Sandy Clean Up!

A couple weeks after Hurricane Sandy hit on November 17, 2012 I had an opportunity to go down to Rockaway NY to help with the clean up. 

There were many signs like the above saying "Patriots welcome looters will be shot"

You can see think piles of sand washed up on the lawn. 

Car was washed up on the sidewalk. 

We helped an elderly gentleman who was a music teacher for brass instruments. He also played for many symphonies across the US. His Garage and house was full of brass instruments. The saddest thing I saw was scores and scores of classical music destroyed from the water. They were all moldy and falling apart when we got to them and the only option was to throw them away. 

Another group from another organization came by and helped us for a little while to clean out the heavy stuff in the Garage. 

The neighbor talking with the other group thanking them for the help they provided to him. 

Boxes of pieces of instruments for parts to fix the brass instruments. 

You can see how far up the mud goes. Above the first floor windows. 

Almost the entire garage was covered in the flooded water. 

The basement was full of mud. We had to wait for the mission President to bring a generator and a sump pump so we could clean out the basement. We also didn't have any light down there so until we got the generator we couldn't do much because we couldn't see. Electricity was completely lost. For this house the electric panel is in the basement and it was destroyed in the flood and the entire wiring will need to be redone in the house before it will have electricity again.   

Damage to the first floor. It will have to be gutted and redone. 

There was so many old tools and machines this old man had collected over the years. 

Everything that had to be thrown away was taken to the street and the piles just got bigger and bigger. 

Lots and lots of instruments. 

Here is our group. The man with the beard in the back is Paul the son of the gentleman who's house we were cleaning. He also plays for the symphony, and on occasion the Boston Pops. The other guy without a yellow vest on is a friend of the guy we were helping. In yellow vests from left to right. 

Justin Larson, Martha Paxton, Ashlee Burgener, Ruth Checkets, Tiffany Lyon 

More cars damaged and destroyed. 

We had another group of people stop by and ask us if we needed more help. They were up from Florida wanting to help. We sent them over to another house where we had some people working on gutting it so they could help out as well. 

It was great to see how so many people from all over came together to help out and work to make the job lighter for all those who were effected. To imagine the thousands of dollars we were able to help people save by providing them our services. 

I went down with my stake. We had about 50+ people who went down on a bus and then others went in a carpool. We had about 120+ people from our stake go down and work for the day. On our drive home there was a pretty sunset. I wasn't in a great place to be able to take a good picture. 

New York Adventures with Sarah Part 5-Lion King and Providence RI

The highlight to our trip to New York was the Lion King play. I have heard lots about this play and I have wanted to see it for a long time. I was excited that it worked out for us to go.  

Sarah and I out front of the entrance door. 

Here is a look at how crowded New York gets. It is way to crowded for me. When I walk down the street I like to be able to breath and not be rubbing shoulders with the person walking past me. 

Graciela, Martha, Sarah

We are waiting for the show to start. We are all super excited to be here. 

This was a cool lion face on the wall in the theater. 

The giraffe was my favorite animal. I thought it was so incredible that they are on 4 stilts walking across the stage. That would take a lot of practice and coordination.  

This is Nala and Simba as cubs. 

Pumba and Timon are some of the most entertaining characters. 

Their costumes are pretty neat as well. 

Nala and Simba as grown up lions. 

Scar was a pretty scary character. 

Rafiki was amazing. The Rafiki character is actually originally from Africa. It was fun to watch her in action and see her culture come out in her acting. She did a fantastic job.  

Zazu, he did a great job. 

It was really interesting to see how they represented the animals by humans. 

The Lion King was an amazing production. I am so glad we decided to go. The costumes were fabulous and the entire show was phenomenal. This is one I think I just might be willing to spend the money to see a second time. 

Graciela Thank you so much for letting us stay with you and for spending Saturday with us. We had such a great time and it was even better because we got to spend time with you. 

I made this picture for Graciela. This is her favorite picture and it has taken me for a few years now and I was glad to finally get it done and be able to take it to her. This is done by needle point. 

On our way home from New York/New Jersey. 

Some fall colors on the drive home. We headed home on October 28th. The day before Hurricane Sandy hit. 

On our drive home we stopped in Providence, RI so Sarah would be able to mark Rhode Island off of her list of places she has visited.  

Sarah was able to get out of Boston on Monday October 29th on the very last flight before the airport was shut down for Hurricane Sandy. She was glad to be able to get home. 

Thanks Sarah for coming and visiting. I had a great time with you and it was wonderful to have someone to go exploring New York with. 

New York Adventures with Sarah Part 4

We went to a Spy Museum. This is a replication of the Oval Office. 

This motorbike is designed to be folded up real small so the soldiers or spy can parachute out of a plane and have a way to get around quickly in enemy territory. They can unfold it and zoom there they go. 

They use to send pigeons into enemy camps and have little cameras attached to the pigeons and they were the perfect spy. No one suspected them and they were able to capture all kinds of intelligent information. 

Spy kit

Interesting guns.

And into the vault we went. 

Whoopi Goldberg 

We also went to Madam Tussauds the wax museum.

This is Madam Tussaud

Amelia Earhart 

Marilyn Monroe 

Rafiki from Lion King

Firefighters from 9/11

John Wayne. He is a western hero for us. 

My mom loves John Wayne and growing up we watched a lot of his shows. 

The Beatles

Jonas Brothers

On Saturday Graciela was able to go exploring with us. 

We went and did a tour of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. 

It was so fun to have Graciela spend the day with us. 

Another cool motorcycle. This is made by the same guy who made the one at the WTC. 

Sarah and I in front of the Statue of Liberty. 

Graciela having a good time. 

She is so tall it just amazes me. 

We were exhausted and tired and had to wait for the 

next boat as we just missed the one that was leaving.  

We had time on Saturday to go and do some work at the Manhattan Temple. It is always fun to get to work at the different Temples and see how they are different and similar.