Sept. 29, 2011

Celebrating my 40th birthday

As a person gets older there is a difficult thing that happens each year and that is the celebration of that one added year. When young it is fun and you look forward to it and I am not sure when that ends and the dreading it part begins. For me I think I had a harder time accepting my 30^th birthday than any of the rest but for my family they felt it should have been the 40^th.

My 40^th birthday, being in August falls at some inopportune times when it comes to planning celebrations of the birthday. We had a Ward campout for the 1^st ward planned on the night of my 40^th birthday. We had thought about just skipping it and having the evening for my birthday as a family at home. That didn’t go over to well however since we were a camping family and we tried to support the ward activities. So the decision was made early in the week to just go to the camp and maybe celebrate on Saturday. So when I came home on Thursday the children felt that waiting until the day after would not be very fun for me even though I was perfectly fine with the whole arrangement. They had made a grave in the middle of the front room of the house just to bury my youth I guess. Needless to say the celebrating had started and with it came the black 40 years balloons hanging around and all.

So then on Friday we went to the camp and of course no one in the family could allow the fact that it was my birthday remain as one of those unknown facts for the event. So the entire ward family that was attending the campout, that was being held at Little Diamond Fork Campground, had to sing Happy Birthday to me. It was a fun evening though and I really did appreciate the fun they had at my expense. The next morning we got up and enjoyed the rest of the campout with the special breakfast and activities. We went home and then went ahead with the plans as they had originally been made and I opened all of my presents and had a special evening dinner that Marie prepares for us on our birthdays. It was a fun birthday and I always exclaim that it was very special because we celebrated it for three days not just one.

Sept 28, 2011

Bailing Ty Kermit from Jail

One night around 10 pm I received a call from the Utah County Jail. Since we had Caller ID on the phone and I could see that it was from the jail I couldn’t figure out why they would be calling.  Well it ended being my nephew Ty Kermit Poulson. He was one of the four grandsons who had been given that name of Kermit as a part of their full; given name. None of them however had actually decided to go by that name except for Ty.

Marie decided to go with me to the jail and to take Ty home after we had bailed him out.  We arrived at the jail and having never been there before had to take several minutes to find the actual entrance where we needed to go. We finally got the right door and I informed them that I was there to get Ty Poulson. The jailer looked at me with a strange look and said that they didn’t have anyone there by that name. I finally told her to check for a Ty Kermit and then she acknowledged that he was there indeed. He came out and I was shocked when I saw what he looked like. His hair was pink and standing straight up into the air down the center of his head. He had very tight leather pants on and a tight strangely colored shirt and a lot of chains hanging down. I took charge of him and we left. After we got to the car and as we were letting him in he pulled out the arrest papers and showed them to me. I was appalled to see his name written as Kermit Poulson with no mention of the name Ty that we had called him all the years that he was growing up. The thought far worse than that though was that a man whom I dearly loved and whose complete name was Kermit Poulson  was on that sheet. I was sick because of the connotations that would have to future generations who might not know that one of their Grandfathers was not the person on that paper and was one who was just the opposite in his actions from the person whose name was on that paper but only in part. The rest of his name that would have identified him distinctly different from my father was no where to be seen. I felt betrayed in a way by one who had received Dad’s name or the name of his Grandfather because of the love we had for him and what he stood for during his life. We took Ty home to Provo that night but I must admit I felt more like returning him to the jail and letting him think about it a little longer. I did express my thoughts to him though and that no matter how innocent his act had been that got him taken to jail I was still offended by the fact that the arrest papers represented only the name of the father that I had loved so much and that had taught me to obey the law.

Sept. 27, 2011

Rock marble hunting

I do not remember very many of the specifics of this part of my life but considering I only did it once and it still has some major tracks through my memory I felt it was worth mentioning.  Dad and Mom took us out to climb what he referred to as the marble mountain. I remember driving somewhere to the west of Duchesne up on the hill above town. We went quite a distance as I recall but here again it was probably a long way only because I was a small child.  However the short part of the trip ended up being the drive since it seemed to me that each time we got to the top of the hill there was another top to climb. When we finally reached about the fifth top we did end up on top and covering the ground were all of these small round rocks. They were almost round enough to play marbles with them. We collected several #10 cans with them before returning to the truck. I have always wanted to go back to that hill and until recently didn’t know if anyone else knew the way. In our last visit to Duchesne though Clair mentioned that he had been there with his children so I now know that he at least knows where it is and so it is up to me now to find the time to go have him show me where it is located.

Sept. 26, 2011

A Quarter for a daring feat: Climb down into the well.

I don’t know for sure how I survived my Cousin’s visits each summer.  There seemed to be a favorite member of our family that they would always pick on and that person was me. This particular story also deals with one of those pranks.

Jack Skewes has always been one of my favorite cousins and I don’t know why because one of my earliest memories of him was when he challenged me to climb down into our well house. The well house was a cement box that about 8 to 10 foot deep and five foot by 6 or 7 foot wide. It was below ground and housed the pump and water tank that was the storage for the water when first pumped out of the well. It was a very dark place especially after the wooden lid was placed over the hole that was the access to the well house. Black Widow spiders seemed like the place a lot better than I did and for years I can recall on several occasions finding them in that hole along with other various species of spiders. I accepted the challenge because, well, I was trusting and he offered to give me a quarter which was more valuable than a bucket of gold to a young man of my tender years. I remember the fear that I had as I climbed down the wooden ladder that allowed access to the pump and the tank.  I was almost to the bottom and victory when the wooden lid was slipped back over the entrance and I was submerged in total darkness with all those spiders ready for a hearty meal of a young man’s flesh. I quickly climbed back up the ladder only to find that the lid would not moved. Jack had put a heavy rock on the lid so that it wouldn’t move. My memory from that moment on was probably something that I have shoved deep into my subconscious memory bank since I have no recollection of how long I was in there before he had pity on me and removed the rock. I don’t remember if I cried but suspect that I probably did since I was not very brave nor have ever been since that time.  I am sure the spiders were probably just as scared as I was as well but that wasn’t in my mind either. So why is he a favorite cousin, well, probably because he has also been there most of my life as a good friend as well as a cousin after the “rock on the well lid” incident.

Another version:

All for 25 cents

I have told in other stories about the fact that I had cousins from Bountiful who would spend their summer months in Duchesne living with Nana (Grandma Poulson) and often staying or visiting with us as well since we only lived a couple of miles out of town and were on a farm no less. I have also explained that I was often the target of pranks that they would devise in my behalf sine I was four years younger than my next older brother and 10 years younger than my oldest cousin.

It was my oldest cousin that pulled this prank on me and has since changed my life forever. (At least I like to blame it on him and hold no malice in so doing since we have become very good friends and I have gotten revenge many time over by taking his picture at every event we have ever attended just because I knew he didn’t like it either.) I must also explain that even though I did get an allowance of 10 cents or so once a month and maybe even more often, that to me at that time 25 cents was worth an awful lot. Candy was still sold for a penny a piece and so 25 pieces would go a long to satisfy a sugar need. I probably didn’t get to have all 25 pieces though since mother was very strict about our paying tithing first and so 3 cents would most likely have gone into my little yellow tithing bank. We also got our water from a well. The well house wasn’t an above ground building but rather a cement lined hole in the ground with a cement top minus room for a hole where the ladder would lean and we would gain access to the tank and pump below at about an 8 foot depth. It was very dark inside and consequently a handy spot for Black widow spiders with their lovely red hourglass marking on the bellies.  I hated the well since you could barely move around the tanks and work in it. My cousin must have guessed that fact and thus dared me one day to go into the well. It took some convincing but the quarter that he offered finally made me bow into the pressure. He removed the heavy rock that was on the wooden lid of the well house and then the wooden lid as well so that I could climb down into the well. He watched as I went all the way to the bottom of the ladder and then kindly replaced the wooden lid complete with the heavy rock. I have absolutely no recollection of the length of my duration in that dark spider infested hole but was sure at the time that every black widow sharing it with me was headed my way to teach me about the importance of not invading their space. I did finally escape their vengeance unbitten to receive my 25 cent reward but to this day am a bit claustraphobic in caves and dark abyss where black widow spiders not only try to get revenge for my invading their domains but revenge for all the black widows I have killed so that they wouldn’t invade my domain either.

Sept 25, 2011

Sister Gilbert/memorize Apostles

In Sunday School when I was somewhere around 8 years old I had a very special teacher by the name of Sister Gilbert. Her family owned the Dairy Queen in town and was one of my favorite places to visit since it was only a block and a half from Grandma Poulson’s.  One day in class Sister Gilbert challenged us in the class to memorize the Presidency of the church, The Quorum of the12 Apostles, Church Patriarch, The Assistants quorum of the 12 Apostles and then the Presiding Bishopric of the church. She also challenged us to memorize our Stake Presidency and Patriarch. To the first person to pass it off she would give a silver dollar that she had gotten in her Dairy Queen business. A friend of mine by the name of Jon rode the same bus as I did each day to school so we decided to take her up on the challenge. I remember working really hard to memorize each name specifically correct. The day I went to church early to pass it off I found out that Jon had also gone early that day and was at that very moment in passing it off. Sister Gilbert gave me a chance also even though Jon had done it correctly and basically won the silver dollar. I also passed it off correctly so she gave me a silver dollar as well. I can’t list them at this time but there were names in that group such as “O Leslie Stone” and “Hugh B Brown” that seemed to stick with me quite easily through the years.

I have always treasured that Silver dollar and for years it was the only one that I had until one day I was doing chores and had climbed the hay stack to feed the cows./ Our baler made the bales round so the stack was a in huge triangle  shape which was fun to slide down after pushing a bale off with which to feed the cows. This day however was a little different because as I slid down off the stack something hit me in the back. It was a silver dollar. We asked several possible people who might have lost it but never did find out who the dollar belonged to so I ended up putting it with my other silver dollar from Sister Gilbert. Years later after Lynn had gone on his mission we were going through my coin collection and I discovered that Lynn didn’t have a silver dollar so I gave the one to him that I had found on the haystack. I still have the other one to this day. It reminds me of the dedication of a Sunday school teacher who knew how to catch the interest of her students and help them to learn valuable lessons at the same time as they were in reality building testimonies of the Prophet and the Apostles.