I've been crocheting critters for a long time. Mostly they look like the critter I'm crocheting...until recently. I decided to crochet "things" that are not found in real life. Hence, I'm creating little aliens as my friend Miki calls them.
Here's my latest group of aliens...
I've talked about "geezer finger" before, but I had to mention it at least one more time. This morning, my brother and I were trying to type a phrase into a search bar on our cellphones and had absolutely no success. He has wide fingers and failed. After a few attempts, he said "you do it." I have long-ish fingernails. You guessed it, failure again.
We were trying to find pictures of a car he owned a hundred years ago (I exaggerate only a little bit). It was a stripped down 1956 Chevrolet 210 Biscayne with 3-on-the-tree standard transmission and a really bad paint job. He typed that phrase but his geezer fingers said 1956 Ch3vr0let Biscahmr....my attempt was not much better1956 chevr9oet Biscay e ... not good.
The next thing we tried was dictation. By this time, we were laughing at the non-results of our efforts. Finally, one of us got the phrase out without a giggle and a ton of pictures showed up. We had success. Is dictation the answer?
All of us have looked at younger folks text. They make it look like a piece of cake. They are using their fingers and thumbs and successfully texting or searching, all while using the same tiny keyboard on the screen of a cellphone. There's no way my brother and I could do that. Our fingers are nimble. Both of us can type quit well. We have finger dexterity. So what is the difference? Is it practice? Youngsters text more than geezers. Is that why they do it better than we do? What it is that makes us folks in our "golden years" unable to text on a small on-screen keyboard? I know that my brother and I are not the only 2 geezers out there who cannot text worth a da**). The other DrC has the same problem...and so do a fair few of my geezer friends. We seem to be afflicted with "geezer finger." Why, oh why, is texting so difficult for geezers?
If you can answer this question, please let me know. Please don't text me as I know how frustrating texting is. Remember, we're all in this together.
On Tuesday we had "white day" (which is not a racist term). White day happens only one time a year for about 30 or so hours (sometimes less, sometimes a bit more). It's when the middle story of the forest, where the berry plants live, bloom. The blooms are purist white and liltingly lovely. And ever so illusive. The tiny white blossoms are there for just two blinks of an eye, then they are gone. And that's what happened...I did not have a chance to take their picture. I saw white day but did not document it. You'll have to take my word that white day is a real thing. Today there are a tiny smattering of white berry blossoms in the middle layer of the forest still lingering. The blossoms are for the deer. The blossoms turn into sweet purple and blue and white berries, so the deer will have some of Mother Nature's candy before the deep-freeze of winter returns.
I have captured a picture of the yellow however. The dandelions are in bloom. (Did you know that dandelion comes from the French phrase dente-lion...meaning lion's tooth?) The dandies are delightful. We have fields of bright yellow dandies blooming right now and I love them. They are hopeful and pretty. Aside from the fact that my mother was on a perpetual campaign to rid her yard of dandies, I love them. They are the first true wildflower of spring. I think spring is here a full 3 weeks before the official beginning of summer.
I also noticed that the lupine are starting to grow. Their funny little leaves are starting to sprout in the forest. No lavender lupines yet, as the white flowers and yellow flowers always come first. Then the other wildflowers will show off their colors.
I love the progression. It's something us geezers count on. Things that are touchstones--they are regular--they happen in a certain order--they give us continuity. First white day, then yellow fields, then purple lupines...then flax, geranium, harebell, daisy, black-eyed Susans, wild rose, paintbrush, arnica, aster...all will have their day soon. But for now it's just the dandies.
Things in the outside world are not as reliable--as dependable. As I write this a major political storm is happening, which I will not discuss. I'll retreat into the forest where the mama does are hiding their babies, the understory is lush and verdant, the middle story is white, the canopy is covered with shiny green leaves and the open fields are opulent in yellow. It's just about perfect. Remember we're all in this together.
You might wonder why seeing a grizzly bear is so important? It's simple,she's the oldest grizzly bear mama ever, and she's been dubbed the "Queen of the Rockies." She earned that title 4 years ago when she gave birth of quadruplets. This is very unusual for grizzly bears. Naturalists, photographers and more tourists than you can count, flocked to the Tetons to see this amazing mama grizzly. 399 has had twins and triplets several times, (I think she has had 18 cubs) so she knows how to care for multiple cubs. The quads grew up, and left her protection when they were 2 years old. Last year, at age 27, 399 had a single cub, who is still with her. She is a "highway bear" as she rears her cubs close to the roads where they are protected by the National Park Rangers and away from male grizzlies that live in the outback. She knows where her family will be safe. She's one smart mama bear!
In every available parking place along the road, there were vehicles. The rangers have blocked the road to Pilgrim Creek, otherwise people would be there too. Other places are cordoned off so you cannot park. There are volunteer and paid rangers watching what is going on too. Before 399 became famous, there was none of this activity in the Park.
Given all of the above, we tried to see 399 yesterday and we were not successful. We did see 3 of the 5 BIG animals found in the Tetons: Bison, Elk and Antelope. We did not see the other 2: Moose and Grizzly Bear. What most folks don't realize is the the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (which includes Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks) is an huge open air zoo where you can view all sorts of wild critters from otters to mountain goats and everything in between. Even though we did not see our famous mama bear, we were treated to some world class mountain scenery. Never a bad tradeoff. The adventure was grand. Maybe next time. Remember, we're all in this together.
We met over 40 years ago. She had just survived being a doctoral student's wife, and I was working on my doctorate. We had a lot in common and we had nothing in common. She was a Jew, I was a Catholic. She was a southerner, and I was a west coaster...the list of differences went on and on, yet she knew what it was like being a student as she was one too--working on a degree in accounting while putting her husband thru school and rearing 2 little ones. We were friends, as were our husbands.
She taught me how to start a garden in a tiny apartment plot. We grew tomatoes and bell peppers--soooo many tomatoes (and, if you know me, you know I don't even like tomatoes). She taught me how to laugh at the absurdities of life, while enjoying liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Over the years both families moved--to strange and exotic places and back "home" to the USA again. Both of us went out of our way to visit each other. When we were overseas, we visited them in Taipei...and they visited us in Guam. We saw them return stateside. We visited them when we were RVing. They visited us. We were friends. That's what friends do.
Now my friend is gone. I can't talk to her. I can't be with her. All I can say is "Rest in peace, dear friend. You and your family blessed our life. You will be missed by all who knew you."
As geezers, we need to remember to stay in touch with all of our friends. Friends make us whole. They give us meaning. They are what makes us "tick." Take the time to say I love you to your friends. Take the time to hug your friends. Do it now. It's important. Remember, we're all in this together.
Life in Geezerville: Signs of Spring Edition
There a few telling signs. The weather is a bit warmer. Granted our high today will be 65, but the low will be above freezing at 35. On the other hand, Saturday the low will be 30. We are still getting a few nights that fall below 32 degrees. The temps will not get much warmer until June...and then it's almost summer in the rest of the world, but here it will be late spring.
Another sign is the forest. Three days ago there was just a faint haze of green over the acres of aspen that grow in this neck of the words. Today the haze is more solid. The leaves are about the size of quarters now. I swear I can see them growing, it's happening that fast.
Another sign is the forest floor. While the canopy is greening up, the berries, wild flowers and grasses that thrive under the canopy, are starting to emerge from the dingy gray-brown forest floor. The wild rose bushes are beginning to show some greenery. As for the wild flowers...this is dandelion time. Don't stick up your nose---they are related to the chrysanthemum afterall--in the early spring, the dandies line the roadways with a brilliant stripe of yellow flowers. In a couple of weeks, the fields be covered in a blanket of yellow. And a couple of weeks later, the yellow flowers were become white puffballs starting the cycle again. Right now, the dandies are quite pretty. Dandelions, in a nicely trimmed lawn are pests, but in the wild they are among the first wild flowers to bloom, telling all of us that spring is in the air.
Wandering the forest floor are the deer, munching away on the tiny green leaves. I can't imagine what they are feeling to finally have some tasty leaves to chew. I've yet to see any fawns. They won't come out for a couple of weeks. In the meantime, they are hidden by the flora on the forest floor. If this year is like other years, the mama deer will nudge their fawns out from the canopy and introduce them to me.
Another sign of spring is pile after pile of dead leaves. The aspens shed their leaves in the autumn, the snow comes and the leaves molder under the snow, and turn from yellow to brown. Now that the snow is melted, the leaves are still there. I don't rake the leaves, I blow them back into the forest as there are a lot of nutrients in those dead leaves that the aspens love.
Spring is in the air and we love it. The high country is waking up from the winter. The skies are bluebird blue and visibility is 24 miles (according to the weather bug on my iPhone). At my other Geezerville location, in the desert, it's 95 degrees today and the spring flowers have gone. The desert heat is just beginning while at 6500 feet, Mother Nature has yet to turn on heat. Both locations are good. The desert location is perfect for winter; the mountain location is perfect for summer. We're living the dream enjoying both of them. If you can do it, go for it. In the meantime, remember, we're all in this together.
I see a lot of hybrid vehicles in Geezerville. Most are called Prius, but there are other brands and models out there too. Most of the owners of these cars love the mileage. The person who drives the shuttle to the airport, loves getting 38 MPG with her new hybrid. About a year ago, we bought a hybrid pickup truck. It's a Ford Limited 4 x 4 half ton pickup truck. It's much smaller than the one ton pickup trucks we've owned in the past, but it still has some size and heft. It looks like a regular pick-em-up truck...except for one small difference: it has an electric battery and a gasoline engine. It's a hybrid. According to my auntie--it's a hy-bird and there is no way we can tell her otherwise. Since she's over 100 years old, and we do not see any reason to tell her either.
From the outside of the truck, there's only one tiny way to tell that this is hybrid truck. It has chrome logo (you know a shiny silvery piece of plastic that looks like chrome) that says Power Boost on both sides of the truck. If you don't know what Power Boost means, then you don't know it's a hybrid. When I went to the county fair, I was told that I could not park in the special hybrid/electric spots. I told the attendant it was a hybrid and she was surprised and let me park there after all. Folks don't know. The same thing happens at stores where special parking places are reserved for electric and hybrid vehicles. Each time I am at risk of getting a rather costly ticket. I keep on reminding myself to remember to put a little sign on the back window that says this is a hybrid truck. So far, I've not made the sign. Maybe I should do that instead of write in my blog???
Inside the truck there are a couple of indicators that it's a hybrid. If you are driving and the tachometer reads zero instead of a 1 or 2, you know the truck is a hybrid. Zero means the engine is using electric power. When you turn the engine off, you see a read-out that says how many miles were driven with electric power and how many were driven with gasoline power. I can't tell the difference between the two types of power.
The big difference is the gas gauge. When you fill up the truck, the gas gauge will show you how far you can drive on that tank of fuel. I find it rather amusing to see that at times I have a 700 mile driving radius. That's a long way.
When you start the truck, it will tell you how far you can drive before you will need fuel. Yesterday I drove to a favorite dinner spot. Round trip, it's about 110 miles away. I started with the gauge reading 477 miles of fuel. At home, after dinner and after driving 110 miles, I ended with the gauge reading 477 miles of fuel. How does that work? I clearly drove 110 miles--yet I did not use any fuel. You gotta love that.
I been trying to figure out this conundrum for over a year. Sometimes I end up with MORE fuel than when I started. Then I start thinking of all the ups and downs in the road. If I'm going downhill, I'm using electric power. If I'm going uphill I'm using gasoline power. I'm also recharging the batteries when I drive. Don't get me wrong, the fuel gets used, but in the most unusual way.
I don't know if hybrid vehicles are all that they are hyped up to be. The truck gets good mileage, far better than a standard gasoline powered pickup. However, a lot of strange and unusual toxic minerals and elements go into making the battery--many of which are not eco- or human-friendly. Electric vehicles are worse. Gasoline is an "enemy" I know and understand, whereas the electric portion of my Power Boost "hybird" vehicle is something I don't understand. It might or might not be good for environment. It might or might not have fewer emissions. It does have a weird fuel gauge that calculates mileage in a most unusual fashion. You need to make up your mind if these vehicles are something you want to own. Remember, we're in this together.
A strange and wonderful thing happened last night. We saw the Aurora Borealis. What a beautiful treat. At first I did not think we were seeing anything very spectacular or even unusual. The sky was a "foggy pinkish gray-blue-purple" (that is a color) that was not fluctuating or changing, just staying the same. The moon was a tiny crescent that could not send out much light. The light must be from the Aurora. How could the sky be light at midnight without any moonlight? I did not think it was the "northern lights" I thought they were supposed to be different from what I was seeing. BUT, without the moon, what was lighting the night? I was a little slow on the uptake--this was the Aurora giving us a little display of color.
No matter where I looked, north, south , east or west, the sky was the same color. I checked a couple of sources online and found pictures of the sky and they looked like the picture I was seeing. This must be the "lights" that everyone is talking about. We saw the Aurora. Frankly, we were not that impressed, so we went to bed.
I have traveled to the far north of this "blue ball" we call Earth, for the sole purpose of seeing the Aurora and, you guessed it...no luck. In Lapland we saw a very quiet night time sky. Same in Alaska, Iceland, Norway, Finland. I was beginning to think they were a figment of someone's imagination...yet I knew better, as I had seen the northern lights when I was a child in the San Francisco Bay Area.
One night, when I was about 5 or 6 years old the Bay Area had a unique solar storm, and the Aurora was visible from our backyard. I very clearly remember going outside with my daddy and looking at the night sky doing some amazing things. I remember the sky was greenish--not kelly green or emerald green but a hazy grayish green and the color fluctuated through different shades of that green. It was strange and beautiful and downright scary for this little girl. I held my daddy's hand really tight and I listened to him tell me about the northern lights. He was holding my hand, and then he picked me up and I was protected. The lights were not going to harm me as I was with my daddy. All was well. I was not scared anymore. I remember the lights in the sky, but I was more scared than in awe of them.
Fast forward at least 70 years, I'm definitely not a little kid anymore. About midnight the sky was a grayish pinky hazy blue-purple. The sliver of a moon did not illuminate the sky--the aurora did. The night was not filled with color and the light did not fluctuate. The light was too bright for a nighttime sky, yet there it was. We went outside, where it was cold and quiet, and we looked at the sky from the porch. It was not all that awe inspiring right then...so we went to bed. I awoke about 3 o'clock I looked out the window and the sky was alive. The color was bright for 3 AM. It was still a hazy pinky-bluey-purply color but it changed ever so slowly to a gray pink to a blue pink to purply blue-gray and back again. The color was dancing across the sky. Completely awesome.
Mother Nature has some "big shows" that take your breath away. Earthquakes, tornadoes, cyclones are a few that come to mind. Then she has geysers and hot springs. These are some of her dangerous tricks and displays. She shows us the White Nights in St. Petersburg where the night sky is bright white at 1 AM. And, then she gives us the Aurora Borealis. What a treat. Who knew there were dancing colors in the nighttime sky? There's a scientific explanation for the Aurora but I'm not going to bother you with that. I'm just going to say enjoy it. Who knows when we will see this phenomenon again from this not very far-northerly location. Remember, we're all in this together.
Remember my last post. I was optimistic that the snow would go away and the skies would become bluebird blue again and the trees would be covered in a symphony of green leaves? Well today burst that bubble.
I awoke about 7:00 AM and I looked out the window. Instead of greenery I saw whitery (is that a word?) the ground was covered with white. The trees were flocked with white, the porch was carpeted in white. The pavers looked like they had white cushions on them. It had snowed AND it was snowing right then.
The limbs of the aspens were graced with a delicate coating of snow. The few evergreens were flocked like Christmas trees. The south side of the roof was white with snow. It was really quite pretty. The wilty dead leaves were covered over by the snow. The twigs that will become bushes were covered in snow; as was the park bench, the side porch, and the outdoor vehicle.
Just when I thought we had turned the corner and we were headed for spring, the snow fell down and stopped that dream for now. The snow gently floated to the ground in great goopy flakes. The good part, it was gone by bedtime. The bad part, it will be a few more days before spring arrives. In the meantime, we got to experience a bit of the winter wonderland that we try to escape in Geezerville North. Remember, we're all in this together.
We have something else too. We have a teeniest-tiniest amount of green showing up on the aspen trees. Yesterday at sunset (we had a bit of sunshine yesterday) the trees were barren. They looked like tall stalks of bleached asparagus. No green. In fact, they showed no sign of leaves. Today, when I woke up, a magic button must have been pushed, because there’s a very small amount of green circling the treetops. I call it a scree of green. The leaves are at most ¼ inch BIG but there are many, and all are poking up their leafy green heads at the same time. It's a start. I swear I can see the leaves growing today. I look out the window every hour or so, and the “scree” gets bigger. Spring might decide to come to the Rocky Mountains sometime in the not so distant future.
I know that the first leaf does not denote spring, but it does indicate that spring is in the air. My neighbors have some daffodils and tulips blooming. They are the hearty first flowers of spring. It might be cinco de Mayo, but it’s early spring at 6500 feet in elevation.
In addition to the aspens, the wild rose bushes are sporting a few pre-leaves. The poor bushes are shedding that “never-stylish” look of a bundle of dried up twigs and trying to wake up. The same is true for the berry plants. And, there are some wild grasses popping out of the ground. There was nothing, nada, zilch, happening yesterday.
What a difference a day makes. If I’m patient (never a strong suit) spring will show up. Along with the flowers, leaves and grasses come the allergies. While I love all the new color that springs brings, I don’t love the pollen. Remember, we’re all in this together.
I'm calling this the No Snow Edition because all of us are tired of the snow and we don't want any more snow added to what we have now. We've been in the north for a whole week now and everyday we have had snow. I wake up in the morning and see a fresh dusting of snow on the ground. It's really pretty. The snow covers the sticks and the landscape looks pretty again...but it melts ever so quickly making the sticks shiny and the wilty leaves soggier. True, this is late season snow that does not stick around for very long, it is still snow and the temps prove that it can snow at any time it is under 35 degrees.
One morning, the back porch railing was slick and shiny. Since it's not normally slick nor shiny I had to test it to see what the problem was. I walked outside and felt the railing to discover it was covered with ICE. That means it was under 32 degrees outside. I don't know how cold it got overnight but by 10 AM the ice was still around.
The grocery store is by the bank. Like all good banks, there is a sign that tells the time and temperature. We usually get to the store in the afternoon and that day the temperature read 37 degrees. In Geezerville South the temp was 73 and rising...not here in GN (you know Geezerville North). The sky was dark, with all the clouds forming one big gray gooey cloud just waiting to start to snow again. We've been to the store several times, and the highest temp we have seen is 47 degrees. BRRRRR!
So for folks who don't own coats, we are padding around GN in our thickest fleece jackets, hoping it will be enough to beard the few degrees of warmth out there. Of course, the natives are thinking it's a heat wave and they are wearing skimpy tops and shorts with boots (of course). It's all a matter of perspective. They think 37 is part of a warming trend and we think it's just plain cold.
Perspective is strange like that. We are seeing and experiencing GN differently from the locals. The locals see this as the end of winter while the snowbirds see it as winter is still here. The locals are not quite ready for the snowbirds to be back in town. The snowbirds who are here, know they are here too early.
I believe the locals are wondering why we are here as nothing is ready for us. That's true. All the summer campgrounds are closed having maintenance done, just waiting for the onslaught of the 'birds. The golf courses are not groomed. The swimming pools are still covered, waiting to be cleaned. (BTW, there are no hot tubs.) The senior center is not serving meals. GN is still in winter mode. Soon (I hope sooner rather than later) the snow will melt, the temps will rise and 'birds will come drifting back in their long RVs and 1 ton diesel pickups. We saw one of those huge RVs yesterday trying to maneuver in the store parking lot. Because the lot was mostly empty, that big guy could actually get out of the lot. That will not be the case in a few weeks. The snowbirds will start to trickle in, reaching a full crescendo by the first week of June. They will return when there are just a few patches of dirty snow on the ground, and a slight dusting of snow on the mountains that ring the valley. That's the sign that says, welcome to one more glorious Rocky Mountain summer, the best in the world. In the meantime remember, we're all in this together.
