The Old Folks At Home Addendum

I am adding and addendum on Sept. 25. I just wanted you to know that I am, officially, one beat up person. I was helping Dad, Shawn, Dane and Toren put up the trusses on Dad’s shed on Saturday afternoon. Dad accidentally knocked a 2X4 and it fell with some force and smashed my right pointer finger. It is PURPLE and has been bleeding quite a bit. Dr. George said it looked as if it were broken on the tip but it will grow back. It is covered with a few layers of protective bandage. Then on Monday, I was scheduled for another procedure, called a sacroiliac joint injection. By placing numbing medicine into the joint, the amount of immediate pain relief helps confirm or deny the joint as a source of pain. Also, time release cortisone (steroid) helps to reduce any inflammation that may exist within the joint. The patient is placed on the X-ray table on their stomach so that the physician can best visualize these joints in the back using x-ray guidance. The skin on the low back is scrubbed using 2 types of sterile scrub. Next, the physician numbs a small area of skin with numbing medicine. This medicine stings for several seconds. After the numbing medicine has been given time to be effective, the physician directs a very small needle, using x-ray guidance into the joint. A small amount of contrast (dye) is injected to insure proper needle position inside the joint space. Then, a small mixture of numbing medicine (anesthetic) and anti-inflammatory (cortisone/steroid) is injected. One or several joints may be injected depending on location of the patient’s usual pain. The legs may feel weak or numb for a few hours. This is fairly uncommon, but does occasionally happen. Well, they did my left side and today, all day, I have had to have Dad help me walk, Dr. Gordon Petty George said to find a place to park and stay there. But I have had to use the bathroom from time to time. I have had a completely dead left leg. It should have feeling by morning and I am counting on it. But, because I had rheumatic fever as a child, I had to have an intravenous antibiotic. The nurse nicked the vein in my hand, left side, and so the back of my hand is swollen and bruised. Yes that is a smashed finger on the right and a swollen hand on the left—oh, joy! Besides that, I cut my thumb on the left with a knife the other day, and, at the campout, caught my pointer finger on the left in the trailer door. It has been a FUN weekend. I will no longer complain. I am done. Now I will smile and be pleasant.

The Photos Are Submitted

I sent them on and they have not, yet, replied. I guess they are either OK or they will let me know. I am sorry you have had so much trouble trying to find them. It is a good thing you had negatives. Love, Myrna

Donnette's Sad Tale

I hope the scans I sent are ok as I have continued searching to no avail. I did find Richard's war pictures but Claude and Raymond's aren't with them. I told my children the sad tale. No one has even laid a hand on any of my pictures.

Donnette

The Magnificent Seven

Since I haven't written for a while, I will give a lot of information this time. Hopefully it won't sound like those letters people send at Christmas that don't sound like real people.

Brandon is enjoying being on the high council. He is already going to move up one chair next month because someone is moving. He thought he would not have to do Friends of Scouting when he was released from bishop, and now he is in charge of it for the entire stake. The Stake President holds meetings every other Wednesday for a few hours, which is better than every week for a couple hours. The ward he is over meets at 6 or 7 am for meetings, and then 9 am for church. So we still see him at our church until January. Work is still extremely time consuming, but it pays the bills so we shouldn't complain too much.

I am still on the scout committee over awards and advancements. I am also education commissioner at school for the next two years. I will also be classroom helper in kindergarten on Tuesdays. Work is really busy right now. I have a rape trial I am doing which will happen the first of December, another DUI jury trial for October, and I am co-chairing a solicitation to commit murder case for Utah County (they had to give Juab the case because one of their deputy attorneys was the proposed victim). The last case is happening October 2, 3, and 4, so watch the news. And this is still part-time.

Alyssa is doing well at the middle school. She is learning that the key to A's is organization (only because her dad and mom keep telling her that over and over and over). She is very involved in dance still and is going to a convention in Las Vegas this weekend. She is also enjoying sewing and girl's ensemble at school. She doesn't like math too much because it is advanced math, but if she sticks with it, then she won't have to do so much in high school (that's our selling point). 

Our neighbor has decided to teach the oldest three piano (she used to teach in California for 20 years) so she is involved in that again after a month hiatus.

Kyle is enjoying being in 6th grade (they are the seniors of the elementary school). He was going to play the trumpet in band but we are now thinking he will do the clarinet and work into the saxaphone for next year. He is on his way to getting his Tenderfoot soon and will attend his first merit badge pow-wow at BYU next month with our scouts if there are any classes left. He is in piano again, and hopefully will have a piece ready to play at 6th grade graduation. He is also in advanced math and somehow catches on to it even when he is sent into the hall for talking (reminds me of someone I knew once).

Megan is taking a year off from dance and is enjoying soccer. She will likely try basketball next and then soccer again in the spring. She is still taking violin lessons from the BYU professor at lunchtime. She is also doing piano from our neighbor after school, and concert choir at the school very early in the morning. She has been placed in advanced math since her math scores were above 95%.

Matthew has come out of his shell. I have already been told by his kindergarten teacher to tell him that there are times for talking and times for quiet. He is a very affectionate boy. Every time his soccer coach bends over for a huddle, we can count on Matthew to run and jump on his back. He hugs our friends the Burnsides all the time, his primary teachers, and his kindergarten teacher. He is a bright kid, but he needs to learn to wiggle less and listen more. 

Rachel is still a lot of fun for us, except she has also emerged from her shell and is everywhere. She is like a little hurricane leaving a path of destruction in her wake. Last week she drank vinegar at Mom's house when Alyssa was watching her (which surprised all of us because she makes us hold her cups and bottles when she drinks) and spent the next three hours with a tummy ache and the next several hours making some very startling belches (Kyle was so proud). I couldn't help but laugh even though it was quite scary. It burned her throat a little and she was very upset for quite some time because she couldn't breath well (she must've inhaled it a bit). But it all came out in the end, literally. She says some fun words that will make us all giggle, and we are totally enjoying having her.

Pictures at 35 mm

 Donnette wrote: I only have the 35 mm negatives of those two pictures. You go ahead and sign for the family. I have searched through all my files and can't find any of those Mexican border pictures. I tried to put everything in big boxed files when I did the CD scanning. I can't imagine what happened to everything.
Donnette


Myrna wrote: The 35 mm is the best resolution you can get. If you print it and then scan the photo, it should work. Or, if you follow my directions on the other response to your other e-mail, that would be best. The 1200 dpi would be the very best result. If all else fails, I am certain your son-in-law, who seems to be a computer guru, can figure it out. I found out that we have until the end of the month to get this done and submitted so I am not quite so panicked. Love, Myrna

Pictures from Donnette

In rereading this I did have those original pictures. Now I can only find the negatives. I have a scanner that does negatives but have no idea what the dpi is. I just can't seem to be able to find the pictures. I have gone through all my boxes of pictures.

Maybe I'll have to have the pictures printed up and then - 

I only have the 35 mm negatives of those two pictures. You go ahead and sign for the family. I have searched through all my files and can't find any of those Mexican border pictures. I tried to put everything in big boxed files when I did the CD scanning - I can't imagine what happened to everything.

Oh dear. I have spent two days now looking for those pictures. I realized, too, that Richard's war pictures are also missing - they must be together. I have gone through every envelope in every file drawer and in every box I have filed pictures in. I am at a loss.

My scanner that I scanned pictures with could scan at different dpi and I usually used 300 except for the very small pictures when I switched to 600. But my little HP Photo Smart is older and while it does a good job with 35mm films and slides it doesn't really tell what the scanning scale is. I scanned it on the largest it had. I hope this will do and I will still wrack my brain to find the original pictures.

Donnette 

DPI

In rereading this I did have those original pictures. Now I can only find the negatives. I have a scanner that does negatives but have no idea what the dpi is. I just can't seem to be able to find the pictures. I have gone through all my boxes of pictures.

Maybe I'll have to have the pictures printed up and then -
Donnette


Myrna wrote: DPI (or lowercase "dpi") is an abbreviation of dots per inch, which indicates the resolution of images. The more dots per inch, the higher the resolution. A common resolution for laser printers is 600 dots per inch. This means 600 dots across and 600 dots down, so there are 360,000 dots per square inch.

However, the most common resolution of images is 300 dpi. Most computer photo scanning systems have a setting called scan resolution. That allows the scanner to be set at the desired resolution, usually somewhere between 100 and 1200 dpi. Many people scan at the lower resoultion, say 100, 200 or 300, because the lower the resolution, the smaller the file.

You should be able to scan the negative at the higher resolution. They want it at 1200 if there needs to be cropping done or at 500 if no cropping is needed.

Love, Myrna

PS: I am sorry. Of course you know what DPI is. You just don't know what your scanner is copying at.

Rocky Mountain “Hi!”

Yes! We are now the parents of a school-aged child and I finally understand why cell-phones, in-car desks and car-friendly foods were invented. Convenience and time management! It wasn't enough to have a baby and move at the same time, I had to one-up myself by starting playgroup, preschool, dance, gymnastics, and kindergarten all at once. I feel crazy!! Although I know it's not anything the rest of you moms aren't already doing, it's a killer for me. I understand why people have maids and nannies. Still, life is good. Whitney loves school. Since it's a charter school, there is no bus. Luckily our little neighbor boy ended up in Whitney's class, so his mom drives them to school and I pick them up. Emma doesn't understand why she (Emma) doesn't get a ride a cool school "bus" (Chevy Tahoe) like Whitney (explanation: I take Emma and her friend who lives up the street to preschool, and his mom picks up). What kind of mother am I?!

I have also just experienced my first "my mom is so embarrassing" moment. It was wonderful! Poor Whitney. We all knew it would happen sooner than later, but I wasn't prepared for it to happen in Kindergarten. It also doesn't help that I usually show up at carpool all red-faced and sweaty (in my defense, I only have a one-hour window in which to exercise between pick-ups and dropoffs). I've tried to set up a couple of play dates for Whitney with her new classmates, but it wasn't until last Friday when all the parents had to come to school without kids that I got a positive response (I cleaned myself up and actually got ready that day). Oh well. You win some and lose some.

Ryan is growing very quickly and every time I tell people how old he is, they all say the same thing: "Wow! He doesn't look like a newborn, he's already a big baby." To that, I have many responses, but usually stick with the polite one and say, "Yes, he is big. But we'll keep him." Ryan's surgery for his lip is scheduled for October 25 at 8:30 am at the Denver Children's Hospital. It's usually an outpatient procedure, but because we live in the Springs, he will have to be kept overnight for observation (for the anesthesia). Then he will have stitches for the next 5-7 days and arm splints for three weeks (so he can't rub his mouth). He won't be able to have any binkies or help from his sisters. Somehow I think that will be more difficult (protecting him from his sisters) than the surgery itself.

Emma loves preschool. She is the only girl in her class. I have been informed by the teacher that Emma is the princess (simply because she is so "adored" by her classmates, not because sh  is bossy--somehow I doubt that) and all the boys always want to do what Emma wants to do. I think that is why she likes preschool.

Jared is still "practicing" away. He will be working every Friday in October (I know, "heaven forbid!") except for one: the week we get to go to Todd's. We are very excited and can't wait to impose the Waites on the Ohio Trauntveins!

We thoroughly enjoyed our Trip to Utah. The girl's keep asking why we can't just move there, then we could go to that place with "the rides where we got all wet" and see Grammy, Grandpa, Mary, Megan and everyone else all the time. I explained to Whitney that daddy has a job here and needs to earn money to pay for our house. So now she's constantly asking if items at the grocery store are going to make us so poor that we won't even have a house. I guess it's time to start having more serious financial talks. Allowance anyone? We're taking comments of all varieties on this issue....

Love,

The Waites

Recipes of the Month from Melanie

September reminds me of years of sitting with my elbows on the table, a knife in my right hand, a quart jar to my left and a 9x13 cake pan, placed in just the right place to gather all the drippings and skin from peeled peaches. What a mess canning peaches was, but oh, how sweet

the finished reward! Here are some new recipes taken from Peach 101. The place to call for information on the book is at the end.

I used to "can peaches" until a few years ago. I found that DelMonte sells them in quart jars for cheaper than I can preserve them, but I somehow miss the mess and taste of a warm peach, devoid of skin, juices dripping down my chin, during the September month. Hope these

recipes will bring many tasty moments for you.

I love you Mom!

Mel

Peach Poppy Seed Vinaigrette

One-third cup peach jam

One-third cup white wine vinegar

One-fourth cup olive oil

1 tablespoon honey, warmed

1 teaspoon poppy seeds

Combine all ingredients in jar. Chill, shake well, serve.

Peaches and Cream Pie

1 9-inch pie shell

6 fresh ripe peaches, quartered

1 cup cream

2 eggs, beaten

1 and one-half teaspoons vanilla

One-fourth cup sugar

2 tablespoons butter

Preheat oven to 350.

Arrange peach quarters in pie shell. Combine cream, eggs, vanilla, and sugar. Beat 3-5 minutes. Pour on top of peaches. Dot butter on top of cream by teaspoonfuls. Bake at 350 degrees 1 hour or until filling is set and crust is browned.

Susan’s Hot Peach Breakfast

Sliced bananas

Brown sugar to taste

Fresh peach slices

Peach juice

In a single-serve microwaveable baking dish, layer banana, brown sugar, and peach slices. Pour juice over all and microwave on high 30 seconds or until bubbly.

Peach Salsa

1 cup chopped fresh ripe peaches

Three-fourths cup chopped fresh tomatoes

One-half cup sweet red onion, chopped

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 green onion, thinly sliced

2 teaspoons cilantro

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 tablespoons lime juice

1 to 2 teaspoons granulated sugar

Combine peaches, tomatoes, red onion, ga rlic, green onion, and cilantro. Set aside. In separate bowl, whisk olive oil, lime juice, and sugar until sugar is dissolved. Pour over peach mixture and stir gently to combine. Chill. Store in sealed container in refrigerator. Great on tortilla chips or try with eggs, fish, or chicken! From “Peach 101: Recipes Your Mother Never Told You About. “

Halloween Bugs in the Bed

You can make the filling ahead of time and keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator until serving time.

4 green apples

1 cup of chunky peanut butter

1/2 cup of chopped peanuts (optional)

1/2 cup of rice Krispies

1/4 cup of raisins

Cut the apples into quarters and remove the core, leaving it hollow for the filling. Mix the peanut butter, chopped peanuts, cereal and raisins. Spoon them into the apple hollows. Looks like bugs, but kids just love it. Serves 14

Halloween Milkshake

INGREDIENTS:

1/4 cup milk

3/4 cup frozen orange juice concentrate

4 black licorice twists

PREPARATION:

Blender together milk, orange juice concentrate and ice cream in a blender until smooth. Pour into glasses. Cut the ends off the black licorice twists and use as straws.

Pictures and Names from Donnette Smith

I'm glad you found some of the pictures.

For years Richard used to visit all the relatives and copy their pictures. I found 35 mm negatives of: 

1. the men with guns in STREET clothes Newspaper picture reprinted years later: "The above young men of Springville were the first to offer their services when the governor called for volunteers to go to the Mexican border and quell the trouble with Ponchio Villa in 1916. Later with the exception of Ray Smith the same group were mustered into service for World War I. Top row: Ted Pennington, Claude Smith, Elmer Fullmer, Dewey Snelson. Bottom row: Ray Smith, Frank Diamond, Arnold Randle, Glen Allan and Leslie Peterson." I have negatives -we copied this picture from Pearle and Fred Smith and also from Tom and Dolly Smith.

2. Negative of group picture that had the corner cut out.

I don't have any printed pictures. I used to have the newspaper clipping mentioned above but can't find that. It had been in Richard's Dad's things - Herbert W. Smith. Did I send it to you?

I think I must have sent you all the prints I had after I scanned them for the CD.

Donnette

Scans from Donnette for Our Project

Donnette wrote: Did they say what kind of scans they needed? JPEG or TIFF or ---? Are you supposed to email the new scans or send them on a CD? Did I send all those pictures to you? I don't seem to have them in my files? 

Myrna wrote: We are doing great. One project done and safely (?) filed away. Then on to another project. When I die, my kids may find all of this tucked here and there. It drives me crazy. I am sorry that it is driving you nuts too. Myrna

Donnette wrote: Myrna, I have looked all over and can't find one - not one - of those pictures. I know I scanned the originals. I have tried to organize my photos and have several pictures of Claude and Ray in folders - but not the war photos. I'll have to keep looking.
 
Donnette

The Fantastic Five

This is from the group down in St. George, Grandma in particular. 

Bree spent 9 days in rehab and graduated. She completed a 29 day course in that time. Her insurance wouldn’t cover any more time, so she new she had to do as much as she could in the time she had. She got a great CD from her counselors. Bree is going back to work on Monday, the 18th. She has forced them to implement their Drug Free Workplace policy, they actually fired several people. She told them she wouldn’t come back if they didn’t. I am really proud of her. She is going to her meetings very regularly and her outpatient follow up with her counselor down here. David goes with her. They both are doing fantastic. David has a new job, was promoted, but don’t ask me to what. He doesn’t have to go into people’s houses any more, and he really likes that. 

David and I really enjoyed the family camping trip. I wish Bree could have been there, but she was where she needed to be. The kids had a great time. The Kids. They are doing incredibly well. Erin is way ahead in school (of course), and Donovin can write an “e”. He is going to be way ahead too. Donovin has the hardest head of any kid I have ever been around, including his mother. I feel privileged to be the one that has to fight with him over everything. 

It is cooling off down here, finally. The weather is wonderful and we love being outside. Went to the Rodeo and both Donovin and Erin love the horses. Donovin was particularly enthralled with the bull riding. There is just no telling!! Well, I hope everyone who reads this is doing well and are happy. See you next month. I read these newsletters. I think Grammy Myrna is great and we are all lucky to have her in our lives. Leonard too!

Barbara for David, Bree, Erin & Donovin

BYU Wants Photos

Dear Myrna,
Did you get a letter from BYU about your grandfather being a Mexican Border Volunteer. I took so long getting Richard's rememberances of the war ready to send - and just sat on it for so long - and finally got it mailed last week. I had Richard's remembrances and pictures and Claude's and Raymond's pictures and the pages you and Richard signed giving them to BYU. Anyway - Richard got a letter from them which I will enclose. I hope you can read it.
Donnette

Donette: Did they say what kind of scans they needed? JPEG or TIFF or ---?

Are you supposed to email the new scans or send them on a CD? Did I send all those pictures to you? I don't seem to have them in my files?

Donnette

Myrna: They want them as JPEG. They want them to be large and clear so they want them scanned in 600 dpi or better. I have all the photos except for the one that has all of the volunteers in uniform. I think that you must have sent that one to me. You can either e-mail it to me in the larger format or directly to them at saintsatwar@byu.edu.

I need to know what you want to do. 

You know, I think I remember that photo and remember having it but I put all of those old photos into the acid-free clear sheets and mounted them on acid-free paper when we were working with them earlier. I just can't seem to see that one and all the others are together. I will keep looking today.

Do you have a photo of the men with their guns where they are not aiming them? I understood from the caller that they wanted that one. The one I have has them holding the rifles but aiming them.

Love, Myrna

Oh! Hi! Oh!

Hey everyone! How was the campout? We were feeling quite homesick over Labor Day weekend knowing how much fun we were missing out on. It sounds like you had a great turnout. 

So far September has flown by at lightning speed, but it’s been good.

The day after Todd submitted the news for August, Michael broke his wrist. His first broken bone, and he says his last. He broke it while climbing off (no, not jumping on) the trampoline. He wore a cast for 4 weeks and got it off just yesterday. He now has a brace on it for 2 more weeks, but he likes it much better because it can be taken off for showering and sleeping. And he can play game cube with it on (his reason for liking it). Last weekend Michael completed his Ordeal for his Order of the Arrow membership. As much as he wasn’t looking forward to it, he came home in a great mood and feeling pretty proud of his accomplishment. They also took some pity on him because of his broken wrist, so he only had to do 2/3 of the heavy work then did some office work for the rest of the service hours. It sounds like his experience was pretty neat and he enjoys telling people about it.

Tyler is in the 3rd grade and is enjoying it so far. He likes his teacher because “she is really nice and we get to play Jeopardy and Deal or No Deal”. Hailey and I go to the school’s computer lab and help out when his class is in there, which is fun for me. The soccer season is in full swing and we are up at the ball fields every night during the week for practices or games. Scouts has started back up (out here they take the summer off), and he has been moved into the Bears a little early since he earned his Wolf last June. He’s looking forward to the fun activities they have planned for the coming year.

Emily is now in the 2nd grade and also likes her teacher a lot. Her favorite class is music and she is always teaching me new songs they have learned. Emily is also playing soccer this year instead of cheerleading which surprised me quite a bit. She had to choose between the two because they are going on at the same time. I think since she has the “outfit” from last year that she can wear to school on “spirit day” along with the other girls, she’s happy. Emily is also loving gymnastics and jazz. I think she wishes she could go every day.

Hailey is now everywhere and into everything. It’s so much fun to watch her discover the world around her. She calls for DaDa and whispers “Ca!” whenever she sees one of the cats. And I think she even said “Tyty” (for Tyler) a couple of times yesterday. I think my favorite is when she gives me “loves” on my shoulder. If she’ll only say Momma now. 

Todd just got back home yesterday from spending 5 days in Seattle for a conference. He said he had a good time, and got to do a couple of new things he hadn’t done there before, but got bored doing stuff alone. He is also going to Las Vegas for another 5 days in November for another conference. When is somebody going to come up with a “Homemaker’s Conference” (in Hawaii of course) for us mothers?

Jared, Kirsten and family are coming out to Ohio for a week in October and we can’t wait for them to come. Emily is constantly talking about Whitney and Emma coming to play with her. We’ve got some fun things planned (yes, there is stuff to do in Ohio!), and I hope it will make them want to come back another time (wink, wink).

Well, that’s all for now. Until next month! Love you all!

Todd, Amy, Michael, Tyler, Emily & Hailey

Torkil Dressoe‏

Kære Venner:

For those who haven't heard, brother Torkil Dressøe passed away Aug. 31st and was buried Monday. Sept. 4th from Nitivej chapel.

It wasn't too long ago that he was in church!

Ære være hans minde!
Kenneth Anderson