Sunday

It is going to be hot today.  Maybe not by most people's standards, but for Pinedale.  The temp at the airport at noon is 81° and my outdoor sensor says it's 80°.  I know that's not hot to my desert dwelling friends.  I took the fan out of the closet and turned it on.

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This beautiful oil painting of the Tetons is down the hall from me, by the dining room door.  I think the artist is Nethercott. There is so much artwork hanging in the halls of this place it boggles my mind.  My hall seems to be mostly large jigsaw puzzles that have been framed under glass.

 

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I'm in trouble.  There's a nice selection of books in the lounge room down the hall.  I browsed through them while waiting to use the dryer in the laundry room.  And of course I brought two books back to the room. I found a book I have been looking for, "Island".  I read it years ago and wanted to read it again.  It is by the same man who wrote "Jaws". I hope I can remember how to hold a book and turn pages, after reading so much on my Kindle.

 

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I have been attempting to experiment with the gluten free flour with poor results.  Alice, if you are wanting muffins or biscuits while you are here, please bring your own.  Also, I have a few pounds of gluten free flour I will give you! 

 





Saturday

I am disenchanted with the wildlife here.  I don't know what kind of bird it is, but it is loud and sits outside my window and sings the same song, over, and over, and over, and over again.  Aren't all good birds supposed to be busy feeding their babies? I am calling this a "dead beat" bird. 

And I have another wasp in the living room window.  I know wasps can get into very tight spaces, and they are getting inside.  This is the third one, or maybe it's the same one who keeps coming back through a tiny hole, looking for a place to build a nest.  I have been putting a glass over them, trapping them, and turning them loose outside. 

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o

 

Does anyone remember their kids making Melmac plates?  We used to order a kit, which came with round drawing paper and special markers.  After the design was finished, you sent them into the factory and got these great plates back.  Tracy made nine of them, and I still have them.  (Just warning you, Tracy, they are going to Colorado with you!)

 

The top one shows Tracy and me, and our dog Jemima, in front of the trailer house we lived in when I first came to Pinedale.

 

The other plate shows my parents' Winnebago motor home, and their Boston Terrier, Louie.

 

 



Friday

Barrie left the garage door open yesterday so I could get in the house.  I went up and brought back a few things - clean shirts and hangers, some spices, a few books, drawing materials, a tripod, etc.  I thought it was just a few things, but it still took me two trips from the pickup to get it all in the apartment.

I was up and down the stairs at the house three times.  Then when I got ready to leave, I found I had left my glasses somewhere in the house.  So I made yet another trip up and down two flights of stairs. 

 

 Barrie took this picture for me when she was in Montana.  This is Toston, a little town off the Interstate where we once were run out of town by packs of dogs.  The town looks pretty well deserted, lots of old buildings, and we only saw one person. I remember that turquoise house in the background.  It was one of the few buildings in town that looked like someone lived there, and one of the few buildings that was painted. Barrie said she didn't see one dog when she drove through town!

Barrie said Jeremy's house wasn't very big.  It looks big to me - there are two couches in the living room, a recliner chair, two big dog kennels, and a monster dog -- and it doesn't even look crowded.

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A very irritating bird was outside my window yesterday.  He didn't sing, he didn't chirp, he just had a sharp, shrill whistle.  And he whistled all day long.  I sure hope he doesn't come back today.

 

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I brought some gluten free wheat flour, hoping I could make something my sister-in-law can eat while they're here.  I'm not sure how it's going to work.  Sounds like I need to add some chemical to it?  Guess I'll do some research on it today.

 

 

 



Wednesday

The Activities Director here knocked on my door yesterday and asked me when my birthday was.  Why do I have qualms about telling her?  What do they do to you on your birthday here?

Many, many years ago when I was in college, the girls in my dorm all ate in the dormitory cafeteria.  They always had a special desert for monthly birthdays.  So I thought I was being clever, and held up my hand when they asked who had a birthday in October.  My birthday is in January.  Everyone else got yummy strawberry shortcake for desert.  Those of us with October birthdays got a dried up brownie, on which the cook had mistakenly sprinkled flour instead of powdered sugar.

Maybe that's why I still have a problem telling anyone when my birthday is.

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I stayed for lunch at Rendezvous Pointe after art group today.  They had some soup that was unique and delicious.  It was apple/bacon/tomato soup.

I worked some on the pencil drawing of the wild horse, and am not sure how to finish it.  He was a dapple gray stud, so had some faint markings on him.  He also had lots of scars from fighting, making him look like an Appaloosa.  I don't know how much of the marks to put on him.  I guess that's why they invented erasers. 

There were three girls out behind the kitchen when I left this morning, on a cigarette break.  I visited with them a bit.  I quit smoking many years ago, and I love the smell of cigarette smoke, especially when it's outdoors.  I just don't like the smell when it penetrated into photo albums or books thirty years ago. 

 

Teachers can be so narrow minded!

 

 

Tuesday

I'm afraid I'm not fitting into the retirement community very well.  Yesterday the woman who lives across the hall caught me and told me I missed the ice cream social.  That they have an ice cream social after Bingo, and everyone comes. 

The woman who is in the apartment next to me told me I should eat some meals in the dining room, because that is how the people here get to know each other.

And this morning a girl knocked on my door and told me today is the day residents go out for lunch, and wondered if I would be joining them.  I was making pancakes at the time.

I'm not really anti-social.  Well, maybe a little.  But I am busy arranging pictures on the wall (still), looking for things I know I put away somewhere logical, reading, and drawing.  Now that I have my table for watercolor, I am trying to set things up so I will actually use it. 

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Bill and Alice will be here Monday to visit for a day.  They are on their way to Idaho for their granddaughter's wedding.  (Nicki)  The wedding is Saturday.

 

 And this is Nicki and David.

 

And here are Hadley and Sophie.  Hadley is hers, Sophie is his.  Pretty darned cute, huh?  They are excited they are going to be sisters.

 





Monday

I thought the skies looked like we would have rain today, but I guess not.  The forecast says a 20% or 30% chance of rain.  Not too promising.

I cashed all the checks I got from the things I sold, and forgot one check.  So I went to the bank with it this morning.  I got behind a pickup at one of the drive through lines, and waited and waited.  Finally they turned the "closed" sign on.  The pickup gave no indication of moving, so I backed up and got behind the truck in the other line.  Finally got the check cashed, and it only took 45 minutes!!  I guess I should have just parked in front and gone in.

When I drove by the Food Basket today, it looked like someone had cleaned out four or five houses and left everything there.  My poor friend Judi will work herself to death finding a place for it all.  The couches and chairs looked like nice ones, and there was much more.

I'm still working on lists of things I want from the house - all small items, but things I should have. 

 

Paul and Tracy are camping at Steamboat Lake, and she sent me this picture of Daisy after a hard day of hiking, fishing, and being harassed by deer.

Sunday

Barrie brought me two more loads of stuff yesterday -- two trunks, picture mats, the Christmas Cactus, folding table for painting, photo paper, my laundry,and things to hang on the wall.  The more things I put in it, the smaller the place gets.   But I think I've got all the furniture I wanted.

 

The cat liked sitting on this table, so she is not happy the Christmas Cactus is here.  She has nice wide window sills to sit in, though, so she'll survive. 

 

 



This is one of the trunks Barrie brought, along with the pine needle basket and the Navajo rug. My mother made the basket years ago.  That woman had more crafts than I can count.

The trunk dismayed me.  I had forgotten what was in it.  It has at least three quilt tops, all put together with the backing and batting, ready to be quilted.  What was I thinking?  The other trunk has finished quilts - five or six of them.  It's in the bedroom.

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Mandy L. was just here, doing the weekend resident check - to see if I'm still kicking, I guess.  I asked her about the guy who usually does it and wondered why he was always wearing rubber gloves.  She said he's got a germ phobia, and even wears rubber gloves while he folds clean laundry.  We both chuckled over it.

 



Saturday

What a beautiful day today.  Sun is shining, it is not hot, and the wind is not blowing.  (Not yet, anyway.)

I don't have any quilt fabric left, and I have a couple quilt tops that need to be put together and quilted by someone other than me.  But I did decide to finish this quilt.  It is quilted, the binding has been sewn on, and all that is left is the hand work.  So I am working on it. 

 

This is the "Drunkard's Path" pattern, made of assorted calico print fabric.

 

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I mentioned to Tracy that towels and sheets took up a lot of drawer space in my dresser.  She said "Don't you have a linen closet of something?"  Yes, I have a wonderful linen closet.  It has four big shelves, and two deep drawers.  And it is filled with art supplies and food.  Ridiculous, isn't it?

 

 



Friday

The apartment was cleaned yesterday, and I did my laundry last night.  Not much else to say.

I've been forgetting to mention the fire drills they have here.  They had one last week.  The instructions are to stay in your apartment, and if you need to leave the building, someone will come notify you.  Strange way to conduct a fire drill, but they don't want us out in the hallway because if the firemen are here, we might get run over or knocked down.  Okay.

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Tracy called yesterday and we had a nice long visit.  She wasn't at work, she was home supervising the construction.  The electrician was there.  They are getting a completely new kitchen.

 

This is what their kitchen used to look like.

 

This is what it looked like after the first layer had been removed.



And this is down to the bare wall.

 

The new cabinets are stacked in the garage.

She is getting all new stainless steel appliances and is switching from an electric stove to a gas one.  Pretty exciting.  In the meantime, she's not doing much cooking!

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Well, I'll be darned!  I didn't know Calvin lived in Pinedale!





Wednesday

Whew!  Hard day today!  I decided to take my little shopping thing on wheels and go to Ridley's after art group today.  Got carried away, and it took two trips packing stuff into the apartment.  I didn't need that many groceries, but I always have this feeling that I might not be back for quite a while.  I know that comes from living 50 miles or so from the nearest store so many years of my life!

Only 5 of us at art group this morning, but we had visitors stop in and visit.  Some days are like that.  Dee C came in to visit with two of her grandkids, and Hugh and his wife spent some time visiting with us.  Hugh painted with us last year until winter arrived and drove them back to Tucson.  He will be back to paint next week.

Judi has cleared out about half of our magazine collection.  Yeah Judi!  None of the rest of us have the nerve to throw things out, but I am getting better at it.

Barrie plans to move more of my things out of the house this weekend, so I should be able to get permanently settled in here.  And might have more than three shirts!

Who remembers this guy on TV?  Yes, he turned mistakes into birds, and painted "happy trees."