This week started out with a wonderful adventure. In Wyoming and South Dakota, a person can purchase a permit to cut down a Christmas tree for only $10. It can’t be over 20 feet tall (darn it) and has to be a white spruce, a ponderosa pine or a juniper. We like the spruce; which means going to South Dakota. When we purchased the permit, the lady asked which type of tree we wanted and after telling her the spruce, she said we should go over to Mallow Camp. The State Forest starts just a little past the camp. Mallow Camp is only about 20 minutes from us, but it up in the mountain area. All went well until we got to the camp. The road there was snow packed but fine for driving. At the camp, the road wasn’t plowed. The snow didn’t look that deep in the tracks though. Our car did quite well last year in 10 inches. We got a little way down the road and then got stuck. The car was bottoming out from the center area of snow between the tracks. Not a real good situation. There is no one around, no cell service and very cold. We did have a travel shovel (a fairly new purchase) and some tire chains in the car; as well as lots of additional winter clothing (a must at this time of year). I gave a prayer that we would be able to get unstuck. Another essential in our book.
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| The road to Mallow Camp |
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| The way to Mallow Camp, this is before our recent snow. |
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Walt putting on the chains for the tires
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After digging out and struggling with tire chains, Walt was able to get us free. I gave Heavenly Father a bit of credit as well, and gave my prayer of gratitude. It really wasn’t deep, just in the middle. I was worried Walt would want to give it another try. He decided to park the car in the clear area and we would walk to find our tree. So we bundled up, packed the back pack with the saw, water and our tree tag. You have to tag the tree before removing it from the forest.
It was hard walking in the snow. My legs feel extra short walking in deep snow. In some areas, it was a foot or more. We saw some good possibilities up the side of the mountain - of course. We looked at a few and then found one that really looked nice. It looked rather short; especially with all those huge trees around it. But we measured it against Walt’s height and decided it was the one. It came down rather easily, and Walt dragged it to the car. The rules say to have the tree where it can be seen outside the car or truck. Walt decided if it fit, he would just shove it in the back. It fit!! Off we went with our beautiful spruce tree!!
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| I'm trying to climb the hill |
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| Our tree - doesn't look very big here |
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Walt dragging the tree back to the car
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He got it stuffed in the car
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It looked a lot bigger in our house, but not overly so. The trunk is very thin and Walt had to be creative in getting it to stay in the stand, even with the screws all the way out. We found a stand at the thrift store a month or so ago. It is held up straight by the angel’s head touching the ceiling; otherwise, it leans. Now we know how essential angels are. :). We had lights from the thrift store and some for free. Then we had some decorations from the thrift store, candy canes, and some Pass Along Cards tied on with ribbons. Pass Along cards are cards with pictures of the Savior to give to other people with information on how to learn more about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on the back. One of Beth’s friends, called them “Jesus Cards.” Our ward in PA last year used them to decorate the ward tree and I thought it was a cool idea. It’s a beautiful tree - for only $10 and the cost of ornaments from the thrift store. It was great to have such an adventure to get it - other wise it would have been so boring.
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| All decorated. |
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| A close up of the Pass Along cards. Also Walt's new Santa on a motorcycle ornament. Guess he's headed to Sturgis for the motorcycle rally. |
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| This bluebird ornament is one of my favorite finds |
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| Walt had this made at Walmart. It's the Smith family at the temple in June. He got one for them as well. |
Later that evening, we had a lesson that family with two little girls. Walt is always a favorite with the children. We had some farm animals we had bought months ago to help entertain a family with small children at church. We took those along to our lesson. They played with Walt the whole time and even brought some books in for him to read. It was so cute.
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Walt with his two girls. They just love him
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Tuesday, we were out of eggs, so decided to eat at Donna’s Diner. We’ve eaten there once before and loved the food. It is popular with local and people just passing by. It is well known here. There was a group of local guys eating there when we arrived, and we knew two of them. One said he didn’t recognize us when we said hi, and I went over so he could see us better. The name tag was the aha moment. Louie Dole was one of the ones we knew. We met him at the Sr Center back when we first got here. He is quite a character. When it came time to pay our check, the waitress asked if we knew Louie. We said yes. She said, he called in after he got home and paid our tab. He told her how we are always helping everyone and never ask for a thing, so he wanted to pay for our breakfast. What a sweetheart.
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Breakfast at Donna's Diner. Walt loves their biscuits and gravy. This is one pancake. It was enough for two breakfasts.
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Late that day, we had a visit with the Pithans. Brother Pithan picked up a couple of pallets of wood pellets for his pellet stove. A lot of people here use them for their main heat source. We brought the Elders with us to haul the sacks inside. It was a really cold day that day; especially at the Pithans. It’s always colder there. Walt got the job of pulling the sacks onto the tail of the truck and the Elders carried them inside. My job was to work the door. It was way too cold to leave it open. The Pithans always have a nice fire going to help Pat keep warm. She has a nerve disease and the cold gets to her really easily. We had a nice visit and they were so grateful for the help. It would have been a real chore for him to carry all those pellets in. So glad we have those young Elders to help with service like that.
Wednesday was supposed to be a Thanksgiving dinner at the Senior Center that we would help with. Our mission President, President Larson, wanted to come to visit our Zone on Wednesday. We found that out on Monday. So we went to Gillette to meet with President Larson. Our visiting General Authority from the previous week was a little rough on the two Zones we had conference with and President Larson wanted to make sure we were all fine. He specifically wanted to talk with Walt and me to let us know we were doing a good job and make sure we were still happy serving in Newcastle. If we weren’t, he would move us. We assured him we were very happy serving in Newcastle. We’ve made some great relationships with the members and other people in the community and would hate to be moved. He also wanted us to understand that we could certainly teach and baptize on our own, without the young Elders. We explained that we liked teaching with them, and helping them learn where they could improve. We like giving them the credit for teaching and baptizing since we don’t have to report such things like they do. Thank goodness for that. It was great to meet with him personally. We haven’t had many opportunities to do that, and it felt good to see that he appreciated what we are doing. He also asked us to be his eyes and ears in this part of the mission - keep on eye on the young ones and help them learn. No problem. Most of the Elders are intimidated by me. As one Elder explained it, “Sister Vann, I just don’t want to ever make you mad.” It makes me laugh.
We ran some errands in Gillette while we were there, since they were calling for a blizzard. We got the flannel back material for our Wyoming quilt at the Black Friday price. So glad they made that a two day thing. We also stocked up on a few groceries and finished getting the food for our widow sister’s thanksgiving meal thanks to Gary. He insisted it wouldn’t be a complete meal without pickles and jello. We also got the ingredients for sweet potatoes, homemade rolls and my family recipe for ambrosia. It wouldn’t seem like Thanksgiving to me without it. The only sweet potatoes they had were “golden” and they aren’t nearly as sweet as regular ones. What a shame. That evening I did my part of Thanksgiving cooking and we just relaxed for once. We even stayed up a bit later; knowing we would get the opportunity to sleep in.
Thursday we slept in and just prepared for our visit to the Smiths for our Thanksgiving meal. I ended up just keeping the ambrosia for myself since it wasn’t something I was asked to bring. That ended up being a good decision; they have a traditional favorite fruit salad they make every year. No one really ate my sweet potatoes; guess they aren’t a fan. The rolls were a hit with the kids. It was a small group, only 8 of us. It was nice to have a family to eat with. Unfortunately, Renee was having trouble early that morning and the ambulance had to pick her up for the hospital. Not sure when she will come home. They found out she has strep throat. With the upcoming storm, she is staying put for a bit. They live in Upton and it gets pretty bad out there.
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| Both Richards. The young one has dish duty |
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| Richard loves apple pie. Can you tell? |
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Nic's idea of dessert was a bowl of whipped cream with sprinkles.
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We were able to FaceTime the Monn/Wilson grandchildren that morning. It was good to see their faces and they even treated us to some sibling squabbling. Things never change. I also introduced them to Marco Polo. It’s proving to be a great app to keep us connected to them. Emma loves it and spent Wednesday evening sending lots and lots of videos. She is adorable. I love this app. We do miss our family a lot; especially with the holidays. At least we only miss one set of holidays for our mission.
Friday was a big service day. Richard Smith is fixing up his new trailer in Newcastle. We lined up sisters for cleaning and brethren for taping, mudding and other things. We had a great turn out! 12 people showed up - I was quite impressed. Everyone has been wanting to help this family with little options for service. The ladies cleaned everything in sight. All the taping for painting was accomplished. Walt did all the mudding for patching, cracks and joints. I think he was the only one who knew how to do that. It amazes me all the time how the skills we have, can be so useful here. Walt even brought tools from home with him and has used them quite a bit. Most people had to leave by lunch time, but we stayed until around 3 pm. Richard was ready to call it a day and have a little time to visit Renee before the storm moved in. We tried to visit her later that evening, but she was still not feeling well.
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| Sisters cleaning at Richard's new trailer |
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| Elders taping up windows for painting |
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Lots of help that day
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So the Blizzard. They have been calling for blizzard conditions and possible large amounts of snowfall from this storm (anywhere from 5-20 inches ; starting Friday evening and all day Saturday. Some places got plenty, but not Newcastle - bummer. We only got about 8 inches. We did have some windy parts, but not what I was expecting. I guess it’s good to live in that protective little pocket, but I was hoping for a lot more. That was until we needed to uncover our car and shovel a path around it. Then 8 inches felt like plenty. So Saturday, we just stayed hunkered down for the most part. We slept in, worked on some Seminary lessons and for once, started on my blog a little early. Renee was up for a visit, so we dug out and went to see her. We figured we would have to get to our car eventually and tomorrow morning in our church clothes wasn’t all that appealing. We’re grateful for our super warm coats with fur around the hood. Kate taught us that the fur helps keep the wind and snow out of your face. It might not be a fashion statement but it works well.
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| This is only 6 inches of snow. We got 2 more later that day |
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Walt starting the shoveling.
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I will finish up the blog tomorrow after church; if we have it. The roads are rather slick and snowy. Most were plowed this morning and have a bit more snow on them now. The big problem here is the blowing snow. This causes some major snow drifts and those are unpredictable where they might show up. So we will see how it goes. The Bishop is out at his ranch and there are snow drifts there up to the hood of his truck! No thanks.
Today is Sunday and we will actually get this sent out today. We had a sparse showing at church today, but that was to be expected. The testimonies were pretty good; a lot about the Savior. That is how it should be. It will be a quiet afternoon and evening. We only have one visit planned - to see Renee. The time will be filled with preparing for Seminary, reading a Christmas story to my grandchildren on video, and maybe wrapping a few gifts. I love Christmas stories and decided to read a story each night to the grandchildren on Marco Polo (video type appt). I need the connection, we miss that.
Have a great week. Keep the Christmas spirit - put Christ in your life and follow His example of love, giving, and serving.
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