NO NEW ACCIDENTS THIS WEEK, THANK GOODNESS

Not a lot of news this past week, I pretty much stayed home most of the week until Friday. That morning I went and had my hair done at the usual time, 11:00 a.m. and then we went over to the Senior Center to our "Pain Management" class at 12:30. when we arrived home about 3:00 there had been a little mouse or maybe a little angel that had been here and cut & edged the lawn and pulled all the weeds in my flower gardens and Kent's tomato patch. I want to publicly "Thank Her" (her initials are J.J.) she is such a sweetheart. Then I hurriedly made a broccoli salad to take to the Ward picnic in between answering the telephone and visiting with some people that had dropped by to visit with Kent. After all this, we went to the picnic and it was a total success. There was a good crowd and a variety of food. Saturday morning we got up and hurriedly dressed to get over to the ward for their annual breakfast, car wash, bake auction, and church grounds clean up. From there we went over to Kathryn's garage sale, she had some nice stuff but all I bought was a nice big round glass bowl. Spent some quality time visiting with Kathryn and Denice, Gary and Gwen and then Dennis and Milly for a few minutes. We came home for a couple of hours and then went up to Brooke and Matts for a bar-be-que for Kyle's 10th Birthday. They had a real nice dinner and a big birthday cake. I felt like I had been running for two days straight. I was so tired I couldn't make it to Relief Society this morning, I did get ready and made it to Sacrament Meeting. By the way Verla told me no one dared sit in my chair this morning for Relief Society or Gospel Doctrine, and I said "they better not".

BROKEN HIPS, LEGS, AND NOSES AND CANCER TO BOOT

This week the message I have is not good, it seems like everything is going along pretty well and then it all falls apart. Is this the devil playing havoc with our lives or is it the Chinese that are all stirred up and getting ready to pounce on us? Last week, I was ill for two or three days and it seems like this is the same time as everyone was falling or getting results of a basically not so good nature.

1. Doris, one of my very good friends from Stone Hollow, does not have a finished basement, but does have a piece of carpet in her basement where the grandchildren she tends can go down and play. She wanted to get it vacuumed before she took her shower so she was vaccuming and got her foot caught in the cord, fell and broke her hip. She laid there for ten hours before her children came to see why she was not answering her telephone, she said it was very very cold and all she had on was her nightgown, I imagine it was cold and that she was in so much pain (been there, done that) that it was hard for her to concentrate. She is now in rehabilitation.

2. Joyce, Kent's brother Don's wife, was walking out of her neighbor's kitchen door and talking to the girl, didn't see the fact that the patio was about six inches lower part way down, fell and broke her femur bone several inches below her hip. The hospital gave her Morphine and that made her very combative, so they changed to possibley Percoset and she immediately changed to about 200% non combative, going along with whatever the instructions are and not arguing with anyone. The only time she can recieve calls or visitors is between 5:00 & 9:00 p.m. She is now in rehabilitation for about two weeks.

3.Leslie, Brooke's mother fell down the basement steps and broke her nose, cheekbone, eyesocket and fingers and got some bruises or gashes on her face. She has not been able to have these fixed yet as her face has been so swollen they couldn't do anything up until now, today she is going to the Dr. to see about having surgery. I just wonder, how much she will have to have.

NOTE: On Wed. Brooke called and said that on Monday the 12th Leslie will be going into surgery and they will be cutting just below the scalp and placing a metal plate into her face over where she has a broken eyesocket and cheek. This will have to remain for the rest of her life. Oh My Goodness!?!?

4.Kathryn, Dennis and Milly's daughter, just found out she has rectol cancer. She starts chemo and radiation treatments on the 10th of June for 5 weeks and then she is totally off of them for 5 weeks before having surgery. It is thought that after surgery she will have to use a colostomy bag. By the way I am Kathryn's Godmother.

5. Isn't all of this stuff happening a real drag? One thing that I found out that is a real plus is that Pat will be here on the 24th of June until the 29th of July. I also found out Pleasant Valley Days in Scofield is on the 4th and 5th of July.

MOVERS, SHAKERS, NEW JOBS, TOTAL LIFE CHANGES

My whole family is moving , changing, graduating, and doing all sorts of new things. It is hard to try and keep up with all of them.

Matt accepted a new job with "Red Interactive" which is located in Salt Lake City. That is they are out of Los Angeles with a satellite office in SLK. They are a major interactive web-design/creative agency. If you want to know any more than that you will have to ask him because with my limited knowledge on web anything I just cannot give anyone any more information, in other words I am "a complete dumbbell." As a result of this they just moved to Bountiful where they will be living in his grandmother's home. She is now in a rest home. This is good for them because they are just getting started, Abbey doesn't have a job as of yet but will not have any trouble finding something in the near future.

Clint, Brielle, and Molly just moved into an apartment that has 2 bedrooms, so Molly could have her own bedroom. Apparently these kids don't have any furniture to speak off, because they just move so quickly, or maybe they have a lot more energy than I ever had.

Kyle just graduated from Snow Canyon High School on Friday the 23rd of May, he will be 19 in January so I'm sure he will just keep working for the Pizza Factory until that time and then serve a mission. Or maybe go to college for 1 year before going on a mission. If I'm wrong, I will be surprised.

Ashley is coming from Virginia to set up a new record label on the 26th of May, I wish I knew a little more about what that is all about. I guess I will just have to be more inquisitive.

Jacob and JorJa both have new jobs that they start on Tuesday. JorJa is going to work for J.U.B. Engineering and I don't know the name of the company that Jacob is going to work for, His will probably be just part time because he has one more year to graduate in Electrical Engineering. When I find out more about what they will be doing or just who they will be working for I will let all of you in on it.

SATURDAY'S RAMBLINGS

There is not a lot of news going on on in our lives today, but I just wanted to post a little of something. Yesterday after getting my hair done we went to a "Pain Class." That is, trying to live in a pain free environment. It is a 6 week course so maybe I can learn something that will be beneficial to me, the biggest PAINS that bother me is my back, I never have a minute free from pain with that, I'm sure it comes from the vertebra that I had the problem with when we were in Malaysia, since that was the one that I never did have cemented or glued or whatever you want to call it. The real name is Percutaneous Vertebroplasty. I have had this done to four of my vertebra and I would recommend it highly. The only problem is that it has to be done within a certain period of time of injury or it is too late. This was done in 3 surgeries or treatments or whatever. It is done by Radiologists, and if you want more information on it just give me a call and I will tell you what I know. I have other problems that are serious, like Emphysema, where I can't get my breath and I am sure this is going to be my main problem in a period of time. Right now, I can live a pretty normal life if I just adjust a lot. Cooking has become a problem, but I have found that if we just fix meals that are pretty simple and buy a lot of microwaveable things we can get by. Cleaning is almost impossible, we will have to hire someone to come in and clean pretty soon, and traveling is also almost impossible.

After the class, we came home and Sandy called to see if we wanted to go to dinner at Applebees, they were going to use their gift cards that Pat gave to us for Christmas, Kent said he did not want to go because he wanted to stay home and finish his talk that he has to give tomorrow in church, so I went alone and met Charlie and Sandy, Jorja and Jacob, and KayCee. We had a nice meal and enjoyed each others company.

At 8:30 we watched the Jazz play the Lakers on T.V. even though I felt they were playing pretty well, they just could not get the ball to drop through the hoop, it was like something was just not letting it go through. It wasn't because they weren't trying real hard, and I am sure they are reliving that game over and over in their heads today. They lost by 3 points. Of course I also know anyone with at least a little bit of interest in the Jazz already have their version of it, good or bad.

Today I may not do anything but go out and sit on the patio and read or just sit and breathe in some of that nice fresh air.

DUP (Daughters of Utah Pioneers) ENDING SOCIAL

On Monday May 12, 2008 at 12:30, the members of the "Valley West DUP" held this year's Ending Social. There were a lot of the ladies that could not attend and they missed a very nice luncheon and meeting. The ladies always bring something very special and we do not have a lot of duplicates, this year the only thing that I noticed was that there were not very many deserts. I considered taking some bread pudding, but then decided against it and took some spring rolls instead. Ralynn, who is the captain, read a poem that she had rewritten and then presented each lady with an artificial rose bud and a windmill wheel which she used as a center piece for the table. I will attempt to add the poem here:

ROUND, LIKE A CIRCLE IN A SPIRAL

Round, like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel

Never ending or beginning on an ever spinning wheel.

Like a snowball down a mountain or a carnival balloon,

Like a carousel that's turning, running rings around the moon.

Like a clock whose hands are sweeping past the minutes of it's face

And the world is like an apple whirling silently into space.

Like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind.

Like a tunnel that you follow to a tunnel of it's own,

Down a hollow to a cavern where the sun has never shown.

Like a door that keeps revolving in a half forgotten dream,

Or the ripples from a pebble someone tosses in a stream.

Like a clock whose hands are sweeping past the minutes of it's face

And the world is like an apple whirling slightly into space.

Like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind.

Keys that jingle in your pocket, words that jangle in your head

Why did summer go so quickly? Was it something that you said?

Lovers walking along the shore and leave their footprints in the sand

Was the sound of distant drumming just the fingers of your hand?

Pictures hanging in a hallway and a fragment of this song

Half remembered names and faces but to whom do they belong?

When you knew it was over you were suddenly aware

That the autumn leaves were turning the the color of her hair.

The circle in a spiral, a wheel in a wheel

Never ending or beginning on an ever spinning wheel

As the images unwind like the circles that you find

In the windmills of your mind.

CHALICE HITS A HOME RUN YESTERDAY, HURRAH

Yesterday, Saturday May 10, 2008, Chalice Burnside (Charlie's youngest daughter) hit a great big home run. This is really great I think the name of the group is " Bonnet Ball for 16 to 18 Years Old." She really enjoys playing softball and does really well, never missing any games or practices. We haven't been going yet this year, although we went to a lot of her games the last couple of years. It has been too chilly for me to get out and sit in a bleacher for a couple of hours. Maybe when the weather ever warms up I could go at least to the Monday evening games. I don't know if I could ever get up early enough to go to the Saturday morning games. I just am not an early riser.

I must say "Congratulations to Blake, Chalice's boyfriend", he was sealed to his parents in the Jordan River Temple on Friday night. He is a very nice young man and I enjoy being around him. Charlie and Sandy went to the sealing.

Jacob and JorJa came out Saturday morning and helped Kent get his black plastic put down and helped him get his tomatoes planted. which we thank them profusely for.

Saturday evening we went over to Ralynn and Bob's for a Mother's Day bar-be-que, she had a very nice dinner all prepared, hamburgers, hot dogs, and brats, three diffrent kinds of salads, plus chips and dips and all the things that go with it and 3 different kinds of pie, cookies, and cream puffs. It was so good. Thanks again for the nice celebration for Mother's day.

KENT HOLDING THE CARPET IN THE CAR SO IT WON'T BLOW AWAY