Per Perkins Perhe: Conquering the Wifi Dragon

And as most good weeks do for me, this one started at DI. I found such good stuff, and I stayed for four hours. Possibly a record for me. I had to go to the DI in AF because that is the only Utah County DI that is open on Monday. Because of the Covid changes, several DIs have various policies, not sure why, but I headed north. I got Dad this working DeWalt drill for 15, I found a red bread mixer like the one I paid $250 for, in a slightly smaller model for $8, and a red toaster oven for $5.

I found a lot of stuff and spent 100 bucks, possibly also a record, except for large furniture items.

This made me laugh. It doesn't happen often, but I figure its for a good cause, a lot of job training, general employment and employment of otherwise unemployable people, so no worries.

Sam recovering from surgery has its benefits too. He is bored which means I am getting an occasional call, like I did on Monday. Here he is with my namesake Abigail Paula.

I also made my first vegan tamales. This doesn't look so great, I still have a lot to learn, but they were delicious. Better than I had hoped. Yeah.

On Tuesday morning at 6, I joined Ann Shumway and Bonnie Harmon for a hike in Payson Canyon up to Mapledell. Ann's dog Kiva (the Finnish word for nice) came along too.

After that I had a Relief Society Activities Committee meeting.

Followed by a very small art group gathering.

And we managed to have a great time anyway.

Andy came by when he got off work to help Dad with his WiFi issues at the house. He does a lot of that in the schools he oversees. And amazingly he does it all from his computer at his desk.

He gave Dad some good ideas about what he needed to do to make it work after Dad got home from his Elder's quorum presidency meeting. It was great to see him.

Early on Wednesday I met up with Ann and Eileen to hike the Forbay trail up to the reservoir in Payson Canyon. The whole hillside was an interlocking mess of bike trails and foot trails, but we eventually made it to the top.

It was a lot of fun.

Of course I worked that day too, and Dad headed to Darby's to work all day, and then attend his Barbershop Chorus practice afterwards.

I am enjoying having enough room, with the addition of my new booth, to do an area of 'book store' type displays.

I also thought it was fun to roll these plaid blankets, part of which I got in Finland, to put in the fireplace wood holder.

I enjoyed seeing that Ashley is still working on cakes for her friends. The first one was made recently, the other was a few years ago, but both are stacks of discs. Isn't she talented?

On Thursday when I worked, Andy of Andy and Candice fame (they redid a mansion here in Payson and filmed it for television a few years back) came in. They just finished producing a series of them repurposing an old school in Fountain Green for their home. It was produced by the Magnolia network, and the fourth episode has recently aired with 6 more to go. He came in to get Candice a birthday gift, and then posted this picture of her on Insta the next day.

Dad, of course, was home and working around the house, in addition to his shift at the temple.

Friday morning I dropped Dad off at Darby's then headed to my favorite DI. I think its funny that the Sugar House DI has created a culture of place markers for those in line. I've pictured some of the place markers people set out to establish their place, then they leave, to visit with a friend under a tree, sit in their car, or even go to a garage sale ... The tennis ball is my place holder because I needed to go in and use the restroom. There are rocks, water bottles, wet wipe containers, etc.

After DI I met up with Laura Gray for lunch at Cafe Rio. Of course we had a great time catching up. I haven't seen her since before our last mission, so at least two years.

After leaving I drove past this mail box, isn't it amazing?

Then it was out to Day Break to see my friend Kimi's new house. She has the central unit here, three floors of adorableness, and worth more than my house. I admit the neighborhood is absolutely charming.

She's got a lot of unpacking to do, as she's been in for less than a week, but it will be magical when she is done. I'm glad she invited me to see the 'before', I can hardly wait, she is so very talented.

Meanwhile Dad was finishing up his work at Darby's.He finished mudding and taping the large bedroom and closets. He also hung 3 kitchen cabinets and finished the insulation and cement board around the bath tub, I met up with him a bit after 6 and we headed north.

To Bountiful where we were meeting up with Dianne and Bruce for Bruce's birthday, a bit belatedly, because I had run across the perfect book for him.

I had also invited Doug and Shirley, since they're so close, and we met them all at a Mexican place in Bountiful called El Matador. Here Bruce reads the book. Its called Mother ~~Goose~~ Bruce, about an egg loving Bear named Bruce, who accidentally has some goose eggs hatch on him, and they mistake him for their mother. It was so apropos that it had us all laughing, especially because Bruce was 'hamming it up' as Larsens are apt to do.

On Saturday, first thing, we went to a small warehouse sale that was being run by Carrisa Johnson, nee Capps, who was one of our missionaries. She had worked for a company that was selling a lot of online foods and stuff during the times of Covid. Since things have slowed down, they had to get rid of inventory, as some was starting to expire. Fortunately for us there were some vegan options, and we found a lot of sort of normally pricy fast vegan foods, which will be fun.

Then we ran up to Trevor's to get a modem that he no longer uses that would be useful in fixing the WiFi problem. Aren't their flowers pretty? Between Andy and Trevor's advise, and the purchase of a new system on line as Trevor and Davin had suggested, Dad was finally able to get everything working well, here. With a lot of phone help from Trevor to set up the modem and learn how to program the mesh broadcasters. It now reaches to the basement apartment with a strong signal, which will be good since my friend Lillian, who uses the internet a lot, will be moving in the beginning of September.

Penny shared her missing front teeth,

and the cute doll the tooth fairy brought her for being so brave.

Then we were off to attend the funeral of my friend Jann's second oldest child.

He was 45 and had a heart attack. Its was just heart breaking, his youngest child, a 17 year old girl wept opening and loudly through much of the service, especially through the slide show. Jann is so amazing, but none of her kids are very religious, so even though they had a pastor come and speak, I don't know how much hope this girl has of seeing her wonderful dad again. It was very clear that she had been very close to him. Its heart wrenching. You might pray for all his family, his name is Lonnie Olson.

That evening we met up with the Crumps for our Monthly dinner date. They will be released from their mission on the 17th. How crazy is that?

We ran into Sherry and Lynn Scott, whom we haven't seen for years, even though they live in neighboring Salem.

Then we walked up to the park, where Payson was sponsoring a Rock Festival that started Friday. Dad had seen the set up while running, but didn't know what it was. It turns out to be the first year for Payson, I guess Orem has been sponsoring one for a while. We lasted about a half an hour, as it was very, very loud.

Dad ran into a former salesman he had known in the business, Doug Gardine. Doug served his mission in California with Jussi Kemppainen, one of our favorite Finns.

We also saw that the Lindsey's popcorn stand was doing business. It was fun to see Wayne and Marjorie again after having dinner with them last Sunday. They brought us some of their kettle corn and Dad loved it and was thrilled to be able to get some more.

When we got home Coralee, our next door neighbor, had her granddaughter's wedding reception well underway. I love these railings she got, I think as part of the decor.

Her granddaughter loves Halloween, so she was married on the 31st and decorated that way.

It was fun to see people walking around in costume, like this viking lass.

Of course the horse skeleton in the garden was a nice touch.

On my way to the garden to pick veggies, I was able to watch my maypole dancing. I love seeing the ribbons blow, which is why I haven't taken it down.