Thursday April 30 2009

Across the Street

Deer at Sunset

The end of another month. This is the end of my three months off from chemo and it seemed longer than I thought it would. It has seemed such a great feeling of freedom, as you can surely imagine. We will see soon what happens next. Got up at 8 a.m. after being in bed about 12 hours and had slept very good. Exhaustion does that to you.

Started off looking at all yesterday's and today's emails, stacked up during that outage. Then getting things tidied up. I've got a couple of big loads of laundry going, and have to mop and do some cleaning before we have company. Lois and Bud are coming to dinner, and pot roast is on the menu.

Also Bonnie called yesterday and asked if this afternoon would be a good time to come and clean out the inside of my car. I said yes, of course!! It is FULL of dog hair and mud and gravel from the winter. It will save me about $200 for detailing here in town. At least that's what it was last time I had it done maybe year before last now - time goes by. They didn't do such a great job getting down in the out of the way places either. I'll be able to do a little to help her, like the outside windows where I can stand and work. And do the mats. I just can't get scrunched in the vehicle and then try to vacuum or scrub. Seems like scrubbing anything just isn't something that agrees with me any more.

Charm should be stopping by with the "drink" for my CT scan sometime today. I sure appreciate her doing this errand for me. Also I need to call oncology again. They told me to get a protime at the end of the month, and I want to ask if I can have it done there when I got for the scan. Otherwise I'll have to go down to the clinic here.

Oh!! Joe went to get the mail the other day and there was a package from Betty Pfaff. She sent me a painting of "found" things, with the subject of items you would pick up from the ground of an old homestead (like ours) as they surfaced - chips of china with delicate floral patterns on them, old buttons and such. It is beautiful, and I will cherish it. It may be colored pencil or watercolor that she's been working in lately, can't tell which one for sure. THANK YOU FOR YOUR THOUGHTFULNESS, BETTY. I'll get a photo of it taken so you can see it.

So better get busy with putting the pot roast into the crock pot and folding laundry and cleaning and get Joe some lunch. It's a nice sunny and a little warmer day this morning. Windy as usual. High clouds though, so it may cloud up seriously again.

Wednesday April 29 2009

Work Interrupted

Sliding Doors during Blizzard

Foggy Morning - House Across the Street

Every time I tried to get on the Internet it wasn't working. Resetting etc. didn't work. Here's why. http://www.pinedaleonline.com/news/2009/04/Cutfiberopticlinedow.htm. That resulted in all my emails for last night and today rolling over to Thursday.

Tuesday night went to bed about 8 or so and put Marley and Me in the DVD player, hit play, and never even saw the movie start. Woke up just in time to see the sad ending. When I got up about 10:30 p.m. after my "nap" during the movie, the dogs wanted out and there was a blizzard raging - unbeknownst to me until then. It was a surprise to see about 4" of wet heavy snow on the deck which had fallen in the last couple of hours. Couldn't see what had happened though until I opened the door because all the windows and sliding doors were plastered thickly with snow. It was nice moisture to have for spring time grass and flowers. So then stayed awake and watch Marley and Me all the way through. And annoyingly didn't sleep more until about 5 a.m. Came out to the living room and watched TV on the couch and finally fell asleep there - just for a change of scene.

I had some aspirations of going to the Wednesday painting group at Rendezvous Pointe and backed out again. I had not slept for two nights and didn't feel up to hauling my "stuff" down there.

Joe went to coffee and afterwards Joe the plumber drove him around town on a sightseeing trip to see all the new development around town. Joe was surprised at how many new houses there were. Then we tried to go to lunch at Rendezvous Pointe but I had forgotten to make a reservation and they said too many other people had done the same thing. So Cindy asked if we could wait until others had been served because there might not be enough prepared. There was a big crowd - so we decided to try the new hamburger place that took over the Cajun restaurant (which Joe liked because everything there was fried. He liked the shrimp, But it is no more.) I'd heard they were good but the burgers were just o.k. and not cheap by any means. There is also a new buffet to try, so we might go there next time.

Anyway we saw Lois and Bud at Rendezvous Pointe having their lunch there, and I asked them to come over for dinner on Thursday. It will be good to see them, since they recently got back from their snowbirding and it's been a very long time since we have visited.

On the calender for the end of the month was to call Oncology to see when they want me to come for my next CT scan. Nurse Judy had to contact Dr. Ward, and also Radiology. Before it was all scheduled and all the information organized, between us it took about seven calls. They have me down for a scan at 10 a.m. and then to see Dr. Ward at 1 p.m on Friday May 8. Even though I had a note next to the phone I forgot to ask them to renew one of my prescriptions so that was another call back. Charm has been in Jackson for doctor appointment and had stayed overnight, so I called her at the motel and asked if she would pick up the BerryLicious drink for me. She said she was doing o.k. and that she would bring the drink by to me on her way home Thursday. That saves me taking a trip up there or going extra early the 8th to get the drink. THANK YOU DEAR CHARM.

In the afternoon the man from Rocky Mountain Home came over and measured for vertical blinds for the sliding doors. With the sun having moved more north, it's really shining in hot and bright on the table just at dinner time. We might have them within a week - after I go down there and pick out which fabric and color. Don't let me procrastinate. I copied more letters into the computer until I got tired of that. Should be able to get through the rest of this batch in one more session. Eyes kept wanting to close so took a nice though short nap and warmed up some leftovers for dinner. I was ready to go to bed early.

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An enemy can take up more space in our head than a friend in our heart.

Tuesday April 28 2009

"Store" near Elkhorn Crossing .

Fallen 1

Fallen 2

Flat

A nice looking morning, clouds hanging around, still chilly. From looking at their web cams, it's snowing in Yellowstone this morning.

Scott came a little while ago to measure the back yard for gravel and will give us an estimate and show us different kinds, sizes and colors of gravel in about 2 weeks. So that's started anyway. I was disappointed that for some reason Joe has really drawn back from doing anything but very basic gravel on the ground only in the fenced in area in the back yard. We should be having Scott do the plan and estimate all at once.

My heart sank anyway and got a little riled up at him. It's a start. We can use this as a beginning and then go from there. Of course I have all these ideas I'd like to see really happen. I had hoped to have him do both front and back, get it over with and have some kind of beauty to it even though we're mainly having gravel and rocks. Scott said if we want to change it later he can pull back some of the gravel and so something different for landscaping areas. I did ask him to price us some stepping stones off the deck stairs to the gate, just as long as they are level.

Yesterday afternoon I made a batch of oatmeal cookies. Joe had his coffee this morning, and now he's gone to the post office. We haven't gotten the mail for a while and there will probably be more bills that will need to be paid. He also did some more cleaning in the yard. I did the phone bill yesterday. It helped some that the refund they gave us for the internet service being bad was deducted from this month - almost a hundred dollars. We're also both getting that one time payment from OBama on our social security.

Interesting story below, wonderful photos are different on each link.

http://www.pinedaleonline.com/news/2008/11/MongolianJournal.htm

http://www.pinedaleonline.com/news/2008/10/InaplacelikeWyominge.htm

Monday April 27 2009

Ghostly

Tom Lucas with a

"genuine replica" of a sheephorn bow.

He makes a lot of replicas and knaps arrowheads.
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Drawing the Bow - not easy

Joe went out to the ranch to feed the cat's today. He stopped at Boulder Pub on the way back and had lunch. This afternoon he took another siege at cleaning up the poo in the back yard. It's kind of a first for him to do this chore, although he did always rake the ranch yard. It's nice he's doing it, I know so I won't feel like I should be doing it. Did you know people on chemo aren't supposed to empty cat litter?

I’m feeling pretty good today. Got up earlier and cleaned the whole house, mopping, vacuuming and dusting. It looks good and glad I got it done, didn’t make me too tired either.

Then Bonnie and her new visiting teacher partner Christy came over about 10 and this is the first time for me having visiting teachers. She taught out of the Ensign magazine, which Beverly subscribes to for me and I hate to tell you the post office wouldn’t deliver/forward after 90 days. I’m pretty mad at that, because we’re also not getting Joe’s $50 TV guide either and he never knows what’s on TV for him, he can’t see the guide on the screen. We don’t get our paper either, so unless it’s on Pinedaleonline I never know what’s going on.

The snowflakes have been flying most of the day, with a brisk breeze. But the sun is also trying to shine a lot of the time. Our hot and cold running weather - springtime in Wyoming. I hope they keep watering my flower seeds and some of them come up. Scott who plowed our snow last winter, does landscaping and yard care in the summer. He called and asked if he could give us an estimate for landscaping our yard. And I said yes, he sure could. He said he could do the xeriscaping for us (fancy word for lots of gravel and some hardy shrubs). He's coming tomorrow at 10 a.m. Was thinking of calling a couple of the artist gals and having them come over to do artwork here tomorrow, but better not with Scott coming. Not too many are here right now anyway.

They told me to call them at Oncology at the end of the month, so I did that this afternoon. Judy is going to call me back tomorrow. I suppose they will have me get another scan and we'll go from there - not sure what the answer will be. The three months off treatments have sure been wonderful and it seemed like a longer time than I thought it would be.

Remember back in maybe end Feb/early March I posted pictures of Sandra's elephant pictures from her trip to the sanctuary in Thailand. Well the very old male elephant died recently. It sounds so sad. I enjoyed reading the newsletter about all their animals. If you think you would here is the link: http://elephantnaturefoundation.org/nl/2009-04/newsletter.htm .

LOVE THIS ONE:

Playwright August Wilson said, "Confront the dark parts of yourself. … Your willingness to wrestle with your demons will cause your angels to sing.

It's the birthday of Samuel F. B. Morse, born in Charlestown, Massachusetts (1791). He got the idea for an electromagnetic telegraph while on board a boat returning from Europe in 1832, and by 1835 he had a model telegraph working. He helped develop the first telegraph line in America, between Washington, D.C., and Baltimore. He tapped out the first message on May 24, 1844. It was a biblical quotation: "What Hath God Wrought?"

Sunday April 26 2009

This is a portrait of me back when by

one of my favorite teachers, Keith Ward.

Have I showed this one yet.??

I just photographed it when I was

at Beverly's in February.

He did this in perhaps two hours or so as

a demo - a 24 x 30" Oil Painting

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Another Day

14 x 17 pencil drawing

by Lynn Thomas

This photo is pretty poor - the quality of the

drawing is a lot finer than this shows.

It was reproduced on rough notepaper

and I scanned the image off the notepaper.

Still trying to scrape up photos I haven't used yet. Went to church this morning. Getting dressed and presentable and being on time is a real chore. It's very frustrating. Sat with Bonnie and her family. In Sunday School I used my new book of Scriptures for the first time. Will have to get more familiar with it, because by the time I found the passage they were discussing, they were on the next topic. Afterwards I stopped by the store for a few things - mainly some chocolate ice cream. Bonnie and Craig gave us some native grass seed to sprinkle around the yard. We're just going to have to buckle down and decide where we want grass and where we want gravel. Its a good time to get it out, because we've been having rain and snow every day. Today it was blustery and cold.

During the recent quiet days I have been working on my book, mainly by furiously typing or transcribing into the computer, letters from a friend who worked for me for three or four years. I'm about to have these finished and can send them back to her. She may (or may not) want to keep them just for the memories. I've finished two sets from other people, and have another very large collection to do next.

Last night I watched two of the movies Bonnie loaned me on the new DVD player - Louis L'Amour's The Quick and The Dead, and Thunderheart. Am enjoying them very much, as long as I can stay awake. I tend to doze and wake, and it took playing it three times for me to see all of Thunderheart. I made it through The Quick and the Dead all in one sitting. Tonight I'm going to watch Breach. And I'm about ready to go get it started. The TV in my bedroom was out of whack for more than a day, but is back on now. Figured I'd have to call tech support, but it was back on this morning. Maybe it was the storm, I don't know. The other two TVs worked fine.

Saturday April 25 2009

Bandit

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Rascal checking out the bird feeder.

l to r Rusty, Tigger, Smokey, Mom Rascal and Bandit.

I'm out of relevant current photos at the moment. Figuring I need to get a little further afield and find something new and interesting to photograph so I don't keep showing to variations of the same thing. Anyway I went looking for something else to put on the blog and one of the first things I came to was the folder "Cats". The bottom picture is my mother cat Rascal with four of her kittens Bandit disappeared about the same time as Rascal's sister Scamp. something must have gotten them both. About that time Traveler the male showed up and decided to "mostly" stay, he would come and go to and from someplace, but finally decided to stay for good. They made a wonderful family and he probably was their father. So Rusty, Rascal and Traveler were the ones trapped and taken to Twila's. Smokey, my favorite, and Tigger are the ones Joe is feeding. Bandit was sooo darling with her little dark eye and ear patches and blue eyes.

The photo of Bandit drinking is in the shed. Remember how I said Joe was giving the plumber friend fittings - those are some of them I'm sure. Hope he takes everything he could possibly use.

It started off very cloudy today and eventually began to rain or spit snow which melted right away. At the moment we have blowing small hail dancing on the windows. Bonnie said that they had snow on the ground this morning before we had anything. Joe went to coffee with the dogs. Then used the pooper scooper in the back yard for a while.

Bonnie called and came over to clean my oven. It is all sparkling clean now. THANK YOU BONNIE! You are so kind and gracious to help me. It was in bad shape. We didn't plan well enough, so it would have been better to have sprayed the cleaner in there last night. She really had a tough scrubbing job. But its done now.

After Bonnie left I took the dogs for a short walk. Sparky will run at Raven and try to bowl her over. He really got her good once and she went rolling. She's not a puppy anymore and he has to quit that. Trying to be dominant over her.

It was on this day in 1953 that Watson and Crick published the article in which they proposed the structure of DNA. The article appeared in Nature magazine, and it was only about a page long. It began, "We wish to suggest a structure for the salt of deoxyribose nucleic acid (D.N.A.). This structure has novel features which are of considerable biological interest." Their hypothesis about the double-helix structure of DNA revolutionized biology and paved the way for the field of genetics. Some science historians rank their feat with Newton describing the laws of physics.

Friday April 24 2009

Garbage Day

The garbage truck came. He even is able to close the lid back up with that mechanical arm after he dumps the trash. We both seem to be fascinated by the garbage truck. Is this the most exciting thing today? It looks like that is so. My friend Joan called from their second home in Arizona and we laughed a little and whined about getting old. They are having a good time there though. Joe went to breakfast. He takes my car on Friday so his coffee friend Ed can get in it easier than the truck. Joe picks him up. The dogs went along. Ed's kind of stove up, too many horse wrecks I suppose. Did I say it's been raining here since this morning. It's not cold enough to snow but we’re supposed to get more snow. The prediction is for some kind of moisture every day through next Tuesday - as far as the forecast went. This country can sure use the moisture. Hasn't gotten out of the 40s today. I had five or six pretty old packets of wildflower perennial seeds. Altogether it might have amounted to a tablespoon or two of seeds. So mixed them all together in a baggie and sprinkled them in the area of the front yard out near the street. There's a little native grass out there. Hopefully they will be hardy enough to sprout and bloom pretty much on their own. I doubt they get much attention. Hmmmm ..... what else!! I think I'll go watch a movie and maybe take a nap. I may or may not be back with something more interesting.

Thursday April 23 2009

Pine Street Yesterday

Our House in the Center - Yesterday

Another Panorama from the Corner Yesterday
A good one to click on to see it larger.
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To the northeast zoomed in
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We saw these three riders yesterday. Lots of

people have been using the bike path,

jogging, walking, riding bikes and even horses.

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Ruth stopped by yesterday in the midst of all the repairs going on. It was wonderful to see her and get to visit. She brought me a photo CD she made of things at the convention, including the oil painting workshop by M.C. Poulson. I haven't had a chance to look at it yet, but know I'll enjoy it. And then will pass it on to the others who didn't get to go to the convention. Thank you for your thoughtfulness, Ruth. Raven always remembers Ruth who is her "mom" even though we got her when she was about 6 weeks old. Ruth's dog Ivy is Raven's mother.

I've been walking the dogs a little more often. It's good for all of us.

Same old routine for this morning, Joe and dogs to coffee, and me getting up late and reading email and other blogs. I feel a little worn out from the last two days and also kind of grouchy or irritable. But I am so happy to have everything that has been wrong with the house all fixed up. Just looking at the windows where the two screens were torn, and to have them repaired. is really a good feeling. The kitchen sink that they replaced is much nicer. The big chips broken out of the cement in front of the garage look great now. No ugly holes in my bedroom or the untility room. So taking some deep breaths.

Started off to be a nice day but has clouded up with the wind howling like a banshee. It was in the 60s this morning. I heard snow is coming again, but not sure when it will be. That means more mud, just when the yard was drying up. We drove down into town and there was a regular dust storm, and all the flags whipping as if they would be ripped off their tethers. The sand that they sand the icy roads with was blowing everywhere. Each day you can see a stronger tinge of green, starting in the warmer spots first. The dogs don't want to go out in this wind.

Joe asked if I wanted to go to lunch so we went to the Wind River Pizzeria. We hadn't tried eating there yet. The pizza was not the most wonderful I've ever had but o.k. I doubt we go there much because Joe's not crazy about pizza. And there was a table full of oil field engineers having a very loud meeting. One bit of information was that they were drilling 1000 wells. That is just one company. A window was open and highway noise was too loud. So not the most pleasant atmosphere for lunch.

No news to speak of. I got the two books by Judith Orloff I ordered from Amazon.com a few weeks ago. Perhaps I can get a few tips about "Positive Energy", and getting to feeling a little better, maybe get some ambition back.

CAR WASH

The carwash is enlarging it's space.

Looks like maybe two new bays that will

take bigger vehicles. The tall object is

putting cement into some columns.

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Quite startling at first was the rainbow

colored stuff that they are using to

clean the cars.

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Just for the Fun of It.

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Wednesday April 22 2009

The cookie jar

Pocket Creek Pastel -
I might have shown this one earlier, but this
is a better photo of it

Another day with the builder and his crew here. I got up a little earlier than usual and made a batch of oatmeal raisin cookies and had coffee ready when they got here about nine. They came in and finished up every other thing that was on our list. Even painted three walls where there were very large paint touch up marks that were a slightly different shade than the wall in general. We could have lived with most of this stuff and could have called it minor. Howeve I can’t believe what a relief it is to have those mostly minor things taken care of. I didn’t realize how much it was bothering me to buy a new house and not have so many things properly done. Also was worried that he might be some kind of ogre/grouch and wouldn’t want to take care of most of it, and I would have to deal with him, but he was very nice and they did everything.

There are only a couple of things left that Joe is going to take care of and actually they are more major. It looks like the septic tank has settled somewhat since it was put in, low enough that snow melt water was covering the cleanout by quite a bit. Worrywort me I'm hoping the tank settling - if it did - won't affect the way it drains. Joe's been worried water was running into the tank, which wouldn't be good, but it probably wasn't. Dave the builder bought a lid and they did put that on - as it had no lid there at the above ground access - there is a lid further down on the tank itself. Joe will decide how to handle this depression and level out the yard there. Perhaps at the same time we might get some gravel hauled in for the back yard, and a bit of landscaping done.

Joe also has his plumber friend coming over and lined up a backhoe to dig the trench to put the waterline deeper - continuing it's 7' deep course - where it comes under the foundation and supplies water from the well to the house. The line should not have been raised out in the yard, but under the house after it comes in to the crawlspace. That is right where the water froze up last winter. That will be done in about a week. These two things are quite major and will be more expense. But it will be done right. The builder did a lot of things on this house like they do in California where he is from. Big mistake. That mentality is also what caused our furnace trouble.

They left about 3:30 after visiting with Joe. They were all impressed that he had been an outfitter etc etc. and they all are into hunting and outdoors things. They will take a sightseeing trip back to California. I went to the store after they left and got the car washed. It was awful with the mud, couldn't even see out the back window. Put away groceries and made us chicken fried steak for dinner.

I was pretty tired. But before I went to bed I called Beverly to thank her and Brent for the book of LDS scriptures and a microfiber bag to hold it they sent me for mother's day. It came by Fed Ex yesterday afternoon. It's a maroon leather bound book in large type (so I can read it) with King James Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price all in one volume. Very vey nice. Sounds like things are going pretty well there. She was doing her usual thing of trying to get Clayton to do his homework. And Brent had gone after work to help build a pavilion at one of the churches where they have an outdoor park for gatherings. He will do the roof.

Tuesday April 21 2009

This is the Wyoming Range which is to our West.

You can get this view from up the street.

Pine Creek runs just over the sagebrush hill.

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Here is Raven on our walk yesterday.

I mainly wanted to show you how things

are getting green here now!!

Trees and willows are still totally bare.

This was an interesting day. Warmer, but still breezy. Finished up the housecleaning and laundry which carried over from yesterday, so that is done and hope it will last for a while.

Yesterday afternoon Dave the house builder called and said he was ahead on his schedule and could be here today to start working on our punch list. I told him we would be here and to come on ahead. He has another house in Daniel, the same as ours, and was there doing their list. No, I don't know what all that one involved, but they finished it all up yesterday. He said it was a long and hard working day for them.

So he and three helpers arrived about 1 p.m. here and got right to work - one is a friend, one a nephew and one his son-in-law. So far most of the things are already corrected. They will be back tomorrow to finish the rest. We had about 30 things on our list, nothing hugely major, many just annoyances that a person could live with. They fixed plumbing in the crawl space where the condensate from the furnace in the attic had been piped down and should have been connected into the sewer system pipe, but was left to drain onto the crawl space floor - that is fixed now. They put in a new kitchen sink, which was scratched in installation - the son-in-law said he did it when he put it in. They fixed the torn screens in a jiffy. Tightened up that humongous chandelier over the dining room table and assured me it wasn't going to come crashing down. They got Joe's jacuzzi tub going - wiring had come loose, and he thought probably it wasn't hooked up right at the factory. One of them fixed that ugly hole where the TV wiring comes in in my bedroom putting on a receptacle. They got paint which Pinedale Lumber was able to match to the walls to touch up three walls that had places that didn't match the original wall color. He put some on the wall to cover one of the spots and it looks better, will see when it dries if it matches. If it is still noticeable they will paint the whole walls.

Tomorrow the biggest thing is they will work on that septic tank outlet that I put the photo of on the other day and get a drain for the water, and put some gravel in there and fill it so the ground is level. They will paint the walls, fix holes in the drywall and paint those repairs, fix some cracked cement in the garage, glue and nail some rug molding down, look at all the electrical outlets, fix a can light that doesn't work - there's more I can't think of offhand. Surely they will be here most of the day to get the rest of it done. In the meantime we got a little acquainted. They are are all very nice. Joe was able to personally ask him all the questions that he has had and got the answers.

Dave and his family lived here in a trailer while he built the house. His daughter was pregnant and started getting sick. She and the son-in-law flew home and turned out that she had a brain tumor. It wasn't malignant, but very dangerous for both of them, the drs. didn't expect the baby would live. Sounded like such a scary story, but she and the baby are fine now. The baby's first birthday is tomorrow. So many people having such terrible difficulties.

So that was our day. We went to the Chinese restaurant for dinner. I'm kind of wired tonight. Joe fell asleep in the chair, well that's nothing new though. At least he can sleep good. I sure keep noticing that I feel a lot better when things are going on and people are around.

Betty called and a friend of hers is a missionary in Africa. Her father passed away and they lived in Cedar City which isn't far from Mesquite, so Betty is going up there tomorrow to go to the funeral and take some pictures for her friend, who can't come from Africa now. The rest of the story is that our other high school friend Nancy who is from Coos Bay OR is down visiting her sister in Caliente, also near Mesquite, and she and her sister will drive over to Cedar City to have lunch with Betty. I will be envious not to be there with them, but Betty will fill me in.

Monday April 20 2009

Switchbacks on the Road to Red Lodge

coming down off the Beartooth Plateau

Beartooths - see the little bitty people


Beartooth Lake - stuck two photos together in a panorama
I wanted to do a painting of this.
Click on these to see them all better.

Lazy morning. Sunny and warmer, but windy again. Tried to call Lois but she was out. Tried to call Nancy Jellico and didn't connect with her either. Hope she's doing o.k. Joe went to coffee. Raven wouldn't go with him today. She does that every once in a while. Sparky wouldn't miss it I had my small breakfast, yogurt and a leftover biscuit with tea.

Joe's getting prepared to go out and use the new pooper scooper in the yard. It sure needs it after all winter of not being able to get out there. Even the dogs don't seem to want to go out there now. The funniest thing though. You saw the picture of Joe's overshoes with the mud and hay on them laying on the steps of the deck. They scared the dogs nearly to death wondering what in the world they were - they'd never been there before. I stood at the door watching them and just laughing at them crouching and eyeing them, and trying to get the smell of them. Funny boys. I'm going to take them for another walk, just so they don't have to go in the back yard too much and get their feet muddy.

Last night for a while I was going through old photos trying to find a certain one. Never did. But looked at the pictures I took last time we went over the Beartooth Highway, and picked out a few for today. Don't have much new lately, so thought these might be interesting. It's a beautiful place.

If anything interesting happens I might be back later.

Sunday April 19 2009

Here's the septic cleanout (top) just after the large snowdrift which covered the back yard all winter has mostly melted away. You bet - this is on the list of things that need to be fixed by the builder. It had no cover so Curtis put the piece of plywood over it when we moved in. Joe put his overboots on and went out this afternoon and dug the approximately foot deep ditch that you see from the cleanout toward the fence. It did tire him out. The puddle covered most of that part of the yard before he dug the ditch. See where it is wet near the bottom of the photo, there was water up there and back toward the deck steps. It has been standing water on both ends of the yard as the drift melted and I've particularly wondered whether the uneveness which is allowing the water to lay there is going to affect the house, as whether it will settle with that kind of wetness. And whether the septic "elements" are weathering this o.k. or not.

Yesterday Joe went to the ranch early in the morning. He said everything is fine there. In the afternoon Bonnie and Craig came over and brought me a very nice gift from Nancy, a small DVD player. Craig hooked it up for me. We tried to get it to go on the big screen TV in the living room, but for reasons too long to write, it wouldn't work. So we put it on the small TV in my bedroom and it hooked right up. He showed me how to drive the three remotes it takes and now I can watch DVD movies! They stayed for dinner and we had tamales and tacos. It was really enjoyable having them with us. We called Nancy so I could thank her, and had a nice visit with her. They might be back here sometime in May, depending on the weather and we have a date to get together. Thank you for your kindness, Nancy.

I went to church this morning and was a tad late again. Woke up in good time but seemed not to be able to stay awake, fell back asleep until I just had time to get ready and be there. This was the best session, or my favorite anyway, since I started going. Well, how many have I been to now? Four or five? I came home from there and Joe had already eaten a bowl of cereal for lunch. So I fixed a ham sandwich. That and a cup of yogurt was all I had all day until dinner. Boy my stomach was growling in Sunday School.

I checked email and got very sleepy again so went and took a nap, then watched a very interesting program on the education channel about a murder trial in Idaho where Clarence Darrow? was the defending lawyer - the lawyer who later defended the teacher in "The Monkey Trial". It was about the miners union around the turn of the century and a lot of the history of the event, violence, murder and terrorism, and people involved. Many great old photos. Fascinating. The trial lasted two and a half months, and mostly farmers were the jury. They acquitted the defendant because Darrow cast doubt on the main witness and that was all it took; they couldn't convict him. The whole country was spellbound by the newspaper accounts the entire time and I could see why.

Took the dogs for a walk and although it was nearly 55 degrees, I still needed the down coat on and the hood on my head because the wind was blowing pretty hard. It actually whistled around my hood, in fact. But "The Boys" sure enjoyed the outing, so it was worth it. Raven is being so good about not going around the neighbor's houses when I call her. Back she comes happy and smiling. She may partly be trying it so she will be told she's such a good girl when she turns around and comes away from the yards. Soon after I got in, Betty called and we talked as usual for over an hour. Then dinner time. I noticed the taco leftovers weren't near as enjoyable as they were last night with Bonnie and Craig. And guess what..... Here it is 8:30 p.m. two days later and I haven't called Lois back yet. Or is it three days now?

Saturday April 18 2009

Red Sky at Night, Sailor's Delight

Sunset Last Night
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Betty's Springtime Yard.

This is Part of Betty's Yard in Mesquite.

We are in the decision process of trying to decide what to do with our muddy and barren yard and not have to water or mow grass in summer when we want to be at the ranch. Gravel and rocks are sounding pretty good. Maybe a few shrubs or perennials. We HAVE to improve the mud situation so we and the dogs can walk out there.

Talked to Beverly for a while last night. We're both looking forward to when she comes up. Also Lois called me yesterday - speak of the angel - and said they had gotten home the day before. I have to call her back today because when she called I was just leaving for the store. Went to quickly print out a copy of the punch list, and wouldn't you guess when I'm in a hurry to get to the courthouse before it closed, the printer ran out of ink. Changed the cartridges and got my copy. Then jumped into the car and got the property taxes paid. And lucky that I went down there instead of mailing it because the clerk put the payment on the ranch instead of Arrowhead Ave. and then we would have been delinquent here - although I'm sure they check the legal location - right?

Got another fax of the punch list off to the builder at Office Outlet. While I was in there, although my brain was saying don't spend the money now, I bought two books ..... Ann Noble's "Pinedale" (historic photos of town), and Helena Linn's "Winter in the Bunkhouse". Helena took some of her inspiration from the locales around our place on Muddy and the history there. We took a few exploring trips when she was in the thinking stages of the book. Anyway she gave me a nice signed copy and some time back I gave it away and said I'd buy another one, so finally have it now. Also got the groceries, home and put them away. Made us baked chicken fingers for dinner, recipe was edible but not too good. I won't try that again. Should have friend them.

My morning started off irritatingly. For breakfast I decided to make cream of wheat in the microwave and while it was cooking - couldn't stand to just stand there - thought I'd organize the spice containers in the cabinet right next to the microwave. Involved in that and the cereal boiled all over creation and my 3 minute meal made such a mess it took about 15 minutes to clean up. By then breakfast and tea were cold and I started over. Hope the whole day doesn't go like that.

Its very sunny, blue skies, almost 50 degrees when I woke up!! and the wind is howling. If this keeps up as it's supposed to for the rest of the week, that drift might be gone in a week or so and the back yard dry enough I can give the new pooper scooper a trial run. Wheeeee! Have been seeing the deer around us often, as many as a dozen at a time crossing the lot in back. And watched cranes flying overhead this morning.

So one of the first things is to call Lois back. I don't know what else the day might bring. Maybe straighten up "my studio" instead of leaving it be a dumping ground. And put on some new nail polish.

Cousins Iris and Peggy called from GA, remember this is the time they invited me to come there, and they were on their way to Blue Ridge for a couple of days. Said they were having a good time and staying super busy. So hope they have a wonderful visit there with all the Thomas relatives.

This morning I got curious about Bluetooth and what it is, what it does, since this laptop has it and don't have a clue what to do with it. Thought I'd google it and this came up in Wiki. Much info went on for many pages. Anyway I know a little more than I did. Thought this part about King Harald and the logo was probably the most interesting: The word Bluetooth is an anglicized version of Old Norse Blátönn or Danish Blåtand, the name of the tenth-century king Harald I of Denmark and Norway, who united dissonant Scandinavian tribes into a single kingdom. The implication is that Bluetooth does the same with communications protocols, uniting them into one universal standard.[1][2][3].Origin of the Bluetooth logo: The Bluetooth logo design merges the Germanic runes analogous to the modern Latin letters H and B: (for Harald Bluetooth) (Hagall) and (Berkanan) merged together, forming a bird rune. Etc. Etc. Etc. Went on longer than eventually I cared to read.

Friday April 17 2009

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR LOIS

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

Lois and Bud have been snowbirding around the southwest this winter and haven't seen her for months now. They should be home soon. Lois has been an inspiration to me. She is always cheerful and smiling. She is a precious friend.
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Earlier I wrote we were off to Cody, but ..... guess what..... I called Ruth last night and said I wouldn't go. Sigh. By the time I organized and cleaned to get stuff ready to leave and have Joe be o.k. while I was gone, I was really tired. And hadn't packed yet. Although that's probably not the best condition in which to make a decision I was so tired and not feeling the greatest I decided not to do it. That's how I get to feeling in the afternoon, pain and no ambition (the pain pills help that so it shouldn't be an excuse). Actually it's probably more the arthritis they tell me I have than the cancer symptoms. I didn't want to experience the convention that way. It is, or can be if you let it, very intense, lots of activities packed into a couple of days plus the driving. So I thought it wasn't the best idea for me to go and have others feeling they needed to do for me. Which they would. I don't feel a bit bad about not going except for an inkling of missing the Vic Payne sculpture workshop. I seem to be enjoying just being at home where it's calm and serene and relaxing. So ..... everyone is gone but me.

Saw some sunshine early this morning but it's back very cloudy now, just about freezing. This weekend is supposed to turn really nice. We've still got snow on the ground but it will melt now.

Joe went to his weekly breakfast out. I didn't grocery shop yesterday so probably will go do that in a little while. Did get things caught up yesterday including cleaning out the fridge. That feels nice. I did up the laundry, and even though I tried to be careful not to do this AGAIN washed something with kleenex in the pocket and bits were all over everything. Mopped up the dogs muddy footprints so floor is clean at the moment. The pooper scooper that Debbie ordered for us from PetSmart came yesterday. We will be able to put it to good use when that drift in the back goes away.

The builder called yesterday and said he would have his crew here to fix everything on on list next Thursday. Hopefully it won't be too much of an invasion but that everything will be done properly. He's going to call back and verify it on Wednesday. We got the bill for the new house property taxes so I want to go down to the county treasurer's office and pay that.

Beverly called the other day and she's going to come up about the middle of May. We can take a little driving trip then and she can take care of me. She's been wanting to see Devil's Tower and I've only been there once. Maybe we'll also go to Mt. Rushmore and see more of Eastern Wyoming.

When events do not turn out as I planned, I don't let myself become bogged down in disappointment or allow my enthusiasm to wane. I turn my perspective around so that I see things in a new way and celebrate the good that is always there for me. At each crossroad, I know the path I take leads to blessings ahead. Turning around to face my good, I realize that what might have at first discouraged me will prove to be the dawning of a greater, more fulfilling experience. ~ Unity Daily Word ~ (Thank you Jackie)

Thursday April 16 2007

Ruth with Grandson Patrick.

We're going to Cody together.

We used to do a lot of this, so it's going to be

a lot of fun to be with Ruth for the weekend.

Jody is going along with us too.

Bonnie, I got the suitcase out, and started organizing a few clothes to decide what to take this weekend. I'm thinking about taking the pastels, BUT NO MORE THAN THAT. Except maybe the little Cottman watercolor set and a pad of paper. I keep looking around the walls to see which paintings I could take that haven't been shown yet even though I told myself I wasn't going to take any. We all used to load our whole studio into the back of the car, but we were a lot younger and stronger then.

The Street

How Much Snow Was There?

Up to Her Eyeballs

You WANT Us To Come in..... RIGHT??

Opened the blind today and there was a bunch new snow out there. The storm was just finishing up and there's a few patches of blue sky, but the other direction very gray and dark. It's melting fast today. So far not windy. Need to check the weather report again so we know about getting out on the road tomorrow.

Am doing another load of laundry. Later I'll go to the store and fax James' version of the house punch list to the builder. Joe's taken the dogs and gone to coffee. That's about all there is to report for now.

Today I reminded Joe about measuring the deck so Curtis could get the railing materials. Joe said he didn't want the deck railing on yet, because "some day" he might want to put a roof over the deck and then would have to tear the railing down. So ..... Guess that's one thing not to worry about. Surprised me! I guess it's o.k. the way it is. I suppose we won't go out there much anyway. Maybe just sit in a lawn chair every once in a while. I'm actually surprised how interested he does seem in fixing things up around the place and wanting to work on projects. That's good I guess.

Wednesday April 15 2009

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happy tax day

green for the color of money!

and hoping to get some of it back.

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Sunlit Sorrels

24 x 36 Oil Painting

by Lynn Thomas

Some of our horses napping in the field.

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I made a carrot pineapple cake today.

Another slow and quiet day. I opted out of going to the Wednesday painting group, mostly because I wasn't even ready to leave until after 10 and what's the point of going then when its half over. Called Debbie, she was getting ready to go to lunch with a friend, so just talked for a minute. So have kept myself busy around the house. Joe wanted to go down to the brew pub for lunch. Guess he was hungry. He had fish and chips, and I had really good chicken noodle soup.

When we got home I got in the mood to cook and baked some chocolate chip cookies. Also needed to do something with the leftover ham. So made a new recipe for potatoes, ham and cheese baked with bread crumbs on top. It was a nice change from my usual scalloped potatoes and ham. And also fixed the breaded eggplant that I make once in a while. Then also made a carrot pineapple cake from a recipe I got off the internet and used more of that fresh pineapple. I changed a few things to make it a little healthier - half whole wheat and only half the amount of oil by adding applesauce for the remainder and left out 1/3 the sugar. Joe liked it. It turned out pretty good, although a slight bit dry. At least it wasn't heavy and oily. Kept telling myself it would be a good time to invite someone over to eat with us, but I don't like to wait til just a few hours before dinner to ask anyone, so in the end waited so long that it really was too late and didn't.

Ruth called me and we got a plan for this weekend - going over to Cody for the Wyoming Artists Assn. Convention. Will see how I'm feeling by then. Jody is coming up tomorrow and going with us too. She invited us to stay with her at her friend’s house there. I think I’ll be comfortable in the friends home – better than a motel. I’m going very light with suitcase and supplies if any. Won’t do the quick draw, because I don’t think I can work fast enough with anything but oils and I just don’t want to carry that much heavy stuff. I’m not even sure if I’ll take paintings to enter in the shows. I plan to take the sculpture class from Vic Payne since he’s so well known, and all the supplies are furnished. I like to do sculpture. We’re going to leave from here on Friday morning if South Pass is o.k. and later if its not. We can look at the South Pass web cams on the internet. Sounds like the weekend should be good. Kay and maybe Wanda are going in Kay’s car and staying in Powell (nearby town) with Kay's dtr. Charm is going to their relative’s wedding down in Colorado. I’m kind of looking forward to it, but told Ruth I might back out if I’m not doing good that day. The weekend has a good weather forecast. We'll be back Sunday. So I may miss some blogs.

This morning I was surprised to pull up the window shade and see it dry and sunny after that ominous forecast for a storm. Nothing has happened during the day either except awful wind and clouding up about noon. It was terrible in Salt Lake pouring rain there.

I heard this on a news show on TV - maybe you did too - that one of the popular new styles is faux ho. I think it's disgusting and if anything goes broke I hope that's one enterprise that does. Are we supposed to rush out and buy this stuff? And what about the young kids thinking this is an o.k. thing.

It's the birthday of Leonardo da Vinci, born in Vinci, Italy (1452), the man who painted "The Last Supper" and the "Mona Lisa." He was a painter, sculptor, scientist, inventor, and philosopher. He studied anatomy on decaying corpses so he would be able to accurately paint and sculpt human bodies. He did studies on plants, animals, architecture, geometry, bridges, canals, floating devices, bicycles, flying machines, weapons, and more. He sketched ideas for hundreds of inventions, including an underwater breathing device and shoes that would make it possible to walk on water