Second to last midnight shift (in this string)

I went driving the other day after my midnight shift, as I felt pretty good, and was feeling cooped up.

I went up north to Wildhorse Reservoir, about an hour or so. It's funny, the only thing out there was snow capped hills, snowy valleys, ranches, and a few cars, er, I mean trucks. I was one of about three cars I saw. The rest were pickups. Felt like Tennessee, without the trees. Or clouds.

It was such a gorgeous drive. I can't wait to do it on my bike.

This picture is of Wildhorse Reservoir. It's a state park and it's frozen solid still in early March. A man in Morristown in our ward told Cindy it's his favorite place to fish. I believe it. I might even learn to catch trout just to have an excuse to go there.



When I went to see Jamee and her gang last week, we went to Red Robin (note to self: do not eat at Red Robin, any more. Every time you do, you get sick. Must be all the red meat.) They let the kids do their own ordering, which they are expert at. Brigham ordered the kid's corn dog and mandarin slices. Of course, we all got bottomless fries and ranch dip to go along.

Brigham is not afraid to try new things, so he dipped his mandarin slices in the ranch dip and, by George, it was right tasty. Ate every one of them like that.



The next day, at home, he wanted to show me what he could to with his tongue. At first, I commented "Hey! Good job! You can touch your nose with your tongue!" I showed him how I cannot even come close to doing that. He shook his head and said, "No, Boppa. You have to put your tongue IN your nose."

Oh.

Nope, can't do that, either.



****************

The other day, I was checking at the hotel desk on some business. I've gotten to know most of the staff by name, or at least name tag, and I'd noticed that Krystel had not been around for several days. I asked the girl, "Where's Krystel been?".

"Umm...she doesn't work here, any more?"

"Oh. Did...she..........quit....?"

"Umm....no. I'm not supposed to say anything."

"I understand. Ok, good night."

It got me thinking.

Krystel is about 21, married, and she helped me a lot in the beginning. I actually wrote a nice letter to her boss and the corporation about her. And they fired her. I don't know why. She also told me all about where to shoot and hunting regs and such, and that I could shoot coyotes and black tailed jack rabbits as much as I wanted since they are considered pests, vermin, and carriers of disease.

So...my thought was....how had this affected her and her husband? Certainly it affects their income, but what about their relationship? Then I started thinking about other people I'd met at work who'd confided some things in me, about others; people I'd worked with and their individual traits which make them who they are, their weaknesses and strengths; and so forth.

So I decided to do a little experiment. I wanted to see if I could make people happier by me being around them. What could I do to just make them smile or pick them up a bit.

I bought some chocolate and took it by the front desk and gave it to the young women working that afternoon. Boy, did that get them going. Erik was working last night, and I had gone to Walmart to pick up my daily ration of veggies and I also got some chocolate filled twinkies. I ate a couple and gave the rest of the box to Erik at the desk. You should have seen him.

"Twinkies?! For me? CHOCOLATE FILLED TWINKIES!? FOR ME! Oh, boy, I love twinkies and I love chocolate and i work out and all but I love these things and I am trying to gain some weight and these are gonna be really good cause i was wanting a snack and i have to work until late and boy thanks a lot, Mr. Boyd!"

So today is church and I'm trying out a new ward and nobody knows me and it's hard to just walk in and sit in the back and hope someone walks up to you and shakes your hand, but on the other hand, sort of hope they just leave you alone, too.

Maybe I should sit in the front? I like to bear my testimony and watch the bishop's face as this stranger walks up there and smiles. Having presided in sacrament meeting when a stranger comes up, I know how it feels:

"Oh. Who's this? What's he gonna say? Will I need to stop him? Will he need killin' afterwards, bless his heart?" but keep smiling the whole time, like you are glad this stranger is coming to say who knows what.

So I think I'll introduce myself and tease the bishop a little. Bishops are good that way.

Maybe I'll try and see if there is an institute class they will let me attend. I should also go out with the missionaries. After my last midnight tonight.