Sunday, April 19, 2015
Re: Letter 20 of 3
Dear Riley:
There’s a scripture in D&C 121:12 that speaks of God setting His hand and seal to change the times and seasons that [men] may not understand His marvelous workings and that He may prove [men] and take them in their own craftiness. I think we’re seeing this at least to some degree. A week ago the daytime temperature soured to a high of 75 F only to have it plummet to the mid 40’s that same evening. The following two days we had extremely cold temperatures as low as the mid to lower 20’s. On account of unseasonably warm temperatures for several weeks, spring growth was well along its way. Apricots were already ½” to ¾” and grapes were leafed out as much as 3”, and the apples were leafed out in full bloom. I wasn’t very concerned because I seem to have a microclimate in my area which makes it more robust than other places in the neighborhood. After the second day of the cold snap, however, it was clear I wasn’t going to escape unscathed. My grapes looked like someone took a blow torch to them, and the apricots were black by Saturday. Bummer! The apples still look ok and it looks like the grapes are already sending out new growth. Apricots? Not this year anyway.
This past week was a very busy work week. Thursday started at 5:00 AM and ended at 6:00 PM. Friday started at 6:00 AM but we got ahead of schedule, so I was able to leave at 4:00 PM. This brought a welcome break which seemed more like a couple vacation. Friday night your Mother and I went to Dinner at Red Lobster followed by a movie (McFarland). There was a new dish on the menu which I think you’d appreciate. Blackened Salmon in a spicy Cajun style fillet flame grilled to perfection. Mouth watering yet? It was to die for. McFarland is a story based on real events which told of a nothing town and a nothing school with underprivileged students who rose to prominence through the vision of a besieged PE coach and cross country track. It was the feel good type of movie we enjoy and I don’t even recall foul language. Saturday morning we hit the 7:00 AM session in the Provo Temple and the 11:00 AM performance of Les Miserables. The day felt well-spent when we got home and finally turned our focus to domestic duties. I was able to make some progress with the yard and preparation for receiving my bees this Tuesday (we’ll see). There’s still so much to be done. I have a sizable pile of screened fill dirt sitting on my driveway waiting to be moved to the back. Oh well, it’s already been three weeks. What’s one more week??
One of the chores I undertook was digging dandelions in the back yard. Josie was quite intrigued, as she frequently is when she sees me working with any hand tool, and wanted to give it a try. She was instrumental in finding and digging over a dozen of the weeds all the while engaged in deep conversation. In the course of our conversation she spoke of her love for dandelions and asked why we were throwing them away. I expounded on their undesirable attributes and she seemed satisfied. I felt satisfied at having avoided more substantial work in the future by catching them before they had spread their seeds and also by the spontaneous interchange with this adorable little person. “Hey Dad! Look what I found!” I turned my head just in time to see Josie blowing on a full dandelion puff and watched helplessly as a couple dozen seeds took flight and settled all over my lawn. Her joy was so apparent that I didn’t have the heart to do anything but laugh at the situation. I suppose if subsequent crops of dandelions bring more Daddy daughter time, I’m ok with that.
Late Saturday afternoon brought stiff winds which spurred thoughts of kites and my childhood. I figured it was far too windy to attempt spraying the apples, so I took all the girls to the park to fly a large red tissue paper kite I had built around two weeks ago for Josie. As we prepared to go to the park, I voiced my concern that this was the type of wind which destroyed kites such as this, but we elected to go anyway. The kite immediately took to the air taking out string greedily. A little tension and it shot higher. More string and stop… At this point the kite was subjected to the full force of the prevailing wind. As it strained at the string, begging for more, I thought to myself “man! I don’t know if it can handle much more of this.” There was a sudden “pop” and the kite seemed to vanish. Shreds of paper, string, and broken sticks fell to the earth. We laughed and laughed. I wish we had recorded it. SOOO funny! Well, we hadn’t gotten our fill of kites so we went to the store and bought some more along with a foam glider. This was a much smaller kite and somewhat more indifferent to the high winds. This kept us entertained for the next hour or so. These are fun times and good memories. There’s been talk of other kites built with stronger materials. I think there’s something special about flying something of your own creation, and the family time is priceless. Josie came home and over dinner stopped eating and said “Dad, I REALLYlike flying kites at the park.”
The family is doing well. Cambry was just called and set apart as 2ndcounselor in the Relief Society in spite of the fact that she’ll be leaving the country for a few months. She feels overwhelmed, but I’m certain she’ll do wonderfully. Parker’s feeling stressed with finals approaching and it shows. As far as the other dynamics, everything is about normal, except the new normal is abundant additional blessings from having a missionary in the field. We love and miss you and look forward to your pictures and letters with great anticipation. Keep your chin up! I’m signing off for now.
Love,
Dad
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