Mastodons on the Prairie

As we drive the old roads, dirt roads or back streets we see the remains of former days. It can be in the form of an old wagon that somehow survived the past century and a half.

Or old farm machinery that is no longer used, but not forgotten. 

This wonderful old dredge might have been used to deepen a stock pond but now, it's a hulk rusting in a field of green. 

What did this do before it was abandoned?

Like prehistoric animals they sit and wait to be discovered and studied by archeologists of the future.

Going to Seed

The summer wildflowers are slowly reaching the end of their life cycle. The trees are still green, but everything has that "tired look" as if its been on too long, or over-cooked. There are few new flowers left in the garden. A few asters are still trying to add some lavender to the palette, but the bright oranges and yellows have left for the fall.

The saxifrage was yellow, now it looks like an allergy attack waiting to happen. 

The black eyed Susan's are just a memory. 

The yellow flowered salsify is replaced with a huge puffball. We've had salsify puffballs all summer, now we have more. In a few days a wind will come up and launch each individual silky helicopter into the big world. 

There are a few berries for the deer to eat. To me they look "over the hill" but the deer seem to think they are candy. It took me awhile to see a cluster this big.

The paintbrush came out early and is still trying to add some color to the garden, but its taking a lot of effort. Soon it will be withered and brown too.

Hunting Season Safety

It's hunting season in Wyoming.  I did a rough count, and there are over 130 different hunting seasons depending on location, critter and method. There's archery season and gun season. There's a season for deer, elk, antelope, moose, bison, bear...as well as a season for grouse, turkey, rabbit and squirrel. The state is divided into many areas, and each area has a different hunting season for each category. Given that, the deer season around here is opening soon and the local deer seem to know it. They are hanging out in my backyard. 

This youngster is about 2 years old. He's probably not a very good target as he's not endowed with a big rack. Thank goodness, as I enjoy looking at him.

As long as he stays in my backyard he's very safe! 

What I find even more enjoyable is what the deer are eating. They are munching on the wildflowers and NOT my petunias. 

Where's Is It?

We saw this in Afton this afternoon. A perfect rainbow! There's bound to be a pot of gold somewhere near.

Radio Frequency Ablation (RFA) Progress Report

Two days after the RFA, the other DrC is doing pretty good. His face is more numb than the doctor indicated it would be, but he has regained some feeling in his tongue. He now knows where it is in relation to the rest of his mouth. He is still numb from his forehead to his upper lip on the left side of his face. His speech is normal, as are his facial expressions. I'm hoping that more of the numbness will wear away in the next day or two. Most important, he does not have any pain! He started to taper off his medication too. I think he's making good progress!

Portland is called "The Rose City" that's why I'm sharing these beautiful blooms.

Stuck In Portland

We tried to leave Portland today, but the plane-gods had other ideas.  As we were driving to the airport, I received a call from United saying our flight to San Francisco was delayed. Immediately I knew we were in trouble as there was no way we could catch the connecting flight to Jackson if our first flight was late. 

Undaunted, we drove the rest of the way to the airport (after detouring to get fuel for the car) and we tried to check in. Sure enough there was a problem. Our flight was delayed for 2 hours. Other planes heading for SFO were full. The ticket agent tried to find flights to LA, Salt Lake City, Denver, and Chicago, that would connect to Jackson,  all to no avail. She even tried other airlines...the same result!  Everything was booked. Finally she asked if we could stay overnight and we said yes. So that's what we are doing. United is footing the bill for food and lodging and tomorrow at 6:00 AM we are boarding a Delta flight to Salt Lake City then on to Jackson. We should be in about noon, but I'm  not making any promises. 

We used the first of our meal vouchers on a wonderful lunch at Stanford's at the airport. We each ordered a rib-eye with all the trimmings. What a wonderful steak! If you are stuck in Portland International Airport (PDX) I highly recommend their rib-eye...tender, juicy,and oh so tasty! We will have a much smaller meal at supper...then early to bed as we have to be at the airport at 4:30 AM to make our six o'clock flight!

Another pretty rose.

Leaving Portland

We leave the Rose City tomorrow with a new iPad (as the one I received a month ago was overheating...and there's an Apple Store in town) and a new lease on life. The other DrC might be pain free! We are hopeful the Radio Frequency Ablation worked! We will know more after he has reduced his pain medication, which will take over a month to accomplish. 

One more pretty rose.

Done

We got up early to drive to the hospital (we knew the way!) arriving 10 minutes before schedule. Soon we were called into the prep room. He was in surgery by 9:30 and out by 10:30. All went to plan. He feels a bit numb right now and very sleepy. As I know more I will let you know.

(PS. The Gamma Knife Procedure he had in November did not work.)

One more pretty rose!

Heritage Roses

On Wednesday we visited the Heritage Rose Gardens outside of Salem. What a treat. I'm not an expert on roses, but I do like flowers. If you in the area, take an hour and walk through a peaceful place with a heavenly aroma. 

Even the bees like it!

Getting Ready

We are getting our "ducks" in a row for surgery tomorrow. The first hurdle was getting to "Pill Hill" and finding the hospital. From there we needed to find the admission station. Sounds easy? Wrong!

OHSU is a huge complex of buildings perched on the top of a hill. We knew how to take a tram to the hospital, but we were told we should drive directly to the hospital tomorrow.  All we had to do was follow the blue and white "Hospital" signs on Terwilliger Rd. Guess what...we did not see any of those signs. I turned on my Map App and we were able to wend our up the very narrow, very wiggly road to the top of the hill where the hospitals are located. We found the correct parking lot and I was almost ready to turn back, thinking we had found the spot when I remembered some other confusing names. 

We have been told to go to four different places for the surgery: Sam Jackson Hall, the Multnomah Pavilion, the MPV and the "Surgery Short Stay 4N." In addition we were told to check in on the 4th floor AND the 9th floor. Given all the different names and directions we knew we needed to put feet on the ground. It was a lot harder than we thought. I'm glad we did the scouting mission today instead of tomorrow at 6 AM as we would have been flying blind. 

We discovered that Multnomah Pavilion and MPV are the same place...but all the signs say Multnomah Pavilion. Sam Jackson Hall is an "area" in the MPV (which is a local abbreviation as I'm sure writing Multnomah several times a day would get really old!) There is no sign saying Surgery Short Stay--but there is a door leading to a check-in type desk that says "waiting room." When we went there asking for the Surgery Short Stay area, we were told we were in the right place. When I asked for the sign that told me we were in the right place, I was told it does not exist anymore! When I asked about the blue and white hospital signs I was told that the city does not maintain the signs and they are probably overgrown by all the trees! 

Welcome to Oregon stranger? While everyone is nicer than nice and very willing to give directions...the directions are more or less worthless!

What a Difference a Few Days Make

It's Tuesday morning and we are in the tram going to the MRI. Here's our view. It certainly is different from the sweeping vistas we had on the back road to Montpelier.

Musings about Portland

Today we scouted out the location of the Oregon Health and Science University. Since we need to be there tomorrow at 8:30, we needed to know where we were going. This is one of the times when a smartphone map program comes in handy. I typed in the address and the voice from the phone told me where to go. 

At the end of our quest, we found OHSU and the aerial tram. We knew there was a tram, but we were not ready for something so big. 

The flywheel is huge...

As is the parking lot for bicycles. 

You know you are Oregon when you see this many bikes in one place. 

As we were driving around Portland, we were comparing this city with another "river city" that we visited last November. That other city is Pittsburgh, PA. Both cities are hilly. Both cities have lots of green trees. Both have old freeway systems. Both have trams, of sorts (Duquesne Incline vs. Aerial Tram). Both have huge hospital complexes known for helping folks with Trigeminal Neuralgia. Wish us luck!

PS. Our luggage arrived. It did go to Boston...then it got stuck in Chicago...and finally it arrived in Portland 20 hours after we arrived. United sent me a questionnaire about "our most recent flight." One of the questions was "how can we make our service better?" So, I told them. They need to know. 

Beware of Bears

Montpelier has unique street benches. 

It is close to Bear Lake. 

Country Wisdom

This is a good incentive to keep your kids in line!

The Back Road to Montpelier

Today we finished the  exploration we started the other day. We drove the 47 miles of dirt road to the small town of Montpelier, ID, population 2500. The drive was wonderful. Sweeping vistas of wide valleys and rounded mountains. The sky was a perfect blue with fluffy white clouds. 

We passed a marker for the  White Dugway--and had no idea what a Dugway was. Apparently it's a white shale formation that gets very slippery and dangerous 

in rain and snow. 

We saw a few horses and lots of cattle

But mostly was saw beautiful scenery that made my eyes smile. 

In Montpelier we visited the National Oregon-California Trail Museum. 

A little gem filled with a clever timeline, a great mural, and original art depicting life along the trail during the 1800s. The last wagon train to use the trail was in 1914, only 99 years ago. Things have changed a lot in those 99 years!

We drove the paved road home to the Star Valley. The sky started to turn gray...we had a little bit of rain...then it cleared up again. 

It was a good day for a drive. Tomorrow we fly to Portland.

A Job Well Done

We went to the judging of the pigs at the county fair...and our kids did well. They both were named Grand Champion for Showmanship for their age group! Talk about two proud kids! And we are proud of them too!

Even with all the excitement, the pigs are still sleepy!

Exploring

It's always great fun to explore. Yesterday, we were driving south of Afton and we ran into road construction. Instead of waiting we turned right. Went straight towards the mountains in the west then we turned south then again west. Soon the pavement changed gravel. Somewhere along the way we crossed into Idaho and the Caribou National Forest. Really pretty country!!

We need to know where the road ends so we will be back. 

PETA in WY

You know you are in Wyoming when you see this!

Can Pigs Fly?

We saw the piggies today. We follow a group of 4H "Divine Swines" named Captain, Marshmallow, Tornado and Knight. 

Marshmallow is large and pink and loves to eat ...  guess what???   Marshmallows! 

 She also knows where the water is!

Marshmallow sleeps a lot too. There's not much else for  pigs to do at the County Fair, other than be displayed by their person and auctioned off to the highest bidder. 

Marshmallow is sharing her stall with 3 other piggies, all of which weigh between 240-265 pounds. Its fascinating to see kids, 1/3 (or less) that size manage the piggies. When they get to the arena on Friday these piggies will be the epitome of pig-dom...squeaky clean, shiny, groomed, and awake!

In the meantime, they are sleeping in sweet smelling sawdust and letting their kids pamper them. Captain, at 265 pounds, looks like he's in Hog Heaven. 

 Tornado chows down. (He has to keep his figure, you know.)

Knight is too exhausted to do anything but sleep! So, to answer the question...NO. Pigs don't fly, they seem to sleep and eat. 

County Fair

It's time for the County Fair. Yesterday we went to see the piggies, but they were not there yet. We were in time to see the parade. Here's the staging area with the Rodeo Queen. 

The piggies arrive on Wednesday. The 4H kids always do a good job!