Friday February 1 2008

Moose on the way home Tuesday.

Zero degrees and foggy this morning, but the sun is shining above - at the moment. We got about 4 inches of new snow in the night, no wind so far to blow it around. The sagebrush is pretty well covered up now. That's how I measure that it's getting deep.

Joe went to town again today for his blood test and to go to the funeral. He offered to get the few groceries we need, mostly some fresh vegetables and fruit. Hopefully he can see o.k. in the fog to drive. It's already a lot better than when he left - and soon cleared off. Frosty came in with his plow again this morning. He's taking pretty good care of us.

More purging and simplifying ....... Last night I connected to a website - http://www.catalogend.com/ and listed all the catalogs I want to get rid of, actually nearly all of them that we receive. I saw this on a TV talk show. Some school kids started it to save trees, and it grew from there. It did cost $17 and took about an hour (I get so many - can you believe 65? ) and if there were any I missed or new ones show up I can keep listing them for a year. I used to be a big catalog shopping person, since its almost the only way there is to shop here. But all they are is a nuisance now, since shopping online I can buy anything we need. So hopefully the post office ladies won't have to sort them any more, the mail lady won't have to deliver them, we won't have to haul them all in here and then back to recycling. Taking those heavy bags to recycling has gotten to be a big chore. It already feels like a huge relief. If you want to check it out, its fairly easy, there is an alphabetized list, although you do have to do them one at a time. I thought it would be something that would have to be typed in but its not. Cleaned out the file drawer where I kept the current issues too.

First thing I did today was try on the new tops that came last night. They are all wonderful and I love them all. One is too small so will have to return it. Promised myself to get rid of an equal number of old things, why is that the hardest part?

So far the computer seems to be doing o.k. My goal for today is to do some painting and make a few phone calls which I've been procrastinating.

Thursday January 31 2008

Gina Hooking up The "Hopefully Repaired" Computer

Thanks to Gina, I'm back on my regular computer (not the laptop). She had Best Buy mail it to her and this morning looked like a good weather day so she brought it out and hooked it all up. We worked a long time going through different programs and so far it does seem like most of it is in there and working. We had some glitches which were resolved o.k. , lost the keyboard for a while, I'm not sure at all whether it might crash again or not. I'm going to have to go at it slowly and make sure things like Microsoft Outlook and a few others are going to work, as they didn't when I sent it back to Best Buy. Still not sure if I can get the address book from Outlook Express (saved on the external drive) to import to the new Outlook. Stuff like that. The laptop is handy nearby just in case.

We had some lunch and gabbed a lot, and I enjoyed every minute of Gina being here. Joe had to go to the dentist over in Big Piney this morning to get a chipped tooth fixed, so he was gone for a while.

The day started off really nice and by late afternoon was setting in to snow again. We may get another storm, and have that kind of weather through Monday. About 5:30 UPS brought me a box from Cabela's with the warm tops I ordered, so probably tomorrow will open that and see what fits. I'm too tired tonight to get into that. Still none of the usual effects of the chemo this time like I've had in the past, so am doing well with that.

A friend of Joe's unexpectedly passed away a couple of days ago - the man who Joe has bought all our snowmachines from, and got parts and repairs for the machines all these years. The guys would go in his shop and sit around the wood stove and have coffee and visit. We were real sorry to hear of his death.

Joe wanted to send some flowers. The new store that replaced Falers where we've always gotten our flowers said there was only one person working in the flower shop and they couldn't have them ready by the funeral tomorrow (notice was really short), so I ordered from a new place in town and they didn't seem to have any problem with getting the flowers there.

Many roads around have been closed since Tuesday, and still are. This story on Pinedaleonline tells how hard the winds have been blowing and says that they will calm down to 40 mph tonight. We didn't get wind right here today, but sounds like another storm is coming. http://www.pinedaleonline.com/#i80updates

This sounds really awesome - we may not be able to see it for clouds:

NASA Science News for January 29, 2008
The two brightest planets are converging for a beautiful close encounter on Friday morning, February 1st. It's a sky show you won't want to miss.
FULL STORY at
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/29jan_venusjupiter.htm?list953085
Check out our RSS feed at http://science.nasa.gov/rss.xml!

Wednesday January 30 2008

Big Kahuna has a Good Start

Frosty Came in with the Plow Again Today.

Raven sure likes him.

YESTERDAY Charm and I drove to Jackson for my chemo treatment. The wind had blown our road in with drifts probably more than a foot deep, so Joe went out and made a track with the truck and then drove out ahead of me in case I got stuck, he could hitch on and pull me out. He went out as far as the mailbox. We heard everything from 60 to 80 mph winds the day before, and our lane was especially filled in on the end nearest the house. We passed a bunch of Game and Fish trucks going in to the feedground for brucillosis testing so they had broken any drifts on the county road - I had no trouble there.

We both left our places about 7:15 and met at Boulder. The big plus of going to chemo is getting to spend the day with my special friend Charm. Everything went just about as the other days have so I won't be so detailed. The visibility was poor along the river again, and driving was slow. But had cleared up a lot better on the way home. See the photo essay of the scenery along the way that I posted for yesterday. Got up to the hospital about 10:15 for my 10:30 appt. The had homemade cookies and coffee, which I appreciated since I just had some yogurt for breakfast and was hungry. Important was that the port worked really well, and much more quickly than poking in the arm for an IV. They take the blood right out of it also. My blood test was good. They also didn't waste any time since they knew we wanted to get on our way home before the weather deteriorated or the wind got to blowing bad. We were out by just about noon.

Charm had arranged to have lunch at the Virginian with Kathy, an artist friend who lives up there. The food there was great and I had a super Ruben sandwich, more than I could eat. Kathy had invited us to come and see her studio but we thought we should just get home. So took a rain check on her invitation and will go another day. We stopped by K-Mart for a few things I needed in my medicine "tub". We were fortunate that visibility on the road coming back home was much better than in the morning, although very overcast all the way. They had plowed the county road so that was good. We got home about 4:30 or so. I warmed up the leftover chili for our dinner. I was worn out, but worked on my photos for a while and didn't feel that sleepy.

TODAY I stayed in bed until 10:30 a.m. or so. Gina called and wondered about bringing out the computer and getting it hooked up, but after we discussed the shape of the road, she decided it would be best to wait until Frosty plowed it again so she didn't get stuck. The morning was not good visibility or light for driving in that either. But it did clear up to be sunny with clouds most of the day, with a good breeze.

I had already decided to spend the day relaxing as I have after every other chemo day, but thankfully I had no symptoms from it this time, except the same dull headache from about when I got home until it went away in the night. I thought I was catching Joe's cold, but guess it was just one of those allergy spells I get thank goodness. Got rid of it with Benadryl. Glad to report, I'm feeling better every day now, and taking fewer pills too. Walked on the Nordic Trak a couple of times. I'm really liking it.

The Game and Fish guys went up to the feedground again today and after they were through, Frosty came back in with the plow and cleared the drifts out of the road. It seemed a lot tougher clearing watching the progress this time compared to times before. He sure does a great job for us. I just hope the wind doesn't blow for a while again so it will last.

Joe has a chipped tooth and will need to get a dentist appointment as soon as possible. He's still got his cold.

Tuesday January 30 2008

TODAY WE DROVE TO JACKSON

AND I WAS ABLE TO GET SOME PHOTOS
OUT THE WINDOW

(From the pictures of the road you can tell how driving is slow,

especially if the visibility gets poor. See tomorrow for the story)

Sundog at Boulder - it was double but I just took one side.

It was sunny like this until we got up past Rookies.)

Snowpacked Road

You Are Here!

Beautiful Downtown Bondurant

Home in Bondurant

Cabins for Rent


Resort on Hoback River

Open Water on the Hoback

Pines in the Canyon



Hoback River with Some Open Water


Hoback River

Snow Nearly Over the Fences Now


Another View of the Road

In the Hoback Canyon

Cabin in Bondurant

Bondurant View

Home in Bondurant

Elkhorn Bar and Restaurant, wonderful icicles

More Distant View of Elkhorn

Near the Rim

Approaching The Rim

Monday January 28 2008

Deer Trailing over the Butte

Yesterday afternoon Bonnie and Craig drove over with the Nordic Trak. I really enjoyed meeting them and getting acquainted with new friends. Hope to see them again soon. They live over near Silver Creek and the East Fork on part of Jim King's old place. Joe has known Craig for a while and he met him snowmachining several years back. He makes beautiful welded gates, the kind with metal artwork on them. So Ken left the N.Trak off at their place on his way to a snowmachine outing, and they brought it over the rest of the way to me. They also pretty much got it adjusted for me to use. It's a skier rather than a walking treadmill and is smaller than I expected, which is good. It looks just about brand new. It's setting in the studio and I've been on it several times already. Thought it would be more difficult to get coordinated on it, but I really like using it. I'll have to practice to learn how to use the arm pully cords. So far I'm just using the sturdy handles for support. I was able to look up and read the manual online.

Thank you so much Nanny and Ken for your generosity, sharing and caring in giving me such a great gift. I promise to use it to help get me well and stronger. Who knows, maybe with enough practice I can XC ski again before winter is over.

Still no storm, in fact the moon and stars have been shining through the clouds (as I write this in the middle of a wakeful night). Toward the west the lights of the oil field are reflecting off the clouds as if there were a city over there. Monday morning it is 32 degrees and sunny blue skies to the south, dark cloudy overcast to the north. But no more than a skiff of new snow. No telling what we will have in the next 30 minutes.

Tomorrow is my next chemo appointment, and Charm is going with me. This morning they are doing avalanche control in the Hoback Canyon again so expect the road, and the weather as well, should be good on Tuesday.

This morning I had the nicest visit with Nancy and they are about ready to go to their second home in Overton in about a week. Charm and I touched base about tomorrow. Gina called and said my computer had been delivered to her from Best Buy today.

Well.....about 11 a.m. or so we got a heck of a ground blizzard. The Salt Lake TV said it was coming and I guess it hit the whole region about the same. It lasted about 2 hours and for most of the time I couldn't even see the yard fence. It was pretty awesome, and sometimes I couldn't even tell which direction the wind was blowing...... up ...... down ....... north ..... south ....... swirling in circles. It rearranged all the drifts in the yard and some grew maybe a couple of feet. The snow in half the front yard was blown off almost to the ground and left several thousand rabbit turds laying there. I just had to laugh, because all that had been covered up so you didn't even know it was there. I don't know what the road will be like in the morning when I leave to go meet Charm. We are going to play it by ear again and if it's not safe we won't go. She certainly has the harder trip with nearly ten miles of snowmachining to get out of her place.

www.pinedaleonline.com Blizzard cuts short IPSSSDR in Pinedale A fast-moving Wyoming blizzard caused race officials to abort the Pinedale Stage Stop mid-race before the teams were able to reach the Finish Line in Pinedale. “We had to stomp the race 2/3 of the way through,” said IPSSSDR Director Frank Teasley. “We had 60 miles per hour winds and white out conditions. We couldn’t grant a safe race. It was epic!” Conditions were so blinding it was impossible to see the race course or to safely travel the roads. Click here for more photos from the Pinedale leg of the race on Monday: Blizzard cuts short IPSSSDR Pinedale Stage Stop (7 photos). White Out The blizzard created white out conditions on the roads and for sled dog teams on the trail. Conditions became so dangerous, race officials cut short the 33-mile race 18 miles into the stage. This was the view on Hwy 352 between the Upper Green and Cora. The race trail is on the right hand side, paralleling the road. The racers are in there... somewhere.

President of the LDS church Gordon B. Hinkley died yesterday. It hasn't been very long since I heard him speaking on TV. Beverly wrote: "He was 97 and had a good life. We will sure miss him, such a sweet man."

FROM WRITER'S ALMANAC: It was on this day in 1986 that the space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after takeoff, killing all seven astronauts aboard. That evening, President Ronald Reagan eulogized the lost astronauts in one of the finest addresses of his presidency. He said, "We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and slipped 'the surly bonds of earth' to 'touch the face of God.'"

Sunday January 27 2008

Frost on Willows

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR GINA

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOUUUUUU!

Did you know if you click on the photos that I put on the blog, they should come up full screen so you can view them with a lot more detail? I kind of knew it, but never really registered until a friend told me again a few days ago. They are kind of small on the blog so thought I'd mention it.

A cloudy morning, definitely warmer. Today it got up about 30 again, and after a couple of hours began to snow, most of the time lightly. We have a Winter Storm Warning again for today and tomorrow, probably because the wind is supposed to blow. It doesn't seem like the snow depth is going to amount to much. Any more it seems like every time they predict snow they call it either a Winter Storm Warning or an Advisory. And then hardly anything happens. I think they should save the warnings for when there is supposed to be a bad storm.

Nanny called and said a friend was going to bring the treadmill to me. Ken had taken it to them this morning, so kind of exciting that it's making its way to me, almost like magic. Guess the place for it to be used the best will be in the studio. I'll keep you posted.

My high school friend Pat who lives in Bend called today too and had a good visit with her. Her husband is supposed to have a knee replacement surgery in a few weeks, so best wishes to him for a speedy recovery and get back to skiing and jogging soon. Then talked to my sister Gloria for a while. Both my sisters have been getting checked for this genetic cancer, and other things that they have had or are discovering, so am keeping up with what's going on there. Otherwise so far its been a quiet day. Got laundry going, changed the sheets and folding clothes. Have to think of what to have for dinner - the hardest part of the job.

It's time for the big sled dog race held here that the mushers and dogs come from all over to run for about a week. It's run in stages, so they cover a very large route. They should have pretty good snow this year.

January 26 2008

Our Neighbors' Horses and Bulls on their Feedground

I like the circular pattern.

Slept good and sound until 9. Woke to a sunny day. No sooner got up than Ruth called and said she and Deanne were on their way over, which meant they would be here in about an hour. So I did manage to get out of my pjs and straighten a few things up.

In the meantime Nanny gave me a surprise call from Arizona and among other things that we talked about was that she has a Nordic trak that they want to get rid of. When she told me on email how much she was walking down there, I whined about it being too cold here and wished I had a treadmill. Well I've "kind of" wished I had a treadmill so I could get some exercise for about ten years now. It was hard to believe that she was offering one to me so they didn't have to worry about what to do with hers when they finish their move to AZ. I'm not sure where I'm going to find room for it, but I know I have to quit sitting in this chair so much and get some exercise or I never will really get well and back into some kind of shape. So that's where we are with that possibility and we'll keep in touch about how to get it from her house down at Boulder to mine. Thank you so much for your thoughtfulness, Nanny.

Ruth and Deanne got here a little after 10. I was sure glad to see them. I thoroughly enjoyed the time they were here. Sparky and Raven were looking forward to Ruth's dogs coming too, but she left them home with Mac. Ruth brought us some tuna that Mac caught when he went fishing in the ocean recently. We'll really enjoy the fresh tuna. And she brought me a couple of sweatshirts too which I'll put to good use. We sat and visited for a while with a cup of coffee and then they helped me fix us some lunch and clean up afterwards. Ruth brought a Waldorf salad. And we had a clam fettuccine Alfredo, with some french bread and sliced tomatoes and broccoli. Deanne has just gotten back a week or so ago from a trip to Costa Rica, so it was fun to hear about that. She brought me a beautiful blue butterfly magnet from here.Too soon it seemed like it was time for them to go. When we went out the temperature on the porch was a blistering 30 degrees and water was dripping off the roof. That's the first time I've heard water dripping for months. I meant to have Joe take a picture of the three of us for today's photo on the blog, and never even thought of it wile they were here. Rats!

It was a really nice day. Thanks for coming over dear special friends.

Marilyn in Iowa phoned today and we touched base with what's been happening. She was waiting in the parking lot at Walmart for her Mom to get done shopping. Marilyn's had a real bad knee for some time, so she didn't go in and walk around and decided to call. That was fun to hear from her. She paints wildlife art. I've shared some of her stories here on the blog, especially about her new kitten, you might remember. Betty also called later in the afternoon and we had our usual good talk, and then Debbie so I've had a full day of visiting. Sheral called, but I had to ask her if I could call her later, so will try tomorrow.

Butch called too and said that if we needed the big snowplow to come in if we get a snowed in from wind or a large storm just to let him know. That is so thoughtful of him. It seems to be one of the perks of being old folks in the hinterlands, and a really good thing to know we have that option.

Tonight we had some waffles, sausage and scrambled eggs for dinner. Joe's been wanting me to make him some waffle batter, so killed two birds with one stone. He has enough batter for several more waffles now. He's been going to bed so early lately. He says his cold is getting better. I'm ready to get in bed tonight too but it was still almost midnight when I actually got there.

It clouded up while the gals were here and snowed just a little, and then later cleared back up again. Tonight at 9 p.m. its about 6 degrees, so much warmer than it has been lately.