Fairly Useful Day

This morning, February 29, 2020, I went to the Covey Center to finish the installation of the Spring Exhibit.  I did not do the installation but my wiring equipment was useful as one of the artists had forgotten to put wire on the back of her painting.  I mostly registered artwork, prepared the checks and cash for deposit, made out extra checks for Sandy to co-sign and fiddled with the information sheets.  It's a varied and full exhibit.  We took in over fifty works of art.  When I got home I reworked the logo I created for the new website.  After resting I installed it after cleaning out the chicken coop and making some more changes to protect the chickens from the coons.  Tomorrow is Sunday.  I 'loaned my nice set of colored pencils to Jacqueline.  I rarely if ever use colored pencils.  She plans to make a silk painting of the First Vision, making it about the light instead of the figures.

Busy Day

I had a busy and productive day today.  I woke up way too early and ended up purchasing a three year contract on a simple stand alone website from Bluehost for the Utah Valley Artist Guild.  I used a little less than the cash I removed to pay my helpers and tore up the check I had written to reimburse the Guild after putting a little cash I had on hand into the cash I collected.  I purchased the domain name UVAG.org.  I redesigned the logo based on a painting by Sandy Whitby of the south peaks of Timpanogos which I altered with her permission.  This way the website can be left to others to edit and work with if that becomes prudent.  I like the look of the new website.  I drove to Bountiful after spending the morning doing intake for the Guild.  I will help again tomorrow.  I deposited almost $400 cash but retained the checks until I have photoed them for information.  I started the redesign of the website before leaving for Bountiful and redesigned and finalized it after coming home.  I also checked on my chickens and plan to tighten up the run against the nasty intruders in the afternoon tomorrow.

Intake

After I went to the temple today I stopped to fill up with gas at Smith's.  After making some preparations I headed down to the Covey Center and did intake for the Spring Awards Show for several hours.  I wrote a check to cover the cash I removed from the fees in order to pay my helpers when I drove by Lucinda's house.  I was tired when I got home so I took a long nap before heading out to the UVAG meeting.  We had more than 34 entries in the two hours I did intake.  I don't know if we will have the same load of artwork as previously but we have a good basis of excellent artists as members of the group and several new ones to offset those who are aging out.

Death and the Masked Marauder

Today is February 26 and I was waked an hour early by my son Richard who said the chickens were upset.  I got up and took my lantern out to see why they were squaking.  I counted one in the coop and two beneath the coop.  I found the third in a heap towards the back of the run.  I thought I first I would leave the body there and take care of it later, but I reconsidered and picked it up.  A gray shadow ran from under the recycling barrel.  I smacked the raccoon several times with my lantern and it was having a problem finding an exit.  I think it forced its way out through the trellis under the coop.  I need to reinforce the run before I let the chickens out again.  Fortunately they have plenty of food and water.  I finished up my pictures and some paperwork for the intake for the UVAG tomorrow which I will do after I go to the temple.

First Vision

Diana came up this afternoon and finished her diorama about the First Vision.  She made figures of God the Father and Jesus and Joseph Smith out of Sculpey clay, painted them with acrylic paint and mounted them in a box from my air fryer.  I punched out a lot of tiny maple leaves to accent the floor and she used pearl mini glitter on the deity figures to give them shine.  I think it is an effective scene.  I have been feeling somewhat logy today.  At the temple this morning everyone was suppressing their coughs.  Nobody wants to be seen as a carrier for the dread Corona virus.

Self Indulgence and Industry

I went ahead a went for full out self indulgence this morning. I had a box of HD bars distributed throughout several hours.  I didn't suffer as much intestinal distress as I expected.  I got up early to take the kids to seminary but I had been awake since before 4 AM because of noise from a wind storm.  I worked on various aspects of preparing for the intake on Thursday.  I printed out awards and arranged some labels instead of colored dots to use on the pictures.  Diana came over and worked on creating figures for a diorama of the First Vision.  She finished up the figures around 6.  One thing I didn't get around to was finishing the frame for my picture of Marge Lewis but I still have a couple of days.  Tomorrow I will help Diana in the afternoon and also work on my frame.  I think I've pulled the fang on my dietary yearnings  I learned on Facebook today that David has been successful in losing 40 lbs. with intermittent fasting and limiting carbs to one meal a day.  I'm happy for his success because it should have real impact on his health.

Slow Sunday

Richard didn't realize that today was Sunday and he is somewhat under the weather so I went to church alone today.  I've spent a lazy afternoon and evening.  Tomorrow I'll be up early to take the kids to seminary and try to finish framing the Picture of Marge.

"Best Gifts"

This morning I stopped by Mary's home with a gift for Heta on her birthday, February 22. I gave her a big plastic bottle containing 101 cookie cutters. I added two decorating tubes, a coupler, 4 decorating cones and gel food colors.  Heta enjoys baking.  I turned out her sister Sela has been watching videos of decorating cakes and cookies on Youtube.  She exclaimed that I always give the best gifts😉.  This afternoon I has Jacquelines help with finishing the framing of her picture.  This evening Annie stopped by with a problem with her car key and Richard gave her good advice.  I splurged on ribeye but I ate some celery and cheese before I started and I've been having gas.

all new movie

Today I made and mailed out rings and a bracelet for Beth and Meg.  I decided to stay at Nancy's tonight after visiting with Hannah and Rudy. Nancy was watching Poldark and I watched a few episodes with her then the two of us watched Northanger Abbey and I realize that I own this on DVD but it was fun watching and again.

Temple and Women of Faith

After going to the temple I went to Smith's and purchased a few items to start my fuel account.  I had a $30 check from accumulated points and spent around $2 more on the credit card.  I purchased some icing for the gift I am giving to Heta, some meat, and some forbidden items, namely Low Carb bars and bananas.  I washed my robe and temple dress and went to listen to a sister who has had a very trying time while sustained by the spirit. 

Framing

Today I spent time with Jacqueline helping her frame the pencil sketches of her family suitable for display at the Covey center.  She will pay for the acrylic glazing but otherwise I used materials I had on hand.  It was gratifying.

Mending

Today while in an endowment session I discovered that the heel of my slipper had de-laminated from the body of the shoe.  I also dealt as usual with the looseness of my slippers that inhibits me from going up the spiral staircase as rapidly as I would like.  This afternoon I took some of the satin faced elastic from the waist band of my 'fig' apron and used it to create two bands that I sewed into my slippers to keep them on my feet when I walk.  It turned out quite nice and still left plenty of elastic in the waist band.  I also replaced the fraying flowers at the tips of the slippers with ribbon bows.  I ate a lot of indulgent food today including bananas and sugar free chocolate as well as a bun with butter.  I'm not worried about falling off the wagon and back into a SAD diet.

1917

I went to the WW1 movie 1917 today with my son David and his son Alden.  We went to the early showing which cost a little over 5 dollars each.  The theater was mostly empty.  The movie was intense but not overly dramatic.  I was very impressed with the presentation.  There were many previews showed but I am not really interested in the movies that were promoted.  I ate a couple of eggs before going to the theater and a steak when I returned.  I finally got the image transferred for my planned painting of Layla.  I used watercolor for the initial transfer from the image on my computer.  I will use either watercolor or pastel for the next layer then add encaustic on top for texture and to make the images make sense.  I am glad I have the painting of the Payson Temple and Marge to take to the Spring Show.  I'm uncertain of how this project will turn out but I know that Taylor and Shazia will welcome it.  Tomorrow I go to the temple as I usually do on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  I have had a new contact withe the land agent who arranged my previous leases of my Duschesne property.  I worked out that my car gets around 18 miles per gallon.  I require at least two fill ups per month to keep to my current schedule of driving up to Bountiful once a week. 

Good Sunday

The lesson I taught today, February 16, was fun.  I learned a lot as I prepared and the teenagers were mostly responsive.  Lucinda and her family came by to eat lasagna after church and stayed to play and visit.  I enjoyed viewing the audacious behavior of President Trump who not only spoke the phrase 'gentlemen, start your engines, but set the pace with the official limousine after having the pilot buzz the grandstand before he landed.  Tomorrow I plan to attend a movie with David.

Studying for Sunday School

I have been asked to substitute for a teen aged Sunday School class tomorrow.  I will be teaching about Jacob's sermon based on Isaiah and have learned some interesting things.  Previously I felt that Nephi was a bit too anxious to talk about his own ideas about Isaiah and somewhat dismissive of the further words of Jacob.  Now I have revised my view.  It seems that Nephi gave his much younger brother a significant honor, first by asking him to present the sermon which may have been a key address on the occasion of a festival which took him two days to complete.  It was more like the address of King Benjamin than the itinerant preaching Lehi used when warning the people of Jerusalem.  There would have been an audience gathered and the idea that Nephi felt his brother's sermon was worthy of being recorded on the small plates is significant.  There is also the idea that this was meant to welcome 'Gentiles' who were not some distant people but the people who had joined the community of the Nephites from the indigenous population is intriguing.  There are many clues to this such as the emphasis on 'adoption' into the tribe of Israel.  Isaiah was an adviser to King Hezekiah who listened to him and ruled righteously for many years as opposed to his great, great grandson Zedekiah who was king in Lehi's time. 

Birthday Business

I gave the chalcedony bracelet with a horse charm to Shazia today and mailed the bracelet with a 'hand made' charm to Tara.  I stopped at Hobby Lobby on my drive back to Provo from Bountiful and purchased a radio control vehicle for Timothy.  I plan to give Meg earrings with a tree symbol and a chalcedony bead or some other color of bead to signify her interest in water and growing things.  I plan to give Heta the big bottle of cookie cutters.  I plan to send Beth a bracelet with some cute charms and likely do the same for Tegarian and Olive.  I need to stop by the Paper Store and purchase some more mailing envelopes and jewelry containers.  These are the birthdays for March:
                                                                 Beth, 2 Mar 1996

Meg, 8 March 1963

Jared, 9 Mar 1980

Brad, 11 Mar 1970

Tegarion, 13 March 2016

Layla, 13 March 2018

Rudy, 23 Mar 2011

Russell, 24 Mar 2000

O, 24 Mar 2016

I will mail Meg's and Beth's gift out together.  I can hand Jared's and Brad's gifts directly to them and give Rudy his gift when I visit him on the preceeding Friday.  I will have to mail gifts to Tegarion and Olive and I'm planning to send Russell a hat to match his fluffy pants.  I will likely be able to hand Layla's gift directly to her when they visit. Warm hats will work for Brad and Jared also.  

I made gesso and applied it to one of the braced panels.   

Reminders

I like to send myself e-mail reminders.  For instance, today after attending the temple I stopped to sign a petition about Utah County Taxes then shopped for mailing supplies at the Paper Store.  I found both bubble padded envelopes and nifty little plastic folding holders that would fit inside of them.  I altered two bracelets but adding little pendants yesterday.  The one for Shazia has a tiny horse and the one for Tara has a silver hand that has 'hand made' etched in it.  This is a good use of technology.

Assorted Small Projects

Today I finished up several small projects.  I wrapped the Payson Temple print I had prepared for Lucinda and Jared to give as a present to a young woman in their ward who is being married on Valentines Day.  I made a card with a small print of the temple and attached some flowers near the bow.  I made the blue chalcedony ring into a necklace pendant and located the small silvery pendants so I could add them to a couple of chalcedony bead bracelets for Shazia and Tara.  I found a tiny pony for Shazia's charm and a 'hand made' charm for Tara's bracelet.  Tomorrow I plan to stop by a jewelry shop on University Avenue on my way home from the temple and sign a tax petition.  Next I will head over to the Paper Store and get some mailing envelopes or jewelry boxes so I can send out birthday gifts to Shazia and Tara. 

Good Day

After going to the temple I stopped and shopped at Smith's and got paper supplies, some steak, butter, chocolate and Greek yogurt.  I gave a ride to 'Headstart' to a young boy from our ward whose mother has been diagnosed with mono.  The route led over the railroad tracks in south Provo a couple of times.  I am not a fan of railroad crossings.  Afterwards I took Adam, Ralph, Jared and Timothy on a shopping trip similar to the trip I made with Jacqueline, Diana, Lelia and Patricia on Saturday as part of celebrating Lelia's birthday.  We went to the sports store, then north on State Street to Harbor freight where Jared and Adam each bought ten feet of sturdy rope, then we drove north on State Street to the rock shop.  A kindly woman gave the boys a chance to pick a free polished rock from a large box stocked with shiny agates, then led them through a tour of various rather impressive fossils, beginning with a blue whale vertebrae, a piece of mammoth jaw and the blade from a stegasaurus.  Last of all she showed them a fossil worm.  They chose several rocks including some egg shaped marble pieces.  I stopped to get a frostee at Wendy's for Adam before we hurried home to determine if the axes I purchased as presents for Ralph and Calvin had arrived.  To the delight of the boys, they were on my porch. 

Juice and char and napping

I took the kids to seminary this morning and stopped by Day's Market where I purchased a piece of meat and a bag of popcorn.  I cooked the meat using reverse sear and it was very good and had a lot of lovely juice.  However it was too big for one meal.  I saved the remaining piece for tomorrow.  I slept some more, and woke to the smell of char.  It turns out Richard 'overdid' some hamburger and ended up with black grease in the cast iron pan.  Fortunately the mess was not quite as extensive as I feared it might be.  I ended the day by sending out the UVAG newsletter and printing out the cards that will be mailed.  Tomorrow after going to the temple I will drive a child to preschool as a volunteer for someone in the ward who is suffering from mono. 

Maple Sunday and no Politics

Several members of my family support Donald Trump and some of them suffer from Trump Derangement Syndrome to the degree that virtually anything the president does is wrong either from motive or just because he does it.  We gathered for Maple Sunday today.  I stocked up on party lasagnas during the holidays when they were on sale and I had just installed my new freezer.  Although I don't eat lasagna or processed food, it makes a nice main dish around which others can provide additions.  Today Nancy brought colorful broccoli and a salad and Tisha brought a couple of cakes, one chocolate pudding cake and another that was a spice cake with fruit and nuts.  Jing brought half of a cookie cake they had purchased to celebrate Talitha's birthday.  I had half a package of frozen rolls which I thawed and baked along with the lasagna.  We drank spring water.  Jing doesn't eat dairy and I usually eat one meal a day, although this evening I had some toast with butter, the first real departure from my dietary routine in more than a month.  Annie brought her boyfriend Tim.  I explained why there were only forks at the table settings and he seemed fine with the idea.  He mentioned some things about his family that would categorize them as pleasantly eccentric in a way that I can relate to, ie. they got gallons of cream from herd share in Pennsylvania each spring and made their own butter.  Not long after Annie and Tim left Richard joined us and the topic turned to Han Solo's gun.  Tisha did not bring Rudy because he wasn't feeling well.  For that matter Richard has congestion.  I ate the toast and butter this evening because I thought it might moderate the way I feel.  I believe I drank too much plain water today.  I am grateful for family get togethers that remain lively and yet avoid controversial subjects.

Another Friday

As usual I drove to Bountiful to spend about an hour with my grandchildren Rudy and Hannah.  Today their mother, Tricia, came along to McDonald's and paid for the food.  I had expected difficulty driving but except for a few drizzles and some wet roads I made good time going up and normal time returning.  I worked on updating the UVAG website and got my Payson Temple print framed with only the hanging wire left to install.  Tomorrow I plan to take my four older Hancock granddaughters shopping as a way to celebrate Lelia's birthday. 

Payson Temple Prints

I have  been frustrated by my attempts to make prints of my painting of the Payson Temple.  I finally decided to hand tint the best of the prints I made.  I was able to do a fair job of making them resemble the original painting by using acrylic paint to subdue the pinkish tone added to the temple and change the blue of the sky and mountains to a cooler tone.  I cut two 11"x14" panels with my Dremel sawDand glued the prints to the panels before I began to enhance them.  I am satisfied with the result.  Today I left the sealing session early because of feeling faint and a little nauseous.  Once I reached home over roads covered with snow I napped for a while.  I was interested in seeing the Blaze special on Ukraine put together by Glenn Beck.  It appears that the Obama administration was funding wars using Burisma and other entities to do money laundering.  They did a lot of similar secretive stuff, but I am confident it was under the influence of the usual suspects.  Tomorrow I hope to drive to Bountiful to take Rudy and Hannah for play and a visit to McDonalds.  Finishing the print project was gratifying and I'm happy I was able to do it without going outside in freezing weather to use my saw.  I cut the panels in my kitchen that can be easily cleaned up.

Impeachment Frenzy

I tend to get involved in various outside situations on a fairly deep basis now and then.  Lately I have been following the sturm and drang involved in the impeachment of President Donald Trump.  Although I reluctantly voted for Trump in 2016 I believe he has been a very effective president in terms of things I hold dear such as immigration and abortion and trends that run counter to our decaying culture such as religious freedom.  I am not in favor of his fiscal grandiosity, a willingness to throw money at various societal issues, but the opposition party is far worse.  With full awareness that he is a flawed human being, I approve of the decisions he has made since becoming president.  The drama involved in the recent attempt to force him out of office with impeachment has caught me up.  Today he was acquitted after giving a very good State of the Union last night.

Talitha's Birthday

I didn't make a post yesterday.  It was a cold and snowy day but I walked over to Daidre Hulick's home with a wrapped package that contained a print for her daughter Kara of my picture of the Payson Temple.  I don't recall having as much trouble producing a print that accurately depicted a painting before.  The blues were too warm, the pales too dark.  I have decided to alter the prints I have already made to more accurately depict the subtle tones of the original painting rather than continue to print additional copies.  It seems that each transfer, from painting to photo, photo to computer, computer to printer, brings about an undesirable change.  I like the painting and appreciate the critiques I received at the UVAG meeting last week.  I made a bracelet of red glass beads and silvery beads for Talitha but somehow I misplaced it and the sparkle covered can I put it in.  I made another for her when I returned from the temple today.  This time I had fewer of the red glass beads so I used some red shell beads I had taken from some earrings I purchased and redesigned a couple of years ago.  I purchased the beads from a Goodwill store in Oregon when I was taking a day off from funeral situations with my sister-in-law and friend Mary.  We went to the coast and I not only purchased a couple of pairs of earrings, but I took photos from which I made a painting.  Tonight I plan to watch the State of the Union address. 

Not a Hoarder

I have been watching a series on youtube that began with the rescue of the house of an elderly potter.  She had become a hoarder in her later years and finally was moved from her home into a care facility.  Her home was threatened with demolition until it was purchased by someone who thought there might be treasure in the trash.  I was so happy that my own life has taken a turn.  I accumulate, but I also dispose of trash.  That was the main reason for my recent decision to get a trailer.  I am grateful that my death is unlikely to cause my family to close up my house complete with everything I've accumulated and put the match to it.

2-1-2020

I finally made two reasonably good prints of my painting of the Payson Temple.  The first prints suffered because of the light source I used for the photos.  There was possibly also some problem with translating the image from one format to another.  I did some touch-up with acrylic paint to fill in some space at the bottom.  I had hoped to get back to the chicken coop and do some cleanup with the new coop scoop I purchased yesterday.  Instead I slept quite a bit.  Today I was beginning a fast of both food and water as I always do at the first of the month.  I ate some mushrooms and onions along with the steak and I believe that one or the other caused some stomach discomfort.  They were not nearly as tasty as I hoped they would be.