Sunday

I've been seeing  a lot of muffin tin recipes on the Internet lately, everything from chicken pies or meatloaf to quiche.  I tried a recipe yesterday for biscuits.  They turned out really good!

 

The recipe called for self rising flour, which I don't have, but you can make it by using 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt per cup of flour.  I only made four biscuits, so I only needed one cup of it.  I think next time I'll only use 1/4 tsp salt.

The recipe calls for cutting 2 Tbsp mayonnaise into the flour, and stirring in 1/2 cup milk.  Baked at 425° for 15 minutes.

It would have been a quick and easy fix if I hadn't spent 30 minutes looking through my kitchen for my pastry blender.  The Bandysnatcher has struck again! 

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Barrie got home from her last house sitting job, and Kasey will be home tonight from spending spring break with her father.  It will be nice to have everybody home, but I think Barrie has another house sitting job next week.

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I've not made much progress on the 700 plus page book on Photoshop CS6. 

 

 

I've started a new colored pencil drawing of a chipmunk.  

Friday

Well, I wish I could tell you the name of this little lake, but I'm coming up with a blank.  It's up Gyp Creek, and sits in between Big Sheep Mountain and Battleship Mountain.  It takes a couple hours to reach, horseback.  The ridge I'm sitting on had an abundance of arrowhead chips, but we never found any whole arrowheads.

I believe this lake is the source of Gyp Creek.  But there is no outlet.  There's a dark spot in the middle of the lake, and Gyp Creek flows out the side of a hill you pass on the trail.  G&F spawned fish up there.  It didn't used to be open for fishing, but I don't know about now.

We used to camp on Gyp Creek, and I once spent a whole day chasing a coyote around with my camera.  I was taking pictures and heard what I thought was a dog barking at me.  There was a coyote sitting at the edge of the trees, so I walked toward it.  It let me get pretty close before it disappeared back into the trees.  I kept waking around with my camera, and pretty soon the darned thing was out in plain sight, barking at me again. I finally figured out she was teasing me and leading me away from her den.  I started going in the opposite direction I thought she was leading me, but never did find any sign of a den.

Later that summer, Chuck rode up on a ridge and she was in a clearing below him.  She had four pups with her, and they were playing. 

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My goofy Christmas Cactus is thoroughly confused.  It never bloomed, and now one branch has buds on it.  I see no signs of any more buds.  The two pieces I broke off and put in vermiculite are showing signs of life, so maybe I can get the plant so it doesn't look so lopsided.

 

 

Thursday

The order from Amazon came about an hour ago.  Along with some canned goods, I got some new pens and refills, some post-it notes, and the new book.

 

The book has over 700 pages, and I think probably version CS 9 will be out before I get it finished.  I'm sure I won't read it all.  I doubt very much if I'll spend time reading how to create four color separations, or converting alpha channela, whatever that means. 

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I watched the movie "Nell" last night.  I think I saw it years ago, but I didn't remember any of it.  Good movie.

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This was the first night Boomer spent in our house.  Tired pup and tired kid.  We got him from some kids at the Rendezvous rodeo.  I helped chaperone a dance that night at the old, old elemtery school playground, so they were up late.

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I just  noticed I forgot to put whiskers on the drawing of Kat I posted yesterday.



Wednesday

My eyes are spinning in my head after reading tutorial after tutorial yesterday on Photoshop CS6.  And I'm not sure I learned much.  I ordered a book - the first "for Dummies" book I've ever bought. 

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 I finished this colored pencil drawing of Kat in art group this morning.  It's not matted, I did the mat with Photoshop.

 

A Pinedale photographer took this picture of a bobcat in an osprey nest.  Funny cat!  He looks embarrassed.

 

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Tuesday

Another bright sunny day, although the little weatherbug on my desktop shows a cloud with snowflakes.

Just finished an intense Amazon shopping trip.  There are things we never seem to have in this house, like canned vegetables.  I ordered some green beans, carrots, and mixed vegetables.  Last week I got some tomato sauce, diced tomatoes,chile, and ripe olives.  Amazon has some interesting stuff, like seaweed and kelp.  Didn't order any of that.  I've never eaten seaweed, and wouldn't know what to do with it.

Also ordered some new pens (which seem to disappear around here), ink cartridges for printer, and some post-it notes.

I'm going back to Amazon later and find a good book on Photoshop CS6. 

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No new pictures again, so am posting a couple of oldies.



 

This is Tracy's Granddad, Bud LeClair. He was a rancher at Fort Washakie, on the Reservation.

 

Grandma and Granddad are buried in the old LeClair family cemetery, located on the old ranch along the Wind River not far from Riverton.

 

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God, Facebook is stupid!  I don't know why I spend time reading the posts.  For example, this moring (I'll call them Dick and Jane) Jane posted this:  "ARGHHH!  I'm so *&% ing annoyed!"

 

So Dick posts "What's wrong?", to which Jane replys "I'm okay now, I just had a moment."

 

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  And that was it. So what's the point?

 





Monday

I got the serial number for my copy of Photoshop CS6 today, and got it registered.  The page was black with purple type, extremely hard to read.  By experimenting, I was able to change the color to a nice soft light gray.  Now I need to look for tutorials online, and maybe even shop Amazon for a book.

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I baked a loaf of bread yesterday, used the "dough" setting on the machine, and baked it in the oven. I need to do that with every loaf of bread I make, I think.  It made a beautiful loaf of bread, and I liked the crust. 

 

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Some old pictures:

Years ago, I went on a pack trip with the Wyo Game and Fish to a beautiful place above the Green River Lakes.  They were doing a survey of the lakes in the area.  We camped at Three Forks Park.

 

 



 Three Forks Park was down in that canyon in the center of the photo.

 Here is proof positive that my ex-husband was trying to get rid of me.  (Just kidding)  He took me arrowhead hunting, but we never quite made it up all the way to where he thought there would be arrowheads.

 

We came back down to our camp on Tourist Creek. This was such a beautiful place.  It was surrounded by big rocks and it only took one pole across the small opening to this meadow to hold the horses and mules in.  The men did all the cooking, and I just got to enjoy myself.  There was one small problem - the porcupines were trying to eat the cinches off the saddles.

 

 

 

Saturday

Kat scored again last night, and added another mouse to the head count.  Way to go, Kat

I should have mentioned yesterday that the dog drawing was of Jarvi.  Jarvi was a very spectial dog, and Barrie had her for 17 years.  She had to have her put down this winter.

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I was editing some photos with Photoshop yesterday, and kept thinking about all the things Photoshop can do.  I have been using version CS2 for quite a while, and started wondering about an upgrade.  I almost bought version 4 once, but didn't.  So I checked on EBay and the next thing I knew, I had bought and paid for version CS6!  I am trying to convince myself it really wasn't an impulse purchase, but don't ask me why I thought I needed it.  I don't even use all the capabilities that CS2 comes with!  And I don't take nearly as many pictures as I used to.

 

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Barrie is in trouble over these pictures.  She let Kasey on the sled with just one dog, and Kasey loved it, of course.  But Barrie didn't have her camera and used her phone.  Tiny pictures and not the best quality.  I tried to enlarge them a little on the computer, but they don't look real great.

 

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Friday

The forecast is for more snow and colder weather the next several days, but the snow we got yesterday is mostly gone, and the sun is shining.

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I tried something new this morning, and I'm not sure I like them.I would like them better if they were softer. I always thought the big pretzels they sold in malls looked so good, but I don't remembr ever buying one.  I made pretzels this morning.  I found a recipe and even a clear set of directions with pictures on how to twist the dough into a pretzel shape.  Kind of time consuming, but not hard to make. 

 

 

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 I finished this colored pencil drawing yesterday and matted it with the circular mat Conley cut.

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Thursday, snow

Ahhh, NOW it looks like it's supposed to look in March in Pinedale.  First day of spring!  It's sunny now, and the snow won't last long, but it looks so pretty outside.

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Conley got out the mat cutters at Rendezvous Pointe yesterday.  We have a big one, and we got a new oval or circular mat cutter.  Conley cut two mats, one circular, and then figured out to cut an oval mat.  He did a great job, and I have a feeling he is going to get sick of us asking him to cut mats.  Maybe the rest of us should learn how to use them.

 

I brought the circular mat home and will put my dog drawing in it when it's finished.

 



Tuesday

 

Most of my days are thoroughtly wasted being retired.  This morning I was productive and made  oatmeal cookies.  I ate one, and it was good, but tasted like I didn't bake it long enough. I'll let Kasey decide if they're good or not.

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I watched the movie "Goodbye Girl" yesterday.  The name of the film sounded familiar, but I don't remember seeing it before.  I read later that Richard Dreyfuss won an academy award for best actor in that film.  Frankly, I thought the little girl was better. Then I realized I've seen Richard Dreyfuss in quite a few films recently.  I just didn't recognize him.

 



This photo reminds me so much of a high school reunion I attended  one year in Shoshoni.  After the banquet and speeches, we were to go to the firehall to dance.  No live band, just a kid with loud music and amplifiers.  It was hot and noisy in the firehall, and not much of a place to visit, so a couple of friends and I went back outside.  My pickup was parked right next to the entrance, and I had a cooler in the back.  We sat on the tailgate and everyone who came and went stopped to visit with us.  Cool night air, no loud music to try to talk over, and we got to visit with everyone.

There's just something inviting about a pickup with the tailgate down.

Monday - Be Happy

Did you know that this is National Be Happy Week?  So smile!

Just in case you were thinking winter is over, don't forget this is Pinedale.  I looked through my March photos and found just what I expected.  The first picture was taken on March 21, 2011, and the second was taken on March 26, 2012.  You might want to keep the snow shovel out for a while longer.
 

 



 I am reading how to make soft pretzels, and have several recipes, plus a good illustration on how to form a strip of dough into a pretzel shape.  I've always wanted to try to make some.

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Sunday

I recovered the files I lost from my computer yesterday.  It's a mystery to me how it happened, but I am so glad I have a backup drive.  If you don't have one, do it!  I love my little "Click Free" drive.  So simple to use.

And I bit the bullet and emptied my recycle bin this morning

Kasey loves her dance class.  This is a photo I took of her at a recital.

 

I wonder if she's ever seen this picture of her mother.  Barrie loved her ballet lessons too.

 

 

I once did a silverpoint drawing of Barrie's old ballet shoes.  Yes, we still have them.  They are pink.

 

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I watched a Gary Cooper old movie last night, "High Noon".  Enjoyed it, and I rememberd seeing him play the part of a Quaker husband and father of three in another movie.  Couldn't believe it when I found it on Amazon, and it was prime eligible (free).  It was named "Friendly Persuasion".  So I had a Gary Cooper movie marathon last night.

 

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I shocked myself this morning, and worked on a watercolor painting I started some time ago.  I'm letting it dry right now and think I will get back to it.





Saturday

I have lost some files from my computer, and I don't have a clue.  I thought I had a duplicate folder, and deleted one of them.  Turns out it was the original folder (art reference  photos) and all I had left was a shortcut to the folder on the desktop.  Went through the recycle bin and it's not there.   I just backed up the files about two days ago, and couldn't even find it on the backup drive so I could restore it.  I guess I'll have to restore the entire drive.  Surely it's there!

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I have been watching some terrible movies lately - the Amazon prime (free) ones.  Guess that's why they're free.  But many of the prime movies are wonderful.  I have "High Noon" on the list to watch.

 



Thursday

I finally got the new laptop computer boxed up to return.  It took several tries to configure everything to fit back in the box the correct way. 

Now if I can get Barrie to take it to the post office and have them tape the box closed at the top and tape the return label on, it will be out of my hair.  I dislike Windows 8 and can't believe Dell plans on selling all their new computers with that installed.

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I'm having a totally lazy day today.  I filled the bird feeder, boxed the computer, and watered two plants.  I did fix myself some sausage, eggs, and biscuits for breakfast.  It just might be a movie marathon day.

 

 

This is so my family.  I got rid of a piece of furniture in the dining room and put some nice hooks on the wall for coats, snowpants, etc.  I'm the only one who ever hangs anything on them!





Wednesday Idit winners

There are about 18 dog teams in Nome. finished with the race.  Although I was rooting for Ally Zirkle, Mitch Seavey arrived about 30 minutes ahead of her.  There are still about 40 teams on the trail, hoping to finish.

 

This photo was taken close to the start of the race. as there are 16 dogs hitched up.  That is a long, long, line of dogs.  Looks like the lead dogs would be too far away to hear voice commands, so the musher needs a smart lead dog who can follow a trail.



 

This shows just a small part of the supplies that have to be flown into the check points.  (There are 27 check points.)  The blue bags are straw to be used for the dogs' rest.  The white bags are musher's supplies, dry clothing, dog booties, and dog food.  Each musher has to prepare enough food drop bags, usually two or three for each check point.  All this stuff has to be ready to be flown out of Anchorage to the check points before the race even begins.

 

If there are 65 mushers, and each prepares 3 food drop bags for 27 checkpoints, how many bags is that?  Over 5,000, right? 

 

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Small attendance at art group again today.  Vicky is back from The Dominican Republic, and they  had a wonderful time, and lots of company.  Sure is good to have her back.

 



 



Tuesday

It looks like the Iditarod might be a photo finish this year.  Mitch Seavey, Ally Zirkle and Jeff King  all arrived at the White Mountain checkpoint early this morning.  Mitch Seavey was only about 10 minutes ahead of Ally.  I'd like to see a woman win the race this year!  They have a mandatory 8 hour rest stop in White Mountain, so won't be leaving there until this afternoon.  Then it's only about 75 miles into Nome.

 I was confused about the care of dropped dogs after being flown back to Anchorage.  I did read that each musher had to have someone responsible for picking up the dogs.  But it seems they are taken to a correctional facility for women first.  The women prisoners care for them until they are picked up.

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Here is a photo of some dropped dogs loaded in a small plane to be flown to McGrath, where they are loaded on a larger plane to be taken to Anchorage.  They don't look too happy about it.



This is an interesting photo.  It is an aerial view of one of the checkpoints with about twenty teams taking a rest. You can see the straw left on the snow by someone who left the checkpoint.  It's mind boggling to think that there are over 1,000 dogs on the trail all at once.

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I watched a terrible movie yesterday, "Hog Island".  I was mad at myself for wasting the time it took to watch it.  Then last night I watched "Jeremiah Johnson", which was a great movie.

 



Monday

 

Happy Birthday to my big brother, Bill.  He and Alice are in Arizona, relaxing in their big motorhome.

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The leaders of the Iditarod are heading for the home stretch.  The leader, Jeff King, is at mile 800.  Only 200 miles to go.  Martin Buser has dropped back to about 17th place.  I looked through the list of racers this morning, and saw that only one musher still has 16 dogs.  Most of the rest are running 11 or 12 dogs. 

 

The dogs have been dropped at checkpoints along the trail where they are taken care of and will be flown back to Anchorage.  They used to take them to the prison, and prisoners cared for them until they could be picked up.  I believe now the mushers are responsible to have someone pick the dropped dogs at the airport.

 

I believe that when the team is past the half way point, the dropped dogs are flown into Nome and cared for there until the musher arrives.

 

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Still browsing my computer organizing and deleting some stuff.  This picture of Barrie is probably the best photo I ever took.  We were at the Salt Lake Zoo, and she wanted a balloon.  I didn't want to bother with it, but Tracy talked me into it.

 



Sunday 3/10/2012

I haven't set my clocks ahead yet, but I won't forget.  My computer and my weather station automatically set themselves. Actually, I don't care that much what time it is!

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When I restored some files to the computer, I found I have quite a few duplicates, and files I had deleted, but they are still on the backup drive.  So I have been sort of browsing through files and pictures, and deleting some.  I need to see if I can figure out how to wipe the drive clean and make a fresh backup.

 

Here is one of the photos I stumbled across yesterday.  This picture was taken from the spot I am sitting now.  And yes, it rained during construction.  Huge plastic tarps were used to cover it up, but a tiny pinhole leaks like crazy. 

 

 

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I plan to spend the rest of the day drawing and keeping up on the Iditarod.  The tracker shows Mitch Seavy in the lead to the Coast right now, but he's not moving.  Martin Buser is running 8th, but he's not moving either right now.  The top runners have all had both their eight hour and twenty-four hour layover, so the field is even.  And they are all running pretty close to each other.It's still a long ways to the finish, and anything can happen.



Friday

The Iditarod race is really shaping up and getting a little exciting, as all the top mushers haven taken their mandatory 24 rest, and you can really tell who is where.  Martin Buser was the first to reach the Yukon River, and dined on a five course meal prepared and served by the chefs at the Millennium Alaska Hotel chefs.

 Martin's wife is following the race by snow machine and dined with him. Red King crab stuffed Portobello mushrooms and smoked sockeye salmon cucumbers with gourmet cheeses, Alaskan Clam Chowder, Roast duck salad with mixed greens, 14 oz. ribeye steak topped with a Cognac and Alaskan Amber sauce accompanied by jumbo prawns and bacon wrapped sea scallops served with grilled asparagus and four cheese risotto cakes by the Millennium Alaskan Hotel’s Chef, Chef Bobby Sidro.  All this served with $3,500 in dollar bills served on a tray.  Wow!

I'm dining on sloppy joe sandwiches tonight.

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I am so glad I back up my files.  I have no idea what happened, but I just lost a bunch of documents off the computer.  I restored them yesterday,

 

 



What peaceful looking animals!  Someone's sled dogs resting on their beds of straw at one of the Iditarod checkpoints.

Wednesday

Very quiet in art group this morning.  Well, not really, because Dorothy came.  But there were only six of us there.

I started a new colored pencil drawing.  I'm using a piece of mat board and don't like the surface for colored pencils.  I doubt if I finish it.

 

And this is why I don't do jigsaw puzzles anymore. 

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I have been watching some deer in the front yard.  They are feeling pretty good.  Several of them were bucking and jumping around.  I guess they know spring is coming.

 

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When I first saw these photos, I thought they were disgusting.  Until I got to the last one.  Makes me laugh.

 





 

I read an article once about how to deal with telemarketers, and there were all kinds of funny ways to take care of them. We don't get many of those irritating calls anymore.. Maybe someone finally figured out that is not good marketing strategy, or maybe it's the "do not call".  Anyway, they were sure irritating.  Also, many calls they make now are recordings.

When Barrie would answer one of these calls, I would hear her say, "No, they're not here.  They're in jail." Or she might say, "No, they've been deported."

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Ah, gourmet eating last night.  I made hamburgers with onions, tomatoes and cheese on top, and curly fries. Kasey helped me cut the curly fries.  I did one potato to show her how it works, and she did the second. 

 

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I spend part of my mornings now keeping up with the Iditarod.  The technology and reporting is amazing.

 





Monday

I baked hamburger buns this morning.  Used my bread machine on the "dough" cycle. I even sprinkled sesame seeds on the tops!  I like how the oven bakes bread much better than the bread machine, but I'm usually too lazy.  It's just too easy to let the machine do it all.

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  The new laptop computer is going back.  It's slower than my old laptop, and Windows 8 is not meant to be used by humans  The colors, the tiles and the charms may look cute, but I don't like the way they work. (or don't work)

 

Maybe the machine is defective, but it sure doesn't perform  like my old laptop.  I was trying to watch the live feed of the Iditarod restart last night, and the new computer wouldn't even load the page.  I grabbed the old laptop and was watching it within just a minute or two.

 

 

 

 

Sunday

Barrie and Kasey are back home after house sitting for some people.  I think Kasey grew 6 inches during that time.

I subscribed to the Iditarod "Insider". 

You get commercial-free videos of the trail, the checkpoints, musher interviews and race analysis.

You get GPS that lets you track the race. You also get Musher Tracking that will send alerts when a musher reaches or leaves a checkpoint. 

 

I watched the ceremonial start live in Anchorage on my computer.  This afternoon, I will watch the real start in Willow.

 

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The snow is going, and the back yard is turning into a lake.  I would rather have more snow.

 

 

 

 

Saturday

I've never ran into quite the mess as I think Windows 8 is.  I have spent two days trying to use it.  This morning I found a free program I downloaded that is a shell to make it look and work like Windows 7, and I am a happy camper. 

I used my little back up to restore all my files, and everything I've ever put in my "favorites" is there.  I am going through things and deleting.  I should just wipe the backup drive clean and start over, but I probably won't.  At least not until I'm sure I've got this machine running.

I'm pretty sure the software that comes with the new computer was sent to my post office box, so I don't have it yet. And I can't activate the Office software until  I have it.

Friday

Windows 8! AAAARRRRGHHH!