Wednesday

We got the art work displayed at Rendezvouse Pointe today for the silent auction next week. It seemed much easier than it did last year. Maybe because we more or less knew what we were doing this year.

Vicky and Judi discussing the brochure.

One half of the main wall of artwork.
The other half

And for some reason, I seem to have my own wall. Something we ended up doing last year, and it seemed natural to do it again this year. I hate the plastic over the pieces, but it does protect them.

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I went to lunch yesterday at the Brew with Melanie S. and Dee C. We worked together and enjoy getting together to visit.

I even went to Ridley's today after art group. I probably bought some stuff that Barrie already got last week, like a large jug of vegetable oil. I didn't think she got it, so I bought another one today. We enjoy the deep fryer, and will be changing the oil in it some day. Or I hear I can burn it in my pickup?

I finished the pencil drawing of Kasey and Karma today. Barrie says it looks like a wild Indian child with a wolf pup. Hmmm. Kasey did tell her mom one day "If you'd cut my bangs, I could find my cup."

We had a good long rain last night, without much lightening. If the power went off, I was asleep and didn't notice.

Everything was so wet this morning, and Barrie took off work and went to buy hay for her horse.

My rainbow picture has sure gotten a lot of attention. Just think, if I hadn't had those trees cut down, that picture would never have happened, because I wouldn't have seen it!

I have a new pencil drawing started of cowboy boots, jeans, and a rope. I assume there's a guy in the jeans, but he doesn't show in the photo.

Sunday

Made it through a day without rain, and without a power outage. I have some computer gliches since the last time the power went out. I can no longer print from my laptop to the printers that are downstairs. I don't have the ambition to track down the problem today. I'm sure I will have to spend time on the downstairs computer and install the printers again, and share them.

I watched a live video feed yesterday of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge bike race that took place from Steamboat to Breckenridge in Colorado. I think it was Stage 5, and it went through Silverthorne (where Paul and Tracy live). I'm pretty sure I recognized the traffic light out in front of the Silverthorne Elementary School, and the big home center. But the announcer kept saying they were in Dillon. You don't enter Dillon until you go under the Interstate overpass. Saw that in the video also. The race was pretty interesting, actually. Paul was at the finish line, but Tracy works for the Summit County Sheriff's Department, so of course she was working.

Watched a movie "The Chase" on the Crackle web site last night. It was an old movie, 1966 and starred Marlon Brando and Robert Redford, along with several others who were familiar to me.

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When I was teaching, I got some doozies of written excuses from parents. I found a website where someone has collection of "excuses" and posted them. Thought you might enjoy reading a few of them.

"Amy did not do her homework last night because we went out to a party and did not get home until late. If she is tired, please let her sleep during recess time."

"Please excuse Lisa for being absent. She was sick, so I had her shot."

"It was my fault Mike did not do his math homework last night. His pencil broke and we do not have a pencil sharpener at home."

Saturday

Beautiful day, but who knows what will happen this afternoon. Forecast says 30% chance of rain, and if it rains, there's a 75% chance something will get wet and our power will be out again! Just saying.

I lost Kat the other day. She is always out rubbing on my feet when I get up in the mornings. Barrie even helped me look for her, and she was nowhere to be found. Barrie had looked under my bed, but I started pulling out pieces of a quilt frame I have stored under the bed, and cat crawled out, yawning and stretching.

We decided the sounds of the chain saws, the trees hitting the ground, and thunder in the afternoon did her in, and she took refuge under the bed.

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I watched "A River Runs Through It" on Crackle.com last night. Great movie. I think I read the book years ago, but have never seen the movie.

Couldn't resist getting a picture of a pile of puppies sleeping on the front lawn. Karma heard the camera and lifted her head. It makes me laugh every time I look at her ears!

Friday

The view out my upstairs window looking at the ditchbank. Top photo shows what I can see now, bottom photo was before. Most people wouldn't that that's such a great view, but this area of the ditchbank is a favorite spot for deer and moose when they are hanging out in the neighborhood.

Trimming branches from the big cottonwood tree.

Doug loading the branches with his Bobcat.
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I need to start planning on what I will do on those nights when the power is off. Seems like it happens very often! I have three kerosene lanterns downstairs, and need to bring one up here. Hope we have kerosene, and I think I have some new wicks somewhere.

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I am so disillusioned by Wranger Jeans! There was an article in a recent issue of a magazine called "Booty Up by Wrangler-wearing cowgirl! She was a lucky winner of our newest uplifting jean giveaway in COWGIRL Magazine. "

Oh Wrangler, please don't tell me you are manufacturing support jeans now. Get real, "Booty Up" jeans?

What happens when you cut down a tree

When I woke up this morning, this is the view that greeted me out my upstairs bedroom window, instead of a big pine tree! I hated to lose the trees, but this is a pretty nice pay off.

I've never seen Kasey as excited as she was last night when she saw the trees were gone. She came upstairs and told me Mamma cut down the tree. She rushed to my bedroom window, and said "Come look, come look, Grandma!" Barrie told her she only helped Doug cut down the trees, but Kasey still says "My mamma did it!"

Barrie didn't wok yesterday, except for one lawn. She helped Doug and his guy with the trees. She did most of the cleanup. She also kept the tree for firewood, although we don't even have a wood stove. (She wants to get one.)



Salli posted this on her blog, and I am borrowing it. Funny!

By bye trees

This is what my front yard looked like last week. There's house in there someplace behind those dead trees

This is what my yard looks like now. Barrie is putting the fence back up.

This is the big tree in the back yard. Going, going, gone!

The stump.

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What a difference a few trees make! The front yard looks so strange, but I guess I'll get used to it. People should be able to find my house much easier than before. Maybe we can get the grass to grow there now.

Spent my morning in the art room at Rendezvous Point, and got the paperwork finished on the work I am putting in the silent auction. Then I drank coffee and ate cookies!

Pencil Progress

This is what I have been working on for the past several days. If I don't ruin it, it will be the first portrait of Kasey I have done that I am happy with.

Think I will take this to art group Wednesday to work on, and ignore the half dozen or so watercolors I have started.

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I watched a movie on the Crackle.com site the other night, called "Dream for an Insomniac" ( I think). The next day, I couldn't remember at all how the movie ended, so I got on Crackle again and played the ending scene of the movie. I guess it wasn't such a great movie.

What's that you say? A memory problem? Wait, what were we talking about?

Sunday

I've been waiting for Barrie to post pictures of their camping trip to Willow Lake so I could steal them.

They went to Willow Lake yesterday with 3 adult dogs and 3 puppies. They were back home about 10:00 last night. Not very good camping weather, rain and lots of lightning.
Kasey brought her own firewood, which she got from her Grandpa.

She was in the water up to her neck. She is wearing one of the new hats Nancy J gave her. It's been in the water.

Kudor likes the water.

After a long walk, this is what camp looked like

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We went to breakfast at the Wrangle this morning. Got there about 9:30, and by the time we got seated, people were standing outside waiting. Some of them came in and got orange juice or coffee for their wait. They did amazingly well - friendly and fast waitresses, and the cooks must be really good. Had sausage and eggs and a biscuit - yum.

Saturday

Barrie and Kasey went to the last rodeo of the season last night. Kasey got in the "Mutton' Bustin'". Barrie has tried to talk her into it several times, and last night she agreed. Afterwards, she told her Mom "I want to do that again!"

This is Kasey's "Real Hat", one she can't play with, has to take off properly and wear it the right way.

I wanted Barrie to find this hat when I was into painting cowboy hats. She came up with it last night.

The cowgirls.
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Barrie attacked our "jungle" again with loppers and chain saw. She removed some more caragana bushes down by the driveway, and trimmed willows and lilac bush, She took out the dead growth in the creeping evergreen thing, and took the lower branches off the big blue spruce trees.

Friday

Kasey got a package from Uncle Lane yesterday - a late birthday present. Both Barrie and Kasey are soaked. Barrie took Kasey with her to move some sprinklers on a lawn. Barrie accidently got Kasey with a sprinkler, so she let Kasey squirt her with a hose.

Lane always finds the neatest stuff, and Kasey was delighted with all the little treasures.

I watched "All the Pretty Horses" on Crackle.com yesterday. Great movie.

Barrie was groaning last night. She trimmed Lucky's hooves, and he's so short it hurt her back.

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We're starting to organize ourselves for the silent art auction at Rendezvous Pointe next month. Have to decide what I want to put in the sale.

Thursday

Jarvi, who is 14 years old and acts like she is 4. She is the "fun police" at our house. She would rather fight than have fun, except for chasing a stick, which I think she would do all day.

These guys were up on the ditchbank behind my house the other day. I think they are young ravens.

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Our art group went to lunch at The Pub yesterday. We had a great time. Judi posted pictures. Then I went back to the senior center and had my hearing tested.

Now playing on my iPod, "Auctioneer", LeRoy Van Dyke.

This actually looks better on the computer screen than in real life. I used a triad (three colors) and wasn't able to get the colors I wanted without cheating and using other colors. I actually like the trees and even the brown trees in the background. But the snow and water are bad

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Both my favorite XM channels yesterday had special shows with a lot of talking. So I tuned to "Willie's Place" where they play older country music. Lots of Willie Nelson, of course. So I made a new playlist on my iPod with sole "moldy oldies". Have some Farron Young, Hank Thompson, Roy Clark, Ferlin Husky, etc. Good music!

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I made French Toast yesterday. Not very good.

Monday

The pups are now spending all their time in the front yard. They are "bad dogs" - always growling, wrestling, and chewing. Their mom has moved back to the dog lot.

When Barrie goes out the front gate and leaves them, they howl and cry like they're dying. At 2:00 this morning, one (or more) of them decided they were lonely, and let the whole neighborhood know about it.

The flowers are not standing up too well to puppies. But it's the middle of August, so it's their time anyway.

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I explored the Crackle web site yesterday. The free movies I posted the link for yesterday. I think there are more than 200 movies available. I watched two yesterday, "Guarding Tess" and "Absence of Malice". I see some serious time wasting in my future.

Sunday

It's seems like my daily blog has turned into every other day.

The pencil drawing of Kat is finished. At least I thought it was until I saw the photo on the computer screen. I think I need to define the lower part of her face more. I showed it to her, and she's not impressed

I still don't have the new duvet on my down comforter. It takes a long time to stuff all that down up into the cover. It's almost finished, but the cat keeps thinking I'm doing it for her entertainment, and she leaps up on it. Don't need holes from her toenails in it.

The comforter is baffled - sewn into sections to hold the feathers from shifting all over. But I have two bare areas at the bottom - no feathers. Where the heck do they go?

I have found a web site that shows free movies. You do have to put up with a couple commercials, though. Not sure what's featured right now, but last week "Silverado" was on. Might be worth checking out:

http://www.crackle.com/c/Movies

Friday

Our Internet didn't improve any overnight. I finally went downstairs to the desktop and unplugged the router for a while. When I hooked it back up, everything worked perfectly, and we have our fast Internet connection back. What was I thinking? That was one of the first things I learned when we put in DSL and the home network. Reset the darned router!

Tracy and Paul celebrated their anniversary at a condo in Aspen. She sent me this picture to show me how much Daisy enjoyed the condo!

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I have ambition today! I thought I would clean up the kitchen a bit, but am not sure about that job. Since our hot water heater has been replaced, our water is not so hot, so Barrie is washing dishes before she puts them in the dishwasher. So I can't tell if I should clean out the dishwasher or not.

Maybe I'll put the new duvet on the comforter. It's a king sized down comforter, so it is a job wrestling the new cover on it.

It is 64 degrees upstairs this morning. I left my windows open last night.

Be sure to check out the "Old Picture of the Day" Blog. Link is on the left of this page.
A picture of my dad, grandfather, and great uncles is featured today.

Thursday

We just barely have internet. Some things won't load, and if the page loads, it takes about 15 minutes. So I'm not going to fight it and try to post anything.

Nothing much to write about:

I'm thankful that I don't live in London, and that I live in Pinedale, and that I totally got out of the stock market a few years ago.

I owned some stock in Crocs (shoes) once. Got in at the perfect time, and at one time, had a $10,000 profit. Yeah, really. But I didn't sell then, because I hadn't held it long enough, so the tax on the profit would have been high. So I held on until the day the stock dropped $25 a share. I finally sold, no profit, but no loss, either. I had fun playing around with investing for several years, but it holds no interest for me any more.

I have no interest in anything political or financial. In fact, I don't even reconcile my bankstatement any more.

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I called Doug Strike, and he is going to come look at my dead pine trees today. Barrie had thought maybe she could do it, with her dad's help, but we think now it is a job for a professional.

The branches of the big tree are drooping. Barrie lopped off some of the lower ones so we can get in the front yard. The tree is really disintegrating. When the wind blows, little pieces of it are all over the font yard. Very messy.

A couple more drawings from the old sketchbook, the ex, and a seashell.

Monday

Barrie had to work a little while yesterday afternoon. Kasey said she wasn't ready for a nap and told her mom "I'll go ask Grandma if she wants to paint."

The container of water is also Kat's drinking water. She was not happy with the color of her water!

After KC painted a while, she played on my bed for a time, then decided she was ready for a nap, went downstairs to her own room, and went to sleep.

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Fnished a book called "The Art of Racing in the Rain." yesterday. It's more or less about a race car driver whose wife dies of brain cancer, and grandparents try to get custody of his small daughter. What makes it interesting is that his dog is telling the story. And there's a fun "twist" ending.

Time to sharpen my pencil and get back to the drawing.

Sunday

This is Kasey's new hat. Pretty fancy - all those sequins.

Barrie says this is why she won't let Kasey dress herself for school. Kasey found the shoes at a garage sale and wanted them. She loves to stomp around the house in them.

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Barrie vaccinated the puppies today, and Kasey told her Mom she wanted a shot too, so she wouldn't get sick.

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Watched the movie "Fatal Attraction" last night. I thought I had probably seen it before, years ago, but I had never seen it before. Scary movie!

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Made a big pot of beans and a loaf of sour dough beer bread last night. Had a big slab of warm bread and a bowl of beans. Made the beans in the pressure cooker, and the bread in the bread machine.

I took the sour dough jug out of the refrigerator and "fed it". (Added flour and water). Barrie came home and found it on the kitchen counter. She poured the sour dough into a clean bowl and thoroughly scrubbed the sour dough jug. Hmmm. I thought sour dough jugs were supposed to be grungy. But I admit mine was pretty bad.

Saturday

Haven't completed anything, but here is what is in progress, a pencil drawing of Kat.

Some items from the old memory box. The tallest of these figurines is the rooster, he's about 1 1/2 inches tall. Some are glass, some are plastic, and the little bear might be ivory. There are actually 2 little Scotty dogs, the other is black and was hiding under the edge of a piece of paper when I set them up for the picture. The little dogs were originally magnets, put out by the Black and White Scotch company as advertising.

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I'm going to start closing some windows at night. It's cold up here in the mornings! I think summer is over.

I'm reading the book "Giant" by Edna Ferber. It is very different from the movie.

Thursday

A Calvin cartoon to brighten your day.

This is one of my favorite photos. I took it several years ago. These cows were in a corral right in front of the old Daniel Schoolhouse. I couldn't have arranged them or posed them any better.

The resident elf here cleaned my upstairs while I was out yesterday. Cleaned the bathroom, including littler box, vacuumed, and emptied the trash. What do I do to deserve that kind of treatment? Pretty nice.

Wednesday

Finished - maybe, maybe not. I'll have to look at it for a while to decide. I think I need a few leaves on the branches of the quakies.

Karma likes flowers. It's hard to imagine these roly poly little pups will grow up to be lean, mean, running machines.

Kasey and Karma in one of the dog boxes in the horse trailer, which is now their temporary home. They are starting to fuss about it. They want out in the yard.

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Darci visited us during art time at Rendezvous Pointe this morning. She had her three cute kids with her. She resigned in May because she is expecting her fourth, and just found out it is a girl. Now she'll have two of each. I taught Darci in kindergarten, and she's still a cute kid!

Tuesday

Beautiful sunny day today. My Yahoo weather forecast says 30% chance of rain this afternoon.


Maddy and Shorty have a green nylon rope they play tug of war with. I think Kasey is a little out of her league here. She kind of got thrown around a bit, but she hung on. When the dogs finished with the rope, Kasey kept dragging it around, trying to get them to play with her again.

The pups are getting so playful.

Kasey and Kori
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I watched the movie "Sabrina" the other day. I don't usually watch remakes of old films, but I was never much of an Audrey Hepburn fan. The new one has Harrison Ford in it. I enjoyed it.

I am reading Steinbeck's "Cannery Row". Another book I should have read before, but didn't. In the past few months, I've read "Grapes of Wrath" (which I have read before), "Of Mice and Men", and "Travels with Charley". Steinbeck sure had a way with words.