More Progress

Our house is beginning to look like real house. A few trim pieces have been added to the front.

The Great Room...the pony wall will become a long bar in the kitchen 

The bay windows in the master bedroom.

The main bathroom

The open kitchen

The dining area of the great room looking out to the covered patio

The Master Bath...the doorway to the right goes to the toilet room, the doorway in front goes into the huge walk-in closet...the doorway to the left goes into a very large shower.

The Great Room, with the living area on the right and the dining area on the left. I have no idea what the orange markings on the floor mean. It looks like the drywall has been taped, mudded and textured; light cans are installed in the ceiling. Progress is good, and more is needed

 

Mountain Mahogany

On June 3, I made a prediction, based on an Old Wife's Tale. On that fateful day, I saw that the asters had bloomed. 

Folklore says that summer will end in 8 weeks after the asters bloom. That meant that August 28 was the date to remember. It would mean an early fall and possibly an early winter...and that means early rain and snow. While we do not want to wish our sweet summers away, the west is in dire need of water. The early end of summer is certainly bittersweet.

On the 28th I saw the first tinge of yellow in the aspens. Today I saw another sign of fall...a splash of red on the hillside that says the mountain mahogany has changed color. Once the red of the mountain mahogany shows up, fall is not far behind.

Soon the aspens will be dressed in layers of yellow and gold. The mountains will be streaked with autumn colors and then the high country will be ready for winter.

The Cost of Freedom

The debacle that was the pull out from Afghanistan, left us mourning for 13 brave heroes who lost their lives. One of those heroes was a local man. He left behind a loving wife and a baby due in two weeks. Baby McCollum will never meet his or her daddy. Baby McCollum will never get to hold his or her daddy's hand. Baby McCollum will never experience the miracle that was his brave father.  The cost of freedom is high.

Our little town has a memorial for Rylee McCollum

A young man who died to bring us peace. May his death not be in vain. 

Stucco

A bit more progress on the new house...it has been stuccoed and according to my friend with eyes on the ground, the drywall has been taped. Good news

It looks very messy right now, but this too will pass.

Old Jeans Anyone

During the summer I've been collecting old jeans. I've been asking everyone I know if they any jeans they want to throw away if they would give them to me. Right now I have 12 pairs of jeans and they are on the "chopping block." I'm making aprons from the fabric. One pair of jeans will make 2 "average" size aprons. 

This is the first one I made. Since then I've looked at countless videos on YouTube. (BTW, YouTube is a vast "how to" knowledge base) I've discovered there are many patterns, so of course I took the best of all the patterns and developed my own. This week I plan to make a bunch of Christmas presents...here are the first three

These three will go to a Grandma, Daughter and Granddaughter, Jeans aprons are VERY sturdy and durable. The fabric is still tough, even though the jeans are no longer as pretty as they were when they were new. In addition, they are extremely washable and require no ironing, which makes them just about the perfect apron. Please, if you have any old jeans, send them to me, and I'll make you an apron. The biggest treat of all -- I can see well enough to sew! My eyes are healing.

Drywall Progress

There's good news to report...a little bit more progress is being made on our new home. 

Drywall has been hung...this will be the dining area

And this will be the living room. We still don't know when it will be finished. 

All progress is good progress.

 

A Small Milestone

For the last few weeks, my vision has been impaired due to cataract surgery. As my eyes heal, and I regain peripheral vision, depth perception, and acuity, I've been limited to painting rocks and not much else. I tried to crochet, but I could not see the stitches. Tonight I tried again, and I could see. SO, I made 1 little piggie.

He looked a little lonely, so....

...a lavender piggie showed up to keep the pink one company...

...but before I knew what was happening a third little piggie joined the party.

I can see well enough to crochet. More healing is needed, but this is a good start.

Dried In

Slow progress is being made on our new home. The house is now "dried in." This is a milestone in the housebuilding business because it means that should there be rain, the inside of the house will not get wet. Therefore, the windows are in, and the plywood roofing and the side walls are installed. (The exception to a "dried in" house is the garage door...that always comes along later in the process.) Now that the house is dried in, work can commence on the inside of the house. I hope the next batch of pictures will show interior walls and placement for cabinetry, etc. While a lot more work is needed, the house has "turned a corner" and we hope the rest should go quickly.

A small decorative feature has been added to the outide too. The good news is tempered by some bad news...escrow has been slipped to October. As of today, we do not know when escrow will be closed, but it will not be September 17 as we had been told before.

 

Mama and Bambi

I love the critters that live in the forest behind my house. Tender scenes of mama and Bambi are an added bonus. As a city kid, seeing a deer was a very special treat; now I'm a country "kid" and it's still special. The creatures great and small bless my backyard.

 

Buttermilk Skies

If you look carefully, you can see our buttermilk skies. The skies match the color of the trunks on the aspen trees. That's pretty ugly. The reason is simple...fires. There are hundreds of fires in the west. CA has 350 named fires, WY has over 40, and the states in between are burning too. 

The Air Quality Index (AQI) for this small corner of WY is 117, which is unhealthy for folks with asthma or COPD or other breathing problems. As you can see, the AQI can get much higher. When we survived the Camp Fire in Northern California in 2018 the AQI was off the scale at over 400. We need a change in the weather pattern to quell the fires and clean the air. The weather guessers are saying we might have that change tomorrow. I hope they are correct.

On another note, look carefully at the first picture. Do you see a tinge of yellow? The trees are on the verge of change. The asters predicted the first signs of fall on August 28...it's only the 17th...we might have an early winter?!

Critters

More crocheted critters are getting added to the menagerie. I'm getting very good at making turtles

But there is also an elephant in the house

This is a hot pink elephant, not a political elephant. As long as the weather is warm, I will make critters instead of blankets.

Uneven Antlers

We've been looking at the wildlife that lives in our forest for a couple of decades, so to see a "new" critter is a treat. The "new" critter is a deer...and yes, we've had deer since the get go, but we've not had a deer with uneven or lopsided antlers. This year we do. 

This stag has a "normal antler and short antler. There are several reasons that could cause uneven or lopsided antlers, the most common of which is an injured pedicle..or root of the antler. If the pedicle gets injured before the antlers start to grow in the spring, the antler might not grow correctly. I have no idea what happened to this stag, but I do know that he will not be able to partake in the rut this year. 

Rock Painting

It's Debbie's fault! One day she asked me "if I could do one new thing, what would it be?" And I answered "I'd love to paint rocks." SO I started to collect rocks for painting. I carefully washed them, evened out their rough edges, bought some acrylic paints and markers...and started working on a "quiet" hobby that would keep me amused and busy for my 5 weeks of not doing anything that will upset my healing eyes. 

I've discovered that rock painting is lots of fun. I've also discovered that I have zip talent. I'm not an artist. I've not been blessed with the ability to create anything that looks like a anything in nature. I've looked at at least a million Pinterest sites that show how "easy it is to paint rocks." I've seen videos of people painting beautiful butterflies and cute cats and dogs, but alas, those designs seem to morph into something unrecognizable when I try to copy them. I found I'm really good at dots. I can make random dots on a painted rock ... but not much else. It is keeping me quiet and I'm having a lot of fun experimenting with color...but I'm never going to be the Michelangelo of rock painters.

Wildflowers

As summer moves into August, the wildflowers are changing. The Indian Paintbrush and wild rose are just about gone, but the potentilla are alive and well. So are the black eye susans. The "susans' are my favorite. The goldenrod is out and of course the asters. 

If you look carefully, you will see some asters. I believe the asters are predicting summer to end at the end of August in the high country. I hope the asters are wrong.

Rite of Passage

There are many "rites of passage" such as graduating from high school and college, getting married, rearing a family. A "new" rite of passage is cataract surgery. When you get to a "certain age" (somewhere in your 70s) it's more or less expected that you will develop eye cataracts and they will need to be removed. On Wednesday, I joined that group and I had the cataract in my left eye removed. In 2 weeks, the right eye will have the same procedure. The upside is I will be able to see a lot better. The downside is I have to stay quiet for 5 weeks. I find it very difficult to remain quiet for 10 minutes let alone 5 weeks!

I need to wear an eyepatch at night, I cannot get my eye wet, I cannot life anything heavy or do anything that will put a strain on my eye, and I have a routine of special eye drops that needs to be administered 3 times a day. So far, all is going to plan. 

Turtles

It's summertime and that means I do not make blankets...they are too hot...so I make critters. I've made a few teddy bears, but now I'm working on turtles.

Some have short necks...

Some have long necks...they are more inquisitive I guess.

No matter what, they are fun to make...and don't be surprised if one ends up in your mailbox.

Blue Blast from the Past

Yesterday, we took a little drive and saw a very rare car...Can you guess it from these pix?

Any idea?

Here's the model?

Now you know! 

The car is a classic Edsel, the monumental failure introduced by Ford in the fall of 1957. It was supposed to be luxury vehicle, but sadly it never caught on and Ford bailed out of the Edsel market in 1959.

There were 2 models...the Ranger and the Pacer. This is a Ranger -- the "lower" end of the two. 

The Ranger did not have the bells and whistles of the higher end Pacer, but neither sold well.

Along with a "wrap around windshield," cigarette lighter, a cushioned arm rest and a radio, as standard equipment, the car boasted a push-button automatic transmission system called "telematic" that was supposed to be the cat's meow. I remember driving a loaner car, a 196?ish Lancer that had a push button transmission and I thought it was the strangest thing I'd ever driven. According to Wikipedia, about 12,000 of these cars were made in 1958 and 1959--I wonder how many are around 62 years later?

While the car was never popular, it's still making automotive history by surviving all these years.

More Progress

We took a quick trip to check out our new winter home. We had a complete progress report from the Project Manager who showed us the progress that has been made since we were last there on April 30. We learned the double paned windows have a 30% tint; we learned "studer vents" are used as secondary plumbing vents so as not to have too many punctures in the roof; we learned that the roof tiles need to be placed on the roof before the house is "dried in" and before the drywall is installed, so the house will "settle" correctly...and so much more.

Roof tiles on the roof

Studs among studs

We have a bathtub

Specs on the windows

We also learned that it's HOT in the summertime. We knew it was hot, but we experienced HOT. That's one reason it will be a winter house.

AI in the Neighborhood

I grew up in a city, but I'm not in a city anymore. I'm happily in the country. The kids around here, learn very different things...and one of the is AI. Here's one of my "kids" learning how to AI his heifer. This is a big deal. He's learning so much more than a process--he's learning responsibility too. 

I'm so proud of these kids.

1952 Chevy

There is a local drive in with car hops...and they have a really cute 1952 Chevy that is all tricked out with flames, dice and tuck and roll upholstery. Check it out!

I like the dice on the door lock the best.

Fire Sun

There are fires in the west again, and they are affecting our air quality. I took this picture of the sun at 9:15 AM today..

As you can see, the smoke is obscuring the sun. 

Needless to say, our bluebird blue skies are gray today.

Bambis in the Forest

Mama deer are very protective so they hide their babies in the forest understory. I'm thinking, the mamas  are beginning to think their little ones can venture out now, and to prove that theory, I saw another sweet Bambi. This one was following her mama dutifully and a little doubtfully (as it should be).

If you compare the spots on this fawn and the one I posted earlier, you will note the spots are different.

Progress: Windows

I know, when I say "windows" you are thinking PC...but in this case, I mean Real Windows. Windows were installed on the new house this week. Progress is continuing.

We are happy campers.

Independence Day

Happy Birthday USA! Wyoming celebrates this special day with fireworks and parades. The parades are definitely "home made" affairs without the benefit of float designers and fancy flowers...just bunting and streamers and spangles and stars...and lots of candy. Our local RV park had a great golf cart parade which was spectacular. In the evening we had a fireworks extravaganza with great displays and music. 

Independence Day

...as it should be

Hometown folks having a grand time 

Celebrating our nation, democracy and 

America the Beautiful. Long may we be a proud nation standing for freedom and liberty and

justice for all.