Why I Take the BUS to Work

I often wonder why I take the bus because...in the winter on dark dreary freezing mornings I have to wait outside as the wind blows my skirt over my head and rips right through to the bones.  Then I have to stop all the time to add more people, and then drop them all off.  Then in the afternoon, the whole thing starts over again, but from the reverse.  So, yesterday I drove to work and because I was alone in the car, no commuter lane for me.  I was in the big crowd.  And we all  enjoyed the slow relaxed pace of not moving much.  It reminded me of times in Germany when people got out of their cars and went and talked to the neighbors, so to speak.  Once, on the way to work on a Saturday, there was a game or something and then the traffic was at a standstill for ages.  Someone got out and and started throwing nerf footballs across to other people.  It was rather funny.  But with the bus, its commuter lane all the way...and hey, I can even take a nap if I am so inclined...

Peace and Quiet

Well, Spencer wasn't home last night because of a wedding.  Therefore last night it was Brian and me.  I had to laugh because suddenly out of the blue Brian says "Ah, no dad.  Peace and Quiet."  So there you go, now you know who is the noisy one in our place!

At Church

Sunday we sang a new Hymn at church.  A clip from the Program gives the details. 

Lunch at Grandma's

As the kid's came over to eat after church today, I had a thought about how maybe in about a year or so there might be one more visitor.  It was a cool thought.    At this particular meal, Ty and Logan are watching a show on the TV.  Brecklyn is busy with the latest hairdo style and it will be interesting what lunchtime activity Grayson will have...we shall see.  Just a matter of time!

Obituary of Minnie Mea Mouse

Minnie Mea Mouse, partner of the late Mickey A. Mouse was found dead this morning, Oct. 10,2010 in the exact location of her dearly departed Mickey.  Her funeral services will be identical to his and may be noted in his obit, below.  Survivors of the twosome have not been located as of this time to receive notification of their deaths.  Minnie apparently followed in the paths of Mickey, first living on the streets, breaking and entering and theft.  May this be a lesson to all followers and relatives!

Obituary of Mickey A. Mouse

Funeral services are pending for Mickey A. Mouse.  After a wild and riotous life of following the trappings of temptation, the life of Mickey A. Mouse was cut short by his inability to follow the straight path of resisting temptations.  As many of the youth of today, Mickey A. Mouse pushed his limits a little too far and the result was fatal.  He passed on 9 Oct. 2010.  Family and friends are invited to call at the Geneva Waste disposal area at Geneva Road in Orem, Ut.  Gas masks are advised. 

In lieu of flowers, please send your donations to the "Haunt-A Virus" research fund.  Funeral arrangements being handled by Burbidge Waste disposal.  His body will be transported to his final resting place on Friday Oct. 15.

Sadie COME BACK!

Until Sadie died in Dec of 09, through the whole 13 years we had her, no mice.  But now Mickey is here to stay, checking things out for his little family and making sure there are no big kitties, so now he says, ALL CLEAR, guys!  We have found our home.  So another night, no bait left in the morning and the trap hasn't sprung.  What is the deal....

Last night I didn't feel well and couldn't sleep and heard him rustling about the kitchen.  Having a midnite snack on bait and what not.  I think we have kept him well fed and happy for his recent stay.  For sure this is a good place for him to call home...Better luck tonight.  And if nothing, out come the mouse pellets.  I don't like using this, but I don't like him here.  It's my house, not his...and I pay the groceries and should decide who to invite to dinner.

Mickey The Mouse

I always brag that my grandkids are the smartest, cutest, most advanced, bla, bla,bla.  BUT my mouse is equally so.  He can get off every morsel of bait from the trap without a scratch.  He must have checked the internet as to "How to get bait off trap without causing you bodily harm" and learned the latest techniques in the mousetrap feeding...soooo tonight the bait is under the little bait holder rather than on top of it.  So we are crossing our fingers, otherwise things will get ugly soon.

Community Trees Online

Today we talked about a project called community trees. Just what I want for my Jaryzsow Reconstruction Project. I have been looking for some way to put this online. Maybe this will help. I also discovered, quite by accident, a man in a French-Polish genealogy forum that was looking for records of the Kalisch family in Nogowschuetze. What a strange surprise. I am really excited about this. I posted a reply and hope you will see it and respond to me. I have many Kalisch in my reconstruction project. And only one of the female name that he had which was Kondziela. It fact, he was searching for an Agnes and that is the only Kondziela that I have found.

Mickey!

Mickey is smart, or something.  He ate all the bait in 3 mousetraps...What does that say for traps?  The traps  tried to catch us a few times as we set them.  I hate this.  What to do?  I can't stand the "remains" and the thought of where has he been??? Yuch.

Tomatoes, etc.

I have lots of green big fat tomatoes.  So I brought in a bunch to see if they would ripen.  I sure hope so!  It's supposed to be cooler this week.  Any chance of frost??  I don't want to lose the tomatoes that are still out there.  But I didn't want them all at once.  The rest of my garden is really winding down.  Not much out there anymore.  But then it is officially OCTOBER!  Where did this year go?

The grandkids and their parents, of course, went to Bear Lake for the weekend and so things were quiet, but I really got caught up on my genealogy projects, although there is still tons to do, I felt like I made a big dent putting things on PAF and my Jaryzsow project file.  I have been able to put lots of Jaryszow families together and I am so excited about that.  I feel like this is a worthwhile project.  Oddly, I don't know anyone else that is researching here.  But with all the many Silesian researchers, eventually I will find someone, I'm sure.

General Conference was good.  I really noted that the speakers, many of them, were discouraging video game playing, etc.  I can see that will be a challenge to many.  But it does seem like a waste of many hours accomplishing very little. 

Well, getting late and I am getting tired.  So this is a quick little post.  By the way, dispite several traps, our potato chip eating friend, Mickey, is not interested in the bait.  Spence even put potato chip on the trap.  No nibbles.

My"New" Blog

http://treeclimbingwithsonja.blogspot.com/  OK, I am doing 2 blogs...Oh the time and work.  But OK, I have been doing the "private" blog thing and it's OK, but for the people that have been looking at the genealogy parts it is not working so well.  So I have decided to separate "Church and State" so to speak...
So my genealogy stuff will be on the other blog and my family stuff will be on this private blog. So if someone hacks into the other it won't be personal things. I have started moving things from this blog over to the other one, but will be a little while till I am ready to really move on it.  But eventually I will have two.  Don't know if I can keep up with two, but I will give it a good try, anyway.

What is a Genealogist Without a CEMETERY???

 OK, I am a genealogist right?  So when I am on vacation where might you find me??  Yeah, that's right!
Well, this year for Halloween I have my own cemetery in the front yard.  I should have taken the pics in the daytime, but hey, what's better than a cemetery at night to get into the real feel of the atmosphere??

Because I Can Never Find This

Here is an article I have saved forever because I always find great recipes and then they have alcohol, so I don't make them.  This article was in the Ensign in 1976 and  I am pasting it in here so that when I need it, I will find it (I hope!)


Winnifred C. Jardine, “How to Be a Gourmet and a Mormon Too,” Ensign, Dec. 1976, 47–48

Tired of finding a new recipe for the holidays, only to discard it when you discover that it calls for the use of wine? Gourmet cookery is the delicate blending of foods that makes use of the savors of one’s choice and need not include the use of liquors or wines. In recipes that do call for them, substitutions can be easily made.

Substitutions for Wine and Liquor in Cooking

In Soups and Entrees

Dry (unsweet) red wine:

Water

Beef broth, bouillon or consommé

Tomato juice (plain or diluted)

Diluted cider vinegar or red wine vinegar

Liquid drained from canned mushrooms

Dry (unsweet) white wine:

Water

Chicken broth, bouillon or consommé

Ginger ale

White grape juice

Diluted cider vinegar or white wine vinegar

Liquid drained from canned mushrooms

In Cheese Dishes (fondue or rarebit)

Beer or ale:

Chicken broth

White grape juice

Ginger ale

In Desserts

Brandy:

Apple cider, peach or apricot syrup

Rum:

Pineapple juice or syrup flavored with almond extract

Sherry:

Orange or pineapple juice

Kirsch:

Syrup or juice from black cherries, raspberries, boysenberries, currants, or grapes or cherry cider

Cognac:

Juice from peaches, apricots or pears

Cointreau:

Orange juice or frozen orange juice concentrate

Creme de menthe:

Spearmint extract or oil of spearmint diluted with a little water or grapefruit juice

Red burgundy:

Grape juice

White burgundy:

White grape juice

Champagne:

Ginger ale

Claret:

Grape or currant juice or syrup or cherry cider

Note: To cut the sweetness of the syrups, dilute with water. Also, there are many flavor extracts, such as almond or pineapple, that can be added for interesting flavors.

Flambés or Flaming Desserts

The only substitute that might be used is a sugar cube soaked in lemon extract, then set atop a dessert and burned.

Winnifred C. Jardine, Salt Lake City, Utah

Eek! A MOUSE!

Yes, Mickey has moved in.  Last night he dined on potato chips including the bag and cinnamon rolls.  He was defnitely a chip man, however, he barely touched the cinnamon roll.  Picky, picky....Our first mouse in over 13 years.  Sadie, you are missed...  Sadie died in December and here we are not quite 10 months later...our new family pet.  Anyway the trap is set.  Wish us luck.

One On One

Today after work I took Tyson for a frozen yogurt.  It is nice to have the kids "one on one" now and then.  It gives me a chance to get to know them and to enjoy them as individuals.  We hung out for a while and it was really nice.  Tyson seemed to be really happy tonight and that was nice to see.  He loves to tell me about the things he thinks about and comics he writes and illustrates.  It was so interesting to hear him tell me about things he enjoys doing and being able to only concentrate on him for a while.  We talked about the Walk-about that we had a few days ago.  It was just a nice time.  Let's see which one of the grandkids is next!

Just Like the Ole' Days in Highland

We have often reminisced about how things used to be when the kids were little.  One of the things we all seem to remember was summer nights out with the neighbors.  When things would cool off in the early evening, the kids would all head outdoors and start to play their night games.  You could always tell where they all were by all the noise, laughter and fun.  The parents would go out on the streets and start talking to the neighbors, and sometimes bigger groups would gather.  The evenings were not so much watching TV, hanging out with the computer, video games and such.  It was time for some real fun. 

Well, the ward has started what they call "walk-abouts".  Sounds a little Australian, don't ya think?  I missed it last month, as I was in Poland, but sounds like it was horrible weather with a huge windstorm, anyways!  I didn't think I would go because Spence doesn't like to walk much, but then I saw all the ward members starting to mingle, walk and gather.  It reminded me of the old Highland and I was excited and bugged Spence till he agreed and we went to the Fishes house.  But by the time we got there, the nummy rolls had been devoured.  In fact, the last one available was being consumed just as we arrived.  So we sat down and visited.  Before we realized lots of people came on foot, on bikes, skateboards, cars and whatever.  It was just fun to gather like we used to, even if the food was all gone. 

Brent and Carolyn and the Cooks came while we were there and we began to talk about the "Old days" when we weren't (old that is).  The kids were young back then and we would all head down to Palisades as a neighborhood and camp and swim and the men would golf and a good time was had by all.  We were thinking how would it be to all go there again with all the next generations that have somehow sprung up and all those kids.  We would have to reserve the entire park.  But it sounded fun, but the older of us could go to a bed and breakfast in Manti or thereabouts??  How does it sound??

Anyways, I think I like the walk-about.  Wouldn't mind doing it again next month when the next one is scheduled.  Kinda cool!  Everyone was visiting and the night couldn't have been a better one.

Logan, The Next Famous Hofheins Soccer Star!

Logan loves soccer. Tyson not so much. When Ty took soccer, he wasn't too hot on it, and wasn't aggresive and didn't really care if he went after the ball or not. But Logan, this is his place to shine. He goes for the ball and as a result had a few little ouchies along the way. But I guess that's Soccer or any sport for that matter. Soccer is the Hofheins family Sport.  They all did really well and so they are happy to have Logan follow in the family tradition.

A few ouchies need a little mother's love.

They didn't win but are good sports.

The Day Family

Well, today our neighbors, Dave and Jessica Day were both baptized.  Their daughter had been baptized recently and they have been taking the missionary discussions.  We went to the baptism and it was really a nice experience.  Dave's dad baptized him and he had to try it twice because the first time just ddn't work out quite the way it should.  Then Dave was confirmed and Spencer helped with that.  And then Dave was ordained a priest and then baptized Jessica.  It was cool.  His family was really excited about it.  It was a nice day.

Spence was excited because he and Dave have become good friends as well as next door neighbors.  Dave's dad said a lot of his conversion had to do with Spence and Steve.  So that was really nice.

More on Francisca Kalus

Well, 2 nights ago I tried to find the man who submitted the names to New.familysearch.  It wasn't available at the website, so I went online and tried to figure it out.  I did.  And the funniest part was, his son lives about 5 minutes drive from me in Alpine.  I called him and he said his father does a lot of genealogy and submitted all the names I found.  He immigrated about  1 year after my family and lives in Idaho.  Because he is older, the son suggested that rather than phone his dad, I write.  So yesterday I sent him a letter.  I am waiting to see how we are related.  It is interesting.

Today the weather was cooler and actually quite nice.  At work we had our yearly "Outback" picnic.  They started this about 5 years ago, having a picnic in the fall in the back area behind the library.  The first couple of years they grilled burgers and hotdogs, but then they switched to sub sandwiches.  And everyone was happy with those, and salads, ice cream and drinks.  Last year they had us come out by name in alphabet groups.  That put Sylvie and I in the last group to go out.  They had run out of everything.  So this year we went out early right after they started serving.  We made it in time and got some lunch.  Our manager, Ruth, was helping in the food serving and said that they started running out of food abt noon or so.  So we were happy!  Well, nothing else new or worth writing about, so this is all for the moment.