Making the Attic Window

It's hot! That, in and of itself, is a good reason for spending most of my waking hours in the basement. Yes, basement-time can be quality time. For instance, I am making a window in “the oubliette” (look it up). Steve has made an edict that I must keep most of my projects out of sight should we have unexpected company. I suppose he’s right. Notice the photo of my work space in the basement.

I used to do my glassing in the garage during the summer because glass breaks better when it’s warmer. The old Fresno garage used to get up to 112 degrees, which wasn’t any too pleasant. But that was years ago when I was young and healthy and we had a double-car garage but only one car. It doesn’t work at all well now that we have two full-sized cars, especially in Wyoming where the wind can sandblast the paint right off a Ford.

The window under construction will be mounted in the attic. Although I have been planning it for over a year, I am not quite convinced that it will turn out. The second image is of the pattern.

Notice the Irish theme. (I never really returned from the Emerald Isles.) But patterns are only an educated projection of what it MIGHT look like. Glass has a way of deceiving the imagination. It “casts” its colors onto the surrounding glass, which does the same, thus taking on a life of its own. I dunno. Maybe it‘ll turn out.

Right now I am debating which glass to make the Celtic knots out of: the clear purple, the screaming purple opaque, or the green and purple opalescent glass? Just to make sure we have covered all the bases, we invested in all three in an attempt to preempt another trip to the glassing store.

The window might be done when you visit next. I mean to say, if you were to visit next year in August, you might get to see the finished, installed window. Actually, odds are even that you will. It’s just that Steve, my designated worrier, is already perseverating over how to install it. What if something happens and it doesn’t go smoothly? Instant answer: It will NOT go smoothly!  I may hire someone.  It could save the marriage.

The Kitchen Rug

 Here is a picture of our old, faithful rug.  We enjoyed it for something like 15 years.  It was bought in Minnesota to go next to the kitchen sink of our cute little house on Autumn Place.  We paid about $35.00 for it.
We looked for a substitute for it against the day when it wore out.  We looked for about seven years.  Finally, I decided to make my own. 
Here is a picture of our new kitchen sink rug.  Notice how similar  it is to the original.  It cost us $120.00 in fabric.  It cost me about 100 hours of labor.  If I was paid $1.00/hr. to make it, it would cost $220.00.  If I gave myself a raise and charged Wyoming's minimum wage ($5.15/hr.), it would cost $635.  If I were paid what I was paid as a professor, it would be worth $4320.00.
This refutes my hypothesis that I can make things better and cheaper than I can buy them in a store.  However, Steve and I maintain that we never found a kitchen sink rug that came as close to the original.  Perhaps if we had known what the end result would have been, we might have settled on another rug.

It Must Be Spring

Spring has officially arrived in Cody when the first Cruise America RV has been spotted.  I sighted one just last week.  Since then, the town has filled up with these motor-homes.

The second sign of spring is new faces.  Here is one I saw last Friday.  Her name is Sonnrize.  She was born on my riding instructor's ranch.  She was only 7 hr. old when this picture was taken.

The Letter I Didn't Send My Children

Dear David,

We just got back from Uncle Delmar Young's funeral in California.  It was a good trip.  I saw several cousins that I haven't seen in well over 20 years.  Aunt Enid, Delmar's wife, was particularly glad that we went out of our way to be there.  His children (in descending order; Dave, Judy, Liz, and Heather). also appreciated our attendance.
While there, I gained several insights.  One was that, even though he'd argue anything, Uncle Delmar was active in the Church to the end.  Another is that, even though I didn't get along with them years ago, family is family and they are always here for me.  It was also clear that the ones who were most bereaved were the ones who had turned their backs on the Church and did not appreciate the Great Plan of Happiness.  Finally, it was clear that the ones who stayed close to the Gospel want most to maintain family ties.
To me, the saddest cast there was Dave, his eldest.  Dave left the church and made some terrible mistakes which he will always regret.  Saddest of all is that he is not ready to repent.  As a result, Liz's husband was asked to offer the pre-service family prayer and to dedicate the grave while Dave stood by.  Dave sat next to Enid and tended her, but he was not allowed to act as the new patriarch because he abandoned his birthright.
After the pre-service prayer, I went up to Liz and whispered to her, "Isn't it wonderful that we have functioning priesthood holders in our homes?"  Both she and I shed tears of joy for our blessings and tears of sorrow for those that have not earned this blessing.
My Aunts Joan Bybee and Betty Tobler were there.  A little later cousin Jay Bybee arrived.  He spoke about Uncle Delmar's marked propensity for argument.  He said that lawyers are taught to be critical thinkers and that was part of Delmar's core personality, contributing to his sometimes outrageous opinions.
Uncle Noall was also in attendance.  I was very apprehensive about seeing him again.  There had been a great deal of what might be described as unchristian, unlawful, and immoral activity on his part, especially toward our family.  He was assigned the closing prayer and I had my doubts about whether he should have been allowed that privilege.  However, the prayer seemed sincere and it seemed to me that the Holy Spirit attended it.  I feel hopeful that he has repented.  Your father, his long-standing enemy, even went up to Noall and told him that he gave a good prayer.
This may seem to be off the subject, but it isn't: While Jared and Miya were visiting, your father offered Jared a priesthood blessing. Jared immediately refused. I strongly suspect that he felt unworthy of a priesthood blessing or was afraid of what might be said. The fact is that everyone is entitled to priesthood blessings. They are intended as a comfort, not as a punishment or criticism, and we assumed that Jared needed some comfort due to his impending divorce.  Similarly, I feel that some of my children don't repent and return to the Gospel of Jesus Christ because they feel unworthy and can't repent of some of their mistakes or that repentance is a punishment, not a principle given by a loving Father in Heaven to His children.  I know that repentence is designed to make you feel better.  Furthermore, no one has invented any new sins. Someone has already committed that sin or any other sin that might imagined and has repented of it too. Everyone who sincerely repents will be forgiven and feel will feel infinitely better because of it. 
Although we wanted to stay and get reacquainted with family, we opted to drive to Oroville to see your grandparents.  After all, it could be our last trip to CA until their deaths.  I don't know if your father has kept you informed of your grandparents' health, but this is how it stands:  Your grandfather was in dire health a month or two ago.  Your father was on the phone with him every evening for about a month.  After colon cancer surgery, his heart rate sky-rocketed.  After much tweaking of meds, he was released only to be readmitted for extreme fatigue.  The physicians found that he was hemorrhaging and performed emergency surgery to plug the hole.  He seems fine now.
As for your grandmother, she had a heart attack several years ago.  This is understandable, due to your grandparents' use of tobacco.  She hasn't had any major problem since, that we know of.  However, both of your grandparents are over 80 and that seems to be the magical decade.
We met them in a restaurant parking lot.  The first thing we noticed is that they had given up smoking!  (It was apparent when they gave us hugs.)  We ate and talked over dinner for about an hour.  Then it became clear that they had had enough visiting, but then again, we couldn't think of anything else to say either.
It's time to close.  I really have to go.  It's time for lunch and I love lunch.  I love you too

Mommmm

Something to Think About

Dear Readers,

This was emailed to me by a very good friend, Katherine Hetherington.  After reading it, I wondered if it was true or not.  After doing some research, I have decided that it is probably authentic.  You may research the sources and decide for yourself if it is an accurate account of the translation of the Book or Mormon into Afrikaans. 

Die Boek van Mormon

By John M. Pontius

I was searching through my books in storage a few days ago and came across a first edition of the Book of Mormon in Afrikaans. I served a mission in South African from 1971 to 1973. It was an interesting and challenging experience.

I attended the Stake Conference in Johannesburg on May 14, 1972 when the new translation of the Book of Mormon into Afrikaans (Die Boek van Mormon) was presented. It was an electric moment. People wept. Some had waited all of their lifetimes to read the Book of Mormon in Afrikaans. Many people had learned English for the sole purpose of reading this scripture. The Spirit was strong among us as we rejoiced.

Remembering back more than 50 years, I can still remember Professor Felix Mynhardt [not a member of our church] as he spoke of his experience in translating that sacred book. I will retell it as best I can recall.

Professor Mynhardt was invited to come to the stand and speak about his experience in translating the Book of Mormon. He recounted how he had been given a gift of languages from God from his youth. He said that he was fluent in many languages, including English, Afrikaans, Hebrew and Egyptian, as well as many others. He was presently employed as a language professor. He said he had been praying that the Lord would give him some task, some divinely important task, that would justify his having this gift of language from God.

He said in about 1970 that he had visited with a group of Mormon leaders, who sought to commission him to translate the Book of Mormon from English into Afrikaans. He said that he knew of the Book of Mormon from his religions studies, and his initial reaction was that he did not want to be involved in translating it. However, that evening, as he prayed upon his knees, as was his habit, he said the Spirit of the Lord convicted him. The message was something on the order of, "You asked me for a great, divinely inspired task of translation, I sent it to you in the form of translating the Book of Mormon, and you declined." Professor Mynhardt said he could not sleep through the night because he knew that translating the Book of Mormon would get him into trouble with his university, which was owned and operated by the Dutch Reformed Church.

When morning came he telephoned Elder Clark to inform him that he would begin the translation immediately. He stood at the pulpit and described the experience. He said, "I never begin translating a book at the beginning. Writing style usually changes through a book, and becomes more consistent toward the middle. Accordingly, I opened to a random place in the middle of the Book of Mormon, and began translating."

He said, "I was startled by the obvious fact that the Book of Mormon was not authored in English. He said, "It became immediately apparent that what I was reading was a translation into English from some other language. The sentence structure was wrong for native English. The word choices were wrong, as were many phrases." He said, "How many times has an Englishman said or written, ‘And it came to pass?’" We all laughed, and knew he was right, of course.

He continued, "When I realized this, I knew that I had to find the original language, and translate it back into the original language, or a similar language to the original, and then proceed to translate it into Afrikaans. He listed a half-dozen languages he tried, all of which did not accommodate the strange sentence structure found in the Book of Mormon. He said, "I finally tried Egyptian, and to my complete surprise, I found that the Book of Mormon translated flawlessly into Egyptian, not modern, but ancient Egyptian. I found that some nouns were missing from Egyptian, so I added Hebrew nouns where Egyptian did not provide the word or phrase. I chose Hebrew because both languages existed in the same place anciently."

"I had no idea at that time why the Book of Mormon was once written in Egyptian, but I can tell you without any doubt, that this book was at one point written entirely in Egyptian." I heard him say this over and over. Then, he said, "Imagine my utter astonishment when I turned to chapter one, verse one and began my actual translation and came to verse two, where Nephi describes that he was writing in the language of the Egyptians, with the learning of the Jews!"

He said, "I knew by the second verse, that this was no ordinary book, that it was not the writings of Joseph Smith, but that it was of ancient origin and was in fact scripture. I could have saved myself months of work if I had just begun at the beginning. Nobody but God, working through a prophet of God, in this case Nephi, would have included a statement of the language he was writing in. Consider, how many documents written in English, include the phrase, "we are writing in English!" It is unthinkable and absolute proof of the inspired origins of this book.

He paused, then noted, "I am one of the few people in the world that is fluent in ancient Egyptian. I am perhaps the only person fluent in ancient Egyptian who is also fluent in Afrikaans and English. And I know for a fact, that I am the only person alive who could have translated this book first into Egyptian, and then into Afrikaans. If your church ever needs an Egyptian translation of the Book of Mormon, it is sitting in my office as we speak." We all laughed.

Professor Mynhardt spoke of many other things regarding the translation of this book, and then said, "I do not know what Joseph Smith was before he translated this book, and I do not know what he was afterward, but while he translated this book, he was a prophet of God! I know he was a prophet! I testify to you that he was a prophet while he brought forth this book! He could have been nothing else! No person in 1827 could have done what he did. The science did not exist. The knowledge of ancient Egyptian did not exist. The knowledge of these ancient times and ancient peoples did not exist. The Book of Mormon is scripture. I hope you realize this.

"I will keep promoting this book as scripture for the remainder of my life– simply because it is scripture, and I know it. I haven’t studied your doctrine or your history since Joseph Smith. The only thing I know about the Mormon religion is that you have authentic, ancient scripture in the Book of Mormon, that your church was begun by a living and true prophet of God, and that all of the world should embrace the Book of Mormon as scripture. It simply can’t be denied."

An Amazing Bit of Equestrianism

Dear Readers,

Here is a video I want the world to see:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKQgTiqhPbw  And yes, it is another horse thing.  This time it is Andreas Helgstrand and Blue Hors Matine in a dressage competition.  Notice that Blue Hors Matine is actually skipping! 

Wishful Thinking

Independence Day in Photoshop Land

Here we have a photo-shopped picture of our little Cody home decorated for the 4th of July. I don't think Steven is going to go for all the flowers since deer LOVE flowers.
Leah and Bess, hold your youngest child up to the screen and say, "Look, (baby's name goes here)! Pony! Ponies say, 'Whinney, whinney, whinney!' Let's go see Grandma's pony in Cody!" Repeat as necessary.

Yes, I am well aware that this posting is similar to an earlier blog. But I cannot stress the necessity of orienting your children to horsemanship early.