Day Family August Newsletter 2013

September 5, 2013

NEWS FROM THE DAYS:

We just returned from a week in St. George at our condo. Stephanie and her kids joined us for the first 4 days, and Linda and I went solo the last 3 days. We all enjoyed Mary Poppins at Tuachan the second night we were there – they do such a great job at this outdoor theatre production. It’s always fun to have cars and animals come onstage, as well as the aerial features and fireworks thrown in. We also enjoyed swimming every day, eating out at our favorite places, watching videos and playing games around the table. I took the kids bowling and to the arcade in Mesquite, Nevada while Linda and Steph enjoyed some gambling. Stephanie played bingo for the first time and won 3 games including $300 on the last game! I found out I couldn’t hold a bowling ball with my arthritic right thumb, and bowled left handed instead. Linda and I went to the driving range and hit a bucket of balls to see if Linda’s shoulder and knee would hold up – they did, but it was so hot, we decided to call it quits and went to a movie instead that afternoon.

Our grandson, Cole, turned the big 30 this past month. Jackie and Wiggins had everyone over for swimming and a barbeque. A good time was had by all. Jackie and Wiggins have basically remodeled their yard front and back, planted a vegetable garden that’s doing well, and love having people over to swim and relax.

Stephanie had a sprinkler party to install a sprinkling system in her front and back yard. Katie and Bill have a friend who works for Orbit who got her the parts at ½ price, and Steph’s next door neighbor organized getting about 8 helpers along with Katie/Bill, Jackie, Linda and me to be grunts. The next door neighbor had already installed his system (using secondary water – Weber water), so his expertise came in very handy. Plus he and his son volunteered to trench the whole yard the day before the installation party with the trencher I rented from Home Depot. Everything got installed except for the electrical stuff needed to hook up the automatic sprinklers. Another neighbor volunteered to get that all done. We did turn each of the 7 stations on manually to set the sprinklers with proper angles and distance. Next spring we’ll have a grass planting party, as the Weber water gets shut off in one week – not enough watering time for a new lawn.

Katie and Bill finally got their house remodel 99% done, and are pleased with the new look to the front of their home, the new hardware floors, bathroom remodel upstairs and new roof. Linda and I saw a great movie – The Butler, and then drove up to Park City for their Silly Market (like a Farmer’s Market). I also finished reading The Help. So between The Butler and The Help, a vivid reminder about the discrimination blacks faced as we grew up in the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s. And unfortunately, there still lingers discrimination, especially in our age group and older. In another two or three generations, I think the country will be past the minority issues at last.

The Garden of Eat’n continues to produce, and I donated the forbidden fruit hanging over part of the garden (plums) to numerous people at my work. One lady took almost a bushel of plumbs and made blackberry (from her parent’s backyard) plumb jelly. So we have a jar now to enjoy with toast in the morning. And that’s the news from the Days. Tom & Linda