January 2024

Monday 1/1

This years Happy New Year's Letter - We actually sent this out last week

It goes via USPS to our kids, siblings & some of our Bendite friends. We sent it, via email, to all of our nieces and nephews and a few cousins.

Tuesday 1/2

Christmas 2023 is over and the New Year is here so . . .  

we decided it must be time to pack up the decorations and . . .   

Put the house back together!

Good News this afternoon, Steve was cleared by the Pulmonologist to go ahead and reschedule his back surgery !!!

Update: Surgery scheduled for February 28th

Update: Surgery moved up to February 2nd

Sunday 1/7

We had a light snow most of the night

This Alberta Spruce always looks so pretty when decorated with snow

We weren't the only ones with snow . . . 

Cora is happy about snow in Sierra Vista  ARIZONA !!

Wednesday 1/10

And . . . . three days later . . . .

Another 4 - 6 inches !

Steve got busy with our little snowblower and by noon . . . .

it looked like this. 

Today our oldest grandson, Trudi's son Wyatt,  started his first job

Congratulations Wyatt. Work hard and give it your very best. Employers like good workers !!

Saturday 1/13

We are under a winter storm warning tonight. They anticipate 6-8 inches overnight. We were curious so at 10:45 this evening we took a few pictures

Backyard

Front walk (notice the amount of snow piled up on the little lampost)

Then Steve shoveled a little path and . . . .

Our NEST doorbell/camera captured him measuring . . . 

8 inches so far and still snowing!

We were just notified that church has been cancelled.

Sunday 1/14

We were sitting in our recliners this morning about 9:30 when we heard some "shoveling" sounds. 

We looked out the window and this is what we saw.

We learned that a group of families met at the bishop's house this morning and compiled a list of ward members that needed help "shoveling out" from under the overnight snow storm.

The Barnhart and Bauer families came to our house

 and worked so hard to clear all of the 9 1/2 inches of snow from our walks and whole driveway.

We looked across the street and there was another group. While shoveling our friend Elda's driveway (on the corner), her neighbor (non member) came out to start the task of shoveling his place. This group asked if they could help him and he graciously accepted their help.

We are grateful for the unselfish service these families gave to us this morning. We love our Ward!

We thought all their hard work deserved a treat - Debbi's "secret recipe" Chocolate Chip cookies

Monday 1/15

The sun is shining this afternoon

There is nothing quite as pretty as the sun shining on freshly fallen snow with blue skies above

Wednesday 1/17

Another overnight storm, another 3+ inches of snow and another "service angel"

It took us a few minutes but we finally figured out that our friend, Elda's grandson, Ethan was the culprit. He is living with his grandma (just a couple of doors down from us).

Steve got his "winter clothes" on and went out to investigate the situation. He thought the snow was light enough for our little snowblower so he got it out to give it a try.... it worked great! 

Steve and Ethan worked together and got the driveway cleared in no time!  We are grateful for good friends and neighbors who take it upon themselves to render help when needed.

Just a few hours later . . . .

the snow started up again, heavier this time, and .  . .

This hungry little squirrel was scrambling to find some food in our Pear Tree !

🎜🎜🎜 "A Squir-rellll In A Pear Tree" 🎝🎝🎝 hahaha

Friday 1/19

Two days ago we were shoveling snow . . . .

Today Steve is scraping ice !

Saturday 1/27

OH NO!

The Voles are back, even in the snow of winter

When the snow melted, we could see they had tunneled between the grass and the snow pack leaving these vole trails. 

Sunday 1/28

Since the first of the year, Linda has been working on arranging some music for a string trio.  The same kids that played at Christmas asked her to put something together for them to play at Easter.

She finished it last night. Doing this is very time intensive as you have to enter each note, one at a time, designating the value each note needs to be. Then after all the notes are entered (in this case 4 pages), you have to add the lyrics. 

Linda took copies to the kids at church today.  They were VERY excited to get it and try it out. Linda asked them to play through their parts and circle anything they had questions about so she could address/adjust/fix them. 

Tuesday 1/30

Today Debbi had surgery on her right thumb. 

She had a benign, ganglion cyst in the joint that was causing her a lot of pain.

Her surgery was scheduled for 12:30 (in a Salt Lake area hospital) but, as often is the case, it was delayed about two hours.

It was anticipated the surgery would last 50 minutes, but it went a little longer due to the cyst being a little bit of an odd shape (like a dumbbell) and had grown into the tendon. Despite the unforeseen complications, the doctor said it all went well and that her recovery should go normally.

Well, we made it through a snowy January . . .  now moving on to February and new adventures!