More birds. Sorry. They were around when I had my camera so I included a few shots in this post. I know... a little boring; but it's fun to get the shots and I enjoy seeing them. I hope you do as well.

I've been hampered the last few days by a truck that is experiencing some mysterious electrical problems. It all started last Wednesday evening when I was at my office working until well after dark -- about 9:00 I think. When it was time to go home, I started up my truck and noticed the airbag warning light on the dash did not go off. Normally, the airbag system goes through a bit of a self-diagnostic routine to make sure all systems are go and then the light goes off. This time, the light stayed on.

So I decided to pull off the road (I was still on mine property), shut off the engine and restart it hoping that it would clear itself and the light would go off. It didn't. This time, it also would not shift out of park. There is an electrical connection between the brake pedal and a gear shift lock-out mechanism that prevents shifting out of park unless the brake pedal is depressed. Normally.

This was not normal. No matter what I did, I could not get it out of park. Brute force only makes things worse in these circumstances so I tried disconnecting the battery thinking that might force the computer to "reboot" these systems and clear out the problems. That didn't work. I tried shifting with brake on... not good. With brake off... still no good. It appeared I was stranded so I called Mom and put her on standby for a rescue.

A couple of mine employees stopped by asking if they could help but there was really nothing to do. It would not shift out of park no matter what I tried.

It was getting late by this time and I had a big day the next day and really did not want to deal with a truck that would not drive so I did what was left -- I prayed. It was a simple prayer asking the Lord to help me get my truck home.

Immediately and in quite a literal way, my eyes and my brain were directed to a small rectangular cover about one-fourth the size of a postage stamp next to the shift lever. I didn't know what it was but I was prompted to pry this cover off. There was a button beneath the cover. I pushed down on button and discovered that it was a mechanical bypass of the gear shift lock-out mechanism. After starting the truck, I pushed down the button and it shifted right into drive. It was an immediate and, under the circumstances, a rather dramatic example of knowledge (what to do) revealed through the Holy Ghost. Prior to receiving that inspiration/revelation, I did not know there existed such a thing as a mechanical bypass of the electrical lock-out. I was humbled by the immediacy of the answer to my short, but sincere, prayer.

It took a few days and dollars to finally get the electrical problems in my truck identified and repaired, but it is now working as before.

Jacob is in Utah. It's quiet here. We look forward to Jacob's return but are enjoying the quietness.

Bye for now.

Love,

Dad

This is fun...

See more funny videos and TBT Videos at Today's Big Thing.

This post is a few days late... and the photos are several weeks old. As you can see, these pics were taken on a hike in the Sabino Canyon area north of Tucson with Anna and Spencer. It was a fun day in a beautiful place.

The desert is an "acquired taste" for many people, but having grown up among the prickly pear, mesquite and saguaros, it's in my blood. I think I am drawn to the textures of the desert landscape. I love a beautiful forest, but I always feel like the textures of a desert -- at least the Sonoran Desert -- are far richer and more varied than the textures of the forest. Some people are put off by the blander colors of a desert (especially in a prolonged drought like the one in which we find ourselves at present), but I think the richer desert textures compensate for the lack of rich colors.

And actually, if one looks more than passingly at a desert landscape, one will find rich colors indeed. I refer to the vibrancy of almost every species of cactus blossom, the colorations of the various kinds of rocks and minerals visible in a desert, the depth of blue found only in a dry desert sky, the pure colors of desert wildlife such as a quail or fox or even a lizard's skin upon close examination.

I also like the cleanliness of a desert that stems from its aridity. There's not much mud in a desert, even immediately following a monsoon rainstorm.

So much for my musings on nature.

We are preparing for Jacob's departure. He will be spending June living with Mom's mom in Mapleton and doing some kind of occasional or regular work for his Uncle Ed. This will be the longest Jacob will have been away from home. Somehow, I don't expect him to be homesick. I think he is looking forward to getting away from the parents (or the payrents, as Spencer likes to call us).

Despite the occasional dustup, I have admired Jacob's patience in living alone with his parents. I think Mom and I have mellowed considerably since our earlier parenting years, but it must still be a bit of a challenge for Jake to have only his parents at his home. Sally comes around regularly and does yeoman's service as a sort of buffer or insulator, but most of the time, it's Jake and his parents rubbing against one another exclusively. The friction overheats the relationship once in a while. But overall, Jake does admirably with his "only child" status.

Our new back lawn was planted last Thursday. It's germination period was described in the packaging as between four and seven days. I've been watching intently for the little shoots of new grass but haven't seen any yet. It's been five days as of this afternoon (Tuesday). Perhaps tomorrow morning there will be a green sheen visible. I still harbor fears of the critters wreaking havoc with the new shoots -- rabbits, birds or ants. I'm hoping that once it sprouts, it grows fast enough to overwhelm any potential enemy of young green plants.

Thank you all for your comments to my last posting. There is clearly some "journal value" to a blog posting, but the real satisfaction comes from knowing one has readers and that the post generates some kind of response among the readers one cares about.

Take care of yourselves. Be safe. Take care of your little ones, if you have some, and get some little ones, if you don't. That's where true happiness lies.

Love,

Dad

I seem to be falling into a pattern of including a few recent photographs with a brief explanation of how they relate to current events in our lives.

First, however, I must express a small degree of disappointment to have received only one comment from my children attached to my last post. I suppose I equate readership with comments and, therefore, conclude that only Whitney read my last post. For that, Whitney, you put yourself in position to receive the greater share of whatever I leave behind when it comes time to leave this good earth. Of course, that may not amount to much, but it will be the thought that counts. The rest of you can, if you put forth the necessary effort, place yourselves back into my good graces (and my will) by leaving some trace of your reading of my posts either by direct comment or, for more discreet sentiments, direct e-mail responses will be acceptable. I was doubly disappointed to see such meager readership after taking the trouble to add a game of "Hangman" to my blog. If you get bored with the reading, you can at least play a game or two of Hangman and feel truly fulfilled for visiting my blog site.

Now on with the post... Jake and I worked like prison dogs yesterday to complete the sprinkler system in our new back yard lawn. I've included a picture above to give you some idea of the manual labor involved with digging trenches, assembling PVC pipe and joints and installing and testing the sprinklers themselves. We were hoping to actually plant grass yesterday, but the wind came up and I didn't want our lawn to be "scattered to and fro by every wind of doctrine" before it even got the chance to take root and grow.

But the watering system works as intended as I discovered by running it through a day-long test cycle. A secret to a new lawn is keeping it moist continuously while the baby shoots are tender to prevent the searing sun and dry winds to kill the young plants. I think this system combined with the frequency of irrigation programmed into the timer will be what the lawn doctor ordered.

Mom has returned to us just in time for Mother's Day. Spencer and Anna shared the weekend with us and Sally, T.J. and Rufus came by this afternoon to also pay their respects. Jake, Spencer, Anna and I went to see the new Star Trek moving last night while Mom waited for Chris Albright to remember to pick her up at the airport. Apparently Chris forgot about the airport arrangements despite a phone conversation about it just a few hours earlier. He and Peggy went to one of their kids' homes last night causing Chris to forget his pick-up duties. Mom waited patiently for quite some time and ended up being the last person to picked up at Terminal 2 before it shut down for the night. And like the trooper she is, she made the three-hour trip back across the Reservation to her Thatcher home arriving about 3:30 a.m. on Mother's Day.

I had high council meeting this morning so missed the morning Mother's Day breakfast. Mom was exhausted, as you might guess, so everyone was still here after my meeting having not gone to our own ward. We attended a later ward's sacrament meeting together and listened to some very fine talks on the timely topic of Mothers.

It's hard to believe the summer is at our doors. Eastern Arizona College has had its graduation so Mom's work should lighten up for the remainder of her academic year. Jake is finishing up his junior year of high school and looking forward to a summer of interesting plans and events. I will continue with my work -- for the mine, here at home and in the church.

We don't have many summer plans. There is a Hansen reunion here that I am partly in charge of considering that I am the only Hansen sibling living here locally. It will be a camping reunion and my charge is to oversee arrangements for a site on Mt. Graham. It will be around the 24th of July if case any of you readers are interested.

That's it for this week. This is not a "leave no trace" blog so please leave behind some indication that you've been here and read a few lines.

Take care and be safe.

Love,

Dad