Wednesday March 26 2008

Following a Gravel Truck

It hauls two big trailers

Eagle on the left - Hills hidden in fog on right

Halfway to Boulder - Fog Bank Ahead

Trees Near the East fork

Yesterday: we had another good trip to Jackson and back. I left before 8 a.m. and the worst time I had was just getting out our lane to the gate. We may have had 3 or 4 inches of new snow. The visibility was not good until I got out to the pavement (about 5 miles). Even though I could see the berms along our lane and stayed right in the middle as best I could, was not sure where the tracks were underneath. But the gravel trucks had beaten down the new snow on the county road so could see a good track there. I followed one of the trucks out.

The light was much better and less overcast as soon as I hit the pavement. I stopped at the Boulder post office and returned a pair of sweats that were too larger to Eddie Bauer, and in Pinedale to drop off the recycling. From Boulder to about where I picked Maxine up the road was dry. The reports we got later were that 8" of new snow had fallen from the Rim through the Hoback and driving was pretty dicey. I couldn't tell that it was that much, they had the road cleared pretty good, much like other trips.

Maxine and I arrived right at the same time at the intersection of 40 Rod Road and Hwy 191. Amazingly beautiful drive on up through the new snowfall. The aspens and cottonwoods were lacy with snow piled in them, and the evergreens were loaded with white. Road was slushy most of the way as the temperatures were warm. Maxine saw some deer but we didn't see much other wildlife other than the elk on the Fall Creek Feedground. They say there are 1500 there right now. (Last time I guessed 700). There are several other feedgrounds in addition to the elk refuge.

Driving was slow again. Got to Oncology just about on time. This time was so much the same as others, I won't bore you with that again. They were very busy today, and were slower than usual getting me hooked up etc. Maxine and I ate our lunch there and it was very good as usual. We had sandwiches with broccoli cheese soup and split a piece of cheesecake.

Then they were slow with getting my prescriptions refills, and Dr. Meno wanted to see me this time. He was in the hospital, but we had to wait perhaps another 30 minutes for him to show up. He had to write the prescription for the pain medicine. We talked about how things are going. The most I got out of this visit was that I probably will keep going with more cycles. This is cycle 5. Then I will have scans and see the Huntsman doctor after that, and go on with cycle 6, etc, etc. I was hoping I might be well enough for a break by now. Dr. Meno and Carol said that eventually the chemo would not work any more and they may be able to do something else after that, I know not what. This is the first time I have heard this, so something new to think about.

Maxine and I went to K-Mart to get the prescriptions and do a little other shopping while waiting. As usual getting the prescriptions involved more time than you would think. I returned a top I'd gotten there last time that was too small. Then we went to Smith's. Maxine had a prescription there, and I whirled through the store throwing stuff in the basket that was near the fish counter and cheaper there than Faler's/Ridleys - got some fresh salmon and halibut.

Maxine drove us on home. I didn't take pictures along the way, because it was too similar to other times that you've already seen, but did get a few coming out this morning as I drove along. I hope Maxine wasn't gone too long, because she left her dogs at home alone. Let her out at her car, and zipped on in to Pinedale to walk through Faler's for things on the list I skipped at Smiths. Then got gas. Now I won't have to worry about coming back to town to shop until next week. The weather is supposed to stay with a good chance of snow all week anyway.

I so much enjoyed the trip with Maxine and getting more acquainted with her. I had the best time and she said she also enjoyed going. I'm beginning to truly realize how much it means to go with a friend as opposed to driving alone. It really takes my mind off all the worries and negative things, even getting there. Although I'm sure I could drive home, even though the nurses say not to, I would probably drive too fast and not relax they way I do when someone is with me. The drive is the best thing I do all week, and is so enjoyable to be with a good friend. Thank you again for going with me Maxine. I loved it.

Got home about 6:30, Joe anxiously waiting and wondering why I was so late. We got the groceries unloaded and I started putting them away. Joe put the car away. He had already eaten leftovers. It was great to see the happy dogs.

TODAY: My night was about like usual, quite uncomfortable with the different side effects going on. This time I could feel my heart jumping around a little, and have had a little of that before. It doesn't last long. Next time will need to remember to tell them during the Q&A session. Sat under the good warm shower for a while to wind down. A very sore thing happens with my eyes, so lay with a warm cloth on them. Didn't sleep until almost morning. By noon I began doing pretty well again. Spent today mostly sitting and reading some of the letters and reading email or goofing off on the computer. We're going to have the halibut for dinner tonight.

Yesterday they held Mixed Media, our painting group, at Rendezvous Point. Charm said about 8 of them went. So was sorry I missed going to that. I thought about changing my appointment, but didn't think I should. Today would have been an awful driving day.

It has been very overcast and its snowing again this afternoon. The wind is blowing and piling up the drifts even more. It's still over the corral, 8' there (pictures in a day or two.) By evening we were having a real ground blizzard with snow falling. I checked the weather online and it said it was only blowing 8 mph at the airport. I was surprised yesterday to see how much the snow had melted around Boulder and Pinedale. Much of the ground is beginning to show there and the brush all uncovered, while ours is still very white and pretty deep yet. I don't know why surprised, since we're usually two weeks behind them in the spring and two weeks early in the fall. I think we're only about 400 feet higher in elevation, but coming into our little valley makes a big difference up next to the foothills. We keep getting an inch or two of snow each time it storms, should be that way all week. But if it does that for 12 days, we have accumulated a foot or more of new snow and some good moisture, so it is welcome. Seems like we've just had an awful lot of overcast days this winter though and that gets old. At least its getting noticeably warmer.

What I came away from the doctor visit yesterday was if I want to go to Vegas I will just be able to take some time off, because they feel that it is important to your quality of life to do enjoyable things too. Tayler graduates from high school about June 5. And high school friend Nancy will be down at Caliente near Betty's in May and we may be able to all get together if we can coordinate the dates. That is unknown right now. Too many unknowns in my life. We seldom know what tomorrow might bring, but at least go ahead with plans. I don't feel like I can make a much of a plan.

Tibbal House

An early 1900s Craftsman Kit House

Tuesday March 25 2008

Washakie Dreams

20x24 Oil Painting

by Lynn Thomas

Yesterday got all the letters from years 1969 through present sorted that have been stuffed in big envelopes and stored, that feels good to have it so neat looking and ready to work from. I typed quite a bit more into the "Timeline" document and its over 60 pages of information organized from letters, receipts and other sources. Much more to go however. I still have several large packets of correspondence to and from a individual friends to be read and the information gleaned. These are going back to them as I finish. And two more years of receipts. Then there will be one more file drawer to do the same way. These are old lodge records. There should be lots in there to work from. Thankfully it is fairly well organized.

The temperature got to almost 40 yesterday so there was some melting and puddles. We've had some icicles hanging in front of the north kitchen window that were over 6' long and they fell off in this warmth. This morning is very cloudy and has been snowing again so may be another day for bad visibility. We're off to Jackson as soon as I finish my yogurt; will leave before 8 a.m., stop at post office to send back too large sweats to Eddie Bauer, and take the recycling to Pinedale. 90% chance of snow up in Jackson, a little less down here, and foggy roads. More later.

Monday March 24 2008

"Altar Rock" in Big Sandy Openings

First thing this morning heard big trucks out on the county road so went to the window check it out and a string of gravel trucks was going by. Joe said he heard 40 of them would be starting to haul gravel from the pit by Big Sandy River to the Rock Springs highway construction. They will probably be on the road all summer now, so we will have to be wary drivers.

Artist friend Joan called me from her home in L.A. yesterday. I met Joan when we were both in WAOW in the early '70s. She was sitting in her back yard barefooted and in shorts listening to the birds sing. It was 17 degrees here. As usual we did a lot of reminiscing about the "olden days". We are both writing up the story about a quite adventurous private raft trip we took together down through most of Utah on the Green River. She said she's about half done with hers. Beverly called after dinner last night. Brent had a blowout driving his company truck. I was glad to hear that he's o.k. She's been doing spring cleaning. I tried to call cousin Iris yesterday, so she called back this morning. It was really good to hear her voice. She sounds great. She's down in Houston now, after her move from Salt Lake, and says she likes it there. Her daughter Michelle and Art are nearby. She has yet to experience Texas summer.

Yesterday I got most of another drawer of old papers and letters sorted and filed in order. This is in order to have facts and dates recorded on a large "Timeline" document I've been preparing which will accumulate all that information in one place. The amount of the letters and such is overwhelming. Guess I've always been a writer. But what a relief to have this at least sorted into folders by dates.

Tomorrow is another chemo treatment. Maxine is going to Jackson with me this time. If we have a long day I may not blog tomorrow.

Today's picture is of a big boulder that sits near the entrance to Big Sandy Lodge in The Openings. Betty sent the link below and it reminded me of these boulders. The boulder is positioned above the ground on 3 small boulders. There are many of these almost the same - big boulder on three small rocks - throughout the Wind Rivers. There is a theory that they were deliberately placed this way by prehistoric Native Americans. And of course another theory is that the glaciers melted away it just happened to leave these boulders positioned naturally. I go for the first theory. There are just too many of them, always on three rocks (discount the ones that have a variety of rocks, rubble or only partially on a rock or two and partially on the ground etc.), they are always in a place with a spectacularly awesome view, where you could say there is a particularly strong spiritual feeing. The biggest reason to discount them being placed deliberately by man, is that its not possible for ancient man to accomplish this. I don't believe that either. Anyway, you can decide.

http://j-walkblog.com/index.php?/weblog/posts/moving_big_rocks

Sunday March 23 2008

Sunset on Muddy Ridge from the Mailbox

The white across the middle is our field.

HAPPY EASTER

This dating of Easter is based on the lunar calendar that Hebrew people used to identify Passover, which is why it moves around on our Roman calendar.Easter can actually be one day earlier (March 22) but that is pretty rare. This year is the earliest Easter any of us will ever see the rest of our lives! And only the most elderly of our population have ever seen it this early (95 years old or above!). And none of us have ever, or will ever, see it a day earlier!The next time Easter will be this early (March 23) will be the year 2228 (220 years from now). The last time it was this early was 1913 (so if you're 95 or older, you are the only ones who were around for that!).The next time it will be a day earlier, March 22, will be in the year 2285 (277 years from now). The last time it was on March 22 was 1818. So no one alive today has, or ever will see Easter any earlier than this year!

Hope you all have a wonderful day, and that it is spent just the way you wish it to be. I'm sure missing all my family so far away, but its beautiful here today and am glad to be here. You would love to see the snow and colors on the mountains, and the way the cows looked out in the field this morning strung out walking to the barn get a drink of water. I stood there a long time this morning looking at the hills. Its sure still white though. Still cold too. I'm going to make us a ham dinner with pumpkin pie later. Joe's got the game on TV. Debbie called last night and we got to talk for a while, that was nice. If anything interesting happens, I'll be back later.

Saturday March 22 2008

The Bubles at Mud Lake

Sometime in the 70's

Today's picture is posted because I'm writing about our high school years in The Book. It's a longer story than I would put in the blog, but we had a group of close friends and called ourselves The Bubles. Most of us have kept in close touch all our lives. In the 70s we had a mini reunion at Big Sandy Lodge. Shown in the picture are Lynn, Pat, Doreen and Betty. The dogs are Barney and Chico. I hope I haven't had this on the blog, but think I sent it out email before in case it looks familiar.

After dinner last night we had a fast moving blizzard go through. I thought it was the perfect reason to have a cup of hot chocolate, but before I could get it finished the storm was over. There was a nice sunset and the full moon rose huge and yellow, with another clear dazzling night. It was so bright it had me wondering if you could get moonburn if you stayed out too long. Those rabbits are still carousing around the yard too.

Jerry came and cleaned out our road with his pickup and plow again. The wind had drifted it in a little bit during the last week, and now it should be fine for going to Jackson next Tuesday, even if it might storm a some more between now and then. It doesn't look bad on the weather report though. Jerry, has anyone every told you how wonderful you are?

Joe went to town today to get truck parts. This time he will get the groceries he forgot before. The dogs and I stayed home. Since it is another gorgeous morning but colder again, we took a walk when it warmed up a little. Betty called this morning and we had our weekly visit. I washed the windows inside today. They look better. I sure like using those microfiber cloths to wash glass with. So much easier. And did a little housecleaning.

Today Raven was barking so I checked out what she was guarding us from, and with the spotting scope across the field there was a skunk running along the creek. Haven't seen one for many months. Hope it just keeps on truckin' out of the vicinity.

Then .... I looked out the kitchen window and the Richie's cows were in the field and I never saw them coming. So the cows are back. They will soon be having their calves and stay here until after the calves are branded in May. Then they go out on the desert pastures for a while.

Remember how I removed my name from a bunch of catalogs so they would no longer be sent to us in the mail through http://www.catalogend.com/ ? (I believe we are getting fewer catalogs already - they said it would take a month or so.) Now they have sent me ready printed cards with postage to send to junk mail places to be taken off their lists. How great - and easy - is that? They also sent a web address to go enter my info to get off the list for credit card and insurance card mailings. What a blessing it would be not to get all that stuff in the mail. It is http://www.optoutprescreen.com/ . So I went there and filled out the form to permanently opt out of this junk mail. I DID NOT send my SS# or my phone No. and it worked just fine.

For years the county population has been about 2000 and recently growing. Sublette County's population grew by 9.4% between 2006 and 2007, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The estimated population is 7,925 permanent residents as of July of 2007, up 684 residents from July of 2006. Census Bureau data shows that Sublette County was the 5th fastest growing county among the more than 3,000 counties in the nation between 2006 and 2007. The county was also the second fastest growing county west of the Mississippi River, and the fastest growing county with a population under 19,000.

Two nights ago, astronomers observed a cosmic explosion so intense it was visible to the naked eye from a distance of 7.5 billion light years. I have never heard of the scientists being able to see something like this, until now.
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/21mar_nakedeye.htm?list953085

Friday March 21 2008

Autumn Jewels

9x12 Oil Painting of Muddy Canyon in the Fall

by Lynn Thomas

GOOD FRIDAY

Pretty day here, warmer. The last week or so has been around 30 to 34 in the days, with a little of every kind of weather, including off and on snow flurries. If it weren't for little skiffs of snow, we would be getting no moisture. We sure would take some of that excess rain the Midwest is getting right now. Interesting and beautiful to watch the weather as it changes moment by moment. If you look one direction it is snowing and misty across the foothills. The opposite direction is sunny and mostly clear. It's almost unbelievable how in a matter of moments we will be in a whiteout snowstorm and then it is totally gone. The cloud shadows roll over and give constantly shifting light and shadow. We're also getting big towering thunderheads from time to time. Breeziness makes it cool and at the moment is moving a little snow. I didn't get a walk in before that started. Last night was so dazzlingly magnificent with a clear sky and a nearly full moon. The brightness of moonlight on the snow was awesome. By morning we had another inch of snow fallen.

Just now I'm watching about four jackrabbits just outside the yard chasing each other full speed over the drifts and across the hay sleds (which are still more or less buried in snowdrifts). They are delightful. Must be mating season or something. They have begun to get some of their darker summer color mingled in with the winter white. I tried to get a few pictures but couldn't get it zoomed in fast enough for a close one. They're not one bit worried about the dogs. The dogs just watch.... or not. I could use a dog that would chase them away, as they have eaten down a lot of the shrubs in the yard, including my willow bush that had grown to about four feet tall. Its nothing but stubble now.

Got a new book in the mail the other day - The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton. I still have to finish the book I'm into right now though before I start another one. Got the bills paid online and a few other business type things caught up.

Thursday March 20 2008

Sublette County Spring - Horses near the Wind Rivers

WELCOME SPRING

Emily Dickinson said, "A little Madness in the Spring / Is wholesome even for the King."

Today is the first day of spring, the vernal equinox in the Northern Hemisphere. On this day, the north and south poles are equally distant from the sun, so we will have almost exactly the same amount of daytime as nighttime.

Harriet's Trivia for today: The common lilac blooms when the sum of the squares of the mean daily temperatures (Celsius) since the end of the previous frost equals 4,264. Huh? Another spring time thing is there is often an outage on the satellite TV signal, usually doesn't last long. But we are having that this morning. Or it could just be a storm going on blocking the signal between the dish and the satellite.

Last night when I let the dogs out it was just balmy that I checked the thermometer and it was 34 degrees! It's hardly been that here during the day. It had begun snowing with those big fluffy wet flakes. Sparky led me right to the towel when he came in. Like - "I'm all wet, dry me off and get me my cheese treat. Extra rubbing will be o.k. - get the tummy." Tell me they aren't smart. Anyway we got a couple new inches and there was enough wind that everything is plastered white this morning. The storm came from the east, which is unusual. It's about 28 now, so it's not melting off too fast. That's nice because its kind of a feast for the eyes. The sun is trying to shine a little now.

Gina called this morning and we had a nice visit and caught up with what's been going on in our lives. Also Jo called to say that both the county and the town had joined in a joint powers board to direct the planning for the new Fine Arts Center. I had stepped back a little from being involved for the last several months. Not sure if I can do much except support to help things along, but this was sure good news. Judi and Rollie got back from a vacation in Arizona a few days ago and she's off to see her daughter in Ohio today. Have fun and be safe, Judi.

More writing on The Book yesterday. I got a chapter done about my best high school girl friend Doreen. It sure brought back a lot of memories. She was a true friend all these years, even babysitting my girls after my divorce. When they moved to Logandale, we would go out and spend weekends with her family there and had such a good time. I never repaid her for any of that, and would like to think of something unique to do now. Any ideas? I also have a large chapter pretty well along about going to Basic High School in Henderson. What a lot crazy and fun times we had.

I haven't been writing much about this ozone thing that's happening here now, except to tell you Jim and Bob are flying the plane that they are measuring the stuff from, but i do just HATE what is happening to our air. If you want more info you can read as much as you want on pinedaleonline. What a terrible shame that our beautiful clear vistas are being trashed, as well as it is so unhealthy.

http://www.sublette.com/roundup/v105n10/v105n10s7.htm