Steps, Pears, and Flowers, Sept. 17 - 22

Steps before

Sunday, September 16th

We didn’t help with lessons today but I did go into Primary the last hour and helped with the children and played for singing time.

After church, Rachel Petraitis mentioned that she had pears.  A box full in her car that Pres. Petraitis had brought home thinking she could can them.  But she had been ill and with a new born and a 2 year old I could tell she was overwhelmed by the thought and was hoping to just give them all away.

The thought came to me that I would have time this week to help so I offered to take them home and can them for her.  

It reminded me of the summer Sharee got married.  We were making preparations to travel to Utah both for their reception and to help them move in and get settled for school.  As the time got closer to leaving I became concerned with the volume of pears still ripening and knew I could not get them canned before we left and that they would be over ripe by our return.  
Jennifer and Jessica were not going with us as soccer practice had started.  I remember calling them as we were driving to let them know that they could feed the pears to the cows.  I heard this long pause on the other end and with a little disgust I heard "Mom! we know how to can pears.  We will do them, no worries."  I was so grateful for their willingness.  An amazing response from 16 year olds!  

Repairs underway

Monday, September 17

We spent the morning tracking down canning supplies, then headed to Lowe’s for boards and on to Wayland to Helen’s home. We called to let her know we were coming and spoke to Len (Leonard), her husband, who warned us that the momma cat had brought her babies and were hiding under the stairs.  Maybe we didn’t want to come for fear of disrupting the cats.  We went anyway. 

The kittens were 4-5 weeks old and active enough to be moved about so we coaxed them out and began to work.  I could tell that Leonard and Helen were a bit anxious about us working on things but Ray soon won Len over.  We reclaimed all the wood we could and were able to sure up the runners.  In the end we left them with safe & sturdy steps.  They really did look nice and she was simply thrilled.  We cleaned up our mess and put away tools we borrowed. 

Happy Helen

Finished

Our new friends, Helen & Leonard

We had borrowed a drill/driver set from President Petraitis and returned it.  I had struggled do find a canner so Rachel went looking again in her basement.  She came up with the rack that goes inside so I took it and determined to stop at Goodwill for the canner pot I had seen earlier that was missing the rack.  So in the end I had everything I needed.

 

In our element, 21 quarts total

Tuesday, September 18

Canning Pears

Day canning pears with Sister Julie Bond.  So sweet of her to help me.  

Love to look at these. 
Left them on the counter for several days.

Wednesday, September 19

It was nice to be back in the temple, if only to clean.  I soon found myself on hands and knees wiping the wood baseboards all around the entry.  They needed a little more than just a dusting so this took some time.  When I got to the recommend desk I decided the drawers and cupboards needed a good cleaning.  A brother had wiped them out but had not thrown out old stuff or cleaned off old labels and tape.  I called the assistant to the Matron to see what she wanted done.  She asked that the labels be removed and old magazines, extra pens & pencils, old documents, etc. be thrown out.  This took a while and I fear the brother who had done what he thought was needed felt badly.  I wasn’t sure how to handle this but kept at the task until all corners were clean and neat. 

Even then, we were finished before 11am and the sister organizing our efforts had run out of tasks.  I could see lots of things that needed to be done so I offered to polish the furniture.  She seemed grateful and I was soon waxing and shining the chairs and credenzas stored in closets and bathrooms.  The marble floors had been cleared to be polished.  I caught sight of a ‘buffer’ like the ones I used growing up but wasn't’ brave enough to see if I could still control one.  There was a day when I could direct it with just a few fingers.  But the last thing I wanted to do was ruin a wall in the temple. 

Ray worked on the baptistery rubber tiles used for draining water.  This consisted of pulling them up, taking them outside to be pressure washed, scrubbing the tile underneath them and then replacing them all.  This was quite time consuming and hard work.

The changing of the flowers.  It takes a bunch!

Others in the group dusted flowers and plants, rolled up carpet, removed furniture, cleaned out the cupboards in the office, etc.  All the while, the professionals were there shampooing carpet.  As well as the landscapers replacing the summer flowers with fall mums.  I’m telling you there were thousands of mum plants.  The carts full lined the whole length of the parking lot.  I was amazed.  They have not bloomed yet and I am anxious to see their full color.  Pansies were planted around the edges.

By the time we got home our mood and spirits had improved.  What a blessing is service and the temple.

The new look.  The blooms will be gorgeous on all those mums.

Friday, Sept. 21

Took a bike ride to the Sacred Grove.  Found this unique mushroom growing on, as expected, the north side of this tree. I think they are called "Turkey Tails"  (trametes versacolor)

It's not hard to see why

Nature's Best at the Sacred Grove

Saturday, Sept. 22

Back to the temple to help with final preparations.  We were asked to help laundering.   I did my usual folding of clothing and towels.  Then I noticed the closets in the locker rooms had been missed so I cleaned them out and straightened the things stored there. We finished around 1pm. 

Our good friends, Jerald & Kathy Tolman

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 These fine folks grew tomatoes this summer.  I was the happy recipient of several dozen.

And, yes, they are related to Holly.  :)