Tag Archives: soda springs

Prisms and Glasses

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My mother had cataract surgery last month and needed to get her glasses prescription changed. We also take them once a month to the Temple so that mother doesn’t have to drive there. We decided to do this all at once. Her appointment with the eye doctor was on Tuesday, so I drove over to Soda Springs and brought them back here for that. She had her appointment with the eye doctor while I took dad shopping … to the usual places: Harbor Freight, Lowes, and Home Depot.

They spent the night here and Wednesday we drove to Idaho Falls to take them with us to the temple. After that, and some shopping at Sams Club, I drove them back home to Soda Springs, getting back to Pocatello in time for some dinner before going to the Performing Arts Center for the Idaho State Civic Symphony concert.

It was a couple of busy days, for sure. We had a lot of fun. Mother has been seeing double since her surgery and has to drive with one eye closed (!!). The optometrist told her that she would have been seeing double before the surgery, but because she wasn’t able to see through the cataract, she just didn’t know. Her new glasses will have prisms in them to correct her vision:

Q: I have double vision and would like to know how prism in glasses helps to cure this. Also, is there any way I can wear contacts to correct this? — Tina, Florida

A: A prism bends light. Prism in glasses can kind of fool your eyes into thinking they are working together without strain. Prism can also help with double vision by aligning the two images into one. I prescribe a lot of prism for my patients, with excellent results (allaboutvision.com).

The new glasses will come to her in the mail, so she won’t have to come once again to Pocatello with one eye shut….

Wednesday, as promised, was cold and windy. We never-the-less had a good drive to Idaho Falls and an enjoyable session in the Temple. We had lunch in the Temple cafeteria, which has to be one of the best Temple cafeterias in the Church. We did some shopping at Sams Club and came back to Pocatello.

Sometime this fall a Costco will open in Pocatello … a welcome addition to the sparse shopping in town. A couple of days after Costco made their official announcement, Dillards announced that they would be closing their store in the mall here in town, leaving about 75 people without a job. The new Costco will employ more than that, but the store has just started construction and won’t be open for several more months. We’ve had a Sams Club card for more than ten years but won’t be renewing it next time. Costco will now have our business.

Wednesday evening we went to the Idaho State Civic Symphony concert at the Performing Arts Center. The program included Four Norwegian Dances by Edward Grieg, Piano Concerto #1 by Chopin, and Beethovan’s Symphony #1. The guest artist for the piano concerto was Peter Frankl and his capability at the keyboard was definitely amazing. The orchestra sounded wonderful. It was definitely their best performance of the year. Next year features a new Music Director and we’ve bought our season tickets.

That brings me to today … a cold, windy, wet day. We’ve had occasional rain, occasional snow, lots of wind, and a high of about 44°. I’ve gotten caught up on most things, except for 331 unread emails. I’ve still got four bolts and one fairing piece to finish up on the motorcycle. Maybe tomorrow?

Hooper Springs, Soda Springs, Idaho

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While Perry’s family were in Soda Springs, we made a stop at Hooper Springs, a carbonated water spring just north of town. These are some pictures from this stop.

The photo gallery is a new feature in WordPress version 2.5. I’ve posted and deleted and posted this set of pictures working out how the gallery feature works. I still don’t have all the process understood, it seems. If you click on a picture, the text associated with the picture will show. Click again, and a full-sized picture will be displayed.

It’s Been a Busy Weekend!

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Sometimes the weekends are much busier than the rest of the preceding week. This weekend is certainly an example of that. It started on Saturday morning when I took our car in at 8:30 a.m. to have the front windshield replaced. The shop, Dave’s Tint & Glass, did a great job and I was out of there by 9:30. An interesting part of my time there was when an elderly fellow pulled up in a beat-up old pickup truck and came into the shop. The owner and his partner apparently knew him and got out a coffee mug for him and poured him a cup of coffee (they have coffee and donuts delivered to the shop every morning, even though neither of the partners drink coffee … it’s for their customers). They chatted with him while they were working on my car. One of them went to the fridge and pulled out a plastic sack and gave it to him. Then they showed him the pile of cardboard in the corner and helped him load it in his pickup. After he left, the owner Dave told me that the guy comes around a couple of times a week looking for cardboard, aluminum, and their empty glue cartridges. They thought he might not have a lot to eat, so they bring in some leftovers to give him when he comes around. This place has my business and my hearty recommendation for life. It was a real upper start to my weekend!

Then followed Peter Norda‘s funeral. The viewing was at 10 a.m. followed by a service at 11 a.m. More than 800 people attended the funeral and the service was very fitting. It isn’t often that a Federal Judge on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals speaks at your funeral! After the service the Ward Relief Society provided dinner to the family and about 250 people were there for the meal. We got home after the cleanup about 4:30 p.m. plenty tired. But, for Nina, the day wasn’t over yet, as she still was going to the County Jail to visit an inmate.

While she was gone, I worked on my Priesthood lesson for the next day and worked through the hymns that we would be singing in Church as well as at choir practice as I was substituting for the normal organist and accompanist. After resetting most of the clocks, I was off to bed for a fairly short night.

Today was Church in the morning (playing the organ for Sacrament Meeting, teaching in Priesthood meeting, playing for the choir practice). Then we drove over to Soda Springs this afternoon to spend some time with my mother and dad. We had dinner with them and drove back to Pocatello … passing at least a couple hundred deer on the way. Driving through Lava Hot Springs we passed three wrecked cars and three dead deer in the middle of the highway. All three drivers were talking on their cell phones (to their insurance companies?) as we made our way slowly past. We saw large herds of deer on both sides of the road much of the rest of the way home.

We’re home for the evening. We’ve a busy week ahead as we get ready to drive to Chandler, Arizona next week for some time with our daughter, son-in-law, and their three boys. We’re way excited!