Emmettville: May 2009

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Sunday, May 24, 2009

This photo from the H. Roland and Harriet Dudley Emmett family reunion at our old family home in Providence in 1959 is about the only photo I could find to help me share my appreciation for the many veterans in our family that have served our country. Dad (John W) tried to enlist during WWII as soon as he was old enough. Just after victory in Europe and before the Japanese surrender he was classified as 4F and rejected. Who knew you needed to be able to hear out of both ears? Later, after medical school, he did join the Army and served two years after the Korean War. Here's to Captain John W. Emmett of the U.S. Army!!

Dad's brother and all four of his brothers-in-law served in WWII. A real life 'Band of Brothers'. Three are pictured above in the family reunion picture.

Martin B. Hickman - Private First Class, Army

Married to dad's sister JoAnn

Uncle Martin, aka, Uncle Berk, served in the infantry. During the Battle of the Bulge he wore the same clothes without a bath for 40 straight days.

Uncle Dud (Roland Dudley Emmett) - Marines
Served in the South Pacific including Okinawa and occupation of China

Uncle Ralph Dorius - Marines

Married to dad's sister Lucile
Served in the South Pacific

Uncle Clair Nelson - Captain US Army
Married to dad's sister Dorothy

Uncle Jim McMurrin - Naval Reserve and Marines
Married to dad's sister Pat
Served in Saipan as Assistant Battalion Surgeon.
Uncle Jim's son, Jim, adds the following: "Of interest is that my dad told me about being in Tinian, a sister Island of Saipan and seeing the Indianapolis in port when it off-loaded the "Little Boy" atomic bomb. The Enola Gay took off from the Army A.F. base there. After the heavy cruiser Indianapolis left port, it was struck by a torpedo from a Japanese submarine. 883 men died - many from shark attack."

John McMurrin

Also pictured above in the family reunion photo is my cousin John McMurrin. John served in Viet Nam on a helicopter crew. John survived Viet Nam, but sadly, he passed away at a relatively young age from cancer. He is the first person I have memory of seeing in a full dress uniform complete with numerous medals and ribbons. He was tall and very handsome - especially to a 10 year old boy.

John's brother Jim adds the following, "John received the following commendations for valor: The Distinguished Flying Cross, The Bronze Star, The Air Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters (each represents and additional Air Medal being awarded), Army Commendation Medal with V-device plus two Oak Leaf Clusters. Probably the biggest honor was the DFC. There were very few awarded to helicopter crews, especially for non-pilots at that time. He received it for flying multiple missions into the A Shau Valley in 1967. It was an extremely important and heavily defended area held by the North Vietnamese. He received the Bronze Star for volunteering to land and provide security for a downed helicopter throughout the night then joined a ground unit on a successful assault on the Viet Cong. John didn't really want anyone to talk about his meritorious service. I think it is worth being told however." So do I.

Last year I posted on my grandpa William S. Fife, a WWI veteran who served in France as an ambulance driver in the Army.

Bill Fife, mom's little brother, is a U.S. Navy Veteran and very accomplished on the Bongo Board.

We salute all.

Friday, May 22, 2009

Spring Cleaning

Today Clark and I did some much needed Spring Cleaning and I came across the DVD we made for Grandpa & Grandma on their 60th anniversary! I have 4 copies left so if you didn't get one and you would like one, I have some. If I need to make some more copies I can. I will bring them to Twin Pine Ranch on Sunday so if you will be there on Sunday or Monday grab one.

Here are some pictures from the DVD to help jog your memory...

Also during our spring cleaning I remembered that I have two copies of Season 3 of the Office. Silly me bought it at Hastings thinking I didn't own a copy yet. So if any of you are fans of the office and are dying to have season 3 let me know. It's going for the great low price of $15. I got it on sale for $25 and since it has been previously viewed I'll knock off a few bucks!! I've included a picture so that you don't make the same mistake I did and buy it twice.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Tender Mercies

In Annie's letter to Michael last week she mentioned the Tender Mercy it has been to be in Utah while her mother has been ill and in need of full time care. Annie, her sisters, Pam and Jana and her brothers, Craig, Rod and Mark have been very attentive in helping care for Evelyn who is suffering from cancer and dealing with various health issues related to that.

Annie and Evelyn sharing a laugh with Elder Mikey on Mother's Day. Michael is very skilled at making others feel better. His call was a great pick-me-up for his mother and grandmother.

Great-grandma Smith and Lily

Annie, Evelyn and Bob posing while Evelyn reads her Mother's Day Card

Bear Lake Road Race

I've cross posted this from my personal cycle and ski blog.......just because I can and because dad doesn't have my blog on his saved list yet! Maybe it's because I only post something once every 10 weeks.

http://cycleski.blogspot.com/

Photo of my nifty Bear Lake Classic Tee taken with my web cam.

So..... for my first road race - other than Lotoja - I picked the Bear Lake road race on May 16. 51 miles around Bear Lake in a clockwise direction starting at Blue Water on the south west end. I heard about it yesterday and decided to drive over early this morning to see if I could get in. I didn't know if I wanted to ride Cat 5 with Jeff Shepherd and Ben Kofoed or Masters 45+. Turns out the Cat 5 race was full so the decision was made to race Masters. OUCH. I guess I should have been training the past few weeks instead of packing up the house and looking for a job.

I had heard from Tom and Jeff that most groups do a moderate to fast pace around the lake and then the last mile or so is a group sprint. Not so with Masters. I was in a group of about 25, dominated by 6-8 riders each from Bountiful Mazda, Canyon Cyclery (Draper based), Cole Sports and Ski Utah. I was flying the Sho-Air colors. The race started just like many of the pro races. At the gun 3 riders were off the front and for the next 20 miles I stayed near the front as we chased down at least a dozen break away attempts while letting several solo attempts go - but never more than 100 meters. At about mile 19, we turned along North Beach and I cramped just as another break attempt took off. I pulled up for a few seconds and let the last wheel get away. After a short chase, I sat up resigned to a 30 mile solo ride to the finish. I'm sure I'll see many of the same riders at Lotoja in 4 months. I'm not looking forward to that.

The Masters 35's caught me (they started 3 minutes back) along the east side of the lake. I hung on at the back for a couple of miles, but finally let them go on a hill not much bigger than a freeway over crossing. Something I now have in common with Bob Roll.

At the south end of the Lake the first group of Cat 5's caught and passed me and right behind them the Pro Women rolled by. I sat on the back of the Pro Women to the finish before sitting up to stay clear of their sprint.

Just after I finished, in came the second Cat 5 group. Ben Kofoed lead the group on the left had turn with a straight 500M run to the finish. Jeff Shepherd said he was third wheel at the turn. After Ben pulled over, Jeff powered by the last rider and won with ease sitting up while the rest of the group battled for 2nd. Way to go Jeff!!

I did get in a hard 50+ mile ride and a pastrami sandwich at LeBeau's so the day wasn't a total loss. Next year I'll be back and I'll be 55. Might be the only good thing about getting old is moving up to a new age division.

One of my favorite former Laker's took first and the former lead singer for the Doobie Brothers came it 8th. At least I made the top 25!!

Results below:

Bear Lake Road Race
5/16/2009
Masters 45+
Place Points Athlete Team
1 02:03:01.67 35 Michael Cooper Canyon Bicycles Draper
2 02:03:02.54 30 John McKone Cole Sport Racing
3 02:03:02.63 26 Gary Swain Bountiful Mazda
4 02:03:03.57 23 Andrew Lock Canyon Bicycles of Salt Lake
5 02:03:03.76 20 Bob Walker Bountiful Mazda
6 02:03:04.39 18 John Lauck Bountiful Mazda
7 02:03:04.77 16 Jeff Clawson Canyon Bicycles Draper
8 02:03:04.83 15 Michael MacDonald Bountiful Mazda
9 02:03:04.83 13 Jeff Ure Bountiful Mazda
10 02:03:05.37 12 Michael Loveland Unattached
11 02:03:05.52 10 Ken Yonemura Ski Utah Cycling/Utah Premier
12 02:03:05.87 9 Lorin Ronnow
13 02:03:06.01 7 Criag SORENSEN Unattached
14 02:03:08.46 6 Steven Lewis Canyon Bicycles of Salt Lake
15 02:03:08.55 4 Jerald Hunsaker Bountiful Mazda
16 02:03:09.00 3 Dirk Cowley FFKR Architects/SportsBaseOnline.Com p/b Tour of Utah
17 02:03:09.18 1 Michael PROFSKY Canyon Bicycles Draper
18 * 0 Jamie Longe Canyon Bicycles Draper
19 * 0 Scott Bales Bountiful Mazda
20 02:03:12.02 0 Bruce Bilodeau Canyon Bicycles Draper
21 02:03:22.20 0 Peter Barquin X-Men/Team Northwave
22 02:03:39.19 0 Mark Chrysler Unattached
23 02:03:39.19 0 Louis Riel Canyon Bicycles Draper
24 02:10:21.00 0 David Saurman
25 02:12:22.00 0 Robert EMMETT Sho-Air

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Sight-seeing, running, and dancing

Just a "few" photos of the Boston trip and Katie's dance recital.

Our first stop in Boston was Plimoth Plantation. Lorie and Katie are preparing to enter a Wampanoag "wetu," or house. The Wampanoag village did not exist in 1627 (the time used for the setting at Plimoth Plantation). There had been a village there but typhoid or smallpox had completely wiped out almost all the people at this site before the landing of the Mayflower.

Captain Standish, Mistress Standish, and another lady I failed to catch the name of.

Katie and I outside the home of Governor Bradford.

Katie and I after a nice visit with Alice Carpenter Southworth Bradford. She wasn't quite sure what to make of the fact that we were "descendents" of hers. but was very nice nevertheless.

"What's the big deal? It's a rock for gosh sakes!"

The next day it was out to Marblehead, a beautiful town filled with 17th, 18th, and 19th century homes. Katie was not too enthused about a photo with mom and sailboats.

I loved the landscaping of this house, complete with exposed rock.

We then drove to Salem, skipped right past the witch museum and hit the Peabody Essex Museum instead. Couldn't take photos of the Chinese house, but Katie was very impressed with the rather LARGE albatross.

Had Dad been more enthused about driving 5 hours to ski a small hill on ice in the rain, we might have all been raised in Massachusetts in a home similar to this one in Marblehead. I'm glad he liked real skiing better, although the house ain't bad.

Next day was church then a tour of Boston. Lorie and Katie are looking for Paul Revere's headstone in the Granary Cemetery.

The Old North church.

Patriot's Day dawned cool and sunny, a perfect day for running some miles, 25, 26, whatever it takes. I appear to be okay here at mile 13, although I could be sucking for air or trying unsuccessfully to stifle a yawn. Not exactly sure.

If you are a fast Kenyan who can run 26.2 miles in just over 2 hours, you will get your face on the big screen.

If you are a slow Utahn who bonks at mile 25, you get a cot, some oxygen, and plenty of thin blankets.

After an ice cold Dr. Pepper, I recovered completely, so the next day before flying out, we jumped on a Duck Tour, riding an amphibious "duck" around Boston, which included a cruise in the Charles River.

Great views, even in the mirrored windows.

I had to include Katie's dance recital. I didn't bother inviting Grandma and Grandpa because the bleacher seats were just as uncomfortable as last time. I think the photos do Katie justice. I especially like the last one.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Update on Norda's belated Birthday and Mother's Day present

Norda insisted all she wanted this year was a lawn mower that worked and tonight, after announcing my plans to stay at Hyer's repair until I could take the mower home serviced, sharpened, and in good working order, I was able to do just that. Norda is currently out cutting the lawn after the partial job I did last week with an ailing riding mower and she is smiling even broader than when she was using the snow blower last winter. The pictures document that doing nothing is not part of her armamentarium .