Friday June 15 2007

Dogs Swim on a Summer Day

Busy day. Got a phone call this morning from the owner at the Barn Door, a home and decorating store in town. They want some of my paintings for a project they are doing - I am assuming decorating a person's new home. They are coming over Monday to look at the paintings in the barn - they want landscapes. Then Sheral and I visited about when we might be able to get together. Nothing is working out so far and we've wanted them to come to dinner for some time. They have company now. We will just continue to be flexible.

Left by 10 a.m. Oh yeahhh,,, the dogs got to go. Joe "snuck" them in the back of the pickup against orders. Then how can you tell them they have to stay home. But I stopped at the highway and got them in the front. I hate to think what would happen if they fell out of there. We had the stuff described earlier in the back of the truck for the museum. What a great feeling to get the garage cleaned out and have the stuff gone, and hopefully for a good cause. Got there just before 11:30 and Jay had come to help Joe lift the heavy washing machine out of the back of the pickup. I've found its really hard to try and second guess what a museum might find interesting and useful, so told Millie if they didn't want something just to trash it.

We were supposed to call to confirm our lunch date, but the cell phone was in my car, didn't take the number, so was lucky to find their house and talked to Kathy. Yes they were going so we met Joe's cousin, James and Kathy and their grandson Gavin at the Chinese restaurant and had a nice visit with them. Food was good too. Some of their family are flying into Jackson from Georgia this evening, I think she said for six weeks this summer. She was driving up to pick them up.

By then it was time for Joe's haircut. We got there just a little early and I asked if they could pierce my ears some time with the gift certificate my kids gave me, and Margie said she doesn't do it much any more. First she had to put color on a customer's hair but she would do it while the color was working - I do believe it was a guy - so I went and walked the dogs.

The town has moved the beginning of the walking/bike path that goes up the hill behind the beauty shop and has it all torn up, so we didn't walk on the path today. It looks like they are probably going to take that street another block east and probably it will be the access to some new businesses in what used to be a really nice hayfield. I was hoping they would keep it as a park or green belt, but its really filling in with development. Gave the dogs the leftover lunch and they were very well fed, they walked and then I went back and Margie was ready to pierce my ears. It didn't even take 10 minutes. She gave me gold hearts. This time I will have to keep earrings in all the time so the holes don't close up again. I'm not going to like doing the first 6 weeks you have to care for them, but it will be worth it and I will be glad to be able to wear my earrings again, and the new pair that Debbie got me for ...was it my birthday or Christmas.

Then to get groceries. I was glad to see Ruth in the store and she was looking great. Such a wonderful friend. Had to wait in the line at the pharmacy for our prescriptions, and also in the line at the grocery checkout. I got right in to my checker, but then she went and helped a new checker figure out how to do food stamps. I was ready to get out of there.

Next we went and got dog food at the feed store, and took the dogs for another walk at the Nature Trail by Pine Creek. The swam and got a drink and seemed to really enjoy it because it was about 88? and they were saying they were pretty hot. They had to go into the back again for a while since they were soaking wet, and we next went to Joe's Pinedale doctor appointment, which went well. We didn't have to wait long there this time. He gave Joe info and instructions about the medication, what to do next.

We got home about 5:30 and I stuck a pizza that was on sale into the oven for dinner and got just about all the groceries put away. Will finish that in the morning probably. I'm going out for another hour or so this evening to work on the flower potting project and see how far I get with that. I just wanted to sit down and rest for a little bit so decided to write.

The Idaho Falls doctor called just about the time we got home, and gave instructions for Joe's medication. Joe has been recording his blood pressure twice a day and we called in Wednesday with those and he called back, so this was our second set of instructions today, both different, and we had to decide which one we're going to do - talk about confusing. Joe will continue doing the blood pressure readings and see how he feels on the new medicine and call back in a week.

I'm going to be ready for my pajamas tonight.

Thursday June 14 2007

Dude Horses going from winter to summer pasture were being driven down Pine Street in Pinedale a while back. We don't see this as often as we used to, but I love to see both horses and cattle being driven through town or along the highway. This was a photo I liked a lot in the paper so scanned it, and thought you might like to see it too.

Today was a good day. I figured I better do something about the inbox for my email which had 65 things that needed to be answered, and even more came in throughout the day, so I spent most of the morning working on that and at present there are 14 of them left. First I voted on the WAOW board meeting agenda and that got me in the mood. It had all sure backed up like a log jam. I also got a lot of photos sent off to a Thomas relative in Georgia. She was interested in seeing some of the available paintings.

This morning I called the doctor in Idaho Falls with Joe's first week's recordings of his blood pressure twice a day. I made him some tables on the computer for that. Spoke with one of the nurses there. The doctor is supposed to call back and maybe adjust the medication he's taking. He never called back today. I suppose with going to town we are going to miss that call tomorrow.

After lunch it was time to get the flowers transferred into their pots. I thought I would get it all done, but am only about half way finished with it. I have to tell you the bad news of the day is that I saw the first mosquitoes. And also the first swallows of the year right here. I've seen them other places. I hope they stay because they eat a lot of mosquitoes through the season. Joe doesn't like them building their nests on the buildings, but I want them here. And they have a tough enough time without someone knocking their nests off. When we first moved to this house there was an awning on the living room window and swallows would build a nest there. You could look right in and watch the eggs hatch and the babies grow.

I'm reading an interesting small book, called "Only Count the Sunny Hours", Madame Isabelle's Diary. She ran a house of ill repute in Kemmerer WY and its pretty good.

Tomorrow will be a busy day. We have to go to Pinedale to the doctor appointment and Joe's haircut. When he goes in for that I'm going to ask them about getting my ears repierced so I can use my earrings. I'll shop for groceries. And we will take several things to the Museum of the Mountain Man, including the old cream separator and the wringer washer that's been here since the 40's. There's a suitcase of small old things that is interesting too. We have to take the truck as the big things won't fit in the SUV. But I've decided to take the boxes of books I have for them next time I go to town. I don't want them going in the back of the truck. Joe lifted the separator and washer into the back of the pickup with the bucket on the tractor.

Wednesday June 13 2007

National Search and Rescue Commander Portrait

About 18 x24 Oil

On White Buckskin Laced to a Pine Limb Frame

by Lynn Thomas

The portrait is finished. Dan got here about 3 p.m. or so and picked it up. Their national convention is this weekend in American Falls Idaho. The painting will be presented to the commander. I worked on some of the details for another hour after Dan got here while he and Joe talked and drank coffee. I didn't go as far with the realistic details as I usually do, so the portrait is more painterly. I was pleased with that aspect of it. Above is a photo of the portrait. Dan stayed and visited until about 5:30. He brought some of the biggest, reddest rhubarb I've ever seen from their garden - Joe wants a rhubarb pie. We had a really nice spring day. Joe went to town this morning for his regular blood test and was back before lunch. Other than that only the basics got done. I will write more tomorrow.

Tuesday June 12 2007

Heirloom Columbine

Yep, I checked, it is Tuesday. Beautiful day, some wind, maybe we're finally really getting spring. Should have the mosquitoes in about a week. There's not much to write about today, but everything's going fine. I'm painting.

The purple columbine is an old fashioned perennial, what they call an heirloom plant. It was given to me by neighbors Ann and Jim Roberts who used to live down on the corner. Hers got bigger there than mine ever do. They moved to Encampment and said I could have any of the plants. This is the only one I took and I'm glad I got it because the next people who bought the house weren't there much to take care of the yard. One day their boys were shooting guns and shot the propane tank and the place caught on fire. It burned down the garage and the house also caught on fire and burned through the roof. The yard and garden pretty much burned up, even some aspen trees by the road. The fire department came and put it out while the walls were still standing. The house was rebuilt, and a new garage. The aspens came up again, but I never saw the columbines come back.

Friday June 11 2007

Flycatcher

Grackle and Western Kingbird

We've had a flock of Eastern Kingbirds here recently.

Welllll.....came back an hour later and......I think I'll just leave the title calling this Friday. That's the kind of day it's been.

I'm not even going to take time to look up and identify which flycatcher this is, but it was quite small, if you want to look it up. They all look the same to me, and I'd probably come up with something like Cuban flycatcher. Kingbirds are one of my favorites because they are rather scarce right here - as if they pass through now and then.

A beautiful sunny morning, turned cloudy, 70 degrees by afternoon but a cool wind. My bedding flowers are still in the car and doing wonderfully there, like they are in a greenhouse, just blooming away. Maybe I should take a picture of them in there.

Charm and I had a nice visit on the phone. We don't do that so often anymore now that we can email back and forth. But we should go back to calling more.

Whoopsie.....I managed to send out a personal email to my friend Jackie to the whole WAOW board group email this morning. Luckily it didn't say much that anyone couldn't know. The only good thing was that it went to the board and not the whole membership. It's an easy thing to do when you just click reply. Its time for the monthly board meeting again. This is our 6th, so halfway through our terms in office.

The painting has to be done by Wednesday afternoon, so hope I make it. Dan called this evening and I told him this will be my last year for doing the Search and Rescue commander portraits. No ambition for this deadline stuff any more. I guess I did them for 10 years. He said he wasn't going to be in charge of it for the S&R any more either.

SCAG our writer's group is having a writer's workshop on Tuesday night and I should go, but I probably won't drive in to Pinedale at night for it. That's bad of me, since I'm the president I should be there to support the group. We're supposed to make cookies for the refreshments. Not sure how I will manage to get cookies there either.

The Museum of the Mountain Man is going to take all the rest of our old things that Joe wants to get rid of, so will load the truck up and take them in there Friday. That will be a good day to shop for groceries. There are four medium boxes of books for them too. We also have an almost new cream separator from that era. When they moved here they had a cow while Joe's mother was alive, But she didn't live here long and they got rid of the cow. So the creamer has all the parts, even the book, in good shape. Its a tall heavy metal one that was bolted to the floor, with a hand crank. You can imagine that there would be a lot of small things kept around for so many years, but nothing of great value like heirloom antiques. The nephews and neices will get all the personal things of their grandparents later this summer.

We also have an electric motor wringer washer that was the washer here from the late 40's?, and it is what I used at this house for several years (10?) before I got an automatic washer and dryer about 1985. I'm sure they are more common than some things, but Millie said they would take it. It is in very good shape. I always used a wringer washer to do all the laundry at the lodge too, and for most of the time it was a gas engine one. Toward the end Joe strung an electric wire from the generator to the wash house and got me an electric motor one there too, which I think they still use. Talk about feeling pampered!

Joe's been reminding me every day to type up his doctor visit notes, so that's been finished now and printed out for him. We do that each time so later we know what was done and discussed.

Sunday June 10 2007

Smokey .....mmmmmmmmm.....Turkey

We had a very nice day until the wind came up. Joe mowed the back yard this morning. Then later was doing something in the garage - remember he moved the big livestock truck in there. Well he ran into the side mirror with his head and it knocked him to the ground. The cut isn't bad. We washed it up and put some Mercurochrome on it. I guess he had a pretty good pain for a while but that got better. I had just been walked out there earlier myself and saw the mirrors sticking out and thought that was an accident waiting to happen, but expected it would be to me. And by the way, he's about finished cleaning up the garage and it looks really nice. Some more stuff to get rid of and then it will be great. He did get all the stuff he had in the middle of the floor neatly stored.

Don't think I mentioned that I bought quite a few books from a sort of estate sale/yard sale. Most of them are art books. Judi helped me get them because she's helping the daughter sort things out in the house. So today I weeded out enough books to get the new ones on the shelf. The books I removed will go to the Museum of the Mountain Man next time I go to town. I checked on amazon.com and abesbooks.com on some of my favorites and as usual came to the conclusion that books would make a much better investment than stocks. Some of them are quite valuable so it's probably a good idea to take those to the museum instead of leave them here. I wouldn't want the house to burn down with them in it. Gradually, as I can part with them, all the books will go there.

I did watch the Ruffian (horse) movie on ABC last night, and, although it was quite good, thought it was way too graphic when she broke her leg. They sure didn't need to do that. For that reason I don't recommend it to anyone. I watched the real horse race in the '70s and can remember that awful experience. They run those horses way too young for them to be developed.

Saturday June 9 2007

This is a photo taken the morning it snowed,

it's a little hard to tell but I'm calling it a willet.

Not much of interest to report today. Last night the power was off from about 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. Joe had already gone to bed. I don't know yet what caused it to bleep out. So got the candles out, and read in my book by battery reading light until I fell asleep. It had gone off momentarily earlier in the evening, but the weather was clearing up, so not likely a storm. When it stays off any length of time, I always get the feeling - what if we've been invaded? - what if it never comes on again? - is it the end of the world? - terrorists again? - What will we do if we don't have enough food to last until it comes back on?.....

Betty and I had our regular weekend phone visit this morning. Surely we got all the world's problems solved. But she's got pack rats nesting in her roof, and having a time getting rid of them. She trapped five young ones, and the cat got another one. She's had this problem off and on for years now. My sister in Green Valley AZ just wrote that they have a bunch of pack rats nesting in their yeard area too, and had to cut down a tree to get the nest out so more didn't come back.

We have a really lovely morning out and the grass is so revived with the moisture we had. The weather has been sunny and warmer. Event-wise it has been just about like yesterday. The studio looks better than it did yesterday.

I neglected to mention that Monday our Senator Craig Thomas died. He had leukemia and had given a valiant fight, even continuing to work during his illness and treatment. He was a good man for Wyoming, whichever party you belong to. We saw the flags flying at half mast when we went on our trip to Idaho.

The commission portrait is being worked on. I made chicken and dumplings for dinner. It's one of Joe's favorites. The movie about the horse Ruffian is on ABC tonight and I'm looking forward to watching that.