Water, Rain and Birds

 We have been Ssooo grateful for all the snow that came last winter. Our lakes and reservoirs were filled so much! Powell is not totally filled, but smaller ones are. It's lovely. 

And then we have had a few really nice rain showers of late. One weekly for the past couple of weeks or so. Beautiful. It cools the hot summer temps and it waters the lawns and gardens.

Yesterday, August 12, was one of those. I also had to usher at the Shakespeare Festival. It wasn't raining at 6:30, but when 8 o'clock came, it was sprinkling. They did not 'hold' the play, but started in a drizzly rain. And it eventually quit. But I was so cold! Wind came. I was glad for my long sleeves and long pants since I was up in the balcony for the duration.   Brrr. It was only in the 60's, but I was chilled.

The afternoon rainshower came with hail, too! Not as much as Panguitch lake area got, but enough to make me wonder about the garden. Panguitch had white covering the ground they had so much. And, strangely, the hail we saw on our deck wasn't round white ice balls, but CLEAR ice chunks. Weird.

How we love sitting on our deck in good weather to watch the birds nibbling on the sunflower shrub.

See the cute upside-down finch?

A good year for apricots

 I was balking about bottling apricots this year, in spite of their ABUNDANCE all over town, in friends and neighbors' yards, and many offers to come and pick them. I thought I had BOXES of bottled apricots in my basement fruit room. 

Well, as it turns out-- I don't! I'd moved all the bottled fruit to my visible shelves sometimes last year( or during the pandemic--who knows?!) And most of the boxes of bottles on my shelves in the back were full of empty canning jars! That was a surprise. I remember thinking that I had way too many empties, and even gave away three boxes to a stranger I met in Walmart. Yeah, it was during the pandemic because jars and lids were in high demand. 

So, I've picked and bottled apricots and apricot juice. The Rasmussen's gave us some, and on a Monday the 7th Gail and I rode to Parowan and picked a couple of boxes of really nice big ones from Luck Felstead's trees. Rasmussen's were big, too, but very overripe so most of those were juiced. 

I do like home canning and food preservation. It's kind of my "thing."

Dominos and lurkers

 We had a nice Sunday dinner of Mexican Salad with Gail and me and Mike and my Mom. We decided to play dominos after.

I went to get the tin of Domino's out of the cupboard, and

DROPPED the entire tin. Dominoes went every where.

We had to count to make sure they were all there. Crazy.  I think my thumb just gave out. Not surprising. I think I have developed arthritis in both of them and they do hurt quite a lot. I knew they would fail me eventually. This time, it surprised me, though! 

I'm glad it was just a toy and not dishes. 

I will be very careful with dishes from now on. Maybe even have to switch to lighter plastic eventually. 

This is a thing we see every sunny afternoon. It LOOKS like someone in a hoodie, lurking outside our patio! It moves when the wind flutters it, and it's easy to catch a glimpse of it in our peripheral vision when we are in the kitchen

 It's really rather startling. BUT...

It's really just the folded-down patio umbrella. ( Another thing that's hard for my thumb to do-- lift and raise the umbrella!)

Elder Renlund

 A week ago, I was asked to say the opening prayer on our Ward's Sacrament meeting. That's not a hard thing to do. I got there on time, stopped by my primary classroom, moved a table, chatted with my friend, Jackie on our way into the chapel.  She was kind enough to tell me I had lipstick on my teeth, so I was busy doing a quick swipe of that as I walked in at the back, saw an empty seat near some neighbors and plopped down. 

My neighbor leaned over during the prelude music and said, "Did you see Elder Renlund sitting on the stand?" 

Really? An Apostle? How cool. I looked up, and ,no, I could NOT see him at all. The podium was blocking my view of that particular seat on the stand. Oh well. 

Our Bishop opened the meeting, recognized Elder Renlund, announced song, prayer....

And when I went up to say the opening prayer, I couldn't even look his way. I focused my eyeballs on the microphone so I'd walk that way instead of tripping or something else embarrassing. 

Said the prayer. Sat down. Still never saw him until he stood up to speak at the end of our meeting. His remarks were touching, entertaining, in a sweet way, but also powerful. He bore testimony of our Savior and I was happy to add my "Amen" to his. I went to Primary after that. I have no idea if they attended Relief Society and Priesthood meeting or Sunday School or not. 

But it is nice to have a theater-lover drop into our ward who also happens to be an Apostle of Jesus Christ.  He was in town attending Utah Shakespeare Festival plays. Apostles take August off and don't travel to Stake and Regional Conferences. Janet Seegmiller says he has been coming for years. Nice man. Humble, normal. Yet a prophet.  I'm glad I was able to share a pulpit with him. 

And I was happy to share it with my Bishop and the Bradshaw's, too . And Lincoln &Emma Stone who sang, "I Know That My Redeemer Lives."

July 2023 Family Photo (almost everyone)

 

 July 5, 2023. We are only missing Seth from the Photo (Gail's husband).

Left to right:

Ella, Damian, Tandy, Braeden, Lexi Liebhardt (San Antonio, TX).

Matthew Davis and Eric Liebhardt (St. George, UT)

Me, Mike (Cedar City, UT)

Katie, Casey, Hayden Rossman with Corbin, Quintin and Hailey Rossman in front. (Castle Rock, CO)

Nick Liebhardt holding Emily with Rachel, Logan and Jane in front of Nick and Kaylee (Herriman, UT)

Caroline, Gail and Jonathan Owens (Spring Creek, NV)

Photo credit Spencer Murray.

Some more, NOT in chronological order:

Rossman Family

Casey, Katie, Hayden, Corbin, Quintin, Hailey..

Eric & Matt Davis

Nick & Kaylee Liebhardt, Rachel, Logan, Jane and Emily

Damian and Tandy Liebhardt With Lexi, Braeden and Ella.

Owens Family: Gail, Seth, Caroline, Jonathan.

Grandkids! We have 13 now, ages 2 to 21.

Me, Mike and My Babies-- All Grown Up.