Before Isaac left for his mission he painted the trim on the house. In the process he took down all the rain gutter. So hoping for rain, here's yours truly up on a scaffold of sorts--actually a ladder on top of a scaffold--putting up rain gutter. Yes, I'm being very careful and I'm going to paint it brown later. Now all we need is rain. Your prayers for rain and snow would be appreciated.

This September we harvested our first almonds! That is how they did it in the picture. Yup they knocked the almonds out of the tree onto those plastic tarps. Then they drug the tarp to the next tree. I was told that the income from this crop was going to be about what the costs would be. Well I was misinformed. It appears the cost of the harvesting was almost 3 times the income---OUCH! Oh well..next time I'll know to ask more questions.

Did you see October's tornado?

Yes, a tornado right in downtown Pleasant Grove.

We chose eggnog and pumpkin tornados. They were both good, but we wound up liking the other's selection more than our own--funny huh?. This was the last of the 12 year old trips to the Purple Turtle for this generation...sad. But now I suppose I'll try to take mommy every once in a while.

The next day Hannah and I rode up from Sandy to conference on the Trax commuter train--more fun. Between sessions we walked around looking for food in the rain under an umbrella. All of the old places to eat across the street by Temple Square are now gone!

Some September Serendipities

Some new pics to add to the recent Arnott History making.

Well, to be honest I can't be sure about Justine's visit if this took place at the end of August or the beginning of September, but he was rather enjoying his nap. I don't think I could have...at least in that position.

The middle picture in the slide show is of workers harvesting almonds in the Sanger almond grove. Yup Arnott Poultry & Citrus Ranch is now also a Blue Diamond Grower! So that begs the question: are we just Arnott Poultry & Citrus Ranch now or something else? Anyway these guy went around tapping the branches with a 1/2 inche plastic pipe to bring the almonds down onto a black plastic tarp. They then dumped them into windrows in the middle of the grove for drying. Lastly they were picked up and taken for hulling. The man hour labor was a big cost. Next year they will do this all by machine--and I'll have more almonds hopefully.

Last slide is Hannah's birthday party. It was a swim party and it was hot enough for one--thanks global warming---jk. Hannah and friends had a good time.

Communication from the field

Taking a break from the family history, I add a picture of Elder Arnott, who is making some history of his own--by actually writing a letter and sending pictures. We received this one today--among others. His letter was also a full page hand written! All are encouraged to keep the letters going to him.

A Little Family History

From what we have gathered our line of USA Arnotts came from New Jersey. Henry Arnot(t?) jr. was born in Essex Co. in 1791. From here a western migration of the family was to begin. One of his sons, Henry Watts Arnott, was born in 1822 in Monroe County, Virginia (West Virginia as of 1863) so it looks like Henry, the father, was the one to make the move to the south and a little west. One of Henry Watts Arnott's sons is Lonnie Payton Arnott, my grandfather and the 8th child of 9 in the family.

Like his father, Lonnie was born in Greenville, Monroe county, West Virginia--just after the Civil War in 1869. He grew up there. There's a story about him told to me by one of his cousins of getting chased by a "panther" while he was returning home late one night from a young lady's house. It was told that as he was going through some wooded area he could hear the big cat's tale thumping the ground behind him and he broke into a swift run. Apparently and thankfully, he made it home without mishap.

Lonnie met Marie I. Sipp, from Milan township, Erie County, Ohio, and at the age of 38 married her. They were married in Abilene, Kansas so perhaps they met in that state somewhere. After marriage the couple moved and settled to McPherson, Kansas. All of their 3 children were born there.





Gailen, my dad and the one in the middle in the top photo--yup in the dress and as a young father in the Army just above, was born in 1914. Thirty-three years later in 1947, after dad's hitch in the Army Air Corp, the Arnotts completed the westward migration of our line to one of the three western-most states in the union (at the time). I was the first Arnott in our line born on the left coast being born in 1949 in San Bernardino, CA. The trip from the east to the west took somewhat less than 158 years!