Desert Olson Gazette: It's getting closer

Surgery is starting to get real. I have my pre-op visit with the doctor tomorrow and a phone one (this time) with the hospital on Wednesday. Georgia has been proactive in getting her ministering sisters to help us after my surgery and her endoscopy procedure. When Georgia is having her procedure, I will be getting my drain and 2 day check up/inspection at the doctor. We both will need drivers for that.

At work, we are close to getting the Baxter infusion pumps (IV) stations ready to test. We got the 3 test pumps in on Friday. We will need to get them configured before we can start. I hope to get it tested before I take leave for surgery. It is a good time to be out of the office as other members of the implementation team will out for Christmas and New Year’s Eve. The new pumps will save nurses much valuable time when the project is finished. The hospital has a financial incentive to get the project completed by July.

Switching gears to hobbies: I am not exactly a wood hoarder, but Georgia claims that I have more wood than she has fabrics. Humm, maybe she is a hoarder too. In fairness to myself, it does take a while for wood to dry enough to be used for wood turning. At least that is my story. I finally broke out one of my larger pieces of wood from my stash and turned another style of Christmas tree. I have been thinking about how to include lights in a turned tree. It would certainly be more involved with drilling holes and resin. So many ideas, projects and I have such little time.

I also dried some burl wood during the week for resin work and I wanted to put a piece into resin a “Dragon Egg” that I have seen turned on YouTube. I made the piece up and hopefully it will be ready to be turned next week after curing. I ended up using too much dye for the lights to look right. I am still learning how to work with this stuff.

We went to a local craft show at the fairgrounds after our usual lunch at Kneaders. We have been looking for a better place to sell our craft items. We walked past one table that had Native American pottery on display and I had to stop. I looked at one piece and said “Shash”. The man at the booth said did you say “Shash”. He is Navajo and was surprised that I could speak Navajo. We talked for a little bit. His pieces were good, but too expensive. I also have a number of pieces already.

We also found the table where the Sons of Norway had a food booth. We each had an “Eibleskever” that was filled with Lingonberry jam. They will be having a dinner in March. Hopefully they will not be serving Lutefisk (https://www.thedailymeal.com/travel/what-heck-lutefisk-and-why-do-minnesotans-eat-it) - a Scandinavian Christmas delicacy. For those that don’t know, Lutefisk is either cod or haddock that has been dried to be hard as a board for preservation. It is reconstituted in lye and then boiled. A process that really stinks. I remember Mom making it for Dad - once.

I am teaching the Elders Quorum today from a talk given be President Erying in April General Conference about the Gift of the Holy Ghost. I leave this quote from his talk: “I know that not only by what I have seen with my eyes but more powerfully by what the Spirit has whispered to my heart.” I have been thinking about that phase “whispered in my heart” this past week. It is truly one for contemplation.

I close with a few more pictures of Nativity sets that we have. It is fun having them scattered through out the house.