10 June – There is a bird out here that has a call much like the southern Whippoorwill. We have finally identified it as the Willet. Often the Willet will call while in flight and the sound seems to come from somewhere on the ground. I think it is a ventriloquist.
We have another trek coming in tomorrow (Wed). Just a Ward, this time, instead of a Stake. They’ll stay until Saturday morning.
13 June – We have been busy keeping our Ward trekking. These kids are animals!!! They trek faster than I can walk and I’m no slouch and faster than Arnold can walk, too. Anyway, it’s been interesting finding ways to give them enough mileage. They are so eager to trek.
Their first camp was down in McKay hollow. It was cold (down in the 20′s) and part of the water buffalo froze and broke. They couldn’t get water out of it any more. So, first thing in the morning we had to take them another buffalo (with water in it, of course) and bring the broken one back to the Depot. One of the other couples has the “week off” (meaning no treks), so they fixed the broken pipes on the buffalo.
One of the groups out here this week, numbers about 400. From up on the ridge, I watched them come through a meadow. They were so strung out it was 45 minutes between the first part of the group and the tail end. Another group is 350 strong. And our is a small group of 50.
The wild flowers are coming into bloom. Up on the ridges it’s like a carpet of flowers – white, several shades of pink, yellow, lavender/purple, red and a few blue ones are just beginning to bloom. The hills are all greened up – they look like velvet. Absolutely lovely!!!!! This country grows on you!!!
Every time I drive along a ridge and view the green hollows, I’m thankful we’re here. Every time I watch a kid conquer a hardship or help another, I’m thankful we’re here. What a great place to be, what a great mission to serve.
Today on the way home from settling in our trek group at their last camp, we saw an Antelope doe cross the road in front of us with two tiny fawns. As soon as the fawns hit the vegetation on the other side of the road they disappeared. We stopped to watch. Suddenly, one of the fawns jumped out of the brush right beside the road and ran towards mommy. We wondered where the other fawn went. I looked into the grass at the edge of the road right beside the truck, and there it was laying in the grass. Yep, they look like cow pies with eyes – just like the fella said. It got up, ran across the road and disappeared again. Arnold snuck up on it and got some photos of it lying amongst the brush.
We also saw a fox on the way home. This place is teeming with wild life!!!!!!!!!!! What fun to see!!
14 June – We had a route review today with a group of people who were extremely careful about the trek they would be presenting to their Stake. Arnold stayed with our other trek group who was leaving and I did the route review. It took those folks five hours to do their review. Usually it takes a max of four hours. But, they wanted to check things out very thoroughly for their kids. I expect their trek will be very well done!!!!!
Ya know, it’s kinda funny how the treks work out. Some leaders plan lots of things, some don’t, some plan really tough women’s pulls, others don’t. But no matter what the leaders do or don’t do the trek always works out well for the group. As Elder Sherwood says it, “We get them into the Lord’s arena and He takes care of the rest.”
15 June – We had a surprise visit from Debra & Dave (Arnold’s daughter and her fella). They came in about 7pm on Father’s Day. She didn’t want her dad to know so she had me in cahoots with her. She called me from the gate and I told him we had someone to meet at the gate NOW. He went along, suspecting nothing. When he saw who it was he was surprised. We spent the evening catching up on all their news.
The following day we took them on a bit of a drive through the ranch property to show them where we took the trekkers. They left Tuesday morning early while we were down at Fox Hollow getting a load of rental carts off to Las Vegas Lone Mountain for their trek in Nevada. That’s the same stake we were in when we lived in Indian Springs. How great we were assigned to assist them!!!!!!! We discovered that our friend’s daughter, Corrin Patty, was indeed going on the trek. When we visited Indians Springs in March, we made her promise us she’d go. Hope her promise to us made a little difference. We are anxious to hear how their trek went. They return the carts Sunday afternoon or Monday morning.
20 June – It’s been an interesting several days since my last entry. Today I am home from the hospital. My twenty plus year old hernia (in an old gall bladder incision) decided to get nasty. Tuesday evening I started cramping up. Such a thing had happened before and a couple hours of relaxing in the lazy boy usually took care of things and there is a lazy boy down in the depot. I was pretty uncomfortable by bed time so I went down there to lounge in the lazy boy. After a couple hours things weren’t better they were worse. I thought I might have a touch of food poisoning as it was acting quite like the time I did have food poisoning. Just before midnight, I came back up to the trailer and told Arnold I thought he’d better take me in.
We didn’t remember the directions to the hospital. So, just as we reached the outskirts of Evanston, Arnold called 911 for instructions. He made them stay on the phone until we were sure we were there. Meantime, a cop spotted him speeding (about 10-15 over the limit) and turned his lights on just as we passed the entrance to the hospital. Arnold quickly told the cop what was going on, got turned around and into the Emergency Room. Once I was admitted, Arnold gave me a blessing.
The doctors quickly assessed the difficulty and said I must have surgery IMMEDIATELY. We decided I needed anointing as well, so they found another LDS Elder in the hospital to assist in the blessing. Wonder of wonders, they didn’t have to use mesh to patch me up. I was scared I’d have an allergic reaction to the stuff.
The doctor said a couple more hours and I’d have been in a lot worse situation. My intestines were turning blue already from being pinched off – he called it incarcerated. Arnold and I thought that was an interesting word considering Arnold’s recent line of work.
Arnold didn’t get any sleep that night – neither did I for that matter, unless you call being anesthetized getting some sleep – har har. He let the other missionary couples know where I was the following morning.
Some of the meds I had to take made me itch like crazy, so they had to give me something to counter act the itching. It worked enough I wasn’t going crazy with scratching, but I still itched and couldn’t sleep for the itching. Not to mention the pain med they gave me caused me to stop breathing everytime I dozed off so the low oxygen alarm would go off and wake me up. Go figure. The first night I really had any sleep was Thursday night – I slept for a solid 4-5 hours. Ahhhhh!!!
So, for now, I’m all fixed up. That hernia won’t ever bug me again, I’m back home at the Missionary camp, on light duty and not supposed to lift anything for many weeks – I can drive and I can walk. Needless to say, I’m pretty dadgummed sore and don’t move quickly – it’s even really hard to cough. But I can still serve, I can still find things to do to be useful.
And, best of all, it all happened on our “week off.” We didn’t have a trek this week, just a Ma & Pa training today (Friday) and a route review tomorrow (Saturday) both of which Arnold can handle with out my assistance. By next week, when we do have a trek, I’ll at least be able to drive and position the support vehicles at the next potty stop, while Arnold can walk cross country with them.
Otherwise, the Garden of Eat In is sprouting!!!!! Everything – raddishes, carrots, swiss chard, lettuce, peas, onions, turnips – is up except the bush beans. Wonder what’s keeping them? I could not find any cabbage plants in this town. Thought I really kinda doubt it, maybe Grant’s will still have some when we go down to vote next week.
21 June – We both had a wonderful sleep last night in our own bed!!! After no sleep for three night except for part of one night in the hospital and Arnold’s restless sleep while I was not here – it was immensely welcome!!!! Why is it that sick people in the hospital are not allowed sufficient rest? Kinda seems like an oxymoron to me.
Another week closes – all the treks have gone home and many special events happened.
One of the couples had a VERY spiritual experience with their trekkers. The Elder said it was the most spiritual experience he’s ever had on a trek (he’s been here three years). He got so choked up he could hardly speak about it.
One of the lads on their trek actually passed out as he pulled the cart. The medical person made him ride in one of the support vehicles and that made the kid angry. The Elder driving the support vehicle explained to the lad how a guy always wants to do his best, and then some, for his “family.” It’s just the nature of a man. That was why it was the men who pulled their carts across the plains that died first. They gave their all for their families.
Another instance, the trail boss’s wife decided she was going to walk all the way. The two of them are in their sixties. Toward the end of the trek, the wife began to struggle. The trail boss sent his assistant to the head of the line to lead the trekkers back to the staging area (ending point) while he (the trail boss) walked with his wife with his arm around her waist to help her along. When the two of them finally arrived at the ending point (the last ones of the group to do so), everyone else on the trek had lined up in two facing rows making an avenue for the couple to walk down through. And they sang songs to welcome them to the end. A VERY stirring moment. Both the trail boss and the wife were in tears.
Arnold’s Ma & Pa group had a women’s pull he was able to witness. The gals took the carts up a steep hill while the guys stood by. They really had to struggle to get the carts up the hill. Very moving!!!!! Arnold said, “I don’t think I could have stood there and watched.”
We heard that our friend, Corrin Patty (from Indian Springs) made her trek and received the letters we sent. We were told she was thrilled to get them. We are so proud of her for going!!!!! We are so thankful we were able to be a small part of encouraging her to go. We hope the experience will guide her in the right path in the future!!
My what an adventurous couple weeks we’ve had!!!! And another wonderful, restful Sunday to top it all off!!!!!!!! We are blessed, indeed.
We will go down the mountain on Tuesday to cast our ballot, visit some special friends, visit family, do errands and have a REAL P-Day for a change.
Love & Laughter
Arnold & Syd
