Meg

Meg has an inquiring mind and good intelligence.  Unlike her brothers and sisters who gave the statement of assets mailed out by her father's conservator a brief and rather cursory glance, she detected at least incompetence and possibly malfeasance in his account.  She got on it and wrote a complaint to the court.  She was the first to detect his decline and involvement in possibly dangerous and at least expensive scams.  He certainly won't thank her for 'interfering' but he is blessed to have such a daughter.

Celery

Celery has become my substitute for crackers.  I fill it with cream cheese or liverwurst.  I chew on it in the evening as a sort of crunchy form of water.  The mild but green taste accents cheese and other fillings.  I need to go ahead and look up if my assumption of it's relative lack of nutrition is as low as I assume.

Intelligence and Opinion

My children are all quite intelligent to some degree.  Most of them are fairly successful in their main focus in life.  I have one son who is brilliant but he is a man of set opinion.  When he has satisfied himself about the truth of a proposition he is very unlikely to change his mind.  On some subjects like the reality of God I find this very reassuring.  Eternal truth should not be a matter of casual affiliation, but there are some things that he doesn't have the best information about.  He will become very upset if his premises on these things are questioned.  I am confident that on particular matters his information is unfounded or outdated.  I need to realize that argument will do no good.  I have seen him change his mind on some matters when presented with more current and accurate information.  I am not the person likely to convince him in certain matters.  At least our deepest and most important beliefs are congruent.

Party Tent

My chickens now live in a party tent.  It came yesterday which surprised me.  It was packed into boxes one very heavy, one light.  I engaged the six oldest Hancock children to put it up.  It was a lovely day and they seem to enjoy the process which was rather like putting up a really big puzzle.  One of the most difficult aspects was getting the chickens into the tent.  I believe we have secured everything they won't wander or fly away.

Innovation

I spent the day making small hangers larger.  It was a rather clever innovation.  I used some aluminum hangers formed from u-shaped sections that I found a way to snap onto the smaller hanger.  Then I wrapped the joint with a patch of copper foil and covered the patch with solder.  It took all day so it could be considered a waste of time, but it was fun to complete a successful innovation.

Efficient Tools

I try to keep my car clean.  I employ one of my grandsons to keep it from getting dusty and spotted.  It is a black car and shows every dried raindrop.  Recently I used the back of my car to transport soirme plastic waste to the trash bins and later I used it to bring home a bag of top soil to use for spring planting.  The carpet in the rear of my car was a mess that I didn't think my grandson would easily conquer.  First I used a little hand vacuum which hardly touched the problem.  I cleaned out the filter which helped slightly.  Next I tried to use a tape roll made for removing lint from clothing with more success, but it was still quite messy.  At last I hauled out my vacuum and used it in carpet mode.  It virtually eliminated the problem. 

Getting up in the morning

I didn't set my alarm and I slept in.  Still, it was finally time to get up and I went ahead and did what I have been doing for several months, following a plan.  Yesterday I had an appointment to take my grandson to seminary and a plan to go to the temple afterward.  I prayed, made my bed but didn't do my exercises or listen to my scripture for the day because when I woke up it was ten minutes before I was due to leave the house.  I skipped breakfast and showered and dressed in appropriate clothing for the temple.  I moved fast enough to meet my grandson in time. I parked at the far end of the parking lot and took the grand staircase to the chapel in order to make up for the missed exercise and I read the scripture assigned for that morning once I was seated in the chapel.   I'm grateful for my morning routine even when I am forced to bend it to meet my circumstances.