Jan. 24, 2012

Insurance Salesman

After Signetics shut down I went to work for Kara Chocolates in Orem. It was a good job while Bishop Anderson owned it and while Keith Cavanaugh worked there. Then two brothers took over and started to run it. They took the good chocolate that was used and no longer used it and went to a cheaper chocolate. They fired Keith and that left me to run the molding plant. They started systematically firing the women who had worked there for several years and hired Spanish people who couldn’t speak English.  For the most part they were good workers but very slow. They would have me run the molding plant, when the rush seasons came along, on a graveyard shift. That didn’t bother me as far as the hours but it did get pretty quiet since I was the only one there. Then we started doing work for Guiradelli and that was pretty fun. I did learn to love dark chocolate because of their dark chocolate. I would only run the graveyard shift for a few days until we got caught up and then go back to dayshift. A year or so went on this way and then things started to go a little south. They would have me go in on graveyard and run the molding plant but they didn’t plan things out to where I would have sufficient materials to run an entire shift so I would end up just sitting around for several hours until my shift was over. I kept telling them how much chocolate was needed and they would promise me it would be there but then never come through with the promises. I started to study insurance and became licensed in Health and Life insurance and also got my Securities License. I then started working with a group of insurance people so when the next graveyard shift came along I told the boss that if there was not enough materials to run an entire shift I would be quitting. He promised me that there would be plenty. Well I got there that night and was able to make chocolates for a total of one half hour before I had exhausted every single bit of materials that I could find to keep the plant running. It was a Friday night and so I took the key to the front desk and shut down the plant and locked the door behind me. I just couldn’t in all good conscious sit there 7 and a half more hours. I then began working for A Plus insurance and found out that I was just not an Insurance salesman. I tried for sometime but finally David Nemelka told me I was too honest to sell insurance and to get out. He then helped me start Treasured Photography. While starting that I also worked for a Safe company called Ft. Knox. It was fun but then the photography started creating major conflicts with it and I had to quit. I was having to take so many days off that it wasn't fair to them to keep trying to make both of them work.

Jan. 23, 2012

Hunting Rabbits with Don Hansen

One of my favorite things to do after school during the warmer parts of the spring and fall was to meet Don Hansen, my best friend, and go rabbit hunting. I used my father’s old single shot .22 caliber rifle and I still remember the day Don showed up with a new semi-automatic that could shoot 9 or so bullets before having to reload. Of course with a single shot I had to reload each time after I had fired off a round. I learned something very valuable however and that was that I had to make the shot count and I would go through a lot less ammo since I could kill the rabbit with one bullet rather than shooting the dirt up behind it for 8 shots or 9.  We would go up on the bench and could shoot almost any direction except toward town that was three miles away. We would go up to the Big Hollow and walk along the top and sometimes drop down a little and walk along the little hills. It was not uncommon to see 5 to 10 rabbits at a time. That was part of the reason for hunting them was due top their numbers and the damage they would do to the hay crops. I got to be a pretty good shot but now sometimes can only remember the suffering and pain that I caused a lot of rabbit when I didn’t kill them with the first shot. I really have no desire to hunt them now but gladly take a camera out and shoot them with it instead.

Jan. 22, 2012

High Council Disciplinary Councils

I have had the opportunity to be on The Mapleton Stake High Council and the BYU 3rd Stake High Council. 6 years in the first one and 2 and a half in the second. I am currently reading the Doctrine and Covenants and was reminded as I read the 102nd section the other night about the responsibilities when we hold a disciplinary council. I was only in one while at BYU but served in several while in Mapleton. I remember how hard we tried to make each council a special one full of love toward the person for whom it was held. I never had a negative one during that time even though I did have to miss one that apparently was not very good. I remember how when we would go into the room that we had the slips of  paper laying face down on the table and would have to pick one up. The slips each had a number on them and we would always feel relieved if the number was above 6 and especially happy if it was 11 or 12. That is how the seating was determined and how the speaking either for the Church or for the accused was also determined. I can only remember a couple of times when I had a number between 1 and 4 and thus was guaranteed that I would need to speak. I do remember feeling the responsibility to treat the discussion fairly and with love no matter which side of the room I sat on. They were special experiences and most special when it was a case involving the completion of a period of repentance when the person was being brought back into full fellowship. I was involved in only a couple as a Bishopric member in Mapleton wards but was involved in several BYU Bishop’s councils. Most of them were for the purpose of being brought back in and they were all very special. It is not easy to be a judge but was required in those circumstances. I am glad I don’t have to do it all the time. 

Jan. 21, 2012

High School Track, 880 Yards run and the mile relays and Cross Country.

The last four years of high school I was asked by Coach Josie to run the 880 Yard Run and the Mile relay. He also had me running Cross Country in the fall since track was always in the spring. I was a good runner and would have been a great runner had my heart really been in it. I had plenty of practice since I loved to race the bus home after school and I loved to go up  on the bench and run along the road up to Snow Draw.  I ran a fairly fast mile and was usually under 5 minutes and as I got older came closer to the 4 minute mile even though I never did actually run it that fast. The 880 when I started as a Freshman was really only a run but as I got older it seemed to move into the dash rather than a run.  We used to run a mile each day in athletics and then we would run up the hill behind the school to the top several times. During Cross country season we would run up Utahn  along the Duchesne River for several miles and it would even be the course when we hosted the competition at our school. I liked running that one since it was actually fairly flat but I didn’t really like it when we went to Tabiona because they ran up and down all of the hills. I went to a track meet in Helper once when we ran around a golf course twice. It was pretty nice because I knew what the last half of the run was like and after the first round I was back in the pack at about 25^th place but since I knew what I was up against the last half I was able to move into 5^th. It wasn’t my best race but it was better than it probably would have been had I not been able to go past the coach halfway through and find out how far I was back into the pack. I remember running a cross country at East Carbon also and they ran it out through the sagebrush since that was about all they had around the city.  It was good for me to run in those events even though I think I got quite tired of it by the time I graduated and really haven’t done much running since then. I look at people out running though and it seems more like they are just jogging and that is probably because I remember too well how fast we had to run or be totally left behind in the race. I also have not had a desire to run that hard because I remember too many times that I would end the race and then have to go throw up. Memories like that tend to make the experience seem less enjoyable.

Jan. 20, 2012

Herding the sheep down indian canyon

I seem to remember writing about this but have not been able to find it so here goes again and it’s not like I haven’t written twice about other things as well.

When I was young I used to love to go with my Uncle Mont and work with him on the Indian Canyon ranch. That is the ranch where mom and dad spent the first year of their marriage. We often had irrigation to do or hay to cut, rake, bale and haul. (When I was real young I went once when we hauled the hay loose and I was assigned to stomp the hay as the men threw it up onto the wagon. I got covered with hay leaves while doing it too. There was one day though when Lynn and I were asked by Mont to go with him and herd the sheep from the ranch to Duchesne.  It was only seven miles but I remember being pretty sore and stiff from being in the saddle all day since it took that long to move the sheep that seven miles. We herded them along the highway so we had to watch carefully  so that they would stay off of the road and not be in the way of any occasional cars that might come along. I learned the herding sheep was not real easy because when one decides to go across the road they all want to and they don’t care what’s coming. We did have Mont’s dog that helped a lot but even then we would have to hurry the horse around them to get hem back off of the road. Mostly however it was just a long time in the saddle because Mont wanted to let them eat while we were going as well which meant that we would just be sitting on the horse while we waited for the sheep to move a little further. It was a long day but I will always be glad that I had the chance to do it.

Jan. 19, 2012

Grandpa and Grandma's @ Centerfield

I remember that we didn’t get to go to Grandpa and Grandma Hansen’s place very often since it was such a long drive from Duchesne to Centerfield Utah where they lived. We apparently went for the purpose of reunions I suppose since we always seemed to have cousins there each time. I guess they were not always there because I do remember traveling on another super long journey from their place to Uncle Carling’s in Circleville to see them a couple of times. The best parts of those trips were when we went part Big Rock Candy Mountain and got to stop there for a rest. I drive that road now and realize it isn’t so far in actual miles but the speed limits and comfort of the cars is far better now so the trips don’t seem as log even though I am a grownup now verses being a child then.

I remember best about those trips however that Grandpa and Granma would always come out of the house and either stand on the porch and wave to us or come down the walk to the car while we were getting out.  Grandma always seemed to be in the kitchen cooking while we were there and grandpa would let us go out and do the chores with him if we were not too busy playing with the cousins. We always slept in the rooms downstairs that were connected with a small window, no glass, up above the beds through which we would try to crawl since only a child could fit through them.  

They also had an old Victrola record played in the west room that we love to play and play with.  Many times we would play “Red Rover “ and other tag games out on the front lawn with the cousins. It was always fun. Grandpa would always have to make a trip to the reservoir and get water in the gallon jugs since the water in the taps was not drinkable for some reason. It was 10 or so miles to the place where he filled up the jugs. I can also still remember Grandma telling us to only use 4 sheets of toilet paper when we used the bathroom. Some of the granddaughters also use to get stuck in the bathroom because they couldn’t open the door, I personally never remember having that problem myself.  So even though our trips were not very often, they were always fun.