FIGHTING GATOR INFESTED WATERS

Near the end of July we traveled home to Utah so Bruce could attend his 50th High School Reunion, and to celebrate the 24th with family members.  Shellie's family, Melinda's family and Rachel traveled from far-away places to join in the fun.  Jill was preparing to leave for another year in Jerusalem, so this was a perfect opportunity for us to bid her farewell at the same time.

While in Utah we watched the 24th of July parade in Spanish Fork with Bruce and his classmates riding the hay wagon, waving, while half of his posterity screamed hysterically from the side of the road.

Katie also hosted a baby shower for Rachel, which was well attended.  This picture shows my five daughters that were on hand at the time; Shellie, Katie, Rachel, Melinda and Jill.    Rachel is due on Halloween, so I will attend one more baby event before our mission is over in March.

The week passed way-too-quickly, then Bruce headed back to Florida while I drove up to Twin Falls, Idaho, to spend a week with Jan and her new baby boy, Quincy.  I only saw her oldest son Edward for a day, as he was heading out on a week-long fishing trip with his Grandpa Allan (without his dad), and other family members.  But I got a lot of good "Grandma time" with the baby and the other two boys.

Frederick Superhero

Roger Superhero

From Idaho I drove back to Utah, said a quick farewell to the Craigs, Browns, and Judds, then caught a plane to Kentucky to spend a week with Stephanie in anticipation of their new arrival.  Even though little Justice didn't arrive until four days after I left, I still got a lot of good "Grandma time" with the other kids and cooked up a storm.  I took the older kids on our annual "Adventure" down to a remote creek with great rocks for climbing on and smooth rocks for skipping.

Getting to the creek is half the adventure

Some parts were pretty steep

Zeal on large rock

I arrived back in Florida a day before Bruce went in to have knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus.  He was up and around the next day, and back to work six days later.  He was even up in a man-lift tearing siding off a house that week.  The day after surgery we went to visit a non-member acquaintance in a neighboring town that we have been fellowshipping.  Our neighbors in Utah planted a good seed while vacationing in Florida, and we have been trying to nourish the seed while we are here.  We have had two visits with this lady, and another one is planned.

Because our ranch is the flag-ship ranch of the church, they train good men then send them to management positions on other ranches.  As a result two families moved recently and we lost our Bishop, one of our Cub Scouts and one of our Sunbeams.  We have become pretty attached to "our kids" here, and it is sad when their families leave the ranch.  One week, due to football practice, only one of our cubs was able to attend our meeting, so we armed ourselves with rakes and hoes and set out to clear a trail leading to Eagles Lookout Trail, which leads to a remote waterway near the Ranch Visitors Center.

One fun adventure was trying to clean out the noxious water hyacinth from a drain canal where we usually see an alligator on our tour route.  Not wanting to get too close to the canals edge, we commandeered a man-lift after hours and lowered ourselves out over the water to snag the plants with long poles with hooks on them.  Sad-to-report, two weeks later the hyacinths were again clogging our view of the gators...just not as bad...yet.

Bruce weed-wacking on bank while we work over water

We also enjoyed having Bruce's niece Rebby and husband John visit for a couple of days.  The men fished, the women worked on humanitarian projects, and we were daring enough to go out for alligator tail (main meal was hamburgers).  The alligator meat is tough, but not as bad as chewing on a garden hose.

Rebby and unripe grapefruit

Bruce enjoying his gator meat

Meanwhile, the men have finished one house and are working on the next one, while also doing the emergency calls, like a leaky roof and a backed up septic tank that needs to be pumped out.  Bruce was thrilled to have that job over with.  Bruce also notices random repairs that he takes on, such as fixing barn doors and supplying ranch families with can rotators.

Deer Park house near completion

Deer Park house in April

Current house two weeks ago

One final note; our son Mark is currently out to sea on his assigned nuclear submarine, so please keep praying for our servicemen.

Yikes! There's a 7 Foot Alligator Under Our Bed!

When you live in Florida you may see alligators almost anywhere.  Not to worry about the gator under the bed...there is a rope around it's neck and it's made out of 2 pair of pants, and stuffed with an old discarded comforter.  It's all part of being Cub Scout leaders.  We put together a one day Cub Scout/Webelos event held at the Ranch Rodeo Grounds.  We did knots, para-cord bracelets, fire building, cooking 2 meals, making catapults, swimming, skits and awards.  The alligator made it's appearance during the skits when we had an Alligator Race.  The alligator was under a box with a rope extending out front and held by an older scout.  After the appropriate "hype" (nice name for an untrue story), the race began with the scouts racing for their lives.  One poor 8-year old didn't have his shoelaces tied (can you imagine that), and he tripped, falling to the ground.  The alligator climbed right over him but left him unscathed.  The alligator is waiting patiently under the bed for it's next sighting.

The down side of the Day Camp was that Sister Fillmore got a nasty spider bite on her ankle.  It popped the following day and is still in the healing process.  (You may not want to show the kiddies these pictures because they are gross!)

 Two weeks later we had a Cub event where we planned to visit a religious site, a historical site, pick up trash at the beach (while swimming and having fun), and recycling our trash.  (4 requirements passed off with one event)  Well, after we left the historical site the rain descended so we didn't get to do the garbage, the beach or the recycling.  Not to worry....we went to an ice cream shop instead and had cones and sundaes.  The historical site was our closest neighboring Ranch that used to run it's own railroad tracks from a town called Deer Park, where they harvested timber, to the east coast of Florida where they ran a saw mill.  Not only did the saw mill provide lumber, but it also generated electricity for the city of Melbourne.  The train had the only bridge over the river at the time so they would charge $1 per car to transport them over the river.  When the mill burned to the ground years ago, Melbourne was without electricity for 2 years!  The owner took us on a tour using his swamp buggy, which was a treat for all of us.

Camp Nephi, an Aaronic Priesthood event occurred in June, which used many of the Ranch facilities.Around 1,000 scouts and leaders from the area converged on the Youth Camp and engaged in a variety of activities.  The Senior Elders were asked to build a 30 foot boat dock reaching out over a swamp to give the boys access to commercial airboats what were brought in to a nearby lake.  They used old pallets screwed together to make the boat dock, with the pallets stacked 5 deep near the end.  It was tricky working in the swamp, but fortunately the gators weren't hungry at that time.

The Senior Sisters used our trusty tour bus to transport Deacons and lunches from the camp to the swimming hole for two days, so we got to see a part of the action.  After Camp Nephi was over our bus smelled like wet boys and leftover sandwiches left on the bus.  A little Febreze helped a lot.

Yes, Nephi had BIG muscles!

The Elders had quite a number of urgent projects this past month (besides the boat dock), including a home with a quick turnaround in residents requiring carpet removal, new baseboards and paint.  Another house needed a quick bathroom make-over including a new tub, new plumbing, electrical work and enlarging the room by 1 foot.  This led to ripping out a wall, framing a new wall, dry wall installation, painting, etc.  Now about the old rusty tub that needed replacing...when the men took out the old overflow and drain (the pipe that goes down), they discovered that the pipe had rusted off long ago and every drop of bath water had been draining right onto the ground for who-knows-how-long.  None of these homes have basements due to the high water table in Florida.  Now we know why the grass looked so green out back!  They had to get a jack hammer and remove (then replace) the concrete floor around the tub and toilet pipes....all within a 2 week deadline when the new family was scheduled to move in.  Whew!

Other projects the Senior Elders were working on included painting a different house, replacing old air conditioner units, laying tile, and other housing emergencies that arose this month.

Meanwhile, Sister Fillmore has been doing more sewing (including the alligator), and made a fleet of cars, trucks and tractors for the ongoing humanitarian project.

Truck with Deseret Ranch brand on it....the Beehive Bar

 Just a few of the many makes and models of cars.

The thrill of winning and the agony of "de Fleet"...

We are entering our rainy season (over 55 inches of rain in 4 months) so it could rain at any moment, (which it does), and there is lots of it!  Did we mention that we lose about 1% of our cattle herd (80,900 cows, calves and bulls) to lightening strikes each year.  Florida is the lightening capital of the Unites States.

I think we're having way too much fun out here!

The Beginning of Hurricane Season

Sandhill cranes like to hang out around our front door.  There are two parents and two babies.

They are aways hoping to get a few bread crumbs.

Sister Fillmore's big event for May was flying to Arizona for a week to spend time with baby Naomi Temple and her family.  Naomi is Melinda and Ephraim's 5th child, our 40th grandchild, and weighed in at a whopping 10 pounds.  She is as beautiful as can be.

Owen is a wonderful big brother

Linus with sore nose

Grandma cooked,  had special bonding time with grandkids, helped Melinda recover, and got to chill out.

Back at the ranch we power washed our 4-plex, had a barbeque with the other Senior Missionaries (experiencing "No-See-Um" bites first hand), and went sightseeing at Bok tower.  It features a carillon tower on the highest hill in all of Florida...a whopping 385 feet above sea level.  (Nearly got a nosebleed at that altitude)

Scrubbing our humble abode...notice my cool cowboy hat!

On one missionary excursion we took the bus out to see how a new reservoir is taking shape.  Unfortunately, the bus got stuck in the fine sand. Fortunately we were rescued by a nearby tractor.

The Young Women sponsored a fundraising Dinner/Auction/Talent Show.  Elder Fillmore made some can rotators to auction off and Sister Fillmore shared a new talent.  Having been inspired by daughter Rachel, she played a nose flute.  The audience was amused, after getting over the shock of seeing a green thing hanging out of her left nostril to restrict the air flow.

Ann playing a stirring rendition on the nose flute.

Bruce making can rotators

As for the Ranch work, Elder Fillmore and the other Elders finished roofing one house, while putting down a floor in a renovated firehouse.  While working inside the house Bruce discovered a Mockingbird nest in the rafters above a bedroom closet.  He removed the nest and relocated it at a neighbors house.

After work hours Bruce and another Elder fixed two sagging gates on the ranch.  The soil here is sandy because they have NO gravel or rocks.  It's nice for digging post holes, but tough for securing gates, so there are a lot of sagging gates.

As the month rolled into June, Katie and her family came to visit.  We enjoyed 3 days of activities, including the beach, Gatorland, an airboat ride, horseback riding, going to the swimming hole, and the bird rookery.

Fun at the beach until we realized that
almost everyone got fried!

Ranch swimming hole.  We got some super action shots of the kids swinging on the ropes, jumping off high dive platform, and shooting down the slide.

While at the swimming hole we discovered a ball with ominous teeth bites in it.  Yes, a 2-foot alligator was lurking in the water but kept out of sight.

Katie and Family in the Ranch Visitors Center

We have had a lot of rain the past week, as a tropical storm just passed by to the north of us.  So far, no hurricanes.   That's all the news for now.  Stay tuned until next time.

Latest News from Sunny Florida

April started off well with April Fools Day.  For those who know us well, it was a great day with lots of fun surprises.  It's always good to be in a new environment on April 1st because you have a fresh audience, and you can reuse some of the old tried-and-true tricks with the unsuspecting recipients.  A good time was had by.....most.

These are real flamingoes, not April Fools Flamingoes

We received church callings as a couple, so we teach the Sunbeam class of 3 year olds, which is a great experience.   The day we were sustained in church we thought we'd drop into the classroom to meet the kids, but to our surprise, they threw us into the classroom without a manual or any hint as to what the lesson was supposed to be about, so of course we "winged it" and got along fine.  We didn't raise 10 kids for nothing!

Sunbeam Class

We are also Cub Scout Leaders working with the Wolf and Bears, which comprises ages 8 and 9.  In the three weeks we have been serving we have carved soap with pocket knives, taught Ultimate Frisbee skills and hiked to a bird rookery.  Fun, fun and more fun!

Before Hike, during drizzling rain

Middle of hike, right before deluge, with 1/2 mile to go. One of the dads is a Wildlife Biologist for the Ranch, so he went with us!

Elder Fillmore spent several weeks with the other Elders at the Ranch swimming hole.  No, they weren't swimming to get out of the heat, but they were replacing rickety wooden stairways, rotting platform boards and fending off the resident alligator who has been in the swimming hole since the rusted chain link fence was taken down.  Elder Fillmore has also been working on renovating some ranch homes with the other Senior Elders, which is his main purpose for being here.

The hand railing came next

The swimming hole had been partially drained for repairs, so normally water is everywhere...it is fed by a natural flow-well.

Speaking of alligators, Elder Fillmore made a Gator Gauge so one can determine how long an alligator is by looking at his head.  It was a gift for a departing Elder and his wife.  It works great...if you dare get close enough to a gator to stick the protruding pin into his nose.  

One inch on the gage equals one foot of the gator.  Gus' snout is 12 1/2 inches, and he measures 12 1/2 feet

The bucket is to keep the gator from chewing off your hand...remember Captain Hook?
A couple of comments from local cowboys include "You need a much larger bucket!" and, "I just shoot 'em then pull out my tape measure to see how long they are."

I have been busy with humanitarian sewing and crocheting.  This month I made a number of t-shirt dresses and pillowcase dresses, as well as adult bibs for care centers and school bags for kids.  I am so glad that I received a serger for Christmas that I can use along with my sewing machine.

In our spare time we visited the Kennedy Space Center, Gator Land and also a Serpentarium.

Kennedy Space Center

Elder Fillmore & Snake

Sister Fillmore and Snake

Gator Land

Mothers Day was great.  Elder Fillmore made me a shelf to go in our laundry area.  When you only have 450 sq. feet, you need all the extra storage you can get.

As far as service goes, we've helped clean the church twice, fed the full-time Elders numerous times, and participated in a Day of Service at the high school.  

We have been grateful for good health and favorable weather.   Did we mention how wonderful senior missions are!

View from an air boat ride through a cypress grove