Our Tiny House Guest

Hola Jose!

Well, I broke my promise. I didn’t send you a recap of the game because I really didn’t feel like reading about the Utes terrible performance, losing at home, at night, during homecoming, on a blackout night…pfft. It gets worse. They fell in the rankings from 10 to 18, and as an added insult, byu passed us in the rankings, they are now #17. Ouch. The lord must love us though because he gave us two weeks off of church (don’t panic, today was stake conference, and we even went) and a bye to help us heal our pride. 

This week was busy at work. My one remaining employee was offended last week and it took me all week to get it resolved. I wanted to support him even though I didn’t understand the depth of his frustration. This has been a year of big changes at work, and it’s brought a lot of stress to a lot of people. There’s also a lot of new people, which has added to the chaos. Finally, we’ve been really busy. Anyway, a lot of my prayers have gone into trying to make sure I say and do the right thing. I notice the more I do that the obviously better things go. It’s almost like the things that come out of my mouth are far better than the thoughts they were when they started in my brain. 

We had another busy but uneventful week here. I went with the elders to visit Fynn again on Tuesday. They were late and seemed a little less prepared for the lesson. But it went fine and I’m hopefully starting to connect with his dad just a little. I didn’t follow them around after.

Thursday evening I finished grandma’s deck, it looks okay. I spent more on this new stain this year with the hopes that it will last longer. But actually I’ll be shocked if I’m not sanding and staining next September. It is fun to serve grandma. We talked about grandpa for a long time and she sent me home with two plates of cookies, chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin, yum! I’ll go back this week to pressure wash all the drips off of her cement.

Friday evening I went shooting with my buddy Doug. We went to our standard spot south of Saratoga Springs, Pelican Point. I got there just before five, took my time to set up all of my stuff, table, chair, steel targets, and clay launcher. As I get older, I’ve decided I need to buy fewer guns, I need to buy better ammo, and I need to get out more. I’m really enjoying shooting the clays with my shotgun, even though I can still feel the recoil bruise on my shoulder today. Doug brings this stuff called Tannerite. It’s two powder chemicals that you mix up and put into small containers. You set them up about 20 yards away and take shots at them. The packages are maybe 3x5 inches, so there a bit of a challenge to hit. But when you do you get a loud thump and a bright flash…a small explosion…which is very satisfying. I want to shoot more tannerite too. He took two of his sons, but Ben went shopping with grandma and Jake went to dinner with his buddy. But it was fun anyway.

We’ve had a guest in the house that I’ve known about since Wednesday and that I never wanted your mother to discover. Yes, with the big vole infestation it looks like one (I really hope there’s only one) little mouse got in our house. I started hearing little tiny fluttering scampering upstairs when I was in my office and the house was empty and quiet. Then Thursday morning I sat on the couch and I spotted speedy yet tiny dot that went from the corner of my couch to the corner of mom’s couch. Luckily, she didn’t see it. As soon as she left I set out some of the poison bait traps I had left over behind the couches and furniture around the living room. Then Thursday night Jake saw it run behind the piano. Lucky mom was in the bedroom and even though it was after nine I ran to Home Depot to get some glue traps. The next morning I checked the traps and one had been dragged about three feet behind the chair. But no mouse. He’s either smart or lucky, or the traps aren’t sticky enough. 

Friday night when we were finally all home together chatting in the living room, Jacob texted me that he saw it run behind the chair. Oh man, your mother was sitting close enough to me to read that and that did not go over well. She was all ready stressed out from a busy week and now this. Every time I touched her all night she freaked out thinking it was the mouse. We’ve had no sightings since Friday night. I hope it munched on some of the poison, but I won’t know until I there’s another sighting or I find the carcass. And I sincerely hope I’m the one that finds it because if you’re mother does we might have to move. I wish Gus was a gopher snake, or at least a cat.

Saturday was pretty busy, and I like busy Saturdays. I got up to mow the lawn, mom made a delicious breakfast, then I took back some bar stools we ordered. Mom wanted more but I apparently ordered the wrong size, so I had to tape up the box and take it to the UPS store. Then I came home and put away all of my shooting gear. Then I loaded the propane tanks in my car to get them filled. 

Weeks ago Ben told us about an old Paul McCartney move that they were going to show for one showing in theaters. It was called One Hand Clapping. It’s kinda like Get Back or Let It Be for Paul McCartney but not as well restored. That guy is amazing.

We came home and I had a couple of hours of work to do. When I was done with that mom wanted to go to Texas Roadhouse for dinner before the game. I think that must be why the Utes played so bad so we won’t be making that mistake again. I like Texas Roadhouse but it’s loud and obnoxious. We were all wearing our Utes gear so this old guy asked Jacob if he went there, he said we did so that guy said that he was a phycology professor there for 40 years. I told him that my dad, Orlando Rivera was a phycology professor too and he lit up and said that my dad was really well known for helping the Hispanic community through the U of U and how influential he was. Well. As I’m sure you are aware, that filled me with pride and emotion for my dad and made my nose turn red. According to Jacob, my nose turning red is the first sign of potential dad tears. 

We got to the game and were amazed by how warm it was for a late September game after dark. Two blown red zone opportunities to start and we knew that we were in for a long night. We got home after 1 am and I got to sleep about 2. That’s insanely late for this old guy. I slept in past nine this morning and trudged to Stake Conference. I’m not going to say much about that for fear that your mother will read this. As it is, the mouse story is already going to trigger her.

We came home and mom made us dang quesadillas. Then I sat on the couch to watch football with your brothers and I was asleep fast. When I woke up mom was telling us it was time to go to grandmas. Ben smoked the pork butt grandma had bought when her and Ben went shopping. She also made her funeral potatoes, which are so great, and cream corn. Uncle Steven’s family was there.

When we got home I streamed the Beatles White Album on my home made speakers. I’ve never listened to the whole album in one sitting before. It’s incredible. It reminds me of my brother because he always said it was his favorite Beatles album. My streaming device started skipping towards the end and I was getting frustrated. It’s an Amazon device and they are often unreliable. I may upgrade for Christmas.

Anyway kid, I assume you have your transfer news, I look forward to hearing that news. I have to go to salt lake in the morning but I should be able to chat in the afternoon.

Love you kid.

Pops