:Family Matters

April 27, 2010

Having been promised great and dreadful things to come due to a “serious” storm front moving across the great state of Utah I awakened this morning not to howling winds but a sunny sky and quiet outside. How nice! Yesterday was another straighten up the fallen as it was also trash day and once again our tipped over containers dotted the landscape which meant I again went into battle to reclaim what was mine before it slid on down the block which I am sure was the intent as ours had already abandoned the spot where I originally left it to make it’s way past the driveway where it paused for a few seconds in front of the mailbox thus allowing me just enough time to raise it from it’s prostrate position. Thank goodness the wind didn’t come up until after the trash man came and here I must leave it to your imagination to picture the grim result of flying debris all around the neighborhood if we had been caught with our cans full, if you catch my drift. Yuck.

Oops. Spoke to soon. Wind came as promised. Up North there was a gust strong enough to blow a semi over. We have been colder than normal by about 20 degrees this week which means that the plants I so optimistically purchased two weeks ago are on hold in the garage as the temperature at night keeps dropping into the 20’s and while I trust in the Lord with all my heart I also realize that he is not likely to perform a miracle in my behalf if I knowingly choose to ignore the effect of cold temperatures on tender plants.

Here’s a bit of trivia from the past. I found a little card with a handwritten note from mother that is dated June 26, 1962. It reads:

Dear Joanne & family,
Barbara says I should tell you about my success in getting rid of the bugs in the kitchen. We still have some of the little fellows but the population has greatly decreased. I got a pkg. Or box of D.D.T powder. I have sprinkled this dry under the drawers in the kitchen. I’ve sprinkled it on the shelves and put paper over the top. This keeps dishes or food from coming into direct contact with the powder. It is quite inexpensive and the most effective thing I have found.
Grants are coming this next weekend. We are planning a picnic in the park for Sunday.
Hollis is ready to be baptized but hasn’t gained the consent of his parents yet.
We got the car back Sat. It was a $750.00 job. It looks like new. We had $50.00 deductible insurance. I’m fast becoming an insurance believer.
Daddy is just about ready to plant beans. He wants to cut the grass fro hay down at Mt. Sterling this week too.
We are cleaning, sewing, ironing, gardening etc. Darlene does the milking in the evening.
Snort is having trouble with his feet again. This is the first time in quite awhile tho.
Fairbourns have had their closing out sale. They plan to leave next Monday on a trip to Ariz & Utah job hunting, I guess. Winters are going to the Temple. They are leaving this week.
Love, Mother

p.s. We are still talking Utah in August.
Nellie Juanita Waddington Gano

I believe this picture was taken around the time the above letter was written which would put mother somewhere in her middle 40’s. Sadly, although none of us knew at the time, she would be with us for only three more years. I have been taking a family history class at church and one of the things we are supposed to do is get all our materials i.e. letters/pictures/certificates together in one spot. This is a good idea and will no doubt be accomplished if the Good Lord is willing and I live long enough, which I will have to as I am so disorganized that it will take at least that long to go through all my boxes and the only hope for success I have is to live to a very old age. . . . AAR(At Any Rate) I keep turning up stray letters and pictures which I shall in turn share with you. Please return the favor and write what you remember about your years at home as a Gano Girl. We are rather unique you know! No one knows our story but us. Scary thought that, isn’t it.

P.S. They did come to Utah in the summer of 1962 to attend my graduation from BYU.