Mejor Tarde Que Nunca!

I know – I know – I haven’t written a word in forever!  Like a month.  Somehow I haven’t been motivated – started and stopped several times, had things all planned out in my head – but didn’t do a damned thing. 

A month ago I went up to Larry and Sheila’s in Island Park to meet Sharon!  Such fun!  I’ve attached a couple of pictures.  I’ve figured out how she keeps her girlish figure, she doesn’t eat a thing!  Sheila and I munched away on our Triscuits and sharp cheddar, and cream cheese with jalapeno jelly – but all Sharon ate were a few huckleberries we went hunting for.  Oh well, so it goes…..it was great meeting her – I have to say she is one person who looks EXACTLY like her pictures in person!  Everything, not just her distinctive hair! 

There was a wedding here at the park, well, the wedding was down the road, we just had the reception.  Oh my oh my!  They were wonderful and gracious, I even went to the rehearsal dinner (see above – I am NOT a woman to turn down a rib eye steak!). I’ve had all of these LDS family reunion groups – no drinking there!  This crowd brings in a bar – a real, honest to God, bar.  And boy, did it get used!  Um, a little too much by the groom – no first dance or cake cutting for them!  He passed out and spent the evening being monitored by a river guide wilderness first responder.  However – that did mean the bride and groom got to sleep in the camper that night, instead of in the tent on the bed of pinecones!  We had cake the next day. It was quite the adventure!  I was trying to get the food back into the bear proof cargo trailer at 11:30 while bridesmaids were running up saying, we never ate!  Um, the food has been out for 5 hours girls!  They too had been very busy at the bar.  We pulled out one serving dish of each food group and said there you go.  Eat.  At that point I went to bed. I guess the DJ stopped around 2AM – I was long gone as I was also getting a doozy of a cold. Breakfast the next day was fabulous, the bride’s brother and his wife are also river guides and they did a typical river trip breakfast.  And then there was wedding cake – and you can’t forget the bloody Mary’s – the pitchers EACH had a fifth of vodka in them.  Nothing like hair of the dog! 

SOOOOOO – I still have the cough from that cold, but I’m slowly getting better.  I guess age is kicking in with the healing process!  Campers have totally thinned out – I have two single sites booked for Labor Day and I’m down to one group coming in.  The second group backed out.  I wonder why?  We’ve had mornings below freezing, tomorrow they are forecasting big thunderstorms with a high wind and high fire danger warning.  The little weather prognosticator on my phone says snow on Tuesday and Wednesday.  Are we having fun yet?

Next weekend I’m taking a memoir writing workshop through the library.  I’ll be going over to Jackson three days in a row for it, but I’m looking forward to it.  I’ve realized this summer that I’m limited in what I can do, even keyboarding more than an hour leads to very stiff hands.  However, at an hour a crack, I would like to try to write a book.  Y’all are sort of practice!

I leave the Tetons on the 16th, only a little over two more weeks!  It’s so stunning here that I’m it will be tough saying goodbye.  However, I need to see more people than I have the last few weeks.  And not just all at once like the wedding!  The dogs and I just sort of hang out – and I’ve realized it is almost depressing to me.  My back hurts enough that many mornings I just don’t want to get out of bed, which is fairly comfy for me.  However – 12 hours in bed a day is also not the best life.

I’ll be meeting up with Mark on the 28th and heading to Quartzsite on the 29th.  It will be good to be with him.  He’s hoping to work at the produce store.  Before we leave I have my disability hearing.  I just have to think positively about that!  I have a back up plan, but it involves food stamps, which is quite humbling.  Not being able to support myself is new and different and not a lot of fun.  But, I’ll do the best I can!

Before going to Q I am going over to Portland to see Eli and Jeff who are, ta da, officially engaged!  Eli and I are going to look at wedding gowns.  Of course it’s going to be two years before they put the whole thing together, but so much fun!  I’m really excited about that. 

I’m attaching random pictures here, without descriptions!  I’m getting lazy.  They are all taken right around the campground I’m in, oh, with exception of the one of Sheila, Sharon and I – that one is first and pretty self explanatory.  Heck, I’ll even include a couple of the wedding!  :)  I imagine the next time I’ll get here I’ll be back in Bend, or possibly even Quartzsite. I’ll let you know how it all shakes out!

  

 

 

I’m back again….

Robins & such

I know, I know – it’s been a while!  And I have absolutely nothing to show for it!  Doing my bathroom cleaning – just hanging out in the Tetons!  Yup – it’s gorgeous!  People come and go through the park – the family groups are fun.  They are usually very tidy and respectful.  They play family games like the one involving an Oreo.  You put it on your forehead and try to get it into your mouth by moving your face and eyes.  Umm – Emma and I tried it – NOT so easy, although I’ve seen people do it – one gal even did it twice!  Talented facial muscles. 

Right now I have a family group from Utah, a guy from Pocatello who is here because his son is at the Boy Scout camp next door, and has a broken arm….. My other campers have 5 little MSR backpacking tents.  Although they arrived in a car with Montana plates – it’s a rental – they are from New York and South Carolina.  Intrigues me that out of a group of 4 men and 1 woman – Nan is doing the driving!  Gotta love it! 

I’m attaching a series of pix of my robins – this morning I woke up to an empty nest.  It feels kind of odd!  A week ago I woke up to find that one of the babies had disappeared.  I guess this is Mom’s doing – she winnowed out the one she considered the weak link – kind of creepy. 

Mark had planned to be here next week, but Richey’s, in Corvallis, called him on Monday and asked if he could work.  At this point he can’t turn down two months of $10 an hour.  So – he’s staying put.  My back has been getting steadily worse since the mowing – which was some six weeks ago.  I’m going back to Bend mid September, with my rig in tow, to spend a couple of weeks before my hearing.  I think it would be judicious of me to go see my Rheumatologist and my Orthopedist.  Ugh.  I’d like to forget all of this stuff, but it won’t let me.  Sleeping has been a problem but last night I used one of the features on my cell phone which is basically a white noise creator.  I actually chose the sound of a train running along a track and you know – it actually helped!  Fewer drugs, and more sleep!  Would have been even better if Katy hadn’t decided to get up at 1AM and Spencer at 4!  Like having babies again………

So, that’s it!  I’m enjoying the simple life, and poor Jim and Charlene are going to have to mow, and if any tables get painted this year, it won’t be by me!  Oh – Jim built benches up at their campground, and a lovely display table, and last Saturday night, for the first time in some 30 years, we had an official ‘campfire’ up there.  Well, no fire actually, but a bear presentation by two specialists.  Pretty cool!  My contribution was a Tupperware pitcher for fruit punch.  :)  Charlene even made homemade oatmeal cookies – yum! 

Haven’t seen any moose in a while, saw a very small doe in the meadow the other day – and no, I didn’t get a picture of her – the dogs started barking at her and she departed.  I have been big on mouse eradication lately – oh boy, is that fun!  NOT!  OK – so someone who reads this blog suggested I use mouse poison – something about how the always take it back to their nest and said person has NEVER seen a dead mouse.  Yes, well, I humbly disagree.  I’ve been using poison in the basement of the rig, and have now had to ferret out a total of 9 dead bodies.  I’ll be really graphic and tell you that one had been visited by flies, who had laid eggs, and yes, I had maggots crawling all over.  SOOOOOOOOOO!  No more mouse bait!  I took everything out yesterday – I would bet there are more little bodies behind the paneling that creates the basement, but I am NOT going to tear the trailer apart – they can sort of mummify on their own.  I did get the rest out – God I hate that job!  Everything is cleaned up – and I’m intermittently going to put the kind of trap in there that lures them in and incarcerates them and then you throw the whole trap away.  Unfortunately the traps are 3.50 each and not in my budget right now.  Mark loaned me money to buy this ultra-sonic thing for the trailer – you plug it in and it makes an inhospitable environment.  I know I’ve had brief little visits during the night – but instead of having mouse poop all over the living room, and such, I only have a teensy amount by where they come in.  So – it seems to be doing it’s job.  One night last week (before the device) I was watching a movie mostly in the dark – with a dog on each side when they just stood up barking like mad.  This poor little mouse had ventured in – and as I know they do – ran along the kitchen wall, across the back wall and then, in desperation, diagonally back to whence it came.  The dogs were on that spot and just going crazy.  I put some poison on and found the poor baby outside the next morning.  I will say – I am totally over dead mice.  I actually don’t mind them in their own place – they are really cute and pretty much harmless, although they like to try to make nests out of TP I’ve discovered.

OK – now to the pictures!  Sorry I digressed so much, but you might as well get the whole scene up here!  And I repeat – poisoning mice in a somewhat enclosed environment is a TERRIBLE idea!  LOL

The babies at about 4 days

About a week

About two weeks

Suddenly there are two

Getting bigger

Standing on the nest, flapping their wings and snatching bugs out of the air - yesterday

And now, today,  they’ve flown the nest!

Jim, Allison and Dave at our bear talk

And last but not least – this picture of Katy, taken about 1AM, explains graphically why I sleep alone……….and why Emma complains there is dog hair in my bed – ya think!?

I’m back! LOL

Well – this was supposed to be daily, or maybe weekly – but certainly not monthly!  Things just got busy! 

Emma has come and gone – we saw the fireworks in Driggs on the third (the Fourth was a Sunday) and I saw the parade in Victor.  No pictures from the parade as I left my camera in the trailer!  A big oops.

I was surprised that all of the entries were from businesses – it was lots of fun, but I’m not used to that at all!  The parade I did for 7 years in Piedmont was all neighborhood associations and such – nothing commercial at all.  This was just the opposite – I especially liked the business that was throwing Otter Pops to the kids – I actually got one………:)

Emma was catering in Driggs so I got her after her job was over and we watched the fireworks from the truck.  Our politics will be ‘outed’ here – but we sat in the truck with the windows rolled up while Glenn Beck was speaking. I think I would have at least listened, but Emma refused and there are, as a parent, bigger battles! 

Emma’s visit was wonderful – I was truckless a lot as she was off and running!  When we were together we pretty much had fun!  She’s learned from dorm life that messy small spaces are disastrous to live in and has become quite tidy! 

We headed off to Bend on the 7th – going up the canyon to Stanley ID, through the Sawtooth Mountains.  It was lovely – Emma had wanted to see them.  Of COURSE – that was the day we never got lunch and it showed in Emma’s, um, shall we say attitude. We did find a place in Stanley to eat dinner, and ended driving down the canyon to Boise for the night.  Dinner was quite the experience and Emma sorted her mood out by buying herself a beer at the bar.  I have a couple of pictures. 

The memorial service in Bend was touching – I think my sense is that as I no longer own a house in Bend, and the generation of the family that is left lives in Ecuador and Belgium, that without their parents as the touch point, I am ending the second generation relationship as well.  I certainly hope not – and that sentence probably left a lot to be desired! 

My mover helper guy was appalled that I was just leaving all the furniture in Christian’s house – which now has a lock box on it.  He arranged for it to all be moved out – he’s going to sell it and we’ll split the money.  Bless Kevin’s heart!

The Teton Canyon news is that I am pretty much relinquishing my job as campground host here at Reunion Flat.  Mark is going to come and take over all of the maintenance, and I’m hoping to go back to being the trail head host.  I can do the bathrooms here, and certainly deal with the people, and the paperwork, but the mowing, and prospective table sanding and painting, my back just won't tolerate.

I mowed a month ago and still haven’t recovered.  This go round poor Jim and Charlene, my bosses, and the hosts up at Teton Canyon, are having to do it.  Jim kept wanting me to weed eat, and yes, it needed it, but I can only sweep for about 1 minute before I get wonderful back spasms, and I know I’d be useless with a weed eater.  I think this is the first time in my life I’ve needed help with a job, or had to give one up for any reason, much less a physical one. This was kind of a test to see what I could do, and unfortunately I’ve learned that answer is not much. 

I am going to keep my trailer where it is though – I’ll commute up the hill if they want me to go back to trail head host and if they don’t, I’ll help Mark with this.  He’ll just get to do all the back intensive stuff – and may I say, I am incredibly grateful to him!

I can’t possibly move my trailer!  As you’ll see from the last picture, my three little eggs aren’t little eggs anymore – the are three little translucent bodies!  I think they probably hatched on Tuesday – they were out Thursday morning.  When I first saw them I thought they were not alive as they weren’t moving at all – however, today, I could see them all breathing – it’ll be fun watchingthem grow!  My own little window into nature. 

Grand Teton before a storm – from my campsite

Waterfall you can see from Reunion Flat – in May there was a LOT more water!

The nest – guess I won’t be riding for a while!

Emma taking a picture from the outside – as I (obviously) took one from inside – poor Mama Robin!

Sunset on July third looking out across Teton Valley from Driggs

My only half way decent fireworks picture – Emma’s, however, were wonderful!

Emma making a chocolate cake – no recipe – no nada – baked it in a loaf pan – and it was WONDERFUL!  The ‘base’ was Bisquick – who knew?

The flowers in bloom on the hill below our first campsite at Teton Canyon!  Boy – have they grown – and, obviously, bloomed!

Stanley Idaho

Grumpy Emma before dinner – although the drink helped! 

The Kasino – the restaurant – opened for dinner at 6 – by 6:02 there was only one 2 top left open!  It was as if they only had one seating – I was fascinated!  Glad we had our dibs in early – we got a nice window seat

Emma after dinner!  That fresh Alaskan halibut did it I guess – I had blackened prime rib with blue cheese on top – how decadent is that?!

And last but not least – our three little babies!  Amazing how this works!  I would have loved to have seen them coming out of their shells….

 

Our nester

A couple of days ago a couple of little finches kept batting at the rear window of the trailer.  I thought they were thinking there were other birds as the windows are reflective from the outside.  I went out to see if there was anything to see, and lo and behold, there was!  My bike, still on the back of the rig of course, was having a nest built in it!  The front reflector and one of the ladder steps was the base.  It was already about 5” from top to bottom and probably 7”across.

This afternoon I went to hang out Emma’s ‘work’ outfit,; I had hand washed them as she has another 3 days of catering ahead of her.  I have my little umbrella clothes dryer and I usually hang it on the handlebars.  Hey – it works!  However – as I went to hang it there was the flutter, flutter, flutter. 

I had completely forgotten about the nest, duh………..I was very surprised to see a robin fly out – given that finches were making the nest.  Is this weird?  I don’t do birds, but this seems odd to me.  I came back inside and peered out the window – and yup – a robin’s egg!  I waited a bit and mom came back but she is VERY skittish and the least noise inside the rig startles her away. She came back once but wouldn’t settle – I think she was trying to outlast the ground squirrel the second time around.  I suspect she didn’t want him to know where the next was. 

So – a few pictures here – I’ll try to document as we proceed! 

There’s also a picture of our view from the little area where Em and I have cell service.  It’s not too shabby.  LOL

Yesterday Em and I went into Rexburg to Walmart for meds for me and then up to Island Park to see Larry and Sheila.  Merry, Sid, Emma and I floated on the Snake River for about 4 hours.  I have to say – a plug here for Neutrogena SPF 70 sunscreen!  I am as lily white as I was when we started out.  Now – I wish my legs had gotten a teensy bit of color – but at least I know the stuff works!

Sheila treated us to her Navajo tacos – deep fried scones with chili and all the fixin’s.  Emma was enamored with her corn salsa.  No black beans around so it wasn’t black bean and corn salsa, but it was wonderful none the less.  Emma got to see Larry’s special tum tum wood and then we headed home.  We were both pretty beat so Emma didn’t head out to socialize – she waited til 10 this morning.

I had my hardest day’s work – deep cleaning all 8 bathrooms and shoveling out several fire pits and BBQ’s.  This is more work than I bargained for – I’m enjoying it – and I’m hoping I’m gathering some strength and not just screwing my back up more; time will tell.  I’ve told Mark that if he hasn’t found anything by August that he can have my job and I’ll go back up to be the lazy, but friendly, trail head host.  THAT I can cope with!

Tomorrow Em and I are going to Jackson; she needs new work shoes and we’re meeting Sheila’s mom and going on a hike in Teton National Park to see a waterfall.  It’s pretty idyllic here – notwithstanding scrubbing toilets!  :)

Our telephone view!

 

    

View looking East across Idaho’s Teton Valley towards ‘our mountains’.

Our robin’s nest – yes I wish I’d washed my rear window better!  LOL

Mommy robin

Mommy sitting on nest! 

Here we go!

Well – it has mostly stopped raining – and my first group is here!  The Scheer family reunion.  Oh my – and this group is all RV’s!  Yikes!  Including one of those fifth wheels towing a cargo trailer!  The guys have already diagnosed that my rear cylinder is blown – will make it overheat and have no oomph on grades.  I wonder if I can afford to get it fixed, if in fact that’s the problem! 

Actually – my brakes are being weird – and they get the first big of money thrown at them!  But, back to the group.  They expect between 100 and 150 people.  All the way from So Carolina.  I’m new to this family reunion thing – I don’t have much in the way of family! 

They’ve offered me a tin foil dinner when they are ready – hamburger, potatoes, carrots, etc.  Bless their hearts.  I got the power on to the bathroom lights, which will be a nice touch tonight.  I’m darting all around, making sure people are parking in the approved places and such. 

Emma is off at a catering job in Jackson.  Yes, she’s been here 2 weeks and has a job.  Good Lord.  Actually quite the job – tonight is chefs coming to a private residence – the service alone is costing the people like $600 – Emma is getting $160.  On Saturday she serves for a wine tasting.  That gig pays $18 an hour.  She had to buy closed tow black shoes for the endeavor – she found some Chinese Laundry flats on sale, and on sale again, for $10 at the only shoe store in town.  AND they were a size 10 – leftovers from Lord knows when.  But – she was in business.  Her own black slacks and a white shirt of mine – thank you Dian!  :)

On Monday we went to Teton National Park, I got my hair cut by Penni from Quartzsite.  Emma and I kayaked on Lake Jackson but no pics – I, ummmm, dropped my camera in the lake.  I think all is well, but we had to let it dry out a bit.  We toured up the East side of Yellowstone – the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone is amazing! 

Then over to Island Park to see Larry and Sheila, as well as Laura from the forum.  We were late (LOTS of construction and traffic in Yellowstone) but they had saved some dinner.  Emma was there all of 5 minutes and was hustled off for a float trip on the Snake River. She certainly is having a packed month with me! 

At any rate – back to our new home – Reunion Flat Campground – it’s lovely nestled in here and I will attach some pictures of this!  All is well – I’m hustling my hiney – this job is really designed for two people and Emma is NOT interested in helping with this.  So – I’m doing all the bathrooms and mowing, etc etc etc.  I’d never used a riding mower until yesterday; spent 4 1/2 hours on one yesterday  - my back is killing me, it was NOT happy! 

Well – off to dinner – I have another group, of 60 or so, coming in tomorrow night.  This park has hugely busy weekends, and quiet weeks, we’ll see how I do!

Emma reading to preschoolers at the brand new Alta library – yes, she’s been busy!

Larry & Sheila’s grandson Ben’s softball tournament – Larry, Sheila, Emma, daughter Merry and her son Sid

Reunion Flat Campground at sunset

Jackson Lake that Emma and I kayaked; right before the camera took a swim! The Tetons from the East side!

And yes, I concede – Emma is a stronger paddler than I am!

So – is this gorgeous or what?!  My group has gone off to hike the waterfall trail that I used to be in charge of – I’m going to town to buy bread and make a truck appointment – have another group coming this afternoon!  Emma’s watching a movie, having gotten back at 2AM from the first catering job – but the hosts gave them each $200!  She was ecstatic!  Making bank!

Yellowstone

On Monday Emma and I went to Yellowstone.  It was kind of a whirlwind trip as there is just so much to see!  We circled in through the West entrance and exited through the South.  We will be going back through next week and hope to see more of the East side. 

Here are some pictures of our day – we saw lots of marvelous things and I suspect my pictures are not going to do total justice – but so it is.

As we entered on the West side we saw this big guy – a black bear – yes, he’s brown, but no hump so not a grizzly.  See we’ve learned something already!  I was just glad he was on the other side of the river!

Our next encounter was with the elk – they weren’t quite as compliant for picture taking!

Our next encounter was with buffalo!  An entire herd.  We were so close we could have pet them – they were lying right next to the road.  We were fascinated with the three generations – adults, adolescents and babies.

 

Then we were off to some of the ubiquitous, wonderful, bubbling pools and springs.  The algae, the reflection of the sky – all combine to create fascinating colors.

Then it was off to lunch at the Old Faithful Inn – I opened in 1904 and is one of the few remaining log hotels in the country.  These pictures don’t do it justice – but we had bison burgers and sweet potato fries in the dining room – such fun!

The three story lobby is stunning!

And then – simply because we were there – Old Faithful!

On our way South we passed this fabulous river and little waterfall.  The sun shining on it was stunning! What a way to end our day!

And the view from across the street!  Not too shabby either!  The Tetons are in the background but I know my camera didn’t pick them up……….