Tuesday June 5 2007

Be Well, Amigo

I picture him bounding happily down a Wyoming dirt road,

ears flying.

Today we got ready, fed horse and cats, left about 9 a.m. and drove over to Idaho Falls to be there for Joe's echo cardiogram on Wednesday. Remember we had the back of the SUV full of stuff from cleaning out the garage yesterday. So on the way we stopped at the Museum of the Mountain Man to drop off some old things there. Joe walked the dogs while Millie and I got the museum donations unloaded. And then left the rest at the Food Basket second hand store. There was also a couple of bags of plastic to go to the recycling center. We went to Falers for rest room stop and got some cinnamon rolls and coffee for the trip.

The drive over was quite nice, overcast, beautiful through the Hoback and Snake River Canyon. At Alpine we had lunch at the Alpine Inn's Berthoven's restaurant - real hot roast turkey sandwich and mashed potatoes - then past Pallisades Reservoir and through Swan Valley. We got to our motel, The Red Lion, about 2:20 p.m. Irritatingly, sadly, it was the room from hell. Dirty bathroom, stained rug, table ready to fall down, curtain hanging off the wall unable to cover the door/window, remote control didn't work. It made you feel like you didn't even want to sit down or lay on the bed. The water was turned off for renovating they were doing so we couldn't clean up or even wash our hands. It was supposed to come on at 5 p.m. So we waited.

In the meantime I took the dogs for an outing on the Snake River Walk right across the road. Being next to the river walk was the reason I chose the Red Lion in the first place. Although heavily overcast it was lovely out, and we enjoyed all the smells, sights and sounds. The river was thundering and roaring over the falls, and you could even feel it in the ground. An interesting thing about the falls is they run up and down the river instead of across it. They use the river at this spot for a hydroelectric project for the city, but it is wonderfully done and very scenic. A 1/4 to 1/2 mile "wall" for lack of a better word, holds the water back and the water falls evenly from the wall to make electricity, then on through the natural rock falls. The city has a green belt with walking trails all along the river.

There was where I saw the highlight of the trip - at least a hundred young geese in a huge flotilla in the canal that runs beside the river. Couldn't even get them all in one photo. I wish you could have seen them. The most interesting thing was how the dozen? or so parents were herding and protecting the babies, almost like cowboys would herd horses or cattle. There were lookouts, sometimes on the bank or usually surrounding the young ones in the water. There was no mutiny or squabbling or misbehaving. If the parents in front said turn around they all turned around and the geese on the edges kept them in a bunch. Eventually they herded the whole flock under a bridge and to a lawn where they all began to eat, with lookouts surrounding them. The dogs were interested in every bit of the park and the nature walk, but especially entranced by the birds.

When I came back from the walk we still had no water, actually there was a small trickle. I called the front desk again, and we agreed that they would move us to another room, which she said was new (remodeled), but it was upstairs. I went and check it out and it was just about the same as as the last one but the water was on. We said o.k. we'd move, since I didn't look forward to searching out another available reservation at that late time. By then Joe was really unhappy and I was getting pretty mad.

There were several restaurants very close and we went across the parking lot to Chilis, the first time we'd eaten at a Chilis, and it was very good. Joe had bbq ribs and I had a rib steak, with plenty leftover for the dogs to have a treat. Another dog walk along the river and we went to bed. The dogs really slept good and didn't want out until morning. It began to rain about 3 a.m. or so, and continued to rain all day long. I knew it was forecast to rain so had brought the dog coats and they didn't get soaking wet anyway. I was also glad to have had my raincoat because it would have been miserable without it otherwise.

Monday June 4 2007

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GLORIA!!

Well, Joe got in a purging mode and all afternoon we've been cleaning the garage out so Joe can park the big stocktruck in there. He's moving the wagon out of the garage and it will go into the shed. The wagon has been a catchall place for everything to be dumped (stored) over the years. Everything came out of the wagon and most of that is being trashed or given away. He's giving up all his old scuba diving equipment, etc. This will be better, when he has to get his haying equipment in and out of the other shed. I've been telling him that for years, but "what do I know"! I guess he thinks its his idea now and that's good. Maybe we can even park the vehicles side by side instead of one in front of the other and not have to take them both out so he can go in his truck or me go in the SUV.

He even FINALLY said that his neices and nephews could take their grandparents stuff that's been taking up storage room in the house. That will make me very happy as storage space is at a premium in our house. I wrote to Joslyn and told her to come and get it. The whole car is full of things for the second hand store, and a little for the museum that we can drop off tomorrow on our way, and if they don't take them I don't know what I'll do with them, maybe go to the dump. Some neat old things will go to the museum later too, the creamer and old things like that unless they don't want them. Joe's red truck is full for the dump too. He'll do that when we get back. I think the old wringer washer is going too. The garage work isn't finished, but I hope he will go ahead and find a place to put everything that over the years has been sitting on the floor in very nice lines. Instead of getting rid of it, I secretly stashed away a small inflatable raft, which long ago he told me we didn't have any more. I've always wanted to float down the Big Sandy!!

I also cleaned out my art storage shelves and burned up a bunch of painting/shipping/storage boxes and packing. This is very traumatic for artists to burn up their cardboard, ask any artist you know. For one thing it is a concession to the fact that I probably won't be shipping paintings off to shows much any more. I got filthy. I'm pooped. I got no painting done today. I'm afraid the portrait isn't going to be finished on time.

We had a thunderstorm this afternoon with some real cracking thunder and lightning and a little rain. Sparky got upset for a while, but as long as I don't make over him too much, he calms down a lot quicker.

We're going over to Idaho Falls tomorrow. I'll report on that when we get back.

It's raining again, I can hear it on the roof. And it's supposed to cool off and be rainy for our trip.

Sunday June 3 2007

Buttermilk Yeast Pancakes

It's a beautiful morning. I will be painting. Sheral and Dick are coming over to visit later today.

Joe has taken Nube off the hayfield and she is in the sagebrush pasture with the creek in it. She can still come into the corral from the back side to be with Bobbi. There is a lot of grass there for her. Joe's out irrigating with the dogs. When they come back he'll let them in to run through the house soaking wet.

Beverly called last night and we had a long visit, the next best thing to being there. They had birthdays for both Shane and Clay. They all went out for dinner with Andrea and Shane on Friday. She said Andrea's bank is asking her to relocate to Oklahoma. Shane likes to write and is writing a novel. Go Shane!! They had a barbecue birthday party yesterday for Clay. He got a soft pellet air BB gun. He turned into a teenager this year. I'm sorry I missed all the good times. Justin also recently had a birthday.

The tipi pastel painting is about finished. I'll try to get a picture of it on the blog in the next day or so. I'm finally kind of liking the feel of it. It's sure evolved from what it was in the beginning when I didn't like it at all.

Saturday June 2 2007

Crane - Sunset

It's a beautiful morning and supposed to get very warm today. I'm ready for that! .....By evening - that didn't happen. I wore a sweater all day. We got some thunder and a tiny sprinkle of rain with lots of darkness and black clouds. So dark that it seemed like the sun had gone down by six p.m.

Joe's cooked his own breakfast, watered the trees in back and gone to town to the parts place to get his brake drum. The dogs got to go along for the ride. I had a shower and have gotten most of the day's chores finished. Somehow I always enjoy burning the garbage. It's very theraputic. Nube seems to be fine and hope she stays that way.

The phone is still not working great........ It came back before 5 p.m. yesterday. Maybe the repairmen are still working on it though? It sounds o.k. on our end but someone on the other end can't hear anything or its cutting out a lot and they have to hang up. So I guess that's the same as not working, right?

The photos are from last night.

Muddy Ridge Evening

Friday June 1 2007

Llamas and Alpacas

Moved the Llamas from yesterday to today. I hope to get some better pictures of them sometime this summer. There are several places raising them. One of my friends got a couple of llamas to carry her camping things when she goes backpacking - but then it's not backpacking any more, is it. The llamas get right in the back of her van and kneel down to ride there. She got a new baby llama not long ago. It's all white and very beautiful. I guess when they are three they can begin to pack.

This morning first thing we trimmed Nube's back feet. I think she has a little tummy ache this morning, but things are moving fine so I will watch her closer for a few days. Certainly don't want her to founder too. Its a worry.

Our telephone has been out of order for several days and periodically its been giving us trouble for quite a while. Usually if we wait on the phone when its down, it just sort of comes on again, but this time it didn't so emailed a few friends, one who works for the phone company to report our phone being out. Lo and Behold.......a phone company repairman came driving in about noon. He said he didn't have any report about our phone, but that the entire IMM through-the-air phone system had crashed several days ago. They are waiting for parts. He looked kind of harried, and had driven out here to get the number off our equipment. I asked him if there was any problem with our equipment and he definitely said not. At noon we didn't know how long it would take to get repaired. But by 5 p.m. when I checked, it was alive again, and had a good dial tone. Charm was very good to keep getting back with me with info that she had called in, and she also called the parts place for Joe to see if his brake drum was in. Now we can call Vegas and see how one of our friends there is doing. Beverly wrote last night and said she was in the hospital, and it turned out to be bleeding ulcers.

It's mostly cloudy and was in the mid 60s today. The wind is still supposed to blow up to 10-15 mph every day the forecast mentions wind and every day sunny and getting warmer. It just has not been nice - so warmer is good. Slight chance of thunderstorms by Wednesday (that day only). Every day will either be partly sunny or partly cloudy. I wish I knew the difference. We can do without the wind too.

Today I will be painting and hope I don't have to do too much brake line bleeding, etc. At least this guy doesn't have so many pins and flags and patches on his shirt. It shouldn't be so time consuming on that. I finished my on line voting for new members applying to WAOW, and afraid I managed to goof part of it up. Learning more all the time.

Thursday March 31 2007

Kaidi

Today I left for town about 10 a.m. The dogs went with me and they had their first walk after getting to town. Next stop was the Pinedale cemetery. Last Sunday Joe had gone to Pinedale and picked up a bouquet we had ordered to put on his Brother Jim's grave. Well he walked around about an hour and couldn't find the grave, so he came home and brought the bouquet with him. Neither one of us could figure it out, because he's never had trouble before. I told him if he would like me to I would put the flowers on the grave today. Would you believe I couldn't find it either. I had only been there at the funeral, and it was winter with snow on the ground, but knew it was north of the buildings and under two huge pine trees. The whole thing isn't that big for gosh sakes.

Finally I gave up for the time being and went to lunch at the senior center. On the menu was chili and cornbread. I sat with Judi, Cindy Carlson and her daughter Jennifer and Courtney Skinner. We had a fun time visiting. The Skinners ran a dude outfit and kid's survival camp from Burnt Lake, so there were lots of stories about that and Mt. Everest and The 10th Mountain Division and history and Indian trails and legendary caves. After lunch I asked Judi if she wanted to go help me find the grave. We read the graves map AGAIN and Jud, not influenced by the ingrained idea that it HAD to be under two huge trees, walked right to it. Guess What! They cut both the trees down. In fact they cut 120 beetle infested trees down, and now the grave is in the middle of a very large open space. After putting the bouquet at the grave, Judi and I visited some more, and then Don the man who takes care of the cemetery (and is also the coroner) came and we talked to him. He said he saw Joe on Sunday walking around. I think we'll find it next time.

Next went down to Falers for a little bit of groceries and Sheral and Dick were there eating their lunch, so I sat with them. They are having a real serious problem with their water system, and he has a hole dug about 8' in the ground and as big as a room in order to fix some valve. We had a pretty nice visit until I needed to get going to make sure I got to my haircut in time. Also going through the aisles I saw Melita and Dona Rae. Melita hasn't been back too long from 6 weeks in Switzerland where she's from. We all exchanged our illness and Dr. related "stuff" and got caught up on that.

Luckily a few days ago Beverly jogged my memory that three of my grand kids have imminent birthdays, and when I looked at home for cards I didn't have any appropriate to send. Also needed one for my sister. So I had to go in the gift shop for cards. Then got my shopping done. Didn't need much since we just spent a bundle at Wal-Mart a couple of days ago. Over to get my haircut and arrived just in time. I took a picture of my beautician Kaidi to show you. I love Kaidi.

After that went shopping at the auto parts stores for Joe's truck parts, and all I could get was more brake fluid. His emergency brake drum that was being relined in Salt Lake City got sent to Evanston so it wasn't there, a mistake of the freight truck. The clerk said he was sorry and I thought of the price of gas for another trip. Told him we lived an hour away. Nope, not his fault.

Then I took the dogs to the Lions Park where they have a nice nature trail loop, and sat on a bench by Pine Creek writing the birthday cards and checks for the grand kids. Got to the P.O. just before they closed for stamps and mailed the cards. Yes, at least two will be late, sorry, but that's the normal story of my life. Dogs got all wet swimming in the creek. Stopped for a cold drink for the drive home.

Several places around Pinedale raise llamas or alpacas and I've been wanting to stop and photograph those. The day wasn't especially pretty for it, but I got some pictures of them to show you and will do that tomorrow.

Walking on the Nature Trail by Pine Creek

Along the way home near the East Fork River were large patches of shooting stars in the fields. It is a thing of beauty to see them like that.

The pastels I ordered came today, so picked up our mail and got the package from the UPS box. The dogs were ready for another run when we got to our gate. Raven especially ran right down the ditch with water flying the entire way to the house. What a happy sight. They had to stay outside until they dried off. I quick stuck leftover casserole in the oven, and set the table, then got the groceries put away.

I had the nicest most relaxing day in quite a while.

I had forwarded an email with a power point of Keukenhof, near Amsterdam, the world's largest flower garden, and couldn't believe how many people who wrote back and said they had been there!! Now I really feel travel deprived.

Wednesday May 30 2007

Blue Moon

This evening we had a Blue Moon, the second full moon in the same month. See that kind of lavender layer between the hills and the moon? That's air pollution from the oil/gas fields. We never used to have such a thing. You could not see the moon until it got above that layer.

Yesterday after I posted the blog we also trimmed Bobbi's front feet. I catch and hold them while Joe trims. Joe will do both their backs soon. Bobbi's feet are better than they have been for years, and surely that is because we are keeping her in and feeding her hay so she doesn't founder. She is about 25 years old now, so no spring chicken but she looks good. She gets more exercise in the corral than she does out in the field because she's trotting around all the time trying to keep track of Nube. She hates to be locked in there alone. Nube's feet had grown out too much and she had a couple of ugly chips but they trimmed up good. I've got them brushed and groomed, and Bobbi is even being pretty good about letting me comb out her tail. I'm about half through with her tail. It is beautiful and nearly touches the ground. She loves to be brushed.

Being on the WAOW board, at this time we are voting on line to say yes or no to accepting new members into membership. This is my first experience with this procedure. Its very interesting. They make a series of web pages to view the submitted artwork with places to comment and vote. Its not easy to choose, but we are trying to bring good quality artists into the group. I've laid off the other WAOW work lately because of the S&R Commander portrait, but have to get back to the final draft on the membership section of the bylaws pretty soon. I wrote yesterday finally and told the nominating committee that I wouldn't take the nomination for president. The thing is I really would like to be president, but sure don't want to go through all the politics and it will just take too much out of my life at this point. I don't have the ambition for it any more. I told my friend Judy and got the biggest kick out of her answer....."I know how you love to do that sort of thing. Just tell them if they want you to be president, they have to change the position to dictator, and then you will be happy to take over. :-)" Ohhhhh dear, she knows me too well. It's true. Very lacking in diplomacy, I'm used to dealing with onery horses and spoiled dogs. I would likely have no board left if I were head pretzel. Then I'd have to do all the jobs myself.

Yesterday we had some trouble with our well acting like there's not water in there after watering the yard for about 30 minutes. And this is spring - the water table should be way up. There hasn't even been water in the sump this year. Whether it's the drought or something mechanical I don't think Joe knows yet. It hasn't been that long since we pulled both pumps and renewed everything.

This afternoon and yesterday Joe worked on the brake lines in the old stock truck. I sit and pump the pedal to get the pressure up while he bleeds the lines, and it took about an hour each day. The brakes have always been a problem in that truck.

This morning Joe went to town to get his blood test. He was back before lunch time. Tomorrow I will go to Pinedale and pick up more truck parts for Joe, and get a few groceries. In the morning I'll call and make a reservation at Rendezvous Pointe, the senior center, for lunch. Then I have a haircut appointment at 3 p.m.

It was about 25 degrees here this morning, but warmed up pretty quickly. Got to nearly 60, but we're still having a cool wind. You need a jacket.