Happenings

I have ranted for two times in a row so I think I should take a little lighter tone in my message today. I can't always be preachy (something my children accuse me of quite often) every time I sit down to write. So I promise that this entry will be much more mellow and interesting than the previous two.

Once a month I try to make a call home to talk to my parents and make sure things are going well. The conversations are not usually very deep (though we often talk about their work in the temple) but it is good to hear from them and see how their lives are going. I try to pay close attention to the attitudes and experiences they have because I realize that it won't be too many years before I will be in the shoes they are now wearing out. Mom is only 15 years older than me and Dad is just a shade less than 20 years my senior. Maybe if I listen well enough, I will be a little better prepared when my children start to send their children on missions and marry them off and such things. Or maybe I will be just like I am now and learn nothing in particular but have a good time on the journey.

Last week (Thursday 13 Nov.) our eldest son, Josh, was playing dodge ball at his work (wouldn't it be nice to have a job like that???) and threw the ball at another fellow when he felt something in his arm (left) move in the wrong direction. He immediately went to the sidelines and sat down and began to experiment with further movement. He found that he could not move the arm in a normal way and also felt some strange 'floating' substance in the upper part of his arm. His work had him go to a clinic where the x-rayed him and found that he had a double fracture of the humerus (stupid spell checker wants me to spell this humorous but I know that isn't right) bone. It was so bad that there was concern whether they would need to do surgery or leave it alone to heal. He was in great pain when I got to the doctor's office and they were pretty slow to help him find some relief, but he eventually was wrapped up (literally) and sent home. He has since seen two other doctors and has been advised to HAVE the surgery so things can be put in place more securely with a plate and screws. My guess is that he will have that surgery tomorrow (Wednesday) and start recovery again at home. Thankfully, since the injury was at work (imagine the conversation with upper management when that report comes in… how did this employee hurt himself….he was playing dodge-ball…on company time…yes, we have the facilities for the employees to play games…but why is it on our workman's comp…because he was at work…no he wasn't , he was playing…but playing is part of our work…since when…since you authorized us to create the gym where they can play…) he is covered by Workman's comp and it won't come out of his insurance. Unfortunately, since it is Workman's comp, they require that he use up all his vacation and sick time before the Workman's takes effect. I think his boss is trying to help by finding things he can do from home. Hope he heals quickly and doesn't get too bummed out sitting around home all the time.

Teresa and I have decided that we will buy ourselves a new big-screen TV for our Christmas this year. I have been looking around for the best bargain and found a really nice one on the internet the other day. I will attach a picture of it at the end of this message. It is HUGE and it really looks like a lot of fun. Josh has one that is just a bit smaller but the picture is really fantastic so I felt like it would be a good deal. Maybe it is silly to buy something this big but we are getting older and it takes a bigger picture to let us see all the detail (at least that the rationale I am using for now). Sure hope we enjoy this.

For the past several months, Teresa and I (with occasional help from the kids) have been digging out the crawl space under our home. Our plan is to make a small room where we can hide a large cache of guns and ammo so we will be protected from the oncoming assault…not really. We are actually going to use the room for some food storage so we can get our spare room back. It is slow and painful work because we have to haul the dirt out in 5-gallon buckets (40-45 lbs./bucket) from the basement to the main floor. Our little truck can only hold about 24 buckets before we start dragging bottom so we have to find somewhere to empty the dirt. Mostly we have been going to the dump where they let us unload for free, but recently the baseball coach has agreed to take some of the dirt to use on his field. This stuff is very heavy clay material and is perfect for working around the pitcher's mound and batter's box. It feels good to be useful to someone when we have expended so much effort. It will also be nice to have a room where we can put away a little more food supplies. That is if we live long enough to enjoy them.

I believe that is enough rambling for one entry. Joel has a swim meet (I still haven't had any success with that video of his meet) so I better get on over to the pool. Long live …..something.

Samsung - 56" 1080p Slim-Depth DLP HDTV