Monday

Barrie to the Rescue

About 9:30 last night, Lance Mackey and Newton Marshall drove off with Barrie's pickup. Lance's pickup had quit in Farson, and they were having it towed into Pinedale. (Both dog teams were on the truck.) Lance called Barrie for help, they dug out the horse trailer, and will use her truck today.

Lance is the four time winner of the Iditarod Sled Dog Race, and Newton is the Jamaican who ran the Iditarod last year.

This is "Fat Albert", Lance's truck. Barrie took this in Jackson before the race started. Lance's and Newton's sleds are beside the truck, with the lines laid out.

Sunday

I'm not sure I ever posted this before. It is a small drawing that started out much larger. The more I worked on the mother, the worse she looked. I finally erased her and trimmed the paper to include just the fawns. I didn't tell them I killed their mother - they think she is just out of the frame of the picture.

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Read an interesting news article this morning on the safety of e-cigarettes. I didn't know what the heck e-cigarettes were! Electronic cigarettes are hand held devices that deliver nicotine. They are tobacco free and smoke free. The FDA is trying to gain regulatory control over them, and the state of NY is attempting to ban them.

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Why is bra singular and panties plural?

Why do we push the buttons on the remote harder when the batteries are dead?

Okay, that's my contribution to the world for today.

Saturday

Would you believe me if I told you I took this photo? Well, I didn't, but it wasn't for lack of trying. I used to sit up at Meadow Lake when the GF were spawning Grayling, to guard the trap so people didn't come help themselves to the fish. Because there were so many fish gathered trying to get up the creek, there were always a lot of osprey fishing. I don't know how many rolls of film I went through, but I never got a good picture.

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I got an e-mail from Amazon today. I rented a movie earlier in the week, and it was very poor quality. I gave up watching it and tried again the next day. I have no idea how Amazon tracks these things, but somehow they knew there was a bad connection and the film was poor quality. So they are refunding my money.

Tried to work with the watercolor pencils yesterday, and hated them.

Barrie went to Jackson yesterday for the start of the Stage Stop race. Just talked to her for a few minutes this morning, and she said she had a good time.

Friday

A friend sent me this. The question was, "Did Philip fart? Took me a while to catch on, but it really is funny.

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When Kasey came home yesterday afternoon she came upstairs and told me, all excited, that she and Momma went snow machining and she saw a coyote and the sunset.

I went downstairs yesterday and worked on the desktop computer a little bit. I changed the settings so it will not "hibernate" or go to sleep. I can now print from my laptop downstairs, but not if the desktop is "hibernating". I tried to get Barrie's computer in the "home group", but didn't get it done.

I did fix some playlists on my desktop iTunes program, and syncronized the iPod. Plays great now.

Wednesday

I just watched a movie on my computer that I rented from Amazon "City of Angels." I didn't think the darned thing would ever get over. I usually like Nicolas Cage and Meg Ryan, but this was a terrible movie. Sure glad I rented it instead of ordering it!

Kasey came upstairs last night to tell me not to eat crackers and peanut butter, because her Mom was cooking. We had baked squash, hash browns, steak, and brownies. Yum! Kasey ate half a squash, but only about two bites of her brownie. Barrie about gags if she even looks at squash.




And old picture of Tracy in her cradleboard. This board was made by a woman from Ft. Washakie. She made the shade years ago for a boy they adopted. He is my age, so the shade is really old. I took this board to Tracy several years ago, and she has it hanging on her wall.

One of the new themes for Windows 7 I downloaded today. Pretty, isn't it?

I accomplished something yesterday. Finally have figured out the home network for our computers. Everything I read said it was so simple to do and anyone could set up a home network in just a few minutes. Right! Anyone but me. Finally found an article on the Internet that explained it to me. All our computers were members of the "homegroup", but they had each created their own homegroup. Finally got that figured out.


Barrie and KC went to Ridley's today, and KC brought the Valentine plates and napkins up to show me.

I had a thermos of coffee and a plate of bacon and blueberry pancakes delivered to me this morning Yum. Kasey made the pancakes. Can't beat a sack of Krusteez pancake mix.

Monday

Enjoyed the football games yesterday. I didn't really have favorites, but kind of lean toward the Packers.

The track pad on this computer is behaving better. (Like your joke about the jumping mouse, Hank!). On the "pointing device" page, I found a setting to "disable gestures", whatever that is. So I disabled it. The cursor behaves better now, but it is still a little hard to control. I know all track pads are different, and I will just have to get used to it.

Hmmm - wonder what got into me? I subscribed to Newsweek on my Kindle. Am still struggling through the first issue. Yes, I know it's good for me.

Ok, you can all laugh at me. I finished this pencil drawing yesterday (I thought) and photographed it this morning. It wasn't until I saw it on the computer screen that I realized the doe only has three legs. Back to the drawing board.

Sunday Drawing

This is Cat's dog, Rant. It's not complete yet, but I need to let it rest a while and decide what more I need to do. I hate the paper I used. It doesn't take the pencil pigment well. So Rant, "Sit" "Stay", boy. I'll get back to you later.

I actually have the TV on today. The QVC cooking show is on, but for no special reason. I just don't want to forget the football game starts soon.

The touch pad on my new computer is driving me nuts. The cursor jumps all over the screen. Maybe I'll read and see if I need to adjust something.

The wind is blowing again. So what else is new?

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Why does "slow down" and "slow up" mean the same thing?

Why is the third hand on a watch called the "second hand"?

Friday

Now playing on my iPod, Chris Le Deux, "Five Dollar Fine for Whining".


Yes, I was young once! This is a photo of me with a group of friends floating the Snake. We are in the Lunch Counter Rapids. Judy Bogle is at the front of the raft. The other people are staff from the Learning Center in Jackson.

Just discovered I've only got one Chris LeDeaux song on my iPod. Wonder how that happened? The songs are on my computer, but somehow I didn't get the playlist set up correctly.

When I was dowloading (pirating) songs from the Internet, I tried to find the music I had on old vinyl records, you know, like the Columbia Record Club, or whatever it was? So it wasn't really pirating, was it?

Anyway, I have a bunch of old Nancy Sinatra songs, Johnny Cash Burl Ives, Sons of the Pioneers, Peter, Paul and Mary, etc.

Have a Web Cam on this computer. I turned it on last night for KC, and we about died laughing at her watch herself on the screen. She kept trying to hide from it, but then would come back to look.

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Why do we wash bath towels? Aren't we clean when we use them?

Doing well with getting the new computer up and running. Even got my MS Office activated. It has been installed on several computers (now dead) so had to do it over the phone. Never talked to a real person, but the nice mechanical lady got me taken care of.

Poor Barrie had to find the CDs for the programs I needed to install. I hate to tell her there are some more I need.

I always think I'm never going to get a movie uploaded, but I hope this is here. KC is going on with her dance class, and last night showed me some animal imitations. Hope her mother doesn't see her jumping around with a sucker in her mouth.

She came upstairs a couple nights ago and asked me I wanted some rice (Barrie was cooking). I told her "No, but save me some leftovers, and I'll eat them tomorrow." So she went down and told her mom. Barrie told her to come ask me if I needed anything else, and Kasey said, "I'll ask her tomorrow."

I was able to get my Kindle to connect to the internet by making my home network unsecured. Couldn't before, because my old laptop wouldn't connect unless the network was secured. So now, if you park in my driveway, I guess you can use my broadband.

Tuesday

I am restoring all my files to the new laptop, which came today. I've had this computer three years, which isn't too long, but it has some real problems I am tired of dealing with.

It refuses to run Internet Explorer. I have removed it and reinstalled it a couple of times. All I can get is that "Page Not Found" message. There are several other web sites it won't load, and I get the same message. Yesterday that "Page not Found" was all I could get when I tried to write on my blog page.

Back to work.

Sunday

Another "artsy" winter picture I took a few years ago in the town park. I cropped it extremely and changed it to black and white.


I know I posted this picture before. A doe died in my back yard, and in the spring, this bobcat discovered the carcass. He was a daily visitor, and if I was lucky, he came at a time the light was good enough to photograph him. I took this picture out the window.

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Am cozily enshrined in my upstairs room. Barrie brought me coffee, ham and eggs, and clean laundry. Do I even want to get well?

I dusted off the TV screen and watched the NFL playoffs yesterday. Wouldn't you know it, I was in the bathroom when Atlanta ran the entire length of the field for a touchdown on the kickoff return. Missed it.

Watched the punt pass and kick contest. It was so great that about half the winners were girls!

Saturday

When Barrie brought my mail to me yesterday, I had the "jacket" for my Kindle Reader. Well, every Kindle needs a jacket in this kind of weather, doesn't it? It will protect the screen from scratches. This one has a light, but I'm not sure it's worth much.

Well, when you are really bored, you take pictures of everything. Here is a shot out the upstairs window of Barrie talking to the deputy who came up to take the report on our vehicles being vandalized. He helped Barrie get the lug bolts off my truck.

She finally got the gas cap off her truck by breaking it. She said it just shattered. She hopes the new one she bought is tougher than that.

I am getting really sick of the book "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest." Tracy says you couldn't pay her enough to read another of his books after she read the first one. I'm too stubborn to give up, but I'm glad this is the last one.

I got a new movie yesterday, "Amelia". I read on the news not too long ago that they found a bone fragment on a deserted island in Pacific and they were testing it to see if it was hers. Haven't heard any more about it.

Friday

I wonder why we feel we need to include a photo with every blog, even if we don't have any? Well, here is my contribution for the day. Pretty, tacky, huh?

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I am almost ready to admit I should have gone to the doctor when I hurt my foot/ankle. Getting better, but am not able to put any weight on it. Kasey likes to look at Grandma's "purple foot."

I watched a movie yesterday, "The Runaway Jury". (Grishom) I thought it was about a tobacco company lawsuit, but it's about a gun company. Pretty good movie. Gene Hackman is very good at portraying a hateful, nasty person.

Didn't get up until 10:30 this morning. My caretaker left me a thermos of coffee, some V8 Juice, and some crackers. I notice my pile of laundry is gone.

Just checked out the TV schedule, just in case there was something on. Some highlights - "The Mary Kay Letourneau Story" and "Confessions of a Go Go Girl." I guess I won't bother.

Wednesday

Cinny and Mustang, all dressed up and ready to go.

Tara B. took photos at the sled dog race, and got some good ones of Barrie and her dogs.

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I feel kind of like the girl up in the tower - you know, the one who grew her hair long enough to make a ladder? I haven't been downstairs in three days. I mentioned it yesterday, and Barrie didn't think it was a good idea. I think she doesn't want to pick me up from a heap at the bottom of the stairs.

She delivered coffee and eggs and toast to me this morning. Life is good.

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I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lite than Kay.

A few years ago, I was looking for a photo to represent "trails" in a contest. I started with this picture of the sign on South Pass marking the Oregon Trail.


There was no "trail" as such, so I drove on. Between Farson and Pinedale, I saw this two track heading out through the sagebrush and stopped to take a picture.


When I got home, I combined the two photos and made a trail right beside the sign. Oh, I love Photoshop!

Tracy called Sunday. She had just installed the latest version of Photoshop. I think I'll just get along with the old version I have. It has more features than I can use.

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My ankle/foot is much better today. In some ways, I'm going to hate to heal up. It's kind of nice to wake up to my fire already on - and a hot cup of coffee delivered to me. Barrie is spoiling me.

Forgot to mention - when she cleaned my bathroom the other day, she even cleaned the litter box. That was incredible, as she hates cats!

Monday

Kasey has a new mushers ruff. She is modeling it in her Tinker Bell Pajamas.

And then she went to bed in it.

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I'm worthless today. Barrie came up about 9:30 and turned my heat on, put the clean rugs back in my bathroom, and left me some crackers and peanut butter, and some beer. So I'm set for the day. Even have a remote on my iPod dock.

She will get a new tire on my truck today and mail the package for me. I'm not going to the doctor. I'm pretty sure nothing is broken.

It should be a good day to draw or paint.

Sunday

Found this interesting house on the Internet.

I bought a small rotisserie. Have been looking at them for a long time, and finally decided to get one. Barrie bought a whole chicken from Specialty Meats and is downstairs right now getting ready to cook it. She usually doesn't use any of my kitchen "gadgets", but she's going to give this one a try.

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I'll be VERY glad when this weekend is over. My tire was slashed while parked in front of the high school Friday night. Barrie's truck was parked in our driveway, and someone put super glue on her gas cap. I think someone doesn't like us! Barrie's tire had been slashed once before, right after she got her truck. That's when she got a locking gas cap.

Barrie called to report it, so a deputy was here yesterday. Of course, we have our suspicions of who did it, but no proof.

Tomorrow, Barrie is going to spend most of her day taking care of me. She will go buy a new tire for me, and take a package to UPS. Then, if she can get me down the stairs, she might be taking me to the clinic to have my ankle X Rayed. I caught my toe on the edge of the rug and fell last night. It hurts like hell!

I slept for a while this afternoon, and Barrie put an ice pack on me. Our ice pack is a package of frozen corn. Works great.

I think I'll keep her. While I was sleeping this afternoon, she cleaned my upstairs bathroom.

Saturday

Sure like my new camera. These were taken in the auditoriam without flash.

Dance Recital

Kasey looks like she is having a lot more fun than that little girl behind her.

And the little girl behind her still hasn't moved.

When they closed the curtains, Kasey took the edge of it and helped close it. But she ended up on the wrong side of the curtain. She did find her way back onto the stage. She was a real crowd pleaser.


Grandpa and Sonny came to watch her dance. After she got off the stage, she showed them some of her dance moves. She was so excited to see us all there.

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When we came home, Barrie pulled in the garage and opened her door. We could hear air rushing out of my right back tire. It is flatter than a pancake. Talk about good timing. Barrie will take it to have it repaired today.

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I actually got something accomplished on the computer yesterday. I installed the newest Norton on my computer and Barrie's. And I found the print program I like to use and downloaded it. The version I had would not work with Windows 7, or my printer.

Okay, if my subscription to McAffee Security has expired and it tells me my computer is not protected, why was it getting in my face with popup windows warning me when I was downloading Norton Internet Security?

Found out why I couldn't install Norton on 2 more computers. You have to install it on all three computers at the same time - can't wait months, unless you pay more.

Friday

The box of pictures in my closet is full of treasures. Here are three aerial shots of Square Top. I flew with Ken Konicek over the mountains quite a few years ago, and he made sure I had lots of photo opportunities.

It sure looks different from above! You can see a little bit of Green River Lake on the top right.

This beats climbing it!

This shows a good view of both upper and lower lakes.

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I've been fighting with the computer all morning. The Dell Desktop has McAfee antivirus installed, and it says the trial period has expired. I don't like McAfee anyway. I have a Norton account and am supposed to be able to install their Internet Security Program on 3 computers. It's only installed on 1, but can't get it installed. It tells me it is an invalid serial number. Good grief! I copied and pasted the number from their site.

My closet is just as scary as my basement. I was looking for a box a camera came in, and found a large box that said "pictures". Sure enough, a box of pictures, and quite a few negatives, too. At least this box of stuff has been sorted through within the past ten years, and there are no slides in the box.

That is a big, deep closet, and I have to use a stepladder to get to the top shelf. Also found a computer keyboard on that shelf?


Dan came in to visit this morning. She rubs on EVERYTHING. She knocked over this basket of knitting at the top of the stairs.

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My second camera sold for more than I expected on EBay Have to finish getting it ready to ship tomorrow.

Just found out something disturbing about my new Bose Sound Dock. It has no on/off switch. That means I can't lose the remote!

Wednesday

Kasey and I made muffins for supper last night. I let her break the eggs by herself (then fished the shells out) and she put the dough in the cups. They were terrible! The recipe came from a very old cookbook from the Park (Shelter) Homemakers. It was Barrie's Grandma Myrtles recipe. It called for 3 TBSP baking powder. Must have been a mistake. Maybe they would be better with just 3 tsp baking powder?


Found this old photo of Dan and Chloe as kittens right after they took up residence at my house.

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The art room was full at Rendezvous Pointe this morning. It would have been hard to fit anyone else in at the tables. Everyone was there (except Judi), Les is back from Alaska, and Miriam C. joined us.

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The first testicular guard, the "Cup," was used in Hockey in 1874 and the first helmet was used in 1974. That means it only took 100 years for men to realize that their brain is also important.

Quit Laughing.

Tuesday

Ah, the road that keeps going and going, and going.

The year my Mom passed away, I made many trips over South Pass to Riverton, and took several pictures. I can't even count the number of times I've driven over that Hill, sometimes with mandatory chains, sometimes following a snow plow, sometimes trying stay between the reflector posts, and sometimes turning around because they closed it.

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My new Bose sound dock came yesterday. Simple to set up and use, and the sound is wonderful. I can hear a big difference in the sound of the music on my iPod, not so much on XM radio, but still great. I'm listening to Oak Ridge Boys right now.

Last night I listened to Floyd Cramer. I didn't even know I liked Floyd Cramer, but I had 29 of his songs downloaded to my iPod!

The other cat, Dan, came to visit yesterday. Barrie says she hates her, because she can't walk. Dan wraps herself around our ankles, and won't move away.

Monday

Kasey loves to count - especially to ten. If there aren't ten objects to count, she just keeps going to ten anyway.

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Bright sunny day, but it's only 2 degrees. Don't know how cold it got last night.

The first camera I listed on EBay sold, and the second one has one bid, so it will be gone too. That will leave me me with just three cameras, plus my compact camera. Now I need to get the video camera listed. Just had to have the darned thing, and have used it very seldom. Don't even know how to use it for sure.

I finished "The Girl Who Played with Fire" last night. I have the next one of the series on my Kindle. Funny how I didn't even like the first book, but really liked the second one. Maybe I should read the first one over again.

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I was asked, "Watcha doing today?" I said, "Nothing." they said, "You did that yesterday." I told them, "I WASN'T FINISHED!"