We started out the new year celebrating the marriage of Lee and Vicki Clark. We were together with Clark cousins in Safford. Lee and Vicki were married on New Year's Eve. They accommodated us by moving their marriage back one day so that we could hurry from one event to another long-awaited event on January 2nd which was the Yuma Stake Pioneer Trek. Jonny and I were "Pa and Ma" to a group of 6 young'uns: Aubrie Pace, Catherine Sellers, Amanda LaRose, Bret Hall, Jimmy Chaffee, and Hyrum Broby. We pushed and pulled a handcart and discovered almost immediately that pioneers can't "sing as they walk" if they're moving a handcart. Some things were harder than expected while others were easier. I was grateful that they emphasized that this was the children's experience and that Mas and Pas ought to assist only when absolutely needed. We had a smaller family group compared to the other families of 8. Jonny's hands were often found assisting with the pulling and pushing. I occasionally stepped in to help push or pull but found that my stamina was not sufficient beyond a few minutes. My heart would start racing shortly after every time. This part discouraged me. However, I was pleasantly surprised to realize the blessing of being able to sleep well at night in the January desert without cushion or pad under my sleeping bag and to wake up each day with the minimal aches and energy to keep moving.
Throughout the 5 days of hiking, there were TTNL's (Then:Now:Now:Later) interspersed. These were lessons according to themes that Jonny and I reviewed and prepared in advance to help the kids make comparisons between the decisions that pioneers made and decisions that they make today. We hiked a total of 26 miles through the Yuma County desert in the vicinity of Agua Caliente and Sentinel. There was hard pebbly ground, soft sand which produced major awful dust clouds, dry river beds and washes, etc. There were no electronics allowed. We carried all of our gear in our handcart except our daily food rations were delivered each night and we carried them throughout the day until the next night when they were replenished. We were advised not to bring anything that wasn't on the prepared list of equipment. We heeded that advice and were frustrated to hear whispers of other families making homemade ice cream or enjoying hot chocolate for breakfast. I remember our kids looked to me and asked what did you bring for us? I told them that we followed instructions and didn't bring anything not on the list. I hated for them to learn the lesson that disobedience brings "blessings" so I told them that I had an idea. I went around to different campsites and collected the butter that everyone had leftover. We had a bag of sugar leftover from our night making woofums. We also had a plentiful supply of peanuts in the shell. I got them busy shelling peanuts while I simmered butter and sugar over the campfire. I had no recipe or thermometer to guide me but I attempted to make peanut brittle. I couldn't get it hot enough to reach the hardball stage and stand to be near the fire cooking but we added the peanuts and spread it out on foil. It turned out crumbly but we spread it on apple slices and enjoyed a sweet treat of our own making. Hyrum Broby was always quick to compliment, smile, and give positive remarks. (He was a ray of sunshine to me the whole week.) So, I'm not sure how well they appreciated it as most of the kids were quiet and didn't show a lot of enthusiasm but I hope that they considered remembering a different lesson of creating good memories with whatever is on hand.
During trek, Nikki stayed with Amini Brown's family while all 4 boys stayed with the Webbs. Mike Highley stayed at our house to care for animals. We returned home late on Saturday utterly exhausted. We picked up Nikki on Saturday but waited until Sunday to pickup the boys. On January 16th, Jonny left for Alaska not to return until February 16th. The day before he left, the plumbing began backing up in the house. I told him that I would try Drano, call a plumber, and handle it. Neither Drano or a plumber snaking the drains would correct it. They indicated that we would likely have to dig up our backyard and possibly cut a trench through our house to replace the ancient plumbing underneath. I called the insurance company and they would only cover the resulting water damage from blocked pipes but not the demolition or plumbing supplies necessary to fix the problem. I was envisioning several thousands of dollars of repairs up to $10,000. I cried. I called my Dad. He tried to come but his work in Mesa prevented him. That same plumber that forecast a major repair charged me $75/hour whether he was plumbing or digging holes in the backyard trying to find the sewer line. He dug for a few hours and couldn't find it. It was the end of the day on Friday and he said he'd come back on Monday. I told him to wait until I'd talk to my Dad and the insurance company.
I stewed and prayed over the weekend. I took out my frustrations on the oleander bushes along our back wall which I blamed for growing into my pipes. All of the kids and I worked so hard that day digging, chopping roots with the ax and rolling large root balls to the truck. One by one, my kids' energy depleted. A boy named Anthony across the street walked over and offered his help. He didn't mention pay but I hired him on the spot for $20 to help me pull out the last two stumps. He worked very hard alongside me. I had to stop at noon even though we weren't quite finished because I had to take the kids and go to a baptism. When we returned after the baptism, I found all the tools put at the side of the house and the job completed and cleaned up including rolling a large root ball and putting it into the truck bed. Anthony really impressed me and I told him so when I paid him. I told him that he could ask me for a job reference anytime. Later that evening, Jay helped me dig up the backyard and by 8pm we'd found the pipe. It was within a foot of where the plumber had given up and was about to fill in the hole and dig elsewhere. Our bishop recommended another plumber who was less expensive. When he came on Tuesday, he recommended that we only replace the pipe where tree roots were growing in and blocking and leave the rest alone as they would probably be fine for quite a long time. At the end of it all, the whole repair between 2 plumbers and my digging resulted in less than $900 which I counted a great blessing.
No comments:
Post a Comment