Another Day at the Lake

I got up to Paul and Tracy's campsite just in time for breakfast this morning. Paul was fixing bacon and eggs, potato patties, and bagels. He's a good cook. We went out in the boat later and stayed until afternoon.

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This is Miley, the dog Paul and Tracy are baby-sitting. She is a nine-month old Burmese Mountain dog, very sweet. She doesn't swim, so Paul put their dog life jacket on her, and got her to go fetch a ball . She was having a very good time until we decided to try it without the life jacket. That took away her self confidence - she kind of sank. Then she didn't want to swim any more.

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We saw this scene at a couple of osprey nests this afternoon. The young are exercising their wings. So I guess they will be flying soon. This one would lift up off the nest a couple of feet, and hover there for a while, then drop back down.

I loved the tree this nest is in. One of the young ones was exercising his wings while we watched. It wasn't until I loaded this photo on the computer that I notice there are three osprey in the nest!

I didn't even take my big camera and telephoto lens with me . This was taken with my little compact Canon with a 3x zoom. Lynn is thinking about buying a camera with a 12x zoom, so she should get some great pictures with that.

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This is a picture I took at the lake last summer with my big DSLR and telephoto lens. It is wonderful for wildlife photography, but I have to admit the little compact is so much easier to pack around.

A Day at the Lake

Kasey on her first boat ride.

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Kasey had her first boat ride today at Fremont Lake. Paul and Tracy are camped up there, and Gary brought Kasey up this afternoon, and we went out in their boat. I was very disappointed with the pictures I got of her. Sometimes she was squealing and jumping up and down with delight, and instead of taking pictures, we were watching her and laughing at her. Thank you, Lynn and Erica for the use of the life jacket!

It rained most of the night, but cleared off this morning. We had a bright, warm day with no wind. Couldn't have asked for nicer weather to spend the day on the lake in a boat. The clouds began to move in about 4:00, which was about the time we were ready to call it a day. It is cool, windy, and raining right now.

Kasey was asleep before we got back to town. She had a very exciting day. Tracy and Paul really enjoyed her. Gary has her again Tuesday afternoon, and he told Paul and Tracy he wants to come up again.

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Living on the Edge

I still can't believe I did this. Here is the little skunk who is eating my cat food. He was on the front porch this afternoon, less than five feet from the door. I quietly eased the door open, then even had the nerve (or stupidity) to ease the screen door open. He was so busy eating he didn't even notice. I did stand back a bit while I took the pictures, but I know it was a dumb thing to do. He noticed the sound of the camera shutter, but it didn't seem to bother him much.

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Saturday Augusts 9

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I finished this watercolor a couple of weeks ago. I have never been able to put "leaves" on trees before. I used a sponge, and was pleased with the results.

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Tracy and Paul had not eaten when they got here last night. I pulled some kielbasa and frozen vegetables out of the freezer, and we made stir fry over rice. Tracy kept adding things to it - more garlic, some lemon juice, some hot sauce, some mustard, etc. It was pretty good.

We missed the opening ceremony of the Olympics, but watched all the teams come in and the lighting of the torch. Always pretty spectacular. Today there are women fencers, a bicycle race, and men playing volleyball. I can't get too interested in that. I like the running events, swimming and gymnanists.

I fixed a big breakfast this morning of sausage, eggs, and sourdough hotcakes.

I had bought a new hinge and bolts for my front gate quite a while ago, and never got it put on. Paul did that for me today, and also put a new battery in a smoke alarm.

We went to Falers (oops, I mean Ridleys). Paul got his fishing license, and I bought a new 32 inch plasma TV for downstairs. Paul carried it up, and he and Tracy got it all set up. The receiver would not work correctly, and I ended up calling Dishnet technical support. Seems when a receiver has been unused for a period of time, it has to be reset, which he could do for me, and it works fine. So now I have TV both upstairs and downstairs.

Miley, their friends' dog they brought with them is only 9 months old, is big as a moose, and has no clue what "sit", "no", or "lay down" means. Tracy says she doesn't swim, so they will probably tie her up at their camp while they are out in the boat.

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Cool Afternoon

The temperature just went from 76 degrees to 62 in about 15 minutes this afternoon, when a nice rain shower went through. The NWS in Riverton always issues dire warnings for violent thunderstorms and flash flood warnings. I've never known their forecasts for the Upper Green to be accurate.

Anyway, the cool weather feels good. And it seems the New Fork Fire has been slowed down a lot by the weather. It is about 90% contained. It really didn't burn as long as expected, and it did have a lot of benefit to the forest, burning the beetle killed trees. The bad air seemed terrible to us at the time, but it looks like it is over. Well, at least until the next fire.

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Tracy called shortly after noon and said they were heading out for Pinedale. It will take them about 7 1/2 or 8 hours. They will stay in the house tonight, then set up at Fremont Lake tomorrow. I mentioned in a previous post that they had their dog put to sleep, so he won't be with them. But they are bringing a dog that belongs to friends!

She forgot to put their newspaper "on vacation" and told me how to log on to the Denver Post site, gave me their account number, and I was able to do it for them. Aren't computers wonderful??

My friend Toni has borrowed a life jacket for Casey from her son and daughter-in-law, so Casey will be able to go out in the boat on Sunday afternoon.

I spent some time today trying to make the house presentable - mostly sweeping and mopping the kitchen and dining room. Also cleaned the coffee pot (they get so gross after a time of use). Did a little more cleaning in the kitchen, and started to fold laundry. I can do the laundry and dry it, but am terrible about getting it folded and put away. Well, I didn't finish with the laundry.

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I took this photo of an icicle last winter on a warm day, and caught the drop coming off.

Forgot I did this watercolor of a cat some time ago. I had a hard time with it.

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Tracy and Paul arrived, earlier than I expected them. I just fixed some stir fry with rice, we have eaten, and are watching the Olympics. Missed the opening ceremories. Darn.

And Then There Was Max

This is Max

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Meet Max. He was a Silkey Terrior, and the only dog I ever paid for. His registered name was "Blue Barnaby Maximillan". Isn't that ridiculous? He was about as cute a dog as you would ever see. But he was sure a pain in the neck. He somehow "sensed" if the front gate was open without actually seeing it, and that meant he was off. He was well known at several places around town, and Julie E. knew him well. For some reason, Julie usually just brought him home instead of putting him in "doggie jail". When I put chicken wire all around the fence to keep him in, he learned to climb the fence. I spent a lot of time looking for this darned dog.

The summer Tracy worked as a bartender, she would come home around 2:30 in the morning, and Max got out the gate one time and took off down the street. Tracy chased after him, and yelled at him to come to her. Of course he didn't, so she picked up a big rock and threw it. She couldn't even see him at the time, but somehow the rock hit him. He yipped and came back to her. From that time on, he minded Tracy pretty well!

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Another version of the old tree in Riverton that I photographed. This time I replaced all the buildings with bushes, and put in a new sky. I must have spent a long time on it.

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At art class yesterday, we went through some of the supplies the group has collected that we can buy. And of course I saw something I just had to have. I bought some textured clayboard, which is supposed to be really great for watercolors. Hope I can find time to try it out soon.

Wednesday August 6

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This is Chloe (as a kitten). She is one of the two orignal cats I have had spayed. She looks very much like the photo Lynn posted of her little cat with no tail. Choe does not have a tail either, and has produced several kittens with no tails. She is almost tame, will come in the house and rub on my legs, but doesn't want to stay in the house.

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Enjoyed meeting with the art group today at the Senior Center, but there weren't many of us there. Vicky's daughter is getting married this week, a big wedding at their house, so she is pretty busy with other things right now. Conley was attending a funeral in Jackson, and Barbara , Donna, and Joyce didn't come. Judi, Pam. Terry and I were the only ones there, but we had a new person come. Really nice lady, and I'm sorry I have already forgotten her name.

We also had several drop-in visitors from the Senior Center in Riverton. They had been to a group trip to the Bar-J Wranglers in Jackson, and stopped by to see our senior center. I think they were impressed.

I printed out two photos of the buck deer that was in my yard yesterday. I wanted to show them to Conley, who is a taxidermist. With all the points and other funny growths on the buck's antlers, I wonder if they are "freaks", and if the buck is healthy.

Wildlife in my yard

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This buck was in my yard this morning. I have seen him several times this summer. Earlier, I thought he was a five point. As his antlers grew, I decided he was a six point. Now it is clear he has 6 on one side and 7 on the other, plus funny looking little knobs growing at the base of his antlers.

This baby moose and his mom were sleeping on the ditchbank in my back yard today. There were too many trees to photograph his mother, but I managed to get a shot of him laying down behind some grass - at least his head. He's not very little any more, and his legs look six feet long!

I did not photograph the other wild animal that was in my yard. I looked out on the front porch yesterday afternoon and there was a skunk on the porch, helping himself to the cat food. If he keeps coming back, it might complicate my trapping cats.

August 4

Finished a watercolor yesterday.

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I started this some time ago, and just finished it yesterday. It could use some work on the values, but in general, I was pleased with it. I think I loosened up a bit with this one, which is something I need to do.

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Another Old Dog

This is Hobo. I found him eating road-killed gophers on the highway near Warren Bridge. I was unable to find his owner (his collar was gone), so of course I kept him. He was a wonderful little dog, really devoted. I was at a barbeque at Pete and Sally's and saw that Sally had two little dogs who looked just like him. When I mentioned it, I found that Susan had raised these pups, and had given one to a family who lived up by Warren Bridge. Hobo did not like kids, and I know the family had a boy about 4 years old - probably not a good match. Susan was so glad to hear that he was in a good home. He lived to be about 13 or 14 years old.

It turns out he was a Bichon Frise, a breed I was not familiar with. I had a little girl in my kindergarten class who had a tshirt with a Bichon on it (and she said Sally gave it to her) but it was called a "Bitchen' Frizzy" on the shirt. I loved it!

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It was extremely smoky again this morning, but has cleared up a bit. Seems like the smoke just settles down on us every night. With all the beetle-killed trees, I realize this fire will probably be good for the forest in the long run. But the recovery will take longer than I've got years left!

I didn't take this picture. It was sent to me by a friend, and I have no idea who took it.

Have a Happy Day!

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Another photo from the past. This is Tracy and Natalie at Tracy's wedding.

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Another smoky day. There have been so many tremendous photos posted of the smoke from the New Fork Lake fire. From my upstairs window, it looks like beautiful puffy cloud formations, but when you look more carefully, you see that yellowish-gray smoke color lower down.

For some reason, I seem to have more hummingbirds today. There are at least three, maybe four, fighting at the feeder on the front porch. It looks empty, so I just mixed up some fresh sugar water.

I will get the cat traps from Julie tomorrow and start trapping cats again. Lynn T. sent me her journal entries from when she was trapping cats and taking them to the vet to be fixed. Her story makes my experience sound pretty tame. She was trapping cats in the winter and had to haul them out on a snow machine! It was entertaining to read.

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A Visit from Kasey

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Gary brought Kasey over yesterday afternoon for a couple of hours. I don't have many toys, but she loves the rain stick I have on the table in the living room. And I have a couple of little soft birds that sing when you squeeze them. She's not used to having so much room to explore, and she enjoys just walking around my house.

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My poppies are all dried up and ugly now, but they were sure pretty when they were blooming. I thought I might attempt to paint them, but I am not very good with flowers.

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Tracy called this morning. They plan on leaving for Pinedale sometime Friday. They have a campsite reserved at the lake for the week. I hope we don't have to wear masks to breathe while they are here.

I have been woken up by the smell of smoke in the middle of night several times. Before I am really awake, I think I have a house fire - and then remember how the smoke seems to settle in town every night. I think the forest service personnel would be put to good use by patrolling around the forest and taking people's matches away from them.

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