It Could Have Been Worse? Actually It Was.

Just got off the phone with the mechanic.  The wheel bearing hub was replaced, but still has some trouble.  Next part to fix?  The CV joint will have to be replaced.

I really have loved this Durango.  But it is 11 years old next week, and the poor thing has given me the best years of its life already.  We knew it would start to cost money, but I didn't realize it meant to do it all the same visit to the mechanic.

I think we have replaced the fuel pump and fuel tank, but other than that this is the next big thing.  Which in the grand scheme of things isn't so bad.

I just keep thinking that either of these two problems could have broken us out in the middle of ding-dong-land and stranded us there.  Instead, the Lord watched over us and we all got home safely, the mechanic is walking distance from the house, the weather is fine for a good walk and the Genius Golfer's Camaro is available for all my running around in the meantime. 

Many years ago, in college, I had a sporty little Dogde Daytona that I drove almost into the ground.  We actually out grew it--as I had it just about until The Girl was born.  I think I had to put three or four CV joints on that little thing.  So on new one on a car 11 years old isn't too bad.

I will have a blog post about the Camaro at a later time, but I have to sort my resentment about it before I post anything here, so stay tuned.

In the meantime, I am counting the blessing I have and hoping to get a call telling me the Muggle-Mobile is ready for me to pick up.

God Protects The Stupid--OR--Tender Mercies From The Road

Three of us in the YW presidency returned at noon today from Fish Lake where we visited a Girls' Camp that did a bike trip there. 

(Tender Mercy #1)
They had a tremendous crash the morning before we arrived yesterday.  The YW that crashed had not done the same preparation as most of  the others who rode, but she wanted to participate and took a big hill on the up side, only to (naturally) want to do the easier down hill.  The downhill got the best of her as when we arrived she was in the hospital in Richfield.

By the time we left their campsite that evening, we had learned (thank heavens for cell phones) that she didn't have a concussion, and had only a couple of little spots on her face that required just a few stitches.  She had her banged up knees cleaned and wrappped  but after looking at her knees then the doctors didn't need to send her to the Provo hospital for further work that were originally suspected.  She was on her way home for resting and recuperation.

Heavenlyy Father loves His daughters and protects them at Girls' Camp.

(Tender Mercy #2)
As the three of us rolled back into to town I heard and felt a strange sound behind the driver's side wheel on my Durango.  It was a metallic clicking or snapping sound when I turned the wheels right or left more than about 40 degrees either way.  Once I  got the other ladies home, and The Girl to work, I dropped the car at the our local mechanic.  After a quick call to Mom and Dad at the shop back home, the suspected diagnosis is a wheel bearing gone out, a misaligned brake linkage, or a potential axel problem.  Lewis the Mechanic will give me a call when they figure out what it really is.

We were out in the middle of nearly nowhere.  If the damage was immediate, we could have been stuck out with out any help, cell coverage, or a way home.  Instead, God protects the stupid--(me!)--and allows us to get home safely and THEN have this be an issue.

I'll keep you updated as I know more--on either Tender Mercy story.

How Many Teens Does It Take To Sweep The Patio?

Each morning of swim team, I try to go for an hour or so of Water Aerobics.    I've been doing this now since The Girl started swimming, so about 5 years or so.  I love it!  It is so nice to exercise without any pressure on my joints, and let's face it--the buoyancy of the water makes you feel as thin as you hope the exercise will make you.

Instead of extolling the benefits of such a workout, however, I would like to comment today on the inefficiency of the maintenance crew that works at the city pool while we are in the water.

I don't know how many people (read: teenagers) are hired to work maintenance at the pool each summer, but it is about 10 times too many.  I think the biggest problem with this crew is that they are left on their own too long without any supervisor, OR they have never been taught HOW to work.

I think that they are hired to do the following:  vacuum the carpeted areas and sweep the deck around the pool.  There are also some who pick up trash with little pinching tools that have long handles.  They are supposed to clean the dried on gum from the cement, and pull the trash out of the sand volleyball pit as well.  I occasionally see them sweeping the sidewalks out front of the pool entrance and building, so that must be some of their responsibility too.

Lifeguards they are NOT.  In fact, I know the Snack Shack girls have more hustle than they do too.  (Not that I am biased there, however.)

Today, we watched the City's Parks crew come in and mow the grass and then one adult with a leaf blower "swept" the entire eastern side of the deck in one pass.  While 9 kids with push brooms watched him.  Then they went back to carrying their brooms around, attempting half heartedly to look busy. I wanted to yell at them, "Uh, didn't your mother teach you that brooms work better when the brush part is against the ground?"

Holy cow.

One of the Water Aerobics patrons is neighbors to the head of the Parks & Recreation Director.  She told us that she emailed him to tell him that if the kids at the pool don't have enough work to really keep them busy, the fitness room inside the Recreation Center need some attention.  They could actually WORK.  Plus, if the city is in such dire financial straights maybe the 15 or so maintenance kids could be cut to the three boys that actually DO something (Yeah, I 'm talking about you, Spencer M, and the Cannon brothers!)

I know it is a thankless job.  It is a job that must be repeated every day--sweeping and vacuuming are do-overs every day the pool is in use.  But what kind of work ethic are these kids learning?  They can get a job--especially when I heard this week that the 16-19 year old unemployment irate in Utah is 26+ % (the highest in 40 years!)--when there aren't enough to go around, and then get paid to do apparently nothing. 

No wonder so many kids applied to work at the pool.  Word must get around.  And I'd guess it gets out from the kids not actually working but getting paid to spread the word.

Weekend Update, Part 2

Last week was our Stake Youth Conference.  Three days of activities for youth ages 14-18 that ultimately were meant to draw the kids' hearts to Christ, strengthen their testimonies and develop a sense of unity between them.

Thursday night we held a BBQ and pool party.  You know what they say, "If you feed them, they will come."  It is true.

Lee and Steve feed the multitudes with burgers and dogs...and a unique item dubbed a "Ham-Dog".  I happened to eat toward the end of the cooking and ended up with a triple Ham-Dog.  Whoa.

Teenagers...hungry teenagers.  You've gotta love them!

Fruit, potato salad and veg on the side.  Yumm-OH!

We had an hour at the city pool to ourselves--or so we thought.  There was a little group of three or four kids that I didn't recognize.  I ask President Pam and other adult leaders if they knew these kids.  No one did.  Finally Pam asked them which ward they were from and they told us that they were there "for Austin's birthday".    But none of them had seen this mysterious Austin.  We had heard a rumor that a text was floating to the city's HS population that a pool party was open to the masses--when really, it wasn't!  But they didn't seem too concerned that they cheated their way into a private party--which caused us to pay for each of them to play at the pool.  Crazy, right?

Then we met again on Friday morning for more activities.  Of course, we lived the "If you feed them, they will come" line, once again.

Our fearless cooking crew!  They are awesome!

Some of our lovely young women, just waiting for breakfast.

The crowd beginning to fill in.  8 AM on a Friday in June is still early for some people, I guess.

We had 8 stations of activities.  Two stations had a double rotation through them, as the game required two teams.  All in all the kids rotated 10 times through these stations where they played and worked together and at every point heard a message of love and peace from the scriptures.

Sister C hosted a station where a game was played from the text of  "The Living Christ".

Contestants sat, waiting to help their team, and take their turns.

Steal the Flag took two rotations--but once we moved it to the shade, it was a lot of fun!

Melanie and McKenzie show us their GPS findings at another station.

Bocce Ball in the Park!  Go Madison!  What a throw!

The Rock Wall gave many of our youth a real challenge.  Not to mention the leaders.

A stop indoors was only a cooling off period for a second.  Dodge Ball gets heated even in the best of circumstances!

Ah, Lunch!  We had Big Sandwiches from WalMart along with some fruit, chips and juice.

Ladies first!  What gentlemen youth leaders we have!

We finished up the day with a few more rotations, so each group got to visit each station.  Then we broke up for a bit and met back at  the church, cleaned up in our Sunday clothes for a dinner and dance.

No photographic evidence remains from the evening's activities.  But it was great!  Trust me!

Then Day Three, Saturday, we held a morning side (with doughnuts) at the pavilion near the temple and from there each group left for a service project that lasted all morning.  My personal service project was working the bull pen for  swim meet I had committed to previously, so I have no photos from the Youth Conference projects.  But I know several groups did clean up at local parks, the rodeo grounds, yard work for elderly neighbors and even laid some sod for a family that couldn't get enough help themselves.  Because all these services were offered locally, the blessings were given (and received) by our neighbors and friends.  Each group sounded like they had a wonderful experience and felt the Savior's love as they served in His name.

Then Saturday night, we held a closing devotional with messages from our Young Men's leader, and Stake President.  Plus a special musical number by all the adult leaders of youth--an arrangement by Sister Amy of the Primary hymn, "I Know that My Savior Loves Me", as inspired by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.  It was beautiful and powerful and a joy to be a part of for our youth to hear.

For all the good feelings and general Spiritual uplift, I was wasted that night and into the next day.  Crazy how running around with 150-200 teenagers will make you so exhausted.  So that is why I wrote little last week--but at least, no you know.

Weekend Update, Part 1

Years ago I was an avid Saturday Night Live watcher.  One of my favorite segments was the weekend update.  You can learn an awful lot of current events no matter whether Chevy Chase is hosting or Tina Fey and Jimmy Fallon.

Seeing as it is almost a week since I wrote anything here I thought I'd try W.U. style--minus the funny anchor asides.

The Boy, seen here shaking the hand of the principal, completed 8th grade on the Honor Roll and with good citizenship.  Because of those two achievements along with having no tardies or unexcused absences he celebrated with his class mates at the On Board Party for the junior high.

The final day of classes is all about freedom.  But The Boy expressed his "freedom" by dressing like he was going out to collect garbage on the freeway later in the day.  His choice--I quit dressing him long ago.

As a wonderful memento for achieving the rank of Eagle Scout, Grandma Jo had a flag that was flown over the capitol building in Washington D.C. to The Boy as a gift.  It came from the office of Senator Orrin Hatch along with documentation to show when it was flown and where.  Very cool!

The Girl has a blankie.  She has had it since she was a baby.  IT is completely shredded, but she will not accept a replacement blankie.  One evening she came in for family scriptures and prayer with this skanky blankie wrapped around her head like a turban.  Why?  I have no idea.

Genius Golfer, among all the other things he has to do, decided to re-design the sprinkler system in the back yard and get it ready for sod.  Hallelujah!  But a trencher was just one of many tools he enjoys renting from our local Ace Rents.  I think GG has them on speed-dial.

Father's Day weekend GG and two of sisters and all the cousins got together to BBQ with Grandpa Herb.  Herb is in his early 70s and each time we see him he looks a little more shaky and frail, but his is delighted to see us and always is very positive no matter what gift he ends up with.  This year, GG and The Boy selected the "Ghostbusters 1 & 2 Party Pack" DVDs for him.  Poor Grandpa Herb.

Genius Golfer got a little better treatment.  For Father's Day he got a DVD of the A-Team--his requested title--and a bucket of chocolate covered raisins.

The week after Strawberry Days several of my photos made the paper.  It always makes me just a little giddy to see my name under the photo.

Youth Conference for our stake Young Men and Young Women filled the rest of the week last week,  and I have much to tell about that, but it will have to wait.  The Boy is gone to Timberline, a scout leadership camp, as a staffer again this week.  Tomorrow Sister is taking The Girl horseback riding.  Sister gave The Girl a gift certificate for that for Christmas and this is the redemption of the certificate.  So I'll have tomorrow afternoon to write--and avoid housecleaning stuff that I have put off now almost a whole month.

Video Sunday

What my family does for fun...that is my dad driving the '68 Cuda at 175+ M.P.H.  Never a dull moment!