Texas Vacation, the outbound trip

Shanna and I left Pocatello and drove to the Salt Lake City Airport. We had to park in long term parking, since we would be gone for a week. I was impressed with the size of this lot. We got out and talking and I was slightly flustered we headed to a nearby pick=up point for the shuttle service. It was only when we were on the shuttle and far from the car that I realized that I might not have locked the car. ARRRRGH. Once offloaded at the airport I took a break then left Shanna with our bags and took the shuttle back out to check on the car. I just knew that I’d stress myself sick if I didn’t check and we had more than enough time. And yes, habit had made me lock the doors so it was a false alarm.   *sigh*


 So I got back to the airport and we moved right through all of the processes. Since we had time to kill we stopped for lunch at a good Italian restaurant (Il Viaggio) inside the airport. I did the usual of chicken alfredo and Shanna tried the carbonarra.

On the plane, I tried to listen to the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, but I'm so used to listening to books via Audible at higher speeds that the slow speaking narrator Michael York was an impossibility.  I ended up listening to music and playing on my iPad. Shanna too had her headphones on.

Bluebeary the blue bear was a resident of Bozeman till Shanna came along and gifted him to me. He became our travelling companion and photographic subject, thereby negating the need for photos of us.

 We got lucky on the plane and though I had purchased two tickets we ended up with three seats. I’m sure Bluebeary appreciated it. Melinda picked us up at the airport and we went out and feasted at Applebees. Got to Italy TX and the comforts of my parents home that night at 9:30 p.m.

 








P.S. I kind of hate all blogging software. I've spent most of the past two hours trying to get the formatting to do what I want it to do.  It doesn't seem to matter that it looks right in the editor, once published it gets fricked up.  I'm quite mad at this and am contemplating tossing the whole effort.  Argh. 

What I've learned by reading 01

When I was young I was obsessed with reading. I guess not much has changed. What has changed is the scope of available reading material.  One of the magazines to which my family subscribed was the ubiquitous Readers Digest.  I loved that magazine. I loved the funny stories, the vocabulary tests, the look and feel of the paper.  One day I read an article titled "Lessons from Aunt Grace" by Nardi Reeder Campion.  I still have that article though its color is yellowing.

Funny how memory tricks us. I thought I read it while still in Junior High, but after searching high and low via the library's databases and the internet I could not find a full citation.  The internet is clogged with references to the same article reprinted in "Chicken Soup for the Soul: Woman to Woman." http://www.chickensoup.com/book-story/31890/48-lessons-from-aunt-grace.  Eventually I got into my filing cabinet and located the article. July 1984.  Well that's a surprise.  I was married and had a six month old daughter when I read this article.

This article was the first to introduce me to the idea that sometimes you have to "do something I don't want to do that needs doing." In 1991 I graduated with my bachelors degree from Idaho State University.  In my graduating class was my sister Sarah Robin and my best friend Arlene. In the audience was my daughter Shanna, sister Nanette, my aunt Myrna and my grandmother Marj.  I'm still so happy we were all able to be there.  On the stand was the best graduation speaker I've ever heard.  His name was Roger Williams.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Williams_(pianist)

He sat at a piano and played something then talked, then played, then talked.  The gist of his talk was about doing what was necessary to succeed.  How those who truly succeed are willing to do the things such as practicing scales in order to be really good.  He was very good.  I'll never forget, though clearly the memory has blurred. I used to be able to quote from his talk.  It was very Aunt Grace.  Do the work, be grateful, exercise both brain and body, and take care of yourself.

I recently listened to a book using the fabulous Audible titled "Take the Stairs" by Rory Vaden. It is a whole book about the idea of self discipline. Though it embroidered on the idea by adding the many concepts, one of which is that of timing and seasons. There are a lot of seasons in ones life and different pursuits are better done in the appropriate season. You are the one who gets to decide which pursuit fits which season.  Tthe book as a whole gets a bit tired from his references to his success and web site.  Still there was enough really good stuff that I am going to reread it.  I like that he really hammers the idea that we can't just sit around thinking positive thoughts and expect to get results.  That results require action of some kind.

So why am I writing this? Somehow people think that I'm lucky, and I won't deny that I feel lucky, but when you look at things, really look, much of my luck is actually work, hard work, work I don't want to do but do anyway because I want the results.  If I want a clean house then *I* have to clean it.  If I want to know how a camera works and be a better photographer, then I have to do the work to learn this too. And work definitely has its rewards.

Do yourself a favor and read "Lessons from Aunt Grace". "Chicken Soup for the Soul" has posted it online at: http://www.chickensoup.com/book-story/31890/48-lessons-from-aunt-grace  It has more than just self discipline, it really is a recipe for living a more happy, fulfilled and enjoyable life.

Update

A lot has happened since 2013. Birding, travel, adventures, job offers (no I didn't take any), changes in my job, new cars, new hobbies, and lots and lots of fun, learning, adventures, beauty, art ...

Bedroom in Cliffdome 2016

I'm now maintaining a birding/adventure blog with Melinda and Arlene
at: https://blueravenbirders.com/. And of course my library blog still exists at: http://librarybanter.blogspot.com/ I've kept journals and over the past few years and may end up writing up some of my life and interfiling it here on this blog.

This is a big year for me.  I finish paying off my student loans in March!!!  Whoo Hooo!  I am so grateful that I was able to get the education I have. I am grateful for those student loans.  I would not have the life I currently enjoy without them.   Just a few weeks ago I finished paying off my sewer line.  I'm hoping to be debt free next spring.  Of course I'm also working on going on another sabbatical next spring and that usually costs.  I'm not certain I can of course, but it is in my long term goals to redo my sabbatical to update the research.

Otherwise, I expect the year will include rodeos, photography, art, trips to yellowstone, possibly Alaska, and definitely Texas.

As an update on my family...

Mom & Dad are still in TX
Sarah married Lance and retired from teaching
Nanette married Gary and retired from being a full-time engineer. She is writing like crazy
  Matt and Carrie are here in Pocatello
  Kaleb and Hillary and their daughter Sloane live in UT
  Erika has been performing in many plays/musicals and lives in Dallas
David and Jen just moved their family into their new dome home in Logan UT
  Amy just graduated from high school
Melinda is busy with her property management job and continues to bird
Rebecca married Joe and with their cute little daughter Chanel moved into her own dome home in TX
  Hannah is also living in TX
Jessica and Doug moved to Spanish Fork UT
Mike and Tessa are still in TX with their children, chickens, dogs, garden and bees.
Jamie and Hob are still in AZ where Jamie trains diabetes medical assistance dogs.

Clearly there is a lot of change since my original posting about my immediate family.