Dear Kids,

Thanksgiving is a week from Thursday, and anybody who wants to eat and celebrate is welcome to come here.  Yeah, I know about the governor’s mandate.  We’ve tried masks and social distancing–Utah has been very good about that.  But the virus is still spreading. So what’s the solution?  More of the same!  Meanwhile, the virus is doing what viruses do.  I just finished reading a book about the flu of 1918, and they tried everything.  Masks.  Distancing.  Closing bars and theaters and stores.  Nothing worked.  The flu spread itself through the population, killing 100 million people worldwide, and then it was done.  I’m convinced that’s what’s going to happen this time, with far less destruction.  Back in 1918, whole families were wiped out, and everybody knew lots of people who died.  This isn’t so bad.  Ask Vanessa or Allen.  I’m sorry they’ve been sick (Allen is gradually getting better), but this is earth life, and people get sick.  Anyway, back to Thanksgiving, we’ll eat dinner at 1pm, and pie will probably be around 5.  If you’re coming, let me know, and we’ll work out a food assignment. 

I’m enjoying Bentley’s missionary letters. If you want to get on his list, contact Kim.  He sends them out by email every week.  It sounds like he’s working hard and having some fabulous experiences.  We pray for him every day, and I know you all do, too.

Heather’s surgery went really well.  As soon as she woke up from the anesthetic, that awful pain in her neck was gone.  Thank goodness for modern medicine!  John’s surgery has been moved back till the middle of December, because of scheduling conflicts.  Mine is still on for the 30th, if nothing gets in the way.

A flock of magpies checks out our back yard every Sunday afternoon, because I often put out chicken bones from the dinners Donna brings.  Last Sunday it was snowing, so they didn’t come until Monday morning.  Butlers’ dog came, too.  He’s a big German shepherd that roams the neighborhood.  (People have called animal control, but he’s still uncontrolled.)  The magpies didn’t like sharing the bones with Butlers’ dog, so they buzzed him and attacked him.  He left.  I knew they’d win. 

I hope you’re all doing great.  Love, Mom 

 Dear Kids,

Both John and Heather have had mysterious and painful medical symptoms, and now they both have their answers.  John texted us with this info: “Both of us are surgical. Heather on Monday and me a week after.  Heather had a disk in her neck slip out and crush a nerve.  My hernia exploded and my guts are spilling out.  I guess we are old now.”

Not old, but extremely unlucky.  Our prayers are with you, John and Heather.  I’m glad for medical science and all it can do.  BTW, Monday must be the preferred date for surgeries, because my hip replacement will be two Mondays after John gets worked on.  Does anybody else have any medical news to report?  I haven’t talked to Al this week, so I don’t know how he’s doing, but no news is good news.

Last Sunday night Tommy locked himself in our little bathroom, and everybody was yelling in to him, “Turn the knob!  Turn the knob!”  Whatever he was doing didn’t work, but eventually we found a flat screwdriver-like key that opened the door, and we let him out.  The next morning I went into that bathroom to get something out of the vanity cabinet, and one knob fell off in my hand.  The other knob was so loose it nearly fell off.  Evidently, when Tommy heard “Turn the knob,” he wondered, “What knob?  What knob?”  Then he saw two knobs and tried them both.  We sometimes underestimate the intelligence of these little kids.  Sometimes they’re smarter than we are.

  Dad and I enjoyed every single day of the gorgeous fall weather this past week.  We worked furiously on the bunkhouse.  The sun was very low in the sky, and the wind blew off and on, but we got a lot done.  Now the bunkhouse is completely ready for siding, and it looks a lot better than it did.  During the winter I’m hoping to do the floor and finish off around the bottom bunks.    

Isn’t it weird to be off daylight saving time?  It gets dark so early!  You just want to get into pajamas and curl up under a nice blanket and watch movies.  But there’s lots of fun coming up: Thanksgiving and Christmas and sledding and snowshoeing.  Life is great! 

Love, Mom

 

Dear Kids,

Finally, there’s some real news, but most of you already know this:  Allen has Covid!  He probably contracted it when he went to a leadership conference in West Yellowstone last week.  He was together with about 60 other law enforcement people for 8 hours a day.  He said they wore masks when they walked around their hotel, but in the conference room they just social distanced.  This past Monday he started feeling sick–muscle aches, etc., so he got tested, and he was positive.  So now he’s into about day 6 of a 10-day quarantine.  Del is quarantined, too, but she’s tested negative so far.  And her boyfriend is also quarantined.  None of the other 60 people from the conference seem to have it, but Allen’s pretty sure it will run through the Centerville police department.  I’m sorry he’s sick, but he’ll be immune when he comes out of it.  That should be about Thursday or so.  He’s going crazy being shut up at home, and he’d like to be able to do his regular work, but he’s in bed, and he says you just can’t use a computer when you’re down like that.  It’s too bad he has the virus, but he’s helping spread Covid, and getting us closer to herd immunity.  I think that’s the only way we’ll get through this.  Even when the vaccine is ready, people are too suspicious to get it.  I’ve only talked to one person who’s willing to do it, and everybody else says “never!”  Especially if  President Trump is behind it.

Well, other news?  There’s not much.  We had that cold snap last weekend, and I was concerned that it was going to get down to 6̊ Sunday night.  It actually went down to -3.  All the autumn leaves are shriveled now, and we’re ready for winter.  But it’s been surprisingly warm.  Dad and I have been over at the cabin working on the bunkhouse practically every day.  We finished the skirting, and it looks really good.  Dad is still painting (to protect it from the woodpeckers next spring, until we can get the siding on.)  I’m working on the 2x4 edgings around the windows and door. 

Dad and John went on a jaunt to Rexburg from Friday night through Saturday, to look around Dad’s old stomping grounds, including the airport and the college.  They seemed to have a lot of fun.  I stayed home to entertain the cats.  

My hip surgery is just four weeks away.  My doctor said I have to quarantine myself for three weeks afterwards, because my immune system will be compromised. I’m not sure why–maybe I can get him to explain that when I go in for my pre-op visit on Tuesday.  Anyway, that probably means no Sunday night parties here, for most of December.  Also, I’ll have to miss the Messiah totally.  So sad.

But life is good.  I love you all!  Mom

 Dear Kids,

Yesterday I met up with my sisters and my cousin, Colleen, in Midway.  We wandered through All the Stuff in the Barn, and almost everybody bought something.  Then we drove over to Heber and had lunch at the Wasatch Back Grill.  I wasn’t the only person bringing my own food–Barbara is on a special diet, too.  We pulled tables together so we had room for everybody, and we talked and talked and talked.  I learned lots of new things, but the most fascinating is something I can’t put in my letter.  You’ll have to ask me.  

Last Sunday night Nora texted me that Carolyn Barney had died.  She heard it from Annice.  The funeral was Monday morning, and it was too late for us to plan to go, but I enjoyed reading her obituary.  Nora texted me the link, but you can get there by just googling Carolyn Reed Barney and obituary.  There’s a really cute wedding picture of her.  Thinking about Carolyn brought back lots of memories for me.  I’m glad she’s in a better place now, and that she’s healthy again.  She must feel great!

Adelaide reports that she’s doing well at Snow.  One of her roommates has a dog, who shares a room with her.  (With the roommate, not Addie.)  The roommate even pays double rent!  I asked Addie if the dog ever had accidents, and she didn’t know, but they were having a room inspection coming up.  Then they’d find out.  I had a lot of interesting roommates in college, but I never had a dog.  If I’d had anything, it would have been a nice domestic house cat. 

A storm is blowing in, and it’s supposed to start snowing.  And it’s going to be COLD:  6̊ tonight.  (At least that’s above zero, not below.)  I hope it warms up again and we have a few more good days before winter, because Dad and I have been going gung ho on the outside part of the bunkhouse.  We’ve repaired the skirting around the bottom, and we’re hoping to get the 2x4's around the windows and door, like we have on the cabin.  Then we’ll be all ready for siding in the spring.  During the cold months I’m going to do the bunkhouse floor, probably with laminate.  And then I’ll close off the areas under the beds.  It will all be comfy and cozy and ready for guests.

Here’s hoping you’re all doin’ great and lovin’ it.  Mom

 Dear Kids,

Monica has kittens!  She sent us a video of them fighting.  One of them is a grey tabby, sort of like Scout, and the other is black and white, sort of like Sonia, but they’re both boys.  Or, at least they have boy names: Burt Reynolds and Harold.   The video made me wish Scout and Sonia were kittens again.  They were so cute when they were little, and now they’re just ordinary cats.  Except that they still go on rampages.  Scout was chasing Sonia a couple of mornings ago. It would start with Scout pretending to scratch his claws on the top of the couch, and Sonia would crouch.  Then they were off running, skidding across the dining room table, and leaping over the sofas.  I don’t know what set them off.  Finally I tossed them both outside.

Our ward is meeting every Sunday now, but just for sacrament meeting.  And it’s short–under an hour.  But it seems to take up most of the morning, getting ready, getting there, getting home again, changing clothes. . . .  I like going back to church and seeing our ward people again, but I really miss those long slow Sundays, and having the sacrament at home.  But life has to get back to normal. 

I’ve joined the Francis Camp of the DUP, mostly because all my favorite ladies are in it.  We meet once a month and people share pioneer stories.  The first meeting was great, because we met outside, and most of us didn’t wear masks.  But now we’re meeting in the “social hall” at the city park, and it’s cold in there.   And we’re back with the masks.  And I fell asleep.  I hope I didn’t snore.  I hope the future meetings will be better.

My mouth is full of canker sores, and I hate it.  It’s a side effect of chemo, which I haven’t had for months, but the canker sores are still with me.  Also the nausea, here and there.  Also, my eyelashes keep falling out, but at least they grow back.  Anyway, about the canker sores–there’s a gel called Kanka that I get from Amazon, and it numbs my mouth really well, but not for long. I also have a special mouthwash  made of lidocaine, maalox, and  benadryl.  It helps a little bit, too.  The best help would be if I could quit eating dark chocolate, but I can’t give it up.

Funny how so many of our problems are caused by ourselves.  Oh, well.  Life is good.

Love, Mom

 Dear Kids,

It’s supposed to rain this morning, but up till now we’ve had the most marvelous fall weather!  So we’ve been trying to finish our summer projects.  At the cabin, I finished the stone wall around the moose, and Dad and I finished the skirting around the front deck. Now we’ve started on the bunkhouse.  Dad has been painting over that decroded waferboard, to discourage the woodpeckers from ripping it up any more, and I’ve been working on the skirting around the bottom.  Next spring we hope to finally put the siding on it.  Here at our house, I’ve been working on the edgings between the gravel parking strip and our property, and spreading more lava rock.  People who walk by every day tell me how nice it’s looking, and I eat it up.  

Then, probably the most fun project of all, was yesterday afternoon at Donna’s.  She had taken apart her front porch so we could pour a cement slab underneath, which would keep the bricks from shifting.  So we did the cement.  Dad and Donna mixed and I tamped it down and smoothed it.   Of course I couldn’t resist writing my name in it, and Donna texted me a picture later showing how Dallin had added his name underneath.  The whole project was very satisfying.  I love doing cement, because you know it’s absolutely going to stay there.

Jana McGettigan was here from Friday morning to yesterday noon, and we had a wonderful time.  Friday afternoon we drove to the Heber airport to watch John take off in his glider (with Dad holding the wing), and then we drove around looking for “fall color.”  Jana’s taking a photography class and she needed to take pictures of the autumn leaves.  We drove through Charleston and Midway, and then back up toward Kamas.  We stopped by the Provo River where it goes under Highway 32, and then we drove to the cabin.  There were gorgeous yellow trees wherever we went, and just a few red ones that hadn’t completely faded yet.  At sunset, back at our house, we sat out in the pergola while Jana took more pictures.  Oh, yes, and we watched a couple of movies, too.  We always love it when Jana comes, and the kitties expect a lot of attention from her, too.  

Sharon is moving ahead with her nursing skills.   Now she’s learned how to give shots.  (They use a dummy that feels like it has real skin.  It used to be that nursing students practiced on an orange.  Thank goodness they don’t practice on real people yet.) Anyway, when Sharon went to get a flu shot, she noticed that the nurse did everything wrong.  We know Sharon won’t ever be so careless!

Life is great.  I love you all.  Mom

Dear Kids,

Our soup dinner last night was wild and crazy, like most of our get-togethers.  And lots of fun.  After we all ate, the girls and I watched the women’s session of conference on the TV by the kitchen,  while Dad and Tom and Bevan supervised the boys playing upstairs.  At one point I heard thumping and bumping and banging up there, so I climbed the stairs to  see what was going on.  Funny thing, as soon as I got up there, everything was as quiet as a mouse.  Dad and Tom and Bevan said nothing at all had been going on.  I must have been hearing things.  

I’m looking forward to the rest of conference today.  So far, I liked President Oaks’s talk the best.  Don’t you love it how plain he is?  

Five weeks in, our college kids all seem to be doing fine.  Julie is actually getting college credit for doing sound effects for video games and animations.  How cool is that!  Sharon has learned how to take “vitals,” and she’s been checked off on her skills.  So if you want your blood pressure taken for free, just wait till Sharon comes again.   I don’t know how Adelaide is doing, because I forgot to ask Nora.  I’ll give an update next week.  Jacob is doing fine with his classes.  He’s taking general stuff: psychology, humanities, even accounting.  He says when he learns accounting he can work for Heather and get paid a lot.

I thought my hip surgery was scheduled for November 30, but I wasn’t sure.  Dr. Wooten’s nurse was rude to me and she said he didn’t want to do it because I have cancer.  I told her my oncologist had communicated with him and told him it was all right.  She said she would pencil it in, but it wasn’t a sure thing.  And then she never called me back, and she didn’t return my calls.  Finally I just made an appointment to see Dr. Wooten so I could ask him myself.   It was worth the $45 co-payment to find out, because I’ve been staying off chemo to get ready for it, which is sort of a risk.  When I finally saw him in his office, he just looked on his phone and found it scheduled for November 30.  He said he’s still a little worried, and he’ll have everything in place to whip it out, and have the least possible risk to me.  Oh, yeah, I’ll have to be quarantined for three weeks afterwards, because my immune system will be compromised.  No Sunday night parties.  No Messiah in Heber.  No early Christmas parties.  But if all goes well, I’ll be able to give up my cane, and my hip will feel better.

I love you all!  Life is fantastically good.  Mom