LIFE

Sometimes I get so frustrated with Rick's mom. She tells Rick how good his long hair looks. I'm all of the time asking him to cut his hair. (He usually gets 2-3 hair cuts a year.) Just about the time I get him convinced that it's time to cut his hair, she speaks up. Then, I have to spend the next few weeks to months talking Rick into it again. Of course, he doesn't want to make his mother upset, so she always wins. The only time in our life that he got regular hair cuts was while he was serving in the Boise Temple. HOWEVER, IS ATTITUDE IS MUCH BETTER LATELY! BOTH OF US ARE TRULY GRATEFUL FOR THE IMPROVEMENT!
Our Primary just had an activity day on Saturday. My President wanted the kids to learn that work can be fun. We volunteered to clean the church. We fashioned the day after the CBS T.V. show - The Amazing Race. We didn't have a lot of kids or parents come (because of Conference and also Stake Conference causing times that they weren't at church to be reminded.) Even though the numbers weren't great, it was a successful event. The kids enjoyed it and so did the parents. We plan on doing it again next year.
I have overscheduled myself this week at the Temple. It's just by accident, but I'm serving 5 shifts this week. Thankfully, one of the shifts is on my regular day so I only have to go 4 times. That day, I just work a double shift. I often do that. In fact, I claim Friday evening (and Thursday day) as my "regular" shifts also. I only have one real regular shift. That's Friday day. Most of the workers at the Temple are assigned 2 regular shifts. I'm not because of my work at Green Giant/Seneca Foods during the harvest season.
Some "interesting" things going on with the twins and Mom. I wish Mom would agree to going in a Nursing Home. She would have better care. She refuses, because of what will happen to the twins when she's gone. Jerry has a girlfriend. She's a niece of my first fiance'-Earl Casper. She is also a client in the same schooling-training that both Terry & Jerry are in. In fact, she has the same "tech" person over her that the twins have. Most everyone is hoping the situation will die down soon. The twins car died. They still owe on it for another 1 1/2 years. They bought an old clunker for another car. Terry still has his job, but quit a few weeks ago because people were making fun of him. Thankfully, his job coach and his "tech" made things better. His health isn't good again. Last summer, he was in the hospital for intestinal problems that could have killed him. He's again having some of the same problems-throwing up blood. I worry about him keeping his job because of this happening so soon after he quit. Time will tell.
Heather just gave Stephanie more hours to work at the cafe that Heather is the main waitress at. That has caused a few ill feelings with the cook and Heather. That's because the waitress that now has less hours is the wife of the cook. Stephanie is enjoying the extra hours and needs the money.
That's pretty much what's going on right now. Rick is still hooked on Sturgeon fishing. He goes at least once a week-sometimes twice.
No new pictures (of anything) today.
I need to get to work on my next Sharing Time for primary.

TAX DAY SNOW

First off, HAPPY BIRTHDAY Danielle !

Today is tax day-15th of April. We don't have typical weather for this time of year. I'm posting a picture to prove to you. Hopefully, the date on the actual picture shows up.

UPDATE

Today was Grandpa Allen's Birthday. (Grandpa Allen is my mom's dad.) I always remember that because sometimes it was on Easter. We visited them one year on his birthday-on Easter. All of us, and the McEntire cousins went hiking up on "Grandpa's hill". (It wasn't really his hill, but we thought it was.) Grant, & Morgan were on top of the cave that the rest of us were in. I was just walking out of the cave as they kicked a rock. It hit the top of my head and I started bleeding. I still have a scar. We were still in our Easter clothes. I'm sure that didn't go over very well with Grandma and Mom.

We went to Stephanie's house Saturday evening to celebrate Kari, Arianna, and "Mady's" birthdays. Kari turned 16 on Easter-12th, Arianna will be 15 on the 28th of April and "Mady" turned 11 on the 7th of April. Kari said she had a dinner date.

Arianna & "Mady" Rodriguez & Kari Otto

Madyson Rodriguez

Kari Otto & Arianna Rodriquez

Rick & I went over to Grandma Bodilys for lunch/dinner after church on Easter. She acted like she really enjoyed having someone other than the twins to talk to. She misses dad especially on Holidays. I'm glad we could be there for her and the twins.

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.