Goodwill of Good neighbors.

View of Lake Oahe, which is a bloated Missouri River area due to a Dam that was built downstream. This is the view from the Standing Rock Tower facing north.

Today Roger and I were chauffered to Bismarck, North Dakota by our sweet neighbor Johna. She is a Psychologist with a PHD working on the Indian Reservation. She is also the animal rescuer on the Island. She has three dogs and a couple of cats she has rescued and rehabilitated. It was very generous of her to spend the day with us in Bismarck.

Our trip to Bismarck was fun. It only takes 50 minutes to get there traveling on a two lane highway through farm land. The highway travels within a 100 yards of the Missouri River most of the way to Bismarck. It is green here, like it is red in St.George. Everywhere you look it is green grass. I have never seen so many fat cows in my life. They have so much land for grazing that is so lush with grass. I can't help but ask Denice Hughes what he is thinking of .....raising cattle on the Arizona Strip. His cattle would think that they had "died and had gone to heaven" if they saw this land and all the grass feed!

We checked out all the great shopping spots, and even found a fruit stand to buy pickling cucumbers. (I have even put up seven bottles already of pickling cucumbers. I don't know what I was thinking because I have no place to put them now that they are bottled.)

There is a LDS Temple in Bismarck that is only open on Thursday and Friday evenings, and all day Saturday. The Bismarck Stake takes in most of the State of Bismarck. In a couple of weeks is Stake Conference. More people will travel from long distances to attend, than live right in the Bismarck area itself. They are reorganizing their stake presidency.

Interesting side note: The Stake Presidency is having a change in a couple of weeks. The Stake President has been out of work for a few months and just moved his family to Shawnee, Kansas for work. (Just in case any of you think Stake Presidents are exempt from trials and challenges....proof that everyone has opportunities to increase their faith!) Our son Ryan, lives in Shawnee Kansas with his Wife Hannah. We will not be in town for the changes in the Stake Presidency. We will head to Chicago for Lauren and Joe's open house.

Boxes, boxes, and more boxes.

Picture 1: What a mess...help I am being swallowed by boxes!

Picture 2: Picture of Ft Yates causeway road to the Island. Taken from the Standing Rock Tower facing south.

I swear my boxes are multiplying! Ok, all I have to say is...I did not get
rid of enough stuff before I moved. I have a one car garage, and barely have a path from the house to the front of the garage. What am I going to do? (I know you are thinking...some things never change.)

By the way, record humidity in North Dakota, all for me!

Had my clothes washer hooked up today, and boy did I need to do wash. No dryer though, my gas dryer will not work without gas hookups in my home. Next Purchase...electric dryer. I discovered that line drying is kind of a nostalgic "vintage" experience for me. I have a clothes line already set up in the back of my home here in Ft.Yates. It took me back to the days visiting my Grandma Stott in Kanosh, and helping her take in the dry laundry. How long has it been since you smelled a line dried sheet on your bed? There is nothing like it. There is something theraputic about hanging clothes out to dry and the fresh smell.

Also, I am living really primative, by washing the dishes by hand. Sure is a goodway to keep the dirt out from under your finger nails.

Go on line and look up Fort Yates, North Dakota. Zoom in and notice the big blue tower in the middle of the island. I live two blocks from the tower and below the words "Rock" and "tribe."

Roger took me on a ride on our four wheeler up to the tower. You could see forever in all directions the path of the Missouri river...notice it is flooding a lot of the farm land where you see the trees sticking out of the water.

The Morning after....

So this is it..."Home Sweet Home"

Reality is a rude awakening. I woke up this morning to view my new living quarters and prepare for the movers to show up with my furniture and boxes. Eight in the morning comes really early after traveling for three days.
The trip here was eventful. I left St.George at 4:30 pm on Friday July 22, 2011 in a full 16 ft U-haul truck, towing my car behind. I arrived later than planned not realizing how long it would take me going up the hill passes from St. George to Provo in a U-haul pulling a carat 40 miles an hour. I met up with Lauren,(my newly married daughter) and we dropped off a refrigerator and some boxes to store for Kyle for college in Highland, Utah at my sisters home. We then traveled across town to my cousin Mary's home in Saratoga Springs, Utah. May she be "blessed for life" for allowing us to have the wedding reception in her backyard for Lauren and Joe)We picked up the residual wedding decorations to take to storage in Rexburg, Idaho. At 2:30 am we left Saratoga Springs and were on the road to Rexburg, arriving at 5:30 am.

We arrived at Jessica and Damon's home in Rexburg, Idaho and went directly to bed. At 9:30 am we woke up to a wonderful breakfast and a trip to the storage unit to deposit the wedding decorations and other miscellaneous items. I then ventured off by myself again at 4:30 pm to head to Billings, Montana in order to meet up with Roger. Roger caught a bus from Bismarck, North Dakota to meet me and help with the drive to our new home in North Dakota.

The five hour drive from Rexburg, Idaho to Billings Montana took 7 hours instead, due to the load I was carrying and pulling. I must say Yellowstone Park looks great from the view of a U-haul truck! (By the way, Bozeman, Montana is a hidden gem...it is a very beautiful valley) Thank heavens, for Roger...I would have never made it the next day alone. By Sunday morning, my all night drive to Rexburg, plus two weeks of intense packing had caught up with me.

Roger and I stayed overnight in Billings, Montana and left by 10:30 am. We traveled for four hours and heard the strangest sound coming from underneath the truck somewhere in the middle of Montana. We stopped to discover that we had a tire that was in the process of shredding. We called U-haul and three hours later someone showed up to change our tire. On the road again...and our final arrival in Ft. Yates, North Dakota at 1:00 am.



Having movers show up at 8:00 am was not my idea, but they were prompt. Unloaded the truck and left me a little bewildered as I gingerly made my way around boxes inside of my 1400 square ft. rental. The walls instantly became increasingly tighter. I had sworn I was not going to unpack a box for two weeks or even a month after arriving here. But alas, if I was going to survive, boxes had to be opened and stuff put away(now I view most of it as Junk).

All I have to say to the hoarders of the world....throw away as you live life day to day. Nothing is worth saving for the eventuality of using it down the road. So much for the adage to "wear things out"....if things are no longer useful to you and they are in good condition still...donate them for some other person to find pleasure and use. Pat yourself on the back, and tell yourself that you are a generous good person, and free yourself of the clutter!

Meeting the Elders

Elder Woods and Elder Venegas, of the Rapid City, South Dakota Mission.

This is one experience I was anticipating since hearing stories of the Elders serving at Fort Yates, North Dakota. They were quick to invite Roger to accompany them teaching lessons to their investigators.

I don't know what they were expecting when they knocked on my door on Monday night,and I answered, but they were speechless...or frightened... I am not sure which?

I would like to know...was I older or younger looking than they thought. Taller or shorter, you know the rest!

Elder Venegas and Elder Woods (both from Arizona)...two of the greatest missionaries ever, were at my door. I did have the sense to invite them in to afford them the experience of navigating through all of the boxes! The people in Fort Yates love them, and I can see why.

From the Beginning

View of Fort Yates community, from Standing Rock Tower.

I arrived at Fort Yates, North Dakota, or Standing Rock Reservation as the locals call it on July 25th at 1:00 am in the morning. That moment was my first view of the home I would live in for an indefinate period of time.

It was too dark, to see what I was getting myself into, but I was grateful for a home, and a bed to crawl into. My husband, Roger, had lived here for two months without me as I executed a wedding event for our fourth daughter, Lauren in Utah. How he survived with out me, is a mystery.

Roger had a queen size boxspring and mattress on the floor of one of three small bedrooms,a folding table, one chair, and a refrigerator as his only furniture and appliance for the past two months. I now understand how Roger lost 15 pounds in the past two months also! He says he was trying to loose the weight, but I know better, if he was tired...sleep came before eating.