Dec. 25, 2011

Hands Burned while repairing car

I grew up on a farm and attribute that to the fact that I can do a lot of what might be termed as Handy Man things. Dad was always repairing things and I can never remember him ever having anyone come in and do anything for him. He could do plumbing, building, and even repair the farm equipment as needed. He could weld anything that needed welding and repair anything that needed repairing especially if Harold Spencer was there. He was our neighbor and he and dad did a lot of the farm work on both farms together.  I also learned a lot due to scouting as I had to earn the Home Repair merit badge as it was required then and also had numerous other things that we would learn to do while in scouts. SO with that preface it is no wonder that I would always try to repair our cars until I knew it was out of my range of ability and I would then take it to Max to repair. Well I was working on one of our cars in early April when there was still snow on the ground. I had taken out the carberator and cleaned all of the parts and put it back together. I was doing it in the garage since it was a little warmer in there than outside. Well it still got quite cold so I took a small open flame heater and put it on the step at the front of the garage for a little heat. I installed the part back into the engine and then added some gas to the tank at the back of the garage by where the door was completely open while I did it. AS I was pouring the gas into the tank from the 5 gallon container I suddenly saw a flame racing toward me from the front by the heater. I quickly took the can out onto the lawn spilling some of it on the bumper of the car. I raced into the house and grabbed the fire extinguishers and told Marie to call the fire department and then went out and put out the flames. I used up three small fire extinguishers and finally grabbed the hose to put out one small flame still burning under the car. I rested my hands on the bumper and found out real fast that it had burned more than I thought and was real hot and thus burned both palms of my hands. Wynn Everett and the small fire truck arrived about then and found that I had the fire out and under control and told me I had done it correctly. Later as I talked to Max about it he told me that now I knew why heaters in garages were all hung from the ceiling since gas is heavier than air and the fumes will travel along the floor to the nearest ignition source. I learned a valuable lesson that day and soon closed in the garage and made a den, storage room, and shop out of it instead. There is still black soot that remains from that fire as a reminder of my lesson that day.

 The next day as I went to church both of my hands were wrapped in large white bandages as I had burned them fairly severe. I was also the one conducting the meetings and so I would take my day planner to the podium with it resting open on my hands since I couldn’t really open it all that well otherwise since my hands just looked like to big insect cocoons. It was a lesson I will never forget.

Dec. 24, 2011

Grandma Hales and Sunday school

When I was around 8 to 10 years old and I don’t remember specifically, my Sunday school class seemed to be on their worst behavior. Back then we went to church twice on Sundays, once in the morning for Sunday School and then again in the evening for Sacrament meeting. We didn’t have the consolidated 3 hour blocks until I had been home from my mission for a few years, 2 or 3. So Sunday morning we would go to the church and the priesthood meet and then later the women and children would come for Sunday School. We would have opening exercises and then go to class. Relief Society, Primary and Mutual were held during the week. Well during the years when we ad that bad class we had been through 2 or 3 teachers when Grandma Hales was called to be our teacher. I was glad to have her there as as our teacher. Leesa and I were in the same class and we both called her Grandma even though she wasn’t actually our Grandma. Well she tried to teach us and there were the same noisy class members minus two. Leesa was always well behaved in class but since Grandma Hales was our teacher I was especially well behaved do to my love for her. I remember though the day that my heart was broken for her as she was trying to teach and the other boys would not pay any attention to her at all but was extremely noisy. She finally through the chalk and eraser at the back of the class and left crying. She didn’t return to class and the boys were all cheering except one. I don’t remember our next teacher but I also don’t remember changing teachers after that again.  

Dec 23, 2011

Governor Lake trip

As I have mentioned in other stories as a scout all of my summer camps were into the Granddaddy Basin of the Uintah National Forest. They were always fun and very memorable. I think it was the second year into the granddaddies when we went to Governor Lake that was situated just below Granddaddy lake. There were some waterfalls that went from the one down to the other but I don’t remember them being particularly spectacular or even any falls involved more of a stream running down the hill but there should have been because it was pretty darn steep going down with our backpacks on. Governor Lake was a real pretty lake. It was somewhat long and took quite a wile to get around it. There were some marshy areas around it as well where to follow the edge of the lake was not possible. We camped in the trees and one of my favorite scout photographs was taken that year. It has always made me think of the Civil War when I look at it since we were in A Frame tents and you can see that tent with smoke rising from the fire pit into the early morning sun that was just breaking through the tall pines. It was not a good year for fishing that I remember but of course there were never any good years for fishing for me since I wasn’t too good at it anyway. We did hike to a Lost lake that year and it was well named as we almost got lost looking for it. I remember it was good fishing as long as you kept walking along the edge of the lake and following the school of fish that seemed to be swimming around the edge in endless circles. It wasn’t a very large lake but all of seemed to catch quite a few fish that day. Getting back to camp again we almost got lost since there really was no trail that led in and out of that lake. I think the only reason we were able to find it is because the scoutmaster had been there several times before and so knew his way. It was a fun year and I still hold that lake as one of my most favorite in the basin.

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.