Dad’s Weekly Report

For the last several weeks I have been practicing in the Stake Choir for Stake Conference.  Today we had Stake Conference and so I don’t have practices anymore.  We sang three numbers and had to attend both morning and afternoon sessions.  We sang three numbers.  They were “Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee”, “Joseph Smith’s First Prayer”, and “The Lord’s Prayer”.  I do enjoy singing in our stake’s choir.  They have a history of nice stake choirs and there are a lot of good voices in the stake that join in.  We easily fill the choir seats in the stake center, and they have 4 rows in the choir.  I think that we had five weeks of practices, two hours each in Sunday night.

Lyle and Emily moved into the basement apartment.  We let the contract to sell our house expire in the middle of April and we won’t try to sell the house until after they leave.  It has been great to have them here.  I am enjoying getting to know Emily better.  And Lyle even mowed the lawn a couple of times.  Before we put the house on the market, I took all the old moldy caulk out of the basement shower and put new in.  I used a new kind called Excel.  It didn’t work.  The shower has been leaking and I had to pull it all out and re-do it.  I tried another kind but it also didn’t work well.  Yesterday I tested it and no leaks.  So the moral to the story is, always use GE Silicone2.  It works bests, even though it gets moldy eventually.  Hopefully there won’t be any more problem.  I still need to fix the carpet where it got wet and I pulled some of the foam pad out.  I’ll do that tomorrow.

This weekend we will go to Bend for the family reunion that Sandy has been planning.  Unfortunately Wes, April and Curt won’t be able to attend.  So there will be 7 of us.  It will be great to be together, before Ruth and Curt leave for the east coast.  I doubt that we will see them much for the next two years.

On Tuesday of this week we got a call from Ruth and she told us that she got hit by a car.  She was walking on the sidewalk towards the bus stop when she heard a crash.  When she looked up there was a car spinning towards her.  She was knocked down by the car and hurt her left arm pretty bad.  Luckily there was nothing broken but she has been pretty sore and there is a chance that a nerve was damaged.  We are praying that she will heal up completely.  We felt bad for her because she didn’t have her phone with her and couldn’t get anyone to come help.  She had to take the bus home from the hospital and was there alone.  On Wednesday we had her come over and we went out to dinner.  She said today that she was feeling better and that she could move her arm more.

This week I need to get ready to be gone for a while. On Monday after we get home from Bend I go to China until the following Sunday.  The on Tuesday I go to San Diego for 3 days.  So I won’t be home much the last part of May.  I will try to get the vegetable garden planted.  I also promised to donate a hand forged fireplace set to the young women’s auction.  I got the poker done except for painting and almost got the shovel done yesterday but then the hook on the top of the handle broke off and I had to discard the handle.  So I will paint the poker and give it to them with the promise to finish it when I get back.  Hopefully they can sell it when it is only partially finished.  I also need to build a stand to hold them.  I overestimated my efficiency at the forge.

Today we are having summer like weather.  It is warm and sunny.  This is the best time of the year in this county because all the flowers are out.  Even though we will still have a lot of rainy days between now and July; I like this time of year.

Sorry no pictures this time.  Maybe next time I will have pictures from the family reunion and then from China.  Take care, please remember to call.