Pappa Hardy’s Musings on Life.

We stayed at the Avi Resort & Casino on the 20th, 23rd, and 24th of February. It is just south of Laughlin, Nevada, and is on the Mohave Indian reservation. It is a nice, clean, place, and the rooms are nice and cheap. I think that we enjoyed the place and had a good time.

The Avi sits out in the middle of nowhere and takes about 15 minutes to get to from Laughlin.

Laughlin sits on the Colorado River about 75 miles south southeast from Las Vegas. It is across the Colorado River from Bullhead City, Arizona, which is to the east. It is a nice place and has lots of casinos. It is not as big as Las Vegas which a lot of people find inviting. Southern Nevada, particularly the area from Las Vegas to Laughlin, has had a lot of rain from the a system from the tropics the last few weeks. When we came into Laughlin the first night we found a lot of mud, gravel, and on the roads, along with standing water. That was because of the almost torrentiol rainfall they have been having here.

They say that this has been a 1000 year flood, meaning that they only have a rain like this every thousand years. There was a lot of standing water on the road as we came into the Avi and we were dodging it. The parking lot had a fine grit on it and I can say that it wasn’t from the desert. We had had a nice trip to Laughlin and it is fun to get away from work.

I have been reading the book Battlefield Earth by L. Ron Hubbard. He is the same guy who started the Scientology Religion. Some of you may have tried to watch the movie with John Travolta in it, based on this book. I tried watching it, and it was not a movie that I would ever recommend.

Well, a couple of years ago I saw the book in the bookstore and bought it, thinking that nothing could be as bad as the movie. Of course, the cover said it was one of the most influential scifi books to be written. DON’T BELIEVE THEM!! I ran across the book when going through a box about 6 months ago. I thought maybe I should sit down and read the book. The book is as bad or worse than the movie.

What makes this worse is the fact that I read about half of the book, couldn’t handle much more and put it down for a while. I then picked it up again about a month ago and have been reading it since then. Oh boy, it has got more ridiculous as time has gone on. I now am trapped in a typical Mike behavior, that is, I have read 900 pages of the 1000 in the book, and now, just out of sheer pride and stubborness, I am going to finish that book. Wish me well.

On a lighter note, those of you who have been waiting with excitement, wondering how our vacation went, well, you are going to be in luck. Those observations are coming soon.

I hate the time just before and just after a vacation. Why? I guess the biggest reason is because in my business, you spend an inordinate amount of time at work, trying to get things ready so you can go without a blowup occurring. During vacation you worry about what is happening at work that you can�t control, and then when you come back, you are inundated with things that have to be done yesterday. There is no good way to take a vacation when working at a bank in this day and age.

Tonight the wife and I went out to dinner. Prior to leaving, we had to give the two remaining children at home money for Pizza. One of the kids is Michael, pictured below:

It also reminded me of another Beatle’s song that I used to sing to myself as I rode the Taiwan country side, as a missionary, in the rain. Why this connection occured I am not quite sure, but here is the song from the Abbey Road album:

You never give me your money
You only give me your funny paper
and in the middle of negotiations
you break down

I never give you my number
I only give you my situation
and in the middle of investigation
I break down

Out of college, money spent
See no future, pay no rent
All the money’s gone, nowhere to go
Any jobber got the sack
Monday morning, turning back
Yellow lorry slow, nowhere to go
But oh, that magic feeling, nowhere to go
Oh, that magic feeling
Nowhere to go
Nowhere to go

One sweet dream
Pick up the bags and get in the limousine
Soon we’ll be away from here
Step on the gas and wipe that tear away
One sweet dream came true today
Came true today
Came true today (yes it did)

One two three four five six seven,
All good children go to Heaven

Well, maybe all of our good children will go to heaven.

It has been raining all day here in Utah. They say it is moisture coming up from the tropics. I say that it is a plot to rob us of the sun. The crowd cover made me think of a Beatle’s song I like, and which has always helped me cheer up when I am down.

Here comes the sun, here comes the sun,
and I say it’s all right

Little darling, it’s been a long cold lonely winter
Little darling, it feels like years since it’s been here
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun
and I say it’s all right

Little darling, the smile’s returning to their faces
Little darling, it seems like years since it’s been here
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun
and I say it’s all right

Sun, sun, sun, here we come…
Sun, sun, sun, here we come…
Sun, sun, sun, here we come…
Sun, sun, sun, here we come…
Sun, sun, sun, here we come…

Little darling, I feel that ice is slowly melting
Little darling, it seems like years since it’s been clear
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun,
and I say it’s all right
It’s all right

I am hoping we will have some sun by the time we go on vacation a week from today.

Went to a High Priests Social tonight. I can remember as a teenager thinking how boring it must be for a group of older men and women to get together, have dinner, and talk. I never thought I would come to look forward to these meetings of the old fogies. Here I am, pushing the mid 50’s and I actually like these get togethers. The funny thing is that in Michigan I really got to love them.

There we had a group of men, and their spouses, ranging from age 28 to 75. We truly loved getting together with those guys and count some of our best friends among those older people. I don’t particularly care for socials, but I do love these get togethers with the High Priests. I am sure there is some deep meaning to all of this, but I am not sure I have figured it out.

We had a family dinner tonight at Los Hermanos. Julie and Michael, mom and I were there. We also had Ross and Mary and of course Kaitlyn. Sara, Bruce, Ben, Helaman, and Jessica were there. Mom Cox was there. All of this fun was because Sherilen took the time to get us all together and to suggest that we do this. Kudos go out to her. She has been a force for doing lots of fun things like this. We took up an entire room of the building there. If we had also had Melanie, Ron, and kids, we would have really taken over the restaurant. It would have been great to have the rest of our kids and their spouses or friends there too. What a fun family we have. We get to do fun things.

We are getting ready to go on vacation near the end of the month. That made me think back to other vacations that we have taken. Last year we went to St. George and we had Brian and Crystal there with us for a week. We had a good time, and one thing we did was to go to Las Vegas for a day. We went to many of the casinos and looked around. There sure are lot of huge buildings, and we stopped by the Bellagio to watch the water shows. We had a good time that day.

I have chosen Gordon and Christi to be the wallpaper for my computer today. It doesn�t mean they are geeks or something, but rather, I get a lot of satisfaction from the accomplishments and the lives of my children. I have chosen to use family and other personal pictures for my wallpaper on the computer rather than use some pictures taken by commercial enterprises. The picture on my blog today is one that was taken of Gordon and Christi for their wedding announcements. Bonnie and I love having wonderful children, and with weddings occurring, it means we get to have more women in the family than we have had before.

One thing that I have discovered in this life is the value of old, good, and true friends. When these friends are ones that both a husband and a wife can enjoy, then it is doubly wonderful.

We have had three sets of real wonderful friends. One such set is Gary and Karen Christensen.

They have been our friends for a long time. We love them and enjoy their friendship. We have suffered hardships together, done many wonderful things together, and then get together for dinner and a show. We did that yesterday, going and seeing having dinner at the Jordan Commons and then seeing a show.

Mike and Sharon Taylor were great friends. They made our sojourn in Michigan a happy one and we sure enjoyed their friendship and their love. Brent and Marie Grady were another such set of friends. We have loved our nights out with them. We love our true friends.

Of course, there are otherr couples that we have loved such as the DeWaals, the Browns, and then their are friends that Bonnie and I have both had. Bob Smith and I have also been good friends. Bob is someone who has helped me through some tough times. We come from different backgrounds, but I think we have complimented each other.

I certainly hope that my children can enjoy good friends.