IT'S JUDI'S BIRTHDAY!!

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR JUDI

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU

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We've done lots of hikes and outings together.

Judi

Tuesday August 12 2008

Big Round Bales

Cinnamon Teal Family

on Muddy Creek.

It's mostly a marsh through our place.

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Cattle in the Field in Back of Our House.

House is to the right.

Muddy Canyon in the background.

Click for details - the shadows aren't quite right

but you can see the Muddy Canyon

Mare and Colt rock formation in the center.
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Up early to get ready to go to Jackson for Chemo. Joe got the car out for me and I loaded in the rest of the recycling. Took my juice and yogurt with me for a to-go breakfast. Judi and I met the shuttle at the Pinedale Clinic at 9 a.m. A really beautiful day for the ride, never tire of the scenery, the summer rivers, lots of wildlife. We all had a great time visiting all the way up and back. They are really working on that natural gas pipeline along the highway, lots more equipment, workers and much dirt and rocks moved. Reclaimation on the upper end is looking good and should have vegetation growing back by next summer.

It was just much like other days in the chemo department so this time I'm not going to write all the details. Very nice of Virginia to come in for a few minutes and check on me. The lunch was good - I had a patty melt and Judi had her favorite grilled turkey Ortega. Bob, who has been on the same schedule as me and rides the shuttle doesn't have to go back for a while now - I hope he feels good for some time to come. His cancer is not curable either.

We could clearly see where the New Fork Fire had burned, and in the morning many smokes were rising over a large area, but it was clear this afternoon. The rains must have done a good job putting it out. Al thinks it will smolder until the snow comes though.

I'm not even sure what time we got back to Pinedale, 4-ish, but I recycled and did the grocery shopping. Thought I'd only get a few necessary things, but went ahead and got the whole big list. Enjoyed the evening drive from Boulder to home and took time to get some photos. The ranches are in the midst of haying, looking like they are well more than half finished.

Joe unloaded the groceries and I put them away. Glad that chore is done for a while. I will go back on Thursday to get the pump taken off. Also Ward called and the TV repairmen are coming on Thursday. Perhaps the timing for that will work out so I can be here, maybe they will come early and I can go to Pinedale in the afternoon.

Not feeling too bad this time. The last session I got pretty sick while I was still in the chair so I was kind of dreading it this time, but am doing fine. Paige said it the chemo does build up over time, so it's not unusual to feel worse as time goes by. Anyway am having my usual first night insomnia, so decided to blog. I'll stick in a video and lay down and get cozy and hope to sleep.

Took my laptop along again today, but I didn't use it. The battery was low so Judi charged it up and did some things on it. She rearranged my blog addresses - now they are listed so the ones that have been updated most recently are always on top. Kind of neat because now you can see who has updated with something new and who hasn't for a while will be on the bottom. She also changed the blog listings to read the person's name instead of their blog address. It can be changed back if I don't like it that way. She also taught me how to play soduko, and at least I got the gist of it. That may be a big mistake - I've avoided it so far.

Thanks, Judi. And thanks so much for going along with me again today.

Monday August 11 2008

Our Yard Rabbit During the Rain

The Dogs Won't even chase him anymore. The

Cats Stalk Him Sometimes, but Not Much Happens There Either.

Not Quite Like Seeing Duene's Bucks or Moose.

The Chinese character for “thunder” comprises 52 strokes and is pronounced “ping”.

Another of those perfect mornings. Wow. It smells clean, sweet and fresh. You know those days when the temperature is so perfect the air just feels soft on your skin? We had a rain shower about dinner time last night. Just enough to dampen things down. There was some crashing of thunder for a while and it momentarily knocked the power out. Joe's TV was real slow coming back but it did. I keep hearing that other places all around us, mainly north, keep having good rains. Pinedale keeps getting heavy rains, rained all night there. We could sure use it too. I think our chance for that is over for the time being.

Had great visits yesterday by phone from Joan, Sheral, Beverly, Betty and Debbie. I watched some of the Olympics with Joe. Liked the story on the US and Chinese basketball game. Especially enjoyed the women's swimming match where they beat the old record and U.S. got the gold and then the men's swimming where the relay team won, by .04 of a second. They were far ahead then pretty far behind and on the last lap our guy was able to just leap ahead for the victory breaking the old record by over four seconds. How did he do that!.

Any artists out there know what happens if you put sculpting clay- specifically Chevant - in the microwave to warm it up? as opposed to the messy warm water method.

Still puttering in the studio. Should have all finished later today. Tomorrow is chemo day so got the recycling loaded in the car. Not much happening or any news, so if anything happens I might be back later.

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METEOR ALERT: Monday, 11 August Meteor Shower Day: give or take a day, this is when the Earth passes closest to the Perseid meteor belt. The chance for a sight of falling stars or meteor showers is best these few days. The Perseid meteor shower is underway and should reach its peak during the next 24 hours. Forecasters say the best time to look is during the dark hours before dawn on Tuesday, August 12th. The glaring Moon sets around 2:00 a.m., and that's when the Perseids could appear in numbers as high as 60 per hour. The best displays will be seen from rural areas with dark skies. Sky maps, photos and more information are available at http://spaceweather.com/.

Sunday August 10,2008

Field of Wild Iris

Ruby Mountains Nevada

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This morning started off cloudy black and cool. I thought it would pour rain, but as usual we aren't getting it. The tiniest drops on the window. Now sunny with plenty of blue sky. How much longer can we stand all these perfectly pleasant days?? Oh well, the good is that the ranchers can keep haying.

I finished Lonesome Dove and Tales of the Plains, the third episode of Lonesome Dove. Funny I know I've seen it but it was like I never had. It's quite a wonderful movie, or series. Long, excellent story, wonderfully made, super photography. Several times it occurred to me that this story was similar to Brokeback Mountain. Just a thought. Next watched The Edge, one of my favorites. I'm liking the videos with no commercials.

The studio organization and carpet cleaning is finished today. Huge amounts of plain dirt came out of the carpet when I dumped the dirty water container. I'm looking forward to when all the slide boxes are out of the cabinets, and then all the things sitting around the studio can be stored in their place. I got a few things put away in there replacing the boxes Zane took and it sure helps.

Joe kept want to help me. Sometimes he drives me nuts asking questions and lately its been over and over if I wanted him to use the carpet cleaner. Of course not. Although I appreciate him wanting to help I know he wouldn't do it thoroughly enough for one thing, so its easier to slowly do it myself. So I asked if he would like to clean the windows outside and he did that yesterday. I had done the outside of some of them from the inside - you know how they make the windows open now so you can clean the outside from inside. It is feeling so good to have all the cleaning done at once.

Saturday August 9 2008

Tetons at Jackson Lake

Hazy day but an interesting sky

Bright sunny morning, promises to be a lovely day again. I'm sure lazy and drowsy feeling. Guess I need to get moving and do something. Caught up on some of the emails. Played a little Spider. - Yep I'm Good! - checked every one's blog.

Yesterday I spent quite some time filling up a couple of Raven Nests in the yard. What a mess. I've been gradually putting flat rock paving each side of the back porch for a long time just to keep her from excavating, and keep enlarging the rock area, but she just moves further out from the edge so that plan isn't working so well. Whenever I go out around the country I'm always bringing flat rocks back home for it. She knows I don't want her digging holes, but she does it anyway, and she understands it perfectly.

The nests used to be quite small and compact, randomly here and there - an ankle turner right where you step out of the car, one that always caught me on the way to the gate. But NOW she's digging to China, and won't quit. She has a hole by each porch and the one by the front door is right in front of the steps. UGG..LEEE. A visitor could fall in and never be found again. That's one reason why she's always so dirty and brings dirt into the house. We can't keep the house clean even an hour. Wish I'd taken a before and after photo of the one I filled. I'll get one today of the hole at the front porch and show you.

Boy I'm so tired of hearing nothing but politics, and we haven't even gotten to the conventions yet. Wish I had a dollar for every time they've said Barack Obama. It gives me a headache. The Olympics is more tolerable. I thought I'd missed the opening ceremonies, but KSL had them on nearly all night. Used to like them but it mostly seemed kind of boring.

Worked on the studio off and on most of the day. Got about 2/3 of the carpet done and a lot of the clutter straightened up. Will do the rest in the morning. Joe washed the windows outside that needed it. A lot of them can be washed outside from inside.

Today has seemed rather insightful for some reason. Have had some very moving and sentimental thoughts, mostly about things past - people and places in my life. Some insights that were revealing. At one point while I was working it occurred to me how happy and contented I am. Just thought I'd write it down so I don't forget, and wanted to share it with you - as opposed to whining.

Firday August 8 2008

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DEAR BONNIE.

THANK YOU FOR CLEANING MY HOUSE

YOU TRULY ARE AN ANGEL.

8-8-08 - hmmmm.

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I fooled around with some photos this afternoon while I sat and rested, hoping that printing a few out would inspire me to paint something. The one above is kind of interesting - a two photo panorama enhanced. There were only two horses walking through the corral, and I took two photos side by side, then worked on it in Adobe Photoshop to make it look like there are four separate horses. Had to edit out and reconstruct things. I kind of like it. If anyone wants to comment on whether - supposing I might do a painting of this - I should leave all those buildings there or edit some of it out. The horses would be the subject and the buildings would be simplified as "interesting?" shapes. Maybe make the trees a little more pronounced for variety against the sky. and probably eliminate the large posts in front. That would give the horse on the left side a head. Got any suggestions?

They had a deluge of rain in Pinedale day before yesterday, someone told me. It helped a lot to control the big forest fire. It had grown to about 15,000 acres. The smoke and haze seems to have cleared off here for the time being anyway. So much prettier out there with clear air. It sprinkled early this morning, breezy and partly sunny off and on during mid day and then dark again. We had the most spectacular huge thunder clouds this evening. There was a big storm east of Big Piney but so far by 8:30 p.m. we have not had any rain. We could sure use it.

The National Weather Service has issued an urgent Flash Flood Watch for portions of Southwest Wyoming due to thunderstorms. These storms have the potential to produce very heavy rain and flash flooding. An upper level disturbance moving across the region will generate scattered to numerous showers and thunderstorms with the potential to produce very heavy rainfall and flash flooding.

Am really tired. Been going all day long. Bonnie came to finish up the last of the house cleaning, I got a bunch of stuff out of the way and some of the furniture moved before she got here because its been such a cluttered mess in here. She got my studio walls and ceiling done. She's all finished now and sure did a WONDERFUL job. I'm so relieved to have the house all clean. We talked about what she would like to have for a painting in trade.

Didn't think the carpet in the studio needed cleaning until we moved things around and its obviously filthy. It hasn't been long since Debbie cleaned it for me. It's Raven! She is always so dirty - I've never had a dog that stayed so dirty all the time. Most of them have always wanted to be clean and at least shake the dirt and dead grass off their coats. Anyway. we moved the furniture away from the walls and I used the carpet cleaner there. I told Bonnie I could use the carpet cleaner. Tomorrow when its dry, Joe will help me move the furniture back and I'll clean the carpet in the center of the room. Then get everything put away and uncluttered.

Had company again today - Jonita stopped in after berry picking and picnicing in the canyon with a couple friends. They checked out the art show. This afternoon I watered the flower pots and some of the shrubs.

The TV guy in town never called me with a time the repairmen would come so I called him today. He says he will have a date for me by Monday - the repair men didn't come over from Idaho Falls this week. But I'm o.k. watching videos until they can fit me in. It's Lonesome Dove right now, and then I think I'll watch all the Star Wars movies. As long as Joe's got his TV we're doing fine. He's being more careful about what buttons he's pushing now Several days have gone by that I haven't had to get the settings back.

We had cheese enchiladas and refried beans for dinner, They turned out pretty good this time - anyway my taster is probably a little better right now. My stomach is feeling better too and my fingers have started healing up. Nanny called this afternoon and had an enjoyable visit with her, then Beverly called tonight. They are all doing fine, just staying too busy as usual.

Judi is going to go with me to Oncology Tuesday. We will meet the shuttle at the Pinedale Clinic at 9 a.m. They're having this month's Mixed Media up at Dee's in Wilson on Tusday and I was trying to figure out how we could go to the meeting for a while, but I'm sure it will be mostly over with by the time we get out of the hospital. I sure would enjoy going.

Thursday August 7 2008

Blooming Lily

Joe had to go to the dentist early this morning. He's been having a toothache. The appointment was at 7:30 so he left really early. He has to go back another time for cleaning. Need to call for an appointment for my lost filling too. Guess I'm forgetting because it's not hurting. I got up about 7:30 and got the sheets on the beds before Bonnie got here to clean and then got my shower. She's finishing up the last bedroom and the bathroom today, and next will start on my studio - saving the worst for last. I don't know what to do about moving all the heavy files and furniture in here - or not! Who will ever know if we didn't clean behind the files? A few years back I tried to buy wheels for them, but after I got them discovered that they wouldn't fit. The files are just an odd size. I've moved them with the dolly before but its a job.

Gloria sent me copies of her journal for the days we were in Yellowstone, so July 25 and 26 are finished on the blog now. I still want to look for the photos of Yellowstone Falls, maybe they just filed themselves in some obscure place. That was our best photo day of the trip.

Sandra called this morning. She and Sue are coming over for a visit and to see the art show this afternoon. Dave's mom Sue lives in Michigan and comes to visit every summer. She's a very nice lady.

Yippee - Mixed Media is having a painting retreat at Round Hill Ranch again. We love going there. We'll spend Thursday through Sunday beginning August 21. It will probably be too early for fall colors, but also not as cold, so we can go out and drive around the country to places for plein air painting over there.

It's kind of windy today. Still very pleasant temperature-wise. Might have a chance of thunder storms. The New Fork Lake fire has grown to about 14,000 acres now. Mainly it's being allowed to burn all the dead and decadent trees and the firefighters are just keeping it from burning private ground - nearly 400 firefighters there.

This morning a small helicopter flew over our place. It usually means checking on a fire, hauling an injured person out of the mountains, counting wildlife, or something with the oilfields. The mowers at Riche's next door went "home" yesterday to begin haying on the next place. The Jensens are also finished here and will go to their home place next. It's looking like a good hay crop for everyone. Otherwise..... nothing else new.