Post Pageant Activities

Our good friends Elder & Sister Huffaker got a surprise visit from their son, Mel Jr. and their grandson. They had a great couple of days roaming the Hill.

A call came in that the flagpole lights were not working on the flagpole at the Joseph Smith welcome center. So Elder Parkerson was called upon to troubleshoot and repair. You can see him here in his favorite working position. He he he.

On a quiet Saturday after Pageant was over I got to start work on a bowl. Elder Young got me started with how to do it before he left to go home. I am now going to count on Elder Huffaker ( who taught wood-shop for over 20 years) to help me create something from this block of wood. It has to be below 10% moisture before it can be turned without risk of cracking.

We got a call from a member who works for Cornell University. They had put in an experimental crop of peas. We along with a couple of wards got invited to go and pick peas! We filled two plus 5 gallon pails with peas.

And of course its raspberry time around here and the church properties abound with wild raspberry bushes. Sister Parkerson and I picked, cleaned and froze about 6 quarts of the berries. They will taste good next winter.

I discovered that the church field across from the Hill Cumorah Visitors Center had been planted in Rye. One day I was watching as this giant machine was delivered on a big truck and went out into the field. Well you know me, I just had to investigate as I have never seen anything quite like this. As I wandered out into the field to inquire as to how it does what it does, the farmer running the thing invited me in for a ride. That's me inside with the farmer.

The pictures really can't do it justice. It is huge and is called a "combine" and it has a cutterbar on the front that cuts the grain, some blowers tht blows any grain falling as it is cut into the auger, there are fingers on a big rotating arm that gather the cut grain into the auger. The auger then separates the grain from the stems. The grain gets blown into a big bin in the back of the combine and the stems are gathered and fed out the back to be bailed later for animal bedding. This machine with the "cutting head" for grain and another for corn costs over $250,000.00...

As sometimes things get delivered Elder Parkerson gets to run the fork-lift. It runs on propane and steers from the rear. This one can reach over 20' high and can shift the forks left and right. I did spend a few minutes in the yard getting used to it before actually tring to work with it. Being as heavy as it is you could do some serious damage if you are not careful.

We had a specail visit from our friends Jim and Sandy davis from Colebrook, New Hampshire. Sandy wasn't feeling well so I took Jim on a tour of the Grove. Here we are looking at one of the "adversity trees". There are many trees in the Grove that tell a story. This one has suffered much. Something struck the lower side seriously damaging the bark. Later two limbs started to grow outward from the main trunk. Then in a terrible storm the main trunk of the tree was snapped completely off. Eventaully in a rare circumstance the two limbs that had grown out sacraficed their individual growth and re-joined to form one new trunk further up. Although seriously damaged the tree lives and grows on.

Jim and Sandy davis from Colebrook, New Hampshire at the Joseph Smith Farm in Palmyra. We had a wonderful opportunity to host them overnight when they travelled through Palmyra to pick up some livestock in southwestern New York.