May 1, 2010

What were May Baskets made of and what did they contain?

Apparently this part of the tradition didn’t make it into Duchesne. I didn’t even know what they were but guessed that they were simple woven baskets full of flower blossoms. Well I went to the internet and there are some pretty simple ones and of course some very elaborate ones. However they do contain one common thread and that is to fill them with flower blossoms.

The following is a poem that I found about May Baskets.

May-Baskets

by Evaleen Stein

Let us take our baskets early 
 To the meadows green, 
While the wild-flowers still are pearly 
 With the dewdrops' sheen.

Fill them full of blossoms rosy, 
 Violets and gay 
Cowslips, every pretty posy 
 Welcoming the May.

Then our lovely loads we'll carry 
 Down the village street, 
On each door, with laughter merry, 
 Hang a basket sweet.

Hey-a-day-day! It is spring now, 
 Lazy folks, awake! 
See the pretty things we bring now 
 For the May-day's sake!

April 30, 2010

Tell about a May Day tradition.

There was only one May Day Tradition that I can recall. Every year the fourth grade class in our old elementary school would do the dance around the May Pole. Even though e were not old enough to participate we practiced every year from 1^st grade on until it was our turn in the fourth grade. It was a dance where your would hold a ribbon that was tied to the top of a tall pole and by weaving in and out of the other dancers you would weave the weave the ribbons into a beautiful circle around the pole. It was a pretty neat thing that at the time seemed to be pretty dumb. Others must have felt that way as well since the tradition as far as I know ended a couple years later when the new elementary was built and our old one torn down. Maybe they did it still after that but I cannot recall ever seeing it done again after that. I do not even know if any you ever had it occur in grade school with you.

April 29, 2010

What childhood fear do you remember?

It was a fear of bulls and was well earned. I remember so vividly going out to help dad kill a beef for our families meat for that year. I went after I had heard him fire the .22 rifle knowing that meant he had shot it and would soon be needing my help as we would drag it over to the slaughter house to skin it and prepare it for cutting and freezing. As I rounded the corner of the barn I was shocked to see dad clear the pole gate with very little effort even at his age of around 55 or so. (Now that I am 56 I can see that it wasn’t as big of a shock as I had thought it was and that I could even do it if I was given the motivation that he had.) The bull was right on his heals charging him at full speed. I was glad that he was as close to the gate as he was or I would have had a whole different scene in front of me. The .22 didn’t do what it was suppose to have and it was not because dad was a bad shot, it was because the skull was a lot thicker than imagined. It only took another three shots to finally bring it down. I had helped dad several times as we did that same thing every year but that was the only time that I remember a bull that was so hard to bring down. I was actually pretty glad to see him go because I could never trust him and hated being in the same field with him. I was glad when dad had chosen him for the year’s supply of meat.

April 28, 2010

Do you have a story about a big surprise?

I have to leave my childhood for this one since the biggest surprise of my life just took place a few weeks ago. Provo Craft was sold to Bank of America and we were told that we would receive a reward or bonus for our years of service to Provo Craft. Since I had been there longer than 5 years I received $15.000.00 dollars. It was taxable and we were told that if we wanted to change our deductible amount we would need to do it before that night. Well I didn’t find out for two days what my amount would be since I didn’t know about the 5 year part at that time so after taxes I netted $9,151.00. (A second big surprise but it was still a wonderful blessing.) It was followed that Friday by another surprise as I was asked to attend a party that was being hosted by the four original owners of Provo Craft and asked to take photographs for it. I was told they had money budgeted to pay for it but after what they had done earlier (they were the ones that gave the bonuses not Provo Craft) I told them I would do it for them at no charge that they had done enough all ready. Well that night as we arrived they were no where to be found then I discovered that they were in another room meeting with each person individually and handing out checks to everyone who had touched their lives due to Provo Craft association. There were employees that had been gone for PC for several years. It was a great reunion. I would tell the amount of the check but was asked to keep it a secret but they were true to their word in that “it would be worth our time” to attend the party. They touched our lives several times over and that night was a very special evening as we got to visit with many of our friends who had been a part of our Provo Craft experience.

April 27, 2010

The question for today was answered yesterday. It was what did I do with what I stoe and did I get caught. So I will just put in another story today.

This story has to do with Tithing Settlement and one very special one in my adulthood.

Some of you may have been present when it happened.

Tithing Settlement $4,000 due

It was this time of year in 1983 (Christmas Time) when we had only been in this home for about 6 months when it came time for Tithing Settlement. As I was preparing my records so that I could go to Tithing Settlement I was thinking for some reason about the things that Mom and Dad had always taught us about paying tithing. Mom always felt that we should learn to round up instead of just paying an exact tenth since that would help cover things that we might have forgotten to pay tithing on during the year such as gifts and other things. As I was thinking about the gifts part my mind suddenly remembered the parcel of land that had been deeded to us that year so that we could build our house. I was suddenly sick since I had always had tried to pay a full tithe. I remembered talking with a convert to the church in Texas while I was on my mission who was then a Seventy in the ward. He told me how that principle of the gospel had been hard for him to accept but once he did he had been blessed so many times for following it that he wanted us as missionaries to use him as an example when teaching investigators about how true the principle really was for him and would be for them. It has always interested me how some things seem to stick in your memory and that one had even though I had always believed in tithing and never had a problem with it in my life. Then as I struggled with this new problem the thought of that good Brother in the mission field came back to me with great strength and power. I knew I would need to pay that tithing but also new that it would be $4,000.00 and I didn’t have anywhere near that amount that I could pay that day. I really didn’t know what I would do but decided to tell the Bishop and see what he would suggest to me. So we went to tithing settlement and as the children finished declaring that they had paid a full tithe and Marie then did so as well then I told the Bishop that I could not declare it since we had forgotten to pay tithing on the land. He then asked it’s worth and I told him $40,000.00. He then suggested that I start next year and pay $400.00 per year for ten years until I had it paid. He stated that he felt the Lord would feel OK about that. So for ten years I faithfully paid an extra $40.00 per month for ten months of the year until the 10 years had passed. The interesting part of this story is that at the end of that 10 years Signetics shut down and my ability to pay the extra ended with the loss of that income and the lower earnings that I ended up making for the next ten years. At the end of that period I ended up going to work for Provo Craft and for the first time since Signetics shut down once again had a steady income.

April 26, 2010

Last early bird.

Did you ever take something that wasn’t yours?

Yes and got caught. It was from my family’s tithing bank. I didn’t think I was stealing because I replaced the money with a same amount. I was just collecting dimes so I would take the dimes and put nickles back instead of the same value. Mom however helped me to understand that it still wasn’t right without the other person’s permission. It was easy to do because we all had a separate small bank that was together with all of the other ones in the same box. I didn’t do it anymore after that. It is interesting to note however that the dimes that I did collect over several years I took into the bank for safe keeping not realizing that they would just put them back into circulation. When I went to get them they explained that I would have needed to put them into a safe deposit box. It was 1964 and that year the US government cheapened the dime by sand-witching them. The put zinc in the center then silver on the outside. The value of the dime and also quarter’s were far less after that and I wished many times over that I hadn’t taken those several rolls of dimes to the bank.

April 25, 2010

I am doing a couple early since I may not have internet access the next few days while on assignment in California.

Tell about the first time that you were ever behind the wheel of a car?

I think that this should have been stated as “behind the wheel of a vehicle”.

I drove the truck many times before I was legally able to drive simply because we used them in farming a lot. I was never out on public roads behind the wheel until I was 15 and in Driver’s Education but I drove a tractor and truck for several years prior to that from about the time that I was 8 or 9.

I do remember though in Driver’s ed going with Coach Josie in the cars from Duchesne to Altamont and Roosevelt. We mainly went to Roosevelt because it was large enough to give us a little feel for city driving. I had problems also regulating the speed up and down the hills. When driving the tractor it was mostly on level fields and up to the yard, not much need to constantly pushing and lifting your foot on and off the gas pedal. It didn’t take very long though to get use to it and I didn’t go home crying as Leesa had after her experience driving with Josie. She was a year ahead of me and he use to make her so scared of driving that she would come home crying and that made me a little nervous to do it a year later but my previous experience behind the wheel made it a lot easier for me.

April 24, 2010

I am doing a couple early since I may not have internet access the next few days while on assignment in California.

Where were your best hide-and-seek places?

Around the side of the lawn behind the hedge which hid the clothesline from plain sight and around the back side of the house. We played what are now referred to as night games very often during the summer months. We would wait until it got dark and although we had different names for different variations of the game it was pretty much hide and seek. The variations were “Kick the Can” where you had to get back to the starting point and kick a can that was sitting there before you got touched by the person that was it. Then there was the game of “No bears are out Tonight” which was one that generally was a bit more scary since we really did have bears out there and pretending they were there was almost too much. Again you had to get back to the starting point before the bear touched you and you then also became a bear until only one person was left. The reason I liked the back of the house so much though was because it took long enough to get around it without making noise that you usually won by default, everyone else was captured by the time you made it around without making any noise. Plus you were coming back from a totally different side from where they heard you run off from.

April 23, 2010

Did you have any superstitions?

Well I don't consider myself as ever having any but I did find myself never intentionally stepping on a crack since that "would break your mother's back". (Don't step on a crack or you will break your mother's back.) It was an old saying that I have no idea of where it's origin came from nor do I really care but it was a part of me from something. It is the only one I was ever told that seemed to stick in my memory. Mom never had a broken back so I must have done OK.
I suppose I did participate in other superstitions because as I think about it "I try not to walk under a ladder, I don't consider black cats bad since I can always find some white on them somewhere, and I do knock on wood once in a while. However Friday the 13th is never an unlucky day because of having a birthday that often falls on a friday the 13th. It is a great day for me.

April 22, 2010 Happy Birthday, Brittany

What is the biggest physical problem that you had to deal with.

Perthes Disease

Perthes is a condition in children characterized by a temporary loss of blood supply to the hip. Without an adequate blood supply, the rounded head of the femur (the " ball " of the " ball and socket " joint of the hip) dies. The area becomes intensely inflamed and irritated.

Although the term 'disease' is still used, Perthes is really a complex process of stages. Treatment of Perthes may require periods of immobilization or limitations on usual activities. The long-term prognosis is good in most cases. After 18 months to 2 years of treatment, most children return to normal activities without major limitations.

Perthes disease usually is seen in children between 4 years and 10 years of age. It is five times more common in boys than in girls. It was originally described nearly a century ago as a peculiar form of childhood arthritis of the hips.

The above quote from the internet is the explanation of a disease that I had at age three. Clair had it also at age two I believe. The thing that sticks in my mind about this disease was the fact that I had a brace that attached to my waist at the top and to a shoe at the bottom. My bedroom at the time was upstairs and the brace kept my leg straight so that I could not bend it at the knee. However by standing to the left side of the stairs I could swing my leg up to the next step and swing up by bracing my body against the wall. Later I was even able to do it without having to lean against the wall. Although I only wore the brace for a year or so it affected my walking in such a way that I had to wear special corrective shoes until I was 19 years old to keep me from walking over one side of the shoe.

April 21, 2010

What was your favorite book as a youth.

Old Yeller I suppose. Mom always got book from the reading book clubs at school so we were always able to get two or three books each time. They were paper back books but I still read many of them and even kept a lot of them when I got married. I have always loved books once I start getting into them but was never really anxious to start one. Now how ever I love reading Clair’s books and will often read them in one day if possible.

April 20, 2010

Did you ever write something that you were really proud of?

Nope, I think Clair and Lynn must have taken all of those talents before I came along.

April 19, 2010

Tell about any sports you played in Jr and Sr High.

The main sports that I played in High school were Cross Country, wrestling and track where I competed in school events. I ran the Cross country in the fall. We strived to get 5 minute miles and usually got that for the first mile and then hitting closer to 5.5 the second mile and 6 the third. We ran up and down hills on some courses which made the time change a little but it was mostly around a 5.5 minute average. Then during the winter for one year only I wrestled. I pretty much hated that sport and didn’t do it anymore other than in gym to help out the wrestlers who needed someone to practice with. Then in the spring I ran the half mile, and also the mile relay once in a while running the half my relay also. I never tried out for basketball but did play church basketball for several years. I had the most fun doing those games since there really wasn’t any state championships to have to worry about. Soccer wasn’t invented when I was that young or at least our schools never had soccer teams and I didn’t even know it was a sport until my children were of age to play it.

April 18, 2010 Hello Is anyone there?

Is anyone reading this?

If "Yes" why are you not replying with your facts?

So why should I continue? Let me know if it has meant anything to you or not, if not, I do have other things to do with my time.

Like write my personal history which you will probably not have time to read either. Maybe I will turn it on to my brother's and sisters so I can get correct facts.

Now on with today's question.

Tell about the best birthday present you ever received.

A Birthday Party. Here is the story.

15th Birthday Party.

I have had several birthday parties to remember but the first one that had left an impression far too strong to forget was my 15^th one. As many of you know it is a standard in the church to not date before you are 16 years old so this birthday was pretty important since my girlfriend and I could not date. I remember going out to do chores and coming in to change my clothes and spend the evening doing I didn’t know what. As I entered the back porch and put away the milking items and the milk I started down the steps to the basement where my room was located. Little did I know that Marie Behrmann was scurrying as fast as she could to exit through my room and out the door on the other side so that I wouldn’t see her. She had come to throw a surprise birthday party for me and before long I was surrounded by several of my friends from school and of course my only true love Marie. I only remember Marie, Serena, and Don of my friends that were there and of course my sisters but I am sure that there must have been others. I only remember playing a couple of games as well but I will always remember being told how close I had come to seeing Marie at the bottom of those steps before I was suppose to know that she was even there. We started dating after she was 16 on the 16^th of December a full year and a half later and I can’t remember if we even had a party for her but I know that now I am glad that she was willing to be my girlfriend and later my wife and eternal companion. We have both had a lot of birthdays since then and some of them with parties and I will always remember my 15^th birthday party first when I think back on them.

April 17, 2010

When you played make believe what did you pretend?

Well I cam from the cowboys and Indians era where we played those games quite often and maybe that was why I had the dream about that fight where I fell from the trees to the roof of the corrals. I don’t remember ever pretending to be a doctor or airplane pilot or anything else other than a cowboy or an Indian.

April 16, 2010

Did you ever have a recurring dream as a child?

I dream a dream.

Early in my youth I started having a dream about a cave. I have figured out over the years that it seems to come back around every few years. A lot more in my youth than now but I have had it in the past few years. It is a dream where I go into a cave for protection from a flood or some other disaster. I think that is part of the dram where it kind of changes but the basic parts of the dream seem to be somewhat consistent. Now I don’t remember my dreams usually when I awake in the morning but this one has occurred so many times that I recognize it when I have it and often awaken remembering it. The cave is dark and I am usually quite scared and yet I always wake up before anything happens such as the mountain caving in on me or water from a flood getting so high it fills the cave. I did dream one version of it once where the mountain opened up and a huge flood came out of it and we retreated into the cave to get above the flood it had created. Now don’t ask me how we got past the flood to the mouth of the cave after the flood ahd come out and we were still in our homes because well the answer is simple “That’s the magic of dreams.”

I must, while on the subject, tell about a dream I had this past week. I have always been a fan of Daddy Long Leg spiders. I have never on purpose pulled off their legs like my friends in elementary did because I liked them. Well I had a dream the other night and I saw a daddy long leg coming down toward me from above. I know however though that they don’t spin webs or use them to lower down on but due to the magic of a dream it was floating down with it’s legs spread out as though it was a parachute. When it landed I picked it up and went to show Marie but dropped it before getting there. It was in a crumpled heap and I quickly kept picking it up by the legs to untwist it and finally it got up and ran away carrying the parachute opened and attached to the end of each leg. It was pretty cool. Ye s the magic of dreams, so cool.

April 15, 2010

There was a question about other Easter memories but I pretty well explained what I remembered already but as we were talking the other night there was a discussion about how eggs don’t break when you throw them. Here is an example of that from my youth.

Eggs Don’t Break

I went on a number of camping trips as a young scout and have numerous pictures taken while on some of those camps. One camp however does not have any pictures of it in my collection but there is a very poignant one in my memory. Young people can be so mean even to their best friends or to the guy who is just being picked on that day. This camp was one held just a couple of miles up the Duchesne River from town. We had gone up Friday evening and Saturday morning we had played a number of games in the filed next to the trees where we had set camp. We had finished playing games that morning and for some reason had gone back to camp. It was probably to clean up and get ready to go home. Someone however began an egg fight of sorts. It was touted that raw eggs wouldn’t break when thrown just right. Now I don’t remember who suggested that or why Gary Foy was the chosen target but I do remember how badly I felt as I watched some of the other boys start to throw the eggs at Gary. He promptly got mad and climbed over the fence threatening to walk home. That was probably the fuel needed for the other boys to throw the eggs at him even more. I still have minds eye a vivid movie of an egg hitting Gary as he topped the fence and then it bouncing off and falling to the ground without a crack. That apparently proved the point and to the energizing of the group a full volley of eggs soon followed. Gary was luckily out of reach by then and many of them bounced off the ground while others simply broke on impact. He did carry a large goose egg though where the first one had made it’s impact. I have often felt very badly for this incident even though I did not participate in the testing of the theory. Gary was one of my friends and I remember being mad at the group for testing it out on him but they didn’t seem to be too worried about it. Gary later fell away from the church for several years and after a divorce from his high school sweetheart and being married to a waitress from a bar that became converted to the church he finally returned into full activity. I have often wondered if that incident could have been one of those critical points in his life that caused him to turn away. I was glad when I heard he had been baptized and returned.

April 14, 2010

Tell about an Easter Egg hunt.

Memories of Easter Egg hunts come only from after I was married since iI don’t remember any while growing up. Oh I suppose there were hunts but apparently they were not very memorable. We didn’t go to any in town that I can recall. We did however color eggs about every year since we had chickens and seldom had no eggs but rather an abundance of them. So we would get those nasty coloring kits from Kohl’s and get out the stinky vinegar and crayons. It was fun but not something that I really looked forward to when Easter came around.

I seem to remember that Easter Sunday Sacrament meeting was pretty much the highlight of the Easter Season for us. There was always beautiful choir numbers and a special spirit that would attend the meeting Sunday night.

April 13, 2010

Share a memory about a church social activity.

Another story already written.

Church Song Festival with Leesa.

Singing has always been a part of my life and especially since the time that we sang as a family for Sacrament meeting one day and Alma taught me to sing the alto part in that song. (Seems like the song was Love at Home but I am really not sure at this point.) Anyway I have been able to sing the alto part to many song since then and did so until my voice became of age and I had to start singing the base line instead. I have fun even now though using my falsetto voice and joining Marie on the alto parts of several songs that I had learned in my youth.

We had a number of opportunities to sing also and Leesa and I had a chance once to be part of a church wide festival where we sang in the large basketball facility on the University of Utah campus. We practiced the songs at the stake center for several weeks before we boarded a bus and traveled to Salt Lake city to the U of U campus where we stayed in the dorms and then practiced for several hours each of tow days with the actual conductor who would lead the singing for the event. It was a grueling couple of days with even some threats that it would be cancelled from the conductor because some of the youth thought they were there just to have a good time and thus didn’t sing during the practices.

Well the threats must have worked because we did sing a quite a few numbers, even had a record made from the performance and grew to love music even more than before after it was done. I can’t remember the numbers that we sang anymore and don’t even know where the record might be but I will always remember the feeling we had as we performed with such a large number of youth mostly 14 to 16 years of age.

April 12, 2010

Share a memory of going to church as you were growing up.

Here is another story that I have already written about this subject.

Primary in my Youth

The church schedules have changed from when I was in my youth. One of those changes was when primary was held during the week. We did not have it on Sunday as we do now with the consolidated meeting schedules. It was usually on a Tuesday or Wednesday afternoon following school.

I would leave the elementary school with Lee, and Wendell Moon and others who were my age. We would walk the one and a half blocks down the street until we got to the main business district which was one block long. There we would usually go through the Kohl’s store and sometimes stop to buy candy before leaving through the back of the store to continue the other two blocks to the church. I can remember a couple times stopping to buy candy cigarettes which seemed to be unusually tempting on our way to primary. It never even seemed to cross my mind when in the store with Mom or Dad but with my friends on our way to primary it was always a temptation.

I don’t remember really ever getting in trouble at primary for having them but I do remember that they really were not that good. I liked the Boston Baked Beans and Nebco candies a lot better and would often even be able to pass the candy cigarettes for them. I don’t even remember ever really buying a chocolate candy bar even though my favorites were Butterfingers and Rocky Roads or whatever else looked good at the time. The candy bar choices were actually quite limited. I would like to someday be able to know what was available. Some candies are gone also and the cigarettes are one of them.

After we left the store we would usually have to run the other two blocks past the Post Office to the church since by that time we would be getting close to being late. It was a pretty easy run but at that age it seemed to be a very long one. I look at the town now and think of it as a very short distance from the school to church. I made those walks to primary for several years while in Elementary school. Of course by the time I was in 6^th grade I was advanced to the Young Men’s program. Then when I was 17 and a Junior in high school I once again made the walk since I was then called as the Guide Patrol leader over the 11 year old boys. I would teach primary and take them on scouting outings.

Primary had opening exercises and singing time and we would often have to give talks. We also would give talks in Junior Sunday School on Sunday as well. I liked Primary and had good teachers. I can’t remember any of the specific ones right now however. I do believe that both Lee and Wendell’s mothers were however my teacher during some of these years.

We often had to practice songs that we would sing for Sacrament meeting but the songs I remember best were the ones we had to sing for Stake conferences. I remember doing that several times and thinking as I got older that I soon wouldn’t have to because I would be going to Mutual in stead and they never had to sing. It woud not just be our ward either but every ward in the Stake would be there singing with us.

I remember Max Wimmer’s mother quite well since she was my Cub Scout leader for all a couple of years. Scouts was on Thursday after school and she lived just couple blocks further past the church. So our run to her place was always much the same as the one to Primary. The County Road Shed was right across the road from her home so after scouts we would often play on the large mounds of dirt that were put there for the winter roads. King of the hill was one of the best games that we often would play. I am sure my shoes were always filled to capacity with dirt by the time Mom and Dad would come to pick me up.

Summer time was a different story. Mom would often take us down but there were many times that we would walk to Rasmussen’s then down their road until we had to take a trail to the edge of the hill on the east end of town where we would go down the trail off the hill to the highway where we then would cross the old bridge and run that three or so remaining blocks to the church. We would return home on the same trail.

I enjoyed those years and my testimony received it’s foundation from attendance in class and from the lessons that would sometimes condemn the candy cigarettes that we so often thought we had so well concealed yet the teacher seemed to know that it was time to talk about the “very appearance of evil” or some similar topic.

April 11, 2010

Did your mom and dad ever find something you had hidden.

No since I had to clean my own room or live in it as it was. Mom would come to the room once in a while and dad would be there every day to get me up but I don’t remember them ever even searching my room for anything. In reality there wasn’t really anything for them to find other than my Life Saver roll collection and the only thing that found it was a batch of ants that took every bit of sugar from those rolls and left them empty for me to find when I returned from my mission. So I was the only one that was ever surprised by something that I had hidden in my room.

I had hidden things in the barn as well but they were never found either. The one thing that I remember hiding was an old shotgun and the only reason I hid it was to keep my siblings from finding it in case they might want it. In the long run none of them did and so I ended up with it. It is just an old relic that has no value and I wouldn’t dare fire a shell in it but it is fun because it breaks apart into two pieces which was what caught my attention and imagination with it in the first place.

April 10, 2010

Relate a favorite spring memory.

I would have to say that my favorite spring memory is a compilation of many that happen every year. I love the spring blossoms of pop corn popping on not just the apricot tree but also the apple, cherry, peach and pear trees that were all around our farm. Then there were also the flowers that would bloom each spring namely the Iris, hollyhock, tulips and other flowers that mom would always have planted around the farm. There were always a lot of bees flying around the blossoms that would make me keep my viewing at a careful distance but that distance didn’t diminish the downwind smell that would come from those trees full in bloom. That would have to be my favorite spring memory

April 9, 2010

She wants a limerick about you now. Well I am not good at this since it is so very much an English assignment. So write one about yourself for me please.

But now I will tell about something else that happened in my life.

Here is another story from my life stories collection that I am writing.

Riding Old Chief

One time as a young boy I wanted to ride a horse all by myself. So my father saddled up our most faithful and gentle horse named “Old Chief”. He then led us out into the field near where he was working on building a chicken coop and would be handy in the event of something happening to me while on the horse. I was given the reins and recall that Old Chief just walked around in a big circle. He must have been going in a circle because I was holding the reins with one side short. Anyway I don’t remember if I wanted Chief to trot or if wanted to but either way he did and then slowly ran faster and faster but still in a circle. Of course by then my desire to ride by myself was gone but my Dad must have just been enjoying it or too busy to worry about it for a few minutes. However he finally did start to worry about it and came running over to Old Chief who obediently slowed to a walk and stopped. I continued to ride horses for years even though more dangerous rides were yet to be experienced years later.

April 8, 2010

Make up a limerick about yourself.

There once was a boy named Kent

Who always slept in a tent.

He wouldn’t get out

He couldn’t get out

Since his brother and cousin

Had tied him in without cussin.

OK I am now convinced that the author of these questions is without doubt an English teacher.

April 7, 2010

Did you ever bring home or try to adopt a wild animal?

Only frogs and snakes and that was a very few snakes. I also use to collect tadpoles from the pond on our farm. Once in a while I would even find a fish that I would try to bring back to the canal that was left in the ditch after the water was turned out of the ditch. There were plenty of other animals that I could have tried to catch but you would probably agree that skunks, porcupines and badgers would not be the best animals to bring home. I did kind of want to catch a cottontail rabbit but they were way to fast. There was a flying squirrel that I would have loved to have taken home from Yellowstone campground up near Altamont but it too was not easy to catch. So I was plenty content to keep the cats and dogs that were really my best friends and pets.

April 6, 2010

As a child what did you want to do when you grew up?

I think that I wanted to be a rancher and a cowboy. Wow, things sure didn’t work out that way but I have enjoyed what I have done. I suppose that I never really had any desire to be involved as a professional sports player since I was not even a good baseball player as I discovered the only year that I played little league baseball I wasn’t the star player by any means. I knew also that I liked to take things apart and try to put them back together and that was probably the thing that really ended up directing me into the professions that I have had. I knew I loved photography but it wasn’t something I had a desire to do for a profession because I didn’t want it to become a job that I might detest in time.

April 5, 2010

Did you ever feel a hatred for another person? Explain.

Having grown up in a small town it was not easy to hate someone else because by so doing you did away with one of your very few friends. In other words there were not enough people to have friends pushed away by disliking them. There was however one young man that I strongly disliked for many years even though by the time I graduated even that was gone. It was the boy I have told about before who, as a third grader, he beat me up , a sixth grader. I had to ride the bus with he and his brother every day but thank goodness I had a best friend, Jon, whom I sat by each time because he got on the bus first in the morning and got off last at night, in fact his stop was just before our stop in the morning and the next one after us at night. It was his friendship that gave me a way to avoid Jay and as we got older things seemed to work out to where we did become friends. That was probably because I started to go to his house with hs brother that was my age, Dale, and we would play together. I really do not know why we had the fight or why he disliked me but it really didn’t matter as we grew older.

April 4, 2010 Easter Sunday

I have a question that was to be asked today about building and flying kites but I am electing to change it due to the fact that today is Easter and as I sat in priesthood meeting I had an impression to write the following instead.

My testimony.

I am writing this testimony tonight because of an impression that I had during priesthood meeting while listening to Pres. Eyring as he talked about our persisting in prayer and other obedience to God’s commandments.

I have been very blessed by the Lord through my life. I was born of righteous parents into the true church of God and that was only the beginning of my many blessings. During my youth I was blessed in being given instruction in the gospel in my home and in primary and mutual. I had callings early in my youth that taught me to be a teacher and a leader. It began with responsibilities in the Aaronic priesthood in the Deacon’s quorum presidency. Then as I was assigned to work on Youth Councils and help plan two conferences at BYU I learned many things and cherish those experiences. I was later called as a Primary teacher responsible for the Blazer class and the 11 year old scouts. I didn’t even have my own Eagle Rank and yet was being asked to teach them to earn their Eagle. I did earn me Eagle Rank and so did several of the young men that were in my class.

Then as I served my mission in Texas I was given responsibilities there that continued to teach me and give me experience in the Lord’s love for me. Then upon returning home and completing my education I married Marie in the Manti temple on June 20, 1975. We moved into Verl’s home in Mapleton where I began using my education as a TV repairman. It was only the beginning of several vocations that I would have and at the same time I was called to be a Primary teacher again. This time though for the 8 year old class. That also was only the start of many church responsibilities. Through the years I have served as a primary teacher again as a 11 year old teacher, Elder’s Quorum 2^nd Counselor, Ward Executive Secretary, Cubmaster, Webelos Leader, Scoutmaster, 2^nd and 1^st Counselor in three Bishoprics, Stake Young Men’s 2^nd Counselor, High Priests Group instructor, and twice in the High Council. I have also had many responsibilities in scouting including serving on Timberline courses for 16 years, serving on Woodbadge staff for 3 years, also serving on District, Council and Region staffs. Finally I have also had the opportunity to work 12 years with Young Women’s camp as a Priesthood advisor. I do not list these to brag but rather to show where the Lord has shared with me his tender mercies in giving me experience in the gospel and through these years I have been given many experiences where I have known that the Lord has been there to guide my way and give me a testimony of His work and of His life. I have come to know that He lives and that He loves each of us. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is His true church. I know that He has given us prophets to guide us and give us hope. I know that Joseph Smith was the first prophet of the latter-days and each one after him has been a true prophet also. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and was given to be a second witness of Christ and of His love for us. I know that the Priesthood is the power of God and have witnessed miracles of it’s use for our benefit. I also know that God is our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ is our brother who atoned for our sins if we will but obey God’s commandments. I also know that I have been blessed beyond my worthiness with a special family. I am thankful for you my children and your spouses and for your children. I often am thankful to my Heavenly Father that he has given me such obedient children. Yes I know that you are not perfect and I know that you realize that I too am not perfect, in fact far from it. I have made many mistakes and had to repent from them just as each of you when having made mistakes but that too is a testimony to me of the Lord’s love for us. That He will forgive us knowing that we are weak and need his strength to work through to our perfection. Thank you to each of you and thank you to each of your spouses for your efforts to be valiant in the service of the Lord. I love each of you and I love my Heavenly Father and my Brother Jesus Christ in whose name I bear this testimony to you.

April 3, 2010

Tell about a practical joke or prank you played on someone.

I think the only prank that I can remember right now that I have pulled has been calling into work sick. Then of course going into work. It seems that I have never had a consistent problem with going to work after the bosses but rather before they are ever there so it always works because then I get to see the puzzled look on their faces when I am there at work before they get there. It is simple but effective. Obviously I am not real inventive when it comes to puling April Fool's tricks and pranks or I might have been able to remember a few more of them.

I tried the Oreo trick on my family but they were all too smart to fall for it. I have never liked putting exlax in food for others since I might forget and eat it myself. I did have a boss one time however that would always eat peoples cookies from their lunches so one day the guys made a full plate of cookies and left them sitting at the table and of course he ate them and then was traveling to the john the rest of the afternoon. That was on day shift and by the time we came in on swing shift he had gone home. The technicians were all having a great time telling about it though.

April 2, 2010

Tell about a practical joke or prank someone played on you.

Lynn and Charles (Skewes) tied me to my bed. Here is the story as I told it in my life’s stories.

Alive or dead dream - tied to bed

When growing up I lived on a farm in Duchesne, Utah. Our home was the last one at the end of the road on blue bench about two miles from town. It seemed like a long way when I was young and now it is hard to believe it is really quite close to town. My cousins from the city (Bountiful) would come to visit us each summer. (The city meant they were from the Wasatch front where houses didn’t seem to end from one end of Davis County to the other end of Utah County.) They always enjoyed coming to Grandma’s place in Duchesne for the summer and often staying with us during a good share of that time as well. However they were full of pranks and I as the younger and probably bothersome part of the equation would often end up on the wrong end of the pranks.

One summer morning prior to awakening to the activities of the day I remember dreaming about playing Cowboys and Indians. That is something now that I hardly dare to even talk about considering political correctness and lawsuits but was a very real part of my childhood. Later in my teen years I came to love the Indian people very much as we had with us during the school months a foster sister from the Navajo nation.

This dream however had me high above the sheds behind the barn in the old cottonwood trees that stood so tall there along the canal bank. I was one of the unfortunate ones that got hit by one of the arrows and lost my balance falling from the tree onto the top of the straw covered shed. You see the shed was made of large logs laid next to each other on a wooden log structure then covered with one to two layers of baled and loose straw. The top of the shed was quite bouncy and soft so landing on it didn’t hurt but I remember laying there trying to determine if I was dead or alive. I just couldn’t figure out why I knew about everything that was still raging around me in this war but I couldn’t move either and so I was somewhat perplexed. The roof of the shed seemed to be moving also lightly tossing me back and forth as lay there mortally wounded. Well my dram ended and I awoke to still being very much alive but unable to move in my bed as my cousin Charlie Skewes and brother Lynn had tied me into my bed with bailing twine and were in the process of moving my bed and I into the clothes closet. No wonder I was not only unable to move from where I lay but the shed was moving also since the real world and my dreams had crossed paths that morning. I still don’t remember how I got out of the bed but I suppose if nothing else my mother probably persuaded a couple of pranksters to release their prey.