Holiday Blessings

We were able to spend Thanksgiving with four of our children, three grandchildren, my mother-in-law and some friends. We had a wonderful time, especially playing with the grandchildren. Later as a group we went to Temple Square in Salt Lake City to view the Christmas lights. I'm not sure why we are attracted to the lights, maybe we are all part moths.  Regardless of the reason for the attraction I do love seeing the lights.  Here are some of my favorite pictures:

If I had one Christmas wish for everyone it would be "Peace on Earth and Goodwill toward men."  My we all say like the reformed Ebenezer Scrooge of Charles Dickens novel (A Christmas Carol),  “I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.”  May we remember the true meaning of Christmas this year and throughout our lives.  Merry Christmas.

Deer Season is upon us

This time of year many hunters brave the cold to enjoy the challenge of deer hunting. With rifle in hand and all bundled up for protection against the cold bitterness of winter, they trudge through the brown fields of weeds and tall grass (sometimes snow covered) in search of their prized trophey. Well for those of you who find this annual event a relaxing sport I have a suggestion, one that allows you to remain in total warmth without walking or trudging through mud, snow and weeds. I perfected this technique on November 20th. Although I do not have pictures of the prized trophey, I do have pictures of the results of my technique and here they are:

Our grandson Kanoa refers to this as "Grandpa Richard's smashed black car", and so it is.  This event reminds me of some of the lyrics of "I Fought The Law" which go as follows: "I fought the law and the ... law won".  In this case the deer definitely won.  I'm not sure what became of the deer, since we did not see any sign of it the following day. Chris (my wife) said that she noticed that the deer was sitting up and moving its head right after the accident. As for me, the person who even hates to run over those small frogs in Georgia who hop suicidally on the roads after a heavy rainfall, I hope that the doe survived.  The real blessing is that neither one of us were injured.  Typically a collision with a large deer results in injury or death.  As Chris so appropriately put it while we were eating dinner at a local restaurant following the accident, "It is nice to be able to see my husband and reach out and touch his hand."  I am grateful that we were protected and that I can see my wife and touch her hand.

As for the car, it is in the repair shop right now.

A suggestion of a friend

A friend asked what it would take to complete the upstairs bathroom. That was about two months ago. Well out of necessity we needed to get the upstairs bathroom up and running before our trip out west for Thanksgiving. so here it is:

Thank you Russ for the suggestion; and Russ, Richard and Chris for the help.

Changes in weather

It's amazing what a change twenty-three days can bring in regards to the weather. As of the time of my post on November 15 the sun was shinning and work could be done outside. No coats were required, in fact, one could wear a short sleeve shirt like Elders Johnson and Whitworth. But now....today it is 7 degrees with a wind chill factor of 6 degrees. It looks like a winter wonderland.

To recite the lyrics of a popular Christmas song:

"Oh the weather outside is frightful,

But the fire is so delightful, (well we don't have a fire)

And since we've no place to go,

Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!"

And so it is this December 11th of 2009.