A Month Plus 7 (Mom's 87th birthday)

       Wasn't planning on letting this much time pass, but I get so busy with no job and no real commitments.  Some of the busyness included these things of note:

Golfing.  We took a day trip out to Mackay to golf their nine hole course and have lunch.  We have golfed some Saturdays and at the cabin when we've gone there.  Drove to Payson, Utah, and spent the night at Kara and Terry's house and golfed Gladston Golf Course nearby.  It was a beautiful day and we saw too many deer to count.  K&T rented a cart and rode along with us the last nine holes.  Quinn did especially well the first nine getting only two over par.  The last nine was the most scenic part of the course and I think it threw us off our game because we lost balls and stopped keeping score.  Afterwards we all had lunch on the balcony overlooking the course.  Lovely day of golf and fun chance to catch up on life's happenings with the Bjarnsons.  

      The deer were thick in this grove of trees.  As you drove by, you could see ears and rears of multiple deer.

      From the tee box, Quinn had to hit over the canyon to get on the fairway.  I saw the ball make the canyon and cross the cart path, but when we got over there the ball had disappeared into the back forest.  The green is at the top of the hill if you follow the cart path up.  The fall colors and view were stunning.  I maintain we golfed nine holes and went sightseeing for nine holes.

      The last green on the course was surrounded by a moat (this isn't it).  I had been having trouble the whole way down the fairway, so I just dropped a ball and told Quinn, "I am going to hit this ball over the water if it's the last thing I do."  I then promptly lofted the ball and it splashed into the moat.  Me walking back to the cart, "I'm done."  Kinda sums up my whole game that day, and I still enjoyed the round.

Sewing.  Didn't accomplish a lot in this department, but did make Taft a pillowcase for his baptism and worked on a windowpane denim quilt for myself.  The quilt isn't far enough along yet to show a picture, and I must have forgotten to take a picture of the pillowcase but the fabric had cacti wearing sunglasses.

Trips to the cabin.  We didn't start out intending to make so many trips to the cabin, but one thing led to another.  During the trip to see the fall colors, as we were cooking a lasagna for dinner, the 69 year old stove caught on fire.  Once the fire was out, we discovered the element was completely severed.  Once back in Blackfoot, Sandra found a new stove (not a lot of choices with COVID shutdowns in manufacturing), but that meant another trip to bring up the new stove and replace it.  

      Hello new stove, good bye old:

      Next, Sandra decided she didn't like a white hood over the new slate stove.  She purchased a new hood to match, but then we discussed how nice it would be to install a microwave/fan in the space above the stove.  Trade in new hood for new microwave and haul it up to the cabin.  Once we had the instructions etc. we discovered the new microwave was missing a large screw needed to help anchor it to the top of the cabinet plus the thread assembly that was suppose to be inside the top.  Even a Youtube video proved something was defective.  Haul the new one back to Blackers so they can fix it and then back to the cabin to install (which brings us to today--we just got it installed!) and it looks amazing!!  Now we will haul the old counter top microwave back home and maybe winterize the cabin before we leave for a more extended time (maybe).

Harvest.  It took Matt three weeks to get the potatoes harvested.  The weather at first was a little too warm and made for some short days because of the heat.  Chad stayed and drove truck for all three weeks.  We took many drives to check on progress and the harvest looked pretty good to me.  Quinn also cleaned out the garden and picked all the apples that were fit to eat.  We had a great apple harvest this year.  

Reading (and watching).  I hosted book club this month.  We watched the show Enola Holmes on Netflix.  Enola is Sherlock's little sister and seems to possess similar brain power.  We all enjoyed the show and I got my house cleaned and afterwards had the carpet downstairs and on my stairs cleaned.  It is a great improvement.  We were to read a Sherlock Holmes book to go along with the show and I chose his first book A Study in Scarlet.  I was shocked when I got to Part Two when I found it was all about Mormons and Utah and was NOT complimentary.  I didn't know Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had such a poor opinion of Mormons and he didn't fact check because he got a lot of the facts wrong.  

      Watching also included all of season one of Stranger Things.

St George.  I had to go see my doctor in St. George to check on my estrogen levels and made a long trip of it.  Drove down on a Tuesday, saw the doctor on Wednesday.  Spent my days visiting with Kristine and her family--Tina and kids came, Aubree and kids, and Brent & Mary.  It was good to see everyone.  I also watched all of season two of Professor T in between going places, shopped, got a pedicure, went to dinner at Viva Chicken, hiked to Scout Cave with Chad and Peachy, and they fixed me a huge dinner Friday night and Saturday they cooked brats.  I drove home Sunday with SNOW between Cove Fort and Payson.  

      Scout Cave is behind us.  The steps below are part of the hike.  There had to have been 60 steps.  The overall hike was 4.4 miles and the temperature was a pleasant 71 degrees.

      This cave is close to Scout Cave but I don't know its name.  We also couldn't climb into it.

      Above is Chad at the back of the cave.  The picture below is the opening that reveals sky that you see when you look up where Chad is looking up.

      Standing at the back of the cave and looking out at the valley below.  

      Dinner included HUGE pork chops, barbeque, asparagus, pork belly, and dynamite made the Keto way:  Half a jalapeno pepper filled with ground pork and veggies then cheese and all wrapped in bacon.

News.  Found out our "open" status has run out.  My first clue was when I couldn't fill my prescription because my insurance was inactive.  I came home and checked on the website and sure enough--no more Aetna insurance coverage.  I called the mission department the next day and that is when I found out about the expiration of our status.  Another discovery was that I had been overpaying for our mission by a LOT.  Good news is most of it could be transferred into our tithing and fast offering account.  Bad news, the payment we made in 2019 could not be refunded but will stay in the mission fund and we can apply it towards any missions we take in the future--more incentive to go on another mission since I am so cheap. 

     Wes is growing up way too fast.  He now pulls himself up to standing and seems pretty proud of it too.

      I have been going through old photos of Jacob to send to Amber and of course many of them include Chad too.  When I stayed with C&P they also enjoyed going through all the photos.  This one is in honor of Halloween which takes place this Saturday.