Buzzards & Cats

One day, we heard from one of the farm's foremen about a deer carcass in the forest not far from our home.  Early the next morning we visited the site, hoping to get photos of some turkey vultures enjoying a venison breakfast.  When we arrived, the vultures were all perched in the treetops instead of on the carcass.  Evidently, they breakfast early.

Preparing for flight

That morning, we couldn't get any pictures of the vultures eating so we decided to return in the evening after work.

As we approached the site, we didn't see vultures in the trees or on the carcass but we saw something moving away from the deer.  It  moved like a cat but was much larger than a house cat.  We quickly started snapping pictures but it was nearly dark and this is the only one that turned out fairly decent.  That is correct.  It was a bobcat.  If you look carefully at the photo, you can see what appears to be another face to the right of the cat's face.  One of us thinks it is just markings on the cat's fur while the other one thinks it is a kitten.  We will probably never know which of us is correct and that might be better.

We returned the next evening  just before dark, and again we saw an animal moving away from the carcass, but this time it moved a little faster.  April did, however; get several photos of the curious kitty peering at us from the safety of the dirt pile.  Mike, the blue blur on the right, was unable to get out of the photo.  We think the bobcat was a little peeved at having his evening meal interrupted for the second consecutive night.

Turkey buzzard perched on a post.

Old buzzard perched on a porch.

Celebrations!

The months of November and December have been full of learning, partying, driving, working, working and working. We are getting pretty good at knowing our way around the farm and the area. We are getting much better at figuring out where we are, why we are there and where we are going. 

At the end of the walnut harvest we attended an end of harvest barbecue and had Carne Asada and Tres Leches cake which we had never eaten before. Oh my goodness, what a treat! It was fun to meet some of the farm workers and get a better idea of how many people work here on the farm.

Our next party was a Fall Festival that our ward had at the Bishop’s house. Elder and Sister Krum the other senior missionary couple serving in Chico) came with us and it was such a nice day. There were all kinds of games, crock pots full of yummy soups, and a soft ice cream machine that was in constant use. We were in charge of the potato launching game, something we had never seen before.

 In December, we attended a stake Christmas concert which helped bring the

spirit to the start of the season. 

We enjoyed a big Christmas party for the farm workers and their families. It was a nice dinner and it was fun to see all the workers with their families.

       

Everyone loved Santa (except those two and under) which was our own Elder Krum. He did a great job.

  Our ward had a wonderful Christmas party and dinner with good food, music

  and program. We have enjoyed all of these gatherings and appreciate the spirit of

friendship, fellowship and love that we have felt.

We went to Santa Maria, CA to spend a wonderful Thanksgiving with our daughter Melissa and her family. We traveled to Santaquin, UT to spend Christmas with Cherise and her family, joined by Jared and Travis from Seattle. We feel very blessed to be close enough to family to drive and spend time with them even while on a mission. Thank you Farmland Reserve! 

We have enjoyed the variety of work that we have done including putting new gutter guards on eight homes, replacing recessed CFL light fixtures with LED's, we have replaced faucets and siding and re-grouted all the expansion joints at the swimming pool. In another home there was a flood so we painted and replaced carpet. For the last month and a half we have been working on a house that is an hour away from us. We have repaired and replaced plumbing, replaced a dry rotted floor and dry wall, installed screen doors, painted, and will soon have new carpet installed. Because of the heavy rain one day the tenant of the house came home early and asked if there was anything he could do to help us. We told him he could paint and he said he had never painted and was afraid he would ruin it. We had just prepared a long hallway and it was ready to roll paint onto so we handed him the roller and taught him how to use it. When we left that day he was still painting. The next day when we arrived we saw that he had painted the entire hallway. We told his young grandson that his grandpa was a good painter. The grandson beamed with pride and so did the grandpa who kept thanking us for teaching him and telling us "you are never too old to learn a new skill.

We look forward to this new year full of service opportunities. Thanks to our family and friends for their love and support. It does make a difference to missionaries who are away from their homes :-)

Home Sweet Home

We are in Chico, CA on a Farmland Reserve mission. We decided to show you where we are and a little about our life on the farm. We live in an older home which is very charming.We have one family for neighbors and they have 6 boys (4 living at home), 1 black lab dog and 1 cat. We have humming birds and owls that we can see and hear. Here is our house:

                We drive a truck for work and we have our car here for personal use:

The first time we went to church we noticed something about this building that we have never seen on any other L.D.S. chapel. Can you tell what it is?

We live right next to the Sacramento river.

We are learning a lot about trees and we have come to appreciate their beauty even more.

We have seen some very beautiful scenery.

                                     Our next project is remodeling this house. Please pray for us ☺

We miss our family and friends but we love our mission here in Chico and for the next while we will call this home.