Jan. 22, 2007

Dear Cliff and Beattie....

It gives me joy to be able to send this blanket to Cliff.    I hope
it is the right one.   It was in the closet where Casey told me to
look, so it must be.   My memory of this blanket was faulty as I
thought it was as big as a king size bed. 

I am sorry about all the things you wish you had that Jeff was not
able to send because of space limits.  He, Carol and Casey did the
very best they could in deciding..........Jackie and I tried to
follow instructions but a lot was left up to whoever was cleaning
out which cupboard, closet, shelf or etc.    You really had tons of
things and the time was very short and pushy or it could have been
done better.

I know Casey talks to you most evenings and tells you what is going
on in the lives of the family.  She no doubt told you that our snow
blower was stolen out of the garage while we were at Stake
Conference, but that our neighbor saw the thieves, called the
police, gave them a description of the truck used and etc.   
Because of that the police caught the guys, was told where the snow
blower was, and it was returned to us within 10 hours after it was
stolen............GOOD POLICE WORK!    They asked me if I knew of
anyone who had lost a leaf blower and I realized the thieves had
taken your little blower, Cliffie, so I told them what it looked
like and they said they had it, too!    I wrote a letter to the news
paper to the Letters to the Editor department, praising the police
and our good neighbor, hoping to publicly thank them, but the news
paper didn't print it.   Anyway, I tried.    We were very glad to
get them back.    That doesn't happen very often.

Friday Mer and I heard a loud noise, sort of like an explosion, and
it turned out that the water
pipe that comes out of the house for use in the yard and our swamp
cooler, had rusted so badly that the water pressure blew a section
off the end and the water was squirting all over.   Before it blew
off it must have been leaking down the wall in soaked into the
basement and soaked the carpet in Lori's old bedroom.    Merlin shut
the water off where it comes into the house and that stopped the
flow.   However, he had to turn it on while I filled the bathtub so
we had water to flush the toilet and etc.    We tried getting
Casey's plumber, Keith Harrop, but he had had a shoulder operation a
couple of weeks ago and can't work (of course).   So, Saturday
morning I called Chris and told him our plight and he came over and
spent several hours repairing the pipe, and pulling up the carpet
and pad helping with that dreadful mess.   Fortunately, we have a
small water vacuum and I used that and got gallons and gallons of
water out.   We have a fan running on the carpet and it will take
several days for everything to dry out, at which time Chris will
come and relay the carpet.      BLESS HIS HEART.       There is
always something to be thankful for and we are thankful we were home
when it happened and that it was daylight and not dark!
And that by turning the house water off it turned off that tap.   
And that Chris has the knowhow and was willing to come and that it
was Saturday so he was off work.   Blessings along with the trials.

Well Dears, I will now go package the blanket and get it in the
mail.    Casey said you have finally reached a point where you no
longer feel like you are "pulled up by the roots", and I am thankful
for that!!         Miss having you here and LOVE YOU BUNCHES,       
      
                                                                    
                                            Robi and Mer