Waxing Nostalgic…Again
Posted on June 12, 2010
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Thursday Robert and I drove to Lubbock to do some looking around in the camera and computer stores. Plus we were both craving some Mongolian Grill at the big Chinese buffet next to the mall. On the drive home there is a dark, desolate stretch of about 68 miles between Hobbs, NM and Carlsbad and I started thinking back about events 31 years ago.
When June was pregnant with Robert we were living in Hobbs and two of June’s sisters lived in Carlsbad. Consequently, we made many weekend trips to Carlsbad so June could visit with her sisters. In the late winter and early spring of ‘79 it became an almost weekly event. I think it was a hormonal thing. Now June had never had what would be considered a strong bladder but her kidneys seemed to work overtime on these trips. With the baby kicking and squirming, I got to know all of the side roads between here and there over the last several months of her pregnancy. Being as that area is in the ‘oil field’ there are a lot of those service roads scattered hither and yon. I was almost as eager for Robert’s arrival as June was.
During the last month or so of the wait she went into the Dr. on a weekly basis because of concerns that they both had. (June had miscarried 4-6 times prior to this.) Three visits in all excited, three times exiting in tears because the Dr. had told her just “two more weeks.” These visits were on Fridays and the Monday following the last visit was the 16th of April. I had to attend a teacher recognition activity at the school auditorium that evening because I was receiving my 5 year pin and June insisted on attending with me.
I had a good friend and fellow teacher who had recently been ordained a priest in the American version of the Greek Orthodox church. I can’t remember the official name of his church anymore and there was quite a story behind his switch from Roman Catholicism to the Orthodox group but it isn’t pertinent to this story. Anyway to make a long and tedious story shorter, Father Raabe came up to June during the intermission and seeing how miserable she looked, slapped her on the forehead and pronounced a quick blessing. After he had left and June had gotten over the shock of being blessed without asking for it, we both had a good laugh.
The following morning, April 17th, at 5:45, June went into labor and delivered Robert that night at 11:00. To my knowledge, Robert may be the only Mormon baby to make his appearance as a result, directly or indirectly, of a blessing from a Priest of the American Orthodox faith.
Now, 31 years later, it is Robert and I making those long drives at night between Hobbs and Carlsbad. Fortunately, he has much better control than his mother.
Karate, the Lighter Side
Posted on September 26, 2009
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The post I did recently about my wife brought back some good memories and some nice comments. One was an invite to add some more remembrances from time to time so here goes.
I use to always walk with my arm around my wife’s waist or over her shoulder.
The first year we were married (1973) there were no martial arts schools anywhere near our area. I got permission from my sensei in Las Cruces to open an extension of his school under his direction in Carlsbad. We quickly had a very active group of students from the middle and high schools in town. There were a few older students so my wife June decided to give it a try. (She proved to be a good student.)
At the end of our first year we had several students plus a brown belt who had joined with us that wanted to go to Las Cruces for rank testing. We were going to chaperon three of the students who were minors and June began the tutoring session on forms and terms that they would need to know when we arrived. The trip takes about four hours and I don’t remember if she let up the whole time.
We arrived in time to attend a regular class Friday night and the tests were scheduled for Saturday morning. I forgot to mention that June had no intention of testing. (She had self-esteem issues.) Anyway, we had a good workout and we left the guys to sleep in the dojo and we went over to Mom and Dad’s for the night.
The next morning included more tutoring of terms and pertinent information and then the tests began. All three of the boys did real well and passed with flying colors. Then Mr. Timbers, my instructor, called June to the testing floor. She immediately began to protest but was cut off and instructed that she was going to test. Period. That was when I first discovered that my wife didn’t do tests, any kind of test. Things she had done flawlessly the night before were now like a whole new world to her. The final part of the test was to perform a beginning kata called Taikiokyu. At two points the practitioner emits a kiai, or shout. When June hit those parts her mind froze and all she got out was a very meek pronunciation of the word, no shout. If I hadn’t loved her (and knew what she was really capable of) I probably would have laughed. We both laughed years later.
After she had finished Mr. Timbers approached her and quietly asked her what her name was. She began to stammer and try as she might she could not tell him her name. She was totally demoralized. About a week later, she received a package in the mail containing her yellow belt and certificate and a very nice letter from Mr. Timbers explaining that after Friday’s class he had already decided she was going to be awarded her belt but felt like she should experience the pressure of taking the test.
Some years later we were living in Las Cruces so that I could attend summer classes at NMSU and we both started lessons again with Mr. Timbers. One night all the ladies in the class were taken into the secondary dojo for training to which the men were not privy. When we walked into Mom and Dad’s that night after class Mom was sitting on the sofa and asked June what she had learned in class. June responded with one word, “This.” The next thing I knew I was staring at the ceiling from my position on my back on the frontroom floor. From that day on I never walked with my arm around my wife.
Teacher For a Day
Posted on August 18, 2009
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The title to this entry refers to the fact that I am going to be a substitute teacher this year. While I was in Idaho for Uncle Roland’s funeral the college canceled all my classes due to lack of enrollment. They have a new person in charge of that decision and I believe it was made prematurely. In the past it has never been done until a day or two before the start of classes. This time it was almost two weeks early. I had expected one or maybe two to be canceled but not all three. So in order to keep the wolf away from the door, I signed up to be a sub.
I attended an orientation meeting this morning and think I have a good chance of staying very busy. I had originally planned on subbing only in my old school but nearly half of the principals were old friends and/or co-workers over the past 14 years. They all wanted me to be available for their school so I told them I would take both Middle Schools and upper level Elementary schools (4th & 5th grade).
Yesterday I went back to my old school to meet the new Principal and to let them know that I was available. I left with my first assignment. I will be substituting for the science teacher this Friday. We have worked together for many years. She taught computers in the room next to mine for several years before moving on to Science. She is an extremely competent teacher who puts in hours of overtime and lots of her own money to help the kids. (She was also an ‘overachiever’ in one of my college classes some years back.)
All things considered I think subbing will be better than being a greeter at Walmart.
SIDE NOTE: As we were leaving Utah to come home last week the man who was my long term sub while I was in Houston with June called. He now works for the college and was needing a Defensive Driving teacher. He needed a teacher who was licensed as a teacher in the state and wanted to know if I was interested. At the time I wasn’t but told him I would call when we got home. So now I will be teaching two twelve hour classes each month. Should prove interesting and I will definitely be using Utah as an example (of what not to do).
Eternally Mine
Posted on July 20, 2009
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Today (July 21st) marks the third anniversary of my wife June’s death. I haven’t said much about it since I started doing the blog so I thought this might be a good time to add a few thoughts and pictures. The pictures will be added at the end and you can click once on a picture and then click again on the following picture to see a large version.
In 2001 June was diagnosed with stage 4 Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. We immediately began the chemo treatments. We drove to El Paso to the Cancer Center where the most wonderful doctor took over her treatments. His name is Juan Herrada and is a native of Spain. He was covering for the doctor we had been referred to and we never changed back. He was a major blessing. He had worked at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX before moving to El Paso so when June’s cancer returned twice over the next couple of year’s he asked if we could spend extended time traveling and living in Houston. (Houston is twelve hours from Carlsbad.) We said yes and headed for Houston to check out the chance of a stem cell transplant.
We went through the exams (actually she had all the tests) and it was decided that she was a candidate for a transplant of her own cells. We had to return to Carlsbad to take care of some things that had to be done first. When we returned to Houston for the procedure June discovered another lump next to her elbow. It turned out to be cancer so the transplant was canceled. She would have to find a donor. Her three sisters all volunteered to be tested and her older sister Barbara was an almost perfect match. So in January Barbara took three weeks off from her job and went to Houston so they could run their tests and harvest her cells. We drove her back to Carlsbad and then returned the following week and June received the cells.
She had to remain in the hospital for the following several months before being allowed to move into an apartment close to the center. All told she was there for about six months. I was only able to stay for three before I ran out of sick leave. Her baby sister Becki came down from Canada and spent the remaining time until school let out and I was able to return. We came home in June of 2005.
They didn’t want us to leave town but our housing had expired so we talked them in to letting us leave if we would stay with my folks in Las Cruces. We told them we could get to Dr. Herrada within 30 minutes if we had an emergency. (Actually would have taken us closer to 45 minutes.) So we spent nearly another month in Las Cruces before finally returning home to Carlsbad.
June continued to make progress and during the following year the cancer did not return. (In fact, it never did.) Her immune system also failed to return. Then on June 4th of 2006 we were getting ready for church and June felt a little warm so she took her temperature and it was just over 100. Standing orders were if it was over a hundred to go straight to the Emergency Room at the hospital. I took her there expecting a quick check-up and then we would continue on to church a little late. A couple of hours later she was on a Medivac flight to Houston and I was home packing bags so I could leave for Houston.
When I arrived the next morning they had her in a room, on oxygen and she seemed to being doing pretty good. They thought she had an infection in her lungs. The following weekend they put her in Intensive Care as a precaution for the weekend and she spent 44 days there before finally passing away peacefully on July 21st. I could write as much or more than I already have about those 44 days but I won’t at this time.
While June was in the hospital for the transplant the nurses, aides and Doctors were constantly commenting on June’s wonderful spirit and outlook on everything that was happening to her. (About the only thing that got her down was how she ballooned due to all the liquids they were constantly pumping into her.) She always had such a positive outlook on everything. Well then, here are some pictures of her time there for the transplant.
In picture one, she was sitting in the Dentist’s chair and laughing. She was assigned physical therapy and even seemed to enjoy that. She told me how much she hated the craft items that the volunteers passed out but after the first week she was doing any and all she could find and then began designing her own. When Becki was with her, she would send Becki out to scout out new ones that she hadn’t done yet.
The pictures above are special to me. The first two were taken at the graveyard the day of her funeral. In the middle picture are Uncle DeLon & Aunt Nelma. Less than two years later DeLon would be gone too. The last one was taken 33 years earlier on March 10, 1973. Grandpa Smith was always kidding me that I was able to get a June bride in March.
Birthday trip to Albuquerque
Posted on May 1, 2009
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It’s been over a month since I last posted a blog. The only excuse that I can come up with is the fun I’ve been having learning how to tweet on twitter. That sounds really, really funny.
This past Saturday was my birthday (#61) so on Friday Robert and I drove to Albuquerque to celebrate. It was kind of a joint celebration as his birthday had been the week before and we only made it to Roswell (on church business) and really hadn’t been able to celebrate too much.
After getting a room we went to Pancho’s to eat and then drove up the temple to take some night shots. I concentrated on the fountain and Robert worked on the fountain and the temple. He had some really good shots of both.
Saturday morning we got up and had breakfast at the Owl Cafe, a kind-of-landmark restaurant in Albuquerque. Then we found a camera store and were disappointed in the type of stuff they offered. Most was really old stuff for 35mm cameras from the 70s and 80s. The new stuff was things like backpack camera cases and tripod combinations that were extremely expensive. Robert bought a new lens cap and we left.
Our main purpose was to attend the Biopark that has been under construction over the past 12-14 years. Robert saw it around 1997 and it was just gettin started with the aquariums. Now they have a very nice aquarium display and many surrounding gardens representing major areas of the world. As much as I love aquariums and fish I think I enjoyed the gardens more. We had planned about two hours for the visit and ended up spending more than four hours walking around the park. I was so tired by the time we got back to the truck that I thought I was going to die. (But it was a good tired.)
We then went to the Mall so Robert could find a Barnes and Noble bookstore. I sat in the truck for awhile talking with the missionaries back in Carlsbad and then finally went in and looked around. I was more interested in going to the Deseret Bookstore which we did as soon as Robert got out of B&N.
We found the bookstore and I went crazy (my birthday, my presents). I found the DVD that I was missing in The Work and the Glory series. Somehow I had bought #1 and #3 but was missing the second one. I bought a print of all the Prophets of the modern dispensation standing together in their temple whites. I’d seen this one before but this one was updated to include President Monson. I got a new oil container with a silouhette of the Christus on the side. I had been using a nitro pill container since Houston which actually did a good job.
We left Albuquerque for home around 8:30 p.m. and arrived back in Carlsbad shortly after 12:30. The next morning I had to pick up an investigator and take him to church. While there they asked me to help out with the tithing count after church because I am an assistant ward clerk (over FHC). The regular clerk and one of the counselors were unavailable. I also get to help out this coming Sunday.
Here are a few pictures of the trip. I will probably upload more to Flickr as soon as I finish up the semester next week.
Three cousin reunion
Posted on March 20, 2009
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Wednesday night as we were leaving the church where we had just photographed the Young Women’s New Beginnings my father called to tell me that three of my cousins would be in Las Cruces Friday night. They are the children of Uncle Vic and Aunt Grace Thompson. I hadn’t seen Kathy and Patty since before leaving Idaho in 1967 and only 21 years since I had seen my cousin John.
Robert and I took off Friday morning from Carlsbad and after a short stop at CompUSA (TigerDirect) in El Paso we arrived in Las Cruces at about 4:00 in the afternoon. It wasn’t very long until the cousins also arrived. They had a much longer trip, all the way from Green River, UT.
We sat around for several hours catching up on a lot of lost time and I, for one, really enjoyed it. Kathy is a Physical Therapist on her way to a three month posting in Virginia. She normally lives just outside Seattle. Patty lives in Vancouver, Oregon (just across from Portland) and will be accompanying Kathy to Virginia before returning home. John (I believe) is still in Boise and he will fly out of Albuquerque tomorrow to fly home while the sisters push on to Amarillo and Oklahoma City en route to Virginia. If that’s not correct I hope one of them will correct me.
They left way too early but its understandable with the long trip ahead of them tomorrow. Below are a couple of pictures. The first picture is the Geico Gecko who showed up outside my bedroom window just after sundown.The second one is Mom and Dad with John sitting by mom and Patty and Kathy standing behind. That’s TJ the Pom in the lower left corner.
For anyone new to the blog click the picture and then click it again when it reappears click again to see the full size image.
A busy Saturday
Posted on March 16, 2009
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This past Saturday turned out to be a very busy, and fun, day for Robert and I. It started with me going out to the college at 10:00 to help some students with homework problems. I came in the front door of the computer building and walked right by the lab without noticing that it was closed. I walked down the hall to my classroom and stuck the key in the door and opened it. I was greeted by a VERY loud alarm going off. Our master alarm control is in the main lab and if no one is in there it will probably be active. I then spent the next ten minutes trying to find a custodian who could get in to the lab and reset the alarm. The police showed up about that time to check out what was happening. That put an end to the tutoring. We put it off until today.
At 11:00 Robert joined me and we drove out to the Civic Center to check out the Health Fair which was being held there. It was very well done with about 3,000 people in attendence and a lot of neat freebies being given away by all the health oriented businesses in this area. We spent about an hour checking out everything.
We then took off for Roswell and the Bitter Lake Bird Refuge that is about nine miles northeast of the city. I never knew that it was there until about a month ago when I saw an ad for a graphic arts contest they are sponsoring. As Robert and I both enjoy this kind of site we decided to check it out. The clouds which had covered us for several days parted as we were traveling and we had a beautiful day for the trip.
We found it with no problem and stopped at the visitor center and were met by a delightful and helpful senior citizen volunteer. She made sure that we had everything we needed to make the eight mile drive around the refuge.
Most of the migratory birds have left and headed back north for the summer so we will definitely go back this fall and winter to check it out again. There were, however, about 500 or more Snow Geese still hanging around the southern most tip of the refuge with a scattering of ducks mixed in. I’ll place a few pictures at the bottom of this post so everyone can see what it looked like.
We came back into town and had supper at the Snazzy Pig BBQ joint. It is a nice restaurant that serves bbq on styrafoam plates with plastic utensils. The food is great and so is the service. They were a little late getting to our table after we came in so they didn’t charge us for the drinks. (They weren’t more than 5minutes late in getting our drinks and food order.)
After eating we decided to see the new Disney movie “Race to Witch Mountain” which was released this week. It was really well done and very enjoyable. If you remember the earlier Witch Mountain movies it was only slightly related in plot. In fact about the only thing they had in common were the teenage aliens and the mountain. A bit of trivia: The actors who portrayed the aliens in the first two movies made cameo appearances in this one as the town sheriff and waitress who aid the movie’s heroes to escape from the evil government guys.
We arrived home about 10:30 totally exhausted and feeling the effects of the bbq. Tums helped somewhat but still had a rough night trying to sleep.
Click the picture once and then click the next one to appear to see the full sized image.
The death of public education
Posted on March 10, 2009
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Just some ramblings of an old, retired edukatur.
It appears that with all the differences in our current president and his predecessor, they do seem to have at least one thing in common. They are (were) bound and determined to destroy the public education system of the United States. From President Bush’s No Child Left Behind (No School Left Standing) to President Obama’s desire for merit pay for teachers neither one gets it.
I think that it is time that we start reading the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights again. The 10th Amendment (Bill of Rights) states:
“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
The word education does not appear anywhere in the constitution so as I see it, that makes it the responsibilty of the state, not the federal government. So how is it that we have let the government get their long, sticky fingers into the education system. We need to take back control of our schools at the state and local level and give management back to the professionals.
NCLB has been the direct cause of one the largest migrations of teachers away from the field in our nation’s history. It was the primary reason that I left six years earlier than necessary. I could not tolerate one more change that took away my ability to do what I was trained to do; that is, to teach. Example, I primarily taught what were considered electives, Spanish and Computers/keyboarding. The last two years we failed to meet AYP because our Special Ed kids didn’t do well enough on the state test. Every other subgroup met or passed AYP but our school failed because the SPED kids couldn’t pass the test. So our school added an 8th hour class, required all students to take two math and two English classes every day. We also shortened classes on Wednesday and started an academy where the kids were grouped and for another hour received math and language tutoring on alternating weeks. Then on top of all that I’m told that I will teach at least one math and language lesson weekly in my elective classes.
I did not get a degree in Math or English but here I was teaching both. My mother had made me promise her that I would never teach English when I informed her that I wanted to be a teacher when I grew up. It was a promise that I had faithfully kept until my last year when the principal informed me that I would be doing just that in the Wednesday academy.
At the end of my last school year the principals informed us that the following year we would be going back to a system of family groups. It was a technique that had been used some 7 or 8 years earlier and had been an absolute disaster. I had also worked in another Middle School where the grouping was used with the same results. The decision to do this again was a unilateral one. We had no chance to voice concerns or opposition, we were simply told that it would happen and that we would like it (with an implied ‘or else’).
So why is this happening? Because we have to show the government that we are trying something different. It doesn’t matter if it works or not, just that we are trying new programs. It doesn’t take into account the drastically different society that we live in today as compared to just a few short years ago. (That’s a whole other blog topic.) Parental support, family values and discipline of children are non-existent.
Now as to merit pay, who and how will determine how it is meted out? I certainly hope its not the principals because in 33 years I never met a principal that didn’t have his favorites and those who couldn’t do anything right in his eyes. Butt kissing will become the order of the day. Will we use test scores or report card grades to determine who gets the pay? Again, I hope not. My school was “from the other side of the tracks”. We had students who were laboring under outside handicaps that you can’t begin to imagine. The school on the other side of town had all of the “privileged” kids from Carlsbad society. (They had their own set of problems.) Logically they will probably do better on state mandated tests and the like but does that mean that their teachers are better? So I ask again, how and who will determine who gets the merit pay and who doesn’t?
I’ve got to quit. This started really rambling a long way back but I had to say it even if I didn’t do a very good job of it. Guess I wouldn’t be getting the extra pay. I may try again at a later date when I’ve better organized my thoughts.
Update for past two weeks
Posted on March 8, 2009
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Its been a relatively quiet couple of weeks for Robert and I. We have been staying at home for the most part, with a couple of exceptions.
My nephew Mike Brown and his wife Sara had their first child a couple of weeks ago. So two weeks ago this coming Tuesday we made a trip to Lubbock, TX to visit and see the newest addition to the extended family. She is a darling. See the pictures at the bottom to see me holding a new born (less than a week) and to see the Brown family. Interestingly enough about a week later they were blessed with a litter of about 9 little American Boxer puppies. They have two registered dogs (I think they are boxers??, whatever they are they are huge and all muscle).
Last weekend was our Stake Conference. It was broadcast from Salt Lake with President Uchtdorf presiding. I really like listening to his talks. Its a good thing because he spoke for 45 minutes. For the Saturday night meetings we had to go to Roswell and while there we went into a Cattle Baron’s Steak House. After we were seated and served our drinks I decided to make sure they would take checks. They didn’t and my debit card had been cancelled pending the arrival of a new one so Robert and I had two of the most expense, flavorless hamburgers we have ever eaten. That exhausted my cash reserves. Later at the meeting, Robert started feeling poorly with chills and intestinal problems so we headed home before closing hymn and prayer. The next day after Conference I was plagued with the intestinal problems. (TMI?) Needless to say we will not be going back to Cattle Baron.
Back at the end of January I meant to blog a little about donating blood but I forgot (Old timers disease). Robert and I have started donating whenever possible which is only three times per year. I started looking at my record on line and realized that it had been a year since I last donated so I made an appointment and donated red blood cells. Its like donating two units but after separating the cells they pump the plasma back into you. Its the reason that I can only donated three times a year.
Anybody that really knows me understands that I have a pretty strong fear of needles, but when June was at MD Anderson in Houston she was given one to three units of blood and blood platelets almost daily. I decided that when I came home I would start to help others by giving my blood as often as I could. It turns out that it really isn’t such a big deal, (the needle I mean). I really would like to challenge or encourage everyone that can to become a regular donor. It is a way to provide service at a community level.
Little Maggie and “Uncle” Ted and (below) the Brown family.
Traveling with the High Council
Posted on February 16, 2009
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Yesterday saw me driving to Hobbs, NM (about 68 miles) with Brother Daniel, a member of the High Council. We were going to speak in the Hobbs Ward and the Hobbs Spanish Branch. We left Carlsbad at 6:30 am so that Brother Daniel could attend the ward’s PEC meeting. We arrived in Hobbs in reasonable time which was unexpected. I use to drive with Brother Daniel on Stake business and to attend ward conferences some years back and he didn’t know what speed limit signs meant. This time he was quite good about sticking to 70 mph. Next goal will be to teach him what STOP means on a red sign. I failed to mention that Brother Daniel is from East Inda.
Our first meeting (English) was at 10:00 and was very enjoyable. I saw many old friends who came up after the meeting to greet me. June and I moved there a year after we were married and six years later Robert was born there. We stayed for a total of seven years before returning to school in Las Cruces.
Our youth speaker did a very good job which means he didn’t finish in 30 seconds but instead gave a very informative talk on the Standards for Youth. Then it was my turn and I took a little longer than I should have. That’s never happened before. Brother Daniel concluded with some remarks about the Priesthood and related a story told by Brother Groberg of when he was in Tonga on his mission.
The Spanish Branch began at 1:15 and was a much smaller congregation. Again the youth speaker did an excellent job and I cut back a little to keep mine to about 15 minutes so that Brother Daniel would have a little more time. When he stood and began talking in English the Branch President stopped him and asked a young man in the congregation to come up and translate. Brother Daniel was hoping they wouldn’t do that as everyone with maybe only one exception spoke English. When the young man was postioned and ready to translate Brother Daniel began again but this time he was speaking his Indian language. The look on the translator’s face was priceless. The congregation loved it. After a moment or two the translator broke in and asked him what he was saying. They talked for a second and the translator, with a big smile and a sigh of relief, sat down. The rest of the talk was in English.
After the meeting we were both thanked over and over for our messages. That’s always nice to hear even if its not always true. One sister, however, said something to me that impressed me. She told me that many speakers who come in to talk may only give part in Spanish but that most is done in English. She thanked me for doing mine entirely in Spanish. I think she was surprised that the “Old Gringo” could do it.
We arrived back home at 4:00 that afternoon. I promptly crashed (after getting something to eat) and slept for a couple of hours. That’s something that I almost never do. I just don’t seem to be able to take short naps during the day. Must have been worn out.
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