Saturday, May 11, 2024: Aunt Gene's funeral, Cobb Salad @ Wendy's, Walmart for rugs, towels, and table for downstairs, Type J's talk and work on mine until 12:30, missed aurora borealis

 

Redlands, California

116th operating temple

Dedicated: 14 Sept 2003

By: Gordon B. Hinckley

 Book of Mormon

Mosiah 10:11-22

Come Follow Me

Mosiah 10:11-17

"My choices can influence generations"

April General Conference

"All Things for Our Good" by Elder Gerrit W. Gong

D&C 109:12

That thy glory may rest down upon thy people, and upon this thy house, which we now dedicate to thee, that it may be sanctified and consecrated to be holy, and that thy holy presence may be continually in this house;

I got up at 6:09 this morning. After prayer and scriptures and breakfast it was time to get ready to go to Aunt Gene's funeral. 

The funeral isn't until 11 but the family viewing is at 10 and Rita invited us to be in with the family.  We left the house at 9:20. 

We met Vickie and Harold out in the hall and spoke with them. Then I saw Janna and Patsy, looking a little lost. I went over to talk to them to see if I could help. Patsy wanted to see Randy and Arlee so I took them in the family gathering room or the Relief Society room. We talked to Rita and then Rita took them to see Arlee and Gary. 

They were happy and said they were going to go into the chapel and save a place for Pete and his wife Chris. When Pete came in looking for Patsy, I told him where she was. 

Aunt Gene looked very peace lying in the pink lining of her casket. There was a beautiful pink bouquet on the other end. I'm guess that was her favorite color. Rita, Arlee and Gary stood in the front of the room. 

These are some of the people I saw and recognized: Danny Seymore, David and Greg Butler, Eb and Ted Lewis, Gail & Gary Butler, Jani Huso, Alan Frost, Rick Goodman, Eddie Hall, Brian & Cher, Darlene Palmer, Pete & Chris Whipple, and Laurie Frost.

Rita's son Billy gave the family prayer before we all filed into the chapel. 

Here is a copy of the funeral program: 

Arlee, Rita, and Gary were the three speakers. The sister who was part of the couple performing the musical number is Jimmy and Jo Brookbank's daughter. I learned that thanks to Vickie. She has a beautiful voice and so does her husband.

I enjoyed her life history as given by Arlee.  Aunt Gene was born in Eagar. She also lived in Winslow and Nutrioso before moving to Lakeside and then Show Low. Grandma and Grandpa Maxwell bought a hunting lodge near Nutrioso which they ran for awhile. Marlin and Imogene were too young to be of much help. 

One summer they lived in an old cabin with no electricity and a dirt floor. She said that was the best summer she ever had. 

In 1935 they moved to Lakeside. Buena Rose Fish was her first friend in Lakeside. They rode horses together among other things. One day they ditched school and were going to walk up the hill to the Springer Tower which is just left of the now existing Lakeside theater. They walked up backwards to throw off the truant officer, who just so happened to be Arlee Maxwell, Imogene's dad. He was on to them and I'm afraid they got caught.

The Maxwell's had the first flushing toilet in Lakeside and Aunt Gene held tours letting her friends come in and flush the toilet.

In 1941 Aunt Gene, Dad, Grandma and Grandpa Maxwell, moved to Show Low. They bought the Show Low cafe from Ina Peterson. Grandma did the cooking, dad washed dishes, Aunt Gene waited tables, and grandpa pumped gas. Aunt Gene and Dad had to walk from the Show Low cafe to Bill's Bar, which is a good distance, I would say at least two miles.

Imogene Maxwell married Clair Tenney on February 1, 1947. They bought and ran Clair & Gene's Cafe in downtown Show Low until they sold it and bought a ranch in Oregon. They didn't stay long in Oregon. They lost the ranch and came back to Arizona. 

Clair and Gene had four children: Rita Claire who was born in Holbrook, Gary Gene who was born in McNary, Arlee Reid who was also born in McNary, and Randy Hank who was born in Oregon.

Two of Aunt Gene's best friends in those early married years were Buena Seymore, and Peggy Butler. 

Aunt Gene was a Cubscout leader. One of her former Cubscouts, Norm Wakefield, was at the funeral. 

The Tenney yard in Show Low where Chase Bank now stands was a beautiful green grassy area where kids from all over came to play baseball, and whatever other game came to mind. I remember coming up from Phoenix to visit and loving their yard. Once we found a huge toad in their cattleguard. The biggest I had ever seen.

Coffee was another Tenney legend. Coffee was their dog. He was one of those dogs that doesn't bark. He loved to walk the streets of Show Low and often followed the kids to school. The principal, Mr. Whipple, would call and say to Aunt Gene: "Come and get Coffee, he's been expelled." I remember working in my mom and dad's store and seeing Coffee walking down the street like he had an errand to run.

Aunt Gene and Uncle Clair were involved in Little League. Aunt Gene loved her yellow Cadillac and used it to haul kids to and from games and practice. Arlee Reid remembers going to Little League games in Flagstaff and staying at the Americana Hotel because they had a diving board in their swimming pool. 

Aunt Gene always made a big breakfast on Sunday. Ebin and Charlie Lewis would come over for breakfast on fast Sunday.

Aunt Gene loved the White Mountains. One of her favorite places to visit was Paradise Creek. 

In 1968 Clair & Gene bought the Hub Shell station. The Hub was like a mini Walmart. They had a little bit of everything. 

In 1972 they sold the Hub and the house. It just about broke Aunt Gene's heart. They spent the summers at Apache Wells in the valley where Gene played Bridge and Golf, two of her favorite pasttimes.

In 1978 Uncle Clair passed away. 

Aunt Gene moved back to Show Low and was the manager of the Paint Pony Lodge where she made many friends. Katy, Cher's mother worked for her at the Paint Pony. Katy came and visited Aunt Gene every Friday the last few years of her life when she was at the rest home in San Tan. 

Aunt Gene was very active in community affairs. She was instrumental in Show Low getting a high school. She was on the Board of Directors for Frontier Bank which is now National Bank. She also served on the Board of Directors for the Show Low Hospital and was a delegate for the Democratic party. 

She married and outlived her second husband, Clyde Brazieal.

Aunt Gene spent many winters at the Fountain of the Sun in east Mesa where she played golf and bridge. 

Aunt Gene loved everyone and had what some would call a joyful spirit. Her kids often called her Patty Gene because she would pat you on the back while giving you hugs. 

She held family golf tournaments with her kids, grandkids, and great grandkids. Rita said her best golf club was her foot. Yes, she cheated. She was more like Marlin Maxwell than I thought.

She took some of her grandkids on a trip to Washington D.C. when they graduated from 8th grade. She embarrassed them by wearing a Clinton hat. 

Aunt Gene had a way of making everyone feel special. It made me realize that the little things that we do can have a real impact on people. 

Dennis & Denise, Harold & Vickie, James & I all left after the funeral. James and I headed for Walmart to buy some things for the basement bedroom. First we stopped at Wendy's for lunch. I got a Cobb salad which was quite tasty. I couldn't finish it but will take it home and finish it tonight or tomorrow. 

In Walmart we bought two rugs, some towels and pillows, and a stand for the TV in the basement bedroom. We ended up leaving the pillows underneath the basket so I will have to go back and get some more. 

The downstairs looks nice. It will look nicer when we get the TV stand put up and get the TV hooked up.

I finished typing James's talk this evening and worked on mine until about 12:30. I missed the aurora borealis because I forgot to look outside. I have some pictures that someone else in Vernon took.

The first picture was taken in Queen Creek/San Tan Valley and the second was taken here in Vernon just a mile or so from our house, at the Hunsaker's.

Lola's dance recital

Max is 20 now

Rebecca & baby Christine

A painting Rebecca painted for Christine

Beautiful patio

Friday, May 10, 2024: Left sciatic nerve hurts, swelling on right side of my face, Work in basment getting bedrm rdy, Kim's eye appt, Chuck, Kacey & Zep pet Apollo, We are Tom's BnB, Charlie's piano recital

Brisbane, Australia

115th operating temple

Dedicated: 15 June 2003

By: Gordon B. Hinckley

Book of Mormon

Mosiah 10:1-10

Come Follow Me

Mosiah 9-10

I can face my challenges "in the strength of the Lord."

April General Conference

"Jesus Christ at the Center of Our Lives" by Elder Jose L. Alonso

D&C 109:11

And in a manner that we may be found worthy, in thy sight, to secure a fulfillment of the promises which thou hast made unto us, thy people, in the revelations given unto us;

My sciatic nerve on my left side was hurting today. Maybe I slept on it wrong. Also the right side of my face is swelling. I'm kind of a mess.

Today's project is to finish cleaning the basement bedroom so Jared Ammon can stay in it when he comes next week. 

The first thing I did was put the sheets on the bed. I noticed I was making wet footprints on the floor and soon discovered a big puddle of water between the wall and the bed. I called for James to come down and he said it was coming from the water pipe to the planter. He said he could turn the water off to the pipe and it wouldn't affect anything else. Well, that's good to know. He then said in order to fix it he would have to cut a hole in the drywall. 

By the end of the day the bedroom and bathroom were both clean. I made the mistake of putting the bathroom rug in the washer and the backing on it is now in little pieces all over in the washer. A real mess. I was so upset, I threw the rug away. Now we need to get a new bathroom rug, some more towels, two large rugs for the room, and some new throw pillows for the loveseat. 

James rearranged the room so the loveseat is facing where the TV will go when it is hooked up. Whoever put the hookup in the wall put it in the worst place possible but we are stuck with it. I don't like where the loveseat is but it is the only place that will work.

We need a stand for the TV as well as all of those other things I mentioned. 

Kim had an appointment with the eye doctor today. Here is what happened: They did an angiogram on her eye. No vasculitis or blood flow issues through the blood vessels. She doesn't really know what caused this. She did say that the swelling looked like it was less than last time, but not sure if the nerve will go back to normal or pale like the other one. She asked if I had a stressful event or high blood pressure or apnea. At this point it seems like they don't really know what caused it. Supposed to go back in 6 weeks to see if there is any change to the eye. Suggested I get in to see a neuro ophthalmologist, which I was trying to do anyway.

I looked outside today to see where the horses were and saw a group of people surrounding Harry Trotter/Apollo. It was Chuck, his daughter Joanna, her daughter Kacey, and Kacey's little boy Zep. Kacey loves horses. She just bought a saddle and wanted to ride Luna but I guess she changed her mind. Apollo is really more gentle than Luna and he was certainly enjoying the attention.

I listened to Elder Alonso's talk today. He talks about taking the Savior's yoke upon us only because of his accent he says take my joke upon you. I couldn't help but chuckle.

 I have decided we are Tom's bed and breakfast. He comes in, eats and sleeps, and then goes back outside to hunt, play and wander.

James has been working on his talk for Sunday. I have not started mine yet. James asked me if I would type his. It's over 11 pages long. 

Kathy Crane has made friends with the feral cat whom she calls Midnight. Now she is going to have five cats to feed. One is enough for us. I call her the cat whisperer.

Listened to "The Best Mistake" and "Jim and Katherine" while walking. 

Congratulations Scarlett!

Charlie's Spring Piano Recital

Great job Charlie!

Sunset in a cave

I love beautiful kitchens!

Our lilac bush

 

Thursday, May 9, 2024: Visit to see Dennis, Denise, Jenifer, Vickie, Harold, low tire, lunch, Safeway, Nap, Walk, Temple session & clean temple

 

The Hague, Netherlands

114th operating temple

Dedicated: 8 Sept 2002

By: Gordon B. Hinckley

Book of Mormon

Mosiah 9

Come Follow Me

Mosiah 8:13-19

The Lord provides prophets, seers, and revelators to benefit mankind.

April General Conference

"A Record of What I have Both Seen and Heard" Elder Brent H. Nielson

Inklings

"Trust in the Lord' Elder Paul B. Pieper

I started watching Inklings this morning while I was getting ready to go to Dennis's house. I didn't finish and I was surprised when it worked in the car. It's an Inklings live video. It was Emily and Tanna discussing one of my favorite conference talk, "Trust in the Lord' by Elder Pieper. 

I arrived at Dennis's around 9:00 a.m., with a low tire. Dennis filled it for me up to 35 lbs. 

Dennis, Denise, Jenifer, and Sammy were there. I guess Jenifer's friend Susie was in the other room on the phone. Sammy was sitting at the dining room table doing something on the computer with earphones on his head. Vickie came a little later bringing my Mom's scriptures to give to me.  We gave the scriptures to her back in the early 90's. She passed them on to Tasha when Tasha got baptized and now Tasha is giving them back to me. They are the big edition and are quite heavy. They are just like the ones I use at my desk only these have her name on them instead of mine.

Here are some notes from my conversation with Dennis, Denise, and Jenifer:

Optic neuritis is what Dennis and Jenifer were both diagnosed with. Once the infection in the optic nerve is gone it is called optic neuropathy. At this point the optic nerve is dead and turns white. This is where they both are now. 

Lebers Hereditary Optic Neuropathy is another condition. It requires a test, which is quite expensive. Jenifer has had the test and she has this condition. Here is an explanation of the condition - It is an inherited mitochondrial disease with devastating visual consequences. Blurring and clouding of vision. You are considered legally blind.

AMD is another condition Dennis told me about. AMD stands for Age Macular Degeneration. This usually occurs in older people.

Geographic Atrophy - small areas of vision appear blurry.

GAwontwait.com. Henry Winkler has done an infomercial on this condition. He says that his father-in-law has it. 

Dennis also has type 2 diabetes just as Kim does. He asked me if she gets her A1C every three months. I told him I didn't know but I doubted it. I'm not sure she even has a primary care physician. 

Dennis has a condition in one of his ears called Menieres. I think Kim might have it too. Menieres is liquid in the inner ear and your hearing is impaired. It actually causes hearing loss and ringing in the ears. Dizziness and nauseous are the symptoms.

I stopped at Safeway on the way home. James had been to Home Depot and Firehouse and he brought me a Firehouse sub. We met in the Safeway parking lot. 

James said he saw Jared's friend Brian Lemmerman coming out of Home Depot today. He bought some property up here and is fixing it up, getting it ready to sell. Brian took a selfie of both of them and is going to send it to Jared. Jared, did you get it?

I got some things in Safeway that Walmart doesn't normally have, such as, stirfry veggies. After my shopping I headed for home. 

After putting the groceries away at home I took a brief nap, played a little with Tom and did some vacuuming. 

I only got 3,492 steps today. We attended the 6:30 endowment session at the Snowflake temple with other members of our ward: Cyndy and Doug Brown, Fred and Barbara Klug, and T-Bo and Barbara Tignor. Barbara Klug has been helping T-Bo with his family history and they took some names through this evening.

After our session was over and the temple was closed we helped our ward clean.  We were late getting our assignment because the session didn't get out until after 8. Most people who came to clean were there by 8. James picked up the card to clean the men's bathroom which I wasn't too happy about. I happened to be talking to Janna Grombach about her mother's latest visit to Dr. Memon and she said she had saved a vacuuming card for the Skousen's but it looked like they weren't going to make it so she gave it to us. Much better. I would have cleaned the men's bathroom but it would not have been my first choice.

Here are the members of our ward who came to clean: 

Richard & Cress Miller, Rick & Rosie Lauritzen, Jimmy & Tamara Applegate, the Gassaways, Ralph & Cheryl Sedig, Willy & Janna Grombach, Sean & Stefani Hunsaker, Bishop Hunsaker, Brother Knight are high councilman, T-Bo & Barbara Tignor, Fred & Barbara Klug, Doug & Cyndy Brown, Sam & Amy Gordon, and us. Twenty six of us in all. 

The temple personnel are always amazed by how many people we have come. Our ward loves to give service.

With all of my running around today I only got 3,492 steps. I was tired after we got home from the temple and it was late. Tomorrow will be a better day. 

No Tom tonight. We called and called him but I guess he's too far away to hear. I hope he is okay through the night.

Pleasant dreams

I love this sweet angel

Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep

  

Wednesday, May 8, 2024: Up @ 5 today, all morning to do 2 blogposts, Joshua's play - he is great!, Paul's job offer, Methotrexate, J's mtg w/ J. Applegate, Elder De Feo, LC bills, Brother Peeler

 

Nauvoo, Illinois

113th operating temple

Dedicated: 27-30 June 2002

By: Gordon B. Hinckley

Book of Mormon

Mosiah 8:13-21

Come Follow Me

Mosiah 7:26-27

I was created "after the image of God".

"Your Body: A Magnificent Gift to Cherish" by President Russell M. Nelson

April General Conference

"Rise! He Calleth Thee" by Elder Massimo De Feo

'The gospel is not a way to avoid challenges and problems but a solution to increase our faith and learn how to deal with them."

D&C 109:10

And now, Holy Father, we ask thee to assist us, thy people, with thy grace, in calling our solemn assembly, that it may be done to thine honor and to thy divine acceptance;

 I was up at 5 o'clock today. You would think I would have gotten more done. It took me most of the morning to do two blogposts. I am determined to get caught up. 

I watched Joshua on YouTube in his play Edgar Allen Poe's "Tell-Tale Heart." He was the main character and did an amazing job. I am not a fan of Edgar Allen Poe, but I am a fan of Joshua's. 

Stacy called today and said that Paul got a job offer with Sonoran Quest. The only problem is the starting pay is $30,000 below what he was making at Amazon. Paul is going to make a counter offer of $7,000 more than they offered.

Paul has not been taking his Methotrexate because they don't have insurance and it is quite costly. I told Stacy I would send her some that I have left.

James had a meeting with Jimmie Applegate this morning. Brother Applegate is a little discouraged because of how long the process of getting doable house plans read is taking. Tim Lambson, Gail's son has been helping. Tim is an architect who lives in Oregon so his advice comes over the phone.

I used all the beeswax I ordered on the wood floor in the main area of the house. The video advertising the beeswax shows the floor shiny. It goes on shiny but dries dull. I was a little deceived.

I listened to Elder De Feo's conference talk today. When he talked about getting shots directly into his eyes once a month, I thought of Kim and her eye problems. At least she doesn't have that problem!

I paid Rock Solid, the concrete company who did the pours at the Landings. James sent off a bill to the Landings. Hopefully we will get paid soon.

James is upset because he says that Tom is ruining his blanket. Before Tom lays down he pushes his claws into the blanket. I told him I would get him a new blanket but he said no, surely was have another one that Tom will like. After this conversation I was surprised to see Tom laying on the blanket next to James tonight when we went to bed. James is tough on the outside and soft in the middle, just like a Ding Dong.

After watching Joshua on YouTube this morning I started "going down a rabbit hole." I Googled "Phantom of the Opera" because that is the play Show Low High School did last week. I thought maybe they had filmed it on YouTube, but no such luck. I then started watching Emmy Rossum, who played Christine in the film production of Phantom doing interviews with Conan O'Brian and Jay Leno. She told Jay Leno that her kindergarten teacher recommended she go try out for the children's choir at the New York Metropolitan Opera. She tried out and made it, singing with them from the age of 7-12. I do love her voice!

James was priesthood protection at Young Women's tonight at the church. He happen to see Brother Peeler there and wished him a Happy Birthday. Brother Peeler thanked him again for the cake and said that it was delicious and it was half gone.

My kitty is so funny when he sleeps!