Heroes in the Valley

Dennis and Leona Sorenson built a home in College Ward, Utah (in Cache Valley) in 1972 and raised nine children in it. Dennis and Leona are currently serving a mission for the LDS church in Scotland.

When they come home, there will be a vacant lot where their home once stood.

A brother and sister, Tony and Mary, were living in the house when BOOM! the propane tank exploded.

An off-duty sheriff and his father were nearby and rushed to the scene. They saw a woman, bloody but coherent, and helped her out of the rubble. Her brother was missing, she said. The officer and his father began to look through the debris when they saw a hand. They quickly dug through the rubble and pulled Tony to safety. Then BOOM! Another powerful explosion went off and started fires in the debris and nearby fields.

Two powerful explosions. A courageous, selfless rescue in between. Two men who risked their lives to save others. When interviewed by a TV reporter, the officer said he’d do it again.

The family’s reaction? They’re celebrating that Mary and Tony are safe. They're grateful to the rescuers for their courageous actions. Mary has been released from the hospital and Tony is being treated for burns. He is in stable condition and expected to make a full recovery.

Debris was lodged in nearby trees and parts of the house landed in nearby fields.From the pictures and statements of bystanders, what was once a home looks like a  pile of toothpicks.

Amazingly, a family picture was found, intact.

How two people survived the explosions and were rescued is truly a miracle.

An account for donations has been set up in the name of Dennis Sorensen at America First Credit Union to help cover medical expenses for Mary and Tony.

And I have two new heroes to add to my list: Brandon Anderson and his dad. If I had some kind of disaster, I'd want them to be the first at the scene.

Blog Valley: Women bloggers in Cache Valley are making themselves heard locally, and all the way to the White House

By Brendon Butler


Published: Wednesday, October 21, 2009 3:43 PM CDT


In her upcoming film “Motherhood” actress Uma Thurman plays a former fiction writer turned “mommyblogger” who struggles to stake out a creative identity while raising two kids. Her husband is loving, but he’s forgetful and a bit clueless about his wife’s struggles. Many of Utah’s mothers-turnedbloggers can probably relate to Thurman’s character. It’s tough to find time for selfexpression as a stay-at-home mom.

That’s why blogging is so satisfying, says Kim Borchert, a mother of three who lives in North Logan. She started her blog, Prairie-Mama.blogspot. com, as a way to share her experiences while in a vocation that can feel isolating and secluded at times.


“I liked having a way to express myself ... to have something that was just mine,” Borchert says.

Her blog started out as a personal journal about knitting, one of her favorite pastimes. But six years ago, Borchert went through the most difficult experience a mother could imagine; she lost her infant daughter. Writing about the ordeal and sharing it with others through her blog was a way to get through the pain, she says. And the healing would not have happened the same way without her online journal, because blogs allow a two-way conversation when readers post comments on her site.


“There’s not that many people who you’re going to meet in your life face to face who have lost a child,” Borchert says. “The Internet has given us an opportunity to help others and to share that journey with other people. Otherwise they would never get that (support) and know that they’re not alone. When it happened, I didn’t know anybody who had lost a child. But online when that happens ... people just really come together.”


More and more women are sharing their journeys using blogs. BlogHer, an online community of women bloggers, published a study in April 2009 that estimates 23 million women each week are writing, reading or posting to blogs. Though BlogHer held its first nationwide convention just four years ago, it now claims the largest online community of women bloggers, and holds powerful influence among the growing economic and political demographic.

Cache Valley’s women bloggers are making themselves heard — and read — in widening circles that extend from friends and family all the way to the White House. After attending the BlogHer national conference, Loralee Choate, a young mother of three, made waves this past summer when her blog, LoraleesLooneyTunes.com, attracted the attention of White House senior adviser on health care Valerie Jarrett. Choate was invited to a high-level health care reform discussion denied health coverage for her recent pregnancy after her husband changed jobs. Now Choate, a self-described moderate Republican, is looking forward to an upcoming trip along with her husband and family to the White House in November to further discuss the health care issue.


Choate’s experience shows how influential one woman can be when she publishes her viewpoints. She is extremely successful as a blogger; some of her posts generate thousands of views with her sometimes irreverent but always charming writing style. She’s able to make a little bit of money from advertising on her Web site and companies often send her free samples hoping to win her approval and recommendation. Because of this, Choate says she’s rarely had to purchase diapers since her baby son was born five months ago.


“The Internet outfitted my baby,” Choate says, laughing.

But as a member of the BlogHer community she has to adhere to strict guidelines about product endorsement, so she publishes her reviews on a separate site. In fact, the Federal Trade Commission has ruled that beginning Dec. 1 bloggers must disclose any affiliation with companies if they endorse products in return for payment or free product samples.


Choate’s friend Borchert promotes her own products too. She sews baby-slings for mothers who want to wear their baby close to their body, and refers to herself as a “crunchy” mom because she gave birth to her kids at home, breastfeeds and uses cloth diapers. Both Borchert and Choate use their blogs to make a little bit of money, but it’s not much, they say. Not as much as some bloggers in Utah make, at least. Salt Lake City’s Heather Armstrong, blogging at www.dooce.com, sells enough advertisements on her blog to bring in about $40,000 a month, says Choate.

There are also professional writers here in Cache Valley who publish their work to the Web and use their writing skills to showcase their books. Janet Kay Jensen and Shaunda Wenger are professional writers and mothers who co-wrote “The Book Lovers Cookbook,” a book of recipes from famous works of literature. They are only two of many who meet at a writer’s group in Cache Valley called The Writer’s Cache.

“It’s just a way to stay connected with people and meet people who have the same kinds of goals that you do,” Jensen says. She has a personal blog for her family life too, which she uses as a way to keep in touch with her three grown sons, including her second son BJ (Jensen refers to him as son #2), who teaches American style football in Finland. Jensen’s post from January 2009 about watching her son play football is hilarious, complete with his responses pasted inside the essay.


"It’s fun to post what my kids are doing, and of course I’ll get responses from them,” Jensen says.

Though both women are part-time writers and mothers, the term mommyblogger isn’t quite how Wenger would describe herself.

The term mommyblogger may conjure the stereotypical image of a harried, sleep-deprived mother typing at the computer in her pajamas, but that’s not the way it is, says Wenger, who blogs at www.shaundawenger. blogspot.com

“I write whenever I can or whenever I’m inspired, but I don’t write in my pajamas,” she says, laughing. “I prefer to look like a decent, you know, like a human being.”


To find out when and where the The Writers Cache meets and come out to meet fellow women bloggers, visit the group’s Web site at www. WritersCache.org. Or get started blogging on your own at either of the two most popular blogging Web sites: www.blogger.com, or www.wordpress.com.

Some local bloggers:


• Loralee Choate has a personal blog called www.loraleeslooneytunes.com About her blog’s name, she says, “I do have ‘blog name regret,’ but for the most part, Looney Tunes is pretty accurate.” She recommends www.dooce.com


• Kim Borchert blogs at www.prairie-mama. blogspot.com “I write about my life, my family, my kids and just kind of the craziness that is,” Borchert says. She recommends nieniedialogues.blogspot.com


• Shaunda Wenger blogs about her life at www.shaundawenger.blogspot. com. She recommends fellow Cache Valley resident JoLynne Lyon’s blog, http:// www.mountainlyon. blogspot.com/

I have a photogenic dog who blogs

In today's paper!

The article featuring local bloggers appeared today in the Logan, Utah Herald Journal. It's not online yet (or I can't find it) but when I do find it I'll post the link. I'm in the featured photo and I must say, my dog Robbie is very photogenic.

Husband called from work to tell me there's a lot of buzz at his office about the article. As in being teased about his "famous" wife. That's what happens when you're married to a writer. Live with it.

Oh, and if my blog looks a little different, I tried to be creative and changed the template. In doing so, I lost all my links and my right hand sidebar. I'll be re-creating that soon. Another lesson learned.

Happy blogging!

Check out Cache Valley's Newest Blog

http://misspearlbutton.wordpress.com/

I've just discovered a new blog that takes a lighter look at life in our valley.  Called "Gems of Cache Valley," it was created by three alter egos who refer to themselves as Pearl, Ruby, and Adventurine. It's a fledgling blog but looks promising.

My Trip to Elwood, Utah

The idyllic Old MacDonald's Farm

Elwood, Utah

Distance to Salt Lake City: 70.2 miles (112.98 km)
Location: 41.68922N 11.14120W

Elevation: 4,295' (1,309m)

Population: 678 (2000)

Zip Code: 84337

Current Weather  65 F  with a chance of showers

A brief  history of Elwood written by John Van Cott, quoted in Utah Online:

Elwood (Box Elder County, Utah) is on US-30S. two miles southeast of Tremonton. It was established in 1879 with an early name of Manila Ward in honor of Commodore George Dewey's victory in the Spanish American War. The name was changed to Elwood by the postal authorities to avoid confusion with the Manila Voting Precinct. Mr. Davidson, a cattle and sheepman, was the first white settler in Elwood.

From Elwoodtown.com:

Up until the end of WWII, Elwood residents operated their farms and orchards and were generally quite self sufficient. Each family had their vegetable garden, small orchard, potato patch, milk and beef cattle, chickens and pigs. The farm work was done with horse-drawn machinery with each farm having at least one team of draft horses and most had at least one saddle horse.

Recently, my friend Nadene, a most accomplished writer/editor/publisher, invited me to visit the Elwood First Ward Book Club. They had read Don’t You Marry the Mormon Boys and she had promised to deliver the author. She sent me written directions, adding that the small hamlet of Elwood usually confuses GPS units which tend to send people “out in the boonies.”


So, trusting her accurate instructions and what turned out to be my inability to follow them, I set out for the adventure.


Forty-five minutes later I sat in a parking lot, squinting at my accordion-folded state map. A nagging voice in my head told me I wasn’t in Elwood. Perhaps it was the “Welcome to Garland” sign I had just passed. It is no coincidence that my favorite TV show is Lost. I had Nadene’s phone number and was tempted to call her and beg, “I’m in the middle of Garland. Come and get me!” But, in an attempt to save my pride, I plugged in my GPS unit, thinking it couldn’t get me any more lost than I already was. To my great relief it led me to Elwood and eventually to Nadene’s doorstep. I wasn’t even late.

Note to self: Always allow extra time to get lost. Print and study a MAP in advance, in addition to trusting “Mandy,” my faithful GPS unit.  Thank Husband yet again for buying Mandy as a Mother's Day gift.

I think I’ll drop a note to my publisher and tell him that over 7 % of the entire town of Elwood came to the event! But he’s pretty savvy and probably knows that Elwood has about 700 residents. Still, it’s resume-padding material I’ll save for the future.

After everyone arrived Nadene dispensed with the preliminaries and said, “Thanks for coming. This is Janet. Do you have any questions for her?” They did, and as usual, the teacher learned more than the students. They wanted to know how I came up with various characters, names, and locations. They wanted to know why the border collie was named after a famous Utah poet, Eliza R. Snow. They appreciated the way I tried to balance the two contrasting cultures in the book, showing strengths and flaws in each. I asked them if the ending had thrown them a curve, or "came out of nowhere," as some reviewers have complained. “Oh, no,” they said, “you’d planted the seeds. It worked.”


Impulsively, I had brought the first few pages of Gabriel’s Daughters, the sequel (work-in-progress) to Don’t You Marry the Mormon Boys. “Would you like to hear a little bit of the next book?” I asked. Their responses reminded me a little of how exciting it was when as children we were allowed to open one present on Christmas Eve. I thought I was just sharing a few pages of text, but they were getting a bit of a scoop, I guess. Who doesn’t like to be the first person on the block to share a bit of news?


Note to self: Always read a few pages of the next work-in-progress when visiting a book club.

As I read aloud, I learned that:


1) My readers already cared a great deal about Zina, the protagonist. All we know about her in Don’t You Marry the Mormon Boys is that she’s been missing for years. (I should add that I love Zina dearly and that her story was originally in the first book. It became too complicated to juggle two stories occurring in different time periods and geographic locations, so I had to pull Zina out and promise her that she’d have her own book. I owe it to her).

“I’ve been wondering what happened to Zina since I read the first book,” one woman said. “I’m glad she’s all right so far.”

2) Readers think writers are normal people. Nadene and I exchanged significant looks when I asked the group, “Does it bother you when we talk about our characters as if they’re real people?” I wondered if they secretly thought writers were one taco short of a combination plate.


"Oh, no. Not when you make them real to us.” Point taken.


I belong to several online writers’ groups. One writer posted yesterday that he’d killed off one of his characters and then begun to weep, and had to take a long walk to regain his equilibrium. I feel his pain.

3) As my critique group tactfully tells me, there is too much exposition in the text, especially in Chapter One. As I sensed subtle shifts in my listeners’ attentiveness, I quickly skipped over the rest of the exposition and went back to the story. Immediately, their interest returned.


“Can’t wait for it to be published,” one woman said.


I’m taking them seriously. Out with the exposition! It can be added in little snippets throughout the book, or, heaven forbid, tossed out. W. Somerset Maugham likened it to killing a baby and delivering the bloody remains to the editor. In contrast, the wonderful late Ken Rand taught me that any work can be improved by cutting 10% from it, even if it feels like a virtual blood bath. Every word, (surprise!) is not critical. OK, tell that to Dickens and Hardy and Hawthorne, who got away with it.


Bottom line: as readers we want a good story. I owe that to anyone who picks up my books. This concept will guide me through the edits and the concluding chapters, which continue to elude me. The beginning (“think of ‘I, Nephi,’”) is there and has been rewritten many times. The middle and end need some work.

Thanks to a most interesting drive to Elwood, Utah, and the great women I met there, I think Gabriel’s Daughters will be a better book. And I’d thought that as a Published Author I was going there to enlighten/educate them.

For your enlightenment, a little more about the fascinating hamlet of Elwood, Utah. Direct quotes are from Nadene:

JKJ: Nadene, how many animals live in Elwood?

Nadene: One town council member pushed for a limit an animals and it passed based on a 1-acre lot: 2 horses, 2 cows, 4 dogs, 6 chickens… yada, yada, yada. One resident made the statement that she didn’t want anymore “Little McDonald Farms” in Elwood. Elwood is rural, with a few pockets of new development on 1-acre lots. Lotsa people want to move to the country—then they want to eradicate the smell. And let’s get real … it don’t smell all that bad!

JKJ: Is Elwood growing?

Nadene: Phemomenal growth in the last 9 years. As of 2009, Elwood's population is 828 people. Since 2000, it has had a population growth of 17.85 percent. The growth since the economic downturn has been minimal, but even now two new homes are being built in Elwood.

JKJ: What are typical recreational activities?

Nadene: Each summer they hold “block parties” where the town is parceled up into sections and the residents from each section come together in a back yard for a potluck and a barbeque. They also have a Summer Picnic in Hansen Park down by the Bear River.



JKJ:What's the most exciting thing to happen since you moved to Elwood?

Nadene: We’d just moved into our new home. Late one Sunday afternoon our Carbon Dioxide monitor started beeping, so we called 911 and the fire trucks and ambulance came from Tremonton. Turned out our monitor had been plugged in upside down. Felt like a fool!

JKJ: Heartwarming story, though. Thanks for the enlightening interview.



Concluding remarks:




Nadene, your directions were concise and accurate. The problem was in the head of the driver, who was born without a sense of direction. If it hadn’t been for Mandy, I’d still be driving around Box Elder County, looking for Elwood, and your book club would have had a stimulating discussion without me. They would have finished all of the banana cream pie, too.

It'll be in the Herald Journal . . .

I'm one of many bloggers interviewed for an article which will appear in the Logan Herald Journal's Cache Magazine on Friday October 23. 

I hope I didn't say anything really . . . dumb.


And when they come to take a picture of me blogging on Monday, I hope that turns out OK.


It's a great opportunity to connect with other readers and bloggers.


I'll let you know how it turns out!

Bet ya didn't know!

From epodunk.com, a fascinating list of Best Brags:

A corn cob pipe

"America's Secret City" - Oak Ridge, TN


"Appalachian Square Dance Capital of the World" - Lebanon, TN


"Barbed Wire Capital of the World " - La Crosse, KS


"Bigfoot Capital of the World" - Willow Creek, CA


"Bird Dog Capital of the World" - Waynesboro, GA


"Birthplace of Kool-Aid" - Hastings, NE


"Cherry Pit Spitting Capital of the World" - Eau Claire, MI


"Christmas Pickle Capital of the World" - Berrien Springs, MI


"Clogging Capital of the World" - Maggie Valley, NC


"Corn Cob Pipe Capital of the World" - Washington, MO


"Covered Dish Capital of the World" - Windom, KS


"Cow Chip Capital of Kansas" - Russell Springs, KS


"Cow Chip Capital of the World" - Beaver, OK


"Cowboy Capital of the World" - Bandera, TX


"Dandelion Capital of the World" - Vineland, NJ


"Farm Toy Capital of the World" - Dyersville, IA


"Flower Box City" - Neosho, MO


"Frog Jump Capital of Ohio" - Valley City, OH


"Hubcap Capital of the World" - Pearsonville, CA


"Jackalope Capital of the World" - Douglas, WY


"Jackrabbit Capital of Texas" - Odessa, TX


"Peak of Good Living" - Apex, NC


"Spamtown USA" - Austin, MN


"The Town Without a Frown" - Happy, TX


"Town of Oil Repute" - Drumright, OK


"Town Without a Toothache" - Hereford, TX


"Turf Grass Capital of the World" - Savannah, GA


"Western Swing Capital of the World" - Turkey, TX

A hilarious discussion on grammar, spelling, vocabulary and other pet peeves . . .

Visit literary agent Rachelle Gardner's blog for an entertaining and informing discussion!  It started, she writes, with an invitation reading:


Y o u r   I n v i  t e d .


So click on the title of this post, hop on over and add your own favorites.

Where we should be living

PARIS (AFP) – Norway takes the number one spot in the annual United Nations human development index released Monday but China has made the biggest strides in improving the well-being of its citizens.

The index compiled by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) ranks 182 countries based on such criteria as life expectancy, literacy, school enrolment and gross domestic product (GDP) per capita.

Norway, Australia and Iceland took the first three spots while Niger ranks at the very bottom, just below Afghanistan.

China moved up seven places on the list to rank as the 92nd most developed country due to improvements in education as well as income levels and life expectancy.

Colombia and Peru rose five spaces to rank 77th and 78th while France -- which was not part of the top 10 last year -- returns to the upper echelons by moving up three places to number 8.

The UNDP said the index highlights the grave disparities between rich and poor countries.

A child born in Niger can expect to live to just over 50, which is 30 years less than a child born in Norway. For every dollar a person earns in Niger, 85 dollars are earned in Norway.

This year's index was based on data from 2007 and does not take into account the impact of the global economic crisis.

"Many countries have experienced setbacks over recent decades, in the face of economic downturns, conflict-related crises and the HIV and AIDS epidemic," said the UN development report's author Jeni Klugman.

"And this was even before the impact of the current global financial crisis was felt."

Afghanistan, which returns to the list for the first time since 1996, is the only Asian country among the bottom ten which also include Sierra Leone in the 180th spot, just below the Central African Republic.

The top ten countries listed on the index are: Norway, Australia, Iceland, Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, France, Switzerland and Japan.

The United States ranks 13th, down one spot from last year.

A visit from Darling Granddaughter

#1 son and Darling Granddaughter try out Grandpa's office chair.

Our youngest Aggie at the BBQ