Monday

This has taken a lot of my time the last few days. Don't know why I got so into this book, but I did. It's a real mystery thriller, and it has me hooked.

I won one of these on eBay today for a good price. And have a chance to get another one. I won three of these on eBay for our art group, and they have all been sold. It's fun to win something on eBay for about half what they sell for retail. Just have to be patient sometimes.

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Kasey got to see the baby raccoons at her grandpa's yesterday. She was excited about them.

I have made an attempt to "declutter" my upstairs room today. I tend to let it get a little too much of that "lived in" look.

Am still struggline through the online writing course I am taking. Some of it is actually starting to sink in and make sense.

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Now playing on XM radio : Joe Nichols "Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off."

Saturday

I'm doing nothing - reading, drawing, and listening to music. I didn't even go down to watch the parade today. Maybe I've reached my limit of Rendezvous celebrations. There have been many. Some wilder than others. Maybe getting old has something to do with it?

Tonight is the third rodeo performance. Barrie and Kasey have been the last two nights, and I suppose they will go again tonight.

Those of you who like rodeo might enjoy this video of a bulldogger practicing his skill.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZcczEhQWJo

Friday

Now playing on my iPod - Tom Leher, "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park"

Who is Tom Leher, you wonder? A weird college professor who wrote and sang weird songs. It got him fired from Harvard.

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Some nostalgia here in some old Rendezvous pictures. Norma Richardson in the top photo, and Grant Beck in the bottom one. They are both gone now.

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Barrie and Kasey went to the rodeo last night. Chuck had his pickup parked up there, and Bob and Charlene were there. So Barrie had a good visit with them, and Kasey showed off for them.

When I asked Kasey about the rodeo, she described what I think was a saddle bronc who bucked close to them, and she told me the horse said "Oh, my back."

Barrie borrowed the gas weedeater from work yesterday, and she got our lawn mowed and trimmed. I haven't even looked yet to see if she weedeated flowers. Oh well. I hate gas weedeaters, because I've never had one I could start. She hates my electric one. She told me that my weedeater says "Oh No! Grass. I can't do that!"

Thursday

Now playing on my iPod - Ian Tyson, "Navajo Rug"



This is a manipulated photo. I liked the scene, but the light was bad and the photo came out very blah. So I used Photoshop to wake it up. Maybe too much.



We were discussing gates the other day - how some are so hard to open, and how some of them are so tight you can't even close them. This one should be easy to open. Or maybe just go around it?

Some daisies I thought looked pretty in the tall grass. Some people call them Shasta daisies, but I'm pretty sure they are oxeye daisies, and considered a nuisance by ranchers. They're still pretty in my back yard, anyway.

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Art group was great yesterday. Conley is back from his fishing trip. I stayed for lunch and ate with Judi. We sat with Carl and Peggy.

I saw some people come in the dining room, and realized it was Bob and Charlene Ditton. It was so good to see them. They will be here about a week.

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My memory's gitten' so bad I don't know if I lost a horse or found a rope.

Hi spider, nice spider let me pet you . . . with my shoe . . . good spider.

Wednesday

Sunny sent me two pictures of the baby raccoons in their shed today. The fourth one is in the bottom of the hard hat. Aren't they cute? Thanks for sharing the pictures, Sunny.

Barrie worked late today, so I picked up Kasey from Julie's. When she saw me, she yelled "Grandma!" and ran to me with her arms out for a hug. Can't beat that!

When we drove home, she looked over at Beau's nursery and said "That's where we buy flowers." So guess what we did. Kasey had three quarters in her hand, and I held the real money. Claire was there, and we had a good visit. Kasey picked out some moss rose.

Claire said Kasey and Maria (Beau's little girl) need to get together for some play time.

When we got home, Kasey and I had some of the fruit leather I made, then came upstairs. She colored for a while, tried to play with Kat, then got some books.

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Ever seen this on Facebook?

Friends Online
No one is here.

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Saw this on the news last week:

Reuters - A drunk driver trapped after overturning his car cracked open another can of beer while he waited for emergency crews to rescue him, a New Zealand court was told.

Tuesday

(Now playing on my iPod -"Bad, Bad Leroy Brown, Jim Croce.)

Barrie and Kasey and I sat in camp chairs in Ridley's parking lot to watch the fireworks. Kasey loved them. We were next to some guys who kept saying things like "Hallelujah", "Awesome" and "God Bless America." Refreshing. And another positive thing - Ridley's actually turned off their huge floodlights on the front of the store. OK, I won't bash Ridleys today.

After the fireworks, we went up to Chuck's place to check on Lucky (the mustang). He was fine. Kasey and I were waiting in the pickup, and Sunny, Kathy and Chuck all came out. Sunny had her laptop computer. They had found four baby racoons in the shed, and Sunny had pictures of them on her computer. Maybe she'll send me some. Chuck said they were all trying to sleep together in a hard hat. They had kind of outgrown it, and he got a washtub for them.

Old pictures. At least it seems a long time ago. The top picture shows what my upstairs room looked like without a roof. It took a lot of tarps to cover that, and to me, it looked like I would never have a room up there.

But Dave worked wonders. The bottom photo was taken from almost the same location.

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I just got a 3 lb. roast sliced, marinated, and in the dehydrator for beef jerky. The first batch I sliced a little too thin. I'm afraid part of this is too thick. I even have an electric slicer in the basement, but didn't want to bother bringing it up.

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My sick sense of humor again, but this picture makes me giggle.

Sunday July 4th

Now playing on my iPod - "Superman 14" Kevin Coster and Modern West.

A picture from my past, W A Y past. I floated the Snake with some friends from Jackson. We are in the Lunch Counter Rapids here, and the photographer who is always there on the shore took this picture.

Leslie, my step daughter, sent me this picture she took of her living room with the quilt I made her. She has two of my drawings on the wall.

Hungry babies.

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I borrowed Barrie's break-up boots this morning and waded into the back yard to cut some rhubarb. As long as the dehydrator is out I thought I'd make some fruit leather. Barrie's Grandma Myrtle used to make it all the time in her oven. I don't even like it, so I've never made it before. I'm counting on Kasey to eat it.

I guess Barrie liked the beef jerky I made last week. She brought home a 3 lb. beef roast yesterday.

I e-mailed my niece in Arkansas yesterday. Tracy told me she was going to ask them for some of Tyler's jerky. (Teri's son). So I wrote and asked if Tyler shared his recipe. I't sure he used venison, but maybe he puts something special in the marinade I need to know about!

Saturday

I still have a few silly photos I downloaded from the Internet. As I don't have any new pictures, I might as well post them. The second two are "construction mistakes."

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Barrie has been looking for her phone since yesterday. She just now took a load of clothes out of the washer to put in the dryer, and sure enough, there it was. She said she checked the pockets of those clothes yesterday, and the phone wasn't there. Hmmm, I think maybe the "Bandysnatchers" did it. Well, the phone is clean, at least. Dead, maybe, but clean.

It was cool today. In fact, I finally closed most of the windows in my upstairs room.

I downloaded some more Sawyer Brown songs for my iPod today.

Now playing on XM radio: "That Ain't My Truck."

New book I am starting tonight, recommended by Stoney Vance, a former kindergarten student: "A Bride in the Bargain."

Friday

I noticed a couple of humming birds flitting around in the pine tree in front of my house. They were checking out the feeder, which hadn't been filled yet. I got one of them filled this morning, the one at my upstairs window. Still need to fill the one on the front porch.

Photo from a couple of years ago taken at the Fremont Lake Campground. I haven't even been up there yet this summer to see if they made all the changes they had planned.

I took this picture of columbine by my front porch a couple years ago and did a fancy frame for it in Photoshop. I don't have any columbine left. Don't know why it doesn't grow in my yard.

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I have everything out on the kitchen counter to make my biscuit mix. I mix up a big batch and keep it in the kitchen cupboard. Just like Bisquick. I'm going to make corn fritters today too. Feeling adventurous, I guess.

I had a pork roast the other day and was going to try to make pulled pork. I've never done that before.

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What happens when you play a country song backwards? You sober up, you get your wife back, you find your dog, your truck gets fixed, and you get rehired by the boss man.

Flowers

I discovered this in among the tall flowers in the flower bed. Many, many years ago, my Grandmother had a patch of iris. About ten years after she died, they were still trying to grow in the little hot dry bed in front of her old house. So my Mom felt sorry for them, and transplanted some to her garden. She later divided them and I brought some home. They sometimes don't bloom, but this one did. They are so pretty, kind of small and delicate.

Here are two new pots of flowers that Kasey picked out down at Beau's. Her petunias are blooming again after being hailed on and frosted, and the dahlias are looking healthier too. We might have to make another trip down the hill for more flowers.

Chloe has been here this morning. She wanted in the house and is busy rubbing on every wall and every piece of furniture, and my legs. I finally had to make her get off the desk. She was right in front of me rubbing on the monitor. Kat is not happy having her in here.

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Mary Lou is back for the summer from Colorado, and she was at art group yesterday. Several of us stayed for lunch at Rendezvous Pointe. It was fun. We should do that more often.

I worked on a piece I am trying to paint on watercolor canvas, which I have never used before. It got a buckle in it, which is still there this morning and it is dry. Maybe I don't like that surface.