Idaho Dislike and the Single Adults in Twin.

I figured out why I've been so disgruntled, even angry about Idaho.  It's the complete opposite of the Western Washington I lived in. 

I come from Millionaire land- literally. Many members of my ward were millionaires, they owned million and 2 million dollar homes. If they weren't millionaires they were pretty darn close to it.  Lots of people making 6 digits and often a few times over.  If both couples made that much then..well you get the idea.  The CEO of Expedia and was in the bishopric.  Other CEO's and other jobs of those in leadership positions and not in leadership positions had a lot of money. 

Almost all 274 people of my HS graduating class went to college- 16% of Idaho HS students graduate with even an AA or 4 year degree.

While I love all the animals around here: goats, sheep, cows, horses, chickens, etc.  I seriously can't stand the  stupidity of the people.  In Idaho a subsitute teacher only needs to have a HS diploma.  Of course the bigger cities want you to have a college degree- but not necessarily in teaching. In the small towns that leaves for some lame teachers- who can't tell time on the face clock or don't know what the word "soot" is or how to say it, who don't like reading out loud, who think Columbus rowed his way to America! Ya- rowed.  The best part?  The lady who believed that has and AA degree.

I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, but honestly..... it made me want to scream sometimes.

I received a Christmas present each year from the ward, usually just a picture of the temple or the years theme- not in Idaho. Got nothing. Often the RS did the same thing- a gift for Christmas and in those presidencies where they were creative and crafty a birthday gift too. Real gifts. In Idaho nothing.

Dog parks can be found in nearly EVERY city.  Seattle of course has more than 2.  Seattle and Mercer Island has a dog park on the lakes- which means swimming for the dogs. Merymoor Park has a 42 acre park with a river flowing through it with at least 3 openings for the dogs to go swim.   Twin is having to raise money- thousands of dollars for one.  Hardly anyone knows that when you take a dog to a dog park you MUST take them off leash.  That is the point!  It's neutral territory so no feelings of protecting their property and keeping them on leash leaves them less able to protect themselves and gives them the feelings of needing to protect YOU!  I'd talked to so many people  about the dog park and they won't even try! There are lame laws and lame people with the farmer mentality- keep them in a cage or in the back yard.  They know nothing of REAL dog needs or care.

Twin Falls has nearly NO single adult program to be spoken of.  Sure if your a senior citizen life is good, but not for the mid-singles. There are 3 stakes in Twin alone.  2 stakes were having dinners once a month and a speaker afterwords. My stake did nothing. I went and spoke to the stake president. WA has a SUPER program.  Check out the stuff going on there.

Now lets talk about the license plates here.  Every 7 years you have to give them back and get a new one.  And ya you have to buy it!  In WA you can have your license plate for 20 plus years. Why would anyone need to change?  Stupid.  I'm gonna guess it's about making money for the state. 

Lack of a SA program and lack of men is a problem.  The men around here work at dairy farms, cheese or yogurt factories and think it's great if they make 50K a year.  Really?  Really. I'm used to men that work at Microsoft or Expedia or Boeing some other big companies.

I've traveled the world.  Granted it's been to no Asian countries or anything south of Panama, but I have my dreams.  Idahoans think they are cool if they have been to other states.

Lots of hunters here, lots of guns and cowboy boots.  I sort of freaked out when a 8 year old told me he was shooting guns.  Ya, ya can't do that in the cities. 

I try to explain to even college educated been around the clock and when I mention millionaires their eyes get big.  I've just learned to lower my expectations about everything. 

Regardless of my stake now working on a SA program- once a month family activity for all ages at no cost to them, it will make no difference for me in the men area.  There is only a dance one a year around here, not every weekend like in WA. Firesides are just a stake president speaking, not Harvard professors or other extraordinary topics.  It's just a fireside- just come- no topic info.  It's been frustrating, but I have to except it.  It is what it is. I have no way of changing it.  They can only do what they do.

As I look at pictures for WA there is rain forest, mountains, oceans, lakes (two 5 min from my old house),and deep forests, islands, and ferries,  I went to flat land and if you want anything fun- you have to drive at least 45 min to 2 to 5 hours or more to get anywhere and honestly- there is not much that can compare.  If it does- it's on a MUCH smaller scale.  For someone who has been to Europe, Israel, and 2/3 of the states, while this farm land is quaint, it's not impressive. 

Fish: Yesterday and Today.

Gregory had a melt down today. I took Justin, Heather and Gregory to the park. G did not want to go, but walked the path and sat under a tree for a few minutes. He started walking back to the car so I had to follow, leaving the other 2 at the play ground. He didn't want to just sit in the car, he wanted to drive away. I had to walk back to J and H to let them know and make a plan. Heather came back with me and got in the front seat. G was laying in the back seat crying and hitting his head. We got the car moving and he was still upset, opened the car door once, pushed my arm with his foot and then started to really kick Heather. She started to crouch down as far as she could to protect herself, but she got a big push just as we got home. This one hurt, but she ran our the door crying and into the house and moved the rat cage. She knows about these episodes and knew she needed to get them to safety. I didn't realize what she was doing. She needed a hug and some comforting. She absolutely did the right thing and I'm so glad she did. I headed up the stairs and it was wet. Why? I looked around and the fish bowl we'd only had for a few weeks was empty on the stairs! Where were the fish? Maybe there was time to save them. I looked around and found one on the marble floor looking like it was too late. I grabbed him anyway and ran him to the other fish bowl. He was OK. I yelled to Heather and she looked for the other one. He was on the stairs. She grabbed him and did the same thing. Another fish life was saved! 4 little lives were saved. Heather is a brave girl!

When I was looking for that fish I had a flash back to year 2 at Ricks. I kept fish in the blender my mom got for a wedding present. I used that for the first semester. On the buttons I put a sign that said: And you think you have stress in your life! We re-arranged our living room around quite a bit. The fish blender stood with the other electronics in the living room and one time when moving things around and plugging things in, the blender, not normally plugged in, got plugged in with out us knowing it. Our FHE brothers came in and one of them pushed the puree button and WIZZZZZZZZZ. There was no lid on, and the water became fish soup and we found one fish eye on the table. Of course 6 female voices screamed! He was for the rest of the year branded "the fish murder".
At Christmas time I got a globe fish tank. It was round and had the continents on it. The little fish could swim in their little world. This one came with air filter and such, so I could go up with quality of fish. I got a few different ones, but one of them was picking on the other and stredding his beautiful fins. I decided I needed to take the bad guy back to the pet store. I came home for lunch, put him in a clear picture of water. I had one class and then after that I'd take him back. I'd only be gone an hour. When I came back the picture was gone! Where was he? Where was the fish? I joked about it and looked in silly places like under the couch. Mandy one of my 5 roommates came home and I was telling her about it. She was the culprit this time. She saw this picture of water in the sink and didn't know why it was there, so just dumped it out. She didn't see the yellow fish. I reached in to the disposal and pulled him out. He didn't float! I guess it serves him right, the little bully!

FISH ARE FRIENDS!

Never shave your legs in a cold river!

The summer of 1993, right before I got my mission call I went on "discovery"- a 5 week camping trip with ricks college. I decided to shave my legs in a river. BAD IDEA! Ya, see when the river is cold legs get goosebumps and when you shave them, they come off and your bleeding from every poor! Tonight I tried to do the same thing only in a bathtub and the first thing that came to my mind "never shave your legs in a cold river." I hadn't thought of that in years. My mother sucks at advice, so when we'd go to wedding showers or receptions and my mom would say to me- you give them advice, you're good at that. That's when I'd write: Never shave your legs in a cold river- or any other body part for that matter! I've now said it 3 times so you and I don't have to remember the hard way after 15 years! Good luck!