Take A Deep Breath

February 22, 2009 — grandmasheri

It’s been a while since I posted.  I could use a few excuses, but guess that isn’t very productive so I’ll just take a deep breath and jump right back into the blogging pool.  When I am working myself into a lather my mother loves to tell me, “Now, Sheri, take a deep breath and count to ten.”  This is her way of settling me down, but usually it just serves to set my jaw and bow my back…HOWEVER, I will admit that I usually do realize that I am being ridiculous and need to cool my jets a little.  After all, contrary to my super-ego’s belief, I am not God and cannot control the world from on top of my high horse.  So, Mom, kudos.  I’ll let you be right and take a deep breath once in a while, swallow my pride and take a step towards the next step…which, in this case is getting blogging.

Lately life has been rolling at one pace…fast.  I hit the ground running and stop when I collapse on the couch, drooling and mumbling, “I didn’t get it all done…not all done…no, no, not all done.”  Then I drift off into oblivion with ESPN Classic Bull Riding on.  Usually about 9…usually about the 9th bull rider with Donnie Gay’s voice ringing in my head, “…needs to cowboy up.”  Then, I dream that I need to “cowboy up”…get tough, fix the world, clean the office, scrub the toilets, write a letter to Aunt Mable and…and…and…and take a deep breath…pick up one rock at time and move it.

I’m going to go “cowboy up” right now.  I’ve taken that deep breath and I’m ready to move the world one rock at a time.  Current rock:  Get back in the saddle writing my blogs again.  Check.  Call my parents. Check.  Spend 10 minutes working at cleaning the office.  Not check yet….Throw away 10 things in that office…not check yet.  Go do it…Check.  Bye, gotta go continue with this deep breath moment and set the timer.

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Travel Log…14

August 31, 2008 — grandmasheri

Well, we’re headed out on the ferry.  Our patches are going to keep us out of the toilet we hope.  Actually, I’m holding my breath because as soon as I got on the ship, the vibrations made me up chuck…yuck… but now that we are underway, I’m doing better.  The patch seems to be working well on Ray…he’s slept on a couch for two hours and the floor for an hour….They make us a little groggy, but I didn’t want to miss anything so I forced my sick butt to stay awake.  Oh,,,,there’s whales!  Giant humpbacks spouting and rolling in the water…how beautiful…Funny the boat didn’t tip over because everyone ran over to one side to see the whales…then back to the other side as we passed them.  We also have seen some cool boats slicing through the water.  

We decided to go to the galley and get something to eat…we both had omelets and managed to keep them where they belong so that is good.  Visited with a newlywed couple from South Africa…he is a doctor in Prince Rupert, BC and she just came over after they were married a few months back.  Nice people.  Fun to be around.  Of course we met them through the dogs.  She was missing her border collie in South Africa and had to…HAD TO,,,pet Tess.  Tess, being a helpful dog…let her scratch her belly as long as she wanted.  We also met some wonderful transplanted Oklahomans in Prince Rupert.  They have a huge ranch in Northern B.C. and other businesses down in the states.  We talked while folding underwear.  Found out Linda’s family lived in the Pierre, SD area years ago…How cool to talk to strangers and find out they are practically related…well, if living in South Dakota makes us related…

It was good we left Prince Rupert when we did…We were getting to know the locals by name…three days in a small town and you are part of the community.  We really have met mostly nice people, but the lady at the ferry departure terminal was kind of a grump…okay…let’s just say she couldn’t crack a smile with a can opener…I’m not sure if she was in pain from having that stick stuck where it was, but hey, sorry lady…Everyone waiting in line to get on the ferry with us said the same thing….yeah, stick up bu**.

We are getting ready to go to our pickup and unload…will write again when I escape the wilderness…

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Travel log….13

August 31, 2008 — grandmasheri

It’s raining…hard…all of us smell like a wet dog and only two of us are wet dogs…All the locals say this is the worst, wettest summer ever.  They are getting their winter weather in the summer so there is a lot of grumbling going on about the rain…I don’t mind that much…we wear our rain gear everywhere…except when we forget we ain’t in SD anymore…We got drenched the other day while walking around downtown.  The big problem when camping in the rain is it is so damp in the camper, nothing dries out.  wet towels, wet clothes, wet dogs…wet humans…yeah, we stink…oh, well.

We found a wonderful trail to hike called the Buttze Rapids Trail…It is about 3 1/2 miles long and up and down and along the ocean and through rain forests covered in moss.  Pretty cool…they tell you not to take dogs because the wolves use them for snacks, but everyone takes them anyway.  Our dogs sound like Santa’s reindeer as they trot down the path with their bear bells on.  Turns out the first day we walked the trail…after we were done…another couple called in and said there were two wolves following them and their little terriers…I guess those would be hot dogs on the string to the wolves…then the next day we visited with a lady who had jogged alone on the trail and she saw a wolf, but it didn’t bother her.  Still the trail was beautiful and poor Ray has to help me up the hills…I am getting stronger every day so watch out world…I’m a walking!  I am not going to let a little m.s. and a few broken bones in the past keep me from living large in B.C.

We stopped at the local pharmacy to get some seasick avoidance patches. We’ll see how good them hummers are!  Ferry on Saturday….Talk to you later…

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Travel log…12

August 31, 2008 — grandmasheri

Hello from B.C.  We are traveling again…headed toward Prince Rupert to catch the ferry.  We met some awesome people from Chilliwak B.C.  She loves dogs…like me…and he is nuts for hunting…like Ray…We parked beside them and talked…and talked.  Might stop to see them on our way home.

Now we are on the road and who knows where we will end up…Laundry…yeah, I’m back in the good ol’ mat washing clothes…fun stuff…Watched a little of the Olympics while my clothes dried…ain’t laundromats fun?  The young man who was working was at least nice to talk to…Ray was off talking to some fishermen.

British Columbia is an amazing place…mountains and glaciers everywhere you look…We stayed in a beautiful provincial campground by Lakelse near Terrace, I think…anyway, they have a 45 minute hike through ancient spruce and cedar trees, moss and skunk cabbage…trickling streams…so very peaceful.  We walked it three times…wonderful  The lady at the gate…Teresa…was bored silly as it was cold and rainy and hardly anyone coming through.  We visited for a while going in and going out…her mom is ill and she is the youngest of 5…nice woman…then the next night we stayed in another provincial campground and met her older brother who runs that one!  

My parents said to watch for a camper with SD plates, some friends of theirs were heading to Prince Rupert also…Now British Columbia is a big place and we figured we would never see them…guess who parked beside us at the campground….yup, SD Plates and Joe and Barb!  Freaky huh?  We camped by them three different nights and ran into them at a cannery museum…small, small world.  Makes the hair on my neck stand up…well, the hair that is dug out from my itching mosquito and no-seeum bites.  I seriously found a spot that wasn’t covered in bites…then I got bit again…oh, well, at least I know I’m sweet, eh?

The dogs are having a blast.  They’ve made a lot of friends along the way both human and the kind you greet by sniffing the nether regions…They played with a Canadian Mountie’s dog the other day… a beautiful german shepherd named Guiness.  Everywhere we go, we get stopped by people ooohing over the dogs.  They think everyone we meet is there to see them…and it is just about true.  

Well, we are getting to Prince Rupert so watch out ocean…here we come…

We parked in a pull off and during the night a storm came and Ray moved the camper so we wouldn’t get stuck…I can’t remember if I wrote about this, but when the dogs and I went out to walk the next morning, there was a bear print in the mud right behind where we camped…Cool.

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Next few days

August 25, 2008 — grandmasheri

Headed for the road again…

 

Travel Log…Day 8

 

Leaving Lake Louise we drove in…you guessed it…the rain for quite a while.  Suddenly I screamed, “Bear!”  Ray screeched to a stop and backed the pickup for quite a ways…no bear…I was about to get razzed when he appeared…It wasn’t the black bear I thought it was…no…this was a full-blown, dyed in the wool GRIZZLY BEAR!  How exciting…we watched him eat some berries and then he stomped around in and out of the bushes and then he was gone.  How cool is that?  

 

We headed through Jasper Park in fog and every once in a while managed to catch a glimpse of glacier- topped mountains and water crashing down the mountains to boiling blue rivers.  Jasper is so gorgeous…even in the rain.  We found a lovely little Park campground with only 781 campsites.  Yes, 781 and we were clear to hell and gone but in a very pretty spot…close to the potty house, but a long…long…way to the showers and phone.  We walked for about a mile to get to the showers, but it definitely felt good when we got there and the dogs thought it was great.  I visited with some nice people from Germany and little boy whose only goal on his trip was to see a real live bear in the wild.  He grilled me on the bears we had seen.  Oh, and the elk…you wouldn’t believe the elk in the campground…they were as fat as hogs and slick like a horse kept in a barn…and huge!  The cows looked like…well, cows…moo type cows…

 

Travel Log…Day 9

 

Jasper is a nice little tourist type town.  We met some friendly people from around town and chitchatted away part of the day…met a couple from New York and a few locals.  We ate lunch in the park munching on some good sausage roll things, grape tomatoes, dried bananas and guzzling chocolate milk from a little jug while watching some jugglers practicing their craft…and they needed practice.  I hope they weren’t trying to make a living with their skill because I would just say,  “There she’s got it…she must’ve just needed to warm up…ooops…no, she dropped them.”  The poor young man was just as unlucky but still a lot better than me.  I don’t juggle.  I barely can get food from the table to my mouth without an accident…okay, usually part of it ends up on my blouse.

 

After a few hours in Jasper we headed west out of the park.  It is so amazing how the mountains never seem to end and to think that an entire other third of the park is not even reachable by road.  Huge country.  We stumbled onto a little Provincial Park at Purden Lake and set up camp.  Wow…flush toilets in little buildings that usually hold only outhouses…that was a real treat.  We walked the dogs down to the lake for a swim and guess what …It was gorgeous…everything in this area is gorgeous.  The dogs had a blast swimming and running up and down the trail.  We met a nice couple headed back to Arizona from Alaska.  They also have a home in Mexico and were interesting to talk to about things down there in the resort town they live in part of the year.  

 

The next morning we decided to hike down and find the beach…well, the two beaches.  They have a dog beach and a non-dog beach.  We went back and got our towels and soap and washed up in the lake.  This lake is crystal clear.  You can count the rocks in the bottom…I mean, you could if you wanted to…I  don’t know why you would want to, but they’re there to count.  Ray washed up and jumped out as soon as possible…something about…TOOOO FRIGGIN’ COLD!… I swam around and laid in the water for about an hour and this really cool sea gull came swimming right up to me while I floated as still as possible.  I looked him right in the eye and thought…Life is good…damn good.

 

Travel Log…Day 10

 

After our little FRIGGIN’ COLD wake up douse we were on the road again…crossing British Columbia…we stopped in Prince George and spent the morning at the Railway and Logging Museum.  It was a nice little museum and we crawled around in the locomotives and cars and old train station buildings.  Ray being an engineer taught me a lot about how trains work and used to work.  Then the real fun began.  We hit Walmart to stock up on groceries and found a laundromat to get the laundry done.  Yeah, it is just as boring to wash clothes at a laundromat now as it was when we were newlyweds…the only difference is now I’m not pregnant with my firstborn and 21. Ray wandered off to talk to some guy with a big boat and another man who had fishing tales to tell.  I talked to some smelly young man who needed a bath and deodorant and the nice young guy who was working the counter at the laundry.   By then the day was about over and we didn’t know where we were camping so we pulled off onto an old “deactivated” logging road and set up camp.  That sounds harder than it is…we unloaded the dogs…they did their little duty thing…squatting here and there…straightened up the beds and started snoring…until it started pouring rain about 4:00 a.m.  Ray got up and moved us a little closer to the road so we wouldn’t get stranded in the mud.  At daylight I tromped back up to where we were parked to let the dogs again do their duty and blow off some steam…there in the mud right behind where we had been parked was a black bear paw print….wow…cool…

 

Travel Log…Day 11

 

Gee…we are on the road again.  We are getting closer to Prince Rupert where we will take the ferry.  Our destination for the day is a town called Smithers.  I had met a young woman who was looking for the water faucet at Purden Lake who was from Smithers and she said it was a nice town with some nice campgrounds.  So off we go…and it is a nice town and we stayed at the Glacier View Campground with a view of an amazing glacier.  Met some more nice people throughout the day.  We stopped for our second trip at Tim Horton’s.  Now if you’ve never been to a Tim Horton’s, go to one.  I don’t know if they are only in Canada, but that’s the first time we’ve seen them…they are named for a super nice guy who was a great hockey player in the 70’s, I believe.  He was killed in a car accident coming home from a game.  Tim Horton’s are donut, coffee shops and they do a lot for kids across Canada.  Super coffee, yummy doughnuts and great bagels…they are always packed and now we know why.  Good Stuff.  Well, I’m tired and better get to bed…we do battle with the road again tomorrow.

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On We Go

August 25, 2008 — grandmasheri

Continuing on:

 

Travel Log…Day Four

 

Still more heat…it is sweltering…stifling…but we travel on and search for a place called Whiteswan Lake Provincial Campground and some natural hot springs…we find the road…a miserable gravel and washboard combo with one side a rock wall and the other a well, I believe I said, “Stay over!  It’s FRIGGIN’ STRAIGHT DOWN!”  Really…straight down…you couldn’t see the bottom of the cliff and canyon.  Ray was beginning to make that little sound deep inside…a growl…and his jaw had that same set to it that his mother and grandmother get….I kept saying…”Geez, I didn’t know it was this far in.”  There were no signs or mileage on the maps so I was praying we would get there at some point…and we did…the terror switched to awe as we reached Alces Lake and Whiteswan Lake…Glacial blue waters as still as glass with the mountains reflected in there glistening turquoise beauty.  Wow.  There wasn’t much more to say…wow.  We found a wonderful lakeside campsite and the dogs and I went swimming in the rather crisp water…icy…glacial icy water.  Ray went in enough to scrub up and we went for a walk on the trail beside the lake where I fell on my bad knee again…youch!  Sometimes I wonder about my clutziness…but it was worth tromping around in the woods to see the lovely trees and moss.  We all slept well…it was cool and so beautiful listening to the loons…oh, and the thunder reverberating off the mountains.  Yeah, it stormed a good one and the next morning we could see several fires the lightning had started and learned there were hundreds around the mountains.  The southern part of British Columbia is in a horrible drought and the trees and brush are so thick it is just like a tinder box.  A firefighting helicopter swooped down in front of our camp and scooped up bucket after bucket of water to dump on the nearby flames.  We watched the show for a while and then packed up to head to the hot springs.  Ray’s growling and jaw set were long gone with the beauty of the area and we hiked down the steep path to the springs.  What a great place!  We met whole families and young couples, Germans and English and Hari Kirshna priests and cute babies and laid around in the warm springs for hours…awwww….how relaxing.

 

Still we had to suck it up and get going…find a place to stay.  We were headed for Kootenay Park and reached Radium Hot Springs around six in the evening.  We were tired and on the verge of grouchy.  Pulled up to the gate at the campground and found out we would have to buy a park pass and the night’s camping and it would be $50…too much for a few hours so I suggested we check out a road I found on a map…Horse Thief Forest Service Road…We drove past a huge sawmill and up a rough hill and saw a pull-off on the side of the road.  We pulled in, fixed some supper and then decided to wander over to the edge of the cliff and see what we could see…Oh, my…what we could see was an entire valley with the Columbia river running through it and marshes and wildlife habitat…oh, my.  We set up our chairs, grabbed the binoculars and started watching.  There was a bald eagle…oh, and there’s a beaver swimming below…and within a few more minutes a huge black bear walked to the water for a drink.  We thought there were more in the bushes behind and soon we found we were right.  The big female had two cubs with her and they came out into an opening where the cubs wrestled around in the grass for nearly half an hour.  We enjoyed at least beavers doing their beaver thing and even witnessed a short-lived beaver fight…We spotted two eagles eating fish on a sand bar and beyond them was a herd of 50 or so elk munching along the shore and sleeping in the sand…wow….awesome…and to top it off…another black bear wandered out on the shore…a young male we think.  It was so much fun to watch the wild world go by below us…until the mosquitoes came out…yeah, I ended up with about twenty bites from the flock of them which entered every time we opened the door for a few seconds.  I’m itching…and bitching and evidently I’m way sweeter than Ray…he didn’t get any bites…what a scum.  The dogs were even restless during the tortuous night…the next morning we were all ready to move on after waking to the sound of Ray smashing mosquitoes filled with MY blood on the ceiling of the pickup camper.  Off we went to Kootenay Park headed toward Banff.  

 

Travel Log…Day Five

 

We headed up the beautiful canyon into the mountains of Kootenay Park.  Saw a small black bear feeding beside the road right before a gorgeous overlook.  There were several more forest fires burning across the valley and millions and millions of bug trees scarred the hillsides.  The bug trees are terrible…everywhere…and there was also a fire a few years back that burned over 40% of the park…still it is magnificent.  We hiked up the Paint Pots trail and saw the red and yellow soil the Natives used to make paint and color hides and clothing.  Our next hike we were going to take the dogs…It was a beautiful place called Marble Canyon and a hike of an hour or so along a peaceful trail…or so we thought…a woman and her two teen-aged children came running up to me…”Don’t go up there!  Stay away…there are two cubs and an angry mama charging down the path!  She’s mad!”  We packed back up and headed back to the highway…we enjoy adventure, excitement and thrills…but not that much.  

We were soon in Banff Park and the rain began.  It rained off and on all night.  We found a spot at Tunnel Mountain Campground and settled in for the night…they warned us there had been a grizzly and a black bear wandering around so we needed to be watchful and take the dogs in at night.  I wandered around with my eyes aching from staring into the thick underbrush.  Ray visited with a man he called the Dairy Dude from Prince George, B.C.  The Dairy Dude hauled milk from the dairies to the milk plants.  He had some stories to tell about moose on the roads.  Not the animal to meet in the dark.  It rained all night, felt like it could snow…and it did in the mountains around us.  

 

Travel Log…Day Six

 

So up we jumped to another day of on again, off again rain.  We put on the rain gear  and hooked up the dogs and headed out for the morning walk on a trail called the Hoodoos trail.  The trail ran along a ridge with several overlooks showing the beautiful valley below and some strange little rock things they call the Hoodoos.  They look like miniature Cathedral Spires from the Needles in the Black Hills but the amazing thing is the glacier river below and the gorgeous mountains surrounding the entire area.  We tried to describe the beauty of the place, but it isn’t really possible to find the words.  We walked for a couple of hours and then decided to take the bus into Banff for the afternoon.  For $2.00 it is well worth the ride because we didn’t have to find a parking place in the craziness of Banff.  Banff is a tourist town filled to overflowing with expensive shops and food that is overpriced  but it is also a great place to people watch.  We paid way too much for too really good burgers and wandered around town talking to people and looking into the shops.  I went into my first Louis Vitton purse store.  Not sure if I spelled that right, but I touched a $1500 purse and about gagged…$1500 for a purse!  That was a cheap one…the expensive ones are behind glass and cost tens of thousands.  OOOOH, a beautiful red patent leather and crystal one was my favorite.  The sales lady wouldn’t tell me how much.  I asked her how many purses she sold a day…she didn’t answer with a real answer just kind of said some days are busier than others…yeah, right…I bet there are a lot of lookie-lou’s like me who just want to act like we could afford a purse worth more than the vehicle we are driving and living in for five weeks.

 

If you get to Banff in the summer time be sure to check out the amazing gardens over at the Candadian Parks Administration building.  I’ve never seen anything like it.  Over 50,000 flowers set amongst lovely rock gardens and gazebos.  The gardens were built during the Great Depression by workers the government put to work for pennies a day.  So peaceful. Banff is an incredible park and the town is definitely worth an afternoon if for no other reason than to meet people from all over the world. Most of them are nice and friendly and the ones who aren’t…well, phlllltttt…on them…that was me sticking my tongue out at them.  

 

Speaking of nice people from around the world.  At the campground the people next to us were from Scotland.  Linda and Rouey…not sure how you spell it…it is Gaelic for Rod I believe.  Rouey is a sheep farmer and Linda a veterinarian.  We grilled them on Scotland and the breeds of sheep and cattle and farming over there.  I think we talked their ear off and when they packed up the next morning they gave some pots they couldn’t take on the airplane…Rouey gave Ray some leftover Budweiser beer he had…I don’t think he was impressed with our big name beer brand…not the stout ale he was used to.  We invited them to stay with us if they get to the States and they reciprocated if we dropped into Scotland sometime…Nice people.

 

Travel Log…Day 7

 

Two nights in the rain at Banff and we got up to head to Lake Louise…in the rain…now a true downpour.  It didn’t stop us from standing in awe of the beauty of Lake Louise.  We listened to the gentleman who toots his own horn and has for 27 years at the lake…I think he called it an Elk Horn, but I wanted to call it a Flugel Horn.  Since I’m the one writing this I guess I can call it what I want.  I decided this might be our only trip to Lake Louise so despite the rain I thought we should walk to the end of the lake.  We started off tromping down the muddy trail  chitchatting with a few other hikers and  enjoying the incredible scenery.  I asked one lady who was on the return way if she had went to the end of the lake and what it was like.  “Well,” she said, “it is just the end of the lake.”  Hmmm…raining and cold, my legs are tired from the eight miles we did the day before…maybe I should rethink this…no, we decided to trudge on and it was worth the trip.  We saw the creeks that feed the lake from the glacier side and the non-glacier side.  We watched a few crazy rock climbers and met a trail horse named Bubba…and we saw the end of the lake.  Beautiful.  Of course the fancy schmancy hotel is cool…I picked out a necklace at one of the fancy schmancy shops but guess Ray didn’t plan to spend several hundred thousand on me this trip.  We trudged back into the rain and to our camper to let the dogs out.  They got drenched too.  We all smelled about the same.

 

One thing we’ve learned about the dogs.  They are a lot like little kids.  They get a bit cranky from spending too much time locked up in a small space together.  On both days they didn’t get their usual 3 or 4 mile hike in the morning, they ended up in a mighty tussel.  Foxy growls at Tess…Tess says, yeah, right, short stuff, and the war is on.  Foxy ended up with a bloody nose in one of the fights.  So now we try to walk them until they are so tired they’ll sleep all day while we drive.

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B. C. and Banff Here We Come

August 25, 2008 — grandmasheri

We are headed out on our 5 week journey and I will be posting a log as we go…please enjoy and forgive the spotty postings…hard to get the wifi where we are going…love, Sheri

Travel Log…Prince Of Wales Island Here We Come   Day ½ and Two

 

We’re not lost…yet.  My husband seems to be worried since I have a reputation for adventures in a different direction…that’s what they are…adventures in a different direction sounds so much better than lost.  I can read a map when I choose to and I choose to on this trip.  In fact, we’ve pretty much stayed off of the interstate highways and travelled on the more off beat roads and it has been interesting.  I promised Ray we would avoid gravel roads if at all possible and he seems to be trusting me.  The last time we traveled across Montana there were sixty miles of gravel, a ferry that only ran certain hours and a lesson learned.  I now believe when the map claims there is no bridge and no pavement.  There really was no bridge and no pavement.  I am no longer a neophyte map reader.

 

This trip the challenge lies in a more physical arena…the bathroom.  Our little pickup camper has a toilet/closet/torture chamber.  It is a faith toilet…you have to have faith the sit down place will be where the sit downer is going to sit down.  You come into it literally “back-ass-wards” and drop.  There is not a lot of wiggle room for a chubby middle-aged clutz and it takes a contortionist’s skills to achieve even a half-hearted wiping attempt.  Still…at two in the morning it is nice to not have to take on the critters of the night.  

 

We left South Dakota, the grandkids, the parents, the grown kids and the ranch to head out into the wide world of Montana, British Columbia, Ketchikan and Prince of Wales Island.  The dogs came along…just to keep things interesting…and they have.  The Corgi, Foxy Dolittle, seems to be the one who draws people to our crew.  They love her perky ears and sawed off legs and when she turns on her happy stump wiggler she really attracts a crowd.  Our Tessie, the Border Collie, is a sweetie who loves everyone and manages to get everyone to pet her…especially men who don’t know she has the quickest nose in the West.  She definitely knows how to get their attention.  They’ve been good travelers and give us a reason to get out and stretch our legs every hour.  Tess seems very interested in the sights and sits up most of the time looking out the window to see what needs to be seen.  She turns her head back and forth and leans forward just to be sure she doesn’t miss anything important…like a cow or a dead skunk or a fence post with a bird on it.  

 

We stayed beside the Yellowstone River in Forsythe, Montana the first night out…didn’t get going until mid-afternoon because the grandkids were just TOO cute and we won’t see them for a month.  Enjoyed the river and Ray walked on the race track at the local fairgrounds while the dogs raced around enjoying weeds and mud puddles.  If you get by that way soon…stop over to the fairgrounds and take a look at the amazing sand sculpture a local artist created for the recent fair.  It is really something.  There is a train engine, an Indian on a horse with a herd of buffalo and a cowboy riding a bull all incorporated into a giant pile of sand…I don’t imagine the local cats and rainstorms will leave it there forever, but it is quite a piece of art.  A picture, you want to see a picture?  Yeah, right…that would mean I would need to remember to take the camera with me…It was in the pickup…both times we walked over to the sculpture…handy, huh?

 

Oh, before I leave Forsythe…I also got to see my first real life person using meth..behind a garage we were walking by on a side street…At first it looked like he might be squatting to go to the bathroom or dig something out of the garden…with a piece of something weird looking?  Tough digging to be sure…There are signs everywhere warning of the dangers of meth so guess that scourge hasn’t escaped beautiful Montana.  I hollered “Good morning!” to the gentleman digging imaginary potatoes with a funny pipe thing and we walked on.

 

Our stop tonight is in Shelby, Montana.  We are staying at the City Campground and met some really nice people.  I visited with a gentleman, Wally, from near Vancouver, British Columbia.  He is originally from England and he had just traveled from Newfoundland so he was very informative and looked quite dapper in a cool British kind of hat.  A nice man to be sure.  He told me things not to miss in B.C. and liked Foxy.  Corgi’s are the Queen’s favorite dog breed, you know.

 

We met some nice people from up near the Yukon territory in B.C.  They had ridden up to Skagway, Alaska and all over Canada and the U.S. on their Harley Davidson motorcyle for the past three months.  They had a super cool little tent camper they towed behind and Ray spent the better part of an hour learning about important Canadian things…like how much beer costs up there…a lot…and the price of gas…or petrol…too high…and what kind of bike we should get someday…a Honda…yes, a Honda…not a Harley like they ride…weird, huh?  Anyway, he is now better informed on the price of beer so I guess we can safely cross the border now.

 

Shelby was hosting some type of Appreciation Days for the locals…we thought since we dropped a good pile of coin at the local gas station that we should be appreciated too…so we ate for free at the barbecue in the park…good potato salad and sloppy joes.  

 

Well, I’m off to do battle with my insomnia…don’t think it will be a problem tonight…Until next time…

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Now What Did I Come in Here For?

July 13, 2008 — grandmasheri

I know there was a reason I entered the “guest room of terror.”  Oh yeah, was going to spend 10 minutes clearing a few things out and stuffing more stuff into the closet.  I can do it.  I think I’ll start with the pile on the rocking chair.  There’s Grandma’s old crock bowls.  I forgot I stuck them in this box while we were having a graduation party.  I’d better put them back on the shelf in the dining room.  

 This is where my plan goes awry.  Things begin to disintegrate rather quickly from here on.  I carry the bowls innocently into the dining area.  There are still multitudes of pictures of our graduate from over a year ago and decorations from the party on the bookshelf.  The grandkids and I have stacked books and crayons and coloring pages and puzzles on the third shelf and there is a mixture of Mary Kay makeup samples, card games, cd’s and empty cases from a multitude of items strewn across all of the flat surfaces.  Hmmm.  This looks disgusting and cluttered.  Guess I’ll clean it up.  So, I start sorting and throwing away and stacking excess pictures and putting the grandkids’ toys in the toy area of the “guest room of terror” and before I know it, I’ve cleared the shelves where the crock bowls used to go…hmmm…there’s that oak treadle sewing machine table Mom gave us sitting by the kitchen bar…it’s in the way and looks silly there.  I know…I could move this clutter gatherer of a book shelf and put it over here.  

And so it continues, I move the shelf put the sewing machine table there…now where do I put the shelf?  How about in our bedroom in that one corner that has the exercise machine we never use standing in it.  Yup, that works.  Of course I have to rearrange a few thing to fit it in there, but it looks okay so I haul the pictures and books in there and dust things off and yup, it looks good.  Back to the dining room.  You know, if I put the old oak dresser on that wall and the sewing machine table there and turn the dining table and rug, I bet I could get my old oak rocker out and set it in the corner.  So, off I go after the rocker and then begin the process of twisting, dragging and shoving things into place.  Yeah, that works.  It even looks kind of snazzy…except the grandkids’ picture frame.  The pictures are outdated.  It will drive me nuts to sit in my rocker and know the pictures hanging over my head are not the most current adorable ones.

I tromp to the office and get the pictures.  Well, as long as I’m dragging pictures, scissors and tape out, I might as well get that new collage frame we got last Christmas and fill it up.  That takes another hour or so in between putting laundry in and hanging it out and putting things in the camper that I think about because I had to go out and get the vacuum, and talking to the egg delivery lady and answering the phone.  There.  I’m done.  It looks different and not as cluttered…yet. 

I head back to the “guest room of terror” ….and shut the door.

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Three Seasons to Dust

June 27, 2008 — grandmasheri

So it isn’t Christmas. Christmas is a season I consider dusting. I take down the everyday life dust collectors and replace them with red, green, sparkly Santa-esque shaped dust collectors. During either the taking down or putting up of these dust collectors, I dust.

And, it isn’t Big Upcoming Event season. I don’t have a graduation or wedding or special celebration of something really special coming up. No, it isn’t Big Upcoming Event season…I don’t feel that push to clean to impress. I am not in panic mode and running around the house stashing, hiding and disguising my clutter, so what dusting season is it? Oh, yeah, it’s pine pollen season.

I live amongst the pines. Look up…there’s a pine tree. Look behind…there’s a pine tree. Look to the right…a pine tree…left…a pine tree. Look out across the field which stretches before my house…a few million pine trees. Pine trees are beautiful. They are always green…hence the designation of evergreen. In the winter they change the world by getting every one of their tiny little pine needles coated with frost and then, when the sun comes up, they sparkle and glisten and create an amazing, beautiful moment in time. It is one of those precious moments of absolute beauty…but not today…it’s supposed to be ninety. A gentle breeze is blowing…and the world is yellow. Yellow with pine pollen.

My t.v. is yellow. My dog’s paws are yellow. The coffee pot…yellow. Window sills…yellow. Books on a shelf…yellow. Fake white daisies in a cheap vase…yellow. Even my husband’s animal heads on the wall…yellow. It is definitely Pine Pollen Dusting Season. Still, I don’t want to jump into anything too quickly.  I’m not a rash person.  I probably should wait to dust until I’m sure the Pine Pollen Dusting Season is coming to a close. I wouldn’t want to have to do it twice…not in the same year. No, that wouldn’t do…I’m so darned efficient I wouldn’t want to waste precious energy dusting just to have to do it again within an eleven day period. Believe it or not, I’ve actually heard of people who dust weekly. They’re sick. No one has told them about the Three Seasons to Dust. I hope the poor souls get a copy of this. Geez, I just might change a life with just one blog…yes, I’ve left my legacy on the world.

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It’s Thundering Again and the Repairman Just Left

June 23, 2008 — grandmasheri

Joe just left.  He replaced my router wireless thing and we chitchatted about when he was a kid and my son and he hung out and I caught up on his family and then he left with a cheery, “Call if you get hit again.”  It is thundering again.  He’s been gone for less than fifteen minutes.  The lightning seems to like my house.  Maybe it is God telling me I’m doing something wrong.  I don’t know.  Still, I welcome the sound.  Our drought is finally broken and after 8 years of praying for rain…we’re catching up.  It is so beautiful and green and the cows are standing in belly-deep grass for the first time in all those years.  So, I’ll put up with a bit of lightning.

I have learned to unplug before I go…but I forgot the router wireless thing the other day…poor little black box.  It paid dearly for my mistake.  I just have to be more diligent and save this one a little longer.  Hmm, it is thundering to the north and now I just heard thundering to the south.  I think I’m caught in some kind of a weird weather vortex and things are going to get interesting in a few minutes.  So, guess the God thing might  be true.  I don’t know for sure what I am doing wrong, but I’m sure there’s a long list somewhere of my sins…so, to avoid another one…I’m going to try to save a router’s life and go unplug.  I’m into the green thing as much as possible so if I can save a plastic box and its magic electronics board I’ll do it.  Still, it was nice to see Joe.  He’s a good guy and doesn’t mind the dogs licking him while he sits on the floor amongst my office clutter and works.  He also didn’t make any snide comments about the dust balls and dog hair built up in the corner behind the router and wireless connection place.  Yeah, he’s grown into a fine young man.  I’ll probably see him again before the summer’s over…the next time I forget.  

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