fire madness....

View of the Cato fire

I woke up to burning in my throat and my eyes watering something fierce.  Thistle and I stepped outside for our morning “constitutional” and the air is just horridly thick with smoke here in town.  As soon as I sat down to my computer, I logged onto the Weather Service out of Riverton and found out that the Cato fire, which is just 13 miles north of town toward Ucross, had exploded to over 20,000 acres overnight. The winds last night were just horrendous and I imagine the fires spread with their help.

This is mind-numbing, folks.  I have friends out there who have ranches and I pray they are okay. Yesterday, the last I heard from one family, they were digging trenches around their property to try to save it and the scanner was so busy with volunteer firefighters shouting what they were doing to try to contain things, it was almost too much to bear to listen. Right now the scanner is eerily quiet and I don’t know what that means. At least the winds seem to have died down for the moment and according to the forecast will not get crazy like they were for the past few days.

There’s also another fire south of Tensleep that is over 500 acres and word just came down of a fire near Cooke City, MT.  Lordy, this is shaping up to being a terrifying summer already. As far as I know, we have no rain in the forecast, either. It’s just so sad.

On to happier news, though.  Yesterday, Sherry and I got together and went to the new Clear Creek Cantina for lunch.  We were very pleasantly surprised that the food was pretty darn good.  The menu was hilarious, I wish I could remember all the cool names they had for stuff, but whoever came up with them has a great imagination.  We only ordered appetizers this first time, choosing the “Nemo Nachos” and some fried pickles for our first adventure there. The nachos were awesome, seafood nachos with a great cheese sauce I haven’t tasted since I left Texas. They have quite an extensive menu and even have things that my Mexican food hating husband might enjoy. The Cantina says that it serves Tex-Mex and I think they may be right!  I’ll report back when I’ve sampled more of the menu.  They also completely redid the inside of the place, sprucing it up nicely.  The only bad thing I can say so far is that they haven’t got their delivery down yet, they seemed a bit ruffled and slow on service. But, they just opened a few days ago, so I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt.

Sherry and I are all set for the benefit for Peg, I do believe.  I got a few more donations yesterday, including a beautiful piece of stained glass art donated by my friend Debbie, that I might just have to bid on myself! Now, we just have to get everything down to the Moose and set up Friday evening and we’ll be all set for Saturday.  From the buzz around town, sounds like we’re going to have a decent turnout, fingers crossed! I have to go pick up two more donations today and I think I’ll be pretty much done.

This afternoon, we have our second “Cash Mob” happening down at the Treasure Chest downtown from 4-6.  The last one was such a success and I’m hoping this one is, too. The Treasure Chest is an antique store and I’m sure I can find something to purchase there this evening to help them along.

Well, I have a feeling I’ll be spending a lot of time indoors in the A/C today, trying to stay out of this smoke.  My thoughts will be with my neighbors out on the prairie and with those firefighters who are risking their lives in this horrible heat to save our precious land and livestock. Please keep everyone out West in your thoughts.  There are fires burning everywhere, it seems.

Mother Nature can be mean....

My gazanias are so pretty already!

Wouldn’t it be awesome if we could take tropical storm Debby, grab it by the tail and drag it over to the fires in the West.  That sure would solve a lot of problems, wouldn’t it? So many people are having difficulties caused by different kinds of weather right now, you really wish there was some sort of magical solution sometime. It breaks my heart to turn on the news in the evening and see the folks down in Colorado and now, even in my own state, being ravaged by fire. Having cable TV, Denver is my “local” news, and I’ve had a front row seat to all the loss.

All the technology we have now and we still can’t save ourselves from Mother Nature. You know she’s gonna win in the end, don’t you? The best we can do is be prepared for whatever particular natural disaster each of our areas is prone to, but being human, we rarely think that far ahead.  It always reminds me that we are the only species on the planet that doesn’t seem to know the rules of Nature’s games.

It got up over 100 degrees here in Buffalo yesterday, and that’s very worrisome for this time of year.  Rob and I were up on the mountain this weekend and the snowpack is already looking pretty pitiful and the forest floor is getting really dry.  I sure hope this isn’t the year the Big Horns gets trimmed with fire. While we haven’t had the absolute devastation of pine beetle infestation that Colorado has had, we have been hit pretty hard, too.  There’s whole areas of dead trees everywhere, just waiting for a careless camper or a lightening strike to start off a major fire. That makes those prayers for rain a double edged sword, since they are frequently joined by cracks of lightening that could potentially start the very problem we are trying to alleviate with the rain.

I spent pretty much all day indoors yesterday. I’m one of those people that doesn’t really sweat, weird, I know.  It’s been a problem all my life. Oh sure, I get the little beads around my lips and a few drops on my forehead, but for the most part I just get really overheated and red in the face. I can’t get cooled down without submerging myself in cold water.  Heat makes me positively ill, sick to my stomach, even.  I went to a therapist a few years ago who had me using a FAR Infrared sauna to try to teach my body to sweat. I even bought a portable one to continue the treatments myself.  But, evidently, I just don’t have that capability to sweat very much and that’s dangerous when it gets this hot. So, I stay inside a lot when it gets near 100, unless I’m out where I can dunk myself in water, like the swimming pool or the lake.

Thistle didn’t seem to mind too much yesterday, though.  We had a grand time playing inside the house.  We have several “games”, which of course, I don’t quite understand the rules for, but she does…the one we were playing yesterday required me to chase her back and forth in my dressing room.  I’m so glad we built that dressing room when we put in the addition!  Jason, the contractor, laughed at me when I asked him to finish it in, saying I was going to have a very odd “closet”,  it’s 28 feet long and about 8-10 feet wide.  But, it’s great for running up and down with the dog! Not to mention we were able to take all the dressers and such out of our bedroom and put them in there.  Thistle thinks it’s her play run and every morning, when I’m getting dressed, we have a wild time in there. She can get quite a head of steam going, running back and forth in there.

Our monster closet & Thistle's play run area

Thistle is in the throes of heat and we’re stuck finding imaginative things to do around the house. I can’t take the chance of taking her for a walk and having a stray male dog find her inviting right now. I’ve got another 2-3 weeks before this is over and I can take her to the vet to get spayed. So, we’re spending our time playing in the backyard and inside for now. She’s a little upset that we haven’t gone anywhere, although we did take her up on the mountain with us this past weekend and got a nice walk in up there.  If I have time, I may try to do that today.  It will surely be cooler up there, anyway. I just have to be sure to go where there are no chances of running into other dogs, right?

Well, I’ve droned on long enough, I guess.  I hope that wherever you are, the weather is cooperating and you aren’t burning or drowning!  We’ll all make it through whatever Mother Nature has to dish out and we’ll be stronger for it. Just keep your wits about you and remember that others are having difficulties, too.  Be compassionate with your fellow earthlings! Love & Light!

monday, again???

Rob and Mr Moose

Morning, Folks! Dang it, when the calendar says summer, we sure get to summer, don’t we? Rob and I just spent half the weekend out in the garden getting the last of the darn weeds out of the veggie garden and it was HOT!  The weatherman had said it was going to get up to 100 yesterday and thankfully it only got up to 98, according to my thermometer.  That was quite warm enough, thank you!

We had a wonderful weekend, though.  We decided to go up into the mountains on Saturday morning to try to get a few pictures before the spring wildflowers disappeared and were rewarded with a few glimpses of a couple of really nice bull moose. We were really quite surprised that we even spotted them because the mountain is already getting overcrowded (in our opinion) with campers and four wheelers.  One of the moose we found was no more than 200 yards from a rather large contingent of campers and I don’t think they even knew the big guy was there.  In Rob’s usual fashion, he patiently zigged and zagged his way to the moose until he was nice and close to take some pretty awesome pictures.  Mr. Moose seemed to be very intent on eating a rather juicy crop of willows and was a lovely subject for the morning.

I couldn’t believe how warm it was up there, too. Usually, it’s at least 20 degrees cooler up on the mountain, but this weekend it didn’t really feel all that cool up there. I don’t think the wildflowers are going to do much this year with all the crazy weather we have had.  Sure, there’s flowers up there, but not the gorgeous blossoming we’ve had in past years.

After photographing moose for a bit, we came back down into town for the Living History Days celebration down at the Gatchell Museum.  That’s always a lot of fun.  They have all kinds of 1800’s everyday life things set up, like a blacksmith and ladies with their spinning wheels and such.  The real reason Rob likes to go is that the Basque Club sells lukainka sausage at the festival. After he ate several of them, we headed back to the house though, because the heat was just getting darn right oppressive. I felt sorry for the folks that were there dressed in wool outfits and those heavy, long prairie dresses!

On Sunday, we arose early to try to beat the heat and get the last of those darn weeds out of the garden. I’m happy to report that we are now weed free for the moment!  All we have left to do is put down the last of the fabric in the garden to prevent weeds from returning and we can sit back and wait for the fruits of our labor to arrive.  So far, the only harvest we’ve got is radishes and kale but I have a feeling things will start producing quickly with this heat.  I have a whole cornucopia of salad stuff growing on my deck and we’ve been having nice fresh salad fixing for weeks now, yum! I planted butter lettuce in one of my pots back in the spring and I’m so glad I did, it’s just awesome.  Of course, I always have arugula going year round, either indoors or out, since no one in Wyoming seems to know what the heck that’s used for and puts it in little tiny containers to sell in the stores.  I eat the heck outta that stuff, putting it in salads, on my sammies, you name it, I just adore arugula.

Sherry and I are all ready for Peg’s benefit, which is this coming Saturday now!  We’ve been all over town, gotten lots of great donations and will be spending this week getting everything catalogued and ready for the silent auction.  I sure hope we get a nice turnout for her so we can help her with her living expenses. She’s off to Billings again today to see if she can have that final drain removed.  I sure hope she’s feeling well enough to come to the benefit herself. I think it would do her good to see how many people care about her. I have been overwhelmed and so happy myself at the generosity of the folks around here in donating items. I hear that she’s even been getting money donations in the mail from folks that won’t be able to make the benefit on Saturday.  Makes me proud to live here, I tell you!

Well, get out there and show Monday what you are made of! Have a fabulous week and make someone smile!

there's heat and there's Heat.....

The wildflowers are starting to get gorgeous!

I totally hit the ground running yesterday and it felt so good to feel better! I may have overdone it a tad, however.  You know how it is when you’ve been sick and languishing around the house for days, right?  When you finally start feeling well, you just want to go full throttle and get back up to speed!

My friend, Ginnie, stopped by to have a wrestling match with Thistle. No, really, she hadn’t been by in ages and Thistle was so excited that she just couldn’t control herself.  We had to keep throwing her into time-out because she just wouldn’t calm down.  No amount of cookies could keep all four paws on the floor, the little beast. Of course, she finally calmed down about the time Gin got ready to leave. It’s weird, she seems to do just fine with lots of people around, it’s when there’s only one person to focus on that she has a problem.

I got the rest of Buffalo pretty much papered in flyers for Peg’s benefit and picked up several more donations for the silent auction, in between the raindrops. Sagewood gave us a lovely gift basket with all kinds of goodies in it, including a lunch certificate, that should go over well.  Crazy Woman Liquors donated four bottles of wine, which Rob says he wants to bid on. I’m going to arrange them in a nice little wine rack, if I can find one.  Sherry called and left me a message that Aaron from Sheridan Media is going to do a story about the benefit, too! We’re cooking with gas, now! I also noticed that the Buffalo Bulletin put a nice little blurb in the paper about it.

Late yesterday, I figured out why Thistle has been getting more and more unruly over the past few days.  It appears she is finally going into her first heat.  I actually had to look it up on the internet to figure out what was going on because I’ve never let a dog do that before.  I’ve always gotten my dogs spayed at 6 months, regardless.  Leslie, my breeder, had suggested that we wait until she went through her first heat cycle before spaying her, though.  I have a feeling that we are in for a wild ride for the next 3-5 weeks.  I’m going to have to call the vet and find out exactly when I can schedule her for her spaying now.  I’m pretty much prepared for it, got her some cute little pants to wear and everything. What I’m not prepared for is her out of control behavior.  The stuff I read on the web kinda scared me. It was talking about never leaving her alone in the backyard and watching for male dogs trying to jump the fence. Oh boy! Just one more thing to make life exciting.  I’m sure we’ll all survive but Thistle’s little personality sure is changing for the moment. 

The weather is so much nicer today for the first full day of summer! Yesterday, it felt like fall around here, windy and rainy and I don’t think it got over 65 degrees.  Today, when I got up, it was already nice and warm and we’re expecting highs in the 80’s! Rob said it’s supposed to get to the high 90’s by Sunday! That will be awesome as we have Living History Days downtown this weekend.  It’s also the city wide garage sale weekend, although I really don’t participate in that.  I need to be getting rid of junk, not buying more. I still have to have a garage sale of my own but I like to wait until fall when there are fewer going on.

Today is going to be all about cleaning the house, I think.  Amazing how messy two people can make a house in a few days.  Of course, the worst thing is the dog hair everywhere at the moment.  Goldens have a big shed time right about this time of year and Thistle is no exception. I had been brushing her daily before I fell ill and still wasn’t keeping up with all the shed. One of the smartest things we did, though, was get rid of all our carpet and put in hardwood floors. It sure makes it easier to get up the hair!

I’ve also got Rebekka’s son, Colby, coming over to help with weeding in the garden today. He’s only 11 and quite the little entrepreneur.  When they were here for the bbq this past weekend, he was negotiating with me for odd jobs around the yard.  I admire that in a kid and so, today, I’ll get him out there and show him what needs to be done.  He’s so cute, though, at first he offered to weed the whole garden for $5.  That is way, way too cheap and I’m not going to take advantage of his lack of knowledge. 

Well, folks, I hope you have a fabulous day!  Get out there and enjoy this first whole day of summer.  I can’t believe the days are going to start getting shorter already.

“Laughter is the healer of all ills. Smiling is the balm that soothes and settles. Both are the medicine that sustains a life of joy. Laugh in the face of problems. Laugh in the path of insurmountable odds. Guffaw in the depths of the valleys, and celebrate with wide beams of sunshine streaming from your mouth when standing on the mountaintops.

Learn to laugh at yourself. Laugh when you triumph, and laugh when you trip. But don't laugh at the expense of others. Share jokes that lift. Watch comedies that lighten the load. See the funny side, and search for it if you have to, to discover another reason to always laugh.”~Dumb Little Man

sleeping my life away...

My favorite view of the mountains from I-90, coming into Buffalo

Gratefulness can sometimes be measured in very small things.  Today, I’m grateful that my stomach is no longer playing midnight sonatas to the rest of my organs, allowing us all to believe that whatever evil virus I contracted over the weekend has finally bid me goodbye! It has left me still a little weak and shaky, probably from lack of food, but I do believe the worst is over.

I think I slept more in the last few days than I have in weeks! I managed to stay up for a little while yesterday before Rob left for work, but as soon as he was gone, my recliner once again became my refuge.  Yesterday seemed to be all about sleeping and healing. I spent most of the day, wrapped up once again in my big moose blanket, dressed in sweats, reading some of my favorite Reiki books and thanking my lucky stars that I was on the tail end of this yuckiness.

Thistle’s been very understanding about the whole situation, which has been mildly surprising. She found lots of things to amuse herself with in the backyard over the last few days, coming in to show me, on occasion, what she’s found. Luckily, the biggest thing she found was too big for her to bring in the house.  We still can’t figure out where she found a rather large strip of deck siding, you know the lattice work stuff?  It’s about four feet long and a foot wide and has suddenly appeared in our back yard. Rob saw her with it on Monday and took it away from her, stashing it under our deck. There’s no way she can get under there, we have hinges so that we can get under there to get to things but long ago put rocks at all the openings so she can’t get through there.  So, yesterday, he gets home and she’s got another one! We checked under the deck to see if it was the same piece and nope, it wasn’t! That piece was still lying right where Rob chucked it.  We’re really scratching our heads over this now.

Granted, we’ve had some pretty wild winds over the last few days, but I just can’t see pieces of lattice work flying through the air and landing in our backyard.  We have a rather large piece of property and only share boundaries with one neighbor, our other boundary being a street. Take into consideration that most of our property is also surrounded by a 12 foot lilac bush hedge and you’ll understand why I’m a little puzzled.

Thistle patiently waiting for me to feel better so we can play

Anyway, Thistle’s been keeping herself amused and for the most part, staying out of trouble. Rob was such a sweetheart at lunchtime yesterday and stopped and got me a mango smoothie. I’m still not trusting my stomach enough for solid food.  He rewarded himself for his good deed by also picking himself up some hot dogs.  The smell of them almost sent me over the edge again but I was so grateful for the smoothie that I didn’t complain.

Today is going to be a much better day, I can feel it already!  Coffee even smells good again. The weather, however, is looking a bit ominous outside. It’s very dark and cloudy over the mountains and feels like we may be in for a storm. You can feel the thickness in the air, like a heavy, wet blanket.  We certainly need the moisture here, so I’m not going to complain.  It seems like a lot of the states around us and some of our own state’s forests are burning because of the high winds and dryness we’ve had, so if we get rain, perhaps it’ll save some trees.

Today, I’ll get back to putting up flyers and visiting businesses to get some more auction items for Peg’s benefit.  On Monday, Sherry took Peg to Billings for her follow-up appointment and they at least got some good news.  There’s no more infection in the areas where the drains were so they were able to take out one of the drains and also finally remove her staples.  They are going to leave in the other drain until they see her again next week because it is still producing a little. But, Lordy, she’s got to feel better with those staples out! They’ve been in her upper legs for over a month now.  Please keep my friend in your thoughts and prayers, she’s been through a lot, the poor dear.  We’re hoping that she’ll feel up to coming to the benefit herself by the end of the month.

Beginning to look like summer on the porch!

Well, folks, I hope you have an awesome day! Tomorrow is the first day of summer!! Life is amazing and so are you!

pity me.....I are sick!

Sunset this weekend

I’m not one to complain but….yesterday turned itself on it’s little head for me and I ended up spending all day battling something ferocious! I was having a lovely morning yesterday, minding my own business, working on a bunch of stuff here on the computer for Rob when I was overcome by the nasty desire to just puke my guts up. This is really not a normal occurrence for me,  I am usually known for a cast iron tummy.  It takes a really nasty virus for me to start horking, folks.

Rob came home for lunch to find me passed out and luckily I had leftover sandwiches from the rodeo this weekend so he didn’t have to actually fix himself anything.  I just hate it when I don’t have things done for him because he works so hard. He kept insisting that I should call the doctor but I thought it best to wait and see if I was still sick today. So, after he left to go back to work, I just curled up in the great room with my trash can and blanket and my trusty Thistle and we spent the rest of the afternoon trying to sleep off whatever the heck this bug is.  I fear I may have caught something from one of the little ones that was here for the bbq over the weekend. Dang kids, gotta love em, but they sure are bug magnets, aren’t they?

I was amazed when Rob walked back in the house at 5 p.m. that I’d slept the entire afternoon.  I could have sworn that he had just talked to me a few minutes before, that’s how sick I felt. Luckily, I remembered that I was supposed to have puppy class and managed to text Barb that I would be unable to make it.  She texted me back and was asking me what the weather was like.  Well, yesterday afternoon, the winds kicked up something fierce and after talking to me, she decided it would be best to cancel class.  Trying to conduct a class in 35 mph winds would not have been easy! So, at least we didn’t miss anything due to my being sick. Rob managed to get a little noodle soup down me for dinner, the sweetie, before I passed out again.

The next thing I know, Rob is waking me up at 11:30 last night, trying to get me up to bed. After a little cajoling, he finally convinced me that I would be more comfortable upstairs and we all made it up there.  Walking up the stairs was not fun, everything was making me very dizzy, but I eventually made it. I don’t think I was awake more than 3 minutes up there before I was back into the deadman’s sleeping sickness mode, though.

This morning, I’m still feeling pretty darn rocky. I took some Compazine to hopefully stave off a repeat of yesterday.  If I don’t start feeling better by noon, I will indeed call the doc. As I said yesterday, I need bloodwork anyway, so it wouldn’t be a big deal to go see her. I haven’t had a fever but that’s nothing new.  Fevers are a response of the immune system and when your immune system doesn’t work right, you rarely have them. 

So, it’s back to the recliner today for me.  Let’s hope this is just one of those 24 hour bugs, which would mean I’m on the tail end of it, right?  If nothing else, I sure got my beauty sleep, I think I’ve slept 20 of the last 24 hours, already! Okay….I’ve been upright too long trying to write this. Ya’ll have a lovely day and I’ll talk to you on the other side of this!

broncs, bbqs and ladybugs....

Cloud Peak Reservoir

We’re getting into the full swing of summer here in Buffalo, I do believe! As I’ve said so many times, whoever decided when the seasons were, must have lived somewhere right around here because spring isn’t officially over until this week and our weather is just now starting to act like it.  We’ve hit the absolutely gorgeous days now. I certainly couldn’t have asked for better conditions for all the stuff we had planned this weekend.

Happy hour on Friday was a blast.  I had seen a picture of some “ladybugs” on the internet, well, actually, someone had posted the picture in Turkish on Facebook.  Once I saw how cute the appetizer was, I just had to give it a try on my friends.  I figured out that it really was simply bagels, lox and cream cheese with a tomato and olive on it, made to look like a ladybug sitting on a leaf. So, I set out last week to duplicate them for my friends.  Because we live in the boonies, I make my own lox. It’s an ancient recipe, going back almost 2000 years, really quite simple.  You just smother the fresh salmon in kosher salt, pepper and brown sugar, wrap it up real tight and let it marinate for four or five days and voila….you have lox! Funny, I can’t stand cooked salmon, but I love it as lox or of course, sushi.

Ladybugs!

So, anyway, I then assembled about 24 of the little bugs, which turned out to be more of a pain in the butt than I was expecting. You cut a cherry tomato in half and then slit each half to make the back of the bug and the use a half an olive for the head.  The pain part came when I tried to duplicate the little black spots, which were chopped olives.  I got more chopped olives between my fingers than I did on the shiny surface of the tomatoes! They were a hit at the bar, though. I brought along the rest of the ingredients, though, and let everyone just assemble their own, once they saw the cute ones!  We had about 8 people at the table and I made 2 ½ pounds of lox, which were scarfed up in no time flat.

Saturday, Rob and I headed to Kaycee to the 2^nd annual Chris Ledoux Days.  They had a really great rodeo in the afternoon, which consisted of nothing but bareback and bronc riding and man, were there some talented cowboys competing! I don’t know how much you know about Chris Ledoux, but he was a bareback rider, back before he got famous for his singing. He’d certainly be proud, seeing all those great cowboys competing in his name this weekend! We are fortunate that the CNFR happens in Casper during the same week, so we draw a lot of talent from there.  I think only two or three cowboys did not have a qualifying ride.

Good Ride Cowboy!

My favorite part of the rodeo the past two years has been the Indian Relay Race, though.  Three teams come down from the reservations to compete and it is a real sight to see.  Each rider must go around the track on a bareback horse, and unlike bareback rodeo, there’s not even a rope for them to hang onto to stay on the horse.  After completing two laps around the track, they then jump off the horse and onto a fresh horse, doing it again, until they have ridden three different horses. It doesn’t sound like much when I explain it, and if you’ve never tried to mount a horse bareback, probably doesn’t sound very impressive.  But, let me tell you, these young men are serious athletes!

We were unable to stick around for the street dance, unfortunately, since Thistle is still a little too young to go that long by herself.  Hopefully, next year, we can either bring her with us or she’ll be old enough to be left at home for longer. Good thing we left, because I think Rob was going to eat himself silly in rodeo food. I had brought my own food along, knowing there’d be nothing “legal” for me to eat from the concessions. I hear that Western Underground and the Younger Brothers were absolutely fantastic.  Kaycee is such a wonderful town, full of friendly, hardworking ranchers and any time we can get down there, we just have a blast with those folks. It looked to me like the day was a real success for them.  The grandstands were overflowing with spectators and downtown, where they had Main blocked off, was teeming with folks, too.

Thistle was pretty miffed that we left her for over 5 hours but a few treats got her over the slump in no time. She spent the first hour just sniffing me up and down, getting a whiff of all the horses I’d been around.

Yesterday, we had some friends over for a big Father’s Day barbeque and we had so much fun! Our neighbors up the street, Ray and Rebekka, have four kids and Ray’s brother, his wife and daughter were visiting from Missouri, so we invited them over for a cookout. His brother just got back from serving a tour in Afghanistan so I offered to make up a big batch of elk burgers, some chicken and of course, hot dogs for the little ones. It was the first time Thistle has been around a bunch of little kids and I must say I was really proud of her!

Not wanting to tempt fate with Thistle, I had her gated away from everyone when they first got there so she could just watch all the excitement and calm herself down.  Once I opened the gate, she was pretty much a perfect little hostess!  Rebekka’s kids are used to big dogs, having a Giant German Shepherd and a Saint Bernard themselves. She and the 5 kids had a blast in the back yard.  Even though Elizabeth and Ashley are only two years old, Thistle was quite gentle with them, which was pleasantly surprising! For the most part, I believe she thought they were just walking treat dispensers.  She dutifully followed the two girls around and caught any crumbs they dropped. There were only a few times when she tried to actually take food away from them.  The funniest part though, was when Elizabeth put her bottle down and Thistle grabbed it and took off for the end of the yard with it! Elizabeth, on the other hand, was more interested in Thistle’s toys than her own. It was an afternoon just full of laughter, let me tell you. I think even grouchy Rob was enjoying all the little kids running around. We haven’t had a real Father’s Day celebration since our own daughter, Jaclyn, was young, so it was a real treat for me.  Plus, any time I get to cook for a mess of folks, I’m in heaven. In addition to the main courses, I made potato salad, asparagus pasta salad, homemade bbq baked beans (even the beans were from last year’s garden harvest) and we had lots of fresh fruit and veggies (mostly for me!)

The kids relaxing with Thistle

I got some sad news when I called and talked with my parents yesterday.  Their oldest Tibetan Spaniel, Clover, had to be put down on Saturday.  She evidently had a heart attack and while the vet said they could get her stable momentarily, because of the heart problems she had, it would probably happen again soon.  She had been diagnosed with cancer a few months back and my folks were determined not to let her suffer.  She lived a wonderful full life of 16 years but she’s going to leave a big hole in our hearts.  My mom was so upset, we just couldn’t even talk, so I spoke mostly with my dad.  This means they are down to five Tibbies, which I think is the least they’ve had in many years. My heart really goes out to them.

So, it’s back to the grind today.  Sherry and I are still hard at work getting items for Peg’s silent auction, which is coming along swimmingly.  Tonight, Thistle and I have our second obedience class to continue teaching her some manners.  I sure wish Barb, the trainer, had been a fly on the wall yesterday so she could have seen how well Thistle did. Now we’ll see if she can carry these good manners over to other folks! Today, I also need to call my doc and schedule some lab work.  I haven’t had any done in over 6 months and I think it’s time to see just where my immune system stands. I try not to let numbers rule my life so I don’t get that particular bloodwork done as often as I should.  There’s not a darn thing I can do with the results except get upset, since the medications have stopped working so I really do put it off. I know it’s a sort of magical thinking to not want to know, but hey, it’s gotten me this far! But, I’ve been getting really dizzy and tired so I guess it’s time to bite the bullet and get my butt in there for a reality check.

So, go forth, all you fine folk, and conquer your world today! Savor all the little joys in life, those are the ones that really matter.  Stop and count your blessings!

“In daily life we must see that it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but gratefulness that makes us happy.”
—Brother David Steindl-Rast

near death experience!

Yard Deer!!

Yesterday, I had to run over to Sheridan because I was out of some essentials. I decided I better do it first thing in the morning because I had other things to do later in the day.  There’s no such thing as rush hour between here and Sheridan, anyway, so I took off around 8, the same time Rob left for the office here in town.

It was a beautiful morning, the sun was shining just gorgeous over Lake Desmet as I passed by, and the mountains were pretty and clear.  I was just humming along until I got to the area around Piney Creek, where there’s a really steep hill and the road splits into three lanes so that the trucks can go over into a slow lane to get up that big hill.  There was a white truck from Sheridan that passed me and then slowed down on the hill, unable to keep up the pace on that big hill, so I passed him, just before I got sandwiched by one of the slower trucks.  No big deal, I thought to myself…  A few minutes later, here comes Mr. white pickup again, once we got up on level ground, flying past me.  It was then that I noticed all the construction equipment in the back of his truck, you know, ladders and such.  I really didn’t take much notice, I was in my own little world, thinking about what I needed in Sheridan and bee-bopping to my tunes in the car.

Luckily, I was far enough behind him, because the next thing I know, his ladder came flying out of the back of his pickup and landed about ten feet in front of my car at 75 mph! I’m not sure exactly what happened at this point, but I’m almost sure that it bounced right over my car and landed behind me! The white pickup noticed that he’d lost it and pulled over.  I was so shook up, I just kept driving. I can’t believe it didn’t hit my car! Talk about an adrenaline rush…sheesh! I didn’t need any more coffee for the rest of the day!

Nothing like a near death experience to get ya going in the morning, let me tell you!  The rest of my morning in Sheridan was pretty darn tame!  I got everything I needed in record time and was very happy that my return trip to Buffalo was totally uneventful. I had just enough time to get everything unpacked from grocery shopping to get to the Chamber’s luncheon down at the Occidental but not before getting one more surprise at home.

I was giving Thistle some loving before I left the house, she being a little miffed that I’d been gone all morning, leaving her in her kennel in the dining room.  So, I was giving her some extra special scratching and ran across a lump behind her ear about halfway down her neck. It turned out the lump was a great big tick! It had obviously been there since our trip down south since it was rather large and full already.  She was most grateful when I got it off, the poor baby.  I figure we must have gotten it in Oklahoma when she was spending so much time running around Denny and Paula’s yard.  They had a lot of high grass around the perimeter of their property and she spent a lot of time out sniffing there.  Of course, I had to wrap up the offending tick and play show and tell at the Chamber lunch with it. I was glad to note that it was a wood tick and not one that carries Rocky Mountain spotted fever.  Today’s chore is going to be going over her more carefully to make sure there aren’t anymore.

I was able to hand out some more flyers for Peg’s benefit at the Chamber lunch and even had an offer from the Buffalo Bulletin to put an ad in the paper for it, so that was awesome! Today, I’ll be going out for more auction items.  This thing is turning out better and better!  Now, if folks just come out on the actual day and bid on these awesome auction items, I think we’ll really be able to help Peg at least pay her mortgage!

While we were at the luncheon, Rachael and Angie told us about a great idea they got and are implementing!  Craig Johnson, the author, who penned the Longmire series that is now number 1 on A&E, is our latest claim to fame right now.  So, we’re going to capitalize on it here in Buffalo and have a “Longmire Day” in July.  For those of you who don’t know, the book series is actually based in Buffalo, although it takes place in a fictional town. They’ve come up with a lot of great ideas for the day and are trying to get the star of the series to come to town for the day! It will be happening in conjunction with our chalk art festival, which is in its second year, having been a fabulous success last year.

I’m still feeling really cruddy, so I went home and slept for the rest of the day after the luncheon. I guess until I get these tumors back under control, I’m just going to have to get things done in the mornings.  It’s frustrating not having the energy to do the things I want to do but I have faith that this won’t last forever.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thursday and a beautiful weekend!!!

Thistle goes to school!

Goofy Thistle

Thistle and I had our first group obedience class last night and we both had a really good time. The rest of the dogs were also having a blast and from the looks of it, so were most of the owners.  Of course, Thistle was pretty out of control as soon as she saw everyone but she impressed me in her ability to calm down and focus.  There’s only three people that she still has real trouble controlling herself around and two of them were at the class last night!  It’s not that she can’t control herself, it’s just that when she absolutely adores someone, she just has to express it by launching all 60 something pounds of herself at them full force! That’s the biggest reason we are attending these classes, you see. 

When we arrived, I was tickled to see that we were not the only Goldens, as a matter of fact, there were three of us! The other two are siblings, belonging to separate owners and there was much joyous reunion greetings between the two. They are both just six months old, three months younger than Thistle.  After they got their greetings out of the way, they also enjoyed playing like crazy with my puppy until the rest of the group arrived. Thistle was then rewarded with the ecstasy of my friends, Bobbie and Meleah coming in the gate with two of her favorite walking buddies, Ruby and Agnes!

After all the greetings, we were finally able to get down to business and learn some basic manners.  Thistle had learned all of these things when we left her with Barb, the trainer, back in April,  but we don’t get a lot of practice with the jumping thing at home.  It was so hilarious, as we were all taking turns approaching other dogs to try the new skills we'd learned to stop the jumping behavior, no one particularly wanted to approach Thistle because of her enormous comparative size to the other dogs! But, she fooled them, only really wanting to jump on Barb and Bobbie very rowdily. We had a wonderful training session and all left with great homework to do until we meet again next week.  Today, Thistle and I are going to head out (me, armed with a pocketful of treats) and see if we can put into practice some of what we learned last night.  Unfortunately, I don’t get enough visitors to the house to do it here much, so we’re going to have to go out into town to try out her new skills.

When I got home last night, I had the last of the watermelon for my dinner that we brought back from our southern trip.  Gosh, it was good and I savored every last bite!  Rob is still trying to figure out how to get more of it out here to Wyoming, the goof. It tasted better than anything we ever get around here, that’s for sure. I wish our growing season was longer so we could grow our own here! Maybe I’ll finally be able to convince Rob to build me a cold case or greenhouse out in the garden so I can make it happen! I think I told you that we've only had one year where we actually were able to grow watermelons, so we gave up many years ago.

Today is going to be a nice, easy day…all I’ve really got planned is stuff pertaining to Peg’s benefit and running out to Sherry’s.  I can’t wait to see Sherry’s flower gardens again.  That girl has such a green thumb and her flowers are always so beautiful!  She’s the one who got Rob and I hooked on growing dinner plate dahlias.  She lives outside town and the winds and weather can be brutal out there but she manages to keep everything looking so great and despite the hail and wind out there, she just keeps plucking along with all her beautiful things. It’s amazing to me how different the climate is just a few miles from town. She has a wonderful dog I can’t wait to see, too. Kola is a great chocolate lab, full of energy, just the sweetest dog you ever want to meet! So far this morning, it looks like the wind is pretty calm, so we should have a nice afternoon out there.  She has the most beautiful views from her property, you can see the whole plains from the front of her house and the mountains from the back. You’d never know you were just a few miles outside town, it’s almost like being transferred back in time to the early 1900’s, back when nothing was around. I always feel so at peace when I’m out at her house.

I hope you find some peace for yourself as well, today. Don’t take yourself too seriously, life is going to happen to us whether we like it or not, our job is to pick the flowers out of the dung and realize the sweetness, right? If we didn’t have trials and tribulations, we wouldn’t know to appreciate the good things.  Every time I get a little down, I have to step back and realize just how wonderful it is just to be here on this earth and have the opportunity to savor the little things that make life so wonderful….a warm hug from a friend, the look of love from my dog, the birds singing, the smell of wet grass…..Have a beautiful day, my friends!

maudlin monday.......

Spring flowers!!

It’s been a busy week around the Yingling household.  I spent a lot of time out gathering items from local businesses for the benefit we’re doing for our friend at the end of the month and it has really paid off.  Both Sherry and I have hit the pavement running on this one and we now think it’s going to be a really great event for her.  We’ve gotten promises from the grocery stores for the fried chicken and ladies all over town are going to be supplying the salads.  Sherry is lining up a bunch of musicians who are going to come in and jam during the benefit and we’ve both gotten lots of donations for silent auction items. I don’t know why it surprises me that we’ve already gotten so much, this town has the biggest heart when someone is in need. We’ve even got the new City/County engineer offering to cook a gourmet dinner for four as one of the silent auction items! 

Other than that, it’s been a very strange weather week.  We started out with nice warm weather and then it all seemed to turn back to almost winter towards the weekend.  I heard on the news that they actually had to close Beartooth Pass due to snow on Friday night! It didn’t get quite that cold here in Buffalo, but it was pretty darn chilly when I woke up Saturday morning, enough that both Thistle and I could see our breath.  At this rate, we may be waiting for the veggie garden to ripen forever! At least, that’s what Rob is grumbling about these days.  From past experience, I can pretty much guarantee that as soon as the calendar actually says “summer”, which will be June 22^nd, we’ll hit the heat for good and all be complaining about how darn hot it is and the veggies will shoot up and catch up on all the growing they missed in this cooler weather. The important thing is that the city pool is now open and as soon as we have a nice hot day, I’ll be over there, swimming my laps again. 

Buffalo has one of the largest outdoor free pools in the region.  The pool is so big, it has Olympic lanes that goes across the pool, only taking up about a third of the pool.  Even on the hottest days, when everyone’s there, it doesn’t even appear crowded. A few years ago, they added a spray park for the little kids up on the pavement by the shallow end and it’s so much fun watching the little ones play in it. The only downside to the pool is that it is fed by the mountain streams and the water is not heated, except by the sun, so when you get in, you better be moving!

I really hope I’ll be feeling well enough to enjoy it this summer.  I figure, though, I can at least get in and do a few laps, no matter how bad I feel.  I know once I get in the water, I’ll feel better, anyway!  I’m a water baby, always have been, spending most summers near water, if I possibly can. My mom tells me she had me swimming before I really even learned to walk.

My health has not been so good lately and I’m getting a little frustrated about it. I’ve had a real hard time this go around sticking to my therapy to try to get these darn tumors to recede to a more manageable size.  It’s funny, the first time, I was so gung ho about eating exactly what I’m supposed to, but this time around, I’m really having trouble. It’s not the fresh fruits and veggies, I have no problem with that, it’s all the other stuff.  I’m tired of not being able to eat like everyone else. For some reason, my willpower is just not there. I know I have to buckle down and take this seriously but when you aren’t feeling good and you want “comfort” food, this stuff I have to eat doesn’t cut it. I need a new game plan before I waste away to nothing, I fear. I’ve been losing weight so fast, I bought a new pair of pants two weeks ago in a smaller size and they are already too big.  See, the problem is that I don’t really want to eat what I’m allowed and so I’m not really eating anything much at all.  The tumors are sitting so they push on my stomach and intestines now, so when I do eat something, I get full after a few bites and since veggies have almost no calories, I lose weight too fast. Also, the lack of calories are making me really tired, I think, and I spend a lot of time sleeping or just laying in my recliner, exhausted.

Of course, it could just be that I need time for it to all sort itself out, give the therapy time to do its magic and as soon as the tumors start receding, I’ll start feeling better and more inclined to eat. I know that Rob’s frustrated, too, though, and that bothers me.  I try so hard to stay strong for him because he worries so much.  He never actually says so, but we’ve been married almost 20 years and I know him pretty darn well. We just had a big discussion this weekend about the burdens of this big house we have now and how neither of us is getting any younger. If it were up to me, we’d downsize in a second, but he’s already talking about hiring help if I can’t continue to keep up with the household chores.  Now I know why people move into condos when they get older, what with all the outside work that a house entails, not even counting the inside work.  With our new addition on the house that we put on several years ago,  we have what’s equivalent to a 5 bedroom house and that’s a lot to clean when you aren’t feeling well. Rob can’t help with me it, either, because in addition to his full time county job, he has the two home businesses to run. If it weren’t for all my medical bills, we wouldn’t have to do all this.

Ack….sorry!  I went off the deep end this morning.  I don’t like to think about this stuff too often, it’s just too overwhelming.  Life will sort itself out, right? It’s best just to take it one day at a time, do what you can and leave the rest.  I really need to take my own advice and concentrate on what is good and wonderful in my life!

Rob and Thistle relaxing  in side yard after trimming lilacs

Speaking of which, Thistle and I will be starting obedience classes this evening with a bunch of other dogs and owners with Barb Walseth!  I had intended on doing solo classes with her in Sheridan but a bunch of other people wanted training and she got a class together that will be meeting here in Buffalo on Monday evenings, so that will save me time and money.  Let’s hope Thistle is ready to learn, I know I am!

Oh, I wanted to tell you...that first "Cash Mob" we did at Artful Hands went awesomely well! Lots of people   showed up and spent their $10-20 in the store and helped the business!  I got a really cute garden hat and a pair of capris, all for $18, so I did my part.  It was so successful, we're doing it again next month!

Well, have yourselves an awesome week.  Get out there and be kind to people, we’re all struggling with some demons. Big love and Light to you all.

cash mob day....

Dancing to the Younger Brothers at the Wild Bunch Luau! We know how to have fun!

Good morning, all, hope your week is going well. It’s hump day and we’re on the home stretch to another glorious weekend filled with warmth and flowers, just around the corner! Man, once again, we had just an amazingly beautiful weather day here, yesterday.  It was hot all day and then we had a little thunderstorm to wet the plants last night.  It wasn’t enough to do anything, the wind was evaporating it faster than it could land, but it was nice.

So, far, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed here, Thistle doesn’t seem to react to thunder one whit! Our last Golden, Tumbleweed, was terrified of storms and we tried everything with her to get her to make it through them.  Towards the end of her life, the only remedy was xanax and being held while she trembled terribly and her tongue practically turned purple from panting so much.  Many a night, I woke up with a 70 pound dog on my head!  I’m going to forgive Thistle a lot of things if she can just keep it together through storms.  She seems to not even notice them, though and for that I’m just so grateful.  I figure if she could handle that huge storm we had while we were down in Oklahoma a week ago, she probably won’t have any problems here.

I spent most of yesterday conspiring with Sherry about this benefit we’re going to do for our friend, Peg.  Sherry is a dynamo when it comes to arranging stuff like this.  For years, she was the backbone of a huge memorial pool tournament for her brother’s memory, until that just got too big and moved to Sheridan.  We’ve got the Moose reserved for the 30^th of this month for the benefit and Sherry is working on getting us a band right now.  I got all the flyers done yesterday and we’ve already started to get donations for the silent auction.  Like I told you, this town rocks when someone is in need!  Looks like we’re going to offer a big fried chicken dinner for everyone, with the grocery stores and hopefully Peg’s employer, here in town donating the chicken.  We’ve already had all kinds of offers for side salads and Sherry’s niece has offered to do some amazing desserts. Any time I have a party of my own, I call Shelby for the desserts because she not only makes yummy stuff, they are always so pretty!

Our sweet friend, Peggy

So, that is going to be taking up a major portion of my time until it happens at the end of the month.  Last night, Rob and I went to a big meeting at the high school that was a public meeting about the future uses of Lake Desmet.  I’m not going to bore everyone here about the details except to say that water is a very precious commodity here in Wyoming and there are some very opposing views about how it should be handled in the future out at the lake.  Right now, Sheridan County, who owns part of it, wants to do a 99 year lease with the Game & Fish for a bunch of acre feet and Johnson County thinks it’s a really bad idea and will prevent future industrial uses if we accept the proposal.  There were a lot of people at the meeting last night and I  imagine this discussion is far from over.

Today, we’ve got our first “Cash Mob” event here in town.  If you don’t know what that is, I’ll explain it a bit.  Once every 4-6 weeks, we are given the name of a business here in town and everyone converges on the business and goes in and buys something for around 10-20 dollars.  It’s sort of like a flash mob of dancers, only we are coming in to spend money.  We’re all starting today from 4:30 to 6:30 and cash mobbing Artful Hands.  I just can’t wait to see how this turns out.  In this economy especially, I think this is an awesome idea!  Other towns who’ve done this are learning that there are even lasting benefits to the small business owner, besides just the day of the sales.  It should get some people into some of the shops that don’t normally frequent them and hopefully, they’ll come back to shop on their own at a later time. I sure hope they cash mob our photography business one of these days!

I never did get over to see Rebekka yesterday.  First, she texted me in the morning and rescheduled me to come up in the afternoon because she got a last minute carpet job and then I got too busy with Peg’s stuff to make it over in the afternoon.  We’re going to try again today to get together.

Other than that, my day is pretty sane.  I may go insane, however, because I’m getting eaten alive by the insects outside and pretty soon I may not have many spots where there aren’t bites!  I’m one of those people who has a high normal temperature (which came in handy in school, they always thought I had the beginnings of a fever) and so I attract the bugs before anyone else does.  My normal temperature sits around 99.2, just perfect to attract mosquitoes.  So, I’m running around like a freak right now, scratching huge welts all over my arms and legs.  Believe me, I wear protection, but the little buggers manage to sink their teeth into me anyway. I’m afraid because of the extremely mild winter we had this year, we are in for a banner year for bugs.

Well, I’m just yakking now, aren’t I?  I hear the rumblings of Rob arising upstairs already so I better get this day started  I hope you have an exquisite day and everything just runs as smooth as glass for you.   Don’t forget to smile at a stranger today, you might be the only smile they get all day. They are free and do so much for the psyche.

energy for others....

Schwabacker Landing, Tetons, last summer!

I must say, if yesterday’s weather was any indicator, we may be in for a really long, hot summer here in Buffalo!  It got up to 90 yesterday already, which is pretty unusual for this time of year. In past years, we’ve been known to have an errant snow the first week of June, but I don’t think that’s gonna happen this year!  Since we had such a mild winter, the mosquitoes seem to be on steroids, too. 

I don’t know what got into me yesterday, but I had a spurt of energy that got me to finally get a lot of things done I’ve been putting off.  Nothing major, just things like dusting, which I hate. I had started the morning planting the last of my herbs in their long pots and getting the bejezus bit outta me by the bugs on the back deck before I got smart and put on bug spray.  I’m now sporting some rather gigantic bites all over. Why do they always go for the back of your knees? That’s a really hard place to scratch!

While I was out back, my girlfriend, Sherry stopped by and we had a nice visit.  We are putting together a benefit for a friend of ours that has just been through a lot of medical nightmares.  We have decided to have a silent auction and cookout to try to raise some money for her.  I stopped by later to see Peg, the friend of which I speak, but I didn’t tell her what we were doing.  She’s one of those people who won’t ask for help, no matter what, so Sherry and I are taking it upon ourselves to just go ahead and do it.  Peg is laid up at home with drains and staples, anyway, so she won’t know what we did til it’s over. I’ve already stopped in at the Moose and reserved the hall for the event on June 30^th.  Now, I gotta get cracking with some items for the silent auction. Of course, Rob and I will donate some photography ourselves, so I’ve already got a start.  I’m thinking a nice 50/50 drawing will bring in some more for her, too. While Peg has insurance for the actual medical bills, the docs just told her it might be as long as 3 months before she can go back to work.  She has a developmentally disabled daughter that she’s responsible for, Cherry, that everyone in town knows, so I’m hoping to get a big turnout to help her with her normal living expenses until she gets back on her feet.

Buffalo is famous for helping its own. That’s one of the things I love about this place.  Anytime someone is in need around here, everyone comes out to support them. Poor Peg started out with an enlarged heart and went to get a cardiac cath to see if there was blockage in her heart and when they went in her femoral artery in her leg to insert the cath up into her heart, they found that IT was 90% blocked! She also has blockages in the heart muscle itself. To make matters worse, after they put in a stent in her leg, that became infected and had to be removed.  She’s been flighted to Billings once already because they thought they were going to lose her and that she had a heart attack during that episode.  She’s now had the drains and staples in her legs for almost a month. Right now, she’s not scheduled to go back to see if she can get those removed until the 18^th of the month. If you get a moment, say a prayer for my friend.  She’s my age and it’s really scary that all this is happening to her.  The worst part is that she can’t even take any pain meds, because they just make her sicker so she’s in a lot of pain, as well.

Anyway, this all took a lot of my day, talking with Sherry and going to visit Peg.  I was a little late getting started because my car was out of commission for the morning. I had a burned out tail light in my car and Rob took my back lights off to get the old bulbs to go get new ones.  My poor car looked so sad out there with its back end all pulled apart. I am happy to report that I’m back to being legal now. With our huge contingency of cops in Buffalo, you don’t want to be driving around with lights out!

The Monument plants are starting to bloom on the mountain!

Thistle was a real booger yesterday, digging in the backyard to beat the band. We are down to a routine with that now…she digs, I fill, she digs, I refill!  She was so muddy yesterday, I had to get a big bowl of water to dip her paws in so I could get all the mud off her before I could let her in the house.  I sure hope she grows out of this particular habit, I’ve never had a digger dog before and it’s a little maddening. Gosh, I play with her almost non-stop, but she’d still prefer to dig something up in the yard!

Today, I’m going to spend some time with my friend Rebekka up the street.  She and her husband’s business has finally taken off enough that she was able to quit her job and concentrate on their cleaning business.  Up until now, she’s been working every day and we haven’t been able to spend any time together.  Our conversations have just been short ones out on the street as she’s driving by lately. She was getting off work too late for me to get up there to see her before Rob got home. So, we have a lot of catching up to do and hopefully, her four kids will let us do some talking! She has the most adorable 3 year old, Ashley, who I know will be stuck to us like glue, but that’s okay, I just wanna eat that one up with a spoon!

I hope you have something fun planned for your day and you have a chance to get out and enjoy this awesome weather before it gets too unbearably hot for the summer!

another amazing weekend....

Beautiful sky in the Bighorns yesterday!

Wow, I just love it here in Buffalo when things start getting into full “summer” mode! Rob and I have been like running around like chickens with our heads cut off since we got home, trying to catch up on yard work and websites since we got back from our southern trip, but the weather has been so glorious, I haven’t really noticed!  Going down South into the depths of humidity has reminded me how much I truly don’t mind the longish winters here.

The first thing we had to do was get unbloated from the altitude change, which always happens when we have a visit down to any “Flatlander” areas.  The first time I went back east for a doctor’s appointment after we moved to Buffalo, I got some bloodwork done and the doctor was freaking out.  She asked “What the heck elevation do you live at now?”  When I told her I was now living at about a mile up, she relaxed and explained that she hadn’t seen that many red blood cells in someone’s lab work in many years.  You see, when you live at high elevations, your body compensates by making more red blood cells so you can carry more oxygen because there’s less in the air at this level. Well, when you go back down to sea level, those blood cells have nothing to do except fill up and you get really bloated!  I was starting to have trouble bending my fingers down in AL with all the congested blood cells.

It takes about two days of running to the potty to get rid of all the extra fluids that accumulate from one of these trips.  Now, you learned some new science, if you didn’t already know this stuff! So, Rob and I are feeling much lighter! I was carrying around about 5 lbs of water weight, thanks to the altitude change!

Anyway, Friday night, we had a blast at the Moose and we were lucky to get there in time for the tail end of a memorial for our friend Jaci, who passed away down in Kingman, AZ. She was such a sweet soul and she’s greatly missed here in Buffalo. While we were there, one of my favorite friends showed up that I haven’t seen in quite a while, so we ended up staying a little longer than we usually do. I think I convinced her to get a membership, so maybe I’ll see her more often! I also picked up two more wedding to do this summer while I was at the Moose and I’m really jazzed about that!

One of the weddings is for a dear friend, Bobby, and will be in early August and the other is for another good friend, Larry.  Larry’s wedding will be a two day affair, complete with pig roast up on the mountain and we’ll be taking our camper up for that one! Larry and his girlfriend are so funny, they had everything all planned except for who was doing the wedding! They had no idea I was an ordained minister, though, and found out while I was on vacation, so everything is working out perfectly and I not only get to do the wedding, I get to celebrate, too!

Saturday, we had to run to Sheridan and pick up a few veggie plants that didn’t survive the cold while we were on vacation.  We only lost one tomato plant out of 14, so that’s pretty good.  My jalepenos took a beating, though, as did the eggplant and had to be replaced. Hopefully, they’ll catch right back up since the weather is finally straightening out. On the same note, all of our garden is up!  The corn is already peeking its little stalks up and I swear the radishes will be ready next week! I am SO ready for some home grown veggies, I can already taste them.  I think I told you, we got a teaser already because there were produce stands all over MS as we were passing through and we loaded up on fresh tomatoes and cukes and watermelons while we were down there.

Saturday night, we had our annual Wild Bunch Wyoming Luau and it was awesome as usual.  The Younger Brothers Band was there playing and they are one of our favorite bands.  Chancy came over (the lead) and filled us in on how great they are doing getting discovered.  They’ll be opening for one of the top performers at Cheyenne Frontier Days this year, which is a very huge deal! They’ve been down in Nashville doing a lot of recording and getting a great reception there, too.  The Wild Bunch put on a fabulous spread, too. All the pulled pork and fixings you could eat and the beer you wanted.  We stayed until after they gave away the Bahamas trip (which of course, we did not win) and then headed home, exhausted.

Thistle found a bone to chew on!

Yesterday, Rob, Thistle and I went up the mountain for a load of firewood and to get the last straight log we need for the entrance gateway Rob wants to build in front of our side walk. We know we’ll probably never be able to have a “ranch” so Rob wants to make a little gateway for the house here in town.  He’s been finding the perfect 12 foot logs and peeling them by hand and he wants to have someone make us a metal lasered silhouette of some sort to go on the top. I told him we’ll have to name it “postage stamp ranch”.  It was just heavenly up on the mountain yesterday, cool and breezy and the clouds were so close I could almost touch them with my hand. 

Rob hauling and cutting firewood

It was Thistle’s first real experience out in the forest except when there’s been snow on the ground and she was having a mighty time!  She even found a big old thigh bone, looked like a cow, probably, to chew on and throw around while we were up there. She’s the busiest little retriever, wherever she goes. She chased centipedes that ran out of the logs and rearranged half the rocks up there, I swear.  I don’t know what she sees in rocks, but she sure loves to carry them around and chew on them.

Last night, we actually went to the theatre and saw Battleship.  We have Netflix and don’t usually go to the actual movies unless it’s something we want to see on the huge screen, anymore.  This was definitely one you need to see in the theatre!  I thought it was going to be a little dumb because it’s based on the board game but it was actually pretty darn good and had an actual plot.  It just amazes me what they do with graphics now!

I’m going to have a nice easy week and I’m really looking forward to that. Thistle and I need to get back into our walking routine and while we were gone, the weeds went nuts.  I only got part of the landscaping fabric down in the veggie garden before we left, so now I need to re-weed and get the rest of the fabric down.  It’s supposed to be in the 80’s all week with no chance of rain, so looks like I’ll get ‘er done. It will take me a while, I’m having trouble bending over these days, those darn tumors are sitting in a funny place right now and making me lightheaded when I bend certain ways. The doc told me to be careful because, since they are right up against my aorta and so large at the moment, if they push at the same time on my aorta, it may cause me to pass out. So, if you see me laying flat out in my garden, please come roll me over, would ya?

Well, have yourselves a fine and wonderful week!  Everyone’s weather should be straightening out now and we can really start to enjoy the warmth.  Life is awesome and beautiful, if you look in the right places and set your mind to it. Focus on the little things to make you happy and the big things will follow!