Snow Stopped the Work on the Roof

I didn't expect Mike this morning.  The forecast was for snow starting at eight.  Mike came and began working.  I offered to help, but there was not anything that I could do.  He worked for a couple of hours and had to quit because of the snow.

The snow had quit some before lunch.  I shoveled two inches of snow off the driveway and the front side walk.  After lunch it began to snow again.  There is getting deep on the back lawn. 

We feed one of our cats under the eve above the garage.  This evening I climbed the step ladder and put fresh cat food up there for her.  I then came down to get the water.  I turned around and saw one of our wild cats at the top of the ladder and jumped to the roof.  I but the water down and grabbed the cat by her tail and pulled.  She clung on, but I was much stronger.  She fell to the ground and ran away so fast.   Next the black cat was up there.  I moved the food and will wait for her to come down.

Several weeks ago, we would find tiger on top of the house.  At that time there was a ladder against the house.  It was not unusual for the cats to climb the ladder and walk around the house.  They would then come down the ladder.  When the roofers began to remove the old shingles.  Tiger found a place to hid in the attic of the roof that attached the house to the garage.  Tiger would go in there.  I would feed her there by  climbing up the step ladder.  I put food up there.  Tiger came for the food and I grabbed her and brought down to the ground.  Not long after that she was back on the roof.  Walking around the house I couldn't find a tree that was close enough to the roof that she could climb and then jump to the roof.  I now think that she would climb the step ladder which was close enough for her to jump up to the roof.

Dad's Ten Gallon Milk Can

I was pretty young when I learned about milk cans.  My dad tells about milking the cows in the winter time.  Much of the coral was made with cedar post and barbed wire.  He would tie the cow to one of these post and using a milking stool would milk the cows by hand.  The cold winds blow and his only protection was the barbed wire fence.

When I was young he made a milking barn and had milking machines.  The barn would hold six cows.  He would clean the utter, attach the four cups, one on each teat, and then prepare the next cow.  Rolled barley was fed to the cows while there were being milked.  The cows were eager to come into the barn for the barley.   A strainer which was shaped like a large funnel would be fitted with a filter which would remove any solids that would end up in the milking machine.  In the summer time the can holding the evening milk would be put in a tub of water.  A piece of burlap would be wrapped around the can.  The water would soak up the burlap and help to cool the milk.  Dad had four ten gallon milk cans.  Each morning some one would come by and pick up the two cans of mild and take it to the creamery that was in Delta.  By the time driver got back the next morning.  Other two cans would be filled and waiting on the platform at the side of the road.  The drive would take the two full cans and leave the two cans from the day before.

Dad would wake me up in the mornings to help with the milking.  He would carry a bucket of hot water to rinse the milking machines and use the hot water, warm by now, to clean the cows udder and teats.  He wore overalls and had a pair of pliers in the pocket on his outside thigh.  The bucket would hit the pliers and make a noise.  I would hear the noise and jump out of bed before he made it back to the house.

He used artificial insemination to breed the cows. He would call a technician whenever a cow would come in to heat.  That was not very successful he sold his cows.  Soon after that the chemicals used in killing aphids and weevils in the alfalfa was found in the milk.  That pretty much caused the milking business in the county to come to and end.

The milk can below my dad's name pressed into the can.  Lester Johnson.  Somebody gave that to me several years ago.  It has been stored under the house for years.  I brought it out a couple of days ago.  There is a number written with red paint which is my dad's  account number used at the creamery.

There was a dairyman south of Delta who was selling his herd.  My dad wanted to expand the business.  He bought the herd.  I don't remember how many cows he bought.

Comments are welcomed

We Made Carmel Corn Puffs

After breakfast and some of the news we started our gifting project for this Christmas season.  Several weeks ago we bought the corn puffs with the needed corn syrup and brown sugar,  We make the candied sauce and pour in on the corn puffs.  It is stirred well, put on a cookie sheet, and placed in the 250 degree oven for 45 minutes.  It is stirred several times

Here, Carol is giving it a good stir.  It happens after 15 minutes and 30 minutes

It is put on wax paper to let it cool some.  It is then broken up.

We put it in plastic zip bags.  Carol put a bow on it and tag with our names on it.

These were loaded in the car, and off went through Holden and delivering them to ten selected friends.  Some were not home, we left their bags on their door step.  We did get calls later with thanks.  Katie has not called yet.

We then drove to Fillmore to get a few groceries.  At the market, one of our neighbors who works the  needed a ride home. She was on our list.  She got her gift.

One of our cats is now making its home on our roof.  A breezeway between our house and garage is covered.  There is a opening into the attic of the breezeway where the our cat stays.  We now place cat food and water on a little ledge.  I have pulled him down and I have no idea how he gets on the roof.

Lost in Utah

this seems like a strange tittle for this blog because both of us have lived in Utah all of our lives except for two years that I spent on a mission in the Eastern States.  "Sealing in the Salt Lake temple" might be a better tittle.

I finished my shower and shave began to shovel the snow off the drive way.  It wet and heavy and in some places there was ice.  I used the scoop shovel and a old snow shovel that we purchased twenty-five years ago.  After completing the driveway and front sidewalk I  measured five inches of powder and wet snow on the back lawn.

By the time we finished breakfast and loaded the Christmas presents into the car it was time to go.  Maison and husband, Dalston Wells, were to be sealed in the Salt Lake temple.  We had a full agenda and did not want to be late for the 3:00 sealing.  We left at nine on wet and in some times on icy roads.  Between Mona and Santaquin the snow falling was slowing us down.  I-15 was wet and by the time we got Spanish Fork where we filled the car with gas, they were dry.  We then stopped in Orem at the home of Emily and John Stewart.  We missed their street and had to turn around.  They weren't home.  We left their presents at the door  There wasn't any snow between Provo and Eagle Mountain where Eric and April live.  Carol was driving and she drove right to their house without any problems or difficulties.



We visited there and got reacquainted with Paitain and Hanna, our two grandkids. We visited awhile and then went downstairs where Holden and Megan live.  Ezra, one of three great grandkids, is eight months old and really a handsome baby.



I should have taken more pictures.

We had plenty of time before we needed to be at the temple.  We went into Salt Lake City on the Redwood road.  Carol's sister, Margery, live a little east of Redwood road in Taylorville.  The subdivision is full of happy streets.  Jolley Circle, Jolley Street, Paradise lane,  Smiley drive. are the names of some.  We were on the street north of Margery's street and could not find the right house number.  We got out of the car and walked up to some of the house and the right number was missing.  Finally I called Margery.  She answered and said she was standing in the doorway.  There was a Latino woman stand in front of her door and it wasn't Margery.  We then discovered that we were on the wrong street.  We drove the right street and she was standing in her doorway.  We had a nice visit then drove to the Salt Lake temple.  We did some driving around before we found the underground parking lot.  Parking today was free so we didn't have to get a parking permit.  We drove around the huge parking.  There are three levels.  We parked near the elevater where there was a lot of parking spaces.  There was younger woman at the elavater.  She helped get of at the right level.  

Crossing the street we went into the temple and showed our recommends.  After going downstairs we removed our shoes.  The women put on white socks.  We then walked to the Marriage waiting room.  We had to wait for a little over and hour until it was our turn to go to the sealing room.  The ceremony went well.  The "lost" really began after we left the temple.  Crossing the street we walked to the Conference Center.  We could not find the door that took us to the elevater. Every door we tried was locked.  Finally we found and unlocked door, not to the elevator, but the stairs.  Carol started up the stairs.  We should have gone down.  At the top of the stairs was another door which was locked.    We then went down the stairs and then down another flight of stairs and ended up in the parking area.  We could not find our car.  We walked around and Lisa who we were going to meet found our car and us where we exchanged presents.

We then made our way out of the parking and on the freeway.  We drove through areas where it looked foggy, but wasn't.  There were a few areas with a few snow flakes, but nothing sticking to the road.  We talked about getting something to eat in Nephi, but decided we would wait until we got home to eat.  About three or four miles south of Nephi there had been a wreck and both south bound lanes were closed.  We waited there for 30 to 45 minutes.  An ambulance drove on the edge of the road on our left going to the accident secene.  A trooper drove by telling people to turn around and drive back to Nephi.  Some people turned around and before we could turn around the right lane of traffic started to move going south.  We went with them and after we had gone past the accident the road was closed again.  People were driving on the Levan road which by passed the accident.  We made it home without any more trouble.

The following from the Sunday Salt Lake Tribune:    "A driver who led police on a high-speed chase on Interstate 15 in central Utah died Saturday after crashing the car.  A trooper attempted to stop the driver's vehicle on northbound I-15, about mile post 207 near Yuba Lake State Park, about 5 p.m. for a traffic violation, a Utah Highway Patrol news release said. The driver failed to pull over and fled north, ...After driving about 10 miles, the driver lost control and veered left off the road,...The vehicle rolled through the center median and came to stop in southbound travel lanes.

The driver was pronounced dead at the scene, ..., and a female passenger was taken to a local hospital in "poor" condition.  The Utah County Sheriff's Office is investigating the crash, ... State Bureau of Investigation is leading a criminal investigation.  Police did not have information explaining why the driver fled, ...., and were not releasing the drivers identity, pending family notification.

The crash closed the freeway in both directions for several hours,..."  

Wind, Rain, hail, and Snow

It was fairly warm this morning for this time of the year.  I believe it was in the high 40's.  Mike our roofer came over for a while to clean up some.  He started putting a few shingles down, but the wind was blow so hard that it would blow the shingle back in his face.  He then went home.

Early this afternoon the south wind was blowing hard.  Some of the old poly on a couple of the greenhouses began to tear.  A little later the wind changed from the north and was a lot colder.

I am the ward historian.  I worked on that for nearly two hours.  I had a few emails with some of the history from the young men's president.  It took awhile to get that part looking good.  I haven't heard from the other organizations.  I spent an hour on making an email group of six, where I could email them reminders.  I got that done and mailed each of them a reminder.

Tiger, our cat, is on the roof and there is about two inches of snow.  I don't know how he gets up there.  There are no trees close enough for her to climb and jump to the roof.  I made a long board from two pieces of wood which gave her a ramp to climb down.

It began hail and then to snow around three.  The snow stuck to our satellite dish which prevented the signal from reaching our TV.  We have a light weight broom with a tubuler handle.  I found a one by one ten foot piece of oak in the garage.  I carved the end so it would fit inside of the broom handle.  I inserted wood into the broom handle.   With this tool I was able to sweep the snow of the dish while standing on the ground.

The Best of YouTube

Making Christmas bow:    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5U9g5smyQW8

Christmas Presents are Wrapped

This morning I had planned to fix our satalite dish, so we would be able to watch TV.  Carol had other plans.  I'm not going to go into much detail.   She began to wrap the Christmas presents.  I helped her.  We finished around lunch time.

We got a good start.  The roofer began their work which was evident from the walking on the roof.  The door bell rang and answering it Mike, the foreman, wanted to get TV working.  I suggested that he needn't fix it.  I could do it later.  He insisted on fixing it.  His helper came in.  We went to menu and then to setting which showed the amount of signal that was coming in.  Most showed "0" and should be 85 or higher.  After a few adjustment all five signal lines were 85 or higher.  We have TV now.  Direct TV service person was scheduled to be here in the afternoon of December 22.  I cancelled it.

We went to Fillmore made arrangements to get a new home insurance home policy.  We need to go in later and sign all the papers.

The roofers have most of the shingles on the garage and the south part of the house.  They removed the shingles from the northeast part of the roof.

My table saw has been in the garage for fifteen years or so.  It is plugged into a 220 volt line.  The saw cord is too short to reach the wall and lay on the floor.  Every time I walk on the left side of the saw I have to make a high stem get over it.  Frequently I would not step high enough and pull the cord out of the wall.  I bought the supplies needed  to make a four foot extension cord.  I did it this evening before and after supper.  It cord was heavy duty, but I managed to make it work.  I took it out to the garage it works perfectly.

TV Problems

We spent the morning at the Manti Temple.  We left at 4:15 am and arrived home at 2:30 pm.  It was a good day.   The roofers were working on the house when we got home.  By the time they left most of the garage and south side of the house was done.  This is the south side above the kitchen.

 This is the east side of  the south wing above my bedroom.  The TV dish is west of the pine tree.

The roofers today removed the Direct TV dish, removed the shingles, put down new shingles, and then replaced the dish.  We don't get a any TV. I called the Direct TV people and reported the problems.  The first person could not help me.  She referred me the next person who did several tests.  None of them worked.  It showed that nothing could be done except to call a technician.  She set up an appointment.  He could come in the afternoon of Thursday, December 22.  Cost is $50.00.   I put the ladder to the roof, climbed up on the roof to see if there was a way to move the dish.  It was pretty solid.

This evening I went on YouTube to see if I could find out how to do it.  One was setting up a dish on a camp out.  Another one was replacing one on a roof after new shingles.  It took about 27 minutes to view it.  The guy had the camera in one hand and a tool in the other hand.  Bad, bad, bad.  The camera never did focus on one part long enough to be able to tell what he was doing.  The last one I watch was nearly six minutes long.  It showed how to do it.  I watched four or five times.  Check the following link.     Dish alignment  video

The weather was cool and partly cloudy.

Comments are welcomed.

Here All Day

I don't get up as early during December.  Six to seven hours of sleep is the recommended amount of time in bed.  I did some reading in the Book of Mormon and It was nearly eight before I turned on the TV to watch the news.  Some rain fell during the night and everything was wet.  After breakfast, I walked out to the nursery; the drops of water were hanging from the branches like little glittering diamonds.  I took a few pictures.  My iPhone and my shaking hand doesn't do the best.

Tiger lately has been climbing the ladder getting on the garage.  She was down for breakfast and then went back up.

Carol wrapped the presents for Elizabeth and Noah.  While she was doing this I picked up a box and an envelop at the post office.  There is no charge for these.  Their presents would not fit into the padded envelop, but the box was perfect.

We heard someone on the roof which were the roofing guys.  It was a little before ten. They worked until about three.  The garage is nearly finished.  I thought that they would finished it today, but they left. 

I helped Carol with the pomegranate jelly.  She has saved the fruit from our pomegranate bushes for nearly two months.  There were two zip bags in the freezer.  We juiced them, cooked them, and put them in the bottle.  That went so well that we made some grape jelly from the grape juice that we bottled.   pomegranate jelly is on the left and grape jelly on the right.

I had an order for four Curl Leaf Mountain Mahogany.  They were outside and frozen solid.  I put them in house two to thaw out.  This afternoon I prepared them for shipping.  the procedure went well.  I didn't have the right size of a box.  I used two small boxes with two plants in each box.  I taped the two boxes together.  One large box is cheaper to ship than two small boxes. 

At the computer I began to prepare an invoice and discovered that the order was for four Silver Leaf Buffalo Berry plants.  I had to find another box.  It took me another hour box the plants.  I then had to unpack the others and take them back to the nursery.  I drove them to UPS transfer station.  The door was locked and I left them on the step.  This is how I packed them and I then unpacked them.

 When I returned from the UPS terminal.  Tiger was still on the roof.  I climbed up the ladder and she run away, but still on the roof.  I think she is frightened and will still be there when we get back tomorrow afternoon. 

Comments are welcomed.

Went to Fillmore for:

• Unclaimed property - Yester day we received a letter from the unclaimed property division of the state of Utah.  It was a little over $1100.  We had to take it too Fillmore and have a notary sign it.  We needed our driver's license and Social Security cards. 
• Food storage - We bought #10 cans of storage food for Robert, Lisa, and Eric.  Three cans each.  Potato flakes, dehydrated onions, flour, and a bag of  Cocoa mix.
• Some groceries - Just groceries.

Roofing Shingles    The hasn't been any roofing activity for a couple of days.  It was different today.  Ropers brought shingles for our house and garage.  The had a big fork lift that was used to get the shingles at roof level.  Two of them and later a third man came to unload the pallet and put the shingles on the ridge.  There were three or four pallets.  Picture is of the back or south side of the house.

 Next picture is the front or north side of the house. 

The front of the house has not yet been stripped clean of shingles.  A trailer is backed up next to the house with some plywood place as a slide so the shingles will end up in the trailer.  It takes a lot of maneuvering to back the trailer into that position with out much room to twist and turn.

Craft Show    There are quite a few crafty people in Holden and they organized a craft sale that started at four and ended at eight.  Carol bought a some towels that hang on the oven door.  They are gifts for some of our kids. 

Hanging Christmas balls   Yesterday morning we drove to Orem, Utah.  Carol was invited to a luncheon at Gary and O'leah's home.   Carol's sisters, Margery and Nyleen,  and her sister in-law, Leslie Peay were there.  They were honoring O'leah's whose health has really declined in the last few years.

Hair cut   Carol dropped me off in Linden where Miles cut my hair.  After that we had lunch in a Mexican restaurant in American Fork.  It was very good, and Miles paid for it.  I was a little slow to get my card out.  The picture below shows Christmas bulbs hanging from the ceiling.  I took a picture with and idea that we could do that in our house. 

Today I gave it a try.  I could not find a good place to hang them.  Finally in our family room.  It has a vaulted ceiling.  I hung them on the wall on the west wall where the vaulted ceiling begins.  I used some string from the chicken feed bags which are the same color as the wall.  Two of the fell loose so I used more tape to hold them.  The ceiling that is shown is in the kitchen,

Comments welcomed.

Christmas Cards 2016

Several weeks ago when Carol and I were up north; that is basically in Utah County, we bought some nice Christmas cards.  I made address labels of friends and family whom we mail cards to.  I have a box of labels 100 sheets with 33 labels on each sheet.  I bought them several years ago to mail catalogs to our nursery customers.  I don't do that any more. 

I found the label file on my computer and made an attempt to print the labels.  There was one problem.  In the box of labels was a different style and they did not fit the labels from the computer.  I spent four hours or so to two or three different days.  I could not get them to fit.  I decided to use the spread sheet and make my own label template.  I spent a lot of time on that and printed on recycled paper and it would not fit.  Recycled paper is a sheet with one side which is blank.  I filled a trash can with these.

I went back to the last years list and got out a new sheet of label paper.  It was a different style and fit perfectly.  La La, I made a sheet of labels in seconds.  I gave them to Carol and she began to stuff the envelops.  Carol wrote a Christmas greeting that she wanted to put in the card.  There were eight on each sheet.  I used card stock.  The four sheets produced 32 cards. 

The birth of the

Savior is a

Wonderful reason

To experience joy

& love, especially

This Christmas season

Have a

Wonderful Christmas

Our furnace has not been working properly for the last couple of weeks.  At nigh I set it at 62 degrees.  When I get up in the morning the temperature is in the 50's.  I have to turn it up 110 before the furnace kicks on.  I then turn it back to 70.  Most of the time it turns off at 65.  I then adjust it again to keep the house warm.  I called Andrew Brown several times and finally got a hold of him last night.  He came this morning and determined that the thermostat was malfunction.   He put on a knew  one and now it is working perfectly.  The new one will not turn on the A/C. but we don't kneed that until May or June.  He will be here Friday morning with the right thermostat.

Provo Trip

We drove to Utah County this morning and arriving there around 11:30.  We stopped at Walmart and then to Costco.  We had planned to have Carol's glass fixed.  The left hinge broke off the temple.  We used tape to hold it together.  The glass center at Costco don't repair or replace broken parts.  They told us to go to Shopco to have them fixed.  I took them into the eye department.  A lady there worked on them for about fifteen minutes.  She opened a drawer and pulled out four pair of used glasses that looked like she could use one of the temples on Carol's glasses.  She selected one of the temples and after several minutes trying to attach it to Carol's glasses.  She finally finished.  How much I asked.  She said nothing.  I thanked her and then went home.

We also stopped at the Distribution center.  An expensive nativity scene caught my eye.  I thought that I might be able to  the palm tree.

I Offered to Help, Roof Slippery

We were at the temple this morning and got home this afternoon.  One person working on the roof.  I told him that I would be willing to help for a little while.  He advised me to stay off the roof.  It was slippery.  I complied with that suggestion.

It took some skill to the truck and trailer into this position. The is between two trees.