Friday, March 27, 2009

Freaky Storm


The calender says that Spring has Sprung but you wouldn't know it by the way it looks around here. Yesterday we had winds of 30+ miles per hour with gusts up to 67!! Later in the afternoon a huge dust storm blew through and then behind it came cooler temperatures and a snow storm. It was amazing how fast the temperatures dropped. It snowed hard for a couple of hours. St. Johns was on the news many times because of the freaky storm we were getting. When we woke up this morning we had a winter wonderland. It was beautiful, everything was icy and sparkling. When the sun came out it began melting quickly. The news states that we will get up to 60 degrees today. That is just plain weird.

Kick Butt's Day


March 25 is National Kick Butt's Day. No it is not meant to be a day for everyone to kick each other. It is a day to help kids understand the dangers of tobacco and the addictive power of nicotine. The Apache County Tobacco Use Prevention Program held a carnival today at the fairgrounds. Smokey the Bear came to hang out with the kids and remind them to be careful around fire. He told them that many forest fires are caused by people throwing their cigarettes butt's out the window of their cars. We also had a Venomocity booth so that the kids could look at the new website that the state has just launched. It has great information about tobacco, commericals and an arcade full of games and is "brought to you by addiciton". We also had a bubble gum blowing contest, games, a race care simulator, an obstacle course, a fire truck, cotton candy, hot dogs, snow cones, popcorn, and it was all free to the public thanks to our many wonderful sponsors. It landed during spring break so it gave the kids something fun to do. What a fun day!

March




March is a very strange month for me. It is a bit of an oxymoron. A time to celebrate life and mourn death. March 3, 2004 Gary was diagnosed with Stage 4 Colo-rectal cancer. That day our lives were turned upside down. Two weeks later on March 21, 2004 Dad passed away. It was the hardest year we gave ever gone through. Gary undersent 51/2 weeks of Chemo and radiation and then surgery. So in this month we celebrate Gary's life and express gratitude that he was able to get well and remain with us and we mourn the passing of my father. I miss his laugh, his smile and the way that he would wrinkle up his nose at something funny he would say. I miss how he loved and enjoyed his grandkids and great-grandkids. They could do no wrong in his eyes. Dad loved Gary so much and was so devasted when I went to tell him about Gary's cancer. That is a day that I will never forget. It feels very strange to both mourn and celebrate at the same time. It is just one of those crazy mixed up things about life I guess.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Facing Uncertainty with Faith and Hope

On Saturday February 28, 2009 the St. Johns Arizona Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints had the opportunity to hear from Sister Chieko N. Okazaki, former counselor in the General Relief Society Presidency. She has written many books but is best known for her book "Lighten Up". We felt like we were in the presence of royalty. Sister Okazaki is very funny and uplifting. She has taught school for many years. and what a teacher she is. She talked about the trials that we all have in our lives. What matters is that we find the Savior in those trials. We have to decide what it is that we seek and whom we seek. Happiness isn't always found in the places that we look. The Lord doesn't wait for us to be perfect to find him. He is always seeking us. We can find courage when we are seeking the Lamb of God. She challenged us to make our hearts big enough to hold in the Savior's love. She said the name of Jesus will be honey in the mouth and a song in the ear. We also heard from Sister Helga Burgess who talked about life in Germany under Adolf Hitler. What a challenging life she has had. It was such a wonderful day. It was a wonderful reminder about the power that women have. It was a real treat to be in their presence. Sister Okazaki also talked at a fireside on Sunday night. She spoke about marriage. She said that "it is not chains that hold a marriage together, it is many tiny threads." She told us to "Talk about your marriage in the sweet times so that you can talk about it in the hard times." She also asked us to look at our spouse and ask, "If you had it to do over again would you marry the same person?" Think and talk about that one. She admonished us to stop keeping score about who does more or sacrifices more for the other. Jesus asked us to become one flesh and we can't do that without working together. Both of these sisters left us with much to think and ponder on.

Keeping Up With The "Young ones"

On Saturday March 15, 2009 Gary took his wildland fire pack test. He had to walk 3 miles in 45 minutes wearing a 45 pound pack on his back. We dropped off the fire fighters at the top of Grover's Hill. They had to walk the 3 miles to the Catholic Church. There were 7 firefighters that began the walk. I drove the ambulance to various spots along the path and told the walkers how much time they had left and encouraged them to keep going. I know what your thinking, but someone had to do it! I of course took my camera to take pictures of Gary with the pack on. When I got in position to take the picture, I found that my camera was dead!! I was so mad. I went down to the Catholic church to write in times of the walkers. I am proud to say that Gary can still out do the young ones. He came in 2nd!! I was so proud of him. One of the walkers had to be carried to the finish line. They were all laid out on the sidewalk in front of the church. People began coming over to see what in the world was going on. It was not a sight you see everyday. Once they pass the test they receive a certificate and can then work on wildland fires.

PS: 9 skunks and 2 cats later, we think we are finally free of the "stinky" problem!!!!

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Passed Out Cold

This is a story about how NOT to impress your daughters friend. Last night when I got home from work my daughter told me that her friend Marc (who is going to school to be an EMT, this will come in handy later in my story) from Show Low was coming over and could I make a nice dinner, so I looked in my recipe book and planned a dinner of: Chicken Cordon Bleu, baked potatoes, salad, vegetables and rolls. I got the chicken and potatoes in the oven and set about making the vegetables. In the process of cutting the carrots I cut my thumb. I thought it was just a little cut until I ran it under water and looked at it. I had taken a huge chunk out of it. So I wrapped it up and cussed myself for being dumb. Gary came home shortly after, looked at the thumb and said it needed stitches, but the doctors now days are using super glue in place of stitches. Novel idea don't you think? The kids came in and I showed them my wound, they were very impressed. Gary ran to the store to get some glue. While he was gone I visited with Marc about his EMT class and experiences. We had a great visit. When Gary returned home, with the glue, the bleeding had finally stopped and dinner was almost ready. Gary took me to the bathroom to begin the mending. Now you have to understand with Gary being an EMT, I am used to guts, gore, blood and all the stories about it, but for some reason when he began to glue that thumb, I started to get dizzy. I remember turning to put my head in a towel and the next thing I remember was hearing Gary calling my name. Gary said that I told him I was going to rub off some of the glue that was running down my thumb, I don't remember that part. He went to put the lid back on the glue and the next thing he knew I was hitting the shower door and falling to the floor. He was doing his best to try to catch me but it all happened too fast. The kids heard the noise and Kelsey came to see what had fallen. She found her Dad leaning next to me on the floor. Apparantly my eyes rolled in the back of my head at that point and I quit breathing. Gary yelled for Marc to come and help (this is where his EMT schooling came in handy) and asked him to call 911 and help him, he was going to start CPRand mouth to mouth. He bent down and was about to begin when I began coming to. I felt like I was walking in a black hall way and couldn't figure out what had happened. They stood me up, on legs that felt like jello, and sat me in a chair. Gary told Marc to keep an eye on me while he ran to the airport to get some oxygen. I was, they say, white as a sheet. After giving me some oxygen they put me on the bed and Marc took my bloodpressure and checked my breathing which was still pretty shallow. I lifted my hand and found that my thumb and finger were glued together!!! That was a blast to pull apart. But aside from that I was just so embarrased that I had caused such a scene in front of Marc. He was very cool about it and said it just gave him some " real life experience". Sure glad I could help with that, I guess. Anyway I think I have a slight concussion from hitting the floor so hard. You know when you are old you don't fall as gracefully as when you are young. I sure was grateful for all the help that I got though, and Marc said he really enjoyed the entertainment.

P.S. We are still catching skunks. I swear you'd think we were running a skunk farm around here!