Missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience!

 The pictures below are from Burlington, Iowa. We seem to go there often because there is a decent mall for shopping, plus a Lowes. This particular preparation day we were looking at refrigerators at Lowes--planning for the new home to be built in Virgin!! Our builder wanted us to decide what size refrigerator we needed for the kitchen to make sure we had enough room on the plans. The builder, Randy Mortenson, has submitted the re-engineered plans to Virgin Township for their approval. We have not heard back from him, but at least the ball is rolling! He sent us copies of the new plans showing the minor changes we had made before we left on our mission, and on paper it really looks nice. Building should begin some time in February or March.

Back to the pictures below--we were told there was an old street in Burlington that rivals Lombard Street in San Francisco. We were skeptical, but sure enough there is.  It is named "Snake Alley".We were able to drive down it in our pickup--slowly around the sharp, steep curves. It was built early in the 1900's and is the original brick.  Supposedly, this hill was the place where they brought horses that were being considered for the local fire department. If those horses could go full tilt up the hill without being too winded when they reached the top, they were hired on to pull the fire trucks. The brick is not smoothly placed, but each row of bricks is slightly raised as you go downhill. This was to assist the horses as they traveled down the hill so their hooves would not slip, especially if it were icy.

This is looking up the hill from the bottom.












Here is LeRoy at the bottom of the hill.

We are approaching the end of September, and it is officially Fall. Are we still watering our 344 pots? Yes! But there is a light at the end of this tunnel--the days and nights are getting cooler and we actually sometimes finish our workday a little early and can help the gardeners do some weeding, or we can hop on a John Deere mower and mow like crazy. (I really like that job!)
Will we be the waterers next summer? No--some other lucky new missionaries will get the opportunity.

I don't know exactly what we will be doing next summer, but I have been asked to work in the greenhouse two days a week this winter, with three days in the historic sites. LeRoy will be working with the gardening crew pruning trees. Considering the acres of trees here, it should be a full time winter job. He is really happy with the assignment. Both of us love the outdoor jobs here. Whatever it is, we will do it WILLINGLY!

 I thought I would stick in some more flowers for your enjoyment. These are Angel Trumpets.

The plants are about 6 feet tall, and they are annuals which gained that height this summer. Now look at the Castor Beans. They were planted by seed in June and are over 6 feet tall also.

 This last week we took two walking tours around Old Nauvoo looking at the trees that have been planted here. It is truly amazing! Our horticulturist, Durrel Nelson, grew almost all the trees that are planted here from seed. There are over 100 varieties of Oak alone! He came here 35 years ago to landscape the Women's Garden when the Visitors' Center was built, but he never left, and he has been the creator of all the lush beauty here. I know I have said it before, but this place is awesome for those of us who love plants and who marvel at how things thrive here.

 This is the American Chestnut. Around 1900 most of the American Chestnuts in the country were killed by Chestnut blight. To save them, what remained was crossed with a Chinese chestnut. Today, the American Chestnut, 15 generations later, is almost the same as it was in 1900. We are looking forward to learning how to roast them!

This is the unusual seedpod of the Big Leaf Magnolia I told you about in a previous post.

 And this is the unusual seedpod of another type of magnolia. Weird, huh!

Sometime in June, one of our Facilities Management missionaries who is a small engine mechanic, was outside working. He saw a large box turtle nearby digging a hole with her back legs. He watched her for a while and realized that she was laying eggs in a nest of mud and leaves she had made. Unfortunately, he did not record the date, but through the summer he would dig down in the leaves to check on the eggs. Finally. last week, he saw a tiny turtle emerging and I was able to get some pictures. He helped them make it to the Mississippi and saw them all swim off.

Labor Day weekend we got to go to a local rodeo in Ft. Madison, Iowa--just across the Mississippi from us. It was a great small town rodeo. We felt a little out of place in our dresses and missionary badges. I mean, I felt like we were the only females with clothes on! My favorite event was the "Mutton Riding". I had never seen little kids riding big sheep bareback and barehanded. They just wrapped their arms around the sheep's neck, put on a helmet, and they were off. It was fun. There were a lot of sheep who went head over heels with the kids still hanging on! I wish I had a picture of it. But for part of the Grand Entry, a guy did a parachuting stunt above us with a huge American flag. I got a great picture of him as he floated into the arena. And we all stood and said the "Pledge of Allegiance" with "under God" included and opened the events with a prayer. Yahoo! Small Town, USA. I love it!

Next week we will be moving to a house for the winter months. This 5th wheel is not made to live in during the winter! Pahrump was okay, but not Nauvoo! It is a cute place--a restored home built sometime in the 1840's. It is actually a duplex. The story goes that the Ashby's had 10 children and they built this duplex with the Snow's who also had children. Now, where they put all those children in this very small, narrow, three story home, I have no clue, but that is the story, or song. Our nightly play, "Rendezvous in Old Nauvoo" has a funny song describing the home and the family. Next post I will include a picture.

I told you last time that I would include more recent pictures of our grandchildren. Well, I do have more recent pictures of Parker and Emily:

Emily Thompson, 8 yrs. old

Parker Lee Thompson, 4 months old

 Maybe Lacey will be inspired to send us some current pictures of her crew.

To end this epistle, I will include a recent picture of the "missionaries". We love all of you and hope you are well and happy, because we are.