LATE POST FOR EASTER

A friend e-mailed this to me. I thought you might enjoy it. It's about 4 and 1/2 minutes long. It's Elder Jeffery R. Holland speaking. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpFhS0dAduc

ANOTHER UPDATE ON RICK.

Rick is doing much better. We have a different medication combined with one of the old ones. That and also information from a counselor seem to be helping. (The information from the counselor isn't new, but he thinks it is. She told him how to talk himself out of a situation. I've been saying the same stuff forever.)
He continues to go fishing each week with his brother.He's been actually walking a little bit every day. He's worked on my 4-wheeler. (In the winter, he gave up on it-while it was tore apart.) He has the"want to" now. We've had a few things go wrong. Before when that happened, he would fell overwhelmed and fall apart. Now, he just talked himself out of the situations. He's come close to having a few episodes, but didn't. HOORAY ! !

LATE: SPRING BREAK

I know this post is late.

During Spring Break which was the middle of March, Heather needed a built-in babysitter. She asked if the kids could stay with us for a few days. The movie theaters and the radio stations had a great deal for the week. If we wrote down the call letters of the radio for each person going to the matinees, they would get in for 50 cents each. That was such a great deal, that I couldn't pass it up. I took all 3 of the kids to see "Marley and Me". I gave them a choice between that and 2 cartoons. I really wanted to see this, but I gave them the choice. However, if I would have known how the show ended, I would not have gone to it even if someone had paid me to go. Don't get me wrong, this was a good family show. It's just that dogs are part of my family. When Marley died in the show, it brought back many memories of when we had to put Popeye to sleep. I was crying. (Most of the adults were also crying.) Jacob was bored, Tyler was almost bored until he noticed that I was crying, then he started to take notice of the show. "Bekha" was enjoying the show, but didn't start crying until she saw me crying.

Since the show was so cheap to get in, we splurged and bought a huge cannister of buttered popcorn. (Rick & I never do that.) 4 of us got into the movie and bought the popcorn for under $8.00. What a deal! It was a fun thing to do with the grandkids for an afternoon.

Heather's kids are used to getting pop every time they go in a store. We bought lunch at Artic Circle. I ordered water for everyone. Later, when we went inside a store, they said they were thirsty. I took them to the drinking fountain for water. They were a little dissapointed in that situation. I don't think grandma (me) is as fun as other grandmas.

ANSWERS ABOUT RICK'S STURGEON FISHING.

Question: Where does Rick go sturgeon fishing...it is something I would LOVE to do! Plus is it always that good of fishing??!
Answer: It's down near Hagerman and it's always that way. Rick says the river just comes alive when they put the bait in.
Question: So does he have to use a boat or do they fish from the shore? Do you need special bait or fishing poles?
Answer: They fish from the shore. His brother has a larger pole-stronger and heavier line.. His brother's roommate just uses a regular pole and line. It takes about twice as long to bring the fish in with this equipment (about an hour). He says it's more fun with the lighter weight equipment, because they feel the "pull" more. The stronger equipment brings them in much sooner (about 1/2 hour), but you don't feel the "pull" so much. Rick just bought an "ugly stick" fishing pole. The sore said if he's not happy with that, he can take it back and get the larger pole that his brother has. The store employee said that his son caught a 5 foot sturgeon with an "ugly stick" last year. (Walmart has them for $29.96 right now. The larger pole-Berkley- sells for $27.99. That's what the price is right now. His brother bought his a few weeks ago and paid about $10.00 more than these quoted prices.)
They use smaller fish-(boughten at sport stores or Grocery-gas-type stores) as the bait.
I honestly don't know where exactly that they go. I just know it's near Hagerman. Rick checked with the fish & Game and asked if they could give us an estimate of how much they weigh. The closest answer we got was for a fish that was larger than Rick's 5 footer. From what they told us, we're guessing that his weighed around 100 pounds.

NEW DESIGN FOR BLOG.

Many thanks to Lyndsay for her talents. I always love her backgrounds and asked her if she could design a new background for me. I just gave her some ideas of what I thought I wanted. I think she did a great job. I love it (with 1 tiny request).
Lyndsay, Would it be possible to put a picture of both of my dogs on the signature instead of just one of the dogs? (I'll send another picture if you need it.)
The picture of the dogs that is on the bottom of the page, doesn't really show up. I guess my screen isn't big enough. So, the 2 dogs by the signature would be terrific.
THANKS AGAIN LYNDSAY for making my blog actually showing my personality on the background. It's great.

ANOTHER UPDATE ON RICK (and STURGEON FISHING)

WEll, I need to update what is going on with Rick. The medications are being regulated. He does not seem "drunk" with medication anymore. He isn't falling down anymore. He isn't slurring his speech andymore. Things are still not great. (They probably never will be. They haven't been for so long.) During the last 2 weeks, he's had at least 5 episodes of almost having a panic attack. Some of the time, he has taken a pill for it and some of the time he just gets past it. The Dr. is still trying to regulate the medications a little better. He went to church yesterday for the first time since the last hospital visit in February. He even drove the car. That's the first time he's driven since then.

For the last 3 weeks, he has gone sturgeon fishing with his brother and dad. He's had a blast doing this. This last Saturday, he caught the biggest one. It was a 1/2 inch smaller than 5 feet long. On the sturgeon pole, it takes about 1/2 hour to bring the fish in. On a regular pole, it took his dad about an hour to bring the fish in-because they are so strong that the pole or line would break if they were brought in any faster. Sturgeon are protected, so it's catch and release by law, but they still had fun with these "monster-sized" fish. His dad brought one in at the same time he got his in. I'm going to add that picture and maybe more.

Look at how ugly these fish are. They look like pre-historic monsters. (I don't think you actually can see how ugly they are on the pictures. On the pictures at home, I enlarged them and you could see their ugly snouts a lot better.)

Rick and his Dad (and his brother's roommate).

FUNERAL-NOT OF OUR FAITH

I attended a funeral on Friday of a close family friend. I was grateful that I was able to go because I was the only family member there. Our family needed to be represented. I’m thankful that our faith gives funeral services that are more personal than theirs. I felt sorry for the family that they didn’t share good memories of her. This is the 2nd funeral that I’ve attended of this faith. This particular service was a tiny bit more personal than the first one that I attended, but not much.
This is basically the funeral: Someone reads the obituary word for word. Then the preacher gets up and begins his sermon. It is a word for word generic message that has nothing to do with the person that has passed on. The preacher reads one sentence, then the congregation recites (reads) the next sentence. The message has to do with Christ. This goes on for awhile. Then, the congregation sings a song with -no chorister. This format goes on for awhile, changing back & forth from the preacher and congregation readings to more songs. Finally, there’s a small message that slightly mentions the deceased, saying something like: “They know that the deceased knows where they are at now and are much happier”. Now the format goes back to what I’ve already mentioned. There’s a few places where the preacher asks the congregation to stand and pray-word for word. There’s a few more places where the preacher asks the congregation to answer him. Something like: “Live Forever More-Amen”.
I know our faith has funerals that are known to be rather long. However, I still feel the more personal funerals are better.

LIFE

Update on Rick: He visited with both his local doctors -medical and pyschiatrist- on Monday. Both of them said he was truly overdosed with medications. They took him off of 3 of the new 4 medications. I looked at the sheets that talk about drug side effects that Portneuf Medical Center sent home. It said: If you're taking this pill, do not take the other. Another med. sheet said the same thing. Portneuf Medical Center had Rick taking all 3 of those pills together. No wonder he was overdosed and basically "drunk". Today is the first tiime that he's fallen down since Monday morning. Yesterday is the first time that I dared leave him home alone. His folks have been "babysitting" him. His brother took him fishing today. I hope he does o.k.
His medical doctor wants him to have a Cat Scan test on Monday-checking out his brain just in case. The reason: She told him to walk one direction and he walked a different direction than she said. He's disoriented. His speech is still slurred, but not as bad. His blood pressure is slightly lower than normal. That would affect his speech and thinking ability. I'm thinking the dosage of the blood pressure medicine should be smaller. This medicine also helps with his "shaking".

Two nights ago, I looked out into our pasture. It was almost dark. I looked at our calves-making sure all 5 were there. I counted a 6th head. It wasn't a calf. At first, we couldn't tell what it was. It looked sort of like a sheep, but also a goat. It's a goat, but not the typical goat. It's a young goat. It's spotted brown and white. One of our calves is spotted brown and white. I think this goat thought our calf was it's mother. None of our neighbors have goats. We don't know where it came from. It followed Rick to the house yesterday when he fed the calves. The goat followed like a little puppy does. Since we don't have any idea where it came from, we told Rick's niece and her husband that they couold have it. They came and got it lastnight. They have other goats. They said if anyone comes looking for it, they could pick it up at their house. If no one comes looking for it, we at least know it will be taken care of.
A few years ago, someone just left their cat at our house also. We know it was a pet, because it has a collar on. None of our cats have collars, because they are too wild to catch and they live outside. I guess, because we live on an acerage, other people think it's o.k. to just drop their animals off at our place.
Mom wasn't feeling very well this week. I called on Tuesday. She said that she hadn't felt good all week. I asked if the twins had taken her to the doctor. They were taking her to the hospital in Jerome that night. They called later and said that she had an infection. The doctors sent her home with a prescription. I haven't had a chance to visit her this week. (I've been busy with Rick and subbing at the Temple.) I'm going to visit her today.
Life is busy-like always.
Love to all.
Diane

BLOG BOOK

I got my blog book about a week ago. I only printed up 2008 posts. It really wasn't worth my money-because it's a very thin book. Next time, I hope to have more entries. Besides the fact that it's a very thin book, I really think it turned out nice. (I do wish it would have printed the pictures in the same place as the names-like I had on the actual blog.) I like the cover. It's professional looking. I will use this again.

I'm going to add a few pictures.

Front Cover--------Back Cover------------Internal pages-----------------

PICTURES AND CATCHING UP..

Heather's youngest turned 7 years old in mid-February. They had a roller skating party.








Heather's kids: Tyler, "Bekha" & Jacob Price
Jacob wasn't the best skater, but he tried all of the faster contests. Tyler was extremely good. "Bekha" appeared to be better than what I used to be, but not as good as Tyler.






Cousins enjoying each other. Arianna Rodriguez (Stephanie's daughter) and Tyler Price












Stephanie's kids:
Traci Otto & "Mady" Rodriguez-----------Jacob, Kari, & "Kenna" Otto


Traci has lost some extra pounds and is
looking mighty good on the skating floor.
She is also a very good skater.








I took pictures of Heather & Chad skating. Those
pictures didn't turn out very good. That's too bad. Heather
said they don't have a picture of Chad skating at all.









This is "Mady" and Mom (Stephanie). Look at how great
Stephanie is looking. She has lost quite a lot of weight in the last 6 months. I'm darn proud of her! ! !
"Mady" has a bandage on her arm. A few weeks earlier, she accidentally burned it. She laid her arm on the flat surface of
a hair straightener. Stephanie rushed her to the emergency
room. The Dr. said it was good that she went. It was about 6 inches long and about 1-2 inches wide. Thankfully, I don't think she's going to have a very bad scar.
A little more catching up:
Stephanie's youngest has been sick for a couple of weeks. She's doing better now. Heather's youngest had bronchitus last week, but went to school today.
Heather hired Stephanie to be one of her waitresses. (Heather is the main waitress and does the hiring and firing of a small cafe.) Stephanie started today-March 9th. I asked Heather how she liked it. Heather told me to ask Stephanie. I don't know if that's good or not. I hope so.
Update on Rick:
Today seems better, not great, but better. I've made several phone calls to Dr.s. Rick is meeting with his main Dr. in the morning and also with his psychiartrist in the afternoon. His main Dr. also felt like he was overdosed with medications. So far, he's only fell down once today. He's also gone to the bathroom a few times by himself. However, he can't get our of the furniture by himself yet. He doesn't have much balance. He's a little more aware of things.