E-whats?

Here's some good emu shots. Who knew that emus made this unbelievably loud drumming sound, hence their genus and species name: Dromaius novaehollandiae. (10 cents to anyone who can pronounce that second word.) They are mean and spit, though we haven't experienced that yet. And they are ridiculously curious. When we first moved in one of them was constantly at the corner of our back fence looking in the house.

Be Glad for Gladiolas

With flowers like this in ones kitchen it's not hard to cook and do dishes in there! Haven't seen the horses or emus recently and the cows seem like they are in a differenct pasture.

THE ABCs OF ME

A- Attached or single: attached--husband and 2 corgis
B- Best Friends: My kids, Heidi, Linda, Liz, and my husband
C- Cake or Pie: Cake, especially dry white wedding cake
D- Day of choice: Saturday
E- Essential item: Toilet Paper? OK, Vaseline
F- Favorite color: yellow
G- Good movie: Dan in Real Life
H- Hometown: Cloverdale, CA
I- Indulgences: Monster Taco from Jack-in-the-Box, french bread
J- January or July: Well, in Texas I would have said January.
K- Kids: Somewhere
L- Life is not complete without: Mexican food and old movies
M - Marriage Date: April 27, 1974
N- Number of Siblings: 1
O- Oranges or apples: Both
P- Phobias or fears: non-organic butter and snakes
Q- Quote: "No, no Penny"
R- Reason to smile: grandchildren
S- Season: Spring
T- Travel: England, Hawaii
U- Unknown fact about me: I got the Bank of America Music Award as a senior in high school
V - Very favorite store: HEB Central Market
W- Worst habit: None of your beeswax
X- eXcell at: Leading music
Y- Your favorite food: Enchilada
Z- Zodiac: Cancer

Fog and flowers

There's normally houses and hills at the end of our street. Which lily color do you like best? Those are gladiolas on the bench. They get so tall that they fall over so I cut some stalks and stuck them in this vase. Then I noticed that there were little slugs here and there and chose to leave them outside.

Fridays around Franklin

I finally remembered to do this and took some pictures of (and along) Wilson Pike,a road that we travel on everyday. Everything's a pike around here. The high school is about 5 minutes from our house. Some of these pics I just grabbed while driving. I'm amazed they were in focus.

More from the recent SPUD

It's kinda weird being the new kid on the block, and not really knowing the investigators terribly well. We are supposed to contact them everyday but it's hard to catch them home. Anyways, mission life is fun but it sure takes tenacity. I'm constantly striving to build my faith more and more & my testimony is getting stronger and stronger.
Oh, yeah, the weather is so weird here. It's a little bit cool, as in the 60's and 70's which is nice, but the weather for the last few days has bounced between steady rain and completely overcast skies, to regular old sunshine every half hour, no exaggeration. Odd. At least it keeps you on your toes.
Now to finish off, I'll leave you with a bit of the language: "how come" as in "...and that's how come we don't got no more jackrabbits."

Cars don't have "glove boxes" they have "jackybox".

"trucks" refer to 18 wheelers, as in "I drive truck**." (no article) whereas pickups are referred to as "outfits."

Well, seeing how I've written a "couple three" pages (or a couple four) I'm going to go to bed. I love you all and I miss you. Hope all is well for you all.

Love,
Elder Harris
**in the same style, I could say, "I preach Gospel."

And a colt, too

I actually don't know if this is a colt or a filly. I'll call it a colt til I know better. The pictures aren't too great. The little guy loved running through the pack of emus sending them fleeing in all directions. Must be a boy horsey.

The most recent SPUD

Dear Mom and Dad,
Me and Elder Barrow just got back from our day of attempted missionary work, and we just finished planning, and now we are chatting with our caretakers, Bro. and Sis. Wilson. They are terribly nice and like to hear all about our adventures. Missionary work is certainly an adventure, but sometime you have a day like today when most of your appointments fall through, no one is home, and the one you do catch says "we're moving so have a nice life." Not that I'm down or anything, I'm actually having a great time. I'm getting the hang of teaching the lessons, and my door approaches, and planning and what not. The basics of missionary work is very simple, and it doesn't take long to figure out "your job." However, the difference between doing "your job" and being a stellar missionary (or a Preach My Gospel missionary)is huge. Frame of mind, Spiritual preparedness, and all that. the details make a huge difference. I'm still working though. Health is good, I'm working out every day, and eating right. I get a home cooked meal every night which so far has been great. I even ate broccoli the other day. Miracles have not ceased in this day and age.

Sonic stuck in the strawberry patch

The previous owners had a strawberry patch in the backyard. Sonic and Penny discovered this and started supplementing their diet with some fruit-green or red-didn't matter. Jim wanted to keep them out so he put up a fence. Sonic, twice now, has managed to find a way in but then couldn't get himself out. I took these pictures of him "in jail". At first I couldn't figure out why he wasn't coming when I yelled for him. (night photos)

Cow meets corgi

Seems that we now have the cow family more often in the pasture directly behind our house. I was surprised that one of the cows nearest the fence instead of walking away from the ferocious barking corgis actually walked right up to the fence to make Sonic's acquaintance. Penny thought she was above "lowering" herself to fraternize with mere bovines. (I think she was a little scared. And what could be lower than a corgi?) How many calves can you find?

What's in a name?

Check out some of the names on the list for hurricanes in 2008: Arthur, Kyle, Nana, and Sally (Paige's mom). Kind of crazy, eh? Wonder which one of us will cause a ruckus, if any. Also on the list is Josephine, one of Emily's favorite names. If they have a Nana are they gonna have a PopPop? I didn't know Nana was a real name for anyone.

The Wonders of Spring

Will the wonders of Spring never cease? Hope not. This little guy was all by himself by our back fence until Mom finally showed up to claim him. Unfortunately, we didn't get a photo of the baby ducks lined up along a retaining wall in our backyard. And, sorry I forgot about doing the "Fridays around Franklin". I'll have to get out and take some pictures to post next Friday. There's a baby horse on the farm behind us, too, but he hasn't been close enough to take a picture of yet.

Wet horses and pig

One rainy day we had lots of visitors. See if you can find the eyes on the pig. It's really fun to feed him apples. He's very delicate despite his appearance.

A short recent SPUD

Dear Mom and Dad,
I'm packing to leave the MTC! It's pretty exciting to think that I'll be in the field in less than 24 hours. This will be my last letter from the MTC, so send yours to this address for now:
Elder Kyle Harris
Idaho Pocatello Mission
1246 Yellowstone Ave. Ste F3
Pocatello, ID 83201-4374
I'm afraid this will just have to be a short note, but I'll write more when I get to Pokey. I hear P-day is Wed., so that is in 2 days. I'll tell you everything about my last few days. Anyway, I have to pack. I love you all! All is well, and the Church is true. Love, Elder Harris

Texas can be beautiful, too.

Yes, Tennessee is very beautiful but Texas could be beautiful also. I remember taking these pictures around our house in Boerne right before we sold it and then discovering there was a fingerprint on the lens. Our house is now a women's treatment center: www.pachills.com You can see pictures of the house on their website under "accommodations." This is a bit of a painful post to blog so I probably won't go here again.

Free flowers

Spring around here is amazing. Just look at all these flowers around our house here in Tennessee. And to think I didn't have to do a thing to get them!

Elder Harris's letter continued

"The next 2 days followed slowly but they were amazing. The Spirit was so strong all the time and we all felt the importance of The Work. We met our teachers, Bro. Lovejoy, and Bro. George. they are both great. Bro. Lovejoy is an odd mix between being intense and really casual. He's the more cynical of the two, but it's a good cynical. He always makes jokes and things and it's fun when he teaches. Bro. George is the embodiment of Gospel enthusiasm. I have never seen him without a toothy smile from ear to ear, with his eyebrows lost in his hairline somewhere. You can tell that smile goes all the way to the back of his head. Both served in Brazil and when I told them I did capoeira Bro. George said "no way!" and Bro. Lovejoy rolled his eyes. It was hilarious.
I've been waking up at 6 every day and I feel fine. It's hard for me to sleep, but the Lord blesses me by lifting me up and carrying me through the day. The Lord has answered all my prayers, and whatever I ask for he blesses me with. So don't worry, I'm in good hands."

SPUD #2

Well, here are some excepts from our second letter from Elder Harris.
"I can't believe it has nearly been a week since I've been here. Today is preparation day finally, and it's nice to have a chance to catch my breath. It has been non-stop go go go since last Thursday, but it has been wonderful. I'm really excited because all I have to do today (besides laundry [this is encouraging], study, temple, choir, food, more study) is write this letter! Well, here's the blow by blow. After we parted ways, we went to our room and unpacked and I waited for my companion to show up. During that time I met the other companionship in our room: E. Pike and E. Poppleton. After a while E. Turner showed, and we all got acquainted. E. Pop asked how old everyone was, and I was thinking "already?" I said, "Well, you can just call me Eldest Harris." They asked, "how old are you?" When I told them that I was 25, E. Pop said, "no kidding! When's your birthday?" I said that it was yesterday and he said, "well, then that makes me Eldest Poppleton." I was shocked to learn he was 25, and his comp. is 21 (E. Pike). Elder Turner is 19 (just a child). Everyone in my room is wonderful and we are all getting very close. Later that evening we met in our class room for the first time, with the other 2 companionships and to meet our branch presidency. Elder Little, who is by far the tallest elder in our district (the Zone even) is paired with Elder Anderson who is one of the shortest. Elder Harper (23) is with Elder Bischoff. A counselor in the Br. Presidency, Bro. Bergoff, is from South Africa and has a great accent. Pres. Boyer called me in and asked me a few questions, I told him why I was here and things. Afterwards we all bore testimony and after a while Pres. Boyer said, "Elder Harris, I'd like to meet with you again." I wasn't very surprised. Something told me that I was going to be the District Leader as soon as Pres. Boyer said that one of us would be. This was before the interviews. Tune in tomorrow for more of Kyle's long letter. Seems he was economizing on the use of capital letters so I'm adding those here and there.

OUR FIRST "SPUD"

Well, we got our first letter from The Missionary. Mailed his second day, May 1st. Dad's parents called his mission letters "Chacos" -that was one of his areas in Argentina. We called Scott's letters "Skippies" from the Albanian name for their country: Shkiperia -I spelled that phonetically. Sorry Scott. So Dad thought we should call Elder Harris's letters "spuds" for his mission's sake. Well, here it is if you want to read it:
Dear Mom and Dad,
This is just a quick note to let you know that all is well and that I'm getting accustomed to the MTC. So far so good! My companion is Elder Turner from Richfield, UT [Dad's first comp in Argentina was also from there]. He's is a nice young kid and he is my Senior Companion because...I was made District Leader! What a humbling calling. It's not like I'm already dizzy from all the changes I'm experiencing. We met our Zone Leaders and our Branch President. His name is Pres. Boyer. Everyone is overwhelmingly nice and the food is good. [Dad wonders if they told him to say that.] For dinner we had chicken cordon bleu! Also, it turns out I'm not Eldest Harris. One of the other Elders in our room is 25 as well! what are the odds? Same mission and all! well, the Church is true, if for no other reason than the fact that it is so well organized and designed. Nothing short of inspiration from the Spirit could produce something like this. That, and of course the overwhelming Spirit bearing witness of the truth of this work. Well, I'll write more on Tuesday since that is the proscribed day for letter writing. Today being the exception. Just now two Elders knocked on our door and bore their testimony in Laotian. What a wonder! Well, I'll write again on Tuesday. I Love you both very much!!! Elder Harris

Some more missionary pictures

Here are some more pictures of Elder Harris at the MTC. Check out the flowers at the SL Temple! Beautiful signs of Spring and then it snowed on us when we were leaving the Residence Inn up on the bench near Cottonwood. Gotta love that Utah weather! The pictures should be in reverse order but haven't figured out how to do that.