Fergburgers

If ever you are in Queenstown, New Zealand and you are a meat eater, you have got to go get burgers from Fergburgers. I think these are hands down the best burgers ever. (And that is saying a LOT since I hail from Texas home of BBQ and Steaks.)

I was basically just going through photos of things I have done since I have come to New Zealand, and hit some tribute photos for Marianne of our trip to Queenstown. See as a wedding gift, Marianne brought us back some vouchers (gift coupons) to Fergburger since we were going to Queesntown on our honeymoon and she had recently been to Queenstown.

We wound up having Fergburger twice in the short time we were there! Queenstown is lovely all around though, and is well worth a visit.

Sunday School

Sunday School lessons for church can be hard to teach to begin with. Add onto that the plights of the youth and suddenly it becomes crazy hard to come up with something exciting and fun to capture their attention.

Jon has been teaching Primary since we moved to New Plymouth, and I am teaching youth Sunday School. I am not sure if either of us has it any easier than the other. However, we have been able to get creative with some of our lessons.

Lately we are in or getting into the war chapters of Alma in the Book of Mormon. Jon has incorporated his hobby of Warhammer into his Sunday School class. What better way to teach the kids of battle than to have them reenact the battles with little models? They get hands on fun, plus a lesson (hopefully) all in one. The most unconventional thing of these lessons for his class has been the models of the armies. Unfortunately, Jon does not have nice little army Lamanites and Nephites and has had to replace them with what he has.... a Goblin Army vs. a Dwarf Army. So far this has worked out pretty well... The Goblin Army outnumbers the Dwarf Army and the Goblin Army has no armor, just like the Lamanites. We will see how this class pans out.

Zerahemnah and Captain Moroni:

The Nephites:

The Lamanites:

The Battle:


I am looking forward to getting into the scriptures that speak of Secret Combinations. I have decided to remake the game Clue (or Cluedo) into a game for church. The Gadiantan Robbers kill the Chief Judge, so the game will be to find out who killed the Chief Judge. Instead of rooms in a house for where the murder occurred, they will be towns or lands from the Book of Mormon. The characters will be characters in the Book of Mormon or unless there are not enough names. I haven't quite gotten into the list yet, but will post more once the game is ready. Hopefully the kids will like this one.

They did seem to respond positively to Jeopardy. I am waiting for there to be enough kids to do a Book of Mormon Family/Class Feud. One thing that worked well for talking about testimonies (I used this when teaching Alma 32 instead of the whole planting seeds and nourishing them) was using the game Jenga as a object lesson. We talked about how to build a testimony, you have to first want to know something (and for this I placed one block down). Then the next step is to start looking into it (another block), and then you may start to gain a bit of a testimony about the basic things. You may gain a testimony of prayer first (another block), then perhaps of God (another block), of Christ (another block), and you keep going... the church, the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the sacrament, tithing, etc. etc. And you build up the jenga tower.

The next part of the object lesson comes in once the whole tower is built. When you stop trying to nourish your testimony, when you start losing your testimony of one thing (pull out a block), it effects your whole testimony. Surely if you start losing one piece and you do nothing to repair it, another piece of your testimony disappears (take out one block at a time). And eventually, your testimony crumbles. (The tower falls down) To build it back up, you have to start from the beginning again. (Place the initial block again.) However, if you can stop losing pieces and start building back up your testimony, you can build it back up much easier than if you let it all go.

Mount Taranaki aka. Mount Egmont

Living in New Zealand is exciting and beautiful. The countryside itself is green and there is always something to see. Geologically speaking, New Zealand is the home of all kinds of wonders all wrapped into one. Most of the country lies on a fault zone, so earth quakes are common. Volcanoes, hot spots, hot springs, rain forests, and more abound. It can be quite humbling to live around such power and beauty.

My first year here in New Zealand, I spent in Windy Wellington. Wellington can get gale force winds and freezing wind from the south at any point. (Reminder for those of you not so good with geography - the only thing south of New Zealand is the South Pole!) Wellington itself sits directly on a fault line and is known to have earthquakes. I myself have been through a few smaller ones, all of which I didn't even feel because I was in a car driving when it happened!

Now I live near glorious Mount Taranaki or Mount Egmont. I have to note here though that one thing I love about Kiwi's is that they refer to all of their volcanoes as mountains. Yes, you guessed it, I am living next to a dormant volcano. This mountain/volcano is 2,518 meters or 8,261 feet high. Mount Taranaki is more specifically a stratovolcano, which means every so often there are explosions or eruptions from the mountain. St. Helen's was another stratovolcano. Some scientists think that Mt. Taranaki is overdue for an eruption and research from Massey University indicates that there is likely to be something in the next 50 years.

Mt Taranaki has two names. The Maori called the mountain Taranaki, but in the 1700's the mountain was renamed by Captain Cook after the 2nd Earl of Egmont who promoted Captain Cook's first voyage. Now the mountain is referred to as both names and is frequently marked on maps as both.

Taranaki's cylindrical cone is a thing of beauty. Because of its nearly perfect cone, the mountain was used in the Last Samari as Mt Fiji.

As all good sites, Mt. Taranaki has the following myth associated with it: Taranaki used to reside with the other volcanoes on the North Island. The beautiful Pihanga was coveted by all the mountains around and a battle broke out over her. Tongariro won this battle, inflicting wounds on Taranaki, causing him to flee. Taranaki headed south west til he hit the coast and then north and as the sun came up, he was petrified in his current location. His movements carved out the Wanganui River.

Taranaki can frequently be seen with rain clouds masking part of all of the mountain, sometimes even when there are no other clouds around. When this is true, it is said that Taranaki is crying over his lost love, and during spectacular sunsets, it is said that he is displaying himself for her.

It is said that one day Taranaki will return to his love, and for this reason many Maori will not live between the mountains.

A New Job... Temporarily

Last I blogged, I had just gotten my work visa and have been looking for a job. The small hotels located here in good New Plymouth have basically laughed at me for wanting a Monday through Friday job between the hours of 7am and 5pm. They keep reminding me that 'in the hospitality business' things run 24 hours a day.... Did I miss something or have I not worked in the hospitality business for the past 8ish years? I am fairly certain that all industries have their Monday through Friday jobs, even the small hotels - they just tend to have less of them.

My favourite call inquiring on my resume'/CV first stated to me that she saw the note on my CV asking for Monday through Friday jobs. She then told me that the major hotels here had about 6 office jobs for about 5 or 6 hotels and that any other job would require weekends, could I do that? When I said I was looking for an office job, she then reminded me how hard it is in the industry to do that. She made it sound like I had never worked in hotels before and the funny thing was that she had my resume' RIGHT IN FRONT OF HER! Whether she had read it or not, I don't know. But seriously, I've had a Monday through Friday job for about half of my little hotel career.

Most companies in New Zealand actually read the whole resume' plus require talking to at least 2 references. (I find it amusing they must have references when the two hotels I have worked for have a blanket policy that they will not give any references. They will only give a certificate stating how long you worked for them.)

Ok, anyway, I have since applied to and been signed up through a Temping Agency. They have been really good and quick to respond to everything thus far. I enjoyed a day of stock taking at one of the hiking and apparel stores... the next day my legs were so very sore and I finally realised that it was due to all of the squats I managed to do while counting and recounting stock!

Otherwise, I have been working at Greymouth Petroleum. I have been filling in for an employee and basically have been answering phones. I have so far read 3 books, finished multiple Sudoku puzzles, played a few FreeCell games, replied to emails, written two letters, and so forth. The first two days that I was working here, they didn't want to take the time to train me on anything else because they thought that their girl would be back in the office by Monday. Now it is another week, and I can do one whole spreadsheet and make purchase orders. Big step up, I guess.

Now, I need some advice here, I obviously have to go through the emails as well, in case there are any purchase order numbers needed or something. I came across an email from a temp agency to the girl who is supposed to be working here that pretty much says she is looking for another job. I have no idea if the boss knows. The email came after Ms. Too Sick For Work left for the day. Should I show the boss the email so he knows? Or just leave it be? I'm leaning towards leave it be, but I can imagine how hard it is on companies if an employee quits too.

Let me know what you think....

Washing Machines

Who could have thought that buying a washing machine would bring such joy, such happiness, such glee? An appliance. It isn't anything that one would think could make you jump for joy. In fact, it isn't even a new washing machine. We bought it used. It is an older model, and really kind of makes a lot of noise. This does not break the love that I have for it though. Maybe it isn't shiny and new, but it still washes clothes for me, and even better spins them out at the end! Hand washing clothes is so passe. After plugging our machine in, we had the maiden load of laundry launch through the cleaning cycle, and it worked like a charm! Laughter, glee, and hugging resulted. Happiness all around.

This means no more carting laundry once a week to my in laws. No more putting off cleaning something because I have to go else where to wash it. There is only one thing that could make me and my washing machine even happier.... And that would be a matching (or not matching - we aren't that particular actually) dryer. So on rainy days, such as today, when you can't hang laundry outside to dry, the dryer can step up and fill in.

One day, our dream of both a washer and a dryer will be fulfilled. *cues dramatic heartfelt music*

Ant Wars: The Real Battle Has Begun

I now have to recall my statement about ant baits. I made a statement in one of my last ant wars blog about how the ant baits don't work. You know the ones that you set out, put poisoned bait in, the ants come and eat and take it back to the nest, and they all die. Somehow, despite these baits being in the line of sight, smell, and trail for the super ants that attack our house, they constantly missed them. Until now...

For the past four or five days now, we have had a happy little trail of ants across our bathroom counter. Can anyone else say GROSS? DISGUSTING? I seriously cant even use the bathroom sink right now. However, the ants are supposed to bring death upon themselves by taking this bait back to the ant hill that is their haven and home and then kill them.

I honestly feel like I have opened my house up for them and given them a little spot that they can come and cruise to, have a good time, and if the bait hasn't killed them, maybe next time they will bring their girlfriends for a nice little snog. Ok, I know this isn't quite how it works, but it is disconcerting.

That being said, the stupid stuff is working, which is why I have to patiently wait out having an ant trail through my bathroom. Despite the ant death and carnage around them, the ants keep coming for the bait. While no one has suffered casualties on the people side of the war, there are some side affects... disgust, nausea, odd curiosity...

I have found out that ants do not like cinnamon, the powder annoys them and they will in general stay away from it. I have thus partially contained the ants by such a manner. The best side effect of putting cinnamon down is that it also gives the room a nice scent to it. The down side is I may always associate cinnamon and ants now, but that remains to be seen.

So for the count:
People lost: 0
Ants lost: hundreds, thousands, the specific count unknown

The battle field is ripe with death and carnage. (However, will be cleaned up very shortly - partially because it is gross and also we are having people over.)

Is the war over? We have yet to find out. If this works, there will be a party thrown in celebration of the loss of ants. For any out there that would like to mourn, we will have a moment of silence before we begin.

Ant Wars: The Dream

Dreams- They can be so many things. Our subconscious talking to us. Our mind sorting out the days or weeks activities. Perhaps they try to tell us something. Sometimes they are just plain silly. I am sure over my lifetime, I have had each of these.

Last night, I was adrift in the world of blissful sleep. My mind popping up pictures and stories for me to follow along with. A new world. I was off in a dream - that I was living in this rather nice house. A wide living room with sofas surrounding a nice sized coffee table. Above hung an electric candle like chandelier - not too fancy, a fairly casual one. I was in the kitchen cooking, I believe, when someone knocked on the door.

A group of girls and a couple of boys needed to use the bathroom or something. I am not really sure if in dream world I actually knew them or if I was just happy to let them enter my house. Regardless of why, I let them in. They also had a couple of dogs too. I placed out some nibbly food snacks for them while they waited, but as soon as I set them down on the table, I noticed them.... Ants! They were crawling and swarming all over the carpeted floor - the carpet which magically matched the ugly brown patchy carpet we have here! I looked down and they were on my hands and in the food.

I tried to tell the people to wait somewhere else, but they had already come in and the ants were starting to crawl on them and their dogs. Some ants were even falling down off of the chandelier! Nightmare Ant City! I don't know where they came from. I couldn't get to the bug spray. We just tried to get out. (Now these weren't exactly bite them and eat them type ants, even in the dream. No, they were the reality type ants just trying to find food, but still, groups of falling ants on you... what would you do?)

And then I woke up.

Seriously its sick that I dreamt about the stupid things. They should just stick to ruining my evening when they pop up, not my nice comfy dreams. Think if I start leaving a peace offering outside the house, they will start leaving me alone? You know, a pacifying offer. Probably not, they aren't the brightest. Maybe I can schedule an appointment with the Queen?.... No, they would never let me see her, as I have killed unnumbered amounts of her minions, they wouldn't risk it.

Ah,well then, I will just have to deal. Anyone else have ant dreams?

Disclaimer: If after reading this, you happen to have ant dreams, I take no responsibility. I cannot control where the little bug creatures go. If I could, they wouldn't be in my house - physical or dream - anymore. May the force be with you.

Visas and Job Searches

Finally, after paper work, medicals, letters, and just down right pleading, my work visa has been approved. My torment has ended. It seems like months since I have been able to work. Now don't get me wrong, I have loved being able to be at home. There is something nice about always having things to do and sometimes just not doing them because you can. No boss. (Well other than the ants when it comes to dishes... If I don't do those all the time, I pay.)

I thought it would be boring to be at home all the time. I mean, how do you fill up so much time? Really, it is actually so very easy. Lets face it, some days you are just plain lazy. You watch tv, read a book, play online. Other days, cleaning, laundry (I hate laundry - it never ends!), errands, grocery shopping, and I have to say that it is fun to be able to have dinner ready for my husband who is tired at the end of the day.

You may be thinking now, why does she want this visa so badly then? Well, without this visa, we can not apply for Jon's visa/greencard to the United States. So the waiting has been torturous. After mailing off the paperwork, I checked the mail EVERYDAY hoping to see something in it with good news. Then it magically happened. It arrived. My nice shiny new work visa.

However, I had forgotten that this also means that I now have to search for a job! The extra money would be so beneficial, and I really don't mind working. I actually like it - even though it does tend to stress me out at times. But the searching, the interviews, the CV's and Resumes, the applications.... I hate it! Can't I just magically have a job?

So today, I am off to search for work. Temporary work at that. We are hoping to be back in the good ol' U S of A by the end of the year. So wish me luck! Here goes....

Ant Wars: The Attack

As established in the last Ant Wars blog, ants are no fun. They swarm, they annoy, they generally are not welcome. Well lately, the ants not only have all of these qualities, but they have gone nuts as well. By nuts I mean crazy, insane, not well balanced, psycho.

Ok, it is normal to find ants trailing after something sweet that you just forgot to close the lid on all the way. Or it is normal for you to find ants trailing and swarming over a spot that perhaps a little unnamed kid touched after eating sweets and not getting their hands wiped off. It is normal to find ants going diligently after a spot where people may have spilled drink on your wall or squished cake into your floor....

However, it is NOT normal for these pesky little critters to swarm in random places.... the floor by our shoes? the counter that has been cleaned and wiped off? the door to the bedroom? the bathroom??? Seriously, these ants need therapy! I would love to help them... find someone else's home to torment or something, but they just don't seem to listen to me.

Now, it has been raining outside quite a bit, so perhaps their little homes are being flooded out... That might make sense, except that they don't seem to be trying to nest anywhere! No eggs, no food... I just don't get it.

Ants are not my friends. For any of you fools out there like me who buy the ant killing bait... You know the kind that is supposed to lure the ants to the bait and then they take home this poison food, and it is supposed to kill the ants in THEIR home (a huge benefit as you don't have to clean up the ants that have fallen in the war).... Well, they don't work! Or at least this one doesn't.

The ants that I mentioned on the counter... I thought 'What a chance, lets move one of those baits in here where they are swarming, and it should be helpful.' Did those little ants go towards that bait at all? NO! They completely ignore it. Its like they know, so you might think they were smart, but then again balance that with the swarms where nothing is.... Who knows!

So far the battle count is:
Ants-1
Household-9
Loss of life:
Ants - Too Many to Count
People - 0

5:00 and Rain

These two things are the bane of my existence right now. One seems determined to make my life as miserable as possible, while the other simply refuses to be moved. Between them, they have managed to turn my days into a long hard grind, replete with suffering and hardship. I think I'll go sit in a corner and pout about it.

This will not however remove the problem. Today I enjoyed relief from my suffering, but even this blissful rest was not untouched by my tormentors. After this quiet weekend is over, in a short 48 hours or so, I will once again face a week of toil and trouble. I will be back at work.

Now, I do not mind my job as such. It's hard, and I'd rather be at home, but we probably all feel much the same. (except for a few of you weirdos out there, I'm sure) But my two friends make my job much harder to endure.

Firstly Five o'clock, as you have most probably guessed, is of the early morning variety. I will be off in the wonderful Land of Nod, enjoying the random wanderings of my mind, when I am rudely pulled back into the cold dark reality of my bedroom by the 5am alarm buzzer. There is no escaping this herald of misery. It will, without fail, call me from whatsoever far corner of my mind I have been slumbering, and usher me on my way to the days drudgery. Although I would gladly give in to the temptations of a warm bed and a beautiful wife to cuddle up with, I cannot deny this messenger of the days beginning.

Now, I must admit, this slavery to the 5:00 alarm is of my own doing. In the dim past of my early teens, I aspired to the humble position of an early morning paper delivery route. I trod that route for almost six years, and at the end of those years I had developed a sensitivity to the alarm clarion that has stayed with me still. Only the most extreme exhaustion will induce my body to ignore this wake-up signal. In fact my sensitivity is such that when I wake up a few minutes before the alarm, as I am sure many of you have done, I know instinctively that is 5m and my alarm is about to go off.

This skill is extremely annoying. It is one thing to wake up and fumble for the time only to find that is only midnight and you can roll over and return to your slumber, and another thing to wake and know with surety you will have to rise in a few minutes to begin another cold and cheerless morning. Furthermore, this phenomenon has it's evil grip on my weekends. On a Saturday morning, when I should be able to sleep in blissful tranquility until noon, my sub-conscious awareness still drags me into waking before the sun, and troubles my slumber thereafter.

So I must get up in the cold and dark and prepare for work each morning. There is little cheer to comfort these morning ablutions, save a hug and a kiss from my briefly conscious wife before I stumble sleepily out the door. I must then endure an hour travelling in the back of a van to get to work, unable to catch any more sleep due to the uncomfortable seating and noisy radio. This trip is made all the more cheerless by the constant rain that will invariably follow us at this time of the year.

Thus I am brought to face my second nemesis: rain. Normally I do not mind rain. It's fun to play in, or stare at out the window from the comfort of a warm blanket. It makes flowers grow and keeps everything green. In fact, I cannot work in the rain, as getting insulation wet (I work in industrial insulation) will destroy it's usefulness. When it rains we must all sit around in the smoko hut waiting for it to stop, and if it does not stop, we may go home early. Which I quite enjoy.

Why then, is rain my enemy? Because it taunts me with this ability to grant me less work for full pay. We have a clever rain here in Taranaki. It will not allow me the luxury of an easy day or a swift return home. No, it must go out of it's way to keep me at work. It will rain cats and dogs for our entire trip, but as soon as we get on site, it will cease precipitation. Thus we must go to work, with all our work surfaces wet and cold. My hands soon get soaked through, and do not warm up until well into the afternoon. All our tarps and covers hold large pools of water, waiting to drop on some unsuspecting or clumsy head. So my day becomes miserable.

Now, this phenomenon is not universal around here. The rain stops at our work site, not anywhere else. I will look to the east or west and see rain coming from every direction. But it somehow manages to avoid raining on my work. It will go to the left or right, or just fizzle out altogether, but no matter how often I see rain coming and think I might be able to go sit inside for a while, it will not rain on me. We have recently had two of the largest rainstorms in ten years pass over the country, swamping the entire region, yet my job has seen only half a day of serious rain.

Remember, this is only when I am actually working. I do not work in a dust-bowl. It will rain on site. Oh yes. The rain knows our break schedule quite well. It will start raining at one o'clock sharp, soaking you if you are late for lunch, then just as promptly stopping to let you out and back to work when break is over. Oh, and by the way, it's just made everything dripping wet again. Or it will sweep over in showers, making you cover everything up, then run off laughing as soon as you have. It may drive you to find shelter for a few minutes, but only long enough for you to stiffen a little from the cold, then back to work you must go! Yes, and you're wet again.

On one memorable day last week it actually rained all morning, allowing me to enjoy a book in the shed. I had high hopes of being home by two. But this rain is not to be used in such a manner. Just as the decision was made to go home at one, it stopped, and I had to work the afternoon. It must have been listening at the window.