Tuesday March 27 2007

Big Kahuna and Queen of the Hill Today

Utah news is saying cold front and big snow on Tuesday. I knew winter couldn't be over yet. So far very windy and still warmer than would be seasonal. Maybe we will get some moisture in the next few days.

The drifts are still decreasing. Maybe in a couple more days I can get the SUV out of the garage.

Yesterday Joe put his snowmachines away for the season, running the gas out and storing them out of the way.I cleaned up the cat poo in the shed (dirt floor). Much better now for people and cats both. I like to use the Arm and Hammer pet deoderant, it works great to sprinkle on the ground and it lasts a long time. Got the garbage barrels burned. Changed sheets and did laundry. I raked in the yard for a while getting maybe 1/4 of the back done. Its nice to be outside working again. I bet if I went outside today and threw the pile of leaves up in the air the wind would totally blow them away and I wouldn't have to haul the piles off.

I'm a bad granny, getting really terrible about procrastinating stuff and now have not gotten my grandson Justin's birthday card into the mail - his birthday is over. They had a family barbeque for his day. Lucky Debbie mentioned it because I just don't even look at my card date book any more. I'll send it late.

In the afternoon I went to see if my ATV would start. YES!! It started right up. I still can't figure why I had such a hard time with it starting last spring. The dogs and I went out for a little ride. They jumped right in the creek for a swim, and also got to chase a couple of rabbits. Happy dogs. Wet, muddy, dirty dogs, but happy. They will sleep good tonight.

My friend Betty in Mesquite, called me both Saturday and Sunday to discuss planning our time together when I go to Nevada. We are in the midst of planning my vacation. I'll go down before the end of April. My daughter Debbie and Curtis have invited me to go on an ATV camping trip near Caliente and Meadow Valley Wash with them, and I'm really excited about that. I asked Debbie if I could meet them in Caliente instead of driving down into Las Vegas this time (Caliente is not far from Mesquite where I'll be visiting Betty). Nothings's set for sure yet because I need to be sure to see all my family and my grandkids too. Beverly and her family are going to DisneyWorld right then so hope there will be a time to see them.

It's our 50th high school reunion year, although there is no official reunion for us we want to get together with some of our "old" friends. Nancy's (coming from Oregon) sister lives in Caliente, and Nancy will be visiting her there. Betty wants to go to Caliente too. One of the other gals, Linda, has been working on the NTS Museum (DOE) in Las Vegas and we thought we'd like to see that perhaps. Maybe Pat will also come down from Bend, and there are a few other friends still living in the area that we hope to see too. Will get the dates set first. Then maybe Betty and I will take a driving vacation - So. Utah? No. Arizona? SW Colorado?? One thought is to ride on the Durango and Silverton Railroad. I told Joe today I was going. He seemed more sad about it than usual, but he will be fine. Read that, he doesn't want to do his own cooking!

Remnant of Big Kahuna

Monday March 26 2007

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Barney - sketch by Lynn Thomas

done with a carpenter's pencil

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A few paragraphs from a story about Barney,

My Faithful Friend

(entry inspired by Gizmo's recent adventure

see the fortmeyer.blogspot.com link)

Barney got acquainted with the wildlife in many different ways. First was the doe antelope who obviously had a new fawn over in the brush next to the irrigation ditch at the ranch. I was leaning on my shovel at the headgate while Barney was taking his usual investigative swing out through the sagebrush when one of the resident does ran chasing him back towards me, through the fence, with sharp hooves flying. She stood several yards away and stomped and snorted - at me! Not at him - as if to tell me to keep my damn dog over there where he belonged! I wasn't sure I wouldn't have to use the shovel in self-defense.

There were skunks and porcupines with the usual results - baths in tomato juice and getting quills out of his nose and mouth with pliers. I felt terrible when I sent him out of the cabin one night to chase away some "small" creature that was scuffling around the door, and it was a porcupine. The funniest acquaintance came soon after we went to the mountains and he and I were taking a walk through the pines and aspens with a misty spring rain falling. He was out ahead of me when I heard a great crashing and thrashing in his direction. He came running toward me, and I burst out laughing because his eyes were as big as saucers. He had a split lip. I knew he was saying, "You never told me there were things like that out here". I'm sure he had come across a moose bedded down. And I'm grateful it went the other way instead of following Barney like the antelope doe had.

One by one he met each animal. He was kind and respectful and seldom chased wildlife. Except the squirrels. He and the squirrels continually vied for the leftover pancakes set out on the back porch every morning. Even though he didn't want them, he didn't want the squirrels to have them either. Squirrels were always fair game for chasing, but I never saw him catch one.

Sunday March 25 2007

We had an interesting happening this morning. After breakfast there was a phone call and a man asked if this was Lynn Thomas, yes, and he said my name is John Boulter. Of course I recognized the name because we live on the old John and Lillian Boulter homestead. They were out on the road calling on a cell phone and wanted to know if they could come and see the place. He was old John Boulter's great nephew and his son Casey was with him. Casey oversees a ranch on the Green River and his hobby is running sled dogs. John is from Utah. We had a nice visit and showed him around where all the old buildings used to be. I showed him photos Verla had given me taken in the 1930s. So I decided to to scan the photos and show them to you today. It needed to be done anyway to save them in the computer. Another learning process working in a new area of the scanner program.

Their family is having a reunion in Pinedale on Memorial Day and they would like to bring some of the family out to see the place that Saturday. I told them it would be fine.

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The caption on the back of this photo reads: Ruth Boulter about 1939. Shows the old barn that we took down on the left, corrals and chicken house. They drilled the well in about '33 or '34, its the well we still use. After M. Johnson proved up on his homestead they brought his cabin over here and built the second house onto it, combined with part of the first big house.

Boulter Place taken in 1929 or 30 looking southeast toward The Butte you see in many of my photos. Notice Bessie, Ethel, Ruth Boulter in the center on the fence. Chicken house, outhouse, shop and first house. Taken standing on a shed that was behind about where our barn is now. The small log building was the first one built here. They lived in it while they built the log house. John Boulter's mother homesteaded here. Verla thinks Morris Johnson built the house.

Etheyl Boulter, Verla Richie, Ruth Boulter, Jep Richie, Bessie Boulter about 1936. This was the second house. This was the kitchen. A living room and 3 bedrooms were on the left. This was combined from part of the old house and Morris Johnson's cabin. The kitchen was the kitchen of the old house. This house was here when Joe's dad bought the ranch in 1949 (about 1400 acres) from John Boulter. They lived in it until the house we live in now was built. Joe said the cracks between the logs were so big that their beds would be covered with snow in the morning.

I didn't see the old house and they had just torn it down the spring that I came here so it sat there for 20 more years. All the buildings and corrals were hauled to a huge wood pile we have near the gate. We've always been going to burn it but its so big we're afraid to set it on fire now. The haystack and the horse shed are nearby too.

1933 Bessie, Ruth and Ethyl Boulter with Muddy Canyon in the background. Dogs are pulling the little sled. Shows the outhouse (which is the one that is in our back yard -the only remnant of the old place left standing - I use it for a garden shed) and the barn. There are horses and cattle on a feed line in the background.

Ethyl and her husband came to visit us about 10 years ago. They lived on a farm in Kansas at that time. It was fun to meet them. I've also gone back and visited the house I liked best twice where we lived in California, so understand how people feel about visiting their roots.

The kids went to school together at a one room log schoolhouse that sat near our front gate. It was still standing when I first came here. There is a lot of history in our neighborhood, a land where the Indians lived, exploration and the fur trade era, the Lander Cutoff of the Oregon Trail goes past here, and the Homesteading Days....births, life stories, deaths, even murders.

A thought occured to me as I was putting the photos into the blog. Ruth, Bessie and Ethyl never would have imagined in the 1930s that their pictures and home would be on the world wide web 70 years later. What a concept.

This is the woodpile where all the old buildings and corrals have been taken.

Saturday March 24 2007

Sage Grouse On The Desert

What a lovely day its been. Made Joe homemade waffles, bacon and grapefruit for breakfast. Its the waffle recipe from a Spry cookbook my mother used to make us when we were kids. If you remember Spry you're at least as old as me.

I still can't believe how quickly and early spring arrived. Every day the country looks greener. Next Joe will be out dragging the field and getting ready to irrigate. Its another lovely morning. Not sure what I'll do today, but work on my WAOW job for sure. A little housecleaning maybe?Betty called and we had a nice visit. We're making plans for my vacation down to Nevada this spring.

Very soon I will need to go out and begin a big transplanting job I have planned. I have to take all the flowers and plants out of the back yard and put them somewhere if I'm to save them, I don't know exactly where yet. I had lovely flower beds in back, always have, but put cottonwood trees there years ago and now the shade and roots have taken over the whole space. My vegetable garden was there in the first place and lost that. I've been gradually reducing the flowers and this is the year they will all come out. I envision a large area in the front corner with stepping stones to get through it. There is rather sparse wild grass and weeds in there now. If I were to water that would get thicker. I would love a greenhouse, but am not in to it that much any more, lots of work. It's probably not safe to think about flowers for all my pots for a while yet, they will freeze.

Joe has started liking fruit smoothies. Astonishing, isn't it. I've made them for myself for years, usually replacing a meal. And, although invited, he would never touch them. So not so long ago I had some leftover and just handed him a glass. Of course it was "What's This!!"..... And he liked it!! So now every day or so he wants one. This is a very good thing, and a pleasant way to get fresh fruit into him - both of us actually. I also put lecithin and wheat germ in it and the base I use has lots of vitamins.

Friday March 23 2007

A Well Deserved Rest

24x36 Oil Painting

The horse in this painting belongs to one of my neighbors and the location is on their nearby (well, relatively nearby - 12 miles south) ranch. They run a very big sheep outfit. This horse is one of the pack horses and carries the camp into the mountains always going along with the herd and the sheepherders. They were a common sight when I lived in the mountains. It's late fall, the sheep are on their winter pastures, his work is done until spring. He's enjoying his well deserved rest.

Today is another beautiful sunny day with a breeze. There are even some bugs flying against the windows. Seems early for that. We got a few sprinkles of rain in the afternoon. The grass in the yard has a definite tinge of green in the last three days. The snow is all about gone off the fields, only a few white spots that are the remnants of the deepest drifts. The back yard and corrals are another matter. Although perhaps reduced by half, there are still very deep piles of snow especially in the corrals. Like my friend Judy said the other day, the drifts are leaking out the bottom.

There was essentially no runoff. The snow and ice kind of morphed to water in the lowest spots and laid there lazy-like down below the creek banks, and everywhere else the moisture just sank right into the ground, so the country is already drying up. Its a big difference from the years when the runoff takes out all the culverts and carves trenches across the roads so deep you can't get across. We have been marooned in here several times until Muddy Creek went down and someone came with a backhoe to fill up the hole.

The horses seem to be enjoying the sunshine. They are going down into the slough and drinking from the creek instead of coming into the corral. They are beginning to shed their winter coats.

Most of yesterday I worked on my WAOW job. Now I wonder what did I do? I must have been still recuperating from the trip to Rock Springs. My job right now is to create wording for a new membership level structure, adding a couple of categories. This will be voted on (hopefully approved) and go into the bylaws which are being revised. There are three of us on the committee. There has already been much discussion by email to determine how the board wants the changes to incorporate the new levels. The message board is an interesting way to have a meeting and we can live anywhere and still do the group's business.

Yesterday Joe had to go to town for his protime test and had lunch in there. He picked up my prescription for me, which was down to 3 pills. I'm glad I don't have to go in for that. Made chicken fried steak for dinner. I got the recipe from one of the best cooks in town, at the Patio Restaurant. He didn't seem to mind at all giving it to me. And after running the cafe all their lives, they soon sold their business. So I'm glad to know how to prepare chicken fried steak according to Billy. He cooked and Annette baked all the pies and ran the place. It was the cleanest place in town. She was always cleaning and setting up new flowers and decorations. It has a counter with stools in the front room with a 50s diner flair and it probably hasn't changed since then. There are a lot of trophy fish, big mackinaw trout, from the nearby lakes on the wall. Sliding glass doors fill the whole back wall, and there is a cozy patio yard creating a nice view from the dining room. The Patio is Joe's favorite place to eat, and that's the first place I ever ate in Pinedale when I first came here.

Thursday March 22 2007

Muddy Speedway

We're back and the trip went fine. The roads are all clear and dry now. Driving was fine except it seemed there was a lot more oil field traffic than last week. We took the dogs. They were very good, and took us for plenty of walks.

On the way out the Muddy Speedway you drive right through the middle of a sage grouse lek. The birds were there dancing and strutting in the early dawn. It was a special gift to see them and I received it with joy in the coming spring. They are awesome to watch.

Seemed like two very long days. I feel like we've been gone a week. As predicted it did rain, but always when we were in somewhere and wet when we came out. Joe's laser surgery went really well. We learned more about his eye problems from the Dr. His dry macular degeneration is doing o.k. at present. Joe calls it his molecular disintegration. He got a different prescription for another new pair of glasses, (we just both got new ones about 3 months ago). We saw some friends from Pinedale in the eye doctor's office. Hank had driven Jim down for the laser treatment. Seems like everyone we know goes to this doctor. Sublette County doesn't have a resident eye doctor. Dr. Jensen goes to Pinedale to see his patients there once a month. So Joe's checkup will be there in June.

After lunch at the China Buffet and ordering his glasses Joe went to the motel to watch basketball and I went to Walmart, Penneys and Home Depot. It was a shopping marathon. When I came back Joe got everything in the back of the truck under the tarp and tied down and lucked out that no one stole it during the night. We went next door to the Kentucky Fried Chicken/Long John Silvers for dinner because it was easy.

Joe slept great but I bet I didn't sleep 2 hours the night we were in the motel. Gave myself a manicure and pedicure while I wasn't sleeping, so that is finally done and feels lots better. Got the cold things the second day after Joe's 9 a.m. checkup. We had good Mexican food for lunch on Wednesday and headed home. The ice cream place at Farson has been closed so no cones. Even the dogs know where the ice cream is. So we're stocked up again. Took forever to get it all put away. For once I got nearly everything on my list. We're all glad to be home. Have had house cleaning to catch up and almost 100 emails to do something with and more coming in all the time.

Now with this pet food recall I'm trying to figure out what is o.k. or not to feed the dogs and cats. Think I'll stick with their dry food for a while til they get it all straightened out. I checked the websites and I have some Western Family which is what they sell at Falers. The numbers don't match the lists so I suppose its safe but don't want to take any chances. I'll probably take it back to the store or throw it out. There was no canned cat or dog food for sale in Walmart. It just makes me sick to think of the pets that may die. Now they are saying its rat poison.

The book I got in the mail a few days ago is "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. He's from Columbia and the book won the Nobel Prize. So when I saw it on Amazon.com I thought maybe I should read it. I took it to Rock Springs and am really enjoying it, one of those I can't put down. I like it especially for the great way he words his phrases and the story is very imaginative. I've been buying some Nobel and Pulitzer prize winners etc. lately thinking before I get too old I should read some "great" literature. Most are too dense for me, hard to read. I'm plugging along on another one now. "The Known World", so far its pretty boring but did win a Pulitzer prize so maybe it will get better. Must be my non-education that I don't get these prize winners. I really love a good book. My usual reading is Art and Western History, plus I like true adventures better than novels.

Doc's cows came over on Tuesday. Its about a 10 mile or so cattle drive. I didn't see them get here this time, but lately they've been riding ATVs instead of their horses. Guess I can't blame them, but its sure not as romantic or pretty to watch. Now they come over and feed them every morning. The Richie cows came over today. They drive them on this leg about 15 miles. The weather is good right now for new calves. Another sad note (to me) is that they aren't using their big Percheron teams to feed with from the old stacks of loose hay, but have a huge fancy new tractor with an automatic big bale feeder. The times are a-changin'.

The husband of one of my very dear friends passed away on Sunday. They and Joe and I have gotten together as often as we could through the years. I just found out last night.

Wednesday March 21 2007

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Joe Turning the Snowmachine Around in the Garage

With a Dolly - Wonderful Invention

A Christmas Gift from the Kids a While Back

They are Backbreaking to Turn by Pulling Them

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Joe Taking Ice Off Roof

Earlier This Year

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