October: Brilliant and Busy

October 1-12

It is easy to understand why so many tourists visit New England this time of the year.  Wayne Jenkins brought another group of people early this month.  Richard & Lucinda Kay and Blake and Ann Garrett were also a few of the "home-town" visitors that we knew.  It is always fun to talk to people that we connect to.

Ryan, Rochele, Chace, Zachary, Cael, & Ty  at the Memorial

Ryan's family finally came to Vermont for a short visit, October 3-6.  It was so wonderful to see them again!

 

Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Factory

 

Quechee Gorge

Simon Pierce

Examining an 1830 1st-Edition copy of the Book of Mormon at                Dartmouth College

Sweet September

September 15-30

Fall is definitely in the air.  It is hard to face the fact that summer is nearly over.  The mums are looking nice and the beauty of this site is always amazing.

It is always inspiring to be with the young missionaries!

Multi-Zone Conference with Elder & Sister Wilson

JSBM Senior Couple Missionaries 

The last parade of the summer in Bethel - Sept. 20

 

Elijah and Alyssa Hopkin Concert (opera singers performing Christ-theme song)

Halen's Baptism - September 27

MONDAY  (Sept. 15)  --   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 weeks activities before going to the Memorial for the afternoon shift.  Things 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.  

TUESDAY -- We had to do a little switching as the Osborn’s had Dr. and Dentist appointments so today was our all day at the Memorial.  It was a rainy morning to start off the day so that put a damper on the number of visitors to the Memorial which makes the days even longer.  At the end of the day we decided just to stay at the Memorial as all Senior Missionaries were to meet at 7:30pm to meet with Pres. Stoker and Elder Larry Wilson of the 2^nd Q of the 70.  It was nice to talk to them and we had a good visit but since we didn’t get home until 10:00pm it made the day even longer.     WEDNESDAY --  All the missionaries in this zone met at the memorial at 8:30am for a zone picture with Elder and Sister Wilson prior to going to Zone Conference at the Chapel.  Rhonda and I were the ones who had to hold the “fort” down so we missed the morning talks and activities.  Osborn’s came back after their lunch and said to hurry down to the Church and get some lunch ourselves.  We hurried but by the time we got there, they had turned the Elders loose for seconds so much of the menu items were already gone.  We were going to stay for the afternoon meetings but they soon broke up into districts but all our “district” (senior missionaries) had left the meeting and we had no one to meet with so we lift also.  We took a little ride through some back roads and then back to the Memorial but by then our shift was over so we visited with the Osborn’s for a while and headed for home.  In the evening, Elder Harman came over to talk golf.  We had just made a reservation for tomorrow at Randolph and he wanted to go so I added him to the reservation.  We (the guys) then decided to go for a quick 9 hole outing at the course in Windsor.  I didn’t play very good but we had fun anyway even if we didn’t get home until dark.     

THURSDAY --  We did some washing and ironing early this morning then decided to go to town and pick up a few supplies for the coming week.  We got back to the apartment just in time to head to the Montague golf course in Randolph.  Elder Harman didn’t end up going after all --just Rhonda and I and we had a great time!  There were not many other people on the course.  It was a little cool and breezy but we still had fun.  From the golf course, we went to the Memorial and with Elder Russ Wilson’s help, covered the garden as they are predicting freezing temperatures tonight.  Rhonda decided to go to RS and then practice the piano at the Church for a while so I just stayed at the apartment.    

FRIDAY --  I was back at the Memorial before 8:00am this morning as there was a tour bus of Temple worker from England that wanted to come early and they had asked for two tours and a movie all at the same time so the Osborn’s ask me to come help them for a couple of hours.  I let Rhonda off at the Church to practice her music for the opera singers (Hopkins) performances on Sunday.  We got back home about 10:30 and by then I was ready for breakfast.  I ended up doing some “book” work and just putting in my time until we went back to the Memorial for our afternoon shift.  One of the couples I took arrived on their Harley.  We had a good discussion and he gave me some sayings and a cross but when I told him I would get him a B of M he decided it was time for them to drive away.      

SATURDAY -- We were scheduled for the morning shift but there was a parade in Bethel, VT and Elder Osborn was pretty insistent on having the accordion music so after we got the balloons inflated, Rhonda and Sister Osborn went to the parade and Elder Osborn and I “held the fort down”.    When the parade was over, Rhonda and I did the Memorial until about 3:00pm when we finally went to the apartment for some lunch so I just stayed there and watched the BYU football game on TV.   Rather than watch the game, Rhonda went to the Church and practiced music to accompany the opera singers tomorrow.  She didn’t get back home until after 10:00 pm.

SUNDAY --  We went to the Memorial so Rhonda could practice with the guests before sacrament meeting.  After meeting, they needed more practice so I just came to the Memorial and did tours for people who kept coming during the remainder of Church.   We were scheduled to be on duty the rest of the day but it ended up I gave most all of the tours while Rhonda practiced with the opera guests.  (Elijah and Alyssa Hopkin)  Right after our Church block all the young single adult ward from Boston converged on the Memorial.  There were over 50 of them and they were going every which direction and I was the only one so most of them just wandered around visiting with their friends for an hour or so.  The music concert started at 5:00 so just before that time, more people kept coming and I couldn’t keep straight who was coming to the concert and who was here to visit the Memorial.  I heard the concert was good but I didn’t get to see or hear much of it as there were non-members who wanted to see in the visitor center and I was the one on call.   

MONDAY --  Once we hit our afternoon shift we were on the go.  I am thinking that after the frost last Friday morning, the leaves are turning quickly and the “leaf peepers” must know it as we are going almost continuously.  Something must be happening as we didn’t have as many people to FHE as usual, we even got to the apartment at a more manageable time for the evening.

TUESDAY --  Walk, etc. as we had another casual morning.  We didn’t even get to the office before Elder Osborn called me and ask me to come take the rest of his tour so he could start the missionary meeting.  As usual, I didn’t get to much of the meeting as visitors just kept coming.  In the midst of visitors, the new Elders who are going to start working in this area arrived so we had to give them a little orientation as well.  In the late evening when things started to quiet down, Rhonda took the steamer to Camp Joseph and did some cleaning for the Wilson’s who are expecting company shortly.  She was a while getting back so I had a chance to visit with Jeff, the New England FM supervisor.   WEDNESDAY -- We were back to the Memorial early for one of our all day affairs.  We started off the morning with a 9:00am bus tour.  Osborn’s were gone with his brother for a couple of days so it was up to Rhonda and I.  The trick was that they wanted a guided tour in both rooms and also a movie at the same time.   We were able to get it all worked out and I feel we were able to give them the experience they wanted.  There were 53 people on the bus so it kept us hopping.  We also had a couple of visitors who came during the bus tour which we just had join in as we progressed through the rooms and then caught them up at the end so it all worked out OK.  It didn’t seem like we had much down time until at least 5:00pm.  Once home I quickly fixed some spaghetti and fresh tomatoes from our missionary garden, delicious!  After a quick pause to relax, we vacuumed the apartment and did some cleaning so Harman’s and their family can use our apt. while we are gone to Halen’s baptism.    I did spent quite a while trying to figure out a suitable and workable flight plan to get to the baptism.       

THURSDAY --  Here we are all day again as Osborn’s are still away.   We had several groups come but not as hectic as yesterday.  We had the FM missionaries in and out all morning as they are getting ready to have a “good-bye” dinner for the Egan’s who will be returning to Utah in the morning.  It was a simple but delicious steak dinner and a good time to be with old/new friends as all the FM office was also here including the new elders and the sisters.  This is about the first time I have not had to leave the “party” to go to the visitor center.  There were a couple of drive-thru’s but no one stopped.   Things were not as busy as yesterday and we even had the sisters here to help us.  As a result, we each made a trip or two to the garden trying to get a little ahead in case it freezes while we are gone to Utah tomorrow.  Once home, we did more cleaning and washing as Harman’s have family coming and are going to use our apartment.  We finally got around to packing so I had a few hours to get a little sleep.  

FRIDAY --  We were up early and on the road to the Manchester NH airport by 6:00am.  We made arrangements to park at the Best Western motel and then shuttle to the airport for a 9:00am flight to Detroit.  When we left home there were 14 extra seats to get to Utah.  Once in Detroit, we looked and the computer showed a -2 seats.  We called Randy and he had been looking but said to wait it out as there was nothing any earlier.  We found out that there was a tower fire in Chicago so  planes were being diverted to all near-by airports and then the people were being re-routed so guess that is what happened to the extra seats.  Eventually, we were the only two people left in the waiting area so they called our name and we got a seat.  I assume some of the people who were previously scheduled weren’t able to make their connections and so some additional seats opened up.  We were thankful for them and were on our Way to Utah.  Once in Utah, we located our checked bags so we were really loaded down to get on trax and then the bus and finally to Nyra’s garage where we picked up the little white Honda.  We hated to say good-bye to the garage but Christy and Brad need it to store some of their things as they are combining their assets.   A quick stop to Wendy’s then on to Sargent Steam to pick up the steamer Rhonda arranged for the Harman’s.  From there we went to Blake and Allison’s so Rhonda could get a haircut.  This is her first cut since we were there in January.  We then went to Rhett’s and saw all his family for a quick visit (Rhett was officiating a football game so we missed him)   A quick stop to Costco for cheese and other staples to take back to Vermont.  Sounds funny but we like Utah cheese better than the Vermont variety even in the cheese “capital” of the U.S. as they say.   We finally made our way to the cabin to check out the problem there (mouse, rat, squirrel or whatever droppings plus countless dead flies as well as live box elder bugs flying and crawling all over the place.  Rhonda worked on them for a while but I was tired and soon hit the bed.   SATURDAY --  We were up at 6:00am again and on the road driving to St. George as there were no flight spaces available.  Another quick stop at Costco for some pumpkin pies for lunch as as some gas and then straight to Randy’s where I cut his hair before they headed to the baptism.   RSO and I got the other 2 kids ready and met them at the Church for the baptismal service.  It was a very nice baptismal and Halen looked very handsome in his new suit.  Halen asked me to be one of the witnesses at his baptism which I consider an honor.  After the confirmation, we all met at Randy’s for lunch.  Rhonda and I were the only ones from Randy’s side of the family so we were really glad we were able to attend.  After a short visit with the Simkins’ we headed out and made a quick stop to see John Lemm to ask about some of the droppings and find out what our possibilities were to curb the problem.   Possibilities are not good until we get the insulation fixed under the bottom of the cabin.  From there we took a drive by past our house and then headed up the road towards the cabin.  We made a quick detour in Mona to visit Kevin and Janice for a minute and to see if Kevin is doing any better with his back problems.  (Some slight improvement but sure slow) Once we got to the cabin I was pooped and went straight to bed.   

SUNDAY --  The calendar may say it is Sunday but it feels like I have already had several Sunday’s this week but today turned out not to be one of them.  We sluffed Church and it sure didn’t feel like Sunday as I spent all day primarily working outside doing many things I felt needed to be done.  Things like start all three vehicles, some of them had to have batteries charged and gas primed in the carburetor.  I also started all the recreational vehicles so they should all make it until we get home in March.  I also spent some time mowing all the lawns, first with my old DI mower around the perimeters and then with the good mower on all the parts of the lawns.  It is still very frustrating that the ground is so much clay that every step either leaves you slipping and sliding and also that it cakes so bad you can hardly move about. LeIla came and brought us some lunch and we had a visit with her.  Misty, David and family also came for a good visit.  It was nice to see all of them again.  David helped me do some things outside that I was having a hard time doing by myself so I was thankful for his help.  Rhonda spent almost all her day cleaning up dead bugs and trying to clean up after some “critter” that gets into the cabin somehow and messes all over the floor and around.  Randy called about 5:00pm and said that the midnight flights weren’t going to work out so we wouldn’t be leaving until early in the morning.  From that point, my agenda quickly slowed down and about the only thing I accomplished from then until bedtime was re-organize the mud room as I replaced the wall panels, cleaned up the messes in the mud room, and moved the cupboards back inside.  I finally cleaned up and said that is enough work so I just sat around and tried to watch TV over the antenna as Scott had had to  re-do his Direct TV and our unit was disconnected.   

MONDAY  --  We got up and going at 5:10am hopefully on our way back to Vermont.    We locked up and drove to Scott’s and he delivered us to the airport on his way to work.  Randy scheduled us a trip that avoided some of the major airport hubs.  Basically, our trip went from SLC to St. Louis MO, to Laguardia NY and finally to Manchester NH.  We ended up spending about as much time in airports as it took us to make the trip but we finally arrived in NH.  We took the hotel shuttle and got our car and by then we knew we were going to make it so we headed into town to get some food.  We finally made it to our apartment in VT at 12:50am Tuesday morning.  We were soon to bed and thankful to be back.   

TUESDAY --  We were a little tired from all the travel so we spent a little extra time trying to get rested.   We realized that we were out of milk and a few of the staples so we made a quick trip to the grocery store in W. Lebanon.  Got ready and came to the Memorial for our afternoon shift as usual.  We were fairly busy with guests but one in particular I will remember.  He was a Mr. McMullen from Burlington.  He was in a tour with two member couples but was really paying attention to the movie and the tour.  After going to the Memorial, (and Mr. McMullen not too close) one of the members said that if we had some water we could baptize him right now.  He accepted a B of M and took the challenge to read as well as gave me his name, address, and phone number to have the missionaries call on him.  It is on occasions like this that you are really glad to be serving a mission and especially in this sacred spot.         

September

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.

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.