Weekly News From Third Street

Weekly News From Third Street February 8, 09

Since January our valley has had light rail. It is a beautiful train but not very fast. In addition to the train there are some beautiful new double long super buses that feed into the light rail. These buses cost $756,000 apiece. These super buses have the ability to hold a green light they are approaching and they only stop every mile. I took some of the grandchildren on a free ride during the holidays over to the airport. I think it would probably take one hour from Mesa by bus and train to get to the airport. Andrew took the bus and train to work this week.

I had a field trip to the new Tempe Arts Center on the lake this week. This is an amazingly beautiful structure on the river walk and not far from a light rail stop.

Leisel is dating regularly, perhaps even more that Ashley at this time. She may choose to share her experiences.

In Sacrament mtg this Sunday Cynthia Nuland played a piece on the piano. Most of you will remember Cynthia is a mildly downs syndrome girl who is Hiedi's age. She played two hymns with one finger only. While short on full piano ability she put feeling into the one finger hymns. We have two other downs syndrome boys in the ward Nathan Davidson and a Richardson boy. Nathan and Cynthia are approaching 40. I would be interested to know Rob and Hiedi's remembrances of Cynthia and Nathan from your earlier years.

Our second musical number was a hymn sung by a sister who sometimes takes leads on Broadway. She did not need the microphone. Thank heavens she does not sing in the ward choir. The rest of us would have to quit. She did a beautiful job and the contrast between the one fingered piano player and the opera singer was a study in our inclusiveness and acceptance in the church.

Since I have more time right now I signed up to go out with the missionaries if they need someone. If the Elders are teaching a single sister they have to have one other priesthood brother with them now.

We are grateful for our two new grandsons Roxwell and Charlie.

When one of Leisels dates came this week Berlin was sitting at the bar. As he shook hands with the adults she immediately put our her hand to be included. It was one of those you had to be there things to know the cutness of it all.

Dad

Trains & Grandsons

Occasionally a grandfather hits a home run. Sat. I took Sam, Jacob ,Layne, and Brik to and outdoor train museum in Chandler. Since I have always had a great interest in trains this was not a hard task for me. This museum has some 35 different train engines, cabooses, dinning cars, smoking cars, passenger cars, sleeping cars,and kitchen galleys. Possibly the best part about it there was no supervision and you could get hurt. Unlike today's rubberized playgrounds set up with soft ground cover we were climbing into, on top of, and through real trains. The little boys had to be helped up and down the ladders. The only thing we did not do was get on top and jump from car to car. Maybe next time.

Gramps

Singing Bus Driver

On a rare gloomy raining day in Arizona last week I decided it was time to try singing to my passengers. I warned them ahead of time that I was going to do it and as I tuned up my voice on the PA system I watched them intently through the passenger mirror.

I chose "The Silly Worm" song that adequately demonstrates my vocal range and it was only after I began singing that they seemed to believe that this was really happening. In their young lives I guess they had never experienced a bus driver herding a forty foot bus down the road at 45 mph driving with one hand while singing to his students. There are eight speakers mounted in the metal roof of the bus and the acoustical feedback was amazing. It seemed like I was singing in an opera house.

My first group in the afternoon are the 7th and 8th graders. They looked on with amazement and generously gave me a sitting ovation and asked for an encore when I finished.

My second group in the afternoon are junior high students. There were a group of girls sitting mid-bus that were particularly interesting to watch. The look on their faces changed from embarrassing disbelief to studied delight at a singing bus driver. One girl immediately called someone on her cell phone and held it up to share the event. This bus load was much more reserved in there reaction at the end like they were searching for the proper response to a singing bus driver. It might have been easier if I had put a can up front with a sign for "tips".

A surprising personal observance as I was singing I noted how often my voice sounded like my brother Jerry's. I almost wondered if he had dropped in to sing along. EB

Human Sexuality Class

Ashley has been taking a HS class this semester. The text book is very large, costs $90 new, and they change the book every few years. I told her that I don't think HS has changed much in the last six thousand years so I can't see why a new book is needed regularly.

Anyway this week the instructor showed some "ART/PORNOGRAPHY" as part of their education in this area. Before doing so he said that if this was going to be offensive to anyone they could leave. There were 100 students in the class. Ashley was sitting on the front row and she was the only one to get up and walk out while the instructor waited to start the show.

This reminded me of when Rob went to Las Vegas with his working team and Forest gave them all some money to gamble with. Rob was the only one who did not gamble.

Dad

Happy Birthday Rob

Dear Rob,

I hope you got the letter from Mom with $ to go get your favorite lemon pie. I thought I would review some of our thoughts 40 years ago as we recieved our first born son. We had been married for a year and a half before we got the conception thing to work. Apparently washing your cloths together was a misleading information. Elaine started out at 98 # and ended up at delivery at almost 150#. In those days the father was not allowed in the room during examination or delivery. I felt like telling the Doctor " Look I know how this happened and the end results why do I have to miss the best part". Anyway that was just the way it was in those days. As most babies you were not much to look at in the first few hours but that changed real soon and we were among the proudest of new parents at BYU. During the first week we took you out with us for a treat and I was feeding you little spoonfuls of ice cream which you took to right off.

Skipping 20 years ,and seven years after having our last child we got our suprise Ashley. No one told us you didn't have children after 44. Elaine told me the news on April Fools Day. How fortunate as grandparents in our sixties to still have a teenager in the house. Well that changes tomorrow. As her delivery approached it became apparent that she would be born on your birthday. I called your mission president to have him tell you and he said " I think you had better call and tell him yourself ". After not being able to concieve a child in the beginning to timing one to the day 20 years apart I think we showed real improvement.

Best Wishes on Your Birthday.

Love ,

Dad

Sweet Ellsworth to the rescue

Tonight after Elaine and I had left for the temple we could not remember if Berlin was asleep in the basement and we knew tha Leisel was at work. I tried to call Leisel but got no answer. The only person I could think of to call then was Ellsworth.

I asked him to go over and see if he could hear a baby crying in the basement but not to try to go down in the basement as there is no handrail.

He could not hear anything but not satisfied he decided he had to go down and look. The only way he could get down the stairs has to sit down on his seat and slide down, step by step. I'm not sure how he got back up. Anyway, he did not find Berlin as Leisel had her.

Regional Conference

Today we had one of those regional conferences broadcast from SLC. Pres. Packer was the concluding speaker. There are many stories of people meeting Pres. Parker in an airport or other places when he was less than warm and friendly. His remarks today were full of humor, stories from his past, and as warm as a beloved grandfather speaking to his children. He counseled us not to live in fear in these troubled times but to pay our tithing and follow the gospel principles.

He briefly talk about Satan coming to earth with is angels. He said that Satan's angels use the same wavelengths in communicating to us as Heavenly Father's angels do and so we must be very careful that we are not deceived by them. That is all he said on the matter. I drew my own conclusions that if any of our inspirations are going against known doctrine or the brethren then we must know it is not of God.

I found very little difference in the inspiration of a televised conference than if we where being taught from our own pulpits.

Love Dad