The cold gives way to Chinook conditions.....

Blog for March 19, 2017

The cold gives way to Chinook conditions…..

Chinooks at this time of year are a mixed blessing; they are a welcome respite from the bitter cold but the melting conditions they bring also set up some problems. This week is a classic example of this; daytime melting brings wet slushy roads which have been previously treated with a mixture of sand and salt, thus the road spray coats everything with a yucky layer of grime. At night the freezing temperatures add a layer of frost to this grimy layer. Washing cars makes them look really good, unless, of course, one attempts to drive somewhere and the road spray covers the car all over again. The accompanying picture tells it all. You would never know this car had been washed a day or two before.  

Another problem presented by the thawing and freezing, unless there is continued sanding of the roads, freezing at night creates a treacherous layer of ice on the roads. The same is true of sidewalks. Yesterday morning I attempted to run the route I take during the summertime. I had hoped that the sidewalks and roadways would be sufficiently melted so that ice and snow wouldn’t be a problem. It was. I would run for a hundred feet or so and then have to stop and gingerly feel my way over a patch of ice. Oh well, consistent warmer weather is on the horizon (we hope). The street sweepers have begun the process of cleaning the roadways. Hopefully they know that Spring is nearing.

Friday was a very sad day for us. It was Elder and Sister Peppinger’s last day and now they are on their way home. Kathy and I wanted to send them on their way with a token of our appreciation so we prepared some bags of goodies for them to enjoy as they drive. We knew lots of well wishers would be stopping by so we decided to do something uniquely Canadian instead of a farewell cake; we bought variety boxes of Timbits. For the uninitiated, these are like donut holes and come in a variety of flavors and coatings. They are delicious and are sold in the “millions” of Tim Horton Restaurants which exist on nearly every corner of Canadian cities. They are even more plentiful than Starbucks in Canada. Anyway, we bought two boxes of 50 each, and despite the sign reading, “Limit 2”, they disappeared rather quickly. The attached picture is of a few of the moochers, including one Elder who has stitches over his left eyebrow, a souvenir acquired while showing a few wrestling holds to another missionary.

Elders Jones and Sondrup munching away. Elder Lee (left) saying, "Nope. I'm good."

Kathy will now move into the receptionist/mission secretary position in addition to her regular duties. I will also need to assist with her duties (as she has been with mine) by taking many more phone calls in addition to my regular duties (and phone calls). Our replacements are now in the pipeline but they won’t be arriving until late in June, which is 3-4 weeks after our time to leave. We offered to extend for a couple of weeks if they could come a couple of weeks earlier so they could get some training, but, since this won’t work for them, we will likely be leaving on May 30^th as planned.

Kathy and I went to see a movie last evening, “Arrivals”. I liked it but it was truly weird and hard to follow. Kathy liked it considerably less than I did, I might add.

Anyway, have a great week. This was admittedly a boring blog. The work is not boring but the blog is! There isn’t time to be bored with the work, not with missionary accidents (fewer now that the weather has improved), more than a dozen cars in various stages of repair, prepping older cars for sale, and the process of selling them. Kathy, too, will be scrambling to keep up with her additional duties.