (the RS had set up their humanitarian-aid project in front of the font area) and started the water, Ryan left to go get ready. I reminded him to bring clean under clothes as I remember having to make a quick trip for dry clothes after an earlier baptism. While he was gone, I set up the chairs, etc. as Ryan told me. When Rochele came, she wanted things re-arranged so I quickly made the revision. Once the program started Rochele asked Cael to help her as she gave the baptismal talk. She warned him to not be “too crazy” in figuring things out but in reality, he was very creative and thought fast on how to do what Rochele thought was an impossible task. She soon had to change the “rules” to make it fit in with her talk. The rest of the service was very good and there were quite a number of people who attended. I ended up setting up nearly twice as many chairs as the original thought. After the service, I said something to Ryan and he asked me how I liked his wet shirt? He had forgotten to bring a dry shirt so he just put his suit coat on over his wet shirt and did the confirmation. He also forgot to bring dry underwear for Cael ...oops! Other than a couple of mishaps, it was a very nice baptismal. I was sure glad we were able to attend. After the program, we made a quick clothes change and were off to Zac’s soccer game about half hour away. It got pretty hot and humid but was fun anyway. We stopped at the 4-river smokehouse for lunch on the way home. It was on the order of café Rio but with BBQ meats instead of Mexican. It was tasty. I mowed the lawn and got really sweaty so had a quick shower and changed clothes then headed for the Boggy-Creek air boat ride in the everglades. It was pretty neat how the boats could just go over the grass and willows without problems. We were also looking for alligators. I managed to spot a small one as we were going along. It was about3-4 feet long. We got pretty close to it with the boat and stopped for a picture. We also saw another 8 foot female by her nest. The extra 4 -5 feet made a lot of difference on the size of the alligator. It was a fun trip! Glad we got to go because it was questionable as Rochele passed Ryan on the way and took the wrong turn on the freeway so they were stressed but the boat company waited until we could all get together. From the water, we went back to the house and relaxed, etc, finally watching the USU football on tape delay. We had a great day and a good visit but by night, I was wore out and ready for bed.
SUNDAY -- Up earlier than the rest, check my flight plans and they were OK so finished packing for the trip back to Vermont. Ryan took us to the airport (which made him late for Church). Our return flight took us to LaGuardia airport in NY and then on to Manchester, NH. There were 3 empty seats on the plane so we were really blessed on being able to get on the flights we selected.
MONDAY -- I guess I was tired as I was a little later than usual in getting up. Took a short walk to the post office and did some washing in preparation for the upcoming week. Things at the Memorial started off quite busy but fell off just before the start of FHE. There was a nice group in attendance and the food was great so we had a good night.
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