Monday, December 19, 2016 – Shoveling Driveway, No Outdoor Work, Planting Perennials Seeds, Weeding Oxalis, Historic Conservation Work

I spent the first 45 minutes of my day shoveling my driveway and street in front of my house so we could get to work. I’m glad to report the snow removal was successful even though my snow shovel broke in to three pieces. We got up the hill from our house without any trouble this morning.

At the FM compound everything was either covered in snow or ice. The ice made walking very difficult and dangerous. Fortunately Sis. Johnson and I walked or shuffled very slowly and made it past the icy spots safely all day. It was seriously scary sometimes as we slid and glided with both feet going in opposite directions but neither of us went down. Another one of those “Tender Mercies” the Lord blessed us with.

Except or shoveling my driveway, this was one of those rare days where we worked indoors all day. Everything outdoors is too cold, too icy and too snow covered to work on. Our first assignment was to plant perennial seeds with Richard in the propagation room. We only planted half dozen trays of seeds like, Digitalis (Fox Glove), Crossandra, Alcea, Arum Itallicum, and Astilbe. These varieties require much longer to bring to maturity in the greenhouses so they get planted from seed in December and January. 

By the time the spring is over, we will have planted hundreds of trays of all kinds of perennials. When we are ready to plant them outdoors in spring we will have greenhouses full of tens of thousands of plants ready to go. We enjoyed our work a lot and we are excited to be part of this project that beautifies Old Nauvoo.

Our next project only lasted an hour. We pulled weeds from the potted plants in the greenhouses. This is a job we often do when we don’t have anything else more important that needs doing. But fortunately we remembered what Elder Walker told us months ago. If we ever have free time he really needs help in “Historic Conservation.”  So here we go with another new adventure!

We concluded our work day in the storage warehouse of “Historic Conservation.” This is where all of the boxes of excavated artifacts are stored. When each of the homes and historic sites were unearthed by the archeologist, every single piece of broken pottery, glass or household items were saved in boxes and stored in the conservation warehouse. In addition, every time one of the historic homes was renovated and rebuilt, every single nail or 1840’s construction material was also saved, boxed and cataloged. We may get to work with Elder Walker for the whole week, at least until the grounds thaw enough for us to work outside.

We concluded our day at a cast Christmas party. It was hosted by Elder and Sis. Wilson. They have a large living room and we all fit in their house very nicely. It was a pot luck and a “white elephant” gift exchange. The dinner was great, the gift exchange was hilarious and the company was the best. We all had a great time.

Sis. Johnson and I are in the Emma Hale cast. All of the Seniors in the mission are assigned to a cast and at the present time there are three casts, each with about 30 to 40 members. We work, rehears and perform together weekly and we have become very close to all of our fellow cast members. We love each one like they are family, indeed they are our family while we serve here in Nauvoo.