From the Silver Dog House

Hello all

2010-08-19T19:13:00.006-04:00

It has been nearly FOREVER since I have posted. Life seems to go too fast. The gardens are totally neglected this year but my white butterfly bush is huge. We are in a climate where they usually die to the ground but last winter it did not die and and the resultant giant is amazing. Earlier this week it was covered with Tiger swallowtail butterflies, but I did not get the camera into the yard to record that event. Today it was buzzing with all sorts of butterflies and moths and bumble bees. There were at least a dozen Hummingbird moths whizzing around feeding on the blooms.

Donnachaidh

2009-05-25T11:51:00.005-04:00

We just returned from a weekend at the Alma Highland Festival, where we helped with the Clan Donnachaidh tent. That is Robertson to all us non Gaelic speakers. We still never get our fill of Bagpipes and the Massed Bands. The President of the Upper Midwest Branch of the Clan always brings an impressive collection of weapons. I could not resist posing Richard with the largest. That dangerous looking thing is darn heavy. I carried a much lighter weight, but almost as long, broadsword in the parade of Tartans at the opening ceremonies.

Medieval life

2009-05-24T22:53:00.004-04:00

Here is a video for everyone to enjoy. It is long but worth the viewing.

It starts with scenes of violence and ends with a very tender moment of love, that is the best part so stay to the end.

Edinburgh.com.pl presents: Polish Medieval Tournament in Edinburgh from edinburgh.com.pl on Vimeo.

Rabbits vs. Tulips

2009-05-05T10:17:00.007-04:00

I love Tulips, but they are very hard to grow in my bit of rural Michigan. Rabbits are the bane of this gardener's existence. I have some very beautiful tulips.

But were it not for cages . . . . . .

They would look like this sorry group below.

Virginia Blue Bells

2009-05-05T10:15:00.000-04:00

I love these. Another reason to look forward to spring as they bloom for so short a time.

Ahhh! April in Michigan

2009-04-30T21:26:00.005-04:00

Yes it is spring at last.

Back in the saddle

2009-04-30T21:25:00.000-04:00

I finally went back to riding yesterday after a three month hiatus. This is the barn at Tin Girl Farm where my coach is located. I rode a nice Pinto Quarter Horse gelding named Socks. He is a pretty good boy, and do I have a lot of work to do to get back into some sort of shape.

Winter vacation

2009-04-14T07:12:00.003-04:00

I think that it is about time I posted at least a summary of out trip this winter.

We left home home with the Silver Dog House on the first of February and returned the middle of March. We are thinking that we should have stayed longer in the sunny, if not always hot or even warm south west.

Our second night out we found a state park in Oklahoma where the host was the only other person in the park. When we pulled in it was nearly dusk. The hostess turned on the lights in the restrooms for us and we had Hot showers. We also had water hookup and washed the road salt off the trailer that night. We did a touch up in the morning and had sheets of ice forming, but the road salt was off. Man Oklahoma was cold, we had been hoping for warm by then.

We spent about a week in and around Austin Texas, so we could visit our elder daughter, who is in graduate school at the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the South West (ETSS). We stayed in two different Texas state parks that were quite nice if expensive for our taste. Pictures are on the Picasa web album.

Then we spent most of a week at Padre Island at the National Seashore. Richard and I both loved it. It had been decades since I had seen the Gulf of Mexico. As a child we spent winter vacations on the Florida side. Richard had never spent any time on the gulf and found it very interesting and enjoyable. The beach was unfortunately extremely dirty in comparison to my past experience. We were told the worst of it had been cleaned up but that there was still a lot left over from Hurricane Ike. Richard was not however happy with the corrosion we found on the trailer, when we washed the salt spray off at a car wash, on our way off the island. So to my sorrow he says no more camping on Padre Island or the ocean at all. I have a sneaking suspicion that it may have been the road salt that caused the corrosion.

From Padre Island we went west to Big Bend National Park. Again we ran into hurricane Ike damage. There had been serious flooding of the Rio Grande which had done a lot of damage to both campgrounds on the river. The geology and geography of the park are fascinating. We will definitely go back again.

From there we made as stop at McDonald Observatory and attended both a star party in the evening and a sun party the next morning.

Our next stop was in the Coronado National forest in south east Arizona. We returned to a campground we found last year and stayed much longer this time. I brought a hummingbird feeder with me this year. We had three species of hummers, Black-chinned, Magnificent, and Broad-tailed. However the Acorn woodpeckers were the first to visit the feeder and did so regularly.

From there we spent time in both Saguaro Nation Park and Organ Pipe National Monument. The desert biology is fascinating. And ohhh the hummingbirds were beautiful We actually got three extremely hot days, low 90s, while at Organ Pipe. But fortunately it always cools of at night in the desert. The desert is beautiful and we love it, I guess because it is so different from home. But the plants can be dangerous. The dog got into a cholla and it took some effort to free him of the spines. Richard got hooked in the process. and then I got into one of my own, OUCH, the spines are barbed and hurt like crazy to pull out

While in the Tuscon area we visited the Pima Air and Space Museum. Then we discovered another beautiful campground on the west side of the Chiricahua Mts. and stayed there several days. On the way back east we went through White Sands National Park and camped on top of a mountain in the Lincoln National Forest near a small mountain town with the descriptive name of Cloudcroft east of Alamagordo. It was very much still winter there. Cold and lots of snow. the dog loved it. And the price was right. Free, in a national forest recreation area parking lot. Our departure from the sunny south west took us through Roswell.

We camped in a lot of Wal-Mart parking lots between destinations. Some were noisy and at least one we had all to ourselves and was very quiet.

Once we got home we wished we had stayed another month - but I was expected back at work. So here we are with snow still in piles and on the north side of slopes, and freezing temperatures every night and only in the 40s or maybe low 50s during the day. BRRRRR!!! But it is time to clean up the yard and get the garden season started.

AH! April in Michigan- this is Spring?

2009-04-07T11:08:00.002-04:00

I woke up yesterday morning to the sound of snow plow blades scraping on pavement. Surprise!! Surprise!! it is April in Michigan, and not even Easter yet, Holy Week to be precise, so a native Michigander should not be surprised.

The storm had started with rain which was attested to by the creaking of ice on the tree limbs when I poked my head out the patio door to take the first picture here. These April storms tend to be very wet snow, great for packing - snow men, snow forts, and snow ball fights. It is also BEAUTIFUL! creating snow sculptures covering every surface, from cars to the smallest twig on shrub and tree.

I am glad my daffodils are not up very far, but the Crocus are buried beneath this heavy wet blanket. Will it keep them fresh like the florist's cooler? One can hope.

More pictures from winter 2009 trip

2009-04-04T21:53:00.003-04:00

Life has been busy so I am Just gradually getting pictures of our trip posted on my Picasa album. There are a few more here since the last time I mentioned them. Someday maybe I will find time to write a short history of the trip because there ARE stories to tell.

Meanwhile I am "wasting" time on Facebook keeping track of my friends and family so I have to give up computer time somewhere and it has been here that I have neglected.

Ah!!!! April in Michigan, spring at last

2009-04-01T11:12:00.001-04:00

Left Turn at Joy

2009-03-25T10:27:00.000-04:00

Left Turn at Joy

Christina has found some wonderful music with a vital message.

Please go see and listen.

2009 travels

2009-03-17T15:08:00.003-04:00

Well so much for posting daily or even occasionally, during the winter escape from Michigan winter.

We are home again and it is March 17, Wow St. Patrick's Day. And it seems we are at least two weeks early. There is still ice on the ponds and in the ditches and the frost is not out of the ground yet.

I took lots of pictures, during our six weeks away from home, which I am working on getting into my Picasa Albums. They start with "2009 Seminary of the Southwest" and I am gradually working on getting more up. Unfortunately I will be a fairly slow process as there is a dirty trailer and house and yard to get "Spring Cleaned". Four huge jobs ahead to integrate with working.

Watch for more pictures to come.

Day two

2009-02-02T17:40:00.001-05:00

Monday February 2

When we left Wal-Mart at 8:30AM White One said it was 27 degrees. Plus the wind was blowing so it was pretty cold.

Tonight, Monday night we are in an Oklahoma State Park, We are the only ones here so we had the pick of sites with electric and water hook up for $16. It is an opportunity to get the Michigan Road salt and mud washed off. But what a cold job for Dick to do after dark with unheated water

Driving through Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois looked pretty much the same but as as we crossed the Mississippi River, the geography changed drastically from flat farm land to steep rolling woodlands. I-44 is cut through the hills so there are sheer rock faces. The woods also changed from mixed hardwoods to Oak and Cedar with Sycamore's white tops towering above the the rest of the forest. There was a gradual change, as we crossed Missouri, from the hilly Oak/Cedar forest to the flat open grasslands of Oklahoma. There are odd large mounds occasionally dotted on the flat former Prairie. When we asked about them, a local fellow said he thought they were natural.

As the day progressed the amount of snow also lessened until in Oklahoma there were just the few odd bits left in the shade of buildings.

So the roads have been pretty much the same boring interstates that one too often chooses when you are in a hurry to get somewhere. We started with I-69 in Lapeer, Michigan and took that all the way to Indianapolis, Indiana, then switched to I-70 and picked up I-44 in St. Louis which took us all the way to the Oklahoma border where surprise, surprise we were on the Oklahoma tollway with no other place to go. But it turned out to be not a bad thing. There was a very helpful lady at the information plaza who showed us how to get to Austin without going through Oklahoma City and the easiest way to get around Dallas/Fort Worth. She also pointed us to several Oklahoma State parks – and we picked the first one we came to. It was getting dark and we were tired. We MIGHT get to Austin tomorrow but maybe not. We may just find somewhere to stop on the way.

The trip starts

2009-02-01T20:04:00.001-05:00

Tonight we are “camped” in the Wal-Mart parking lot in Vandalia Illinois, the same Wal-Mart where we stayed on the first nigh out of our Spring 2008 trip. Then it was April and pleasant shirt sleeve weather. Tonight it was hovering just above freezing as the sun went down.

When we left home this morning the roads were slushy or snow covered most of the way to Lapeer. From Lapeer to Lansing they were just wet, and from west of Lansing the roads were mostly dry. The sun was bright most of the day and the highest temperatures were in Indianapolis when it reached 47

We saw wildlife and wildlife signs all along the Michigan roadside fence rows where deer, we saw one doe, had been working the shrub and tree plantings for fruit and twigs. At one point we saw a flock of turkeys scratching for food and were able to see their tracks all along a ditch bank that paralleled the road. Snow continued to be deep even forming large drifts on the roadside banks well into Indiana. Then North of Fort Wayne the roadway banks had large ares that were bare and large areas of corn fields were more exposed so the snow was less deep than at home.

In Indiana we saw several herds of deer foraging in corn stubble and what looked like frozen lakes because the fields were so completely covered with snow. But by the time we reached Vandalia which had a severe ice storm last Monday and Tuesday the snow was much reduced.

Sunday 7:30 AM

2009-02-01T07:33:00.001-05:00

Headed out. The sun is just coming up and the wind is blowing but the sky is BLUE.

Are we ready yet?

2009-01-31T22:48:00.003-05:00

Tomorrow morning is the day we want to leave EARLY on our escape from this snowy northern winter in the Silver Dog house.

It is late and we are nearly ready to leave but still have some major things to do tomorrow morning. Put the mattress back in the trailer and make the bed. Move food from the fridge in the house into the trailer. Load the bicycle into the back of the truck.

Then we are good to go and praying for good roads all the way to Austin. We are getting apprehensive about taking a trip this time of year and Dick has already sworn we will not do it again.

Pray for us we will need it.

Creativity

2009-01-17T20:20:00.007-05:00

I am finding it difficult to "be creative" everyday. Or at least I am having difficulty labeling the things I do that may be and I don't notice. At the least I have created some grand dinner salads recently. In an attempt to continue work on a lap throw I am making out of scraps of yarn, I have bought three new crochet hooks this week. Three not because I needed three but because, first I could not find the stash I have somewhere in the house, and second because I lost the first one I bought in two days. So with the replacement I bought a second for insurance.

Then this evening in ANOTHER snow storm I found God's creative hand had etched mountain scapes of snow on the windows of out poor cold Silver Dog House who is just itching to be in a warmer climate, just like we are.

Now here are two creative men and horses

2009-01-06T07:46:00.002-05:00

Now here is creative.

Creative?

2009-01-04T21:40:00.000-05:00

Does going through old pictures of my own wedding count as creative?
Even in black and white we look like this was the 70s!

Creative E-Cards

2009-01-03T15:24:00.006-05:00

If you are reading this post you have probably received a greeting card that I sent from the Jacquielan Lawson, web page. Jacquie is an English lady that does wonderful E-Cards. If you like them, they are not expensive and you can get to her site from the banner at the bottom of the page or the Card of the Month on my sidebar.

Being Creative Today

2009-01-01T12:41:00.000-05:00

We went to the annual after Christmas sale at Past Tense, as we do every year. This picture of the clear pink ball is the only picture of one of the new ornaments that I like - so far. I am not done trying.

I think probably a lot of my attempts at Being Creative Every Day will involve my camera. I love playing with the digital camera because there is no waste of film if the pictures do not turn out.

Creative Every Day

2009-01-01T10:20:00.004-05:00

Last year I tried the challenge to post every day. I did not succeed. When we travel it just is not possible to post every day and when we got home I never got back in the swing of every day posting.

Now I have found a new challenge to be Creative Every Day. It tickles my creative side. I love the idea of trying to be creative in some way every day by cooking a good dinner, or baking, or crafting, of finding a way to add exercise to my life or.. or.. or..

So here begins a new challenge on New Years Day.

I will decide how to post, whether to create lists each week or just write a paragraph or two of my attempts to meet the challenge, or post a photo of my attempts. That I will decide when it is time to post. I am looking forward to this challenge because there are so many ways to be creative.

Goose Down? Pillow Fight?

2008-12-20T17:34:00.006-05:00

The Silver Dog House with snow piled up like feathers, after the storm Friday morning.

Snow day

2008-12-02T11:54:00.002-05:00

We had a huge snow storm on New Years day 2008, which I blogged about. And now on December 1, 2008 we have had another heavy wet snow that closed schools and got me stuck in the driveway on the way to work. Fortunately a good samarin came by with a plow on the front of his pick-up truck. He saw Dick trying to dig me out by hand. So he came back, plowed the bottom of the drive and then dragged a path for me to drive out. Thank you kind man with the white truck and red blade.

The snow is beautiful and it was a perfect "snow-person" and fort building day because the temperature stayed just above freezing. Roofs were dripping until late in the afternoon when the temperatures fell below freezing and the roads got icy again.

A new Cross on the wall

2008-11-26T21:26:00.000-05:00

This cross has been in a box in my closet for at least two years. Why on earth have I let it sit there so long? It is lovely and the little tealight smells so good too.

BRRRRR

2008-11-25T21:00:00.007-05:00

The first real snow fall started during the day yesterday. It brought with it the "snow plow guy" to the parking lot at work with his blade and salt. By the time we left for the day it had stopped snowing and someone had graciously cleared off our cars. I think it was probably another employee who had left earlier. Thank you Sheila.

We were greeted this morning with more of the very wet, cold, white, stuff weighing down the spruce branches, and sticking to any vaguely horizontal surface.

November ramble

2008-11-22T17:57:00.001-05:00

It was a lovely sunny day today so I took the camera out doors for a little while and walked down the road a short way.

Thanksgiving Cactus

2008-11-22T16:04:00.005-05:00

Of all my plants I think this is the hardest one of which to take pictures.

Where did Thanksgiving go?

2008-11-22T12:41:00.005-05:00

Even though we have yet to celebrate Thanksgiving, the stores are full of Christmas decorations and music. Last week I tried to do some shopping for Thanksgiving table decorations. All I could find was Christmas fare. Thanksgiving seems to have been completely supplanted by the much more profitable spending of the "Holiday Season". Halloween candy is not out of the stores before the Christmas decorations are for sale in the "garden centers". As the Christmas season approaches we are inundated with commercial signals to buy buy buy, spend spend spend. That is not what Christmas is about. Christ came to give himself. My daughter's Blog expresses her thoughts on the subject very well here.

I admit to getting all hyped for the Christmas Season - too early - I fear it will feel stale by the time Christmas truly arrives. And I am always left feeling a huge let down when the real 12 days of Christmas are ignored by the rest of the world. Maybe I should be relieved that those who celebrate the full 12 days from December 24 to January 6 are left without the hectic commercialization during the true Christmas season.

And just for practice I am embedding the You Tube video from Josephine's web site here too.

Say Thanks to our Troops

2008-11-19T08:49:00.001-05:00

Xerox is doing a great service to help build the moral of our troops overseas.

Opening Day

2008-11-15T16:45:00.001-05:00

In Michigan, Opening Day of Firearms Deer Season is a HOLIDAY. In some places the schools close if it is on a weekday. So many of the boys and some girls from Jr. High through High school will be in the field that the day will not count for attendance. And the teachers, male and some female are in the field too.

This year it is a cold rainy ugly day.

There was a Doe hiding in the back of our garden all day. We discovered her in the morning near our compost pile, probably enjoying the last of the discarded apples. She soon moved to the back of the garden near the pines along the back property line. It was a safe place to be. We have had several deer eating off the trees in our orchard all fall.

For the first time since we have lived in North Branch - over 30 years - there was a "Buck Pole" set up in front of one of the merchants. On the way to work this morning there was one buck hanging. People coming into the Library all day commented on how many there were and by noon it was not only full but over flowing to a makeshift pole arranged on the tines of a hay fork lifted high by a blue tractor.

FINALLY - the last entry from our spring trip west .

2008-11-09T22:24:00.004-05:00

I left off on the last trip post with us just entering Monument Valley. We found their RV "parking area" and unhitched the Silver Dog House. Then paid the $7.00 to drive a trail among the Buttes, Spires, Towers and cliffs. The formations are the result of uplift and then millennia of water and wind erosion. The red color of the sedimentary rock that makes up the formations is a result of large deposits of iron oxide. Monument Valley is probably the most photographed landscape on the planet so I just had to contribute my collection of pictures.

The wind was blowing hard the whole time we were in the valley and we still had Monument Valley pumpkin orange sand in the bed of the truck when we got home.

We spent that night camping on the beach at Lake Powell.

The wind was still blowing and some kids camping in tents had problems with them blowing down the beach if they were not in them. The Silver Dog House was buffeted by the winds all night. Duncan had a swim but cut it short when he became more interested in a neighbor's dog than in minding his manners.

We were beginning to run short on time but still wanted to see Zion and Bryce Canyons. After all we had come this far we could not leave without at least a look at part of Utah.

We made the mistake of breaking one of our own rules - never try to find a new camp site on a weekend. First we tried Coral Sands State Park where the sand was more ORANGE than coral in color and the campground was full.
We pushed on the the east entrance of Zion where we were told that the campgrounds there were full. There were none back to the east and Richard did not want to drive through the tunnel with the trailer so we turned around and went the long way around, back south through Arizona to the west entrance near Hurricane.
After searching out a doggy day care where we could leave Duncan for our tour of the park we finally found ourselves at the only full service RV park we stayed in during the six week trip (except for the Airstream Factory). Early the next morning Duncan was deposited at the doggy day care and we spent the day touring Zion Canyon on foot and with the almost silent propane powered shuttle buses.
We returned to collect Duncan before dark and spent another night cheek to jowl in the very cramped park.

Now we headed to Bryce Canyon. Here the campgrounds were not full but the choicest sites were and we had to choose one on a steep slope. That afternoon we worked our way to the end of the road at the highest point in the park, stopping at lookouts along the way, and drove right into a snow storm. Zion Canyon was the first time in the trip we had been too hot and now we were freezing cold. I took pictures as long as we could stand the cold and wind then returned to the trailer and its heater. The next morning dawned bright and clear and found us as Sunrise Point to catch the first light over the Canyon. It was cold but beautiful. We spent the morning retracing out steps of the afternoon before and taking pictures with sunlight on the scenery instead of snow falling from low lying clouds. Wildlife showed itself in the form of Wild Turkeys and Pronghorn Antelope, neither the least bit afraid of us. The sun on the Aspen trees showed me what Richard has always told me - the Bark was white as birch in the east. The morning felt rushed as we broke camp and headed east at lunch time.

The last part of the trip was a two and a half day mad dash across the continent from Bryce Canyon National Park to the Airstream factory in Jackson Center, Ohio. There is one large album in Picasa that covers that 1500 mile stretch. Most of the pictures cover the scenic drive north of Bryce Canyon through Grand Staircase - Escalante National Monument and then east across Utah and Colorado to the Eisenhower/Johnson Memorial tunnels on I-70 which cross under the Continental Divide at 11,000 feet.

Utah 12 is a designated scenic road that twists and turns through some of the emptiest landscape we saw on the trip. It crosses the north west edge of the Colorado Plateau and is as nearly soil less as any landscape I have ever seen.

Utah 12 met Utah 24 and traveled east through Capitol Reef National Park, another area I would like to spend more time. We finally met I-70 and headed east. That night we stopped at a Wal-Mart parking lot in Glenwood Springs.

The next morning was cold and rainy. We drove I-70 through mountains with snow still on the ground. the last section of the Interstate Highway system to be finished goes through the very narrow Glen Wood Canyon. The Interstate is paralleled by the Railroad which of course came first. In order to make the railroad and highway fit in the narrow canyon with the river they are built on three different levels, the highway on one side of the river and the railroad on the other. At Hanging Lake Dam in Glen Wood Canyon there is a tunnel through the mountain that is amazing. My picture is from the highway but I have since found a flicker album of pictures that are much better than mine. There is a rest area there that we unfortunately missed, so there are pictures from different angles. The Flicker album also includes the Eisenhower tunnel. If you run your cursor over this one you will see the rail road tunnel as well. And here an east bound train going under I-70. And this picture shows I-70 divided on two decks at different elevations, plus has information about the canyon I wish I had known before we drove through it. We will have to go this way again. Here is a blog with an amazing photo of the west end of the tunnel entrance, from above. You can see all three tunnel entrances, and the dam on the Colorado tributary.

Beyond we climbed to the Continental Divide and went under it at 11,000 feet through the Eisenhower/Johnson Memorial tunnel. By the time we reached the Continental Divide we had returned to winter with deep snow on the ground. Fortunately the cloud cover was out of flakes and we drove just underneath the bottoms of the clouds through a dark morning with the sun actually trying to burn through.

From full winter west of Denver we descended to spring across the plains and spent the next night in a Wal-Mart parking lot in Topeka, Kansas. That was a nearly 700 mile drive. The last day's drive was over 700 miles in the rain. We pulled into the camping area at the Airstream Factory in Jackson Center, Ohio at 10:00 pm Thursday night. They have a nice camping facility they call the Terraport, where your stay is free, the night before, day of and night after, if you are getting service. We met a couple from Alaska who would be staying over the weekend as their service was more extensive.

Friday morning early they came and collected the Silver Dog House and were done with the repairs in very fast order. We took the factory tour in the afternoon and shopped at the factory store.

Saturday we made the relatively short drive home.

Election Day

2008-11-04T20:42:00.001-05:00

It is very warm here for November 4. I have several windows wide open listening to the Robins in the yard that were singing in the early morning. Though most of the leaves are off the trees there is still a great deal of color to be found if you just look. So as I wait to go to the poles, in hopes of hitting a time without a LONG line, I took my camera around the yard and found a lot of color. There were soft pastels and bright reds to contrast with intense greens that have not given in to the onset of fall.

Voting took 45 minutes. I was number 583 but only 562 ballots had been feed through the machine. I heard at least 3 people who had spoiled their ballots and had to re-vote. Sure hope they don't run out of ballots. It is NOT hard to follow instructions. Fill in the arrows, and vote for not more than the number it tells you.

There was a really remarkably RED burning bush at the corner of the Township Hall where I went to vote. Of course I did not have a camera with me. But when I went back into town with an errand to run and took the camera with me I was disappointed. I returned to the Burning Bush to find that from 11:00 A.M. to 4:00 P. M. many of the reddest leaves had fallen and the yellower leaves were now showing through. Now the direct afternoon sun brought out the orange and it was still very bright, even if in a different shade of scarlet.

Duncan

2008-11-01T11:57:00.007-04:00

November 1 dawned bright and chilly. Duncan of course was eager to go celebrate another morning, as he does everyday. He found his favorite play thing - a LONG stick. In this case it was an eight foot stake we had used in the garden. His likes to run as fast as he can either carrying, pulling or pushing the sick along.

It entertained him for a long time even when he tangled it in his rope. His enthusiasm eventually broke it in two which made it a bit less fun. But never enough for him to loose interest. He wanted to bring part of it inside when I grew tired of the games.

Winter is on it's way

2008-10-29T19:49:00.007-04:00

I spent some time yesterday cleaning up flower beds and creating a pile that will make a Halloween bonfire.

Then this morning we got up to snow scattered around where the cold air kept it frozen. I tried to take some pictures but they did not turn out very well. The snow was not pretty flakes but little lumps like Styrofoam.

The sun came out later in the day.

Then on the way home from Lapeer I stopped and took a few pictures of a soy bean field that I had been wanting to photograph for for a couple of weeks. The trees behind it had been much more colorful a few days ago. But the smooth stretch of tan beans all the same height made an interesting smooth field.

Looking back at summer

2008-10-25T21:17:00.009-04:00

I was reading an Airstream forum thread and complimented a contributor on her photos of a trip to the Porcupine Mountains in the UP of Michigan. In return she commented on some of my summer photos. That and the impending snowy weather, made me go back and take another look at summer. I found a group of photos taken after a heavy, early morning hard rain. I had gone out in the mid day sun to see there had been much damage.

The Phlox were lying down with the Day Lilies peeking out from the fragrant white arch of stems.

Some of the Lilly blooms were badly damaged but others were just heavily bejeweled with rain drops glinting in the bright mid morning sun.

More images of raindrops on the garden may be seen at my Picasa album.

Koi Pond

2008-10-19T15:41:00.001-04:00

Finally - Spring trip west - almost finish.

2008-10-07T16:07:00.013-04:00

I have been putting off the diary of the trip we took west way back last spring - yes April and May. My original plan was to post the diary that I wrote on my lap top as I went. If I had been able to access the Internet that would have been dandy. But instead I tried to recreate the diary as if I were writing as I went, and post date the entries. But life is too full of other things to edit what I wrote as we traveled and so my original plan fizzled out after a few days. Now it is five months later and I give up on that.

I have posted my pictures on my Picasa Album.

Here I will try to write one long entry that is a catch up.

The last entry in this blog was dated May 5 and 6 and was about the "secret" birding spot in Southern Arizona.

From there we headed north into the fascinating state of Arizona. I have fallen in love with Arizona. The variety is wonderful. If you get tired of where you are, you can drive for about half an hour and you are in a totally different environment. As we left the mountains where we had spent the last few days we were bound for the Navajo Indian reservation and Canyon De Chelly. On the way we traveled through hillsides covered with cactus of several species, and spring wildflowers.

We camped by a huge lake - Roosevelt Lake which is really a reservoir - in the desert, surrounded by cactus and mesquite bushes.

We stayed there one night and then traveled on north climbing onto the Mogollon Rim where we were in forests of large Ponderosa Pine and the temperature had dropped until the perpetual wind was cold instead of comfortably cooling as it had been on Lake Roosevelt. The road then took us back down to desert, through the Petrified National Forest, where we only went into the headquarters, and on to Canyon De Chelly.

We arrived at Canyon De Chelly National park early in the afternoon and found a camping spot in the very congested campground. The only empty place we found, with a number on it, was what we backed into. We thought it might have been a second host spot but the Host's trailer always had a sign on it "gone for the day, back later", so we could not ask. There was never anyone in the booth at the entrance during the single night and two half days we were there, so we never found out what the fee was supposed to be.

The first afternoon we drove the south rim of the canyon taking pictures. There was a strong police presence everywhere both Federal and Tribal. We had been told at the Petrified Forest National Park headquarters to never walk away from our car or trailer, even ten feet. without locking it. We watched sunset over the canyon and returned to the trailer for the night.

We had also been told to be wary of the "res" dogs. We understood that when we walked around the campground. There were dogs everywhere and though they were a bit wary of us were still clearly begging. The next morning we drove the north rim and then headed for Monument Valley.

If you look at a map of Arizona almost the whole north east quarter of the state is the Navajo Reservation with the Hopi Reservation a small holding completely surrounded by the Navajo. Monument Valley is managed by the Navajo Tribe. We took a shortcut across the reservation on a Tribal blacktop to get to Monument Valley. The pictures in my Picasa album show that road and approach to the Valley. The Geology is interesting. almost all of the formations both approaching and in Monument Valley are a result of water erosion of water deposited red sandstone, leaving mostly red but also some white, gray and pink layers in the buttes. There are however several volcanic plugs that are remains of ancient volcanoes. These stick up out of the flat landscape like giant jagged teeth in shades of black and dark green.

Change of plan - - - I am making a break here and posting this part of the "final" entry. More to come another day.

Sleeping Bear Dunes

2008-09-19T09:59:00.005-04:00

We had a wonderful camping trip at D. H. Day Campground, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore from September 2, 2008 through September 10, 2008.

Many more pictures are on Picasa.

Desderata: by Max Ehrman, 1927

2008-08-22T08:37:00.005-04:00

I found this poem, which sounds old but is early 1900's, quoted on a blog that I visited, after the writer visited mine and commented. I was taken with it and so am repeating it here.

Go placidly amid the noise and haste and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible, without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant; for they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexatious to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery. But let not this blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are the child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

Air Show Weekend

2008-08-12T08:31:00.001-04:00

It was a good Thunder Over Michigan and we plan to work the air show again next year. (I don't know how long this link will work now that the show is over.) This year's show was dedicated to the P-47 Thunderbolt.

Because the Yankee Air Museum is at Willow Run airport in Yipisilanti, a two hour drive from home, we decided to spend the weekend in the KOA that is just a five minute drive from the airport. We were pleasantly surprised at the KOA. Yes the sites were crammed in tight as all private campgrounds are. But we had a nice shady drive-through, it was acceptably clean and it was quiet. Next year I think I will however choose a site with full hoop up instead of just water and electric. This year was unusually cool so we probably used less water than otherwise and we filled up our gray tank by Sunday night . . . . . . . soooo I think I will spend the extra for a full hookup next time.

I worked the A-Team which stationed me at an admission gate. The A-Team crew takes money and tickets as people come in. The boss of the group has worked out a system that gets cars through fast so the wait was never very long for anyone.

My Dear Husband was a Garbage Grunt. That job is a tough one as most of them took two or three shifts and worked all day. The final clean up on Sunday takes several hours after everyone else has left. But their job has them on the show grounds all day, picking up FOD and being sure the garbage containers are not overflowing.

One of the best perks of being on air show staff is access to the "VIP chalet" tent which is reserved for VIPs, air-crews, and volunteers. We were fed an awesome catered meal at noon each day and when our shift was over we could sit in the shade of the tent or in chairs right on the flight line and watch the show.

The Ramp Crew would also be a really awesome job but that requires a lot of experience and training. That group has immense responsibility handling and directing the aircraft traffic on the ramp.

We had cool weather both days with rather high wind and the threat of rain which held off until after the show was over, then we got heavy rain both afternoons. The wind and threat of storms had some effect on the show but in the end all went well.

The highlights of the show for me were the flight of the bombers, the heritage flight, (This picture of the F-16 and P-51 is not my picture since my point and shoot digital camera just will not do the job, as you can see from the picture above of the B-24s and the B-25, but it gives you a good representation.) And as always the row of B-17s. The bombers included the only two flying B-24 Liberators left in the world, a B-25 Mitchell and four B-17 Flying Fortresses which is about half of those left flying in the US . The B-25 Mitchel is owned by the YAM and is very rare as it actually flew combat missions in WWII in the African theater. Most War Birds that are still flying have survived because they were built late in the war or just after the war was over and found other civilian uses. The B-17 Yankee Lady that is owned by the YAM was built after the war ended and was used for fire fighting.

The heritage flight was an F-16 and P-51 flying in formation with the F-16 tucked in behind and to the left of the P-51. It was an awesome sight. Their final pass over the crowd came from behind, and as they passed over head they did a roll toward each other and then out. It was breath taking.

The Rain held off until the crowds had left. But we got a heavy downpour during the policing of the grounds both Saturday and Sunday. On the drive back to the KOA Sunday evening we were treated to the most intensely colored double rainbow I can remember.

Summer Garden

2008-08-06T18:17:00.006-04:00

Here is a red day lily from my garden and a link to the Picasa web album of my July garden.

Summer

2008-08-06T11:47:00.003-04:00

Tiger lilies in the morning sun.

Hartwick Pines State Park

2008-07-28T20:11:00.000-04:00

Last week we spent a few days at Hartwick Pines State Park with DH's sister and her husband. While there I was gifted by my S-I-L with a set of real, original, official, Don Featherstone, Flamingos!!!! Now we are complete!

We had a very pleasant four days at one of the nicest State Park Campgrounds in Michigan. Though we got almost every weather available in Michigan, NO snow thank goodness, we had a very enjoyable stay. Two days of pleasant coolness and two warmer days with only one afternoon and night of rain. It was clear the next morning.

Here is the traditional view from the door.
And one of Duncan enjoying the view.

I have Flaminogs

2008-07-28T11:49:00.000-04:00

2008-07-24T15:43:00.003-04:00

Play: Seven things about me

I've been sort of tagged for a "seven facts" meme by Tandaina So here we go:

1. List these rules on your blog.

2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog.

I rode horses when I was a kid but stopped when I had kids, then went back to riding when I was 60.
I love our Silver camper and would rather be camping, at high altitude in a National Forest.
When I was a kid I also preferred my middle name to my first name, but I like my first name now and am glad my daughter likes OUR middle name.
The best job I ever had was working at Seven Ponds Nature Center as an Interpretive Naturalist
I was the only woman in my Wildlife Department classes at MSU
I don't much care to cook but am fairly good at it when I set my mind to it.
I'm 62.

3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.

OK I'm going to break rule three because like Tandaina I can. So instead I'll be lazy and say that if you want to play consider yourself tagged. Please leave a comment here if you play so we can all go peak. :)

Back

2008-06-05T10:02:00.004-04:00

It has been a long time since I have posted here. We have been on a long spring vacation with the Silver dog House and as soon as we came home life became chaos. Our house is completely torn up for remodeling and rooms have been converted to different uses from when the children lived at home. So it was a scramble when one child asked to move back home for a few weeks. That is where we have been and what we have been doing. Thus I have not really felt like taking the time to post here.

SOOOO now that life is a little more settled, first I have to make time to look over the thousands of pictures I took over a five week period. Then I will start to post a diary of the trip as if it were being posted as it happened in real time. So I will need to back date the entries to match the actual dates when things happened. I am guessing some posts will be just a few pictures. Most of the pictures will eventually be posted to my Picasa photo albums and I will post links within diary entries. The photos will take some time to manage. So no one hold your breath, Nephew D, that means you :) but they will eventually get up.

BIRDS - Monday and Tuesday, May 5 & 6

2008-05-06T15:16:00.011-04:00

Wow what a place!! This birding secret I am going to keep! I have never seen so many different kinds of birds in such large numbers. I am not going to name this campground. Two days of birding has added a lot of new birds to my life list including a rare tropical bird that nests in the Mexico and only a very few mountain valleys of southern Arizona. We are nestled in a narrow canyon with a forest “scrub” Oak, Arizona Sycamore, Juniper, and pine. The deep, rocky sided, valley we walked up had HUGE Arizona Cypress which are very rare in the U.S, with a mixed forest that had other tall conifers mixed with the shinning whine trunks of the Sycamores. There was a rocky creek that ran through it sometimes with significant water, sometimes dry. The wall were sheer rock faces that did not let the sun into the floor until about 9:00AM.

Here are Richard and Duncan standing beside a very large Arizona Cypress

Our most exciting discovery in that valley were Elegant Trogons. We saw two males. These are a rare tropical bird that is native to Mexico and only a few canyons in southern Arizona. My picture is very poor at best - he was very hard to see in the shade of the thicket of tree branches. We found him only by his odd call. But we could see that his back was coppery green and we got a glimpse of his bright pink breast.

Everywhere we looked were new birds that are never seen at home. It was really strange to find Chipping Sparrows, a common native of home too, in large flocks. There were no House Sparrows and no Starlings. But some of the birds that were new for me on this trip were not here. The list for this place is long.

The Acorn woodpeckers were fascinating with their clown like coloring of Red, Black, and white and their raucous flocks that tumbled through the woods, like a band of preteen boys.

Another camper had put out orange halves and hummingbird feeders. They attracted Bullocks Orioles and Scott's Orioles which are yellow instead of orange. Broad tail, Black Chin, Blue Throated, and Magnificent Hummingbirds were at the feeder.

I also saw a Green Tailed Towhee, White Winged Doves, Gray-Breasted Jays, Pinion Jays, Steller's Jays. Ravens. Audubon's Warbler which is now lumped with the Yellow Rumped, Townsend's Warbler, Wilson's Warbler, Painted Redstart, Western Tanager, Hepatic Tanager, Black Headed Grosbeaks, flocks of Lark Sparrows, Yellow Eyed Junco,

Gila Cliff Dwelings: Saturday, May 3

2008-05-03T18:12:00.003-04:00

We rose fairly early and I got a real shower this morning because we have and empty gray tank and access to good fresh water.

The road to the Gila Cliff Dwelling National Monument was a very narrow and winding. But the scenery was worth the drive. This time of year the Gila river is fairly small but the river bed is wide and fairly deep. The foot path to the cliff dwelling wound through the narrow valley of the Gila and crossed back and forth. The history of the Ancestral Peobloans is fascinating, way too complicated to discuss here.

There was an interpreter at the top of the trial, at the ruin who was extremely knowledgeable and informative.

She answered a lot of questions we had about the area, and confirmed our guess that some of the rocks we were seeing were indeed volcanic. Millions of years ago this area had been extremely active volcanically. Which deposited a deep layer of sediment which consisted of volcanic ash and cobble from gravel size to small boulders. In some areas there were deep layers of pure volcanic ash. It was in these deep layers of sedimentation that the caves were formed.

The Cliff dwellings were built of slabs of this Gila Conglomerate, the volcanic ash and gravel cemented together by pressure, and mortar made by mixing water or urine with the dust that the volcanic ash part of the Conglomerate broke down into.

My pictures of cliff dwellings and pictographs that were at another site in the Monument are Here.

Duncan had to stay in a little kennel they had at the Cliff Dwelling contact center since dogs were not allowed in the ruins. They were dusty but otherwise “clean” and we used a padlock to lock him in.

On the way back "home" we stopped for homemade ice cream at a little tourist store.

Friday, May 2

2008-05-02T20:43:00.001-04:00

I am sitting in the Silver Dog House in the driveway of a tire shop, typing the first half of this entry on the Pink Flamingo. White One the magnificent is disconnected from the trailer and in the bay getting his poor flat tire fixed. Duncan is with me sleeping, oblivious to the problems of travel. This repair should not take too long.

This morning it was COLD again, there was ice on the bottom of Duncan's water bowl and we dressed fast for the drive out of the campground with hopes for no more slow leaks in tires and to meet no one coming into the campground. The thermometer on White One says it is 23* We were not as early as we had hoped – 6:54 AM.

We did meet one vehicle not far from the campground but had no trouble getting around. The biggest problem turned out to be visibility with the sun already over the horizon and directly in our face on the dusty, sap specked, windshield. Washing it did not help much. But we arrived at US 180 with no unpleasant events in about 35 minutes.

We stopped for breakfast at a roadside litter barrel. In Michigan we have roadside tables here there are roadside barrels more often and no tables. How the landscape has changed.

No more Ponderosa Pine. Now, where there are trees, they are the evenly spaced Cedars and Pinion Pines, competing for water. Where it is treeless there are bushes, with small chartreuse leaves beginning to come out and Yucca dotted thickly over the range land. Here the Yucca grows to at least six feet tall and sometimes branches near the top. Old bloom stalks, often several year's accumulation, stick up from the tops. I wonder if they are indicators of overgrazed range much like Hawthorns are indicators of overgrazing at home. The Prickly Pear cactus here have pads as large as a salad or even luncheon plate with thorns that look at least four inches long, unlike our native Prickly Pear at home with pads the size of teacups or smaller.

spring is beginning to show its face in the wildflowers that are blooming along the roadside.

We found this place in Silver City, NM to have the tire fixed. We were able to just pull into their parking lot, unhook the Silver Dog House and pull White One into the bay. And they did not charge us anything to fix the tire.

There was a Super Wal-Mart across the street where we tanked up on pop and chicken for lunch. Then called the local KOA where we dumped our tanks for $10 and they let us tank up on fresh water. They even gave us very good advice on what road to take to the Gila Cliff Dwelling and the campground we were looking for.

We passed a HUGE open pit copper mine. It is at least two miles long and maybe a full mile across. They have been actively mining there since the 1800's

The Campground turned out to be just fine, with clean pit toilets, good water, and nice hosts.

Pueblo Creek, Apache National Forest: Thursday, May 1

2008-05-01T20:16:00.010-04:00

The road that we came into the campground on is a gravel two track which crosses Pueblo Creek over the wreckage of a bridge and continues west to Arizona, no town listed on the sign, just Arizona. There bridge washed out at some point fairly recently and has been marginally repaired with gravel pushed over the wreckage. The crossing is marked as closed but we have seen several vehicles cross it and go on west. If we had the time we might have tried it but we need to have the tire fixed before we venture anywhere as we now have no spare.

Today we walked along Pueblo Creek which runs past the campground. The creek bed is wide and paved with huge jumbles of cobbles and boulders. The torrent that washed out the bridge is now mostly invisible. There is a small pool at one end of the base of the bridge and occasionally a small trickle of water showed itself among the cobbles. But for most of the walk the creek bed was dry. Part of the way we walked in the creek bed but later ventured onto a trail that climbed high on the face of the valley wall.

Part way along our walk we met two men with a small group of Pack Goats and a couple of dogs and chatted briefly. It was interesting to learn that Pack Goats are a growing "industry". There are a number of outfitters that use them in the back country. They are strong, and you do not need to carry any food for them. The dogs seemed to be pretty good at keeping the goats. The link above is the one they gave us.

Wednesday, April 30 - Day two at Pueblo Park campground.

2008-04-30T16:37:00.003-04:00

I awoke this morning to the fantastic view through the curved window at my head. Ponderosa Pines were silhouetted against the sky as it began to lighten. The newly risen moon was hanging behind the tree tops above several lines of pale yellow clouds that gradually turned pale pink.

I call myself a tree hugger and here are some of the reasons why. These immense Ponderosa pines are so beautiful they almost make me weep. There was also morning bird song for the first time in the trip. Birds have been amazingly absent in many places. However we have seen some new life list birds for both of us:

Roadrunner

Western Bluebird

Pinion Jay

Spotted owl (heard not seen)

Dark Eyed Junco – gray headed Rocky Mountain race

Broad Tailed hummingbird

Great Egrets

We have also seen some old friends among the western birds and ones that are familiar from home:

Raven

Mockingbird

Western Kingbird

Stellar's Jay

Red Shafted race of the Common Flicker

Clark's Nutcrackers

Black Billed Magpie

Robin

Mourning Dove

Tree Swallow

Chipping Sparrow

White Breasted Nuthatch

Purple Martins (not really everywhere, We saw these in Wichita at Nephew S's home. It was a real treat as I have not seen any in years)

Crows

Cattle Egrets

Starlings

Grackles

Red Tailed Hawks

This morning the Robins started in singing, then a Flicker called and drummed. A bird with a trill followed by a couple of more clear notes has been calling all morning. Flocks of swallows also fly at treetop level both early in the morning and in the evening. They have bright white breasts and dark wings and tails and no other markings that I can see, so I will guess that they are Tree Swallows. The Stellars Jays are numerous and vocal.

Later in the day as we were sitting in the lawn chairs, one of the cutest animals I have ever seen boldly moved across the grass and jumped up on the picnic table. This squirrel had such large tufts of hair on his ears that they were almost the height of rabbit ears, he was gray with a brown back and white undersides including the underside of his very large bushy tail.

We have had very good luck so far with the truck and trailer – but today DH walked around White One and discovered a flat tire. What an ordeal, no nails just a leak, no idea where or when it happened. Thank goodness we made it into the campground and did not get stuck on the six mile access road. Once the tire was changed DH broke out the compressor and the generator to find the leak.

We are learning that the wind blows all the time during the spring in the west. The tree tops are really dancing in the wind but today there are only comfortable breezes at ground level with, a few gusts. We are dusty and dirty but who cares it is camping and there are NO sounds of other humans or of human machinery. All is quiet except the wind in the trees and the calls of the birds. The warmth has finally arrived today after the very cool spring weather we have been having.

For those of you interested in the solar on the Silver Dog House it is really putting out the Amps. The batteries are at 100%. For those of you who know what it means the battery is at 13.3 Volts (DH says 13.1 is good) and the panels are charging at 3.4 Amps. When I charge the laptop off the trailer batteries it draws down to about 75% but returns to 100% very quickly. Of course I can plug the many electronics we are carrying into the truck while we are on the road.

We are on open range here and although there seem to be fences and cattle guards between us and the herds there is a rather large red bull right here in the center of the campground enjoying the very fine very short fresh green spring grass.

It is very dry and between the wind and low rain fall the fire danger is very high. The ground is dry as a bone and very dusty. Everything is covered with a thick coating of grit. Yesterday we had the relief of fairly low winds. Today the wind started blowing after full sun up and continued to increase most of the day. It got really warm in the middle of the day but the temperature has dropped and I think it will be cold again tonight.

Monday, April, 28 from the Pecos River to Apache Springs

2008-04-28T20:16:00.018-04:00

Today we left Field Track Campground. Arrived at the exit at 7:30. Stopped to chat with the Hosts and take pictures. It has been a good stay and the Hosts are really good folks.

Up the Pecos river valley, at the campground, no leaves are out on trees though the cottonwoods have catkins, and the shrubs bear a few very tiny beginnings of green. As we came down the valley the leaves were coming out and some trees seemed to be in heavy bloom, possibly they were Ash Leaf Maple (we did not stop to check the identification). As we came into the small town of Pecos flowering trees were beginning to show colored blooms.

The architecture here is really attractive. No buildings over two stories high and all of mission style either real adobe covered walls or if not adobe painted the tan and rust earth tones of the landscape. The building blend into the landscape and are not eyesores like so often happens in the north country of Michigan.

As we drive south on I-25 the country is becoming more and more arid. The occasional arroyo shows a topping of black columnar basalt where the flat terrain is broken by the arroyo. The Basalt at or very near the surface could explain why the country is so desolate looking. The rocky tan soil must be very thin and supports only scattered shrubs and very thin growth of last years grass. We saw only an occasional grazing cow. In the low areas there are trees, probably Cottonwoods and Ash Leaf Maple. Here at lower altitude than the campground they are showing small spring green leaves.

We crossed the Rio Grand river so suddenly I did not get a picture. The braided river flowed through a wide shallow typical western river valley with levies along the sides far from the small stream of water that is there now. Large wide topped trees grew all along the sides of the river right out to the levies. The trees must be really old to be so large, they are really narly looking. I think the large ones are Cottonwoods.

The agricultural landscape has changed suddenly. There are huge “basins”, surrounded by low burms, with what look like little trees with collars planted in rows in the basins. These basins extended about 400 feet back from the road to the foot of the hill behind. We discovered that

they are wine grapes after passing a building with a winery's name on it. These basins must be flood irrigated as we passed one very large irrigation ditch running full with water flowing straight toward the road down from the hill behind the basins creating an impressive "waterfall". It was amazing to see so much water running openly in this arid area.

The landscape changed repeatedly today. First we left a forest of Cedar, Douglas Fir and Ponderosa Pine with Cottonwoods along the Pecos River. We descended to arid grasslands that were interspersed with hills covered with thin woodlands of Cedar and Pinion Pine. At times we came down hills onto flat-lands where the road went straight as an arrow and disappeared between the next hills which we would then climb. The land was empty and beautiful in its
constant changes.

VLA = Very Large Array = It was right on the way to where we were headed, a campground on he Gila National Forest. If you have see SF movies you have seen the VLA. This is not new technology but it is still providing researchers with radio photos as good as advanced optical Telescopes. We stayed long enough to take the walking tour and get up close to one of the antennae, each antenna is very large and the array extends in a Y formation that spreads across the high desert for 13 miles.

There were lots of Jackrabbits just hopping around mostly unconcerned about us.

We finally pulled into Apache Springs Campground in time for a late dinner of leftovers. The campground is very near the road but the grove of Ponderosa Pines in which it is located is spectacular. I don't think I have ever seen any larger trees, not even the huge White Pines at Hartwick Pines State Park in Michigan (the last stand of virgin White Pine timber in existence in Michigan). Ponderosa Pine are also called Western Yellow Pine, and are closely related to our Red Pine from home. These trees are capable of growing to 150 feet in height and to a huge diameter. They are growing in an almost pure stand with just a few MUCH shorter but also mature Junipers and the ground covered with long tan grass from last year. The trees are breathtakingly spectacular and grow spread out like a planned park due to the shortage of water. The arid west does not allow for the dog hair growth of trees that we see in the much wetter midwest.

Saturday, April, 26.

2008-04-26T10:44:00.004-04:00

Freezing temps again last night. But we are warm under the wool blankets and the down sleeping bag.

DH went and helped B, the camp host sweep off the top of the stone covered cistern which creats water pressure for the campground water spigots. M and B are really nice folks. They have been hosting this campground for 17 years. It is not a job either DH or I would like to do. They tell stories of the neighbors and locals that make it sound like their jobs can be hard to deal with, but they come back year after year and have also made friends here.

We walked part way up the “road” DH and Duncan walked yesterday. Wow I can sure tell we are over 6K feet of altitude. DH went to 8900 feet yesterday but we only went to 7700 feet today. It is a lovely Ponderosa Pine forest mixed with HUGE Douglas Firs and another fir I have yet to identify. They look like the Con-Color Firs sold as Christmas trees, but may be Subalpine Fir or some other kind. We stopped and watched the adult Clark's Nutcracker feeding young ones, and are amazed that they have young off the nest and fully grown already. The woods still look like winter, no snow on the ground at this altitude but no deciduous leaves breaking the buds yet and there are still very few birds in the woods. I wonder if it is still too early or just too barren in spite of, or maybe because of the large forest cover. The soil is hardly what we would call soil at home. It looks more like pea gravel only not so sorted for size nor so rounded in shape. The slopes are steep and there are sheer rock faces with interesting formations. Going up we met two white pick ups trucks coming down, moving very slowly in low gear. The first was carrying a load of Aspen trees balled, for sale? There were a few wildflowers in bloom. Oregon Grape, which I am used to as a largish shrub that can get as tall as a single story building, was very small, individual plants no more than 4” tall with one cluster of bloom and just a few leaves. It grew dispersed over the ground the way cactus do because of the shortage of water. There was also a very small white mustard of some sort also not more than about 4 or 5 inches tall. Yellow False Indigo, a species of Baptisia also called Rattle Pod was in bloom. They were much smaller plants, up to 12” tall and only a few stalks per plant, unlike the Baptisia in my garden which grows to three feet tall and spread a foot or more across at the ground. This is a DRY environment.

We had a fire in our own open fire pit tonight instead of going to one of the little log cabins.

Friday, April 25, Field Track Campground.

2008-04-25T21:00:00.001-04:00

Freezing temps last nigh, there was ice coating sticks which were in contact with the water. Thank goodness for the furnace. We slept soundly to the sound of the Pecos River rushing over rocks in the channel and wind in the large Ponderosa Pines.

My stomach did not feel just right at bed time last night. Today I did not feel well – stayed close and read all day. Part of the day I followed the sun in my lawn chair as the shade moved. A large flock of very noisy Stellar's Jays moved through the campground, but there were few other birds. Not even many Chickadees and no Robins yet. It is still very early spring here. There are no leaves on the deciduous trees and little new green coming up. The wind was cold and it was hard to stay warm so I gave up and went into the trailer.

DH went for a long walk with Duncan up the mountain, across the road from the campground. He took the GPS with him and we stayed in contact through most of his walk. He called to have Clark's Nutcracker identification confirmed and then called to say they had found snow.

A whole flock of Magpies flew north up the river late in the afternoon. Migrating?

There are the cutest little fireplace buildings here. They are three sided log cabins with a rough stone fireplace and chimney that rises just about the peaked, shingled roof. After dinner we went down to the closest “cabin” and had a fire in the fireplace. It was very enjoyable.

While we were there a very large flock of swallows swirled around the campground at tree top height making their typical twittering sounds. They are high and all I can see is that they have dark backs and all white breasts.

Sleeping with the windows open is a dream. We can wear winter Pjs and snuggle beneath the wool blankets and the down sleeping bag/comforter. And be sung to sleep by the noisy/musical Pecos river rushing to the Rio Grand.

Thursday, April 24 - Wagon Mound to Pecos, New Mexico

2008-04-24T21:54:00.001-04:00

The wind came back up during the night and was very strong for a while.

Up at dawn, got dressed and moved on looking for a rest area to get breakfast. Found one about 5 miles down the road.

It turned out we did not need to be worried about our choice of places to spend the night. Someone else had spent the night in a van and across the street at the other gas station there were three large trucks doing the same thing. (as we traveled we would find that a lot of people slept in all sorts of places that you would never find happening back home) At the rest area there was a Mocking Bird singing his head off in a spruce tree. There were also some amazing Yuccas.

We were back on the road before 8:00 There are occasionally very large very dark birds soaring over the grasslands. They have pointed wings slightly canted upward and long round tails. AT first I thought they were dark phase Swainson's Hawks. But we later figured out they are Ravens. There are Ravens everywhere out here. Crows occasionally, but lots of Ravens. As we traveled south on I-25 the grade gradually changes from flat to rolling and the vegetation changes from grassland to mixed conifers.

The conifers look like very even aged mixed stands of Pinion Pine and Red Cedar. They grow so evenly spaced as to almost look planted. My memory, of long ago biology classes, tells me that their spacing is dictated by the water supply.

At Las Vegas, New Mexico we found a Visitors Information center, where we were directed to the National Forest Service office in town. From there it was suggested we might be able to camp at a campground north of Pecos. Although the campground is not officially open until May 1, we were told that the host is there and he might be willing to let us camp.

Just off I-25 we discovered Pecos National Historic Park. It was the site of an ancient pueblo and a mission established by Cortes. Duncan was welcome on a leash so we walked the trails between the old and new pueblos and the remains of the mission church. The mix of plants was interesting. Pinion Pine, Red Cedar, Choila, Rabbit Brush in bloom, Prickly Pear cactus, Yucca, and areas of grasslands. The short leafless trees we learned later were "scrub" oak.

The Pueblo was located on a hill overlooking the valleys below. Their 360 degree view afforded a strategically defensible location. There were two pueblos. The older one had been there before the Spanish arrived and the newer one, in close proximity to the church, was built by the converted Indians. There were also ruins of two churches. The first much larger than the second and built of stone rather than the adobe brick of the second. The remains of the second church were amazing. I am such a Midwesterner that this arid western climate always surprises me when I see how much of ancient ruins can survive even the periodic torrential rains.

When we reached the campground the host was most gracious and welcomed us to stay because we were carrying our own drinking water. This is a beautiful small campground in a mixed conifer forest on the banks of the Pecos River. The conifers are mostly large Ponderosa Pines with Douglas Fir and Red Cedar mixed in. We chose a partly shaded site right on the river.

I am looking forward to staying a few days in one place after the last two long days on the road. We are backed up to the Pecos river and it is running full and wonderfully noisy. We were able to hook our water up to the faucet and though we can't drink it because there is still too much chlorine in it we can wash and bathe with it. What luxury for a National Forest Campground.

Wednesday, April 23, - Leaving Wichita, KS

2008-04-23T19:48:00.007-04:00

There was a rumble of thunder while we are getting ready to leave, and there are warnings of Thunderstorms here and for the area we will be going through. We are on our way west starting at 8:55 AM

I am riding with my laptop computer that is of course Flamingo Pink to go with the Silver Dog House, on my lap. Today I will repeat the running commentary as we go.

(Now that I am editing these entries in August I do not much like the format but for this days of long drives I will leave them as they are)

The land is flat as can be, quilted with green winter wheat fields and huge expanses of pale straw colored warm season “prairie” grasses some pastured and some not.

Now we are seeing a few fields that have short dark stems from last year and white “trash” lying about. Cotton! I think these are the cotton fields that our Nephew D told us that they are starting to grow some.

The sky to the south is very threatening – solid gray, and it is windy - it is always windy it seems out west.

11:06 AM Large rain drops are hitting the windshield, and there is hail mixed in!!! we have pulled to the off the side of the road and are creeping along the shoulder. Hail sure sounds big on the roof of the truck. It looks pea size for the most part. We have stopped on the shoulder to sit it out. One car stopped across from us but moved on very shortly. Now it is mostly raining with just an occasional hail stone. There is one lightening flash and a bit of thunder. The rain is beginning to let up. - FLASH – every once in a while a rain drop sounds big – hope that is – FLASH – not any more hail.

11:18 We decide to move on, it is still raining hard but no hail now. Now the sky ahead is lighter and the rain is letting up a bit.

We just passed an old Airstream. Now that we are "streamers" we notice others and see more than we used to because we weren't looking before.

Whew 11:30 rain has let up and pavement is just damp here. That storm is the worst wind and rain with hail we have weathered with the rig.

These huge warm season grass fields are great pheasant habitat. It is very flat with only occasional trees or long lines of classic windbreaks composed of shrubs, with conifers on the south side and deciduous trees on the north side.

11:35 Another storm cell this time we pulled into a roadside park to sit it out, just in case there is more hail. HAIL a work that strikes terror into an Airstreamer's heart. The weather reports are predicting large hail with these storms in south west Kansas and north Oklahoma.

Wow we are going through Greenberg, Kansas in pouring rain. This is the town that was hit by a HUGE Tornado last year and was completely leveled, only the elevator was left. The devastation is still nearly total. Someone has propped a hand lettered sign “we are making tornado history” against a pole beside the road. The John Deere dealership is back up and running. and a few hoses and other buildings are scattered in the rubble. But the trees still look like my memory of news footage of the European theater in WWII.

Geez - It is pouring again and the visibility is terrible. Oh well this is western Kansas the only scenery is wheat fields and pastures and the occasional grain elevator.

This is certainly prairie; the soil is BLACK, and the only trees are in the drainages and around homes and farms, planted as wind breaks. They are haying the warm season grasses.

12:58 the sun is trying to come out thought the clouds are really low, almost fog.
We have left the green wheat fields behind us. Now great expanses of grassland and wheat fields alternate as far as we can see. Yucca is growing in the rough ground between the road and the RR tracks that parallel the highway.

Occasionally there are corn fields with overhead irrigation systems. Great wheeled monsters that pivot around their center point with hoses dangling from the connecting booms so the spray is delivered close to the ground in an effort to prevent as much evaporation as possible.

As we continue west the land continues to change. Now low eroded “badlands” are beginning to appear between the fields, more and more of which require irrigation. Sagebrush with the Yucca are beginning to fill uncultivated areas. The land is falling away from the prairie “heights” and it is beginning to look like the west instead of the prairie breadbasket .

4:56 PM We continue to drive through cells of thunderstorms at some point I sure hope we get behind this front. The wind and sometimes hail that comes with the rain are what we should expect from this part of the country.

We stopped at the “Mid-America Air Museum” in Liberal Kansas. The Museum is a very nice collection of non flyable aircraft in a former Beechcraft factory. The whole time we were in the museum the wind blew really hard. The museum has a B-25J Mitchell, a P-51 Mustang, an Avenger, and a really long list of more including everything from Ceasnas to an F-105.

The very nice lady at the museum offered to let us camp overnight in their parking lot since it was approaching the time of day that sane travelers settle in for the night. I was very tempted to take her offer but DH wanted to press on. He was sure we would find a friendly Wal-Mart parking lot when we connected with I-25 in New Mexico. We only have to get through the panhandle of Oklahoma and a bunch part of New Mexico. When we left we wound up in a really serious blow and pouring rain, again. It was really quite scary.

Now we are headed due west through the middle of the Oklahoma panhandle. New Mexico is about 90 miles ahead. The sun is shining with blue sky overhead and ahead, and the storms are behind us at last.

The country here is as absolutely flat as the proverbial pancake, mostly light tan colored range land and only occasional trees where there are houses but they are scattered far and few between. Occasionally a filed is plowed but it is really very barren looking. This is probably what our nephews were calling UGLY country. I think it sort of interesting if only because it is so alien to our experience.

When we crossed into new Mexico the landscape changed almost abruptly to look so much more like "out west". Instead of flat deep soils now bedrock is exposed, rolling hills covered with sage and yucca falling to dry stream beds paved with cobble. There are lots of Pronghorn in the fenced pastures. Surely Pronghorn are not the livestock these fences are for, where are the cattle?

When we eventually connected with I-25 there was nothing but the exchange, no Wal-Mart, not gas, no buildings at all. So on we go headed south looking for gas and an place to spend the night. Each exit was bleaker than the last - nothing along I-25 south.

Finally at 9:00 PM when it was nearly dark, we pulled off at Wagon Mound, New Mexico, Here is a tiny town and two gas stations. The one we picked was automated with not a soul in sight but there was an abandoned restaurant next door. The old unpaved parking area provided a place to park for the night. We turned on a minimum of lights, made and ate a tuna salad and crawled into bed. Wouldn't you know it? We picked a place next to a RR switch. Fortunately there was only one noisy train and we slept pretty well, even though Duncan got DH up twice during the night.

We were up early the next morning and found another vehicle had used the same lot to spend the night.

Here is the mound that this very small town must be named after.

Day Seven

2008-04-20T19:35:00.001-04:00

Today, as I write this is actually June 12. (It is not being posted until August 2) However I am writing as if we are still on our trip. Sunday April 20 is just a week into the trip. We have been visiting my brother and the Silver Dog House has spent the week parked in front of his house with the curb side wheel on the curb to get the refrigerator as level as possible. There is no where to camp closer than a two hour drive from Springfield Missouri so DH and I are sleeping in the guest bedroom at the back of their very cute house.

What follows is the running entry I typed in the Pink Flamingo - my laptop purchased for this purpose - as DH drove west.

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Before we left this morning I spent some time in the yard taking pictures. After several days of rain today is sunny. There is a large Redbud hanging over the fence into his yard and a beautiful pink dogwood in the back yard. I also got some pictures of my Brother but Sister-In-Law was still abed that early.

On the road again. Left brother's at about 9:00. I hope we will see each other sooner next time.

Traveling I-44 west toward Kansas. MODOT has planted large patches Red Buds along the right of way fence. What a spectacular show!! They are in full bloom. There are also large plantings of flowering fruit trees, maybe plum or crab apple covered in white blooms. They have also planted White Pine in occasional groves. They are not native but have been here quite a while as they are good sized trees.

Outcrops of bedrock that show themselves along the right of way cuts are wide dark layers with narrow bands of more fractured white rock between.

Just passed an Airstream that looked really odd. Very square but it said Airstream in large letters across the front “window”. Also passed an old aluminum trailer parked in a field. It had a square front and tail that flared out.

We are driving through flat pasture land with large herds of white cattle, I am guessing they are Charloit or Charloit crosses. And here is a large herd of Black Angus.

Flocks of turkeys with the males displaying are visible in fields between the woodlands.

10:41 AM enter Kansas

We have left I-44 just before entering Oklahoma and the toll road and turned toward Kansas instead. We are on a nice wide two lane.

There are still signs of the ice storms that occurred the last two winters. Brother lost a huge Elm in his front yard from last year's ice storm. It would be interesting to see a map of just how extensive the ice storms were. Weather does not seem to be as local here as it is at home.

Stopped for lunch at a rest stop on US-400 & US-169. The ice storm damage has disappeared.

Finally heard a Meadowlark and saw one as we were pulling out.

Back on the road at 12:45, 110 mile to Wichita should make it by about 3:00 PM

The landscape is beginning to roll more, there are some road cuts. The Flint Hills are north of us but unfortunately way out of our way on this trip.

This is certainly cattle country. Pastures full of cattle.

Scattered oil wells showing in some fields

Extensive areas of black pastures where they have been burned, to reduce weeds, and brush. The Red Bud seem to be fire resistant as they are in bloom in some of the burned area. The Red Cedar do not survive if they are small but what looks like gnarly oaks do just fine.

Truck thermometer says it is 79*. Warmest we have been so far, but a pretty stiff wind is blowing.

Sent an email from a rest stop with free wireless. As we pulled back out on the highway there was a large wind farm in front of us.

Warm season grass pastures spread on our right to the horizon. Pasture burned to the horizon on the left. Almost no trees.

Found Nephew's house with only a slight alteration from the directions. He has a 4 car garage with lots of space to just pull in and hook up.

Had a wonderful barbecue. All three brothers with their significant others and some children. Fabulous steaks with salads and lots of beer.

Nephew, S. and his wife W. have a 4 year old German Shepherd. She and Duncan have really hit it off, racing around the yard until they were ready to drop.

Day six

2008-04-19T13:31:00.005-04:00

We went to the Farmers market this morning, it was still cold and cloudy.
Brother gave me a Tai Chi basic lesson. He is a certified teacher.
The sun is back out and it is warming up.
Getting ready to continue on to Wichita tomorrow morning.

Battlefield tour

2008-04-18T22:11:00.001-04:00

Brother took us to Wilson's Creek a Civil War Battlefield.

Day four

2008-04-17T21:37:00.001-04:00

Thursday, April, 17,

Wow what a day yesterday. Brother took us on a float trip in canoes down the Buffalo River in Arkansas. The section we floated is a grade one white water river, open only in winter and spring, something we have never done before. Duncan went with us in the canoe, when Dick could keep him in. He bailed out several times. At the very beginning he bailed out twice before we could get him settled in to stay. This was a brand new experience for a nervous puppy. He was not at all sure he wanted to be in the canoe.

How to describe the experience? It was ten miles of aqua green water with the bottom ranging from small gravel to huge boulders and great sheets of limestone or sand stone, from ankle deep to over our heads so we could not see the bottom through the slightly cloudy, from the limestone, water, from smooth aqua pools to rapid riffles over dark cobbles, some a simple fast riffle, some faster drops with large boulders to maneuver around, some almost small waterfalls to go over, some straight shots, some sudden turns in the riffle or at the bottom. Twice there were close calls. The worst was when we wound up going through a tree in the river and when we got through could not find Duncan. He had gone overboard with a leash attached and it took a few seconds to find him. Another time we went over as small waterfall with a solid wall of water to enter at the bottom, I hollered and Duncan jumped out again. By the time we got him back near the canoe we were headed over another riffle on which we got hung up long enough for DH to drag Duncan back in the canoe by his collar.

We took a break in canoeing and walked up a feeder stream to the tallest waterfall east of the Rockies. The wind was blowing the water sideways in great drifts across the valley.

Wildflowers were in bloom in the woods as we walked up to the waterfall. it was spectacular. Spring beauties, Wood anemone, Wood Betony, purple and yellow violets, buttercups, wild phlox, rock phlox, tiny wild blue iris, Bell Flower.

It was a wonderful day. I did not take my camera for fear of getting dumped with the dog in the canoe but I found a series of pictures on Webshots that someone else took of the same section of the river. The waterfall pictures in the Webshots album are not a place we went but we did see where that stream emptied into the Buffalo River.

When we reached the take out point our car had been brought to us and we just left the canoes on the bank.

We bought our dinner at a real old fashioned Drive in and ate it an Arkansas Information center and roadside park that allowed overnight camping for ONE night.

We slept well that night.

Toads are singing singing today.

We visited civil war battlefield today.

There were tiny pale blue and white 4 petaled flowers in bloom in the “grass” , mouse eared chickweed, gill over the ground.

I cooked my special version of venison loin chops for dinner.

After dinner we played the game – Worst Case Scenario and laughed until we cried.

Day three

2008-04-16T06:37:00.001-04:00

Wednesday, April 16

Float trip on the Buffalo River.

America's first National River.

More Later.

Day two

2008-04-15T21:53:00.001-04:00

Tuesday April 15.

Slept pretty well. The trucks were not particularly disturbing.

Duncan had us up at 5:30 and we decided to get up and get moving

On the road again at 6:15 Frosty morning with a clear sky.

Large flocks of waterfowl flying over – not Canada Geese but can not identify short wingd maybe ducks.

Trucks are parked everywhere along the sides of expressway exits, and the rest areas are packed with the drivers sleeping

Still more trucks on the road than cars. Plus the trucks have slowed down a lot from past times when they just roared by.

WOW whew through St Louis.

I made one navigation mistake which made us miss the exit we needed. Not a total loss as we were able to go the the next exit and turn around. But it gave us a chance to see the Cahokia Indian mounds, One mound - amazing in height.

We are beginning to see bed rock and quarys.

Crossed the Mississippi River on an impressive bridge.

As soon as we got into Missouri the landscape changed drastically. Now not flat farming land but steep hilly land. Cuts through limestone hills to build the roads.

Redbuds, and Amelancier, are blooming wild in the woods, flowering quince in bloom planted along the highway.

Red Cedar scattered through the hardwoods that look like White Oak.

Passing Six Flags- impressive.

I drove for a couple of hours and now that we are nearing Springfield DH has taken over again at the last rest stop before Springfield.

This is the second Rest Area that they are mowing the lawns at. Dandelions and some purple flowered low growing mint are in bloom in the grass.

We are passing through an area where there must have been an ice storm recently. The tops of the oaks are broken and hanging and in some areas there are a large number of trees broken right off and to the ground.

Arrived at Brother's about 1:00 PM

Parked the rig in front of the house.

Made plans for a float trip tomorrow.

Spring trip begins

2008-04-14T09:25:00.001-04:00

Monday, April 14, 2008

We begin the spring trip:

First destination my brother's home in Springfield, MO

These entries are going to be written on the fly. As we drive I have the lap top open on my lap. So there will often be just a running commentary.

It was not as early a start as we would have liked, 7:50 but not bad. At midnight last night we just gave up without everything done. So there was a little more to get us ready to go this morning.

First stop at McDonald's, six miles down the road, for a breakfast sandwich and then on the road

At home the crocus are in bloom and the daffodils are up . The grass is just beginning to green up but it is still clearly very early spring. It will be interesting to see how things change as we go south. Along I-69 from Lapeer toward Indianapolis.

First stop at the rest stop west of Perry. Duncan got a bit of a walk but was not interested in eating. He is riding quietly. He is adapting to his seat belt harness with no trouble, not chewing on it.

Really cold, still just above freezing but sunny. light blue sky with thin layer of high wispy clouds.

Groan – the drive around Indianapolis was an ordeal – very heavy traffic on freeways.

The grass has been growing all day and getting longer. The Forsythia is in bloom and the small leaves are beginning to green the shrubs along the road boundary fences. Dandelions in bloom at rest areas. Also Creeping Charlie blooming

The woods in western Indiana are lovely. Hardwood with Beech, Maple, Oak and lovely large Sycamore. There are little creeks winding their way through the rolling hollows. The maple's branch tips are scarlet. From the moving truck I can't tell if it is bloom or young leaves. The white Oaks and Sycamores are very large. Daffodils are in bloom along the roadsides poking out from between the dead leaves.

5:44 pm crossed into Illinois. Ground is getting more rolling. The pavement of the highway improved enormously. The highway in Indiana was terrible pavement west of Indianapolis.

Crossed the Wabash River. A wide full flowing river flooding fully to the edges of the flood plain and beyond.

Wow a weigh station that is open.

Farms on the level ground are very neat and nice with large fields. The farmland looks a lot like Minnesota or southern Michigan, large fields and scattered woods.

Either the soils here are heavy and the rains of the past few days have not soaked in or this is low wet land

There has been a lot of flooding. The fields are very wet and drifts of water deposited corn stalks caught in wire fences and distributed near stream banks.

The rivers are flooded all the way to the banks of the flood plains and beyond.

Wild Plums and the June Berries (Amelanchier) are in bloom in the woods.

The traffic is odd. Many more 18 wheelers on the road than cars even.

7:00 PM Wal-Mart I have never been so happy to see a Wal-Mart as we came over the hill west of Vandalia, Ill. Pulled in and parked. The Murphy Oil station is a truck stop and we had lots of company in the parking lot with other RVs. DH met one couple who had spent the winter in Mexico and were headed home for Canada. They were French speakers.

We heated pasties in the oven and went to bed early.

Kitchen

2008-04-08T21:02:00.002-04:00

The grout is in - and the tile looks beautiful. But the Florida tile company used a terrible glue on the face of the tile to secure the cushioning. It took the tiler with DH's help hours to get the face cleaned off, so the Silicone caulk goes on tomorrow late.

Kitchen

2008-04-07T21:00:00.002-04:00

The tile is up - it looks great. No grout yet - that goes in tomorrow.

What Breed of hores are you?

2008-04-06T15:08:00.003-04:00

I got this from Teachings of the Horse.

What breed of horse are you? Find out!

Ah, the Quarter Horse. The most common breed of horse owned in America, noted for its calm disposition and sensible attitude. A famous quarter horse played Black Beauty in the movie based upon Anne Sewell's book. You don't let life's problems bother you, and you deal with them in the most practical manner. You are quite intelligent, and it wouldn't hurt to use your talents to have a little more fun, to walk a little more on the wild side, like your ancestors.
Your owner will most likely be either a cowboy or a young person learning to ride. You also stand a high chance of becoming a school horse.
Your colour will most likely be: Anything, but most likely chestnut.

Wouldn't you know - I ride quarter horses.

spring! Spring!! SPRING!!

2008-04-05T20:18:00.008-04:00

The Robins are singing not just chirping, the Geese are calling.
The Chorus Frogs are singing.

Plus the dwarf Iris and crocus are blooming!!

DH transplanted some Douglas Fir seedlings for future Christmas trees.

AND I did not need a coat outdoors, just a sweater.

Kitchen sink

2008-04-04T18:53:00.001-04:00

It is beautiful and huge.

kitchen continues

2008-04-04T17:02:00.002-04:00

The sink is set in the counter. I have not seen it yet because I am at work. My last day before vacation. I will be back in June.

Kitchen counters

2008-04-03T21:53:00.004-04:00

I have counter tops. After several days of a kitchen with no counter tops and no sink we made huge progress today. I have new Soapstone counter tops. I love them.

And just as good. Leaving work tonight the Chorus frogs were singing in the wet area out behind the library. Spring really is on its way.

Riding

2008-04-02T21:40:00.001-04:00

My riding coach is back from her trip to England and is emoting about what a fantastic time she had and how she will never stay anywhere but B&Bs again. Unfortunately she broke her hand during an outing riding, of all things.

But we had a wonderful trail ride today anyway. C's daughter went along on Toby, I rode Cricket and C rode Image - brave with a broken hand in a cast and on the mare for a first spring trail ride. And it was spring. The Chorus frogs were singing!! Where were the Spring Peepers? They are supposed to come out first. We also had a run in with a very large herd of deer running straight at us until the lead deer saw us and nearly turned inside out to change direction. Image was a bit non plussed and decided she really did not want to be so close so backed up but nothing too serious. The little girl is growing up.

April Fools

2008-04-01T21:31:00.001-04:00

I am shorn - time for the going camping hair cut - maybe we really are going camping in just under two weeks

Whew I got by without any pranks played on me.

Dream job

2008-03-28T20:37:00.003-04:00

I don't know about anyone else - but I have a great deal of trouble coming up with anything other than a daily diary to post. I do know that most of the other blogs I read seem to find things of either deep thought or great revelation to share. So instead of having a pity party (oh poor me I can't write deep thoughts), I started poking around in my picture archives.

One caught my attention today. I am a wildlife biologist by academic training. The best job I ever had was as an Interpretive Naturalist at the Michigan Audubon Nature Center near where we now live. In fact DH and I met there. He by the way also has a degree in Wildlife Biology and has been fortunate enough to work in his field until retirement. A couple of years ago we were invited to observe a team banding a pair of Bald Eagle chicks. It was a real treat. I had never been that close to a Bald Eagle let alone touch one. The biologist directing the operation was a young woman. Here is a picture of a gal with the job of which I dreamed. Back in "my day" the Department of Wildlife Biology was still a part of the College of Agriculture at MSU. There were not many women in the classes then. Those were men's jobs. Now there are as many or more women holding jobs in what was a man's world. The Director of Department of Natural Resources in our sate is a Woman now. She is the first woman to hold that position.

Along with the Biologist there was a photographer and a climber. The photographer's job was self explanatory. The climber did just that. He dawned a pair of pole climbers spikes, harness and rope and climbed the live White Pine tree to about 75 feet above the ground and peeked over the edge of the nest. There is always a danger that the chicks might jump when they were frightened by the climber. He then captured the two chicks, one male and one female and stuffed them in sacks head first to be lowered to the ground. There they were laid on their backs, weighed, measured, and blood samples taken before the bands were attached. They were about 2/3s grown and did not yet know the strength of their claws or beaks. Then they were put back in the bags and hauled up into the nest. During the entire operation which was carried out as quickly and quietly as possible the adults circled high above screaming their concern.

Remodeling

2008-03-27T08:07:00.004-04:00

The contents of the Kitchen are in the Living room, mostly. The doors are off the lower cabinets and the refrigerator and stove are sitting in the middle of the floor near the maximum reach of their cords. I can just barely reach the kitchen sink because the stove is in the way and I can't open the dish washer door for the same reason. The dog is shut in the sun room and bed room and can not go into the rest of the house. This is the area that our other two dogs were never allowed to enter because they were my Mother's apartment then and she wanted NO dog hair in her life.

We are remodeling, something I swore in 1996 when we added my Mother's apartment to the house that we would never do again and live in the house at the same time. SIGH - I WOULD want my kitchen remodeled. Not everything mind you. New floor, Soapstone counter tops, with new sink and faucets, new dishwasher and new tile backs plash. Now the cabinets are perfectly good, with the exception of one which had to be replaced. Of COURSE it does not match in color of wood, a lot lighter, or even style. Thank goodness it does not sit under or near any others. BUT the cabinets are almost 30 years old so they are pretty shabby looking. SO DH decided to refinish them. That involves buying an new type of tool to sand the fronts - so there was sawdust EVERYWHERE. Now they are sitting with the one coat of stain on the fronts waiting for three coats of marine Urethane finish. And the cabinet fronts have to be finished before the counter tops are to be installed on April 3. The doors can wait until AFTER we return from our trip to the southwest.

Why oh why do we seem to put off doing things until there is a schedule to meet and then doing them in a rush?

Horses

2008-03-26T22:10:00.001-04:00

No riding today. Unfortunately and fortunately my coach has an interview with a group that does therapeutic riding with Autistic kids. She is hoping to find a place for herself and her horses in the program. What a kick it would be for her to be able to find a place where Toby can be helpful to the kids and she can maybe get out of the dealership.

She offered to let me go take Cricket out on my own but I am still too chicken to go riding alone. Chris said if she had known she would have brought riding clothes to work and we could have gone together. It would have been a perfect trail ride day.

Here is hoping that Carol's interview went well.

Sweet Maple Sugar!

2008-03-25T22:33:00.003-04:00

Well it is still March in Michigan. Snowing most of the day again. The forecast is wonderful for the folks that are out in the Sugar Bush. Still days just above freezing and nights below freezing for the foreseeable future. This is going to have to be the longest sugaring season in history.

Work and Church

2008-03-24T22:34:00.001-04:00

Back to work after a long Easter weekend taken off for Maunday Thursday and Good Friday.

BUSY is not the word. There was no school and "everyone" who ever comes to the library was there, and then some. And of course the drop box left a mountain on the floor and never stopped being added to. No chance to get bored today.

Then there was Bell Practice. The tables are back at the front of the church - BAH!! I like them at the back behind the congregation, that way we are not a concert instead of just another part of the service. I am rather uncomfortable it when the congregation applauds after an Anthem is played or sung. And of course if you do not join in the Applause you are not appreciative - grrrr my rant for the day.

Easter

2008-03-23T20:31:00.003-04:00

HAPPY EASTER!!!!
Hallelujah

Lent

2008-03-22T16:03:00.002-04:00

Today is the last day of lent. Holy Saturday. A day of waiting for the Joy of Easter. I can't say it as well as Tandaina. After a very emotional Good Friday service I am ready for Easter. We are attending the Great Vigil of Easter together this evening at a Gothic big city church with Tiffany windows and a pipe organ "to die for". The organist is a virtuoso who does world wide concert tours so the music will be "to die for". The Great Vigil is the first service of the Easter celebration, ancient in tradition, the kindling of the first light after the Light of the World was snuffed out on Friday. I am excited at the opportunity to use my Book of Common Prayer/Hymnal again as I have not been able to in several years. Traditions of a life time are hard to put aside and it will be very pleasant to share the old traditions with my daughter again.

more signs of spring

2008-03-22T15:49:00.002-04:00

It is still chilly, 10* below normal, but bright and sunny. Out of the wind it is pleasant in the wind it is cold. But spring is in the air and officially on the calendar. So I keep looking for more signs.

The Turkey Vultures are back.
The Gulls have returned inland, waiting for the plows maybe.
Corn planters are being moved on the roads in preparation for the planting season.
The Red Wing Black Birds are scattered along the shoulder of the road, picking up gravel, for their gizzards I presume.
The bright red male Cardinals are chasing each other, building fences around their nesting territories.
The poppies are showing green leaves against the foundation of the house.
The very tips of leaves of some bulb are poking up through the still frozen soil.
My spring fever grows unabated.

movie review

2008-03-21T22:19:00.004-04:00

Beowulf and Grendel.

Pretty good flick. The purists would not like it, again a story change to improve the audience draw. This time Grendel and his mother are both killed. But another character is added to include a bit of romance and a different twist to the story. A way to give Grendel a motive for his murderous ways.
The free use of the f word and the s word to appeal to the preteens I could have done without, and somehow it just does not really fit, the swearing is somehow too modern for the setting.
And the acting is not all that great
BUT the setting is worth putting up with all the faults. It is filmed in Iceland and is full of Icelandic Ponies. And the music is pretty good to.

More progress

2008-03-20T14:36:00.003-04:00

The "tile guy" was here this morning taking the measurements. He had gone to Home Depot to look at the tile I mentioned but he does not want to use that. He said he can get a much higher quality tile that will hold up better to movement of the house and just getting bumped. The tile he will get will also be finished on the edges so we don't have to use the bull nose stuff so it will look better in his opinion. Plus the price will not be much more, with his discount, around $60 he said. Of course his labor will be more but he said it would not be bad and will get us a bid this evening. He seemed to have a good handle on what he is doing.

Moon set

2008-03-20T14:28:00.004-04:00

The moon was beautiful this morning. On my way to Curves at 6:30 A.M. the moon hung just below tree top level, full brilliant, and GOLD! The sky was crystal clear with a gleam of light, promising sunrise, showing on the eastern horizon and the moon hovering in the dark sky of the west, peeking through and around the black lace of bare tree branches.

I always wish for a camera that would capture the beauty of creation at moments like these.

More progress

2008-03-19T16:38:00.003-04:00

The Counter top install is now set for Thursday April 3. I called the "tile guy" and we talked at some length about what I want done. He will come to measure, on Tuesday next or earlier if he is available.

Things are falling into place rapidly now.

Template

2008-03-18T16:19:00.003-04:00

The template was made for the new counter tops today. It was a fascinating process. First he ran a strip of masking tape around all the front and side edges of the counters and measured and drew lines and marked distances on the tape.

Then he got out a roll of wide tape with large black dots and patterns of small black dots and ran them the length of the counters on the wall and placed some strategically along the edges. He also scattered around the counters, white metal "plates" about 8 1/2 X 11, which were covered with patterns of small and large black dots. He then took digital photos from all angles including as high as he could reach. He said that they have computer software that knows the distances between the dots and makes the measurements and template. He also made a detailed drawing with the measurements on paper.

B. was a nice kid (um - young man), graduated from the local Weslyan Academy in 1998, and was shocked by our new elementary school that is going in. He made me think of Nephew M. We also talked dogs, he has a 15 month yellow lab and is a waterfowl hunter, and he and DH talked shot guns.

Bells

2008-03-17T22:17:00.001-04:00

Bell practice tonight and the tables were still in the back of the church. It sounds like they may stay there. I LIKE playing from the back of the church.

Palm Sunday

2008-03-16T15:43:00.003-04:00

Whew!
Altar Guild duties and Bell choir

Altar Guild - be sure to have the palms as well as setting the Altar.
I have been doing Altar guild all by myself this month because my sister Altar Guild member has been ill and can not manage the stairs in the "new" building. But after service I approached K. and L. (sisters) and asked if they had thought about joining the Altar guild. And they both said YES - no arm twisting, no begging. Just yes.
Hallelujah - oops sorry it is still Lent. yyyyaaayy

We played the bells with the tables set up at the back of the church. That way they could be heard in the Undercroft as well as in the Naive for the Procession of the Palms into the Naive. Then we played the Communion Hymn from the back too. I really liked the tables at the back.

I am sooo excited! I got two new Altar Guild members just by asking. Young ones too. And K. volunteered her fiance as well to help when needed.

Early Signs of Spring

2008-03-15T09:10:00.005-04:00

Horses are shedding like mad.
The mare I ride is crabby, but a LOT less so than last year, Image is growing up at last!
The Robins have been back for a couple of weeks.
The black birds are back. The Starlings came a week ago, The Grackles and Red Wing Black Birds yesterday.
A pile of black stuff on the corner by the old gas station that looks like a new delivery of top soil. I would believe it if I didn't know better.
Lots of soft bird "twitters" - songs of small birds that I do not bother to identify. Some are surely House Finches and Gold Finches and various sparrows.
The male Cardinals whistling their territorial fences into place.
Mud under foot, over a layer of frost still in the soil.
Swiss cheese pot holes in the dirt road between our driveway and the pavement.
The same soft spot in our driveway that appears every spring as the frost goes out.
The sun is back for more than one day at a stretch.
Frost on the Silver Dog House in the morning.
Maple Syrup boiling in the pans.
The breezes feel softer.

Spring Fever!!!

2008-03-14T09:25:00.002-04:00

HOOORAYYY!!!

A glorious sunny morning-chilly but SPRING is in the air!!

March in Michigan

2008-03-13T20:41:00.003-04:00

Spring is on the way but the weather is typical Michigan. The snow that fell for a very few minutes this morning looked more like someone had torn open an old bean bag chair and spread those little styrofoam beads all around. And they stayed on the ground for hours. The sun finally came out mid afternoon to prove he was truly still around not lost after all.

Heard geese as I left the library after work at 8 PM.

March

2008-03-12T16:07:00.001-04:00

Snow again last night. Fortunately not very much - wet and sticky. Just enough to catch the tracks of the local rabbits,

and Duncan,

And stick to the trees.

Life List?

2008-03-11T12:41:00.006-04:00

We went for a walk this morning seeking out the Pine Grosbeaks that have been hanging around the area where DH takes Duncan for his walks. I did see them a couple of weeks ago in the tops of the tall trees near the parking lot. But I did not have my binoculars so it was someone else with binoculars that confirmed that they were indeed the unusual visitors this far south. So the question is: can I put them on my "life list"? I feel a bit guilty doing so because although I heard their calls and pointed them out to the couple that was looking for them, I did not get a close look at the birds.

Maple Sugaring

2008-03-10T21:29:00.002-04:00

The air is still cold but the Maple sap buckets are hanging on the trees. Above freezing days and below freezing nights make the sap run. Hooray! Spring is in the air.

I wished for a camera to document the "drips" but I was hurrying to hand bell choir practice for the first time in our new church building. So many new firsts.

It is well.

New House of Worship

2008-03-09T21:11:00.001-04:00

We held our first Worship Service in your new space today. It was wonderful to have a dedicated worship space so that we have a real sanctuary. Now we have to learn new or relearn old habits of how to behave in a sacred space.

There are real stained glass windows in this church which was built sometime in the late 1800s.

I give up- I can not get the pictures of the windows to go where I want them.

Worth Watching

2008-03-08T16:46:00.003-05:00

I work at a small Township Library - 30,000 volumes - . We have a rather extensive DVD collection, from whic I am forever taking something home and then never getting the chance to watch it. But this one I am - "Planet Earth" a documentary by BBC Video showing on TV on the Discovery Channel. It is well worth the time to watch and I am glad I got started on it. There are 5 DVDs in the set. The photography is awesome. They use helicopters as well as other high tech methods to get pictures from fascinating angles. It is a bit jumpy in parts sort of like Sesame Street but all in all it has been a very enjoyable experience so far and I fully intend to watch all 5 discs, something I have not been able to manage so far with any other extended series so far.

Birds

2008-03-07T15:21:00.001-05:00

Speaking of birds - (see the post about the eagle cam earlier today) - we have had two intersting visitors to our front yard. Two Robins Wednesday morning. But more exciting, a couple of days earlier a Red Shouldered Hawk landed in the front yard and then hopped up on the stump I have sun dial mounted on. The stripped tail was very evident. After sitting there awhile he flew up to the power pole and surveyed the area for a few minutes before flying off to the east. The buffy color under his wings was very visible.

Now the Robins are supposed to be the first bird of spring and maybe this year they are. But a few Robins have been staying in the area all winter for the last few years. This year they may have all left and are now returning. But I think of the true first bird of spring as the Red Wing blackbird.

Spring

2008-03-07T10:25:00.002-05:00

This entry is from a message board I subscribe to.

A friend sent me this "Eagle Cam (http://media1.vcoe.org/eaglecam1)" link...pretty cool. It's a live stream of an eagle sitting on a nest with eggs that were laid last week on Catalina Island (http://www.catalina.com/main.html) off the coast of SoCal. I guess it takes about 35 days for them to hatch...but it's pretty amazing to check in and watch them (momma #K-26 & poppa #K-10) taking care of the nest. Every once and awhile I caught a glimpse of a white egg in the nest. I leave it running on my computer at work and listen to all the nature sounds while working....Ahhhh, signs of spring - at least somewhere!!!

Here's some more info (http://chil.vcoe.org/eagle_faq.htm) about it ~

The Eagle Cam is awesome and now I am letting it run in the background at work on my computer.

SPRING!!

2008-03-06T17:53:00.002-05:00

It is one day closer! Missed the snow storm yesterday and the water in the parking lot at Curves was liquid not solid, in spite of the big feathery snow flakes that were drifting down. And it has been a mostly bright day out.