Wednesday April 9 2008

Betty's New Socks

Betty sent this cute photo and note yesterday: "Hi Y'All: Lynn sent me some "spring" socks -- aren't they great? Blue birds, cardinals, orioles, but I don't know what the one on the foot is. Kitty Caitlin had to come over and put in her two "scents" worth. Love, Me'All " She says if anyone knows what the bird on the toes is to let us know.

I'm off to Jackson this morning and wouldn't you know it's snowing. Charm wrote and said it was "snowing at her house like it means it". We had an inch or two with misty visibility. I could see anyway so told Joe if it got bad at Pinedale we wouldn't go.

Our lane was a slip-sliding muddy and drifted ride out to the gate, kind of fun actually, as long as you don't end up in the ditch. A little excitement to start the day off. All the way to Boulder was more or less a wet snow covering the road, the kind that could be pretty slick, so took it slow. In fact some nut drove out of a side road right in front of me without stopping and did some fancy "S" moves then sped off and didn't stop at the highway either. I just threw my hands in the air, and was glad me and the truck in back of me could avoid an accident. Before the Boulder Creek bridge he pulled off, then after I passed roared by me with black smoke pouring out. Maybe some drunk on his way to work.

The most special thing at Silver Creek was a herd of 200 or 300 deer, too many to count. They were all trotting down the highway and I followed them slowly just like driving behind a herd of cattle. Before the bridge, they began to follow one another and half jumped over the fence to the west. The other half crossed the bridge and jumped the fence going east. I have never really seen anything exactly like this. Although I have seen them many times migrating across the hills several hundred at a time. I stopped for at least ten minutes waiting so not to make them panic, and got a whole bunch of photos. That's how long it took for them all to get over the fence and out of the road.

At about Boulder Creek the storm lifted and the sun was shining with blue sky ahead. Picked up Judi at Rendezvous Pointe about 9. Standing in the sunshine, she asked "What is all this? The car was solid ice and frozen mud nearly to the windows. We kicked some of it off the wheel wells and running board. Then met Maxine at 40 Rod and she got her things. It was good to see her, she looked good. She may go along with Charm and I to Jackson next week.

I brought us some of the banana nut crumb muffins for a snack. The trip was like a playback of most of the others, but from near Boulder on to Jackson the road was dry and the drive beautiful. A take on the Navajo poems - In beauty we drive, In beauty we drive. In beauty it is done. The rivers were running open and sparkling with chunks of broken turquoise and white ice along the deep banks. Boulders in the stream looked like cupcakes piled with divinity frosting. The fences were still covered with snow and drifts all the way through the Hoback. We stopped for some bighorn ewes, and then another small herd of deer, and got more pictures.

Was right on time at Chemo and they weren't very busy so the treatment went quickly this time. Everything was fine. They didn't give any new information, except will see the Huntsman doctor on the 25th and I said I would be there. (Means I won't go to WAA Convention.) I have cat scans next week but no chemo. We ate lunch while the treatment dripped. Then drove over to the new gallery near Wilson to check it out for Kay. It's quite obscure and out of the way. Stopped at the Hoback Market and got a few groceries. It's fun how even shopping with a friend can be a good adventure. We laughed at a house in Bondurant where deep snow had slid off the roof in an intact slab and totally covered the front of the building and porch from roof to the ground. Back to Rendezveous Pointe with hugs bye to Judi for now. Since I was in town, I went back to Country Lane Gas again but the bookkeeper/manager wasn't there, so I will need to go back or ask her to mail me copies of receipts with Joe's signatures to show valid charges on that bill they sent me.

At the East Fork I saw birds flying and at first glimpse -driving/peripheral vision - my mind interpreted it as a huge flock of blackbirds. But something was not right - they were too big. You know how sometimes for a minute or so your depth perception for size of things is out of kilter. But as they came closer and I pulled over and stopped there, they were geese beyond counting. What a sight. They all dropped quickly down into the willows along East Fork. I opened the window and listened to all the honking. We also saw our first osprey of the season sitting on a nest at the Snake River. Wow! So many special gifts today. Lots of signs of spring.

The road on home was also dry now. Coming in Richie Road was quite good. The loads of large gravel dumped and spread over the last several years here and there are really making a difference. Years ago you probably would have been off in the sagebrush for the mud, making some memorable rides. There is always a mucky place coming up out of the creek and I punched it into 4WD there and bounced from one set of chocolate pudding ruts to another. Through the gate and down our lane it was more like driving a boat, you know that wallowing in the mud and slush, back and forth sideways, slipping in and out of the tracks. Lots of water splashing. The dogs met me at the gate and were wet and muddy too. Home by about 4:30. Found some leftovers to heat up and got the dogs fed.

Thank you again for going with me Judi. We hadn't seen each other since January because they've been traveling and I loved having a wonderful visit with my dear friend. We couldn't talk fast enough to get it all in.

I'll download the photos later and in the next several days show you some of the best ones - hope there are some best ones there. I took so many that - according to the law of averages - there should be a few that will be fun to use.

So far I'm feeling good again.

At Chemo

See the IV line going into the port in my chest, which is working pretty good BTW. The light from the window is blocking out all the IV bags hanging on the pole. The green folder is my records. It grows larger every week.

Tuesday April 8 2008

Still ..........

Another very quiet day. A few paperwork tasks needed to be accomplished. And I sat here and went through my inbox to send a response to messages that had been sitting there, many from when the computer was broken and dated last December. Most of my notes were small, since people seem to come to the blog for the news, but I felt like I still wanted to answer when you had questions etc. For a while I would get 10 or 12 answered and 15 would come in when I connected. Whew. Have the inbox down to 4 (that's four!), and if you are one of those I'll write soon. This is a good feeling. I also got more Nancy D letters transcribed and can send the originals to her daughter in a couple of days now.

Another sunny morning, with cloudy bright this afternoon and chance of snow OR RAIN! It got to about 38 degrees and the snow is noticeably melting. At least no wind so far. Sunday I heard cranes in the distance but haven't seen any here yet. I know they are in fields where the snow has gone off. So Welcome Cranes~! Our blackbirds had left for a while when they saw how much snow was still here and no food available. I saw a flock in the trees again yesterday morning.

Joe went out today and cleared the ice and snow off the top and caps of the propane tanks (remember I said the drifts had entirely covered them now). I have no idea how he got over there, but it's a very good thing he has very long legs. The dogs didn't go with him. They knew better. The feed sleds are also more covered than I have ever seen them.

Tonight we're going to have shrimp scampi, rice pilaf, artichokes, salad with homemade ranch, and banana nut crumb muffins.

Tomorrow morning I'll meet Judi at Rendezvous Pointe and we'll go up to Jackson. Will meet Maxine on the way to give her things to her.

Spaceweather.com has some interesting night sky events. You can check it out if you're interested, but they sound beautiful. One was last night actually, but I procrastinated getting this in yesterday.

http://spaceweather.com/

Monday April 7 2008

My friend Debbie, postmistress at Boulder PO

She is also in Mixed Media.

Today began sunny and bright. We went to town this morning. Joe had his blood tests at the clinic. We got papers for changes in the trust notarized and picked up our taxes at the accountant. Next we went to the bank - our safety deposit box has always had a heavy bunch of silver coins in it, so heavy we could hardly lift the box to get it in and out. Joe wanted to take them out so whoever could lift the box when they need to. We took a small suitcase and it was just funny to be walking out of the bank with a suitcase of money. It felt like we were hauling off the loot. Don't know why we've kept it all these years - Joe collected silver coins years ago. Now I don't know what we're going to do with them since there are no dealers around here, but we need to cash it all in. There are no rare or valuable coins in it, but I would suppose we should get more than the face value if we can take it to the right place.

Had lunch at the Mexican place. The ambiance and food are not good as it used to be. Went to the store and got a few groceries. Boy was that a filthy mess today - almost didn't want to buy food in there. They have opened up all the back that used to be storage and offices, and are moving around many shelves. Kind of interesting because they have put entire aisles on dollys and moved them intact with the cans still stacked on them to other areas. I think the floor needs to be replaced. So all is chaos.

And then over to Covill funeral home and paid for both our funerals. I wondered ahead how it was going to feel for both of us to be doing that, but as soon as it was done it was a calm relief.

Our bill from Country Lane is messed up and I went in to talk to the bookkeeper. I've paid it every time and have the cancelled checks back, but maybe one time some months back we didn't get a bill and then it got behind and has really messed it up. She says the bill is correct. I have to sit and figure this out. Just what I want to do right now.

Then home. As we left Pinedale there was a snowstorm coming in from the west. The clouds were black, but we got home before it hit. Our road was very sloppy slippery slushy coming in. We no sooner got in the house until the ground blizzards started again, with some new snowfall. The wind is still blowing the drifts higher. Although snow is starting to melt now are bigger than any time since we've been here.

Was sure tired tonight and went to sleep at 7, so now I'm up at 3 a.m. Decided to write a little and am watching the movie "Blink".

HEROINE

Indian Paintbrush

24x20 Oil Painting

by Lynn Thomas

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It's the birthday of the Shoshone woman Sacajawea, born in Idaho (1786), who served as interpreter for Lewis and Clark's expedition (1804). Born to a Shoshone chief, kidnapped at 10 by the Hidatsa tribe, and sold into slavery, she was then bought by a French Canadian trapper named Charbonneau, who married her. When Lewis and Clark hired Charbonneau to guide them to the Pacific, his teenage wife — with her two-month-old baby on her back — was part of the package. Officially she acted as interpreter, speaking half a dozen Indian languages, but she also knew which wilderness plants were edible and saved the explorers' records when their boat overturned. She served as camp cook, housekeeper, and peacemaker with the watchful tribes they met along their way.

HMMM..... HOW WOULD "THEY" EVER KNOW HER BIRTH DATE?

Sunday April 6 2008

Sheral and Dick Visited Today
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Today we got a surprise call from Sheral and Dick. They had taken a weekend vacation away and went to Jackson. They wanted to stop by and say "hi" while they were this close, so I asked them to come and help us eat that chicken tortilla soup. They drove in through the slush and mud and we had a good visit before they had to go on their way. We thought it would be another same-o day but having them stop by was a nice break. That was fun.

I went out this morning and got a few photos of the drifts after the wind blew yesterday. Probably they are higher by another foot or a foot and a half. One of these days they HAVE to start getting smaller.

Yesterday Betty and I had our usual phone visit. We talked about possible versions and dates for she and our friend Nancy coming to the ranch to visit - sometime in May, and how we can coordinate a sight-seeing trip back to Nevada together. I want to end up in Vegas in time for Tayler's graduation. So we will have much planning to chew over in the weekends to come before we get some kind of itinerary. Madelaine also called and what a good visit we had. We don't see each other very often but she is one of my favorite people. Today Nanny called from a hill above Wickenburg while Ken prospected in a ravine, so that was a fun experience to share. I'm so lucky to know such wonderful friends.

This weekend is the LDS General/World Conference, so I've been watching a lot of it on TV. Its the first time I've seen the new President Munson since Gordon B. Hinkley died in January. What inspiring and spiritual speeches the men of the church have gave. Saturday the choir was all of BYU college age young people and what a beautiful job they did. Even the primary young women sang in a choir. Today it is the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

Saturday April 5 2008

Ancient Heart of the Earth

24x30 Oil Painting

by Lynn Thomas
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This is a painting my daughter Beverly owns. It is similar to Washakie Dreams, same theme and same location, but quite different color and feeling. It has had a more complicated life than most of the paintings. I painted it in 1975 from a very poor reference photo I took in the 70s, and it turned out soooo dark that I never could like it, although it got sweepstakes in the county fair the next year. In 1983 I gave it to Beverly, and in 1996 after we talked about it, she returned it to me again. It had a lot of good things going for it. The drawing and composition was pretty good. So I repainted over the old painting and added the horses. By then I knew a lot more too, so was able to salvage it. Then in case painting over old dried paint might cause some trouble in the future, I thought it was best to keep it in the family. Now she doesn't mind having it hanging in their beautiful home.

We had an inch or two of new snow this morning. It must have fallen in the early morning hours, as last time I let the dogs out about 3 a.m. it hadn't happened. So I woke up to a brilliant sunny morning with the landscape all clean and white. By 10 a.m. it was dark gray overcast again. In another hour the wind was blowing snow horizontally past all the windows. The weather report is for chance of snow all weekend.

Joe took the dogs and went out early this morning to get yesterday's mail. He is doing that so he can go while the road is still frozen and not cause such awful ruts later in the day since its very muddy right now.

Spring is sure late coming. I've heard several different times how hard this cold weather has been on the new born calves, and the people taking care of them too. Lots of calving happens in the middle of the night, and the temperatures have just been staying well below freezing and many nights below zero. So when a new little baby calf is born, it might nearly freeze to death or could even die so quickly before the person who is checking calves in the night finds it. Then they bring all these new calves inside trying to get them warm enough to survive. Sometimes the ranch wife has several calves in the kitchen getting warm. They are all getting pretty overworked and tired out.

Friday April 4 2008

Baklava

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Made some baklava today. Not sure why except that I had the ingredients for it. I made it once or twice before years ago. The phyllo dough had been in the freezer for a while and needed to be used. I wish you were here to sit down and have a cup of tea and have some with us. Joe was wanting it to be done before it ever got out of the oven, but he always does that. Rock Springs has a lot of immigrant families from Europe, and I got a few good recipes from some of those ladies. Another I liked a lot was Poticia - had apples and walnuts rolled in a sweet bread dough. I can't find this recipe any more, don't know what happened to it. And Skorpa was another type of bread that you toasted in the oven.

Got some Mexican chicken tortilla soup made for dinner. It has made a big pot full. This is a new recipe, but came from Carrie so I know it has to be good. It's a cream soup instead of a clear broth and you put crumbled tostadas and cheese in the bowl with the soup. Joe liked it. Seems like the whole day is gone so quickly and don't know where it went, but cleaned the bathroom and did some laundry.

Its been another really nice warm day, and no wind. There's a lot of water out in the bare spots. Below are a few pictures of the yard.

Looking at the Back Yard - Keep in Mind that The corral top horizontal pole is about 7' high. The "silver" thing is the snow machine sled, which has laid there all winter. It's upside down. In the beginning it was leaning on the big berm the snowplow left there, which is melted now. It was about as high as the truck window. We've never had to use the sled, and also never even started up a snow machine, except Joe rode his a couple of times before we got the road plowed. I didn't ride a machine this year.

This is from the back shop door looking north at the drift in the front corral.

This is looking at Big Kahuna from inside the back corral standing about at the barn door. I stuck two photos together to get it all in.

Looking at the two 1000 gallon propane tanks that sit in back of the corrals. The yellow and green "things" are the lids that protect the valves on top of the tanks. Raven walking on the drift. When she came back she squatted at the bottom right and said "Help, I can't get down!!