A Giant Among Men

out of respect for the living and to protect their privacy, I have eliminated all last names and any places from the program.

Today was Cecil's funeral. He was 86. To me he was family. He and his family immediately adopted us when we first moved here, and treated our family with such love. They were among the first friends we made. I will miss him.

He was one of the first people we met when we moved to this town. He was the Bishop of the Ward we which we live. Our community is predominately LDS, and a Ward is a congregation consisting of around 500 people who live within certain boundary lines.

He was a kind, soft-spoken and great man. I was called by him to serve as a Counselor to the Primary President, then about a year later, I was called to serve as the Primary President . The Bishop was released while I was still serving as the President. I felt so strongly to put him and his wife, Ava, in the nursery. It is for the little ones from ages 18 months to three years. Cecil and Ava served as the Nursery leaders. They were the perfect couple for the spot. She baked cookies and gave the five minute lesson and he held the children on his lap and played his harmonica. The children called them Grandma and Grandpa. My son got to be in that nursery, and I felt so lucky. I knew he would not have any trauma in the Nursery because Grandma and Grandpa Losee were there each week.

Cecil's eight children participated in the funeral. I loved each of their talks. They spoke of how he was such a great example as a father and leader of their home. He worked hard, but also played hard. They had wonderful memories of their childhood. He took them fishing after helping with the chores. He took them water skiing on the boat.

I can remember Cecil serving in the neighborhood. He was always raking leaves, picking up trash and taking the blind man next door to Church. Every spring, he would be out with his burner, cleaning up the dead tumble weeds in the ditches. He had a shovel and would dig the puncture weeds and haul them to the dump. He loved everyone. But he especially took care of the widows and widowers. Once when raking leaves for everyone in the neighborhood, he asked my widow neighbor across the street if she wanted her leaves raked. Being fiercely independent, she thanked him then responded that she had a mower that picked them up. This was one of those INDUSTRIAL SIZED rider mowers with a monster bag on the back. She showed Cecil her wonderful mower (which she even used to vacuum up the leaves in the gutter in front of her house and the neighboring houses) and he took one look and said: "Oh, in that case, would you mind going down the street to Ruby's house and doing hers as well?"

He and his wife were called to serve a full time Mission to Nauvoo Illinois where the Temple was being reconstructed. A web site was set up with a live web camera focused on the Temple construction site. I would click onto that camera every day and watch the progress as the Temple was built. It was such fun to watch the construction and think of Elder & Sister Losee working there and watching it in real time. Toward the end of Losee's mission, the Temple was completed and Nauvoo Temple hosted an open house before they dedicated it a House of the Lord. The local News stations sent reporters there to interview people in the town. I remember one day listening to the news in the background while I worked, when I heard a familiar voice. It was Ava's in her typical way saying, "I think it is so exciting!" I quickly looked up, but the station had gone to a commercial. You can't miss her voice and when the commercial was over, sure enough, there she was being interviewed.

My sister decided to travel back there, and I got a ride with her, her husband and my mom. We got to see the brand new temple inside and out. Then we went to find them. After asking around, we found him. He was dressed in pioneer period costume. He told us that Ava was sick, and asked if would we come and help give her a blessing. Since my brother-in-law holds the Priesthood, he and Elder Losee laid their hands on her head and blessed her to get well.

The Visitor's Center usually had a little play at the end of each day called Sunset on the Mississippi. But this day was stormy and they canceled it. I was disappointed. After they completed their mission and got home, Cecil invited me to come to their house. They remembered that I had missed the Sunset on the Mississippi play and offered to show me a video of it. So I got to see it after all. That is typical of Cecil and Ava. They are always thinking of others.

He has left a wonderful legacy. His children are all wonderful human beings and as one said in his talk, "Dad taught us good habits and standards." I feel lucky enough to be friends with several of his children and am richer because of it.

Cecil has left behind a sweet wife, eight children, 49 grand children and 51 great grand children.

In World War II, he was a gunner in a B-52 bomber. One of his mates said he was sure the Pearly Gates were swung wide open when Cecil died and a myriad of angels were waiting there to greet him. I really believe that.

God be with you 'til we meet again, Cecil. You are one of Heavenly Father's choicest Servants.

~a

ooo Adam, that must have hurt

Saturday morning I took a spill. I stepped on some boards awaiting to be used in our new fence that were lying on the back patio. Something slipped and I did a face-plant on the concrete. It was NOT fun, but no skin was broken, no blood spilled, nothing was even scraped. Eventually I gathered what was left of my dignity and with Sailor's help got uprighted again. But I noticed soon after that my rib hurt. I have a bruise under my right breast, and it hurts to breathe deeply, laugh, cough, sigh or sneeze. Hiccups are bad too. It also hurts to lie down. This does not contribute towards good rest.
I cannot help but think of how Adam must have felt when he awoke to find a missing rib and a pesky woman by his side. But I am glad God created woman. I sure love being by my husband's side and sharing this life with him.

In other news, I would like to talk about our amazing tomato crop. We are enjoying many bowlfuls of tomatoes every day. We have had many BLT's, tomato salads and other tomato dishes. Our latest recipe uses our Champion juicer. I send about 6 large tomatoes, 3 stalks of celery, 3 anaheim peppers, a tiny piece of jalapeno pepper, parsley, garlic and 6 carrots through the juicer, and after Sailor adds some good spices, we have a pretty delicious V-7 drink. We have plenty of canned tomatoes, so we are using them fresh and loving all the delicious fresh food from the garden!

Finally, I noticed the neighbor dog barking more than usual lately. He had pretty much shut up since we installed that fence. We were enjoying much more privacy, since he didn't announce our every move. But lately, no matter what I did, he barked. What's with that? I finally looked over to see two eyes and a nose peeking under the fence! Upon closer examination, I discovered the stinker had dug a grand canyon on his side of the fence and under the fence and now had a snake's eye view of our yard. This dog is really bored. I picked up my weapon of choice, the spray hose, and gave him a good face wash, but that didn't stop him. I plugged it up with pieces of rock and concrete, thinking the problem was temporarily solved until Sailor could do something more permanent.
Later that day, I went outside to gather carrots and found a neighbor cat running away and barking coming from the fence. I picked up the spray hose to chase the cat off. I saw what I thought was our orange cat chasing him, but when I looked around the tree, it was a cocker spaniel! Did I mention the neighbor has 8 dogs? I sprayed him and he scampered to the fence to a second hole! Stupid Golden Retriever had dug a second hole a little to the east of the first! It wasn't big enough for GR to fit, but the cocker could fit under and was enjoying his new-found playground. I waited until Cocker was half way through, struggling to fit and gave his butt a good long wash while he scampered to safety on the other side.
The second hole was larger than the first! But worse, the rock pile under the first had some noticeable gaps. Upon closer examination, I realized some of the rocks I had placed in the hole were gone. I placed another piece of concrete in the gap and watched as GR carefully pawed it until it came to his side of the fence, then I peeked through the cracks to see him pick it up with his mouth and move it a yard from the fence.
::eye roll:: I have a formidable contender here!
Sailor saved the day that night when he dug a trench on our side and poured concrete, then built it up to almost meet the fence. Upon talking to the neighbor, he told us that he had seen the hole and had filled it up twice, thinking it was fixed. They had also noticed GR standing on the picnic table on his hind legs and leaning on the fence so he could see us. Neighbor moved the picnic table away from the fence to the middle of his yard, but that didn't stop this bored dog. The next time Neighbor looked out, he saw GR balancing on his hind legs on the picnic table, now in the middle of the yard and barking. He couldn't stay in that position long without losing balance, but he was still trying to see us. I think the neighbors are frustrated by him, but also mildly amused. It is a bit funny, if you think about it. That is ONE.DETERMINED.DOG! The Neighbor's daughter says "he is so smart, he is stupid!" That makes sense to me. I think I even made that comment.
What next? I cannot grow bushes fast enough to cover the gap 6 feet above ground, so I am not sure. But Sailor says he will lay concrete under the existing fence and in the future will put that down before he builds the rest of the fence. More expense and work. Yikes!


::shallow sigh:: ouch, ouch, ow

have a nice day
~a

Neighbors

My daughter just moved. I don't know how her new neighbors are, but she really disliked the ones who lived next to her on one side at the other apartment. They were loud when the baby was sleeping, made rude comments to her when she came in late after going to the gym (her only time to work out) and left cigarette butts on the ground and dog poop in the grass where her son liked to play. Their bedroom is adjacent to the neighbor's. They could hear them "recreate" all night sometimes. How gross is that?
I hope she has better ones now. She lives on the ground floor like last time, and I hope they are more insulated. You could hear the woman's high heels walk across the floor all the time.

Neighbors can be hard. That is why I would like to live WAY out in the country away from 8 barking dogs on one side, away from a nosy one on the other side who uses his very large flashlight to see if we are home. Away from the one two blocks from here who decides to play his drum and his friend the electric guitar for up to two hours right during our dinner hour, so we really don't want to sit out on the patio to eat, besides the stupid dog on the other side, there is no peace. Away from the train that honks four very LONG blasts in the middle of the night (really the train engineers are my neighbors as well). Away from the large trucks who use our street to get to Main Street and shift up four gears just as they progress away from the stop sign on the corner, so when we talk, we have to cease for a minute to be able to hear one another.

I do have one I LOVE. Sister R, across the street, is around my mom's age. She is so wise. I love visiting her and philosophizing with her. She is amazing to me and I want to keep her around forever. I want to be just like her when I grow up.

Whenever we get the old Sunday School lesson on "who is your neighbor", I always feel guilty. I think, at heart, I am really a country girl, even though when we moved to the farm I cried for months every time I went out to the clothes line and hung diapers. We had just left a four-duplex neighborhood of young parents. Anytime I felt lonely, I would wash a batch of diapers and go outside to hang them. There was always someone in one of the other back yards hanging their diapers.

But I learned to love the quiet. I loved the darkness of the night with no lights but the stars. As Roon Dimik said in Big Business, "the only thing crowded was the sky studded with stars." I could actually see the Milky Way every night there. I was afraid of skunks, but that was about it.
I haven't seen stars very much since we moved to the neighborhood. Too many street lights.

I just got back from a short vacation to see my mom and children. Mom's house is located on 18 acres. She has neighbors, but they are fairly far away. Tonight after we unloaded our car, there to greet me, when I checked the mailbox, was a stupid dog barking at me. *sigh* I didn't miss him at all.

~a

The Money Pit 2008

The house across the street is having all sorts of renovations taking place. They had three contractors there yesterday getting in each other's way. First they had the porch enlarged while they fixed and enlarged the bay window, which has been falling off the house, they say for the last 20 years or so. They are renovating their living/dining room too, putting in all wood floors.
Yesterday they had the landscape people laying pipe for the sprinkling system, another group was chopping down a tree and someone else was putting new siding on.
I wanted to take a picture quickly, because, unlike the movie those contractors are working so fast, they will be done before we know it. They are all such hard workers. It will look so great when it is done. I will update when ready.

a

coincidence?

Today I was cleaning up some really old stuff I had saved for years that needed sorting and found a folded piece of newspaper. I opened it and found my daughter staring back at me!
I don't even remember who gave this to me, where I got it or anything. It looks so much like her. It is dated Nov 2002. I don't even remember where she was that year. Boo, were you in Salt Lake sometime that year? Is this you?
Pretty spooky. If this is not my daughter, then she has an exact twin living in the same vicinity. Cool, but weird.
Speaking of pictures of people I recognize,

I was looking through the Church magazine, for the article I mentioned in the last blog and came across this page. April 2008 issue, page 39. I could have sworn it is a former neighbor Theresa Nickle, who has now grown up and has children of her own I even recognize that daughter, they've visited our church. I called her mom, and guess what? It IS! It is a picture taken of her in her living room with her daughter and son and adoring dog.
Theresa knew someone who does photographs for the Ensign. He was there taking pictures, but this snapshot was one she was not aware he had taken. He ended up using the informal picture.

Funnier yet is that the article on this page was written by my other neighbor's (Evelyn) daughter, Loraine. Wow It is a small world!

The explanations were fun to hear from the two moms, but this one of my daughter really is disconcerting. It would be like her to forget to mention that she was in the paper. (It is a half newspaper size. ) Or better yet, she DID mention it, in her very quiet way and NO ONE HEARD HER.

She always complained of being the invisible daughter. She is the 5th child and always thought no one paid any attention to her. To me she is an amazing girl. She quietly made such good grades that she was asked to join a "some sort of sorority called Phi Theta Kappa, but they want $50".
Her dad told her to join, he would pay the fees.

She quietly goes about her business, making things happen without too much fanfare. I liken her to a duck on water. On the surface she looks like she is just floating around the pond, but if you manage to peek under the surface, her little feet are paddling like mad. I wouldn't put it past her for never making a big deal of the fact that an 11"x14" picture of her was gracing the Salt Lake Newspaper. Is this you, Boo?

~a