"Wednesday evening I had a conversation with Paul. He said to me `Dad, you are a magnet for the bizarre!' It has been a month since that conversation, and I have often thought about the comment since then. First to come to mind is the divorce, then my mind wanders to Jane Morless dying of mad cow disease (../9937.html), Todd and Michelle Staheli's murder (../0349.html, ../0350.html, and ../0351.html), the murder in front of our house (0521.html, 0522.html, and 0523.html), and even more recent stuff, which I will reiterate in this e-mail. Then my mind jumps back to my youth and childhood. In an attempt to keep this week's events on a lighter note, I will recall a recent conversation with my friend Les Denham when I told him about being a magnet for the bizarre.
Les came into work with a great big scab on his forehead. He wears a beard, and has lost all of the hair on his forehead, so a quarter inch diameter scab is fairly prominent. I asked if he had an accident on his sailing boat. He said no, and started to laugh. Told me that he must have turned over too quick in bed, and the cat that was sleeping on his pillow with him decided to flee the scene. The problem was getting traction, and so the claws came out and provided the traction as the cat lifted off of his head.
I laughed, and told him I'm not the only magnet for the bizarre. Then mentioned that because of my allergies, this is one thing I'm pretty certain will never happen to me. And besides that I don't like cats much. Les said, `Why?' I explained a side of my youth I hadn't thought about nor remembered for years. One of the issues with the Byproducts Plant, the northern extension of Nelson Meat Packing Plant, was that the raw meat attracted cats and skunks. Lots of folks in Cedar would bring their unwanted cats out to the valley, and turn them loose. And we ended up with all of these cats and skunks in the grainery and Byproducts Plant. There was good reason to be concerned about diseases, especially rabies. So as soon as I was old enough to shoot a 22-rifle, one of my jobs was to keep the cat and skunk (and squirrel - who messed up the haystacks and the side of the silage pit, and prairie dog - who messed up the furrows and created big problems for irrigating the crops, and jack rabbit - who became diseased when there were a lot of them around) populations to the minimum possible. I became a pretty good shot, largely because of all of these animals which I killed, as instructed to.
Let me digress on my story, and describe cat hunting at the Byproducts Plant in more detail. First the facilities. The original building is on the east side. It is a grainery. There is a cement chute, where grain from the fields is dumped. This grain falls into the basement, where it is raised by a worm spiral elevator to the addict and dumped in one of two three-story 20 foot square grain bins made of hard wood. On the main floor, which was about 6 feet above the road, there was a steam roller. Steam from the Byproducts plant was run into here, and grain was dropped between two large steel rollers which had steam going between them, to crush the wheat. The results were the rolled oats we fed the cattle each evening. The grain got into the bin above the rollers by opening a slot in the basement, and a worm elevator would carry it up and drop it in this large bin. Once the oats were rolled, they would be taken by a worm elevator up to another large bin where they were stored. We would fill up 80 pound bags of rolled oats to feed the cattle each night from this bin. I also liked to eat the rolled oats. I used to climb all around these bins and pretend I was Tarzan. One of the reasons I climbed around them was to find cats, who also climbed around them, and would hide in the various bins.
The center building was a storage area on the main floor. On the front was a coal chute, where the coal to create the steam for creating rolled oats and for cooking the offal was dumped into a coal bin in the basement of this part of the building. When I was about 14 there was a fire, the Cedar City Fire Brigade was called, and Steve Lovell's wife had a terrible time waking me up to go out and show the Fire Trucks how to get down to the fire. I was always tired after spending a day working on the farm or in the meat packing plant. Steve got the fire put out before the fire brigade arrived. There were several old harnesses in this storage area, which I now have in Grandma Shirts' garage. The roof was falling down because of the fire. In the basement of this room was the boiler, which I'll describe after I describe the cooker. Cats would often climb from the boiler, up to this room.
The building on the west was where the offal from Nelson Meat Packing Plant were dumped. There was a big dirt ramp leading up to the main floor, and the truck from with the bones, and heads, and trimmings, and intestines, and other components of the Meat Packing Plant offal would back up to the top of this ramp and dump their load. Sometimes it would be full and they would dump it on the side of the ramp. At the front right side of this large room, which was always full of rotting carcasses and offal, was a hole which the offal was thrown down into the pressure cooker. I will talk about the cooker in the basement of this building in a minute. I remember when I was dating Ellen Green, Sharon Green's little sister (Sharon is my cousin Paul Nelson's wife), I drove her down past the Lower Plant to change the irrigation water. I was used to the sight and the smell and the flies and didn't think anything of it. I remember looking over at her and seeing her almost start to throw up. Oh well! She stopped dating me after this. There were usually several cats in this building when one would first drive up.
To the west of this building were some forms for a cement wall that was never built for an additional building. They were six inches wide, and made out of 1"x 6" boards and as you came away from the building they were about 8-12 feet off of the ground. The cats and skunks would often run from the the main room, where the carcasses of all dead animals in Cedar Valley and all of the offal from Nelson Meat Packing Plant were dumped, down into these forms. As I recall the most cats I ever killed in one day was 5, and it was because I caught them in the bottom of these forms and was shooting down on them.
To the west of these forms was the grinder. It was a 4' diameter screen cylinder with spikes welded on it. We would hook the tractor up to it with an 8" wide 20' long pulley which would turn the cylinder around very fast. Then we would take the 20-30 pound 3' diameter 2-6" thick pressed cakes of cooked bones and offal, grind them up, and sack them in 100 pound gunnysacks. These sacks were basically pure protein, and were sold to Barlocker's in Enterprise as feed for turkeys. Dad also had me spread some on top of the grain, which was spread on top of the silage, which was fed to the cattle in the feed lot every night. Feeding cattle brains of other cattle, no matter how much they are cooked, is the primary cause of Mad Cow Disease, which is the reason I have been so interested since this became a problem, first in England and now here in Texas. Randy Shirts actually spent at least one Saturday helping me grind up the pressed cakes. We could usually grind about 10 ton in a day. At 2,000 pounds per ton, and 100 pounds per bag, this is about 200 bags of this stuff. This was real work, and I was always very tired at the end of one of these days.
Going around back, or on the north side of the Lower Plant you could enter the basement of all three buildings. On the west was the cooker. It was a big tank about the size of a cement truck's container. This was the cooker and had big paddles inside it which stirred up the offal as steam was fed into it and cooked it under pressure. Once the bones were cooked they would shatter, and the meat all turned black. A lot of the smell went up the smoke stack. The wind in Cedar Valley usually blows towards the north, so we typically did not have to smell it when the offal was being cooked. However, the folks at Mattheson Dairy and Charlie Garfield were right down wind, and they always had to smell it. Elma Matheson made comments about it several times, and yet we were still pretty good friends growing up. There was a lot of grease and fat in the mixture, that was dumped out at the end of a cooking session, and fed into a big trough. At the end of this trough was a big press. The gloop was shoveled into the press, large steel disks were placed between bunches of the gloop, and once the press was full, hydraulics were used to squeeze all of the lard out of the gloop. Before World War II this lard was more valuable than the meat from Nelson Meat Packing Plant, because it was used as a lubricant for bullets. However, with the war, new lubricants were invented, and the price of lard plummeted. There were always dozens of 100 gallon barrels of lard, or empty barrels waiting to be filled with lard, in back of this part of the Lower Plant.
In the center room was the boiler. It was like a big train steam engine boiler. Dad spent lots of time inside the boiler replacing and welding pipes that had rusted through because of the fire and steam and pressure tied to the boiler. There was a large coal bin, which from which the coal for the fire to create steam in the boiler was shoveled. Dad also spent a lot of time welding the spikes on the grinder, so that the cakes of offal could be ground up. By the time I was old enough to work, the plant had been operating for 20 years, and there was never enough money to do any reasonable maintenance. As a result most of the equipment was jimmy rigged and was continually breaking down. It would get fixed when it broke, and the fixes were often very creative. I expect that watching Dad do this type of `maintenance' was part of where I learned to think different from most people.
In the basement of the grainary, which was where the chutes that fed grain from the large storage bins back up into the small bins which fed the steam roller and which was where we pulled the rolled oats to feed the cattle from, was also used as the storage space for hides. My first job in Nelson Meat Packing Plant was to learn to use the electric skinner and to skin the cattle. It was a really big deal if you used it wrong, and marred the inside of the hide. Those hides with cuts sold for less. The hides were all salted down and were stored in the basement of the east third of the building. I remember the doors had blown off of this building and once my dog started to bark at what I thought was a cat under the door. So I lifted it up to shoot the cat, only to get sprayed by a skunk. This was when I learned to take a bath in tomato juice to sort of get rid of the smell of a skunk. By the way, that skunk never sprayed anyone else.
I have never described this part of my life in such detail to you kids before. And I do not expect you have to think about this description of the Nelson Byproducts Plant very much to realize that I have been a magnet for the bizarre since my youth. And certainly the fact that I killed so many cats in my youth will enhance this perception in the minds of those of you who love cats. I always like to listen to cats purr, and because I have such a strong allergic reaction to them, I tend to not spend much time stroking them and getting them to purr. There were times in my youth when I would catch young kittens I found, cage them, and attempt to tame them. Living on the farm, it was good to have cats running around the outside of the house to keep down the number of mice that made it into the house. I remember one particularly spunky cat that I worked with for quite a while. He did not want to be tamed. Once I took my gloves off and was petting him, and his head got loose and he turned and bit me. My reaction was immediate and swift. I threw him down on the cement in the garage, and it killed him. As I have read the scriptures I have often thought about this, my one true crime of passion, especially in reference to when Alma was lecturing his son Corianton regarding the abomination of sexual sin:
Anyway, I digress. As I finished confessing about killing cats at the Byproducts Plant, Les started to laugh. He told me that when he was in High School they had a song they sang which was a parody on `Major General' in the musical `Pirates of Penzanze.' The song, which he sang to me, included the words:
It was really funny as Les sang the words. My thought as I write them is at least we didn't use any cat meat in our sausage. The fact I have been a magnet for the bizarre my whole life, also comes to mind. Oh well! It certainly seemed more so than usual this particular week. I had one of the hardest conversations of my entire life with someone I love. In the middle of the conversation even the sun went behind a cloud, showing to me how foreboding the spirit in the room was. It is not easy to care. Especially when you have close friends and loved ones that go through tremendous trials, whether of their own free choice or because of things outside of their control. For instance, Friday June 3rd my long time secretary at HyperMedia, Walden 3-D, and Continuum Resources, Rhonda Hartmann, wrote:
I responded:
Monday Rhonda responded with:
I was definitely shook up with the news. I responded:
Andrea and I spent about an hour talking to Rhonda on Monday night. I was really emotionally broke up about the whole series of events. Then Tuesday evening when I got home Jennifer Lozier, our neighbor to the south where the Thielmier car ended up in the tree, came by. She told us that a young black shot and killed a man at 11:00 PM at the Walmart across the freeway off of Fry Road, and she had read it in the paper. It turns out that on Tuesday, 14 June 2005 (0425.html), at the town meeting about the two murders, we learned that the Walmart shooter was Hispanic and his accomplice was white. However, for the rest of this week we had in our minds that we had another Washington D.C. murder spree going on in our neighborhood by a group of blacks. Talk about feeling like a magnet for the bizarre. Later Tuesday night we went to Adam Peterson's wedding reception at Falcon Point Country Club off of Pin Oak Road. Everything seemed normal at the reception, and it is nice to be grounded with the Gospel and with good friends to talk to in times of trial. There are some digital photos of this evening and some of our close friends at http://www.walden3d.com/photos/NottinghamCountryWard/050607_Adam_Peterson_Wedding.
Andrea's Aunt Nadine regularly sends us a package of newspaper
clippings and other related things. The following was one of
the enclosures received about Wednesday. Note going in that I
disagree with #1 (remember about Adam-Ondi-Ahmen as described
in the scriptures), and #3 (I think Noah ended up in Turkey
and started someplace else).
VERY INTERESTING
The actual words from the Koran Surah 9:11 are:
How often do normally good people go beyond the mark with baloney like the misquotes from the Koran, which Aunt Nadine, someone whom, based on lots of notes and newspaper clippings received over the last 6 years, I firmly believe is a good person without guile, pick up on and think are true. Oh how easy it is for Satan to lead us astray, as described in II Nephi 28: 19-26:
Wednesday was spent building some AVO (Amplitude-verses-Offset) models for Dave Johnson. I've lost track of time. I think this was when he went to China after visiting Algeria. Or maybe it was when he was getting ready to leave for the trip. Anyway, it was pretty intense at work. Then my friend Don Vossler called up to talk about progress with his NRG and STR seismic attributes. I had no progress to report. Don's mother-in-law just passed away, and he called to tell me he would be out of town for the next week or so. Losing our parents or our in-laws is a sad, and not a bizarre event in our lives. However, Wednesday was the day I had the conversation with Paul where I first learned I am a magnet for the bizarre. It is amazing how much your kids teach you as you get older.
Rick Zimmerman had asked me to go to Austin with him to a meeting on TDR's (Transfer Development Rights) when we met on Memorial Day (0523.html). However, as is typical with Rick, he did not return phone calls nor e-mails, and so on the way home on Wednesday night I stopped by his house to get specifics on the conference. I got the specifics, and I also gave him the spread-sheet describing 130 different exploration opportunities and a box full of supporting documentation which I had put together as Dynamic Resources. He assured me he will sign a confidentiality agreement. He never has, and like one of his friends told me, Rick always gets anything he wants for almost free. Oh well! Time will tell. Rick did give me directions to the conference. He also really wanted me to see his ranch by Austin, and made sure I had the information for a visit.
I took Thursday and Friday as vacation days. Andrea and I got up early and were in Austin by 8:00 AM and were at the Texas Wildflower Center by 8:25 AM. The conference had started, and the second speaker was starting to talk. I took a lot of notes. I had never heard of TDR's before. They are based on the concept of a sending area - an area to preserve, and a receiving area - an area to grow. The idea is that you sell off the surface development rights, similar to the way mineral rights are sold. This way someone can determine how the surface is developed. In Austin, this is important because of the Edward's Aquifer. The County controls the amount of development that can go on any piece of property, and if someone purchases the TDR's for a sending area, they can do a higher density development in their receiving area. As Rick knew, this is very relevant to my Walden 3-D ideas. It is also a way to guarantee Dad's farm is never turned into a Boise Cascade housing development. This is a long term project, and really needs to be attacked if we move to Cedar City. I will pass copies of the materials I picked up and my notes to Aunt Sara and Uncle Des when we are in Utah the first week of August (0532.html).
Thursday afternoon we had lunch at the Hotel Dreskel, where Chef Sara Ellyn Nelson works. Excellent lunch. First class hotel. Must have been some good marketing done to get a job in this kind of a place based on her work experience. Sara Ellyn I'm proud of you! There are some digital photos at http://www.walden3d.com/photos/Family/07_Sara/050610_SaraEllyn. Then Andrea and I went to Book People, where I purchased `The Oil Finders: A collection of Stories About Exploration' compiled and edited by Allen G. Hatley. It is a wonderful book, and exactly describes what I want to do if Rick Zimmerman's opportunity turns out to be real. I finished the book before I went back to work on Monday. Then we went over to The Whole Grain Store, where Andrea went shopping and I started reading my new book. We were both happy. Thursday evening we stayed with Roice and Sarah Elizabeth and Sara Ellyn. Roice showed us his telescope and we looked at Saturn and Jupiter and the moon and fire flies. There are a couple of digital photos at http://www.walden3d.com/photos/Family/01_Roice/050610_RoiceIII. Then we watched `Captain Marvelous and The World of Tomorrow.' Andrea was wiped out and fell asleep through most of the movie.
Friday morning I read until everyone woke up. In our conversations, Sara Ellyn introduced me to Crystal Roll-On Deodorant, with no aluminum chlorohydrate, hypoallergenic and fragrance-free, non-sticky, with natural mineral salts. Sara, it was nice to see my advice is listened to (../0340.html), and hopefully you will never have problems with the dreaded Alzheimer's disease. Our visit to Rick's two ranches out by Marble Falls was nice. They are beautiful, and it is really neat that he is protecting nature. We spent most of our time at the first ranch, which has beautiful lakes and streams, deer, and miles and miles of horse riding trails. Digital photos from both ranches are at http://www.walden3d.com/photos/Friends/Zimmerman_Rick/050611_Rick_Zimmerman_Marble_Falls_Ranch. The second ranch overlooks Lake Travis. I made a panorama photo from on top of a lookout built on the highest hill of this ranch. As we drove into this ranch, Sara made a comment about what a funny name it is for a ranch, and I read and said the name `Placenta' and said I agreed. Both Sara and Andrea started to laugh at me, because the word was `Placebo.' Oh well! I've said for years I do not do words very good. We were late for something Sara was going to do with one of her friends. Oh well! I think the highlight of this trip was when we stopped at a middle-eastern restaurant in a strip mall close to Roice's house and ate lunch. All three of us thoroughly enjoyed the gyros and other Mediterranean foods. We drove back to Katy Friday afternoon. Matt had got back from his High Adventure trip to the Guadalupe River earlier in the afternoon.
Saturday was kind of a blur for me. Matt did mow the lawn for the last time before he left. There was an e-mail received on Saturday night and a response made on Sunday morning. The system was down and I didn't see the e-mail until Sunday. These e-mails will be in the e-mail archive if someone chooses to look them up after I distribute that archive as part of your inheritance. Late Saturday night President Pickerd called to tell me Larry Law has been diagnosed with an inoperable brain cancer. I guess this phone call clinched the week and the fact I must be a magnet for the bizarre.
Sunday was hard for me. Seth Jones came back from his mission to Georgia and was the speaker in Sacrament Meeting. One of his comments summarized my feelings of the day:
I came home and finished the book about The Oil Finders. Jeff Jurinak, who is now my High Priest Group Leader, stopped by to ask me to be one of three teachers in the High Priest Quorum. The others are Chris Schmidt and Dave Williams. I accepted, of course. We talked for quite a while. We talked about the murder in front of the house, the murder at Walmart, generalities about how hard it is when those you love choose to follow scary paths, and in general Jeff was able to bring a little calm into my life. I refused to talk to Andrea about what was bothering me, because I wanted to keep her separate from it. I guess you could say I do not want her to also become a magnet for the bizarre."