Is it Spring yet?

That's the Prius in the foreground

When we were packing for our mission, I checked with Ashley to see if the clothes that I’d selected were appropriate.  Her comment to me was that most of them were for cold weather.  I have to tell you that I evidently didn’t pack for cold weather because we were freezing on Tuesday and Wednesday.  We woke up to snow covering the ground on Wednesday.  We’d hoped that we were over this type of weather as you may remember that we arrived last week with snow on the ground as well.  Things were pretty slow at the fort for those two days.  Wednesday we spent our morning shift sitting in the MPR watching the snow fall through the large bank of windows.  It really was beautiful – from the warmth of the MPR.  It was even beautiful outside  when we took a couple of tours but I was definitely was wishing that I was wearing my Levis, gloves, scarf, and hat (none of which I have with me). 

Cove Fort on Wednesday -- BRRR!!!

Monday we took our first excursion to one of the surrounding towns.  We traveled south to Beaver to do some shopping for things that we were in need of.  While in town I stopped at the Public Library and was surprised to find that they would let the missionaries at Cove Fort check out materials but that there was a $10 fee.  I have decided that we definitely don’t need to read those books – whatever happened to Ben Franklin’s idea of a free library?  Oh well – it seems to be a common practice because they were going to charge me $20 in Richfield.  To make myself feel better, I went geocaching but only found two our of the four that we were looking for.  We did go to the Cache Valley Cheese factory to pick up our obligatory bag of curds – if Kevin were here I’d share them with him.

This week, when the weather warmed up at the end of the week, we were able to take several tours through the fort.  Most of them have been members who have never been here before and had finally decided to stop.  Two of the couples we took through had served at Cove Fort as missionaries.  It was nice to talk with them and hear how things had been in the past and learn some of the ways that they shared the gospel with the visitors in the various rooms in the fort. 

Thursday was our Prep Day and so we left for a drive over the mountains to The Forgotten Corridor.  As you can see the mountains still had a lot of snow on them.  There were warnings for ice on the highway bridges, but since the road is I70 they keep it clear of snow.  We drove through Joseph (named by Joseph Young, Brigham’s oldest son), Monroe (where my mother had lived with her second husband for several years), and then into the thriving metropolis of Richfield.

Cemetery marker at HS

Richfield really is the biggest city around – they have all the usual businesses such as Big 5, Pizza Hut, Autozone, Dollar Tree, Kmart and Walmart, Deseret Industries, the new version of Albertsons, and a clothing store owned by our Cove Fort Directors called Christensens.  We spent the morning exploring around the town and doing some comparative shopping.  After a little geocaching which took us to a block of LDS buildings including the Academy Hall that they used in a way similar to the United Order and to the High School where they had moved the pioneer cemetery to accommodate the football stadium.  Stephen was dying (no reference to the last sentence) to eat out so we had lunch before doing our shopping for the week.  We ate at a little establishment called Pepper Belly’s so we could get our Mexican food fix.  The food was good and the interior  was decorated with old signs and supplies from service stations of the 50’s era.  It was a very pleasant place to spend some time.  We were quite surprised to find that they only charged us half the amount of our bill – they evidently give a missionary discount since that was what was written on the bill.  I would love to go back again, but feel a little guilty doing that .

This week we were given a tour of all of the outbuildings by Elder Ence (one of the  FM missionaries).  It was interesting to see the things up close and to gain more knowledge of the  things in the buildings.  During Cove Fort Days we may be stationed at these buildings so it is important to learn about their uses.

Evenings some time pass a little slowly.  I especially miss the nightly walks.  I’ve been able to walk to the fort to go to work three times so far and hope to do it all the time as long as the weather cooperates and it is not too windy.  (As a side note, the first day when I walked I forgot to change out of my tennis shoes so Sis. Christensen pulled me out to talk to me about my attire -- I quickly explained that I'd just forgotten to change and all was well.)  This week I was able to finish Jenny’s pioneer outfit that I told her I would do for her.  It kept me busy but I’m glad to say that it is done and ready to take to her next week.

I promised to mention one of the three original items that are located in the fort.  The first one that people see is the mantle clock that Pres. Hinckley brought to the fort on May 21, 1994 when he dedicated the fort.  They tell us that it actually works, but to help preserve it they never wind it – or so they tell us.  Come back next week to see one of the other original artifacts.

Hinckley Clock in Angeline's Room

Cove Fort today, 4/21/2013