When President Grayson saw me yesterday in a black causal shirt, he asked, "Is today a personal day?
"No, it's a dump and appliance day." I had already been to the dump and was on the way to pick up three repaired appliances and leave two at at Appliance Magic. In between today I fixed a broken table lamp and assembled three bikes with the assistance of the assistance to the President—mostly I cleaned up the packing while the assembled the bikes.
While driving around I was a flock of Canada geese and thought of a time when my father killed two ducks with one shot by waiting until their heads lined up and then fired. That reminded me of a college friend who killed a running pheasant with a single shot to the head from a 22 rifle. I am a reasonably good shot but no where near that good.
The Forsyth Relief Society had a "visit families day" today after church. Sister Chadwick and I visited RL Davis. Bro. Davis is 72 and a gentleman and a gentle man. He had four children, seven grandchildren and four great grandchildren, one born just this past week. He been a member of the church for two years and "I love being LDS and have learned more in the last two years than in the previous seventy." He runs a lawn mowing business in spite of severe arthritis in his hands and feet. Judging from the pickup he drives, he very good at his business.
We spent part of the day in the storage shed. The mattresses we brought back from Vidalia had been in a bed bug situation so they had to be dumped. There were some broken down dressers and desks in the shed that I had hoped to fix but haven't so they are headed for the dump to make room for the other furniture from Vidalia. We don't store a lot but have some of everything so that when necessary we can replace something in an apartment or furnish a new apartment. When we have something like a 3' x 5' coffee table that would just be in the way in the shed, we left it in the Vadalia apartment where there was lots of room.
Oh, and we tried to go the the Vidalia Onion Museum yesterday but it was the one day that they would normally have been open but weren't.
Nearly August. Everyone keeps saying that July and August are unbearable and it has been hot and humid but it got hot and humid in Pennsylvania and New York in July and August so I'm not convinced that the Southerns have it all that much worse. Maybe they like being martyrs.
We are cleaning a missionary apartment today and now it seems tomorrow. Most missionaries are neat and clean but they rarely have time or the experience to keep their apartments as clean as they could be so when an apartment is empty, the housing coordinators take the opportunity to raise the level of cleanliness. When we noticed it was after 6 pm, we weren't finished, and there was still furniture to move, we decided to make it a two day affair.
Just about took the end of my thumbs off today. The apartment in Stateboro had a bed frame with a limb foot—the base was missing and I determined to replace it. This frame was the sort in which each side has folding arms that meet in the middle and attached by holes and raised buttons. I've gotten old enough that getting up and down is a downer. Sooo, I was holding the frame up vertically and working to free the buttons. When I got them free, the arms folded down on both thumbs just below the knuckle. My new found knowledge: Don't take bed frames apart by holding them vertically.
I was browsing in some family history and found out a little more about Dominicus Carter, my paternal grandmother's grandfather. He began as a blacksmith in Maine, joined the church and was in Kirkland by 1834. He was the commissary for Zion's Camp and his two year old was the first to die of cholera. He eventually married nine wifes, had over 40 children, was first counselor in the Provo stake, was a probate judge and owned a hotel in Provo. I've put a couple of links to his history on the family photos page.
Haven't had much to blog about the last few days but Sister Chadwick went to the doctor the other day and the doctor said, "You can't talk about anybody around here because they're all related." I thought that was pretty funny.
We've been having a problem with an apartment near Savannah. Sisters living in it seems to be having too many headaches. We had them test the CO/Smoke alarm and it works. We thought it might be a gas leak.
In this same apartment, a couple of weeks ago the sisters reported a rat. I was somewhat skeptical. It would be unusual for them to see a rat but certainly a mouse. The landlord sent over a handy man with sticky traps. One of the traps disappeared and the mouse hasn't been seen since. They have also caught two lizards. One of the sisters took a picture and showed it to Sister Grayson. It included the trap, one lizard, and too many cockroaches to count. The sister thought Sister Grayson would find it amusing. She didn't. I got a phone call, Let's move those sisters." The lease cannot be broken and isn't due for renewal until next April. We have had various other reports of problems.
Sister Chadwick suggested I call the gas company and ask them to come out and check for possible gas leaks. The gas company considered it an emergency and came out immediately so quickly the sisters didn't have time to get home. The upshot: the technician turned off the gas.
We decided late last night we should just go to Pooler and have a look and talk to the various people involved, the sisters, the landlord, and the gas company. So we did. 300+ miles later we know that the area the sisters are living in a good neighborhood, there is no gas problem, there is a roach problem and we scheduled professional extermination over the next six months, we met both the landlord and his agent, and we were able to get a bike and $95 from an elder in Richmond Hill who's going home tomorrow and wants the bike shipped home. Not a bad day.
When elders arrive in the Georgia Macon Mission, they are required to have a bike. We offer three options, Walmart and two local bike dealers. They can, and some do, ship a bicycle to the mission office before they arrive. My preferences is any but Walmart. The order come in pieces so I have to make several trips for each order. The bikes are not necessarily assembled so I got three boxes rather than three bikes.
A couple of travel days. We left a desk at the Cochan sisters and talked with the landlord about fixing the railing on their porch then went on to Vadalia to stay overnight. In Vadalia we worked on the vacant apartment which we'll complete in two weeks after we empty one of the Rincon apartments.
There was a fishing pole and some lures and a pond out the back door. Who could resist, certainly not me. I caught a small bass about eight inches long and threw him back.
The gnats are in this part of Georgia but not as bad as a month ago. I've learned just to ignore them since they don't bite or string. At the Baxley apartment I was able to assemble a desk outside without being driven to distraction by them.
Elder McGee is in Baxley. I was impressed by him when I first meet him at the mission home on the day he arrived. He's from Turkmenistan via Cincinnati, i.e., his was adopted as a 4 1/2 year and raised in Ohio. He spruced up the tiny Baxley apartment and hasn't been hesitate about asking for things he thinks will improve their living quarters.
We are delighted with the beauty of the skies in Georgia. There doesn't seem to be as much pollution as in New York or Pennsylvania. The sky is bright blue and nearly everyday cumulus and towering cumulus build, in some cases, into cumulonimbus with lightening, rain and wind.
Here are some of the towering cumulus and then a video of what it's like to be in a Georgia summer rain storm:
The voices in the background are from All Things Considered on public radio.
A sister missionary who came into the Georgia Macon Mission this year has been having health problems and has been in the Mission Office most of the week. I had been impressed from the time I met her. She had worked as a nanny in Greenwich, CN, had been to college, and just seemed more mature. When she found out that sister missionaries could ride bikes, she immediately got permission and bought a bike. The apartment she had been in seemed to be giving various sisters headaches but she was also experiencing intestinal problems as well. Even with the less stressful atmosphere of the office, she wasn't improving and President Grayson decided she go home for a while, get well, and come back in about six months. We'll store her bike while she's gone.
Regarding the apartment, Sister Chadwick did some research and discovered that there had been a CO alarm over a year ago that was serious enough to bring the fire department. Since headaches are a symptom of CO poisoning, we called to confirm that their CO/Smoke detection was working and it was so that was a dead end. At least it passed its test. I suppost there is the possibility of a defective unit.
Independence day. The Cunninghams, a military relations senior couple, called yesterday to ask if they could stop by and say hello so we had them for an early supper. They're on the way to a see a grandchild. It was just the excuse I needed to make a cherry pie.
Earlier today I went to see the damage to the apartment in Warner Robins. Not a lot I can do and the manager is coming tomorrow to assess the situation. The repair people who came to fix the toilet seem to have made off with over $300 one of the elders had in his dresser drawer. When I told the president, he said, "What are missionaries doing with $300.00 in their apartment?" My thought exactly.
The clogged toilet started early in Warner Robins and I got the last word late that the carpets were soaked but one refrigerator elsewhere got clean so everything is copacetic.
Sister Chadwick and I taught Gospel Essentials in Sunday School today. The lesson was Gifts of the Spirit. An investigator coming to church for the second time is an example of the way that the Holy Ghost works in peoples' lives. He had seen two videos on line of missionaries. One video was of a pair of twin sisters getting and opening their mission calls and the second was of two elders knocking on doors and being rejected. He said to his wife, "If those missionaries ever knock on our door, you let them in and we'll feed them." He elaborated saying that in the decade they've lived in their house maybe three people have knocked on their door. But he spotted the Forsyth missionaries in Walmart, approached them, and said, "Here is my address and phone number. Call me and we'll feed you dinner." He has just started investigating and the outcome is unknown but it is a wonderful way to be introduced to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.