A visit from our daughters

There is a motorcycle rally going on in Sturgis, South Dakota. It isn't the best environment for growing girls. Brenda decided to bring her girls and come to visit us in Colorado Springs. Betty has been anxious to see Brenda and her girls.

Chloe saw a pincher bug, and didn't like it. The ran to tell her mommy with "eeww, mommy" kill it!.

Her tune changed when she found a rolly polly bug to play with and put into a pill box.

Aubrey said, "hello, Grandma, I love you, can I use your computer, I wanna get a webkin, can I huh?"

Grandma said, "Hello, I love you too, you can use the computer later, what's a webkin?"

Everyone was just settling down when there was a knock at the door and Brewster started barking. Grandma yelled at the dog and told him to quit barking. When he wouldn't settle down, she answered the door and boy was she surprised!!

Who was at the door, but Andrea! She was in Colorado Springs on an errand so she and Ashleigh decided to stop by and say hello.
The boys didn't come with her. Matthew didn't feel like coming, and Luke didn't get asked.

Luke was a bit surprised that Mom came to the Springs without him. He texted her to let her know how he felt. He wasted no words.

Brenda said, "Why Andrea, I haven't seen you forever, how are you, where are the boys? have you met Chloe before? How's work? Are you still working at the same place?

Grandpa was glad to see all of his girls, but felt somewhat ovewhelmed because he was outnumbered by these fast talking funny faced women. I wonder where they get it?

A visit from Mother Goose

We have a dear friend, Jo, that is very good with animals. She and her husband have rescued several animals. Since we have known them, they have rescued several golden retrievers. She cares for a buck deer she calls "Handsome". Last winter, they adopted and cared for an abandoned squirrel they named Nicky. Right now, they are caring for a Canadian Goose named Milo.

When someone brought Milo to her, he was just a ball of yellow down. His grey feet identified him as a goose rather than a duck. He quickly imprinted on Jo and was following her everywhere.

Last night, Jo and her husband, Blake, brought Milo to our home for a visit. He was wrapped carefully in a towel because he is so efficient at processing his food. Jo has a harness she uses on Milo to hold diapers on him. She didn't bring it with her, so for the sake of Milo and our carpets, we took our visitors to the back yard. Milo was quite at home. He explored and sampled the grass and dandelions as he seemed to carry on a conversation with Jo.

At Jo's prompting, he spread his wings. I was really surprised at how large he had gotten in the short time he has been with our friends. Blake tells me that Canadian geese are full grown in three and a half months from birth.

Canadian Geese are social animals. In an effort to help Milo integrate with others of his species, cracked corn is being fed to a flock of geese nearby as Milo learns to be a part of the gaggle. As the wild geese have learned to accept Jo and Blake, they have accepted Milo as well.

Milo is beginning to fly. With time he may migrate with the other birds of his species. I believe Milo will always be a part of Blake and Jo's family.

Take a look at the pictures Jo sent of Milo, Nikky, Shawmus, and Joby:

When is it time to garden?

When Betty and I moved into this house, there was a dried tangle of last winter's dried flowers and weeds. They were quite an eye sore. We worked hard and we cleaned them up. We were pleasantly surprised as we saw new growth coming up where the old dried foilage had been. We were even more surprised when we saw that there was a variety of plants. I didn't know which were weeds and which were flowers. We have a neighbor across the street who has a beautiful flower garden and so I decided to ask her to help me identify the different plants. She told me that she was a professional florist and that she would be happy to help me identify what I had in my garden. She declared that I had a variety of valuable flowering plants, and that we had a lot of weeding to do.

Summer came and we enjoyed the flowers. We enjoyed the early daffodils, jonquils and tulips. We enjoyed the fragrance of the lavendar and mint. We enjoyed the iceplant and other ground covers and they formed a beautiful quilt over the soil. We watch Iris and periwinkle bloom. We started to clean up the weeds around the outside edges. The results were pleasing. We enjoyed the flowers and forgot about the weeds.

As blossoms came and went, they left behind a tangle of stems holding spent blossoms. The color is nice, but the garden needs tending.

Behind the lillies I see a carpet of unwelcome weeds. I realize tonight that a half hearted effort isn't going to get the flowerbed presentable. I am going to have to work at it each day until flowers are trimmed, weeds are pulled, and the mess is cleaned up.

If I quit before the job is done, I have wasted my effort. The weeds will grow again and plants that are desirable will grow beyond their borders. Mint is terrible for that.

Our lives are like the flower garden. Our time is colored by the enjoyable things we do. Trips and entertainment make our lives enjoyable. There can be weeds in our life as well. We develop bad habits and unhealty attitudes. These weeds can choke out the beauty of life's garden if we don't take the time to weed and prune.

Early morning meditation is a time that serves this purpose for me. I read from the scriptures. I write in my journal, I read things that help me grow, and I ponder how I will be spending the day. I can tell when I have been neglecting the garden by not taking this time at the beginning of the day. Unhealthy habits and attitudes creep in and I know it is time to tend the garden again.

Roses and Fawns

Our house is on the west side of Colorado Springs. It is just a few miles from the forrested mountains. I am surprised to see the deer as often as we do.

The other morning, Betty got up to let the dog out to do his business when she saw a couple of spotted fawns playing. They were on our lawn and that of our neighbor's next door. They were running and playing without regard to the people that were watching them play. Betty saw them, but I only had her word that it happened.

A few days later, Betty looked out the window and squealed. The deer were back with some of their family to play in the yard. This time, I grabbed the camera and took some pictures through the glass. Some of the pictures were not the best, but it was fun.

This picture shows the corner of our yard where our roses used to grow. We watched them bud and bloom earlier this summer. No sooner had they bloomed, that the blossoms were cropped off. Our neighbor who is a professional florist warned us that would happen. As soon as they see the red blossoms, they know they are just right to eat. They say that roses are edible. I'll have to try some rose petals in our next tossed salad.

The deer seemed quite bold so I opened the door and went out into the yard to join them. The dog barked and they cleared the fence just as if it weren't there. They were not eager to leave, however. They just stood there and watched us. It was as though they were enjoying watching us as much as we were enjoying them. There was no fear in them at all.

Looking towards our neighbor's yard, you can see a doe and her spotted fawns. I walked out to the corner of our yard. There is no fence, there is only a retaining wall that is about 24 inches high. Around to the right of a bush, I could see one of the twin fawns looking guardedly at me, a strange man with the flashing box.

As I stood still and watched, the little critter's curiosity won over caution. It came toward me with it's tail straight up in the air and it's nose twitching from right to left.

The telephoto lense on the camera allowed me to get close to the little venturer.

When I snapped this last photo, he turned and was gone.

Betty and I really enjoyed the deer that morning. We would even be willing to sacrifice a few roses to entice them into the yard.

As a 1930's Spouse

I took the test earlier and didn't agree with the result. I was going to drop it, but I have a brother who motivates me to do things I wouldn't do otherwise. That's a good thing.

Betty and I took the surveys this time as a joint effort. This was more realistic result. At least it was flattering to me. I think Betty was sometimes hard on herself. I think her score was a bit lower because we no longer have children at home. She's the best in the world as far as I'm concerned.

97 As a 1930s husband, I am Very Superior Take the test!

71 As a 1930s wife, I am Superior Take the test!

This little exercise gave us a chuckle or two, but we also were able to see things that we could do to improve our relationship. Thank you, Larry.

A special visitor

This week, we've had a special visitor. She was attending a seminar at the Antler's plaza hotel and needed a place to stay. Her name is Jane Haynie.

Jane was married to Galen Haynie from Manassa. Galen was killed in Vietnam. Galen was a descendant of Christen Jensen. I knew his grandmother as Aunt Kistie Mortensen. Galen's mother was Aunt Kistie's daughter Lucinda who married Earl Haynie. Earl owned and operated the dry goods store in Manassa for years.

We have really enjoyed Jane's visit and hope to get to know her better. She will be off tomorrow to a family reunion in Grand Junction with Anna (Knight) Wheeler's family.

Little house in the city

I have heard it said that we humans have the tendency to fill whatever space we occupy. We seem to have done just that when we moved into the big house on the hill. The house had a lots of space for storage as well as an ample two car garage, a garden shed, and a work shed.

A time came that it was necessary for us to move into smaller quarters. We moved from a four bedroom home into a two bedroom home. We moved into a smaller garage, and we have no outer buildings other than a small greenhouse that we want to use for raising vegetables.

For the first few months in the new home, we were just settling in we said to ourselves. We needed time to get around to the things that were still piled up in the garage. Today was the day to tackle the neglected storage space. We need to be able to park our new car in the garage and there just isn't enough room for both our accumulated junk and the new car even though the car isn't a very large one.

I took a look at the back door of the garage and nearly bolted. I wasn't ready to handle the boxes, the orders from my sweetheart, and the frustration of finding a home for everything we had been ignoring for months.

I turned and looked at the front door. Yes this garage has a back and a front door. We aren't sure yet if the garage is a one car garage, or if we pack them like sardines to get them both in out of the weather. Betty insisted that we get it done, and we buckled down and started moving things and emptying boxes.

Betty doesn't have the heart to throw things away. She insists that we can make money if we put our junk out in the front yard and intice people to give us money for the things that we'll throw away if nobody buys it. She has labels to put prices on everything, but in the meanwhile, it will have to stay in the garage. It's my most sincere desire that after this marvelous garage sale, our wallets will be well fed and we'll have a chance to try and put both cars out of the weather.

My back is killing me, but I think that before I go to bed tonight, we will be putting Lil Red into the garage. We still have a lot of sorting and pitching to do, but it's really nice to be able to see at least part of the garage floor.

Ole red has been replaced.

I knew it was time do do something last Sunday when I went to church. I got into my old rusty 1990 Nissan in my navy blue suit and headed of to church. When I came back to pick Betty up for meetings, a group of young adults pulled along side me. They pointed to the pickup and snickered so that I could see. I was wounded, but I knew that if I didn't do something soon, I would not be able to do anything.

Saturday we went shopping. The salesman laughed when he saw what we had brought to trade in. They finally offered us a small amount for my trusty old vehicle and came home with a new set of wheels.

The salesman returned one of my old license plates. He said the other one was rusted on and he couldn't get it off. That was a likely story! I wouldn't want those old plates on a new car any way.

Dad came over to visit today. He has a new vehicle too. He was telling me that his is bigger and prettier than mine. I am glad he feels that way. Betty and I kept our old Venture Van (Betty's car) and this is to be my car. I sure like it and so does Brewster. Every time I go out to get in the car, he insists that he should go too.

We've started a SFG

What you are looking at there is our attempt as a Square Foot Garden. It's quite the fad in Longmont and people are telling us that they are getting wonderful results. We put it off until quite late in the season, but we finally got started and created two 4' x 4' boxes. The box is filled with a special mix and each square has a different crop planted. We carefully chose seeds that have enough time left to give us a crop by the end of the growing season.

This year, we planted red radishes, white radishes, parsley, summer squash, lettuce, parsley, chives, turnips, carrots, and marigolds. We will have a real challenge trying to keep the deer and the weeds out.

We are supposed to water the garden from a bucket of sun warmed water so that the cold temperature doesn't stunt the growth of the plants. They are in only six inches of soil, and they only have 60 days of growing season left, more or less.

Betty is the head irrigation engineer, and Brewster is the head foreman. Kent has been the low paid labor in this little project. We are all anxious to see what the end of the summer will bring to us.

Our neighbor told us that we should consider visiting the farmer's market that they hold each weekend at a local park. Betty and I felt that we need to be learning to garden again. Produce is so very expensive and will be even more so as the price of gasoline goes higher.

Walking in the Garden of the Gods

Just a mile or three from our front door is the city park nown as the Garden of the Gods. I have really seen it change over the years.

I love the red color and the beautiful green. This morning, it was quiet and the shadows were long and dramatic.

This rock formation is called the kissing camels. There is an exclusive country club nearby by that name, and a private community. Our home teacher lives in Kissing Camel Estates.

Wouldn't you know that in the middle of the Garden of Gods, there would be a representative of the dark side. To me, this formation reminds me of the devil leaning over a fire warming himself.

Here is a view of the kissing camels from the opposite side of the formation.

Walking through the garden this morning was a wonderful way to start the day.

Betty's Birthday!

I'm posting this message using my new phone and I don't know how well this will work!

It was really nice to get to see Betty on her special day as well as Dad!

It's amazing how an hour and a half of distance can sometimes feel like a thousand! But once we are there it's as if time hasn't lapsed and passed us by!

It was fun sweating my out of shape body off to the playstation and spending the time we did with my parents! I love you guys and we enjoy every minute we get with you!

I hope you enjoyed your birthday as much as we did!!

Betty Celebrates a Birthday

Today Betty celebrated her birthday with some of her grandchildren. Andrea and her children came down from Johnstown to help her celebrate.

Matthew and Luke pulled out the playstation and the fancy footwork began.

Andrea and Ashleigh could keep up quite well with them. Andrea was sweating up a storm, but kept up. Grandma and Grandpa could not keep up very well. Grandma wouldn't try at all and Grandpa was still at a beginner level when Luke and Matthew were wel into the intermediate and expert levels.

Luke, Andrea, Matthew and Ashleigh were grateful for the bags that Grandma Wilson sent and for the T-shirts from Uncle Larry.

Grandma and Grandpa really spending some time with Andi's family. It's hard to believe how fast they are growing.

McMatthew is now employed by McDonald's. He is enjoying the work and is especially enjoying the income.

Our new home

We searched today until we found our camera. I thought I would take a few minutes to introduce you to our new home.

We are located on the West side of Colorado Springs, not very far from where we lived many years ago when Larry, Jeanette, Arlo, Craig, Brian, and Anita stayed with us for a while while moving from Texas to the Denver Area.

We have really enjoyed the west side of Colorado Springs. It's slower paced that the newer part of the city. We find it friendly and are happy to be living here.

In front of the house, there is a flower garden. A neighbor helped me determine which plants are flowers and which are weeds. We now have a lot of work to do to get the weeds out so the flowers can flourish. I especially love the different varieties of mint plants in the garden.

Pete, Betty's Dad, really enjoys our back yard because it faces away from the busy street and has a beautiful view of Pike's Pleak.

This house has the only garage that I've ever seen that has both a front and a rear door. We just need to clean the junk out so that we can use it for a garage.

We have lots of pets. There are birds everywhere. They are really good at painting the cars that park in the driveway. We also have lots of ants and bugs.

It was lost. Now it's found!!

I finally found it!!

A Tornado in the Vance house about 1980

When Robert and Andrea's mother and I were younger, we purchased a set of "Living Scriptures". We were trying to be faithful at reading them each night. Better said, we were trying hard to listen to the recorded stories as we followed along in the printed version.

One night as we were listening we heard the sounds associated with a Tornado. Since the kid's mother grew up in tornado country, she knew just what to do. We turned the recorder off and grabbed Robert and Andrea. We lined the tub with quilts and wrapped them both in bed clothing and stayed for a while with them in the bathroom.

When enough time had passed, we went outside and checked out the night sky. It was green and wet, but we didn't see any turning in the clouds. We were both sure that the kids would be safe in their own beds.

We got them both in bed and went back to our "Living Scriptures". As we turned on the recorder, the tornado sounds started again. We both felt rather silly, but we had had a good drill in case we ever had to face the real thing.

Andi and family are safe after having a close call

The news in Colorado today is full of pictures of destruction. We had several tornadoes in northeastern Colorado yesterday.

• Tornados near Johnstown
  
• Colorado Tornados
  
• Johnstown news

The Apple Tree and the Pinafore

Andrea was always an adventurous little girl. She could find the fun and adventure in every situation. On the other hand, she loved to be feminine and girlish.

Each year for Easter, her mother made her a new dress. When she little her brother, Robert, was just learning to walk and talk. She found such an adventure.

Her mom made her a pretty purple dress. It was full length and had a frilly pinafore in front of it. She loved to twirl and watch the skirts flare out. She loved to primp and admire herself in the mirror. She also loved to romp and play.

The kids were out in the yard playing as we busied ourselves getting ready for church meetings. We heard a faint little knock at the back door. When we opened the door, there was Robert. We couldn't understand what he was saying, but it was clear that he was upset so we followed him out into the yard.

As we came around to the front of the house, there was Andrea hanging from the apple tree by the sashes of her pinafore. She had tied them to the branch of the apple tree and had jumped. The sashes were just long enough that her toes reached the ground, but she couldn't stand on her feet. She couldn't untie the sashes because she couldn't reach them.

We rescued her that day from the branches of the apple tree. We tried to tell her that she should think before she leaped.

Betty, I love you

Marrying you was the best choice I ever made. It has been nearly twenty one years now. We have had challenges, but I have never doubted for one minute that I made the right choice.

I fell in love with you as soon as I saw you. You came to open the Family History Library for a bunch of us. You had paint in your hair and on your clothes, but you were beautiful to me. It's unusual for me to be as forward as I was with the opposite sex, but I didn't want to take a chance on letting you get away.

I hate to paint walls, but offering to help you paint was the only way I could think of to keep from losing the opportunity to know you better.

The kids were a hand full as they came to live with us. You loved them and let them know they were loved. You took the challenges that came to us into stride.

As grandchilren have come to our family, the font of your love flowed freely. I know that our children and grandchildren love you just as I do. I pray that I can live my life in a way that I will always be worthy of you.

Trigger finger

It's official. I'll be going in on the 29th of this month to have my hand operated on. I had heard of carpal tunnel, but I had never heard of the trigger finger syndrome. My right thumb is involved and it's quite painful first thing in the morning. Once I've iced it, taken some Aleve for the pain and Advil to get the the inflamation down, it's tolerable.

It's only a 15 minute procedure, but my hand will be out of commission for a week afterward. Some people will do anything to get out of work!!

The human body is a marvelous creation! When everything is working, we don't give it much thought, but when something malfunctions, we realize just how much we depended on it. I have found that I have really gotten dependent on my right hand, especially my thumb.

Be Careful What You Say

Today we live in a multilingual world. More and more we see people who are speaking languages that are not our own. It is a real temptation at times to speak in a language that we think others do not understand.

Years ago, when I was serving a mission in Mexico, my companion and I did that and we were embarassed. This sweet lady came to the door when we knocked. She passed us as she went to the street to buy something from a vendor, and as she passed us going back into the house, she asked us to stay for just a moment.

My companion turned to me and asked me if I had seen the wrinkled nylon stockings hanging around her ankles. I responded that I had and that it was amusing.

When she came back to the door, her stockings were all pulled up and had no wrinkles in them at all. She had been educated in Texas and spoke English as well as my companion and I. We both felt foolish.

When I returned to the USA and entered school, I started an art class at Adam State College. Professor Hatfield had been to Mexico and expressed a fondness for the Mexican culture. I took advantage of that. Every assignment I turned in had some element from the culture I had learned to love when I was in Mexico. With every assignment that I turned in, two girls from Expanola, New Mexico would criticize the work quite sharply using their native Spanish. I listened quietly each time as they found fault with my work. By the end of the quarter, I managed to turn something in that they both liked. In my best Spanish, I leaned forward and thanked them for their kind remarks. That time I was on the other end of the situation.

We are currently in a Ward where we have a Deaf Sister that we are helping. She speaks American Sign Language and we are trying hard to learn enough ASL to speak with her and be understood and to understand. As I watch the interpreters each week convert the talks and songs into ASL, I see a different side of the message. Here too, we are learning the same lessons. It is important to speak so that everyone can understand and enjoy the conversation.