Fixing stuff

Yesterday, the pilot light went out on our hot water heater. Jenny's shower was a bit cold there toward the end and I just didn't get one (wasn't feeling too well anyway) so I didn't go to stake conference. We got it to light once but it went out again when it had warmed one heater full. Then it wouldn't light at all. I turned the gas off to it and went to bed. Jenny worked last night so I tried lighting it again this morning so there might be hot water because she likes to take a shower before she goes to sleep.

I tried a couple times with no luck and she came home while I was trying. So we both went to work on it. She got the vacuum out so we could clean up dust in and around it. We turned the gas off and couldn't smell any (Yeah I have a cold so can't smell anything) Then we got an emery board and kind of filed the parts inside. There we were on our knees with our heads looking into the hole by the floor and our behinds sticking up in the air, trying to get the thing to work. We filed off a bunch of stuff that looked like ash and then vacuumed it all really good again. When we tried to light it again we had a good healthy pilot light on and it stayed on!!
Ahh, Jenny and I have fun fixing things. (I know, I know, we possibly could have blown ourselves to kingdom come but at this point in our lives we would just consider it an adventure and you other kids wouldn't have had to worry about all the junk around here.) Meantime we have it fixed. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

kittens

I've received a couple of phone calls from a granddaughter whose 3rd adopted stray cat had a batch of kittens. Yes that's 3 batches of baby kittens this last month or so.
This cat didn't seem to know how to take care of its kittens so the last call was for help in how to feed a baby kitten. I'm thinking of all the kittens we've saved over the years from when I was a little girl, when my children were little, and now to the third generation.

When I was young we had a black and white cat that we named AnnaNory, Nory for short. She was a good mama but she seemed always to have her kittens in the crawl space under the house and then would meow endlessly until someone crawled under there to bring them out and put them in a box behind the stove until they were old enough to run around outside. Dan was 7 or 8 and the only one small enough to get through the hole into the crawl space so he always rescued the kittens.
But one morning Nory woke us up Meowing frantically. Obviously she'd had kittens and we had heard Tom cats yowling during the night so she needed us to save her kittens. This time she didn't go to the crawlspace though, she was scratching at the trap door to the fruit room-root cellar under the laundry room. We lifted the door and went down the stairs and Nory rushed ahead of us. She showed us her kittens! The Tom Cats were trying to get them so she had taken them to the cellar which was just a hole that also led into the crawl space, And neatly dropped them into empty Quart jars sitting on the shelves in the cellar. We rescued each of them and fixed her a box behind the stove. She purred and purred her thankfulness.

I've often thought about what I learned from that experience. If we will do the best we can raising our children to save them from the threats involved in this earth life and have learned to communicate with a loving Heavenly Father, He will come and rescue them when we pray frantically for help. He loves us just as much as we children loved those baby kittens.

Happy Birthday, Rachel

Happy Birthday Rachel!! I enjoy your comments on my blog--makes it worthwhile to keep on writing. When are you leaving to move to your next post? And when does College start for you? Sounds like you're moving right along with life--you kids are moving out now as fast as you moved in as babies. When do you plan to get here and where are you staying over the 4th? Have a happy birthday and hopefully your computer hasn't been packed yet so you will get this. Love ya'!!! Grandma

Happy Birthday, Clairisa

Grandma is back on the birthday blogs! Hope you have a Happy day!!! I have your card and will call later to see if you are home yet. It is supposed to get warmer this weekend so maybe you can come swimming. Love ya'!!! Grandma

Happy Birthday, Daniel

Happy Birthday, Daniel!! I missed yesterday at writing but still wanted you to know I thought about your birthday. We appreciate you as an addition to the family and hope you have a great year, even if it is a busy one. Love ya'!!! Grandma

Happy Birthday, Seth

Happy Birthday Seth!! I mailed your card but missed writing yesterday. I hope you had a Happy Day. You sure are growing up. Are you in first grade this year? Are you playing soccer this year? I hope you have a whole year of fun times!!! Love ya'!!! Grandma

Happy Birthday, Mike

Happy Birthday, Mike! You have always loved camping and outdoor activities. Maybe that's because when you were born we all went camping right away so that I could get a break from all the summer activities that were just starting. The hospital was extremely busy on the maternity floor that day so they put you in a box because they were out of plastic baskets. We got to take the box home so we had a bed for you when we went camping. You weighed 11 lbs 6 oz. when you were born and nursed well so we had no problems with going out. Believe it or not it really was peaceful at Blue Lake.
The road wasn't really open because there were still some snow drifts across it in places but Daddy just put the truck in four wheel drive and went on in. We camped for about a week and then decided it was time to go home but the battery terminal had cracked and we couldn't get the truck started.There was a steep slope down to the shore of the lake and Daddy thought he might get the truck started by popping the clutch but it didn't work so we set up the tents again and waited til the 4th of July campers started coming in. A couple of cowboys pulled us up to the road and Daddy got the truck started. And we were facing bumper to bumper traffic coming in while we were going out. We wouldn't have wanted to have all that company up there anyway. So we were home for the 4th of July and you had been on your first camping trip when you were less than a month old. Now your children can know why you like the outdoors so much. Happy Birthday!!!

Happy Birthday, Jenny

Happy Birthday, Jenny. My wood splitting blog will be dedicated to you. I enjoyed cutting the ivy back off the windows and washing them with you. You could help with this blog by adding some of your favorite childhood pictures. Most of them are slides, though, I think. Happy Birthday--I love you.

WoodPile

When I came home from Loa there was a large pile of wood just inside my backyard gate. The pieces of tree trunk were huge and very irregularly shaped. Some weeks ago I bought a splitting mall and wedge because I like the "I'm A Lonesome Polecat" song from "Seven Brides For Seven Brothers" and I used to sing it for Stan as he was splitting wood. Well, Jenny and I went out to see if we could split some of the wood. I managed to get one maybe 12 inch round split into four pieces. Took at least 150 strikes. I tried to get her to take pictures but she declined. It became immediately obvious that WE were not going to get that wood split and stacked and the back yard cleaned up before the family reunion. Erin came over and saw our dilemma and got David over here to split wood while she, Jenny and I stacked it. Her kids helped a little but the pool was full so they opted for swimming even though the water was freezing.
David split maybe 3 or 4 pieces and then the head came off my splitting mall. He asked where I got it and I said, " Harbor Freight" and he said, "no wonder." So he called Johnny and he brought over a Heavy Duty splitting Mall. Meantime we stackers got the smaller stuff and the split stuff stacked--It's better than a cord of wood. Then the Heavy Duty mall broke-split the handle right in two. We aren't sure if the wood was too wet, David's muscles were too strong or his was a defective mall, too. So we still have a bunch of wood to split and the cement to sweep before the reunion. But we sure had fun while it lasted. There's probably a half cord of wood left to split and stack. Jenny got it all stood on end ready to go if anyone else has a splitting mall they would like to test. Wouldn't pictures of this one have been fun?

Loa Trip Summary

I got back from Loa last night. Had a fun trip. We got Cathy's and Vicky's gardens planted. Hope they grow--we used up a bunch of old seeds. While Caib and I were feeding baby lambs, Braden's pup, Angie, stole Chance's hat off his head and ran off with it. Chancie just stood there crying and Caib had to retrieve the hat. And Silas, while playing with an angleworm, managed to break it in two and ask his mother if she could scotch tape it back together. My visiting teachers creatively contacted me through my blog. It was an interesting trip. Oakley is walking everywhere. I about wore myself out walking back and forth on that huge lawn pushing the weed and feed applicator. Baby sat for Mike and Vicky while they went to the temple. She's closer to getting her cards done than I am. She showed me how to use the new family history programs that we don't have up here. Anyway, I'm back. Maybe I'll get some serious blogging done now.