cc: file, Sara and Des, Diane Cluff, Tony Hafen, Darrell and Nancy Krueger, Eric and Annette Krueger, Eric and Renee Miner, Claude and Katherine Warner, Forest and Amy Warner, and Ivan and Chell Warner.
"Ragweed pollen blew into Houston yesterday at 2:15 PM. I could not stop sneezing all afternoon. A cool front blew in from the north and something changed enough to just make it absolutely miserable for me. I have joked for years (and it really was not a joke) that the only reason I am a geophysicist in Houston and not a farmer in Cedar City is because I am allergic to everything on the farm.
I remember growing up and how I would feel when the hay would be cut. My mom put plastic sheets on the mattresses, an electrostatic filter in my bedroom, and she cleaned and scrubbed everything to keep down the dust and pollens. Sara had even worse allergies than I had. We went to specialists in Salt Lake City. The Doctor would do 20 to 40 tests on my arm, where they twisted a little tool on my forearm which broke the skin and deposited different pollens, molds, and inhallents under the skin. Then they would touch each of the bumps after 30 minutes to measure how much they had swelled up. The specific things I was allergic to are listed above. I was especially allergic to fresh cut alfalfa. When we had hay planted next to the house it was absolutely miserable to smell the hay as it dried. My nose would run, I would sneeze, my eyes would turn red and run, and I would get hives all over my body. So the specialist had me take shots. Once a week, all year long. I would leave school and go over to the clinic for my allergy shot. Mrs. Leonard, the nurse, was very nice and she was always trying to set me up with her daughter Jill. It seems like Mrs. Gardner, Raymond's Mom, also gave me allergy shots sometimes. I took shots like this for about six years.
As I got older I felt I needed to be tougher. And I was not about to let any allergies get me down. Especially since the hired hands all teased me about being a whimp. (With the emacualtion associated with the divorce, maybe they were more right than I ever wanted to admit.) I would put on a long sleave shirt over my normal white t-shirt, button the top botton, tie a large red kerchif around my neck, put on a triangular filter mask which covered my nose and mouth, put on goggles, an old beatup hat, two pairs of Levi pants, and heavy leather gloves and then go out in the fields and help haul hay. It was so hot working in all of those clothes in 100-110 degree weather. And yet I was really proving to myself I was tough. However, I would still come in at lunch and the end of the day wheezing, unable to breathe, with bright red bloodshot eyes, and with hives all over my arms and legs where the hay stuck through the cloth and touched my skin. Allergies are no fun.
Rob and Larry Law must have said `Bless You' over 100 times to me as we drove downtown to the Harris County Jail to visit Bob Burnham and Chris Lunt. Last Sunday, as I was writing the Thoughtlet about Dutch Oven Cooking (http://www.walden3d.com/hrnmen/1997/9737.html), Bob left the house to `go for a walk.' He didn't come back. He went up to the Shell Station at Fry and I-10 with some money burning a hole in his pants pocket. He found out where to buy some Crack in Katy, took a cab to Katy and spent the money feeding his addiction. Frankly he has about as much control over his addiction as I have over my allergies. The difference is I have leaned how to avoid certian things and to take allergy pills and a cortisone shot every other year. However, once Bob was high, he made some serious mistakes. He went to a convenience store in Katy and did what had been done to him twice when he worked in convenience stores. He handed them a note which said `I am armed, give me all of your money.' They gave him $400. He went back to the Crack House and gave the money to someone who left and never brought him any more stuff. However, the police came. When I left for Austin early Monday morning and Bob was not at the house, Larry agreed to call Bob's Mom and Dad and tell them he did not come home again. Bob confessed to the Police and gave up all of his rights, was tried Monday night, and called his Mom after the trial was over. I found out Tuesday just as Melanie and I were getting to the BEG after a nice lunch together at the Chili's we went to as a family after Roice's graduation. Bob's Dad called on the cell phone and wanted to talk.
Between the sneezes and blowing my nose into a dripping hankerchief Rob, Larry, and I finally found the Harris County Jail Annex (Actually Rob found it). We got permission and were all able to go up and visit Bob. Daniel Bohman, his Elders Quorum President, was there visiting him. It was hard to talk through the small opening, especially since Bob is legally deaf. We had a reasonable visit and then went downstairs, got permission to go back up to the 8th floor, and visited with Richard Lunt. I am so glad none of you have made mistakes which place you in this circumstance for 60 days, as in Bob's case, or for 3 years, as in Richard's case. I hope you will all take the opportunity to visit someone in this kind of facility at some time and that it will enforce upon your minds the correct principles I have strived so hard to teach each of you.
However, even from all of this pain and suffering there can be good things happen. Bob was a very successful missionary to Scotland. His Patriarchial Blessing says he will work with the downtrodden of the earth. I mentioned the events to my friend Rick Zimmerman. He has a friend who he has agreed to introduce me to and we are going to go after corporate donations to build a house for Bob and a few others who have similar `allergies.' I have asked my Quorum leader, Corey Grua, to see if the church would be willing to commit a missionary couple to work with and monitor the activities of about a dozen kids who are striving to get themselves cleaned up. I have asked my lawyer to get the papers in place to form a non-profit organization to purchase a farm, a house, and supplies needed to set up a facility where Bob can go to when he gets out in 54 days. He will be on probation for 10 years and if he makes one mistake he will be in prison for up to 20 years. He is such a good and nice kid. I hope each of you can feel from what I have written how my heart goes out to his parents and to him. I hope you will each remember Bob and Chris in your prayers. I hope you will each learn from the mistakes of others and not strive to repeat those things which bring unhappiness. Recognize the difference between allergies and choice. Choose the right."