Week 39--May 17-23, 2020
On Sunday we took our afternoon walk to the cemetery to get another picture of the Tulip Tree. It is in full bloom but the blossom can't be seen from a distance. It is beautiful.
Garnalee is looking at headstones for the Flournoy family. Jones Flournoy is the man from whom the land for the Temple Lot was purchased in 1831. His headstone was not among them.
Our job is to water the flower beds and planters at the Visitors' Center three days a week.
The flowers are really growing and filling in the planter boxes.
Garnalee loves the pink and yellow contrast.
The begonias love the shade on the front of the Visitors' Center.
Tom's most recent job was to repair broken bed frames that will be needed to accommodate the influx of new missionaries that will occur over the next couple of weeks. The sockets that hold the casters in place were lost and broken from 10 frames. Ace hardware sells new sockets, so it wasn't a very expensive job to replace the broken ones. That done Tom was asked to repair some of the dressers that had broken drawer handles. Again, Ace hardware was able to supply all the needed parts and three dressers are now ready for service.
After lunch on Monday, we drove to Adam-ondi-Ahman for a devotional from one of the senior missionaries who serves there. The discussion was to be about the area, but somehow wires got crossed, because we, the Larsens, and the Browns arrived on time (in separate cars for social distancing), but no fireside. We're still not sure what happened. It was rainy, so we just enjoyed the drive.
Garnalee gave a tour this week to the rest of us which was a good dry run to talk about how we would handle groups that come once we're able to open. The Browns, our newest senior couple, hadn't seen a tour of the VC yet, so it was a good learning experience for them. We are deciding that only groups of six people at a time with only three groups allowed in the building at one time, will greatly limit what we're used to seeing, especially when a bus load of 50-60 tourists arrives.
Sister Garner (a mission secretary also in charge of housing) called Tom from California. Her mother died unexpectedly and she's there for the funeral. Seven washers and dryers need to be evaluated for repair-ability or discard. We'll look into what can be done next week.
Saturday we ventured out and took the Pioneer Trails covered wagon ride. We were given a wonderful history of Independence by our driver.
The covered wagon is pulled by mules. These two are named Bess and Margaret. They are eight years old which is young for a mule who live for 30-40 years. Harry S. had the day off.
Mules were used to pull many of the covered wagons that departed from Independence on the trails heading west. The wagons would line up on what today is Liberty Street heading out of town. It is estimated that 500,000 emigrants traveled west which took 5 1/2 months to reach Oregon or California. Because mules were so valuable for the trip, and Missouri provided over 100,000 animals for the migration, the mule is the state animal of Missouri..
One of the signs on the side of building in Independence that we passed on our wagon ride showing that you can't always believe what you read in the newspaper. Our driver quipped that this was possibly the first example of "Fake News."
At a local bar a man was shot. The family came to the bar to get the person responsible. Bill Hickok showed up and a lady yelled out the window, "You get 'em, Wild Bill!" The family left, and the name stuck.
To help fill our days, we both spend time indexing as well as reading our scriptures and doing the Come Follow Me lesson every day.
With the beautiful weather already here, we're hopeful that the visitors' centers can open soon.
Tom's most recent job was to repair broken bed frames that will be needed to accommodate the influx of new missionaries that will occur over the next couple of weeks. The sockets that hold the casters in place were lost and broken from 10 frames. Ace hardware sells new sockets, so it wasn't a very expensive job to replace the broken ones. That done Tom was asked to repair some of the dressers that had broken drawer handles. Again, Ace hardware was able to supply all the needed parts and three dressers are now ready for service.
After lunch on Monday, we drove to Adam-ondi-Ahman for a devotional from one of the senior missionaries who serves there. The discussion was to be about the area, but somehow wires got crossed, because we, the Larsens, and the Browns arrived on time (in separate cars for social distancing), but no fireside. We're still not sure what happened. It was rainy, so we just enjoyed the drive.
Garnalee gave a tour this week to the rest of us which was a good dry run to talk about how we would handle groups that come once we're able to open. The Browns, our newest senior couple, hadn't seen a tour of the VC yet, so it was a good learning experience for them. We are deciding that only groups of six people at a time with only three groups allowed in the building at one time, will greatly limit what we're used to seeing, especially when a bus load of 50-60 tourists arrives.
Sister Garner (a mission secretary also in charge of housing) called Tom from California. Her mother died unexpectedly and she's there for the funeral. Seven washers and dryers need to be evaluated for repair-ability or discard. We'll look into what can be done next week.
Mules were used to pull many of the covered wagons that departed from Independence on the trails heading west. The wagons would line up on what today is Liberty Street heading out of town. It is estimated that 500,000 emigrants traveled west which took 5 1/2 months to reach Oregon or California. Because mules were so valuable for the trip, and Missouri provided over 100,000 animals for the migration, the mule is the state animal of Missouri..
To help fill our days, we both spend time indexing as well as reading our scriptures and doing the Come Follow Me lesson every day.
With the beautiful weather already here, we're hopeful that the visitors' centers can open soon.
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