Critters Great and Small

We continued our "Great Moose Hunt" today by trekking into the wilds of the Tetons. We drove by Christian Ponds, a good moose browse...but no moose. Then came the moose browse by the Lake Jackson Dam...no moose. Then we drove to Jenny Lake and while we saw fantastic scenery, no moose.

As a last ditch effort, we went to Moose-Wilson Road and we finally saw a moose. Debbie has been looking for a moose for 6 years and today, she succeeded. She had  tears in her eyes when she was a big mama moose who had twins hidden in the understory. We never saw the babies, but we did see mama. Oh Happy Day!

Along the way we gawked at views of the Grand Tetons. In my opinion, you can never get enough view of the Tetons

Jackson Lake was still and the reflections were world class. Another great day in the mountains.

Artist's Point and Beyond

A wonderful day in Yellowstone. We started the day at Artist's Point at the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. It's hard to have a more beautiful start to a day. We saw the falls, and like everyone else, we oohed and ached. They are quite spectacular.

Then we took a sweet drive to Dunraven Pass, Tower Junction to Mt. Washburn.

Along the way we saw bison...lots of bison, but this guy caught our attention. He was BIG!

Last big stop along the way was at Mammoth Hot Springs where we saw a huge bull elk bugling during the rut.

After he bugled, he put his head on the ground...I'm guessing he was exhausted

A fine animal. We have yet to find a moose or a bear...maybe tomorrow when we are down in the Grand Tetons we will get lucky to see them.

A Day in Yellowstone

I'm enjoying a few days of late season camping and it's a blast. It's fun to be back in the RV. It's fun to be on the road. It's even more fun to feel healthy enough to do all that needs to be done. Yesterday we went from Old Faithful to Canyon looking for illusive critters and beautiful scenery. A great way to end the summer season.\\

Old Faithful is still spouting every 2 hours or so

In the woods

Does it get any better?

\\

Elk worse for wear from the rut

We were on the lookout for grizzly but we never saw any.

Sixteen Kitties

The news is less than perfect, so I'm going to write about crocheting cats...sixteen cats to be particular. I love to make "picture" blankets...these are blankets that have a picture embedded in the design of the blanket. In crochet terms, this is called a "filet" pattern, but I call them picture blankets. (As an aside a lot of folks who crochet will not attempt filet patterns because they are exacting and require lots of counting and concentration to detail.) I find them interesting to make and I love looking at reactions when folks see the picture in the blanket. I made the first one 18 years ago, and since then, I've made well over 100 teddy bear blankets. The teddy bear blanket is my "go to blanket" pattern to make when I'm on shipboard, in the RV or at home. It's cute and there's always a baby who needs a cute little blanket. I always give them away

...then I learned how to embed a heart into a blanket. I even know how to crochet a bunny (but I cannot find a picture of one)

...and now I have created a kitty. 

Unlike the teddy bear blanket where I had an actual pattern to follow, all I had with this blanket was a picture. I printed the picture normal size, then I changed the settings on the printer to increase the size of the picture

. Next step was counting off the stitches. From there, I crocheted a sample square of  one cat.. After several false starts, I figured out the pattern. The last step was to translate the sample into 16 continuous "samples" to make the complete blanket. I tore out nine different attempts at getting this blanket right. A simple kitty proved to be quite difficult...but, I got it right. Please take a look at my latest picture blanket, Sixteen Kitties

I gave the blanket to my niece and she loved it...and that's what it's all about.

Spotty

\

\

Spotty joined the menagerie tonight. He's going to his forever home in CA soon.

Camo was sent to his forever home in Tennessee and Sparky is giving birthday joy at his new home in Nevada. 

You never know when one of these critters will end up on your doorstep. They love to travel (just like me I guess)

Non-Partisan Elephants

I decided to crochet elephants, and I made several...but I finally got the pattern right Here were my first attempts

And while they were nice elephants, they were not perfect. 

Then I saw an elephant I made about 10 years ago, and I made these two fellows. Of course, 

I did not have a pattern so I had to improvise.

Meet Sparky, and

...Camo.

 These two little guys are now my go-to pattern for non-partisan elephants. 

I think they are cute and they are way more interesting that the grim news around the world.