Pumpkins Hanging on the Apricot Tree

Ever since  our children were old enough to hold a spoon, we have carved pumpkins for  home evening activity on Monday before Halloween.  What started as Walt, myself, and toddler Cori Ann has now grown to 25 people weilding spoons and carving knives.  My sister came for a visit a few years ago and spent our memorable Halloween evening with our family.  She laughed and teased us in that she had "never attended a halloween gathering where the lights went out, scarey pumpkins were lit, and then singing primary songs ."  This year we added our own Cluff rendition of Pumpkins Hanging on the Apricot Tree. 

"I looked out my window and what did I see?  Pumpkins hanging on the apricot tree. 

Fall had brought me such a nice surpirse, pumpkins hanging right before my eyes. 

I can take an arm full and make a treat.  A pumpkin pie that would smell so sweet.  It wasn't really so, but it seemed to be.  Pumpkins hanging  on  the apricot tree."  At least at the Walt & Penny Cluff house.

Fish Finds Soul Mate

Walt and I went to San Diego for a week.  I enjoyed Shamu Show, but I was mezmerized by the huge fish aquarium.  There was not one fish the same.  I have never seen so many colors.  Walt took a picutre of a huge room of fish, but we did not know until we looked at the photo later that he had a reflection on me watching the fish.  We laughed hard because it seemed like the yellow fish is watching me with the same dumb smile on his face like I have on mine.  It is as though he is smiling at his new soul mate....me.  The first couple of days we were involved in a conference summit.  It was excellent.  We listened to top business people on marketing, the affects of the economy, and some interesting information given by a scientist on 2012.  We then spent a day touring the Midway Aircraft Carrier.  I accidently dropped my new glasses in a little hole in the floor of a war plane.  Five men had to take the floor out of part of the plane to retrieve my glasses.  Other than my blunder, it was a great tour.  We visited Old Town, traveled to Coronado, and then spent a day at Sea World.  There were very few people there on a Tuesday, so we walked into everything.  Walt and I enjoyed this relaxing few days together.  It was a sweet refreshment to spirit and our marriage.

Penny's Pity Pot

   (Washington Stake RS Presidency, standing Kathy Gardner, Penny Cluff; sitting, Sue Jolley, Linda Schimbeck;  Three of the greatest women I have been blessed to know)

 We had some hard family news this week, directly following the news from the owner of the business we lease to at our shop.  He told Walt that he could rent a shop down the road a little bigger than ours with fenced black top (our fenced is gravel) for $1000.00 less than he rents from us.  When Walt told me, he premised with the words "I have some bad news".  I was elated the man did not say he was going out of business.  Walt is going to negotiate a lower rent.  Therefore, it has been easy to be weighed down with the challenges of life, and climb on for a bumpy ride on the Pity Pot.

     The ride on the pity pot ended tonight.  I serve as Stake Relief Society President and as part of my stewardship, I go on Stake visits with designated ward leadership.  This ward presidency member had lined up two visits, one of which greatly humbled me.  After being introduced, I inquired about the two cute children clamoring for the sister's lap.  This very young grandmother explained that she watched over her grandchildren most of the time due to some "serious problems" her daughter had in caring for them.  She said she keeps a mattress in the other room where they can sleep and be comfortable.  One was 9 months the other 2 1/2.   The presidency member asked if the medicine she was taking was still making her exhausted.  I found out that she is battling cancer and has to be on a med for a much longer period of time.  She explained that she was working in a doctors office, a job she had enjoyed for thirteen years, until she got cancer and had to have surgury.  With a sweet smile, she said it coincided with having to watch over her grandchildren, so perhaps it was a good thing.   I asked if she had ever wondered how hard it would be to go through this tribulation without the comfort of the gospel.  She said the peace of the gospel was what pulled her through, and especially this week.  She explained that her husband had owned a fence business and had to close it last year.  He was able to get a job a few months ago, but had just found out that company was closing its doors and he is once again without work.   Her youngest son, about ten years old, needed help with his homework so we left.  I could not leave until I embraced her.  As I held her to me, I was humbled to the marrow of my bones. 

Sleepovers

Of course, any loving married adult over the age of 60 knows that God's greatest gift is GRANDCHILDREN.  There is a very marked discrepancy at this point, however.  I think mine are the best, the smartest, the cutest, the most polite, and the most loving.  I have a sleepover before they all go back to school.  The boys always choose the mountain, so I load up my SUV as full as I can with boys, air guns, bows, arrows, and many other boy toys.  This year I had to arrange for a couple of them to go up in another vehicle.  Walt said I am going to have to get a school bus before I am through with this tradition.  They had a great time, but Brad said he had really been cheated this year.  We did not go until August and I usually take them late June or July.  I spent July with my sister Robin, so it threw me off schedule and this grandson let me know about it.  They love it.

The girls are all too prissy to want the mountain experience.  This year they chose to sleep at our house, picked out a movie, and opted to dine out instead of roast over the camp fire.  They had a great time.  Tori (Victoria) is in Young Women now and she is the oldest.  I was impressed with how patient she was with the younger ones.  Lesley, after everyone  voted on where to eat, quietly asked me if it was too expensive and that they could select one that is cheaper.  They decided to watch Sound of Music.  They had so much fun playing that the movie was put off until 8:30, which made for only Taiha and Tori making it to the half way point.   At 1:30 p.m.  Josie woke all of them to go down stairs to the bathroom.  She was too scared to go alone.  They all trailed down, so she would not be afraid.  I think when I was that age I would have yelled "Go yourself you little coward" and went back to sleep.    (9-27 post script:  I have since been corrected.  Perhaps they all woke up each other and one of them had to go to the bathroom.  As I said previously, when I was that age, I would have not been as sweet as all these girls were to each other.  I would have rolled over and said something not very nice and definitely went back to sleep.  I am so pleased with the kindness they all show to one another.)

Josie Ann Got the "Cleaning Machine" Gene

Josie went to the mountain with her Dad during Labor Day weekend and did not want to return with her brother and mother, so she hung out with me for a few days.  I taught her to ride the 4 wheeler.  She would drive at 3 miles per hour, while I got my walk.  Walt and I came down from the mountain to attend a funeral and then went back a few hours later.  I explained when Josie wanted to stay that she would be alone at the camper while we were gone.    Josie said she could stay alone, so her mom left her.  We returned from the funeral and Josie had completely scrubbed clean the 5th wheel trailer.  I think she might suffer her Granny's trait of having to make use of energy caused from worry or anxiety.  She had even beat the rugs.  She even got down on her hands and knees using the scrub side of a sponge to clean the kitchen floor.  Those spots had been there all summer.  What an dedication and focus!  It probably took her a long time on one little ugly spot.   I was impressed.  Walt always knows when I am upset over something because I become a cleaning machine...cupboards, floors, drawers, closets.  The louder the cleaning noise the better I feel!  Regardless, I think of all my "interesting" ways to handle times of anxiety would be the one to pass on to my posterity.  Being a cleaning machine for a few hours is better than getting into words with someone, filling a kleenex with tears, tearing someone's head off for no some unknown reason, or watching a clock tick by until I feel better.  Yup,  utilizing the cleaning -machine- gene works almost every time at least for me and Josie Ann.

Fruit Leather (crying over peaches)

Walt signed us up to help at the Cannery last week.  I had a ton to do, but went without complaining  UNTIL I started putting the greenest peaches in a can I had ever seen.  They were so hard that they would not go into the cans.  They would not mush down.  I was the last of the assembly, so they were already washed and preped for the can.  After about two hours of this, I started to get very sad.  I was raised on a farm and taught that you harvest when the fruit, potato, grain, or hay is ready.  It is against the law of the harvest to take a beautiful fruit, pick it on your time schedule, and tell it is ready.  Crazy.  I did not know how much it bothered me until we were at KFC later for lunch and Walt asked me what I was thinking.  As I tried to explain to him how I felt, I had to actually wipe tears from my eyes with my napkin.  Crying over a green batch of peaches! Later he told me that we could have had free seconds from the day before.  The seconds were ripe from the previous day, I made jam and fruit leather.  I read in Cori's dehydrator book that you can add nuts to leather before starting the drying.  I sprinkled them on top and it was not just good, but I could not stay out of the darn stuff.  Walt took an entire dryed tray with him for his day of hunting.

Mountain Get Away

Walt and I finally got away to Cedar Mountain for five days. His last words while loading the last box was "We will only come down if someone dies". Someone did. Someone we have come to love and respect through the years. We came down for viewing and funeral and went right back up. Walt surprised me with an invitation to go on a 15 mile 4-wheel ride on a trail near Stout Canyon. It rained for a few hours before we left, so the dust was minimal, and the trees and rocks were spectacular. The dust reduction was important to me because I follow Walt on my 4-wheeler and eat his dust,so usually lag far behind, but this trip I did not have to. It was fun and relaxing. My thumb was sore from running the gas feed, but fun none the less.

Doer Not Hearer Only?

Today is the primary election in Washington City. Walt and I are going to vote before he goes to Bishopic meeting tonight. The condition of our country through government decision at the highest level has been on my mind today due to casting a vote today. I decided to take try to make a difference in my own way. This is a copy of email I sent to family and friends to join the Patrick Henry Caucus. The email communication says it all:"Here is our personal invitation to join this Caucus. Here is my personal invitation to make a difference and it does not cost you a cent. Walt and I have found their updates and notifications to be very integrated with our core values. Another thing is that we have found their substance for opposing many of the decisions being made by government based on fact not drama, racism, etc. It is growing around the US. What I like about the Caucus is that it saves a lot of work and research. Their updates give you exactly who to contact where it will make the most impact. They were very involved in the organization of the 9/12 march in Washington DC. We were the 400th to join the caucus. We have not been disappointed. This is my perspective, we can sit on our rears and complain and say the country is going to pot or we can join a movement that wants to make a difference in an effective organized way. Here it is....mine and Walt's personal invitation, or you can just keep complaining, sending email to your friends about your disapproval of what is happening in DC, and not getting anything but frustrated. Or you can add to your email a communication to those whom it might make a difference. We have seen that the squeeky wheel got the grease in the environmental movement, and now we think, how did such a small group of society get such a mammoth amount of power is America? They organized and yelled. Now you can become an important spoke in a squeeky wheel that will really make a difference to restore common sense as we safe guard the constitution. Here is a question I want to ask all of you, just for your personal perspective. Does there need to be a change? How many letters, phone calls, or email have you personally sent to those in power making government decisions you disapprove of? How many times have you expressed your concern and complained to friends, family, or anyone for that matter? If the answer to the first question is a lot smaller than the answer to the 2nd question, then there needs to be a change, but maybe it starts with the person looking back in the mirror. " Following the email was a link to education and opportunity to join the caucus.