051616

We were invited on a local history tour of the some of the surrounding area and a couple of the local spots that are frequented by the missionaries here as tourists.  Well, not like we have a lot planned for Mondays so, why not?  We started out at the Blacksmith Shop and the wagon just outside of it taking pictures for the trip.  The day promised to be a bit showery most of the day but nothing we couldn't handle.

Ready to ride the wagon going West...well, maybe not.  gotta wait till November.

The next stop was Bonaparte or previously know as Meek's Mill.  Here is where Brigham Young once crossed the Des Moines River.  Many thousands of pioneers crossed in several places along these rivers throughout this area.  This is just one of many.

Couldn't miss getting a pict of Arlene in front of a local post office, now could we?  I'm thinking she's probably over this but it's good for the picture library.

Next stop was a local pottery barn where we had a tour of the facilities and got a history of the place.  I saw these Iris in one section and it reminded us of our lovely ones at home.

Some of the stuff they've done before but, oddly enough, none of these were for sale in the shop store.  Too bad because this was the best looking stuff they had.  They don't spin the pottery they pour them into molds and they get sucked to the sides.  Kind of interesting.

This was the gal giving the tour along with Elder Gammel, one of our missionaries.

This is the gift shop in the old pottery barn.  It was built on the old site of the original pottery kiln.  They had an upstairs that was vacant but had a lot of pictures and nothing else.  Building was built in the mid-1800s.

We went to a local restaurant for lunch and I saw this hanging on the wall at the cash register.  Wondering if you know what this is?  It'll tell how old you are if you know what it is, won't it?

Next we went to Bettinsport.  It's a few miles down the road.

Here's the Sisters posing at the kiosk in front of the Mormon Trail sign in the town.  Since it was Monday, most everything was closed, as usual.  Sister's Seger, Simons, Gammel, Jones, and Baker.

The Mason House.

Flood much?  This B&B looks out on the river and is only about 100 yards from the front door.

Here is the bridge across the Des Moines River in front of the Mason B&B.  It's been around for a while.

...and you want me to go across this thing?

...don't think it needs any maintenance or repairs?

...guess not...I'm thinking this would be ci=ondemned in Kalifornia but, well, what the heck...

On to another crossing a bit further up the road...

A serene look at the Des Moines River as it starts to rain and we depart for Richardson Crossing and the final resting place of a couple pioneers.

Most of the group at Richardson Point.

There are two pioneers buried within the fencing.  The pioneers stopped here for a few weeks due to inclement weather and suffered greatly.  It's next to a pig farm and that makes it, well, a bit of challenge...ugh.  It is well maintained by the owners and allows all who want to visit open to trespassers any time they want to pass on their property.  It was dedicated in 2014.  

We then went to Linden and I have shown lots of pictures there before so no need to show any more.  After that we headed home and a much needed night of rest.  Tomorrow, the 18th, we head off to Adam-Ondi-Ahman for a tour and a few other sites.  Looking forward to the tour by Bro Dunn, his last one in the area before he moves to St. George.

051516

We have been taking a bit of a vacation from teaching in the Burlington Ward on Sundays while the new summer missionaries are getting settled into their new assignments so the weekly assignments are not there.  We have to new couples assigned there, the Atkinsons and the Jeppsons.  Last year we had a few more.  We've been given no assignments for teaching since we came back from the two week hiatus from teaching the last class.  Nice for a change.  So, this past Sunday we decided to go visit a couple of the sites here in Nauvoo we haven't had a chance to see yet.

We spent a little time at the Blacksmith Shop and watched him make a small horseshoe and he gave us all "Prairie Diamond Rings" for souvenirs.  That is a horseshoe nail pounded into a ring.  Long story...

He gave the horseshoe he made to the young boy that belonged to the couple on the right.  You can barely see the top of his green hat between Mom and Dad.  They were Mennonites (most likely) from the local area.  The Amish don't use mechanized forms of transportation but they dress about the same.  There aren't any Amish/Mennonite living around Nauvoo so the carriage was not outside and that is the only way the Amish travel around the area.  Nice people, though.

The other section of the blacksmith shop for the demonstration of building the wooden wheels.

We then moved over to the Tinsmith Shop to see what was over there.  It is a block over from the Blacksmith Shop.

Entrance is on the left as it was both the home and shop.

The house portion and a fancy wood stove.

Demonstrating some of the items in the shop and how the tinsmithing was done.

Some of the work done.  Each lantern was specific for each owner so you could tell who was coming up the street at night.  Pretty clever, I'd say.

We then went over to where the oxen rides are offered during the week because they have a lot of signboards that you can read that tell stories about individuals and their struggles with the teams they dealt with.  However, the gnats made it difficult to spend a lot of time there.  They are pretty horrific this time of year.

This is representative of the wagons they used in the mid-1800s.  Certainly wasn't like a Volvo.

A signboard comparing horses and oxen.  Made it pretty easy to choose oxen over horses when you were heading out across the plains.

A nearby shot across the "Mighty" Mississippi.  Look, no ice!  That is one big river!

051416

Spring is fully in bloom here.  I noticed in our backyard at the apartment that we have Honeysuckle growing on the fence behind the Wilford Woodruff house.  I thought I would leave a few pictures for you to look at.

This coming week we have an opportunity to go on a history tour to the Adam-Ondi-Ahman area lead by Brother Dunn.  He's a great guy and quite an historian.  We are really looking forward to a couple of days away from Nauvoo and a chance to see and hear about a site that is very special to Latter-Day Saints.  I'll have a report available when we get back.  Have a nice week.

050616

I survived the spring shutdown, barely, and have also survived the onslaught of the summer missionary's first week of settling in and their training.  Arlene was busy in the office for a few days and relaxing a bit the other days while I was trying to catch up on temple projects the whole shutdown.  Boy am I beat!  What a frantic few weeks we've had since the middle of April!  Today's weather is going to hit the lower 80s and it will be in the 70s the rest of the next week so it looks like spring is finally here to stay for a bit.  Of course, we're looking at thunderstorms for the next couple of days but, well, that is to be expected.  But, today is spectacular!

Our first missionary meal together, one of many, for the summer missionaries.  At least this week.

We were responsible for two couples before they came to Nauvoo.  One was Leonard and Kathy Anderson from Bremerton Washington.  Unfortunately, I was seated behind them so only got their backs but you can hear their introductions.  They knew Arlene's sister very well before she passed away last year.  Very nice people.

The other couple was our own Terry and Mary Baggs from the Sacramento Temple.  We were so happy to have them come and they have been a joy to work with.  Sister Baggs is so happy to be just a temple worker for a change and not a member of the temple presidency!

So, in honor of their arrival in Nauvoo, I made a Lasagna that took up the whole oven and 3 hours to bake!  3 pounds of cheese, 64 ounces of cottage cheese/ricotta, 1 pound of parmesan cheese,  a dozen cans of tomato products, 2 pounds of pork sausage (taste so much better that way), 2 boxes of noodles, and a lot of spices.  Yummy and they had seconds.  Kevin is so looking forward to some home cooking when he gets off his mission.  Guess I'll be making this before we head West in November.

Sis/Bro Anderson, Sis Seger, Sis/Bro Baggs at our apartment for dinner their first Sunday in Nauvoo.  So much is going to happen their first week!  

Here is the kitchen crew preparing one of our lunches.  President Nelson on the right passing through.  His daughter is just to his right and his wife, sister Nelson, an Assistant Matron is in blue a little farther to his right.  It takes quite a few people to set up and feed between 100 and 200 people daily for a week.

All set up and ready for the missionaries for lunch.

At our Tuesday lunch the temple paid staff was introduced.  L to R is (my boss) Rick Jensen-the head Temple Engineer, Blake Duncan-Senior Engineer, Jamie Steen-Janitorial Lead, Bro Graham-Gardner Lead,  Diane Chavez-Laundry Lead (also suffering from cancer),  Dale Jacobs-Security Lead, Peggy Dewey-Admin Lead (Arlene's boss).

Remember that field that was all blackened and burned out after the prairie grass burn demo?  Well, this is what it looks like now.

It won't be long and this field and stage will be alive with activity and people/props.  Just a few weeks and they will start getting ready for pageant and the summer activities.  It's nice and green now, the weather is beautiful, and things are all calm and pleasant.  It will be changing very soon....

We've gone under 6 months left to serve now.  One of the engineers I work with has 3 months left before he leaves so we are all within a few months of our end times here in Nauvoo.  Seems like we have been here forever.  I'm thinking a year is about enough time for a mission here....I am tired.  We do have an overnight trip scheduled for Adam-Ondi-Ahman in mid-May so we are looking forward to that.  It will be the only "vacation" time we have ever taken since we have been back here.  Should be fun.  It includes a session at one of the temples near the site.  See you later!

041016

Well, the Tulips are getting ready to end here.  They don't last long and we had a night that the temp got down to 25 so they were damaged pretty heavily.   for the most part, they look pretty good, for now.

On the South side is a little patch, near the entry from the parking garage, that has this great display of mostly yellow Tulips for our observation.  just as pretty as can be.  For some reason, this little patch escaped the freeze.

Quite a bed of red Tulips but not the traditional ones.  

Some of the variety behind the entry sign.

Right in front of the temple steps.

The garden area in back

The center tree is just starting to bud

Lots of color

We also got to bid a fond farewell to the Williams, on the left, and the Allreds, on the right.  Sister Simons was officiating last Monday as we had a BBQ and said goodbye to these two couples as they finish their one year missions in Nauvoo as Winter Missionaries.  Brother Allred is an accomplish musician and played the violin for us for request for quite a while for his going away gift to us.  A few tears were shed as we all have known these four for quite a while.  The Simons will be leaving in August as the next set of missionaries to go.  We will be welcoming the new summer missionaries the end of April as we prepare for the summer activities and new faces on staff.  So much to get ready for!

040416

We decided to take off for Peoria, Il and do a little site seeing for the day after Arlene had some dental work done.  We visited Costco and bought some of the items we were out of.

On the way up in the morning, we drove passed, on the Iowa side, the Nauvoo temple and took a shot from the other side of the Mississippi.  This would have been what the Saints saw as they headed West in 1846 when they abandoned Nauvoo and were driven out of the town.  Well, except for that ugly water tower.  That wasn't there then.

The trip there is pretty flat.

The grass is just starting to grow and it's starting to look a lot like spring most everywhere we look.

Not too far from the Nauvoo Visitor's Center are a few protected burial mounds that have been left by indigenous North American tribesmen.  We have been meaning to visit the site but were waiting for better weather.  I guess that is now.  some say there is no evidence of these people having ever lived here in the North American continent but these kinds of areas apparently dot the mid-West.  It's just that they are owned by private land owners who don't have the funds to excavate and explore these ancient mounds. 

This explains all that you would want to know, for now.  Note that it's an Eagle project.

This is just one of many in this area.

There are several in this area, about 10 and there are several of these in the surrounding areas..

Protected, of course.

Ancient Mounds Cemetery

We haven't been able to see any of the other ones but this one is very close to us.