What does a horse bite look like?

Talk about biting the hand, or in this case, arm, that feeds you! This happened the other day when I was feeding 3 horses and the filly. I'm not sure exactly how this happened and definitely not sure WHY. The big horses didn't want me to feed the little guy but I was trying to do it anyway. Maybe this one horse was mad at me for doing that or mad that I was out of carrots and apples. I just don't know but it sure took me by surprise. It doesn't hurt as much as it looks. Mostly felt like a good pinch. Maybe he thought he was giving me a love nuzzle and didn't know his strength. I know which one did it by his large white blaze down the front and see if he gets anything in future!! Anyone who knows horse psychology and has some answers let me know. Not too eager to repeat the episode.

STARRYING: Big Piggy!

That "fur" ain't soft! Not prickly either, but definitely not like other animals. He's still so sweet, though. I can see why people like them as pets. Well, after you look at the dirt around the nose, maybe not. He obviously isn't afraid of horse legs and feet. In one picture he is even snorggeling the filly's ankle. He was making a nice snorggeling noise while doing it, too.

New Piggy

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This is Big Piggy's new girlfriend, Pink Piggy. She's very shy. When the horses and Big Piggy came to eat apples at our back fence she spent the whole time hiding behind that tree watching us. She's gotten a little braver recently. Awffy cute. More on Big Piggy tomorrow.

Fridays Around Franklin

Scenes along the beautiful Natches Trace Parkway that I snapped yesterday. The Trace runs from Nashville all the way down to the Gulf Coast. The speed limit is only 40 MPG's so it would take awhile to get there but it would be a lovely drive this time of year.

Madman flowers

Don't these look like a mad man holding his breath? I don't even know what kind of flowers these are. They've been blooming now for about a month.

A Sad Day for our Country

Well, the media has selected Obama as our next president in spite of the fact that he refuses to produce his birth certificate. This election was all about race because no one with as radical far left ideas as Obams's would have been elected if he had been white. I'm not racist. That's just what got him elected. It's a sad day to see our nation move away from the kind of government that Jesus Christ helped institute for our country in 1776 and heading DOWN the path of socialism. But how else can the prophecy be fulfilled where the Latter-day Saints come in and rescue the Constitution "which will hang by a thread in the last days" unless there is a president and congress who will desecrate it? Too many people, young ones especially, don't know their history or what socialism even is. A lot of people think socialism is being nice to each other. That's charity and community. Socialism according to the dictionary is a system of government that is moving away from capitalism and toward communism. Why people think this is a good idea is beyond me except that they don't really have a clue about what is going on.

Just a few pictures I had left of Beaver. One is the territorial courthouse. Another is the Beaver Opera House-who knew? And the last is Gigi and Bruce in front of the statue of Philo Farnsworth (inventor of TV) who lived in Beaver. Stay tuned for more posts. I have a lot to post about in next few days.

Beautiful Beaver Canyon

It was a beautiful fall day in Southern Utah. The sisters wanted to head up to Beaver Canyon just minutes from town like they used to do all the time growing up. They said everything looked the same including the log structures we were all sitting on in the group shot. I could have spent hours there listening to the babbling brook (which might actually be the Beaver River.) and inhaling all the wonderful outdoor smells. I think if I lived in Utah I would drive up into the canyons all the time.

Beaver Cemetary

Here is the lovely Beaver Cemetary. Notice the big B on the mountain in the background. Also, in the picture is Bruce's BMW and my mom with flowers for the headstones of our ancestors.
Pleasant Childers Anderson is my Great Great Grandfather. He was in the Civil War but the headstone doesn't mention that he deserted. Who could blame him. Leticia was his daughter so Leticia and Andrew Gade Anderson were my Great Grandparents on my mom's side.

Beaver, Utah

On the Monday after conference I drove with my dad down to Beaver, Utah where my mom grew up. She and her 2 sisters rode with Bruce in his car. It took about 2.5 hours from Provo which is where we met up with everyone. Emily and I had taken a rented car early that morning down to BYU for a look see. Anyway, the first thing we came to in Beaver was the home where all the sisters grew up. It was sadly run down with no occupants and a "for rent" sign in the window. The sisters talked about all the raspberry bushes that used to be in their backyard and how their grandmother, Leticia, lived in the little house behind the big one. They even said the front door had been moved. They peeked through the kitchen window and said that even though the cabinets had been changed in the past 70 years they still recognized it. I think they were a little sad to see their childhood home in its current dilapidated state. Keep watching for more posts about Beaver.

A week in Utah

I can't believe time has flown by so fast recently. Yep, I had a great week in Utah but came home with a cold and so have been slow to post about it. I arrived on Thursday. After a nice dinner with Joe's family, my folks and the Aunts at Olive Garden we went to the conference center to hear the MoTabs rehearse. Emily arrived the next day and we all went to the Joseph Smith movie, walked around temple square among other things. Emily spent that evening with her r Fort Wayne friends who now live in the SLC area. We stayed at a new Hampton a few minutes from Joe's house. More later.

It's starting!

I'm so excited to live in a place where the leaves officially change color! I can't wait to watch all the changes unfold. These are a few trees in our neighborhood.

UPDATE ON SCOTT AND PAIGE

Here is an update about Scott and Paige since they can't really post much without electricity. They both returned to their home yesterday and found that no water had penetrated the house. They lost more of their fence than they were led to believe and the tree in the front yard took quite a thrashing insomuch that Scott thinks it will get the chain saw. They had gas and water yesterday but still no electricity in spite of promises.

About 17% of students in one of Scott's classes (of about 100 kids or so) said they still didn't have power when polled by their teacher. The main damage in their neighborhood is tree limbs which are piled high on each side of the street waiting to be collected by the city or FEMA. Lots of billboards have their ads hanging off. Paige said Walmart's freezer section was empty.

Scott said the biggest inconvenience of being w/o power is no A/C, not being able to charge their phones and computers, and no frig. The weather hasn't been too horribly hot so they are surviving sleeping with just the windows open. So let's all pray their power comes on tomorrow. Hang in there Scott and Paige!

Pray for Scott and Paige

Yikes. Hurricane Ike is going to be an unwelcome visitor for Scott and Paige. They are under a mandatory evacuation as of noon today. They live in Webster, southeast of Houston, if you want to look it up on a map. Before they leave Scott will try to get the windows boarded up with plywood the previous owners left. I assume they will go to Paige's folk's house in Dallas. The traffic is likely to be horrific even with the contraflows. I'm sure they will appreciate all your prayers.

Posting can be a burden

What do you think about posts without pictures? Don't even bother? Better than nothing?

Good gas mileage

Will this be all of us in a few years? Is that even how you ride a vespa? I guess it is if it's pink! Emily wanted a new post and this is the best I could do. I'm supposed to be doing Friday's around Franklin but I never can remember in time to take my camera out and about.

Winos!

These happy looking dogs are actually drunk or something akin to it. There's a tree in our backyard that's dropping thousands of berries and these guys are out there whenever I'm not looking. Sonic is the energetic drunk and Penny is the nauseated, depressed drunk. Needless to say I've limited their exposure to the backyard and the tree is coming down. Notice the berry stains by Sonic's eye and on Penny's foot.

Dad's new "outfit"

Kyle says that's what they call pickup trucks in Idaho. This is a 2009 Toyota Tacoma. Pretty basic, like a motorized wheelbarrow, Dad says. But it smells new and has a good radio. The AC cools the cab in a few seconds and it also has an awesome built in bed liner. It's already made one trip to the dump with the promise of many more to follow.

4th of July SPUD

Hill Cumorah, last June, 07




4th of July


Dear Fam,


I know it probably seems like I haven't written you guys for awhile, but our schedule has been shuffled around somewhat. Our P-day has been moved to the Fourth this week and it's all day. At first I was excited that we are having an all day P-day, but now I don't know what to do with all my time. I guess I'll write everyone that I know.





Well, my first transfer is over and I got moved to the Pocatello Central Stake. It's pretty busted in places, and our apt. is the exact opposite of the mansion Elder Barrow and I stayed in. My new companion is from Georgia and is named E. Ashcroft. This is his first time being senior, so it will be a good experience watching him make the adjustment and learning from that. Today has been boring, and I'm ready to go out and do missionary work.





Last transfer Elder Barrow and I had to do a lot of work from scratch-finding and teaching. We didn't even inherit any investigators from the last transfer before. But, we worked at it and we started committing people to baptism. There are 3 dates set, but 2 are with 9 year olds. What happens is you have parents, usually a single parent, who is inactive or something (we use the term"LARC's": less-active/recent converts) whose children aren't baptized yet. Those are kinda like gimmes. But we do have one with a man named Travis, and he has been prepared and he has become converted. It was amazing to watch. I'm definitely going to his baptism on the 10th. He's totally golden, and I'm sure he's going places in the Church. He's 35ish and single, so hopefully he'll find a nice LDS girl to marry.





So concerning LARC's. Convert baptisms, like Travis's are our purpose. There are resources devoted to LARC's (Home teachers/visiting teachers) and resources devoted to nonmembers (Missionaries) Some members think that missionaries are glorified home teachers. I admit I thought LARC work was part of missionary work, but it is only a tiny portion. Home/Visiting teaching is just as important as missionary work. It's easier too, and can be just as rewarding. you follow the same pattern too: teach, Testify, and Invite. It isn't a lesson unless we leave a commitment. The method we use is to 1. Testify, 2. direct question ("will you...?") 3. Promise blessings. Those steps can kind of interchange.








I testify of the importance of home/visiting teaching, and it is the plan set up by the Lord for maintaining the faith of all members. As you continue faithfully to fulfill your roles as HT/VTers, your faith will grow, you will be happier, and you will have more spiritual experiences. Will you do your HT/VT at least once a month, rain or shine, time or not? It will help out the missionary work in your area.








By the way, I'm really excited that you are Ward Missionaries, and I don't doubt you are fulfilling all your callings. I just wanted to show you how that technique works. Use it! It's pretty cool.





Anyway, I'm eating well. I eat chicken out of the can with butter and garlic, grapenuts without sugar, eggs (scramby) and my veggie pills. I take my vitamins and my thyroid pills. All is well with me (but not in Zion if you know what I mean). And the work is moving forward. I miss you both, and I love you both. I appreciate all you have done for me, and the letters and the pictures. God is real. The Atonement is real. Christ's Gospel has been restored in its fullness, and this is it.





Love,





Elder Harris


PS. tell Reid congrats and to write me!!


PPS. smash the dogs for me!

Some more SPUD for Reid C.

Well, this will probably be a short note, as I don't have too much time, as always. I've decided that missionary work is very much a routine, and yet you always have to be ready for anything. Nothing wrong with routines, though. I guess the other thing to watch out for, is getting too complacent with the routine and not relying enough on the Lord. That, in a nutshell, is what missionary life feels like. It's fun, though. Not at all a bad way to spend your day. Well, I've realized that this transfer we have had to do a lot of "rebuilding" as far as investigators go. Last transfer [a six-week period, I think] they had like 5 baptisms, and our pool was somewhat empty after that (except for the ever present "eternal investigators"). We are now halfway through the transfer, and we have started to drop the baptism commitment hammer on people. Most of the time they get uncomfortable and say they aren't ready, but they'll come around eventually. I don't get how a person can know that the Gospel is true, and not be ready for baptism. Maybe they think that we hold 'em under the water for a while. Anyways, it feels great to try to devote every moment to the Lord, and the blessings for this service are many. I know that this is the Lord's Church. I love and miss you both. I hope all is well and that the doggies are OK. Pass my love onto the rest of the fam. Thanks for the letters and the prayers!
Love,
Elder Kyle Harris