Good morning, and welcome back!! I hope yesterday wasn't too confusing with three January's all wrapped up into one blog post. Because, today is a new day and we will be tackling February 2021, 2022, and 2023!! So, buckle up and hold on, because here we go!!
FEBRUARY 2021
Nathan got sent on a business trip to Turkey during February 2021. Before Covid the trip would have lasted four weeks, but post Covid, it meant that it was a six week trip with two weeks being spent in solitary confinement. Ya know, paranoia right after Covid was rampant and a lot of people went into overkill. No one needs to suffer with two weeks of solitary confinement. Nathan says it felt like he was in a Turkish prison because he wasn't allowed to leave his room for the two weeks of Covid confinement. Which, by the way, he did not have Covid, and never had Covid while he was there, was tested for Covid before he left, tested for Covid when he got to Turkey, tested for Covid when he arrived at the barracks, and then tested for Covid at the end of the two week Covid confinement. Lets just say it was not a fun time (and he still has never had Covid).
This is Nathan in front of the Euphrates River in Erzincan Province, Turkey
This is Nathan's room in the "Yotel" in Istanbul Airport. They loved the color purple.
Flying over the Bosphorus Strait on his way to land in Istanbul, Turkey
Some kind of Turkish pizza. He says it was, "okay."
On the road up to the mine in Copler, Turkey.
Beautiful scenery on the drive up to the mine in Copler.
Same drive, the scenery was very beautiful and it looked a lot like Utah. I really love the cloud formation.
More scenery on the drive to the mine.
The "back yard" of the barracks that he stayed in. That is the Euphrates River in the background.
The food they served in Turkey. Nathan asked the workers if the chef was sadistic and once they translated it, they all said, "yes."
Another view of the Euphrates River.
Sunset view of the barracks and the river.
Scenery along the drive at sunset.
Friendly little kitty that he took a picture of for me.
It looks like it was a friendly little kitty.
Local grocery store in Copler.
The barracks he was staying in.
This is the mine. This is what is called the thickeners.
Meanwhile in Utah......
We were still living in Bountiful and still had ZERO plans on moving. Well, at least I didn't. I think Nathan had mentioned the desire to move a couple of times, but I always told him that it would take an act of God to get me to move and the next move I intended to make was to the graveyard. See, I absolutely hate moving, like really, really hate and despise moving. So literally, it would take an act of God for me to move..... (unless you have two "Karen's" (no offense to the lovely Karen's I do know) who cause trouble, and then you decide to look at 40 acres of property in Vernon, Utah that has a little dirt road that runs through the middle of the property, meaning that you could build your house smack dab in the middle of the property with access to a road and then no matter how many people moved in, you would have a 40 acre buffer between you and them (no offense to my 9 wonderful next door and back yard neighbors, you aren't the problem). Said 40 acres is near the Dougway Geod beds and other fascinating rocks, so the prospect of having 40 acres to rock hound on is very tempting, and if we had the money...... Okay, so apparently I can be talked into moving without an act of God, all it takes is rude neighbors and the prospect of 40 acres that I could spend my days rockhounding on. But once on that 40 acres, THEN it would take an act of God to get me to ever move. Heck, I would probably get the permits so I could be buried on the property. It's a really good thing we don't have the money.....
The Sugar Gliders were being adorable.
I got my food storage all organized and looking nice.
I finished the yellow nativity camel.
The yellow camel and wise man. I was having so much fun painting these things.
Sugar Dust being her adorable, cute, and cuddly self.
Got the red wise man done.
Well, that wraps up February 2021. Onto February 2022. We're not in Bountiful anymore (don't worry, we'll get to the story of why we moved in a couple of months).
FEBRUARY 2022
So, the windows in our new house were very old. One of the bedrooms had a whole pane just fall right out. We did some looking around and found a program and luckily enough our windows were old enough that we met the criteria for the program.
It's a really good thing that it was a mild winter because having all of your windows replaced in February was not fun. Our heating bill drastically went down after all of the new windows were put in, so that was nice.
I somehow managed to stab myself in the ear with a tree branch while I was cutting out all of the overgrowth and brush. FYI: This is just the beginning of my injury count.
That's what nerve damage will do to you. Earlier in 2023 I was officially diagnosed with foot drop and now supposed to wear a special brace when I walk, "supposed to" being the operative word. I do wear it when I'm out working in the yard or have to go places and run errands. I just can't bring myself to wear it in the house though. I still like being in by bear feets.
And finally, February 2023
FEBRUARY 2023
So, it turns out that I am terrible at taking photos, especially of humans.
My little Puff-puff. We had them inside for a while, mostly to get them used to the house and it being associated as home with the plan to have them become outside barn cats once spring hit. Unfortunately I haven't seen Puff-puff in months, I'm guessing that "Karen's" probably carted off with him too. And yes, I will get to the story of how we got Puff-puff and Leche when we get to the right month.
My sweet little Leche. She went into heat earlier than I had expected......
I love my Sugar Dust.
We went up to the Layton, Utah temple and took some pictures. Speaking about the Layton temple, I have some exciting news!! This morning I was officially called AND set apart as a temple worker for the Layton Temple!! I am so excited!!
Well, we have come to the end of February. I hope you have enjoyed this little trip down memory lane. Today was a hard day to get this all put together and done. I began writing this post at around 9 am, it's almost 7 pm now and I'm just barely wrapping things up. Usually it only takes me about an hour or so to get a blog post put together and posted, but for some reason (I blame the storm) our internet was slower than molasses on a winter's day and it took ALL DAY just to download the pictures. Hopefully the internet will cooperate with me tomorrow. So, until then, be safe on the roads, and I will look forward to sharing March 2021, 2022, and 2023 with you all in the morning.
