Christmas Newsletter -

                                                                                                            

Merry Modern Christmas,          

I took one of my remaining vacation days to, among other tasks, write our somewhat traditional Christmas letter.  Before starting to write, I needed to make one telephone call to a customer to see if I could defer his software question until I get back to the office on Tuesday.  He said that would be okay, but could I send some documentation for him to look at in the meantime.  I can access my work email from home and found a prior email to a different customer about the same process which I thought I would forward to the first customer.  The attachment I needed to forward had been deleted because it was found to contain a virus.  I recalled that I had sent a similar email from my personal Yahoo email account, so I tried to open Yahoo and couldn’t recall my password.  After clicking the link to reset the password,  a code was sent to my cell phone.  My cell phone, recharging in another room, and I are not on the best of terms.  I briefly saw a six-digit number flash on the cell phone screen, walked back to the computer and entered the six-digit number as I remembered it.  That wasn’t the code the computer was looking for.  I returned to the phone and dragged my finger across the screen and viewed several windows from Facebook “friends” that I really don’t have the time to keep up with.  There’s a little icon at the bottom with a number 1 which I thought meant that have a new text message and I could get to it if I touched that, icon.  It opened a window with my daughter’s phone number.  I hit another button and saw my feet through the cell camera lens.  I don’t want to take a picture of my feet.  Yahoo had also given me the option of emailing a link to our AOL account to enable us to change our Yahoo password, but I can’t remember our AOL password to get to that account either.  Maybe I need to make a quick trip to the office…

Back to the Christmas letter…   As the year comes to a close, we look back to a few highlights:  Deanna is quite busy running her medical practice.  She’s had a couple of medical surprises.  Earlier in the year a mammogram revealed small growth that was removed and the remaining void zapped (to use one of my medical terms) during the same procedure.  This fall she’s been experiencing a hearing loss in one ear.  I wonder if there’s a relationship to all the books on tape she’s been listening to.   We still sing with the Colorado Mormon Chorale and have a Wednesday dinner date prior to rehearsals. We’re still serving in our church’s young single adult congregation.

We were able to have all of our children and grandchildren (less 1 at scout camp) together at one time in July in Liberty, Missouri for granddaughter Samantha Tolman’s baptism.  Rachel, Ben and family came from Lincoln, Nebraska.  Allison, Adam and their family came up from Austin, Texas. Jon and Becky have purchased Becky’s parents’ home and had moved from Independence to Liberty, patriotic kids that they are.  Emily, cell phone in hand, joined us from Provo.

I am pleased to report that my spouse, children and grandchildren all seem to be on good terms with their cellular phones and other modern technological devices.  May this season and the coming year be full of joy, kindness, happiness and smooth sailing and devoid of high-tech backtalk.

I was going to email this to Deanna to look over, but can’t email it because the password is expired…doh!

                                                                                Love & Merry Christmas

Grumpa vs the Stump: The Final Chapter

     On the hot summer morning of August 17, 2013, fortified by Grandma's hearty breakfast of whole wheat zucchini waffles and a bowl of fruit, Grumpa sharpened his axe, picked up a shovel and the borrowed chain saw and with measured glare strode across the backyard to do battle while his arch enemy of the past 3 years, the unyielding cottonwood stump. The stump had reluctantly surrendered 1/4 of its girth earlier in several previous assaults.  Grumpa was determined to enact a complete victory on this day and was not going to allow a blinding sun and rising temperatures to be an obstacle.   

       The obstinate holdouts are pictured below, displaying the scars from previous attempts at removal by fire, charcoal, hacking with axe, saw and assorted oaths and curses.  Perhaps the curses and curses are not visible, and thankfully, are no longer audible.





After several thrusts with the shovel to expose defiant roots, Grumpa wielded his trusty axe and after multiple blows, the roots reluctantly gave way.  The stump was bisected into two large sections.  Each was removed separately,  The last remaining block had to be stripped of clinging clay before Grumpa was able to wrestle it out of the hole.
 

Grumpa poses with the vanquished foe

 

The remaining crater is longer than a shovel length and probably measures 4 feet wide by 2 feet deep.  The next task will be to return the misplaced dirt back into the hole.




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In the absence of the stump, we'll have to determine what do with the space previously occupied by the stump.  Deanna is of the opinion that a new tree should go into the hole.  It seems to be a no-brainer because the hole is already In place.

Several utility lines cross the yard along the back fence line.  While fighting the stump, I severed a coaxial cable line that could have caused ill will with neighbors.  Apparently the cable was not relaying any signals to anyone.  No harm, no foul.

 

I think the hole will be replaced by a smooth covering of dirt, perhaps as early as this Saturday.  If not this Saturday, it may not be for some time.  College football season kicks off the following weekend.  Its arrival sometimes leads to a reduction in outdoor activities around our house.

 

 

 

 
 



 
 
 
 

 
 

Another long weekend - Aug 8-12 - Kansas City

Our kids all converged on Liberty, Missouri to participate in the baptism of Samantha, Jon's first-born child on Saturday, August 10.  Deanna, Emily and Grumpa Wendell flew into Kansas City on Thursday, Aug 8, picked up a rental car and drove to new Tolman residence which is the former Thorne residence where Jon's wife Becky grew up.  They've invested a little bit of money and a lot of sweat equity to make it their home.

 

 Thursday afternoon while awaiting the invasion of other family members, we spent part of the afternoon at a nearby indoor amusement hall where the girls ran, bounced and apparently received some loving counsel and admonition from their father. 

 

After arriving home, Sam, Lucy and Nora claimed counter space in the kitchen to make cookies.  The cookies were tasty and disappeared before bedtime.

 

 

Later in the evening the Benefields arrived after a drive from the Ozarks where they had spent a few days doing the kinds of things families can do in the Ozarks.  No birds or small mammals were harmed during the backyard archery experience.

 

 

 

 

Preparations were made on Saturday morning for the 10 am baptism.  Donuts were a popular breakfast selection.  One might wonder if Nora had snuck a secret ingredient into her cookies.

Grandma Deanna and Samantha shared a quiet moment.

 

 

 

While waiting for the adults to get dressed, the girls played "hitty, pinchy, flatty, cutty, cow"

 

 

After the baptism, the extended Thorne and Tolman families were guests for a luncheon and swimming at the lovely home of Steve and Kim Thorne.  Jon's pale back would indicate that he has not done any swimming this summer.  It would take on a pink tone by the end of the afternoon.



 

Hair artistry was performed in the late afternoon.

 

  On Sunday morning, the Benefields dressed, packed and began their long drive home to Austin.  The rest of us attended church services in Liberty.  After lunch, Rachel, Ben and family headed home to Lincoln.

 

The girls demonstrated that their hair coloring expertise can also be applied to grey hair.
 



 

Cousins Sam and Eva had a good time.







 

Nora and Lucy

 

 

On Monday evening, we flew back home through some impressive clouds.  Emily took a connecting flight from Denver to Salt Lake City with a connecting shuttle back to Provo.  The color washed out of Grumpa's hair and he was not detained by security for looking suspicious. 

 

   

 

 

 

Long weekend trip to Utah - July 31 - Aug 5

After putting in a half-day at the office on Wednesday, July 31 Bubbles and the Prince of Diminished Brightness drove from Denver to Salt Lake City, arriving at my mother's Taylorsville home in time to enjoy the 10 o'clock  local news.

 

On Thursday morning, we took my mother on an excursion, around the old Taylorsville neighborhood where our mink ranch had been located.  Our home on 4800 South had provided fuel for a recent fire.  I took a couple of pictures of the aftermath.  It doesn't appear that repairs have commenced.

 

 

 

We dropped into a retirement community in Sandy just in time for lunch and stopped by a second related independent living facility in Murray. 

 

Thursday evening, Rachel and Ben arrived with 2/3 of their children after a long, somewhat less than scenic drive across I-80 from Lincoln, Nebraska. 

 

On Friday, we were spectators of the dance performance of Rebecca, the other 1/3 of their children, at the conclusion of her ballet intensive workshop at BYU.   After the performance, we had lunch at the Wilkinson Center, then took a hike on the east side of Mt. Timpanogos up to the first waterfall.

 

 

 

On Saturday we had a family service project around Mom's home, weeding flowers beds, washing windows and general cleaning.  In the evening we enjoyed a round of miniature golf.   

 

On Sunday morning, mother opened a box to show the girls a family heirloom - a doll that had belonged to my father's mother. 

 

Becca and Eva modeled Mom's mink coats.  Spencer joined them for a photo.

 

We attended the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's performance at the Conference Center and made a short walking tour of Temple Square and City Creek before the Terry family hopped back into their minivan for the journey back across scenic I-80.   Deanna, Emily and I drove back home to Denver on Monday.  



Yard Work

 

The aspen trees in our front yard appeared to be dying.   

 

With the help of my neighbor Ken, the remaining two trees were brought down.

My other neighbor Tony noticed that I was hacking away with a handsaw and offered the use of his electric chainsaw to clean up the stumps.  I cut the trunks down close to the ground, but still wanted to remove the remaining trunk.  Spreading the task over random hours during weekday evenings and more concentrated effort on Saturday mornings over a two week period, the aspen stump finally worked loose.  Tony helped me lift the stump out of the hole and place it in the wheelbarrow. 

 

Here I am in the excavation site.  Having made a big hole and not having given a significant amount of contemplation about what would be planted in the archeological dig zone, Deanna suggested that as long as a hole had already been made, rather than fill it in only to dig it up later should the need arise, that a new tree would be a good thing to place therein, so long as it would not be an aspen or cottonwood or crab apple.    

 

 

During a trip to a nearby nursery, we selected a Crimson Sunset Maple, which we brought home and planted in the hole.  Deanna wielded a shovel and helped complete the task. then hosed off the bricks and sidewalk where we had piled the dirt that had been displaced when the hole was created..  

 

I still have to deal with the last remaining Cottonwood stump in the backyard.  We had the utility lines marked before further digging and it looks like it could be more of a challenge than I thought. The stump will not prevail....

 

 



Thoughts about reading during the morning commute

 

 

     A few years ago I ordered a copy of Harold Bloom's "Shakespeare:  The Invention of the Human" from Quality Paperback Books.  I thought that as a college-educated English-speaking person, I should be more familiar with the works of the greatest English writer.  I started reading the work earlier this year and got bogged down about halfway through and decided to take a short break.   I picked it up again this week and was reminded why I had put it down for a while.  That reality is the inspiration behind this original limerick:

 

  

                                          While reading today on the train

                                          Few thoughts would stay lodged in my brain.

                                          It seems there's no room

                                          For more Harold Bloom

                                          So I think I may have to abstain.

 

 

       Perhaps he felt the same way about writing as I do reading his words... 



 

Home Storage 2011

 

Pickles from cucumbers

 

 



 

Tomatoes and salsa