Good morning world

It's morning. Once again we are in Flagstaff sleeping in Megan's living room. All night long cars go by on the highway. It sounds like the surf when I'm sleeping, but now that I'm awake I think the entire world drives past Megan's house in the night. And it's cold. I'm wearing my Mexican dress, a sweatshirt and high heeled flip-flops, plus goose bumps.
Last night we drove down the highway to the rest stop and collected dynastes granti. Unfortunately we took a styrofoam cup, collected seven big males and one female, and before we knew it the males used their horns to cut out the bottom of the cup as neatly as a can opener. We dropped the first cup into a second cup and then I played tug of war with the cups while Megan drove. Beetles pushed the cup up, I pushed it down. Beetles tried to sneak around the sides and out, I tried to intercept them.
Does this sound like an unbelieveable easy task??? First granti are big--7 to 8 centimeters long. (The biggest beatle in North America, excluding Mexico)
Second they have two forward facing horns like pinchers or pliers--One kept clamping onto Megan's fingers before she could deposit him with me. (I have seen their larger, South American cousins crush a coke can with their horns.)
Third, like all insects they have six legs, and their little tarsi are sharp and made for clinging tightly to the sides of trees, telephone poles, and in this case my fingers.
And finally I was sitting in a small car, in the dark, with a dog watching my every move with intense curiousity.
When we finally got back to the apartment we dumped out the cups and discovered that 2 beetles had gone missing. Megan will have to find them in her car this morning.
A good time was had by all, I'm jumping back into the covers. I think Flagstaff must be part of Alaska.

The will to choose

"Part of deliberately doing anything is creating an environment that supports it. Environment is stronger than will. You will not attain your goals until you surround yourself with people who are actively striving toward similar ones."

The above is a quote. I don't agree with it completely. I think that the choice of environment may be an act of will. Will it bring me what I want? Will I choose to change my environment?

I do know that turtles shouldn't swim where there are crocodiles.

Hedged in

See the small plant between the pampas grass in the corner (young pampas grass) and the left edge of the picture? That is one of my problematic palm trees. It looks so small in this picture. i don't know why I couldn't just move it into place. Take my word for it. It is like an iceberg. You see less than a tenth of the entire tree!! The second palm tree is further to the left, which means, obviously, it is out of the picture!!

This is a view of my hedge. Of course you can't see all 12 plants, but when they grow a little it will be very nice. This is outside the wall around the yard. So the wall and the hedge are between us and the road.

Squirrelly

What the heck is that??? Haven't you ever seen a squirrel scratching itself under under the arm with his back foot? Well there you have it. You have to look close. I thought it was hilarious. If only I had had a video.

My how time flies. . . .

Here they are...these are the plants that I bought on my birthday 19 days ago. Luckily I did not take this picture today. I planted all the shrubs two weeks ago. All 12 along the outside of the 84 feet of our front wall. They look great. I was counting on the monsoon rains to keep them watered for me, but today I noticed that the rain isn't quite doing the job. All flash and boom, very little actual water here on the hill.
Meanwhile my palm trees sat in the driveway allll this time. A neighbor came over to help me move them, but we discovered that the tire on the dolly was flat. Steven was going to move them when he was here--I imagine he could have just picked them up and carried them across the yard and dropped them in the hole--but time slipped away. Another neighbor told me he would come by on Thursday and help, but then his father was hospitalized. Who would have imagined the difficulties that could pop up. Today, Thane and his nephew came by at 7:30 in the morning and we actually moved the trees across the yard, out of the boxes and into the ground.
Wow! I'll take a picture so you can see that I am telling the truth!
Then I decided that I really had to water the trees and shrubs. So, I dragged hoses from the back yard and hooked them together to start watering. This was my day: Water one shrub for 20 minutes while reading the Bourne Sanction outloud to Mike. Run outside for ten minutes move the hoses to the next shrub, check the hose on the palm trees, go back and read for 20 minutes. Do you realize that watering 12 shrubs that way takes 6 hours?? Ten til four. Yep, and most of a book.
Yesterday I did family history all day. On the Danish census. Iam starting to learn all those family words like muder and datter. Ugift is single. Gift is married. Nice huh?? Have a great night.
(Happy birthday Janelle and Mark E and Elysse. More people are born in August than any other month. And happy belated birthday Steven and Chase and Tory! and Abbie! That's just in the family. And I am sure I am forgetting some. What in the world was going on 9 months before August??!!)

Books and other things

Aly (Smith Lloyd) invited me to join her on-line bookclub. Hmm. So what fun books have I been reading? I just finished reading The Broken Spears, by Leon Portillo. Great book. Excerpts from early post-conquest Nahuatl writing about the conquest of Mexico. And now I have started reading Five Letters of Cortez to the Emperor, by Hernando Cortez. Also fascinating. And completely different perspectives obviously. Some of the Nahuatl writings hadn't been translated into English until the 1960's. And Cortez's first letter was lost until several years ago when fragments of it were discovered, along with the fifth and previously unknown letter.

But at the same time I have been reading Science Fiction short stories just to even things out. That book is The Intergalactic Medicine Show. Great fun. I wish it hadn't ended. I could have kept reading short stories. But none of these are the popular reading club books of the day.

Megan gave me the greatest birthday present ever--Daniel Silva's newest book--Moscow Rules. Have you been following the whole Russia/Georgia thing? Silva makes Russia sound really scary. I'm afraid it is. Our cousin Caroline Bartholomew was in Armenia for three years, and went to a resort on the Black Sea, that she said reminded her of Santa Monica, Ca when she was young. I assume that was in Georgia. What a small world.

Graham caught a gopher snake last week. He put it in the aquarium with his King snake. Guess what happened. . . . The King Snake strangled the gopher snake and swallowed it whole. It was an 8 hour process. Reminds me of politics.

Gross.

The family eccentric

". . . in the real world everybody's family is strange, in one way or another. On average, families are pretty much alike, but in detail, every family does things that make people from outside the family shake their heads and wonder how any of the children emerged with their sanity.

Well--do any of us? Or don't we all carry around in us bits of madness acquired from our families? This does not mean families are bad--on the contrary, those who have no families merely carry around the madness of strangers. The fact is that everyone has an odd upbringing, with plenty of triggers leading to eccentricity (at least) or serious neuroses--or worse."

(OS Card)

If this quote doesn't apply to you please ignore the above!!

Isn't it great to know that we are all normal and just like everybody else after all. Except for me--I think I am the perfectly normal exception that proves the rule??!!

Happy Birthday Steven!!!

Steven came home from NYC for his birthday. He is twenty-one!!! Incredible. He looks good, looks strong, the moving man's life agrees with him. We took him to IHOP this morning to try and put a few more pounds on that long tall frame. The staff came out and sang Happy Birthday to him and gave him an ice cream sundae after his full breakfast. He told me that singing like that was only for little kids. The people at the next table congratulated him! But, it is nice to have people sing happy birthday on your Bday. I think he secretly enjoyed it!! He sure ate the sundae down fast!

Barbwire Cowboy

Mike took this picture in Nogales today. We went down to IHOP and had lunch with the missionaries. Any excuse. . . (I ordered a salad and water--the challenge continues.)

But this cowboy is as tough as they come. He reminds me of our friends who run cows and horses in the river bottoms. Actually, I think our friends are tougher than this dude!

Quote of the Day

"We can travel a long way and do many different things, but our deepest happiness is not born from accumulating new experiences. It is born from letting go of what is unnecessary, and knowing ourselves always at home." Sharon Salzburg

And if you are as lucky as we are you will find that when you are together it is always an adventure and that you are always home, whereever you happen to be together.

Straight!!

Graham got his braces off. Look at those beautiful teeth!!! Fifty bucks a month for 15 months. Gotta love the border.

This is my grandpa Evenson. I think this is my favorite picture of him, because this is how I remember him. Relaxed, comfortable, always wearing that hat.

My grandpa drank coffee. When I was little I was shocked. I thought drinking coffee was bad--like a sin--and I knew my grandpa was a good man.

He lived in a time before the Word of Wisdom was given the emphasis that it has now. It was like the pirates' rules of parlay--more of a suggestion. But by the time I came along, it was definitely more than a suggestion.

He told me that he had drunk coffee all his life, that his mother had given him coffee in his baby bottle. He just couldn't give it up. And to think, he was still so much more relaxed than my granma.

When he was old--probably in his 70's?? he was called as a temple worker. But to do that he had to stop drinking coffee. And so he did. Just like that. He and my grandmother worked in the temple together for years.

He died sitting in his chair in the living room. It looked like he had fallen asleep watching TV. Relaxed to the end.

Tech support for life

Ever feel like you're banging your head against a brick wall?

For anyone who has ever worked at a call center, and for the rest of us who have ever tried to call with a simple Question, Here is tech support for life:

Support: Hello, this is Kelly. How may I help you?

Caller: I can't open this Smucker's jar. I've tried running it under hot water and it still won't budge.

Support: I understand you're having trouble opening a jar of preserves. Is that correct?

Caller: Yes, I just told you.

Support: Can you tell me the flavor of the preserves as well as its UPC code? YOu can find the UPC code on the label on the back of the jar.

Caller: Strawberry, and leet me see.....435931419865.

Support: Thank you. Do you mind if I take a few minutes to search for that information?

Caller: Fine.

(Five minutes later)

Support: Thank you for waiting. Here are the recommended steps: 1. Turn on the hot water in the kitchen sink. 2. Run the metal lid under the hot water. 3. Turn off the hot water and dry the jar and lid with a dishrag. 4. Using the dishrag, twist the lid counterclockwise to open the jar.

Caller: Have you been listening to anything I've said? I already tried running it under hot water.

Support: It sounds like you have already tried the above steps. Is that correct?

Caller: Yes. Can I talk to your supervisor?

Support: I'm sorry you were displeased with my help. Please hold while I search for someone else to handle your issue.

This goes on quite a bit further, but you get the idea, I know. We've all been there. Now, can you think of other tech support for life issues? I'm sure there is a call center ready and waiting to answer your every question!! Or at least we could make up a really frustrating conversation so that you feel like you have given it your all.

(This came from the July issue of Real Simple, by Teddy Wayne if you want to read the rest of this fine conversation down to the exciting conclusion, or should I say solution???)

Four Noble Truths for Writers

Well, that very imposing title is a quote, it is not my own words. But the truths that follow aren't nearly so noble. They seem like common sense. So to remind myself, I will put them here:

1. Writer's write.

2. Writing is a process.

3. You don't know what your writing will be until the end of the process.

4. If writing is your practice, the only way to fail is to not write.

One is obvious, we could also say non-writer's do not write. . . 2. I hate the word process, but since I agree completely with #3, at least in my case, I guess I'll let it go. I especially like number 4 and I think I could apply it to anything I want to learn or do--painting, drawing, cooking, scripture study, etc, etc.

Oh my, how busy I will have to be!

They guessed I was 30!!

I am a good Mormon girl. I guess now I am a good Mormon woman. Anyway, on Sunday when the Primary President asked me if I could substitute teach a class of eleven 8 year olds for 2 hours on the spur of the moment, I of course said yes. They were a very nice group of kids. I had forgotten how nice 8 year olds can be. We had a fun lesson and when they discovered that Monday was my birthday they immediately wanted to guess my age. The numbers ranged wildly all over the age chart, but the kids settled on 30. What could be better than that?? When they asked me if they were right I said, not quite. . .I turned 59 yesterday. And then when I confessed my true upcoming age, very pleased with themselves, they declared that at least they weren't very far off.

It's all a matter of perspective right?

And it doesn't feel very far off.

I talked to all my children yesterday (No, that is not a soap opera). That may be the nicesst thing about a birthday.

I worked in the yard and I bought myself 14 big potted plants and and 2 boxed minature palm trees. I was very pleased with my present. So, today I have plenty to do. Actually, I am going to hire someone to clean the yard, plant a hedge and arrange the additional miscl. plants around the yard. But planning does take mental effort. Never discount that mental effort!!

Ta ta for now. I'm off to water the yard!