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Showing posts from March, 2020

2. The Tall, the Short, the Skinny, the Fat, the Good and the Bad

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Another story from the list Boulder Beach--this may not be one of your favorite stories, but it is one of mine. As a twelve-year-old I was introduced into the official Boy Scouts of America. We had a scoutmaster that took us on a number of outings and was, I would say, faithful to his calling. He got us all together and we ended up at Boulder Beach on Lake Mead. It took several cars to get us all down there, about five miles. We set up our camps and then got ready to go swimming. Our scoutmaster made an attempt to keep the younger scouts safe from the bullying of the older scouts. To accomplish this, we had set up our camp a little way away from the older scouts. The sixteen-year-old scouts made their camp on the side closest to the water and the fourteen-year-old scouts set up on the high side from the water. Separating the two older groups was a ravine that the water had cut through part of the whole camp. Bert Whitney and two older brothers Howard and Calvin We had a g...

The Tall, the Short, the Skinny, the Fat, the Good, the Bad

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There were many activities that as a Boy Scout I was able to go on such as: 1.       Mt. Charleston   2.       Boulder Beach   3.       Fort Piute. & Hansen Mine 4.       Fortification Mountain 5.       Potosi Mine 6.       Mexico   7.       Ringbolt Rapids Bishop Bert Whitney We were taken on all of these activities by Bert Whitney who was the Scoutmaster. I’m sure that he was not always enamored with the way we acted, but he hung in there working with us. He was later to become the bishop of the ward, and I’m sure it was even less enjoyable for him to have to keep track of us then. Mt Charleston What a wonderful place Charleston was. It was one of the few places in Southern Nevada that you could play in the snow. We rented sleds there and we could get in the back of ...

Hunter Gatherers

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I always wanted to be the great hunter, bring home the game so that we could have meat to survive. It is not really that important for me to be a hunter in our present lifetime. It is now a sport. I have a brother who is an excellent hunter. He has given us different kinds of meat during our marriage: deer, antelope, and elk. One of the problems I had becoming a great hunter was that my wife didn’t like game meat. We got a lot of venison our first year of marriage, but by January she was expecting our first child, and the smell of venison cooking made her sick. I would open the window just above the stove, but it didn’t seem to help. The antelope and elk meat were a lot better. I really liked them, but Joy was less than enthusiastic, but since we were poor students, she was willing to eat them, especially the elk. When I started teaching at Orem High there were a couple of teachers that went deer hunting every year. One was Vance Calder the other one was Frank Stratton. These wer...

The Flower Shop

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1947 Plymouth As soon as I got my driver’s license, I bought a car. It was a 1947 Plymouth coupe. It had been a delivery vehicle for the Boulder City Flower Shop owned by Vera Greenwell. The back seat had been taken out for deliveries. She was a quite wonderful person. I worked at the shop, keeping the lawn and hedges looking good. I also worked inside, cleaning. She sold me the car for twenty-five dollars. She always made my corsages for the dances for me and didn’t charge me for them. She hired me to take care of her lawn at her home also. She lived down the road from where I did. The car gave me a lot more range in which I could roam. I took it to the Stake dances in Henderson and one time to Moapa Valley to one of their school dances. I had met a young woman from Logandale at the Helldorado. Her name was Arlene Lyman, and she lived up the street from where Joy’s dad built his home in Logandale. This was years before he moved there. It was on the way home from this dance that...

Proper Frame of Mind

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I have observed over the years that sometimes there are things that I don’t want to do, or things that I do want to do that others may not. It is quite frustrating sometimes, but it is great when we are all in the proper frame of mind. We are now experiencing a worldwide epidemic, actually they are calling it a pandemic. Joy and I are staying home along with our grandson Orson and his father Stephen. All around us people are reaching out and looking out for each other. Our whole family is on an online chat group of some kind, I think it is    called “WhatsApp.” All of us can check in and see how we are doing and talk to each other that way. It has actually been fun to do. I have gotten off the track of the story. I got to thinking of something else. It is great that I am able to think, but it would be fantastic if my mind would stay on track. Rose and Leonard Stubbs 1999 Anyway, the thing I want to write about today is a story that happened when my mother was very ...

Children Say the Darndest Things

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Carl C with Father Carl J summer of 1969 Our oldest son Carl taught me a number of lessons, some of them I followed and some were not as easy for me. We used to have a brick fence between our home and the one next door. The kids could see through the fence and talk to each other. This became evident as one day he was upset at something and yelled “THOMAS.” I was fine with him saying that when he was angry, at least I was until one day I was in the back yard, and I heard the boy next door yelling through the holes in the fence. He was yelling “Dumb Ass” at Carl and Carl was yelling “THOMAS” back at them. His mother worked with him on his language. He was only three at the time. Carl’s mother was very good at making things to keep him interested and learning. One of the things she had was a car for him to walk around in. She took a banana box and painted a car on the side of the box and Carl could carry it around with him. One day after a very cold sub-zero temperature, I was wal...

Following the Path

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Compass given me by grandson, Drew Smith I have gotten lost on quite a few occasions as I travel around. We used to just have a map that we traveled with to let us know where we were and where it was that we wanted to go. You really needed a navigator to ride with you so you wouldn’t get lost. Actually, I did get lost even with a navigator. There were some places that I knew how to get to without any problems or the use of a map. The route was always the same if I was going down to Boulder City to see my parents. If you were to make a wrong turn and get off of the path, it was often difficult to correct your direction to arrive at the desired destination. One time I was traveling to California to see my daughter and her family, I had gotten about halfway there and I got off of the highway and stayed in a motel overnight. Arising the next morning, I ate breakfast, paid my bill and started out on my way. It was to prove more difficult getting back on the highway than getting of...

Life's Blessings

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As a very young man we used to have Priesthood Meeting early in the morning, then go home and come back later in the morning for Sunday School, and then again later at night for Sacrament Meeting. The Sacrament Meeting lasted from one and a half hours to possibly two hours. On a couple of occasions Elder Stephen L. Richards would visit our ward when he was in the area. He usually stayed down at Lake Mead in one of the cabins there just past Boulder Beach. When he came, the meeting could go on for quit a while, but it was interesting to have a General Authority come to our little Ward. Pump Organ (not BC) One of the most enjoyable visitors was Ruel Smith from Overton, Nevada. He came once in a while and then would stay after Sacrament Meeting and play the organ for those that wanted to stay and listen. The Organ was an old foot pump instrument which had to be pumped with your feet while you played. I always stayed. I couldn’t play the organ, but I loved to hear it, and I really ...

Death of the Tackle Box

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The Death of the Tackle Box Picture near Ringbolt Rapids during the building of Hoover Dam, True name Boulder Dam As young men in Scouts, our scoutmaster took us to a place where we could hike down to the Colorado River below the Dam. There were some little rapids there. They ran along the cliff on the Nevada side and could be reached by hiking down the Arizona side. They were called the Ringbolt Rapids. There were large rings on the cliff side that could be tied onto, if you wanted to line a boat down below the rapids, at least that was what we were told. We were having a great time playing in the water, and a couple of guys were fishing from the edge of the river where the ravine came down. We ate our lunch and then headed up to get picked up. On the way back the scoutmaster took off ahead of the rest of us to get the pickup, which was on the Nevada side and come back and get us. It was probably a bad decision on his part. We were then alone coming out of the long draw; ...

In the Line of Fire

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Our family was blessed with one of the sweetest kindest little fellow that could ever come into a family. I of course refer to Robert Smith Stubbs, also known as (half a valentine, bomb, peace pipe, peace pipe, fork--Bobby) which is how he learned to write his name. I have written about him earlier when my father was taking my mother to the hospital to deliver him. They had passed my dog Prince Albert that had gotten out of the house and didn’t stop to get him. Some time later after they had brought Bobby home from the hospital, he was in the room fussing. My mom told me, a five-year-old, to go in and check on him, which I did. A short time later there was a lot of loud crying, even possible screaming. My mother ran in and asked what had happened. I told her that I had come back to check on the baby and told him to quit crying, but he wouldn’t, so I socked him one. I don’t think I was sent to check on him anymore. I don’t think I was still holding the loss of my dog against him, ...

The Good Samaritan?

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Last week I went down to Nevada to see my brother and cousin to see how they were doing. I like to actually look at them and see for myself how they are. I stayed at the Quality Inn on the road down to the lake and dam. I have stayed there before and really like it. Before I checked in, I went to see Richard my cousin and visited with him and his wife Carol. It was a pleasant visit and then I headed to the motel. They had me stay on a different area of the motel than I was accustomed to. It was getting on towards dark. Because I had not stayed in that area before and I was having trouble finding the room 115. I started up the walkway which was two 9 “ bricks wide, so it was pretty narrow. I had just started up the path and I fell into the rocks. I lit on my right side. It bruised my shoulder and my thigh. As I lay there trying to get my breath back and start trying to get up there were three people that walked by just at my feet, they looked at me and just kept walking. I was final...

Just One Day at a Time

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I have written about Billie Bates before, but here is an experience involving her again. One of the things that she did for me was to give me voice lessons. Mowing her lawn turned into a fantastic payday. She taught me to read, took me to the opera, ballets, plays, musicals, and taught me to sing (somewhat). One of the songs she taught me was “Just One Day at a Time.” This song held some very important lessons for me throughout my life. The Lord is teaching me how to live just one day at a time. This peace I know is enough reward just one day at a time. May every day be a work of art in which I may play my humble part. I pray for an understanding heart just one day at a time. I’m not sure of the exact words, but the words above are the main gist of the song. I have been sick for the last four days while Joy was out of town. Yesterday I finally went to the doctor, and he gave me a prescription for cough medication, an antibiotic, and an inhaler to open up my bronchial tubes....

Dream Catcher vs Spider Web

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I see Dream Catchers quite often in cars hanging from the rear view mirror. They look nice there, but I question whether that really is an appropriate place for them. They are hung where ever you are going to sleep, to help you have pleasant dreams; that is their purpose. I have always been blessed with peaceful or at least enjoyable dreams. I think that somewhere in my sleep mode hangs a beautiful Dream Catcher. More recently it seems that there has been a false Dream Catcher. It is like a spider web and hangs on to my thoughts. They are held tight like a moth or fly in the web. Both the catcher and the web look similar in design, at least to me, but do not have similar functions. I often dream of something that is important to me, but when I wake up the thought has been captured in the spider’s web, and is being held captive somewhere in my brain. Once in a while the web gets shaken and some thoughts that have been captured are released. The only problem with this is that...