Thursday June 25 2009

Boulder Lake Lodge Fireplace

Boulder Lake Lodge

Charm Betty Nancy at Lunch

Beaver Dam and Lodge Along the Way

Boulder Creek Swift and Deep

Charm's Horses

Charm and Jim's House

Charm at Her Gate

We got going on our morning. Betty's an early riser and Nancy gets up early too. I sleep in later, not being a good morning person. So they sit at the table and visit and drink coffe in the early morning hours. I'm afraid I missed a lot. It had rained again in the night if I'm remembering right but we had a very nice day. First went to the store about 10 a.m. to shop for pot roast dinner to fix for Joe and take him some bread and other things he might be out of.

We headed out of town to meet Charm at her house at 11:30. We visited there for a little bit and all went down to Boulder Lake Lodge for lunch. Gina was supposed to join us but her car broke down about the Boulder Lake turnoff - she got it back to the Boulder Store and was trying to call Bob for help - he was out. So we missed her company. Sorry we all missed you, Gina. Lunch was both delicious and very enjoyable. Cream of vegetable soup and a crisp green salad.

We got out to the ranch about 2 or so, and hurriedly got a pot roast browned and put it and vegetables into the oven. Did a few other things that needed attention. Then drove up to Big Sandy Openings. Nancy had never seen the lodge and that is one thing she wanted to do on this trip.

The road was horrendously rough after turning off the county road, or the last ten miles. Probably as bad as I've ever seen it. We didn't have a lot of time before needing to be back and tend to the dinner, so I drove right along anyway. It was pretty up there as usual, even worth the rough ride. We checked out the lodge. I never like to go there any more because it is just too depressing. And we drove up to the campground. Then headed back down the mountain. About half way down after a particularly bouncy section, the car quit on us, right in the middle of the road on a blind curve. Just slowly died and would turn over but not start again. We got out and wiggled wires, got back in and it started right up and got us back to the ranch by dinnertime with no more trouble.

Well, even though I'd put lots of water on the roast and turned the heat down lower than usual, it was quite well done. But we made do. Got some gravy made, had to strain that! and then burned the rolls as well. Although I'd left him plenty of food, Joe seemed happy to get a meal cooked for him again. I also got a lot of the old stuff cleaned out of that fridge. "The Boys" and I were happy to see each other, but I didn't have a chance to pay much attention to them.

After getting dinner cleaned up we started back to Pinedale and am guessing it was about 9 when we arrived at the Arrowhead house. I've been cratering in the evenings the last couple of days, so laid down on the couch and tried to participate in the conversation without much success.

More Photos:

Mud Lake in Front of the Lodge

Cabins

Big Sandy Lodge

Big Sandy River

Wednesday June 24 2009

New Fork Canyon Pond

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New Fork Lake

New Fork River

Picnic

Betty, Nancy and I did our morning routine.We had to wait for the phone co. repairman to come again. Apparently the one who was here the other day got the Internet going o.k., but undid some of the filters which caused the phone to quit working. Didn't notice it for a while until I needed to make a call. So today he got the phone working again, and the Internet still works too. They have told me to call Dish Network for the TV right away and tell them it was probably lightning, but I haven't done it yet and not sure when it will get done.

While the phone man was working we made a lunch. When he was finished we loaded up into the SUV. Today was another fine weather day for taking a drive up to New Fork Lakes and Green River Lake. This morning I had to stop at the clinic and get another protime check. Its very high right now (blood too thin), so they lowered the dose of coumadin quite a bit. While I was in the clinic, Betty and Nancy went down to The Barn Door, a decorating place with lots of neat stuff.

Then we drove up to New Fork Lakes first. We passed some cowboys and their dogs taking Angus cattle up the driveway toward the forest. They were really moving along, whether because they were feeling good or the mosquitoes were vicious at the time we're not sure.

Lo and behold when we got to the outlet end of New Fork Lake, there were our mountain men again. I would have like to talk to them, but they were about to eat their brunch. I got a couple of pictures from there and a little further along the shore. We drove around the roads up there some. I'd never been over to the Boy Scout Camp before, and their parking lot was packed with vehicles from Utah. The New Fork River is also running full, as well as the spillway really creating a whirlpool. It is quite different the way it takes water from the lake to the river - sucked down some kind of drain. I had my grand sons up there once and as usual they had run ahead of me and I came up and found them nearly to the whirlpool. They could have been sucked right down there and surely would have drowned. They were mad at me when I hollered at them to get out of there right now! There should be warning signs there. Anyway on the way out, I yanked up a couple of sapling trees, think they are narrow leaf cottonwoods, for the yard. They would have been scraped off by the next road grader that came by anyway.

We ate our lunch at the narrows campground. Boy the canyon is pretty up there. Then we drove on to Green River Lakes. A beautiful drive and the Green is spread out wide in most places. Saw only one deer, no swans. (Although Joe told us he'd had a moose right in the yard at the ranch.) The campground is closed and it looked too difficult to get down to the water with no place to park and a bunch of other vehicles down by the lake. Couldn't see how we'd get turned around to get back out.

Stopped at The Place for ice cream cones. As we left guess who we saw! The mountain men were coming up the road with all their horses and their airedale dog. So this time we stopped and talked to them. We said they had camped a few days ago across the street from our house. They are going to a mountain man rendezvous camp near Green River Lakes and wondered if we knew a short cut that would get them off the highway. I only knew about the Moose Gypsum Creek Road but so did they so that will help. They were besieged by mosquitoes and we didn't leave the windows down long enough to find out where they were from.

Dinner was late tonight. This was probably the night we tinkered with my recipe for zucchini and hot Italian sausage casserole making sure it had no problem foods for Betty. It turned out pretty good. Served it with spaghetti. Nancy and I went out to get the plants Lois brought planted, as well as some bulbs I've had for a while. I want to bring more plants from the ranch this summer too, probably when Scott gets done working in the yard.

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What kind of flower?

Square Top

Green River Meander

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Green River, Sheep Mt. and Squaretop.

Didn't get a good one of the lake.

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Tuesday June 23 2009

Melita, Ruth, Kay, Charm

Nancy, Betty, Ruth in Back, Lois, Melita

Poppy Bouquet

Nancy's Lemon Pies

Tamales in Crockpot

Killdeer that was in the yard today.

We had more rain in the night. Today the small group of artists who get together and paint on Tuesdays met at the Arrowhead House. Betty, Nancy and I are hosting the meeting and luncheon. Seems like although the plan had been set a couple of days ago, that Nancy and Betty had to run back to the store again for something, lettuce of all things. Lunch was tamales, taco salad and Nancy made the lemon meringue pies from scratch for dessert last night. We had a great time getting together as always. Today there were eight of us. Not a lot different about this meeting than other Tuesday meetings to write about. I was glad to get a little further on my pastel of Bob with team and wagon.

We had a discussion about going to Round Hill in the middle of July. It has been moved from June 26-30, to July 17 to 21. Looking forward to that. We also are trying to get a final plan for our Holiday art show so had a discussion on that too. Can't remember much more about this day to write about now. Seems I didn't get any very good photos from today. Loose some and win some.

After the meeting Melita invited Betty, Nancy and me over for tea at her house and to show them her artwork especially her encaustics, and to see her home. That was very gracious of her, and she even had some meringue cookies that Betty could enjoy.

Lois brought me some more plants for the yard and a beautiful bouquet of poppies and johnny jump ups which all of us appreciated and admired at the meeting. This might be the night we were so full from lunch, that we just had leftover chicken sandwiches - again. And another night I needed a nap before getting up to go to bed.

Monday June 22 2009

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happy father's day

It is a wise father that knows his own child.
William Shakespeare

These "mountain men" camped across the street from us believe it was Saturday night. They had a campfire and set up their lean to. Their horses were picketed out in the field. It looked like a day of rest for all of them, and then they packed up the next afternoon and rode on over the hill. We all were sure curious to know where they came from and where they were going, but didn't walk over and interrogate them. It's been raining soooo much it must be a little miserable riding and camping. They only had one pack horse so were sure traveling light.

This morning I made my grandmother's "omelets" - which is actually a sweet pancake made mostly from eggs, and served them with fresh strawberries. We all enjoyed that - it's almost like dessert. Mike the man from the phone company came this morning and got the Internet going - so we needed to hang around until he got here. He worked quite a while on it, and finally found a loose wire out in the "gray box". I learned quite a lot with watching and listening to him while he worked. Anyway, so now I can blog and have caught up the missed blogs since last Thursday, if you care to go back.

Today we went to the grocery store again, and were able to go in some of the shops browsing and window shopping mostly. We were out and about most of the afternoon.

Tomorrow the small painting group is coming here to paint. Thought Nancy and Betty would enjoy visiting with all the friends. Nancy offered to make lemon meringue pies from scratch, so that occupied a lot of the afternoon. She experimented with making the pies with corn starch instead of her standby recipe with flour, so Betty could eat pie too. She has gluten intolerance. She had to go back to the store for more lemons, but everything turned out fine in the end. I made a sausage zucchini casserole for our dinner tonight with some spaghetti, which was a good combination.

Sunday June 21 2009

Tillie the Airedale had herself a very enjoyable day, running and running.
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Betty and Nancy with the mountain man sculpture at the Chamber of Commerce. After this we went up to the Museum of the Mountain Man for the rest of the afternoon.

Pinedale has several nice murals on the sides of some of the buildings. This is one of them painted by David Klaren.

We drove downtown, since my internet was still out, to sit in front of the library with my laptop and connect to the internet on their wireless. Was surprised to see three other cars also sitting there doing the same thing! We are on the right. It worked just fine to download a couple hundred more emails and send off a report Betty had written to her vet about how Caitlin is doing. Technology is great. We stopped for ice cream at Rock Rabbit, and it was very goooood.

Another busy day, although I'm having trouble remembering exactly what all we did. Betty and Nancy have wanted to try some window shopping, but not much is open on Sunday. The Chamber of Commerce was open and picked up some maps and brochures and asked about some of the roads, whether they are muddy because of all the rains. They may be rough or full of potholes, but we aren't likely to slide off into the ditch so it looks like we can take a couple of nice rides and not have any problem getting there. Maybe we can do that on Wednesday and Thursday. I made up a list of possibilities but we haven't gone far afield yet.

First thing in the morning we began to notice a small dog running around and around the field in back of the house. She was out there all day, and finally when she started chasing antelope we decided when she came up to the front door that we'd get her into the back yard and try to find who she belonged to. Rich our home owner assn. president was very helpful and in a few hours the owner came to get the dog. She was an Airedale puppy and very cute and smart. Her name was Tillie. Her house isn't far from ours, but she and her buddy a golden lab had gotten out of their kennel and her dad didn't notice.

Tonight we roasted a large chicken with sweet potatoes for dinner. Then there was enough left over for some nice sandwiches later.

Saturday June 20 2009

Pine Creek - High Water

Checking how big the creek is downtown in the park

after seeing it at the Fremont Dam spillway.

Harmony Crossing - Bridge Over Pine Creek

Offhand can't remember what else we did, but we kept busy the whole day. This was the day we explored around some of the nearby roads looking at development and showed Nancy some of the homes Joe and I looked at before we bought this one. It has still been raining, sometimes pouring down. Joe came in to the house from the ranch this afternoon because today we were all invited to go to dinner out at his friend Tom's near Cora at 4. Joe's coffee group buddies and their wives were having a prime rib dinner. We were supposed to bring a side dish. I made a layered salad, that turned out pretty good. The side dishes were wonderful and we did an amazing job of not leaving out anything or duplicating. Al cooked the prime rib roast and I don't think I've ever had better prime rib - perfect. They had one on the rare side and one more done. It was such a nice evening. The plan was to sit on the deck but the rain cancelled that plan, and we stayed in the house. It was nice to see people I knew again, and to meet new ones - A very nice evening. Joe wanted to go right back to the ranch to tend to his water pump. But we were there two or three hours. We all enjoyed the evening very much.

Another Entry for Friday June 19 2009

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HAPPY SOLSTICE

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Caitlin Sits. She's actually deciding whether

she needs to run and hide from me or not.

Betty and Nancy - Blowing up the air mattress.
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The next few days blogging are going to be problematic, trying to remember the order things happened, or even all that has gone on; that's what happens when I don't write the same day. I forget. So I'm just going to post some of the pictures I did get with a caption and that's going to have to do. Go back down to Thursday to see photos that have just been added.

Nancy's train trip and connections all went fine. Betty met her at the Amtrak station in Provo just like clockwork, and they drove up Friday morning from there. They got here just about noon.

They tried to call me from Big Piney but the phone was out - found that out last Tuesday when I came in and reported it then but I needed to be home for them to come in and fix it. So lucky for having the cell phone. Also the internet would not connect, which is the main reason why blogging wasn't possible for about four days. The TV isn't working either, but we're not missing that much. The thunderstorms must have knocked out all of them. Did get the phone back on Friday.

We got them moved into their rooms, and an air mattress blown up which Nancy will use for an extra bed in the studio room. That was cause for a lot of giggling at our old lady selves trying to get the thing pumped up. It seems to be working out o.k. Betty brought her kitty Caitlin, who has been sick. She is also very shy. Goldie, her other cat, and Cody the dog are boarded at the vet. She was keeping in touch with another vet about Caitlin while she was here, and so far Caitlin is doing very well, considering she hasn't ever traveled, or even been outside Betty's house. Her serious symptoms are improved for now.

We ate some lunch and in the afternoon drove up to the Fremont Lake dam and spillway, and the CCC Ponds in the afternoon. I forgot my camera for that and was sorry not to get a few pictures. It was both beautiful and the spillway was pretty awesome for the amount of water coming out of the lake since all the rain we've been having and spring runoff as well. The sun was shining and we had a warm afternoon. One of the ditch riders was there turning some water back on into one of the irrigation canals. He said they had a blowout somewhere downstream - which I took to mean the canal bank had washed out, and that they had gotten it repaired.

Preparing our meals has been interesting and a challenge, because Betty has gluten intolerance and is sensitive to MSG and other seasonings or preservatives, so we're all investigating how we can make meals free of those things and still have a tasty variety for everyone. Almost all prepared food is out, as there's hardly anything in a can or mix that doesn't have one or the other or all. Betty always brings along her own sprouted grain bread. Also we went down to the organic food store and found a great selection of many many items that were fine. I was surprised at what they have in there for our small town. For dinner tonight we had pan grilled salmon, brown rice and asparagus. I brought in some of the rolls I made Thursday and Nancy and I have enjoyed those.

Joe and the dogs seem to be doing o.k. at the ranch. He is doing a lot of pumping water out of the basement and the hole where the pressure tanks and well access is. Told us he is getting up three times in the night to turn the pump on. I ordered him another pump before I left and it should be coming soon.

We've had a good first day here, and really having a good time visiting, catching up, and doing a lot of laughing. Have I mentioned lately that we all went to high school together.