Sunday

Kasey is getting ready to throw the ball for Jarvi. I think that dog would retrieve a ball until she dropped.



Getting tickled on the lawn.

Really wonder about this picture, like where it was taken. I guess there are McDonals's all over the world.

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Today's Quote: Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. (Benjamin Franklin)

Question: Think the weather will straighten up?
Answer: When you say straighten up you mean will the snow fall straight down or will it be blowing sideways?

Boomer

An old black and white picture of Boomer with his kitten. I called this photo "The Bodyguard" and won some contest with it.

Boomer was really just a "lap dog" at heart. When we would tell him to "sit", he would back up to the couch and sit on it.

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Kasey is working on her language skills. This morning while I was eating, the cat jumped up on the table. I yelled at her to get down, and Kasey said "f ***ing cat."

Later, Barrie was at the Food Basket, and when she came out, the dogs had locked the pickup doors. Kasey said "f***ing dogs". Maybe we shouldn't have laughed when she called the cat a bad name.

Kasey got $10 for her birthday, and when Barrie asked her what she wanted to buy, she said she wanted some pretty flowers. So they went to Beau's nursery and got some petunias and dahlias.

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Question of the Day: If you're sending someone some Styrofoam, what do you pack it in?

Friday

I forced myself to spend time on the desktop computer this morning. Had to install the software for the scanner and the printer, and Paint Shop Pro, the other photo editing program I use. For some reason, I am having problems with file sharing on my home network. I'm still so unfamiliar with Windows 7, and keep getting lost.

I scanned a few more pictures after I got the scanner installed.



This is an old picture of Tracy's Grandad, Bud LeClair. You can see why the artist from Jackson, Dave McNally, wanted to paint his portrait. He's painted Bud as both a rancher, and as an Indian. If you look on Dave's web page and look at "portraits" under "previous work, you can see the portraits. Tracy and I bought the one of Bud as a rancher, and it is hanging in Tracy's living room.
http://www.davemcnallyart.com/Default.aspx

I liked this Calvin cartoon.

I couldn't resist nabbing this picture I found somewhere on the Internet.

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I have lived long enough. My mother used to say “I have lived long enough when my kids start to worry about me. Not long ago, I heard my daughter getting on my granddaughter about making a mess in the house. Yep, I’ve lived long enough.

One of my favorite kindergarten mothers used to send me notes signed "The Domestic Goddess."

I found the perfect label for me - "A Domestic Disaster."

Thursday

An old picture I found and scanned. This is Tracy Taylor (used to live out on Pole Creek Road). She stopped to visit Tracy and me on her way to a job interview in Rock Springs. She was a teacher. She went to her interview on her Harley and wearing her leathers. She got the job.

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Fancy Hot Dogs

I found a recipe for "Fancy Hot Dogs". It sounded really good, so I made it today. It has hot dogs, onions, noodles and sour cream.

Do you know you can dump something like this in a colander and use your sink sprayer to wash all the sour cream off?

Hmmm - what terrible thing shall I cook tomorrow?

Wednesday

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2BfzUIBy9A

I have no idea if I can post a link to a youtube video, but if this works, it is a cute video about a Blue Heeler dog in Texas. If the link won't work, you'll just have to take my word for it!

I finished a book Pam recommended to me, "The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo." I didn't like the ending and Pam tells me I now have to read the next two books in the series, because that wasn't really the end! The story took place in Sweden, and I had a terrible time with the names: Blomkvist, Berger, Wennerstrom, Borg, Bjurman, for example. I would have done much better with names like Tom Smith, John Jones, etc.

My son-in-law loves Russian mystery and spy stories. Neither Tracy nor I can read them because of the names of all the characters.

The next book I am going to read is named "Nine Lives." (From Stripper to Schoolteacher: My yearlong odyssey in the workplace.) I haven't read the first page yet, but am expecting it to be funny.

Tuesday

Kasey is downstairs pouting and says she's not taking her coat off. Barrie made her get out of her swing and come in for lunch. Kasey's birthday was yesterday, and Barrie got her the swing. There have been swings of one kind or another hung on these iron posts for about the last 40 years. Used to be grooves in the ground under them.

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My brother has been going through some of my Mom's old pictures, and he sent me this. Tracy and I are horseback in front of Ragged Mountain. Get a load of those glasses!

I was on the phone with Century Link yesterday to update my credit card information. While I was waiting the right person, the lady I was talking to told me she could upgrade my Internet speed from 258K to 768K at no extra cost. Good deal. I can't tell for sure if it's faster.

Sunday

What a calm, peaceful day. My biggest decisions today will be which book to start reading next, and which leftovers in the fridge to eat!

I haven't filled my bird feeder recently, and now I'm sure I'll just take it down and wait for humming birds to come back. There are about five blackbirds fighting over the little bit of seed that's left in the feeder. Although I love the sounds they make, I don't like blackbirds.

I had no pictures to post today. Our friend Emily came through for me and posted a link to motivational posters. I think these are self explanatory.

Saturday

Snow storm last night, sun shining today.

I have two little Lacrosse weather stations. They show indoor and outdoor temperatures, humidity, and barometric pressure. One of them quit showing the outdoor temperature, and I should just get rid of it. But what is interesting today, one shows the pressure dropping and predicts rain or snow. The other shows it rising. Well, maybe they're both right - spring in Wyoming!



I made a poor choice of paper color for this portrait of Jarvi. I should have done it on dark paper, I think. Her eyes look off. I enlarged the photo and traced her eyes, face, and nose on tracing paper and laid it over my drawing. Everything is placed right, but it looks off.

Friday

Judi and Vicky just made to trip to Yellowstone, and had lots of great pictures of Old Faithful. I remembered that I saved this from the Old Faithful Web Cam last winter. I thought it was an impressive scene.

I downloaded the iTunes program to my computer yesterday. Mike had salvaged all my music files, and for some reason, iTunes duplicated everything. So instead of 1,400 songs on my iPod, I have 2,800. Good grief! I went through the music files on the computer this morning and deleted the duplicates. Now I have to synchonize the iPod again.

Sally sent me a link with information on how to bypass the "robots" when you call for tech support and reach a real human. Thanks, Sally. Now if we could just somehow make sure we get someone who speaks English!

The Computer

I got my computer back today. Mike installed Windows 7 on it, and was able to save all my documents, music, and pictures. Thank goodness! So today I started to reinstall the programs I use. It mostly went well. Sort of.

I have discovered something about technical support. You know the ones where you reach a robot who has been programed for voice recognition? And you are supposed to reply with "yes" or "no", or read a number? Well, if you give totally inappropriate answers, the robot eventually transfers you to a real person. And if you are lucky, you get someone who speaks English.

I wasn't able to activate my Microsoft Office software today, because I had already activated it on three computers. But I just wanted to reinstall it. A robot can't understand that.

I called earlier today, and finally hung up. I tried again tonight and did much better.

The third person I talked to tonight was named Salim Hassain, and his supervisor's name is Arun. And yes, he had an accent and was hard to understand, but he was very nice and had a sense of humor. And he activated my software for me. It only took me about an hour on the phone!

The second person I talked to told me I could only have it on two computers, and I know I can install it on three.

So, I think it is time to turn off all the computers and XM radios, and anything else to do with technology,and settle back with a good book!

No video

Last night Kasey came upstairs and "read" to me. I took a short video, but can't upload it. So you'll have to take my word for how great it was. She read "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" You had to be there.

Vicky, Lenore and I moved all the art work our group had displayed on the wall to another wall today, so Dave Bell can use the space to display his photographs. We are glad to give him the space for his annual show. He has some tremendous photos, and everyone should see his show.

Windy today. I came home from art group, wrote for a while, worked on a colored pencil drawing, and listened to music. Lazy day. Now I'm going to read, and then watch a movie. Boy! Life is rough.

growing peas

I have one of those "Aero Gardens" (as seen on TV), and Kasey and I planted some snow peas in it. One pod didn't come up, but the others are really growing. I got out the little instruction book that came with them today. Found I had to thin them so there was only one plant per pod, and also put the little soft wire supports around them. Then I read that the blossoms must be self pollinated, with my hand, and only when the lights are on.

It wasn't until I read "only when the lights are on" that it struck me as funny.

Rollie, no comments, please!

Mike called this morning. Said the system in my computer is corrupted, and that he would have to reinstall everything. He asked if he could put System 7 on it (I had Windows XP). He said it might have been a virus, or that Microsoft itself may have caused it. He said that when Windows does an automatic update, especially with the XP operating system, that something sometimes happens.

I think everything on the hard drive has been backed up. I have an external hard drive that it backed up to on a regular basis. Mike said, to be on the safe side, that he would back up the documents folder and my pictures.

But when I get it back, I have to reinstall all the programs, like Office, Photoshop, Quicken, etc. That will be time consuming, and a pain in the A****.

Monday

Gina said she got a complaint because she posted no pictures. Well, I have nothing to post today. It's getting pretty bad when all I have is this satire about meetings. Maybe someone will find it humorous. Kind of reminds me of my teaching days. Iwonder if Hank called a lot of meetings when he was Sheriff?

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Barrie gave two dogs from her dog lot baths today. I didn't go out and take pictures.

Barrie helped me get the destop Dell tower to the senior center today, and Mike K. will pick it up there and hopefully get it repaired. I'm sure its still under warranty, but I will never, ever, ever ever again even try to deal with Dell technical support. At least I have been faithful about backing up the hard drive on that computer.

Got e-mail from Pam in Montana today. Sounds like some things she is enjoying, and some she is not! Hang in there. We sure miss her in art group.

My TV is missing me. My XM radio and books and drawing are taking up all my time.

Sunday

Barrie and Kasey gave Jarvi, Shorty and Maddy baths today. Summer must really be here!


Kasey and her mom spent almost all day at the dog lot yesterday. They took a lunch, and Kasey had her nap out there. She is definitely a dog girl.

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Barrie took our old swing down last summer and hauled it off. She has ordered a new swing for Kasey for her birthday. She will love it!

Our neighbors have a four wheeler and a cable and are pulling some of the old dead cottonwood trees off the ditchbank. A crew could spend a week in those trees with a chainsaw and still not get all the dead stuff out.

And I see they are getting the plants moved into the back yard of B&B Yahama. Hope they get it opened soon, before Ridley's gets all the business.

Friday

I think this is Kasey's first corn on the cob. She really enjoyed it! This is some of the corn Nancy J. brought to art group for us this week. It was so sweet and good.

Paul and Tracy went camping with friends over Mothers Day weekend at Rifle Falls in Colorado. Somone even made Paul take his dark glasses off for the picture!

I will never get used to Tracy having short hair.

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The desktop computer was locked up this morning. I restarted it twice, and it is not cooperating. I finally just turned it off and came back upstairs.

Maybe I will end up calling Mike K. to come work on it. I never did get it to boot from the hard drive. I would set it for that, and the next time we started the computer, it went through its stupid tricks again.

Even though it's still under warranty, I'm not calling Dell. The last time I dealt with their technical support is just that -- The Last Time!

Spring Day

This old picture of Boomer was in the envelope of old negatives I found. I wonder if he ate the sign?

I hired Dave Rossi to put a new fence around my yard years ago. He tore the old fence out, and left the gate. Boomer had a really tough time with this. He wanted to bark and terrorize anyone who came. There was no fence, so he would run to the gate and bark from there.

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This is the last of the"homeless" guys I got from Heidi.

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Oh Look! The sun is shining. Oh, wait a minute, it's snowing. Well at least the wind is not blowing. Oh, now the wind has come up, and a blizzard is roaring through. Well, look at that! The sun is shining again!

It's a typical spring day in Pinedale.

I wonder if Barrie has broken some kind of record in Pinedale? She mowed our lawn yesterday. She might be the first in town!

Wednesday

Kasey made two Mothers Day Cards at Julie's, one for Mom and one for Grandma. She is pretty proud of them.


Lenore brought pictures of her little granddaughter to art group today. She is sure cute. She is close to Kasey's age.

Kasey won't give up trying to pet Kat. Once in a while, the cat will actually tolerate it for about 10 seconds. This looks bad, but usually, the cat doesn't really scratch. It just looks like it. If you look closely, the claws look wicked.

An old first grade student of mine posted on Facebook:

"My job is definitely secure. No one else wants it."

Judi brought me some maps today she ordered for me. I wanted some maps of Sublette County. Thank you, Judi my friend!

Head Bangers

Yesterday I sat with a good book and watched the rain drip off the roof. Then I watched a few blizzards blow through. I finished my book. It was over 500 pages long, and didn't even get interesting until about page 400. By then, I had forgetten how the story began. Then I hated the ending.

Then the power went off for two hours. There was still enough light to read by the window.

Then Barrie found some hard rock music videos on the desktop computer. It has really good speakers, and she had Kasey dancing to "I Feel Like A Monster." So of course I had to watch that and see if I could get a video.

I tried for two hours to upload it last night, and finally gave up. Finally got it today. These are the "Head Bangers."

Woke up to snow this morning, and it is raining again. Oh wait, I guess that's snow.

Barrie has the dog boxes off her pickup, and she hauled off a big load of branches yesterday. Some that she cut last summer. And I notice she is working on getting our irrigation system ready to go.

Sunday

Mothers Day

I'm so full I hurt. Barrie took us to the Stockmen's, and Barrie and I had a ribeye steak. I couldn't eat all of mine. It was sure good! Thank you, Barrie!

Kay and Jim were both in there. I hadn't seen either of them for a long time. It was nice to visit with them.

This used to be an annual Mothers Day occurance when I taught kinergarten. Kris Paravacini would bring us a setting hen every year, and we timed it so the eggs would hatch on or near Mothers Day. This is Shasta, a banty hen, who was one of our best mothers. She came back for several years.

Then there was the mother from hell. She was a big white hen, and just before her eggs hatched, she broke up her nest and killed the chicks.

Tracy called this morning on the road between Rifle and Silverthorne. She has some training meetings next week, then a Rockies game Friday night, and then they go to Florida the next day. I think she has three suitcases packed ready to go, so all she has to do is drop one off and pick up another one.

Leslie called about an hour later, and I visited with her and Bobby. She used to make fun of Paul and Tracy for the way they were over their dog, Bogie. They now have a Shitzu, and she is worse than Tracy ever thought of being. Funny!

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Another movie quote. I just watched the movie a couple of nights ago. It's probably not a very famous quote, but it's always made me giggle:

"Good party, but no whiskey. We go home."

Saturday

Mystery Persons

I found the negative to this print in the bottom of a desk drawer. Do you know who this is?

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I wonder how many school kids have this "Calvin" attitude this time of year? Some educators think kids shouldn't have a summer vacation, because they forget so much. Some so-called educators have also advocated doing away with recess time. I remember a time when a lot of schools wre taken in by this "fad" and actually did away with recess. Must be hard to teach of classroom full of restless angry kids!


By the way, as a teacher, I loved having recess duty. I needed it as much as the kids!

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I did a little rearranging/cleaning on the top shelf of my pantry. How many bags of noodles do I need? I buy them, throw them to the back of the shelf and forget they are there.

I found a small package of seed up there. Clover seed, I think. I wondered why I would have this in my pantry. Then I found a small container of alfalpha seed and I remember now that I had a thing to sprout the alphalpha seed. That's probably why I had the clover seed. I don't even know where the sprouter thing is.

Friday

This gives the term "Home Delivery" a whole new meaning!

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My friend Heidi sent me some "homeless" pictures. Very creative panhandling.

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Ah, the XM radio is broadcasting! Let's see, that only took two days, didn't it? Dumby me. My old radio transmitted wirelessly to my home stereo systems. All I had to do was make sure the stereo was set to the same frequency as the radio.

So when I saw the "FM" button on the new radio, of course I knew what it was for. The directions even said to set the radio to the same frequency as the stereo/radio. Nothing could be simpler.

I finally find that the radio will transmit to a car stereo system, but not your home stereo. That doesn't make sense. Anyway, I dug through my tangled collection of cords, connections, etc. and found the right cable. I plug it into the "Auxillary" on both, and it works.

Someday I am going to have a "wireless" home! The tangle of cables and wires behind computers, TVs, stereos, etc. is a nightmare.

The snow has melted in the yard except in the shade. This should really make my lawn grow!

X@***&% Radio

Back to the question I asked yesterday. "How many retirees does it take to set up an XM radio"?

I still don't know. When I find out, I'll let you know.

I called this morning. My old radio has been deactivated, and the new one is activated and is receiving a good signal - but I can't listen to it through my stereo, I have to use the headphones.

So I called technical support. First, of course, you have to talk to the "robot" and answer about a dozen questions. When I finally got to talk to a lady, she had a heavy accent and kept telling me how to determine which direction is south so I can be sure the antenna is facing the right direction.

Finally, another lady, also with an accent. She also thought she should help me find south. I finally got through to her that I was getting a good signal, I just couldn't set it to a channel on my stereo so I could listen to it without earphones. She told me it would only transmit wirelessly to a radio in a vehicle, not in the home. I told her that's why I bought the home kit to go with it. Does that make sense? She mumbled something about they didn't make radios like that any more because of FCC regulations.

I think I will return this radio and look around, maybe even on EBay, to see if I can find one just like the one I had.

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So B&A, did you get a new TV? Larger screen for those tired old eyes?

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I guess I'll tune the TV into one of those stupid soap operas, watch it snow, and try drawing on the new paper I got yesterday.

Wednesday

Question: How long does it take a retiree to set up and activate an XM Radio?

Answer: Don't know. I worked on it four hours and it doesn't work!

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My new XM radio came today. I got it set up, put it on it's little home dock, and am getting a signal. But I can't get it to transmit to my stereo. It has a little "FM" button on it. That's supposed to bring up a menu that lets you choose the FM channel on your stereo. But that little button doesn't work. I refuse to sit around listening to it with a pair of earphones.

Guess I will be calling XM technical support tomorrow.

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Nancy J. sent me some pictures this afternoon. I chose two of them to post today. Cute photos! Thanks for sharing them, Nancy.

Can you believe it's snowing right now?

Tuesday

Nothing happening here except the wind is blowing. That's nothing new. I don't think the wind used to blow like this in Pinedale, because if it always did, I wouldn't still be living here!

Judi mentioned how B&B Yamaha is being cleaned up. Is it ever! I've lived behind the place for almost 40 years, and have never seen the ground there until recently. There must have been tons of old snow machines and pieces and parts, and old motor bikes, sometimes old cars and boats. When they ran out of room in the back yard of the place, they stacked things along the street on both sides of the building.

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More nostalgia. Tracy was flower girl at Mad's and Stan's wedding. That was a wedding to remember!

Another road sign.

My doves are back. Every year for the past four years or so, a pair of doves arrives and set up housekeeping near my house somewhere. They like to sit in the sun on my fence. I can't be sure they are the same pair every year, but I like to think they are.

Soothing Sound

I just traded this old mantle clock for a glass dome clock I had upstairs. I have no idea how old this clock is. When I first married Chuck and moved into this house, it was on a shelf in the basement, and Chuck said it was there when he moved in the house. It started to tick when he bumped it, so I brought it upstairs. I have had it repaired twice, and it still works. It has chimes. I have to remember to wind it about once a week, and it has to be perfectly level or it quits.

Does anyone remember how soothing the ticking of a clock can be?



I found this drawing on an old black and white negative. I have no idea when I did it or what became of it. I seem to remember that Charlie and Earlene bought one of my drawwings. Maybe that's where it is.

This old spinning wheel proved to me that I can't walk and chew gum at the same time. It belonged to my cousin, the guy who's the Libararian at the University of Adelaide. It was an antique he picked up somewhere. After I gave up on it, he took it back, and I presume he has it in Australia.

I never went shopping with Ray, but should have. My Uncle Bill (all cowboy) went nuts when he had to travel with C. Ray, because he stopped at every book store and antique shop they saw.

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This is for Rollie, after seeing the pictures of him changing light bulbs, from my "retired" list:

Question: How many retirees does it take to change a light bulb?

Answer: Only one, but it might take all day.

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Tracy was wondering what Madelain's horse's name was. I thought it was "Calico", and Barrie thought it was "Patches". Does anyone remember?

Saturday

I scanned a few more of the old black and white negatives yesterday.


I painted this guy's portrait once in pastels, and am going to do another one. A perfect subject for a portrait. He could be a mountain man, or a fisherman, or a prospector.

Nostalgia! This is Madelaine and Floyd in a Rendezvous pageant.

I wonder where this place is? Would like to go back and take more pictures, if it's still there.

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Some more quotes. Two of them are from movies, one is not:

"Who's on first?"

"I don't think he's gonna' apologize."

"There's no crying in baseball."

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A friend posted on Facebook - "I hate it when I don't forward a chain letter and I die the next day."