Aug 31, 2011

What is your favorite type of music?

Just about any of it except Jazz and hard rock. I can even enjoy some jazz but hard rock sends me over the edge. I mostly enjoy listening to Country however and have decided it comes mostly from my roots. Dad’s favorite group was a country singing group known as the Sons of the Pioneers. We listened to it quite often. Herb Albert, a trumpet player, was another of his favorites and we had several records made by him. Then I guess the fact that all we had was country and western radio stations made what we listened to become what we liked. I did enjoy the Beatles and Monkee’s and other groups like that who were becoming famous during my teenage years. I could not however get to the point that I could enjoy any hard rock, it just didn’t make me feel good when I listened to it and it never ever made any sense. I did start to like some of the more moderate ones later but they were few and far between.

Aug 30, 2011

Do you play any musical instruments?

I played the alto saxophone in my school years except for a couple of years when I switched to the trumpet. I musty admit that I liked the Sax best but was glad to have learned the trumpet since it came in handy trying to play the Kudu horn in scouting and the bugle that was given to me since I played the trumpet and thus could play it as well. It was a bugle that dad had for some reason and I was lucky enough to get it. I have used it in scouting several times especially during Timberline. I never became really accomplished at the trumpet at least not as much as the sax but I enjoyed playing them anyway.

I had 8 piano lessons and have regretted not keeping up with it but I had no use for wasting my time practicing the piano when I was 8 years old. It is a skill I have often wished that I had stuck with just since it is so useable.

Aug 29, 2011

What was the scariest or most stressful thing that ever happened to you? What helped you to get through it?

As a young teenager it was going into an old mine shaft that freaked me totally out. I was lucky to have a good leader that knew when I was ready to turn around even though I didn’t say anything to that nature. He just apparently knew how to read my body language or possibly even that of others in the group. There were some who would have loved to go all the way through the mountain to the other side where it came out but I was not one of them. I just knew in the dark that there would suddenly be a hole that dropped for hundreds of feet that was not there when the mine was made. I have never been totally at home in any tight and dark place. Not even “Nutty Putty cave” which I guess my fear of that place actually became more acute when it was closed for the very reason that I didn’t like it. Someone got stuck and died in it when the rescuers could not get him out. 

Aug 28, 2011

If you could change something about yourself, what would it be?

I will have to think about this one a bit I guess. I have not been one to not like what I am or have become. I guess I might like to have more money which would require my changing things that prevent me from doing things that might create that money but then I realize how blessed I am and cannot wish for riches since I am already very rich because of the children (that includes their spouses as well) and grandchildren that I have.

Maybe there is one thing. My ability to type. And maybe not since I can do a fair job of it and don’t want to take the time from doing other things to spend on that skill when there are many others that need my attention instead.

Aug 27, 2011 Happy 30th Tia

YOUR PERSONALITY section

What were the most difficult choices you ever had to make? How do feel about the results of your decisions?

It is interesting that as I look back over my life I have really not had a lot of “Difficult” choices to make. It seems to me that the usual difficult choices were very easy for me. For instance, whether to go on a mission or not. It was easy and I just did it knowing that it was what the Lord expected of me. Whether to get married to Marie or not.  That was a no brainer for me even though it was more difficult for her since she wanted to go on a mission and marriage would put a stop to that. Whether to have children and how many was not hard either. I felt the Lord would help us to know when to stop and it was Marie that really knew when it was time. I am thankful for each of the children that we had and grateful to the Lord for allowing us to have them.

Some of my hardest decisions have probably been in whether or not to have insurance when I have been out of jobs where it was offered. It is not easy to be without it when accidents can happen so quickly and things change so quickly such as when Loren was diagnosed with Diabetes and we were not covered. He needed to be in the hospital but I had to get some kind of insurance before that could happen. It only took a few hours and the Lord had us with the help we needed and he was able to get the care he needed. 

Aug 26, 2011

Have you received any memorable letters you would like to have your children and grandchildren read?

I suppose some of the letters that I might have them read would be letters that I received from my grandmother each year I had a birthday when she would send a dollar to us and include a short note of love and appreciation for us. There would also be the letters that I received from Marie when we were young lovers in high school. They would not be able to though since a lot of them were written in an obsolete language known as “shorthand”, I even had to have help when I was trying to read them. Then letters that my parent wrote to me during my mission would be good for them to read but all of these letters would be thrown away by them if I were to die and they were to come in and clean up. They might stop for a second and read one or two but they are not interested in “old stuff that seems to be something of junk.”  So I guess that if I really want them to read them I should get busy and include them in this blog so that they can ignore them as they do now for the most part. Some do read this and I hope that they enjoy it but I think life is too busy for the rest to read it so I do it for the ones who do read it. Maybe, just maybe they will learn something from my life and my experiences that will help to build their testimonies of the gospel and their Savior knowing that He has done so much for me in preserving my life and giving me direction that has helped me to love all of His creations and all of my relationships with my family and friends.