Snow Experiments

Vinny is studying snow in his class. So when he and Owen came over this afternoon, we Googled "snow experiments" and found two--(1) melt some snow in a saucepan, then pour it through several layers of paper towel to see how clean the snow is--we saw four or five specs of dirt; and (2) make snowballs, dip them in colored water, make a little igloo and put a candle inside-it was cute, but daylight--we may do it another time when it's dark. (Don't you love Owen and his magnifying glass?!) And then Hernan made a snowman cannibalizing the colored snowballs, making a scarf, buttons, ears, and red hair (not shown--by pouring on the left-over red colored water). Lots of fun!

Mailbox and vegetables

Remember the blue toy "mail box" at Doug and Linette's? Linette said the boys could take it home, but Dallas and Shannon said they wouldn't let them put it in the car. So the boys said they'd walk home with it--and they did--picking up BBs along the way. Then when they got home, they set it on the lawn and ran and jumped on the mailbox with one foot--they reminded me of long jumpers or pole vaulters. Occasionally Vinny would get a real running start--he'd go in the house and run down the porch stairs, make the turn, and approach the mailbox. At first they said they were going to doing running jumps two hours a day, but I think they decided one hour a day was very good.

We "picked" and cut open the three watermelons we had grown in the Spencer W. Kimball Garden at Dallas and Shannon's. There were two small long ones and one small very green perfectly round one--but they didn't start growing until August--so they just didn't have enough time to mature. The long ones were still white inside--but smelled like watermelon. The round one was pink--and tasted like watermelon. Dallas offered Vinny a little quarter-slice, and Vinny bit the rind and didn't think it was very good. Then, after Dallas told him, he spit out the rind and had a taste of the watermelon. Next year we'll just plant sunflowers and pumpkins--no watermelons, zucchini or spaghetti squash.

Friday Owen took the pumpkin we grew to school for show-and-tell.

Utah State Fair 2009

I went to the Utah State Fair today with Aunt Angie. I thought Kara would like to see the three cakes entered in the Fair. And the fourth photo is a cross-stitch done by Linda Peterson, mother of Harrison's friend, Justin; she was awarded a second-place ribbon. The last photo is a photograph taken by a ward member who also received a second-place ribbon.

Cedar City - The Shakespearean Festival

Kristy, I, Harrison and his girlfriend Lucy, Liz, and Mont's granddaughter Courtney were in Cedar City for the Utah Shakespearean Festival August 20-23. Our favorite play was Comedy of Errors. Some of us also saw Henry V, As You Like It, The Secret Garden, and/or Private Lives. As always, we had a great time!

My Spencer W. Kimball Garden

Pictured are four plants from my Spencer W. Kimball Garden. President Kimball (1895-1985) said we should plant a garden, so following the letter of the law rather than the spirit of the law, at the first of May, I planted (at Dallas and Shannon's house so Vinny and Owen could watch things grow) 2 pumpkin plants, a zucchini plant, 2 spaghetti squash plants, 7 mini-watermelon plants, a half dozen sunflowers that were supposed to grow to 14 feet, but are only about 5 feet tall, and a half dozen very interesting red sunflowers that often look black. I don't have a green thumb--or the black thumb of death; I have a brown thumb--my plants don't die--they just wish they would. For example, my zucchini plant is about the size of a large salad bowl--I think most people have zucchini plants the size of Volkswagens. I've harvested a few zucchini, and 3 spaghetti squash are growing, but until a few days ago, there were no pumpkins or watermelons--because, I think, there were no bees. But finally I spotted two pumpkins (in the photos) on one of the plants and two watermelons (the large one is pictured) on two plants. I just h0pe we don't get an early frost. (For size comparison, it's a dime in the pumpkin and watermelon photos.)

Utah Festival Opera - Logan, Utah

Elma Leta, Kristy, and I attended the Utah Festival Opera in Logan on July 15 and 16. Elma Leta and I saw Gilbert & Sullivan's The Mikado (I've got a little list of people who would not be missed). Then Kristy joined us and together we saw Bizet's Carmen. (Carmen works in a cigarette factory, and that part of the opera always reminds me of my Grandma Fercik who worked in a tobacco factory, making 600 cigars a day, for four years, from ages 16 to 20, 1910 to 1914.) And we saw Lerner & Loewe's Broadway musical Camelot--which was very touching--and nobody gets the girl! All the productions were excellent. Gail Miller (Mrs. Larry H. Miller) was at the first two performances we attended. The photo is of the principals in Camelot. Lancelot was also Escamillo in Carmen. Guenevere is Vanessa Ballam (Michael Ballam's daughter). For those of you who remember Farley Family Reunion, James Arrington played Merlin and King Pellinore in Camelot. UFO doesn't sell postcards, but I took the photos taken with the various casts and had Costco turn them into postcards--69 cents each, with return address and message! I ordered 90 postcards--you'll probably be getting one from me. The Festival runs till August 8.

A very happy day!

Megan Moulton Smith and Sam Smith leaving the Salt Lake Temple on Saturday, June 6, 2009, after being married there. It was a very happy day. You can see the happiness in both of their faces--and if you could have seen the family and friends gathered there, you would have seen the happiness in all of our faces.

I'm in my glory! And I've retired!

When we moved from out offices in Magna at the end of September 2008, none of the furniture made the move. So I was able to buy the desk that was brand new and mine when I went to work for Kennecott in 1989. It was my desk the whole time I was with Kennecott/Rio Tinto. And now it's at my house in what was the dining room/dad's bedroom area. I love it!

And on January 20 I was notified that I was one of the 66 employees and 184 contractors to be laid off in the Salt Lake City area, due to falling metals prices. My last day at work was January 30, and I'm on the payroll till March 21. I'm old enough for Social Security, so it came at a good time for me. I have a long list of things I want to do, and I do hope I actually get something done.

"You've got to be kidding!" . . . But I'm not . . . my new office

This is my cubicle. Note my "light stick" on the floor to the right of the photo. That's where I keep it until about 3:20pm, when the sun gets to my window. The wheeled "box" under the desk with the red cover is combination filing cabinet/guest chair. The photo on the whiteboard, to the left of the chair, is a photo of the office I was given when I was hired by Kennecott in 1989--on the 16th floor of the Kennecott Building, facing the Joseph Smith Building.

It's now about 3:20pm, and the sun is hitting my window--and my eyes and my computer screen. There's no opaque blind on the window, so I have to get out my light stick and hang my brown grocery sack on it. (By the way, what looks like a gumball machine is really an M&M dispenser.)

This is a better view of the light stick. On one of the four sides of the end stick are five teeny lights that go from bright, brighter, and brightest. I've never needed a light on my desk and have no expectation that I'll need to start now.

This is the view as I look straight ahead. These windows, which face northwest, don't have any outside window treatment that would reduce glare, any translucent shades, or any opaque shades. The people who sit at that end wear sunglasses. (And to quote Dave Barry, "I am not making this stuff up!")

This is the view from one end to the other of one side of one wing of the floor I'm on (the second floor). There is very little color. Visitors have described it as "cold" and "sterile". I say it has no beauty nor humanity. And the color white, like black, is a symbol of death and the absence of life.

Friday afternoon, October 17, when the sun came in my window, I found that one of the two hinges of my three-foot light stick was loose and wouldn't support the weight of my brown grocery bag. So I fished an 8.5x11-inch piece of paper out of my teeny waste basket (one size fits all here--everyone--from the president of Kennecott to me--has to have the same cubicle, the same chair, the same waste basket) and taped the ends to the ear pieces of my glasses to shade my eyes.

This is the "Beam Me Up, Scotty" telephone booth. Also known as Superman's telephone booth. If you want to have a private telephone conversation, you go into one of these.

See the three lights on the cylinder (in which are two or three small rooms, one of them being a "Beam Me Up, Scotty" telephone closet). There are lots of these lights around the floor. You'd think that the lights would be shining on art work. But you'd be wrong.

Here "I am a work of art". More of the lights with no art. I'm wearing the official red lanyard and ID badge. My neighbor, Penny Stratton, gave me a Disney "Queen of Hearts" (from Alice in Wonderland) pin. I wear it because I AM the queen--and I am in "Wonderland".

This is the lunch room. Are black and white appetizing colors? I don't eat in the lunch room. I take my lunch and a book to the "Beam me up, Scotty" telephone booth and close the door.

This is a glass wall between the cubicles and the restrooms. Someone ran into it. There is a lot of glass in the building that people might run into. So they say they're going to frost it. But until then this wall of glass has orange cones and Post-it Notes so people won't run into it.

This is more glass in the lobby--and more orange cones--and more Post-it Notes. The "tractor-seat" chairs are for visitors to sit in when they arrive--while they watch a safety-in-the-building video.

Here's a close-up of the tractor-seat. It doesn't look very comfortable.

These are great-looking chairs--but I don't think you can tell how low to the ground they are. The reception desk is at the top of the photo. And behind the brick wall is the glass staircase I'll show you later.

These are the waiting-room chairs on my floor (the second floor). Again, I don't think you can tell how low they are.

This is the glass staircase in back of the brick wall in the lobby. You can't see it but there's wire in the glass. When I first heard there was a glass staircase "in the lobby" (which it isn't exactly as I later found out), I imagined a beautiful, curved staircase instead of this "industrial" model. I e-mailed the Powers That Be and asked (1) if they'd considered that a woman wearing a dress couldn't use the staircase; (2) if they'd considered that someone with even a bit of acrophobia wouldn't want to use the staircase; (3) if they were going to wash it every day; and (4) if I would be cut if I fell on the staircase. Before I saw the staircase, I e-mailed again and suggested that they just put a sign in front that said, "Work of art - not a staircase--elevator to the left, actual staircase to the right". Someone else pointed out that if there were a fire and that staircase were used as an exit, someone with acrophobia might freeze on the way day and block the staircase to others. I think they're going to paint the underside of the glass black--after all they paid for a glass staircase--but I don't know whether they're going to do anything about the missing vertical pieces.

This is looking up at the staircase from the first floor.

This is taken from the fourth floor looking down through the landing.

This is the lobby floor--natural stone--and uneven. If you look carefully at the areas around the blue tape, you can see that it is uneven and a tripping hazard. They're going to have to plane the floor. Rio Tinto is very safety minded--I'm surprised this floor got past them.

I've mentioned that "evevators" is probably not the word they want, but I'm sure they have so many things to fix this is not at the top of their list.

This is a photo of the Regional Center--that's it's official name. On about 116th South and 4700 West.

This is a view looking to the south from the fourth floor.

This is looking east from the fourth floor. You can see the Oquirrh Temple at the top of the photo, just a little left of center.

See . . . I do work . . .

Here I am in my office in Magna. Great view. Can you see Antelope Island to the right of the center bar in the window? Dr. Keming Zhou, one of the managers for whom I am secretary, who took this photo, said that a messy desk is a sign of intelligence. I must be very intelligent. I'll be here until September 25. On September 29 I report to Daybreak at 114th South and 47th West. To a cubicle without dividing walls, facing the back of someone's head, or, if I turn to the right, the parking garage. They weren't going to give us waste baskets--they wanted us to take our trash to the recycling bins--but the hysterical laughter of employees forced them to rescind that edict. The new office is 10 miles further from home--one way.

Judge not unrighteously, that ye be not judged

I've rethought my August 31 judgment of this sunflower. I thought it was mostly show with little substance. But I erred. I was impatient. I assumed that, like the parent/grandparent sunflower, this sunflower would have only one flower. This sunflower has at least 11 flowers. Its beauty is equal to if not surpassing the one large sunflower. I compare the large sunflower to someone like Dr. Jonas Salk, the inventor of the polio vaccine. What Dr. Salk did was wonderful, but we only need one Dr. Salk. Most of us are like this sunflower--just as one of our acts cannot compare to Dr. Salk's polio vaccine, our accumulated daily deeds of kindness and selflessness can equal the result of Dr. Salk's important work and are just as important to those with whom we associate.

The Lord loves variety--in the animal kingdom, in the plant kingdom, in geography, in weather, and in people. He has blessed each of us with gifts to bless the lives of others--gifts that no one else has and no one else can bestow.

Hugh Nibley, in is book "Temple and Cosmos" (page 292), wrote: "The individuality of each star contributes to the whole of the night sky. Each has its particular part to play, and because of its uniqueness, makes a contribution of maximum value--which it couldn't do if it were just like every other star. Be a star! Don't be like anybody else. Be different. Then you can make a contribution. Otherwise, you just echo something; you're just a reflection."

So don't be jealous of others. Don't undervalue yourself. Rejoice in who you are--whether you are the large one-flower sunflower or the sunflower with a dozen smaller flowers.

President David O. McKay's son dies

President David O. McKay's penultimate ("second to the last"--one of my favorite words) surviving child, Edward Riggs McKay, passed away on September 5 at the age of 93. President McKay was the prophet of my youth. He died in 1970 at the age of 96, after serving as president of the Church for 19 years. When he died, there were almost 3 million members of the Church, and half of them had never known any other prophet.

A vote for the hyphen (-)

I had a hard time reading a headline in the Tribune this morning: "New Utah Law Enforcement Memorial". I read "New Utah Law" and wondered what the new Utah law was, and then I read "Enforcement Memorial" and couldn't quite make sense of that. Then I realized it should have read "New Utah Law-Enforcement Memorial".

Rio Tinto (parent company of Kennecott) has recently issued new "writing-style" guidelines. Of several edicts with which I cannot comply (because I'm a punctuation purist) is one to limit use of the hyphen. As I explained to the instructor and participants of the workshop delineating the new guidelines, "If you ask for a 'red hot momma', you may get a sunburned woman with children who's having hot flashes and not the 'red-hot momma' you were expecting".

My favorite book on the subject of punctuation is "Eats, Shoots and Leaves" by Lynne Truss. From that book, I learned that I love the Oxford comma ("peaches, pears, and apples" instead of "peaches, pears and apples") and that Mr and Mrs don't require a period. (Abbreviations where the last letter of the word and the last letter of the abbreviation are the same do not require a period, regardless of what Microsoft's spell check might say.)

Another grammar-type book that I love is "Sister Bernadette's Barking Dog", a hilarious history of diagramming.

2008 August 31 - Sunflower

Above is a "volunteer" sunflower, growing next to my driveway. The parent/grandparent sunflower was a "Mammoth" sunflower--as tall as this sunflower (about nine feet tall), but with a huge (about 18 inches across) flower (see flower below). My thought as I looked at this sunflower is that it's a lot of show (its height) and very little substance (the small flower compared to the height of the plant). Perhaps like our lives sometimes. We put a lot into our outward presentation, when we would do better to put that energy into the "fruit" of our labors.