Second Job

Loved this.  The question was is Louis a doctor with a side business

 as a plumber and tinsmith.  Or the director of his company.  Even more 

important is that he was a sanitary plumber!

Daniel Webster

Daniel Webster

In New Hampshire Daniel Webster is a pretty important figure in history.  In front of the State Capitol there is a statue of him and we found his birth place while Rachel was here.  He was born in 1782 in Franklin, NH.  He was a lawyer and served 10 years in the House of Representative representing New Hampshire and 19 years in the Senate.  He was known for his great skill as an orator.  He died in 1852 after a fall from his horse.  In case you may think that the Webster dictionary was named after him you would be wrong.  Noah Webster was the dictionary man.

Rachel-Day 7

It was time to say good-bye.  I hope Rachel had a good time.  We loved spending some special time with her.  It is so gratifying to see our grandchildren growing into such wonderful young adults.  So proud of Rachel.  She is a girl who has plans and I have no doubt she will achieve them.  Before she left us at the airport she asked if we had any advice.  I did and shared a few thoughts with her.  It is encouraging to me that she cared about what we thought.  Thank you for coming Rachel.  Grandpa and I love you!

Thanks Brigham!  You taught her well.

A quick trip to the Boston Temple

I hope the man in front didn't have a boa constrictor in that case!

Last look before she gets to the gate for boarding.

Rachel-Day 6

This was a little bit different day than we had planned.  Rachel woke up with a terrible headache and as we were heading out of town to visit Cape Cod she admitted to us she wasn't feeling well.  We ended up coming home and she slept until almost 4:00.  Fortunately she felt better when she woke up and we were able to take her to Friendly's for dinner.  She enjoyed some clam chowder and black raspberry ice cream. We finished with a browse around Target.  It is going to be hard to say good-bye!

Such a beautiful young woman.  Thank you Bill and Cathy!

Sudden Sea-The Great Hurricane of 1938

This book was given to me by a coworker at the Archives. She told me many of the stories and I was intrigued by what had happened, especially because I had never heard about any hurricane being up in the New England area.  The author was R.A. Scotti and he told various stories beginning with the weather bureau in Florida who did a great job of preparing them for this momentous storm only to have it change directions and leave only a little bad weather behind. The problem was that the storm did change directions but it ended up crashing into all the coast line and inland in the northeast.  The ways people survived was amazing.  At the end of the storm over 600 people had perished and over 2 billion trees were ripped out of the ground.  They said it took over 5 years to cut and prepare the trees that were destroyed during the storm.  When the storm finally passed there were hardly any buildings standing and the surveyors had to redraw the maps of the islands all around that area because they had changed so much.  One of the stories in the book was about some people who had come together and kept climbing higher and higher in the house until they were up in the attic.  A man there told everyone that there was nothing else they could do but pray.  One of the little girls said the only prayer she knew was "Now I lay me down to sleep...."  That would not have been a very comforting prayer to me and it made me grateful that we know how to pray to our Heavenly Father when we have specific needs.  This is a very interesting book and would certainly be worth reading if you are looking for a good history book.

Rachel-Day 5

Today is the Sabbath so we will be staying close to home.  We enjoyed a great regional Conference with Elder Hales and Elder Anderson and two others speaking.  It was fun to have some of the members of the Bedford and Concord ward with us.  Rachel was able to meet her seminary teacher's father, Brother Gentile.

A Selfie in the Church Parking Lot

Missionary Moments #34--April 26, 2015

This has been a great week.  On Tuesday we were able to pick Rachel up at the Logan Airport.  We have been on the road every day since.  Although we had been to many of the places already it is so fun to see it through Rachel's eyes.  She has been great company to Grandpa and me and we will be sorry to send her home.  While here Rachel has been able to experience some missionary moments of her own.  We got a knock on our door on Friday night and it was the Elders and Sisters.  They needed a place to meet together so they came in and had a meeting to discuss the various aspects of the areas they are serving in.  It was so heartwarming to watch them express the love they had for the people they serve, the concern for being effective and some ideas they both had to strengthen the Canterbury Ward. Rachel told me afterwards that while they were here she texted her friend who is waiting for her mission call and told her to pray that she gets called to the New Hampshire mission.  These missionaries are truly impressive and I suspect that is the case throughout the world.  So excited for grandkids to have similar experiences as they go out to serve.  At work we had a fun opportunity.  Our friend Hoppy is involved in a cancer walk which he has done for several years.  He asked if we would like to contribute by buying some tickets to a baseball game of the minor league team in Manchester, NH.  He said if we buy tickets that our name would be put into a drawing for two tickets to the Red Sox game.  We bought the tickets and then yesterday he called to tell us that Scott's name had been pulled out of the pot.  We won two tickets to a Red Sox game! The only thing I have even won when my name was pulled out of the raffle was a bottle of wine!  We told him to pass the tickets on to someone else because the game is on Monday night and we want to spend the time with Rachel.  But it was fun to win the contest!  As nice as our week has been I have to admit we have missed the archives and look forward to getting back to work.  We are grateful for all the experiences we are having as we serve as record preservation missionaries and hope that the work will have far reaching results for many seeking to know more of their family and their history.  Have a great week! Congratulations to Lincoln who has started his paperwork towards earning his Eagle.  Can't wait to see the finished results.

Happy Birthday Amy!

A few years ago I prayed that I might have a daughter and my prayers were answered.  You have grown into an amazing woman and I am honored to say that I am your mom.  You have incredible faith.  You accept whatever challenge is placed before you and I have to say you often come out the victor by your perseverance and determination. You are creative which has given many people wonderful memories.  If something needs to be done you manage to make it happen.  So proud of you Amy and hope your birthday is wonderful.  I love you!

Rachel--Day 4

We had a great time in Boston!  We were able to jump on a tour bus that took us around the city and other areas close by.  So much fun and so much to see.  Rachel is so excited about everything that it makes me look at things in a different way.

Some Sightseeing

Some Literature--Edgar Allen Poe and Friend

Some Lunch at California Pizza

Some Shopping

Some Entertainment

Rachel--Day 3

We had great plans this morning as we headed up the road to visit the Franconia Loop area.  It was to begin with a breakfast at Polly's Pancake Parlor (love that name).  The problem was that it was closed for renovations as was every other restaurant in town.  In spite of the disappointment we continued on our trip which was beyond beautiful because they had gotten about 3 inches of fresh snow overnight.  We did some shopping in North Conway and then drove down around our favorite lake.  We finished at the laundromat. Tomorrow--Boston!

Christmas Ready

The White Mountain Area

North Conway

Back to reality--Laundry Day

Rachel's Visit Day 2

Today we spent the day in Maine and saw some beautiful country.  I had hoped we would have good weather while she was here but that isn't to be (at least it isn't snowing!).  In spite of the rain we had a great time in Augusta and enjoyed driving back along the Atlantic Ocean.  Tomorrow we will be staying closer to home and showing off beautiful New Hampshire.

State Capital Building in Augusta, Maine

Selfie at the Atlantic Ocean

Map Store in Kennebunk

Cape Neddick Lighthouse

.

Rachel's Visit-Day 1

We started our first day introducing Rachel to our friends at the archives before we headed up to Vermont to visit the Joseph Smith Memorial.  We stopped in Hanover for lunch at Molly's and a quick drive around Dartmouth College.  We finished the day off at our new favorite German restaurant.  So grateful to have her here with us.  Grandkids are the best!

NH Archives

Molly's in Hanover

Joseph Smith Memorial-Vermont

German Food in Hookset

It's Great to be 8!

Jane was baptized this month.  So proud of her for making the commitment to follow the example of Jesus Christ.  I love that she is old enough to make good choices.  Although we weren't able to be in Arizona it was nice to know that Andy and Angela and their family were there.  Proud of you Janie.

I like to look for rainbows whenever there is rain 

And ponder on the beauty of an earth made clean again. 

I want my life to be as clean as earth right after rain.  

I want to be the best I can and live with God again. 

I know when I am baptized my wrongs are washed away, 

And I can be forgiven and improve myself each day.  

I want my life to be as clean as earth right after rain.  

I want to be the best I can and live with God again. 

(When I Am Baptized-- CSB, Nita Milner) 

Main Street USA

South end of Main Street

This is the nations oldest state capital.
It opened in 1819

This is the replica of the Liberty Bell
that is in Pennsylvania.

Rachel is coming to visit us this week and so we stayed in town and did some cleaning before her arrival. Once the house was in order we decided we'd take advantage of the wonderful weather and check out the Main Street in Concord.  One of the things we have noticed since the weather has become more temperate is that constructions crews are busy everywhere.

North End of Main Street

This little nook was down a walkway off of
Main Street

Because of that most of the downtown area was closed to cars but that didn't keep people off the sidewalks.  Scott and I strolled up one side and down the other.  It was fun to see the window displays and visit some of the small stores.  We stopped at a little sandwich shop for a great lunch.  The buildings around here are beautiful and old and the detail inside and out is truly impressive.  It was a great day in New Hampshire!

Missionary Moments #33--April 19, 2015

We are excited today because we are going to be sustained as the youth Sunday School teachers for the 14-17 year olds.  I understand what President Hinckley meant when he said that new members need a friend, a calling, and nurturing by the good word of God.  Even though he meant it for new converts I think that new members of the ward also need it.  We have the friends, and we definitely are being nurtured by the good word of God so now the triangle is complete with our new assignment.  We will begin teaching in May and already have our lessons planned out for the the month.  So excited!  I have loved the new format for teaching the youth and of course grandpa was able to see first hand the effects of having more student involved when he served as the Stake Sunday School President.  Earlier in the week I watched a webcam from the family history department about record preservation.  It was so impressive and very amazing to see the Lord's hand in hastening the work.  They talked about a senior missionary who was a mechanical engineer before he retired.  He and his wife had been called to do record preservation in Italy.  They are mostly taking pictures of the big book of records that are in a lot of the archives--even here in New Hampshire.  These books are extremely fragile and taking pictures of book pages is difficult because of the slope into the binding.  This missionary designed a machine that is shaped like a V and the book is then set into the frame and the camera is able to get a better picture of the document and it also preserves the integrity of the book.  He then designed another apparatus that is kind of like a scale for smaller books and as you turn the pages to the book the scale continually keeps the book at the same height so the picture is good without readjusting the height or focus of the camera.  It is amazing!  I have to admit when I hear people talking about politics and needing to have younger candidates I feel a little offended because life experiences have always been and will always be the greatest teachers and provide the most knowledgeable candidates.  Yesterday, Grandpa and I stayed home so we could get our apartment ready for our special guest. Once we got everything cleaned up, we decided to explore downtown Concord. It was a very nice day, and we walked up and down Main street. We had lunch at a sandwich shop and we went to a museum about New Hampshire. We also took pictures of several statues in front of the State Capitol building and listened to a band playing with old-fashioned instruments. Later in the afternoon, we visited Penacook, the little village we live in. It was raining the whole time but the drive was beautiful.  We are living in a very beautiful state--can't wait to show it to Rachel!  Have a great week.

Traditions

The trombone is a Duncan family tradition starting back in 1960 with Grandpa Duncan and then moving into the 1980s when Uncle Andy played it at Irwin Elementary school.  Move to the 21st century and Owen and Perry pick up the tradition and both are now very accomplished trombone players.  Recently Owen was chosen to play his trombone at a special event in Bismark ND.  I have heard Owen play so I know that it was an amazing event.  Congratulations Owen--keep on sliding!

Lincoln Has an Idea

Alright grandkids you are invited to join the fun.  Since we do have a family of Lego builders he thought it would be a great idea to invite anyone who is interested in designing a Lego creation.  Each month we will choose a theme and then you can build your creation and email a picture of it to us.   For our first challenge the theme is--
             Boats or Ships
   Send your pictures by May 1st
I suspect that everyone who participates will get a special treat from Grandpa and Grandma.

Jonah's Journey

In the Audubon preserve they had a replica of a full sized whale.  All I can say is that Jonah would have definitely had room to stretch out in that stomach.

This was the front side view of the whale.  You can see Grandpa at the back.

On the back side they had cut out a part of the whale so you could see the size of his organs.  Pretty creepy!

Rhode Island Audubon Conservatory

Scott and I spent a couple of hours at a bird preserve.  We actually followed a group of two year olds who were celebrating their friends birthday.  As a result we didn't see many birds!  The area was beautiful and while there we did see some snakes who were just born, three colorful turtles, a bat, and lots of robins and English sparrows.  The volunteer told us that there were ospreys who had just come and were starting to build their nests.  We couldn't find any but we did find several mallard ducks.  The preserve was beautiful and actually very peaceful.  In the building they had several displays with various aspects of the wildlife in the area.  The muskrats were really cool.

Best Boston Cream Pie

Thanks to the Elders I was able to download the pictures we took last weekend when we were in Rhode Island.  They are almost as good as Perry when it comes to solving my limited computer savvy!  We decided to go back to Rhode Island because it was a beautiful day and no rain.  One of the things we wanted to do was find a bakery we had read about who supposedly had the best Boston Cream Pie in New England.  We found the bakery and the article was right.  Providence is a beautiful town and quite old.  There are lots of factories that no longer are being used and the bakery seemed to be in a little Italy area.  In fact down the street the stripes on the road were red, green, and white.

Happy Birthday Peter!

Six years of goodness.  I will always remember the time I was able to spend the week in Fargo when your mom had her surgery.  You worked so hard on your Bionicles every day and you won me over with your sweetness. So glad you are in our family! When I think of you I see smiles, I see patience, and I see determination.  I remember watching you as Owen played the trombone and you imitated him with wonderful enthusiasm.  I suspect you will be a musician just like him. I hope all the adults in your life at church and at school realize how lucky they are to have you around.  I'm excited to see more of your sweet personality develop in the coming years.  Happy Birthday Peter!

So the Vegetable Doesn't Suffer

This was my find today at work.  I spent some time on Wikipedia and actually found some things out about the company.  They specialized in an anesthetic that had some vegetable (they never said what the vegetable was) in it.  It was very popular with dentists during the early 1900s and appears to not have some of the side affects of other anesthesia that was being used at the time.  The bottom half of this was actually a thank you note written by administrator of the will to someone he had worked with.

Happy Birthday Rachel!

It is hard to believe that 18 years ago I was introduced to such a beautiful baby girl who has become a beautiful young woman.  You do everything so well.  You have been gifted with a wonderful voice in your writing and your ability to understand complex issues and speak about them is so impressive.  I enjoy spending time with you and love the way you huddle up with your sisters and talk and laugh and just enjoy each other.  You understand commitment.  You set goals for yourself and methodically achieve them.  You are such a good example to all of us and as the oldest you have carried the important torch of leading the way.  You have done that with joy. Happy Birthday Rachel!

Always Listen to Your Principal

Sister Duke is a retired teacher and she shared this funny story.

While at recess, two of her third grade boys found a garden snake on the playground.  The Principal happened to notice that they were looking at something so he walked over and saw that they had a snake. He told both boys that they needed to take the snake and put it on the other side of the fence.  After he walked away one of the boys decided he just couldn't part with his new found friend so he put it in his pocket. Once in class he transferred it from his pocket into his backpack hanging on the back wall.  So far so good.  But then he started to worry that the snake needed air so he decided to unzip the backpack just a little so the snake wouldn't suffocate.  Soon everyone was hard at work when all of the sudden a little girl let out a blood curdling scream.  Sister Duke asked what was the matter but the girl just stared and pointed. As she got closer she saw the head of the snake poking out of the backpack and then watched as it proceeded to slither out and across the tops of all the backpacks.    Guess where the two boys spent the afternoon!   If I would have been there they would have had to peel me off the ceiling.

Couch Potato

I shared a couple of stories that the Dukes told us about and on Monday they both had me laughing hysterically with this true story.  Have to pass it on...

The Dukes said there was a family across the street from them who had some wild parties and one night one of those parties was going on as they were ready to go to bed.  Their son was at a Saturday night dance at the church so they just left the front door unlocked and headed up to bed.  The next morning Sister Duke got up early to get ready for church before waking up her family.  Once dressed she headed down stairs and found somebody sleeping on her couch.  She went into her son's room and asked him if he had brought one of his friends home last night and let him spend the night.  He replied he hadn't so she went upstairs and got her husband who came down and tried to wake the stranger up.  He would not wake up.  Soon their whole family is standing around the couch staring down at the unexpected visitor.  After continually shaking the man and trying to wake him up Brother Duke decided they had better call the police.  When the police arrived the man was still sound asleep on their couch.  He was finally awakened and arrested.  It seems that he was at the party across the street and told the homeowner he was to drunk to drive and could he stay at their house. The homeowner said that there was a little trailer outside or he could sleep on the couch.  He went outside and for some reason decided he would instead sleep on the couch.  Unfortunately, in his addled state he walked into the wrong house and slept like a baby until the police showed up.

Needless to say--they never again left their door unlocked when they went to bed!

Katie's Adventure

Recently Katie attended a week long legislative simulation with George Wythe University. Each student was assigned a part they would play and then on Friday all of them went to the Utah State Capital where they were able to meet the Governor and continued their simulation on the senate floor.  Katie said it was a really fun week.  Proud of you Katie. We are so glad you get to have experiences like this.  And by the way you looked very professional!

Katie is in the front row on the left.