JSL has tended these plants for a couple of years. Here are the results.
Our Backyard
Thanks, D!
Monday, August 25, 2008
Poignant Realization
Back in about 1979 or so, when we lived in Massachusetts, I had a poignant realization. We had waited for years and years for our cousins to return from overseas duty to the US so our kids could get to know them. We were really looking forward to renewing acquaintances and raising our kids together. But when they came back, they decided to move to Colorado, nearly the whole width of the country away. I was so sad! Even though we did what we could to go see them, it was years between visits and the kids ended up barely knowing each other.
Now we are having a parallel experience, and the poignancy is far more intense, because we realize that many of our grandchildren are going to grow up with knowing us only as very occasional visitors.
I am very dedicated to putting family together. I spend hours and hours trying to find and understand my ancestors just for that reason. We have driven many hours every month to visit a couple of our grandchildren who had to move away. We have driven hours and hours at other times to be sure we see grandchildren.
A lot of the separation was inevitable when we were locked into being in Tucson for most of the year. That's the way things are in our culture right now, with families thinking little of separation if it's because of a career. When our grown kids started setting up their work locations far away, we took it with a grain of salt because it didn't seem permanent.
Now it seems devastating. Of course we have moved away from everyone ourselves. But we picked a place where we felt the family would most likely gather sooner or later.
But it's not going to happen. Maybe in 20 years or so we will stop living our dream and try to go where everyone is, but by then every one of our grandchildren now living will be out of their homes, and many - most - will have homes of their own.
We could stay in Tucson instead of Anacortes. We love Tucson. But the values we can live in Anacortes are closer to ours. We like the climate, we like eating for free out of the garden, we love a place where we can be outside every month of the year, every day of the year. We love the water and the wildness and the easy access to all sorts of biomes and ecosystems and opportunities for adventure.
So it's a challenging tug of war, our desire to be part of the lives of our grandchildren traded off against our desire to live in a life-supporting setting where we could even live self-sufficently if we had to or wanted to.
Our most fervent hopes are that every family member would live in a place that we could reach for a weekend visit - say within 6 hours maximum. That would take a miracle. But even if some lived in ONE remote location that we could visit quarterly, it would be a help.
Otherwise the few memories they have of us will fade away.
I saw a photo of my grandmother a couple of months ago and didn't recognize her at all. She has a big smile on her face and all I remember of her is that she was grouchy. HOW HORRIBLE!
I don't want to be forgotten!
Sigh. I can only pray.
Now we are having a parallel experience, and the poignancy is far more intense, because we realize that many of our grandchildren are going to grow up with knowing us only as very occasional visitors.
I am very dedicated to putting family together. I spend hours and hours trying to find and understand my ancestors just for that reason. We have driven many hours every month to visit a couple of our grandchildren who had to move away. We have driven hours and hours at other times to be sure we see grandchildren.
A lot of the separation was inevitable when we were locked into being in Tucson for most of the year. That's the way things are in our culture right now, with families thinking little of separation if it's because of a career. When our grown kids started setting up their work locations far away, we took it with a grain of salt because it didn't seem permanent.
Now it seems devastating. Of course we have moved away from everyone ourselves. But we picked a place where we felt the family would most likely gather sooner or later.
But it's not going to happen. Maybe in 20 years or so we will stop living our dream and try to go where everyone is, but by then every one of our grandchildren now living will be out of their homes, and many - most - will have homes of their own.
We could stay in Tucson instead of Anacortes. We love Tucson. But the values we can live in Anacortes are closer to ours. We like the climate, we like eating for free out of the garden, we love a place where we can be outside every month of the year, every day of the year. We love the water and the wildness and the easy access to all sorts of biomes and ecosystems and opportunities for adventure.
So it's a challenging tug of war, our desire to be part of the lives of our grandchildren traded off against our desire to live in a life-supporting setting where we could even live self-sufficently if we had to or wanted to.
Our most fervent hopes are that every family member would live in a place that we could reach for a weekend visit - say within 6 hours maximum. That would take a miracle. But even if some lived in ONE remote location that we could visit quarterly, it would be a help.
Otherwise the few memories they have of us will fade away.
I saw a photo of my grandmother a couple of months ago and didn't recognize her at all. She has a big smile on her face and all I remember of her is that she was grouchy. HOW HORRIBLE!
I don't want to be forgotten!
Sigh. I can only pray.
Still Moving
I am still doing my sprint-walking 6 mornings a week. But now I have added on the time for warm-ups and cool-offs, which are 3 minutes each.
We may end up walking a lot on our missions but it won't be from our apt to our worksite. That might add up to a tenth of a mile in a stretch. But we're ready for more...just don't know how we'll get it.
PL
We may end up walking a lot on our missions but it won't be from our apt to our worksite. That might add up to a tenth of a mile in a stretch. But we're ready for more...just don't know how we'll get it.
PL
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Walking Intervals Day 6
I have been walking intervals now for a week. Very wonderful! I think I'm getting something like 25% more exercise in the same amount of time, based on distance. Cool!
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Our SLC Apartment
We just received our housing assignment for our mission. Our address will be: 131 W 200 N #5. It is in the Garden Apartments complex, half a block due west of the Conference Center.
Our ward is the Salt Lake City Stake 2nd Branch. It meets directly across 200 N from our apartment. Our church meetings are from 1:30 to 4:30.
Our apartment is available beginning Nov 6. We have an appointment to pick up the keys at 10 am that day.
Our first mission meeting is a luncheon on Friday Nov 7. We start training on Monday Nov 10. Training lasts 2 weeks, at the end of which we will receive our assignment.
I need to find my winter boots.
Our ward is the Salt Lake City Stake 2nd Branch. It meets directly across 200 N from our apartment. Our church meetings are from 1:30 to 4:30.
Our apartment is available beginning Nov 6. We have an appointment to pick up the keys at 10 am that day.
Our first mission meeting is a luncheon on Friday Nov 7. We start training on Monday Nov 10. Training lasts 2 weeks, at the end of which we will receive our assignment.
I need to find my winter boots.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Trouble With Isabelle
For those who have been following my efforts to find the elusive Isabelle Tanner. I've posted on how I found her, and have written about it in detail on Helium.com as an instructional piece for anyone wanting to know how to do family history.
HOWEVER!
Just recently I met a new relative, Fran D'Alessio of Norwalk CT, on a genealogy site. Without going into the details of how I connected with her, I ended up talking with her for quite some time, and discovered that she had had access to a Tanner family Bible at one time. She had copied out all the information and given it back to a family member - and has no idea where it is now.
Many of the 'facts' in the Bible were not correct, and in fact were the cause of much wasted time in my search for the origins of the Tanner family, because my cousin Bennie Tanner, whom I found in 1981 and talked with on the phone, was using that Bible for the information he passed to me about the family, information that was not true.
The bad information could easily be refuted by census records, which I sent to Fran.
A few entries in the Bible concerned Isabelle. Someone had recorded the name of her husband (John Gilbert) and at least one daughter, just the facts I had independently discovered this past Spring. But one fact was entirely different: she was listed as the daughter of Frederick Tanner, not Charles Tanner.
Charles Tanner was my great grandfather, the youngest child of Charles Wilcox Tanner and Elizabeth, formerly married to George Bailey, dec. Frederick was the second son.
Charles W and Elizabeth had brought their family to the US when Charles was 3 years old. They settled in Bristol RI. By adulthood, Charles had made it to Norwalk for some unknown reason, Frederick had disappeared, and so had the oldest son.
The Tanner Bible has Frederick and his wife in Norwalk around 1880, though. Isabelle was born in 1888 there. She is listed in the 1900 census as the daughter of Mary Jane Tanner, Charles's wife.
So either the Bible is wrong again, or Mary Jane had simplified the facts for the census taker! Of course it is possible that Mary Jane and Charles had adopted her, but what I am really interested in is her actual parentage. Well, that and the whole story!
It would be easy to conclude that the Bible was wrong about this as about so many other facts. But the person who probably recorded a great deal that was in the Tanner Bible was Charles Ernest Tanner, son of Charles and Mary Jane. He was my grandmother Ida May's older brother, and supposedly Isabelle's older brother, too. If he recorded that she was the child of Frederick, she could easily have been. It would be an odd thing to make up!
So I am perplexed, and have a great deal more to learn.
We have sealed Isabelle to Charles and Mary Jane Tanner. Mary Jane claimed her as a daughter, and that's what we went by. Time - or Eternity - will tell.
If anyone can shed light on this mystery, or would like to help uncover new facts, please feel free! PL
HOWEVER!
Just recently I met a new relative, Fran D'Alessio of Norwalk CT, on a genealogy site. Without going into the details of how I connected with her, I ended up talking with her for quite some time, and discovered that she had had access to a Tanner family Bible at one time. She had copied out all the information and given it back to a family member - and has no idea where it is now.
Many of the 'facts' in the Bible were not correct, and in fact were the cause of much wasted time in my search for the origins of the Tanner family, because my cousin Bennie Tanner, whom I found in 1981 and talked with on the phone, was using that Bible for the information he passed to me about the family, information that was not true.
The bad information could easily be refuted by census records, which I sent to Fran.
A few entries in the Bible concerned Isabelle. Someone had recorded the name of her husband (John Gilbert) and at least one daughter, just the facts I had independently discovered this past Spring. But one fact was entirely different: she was listed as the daughter of Frederick Tanner, not Charles Tanner.
Charles Tanner was my great grandfather, the youngest child of Charles Wilcox Tanner and Elizabeth, formerly married to George Bailey, dec. Frederick was the second son.
Charles W and Elizabeth had brought their family to the US when Charles was 3 years old. They settled in Bristol RI. By adulthood, Charles had made it to Norwalk for some unknown reason, Frederick had disappeared, and so had the oldest son.
The Tanner Bible has Frederick and his wife in Norwalk around 1880, though. Isabelle was born in 1888 there. She is listed in the 1900 census as the daughter of Mary Jane Tanner, Charles's wife.
So either the Bible is wrong again, or Mary Jane had simplified the facts for the census taker! Of course it is possible that Mary Jane and Charles had adopted her, but what I am really interested in is her actual parentage. Well, that and the whole story!
It would be easy to conclude that the Bible was wrong about this as about so many other facts. But the person who probably recorded a great deal that was in the Tanner Bible was Charles Ernest Tanner, son of Charles and Mary Jane. He was my grandmother Ida May's older brother, and supposedly Isabelle's older brother, too. If he recorded that she was the child of Frederick, she could easily have been. It would be an odd thing to make up!
So I am perplexed, and have a great deal more to learn.
We have sealed Isabelle to Charles and Mary Jane Tanner. Mary Jane claimed her as a daughter, and that's what we went by. Time - or Eternity - will tell.
If anyone can shed light on this mystery, or would like to help uncover new facts, please feel free! PL
Walking Intervals
Now that it's easier to walk (I'm no longer anemic, the days are cool), I have been doing a half hour walk each morning, and then occasionally another one in the evening. After having built up using mailboxes (q.v.) while still in Tucson, I decided that just walking would do here in Anacortes.
Until today. Yesterday I heard a Canadian doctor describe a technique for improving the exercise value of walking, and I decided to try what he suggested.
The suggestion: After a warm-up period of 5 minutes, alternate a 30 second walking sprint with a 30 second comfortable stride for the remainder of the time. Then cool down for 5 minutes.
I began the program this morning. Keeping an eye on my timer, I sprinted and strode for 33 minutes, and finished my usual course 4 minutes faster than usual - which meant adding distance till fill out the time.
The area of our neighborhood consists of hills and more hills. I decided to sprint according to the timer and not heed the change in terrain. The uphill sprints were particularly intense.
I had thought I was walking fast on all my walks. I want to use the time well. But the sprints were definitely faster than what I had been doing.
Today my lower legs felt the extra exercise. The whole program was satisfactory for me, and I'm happy that my walks are doing more now. I'm definitely sticking with this program!
Until today. Yesterday I heard a Canadian doctor describe a technique for improving the exercise value of walking, and I decided to try what he suggested.
The suggestion: After a warm-up period of 5 minutes, alternate a 30 second walking sprint with a 30 second comfortable stride for the remainder of the time. Then cool down for 5 minutes.
I began the program this morning. Keeping an eye on my timer, I sprinted and strode for 33 minutes, and finished my usual course 4 minutes faster than usual - which meant adding distance till fill out the time.
The area of our neighborhood consists of hills and more hills. I decided to sprint according to the timer and not heed the change in terrain. The uphill sprints were particularly intense.
I had thought I was walking fast on all my walks. I want to use the time well. But the sprints were definitely faster than what I had been doing.
Today my lower legs felt the extra exercise. The whole program was satisfactory for me, and I'm happy that my walks are doing more now. I'm definitely sticking with this program!
Monday, June 23, 2008
An Appealing Mission Task
Here is one of the appealing tasks we could be assigned to for our mission. I'm copying it from the mission handbook:
Medieval Zone FHL B2 (Family History Library Basement Level 2)
"The Medieval Zone provides service by researching and organizing medieval records. They develop, maintain, and make available the Medieval Family Files (with temple ordinance date when competed) for selected individuals who lived before 1600. The need is to prepare early records that may have been filmed but not yet reduced to digital form, and are not well resourced, nor merged into family units. The goal is to avoid so much duplication as presently experienced. Although the principal effort is aimed at data from England, there are also substantial efforts in German, French, Polynesian and Scandinavian underway. Another unique feature of this work is in the level of effort being accomplished by workers at home. This zone is uniquely equipped to do this kind of work. The zone has no contact with library patrons and, as the work becomes very complicated quite frequently, everyone is highly trained and uses the best of technology and experience."
Sounds good to us! They all sound good, but some especially so...
Medieval Zone FHL B2 (Family History Library Basement Level 2)
"The Medieval Zone provides service by researching and organizing medieval records. They develop, maintain, and make available the Medieval Family Files (with temple ordinance date when competed) for selected individuals who lived before 1600. The need is to prepare early records that may have been filmed but not yet reduced to digital form, and are not well resourced, nor merged into family units. The goal is to avoid so much duplication as presently experienced. Although the principal effort is aimed at data from England, there are also substantial efforts in German, French, Polynesian and Scandinavian underway. Another unique feature of this work is in the level of effort being accomplished by workers at home. This zone is uniquely equipped to do this kind of work. The zone has no contact with library patrons and, as the work becomes very complicated quite frequently, everyone is highly trained and uses the best of technology and experience."
Sounds good to us! They all sound good, but some especially so...
Saturday, June 21, 2008
The Packet!
We received our missionary packet today, the one that lays out all the details of the mission.
It turns out that the mission is divided into the two main divisions, Church History and Family History, and then each of them is divided into many many subdivisions. We read their descriptions as soon as the packet came, and we already have clear preferences. More on this as time goes by.
In general, there are the outer, public areas that everyone knows about, such as the Family History Center, and the Church History and Art Museum, and work among the patrons there. Within these divisions are areas pertaining to parts of the world, such as Chinese, or Scandinavian, where specialization is possible. There's a Deaf specialty, also.
And then there are areas where archives are handled. For example, there is a facility in Orem that is just opening, which when up and running will work 24/7 to digitize vast amounts of church-related printed material.
In the Church History section, journals are often sent to the church which have to be analyzed for authenticity and relevance (my words, actually); also summarized and passed on to the professional historians.
There are teaching assignments also. And more you will hear more about shortly.
We learned a few things about our apartment and our branch, too. We don't know which apartment we'll find room in, but the map we were sent shows various complexes surrounding Temple Square, all within 1/4 mile. We need to take cooking and eating tools, linens, and of course personal care items, and there were a few comments that suggested the apartments are only incompletely furnished and we might need to buy some furniture - too bad given how much we'll have in storage here! We'll call for more details.
Our branch meets at the Salt Lake Stake Center at 143 West 200 North. It is made up of half of the missionaries working in this mission, and our class of November 2008 entering missionaries all attend together. (The other branch meets in the JSM Bldg.) We meet at 1:30 with RS / P first.
Our cohort of 20 (those entering in November) are to do activities together at least every 3 months. In other words, we are a 'family' or a team, regardless of our assignments. We had something a little less structured but similar when we were in Beijing, and it was quite satisfactory.
We work 8 to 4 every day, with the exception of about 20% of the assignments, which have Saturday hours and shiftwork during the week. We are given 4 hours a week during work time to do our own family history research, and are required to bring our PAF files for 4 generations plus names and dates for the 5th generation, along w/ our Patriarchal Blessings.
That's a quick overview. It's exciting and I've left a lot out. I'll tell you more about our favorite areas soon.
One delightful development: the mission has 3 choirs, general, men's, and women's. We'll be there!
It is possible to be invited to extend. I hope we qualify...
It turns out that the mission is divided into the two main divisions, Church History and Family History, and then each of them is divided into many many subdivisions. We read their descriptions as soon as the packet came, and we already have clear preferences. More on this as time goes by.
In general, there are the outer, public areas that everyone knows about, such as the Family History Center, and the Church History and Art Museum, and work among the patrons there. Within these divisions are areas pertaining to parts of the world, such as Chinese, or Scandinavian, where specialization is possible. There's a Deaf specialty, also.
And then there are areas where archives are handled. For example, there is a facility in Orem that is just opening, which when up and running will work 24/7 to digitize vast amounts of church-related printed material.
In the Church History section, journals are often sent to the church which have to be analyzed for authenticity and relevance (my words, actually); also summarized and passed on to the professional historians.
There are teaching assignments also. And more you will hear more about shortly.
We learned a few things about our apartment and our branch, too. We don't know which apartment we'll find room in, but the map we were sent shows various complexes surrounding Temple Square, all within 1/4 mile. We need to take cooking and eating tools, linens, and of course personal care items, and there were a few comments that suggested the apartments are only incompletely furnished and we might need to buy some furniture - too bad given how much we'll have in storage here! We'll call for more details.
Our branch meets at the Salt Lake Stake Center at 143 West 200 North. It is made up of half of the missionaries working in this mission, and our class of November 2008 entering missionaries all attend together. (The other branch meets in the JSM Bldg.) We meet at 1:30 with RS / P first.
Our cohort of 20 (those entering in November) are to do activities together at least every 3 months. In other words, we are a 'family' or a team, regardless of our assignments. We had something a little less structured but similar when we were in Beijing, and it was quite satisfactory.
We work 8 to 4 every day, with the exception of about 20% of the assignments, which have Saturday hours and shiftwork during the week. We are given 4 hours a week during work time to do our own family history research, and are required to bring our PAF files for 4 generations plus names and dates for the 5th generation, along w/ our Patriarchal Blessings.
That's a quick overview. It's exciting and I've left a lot out. I'll tell you more about our favorite areas soon.
One delightful development: the mission has 3 choirs, general, men's, and women's. We'll be there!
It is possible to be invited to extend. I hope we qualify...
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Houses And Other Encumbrances
Today we have our 6 properties, and from the moment we conceived of going on our mission sooner rather than waiting, our goal has been to lessen the load.
That means either selling or renting out all of them.
We have no idea how long this mission will last - 12 months to 4 years, probably at least 18 months. So we have no business owning several domiciles and the huge bills and responsibilities that are part of owning properties.
We put the land on the market some time ago, and now we have this Anacortes house for sale and also the Tucson Sallee Place home for sale. We have been successful in getting renters where we weren't able to sell, or the timing was wrong to sell. So we're making progress.
The Anacortes house is being shown tomorrow and looks great (except for the lawn, which is only partly mowed due to rain).
Our goal hasn't changed. We report to church headquarters for training in 4 1/2 months. There's still time!
If the Anacortes house sells quickly, which it could - this market is not like the supersaturated Tucson one - then we will possibly see if we can start our mission sooner. We'll cross that bridge when the time comes.
We would consider ourselves very blessed to have the land and Sallee Place house sell. What a relief that would be!
Your prayers and positive expectations are welcome!
That means either selling or renting out all of them.
We have no idea how long this mission will last - 12 months to 4 years, probably at least 18 months. So we have no business owning several domiciles and the huge bills and responsibilities that are part of owning properties.
We put the land on the market some time ago, and now we have this Anacortes house for sale and also the Tucson Sallee Place home for sale. We have been successful in getting renters where we weren't able to sell, or the timing was wrong to sell. So we're making progress.
The Anacortes house is being shown tomorrow and looks great (except for the lawn, which is only partly mowed due to rain).
Our goal hasn't changed. We report to church headquarters for training in 4 1/2 months. There's still time!
If the Anacortes house sells quickly, which it could - this market is not like the supersaturated Tucson one - then we will possibly see if we can start our mission sooner. We'll cross that bridge when the time comes.
We would consider ourselves very blessed to have the land and Sallee Place house sell. What a relief that would be!
Your prayers and positive expectations are welcome!
Pre-Mission Travels
We expect to take a month to travel before we end up in Salt Lake for our mission.
We have people we don't want to postpone seeing, and we want to feel free to extend our mission if we want to without getting Wanderlust.
Here's our pathway, without firm dates so far. If you are on this list, be forewarned. And then later we'll add some dates:
1. Drive (in the Durango) to Great Falls MT to see grandkids and drop off a bed.
2. Drive to Salt Lake City UT to drop off our mission belongings. Quick hello to friends and family.
3. Drive to Boulder UT to meet someone coming from Tucson with our Prius, who will take our Durango back to Tucson.
4. Drive to Denver or Colorado Springs (in the Prius) to see the Samuelsons.
5. Drive to Fairfield IA to see Kay Ferguson.
6. Drive to Paulding OH to see Deb and Sara and Sara's kids.
7. Drive to New England to see: Jim and Lenny, Lucy and Allan, Patrice and Harry, Valerie and Peter, Bill and Joyce, Dorothy, and as many other people as we can find and fit in.
8. Drive to Eden Prairie MN to see Adamses.
9. Drive to Cowley WY to see Toni, Rich, and the boys.
10. Drive to Salt Lake for our mission, arriving approx Nov 5 in the evening.
This is the best guess right now, some 3 mos and several days before we'd have to leave.
What is not on this list, and still a possibility, is a trip to England with Lucy and Allan Katz. They lived there for a year and would be great tour guides. Plus, we've been planning a walking tour w/ them, plus some family history in the same locale where they wanted to tour, for some time, long before Lucy retired. But we may not be able to afford it this year. If we do go, the trip will be shoehorned in just after arriving in New England. That means an early start date for the trip.
As it is now, the trip will need to be close to a month long. With England, add 2-3 weeks.
If you have any input about when you don't want us to be somewhere, let me know quick! And I am looking for volunteers to drive the Prius to Boulder, and the Durango to Tucson, on the date when we would be there, which, best guestimate, would be about Oct 15.
Here are some durations of visit. This would be subject to some flexibility as needed - we may build in 1-2 days for flexing the plan:
Great Falls - 2 nights, one full day
Salt Lake - 2 nights, one full day
Boulder - 1 night
Denver/CO Springs - 2 nights, one full day
Nebraska - 1 night
Fairfield IA - 2 nights, one full day
Paulding OH - 2 nights, one full day
New England - 1 week
midway to MN - 1 night
Eden Prairie MN - 2 nights, 1 full day
midway to Cowley - 1 night
Cowley - 2 nights, 1 full day
Total: 25 nights on the road, 26 days - Approx dates Oct 10 to Nov 5 (no-England version),
It will be nice to be based in SLC after that. We have so very many wonderful family members and friends we can visit on our days off! Because we will have something like 1 to 3 years for those visits, we're waiting to do them when we're living right there on the Wasatch Front.
We're getting excited.
We have people we don't want to postpone seeing, and we want to feel free to extend our mission if we want to without getting Wanderlust.
Here's our pathway, without firm dates so far. If you are on this list, be forewarned. And then later we'll add some dates:
1. Drive (in the Durango) to Great Falls MT to see grandkids and drop off a bed.
2. Drive to Salt Lake City UT to drop off our mission belongings. Quick hello to friends and family.
3. Drive to Boulder UT to meet someone coming from Tucson with our Prius, who will take our Durango back to Tucson.
4. Drive to Denver or Colorado Springs (in the Prius) to see the Samuelsons.
5. Drive to Fairfield IA to see Kay Ferguson.
6. Drive to Paulding OH to see Deb and Sara and Sara's kids.
7. Drive to New England to see: Jim and Lenny, Lucy and Allan, Patrice and Harry, Valerie and Peter, Bill and Joyce, Dorothy, and as many other people as we can find and fit in.
8. Drive to Eden Prairie MN to see Adamses.
9. Drive to Cowley WY to see Toni, Rich, and the boys.
10. Drive to Salt Lake for our mission, arriving approx Nov 5 in the evening.
This is the best guess right now, some 3 mos and several days before we'd have to leave.
What is not on this list, and still a possibility, is a trip to England with Lucy and Allan Katz. They lived there for a year and would be great tour guides. Plus, we've been planning a walking tour w/ them, plus some family history in the same locale where they wanted to tour, for some time, long before Lucy retired. But we may not be able to afford it this year. If we do go, the trip will be shoehorned in just after arriving in New England. That means an early start date for the trip.
As it is now, the trip will need to be close to a month long. With England, add 2-3 weeks.
If you have any input about when you don't want us to be somewhere, let me know quick! And I am looking for volunteers to drive the Prius to Boulder, and the Durango to Tucson, on the date when we would be there, which, best guestimate, would be about Oct 15.
Here are some durations of visit. This would be subject to some flexibility as needed - we may build in 1-2 days for flexing the plan:
Great Falls - 2 nights, one full day
Salt Lake - 2 nights, one full day
Boulder - 1 night
Denver/CO Springs - 2 nights, one full day
Nebraska - 1 night
Fairfield IA - 2 nights, one full day
Paulding OH - 2 nights, one full day
New England - 1 week
midway to MN - 1 night
Eden Prairie MN - 2 nights, 1 full day
midway to Cowley - 1 night
Cowley - 2 nights, 1 full day
Total: 25 nights on the road, 26 days - Approx dates Oct 10 to Nov 5 (no-England version),
It will be nice to be based in SLC after that. We have so very many wonderful family members and friends we can visit on our days off! Because we will have something like 1 to 3 years for those visits, we're waiting to do them when we're living right there on the Wasatch Front.
We're getting excited.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
A House, A Home, Pt 2
Our house is on the market - or to be clearer, our WA home is on the market. It looks great!
There's a little left to do, but the bedroom is painted (as you saw), the deck railing is pressure-washed and is now partly painted, thanks to a sunny respite. Flowers (deep-pink rhododendrons, a purple iris, a deep-red rose, and many chive blossoms) are on the table in a small vase. The counters are clear, the front lawn is mowed and weeded and the back will be done tomorrow. All clutter is out of site, or on its way to the storage area. The stove is clean, the granite counters are shiny.
All that's left to do is to find something like a printer table to hide the cable spaghetti on our family room floor, and to put the TV on, because a TV on a printer box on the hearth is not as attractive as it might be. And I have one more business-related box to secret away.
Tuesday the carpet cleaners come. A week later we have our Realtors' open house.
Pretty much, we're good to go. Now bring on the buyers!
This is a good little house. The yard is wonderful - just the right size. We could grow all our own produce here. It's tempting to keep it.
But we will be away for over a year, maybe even over a year and a half. And that's a long time to be making house payments, and paying the tax bill and utilities, and getting the lawn mowed by someone who won't forget and who understands about doing the trim, too, and raking the leaves.
So we are selling it. Sigh!
One lesson learned: it is easier, on average, to live without one's junk than to live with it. Tomorrow we have an expedition with several boxes we brought up in the trailer, to take them to the storeroom. Knowing you will be living without purse, scrip, or boxes in a few months sure makes the decision easier. (Not quite true about the scrip, but still...)
There's a little left to do, but the bedroom is painted (as you saw), the deck railing is pressure-washed and is now partly painted, thanks to a sunny respite. Flowers (deep-pink rhododendrons, a purple iris, a deep-red rose, and many chive blossoms) are on the table in a small vase. The counters are clear, the front lawn is mowed and weeded and the back will be done tomorrow. All clutter is out of site, or on its way to the storage area. The stove is clean, the granite counters are shiny.
All that's left to do is to find something like a printer table to hide the cable spaghetti on our family room floor, and to put the TV on, because a TV on a printer box on the hearth is not as attractive as it might be. And I have one more business-related box to secret away.
Tuesday the carpet cleaners come. A week later we have our Realtors' open house.
Pretty much, we're good to go. Now bring on the buyers!
This is a good little house. The yard is wonderful - just the right size. We could grow all our own produce here. It's tempting to keep it.
But we will be away for over a year, maybe even over a year and a half. And that's a long time to be making house payments, and paying the tax bill and utilities, and getting the lawn mowed by someone who won't forget and who understands about doing the trim, too, and raking the leaves.
So we are selling it. Sigh!
One lesson learned: it is easier, on average, to live without one's junk than to live with it. Tomorrow we have an expedition with several boxes we brought up in the trailer, to take them to the storeroom. Knowing you will be living without purse, scrip, or boxes in a few months sure makes the decision easier. (Not quite true about the scrip, but still...)
Sunday, June 8, 2008
The Morning After, And After That
So what purpose does this blog serve now?
It may not be kept as a blow-by-blow account of things, but there is much preparation - and transformation, I think - left to be experienced. So I will keep it for myself, and for whatever other wise purposes there may be, and you can read it or not as you will...
Preparations to date: We have written our acceptance letters and will have them endorsed by our bishop today. This is not quite as straightforward as it might sound: first we have to have our records transferred to this ward, and then we can have our bishop endorse our letters.
Bishop B Anderson from Tucson had the foresight to list Anacortes as our home ward, so even though he did all the hard parts as we filled out the papers, and offered us great counsel and encouragement and used his time for interviews and so on, he is not the bishop of the so recently called missionaries. That is Bishop J Rutter of Anacortes, who met us last week.
So first we switch our membership, and then our bishop signs, and then we send the acceptance letters to church headquarters.
The next step of preparation that we have begun is to figure out about our stuff. We are limited in what we need to take with us, what we can take with us, and the rest has to be stored here.
That's because we are putting this house on the market this week. And unless it and another major property of ours sells, we won't have a house at all - just two storage units, one filled to the door with our belongings from Tucson, and the other awaiting our furnishings from here.
But what goes where? We now have three lists: Storage unit, Salt Lake, or Tucson.
We thought there might be things that should go back to Tucson, for someone's use there, and that can be accomplished when we trade cars with Katie and Tyler.
So that's the next item for planning: when to trade cars - we have the big one, and they have our beloved Prius, which now barely accommodates the 5 of them. So we need to switch, and with a distance of nearly2000 miles between us, doing that is not trivial.
We have also considered what to do if this house sells before we're ready to leave. We have some contingencies, but it all depends - primarily on when this house needs to be vacated. (The market in Anacortes is not nearly as bleak as the one in Tucson, and our house, a one-storey rambler, is of a popular type.)
So: membership, stuff, houses, and cars.
And just a side note: the general presidential election is held 3 days before we report. We've got to figure out how to vote in that also. Probably absentee from AZ, because we won't really be residents of WA at all by then...(and we have plenty of properties left in AZ to use for addresses!).
So these are the infinitely fascinating things we'll be talking about - these and I hope some elements of spiritual preparation. Stay tuned ... ????
It may not be kept as a blow-by-blow account of things, but there is much preparation - and transformation, I think - left to be experienced. So I will keep it for myself, and for whatever other wise purposes there may be, and you can read it or not as you will...
Preparations to date: We have written our acceptance letters and will have them endorsed by our bishop today. This is not quite as straightforward as it might sound: first we have to have our records transferred to this ward, and then we can have our bishop endorse our letters.
Bishop B Anderson from Tucson had the foresight to list Anacortes as our home ward, so even though he did all the hard parts as we filled out the papers, and offered us great counsel and encouragement and used his time for interviews and so on, he is not the bishop of the so recently called missionaries. That is Bishop J Rutter of Anacortes, who met us last week.
So first we switch our membership, and then our bishop signs, and then we send the acceptance letters to church headquarters.
The next step of preparation that we have begun is to figure out about our stuff. We are limited in what we need to take with us, what we can take with us, and the rest has to be stored here.
That's because we are putting this house on the market this week. And unless it and another major property of ours sells, we won't have a house at all - just two storage units, one filled to the door with our belongings from Tucson, and the other awaiting our furnishings from here.
But what goes where? We now have three lists: Storage unit, Salt Lake, or Tucson.
We thought there might be things that should go back to Tucson, for someone's use there, and that can be accomplished when we trade cars with Katie and Tyler.
So that's the next item for planning: when to trade cars - we have the big one, and they have our beloved Prius, which now barely accommodates the 5 of them. So we need to switch, and with a distance of nearly2000 miles between us, doing that is not trivial.
We have also considered what to do if this house sells before we're ready to leave. We have some contingencies, but it all depends - primarily on when this house needs to be vacated. (The market in Anacortes is not nearly as bleak as the one in Tucson, and our house, a one-storey rambler, is of a popular type.)
So: membership, stuff, houses, and cars.
And just a side note: the general presidential election is held 3 days before we report. We've got to figure out how to vote in that also. Probably absentee from AZ, because we won't really be residents of WA at all by then...(and we have plenty of properties left in AZ to use for addresses!).
So these are the infinitely fascinating things we'll be talking about - these and I hope some elements of spiritual preparation. Stay tuned ... ????
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Mission Call
Here are the details of our Call, signed by the President of the Church on June 3, 2008:
We are called to serve at church headquarters in the Family and Church History Mission. We report on 7 Nov 2008, and it is anticipated that we will serve for 12 months.
(We have been informed that it is easy to extend that period up to 3+ years.)
We will receive further instructions in the mail in the next few days, and we'll let you know what those are.
We were joined on our conference call by several family members. Thanks to all those who were there, and we missed those who didn't get the word in time.
Now we will continue our preparations, and your prayers are solicited on behalf of our success in matters such as selling our Tucson house and land, as well as maintaining our good health and all other matters, both worldly and spiritual, in which we stand in need of success and/or improvement. Thanks!
We are called to serve at church headquarters in the Family and Church History Mission. We report on 7 Nov 2008, and it is anticipated that we will serve for 12 months.
(We have been informed that it is easy to extend that period up to 3+ years.)
We will receive further instructions in the mail in the next few days, and we'll let you know what those are.
We were joined on our conference call by several family members. Thanks to all those who were there, and we missed those who didn't get the word in time.
Now we will continue our preparations, and your prayers are solicited on behalf of our success in matters such as selling our Tucson house and land, as well as maintaining our good health and all other matters, both worldly and spiritual, in which we stand in need of success and/or improvement. Thanks!
It's HERE!
but we haven't opened it yet. We are thinking about how to proceed. Prayerfully, I can assure you.
For all you faithful blog-watchers, we will have a conference call at 6 pm tonight (PT, incl Tucson, or 7 pm in MT and UT), which we hope will allow anyone interested to be there: it's after day activites and before evening activities - we hope!
The number is 308-344-6400, pin 887953#. If you have trouble getting in, hang up and enter the pin slowly, even if it tells you it is invalid. And stand away from a computer while doing that. Maybe call in a few minutes early so you can be sure to be there.
Keep an eye on this blog for changes: If I hear that this time is bad for a few of you, we will try to find a better one. And of course I will post the details right after the call for anyone who has to miss it.
YAY! They do want us after all...any last guesses?
For all you faithful blog-watchers, we will have a conference call at 6 pm tonight (PT, incl Tucson, or 7 pm in MT and UT), which we hope will allow anyone interested to be there: it's after day activites and before evening activities - we hope!
The number is 308-344-6400, pin 887953#. If you have trouble getting in, hang up and enter the pin slowly, even if it tells you it is invalid. And stand away from a computer while doing that. Maybe call in a few minutes early so you can be sure to be there.
Keep an eye on this blog for changes: If I hear that this time is bad for a few of you, we will try to find a better one. And of course I will post the details right after the call for anyone who has to miss it.
YAY! They do want us after all...any last guesses?
Friday, June 6, 2008
Not This Week, I Guess...
The mail just came. At least the mailtruck just went by. But nothing for us. I suppose there is some small hope it will come tomorrow, but it seems unlikely it would take 4 days from Salt Lake, and we know they're mailed on Tuesdays.
So it looks like we wait for another week...
So it looks like we wait for another week...
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Waiting...
It's nearly 11 am on the first day the call could come (on this revised schedule previously laid out).
I just ran out in the rain and checked the mailbox. It's empty - mail hasn't come.
It is not lost on me that someday all this will be history, well-known, understood, absorbed, assimilated, written, finished, archived, journaled, told to future generations, and even forgotten. But right now it is all future, all potential, all what-ifs and full of hope and a little terror (what if it's Ohio?).
Maybe it will switch from unknown to enlightenment in the next hour. Or not till tomorrow, or next week, or the one after that... But maybe in this next hour.
Whatever it is, it will be life-changing, it will change OUR lives - and the only way to walk through this is by faith, and an earnest desire to make the best of everything, and the firm knowledge that we will do so.
Maybe no one is watching with us. But it feels like a roomful, at least.
I just ran out in the rain and checked the mailbox. It's empty - mail hasn't come.
It is not lost on me that someday all this will be history, well-known, understood, absorbed, assimilated, written, finished, archived, journaled, told to future generations, and even forgotten. But right now it is all future, all potential, all what-ifs and full of hope and a little terror (what if it's Ohio?).
Maybe it will switch from unknown to enlightenment in the next hour. Or not till tomorrow, or next week, or the one after that... But maybe in this next hour.
Whatever it is, it will be life-changing, it will change OUR lives - and the only way to walk through this is by faith, and an earnest desire to make the best of everything, and the firm knowledge that we will do so.
Maybe no one is watching with us. But it feels like a roomful, at least.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Late Spring Cheerfulness
Now that I have the knack of getting photos into blogs - even if not where I want them - I have a few more to share. These are of our house from the back.
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