Grandma Bettie Goes Hard Rocker

We have a family tradition of seeing a movie on Thanksgiving. This year we saw The Blind Side with Sandra Bullock. It is the true story of Michael Lewis, who became one of the highest paid defensive ends in NFL history. He was a poor boy from the projects and got taken in by a wealthly white family in Memphis. He tested in the lowest 5% in all categories except being protective in which he tested in the top 2%. He was a gentle giant but figured out defense in football. A very good movie and a touching story. A great Thanksgiving flick.

Last night at Grandma Bettie's suggestion we went to Reno through a binding snow storm to see the Trans-Siberian-Orchestra. (eat your heart out Glasmanns) It is kind of a Black Sabath version of Manhiem Steamrollers doing Christmas Songs. We had tickets on the fourth row. We could see the swet on the guitarists upper lips, feel the heat from the pyro-technics, and tell when the violinists were faking it. Great light show, very loud music, lots of talent and energy and on occasion very lovely. Did I mention it was loud. At times I thought that maybe it was a little too loud and crazy for Grandma Bettie, but everytime I looked over to see how she was doing she had a smile on her face. ( She did pass out ear plugs to everyone around her.) Afterwards she said she loved it and it was a once in a life time experience.

A little perspective

I don't know if it is the economic difficulties of the times or the fact that Marla has been sick in bed all week but I decided to commit the time to watch two classic films about hardship and oppression: Richard Llewellyn's "How Green Was My Valley and John Steinbeck's "Grapes Of Wrath". It was my first time with either story,due to my Southern California Public Education. I suspect the books would be better but the pictures and images were very moving. Llewellyn's story is set in a Welsh coal mining town. Grapes of Wrath is a story of a Oklahoma share cropper's family fate in the depression and dust bowel. Both stories were about hard times, corruption, and oppressoin. Recommended viewing for anyone thinking they have it bad in America today. Hopefully we will never see times like that again in this country but unfortunately that is how things are in other parts of the world. Count your blessings everyone.

A little visit to Illinois

This past week I had Waddell and Reed meetings in Kansas City. Marla flew to Chicago on Wednesday and I came up after my meetings on Friday. We are staying with Jesse and Cori in their house in Freeport Illinois. Today we took a field trip to Galena. It is three miles from the Mississippi River on a tributary on the Galena River. At one time it was a very rich community with it's wealth coming from lead mining and river boats on the Mississippi. (Interesting how things change.) It was also the home of Ulyssis S Grant. After walking around down town and a delicious Italian meal we stopped in at the Apple River Fort. This fort dates back to the 1830s. Abraham Lincoln was stationed here as a 23 year old member of the Militia. We always enjoy seeing the country and hanging out with the grand kids. Their parents are OK too.

Yup the garden is done for the year.

Actually there are still potatoes, carrots, and beets in the ground and gallons of apples still in the trees. Last night we had an unexpected snow storm. Six the eight inches of heavy wet snow. This was lake effect snow from Lake Tahoe, a rarity for us. The lake effect snow usually goes to the north to Carson City or Washoe Valley. Carson didn't even get any rain in this storm. October 4 is pretty early for snow in the valley. Of course our power went out and of course the back up generator didn't work. Goes right along with the broken freezer and washing machine this week.

Fall Harvest Project

We have so many apples this year that I proposed to President Ogles of the Spanish Eagle Valley Branch of the Church that we have project to have the members make their own apple sause. (Pure de manzana) We would supply the apples and the goods to make apple sause and apple juice. They would pick the apples and work with Marla to make the goods. We had a good turn out and a good time was had by all. The idea of "food storage" is somewhat lost on the latinos. Marla and I were prepared to go into high production having each family take away 10 -12 quarts of apple sauce and a gallon of juice. They arrived late and after about an hour Marla told me they were done. (10 quarts done) I told them they had to keep going. At 10:30 we had to start cooking lunch. One of the Trujillos friends came and was a profesional entertainer in Colombia. He found my guitar and started playing and singing. So we had to listen to him and he was really good and then a little dancing and then it was time for lunch with more singing and entertaining. In the end we put up 31 quarts of apple sauce that they took with them and about 8 gallons of juice. (we drank one gallon) It was a successful activity. I think all had a good time. (Apples are not a big part of the hispanic diet.) So I still have about 100 gallons of apples on the trees.

The Hunt

This past week I went with Don and Bret Dixon on a Deer hunt. In the Ruby Mountains. I have always wanted to explore the Rudys and I enjoy Don and Bret's company. So it was an outing. We left Sunday afternoon and drove as far as Winnemucca ( That's where the gas almost ran out so we stopped so as to not make purchases on the Sabbath) We camped in a truck stop in the Airstream. Monday we made it to our camp in the Rubys. We spent the next Three days looking for deer. The deer tags that Don and Bret drew were for Black Powder. We needed to be within a range of around 100 yards to be effective with the cap lock rifles we were carrying and we needed a buck. We saw about 40 deer over the course of the week. We usually saw them 2 or 3 at a time. If we were close enough to shoot them they were does. If we found a buck ( and we only saw about 5 ) they were too far away. So we didn't kill bambi. ( I actually was not that excited about shooting a deer. I was more interested in the chase.) We saw lots of country in the Rubys. We hunted the ridge tops, and aspen groves, the valley's and meadows. We found beaver dams and saw the mess beavers can make of the forest. We saw some antelope and golden eagles. At one point Bret had a mountain lion stocking him. His saw the lion and we saw his tracks circling around behind him. We suspected the lion scared the deer away so we left also.

We cooked up some good dutch oven meals. Chicken and Rice, Corned beef and Cabbage, Rib Eye steak and dutch oven potatoes.

Hunting is an interesting experience. There are two approaches and we tried them both. One way is to have one person walk through a thicket of aspen or pine nuts and try to flush out the deer. The other two hunters wait on the outside of the thicket to shoot the deer as they come out. The other way is to hide in a area where deer will pass through and shoot them as the pass by. We would split up to do this to increase our odds and success. This would entail waiting for hours by one's self and trying to be still and quite. In this setting it is amazing what can to seen and heard. It was so quiet that just breathing seemed to be a major racket. In this quite I could hear the cows in the valley miles below us. I could hear trucks on the road miles away. I would usually hear the deer's hoof steps before I would see them. In all of my time in the mountains I don't think I have ever spent hours just listening and watching.

Hunting won't be first on my list of things to do with free time. ( and it takes a lot of time) But, I enjoyed the company and exploring the mountains and living in the wild ( in an airstream) for a few days.

Sheriff Bob

Well Deputy Sheriff that is. Our friend Bob Hines was just sworn in a Douglas County's newest Deputy Sheriff. The Hines family moved to the Valley a couple of years after we did. Their two boys Andrew and Tyler were friends with Jared and their daughter Allison is good friends with Thea. We have been in each others homes often through different activities in the Church. Bob has led an interesting career. He was 28 years with the phone company, many of them as a manager. He left Verizon and went to work for a motorcycle sales organization, when that didn't work out he sold Cadillacs and Buicks. In fact he helped me get a great deal on our Caddi. He was a great sales man. He always made sure the care was clean any where I went. In fact it was a little embarashing if I even got a spot on it because he would come over and clean it. When the economy went bad and the car business dried up he sold time shares up at Lake Tahoe. Everything he has done he has tackled with great enthusiasm. It has been a real example to me. After 30 years of work he has decided to go in a whole new career in law enforcement. Bob asked us to give him a charator reference and write a letter of recomendation. He is embracing this new direction with the same enthusiasm as always. Good luck and best success to Sheriff Bob.