Life on the High Plains

A month or so ago Irv and I decided to join the Y.  I'd been a member of PF for many years, but I was wanting more.  I really learned to enjoy the group fitness classes like Zumba while we were in Arizona and wanted to join a gym that offered a variety of options.  This is Irv's first gym membership ever. The Y recently renovated a building that used to be a party zone for kids.  Indoor rides, arcade, etc.  Shiloh had a couple birthday parties there long ago.  The Y did a great job, it is so fresh and modern--a big change from my previous gym.  It has a beautiful lounge area with comfortable chairs and sofas and a nice fireplace in the middle.  People always seem to be in there with their laptops just hanging out. I always start my workout with 30-40 minutes on the treadmill.  I love that they put windows in for the line of treadmills.  It may not be much of a view, but I love being able to see outside during the monotony of the treadmil...

Maisy got to go shopping last week.  She needed to have one of her vaccines updated before the end of the month.  We had a couple errands to run and it was too hot to leave her in the car so she got to go inside and surprisingly nobody asked us to remove her. The first stop was the local farm and ranch store to pick up more feed for the aging horses. Cha-ching!  Trying to get weight on Jasper is more than a pain in the butt, it's hard on the wallet too.  He's now getting fed three times a day and has gone from about three pounds of senior equine per day to ten pounds per day of a mixture of senior equine, hay pellets and beet pulp.  In addition, he's getting about 10 pounds of hay per day.   We think part of the problem is that the other horse, Doc, had gotten used to kicking Jasper out of his stall at feeding time so he could finish up Jasper's food.  To prevent this we now lock Jasper in his stall at meal time and we give him a good amount of ti...

Our gray horse, Jasper, has been dropping lots of weight lately.  I'd estimate about 100 lbs. since we got home from Arizona.  Despite our feeding him extra hay, grain, and beet pulp his rib cage is still showing. We don't really know how old Jasper is.  According to the lady we bought him from he should be about 25 years old, the same as Doc, the buckskin.  However, Jasper appears older than Doc so he might be upwards of 28 or 29.  Whatever age he is, we knew it was time to get him to the vet to have a look at his teeth and overall wellbeing.  I made an appointment and we loaded them up for the 45 minute drive.  (Our vet prefers our old gentlemen come into their office so they can be placed in the stocks when they're tranquilized so they don't fall over.) First up was Jasper.  It took four injections of tranquilizer to get him to sleep (Doc only took two).  Then the vet went to work on his mouth with the grinder.  This is called floatin...

I always have a project or two going on in my mind much to Irv's chagrin.  One of those projects that I've been thinking about for a couple years is my front flower bed.  I wish it could look as nice as my sister-in-law's gardens in Oklahoma, but we live in an area that has been experiencing a severe drought for years.  It's hard to get much of anything to grow out here. As you can see from the picture above, the beds have become overrun by weeds, many of the shrubberies died a couple years ago after a hard winter.  However, the daylilies I planted 17 years ago are flourishing and have become so large.  It was time to pull out all that rock and lay a new layer of high quality landscape fabric, and then replace all those rocks. This is not an easy job for two old people.  Many breaks were taken because it was hot outside and moving that rock is a backbreaking endeavor. We only did a few feet per day.  During the process we also transplanted some random ...

 A friend recently shared with me how she keeps fruit fresh for weeks in the refrigerator. First, you wash the fruit and then set it out until it's completely dry.  She even suggested rinsing them with a little vinegar water. Once they're completely dry you put them in Mason jars.  I can attest that this really works.  The fruit I put in these jars two weeks ago are still as fresh as the day I bought them.  They're still crisp and completely edible. We throw away a good amount of spoiled fruit around here so I'm thrilled to know this kitchen hack.  I have to admit I was a little skeptical at first.

What a week this has been for my park.  This summer is the 150th anniversary of Yellowstone being declared the world's first national park. I'm sure that no one has ever seen signs like this before. This is what the West Entrance looks like on a normal summer morning with the line extending about two miles back.  That's my boss down there conversing with the RV.  Oh how I've missed my coworkers this summer.  So many people have said it was a good thing I wasn't there this summer. I have to disagree.  This is what the gate has looked like since the park closed.  This is a fee collector's dream to not have anyone at the gate.  Although my coworkers now have to man the gate 24 hours a day to keep people from sneaking in at night.  Currently they have one booth open to allow employees and other authorized visitors entry into the park.  I imagine the rest of the crew is cleaning, picking up trash, etc. to get their 40 hours per week in. My boss se...

 If you're viewing this blog then you are an invited reader.  Why make the change to a private blog you may be asking.   A very wise person recently reminded me that blogging should be a joyful experience.  It used to be and I hope to get back to that point some day. I consider this blog to be a journal or diary of my life for the last 12 years.  Such a private journal wouldn't normally be shared with the entire world and lately I've felt a little exposed.  When you go to someone's house and your pictures are part of a slideshow on their computer's screensaver or if someone takes out their phone and pulls up your photos or videos to show to others and they don't even allow you to tell your own story, you realize maybe a little (or lot) more privacy is needed.  Don't get me wrong, if someone wants one of my pictures I'll usually be more than happy to share it with them after they've asked.  Just taking it is intrusive and quite frankly, creepy...