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Show Thursday, December 18, 2008 AMERICAN FORK CITIZEN Page 7 OutTnicing each other for Christmas Joseph Walker I've got to be honest: at first I wasn't exactfy sold on the idea when my wife, Anita, proposed it ducing a recent family dinner. w . . "Whydon't 5 ; . we each do ; VALUt the 13 days of - SPEAK Christmas for v each other?" she said. "Only, instead of giving giv-ing each other turtle doves and French hens and golden rings, we'll give each other little acts of kindness." "Like if you gave me the new 'Rock Band' video game," Jon ' told his sister, Betrj. "That would be a great act of kindness." "No, that's not what I'm talking about," Anita said. "These acts of kindness are not things that cost money they only cost our time, attention atten-tion and creativity." You could almost hear the gears engaging in Jon's 17-year-old brain. "But 'Rock Band' takes a lot of creativ Signing up for the Airforce better than the Army veterans' unnery training against enemy aircraft air-craft was a pretty standard procedure proce-dure in World War II and the Korean conflict. An airplane towed a large, round sleeve (2 or 3 feet in diameter by 15 feet long) or banner (4 or 5 feet tall, 20 or 30 feet long), the targets were attached to the tow plane by a small but tough cable, then let out from 1,800 to 2,500 hundred feet behind the tow plane. Gunners & all sorts shot at the towed target: fighter pilots, gunners on bombers, anti-aircraft guns m the ground and on ships. The bullets were often dipped in paint, so that when they penetrated the sleeve or banner, ban-ner, they left a colored mark which indicated who had hit the target. Hundreds of veterans have told their stories of shooting at those targets, and finally we've found a veteran whose job it j was to let the targets out of the r tow planes. Charles "Doc Edmonds, Ed-monds, a retired veterinarian from Orem, spent three years in a tow-target squadron out of Biggs AFB in Texas. But first Save your local postal worker from winter injury NORTH COUNTY STAFF Every year an average of 60 Utah letter carriers are injured from slipping on snow and ice while delivering their mail routes. With snowstorms on the horizon, the Postal Service is asking customers to help keep letter carriers safe by shoveling a path to their mailbox as soon as possible after it snows. "We want our carriers to return home to their families 4 . 12v Lingrl, Shof, Adult NoWtis, .170 North Main Spanish Fork ity," he said. "And I promise to spend a lot of time on it and give it all of my attention.", ' "We're not going to spend money on each other," Anita said firmly. "We're going to perform acts of service for each other" "That sounds like a lot of, you know, work," I said, simultaneously si-multaneously channeling the Grinch, Ebenezer Scrooge and the guy who melted Frosty the Snowman whoever he may be. "It doesn't have to be work," Anita said. "These . don't have to be big things. Just little things to say that we're thinking about each . other, and that we care.". Even at my Grinchiest, I could see that this is a good idea, aimed at helping our family fam-ily feel the Spirit of Christmas through love and kindness and service to each other. And for the most part it has worked. Of course, there was the time on Sunday when I was preparing prepar-ing to take my turn doing the let's get him into the Air Force "a story in itself," he says. ' It's quite story how I got inducted. I graduated from high school in 1946 and began attending the University of Maryland (I'm originally from Baltimore). I came home one weekend and found an "Uncle Sam wants you!" letter in the mail. I did not want to be in the infantry (flying was something that had always excited me as a boy, and I used to build model airplanes). I stayed away from the induction in-duction center till Monday, but went directly down to see the head of the Selective Service office, who happened to be a brigadier generaL I walked into his office and said, "Sir, if I'm going to serve my country, coun-try, I do not want to be in the Army. I want to be in the Air Force." He sat back in his chair and said, "Son, today is Friday. If you are not in the Air Force by Monday, your backside will be in the Army." (Only he didn't use the word "backside.") I went right down the hall, signed up for the Air Force, and was taken within a week. I'd even had two years in the ROTC at the University of Maryland, but I was still drafted. draft-ed. I was told that I'd be going to off icer candidate school, but then was told, "Let's wait healthy each night," said USPS Salt Lake District Manager Ken McArthur. "Keeping a path clear to your mailbox will go a long way toward keeping our letter carriers safe and ensuring ensur-ing mail delivery each day." Utah letter carriers will continue con-tinue to do their best to deliver the mail, according to McAr- thur, but when mailboxes and approaches to mailboxes are buried in snow and ice it can ' make it difficult for letter carri-. dinner dishes. In this case, "preparing" "pre-paring" meant I &vas watching a football game while the dishes sat on the kitchen counter, awaiting my attention. "Beth is makirig cookies," I explained to Anita. "I'm just waiting for her to finish making mak-ing her mess, then I'll clean it . up as my service to her today." Unfortunately, 19-year-old, Beth had other ideas. As soon as she put her cookies in the oven she started doing the dishes. "What do you think you're ' doing?" I asked. "I'm doing your dishes as ' my service to you," Beth said, smiling. "Merry Christmas!" "You can't do that!" I said. "Why not?" . . "Because I was going to clean up your mess as my act , of service to you!" $ "Too late!" she said, "You'll have to find something else!" She returned to the dishes for a moment, then she announced an-nounced to her mother: "As soon as I finish in here I'm going go-ing to give you a foot rub!" till we get your paperwork all straightened out, and then we'll send you off to OCS." That never happened. I felt like a sheep being led to the slaughter. We enlistees were gathered together and put on a train. We only knew we were headed to someplace in Texas. We were sent to Lackland AFB, near San Antonio, and basic went fairly smoothly, though some of the instructors tried to scare you half to death. The Air Force picked up on my ROTC experience, so I was made a squad leader. We would have "GI parties," and anybody who's been in the service knows what those are: you carefully clean the barracks, using toothbrushes, wire brushes, or whatever is available. It all had to be spit and polish, or you had to do it over. At one GI party, our barrack bar-rack didn't have enough mops and brooms to do the job, so I said to one of the guys, "Hey, the barrack next to us are out on the drill field right now. Let's go over and 'borrow their equipment." And that's what we did. Only we didn't borrow it, we stole it. Now they had nothing to clean their barrack with. After basic training, I was sent to Sheppard AFB for testing to see what I was best suited for. The tests showed ers to make deliveries safely. Postal customers who receive re-ceive door mail delivery should ensure their steps, and access ways are kept safely clear of snow and ice. Customers HOLIDAY SMILE SPECIAL! km See your to:?- - - become white as snow i'n nhnut nn . lit wiu wt Mt V . i' : n . ? Y.iiiini Whitpmnni A J w w -V, v -'V .-. $300 . 'V? v. 1 ff t tauor an tppoinunem jo-oooo r tl A " , UR. BRUCE 233 E. Main, orem pleasant f grove & alpine , (n P' I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "You can't do that!" I said. "Why not?" "Because I was going to do that as my service to her!" I explained. ."Too late!" she said. "I called it first!" That's sort of how it has gone this week: first come, first to serve in a desperate attempt to out-nice each other. And even though I tend to be a little slow on the kindness uptake, I have felt the Spirit of Christmas which is, at its heart, the Spirit of Love as I have sought opportunities to serve those who I love most but who, I'm ashamed to say, I often serve least. Especially when it seems like, you know, work. I Joseph Walker writes his nationally syndicated "ValueSpeak" column from his home in American Fork. He can be reached via e-mail at ValueSpeakmsn.com. electronics, though I don't know how that was figured. Our training consisted of four weeks of basic electronics, and then four weeks of advanced, during which we learned to operate electronic equipment on B-45s and B-47s that would search for an enemy aircraft, show it on an oscilloscope in the cockpit, and enable the co-pilot to lock on the target and fire the guns by remote controL But the system wouldn't work in turbulence or flak, so it was canned. That's when I was sent to Biggs AFB to a tow-target squadron. There were no prerequisites to what I did there it was all on-the-job training. Next week: How to operate a tow-wheel. ' I Don Norton, is a retired BYU professor of English, the former chairman of the Orem Heritage Commission, and currently a researcher for the Library of Congress's Veterans History Project and BYU's partner program Saints at War. If you have a question or comment on usage, e-mail Don Norton at donnortonbyu.edu or send your questions to 399 E. State St., Pleasant Grove co Michael Rigert at the Orem Times. receiving street-side mailbox or centralized cluster neighborhood neighbor-hood mailbox delivery should also pay special attention to having a safe and clear pathway path-way to their mailbox. It; aft ' "Ml! SMILE hmiv with niyiti n mi . . . . 'i a a nf"jr r r U. KICHARDS r American Fork c- Sometimes, saving money isnt easy. We can help. Whether you're looking for a simple savings account, a CD, an IRA, or automatic transfers from checking to savings, we have the savings vehicles for every need. Call 222-9006. Sweet holiday memories found in Christmas salad lOO LU ? J "hristmas memories. fc rironrrtno Viae fKorv and for many of you they revolve around food. I have enjoyed this month learning more about many of you, and your Christmas mpmorips with food. I - ' We all .J , . V have a special spe-cial place in our recipe box, for grandma's grand-ma's pie or mom's bread. There is always al-ways that one recipe Emily Marlowe that holds . , a special memory for usi This week's recipe and memory comes from Kaleen Jerman. She shares with us an aimazing recipe full of mouthwatering mouth-watering ingredients and a memory that makes me want to be part of her family, if just for a day. The pomegranate and the cranberries together in the salad intrigued me. What a nice twist to a holiday salad. I know with the experiences experienc-es I have had, many people are uneasy about using a pomegranate. People are not sure how to cut them, seed them or buy them. This fruit may seem a bit exotic but it is delicious, easy to use and can be used in a variety of ways. To tell if a pomegranate is ripe, look for a beautiful shiny skin, pick it up and feel its weight. The heavier, the better. Inside of a pomegranate pomegran-ate are hundreds of juice-like sacs that appear to look like seeds. The seeds are the part of the fruit you will eat. To remove the seeds in a simple way, simply cut the "crown" or the top of the fruit off and cut the pomegranate into 4 or 5 sectionsScore the skin into quarters from the stem to the crown. Firmly but carefully break the sections apart using us-ing the score lines. Bend the skin back, trying to break away the pith (the white spongy tissue) and gently remove re-move the seeds. Many people (MM Open your ears this "Holiday Season to a fife of (Better Hearing with SIEMENS INTUIS Life f INTUIS hearing instruments from Siemens, the world leader in digital technology, sets new standards in hearing ease and comfort. Integrating select key technologies in reliability and quality. With proprietary technologies to protect from earwax, sweat and moisture, as well as manufacturing innovations to ensure long-term performance, no other comparable solution offers as much as INTUIS Life. Nowforonly:79500 ave for a will eat the seeds, while others oth-ers prefer the tissue of the fruit around the seeds. It is all up to your taste buds. We all know that cranberries cranber-ries are healthy in many ways, so why not try this toothsome salad for the holiday season. Maybe it will become a tradition and a memory for you and those you love. Thanks to Kaleen and her family for sharing part of their lives with us. May they be blessed in the New Year. Kaleen Jerman writes: "Growing up, our favor- ite holiday recipe to help our mother make was this fresh cranberry salad. We loved to crush the cranberries cranber-ries in an old-fashioned hand grinder. We could hear the berries pop and crackle as they got pulled through the metal spiral of the grinder. Even though it is much faster to chop the cranberries in any type of food processor today, my own children (even the boys) love to get out the old-fashioned hand grinder and crush the berries just as I did as a child. They also enjoy en-joy the novelty of opening a pomegranate and pulling out all those juicy little fruits. This is a nice change from the usual cranberry Jell-0 salad sal-ad or fruit salad and because it is fresh, everyone loves it." CRANBERRY SALAD 1 bag fresh cranberries 1 c. sugar 1 c. red grapes 1 pomegranate 12 c. pineapple tidbits 14 c. walnuts or pecans 12 c. whipping cream Grind berries in any style food processor. Stir in sugar. Seal in a container and let stand overnight in the refrigerator. Next day, drain for 1 hour. Cut grapes in half, remove fruit seeds from the pomegranate, drain the pineapple pine-apple and chop the nuts. Whip the cream and combine all together. Keep cool until time to serve. Add a little juice or more whipped cream if the salad appears too dry. Quick version skip the overnight process. Just cut everything up, stir in an 8 or 12 oz. Cool Whip and serve immediately. j- J one, Westerrn Community Bank Life's needs. Life's bank." WISTINNCOMMUNITVaAHK.COM IKBll |