Saturday January 31 2009

Wind!

Ranch near Jackson

House Bondurant

Last day of January. Looks like a nice day out very sunny. Yesterday when I went to the clinic there was almost a hint of spring in the air. There is no wind right now. But that hard wind packed the drifts down and the dogs can walk on top of them. Raven tries going out around in the yard and stays on top most of the time, but every once in a while she craters. So there are some big divots out there. Sparky sticks mostly to the deck and their packed down paths.

It's noon now. I got a shower this morning and got my hair washed. Need to do that in the utility sink now instead of the shower because of the picc line getting wet. Not as convenient but o.k. Between the two of us we got the house vacuumed and I've got a load of towels and rugs in the washer. We're going to have to get a new vacuum. I'll look online to check them out. This very old one that was at the ranch when I first came there, just isn't picking up the dog hair. It does have good suction but not on the shag rug. My bedroom is the worst, where the boys sleep the most.

Joe's nephew Kevin called this morning and stopped by this afternoon. He stayed and visited with Joe about an hour. I spaced out that the clinic closed at noon on Saturday and didn't make it there before they closed. So have to flush the line myself. Everything's fine. I'm not feeling very ambitious at the moment, but I do know that's going to get better in another day or so. So pretty routine here.

Friday January 30 2009

Wind

Looking out front

Wind in back neighborhood

Frosty kitchen window

In back again

Deer, Evening

Very quiet day so far. Joe went to his coffee and has been checking his broker statements. He does that a lot. Scott came and plowed the drift in front of the garage door from the wind we've had. The driveway itself stayed blown clear, but there was a drift a couple feet deep up next to the garage. I'm surprised how much has piled up in the back yard, and then the wind has blown spots in the front down to the dirt. I don't know how cold it is out, but I'll go in a short while down to the clinic and the post office. It's still breezy, but not like yesterday and last night. The TV was off a lot with the wind blowing or shaking it enough that the signal wouldn't come in consistently.

I'm sort of like a limp dirty dishcloth today. When I get the pump off I'll be able to have a real shower. Have had nausea ever since the chemo, that should be better soon. We'll have some easy leftovers for dinner.

Gloria called me a while ago and we talked for a few minutes. The family is all together down in Las Vegas, where she flew in yesterday. Debbie picked her up and they all had lunch and dinner together. She is staying with out sister Diana. Gloria's daughter and some of her grand kids are there too. So I hope they all have a good time visiting.

Thursday January 29 2009

Afternoon on the Way Home

Crossing the Snake near Jackson

Trees Coming into Jackson

Snake

Snake River

Where the Bighorns Roam

That "Moose" again

Road Going Up

Whew, more terrible winds today. The drifts are piling up higher now - probably a good four feet deep in the back yard, maybe more in spots. A lot of it is higher than the deck now. It's about 25 degrees this afternoon - which is better than -25, although I imagine with the wind chill it's way below zero out there. Its been sunny all day and softened the icicles some, then the wind threw them against the windows. Kind of spooky. When I first saw the sunshine this morning I thought it might be a good day to take the dogs out on a little walk but then when I looked out the wind was already moving the snow around and it only got worse. They have been denning up all day. The TV dish is vibrating enough that it keeps knocking the signal off. So Joe's listening to the radio instead.

We really lucked out going to Jackson yesterday - sandwiched in between two very windy days. The roads were good, and we encountered very little wind. The visibility wasn't the greatest until we got over the rim. But we went along just fine. Charm's new SUV is an awesome trusty steed - a jet black Durango? Nice driving and nice riding. Couldn't really feel or even sense when there was wind blowing. I was impressed because as big as mine is you still feel the wind. Morning roads were icy and coming home a lot of the ice and snow had melted off, but there was patchy ice especially through the Hoback. They have a lot more snow up north than us.

It was another beautiful drive. The rivers aren't frozen up and that is surprising. I took about 85 pictures on the way up and back, discarded about 25 of those and this afternoon when through them cropping and enhancing. So will show a few of those.

Charm got to my house about 8 a.m. and we got up to Chemo about 10 a.m. and they started right in on me. We asked if we could get through as early as possible so Charm wouldn't be snow machining back home in the dark. They got us out about 2 p.m. so we did made good time. Why can't they do that every time ..... but I have to admit they weren't as busy yesterday as usual. We stopped at Smith's and loaded up mainly on nice vegetables. The dog food I'm giving "the boys" was half the price as at Ridleys so I got two bags of that. I also got BBQ baby back pork ribs from Smith's deli to see how they are and Joe liked them for dinner. Charm usually ends up waiting for me - I'm slow and usually get more. She couldn't get a lot because she didn't bring her cargo sled this time.

James was in the store. He had put Kathy on the plane for Atlanta and picked up his brother, Buzzy and Ann and their son, at the same time. So said hi to them. Buzzy said he was going mountain lion hunting in Utah on this trip. The quota in our area here has been filled for this year. (mountain lion hunting is getting more popular, and we have a lot of them.) I hope they have a nice stay. Kathy may be gone a month or 6 weeks to help her folks. Her dad is having lung surgery today I believe. Sending prayers to all of them.

So ..... just to report, the treatment went well. Last night I had my usual sleepless night. But in general feel so much better since getting the port out. They had a Jack Lemmon marathon on TCM and and after a 20 minute nap, saw every one of them but part of "Luv". They were all great. Then "I Remember Mama" came on and I watched that this morning having my tea and yogurt, just taking it easy. I'm not going to the clinic today, but will get the pump off and have the line flushed tomorrow. My nose was awful all night with awful dryness and a sinus headache and that probably kept me from sleeping too. It may drive me to go to the regular doctor, since this has been going on so long. They don't do that kind of thing in Oncology. It could be a sinus infection so should see if it needs some medicine or learn what to do for relief.

Haven't had time to look at emails for the last two days, so guess that will give me something to do for a while. - quiet time. The moon and venus are very close together tonight after sunset. And very beautiful.

Wednesday January 28 2009

Downtown Yesterday

Charm and I are on our way to Jackson for my chemo treatment. I won't write in the blog today.

From a recent fortune cookie: Only those who dare, truely live.

This is one of the places I read. There are mostly photos of earth from space. This time they brought up the megaflood of ice age Missoula Lake published by NOVA (PBS) It was very interesting. eoannounce@eodomo.gsfc.nasa.gov Then go to it from the Grand Coolee Dam link.

Tuesday January 27 2009

More Photos from Yesterday

This is a strange thing that has been happening for a while. I've been ignoring it, but it's weird. In the place on the blog where it wants me to type the date, which is my title, my fingers just want to keep typing October 4 2004 nearly every day. I'm getting more curious why and even wonder what happened on that day. Like..... is it a haunting or something. Anyway it's hard to realize another month has gone by.

The wind was howling here through the night so we had a ground blizzard going. By maybe 9 or 10 a.m. it settled down to where the wind isn't blowing the snow anyway, but still a good stiff breeze. Very sunny and clear. It was 20 or 25 below zero last night.

I’m glad we didn’t drive up to Jackson today, but tomorrow may be worse because its predicted to snow. I called this morning and told Oncology that we'd be there tomorrow. They said that my medicine still hadn't arrived yet.

Joe went to the ranch to feed the cats and took the dogs with him, as usual. I was still asleep when he left. I worried about him driving out there in this wind, but he was fine. He would freeze to death if he got stuck and was out of the truck digging, if he didn’t give himself a heart attack first. Today is Wayne’s funeral at 2:00 p.m. Joe will go to the funeral this afternoon. The wind has settled down a little since I got up, and hope it stays that way.

I’m anxious to see the uncluttering progress in the art room at Rendezvous Pointe when I go in there next. It looked like all the counters would be totally cleared and stuff they had piled on top of the high cupboards taken off there. Even the mat cutter was going out because no one uses it much. But how could they with it so buried in clutter. I think Mixed Media should make a contribution to Ren. Pt. because we don’t pay anything to use the room for our meetings. I brought it up once and they all agreed but nothing’s been done yet.

Today I'm going to address the Christmas cards I was given by the real estate office for letting them use my painting on the cover of their semi-annual "catalog", and will mail them soon. Better late than never.

Later afternoon: Hope Joe can see to drive home from the funeral. It's in Boulder so he will be out on the highway. The wind has blown like a banshee for hours and Mother Nature is rearranging everything on the landscape. She must be feeling like we do when we feel the need to rearrange the furniture. Been sitting here with one of the largest mugs of hot chocolate. Wind always makes me nervous. I just don't like it. So glad Charm and I aren't out on the road far from home. I just didn't want to go to the clinic so flushed my line myself.

The wind used to blow terrible in Nevada when I was a kid and I thought the roof would be torn off the house. I can remember laying in bed at night listening to the creaks and groans of the house and the wind whistling in the eaves and just having faith that it would stay on.

Still Later: Joe did fine on his trips "out". He came home after going to the ranch and then left again for the funeral about 1:30. He said the wind had not blown at the ranch, hard to believe. But he drove right in again. Although when out there he did try to start his snow machine and it wouldn't start. At least he didn't take it down out of the truck before he tried to start it. He also said there were more people at Wayne's funeral than he had ever seen before. And he didn't know hardly anyone, but blamed some of that on his eyesight. Said there were lots of flowers.

Did you see the very thin fingernail clipping of the crescent moon tonight after sunset? It was beautiful. I probably won't write the blog tomorrow.

It's the birthday of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, born in 1756 in Salzburg, Austria.

Monday January 26 2009

The road home

willows and aspens

back street

i'm with him

are you going to let me in or not

Scott came to plow

Joe Clearing the Deck

Last night we had 5 or 6 inches of new snow. The thing was that it had to have snowed hard at times to put that much down, but every time I let the dogs out or looked out the door, there were only tiny flakes floating down. There was some wind that moved it around, but didn't seem to last long either, and no wind to.

Here it is 8:30 p.m. and I'm just getting time to write something in the blog. So it may be pretty sketchy. I am ready to get my pjs on tonight for sure.

This morning read the email and blogs that were done by the early birds. Then had some breakfast and showered. Scott was here to plow pretty early this morning, about the time I was wondering if I'd get stuck. The big road plow had come by this morning too and had left a big berm across our driveway and it was pretty deep, but Scott saved me (actually I'd have probably just busted right through it - I just need something to worry about).

Did some housework and then it was time to meet the friends for lunch. Charm, Gina and I went to the Bottoms Up for lunch for Gina's birthday which is tomorrow. We had a very nice time, and since it took them an hour or more to bring our food, we had an enjoyable visit. It was a lot of fun.

I went to the post office and mailed all the birthday cards I wrote out yesterday - I hadn't done any for three or four months so I went back to about the time we moved and did them all - yes..... they were very belated, but not forgotten. I couldn't remember if I had done cards before that or not, but knew I had not since we moved. It amounted to a pretty good stack of them. February is done too. Then got a few things at the store and went to the clinic. Made a circle around the back road to see if there was anything worth photographing - since I forgot to get a picture of us at lunch like I wanted to for the blog today.

Hadn't been home long and James came over at four to check with us about the list of things the seller needs to fix in the house. I was going to go with him to their realtor later this week, but James says he will get copies of the bills we have so far and take them to the other realtor, so that is very nice of him that I don't need to do anything yet.

Then Carol from Oncology called and said that my chemo medicine wasn't going to be in for my treatment in the morning, and could I come at 1 p.m. .... or on Wednesday instead. She said there is a shortage of it - oh, great, I thought. I balked at the 1 p.m. appointment because we drive four hours and I sit in the chair for the treatment usually almost six hours. And we wanted to check Smith's veggies. Charm would be snowmachining home at 10 p.m. if we did that. So I said I'd call them back in the morning to let them know for sure. Charm and I talked when she got home and she said Wednesday was better for her - so we are going on Wednesday. I have to call Carol back in the morning about 8:15. I think Tuesday is the better travel day weather-wise, but we will be fine.

Decided to make us a pizza with all fresh goodies for dinner, and it didn't turn out so great, as in not worth the effort. After dinner Betty called because she missed our usual Sunday call and we talked for a good while. She has those terrible disgusting rats back in her attic. I told her about the home made trap Gina happened to describe to us today at lunch and it might work for her. A large tin container with a stick on the side they can climb up - they can get in the container but not back out so they die in there. At least it is free, instead of $5 for each rat sized glue trap. So that was the day.

Nighty Night!

Sunday January 25 2009

Drift last year in corral -

not sure I ever showed this one before.

So far we don't have anything like this here.

Joe's Truck at Richie Road

It's gone in the ditch several times.

(Brent sent me this - and it's TRUE. I've been on wild rides like that. One of them was on the Colorado River and Joe actually said - "Here - Hold my beer". He held on to the raft and I was thrown out into the rapids with the beer and the camera.):

winter statistic..... 98% OF AMERICANS SAY 'OH SHIT' BEFORE GOING IN THE DITCH ON A SLIPPERY ROAD. THE OTHER 2% ARE FROM WYOMING AND THEY SAY, "HOLD MY BEER AND WATCH THIS."

I stayed in bed until 10. Was awake in the night - probably saw at least three movies. The Commancheros with John Wayne was on early this morning. Showboat was another one of them and enjoyed that. Its been so long since I've seen it that I didn't remember the story. Loved the singing and music. Anyway just slept in while I felt like it.

Sinus has been bothering me. But yesterday at Ridley's I found a new nose moisturizer and I like it very much so far. Just an accident that, there it was as I was looking for the saline spray. It is Ayr saline gel with aloe. It feels great, as I've had a bad time with my nose, probably the chemo burning the skin in there, as well as mouth, eyes and hands. I mentioned my nose to Dr. Meno said to use Vicks and that has really helped clear it up.

The clinic is closed today and this afternoon I will flush the picc line myself. Doing laundry this morning and I'm going to get some cards written… I think ...... if I don't procrastinate it too long. Very slowly getting things accomplished. Have a couple loads of laundry in - getting those kinds of things done before I go back to Jackson on Tuesday and then won't feel like doing housework for a few days. Last night I fixed us my Italian sausage and zucchini casserole with pilaf. There will be some of that left over for Joe on Tuesday. I hope we can get some nice vegetables at Smiths in Jackson because Ridley's have sure been rotten - and that's not exaggerating either, cauliflower and squash actually moldy and they try to sell it for the price of steak.

Its cloudy here and keeps snowing lightly, and thawing as the snowflakes fall - not amounting to anything much so far. Deck is wet. Its still warmer. Seems to be hanging around the upper twenties. The atmosphere looks very silvery. No wind. There was fog in the night and I thought there would be a heavy frost this morning, but there's not - not here at least. If it had I would go out and photograph the trees covered with frosting. I've been enjoying the deer going back and forth across our landscape from the windows. The dogs watch too, but never bark.

Spring must be on the way - the world making its circle. Daylight is lasting later now. I've been noticing especially in the last week that it is still dusky when we eat dinner. I'm always glad to see the days getting longer and the warmth return. I don't see it so much in the morning. It's still pretty dark when I first wake up.

There's going to be quite a series about Wyoming on PBS the second half of this year. Here is a really great excerpt in a video about Wyoming's wildlife:

http://www.youtube.com/user/EVERGREENwY

Saturday January 24 2009

One of our Boulder neighbors was accidentally killed on his ranch last Thursday. We were both so shocked and sorry to hear of his death. A memorial funeral service for Wayne Jensen of Boulder, Wyoming will be held on Tuesday, January 27th at 2:00 p.m. at the Boulder Community Center.I have to go to Jackson that day, but Joe will probably go to the funeral.

Not one interesting thing to write about today. I've been to the clinic and went to get groceries. So maybe now I'll take a nap. Am having trouble keeping my eyes open. The weather is warm enough to be melting snow - we are having some snow showers and just another skiff has fallen. The mountains are supposed to get 3 or 4 feet, but we're not having that here. The streets and parking lots are wet or slushy.

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Putting these links in the blog instead of forwarding them all on email.

There are a bunch of the flamenco program photos now on http://www.pinedaleonline.com/.

BLUE-SKY FIREBALL: Last week a meteoroid of unknown size hit Earth's atmosphere over Denmark and exploded with a flash so bright it turned the nighttime sky daytime blue. A video of the remarkable fireball and eye-witness reports may be found at Spaceweather's fireball sighting page: http://spaceweather.com/glossary/fireballreports_17jan09.htm

America's Untapped Energy Resource: Boosting Efficiency By Michael Grunwald Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2008 http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1869224-3,00.html

YouTube - Irena Sendler -VS- Al Gore (other videos are listed featuring her too. A movie should be made of her story. )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVw1PANUcdg&feature=related

Friday January 23 2009

I definitely do not know this person!

She is here anonamously.

....But in case you want to know the story,

she ate the flowers and leaves off

her husbands birthday cake.

This is after eating the leaves.

(Unknown Person - you are a very good sport.)

(Still laughing here.)

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DICK.

He turned 80, and wants to go sky diving in the spring.

But in the meantime went skiing.!!!

Zeke's family got a new puppy, his name is Rusty.

Just getting started this morning. Don't know what the day will bring. Joe has been downtown for his coffee, and its garbage day so he put out the garbage. We got about 1/4" of snow during the night and they are predicting snow for the next several days, a little more over the weekend and chances after that. Its warm enough that the icicles continued to drip during the night. Right now its gray and dreary. ..... Oh no, wait a minute ..... now there's blue sky and sunshine.

I have plenty of things on my list to do, so am going to attempt getting something constructive done - probably mostly paperwork today. Beverly called and things are fairly o.k. down there. So we caught up on what's been going on lately. They are having a church group sleepover for the young men and young women in a big warehouse type building - they will just camp out there, have pizza and snacks and breakfast in the morning. Bet it will be fun. My sister Gloria is going to visit the family in Las Vegas, so they will all be together next weekend ..... all except for me.

James said there are direct flights to several places from Jackson on Delta now. Maybe I should use my credit card air miles and go somewhere. He said if he takes Kathy to the airport, maybe stops by Smiths for groceries and drives back to Pinedale that Kathy will already be in Atlanta by the time he gets home. James and Kathy are back from their holiday trip to Georgia. Was sorry to hear her dad is having more illness and surgery, and she will go back to help her folks real soon.

James and I will go sometime next week to get all the house repair bills straightened out and present our list of problems with the house to the realtor and seller. Hopeful that won't be too bad. It has been a stress so it will be good to hopefully get it all behind us - and this visit should at least initiate that closure. So I need to sort out the paperwork and receipts for that.

Thursday January 22 2009

This is the Entrance to the New Clinic

The House from Fremont Lake Road

Zoomed in a little but we aren't far from the road.

The Snuggler

Joe suggested going to Rendezvous Pointe for lunch and also Joe had an appointment there to pick up his hearing aid which was being repaired. They had a nice roast pork dinner. They give you so much there was lots to take out to the dogs. I bought a huge loaf of whole grain bread that was still warm from the oven for $1.50. I took my camera to get a few photos of everyone at lunch. However..... had forgotten to take the photo card out of the computer and replace it in the camera. So didn't get any pictures. I checked in at the art room to see if any cleaning out of the clutter was happening, and was pleasantly surprised that YES they are cleaning all that stuff out of the room. Progress was being made there.

After bringing Joe home I went to the clinic while the car was out instead of later. The nurse who changed my picc line dressing yesterday (a once a week thing) got the line pushed in further than it was supposed to be and also slightly twisted, and it has sure been stinging. It hurt all night. Barb fixed that and boy does it feel better now. We both learned some more new things - about the adhesive which is irritating my skin, - and that you can't undo the plastic wings on the patch, which holds the picc line in place (I didn't have another patch - get them in Jackson) but you can lift and move the whole patch, which is how the line was allowed to back out a little. We managed to get the whole thing back together and taped down. Have to be careful of infection with it, and so it is back the way it should be. Yeaa Barb! The adhesive covers used to protect and keep the site clean are beginning to irritate my skin. I have been a little worried that was going to happen since certain tapes have really blistered my skin at other times. Not a good thing for long term use to have your skin breaking down, blistering etc.

Another nice day out but they are predicting a few inches of snow today/tonight and chance of snow for about the next week.

Boy did I sleep good the last two nights. Really zonked out. Don't know if its the angelica Bonnie gave me, or just pure exhaustion.

I swear I'm going to finish that commission painting today.

Guess they think there is a possibility of this happening: A new NASA-funded study details what might happen to our modern, high-tech society in the event of a 'super solar flare' followed by an extreme geomagnetic storm. Some of the conclusions might surprise you.
FULL STORY at
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/21jan_severespaceweather.htm?list953085

Wednesday January 21 2009

So.... here I am back. We didn't go to the slide show. I decided not to go and instead to use up those apples that were about ready to all go bad. I made the crockpot about 2/3 full of applesauce and an apple pie. The peeling and slicing took a while and before it was all done I was pretty tired of standing and doing the work. They turned out good though. I'll cook us a pork chop with some pasta and the applesauce. Joe has already eaten 1/4 of the pie.

Jackie called me this morning and we had the best visit. We usually email, but every once in a while we talk. She is my friend who lives on the wheat farm up in Eastern Washington and is an artist. We have quite a bit in common. Sheral also called a couple of times. She has been shopping for canisters as a housewarming gift for us, but I'm about decided that the miscallaneous containers I have stuff stored in is working just fine. I like the counters without much on them and seems like there's enough on the counters.

Got showered and down to the clinic. Today the dressing was changed as well as getting the line flushed. So am tired enough that after dinner I'll get into the pjs and just lay down to watch some TV. Its been a long day. My eyes are in their burning watering mode the last couple of days. My nose is getting much better since Dr. Meno said to use vicks in it morning and night - it's working. Everything else is fine with the both of us and "the boys".

The applesauce going in the crockpot.

Building a pie.

Pie and Coffee

The weather is warm, calm and sunny! I woke up very early and just stayed up. Today there is a photo program at Rend. Pt. by a lady who went to Antarctica to work I might go to, Maybe Joe will go too. And the clinic later. Kay's asked me to send 36 photos of her paintings to a collector of hers. (Kay doesn't have a computer and doesn't want one - she's probably a lot smarter than the rest of us). The photos are very big as they are, so I'm going to have to resize them all to send them in emails. I guess how many emails depends on how big the buyer wants to receive them. By evening she hadn't called me back, or emailed either.

Sally sent me this picture - neither of us can believe we've received two "dog in stroller" pictures in one day! Bernie just had rotor cuff surgery, then the next day Bridget broke her leg. Sally said they're "getting ready to go rock hunting" or maybe walking around the block.

There are tons of great blogs to read, although I actually do very little of that. If you go to http://www.blogger.com/ and then look for a link called "Blogs of Note" you will find a lot of neat stuff by bloggers to read and look at. The are the best of the best chosen by the blogger crew. (Just in case you wonder, I couldn't be in there because my blog doesn't go out to the whole world, just to my family and friends.) Some people must sit and blog or read blogs all day long from the looks of it. I have found a few I like and here is one I thought you also might find interesting right at this time of the inauguration because she lives in Washington DC, apparently 10 minutes walk from all the famous places and monuments. So she is giving an interesting insight on things going on there right now. Her photographs are also quite good with rather unusual views and nearly all of downtown D.C. http://thegoldpuppy.blogspot.com/

Another on the other side of the country - Seattle area. This guy's a very good writer: http://dampdog.blogspot.com/. I was reading a blog at the ranch about an American guy who moved to the Pyrenees to live, climb mountains, hunt and farm organically. His adventures were great to read and had photos of his area. But the address is in the computer at the ranch and I don't have it here.

Maybe we should go rock hunting more often! Mammoth tusk found in So. Ca drainage ditch, sent-by-Sandra: http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_S_fossil21.4cd7f80.html

Tuesday January 20 2009

SO CUTE! Judi sent this to us dog lovers on her blog today. She doesn't know the guy but the dog in the stroller is too old to go on walks now, so he takes her in the stroller. Pretty neat. Thanks Judi.

Inauguration Day - so far I've escaped hardly any mention of it, which suits me fine.

It was another beautiful day. Not sure how warm it got, but probably around 30 degrees. The streets are trying to clear off. NO WIND! I only wore a down vest and felt comfortable.

Before leaving the house this morning I had a call from Sally in AZ. See her blog to know what we're talking about, because she is showing very interesting photos. She wrote in her blog that on one of their outback trips "all the jeeps had wenches". I said "Sally - do you mean wenches or winches?" She said yes wenches, which you pull things out with. I told her wenches were like... ummm... harlots - i.e. all the jeeps had harlots. So we had to laugh about that and if you know Sally she had a few choice comments.

We had our Mixed Media meeting at Rendezvous Pointe today and didn't counted them, but we had a room full of artists - maybe twelve? I worked on one of my commissions and it is all but finished thank goodness. Justine and Dee came from Jackson to join us. Dee is leaving for Antarctica on Monday and I'm sooo envious.

That art room has been becoming a storage room for everyone's "junque" in the name of doing arts and crafts, and I went and complained about it today. It's been getting worse for most of a year. You couldn't get close to a counter top, much less try to use one if you wanted to. It isn't conducive to a creative spirit for certain. There's been a popcorn machine just sitting in there for two years. They said they would work on it.

Lunch was pretty tasty - turkey ala king with rice, veg, wonderful wheat rolls, and salad and dessert. I bought a couple of Sue's big cinnamon rolls. Just have to remind Joe that one of them is MINE !! Hiding it is an option as well.

After the meeting about 4 p.m. I headed for the clinic, and had to wait there again. They were pretty busy, and didn't get out of there until about 5:20. Then home and stuck some stuffed sole and twice baked potatoes in the oven.

I thought I heard the door bell ring a few minutes ago, but no one was in sight when I answered it. Maybe it was on TV. Discombobulating anyway. The dogs thought it was the doorbell too and got up to go see who was there. It's happened again, me and dogs answered the door, no one there. It's a Pizza Hut commercial for gosh sakes!

"Remember always that you have not only the right to be an individual; you have an obligation to be one." (Eleanor Roosevelt)

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"Genius," said Elizabeth Barrett Browning, "is the power to express individuality."

Monday January 19 2008

Ducks on East Fork

Its about 7 p.m. and I'm pooped. Probably because just haven't been getting much sleep. Yesterday Bonnie thoughtfully brought me over a homeopathic sleep remedy, angelica in lotion to rub on the bottom of your feet. And I tried it last night but it didn't work yet. I'll keep trying it and see it it might build up a little and be effective.

Today was absolutely beautiful although still pretty cold - it could be worse. It might have finally reached 34, but most of the day was below freezing. Just no wind.

Today we went out to Bonnie and Craig's leaving here about 9:45 a.m. they had us to lunch. Craig and Joe drove on out to the ranch to feed the cats, and said the road is great all the way in to the house. They saw Smokey the all gray cat and said she was really fat. Bonnie fixed us chicken enchiladas that were delicious with the toppings and chips. And she had unusual and yummy orange brownies for dessert. I loved those. Never had seen such a thing. Usual visiting went on, and then we went home - I think got back at about 1:30.

They came on in to town and stopped by here. Craig and Joe fixed the garage door and it should be permanently good now. He gave us an extra door opener that he had, and programed it so we each have one in our vehicle now. He also fixed the back door so it latches. I can't remember what else they did. Bonnie and I got to visit together some more. Jim Allen finally came back over and finished sealing off the foundation with caulking of some kind. It didn't take him very long so that's done now. Soon after they left I went on down to the clinic and for the first time waited about an hour before they took me back to flush the picc line. In fact, I went to sleep and had a nap for a while. Then I went to the grocery and drug store. Fixed our dinner, fed the boys and I'm ready for bed if not to sleep.

Tomorrow we are having our Mixed Media painting meeting at Rendezvous Pointe and lunch there. I was going to get all my stuff ready tonight, but now I'm going to do it in the morning. And not sure if I'll do pastels or oils.

I'm missing Duene's blog - guess she's having some computer trouble. Hope everything else is o.k. with her.

Sunday January 18 2009

The Boys on the walk

Photomerge of mtns to the east.

Gives and idea of what the neighborhood is like

The house today with mtns.

Bob's house with mtns. Ours is just behind
and to the right. Fremont Lake sits in that
"hole" about in the center of the picture.

EVENING UPDATE with pictures: Bonnie came over after lunch and we took a walk about the loop road, maybe went a mile and a half. The sun even felt warm for a little bit without a wind blowing. Dogs sure enjoyed it. We ran into the neighbor family walking their two schnauzers - So the dogs got acquainted. He is Bob, the one who lent Curtis a bunch of tools when he was here building the fence. They are from Houston, their first winter.

Bonnie brought me a homeopathic potion – angelica in a lotion – to rub on my feet, it’s supposed to help you sleep so I'll try it and we will see if that works …. Or not. They had to dig a new well and it’s got bacteria in it, and they are trying to get rid of it. So they can’t drink the water. I feel bad for that happening. She has some kind of distiller she is using for their drinking water that takes everything out. We’re invited over there for lunch tomorrow, and Joe and Craig will go on out and feed the cats. After Bonnie left I mopped the wood floors.

This picture of today's jet stream was sent by Betty. Neither of us has ever seen the jet stream go this high north and dip this far south (at the same time). So this is why the weather is the way it is now.

Venus is sure making a spectacular statement in the western sky after dusk. It's very beautiful. Guess that's why they named it Venus. The weather here was quite cloudy this morning clearing off by noon. We were forecasted to have frost and freezing fog for several days, but haven't seen any yet. Maybe a dog walking day.

Been watching TCM old movies lately. Need to get motivated to do something constructive. I got out my stack of papers to finish the house notebook project. Its going to be another quiet day though. So nothing interesting to write about - yet.

Judy has some really neat pictures on her blog illustrating their visit to San Antonio. They've been visiting the old missions there. I knew about the Alamo, but she says there are five of them in the city. A link to her blog is up on the sidebar.

A strange thing has been happening for a while, I keep "forgetting" to take my camera with me everywhere. Don't know why. I ALWAYS used to have it next to me. So I'm not getting much new material to post on the blog. I'll try to do better.

A cute video about the Truckin Duck:

http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/weird/Trucking_Duck_All__National_.html