Aug 27, 2010 Happy Birthday Tia!

Did you ever have a fire in your home or accidentally catch something on fire?

Here is what I have written on that subject. It is the only fire I recall other than the ones in our wood and coal burning stoves.

A Fire in the stack yard; BYU Pow Wow

When I was 12 to 15 years old we had the opportunity to go from Duchesne to Provo to attends for three Saturdays a Merit Badge Pow Wow that was held at Brigham Young University. I think I went twice in those years.

One particular Saturday however was very memorable.

I had left with the scouts early that morning since we had to be to Provo by 8:30 AM. I wasn’t feeling well but thought it to just be the jitters. I was not a real adventure seeker at a young age and often got sick to my stomach when I would be required to do something out of the ordinary. I went to my first class and had to leave to find a bathroom to relieve my stomach. After spending several minutes in the bathroom and having lost any and all of my breakfast I didn’t feel like going back to class so instead spent the rest of that hour and the following two hours in the hallways of several buildings on the campus. I had a unique desire in my youth to collect things and during those times there were many vending machines in each of the buildings so as I wandered the halls I would stop and put a nickel into the machines and retrieve a roll of life savers. (I never did eat any of them but later put them into an old cigar box that I had at home. Over the years prior to my mission I ended up filling up that box with a number of lifesaver rolls full of candy. After I returned from my mission I found that my stash of sweets had been already eaten by sugar ants during the years that I had been gone. The rolls were all still there but small holes in each package revealed where the ants had carried off my sugary treats.) Anyway I had to spend the rest of the day in misery as we ended the Pow Wow and went out for something to eat before returning home that afternoon. I didn’t eat anything since I was afraid that it wouldn’t make the trip back to Duchesne. When I got home late that afternoon all I wanted to do was to retire to bed and get feeling better. The rest of the family however had taken the day to go to the Wasatch front to do some shopping for Christmas and had not returned by the time we were supposed to be doing the chores. I finally got up and went out to milk the cows and do the feeding. I left the feeding till last hoping that Dad would be home by then and could do the job for me. I finished milking and still no one was home. But that night also had another problem in that it was cold and very dark and as I went out to the stack yard to do the feeding I had left the light off at the barn. I don’t know why but that light that could have helped me was left off. I often went to the stack yard in the dark and knew my way quite well even though there were more than a few times that I would step in fresh cam pies while going there. This night however I couldn’t tell where the hay was that I needed to get for the cows so since I was prepared as a scout I pulled a match from my pocket and started a small fire that would light up the stack yard enough to see the hay. I hadn’t gotten a very big fire started when Dad finally arrived home and came out to see where I was in the process of doing the chores. He turned on the light that was on the outside of the barn that shed some light on the stack yard but still didn’t seem to help very much and then came out to help me. When he discovered the fire he had me quickly grab a bucket and go to the canal for water to put out the fire. He didn’t seem overly upset but did seem quite concerned and after we had the fire out he calmly explained that the hay on the ground was several inches deep and had I left the fire much longer it would have burned deep into the layer and the could have spread for days without our knowing it until it could finally have burned down the stack totally. I have always appreciated the concern he had for me and the patience to help me understand the severity of the situation without getting mad at me. He didn’t say that I could go the house however while he put out the fire but helped me learn responsibility and then helped me finish up the chores so I could return to the house and go to bed sooner. I learned two valuable lessons that day. The first was the danger of fires in a stack yard of old hay. The second however was far more valuable to me and has helped me through the years and it was to be patient and loving in the process of raising children.

Aug 26, 2010

Phones have changed over the years. Describe how you used a phone to call up a childhood friend.

Yes they really have changed. When I was young we would hear the phone but not pick it up unless we heard two rings close together separated by a sort wait and then two rings again. If it only rang once before the space it was going to our neighbors who were on a “Party line” with our family. We could easily pick up the phone and listen to their conversations and they most likely listened to some of ours as well. We would call someone by moving what was called a rotary dial around from a number to zero and letting it return to the resting position before dialing the next in line of the four required numbers to contact someone. Later we got a private line and no longer could talk to the neighbors by simply picking up the phone but rather had to call them with all four numbers. Then toward the end of y teenage years we had to start dialing all seven numbers that made up a phone number that was listed in the phone book. (I might add too that just in this last year at an age of 56 we now have to dial all 10 digits that include the local number and the area code.) Long distance was always extra and we rarely made them. Now with cell phones we make a majority of our calls as long distance as defined in my early years but for little or no extra charge above the standard cost of our cell phone monthly bill. (Which is far more than if we had made a thousand long distance calls back then.)