Re: Letter 67 of 3
Dear Riley:
The weather is beautiful right now and I’m enjoying the sounds and sights of spring through the open windows. We’ve thoroughly enjoyed General Conference and feel renewed, enlightened, and resolved to go forward trying a little harder to be a little better. A wonderful spirit permeates our home and I feel badly there are individuals who refuse to acknowledge the nobility of what just transpired over the past couple days or recognize the delicious fruits of the gospel. Shouting voices of descent during the sustaining of Church officers has become the new normal and stands in stark contrast to the unanimous votes in the affirmative of years past. President Monson looked and sounded stronger than he has in recent past conferences, but spoke only briefly for General Priesthood (5 min max) and the meeting only went 90 minutes rather than the customary 120 min. This morning he was our first speaker but once again was under 5 minutes. He announced four additional temples and reminded us that there are 27 temples currently under construction in addition to the 150 currently in operation. The prophecy that temples will dot the earth is being fulfilled in our lifetime. As I consider the content of this conference it seemed right in line with the issues I see as bishop that concern me. There was a lot of focus on marriage, family, temples, priesthood power as it relates to worthiness, and rescuing the lost sheep.
Tomorrow marks the first day of spring break. Spring brings a lot of initiative for me that quickly fades in the heat of summer. Right now I feel driven to get plants into the ground and work to beautify and improve the yard and home. I plan on getting up early each day to put in a couple hours of yard work before heading to work. I’m also considering taking some time off work while I’m on task to knock out a few projects. Tomorrow I plan on getting lettuce, cabbage, peas, and strawberries into the planters. We haven’t decided what or where yet, but will likely take some family time for an outing.
Cambry and Cameron are adorable together and things are progressing well toward June 3rd. In addition to immediate and extended family, we’ve been informed of up to 8 Indian friends who plan on being in attendance for the celebration. We’re excited to see our friends and family, and feel touched by their support.
Last week at work was the exciting culmination of many months of seemingly little progress on getting our double cone vacuum dryer up and running. In retrospect, I probably wouldn’t purchase a piece of European equipment again. Customer support is agonizingly inefficient, a handful of replacement parts were astoundingly expensive and four months in coming, everything on it is metric and specialty order (if at all available in the U.S.) and costs up to 5 times the amount of non metric equivalents. Some parts needed to be custom made in order to marry European to U.S. technology. I was told by someone that a general rule of thumb is that you will spend as much money getting equipment installed as you spent on purchasing it. This certainly applies in this instance. However, we have it powered, hooked up to heating and vacuum, and it’s a thing of beauty to behold, at least to someone who has a lot of time and money invested into getting it up and running… We just have a few instrumentation and control issues to address and I’ll feel confident in using it to dry our germanium. This means good bye to Pyrex drying trays. As for the reactors, they’re slightly behind the double cone, but truly should be fully functional within 6 weeks, provided I can get some badly needed instrumentation assistance. We have a good deal of work to do on some other equipment we’ve acquired, but it’s still nice when things come together quickly once a multitude of nearly imperceptible issues have been suitably addressed.
I should be getting my bee package this Friday. I’m a little excited and a little apprehensive of a repeat of last year. There are a host of forces working against bees that make the matter of bee keeping more difficult than meets the eye. One thing that prevents a multitude of ailments for a hive is to have a strong hive. I learned about the destructive power of wax moths on a weak hive and was grateful I at least didn’t need to deal with them. However, while tending my extra frames and honey super with drawn out comb I discovered they had been fully infested with wax moths through the course of last summer. Bummer! It’s just one more thing to manage and protect. I need to prepare the main hive to receive bees and hope it’s in better shape than my unused honey super.
My mantis tiller needed a carburetor rebuild this year. It was beginning to weigh heavily on me so I priced it out. Would you believe it’s a $100 now and a two week waiting period? Considering this unacceptable, I went online and found a $10 rebuild kit a few days out with free shipping. I took a couple hours one evening putting my kit to good use and tilled my garden with my refurbished tiller yesterday. That was extremely satisfying to say the least! If I don’t mind waiting for 1 to 2 months, rebuild kits are available for 3 dollars. I think I’ll order a few and have them on hand for future rebuilds. I also discovered it was oxygenated fuel that destroyed the diaphragms in my tiller, so spent some time searching for a local source of gasoline without ethanol. All the things they never taught me in school…
We’re looking forward to your letter and pray for your success and safety multiple times daily. The gospel and its fruits stand in sharp contrast to the world view and the destructive paths it promotes. Stay the course and keep the faith. There truly is no greater path to happiness than faith in and obedience to God, His son Jesus Christ, and membership in the gospel of Christ. Till next time.
Love,
Dad
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