TRAINING WHEELS: Many Utah County residents are being trained to work as greeters, guides or parking attendants during the Mount Timpanogos Temple open house this summer. The rules of conduct are rather stiff to maintain order. But some could be subject to change.
In fact, things change so often, said one leader in a meeting in Orem, they call it "notional tasking."When someone gets a notion, the task changes. Those who have to make changes take it in stride. It's known as "flexible responding."
Life in the grass lane: As confusing as the start of the Freedom Festival's 10K run was last Thursday (race officials couldn't decide where the starting line was), it's not surprising that organizers didn't give much forethought to wheelchair entrants and what would happen when they came to the end of the line.
The last few hundreds yards of the race course, which ended at Seven Peaks Water Park, was grass. It was fine for runners but impossible for wheelchair racers to traverse.
They never got the satisfaction of crossing the finish line.
It was unfair to the wheelchair entrants and could have been avoided by thinking it through.
Munchkins on parade: One of the best parades left in the county is the Lehi Miniature Parade held the first weekend in July.
It stands out simply because it has that old-fashioned charm of floats that have been created by imaginative regular folks and built by volunteers.
Each entry is from a different LDS ward in the town and loosely adheres to a theme for the year's sojourn down Main Street.
This year the theme was - what else - centennial-flavored, "Lest We Forget."
There were some clever entries that drew chuckles. Toddlers in dark shades and black leather were the "giant" locusts on the float about the famous seagull wipeout of the Mormon crickets.
A real charmer had all kinds of baby bees with beekeepers pulling the wagon.
But every one represented hours of work, especially by the mothers who can sew. We thought it deserved some applause.
Stefano wants me: We usually don't put people in this column on demand. But with Haley Jorgensen, 14, and Michaela Leishman, 15, having the day of their lives, we decided to make an exception.
Haley and Michaela were walking through Northridge Park in Orem last Wednesday when they noticed a newspaper recycling bin on fire. At the risk of missing their favorite TV soap opera, "Days of Our Lives," the teens turned firefighters. They found an empty bottle and filled and refilled it with water to dump on the flames. Finally, the blaze was out.
After their experience, they called the Deseret News asking if they could get into the newspaper. We told them only if they could convince us it actually was a fire they didn't set. Haley assured us that she and Michaela weren't playing with matches or fireworks. They also said that if we came to see for ourselves, there'd be a note on the newspaper bin. The papers were indeed charred and there was a note hanging on the bin. And a picture of the dynamic duo.
The note also had a sticker on it reading, "Stefano Wants Me!," referring to Stefano Dimera on "Days of Our Lives."
We're glad the quick-thinking duo sprang into action. We also liked the note. Now we can say we not only get e-mail but Dumpster mail, too.