Plumbing truck

Work is come after us

We got home and I think we busier. Trying to get back into live at home. We been down to Isabella two time now getting plumbing done in her bathroom. Brent put in two water heater for his sister. One was for there shop that has never had one. They are enjoying the hot water.
We talk to day in church. I was ask to talk on tithing but talk about fast offering. I talk about how truely bless we are. Just turn off the electricty for a little while you remember lot of blessing. Brent talk was on the ten comment. Have fun counting you blessing

The last big JOB

It almost time for us to go home. We have one more big job to do replace the shingles on a garage and paint the barn . Connie started on the shingles while I was taking off the old trim at the bottom of the roof on Saturday. We were at church Sunday and a member ask how much longer we would be here. I told him what we had to do. He then ask if I could use a nail gun and shovel for the singles. I said that would be great. We stopped by his house on Monday to pick up the things we needed for the job. It was nice having extra tools to take off the roof. I stared to help Connie take off the singles. Talk about hard there was three layer of shingles on the roof. They were nail into pinewood broads.The nail were very hard to get out. We would lay on the shovel so hard that the nail would just pop out flying who know where. We got over half of the shingles off the roof Monday. Tuesday we started putting on the new shingles. We had the tar paper on and 1/3 of the shingles that when the lighting started to sound off. The clouds started to roll in and the lighting was getting closer. We got our things off of the roof. We hopped into our car to get some thing from town. When we drive the three mile to town . We found our self in a heavy rain storm then hail stones started to come down. We park under a gas station roof for some protection. The next thing we did was to drive home very slowly. The rain was coming down so hard that our windshield wiper could hardly keep the rain off our windshield. The next day we heard that tennis ball size hail stone had hit in someplace around area. A tornado had gone through a small town south of us and kill 8 people. A family in our branch that live only 8 miles from town said the hailstone broke some window. They could see the indentation on the roof of there house where the hail stone hit. We asked some of the locals here if this was a normal storm for this area. They said yep pretty much. It rain the rest of that night by morning it had stopped. When we got to the job site the garage had leak inside a little bit but the tar paper and shingles were still on Thank the Lord. We got the rest of the shingles on the 1/2 of roof by the end of the day. It stay cloudy for the next two days. We had the new singles on on by Friday. I did not think that I would be able to haul 53 bundles of shingles up a ladder and get this job done. Now it feel so good to have it done. Using the nail gun made it almost fun. It was much faster than hamming the nails one at a time even let Connie hammer some nail in the shingles on too. Now can a man love a woman more then that??
Now it getting late and the coyote just got through serenading us which I am going to miss about this place. Part of this mission is to get yo know your companion little better. We are with each other 24 hour a day.even shopping together.
I can say now that our love for each other is stronger then it has ever been I know that it has been hard on some of the kids for us to be here but this is where we were supposed to be. I have learned alot of new thing about my self and that with the lord's help we can do anything .Well enough for now I'll write about painting the rest of the garage and the huge barn next time. I am having trouble ending this letter because my heart is so full of the way all of my children have supported us on this mission. The way Alma has buckle down to run the business and made it work this time thanks. How hard that Angela has work to take care of the bills and do the paper work for the business,Thanks. For Brenda that has taken time away from school teaching to take care of the rentals ,Thanks Shem and La dawn taking such good care of our grand kids thanks also for the calls and letters. Lillian thanks for all you done to share your life with us xxx and ooo thanks for the flowers. Ammon and Michelle who has called to let us know how things are going there thanks We will get to visit with them after the mission I can't wait to see them. Last but not least is Isabella who is so bossy and is always telling us what to do, thanks, for caring about us that much it is so nice to have you a little closer to us all I'm saying I guess is that ya all have made our life happier because of the great lives's that you are living ,we love you all so much thank you thank you thank you.

Foot steps of the past

On the farm here there are some hand carts, like the ones that the pioneer used to go to Utah in the 1830. We had a visitor from Tulsa that said a group of adults will be here Saturday to use some of the carts for a short 4 mile track and at noon they would be having lunch. We were invited if we wonted. This would be a training run for the adults when the rest of the group of the group of 160 young adults will be going on a three day track at the first of the month.

So early Saturday morning people started showing up by the car loads. All dress up in pioneer clothes and hats. They had all the carts out cleaning preparing them for the big event. They divided us up in to group of eight. We were assigned each one of us who we would be. We were assigned to be children. and they assigned another couple to be the parents. We load up the hand carts with all our gear. everyone had a five gallon bucket with a lid on them to put there clothes and other things that they wanted to keep dry. also it made a good seat for later on. We grabbed a bonnet for Connie and a hat for me put them in a bucket for our coats and some water and we were off. The group started off at a very fast pace. We all took turn pushing or pulling the cart. They had red handkerchief that they would put over the eyes of some to show blindness or on a leg for lameness, just a way of letting us see some of the problems that the pioneers dwelt with. after the first mile we came to our first hill, we would stop every half hour to rest and drink water. They waited a bit between the carts going up the hill to get them room to maneuver their carts. It was exhausting and exciting at the same time. When we all got to the top of the hill we rested. Some went back to help the others. Then we took a moment to walk a little higher to the top of the hill to look over the ranch. The trail boss showed us where would eat lunch also that when they had the young adults there this would be a good time to sit and talk to them and lesson to them. Because for a lot of them this would be the first time for them to be away from all convenience of modern life like cell phones, TV, Video games, and etc.They ask us to do was to count off each time we started. They started with the parents so no one would be left behind. Half way down the trail we stop to rest and my wife was missing. We were the last cart and she was trailing behind us last I look. Father and I headed back down the trail to find her. After about 10 or 15 minutes of yelling her name and look for her . She appeared. I ask her later what had happen. She told me she was told to disappear to see if we would miss her because thing like this happen on the trail all the time because someone would get tired or hurt on the trail all the time and no one had notices. They would have to go back to find them. The rest of the trail was uneventful. The ground was fairly level except for a lot of rock and small streams. At the end of the four miles there was the reward of the food it was great but of course for the pioneers then would not have been some one there to cook and a car to hop into to take them back to their cars. It was enough of the taste of the trail to let us know how nice our lives are today.

We were so sore that night and our feet and legs ache. We thought we were in pretty good shape, because we had walked that far before and not had a problem. It was just the fast pace and pushing the cart that made the difference, any way when we hit the hay that night we slept hard and was happy to have a warm bed to sleep in, a hot shower, and flush toilet to use. Life is good and we got down on our knees and thanked the Lord for his goodness to us.

Life lessons we thought we knew

Don't do this It was late at night and I was thirsty. We was driving home and I reached back to get a drink of water. I open the lid and put the jug to my lips. Connie look at me and said don"t drink that it ammonia Of course at the same time I also realize that it wasn't water. My tongue stop it from going into my mouth. Talk about sting WOW don"t do this after losing three layer of skin on my lips and three days later I felt better.
Don't drive at night with out your lights on. We was comming home from a long drive from Tulsa and had stop in a small town to get a drink. We pulled out of the store and drove around a corner four officers talking outside gas station looking at our car like something was wrong. Connie noticed that her lights were not on when she went just little way down the street. She quick turn them on only to see flashing light behind her: busted. Boy they were fast they had us with in fifty feet. We pull over into a driveway because the road to narrow to pull over on the side. I hopped out to look for my purse for my license. The Office told me to get in my vehicle. I got my purse and did so. He stop me because my light were not on. He took my license, registion, and insurance card. He brought them back and said I could go after the other offerice talk to my husband. We figure this out later. I was driving and he was riding. We done this for year and we don't think about it. I love to drive and do not get much change to drive like my husband does. He does service call all over the place. I am home most day. He love me enough to let me drive when were together because he drive all the time. I love driving. I just reallize how unusually that is when the police officer ask to see my husband license. Brent ask him back why and he said because I ask to see it. He said OK. The officer then said he was checking him out to make sure he was not a crimial. I love my husband even more because he still let me drive when were together, even after the police officers. It make me a better drive because I get to pactuse at the wheel.

to do or not to dew

The house is done and I am putting the last of the paint on the trim of the shop. The last of it was done in the moon light but it look great. I went to help with the last little clean up of thing in the house that took about an hour. It is about 8:30 and I start loading thing up into the truck to go home. I had not pack up my ladder from painting yet. When I grabbed it it felt damp. I look up and the sky was clear. I checked the last part of the paint on the shop and it had started to run off of the building. The dew had come in that night so heavy that it was like rain. Needless to say we will be redoing the last part of the paint when it warms up. Lesson learned some times even when its not cloudy it can be like rain here in Oklahoma.

The Big pipe just sticking up out of the ground

When we drive out to Little chief there this 8 foot round pipe standing about 20 feet up in the air with rural water written on it. If you look off in the distance you can see another pipe.
The house we been working on at Little chief has a water meter and not a well. The house is miles away from the closes house. Why?? Will it seem when they get oil here in OK they also get salt water and natural gas. Many year back they would just pump the salt water back into the ground or put it on the ground. The salt water they pump into the ground mix with all the under ground water. The area well became undrinkable. Look like the oil company were take to court and had to get water to all the people with bad water. Most country home I guess in this area have meters for water. When you go pass a big pipe standing up in the air around pawaka OK you now know why. The salt water from the oil well are haul away.