Give Thanks...The First Member Of Our Family To Work At Lagoon

 Between shows last month my friend and Matt and I were talking as we were known to do did between shows. I'm not exactly sure how the subject came up (I think we were talking about Pioneer Village and how things used to be...). I told him I had a relative that used to work at Lagoon and I even had a picture of him. 

I went home, took a picture of the picture ,and showed it to Matt the next time I worked.

It's a pretty amazing thing, actually.

In the picture George Richard Knight sits beside the famous 999 steam engine, an engine that is still at Lagoon and at one point was in use when Pioneer Village first opened in the 1970s. Apparently, the little engine is on display in the village at their train museum. I didn't get a chance to check it out this season...maybe next time. 

My mother's grandfather was born in Salt Lake City in 1868, only a few years after the end of the US Civil War. He passed away in 1917. I was told the picture of him and the train was taken when he and his family lived in Ogden and worked as a railroad engineer. They moved to the Teton Valley in Idaho in 1906 so the picture is over one-hundred years old. I'm not exactly sure when it was taken.

I began working at Lagoon in 1982. I've worked there, off-and-on, since then. I worked in many departments on the park, but I never worked rides and therefore, have not had the opportunity to pilot the steam engines.

Then again, I'm pretty sure my great-grandfather never dressed up as a cowboy and fell off towers as part of a stuntman troupe (among other jobs I've had there...). I'm grateful to share this legacy with a man who died almost fifty years before I was born.

Denny's...No More

 My mother-in-law asked if we'd join her for lunch this morning. We jumped at the idea. Next, we had to decide where we wanted to go. Moving away from a huge metropolitan area had its advantages, but also some disadvantages--for example, the choices of where to eat out.

We sat around her kitchen table and discussed out options. We rattled off a few places we thought might be good, then I said, "There's Denny's." 

"There's a Denny's in town?" my mother-in-law asked. "Where?"

Across the street from McDonalds. She had never seen the restaurant in the twelve months we've lived here. We decided to go to a place close to the Denny's and as we drove passed the restaurant, we noticed it wasn't there anymore. Oh, the building still exists, but the signs were gone and the windows covered.

Denny's was gone.

To be honest, we hadn't been regular customers at Denny's. We'd eaten there a few times and even ordered out once. Denny's isn't someplace we'd feel like going every week, but there were certain times when Denny's was the perfect place to go. Now, if that urge hits us. we'll need to drive at least twenty miles away to enjoy a Moon Over My Hammy breakfast or something else from their iconic menu.

At lunch we explained to my mother-in-law that when she said she didn't think there was a Denny's in town, she was technically correct. It was us who was wrong. I'll bet that restaurant had existed in that location for decades, maybe thirty or forty years. I'm sure they had valid reasons for closing--the economy, covid, staffing issues. Still...it was nice when the town had a Denny's.

Oh...The Skies

Maybe it's because for several months this summer, you could barely see blue sky due to the smoke from western fires. Maybe it's because we're having a wet autumn, but most likely, the reason views from the dusk skies above our home last week took my breath away is because they were simply beautiful.

I get a chance to see the outside world as I sit in my office chair and work my shifts. But, when the clock chimes the end of the work day, I sometimes wander outside and see the world God created. The last couple of weeks, what has greeted me as I leave the house has been spectacular.

It's only our second autumn in this new land. A year ago we were spending our "free" time organizing the house and getting things settled. Now, things are put away and we have the opportunity to enjoy our surroundings. Since we're new I don't know if the same incredible skies will befall us next fall or the autumn after that. I sure hope so.

I will never tire of seeing such things.

 

Happy Birthday, Dad...And Belated Birthday, Mom

 Each year the odds of my parents being alive (had they not passed away years ago...) diminishes. Yes, thanks to advancements in medicine, nutrition, and over all knowledge about the human condition, people can live long lives. My parents lived longer than some, not as long as others.

Had my father survived cancer--diagnosed when he was forty-nine years old--he would have turned ninety-seven years old today.

97.

That's a long time.

Almost every part of the world has changed significantly since 1924. World Wars, technological innovations, standards of living improvements...I doubt my father would recognize my world. I know he would be in constant amazement by how far we've come, and shake his head at how we keep making the same mistakes. I miss my dad...I wish I had gotten to know him better.

A few days before Halloween, my mom, had she survived her cancer diagnosis, would have turned ninety this year.

90.

That's also a long time.

Mom lived into her seventies. Boy, she was a fighter. I blogged about my Halloween tradition of carving a pumpkin and setting it on her headstone, but on the day she would have turned ninety, I didn't mention it. I blogged about something else. I got to know my mother quite well in the almost forty-two years we had together. Even though I knew her better than my father, I still miss her terribly.

I love the picture of them camping together. Mom in a skirt and dad with a camera. That smile--he was in heaven, probably because my mother said something quirky. She was like that. They loved to camp, but they grew up in a different time, we think a simpler time, but they had issues and challenges, fears and dreams. 

Many times, I've wonder what it would be like to have my parents alive today. They'd be frail, probably not able to do many things they once did. Then again, there's a good chance they'd surprise me. Happy birthday, Dad and belated birthday, Mom. Hope you're having a grand time.

Watched "The Way Way Back" The Other Day...Great Film

The other day I came across a film I had previously seen. It's been at least a few years, but it's one of those films that stays with you, it somehow attaches to your soul and you carry it with you.

I think it's because--at least for me--the show picked me up and threw me back to my early teenage years and all that that implies.

Needless to say, growing up is hard.

This film brings into focus the summer of one fourteen-year old as he tries to do so.

You may never have heard of the film, The Way Way Back. We hadn't before we one day happened upon it. We thought we'd give it a chance and I found it to be a wonderful film. The teenager is Duncan, a boy who defines the term: awkward. The way he walks, communicates with others, handles the situations that befall him all scream "awkward.". Of course, in "coming of age" stories we need to see the "before" so we can appreciate the "after" and the story is how Duncan goes from a miserable kid to a less miserable kid with some amazing memories of his first job at a water park.

The performances from the leads and secondary characters are wonderful. We hop from a dysfunctional and arduous family environment to the local waterpark where Duncan has the opportunity to be, in his words, happy. Plus, it has one of the coolest cars I've seen in a film in a long time, a classic Buick Electra Estate Station Wagon...awesome car!

I had to do a search of past blog posts to see if I had written about this film before. It surprised me that I had not. The film was just a gem. It does deal with divorce and grown men behaving like children, and it may trigger some long-buried memories of what life was like in jr. high school. If you're okay with that, I recommend this one.

The Cat's New Weapon...Snuggles

 Animals have, over the years, developed ways to make their lives better, at least, that's the conclusion I've reached. They do things that--I can only surmise--they find satisfaction in doing. And I've got some personal experience to back this up.

Our cat has resorted to...

Snuggling.

Now, each cat is an individual with their own personalities, their own patterns and norms. I'm sure there are many many cats our there who like to snuggle, just as there are many that don't. Our particular cat would at times come and sit on my chest as I lay on the bed and watched TV. He's done that for a long time. After a while, he gets bored and leaves in search of something...I don't know what. Such is the nature of cats.

However, the past couple of times I've taken a break, the cat has maneuvered to my side and snuggled up against me. It's an odd move for him.

I've stated before on this blog that I do not understand cats. I did not grow up with them in our house and have only recently lived among them. I am learning, but snuggling from this cat was a surprise.

Of course, the whole thing could change tomorrow. He may change his mind and kick me off my own bed because of something I may or may not have done, or something the cat may believe I may or may not have done. I suppose time will tell.

Yes...snuggles. Say one thing about cats, they'll constantly surprise you.

When "Find My iPhone" And Other Options...Don't Work

 We had a little incident the other day that reminded me of another little incident that happened to me a few years ago.

I could not locate my phone.

No problem--after all, there's a built-in "find my iPhone function that comes with the phone. This was a phone we use for back ups. It used to be my main phone, but I when I got a new phone (and since we no longer have a landline...), the lost phone is for emergencies when we're gone and we need a phone at home.

My son used the phone and the next day, we couldn't find it. The first thing we did was call the phone number, of course--that should fix it. We hear the ring = we find the phone The problem was, I forwarded all the calls from the old phone to my new number. That way, anyone who had only the old number would reach me. 

Not so useful if you're trying to locate the old phone.

We tried the "Find My iPhone" function, but it wasn't registered so that didn't work.

We eventually found it, but the whole experience reminded me of something that happened a few years ago. I was assigned an e-mail address from a project I was working on. When I set it up, I mistakenly used the very e-mail address as one to use if/when I needed to change the password. The only problem with that is, if you forget your password (which I did...), they will send an e-mail with instructions to re-set the password to the e-mail address on record. And if that e-mail address is the one you cannot access because you forgot the password, then you're caught in an endless e-mail loop from which there is no escape.

I found the phone. I never figured out that e-mail thing.

Win some...lose some.