Week of 20260201 - Welcomed Home; Retrieved Cat; Pantry Shelves; Haircut; Keys Retrieved; Adjustable Desk; Called as Conference Advisors; Ann-Marie's Birthday; Temple; Gifted Refrigerator Move
= Sunday at church, it seemed as if most of the people in the chapel hugged us. Teachers mentioned us during lessons after Sacrament. After church, the Garners handed us two boxes we had shipped to their address. We spoke with the Blantons, who are leaving soon so Liz can teach for Department of Defense Schools in Belgium; Noel, retired Air Force, will find something to do. The Blantons said they had items to get rid of, including a mattress and an extra refrigerator! We gratefully accepted.
= We went to Mary Slater’s for a going-away for the Blantons. Mary had hosted a going-away for us when we departed for Africa and let us stay with her for a few days just before we got on the airplane.
= Monday, Michelle, our middle daughter, called and we talked for almost an hour about church, a place to live, her kids, and her preparation for college.
= We retrieved our cat, Elsa, from the Garners, who had watched her for the years we were gone; we visited; James Garner was on temporary furlough while Federal politicians dithered instead of passing a budget.
= In Town Movers brought our freezer and glass display case from storage to the house.
= The Blantons gave us stuff they couldn't or didn't want to move. We visited with them for a while, much of that outdoors. Their home backs onto a pond that hosts geese, including an injured one they have built a relationship with. We’ll move a refrigerator and their mattress when they’re ready.
= Tuesday, we bought a washer and dryer from Lowe's to replace the ones the renters had taken. We retrieved stockroom shelves from storage and installed them in the pantry, deliberately not setting up as many shelves as we had there originally.
= Wednesday, Lowe's dropped off our new washer and dryer but didn't stack or install them; parts not ordered. I got a haircut. I put my passport and passport card in the safe deposit box and was surprised it had keys to the house and RV.
= Thursday, we drove to Opelika to pick up an adjustable-height desk that Steph had ordered for the podcast. We stopped at Buc-ee's, a gas station/ country store so large that it's a travel destination: more pumps than you can count, freshly made sandwiches, snacks, and "country" items in a space so large it's hard to see one end of the store from the other.
= The Stake President set us apart as the Birmingham Alabama Coordinating Council Young Single Adult Conference Advisors; we'll keep the council on task to host YSAs from all across Alabama on Labor Day weekend. Then we met the leaders of the Stake and gave our perspective of our mission in Ghana.
= Friday, I looked for an appliance dolly at U-Haul and Sams Club; none available; I rejoined Sam's Club. Today was Ann-Marie's birthday. Knowing there would not be time to do this with Steph's support as has been our habit, I prayed at my late wife's grave and sang what I remembered of a hymn: Lead Kindly Light.
= Steph and I encountered stopped traffic on our way to the temple in Birmingham, but we arrived shortly after 7 for the 7:30 session; many people recognized and greeted us joyfully. We had been here separately for the dedication 25 years ago; a decade later, we were married here; this is "our" temple.
= Saturday, I bought an appliance dolly and tie-downs at Harbor Freight and headed to the Blantons. Melissa Gass (whose husband died recently) came to the Blantons with family and K-Von, a friend of one of her kids. Noel Blanton added muscle to our group, and the refrigerator made it to our kitchen in K-Von's truck.
= Home, the Garners visited briefly and dropped off the third package we had shipped to them: our challenged manual sewing machine. They related that Children's Hospital had saved their severely autistic son (who is in a group home) by recognizing that he had a cracked tooth: the reason he had stopped eating.
= Later, Lowe's workers showed up for perhaps a minute and refused to install or even stack the washer and dryer because our faucets were leaking; it felt petty at the time. I bought a hose to connect to the refrigerator's icemaker.
= We evaluated our Sacrament talks; then we decided that because the length of Steph’s talk was flexible, I would speak before Steph tomorrow.
Ready for church. You're seeing me, the living room, suitcases, and the inflatable bed in the mirrored dance wall.
When I opened a box labeled "Cat Tree", this is what was inside.
This is our Stake Center. It's smaller than it looks from this perspective, and it's the only meetinghouse in Montgomery. Only one ward meets here, in a city of 200,000 people. Cape Coast, Ghana, a city of 190,000 people, has six buildings with a total of *ten* wards.
Steph worked on her planner after church.
I journaled next to here. This was Steph's "craft" room before we emptied the house.
Spanish moss, at an exit from our housing area. Our housing area is not swampy, but the access roads to it pass through wetlands.
A true compliment paid to Mary Slater, an elect lady.
Mary Slater; Wendy Palkki; Noel and Liz Blanton; David Palkki and kids
Moon through the trees at the Blantons
Steph emphasizing a window sticker telling us what to do..
And what I want to do but don't often succeed. I try not to be stressed by tailgaters.
Here, people often buy a specialty tag instead of using a window or bumper sticker.
The size and variety in one place in Wal-Mart would be culture shock for someone raised in Ghana, where except for a store like Melcom or Shoprite, big shops carry an inventory of maybe 100 different goods, if that, and small shops considerably less. Shoes? You might buy those from someone who has spread shoes on the sidewalk. Fruit? Maybe four types of fruit from a table under an umbrella.
Our former Stake Center is in the background. This sign is in front of what used to be Jefferson Davis High School. It’s now JAG High School, named after civil rights champions Judge Frank Johnson, Ralph Abernathy, and Robert Graetz.
A front view of our former Stake Center, now Center for Worship and Service for the Salvation Army. This doesn’t replace their homeless shelter that was torn down to accommodate a fun park, Montgomery Whitewater [slow shake of the head], but it replaces their church on Highland Avenue.
Nita Garner, appraising Timmy Garner, who's wearing a pizza blanket and Roman helmet
The helmet doesn't fit me. "Evie" (Evelyn) is behind me.
Steph with Nita, Tim in foreground. We did most of our courting at the Garners: our safe place.
I saw that the road to the Hill and Lowe Foundation facility was blocked within sight of McLemore and Wares Ferry; a bridge is down. I had told Michelle I would check to see whether the facility is active and to try to get an official transcript mailed. Just getting there would be quite a project at this point. [She since has told me that she’ll take the GED.]
They moved items we didn't want friends to have to deal with..
[Ironic that friends later wound up bringing us a refrigerator]
The Garners cared for Elsa, our cat, during our mission.
Snacks. "We'll never go hungry again!"
The Garners cared for Elsa, our cat, during our mission. She's back.
Steph wanted Elsa to get acquainted with the mirror.
Playing with the display in our 20-year-old new-to-us minivan
Ready to purchase a washer and dryer to replace the ones that left with the renters; notice Steph's Africa shirt.
Not a happy face, but I think this is the washer and dryer pair that we eventually bought.
Our 2005 Toyota Sienna; we'll put too much mileage on it to get an "antique" tag.
Chick-fil-A; cheaper than Subway!
Served in a bag instead of on a tray, but child placemats with sticky edges so they don't move around were available
One of our storage units. I retrieved deep stockroom shelves for our pantry and left the shallow shelves.
I didn't yet know how to remove the middle seats to lay the shelf supports flat or how to remove the console from between the seats,
But I made it work. The orange object is a shop-vac.
Getting the shelves assembled by screwing metal braces to the shelf holders and aligning shelves with the use of metal pegs, was a group effort.
Elsa has adopted this scratching box as her bed, mostly ignoring bed built for that purpose.
In fact, when she first arrived, she retreated to her litter box (and occasionally, the fireplace, that we've since blocked the entrance to).
Exercise mats occasionally serve the purpose.
Food from the Blantons started off in the dining room but went into the pantry when the shelves were ready.
City workers are great. Our neighbors had hired someone to trim their trees and the branches were piled in the street and lawn. These workers picked all of that up.
My first "real" haircut in two years. The Off Base Barber Shop is where Stan works. The entry door hasn’t changed much. It still says: “Open carry firearms - not a problem. However, if a gunfight erupts, accuracy is appreciated.”
Almost at Gunter's entrance, this used to be "Jimmy's": a liquor store to the left of a bar in the same building. The liquor store would cash your paycheck. When it was rumored that the paycheck of company I worked for would bounce, I bought a bottle of orange juice here to cash my check. If I had deposited it and it bounced, I would have had to deal with credit union fees and multiple businesses. Better to deal with just one irate business if the check was no good.
Steph was stroking a metal bowl that emits a calming ring when stroked with a wooden paddle.
Elsa on our semi-inflated bed. Notice soot from the fireplace?
Don't Miss This (scripture discussion)
Middle seats, almost out but not quite
I had to fold them closed (per instructions) and then play with red pins (method discovered) to get the seats out.
The cargo bay is ready. I had expected that we would tilt the refrigerator on its back and slide it into the minivan.
The descriptive label in the refrigerator left by the renters. This fridge tripped GFI outlets when we tried to plug it in.
.
Our inflatable bed with Dollar Tree sheet and with exercise mats for prayer
photo split by the mirror seam
No seam
On our way to Opelika to pick up a desk for the podcast
Wind stress folds signs in a manner that helps the signs be restored quickly.
Buc-ee's, with more fuel pumps than you can count.
Suppressors for sale. The $200 Federal tax administered by the ATF has been eliminated: a step to reduced hearing impairment for shooters and fewer complaints from neighbors. -- themeateater.com
But you still can't loan a suppressor to anyone unless the suppressor is owned by a trust and the person you're loaning it to is a member of the trust. (Membership is easily changed.) -- keystoneshootingcenter.com
Steph's idea of a jeep: narrow, not pretty, made in the U.S.
Interesting license plate: HIMSKI
Office Depot in Opelika is in an outdoor mall dubbed Tigertown, a nod to Auburn's football prowess.
A rare license plate I will probably never see again; the QR says: DO NOT STOP OR DETAIN. International Law Statutes and Recognized Vienna Convention of April 19 , as per Certificate #0\32
This automobile/conveyance is registered with League of Indian Nations of North America and sanctioned By Article 3 of the Jay Treaty of 1794
888-723-3339 www.linna-usa.org
A red firetruck, not lime green
Buc-ee's is extremely long. This is about the mid-point.
See that display from the previous photo in the distance?
The remainder of the store, facing us from where we were standing.
Standing with a statue of the mascot
Blue Bell ice cream after two years. The anticipation was better than the reality, I think.
There once was a game show where participants tried to guess what people meant by their personalized license plate. I would not do well.
And this combination of window stickers seems to take two different paths:
Yeti; a skull
A skeleton with "Fish On" in the banner below.
AFTCO: American Fish and Tackle Company
Thursday evening, we were set apart as Birmingham Alabama Coordinating Council Young Single Adult Conference Advisors. Then we gave Stake leaders (present and on line, women and men) our perspective of our mission in Ghana.
Like a giant Reese's, but better
Demonstrating sound from the bowl
This smoker being towed into the Sam's Club parking lot is actively smoking!
It's good to know that Sam's Club still sells rolling shelves of the kind we have in climate-controlled storage. We might use some for the house this time.
They also had office chairs for Steph to review later.
But no appliance dolly. [Saturday, I bought one at Harbor Freight.]
This building across from the Chevrolet dealership had already changed hands before we left on our mission. While we were gone, it changed again: now "My Kids Tutor" [apostrophe missing] instead of a golf cart outlet.
MAC Sporting Goods near Twain Curve has closed. "We have retired. Thank you, Montgomery, for 57 years."
Today, 6 February, was Ann-Marie' birthday. I married at 19 and was widowed at 57. Steph and I usually come here together on this day, but today didn't work. I prayed and sang snatches of a hymn.
Steph later joked that if I had told her when I proposed to her that I had bought her burial plot while one was still available - there's no headstone yet - she might have had second thoughts.
With the freezer and display case removed, there's better access to climate-controlled storage. Rolling shelves can be rolled for access to two aisles. I picked up the glass display shelves now to simplify later moves.
The obligatory barely rolling traffic blockage
Our temple, where we were married for eternity
As usual, we had the highway pretty much to ourselves for the drive home.
This sign had me puzzled until Bing gave me a hint that I was able to confirm. It's for John Watson Law Group (injury lawyers).
The Blantons' back yard backs up to a pond where geese congregate in season.
Wrap your trash bag top over this flexible plastic sheet, a portable instant container, and you have a bag that stays open.
My camera somehow senses when I hold it upside down for a shot and orients the image as if I had not done that. So, this upside-down image (to read the logo) was achieved by flipping the photo in Microsoft Word. I'm told this device is available through Home Depot or Lowe's.
Instead of laying the refrigerator in the back of my minivan, Noel Blanton and Melissa Gass temporarily removed the tailgate from the back of a pickup; the cable for the tailgate wasn't in good shape and might not have handled the weight.
I still don’t know how we got the refrigerator onto the truck, upright. I think most of the brute force was from Noel and K-Von. Then came the question: how to secure it. But the ratchet tie-downs I had bought were perfect for the occasion and they used two of them for the task.
Then we convoyed to my house, me leading the way, and the process was handled in reverse. The fridge came through our front door, on the dolly.
Steph, refilling the litter box
We had no pots to cook with yet. I stopped at the deli on Burbank.
Note to self: buy gyros there, not burgers.
Of course for Elsa, it's all about her.
Steph, organizing planner stickers
We were Elsa's entertainment until I banished her for the night: necessary, to avoid her early-morning request to open the door.
Our inflatable bed with Dollar Tree sheet and with exercise mats for prayer
This building across from the Chevrolet dealership had already changed hands before we left on our mission. While we were gone, it changed again: now "My Kids Tutor" [apostrophe missing] instead of a golf cart outlet.
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