This weekend is Memorial Day weekend. All the years I was growing up, it was called “Decoration Day” because the major purpose of the weekend was to visit the cemeteries and decorate the graves of departed relatives. Nina says that this practice is generally confined to the west and to the south. The northeast has parades and the veterans all dress up and march with bands and such. I don’t think I ever remember a parade on Decoration Day as I was growing up, but I do remember marching at least once in a parade while we were in Japan in the Air Force.

Today we took mom and dad to go to two cemeteries. We stopped first in the Lund Cemetery (just before the road goes up and over Fish Creek on the way from Soda Springs to Lava Hot Springs. My great uncle Les (Leslie Sydenham Gillett) is buried with his wife in that cemetery and there’s no one else in this area to do anything for his grave site on Memorial Day. We left a small pot of flowers at the base of their large headstone and then drove along the foothills past the Utah Power & Light dam, through Thatcher, and to the Cleveland Cemetery where the accompanying picture was taken. I’ve many dead relatives buried in that cemetery. Mom and dad are also planning to be buried in the Cleveland Cemetery, have their burial plots bought and paid for, and have the headstone already in place. Their headstone is in the center foreground in the picture. Their birth dates and marriage date are on the headstone, but no death dates. Last year when they went over to the cemetery, which was shortly after the headstone had been put in place, they found that someone had decorated their future grave site! This year, there were no flowers on their gravesite when we arrived. We did leave a small potted plant before we left. Nina said it was so they could see how pretty it would be! The Cleveland Cemetery is a nice cemetery. It’s small, up on a hill overlooking the valley, and is very quiet. It’s a nice place to visit on Memorial Day and to remember ancestors who led the way here through mortality. I was happy we were able to be there.

Our little motorhome is now registered in Idaho sporting generic Idaho plates. It would have been nice if the process was as easy as writing that last sentence! The Colorado plates on the RV expired last October which was just fine — the vehicle was parked beside the house and wasn’t going to be used until the nice weather arrived in the Spring. Our original plan was to go somewhere on Memorial Day. Then Nina and I were asked to teach the combined Relief Society – Priesthood meeting on that Sunday. We bagged the camping trip. That turned out to be just as well since we’ll be having a couple of grandkids stay the week following while our daughter is chaperoning a group of school kids on a trip to Spain. So we’ve decided to take a long weekend in the middle of June and go somewhere in the motorhome. It was time to get plates on the vehicle. I first called the Westmark Credit Union to ask them what I needed to do since they’ve got the title and are financing the vehicle. The lady there had not a clue about titles or anything related to them. Her suggestion was that I call the Department of Motor Vehicles and ask them.

The pleasant lady at the DMV was very firm: “We won’t give you plates until the vehicle is titled in Idaho.” They had a form that I could use to send to the financing company. I hustled down to the DMV and picked up the form. The instructions were to mail the form to the financing company. They would send the title to the DMV. Then the DMV would send me a letter and I would then go to the DMV, pay the fee to title the vehicle and pay the fee for plates. The DMV would then send the new Idaho title back to the financing company. Since the credit union was still open for the day, I drove to their branch office in Pocatello.

The pleasant girl at the credit union read the letter three or four times. She wasn’t the same person I had talked to earlier, but the response was still the same. She didn’t know what I was supposed to do. None of the loan officers were there, so they couldn’t be consulted. I asked her where to send the form — “where is the office where titles are kept?” I asked. She didn’t know. She read the form again and suggested that I send the form to the address on the form. That was dumb!! The address on the form was the address of the DMV. They didn’t have the title! Finally she suggested that I return to the credit union the next day when a loan officer would be there. I left and returned the next day during my lunch hour.

I met with the main loan officer at the branch. She read the form letter from the DMV through a couple of times and then said she didn’t know what I was supposed to do with the form. I suggested that she call the main office and find out. She got out her company phone book and dialed a couple of numbers before she reached someone. Finally she was talking to someone that actually knew something. According to the lady on the phone, the credit union had already titled the motor home in Idaho. She faxed to the branch a piece of paper with the title information on it and told me that I’d have to take the RV to the DMV office so that a VIN inspection could be done and the DMV would then issue the plates.

Since I was out of time that day, I went back to work and this morning blocked out a couple of hours to get the plates. I left work, went home, fired up the motor home, cleaned the windshield and mirrors, and drove downtown Pocatello to the DMV office. I parked in the spaces reserved for VIN checks and went inside. Now, getting into the county court house where the DMV is located requires going through security like at an airport. After getting mostly undressed I was finally able to get through the metal detector and was delightfully surprised to see no lines at the DMV counter. The pleasant lady there looked at the paper from the credit union and told me that she had to have the title. This paper wasn’t sufficient. She tried to give me another copy of the form letter to send to my lending institution. I did manage to hold my temper and be reasonably pleasant. I pointed out to her that this was a “Perfected Title”, which I’m pretty sure means that the title is electronic and this paper provides the information about how to look up the electronic title. She was very skeptical but agreed to ask her supervisor. Again, we were finally talking with someone who knew something. The supervisor asked, “Did you look up the title on the computer?” The clerk hadn’t. “Why not?” asked the supervisor. The clerk didn’t know — she just assumed that the title was always on paper. “Go look it up!” directed the supervisor. Viola! The title info was in the computer. The RV was indeed already titled in Idaho. A few computer entries and mouse clicks later I was given a bill for $109 and, after paying the fees, was given the plates. And, since the vehicle was already titled, the DMV didn’t have to do a VIN check. I could have left the vehicle parked at home! However, the vehicle is now legal until the end of December 2005. What a hassle, but it at least ended well. We can now go camping and I’m right ready for a long weekend break!

Today on the way home from work I stopped by OfficeMax to pick up some ink for my home photo printer. This is the store that advertises they will always have your needed ink or toner cartridge on hand. They did — but they no longer carry the boxes of multi-cartidges. They all have to be bought individually and as a result much more expensively. Another item that I’ll now buy online. Even with shipping it’s cheaper. Soon I’ll have no reason to go to any store in town! But I digress. After I came out of the store my cell phone rang and while I talked to the caller I watched a group of young people go down a line of cars in the parking lot. One would jump up on the back bumper and another would jump on the front bumper. Three or four cars in the lot had car alarms that were set of by this action. It was quite comical watching the kids — they were having a great time and had obviously done this before, because even though alarms were going off, they just worked their way down the line of cars and then went on their way leaving behind a cacophony of sirens and whistles. A young lady came out of the store having completed her purchases and realized that her car alarm was going off as she walked up to it. She just unlocked the car and pushed the switch to turn of the alarm and drove off. No other reaction at all. This had happened to her before, I realized! The other alarms were still going off as I drove away. I thought about what I would do if I came out and my car alarm was going off. The first time I’d probably look around and try to figure out what damage had been done. The second time I’d probably check to make sure no one was hiding in the car. After that, I’d just turn it off and go on my way. So what use is the car alarm? I recalled watching a car drive down the street a few years ago with the windows open and the alarm going off. The person driving the car was (at least acting like he was) paying no attention to the alarm. Was the car being stolen? Perhaps it was being reposessed? Who knows. I didn’t call the police and neither did anyone around me. Our Toyota supposedly has an alarm that goes off if the car is started without the right key in the ignition. I have no confidence that if the alarm went off that anyone would do anything about it. The alarms are untrustworthy and they go off for every reason, possibly including being stolen. I guess the only hope is that when the alarm goes off, I’ll be in hearing distance and at least see the car being stolen.

That brings up two other stories in the same vein. Yesterday while riding my motorcycle to Church there was a brief “Stupid People” segment on the radio. It seems that a fellow’s pickup truck was stolen. A few weeks later he saw the pickup parked, got in, and drove it to the police station. While he was filling out the paperwork, the thief called to report his pickup truck stolen. The police invited him down to the station to fill out a report and after that was done, arrested him for car theft. The thief’s wallet was on the dashboard in the truck!

Many years ago in the early 1970’s I was in Pittsburgh with another colleague visiting a fellow at Westinghouse. His office was several stories above the ground and overlooked the huge parking lot. The glass in his office, like all others in the high-rise office building, went from floor to ceiling. His office was up high enough that I remember being a bit queazy as I walked up to the window. As we were standing there, he pointed out his new Corvette parked off by itself in the parking lot just as the car started moving! It was being stolen! He started jumping up and down and yelling at the window and picked up a chair like he was going to throw it through the window! We calmed him down quickly before he actually tossed the chair and the other fellow with me dialed security on the phone and passed the handset to the car owner who watched helplessly as his bright cherry-red Corvette drove away down the highway. Would a car alarm have helped in this circumstance? I’m skeptical.

A while back my dad was working on some electrical wiring in the ceiling of the garage. He slipped and fell off the ladder onto the driveway. As he lay there in the light rain, he realized his hip was broken and he was going to need some serious help. His first thought was that the neighbors might see him. He looked around as best he could and saw no one in the neighborhood. He tried calling for my mother, but she was in the basement working on a quilt and is quite hard of hearing. Then he remembered that there was a panic button on the back of the remote key in his pocket. The car was new to him a few weeks earlier and the salesman had showed him the panic button function. Dad got his hand into his pocket and pushed the button and the car began making a huge racket. Eventually mother heard the noise and came up to see what was going on. A short time later the ambulance arrived to transport him to the hospital. In this case the car alarm had some real value! I’ve decided that car alarms for the purpose of deterring a thief are useless — but they can save a life!

The new gasoline-powered weedwhacker works like a charm. Fifteen minutes work and all around the fence and around the house all the tall grass (and weeds) were cut down. It is a bit heavy and my left arm feels like it might be a bit sore tomorrow. All this exercise is ruining my otherwise sedentary life style! The yard is done for another several days and all is ready for Tom to take over the yard maintenance. I’m definitely happy for that.

It’s Saturday evening and I’m bushed, pooped, tuckered out, tired, and about a dozen other descriptive words. I mowed the grass. I actually started last night thinking I’d get the front yard done before the thunderstorms hit. About half-way through, the storms came over the mountain starting with hail. I wasn’t wearing a hat (didn’t need one as the clouds were blocking the sun) and I got clobbered pretty good before I could get the mower and me back into the garage. Several more storms followed but everything died down around 10 p.m.

So this morning I went out to finish the job. I got started around 9:30 and finished about 2 p.m. I did take a short break in the middle to eat lunch. This is the second mowing this year. Nina and I mowed the yard a week ago. We took turns … I made two swipes and then she made two swipes. We are definitely Out Of Shape (except, as I remind everyone: round is a shape). Today I was on my own. Meanwhile the grass had grown with a vengeance. Even with the mower set to it’s highest setting, it was very slow slogging through all the grass. My feet hurt. My legs hurt. I’ve gotten sunburned (even though I was wearing a hat). I’m sitting here at the computer and wondering if I have enough energy and strength to get up out of my chair in the next two or three hours. I will get up, however, as the hot tub is turned on and my aching, tired body is going into the tub.

Today was also free trash day at the Bannock County Landfill. So, when the yard was finished Nina and I loaded up a bunch of stuff in the back of the Tracker and headed for the landfill. On the way I saw my Home Teaching Companion Tom working in someone else’s yard. I pulled over and asked him if he wanted to do our yard. “I’ll pay you really well!!” I told him. Yup. He wants the job. As a matter of fact, he has the job. Tom is fifteen and is a fine young man. He’s an Eagle Scout and plays tennis on the high school tennis team. He rides a unicycle — not one of those weenie ones. He rides the kind that you need a ladder to get up on. He’s just an awesome young man and I really enjoy being around him. I’ll finish up the deal with him tomorrow so he can come and mow sometime next week. It may need mowing a couple of times a week right now, anyhow. He doesn’t have a mower so he’ll use our machine and, if need be, I’ll go buy a better one that at least is self propelled. I’ve mowed the grass for the last time this summer.

What summer Saturday is complete without a trip to Home Depot? I needed a gasoline-powered grass trimmer. I’ve got one that runs off electricity, but that’s very difficult to get out to the far reaches of the yard. Nina would also like some flower boxes on the back deck so we looked at those as well. I bought the weed-whacker and will assemble it on Monday. We’ve had dinner and there’s a nice, cool breeze coming through the house, and I’m going to sit here for at least another hour….

Our oldest grandson Christopher received his Eagle Scout rank at an Eagle Court of Honor on Saturday afternoon. This is quite an achievement. Of all the boys in the U.S. who start into scouting, only 1% stick with it long enough to achieve the rank of Eagle. It’s a lot of work for both the young man as well as his parents. That’s one of the reasons, I’m sure, why reaching an Eagle in scouting is an accomplishment that will have meaning for the rest of their lives. It opens doors that otherwise might stay closed and provides opportunity that otherwise might remain hidden.

Young men in the Church who earn their Eagle rank are overwhelmingly likely to fill an honorable mission, marry in the temple, and stay active in the Church the rest of their lives. Their sons are also much more likely to take scouting seriously and achieve Eagle themselves.

Nina and I drove down on Saturday morning taking my mom and dad with us. Dad had an eye appointment in Salt Lake City on the way down, so their going with us was quite convenient. The Court of Honor was at 4 in the afternoon followed by a turkey dinner back at the house. We then drove back to Pocatello and got home about 10:30 p.m. It was a long day but well worth the effort. Christopher, congratulations on a job well done.

There were two other young men who received their Eagle rank at the same court of honor. They are all three within a month of being the same age — they all have their birthdays in December. Sometimes working together along with a little healthy competition helps the young men keep moving along. All three of these young men finished up their requirements before their 14th birthday. It then took five months to get through all of the boards of review and get all the paperwork completed.

Meanwhile, I’m working at getting back into the Pocatello time zone. The jet lag turnaround can be quite difficult, particularly when coming back from Manila or Singapore. It’s about 7:45 p.m. and I’m really dragging! I was hoping with a good night’s sleep last night that I would finally turn the corner. Looks like it’ll take at least one more good night’s sleep.

The long day is finished. I started from Manila at 4:25 a.m. on Thursday, May 12th their time and ended in home in Pocatello on Thursday, May 12th at 6:25 p.m. That’s 28 hours from get up until I arrived in the house and put the suitcase down. I arrived, one suitcase arrived, but a small sportsbag that I also checked did not arrive. It should be on the flight coming in later this evening, but since I’m going to bed I told the airport people to deliver it tomorrow. There’s nothing in there I need tonight!. It’s time for bed!