Monday September 29

Septembery Day

Fall Creek Road near The Snake River

Meadow and Colorful Hillside

Betty Photographs

This morning we were on the road by about 6:30 - groan! Joe wanted to ride along to see the fall colors so he went with us. This is about the longest outing he has had in many months. We walked the dogs once on the way and got to the hospital right on time for my appointment. Returned the pump. They tried to get my blood drawn, this for the protime test to see how the coumadin is doing, and again had to stick me 3 times before they got a vial full, twice before the doctor appointment and once after.

We maybe spent 45 minutes for the entire time we were in hospital. The time with the doctor was not long at all. Joe met Dr. Ward, and they visited just a little, because about ten years ago Joe had gone to Dr. Ward in Salt Lake when they were checking some abnormalities in his blood for leukemia - and Dr. Ward said he didn't have it, but his blood does show a tendency to have it. So Dr. Ward was going to go back in the records ten years and look at what he had told Joe.

First off he noticed my spiky hair and said he really liked it - asked Joe if he didn't like it too and Joe just look at me and asked the doctor if it was all going to fall out. He said no. He asked how my symptoms had been so I started at the top and went down. He just said "Well you can blame me for all that" and we just laughed. We went over the CT scan and ultra sound tests, he gave me the usual exam feeling my liver - he never says much about that, discussed the symptoms I'd been having and skimmed over the clot in my neck, which he seems to be confident the coumadin will take care of that in a few weeks. I hope he's right about that. Mainly the good news from this time is that he says I seem to be holding my own very well. And then he said I could begin having the treatments every 3 weeks instead of every 2 and that would give me more space for feeling well in between. I was glad about that too. He said to have another scan in December - so sounds like I'm pretty good at least until then.

We went over to Virginia and Calvin's and visited about 30 minutes - Joe likes Calvin a lot and always wants to know how he's doing. I returned Virginia's book Remember about the Willie Hand Cart company. Then we walked the dogs at the fair ground - they met two other dogs there who where learning to retrieve.

We decided to drive down the Fall Creek Road again that Bonnie and I did a few weeks ago, so Joe and Betty could see the colors there. We stopped at Nora's Fish Creek Inn for lunch, then took the drive through the hills. It was probably about as pretty as it's going to get. There are so many beautiful spots to go painting. Walked the dogs in there again. Then on toward home.

We stopped a few minutes and got some fruit and a bit of groceries at the Hoback Market. In Pinedale we had ice cream at the little drive in for a treat - the boys got to share a baby vanilla cone. On the way by at Boulder I showed Joe that lovely log house we first looked at so he could make a comparison of the prices on what we will be showing him soon. Home by about 3:30. We're all still so full we just had an omelet for dinner. And I told Sparky he'd had so much already - tacos and prime rib sandwich leftovers and ice cream - he would only get a little dry food, he was disappointed when the can food didn't come out.

There was a message on the machine when we got back and Paige said my protime test was high so to take 1/2 a pill one day and a whole the next, and get it checked again in Pinedale next Monday.

In the morning we'll go back to meet James and look at five more houses in Pinedale and then have lunch, so we'll be out of here about 8:30.

Sunday September 28 2008

More Yellow Trees

It is a really lovely day again. Dogs are out sleeping in the sun. Nothing interesting happening to write about and my mind isn't in a mode for any creative thoughts either. The best we can think of to do is go sit outside in the shade and enjoy the day. Betty's been walking a little with the dogs and Sparky watches her every move so she doesn't get away without him.

James sent us some more house listings and we went through all those and picked four more to look at on Tuesday. This online looking is quite easy, and what we're looking at can also be sent to the kids.

Joe and Betty took the truck down to the big old wood pile and looked for weathered wood and barn wood and antique iron hardware. He gave her an old iron wheel for one thing. She wants to decorate her big planters in desert xeriscaping so she doesn't have to water so much, and thought the rustic wood theme would fit there. I started the laundry, vacuumed while they were gone, then got us some lunch. I suppose dinner will be turkey leftovers. So rather dull around here.

Saturday September 27 2008

THANK YOU DEAR BETTY

Its another beautiful Indian Summer morning. The antelope are chasing in the fields. The hillsides are really getting golden now.

Many many years ago when I was at the lodge most of the time, Betty made me a small comforter to cover up with when "I laid down to take a nap". If you know me, you know how much I actually napped - NOT - but I loved the comforter and did use it on my bed for YEARS! It had silly little green frogs on red checks. Finally the comforter was worn threadbare and I had to give it up. It felt just like Linus, that I had drug that blankie around back and forth from here to Vegas, the ranch to the lodge. The blankie was always packed and taken wherever I was. Well, I recovered the batting with new red plaid and carried that around many more years, always used it to snuggle into. Earlier this fall I finally burned the comforter, and made sure the barrel was burning when I took it out, or I'm sure I would have gone and taken it back out of the garbage I was so attached to it. Actually Raven had been sleeping on it for a while by then.

Well, Betty brought me a brand new comforter made with a piece of the leftover froggie material and a new dark blue backing for a gift. I don't know many people who would have kept a piece of material for 30 years with just this thing in mind. So here is a picture of her sewing on the last of the ties. She didn't get it quite finished before she left home. We hope I use the comforter for many years and get it threadbare too.

Debbie called this morning and she, Curtis and Beverly are planning to come up and help us "move" or get into a new house in a few weeks. We need to get it bought first. Maybe Tuesday Betty and I can have James take us to a few more likely houses to check out and even get Joe in to town to look at the most likely candidates. Joe is being amazingly positive about being in town for the winter. It seems like he's looking forward to the whole idea. One good thought is that I could swim almost every day at the new pool and do a lot more socializing. And can you believe Joe says he will come back and feed the cats once a week and make sure they have water in their heated dish. Wants me to buy another heated water dish so they'll have plenty of water. I suppose he would want to check on the place, as the heat will need to be left on low, in the house etc.

It's been quiet and we had naps. Tonight we're making a turkey and dressing dinner. Betty saw the Rusty cat with a mouse this morning.

Friday September 26 2008

Nube Leads a Pack Horse when Bob and Gina went hunting.

Yesterday James showed us four houses, three were not suitable for us, and there was one that I loved. It's really charming We drove by two others to see what they looked like and I didn't much like where they were at but that's all we had to go on. Mainly the rest if the houses were much older than I would like and two of them were way bigger than we need. Just don't want to move into a place we have to clean, paint and recarpet etc. at this point.

We also went into the Communications Concept which serves both my Verizon phone and the Dish TV network. The repairmen aren't coming to look at the TV until after the 15th of October. He wasn't able to resolve the messages for another person that are coming into my phone either and said I'd have to have the person who has the plan take care of it.

Today it is a beautiful morning, quite a bit of clouds and is cool. It cleared up and got warmer later. Betty drove us in to town to look at more houses because I'm taking more pain pills again, and thank goodness they are working, but they make me really drowsy. I got the neck pain back again after getting the chemo pump off yesterday. It may have to do with the saline flushes they use - she used four syringes of it..

We stopped at Bonnie's on the way in today to return her videos and she and Betty met each other. Nancy had left a whole sack more of videos she is lending to me. Then as we were going by Boulder, we decided we'd eat lunch - burgers - there at the Boulder Pub. We also stopped by Nancy's - she changed the string on the bead necklace she made me from sinew to wire so we picked that up. She also gave me a marvelous frog fetish. What a treasure. I'll take a picture of it for the blog.

In Pinedale they were just having a homecoming parade as we drove in and later you could hear all the cheering at the game. We walked the dogs on the walking path. picked up Joe's blood test results from the health fair at the public health nurse and went to meet James about 12:45. We looked at three more homes. James had four lmore houses lined up, but the owners of one said wasn't a good day to show it. That seems to be about my limit for stamina right now anyway. One house was entirely solar passive, and that guy really was enthused about all the creative ways he had built the house. Too much technology for me. And they still paid $300 a month for heat in the coldest months. We looked at a very nice brand new house up on Orcutt Hill and I liked that one second best, so have two good choices now. We got home about 3:15 and later fixed some grilled chicken and baked potatoes for dinner. I have really been falling asleep a lot today, couldn't keep my eyes open.

Thursday September 25 2008

Brilliance on The Rim

Today we go to Pinedale and get the port taken off at the Clinic. I'll have the first protime test there. Joe has a haircut appointment, but decided to go on his own since Betty and I will probably be most of the day in town. I have an appointment to get the oil changed in the SUV and we'll have some lunch. There is a long list of town errands, but at least we don't have to grocery shop. Perhaps we can get James to show us a few houses for sale in Pinedale.

Time is a companion that goes with us

on the journey that reminds us to cherish every

moment because they'll never come again.

What we leave behind is not as important as how we live

Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Comander of the Enterprise D

Star Trek Generations

Wednesday September 24 2008

Sunset Yesterday

Today was quiet and I was very sleepy all day. Only slept about 3 or 4 hours last night. Betty took a nap and I dozed in my chair. The time dozing and waking would have been better spent just to lay down for a real nap. I wrote up the information for yesterday and the test results. We visited, Got some lunch on the table and had the leftover Swiss steak for dinner.

Our neighbor Jim called and offered to bring Joe a load of firewood. Another angel. We will probably see them this weekend. Toward evening we took a walk down the road - that was a good thing. When we turned to come back to the house Sparky sat in front of me and wouldn't let me past in that direction. He wanted me to keep walking and was very insistent. But that was enough for today. I had to fake him out to get past and head to the house.

Here is an excerpt from the book Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert hat Judy gave me yesterday after our visit. I read this book about a year ago:

GRATITUDE

In the end though, maybe we must all give up trying

to pay back the people in this world who sustain our lives.

In the end, maybe it is wiser to surrender

before the miraculous scope of human generosity

and just keep saying thank you,

forever and sincerely

for as long as we have voices.

Tuesday September 23 2008

Alpenglow

Five Photo Panorama of the Wind Rivers

Evening Light through Aspens

Glow on the Rim

Today was very interesting and full of surprising turns. Judy called me at 6:30 to see where I wanted to meet the shuttle since I was the only one going. So instead of Daniel I said Pinedale I got ready and met the shuttle at the Pinedale Clinic at 9 a.m. The ride was beautiful with the colors turning along the way. We pulled into the hospital parking lot and Betty had been there for over an hour. I made arrangements with Al that he wouldn't be taking me back home today.

I got into Chemo and again they said "you're early" I was right on time with the appointment card they gave me. Oh, Well. So they weren't expecting me for another half an hour. We sat there just waiting for the ultrasound until nearly noon. They drew blood for my tests and all that was pretty good. Still low on protein and potassium and for the first time Carol said that this could be caused not by my diet but by having diarrhea so often. Ah-HAA!

They were having some kind of disaster drill at the hospital today. I didn't see much of anything different, but guess they were out there practicing for some kind of disaster. They told us the participants could come in at any time, but never did. I had to have a wrist i.d. bracelet this time because of it, and head nurse Judy was gone to a meeting most of the afternoon.

The ultrasound technician came to get me just before noon and Betty went along to watch. She placed the instrument at front middle left side on my neck. She said the pictures are seen in sections all the way through my neck from front to back. After taking the tests in to Dr. Berlin, he wanted just a little different view and we did another look.

They told me verbally there IS a clot in the left jugular vein and it may have been there for a while- I don't know how long a while is or how big the clot is. So..... now I'm on coumadin to get it dissolved. I'll take that at least 6 months and have to go for protime blood tests just like Joe does. The first is to be Thursday when I go to the clinic to get the pump off. They were going to give me a printed copy of the results of the ultrasound, but I don't think it will be written up until Wednesday. I will have to get the printed report next time and hope I remember to do that. They seem sure that it will just slowly resolve and is PROBABLY not dangerous. There are no masses in my neck. So when I get that information I'll write on that again. The clot is not where that terrible pain was located - which is much better now. Maybe I just slept wrong on my neck.

I did get the copy of last week's CT scan. Here are some parts of that. They scanned around the port and catheter but couldn't quite see if there was or wasn't a clot so ordered the ultrasound. It showed here is some diminished density in the lower portion of the left jugular vein. Not clear whether it could be an involvement of the port or not. The port and catheter didn't show any problems and is in the proper place. There is no evidence of adeopathy or mass in this area. The problem with drawing blood may merely be related to reflux of unopacified venous blood from the left upper extremity into the left jugular vein, otherwise unremarkable.

They next went to my chest. Saw other views of the port which showed it to be o.k. There are traces of vascular calcification in the aorta and coronary arteries - that's o.k. No evidence of masses. No significant pulmonary masses are seen (lungs).

Next they scanned the abdomen and pelvis. There is stil evlidence of the previously described mass in association with the pancreatic head. This appears minimally smaller than the last CT scan. Scattered liver lesions are also less apparent on the current exam. There is a mild diffuse increased fatty change to the liver (don't know what that means so will google it soon or ask Dr. Ward at my appointment). Kidneys are o.k. Minimal prominence of upper abdominal lymph nodes which are unchanged in appearance. They saw degenerative disk disease and degenerative changes in the lumbar spine - no lesions were identified there - same as before.

We ordered a nice lunch. Betty had the roast beef dinner and I had the lasagna special with a salad. It was very tasty. They had to wait more while the clot buster drug worked on the port catheter so they could get a blood return. Then started the chemo. It dripped until after 4 then they got the portable pump hooked up and we were free to go.

After eating lunch Betty went to her car for a little cat nap and then drove out to see the Tetons. There were only two patients in the chairs by this time and the nurses started joking around with each other. Most of it had to do with Barbie dolls and Barrie Manilow feather boas. Judy wants a boa for her husband. They were hysterical and it was a lot of fun to experience this side of them. They are usually way too busy with patients to joke around. Carol gave me Wanda, a sparkling blinking wand to bling down from the intravenous pole stand onto the left side of my neck where the clot is. Probably Wanda will work as well as anything else - at least we all had a good laugh. Carol had time to get their new book on side effects of medication and looked up nearly all my symptoms, so see which of the 5 chemo drugs they are giving me would cause some of the things I'm having. Most bothersome right now is that the skin is peeling off my hands and feet. They had always looked a little askance at me when I told them this is happening. I go around with bandaids around all my fingers and on my feet.She found that one of the chemos is causing exfoiliating dermatitis. Another one causes the blistering in my mouth, and another the tearing and nasel drip. Much of it causes dizziness and nausea. So I appreciated learning more and that Carol took time to educate me.

There is another lady named Judy who works there. She had a terrible accident in July where she was going home after dark in July over Teton Pass. An oncoming car came across the line and she drove slightly off the pavement then overcorrected. The car rested on the edge of the embankment for a few seconds and then slid down the hill and overturned into the creek. She was strapped in upside down in three feet of water. She was able to undo her seatbelt and get out the fortunately open window - my what if the window had been shut! She had a very bad concussion, but climbed back up the hill and tried to wave down some help, her hands held in a prayerful position begging for someone to stop. After nine cars passed one did stop and the driver called an ambulance. Judy and I had a very long and heartfelt talk about how when there is a diverging path in your life and you have serious choices to make that we both had always come up with the right plan and that usually someone stepped forward to help.

That is the way it's been all my life. There is just about nothing else to do except tell those people thank you. I know my Lord Jesus has always been by my side since I was a child in every serious or troubled time. And that there are angels on earth to help and just seem to appear with perfect timing. Our visit was really inspiring and I appreciated the time she spent with me.

Judy and I also talked about art and music, her husband is a professional musician, the parallels between fine art and other creative avocations.That most people go through life never seeing the beauty around them. I've always thought the greatest blessing of my art is how it's taught me to look and truly see.

Betty and I stopped at Smiths for prescriptions and groceries. I did a big shopping and got everything on the list, so am glad for that. We drove back to Pinedale through the canyon and valley beauty. We got my car at the Pinedale Clinic about sunset and got home in the dark about 8:15. Unloaded the groceries. It was about 9:30 when we had a really good grilled cheese sandwich for our dinner. Still chatting and giggling, we didn't get to bed and sleep until about 12:30. So it was a very long day for us both.

Monday September 22 2008

Ducks on Muddy Creek

It's gray and raining today. Just showers coming and going, nothing major. Not very cold either in the early part of the day and no wind so far. That changed in the afternoon when the temperature dropped about 15 degrees in about a half an hour and the wind began blowing fairly hard. Yellow leaves are blowing off the cottonwood trees spiraling past the windows. There's a bunch of antelope just the other side of the fence this morning. and have stayed there all day. The buck slowly goes around the herd of about a dozen does keeping them together, and they have minded him all day. Sometimes they don't and take a notion to escape. Then the chase is on. He usually gets them back.

Debbie called last night and we talked for about an hour. The renter/buyers might be able to keep their old much bigger home they were loosing with the changes the government is initiating, so Debbie and Curtis may have moved all their belongings out for nothing and will have to go get some stuff back out of storage. Right now they are sleeping on futons on the floor each with a cardboard box for a night stand, and kept one recliner each. Makes life more interesting I guess.

Woke up late, but refreshed and feeling better today than for a long time. I got some laundry going. The house is in o.k. shape for company so I don't have to do much cleaning, just get the dust bunnies out from under Betty's bed. Already had a bunch of phone calls this morning - Sheral in Texas - she had emailed me some pictures of the hurricane Ike damage around her daughter's place down there where they are visiting near Houston. Despite all that going on, they are having a good stay there. They got a beautiful new pool and it's good weather for poolside fun with the family. Betty got to her friend's house in Logan and will head for Alpine soon to see another friend there - then over to Jackson in the morning and meet me at the hospital. Nanny called and we had a very good visit. What a sweetheart.

Well, I've been looking at homes to buy in Pinedale. Anything on the lower end of the price scale just looks dismal. I would not (want to) live in 90% of them. James is going to help look for a place as as our broker, and I'm very thankful for him and his experience. We are likely to have to spend more money than I thought to find a nice place. Maybe while Betty's here we can check out a few of the more promising possibilities

In the meantime, we received a very gracious offer of the possibility for Joe and I to stay in a friend's furnished home this winter. They will be snow birds. It is another option to think about. I'm not going into the details right now because there are lots of iffy things. But I was just speechless with this offer. And wonder of wonder, Joe said yes he would go there with me. He still wants to snow machine to the mailbox and leave a truck out there again and said I could ride on the sled. And I said I don't think so.

Joe had told me when his driver's license was up this year - Oct 6 - and that he would not be able to pass the vision test again. But he checked and he has another year left until his license is up. So that's a good thing. Joe goes to the dentist tomorrow while I'm gone to chemo.

Thinking of leaving home for the winter prompted me to clean out the freezer. I can not buy any more meat, for one thing, or won't be able to use it - or even much of what is in the freezer. It's going to be something of a problem to think of leaving it here, and what if the power goes off for days. As usual the day I clean the freezer, I picked out the meat with the oldest date - round steak - and am making a roaster of Swiss steak out of it. With mashed potatoes, mmmm.

A nice autumn poem and photo from Judy

AUTUMN -- Rainer Maria Rilke

Sunday September 21 2008

Fog

Clearing Storm

Across the Field
Couldn't decide which of the two similar
ones I liked so used them both.

Woke up to dense fog this morning. Beautiful - I love it. As I was falling asleep I heard some raindrops on the roof and crashing thunder, one blast after another. I must have fallen asleep almost immediately in spite of the din. This morning everything was fairly dampened down. Probably the best rain we've had in some time, still not-soaking-everything-with-puddles-in-the-road rain. I got a couple pictures of the fog, not as dense as it had been at first.

Sandra invited me to go fishing again today, but still here I sit. Hope they have a good time. Been spending some time checking on the internet to see what houses are available and what they cost.

My eyes are back to having a watering fit today. Nose too. They have been some better for a while. So irritating not to mention uncomfortable. I can't really do much work. I've wondered how much moisture you loose that way with constant tears streaming down your face and nose dripping like a faucet. Anyway I have had a pretty laid back day so far. Just watching the hawks soar and dive over the fields. But ..... haven't taken a day pain pill again today and that is good. But I might end up taking a Benadryl for the eyes and nose, but just don't want to get sleepy. Which is worse?? Haven't doing much answering email lately or such.

Joe worked some more on his wood pile this morning and is watching baseball today..... mostly with his eyes closed it looks like. Folded a couple loads of laundry this morning. We'll have some tacos and beans for dinner.

Thinking about Joan in Arizona again. They have such a decadent life style what with laying out in the sun by the pool. And riding the golf cart to take the champions down to the dog park to play. I can just picture them in that glorific desert beauty, sitting in their rocking chairs with margaritas on the porch. Well, you guys have a good time and I'll think about you when the snowflakes fall.

Mark stopped in to ask if he could hunt sage chickens on our field and it was good to see him again. It's been a while. Wonder if he got some.

"For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways."(Psalm 91:11)

And I've sure had my share of angels and guidance in the last year.

Saturday September 20 2008

Saturday Sunrise

Under the Fence

Woke up before 4 a.m. and finally just got up, read the paper, and saw the insert that they have made to inform the public about the community and art center special tax. It looked like they had done a nice job with that and I hope it works to get people to vote for the tax. There are lots more articles in the paper about crime and drug possession lately. Effects on a small town of the oil and gas field industry. I mainly read the paper online any more.

It's mostly cloudy and a sprinkle of raindrops is shining red on the window in the sunrise. I got a picture, but have to admit that I don't see too many sunrises. It's supposed to get cooler and the weather not be as nice as it has lately. The hunters will like that I suppose. It showered several more times during the day, never enough to hardly wet anything down.

Today got the house pretty well cleaned up and some laundry done. Brushed out Sparky the hair manufacturing machine and cut his toenails. It takes an hour. He loves it. Or maybe loves the slice of cheese he gets for being so good.

Am feeling some better than I was earlier in the week and am grateful for that. The swelling in my arm seems o.k. and just a little left in my foot. My toes had been looking like fat sausages. Neck is better too, but that odd pain is not gone yet - that's kind of what woke me up this morning or at least was the first thing that I noticed. At least I've been able to lessen the pain medicine and hope I'll be less sleepy during the day and less nauseous.

Bonnie lent me three videos and I've really enjoyed watching them, especially The Ballad of Cable Hogue. I don't know why I never heard of this movie before. It was just great - every part of it - music, the story and dialogue, the acting by every person in it. I never thought of Jason Robards being very romantic, but he sure was in here, and Stella Stevens as well. I didn't like that he died in the end.The other two movies are Conagher and The Other Side of Heaven. I guess I'm not missing TV too much because I still haven't rattled their cage again..... yet.

Later in the day I had a really nice visit on the phone with Joan. They were traveling from L.A. to the Phoenix area where they have another home to do some work on the house. She owns two Wheaten Terriers that at least one is a champion, Peppermint Patti called Snickers, and some fancy name ending with Biscotti, they call Biscuit. Either Peppermint Patti or one of her daughters is third highest ranked Wheaten in the US.

Surprise call from Judi in Texas, so far away. What faith she has in me - she called to ask me what was that word for the paper with the "pedigree" of a piece of art or an antique etc. Of course I couldn't think of it since she asked so suddenly, but as soon as she hung up I thought of Certificate of Provenance and googled it. That was IT!! That was really digging into the far depths of the old file cabinet mind. Maybe my memory's not so bad as I think. In the meantime we had a great visit.

Betty called and had made it to Nephi. Tomorrow she will visit three friends along the way with the final destination of Alpine before she comes though the Snake River Canyon to meet me in Jackson on Tuesday. She said she would call again tomorrow evening when she stops.

Sandra had asked me to go fishing with them. They went to Little Half Moon Lake and walked down the creek. They didn't catch any of the many cutthroats they could see, they just kissed her worm. She said: "Found lots of nice trout in one of the big pools but they just followed my worm and discussed it among themselves. (And she said also that her brother) Randy and Sally got married today at Sally's friend's house who's a minister. Cute little log cabin chapel." CONGRATULATIONS TO RANDY AND SALLY!

It was on this day in 1519 that Ferdinand Magellan departed on the first successful circumnavigation of the world, although Magellan himself didn't live to see the end of the expedition. He was looking for a westward route to the spice markets of the Indies. He was Portuguese but sailed for Spain. Five ships sailed and one returned with only 18 men left alive. He named the Pacific Ocean.

Friday September 19 2008

Fall Hillside

We had our Mixed Media meeting here today. It started off looking not so well for the meeting. Ruth got here right on time, while I was still vacuuming the studio and hadn't had my shower yet. And then we got some phone calls and it looked like no one was coming of the ones who said yes. Well then Sandy called and said she wanted to bring out the new set of architect plans for the center for us to see. We told her it was just Ruth and I - maybe it wouldn't be worth coming, but she said she wanted to get out of town. So she got here about 11 or so. In the mean time Nancy had driven up - she wanted to come whether the other gals did or not. So we had four. We printed out the description of the beads on the spirit necklace that Nanny gave me and followed each one around, with what they were made of and how old each one is - and marveled at the age of them. Just to touch a 5000 year old bead is rather awesome.

Then just about lunch time Cristy drove in and there were five of us. We had plenty of food, in fact way too much and it was pretty good. Ruth brought all the roast turkey sandwich makings, and I had the two salads and desert. We even all got some artwork done, as well as lots of gabbing. We had a meeting after lunch to discuss the center plans, but danged if we didn't forget to talk about our upcoming art show. But there's already a good plan so we'll be fine. And I worked on one of the commissions - the detail stuff that for quite a while doesn't look like you've done anything, takes a lot of time, wearing the magnifying glasses. But that's what makes the painting. I got worn out anyway, so must have had a good time.

Looks like everyone is showing the fall colors on their blogs. It is quickly turning to glorious perfection. I want to go out and get some more pictures soon.

Sheral called this morning and they made it to Houston yesterday. She said there is a lot of devastation but mostly that in this area blown down trees are everywhere. She is going to send some pictures for us to see. I'll share them with you. Joe started splitting wood with his log splitter today and spent the time out in the yard instead of the hen house. He might have enough wood left for two years.

Every day I look forward to Betty arriving and then to when Debbie will be here for a while.

Thursday September 18 2008

More Cowboys

Mainly quiet and relaxing today. This morning Kevin and his older brother Curt and their boys came over. They are up from Layton to go sage chicken hunting. They ride their ATVs a lot too. He wanted to see the things George made out of horseshoes, to make some for their place - mainly the coathooks and the bridle hooks that I have. They all looked at the art show. He brought us a box of peaches which was very nice of them. Kevin said that Sheral and Dick finally got on a flight to Houston this morning, so they are on their way. They are all certainly nice neighbors.

We had quite some thunder in the afternoon and dark clouds, lots of thunderclouds, but no rain here. It didn't last long.

Tomorrow Mixed Media will meet here from about 9 to 4. Not too many have responded with yes, so it won't be a large group. Ruth is my co-hostes. She is bringing roast turkey sandwiches. I have made Alpenglow frozen fruit salad, a pasta salad is ready to put the dressing on tomorrow, some Hello Dollys for snacking, and will have a key lime pie. It should be real easy to get the lunch on. Joe vacuumed this afternoon, and I mopped the floors and cleaned in general. Also did a couple loads of laundry.

I'm feel about like I have, mainly not much ambition. Betty called and she will visit some friends around Logan and Afton on Monday, and will come over to Jackson Tuesday morning to meet me at chemo. Then we will drive on home. It is a good thing she can see her friends who have moved away from Mesquite. I've been writing some recipes for my recipe collection. I should have seen if the printed ones would scan and convert to text, but didn't do that today.

I got Joe an eye dr. appointment when they are coming to Pinedale on the 3rd. I left a message 2 weeks ago that he needed the appointment and they were gone until the 18th. So when I called today and they said all the appointments were filled for the Pinedale day, I demanded to have one anyway. When I got uppity, they said he could come in at 3 p.m. I may be gone to Nevada then. At least we don't have to drive to Rock Springs right now.

The real estate business that is going to use one of my paintings on their large quarterly hand out magazine want to use that painting on their Christmas cards. I am thinking of asking them for 50 blank ones for ourselves and see what they say - as long as they are printing a big batch of them.

Here is 28 hurricane pictures along with a lot of viewer comments. It's very big and never loaded all the pictures for me, but what it showed was great, so if you have a slow computer you might not want to try it. I thought they were interesting. You can go there if you want to see them. http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/09/the_short_but_eventful_life_of.html

DOOMED SPACECRAFT: Jules Verne is about to become a fireball. On Sept. 29th, with NASA aircraft looking on, the 22-ton European spacecraft will plunge into Earth's atmosphere over the south Pacific Ocean and harmlessly disintegrate. Jules Verne recently spent five months docked to the space station where it delivered supplies, used its engines help the station avoid a piece of space junk, and served as an impromptu bedroom for the ISS crew. Mission accomplished, the doomed spacecraft is now making its final orbits around Earth glowing about as brightly as Polaris (the North Star). US and European observers are favored with flybys this weekend. If you'd like to see Jules Verne, check the Simple Satellite Tracker for viewing times: http://spaceweather.com/flybys/

RESULTS OF CT SCAN

Yesterday we saw two separate cattle drives.

This was one of the Cowboys along the Hoback River.

This afternoon about 3 p.m. Nurse Judy called and gave me the results of the CT scan from yesterday. Thank goodness the scan showed no mass or tumor in the neck or anything unusual about the lymph glands. However there may be a small clot there. The port area didn't seem to show anything else significant, no clots around there or the back or lungs. It did show some calcification in the aeorta, but not of any importance or that could cause problems.

There is still evidence of a tumor mass around the head of the pancreas. She didn't say it was larger or smaller than last time. She said the tumors and lesions in or on the liver do seem to be less than last time. That's about it. I won't know more details on any of this until I see Dr. Ward on the 29th. They don't seem to be very concerned about any of this. Judy called Dr. Ward with the scan results and to update him - and I'm sure they will send the pictures to him on the computer. He said I should continue on with the chemo treatments every other week as I've been doing. Boy, I'm sure getting tired of going. The next treatment will be next Tuesday. On that day they will do an ultrasound scan on my neck to check the possible clot. I will ride the shuttle so I have to call to make sure when and where to meet it on Tuesday.

Dr. Meno told me at my last treatment when he checked my neck to take two oxycontin in the morning and two at night for the increased pain I was having. Today I'm having less pain but my left arm, hand, ankle and foot are quite swollen. Since I thought I was feeling better I went back to one oxycontin pain pill in the day. If I feel still better tomorrow I'll go back to the pills I had been taking before all this started. Dr. Ward is sending me a new prescription in the mail for pain medicine.

By afternoon the hand and arm look more normal. My foot is still swollen, perhaps a little less. I'm drinking lots of water to flush "stuff" out. My right side is not swollen. And I did take one pill yesterday for water retention, I may take some more of that. They apparently think that it's best to let the body work through all this on its own. I am hoping that that possible clot is just going to dissolve on it's own. Just in general I haven't felt as good with many of my symptoms as I had been. Some ups and some downs, that's usual. Many are unpleasant, although still bearable so far. Anyway they haven't slapped me back in the hospital or anything like that. Still getting along o.k. and enjoying many of the things we've been doing. It does help to get out and about and see people.

Wednesday September 17 2008

Turning to Fall

Meadow on Fall Creek Road

Beaver Dam

Color on Fall Creek Road

Cow Moose with Calves in Fish Creek

Antelope Harvest Moon

Yesterday Bonnie and I went up to Jackson - the main purpose to get my CT scan. It was to have been a short day, with a couple of enjoyable things thrown in for fun. ..... NOT! .....

Hopefully Al had gotten my message that I wasn't riding the shuttle. Drove toward the setting Harvest Moon - beautiful. I got to Bonnie's to pick her up before 8 a.m. - meaning I'd gotten going by 6. Bonnie drove us on to Jackson from Pinedale and I began to drink the berry-licious contrast - 2 bottles. All went well. It was a most gorgeous Indian Summer day. We didn't have to wait in the canyon for the contraction, arrived just as she was waving the only other car through the one lane section. So we got to the hospital maybe 9:45, my scan was to be at 10. They all looked surprised and said aren't you early and I said no, just about right on time. I returned the chemo pump to Alex.So they said to sit in one of the chairs. And then told me my scan wasn't until 1:30. I said "Well here's my appointment card" - which said 10 a.m. for the scan and to start drinking the contrast at 8. Somehow there had been a mix up on their schedule. So they called the radiation department and asked if I could get in early. They said about 11:30 and we decided that Bonnie and I could go over to visit Virginia two blocks away for a little bit and come back about 10:45 to get the pic tube put into my arm.

Virginia and Calvin were home so we got caught up on what's been happening with them. Virginia showed Bonnie the three vases that great great great grandma Girdlestone carried from England and across the plains on a hand cart in the Willie Hand Cart Company - where her parents died in the blizzard. She was rescued and lived after that in Salt Lake. Virginia also lent me her book "Remember" put together by the Riverton stake on all the pioneers that traveled on the trail in the two handcart companies and two wagon companies that were trapped in the blizzard and died or were rescued. So I should learn a lot more from the book.

We were back at the hospital by 10:45 where they said, if you'd been here 10 minutes ago they had a break and could have taken you to have the scan. OOOOO..KAAAY. After three pokes they got a line into my arm for the contrast they put in right before the scan. They came and got me and scanned from about my forehead through the abdomen; looking at my neck where it's been so sore, my lungs, checking the port which is partially clogged (will let the chemo drip, but not let them pull out blood for the many tests I need), and then looking at the tumors in the abdomen and liver. That all went very well.

I will not know the results until they look at all 900 pictures and compare them with the past ones. I'll stick a report in the blog when I get their phone call - supposed to be this afternoon, so look for that later. I can tellyou now they are looking at my neck on the left side for either a tumor or a bone spur - or possible clots - from them purging the port with the clot buster drug (that is one of my thoughts, not something they've told me). I've had more ailments in the last month, and some of them very aggravating and painful. They doubled my pain medication about a week ago and that just makes me fall asleep continually, although that is supposed to wear off in a while. I'm still set to see Dr. Ward on the 29th and then will know what comes next.

Bonnie and I headed next to the National Wildlife Art Museum and had lunch in their Rising Sage cafe. Meilita, Lois, Nancy and Christine Mollring were there and had just ordered. They had room at their table and we all caught up on everyone's busy-ness. I had to keep running to the bathroom, one of the side effects of the barium Greg McHuron was there, and said hi to him. Christine is recovering from a very serious heart attack about 6 months ago, and she looks great. The museum's annual big art show, Western Visions, is hanging now, which we came to see. There were four big rooms for that show. We also saw two rooms of Robert Bateman paintings and drawings which were WONDERFUL!. http://www.wildlifeart.org/

We figured we were about museumed out, so started on our way back home. Filled up with gas (still was nearly $4 a gallon but we did see $3.82 at another station) and on to the next part of our plan for the day - a drive down Fall Creek Road. It runs from Wilson to the Snake River, probably the farthest west road between Jackson and the mountains. At the Fish Creek bridge in Wilson people were stopped and gawking and holding up traffic, so we got out and got some pictures of a cow moose with two calves in the river reaching up to browse on the willow tips.Not the greatest photos because they were all back under the shadows and too far away (YES, I KNOW - order the new camera!). Everyone watching was delighted to see the moose there in downtown Wilson.

We found the turn off easily and began our adventure. I didn't expect to see much fall color yet but there were nice patches of yellows, oranges and reds scattered all along the drive. Neither Bonnie or I had ever taken this drive which was why we wanted to see it when we had the time. About 2/3 of it is paved then turns into dirt on the Snake River end. It goes over a small pass where there's a pretty creek. There were lots of open meadows and areas of pastures all the way through and had a lot of homes back off the road in the woods on the Wilson end. It would be a good place to go and paint too. Didn't see any more wildlife except some geese, so that made seeing the moose even better. We hit the Snake and turned toward Hoback Junction and on home. It was a nice evening drive.

Had to stop at Ridley's to pick up my thyroid med which was to have been faxed to the drug store when I was at the clinic last week..... NOT .... to make a V-E-R-Y - L-O-N-G story shorter we must have been there about an hour. I needed another trip to the rest room, but wonder of wonders there was only one person in the line so I got behind her and learned - no they hadn't gotten the prescription from the clinic, they would call. Then to the rest room and when I came back there were nine people in line and then many more as we waited. And waited. After I'm sure most of an hour I finally got my 30 pills and paid my $1.83. If anyone wants to open a drug store in Pinedale I'm sure you would have a very good business.

On to Bonnie's where her sister from Vernal had arrived and I got to meet her. I must thank Bonnie again and tell you I believe she is an angel sent from God. She is so caring and patient, and Bonnie thank you so much for going along with me and making the good parts of the day so enjoyable and the bad parts bearable. The day was such a conglomeration of fun and enjoyable treats, and frustrating foozpahs. I appreciated Bonnie being there.

This morning Joe and I talked a little bit about what we should be doing about staying here at the ranch this winter. I said Betty was coming to visit and I was going back with her and then Debbie will come up to the ranch for a while. He wants me to go back to Vegas with my kids. I said I thought we should buy a house so I could get out to the medical things I needed and I'd be fine and still be able to stay here with him. He said "Well, do what you want to." When I asked Joe about him staying here alone he said he'd be fine. So perhaps buying a house is our next step. A decision needs to be made before too much more time goes by. And Oh, BTW Bonnie and I stopped on the way home and looked at a house for sale fairly near to the Boulder Store. It looks brand new and furnished, nobody living in it - but seems like too much money for the size.

Also see Nanny's description of all the beads in my spirit necklace, down below.

Check out Gina's Blog for more wonderful pictures of them riding on the Upper Green.

THIS IS FROM SISTER IN LAW NORMA THOMAS IN HOUSTON:
Hi: Just a quick note to let you all know I'm ok. I'm staying at Jeff's. He has power and only had fence damage. My apartment complex roof was damaged and the ceilings on the third floor caved in but my personal apartment is fine. It has some carpet damage and smells bad but otherwise is fine. There is no power and they say the apartment complex is condemned so we will probably qualify for Fema assistance. I will write to each of you as soon as I can. Love, Norma

LYNN'S SPIRIT NECKLACE - A VERY SPECIAL GIFT FROM THE ANCIENTS BY NANNY

Lynn's Spirit Necklace
Material Created by the Grandfather Above,
Styled and strung and described by Nanny
Bottom center Bead: very old fossilized Red Coral, from Alaska, bead is from 1600's.
I will go up one side after the Coral as both sides are a twin of the other….
After the coral is a cedar bead from India, modern dating about 50 to 20 years ago?

Malachite, from India, modern, last 50 years to present.
The malachite is Lynn's Spirit Helper in the Mineral kingdom.
Spacers between the Malachite are from Camel bone...
Small tubular bead of pipestone from Mexico. Modern.
Nice old Carnelian Bead from the Middle East. Somewhere

between 2000 years to 1000 years old and hand drilled.
Pipestone
Malachite
Long tubular bead of Pipestone. Mexico
Malachite
Very nice old long Tubular Bead of Conch Shell from somewhere

around the Cape Horn Region at the bottom of South

America. Dating from 500 to 200 years old.
Malachite
Pipestone, malachite, horn spacer
Cinnabar from Sri Lankan modern 100 years possible
Horn spacer malachite
Horse hoof 8 mm round Bead modern. India
Granite black speckled Bead from the Asian region.100 to 300 years old

hand Drilled and shaped
Cedar Bead
Granite
Horse hoof
Granet
Pipestone
Malachite
Pipestone granet
Horse hoof
Malachite
Cedar and a very nice OLD hand Drilled Carnelian from the Middle East

2000 to 3000 years old.

Monday September 15 2008

The Arrowhead

Orange Lichen on Large Fallen Boulder

(My Spirit Color)

This morning Nanny, Bonnie and I had a date to go "out on the desert". I remembered for a couple of days and since then had just spaced it out. Most things get written down, but I looked forward - at the time - to this one so much I didn't think I would forget it. Was reading email, watching My Dog Skip, and zonking out in my chair when they got here this morning. I immediately remembered that we were going out for the day, taking a picnic and spending some special time together so got my shoes on and off we went.

I might write about the place and purpose later, but for now just will say that we drove out to the country south of the ranch to one of Nanny's favorite spots. It probably took most of an hour to drive there. On the way in Nanny stopped for a minute to get a certain piece of sagebrush and as it sometimes happens there two steps from the car was a special gift of a whole beautiful arrowhead. She was more astonished than any of us, and thought we'd think she'd planted it there. We walked around a little when we got parked but didn't find much more than some chips, but that was fine.

We sat in our lawn chairs in the sun and chatted and enjoyed each other's company. The day couldn't have been more perfect - sunny, warm with a cooling breeze. We could see clear to Pilot Butte. Nanny gave us a wonderful gift of bead necklaces, and each of our necklaces was made with very old stone beads of several mineral totems having special spiritual meaning. I'll have to ask her again and write it all down. Some of the beads are a thousand or more years old. Bonnie had packed us a delicious lunch which we devoured. The time flew by and we talked about other places to explore and decided to take another day for that. Got home about 5 p.m. It was a really special day.

Today the video Benjamin Franklin Citizen of the World by A&Es Biography came in the mail. So I'll watch that tonight.

Tomorrow is the day for my next CT scan. Bonnie offered to go with me so I'll pick her up at her place about 8. The scan doesn't take long, not like the chemo treatments, so we will be able to do a couple of fun things this time while we're up there. I called and cancelled my reservation for riding the shuttle, and sure hope they tell Al not to come because I think I was the only one riding. I told her several times to be sure and let him know not to make the trip. NO MORE GLITCHES ON HIS SCHEDULE.

Messages to Share from Edis and Debbie

.

I AM SO PROUD OF EDIS

SHE HAS HAD TWO HIP REPLACEMENTS.

HERE SHE IS RIDING IN YELLOWSTONE PARK.

WAY TO GO, EDIS

AND HOPE YOU HAVE MANY MORE

WONDERFUL HORSEBACK RIDES.

A PHOTO AND NOTE FROM EDIS: "Can you believe it! After our discussion, things just came together so that I could go with George on a day trip in Yellowstone park up to Big Horn Peak. I was nervous the entire time, but it was great. I could really sit the horse--something I hadn't been able to do because of my hips, and I think that's why I fell off those times. NO pain. We saw great views from there--could see all the way to the Tetons in the distance! Even saw a mountain goat in a seemingly impossible place on a cliff. Really wild. I was so happy to be able to ride again. George gave me a very mellow horse, too, so it wasn't a problem. Big hurdle overcome!"

I'm so pround of you, Girl. I had a terrible time getting back onto a horse after accidents and knee surgery. It really takes your confidence away. So I understand what you are saying. Good for you!

. . . . . .

Debbie and Curtis have had property to build a new home for several years now There have been delays in all the plans and permits etc. But now all that is ready to go. Sewers, well (or is it city water) and power are all in. This is the time - they have leased their old house and the people will buy it in a year or so. They are going to move their 5th wheel camper onto the property and stay in it for about six to nine months while the house is being built. That's going to be the tough part for sure. I'm sending wishes for all to go smoothly and quickly so they can be in the house soon. Here is Debbie's letter to us today.

"Hi All, Just thought I would write a quick note to tell you how the moving in going. It sure is a big job -- can't believe how much stuff we have. Curtis brought home a big trailer from work that holds quite a bit and we took two loads to the storage unit last weekend. I had been packing up stuff for several weeks. This weekend we had Justin, his friend Bryan, Stephanie, Kathi and Christopher helping us. We got most of the rest of our furniture and belongings into storage (3 loads), we ended up getting a second unit and they are both pretty full. So the house is almost empty.

Curtis and I each have a futon matress on the floor in the house to sleep on and cardboard boxes for our night stands. Today we worked on cleaning out the attic space and re-arranging the single car garage/workshop which we will keep stuff in until the new house is complete. We also worked on figuring out how the things we plan to put into the trailer will fit. Our plan is to haul the trailer out to the property next weekend. We have a few repairs to get done around the house. I think I am going to call Annie the Maid to come and clean the house and windows. Then I will arrange for the carpets to be cleaned. Curtis and I are both exhausted -- wishing we were already done with it all. Well I better go for now, hope you all had a nice weekend. Love, Debbie"

Sunday September 14 2008

In Muddy Canyon Yesterday.

The aspens didn't look good at all.

This is a two photo panorama.

Bonnie

Joe is still painting the wood trim on all the buildings. Guess they took the cattle out of Doc's pastures here yesterday. So no more cows around, just a couple old ones and a bull I suppose they will come and get later. So we should be able to leave the front gate open again. But next they will be gathering all the cattle from the mountains and bringing them into the pastures. It's time for them to come home from their summer in the high country.

Sat under the shower on my bath stool for about 30 minutes this morning drinking hot tea with honey. It helps me get relaxed and helped my sore neck feel better. I visited with Sheral this morning. They didn't fly to Houston yet to visit the kids as was the plan. The airlines weren't flying into Houston for a few days so they are on a "holding pattern" until they get another reservation. Then Betty Pfaff called this afternoon and it was sure good to talk to her too. She said she's doing a little more history writing now and spending lots of time doing family things.

Will be putting another small ad in each paper for the art show in the barn again. It's been pretty quiet for the show lately. It will keep hanging probably until the middle of October if anyone wants to come out.

This afternoon I sat and deleted more of the duplicate email messages. And you know how I fall asleep so easy sitting here in the chair. I drowzed off with my finger on the delete button and deleted about 4000 messages without saving one of the duplicates. So had to get that all straightened out. I finally decided just to put them all back and start over. Anyway have made a little progress with that project. Hopefully it will allow the computer to run faster as I gradually get most of them out of the folders.

We know about seven or so families who are down in Texas in the path of the hurricane, most of them Thomas relatives, but it sounds like everyone is doing o.k. that we know of. We are thankful for that. I always wish we would get some of that rain to fill up our groundwater supplies. Another quiet day, lovely weather and that should continue for at least a week.

This weekend's full Moon has a special name--the Harvest Moon. It's the full Moon closest to the northern autumnal equinox. In years past, farmers depended on the light of the Harvest Moon to gather ripening crops late into the night. Post-Edison, we appreciate it mainly for its beauty. Be alert in the nights ahead for Harvest Moon halos, coronas and 'dogs. Visit http://spaceweather.com/ for example and more information. AURORA WATCH: Around the Arctic Circle, moonlight will compete with Northern Lights. A solar wind stream flowing from a coronal hole on the sun is due to hit Earth on Sept. 13th or 14th, possibly sparking high-latitude geomagnetic storms. Sky watchers from Alaska to Scandinavia should be alert for auroras.: http://spaceweather.com/aurora/gallery_01sep08.htm

Saturday September 13 2008

Boulder Creek with First Touch of Fall Color

Taken from the Bridge

Moose Hunters at Boulder

They had their camper trailer

and were changing a flat tire there.

A beautiful morning, warm and no wind. Spent a quiet time after getting up. I slept very good last night, and certainly feel better.

I stuck a weather sticker onto my blog this morning, and fooled around with that for a while. I wanted to get the wind and pressure and whole works, but the ones with more info take up bigger space and wouldn't fit. Maybe I can figure it out as time goes by. You can let me know if you like them or not. I put two on, one for the moon, and one for the weather. If you click on the little "gizmo" it will give you the whole weather page - then I don't have to give you the weather report every day.

Yesterday I got the dogs an appointment at the groomer for a bath and getting toenails cut before winter. It is worse getting an appointment for the dogs than it is for myself. She didn't have anything until the middle of October! Sorry I already forget her name but she seemed very nice.

Then, after lunch I got a phone call from Bonnie. She came over with her truck took me and "the boys" for a ride up to Muddy Canyon this afternoon. First I had to get out of my pjs though. It was sure a nice outing. I may have only been up there once this year, earlier in the spring. We checked out the berry bushes but they are done for this year. Still some chokecherries. She was able to get some information from church about the Willie Handcart Company and brought me a CD to play - "Presentation of Rock Creek Hollow Fireside". It has some history on some of the people who died there. So far my CD player won't play it on the computer, so tomorrow I'll try it on the Bose radio which has a CD player.

Tonight we had spagetti for dinner and for once it seemed very tasty. Hope that continues.

Beverly called me tonight and we had a long visit. They have been so busy. This is from a letter Bev sent I thought was interesting about what they've done the last several days. She says: Its Youth Conference this weekend, which is a first for Bev and Clay (not for Brent). This is Clay's first year and he is 14 now. Friday night they split the whole stake up into groups of about 20 kids each and gave them a topic. They went into rooms at the church and created little skits called Youth Tube (like You-Tube on the Internet) and performed them on the stage. They were pretty funny and all about standards. Then we had a catered dinner from Cafe Rio (Mexican fresh grill). After dinner they did a flag retirement burning ceremony which I'd never seen before either and was very moving. We had ice cream and went home.

This morning we were back at the church at 8am for breakfast and off to do a service project which happened to be at Tule Springs Park (right near their house). We had about 200 kids and leaders and we cleaned out the creek beds. What an overgrown mess they were. You should have seen how nice they looked after we were done. A couple of the men brought their front-end loaders to haul away the debris. It was hot. After the kids were done with the work the church provided Subway Sandwiches and Smoothie King. I'm glad I wasn't responsible for any of that planning.

Tonight they have a dance from 8-11pm. It is Clay's first dance. Brent has to be there as a chaperone. I got my same church calling back, over the Beehives 12-13 year olds, and they are too young to go to Youth Conference so I don't have to go.

Their stake just split two wards into three, so they have to go to a different church for a while until their new building is finished, and everyone is in upheaval with the changes. It's all growing very fast there.