Spring Has Sprung

Normally, in the fall, there's stuff you do to get the yard ready for winter, one last mowing, clean off leaves and other stuff, put the mower away for the winter. All that jazz. I'm the one that usually does most of that kind of stuff in the fall. However, I was a bit distracted last fall when all this should have been happening. In October, Blaubeere and her kids came over and gave us some much appreciated help with the last mowing of the lawn and raking the front yard.  But the backyard, other than getting mowed, didn't get much attention.  Then, winter and grandkids happened and the yard got a lot of use over the winter and into spring.  By spring the yard was in pretty rugged shape. 

Every time you mow the lawn you need to walk over it and check for stuff.  Stuff you don't want to hit with the mower.

The first mowing of the season is usually a little more work.  This time, since we'd had some nice weather and the little grandkids had been here about a week before and left a mess out back, it was more work than normal. 

Early spring growth is uneven, especially if you have a dog.  A bigger dog makes it even more noticeable.  They fertilize in some places and burn the grass in other spots. Uneven grass, lots of clumps.  Yeah.

All over the backyard

And the barrel of toys had been tipped over and scattered up by the house.  So, yeah.  It took a little more time to walk the lawn and clean up the toys, both the kids toys and the dog  toys. This dog doesn't fetch.  You throw something, you might get it back once but almost never twice.

Put I got that stuff  picked up and got to the mowing.

About two and a half hours later it was all done.

I like a freshly mowed lawn, 

And all the clumps of grass were gone.  Couldn't do much about the burned spots, though.

In any case, the yard looked a lot better.  Mowing a lawn provides an opportunity to get a close look at the lawn.  We need to get the sprinklers turned on.  It was pretty dry.

Cackleberries

Some friends of ours have a daughter that recently got into the egg business.  So she got some chickens and set them up on the family property and put the word out that she was in business.

Her pricing schedule gives a discount if you gather the eggs yourself rather than her gathering them so that's what we do.  That way the eggs are only just a little more expensive than what you buy at the store. 

Plus you get the joy of interacting with all those chickens.  Not that they're real social creatures, they just like to gather around anyone that might be there to feed them.

So once a week we go out and gather eggs.  We even bought a cute little basket for it. 

We go out and gather about two dozen eggs each time.  Now chickens are not the cleanest creatures with their eggs.  So when we get home we have to wash and clean the eggs up.

This week we came home and had scrambled eggs.  We like to spice them up with peppers, onions, and cheese.  Sometime we put other things in them as well but we didn't have any of that stuff on hand this particular evening.

Farm to table, right?   Farm-fresh eggs.  Pretty nice to my way of thinking. 

Kitchen Helper

For Mothers Day today we tried a new recipe and I needed a helper.  Enter Schwartzbeere's oldest.  Today he was a very willing helper.  That was a fun thing.  And we were using the instapot, which makes things real simple.  So, with a little supervision from his little sister, we set about the job. 

We started by dumping the baby potatoes and chicken breasts in a big bowl and adding all the spices.

He liked that part.  The only requirement was to hit the bowl without spilling.

Stirring was a little more challenging, we took turns with that to make sure it all got mixed up thoroughly.

Then the chicken had to go in the pot first.  So we had to pick it out from all the little potatoes.  He was up for it.

Then, last but not least, all potatoes went in on top of the chicken.

I set the instapot and then it was just a matter of waiting.  So during the fifteen minutes while the chicken and potatoes cooked, we got everything else ready and got the table set.  Then it was just a matter of serving it up.

Pretty soon, everything was ready and all we needed was the grandma, the mother at our house. 

So we drug everybody to table and dug in.  It was pretty good. Yummy chicken and tender potatoes. This was a recipe that Brombeere had come across earlier and had wanted to try.  We felt good when she pronounced it delicious.  Me and my helper had a hit, a Mothers Day success.   Well done, little man!

Commonplace Book

A Commonplace Book. “Commonplace”, from the Latin 'locus communis', meaning “a theme or argument of general application.”  For me, it is a collection of thoughts, ideas, anecdotes, poems, observations, and quotes that stood out and caught my attention, some with comment, some without. Essentially a scrapbook, a repository of thoughts too good to just pass over and let go.

"Listening is high religious art ... capable of attending to other people, listening to them, talking gently to them in a way that is powerfully affirming without for a moment being bland or assuming that all is well with the world or with them. The reason this is both interesting and important is that it is hard to know how to listen to God if we do not know how to listen to other people. And how can we expect God to listen to us if we are incapable of listening to others?" 

(Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Words That Heal, Tazria-Metzora 5780, April 22, 2020) 

“I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had no where else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for that day."

(Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), 16th President of the United States)

"How often we look upon God as our last and feeblest resource! We go to Him because we have nowhere else to go. And then we learn that the storms of life have driven us, not upon the rocks, but into the desired haven." 

(George MacDonald (1824-1905), Scottish author, poet & minister)

 "If we have faith in Jesus Christ, the hardest as well as the easiest times in life can be a blessing."

(Henry B Eyring, April Conference 2012)

 "Every storm runs out of rain."

(Maya Angelou, 1928-2014, American poet, singer, memoirist, and civil rights activist)

 “When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive, to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.”

(Marcus Aurelius, 121-180. Roman emperor and philosopher)

Fond Memories

The other day we were in Aldi, the grocery store. This grocery store is an off-shoot of a store we used to shop at when I was in Germany, Albrecht's. It's laid out very similar and both stores have expanded their inventory and offerings. But they're still a discount, no frills grocery store. Just the kind of place missionaries like to shop. Anyway, at Aldi's the other day I noticed they had a cookie like we used to get all the time in Germany. Just a different brand. But they're still packaged just like we used to get them in Germany.

We used to get Prinzenrolle, a yummy sandwich cookie. This brand was Doppel Keke, same cookie. So, of course, we had to get a package.

Once out of the package, they look and taste identical. The thing about these cookies that made them so memorable, aside from tasting really, really good, is that we used to use them in our district meetings. In my last city, Herford, Germany, in the northern part of my mission, we had district meeting once a week. We'd use the cookies for scripture chase.  Educational and recreational. Whoever was the first to find the scripture got a cookie. Whoever won the most cookies for the day got the traveling trophy, a toy car.  Heaven forbid that you should come to district meeting without the trophy!

Every few months we would retire the car to the day's winner and get a new car.  There was one car I really liked, and, as luck would have it, I got to retire it. And I still have it.

It's a cute little souped up VW Beetle.  Hot little red car.

Lots of personality. One of my most prized mementos from my mission.  I love that little car, I'm proud of that little car, I used to be pretty good at scripture chase on my mission. Better than when we'd do it in seminary. Lots of happy memories around that little car.   Good times, good times.

A Story of an Ice Box

We have had used refrigerators for quite a while. Each time our fridge has approached the end of the trail we have been blessed to be able to replace is with a used one, at a good price and a nice savings over new refrigerators, which can get quite expensive. In fact, the last brand spanking new fridge we bought was just a couple of years out of college, when we were living on the west coast. It stayed with us for quite a while, through three interstate moves but it finally did give out.

That was over forty years ago. I know that fridge didn't last forty years. Anyway, we noticed the other day that our fridge didn't seem as cool as it should so we began watching it pretty close. We'd catch it up in the 50 degree range but then it would go back down where it belonged. One time we even moved a bunch of stuff into the freezer downstairs and borrowed a couple of coolers and moved stuff into them, out in the garage where the temperature was still pretty cool. But then the temperature went back where it belonged and stuff began working its way back into the fridge. Up and down for several days, until we finally called a repairman to come look at it. He did but the day he got here it was behaving well and the temperature was down where it belonged.  He checked this part and that, listened to hum this and that, checked all the coolant levels and everything else he cold think of. Everything was where it belonged. He found no problem. We talked about trying to catch while it was not working but that's near impossible. By the time we noticed and called him, then he would have to fit it in his day's schedule and get here.  And all that had to happen quick enough that it was still not working when he actually showed up. Yeah, right. That was never going to happen.

So we kept a close eye on it and talked about what we might do about it, what our options were.  Over the next several days it continued it cycle of working and then not working and then working and then not working. It was apparent that something had to be done as it just wasn't going to last much longer. We felt like we were on borrowed time. So we began looking around for a replacement. We found ourselves looking at the new fridge market because there just wasn't a whole lot on the used market right now. This whole process was also made a little more interesting by the fact that everything in the state is on lock-down because of the corona virus business and only those stores deemed "essential" were allowed to be open. And those that are still open are required to observe "social distancing", all to reduce the possibility of spreading this virus. But we found most appliance places were open, some required appointments to avoid having too many people in the store at once. Fortunately, the first place we actually went to, our favorite appliance repair shop which also sold a line of appliances, was open and didn't require an appointment. They were the folks that came and looked at our fridge when it was on its best behavior. So went there and looked over what they had.  Just as we had been blessed all those years to find used fridges just when we needed one, we were blessed this day as well.  He had a nice one in stock, which was actually a return, returned by someone who could live with the flaw it had on one side, a slight bulge that was nearly imperceptible, even when he specifically pointed it out.  They offed such a good discount that it was well within what we had planned to spend.  Plus it was a cubic foot bigger than what we had.  Such a deal. It was a little taller and deeper so it would stick out into the room a little farther.  But it was close enough, it would fit.  We bought it.

Two days later they brought it by and installed it. That was nice. And they hauled off the old one. So there it was, installed and working, and all the food transferred from the old fridge to the new. The interior is a little different and we had to arrange things differently inside. But it all fit easily enough. We're getting used to the new layout.  We're still deciding whether or not the freezer space is the same.  Its hard to tell.

The final step was all the stuff that decorates a normal fridge.  We had to take it all off to make the switch out.  Not everything survived the transition, just the important stuff.  But enough went back on that it still looked like it belonged.

Especially all our magnets from all the places we've visited in the last couple of years.  We haven't always collected magnets from our travels but since we started it's become a fun way to remember some good times.  And a couple of the kids have given us magnets from their travels, too.  That's been fun.

A Quiet Easter

Easter this year has been like no other.  With a plague sweeping the earth and all society trying to survive, Easter celebrations have had to be different than tradition would normally call for.  For us, its been a quiet day of remembrance.

It has been fitting. The first Eater was also a quiet day. No trumpets, no heavenly choirs, no angelic heralds. Just a quiet, empty tomb, found by a woman deep in mourning. But oh, how her heart leaped when she found her risen Lord, another witness that all He had said was actually true!

And so likewise it is with us.  All that He said is actually true!

Commonplace Book

 A Commonplace Book. “Commonplace”, from the Latin 'locus communis', meaning “a theme or argument of general application.”  For me, it is a collection of thoughts, ideas, anecdotes, poems, observations, and quotes that stood out and caught my attention, some with comment, some without. Essentially a scrapbook, a repository of thoughts too good to just pass over and let go.

"Come with full purpose of heart, and cleave unto God as he cleaveth unto you."

(Jacob 6:5) 

"As evil increases in the world, there is a compensatory spiritual power for the righteous. As the world slides from its spiritual moorings, the Lord prepares the way for those who seek Him, offering them greater assurance, greater confirmation, and greater confidence in the spiritual direction they are traveling. The gift of the Holy Ghost becomes a brighter light in the emerging twilight.”

(Elder Neil L Anderson, A Compensatory Spiritual Power for the Righteous, BYU Devotional, August 15, 2018) 

"Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom."

(Viktor E Frankl, 1905-1997, Austrian neurologist, psychiatrist, and Holocast survivor) 

"When you think about the fact that a distinguished medical doctor is the President of the Church at this time, and that over the past two years he has led changes that prepared us to be able to teach our families at home, and to minister more personally to fellow Church members, it appears the Lord knew what he was doing in calling Elder Russell M Nelson into the Quorum of the 12 so he would be in a position to lead us during this crisis.”

(Raymond Swenson, Line Upon Line, Meridian Magazine, March 13, 2020) 

"And the moon said to me, “my darling, you don't have to be whole to shine."

(Anonymous) 

"Striving to better, oft we mar what's well."

(Shakespeare: King Lear; Act 1 Scene 4) 

"One of the things I learned that will stick with me the most is your quote “If you are not failing now and then, you are not reaching high enough.” I was always afraid of failure, but now I realize it is a normal part of becoming better."

(Daris Howard, What Students Learned in Math Class 2020, Meridian Magazine, March 3, 2020)

Conference Goodies

I've been wanting to make  this cake for a little while, its a cinnamon swirl cake.  So, in keeping with the tradition of treats for general conference, I decided to make it today, between sessions.  That's' as good an excuse as any, right?

So, first I dumped all the dry ingredients in the mixing bowl.  That's easy enough.

After thoroughly stirring all the dry ingredients, in went the wet ingredients.

Then it all got mixed up.  The happy thing about that is that someone has to lick the beaters and since there were no kids around to do it, I had to.

Next came the cinnamon mix that was to get swirled into the cake batter.  This is a good thing.  I really like cinnamon rolls and this cake promised to be all the yummy deliciousness with much less of the work of rolling and cutting.  So, again, everything got dumped together.

Then it all got mixed and stirred.

Once it was all in the pan and swirled together, it went into the oven.

Forty minutes later it came out, smelling, oh, so good.  A couple of people commented on how they thought it smelled just like cinnamon rolls.  That was promising.

Then it came out of the oven and got set aside to cool while we had dinner.  Alas, Himbeere got to it before I could get a picture of the finished cake, with the glaze on it.  But, take my word for it, turned out very good.  We might have to do this again!  This could become a family conference tradition!