Opportunities Here and There - Post: 2013

After coming home from our mission, we had been attending church in the Rosebud branch, which was about 45 miles from the farm.  Sam served as the councilor to President Roger Allen, and I served as the Primary president with Patti Busch as my councilor.  Being a small branch, Patti also taught the Senior Primary children, and I taught the Junior Primary.  At first, I also was the chorister; but after the Gilsons moved to Rosebud, she served as the chorister.  Michelle Allen was the accompanist.  Sam and I also served for a time in the Bismarck Temple and appreciated that opportunity to go once a month for the Thursday evening, Friday evening, and Saturday morning sessions.

 

These are the cute kids who regularly attended my CTR class.

(Averie, T.J., Zeidyn, and Rogan 

I also served as the secretary in the Pierre District Relief Society.  The following two photos were taken at our last district enrichment social in Pierre on September 8, 2012, my last time to serve in that position.

Pierre District Relief Society Presidency

Phyllis Rogers (in maroon) - District Primary President

Darlene Olson (left) and Lorena Derflinger (right) - councilors

Narene Ireland - secretary 

Phyllis and I have been friends for years, going back to the time her son Wayne and my son Ryan were in high school together.  When Wayne, Ryan, and Brent were being taught seminary by Phyllis's husband, Bob, she and I would meet to study the Relief Society lessons together.  It has been a pleasure to serve with these ladies.  In addition to being the secretary, Phyllis often had me give one of the lessons, which I did on this day in September.  The theme of my presentation was "Out of the Best Books."   

A group photo of the sisters attending the

Pierre District Relief Society social

on September 8, 2012.

(I took the photo, which accounts 

for the empty chair in the middle.)

In the community, Sam and I worked with Joyce Wilson and others preserving and displaying historical items in the Martin Heritage Center and in promoting other historical events in the community.  Joyce was instrumental along with Rick Zeigler (now deceased) in establishing the Historical Center, and she is the catalyst for sponsoring related historical events.   A major achievement during the year of Martin's Centennial in 2011 was getting a book published with photos and histories of Martin residents, businesses, and organizations.  I worked on that big project with Joyce and Ardeth Kocourek.  We three spent many hours writing, scanning, proofing, and editing. 

  Touring two rural cemeteries, 

 Grace Cemetery and the Lady of the Lake Cemetery. 

 Joyce Wilson (right) organized these tours.

(Sam is in the middle with the gray cap.) 

Now that we are members of another community, we are having the opportunity of different experiences.  We are the coordinators in the Nursery at church, which we are enjoying.  Our ward building is a short five minutes away, which is nice.  Sam and I have also been called to serve in the Provo Temple, which is a wonderful opportunity.  My mother and father served in the Provo Temple years ago when the temple was first dedicated.  I think about that when I am there.

Wherever you go, there are new things to experience and appreciate, and Sam and I are grateful for our good health that we can continue to serve where we can and to enjoy being part of our family, church, and community.  

A New Year Begins

It is always more fun decorating the house for the Christmas season than packing it away, but that task has been completed.

Many of our Christmas decorations are linked with
fond memories. This stable was made by Sam's dad
out of weathered barn wood, and Scott and Kristine's
family gave us the nativity figurines. Curtis and
Marla's family gave us the Angel Moroni figurine
that looks nice in the stable even though it is not
part of the scriptural nativity account.

Among the nativity sets that we had in the
rooms throughout the house is this special one that
brings fond memories of our two Chrisitmases in Russia.

January 2011 has brought us colder temperatures and a snow-covered landscape, so I am grateful to be inside today with the thermometer showing 4.1 degrees F.

We had planned to spend New Years Eve helping with the kickoff for Martin's centennial year. It was snowing and blowing, so that afternoon we went to town to take my crock pot of baked beans and the specially prepared aprons for the workers in case we would not make it that evening. Even in daylight, the visibility was bad and we knew it would be even more challenging after dark; so when the weather didn't improve significantly, we determined it would not be wise to make the 7.5-mile trip to town. They did go ahead with the kickoff as planned, but it was a smaller crowd than expected due to the weather. Joyce called later that evening to report that those living in town who braved the storm enjoyed the event.

Among the souvenirs for sale at the New Year's Eve
centennial kickoff were the Memories of Our Hometown
281-page history books that resulted from the many hours
Joyce Wilson, Ardeth Kocourek, and I spent getting
ready for publication.

Since we couldn't make it to town for the New Years Eve centennial event, we invited Brent and Tauna's family over for supper. Tauna brought chili, and we had a nice evening playing games with their family.

Last Thursday, January 6, we drove to Bismarck, ND to begin our training and service in the Bismarck Temple. This is one of the smaller temples and is only open Thursday and Friday evenings and for three sessions on Saturday. We appreciated the kindness and helpfulness given us and are happy to have this opportunity to serve there.

On the way to and from Bismarck, we passed an extremely large herd of buffalo in pastures on both sides of the highway. I didn't have my camera handy on the way to Bismarck, but we took several pictures on the way home.

A portion of the large herd of buffalo
we saw going to and returning from Bismarck.

We wish everyone a Happy New Year and hope you are staying warm.

Fall Farm Update

With the completion of the corn harvest last week and the sunflowers before that, they have put the combines away for another year. Now they are weaning the calves, and I can hear them crying for their moms as I write this. They are also moving hay.

Weaning calves
November 8

Our weather has been exceptionally warm this fall and was in the low 70's today. My geraniums have not frozen yet, and the garden did not freeze until about two weeks ago.

We did have a light snow shower on November 1st,
but the snow had melted by the afternoon.

Saturday afternoon, Sam went pheasant hunting with Brent and his kids. It was the third week that the season had been open, so some of the birds are getting pretty well educated. Sam says they saw lots of pheasants and managed to get nine in a couple of hours. In some areas there are so many pheasants that they do a lot of damage to the crops.

The deer season is also now open for bow hunters and for kids to shoot does (rifle season opens pretty soon). Two of our nephews (Brad and Todd) from Nebraska are here bow hunting and staying with us. They work at Cabellas corporate office and seem to have nearly all the hunting gear known to man. Brent's two oldest boys are also trying for deer with their bows. As for me, I'm just trying to avoid deer with the car. We always see lots of dead deer along the highway.

We are Glenn Beck fans and DVR his weekly show to watch in the evenings when Sam is home. When our hired man told us Beck was coming to Rapid City to begin his book tour, we went online and got tickets. We find him to be an interesting speaker who is sincere in wanting to teach his listeners about our nation's history and promote restoring the Constitution and appreciation for the Founding Father's.

Glenn Beck speaking in Rapid City
October 26

The Glenn Beck rally was held in the Civic Center. Our seats were on the main floor right behind the most expensive seats, so we actually found ourselves watching the big screens rather than Beck on stage. Prior to Glenn speaking, there were two other speakers. One of them gave an elaborate introduction for the "special guest." The audience enjoyed the moment when instead of Glenn Beck coming out at the end of this flowery introduction, the trademark chalkboard was rolled out.

Glenn Beck had a trusty chalkboard handy,
but only used it to highlight these points.

Of course, we bought Glenn Beck's newest book, "Broke: The Plan to Restore our Trust, Truth and Treasure;" and I stood in line to get it signed and shook his hand. Sam has been reading the book, and I have started it. A reviewer, who is not a big Glenn Beck fan, wrote on Amazon.com that it is worth reading for the historical and educational value in the first 2/3 of the book. The last part deals with what needs to be done. Here is an interesting quote from the book:

"If you were to take $100 bills--not $1 bills or $20 bills, but $100 bills--and stack them seven feet tall and fill in every single inch of an NFL football field from end zone to end zone, that would represent one trillion dollars. Now put thirteen of those fields side by side and you start to picture the size of the debt we've incurred."

I served on the election board on November 2nd, leaving home at 6:00 a.m. and returning about 7:45. We had a fairly good turnout for the election, so that makes the time seem to pass more quickly. In the afternoon, we had a lawyer and associate from Washington, DC spend some time with us in their rotation to each precinct. They do this because of our Native American population. We also have a Lakota interpreter available; but no one ever needs his services, as all voters are English speakers. Louie White Horse is a nice man and had brought his photo album from his visit to Washington along with other South Dakota World War II veterans. His son, Wyatt, had gone with him and took the pictures.

What We are Doing

Weston came over yesterday to show me the sparrow he found. It hopped around when Weston set it down, but it couldn't fly yet. He still has his snapping turtle. It is nice having grandchildren as neighbors. They enjoy life and investigating their world.

Weston with the sparrow he found.

It was rather cool when I was out checking on the flowers and garden this morning, but yesterday was hot. Grasshoppers have been the worst I remember, but after the aerial spraying it has been much better here at the house. I had an appointment in town one afternoon two weeks ago and had checked the plants before I left. When I got home about three hours later, the grasshoppers were hopping all over. I carried my potted plants from the porch into the garage and sprinkled Sevin on the garden plants until I ran out of the powder. When Sam got home that evening, he sprayed around with something they had in the shop. The rhubarb is in one corner of the garden, and it was so covered with grasshoppers that on one large leaf you could barely see any leaf showing.

Right now the plants in the garden are doing well, and I hope we can keep the grasshoppers under control. Where are the seagulls! :-) [Thinking about the Utah pioneers and how the seagulls saved their crops.]

Sam expects they will start with the wheat harvest next week. They are haying now. I have been helping with getting things ready for the publication of an historical book for Martin's centennial celebration in 2011. We have finished with the histories and pictures of the past and current businesses and most of the organizations, schools, and churches. The big job yet is completing the family histories and photos to be ready by August 1 for the lady putting everything on her software program for the publisher.

I have enjoyed reading the books I got for Mother's Day from Marla and Beth. There are three in the series by Nancy E. Turner about a pioneer woman and her family in the Arizona Territories. I finished the second one yesterday and started "The Star Garden" before going to bed. I recently finished Richard Paul Evans' "The Walk," which is the first of a forthcoming series.

Sam has been reading some books he got for Father's Day and just recently finished Glenn Beck's "The Overton Window" (which I also enjoyed reading) and Bob Bennett's "Leap of Faith" (which I haven't read yet). He is currently reading "The Silence of God" (which is a story about an LDS family at the turn of the century in Russia), and he has "Three Cups of Tea" waiting to be read next.

We are also followers of the Glenn Beck show on Fox T.V. as well as subscribers to his online "Insider Extreme" program, which includes "Beck's University" Wednesday evenings focusing on history about the Founding Fathers and others who have contributed to our nation's history.

We enjoy being with the members in our small branch in Rosebud. On Sunday I was the speaker in sacrament meeting and Sam conducted, and he was the teacher in Priesthood/Relief Society. I continue to teach the junior Primary and to do sing time for the combined Primary. There are two brand new babies in our branch. The mother of one is the grandmother of the other, so one baby is the uncle and one is the nephew. They should be good buddies as they grow up.

Well, that is some of what we have been doing lately. We are always interested in what you are doing.