We've Moved!

We found a wonderfully built, nice little house to move into. Julie and I began this past weekend and we will continue moving throughout the month of January. Most of it will be moved this week, with Jeff and I getting the heavy stuff this Saturday. Jeff has a nice bedroom, a clean, large bathroom, and a room for our computers and his video systems and TV. The front room and our bedroom are nice. The only real draw-back is how small the kitchen is. There is more counter space than the last place had, but much less cabinet space. It does have a nice, large pantry, however.

Here is the Living Room.

Here is the master bedroom looking south and then north.

Wind, Snow, and Icicles

We are in the midst of our first, real, winter storm. The high temperature between Friday afternoon, December 28th , and now, Monday at noon, December 31st, has been 22.3 degrees, with a low of -1.4 degrees. As a matter of fact, church was canceled yesterday because people in the outlaying areas couldn’t get to the meetings. On the back side of the house we just moved into is an icicle of biblical proportions. Literally, it is approaching 6 foot in length and has a diameter exceeding that of my arm. It has been formed from snow melting around vent pipes on the roof, flowing down the roof, under the existing snow, (thus it is insulated and stays warm enough to flow down the roof,) and then re-freezing as it runs over the eave of the house. If the temperature doesn’t jump up over freezing in the near future, this icicle should reach the ground fairly soon. It’s completely amazing how quickly these melt. One day at 35 degree or more and all the icicles are gone, even the big ones like this. We’ll keep you updated.

This picture is looking out our back door. Normally there is an incredible view of the Camas Prairie and on up the mountains to Iron Mountain, the highest mountain around us. We couldn’t see across the neighbor’s yard with the snow coming down and the wind blowing. Of course, the City roads are not plowed on Sundays, so getting around was very, very tough. The wind picked up the snow and drifted it across the roads so that they just disappeared from sight, and in places, they would be 18” to 24” deep in snow.

Jeff, Julie, and I went to see a movie on Friday night; August Rush. It was so incredible, we left a Christmas party early on Saturday night so we could see the movie one more time. The movie critics panned it terribly. I found it litterally spoke to my heart. A muscian had to have written it. I could totally relate and understand it at a deeply personal level. When I read what the critics had to say about it I thought of the words of Nephi: "Wo unto them that ... revile against that which is good, and say that it is of no worth... For behold at that day shall [the Devil] rage in the hearts of the children of men, and stir them up to anger against that which is good." (2 Nephi 28: 15, 20.) I think we're seeing the fulfilment of this directly in front of us; something wholesome, fun, and spiritually moving is just torn apart by the critics. EVERYONE NEEDS TO SEE THIS MOVIE.

One of the Reasons We Love Idaho.

Today, on our way home from Twin Falls, coming up out of Gooding and heading into the mountains separating the Gooding Valley from the Camas Prairie, we encountered what at first looked like a few Antelope. We stopped and took some pictures of them. As we drove about 200 yards further, it became aparent that there were a lot of Antelope. I got out of the car and walked over to the top of a little rise about 250 yards from the road, from there I could easily see 300 antelope scattered across the adjoining hillside and down through a little valley leading eastward. They were out in the sun grazing on the grass that hadn't been covered with snow yet on this side of the mountains. It was simply spectacular. I had never seen an antelope in the wild prior to coming to Idaho. I have never seen that many of any wild mammal all in one place at one time. It was awesome.

Let's set Xmas Straight.

I can dstinctly remember when I was a little boy seeing my mother write "Xmas" on something and asking her what it meant. She said, "It's just a quick way to write Christmas." I thought it was like a secret code that my mother knew. I thought it was the coolest thing I had ever seen.

Several years later, I happened to read a Christmas short story containing the following lines in it:

She glanced at the banner hanging from the ceiling—Merry Xmas!—and sadly added to me, “The world has taken Christ right out of Christmas.”

I immediately thought to myself, "I will never use that abbreviation again. I wanted toh onor Christ in the season and show the world that I loved and worshiped Him.

A couple of years later, I learned the truth behind the abbrviation and discovered that in actuality, the X is not an X, but instead, is the 22nd letter of the Greek alphabet "Chi." It is the first letter used in the Greek word "Christos", or Annointed, as in the chosen King. As in Jesus Christ. The faithful Christians of the first cerntury were persecuted far beyond what we can comprehend. (Think of the saints vs. the lions for one thing.)

It was physically dangerous and life-threatening to be a Christian. The early Saints began tattooing Chi, which looks like the English "X" (see the above greek "Chi,") on the lower palm of their right hands to signal to other Christians that they were believers. This way they could identify each other and thereby feel safe around each other.

Once the Romans discovered this tattoo, it became an instantant method of rounding the Christians up to dispose of them. Litterally hundreds and hundreds, if not thousands, of early Christians died for the honor of having the initial of Christ on their right hand.

In honor of those masacred, the early church used the initial "Chi" when writing Christ, not as a means of shortening it, but as an honor to those who died for and because of the faith, thus honoring the Savior and the faithful martyrs at the same time.

I have chosen to not write "Xmas" when I write about Christmas, but I have chosen to thank the Lord for the faithful forefathers who gave their lives for their faith whenever I read it.

The Cold Has Arrived!!!

On Thursday of this past week, Julie and I went out to the car to go to work; it was one degree outside. By the time wee had gotten into work (1 hour and 15 minutes later,) it had risen all the way to three degrees. (Now that's Fahrenheit, not Celcius.) The clodest temperature in Fairfield this week was -9 degrees. (By the way, just in case you are sitting there and wondering, that's very, very cold.) Whether we want it or not - Winter has arrived and there is no turning back now.

On a more positive note, Christmas is around the corner as well. Our little town has decorated itself and it looks wonderful, especially at night. Could you imagine an Oregon town hangingg christmas lights, weaths, snowflakes, and bells throughout town. The little high school also has a Secret Santa drawing. All of the teachers and kidsinthe high school enter their names and get drawn. With Oregon being the "Land of the Liberals," could you imagine the monsterous uproar that would be caused by something like this? The ACLU would be here filing suits and injunctions. One more reason we're happy to be here in Idaho. The freedom to worship without crack-pot, liberal, nut-cases making a huge stink about everything.

More Abandoned Idaho.

Sitting on the Camas Prairie all by itself, 2 miles south and 4 miles east of Fairfield, in the middle of a farmer's field, is the original Camas County School Building. It is very interesting as it is made of hand-cast, hand laid-up adobe. To be honest with you - it is a scarey place to stand in and around as it moves, creeks, and groans loudly with the wind. It appears that there are very minimal foundations, which long ago began to crack and break, as evidenced by the voids and cracks criss-crossing the block wall. What is amazing, is that most of the the adobe is in great shape; like they could be re-used today.

You can see the big North wall boarded up now. It is a huge glass wall made of possibly 100 or more 2' x 2' panes. There are only two or three missing now. It was a single room school with a captains-ladder in the middle leading up into the bellfry above. The old original ladder is in bits and peices with only the sides still whole and semi-usable. I'm not sure when this buidling stopped being used. The old unused school building here in town has a date on the front of 1897, so use of this one would have been discontinued about that time, I would imagine. On a warmer day, I will spend more time here and get better pictures of the adobe to share with you.