Dave’s Blog

One of the greatest blessings in my life has been the help that my two grandsons give to me every Saturday. Each Saturday they come down from Morgan and help me with my yard work. Brendan mows the lawn and Travis picks up piles of fallen apples and cherries, as well as Brooke’s mess. Travis then hooks up the electric blower and blows off all the side walks, patio, and carport. They do such a great job that our next door neighbor has hired them to mow and trim her lawn. I do all the weed eating at both places and we all have a great time. Everyone gets a water bottle and helps with this assignment. Travis has learned to tie a Grandpa Nordquist knot in the electrical cord and Brenden has learned that faster is not better when it comes to mowing grass. I am very critical when it comes to my lawn, so the boys are very careful to do every duty as well as they can. I believe the biggest benefit from this act of service is that both of my Grandsons are learning how to work and do your best. It also gives me time with my grandkids every week. I pay them $10 each for their service. What a bargain!

I am a manager of a large seasonal water park in Northern Utah. For all intents and purposes this has been a banner year for outdoor water parks because of the record heat and very few “weather” days. All was going well with the march to Labor Day when an out break of Cryptosporidiam, a parasite found in open water areas became an epidemic to Northern Utah. Usually there are 30 cases per year and this year there are close to 700 reported cases. Children and adults become very ill and have flu like symptoms for up to two weeks. The parasite is brought into the water park from open water areas and spread to pool patrons. Normal chlorine levels will not kill this bacteria but 20/parts/million chlorine will. We superchlorinated our pools twice which is very expensive and followed the State Health recommendations as close as we could. When the Utah State Board of Health mandated that no 5 year olds and younger could swim in public pools until further notice our season was over. We market to the young kids and families so this was a big blow to our operation. We closed the water park 6 days early and sent the lifeguards, cashiers, and maintenance workers on there way. I now have the first holiday off since June. This is a fun Labor Day!

In July I went to Seattle to see my son and his family. I had a wonderful time, and I just loved the time I spent with my grandkids kids. While I was there my son introduced me to a fun kid’s toy called a Kettler Car. It is a small peddle car that is made in Germany. The grandkids loved to ride on the neighbors Kettler Car so I decided to buy them one. Well, since then I have purchased three more and it seems to be a big hit with the grandkids. The only problem is that they are rather small and a great toy for the wee ones but not so great for the older kids. I have decided to buy a little bit larger Kettler Car for those families that have older children. When you have three kids waiting in line to ride the Kettler Car it breaks Grandpa’s heart to see the looks on the faces of the anticipating riders. That will make a total of 6 Nordquist Kettler Cars. I am still deciding whether to get one for grandma and grandpa’s house. I hope everyone enjoys this fun gift from mom and me.

For the past three weeks I have hired a very hard working young woman to come and clean our house. She has done a wonderful job and it has made it so Ilene can now focus her limited energy on other important things. I use to think that only the rich and famous had housekeepers. I have found out that in todays world of fast everything many young moms are having there houses cleaned by a professional. What a great thing to do for your wife. I would recommend it for everyone. It kind of makes me think I have finally arrived.

Having grandkids is just the best thing in the whole world. First you have one, then two and so on until you have a whole house full. Ilene and I now have 16 grandchildren and will welcome a new arrival in November. Until then the family is evenly distributed with 8 boys and 8 girls. The Seattle family will break the tie with a little boy. One thing that I have found is that Grandma is some what more popular that grandpa. Our four year old Allie Sue called me last night and said, “is this Grandma?” I said no it is grandpa and Allie said, “Oh I must have the wrong number then!” I love my grandkids…they are so much fun.

I am a leader in my church with the responsibility of giving assistance to people in my congregation who are in need of financial help. I have a 12 year old boy who has not had a haircut for months and was in dire need of a haircut. I knew of a lady who had a salon in her home so I thought I would help each of them by paying for the haircut of the 12 year old which in turn would help the hairdresser. This was a no-brainier! After I had arraigned for the kid to get his hair cut he came to my house to show me how good he looked with his new hair cut. He showed up with a mow hawk hair cut which was sprayed purple. I about died laughing. That is not what I had in mind. This is a good/bad example of poor communication between two parties. I am glad his hair will grow out and the purple color will wash out. I learned a valuable lesson about communication. Be specific!

Ilene and I have been shopping at Smith’s for over 25 years. I believe I have hated the store for that long but I continue to shop there. Tonight I came home with $200 with of groceries and I felt that I was doing them a favor by shopping there. I have resolved the fact that I am a creature of habit and I know where all the items are so that is why I go there. The service is terrible and the prices are higher than that of other stores but I still shop there week after week because it is close and convenient. When am I ever going to learn.

I just returned from a short trip to Seattle to see my Son, his wife and three wonderful grandkids. This is the 18th time I have been in the Seattle Area and I just love it. Utah had temperatures in the 100′s and Seattle was in the 70″s. Here are a few things I really like about Seattle:

1. My family

2. The cool cars I see on the road

3. The climate/temperature

4. The water front

5. The sports venues

6. The cool freeways running every which way

7. Seattle talk radio

8. The technology influence on the community

9. The diversity of the population

10. Easy access from Salt Lake City

I have had a great time in Seattle the last four days.  The kids have been great and Brett and Kim wonderful hosts.

Here’s a picture I took at the Seattle Mariner’s game last night.