Thursday

I mentioned yesterday that the Iditarod Sled Dog Race was beginning soon in Anchorage.  The famous Alaska Fur Rondy has just completed, and I was looking at some photos of it on the computer.   This has got to be more fun for the residents of Anchorage,  The event is a sprint race, and lasts the entire weekend.  So fans get to watch the teams leave and finish every day.  And they have so many other activities - - softball games, snow sculpture, etc.

 

Seems they have a little moose problem on the trail this year.  This cow tried to attack every team that went through, and they had a big crew of police and trail crew to keep her off the teams.  How would you like to be that musher?  The dogs look a little frantic too.  After the race was completed, she calmly wandered off with her calf.

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I will be a blithering idiot by the time I am through today.  Not only did my new computer come, but the replacement remote for DishNet came.  Both have to be set up.  It was suprisingly easy to set up the remote, but the computer is something else. 

 

I got as far as trying to set up my e-mail, and got the message I was not connected to the Internet.  My home network showed up, I chose it, and entered the password.  Don't know what happened.  I am going through the tutorial now, which is Greek to me.  I guess I will just keep slogging through it all.

 



Wednesday

There were only four of us at art group this morning.  I baked a loaf of Banana bread, and Pat brought blueberry muffins.  Kind of an overkill for only four people!

I spent part of my morning organizing and cleaning a cupboard in the art room, eating and drinking coffee.  I did finally start a new drawing.

The big Iditarod sled dog race starts in Anchorage this coming weekend.  There are about 70 teams entered this year.   Always exciting and I like to keep up with the race, but every year there are fewer mushers that I even recognize their names.  I see Newton Marshall is entered again this year.  I wonder if Kasey still thinks he has her Barbie Doll?  Lance Macky and Newton borrowed Barrie's dog truck and trailer one year when theirs broke down during the Stage Stop Race.  Kasey had a Barbie Doll in the truck, and it went missing.  Kasey thinks Newton has it, but she thinks Newton is her buddy.  He did some Jamaican dancing with her in the parking lot

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Tuesday

I really don't enjoy watching a "mouse massacre".  Kat had a mouse yesterday, and it was still very active when she took it into the bathroom and played with it.  It got away and hid for a long time behind the entertainment unit. When it finally came out, Kat was waiting.  I think the poor little thing lasted about six hours in all.  I couldn't see it anywhere on the floor this morning, but Kat brought it out and put it in front of my chair later.

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Barrie stopped by yesterday, and I sent her to the store with a list and some money.  She brought me all kinds of goodies.

 

I get really frustrated with these kinds of things, but some people enjoy the challenge.

 

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The long haired black cat was here this morning.  Choe was on the front porch yelling for her food, and the black cat waited on the steps.  Of course it ran off when I opened the door, so I don't know if it got any of the cat food or not.

 

I would like to leave cat food on the front porch, but the magpies clean it up. 

 





Monday

Barrie is home, and it is scary.  She has a pile of things outside her bedroom door, and I can hear a vacuum running in the basement. She must be in her hurricane mode again.  I don't even want to look at what is in the pile, as it's probably mostly mine.  I'll never miss it.

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We have a "new" cat hanging around.  It was on the front porch with Chloe yesterday, and ran as soon as I opened the door to feed Chloe.  It's black, or dark gray, with a white bib.  It's got yellow eyes, and very long hair.  It looks like part of its tail is missing.  It was back again this morning on the front porch.  It's very wild,

 

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I finished the colored pencil drawing of Kat yesterday, and I think I like it.  I'll pick a mat for it today.

 

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There were four deer in the front yard yesterday.  We have left the front gate open for them. The grass and tree leaves on the ground must be cured just right.  I notice every winter about this same time, the deer congregate in the big stand of quakies at the place next to me. 

 

 

 

It's back!  Kasey got this plastic spider at Halloween, and Kat loves to steal it, bring it upstairs, and play with it.  I haven't seen it for quite a while.  I'm not a big fan of spiders, and it always gives me a start to look down and see it on the floor.

 







Sunday

What a scary crash at the Daytona Speedway yesterday.  Kind of took the fun out of the race when the pieces of a car flew into the stands and sent about 25 fans to the hospital.  Alll the drivers involved walked away.

They probably have worked all night to repair the catch fence and get the track ready for the big one today.  I hope the race today isn't that exciting.  Good luck Danica.

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I don't watch TV very often, but when I do, I would like to be able to change chanels and such.  My remote is so old, and is just plain worn out.  So I called DishNet yesterday to order a new one.  Wow, what a pleasant surprise!  The guy could almost speak English, they are sending me a new one by UPS tomorrow, and it is free of charge.  That doesn't  happen very often.

 

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Judi mentioned that she wasn't sure what a Tater Twister looked like.  Here is a photo of one.

 

 

And here is a potato that has been cut into a curly fry.  You end up with a long spiral of potato. I got mine on EBay, and didn't have instructions.  I couldn't figure out how to use it, and a musher friend of Barrie's figured it out

 

I noticed that Amazon is selling these, and they have a price of $99.95 on it.  Good grief!  I doubt if they were selling for more than about $25 when they first came out.

 

EBay has quite a few of these, ranging in price from $10 to $30. 

 

Here is my idea of a great political cartoon!

 



Saturday

 

I actually did it -- said I was going to finish something and did it.  I finished the pencil drawing of Kat yesterday.  I have a colored pencil drawing of her started, and could finish it in one day if I would do it.

I delved into the back of the low kitchen cupboards this morning and found a couple of interesting things.  I have a very small crockpot, and I never use it.  So I guess it goes in the pile of things to go to the Food Basket.  Also found a "Tater Twister".  Anyone remember those?  It makes curly french fries, and I would use it if I had any potatoes.

 

This doe was at the back door yesterday, licking up spilled bird seed off the snow on the back porch. When I used to feed birds in feeders the deer could reach, they just curled their tongue and licked the seed.  They have really  long tongues.

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I turned the TV on for a while this morning, thought I might catch some of the practice runs at the NASCAR race track.  Got my mind set to watch Danica kick butt tomorrow.

 



Friday

I will finish  my drawing of Kat today, unless the house burns down.

She caught another mouse last night - that's her third one this week!  She's an overachiever!

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Barrie and Kasey are house sitting for about 10 days for a couple with two big black lab dogs.  Maddy and Shorty have to stay here kenneled in the basement at night, so they are not too happy about it.  Kasey is having a good time.

 

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I watched a John Wayne movie last night, "Cowboys."  Remember it?  He can't find a crew to drive his steers to market, so he hires all the kids he can find, ages from about 11 to 15.  John Wayne is killed in the movie by rustlers, and the kids take over, kill most of the rustlers, and get the cattle to market.  A feel good movie.

 

 

 

If I saw this sign in a store, I'm sure I wouldn't even notice the typo. 



Wednesday

There were six of us at art group this morning.  Not a very big crowd, but it's quality that counts, right?

 

I worked on this pencil drawing of Kat this morning, and vowed that I would work more on it this afternoon.  It's far from finished, but it's to the point where I need to give it a rest and look at it a while.  I find that photographing something and looking at it on the computer screen gives it a whole new perspective.

I think I'll also watch a video I have by a woman who draws animals a lot.  She always gives me some incentive.

And Kat got her second mouse of the week last night.  She left it in the middle of the bathroom floor. I would give her a treat, but she won't eat anything except dry cat food,  and she won't allow me to pet her.  Maybe she just knows I appreciate her.

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Barrie ordered a pickup truck load of dog food, and it came in last night.  A friend of hers (from Montana, I think) brought it down, and they are unloading it in the basement right now.



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I baked a loaf of bread this afternoon. (With the help of the bread machine, of course.)  It's plain white bread this time.  Wish I had some bologna and potato chips!

 



  

Tuesday

Do you ever wish you had an "undo" button for your house?  I have rearranged some of the things on my wall, and hung three new paintings and one pencil drawing.  I wish it were back like it was before.

This was a nice, clean looking white wall before I hung these up.  I'm not sure why, but I like uncluttered spaces.  And the two pieces were not supposed to be the same height - I would like one higher than the other, but that was as high as I could reach.

I hung two watercolors, and moved the feathers and mocassins to this wall, and I don't like the arrangement.  I guesss I'll just look at it a while before I move them back.  I think I know where I would like the feathers - in the corner by the book case next to the Indian design pottery.

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It's interesting how my spam and junk mail has evolved.  Not long ago, I got several a day urging me to take this stuff that will enlarge my penis.  Right around the holidays, that tapered off and I got all kinds of mail for weight loss products.  Now it's all about stock tips and making money in the market. 

 

I guess many people gain weight during the holidays, hence the spam about weight loss.  Now that it's tax season, maybe they figure people are interested in making money.  I don't even want to speculate about penis enlargement.  I wonder what will be next?

 

Monday

I did my taxes online, e-filed them, and paid with my credit card.  No cost except for a $4 fee for using my own credit card instead of getting the new one they were offering.  Geez!  I just got rid of one credit card and don't want another.

Check out the Turbo Tax web site if you think you can use this service. 

It's perfect for me, because I have no deductions, and nothing unusual to report.

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I hung some pictures upstairs that I have been wanting to put up for quite a while.  Still have one that goes in an awkward, hard to reach place above the entertainment center.  Maybe my friend Barrie will come up and do that one for me.

 

 

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This little guy was taking a snooze in the back yard yesterday in the sunshine.





Sunday

This is one of my very favorite photographs.  It was taken by Ansel Adams in 1932 in Yosemite.  There are probably more than one print around, but one is listed at Christie's for $2,300.  I love black and white photography.  Maybe I'll spend my afternoon browsing Ansel Adams photos.

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The Kuerig is making great coffee again.  The first thing we tried was cleaning the little nozzle out.  In fact, we keep a straightened paper clip in the drawer where we keep the coffee.  But that didn't help.  Barrie ran some vinigar through it, and that did the trick!

 

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The question I posed yesterday about the movie line was too easy.  I Googled "They took my horse and made him surrender", and got 1,500 results.

 

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Saturday

A cup of coffee tastes extra good this morning.  Couldn't get the Keurig to work yesterday morning, and then the door on the trash compactor got stuck mid-cycle.  Barrie got the coffee machine working this morning, and I sat on a chair and pushed the compactor door in hard with both feet and got it to finish. 

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Spring must be coming.  A little mouse decided to come out of hibernation and was evidently exploring in the kitchen.  He ended up on my floor, a present from Kat.  I decided once to keep a sort of chart to see how many mice she catches.  I think she is up to thirty.  Yeah, Kat!

 

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I wish I had enough wall space to hang more of these enameled metal pieces. 





 

I bought one of these horses for Tracy several years ago, and liked it so much I ordered one for myself.  This hangs in my upstairs bathroom.  It's about 27" long.



 

The sun hangs on the wall above the stairs.  It's 24" across.  Maybe I'll get on the Internet and shop for enamaled metal wall hangings - just for fun. 

 

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I was watching a movie last night.  Does anyone remember this line?

 

"I never surrendered, but they took my horse and made him surrender."

 

 

 



 

Goodby, Jarvi

 

Barrie had to have Jarvi put down yesterday. Jarvi has been Barrie's companion for 17 years. She went to Alaska with her, and Montana.  Jarvi would chase a stick longer than any human had the endurance to throw it.  She nipped the heels of cattle on the Drift, and she thought she was the boss of everything and everyone around her.  You will be missed, old girl.

Barrie fed her cat food and scrambled eggs yesterday morning.

 

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I have no idea now I did it, but I got my iPad updated to the newest operating system.  I did the exact same thing I tried five or six times before, and for some reason, it all worked.  So I installed the Amazon Instant Movie app.  I already had that, but it didn't seem to be working right.  The movie would just shut down after watching about 5 minutes.   When I tried to reinstall the app, it said System 6.01 was required. 

 

Soo, guess what?............the movie still shuts down after about five minutes.  I really, really don't like the iPad very much.

 



 





Thursday 2/14/13

Wednesday

I didn't think I wanted the print edition of the newspaper.  Maybe I better keep it, just for laughs.

 

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So sorry to hear about Sue Eversoll's mother.  She was run over by a fork life at Ridley's grocery store, and died from her injuries.  Not sure if this is true, but I heard the driver of the Fork Lift has been hospitalized with a heart attack.

 

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There were only five of us at Rendezvous Pointe for art group today.  But Pat's two daughters were there and kept us entertained. 

 

 

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Barrie has taken another load to the Food Basket, and it looks like she gave the kitchen, dining room, and downstairs bathroom a deep cleaning today.  Nice!





Tuesday

It's amazing how the disposition and health of a pencil sharpener can improve after surgery.  I used a pair of needle nose pliers, a crochet hook, and a pocket knife.  I didn't think I was going to be successful, but finally got a piece of metal and a large hunk of eraser out of it, 

 

 

It's sounding a little growly, but seems to work fine.

 

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I fell off the computer wagon, and ordered this little gem, a Dell Notebook with Windows 8.  It has a 17 inch screen and a numeric keypad, which I use a lot.  Isn't that a snazzy color?

 

It comes with the full version of Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Onenote).  It has Photoshop Elements, which is not the full version of Photoshop like I have been using, but I have used it in the past and it can do quite a bit with graphics.

 

Oh yes, free shipping and handling, and 6 easy payments.

 

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I called VISA yesterday and got one credit card cancelled, and they are sending me a cashier's check for the credit balance.

 

 



Monday

I have a list of things I HAVE to do today.  I wrote to the town of Pinedale about my sewer bill, and haven't heard from them.  I wrote a letter because I wanted it all down in black and white, and the charges listed.  Haven't heard a word from them yet, so guess I will call town hall and fight with somebody.

I subscribed to the e-edition of the Pinedale Roundup, and now I am getting both the e-edition and the print copy.  I don't want the print copy.  It's a waste of paper, and I have to dispose of it all.  I don't see the point of having both. I called and talked to someone who evidently had just started that day and they all went to lunch and left her alone.  She was friendly but clueless.  So she took my number and said someone would call me right back.  And of course I haven't heard from them.  So I have to call them back again.

I have two VISA cards and only use one of them.  Somehow, I have a $350 credit balance on the other one, so I have to call them and see what to do about it.

I love the Internet!  I was trying to photograph some chickadees in a bush outside my window with my "big gun" Canon camera, but it was focusing on the bushes just to the right of the bird.  The little red "point of focus" light showed that. The darned thing has nine points of focus around the center one.  Don't ask me why I would ever use that. I looked for the manual, couldn't find it right away, so I Googled it - how to set the focus point on a Canon 5D. Found the information immediately, complete with pictures! So now it is using the center point of focus.

 

How did we ever get along before the Internet?

Sunday

Tracy said she had tried to call my cell phone, and got the message that the phone had been disconnected.  I tried calling it from my land phone and got the same message.  I turned it off for a few hours, and when I turned it back on, it worked.  I wish everything was that easy to fix!

Kasey brought her new pencil upstairs for me to sharpen in my electric sharpener.  I didn't turn on the light over the table where the sharpener is, and tried to sharpen the eraser.  It did pretty well until if got to the metal ferrell.  When it started groaning and growling at me, KC said "Grandma, that's the eraser end."  I think that was its death song, because I have tried to clean it out, but it doesn't work.

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I love Calvin's "Show and Tell". 

 

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I saw a box in the pile of things still not put away from the dowstairs bedroom.  I discovered it had socks in it!  My winter socks, most of which I knit myself.  It's funny I have never missed them, because I never wear shoes in the house and like to wear warm fuzzy socks.

 

 



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The flash on my little compact camera doesn't seem to work very well any more.  I don't use a flash very often, but when I do, the photos are are not evenly lit.  Is this reason enough to shop for a new little camera?  NOT!





Friday

 

I watched a 1954 movie last night, "River of No Return" with Marilyn Monroe and Robert Mitchum.  I saw the movie years ago, love the sound track, and the scenery was spectacular.  I think it was filmed in Canada and Idaho. I've been humming the song River of No Return all day.

 

In my early high school years, an aunt gave me a pair of boots, tall English style riding boots.  Marilyn wore tight (usually wet) jeans in that movie, and tall boots.  I imagine I looked more like a spider in mine.

 

I've never been able to figure out Marilyn Monroe.  I think she was a terrible actress!  I guess she was pretty, but I think it took a lot of makeup and hair dressers to make her look that way. 

 

The day after she died, I was taking my driver's licence exam in Tucson, Arizona.  When it was time to have my photograph taken for the license, the guy joked with us he had actually been hired that day to find and photograph a replacement for Marilyn.  Funny guy!

 

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The feather I photographed yesterday is Kasey's and Barrie says it from a Red Tail hawk.

 

And the cookbook I found is terrible.  No wonder Tracy palmed it off on me.  Want to make steak and tomato pudding?  Or lamb and tomato pudding?  Maybe brains with black butter?  Or tripe?  I'm having chili dogs today!

 



Thursday 2/7/2013

Stil more cleaning, arranging, and rearranging. And more stuff for the dump or the Food Basket.  I noticed that Barrrie took some more things to the Food Basket yesterday, but there's still more.  I've decided large closets are not a blessing.  It just means you can stash more junk away that you will want to get rid of someday.  Same with basements!

 

Here is the Lone Star quilt I made.  It is now on my bed upstairs. I left the down comforter on, just covered it with the quilt, which is not quite large enough to cover the comforter.  The bed is actually two twin beds strapped together, which I guess makes it a king sized bed.

Love the quilt, but the curtains don't match.  I made them to go with another quilt I used while the beds were still twin beds.  Oh well.

I found a very heavy, very large (450 page) cook book on the bookshelf in the bedroom. It's "Taste of America", and has lots of nice photos.  I don't remember ever looking at it before.  There were also a couple of cook books Tracy sent home with me once, and I wonder if she gave me this one too.

 

 I found this beautiful feather on the dining room table this morning, and don't know the story behind it yet. 

Tuesday 2/5/13

I think I know the secret to keeping a house neat and picked up.  Don't have any flat surfaces.  Well, of course, that still leaves the floor, and you pretty much have to have that. 

This is one of the art tables I have upstairs, unusable until today, when I cleared things off the top and put them away.  Of course, before I could do that, I needed to clean out some storage space under the eaves, which meant more things for the dump or the Food Basket.  I wonder why I don't have anything hanging on that bare wall space above the table?

There are piles of things around the doorway to my old (Kasey's new) room.  I have taken care of some of it, but it seems like there is no end to it.

I think I'll bring the Lone Star quilt upstairs with the matching pillowcases and put them on my bed up here.  I know Kasey wants something girlie on her bed.  Like a princess.

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Seems like I spent hours trying  (unsuccessfully) to update the operating system on my iPad to 6.something.  I have downloaded iTunes to my computer, plugged the iPad into the USB port, and following the instrucions to download and install the upgrade.  Crap!  Twice I waited almost an hour and got the message the download had timed out. The third time it seemed to download, but nothing was installed.  I still have the old operating system and can't even use some of the new apps unless I can upgrade.  I've NEVER gotten along with that iPad very well.

 

 

 



Monday

I guess I should have watched more of the Super Bowl yesterday.  I quit watching during the halftime show, not really my thing.  Is that singing? I liked the farmer commercial.

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  Hurricane Barrie struck again yesterday.  She took one load of things to the Food Basket, shampooed the living room carpet, and rearranged and cleaned more stuff out of  my old bedroom downstairs.  She is going to move the aquarium in there, just hasn't decided yet what to put it on. Kasey seemed pretty happy with it.

 

And just to irritate Barrie, I am still adding to the pile of things for the Food Basket - a bunch of quilting magazines today.

 

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I am reading "The Great Gatsby" on my Kindle.  I've had the paperback edition a long time and have never been able to get interested it.  Then I watched the movie (Robert Redford).  It was one of the Amazon Prime movies (free)  and now I am enjoying the book. 

 

 

This could be Pinedale.

 

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I'll leave you with some words of wisdom from Bill Cosby.

 



 

Saturday

 



I haven't seen a sideways snowstorm for a while.  This was taken out my bedroom window yesterday.  Aout 20 minutes later, the sun was starting to come out and we ended up having a bright sunny day.

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One of the things Barrie found at the bottom of the copper tub where I kept yarn was a whoopie cushion.  I had forgotten all about it.  Barrie had KC sit on it that night when she got home.  You never heard so much screeching and laughter.  I was wondering if Kasey could pass out from laughing and giggling so much.  Hmm - - - I don't remember it being that funny back then, but Kasey sure thought it was.

 

 

Ain't it the truth!!