Tuesday February 17 2008

Young Moose

The photos start No. 1 at the bottom, etc.

He was standing nibbling the willows,

then laid down, got cozy and started a nap.

Didn't disturb him a bit.

Been snowing lightly since sometime in the night. Probably not amounting to but an inch or two so far. It's warm enough to be melting off as it falls and about 30 degrees as I'm writing. Stayed overcast and snowing all day. Joe went to coffee and picked up the mail. Got the contract and copy of the inventory from the Museum of the Mountain Man for my donation of all my slides in the mail today.

Have been in slow mode since I woke up at almost 9:30. The days sure go fast getting such a late start. So nothing interesting going on today. I worked for a while this morning on trying to find the photo in the computer and send a picture of one of Kay's paintings to her buyer, but cannot find the originals. Bummer. She needs to bring her photo card back and I will start over, but it is only one photo this time. Before was about thirty.

I spent a couple hours finally programing the new phone we got a month or so ago. Its clear the brochure will need to be handy, it's kind of complicated, but surely I'll get used to which buttons to push. This is the first time we've had all the features, call waiting, caller ID etc. The answering machine is now on anyway. And I got Beverly and Debbie put into speed dialing. That especially might help Joe when he needs to call them.

I have a call in to get the dogs an appointment for a bath. And they will need to go to the vet for their check up early next month. Perhaps we can do it on the same day. Also contacted Land's End and they don't repair their products so I have to have someone here locally put the new zipper in that coat. This is a few things taken off "the list".

People are calling in with their RSVPs for the Mixed Media meeting and lunch at Rendezvous Pointe on Friday. Looks like at least a dozen of us will meet and do artwork. A couple of the members are having serious surgery and can't attend. A speedy recovery to them.

So ..... yesterday afternoon. Well, went to the clinic for protime. Now it’s 1.2. Too thick now and not good for clots. So they changed the dose of Coumadin again and I’ll go back to be tested on Friday. I suppose I can get in there in the morning before our meeting and not have to worry about it later. Today I got a letter from Dr. Kappenman acting on last fall's blood fair results (which you probably don't remember I tried to leave with the receptionist when we received them and they wouldn't put them in our files without a doctor appointment. I was so mad - like I needed another doctor appointment. The letter says my thyroid is quite high (I already take synthroid), so he wants me to be tested again. If he had seen it back then my medication would have been adjusted six months ago. Maybe that's why I'm having some times not feeling so great. I'll get the thyroid test with the protime test Friday morning. BTW - While those other health issues were going on over the weekend my blood pressure was also high the last several times it was taken, and yesterday its very good. My face had been all puffed up then too, bags under the eyes and all. Don’t know what it was all about but weird.

So then I went to the courthouse to see if it was open, and it wasn’t because of President's Day. Have a paper to fill out about the house taxes and I can’t quite figure out what they want on it, so was going for help. I’ll have to go back there. Was supposed to go to the accountant to sign the tax papers and I FORGOT TO GO THERE.

In the meantime I drove around, saw a couple moose, took pictures, drove up to the lake and came to the places where they have the nicely groomed x-c ski trails You can walk on them too, and there were dogs with the skiers, so took the dogs for a little walk there. Makes me want to try my skis there, but they are at the ranch.

I measured the distance from the head of the lake to our house and it's just over a mile in a straight line - driving its probably three times as far by the road. Got back home to put the barbecued spareribs and potatoes in the oven, and got the artichokes going. Debbie called and we talked - their new house building is going slowly, and then I went back down to sign the paper at the accountant's office. Wish my mind would just get better with this forgetfulness. Got to bed about 11 p.m.

This day in February is Fornacalia--no NO, it is the Festival of Bread— an ancient Roman festival that honors the oven goddess, the giver of bread. Today is also World Cabbage Day, celebrating that nutritious and versatile vegetable.

Monday February 16 2009

Hey Duene, When I saw your photo of Gypsum? Mtn. I remembered that I had done a painting of it from a slightly different view. So went looking for it on the external hard drive. We were on a trip over Union Pass and stopped up above Mosquito Lake looking across to it. It's done plein aire. Not sure I ever put this one on the blog. I had named it Big Sheep Mt., but Jonita who knows everything said it was Gypsum.

Another old one I came across. This is the Big Sandy River done plein aire at the Muddy Ridge bridge near Leickies. The grandkids were fishing and I painted there. The photograph is very poor because it was taken in a dark room at the buyer's home. I'll have to photograph it again one of these days.

Here's another old one I came across when looking for Gypsum Mt. The title is Un Kicija, which translates to "We two share between each other". The painting is actually in color, but I made this black and white photo for advertising with years ago. I like it pretty well in black and white. It's interesting that I went to the library and looked in a Sioux dictionary for a title and opened the book about halfway and there on that page was the perfect name. I was prepared to spend an hour or two finding something appropriate and was done in about 3 minutes.The painting is supposed to represent what the buffalo meant to the tribes. This man used to portray the Indian chief in the Rendezvous pagent here years ago.

Woke up realy early (look at those two words they have the same letters maybe one of them is spelled wrong) - about 3:30 -and my nose was very stuffy so used the neti pot. By then was wide awake so decided to sit at the computer for a while. Got some of my emails taken care of, so you'll all get a wad of forwards this morning. Decided I was hungry so got some grapenuts and a cup of tea. Not sure if going back to bed is going to happen or not. Is this boring or what???

Our taxes are finished so we need to go sign some papers at the accountant. And back to the clinic for another protime test. Hope it comes out good today. I guess I've been eating too many green vegetables. It's minus two degrees. When I let the dogs out in the middle of the night the stars were awesome. Maybe I'll go back to bed.

The photos are of Craig, Bonnie and Joe putting up some rain gutter on the roof yesterday. It will help to keep the steps and deck from icing up and being slick to walk on, or to keep water from dripping on those places. Might save someone from falling too. That will be nice. After we went to the yard sale in the morning, they went home and came back with the trailer, tools and materials and ladders.The dogs supervised the work. For a little while the sun felt warm but that didn't last long especially when a breeze came up. They all got chilled out there. I cooked while they worked and afterwards we had a nice dinner together. It was an enjoyable evening.

I’m having a terrible time lately with (apparently) arthritis pain. I was trying to cut way back on the pain pills oncology was giving me since the port was taken out. But guess I’ll have to keep on something. The pain exhausts me. Stood up too much yesterday too. Or maybe it was just that getting up early! Yesterday and last night weren’t that great, so I hope today is better. Retaining fluid, face and eyes all puffed up. Went to bed about 8 p.m. and got up at 10 a.m. Fourteen hours in bed, no wonder I’m stiff. Went to bed with chills and couldn't get warm but piled on covers and went right to sleep, then when I woke up in several hours took a hot shower. Woke up early this morning drenched with sweat. Don't know why. During this same time each time I've been to the clinic and they checked, my blood pressure was up pretty high. By Monday, it was very good and feeling good again. It's a mystery.

It's a brilliant sunny day but still pretty cold. It’s almost noon and I just ate my cereal. Joe's gone out to the ranch to feed the cats today. He must be having a hamburger at the Boulder Store.

Had some nice visits with Sheral and Dick on the phone the last couple of days. It was lucky we happened to be talking at just the right time. I'd walked on the carpet in my bedroom with bare feet and felt that it was wet. Could not figure what had caused it - leaking out the heat vent again, dog didn't get outside in time? Sheral asked if the new humidifier was sitting close to that spot and yes, it was just above it. She said to turn down the humidifier as the mist could settle onto the carpet and make it wet on top. I turned it down from high to low, and by the time we hung up, the carpet was dried out. I never would have thought the humidifier would do that. I will also have to watch the finish on the night stand. I have some kind of tray to set it on written on the want list.

Saturday February 14 2009

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

EVERYONE!!!!!!!!

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Betty must have been going through her photos again and sent this one this morning. This shows my Volkswagen camper van maybe about 1965 or so. We look pretty sleepy maybe kind of grumpy. It's me, Dutchess (Barney must be in there somewhere), Debbie and Beverly. I'm wondering how Duchess got squeezed in there. Betty and Duchess, her German shepherd, went camping with us a lot in those days. Probably we were in Utah, maybe Beaver Mountain or Brianhead area. (Betty says Beaver and I agree).

One day we were coming down from Brianhead in the canyon and it had been raining and a VERY LARGE boulder fell onto the road right in front of the van and bounced out of the way. Two seconds later, or in a car with a hood, it would have landed on the van surely causing us to have a bad accident. We had great times then, and covered the southwest for many years, mostly on weekend trips. We'd go as far as we could in a day and back the next. We had a lot of fun in that van.

This morning Bonnie, Craig and I went out west of Cora to a "yard sale". We left here at 7:30 a.m. to drive over there. A man with no relatives had passed away some months back and left everything he had to the Museum of the Mountain Man. So the museum was having a sale of everything in the house. Then they will rent the house to raise funds for the museum. There's a whole nuther subdivision back there I never even knew about. It was fun to look, but everything was very old, very dusty, if furniture it was mostly rickety, more books than I've ever seen outside a library but not arranged so you could go through them and see what was there. Stacked up, mostly with the titles facing the inside wall. You would have had to take all the stacks and stacks down to see what they were. There were dishes, and lots of his clothes. The only thing of interest were a few dishes and some recipe boxes he must have made that I liked. But guess I wasn't in the mood to buy (or pay) for anything today. Probably too early in the morning.

It was a cloudy morning, and there was another skiff of snow. Joe swept off the deck after he came back from coffee. Bonnie and Craig came back a few minutes ago and they all are going to put rain gutters on the house. Melting snow off the roof is especially a nuisance out the patio door to the deck. Sparky sits at the door and gets soaked with the dripping water, then comes in and shakes it off in the house. Bonnie and Craig are going to have dinner with us tonight. I'll broil some T-bones.

Friday my protime was 5.2, way too high, as well as my blood pressure. They had me stop coumadin for two days. I had to go back to the clinic this morning to get another protime test to see if its any better. It was about 3, so I will go back onto the coumadin at 2.5 for a couple days and then go back for another test on Monday. I'm getting my list of vegetables back out to read it again, some of them thin your blood and you're not supposed to eat them. And I love my vegetables. I let the dogs run home from the corner for some exercise on the way back. They are being entertained by the workers out on the deck now. It's not too cold out today. No wind at the moment. So a fairly good day to work outside.

Friday February 13 2009

have a great friday the 13th

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Debbie

Mom and Bev

Guess I've been trying not to dwell on the fact that I'm sure missing my kids and family. They are so far away. So that's why I put their pictures in here today.

Nothing going on again today. Wish I had something more interesting to write about but I don't. Joe went down to probably The Patio for breakfast this morning and had some french toast. Bonnie has gone to Sam's Club in Idaho Falls and is going to check out the vacuums and if she finds a Dyson at a good price she might bring one for me. Am hoping they have the one that picks up dog hair the best, and get the "buying a vacuum" issue over with. I got one of Joe's favorite casseroles made up a couple of hours ago - just potatoes, onions, mushrooms, browned hamburger and cream of mushroom soup over the top. I've always put it in the oven, but thought I'd see what it does in the crock pot. Maybe by dinner time it may seem like going out to dinner to have it all ready. It's starting to smell good.

Boy we have a beautiful sunny day out. After I get a shower I'll go for a walk with the dogs. I'm feeling good.

"Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn't." (Erica Jong)

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Marshal McLuhan's remark: "Art is what you can get away with."

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"Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance." (Confucius)

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My Favorite: It is easier to get forgiveness than permission.

Thursday February 12 2009

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY SISTER, DIANA

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It's really a nice day out, still pretty chilly though. This is a "relaxing day" so far, so not much news. Used the Oreck vacuum that Bonnie brought over this morning and got the carpet vacuumed.

Our accountant is working on our taxes so Joe has been getting everything together for that for a few weeks. I'm glad he does it, and glad for the accountant too. He's been to coffee, the accountant's office and gotten a haircut today.

Ruth called and she has a dentist appt. here in Pinedale so she's going to come over in a while. She might have some lunch with us. I made some cream of asparagus soup because her tooth might hurt.

I am feeling so much better that it's almost unbelievable. Not just because of the good news either. I just feel better. Working on the sinus thing might be helping a lot by letting me sleep better - by breathing a lot better. Taking almost no prescribed pain pills, but Alleve is one of the things Dr. Kappenman has prescribed (for inflammation of the sinus ducts) so that's probably taking care of arthritis pain.

I called Oncology this morning and told them we hadn't talked about my protime (Coumadin) tests last Monday, so they said to get one at the Pinedale clinic this week, and if the result was still 2 to 3 that I wouldn't have to take that again for a month; they have been every week. So I'll probably go there later this afternoon.

Really REALLY Old Painting

Photo was not taken in good light so a lot

of the details, especially in the trees, are lost.

Betty has given this painting a good home.

16x20 Oil by Lynn Thomas

It's the birthday of Abraham Lincoln, born on this day in Hodgenville, Kentucky (1809). He was born in a log cabin, he had barely one year of traditional schooling, he was 6'4" and his pants were always too short, and he ended up as the 16th president of the United States. I've heard he's being called the greatest president we've ever had. He was in my opinion especially considering the times and culture he had to deal with. "They"also say some bad things about him.

Wednesday February 11 2009

Gros Ventre Mtns. from Bondurant Post Office Parking Lot

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Charm's New Car on the Right - She's pretty upset that it's getting dirty. Mine is too.

Branding Iron Cafe in Bondurant
Closed for the Winter

Icicles on the PO

Bondurant Post Office
Where we stopped to mail letters on Monday

Today it was snowing lightly for much of the morning, but the sun was trying to shine. Snow didn't stick. No wind to speak of. By evening it had cleared off. It probably will be cold again tonight, down around five below or something. Wind chills are worse especially next Friday when we have our meeting wind chills will be -15. Heard on the radio we will get more snow tomorrow, but the weather report I go to online says less than 1/2 an inch - about the same thing all week.

Joe went for his coffee - after he woke me up to ask how much the house taxes were. ARRRGGG! He could have waited a while, but since I was awake I looked them up while he was gone. It's for the accountant. Apparently we can get another $1000 off our taxes if he enters that. I have been sleeping pretty darn good at night now and am going to guess it's because I can breathe. Have been doing the sinus stuff for about four days now. I've spent most of the day doing computer things in between the meals and a very little housework. This morning I printed out and addressed 24 invitations to our next Mixed Media group meeting which I will hostess. It will be at the Rendezvous Pointe on Friday the 20th. This is the whole big group, not the small meeting we had yesterday. After lunch I asked Joe if he would take them down to the post office and he said yes. While he was gone he went over to visit Tom so was gone a while.

After working on the photos from Monday, and writing, I've got the blogs caught up. I found a quick way to resize all of them by emailing them to myself in a big group, and they all go small sized. Watched some of the West Minister Dog Show. I love to see all those different kinds of dogs. Wrote to James – more on the house problems. Was sorry to hear he believes there is no 220 outlet behind the stove because eventually might like to get an electric and so will need to get it wired for that. Not really happy with this gas one, esp. because no self cleaning oven.

Looking at the Bob painting. Maybe can tweak it again tomorrow and it will be done. I’m feeling like the horses head is too big, as in the photo is off – you know with a camera, things nearer to you are bigger. His shoulders are sooo narrow but I’m not going correcting it all at this point. When you compare the photo to your drawing by going shape to shape the drawing gets off too by following such a photo. It is always hard not to take the photo for fact. Anyway it's very close to being done.

Baked some cookies. Made Joe fried catfish for dinner. Not much else to write about today.

Check the blogs back to Monday, I've filled in the days and put in a photo essay.