Rickety

Mostly about Utah

Sarah and Bryson Leave For Texas

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Sarah and Bryson left for Texas today.
Jill, Sarah, and Bryson at the Salt Lake airport

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It was a sad, rickety day as Sarah and Bryson prepared to leave for Texas. Derek has found work there so it was necessary to move. With Bryson being our first grandchild, and just starting to smile, he will be especially missed. However, Adelaide’s due date is seven days from now and so the newest arrival will receive all our lavish attention. Poor thing, I hope you know how to smile :) . Now I know why movie stars wear sunglasses — to protect themselves from all the flash photography. Jill is already planning a visit to Texas and I expect we will become quite familiar with the lone star state. The motto of Texas is friendship so if any of you Texans from Keller see Sarah about town be sure to say “Hi”.
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The Conquest of Jericho Sestina

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Sarah
The first time I heard of a sestina was when my daughter Sarah received a homework assignment to write one. I helped a little by suggesting a story from the Bible and then by contributing a few lines. This happened back in 2001 but I still remember fondly the time we spent penning those 39 lines. A sestina can be quite appealing to the mind because of the re-use of the six chosen words and the order in which they appear.

What is a Sestina?

With the help of Wikipedia I give you this explanation: A sestina is a highly structured poem consisting of 6 six-line stanzas followed by a tercet (three lines) for a total of thirty-nine lines. The same set of six words ends the lines of each of the six-line stanzas, but in a different order each time; if we number the first stanza’s lines 123456, then the words ending the second stanza’s lines appear in the order 615243, then 364125, then 532614, then 451362, and finally 246531. This organization is referred to as retrogradatio cruciata (“retrograde cross”). These six words then appear in the tercet as well, with the tercet’s first line usually containing 1 and 2, its second 3 and 4, and its third 5 and 6.

Sarah’s Sestina

To make the sestina easier to follow I have numbered the lines where the six words appear. The words are Joshua, Jericho, priests, trumpets, days, and times, numbered respectively 1 through 6. The sestina is based on Joshua chapter six. Verses 1-5 are the word of the Lord to Joshua (stanzas 1 and 2); verses 6-7 are Joshua’s words to the people (stanzas 3 and 4); verses 8-27 is the conquest of Jericho (stanzas 5 and 6). The troubadour rules were strictly followed for the order in which the end-words recur. The tercet, the three lines at the end, contain the six words used in the six preceding stanzas which you shall see are not exactly in the right order. See if you can rewrite it so that it is.

The Conquest of Jericho

(1) And the Lord said unto Joshua:
(2) “I have given unto thine hand Jericho.
(3) Before the ark I want seven priests,
(4) Bearing rams horn trumpets.
(5) And this shall take seven days,
(6) And they shall compass the city seven times.”

(6) “When surrounding the city seven times,”
(1) The Lord continued to instruct Joshua,
(5) “The walls of the city shall fall in seven days,
(2) And utterly destroy the inhabitants of Jericho.
(4) By the long blasts of the trumpets,
(3) That shall be blown by the priests.”

(3) And the son of Nun called seven priests:
(6) “You will circle the city seven times,
(4) And blow the rams horn trumpets.”
(1) The Ark of the Covenant was brought before Joshua,
(2) And he told the people to surround Jericho
(5) Once every six days.

(5) And seven times on the seventh day.
(3) “I want armed men before the priests,
(2) And the ark to come behind when circling Jericho.”
(6) “When going around the seventh time,”
(1) Continued Joshua,
(4) “The people shall shout with the trumpets.”

(4) So the seven priests with seven trumpets
(5) Went blowing a full six days
(1) “And only shall Rahab live,” commanded Joshua
(3) So the people shouted with the priests
(6) And it was done only on the seventh time,
(2) That the wall fell down flat, for entry to Jericho

(2) The city was burned—waste was Jericho.
(4) Celebratory sounds of the trumpets
(6) Were made long and loud and many times.
(5) Victory feasts were the order of the days.
(3) Hailed as heroes were the seven priests
(1) Throughout the country was noised the fame of Joshua!

Gold and many (6) times the silver were taken that (5) day.
(1) Joshua said, “Cursed be the man that buildeth this city (2) Jericho.”
And the seven (4) trumpets and the seven (3) priests agreed.
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Birthday Celebration: Steven

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Steven entertains Bryson

Steven entertains Bryson


On Monday we celebrated Steven’s birthday at our Family Home Evening. Jill, Paul, Jake, Steven, Adelaide, Sarah, Derek, Bryson, and myself were there. After the Family Home Evening we blew up balloons, tossed them in the air, and then burst them. It sounds a little pointless but it was a lot of fun. We gave Steven his presents and then ate cake and ice-cream.
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Past Pictures: Hill Aerospace Museum

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Jake and Paul at the Hill Aerospace Museum.
In April 2001 I took my sons Paul and Jake to Hill Aerospace Museum. We had a great time looking at all the planes. Some of the early biplanes looked rather rickety. The admission was free and along with the planes there were a number of displays that taught us about events in history like the Doolittle Raid. Here is what the museum website says about itself:

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Brigham City Peach Days

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Peach Days banner.
Jill, Sarah, and I traveled to Brigham City yesterday for Peach Days. We were joined by Kent, Susan, Connie, Mark, Byron, and Robert. Peach days takes place the weekend after Labor day weekend. Much of the main street in the city is closed off to cars, and the festival is celebrated by a parade, a car show, a carnival, and other activities including the famous “Scuba Burger” which many Peach Day goers enjoy. In the parade were rickety fire engines no longer in service, clowns, horse and carriages, bands, floats, beauty queens, Star Wars characters, bandits, old cars, farm equipment, unicyclers, and even pioneers pulling a handcart. I was having difficult with the sun shining into my camera so I crossed the street and put it behind me. During the parade some bandits fired their guns astride their horses which made a baby in the crowd cry. The parade lasted two hours, which is the longest parade I have ever watched.

A local plumber advertises his skills.

Cherry Days Royalty.

After the parade we went to the vendor area on 2nd West and bought lunch. We sat under the shade on some chairs provided by Mark’s dad and ate our food. We walked around all the booths but didn’t buy anything. There sure were a lot of people, in places it was hard to get around. Some mothers had strollers as big as eighteen wheelers which in places slowed foot traffic to a crawl. These stroller owners will have to be wary of the UTA that will want a stroller congestion tax. I came across a tank that you could go inside. The Army was out in force and a tank or howitzer or whatever it was is a good draw to help with recruitment.

I was requested in the comments a few days ago to give out more of my opinion so I will comply. What did I think of Peach Days? The main attraction for me is the parade. Recently several parades I have attended have not had very many floats which to me is the heart of a parade. Peach Days was the same, not very many floats. It takes a lot of time and effort to put one together so that is not surprising. I know when my sons helped to build a mammoth they spent a great deal of time in the construction. I believe I contributed some spare wood for the frame — it takes a mammoth amount of wood to build a hairy elephant. The parade was too long — two hours — and people were leaving before the end. I like the marching bands and any floats. Also any military hardware and anything with horses.

The rest of Peach Days I don’t care for. There is nothing in the booths I am interested in except the food. It is just glorified shopping. It was enjoyable to see others having fun so it is worth the trip for that. The young people were especially enjoying the carnival. It was great to be out in the sunshine with my family.

Peach Days Carnival

Peach Days Carnival


Rick by the tank

Rick by the tank


Jill enjoys her food in the shade

Jill enjoys her food in the shade


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Grandpa Rickety Twice Over

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Adelaide and Steven

This is a family blog so it is appropriate to post once in a while about birthdays, new births, and pregnancies. Speaking of which you may recall that I blogged about Sarah and Derek expecting a boy in October, their first child. Of course some family members decided to fire up their creativity and contribute to naming the baby and came up with mossly good suggestions like:

  • Pete Moss
  • Forrest Moss
  • Chris Moss

I am really looking forward to being a grandpa. To make things even better, on 29th June Adelaide and Steven announced that their first baby is due in February. We do not know the gender yet. Last week they said it was OK to let everybody know. If the photograph is anything to go by this is going to be one beautiful baby.

So now I will soon be a grandpa twice over. Awesome!

Past Pictures: A Double Blessing

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Ray with son David (left) and Rick with son Jacob

The picture quality is not that great. It is a scan of a photograph from twenty-one years ago. My brother is on the left with his son David and I am holding my son Jacob. My wife Jill and sister-in-law Susan were both pregnant and due in the same month. We all liked the name of David so we agreed that whichever child was born first would take the name David. Susan’s baby came prematurely and so we chose Jacob to be our son’s name.

The photograph was taken shortly after we arrived home from the baby blessing at Church. That is why David and Jacob are dressed in white. Though Ray is not a member of the Church I asked him if he would like me to bless David along with Jacob.

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Ordination

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Today Daniel was ordained an elder. This was done by those with priesthood authority to lay their hands on his head and receive this ordinance. Present and pictured in the photograph are (left to right, top to bottom) Derek, Paul, Steven, Brian, Sarah, Jill, Rick (Rickety), and Daniel. Brian is a Stake High Counselor and a dear friend who was present as the Stake representative. I was voice for the ordinance. To have the authority to perform this act of laying on of hands, male members of the Church must receive this authority by the laying on of hands from a priesthood holder who has the proper authority. This has been passed down in the Church from the Apostles Peter, James and John, who received their authority from Christ. These Apostles then visited Joseph Smith as angelic messengers and gave him the proper priesthood authority. From Joseph Smith the priesthood has been passed down in an unbroken line from Christ. Having the authority of the priesthood is different from having the power to use that priesthood:

All of us who hold the priesthood have the authority to act for the Lord, but the effectiveness of our authority—or if you please, the power that comes through that authority—depends on the pattern of our lives; it depends on our righteousness (H. Burke Peterson, “Priesthood—Authority and Power,” Ensign, May 1976, 32).

Daniel has now transitioned from the Aaronic priesthood to the Melchizedek priesthood as he continues his preparation for his mission to Mongolia. The only sad thing in all of this is that there are now no Aaronic priesthood in the house to boss around.