Friday May 11 2007

Mud Lake Wind River Mountains

THE WIND

Lynn Thomas
Big Sandy


The wind, the wind
Flies fast to the mountain
Sings in chorus with white limbed aspen
Tumbles gold leaves through diamond dew
Hear the whispering wind.

The wind, the wind
Soothes the gray deer with its song
The forest speaks, the trees are alive
They shelter the flanks of the mountain
Hear the wild singing wind.

The wind, the wind
Moans and caresses green meadow grasses
Scatters high flying storm clouds
Which are gathered again to hide the mountain
Hear the flute playing wind.

The wind, the wind
Sighs as the pine tops sway in rhythm
Whistles through frosted red willows
Roars on its way to the mountain
Hear the clarion wind.

Thursday May 10 2007

Some of Our High School Group

At Mud Lake Big Sandy Lodge WY in the '70s

Betty just sent me a copy of this picture.

Everytime we ever got together through the years we

take a photo of all who are present in this pose.

Several were not here this time.

The first one like this was in high school.

from the left: Lynn, Pat, Doreen, Betty

Dogs: Barney and Chico

Today I'm getting ready to go Riverton for the weekend. I'm only going to take my pastels this time and not haul a bunch of stuff. I will take the pastel workshop, and also maybe sit in on the oil painting workshop. Think I'll just pack a tote bag, and take my changes of clothes in a small garment bag. Every time I go somewhere now, I try to take less, as its getting hard to haul it around. Some of the paintings for the art show are in the suv, and I have to go pick out a few more to take. There are about 10 possible categories to enter. Charm is going in her suv and we will go along together down the Lander Cutoff. She's going on to her mom's afterwards in South Dakota.

Joe went to Pinedale for his haircut this morning, drove himself, and got back about 1 p.m. Joe says he will probably be o.k. while I'm gone. I'll call him. I intend to go and have a wonderful time despite grumblings about how its just a #%$&@*& gabfest. I will leave a crockpot meal of pork and saurkraut for him, plus other easy things to fix for meals.

As for blogging, I'll be missing a few days and will catch up with all the news and adventures when I get back!

Wednesday May 9 2007

Phlox

Buttercups

Nothing exciting to report. It was a beautiful day, but got quite windy. Richies branded their calves today. Up pretty early and drove to town about 10 a.m. It's noticeably greener as you go toward town. But we will catch up soon. We're always a few weeks behind Pinedale. Stopped at the Boulder P.O. to buy stamps and mail my meeting invitations. Said hi to the friends in the P.O. Can't believe there will be another postage rate hike starting Monday.

Took in the recycling from about the last 6 weeks. The recycling center is looking better than it has for a while. It has been a mess lately. Picked up my new artwork from the framer and love the way she framed them, Joe got oil filters. He needs to change the oil in the old Chevy. Had lunch at the Chinese Gourmet - very good and they give you too much. We walked the dogs and they got leftover lunch. Next went to Joe's Dr. appointment. He is trying a new medication and we all hope it helps his dizziness. Then shopped for the groceries and got gas. Drove back home - stopping on the way to drop off the egg cartons I save for Cami. She has chickens and I don't even like to throw egg cartons away so she can put them to good use. She also has a lot of ducks and geese.

Joe wanted Hot German Potato Salad for dinner, so that was fairly easy. Cousin Iris called back and she and cousin Peggy will come to the ranch for a visit toward the end of the month. It's been a while since they have been here now. I'm feeling tired so think I'll just watch some TV and go to bed early. Joe's already asleep in his chair "watching" basketball. Joe goes back in the morning for a haircut and I'll pack for my weekend trip. I'm going to practice "going light". I'll let you know how I do with that exercise in futility.

Tuesday May 8 2007

Electricians Put in A New Electric Meter

Today the electricians came back and put in a new electric meter for us. They came last Tuesday but it was raining that morning so they didn't stay and do the work. Today hey got here about 7:30 and the power was off for several hours. Got breakfast over with fortunately before they got here. Bleeped my computer off before I realized they were turning it off. I had saved 3 big buckets of water for whatever, flushing the toilet etc. but never even had to use it. I didn't go out there to check out what the meter looks like yet except from a distance.

The power meter reader drives up to the front gate and never gets out of the truck - reads the meter with a spotting scope. Vicious dogs, you know. It looks like it's turned about 90 degrees away from facing the gate, so it will be interesting to see how they read the meter now! It will also be interesting to see if our bill changes any. It has been fluctuating quite a bit from month to month. So that was our excitement for today.

I just wish Joe had been agreeable to putting the power line underground in the yard and gotten rid of that stupid pole in the middle of the yard and right in front of the garages - an accident waiting to happen. He also didn't take my suggestion of having them put a motion sensor yard light on the pole either. Of course, what do I know. ....Except that I'm tired of walking around with a flashlight when its pitch black out and I have to go outside.

What a beautiful day we had. And looks like it will stay warm and nice for some time. Had some nice phone visits today. And got a whole bunch of my photos sorted and filed away. Had let that go way too long, but this is the first I've sat down to do it. I got the bills paid - banking on line. I sure like that way of paying the bills. Tomorrow we go back to Pinedale for another Dr. appointment for Joe. It has to do with changing some of his medicine. I'll go out to the framers and pick up my artwork while we are in town. I need to fill up with gas for the trip to Riverton this weekend too.

Today I spent the afternoon and evening sorting, filing and labeling all the pictures I've taken for a couple of months. I actually quite enjoyed doing it, and it feels good to have that done. My program didn't want to start again when I stuck the card in, but after many tries it did work. I printed out the invitations for the SCAG business meeting here on the 24th, and got those addressed to mail. They will go out tomorrow.

Power Guy in a Bucket

He didn't invite me for a ride.

Monday May 7 2007

Foggy Morning

Very beautiful foggy morning. Even the grass is frozen gray. After breakfast I took the dogs for a walk and did some photography. Mostly of the foggy hills and the spring wildflowers. The flowers are very stunted and sparse. I hope this bit of moisture helps them. It turned mostly sunny and warm later.

Remember I said there was a pair of hawks building a nest down in our tree on the ditch. I finally definitely identified them as red tailed hawks, but they seem much darker than usual. They aren't happy about it, but seem to be getting accustomed to the activity around the nest. For a while I thought they had abandoned it, but they are hatching the eggs.

Joe irrigated a little and is watching some sports. Along with the usual housework, I've made some phone calls today and did a little WAOW work. I think I'll make homemade pizza for dinner tonight. Cousins Iris (SLC) and Peggy (Atlanta) might visit later this month. They are going to see Mary Caroline in Oregon.

Didn't Beverly and her family get home from Florida just in time before that storm came!! They were right there on the beach. Beverly got her legs real sunburned on the last day and they swelled up, she said. I'm glad they are home safe.

And you know that fire in Griffith Park in LA? That was right by where we lived when I was a kid. I rode that merry-go-round when I was a toddler and that's where I love them from. It is beautiful. So far they saved it from the fire. It dates from 1926 or something. The zoo is there too and the Autry museum! I was in an art show in that museum 10 or 15 years ago.

The Richies separated their cattle this morning. So they will be branding in a few days. The little calves seem to be looking good and healthy. I've seen cute new colts here and there, but haven't taken pictures of any. Yet.

Sunday May 6 2007

View of Temple Peak from the South

It's snowing again, got maybe an inch so far. Charm told me she heard that Big Piney had four or five inches of snow yesterday and it was their "big" horse show! What a mess. Her friend reported snow all day in Evanston....about six inches and still snowing. Eight inches in Kemmerer. Joe's friend Frank called and said it was really raining down in Utah. So.... That's what Betty and Nancy had to drive through yesterday as they started their trip home. Hopefully it's putting down tons in the mountains because we sure need the water.

Made Joe a pancake breakfast. I've got more laundry going and will get the beds back together. We've tracked in a lot of our sand through the house brought in on damp shoes and dog feet, got to get that cleaned up. I procrastinated doing much work yesterday. Even the dogs really crashed and slept day and night after having company. Last night I began entries in the blog for each day I missed, but I want to go back and finish journaling there before I forget.

Next Friday our artists go to Riverton for the annual Wyoming Artists Association convention. I'm already registered and paid and looking forward to the weekend as a mini vacation. Usually the convention is this weekend, but they moved it up a week just hoping we would miss having to travel from all over the state in this nasty weather we always seem to get. So let's hope it worked and next weekend is beautiful. The weather forecase is saying nearly 70 and partly cloudy. I might be able to get some flowers for my pots at a nice greenhouse over that way. They will need to sit in the garage for a couple of weeks probably, or take a chance on getting frozen. Planting after Memorial Day is usually safe. So should I try to get another flowering crab apple tree (since mine is surely dead) or give up the idea of thinking it will grow here?

Today Beverly, Brent and Clayton will come back from their Florida vacation. They get on the plane about 8 p.m. so will check out of the hotel and spend their last day on the beach or something fun.

This evening we got some small but nice rain showers.

Saturday May 5 2007

Mourning Doves in Yard

The reason I have the doves pictured today is because one day when Betty was here she looked out the kitchen window and said "Oh you have Collared Eurasian Doves". And I said "Oh, no, they are mourning doves". And she said, "These are collared doves", and I said "Oh no, they couldn't be". Well low and behold out under the window was a small flock of Eurasian collared doves. Never seen any here before. Did see them at Betty's feeder in Mesquite where people have turned domesticated ones loose. Didn't have enough presence of mind to try to get a picture of these. Sure should have - too preoccupied but will definitely tell the Game and Fish office that I saw them here, plain as day. I'm curious if anyone else in our area has seen them. If they survived here they could displace our native species. (From Field Guide to the Birds of North America: Escapes of domesticated Ringed Turtle Dove, an Old World species, may form small populations; but do not do well in the wild. Etc. Eurasian species: introduced to Bahamas, spread to Florida. Common, spreading outside mapped range.") Well this is very far outside its mapped range of around the Gulf Coast!!!

Betty and Nancy got packed up and left for home this morning. We had an omelet and country fries for breakfast, and sat and visited with our coffee and tea for a while before they took off. I wasn't ready for them to leave yet and sorry to see them go. There was a skiff of snow on the ground again and their windshield was iced up pretty good. They decided to go around through Pinedale, look at the town and do a little shopping. There are some socks that Betty likes to buy which she found at Falers, and Nancy got some too.

Betty and Nancy called this afternoon from south of Evanston and said they had really driven through a blizzard. I thought ..eh? maybe an inch or two? NOT! The heavier storm and more snow on the ground started about Daniel and just got worse and worse all the way to I-80. Betty called on the cell phone and told me what they had been through and that they nearly got a motel in Kemmerer, but decided to go on. I called them about 7:30 to see if they made it to their motel in Nephi and they were eating dinner there then, so had gotten to their first night's destination. I imagine it was quite an experience for the desert rats.

We just had heavy dreary clouds and a stiff breeze here all the rest of the day. I worked on finishing up one of my WAOW jobs and was glad to send that off to our board by evening. Joe and I had the leftover tacos for dinner, so that was easy and tasted even better than the first time. Even though they hadn't been doing much running around, the dogs just seemed exhausted and slept all day.