The Big Burn and Beyond...

Our boss, Mark,  has been watching the weather very closely and he knows the wind patterns here in Missouri.  He said he thought the conditions would be favorable to do our burning on Thursday, March 8th.  The day began cold and sunny with slight breezes from the northwest.  Perfect!

We drove to Hauns Mill with the intention of burning the grass and weeds from the north side of the field.  We gathered our rakes while he started the fires going with his propane torch.  We each worked a section--keeping the fire going more than containing it.  I only had to stop it once to keep it from igniting a dry cedar tree.  The rest of the time it would burn itself out unless we kept bridging it with dry, dead mulch.  After about three hours, we had completed our burn there.  It is now prepared for the new spring grass to sprout and grow.  It will not need to be reseeded.

Next we traveled to Far West to burn the fountain grass around the fence and the weeds around the sanitation pond.  Burning is allowed in the country and is much easier way to prepare for the spring and summer growing seasons.  The fire was spectacular and quickly burned the grass.

It is ALWAYS windy at Far West so we were truly blessed to have a calm hour to get this work done.

Just as we were finishing up the pond burn a small gust of wind fanned our fire.  It took all of us to keep it from quickly spreading to the rest of the dry grass.  Now we understood Mark's desire to have all of us together for this project.  If the wind conditions change, everyone is needed.

Directly after the pond burn, the wind was calm again.  I took this picture of Mark carrying the hose to make sure the grass fire was totally out mostly because the flag by the temple lot monument was NOT fluttering.  We've never seen it still before.

After we finished we our fires, we drove up to Adam-Ondi-Ahman to return the cherry-picker lift.  We got to see inside the fabulous shop that the missionaries use there and Mark showed us around a bit.  He is very good friends with the missionaries there.

Kristen, Steve and Mark pause for a picture beneath the jib crane at Adam-Ondi-Ahman. Steve loved
the amazing workshop.

This is a picture of the shop buildings from the nearby home where the director missionary couple
stays.

Then Mark drove us down another road to show us the woodshed.  Any trees that come down or need to be taken down are split into wood and stored here.

We found out that the white oak used in the Kansas City Temple for trim all came from the trees at
 Adam-Ondi-Ahman.

This week on our rounds, we saw this little possum beside the dirt road on our way to Hauns Mill.

These are the typical Missouri March scenes as we drive through the countryside.

We see an occasional green field where the winter wheat is growing.  It is a big contrast to the yellow and brown fields that covers most of the area.  Below you see the terraces creates to stop erosion when it rains.  We are told we are in a drought as we haven't seen any rains that would cause fast erosion.

This old barn is located on Far West Road, one of the dirt roads that leaves the Far West area.

On our Friday rounds, we took a few minutes and drove to see some of the historical markers in Richmond near the Pioneer Cemetery we maintain with the historical marker honoring the Three Witnesses.  The Whitmer Family lived the rest of their lives in Richmond and many are buried in that cemetery.  David Whitmer is buried in the Richmond city cemetery.

Records show 46 church members were housed in the Ray County Jail marked at this location. In total 64 church members were incarcerated in Richmond at one time or another.

This picket fence marks the spot of the old log house (temporary jail) where Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Parley P. Pratt, Lyman Wight, Amasa Lyman and George W. Robinson were held.  After being arrested at Far West, they were taken first to Independence and then Richmond.
It was during there stay in this log jail that Joseph Smith rebuked the guards for their foul language and treatment.  After the "mock court of enquiry," before judge Austin A. King, Joseph Smith and 6 others were ordered to Liberty Jail in Clay County to await trial. The town of Kingston was named for this Judge who later became the governor of Missouri.

David Whitmer's successful Livery Stable was believed to be located on this site about a block and a half from his home.  The marker indicating his home site is shown below on the red brick building.

On Saturday morning, Steve rested his foot at home, while I made a visit to Aunt Inge.  She always loves the chocolate I bring her.

In the afternoon, we decided to take a short excursion to the Kansas City Central Library.  This book exterior is quite unique and surrounds the parking garage for the library across the street.  We were told to check it out before the leaves on the trees block a lot of the view.

The library is a beautiful structure and there was a cowboy display in the upstairs display area featuring a lot of cowboy memorabilia.  There was quite a trade between Kansas City and the northern part of Texas.  The wealthy ranchers families would travel to Kansas City so their wives and families could purchase nice, fashionable clothing and goods and transport them back to their homes in Texas.

Sunday after church, we hosted two couples who from our branch who are doing graduate work in KC.  Both are expecting their first babies.  I guess it was a pleasant experience as they stayed and visited for 3 hours.  The Clives and McArthurs are fun, faithful young couples with a great future ahead.

Monday night we attended the senior missionary FHE where there was a Mexican dinner theme.  I made a big bowl of my homemade salsa and brought lettuce too so that Steve would have options without a lot of meat and cheese.  The meat was easy to avoid.  The cheese was a little trickier but we both did pretty well.  Afterwards we played a game identifying quotes from the last general conference and matching them with the speaker.

On Tuesday, we were assigned to travel together with the Briggs to do some repairs and heavy lifting.     We took moving blankets to wrap around the furniture but initially we held them on our laps to keep ourselves warm.  It was so cold that morning.

Our entire day was changed when changing this light bulb in the parking lot of the Platte City chapel, we discovered electrical problems that needed immediate attention.  After working the entire morning on the problem and purchasing parts from a local store, we had to contact Mark's brother-in-law, an electrician, to come and help us out.  We finally got it fixed so that the Relief Society would have parking lot lights for their R.S. birthday party event that evening and the seminary students would arrive to lights in the early morning.

The other assignments for the day were moved to the back burner, so we ended up eating our lunch on a little table on the stage instead of in the truck.  Here is the lunch bunch!

This was the steep staircase Steve had to climb to get to one of the electrical panels.

We moved our heavy lifting work to the next day and had to accomplish it with three instead of five since the Briggs had to do rounds.  Here Steve and Mark assemble very heavy white boards at the Atchison Branch.  Unloading was easier than loading since we could open the boxes and bring in the materials piece by piece.  Yahoo!

When we arrived at the Leavenworth chapel to remove the table and make some repairs, we appreciated the young missionaries who were having a district meeting.  It was much easier to load the heavy table with their help.  We were told that it would take five people to move it.  When we got back to the shop, Steve and I were able to unload it all by ourselves.  We had to rest a lot and take it slow, but we made it.

As we drove from Leavenworth to Atchison, we got our first glimpse of the infamous Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary.  It is a big, old complex.

That night as we were preparing dinner for the elders, we were able to enjoy this beautiful sunset from our from windows.  We have quite a few nice sunsets here in Missouri.

We don't know how much longer we will have Elder Jones, with the bright turquoise tie, in our branch as he is waiting for his visa to the Dominican Republic so we decided to take a picture.  Once again, we got a tall missionary!

On Thursday, we had to do some work at Gallatin chapel.  While returning the ladder to the members' closet, we discovered a leaking faucet and there was water all over the floor.  We mopped it up and the guys fixed the leak.  Sister Briggs took this photo of me drying the water on the floor with an old towel.  She titled it twisting with the oldie and requested music.  Ha!

Friday was a slicker day.  It was raining pretty hard when we left for our rounds, so we all grabbed slickers from the office.  Here is Sister Briggs modeling hers.

Our first stop was the Independence Visitor's Center where Elder Briggs worked on an electrical issue, changing a ballast, while Steve worked on a clogged sink in the same room.  This is a little kitchen where the missionaries eat and take a break.

Towards the end of our rounds, we decided to stop by Hank and Tank's BBQ in Hamilton.  It is another one of these "hole in the wall" local places that is only open Thursday through Saturday so our options for checking it out are limited.  Here is the smoker out front where they smoke the meat.

Inside we met two missionary couples from Adam Ondi Ahman or AOA as we call it.  One couple had been in the mission for two days.  We chatted throughout our lunch.  They told us about a bakery up the road where they purchase cinnamon rolls and frozen chicken pot pies.  Of course, we had to stop.

We purchased this warm, just frosted, loaf of cinnamon bread, which I had to hold on my lap all the way back to Independence.  I didn't even cheat and taste the frosting.  We knew we were having guests that night so we saved it for the Stringhams.

My sister, Cathy, and her husband Clay arrived about 3:30 Friday afternoon.  They are on their way to Louisiana where they will serve as CES missionaries for the next 18 months.  We were excited that they chose to travel the northern route and stop by for a brief visit.  They really wanted to see Adam-Ondi-Ahman and a few historic sites here plus see us of course.  We took them by our office/shop so they got to meet our administrative assistant, Cheri, and see where we meet every day to have a daily prayer and receive our assignments for the day.

Then we went to the Independence Visitor's Center to see the new movies regarding the translation of the Book of Mormon that have been out about two weeks.  Our visit there was great and we really enjoyed the movies.

We were lucky enough to introduce them to some of our missionary friends, including Elders Jones and Thompson who were there to meet some investigators.  That was fun!

We got a pretty early start the next morning as Clay was especially interested in visiting Adam-Ondi-Ahman.  We stopped to introduce them to our friends and co-workers, the Briggs and then headed to Liberty Jail to give them the back tour before it opened.

Our drive north to AOA, afforded us the opportunity to make a brief stop at Slavinski's for fritters and old fashioned donuts-our first real treat in almost a month.  They loved them, of course.

We showed them the spots our boss Mark showed to us at AOA and stopped by this small cemetery inside the AOA.  It was called Everly Cemetery.  People are buried there who settled immediately after the Mormons were driven out.  The small town of Cravensville, started by a Dr. Craven, who was instrumental in forcing the Mormons out, died a quick death after the railroad came through about two miles north.

Tower Hill has a parking lot and a trail to a couple of view points.  We love this sacred place. We were the only people around and it was so peaceful and quiet.

Here are two sisters on the "right" path.  It was a joy to see this sacred place and share this experience together with my sister, Cathy.

   Here is one of the newly opened view points.

We drove them through the pathetic town of Kingston which hosts the Caldwell County Courthouse.

We also stopped for this photo in Hamilton, the quilt city, that employs people for miles around and was started by a Mormon lady, Jenny Doan.  Cathy has good friends who are quilters hence the photo.

After that we headed home for a late lunch and a quick departure.  They needed to get on the road.  It was sad for me to watch them drive away.  Visiting those sites with my sister was truly a highlight for me.  I'd say it was my best "P" day ever!  I enjoyed cooking our meals and sharing easy vegetarian recipes with Cathy since Clay prefers not to eat meat.  He is pretty committed to avoiding meat since he hasn't had any kidney stones since removing that from his diet.  Good for him-challenging for Cathy.

Steve gave a great talk in church today on Humility with only one day's notice.  He always does such a nice job presenting.  He really kept everyone's attention and adapted his remarks to some visitors in the audience. 

Today, we gave the finished quilts to our two branch couples who are expecting babies.  I had hope to give them their gifts last Sunday, but I wasn't quite finished.  Steve delivered them after church.  I love giving homemade quilt type gifts.  There is a lot of love sewn into them.