Saturday

I have a new (small) clock radio - one that resets the time when the power goes off.  Also takes a backup battery.  I haven't had a radio for a long time, and am actually listening to KPIN this morning.  Got this for the whopping price of $13 on Amazon.

 

It wouldn't be a trip to Jackson without driving out to look at the peaks.  There was a rain storm on the southern end.

 

And the rain was moving toward the peaks.  I never tire of looking at these.

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Tracy went to the football game last night and saw some old friends, Nat and Ward.

 

Today we plan on driving up Skyline, around the lake, and probably a late lunch at Lakeside.

 

 

A happy traveler.

Friday Road Trip to Jackson

Tracy and I went to the concert at the library last night.  His name was Terry Hill, and he was VERY good.  I guess they have concerts every Thursday night during the summer, and this was the last one.

Tracy, Barry, Kasey and I went to Jackson today. 

 

Someone broke a white petunia off in the planter outside Café Genevive, where we had lunch, and Tracy put it in Kasey's hair.  Wonderful lunch!

We strolled around the downtown area a bit, and spent time in Mangelson's Gallery. The only thing I bought was a window sticker that says "I saw Grizzly 399.  They had a lot of photos in the gallery of her and her three cubs born this year .

 

We played like tourists and I took a picture at one of the arches of Barrie, Kasey and Tracy.

Kasey made a new friend and they played chase around the base of the arch.

Wednesday

We hung the work today for the silent art auction at Rendevous  Pointe.  The time of the Blood Draw is always a good opportunity for those of us who want to sell some work.

 

Conley and Lenore hanging some of Conley's paintings.

 

 

Judi acquired some Lynn Thomas prints and is putting them in the auction

 These are the things I am putting in the auction.

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Tracy got here about 1:00 this afternoon.  She hadn't eaten yet, so we went out to eat.  Just as we were leaving the apartment, Barrie brought Kasey, so Kasey went with us to the Patio.  We had excellent Mexican food, and Barrie and KC are coming here for meatballs and spaghetti tonight.  Fun Times!





Tuesday

 

Bad babysitter.  The minute Kasey walked in this morning, she headed straight for the iPad and has been on it ever since.  

 

 

 

This is what she SHOULD be doing, active and running around outside.

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This morning when Barrie started to work, Kasey asked her to help her open her window in the sprayer pickup.  She couldn't find a button.  The kid has never seen a window on a vehicle that you have to roll up and down!  Thanks to Judi, she has seen a turntable and vinyl records.  It makes me wonder how many other things we take for granted that she has never seen.

 

 

When I was teaching kindergarten, a little boy found a bobby pin on the floor and was scared he had found a weapon of some kind!

 

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Tracy is coming tomorrow and will be here a few days.  No Paul or Daisy this time, just Tracy, but we will have a good time.  I am making enough meatballs for twenty people (don't ask me how that happened), so I guess we will be eating lots of meatballs and spaghetti while she is here.

Monday

Kasey was with me today.  Judi found several sheets of stickers, and I bought her a little notebook to put them in.  But of course we had to put some on our faces first.

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Barrie started working with Kay Malkowski today and did some yard work.  She is going to be taking over the lawn care part of Kay's business, and  Kay wants her to eventually take over the tree care part too.  Perfect job for Barrie.  I wish she had the whole summer ahead of her instead of just the fall work. 

 

She wants me to make her some business cards, so I came up with a few ideas today.

 

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Kasey brought "Boomer" with her today.  This stuffed toy has a lot of miles on him.  Barrie played with him when she was little.  He was named after "Boomer", the late great St. Bernard we had.

 





Sunday

I am always making fun of "studies" and "research" and "findings".  Here is one that was on my Yahoo news page this morning:

According to a new study, single men on average only clean their bed sheets four times a year.

Now that is information we all should have, right?

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I baked a loaf of bread today, and made a batch of cornmeal mush.  And I burned my fingers twice!  Kitchen Klutz, that's me.

 

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I stole this photo from Tracy's Facebook post.  She and Paul were at the Broncos game yesterday, and she took this picture of the opening ceremony.

Saturday

Today I am listening to music on my Kindle Fire.  I have never paid any attention to the Amazon Cloud Player, because I have iTunes and my iPod, along with XM Radio.  I was amazed to find that every tape or CD I ever purchased from Amazon is floating around on a "cloud" and I can listen to them on my computer, or the Kindle Fire.  There is a Grateful Dead album there, lots of Chris LeDoux, Tom T. Hall, Johnnie Cash, and a couple of tapes I bought for Kindergarten years ago. The kindergarten music is fun  - Raffi, Joe Scruggs, and Barry Lou Polisar. 

I don't have any tapes or music CD's any more, and nothing to play them on.  I don't even have a real radio. 

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Two different people came to get me to go to a 90th birthday party in the Heritage Room.  The second person threatened to drag me so I decided to go.  It was okay.  I had champagne, cake and ice cream, and saw a former kindergarten student whose grandmother is in the nursing wing. I visited with Tom, who gives talks on his travels, and met his two St. Bernard dogs, who are regular visitors to Sublette Center. 

 

The woman whose birthday it was just sat in her wheelchair and didn't seem to be aware of what was happening around her. 

Thursday

Kasey is staying with me for a while today while her mom has a job interview.  She is watching "Curious George" on the iPad.  Sounds educational to me, so I'm sure it's good for her!

Su cleaned my apartment this morning.  She comes a little earlier every week.  I wanted the quilt washed, and a different quilt put on the top of the bed.  She washed it, but made the bed with the same quilt. She is from China, and doesn't always understand everything I say.  Oh well, she is so nice and eager to please, it just makes me want to be nice back to her.  It doesn't matter which quilt is on the bed.

 

I like this idea.

Wednesday

We had a nice morning at Art Group today.  Pat was back, but we missed Judi.  Her granddaughters were flying home out of Denver today.

 

When my friend Mel stopped in at Rendezvous Pointe to say hello one day, she mentioned I hadn't donated anything yet to the SAFV auction.  This watercolor was on the wall in the art room, and I told her to take it.  Then I forgot all about it.  The auction was last weekend, and I was told this painting brought $425.  I thought the person who told me that must be mistaken, so I called SAFV when I got home, and sure enough!  It had been matted and framed, but $425 is still a lot!!  That made my day.

Time to paint, maybe?

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Sally stopped by last night to show me how to upload a video to YouTube and then embed it in my blog.  It worked really well. 

 

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***Kasey and The Monster at the End of this Book ***

Sally suggested I upload the video to YouTube and embed it here.  I didn't get it embedded, but here is the link.  I have this tiresome video on my iPad, and KC  watches  it over and over again.  I got a little tired of it after the first 100 times.

I can't even see the link, but if you click on the space between the asterisks, it should work.

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I am always amazed and amused at the studies and research that is being done on stupid and useless things.  Watch for news articles that begin with "Research shows"  or "Study shows".  Or if you want a really good laugh, Google it.  I wonder who pays for all this research, and who is doing it?  How much of it is the government paying for, and how do I get a job like that?





 

 

I have been using a folding chair at my painting table, but it was very uncomfortable, so Barrie brought me the chair I had been using at the house.  Kat used to sleep in this chair, and it didn't take her long to curl up in and take a nap.

 

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Oops!  This is what happens when you fill the loaf pan too full of banana bread batter.  I had five black bananas, and used four.  It was too much.  Easy to clean up, though, because I let it go ahead and bake until I could just pick up the hunks.

 I cleaned out the refrigerator and threw out a few questionable things.  Also threw out some things from the freezer compartment that were unrecognizable under an inch of frost. 

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I attempted to upload a video, but gave up.  Blogger is definitely not video friendly.

Sunday

Kasey stayed with me a while yesterday.  We blew up one of the beach balls Judi gave her, and went to the lawn area in front of Sublette Center and KC played with the ball.

 She climbed on a rock and swung from the tree branches. 

I had the makings for tacos, and when Barrie came to pick her up, we all had soft shell tacos.  They were good.

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Growing up!  Kasey got her ears pierced.  After the first one was done, it took her a few minutes to get herself ready for the second one, but she was a tough kid, and got it done.  She loves having pierced ears.

Barrie discovered the holes in her ears have not entirely closed up, so she is wearing earrings now too.

 

And poor Maddy is sporting a shaved, scarred hind leg after her surgery.

Saturday Movie

This morning I decided  my favorites list was way too long, so I went through it and deleted a lot of things.  One of the things listed was a link to an old movie, "The Terror of Tiny Town".  I had almost forgotten that movie.  So of course I spent the rest of the morning watching it. (and laughing).  It is an old black and white western, filmed in 1938, featuring an all midget cast,  They all rode Shetland ponies, walked through the bottom of the swinging saloon doors, and stood on platforms to reach the bar.  The hero, of course, wore a white hat, a white shirt, and rode a white Shetland.  He played a guitar as big as he was. 

I did a few screen captures

 Here is the hero talking to his father.

 

And here is the heroine, talking to the hero after he rescues her runaway stagecoach, which is pulled by a team of four Shetlands.

 

 



And here he his serenading her when they sneak off to have a picnic together. 

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 I first saw this movie years ago when I went to sleep in my chair watching TV.  I woke up and this is what was on.  None of my co-workers believed such a movie existed at first.

 

Politically correct?  No.  Funny? Yes.

 

Here is the link if you are interested in watching it.  It's hard to sit through the whole thing, because it is so corny, but you might enjoy watching part of it if you have a twisted sense of humor like I do.

 

http://archive.org/details/TheTerrorOfTinyTown1938_802

Friday

GREEN!

 



Green tomatoes in a red skillet!  Much improvement over the fried red tomatoes.  Thanks to the persons who gave me the green tomatoes.  I know some of them came from Betty C's greenhouse, but still don't know who left the rest.  I had some for supper last night, and warmed up the leftovers to eat with my eggs and toast this morning.

 

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Fall is here!  There were about a dozen blackbirds gathered outside my window this morning, a sure sign of fall.  I always told my kids the blackbirds flocked together to argue about who got to be the leader when they headed south.

 

 

The phenomenon of men working construction!  I have observed this for years and had almost forgotten how it works.  Whenever there is more than one man working on something, one of them is working and the others are watching.   You never, never, see all of them working at the same time.  I once watched some men work all day at a school across the street at my Mom's house in Riverton.  One man was digging a hole, and five men were gathered in a circle around him, just watching.

 

These guys are doing something on Faler Ave. in preparation for the new senior apartments.  I also notice none of them wear hard hats.   



Wednesday

When I got back from Art Group today, I found these green tomatoes in a bag hanging on my doorknob.  I only know of one person who might have read my blog about attempting to make fried green tomatoes with red tomatoes - and who has a greenhouse.  So thanks, BC!!

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I might as well quit on this pencil drawing.  It's supposed to be a wild horse, but he looks too fat.  I photographed this horse on the White Mountain Road out of Rock Springs, and he was fat.  He was also covered with scars from fighting.  If I drew the scars, it would just make him look like an Appaloosa.  I could trim his tummy down and make his ribs and backbone more pronounced.  Or I could just quit and work on something else. 

 

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I watched a great movie the other day, "The Magic of Belle Isle".  Morgan Freeman plays the part of an writer who has a writers' block.  He's in a wheelchair and drinks too much, and his nephew moves him into this house next door to a single mother with three daughters.  Watch it if you have the chance.

 

       lATER

 

Gina was just here and brought me some green tomatoes from Betty's greenhouse.  So now I have no idea who left the tomatoes earlier.  So thanks to everyone, and you know what I will be fixing for supper!

 

 

 





Tuesday

Yesterday morning, "Nixon", the beagle who belongs to the woman who does yard work here, was baying at 7:30 AM outside my bedroom window.  He was upset because she was working inside yesterday, and he didn't like it.

There are three dogs who belong to the couple who do the yard work.  Two are shepherd-type, and a beagle.  They seem to have free run of the place, and I've seen them in the building several times too.

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Kasey stayed with me yesterday.  We went to the Highway Department to get my handicap parking permit.   While we were waiting, we were looking at magazines.  Kasey found a picture of a man in a skimpy bathing suit, and she pointed it out to me, giggling.

 

I said, quietly, "That's a hunk."

 

And she replied, in a loud voice, "Grandma, that's inappropriate!"  I don't even know how many people were in the waiting room, but I thought it would be a good time for KC and me to play the "quiet game".

 

After lunch, we went down the hall to get my mail, and sat outside on the porch swing for a while.  She had decided she would play Bingo in the dining room with the residents, but they were just finishing when we came inside.

 

KC watched "Babe" on my iPad, and I drew a while. 

 

They took Maddy to the vet yesterday.  She has injured a hind leg.  They were so busy they didn't get to her yesterday, so she spent the night there. 

 

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This is SO true!  I've had some terrible fights with this stuff!


Saturday

 

Kasey keeps this toy at my place to play with when she's here.  Tracy and I put our heads together a couple years ago and got her these for Christmas. I think the toys are called "Little Pet Shop".  There are lots of tiny animals, and shown in this picture is the car Tracy got her.  I got the tree house, which is too big to pack around very much. 

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The fried tomatoes I fixed yesterday were nothing to brag about.  I think the red tomatoes have too much liquid in them.  I thought they were kind of slimy.  I'd like to try green tomatoes some day.

 

I have lasagna in the crockpot today.  I've never heard of making lasagna in a crockpot before, but I'll try anything once!

 

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Friday

Went to the clinic this morning to have a doctor fill out my form requesting a handicap parking permit so I can park close to the outside door close to my apartment.  I have to take it to the Highway Department, and they won't be open until Monday. 

The doctor told me I had a heart murmur.  I told him a doctor in Laramie told me that more than forty years ago.  I also have slightly high blood pressure, which I've had for at least 20 years.   I hadn't been to the clinic for about fifteen years, so they didn't have a file on me. 

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I stopped at Ridley's to get some tomatoes and noodles. Jane Johnston saw me and I ended up visiting with her quite a while. 

 

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I watched "Fried Green Tomatoes" the other night - that's why I bought the tomatoes.  They're not green, but I plan to fry them anyway.

 

 

I also watched "Deliverance" a couple nights ago.  Take a look at the family in the picture above.  Don't you think they might have been in the cast?  Especially the men.

 

Okay, I admit, they are my relatives.  That's my Grandmother, in the back row, with her hand on my great grandmother's shoulder.  The family was very respectable - my great grandfather was in the Nebraska state legislature.  But I still say the men in the family could have played the parts of the hillbillies in "Deliverance".

 

 

Thursday

This pencil drawing is finished.  It took a long time.  I believe this is the first landscape I have ever drawn  in graphite.  All my pencil work seems to be animals and wildlife.

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Kasey and I watched "Wizard of Oz" this week.  She loved it so much she watched in again the next day.

 

I just read this on the news this morning:

Margaret Pellegrini, one of the original Munchkins from the 1939 classic movie "The Wizard of Oz," has died. She was 89. With her death, only two of the original 124 Munchkins in the movie are still alive.

Pellegrini has said she was 16 when "The Wizard of Oz" was filmed. She played one of the "sleepy head" kids and wore a flowerpot on her head in the movie.

The real singers were "adults, dubbed in," she said. "They just played the record faster so their voices would sound high."

I had not realized that's how they did the Munchkins singing voices.  I can remember playing a record faster to make it sound funny!

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It's been a busy morning.  Ken (the maintenance guy) came to fix the leak under the kitchen sink,, the showerhead, and the bedroom heater.  And the girl who cleans the apartment was here. 

 

I went down to the lounge area to read, and Rod Rozier came by with his father, who lives here.  Rod and I were on the original technology committees together when the school first began to get computers.

 

He and Leslie have two white cats they got from us when they were kittens.  Barrie had caught them (their mother was a feral cat), tamed them down, and Rod and Leslie took them.

 



Tuesday

They have moved in the office trailer and one piece of equipment to begin construction of the new apartments.  And the toilet is in place!  That was the first thing to arrive.  This is the view out my living room window and shows the back of Rendezvous Pointe.  I might as well get used to the sound of heavy equipment.

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Tried to watch a movie last night - Josh Lucas in "Hideaway".  Stupidest movie ever!  I may finish it another day, but only watched half of it last night.  The whole movie seemed to consist of walking around looking anguished, staring at the water, or staring into space, or staring at the sky.  There were some flashbacks, but I didn't know if they were flashbacks or events that were actually happening.  And there was a guy in kilts with a bagpipe?  What did he have to do with the movie?

Then I tried to watch Tom Selleck in "Concrete Cowboys".  I wasn't in the mood for "hokey", so I ended up watching an old movie I'd seen before.

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The kitchen sink still leaks, so I reported it.  I was told they would get on it in 24 hours.  You think?  I'll believe it when I see it. 

 

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And this is my cartoon for the day!





Monday

Couldn't get to sleep last night, and I don't know why.  I have some over-the-counter sleeping pills and they work really well, but I didn't crawl out of bed to take one.  Finally got to sleep and didn't wake up until almost 10:00 this morning.
 
Just thinking about all the things to get the house ready to sell stresses me, I guess.
 

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The leaky sink from yesterday isn't leaking today.  Go figure. 

 

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Noteworthy news today:  Some schools in Pennsylvania have attempted to ban "boobies" bracelets.  The girls (middle school age) are wearing them for breast cancer awareness.  The courts have ruled for the girls.

 

They have developed a "test tube" hamburger.  I think I'll pass on that one.

 



 

I've GOT to have this shirt!

At one time during my teaching career, the school decided the kids should not be allowed to wear printed tee shirts to school.  One of my kindergartners didn't understand it, and another kid said "You know, dirty shirts".  The first kid said "Oh, well, my Mom washes my shirts."

And I bet Sally knows who  I'm talking about here.  One of my little girls came to school with a picture of a Bichon Frise dog on the front, with the words "Bitchin ' Frizzy".  She told me Sally gave it to her. 

 

 

This baby robin was outside my window the other day.  So awkward and looking a little frightened.



Sunday

I have my laundry in the dryer - just went to check on it, and it's not dry yet.  Ho Hum.

I checked eBay this morning to see if I could find a bargain on MS Office 2010 for the new computer.  I thought maybe since Office 2013 has been released, I could get a good buy.  Well, I did.  Too good to be true.  I found the professional version listed for $68.  I did a "Buy it Now", and got email from eBay that they removed the listing and cancelled all bids.   Something fishy, I guess. 

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When I got into the cupboard under the sink to get the laundry detergent, I found water.  Something is leaking.  I took stuff out, set it on the counters, and threw a towel in there.  Hope it can be fixed tomorrow.  Imagine letting someone else taking care of repairs!

 

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This makes me laugh!

 



Saturday

Yesterday I called Dr. Jensen in Rock Springs to set up an appointment to get the ball rolling for cataract surgery.  After I went through the whole spiel about who I was and what I wanted, I was told to call back on Monday because they weren't open on Saturdays.  I felt really dumb until I checked and found out it  WAS Friday.  Is this really where I want to go for surgery?

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The deer came for lunch again yesterday, but I didn't photograph her.  I'm sure everyone has seen enough photos of a deer in front of a brick wall.

 

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I'm making my mark on this place.  There was a basket hanging in this spot outside my door.  I replaced it with one of my pencil drawings.  This one should clearly show who lives there!  Marking my territory.

 

 

 

And I put up three more pictures in the living room.  I've never displayed much of my own work before, and now I have my own little gallery. Kasey told me she and her Mom hung some pictures at the house - a drawing I did of her, and one of Jarvi.

 

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I went to Ridley's yesterday and bought a few groceries.  I didn't see one person in the store that I knew.





Thursday

Very lazy day today.  My apartment was cleaned, and I cleaned the litter box.  Right now I am backing up my computer to my little "Click-Free" drive.
 

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Pam surprised us with a visit to the art group yesterday.  They sold their house in Pinedale and were here to sign the papers.  They are living in Bozeman now.

 

 



 
 
She brought her latest "Zentangle" to show us.  Isn't it incredible?
 

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I attended a residents' meeting yesterday afternoon.  I think there were only five residents there, and six employees of the center. They started out with the interim director talking about the meals, and three of the residents started yelling "I can't hear you".  The meeting pretty much went that way.  I think probably I was the only one who could hear what was going on. 

 

I even spoke up and asked about the landscaping at the new apartments, and said I hope they made the place "wildlife" friendly.  I did find that all the new apartments will have an outside door and a patio.  Maybe the patio areas will be shared, I didn't think to ask.

 

So, Can  I stop socializing and mingling for this week - and sit in my room and read, watch movies, and maybe work on a painting?