Onward Christian Soldiers part 5

On we went, it was a hot afternoon, though thankfully there was a breeze, sent from heaven.
The sun still beat down on our backs however.  Ester, my oldest sister,  Pa, and Captain pulled up front while the rest of us pushed in back. We in the middle of the long train of carts, and it seemed as both Captain and Ester were determined to make it up to the front. Every once in a while, as often as she could, Ma would pour ice water down our backs, if she could get it, and if she couldn't she got the warm water from our cooler.

Pushing that cart now felt like a daily routine, a month after month, endless daily routine. This is my agenda: Push cart, take drink, help trek siblings, break for meals, push, push, push, set up tent,  write in my journal....and, many times, fall asleep on it.
Captain was tired, so I offered to trade places with him. I held the handle bar quite fine, I thought, but when we started moving, all I could do was try to keep from being run over by the heavy- big wheeled wooden car.  I tried, but I couldn't be Captain's chance for a rest. While pushing in back, he peeked over our heap of stuff, and saw me there trying to keep up with Pa and Ester, pulling beside me, and came back to  take his place in less than a minute. That stunk. IT stunk that no matter how hard I tried I couldn't pull like Captain, Faith,  Ester, or Constance, Alma, or Helaman.

So I helped in every other way I could. I knew some things they didn't. I could be encouragement.
I could give perspective. I could try to pull in some humor.  If there was something I could do I did it.
I shared a few short stories of my ancestors that went to Salt lake Valley, or helped Ma with the meals.

Now that a great number of our company had begun to tire, and lost that first spurt of energy when we had begun, our train of carts would stretch out, and there would be a couple gaps, and many stops for those left behind.

But they were quick.
And we were always at, or near the front.
And then, when we were moving,---crack!
"Whoa, Whoa, stop!" Pa called out. I hadn't heard him until the third time. "What?"
"Stop," We stopped, "The cart broke," Pa announced. In the back, we all came  around to the front to see. Faith was apologizing over and over; she had broke her side of the bar, the part that connected to the cart.
But no one was the least bit angry at her.
We all comforted her with compliments of her strength and determination, especially Captain.
We carefully moved our cart out of the way, so the wagon train could go on without us.
One family offered help, but Pa and the boys had it well handled. Pa came prepared with rope and tied it secure.

It never came undone.

Onward Christian soldiers part 4

Then our trail boss rode around the camp,
"Pack up! we are an hour behind our schedule, load up!"

Captain, Alma, Helaman and Pa loaded and tied down our tent and supplies, while my sisters and I put away the food. Not long after we started Pa started to sing,  Come, come ye saints.... I started with him, and then one by one, Helaman was singing, Captain, Alma, Ester, Faith and Constance. And then we heard other scattered families singing the same song with us. For a little while, the entire company was singing Come, Come ye saints.

As we moved out of camp we went though a wide gate way. there were about seven angels, a majority of them adults. But I could see the two white silhouettes of the boys Helamen had mentioned earlier. All of them had halo flowers around their heads. They started to sing with us. I looked down at my feet, shading my face with my bonnet as we passed. A lot of times, I caught my big brother Captain looking in the angels' direction.
You know, some people think a lot about heaven. (And I am sure that's what Captain was doing.)

We soon made up that hour, my family could tell that we were getting ahead, because they made us stop for a lot of bath room breaks. Nevertheless,  our throats were tired of singing, but every once in a while I would hear someone trying to sing, with hardly any air to sing with. Closer to noon, we saw the angels again. There were a lot more this time.

We had been told to watch our feet so not to trip and sprain our ankles or break a nail. I saw one boy with a Dr. who  had his entire toenail torn off. Now imagine that with stiff hiking boots and miles of rocky ground to cross- Ouch.

So I was diligently looking down the whole time and hadn't seen the angels take a few more kids and adults. I began to look around, to see where some of my friends were, to check if  any of them had been taken.
One  of them  was  missing. Must be around somewhere.  But Joseph was still around. So happy where he was that he hadn't even said 'good after NOON!', or 'Hi Tali.' Maybe I missed him. I missed them both.

But walking, on the way, my family and I talked about different things, things we did before the trek, things we did normally. I told my Ma about my blog, drawings, (she'd also seen one in the bus I had been drawing) and that I worked for the trail boss at his horse camp, when things were normal.

Captain talked about going on his mission, but pulled more then he ever talked. Helaman began to worry about his sister, ( his real sister) who had been one of the ones to have passed out in the beginning of our journey to Zion. She was doing worse now, and had been temporarily taken away to recover. There were others, and some one sprained their ankle. Helaman said he wished the angels would come take him to heaven. He was having a very hard time.

Meanwhile, I was getting more and more worried about this friend I had not seen since yesterday. At noon, we broke for lunch. I finished my food, ( ham sandwich, chips, fruit and juice,) and excused myself  to say hi to Joseph.
I found him with a group of boys and Pa's, playing stick pull. I went to stand by him. He was very animated, with his eyes glued to the contest as if it were a TV show. Actually it was pretty interesting. So I watched for a while. One guy that looked a lot like a real country boy, and not just his clothes, was beating all the other Pa s' and boys. I was surprised to learn that this was the real oldest son of my Ma and Pa. We were role playing our trek families so well that you didn't know who really belonged to whom, in modern day time. Well, he beat everyone that played except one big Pa.

He even beat his pa, who was my bishop.

I turned to Joseph and asked if he'd seen this particular friend.
"What?"
I repeated my question, "Have you seen him?"
"Uh--oh look at that, he's beating everybody..."
I moved in front of him. "Listen, have you seen xxx?"
"Oh him? Tali, didn't you know? He died this morning. The angels took him."

My mouth dropped.
I had been fearing this, but I hadn't permitted myself to believe it.
"No way," I shook my head.
"Yes way, see for yourself when they come around next. Didn't you see them at the gate? I thought you did, because..." Joseph looked passed me at the stick pull match. "Whoa!" his eyes sparkled, "That was cool."

Demonstration of how males and females handle stress. Girls, its the ties that bind, the relationships, the feelings, family, the comings and goings. Boys? Distraction, action. Untouchable emotionless motion.

"Joseph!" I leaned over, "Because what?"
"Oh, because he passed you while you were eating breakfast."
"Oh."
"Why do you wanna know?" Joseph asked.
I left without answering. I was angry. This wasn't fair.
When we started off again, Captain noticed.
"Are you alright Tali?"
"Yeah. I 'm fine. Its just I found out one of my friends is hanging out with the angels."
 I avoided looking at him, so he wouldn't see my face.
"Oh... I 'm sorry... That's sad."
I felt a little guilty for not being sad at all, but I couldn't help it. I was feeling a little angry at this friend. For conspiring against us all to die. Why didn't he tell me?

I imagined all the things I would say to him, but the more I repeated them, the more they became just,
'Why didn't you tell me?' But how could he tell me? he was just taken. Unless...
The next drink stop I asked Captain, "Do they just take the kids, or do they pick them ahead of time?"
He glanced at me, and put his canteen back in the cart. It wasn't till we started moving again when he answered me. Thank goodness for Captain beside me. This cart-our home on wheels- moved because of him, and Faith.

"They picked them ahead of time." he said.
"They have to be, in order to bring white clothes." Ma answered,
"Oh. Okay."
Now he could have told me.
But I don't know how I didn't detect the next one to leave the company.

Onward Christian Soldiers part 3

I had a surprisingly comfortable 'home evening' with people I had never really knew before today.
At least, I  didn't know any of them. But for these four days, we were all Pioneers. Christian Soldiers.
I hadn't got the chance to ask Joseph how fun it was for him to watch us girls and Women struggle and sweat up the hill while he just cooled off at the top. Turns out later I find that it wasn't. As his real sister, I'm glad.

But I listened to my trek brothers talk about it, as we all took turns giving our thoughts for the day.
The one I remembered, was my eldest brother Captain's thoughts, because they really surprised me.
"The hardest thing was watching you all go rushing up that hill with one cart, and then go help the next one up. We wanted so bad to come help you, but they wouldn't let us."

Wow. No wonder they ran to help us. In turn, Each of the boys in our family agreed.

I began to actually like my family. Ma and Pa naturally were the easiest. But one by one, I learned something about each about my sister and brothers that I respected and liked them for.

For example, my sisters Constance and Faith, and Ester. They are named for their good deeds.
Constance carried our two flour babies all the way, we had to steal them from her to let her rest from carrying them.
Honestly the flour babies weren't much for me, I just couldn't learn to love a wrapped flour bag with button eyes and big, grumpy, slanting, eyebrows.
We had two of them. Little food monsters. But, naming them after Joseph smith's brothers helped me think better of them.
 I took my turn whenever I could to carry them, it was a duty. But Constance carried them with heart. And imagination. Far greater then mine could be.

My second sister, Faith, was a  hard worker, and I kind of got into a silent one sided work competition with her. I liked her right away, for that, but also, because vaguely, I remember her as my first JC, a good JC,  at Girls camp. That feels like a long time ago now. However, that work competition....it didn't matter really, I soon came to realize, because we were making the same cart move. We were on the same team, and family.

Ester, My eldest sister, pushed even when she was very tired, was at the front  a lot, and took on tasks she wasn't used to doing, and I saw several times that she was quite brave.
Captain, my eldest brother did everything he could do to serve.
Helaman, my second brother talked at ease with everyone, even though he didn't know them, and was kind and outgoing to everyone.
Alma was quiet, but willing. He listened intently and sung with us in our family home evening songs, which included, Come come ye saints.

That song was sung very much on the trek. And I noticed, That our Pa would start singing it, and then we would, and the next thing I knew everyone in the company was. Ma was a mother to everyone, and made sure we were comfortable and that our needs were taken care of. Both Ma and Pa took the next step to know each of us a little better.
The next mourning we had oat meal for breakfast. Our water never heated up, ( We were using slightly warm coals,)  so we ate not cooked oat meal, but wet oatmeal. It wasn't too bad, but while all my trek siblings thanked Ma and our eldest sister for their work, I made a face at my oatmeal. Because I eat it doesn't meant I like it. But I was on the trek, and complaining wasn't an option. While eating we noticed ladies dressed in white.

They were angels. Yesterday they took a few kids to 'heaven.' Helaman commented that they only seemed to be taking the girls. He joked about being taken himself.
But then Captain pointed out, "Look, they just took two boys," I glanced behind myself, at one of them. Ohhhhh, the angels of death. They weren't going to take me! I inconspicuously hid behind Captain until Helaman announced that they were gone. whew!

Little did I know, I would soon be working hard enough to know him well enough, for wishing I was tall enough to cover Captain.

 Eating oat meal in the morning. Captain and Alma are taking our, 
(the girls') tent down for us.

 I got Joseph's family to pose for me, and though I had to hurry off to Family home evening with my family, I could tell Joseph was feeling right at home. I was later to learn, the next day, that Joseph  was made the oldest brother of his family, even though, in real life, he is the youngest of them all. ;) He is the fourth one in that picture, quite in the middle.

I can see that some of Joseph's brothers are as goofy as he can be sometimes. :)

 Joseph shows his sisters how to set up their tent. Mmm. Will this amazing big brother behavior carry through to real life? I have a tent...Just kidding. He always sets up our tents. And stuff.

 Not that both of them don't look tired.

And this is my sister Constance, putting up our tent with me. Sun is setting. Time for naps.

My Pioneer talk

I gave this talk in sacrament meeting two weeks ago.

I am going to talk about my trek experience.
It was great. I made new friends, had fun,  ate Doritos, chili, tin foil dinners and brownies, and had a nice set of spiritual experiences.
It was hard, but fun. I want to go again if I get the chance.

When I got home, I told my stories to my parents.
Mom said, "Oh Tali.... you were spoiled."
 Yeah, I thought the same thing, ' uh, no I wasn't,
But then, I think about it and--- yes, I was spoiled.

I walked and pushed only for 4 days. I never starved. My trek family had a cart break down, and we fixed it with rope. We got back to base and Pa fixed it professionally as soon as he could get his hands on some real tools. Nothing serious.
We never had a big, or true breakdown,  we were never left days behind.
I was  hungry. But I knew we would always have food. Only one meal was flour and water pancakes, where as the pioneers went days without eating anything other then boiled leather or white soup. They didn't have enough flour to go around to make thick pancakes. It was flour flavored water. I f you can call flour a flavor.

But I did get a glimpse of what they went through. I did.
I had a big trek brother. (He is the one with the hat in the pic.)
Goodness gracious he would just pull that cart like a freight train. He wasn't hogging it, he was working as hard as he could, and taking care of us.
It is not surprising, but I was the shortest one in the family. I was automatically made the youngest, apart from our flour baby twins. And I noticed every time there was an
opportunity to help out, my big trek brother leaped to it.
Every time any of us needed help he was usually the first there, if he wasn't already occupied.
But then we lost him, ( he "died" ) and abandoned his belongings on the roadside.
I saw him , not too long after, dressed in white with a halo of flowers on his head.

This was the most real part of the trek for me. when we sat down at dinner that night there was an empty space. We moved our buckets closer, but this empty space couldn't be filled that way.

And the resurrection-- besides the water fight, was my favorite part of the trek.

The pioneers lost many loved ones  and left their burial sites on the roadside.  But like me, they knew they would see those people again.
But this time, I didn't have to wait as long.

Now all that, that is not the reason my mom said I was spoiled.
She was comparing my trek experience with hers.
She didn't get Doritos and hamburgers. As an every day meal, she had oatmeal and cornmeal. When they were given something else to eat,
it got up and ran away. It was a live turkey.  They had to catch it, kill it, and cook it.
Mom showed me pictures.

when I was comparing my experiences with the old Mormon pioneers, those were just my thoughts.
what courageous, headstrong, faithful people. Stepping out of their comfort zone eating anything they could digest to survive, and being chased from their homes. But don't think that you have to push a hand cart  for a couple days or months to be a pioneer Yes, there are Mormon pioneers today, in this congregation. A pioneer is someone, anyone shoeing a new way to others.

A Mormon pioneer is someone, anyone showing a new way of life to to family members, being the first in your family to live the gospel standards.

My seminary teacher tells me, that we marvel the old pioneers for their physical challenges, but they will marvel at us for our moral, choice making,  and modern challenges.

 Captain is in the middle, Faith is on the right, I am on the far right holding a flour baby. ( we made our babies out of flour sacks.) And Helaman is on the far left.

Ma, Faith, and Constance rushing to the next cart. I am in the scene to, but not in this picture. I could not stop for long, or ask anyone to take a pic. for me. :( oh well. ;)

Onward Christian Soldiers, part two.

When the Mormon battalion left, all us women were left to ourselves and a hill that suddenly grew more Hill-ness, with lots of rocks and plenty of ruts. I watched Joseph and the man part of my trek family march in a line that got smaller and smaller, and then camped on the top of a hill beyond the one that we were about to take on.
It was very hot, every twenty minutes our trail boss rode on his mountain horse from front to the end of our company, reminding us to drink. My big sister, (Ester) didn't, and the result came very quick, in a punishing manner.
She blacked out, and was taken to one of the trail doctors.

NOTE: For this blog I will give my trek siblings different names,



ELDEST sister: Ester (for her courage)         
SECOND oldest sister:  Faith (For that quality)
THIRD oldest: Constance (for that quality)
YOUNGEST sister: Tali, (plain Me)

ELDEST brother: Captain ( Moroni)
SECOND brother:  Helaman (for those qualities)

YOUNGEST brother: Alma (for those qualities)



Ester, Faith, Constance, Ma, and I plunged into the great struggle over the hill, which at the time seemed more like a mountain. On and On, next one after the next, we pushed and pulled those carts up. All helping with each others carts I pulled my canteen out of our cart as some of the other women got it over, and took a fast drink, then caught up with the cart and stuck it back in.

Then I set myself to pulling one of the carts in the front. I was surprised how much that cart weighed. There was no way, I thought, if I was an orphan all alone on the prairie, that I could do this myself.
In fact I was frustrated and  a little angry with myself. This was what I was here to do, push a cart, and I gave so little compared to the taller girls. The way a handcart is built, it's a leverage thing. The handles aren't low enough for a shorter person to throw her weight into it effectively.

But I wasn't about to let go. I pulled as hard as I could, then another girl came to trade places with me, I guess she decided I'd done enough. I decided there, that I wouldn't overwork myself at the front, I would push at the back with whatever I had. Just because they were taller didn't mean  I couldn't work harder.

 There was no pausing. Every one was moving. But not too fast, the rocks were big enough to brake the cart wheels. Still, as fast as we thought our wheels could take. We wanted to be over with that hill as soon as possible, and some of us were wondering how the rest of the terrain was like.
Was it rocky, and bone jarring? Was it one hill after the next and energy eating? Or was it flat and foot killing?

I glanced up at the Mormon Battalion, standing at a far off hill, watching us. What a good time they must be having. Standing there, watching us down here, struggling with what must be much easier for them.

Oh, I could imagine exactly what  Joseph was thinking. He always compares girls camp to his scout camp, telling me all the work and physical fitness things they do at boys camp, and when I told him about the candy bars and cookies I had for dinner at girls camp and the huge tarantula that crawled into my tent one night, he scoffs, "Girls are so girly and silly. A tarantula? Come on Tali, it's completely harmless. You know that."
Eh em. Tarantulas are scary and hairy, and they trespass too many times. That is not harmless.  ;)
Well, I just knew the guys were all jeering like that up on that hill.

And then finally we got the last cart up, and we took our own carts and continued on a smoother old  trail. As we passed the boys, I was surprised how quickly they came to us.

In fact, they ran to us.

All my brothers took the front 

and pulled us all the way to the first of the line. Fast.

We didn't say anything, however. It was time for work.  All though I was wondering just what they has been doing up there. I was sure Joseph would tell me.
Easter was now back with us, but  she wasn't the only one having blackout problems. It was hot. Highs in the humid, humid hundreds were normal this summer, and the weather out here was more of the same.  We had been told to prepare physically for a lot of exertion for this trip. You had to watch your body signs, drink enough, eat right...and be lucky, I guess.  I counted like 8 girls in three hours. That's why we traveled with a trailing medical team.

Ma began to get really worried, and told us to "Drink!"
Faith, my second oldest sister, began to get as bossy as I was at home.
"Drink all of that Tali, and then refill, Captain you too." she told my Eldest brother and I.
For a second, I might have been worried about over drinking, but it wasn't long until I didn't need encouragement. And for the record, I never blacked out. ;)

Onward Christian Soldiers, part one.

The eighth to the eleventh. The pioneer trek.
Prologue:

Four days that in many ways, felt like forever, and, I was soon to learn, sometimes I wish they'd lasted months. This was a highlight of my summer, because of what I learned of spiritual things, through symbolic reenactment, about myself, my legacy of faith and my own spirit and capacity-  and that of my 'brothers and sisters'---

We woke up at 4:45pm and arrived at out church house at 5:00pm, waiting for some others. Joseph looks like a real pioneer, doesn't he? Some boys looked quite modern, and many quite hillbilly. 
Joseph and I load on my seminary teacher's bus with the rest of our friends that have gone with us, to drive to Lebanon.
It was a long drive. At least it sure felt like it.
When we got to the destination where we would be put onto tour buses and sorted into our trek families, Joseph and I were lucky to be put on the same bus. But before that, I went to the church house bathroom. A big mirror, one last time. And plumbing. I hadn't really seen how I looked in my pioneer dress, and when I did, I saw Little Bo Peep. Ha! As heroine of this personal pioneer history, I was sorta cute. My mother and young woman's president had told me so, and of course I wanted to see for my self.

In the bus Joseph and I sat together, for a little while.

And then Joseph saw a friend of his, someone who hadn't ever gone to youth conference before like himself. I guess Joseph thought he looked lonesome. Because he abandoned me for a good term of friendliness.We hadn't been sorted into our families yet, and no matter how it would be, we had been told that as real brother/sister, we would not be in the same family. And we were not so likely to be paired with friends from our ward, either.
So, I sat down by myself. Getting used to missing him.  Joseph's kind of my twin-friendly-enemy-friend. You know, actually a pretty good brother. I watched as people passed me, noticing that,  if you had a chance you wouldn't consider sitting by a stranger if you could sit by your friends. I had friends on the same bus that got in earlier than I did and were already seated in the back. Dang.

And then a guy came and gestured to the empty seat next to me.
"Is anyone sitting there?"
 If I was in a joking mood, I would have said, "Casper, you're going to get sat on."
But I said,
"No."
"Do you mind?" The guy asked.
I shook my head. "No."
He was dressed straight pioneer, very nice. And he was cute. Nice plus, but not necessary for good company. Nice, however, is.  He sat down and tucked his lunch under his seat. When he straightened, a voice in my head told me, "That is your trek Big Brother." Did I know we were going to have Big Brothers? No.
Wow, okay...

None of us had any family yet. I didn't take the voice seriously. And then someone, a friend of his, called him to sit with him. So he got up and left.
And then a friend of mine, came to sit by me. We had a nice time talking for a little bit, and then he had me to draw a picture for him. So I started a horse head portrait from the side view. Of course. Horse.

As soon as the bus started we were called into our families. The Ma's and Pa's called names on their list, that moment was very tension-filled. I really wanted to be in the same family as at least one of my friends from Super Saturday, the one sitting by me especially. He's good company and friendly with everyone, and he treats the gospel as something good that should be lived. So I figured, a good hand to have on a long  pull.
He was one of the first names to be called. And his new Ma finished reading her list.

Oh, now I am doomed. He went to sit with his family, but left his sketch book for me to finish.
I listened as every one in the bus was called, rose and sat with their new families. And Joseph. But my name hadn't been called. Was I on the wrong bus? I saw the guy that the voice in my head had been talking to me about. He sat by his own family. And then they were done calling.

 Oh no, I was on the wrong bus, how dreadful!
And then one Ma stood up.
"I am so sorry, but I have forgotten my list, so everyone that is left, you are probably with us."
Phew!
 I sat at the front with them. I had just gotten to know some a little, when suddenly another Ma stood up. We had been moving for at least twenty minutes.

She said, "We're missing somebody, a Tali Brinkerhoff," she searched the face of all the pioneer passengers. My goodness, that was me! I stood up. And finally sat with the right family. I suppose the reason I didn't hear my name the first time was because they must have mispronounced it, the Brinkerhoff part. Or, maybe they didn't see it on the list and it wasn't called at all until they realized they were a kid short.  I was introduced to them. My sisters, my brothers, my Big Sister, and, surprise surprise, my Big Brother.  He smiled at me.


That's when the light turned on.
Oh, I get it, that was the Holy Ghost! it was the same guy where the Holy Ghost had said,
"That  is your trek big brother." Well, I usually don't get communication from the Spirit that way. It is usually far more subtle! And picks far different kinds of things!

Well, we took the first letter of every one's last  name and made up the name Bogdants. One of my sisters had been one of my  JC's at girls camp before. I remembered another one for hiking in a tutu last year at camp. And I had danced with one of my trek brothers at Super Saturday last year.
But that was all we had in common, to begin with.

To begin with!

(Now hang  on the handcart with me here, 

this blog-journal entry will be some 11 other posts long!

It gets better, and worse. And it's worth it, I promise. I pulled through it!)

On our first day, as soon as we got to the ranch place where the trek was to be held, we were chased out by mobs as soon as our stuff was on the cart. Some hadn't finished loading their cart. But for the moment of peace before, here's a cool picture I took.

Here, the guy in the red shirt that looks like John Wayne, is my boss ,(I work at his trail riding, horse camp ranch during modern times some 200 years in the future) and his trusty farm hand in the gray shirt. They must be talking about the harvest this year. Doesn't look good. Or maybe about the mobs, perhaps the farm hand has spotted them and has ridden back to tell us.

Well, when we were out of the mob's sight, our red shirt trail boss,

read a letter from the Prophet Brigham Young, calling all the Pa's and brothers in the company to the Mormon Battalion, the only religious military unit in our country's history.

Leaving wagon trains and families for their women to handle. Leaving for Mexico. Leaving for service to the country that had tolerated their persecution, ignored their pleas for protection, but a country and a flag they still loved, and a constitution they still believed in. And a prophet like Moses,  whose words they believed, when he said, go, and if you are faithful, not one will die in battle. So, in the real 1840's, some  550 men and boys left their families en route on the plains, having been driven outside the country's borders, 2000 miles away from their future settlement carved out of the unwanted  inter-mountain west, a 2000 mile colonizing march before them. BUT  Now? Why now? Now this I knew about.

(Last year I wrote a paper on the Mormon Battalion. I have grandpas who  volunteered.That research came in handy, for I had actually written the letter Boss was now reading from Brigham Young. As a work assignment from the trail boss one day, weeks earlier. Shh. Don't tell. )
But now? We weren't even warmed up. And on the the battalion went, off with their guns, every single Boy and Man.

Well, good bye, just-met trek Pa, brothers, and big brother.

And trail Boss on his paint, Zach

The Proof copy!

Dad just sent the manuscript in, the paper back 6by9, 210 page book will be here... in a week?
Oh I don't know, but I cant wait!
And we just sent it in the nick of time! My promotion code is good until June 1.
This Dragon picture is the cover, sorry, this copy of the pic.  doesn't have the title.  My story has a lot of loose ends, in fact, It doesn't have an end. I should feel embarrassed. Maybe.
But at the moment I am too exited. But I do wish I could have finished the entire thing. Mom says I should tie the ends up and go to a new story. I have a new story idea that I'd planned to do this November.
It is a science fiction called the Cure. For now. I might have to give it a new title, maybe someone else may have already thought of that for their book. It sounds like that kind of title. But for now, that's what it is.
But it turns out that there is a NaNoWrimo camp this June. That's what they are calling it, but its the same thing as in November. So maybe I'll continue my dragon story and finish it this June. It does have an end, I just haven't written it. I will finish it. Sigh, hours, days, weeks...no longer then weeks, of course. :)

The Green after the Gray

 Planting Onions

 And cleaning one of our favorite parks, my sisters found edible mushrooms and cooked them the next day. Everyone loved them. they had a buttery, rubbery taste. They weren't my favorite though.

 We got Buff Orpingtons and barred Rocks. They have now moved to the chicken coop.

 Taking care of a friend's sheep while they visited their grand kids for Easter. Robin Hood is tired.

 Wagon rides down the hills are fun.

                                             And so are baby ducks and little sisters.

 "Mom, am I ready to go swimming?" Says the littlest, who is not truly warm enough to swim yet. Mom took most of these pictures, and I borrowed these, I thought these two bottom ones were the cutest.

This spring is the wettest I've ever seen. We had some weather problems, lots and lots and tons of rain. Our basement flooded, but others had it worse then we did. The saint Louis air port had a tornado run through. Yikes!
There were a lot of those running around. None of the came to close to our house. Thank goodness. since we moved to Missouri, I have thought more about natural disasters then when we lived in CA, i remember earth quake drills in middle school. And once we in a very tiny one. It only shook our house just a little bit. I felt it first, as it shook my bed.I  rand  to mom and Dad's room. But it was over within a few seconds.
Now over here we have storms every month. Tornadoes are common. And Rain.
I have a list of things in my head to go get, and I always keep track of them, just in case of a disaster. My bag of notebooks, journal, and drawings. Those are my most important things that can never be replaced,  except for my family.
But there is always a rain bow after the storm. And I don't only mean that literally, I mean there is always a good out come.
Look how green everything became.
Robin Hood got chicks to earn his merit badge. Sabrina got new baby ducks. They are anacondas, they are the best foraging egg laying ducks. Both the chicks and ducklings lived in our house for a while.

I love to see the Temple

This was our ward Temple trip. The first ward temple trip I've ever been on. It was long and busy but very nice. Though Robin Hood and I wanted to go to the science museum afterwards. We didn't, however, we were blessed.

Camping at Rocky Top

 We went for a mini vacation to A nearby lake.

  And I found the best fishing spot. This top and left is a bridge that was busted by flood water. On the left, you can see a tree that fell in to. It lies right across, and near it's roots and underneath it was a nice fish nest. It was at least until my siblings came to marvel over it.
"WOW!"
"Look at those fish Tali!"
"Yes, I see, I was here first, I know," I say, just a little irritated.
"There's a big one,"
                                                                                      "I'm gonna scoot down and take a closer look."
                                                                                     "No, please don't, your way too close,"  Too late,                                                                                                      they all swim away.

But I owe thanks for all my hooks they have saved from snags.
On the left I am taking a mental picture of it with dad, from my point of veiw, There is a scene that I think would make a nice scenery drawing.
Oh, and I take a lot of pictures, but there are lots on my blog that were taken by my Mom. Here at the bottom is Dad showing you how huge this pipe is.

And stayed in tiny cabins. We rented two. And had a fun time visiting different parts of the lake, fishing, ( I caught two perch, though I'd rather liked to have caught trout,) adventuring, playing ladder ball, and Air hockey. The only sad thing is that we didn't visit any of the mills. There are tons of cool old mills, some refurbished to look like they had one when they were new, and many that are left to rot. I feel sorry for the ones people have just let go, I like to imagine the little villages of Irish people, picturing were they were, and what they did. We once  hiked to see  an old hospital by a river that had burnt down.