Monday April 13 2009

One of the puddles in the back yard, yesterday.

Cattle and Fields at Jack Creek

9x12 Oil Painting

by Lynn Thomas

This was a plein air piece from last summer

done in a couple of hours.

Joe went to the ranch this morning and drove right in. There's still a little drifts, but he got through that fine. He left the dogs home and took Joe the plumber with him. It sounds like he’s going to do a circulating pump that will have the water hot all the time. He already has the pump for it, bought it for something else and never used it. Joe (the plumber) is helping him, and guess Joe is paying him by giving him fittings that he has at the ranch. Wish Joe S. would take all that kind of stuff if he could use it. Joe has all kinds of valves, and pipes, and fittings and fixtures stacked up in pails and barrels and buckets. It would be good to give them to someone who could put them to good use. The cats hadn't eaten as much food. He says they are probably finding lots of mice right now. I hope that is true and maybe one of them isn't gone or something.

Kay called and offered to take my artwork to Cody for the Wyo. Artists Assn convention which is coming up starting this Friday. I appreciated her thoughtfulness very much. I'm not going to send anything if I don't go. I will just go day by day and see if I feel like getting a suitcase packed and going over. Ruth invited me to go along with her and to stay at a friend's house for the weekend - which would be nice. There is a sculpture class with all the materials provided, so I wouldn't need to haul in my supplies.

This morning Jackie from Washington called me and we had a really nice talk. I'd called and missed her maybe a week ago so she called me back. I got acquainted with her in Women Artists of the West and she was president and I was her VP a few years back. She is the one I mention every once in a while who has the wheat farm in Washington. Jackie is a wonderful gal, I just wish we were closer and could visit in person now and then.

Then a very nice surprise visit - Duene brought her cousin Alice Marlatt over this afternoon. They are on their way back home from being snowbirds all winter. I've known Alice for a long time. She is a sculptor and lives over near Shoshoni. They raised sheep and I think beets but are retired now. If you've been in my studio you would have seen the hummingbird door knocker sculpture that Alice made. And she made the "Iris" fountain that I have. She is one of those miracles - cured of lymphoma (I think that's the cancer she had) for several years now. She looked great and said she feels wonderful except for some nerve damage in her shoulder from the surgery. You can see some of Alice's artwork by going to her site from Duene's blog - which you can get to on the right hand side of my blog page. And wouldn't you know it never entered my mind to take a picture to record this event. Dang.

Had a busy day, did 3 loads laundry, mopped the floors, and vacuumed and cleaned so the whole place is clean again. We went to the Mexican restaurant for dinner. By dinner time I didn't think I could even warm up a plate of food and get the mess cleaned up. I tried a new menu choice - enchalada dinner, with beef, chicken and cheese, three enchaladas in a cream sauce. Joe had his same No. 1. After feeding the dogs the leftovers, fell asleep sitting on the couch when we got home.

Well, the dogs finally got humongous mud on their feet today and I had to give their toes a bath. They seem to have remembered and didn't give me much of a fight except Sparky wouldn't stand up and kept wanting to sit in the bucket. Raven was afraid of it last time, but pretty much o.k. now.

Debbie says she and Curtis will be here for a week on May 4. I'll be so glad to see them. They are going to help us get some more things done around the house, including bringing the materials and putting up a railing around the deck in back. They are hoping that the mud will be dried up by the time they get here so they can work out there. It was awful when they put the fence up last fall.

Told ya he balanced a ladder on his chin. The Pinedale Fine Arts Council presented Avner The Eccentric, Exceptions to Gravity, Wednesday evening in the Pinedale Auditorium. Avner Eisenberg used comedy, juggling, magic all without using one word during the performance. He also involved the audience throughout the show. Click on this link for pictures: Avner, the Eccentric (16 photos)

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Out of my mind. Back in five minutes.

Sunday April 13 2009

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HAPPY EASTER

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Deer - Enjoying the Sun

Taken close to the house

Fremont Lake

Mt. Bonneville

Hope everyone had a very nice Easter. It would have been a beautiful day here if the wind hadn't blown us off the map. Got myself ready and went to church. I took the dogs with me so they could get out and gave them a little run on the way home. Church was nice, lots of people which is normal for Easter Sunday. Had to park in a non-parking space. Got to see Bonnie and Craig - they were there with their family. She took my list for the builder, which we finished last night, and faxed it for me. Thanks, Bonnie. She is going to stay with her granddaughter in the morning and be gone all week.

There was the most beautiful sight this morning on Lake Street. A quite large herd of deer were all laying down together on the hillside. I didn't stop to photograph them because was already a few minutes late for church. Some of them were still there when I came back but the lighting then was not good at all. I've put one of the pictures in but it's not the greatest. The hill is really looking worn out from overgrazing there. I think I'm really craving to see some green and renewing of the countryside. Then out of curiosity I drove up to the overlook on the lake and took a couple of that scene. The mountains are really white again and the lake still frozen. The snow had been melting off until we had those last storms.

Fixed us some lunch and got the ham dinner cooking. We ate about 5:30 or so. The ham turned out very tender. I glazed it with small diced pineapple and brown sugar sauce. I'd bought a fresh one a while back, Peeled and cut it up. Used it in a fresh fruit salad too. Its only the second fresh one I've ever bought in my life.

I had been tired all day long, so by the time dinner was cleaned up was pooped. Joe got the dishes in the dishwasher and I put the food away. Went in to watch some TV and got a pedicure and manicure done, have had the stuff out to do that for a week and am glad its done. Its not an easy job any more, that's for sure. Took a few hours nap and the dogs wanted out so got up at midnight, decided to write the blog and see how the pictures taken today turned out. It's good not to get behind on it again.

Saturday April 11 2009

Melita's Watch Dog Buddy

Raven Checks Out Hank's Plow
(from a couple of weeks ago)

Looks like this will be a nice day but cloudy. Its 52 degrees and I don't think it got much below freezing all night. We kept having rain showers, but no more of that since morning. Regardless of the warmth, the drift in the backyard covers the whole fenced in area and still 4' at the deepest. It is melting water into open places next to the house and there are small ponds of standing water there. Just making a note of it because Debbie and Curtis don't want to come back until the yard is dry enough to work in. And I'm anxious to see them again.

Joe's been to coffee. I'm still just relaxing in my pjs. Oh, in the last few days my sinus trouble seems very much better, maybe healed up. What a relief. I've been spending a bunch of time trying to get all the copies of photos organized and disposing of too many duplicates, yet still make sure I'm not getting rid of the only photos of something. Have mostly been working in the painting file so it is organized and makes some kind of sense. I decided to make a separate folder for each painting, with its number and title. It's tedious, and my mouse shoulder gets stiff from the work. This morning I took some photos of the paintings that are hanging in the house because I think most of them have never been photographed. We're getting the punch list of defects on the house ready for the builder today.

Bonnie and Craig stopped by after lunch. They had been skiing up the hill from us. Bonnie said they had new snow but it was so wet and soft that skiing was difficult. It was nice to have some company. Joe and Craig talked about Joe moving the water heater, and he said that Joe the plumber told him to use a tankless water heater or come kind of circulating pumpthat will make the water instantly hot all the time. I was relieved to hear that.

Later this afternoon I went and got groceries. There weren't near as many people shopping as usual and there was a parking spot right in front of the door. Then went and got a ham with the bone in at Obo's for tomorrow. It's bigger than we need but the other two were bigger yet. So we will eat it for a while. The lamb legs were too huge. I'll put the ham in when I get back from church tomorrow, and decide whether to have yams or stuffed twice baked potatoes. We don't need both. Fruit salad sounds good too. I got a Marie Callendar peach pie and that will be easy and do just fine for dessert.

As I drove out I could see the mountain peaks for the first time in some days and they look pretty snowpacked. That is good. It was a beautiful sight anyway.

As the Wrangler Fell, The Herd Disappeared Into the Canyon

24 x 36 Oil Painting

by Lynn Thomas

I emailed this out years ago

but don't think it's been on the blog.

Friday April 10 2009

Crows

Herd of Deer Panorama

Carmichael Hills, turnoff to the house.

Fremont Peak

When I first saw this the cloud plume or possibly wind

blown snow was raising high into the sky.

By the time I got the camera out it was just a fraction of that.

Quiet morning, so not much to write about. Slept good and feeling pretty well. I'm glad I got so many of the little miscellaneous jobs done, that feels good. I still need to get the entire punch list redone to include Joe's items for the builder. Did I ever say that he finally called the other day, and is sending a couple of men to work on the whole list at the end of the month. That was good news. He sounded nice and seemed willing to take care of everything on the list. He said to send him the whole list, through his realtor. I'll give it to James and he will give it to the realtor who will fax it on.

Might grocery shop later today or tomorrow and get a nice ham for Easter dinner.

Joe went out to breakfast this morning with his coffee klatch friends, then had a nap. He is out in the garage now. He's got the garage doors open. Probably sweeping and letting the water that drips off the vehicles dry off the floor. His next project - if you can imagine - is he's going to move the big gas water heater - which is down in the crawl space - closer to his bathroom because he's mad it takes so long for the hot water to get there. He had Joe the plumber come over the other day and take a look at it, getting advice. Craig suggested that he just get a small electric water heater and hook it up close the the bathroom and that would give the hot water sufficient time to come from the other distant one. I hope he might decide to do that instead of moving the other one and having to reconfigure the gas lines etc. It's where it is now because it's venting at the same place as the little gas fireplace, next to the garage. If he moves it then it will take longer for the hot water to get to the kitchen. Need another vent hole in the roof and rewiring. Cost? Oh, my, what next!

Mostly the sun is shining, but there's ominous clouds around the edges. It sure is wet and muddy out. It's 50 degrees at noon, so hope it dries up the ground.

WOW A MILLION TREES.

It was on this day in 1872 that Nebraskans planted more than 1 million trees, which became the first Arbor Day. Arbor Day was dreamed up by J. Sterling Morton, who worked as a newspaper editor, a governor of the Nebraska Territory, and Grover Cleveland's Secretary of Agriculture. In 1885, the date was changed to April 22 in honor of Morton's birthday. By 1907, Arbor Day was celebrated across the country, and people were taught that planting trees was a patriotic act.

Thursday April 9 2009

Yesterday didn't do anything special most of the day. It was fairly nice in the morning, but by the time I was ready to walk the dogs it was ominous and the thunder was rolling nearly constantly and wind was blowing. We just walked up to the top of the hill and I took a few pictures from there. The three dark ones are looking west, and the one with the dogs is looking south.

Yesterday Afternoon

Here it comes!

Looking West - Steady Thunder

Dogs got to walk a little anyway.

Looking South towards Bonnies.

Came back home, and soon started the hot potato salad. We ate a little early because this was the night we were going to see Avner the Eccentric at the school. But by that time there was a terrible blizzard raging with strong wind. It plastered all the windows solid, and I want to say about 3 inches of snow fell in about 30 minutes before it began to let up. I called Bonnie to see how it was out her way, and she wasn't sure she was going to drive in it. They already had six inches and it was piled halfway up their garage door. After getting dinner cleaned up I jumped in the shower and dressed in warm clothes and boots. While I was getting ready Bonnie called and told Joe she was going to come on in. Craig shoveled the garage door so she could get out. There hadn't been much traffic on the road yet and she said it was a little tough driving in the heavy wet snow. I had no trouble getting down the hill to town, only 5 minutes to the school from here, and the road was already all slushy and dirty.

At the School, Looking Toward Home

The Auditorium

Street in Front of the School

They had a little less than we did at the house

and already melting.

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We met Kathy and James in the lobby. He had gotten tickets for Bonnie and I, and gifted us with them, which was very nice of him. Thank you James. The performance was good. This time the theatre wasn't even half full. I'm sure lots of people didn't come out because of the storm. Avner the Eccentric was funny, not quite as funny as I thought it would be, but I chuckled all the way through it. It was mostly a pantomime and he did a lot of different things - juggling, balancing a ladder on his chin, magic tricks, and a lot of goofy clown type things. I'm glad I went and glad that Bonnie came in too. She had to drive back home again in the dark with the snow pretty deep, but she made it o.k.

Charm wrote today about the storm at her place: "It snowed SO HARD late yesterday afternoon and evening that it reminded me of times in Austria. There was a wall of white outside my window. Some aspen trees are down. I suppose we had about eight inches when finally said and done and it was just full of moisture. The yard is a fright. A soupy mess. " After I got home I got the bills all paid and the checking account balanced with the online statement. Then I decided to put the smart cards in the Dish TV receivers because time was probably up - I had a message on the screen almost continually for a couple of weeks now. And wouldn't you know I ended up on the phone at midnight with the tech people. They had mailed me two cards - said to put a card in each of our two receivers, but turned out the one in the living room didn't need one and apparently never will. I was all wound up with all that and didn't even go to bed until one. The TV worked fine, no more error messages thank goodness. That's been annoying. My fault for procrastinating so long.

A hawk in the tree

So here is what we woke up to this morning. Another four or five inches that fell during the night. Very pretty. It stayed dark, windy and cloudy most of the day. It wasn't very cold and by night had mostly melted back off. Joe shoveled the front walk and deck, then went to coffee, then later back to town to get his haircut. I did more paperwork, sorted and filed, made a couple of phone calls to pay more bills on the phone, downloaded the photos. Can see the desktop again. I don't know where the day went but I stayed busy and didn't go out. Made us fajitas for dinner.

My Grandmother's Hot German Potato Salad Recipe

Well, seeing Duene's egg cooker yesterday - I was going to just show mine which is a little different. I ordered mine out of a catalog and it works great. Duene got a better bargain though. So,,,,, mine holds 6 eggs, you can make them soft or hard boiled, or poach them in the little cups. I always make the 6 eggs when I make this salad and then make some egg salad later.

Anyway I was making the hot potato salad for dinner because it's something Joe likes, and I just kept taking pictures and thought I'd share the recipe with you. Not for a low cholesterol diet!

GRANDMA PFEIFFER'S HOT GERMAN POTATO SALAD

It's a difficult one to get the proportions. I always just wing it so these measurements are guesses. You can adjust or multiply the amounts to your taste, especially the dressing. Sometimes I use leftover potatoes or boil the eggs ahead of time - maybe use up some that are in the fridge. If you have people with big appetites and you're serving this as the main dish, you're going to need a lot more than this. This is about what we eat. And there's always a little left for the dogs - they love it too.

For each person:

About 1 1/2 hard boiled egg.

One or so medium potato best boiled with the jacket on, then peel. Or use peeled boiled potatoes, Sometimes I don't peel them and its good that way too. or baked potatoes peeled,

Depending on the size of the slices - I use thick bacon - about 2 1/2 slices of bacon for each person, sliced into cubes and fried crisp. Stir them often and get the pieces separated. KEEP THE BACON GREASE.

About 1 1/2 cups of diced iceberg lettuce.

Dressing: Use the bacon grease and about an equal amount of apple cider vinegar. Measure them both if you have to to get them even. Combine and bring that just to a simmer for about a minute and keep it hot. Hint: If little bacon bits have burned in the grease, (you cooked it too hot), you should strain the grease and get those burned bits out as much as possible. Browned bits are o.k. You need to be able to get a good hint of the vinegar.

If the eggs or potatoes aren't warm, cover the bowl with a paper towel zap them quickly in the microwave just until good and warm. I usually do that even if they are freshly cooked because it all cools off before you get it together and the lettuce also cools it off. Layer crisp lettuce, then potatoes, eggs, and bacon in the serving bowl. Pour the dressing over and toss. Serve with your favorite garlic bread or toast.

While you're getting the pototoes and eggs ready dice the bacon and fry it nice and crispy, careful not to let it burn, you might want to fish out the pieces as they get browned and some will take longer.

Cube the potatoes, here they are in a separate bowl because next I will whack the eggs across the middle with a teaspoon and scoop them out along with the potatoes then dice them, (no need to peel the eggs the tedious way). When you're ready to toss it together cover with a paper towel and gently warm the potatoes and eggs up in the microwave, bacon too if it has cooled.

Pour the hot dressing over and toss it all together. I put the eggs, bacon and potatoes on top of the lettuce and try to get the potatoes coated with the dressing. Pull the dressing up from the bottom as it will settle there. The point is to keep the lettuce crispy and not too wilted, but the other ingredients should be warm enough that the dressing doesn't congeal on the salad. You have to eat it immediately! It's very simple, but the prep is time consuming. Probably 30 minutes at least.

Enjoy!

Wednesday April 8 2009

This is one of my older paintings and at the moment I

can't remember the name of it. Not the greatest photo

either, with glare on the right side.

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This is a new arrangement I made with silk tulips

bought when I was in Vegas. It's on the dining room table.

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Sparky says "Can you see this dish is empty?"

Today is cloudy and dreary looking, but its about 50 degrees out. Maybe spring will come yet. Feeling much better this morning (see yesterday's blog which I added info to). The down time just wore me out. So this morning I went through the emails and got them down from nearly 100 to about 30. Will work on that some more. After blogging I plan to pay the bills, file the stack of papers, maybe a walk with the dogs - they are telling me they want to GO! By then it should be time to get some dinner ready - I know not what though. I absolutely hate to have to decide what to cook. Then tonight James, Kathy, Bonnie and I are going to see a comedian - Avner the Eccentric - at the auditorium. I'll let you know how it is. He's supposed to be very funny and I'm really craving some good laughs.

My sister in Green Valley AZ wrote about these bees. I've seen some programs on TV showing what happens when bees get inside the walls of your house, and it is like a horror movie. Very destructive and expensive. : "Swarms of bees in front of our front door for 5 days now. Bob made some calls and was told they settle down in the evening and to seal up wherever it looks like they are disappearing in to. So, we went out each evening, after watching them during the day, and sealed up the minuscule spaces they were entering. But, being smart little bees, they always found more spaces to get in. We used the expanding foam insulation that comes in a can and you spray it into the space you want to seal. It works great. The bees are just smarter than we are. So, we're going to have to call the exterminator to come and get rid of them. Tuesday there were 200-300 bees, or more, and it diminishes each day, but we think that is because they have established the hive and they come and go during the day in groups - like little BEE battalions. They are carrying pollen in on their little legs. Such a pretty yellow. They are going up and over and behind a beam that holds up our front porch. So, no way to remove that. And, I don't want to keep foaming the whole porch. We already have places we need to touch up with paint from using that stuff. Hopefully, they'll be gone by Monday night. We called a volunteer group that comes and collects them, but when they establish themselves behind walls, there's no way for them to collect them. They can't help us. I hate to destroy them, but I sure don't want them living in my walls and ceiling."

Hopefully you can click to make this big enough to read, or have a zoom on your computer, but Kerri is Sheral's daughter-in-law. She and Zane live in Denver. Congratulations on your successes, Kerri, and Best Wishes.

Did walk the dogs in a strong breeze and very threatening clouds to the west. It thundered on us pretty steady. Afterwards it began to rain, which prompted me to check the forecast:

The National Weather Service in Riverton has issued a Winter Weather Advisory for snow which is in effect from midnight tonight to 6 PM MDT Thursday. Rain showers will develop by this evening and then turn over to snow by midnight and continue until at least midday Thursday before decreasing Thursday afternoon. Total snowfall of 3 to 5 inches is expected. Area roads may become snowpacked and icy... especially during heavier periods of snow.