Monday

I think I've screwed up my whole day already, and it's only 9:30.  To begin with, I went to bed too early last night, so I woke up too early.  Now I know why some retired people get bored and think they don't have enough to do.  They need to change their sleep habits.  They need to stay up late so they sleep late the next morning.  Then they wake  up with the feeling the day has slipped by and they need to hurry and get things done.  Works for me.

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I'm not going to make you look at another picture of a dead mouse, but there was one on the bathroom floor again this morning.  Some fat old mother mouse must had had a litter and they are exploring the house at night.  I threw this one out the window to the rock walk.  Chloe and the black cat are both around, and I see the mouse is already gone.

 

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I have several friends on Facebook who do this.  They want a new profile picture, and it is so obvious they are posing in front of a mirror. 

 

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I now have three drawings started, and nothing finished.  Maybe it would be a good idea for me to spend some time drawing today.

 





Sunday

This is the sight that greeted me as soon as I got up this morning.  Kat wanted to make sure I found it, so she left it where I would be sure to see it, right in front of the toilet stool.

Then when I started downstairs to get a cup of coffee, there was another dead mouse on the top step.  Kat certainly earned her keep yesterday.  I was afraid the one she had in the bathroom a couple days ago had crawled back somewhere and died.  I'm so lucky she doesn't hide them from me.

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The vote is in on the new  kitchen toys I got yesterday.  The cheese knife is nice, the chop and stir thingie is okay, and the egg poacher worked fine.  I had two poached eggs and a piece of toast made from the All Bran bread I made yesterday.  

 



There were seven of these in my back yard yesterday.  They are looking good.

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Why Don't Blind People Like To Sky Dive?
Because It Scares The Dog.

Two Reasons Why It's So Hard To Solve A Redneck
Murder
1. All the DNA is the same.
2. There are no dental records.

How Do You Get Holy Water?
You Boil The Hell Out Of It.



Saturday

Some days I actually accomplish something, and this is one of those days!  I baked a sausage/grit casserole for brunch, and it is good.

I am making a loaf of All-Bran bread, and sticking to my word.  It is ready to take out of the bread machine and bake in the oven.  It makes such a big difference (for me, anyway) to bake it in the oven instead of letting the machine do it.

I grated a couple extra cups of Cheddar cheese to have on hand. Barrie likes to have some pre-grated, and I always use the food processor.

I bought a long, skinny roll of pepperoni from Amazon.  This morning, I got my food slicer out and sliced it all up, super thin pieces,  all ready to bake some pizza, or whatever else.

 

 

I am such a sucker for kitchen gadgets.  The knife is Judi's fault.  She got one, and I thought it looked like a good tool to have.  The other thing was mentioned in a recipe on Pinterest.  It's a Pampered Chef's tool to break up hamburger and sausage as you fry it.  Way too expensive, but I found a bargain on EBay.

And my fingers slipped a little on the keyboard and I ordered a microwave egg poacher.  I love poached eggs, and I know you don't have to have a special pan to make them.  But like I said, my fingers just slipped a little.

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Kasey had her dance photos taken a few days ago.  I know it's illegal to use them on my blog, but Barrie will be buying some.  Photo credit to Tara Bolgiano of Blushing Crew Studio.

 





Full Moon

This is what the moon looked like at 6:00 this morning.  What's that you ask?  What was I doing up at 6:00 AM?  I was wondering that myself.  Maybe the moon was shining in my eyes.  No problem, I went right back to sleep and didn't stir until 9:00.

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I finished the book "Ash Fall" last night, but it didn't feel finished.  The author just kind of got tired of writing, and left everything hanging.

 

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 Kat brought a mouse upstairs last night, and took it in the bathroom.  It hid, and Kat probably spent all night waiting for it to come out.  This morning she was still in the bathroom, sniffing at the cupboard doors under the sink, so I opened them and left them open.  Pretty soon, I heard Kat scrambling around, and sure enough, she had the mouse, but it hid again.  That cat can sure make her toys last a long time.

 

 



Thursday

This is the cat that has been sneaking onto the front porch to clean up any food left by Chloe.  Extremely wild and shy.  Yesterday it was on the front porch and ran down to the driveway when Barrie backed out of the carport.  But instead of going into the willows, it lay down on the edge of the driveway and watched me take pictures of it out the upstairs window.

It could be a nice looking cat if someone could groom it.  Interesting markings, four white feet, bright yellow eyes, and extreme white whiskers!  It's not a bobtail, but it looks like its tail is shorter than normal.

I hope it's not a girl cat and gives us a gift of a litter of kittens in the carport. 

This big guy was napping in the back yard across the street this morning. It's the first moose I've seen in my part of town all winter.  From the looks of the new antlers beginning to grow, he is going to have a big rack. 

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Tracy told me about  a book she is reading, "Ash Fall".  So I got it for the Kindle.  It's about Yellowstone erupting.  I'm on about chapter 32.  I'm kind of glad I live so close to Yellowstone.  Wouldn't want to try to struggle through what this author is writing about!  When I asked Tracy if any people in the book survived, she said, "Well, you're dead."

 

She wasn't finished with the book yet, so she didn't know if anyone survived.

Tuesday

I almost got my spice cabinet organized.  Still have five or six little jars of something on the counter.  Maybe I'll just throw them away and be done with it.  Why do I have a little tin of Mace?  I looked it up and Google says it is similar to nutmeg.  I'm certain I never bought it so it must be more than 40 years old.

I looked on eBay for antique spice tins.  Some of those old tin spice containers are worth a little bit of money, or least they are trying to sell them on eBay.  I don't think I'll bother.

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We got close to 12 inches of snow yesterday, and it was 10° this morning.  The sun is shining so brightly now that it hurts my eyes to look out at the snow.

 

 

I took this picture yesterday of a Downy Woodpecker taking a nap? in my back yard.  He hung on the side of this post for a long time.  Maybe he's sick. Or maybe he's praying for spring.

 





Monday

 

Oh yeah!  When it's springtime in Wyoming.

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Tracy called yesterday.  She has been a frequent visitor to Lowe's recently, and has finalized the order for their kitchen remodeling project.  They are getting new cupboards and  new granite counter top.  The cupboards will be deeper than her old ones, and she'll have a lot more cupboard space.  She's also getting a new gas cookstove.  She has wanted a gas stove for years.

 

She promised to take lots of pictures.

 

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And here is my kitchen remodeling project. I have a corner cupboard with a lazy susan (two shelves) for my spices.  Through the years, I seem to have acquired three partially filled jars of Italian seasoning, a couple of garlic powder, several of cloves, etc.   By the time I am through, I should have twice as much space on those shelves.  I even found a tiny bottle of Peppermint Schnaps in there, the kind they used to serve on airplanes.

 

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Tracy is PIO for the Summit County Sheriff's Office, and yesterday, they lost five snowboarders in an avalanche on Loveland Pass.  Colorado just had a fatality on Vail two days earlier.

 



 

 

 



Sunday

The iPod won out over XM radio this morning, and am enjoying the playlist of my top rated songs.

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Total waste of time spent on the computer and the iPad this morning.  I was actually beginning to think I was enjoying the iPad, but I have deleted and reinstalled the Amazon Instant Videos app several times.  Sometimes the iPad will show my complete video library, but more often it just shows blank boxes for many of them. 

 

Then I decided I would use the USB cable to view photos on the memery card of my camera instead of taking the card out and inserting it in the card reader on the computer.  I had to install a viewer program from the CD, and when I looked at the photos on the screen, more than half of them had a big question mark instead of a thumbnail of the image.   So much for that bright idea. I'll uninstall the programs I installed, and continue to  insert the memory card in the card reader on the computer.

 

And to punish myself even more, I decided to try to get Adobe Bridge to work.  It is the program that comes with Photoshop to browse images.  The program shows it is there, but nothing happens when I try to start it.  It shows up in File Manager, with a slew of extensions, etc.  I got disgusted - don't need to use it anyway, and decided to uninstall it.  Imagine my surprise when the control panel doesn't even list it on the list of installed programs.

 

Time to quit messing with computers.

 

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The baked beans I made yesterday were delicious, and the biscuits I made were the best I've ever made, I think. 

 

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Saturday

 

I guess this pretty much sums it up.  Sunny today, but windy and cold, and the forecast calls for rain.  Of course, yesterday's forecast gave us a tornado warning, too.

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The baked beans are cooking away in the pressure cooker.  I have no idea how they will turn out.  I may end up finishing them up in the oven.  But at this altitude, I think the only way to cook beans is in a pressure cooker.  That is, unless you want to be watching the pot on your stovetop for several days. I have often wondered how the old chuck wagon cooks managed to always have beans on the trail.

 

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My to-do list includes cleaning off the painting table and putting on a new plastic table cover.  The old cover is so stained and ratty.  There was a small hole on the side that hangs down beside my drawing table, and the cat kind of enlarged it.  She can see me through the hole, and attacks me through it.  Of course, every time she dives at it, she makes the hole larger.

 

 

 

My thought for the day.  When I got up this morning, I found that Barrie had been here and gone, and left me some beer on the kitchen counter.  Wow, that girl takes good care of me!

 



Friday

I have loved V8 Juice since I was a kid, and have always drank it.  Seems like even though I buy it, we are always out of it.  So I ordered a case from Amazon.  How did I ever survive without it??

Remember the V8 advertisement, or a part of it, anyway?  "Gee, I could have had a V8!"

I have a suspicion it is high in sodium, but there are large, bold, letters on the can stating it is Gluten Free.  Funny!  I would be very surprised to find gluten in tomatoes, carrots, celery, lettuce, watercress and spinach. But being gluten free seems to be something to brag about these days.

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I just put some navy beans in hot water to soak for a few hours, and then I want to make baked beans (using the pressure cooker.)  I haven't had baked beans for ages, and they sound good.

 

I don't have the pantry to match the newer cookbooks.  Seems like most of the recipes call for things a busy person would stop by the store and pick up on their way home, not things you keep in your cupboard.  For example, I never keep a can of biscuits in my refrigerator.  Anchovies??  Capers??  Fresh Ginger?? 

 

I love my old 1950-something Betty Crocker cookbook.  It advocates the use of bacon grease, and the directions for a recipe might say something like "Fry in deep fat."

 



Thursday

Why was the top headline in ABC news on my computer screen this morning "Why Jennifr Aniston is 'scared' around her fiance"?

The second item was photos of an explosion in a Texas fertilizer plant.

Maybe I just won't read the news today.

And my horoscope said to be prepared for my mind to wander hither and yon, and chalk it up to the phases of the moon.

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I watched "A League of Their Own" last night.  I love that movie.  It's a mix of history, humor, romance and adventure.  "There's No Crying in Baseball"!

 

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Tuesday

It seems like I wake up to a skiff of snow every morning, but it all melts quickly. I don't think it got above freezing today, but the sun is shining.

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I finished reading "The Stand" today.  I'm not sure how long that book is, but it's very long. Now I'm ready for a movie.  I saw this morning that "A League of their Own" has been added to the Amazon Prime (free) list, so that is defintely what I will be watching today.

 

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I believe if someone offered me an all expenses paid trip to the World Series, or the National Finals Rodeo, or the Super Bowl, I would turn them all down.   Too many crazies out there.  Are any of these popular and crowded events going to be safe?

 

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Well, muffin tin cooking is not all it's cracked up to be.  I've made two different things in them, and although they were edible, I believe I won't make them again.  I still like stuffing baked in muffin tins, because I like my stuffing dry with crisp edges.

 



Monday

I had a moment of panic this morning when I thought my XM radio had died.  The cat must have stepped on the remote and turned the sound down, way down.

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Barrie is house sitting again, for about ten days.  I know she stops by here, but I seldom see her.  I'm either sleeping or in the middle of a movie and don't even know she's been here.

 

I found I am totally out of eggs, potatoes, and onions.  I left some money and a note on the table for Barrie.  It's pretty nice to have your groceries delivered. 

 

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I just read a news article about books that made of list of fifty books most likely to be removed from school and library shelves. Was not surprised at all that the "Fifty Shades" books were on the list, but was very surprised that the No. 1 book on the list was "Captain Underpants".  You've got to be kidding me!  I read "Captain Underpants" to kids when I was still teaching, and our school library had all the books of the series. 

 

Maybe the news article was just a joke?

 

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More vandalism - somone cut the back license plate from Barrie's work truck and threw it in the ditch between here and Daniel.  Someone found it and turned it in. The truck was parked in our driveway at the time.  At least the tires weren't slashed and there were no nails in the driveway.  Someone once slashed a tire on Barrie's truck, and I had a tire slashed when my pickup was parked (in a crowd) at the auditorium.  We've had nails scattered in our driveway, and so has Barrie's dad. 

 

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Saturday

Now playing on XM Radio, "The Nearest Thing to Heaven is a Child" by Kenny Chesney.

Yesterday turned into a marathon reading day (The Stand) and I didn't update my blog.  Nothing interesting happened anyway.

 

As I was putting new toilet paper in the bathrooms, I noticed this printed on the plastic wrapping.  It made me chuckle. It reminded me of several things I have read about stupid warning labels and directions.  I found a few on the Internet:

"Do not drive car or operate machinery." -- On Boot's children's cough medicine
"For external use only!" -- On a curling iron.
"Do not drive with sunshield in place." -- On a cardboard sunshield that keeps the sun off the dashboard.
"Do not use for drying pets." -- In the manual for a microwave oven.
"Caution: Remove infant before folding for storage." -- On a portable stroller.

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I brought home a drawing book from the art room Wednesday, and I think I will get my sketchbook and pencils out this afternoon.  The weather forecast is for 60% chance of snow this afternoon, good weather for drawing and reading.

 



Thursday

My horoscope for today said to do something rich, stimulating and invigorating.  So I cleaned the cat's litter box.

I find myself getting irritated sometimes when I try to open things - like the stuff that comes in the heavy plastic that is almost impossible to cut.  And you are afraid the plastic is going to tear up your hands.

And how about things that are "sealed for your protection"?  Like a simple tube of chap stick.  First, you have to cut it off the card and get it out of the plastic shell. 

 

Just twist cap to open??  Yeah, right, if you're a weight lifter.  I have to use a razor blade to cut the seal, and a pair of pliers to twist the cap off. 

Please, stop protecting me so much!!

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My friend Rollie sent me this picture. It is the drawing of a first grade girl . 

 

 

The little girl's mother sent the following note to the teacher after she saw the drawing:

 

Dear Ms. Davis,
I want to be perfectly clear on my child's homework illustration. It is NOT of me on a dance pole on a stage in a strip joint surrounded by male customers with money.

I work at Home Depot and had commented to my daughter how much money we made in the recent snowstorm. This drawing is of me selling a shovel.
Sincerely,

Mrs. Harrington



Wednesday

I have laughed so much this afternoon.  I watched an old Batman movie (not an animated one, but the one starring Adam West.)  I hadn't seen one in ages, and had kind of forgotten how entertaining they are.

 

Here is Batman, on the bat ladder from the batcoptor, with a shark hanging onto the rope, trying to eat him.  Robins says "Holy sardine!" and goes down the ladder with a can of shark repellent bat spray.  When the shark drops into the water, it explodes.  Cat Woman, Penguin, and Riddler had filled it with explosives.

 

I do miss this feature of the animated films of Batman during the fight scenes.

If you have a chance to watch an old Batman film, do so.  You will get a lot of laughes.

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We got some packs of cider with our Keurig machine, and I tried one of them this afternoon.  In fact, I had two cups of hot cider.  Yum!

 

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I am on Chapter 35 of the book "The Stand". Still have a long way to go.  But I have to take a break from it every now and then.

 





Tuesday

Snow is all gone.  Even though the NWS says there is a 50% chance of snow today, it's bright and sunny.

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I have never seen anything as terrified as my cat if I turn on the vacuum cleaner.  You would think she had been traumatized with it in the past.  She shoots downstairs like a rocket, and disappears somewhere. 

 

We used to have a cat that loved the vacuum.  I would put attachments on the hose and vacuum her all over.  Even sucked her tail into the hose, and she loved it.

 



There's No Place Like Home

Gosh, Toto!  I think we're still in Wyoming!  There's no place like home.

 

Barrie has taken the snow plow off her work truck, and is now pulling around a lawn mower.

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More Cemetery photos

 

 

 This is probably the most interesting cemetery I've ever seen.  It is the Catholic Cemetery at St. Stevens.  I was there just before Halloween, and people had been busy decorating.

This is the grave of Donovan Blackburn.  He was a 17 year old St. Stevens student who had been killed in an automobile accident.  He was an athlete, a star basketball player for the St. Stevens Eagles.  There were two painted and decorated wooden crosses, both at the head and foot of the grave. 

 

This basketball, one of several that had been placed on the grave, was autographed, I assume by teammates and classmates. His basketball shoes are hanging on the cross, and have also been autographed.  The stones outlining the grave are round river rocks, painted white, with either an eagle or a basketball painted on them.  The crosses have beads and chrystals hanging on them, there are cans of Sprite, and lots of little "Casper the Friendly Ghost" statues.  And of course, lots of plastic flowers.

 

When I was there a a couple of years later, the wooden cross at the head of the grave had been replaced with a stone monument.

 





Sunday

Made it through another QVC cooking show without ordering anything!  When I turned the TV off, they were starting to introduce Dell's first touch screen laptop computer.  Ugh!  Windows 8 of course.  It doesn't even look like a computer, but more closely resembles a kids' toy.  I like my computer screen to look like a computer, thank you.

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I'm sitting here listening to rain on the metal roof.  The raindrops look suspiciously like tiny white BB's, and they bounce when they hit the roof.

 

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I need to go downstairs and start a loaf of bread.  I've got a package of 9 grain loaf mix, and am going to use the dough setting and bake it in the oven.

 

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Not long ago, my friend Judi posted a photo of a headstone in an old cemetery.  It practically had a whole story carved into it.

 

Compare to this headstone in the Sacajawea Cemetery at Fort Washakie.

 

 

I guess this tells the whole story, too.

 

 

This fairly recent grave is in the LeClair Family Cemetary on Riverview Road, out of Riverton, on the old family ranch.  There are toys, little plastic animals, a can of pop, a rope and a pair of spurs on the grave.

 

This is where Tracy's Grandparents are buried, a couple of cousins, and several aunts and uncles. 

 





Saturday

 

Is my Christmas Cactus early or late? Only one branch is going to bloom, and there are only going to be four flowers.  The plant is looking really healthy, and is putting out new growth.  It just forgot to bloom.

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I called the Logan Mat Company about the little screw that fell out of the oval mat cutter.  Was helped by a very nice lady, who is sending a replacement screw.  I just hope I was able to explain it to her well enough that she is sending the correct one.

 

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My "photoshopped" picture of the day is one I actually did a couple of years ago.  I've always liked the Oregon Trail sign up on South Pass.  One day I stopped and took a picture of it, and thought it was too bad it didn't have a better background.  Then an idea hit me, and I pulled over between Farson and Pinedale and took a few pictures of some little two-track trails in the sagebrush. 

 
I combined the two photos and came up with this.  Who knows?  That might actually be part of the Oregon Trail. 

 



Friday, rainy

A soft rain is falling, and it is about 40° outside.  The sky was beautiful when I woke up this morning, a soft light peach color.  I should paint it.

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I'm trying to do something different with Photoshop every day.  I never have gotten into the habit of using layers.  It should be a crime that I've gotten so lazy.  There's some really powerful stuff in Photoshop.

 

Today I used a photo I took in California of boats, duplicated it, and turned it into a sketch. 

 

 

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I'm not sure why, but I started reading Stephen King's "The Stand" again.  Even though I don't read Stephen King much any more, I routinely read "The Stand" every five or so years.  I think it was his best book.

 

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Thursday

I just went to the window to open it and take a picture of a deer in the yard.  The deer ran off, and I noticed the bird feeder was almost empty.  So I went downstairs to get more birdseed and my second cup of coffee.  Thirty minutes later , I came back up with the bird seed.  I had forgotten to get my coffee.  But I had put a load of clothes in the dryer, fed the cat,  took some printed pages out of the printer,and put some toilet paper in the bathroom.  Totally spaced out what I had gone downstairs for in the first place.

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I decided to cook supper for us last night.  I made some sausage burgers.  I planned on waiting until Kasey got home so she could make the curly fries.  DUH! Barrie is house sitting again, starting last  night. And yes, she told me, but I had forgotten.

 

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I used this photo of Barrie riding The Drift to experiment with some more Photoshop filters.  I like being able to clone out the distracting white thing above her head, but I'm not sure about the effect in the second photo.  Interesting.

 

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This picture has been going around on Facebook lately.  It appeared on television thirty years ago.  Anyone remember it?

Wednesday

Today in art group, Conley was practicing cutting oval mats, and a tiny screw fell out of the part that holds the blade.  Imagine if you will, senior citizens on their hands and knees trying to find a minuscule screw on the floor.  Okay.  We didn't find it.

I came home and found the order and wrote to the company about having the part replaced.  It's still under warranty. 

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Oh my!  This is Kasey's new outfit for dance class.  And does she ever know how to pose! 

 

Grandma still likes the way she looks in jeans and boots better.

 

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I am playing with some of the new filters I have for Photoshop.  The top picture shows the old church bell before I used the filter.  I used the HDR filter, and the bottom photo is the result.

 

 







Monday - texting

 

Somewhere in Montana, an adult man is sitting with his cell phone, exchanging text messages with Kasey, while her mom is cooking supper.  Kasey texted him "FYI For your infrnashen." She blows my mind.

I've only met the man once, when he delivered a load of dog food for Barrie.  He's having a little trouble interpreting KC's spelling.  He texted back "My who?"

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I have sure frittered the day away, and didn't accomplish anything.  Just enjoyed reading and watched a Hugh Grant movie.

 

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I just read an article in the Riverton paper a man wrote about renewing his driver's licence.  It took him two days to get it done.  It seems there is way too much red tape and paperwork involved.  Birth certificate, passport, utility bill, rent receipt, something with your SS number on it, etc.

The man who wrote the article said there was an 80 year old man waiting in the crowded waiting room to renew his license, who said "I think I was 21 when I came in here."