Wednesday May 9 2007

Phlox

Buttercups

Nothing exciting to report. It was a beautiful day, but got quite windy. Richies branded their calves today. Up pretty early and drove to town about 10 a.m. It's noticeably greener as you go toward town. But we will catch up soon. We're always a few weeks behind Pinedale. Stopped at the Boulder P.O. to buy stamps and mail my meeting invitations. Said hi to the friends in the P.O. Can't believe there will be another postage rate hike starting Monday.

Took in the recycling from about the last 6 weeks. The recycling center is looking better than it has for a while. It has been a mess lately. Picked up my new artwork from the framer and love the way she framed them, Joe got oil filters. He needs to change the oil in the old Chevy. Had lunch at the Chinese Gourmet - very good and they give you too much. We walked the dogs and they got leftover lunch. Next went to Joe's Dr. appointment. He is trying a new medication and we all hope it helps his dizziness. Then shopped for the groceries and got gas. Drove back home - stopping on the way to drop off the egg cartons I save for Cami. She has chickens and I don't even like to throw egg cartons away so she can put them to good use. She also has a lot of ducks and geese.

Joe wanted Hot German Potato Salad for dinner, so that was fairly easy. Cousin Iris called back and she and cousin Peggy will come to the ranch for a visit toward the end of the month. It's been a while since they have been here now. I'm feeling tired so think I'll just watch some TV and go to bed early. Joe's already asleep in his chair "watching" basketball. Joe goes back in the morning for a haircut and I'll pack for my weekend trip. I'm going to practice "going light". I'll let you know how I do with that exercise in futility.

Tuesday May 8 2007

Electricians Put in A New Electric Meter

Today the electricians came back and put in a new electric meter for us. They came last Tuesday but it was raining that morning so they didn't stay and do the work. Today hey got here about 7:30 and the power was off for several hours. Got breakfast over with fortunately before they got here. Bleeped my computer off before I realized they were turning it off. I had saved 3 big buckets of water for whatever, flushing the toilet etc. but never even had to use it. I didn't go out there to check out what the meter looks like yet except from a distance.

The power meter reader drives up to the front gate and never gets out of the truck - reads the meter with a spotting scope. Vicious dogs, you know. It looks like it's turned about 90 degrees away from facing the gate, so it will be interesting to see how they read the meter now! It will also be interesting to see if our bill changes any. It has been fluctuating quite a bit from month to month. So that was our excitement for today.

I just wish Joe had been agreeable to putting the power line underground in the yard and gotten rid of that stupid pole in the middle of the yard and right in front of the garages - an accident waiting to happen. He also didn't take my suggestion of having them put a motion sensor yard light on the pole either. Of course, what do I know. ....Except that I'm tired of walking around with a flashlight when its pitch black out and I have to go outside.

What a beautiful day we had. And looks like it will stay warm and nice for some time. Had some nice phone visits today. And got a whole bunch of my photos sorted and filed away. Had let that go way too long, but this is the first I've sat down to do it. I got the bills paid - banking on line. I sure like that way of paying the bills. Tomorrow we go back to Pinedale for another Dr. appointment for Joe. It has to do with changing some of his medicine. I'll go out to the framers and pick up my artwork while we are in town. I need to fill up with gas for the trip to Riverton this weekend too.

Today I spent the afternoon and evening sorting, filing and labeling all the pictures I've taken for a couple of months. I actually quite enjoyed doing it, and it feels good to have that done. My program didn't want to start again when I stuck the card in, but after many tries it did work. I printed out the invitations for the SCAG business meeting here on the 24th, and got those addressed to mail. They will go out tomorrow.

Power Guy in a Bucket

He didn't invite me for a ride.

Monday May 7 2007

Foggy Morning

Very beautiful foggy morning. Even the grass is frozen gray. After breakfast I took the dogs for a walk and did some photography. Mostly of the foggy hills and the spring wildflowers. The flowers are very stunted and sparse. I hope this bit of moisture helps them. It turned mostly sunny and warm later.

Remember I said there was a pair of hawks building a nest down in our tree on the ditch. I finally definitely identified them as red tailed hawks, but they seem much darker than usual. They aren't happy about it, but seem to be getting accustomed to the activity around the nest. For a while I thought they had abandoned it, but they are hatching the eggs.

Joe irrigated a little and is watching some sports. Along with the usual housework, I've made some phone calls today and did a little WAOW work. I think I'll make homemade pizza for dinner tonight. Cousins Iris (SLC) and Peggy (Atlanta) might visit later this month. They are going to see Mary Caroline in Oregon.

Didn't Beverly and her family get home from Florida just in time before that storm came!! They were right there on the beach. Beverly got her legs real sunburned on the last day and they swelled up, she said. I'm glad they are home safe.

And you know that fire in Griffith Park in LA? That was right by where we lived when I was a kid. I rode that merry-go-round when I was a toddler and that's where I love them from. It is beautiful. So far they saved it from the fire. It dates from 1926 or something. The zoo is there too and the Autry museum! I was in an art show in that museum 10 or 15 years ago.

The Richies separated their cattle this morning. So they will be branding in a few days. The little calves seem to be looking good and healthy. I've seen cute new colts here and there, but haven't taken pictures of any. Yet.

Sunday May 6 2007

View of Temple Peak from the South

It's snowing again, got maybe an inch so far. Charm told me she heard that Big Piney had four or five inches of snow yesterday and it was their "big" horse show! What a mess. Her friend reported snow all day in Evanston....about six inches and still snowing. Eight inches in Kemmerer. Joe's friend Frank called and said it was really raining down in Utah. So.... That's what Betty and Nancy had to drive through yesterday as they started their trip home. Hopefully it's putting down tons in the mountains because we sure need the water.

Made Joe a pancake breakfast. I've got more laundry going and will get the beds back together. We've tracked in a lot of our sand through the house brought in on damp shoes and dog feet, got to get that cleaned up. I procrastinated doing much work yesterday. Even the dogs really crashed and slept day and night after having company. Last night I began entries in the blog for each day I missed, but I want to go back and finish journaling there before I forget.

Next Friday our artists go to Riverton for the annual Wyoming Artists Association convention. I'm already registered and paid and looking forward to the weekend as a mini vacation. Usually the convention is this weekend, but they moved it up a week just hoping we would miss having to travel from all over the state in this nasty weather we always seem to get. So let's hope it worked and next weekend is beautiful. The weather forecase is saying nearly 70 and partly cloudy. I might be able to get some flowers for my pots at a nice greenhouse over that way. They will need to sit in the garage for a couple of weeks probably, or take a chance on getting frozen. Planting after Memorial Day is usually safe. So should I try to get another flowering crab apple tree (since mine is surely dead) or give up the idea of thinking it will grow here?

Today Beverly, Brent and Clayton will come back from their Florida vacation. They get on the plane about 8 p.m. so will check out of the hotel and spend their last day on the beach or something fun.

This evening we got some small but nice rain showers.

Saturday May 5 2007

Mourning Doves in Yard

The reason I have the doves pictured today is because one day when Betty was here she looked out the kitchen window and said "Oh you have Collared Eurasian Doves". And I said "Oh, no, they are mourning doves". And she said, "These are collared doves", and I said "Oh no, they couldn't be". Well low and behold out under the window was a small flock of Eurasian collared doves. Never seen any here before. Did see them at Betty's feeder in Mesquite where people have turned domesticated ones loose. Didn't have enough presence of mind to try to get a picture of these. Sure should have - too preoccupied but will definitely tell the Game and Fish office that I saw them here, plain as day. I'm curious if anyone else in our area has seen them. If they survived here they could displace our native species. (From Field Guide to the Birds of North America: Escapes of domesticated Ringed Turtle Dove, an Old World species, may form small populations; but do not do well in the wild. Etc. Eurasian species: introduced to Bahamas, spread to Florida. Common, spreading outside mapped range.") Well this is very far outside its mapped range of around the Gulf Coast!!!

Betty and Nancy got packed up and left for home this morning. We had an omelet and country fries for breakfast, and sat and visited with our coffee and tea for a while before they took off. I wasn't ready for them to leave yet and sorry to see them go. There was a skiff of snow on the ground again and their windshield was iced up pretty good. They decided to go around through Pinedale, look at the town and do a little shopping. There are some socks that Betty likes to buy which she found at Falers, and Nancy got some too.

Betty and Nancy called this afternoon from south of Evanston and said they had really driven through a blizzard. I thought ..eh? maybe an inch or two? NOT! The heavier storm and more snow on the ground started about Daniel and just got worse and worse all the way to I-80. Betty called on the cell phone and told me what they had been through and that they nearly got a motel in Kemmerer, but decided to go on. I called them about 7:30 to see if they made it to their motel in Nephi and they were eating dinner there then, so had gotten to their first night's destination. I imagine it was quite an experience for the desert rats.

We just had heavy dreary clouds and a stiff breeze here all the rest of the day. I worked on finishing up one of my WAOW jobs and was glad to send that off to our board by evening. Joe and I had the leftover tacos for dinner, so that was easy and tasted even better than the first time. Even though they hadn't been doing much running around, the dogs just seemed exhausted and slept all day.

Nancy and Betty Visit

Nancy

Daily Chore - Betty Vacuums Amigo - He Loves It!

Friday May 4 2007

Building the Dutch Baby

The Dutch Baby Before it Disappeared

This morning we didn't have much of a plan. The weather was still unpleasant. Nancy made the best "thing" called a Dutch Baby, a kind of big popover baked in the oven for our breakfast (I need the recipe, Nancy!) I started a Swiss steak meal in the crock pot. After we got breakfast over we thought over for a while what we wanted to do. One of the things I had mentioned was that we COULD like take a ride around to some of the abandoned homesteads OR go down south and get some flagstones for a new flower bed I have planned, OR move the plants from back to front, OR work on hanging the Art Show in the Barn. They chose to help me hang the Art Show in the Barn. Its a little early, but its a wonderful thing to have some help with such a big job. So that's what we decided to do today.

After getting the house straighted up some, we went into the storage shelves and started moving boxes of packed paintings out to the barn with the dolly. We got all the boxes moved and unpacked and started the hanging. By then it was 11:30 and time to fix lunch. What else is new. We came in and started some quick vegetable beef soup. After lunch Joe wanted me to call the doctor's office. We were supposed to report in a week after his doctor checkup last week. I had to leave a message. We went back to start working again and I realized there had to be yet another box of smaller artwork. I was rummaging in the shelves and found the box.

When I came back Joe was out in the corral and said the nurse had called back and wanted him to come in for a checkup. By then it was after 1:30. We got ready fast and drove into town. Betty and Nancy didn't want to ride along so they said they would keep working in the barn. Joe had his checkup (where we sat mostly waiting for over 2 hours), I got him a new prescription and picked up some groceries so I didn't have to go back soon. It was nearly 7 p.m. when we got home. There had been some more snow squalls going through. Betty and Nancy had the whole art show hung, the house vacuumed and the horse fed. I haven't got words enough for how grateful I am to have all the paintings hung up. It's wonderful. I guess they had a good time doing it, so that worked out well. Almost like magic there was dinner all ready in the crock pot. I put some potatoes in the microwave and heated some rolls in the oven and we had a pretty tasty meal.

Thursday May 3 2007

Yesterday in Tee Shirts - Today in Down Coats

Betty Amigo and Nancy (Yes...he's sitting on the floor)

Today we woke up to snow on the ground and it came down lightly most of the morning. The snow soon quit but it was cold and windy so we didn't get out and around like I would have liked to. We edited some of yesterday's photos to send out to Betty's email list. That took most of the morning. I fixed the leftover spaghetti noodles (had made way too many last night) into a kind of 5 cheese casserole for lunch. We enjoyed our visiting. Today Nancy helped again by cooking her special delicious tacos for dinner. It was luxurious to eat someone else's cooking.

Had I said that we were celebrating our 50th high school graduation? I know I've mentioned it somewhere back in the blog, but this is what we got together for at this time, since I missed going to Nevada for any kind of reunion. There is nothing officially planned by our class for a celebration and we decided to get together on our own. Nancy and Betty will see a few more people when they go back to Nevada.

Wednesday May 2 2007

Up early, with buttermilk yeast pancakes and ham for breakfast. We packed a picnic lunch and loaded up the SUV. Today we took a day trip to South Pass and Atlantic City - Nancy, Betty and I with the three dogs. Joe was probably glad to have some peace and quiet for the day. Nancy was particularly interested in seeing the Oregon Trail ruts and the Continental Divide. We headed down south of the ranch.

Betty, Nancy, Amigo, at Pioneer and Indian Grave Sites on the Oregon Trail

First stop just about five miles down the road from home was on the bluff above the Big Sandy where there is a pioneer and Indian cemetery. We talked about the history of the area and stood on the Oregon Trail trail ruts there. Betty was intrigued by sagebrush on the hill that is taller than a person.

Tall Sagebrush!

Buckskin Crossing Big Sandy River

Next we stopped at Buckskin Crossing on the Big Sandy. The Oregon Trail comes down a steep bluff there and crossed the river. It would have been a very nice camping spot for early day travelers. There was also a stage stop there and the sites of many homesteads and old ranches in our area, none of which there is any trace left, just the stories. There is a nice historical marker there that mentions that this was the crossing the first fur trappers used when they made their trip through to Oregon country and how many pioneers and wagons passed by here each day. In fact, Wyoming used to be Oregon Territory in those days.

Antelope - Wind River Mountains

This is what the area is like near the Midland Ranch, my neighbors about 15 miles to the south of us, and there is only one other place on the Big Sandy between us. They raise sheep and cattle.

Elkhorn Stage Stop at Little Sandy Creek

On past Midland we turned east and crossed Little Sandy Creek. At Elkhorn is an old stage stop and store. The big horse barns and some of the other buildings are still standing but pretty much in ruins. After crossing the creek we climbed up the bluff and turned south onto Williams Road. Soon we dipped down into a large draw named Mitchell Slough and crossed the nearly dry small creek.

Sheep Camps

As we drove on through desert type country and rocky mesas the soil turned more red. All along our route we saw many herds of antelope speeding across the sage. The snowy Wind Rivers always gave us a spectacular view to the north. We then took another road back north to the Paddy McCann Ranch which has been there since the late 1800's. It is headquarters for another large sheep outfit. Very interesting there are two original stone buildings. Its one of the neatest ranches you ever saw.

A Wyoming View (Sheep Camp in the Distance)

After Paddy McCann we backtracked to Williams Road again. On the way in and out we passed through a large herd of sheep at a reservoir with at least 7 Great Pyrenees guard dogs. The dogs were wonderful at their jobs. With the wolves we have in the area now, hopefully they are a good deterrent to attacks on the sheep, and that's probably the reason for so many dogs instead of a few. Wolves also kill the dogs if they can. The sheep wagon and the herder with his horses were some distance away on a hill.

Great Pyrenees Dog Guarding Sheep - Wind Rivers

Great Pyrenees Dog Guarding Herd of Sheep

Sheep Shearing Shed

After turning back south we soon came to the sheep shearing sheds and cabins that are down there in the middle of nowhere. There was another herd of sheep with a sheep camp. We went into the sheep sheds to look around, taking the dogs on their leashes so they didn't get rambunctious around the nearby sheep. Betty had been there a few years ago when she and her Aunt Ann visited, but it was new to Nancy. We checked out some of the graffiti artwork on the shed, which Judi and I had spent several days recording a year or so ago.

Cabins

Sheep Camp on the Desert

Dry Sandy

Next we stopped at Dry Sandy, which is the vicinity of another stage stop, although there is no evidence left of that one to see. It is perfectly named. The dogs enjoyed another investigative run, and there is another stand of very tall sagebrush there we marveled over. Back on the road we soon came to Highway 28, our first pavement and turned east. We began the ascent to South Pass and several more historical markers for the Oregon, California and Mormon Trails.

Oregon Trail Marker on South Pass

Another Couple was There with Their Brown Australian Shepherd

Picnic on the Sweetwater River

We stopped at the Sweetwater rest stop, and then turned up the river on a rugged two track to find a spot to have our picnic. By this time it had begun to cloud up, but was still comfortable enough to get out the lawn chairs and have our lunch close to the river. The sandwiches Nancy had made were delicious and welcome by then with oranges and Hello Dolly cookies. The dogs made themselves very available for their part of the meal.

Look! It's a Moose!!

Back on the highway after our lunch break, and we soon came on up to the South Pass area and into more pines and rocky outcrops with a few creek crossings - Rock Creek and Willow Creek. Soon we turned off the highway to head toward South Pass City, a state historical area. This was where gold was discovered in about the 1860s and there are also a couple of old army fort sites. We drove into South Pass City, but the restored historical buildings were still closed for the winter. There was a store just opening up where we went in and each bought a tee shirt and looked at their merchandise. They were working just opening up for the season. Back in the SUV and past the old Carissa Mine and Mill. Didn't get a photo of that one. We turned toward Atlantic City and that's where Nancy spotted her first ever moose, a yearling that had probably just been chased off by its mom before she has her next calf. It looked a little forlorn.

Yearling Moose

Gold Mill at Atlantic City

We slowly drove through the Atlantic City area (sorry no photos) and back up to Highway 28 and turned toward home. Crossing the Sweetwater again and to the top of the hill we took the Lander Cutoff of the Oregon Trail toward home. It was a beautiful drive along the base of the Wind Rivers. We saw a herd of deer. Nancy was interested in the odd way the road follows the crest of a split in the Continental Divide which forms the Great Divide Basin. It has also always intrigued me. The weather was closing in and started spitting snow and sleet.

Approaching Little Sandy

Stormy Skies at Grass Creek

We stopped at Squaw Creek for the dogs to run again and then came on home past Leicki's and north again across the Big Sandy, making a big loop.

It was a wonderful time with special friends. We made many stops, saw many beautiful and interesting places, lots of history too. We drove about 100 miles, but v-e-r-y slowly. After a full day got home about 4:30. Fixed spaghetti, salad and garlic toast for dinner.

Checked on the cat trap and had caught nothing so assumed that Traveler got himself out of the garage o.k.

Tuesday May 1 2007

Cottonwoods on the Hoback

12"x12" Pastel

by Lynn Thomas

Happy May Day. We have our most beautiful spring morning yet. Hope it stays this way for a while.

Here's a note I have to share with you: Sandra Goodwin has left a new comment on your post "Thursday April 26 2007": Hey Lynn Enjoying your blog and wanted to say it's "corporate jets". Let's educate the public. Very very few people, rich or otherwise, have a private jet. It is almost always owned by a company, mostly for tax purposes. Also lots of folks just "buy a ride" from places like Netjets who fly your anywhere for the right price. ........So consider yourself told!! And I'll try to remember the difference.

Got the house in fair shape by the time Betty, Nancy and Amigo arrived about 2 p.m. for a 5 day stay. We took a short walk with the dogs. Since Amigo had visited last year in October, the dogs all remembered one another and were a better pack this time. They got settled in their rooms. Tonight in their honor we had fillet Mignon, baked potatoes, baked onions, broccoli and salad. I baked a chess pie. Conversation and catching up was ongoing until bedtime. Nancy had not been here to the ranch before.

One thing we did was set a trap with canned cat food for one of the cats which had been in the garage, locked in for who knows how long and refusing to get back out when we left the door open for it. We left the trap there for several days, and never caught the cat, so know that it got back out on its own. We suspect Traveler and hopefully he won't want to do that again. It could be dangerous for his health locked in without food or water unbeknownst to us.

By afternoon it had clouded up and was breezy. After dinner we took a ride, and took the dogs along, up Muddy Canyon to the Elk Feed Ground. Along the way were lots of cows with their new little calves. A short walk there to view the scenery at sunset, it was still very chilly, and back home by dusk. We should have seen some deer and elk, but there were none at that particular time. The leaves on aspens and cottonwoods were barely beginning to unfurl.