Monday

Barrie and Kasey and I went up to the lake this morning to spend time with Paul and Tracy. It was a beautiful day, and we had a good time.

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Haven't seen Tracy with her hair this short before. I really like it. That curl is all natural.

The life jacket Kasey was wearing was so confining that she couldn't even reach her mouth to eat a snack! It had to have been very uncomfortable, but she never complained.

She got so excited when we took off and there was a wake behind the boat. When Paul stopped to fish, she wanted "More, More". She loved the wind in her face and the speed.

Helping Paul drive the boat.

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We will be going up to the lake again tomorrow afternoon and several more times, I'm sure. Paul and Tracy will be here all week.

My friend Mary Lou called from Colorado tonight. She misses Pinedale. She didn't think it was fair that we were going up the Green to paint on Wednesday without her. I didn't ask her, but I hope she is still painting.

Sunday

Paul and Tracy got here yesterday afternoon around 3:00. We cooked steaks on the grill outside, had baked potato and salad. We ate on TV trays, as the old computer is still on the dining room table. I would like to finish deleting stuff off it and make sure I have everything on the new one. Then Tracy can take the monitor home with her. It is a flat screen, 25 inch, a really nice monitor.

We sat up and visited, Tracy played with and harrassed Kat, and Barrie caught her and cut her toenails. She hisses and growls while it is being done, but doesn't even try to fight. She just tries to sound mean. We even got the cat outside for a while.



This is their pickup camper. I took this photo last year, and they will be in the same spot this year.

Breakfast this morning. We also had biscuits and gravy and sausage patties. I have lost most of my ability to cook, but I can still fix a good breakfast. Barrie says my problem is that I keep trying new, untested recipes and that I should stick with what I know!

Paul got his fishing license this morning, and they will get gas, go up and put the boat in, then Tracy will drive to the camp spot and Paul will drive the boat down to the little cove right next to the campsite, where they can beach the boat.

Barrie and Kasey and I will go up tomorrow. I know Kasey will love riding in the boat and playing in the water.

Saturday

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Kasey loves her naps - - -

And snacktime

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Tracy called yesterday afternoon. They had thought they might come yesterday, but decided to wait until this morning. They don't have their campsite until tomorrow, so will spend tonight in the driveway (in their camper) and get set up at the lake tomorrow. We will have steak and something for supper tonight. I'll wait and see what they want to do about breakfast.

I had planned to paint one of the little trading cards yesterday, but didn't get to it. I have finished the dark background of the ink stippled drawing. Only about a billion dots, I think. I want to practice the trees on another piece of paper before I do them.

The Jungle is Gone

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Barrie attacked "the jungle" with the loppers yesterday. There must have been over 100 young quakies growing in this corner of the yard, and I had just let them grow and did not mow the corner. Some of them were getting really tall - 8 or 10 ft. Barrie decided we should have the yard more open, so she took them all out and mowed it once. The grass was about 18" tall in there.

She also sprayed a bunch of little willows, caraganas and cottonwoods in the back yard with Roundup. She finished cleaning the little front yard and hauled two big wheelbarrow loads out of there. Woe to the cat who uses it as a sandbox.

Speaking of cats, my original little bobtailed female showed up yesterday. She was one I had spayed, and I hadn't seen her for so long that I had given up on her. She rubbed and rubbed on my legs, and wanted to be petted. She is probably the great-great-grandmother of the cat I have in the house.

Kasey went swimming this morning. She came home and had a bath, then wanted to paint with a long stem of grass. I suggested we could give her a paintbrush from the basement. I should have known better. Barrie said "why? She likes what she has." How right.

Kasey throwing a ball for Shorty

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After fussing and fiddling with the speakers for my computer, I unplugged the jack and plugged it into the headphone jack and they worked. I tried plugging it into the speaker jack again, and wiggled and bumped it, and they work.

Wednesday

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Three Watercolors by Pam

Our collection of "whiskey art"

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I didn't accomplish a thing in art group today. I should have just left my watercolors home and taken my pen and ink.

Judi has painted several of the ACEO cards. (Trading Cards). Maybe I will get some done this week.

Next week, weather permitting, we are going to Pam's house on the upper Green to do some plein aire painting. She said the trees are turning fast up there.

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Getting the fingernail polish renewed

Monday

A Small View of What's Coming:

An indication that fall is truly here. Not much color yet, but there will be soon.

Paul and Tracy are coming to camp and boat this weekend. It would probably be a good idea if they packed some winter clothes! They don't tent camp any more, but have a pickup camper.

I am reading my Mom's diary, second installment, which started in 1985. She had a beautiful and very large yard while she still lived on the farm, and worked in it constantly. She mowed, watered, sprayed weeds, had a large garden, canned, sewed, knit, read, went to church, went shopping, and baked enough stuff to feed an army. She also walked at least a mile a day. I wonder when she had time to sleep? She was in her 70's at this time. She had arthritis quite badly, also had headaches, but refused to let it get her down.

The Cooking Lesson

August 23, 2009

Cooking Lesson and Art Lesson

First you put the ingredients in a bowl, and stir.

Then you have to take a taste before you stir some more.

Then you paint a picture on the counter top.

Then you taste some more.

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Barrie decided Kasey should make some pudding and paint with it yesterday. I'm not sure Kasey understood the whole concept. She gets in trouble for making a mess with her food at the table. She kept looking at her legs and the floor and saying "Oh oh." She sure had fun, though. Her Mom had as much fun as she did.

When Kasey got out of the bathtub, she put on a little green shirt and the pink skirt Bill and Alice brought her. Then she got her boots on her own, and put them on by herself, on the wrong feet. I missed getting a picture of that.

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I am working on a pen and ink stipple drawing (little dots). Such a soothing, mindless activity! I worked on it last night while I had the Rockies game on TV, but when they are leading 14 to 9, it doesn't take much watching. Every time I looked up, another Rockies player is crossing home plate. I think the game unded up 14 - 11.

Saturday

August 22, 2009

The Cowgirl

Kasey had a pair of bo0ts just like this which she outgrew and wore out. Last time we went to Rock Springs, we fund these and bought a new pair. Should have gotten another pair in a larger size for when she outgrows these.

Since she is wearing "big girl" pants now, she loves to run around in just her underpants. She is doing so well at potty training. I don't even remember potty training my girls. Either I am just getting old and forgetting things, or it wasn't very eventful.

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I almost put my little air conditioner back in the closet last week. I'm glad I didn't. The forecast says it will get up to 88 degrees today.

I have ordered a new "weather station" - a little unit that gives the time (atomic), temperature, indoors and out, humidity and forecast. I have one that I have enjoyed so much, but the outdoor sensor only works about half the time. I like being able to check the high and low temps from outdoors every day. Barrie is teaching Kasey to call me "Grandma Gadget".

Today is my niece's birthday. If you read this, Sheri, Happy Birthday!

I thought he was going to come up and knock on the front door.

Friday

Family Games

Barrie and Kasey playing the "smell my socks" game. Kasey loves this game, and makes a big production of saying "EWWWWWW" when she smells her mom's feet. Isn't it funny how these games develop? When Tracy was little, my friend Mary Lou babysat her. Mary Lou played "The Horrible Pink Curtain" with Tracy. They both remember it, but neither can remember how it was played.

Kasey, trying the cat bed on for size.

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I have my next bank statement and will see how it goes reconciling it. It should be a snap, after I got through the first one today and have the register caught up.

I am watching "Millian Dollar Yachts" on TV, or I was until I got bored with it. Good Grief!! I think I can honestly say I would not be happy living that way. For one thing, I don't think I could stand not having privacy. I have always liked the movie "Overboard".

Can't wait to try to paint on one of the little "trading cards". They should be fun, but 2 1/2" by 3 1/2" is so tiny!

Thursday

August 20, 2009


Here are a couple more old slides from years ago that I got scanned.

These are Bill and Alice's two girls, Teri and Sheri, with Tracy in the middle. Sheri and Tracy are dressed in very colorful outfits. Teri's outfit is not so bright. Both Alice and I sewed almost all our girls' clothes. And notice the stylish knee socks!

Another photo of my horse. She looks kind of young in this picture. Maybe not even broke yet. Notice how skinny I am, and get those black and white saddle shoes!!

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I enjoyed art group, as usual, yesterday. Donna Dixon, who used to paint with us stopped in to visit. Her eyesight has gotten so bad that she can't see to paint any more. Miss her.

Both Vicky and Conley brought home made goodies yesterday. Some of Conley's cupcakes were left over, and I brought them home. Kasey had two of them for breakfast this morning.

I bit the bullet and reconciled my bank statement on the new computer this morning. I had restored the file from the backup CD, but I'm not sure everything was there. Took me a while to get everything in the register, but when I got that done, it reconciled perfectly. I tried to categorize all the items from my last VISA statement, but decided it wasn't that important. Mostly because I couldn't get it to come up to the right total. So I finally categorized everything as "Miscellaneous" and let it go at that. I can always go back later to break it down into categories. But come to think of it, maybe I don't want to know how much I spent on art supplies last month.

Tuesday

Bill and Alice brought me some slides Mom had taken years ago. They thought I should scan them and put them on my blog.

This is my horse, Squaw. She was half Arabian. I owned her mother, and broke and trained her myself, so she really wasn't worth much. Well, she reined OK and never bucked and was quite gentle, so I guess that makes her worth something.

This is Bill and Alice's son, Mike, petting Squaw.

This was my first car, a blue Ford Fairlane. It had a manual transmission. About the only luxuries it had was a radio and heater. It got hit twice after I moved to Casper, and was rear ended when I moved to Tucson. Poor thing was a magnet for big mean cars. It looks like it has some dents in this photo, but that is just the quality of the slide.

I have found that many of these old slides have deteriorated quite a bit. The color had really shifted in some of them. Also, even though I dust them with a brush before scanning, they all have dust and hairs on them. It is especially noticeable in the sky.

The mailbox in the background of this picture brings out some memories. It must have gotten hit and knocked down about 6 or 7 times before my Dad moved it. I think my Mom backed over it at least twice in the school bus she drove.

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Kasey just came upstairs with the instructions from her Mom to "ask" Grandma if she could paint. By the time she got up here, she bounced up to me, and said "I'll get my book. We're gonna paint!" She has her own watercolor pad. It's interesting to see the changes she is making in her painting. She used to just scrub the brush on the surface. Now she is painting mostly careful lines. She needs a larger pad.

Monday

From Way Back in my Past:

OK, how many of you had a movie star or someone you idolized? When I was in high school, Casey Tibbs was my hero and I had a big crush on him! He was World Champion Cowboy for several years, (maybe seven?) . One day a couple of friends and I walked downtown during our lunch time from high school, and there was a lavender Lincoln with a continental kit parked in front of the Shoshoni Bar. I knew it was Casey Tibbs! I got his autograph, and found that his middle name was Duane. Boy, was I thrilled!!

While browsing through the website that has magazine cover photos, I found this photo of him. Just had to save it!




Photos from a couple of trips we took in the past. The first is the Prince of Wales Hotel at Waterton Park in Canada. This hotel was overwhelming on the inside. It overlooks a beautiful lake and mountains.

Second, of course you all recognize, is Mount Rushmore. Very impressive, of course, but the most vivid memory I have of Rushmore is all the extremely tame little chipmunks.

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Today I set up the old computer on the dining room table, and got it on the Internet. I needed to get it on the wireless home network because there are a few files I missed transfering to the new computer. I also activated my Photoshop program on the new computer. I expected that to be a hassle, because they are pretty good at detecting if your "key" has been used before. Instead, all I got was a "thank you for activating your software". Who can figure?

I also got both my printers to print on the wireless network from my laptop. Don't ask me how I did it - I think the computer finally just gave up and said "OK, let's let her have her way".

Sunday

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Is this a "study", or a painting? I haven't decided yet. The colors and values are better in the photo than they are in real life. Now that the big willow bush outside my window is gone, I have a great view of the hillside. This corner post is about all that's left of the fence on the empty lot to the south of me. So this is almost a plein air painting, because I painted what I saw out my window. And the window was open!

Tracy called yesterday. They are coming for a week of camping and boating in two weeks and she is wondering if they made a mistake coming so late this year. Hopefully, we will get a beautiful Indian Summer after this spell of cold and rainy weather. They live at 9,000 ft in Colorado, so they will be prepared for the weather. But it would be nice to have some of those beautiful fall days that we have.

Cool and Rainy

Bill and Alice are in Idaho today at Mike and Barb's house, and visiting with grandson Braxton. I hope their granddaughter Nicki and her husband were able to drive up for the weekend for a visit with the great granddaughter, Hadley. Should be a fun weekend for all of them.

It rained quite a bit during the night, and the house was chilly this morning. We turned on both gas fireplaces for a while this morning. My furnace is not working. I had called Gene Paul and left a message. When he called back, the furnace was working. But now it won't come on. I will call him again on Monday and get on his list to get it fixed. It's not really needed now, but it will be soon!

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When a painting goes wrong, just say it's a "study".

The painting above is definitely a study. When Alice was here, we were going through my artwork, and I was almost embarrassed about how many paintings I had started and not finished. So today I decided to finish some, or at least ruin them to the point where I can quit and use the back of the paper.

Friday

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Bill and Alice arrived about noon on Thursday. Mary Lou came for lunch, and we spent the afternoon doing a lot of visiting. BandA brought Kasey a new outfit - a cute pink top and skirt. She really liked it, and looked so cute in it.

Alice is an experienced Grandma, and Kasey wasted no time taking books to her and climbing up in her lap. Kasey is slower to warm up to men, but she gave Bill a hug at bedtime, and when she left for "school".

They left today for their son's place in Idaho. Doesn't seem they ever stay long enough for us to get all the visiting done. So much to talk about, and such I short time to get it all done.

They took Mom's diary with them, and brought me the next book of the diary, which starts in 1985. Bill sayd the first part of Mom's diary will be his reading material next winter. I also sent the four volumes of Larry McMurtry's "Berrybender Series" with them for winter reading.

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I have fought with this watercolor of an old rusty truck long enough and have quit on it. I cropped it a lot - all the shed and part of the background. It helped to get rid of that, but that's not all it needed. I try to tell myself the back wheel must be bent, and that's why it is at the wrong angle.

Wednesdy

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This buck was in my front yard yesterday afternoon. He's a four point, but he's not a very big buck. He looks thin, and his coat is not sleek and shiny like it should be this time of year. I wonder if something is wrong with him?

Today is Judi's birthday. Vicky "assembled" strawberry shortcake and brought to art group this morning to celebrate. It was so yummy!

I worked on my cat painting again, but didn't make a lot of progress. I am so hesitant about the fur texture. Not sure how to go about it. I am still in my pen and ink "phase, and would rather work on that right now. Who cares if I have 20 or so projects started but not finished?

Pam has ordered some ACEO (artist trading cards) for us. They are 2 1/2" by 3 1/2", and I am looking forward to attempting to do something that small. Might be fun. I know artists buy and sell those things like mad on EBay.

I came home and did a little cleaning and straightening and putting things away. I have hardboiled some eggs for potato salad, but that's all I have accomplished.

Tuesday

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I took this picture out my upstairs bedroom window last week. What a beautiful sky!

A barefooted Kasey is putting on spurs. I just noticed that she is wearing camaflouge pants with a hippy-type shirt in this picture. I know she didn't start out the day with these clothes!

Kasey, browsing through her watercolor book. She kept trying to get me to sit at the art table and paint with her, but I didn't. It's so hard to resist her when she turns on the charm! She chatters on and on about doing a painting, we need to sit at the table, and she wants to paint, and she ends every sentence with "OK Grandma??"

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I don't deal well with being out and about very well any more. Today I went to the recycling center with a very large pile of magazines and catalogs, and as many cardboard boxes I could get in the back of the truck without having them blow out. After that, I went to Ridleys and bought some things. I wonder if they didn't make a mistake when I checked out. My bill was only $39 plus change. I have NEVER got away with spending that little in there.

Then I went to the liquor store and bought beer and wine (company coming) and two cans of Coke for a new recipe I found for gravy in the pressure cooker.

Then I went to Spreciaty Meats. What a nice place! I need to remember that I can buy milk, bread, cheese and some produce there, so can bypass Ridleys for those items.

I was worn out by the time I got home. I carried one load of stuff up the basement stairs, and while I was putting it away, Barrie carried up the rest.

I saw Judi while I was checking out at Ridley's Tomorrow is her birthday!

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Kasey and Kat having a fun moment. The cat kind of overwhelms Kasey sometimes, but she has found a toy they both enjoy playing with together - the Swiffer duster.

Finished this little pen and ink stipple drawing of a mountain sheep today.

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Slowly working through the set-up of the new computer. The scanner would not work this morning. I turned it off and when I turned it back on, it worked. The big photo printer works with the new computer, but I can't get it on the wireless network. I guess I don't really care, because I will only be printing to the HP Deskjet on the network.

But I still have no sound from the speakers. I may have to end up calling Dell technical support for that problem. I think moving from Windows XP to Windows Vista has some bugs.

Painting

I have installed the new version of Paint Shop Pro, a photo editing program I like to use. "Painter Essestials" was included, and I have been playing with it today. I have heard of Corel Painter, which is a very expensive program. I guess this is a scaled down version of that.

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At the top is the original photo, and the bottom is the watercolor conversion I did with Painter.

The top one is the original photo, and the bottom is an oil painting.

I could spend a lot of time playing with this program. It has about 15 cutoms settings you can apply to a photo, including pencil, watercolor, oil, and pastels - and several diffferent styles for most of them. And of course you can start with a blank "piece of paper" and draw and paint with different brushes and colors.

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Barrie and Kasey are going to buy some groceries today. I'm not even sure what we need, but I know we are about out of eggs. I made a quiche yesterday from the recipe Barbara S. gave me. I didn't have frozen hash browns for the crust, so I used a fresh potato and grated it. And I didn't measure the onions. I guess I thought if a little bit of onion was good, a whole bunch of onion would be really good. The quiche Barbara sent to art group was delicious - mine was not.

Saturday

Barrie took all these pictures today when she and Kasey went out to feed the dogs.

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Kasey is offering Jarvi a dog dish of grass.

Kasey with Nellie on top of her dog house.

Kimble is deciding whether or not join Kasey on top of her house. She did, and then started licking Kasey's face.

This is good picture of Barrie's truck with the dog boxes.

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I spent my day getting computers organized. I moved the new computer to the desk in the computer room. So many wires to connect, and so much dust and dead millers behind the desk, and a lot of old bank statements that had somehow fallen back behind the printer stand. Hooking up the wireless router was almost done by the computer without me. I have the scanner software installed, and don't remember remember that all those programs came with it. I am having a problem with the speakers, - no sound.

I really cleaned and dusted the computer desk, and we now have our dining room table back.