The Cowboy Gets A New Hat

Looks pretty good doesn’t he!!  Randy, the owner and creator of beautiful hats at Law Dog Hat Company in Billings custom made this beautiful hat for Michael—hats come in various grades of felt—good hats are made with beaver felt.  The higher the percentage of beaver felt, the better the hat and the more it costs.  We ordered a 7X beaver felt hat for Michael—when he got there to pick up the hat, Randy had made the hat in 10X beaver!!  Randy told Michael we were such good customers, he upgraded us!  That’s the right kind of customer service!!

I was a busy woman today—first stop was the dentist.  Remember when I went to the rip-off dentist in Corpus Christi—they told me I had a failed root canal and would need the tooth pulled and either a bridge or an implant—all to the tune of many, many $$$$$!!!  This dentist pointed out to me on the x-ray a darkish area around the base of the root canal.  The tooth was not bothering me and had never bothered me.  I elected not to have the work done in that office. 

Today I went to a dentist I have seen 2-3 times before.  They use digital x-rays and I didn’t say a word about the other dentist in Corpus Christi.  When the x-rays were all up there in front of the hygienist and myself I said, “do you see anything wrong with that tooth?” pointing to the one in question.  We both could see the darkish area but she pulled up my previous x-rays from 2010 and the darkish area was there then!!!!!  The dentist said, “if it isn’t bothering you we aren’t in the business of extracting teeth just to be extracting teeth!”  AHHHHHH   That was the good news about this dental office.  The bad news was they charged me $468 to clean and x-ray my teeth!!! 

Lunch at Jake’s and a quick Wal Mart stop before heading off to get a much needed and wanted haircut.  I am way picky about my hair and Corpus Christi just didn’t seem to provide me with any (I tried four different hairdressers!!) decent hair cutting skills!  The young woman who cuts my hair has been doing it for about 12 years—she is excellent and I hope she continues to cut hair for a long time to come!

Costco was our last stop.  Remember the printer fight I was having last week—our HP printer worked one day and the next decided not to print.  I uninstalled and re-installed probably four times getting the stupid thing to finally print but it still would not perform some functions such as scan to email or computer.  Rather than waste any more time on this printer (which was only seven months old) we took it back to Costco today and got a full refund—I love Costco.  Rather than buy another HP printer we opted to purchase a Canon—we will see how it performs!  Sure hope the set-up is easier than the HP! 

We stopped at Nat’s and Michael got his riding lawn mower going again—doesn’t the thought of a 91 year old man mowing his own grass strike fear into your hearts???  It does mine!!  Ms. Emmi got to go along today—it was another VERY windy, cold, rainy day—not very spring like at all!

A Yoga Kind Of Day

A chilly, windy morning greeted us after all our rain yesterday.  No more rain today but low hanging clouds made us think it might pour rain again any minute.

Our yoga instructor Ebbie is graduating on Saturday and will be a bona fide, certified yoga instructor.  The yoga group—we named ourselves The Dirt Road Yoga Group—as most of us including Ebbie live on gravel roads—decided to surprise Ebbie with a salad luncheon after our yoga session to celebrate her graduation.  When we finished our yoga Ebbie asked us all if we would like to watch her demonstrate horseback yoga—this will be part of her graduating presentation on Saturday.  Oh, my!  Not only is Ebbie a great yoga instructor, she is fantastic on a horse.  This is a short little video showing one part of her presentation.

Notice the horse’s expression—she is totally bored with it all!

The horse is saying, “would you mind telling me what you are doing up there???”

A great time spent with new and old friends!

Back home Emmi let me know she wasn’t pleased about being home alone as Michael was also gone this morning over to the West Boulder to help Lonn with a project.  She forgave me after we played ball for a while. 

I potted all the tomato plants and herbs we purchased the other day placing the containers on a cart, bringing it into the living room—I am worried it might get a little too chilly outside tonight!  And, I got a little quilting done—all in all, a very good day!

April Showers A Little Late

It was raining when we went to bed last night, it rained all day today and as I type this blog it is raining so hard the noise is quite noticeable on our metal roof.  I remember as a child loving to spend the night at Grandma and Grandpa’s when it was raining so I could listen to the rain on the roof.

I took pity on the cowboy today, not feeding him any more tofu.  At least I let him have bacon for dinner tonight—bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches—I love those little Campari tomatoes from Costco.  We did have a meatless lunch—beans with lots of veggies—potatoes, cabbage and carrots.  And Rollie—I cooked cabbage a new way today—roasted in the oven with a little olive oil, salt and pepper—delicious!!  I am going to try roasting it on the grill next!  Of course I didn’t get the cowboy to eat any cooked cabbage but he did eat coleslaw. 

As Brenda well knows, not sleeping is terrible—I hardly ever have trouble sleeping but last night was one of those nights.  1am and I was still awake.  Part of my problem could have been one of our little solar butterfly lights outside.  Because we are usually early to bed and both sleeping we don’t notice the amount of light that little solar light sends into our bedroom.  It changes colors—clear, green, red and I watched it reflect off the glass of a picture frame for what seemed like half the night—that little butterfly may have to find a new home—somewhere no where near my bedroom!

So, I didn’t get much done today—I tried quilting but just couldn’t get my brain to work.  It was all I could do to figure out how to feed us today! 

Hey, let’s go do this again—on a sunny day! 

My Cowboy Doesn’t Like Tofu

Can you imagine??  We are trying to consume less meat, I saw this recipe on a blog and decided to try it.  Needless to say, that recipe went in the trash tonight—I liked it but the cowboy didn’t!!  One of the ingredients was bok choy—in Big Timber??--give me a break! So, I substituted spinach which we both like.  The recipe was to be served over rice—the only rice I had was wild rice so I used orzo pasta.  The spinach, pasta and the overall sauce the cowboy liked—it was the tofu which got him!!  Oh well, you win some, you lose some.

Yoga was a delight again today.  Ebbie the instructor is a joy—and the group of ladies are so fun to be around.  A couple of the ladies I have known since I moved here in 1994—one of them was even at our wedding.  The remainder of the group present today I have known a long time—it’s just such a good thing we have this opportunity close to home!

Michael brought his 1995 Ford diesel pickup down off the hill and into the garage again.  If you remember this is a work horse of a truck we have owned for years—one day in the summer of 2007 it ran, the next day it would not run and my super mechanic husband has not been able to find the issue.  We’ve had help from a blog reader who sent us links to Ford sites and forums.  We have ordered this part and that part and still the truck will not run.  This week Michael broke down and ordered a set of service manuals for 1995 Ford diesel pickups—I am going to have faith he will get it running this time!

After lunch I tilled the rest of the garden—that’s a job!  Just as I was finishing up a thunderstorm came blowing across the mountains and dumped rain—there was water running everywhere!  Emmi and I managed to get inside without getting too wet—Michael was in the garage.  Sure hope it didn’t wash out of the ground all the seeds I planted yesterday!

Another busy spring day in Montana.

Happy Memorial Day

To all those who have served and to those who are still serving—Thank You!

Oh, my—we for some strange reason decided to spend our Memorial Day working our tails off!  The sun was sort of shining this morning and the garden had dried out a little overnight—so that was the first order of business.  By the time Michael finished using our little Mantis tiller to break up the soil he could hardly lift his arms!  I planted peas, beans, radishes, lettuce, carrots, chard and spinach.  As we are kind of late getting anything into the ground this year—we will just have to wait and see what comes up.

Pulling weeds on the hillside above the garden was next on my agenda and Michael headed off to cut into firewood some of the logs we have, (yes, we may need some firewood if you believe the forecast).  I don’t like to spray the weeds on that hillside as everything then washes down into the garden.  Maybe one of these days the grass will overtake the weeds?? 

After lunch we decided to get both RV’s parked in their correct spots—it has been so wet around here turning the motorhome around and backing it into its spot was not a safe bet.  Both rigs are now parked out behind the house along the creek. 

I mowed the grass then came inside deciding it was time to vacuum and dust the furniture—what ever possessed me???  Michael started unloading some of the motorhome bays.  Homemade pizza for dinner, three Advil and now we are both relaxing for a while! 

Happy Memorial Day!

A May Sunday

Our garden spot was engulfed in weeds—major weeds.  Thank goodness for equipment—Michael had built a blade apparatus for the bucket arm of our little John Deere mini-excavator.  That blade worked well pulling weeds up by the roots, lots of them at a time!   We were about half way finished when it was time for me to start lunch—Nat was coming.

We had a great lunch—grilled steaks, mashed skin on red potatoes, green peas, roasted carrots with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and rosemary.  YUM!  We finished off the chocolate pie for dessert. 

After Nat headed for Big Timber we got started in the garden again but were only able to work about 30 minutes before it started to rain.  It rained just enough to get the dirt nice and muddy then the sun came out again.  GRRRRR 

That’s about it for our Memorial Day weekend Sunday. 

One of my little lazuli buntings.  We saw our first gold finch today too.

This is the time of year I feel so overwhelmed with a long to do list—weed spraying, gardening, lawn mowing, quilting, house cleaning—the list seems to go on and on.  I have to tell myself “one day at a time, one day at a time.” 

Dinner With Friends

A cloudy, cool day spent here in Montana—the sun would peek out occasionally but not with any warmth.  Michael spent the day spraying weeds and mowing grass—our walking paths through the pastures.  I want to see those rattlesnakes before they see me! 

I spent the day quilting—I loaded a beautiful, colorful little quilt belonging to my Aunt Margaret and got all the stitching in the ditch finished.  Now I can do the fun stuff tomorrow.

Twice in the last two weeks Michael’s computer has acquired a trojan virus.  Both times by scanning with Malware we’ve been able to get rid of the virus.  At least we think it is gone—it does not show up anywhere on his computer.  First nasty anonymous comments on the blog, now we have viruses—these people need to get a life!!!  And it isn’t like Michael spends his time clicking onto weird sites—the one last night appeared as he was clicking onto Yahoo Finance!

Tonight we headed over to the West Boulder and picked up friends Terry and Boo—our destination was the Rib and Chop.  As usual we had good service and a delightful meal—plus great company! 

Emmi was one excited little dog when we got home—no matter if we’ve been gone five minutes or five hours—she is always glad to see us!

Sun setting on Mount Rae. 

Sunshine—Sunshine

The sun was shining when we got up this morning—after several days of rain, it sure was good to see that big ole sun!  Its rays certainly made everything green and sparkly!

We’ve spent the entire day cleaning and cleaning some more—it is that time of year, spring cleaning!  Michael even washed the mud off two of our vehicles!  I baked bread this morning and made a chocolate pie. 

Today is Nat’s 91rst birthday—we are going into town to runs errands then have dinner with Nat.  The pie is his birthday cake.  Nat still drives, lives alone, makes all his own decisions—doing pretty good for 91 I would say!  He was born in Billings but moved to this area of Montana when he and his twin brother Bo were 3 years old. 

The dang Tin Tee Pee sprung another leak last evening during one of our downpours—guess we should have left it in the shed until summer arrives??? 

A good Montana day!  The black cloud avoided us!

A Black Cloud

I swear there was a black cloud hanging over my head today!  If it wasn’t one thing, it was another!  Right off the bat, I sent something to our wireless printer for printing.  Nothing, not a sound—got a message saying computer couldn’t connect with printer.  Michael’s computer received the same message.  What’s up with that—I printed pages yesterday.  Uninstalled the stupid thing, re-installed the stupid thing—spent probably 2-3 hours of my time fighting the stupid thing.  Tonight I finally thought I was successful—it printed but the blasted thing still won’t scan to email.  We bought this HP printer last fall right before we left for Texas.  I’m not wasting any more time—it is going back to Costco and I will get another brand that MIGHT work!!

OK—I never got rid of the old printer and it is on the desk downstairs connected to an older laptop.  This printer printed one page and I could tell the ink needed replacing.  Installed a brand new cartridge—print quality was worse than before.  Installed a Costco refilled cartridge and got a little better print quality. 

The next black cloud happening—I put the label on a quilt I am giving as a gift upside down—thank goodness I was able to quickly peel the label off and reapply it right side up.

I did manage to apply polyurethane to some of the cabinets in the Tin Tee Pee without spilling anything!  And I made us lunch and dinner without burning anything.  And I was successful in talking to the health insurance companies today—getting our COBRA and other polices all lined up.  I was afraid to start a quilt—the black cloud might have rained on me!

We helped Lonnie and LoraLee brand yesterday.  They had a big crew—LoraLee and I manned the kitchen, she had pre-bought a lot of her food so we mostly just visited!  The branding crew had some excitement—seems one horse was a little over zealous and decided he didn’t like his rider—no broken bones but I sure bet he is sore today.  Brandings are always a good time—lots of friends and neighbors, visiting and great food. 

Here’s a photo of Michael’s new toy:

An oldie but a goodie!

Low hanging clouds and frequent rain showers today—western Montana received eight inches of heavy, wet snow today!

Thank you all for the encouraging comments regarding the anonymous commenters—we appreciate it!

Anonymous Comments

If it were a perfect, trusty worthy world I could leave the “anonymous comment” feature activated on my blog.  But it is not a perfect world and there are crazy idiots out there with nothing to do but drive the rest of us crazy.   And folks, it isn’t just a comment telling me, “hey check out this blog…or product….or some other gobbly gook.”  The last few days it has been nasty, vile comments that I have no desire to see or read.  Several times a day I must check the blog to make sure this trash hasn’t made it to my comment section.  Blogger Dashboard does catch dozens of these trash comments daily but some are slipping through.  All bloggers are complaining about the trash.  As of today I am disabling the “anonymous comment” feature on the blog—it will not be back unfortunately until the Blogger platform finds a way to stop this spam.

I am sorry—Don in OK, I really enjoy your comments.  Rosilita, I am sorry—you are a dear friend and I enjoy seeing your comments.  To you guys and all our other anonymous commenters—there are ways to leave comments and although I am NOT the geek Rick is I will attempt to explain how.

At the bottom of any blog you will see this:

“POSTED BY JANNA AND MIKE AT 6:53 PM 6 COMMENTS:”

Click on the word “Comments” and you will get this white box.

Type your comment then Click “Publish” if you are using a Google Account as show above.  If you stay signed in to your Google account all the time as I do,  your comment will be instantly published. 

If you don’t stay signed in, you will see this screen:

Simple enter your Google account password and click “Sign In” and your comment will be published. 

IF you don’t have a Google account click the little arrow beside the words “Google Account” and this list will pop down. 

If you have any of these accounts pictured below (thanks Rick) you have an OpenID

Type your comment first and click on OpenID

 

This screen will appear and this is where people get confused!

 

We have a Yahoo account—I simply searched for OpenID on the Yahoo site and after signing in with my Yahoo password was immediately given an OpenID identifier, a URL address about a mile long . I don’t have to remember that long, complicated phrase if I want to use OpenID to sign into someone’s blog in order to leave a comment—I simply can type yahoo.com in the OpenID spot. 

When I click “Continue” the following screen appears:

Click on “Agree” and your comment is immediately posted.

(Don’t ask me how our Yahoo account was set up as Mike and Clark)

Rick wrote an excellent post a while back explaining exactly what Open ID is and how to use it if you have a Blogger account.  I hope this helps those of you who do have a Yahoo account and might want to leave a comment on the blog. 

I respect anyone’s desire to avoid the reaches of the internet—I hope you can also respect my desire to stop these idiots from being able to leave trash comments on the blog. 

A Hike, Yoga And A Tractor

Beautiful, beautiful sunshine this morning and in spite of the mud we took off on a hike.  When we had hiked as high as we usually go—to the irrigation ditch bank we were pleasantly surprised to see we had water in the ditch.  That meant we needed to hike on over to where our main head gate is located to turn some of the water down our creek—it made for a nice, get your heart rate up hike.

While I was gone to Texas a yoga instructor suddenly appeared in our neighborhood—now remember we live 22 miles from anything—no health club, no restaurant, no gas station—you get the picture.  Ebbie and her husband Keith moved to our neighborhood late last summer I think to manage the ranch which adjoins ours.  Well, this winter a group of ladies got together and began having yoga classes twice weekly.  When we spent 2 months in Mexico one year I went to a yoga class several times a week and loved it.  Today was my first time to attend and again, I loved it!!  I think part of the reason I love it is Ebbie’s house is less than a mile from ours—not 22 miles!! 

I spent the rest of the day finishing up the unpacking process in the quilt studio.  Done—there is even a quilt hanging over the quilt frame—un-wrinkling. 

Michael brought home his new to him tractor—it was built 1958 and was purchased from a friend, Windsor, at his retirement auction.  Windsor’s own Dad purchased the tractor new.  I will have to post some photos although I am sure most of you will say as I did when I saw the tractor, “that thing has seen some use!!”

A beautiful, purposeful day. 

The Things A Girl Has To Do

Just to get internet!!  I was scheduled to participate in Rick Doyle’s Google+ Hangout this morning—I had little post-it notes all over the house reminding me.  We were surfing the internet about 6:30am when all of a sudden—no connection.  I did the normal stuff—unplugged the router, etc. but still no internet. 

OK, no internet and I didn’t have Rick’s phone number.  I thought of calling LoraLee—they have a different internet provider--and have her send Rick an email for me but I couldn’t even access Rick’s email address!!  By this time I am getting antsy—I don’t like to plan something and then not show up.  So, I grabbed the smart phone and headed up into the hayfield to the highest spot up there—yea, I have a signal.  I was able to access email and send Rick a heads up.  Later in the day I thought—I could have had LoraLee sign in to my Gmail account and send an email that way—she would have then had access to Rick’s email address. 

The things a girl has to do in the wilds of Montana just to send an email—slip sliding around in the mud trying to find a cell signal!!!

Emmi needed a bath and haircut—I really cut her close, she will stay cleaner in all this mud and attract less burrs and stickers.

Have you ever started water running in the sink and walked away for just a second.  I was folding clothes back in the bedroom and kept hearing this strange noise.  As I was walking down the hallway it hit me what the noise was—Niagara Falls in my laundry/mud room!!!  The floor is really clean and so is the cabinet underneath the sink!

We got the longarm back in operation and I got a good start unloading boxes.  Lonnie and LoraLee were to have branded calves tomorrow but there’s been way too much rain—so I will get to finish unpacking tomorrow. 

Internet came back on about 1:30 this afternoon—we really are fortunate living this far from a town to have DSL service.  My family in Arkansas live 10 miles from town and still have dial-up with no hope of getting high speed any time in the near future.  My brother as well as Mom and Chuck have gone the cellphone provider route with MiFi devices. 

Our thoughts and prayers are with those poor people in the path of that tornado in Oklahoma. 

Well, I Guess I Will Still Be Quilting

I didn’t win the lottery—I never buy a lottery ticket unless the payoff gets so high it is unimaginable--maybe because I never pay any attention to the lottery until all the hype starts about the dollar amount being so large.  So about once a year I splurge and buy that $2 ticket—easy come, easy go!

One and a half inches of rain in the gauge this morning and it has rained all day, hard rain at times.  Lonnie felt like cooking today and invited us to lunch.  As I had all ready invited Nat for Sunday lunch we just loaded up and headed over to the West Boulder.  I made some of Brenda’s cheesy potatoes and took some green beans to cook.  LoraLee had cut up watermelon and made a wonderful strawberry pie.  Let’s just say we all dined sufficiently!! 

Just think, a week ago today we were packing the motorhome and trailer, sweating in the heat and humidity of Texas.  Today it is 44 degrees, raining and we have a fire in the woodstove downstairs.  And we are not complaining. 

The motorhome sat in Texas for almost six months—it rained there, hard at times, there was a heavy, heavy dew most mornings and we never had a roof leak.  I went out to the motorhome for something this morning and stepped in a puddle—GRRRRR!  Michael thinks it was because the motorhome was parked at such a steep angle, water ran in through the air conditioner.  He went out, started the motorhome and put it in a more level spot.  I haven’t gotten up the nerve to go out there yet to see if the leak is gone!  We also have a leak in the Tin Tee Pee—we parked it for the winter in the shed belonging to our neighbor and just recently brought it back to the house so we could again start working on it.  The trailer has really old type fans in the ceiling and is leaking around one of those—we had plastic sheeting on the hardwood floors to protect the wood from paint, etc. so no harm was done by this leak—a bucket is now catching all the water.  

Life is good, really good!

Oh, I forgot—Michael went to an auction yesterday—a neighbor retiring and selling off all his treasures.  My dear husband bought a tractor, a 1950-60ish Ford tractor.  Did we need another tractor??  Guess so!

Rain, The Birds Came Back And We Lose An Old Friend

Michael and I were scurrying around, moving the motorhome, unhooking the trailer, re-hooking it to the truck and pulling the trailer up into the pasture on top of our hill—trying to beat this coming storm.  It has now been raining for over a hour—welcome, blessed rain!!! 

Today I attended the funeral for a East Boulder matriarch—Maxine, she was 86 years old and had been in the nursing home for several years.  She and her husband Barney moved to the East Boulder in the late 50’s, early 60’s and ranched for years on a place up Elk Creek about 2 miles from us.  There were six couples living on the East Boulder during those years who never had children—Maxine and Barney were one of those couples.  They had nieces and nephews plus lots of neighbors and good friends. 

Barney was a frugal man—Maxine could only go to town once a month or so—I can’t imagine living all the way up here and not being able to go to town when I wanted to!!  Maxine was also frugal—she never bought milk, always making their milk from powdered milk.  She told me she would remove her soaking wet, heavy clothes from the rinse water in the washing machine and reuse that water to wash the next load!!! 

Maxine drove the school bus when Michael was attending high school and she also delivered the mail in McLeod.  Michael said the school bus was an old Ford station wagon which was also used as a driver’s education car!!

When Michael and I first married I was asked by a company for whom I had previously worked to do an interim director of nursing job at the hospital in Hardin, MT.  Maxine had a brother living in Hardin, MT at the time and she would ride over with me on Monday morning and we would both stay until Thursday evening before coming home.  I learned so much about the people living in our valley on those drives and I sure heard a lot about my husband’s early years too!!! 

Maxine and Barney sold the ranch in 1997 moving to Big Timber—Barney died a few years ago.  Rest in peace Maxine—you will be missed.

And last but not least—the lazuli buntings came back today—my beautiful little blue birds.  For many years I could set the clock by their arrival—May 13—but now the birds usually arrive sometime around the middle of May. 

Home

Home in Montana after driving 1876 miles in four days!!  The inside of the motorhome is almost completely unloaded.  It started raining shortly after we chugged up the driveway but we still managed to get most of the stuff inside and put away.  Of course there is still the trailer and all the quilting stuff to unload.  Michael has an auction to go to tomorrow and I have a funeral—unloading the rest may have to wait a day or two. 

It feels so good to be home in our house—I took away all the dust covers making it a whole lot more cheerful in here—when we were just coming home on Michael’s off weeks I left the furniture covered with old sheets. 

We both slept so well in our quiet spot on the lake last night—very well—even with the windows open.  At 4am Ms. Emmi decided she needed to join us in bed—that usually means she is cold!

Life is good.

You Would Have Lost The Bet Mike

Mike McFall was sure we would be pulling into our driveway sometime late today but nope, we are boondocked on the shore of Lake DeSmet just outside Buffalo, WY, 264 miles from home.  We drove 592 miles today—Aransas Pass, TX sure is a LONG way from Montana!  We saw lots of this today--

Last evening right at dusk the campground was invaded by a group of geology students from Arkansas—probably 40+ young people putting up tents everywhere on the green grass—they all headed off in their vans after setting up the tents, probably to find dinner and they must have been quiet when they returned—we never heard them.

The Palms, our RV park in Aransas Pass was noisy, incredibly noisy for two people used to living in total silence—we hear birds, the creek running, our neighbors’ haying equipment certain times of the year, the radio and our voices—other than those sounds, we listen to quiet.  Noise is disconcerting to both of us and The Palms was noisy—the park has two gates and for some reason the owner decided to lock one of those gates at night and funnel all the park traffic out the road which went right by the front of our motorhome.  The traffic started at 4am, slowed down during the day and picked up again in the evening.  I am not exaggerating to say the traffic was non-stop from about 5pm until way after 10pm.  When Michael was working those odd shifts such as noon to midnight, it was amazing how much traffic was coming in and out of the park at midnight. 

Tonight we are camped on the shore of a Wyoming lake—I can hear the water lapping against the shore and the birds singing—nothing else.  Heavenly!!

A rest stop—the motorhome parked next to ours has Louisiana plates and we asked the couple where they were headed.  In the course of our conversation we discovered they are friends with the pastor of the Baptist church in Big Timber—they are headed to Kalispel, MT where their son pastors a Baptist church and will be running a camp retreat for him.  Small world.

A meadowlark singing his heart out.

The view from our spot for the night.

Geez It’s Hot!!

100 degrees in Goodland, Kansas this evening, 100 degrees!!!!  Michael and I got a chuckle from all the comments which told us we had Paul Dahl disease or gosh, 417 miles was a long way to go in one day.  Today we traveled 600 miles exactly—yesterday we were thinking was a light day for us--only 417 miles!!  Michael gets behind the wheel of any vehicle and off we go—10 hours, 12 hours—most days if I don’t just say, “OK, this is where we are stopping!”, he would go longer and farther. 

The morning started out nice and cool—it rained most of the night but about noon across the plains of Kansas the sun came out and the temps started rising again.  We had to turn on the generator and run two air conditioners to stay even reasonably cool.

This is a Keep On Adding park—KOA and for the whopping sum of $36 we are parked in a dusty, dirty gravel RV park with full hookups including 50amps—and as it is 99 degrees, 50 amps are important!!  It will do for one night—we would be boondocking if it wasn’t so hot!! 

Early this morning we saw these giant power poles being erected.  Michael noticed the helicopter hovering over one of the poles--

The helicopter was lowering the cross beams and that arrow is pointing to a man up there on top of that tall pole who appeared to be securing the beams—not a job I would want!!

Happy Birthday dear brother!  I was almost six years old when Ross was born and remember Mom bringing him home from the hospital.  He was the first male grandchild born into Dad’s side of the family and oh, my—what a celebration, he’s been spoiled rotten ever since—but we do love him, very much! 

We Are On Our Way

Pulled out of The Palms at 7:15am this morning with hugs from Mom and Rollie with a few tears shed by me!  And can you believe it, we are stopped, hooked up to 50amp power and running two air conditioners at 3pm!!!  Yes, my horse going to the barn actually stopped at about 2:30 this afternoon after driving 417 miles.  The temps really started to rise just after noon and by the time we stopped it was 91 degrees!!  Mercy!!! 

We drove through San Antonio and are parked in Abilene State Park about 20 miles south of Abilene, TX.  Our plan is to angle over into Colorado and skirt the high temperatures Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas are experiencing! 

Michael used the jeep to park the trailer in the street then backed the motorhome and connected the trailer.  Rollie came home from work to tell us goodbye so he helped Michael load the jeep while I visited with Mom. 

Our only excitement was hitting a piece of tire rubber in the road—when we stopped at a picnic area to walk Emmi the only damage we could see was one of the side running lights had been wiped off the trailer—no big deal. 

The view out our windows here in Abilene State Park—we had to use some bacon grease to get into this site and the front of the motorhome is just barely out of the road.  It’s a beautiful park, lots of green trees and as we don’t watch TV—satellite reception isn’t an issue for us.  But the park was obviously built before the age of “big rigs.”  This area is also experiencing a drought—there is a lake and it is only 10% of full!!  Our Millenicom aircard is performing OK and so is the cellphone. 

Onward tomorrow!