Thursday December 27 2007

Minus 30 degrees here this morning. There was ice around all the windows until after noon. It may have gotten above 0, but not for long. As I write at 7:20 p.m. it's already -25.

Joe was up with the chickens as usual, but I slept from 8 p.m. last night to 9 this morning, not counting the usual spells awake. So am counting it as 13 hours anyway. Guess I needed the rest. And I got kind of depressed for a while with the family gone...so boohoo. A quiet day. Visited with Charm on the phone, and later Jonita called and said she and Madelaine will be over about 1 tomorrow afternoon. Beverly also called and told me about their trip home. They had snow falling most of the way through Utah, and were making 35 or 40 mph almost to St. George before it quit. They didn't get home until about 11 p.m. - a very long day

I cleaned out a file drawer that had all my map collection from everywhere I'd taken a trip and it will go to the recycling. Any of that info can be looked up on the Internet now. I'll use that file drawer for the medical records and files I have shoved in the bookcase. Next I also bundled up about 10 years worth of National Geographic magazines and got them into the back of my car along with all the rest of the recycling. So continues the purging. Then next I got the air purifier - that was one of our gifts from "the kids" - set up and running after reading those directions. I sure hope it works good because with no vent on the new stove we need something for the odors and also for the smoke that escapes the wood stove every time Joe opens the door to put wood in and listening to the ensuing smoke detector shrieking, not to mention a couple of stinky dogs.

We decided not to have turkey again, so had spaghetti for dinner. I put most of the large yam casserole into the freezer to have at another time. I'm afraid the amount of raspberry pretzel jello salad that is left is more than we can get away with though.

Joe put the chains on my car, getting ready for my next Chemo appointment on Monday. I guess he thinks a part of the road to the mailbox isn't the greatest yet. That is how he is taking care of me, by doing those kind of things. He laid out there on the garage cement floor in 0 weather to put them on.

Wednesday December 26 2007

Brent and Truck Packed and Ready to Leave

Today Bev, Brent and Clayton packed up their truck and started home. It was a dark cloudy morning and they slept longer than they intended to so didn't get away until 8:30 or 9 a.m. She sent me an email that they didn't get home until almost 11 p.m. driving in winter weather, and would call me tomorrow. It was pretty lonely with them gone. It didn't snow here today and ended up fairly clear and cold.

Joe went out to get the mail, and did his other chores, bringing in wood and feeding the cats. I saw all five of the cats out sunning themselves next to the feed manger under the horse shed in the corral. The sun shines right in there. As usual I'm always glad to know I still have them all.

Today I did finally look at my email and had a lot to delete, plus enjoyed hearing from those friends who wrote. I wanted to thank every one who sent us messages and Christmas cards. Love those Christmas letters! I'm sorry I didn't manage to get cards out for the holidays. Maybe when I get my other computer back I'll make a card and send to everyone.

We started the laundry going before Beverly left. I figured I'd maybe make one bed back up each day, but I felt good enough to do all three of them, and get the bedrooms back together. Did all the laundry and got it folded, and got the kitchen spiffed up pretty good. Betty called after her nap and we had a nice visit. We had leftover turkey for dinner, so that was easy.

I cancelled my old wyoming.com address which I'd kept for a year, so if you are one still writing to me there, I will not get any messages on there any more. (The new address for most of the last couple of years is lmthomas@hughes.net.)

Tuesday December 25 2007

Frosty and his Tractor and Plow

Beverly Makes Christmas Dinner

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Can't remember what we had for breakfast today, (writing several days after the fact). I know I made waffles, but don't think it was this day. One day Brent made scrambled eggs and Beverly made thin pancakes with straw berries and whipped cream. Did we even eat breakfast today?? I started a pumpkin and a chess pie and got them in the oven.

Anyway after everyone got going and some few morning chores done, we sat in the living room and opened our gifts. Clayton passed ours out to us - as they had opened their gifts at home before they left. Joe got a wonderful digital atomic clock with numbers about 10" high - its gives the day and date and indoor temperature and is updated by satellite (so now he never needs to ask me what day it is again), a new green shirt, a NFR rodeo hat, and a big jar of mixed nuts and some chocolates. I got 2 pairs of soft and cozy pjs, since that is what I'm wearing most of the time just lately, some warm slipper sox and a Willow Creek figurine - an angel with blue birds along her arms - which I love, and some beautiful Calphalon knives which were badly needed. Together we got an air purifier, also needed and appreciated. Also, Beverly brought the last pages of the scrapbook she made for me of memories of our family. She brought the first pages, about 2/3 of it, with the beautiful cover to me at the hospital in Salt Lake and said she would have more pages for me later. I wish you could see it. She is an expert and creative scrapbooker. Thank you all so much for being our Santa, everyone. For years we have given everyone money, so that was also exchanged and since I PROCRASTINATED AGAIN and didn't get them mailed, Beverly is taking everyone else's back to Vegas with her to give to the rest of the family.

As we were being busy in the kitchen, we saw Frosty come with his huge tractor and plow to plow out our road. I think he must have spent most of an hour on it. It's a good thing, since the wind had drifted our track in and all our vehicles, including Brent's truck, were all snowed in I'm sure. Frosty never came in so we still don't know details yet.

Beverly had said she would cook the dinner and she got started on it. She made the best ever meal - turkey with yam casserole, dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn and raspberry jello salad - the kind with the pretzel crust and a layer cream cheese and pineapple. I made the cranberry sauce. I laid down and fell asleep for a nap and when I woke up the dinner was all ready. How easy was that?? Later after getting the after dinner mess cleaned up we had the pie for dessert.

Clay walked down the road with the dogs quite a few times and they loved it. Sparky adores Clay and just sits in front of him and gazes into his eyes. About sunset all of them took a walk. They didn't seem too interested in doing a much outdoors or in using the snowmachines.

Beverly went on line and we were able to verify the date that the computer had been delivered to Best Buy by UPS and printed that out. They have had it about 6 weeks now, so I will be calling them soon to find out what's taking them so long to get it back to me.

Later that evening we made some popcorn and watched Clay's DVD movie Transformers. It was continuous action, kind of good, amazing what they can do with all that computer and digital image stuff. We also watched several other videos of mine in the afternoon that Clay picked out.

Monday December 24 2007

Chili and Cornbread

Brent, Bev, Clay - Watching DVDs

Today we had a lot of family time together which was very nice. Got the turkey out to defrost. For lunch it was sub sandwiches and leftover soup. One of the gifts Beverly, Brent and Clay gave us was to clean the whole house today. The three of them went entirely through the house and cleaned each room. It was very appreciated by us both and a special thing for them to do for us. While they did that I believe this was the day I paid some bills and went to my bank account on line to reconcile the checkbook. We watched some video movies while the guys watched football most of the day. Clay took the dogs for numerous walks. He finally decided he would wear his coat and gloves.

One of their traditions on Christmas Eve is to make chili and cornbread. So Beverly did that and it was very delicious with cheese on top, and some veggies and dip. Later we popped corn and watched Clay's DVD- Christmas Vacation - the one with Chevy Chase, on the big TV . It was pretty funny. It was a nice day.

Saturday and Sunday December 22 and 23 2007

The Tree and Gifts

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEVERLY

Finally some fun and interesting things going on. I'll just hit the highlights. Beverly, Brent and Clayton drove up to the ranch from Cedar City on Saturday. It got pretty icy after they got into Wyoming, but they went slow when they needed to and stopped more often for breaks. They got here about 7 p.m. I had hot vegetable beef soup simmering in the crock pot and had made Melita's bunillos. We are sure glad to see them. They got their stuff unloaded and into their rooms and Brent's truck parked in the shop so it wouldn't freeze up sitting outside. It's a real snug fit through the door, but he made it without bending the mirrors or denting anything.

I made the dough for cinnamon rolls yesterday that I baked for Sunday breakfast. They had the hugest rubbermaid tub I've ever seen with a small fiberoptic tree and all our gifts. Beverly and Brent set that up this morning.

The wind blew hard in the night, but today has been sunny bright with some wind gusts in the afternoon. The wind is moving the snow and beginning to fill up our track. This may be the evening that Frosty will come to plow our road - yet to be seen. Tomorrow may have another storm coming through, as much as 8" the weather report says, but I bet we don't get that.

Brent and Clayton took a walk out through the field on the snowshoes, but so far we haven't done much more adventurous. Maybe try the snowmachines tomorrow. This kind of cold is an unusual experience for them.

Today is Beverly's birthday so we'll broil some steaks for dinner. We all decided not to have cake. Maybe I can stick a candle in her baked potato. ....Later I did bake an easy lemon cake with lemon glaze, one layer, and we had crayon candles on it and sang Happy Birthday Dear Beverly. We came home from the hospital on Christmas day 1957, with our special Christmas gift, a new baby girl. Wow! half a century ago.

MOON AND MARS: Please don't miss this: At sunset on Sunday, Dec. 23rd, the full Moon and Mars will rise in the east less than two degrees apart. So close together, the two brightest objects in the evening sky look absolutely dynamite. The display will be visible all night long, even from brightly lit cities, and requires no telescope to enjoy.

Friday September 21 2007

Rabbit in Yard

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR FRIEND CHARM!!

It snowed light and lovely most of the day. Kind of a misty silvery gray fog over all the landscape. Joe says we have about 8" now. He made a track out to the mailbox about noon in his old yellow chevy with the chains on the back tires. But the mail hadn't come yet so he didn't wait long. We didn't have wind that moved the snow today like it had in the night, but other places across the state it was bad traveling with most of the highways heading east being closed. I watched the Salt Lake news this morning and they were having all kinds of crashes on their roads and freeways.

But later Sheral and Dick called from Layton (North of SLC) and said their roads were dry, so that was good news......because.....Beverly, Brent and Clayton are on their way to spend Christmas with us. They were taking off from Vegas after Clay got out of school this afternoon and are stopping at their friends in Cedar City overnight. Then they will come on to the ranch tomorrow. It should be a much better day for traveling tomorrow. We've been anxious for them all to get here. I hope they have a good time experiencing winter here. They can snow machine, snow shoe, snow ski, snow toboggan, snowball fight, snow man build, etc. Beverly is going to cook Christmas dinner. And another special day, her birthday is the 23rd. When she was born we came home from the hospital on Christmas day. She's 50 this year!!

Iris also called me back this morning from Salt Lake and she is doing fine. (BTW Iris's b-day is Christmas!) She'll be on her way to her new condo in Houston on the 31st. We had a surprise visit from Susan and Joe this afternoon. So good to see them. Susan is a breast cancer survivor for 8 years now so it was comforting to talk to her about what she had been through. They brought us banana bread! Jonita and Madelaine were going to come over, but with the weather the way it was decided to wait until a nice day after Christmas.

This morning there were 6 jack rabbits in our back yard and little orange tomcat Rusty trying to stalk and keep track of them all. The rabbits weren't worried. I've been going to tell you since it first snowed how many rabbit tracks are all over the country, up and down the roads and round and round the house. I've never seen so many tracks. They make packed down trails off across the country side. I know from the past that you can walk on those trails, although narrow, and not sink down in the deep snow.

Joe was rubbing liniment on his foot this morning and I asked him what that was about. He said he thought he broke a bone in his foot a while back. I asked why didn't he get it x-rayed yesterday and he just did his usual language about suggestions like that. He said he had been asleep and stepped on his foot wrong when he got up. He's always groggy when he wakes up like that. I guess he's better than he was when it happened.

Thursday December 20 2007

Sparkle Plenty and The Raven

This morning Joe left me sound asleep and went to town to get his blood work done and a haircut. He got a few groceries, some fresh things we were running out of. It was a very cloudy morning and seeing to drive was hard. He has trouble with that, but decided to go on in. I got showered, and about 10 a.m. or so, Judi came over. This is the day we picked for her to come out and give me a foot massage. And actually we gave each other one with the great products she brought along. We had such a nice visit, as we usually do and I appreciated her thoughtfulness in coming out on a less than perfect day. She also brought Joe and I each a dinner from Rendezvous Pointe. They had beef brisket so that's what we'll have tonight. I warmed up Judi and I some leftovers for lunch, it certainly wasn't anything as yummy as I would have liked, but that's what we did. Soon she felt like she should go on home before the weather got too much worse as she was driving her car and had drug bottom in the snow coming down our lane.

Joe got back an hour or so later. He brought me my Christmas gift of a dozen red roses. They are so perfect and gorgeous. I got them into a vase, and then put the groceries away. Gina had gotten Prilosec, which I have to take twice a day, at the Rock Springs Walmart for me at $10 a box less than it costs at Falers. She tracked Joe down and he brought that home to me. Thank you Gina!

Joe said the radio said we were supposed to get 12 to 18 inches of snow. I'm pretty sure that's in the mountains. But it was no time until the snow really started coming down and had near blizzard conditions for several hours. As I'm writing this, the amount that has fallen still isn't a lot and the clouds have lifted just a little bit. Still can only see the base of the hills. The temp is not as cold as it was a week or so ago, though cold if the wind blows. So hugging the wood stove with Raven is a good idea.

If you want to check it out, weather updates are on http://www.pinedaleonline.com/ and keep clicking around the webcams to get on the WYDOT pages where there are good views of the roads. Also there is a good weather report at http://www.wyoming.com/ and go down on the right and click on the city "Pinedale". In there is also a hazardous weather report. Reading that makes you not want to go anywhere right now.

I got the dishes put away and a load of laundry folded. Am still dealing with the upset stomach. Will it be that way from now on I wonder. Other than that, I'm feeling fairly good today.