Wild life at Sacramento

Apparently all of my photos that I downloaded into my previous blog did not make it, so here are the missing ones.
RHB

Family History Conference at Sacramento

An Opportunity to attend a family history conference in Sacramento and visit cousins, Wanda and Pat Wright, that live in Folsom, California came last week resulting in a car trip to their home. We learned lots of new techniques to further our family history work and we came away happy after this one day conference on Saturday. On our way down to Folsom, we stopped in Redding at the factory outlet store and I purchased four english muffin rings thinking that I would treat our hosts to a homemade culinary treat sometime during our stay. After church on Sunday I whipped up the batter for some muffins for Monday morning. The trick is to let the batter ferment overnite in the frig. The pictures you see on the left are Wanda and Pat with Anita partaking of my treat. Pat and Anita seem to be quite intent upon the subject and later exclaimed of the excellent quality and flavor. Later that day we were taken on a trip to see the Sacramento Temple. We had no time to visit the interior as we planned to leave for home the next morning.

As we drove on to the grounds of the temple we noted some wildlife closeby and so here are a few shots of some wild turkeys and deer. The temple grounds a re fenced, but some how the deer seem to get into the area anyway. Well, to make a long story short we arose early Tuesday morning and began our journey homeward at 7:30. The weather was wonderful and warm as we drove up the Sacramento Valley toward Oregon. However upon reaching the Williamette Valley we began to see our traditional rain and the rainbow reminded us of the covenant our Father-in-Heaven made to his children that the earth would never again be covered with water. We arrived at Charbonneau at 5:30 pm and found that all was well at home. The next day, Wednesday, meant returning to duty at the family histroy Center and Temple Duty on Thursday morning at the Portland temple.

Hulls in Germany

It's been quite some time since I visited this site and just want to make a comment. It's the 31st of May (unreal how fast this year has gone by) and we're still enjoying Germany. Our work is keeping us very busy so we're not able to travel as much as we'd like. We're going to Crete in June/July for two weeks. Then back to the States in August. We only have 8 months until we return home. Hope all is well for everyone. Keep in touch.

Love,
Shauna and Skip

letters and Family History

Since returning from a vacation trip to Utah and Nevada noted in earlier Bolgs, I began assembling a series of letters written by my children to us as parents. Those are being preserved in document holders for reading at some future time by our children. I have also preserved letters written to my Mother regarding our activities and life at the time of the letter.

The above is an extraction from a collection of letters written to my Mother on November 28, 1977, an example of some factual details of my life at that particular time. I’m bringing this to the attention of my readers because this is part of a letter from antiquity. Your children or your parents will never have the blessing of reading about the details of ones life, unless, of course one keeps a faithful journal. That is so, because our society no longer writes letters. My grandson, Blake Brooks, who is a freshman in high school, has been reading a book for an English class called ” Fahrenheit 451 “. The author, Ray Bradbury, wrote the book some time ago where in he describes a future society of people that do not communicate with each other. They are entertained by TV, emails, video games and other methods of electronic communications. Verbal skills of communication and points of view are lost as every thing is done alone by the individual.
I suspect the author was a little prophetic as I believe that we find ourselves in similar circumstances today. So I say that letters preserved from the past are antique. They reveal the past to future generations that ,perhaps , cannot be obtained from other sources except journals. Few have the discipline to make daily, weekly, or annual entries and so future generations will know little about us.
I joined an internet site some time ago which allows one to keep a journal at their site with pictures. Interestingly, I was reminded a few days ago by the site to make some entries into my journal as I had not accessed it for some time. My journal entries, when I make them, are usually fact oriented and very little is given regarding impressions, testimony, or other esoterically oriented items. This is illustrated by the facts given in the letter above.
Since letter writing is a thing of the past, journal keeping should continue to be a priority in our lives. I know that sons and daughters who have gone on missions for the church have wonderful records of their missionary work through letter writing and they have been preserved for their posterity which is a great treasure. But after returning home, letter writing is a thing of the past. How about a thought provoking letter to a family member? Even though society doesn’t engage in letter writing any more, give it a try and buy a postage stamp. We have one good example to look to, Taunya Brooks.
P.S. Here is Blake’s commentary on the book mentioned above.:
“Let me put it this way, conflict makes people unhappy. Why have two sides to a story, that only makes people argue to make sure that their side wins. Why not just simple take one side away, every one agrees with each other. Better yet take both sides away so people don't feel stupid about not knowing much about their side. fill their heads with useless information, fill them up so they know all about it. Now they think that they are geniuses, now they can walk around happy because they know every thing about nothing. And with this sense of happiness, give them items of entertainment, e.g. Radios, TV’s, video games, cars that go 200 miles an hour. What about books? They have deferential opinions; they are conveyers of memories and things to come. A book about slavery comes out. Its an inspirational tale. It showed what slavery was like. It gives the black community a reason to feel thankful again, but what about the white people. They feel bad about the whole slavery issue. They try to denounce facts and loose the guilt. What will happen now? They are unhappy. That must not happen, it must be shut up, it must be locked away, it must burnt. They must be set ablaze, all of the books, they all have some controversy. If people ask questions, give them a new TV show and they all forget. If they try and stop us, they are criminals in our law. This is the easy way.” (Blake Brooks)

Fishing at Overton with Loren Brooks

This may not be about Family History, but it is about family and friends and so please excuse this slight deviation.

Loren Brooks, my younger brother, lives in Overton Nevada during the winter months (November – April) and on numerous occasions have invited Anita and I to join them there for a few days of fishing in the Virgin – Muddy reach of Lake Mead. On occasions, Anita’s cousin, Wanda and her husband, Pat Wright, have been invited to join us there. At this particular time, Feb 2 – Feb 6, Wanda and Pat Wright joined us at Overton for fishing with their friends from Loomis, California, Wayne and Thelma Minton. We stayed with Loren and his wife Juliana in their permanent home at the Fun in the Sun Park in Overton, while Pat and Wanda and Wayne and Thelma met us there with their motor home and travel trailer. Anita and I ,due to a family gathering in Ogden, Utah on Sunday, did not arrive until Monday afternoon. Loren was gracious to take Wayne and Pat out on the lake for a first day of fishing as we traveled from Odgen to Overton on February 2nd. Loren provided all the fishing gear and as he often says he is the outfitter, guide and instructor. By instruction, he means that his guests should obey the suggestions of the “outfitter”, i.e. when to stand up when you have a fish on, or when to take off your coat and get serious about fishing.

After our arrival at Loren’s and Julie’s, home we learned that Loren and his guest had caught 16 strippers and that a fish fry was in preparation. What a treat to join them and partake of a delicious meal.

The next morning preparations were made to return to the Overton Marina for another day of fishing. Such preparations included, gassing up the diesel pickup of Loren's, gassing up his boat, filling the fuel tank for the trolling motor and purchasing Anchovies. These preparations were made each and every day that we went to fish. The water level at the Marina is so low that all facilities that were there on our previous visits a year ago, have been abandoned. The boat ramp for launching only extends into the bay about 20 feet from the waters edge even though it more than an eighth of a mile long.

This situation caused Loren to put an extension on his boat trailer so that a sufficient water depth could be reached to launch the boat. Under such circumstances only one person could be in the boat for launching. The boat had to be motored to deeper depth along the bank so that others could board as shown in the photos above.

My first day with Loren, Pat and Wayne was great. We caught lots of fish and to have a stripper on the end of your line is a thrill. They really resist being landed in the boat. Most of the fish were of medium size, 1 – 2 pounds.

A beautiful clear day with rod holders in place and basking in the warm sun and meeting Loren’s friends on the water who caught more fish than we did was indeed pleasant and relaxing. After deciding to quit fishing, we placed the fish on the stern of the boat for filleting and packaging. Loren ran the electric filleting knife, while Wayne and I preformed the deluding of the fillet and Pat rinsed and package the fillets. To delux the fillet, means that the rib bones were removed so that the fillet is truly boneless.

After a good day of fishing there is nothing like taking our wives to a good Mexican restaurant in Mesquite, the name of which is on the menu noted in the picture above.

As we returned to the boat launching ramp each day, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, we encountered another friend of Loren, Larry Hull, who was a fly fisherman and used a one man pontoon boat with only oars to get out onto the lake. After passing our friend Larry and heading the boat to the “Meadows” area, nothing would do but for Pat to get a fish on the very first thing as our lines went into the water. When he complained that the line was going while he was reeling in, we knew he had a lunker. Sure enough, the fish weighed in at four pounds. The fish that Roy and Wayne caught could be swallowed easily by the big stripper that Pat caught. Well, it was a great day, perfect weather and as the sun set we headed for the Overton Marina.

The final day of fishing was on Thursday. The weather began to change and Friday was the day to say our farewells to a great “Outfitter” and host, Loren and Juliana Brooks. The tally for the three or four days of fishing was seventy two fish. Nor a record for the “outfitter” or the boat, but a record for three guests and for Pat who grins about his record 4 pounder and a very successful final day. Thanks, Loren, we had a great time and one that may not ever be repeated.

RHB

Super Bowl and Birthdays

At 9:00 am Friday morning with the Town Car loaded with baggage and other essentials, we backed out of the garage and headed toward Ogden, Utah. The weather was freezing fog with limited visibility. We looked forward to a 12 hour ride to David's home in North Ogden, Utah. When we got to the Dalles, the sun broke out and we had sunshine all the way to Ogden. Our HP navigator directed us to our destination with constant up dates and arrival times. We arrived at 10:15 Mountain Standard time. David and Taunya were happy to see us as they graciously waited for our arrival at this late hour.
On Saturday, we visited Geoff and Ky and their new son, Logan in the newly acquired home just a mile from David's home in North Ogden. Upon returning back to David and Taunya. home they began preparations for birthday celebrations for Charlet, Camden, and Kylene and for the Super Bowl which was to be broadcast on Sunday at 4:pm.
After Church on Sunday, guests for the birthday and the Super Bowl party began to arrive. The Arizona Cardinals gave the Steelers a scare as they lost the game. During the half time, Logan gave us a dance in front of the TV in time with the half time music. After watching the game, the birthday celebration for Charlet and Camden and Kylene began. Delicious food and was served and the honored guests opened their gifts. It was a delightful evening which afforded us the opportunity to get better acquainted with our great grandchildren, Some photos taken during the event were taken and they will remind us of this occasion

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