The summer before my brother left on his mission, our family took another trip to upstate New York to visit Great-Grandma King. This is what I remember about that trip.
We flew in to Columbus, OH, and rented a car at the airport. I remember noticing that "Avis" (the car rental place) was an anagram of Visa. The parking lot had those spike things that hurt your tires if you go the wrong way; I remember stepping on them with David and figuring out how they worked.
The next day, we drove through Ohio and then through a little bit of Pennsylvania. We stopped at a gas station. At that time, I liked to proclaim the capital of the states I saw on license plates. It only applied to states that you weren't currently in, which meant that after we crossed the border into New York, I would no longer say "Albany" but then I could say "Harrisburg."
One day, we traveled to Palmyra. We saw the Joseph Smith house. We saw the new Palmyra temple, and I liked the stained glass patterned after the Sacred Grove. Susanne and I stayed in our hotel while our parents and David went to the temple. We went to the Sacred Grove the next day, but I didn't like it because there were too many mosquitoes. In the parking lot, I saw a van from Utah that had the first Harry Potter on the dashboard.
One of our first nights at Grandma King's house, maybe the
first, she had made spaghetti for dinner, and she knew that David and I
didn't eat red meat, so she made special sauce without meat for us.
One day, we went to a local store to get some clothes. I got a blue t-shirt and some athletic-type shorts that had buttons on the side. It was annoying, because the dressing rooms were locked and you had to have an employee open them. My mom always made me show her the clothes after I tried them on, so I had to keep coming out, while the employee was waiting for us to be done.
One day, we went up to Niagara Falls. I think this was the time I was really thirsty, so it was hard whenever we walked through the mist from the falls because that emphasized my thirst. We went in a gift shop, where I got a four-color pen modeled after the Canadian flag.
On that same Niagara Falls trip, we went to the Ripley's Believe It or Not museum. On our way there, we saw a man dressed all in gold. My mom expressed her disapproval of an exhibit of some canes, one of which was mildly inappropriate. At one point, they had a mirror to see if you could roll your tongue. My mom and brother told me that it was really one of those mirrors that is a window on the other side, so that people could laugh at you. But I didn't care and I rolled my tongue anyway. I even showed off a little, twisting my tongue upside down and folding it (some people call it a clover). But as I was walking away, I decided I didn't like the idea of people laughing at unsuspecting people, so I went back and scowled. Later in the museum, there was a hologram of a leprechaun. At the end of the museum was a walkway surrounded by a tunnel that moved. I liked standing there, but my dad said, "I've got to get out of here!"
One day, we went and saw some locks for ships. While we were there, a fellow tourist pointed out to me the nest where a mother bird was feeding her children. So then I pointed it out to my family. Every time the mother came, I would shout, "There she is," thus scaring her away. I was reproved for my yelling.
One evening at the pond, I was on the porch, trying to play my mix tape on the Walkman my brother handed down to me. But I couldn't figure out how to do something on it, so I went to David to ask him how to do it. He got mad at me for interrupting his study of Jesus the Christ, which I find ironic.
When we left Grandma King's, she and my mom were crying, and Grandma King made her trademark remark about her bladder being too close to her eyes. That was indeed the last time we saw her.
We went and saw some Church history sites in Ohio. There was another large Mormon family there that had a lot of kids. I think one family was from Virginia (or somewhere like it), and a single mom with a toddler was from Arizona. They were all riding in a big motor home, and they kept showing up at the same sites as we did. We went to the Kirtland Temple, where our guide was an RLDS missionary. They had a gift shop, and David bought a copy of the first hymnbook. We went to the N.K. Whitney store. Before our tour, we met in a room to learn about it. The toddler of the Arizona woman was fussing a little bit, and the volunteer who was talking said to her, "There's a toy in the lobby he can borrow," and then as an aside to explain herself, she said, "so that we can feel the Spirit." I found that inappropriate. We went to the room where the elders chewed tobacco, leading to the Word of Wisdom. Later we went to the Isaac Morley farm, and I really liked the feeling there. We saw the motor home family go to a fast-food restaurant, and my mom and Susanne were saying that they were surprised they would do that with such a big group; if they had such a big group, they would just make their own sandwiches.
We went to a cemetery where my mom's Ebbert grandparents were buried. My mom called her aunt Kaye to see if we could see her, but the aunt declined and suggested we eat at Hometown Buffet. We went to lunch at a fast food place, maybe Wendy's, and there was a little Snoopy in my kid's meal. Then we went to a commercial garden my mom had visited as a kid. We checked in at a hotel near the airport, and there was a swimming pool, but we had to get out because there was a thunderstorm. I had left something in the pool area, so a passing stranger/hotel guest opened the door to the pool, since we didn't have our key on us. That night, we caught the musical On the Town on TV and watched it. David said he thought the Simpsons spoof of "New York, New York" had a better flow, using a mild swear word instead of wonderful in the line "It's a wonderful town." (I just found at that's because the original used the swear word, but it was changed to wonderful for the movie version.) After taking a shower, Susanne was whistling in the bathroom, and Mom said she must have been happy.
The next day, we went to the airport and were informed that we couldn't get on our plane. We would have to wait twelve hours for another. So wait we did. We went to a Wendy's in the airport. I wanted a kid's meal to see if I would get another Snoopy toy, but that required waiting, since it wasn't lunch time, so I just got a breakfast item instead. My dad, however, waited so he could get a burger. David got a coffee straw for his orange juice and was fascinated that it had two tubes. We looked at the mini art gallery above our seating area, and I remember seeing two people making out. I read a book that my mom had brought, which was about a girl and a horse. The Columbus airport wasn't very interesting.
Finally we got on our plane. The benefit of having to wait was that we got to ride first class. As all the people in coach passed us to go to their seats, I wondered if they thought we were snobs. I think we had a layover in St. Paul/Minneapolis; at a gift shop there, they had gummy suckers with the Peanuts characters on them, and I wondered if it was because Charles Schulz was from Minnesota. Once we were on our flight again, the stewardesses came around to give us our drinks. In an immature manner, I said to Susanne, "Guess what I'm getting? Apple juice!" which was what I had gotten on all our flights. She also asked for apple juice, but there was some kind of problem, so we had to wait a minute, and I said, "Maybe I drank too much apple juice." We also got sandwiches. On the flight, I read from the first Harry Potter again. Then we got home.
I'm sure that I will remember more things after I post this. Like how on the last post, I forgot about the little fish I caught that swallowed the hook, so to get it off we had to rip its guts out.
Saturday, June 28, 2014
Sunday, June 15, 2014
New York, 1997
When I was eight years old, my family took a trip to visit my great-grandma in New York. In this post, I am going to remember what we did on that trip.
This was the first time I was old enough to remember going on a plane. Before we left, I had wanted to put some of my keychains on my backpack. My family told me not to, but I did anyway, and my Silly Putty keychain was one of them. When we were standing in line at the airport, a lady came up to us because she had found half of the Silly Putty egg and figured out it belonged to me. My family reprimanded me for putting keychains on my backpack even though they told me not to.
I think we had a layover in Atlanta, GA, and I remember standing on one of the subways in the airport. Back then, we still had meals on our flights, and they had a screen in front of all the seats on which they showed movies, instead of the screens on each individual seat. I know that one of the movies was Vegas Vacation and some other movie about a cat and a dog, but I can't remember if I watched them.
We flew into the Baltimore-Washington International Airport, which was abbreviated BWI. In my mind, I pronounced that as "Bwee," and for some reason I kept thinking "BWI Circus" instead of "BWI Airport."
We went to Washington, DC. We took an elevator to the top of the Washington Monument; the tour guide explained why people couldn't climb up to the top, and my mom said she thought it was because people had heart attacks. At the top, there was a little bookstore, and in it I saw a book about Washington's mother. The bookstore was closed, however. At one point, my mom and sister were saying they wanted a book about the presidents' wives, and I mentioned that I had seen one about Washington's mother.
We visited the Smithsonian. At one point, the boys in the family were going to go to a war exhibit while the girls were visiting an exhibit about the dresses of the first ladies. But since I had seen the war exhibit two years earlier, I wanted to go to the dress exhibit. But I felt really embarrassed in there, because it was all women visiting the exhibit. Afterward, David told me something cool they had seen in the war exhibit, and I regretted not going there.
We went to the museum with biological things, and when we saw a monkey skeleton, we recorded it with our video camera and said, "There's Jesse!" I wanted to visit an exhibit about amber, but it cost extra. I remember lots of homeless people, and someone was selling profane shirts outside the Smithsonian. One was a parody of the Budweiser frogs saying profanities.
Once we went to a little stand that sold ice cream novelties. I wanted one kind, but when my mom asked for it, the lady said they were out of them. That really annoyed my mom.
My souvenirs from DC were a little tiny dictionary, a little bag of shredded up money, and a keychain that was a word game. David got some posters about crazy laws and the Preamble in license plates, and an old newspaper. Susanne got a Rosie the Riveter poster.
We had rented a car in Baltimore. One evening, we went to a little grocery store called Save-A-Lot, which had a lot of off-brand groceries. We bought some little bags of chips.
The morning we left Baltimore, we stopped in a gas station. I wanted to get a Fruit Punch Gatorade, but my family made me get Lemon-Lime, because that wouldn't be as bad if it spilled in the rental car. I was annoyed that they thought I would spill it. My mom used the gas station's restroom, but it was not good at all, she said; it had a glass door. While drinking my Gatorade, I noticed little floaties, and that was the first time I heard the term backwash.
Then we went to New York to visit Grandma King, where my grandparents were also visiting. At that time, I was into going outside and playing by moving my body in weird fashions that my mom calls dancing, but I didn't consider it dancing. I was imagining how I would act in imaginary situations--usually fantasy, impossible situations.
I remember going to a restaurant called the Wigwam. David pointed out to me on the menu where it said "No Whining." On our way back from the restaurant, we were coming up Ebbert Drive, the lane to Grandma King's house, and my great aunt Mary Lou remarked that one of the bushes looked like a dog. I was glad that I wasn't the only one who thought that, because I had often been afraid there was a dog loose.
One night, Grandma King and Susanne were sitting watching Touched by an Angel. I remarked about a non-LDS person (Grandma King) watching an LDS show. That probably wasn't an appropriate thing to say. I thought Touched by an Angel was a Mormon show because we believe in angels; I'm not sure whether I knew it was filmed in Utah.
I think on our flight back, on one of our planes I had to sit by a man who just read his book the entire time with headphones in. The flight attendant had to tell him to put his table up.
When we got back, we stepped off the plane and could feel how hot it was in Utah. Walking down the tunnel from the plane, David met someone he knew from high school.
Strangely, I think I remember more about the trip I took when I was six than I remember this one.
This was the first time I was old enough to remember going on a plane. Before we left, I had wanted to put some of my keychains on my backpack. My family told me not to, but I did anyway, and my Silly Putty keychain was one of them. When we were standing in line at the airport, a lady came up to us because she had found half of the Silly Putty egg and figured out it belonged to me. My family reprimanded me for putting keychains on my backpack even though they told me not to.
I think we had a layover in Atlanta, GA, and I remember standing on one of the subways in the airport. Back then, we still had meals on our flights, and they had a screen in front of all the seats on which they showed movies, instead of the screens on each individual seat. I know that one of the movies was Vegas Vacation and some other movie about a cat and a dog, but I can't remember if I watched them.
We flew into the Baltimore-Washington International Airport, which was abbreviated BWI. In my mind, I pronounced that as "Bwee," and for some reason I kept thinking "BWI Circus" instead of "BWI Airport."
We went to Washington, DC. We took an elevator to the top of the Washington Monument; the tour guide explained why people couldn't climb up to the top, and my mom said she thought it was because people had heart attacks. At the top, there was a little bookstore, and in it I saw a book about Washington's mother. The bookstore was closed, however. At one point, my mom and sister were saying they wanted a book about the presidents' wives, and I mentioned that I had seen one about Washington's mother.
We visited the Smithsonian. At one point, the boys in the family were going to go to a war exhibit while the girls were visiting an exhibit about the dresses of the first ladies. But since I had seen the war exhibit two years earlier, I wanted to go to the dress exhibit. But I felt really embarrassed in there, because it was all women visiting the exhibit. Afterward, David told me something cool they had seen in the war exhibit, and I regretted not going there.
We went to the museum with biological things, and when we saw a monkey skeleton, we recorded it with our video camera and said, "There's Jesse!" I wanted to visit an exhibit about amber, but it cost extra. I remember lots of homeless people, and someone was selling profane shirts outside the Smithsonian. One was a parody of the Budweiser frogs saying profanities.
Once we went to a little stand that sold ice cream novelties. I wanted one kind, but when my mom asked for it, the lady said they were out of them. That really annoyed my mom.
My souvenirs from DC were a little tiny dictionary, a little bag of shredded up money, and a keychain that was a word game. David got some posters about crazy laws and the Preamble in license plates, and an old newspaper. Susanne got a Rosie the Riveter poster.
We had rented a car in Baltimore. One evening, we went to a little grocery store called Save-A-Lot, which had a lot of off-brand groceries. We bought some little bags of chips.
The morning we left Baltimore, we stopped in a gas station. I wanted to get a Fruit Punch Gatorade, but my family made me get Lemon-Lime, because that wouldn't be as bad if it spilled in the rental car. I was annoyed that they thought I would spill it. My mom used the gas station's restroom, but it was not good at all, she said; it had a glass door. While drinking my Gatorade, I noticed little floaties, and that was the first time I heard the term backwash.
Then we went to New York to visit Grandma King, where my grandparents were also visiting. At that time, I was into going outside and playing by moving my body in weird fashions that my mom calls dancing, but I didn't consider it dancing. I was imagining how I would act in imaginary situations--usually fantasy, impossible situations.
I remember going to a restaurant called the Wigwam. David pointed out to me on the menu where it said "No Whining." On our way back from the restaurant, we were coming up Ebbert Drive, the lane to Grandma King's house, and my great aunt Mary Lou remarked that one of the bushes looked like a dog. I was glad that I wasn't the only one who thought that, because I had often been afraid there was a dog loose.
One night, Grandma King and Susanne were sitting watching Touched by an Angel. I remarked about a non-LDS person (Grandma King) watching an LDS show. That probably wasn't an appropriate thing to say. I thought Touched by an Angel was a Mormon show because we believe in angels; I'm not sure whether I knew it was filmed in Utah.
I think on our flight back, on one of our planes I had to sit by a man who just read his book the entire time with headphones in. The flight attendant had to tell him to put his table up.
When we got back, we stepped off the plane and could feel how hot it was in Utah. Walking down the tunnel from the plane, David met someone he knew from high school.
Strangely, I think I remember more about the trip I took when I was six than I remember this one.
Sunday, June 8, 2014
Goathead plants
It's June, which means it's National Goathead Eradication Month! Which is something I just made up. Goathead plants are a despicable invasive species that pop bicycle tires, can draw blood from humans, and are an ingredient in cheap gas station aphrodisiacs. During the month of June, I feel it is my obligation to pull up any goathead plants I see. I have even gone on some walks to try to find some, but I haven't found any yet this year. Anyway, I'm going to remember times that I have come across them--but not times I have talked about them, because that would make this too long.
The first time I heard of them was in June 2008, in East Wenatchee, Washington, on my mission. We shared a car with the elders in the adjoining area, and we had our bikes on the bike rack when we met them. There was talk that my companion, Elder Bramall, had a "goathead" on his tire. I had never heard the term before, but one of them was pulled off the tire. I still didn't get why it was called a "goathead."
At some point, I got to examine one and see that it did look like the head of a goat. Over the course of that summer, I learned what a diabolical little plant they are.
One day, with my next companion, Elder Duncan, we were mowing a member's lawn. Near their dumpster, I found some goat heads, and I examined the plants. That was when I discovered how they work: little cute vines with sharp five-pointed stars, and the stars break up into five goatheads. I think I showed them to Elder Duncan.
The next summer, when I was in Lewiston, Idaho, I got more experience with them. On the southeast corner of the intersection of Grelle Avenue and 18th Street, there were a lot of them. Often when I would bike past, I would stop to pull them out of my tire. My last companion, Elder Tamblyn, often would do that, but at that point I had stopped caring because it was too much work. The slime in my tires did a good job of keeping my tire intact; in fact, the bike tire salesman didn't want me to get slime, saying the tubes he was selling me were good quality, but I knew I had to get it.
I had some shoes that had holes in the bottom. I discovered that I couldn't wear them in the rain, as my feet would get wet, but I thought it would be safe in dry weather. Until the day I stepped in a goathead patch.
One day, Elder Warren and I were tracting on Warner Avenue. There was a little park area, and we stopped there briefly. I was astounded at a giant patch I found there.
In fall 2009, we were teaching a girl named Barbie at the house of some members, the Larsons. Getting there required going past the intersection of Grelle and 18th. One day, Sister Larson's parents, the Hansens, came over, and they found something sharp in the carpet. They looked at it and said, "Oh, it's a little burr!" I was sure it was a goathead that we had tracked in.
During summer 2010, one morning I was walking to French class when I walked by a goathead plant. I was shocked and dismayed, because I didn't think we had them in Utah. I plucked it up and took it to class to show my classmates.
In June 2011, I was helping out at a stake service project along the Provo River Parkway. We were weeding, and I found a little goathead plant. I figured that of all the weeds we pulled, that one was more important to get rid of than any other.
When I would run along Bountiful Boulevard that fall, I would periodically see them. On September 30, 2011, my family took me to El Matador restaurant in Bountiful for my birthday. When Allie got out of the car, she was standing in a goathead patch next to the parking lot. I said, "Don't stand in those plants." She said, "Sorry," but I wasn't mad at her for standing in them; I just didn't want them to stick to her shoes. My mom told her that I hated the plants.
At my cousin Jesse's wedding in June 2012, I noticed there was one goathead vine growing in the vine at the venue. I pulled it up, but I left it there to wither and die.
On June 30 that year, I was walking home from taking a Book of Mormon test when I noticed one growing in the gap between the blocks in the sidewalk. I picked it and took it into my apartment to show my roommate Cameron. Then I think I cut up the seeds, since they were still green and penetrable.
On July 3, I was walking with Susanne and her family to the North Salt Lake fireworks. I saw some on Centennial Drive, so I briefly made an attempt at yanking them up.
On the Fourth of July, I was walking up 900 East with members of my ward to watch fireworks. I saw some, so I started pulling them up, and Michelle asked me what I was doing. I then explained how evil they were. Francisco asked if they were used for any purposes; I said they are used as an aphrodisiac, and Ellie laughed.
In July 2012, I went to the llama festival at the Hare Krishna temple. There were lots of goatheads there. I pulled one up to show my friends, but then I realized it probably wasn't good to have it near the temple, where everyone was barefoot.
In August 2012, my relatives had come over. We went to the house my sister wanted to buy, and on my way back up I pulled some that were growing along the street to show my cousins.
One evening in June 2013, I was running up 900 East, when I discovered some of them growing in a parking strip. I had to stop and pull them up. They were poking in my knees, but mostly because they were as hard as pebbles, not so much because they were sharp. I would pull a few handfuls, then run to Kiwanis park to throw them away, then go back and pick some more. Eventually, it was getting dark, so I stopped, and I took the remaining plants in my hand to throw in the fire at the ward bonfire.
One Saturday, I went on a walk to go pick the rest of them. I took a plastic bag with me so I wouldn't have to carry them in my hands. On my way, I met a pseudo-horse friend named Amberly, and I told her what I was doing. I found one little plant in a sidewalk crack on 900 East. Then I went to the patch I had found earlier, and pulled up all the goathead plants I could see. On my way back, I noticed that there were some by the shaved ice shack across from the Creamery. I stopped there and pulled some up. A toddler girl saw me so she came over and played in the rocks with me. I was pulling some from the parking strip when a woman walked by and said, "Oh, are those those pokey plants?" I kept the bag on my kitchen table until I could burn them.
The day came when there was another ward bonfire, so I went with my bag of goathead plants. Some people asked if I had brought treats. Once the fire got started, I threw them in; some people didn't know what goatheads were, but there were some people who did. Anyone who knows what they are agrees they are abominable plants.
Shortly after I had picked the plants was the day of the Church broadcast on missionary work. In walking home from that, I passed the place where I had picked the plants, and I was dismayed to see a few more growing. So I stopped and pulled them up, even though I was in Sunday clothes. Later in the summer, I was sad to see a lot more there, but it was no longer June, so I was no longer obligated to pull them up.
One day in September, I was walking home from running when I passed a lot of them on 820 N. They were huge. I pulled one vine that was at least three feet long and dragged it home. I can't remember whether I showed it to my roommate Jordan; I know I at least told him about it, and I threw it in the dumpster.
I have not yet seen any this year. But I want to so I can destroy them.
The first time I heard of them was in June 2008, in East Wenatchee, Washington, on my mission. We shared a car with the elders in the adjoining area, and we had our bikes on the bike rack when we met them. There was talk that my companion, Elder Bramall, had a "goathead" on his tire. I had never heard the term before, but one of them was pulled off the tire. I still didn't get why it was called a "goathead."
At some point, I got to examine one and see that it did look like the head of a goat. Over the course of that summer, I learned what a diabolical little plant they are.
One day, with my next companion, Elder Duncan, we were mowing a member's lawn. Near their dumpster, I found some goat heads, and I examined the plants. That was when I discovered how they work: little cute vines with sharp five-pointed stars, and the stars break up into five goatheads. I think I showed them to Elder Duncan.
The next summer, when I was in Lewiston, Idaho, I got more experience with them. On the southeast corner of the intersection of Grelle Avenue and 18th Street, there were a lot of them. Often when I would bike past, I would stop to pull them out of my tire. My last companion, Elder Tamblyn, often would do that, but at that point I had stopped caring because it was too much work. The slime in my tires did a good job of keeping my tire intact; in fact, the bike tire salesman didn't want me to get slime, saying the tubes he was selling me were good quality, but I knew I had to get it.
I had some shoes that had holes in the bottom. I discovered that I couldn't wear them in the rain, as my feet would get wet, but I thought it would be safe in dry weather. Until the day I stepped in a goathead patch.
One day, Elder Warren and I were tracting on Warner Avenue. There was a little park area, and we stopped there briefly. I was astounded at a giant patch I found there.
In fall 2009, we were teaching a girl named Barbie at the house of some members, the Larsons. Getting there required going past the intersection of Grelle and 18th. One day, Sister Larson's parents, the Hansens, came over, and they found something sharp in the carpet. They looked at it and said, "Oh, it's a little burr!" I was sure it was a goathead that we had tracked in.
During summer 2010, one morning I was walking to French class when I walked by a goathead plant. I was shocked and dismayed, because I didn't think we had them in Utah. I plucked it up and took it to class to show my classmates.
In June 2011, I was helping out at a stake service project along the Provo River Parkway. We were weeding, and I found a little goathead plant. I figured that of all the weeds we pulled, that one was more important to get rid of than any other.
When I would run along Bountiful Boulevard that fall, I would periodically see them. On September 30, 2011, my family took me to El Matador restaurant in Bountiful for my birthday. When Allie got out of the car, she was standing in a goathead patch next to the parking lot. I said, "Don't stand in those plants." She said, "Sorry," but I wasn't mad at her for standing in them; I just didn't want them to stick to her shoes. My mom told her that I hated the plants.
At my cousin Jesse's wedding in June 2012, I noticed there was one goathead vine growing in the vine at the venue. I pulled it up, but I left it there to wither and die.
On June 30 that year, I was walking home from taking a Book of Mormon test when I noticed one growing in the gap between the blocks in the sidewalk. I picked it and took it into my apartment to show my roommate Cameron. Then I think I cut up the seeds, since they were still green and penetrable.
On July 3, I was walking with Susanne and her family to the North Salt Lake fireworks. I saw some on Centennial Drive, so I briefly made an attempt at yanking them up.
On the Fourth of July, I was walking up 900 East with members of my ward to watch fireworks. I saw some, so I started pulling them up, and Michelle asked me what I was doing. I then explained how evil they were. Francisco asked if they were used for any purposes; I said they are used as an aphrodisiac, and Ellie laughed.
In July 2012, I went to the llama festival at the Hare Krishna temple. There were lots of goatheads there. I pulled one up to show my friends, but then I realized it probably wasn't good to have it near the temple, where everyone was barefoot.
In August 2012, my relatives had come over. We went to the house my sister wanted to buy, and on my way back up I pulled some that were growing along the street to show my cousins.
One evening in June 2013, I was running up 900 East, when I discovered some of them growing in a parking strip. I had to stop and pull them up. They were poking in my knees, but mostly because they were as hard as pebbles, not so much because they were sharp. I would pull a few handfuls, then run to Kiwanis park to throw them away, then go back and pick some more. Eventually, it was getting dark, so I stopped, and I took the remaining plants in my hand to throw in the fire at the ward bonfire.
One Saturday, I went on a walk to go pick the rest of them. I took a plastic bag with me so I wouldn't have to carry them in my hands. On my way, I met a pseudo-horse friend named Amberly, and I told her what I was doing. I found one little plant in a sidewalk crack on 900 East. Then I went to the patch I had found earlier, and pulled up all the goathead plants I could see. On my way back, I noticed that there were some by the shaved ice shack across from the Creamery. I stopped there and pulled some up. A toddler girl saw me so she came over and played in the rocks with me. I was pulling some from the parking strip when a woman walked by and said, "Oh, are those those pokey plants?" I kept the bag on my kitchen table until I could burn them.
Shortly after I had picked the plants was the day of the Church broadcast on missionary work. In walking home from that, I passed the place where I had picked the plants, and I was dismayed to see a few more growing. So I stopped and pulled them up, even though I was in Sunday clothes. Later in the summer, I was sad to see a lot more there, but it was no longer June, so I was no longer obligated to pull them up.
One day in September, I was walking home from running when I passed a lot of them on 820 N. They were huge. I pulled one vine that was at least three feet long and dragged it home. I can't remember whether I showed it to my roommate Jordan; I know I at least told him about it, and I threw it in the dumpster.
I have not yet seen any this year. But I want to so I can destroy them.
Sunday, June 1, 2014
July 1
In one month from today, it will be three days before the Fourth of July, so I'm going to remember what I can about July 1.
2013. We were in California. In the morning, Ya-ping pulled weeds/grass from her garden to feed to the animals at the little farm we were going to. When we got to the farm, we saw some butterflies dancing with each other in the air. We fed some cows, and one was so eager that he took a whole bunch of grass out of the plastic bag we had. There was an awkward moment where Preston was confused about the anatomy of a sheep. Eventually we left. At one point, Preston got a little baggy of goodies (I think from the library) for having read, among which was a giant inflatable ice cream cone. I remember sitting in the car, trying to get Franklin to say "play" instead of "fay"; he actually did pretty well with my coaching. That afternoon, we went to Target. The teenage girl with us bought some $5 movies. I wanted to get red, white, and blue Goldfish crackers and patriotic Pop-Tarts. My mom wanted popsicles; she got big strawberry ones and little red, white, and blue ones. At the checkout, I wanted fruit punch mints, and Preston asked my mom if I was paying with my own money. While my mom was at Little Caesar's getting pizza, my dad and I walked the boys home. The teenage girl said she'd never had Little Caesar's before.
2012. About three in the morning, my roommate's book fell of the dresser and woke me up, and then I noticed that my roommate Bryton was not in his bed. I went out in the living room and discovered that he was still awake, preparing a lesson for priesthood, he being the elders quorum president. The next day, he gave his patriotic lesson. After breaking my fast, I ate the patriotic cupcake my friend Kat had given me the day before. I made a post on this blog about a 1995 family vacation.
2011. I had to drive town to Southtowne mall to pick up my stuff for the Freedom Run. Then I drove home.
2010. Some of my classmates from French were having a cultural activity. In France, they often make a "Bûche de Noël" at Christmas, a cake that looks like a log, so I made a "Bûche du Quatre Juillet" with red, white, and blue sprinkles and red, white, and blue Tootsie Roll Pops. I drove to the house where it was being hosted by a married couple. They had an adorable baby, and I felt bad when I was watching her and she hit her head. The mom told me it was OK. The husband kept the Tootsie Roll Pop from his piece of cake, but other people just put them in the pan. When I got home, I put a note on the cake filling, Cool Whip mixed with pudding, saying anyone could have it.
2002. It was our last day in Iowa, visiting my cousin Tammy and her family. She let her kids watch a movie every Monday, so on this Monday morning three-year-old Adam was watching The Jungle Book. At one point, he said, "Oh no, Shere Khan is coming! My grandma thought he said, "Grandpa," so she said, "He's in the bathroom."
2001. I believe this was the Sunday in New York, where it was my second week in the Pulaski Ward, and Chancey and Jesse were with me in Sunday School. The teacher had us say something interesting, and I said that Chancey and Jesse were my cousins, and she said she wouldn't have known that otherwise.
1999. It's possible this was July 2, but I was with my parents and we drove in the Uintas. We passed our preferred campsite of Moosehorn, which was covered with snow. We went up to a lookout, where we looked down on the lake. I noticed the little boulder I had often gone to. I built a small snowman, and I made a joke that they must be called the Uintas because it sounds like "You wintah [winter]."
2013. We were in California. In the morning, Ya-ping pulled weeds/grass from her garden to feed to the animals at the little farm we were going to. When we got to the farm, we saw some butterflies dancing with each other in the air. We fed some cows, and one was so eager that he took a whole bunch of grass out of the plastic bag we had. There was an awkward moment where Preston was confused about the anatomy of a sheep. Eventually we left. At one point, Preston got a little baggy of goodies (I think from the library) for having read, among which was a giant inflatable ice cream cone. I remember sitting in the car, trying to get Franklin to say "play" instead of "fay"; he actually did pretty well with my coaching. That afternoon, we went to Target. The teenage girl with us bought some $5 movies. I wanted to get red, white, and blue Goldfish crackers and patriotic Pop-Tarts. My mom wanted popsicles; she got big strawberry ones and little red, white, and blue ones. At the checkout, I wanted fruit punch mints, and Preston asked my mom if I was paying with my own money. While my mom was at Little Caesar's getting pizza, my dad and I walked the boys home. The teenage girl said she'd never had Little Caesar's before.
2012. About three in the morning, my roommate's book fell of the dresser and woke me up, and then I noticed that my roommate Bryton was not in his bed. I went out in the living room and discovered that he was still awake, preparing a lesson for priesthood, he being the elders quorum president. The next day, he gave his patriotic lesson. After breaking my fast, I ate the patriotic cupcake my friend Kat had given me the day before. I made a post on this blog about a 1995 family vacation.
2011. I had to drive town to Southtowne mall to pick up my stuff for the Freedom Run. Then I drove home.
2010. Some of my classmates from French were having a cultural activity. In France, they often make a "Bûche de Noël" at Christmas, a cake that looks like a log, so I made a "Bûche du Quatre Juillet" with red, white, and blue sprinkles and red, white, and blue Tootsie Roll Pops. I drove to the house where it was being hosted by a married couple. They had an adorable baby, and I felt bad when I was watching her and she hit her head. The mom told me it was OK. The husband kept the Tootsie Roll Pop from his piece of cake, but other people just put them in the pan. When I got home, I put a note on the cake filling, Cool Whip mixed with pudding, saying anyone could have it.
2002. It was our last day in Iowa, visiting my cousin Tammy and her family. She let her kids watch a movie every Monday, so on this Monday morning three-year-old Adam was watching The Jungle Book. At one point, he said, "Oh no, Shere Khan is coming! My grandma thought he said, "Grandpa," so she said, "He's in the bathroom."
2001. I believe this was the Sunday in New York, where it was my second week in the Pulaski Ward, and Chancey and Jesse were with me in Sunday School. The teacher had us say something interesting, and I said that Chancey and Jesse were my cousins, and she said she wouldn't have known that otherwise.
1999. It's possible this was July 2, but I was with my parents and we drove in the Uintas. We passed our preferred campsite of Moosehorn, which was covered with snow. We went up to a lookout, where we looked down on the lake. I noticed the little boulder I had often gone to. I built a small snowman, and I made a joke that they must be called the Uintas because it sounds like "You wintah [winter]."
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