The tomato plant that ate Raleigh!!

As you may be aware, Paula is, and always has been, an addicted gardener.  When we were in Peru, her escape from the rigors of the assignment was her little garden at the mission home.

In the rare moments when she had free time, you'd find her with dirt under her fingernails, wrestling some plant in to submission.  

Returning to Raleigh, she dug in and brought obedience to her gardens once again. 

As part of the renewal, she spruced up her vegetable/flower garden,

and brought in all sorts of great compost and other secret ingredients.

Everything planted therein has grown well.

In the past, her tomatoes have been successful.  However, a couple of years ago, the neighborhood squirrels (aka 'tree rats') discovered that they liked them, and last year, she harvested precisely two intact tomatoes for all her work.  So, this year she decided that she'd plant a cherry tomato plant, reasoning that a) there would be so many she and the squirrels could share, and b) squirrels can't climb tomato plants, right?  So she bought one nice little plant.

There must be something in what she has put in the garden, because soon:

OK, OK, apologies to PhotoShop, but it did get really big.

And both of her assumptions were incorrect.  She has only found 11 ripe cherry tomatoes, and the tree rats have scored the rest.  

So next year, the tomatoes will come from the farmers' market or the grocery store, and Paula will find something else that grows well, though maybe not taller than she is.

We hope that your tree rats continue to like only acorns.

Dave & Paula

An amazing life, a good man

In 2011, we were assigned to be an Area Medical Advisor for the missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela.  My director was a retired Cardio-Thoracic surgeon named Don Doty, and with whose wife Cheryl he worked in the Church offices in Salt Lake City.  We met Don during our week of training before heading to Bogotá, and I was impressed.  Besides being a steely-eyed, active gentleman with a clear vision of what we needed to do, he was also eager to answer our questions and reassure us that we could get the work done.

It did not take long, literally one week in Colombia, before I learned that this guy "had my back."  He helped me firmly quell the anxiety of a parent in Arizona who was trying to take control of his son's medical care in Ecuador, and when the parent went over my head and questioned my medical knowledge and competence, Don casually mentioned to him that I was being copied on all the communications, and the guy backed off.  

I won't bore you with other examples of Dr. Doty's loyalty and wise management of the missionaries' health care, but I came to deeply appreciate his and his wife Cheryl's support.  Paula and I also quickly began to feel that they were also our friends.  

When we got back from South America, we stayed in communication with Don and Cheryl, and were honored that they let us visit them several times when we were in Utah.  We were surprised that folks of their caliber would consider us friends.  

Bit by bit, I have learned about Don and Cheryl's life and the many amazing things, both professionally and in their Church service that they have done.  Just today I read Don's August 2015 Commencement address at BYU when he was awarded a Doctorate of Science and Christian Service, only one of the latest in a long line of numerous well-deserved honors.

Unfortunately, an aggressive cancer claimed Don's life recently, saddening all of us.  We pray for Cheryl's comfort through the Spirit, and by the memories of their good life and service together.

Glowing tributes have been written about Don Doty, and I won't diminish them by trying to add anything.  Suffice it to say this was a good man, with an amazing life, and I was honored by his friendship.  I want to be like Don when I grow up.  

Dave