Mayo is the smart one.

Our kitties like to play in the horse pasture behind our back yard. They go and spend a lovely day, and come (sometimes) when I call -- they are cats after all.

Today the pasture was getting watered. He flood irrigates it.

When they left this morning, it was lakish in just a few places. Tonight when we came home from visiting Grandma and Grandpa, it was all lakish.

When I called out the back door, they poked their heads over the plank fence. It was wet between me and them, but they wanted to come home. I wanted them to come home. I kept calling. They started and then stopped whey they sunk ankle deep in the water.

I must admit, Craig and I found this very amusing. I kept calling to see what they would do.

I tried to give them a hint of where the high ground was.

Mayo looked around, backtracked a bit and trotted over on the small dike under a wire fence.

I guess Cinco didn't pay attention. He persisted in finding his own way, with many stops and starts along the way. Several times he got to the middle of the lake, and went back. If he would have kept going, he would have spent the same amount in the water. He had very little foresight.

He almost made it to the small dike and a dry crossing, but gave up on it and forged through the water.

Mayo had wet feet, he was wet up to his knees.

I am, however, very glad they are home. And I enjoyed the show. :)

Pondering about a garden.

This is the season of freshly tilled dirt and seedlings.

We used to have a roto-tiller. When we lived in Central Oregon, we had a very nice tiller. But we moved and didn’t have room to pack it.

So, we gave our tiller away – practically.

Since then, we have had small postage stamp size garden plots.

Big enough to grow tomatoes, and maybe something else.

Last year, in our current house, I wanted some tomatoes. We had a overgrown garden spot tucked into the back corner of our back yard.

The ground was unyielding. Upon inspection, I noticed small strawberry plants.

I dug out the shovel, and began to weed.

I was impressed that this little area could grow tomatoes and a few more vegetables. I began to dig up more than just the weeds in the strawberries.

I told Craig about it and it became a family project.

We tilled the garden with just a shovel and lots of sweat.

It took a long time.

It was exhausting.

My arms ached after a session with the shovel.

I didn’t want to do that again this year.

This year, I noticed a friend tilling his garden spot. I approached him, very brazenly, and said, “I see you have a roto-tiller.” I tried my nicest smile.

He smiled back and said it belonged to another neighbor, but he was almost done with it.

“Oh,” I smiled again and said, “I will go and ask him if I can use it. Thank you.”

Within minutes, I secured permission to borrow the amazing machine.

Craig was very accommodating and postponed his plans for about an hour and tilled my little garden. I wanted to be helpful, so I picked rocks.

The whole point to this story is that it took less than an hour to do what it had taken over a week the year before.

And, it was done better. It took less effort. Less sweat was involved. My arms didn’t ache from digging and digging and digging some more.

I have been thinking about one of my favorite scriptures. Alma is talking about faith. There is a much overlooked part of verse 28 (Chapter 32)  that I am thinking of. “Now, if ye give place, that a seed may be planted in your heart, . . .”

How do we give place in our hearts? What does that mean?

For knowledgeable gardeners, the ground must be prepared before seeds are planted. Sometimes that is more work than the actual planting.

Weeds cleared, rocks dug up, fertilizer worked into the soil.

How do we do that spiritually?

Sins repented of and forgiven, bad habits dug out of our souls, doubts cleared.

If we don’t do the prep work before we plant, our little seeds will suffer and not grow well.

If we insist on doing that work alone, we often don’t clear the ground effectively enough to be able receive the answers we are looking for.

So, for this pondering moment, the Atonement is like the roto-tiller. It can dig up the deep roots of the sins and habits and thoughtless acts that have snuck into our lives when we were not paying attention.

It can stir up the things, even from the darkest corners of our memories, that need to be cleared away.

It can break up the hard, caked earth of all our hurt feelings and disappointments.

And, it is available to us just for the asking. We have to use it in our hearts. We have to walk behind it and guide it to every corner. We have to make sure we till each square inch.

Our care and diligence is required to prepare our hearts.

And then the miracle of the seed can begin.

I got myself into this.

Josh is attending a two weekend powow for scouts.

He is earning four merit badges. I told him he had to do two required ones and he could pick two fun ones.

So we are in the middle of Citizenship in the Community and Citizenship in the Nation.

He needs 8 hours of volunteer work for Community. I was at a loss. At work, I was talking with my friend who helps run the after school program. She was like, Duh! Bring him here.

So, last Thursday, Monday, Tuesday, today, and tomorrow he will get his 8 hours in.

Yesterday he also had piano lessons. I called to see if there was a cancellation and if we could take it because he also had to attend a town meeting and there was one that started at 7:00.

Today is the volunteering again, regular scouts moved up to 5:30. They will be working on the swimming part of the 1st Class (I think) and then he has a band concert tonight at 7:00. Grandma and Grandpa will be coming.

Tomorrow will be the last day of volunteering, and he has to read a famous speech.

Still to do, write a presentation (speech -- because I don't have the computer or the skills for the other) and find someone to interview about something in our community.

These are major things and I am a bit overwhelmed. But I am not telling that to Josh. We are just getting it done.

I like a much slower life.

a conversation with a sixth grader

Josh had to go shopping with me tonight.

He asked me, "What do you call a fish without an i?"

"Fsh" (imagine lots of emphasis on the "f" and the "sh")

I told him he was a dork.

He went into convulsions.

He told me he was going to create a new word. Fsh means a kind of cloud.

I said that it has to be a specific kind of cloud. And they have scientific names -- with Latin roots.

He said, "Oh. Then it will mean a word like dang it."

We turned a corner and the piano books in the back seat slid off and landed on the floor.

Josh said, "Fsh!" and tried to retrieve them. He got them and put them back on the back seat.

I stopped at a stop sign and the books slid to the floor again.

Josh said, "Fsh!" Convulsed and twisted to get them again.

He put them on the back seat again and I turned another corner.

He convulsed and said, "Fsh!" again.

I said, "Why don't you just hold the books? The ISAT test has fried your brain."

He said, "The ISAT has took all my smarticles."

He got that word from a girl in his class.

I told him he was going to grow up and marry her. He was totally grossed out. I said that he was going to grow up and kiss her. He was freaking out.

He couldn't wait to get home and get out of the car.

Checking in

I haven't written here in a while.

I've been running too much to sit and think. Or, perhaps, a little bit lazy.

We have been on another family bike ride.

This one re-traced our original route. Except this time I was the leader and Craig brought up the rear. He was the one shepherding Boaz and making sure he was safe. (I was just a bit jealous.)

This time we actually got a table at Rupe's and had some lunch. The bikes were out of sight. I tried to keep an eye out for anybody that might be riding away on one of the bikes. Craig said that this is Blackfoot. I retorted with something about our storage unit being broken into. But we sat at a table and enjoyed lunch.

We returned home with only one small mishap. Boaz took a tumble in some loose rocks on the side of the road. Craig and to put the chain back on. I was glad he was there to do it. Boaz doesn't seem to care too much when he takes the tumble. He is looking forward to Josh getting a new bike, so he can inherit Josh's bike.

We are loving family bike rides.

Happy Birthday Ron

Grandsons and great-grandsons lined up behind Grandpa.

Starting with John, Bowen, Josh, Boaz, Taiven, Conner, Max and Abe.




Granddaughters. Courtney, Kim, Maddie, and Ashlin




Brothers and sisters with dad.

Happy birthday. It's been 81 great years.

Sentry Key

Our car comes with an anti-theft device.

It will only work if there is an authorized key being used.

Sounds pretty good, until the car decided the key is no longer authorized.

I read through the manual -- to see if there was a way to reset the stupid feature.

I did not find anything.

I called an authorized dealer here in town. Their best advice was to tow the car in and they would hook it up to the computer.

No thanks.

I remembered I had done this once before and we had figured out a way to reset it.

I didn't remember what we had done.

I called Craig.

He had a busy day and didn't get back to me for hours. (When he did, he thought I didn't have a ride to work and he felt horrible. It happened after work.)

He remembered what the fix was. He came home and disconnected the battery. That reset all the features back to new.

The car now recognizes my key as authorized, and I can drive again.

I really don't like this feature.

All the cousins.

 Josh tried to hide to get out of the picture. But I wouldn't let him.

Boaz was happy to be part of what ever was going on.

Raven is all girl, and knows how to work the camera.

Karly and Cody

 Two cousins who don't get to see each other too often. They spent the day getting reaquainted.





 I love this picture. Cody had just put Karly in the snow -- several times. She and Tim managed to get him in the snow, a little bit.





It pays to be a wrestler and understand how to not get taken down. :)

Our group in front of the Tetons

 A nice man took our picture. We had just taken a picture of his family.

The scenery was incredible.

The snow was fun.

A good day to remember.

Starting on the left: Tim, Brenda, Raven, Karly, Cody Debbie, Craig, me. Front row: Josh and Boaz.

We wanted to get to Jenny Lake, but the road was closed to vehicles and we didn't bring any bikes. :(

Craig's birthday

I have not posted everything about Jackson yet, but today is Craig's birthday.

The boys and I went shopping. I wanted to find a nice pair of pants or a shirt. I've been wanting to find him a pink shirt for over a year now.

He told me that he would wear one. ;)

So, today at Kohl's is the pre-Easter sale.

I found a nice pair of pants for 50% off. A nice pink shirt for 50 % off. And the boys each picked out a tie, one was on clearance and the other was about 50% off.

So for about the price of the pair of pants, I got everything. (Because I used my Kohl's card, I got an additional 20% off -- so the clearance tie was basically free.)

Yahoo!

Josh picked a Jerry Garcia tie -- pink flowers. A little crazy, but pretty. I really like it. I'm not too sure that Craig will wear it.

Boaz was drawn to the stripes. He picked out about 6 ties, all of them striped, before I said yes to one. I had no idea that he liked stripes. He picked out a black stripe, a blue stripe, a purple stripe -- and now that I am writing this, he liked the solid ties also.

I don't like the solid ties. I said no to those. But he found an aqua solid tie, a yellow solid tie and I think a pink solid tie.

It is so cute shopping with the boys.

I don't do it often though.

They never look at the price tag.

And usually they are bored within 2 minutes and whining about the whole process.

But today, it was lovely to have them help me pick out ties for their dad.

Sisters

Me, Deb and Brenda. It is always great to get together and hang out. I can't seem  to resist teasing Deb. Brenda is always game for what ever. :)














In the second picture we are behaving ourselves.

The Teton

 This is the best picture I've been able to get. Usually when I am visiting she is shy and dressed in clouds.

She is beautiful!

Playing in Jackson Hole, Wyoming

Boaz enjoying the bear throne.

He's not sure he wants to mingle with us peasants.








One of the elk antler arches.
Raven, Karly, Tim and Brenda.