Week 59. Hegsted's Mission

 10-September-2023-Sunday

What a busy day.  Normal drive to Rutland, but not a normal day.  The branch presidency was changed.  We had heard rumor it might happen and when the stake presidency showed up, it was a conclusion.  The former second counselor, Brother Weight, will be the new branch president.  He is such a humble person and will be very good for the branch.  President Sheldon has provided great leadership and it will not drop at all.  Funny that a branch with such little priesthood could have such good branch presidents.  The first counselor was not called today, but the second counselor was called.  He looked very shook up.  .  

I hope they have a job for the former first counselor.  He looked sad.  With President Shelton often gone for work, he has carried a huge load.

We had the first shift and were busy from 1 until we left at 5 pm.  Helped that we had a bus come in at 3:15.  So much fun.  We had a family from Canada.  They walked to the foundations when the bus came and then we took them back in the cart just for fun and to explain a few things.  Such cute kids.  Several other good families came in and Dede and I were separated giving tours the entire day.  It is fun to sometimes do it that way also.

The bus was not as full as they had thought, about 36 people, and that was pleasant.  Even more fun, Starla and her sister Ceva (were formerly Gigger's) were part of the bus load.  So fun to see these wonderful women with whom I grew up.  Such power in that family.  Funny tidbit, my first date with Dede was a double with Starla and Brent, another member of our ward.  Two other couples serve at the Pocatello Temple and I knew them immediately when they walked in.  Such a small world in the church.  We are so blessed!  We had just a fine rain, so we moved everything in the VC, but after our rotation everyone could get out and mingle at the monument.  It was so good.

11-September-2023-Monday

A day to remember 9/11 and the changes it brought to our nation.  For a while, we actually felt some unity, but sadly it did not last very long.  

We had good meetings this morning, but mostly focused on administrative stuff.  However we discussed the temple.  Last night Sister Buswell took a call from the lady we had helped with her sealings, in the Boston Temple.  She just wanted to call and thank us.  She really wanted to call and thank the Spirit, but did not know His number.  :-). Sister Buswell called us last night so we had called the sister and talked with her.  She lives in Florida and spends 4 months each year in Maine.  And this little branch has supported her through baptism and going to the temple.  She also called the New Hampshire Mission President to find us.  It was fun to relive the story with the Buswells and the other missionaries.  

Tomorrow we plant mums.  Today we started pulling out the old flowers and weeding the beds.  How we miss the Bergers.   Hopefully we can plant what has been removed while other finish removing or we finish removing.  There are far fewer mums than regular flowers, but depending upon when we get everything planned out and flowers brought to the beds and then start planting, it can take quite a bit of time.  We have first shift, but President Buswell will stay dressed up and the rest of us will plant and pull flowers.  Such fun.  It did rain after lunch, but then turned sunny again, so when we arrived at the site, I was able to put up lights between people.  Nearly done with the second building, except the high eves and I need a taller ladder for that.  

We had three people come into the site.  Two nonmembers who are touring the area and doing every historical site they can find.  They have no belief in God, but love history.  I would guess they were in their mid-80's and have memory issues, but still want to learn.  I think that is cool.  We also had a single lady who is doing a two month solo drive from Utah.  She is brave!  She is also very lonely and so she just sat and talked.  

I must admit, I am exhausted.  Lots of up and down to plant and weed and then put up lights.  I hope I sleep well tonight and will have energy to help tomorrow.  I will help regardless, with our without energy.

13-September-2023-Wednesday.  PDAY

After two days of labor in the gardens, it was nice to sleep in and have a PDAY.  We went back to the Shelburne Museum in Shelburne VT.  We spent most of a day there earlier this year and still spent most of today again to get everything covered.  It is a museum on a large acreage, with many buildings.  Most of the building having a different grouping of things to view.  The woman (Mrs Webb) behind the museum had plenty of money and loved to collect interesting items and so she bought this property near the place they liked to come in the summer and then started building and/or bringing buildings to the site.  Counting the entrance, there are three modern looking buildings, while the rest are 100-years old or older.  Today we walked through barns that held many, many wagons and sleds.  Many of these belonged to the Webb family.  We rode a carousel.  Walked through a horseshoe building that contained carvings of the most interesting zoo parade items on one side with animals from a much fancier carousel on the other side along with posters from past circuses.  The final portion contained a hand carved likeness with 1000's of pieces of a circus.  Another building held wood carvings including "tobacco Indians", the busts of women from ships and other carvings.  Another building was filled with china, pewter, silverware, pottery and the upstairs with dolls, doll houses and animated old toys.  Then another building with old toys, the newest being an older electric train set placed in a realistic setting.  We talked with a blacksmith for a time.  The building also contained equipment to make wagon wheels.  Another building held printing presses and we spoke with a woman who explained setting print by hand and then using an automated machine that created the letters from a lead alloy and creating them on the fly.  The letters were used and then melted down for the next day.  Other buildings held textiles such as quilts and rugs.  Another was a church.  There was a railroad station with a steam engine along with the private rail car the Webb's owned.  It was very nice and long.  We visited a round barn originally built north of us in VT.  I liked the round barn.  A round barn would be cheaper to build than an equivalent square barn by about 40%.  With a silo in the middle, there are no trusses to be used.  Also the hay and silage is in the center and never far from the cows and always above the cows to make the work easy.  

By 4:30 we were tired and as we hit the car, a rain deluge came and it rained hard for 30 minutes.  The must get lake effect rain from Lake Champlain.  This is twice we have been in a hard rain storm here.

We enjoyed dinner at Texas Roadhouse.  Both of us were feeling queezy and that sounded bland.  We then shopped in Berlin, near Barre and got gas near home before coming home.  

Tomorrow morning we will do the Tunbridge World's Fair early before going in early to allow the Buswells to get out with the Arbons to attend a Sox-Yankees game at Fenway Park.  

So pictures from today.  There is also a picture of a "school bus" on runners to make it a sleigh.  The carvings of the circus parade and the separate carving of the circus tent, caught my camera's attention the most.

14-September-2023-Thursday

We left about 8:15 am and headed to the Tunbridge World's fair in Tunbridge Village, VT, whose population is about 1400 people.  Rather audacious to claim your town fair is the world's fair, but it is amazingly well attended.  The food booths were very numerous.  We watched oxen log pulling which is an obstacle course through which a yoke of oxen must pull a log simulating forestry in VT.  We watch pony pulling, where trained ponies are hitched to increasingly heavier loads until one pair finally pull more than any other or pull further than any other are pronounced the winner.  The ponies act like well developed athletes as they approach the load, ready to dart off with their load and win.  Such prancing, they sometimes do not allow the handlers a chance to hook up to the load before they dart off.

Did I mention eating?  We found a Brazilian Grill and I had steak and Dede had bacon wrapped chicken which we split.  We ordered a $5 fresh French fry which was to die for.  So hot and so fresh.  And we topped it off with fried apple slices with ice cream and Carmel.  I just gained 5 lbs more as I rehearse in my mind the good food we ate.

We spent most of our time in the history area.  Thursday is school day and there were many busses and so people were doing crafts or running old machinery, or playing a pump organ, or signing up recruits for the state army while shooting off guns.  One man was drilling holes through logs that can be used for plumbing.  They last for 100's of year if they stay saturated.  Another group were hewing logs with axes.  This is fun to watch the beams will be used to build additional sheds.  Another man was simulating making maple syrup.  There were 1000's of artifacts to be seen.  Many were old farm tools or equipment.  Some not that much older than equipment my grandfather used to farm and I loved looking at this equipment and comparing them to what I remember about his farm. The school children had assignments of what to find and what to learn.  I think many enjoyed it.  We recognized people we spoke to last year or at least watched doing their parts last year.  There is really something to be said about such a fair.  Attended by many from VT and NH but run by Tunbridge locals who take such pride in their world's fair.  It is probably sad that I did not attend the county fair or the state fair in Idaho, but I must admit, I did not feel and see the history there, like I feel in Tunbridge.  

We were at the site by noon, so the Buswells could get to Boston for the sox-yankees game.  They should have made it.  We had some great guests.  In fact we were busy most of the day, so I finally let Dede take a group while I put up a few lights.  

A few pictures from the fair.  Oxen pulling a log in the first picture.  We spoke to the organist for several minutes.  In his suit he reminded me of an undertaker.  Although his love for organs reminded me of David Perry back home.  Although David is much younger. Many pieces of equipment driven by old gas engines.   Creating hewn beams with axes is quite the art and the men were very good at it.  I included machinery they had running.  Such Yankee ingenuity!  The 9th picture is a rock sled.  So important in Vermont with all the rocks that needed to be moved using oxen.  The last picture showing all the school busses.

15-September-2023-Friday

Today one could feel the bite of fall in the air.  It was not cold, but for two days we have been only in the high 60's instead of 70's and 80's we have had all summer.  We had a few minutes at the first so that I could put up a few strings of lights.  However we then had a steady stream of people into the site.  We had two nonmember couples who were delightful.  We also had a couple from Blackfoot who recognized me from the temple.  That was fun!  At the same time another couple from Idaho who knew people we knew.  It was fun even if we did not get lights up.  

Elder Knudeson had a memorial dinner for his grandfather who always had a corn and hamburger dinner and he read a tribute to his grandfather.  That was so fun.  We did not get food until after 1:30, but it was so good, so there could be no complaints.

We got home and I was ready for a nap, but Dede wanted to drive 1.5 hours south to Shelburne Falls Mass. to see the Bridge of Flowers.  We compromised.  I slept on the way down and succeeded in enjoying myself despite the fact I was not working on my document.  It was actually very nice and the document is not more important than Dede.  The bridge had once been a trolly bridge and when the trolly shutdown, someone thought it would be nice to have a walking bridge with flowers planted on it.  They were correct.  We also went to the falls in town, which like so many falls in NE is now a dam.  The falls was still nice and also interesting are the potholes in the rocks that they claim were created by glaciers.  I have seen these in Switzerland.  Basically as the glaciers melted, there would be waterfalls inside of the glacier that would hit the scared (from the glacier) rocks and then causing these holes.  I would guess there would be more of the around, but buried under the earth and only found here where the river had removed the dirt from the bedrock.  I do not think some might have been caused by the falls also.  I am sure someone could tell the the difference.  On the way home we saw the coolest rock library so we stopped to look at it. (First picture below.)

We are home late, and I am starving.  I have been starving as of late.  I think because I have stopped eating chocolate, I am actually digesting my food instead of just lazily living off refined sugar.  I know I have had to tighten my belt.  That is probably good.  Better would be to be forced to buy a new belt along with new pants, but that would probably take more discipline than I have.  

Pictures from today.  Of the bridge, the falls, the potholes, the library in town, the library in a different town (1 and 2)and my wonderful wife.

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16-September-2023-Saturday

Spent the morning working on the document.  Dede encouraged me to work hard on it and I felt like I made some progress both in writing and in drawing maps and transcribing the Solomon Mack Deed.

Dede shopped and spent time with Lyndee via FaceTime who was home alone as Ian had two baseball games and Hailey a swim meet.  Anna is taking care of them as Danielle and Eric are at a work event.  Love how they work together.

After a wonderful lunch, we had a very busy day at the site.  There was only  20 minutes when there was not at least one group there and often we had multiple groups.  Almost felt like a summer day.  That was pleasant and fun.  I did not have time for Christmas lights, but have realized again, I am not here to put up Christmas lights, but to visit with visitors.  Well Duh!  Who would have not thought of that earlier!

We need to get our hours fixed.  The church site and google maps show us closing at 5 pm instead of 6 pm.  I fear we have people not coming in the last hour.  We normally wait until after leaf season to change to 5 pm as the first weeks of October are our busiest weeks of the year.