Wednesday April 30 2008

Cuzzins

Well, here we are all blurry. We went to dinner with Kathy and James yesterday evening at the Chinese Restaurant. .....At least the car started this time. I asked the waiter, who could barely speak English, to take our picture and he wanted to take a second one but I thought I was being polite by not wanting to bother him any further. Actually it took two of them to get the button pushed. Anyway you can see we were having a good time. We even got one of the Chinese warriors between James and Joe.

We went in to Pinedale about 3 p.m., got some errands done - P.O. UPS to return clothes, bank safety deposit box where I put our brand info and paperwork, and then stopped by Kathy and James house to trade their cooler with my suitcase. I took them a jar of the blueberry jelly. We visited there and they went to dinner with us. I had the best time just doing something socially, and being half silly. Really enjoyed the time together. They are going to Georgia for a month again soon to visit their family. This time they are going to bring back some Vidalia ? or ? the sweet onions they grow there. Afterwards we took the dogs to the park for a short walk and let them have Joe's leftover General Kung Pow chicken or whatever it is. I saved my shrimp and broccoli for lunch today. It was 60 degrees but the wind was so cold and I wore a lighter jacket- wished I had still been wearing down.

Wow can't believe April is gone. This morning woke up to it snowing again, and just above freezing. Enough, already. The two oncology doctors are having differing opinions and haven't decided on what to do with me. I finally called Oncology a couple of times when I knew we were leaving and wouldn't get the call. Dr. Ward was in Philadelphia so Paige will call me in the morning.

Have spent time organizing more of my photos lately. At least they aren't such a mess now. And I finally figured out why I wasn't seeing all of my blog, even though all of you were. Every day, since the blog with the photos of the calves, wasn't showing up for me. All the Internet windows were either half or one quarter of the page every time I opened one. Boy was I getting frustrated with it all. On that day I had clicked "Tabs"(some kind of view on the browser) to try to learn about that, and unbeknownst to me why at the time, the blog stopped showing up correctly then. I hate when that stuff happens. So yesterday I dug around in the innards a couple of times, and finally figured it out and changed it back. But am so proud of myself for getting it fixed on my own.

My fall road pastel landscape is about finished. I'll tweak it a little more and get a photo of it soon.

Vidalia Onions This is perhaps the most well-known of the sweet onion varieties. It was first grown in Toombs County, Georgia, but it came to Georgia from Texas. It is by law grown only in thirteen counties and portions of seven others in southeast Georgia. The soil and climatic conditions in these defined areas combine to produce the sweeter granex hybrid trademarked as Vidalia onions. The city of Vidalia was the site of a Farmer's Market since it was located at the junction of several heavily-traveled highways. The sweet granex onion came to be called after this hub city. Vidalias are harvested from late April through mid-June, and thanks to controlled-atmosphere storage, they are available through December. The Vidalia onion is a light golden-brown bulb with a white interior, rounded at the bottom and somewhat flat on the top stem end. ( The ones from Washington are the Walla Walla.)

Tuesday April 29 2008

Blueberry Jelly

Got two batches of blueberry jelly done yesterday afternoon. It did jell and turned out pretty tasty. I used some apple juice to make enough juice to make the two batches. Since my fanatic purging I found that I was lucky to have barely enough miscellaneous jars and old leftover lids to hold the jelly. I used paraffin to seal them just to be safe.

We have a few antelope around now that have drifted back into our valley. It's always fun to watch them coming and going. I also saw the first willets yesterday. The hawks are busy hunting and seem to be settled back into their homey nest in the only tree in the field. On the other hand..... the gravel trucks are incessantly rumbling by out on the county road. They start before daylight, so I don't know what time of the night they must get up in order to be out here at the crack of dawn.

About midnight last night I checked the email just to see if anything was working yet. Surprisingly I found that - YES!! it started downloading messages, and downloading messages, and downloading messages. Finally after 1300, some of them more than once when it got interrupted, all of them came in. No, that's not how many I would get in three days, even though sometimes it seems like that many. I know what happens is - if I don't go into hughes.net home page and delete out of there, everything is saved there and unless its deleted will come into my email again. And why I didn't just go there and delete all that I don't know. So all of March and April spewed into my inbox. It does seem much faster than before, that's good.

Not sleepy anyway, I sat and watched Ghandi while I downloaded and deleted. It was a very good movie. Had seen it years ago, but couldn't remember any of it and forgot he had been shot. I can remember seeing him on the newsreels when I was a kid. He really was an awesome person.

So... Come to find out hughes.net was doing some kind of upgrade and why it took four days (so far) I have no idea. This morning its off again and so no email today either. I want to shake them by the shoulders and scream "HOW MUCH LONGER!! My arm is sore - must be from clickiing the mouse too long.

The Oncology department was supposed to call me yesterday let me know what Dr. Ward and Dr. Jones had discussed, and to set up my next chemo appointment, but they never called. Maybe today. I've been going on Wednesdays lately, but tomorrow is supposed to be a stormy day - would be nice not to have to drive in a snowstorm one of these days. Will just be here waiting to find out.

Otherwise, yesterday I had more ambition than for a long time, got quite a bit done - jelly, laundry, changing sheets, vacuumed and mopped, made a pot of turkey vegetable soup, even some few marks of pastel onto the drawing. Makes me know I would feel better - for a while - without any chemo.

Joe got the SUV battery charged. He invited me to go to dinner today, maybe the Chinese place. I'll go to UPS to return the clothes, and the post office.

Monday April 28 2008

Deer at Dawn

A nice day, although its mostly cloudy, the sun is shining. At 8:30 its 45 degrees already, so looking to be warmer again.

Woke up very early and finally just got up. Am getting resigned to this crazy sleeping schedule. I am just going to do things when I'm awake regardless of the time, and sleep when I need to. Have been reading more of the symptoms about liver disease and jaundice (googled) and learning.

Today the plan is to make some blueberry jelly. I always save the juice from canned blueberries when I make muffins and it is very flavorful. Maybe a call to the chevy dealer to try to find out what's going on with the lights on the SUV. And make a few other phone calls.

Hope the email might come back on today. Wonder if they will make us pay the full amount of the monthly bill when for a big part of a week we have no service.

Are you getting the whole blog - new entries- when you go to my blog? Yesterday the new one wouldn't show up. Hope that doesn't continue. I don't want to deal with getting anything more fixed.

Check back later, I might update this if something interesting happens. Got a start anyway.

Sunday April 27 2008

The Neighbors Place

about a week ago

If you noticed you haven't been getting email from me, its because for two days hughes.net has been saying my ID and password are wrong..... NOT! Thought it might resolve, but it looks like I'll have to do a technical support call, and just hate that. I can't get to my email at the hughes.net home page either although I was able to send them an email outlining the problem hoping they would look into it. I'm not optimistic they will. I expect there must be a lot of emails sitting there. The first thing they'll tell me is it's not their fault, that something must be wrong with my connection but the Internet connection is fine, as I'm able to go to the Internet and do this blog etc.

Yesterday was still cool and breezy, never got over 34 degrees, yet sunny pretty weather. Today is also sunny, still windy but over 50 degrees, so we're getting there. This week should be warmer and that will be a welcome change. The snow is almost off the whole field now. The big drifts are still laying around.

This morning Joe asked me if I wanted to go to town for dinner again, so we'll be doing that. I don't know where yet.

I saw all five cats together again this morning and watched them go from the garage, and clamber over Big Kahuna to get to the corral. All winter I've wondered how they were getting back and forth to their food in the shed, and that's what they've had to do. They all were playing and look good and healthy. Yesterday I saw our first little flock of mourning doves, and today there was a shrike in the rose bush. Looked like it was either finding some bugs or eating rose hips, either would be an interesting departure from its diet of birds. Or... Maybe it had impaled a bird in there. We have also been having quite a few juncos and the first sparrows.. Tonight there was a rabbit in the yard and it was about half brown now. The dogs went out and the rabbit wouldn't even run, just wiggled its ears.

I've got another pastel nearly finished and not looking too bad. I keep loosing some of the freshness by going back and overworking, but on the other hand they aren't to the point I want them with lovely color and feeling either. So I keep fiddling with them. You can have the same problem with oil painting, so I'd rather just try to make something better out of it, whether it's as spontaneous as I'd like or not. It will feel good to take some new things to the framer.

This morning I tried on the new clothes, and need to send several things back. The trouble is that something has to go back to each of the three places I ordered from. So have to look up three sets of paperwork and make three packages. I got the box ready to mail to Cabelas. I like the things that fit, which I'm keeping.

Debbie called this afternoon and we got to visit for a while. They have had company for several days. Everyone there is fine.

P.S. Oh Poooh..... When Joe went to get the car out to go to dinner, the battery was dead again. The headlight switch was left on by the unnamed person who put the car away last Friday. But this still isn't right. I'm going to call the Chevy dealer to ask why this is happening. Everything is eventually supposed to go off when the key is turned off. I'm suspecting that something with the programing that is possible on that panel is out of kilter. So I made some homemade pizza for dinner.

Saturday April 26 2008

Continued:

So After seeing the elk herd, Gina and I went on down the road to Jackson. And after I took several wrong turns, stopped at the post office where I mailed an envelope of black footed ferrets to Judy in CO. I don't know where my mind was that morning but I really was spacing a lot of stuff out, probably because of the appointment. We went on to the hospital and found it was head of the Oncology department Judy's birthday. There was even chocolate birthday cake. Judy got my "vitals" and then I had an hour visit with Dr. Ward. He was so sharing, and answered everything so clearly. I took along four pages of questions, but he answered every one of them in his discussion and I never even needed the list.

Basically there's not a lot of new information. I'll just tell you the important and interesting stuff. Gina went in with me and we both took notes. You can ask more questions if you want.

My tumor marker test reading is way down; 137 is normal and mine is now 23 (started at 330+ before surgery). Dr. Ward doesn't know why the tumor marker reading is so good. Because.... although the CT scans are not detecting the tumor on the head of the pancreas, it is showing the size and number of 'spots" on and throughout the liver have increased quite markedly. Despite that the liver function is quite good now. Swelling in the feet/legs/ankles that I've had off and on for some time is related to liver function.

Pancreatic cancer is very hard to detect and that is why it was so advanced before they found mine and it is considered incurable. We asked if we could see the pictures of the spots on the liver. Here is one of the most interesting things. He pulled the CT scan pictures up on the computer screen and scrolled with the mouse from the bottom of my lungs all the way down through my abdomen, showing all cross sections of the the liver and other organs. That was very amazing to see, The carcinomous spots and large tumors are throughout the liver. He just scrolled down through all my organs and we could see them very clearly.

Because I'm still strong and feeling pretty well, Dr. Ward said they need to change the treatment and recommends his Plan B - to do a stronger chemo now, 4 weeks on and 2 off. He even has a Plan C. There is a one in three chance to shrink the cancer. It may give me more time, but at this time he said I have "some months" left. The average would be 6 months, but that means some people go longer, some less. He also said "months turn into years".

Joan had asked me to check about radio ablation they are doing at UCLA. Dr. Ward said they are doing the same thing at University of Utah Huntsman Clinic, and I'm not a candidate for any of it. The tumors I have are far too advanced. You can not use those procedures when tumors are inside the liver. I appreciated all he told me, and the time spent with me - an hour. I know a lot more now than I did.

Although it is sooner or later "always" terminal it sounded like it is quite a gentle death. When you become jaundiced, then it is a matter of weeks. You just become weaker, become sleepy and eventually just don't wake up.

I said again that I'd like to stay at home, and have the Community Home Care come when it would be necessary, or even go to the nursing wing of the Senior Center if necessary because of our remoteness. Dr. Ward and Judy thought that was fine.

Dr. Ward will speak again with Dr. Kim Jones, the oncologist I saw in Utah who was so forthright and involved with all of the family, and they will call Monday with an appointment for me to begin the next stage of chemo in Jackson. He said Dr. Jones had still been working on my case all these months and had spent a lot of time trying to figure out the reason there are some many unknowns. I told him to thank her very much. How special to know someone is doing that.

When we came out of the appointment Roberta and Barbara, Pinedale friends, were there. Roberta was also to see Dr. Ward for her breast cancer checkup. Thankfully she is doing well. Judy served us all some of her birthday cake. The four of us went to lunch together at The Bunnery and had the nicest visit. Gina and I peeked in at the new Trailside Gallery location, went to Staples where I had copies made and she shopped. We went to Corral West, a western clothes store. I got two cute tops, Gina got new Wranglers. Then we stopped by that saddle shop where I bought the saddle stand and I was interested to look at the over 200 saddles they have there - many old with lots of history along with their new stock. We took Kay's paintings out to the Gallery at Wilson and then came on home. It had been snowing all the time were in Jackson and after we got out of town a ways, it quit and we had a good drive back.

Let Gina off at her house and went to get gas and groceries. Again it was blizzarding when I got out of the store and it quit soon down the road, but started up again just after I got home. Nasty tiresome stuff. I stopped for a few pictures of the new calves near the creek. The dogs ran out to meet me, and wanted to run back through the field instead of ride. I think they've been pretty bored lately laying around the house. The Cabelas order of new clothes came yesterday, the UPS truck pulled up behind me at the gate. The two blouses I bought at Corral West just match a couple of the bottoms. Will probably try everything on later to see what fits or not.

I made some shrimp with snow peas stir fry and rice last night so it only took about 10 minutes after getting the groceries put away. Actually I thought it was good that I felt like cooking something after the long day - so that is the difference of not having chemo for the last 10 days, After chemo I wouldn't have really not felt like it at all.

Joe and I talked about all the details last night. He still was concerned about how sick I would be, and I told him it just sounded mostly like it would cause diarrhea. It probably won't be much worse than what I've been through already. And that both Judy and Dr. Ward reminded me I could quit any time I wanted to. Interestingly Joe remembered that he had seen Dr. Ward as a cancer specialist in Jackson sometime after his stroke and/or prostate cancer, when they were looking for some serious problems, and then I remembered that too, having taken copious notes for him that day. And (just a note) Dr. Ward has been very ill with a serious staph infection in his leg after surgery I believe (?) and was in the hospital for six months! So we didn't see him in Utah.

Beverly called today and we had a talk about all the new information as well as what they are up to. Helena sent a draft of her interview of me and I found some corrections and sent it back to her this morning. Worked on the emails that have come in. Got a set of the copies into envelopes and addressed to go to Deb and Bev. Each thing I get done makes "having the affairs in order" closer to being done. I finished up the small pastel painting of the old store at Boulder. Believe me its nothing special, but that's as good as this one is going to get.

Friday April

Elk Migration

I've done something a little different with this photo. It is a panorama made from four photos put together but instead of making it as small as possible I left it quite big, and if you click on it you should be able to see the elk better in your browser. I'm looking for comments as to whether you like this, or if three or four similar but different photos posted separately would be better to see this. Sorry not to have better pictures to share of such a stunning experience. This doesn't show them going further, high up and over the mountain. If you'll notice there are several probably ancient game trails that you can pick out.

Today Gina and I drove to Jackson for my appointment with Dr. Ward from the Huntsman Clinic. We had such a great day going together. I started off here about 6:45, just before the sun came up. There was enough breeze to make the 14 degrees feel pretty chilly. Doc was feeding his cows, and they were all aligned along their feed ground with their little calves close by when I drove out.

As I turned through the cattle guard and headed toward the mailbox I looked back toward the ranch just as the sun washed the front of the house with a warm glow against the still dark background of the hills and fields. It was so beautiful and I sure had a feeling of "homesickness" tugging at my heart knowing the days for seeing that scene are dwindling. I've always hated to leave home on a trip, regardless of how I love to travel and see new country, and this was similar to that except more so. Such a strong feeling of that being our special home for so many years, now the place that has always enfolded us and kept us safe and warm. I've lived at this house longer than any other place in my life, and surely loved it more than any other.

It was just about then that I had - I won't say a voice speaking - but certainly close to that in a strong thought that we were going to have a very special experience today. And I thought back, I would enjoy that so much.

Lots of deer, birds and hawks along the way, some antelope, the multitude of herons on their bulky stick nests in the aspens and cottonwoods on Boulder Creek. I got to Gina's within the hour. We picked up Kay's artwork at her house to take to the Gallery, and on past Rookies.

A ways up the road where that big gravel pit is there was a herd of all buck antelope trailing across the sagebrush. They usually get kicked out this time of year when its time for the does to have their kids. I guess somewhere over 50 of them, but the long line of them traveling along was so beautiful. We should have stopped for pictures and I regret not doing that but we were past them almost before realizing what a gorgeous sight it truly was. Well, if that had been the special experience it would have been wonderful, but it wasn't.

The snow through the valley and over the Rim was a whole lot less than 10 days ago when I last went. Many areas are becoming bare. Still deep snow in Bondurant but a noticeably diminished there too. We got to about where we often see the mountain sheep and didn't see any. Gina was having to watch because I was driving. In a few minutes she said there are some elk. I thought, "oh, a little bunch of elk", I said "oh that's nice" or something to that effect. She said again, "There are a bunch of elk". "How many?" She said, "A lot. It's a big bunch". Thinking we were already way past them, I said, "shall we stop?" and then I got the idea that YES she wanted to stop. We pulled off the road and she said, "I think its the whole feed ground". Even then we still didn't know how many there actually were.

As we got out of the SUV we could hear the yearlings chirping and whistling. We climbed up the small hill at the side of the road that was obscuring the view and OMG(osh), there were 6oo or 700 - or more - (?) elk strung out in lines from about a quarter of a mile above us for two or three miles, as far as we could see. They were trailing behind one another and had split along several trails, one up the gulch and another along the side hill under some of the cliffs. The ones in back were bunched together not far from us. Gina said the light buckskin colored ones in the back were the bulls. The three files came together again further up the mountain, and they just kept going on up and up climbing into the distant peaks where the sun was glowing off the snow at the ridge top. It was as if they were traveling into the light and disappearing into the glow and the distance.

We took pictures but I knew my little camera zoom would not do this justice. And usually I take more pictures, but only got seven this time. I also didn't get any higher up the mountain where they were going over the top - not sure why not except that it was so far away I knew it wouldn't show much. Wish I had now. Gina had a better zoom on hers and got great photos of some of the closest elk. I bet you can go to her blog http://www.horseback41.blogspot.com/ and she will have some better photos than mine.

Well, That had to have been the special experience, and as we turned back to the car I told Gina about the thought that had come to me this morning. I was certainly grateful to have seen such a sight, and good for Gina for spotting them.

Since its getting late and its been a long day, I will put a couple of the elk photos and continue the rest of today on tomorrows blog. I'll let you know then what the doctor said. He spent an hour with us. I had taken 4 typed pages of questions and he answered all of them.

Thursday April 24 2008

Plastered Windows

Front Porch with 5" New Snow

Raking on Hold

Backyard Blizzard

Yippee - It's Snowing!

This morning woke up to a raging blizzard and about 5 inches or so of new snow. It's warm enough that it's melting though. It hadn't done anything at 4 a.m. when I was up. It was mild and calm then so was expecting a nice day and maybe a walk. Anyway now the sun is shining and the snow is melting pretty fast. I felt sorry for the little calves and other baby animals out in the weather, but it will make them strong.

Here's some good news --- Clayton is being advanced to Life Scout and earned one of his Citizenship and the Communications badges. He just has 5 required badges left and he will be ready to work on his Eagle project. He may be done by this summer. That means he could be an Eagle Scout by age 14!!! He has to plan a Family Project for his Family Life badge, so Beverly told him that he could be in charge of the Mother's Day/Family Night Activity. He says he's going to plan something really special for all us mothers and he is calling his cousins. Hmmmm, wonder what it is? She was going to have everyone bring Mexican potluck, so now Clayton says he is making the tacos. That will be a real treat. Clayton has been doing his first school research paper. He's even typed it.

Had a nice visit with Ruth on the phone yesterday afternoon. All the artists are getting ready to go to the Wyoming Artists Association State Convention this weekend. Everyone always has a great time, with events, art shows and workshops. I won't be going since I have to go to the doctor appointment.

No news to speak of here. Tomorrow Gina and I will drive to Jackson for my appointment. I'll keep you posted on what happens.

Wednesday April 23 2008

Such Disappointment

Biggest Herd of Deer I Ever Saw

and I Get Raindrops

Another Small Bunch of Deer in the Hoback Canyon

Today Helena came over about 10 a.m.. I've known Helena for a long time now and she is one of my most favorite people. We are in Sublette County Artists (writers) Guild together. She lives in Big Piney. She wanted to do one of her Pioneer Couple interviews with us for the Roundup, but Joe didn't want to be interviewed. So she asked if she could interview me. I said yes. We both tried to get him to tell some of his story, but he stuck to his guns about not getting interviewed. We even told him lots of the guys had done it, but he stayed staunch in his decision. Helena was able to ask Joe some questions about some of the old places around here, and he talked with her about that.

Helena has been working on gathering information on the Sublette County original homesteads for the County History board for a couple of years now. We had fun looking at maps for a while, and some of the photos and interviews from old timers that I have, especially about the Boulters who originally homesteaded our place. By then it was time to get lunch in the oven. We had a Hot Chopstick Salad (which I thought was appropriate because LaRee Cowley, my long time neighbor down the road gave me that recipe - they were pioneers) with Alpenglow Frozen Cranberry Salad, Banana Crunch muffins, sliced tomatoes, and Helena brought a heavenly chocolate layered refrigerator dessert - and such a crust it had - perfection - yum!

After lunch she got started interviewing me. She typed it into a battery powered computer compatible word processing machine about the size orf a keyboard. I know some of you are going to be asking what it was. She told me and I can't remember the name of it, but it will download into her computer when she gets home. And the interview also went onto tape. The tape and a written copy will also go to the Museum of the Mountain Man. It took us a couple of hours. When she has it written up she will send me a copy to look at, and then it will go into the paper. I had hoped that you would be able to click on a link in pinedaleonline to read it, but she said they weren't putting her stories on pinedaleonline right now. But they used to. So we had an enjoyable day.

Remember back on Monday the 14th I had a photo of the deer migration on the blog and told about seeing about 300 deer going down the highway near Silver Creek. Some of you have asked to see the photos of all the deer. I had explained that all I got was water drops on the windshield, but thought I'd show you what they looked like. I was so disappointed, and now you can understand why. I have about 25 other photos just like this. They went on like that further than I could see. Sad, huh? I was trying to be polite and not freak them all out by getting out of the car.

Betty has really been enjoying her new camera and sending great pictures and descriptions to some of us of her place, Plumnilly, near Mesquite. I've really enjoyed seeing all the variety of subjects she gets. She says she's having a lot of fun with the camera. And years ago she was probably the main one who influenced me to get into take more photos. So I could blame my 70,000 slides on her, couldn't I?

Maxine's bearded collie, Sharpa (means beard in Basque), had five little puppies last Friday. She was bred with Pete's bearded collie austrailian mix male. They make great sheep dogs. I hope I get to see them babies before they get too old.

This morning started off very nice, warmish and calm. Later in the day the wind was blowing all the moisture out of the whole country, including dust devils down the road. So I don't even want to talk about it.

Tuesday April 22 2008

You've been asking about the new saddle and to put in the photos, so here they are. I ordered a new lightweight saddle from Tom some years back and he has such a long waiting list that it was just finished a few weeks ago. I had given up getting it, under the circumstances, and it was a big surprise when Joe brought it home. It is quite a beauty, and Tom creates a real work of art in anything he makes. It is signed, dated and numbered..... No. 128 made on 2/08. (See the circle below the brand.) Still to come is a matching breast collar. Thank you so much, Tom.

The center photo shows our Rafter M brand on the back of the cantle. And the third photo is a closeup of the basketweave tooling. I had told him not to put much tooling on it, but Joe had him put a little to keep the leather from curling. The blanket is hand loomed wool from one of my trips to the Navajo reservation years ago. The rope is mine, although I've never roped anything with it. It is braided rawhide and was made at the Federal Penitentary at Rawlins WY. Wish I remembered the man's name who made it, but I don't. It would be an antique by now. The inmates made a lot of leather and horsehair crafts and horse equipment while they were in the pen. I traded it for some artwork to one of our wranglers who worked for us at the Lodge.

Maybe I can take a ride on the saddle this summer.

Monday April 21 2008

Garage Near Wilson

Great Artwork!

(Click it)

A glimpse of the Tetons near Wilson

The first "look" we've gotten of them all winter.

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We went to town this morning. Pinedale had a skiff of snow when we got there and the wind was very cold. It was breezy all day. It was about 10 degrees this morning. Joe asked last night if I wanted to go and I said o.k. I think his eyes are bothering him, and he wants me to drive. Let him off at the Clinic. He had to get his protime checked. That was good. And while he was there I got about 5 things at the store. Perused the aisles again trying to find where they are hiding everything now. Bath soap was very obscure, but they have it with the toiletries instead of the cleaners and soaps.

Early before we left home, I called the gal at the Sublette Retirement Center, her name is Lynn too, and she got me in for a haircut. She is so quick, bet I wasn't in there 10 minutes. She cuts it short the way I like it. It costs a lot less there too. Now my head is kind of cold so I'm wearing that soft knit hat I got at chemo. I kind of look like an old grandma. Joe has turned the heat down a little. I just put on another sweat shirt, but the head got cold.

I took a nap this afternoon. Hardly slept last night so should do better with that tonight. We had lunch at the Patio. Tonight I made some potato soup with sourdough garlic toast. It was good .....and hot. Also spent several hours sorting and filing most of the photos I've taken the last 3 or 4 months. They get unmanageable unless I get them into the files where I can find them easier. So I went to find a photo for the blog and got really sidetracked and forgot to write until 10 p.m.

I saw what I believed were some willets yesterday doing their spiral looping displays above the still snowy fields in back. Their wings flashing in the sunlight is what caught my eye. Love to watch the willets all summer. And the red tailed hawks were slowly soaring right by the studio windows, hanging on the wind. Such a good look at them from below. Hope they don't find any cats. We've had the most awesome deep golden yellow full moon rising for the last several nights. It's hard not to just turn out the lights and watch it hanging there like a huge Japanese lantern.

The photos today are from our trip to Jackson last week. If we get a nice day I'm going to try to get some baby calf pictures before they get much older. Another thing I want to do is get the ATV started up and take the dogs for a ride.

Sunday April 20 2008

April Full Moon Above the Field

Friday evening coming home I saw a lovely picture - a blue heron at a small falls on the East Fork River. It would have made a good photo. The ospreys are back on their nests between Boulder and Pinedale. Also all the herons are at their big rookery on Boulder Creek.

Saturday worked on the emails, and ended up spending quite a few hours on The Book again. Excavating the memories out of the past is not an easy thing any more.

Also I shopped online for some more clothes. Its hard to know the sizes anymore after loosing a little weight , so I ordered what I want and will expect to send some things back if they don't fit. I tried to pick nice things, lightweight for traveling and cute, even though it might cost more than I usually spend. I shop at KMart a lot!

High School friends, Betty from Mesquite and Nancy from Coos Bay Oregon are going to be here for a visit on May 11. I'm looking forward to them getting here for a visit in about 3 weeks. They will stay about five nights.

All week the prediction is for a chance of rain or snow. We can always use the moisture. It snowed early this morning, then cleared up, then terrible black clouds galloped over and winds so wild the power was off for a while. I want to guess gusts of 50 mph. It was almost 60 degrees yesterday and is 33 degrees this afternoon.

Below is a link to check out the air quality at the oilfields south of Pinedale. It updates every 15 minutes, so you can also check on the progress of that drill rig in the foreground as time goes by.

http://www.wyvisnet.com/enca1/index.html

Saturday April 19 2008

Princess Raven

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The creek through our place "went out" yesterday. If the ice wasn't gone entirely, it will be today. It starts downstream lower and progresses upstream day by day. I see "our" cranes regularly now. Really windy today.

I meant to tell you a little about Dave, the chef at Lakeside Lodge. They get some of Joe's hay every summer for their horses. Last night he said that with another couple of places he would have worked at every restaurant around Pinedale. For several years he was the chef at Halfmoon Lake and did a beautiful job there. Now he has leased the restaurant at Lakeside. The place looked really nice last night, perhaps new tables and chairs and a new floor, although I hadn't been in there for quite a while. Dave also plays the piano beautifully. Debbie is the one who cuts Joe's hair at the "beauty shop". They are moving over near to Sandra probably this summer and we will be neighbors. Best of luck with the restaurant Dave. Our meal was very nice last night and I'm sure the endeavor will be successful.

Here is interesting news at the wheat farm in Washington from Jackie: "Jay came home saying to make him a lunch as he was going back out to seed last night. He is using the GPS system we have for the tractor which allows him to seed in the dark because it tell him where he is all the time by looking at a monitor screen, so it does not matter if it is light or dark. Kirk is the one that has used the GPS the most so I told Jay not to screw it up and he said he got along just fine with it. He ran out of seed at 3:30 this morning so shut down and got to bed about 4:30. He was up for a bit this morning and then went back to bed and will go back to work about 7 pm tonight again when Kirk gets done for the day shift. If they seed day and night they should be done in a couple of days. " Can you believe how technology is changing everything these days, even on family farms. This is awesome. I can't believe they can go out in the pitch dark on those rolling hills and ravines on their place and not tumble the big tractor off someplace. I think Jackie worries about that too. Maybe on another blog I can tell you about his 4 wheeler escapade recently.

Last night during my wee hours wakefulness, I watched a fascinating TV program on Discovery about male and female brains and autism/savants. Another one I wished I had recorded. If you run across it be sure to watch. I am sleeping lots better but the hours are just off kilter. Guess it doesn't make any difference.

Another cute tax thought - Did you ever notice when you put the 2 words "The" and "IRS" together it spells "Theirs."

Friday April 18 2008

Uh Ohhh - Grass Fire Got Away Near Boulder

Fremont Lake is Still Frozen

Ice on Lake

Joe at Lakeside Lodge

This morning I wrote more in The Book and am nearly done with 3 or 4 more chapters. These are during my high school years. Next comes My First Marriage and the kids being born. So progress is being made.

About 3 p.m. we left to go to Lakeside Lodge for dinner. The temperature was about 50 degrees this afternoon, and perhaps 6 degrees warmer in Pinedale - one of our warmest days so far. The East Fork was up a little more. As we got near Boulder there was a pretty large plume of white smoke that turned out to be weeds and grass burning. It looked like they were burning weeds on a ditch very near an old house, and the wind was too strong to be burning. It looked like it had gotten away from them, but who knows. Maybe they intended to burn up half the adjacent field and threaten a nearby house. When we came back I was surprised how far it had traveled. It was out by then but still smoking a little. Hard to think it would burn that much with the snow only barely having melted.

First went to the drug store and got another prescription. I had to get the brand name rather than generic and Humana wouldn't pay for that so it was almost $100. This is not the first time this has happened. I don't think that is necessary so will ask the doctor not to prescribe those again. I've had similar pills that cost only a fraction of that price and worked fine. Bought some rib steaks that were on sale at a good price.

Drove on up to the lake, and let the dogs out for a walk on the CCC Ponds hiking path right near the Lodge. We got to the restaurant about half an hour early and soon went in and got our table. The dinner was excellent and perhaps one of the best if not the best ever tasting fillet with all the fixins I've ever had. Joe's was good too. (No, dang it, I didn't eat his too, he told me so.) It was perhaps the most expensive too. Joe said we earned it we might as well spend it. That's a first! The dogs got the leftovers. Back home by 7, dodging the deer along the way.

Every year there is a ??can't think of the word it's called?? pool?? where everyone picks the time that a barrel placed in Fremont Lake in early winter comes to shore in the spring. It has big prizes for the winner and plenty of runners-up and is one of the favorite events of the area. It is a fundraiser for the boating club I think. We looked out on the ice for the barrel but couldn't see anything. It will be a while yet before it touches shore.

Judi wrote this on her blog yesterday - thought it was a good description how cold it still is here despite you guys who are having three digits or in the 90's thinking we're a bunch of sissies up here : "Today was my 3rd morning of walking around the block since it got too cold last November. It is a 40-acre block - about 1 mile. And cold! Rollie thought I would turn around and come back when I hit that wind from the west, but I trudged on. I wore 2 sweatshirts, my winter coat and a scarf, so I could protect my face a little. I'm not sure what good it does to get all that "fresh air" when you're breathing 'scarf'! It was my legs that were numb when I got back to the house. I should have worn sweats over my pants. One always hopes that tomorrow will be warmer."

On this day in 1906, an earthquake struck San Francisco. It was one of the worst natural disasters in American history. It began at 5:12 a.m. on a Wednesday morning, and lasted for a little over a minute. Scientists later determined that the San Andreas Fault had moved about 23 feet. The quake measured 8.3 on the Richter scale.

Thursday April 17 2008

Gros Ventre Mt. Range

Gros Ventre (Grow Vont)

Hoback River Canyon

Near Granite Creek

Saw Tooths

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Sunny but still cool and a stiff breeze all day. It's not getting out of the 30s with any regularily yet. The dogs are content to stay outside longer now. Snow is going slowly, and that's a good thing. This way it is soaking into the ground better. So it doesn't all run off down the rivers.

Something made me kind of sick yesterday, the barium drink or the contrast IV, I don't know. I've also been eating too much junk food for several days. Anyway I was up most of the night. Maybe I shouldn't have drank that coffee at lunch for one thing. We all know that and I did it anyway. Got up and took a hot shower about 1 or 2 a.m. and that usually helps. Finally went to sleep and remember seeing other early morning times on the clock but didn't "wake up" until 11 a.m.

A quiet day. Did a little housecleaning and the laundry and Joe vacuumed the living room.

Joe asked me out on a date. We have a reservation for dinner at Lakeside Lodge tomorrow. Since I'm not so involved in cooking lately, I think he's getting hungry for something really good. We wanted prime rib, but they just opened a week or so ago and aren't making prime rib for about 2 more weeks. That probably means we'll have to go back again.

When Cindy found out how far it was to our house, she called and said she wouldn't be able to come and clean for me because her car needs some repairs and she didn't want to get stranded out alone this far. So I'll be checking around for someone else to do it. If anybody knows a good heavy duty house cleaning person for hire, please let me know.

Had nice phone visits with Betty and Sheral today. So the whole day wasn't lost.

Wednesday April 16 2008

Bighorn Ewe

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This morning was clear, about 15 degrees when I left home, and just a breeze. Won't make this so long as yesterday. Much today was just the same as in my other descriptions. I met Charm at Boulder and we took off to Jackson to get my CT scans done. We left Boulder maybe 15 minutes early. She drove us both ways since I had to drink the barium stuff beginning at 9 a.m. Gave Maxine a call as we went through Pinedale and she met us at 40 Rod. We pulled up to the parking spot at the same time as she got there. A nice ride on dry roads through the Hoback. Still lots of deep snow in there and beautiful scenery as usual but it's looking more spring-like. That snow storm that was predicted didn't materialize at all, though they did have the tiniest skiff on the ground as we got in to Jackson. We chatted along the whole way.

Maxine had a couple of errands and we still got to Oncology about 15 minutes early. Paige got the IV for the contrast into my arm on the first try - she is GOOD! The CT technician came for me and it seemed the whole scan thing didn't take but 10 or 15 minutes. The doctor came and checked the scan and they did locate my liver. Then it takes them quite a while to check the new scans against the old ones so I won't know a lot more until I see the Huntsman Doctor Ward on the 25th. Although I did get the results of the tumor marker test which they took last week. It is lower yet again. I don't go back for any treatments until the 25th, and see what he says is the next step.

So then we went to the jewelry store where Charm picked up her necklace that she was having repaired. And on to the Bunnery for a good lunch. For the longest time I've been hungry for a bacon cheeseburger so indulged in one - it was delicious along with home fried chips. Charm and Maxine's lunches looked yummy too. I brought about 1/3 of the burger home for the dogs. They always look for that white box. Bought a few of the bakery goodies.Their OMS rolls are so delicious. We stopped at Albertsons and got fried chicken for dinner, with some macaroni and cheese. Then the back home.

Today was the sixteenth time we've made the trip to Jackson. Even though every thing went quickly it was still 4 p.m. by the time I got here. All in all, a very enjoyable day spent with dear friends.

Have thrown the dinner into the oven to be heating up, and glad it was simple. The long drive and long day has been, well, l - o - n - g. I think I will go to bed early tonight.

Was happy to have seen all five of my cats out in the field hunting for something together early this morning. Seeing them all together doesn't happen often so now I'm really sure that I have them all.

There are pictures of mountain goats people have been seeing in the Snake River Canyon. http://www.pinedaleonline.com/news/2008/04/MountainGoats.htm . We drive by that road, and its not very far down there to where the goats are. I think Dave Bell on pinedaleonline also has some mountain goat photos.

Another tax time jingle:

Ode to the IRS

Tax me not in mournful numbers

Come and make a total haul

For the residue that slumbers

Is no good to me at all.

by Samuel Hoffenstein

Tuesday April 15 2008

Fresh Bread

24x36 Oil Painting

by Lynn Thomas
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American yew, which has poisonous fruit and foliage and is used extensively in landscaping around government buildings in Washington, DC, is known to botanists as "taxus taxus."

So did you get your taxes mailed off by the deadline?

It started off being a pretty nice day - but soon the temperature was dropping and the wind blowing about 35 mph. It was cold and nasty. There were 93 mph winds near Salt Lake today, and they had snow this afternoon and 50 mph wind around the city. The weird thing was that our Green River Valley was full of a dark and ugly haze that obscured the mountains, and it turned out to be dust blown in from Utah.

Went to town early this morning. First I stopped at the post office to get postage on some big envelopes and got them mailed. Debbie was there and had a chance to say hi to her. Charm came in, and she was also going to the meeting. Then got rid of the recycling in Pinedale. Didn't have so much as usual because every time Joe has a chance he dumps it in the garbage and burns it up. I keep thinking what a waste of my time and effort to sort and save it if he's going to do that. Then went to the safety deposit box and got things back in there that we'd recently had at home.

We had our Mixed Media painting meeting at the Rendezvous Pointe today and had lunch together there - BBQ ribs. There were six of us and I enjoyed every minute being with them. Bob came in for lunch and sat with us - it was nice to see him. I worked on my fall aspen scene with the road to Big Sandy and got pretty far along on it. It's very colorful and quite bright, but it might be o.k. when it's finished.

James and Kathy stopped by and brought PEE-CANZ from Georgia. Her folks have orchards there. Kathy picked them all off the ground and shelled them. I have only cracked the few you do at Christmas and get so frustrated at trying to get the shells and nut separated. She said they did have some kind of shelling gadget but I just can't imagine what that involves and she said they got 200 pounds of them! They must have given us about a gallon of them and they look beautiful/wonderful. They keep good stored in the freezer and will last us about a year. Thank you so much you two. Their family is all in Georgia and they go back a lot, but love Wyoming too.

When the meeting was over and I was packing my pastels back out to the SUV that awful wind snatched two of my 8x10 reference photos and blew them across the road and clear through Faler's parking lot ..... you know how you run but never can quite catch up and it just lays there and teases you until another big gust of wind comes along and takes it again. I almost gave up ten times and then they would lay still and I'd think I could catch up and get them. Finally I did. It was a pretty good workout.

Afterwards I went to the clinic to pick up my thyroid prescription, and saw Peg for a few minutes. Took the dogs for a couple of walks during the time we were in town. At the clinic we walked near the museum because its quiet with no traffic and a golden retriever? came out and walked with us. Lucky they all got along.

Went to Ridley's/Falers and since last time I shopped it has certainly improved. The shelves are all moved around, so I walked up and down all the aisles to get an idea where things have been moved to. They still are working and have a long way to go, but its looking promising for us to have a better store with more variety. I bought some Maseca Masa to make some homemade corn tortillas, and just as I was putting it in the basket a couple of Mexican guys came by. One asked me if I was going to make tamales, and I said no, tortillas, that I loved tamales but they were too much work. And asked him if this was the best kind of flour. He said yes. It seemed like maybe he was "homesick" for tamales - don't know. I didn't have too many groceries to get this time, and won't have to shop tomorrow unless we want to. I got the prescription filled too.

Wildlife watching was good today. First thing there was a bluebird in the back yard and also saw a robin in the tree yesterday morning. The meadowlarks are back singing in the sagebrush. The second hawk was in the tree down the lane when I left. It felt good that the pair of them are there now. There were large groups of deer along the way. There were lots of new baby calves this time. Also saw antelope, and all kinds of birds. several other kinds of hawks, ravens acting like raving maniacs, and ducks and geese. The very best thing today was seeing a pair of swans flying over one of the ranch fields heading toward the New Fork River. They were awesome. They were nearly extinct 30 or 40 years ago, and its neat to be in the place where they are coming back. There was a pair of cranes near our field both coming and going, and down on the Bousman's field there was a large flock of them. They gather there and do their dancing every year. So now I've seen my cranes.

We had leftover chili for dinner, and that was easy.

Judi and Rollie are back from Casper. They went over to help their son and his family move to a new house. She is blogging now too, so that is fun. I have about six on my list to watch and enjoy.

I talked to Cindy today about hiring her to clean the house. She is going to come over on Thursday and see what it involves and we'll talk about details and such. This will be the first time I've ever had someone clean for me and it will be a luxury.

One of the plastic side cushions on the nose piece of my glasses broke off last night and I haven't found it. It will need to be repaired.

Charm and I go to Jackson tomorrow morning. Maxine is going with us too, and we'll pick her up on the way. I will leave here before 8. I have to drink the barium stuff beginning at about 9 a.m. so will be drinking most of the way up to Jackson. Charm is going to drive both ways. My appointment time to be at the Oncology office is 10:45 a.m. and in to the CT Scan at 11 a.m. It never takes very long, if it goes as it has in the past. No chemo that day - unless they surprise me. It's my "off day".

Its supposed to snow 3 or 4 inches tonight. We've had several warm days and now that its time to get on the road its supposed to get cold and stormy for about a week. By Monday a few of the western counties had a flood watch posted, but not sure that's going to happen now. The last couple of days has melted quite a bit of snow off the fields here, and snow is all but gone around Boulder and Pinedale. Our road is just about dry.

All the cats have also appeared at different times, so am happy they all made it through the winter. The calico mother cat is looking older, but seems to be o.k.

Lately I have enough ambition, off and on, to clean up and organize messes I've let go for more or less time. Quite a few little paperwork jobs were accomplished Monday, and a few bills paid. I have a big pile of drug store receipts to organize yet, or even decide whether to keep or not - just trashing would be easy - but I like to know and keep track of what and when we have taken for meds. The neat file drawer of medical records feels good. If they have to, the kids will be able to find information, i.e. social security and Medicare stuff, past med. history etc. Have two more file drawers cleaned out down to the bare bones, and hauling more trash bags full of papers to the garbage. Funny/odd how I always thought I wanted or needed to keep all that stuff, and realize I've never looked at most of it for a decade or more.

Bed time!! Sparky has had his massage. Raven has gotten a biscuit stuffed into her chew toy to work on for a while. Did I say its cold and nasty out? I think those few nice days spoiled me in a hurry.

Monday April 14 2008

Deer Migration

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Sunny and calm morning, about 32 degrees at 9 a.m. Joe has been getting the snow machines ready for storage for the summer - running the gas out of the tanks and parking them out of the way. He has sure had a job keeping the garage floor clean - it's been so full of mud and melting snow falling off the vehicles.

Yesterday I got Sparky all brushed clean and his toenails cut. It's Raven's turn today, if I can capture her. As soon as she sees the nail clippers she disappears. Then will need to vacuum up all the toenail bits off the studio carpet. It's a good incentive, since the room needs to be cleaned badly. Yesterday (and in the middle of the night last night) I got all our medical records sorted and filed into one of the file drawers I emptied earlier. They have been in folders on the book shelf, in various random piles, so this was a large job. I've let that go for several years just stacking them up and am glad to have it neatly organized. Another big trash bag of old papers went to the burn barrels.

It was on this day, Good Friday, in 1865 that President Abraham Lincoln was shot in the back of the head while watching a performance of the play Our American Cousin at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C. Lincoln had received word of Robert E. Lee's surrender and the end of the Civil War just a few days before he died.

On this day in 1894 that Thomas Edison's first kinetoscope appeared in a New York City arcade, and the viewer would see a series of pictures flipped rapidly enough to create the illusion of movement. ...... MOVIES!!

Black Sunday, On this day in 1935, the weather was sunny and calm. a windstorm hit a part of the Great Plains known as the Dust Bowl. Witnesses said it was like a black tidal wave came down from the sky.

Tax Time

Never ask of money spent

Where the spender thinks it went.

Nobody was ever meant

To remember or invent

What he did with every cent.

Robert Frost.

Sunday April 13 2008

Wanna Play?

What another gorgeous day we have - so far this morning. I looked ahead at the weather report though, and looks like its predicting some storminess to come in by Wednesday when we go to Jackson again.

I'm really having a hard time coming up with anything new and interesting to write about these last several days. So I hope Jackie doesn't mind that I'm sharing with you a cute story she had about her dad. Jackie lives on a wheat farm in Eastern Washington and is also a fine artist. But you've heard me talk about her before - she was president of the Women Artists and I was her V.P. a year or so ago. I can just picture this because our old men who live in town all have their morning coffee get togethers every day.

From Jackie: "I guess I am full of funny stories today because my dad told a story in town yesterday too. To set the story up, dad, for years, has met at the local quick stop to have coffee with his friends. They are quite a bunch, as they always give each other such a bad time and some of them are notorious for practical jokes. One day one of the bunch, who is a retired Coast Guard captain, came in and saw that one of the other guys(Mel) had a bandage on the side of his head where he had a growth removed. The retired Coast Guard captain said kiddingly to Mel “ Well, Mel I see that you had half of your brain taken out yesterday” and without a hesitation Mel says “ Well, yes I did and I am going back tomorrow to have the other half removed so I can join the Coast Guard. Of course the place fell apart laughing. Mel had the best sense of humor and was so quick with the come backs. I am sorry to say that Mel passed away last year and the guys sure do miss him."

Saturday April 12 2008

Looking at Drifts in Front Corral

I Met a Smiling Face on My Walk Today and I Smiled Back

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The Red Tail is Back at It's Nest (click to see bird)

The Yard Today

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Today was nice, and very relaxed and quiet. The weather was warmer and calm, but still didn't get much above 40. Did some more typing up old letters; am on a new stack of them. The dogs and I took a small and leisurely walk. The cutest thing was meeting a smiling face along the road - a balloon. Not sure how long it might have been there. Every once in a while we find balloons that have floated in. Once I found one in the field from some kids school project in Oregon or somewhere far away.

The red tail hawk is back in the tree waiting at its nest. I've only see the one bird, so maybe its waiting for its mate. You can tell from the pictures that in the last week or so more snow has melted but its still plenty white. Joe went out and raked some of the ruts out of the drive through the yard. He hates for the road to get ruts in it. I made a pot of chili and some cornbread for dinner.

Last night I stood in the yard and looked at the ISS again, and saw it much better because the sky had really cleared off after sunset. Its interesting how it appears, brightening out of the distance and disappears the same way after it crosses the sky. Makes sense. Not like a planet rising and setting that stays the same brightness whether high or low on the horizon. The moon and stars were also pretty spectacular. I'm so glad I took the time to look and lucky I did because it won't be coming over us again anytime soon.

Pinedale is getting another 3-story hotel and probably two of them, and a new elementary school. There will be a quite large development that will include more affordable housing on the west end of town too.

Friday March 11 2008

Saddle Stand

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Boy talk about boring days. Have not done much that is fun to write about. Got to about 40 degrees today, so slowly the snow is starting to leave and the wind is blowing so that hurries it along.

One exciting thing, quite thrilling actually, is that I did see the international space station go across the sky last night. It came right out of the WNW at exactly the time their site said, and went straight across our roof. It was lost in the clouds heading to the SE but it was enough to say I'd seen it. Quite fast, very big and bright, much as Venus looks, and there was still some sunset glow. I suppose if you had a telescope you could actually see the shape of the ISS. I didn't take mine out, and it was fun anyway. I'll try looking again tonight, but we've had hazy clouds all day long, so might not be very successful. I've seen teeny satellites looking like speeding stars many years ago. Usually camping out, looking at the stars you would spot one of those tiny dots streaking across the night sky.

Today I stuck in a picture of the new saddle stand like I said I would a week or so ago. Joe has brought the saddle back out of the barn and I'll take another picture showing the saddle on the stand. This style is rustic, but goes with our paneling and country "decor". The other style they had at the saddle shop had a more panel and board look, and was just as nice. It was hard to choose. There is a peg on each end to put a bridle on. I would like to have my braided rawhide rope displayed too. It was made in the Rawlins state prison years ago. I traded a painting for it with one of our wranglers.

Still feelin' good. The pain I've had under my diaphragm ever since the surgery has diminished noticeably in the last week or so. I'm giving a lot of credit for that to Joan, who has been meditating on that particular symptom by envisioning erasing the spots on the liver with a large white art eraser. YOU GO JOAN!!

Thursday April 10 2008

Scene Near Silver Creek Yesterday

FLYBY ALERT: Tonight, the International Space Station (ISS) begins a week-long series of bright evening flybys over North America. The busily expanding station is now as bright as Venus even when it doesn't fly directly overhead; some observers report seeing it through clouds. US and Canadian readers, find out when to look using our new Simple Satellite Tracker: http://spaceweather.com/flybys You stick your zip code in and it tells you to the second when and where to look. (8:40 PM tonight here WNW.) Sounds like an exciting thing to see. The constellation Scorpio (that's me) is very beautiful right now as well.

Joe went to town early this morning. He invited me to go as he was putting on his coat and I was standing there still in my pjs and no breakfast yet, but I've been gone enough lately. Woke up 3 a.m. or so, and haven't gone back to sleep so might take a nap. Might not. I'm feeling pretty darn good.

I saw a small flock of meadow larks sitting on the corral today. Surely they are just reconoitering the territory, as I can't imagine they can find food here yet. Maxine saw cranes and also a bluebird, and she still has nearly as much snow as we do. It got to about 34 degrees today with a stiff wind blowing. There are more spots of bare ground beginning to show in the field.

Got the photos downloaded. and guess what, I took photos of that big herd of deer through the windshield and the camera focused on the water drops on the glass and the deer are ALL out of focus. Bummer. Too excited to run the windshield wiper? Kind of like buck fever I suppose. Some I got out the rolled down side windows will be o.k., but sure not as impressive.

A few days ago one special member of Gina and Bob's family passed away. Remember their dog Dell from when I went to spend some time with them. She had a stroke and they put her to sleep. She was 16. I know it has left a big hole in their hearts, and that Garfield also misses her, no one to pester and harass. Gina says: "there's definitely something missing in our house...ie right in front of the door. :) The Cat cries for an hour in the morning wanting to know where she is...in and out, in and out. Then settles down."

Charm said yesterday, "The county plow is clearing the road into their place at Boulder Lake Ranches. But they are having troubles getting through. A wing broke off the county road grader just past the Forest Service cattle guard. Jim helped Bill get it off, the bracket off, and all loaded into the county pickup. Yesterdy they still had the worst of the drifts to clear, not to mention the passage through the trees." Then she said, "They made it the rest of the way today. What a good job the crews did, but with that arsenal they had, it should look good....first the grader that broke; then a big Cat; then a snowblower. Jim and neighbors are in the process of moving vehicles in. As much snow as was pushed way off to the side, it shouldn't even be very muddy for long."

Today I'm did some online shopping for when/if a trip to the desert materializes. Maybe something to wear to Tayler's graduation, and a few nicer pairs of shorts and tops. I ordered a pretty lightweight skirt in Eddie Bauer. And a short sleeve hoodie and crop pants in "petunia" Frency terry. I'll probably wish I'd gotten the long pants, even for our summer.

Sheral, Virginia and Pat called today and had very nice visits with them. Virginia has a cold.