General Conference

Several years ago Gladys Knight brought her choir (One Voice) and her little instrumental ensemble on a tour of Northern California, performing in stake centers and inviting members to bring their friends (especially friends of color) to listen to music and to hear her and her husband's testimonies. I thought one of the most powerful stories she related was how her mother was the one who introduced her to the Church.

He mother was not a member, but had watched General Conference faithfully every time it was broadcast. And every six months she would call Gladys and say: "You've got to listen to these people. They really have good things to say." After a few of years of this, Gladys did start listening. By her account, she was moved by the Spirit, met with the missionaries (through a member friend) and was baptized.

In spite of Gladys' encouragement, her mother, citing health reasons, was never baptized. (Gladys took care of that after her death.) But the message has always been very clear to me. "Listen to what these people are saying. They have it right. It will benefit everyone."

I hope all of us will make whatever efforts need to be made to listen to all conference sessions this Saturday and Sunday, and then again and again afterward on our iPads, iPods, or however else we can. We may even have the same kind of conversion to a better way of living as Gladys Knight had.

The "Non-Baby Shower" Baby Shower

This past Saturday was a big day. We got up early to go with the youth in our ward to do baptisms at the Sacramento Temple (Melody is in the YW Prescy). The plan was to be done at 10am and have a brunch on the temple grounds, which are really very nice. Mel had spent the whole evening Friday baking muffins, pound cake, and cinnamon rolls. Everything went well and the food was great! (A couple of the youth were introduced to Nutella, and found a little slice of heaven.)

We took Grandma with us, so afterward we drove down to Elk Grove for James and Sabrina's Party (as described in the title). There were lots of friends and family - and lots of good food. It was pretty fun to see how many old students of mine from Barry School were there.

Anyway, as the time wore on, and my stomach became full, the effects of a busy week, early rising, and full morning overcame me, as shown below. Yes, we had a good time...

Slipping Away

Totally Gone

Project #361

A few years ago I attended a Preparedness Fair at the Camptonville Branch (which used to be in our stake). It was about the same as most of these kind of affairs, but there was a guy there who had made a solar cooker out of a used medium sized satellite dish (just larger than the one you see below) and covered it with 1"mirror tiles he had bought from craft stores throughout the Sacramento area. He has to go to every craft store in town to get enough (and it ended up costing him over $100), but the thing worked quite well. I watched him fry up some sausages while I stood there as quickly as on a regular stove top.

I couldn't get the thought of this "fire-less campfire" out of my mind, and when our stake clerk offered to give me an used small dish, I took it and started my project. You know how cheap I am, so I used some old 1' mirror tiles which I cut down into 1" squares. After gluing them on to the dish, I bought some 3/4" PVC pipe and connectors to make what you see below.

I haven't actually cooked anything on it yet, but a friend of mine stuck his hand out over it (near the focal point) and then pulled it back very quickly, saying "oh, that works!"

River Trip

I finally got out on the river with the repaired canoe. It wasn't as much fun as I had hoped, mostly because the Feather River is so slow moving as it passes Yuba City, it's like paddling across a lake. It took me way longer to get down the couple of miles I'd planned (and with almost no current, it was WAY too much work). Below is a pic of the landing where I got out at Boyd Pump boat ramp.

The real excitement was going over the little falls. I almost kept it upright, but the thing is so short and light, and unstable - well, it went over and tossed me out. I pulled it to shore and righted it, then went on my way. It really was the only thing that made the trip exciting.

But I took my sport-cam with me and filmed the whole trip. Below is a shortened version with all the high points (my dip in the drink included).

You may or may not think it's worth watching to the end. But here it is, warts and all.