Wednesday April 23 2008

Such Disappointment

Biggest Herd of Deer I Ever Saw

and I Get Raindrops

Another Small Bunch of Deer in the Hoback Canyon

Today Helena came over about 10 a.m.. I've known Helena for a long time now and she is one of my most favorite people. We are in Sublette County Artists (writers) Guild together. She lives in Big Piney. She wanted to do one of her Pioneer Couple interviews with us for the Roundup, but Joe didn't want to be interviewed. So she asked if she could interview me. I said yes. We both tried to get him to tell some of his story, but he stuck to his guns about not getting interviewed. We even told him lots of the guys had done it, but he stayed staunch in his decision. Helena was able to ask Joe some questions about some of the old places around here, and he talked with her about that.

Helena has been working on gathering information on the Sublette County original homesteads for the County History board for a couple of years now. We had fun looking at maps for a while, and some of the photos and interviews from old timers that I have, especially about the Boulters who originally homesteaded our place. By then it was time to get lunch in the oven. We had a Hot Chopstick Salad (which I thought was appropriate because LaRee Cowley, my long time neighbor down the road gave me that recipe - they were pioneers) with Alpenglow Frozen Cranberry Salad, Banana Crunch muffins, sliced tomatoes, and Helena brought a heavenly chocolate layered refrigerator dessert - and such a crust it had - perfection - yum!

After lunch she got started interviewing me. She typed it into a battery powered computer compatible word processing machine about the size orf a keyboard. I know some of you are going to be asking what it was. She told me and I can't remember the name of it, but it will download into her computer when she gets home. And the interview also went onto tape. The tape and a written copy will also go to the Museum of the Mountain Man. It took us a couple of hours. When she has it written up she will send me a copy to look at, and then it will go into the paper. I had hoped that you would be able to click on a link in pinedaleonline to read it, but she said they weren't putting her stories on pinedaleonline right now. But they used to. So we had an enjoyable day.

Remember back on Monday the 14th I had a photo of the deer migration on the blog and told about seeing about 300 deer going down the highway near Silver Creek. Some of you have asked to see the photos of all the deer. I had explained that all I got was water drops on the windshield, but thought I'd show you what they looked like. I was so disappointed, and now you can understand why. I have about 25 other photos just like this. They went on like that further than I could see. Sad, huh? I was trying to be polite and not freak them all out by getting out of the car.

Betty has really been enjoying her new camera and sending great pictures and descriptions to some of us of her place, Plumnilly, near Mesquite. I've really enjoyed seeing all the variety of subjects she gets. She says she's having a lot of fun with the camera. And years ago she was probably the main one who influenced me to get into take more photos. So I could blame my 70,000 slides on her, couldn't I?

Maxine's bearded collie, Sharpa (means beard in Basque), had five little puppies last Friday. She was bred with Pete's bearded collie austrailian mix male. They make great sheep dogs. I hope I get to see them babies before they get too old.

This morning started off very nice, warmish and calm. Later in the day the wind was blowing all the moisture out of the whole country, including dust devils down the road. So I don't even want to talk about it.

Tuesday April 22 2008

You've been asking about the new saddle and to put in the photos, so here they are. I ordered a new lightweight saddle from Tom some years back and he has such a long waiting list that it was just finished a few weeks ago. I had given up getting it, under the circumstances, and it was a big surprise when Joe brought it home. It is quite a beauty, and Tom creates a real work of art in anything he makes. It is signed, dated and numbered..... No. 128 made on 2/08. (See the circle below the brand.) Still to come is a matching breast collar. Thank you so much, Tom.

The center photo shows our Rafter M brand on the back of the cantle. And the third photo is a closeup of the basketweave tooling. I had told him not to put much tooling on it, but Joe had him put a little to keep the leather from curling. The blanket is hand loomed wool from one of my trips to the Navajo reservation years ago. The rope is mine, although I've never roped anything with it. It is braided rawhide and was made at the Federal Penitentary at Rawlins WY. Wish I remembered the man's name who made it, but I don't. It would be an antique by now. The inmates made a lot of leather and horsehair crafts and horse equipment while they were in the pen. I traded it for some artwork to one of our wranglers who worked for us at the Lodge.

Maybe I can take a ride on the saddle this summer.

Monday April 21 2008

Garage Near Wilson

Great Artwork!

(Click it)

A glimpse of the Tetons near Wilson

The first "look" we've gotten of them all winter.

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We went to town this morning. Pinedale had a skiff of snow when we got there and the wind was very cold. It was breezy all day. It was about 10 degrees this morning. Joe asked last night if I wanted to go and I said o.k. I think his eyes are bothering him, and he wants me to drive. Let him off at the Clinic. He had to get his protime checked. That was good. And while he was there I got about 5 things at the store. Perused the aisles again trying to find where they are hiding everything now. Bath soap was very obscure, but they have it with the toiletries instead of the cleaners and soaps.

Early before we left home, I called the gal at the Sublette Retirement Center, her name is Lynn too, and she got me in for a haircut. She is so quick, bet I wasn't in there 10 minutes. She cuts it short the way I like it. It costs a lot less there too. Now my head is kind of cold so I'm wearing that soft knit hat I got at chemo. I kind of look like an old grandma. Joe has turned the heat down a little. I just put on another sweat shirt, but the head got cold.

I took a nap this afternoon. Hardly slept last night so should do better with that tonight. We had lunch at the Patio. Tonight I made some potato soup with sourdough garlic toast. It was good .....and hot. Also spent several hours sorting and filing most of the photos I've taken the last 3 or 4 months. They get unmanageable unless I get them into the files where I can find them easier. So I went to find a photo for the blog and got really sidetracked and forgot to write until 10 p.m.

I saw what I believed were some willets yesterday doing their spiral looping displays above the still snowy fields in back. Their wings flashing in the sunlight is what caught my eye. Love to watch the willets all summer. And the red tailed hawks were slowly soaring right by the studio windows, hanging on the wind. Such a good look at them from below. Hope they don't find any cats. We've had the most awesome deep golden yellow full moon rising for the last several nights. It's hard not to just turn out the lights and watch it hanging there like a huge Japanese lantern.

The photos today are from our trip to Jackson last week. If we get a nice day I'm going to try to get some baby calf pictures before they get much older. Another thing I want to do is get the ATV started up and take the dogs for a ride.

Sunday April 20 2008

April Full Moon Above the Field

Friday evening coming home I saw a lovely picture - a blue heron at a small falls on the East Fork River. It would have made a good photo. The ospreys are back on their nests between Boulder and Pinedale. Also all the herons are at their big rookery on Boulder Creek.

Saturday worked on the emails, and ended up spending quite a few hours on The Book again. Excavating the memories out of the past is not an easy thing any more.

Also I shopped online for some more clothes. Its hard to know the sizes anymore after loosing a little weight , so I ordered what I want and will expect to send some things back if they don't fit. I tried to pick nice things, lightweight for traveling and cute, even though it might cost more than I usually spend. I shop at KMart a lot!

High School friends, Betty from Mesquite and Nancy from Coos Bay Oregon are going to be here for a visit on May 11. I'm looking forward to them getting here for a visit in about 3 weeks. They will stay about five nights.

All week the prediction is for a chance of rain or snow. We can always use the moisture. It snowed early this morning, then cleared up, then terrible black clouds galloped over and winds so wild the power was off for a while. I want to guess gusts of 50 mph. It was almost 60 degrees yesterday and is 33 degrees this afternoon.

Below is a link to check out the air quality at the oilfields south of Pinedale. It updates every 15 minutes, so you can also check on the progress of that drill rig in the foreground as time goes by.

http://www.wyvisnet.com/enca1/index.html

Saturday April 19 2008

Princess Raven

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The creek through our place "went out" yesterday. If the ice wasn't gone entirely, it will be today. It starts downstream lower and progresses upstream day by day. I see "our" cranes regularly now. Really windy today.

I meant to tell you a little about Dave, the chef at Lakeside Lodge. They get some of Joe's hay every summer for their horses. Last night he said that with another couple of places he would have worked at every restaurant around Pinedale. For several years he was the chef at Halfmoon Lake and did a beautiful job there. Now he has leased the restaurant at Lakeside. The place looked really nice last night, perhaps new tables and chairs and a new floor, although I hadn't been in there for quite a while. Dave also plays the piano beautifully. Debbie is the one who cuts Joe's hair at the "beauty shop". They are moving over near to Sandra probably this summer and we will be neighbors. Best of luck with the restaurant Dave. Our meal was very nice last night and I'm sure the endeavor will be successful.

Here is interesting news at the wheat farm in Washington from Jackie: "Jay came home saying to make him a lunch as he was going back out to seed last night. He is using the GPS system we have for the tractor which allows him to seed in the dark because it tell him where he is all the time by looking at a monitor screen, so it does not matter if it is light or dark. Kirk is the one that has used the GPS the most so I told Jay not to screw it up and he said he got along just fine with it. He ran out of seed at 3:30 this morning so shut down and got to bed about 4:30. He was up for a bit this morning and then went back to bed and will go back to work about 7 pm tonight again when Kirk gets done for the day shift. If they seed day and night they should be done in a couple of days. " Can you believe how technology is changing everything these days, even on family farms. This is awesome. I can't believe they can go out in the pitch dark on those rolling hills and ravines on their place and not tumble the big tractor off someplace. I think Jackie worries about that too. Maybe on another blog I can tell you about his 4 wheeler escapade recently.

Last night during my wee hours wakefulness, I watched a fascinating TV program on Discovery about male and female brains and autism/savants. Another one I wished I had recorded. If you run across it be sure to watch. I am sleeping lots better but the hours are just off kilter. Guess it doesn't make any difference.

Another cute tax thought - Did you ever notice when you put the 2 words "The" and "IRS" together it spells "Theirs."

Friday April 18 2008

Uh Ohhh - Grass Fire Got Away Near Boulder

Fremont Lake is Still Frozen

Ice on Lake

Joe at Lakeside Lodge

This morning I wrote more in The Book and am nearly done with 3 or 4 more chapters. These are during my high school years. Next comes My First Marriage and the kids being born. So progress is being made.

About 3 p.m. we left to go to Lakeside Lodge for dinner. The temperature was about 50 degrees this afternoon, and perhaps 6 degrees warmer in Pinedale - one of our warmest days so far. The East Fork was up a little more. As we got near Boulder there was a pretty large plume of white smoke that turned out to be weeds and grass burning. It looked like they were burning weeds on a ditch very near an old house, and the wind was too strong to be burning. It looked like it had gotten away from them, but who knows. Maybe they intended to burn up half the adjacent field and threaten a nearby house. When we came back I was surprised how far it had traveled. It was out by then but still smoking a little. Hard to think it would burn that much with the snow only barely having melted.

First went to the drug store and got another prescription. I had to get the brand name rather than generic and Humana wouldn't pay for that so it was almost $100. This is not the first time this has happened. I don't think that is necessary so will ask the doctor not to prescribe those again. I've had similar pills that cost only a fraction of that price and worked fine. Bought some rib steaks that were on sale at a good price.

Drove on up to the lake, and let the dogs out for a walk on the CCC Ponds hiking path right near the Lodge. We got to the restaurant about half an hour early and soon went in and got our table. The dinner was excellent and perhaps one of the best if not the best ever tasting fillet with all the fixins I've ever had. Joe's was good too. (No, dang it, I didn't eat his too, he told me so.) It was perhaps the most expensive too. Joe said we earned it we might as well spend it. That's a first! The dogs got the leftovers. Back home by 7, dodging the deer along the way.

Every year there is a ??can't think of the word it's called?? pool?? where everyone picks the time that a barrel placed in Fremont Lake in early winter comes to shore in the spring. It has big prizes for the winner and plenty of runners-up and is one of the favorite events of the area. It is a fundraiser for the boating club I think. We looked out on the ice for the barrel but couldn't see anything. It will be a while yet before it touches shore.

Judi wrote this on her blog yesterday - thought it was a good description how cold it still is here despite you guys who are having three digits or in the 90's thinking we're a bunch of sissies up here : "Today was my 3rd morning of walking around the block since it got too cold last November. It is a 40-acre block - about 1 mile. And cold! Rollie thought I would turn around and come back when I hit that wind from the west, but I trudged on. I wore 2 sweatshirts, my winter coat and a scarf, so I could protect my face a little. I'm not sure what good it does to get all that "fresh air" when you're breathing 'scarf'! It was my legs that were numb when I got back to the house. I should have worn sweats over my pants. One always hopes that tomorrow will be warmer."

On this day in 1906, an earthquake struck San Francisco. It was one of the worst natural disasters in American history. It began at 5:12 a.m. on a Wednesday morning, and lasted for a little over a minute. Scientists later determined that the San Andreas Fault had moved about 23 feet. The quake measured 8.3 on the Richter scale.

Thursday April 17 2008

Gros Ventre Mt. Range

Gros Ventre (Grow Vont)

Hoback River Canyon

Near Granite Creek

Saw Tooths

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Sunny but still cool and a stiff breeze all day. It's not getting out of the 30s with any regularily yet. The dogs are content to stay outside longer now. Snow is going slowly, and that's a good thing. This way it is soaking into the ground better. So it doesn't all run off down the rivers.

Something made me kind of sick yesterday, the barium drink or the contrast IV, I don't know. I've also been eating too much junk food for several days. Anyway I was up most of the night. Maybe I shouldn't have drank that coffee at lunch for one thing. We all know that and I did it anyway. Got up and took a hot shower about 1 or 2 a.m. and that usually helps. Finally went to sleep and remember seeing other early morning times on the clock but didn't "wake up" until 11 a.m.

A quiet day. Did a little housecleaning and the laundry and Joe vacuumed the living room.

Joe asked me out on a date. We have a reservation for dinner at Lakeside Lodge tomorrow. Since I'm not so involved in cooking lately, I think he's getting hungry for something really good. We wanted prime rib, but they just opened a week or so ago and aren't making prime rib for about 2 more weeks. That probably means we'll have to go back again.

When Cindy found out how far it was to our house, she called and said she wouldn't be able to come and clean for me because her car needs some repairs and she didn't want to get stranded out alone this far. So I'll be checking around for someone else to do it. If anybody knows a good heavy duty house cleaning person for hire, please let me know.

Had nice phone visits with Betty and Sheral today. So the whole day wasn't lost.