Dec 22, 2011

Gathering Fast Offerings

My love for Marie didn’t come exactly after I had first met her at the school. I was still interested in another blond when I was 12 that was in my class. I also was not always real excited about gathering Fast Offerings as a deacon either but it was always fun to see if I could get a certain route that was in Marie’s neighborhood. I liked a girl, whose name is escaping me for the moment, that lived just behind where Marie’s family moved. I liked going on that route because it had that girl’s family home in it. I enjoyed going there because she would often open the door and take the envelope to her parents to fill out.  She always had a pretty smile and was fun to talk to at school as well. We were in the same class for about three years or so before her father moved their family to Fruitland and I only then saw her very occasionally at common school functions like basketball games and track meets. (I just recalled her name, it was Karla Lewis.) So my years of dedication in service in the church were largely shaped by my parents example but the dedication also in part has to be attributed to girls like Karla and Marie that made me want to do it for reason that could not be quite so largely attributed to my desire to do it for the Lord. It has since become such but I am glad that Marie is still there as a part of it many many times.

Dec 21, 2011

Flying squirrels and the biology trip

I loved my summer biology class that I took following my junior year in high school, Marie was in the same class, need I say more as to why it was fun. Anyway it was quite a different experience for me. We took several field trips, one of which took us to the Bear River Bird Refuge via the Alpine Loop behind Timpanogos. I really enjoyed those trips not only because I was with Marie but also because I was learning about birds and animals. We went one one camp up into the Yellowstone drainage of the High Uintahs. I enjoyed the campfire  and being with Marie on that camp but still recall the thing that was most interesting besides Marie, it was a flying squirrel. I knew they existed but had never seen one in my life. They should probably be called gliding squirrels rather than flying because that is actually what they do is jump from a limb of one tree and glide with the legs stretched out to the next tree. They have skin between their legs that make a parachute type of effect for them so that they can catch the air under their legs to aid in the gliding process. I must admit that I was sorely disappointed though when the teacher killed it so we could see it up closely and inspect how it operated. I figured it was good enough just watching it glide across the air between the trees. Later in the class that summer I caught a disease because of it called Touleremia. I don’t remember how to spell it but I do remember it was from skinning a ground squirrel that had been hit, killed but not badly damaged on the road through Strawberry valley where we stopped and picked up. I had a small cut on my hand where I became infected as I skinned the squirrel and prepared it for the class. It was not very fun getting that disease but it did get me out of the final exam and still an A in the class. I think the teacher must have thought I had been through enough already and had done all of my assignments with a lot of enthusiasm and pride. I was thankful for not having to take the exam but it would have probably been easier.

Dec 20, 2011

First Aid with Trooper Hooper

I was very timid as a youth (and somewhat still as an adult).  Scouting was hard for me because I had a hard time learning all of the stuff that was required for merit badges. I very vividly recall when I had to go to the First Aid merit badge counselor Trooper Hooper. I wasn’t unaware of who he was since I had liked his daughter a little that was in my grade at school and also in our ward. I was probably more afraid of him though because he was a highway patrolman. I can remember that it was pretty hard to get a merit badge passed off by him according to others whom had already done it. So I went with great fear and trepidation that I would never be able to pass it off to him. I was sorely wrong however and had fun, even though it was pretty hard. He was very kind and understanding of me and my abilities. I learned to love him a great deal and in fact years later came to appreciate something else about him as well. He was very perceptive and once when I was working a job at the Texaco station in town from 10 pm to 6 am seven days a week, I was very glad that I knew him as well as I did. There was a van that pulled up to gas up and about 12 men got out of the van and circled the station. He was coming down the road and glanced over noticing the van and pulled into the station next to the building where he got out and started talking to me while the men slowly returned to the van, paid for their gas and left probably a lot poorer than they had expected when they first pulled up and found that I was the only attendant. He told me after they left that things looked pretty dangerous for me and decided to pull into the station even though he was about to turn around and go home for the night.

Dec. 19, 2011

Utah National Parks Council Jamborals (Fillmore 1994 and 2000 more specifically).

We have had several Jamborals in this council for scouting and I have been lucky enough to go to 4 of them. The first one we went to as a family was over here in the mouth of Spanish Fork canyon. Marie and I decided to take the children to it just to see what it was like. I think Marie was probably the Cubmaster in the ward at that time also I really do not remember for sure. It was fun and we were able to see a lot of Scouting exhibits and a long zip line which we didn’t get to ride, too young).

I also got to go to one, The gorge Us Getaway, at Flaming Gorge and was involved in the district enough that we were able to go three days earlier than the rest of the troops in the council so that we could set it up and prepare everything. That was really more fun than the actual event as far as I was concerned because we could sleep outside of our tents and hear the coyotes as they came near the camp to howl each night. Doug Binks was over the camp setup so that was even a lot of fun first getting to work with him on the staff and that later translated into many times that we would spend together at camps of various kinds. Jeff was with me on that camp and we hiked the area below the dam while other were rafting so that I could photograph them on the water. I had been down the Green River many times as a youth but never knew a trail existed along the side of the river until that camp. I also enjoyed working with Mark Poulson, my cousins son, with whom I ended being with on other camps as well. The beat part of that event that I remember was when I went with Doug and several others to erect the giant gateway that would cross the road prior to entering the camp. We made it with huge logs that were set into the ground with the aid of backhoes and then held up in place as we lashed the poles together. They were some very large trees that we used for the side posts and the ones that spanned to width of the road. It was an impressive site. Yet the thing that I best recall and was most impressed by was the fact that when we tore it down they just used large cats to push it over. When they did I expected the ropes to start popping in little bits but was shocked when not one rope even broke while all ot the huge logs broke in pieces where the ropes were holding them together. We used about four miles of rope for that camp and a lot of it just on that gateway.

It was fun too because a former Bishop (Bishop Jensen) of my youth had been asked to run the mess hall and one of the medics from the army who was there to provide medical assistance had been one of my boys in my Blazer class when I taught scouts at age 17 (Bruce Taylor).

Then came the 1994 and 2000 Jamborals in Fillmore. I was in the Bishopric at that time and went with the Cub scouts to that Jamboral. It seems like it was only for the day but I remember the dust and everything that we had to endure because it was held in a field that was so dry the little grass that was there soon gave way to the dirt below and the dust was horrible. It was a fun experience however and I wanted to be more involved the next time so when it was announced that they were holding another one in the year 2000 I quickly calculated what Loren’s age would be at that time and knew I would be able to take him as a staff member if I went as well. So  since I was also involved in the District I soon was asked if I would Chair the committee from the Hobble Creek District. That  was quite an experience as I started to put together a staff of adults that could work with me for the next four years and develop the plans for our districts involvement in the event. I had some really great help and many of them are now lifelong friends from what we experienced during those years. We went down to the camp tow days early to setup and that was a lot of fun as well. We learned the wind blows a lot harder than I had initially learned for the first time there 6 years earlier and we had to put the tent up about three times before enough camps were setup at the beginning of the week to provide some wind barriers for our tents. Loren worked hard and we had a lot of fun during that week. Lee Greenwood also came and performed for us as well as the Second Generation Osmond Brothers. President Hinckley also came and spoke to us as well and it was a very neat experience. And even though there were major crowds and lots of people milling around it wasn’t too bad since I had helped to set it up for them. I would love to experience that type of an event again. It was fun to pull onto that field before anyone else and to pull off after everyone else. We did have a water truck that ran constantly to keep the roads wet and the dust settled. It worked OK but the wind funnels that would come through in the afternoons were another experience as well. I still recall one scout running after a dust devil trying to hop into the middle of it. I am sure some of the items that it and the other funnels picked up were taken to Fillmore and even into Holden and beyond.

Dec. 18, 2011

Family Vacation to Disneyland

In 1989 we decided to go with Charles and Ann’s family to Disneyland and Sea World in southern California. I have never really wanted to go to Disneyland but agreed to it anyway for the children’s sake. (I do not like crowds and standing in line for an hour to go through one ride and then return to the lines for another hour.) Well we went in October and only the schools in Utah were out for vacation so the crowds were somewhat limited in size which did make it a lot better. It also was my first trip to California and  so that didn’t help matters since I have never driven in those freeway systems and that much traffic.

Well we went when Brittany not very old so Marie suggested that I take the older boys on the rides that she couldn’t go on with us. Brittany apparently didn’t feel real good and spent some time crying and the main thing to this day that I remember about the trip was Ann getting mad at me for not taking Brittany more of the time. She wasn’t about to let me explain to her that it was Marie who wanted it that way not me. I can only remember one or two of the rides that we went on that day and can remember more abut Sea World than Disneyland. I guess my opportunity to take pictures was much greater at Sea World and there was actually a lot more to photograph in reality.

I loved Shamu and the other sea animals and am fascinated by what they can be taught. So it was more in my interests also than Disneyland. I will probably never go there again unless Grandchildren talk me into it and I would go for them. Now don’t get me wrong in thinking that I might be suggesting that you should never go to Disneyland because I think it is an interesting place and everyone should go at least once (but probably no more than that).  Sea World on the other hand I would love to see again especially with a camera that could get good pictures from anywhere in the stands.

We did one other thing while there that was fun but silly in other respects. We crossed over the border into Mexico then walked across the street and back into the United States just so we could say we had been into another country. I guess it was good but I was not impressed with that part of the country and do wish I could go deeper into it and see parts of world history areas and especially what is believed to be Book of Mormon history sites as well. I will probably never make it there but am glad that others are able to go and make film documentaries that I can watch at least.