2016 Presidential Election

The USA has voted. I have voted. We cast our votes for president of the United States. Hillary Clinton ran for Democratic party and Donald Trump ran for Republican party. Trump won. The man I voted for won. The one who secured the electoral vote won. So why are so many Americans mad? The popular vote is 200,000 more for Clinton but not all the votes are in. Many mail in ballots are still coming. I am confused by all the complaining. I honestly think that spoiled Americans would be complaining no matter who won. If Hillary won people would be complaining. All we do is complain. I am as guilty as anyone. I want what I cannot have, like a spoiled little child.

I am proud that I am an American. I am thankful I live in this county and am able to vote, choose, be free. I have so many possibilities! I am frustrated today because so many people are upset, when so many  people voted. The votes did not magically appear so someone somewhere did not want Hillary to be president. I mostly think they are tired of the current president. We want a change. We need a change. We need to quit complaining and get to work. We also need to get on our knees and pray. Our future is our own.

On a side note--I hope Obamacare is repealed. I am sick of paying a fine for not having expensive health care when I work hard and make too much for welfare insurance. It bothers me. Why cant I just pay cash for my appointments with no penalty? But no. I have to pay cash for my appointments and then I have to pay the fine. Nothing like taxing me and then taxing me again. It is like we are a European nation.  Dumb Obamacare.

I am proud and thankful to be an American. Where I can vote, say what I want, live how I believe. I have so many choices and possibilities!

Thoughts and feelings with a side of murmurings with gratitude for dessert

It has almost been a year since my last post. I have missed it. I have often written posts in my head and written them down in my journal. I have realized I am too lazy and busy and selfish with my time to go to the library and write. Even today--I am meeting Korbin (friend from WSU dental hygiene school) for her bday lunch in 30 min. Then I want to get a session done at the temple and then I really need to finish preparing and finalizing my lesson for Gospel Doctrine tomorrow. Plus clean the stove and do all the other standard house chores. Right now Scott is sleeping, so I took this time to head to the library for a major internet fest. Scott is working graves this week for an undetermined amount of time. I did wake at 6:30 am and clean the bathroom, did a load of laundry and cooked big breakfast for Scott when he came home. Sat with him and visited and rubbed his feet before he started to fall asleep and I dragged him to bed and left. Poor guy. He is working at Rhett's trucking hauling water, KCl and other products for the oil field. He really likes it. He was out of work for 15 months, pretty much to the day. It has been a very hard 15 months for us. I know we have been blessed and helped! Every time our savings got empty we would have an unexpected amount of cash to deposit. It truly kept us going. I am so thankful for tithing and fast offerings. They really do help. We incurred quite a bit of debt with the start of SAMAS trucking. And then the semi truck died--dead died. It was and still is heart breaking. But now that Scott has been working for a month we are able to start chipping away at that debt instead of just paying minimum payments. I have hope that we will be alright. I just pray that Rhetts trucking will stay busy. Right now they are very busy. Busier that they can handle. I am afraid that some jobs wont get done on time and then the customers will seek other companies to do the work. Luckily Scott has proven himself to be a reliable and dependable and efficient worker. 

I am working 3 days a week for Dr Monfredi in Vernal. I am so thankful for him and the work I have there. Many hygienists are out of work and want more hours and I have all I want. I was working 4 days but Heidi (another WSU friend) just came back the first of October after a maternity leave.  Sr Monfredi was sad to have me gone. I think I could work 4 days a week with Debbie and Heidi if we had a larger office. But that is alright. I get tired after 3 days of picking teeth. It is nice to have a short week there. 

I work 1-2 days a week for Smith's pharmacy. I have been there a year. It has been nice. I still find it hard to stand for 10 hours but I try to break it up by taking laps around the store and moving as much as possible in such a tiny pharmacy with lots of people. Pharmacy work is always drama. Sheesh. Currently we are dealing with the fact that Jason Lewis the pharmacy manager was arrested 2 weeks ago. He came home and told his wife that he was leaving her for a girlfriend he had been seeing for a couple of months. A fight ensued. A big fight. A bad fight. Guns involved. Police involved. Threats involved. Jason is a very big body builder. He has regular testosterone injections. He may or may not be abusing steroids and went off in a 'roid rage and beat his wife. Then took the gun and fired it inside the house and then threatened to kill himself and any cops that came to stop him. So he was charged this week with 2 felony counts of aggrevated assault, 2 misdemeaners of violence in the presense of minors and 1 felony count of discharge of a firearm. We think he was fired from Smiths because his wife came in yesterday telling us her insurance was ending soon. We are not really sure of the details other than we are down a pharmacist. We had one pharmacist offer to help fill shifts. The whole basin knows what has happened. Sad. 

Last night we had a call from a Dr office in Roosevelt. They told us a man from New York was going around getting prescriptions for Promethazine with Codeine cough syrup. He gets 1350 mls. Which is A LOT. Well he came in the night before. And then he came in last night. So we called the cops. Later that night someone else came to pick up the prescription and we called the cops. I was helping him and stalling. I was pretty awesome if I say so. The cops came and took him away. That is all I know about the subject--other than we had filled for him earlier in the week under another name. Silly drug users. 

I had a great girls day out last week. I went to Witchfest with Ash and Eden from Dr Turnbow's office in Duchesne. I quit there in May. I miss the girls very much. We had THE BEST day! Lunch was amazing. The dirty cokes were  perfect. The weather was wonderful and the shopping was plentiful. I had a really good time. Well my 30 minutes is almost up. I need to get some books before I leave. I wish I could have this blog more often. There are some things I want to write about and this is the perfect place

For instance Dan got married in June. He emailed me in Jan telling me he was going to go back to the temple and that he was sorry he was a bad husband etc and asked me to forgive him. I find the whole thing difficult. I want to forgive him because I dont want him to have power over me anymore plus we are commanded to forgive. It is hard. I still am working on it. I dont trust his sincerity regarding changing. That is not my call to make so I will work on forgiving him and not having anything to do with him. I hate that I am failing in this area of my life. 

I am so thankful for my blessings! For being humanitarian person in my ward, for teaching Sunday School and for Scott working. Life is looking pretty good on this beautiful fall day!

Ringing in the New Year.

My sister got married--

 My sister Lori got married to Randy England on New Years Day. It was a simple beautiful wedding. Lori has been a widow for three years and was such a nervous bride. Her son Ty (13 yrs old) gave her away. He has grown up so much this past few years. I am really liking who he is.

Randy has been a member of the LDS church for almost one year. I love how he treats my sister and her children. I am glad she gets a second chance.

I really had a great day. It was fun to be with all of us crazy people. In the picture from left to right starting in the circle on LL. Daniel holding Jaxon (>1 yr old), Andrea Healton, Brent Jones, Randy England, Lori England, Jo Ann Nielsen, John Nielsen, Jenni Jones holding Nash Jones (15 months), Hilaree Jones, Susan Jones, Mary Ann Stewart, and Scott Stewart.

I have high hopes for 2016.

Blue Moon

On the weekend of the 24th of July Scott and I went to Delta to visit my parents. My father had been ill and I was anxious to visit him. My brother Daniel, his wife Hilaree and sons Kevin and baby Jaxon came up from Cedar City. 

One night we took advantage of my brother in law John connections at the Delta Golf Course (he works there--he is the family horticulturist). John got out the work gator type work vehicles and we went searching for Delta Rabbits!

Jo Ann and John with Jack-When this picture was taken he had one bunny kill under his belt. 

Mair, Suzie and Scott--Suzie has ZERO bunny kills-not for lack of chasing. 

Can you see the bunnies? We are kind of far away but in real life they were a lot closer. 

Run bunny run!

We had so much fun riding around in the evening and letting the puppies chase the bunnies. Jack was able to get 2 kills in one night. One was small and obviously too young to know any better and then the next one was a large old jack rabbit. John went with shovel in hand to scoop the carcass off the greens when the rabbit jumped up off the shovel and tried to run away. He was killed by shovel so I guess Jack had 1.5 kills that night. It was too funny. 

I had a good time in Delta. Kevin sure has a lot of energy and is a pretty tough kid. I have realized I am an old woman. I just do not have the energy to keep up with a toddler. I guess there is a reason I do not have my own children. 

Scott and I went camping July 29-31. There was a blue moon. It was beautiful and shined so bright. It was in my eyes all night long. We had the cover off out tent and so the mesh ceiling did not block out the bright night light. It was wonderful!

We woke up the first morning. I sat up and saw this picture. I had to grab my camera and show how close and nosey the cows were. It was kind of funny and spooky at the same time. 

We had such a good time camping this weekend. It was our ward camp out as well so we had free food prepared by someone else ha ha ha. It was great fun. I am really glad we were able to go. 

Scott still does not have a job. He has been doing great with dishes, toilet bowls, and cooking dinner. 

Are Dandelions Obnoxious or Charming?

During the last weekend of May Scott and I went campsite viewing. We heard of a group of campsites near Hanna and Altamont UT. We found several that would work for our planned trip the next week-which did not happen due to job loss and our unwillingness to camp in rain. 

This is a picture of Upper Stillwater Dam. It was beautiful. Such a lovely day. 

I took this picture of Suzie hanging out of the car but it showed the snow on the mountain. 

This is Upper Stillwater Dam the week of June 20. The record rainfall and the snow melt has caused the dam to overflow. Amazing! It was so beautiful.

The boat ramp. Suzie thought that was so fun!

The marker. 

We are so cute ha ha ha

Dandilions

I find Dandilions to be a week and a little obnoxious in my own yard yet on the drive to Upper Stillwater Dam the little flowers were in full bloom and I found them quite charming and lovely. 

I find it amazing that the little yellow weed can be so beautiful in a different setting!

The Start to Summer

Scott and I have started the summer off right. We got tickets for the Payson Temple open house on May 7th. It was a perfect day. We planned the trip go to down to Delta and stop in Payson on the way. We had Suzie with us and found a boarding place for her to stay for less than 2 hours we were gone. Our wait for the temple tour was very short. We happened to go on a Thursday in the middle of the day and the crowds were minimal. Our tour was great. No pressure-we were not pushed along or herded into other rooms until we were ready. It was lovely. 

A summer song came out by Kodaline titled 'The One' came out this summer and the one line says that 'you make my heart feel like summer. . . that's how I know that you're the one'. This line and song is how I feel about Scott. And what a perfect way to start the summer!

Later in May we went to see the wild flowers in Dinosaur National Monument. We found this field of Iris type flowers near Josie's cabin. It is such a cool place to visit. Josie had quite the life. 

Scott and Suzie walking around Josie's cabin. 

We had planned a little trip to Delta on June 8-9. But as our life is unpredictable this did not happen. On June 3rd--after Scott had finished his week of work he was laid off. He plead his case and fought for his job for 90 minutes but they did not cave. They did admit that the only reason he is being laid off is because of 'animosity with Bret'. Yup. Scott is the least paid, highest in seniority yet when DRC lost work in the Barret field--a field Scott did not work in they chose to let Scott go. VERY FRUSTRATING. I want so many bad thing to happen to these people. 

So we went to Delta on June 4th until June 10th. It was a good time to get out of town and just detox.  I love being with my parents. One day we went out for a drive and Suzie saw some quimps (a varmint between a squirrel and prairie dog.  We were driving and she jumped out of the moving car and chased these little critters! Yikes! She was unharmed as were the quimps. 

On June 10 Scott and I went to a concert in Salt Lake City by Celtic Women. It was a beautiful and wonderful concert. I simple loved it. Scott has been a Celtic Woman fan for years while I am a new fan. We purchased tickets in September 2014 and patient waited until June 10th came. We were very close to the stage without being on the floor. No one was in front of us and for some reason the 2 seats next to us remained empty the entire night. We speculated that the poor couple were sick and unable to come, or forgot, or broke up. Whatever the reason it made my night completely comfortable and wonderful. 

Prior to the concert we ate at Myung Ga. A very delicious Korean place. We ordered Jeon a vegetable and pork pancake which was filled with too many onions for my liking but Scott enjoyed it.  We ordered some fried dumplings which are always yummy. Bulgolgi was ordered next. It is a marinated BBQ beef dish. It came out on a sizzling fajita type plate with a bed of onions. The beef came with 6 side dishes (kimchi, seaweed strips, broccoli, cold potato, spicy cucumbers, bean sprouts) and a pot of rice and a bowl of clear broth soup with tofu. First off the clear broth was amazing. The flavor was soooo good. The tofu was very similar to a noodle in taste and texture-very good dish. My favorite bite was a little rice, a little beef and a little kimchi--yum! The spicy cucumbers were very very very good and one of my favorites. Of course I loved the sprouts because I love bean sprouts! The most surprising thing was the cold potato. It was cooked then soaked in something brown and delicious. I am not sure if you know, but I do not care for potatoes. I skip them in the buffet line. It doesn't occur to me to cook potatoes with dinner etc. But as part of the adventure I tried everything and I actually liked the potato!! Miracle of all miracles I know. The brown liquid must have been salty and full of umami because it made that potato so palatable I didn't even mind that it was cold.  All in all a very successful meal! One we have on the list to try again because they have tons of choices of Ramen which Scott loves and I admit I would love to try the noodles in a dish worth more than $0.10  So until next time we are in the big city. . . . 

Rantings of an Oil Field Widow

Today ends the work week for me and Scott. We are very blessed to have Thursday, Friday, and Saturday off together. The kink in the gear is that Scott works long days. DOT requires that he have 10 hours off before starting work the next day. When his supervisor (Bret-who I hate and think is one of the dumbest and inconsiderate humans) called Monday morning to have Scott wait in Vernal until 7 am so he could pick up a truck driver who was taking a semi truck to a mechanic shop and bring him with Scott back to Duchesne. Well Scott did. But then he gets his list of work for the day. Bret told him he had 6 wells to pull the water from. Scott can do that in just a few hours, and was sad because he wanted more hours. Little did we know that the pumpers (men who check in oil pumps and call in pick ups for water or crude oil) all decided they were SICK of Brett and they decided to quit telling Bret what needed to be done and just tell Scott. Plus on Scott's days off the pumpers are going to call another company to come do the work because DRC and Bret cant do the job they want done. Sooo before noon Scott had 13 wells and a late start. He didnt get done with work until 9 pm. Which meant he couldnt start until 7 am the next morning--an hour later than norm. Then Tues the same thing happened; 3 wells turned to 12 plus the mechanic on duty was late to work and so Scott got an even later start because he needed a 20 min job (a clutch adjustment) done before going out. But now Scott knows how to adjust his clutch. Tuesday Scott got home at 10:30 pm. He couldnt start until 8:30--He had 11 wells today. Life is good. Then while traveling from 2nd to 3rd he comes up to a crude truck sitting in the road. He finds out that up ahead is another truck that got stuck in the mud. Scott and the crude hauler had to sit for 3 hours. Crude trucks have a very specific delivery time to the refinery in SLC if they miss it they loose their load and their pay. So many people were irritated at the mud and rain and dumb driver. It is 10 pm and Scott is not due home until 1 am.

It is hard for me to sit here and enjoy my night when I know that Scott is late because of dumb things. If Bret was a better supervisor who had a brain and could carpool people better and if Bret wasnt a dumb dude who pumpers (DRC's customers) could trust to get work done Scott wouldnt have such long days.

As you know we purchased a semi truck in Oct. Scott has been unable to find a company to hire/lease on with as an owner/operator. As owner Scott is responsible for fuel, repairs etc. The company he leases on with covers insurance and travel permits (permits to travel on Ute land). In return Scott gets 80% of the tickets billed to haul water-averaging $100/hour. Well DRC told Scott they would not hire him on. Scott has been looking for other work and is currently waiting to hear if he can get a hazmat endorsement. In the meantime DRC drivers keep breaking trucks, the mechanics quite, only 3 working trucks out of 20. I laughed sooo hard when Scott gets to work and there is not a working truck for him. Wow!!! Bret has a philosophy of--water does not haul itself. This attitude prevents mechanics from fixing small problems on the trucks until they are 100% unmovable. The mechanic would say I need truck #17 left in the yard today so I can change oil, fix tire, tune up brakes etc and Bret would send it out and then when the next shift started he would take the driver out to the truck just so the truck did not get back in to the yard and have any down time. DRC has a semi truck that the license expired in Sept 2014.  They are running it. Bret says water doesnt haul itself and we dont have extra trucks so we can take a few hours to get the truck inspected. WOW I mean wow. The drivers who are driving it are risking their CDL. They know better and yet they drive unsafe trucks (with flat tires, broken springs etc). Ugh Bret is honestly sooo stupid.

So back to the day when there were only 3 working trucks. Bret asked Scott to drive his truck for 1 day only. Scott offered to do a deal where he would lease on for 28 days and Bret said no. Then 2 hours later Ivan (the boss above Bret) called and offered to purchase the truck from Scott. Scott said yes for $xx They agreed but DRC does not have that money and Ivan has to take it out of his IRA. To avoid taxes on early withdrawl Ivan is starting an LLC. Somehow that allows him to withdraw his money with less penalty--not sure the details but whatever! So Joan, Ivan's daughter and DRC secretary in charge of payroll is setting up the LLC herself. While we wait for the LLC and the IRA money Ivan asked Scott to lease on at 85%. So yay!!! Scott worked 3 days in his truck and Bret told him that they didnt need his truck anymore and to not drive it on Sunday. Scott leaves the truck in Vernal and drives to Duchesne to get a truck and go to work like he was told but the almighty Bret. He gets there and the night drivers had burned the brakes on a truck. On semi trucks the brakes are air brakes. They are 'set' by pulling a knob and released by pushing the knob. Well this new employee and new CDL driver forgot to release his brakes and went down the highway at 65 mph. He literally was on fire. People were flagging him down and then he didnt have a fire extinguisher (required by CDL law) so someone else stopped and put the fires out. I dont even want to go into how dumb are you to not smell brakes for so many miles you start on fire. . . .Regardless of how dumb that driver is or how dumb Bret is to put such a greenie out alone, Scott was sent back to Vernal to get his truck and back to Duchesne to get a trailer and go to work. UGH the jealousy and power hungry Bret make me nuts! I hope his wife beats him at home.

The good thing is Scott is on his third week of using his truck and earning about $85/hr. Even though Scott is working late I am secretly happy because it means big bucks. And it ticks Bret off that Scott had the brains to get his own truck and earn good money.

I know this post is long but have I told you about Joan? DRC offered a cheaper insurance option with HSA (health savings account) if you picked that option they would put $100/month into the account for you due to the cheaper premiums. We opted to have extra money taken out of our payroll check and put into the HSA. Without fail Joan was 2-3 months late putting our money into our account. It was frustrating and I felt dishonest but it didnt hurt me. In January 2015 2 men at DRC got notices from the courts of Utah that they were behind on child support and would be facing charges if not paid in full. Well these 2 men have had their wages garnished the entire time they have been working for DRC. Joan took their money out of their paycheck and then did not pay the state. Joan withheld money--food--from babies mouths! I honestly dont know if Joan is that dumb or if she is embezzling and is so deep into it that she didnt pay the child support like she didnt pay our HSA. How could she think that was ok? As a result of her ineptitude I have little hope the LLC will be set up soon and the IRA money transferred over and the SAMAS truck purchased (for a profit I might add). Scott will probably be leasing his truck for a while.

DRC is defunct and possibly bankrupt. I really hope that DRC honors their side of this bargain. Wish us luck!