Visting with great friends.....

Dale and Carol came for a respite from the storms of the Colorado Rockies last Thursday and stayed until Saturday afternoon. We went to the Mesa Temple Easter Pageant Thursday evening and had a wonderful and spiritual experience there. The cast of about 425 people were amazing as they recounted the life of our Savior Jesus Christ and his loving atonement for our sins. He is the only one who could pay the price we could not pay in order to return to our Father in Heaven.

The next day we stopped by the garden to show them how we garden here in Maricopa!

Things are starting to grow! The corn is about 5" tall - 3 weeks from planting!

Refreshing water irrigates the fields (and Carol's foot!)

We love visitors......

It is such a treat for us to have visitors and today we welcomed Uncle Loyd and Aunt Muriel. We had lunch together and reminisced about our family and previous times together. I got out my genealogy and we discussed relationships - and I even got to add a person and make a correction on another. Also got to add some birth dates and wedding dates!! So fun to visit with them and make new memories. They are now on their way to Yuma.

Gardening Arizona Style......

Today we became Arizona gardeners! I was surprised to see how many people turned out for this from our Church! The first part of the land (behind the vehicle) is the community garden site. Over 6,000 lbs were harvested last year and donated to the local food bank. The planting began at 8 a.m. this morning but Larry & I couldn't get there until about 9:30 a.m. and there were still a lot of people working on their plots. Our garden site is about 10'X12'. I think we could get more but for this year we'll do the smaller site.



Notice the irrigation setup. Irrigation will take place on Tuesdays which gives the soil a couple of days to dry before we go tend it on the weekend. The tubing coming out of the irrigation ditch waters each row.

We planted carrots, green onions, corn, watermelon, cantaloupe, yellow squash (from seeds) and tomatoes (cherry & Early Girl) & zucchini from starts.


Larry planting carrots.

We're done for now. We will go back often to weed and help with the community plot.

The Santa Rosa Wash is flowing.....

Rain has been frequenting our area for the past few weeks - mostly on Sundays for some reason. Unlike other areas, the water does not seep into the soil quickly. Instead it sits there for weeks at a time. This bridge was constructed and opened about a year ago - just in the nick of time. The second picture was taken in December 2008 and shows the wash from the other side and how we crossed the wash before the bridge. When the rains came we would have to detour around - you can see why! Duchess and I took a little bike trip down to the wash to see the water up close. I was amazed at the current! Usually the water is so shallow it just sits there! This time it actually looked like a small river. Even the rivers around here (which are normally dry) are now running and posing some problems. Just yesterday four horseback riders trying to cross the water were swept away. Gratefully all the riders were rescued but sadly one horse had to be put down from injuries suffered. One horse was still stranded on a sandbar last night. They say still waters run deep and this was the case here. The experienced riders had been crossing at the same place many times but this time the water was too much for them. One of the newscasters said that no where else is a dry river bed common and when filled with water is considered a flood. Because of flooding throughout the valley years ago the dam and Lake Roosevelt were created and now water flows into the canals and is used for the needs of the people.

Pacana Park adventure

Sitting by the pond - watching birds, people, cars, etc.

The biggest loser................

These will be her "BEFORE" pictures:

Duchess began her diet about three weeks ago. Larry thinks she has lost a couple of pounds but I am not so sure. She was 11 pounds overweight so no more treats all day long!!! She has been so good about this new plan - as if she doesn't know what's going on! I think Larry has had a harder time not spoiling her with the treats but he is coming along. The vet said a pound a month weight loss would be fine so that is what we are aiming for! I'll keep you posted on how she progresses. Is there "The Biggest Loser" for dogs? Hmmmm.

(Friday, February 26th - We were out and about today so we took Duchess with us and stopped by Petsmart to weigh her. Remember, Larry said he was sure she had lost about 2 lbs? Well the scale said she gained 1.2 lbs. I can't believe the scales weigh the same. In fact - I don't believe they do. More exercise!!!!) We're off to the park for a run!

Indexing can be addictive.....

(To see this a little larger just double click - when finished hit the return arrow in the upper left corner of your screen. Note: You'll be able to see my total number on the bottom left of the screen.)

I have been indexing census records - among other records - for a while now and just reached another milestone 18,045!!!! Usually there are 50 lines on each census to transcribe but other countries have different forms. I have only done the United States and Canada Federal Census Records but I did do some French Canadian census records in French. Other forms I have transcribed include marriage, birth, and death records for the United States and Canada; land taxes for England, and State census records.

There is also a point system given of which I have earned 26,559. Here is an explanation of how these points are calculated: "Points provide a way for you to track your personal indexing contribution to FamilySearch. Points correspond to records you have indexed, adjusted for degree of difficulty (since some projects are much more challenging than others). All records receive at least one point, but more difficult indexing projects may give anywhere from two to ten points per record."

One of the main reasons I contribute is so that these records can be more available to those searching out their ancestors. I have been able to find so many of my ancestors through the census records and hope that may more will be found! And soon! Guess patience is not one of my strongest suits....oh well. I'm still working on that one.

An interesting check and balance system is in place with FamilySearch - two different people transcribe the records and if they do not agree a third person, or arbitrator, reads the records and makes a decision on what is correct. I think this is an ingenious (and inspired) way to transcribe more accurately than just one person doing it on their own. I know because some of the records are so hard to read because of fading or damage to the document. (When the US Federal Census records were first started they were only being used to count heads basically and were not always taken care of properly. Now those same records are also used for genealogy research.) Unfortunately the 1890 census records for the United States were destroyed in a fire so they are no longer available but other than that we have records dating from 1790 to the present at 10-year intervals. This year is a census year so take the time to complete the form and return it promptly. This information also helps our cities, counties, and states get funding based on the correct number of inhabitants.