Tuesday November 11 2008

Eagle in Tree by the Ditch

Eagle over Fields at Ranch

Independence Peak from near East Fork - Sunset
The lst Ones who climbed it on the 4th of July

named it that because it had four summits.

Today Beverly and I packed some boxes - mostly food things - and files and office stuff, didn't fill up the car entirely but it was enough, then drove in to the house to unload and put more things away. As we left the house there was a bald eagle in the tree halfway to the gate and another one in the field. I got a couple of pictures and will show you later. I took seeing them as a good omen.

Debbie and Curtis went in really early and he started on the fence. So they were there when the Dish TV installer got there. Joe drove himself in there early too and took a load of hay bales in his truck, which they spread on the "back yard" area where the dog pen will be, because the ground is so very muddy - sticky clay gumbo mud. Hopefully it will lay down a good bed of wild mountain meadow grass seed that will come up next spring and start building some turf.

Well, I guess Joe worked too hard and long out there and had a spell of not feeling so good so Debbie had him come in and sit for a while. He had also gotten real chilled. It was very cloudy, about freezing with the wind blowing and every once in a while some snow flurries. He perked up after he got warmed up and had some lunch. Neither one of us can work like we used to. I get real frustrated at pooping out after only a little working time.

The Dish guy came about 11 or so and it took 4 or 5 hours to get the TVs set up and working. He came from Idaho Falls. When they went to Rock Springs yesterday I asked Debbie to buy me a new small flat screen TV for my bedroom and that is really nice! I think she said 19". The extra one from the studio here will be in my office/studio there. So when guests come we can take that one and plug it in the guest room and they will have a TV in their room.

Curtis is really coming along on the fence and after we got lunch and helped put things away, Debbie went out and helped him getting cement into the corner posts holes and some of the other main posts. They have all the materials there except some minor type of braces. Home Depot was supposed to UPS those up to us but not until after the kids are gone. He may not get those on until spring but said it wasn't a critical thing.

The clinic was closed (holiday) so I couldn't get my protime blood test (coumadin) - will go back there tomorrow. Also the recycling center was closed, and we left the huge load of cardboard boxes there anyway, and will take the rest tomorrow.

So while they worked outside on the fence, Beverly and I got the food in the pantry and some more of the kitchen things put away. Everything is looking SO nice. I really like the bedroom set we got, well..... I like everything. Bev and Deb had arranged the furniture and it looks great. We need a few more things, but those will happen in time.

The phone and internet installers didn't come today, but will be there at 8 a.m. in the morning. The appliances will arrive about 10 a.m. and be set in place. Then we will load the cold stuff into the freezer/fridge. Curtis and Debbie stayed in at the new house tonight, and after dinner in town at the Mexican restaurant, Joe, Bev and I came back to the ranch. We are packing some more things, like the can goods and will take the food from the fridge and freezer, and probably our clothes.

With no TV here tonight I'm going to sketch a few canvases with drawings for paintings and take them in in the morning. I still have art supplies to pack too. I'm sure we won't get it all in the car tomorrow anyway. We'll probably still be coming back daily for several more days, at least up until Monday when Laurie is coming to get the slides. And Joe is still saying he's going to come and feed the two cats that are still here. We will want to come one day to leave this place clean. Tonight we're washing some of the sheets so beds can be remade.

In the morning I'll have the post office start forwarding our mail to Pinedale. When I get the new email address tomorrow I'll post our address, new phone number and the email all at once.

Monday November 10 2008

FRIEND JOAN GETS HER FOOT SURGERY

TOMORROW. BEST WISHES FOR A

SPEEDY RECOVERY DEAR JOAN.

HOPE THIS IS THE END

OF ALL THESE REPAIRS. YOU

ARE GOING TO BE THE BIONIC WOMAN SOON!

.

Cows in back of the ranch - Muddy Canyon

I still seem not to be recording with pictures any of the moving process or of the family while they are here. So I'll just keep sticking in other photos until I get some family pictures. I loved Duene's photos of Kasey today, especially the one with the grape. What a cruel gramma to try to feed her slimy grapes. And thanks for not wishing for the snow for another week or so, Duene. The desert rats need to get us in the new place and on down the road before another storm comes. They're not used to cold snowy weather. I guess Vegas got another flash flood though and it was bad enough to close McCarren Airport.

Curtis and Debbie did head to Rock Springs early this morning to get the fencing materials, and they aren't back yet. Too bad they have had to drive in bad weather. Curtis had vowed he would be back to the new house and have the corner posts set in some concrete by this afternoon. ..... I was skeptical though. Debbie got me a small flat screen TV today at Wal-mart for my new bedroom. The big box TV that has been in my studio is going to be for the guest room or our office room. It can be moved back and forth. The Dish TV, and Centurytel phone and internet will be installed tomorrow afternoon, so we have to take the TV's in there tomorrow to be installed.

Betty called me from Kemmerer this morning and we had a good visit. It's been a long time since I've talked to her. She seems to be doing fine. Bonnie and I also visited a little. And good news..... Twila called and said her husband Joe saw Traveler (the father cat) today. And that she was sure she heard Rusty, and she thinks she saw Rascal the calico over on the hill so they are hanging around there so far. She said there had been a cat fight on her porch where she feeds her own cats so figured they were around.

Today we packed more boxes and Beverly and Joe took them in to the new house and unloaded them. I stayed home and packed a few more boxes and did some housework. Beverly said Joe was liking the house a lot better now that he can see it with the furniture in place. And that he thought the builder had done a nice job (well lucky for his bad eyesight because there are places the workmanship is good and places it's not so good. Believe me, I'm glad he can't tell the difference.) He really hasn't been very positive about the whole process up until this one remark. We're getting toward the end.

Today hasn't been terribly cold, but low hanging clouds, and scattered rain and snow showers.

I'm making some teriyaki grilled pork on skewers with rice and asparagus for dinner. Curtis and Debbie ate at Applebee's so guess they won't have dinner here. Later: they got home o.k. about 8 p.m. after they had driven to Pinedale and unloaded all the materials out of the truck. It was a long day for them. It was a good thing that Debbie got the prescriptions she needed at Walgreen's down there.

"The only tyrant I accept in this world is the still small voice within me." (Mahatma Gandhi)

Sunday November 9 2008

Temple Peak and the East Fork River

This morning Debbie made us some breakfast and she and Curtis went into the new place to start working on the fence. She and Bev washed all the towels and sheets, and she’s making up the beds today. They will be back later. Curtis got most of the fence posts dug by hand instead of waiting for a post hole digger of some kind. He will probably be able to go down to Home Depot in Rock Springs in the morning and bring up all the materials for the fence having put in an order online. We put a pot roast in the crock pot for dinner and baked up a marie callendar frozen peach pie.

Feeling some better today, Have been up all morning. Still have some discomfort. So strange the way it comes and goes. I think I’m just going to die, but then it finally just goes away. I’ve been sitting in a chair to sleep most of the nights since chemo. Can sit in the recliner better than laying in the bed..

Bev and I stayed home to pack up some things and load into the car. Got the kitchen - dishes - and utility room done – then packing some of the files and office things.

Well Joe put the car away last night and this must be the 4th or 5th time he’s done this. Most of the time the headlights are just automatic and do what they should do. If someone else is driving and turns any of the switches and Joe puts the car in the garage, he doesn’t turn the switch to off and it runs the battery down. So this morning - with his pickup parked in front of my car in the garage –he decided he wanted to go up to Irish Canyon to get a pole for his gate. He wanted to take the 4WD and couldn’t get it out because its parked in front of the SUV. He wanted us to push my car out of the way but it wouldn’t come out of park so finally decided he had to charge it where it was sitting . He was able to go up to Irish C after lunch and got the pole.

The kids want us to be all moved in the house later this week. In any case the TV here is probably going to be turned off on the 12th and switched over to Arrowhead. I called Dish Network today, but Centurytell has to do the set up if we are going to be able to use the TV/phone/internet bunde they offer. All the other utilities are set up.

I’ve asked Laurie at the Museum Mt. Man to take my boxes of slides before we leave here, just in case things get complicated later. We may be able to arrange to do that later this week.

Our Mixed Media art show has sold about 12 paintings so far.

Saturday October 8 2008

Spicer Ponds Big Sandy Openings

Here is a very basic report for today. After some oatmeal we were off to Pinedale early again today to meet the furniture delivery truck. Beverly took over putting shelf paper in the rest of the kitchen. She was really stiff and sore from getting down into those bottom cupboards. I have some of the cupboards that are going to be almost worthless they are such odd shapes and going back into corners where you can't get to them, small door openings etc. And Debbie finished up the hall linen and bedroom closets and bathrooms. Then they started unpacking stuff that we had hauled in there. I carried kitchen utensils and appliances to the pantry, kind of sorting stuff out. They put all the new dishes, pots etc. into the dishwasher and started getting things put away. I kept laying down and even sleeping some.

The truck came about 11 and the two young men worked hard setting all the furniture in place. Beverly and Debbie kept working on getting things organized and put away. Curtis got onto his laptop and made up an order of all the fencing materials from Home Depot, and he got a sketch of the fence made for the president of the Home Owner's Association and took that over to him - he is a neighbor up the hill. He and his committee will meet and give us their approval in a day or so. Then Curtis will take Joe's truck to pick up all the materials Monday and get started on a chain link fence about 5' high to keep the dogs in .

We ate some late lunch/early dinner at The Patio, so we were still pretty full tonight. Curtis brought Joe and I home a little earlier and Deb and Bev worked a little longer. They arranged all the furniture, ironed the bed skirts, and brought the new sheets and towels back to the ranch to wash all that up tonight. Curtis saw a bobcat at Boulder Creek bridge, and I was so disappointed I missed it. Hope he doesn't get run over. We're seeing more deer along the roads now.

When we got home Joe had some canned bean soup and crackers and seemed happy to get it... since remember I'm not getting much cooking done. Anyhow, I think tonight I'm feeling a little better. Hopefully by tomorrow I'll be over the worst of the side effects. We'll pack more into the cars and go back to work some more in the morning.

Friday November 7 2008

Sunset at the Ranch

Sorry I haven't even had the ambition to be taking any pictures of the procedure of getting moved into the house. I have been having the terrible pain in my neck, chest and back that I get each chemo for 4 or 5 days. This time seems worse. I think I'll never get over it, but so far each time it has gotten better and then I'm good again for a while. So Thursday night I spent 2/3 or more of the night dozing off sitting up in a chair with hot packs on my back and neck , laying down is so painful. I'm supposing I'm going to have to ask for stronger pain medicine because I have doubled up on the regular stuff like they said I could. Then I slept most of the rest of the day one way or another.

Debbie left before I even got out of bed to get down to Rock Springs and pick up Curtis (her husband) and Beverly from the airport. The flight was good except for the last 10 or 15 minutes during the landing - it was windy. Debbie shopped a little bit more, picked up lamps we had ordered and exchanged the cookware we bought for a different color before she went to the airport, then they ate some lunch at Flying J truck stop. They went to look at the house first, then got here to the ranch about 5 p.m. They said they liked the house. I took one of my long hot showers sitting on the shower stool and letting the water run over my neck and back. They even had to get their own dinner, leftovers, while I slept some more. Some hostess I am. It's not normal that I can't even cook. It was a lost day for me.

Was very discouraged to have gotten a call from Twila. Joe talked to her so I don't know the details. The three cats we took down to her place all got out of her barn and ran off. Traveler might have been from there, she thought she recognized him so he would know the way back here. What a deal. At least we have tried. The other two females left here are refusing to go in the trap too.

Thursday November 6 2008

More from Yesterday

We were going back to town to work on the shelf paper again. But I'm having my usual bad day after chemo. This time instead of so much in the neck it is in the middle of my chest.Ive doubled up on the pain pills and it does help a little.

This morning we went out to the shed to see if we had another cat, but didn't. We took the three we had caught over to Twila's. Bonnie wanted to meet Twila and came over to go with us. We loaded the big cage into the back of the SUV and drove over. Twila had a big enclosed box horse stall for the cats to be turned loose in. She was all set up for them with a heated water dish and cat food. I took a bag of food over and the rest of the canned cat food that I had left. She might as well use it. When she saw Traveler Twila thought he looked a lot loke a cat she used to have. Remember how he just showed up here, and then would disappear and come back. He is the father cat of all the kittens. So if that is the case, he knows the way back home. It's 5 or 6 miles down there.

We still have two more female cats to catch, Smoky and Tigger. Debbie cleaned the big cage up a little, and hung the old rugs that were cat beds onto the line - I had washed them yesterday. There are a few more dirty ones to be washed and I guess I'll just take them over to the new for the dogs to lay on in the garage so if they are in there it won't be on the cold cement floor.I slept for two or three hours this afternoon, and keep dozing off in the chair, but still need the pills and probably will for another day or so. We might get a few more things packed up to take to the house. The white set of dishes is going over there, plus files and things like that. I also have to get the art supplies together that I want to take. That should be about all. Things we ordered on line are starting to arrive too.

While we were gone to Twila's, Home Depot called and told Joe that the new fridge had been fairly badly dented. If I wanted they would give a discount on it, but I called her back and after discussing it with her decided to have them order another one. She said that if it were hers and was in a place that shows (it is) she wouldn't take the dented one. She thinks another one could come in on Tuesday and be delivered with the other appliances on Wednesday, so no deliveries tomorrow. Why is it always something like this.

I was supposed to get the pump off today but will go tomorrow and I can work on the shelf paper some more if I feel well enough by then. I'll call and get Rocky Mtn. to come and measure for the shades. Need to get the estimates for some kind of fence. Also still have to call Dish TV to get that set up, and that should be it for utilities etc. I have been procrastinating those for too long. Debbie goes to Rock Springs to pick up Beverly and Curtis from the airport. It looks like it will be a very nice weather day for them to fly - maybe still cold though.

TAURID METEOR SHOWER: The annual Taurid meteor shower is underway and it could be a good show. 2008 is a "swarm year" for the Taurids. Between Nov. 5th and 12th, Earth is due to pass through an unusually dense swarm of gritty debris from parent comet 2P/Encke. When a similar encounter happened in 2005, sky watchers observed a slow drizzle of midnight fireballs for nearly two weeks. Whether 2008 will be as good as 2005, however, remains to be seen. In 2005, the swarm encounter was more central; Earth passed through the middle of the cloud. In 2008, forecasters believe we are closer to the outskirts. How much this will affect the shower, no one knows. The best time to look is during the hours around midnight when the constellation Taurus is high in the sky.

Wednesday November 5 2008

Hoback Yesterday

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Up and out again this morning, just not quite as early as before. First thing we went out to see if we had caught another cat and YES Rascal the calico mother cat was in the trap and was she mad. We put her in with the other two, and cleaned up their cage and got them fresh food, water and litter. They seem to be resigned to their fate. Rascal jumped right in and curled up in the cube with Traveler. I gave Twila a couple of calls about bringing them over but she wasn't home this morning.

It was very cold and windy today, and never got out of the 20s. We had another skiff of snow in the night so everything was white, but it got less and less as we went toward town. We went to Ridley's - Debbie let me off and got her car filled with gas then came back to the store to pick me up. We got some cleaning supplies and some baked chicken and salad for our lunch and went on up to the house. Boy the wind was bone chilling every time we were out in it. The house looked great, all very clean, even the vacuum marks on the carpet were all in a line.

Our plan today was to begin getting the shelf paper on. We didn't know how far we would get and it seems like were are somewhat less than half finished. Tomorrow we will go back and do the same thing again, and get my chemo pump off in the afternoon.

Bonnie stopped by and was measuring the walls outside. She said Craig is going to make a housewarming welcome sign for us - how wonderful is that?! So I think I kind of twisted her arm when she asked if we needed any help, and she got one of the linen closets in the hall covered with shelf paper so that was a big help.

We got tired about 3:30 or so and started home. We are seeing a few more deer along the roads now, but not a lot. Maybe this last storm will bring them down. We made some french dip sandwiches and fries for a simple supper. We heard how the elections went, not too happy about all that. And I'm ready for bed tonight. Tomorrow we're down to Twila's with at least three cats, maybe we'll catch another one tonight - we finally decided to take their other food dishes up and just have food in the trap and it worked. Bonnie's going to come over and go to meet Twila with us about 9. Then we'll go on to town to work at the house.

It's the birthday of rodeo performer and humorist Will Rogers, (books by this author) born in Indian Territory in Oklahoma (1879). He made fun of all the leading politicians of his day. He said, "There is no credit to being a comedian, when you have the whole government working for you. All you have to do is report the facts. I don't even have to exaggerate."