Open Houses and Kangaroo Rats

Hola!

Just checking in from the northeast corner of the country. (Reminder: you can click on these pics to make them bigger.)

It rained on us all Saturday night, and all day Sunday. We found out that it was a loooooong reaching arm of hurricane Matthew, all the way up into Maine. No complaints here, though...we have had a really dry summer. The ponds and lakes are hurting.

This week is the first week the temperatures will stay below 70. Waaaahhh! I'm still holding on to summer! But I think Fall is actually upon us.

The leaves around town, though, are changing and they are beautiful! We drove west, to central Massachusetts over the weekend, and it was a really pretty drive.

TEMPLE OPEN HOUSE. Last Monday, we went to the Open House for the Hartford, CT temple! It's a smaller temple, and so beautiful. We "stopped by" UMass Amherst and picked up Angela, and we 4 (myself, Frank, Kara & Angela) went to the open house. Kara did not have school that day, and it was a nice drive & chance to catch up with Angela.  Here are some pics of the temple grounds.

SOCCER. Kara continues to have 1 or 2 soccer games every week.  For away games, they wear black & orange, and for home games they wear white & orange. When they play neighboring towns Sudbury or Weston, we can get to those within 15 minutes, so we attend those away games. Here are some pics from the Sudbury game.

INTERVIEWS AND RESUMES. Frank continues with the job search. It seems like he'll have a week with a couple of interviews, which is encouraging, then a week with NOTHING. Booo. It's kind of a slow process. So many pieces to the puzzle, when a company tries to fill a position. He has interviewed with a few companies in this area: Waltham, Cambridge, and Billerica. We've always tried to keep the commute small. There are 2 out of state positions that he interviewed for: he got through a first or 2nd round of interviews, then quiet. No more news from them.

You never know if "no news" means they are done with you??!?! They may have internal candidates who have applied, they may put hiring on hold, and in Frank's case, he may be "over-qualified" and they'd rather pay somebody less money, who has less experience. Of course, it doesn't have to mean they have forgotten you. But you do have to continue to drum up new leads, in case they have!  Ha. It'll all work out. It's just a slow process.

Meanwhile, I continue tutoring 2 days a week. The kids are enthusiastic for the most part, and I like the teachers I work with.

ON CAMPUS JOBS. David and Teresa keep on keeping on, with classes and homework.

David has been working concessions, when BYU has a home football game. He's not crazy about watching football, so that job suits him well!

Teresa was asked by one of her wildlife science professors if she wanted to help them in the lab or in the field, whatever they needed, since "the department has some money to pay a T.A. this semester." A little extra cash can only help, right! (Oh, especially since David and Teresa are making more in their 10-hour-a-week jobs than their dad is making right now?!?!? Ha!)

Internet photo

CAMPING EDUCATION. Oh, the fun "field trip" Teresa told us about, was camping for 2 days last weekend with one of her wildlife classes. They learned how to catch animals with their bare hands, to study them. The professor took them on night drives, and they set traps along the way. Someone in each car had a powerful spotlight, shining it out the window at the surrounding woods/fields they were driving by. When they saw movement (an animal), they stopped, and all the students in the car jumped out and chased the animal. They surrounded it in a circle, and one student would catch it. Then the professor would give a mini-lecture on that animal. One night they caught a kangaroo rat, and a jack rabbit. Here are some internet photos of those animals.

Internet photo

Better get on with the day! Have a great week!
Love, Kari