"The constant smell of smoke from the wildfires has been replaced by an aroma that is quite familiar in our rural area--the bouquet of wood stoves burning.  Because  we can, a large number of us heat our homes with wood heat.  For years now, the most familiar sounds of the new day--from October to early April anyway--are the sounds of Dad stoking up the stoves with wood.  The squeak of the stove door handle, the crack of the ax making kindling, the rustle of newspapers remind we grasshoppers that there's activity afoot.  While our ant labors away, we enjoy the luxury of lying in bed under our warm covers until we hear the crackle of the fire and Dad's "Time to get up."  Too cruel--that reminder that we all have promises to keep when the warmth filling the room is sometimes more of an invitation to snuggle down and go back to sleep."

Although I wrote that entry three years ago in another blog, the familiar ritual is still the same!!  We've enjoyed the fall season this year.  


                                        Kobe had a pumpkin-carving "date" with the sister missionaries.  While they carved "pretty" pumpkins, Kobe's was more scary.  I had to rescue a number of my kitchen knives from the poor pumpkin.  

The week of Halloween was also Spirit Week, and Kobe had a ball dressing in a different costume each day.

Halloween is not my favorite holiday, and we seem to have a tendency to eat all of the Halloween candy before Halloween.  We never have trick or treaters, since a walk down our driveway in the black, sleeting rain is a rather formidable trek for even the most intrepid ghoul or Vampire.

                          My favorite story of Halloween is one I found concerning my paternal great-grandmother, Ann Jane McCowan.  

Jane's family were Welsh, and they immigrated from Wales as members of the Mormon Church.  The small family came across the plains without their father who had died of consumption earlier.  Concerned members of the party gave the family a large pumpkin as they began their journey.  Never having seen a pumpkin before, they assumed the large orange object was given to provide an extra seat in the wagon.  Finally, just before the pumpkin had completely rotted, someone explained that it was food to fill their empty stomachs.

All is well with us.  

Yes, that's Dad up on the shed, adding a lean-to shelter to house the snow blower and other equipment.  No, he will not listen to me.  That shed is also stacked full of wood, as is the back porch, and the far corner of the lot.  He's at his happiest puttering around in the yard or the house which also includes various trips to some of Astro's favorite places:  SDS lumber yard, Home Depot, and the dump.  I cannot convince Dad that he's too old for the work he's doing, so all I can do is sit in the house and alternately cuss him out and pray for him!

I am still doing my mission, of course.  In January, I'll have been on the mission for two years, and I've signed up for two more, since we've decided to stay where we are and do what we love in our own home.  I continue to have wonderful experiences with the mission work.  Since most missionaries are in their late 60's to 70's, we're all from the same era and most from many, many years of Church service.  It's not uncommon to see a missionary checking out after 3 or 4 hours on chats or calls, to go work a shift at the temple, or teach a class.  I love the patrons, and we have very few "mean" callers.  Most often, the callers are, if anything, terribly frustrated.  You'd be surprised how fiercely loyal our patrons are to the long-dead ancestors they're trying to find or have found.  Many are very reluctant to admit that an ancestor may not have been the saint they had thought him to be, in spite of definitive evidence to the contrary.  One patron asked me if I was from a foreign country because he felt I was not understanding what he was asking.  I've taken up hand-quilting for our evening tv blitzes.  As you can tell by the picture, it's often a very warm experience!  

It's a wonderful life.  Hope this blog finds all of you feeling that way too!

“I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.” 
― Douglas Adams, The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul