June 21 - 27, 2010

Fortie Family Flyer

June 21 – 27, 2010

Dear Family and Friends,

            Well, we finished up the regular census (I am writing this several months late so I’m not exactly sure about dates, etc) and our Salt Lake area finished first in the country and to my surprise, my crew tied for first place in the Salt Lake area, not only in being completely done first but in quality of work (fewer returned to be fixed because of problems). I did work hard but it was still a shock to me since I don’t consider myself a good paperwork person. I became close to my crew and they worked hard for me and about 5 of them were top notch people and could handle anything I gave them. In fact, one crew was having a hard time with an apartment manager and they asked for help so I gave Tim (one of my good crew members who happened to be one of Nathan’s friends from the singles ward when Nathan lived with us years ago) a very official looking letter from the Census Bureau and instructed him on how to handle the manager based on my experience with an apartment manager I went and talked to weeks ago that one of my crew members was having a hard time with. He went there with great confidence and did as I said and the manager immediately gave him everything he wanted. The other crew leader was surprised that it went so well for us when they had been working on it for so long. It’s funny how certain experiences can help you down the road with similar situations.  

After we finished with the main census the crew leaders and a few others were sent out in the Salt Lake area to take care of real problem people. That was my first experience going door to door (besides going here and there dealing with people my crew couldn’t handle) and I actually liked it; figuring out how to get problem people to cooperate was very stimulating. I found many people to be fine to work with; they were just hard to catch home. One guy kept avoiding me and even ran in the house when I pulled up to the house while he was sitting in his carport with his dog. I drove around the corner and then walked around the area getting information about him from neighbors. As I walked past his house again he was out watering his lawn (guess he thought I was gone). I walked up and started talking to him and was able to get him to relax and cooperate.

On the last day of finding problem people I came in to hand in my last few binders and a girl came in and said she didn’t dare go into the gate of one home because of some big dogs. The FOS turned to me and asked if I would give it a try and I said I would. I went there and found a big gate with no trespassing and beware of dog signs all over. I first went around to all the neighbors and found out what I could about the guy, and then I went up and rattled the gate to see what I was dealing with. No dogs came so I figured I got lucky and they were in the house so I made lots of noise as I opened the gate and went up to the door. The guy answered the door to the sound of some very big mean dogs that were in the house barking and trying to get out of the door to tear me up. The guy was in shock that I would dare come up to the house and he asked what I was doing there. I told him I was with the census and needed to get some information. He asked if I saw the no trespassing signs and if the gate was closed. I said I saw them and the gate was closed. He said well then I think I will call the police. I said he should go ahead because the census is part of the constitution and we are required to answer the questions and there is a fine if we don’t. I told him it would not be the first time the police had been called on me and since they have to cooperate with me when they arrive it would be very helpful to me. I just acted confident and said I didn’t want to be there and he didn’t want me to be there but since I had to be there we might as well get this over with. I really took him by surprise so he settled down and answered my questions then I smiled and said to him, see that wasn’t that bad, and he smiled back at my boldness and we said our goodbyes and I left.

I had a few others that were adamant about their right to privacy and I had gone to their neighbors first (that’s the secret with these problem people) and got most of their information and I just said I needed to verify that the information I already had was correct (I didn’t tell them where I got it). They seemed to always want to hear what I already had so they let me continue. When I read names and birthdays, etc. they would just answer if they were correct and fix any that were not. With my sneaky tactics I got more information than the average census taker. I learned some pretty good tricks in those few weeks. Too bad they can’t use people who know what they are doing over and over again with each census. Practice makes perfect but since it only happens every 10 years they can’t really get too many people who really know what they are doing to come back (actually some of the people who did the census have done it before).

After that program we were all told that since we finished early we might go help other states. We heard that we might go to Louisiana, then South Dakota, then Las Vegas – all places that were behind and might need our help. Most of us were very excited to be able to go; it would have been good money for us and a new experience. Well, the excitement didn’t last very long because a few days before we were supposed to go they called and said never mind. Then they thought we might go to St. George to help there, then they said no but we would help in Provo. When Provo found out about that they weren’t very excited about it since they wanted to get paid to do their own work and just because we finished early we shouldn’t get their paychecks, anyway it was a mess and I don’t have time to go over all the details (besides you would get bored if you aren’t already). Well Salt Lake sent us down there anyway and we did a few days of work with them not being very grateful (as I said, all this happened over a few weeks and I’m not exactly sure now which ones (I’m writing in January 2011) but I think it was all in the last few weeks of June).

I also believe I got my next group to train for a few weeks of work in Salt Lake to look for places that had been labeled as nonexistent. I was sad that I couldn’t have kept my top 5 people from my original group but they wanted new groups in case people were working together to fake information but not really do the work. During training one of the people in my new group told me he though I would make a good boss. I hadn’t thought that while I was evaluating them as to how good they were going to work for me, they were evaluating me as to what kind of a boss I was going to be compared to their previous boss. Anyway, the training went well and we prepared to do the work after the 4^th of July (I think that’s how it happened – can’t remember if the training was after the 4^th or just the work, oh well, it doesn’t matter that much).

Well, other than the census the girls wanted to paint their rooms since they had marked up the walls with tape from posters and junk over the years and they were having girls come stay with them for 2 weeks from France, so they figured out what they wanted and they went and bought the paint and I spent much of the week helping them paint. It was a big project but it looked good when we finished.

The girls and I (Tami wasn't feeling well) went to Park City on Saturday as JetBlue booked the entire place for all the employees to come and play in. We went down the Alpine Slide and got some of the free food but we got there so late because of our work schedules that the lines were too long to really get around to all the cool stuff that was up there. We did have fun and once while we were standing in line I heard someone yell from across the way, “Mayor Shinn,” I knew they were calling for me so I looked over and sure enough it was someone else that had been in the play so we talked for a bit. I get that now and then in the library or at Smiths. Kids will tell their parents, “There is Mayor Shinn” because they don’t know my real name but they recognize me from the play. It is funny to see the reaction from some of the people once in a while. The librarian thought I must be someone real important because everyone kept coming up and talking to me when I was standing near the counter. I’m not used to that.

Jennifer bought a new bed so I spent part of this week (or the next, can’t remember) putting it together. It is a nice bunk bed with a couch on the bottom that can be made into a large bed and a normal twin bed on the top. She sure likes it.

After some good response on Facebook to a picture I took a few weeks ago of the Jordan River and Oquirrh Mountain Temples in a row I decided that since that shot was a bit foggy because of bad weather I should go out and get a better shot. On Friday the 25^th I was out doing something early in the morning and I went over to the same spot and got some better shots. On my way back to the car I noticed some yellow flowers (weeds really) that had the sun behind them. I couldn’t resist so I took some pictures of them. To what end I don’t know but I took them.

Well, that’s all I can remember from this week.

Keep your journals up, it’s hard to remember a half a year later what went down,

Love you all,

Ken and clan

June 14 - 20, 2010

Fortie Family Flyer

Jun 14 – 20, 2010

Dear Family and Friends,

            This was a fairly uneventful week (unless I have forgotten something major like the birth of a grandchild or something). The girls have had stickers and posters and what not on their walls so the walls were looking rather bedraggled with paint pealed off and things of that nature (can you tell I like that phrase – it’s from the movie Beautiful Mind); so most of the week was spent painting the girls rooms. They decided to really put their dad to work so they had me doing fancy stripes along the tops of the wall in different colors and everything. Crazy times we had but it all turned out well.

            When we were not painting we were getting the girls ready for France, like getting passports, etc. Lots of stuff to do but they are sure excited to go. That will be quite the adventure.

            Of course my work as a crew leader with the census is still going. However, things have slowed down a bit. I no longer have weeks with 60 to 80 hours of work. It is good money but at times has been very stressful. It has been a real learning curve for me as I am more the artist in my work rather than the boss. Each day I meet with each member of my crew at McDonalds in Wal-Mart and took the questionnaires from them that they had finished, I then talked to them about some of their problems and took some of their EQ’s (Enumerator Questionnaires) that were real problems and go visit those people myself. I have spent so much time at Wal-Mart that I have gotten to know all the greeters and McDonalds employees. After meeting with my 12 to 14 crew members I would then meet with my FOS (Field Operations Supervisor). I would hand in all EQ’s and receive new info from the office. Sometimes I would take trips to the office to hand things in and I got paid for miles so that was always good. We are finishing up with the first group and there are roomers that we are one of the first in the nation to finish so we might be going to Las Vegas to help them there; we will see.

            For Father’s Day the kids got me a nice BBQ grill and I love it. We will have to make sure we have lots of barbeques over the next few months.

            Well, that’s about all I can remember so I’ll close this one and try harder to catch up.

            Bring on the Steaks, burgers and hotdogs,

Ken and clan

June 7 - 13, 2010

Fortie Family Flyer

June 7 – 13, 2010

Dear Family and Friends,

            Once again I am way behind. Couldn’t tell you what happened this week but for a few notes in my planner (which I don’t use well enough to really tell me much).

            I took the girls to the dentist this week in preparation for their trips to France. Michelle had a few problems but Jennifer was in good shape. I took the girls passport pictures so we wouldn’t have to pay someone else to do it and they seemed to turn out okay.

On Saturday I administered the ACT test again, nothing eventful there. On my way home I noticed the Jordan River Temple and the Oquirrh Mountain Temples were almost lined up so I drove around until I found a good place just off State Street to take a shot. It was a bit cloudy so it didn’t turn out very well. I went back later and got a better one. I have had several comments on Facebook about the shot. I have even sold some at the BYU Bookstore (I have inserted this several months later as I remembered it).

On Sunday I taught the High Priests and the lesson was about the Life of Christ. This is the lesson I was able to use the material I had prepared earlier in the year when I didn’t get to teach about Christ because of a mix up in a lesson swap. More people came this time and the material fit better in this lesson so all went well (glad I followed the spirit back then and waited). Again I brought lots of books to show them what was available to them for their study of the life of Christ and that has become my trademark; lots of books.

I assigned my kids to write a paper on their relationship with Christ. They were all excited to write them. I’m not sure what we did Sunday night so I’ll just have to leave it at that and hope someone reads this on my blog in the next few days and if I missed anything they can remind me and I’ll sneak it in so those reading it decades later won’t know how I messed up (a bit like the Nephites forgetting to write Samuel the Lamanite’s prophecies and when Christ reminds them they suddenly realize how important it is to get those things in the record).

Take ‘er easy cluck cluck,

Ken and clan

The Jordan River and Oquirrh Mountain Temples in a row.

May 31 - June 6, 2010

Fortie Family Flyer

May 31 – June 6, 2010

Dear Family and Friends,

            Well, catching up is sooo hard to do (it is now December). The only thing I have notes on for this week is Michelle’s accident and a flood in Salt Lake. Funny thing though, I didn’t have this written down in my day planner (I suppose ‘cause you can’t plan these things) but Paige reminded me that I had a grandson this week. Since we have only seen him once it has not yet registered in my brain that his birthday was the 6^th (I suppose I am waiting for his first birthday to get that anchored in). So, now that my memory has been jogged I recall that we kept getting text messages about how far along Paige was and we thought that it was taking soooo long that perhaps Nathan, with all the excitement, forgot to call us to let us know they had a baby. So we called now and then and he just kept saying not yet. Finally after what seemed like days (come to think of it, I think it was days) we got the word and Nathan later put it on Facebook:

“Nathan has a boy who was born on 6/6/2010 the 66th aniversary for D-DAY, at 9:11 p.m. His name means one who is as strong as a warrior, war, strength, hero, guide, and leader. His middle name is Ranger and he is being blessed in our church on July 4th. All of this was just coincidence, kind of crazy. Thank you everyone for your comments and love. Wyatt and Paige are home, happy and healthy.”

Welcome to the planet earth little Wyatt, get ready for a wild ride, things are a little crazy here in these last days. Don’t worry though, you have great parents who are going to get you ready for your future and help you be what you came here to be. Well, we now have grandson number 2 and the pictures we have seen on facebook (aren’t computers great) let us know he is a cute kid (I’m not sure if it is appropriate to say that someone who is as strong as a warrior is cute but I think we can do that for the first few years anyway). Well, we are very excited to see him at his blessing in July (which, since I am writing this in December, has already happened (some kind of time warp thing)).

As for the rest of the week I can only go by those few notes I have in my planner. Any spiritual insights and meaningful scripture messages in answer to prayers that may have come my way in this first week of June are gone. No wonder the prophet and apostles have asked us so many times to write these things down as they happen.

            Anyway, Michelle was bragging the other day that she was doing soooo much better than the boys with her driving. Of course pride goeth before the fall. It really wasn’t too serious but bad enough to have insurance involved and make us worry about prices going up. She was taking a friend home from work and pulled into the friend’s driveway fairly late at night. She only stayed long enough to see that she got into her house. Since it was late and Michelle didn’t think anyone would be coming in the thirty seconds it took to drop her friend off she simply backed out of the driveway without looking properly and unbeknownst to her the neighbor across the street had pulled up in his work truck and parked in front of his house, right in Michelle’s path. She was in our truck so she backed up and caught his bumper just at the edge and took it right off (it was probably a Chevy). The only thing it did to our truck is crack the taillight but his truck looked like it had been in a major accident with parts lying all over the place. Needless to say, she was in tears when she called. I headed over there (only a few streets away) and the guy was real nice about it so we exchanged insurance info and he put his bumper in the back of his truck and we headed home. It is interesting that he was so nice to us about it but when he took it in to have them look at the damage and get it fixed he told them she had pushed his truck up over the curb and it hit a tree and smashed in the door. The insurance company called about that and I said it was not up on the curb when I got there so I took my camera over the next day and took pictures of the tire marks, the tree and the curb and from those pictures they could tell that he was not telling the truth so they refused to fix the damage on the side of the truck; interesting how some people are.

            My scooter is finally working again so I have been riding around here and there enjoying the freedom of a motorcycle; it truly is addicting. 

Well, that is all I remember from the week. I’m sure other things happened but they are gone. We go to movies now and then or out to eat once in a while but all those just blend together and who knows when they happened.

            We did have an interesting Sunday that I just happened to write down in my planner so I know when it happened (though I will never forget what happened). We went to dinner at my parent’s house with Chad and Alicia who live in their basement. Interestingly enough, my parents along with Brian were in Montana at the time to see Whitney’s graduation and have my dad ordain Alan to be a High Priest. We had a nice barbeque and then got out a game to play in the back yard that we gave Chad for his birthday. We were having a fun time when he got a call from a priesthood leader in their ward telling him that the extra snow we got late in the year and the warm temperatures have combined to create a serious flood for the houses along the creek down by the Wal-Mart in the Fort Union area. They were looking for volunteers to go help sandbag along the creek to stop the homes from getting flooded. Jason and I of course said we would go with him. I was already in my jeans so Chad loaned me an old T-shirt and off we went. I do wish I had my waterproof boots to save my leather boots from damage being in a lot of water but you can’t have everything (and they actually held up pretty well). We drove down to the Wal-Mart not knowing what to expect and as we arrived we could see a line of people ready to sign up to help. You could tell they were mostly LDS people who had been called by their leaders. It was quite amazing to see the power of the church as hundreds of people came with only a moments notice to spend the night helping people they had never met (there was more likely a thousand or more as there were hundreds just on the one street we worked on and we could see just as many across the creek and who knows how far up the creek they went on both sides). Another interesting thing was the look on the faces of the people who were there to go shopping or to eat at the restaurants on Sunday afternoon who had never experienced that power and unity within the church that had mobilized all these people. They would stop and watch us gather from far and near with a purpose and unity that they couldn’t comprehend as they tried to figure out what was going on. They stared at us almost like we were creatures in a zoo, wondering how and why we had all come down to that shopping center at once and were not going into the stores but instead were getting tools from an emergency center table very near the raging creek (going right through the parking lot of the shopping center) and heading for the neighborhood across the street. That was a very powerful experience to me seeing the difference between the two groups. One, a brotherhood working in unison to overcome a disaster and the other group doing their own thing in life, wondering what was going on but not making any effort to join in and be a part of that powerful group or helping others by being a part of the solution – just going shopping thinking of themselves.

Anyway, we headed to the neighborhood and firemen with bullhorns were directing us to go to the piles of sand that had been dumped in the street to start creating sandbags. Some shoveled, some tied and some piled them up. Once we had created the sandbags we then through them into buckets of tractors or into beds of trucks of some of the volunteers to take to individual houses. After putting sandbags in the vehicles we jumped in on top and went with them a half a block away and we then jumped out and created a line from the closest point the trucks could get to the creek all the way (usually winding through gates and gardens) through backyards, which were usually a few inches deep in water, to the creek itself and started tossing fairly heavy sandbags from one person to another barely keeping ahead of the floods. The first time we saw the creek really caught us off guard. Any other time of the year it was a nice beautiful little creek moseying through these beautiful back yards but now it was a raging torrent that was about 2 feet above ground level and kept out of peoples homes by a thin wall of sandbags that was only a few inches above the water level. As we were working the rain began to fall so we knew it was going to get worse before it got better and we were just barely keeping ahead of this powerful force coming down out of the canyon’s as it was. We raised the height of the walls and made them wider in some of the weak areas until we were out of sandbags then we went back to a new sand pile and did it all over again in a different back yard. It was interesting, though it was exhausting work and I was not in the best shape it was still very invigorating to be a part of something so powerful and doing a good thing for people in need. After a while we would get to know some of the people we worked with and even created friendships in that five or six hours of helping others out in a crisis. I even ran into a few people that I had not seen since high school and we had a chance to talk during a few slow moments while waiting for more sand or waiting for a truck to bring more supplies. Luckily it was warm because we were soaked to the bone as we waded through water and as the rain steadily came down on our heads dripping from our brows as we shoveled wet sand into bags and handed soggy heavy sandbags from person to person from the front yard all the way to the creek at the back of someones property. They got us pizza and lots of water and Gatorade to drink to keep our energy up and keep us hydrated as we worked. Finally after a few hours the rain slowed down and then stopped and they told us that the water in the creek usually stops rising around 1:00 a.m. as the cool temperatures of the night slows the melting of the snow in the canyons. However, we got ahead of things enough that a little before midnight they gathered us all around the main fire truck to thank us for our hard work and send us home. I got separated from Chad and Jason now and then as we got assigned different tasks and since there were hundreds of people all in different back yards it was sometimes an hour or so between sightings of them but in the end as they gathered us together the boys found me talking to a few people who lived there who were very grateful for our help and after saying our goodbyes we headed for our car soaked and warn out but feeling good. It was funny because the guy in charge of the whole thing who stood on one of the fire trucks with the bull horn was Bro. White, a captain in the fire department, who lives right down the street from us and was in our ward for a long time before one of our many splits. He saw me and asked what in the world we were doing there from across the valley and we told him we were visiting my son on the east side of the valley when he got the call so we came to help. There was also an interesting moment just before sunset, when the clouds let the sunlight through and there was a beautiful orange sky that briefly lit the whole area up and a bright rainbow appeared in an otherwise dark sky. Everyone stopped for a few moments as they were struck with awe at such a beautiful sight in such a dark and gloomy situation. We got home and had to shower and change and I don’t think I ever got those clothes completely clean again but it was an amazing experience. The dirt was ground right in as was the memory of such a powerful moment. We could have said someone else can take care of it so we could continue our game, after all it wasn’t our house that was getting flooded, but we could not have had a more powerful experience to show us the great force behind people in the gospel working together for the common good.

            Well, that’s it for this week. Keep your head above water,

Love from Ken and his clan