Wednesday April 16 2008

Bighorn Ewe

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This morning was clear, about 15 degrees when I left home, and just a breeze. Won't make this so long as yesterday. Much today was just the same as in my other descriptions. I met Charm at Boulder and we took off to Jackson to get my CT scans done. We left Boulder maybe 15 minutes early. She drove us both ways since I had to drink the barium stuff beginning at 9 a.m. Gave Maxine a call as we went through Pinedale and she met us at 40 Rod. We pulled up to the parking spot at the same time as she got there. A nice ride on dry roads through the Hoback. Still lots of deep snow in there and beautiful scenery as usual but it's looking more spring-like. That snow storm that was predicted didn't materialize at all, though they did have the tiniest skiff on the ground as we got in to Jackson. We chatted along the whole way.

Maxine had a couple of errands and we still got to Oncology about 15 minutes early. Paige got the IV for the contrast into my arm on the first try - she is GOOD! The CT technician came for me and it seemed the whole scan thing didn't take but 10 or 15 minutes. The doctor came and checked the scan and they did locate my liver. Then it takes them quite a while to check the new scans against the old ones so I won't know a lot more until I see the Huntsman Doctor Ward on the 25th. Although I did get the results of the tumor marker test which they took last week. It is lower yet again. I don't go back for any treatments until the 25th, and see what he says is the next step.

So then we went to the jewelry store where Charm picked up her necklace that she was having repaired. And on to the Bunnery for a good lunch. For the longest time I've been hungry for a bacon cheeseburger so indulged in one - it was delicious along with home fried chips. Charm and Maxine's lunches looked yummy too. I brought about 1/3 of the burger home for the dogs. They always look for that white box. Bought a few of the bakery goodies.Their OMS rolls are so delicious. We stopped at Albertsons and got fried chicken for dinner, with some macaroni and cheese. Then the back home.

Today was the sixteenth time we've made the trip to Jackson. Even though every thing went quickly it was still 4 p.m. by the time I got here. All in all, a very enjoyable day spent with dear friends.

Have thrown the dinner into the oven to be heating up, and glad it was simple. The long drive and long day has been, well, l - o - n - g. I think I will go to bed early tonight.

Was happy to have seen all five of my cats out in the field hunting for something together early this morning. Seeing them all together doesn't happen often so now I'm really sure that I have them all.

There are pictures of mountain goats people have been seeing in the Snake River Canyon. http://www.pinedaleonline.com/news/2008/04/MountainGoats.htm . We drive by that road, and its not very far down there to where the goats are. I think Dave Bell on pinedaleonline also has some mountain goat photos.

Another tax time jingle:

Ode to the IRS

Tax me not in mournful numbers

Come and make a total haul

For the residue that slumbers

Is no good to me at all.

by Samuel Hoffenstein

Tuesday April 15 2008

Fresh Bread

24x36 Oil Painting

by Lynn Thomas
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American yew, which has poisonous fruit and foliage and is used extensively in landscaping around government buildings in Washington, DC, is known to botanists as "taxus taxus."

So did you get your taxes mailed off by the deadline?

It started off being a pretty nice day - but soon the temperature was dropping and the wind blowing about 35 mph. It was cold and nasty. There were 93 mph winds near Salt Lake today, and they had snow this afternoon and 50 mph wind around the city. The weird thing was that our Green River Valley was full of a dark and ugly haze that obscured the mountains, and it turned out to be dust blown in from Utah.

Went to town early this morning. First I stopped at the post office to get postage on some big envelopes and got them mailed. Debbie was there and had a chance to say hi to her. Charm came in, and she was also going to the meeting. Then got rid of the recycling in Pinedale. Didn't have so much as usual because every time Joe has a chance he dumps it in the garbage and burns it up. I keep thinking what a waste of my time and effort to sort and save it if he's going to do that. Then went to the safety deposit box and got things back in there that we'd recently had at home.

We had our Mixed Media painting meeting at the Rendezvous Pointe today and had lunch together there - BBQ ribs. There were six of us and I enjoyed every minute being with them. Bob came in for lunch and sat with us - it was nice to see him. I worked on my fall aspen scene with the road to Big Sandy and got pretty far along on it. It's very colorful and quite bright, but it might be o.k. when it's finished.

James and Kathy stopped by and brought PEE-CANZ from Georgia. Her folks have orchards there. Kathy picked them all off the ground and shelled them. I have only cracked the few you do at Christmas and get so frustrated at trying to get the shells and nut separated. She said they did have some kind of shelling gadget but I just can't imagine what that involves and she said they got 200 pounds of them! They must have given us about a gallon of them and they look beautiful/wonderful. They keep good stored in the freezer and will last us about a year. Thank you so much you two. Their family is all in Georgia and they go back a lot, but love Wyoming too.

When the meeting was over and I was packing my pastels back out to the SUV that awful wind snatched two of my 8x10 reference photos and blew them across the road and clear through Faler's parking lot ..... you know how you run but never can quite catch up and it just lays there and teases you until another big gust of wind comes along and takes it again. I almost gave up ten times and then they would lay still and I'd think I could catch up and get them. Finally I did. It was a pretty good workout.

Afterwards I went to the clinic to pick up my thyroid prescription, and saw Peg for a few minutes. Took the dogs for a couple of walks during the time we were in town. At the clinic we walked near the museum because its quiet with no traffic and a golden retriever? came out and walked with us. Lucky they all got along.

Went to Ridley's/Falers and since last time I shopped it has certainly improved. The shelves are all moved around, so I walked up and down all the aisles to get an idea where things have been moved to. They still are working and have a long way to go, but its looking promising for us to have a better store with more variety. I bought some Maseca Masa to make some homemade corn tortillas, and just as I was putting it in the basket a couple of Mexican guys came by. One asked me if I was going to make tamales, and I said no, tortillas, that I loved tamales but they were too much work. And asked him if this was the best kind of flour. He said yes. It seemed like maybe he was "homesick" for tamales - don't know. I didn't have too many groceries to get this time, and won't have to shop tomorrow unless we want to. I got the prescription filled too.

Wildlife watching was good today. First thing there was a bluebird in the back yard and also saw a robin in the tree yesterday morning. The meadowlarks are back singing in the sagebrush. The second hawk was in the tree down the lane when I left. It felt good that the pair of them are there now. There were large groups of deer along the way. There were lots of new baby calves this time. Also saw antelope, and all kinds of birds. several other kinds of hawks, ravens acting like raving maniacs, and ducks and geese. The very best thing today was seeing a pair of swans flying over one of the ranch fields heading toward the New Fork River. They were awesome. They were nearly extinct 30 or 40 years ago, and its neat to be in the place where they are coming back. There was a pair of cranes near our field both coming and going, and down on the Bousman's field there was a large flock of them. They gather there and do their dancing every year. So now I've seen my cranes.

We had leftover chili for dinner, and that was easy.

Judi and Rollie are back from Casper. They went over to help their son and his family move to a new house. She is blogging now too, so that is fun. I have about six on my list to watch and enjoy.

I talked to Cindy today about hiring her to clean the house. She is going to come over on Thursday and see what it involves and we'll talk about details and such. This will be the first time I've ever had someone clean for me and it will be a luxury.

One of the plastic side cushions on the nose piece of my glasses broke off last night and I haven't found it. It will need to be repaired.

Charm and I go to Jackson tomorrow morning. Maxine is going with us too, and we'll pick her up on the way. I will leave here before 8. I have to drink the barium stuff beginning at about 9 a.m. so will be drinking most of the way up to Jackson. Charm is going to drive both ways. My appointment time to be at the Oncology office is 10:45 a.m. and in to the CT Scan at 11 a.m. It never takes very long, if it goes as it has in the past. No chemo that day - unless they surprise me. It's my "off day".

Its supposed to snow 3 or 4 inches tonight. We've had several warm days and now that its time to get on the road its supposed to get cold and stormy for about a week. By Monday a few of the western counties had a flood watch posted, but not sure that's going to happen now. The last couple of days has melted quite a bit of snow off the fields here, and snow is all but gone around Boulder and Pinedale. Our road is just about dry.

All the cats have also appeared at different times, so am happy they all made it through the winter. The calico mother cat is looking older, but seems to be o.k.

Lately I have enough ambition, off and on, to clean up and organize messes I've let go for more or less time. Quite a few little paperwork jobs were accomplished Monday, and a few bills paid. I have a big pile of drug store receipts to organize yet, or even decide whether to keep or not - just trashing would be easy - but I like to know and keep track of what and when we have taken for meds. The neat file drawer of medical records feels good. If they have to, the kids will be able to find information, i.e. social security and Medicare stuff, past med. history etc. Have two more file drawers cleaned out down to the bare bones, and hauling more trash bags full of papers to the garbage. Funny/odd how I always thought I wanted or needed to keep all that stuff, and realize I've never looked at most of it for a decade or more.

Bed time!! Sparky has had his massage. Raven has gotten a biscuit stuffed into her chew toy to work on for a while. Did I say its cold and nasty out? I think those few nice days spoiled me in a hurry.

Monday April 14 2008

Deer Migration

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Sunny and calm morning, about 32 degrees at 9 a.m. Joe has been getting the snow machines ready for storage for the summer - running the gas out of the tanks and parking them out of the way. He has sure had a job keeping the garage floor clean - it's been so full of mud and melting snow falling off the vehicles.

Yesterday I got Sparky all brushed clean and his toenails cut. It's Raven's turn today, if I can capture her. As soon as she sees the nail clippers she disappears. Then will need to vacuum up all the toenail bits off the studio carpet. It's a good incentive, since the room needs to be cleaned badly. Yesterday (and in the middle of the night last night) I got all our medical records sorted and filed into one of the file drawers I emptied earlier. They have been in folders on the book shelf, in various random piles, so this was a large job. I've let that go for several years just stacking them up and am glad to have it neatly organized. Another big trash bag of old papers went to the burn barrels.

It was on this day, Good Friday, in 1865 that President Abraham Lincoln was shot in the back of the head while watching a performance of the play Our American Cousin at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C. Lincoln had received word of Robert E. Lee's surrender and the end of the Civil War just a few days before he died.

On this day in 1894 that Thomas Edison's first kinetoscope appeared in a New York City arcade, and the viewer would see a series of pictures flipped rapidly enough to create the illusion of movement. ...... MOVIES!!

Black Sunday, On this day in 1935, the weather was sunny and calm. a windstorm hit a part of the Great Plains known as the Dust Bowl. Witnesses said it was like a black tidal wave came down from the sky.

Tax Time

Never ask of money spent

Where the spender thinks it went.

Nobody was ever meant

To remember or invent

What he did with every cent.

Robert Frost.

Sunday April 13 2008

Wanna Play?

What another gorgeous day we have - so far this morning. I looked ahead at the weather report though, and looks like its predicting some storminess to come in by Wednesday when we go to Jackson again.

I'm really having a hard time coming up with anything new and interesting to write about these last several days. So I hope Jackie doesn't mind that I'm sharing with you a cute story she had about her dad. Jackie lives on a wheat farm in Eastern Washington and is also a fine artist. But you've heard me talk about her before - she was president of the Women Artists and I was her V.P. a year or so ago. I can just picture this because our old men who live in town all have their morning coffee get togethers every day.

From Jackie: "I guess I am full of funny stories today because my dad told a story in town yesterday too. To set the story up, dad, for years, has met at the local quick stop to have coffee with his friends. They are quite a bunch, as they always give each other such a bad time and some of them are notorious for practical jokes. One day one of the bunch, who is a retired Coast Guard captain, came in and saw that one of the other guys(Mel) had a bandage on the side of his head where he had a growth removed. The retired Coast Guard captain said kiddingly to Mel “ Well, Mel I see that you had half of your brain taken out yesterday” and without a hesitation Mel says “ Well, yes I did and I am going back tomorrow to have the other half removed so I can join the Coast Guard. Of course the place fell apart laughing. Mel had the best sense of humor and was so quick with the come backs. I am sorry to say that Mel passed away last year and the guys sure do miss him."

Saturday April 12 2008

Looking at Drifts in Front Corral

I Met a Smiling Face on My Walk Today and I Smiled Back

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The Red Tail is Back at It's Nest (click to see bird)

The Yard Today

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Today was nice, and very relaxed and quiet. The weather was warmer and calm, but still didn't get much above 40. Did some more typing up old letters; am on a new stack of them. The dogs and I took a small and leisurely walk. The cutest thing was meeting a smiling face along the road - a balloon. Not sure how long it might have been there. Every once in a while we find balloons that have floated in. Once I found one in the field from some kids school project in Oregon or somewhere far away.

The red tail hawk is back in the tree waiting at its nest. I've only see the one bird, so maybe its waiting for its mate. You can tell from the pictures that in the last week or so more snow has melted but its still plenty white. Joe went out and raked some of the ruts out of the drive through the yard. He hates for the road to get ruts in it. I made a pot of chili and some cornbread for dinner.

Last night I stood in the yard and looked at the ISS again, and saw it much better because the sky had really cleared off after sunset. Its interesting how it appears, brightening out of the distance and disappears the same way after it crosses the sky. Makes sense. Not like a planet rising and setting that stays the same brightness whether high or low on the horizon. The moon and stars were also pretty spectacular. I'm so glad I took the time to look and lucky I did because it won't be coming over us again anytime soon.

Pinedale is getting another 3-story hotel and probably two of them, and a new elementary school. There will be a quite large development that will include more affordable housing on the west end of town too.

Friday March 11 2008

Saddle Stand

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Boy talk about boring days. Have not done much that is fun to write about. Got to about 40 degrees today, so slowly the snow is starting to leave and the wind is blowing so that hurries it along.

One exciting thing, quite thrilling actually, is that I did see the international space station go across the sky last night. It came right out of the WNW at exactly the time their site said, and went straight across our roof. It was lost in the clouds heading to the SE but it was enough to say I'd seen it. Quite fast, very big and bright, much as Venus looks, and there was still some sunset glow. I suppose if you had a telescope you could actually see the shape of the ISS. I didn't take mine out, and it was fun anyway. I'll try looking again tonight, but we've had hazy clouds all day long, so might not be very successful. I've seen teeny satellites looking like speeding stars many years ago. Usually camping out, looking at the stars you would spot one of those tiny dots streaking across the night sky.

Today I stuck in a picture of the new saddle stand like I said I would a week or so ago. Joe has brought the saddle back out of the barn and I'll take another picture showing the saddle on the stand. This style is rustic, but goes with our paneling and country "decor". The other style they had at the saddle shop had a more panel and board look, and was just as nice. It was hard to choose. There is a peg on each end to put a bridle on. I would like to have my braided rawhide rope displayed too. It was made in the Rawlins state prison years ago. I traded a painting for it with one of our wranglers.

Still feelin' good. The pain I've had under my diaphragm ever since the surgery has diminished noticeably in the last week or so. I'm giving a lot of credit for that to Joan, who has been meditating on that particular symptom by envisioning erasing the spots on the liver with a large white art eraser. YOU GO JOAN!!

Thursday April 10 2008

Scene Near Silver Creek Yesterday

FLYBY ALERT: Tonight, the International Space Station (ISS) begins a week-long series of bright evening flybys over North America. The busily expanding station is now as bright as Venus even when it doesn't fly directly overhead; some observers report seeing it through clouds. US and Canadian readers, find out when to look using our new Simple Satellite Tracker: http://spaceweather.com/flybys You stick your zip code in and it tells you to the second when and where to look. (8:40 PM tonight here WNW.) Sounds like an exciting thing to see. The constellation Scorpio (that's me) is very beautiful right now as well.

Joe went to town early this morning. He invited me to go as he was putting on his coat and I was standing there still in my pjs and no breakfast yet, but I've been gone enough lately. Woke up 3 a.m. or so, and haven't gone back to sleep so might take a nap. Might not. I'm feeling pretty darn good.

I saw a small flock of meadow larks sitting on the corral today. Surely they are just reconoitering the territory, as I can't imagine they can find food here yet. Maxine saw cranes and also a bluebird, and she still has nearly as much snow as we do. It got to about 34 degrees today with a stiff wind blowing. There are more spots of bare ground beginning to show in the field.

Got the photos downloaded. and guess what, I took photos of that big herd of deer through the windshield and the camera focused on the water drops on the glass and the deer are ALL out of focus. Bummer. Too excited to run the windshield wiper? Kind of like buck fever I suppose. Some I got out the rolled down side windows will be o.k., but sure not as impressive.

A few days ago one special member of Gina and Bob's family passed away. Remember their dog Dell from when I went to spend some time with them. She had a stroke and they put her to sleep. She was 16. I know it has left a big hole in their hearts, and that Garfield also misses her, no one to pester and harass. Gina says: "there's definitely something missing in our house...ie right in front of the door. :) The Cat cries for an hour in the morning wanting to know where she is...in and out, in and out. Then settles down."

Charm said yesterday, "The county plow is clearing the road into their place at Boulder Lake Ranches. But they are having troubles getting through. A wing broke off the county road grader just past the Forest Service cattle guard. Jim helped Bill get it off, the bracket off, and all loaded into the county pickup. Yesterdy they still had the worst of the drifts to clear, not to mention the passage through the trees." Then she said, "They made it the rest of the way today. What a good job the crews did, but with that arsenal they had, it should look good....first the grader that broke; then a big Cat; then a snowblower. Jim and neighbors are in the process of moving vehicles in. As much snow as was pushed way off to the side, it shouldn't even be very muddy for long."

Today I'm did some online shopping for when/if a trip to the desert materializes. Maybe something to wear to Tayler's graduation, and a few nicer pairs of shorts and tops. I ordered a pretty lightweight skirt in Eddie Bauer. And a short sleeve hoodie and crop pants in "petunia" Frency terry. I'll probably wish I'd gotten the long pants, even for our summer.

Sheral, Virginia and Pat called today and had very nice visits with them. Virginia has a cold.