ON TO CHRISTMAS

I got the whole Thanksgiving Dinner done and over..hurrah!!! It seemed to be harder this year than years past, could be that I am getting older. I even had less people this year, only 38 and the average in past years has been 45. I had more help this year too. I got Dana and her family to take all the tablecloths and decorations up to the Community Center and set that up, what a great help that was. Hans helped on the day with some dish washing as I cooked and he sampled, tasted and told me what was needed in some of the dishes. He is a really good cook and I love working in the kitchen with him. Everyone raved over my creamed corn this year. I think it was that good Colorado corn that I got and put in the freezer. It was so sweet everyone thought I had put sugar in it, which I hadn't. Colleen and Jeri did most of the clean-up and washing up, which was wonderful because by that time I was done in. Holding with past years we put everything in the fridge and went home to come back on friday and heat it all up and lots came back for leftovers. Got fridays mess cleaned up and still left everything there. Hans and Shawntell went up on saturday and brought all the my round tables, decorations, crock pots, utensils, etc. home and put away. That was a feat in itself and one that was much appreciated. Saturday was a complete vege out day for me!!!!!

Now it is time to get on with Christmas. Julie Newberry and I will shop for the school kids on the 2nd and hopefully get that all wrapped over that weekend. I have sent in the list to Help of Southern Nevada for toys, bikes and groceries for families that need help this year. Phill and I will go to Vegas and get that all picked up around the 17th. Then the real work will start with sorting all the canned goods and getting the boxes made up for the families. I have a list of about 32 families for this year. Some of the families are in Primm so that will involve getting them out there. The boxes for here in Goodsprings I can have most of the people come to the Community Center and pick up. I still have my own family to shop for of course and will do that when I find the time.

I need to make some Christmas candy before I get to busy. I want to make some cream candy, pecan roll, fudge and caramels. Hope the weather stays cold and dry as that is best for candymaking.

Oh yes, I forgot we are having Community Christmas get together at the CC, which is something else I have to organize. We will sing carols, have cookies, hot cocoa and spiced cider and just have a good time.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and you are all getting in good shape for Christmas!!!

IT"S FRIDAY

Okay it is less than a week to Thanksgiving, gotta get cracking! I can't believe how fast this year has gone, seems like a couple of months ago I was planning and cooking last years Thanksgiving dinner. I must be getting old, can't seem to keep up like I used to.

Haven't accomplished as much as I wanted today. I still get to crawl around in the storage closet and get out all the Thanksgiving decor, still have to iron all the tablecloths. I do have the menu planned and organized,so I know when I need to do what.

We are going down the hill to the casino tonight to have dinner with Doris & Dick. They finally arrived yesterday afternoon from Florida. It doesn't seem like time for them to get here yet but it is. Can't wait to see them and have them here for 4 months. We have a standing dinner every friday while they are in town and look forward to it all week.

Hope everyone is healthy & happy, talk to you later.

HALF THE WEEK IS GONE....LOL

Well it is wednesday and half the week is gone and I haven't done much but vegetate after the big weekend..so this morning I got busy..I've got 4 dozen rolls in the freezer, 2 loads of laundry done and folded, beds made and another boiled raisin cake made (Phill didn't get enough at the party cause he had to share). It is only quarter of 12 and now I am spent so guess I'll just putter the rest of the day.

We went to town last night with Hans and his family. We just needed to run by the bank, grocery store and grabbed a burger at In-n-Out. I picked up a few things for thanksgiving dinner..Smith's had some great looking yams so got 25 pounds of those..last year I had the dickens of a time trying to find yams at a decent price..last year they wanted $2 a lb. so I grabbed them last night at $1 a lb..that is way too high but better than last year. Also got some cranberries, last year I had to go to several stores before I could find any..these stores just don't stock up fresh items for the holiday anymore..guess most people just buy already prepared or go out to eat..yuck..years ago when we weren't having any children for Thanksgiving dinner Liz conned us into going out to dinner with her and Claude..big, big mistake..we had the worst dinner and we've always vowed never again..there is nothing better than a big ol' home cooked turkey dinner!!!

Well better find something to putter around with and get this cake iced.

Recipe for Gram's Boiled Raisin Cake

So many requested copies of this recipe at Phill's party, thought I would post it on here.

BOILED RAISIN CAKE

1 LB. RAISINS
3 tsp CINNAMON
2 tsp ALLSPICE
1 tsp CLOVES
3 CUPS SUGAR
3 CUPS WATER
1 CUP CRISCO/BUTTER
4 CUPS SIFTED FLOUR
1 tsp SALT
1 tsp SODA
2 tsp BAKING POWDER
1 CUP CHOPPED NUTS (OPT)

PLACE RAISINS, SPICES, SUGAR, CRISCO/BUTTER AND WATER IN SAUCEPAN AND BOIL TOGETHER FOR APPROX. 5 MINUTES..COOL..IN LARGE BOWL ADD SIFTED FLOUR, SODA, SALT AND BAKING POWDER..SIFT ALL TOGETHER..ADD IN THE COOLED RAISIN MIXTURE AND ADD NUTS..MIX WELL..DON'T OVER BEAT..PUT IN FLOURED, GREASED 9x13 PAN OR 2 ROUND CAKE PANS..BAKE FOR 1 HOUR AT 350 DEGREES.

NANNIE'S CARAMEL FROSTING
1/2 CUP BUTTER
1 CUP DARK BROWN SUGAR
1/4 tsp SALT
1/4 CUP MILK OR 1/2 & 1/2
2 CUPS ICING SUGAR

MELT BUTTER IN A SAUCEPAN OVER LOW HEAT. STIR IN BROWN SUGAR AND SALT. BRING TO A BOIL OVER MEDIUM HEAT; BOIL HARD 2 MINUTES, STIRRING CONTANTLY. REMOVE FROM HEAT. STIR IN MILK. RETURN PAN TO HEAT; BRING TO A FULL BOIL. REMOVE FROM HEAT; COOL TO LUKEWARM. STIR IN ICING SUGAR AND BEAT UNTIL SMOOTH. IF FROSTING IS TOO THICK, BEAT IN A LITTLE MILK.

THIS IS PHILL'S MOTHERS CAKE RECIPE AND MY MOTHER'S ICING RECIPE AND THEY GO GOOD TOGETHER. GUARANTEED TO BE A CROWD PLEASER!!!!

WE ARE STILL ALIVE AND KICKING!!!!!

Well after seeing some other family member's blogs, I thought I better get to blogging again..Where to start.

So much has happened since I last posted I'll just hit some of the hightlights of the last year.

We had a wonderful Christmas with all of us going to David's in Pahrump. We had a greaaaat Easter fishing at Sunnyside. All of Mark's family and all of Hans' family along with Phill and I. We had snow, rain, wind and sun, but most of all we had a blast..There is nothing better than a camping trip with your kids, grandkids and great grandkids..Popo and Gramma are truly blessed!!!

I did get a garden in of sorts with the help of Hans and Mark. It did terrible this year..Why, I have know idea. I ended up buying 2 lugs of blueberries and made jam, 40 dozen ears of corn and put it in the freezer and a bushel of green beans which I canned. I got 10 pints and 22 quarts of green beans. I have yet to pull my beets and pickle them, which is a project for this week. We had tomatoes to eat but not enough to can, which is a great disappointment..I have always tried to can around 100 quarts of tomatoes every year. Our home canned foods are going to be skimpy this year.

In May I had to move Lulu into our home, as she was not able to take care of herself anymore. That worked okay for awhile and then she got so she wouldn't go outside and walk. She stopped eating and that started a real decline. On 9/28/10 it seemed like she might have had a stroke so called 911 and had her taken to the hospital. Yes she did have a stroke, but they discovered also that she was full of cancer. The doctor said she had to have had it for 3-4 years to be spread thoughout her the way it was. I had to put her in a Hospice center and on 10/10/10 she passed away. She would have been 85 on 12/27/10. After 40 years of friendship and looking after her it has left a great hole in our lives. She was cremated and we will place her ashes in the Goodsprings Cemetery.

September was a bad month!! I took my neighbor and friend Pat Cash in to the hospital on the 18th and she died in the car on the way to town. Pat was a member of the branch and had lived here in Goodsprings a couple of years longer than us. She had a son Matthew that was Ronnie's age and they were great friends growing up. I had to contact Matthew in Germany and break the news and then I helped him with memorial service and cleaning out the house. Pat so enjoyed our monthly dinners that we have here in Goodsprings and we will miss her alot.

Other than 4 or 5 parties this summer it has been very quiet around here. We did go to Ralph and Linda's mission report in Cedar City and that was fun. We got to see lots of family and that is always a good thing.

Phill had his 80th birthday on friday November 12 and we celebrated with a big bang-up party on saturday the 13th. Some family and friends chipped in and got him a flat screen TV, which he is really enjoying. Lots of family came: Ralph & Linda, Joanie, Debbie, Earl & Annie, Doug & Nettie, Davey & Danessa, Naomi, Airdree, David & Belinda, Hunter, Heath & Christi, Crista, Junior, Lacie, Lori, Remi, Asia, Hans & Shawntell, Carley, Mark & Terry and lot of friends. First Phill went for a glider ride in the afternoon and then we had his party up at the Community Center. Counting Phill and I there were 64 party goers..Phill said he didn't think he knew 62 people and was pleased as punch that so many showed up. I fix a baked potato and salad bar and that seemed to go over good. We had birthday cake without ice cream and I also made Phill a boiled raisin cake..Of course after spending $30 on ice cream I forgot to take it up to the center..DUH..What a fun time we had and how blessed we are for such wonderful family and friends!!!

Now it is time to get my Thanksgiving dinner together. This will be the 4th year I have cooked dinner and served it at the Community Center for anyone in Goodsprings who wants to come. We have averaged around 44 people every year, so am planning on the same again this year. I'll cook 3 turkeys, 1 of them I am going to smoke and not have a ham this year. I usually make the rolls ahead and freeze them, which I should have started doing today and didn't. It takes about 10 dozen every year. My menu this year is: turkey, stuffing (Grams recipe), mashed potatoes & gravy, candied yams, green beans, red cabbage, corn pudding, frog eye salad, strawberry pretzel salad, relish tray, rolls, pumpkin pies, lemon merinque pies, pecan pies, mincemeat pie and boiled raisin cake. Sounds yummy doesn't it!!! You better come to Goodsprings for a truly homemade dinner, I make everything from scratch.

I don't do black friday, so can relax and vegetate the day after all the cooking. I will be up and running on monday the 29th as Julie Newberry and I will go shopping for all the school kids and preschoolers in Goodsprings for our annual Christmas program at the school and where Santa will give each child a present..This tradition was started around 1906 here in Goodsprings and we have kept it going all these years.

Guess that somewhat brings us up to date..I will try and keep this going once again.

Phill is doing good healthwise, we just take it day by day. Heavenly Father has blessed us in so many ways!!!

GOODSPRINGS TAXI IN SERVICE

Well not really, but I am beginning to feel like I have a taxi service. I always take Lulu to town once or twice a week and lately I seem to have lots of takers. It has been almost a month since I updated this..can't believe it's been that long.

Going back a few weeks..I did take Romie to town to get assistance at Help of Southern Nevada and they gave her $160 in vouchers to Smith's. They also signed her up for food stamps. That should have been the end..right..no..She called the next week and asked me to take her into welfare office and I did. School was out that day so she had to take Daniel with her. He's six and was very good..Phill thought he was a little loud and talked too much..Don't know how he came to that conclusion aftering living with Hans all these years, he holds the record for talking all the time. I thought okay I have her set up..no..no..she called this morning and off to the welfare office and the grocery store again..I got smart and took Lulu so I would only have to make 1 trip this week..keeping my fingers crossed.

Last week I had to go to town everyday. Pat, one of my neighbors, had her drivers license suspended due to the fact that she couldn't pass the eye test. She is 73. So took her to eye doctor, then next day to specialist and he got glasses on her that day..the next took her to DMV and they said she still did not meet the minimum requirements..had to go back to specialist..he changed her paperwork..back to DMV to make appointment for drive test..next day went for the drive test and they decided she didn't have to take it..Finally got her license..Oh no, lost 1 taxi passenger..thank goodness. By saturday all I could do was vege out, and I do that so well.

Garden is coming along. I ordered new walls of water this year..only they are now called Kozy Koats and they are red instead of clear plastic. I researched them and found the best price at GardenHarvestSupply.com, also got some heirloom tomato seeds. I have them started and they are up. I have lots of tomatoes, watermelon, cantaloupe, squash, cabbage plants started and up, some of the tomatoes are about 6 inches tall. My peppers didn't germinate, I'll have to start them again. I still haven't got anything planted outside yet. The boys are still working on both garden spots. Yesterday Mark too the bobcat and dug up 1 spot that has been so rocky and screened all the dirt and put it back. He also mixed in some of the red sand from the Goodsprings Quarry. It is supposed to help hold the moisture, and it it does work well as I have used it in other places. Tomorrow they will spread the manure I got, well 15 bags, on that spot and I will plant my peas out there. I want to plant corn there later so thought the peas would help put some nitrogen back in the soil. I had corn there 2 years ago and I'm sure it needs some nitrogen.

I am going to have Mark dig my fish pond bigger..the little buggers keep multiplying and the lily just takes over. I have to cut it back a couple of times every year. I'll take the fish (19 of them) out and the lily and he can use the backhoe, so it won't be back breaking work. That will come when he and Hans cement the inside.

Yesterday was big doings in Goodsprings. Carley had her 1st birthday party. Hans baked cupcakes (they passed muster) and grilled hotdogs, bratwurst, polish sausages and hot italian sausage. I made potato salad, baked beans and deviled eggs. We had about 35 show up and the weather was coolish but sunny and nice. She really got into opening the presents and she got a bunch of clothes and toys. She was so cute when she would open up another doll she would always kiss it. She is very stingy with her kisses with people but dolls and dogs always get one. Yes, she had her own little cupcake and managed to get it all over herself. She had to change outfits in the middle of the party no less.

We are planning our annual Easter family fishing trip. When most families are buying Easter finery, we are out buying fishing lures. Our bonnets are fishing hats. We will go up to Sunnyside, hope some of the Utah bunch will come over and camp with us. Hans said he is going to meet Caitlin and Tyler in Ely and bring them down for a few day. Phill and I hope to leave here on the 30th of March and come back on the 6th of April. Hope it is warmer this year than it was last year. Of course we have fun no matter what the weather.

Well folks, I am done rambling for the night, more later. Take care.

Ruthie and Phill

MORE RAIN

Well, I better get with the program and keep up with this blog. I was under the weather for almost a week. The dreaded VERTIGO!! Woke up to everything spinning and it continued for almost a week. I was lucky that Dana was in town and picked me up some meclizine. It helps but takes it sweet time. Now I have been having high blood pressure ever since. Went on lots of herbs and vitamin supplements as well as green tea. I have it down but not enough. I may have to break down and go to the doctor. I try to stay as far away from them as possible. My grandmother always said if you go to the doctor often enough he'll kill you.

We have been having so much rain, not much snow. We also have had hail, sleet and an electrical storm. A couple of days ago I got after Hans for his loud music next door and just as I hung up the phone, what a noise. It was thunder but I had immediately reached for the phone to call him back and yell. Phill laughed at me because I had jumped 3 feet. We don't have many electrical storms and especially not in the winter.

I got my tomato seeds started and they are up. I have them in the kitchen window. I want Hans to till the garden on Monday so I can plant peas, beets, spinach, radishes and cabbage. I have to go into town tomorrow so will pick up about 50 bags of steer manure to spread over the garden. I couldn't find any last year and bought bags of mulch and that did not work as well. My garden last year did not do that good. We have complained all winter that we didn't have enough tomatoes to put up to last the winter. This year they better do good!!! I need to make juice, stewed tomatoes, chili sauce and salsa. Also need more beets to pickle. I need to get peppers, cukes, cantaloupe and watermelon seeds started in the next few days. Of course I need to find the time to get them started.

I took a truckload over to Sandy Valley for the food share today, then took a load of things to town for a guy who is moving to Vegas. The teacher called this morning and said one of the parents sent a note with her child saying she needed help as they had no food in the house. I talked to her and will take her into Vegas to Help of So. Nevada to sign up for assistance. I called them and they said they could give her some vouchers for Smith's until she can get food stamps going. I have to pick her up in Primm tomorrow at 8 am. so need to leave here about 7:30 am. Hope we don't have too long of a wait as I have another meeting in Vegas at 6 pm, so will have to get her back to Primm and get us back to town before 6. I hate having to drive to Vegas more than once aday.

Phill went to the kidney doctor a week ago and everything looks great. His kidney function has improve another 2 points. Guess the Zemplar is working good. It may be expensive, but it is worth it. Of course his sugar is always out of control. The nurse was here today and said he just has to cut back on salt and sugar. I hope he will listen to her because he sure doesn't listen to me.

Emily Joy got her little boy yesterday. They named him Gery Jacob. I know Gery is smiling down at him. I hope we get to see him before he is grown as they are in Penn. now.

Hope everyone is healthy and happy...Ruthie and Phill

THE RAIN IS OVER....FINALLY

Well we had the rain..all week..the first couple of days is was nice..then it became dreary..We really needed the moisture so shouldn't complain..We have prediction for more rain this week on tuesday or wednesday and then again on saturday..When you live in the desert RAIN is big news. On thursday it not only rained but we had snow,sleet, hail and of course the rain. It was 38 degrees at 3 pm and 35 at 3:20 pm then at 7 pm it was 40 degrees, just couldn't make up its mind. The mountains all around us are glorious, lots of snow. I love looking at it and not having to deal with it.

Last week went good and I got everything done that I needed to do. The big things were CDAC and making sure the agenda for town board was sent to the county webmaster and then posted on time. I really don't have to worry because our secretary is great, but always feel I need to stay on top of things.

Yesterday I made ravioli..Phill helped by turning the handle on the pasta machine roller..which is alot of help, because the dough gets so long and thin that it is hard to roll and catch at the same time. I made cheese and spinach ravioli. Just dressed it with a tomato sugo..fixed spinach salad and garlic bread. Hans and Shawntell shared in the bounty. The ravioli are easy to make just time consuming. I don't have a ravioli press so I just go around them with the tines of a fork. Here is the recipe if you want to give it a try.

1 cup all purpose flour 1 cup semolina flour
3 eggs,beaten 1 tsp olive oil
2 tblsp water

I put it all in a food processor (kitchenaid would be better but with this small amount of flour it doesn't work well) and pulse until it forms a ball. If it is too sticky add a little flour and if too dry add water 1 teaspoon at a time. Turn out and knead for about 5-10 minutes. Wrap in plastic wrap and let stand for at least 30 minutes. This lets the gluten relax. Cut in 4 pieces, working with 1 piece at a time (keep the others wrapped) run thru pasta roller starting with the largest setting, fold in half and run thru again, do this a total of 6 times. Now reduce setting to next notch and run thru, keep running thru until you only have the smallest setting (1) left. Dough should be thin enough to see you hand thru, about as thick as a dime. You can roll out by hand but it takes forever. When dough is thin enough, spread out on board or marble and add filling, put a large teaspoonful about every 1 1/2 inches. Now take egg wash and brush around all edges, thru the middle, and between filling dollops. Fold in half over the filling, press out the air, take finger and press between filling, cut apart with a pastry wheel, now seal all the edges on each one with a fork.

I made up my own recipe for the filling it should be made before the dough and put in fridge until your ready. Here is the recipe:

1 medium onion, finely chopped 3 cloves garlic, finely minced
1/2 sm. container of cottage cheese 1 1/2 cups italian 4 cheese blend
1 egg, beaten about 6 oz of fresh spinach,
salt and pepper
Saute onion and garlic in small amount of olive oil until transluscent, don't brown it. Chop the spinach and put in with the onions and let it wilt down. Take off heat add rest of ingredients. Mix well and store in fridge until needed.

The 4 cheese blend I buy is provolone, parmesan, romano & asiago. You could use just parmesan, I used the 4 blend because I had it on hand. Just remember when you buy parmesan at the grocery it is in the cheese case and not in a green cyclinder in the pasta aisle.

Phill has done great this week. They did call and tell him to lay off the salt. That is an unreasonable request according to him. I keep after him but it does no good.

We had a visit from Keanu Frost this afternoon. It was great to see her. She is such a young lady and so beautiful. Where do the years go, seems like yesterday she was a little kid. She is leaving thursday night for Kona, to see her family and for Rainier's farewell. He is leaving first part of Feb. on his mission to Africa. I know Angela and Ken are excited that everyone is going to be there.

Well better get ready, going to dinner with Doris and Dick tonight. Take care everyone..Ruthie and Phill

IT'S BEEN A QUIET WEEK

It has been a quiet week and I was ready for it. Phill finally became theraputic so went off the fragmin shots finally. He has been on fragmin since 12/16. Don't know why he has so much trouble with his INR. They called yesterday and said he could stop and just take the coumadin. The home health nurse was here wednesday to draw his blood and bring all the monitoring equipment they have for him. We now have a base unit that hooks up to our phone line, it then transmits his weight, blood pressure, pulse and oxygen reading into town everyday. There is a remote scale, blood pressure cuff and O2 sensor, they can be placed anywhere within 50 feet of the base unit. I didn't know they had such equipment, kinda neat! This is because of his diagnosis of congestive heart failure. They can adjust his doses of lasix if things change too much.

We had lots of rain on tuesday and have prediction of more this week coming up. Hope we don't get any more snow. It is nice a couple of times a year but that's enough.

I ended up canceling going in to the guardianship class wednesday, just didn't feel like it. I tried to get a cold, but took lots of Vit. C and knocked it out quick.

Went in to town thursday to townhall meeting with commissioner, interesting, but too many people with their own agenda. We need to figure out county budget, but everyone just thinks of their own needs and not the population as a whole. Guess that is human nature.

Lazed around all day and then went out to dinner with Doris and Dick. We sure enjoy their company all winter while they are here. Middle of march will be here before we know it and they will be on their way back to Florida.

Liz and I have been trying to get some help with keeping NV Energy from building a power plant about 2 miles from town. They are going to capture gases from the Kern River pipeline pumping station to generate 6KW of power. It will be an unmanned site and they will have some very dangerous chemicals stored there. If they should have an explosion it would blow cars off the highway 161 coming from Jean to Goodsprings. BLM seems to think it is all okay. We are having trouble getting correct stats and the support of Clark County. Maybe we are just 2 crazy old ladies who don't want any changes as was stated in the Las Vegas Review Journal a year ago. We don't think so, but we sure have trouble getting people to see things our way. Of course over the years we've won lots of battles of this sort, so will just have to wait and see. We are really afraid that they have bigger plans down the road as they are putting in 148 fiber optic lines. UNLV only uses 1 fiber optic line for the whole university system, now why would they need that many lines???

Next weeks calendar is fully penciled in so guess I'll be busy. Everyone take care and let us hear from you. Ruthie and Phill

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

Well, I fell down on the job with this blog, I was so busy before Christmas that after all the hub bub I became a slugbug. We had a wonderful time at David's. It is so much more fun when you have little Santa believers around the tree. I am sure we filled the landfill in Pahrump with wrapping paper, ribbon and boxes. Of course Carley (9 months) enjoyed all the paper and boxes and was not happy when they were taken away. Everyone arrived by 6:30 on the eve before and we all enjoyed corn chowder made by Mark and Belinda. We played games and visited until the wee hours and then slept for a couple of hours before the kids got up and chaos reigned.

We did not have the traditional meal but instead Belinda's dad did 15 pounds of carne asada and we fixed all the trimmings. Phill was pretty much down all the time or else he would have stood over the shrimp and cocktail sauce and the rest of us would have done without. I did give him a few. We left about 3 pm. Christmas day so I could get us home before dark. I don't like driving up over that mountain in the dark. Mark stayed all week so he could have lots of time with his grandchildren. I guess they all had a ball.

I am trying to get things done so I can move Lulu in here with us. She is getting pretty bad with some dementia. I have her coming here to the house twice a day for her medicine. She gets confused and doesn't remember if she has taken it or not, so she takes it again. Before I took it away from her she took 7 days worth of doses in 4 days. One day she wants to move back to Canada, the next day she wants to move to California with her son, the next day she begs me not to let anyone take her from Goodsprings. It is sad as she has always been so active. Her 18 year old cat had to be put down a couple of weeks ago and that threw her for a loop. I am going to a guardianship class on wednesday to find out all the pitfalls, etc.

We learned last week that the daughter of some friends, Cindy and Russell Greathouse, was killed in Delta. Josie was a deputy with the Millard County Sheriff and she was gunned down by 2 guys she had pulled over. They were both illegals and the shooter had been deported 2 times but keeps getting back in the country. To make it doubly sad their son Ryan, who has had drug problems for years, had just finished making a drug transaction with the shooter. I feel so bad for the family. Ralph if you read this go on to ksl.com and on their search engine type in Josie Greathouse Fox and read about the funeral and look at the pictures. They had the funeral in the new Stake Center, which was just dedicated a couple of weeks ago, and the news said it took 1 1/2 hours for the procession to go from the churchhouse to the cemetery which was 1 mile. People in the community lined 350 East from Main to the cemetery holding large American flags. The pictures are quite spectacular.

We saw Phill's doctor last tuesday and he said that the pathology report showed that he did not get all the cancer. He suggested 3 things: 1> operate again, but some chances of nerve damage, 2> try radiation and 3> wait for awhile and see what happens, as basal cell is so slow growing. We decided to wait. Phill didn't want anymore radiation after the last go round cost him a kidney, he's afraid on his face it might effect his hearing or his brain. So we will go back in 3 months and they will see how it looks.

Oh yes, I must add that Carley is taking 5 or 6 steps by herself. She'll be running all over the place by her 1st birthday on March 2nd. She is sure a cutie, of course all our babies are cuties!!!

Last week was busy with doctor, CDAC meeting, forum on healthcare with Sen. Reid, shopping with Lulu (that is an experience) and our monthly dinner with church friends here in Goodsprings. I had it pretty easy in the cooking department. We ate out tuesday after doctor before CDAC meeting, thursday after healthcare forum with Claude and Liz, friday after our shopping ordeal with Dick and Doris at the Gold Strike and then saturday night we had our monthly dinner, or course I had to make a dish for that, but put on some stew in the am and let it cook allday. This week I only have to go to town 2 times, wednesday for the guardianship class and thursday a town meeting with our county commissioner.

Guess I better get some shut eye, hope everyone is happy and healthy.

Ruthie and Phill