Older Than Dirt!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

2009-12-17T10:41:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Every Christmas seems to get a little more exciting to me. The kid in me (yes Virginia, there is one in there) comes out and I have a good time. Everyone seems so nice during the Holidays. I wonder sometimes why people can’t be nice all year.
Claire has the house all decorated...she loves to do that. She still tells me that she will decorate if I will get the decorations down and then I remind her that they are down and in the garage. She goes out and locates something else to put in the house and is happy.
I have learned to appreciate the more humorous things that go on in our house.
Claire: “Do we have any new light bulbs?”
Me: “Yes.... Top left on the west wall of the pantry”
Claire” “I can’t find any”
Me: “ I will get it for you.......... Here it is”.
Claire: You didn’t tell me to look on THAT shelf”
Rocky is Claire's best buddy and she really loves that dog! I am thankful that she has him; takes a lot of pressure off me. As he grows up he is getting to be good dog, minds well, and knows where the doggie door is. Claire never moves without Rocky following her. They watch a lot of TV together.

We spent Monday decorating the outside of the house. No more lights on the roof! We turned out flag pole into a Christmas tree made from light strings. Boy does it stick way up there in the neighborhood but it is beautiful at night.

Life is good! MERRY CHRISTMAS

2009-11-11T14:41:00.000-08:00

"Clara"
As I entered the Monticello High Gym I immediately saw the tall slim girl with the auburn hair, freckles on her nose and the flashing green eyes. She was looking right at me from across the dance hall. She looked fantastic.
Later I asked her to dance. She was a good dancer, but I could tell that she was very nervous as we started to dance. As we danced we talked; it didn’t take long for the nervousness to disappear and be replaced by a vivaciousness that was really exciting to me. Yep! This was an exceptional girl.
My friend, DeLoy Shumway, and I were at this dance in Monticello primarily because DeLoy had a crush on a Monticello girl. Her name was Doris. She and Deloy danced together most of the night.
After the dance was over we took Doris to her home. DeLoy invited her to stay with us and go for a ride. He owned a beautiful Cadillac. She agreed, but told us she would have to get her parents permission. When she came back from the house she told us her parents would let her go for half an hour only if her little sister accompanied us. They would not let her go alone with two boys. They asked me if that would be OK. I wasn’t going to go against DeLoy’s wishes….he owned my ride home!
When she and her little sister came out from the house Doris got in the back seat again with DeLoy, and the tall slim girl with auburn hair, freckles on her nose and flashing green eyes, got in the front seat with me. “This is my sister Clare”, Doris said.
I have never been more surprised!
I kissed her that night and she was a seriously good kisser. I really liked this girl.
It was mid-summer when I bought my first car. It was a black 1939 Pontiac convertible, with red leather seats, a rumble seat, and a white top. Suddenly I had access to Monticello whenever I wanted to go.
I started going over to see “Clare” and we eventually started dating. Our dating usually involved doing something with Clare’s friend Ada May Jones, and my friend Donald Black, or with one of her other girlfriends and their boyfriend. Most of the time our “dating” involved doing something on Sunday afternoon. Remember, both Blanding and Monticello closed up the town at 6:00 PM.
We never made any kind of commitment to “go steady” during the summer. She knew I was going back to college in August. I had to be there early to start football practice. I expected to be very busy at school. My freshman year I only came home once, that was for Christmas day. We promised to write each other.
The game of football did not treat me well that season. I got my nose badly broken before season actually started, took a week off, and then got it broken even worse the first practice back. Back then we didn’t have face masks. The first game I got in was later in the season with Weber State. The ball was thrown to me and it got there the same time a big linebacker did. I was in bed for a week basically unable to move. They said I had a badly bruised kidney and I was out for the season. (Years later a cat scan showed three ribs, right
over the kidney, had been fractured and splinted inward and I had been very lucky.)
My athletic career, including basketball, at Carbon College that year was over but now I had time to go home on weekends and see “Clara”.
I learned that her name was Clara the first time she wrote a letter to me. I also had another big surprise when Tom Steele, who lived with me in the dorm, informed me that she was just a sophomore in high school. It was a good thing I had already kissed her a few times and was already hooked!
We started seriously dating during the summer of 1950. I was infatuated with this girl. The fact that she was only 16, and going to be a junior in high school, never entered my mind as a problem. As the summer progressed we got more and more serious. Finally, I asked her to marry me.
When I asked her to marry me I believe that I was thinking more in the long time future than she was. I wanted to lock this girl up while I was away at college. She wanted to get married. You know what happens when the girl decides to get married….you get married!
We were married October 2, 1950 in the Manti Temple.

In retrospect I wonder what ever possessed Clara’s parents that they would not only give her permission to
get married so young, but actually encouraged her to do so.
We had been married for about two weeks when the shock of our lives came in the mail. I had been drafted into the Army and was to report on November 20, 1950 at Fort Douglas in Salt Lake City.
I left Clara in our apartment in Blanding with our car, which was now a 1941 Chevy Club Coupe, and no money. She moved back to Monticello with her parents and sold the car. I was sent to 6 weeks of basic training in Fort Riley, Kansas,
The day before Christmas we had been in the field all day training and it was dark when we got back. I had just entered the barracks when a messenger came in and said I was wanted in the office. When I entered the office there was Clara.
Clara had bribed Doris to accompany her to Kansas to see me. They had gone to Thompson and boarded a train to Kansas and already found a room in a private home in Junction City. We were able to spend our first Christmas together.
Junction City was closed Christmas day. We finally found hot dogs at the movie theatre. Clara and Doris headed back home late Christmas day.
At the end of my 6 weeks basic training I was transferred to Fort Bliss, Texas to an electronics school. Clara’s parents brought her to El Paso, Texas, and we became residents for the next two years.

That draft notice, which seemed to be such a hardship in the beginning, was really a blessing in disguise. We were in a strange place, a long way from home, and had only each other to depend on. We had to grow up fast, but it enabled us to start to build a strong stable marriage, with good values and trust, that has lasted us for almost 60 years now.
We suffered through bad times, but had a lot of fun during the good times. Finances were our biggest problem. My army pay of $83.00 a month didn’t go far. I always lived off base and we got some money for that. We became adept at using our money wisely but there were times I would sneak into the chow lines to have dinner because we didn’t have enough food for both of us at home.
I only saw Clara one time feeling bad about the life she was missing by being married so young. The night of her high school Junior Prom I found her sobbing.
We had two couples who were our best friends. Their names were Bob and Elda, and Dan and LaVeen. The guys were my classmates at school and they both were assigned to the school maintenance pool at Ft Bliss after we completed the 52 week electronics school. We had a lot of fun together.
I was assigned to Ft Bliss as an instructor in the school. We lived off base and my job simply meant I went to work every morning at eight, and went home every night at five. I had no other relationship with the Army.
While I pursued my “chosen” career in the army Clara got a job as a secretary for the man who managed the largest office building in El Paso. Our finances improved over time and we lived a good life. Still poor…but happier.
Every time we went home on leave we would move out of our apartment so we would have the money to come home. We could move in a Taxi Cab. We would find a new apartment when we got back. Clara’s dad gave us a car the second time we got back home. It was a 1940 Buick that wasn’t running. I fixed it and it lasted us until we left El Paso. Later Clara went to work for a radio station (there was no TV in El Paso yet). She did the daily logs for the announcers. She enjoyed that job and worked there until her pregnancy with Michael caused her to leave it.
Michael Don was born in the William Beaumont Army Hospital, El Paso Texas, on August 7, 1952. Clara had a very long and difficult birth with Mike. She was in labor for 32 hours, in an Army hospital that wouldn’t let me see her. My mother came and stayed with Clara to help after the birth.
Our two year draft was up in November 1952 and we two dumb kids, now with a 3 month old baby of our own, traded in the old Buick for a 1949 Ford and happily headed home.
Our car was totally loaded down. We had enough room to make Mike a bed right behind the front seat. He slept all day very peacefully as we traveled. At Gallup it was just getting dark and it started to snow. We kept moving…….it never snows very hard down there! Soon we were in about 6 inches of new snow. I could drive only by watching the shoulders on the road. No one else was on the highway. We had to keep going. We finally got into Shiprock and got the first Motel we came to. What a relief after such a nerve wracking day.
Mike woke up…..he was obviously well rested and ready to stay awake but we didn’t have enough sense to realize that was his problem. Clara was sure he was going to die. I was pretty sure Clara was going to have a nervous breakdown. She treated him for every disease she could think of but he just kept crying and wouldn’t go to sleep.
Clara got on the phone to her mother just sobbing with worry. Her mother quickly diagnosed the problem but even after we knew that Mike just wasn’t sleepy, we were. We took turns walking the floor with him the rest of the night as the other slept.
Amy got Joe and they came to Shiprock early the next morning. Clara took Mike into Joe’s car with her mother and we all headed for Monticello. Mike slept all the way!
Our life in the United States Army was over!

Claire Today November 2009.

Mom is doing about as we would expect her to be doing, she is slowly inching downward. People who don’t know her well, or don’t know about her health problems are surprised to learn she has Alzheimer’s. She still visits well with people, especially one-on-one. In a group however, she seldom speaks.
She has pretty well shut down her cooking other than an occasional main course or a salad. We buy a lot of frozen entrees and deli meals. She always wants to go out and get a Cheese Burger. She will eat those twice a day. It works for her....I’m getting fat and she is staying thin.
We spend a lot of time together just talking. Our back patio is a beautiful private place and we spend most of our day sometimes out there. She wants me to be with her and she gets nervous when I am not. Rocky is her dog and she loves him like she would a small child, although I don’t remember our small children being treated that liberally. He takes a lot of pressure off me. He is her buddy.
Her short term memory is failing fast. She doesn’t remember anything for long. Information just never gets into her memory for her to keep. The hardest thing for me is to stay cool and informative, and nice, when she asks me the same question about every half hour. For example; The shooting of the 13 soldiers at Fort Hood has been the news headlines ever since it happened. In our house every time it comes on in the news she gets all excited and wants to know what happened. I treat the subject as if it is new news because to her it is.....every time.
Having Jean and Chuck here has been a real blessing. They live across town about 20 minutes away. We don’t see them often, probably once a week or so. Mom is determined not to become dependent on Jean to provide her with her only friend. Mom knows that Jean is close and that brings a great amount of comfort to her.
When Sharley was here last summer she went through Mom’s pantry and got it all organized. The shelves are all labeled with a place for everything. I sort of grinned when I heard of the project....Mom has never been the most organized person,.... but Sharley, I want you to know that the system really works. One of the reasons it works is because I continually put things in their proper places, and the other reason it works is because your grandmother can actually find what she is looking for and doesn’t buy another one. ( I think you must have noticed all the multiple jars of Mayo, ketchup, mustard and stuff like that we had in the pantry.)

Speaking of buying, I go with her to do all of our grocery shopping. She doesn’t want to go without me although she still wants to be in charge of the expedition. That’s OK with me. I hold veto power and so am always pulling stuff out of the cart and telling her we already have some at home. This is a good system...we are both happy.
Last week my auto insurance company told me I had to register my cars in Utah and get a Utah drivers license or else. Mom and I went to get new Utah drivers licenses. We had to take a written test. Mom panicked.....she knew she couldn’t do it. We got her Arizona license back and will renew it in Ariz in January for another 5 years.
Yes she is still driving and does well at it. She needs the ability to get around to her activities and friends in the Church and the neighborhood. I encourage her to get out whenever possible. Her friends know her problem and will always pick her up to go very far. However, her circle is shrinking. She still goes visiting teaching, she is on the enrichment committee, and the ward activities committee. I make sure they don’t forget her.
Please remember that any messages you leave with Mom may never be seen or heard from again. I need to be told what you need her, or us to remember or do. She never reads e-mail so that is a good way to communicate with me, just don’t leave her out of the loop though. She knows when that happens.

I will write again in a few months

We love company.....

2009-07-24T07:48:00.000-07:00

What do bachelors do on a hot Sunday in Phoenix? They come up to the cabin to hang out for the day. Cameron and Taylor enjoyed the cool weather and we enjoyed having them here. Grandma and I think we are the luckiest people around to have grandchildren that actually act as though they like to be with us.

These two Biggest Losers are real winners! Blaine and Dane came by the cabin to pick up some firewood for their fishing trip campout with their sons. Notice the "flex" Ethan and Cotter are showing. These boys are really proud of their Dads.

"Clare"

2009-07-16T13:27:00.000-07:00

“Clare”

The school year of 1948-49 had ended. I had just finished my first year of school at Carbon College (College Of Eastern Utah) in Price, Utah, and had returned home for the summer. I found a good summer job working as a carpenters helper on the crew that was constructing the Uranium Mill in Monticello. Life was good! I liked the job, the pay was great, and I was looking forward to returning to College for my sophomore year and playing basketball again.

Somehow I ended up at a dance being held in the Monticello High School Gym. That wasn’t unusual. Dances were our big entertainment activity. We rotated between the dances the High Schools in both Blanding and Monticello held, the ones the church held, and the wedding receptions that were always dances. Someone was holding a big dance almost every weekend. We danced at the two high school gyms, in the basement of the old brick church, on the outdoor cement slab at the Relief Society Building, and on the slab at the Dude Ranch.

Everyone came out. There was little dating and we found a new partner for every song the band played. There was always a live band and we loved to dance to the songs of the big bands of the 1940’s. Dances were our social life.

I was dancing with some beautiful girl,( I don’t remember who, but I never danced with homely ones) when I saw Shirley across the floor. Shirley Nielson was my younger step-brother. We always got along very well but Shirley had one glaring problem that I exploited to its fullest whenever possible. He was was the most bashful guy in town! I could turn him beet red if I got him right, and he knew it

Shirley was dancing with a tall, slim, auburn haired girl, who had freckles on her nose, flashing green eyes, and a contagious smile. I thought she was vey attractive.

I had never seen the girl before, neither had I ever seen Shirley dancing before. I couldn’t resist the opportunity before me. I steered my partner over toward Shirley. “Hey Shirley”, I called from a little distance away, “who’s your girlfriend?”. “Clare” he said, ducking his head. I had him….he was turning deep red!

“Hi”, I said to her, then turned my partner and danced away.

Claire, 2009

July 22, 2009
It seems that the best way to keep all of you aware of what is going on with Mom is to establish a Blog report where we can all keep track of her progress. Along with a regular status of her health I am going to send pieces of her and my history together. Most of all I want you all to understand what is happening to Mom and how you can best deal with it.
It was about 6 or 7 years ago that Karen first said to me, “Dad’ you need to get Mom into her Doctor and check her memory”. Independently at about the same time Jeanne said the same thing to me.
As we were getting out of the car ready to go to an appointment with Dr. Bair in Mesa, I approached the subject with Mom. She didn’t react well, as you all would suspect, but did talk to her doctor. He had his office receptionist give her about a 10 question test where the girl read a statement and asked Mom to repeat it. Stupid test! Of course she passed it.
You know Mom…”there is nothing wrong with my memory”!
By the time we moved to St. George, all of you kids were echoing the same thing, “Dad, do something about Mom’s memory”.
I finally got her to talk to Dr Jones, her doctor here in St George. It was a hard sell. He suggested that possibly Mom was getting old.
About 2 years ago we went in again to talk to Dr Jones about Moms memory. Dr Jones is a DO and had a student with him that day. Lucky us! I wasn’t going to let him just pass Mom off, and the student started asking some questions. Suddenly we had a prescription for Aricept.
Mike and Gail got Dr Amber involved. They spent an afternoon at the Cabin last summer and you could see Dr Amber’s observation of Mom. He talked to her about her memory and suggested that she may be having mini-strokes that would affect her memory. Mom took to that idea. It gave her a reason her memory was bad other than some other personal fault. Dr Amber scheduled her for a brain scan.
My heart sank when he did that. I knew what he really suspected and wasn’t surprised when he told me what they had found. He added Namenda to her regimen. She is still on those two drugs.
Aricept is the standard drug for Alzheimer’s. It does slow down the disease growth. Namenda is kind of like a happy pill for patients. It mellows them so they don’t get violent.
Where are we today?
Mom’s memory is steadily deteriorating as we expect it will. Most noticeable is her inability to remember what was just told her a few minutes ago. She will repeatedly ask me what day of the week it is for example.
As you would expect, she repeats herself often but we all do that! She remembers the past very well and can carry on a conversation most of the time with people who would never suspect her of having Alzheimer’s. She still drives herself to the grocery store and even across town to shop. We are trying to slow that down, I go to the grocery store with her, and try to anticipate when she needs to shop but she doesn’t like me to take her shopping. She wants to take her time and having a husband around doesn’t make her comfortable about taking her time ( Yeah.. I know..you all agree with her)
She has her debit card and takes care of her money. Thank goodness for electronic banking, I check her account almost every day.
I do most of the meal planning and cooking. (I love Marie Calendars frozen dinners.) I try to get her out of the house at least once every day. Sometimes it’s just up to McDonalds for a soft ice cream, but her favorite, is to ride over to Cotterwood and check out the progress of the house. Here in Payson we go shopping for groceries most every day. That’s deliberate on my part as it does get us out.
She takes a lot of pride in her house as always but she doesn’t deep clean as she used to. She wants no help except that I vacuum. She gets security from her home and keeping house.
Mom can’t handle abstract reasoning or multiple tasks anymore. She also has a lot of trouble with directions. For example: If you ask her to get you a screwdriver from the bottom drawer of the toolbox in the garage, she will come back empty handed and confused. If I ask her just to get me a screwdriver, she will stop and want more information. This behavior translates to everything going on around her. It’s sort of like living with an 8 year old who has a driver’s license and a credit card. You better be paying attention.
She is still concerned about me and how well she is taking care of me. She still works hard at it. However she is becoming increasingly dependent on me as she loses confidence in her ability to remember things. She uses me as her memory bank.
I have control of her drugs so we don’t worry about the biggest problem older people have; overdose or underdose. Hope my memory holds out!
When you visit with her be careful about:
Asking multiple answer questions
Asking for her opinion
And Please…. Don’t ever let me hear the phrase, “poor Dad”, I am happy to be there to take care of my best friend.
I’ll write again in a few months

We are Spending the Summer at the Cabin

2009-07-14T07:47:00.000-07:00

We have been at the Cabin for just a litle less than a month but it doesn't seem near that long. Doris and Joe have been here and we have been able to spend time with them. Mom loves to be with Doris. We have only been to Phoenix one time....down and back the same day, to be at the blessing of Claire Jeanne Cotter. Pam and Duane have visited us as have Ken and Sue and Blaine and his family. We had afternoon rains when we first got here but now it is HOT! 115 in Phoenix today, 110 in St George, but only....only did I say?, 94 in Payson. We know the monsoons will start any time now...hurry up! I haven't been painting much this summer. I have been doing maintenance on the cabin. I am trying to kill every pack rat in the forest. I think they all sit around and say to themselves, "hey..what is he going to bring us to eat today?"

Grandma Claire gets to hold her Great Grandaughter Claire Cotter.

Ken and Sue came up to spend the 4th of July weekend. We spent Saturday in Pine...They have an awesome craft show there very year, Sue did the cooking on the grill, and the fireworks that night were absolutely the best I have ever seen........ and that includes the 4th of July fireworks at the Worlds fair in New Orleans. It was a fantastic weekend.

These may be the only photos of Ken or Sue in existence...gotta be sneakey to get a pic of either of them.

Kaela and her friend are typical 15 year olds....where in Payson do the boys hang???

Fathers Day

Grandma Claire loves to have her great grandchildren visit and on Fathers Day Blaine and his family came to dinner at the cabin. How can it not be enjoyable to have kids like this around?
Grandma and I had one of our best days since we have been here.

Whitney is always a delight

Jaylee and Ethan always brighten up our day

Brecken came to visit us
Such a happy guy but not a lot of fun to carry around. Of course he brought his Mom with him.

Our Neighbors

2009-07-14T07:31:00.000-07:00

Dave and Jolyn Davies (across the street) invited the neighborhood up to their ranch in New Harmony (Cedar City area) for a weiner roast. Well, it turned out to be a real old-fashioned weiner roast........a weiner on a stick over an open fir...YUM! Actually, we had a ball. It doesn't take much to entertain old people; as long as there is free food present we are happy.

Grandma Claire Wins Again!

2009-04-21T11:48:00.000-07:00

We had a Stake Art Fair where people from our Stake (Plus others)

brought their art wok for display. There are some amazing artists that live here and the show was as good as any gallery show I have ever seen.

Grandma was one of three artists that the local newspaper choose to highlight. Her Photo plus a very complimentary article in the newspaper made her feel that all the work was worth it. She was reluctant to enter but really blossomed in the limelight. The other two artists were; a man who maes custom violins for performing professionals, and a wood carver who is recognized as the best in the nation at it.

Yes......I did enter 4 pieces of my art. The Utah Indian got the most attention.....at least from the Utah fans. Unforntunatly I was too close to Claire Marie's dolls and everyone overlooked my stuff!

We are getting Cabin Fever!

2009-02-07T09:56:00.000-08:00

OK....it's been winter long enough! We sit here laughing at all the discomfort people in northern Utah have with all the cold and snow, yet envious of everyone of the warmth in Phoenix. This place is right between....it's always too hot or too cold. I really don't care for the climate here.

With such a slow, and long, winter we really don't have much excitement in our lives. Nothing important....nothing planned......just nothing. So.... we decided that if we were going to keep up with all you other family bloggers we need something to blog about. Grandma didn't think much of the possibilities of us getting any more children, but hey, we have a DOG!

Rocky Dog Northern just had his first haircut. I'm sorry but we forgot to take photos. We will do better in the future. However it is important to document how Rocky Dog spends his evenings. He pretty well has Grandma Claire under control don't you think?

My Cow Paintings

2009-01-26T20:48:00.001-08:00

Karen has first choice for this cow painting. She wants it to match the Black and white cow I painted for her. An old friend named Louise Beardon (Uof U 1954) took the one of the Herefords on the ranch so I only have this one cow painting left on the wall. Now if she doesn't act quickly it will be up for grabs......first come first served. It is 16x20, framed in the best of the old historic (meaning: about to fall down) wood fence from Karens back yard. It is a treasure waiting to be discovered.....a diamond in the rough..... a work of incomparable elegance.... and a damn good painting too.

2009-01-13T09:32:00.000-08:00

Every once in a while I do a painting that really excites me. This one has a story.

This is a painting from a photograph taken by a friend of Kens. It was taken in Canyon De Chelly. The Hogan is a "Shinte" Hogan. Someone died inside the Hogan, the inhabitants destroyed part of it and moved out. They left it to the spirit of the departed.

If you look carefully you will see the ghost (spirit) of the departed woman standing by the door.

The mud that once covered the Hogan has washed away leaving just the log shell standing in the open field.

Size 24x30

Congrats Utes

2009-01-13T09:17:00.000-08:00

A Utah Man Sir.......A Utah man am I.......

Down here in the land of the blue bellies we proudly hold our own.

Cotterwood

2009-01-10T10:46:00.000-08:00

Chuck and Jean were here earlier this week checking out the house. I love the back deck view.

It's Winter here too!!!

2008-12-18T12:05:00.000-08:00

Rocky Dog Northern thought the snow here today was tons of fun. I am just trying to remember that you never have to shovel sunshine.

"Whats-it's-name" is coming along.

2008-11-21T18:34:00.000-08:00

Looks like the boys are going to have a cool place to call their own. I really like that snail shower. Lynds says we need to give this house a name..... I agree Mysuggestions are: "Cotter Hall" (too pedestrian) or "Greycliffe". Let's have your suggestions..... My neighbor thought it should be named, "Hard Rock Hotel".

It' starting to Look like a House!

2008-11-16T15:55:00.000-08:00

The next four photos are a panoramic of the house, from right to left.

So........This is the view from the basement rec room

Is this really just a home????

2008-10-30T19:05:00.000-07:00

First we thought it was an olympic 50 meter diving pool or a basketball court.

Then we decided that it was simply the biggest house we had ever seen. There isn't going to be much lot to maintain.

Mom's comment was, "Oh my hell....who's gonna clean that house?"

Say Hello To Rocky

2008-10-21T17:17:00.000-07:00

A new guy has come to live with Grandma. He is a 3 month old busybody, chews on everything and pees where ever he feels the need. He is a lot of Fun!

The Cotters are Coming!!!!

2008-09-21T12:38:00.000-07:00

We went to make certain that the Cotters really were going to move to St George and sure enough....work has started on their home.

The Fleming Deck

2008-08-25T12:41:00.000-07:00

Pretty impressive, especially the artwork. However, my deck artwork..........

Little Pig

2008-08-25T12:28:00.001-07:00

Little Pig
The other night it was raining. During the night we could feel large animals bumping the house. We turned on the outside lights and a herd of pigs left on the run.
The next morning we looked out and there was this baby pig under a bird feeder trying to eat birdseed off the ground. He looked terrible. He was trembling and wobley. He let me walk close to him and take photos before he disappeared under the deck.
This little guy has been abandoned and is living under our deck!
He is just a small suckling pig and we know he is not going to make it but we left a block of birdseed out for him before we went to bed. Hopefully the herd will come back tonight and he will go away with them. We are worried that he will krump under the deck.....
The next morning the block of seed is gone. Good! Our plan worked.
About noon we looked out and he is back under the feeder trying to find birdseed. After about a half hour of that he laid down right in the middle of the yard and took a nap.
We haven’t seen him since. Hope he makes it.

Our Javelina Herd

2008-08-25T12:24:00.000-07:00

Pigs, Pigs, Pigs
Everyone is aware that we have our own personal herd of wild pigs (javelina) on our property here in Payson, and have all heard us talk about the problems they cause such as rooting up the irrigation system. This year they have been around more often than normal. It’s the birdseed!
They eat birdseed off the ground that the birds kick out of the feeders. Can you imagine 15 pigs eating little birdseeds out of the gravel.......one seed at a time.
The Elk Like Birdseed also
The other morning we saw that all the bird feeders has been knocked over and overturned....even the ones hung high in the tree. There was not a single birdseed in sight but there were Elk tracks everywhere. Who knew......

Eric Johnson

2008-08-25T12:18:00.000-07:00

We traveled to Blanding for Eric's funeral, What a sad event. We went up Tuesday and back Wednesday after the funeral. Got to wave at Autumn and Byron. Saw Dana and Keith, Boyd and his wife and Sylvia.
Bud and Velda have moved into the nursing home. They tell me Bud will stay there with Velda. Velda looks bad. She has always been my hero.....she raised me!

Mike, Gail and the Doc

2008-08-25T12:16:00.000-07:00

Dinner for Five
Michael called and told us he, Gail, and the Doc were on their way up from Phoenix to spend the day and were cooking dinner for us. I’m all for that! Mike smoked a brisket and made some cabbage rolls on the grill. Great dinner and a very good visit. I really enjoy visiting with the Doc.
Doctor Amber
Most everyone has a family doctor.....we have a Family Doctor! He has taken over the health care of both Claire and I. He is an amazing man and the best Doctor I have ever been in the care of. He leaves no stone unturned. Claire especially is thriving under his care. Other than he thinks I am fat and out of shape (duh) we get along great.

Welcome Back Cotters

2008-08-25T11:57:00.001-07:00

Chuck, Jean, Jake and Zack came to spend the first weekend in August with us. It is so cool to have the Cotters here. Most of the time we just ate......... My goodness....I have never seen so much good food. The great menu just got better on Saturday. Cameron and his family, Blaine and his family and Joann, and Taylor all came up and spent Saturday.
Yeah Sharley......we really did miss you and Ben.
It’s been a long time since all the Cotter kids were here together.

Got To Have a Summer Golf Fix

2008-08-25T11:57:00.000-07:00

Michael came up and spent the weekend with us. He brought up a spare set of clubs for me to use. We got in 27 holes. I have never met a guy who has a set of Pings for his spare clubs before. He left them for me to use this summer. He also gave me a three wheel golf cart to take to St George. What a guy!!!
Grandma and I also played.....actually I played...Grandma drove. I love to play golf with Grandma as the driver.
Michael and Colby came up and we got in 18. I don’t get to see Colby nearly enough.
Josh is coming up from Tucson and spending Labor day weekend. He has to give me a stroke each hole on match play.....I’m going to clean his plough......again!

2008-08-25T11:48:00.000-07:00

4TH of July in Payson
The Monsoons started early in Arizona this year and by the time the 4th came we had enjoyed many days of rain. Every afternoon it would rain for a short time so the weather was cool and comfortable.
Ken, Sue, Kaela, and Cody came up to spend the weekend. Kaela and Cody each brought a friend. You may think that would crowd up the cabin but not so. The morning of the 4th Cameron, Lyndsay, Ella, and Charlie brought Taylor with them to spend the day. That was a crowd but a great crowd. We did the Park thing, and the traditional picnic and the fireworks. Ella actually asked me to pick her up......first time she has ever done that! Grandma and I had a great time.
Pine always has a big fair on the 4th weekend. It was especially good this year.
The Davies
Dave and Jolynn Davies who live across the street from us in St George spent overnight with us. It was a lot of fun to show them around and now they know more about why we come here.

Watching the Pine Trees Grow

2008-06-17T02:45:00.000-07:00

We are leaving this weekend for the cabin. We will be there until about the first of September. It's the very first summer we have ever spent entirely at the cabin. In the past all our trips were usually just long weekends or sometimes 2 weeks at a time. There will be a lot of sitting and watching the pine trees grow. That's our favorite activity.

Actually we have a busy time planned. Dr Amber is going to overhaul Grandma so we expect to spend a lot of time travelling back to Phoenix. I have promised Dave to teach him Photoshop....he wants to be a photographer. I am planning to take lessons at the History Center, and of course I have my paints with me. I never did get the moulding finished on the re-model we did last summer and there is sure a lot of bushes "growed up" around here.

There is always a rattle snake hunt and/or a Javelina conference going on. It's always fun to watch the Peregrine Falcons hunt and the Turkey Buzzards soar. Once in a while we get a sight of the Silver Fox that owns us, and the deer and elk that use us for pasture. Early Sunday mornings are a delight as small planes galore come to Payson for breakfast. In July and August it rains a little almost every afternoon.

It's always open house up here and we love company......come on up.

We will see you in this Blog again in September!

Meet Sharley Leavitt!

2008-06-02T09:08:00.000-07:00

Saturday evening I got my wish. I was able to hold my grandaughter in my arms and dance with her on her wedding day. Every since she was just a small girl curled up on my lap I have constantly posed a question to her. "Will you save me a dance at your wedding"?
As I danced with her, memories flooded past like me like never before. I know I was there, but how did this cute little girl grow up so fast. How did she change so quickley from a child into this talented, self-confident, beautiful woman?
It made me remember that grandsons are wonderful but grandaughters are special. Grandson's get married and we are always just happy that they are no longer roaming around free. Grandaughters get married and we grieve over losing them to another man.
Sharley, you have made a great choice. Ben is an outstanding young man. May you always have the glow of happiness you were showing as we danced.

All the News That is News!

2008-05-16T15:10:00.000-07:00

We have had a great month...... We had Autumn and her children come and visit. Danny and Karen came in right behind Autumn. Josh and Hollie came to St George for a wedding.....no...not theirs, and then Jean and Sharley came through as Sharley moved back home from school. We have decided that this is really a nice place to live.....we never got to see that many people in Phoenix.
However, it seems as though everyone in the family was just waiting for us to leave Arizona so they could move in.
It appears that Sharley and Ben will become Arizona's newest residents. That's great. I still have Arizona plates on all my vehicles, and an Arizona Drivers Licence. (Remember, I still own a home there)

Mom's implant Doctor fired her yesterday....says that because of my actions he doesn't want to do business with her anymore. I simply explained to him that her trial implant was on Feb 21 and he hadn't gotton around to even scheduling an operating room for her yet. I went on to explain to him that I thought that this might fall into the category of "Bad Doctoring". I can't imagine why he got upset..... unless the truth was unbearable. So... we have to find a new surgeon. Frankly we are both relieved.
Every once in a while I do a painting that I really love to look at. Just finished this one. 16x20.
Karen just e-mailed me and told me there was a cow in her bathroom????????? a What!!!!!!

The Hallidays visited

2008-04-18T11:21:00.001-07:00

Jace came south to get out of the snow, Camry came to eat bacon, and Easton came to play golf. It didn't snow on Jace...... Camry got all she wanted (and for a bonus took home one of Grandpa's paintings for her room), Easton got to play golf and have hamburgers with some reallllly old guys, but between the golf and getting to drive the cart he had a good time. Thanks Autumn......We love having you here.

Yes Autumn: I love to paint water

2008-04-04T08:33:00.000-07:00

New Paintings

2008-03-30T17:35:00.000-07:00

This painting is a painting of a white house and a boat just because I have never painted a white house and a boat before. 16 x 20.

The title of this Painting is, "Time to get to work". A 10 x 12 painting of a cowboy and his horse back when Deckers bench really was cattle country.

During the early 1900's My grandfather Zeke Johnson was known to guide many people to see the Natural Bridges. They were known usually as "Zekes Bridges". So...... Here is my version of Grandpa showing off one of "his" bridges. 20"x 36"

Bionic Grandmother

2008-02-21T06:09:00.000-08:00

You guys better watch out.... Your grandmother has a new bionicbutt. Yep! Hooked up to a wire coming out of her back to a small computer, with a remote garage door opener (well...it looks like one) to adjust the level of the stimulus to the sciatic nerve. Hope it works. It's just temporary to test the system. She gets the real one Monday if all goes well. All went well with the procedure.

Would I really have to kiss Hillary?

2008-02-06T07:32:00.000-08:00

I get out of bed each morning and usually head right out the front door ( yes, I'm still in my "jammies") to pick up the newspaper on the driveway. It's just a little hometown daily but the comics page is in color. What did I see right on the front page.......A photograph of a guy named Shaun O'Hara and another guy named Jeff Feagles. They are proudly holding up their keys to the CITY OF NEW YORK.
I never heard of O'Hara, I don't get to associate with very many Irish, but I have heard of Jeff Feagles. He used to put on a charity golf tournament in Phoenix every winter and I always purchased, ie, made a donation for, a couple of players passes. Mike and Charlie always used them to play in his tournament. Back then Feagles was a punter for some NFL team.
GOOD GRIEF ! That was way back before I sold Sundance in 1993. You mean Feagles is still puntining in the NFL? He is not only still punting in the NFL, he is the punter for the guys that just won the super bowl, the New York Giants.
The title bar under the photo said, " Shaun O'Hare, left and Jeff Feagles show off their keys to the city during a ceremony honoring the Giants on Tuesday." The whole team got keys! How many keys do you suppose that would be?
I haven't located a single city yet that is willing to give me a key, but here is New York happily handing out keys to a hundred or so guys and all they had to do to get one was play a football game way out in Arizona.
New York City apparently forgot that the Giants are from New Jersey, not New York. The newspaper said that as soon as the guys got their keys they, "took buses back to New Jersey" for a celebration with their fans. If The City of New York gave me a key to the city I would at least stay around long enough to try the key in the lock to make sure it worked. I am not sure that New York really wants anyone from New Jersey coming into their city any time they want to. Besides that, does anyone really trust a person from New York? Better try the key guys.
As you may remember, my new year resolution is to get a key from a city.....any city. I'll bet everyone from the ball boys to the janitors got keys, not just the players, coaches, trainers, front office personnel, publicists, team lawyers, team doctors, scouts, .... you get the idea.
New York appears to have made a great deal with the Keymaker Company. They undoubtedly got a volume discount. There is a good chance they have a few left over. Surely they wouldn't run the risk of ordering short and missing anyone. Now that I'm pretty sure who has an extra key to their city, I can start to make my plans on how to get one of them.
I don't have a plan for New York yet.......I need some help! If you have some good ideas please pass them on to me. I only have 328 days left this year to get a key from a city.
PS Don't include "kissing Hillary" in the plan.

OK! Enough snow already!

2008-02-04T10:21:00.000-08:00

I am so sick of this weather. It snowed last night and the golf courses aren't even opening until noon today.
However that's not the worst of it. Last night right at the beginning of thr second half of the Super Bowl, our satellite signal disapeared into the snow storm..............Yeah.....we missed the second half.

Thanks Duane!

2008-02-04T09:32:00.000-08:00

It's pretty nice when you have a brother who gives you a new car for a Christmas present. Claire finally got the Chrysler 300 she ordered. She is thrilled! Who wouldn't be? This is an amazing car, it's just a Mercedes with a Chrysler name plate. Grandma is stylin' now. Cool!

An Era has passed

2008-01-28T10:59:00.000-08:00

Good bye President Hinckley. What a great leader and example he has been to all of us. Only a few of our Prophets have come close to the legacy he has left. We will miss him!

Happy Birthday Claire Marie!

2008-01-06T11:27:00.000-08:00

Eleven year old cutie!
1950 Claire and her high school friends

1984

She has fun everyplace she goes

Carthage Jail

A beautiful rose

My New Year Resolutions for 2008

2008-01-06T10:14:00.000-08:00

I have done a great amount of thinking about what my New year resolutions for next year should be. Unfortunatley, the thought of, "no more procastination" came up but then I realized that I had already passed that one by. Hey Dummy, it's already January 6.

The list I could make would be long...... I thought about losing weight....yeah right!
I thought about being a nicer person.... but how can you add to perfection?
The idea of helping people in need crossed my mind ..... It's easier just to cross those people off my list of acquaintences.
More regular excercise is a good one..... I'm going to take a nap and think about that.

This is becominng a lot more difficult that I thought it would be. After all, a list of New Year Resolutions should be simple everyday things that we can actually accomplish sometime throughout the year. "Hey Joe, I just accomplished my New Year Resolution. Thank goodness, .... now I can go back to being the same old slob".

This morning I was saved! I read in the paper about some person who received the keys to the city of St George. (Who knew that it took more than one key to open the city) That's cool! Your own key to a city. I have resolved that my New Year Resolution is to be given the key to a city. It doesn't matter which city.

A little research turned up the fact that keys to cities are largely an honorable offering. If you receive one you are not encouraged to use it. After all, we do have to be careful about who we let roam willfully around our city. However, I can find no firm rule against using it.

My next task is to find a city someplace who has an extra key hanging around not being used. Again after some online research I found the company who manufactures keys to cities. (No kidding) They are perfectly willing to send me a key of my choice.....with proper credit card information of course. They would make me a lot better deal if I bought them a dozen at a time which makes me wonder just how big this "Key to the City" business is. I surely don't want a key to a city that just lets anyone in, or keeps eleven spare keys around where soneone's brother-in-law could get one and come into the city unannounced.

I do realize however that sometimes an extra key to the city may be needed. What if the Mayor left town without a key. How would he get back in. I'm sure that any astute Mayor would have a key hidden someplace outside the city where only he knew where to find it.

So today I start my quest for the key to a city. I haven't selected a city yet. I suppose my first task should be to select a group of cities that would be suitable candidates. San Francisco would be nice. I wonder if their key lets you ride the cable cars all you want.

Can you just imagine how much fun it would be to have the key to a city? I could call my friends and say, "Hey, you guys want to go to San Francisco and spend the weekend.....I have the key to the city, ......we can get in anytime!"

Happy New Year!!!!!!

2008-01-04T11:43:00.000-08:00

Yes Virginia.....old folks do know how to party on New Years Eve

" Lady Northern", and our close friend Bob Francisco

Good food and friends

Our Host Gary, and Hostess Karen, made it a great party!

Now I hope that you all understand that the proper way to celebrate New Years Eve is to: Eat all the food the hostess provides, Tell each other lots of tall tales, Laugh and joke at each other, Play some games, Watch the ball come down in Times Square, Kiss your mate, and go home and go to sleep.......

Thank goodness we can watch the ball come down at 10:00 PM our time.

It's Beginning To Look a Lot Like Christmas

2007-12-14T09:58:00.000-08:00

Cameron and Lyndsey came to visit us and spend the night on their way to Salt Lake for Christmas. We always look forward to having this neat family in our home. Ella even sat on my lap ( a first for her), and of course Charley is friends with everyone all the time. We have the most beautiful great grandchildren of anyone, all 16 of them are special. So special that I don't even care if I am called Grandpa Grape by some of them.

Merry Christmas Everyone !

2007-12-10T09:02:00.000-08:00

Here's wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas!

Love you all,

Grandma and Grandpa

December 7, 1941, "Remember Pearl Harbor"!

2007-12-07T12:56:00.000-08:00

CRASH! OUCH!

2007-11-29T07:10:00.000-08:00

It finally happened. I always suspected that it might, but never really thought it would. I am invincible! I have been driving for 61 years and have been in a couple of fenderbenders, but have never caused one.
I did it! I creamed another car while making an improper left turn ( the officers description, not mine)
I am sitting in the left turn lane patiently waiting for the light to change.....it did and all the cars on my right proceed forward and so did I. Problem was... all the cars across the street also proceeded forward.
In my defense.....the left turn green arrow light bulb was totally green....(it just didn't have a green arrow in it)
The airbags on neither car exploded so it wasn't too hard a collision.
The Trailblazer is missing it's entire front end and will be hospitalized for a while. I was wearing my seatbelt and hit my head on the steering wheel. Grandma say its lucky I hit my head instead of someplace important........Grandma!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving to All

2007-11-25T17:11:00.000-08:00

My life was very exciting this Thanksgiving. I know you are all just dying to hear the details......so here goes!
We left home Thursday morning for the cabin. It needed some finish work on the woodwork and then it needed to be closed for the winter. Friday morning I woke early. I thought I had a mosquito bite on the jowl on the right side of my jaw.
By noon it had grown to be egg sized. At 4:00 PM I went to the Emergency Hospital with a face swollen badly on the right side. They diagnosed it as Cellulitus, got me on IV with antibotics and took a CAT scan of my head (no comments here about finding nothing). My face was continuing to swell. They had no-one available to handle this so they sent me to Good Sam in Phoenix. So.....at 12:30 AM Grandma driving, we careened down the canyon to Phoenix.
I got a bed there at 4:30 AM and was kept on an IV. I was still swelling upward. They got blood cultures going and discovered that this was a staph infection. I got a lot of attention then.
They got it to stop growing and by Saturday evening it had started to go down. Finally....on Monday they said I would be able to go home but....... they had to put me on oral antibotics and I would have to take them for 24 hours at the hospital to make certain I didn't have a reaction. I previously had a reaction to Vancyomycin.
I didn't have a reaction until I found that I was getting ....$2600 for 28 pills.
Anyway I finally got out Thursday (Thanksgiving Day) morning, with cheaper pills, went to Ken's and had an absolutely marvelous Thanksgiving dinner, then drove home later that night. Arrived home at 1:00AM Friday.
There was a good side. I got visits from Ken, Sue, Cody, and Kaela. Mike and Gail came with Dr. Amber. Cameron and Chucks brother Ben came and Cameron gave be a beautiful blessing. Josh and Holly II came up from Tucson. Mike and Colby came in. Doris came, and Dr. Amber came by himself and his impact in my behalf was very noticable.
I'm not allowed to shave for fear of scratching my face so I am rapidly starting to look like Santa. It will be another two weeks before I shave. Pics will follow!
What a great family I have!

I love to Paint!!!!!

2007-10-07T18:47:00.000-07:00

I love to paint and already in 2007 I have completed 24 paintings ranging from 24"x 36" to 8"x 10". This one was the most fun however. While in the studio (some call it my garage) painting I looked up and saw a small square kleenex box sitting on a shelf. It had this graphic on it! So.....this is my version of a Kleenex box!
It hangs in our kitchen.
"Grapes and Peaches", Oil, 12"x15".

I'm trying to learn a new technique called glazing so I'm experimenting on a small canvas with a simple painting. This really turned out to be much more appealing than I expected.

"African Tree", Oil, 8"x10". You will se it in our guest bath when you visit.

We were out doing garage sales and found an old beat up print in a great frame. That old print was the basis for this painting. We find almost all our frames out there in someone's junk. I take the frames home and rebuild them........ do you have any idea what fancy blank wood moulding costs per foot?????

"Old Barn with Pond", Oil, 16" x 20"

This painting is from a photo of a Tobacco drying barn deep in Kentucky. We got a lot of great photos when we were there last fall. I think this is my best artistic effort to date. It will hang in the Cabin starting next summer.

"Kentucky Tobacco Barn", Oil, 16" x 20"

It's time to go see the fall colors!

2007-09-30T10:37:00.000-07:00

We traveled up Parowan canyon toward Brianhead Ski
Resort yesterday to see the autumn leaves.
There were not a lot of them, Cedar Mountain doesn't have a lot of color in it, but those we saw were spectacular.

You never go to just "see" the autumn leaves. You always pick some to take home and make fall decorations.

Isn't it interesting how the hills are so steep when you are driving them, yet appear so flat when you take a picture of them. Anyway.....this was one exciting trail. We had a problem finding a place to turn around. Grandma loves this kind of roads, can't keep her off them!

After lunch at Brianhead we traveled down to Orderville and came home by going down the switchbacks at the east end of Zion Park. I had forgotton just how beautiful that entrance to Zion is.

The Cabin in July

2007-09-22T15:19:00.000-07:00

Grandma and I spent almost 6 weeks at the Cabin during July and the first part of August. It was delightful. The rain came in almost afternoon
and we could sit on the deck and enjoy just being there. We had no TV and we forgot to bring a DVD player so we perused all the weekend garage sales to find enough VHS movies to last the next week. Also, luckily it seems that everyone in Payson has a large supply of unused and unwanted frames for oil paintings...cheap!

Late in July we had Blaine, (the Hammer), and Cameron, (Chainsaw), come up on a Saturday to join with Colby, (the Wrecker), and Mike, (El Hefe'), to make the repair on our floor that was caused by our flood. The guys worked really hard all day long. None of them are used to heavy labor and we had some tired guys at the end of the day. I could have never completed in a month what they did in one day and this is my thank you note to each of you.

Grandma says for me to say for her to everyone, "I had a better time than anyone ever had at the Cabin". She loves that Cabin!

The pigs (Javalina) showed up again the last few days we were there. We had seven of them scarfing up birdseed from the ground under the bird feeders. My camera was dead......what a bummer.

We will be back in early Nov. to close it up for the winter. This time I will bring my brad nailer and complete the finish woodwork.

Visit to Canyonlands National Park

2007-09-15T12:08:00.000-07:00

As rattlers go in San Juan County this was a big one. He was about three and a half feet long and totally focused on the heat of the engine in Ken's truck. We found him at Marie Ogdens old place, north of Monticello in Dry Valley(close to Church Rock).

You really have to blow this photo up to see the beauty and vastness of Canyonlands

I found this green eyed beauty just a few miles from here almost 57 years ago. She's still a keeper!

While we were in Blanding for the 4th of July Ken, Sue, Kaela, Grandma, and I went out to the Needles area of Canyonlands to take some photos. What a beautiful place. You can see forever!

Pine Valley

2007-09-14T07:22:00.000-07:00

Here is a photo of a new born Rattler. He was about a foot long, very quick, and an excellent swimmer. I kicked him off that rock into the river and he came right back upstream to get back up on the rock. I know that Jace and Easton love snakes so this picture is especially for them. At this age these snakes are extremely poisonous and will aggressively go after everything as they learn to hunt for food. He's still up there someplace.

One of our favorite places to take the bus is Pine Valley. It is just 24 miles , almost due north of St George, on the north side of Pine Mountain. Quick and easy to get to and I can easily drive down to work my shifts at the Family History Center. Claire takes along her handiwork and I take my paints and we sit along the Santa Clara river and watch the pine trees grow. One thing I have learned in life......don't ever forget to stop once in a while and watch the pine trees grow.

We were there in early June this year for a couple of weeks. It's a Forrest campground so we can only stay 14 days but with the senior discount (I'm due to get next year) it only costs us $6.00 per night. Our favorite spot is very private and we look out our front window at a beautiful little waterfall.

There is a lot of wildlife around. Deer graze past our door, the Elk come by, the skunks visit; of course we have the local residents like ants, wasps, beetles, moths, and fishermen also through the area. We also have snakes!!!!!

Our front Yard

2007-09-13T20:49:00.000-07:00

For those of you that wonder why we like to go to Morgan, take a look at our RV pad there. The Weber river is just a few yards through the line of trees. This is Jacks side yard. The second photo is taken from across his back yard.

2007-09-13T20:44:00.000-07:00

Grandma did the Cart driving while I played golf in Morgan. They have a neat course there. Twenty dollars on M-Thur includes 18 holes and cart.

This putt actually turned sharp left and went in.....

Hot Dog.......

2007-09-13T20:34:00.000-07:00

Ummmmmn... Supper is ready.

On the Road Again?

2007-09-12T17:10:00.000-07:00

We just got back from visiting our friends, Jack and Bonnie Peterson, in Morgan, Utah. We spent 10 days, mostly eating fattening foods, with them. They have been our closest friends for 50 years now. We always have a great time with them.

They also have an RV and we have done many trips together but age has caught up with them so that they don't travel much any more.