Where has the year gone??

This year has flown by so fast, can't believe it's almost Halloween!  At the first of the month I joined in a challenge to walk 43 miles this month.  I was doing pretty good until I got sick and didn't feel like walking for a while.  I tottered down the street a bit a couple of times and today I got back up to two miles.  I was completely exhausted when we got home, but I did it!  So far, I've only walked 10 miles, I have 23 miles to go and not much time to do it in!  We saw some wildlife again today, John spotted a snake warming up under a tree and we stopped for a bit to watch him.  Then we spotted deer in the same area as we've seen them before.  I wonder how many times we've walked by and haven't seen them because they blend in so well?  They were hard to spot unless they were moving.  I got a few shots of them.

John is making progress on the bear.  He has 4 feet and his bones are taking shape.  He's making him for some customers that fell in love with my little bear and wanted him, but I didn't want to sell him. 

I tried a new recipe tonight, we've been watching Ree Drummond's cooking show and I got the recipe from there.  Pizza burgers, they were gooood!

thursday

Spent the morning planting flowers and cleaning up the patio.  Wore me out!  Also made bread this morning.

We raked out under the pine trees and trimmed off some dead limbs and moved one of the outdoor tables under them.  We took a load to the dump, the needles and limbs we raked up plus the trash already in the trailer. 

We walked this morning all the way to the creek!  Lately walking has made me feel so tired that I haven't wanted to go.  The doc told me exercise was good for lowering cholesterol, so I'm going to try and get back into walking. 

We can see the smoke over Escudilla again today, noticed it yesterday on the way home.

tuesday

Called and got in to see the doc this morning.  The results of the bloodwork are in.  I didn't realize my sleep apnea was doing damage to my body, but the results show that it is.  Reece said that my high blood pressure, the high cholosterol and an elevated red blood count can all be a result of the apnea!  He said I am at more risk for heart attack and stroke, too.  I can't wear the torture device they have for apnea, I tried it when first diagnosed and ended up with my nose blistered and sore, I am allergic to the material they make the masks with.  They tried one that goes inside the nostrils, but it soon had me so sore I gave up on that one too.  I stopped wearing the thing and have never used it since.  I wonder if they have come up with new technlogy?  I'm going to make an appointment with an ENT doc to find out.  I'm so tired of being so tired all the time! 

After the appointment we headed out to help our former neighbors move some heavy tables into their new home.  They are living out in the middle of nowhere, a few miles from the Stanford General store.  I don't think I'd like living out there, they're off the grid, so have solar and a generator to supply electricity.  They do have an amazing view any way they look though. 

Went shopping in ShowLow after and got a few items we needed.  I got a new BP monitor, checked mine with the docs office again and it was way off, funny that it's so high there, but not at home, makes me wonder.  Anyway, I have a new one now, we'll see how it does.

sunday

It was almost calm this morning, just a light breeze, yea!  It froze last night, John saw frost on top of the car, thermo said 32.5!    Everything looks okay, the plastic was still on the sf gardens and all the panels on the greenhouse.  It was 50 in there this morning. 

We walked to the corrals and back, gave me shin splints!  Guess it's been too long or I walked too vigorously. 

saturday

The wind was blowing when I woke up this morning, harder than it was yesterday.  Maybe we'll get the 60 mph winds predicted for yesterday today. 

John called the airport about 8 this morning we're having steady winds of 44.5 mph and gusts of 63 mph!  A good day to stay inside!  The gas hog got blown off his perch and is laying on his side on the ground! 

A mandatory evacuation of the community of Mogollon has been ordered by the Catron County Sheriffs Office effective 12:00 noon today. All residents of that community are directed to leave their premises and are welcome to relocate to the Glenwood Community Center located on Community Center Road.  I hope the fire doesn't destroy Mogollon!  It's such a quaint cool little town!

What a day!  The wind was ferocious!  It kind of calmed down this evening.  I never did venture down to the greenhouse to check out that all was okay.

We did get out for a bit today, went for a ride around town this afternoon, lots of tree limbs down.  Our poor locust tree has lost a lot of leaves and tiny branches, mostly the new growth from this spring.  Poor tree!

friday

High winds predicted for today, this morning wasn't bad, but it's picking up this afternoon.  Planted some of the celery in the greenhouse and one in the sf garden, still have another flat to plant.

The wind never did get as bad as predicted for today.  It blew all day and I'm so tired of wind, I'm wondering if it is going to be a bad June like last year was?

Walt, from the dump, and his wife stopped by this evening to look at the artwork.  He brought us some of his art that he's been telling us about to see.  Pretty neat, he used linoleum glue to draw on the cards!

tuesday

I got my permanent crown on this morning.  They were flushing out the fire hydrants this morning and warned us that the water might be dirty after, so we went to ShowLow to get out of town until it had time to get flushed out.  We went shopping at Wal Mart.  While there I ran into Peggy Hill, she gave us some bad news, Dennis has cancer!  He was having his second chemo treatment.  She said it's incurable cancer in his liver where it spread from the colon.  His brother died of colon cancer so Dennis has been faithful about having colonoscopys and just had one in January.  The found a polyp and said it was precancerous, but took it out.  Peggy said his cancer started in the colon, so they missed something there! I feel so bad for both of them, too sad!

John noticed smoke up by Escudilla this afternoon, I went out to see and it was eerily like last summer and the Wallow Fire and gave me chills.  I tried to find info online and couldn't, so called the police.  They said it's a fire in New Mexico.  It must have gotten larger today.  Here's what I found later after I knew what fire it is:

Whitewater Fire Evening UPDATE – May 22nd

May 22, 2012 by jmyslivy0 Comments

The Whitewater Fire burning in the Gila Wilderness is approximately five miles southwest of the summer community of Willow Creek and was detected on Wednesday, May, 16. The fire is currently growing and continues to burn in steep, rugged terrain of mixed conifer forest. The fire remains at 0% containment as firefighters are unable to directly suppress the fire due to extreme fire behavior. Red Flag Warnings were in effect today from early afternoon and will last throughout the evening.
There is a pre-cautionary evacuation of the Willow Creek area at this time because of extreme fire behavior. Crews are also being pulled back to staging areas for their safety because of the extreme fire behavior at this time.
Closure order 06-301 is being implemented and includes the following closures.
• Whitewater Trail #207 is closed from the junction with Powerhouse Trail #810 to the junction with Crest Trail #182.
• Holt Apache Trail #181 is closed from the junction with Deloche/Wynn Canyon Trail #179 to the east.
• Crest Trail #182 is closed from Sandy Point trailhead to the junction with Holt Apache Trail #181
• Bead Springs Trail #138 is closed
• Iron Creek Trail #172 is closed
• Red Stone is closed
• Grouse Mountain Trail #781
In addition to the trail closures, the Bursum Road (State Road 159) is closed from Fanny Springs approximately 13 miles east of Glenwood, New Mexico, to the junction with Forest System Road 142/County Road C021 (Snow Lake Road).
Avoidance of all areas surrounding these closed areas is strongly recommended and caution is advised for the entire Gila Wilderness due to recent lightning and fire activity.
For more information visit the Gila National Forest website at http://fs.usda.gov/gila. You may also visit www.inciweb.org for maps and updates.

monday

Got my blood drawn first thing this morning, then John took me out for breakfast at The Roost.  Checked up on my ADSR racers and did a layout for challenge 5.  Mypartner, Susan, has to finish it up.  

Connie and Eric came by this afternoon, Connie brought by some artwork of Mabel's for me to scan.

sunday and a solar eclipse

We both woke up early this morning and were up by 4.  My BP continues to be on the high side, not as high,but still too high.  Bummer, I was hoping the change in meds would fix it.

There was an annular solar eclipse today.  We were close to the edge of the best viewing area, so ran down to just past SJ to view it.  It was pretty cool, I took photos, but I don't think they are going to be very good.  The light wiped out the camera without a filter and the filter made it look weird and green.  It will probably be the only one we'll see, so glad we took time out to view it!

saturday

Feeling better today, not as tired although I get out of breath easily just walking up the hill from the garden!  BP is still too high, I'm going to give the white pills a few more days before starting on the other ones the doc gave me.  So many side effects from them, I hate to take more if I don't need to! 

Picked a cuke today!  Several more are growing, yea!

friday

Still feeling under the weather today, so tired and it hurts a bit to breathe.  I took only the white BP pill this morning to see how it does.  It's a bit high, but nothing like yesterday.  I feel so tired and wiped out.  Think I need to see doc H and have him check me over to see what's up.  Hopefully the bloodwork on Monday will show up something.  John pointed out to me this morning that he was short of breath when he had the blood clots, something I hadn't thought of.  I don't think I'm in as much pain as he was tho, so hoping that's not it. 

It's windy today!  Yuck, so tired of the wind!  Reminds me of last summer and June and the fire being pushed along by high wind.  Not sure how high it's getting out there but it's trying to blow away the plastic over my grow boxes!  One little piece that was over the one I haven't planted yet did blow away!  While I was fixing the plastic, I leaned my arm on the metal side of the box and thought I got burned, but when I looked at it it looked like a bite.  Hope it wasn't venomous whatever it was, it sure hurts!

thurs

Today was NOT a good day for me.  We walked this morning and I didn't feel good when we got back, so I took my blood pressure and it was high.  Thinking it was the walk, I took it again later and it was even higher.  It kept going up, so I went to the docs office and had them take it to see if my machine was going goofy.  It was even higher there, 170/90!  I don't think I've ever had one that high!  The docs assistant saw me and said everything seemed fine, except for the high BP.  He gave me a pill for it and after 15 minutes, it had gone down to 130/90.  He gave me a prescription to add to the one I'm taking and I go back on Monday for fasting bloodwork and we'll go from there.  I saw a new PA, turns out his wife is a relative, she's Gary Davis' daughter!  Small world.  I took my BP several times after I got home and it started dropping, it got down to 100/67 and kept bouncing all over, but never any lower than that.  By bedtime it was back up, but I didn't dare take my evening BP pill just in case.  For the last two months, I've been given a different pill from what I normally take, and I wonder if the little pink pill has anything to do with not controlling my BP.  It's gradually been getting higher since I started taking them, so I asked as the pharmacy and they were aware that it could do that and apparently they've had a problem with it.  I requested that they mark on my prescription that I not be given the pink one again and she said she would.  She said insurance would pay to refill that one now, so I got it refilled with the white oval ones and I'm hoping my BP will go back down!  I also got the new pres. filled, not sure if I'll start on it right away or give it a bit to see if it starts going down.

wednesday

Went on a benture today.  We packed a lunch and rode up to Big Lake and looked around, got a treat at the store, then went on to the Big Lake lookout tower to see if they'd demolised it and rebuilt.  They hadn't, only change was that they'd added solar panels and antennas.  There was also a butane tank sitting inside the chain link fence they'd put around the tower.  Someone had taken the gate off its hinges and it was open.  Everything that was above in the room at the top was on the ground floor, a stove, a chair, pieces of metal and splatters of melted metal all over the rocks, the fire must have been hot or the metal melted at a low temp!  The ground was a beautiful green, the barley had died, but some kind of grass that didn't look native was thriving as well as flowers.  Maybe from the seeds dropped on the area last summer?  It made the blackened trees look all the more stark!

monday

We went to St Johns to put in Mom's new cooler.  Got it mostly in, we need some plexiglas for the top of the hole.  This one is much nicer looking than the old one and doesn't cover up as much of the window.  We came home to get some plexiglas and were going to go back and finish up, but it was getting late and we were tired so we didn't make it back.  Tomorrow!  Seems like we just don't have much get up and go lately.  My chest was hurting again today, not sure what's up with it.  My Blood Pressure has been high the last several days.  Not sure what's up there either.

sunday mother's day

Mother's Day.  Got a card from Charles and both boys called this morning.  We went out to eat a late lunch with Mom, Carleen, Gary and Sandy at Trail Rider's.  They all came back here to visit and so I could give Mom the pot of flowers I got her.

saturday Jacque's funeral

We drove down to St. Johns and I attended Jacque's funeral.  I didn't realize she had so many kids, 6 of them, wow!  She had such a hard life, Steve was a jerk, he got in trouble at several of the schools he taught at for molesting his students and finally they put him in jail.  I think Jacque divorced him, she mostly raised the kids by herself.  Then she had health problems, one day she suddenly couldn't walk, and had lots of other health issues, too.  Yet she always had a smile on her face and would say she was fine if asked.  Such a good person!  After the funeral went out to eat at El Camino with Mom, their chili has gone downhill, it's just hot now, not as good as it used to be.  It's been that way the last several times we've eaten there.  Trail Rider's has got them beat now.  Returned Mabel's albums to Connie and got three more.

friday

spent most of the day scanning in photos from Mabel's albums.  My arm and rear are so sore, and my brain is mush again.

monday

John helped me redo the hoses in my garden this morning and got me some plastic to cover the beds.  I planted corn, hope it will be okay and not freeze!  We took my chair apart and put some memory foam in the seat.  Not sure I like it, it's kind of high and firm now.  Eric brought up more albums for me to scan, one of them is one I already scanned.  I haven't had time to do the last two, gues I'd better get busy!

sunday

did laundry today. ADSR started today, not even half as many are racing this year.  I think around 66 teams.  Last year there were around 200.  I wonder if the time of year or the fact that last year's theme was so hated is the cause? But on the good side, I only have 6 teams to check in! Last year I got so burned out, I had my 20, plus took on another checker's 20, plus checked in Susan's for a time and and another checker's who disappeared about the end of the race.  I didn't ever want to check in another race and told them I only would do 10 teams this year.  It ended up that there was no problem everyone has only 6.

satutday

We went to Nonie's funeral today.  Left here about 11:30 and didn't get home til about 6!  They had a closed casket.  John and I sat next to Mary Slade, she's such a sweet lady!  There was family controversy over something Betty posted on Facebook, I guess there is more of that going on that I knew. 

When we got home we had two messages that people had gotten spam emails from me.  Checked on the puter and they were sent while we were gone!  Andy remotely checked the puter and didn't find any malware or anything, so not sure what happened.  The mails were in my sent folder, so looks like they were sent from here.  Kind of scary to think of someone hacking into it.  I left several windows open one was a site having scrapping day chats.  Maybe that's how someone got in.

friday

John and I visited Kayle and Becky's greenhouse site this morning. They are going to have an underground one! Cool. Heard on facebook that one of my schoolmates, Jacque Baca, passed away last night. She had such a hard life, her hubby spent time in jail for molesting one of his students, they divorced, she was paralized, had to have her leg amputated, had cancer, yet through it all, she remained on of the happiest persons I've ever known. I'm still not feeling good, don't know what's up, I'm wondering if I caught something from someone at the funeral.

Thursday

Got the dirt put in the square foot boxes and ran water on it for a time, then covered it back up, hopefully the water will soak out and wet it all down.  We put a roast on to cook and had hot roast sandwiches for supper, yumm!

Wednesday

I don't feel well today, tired and achy and my chest hurts.  I wonder if I caught something from hugging people at the funeral?

We returned the recorder to Bryce Burnham today and went shopping, then we went back up to eat lunch at Trail Riders.  I needed a red chili dose, sometimes that helps wipe out a cold coming on.


 Found out Nonie's funeral is on Saturday.  Not sure we will go, there are family troubles going on in that family and John doesn't want to get involved.

tuesday

John and Charles got out early and put up a couple more sheets of tin on the parking roof.  Later, Eric came up and helped him get the last sheet installed.  They almost got it finished. Charles and fam left about 10ish this morning. Nikki had a school program this evening that she needed to get home in time to go to.  Jana's fam and Tristan came up this afternoon to visit.  Had a good time with them.  Jana and Rob have such a cute little family!  John's cousin Noni passed away today, she's been going downhill for a while now and we weren't sure who would go first, her or Mabel.  Noni also had congestive heart failure.

monday

Mabel's funeral day.  Charles and family rode down with us to the funeral.  It was a nice service, Julie gave the history and Harv the spiritual talk.  Vicki and Heather's table with memorabilia and photos was so cool!

sunday

I didn't sleep well last night, I couldn't go to sleep so I got up about 11:30 and messed around on the computer for a while, then read in my chair until finally I got a bit of sleep.  Seems like it's been happening more often lately, maybe stress.   I've also been having chest pains, don't think it's heart related, maybe stress too.  John emailed Charles to let him know the schedule for today, we're going to SJ for lunch about 2 ish, then helping set up Pro Panels at the church for the display they are doing for Mabel's funeral.  Then a viewing this evening.

saturday

We walked for the first time in a while this morning.  I wish I could say it felt good to walk, but it didn't.  Things just weren't meshing right in my body.  We walked to the creek to see if it is still running and it is, not as high, but still a bit of water.  We saw and heard this bull that was on the ranpage I think LOL.  It was calling and churning up the dirt around its feet, there are bulls across the road and I guess he was challenging them.  They weren't paying much attention to them.  The bull belongs to the Martins, they've moved their cows from the pasture they were in to this one and are going to move them again in a week away from here, so we won't be seeing them this summer.  Stopped and talked to them, they knew about Mabel and offered condolences.  I thought hardly anyone up here knew, but guess some do.  John told our home teacher, but we haven't heard anything since, which isn't surprising, we never have. 

John cut some logs and we propped up the locust tree, its like a weeping willow the branches like to bend down to the ground, which is nice in the summer for deep shade, but it makes it hard to get under the tree.  Today is the first day I feel like I'm back in the work and normal.  This was the week of Ali Edward's week in the life and I just haven't been able to get into it.  Mostly because I spent Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday scanning in albums.  Hardly poked my head out to see what was going on and the one time I did, I wished I hadn't!  Still upset with Cassie, she showed herself to be one of the people she calls "bad souls".  I was suspecting from her facebook posts before this, but now I know.

Found out later that she unfriended me, LOL, she beat me to it!  She also unfriended John, who didn't do a thing to her and Jana and she removed herself from the Wilhelm group.  John asked Connie about casket flowers and she didn't say anything about Cassie making them, she ordered some, so that may have been made up.  Shir says she lies a lot.

I finally got up courage to do something about this computer having blackouts.  They were gettting more and more frequent.  I wrote to asus and they sent me a link to the drivers for the video.  I tried the one that was on here first and it didn't fix the problem.  I skipped the next one cause when I tried that one way back when the puter was new it messed it up.  I installed the newest one and so far, it seems to have fixed the problem.  Keeping my fingers crossed, gives me nightmares to think of having to send it in for repair, too much stuff on here I wouldn't want them to lose!

friday

where has this week gone?  I finished scanning the last photo last night.  Just need the one last photo Heather wants from Eric when he comes up today.  I don't think I'm going to start on that album until later, I'm just too tired and burned out.  Scan is all I've done this week, I need to get ready for the kids.  It's hard having to wait this long for the funeral, kind of leaves one in a state of suspended life, waiting to carry on until saying goodby.

John got the panels ready to put up on the little parking shelter.  It's had a tarp and the tarps keep wearing out and ripping in the wind.  We just lost another and he's tired of replacing them.
Eric came up after he woke up, he worked last night, and helped John put up the panels.  They got two up before they decided they'd better stop due to the wind. 

The locust tree says it's officially spring!  The leaves are starting to come out.

We went shopping this afternoon, it was nice to get out of the house for a bit.  I've felt kind of antsy today, not sure why, I just don't feel good.  I scanned in 3 photos of Mabel at the beach, cleaned them up and sent them to Heather.

WatchedTv this evening

thursday

Where has this week gone?  I haven't hardly stuck my head outside the house.  I've spent the week scanning in Mabel's albums.  Be glad to get done!  Vicki called me this morning , they thought of a couple more pictures they want scanned, one of them I don't have, I called Connie and she remembered it, it's in an album she has.  The other was at the mortuary, so we ran up and got it.  I tried to hook up the recorder to my puter to see if it works, but I can't get it to hook up, it says it won't work with my computer and win 7.  bummer!  I'll try it with the other puter and see if it will work.  John and I are still upset about Cassie and all she dumped on me yesterday.  I shouldn't have said anything to her, but her comment about no one caring about Alex made me mad.   Like she does on facebook, she dumped on me about how much she has done for the ungrateful, (my word not hers) Wilhelm family, even spending $10,000 for the reunion we all thought Alex had paid for.  I can't imagine that she spent that much on it, I know it was a lot, we were thinking a couple thousand, she probably upped it a lot!  Wish I had $$ and I'd send it to her and say, here, I'm paying you back!  Then what she says about how Connie could have made the other family having a funeral on Saturday move theirs to a different building or day, people up here don't do stuff like that!  I guess living in a city squished together like rats makes them rude!  I would never think of doing such a thing to someone!! 

wednesday

Spent another day scanning, that's pretty much all I did today.  Getting burned out!  I was looking at posts on facebook this morning and saw one from Cassie that made my blood boil about how no one cares about Alex.  They wanted the funeral on Saturday and caused a big rucus when it wasn't.  I made the mistake of pmimg her and asking her to stop making conflict and she blew up all over me.  Said she was going to make the wreath for the casket, but now she won't be sending anything up.  And a lot of other hateful stuff said to make me feel horrible.  I apologized to her for saying anything, she informed me that they had nothing to do with the yelling cusing phone calls to Vicki, all I knew was that Shirley said her kids, so I assumed it was all 3 of them!  I learned something, don't piss Cassie off!  I always felt sorry for her and stuck up for her when the family would put her down, but being on facebook has lowered my opinion of her, she is either complaining about the tons of stuff she has to do or patting herself on the back at all that she has done.  And how her stuff is the very best!  John once challenged her when she said her cookies were the very best ever, he said Grandma Davis' sour cream cookies were, she never responded to him, LOL, she didn't like that he wasn't patting her on the back.  Think when all this is over I'm going to go ahead and block her comments.  I was thinking about it anyway.  She quit facebook a while back, said there were too many bad souls on here, personnaly, I think she was the bad soul!

tuesday

Finished printing out photos for Mabel's funeral this morning, then John ran them down to St. Johns to Vicki.  I cleaned house while he was gone, getting ready for whoever is coming for the funeral.  Charles is coming, not sure who is coming with him.  I invited BB and J to stay with us if they come, no answer from them yet.  Susan said Cindy had called Andy and she is wanting to come to the funeral with the kids.  I'd rather she not come, but when John told the girls about it, they thought it was nice that she would want to. 

We returned books to the library this afternoon and I got some hair dye, I need to spruce up my hair before the funeral! 

Baked bread, yumm!

monday

I spent the whole day scanning in photos from Mabels albums.  I decided to just scan in the entire page in one of them, and got that one all done.  I got the pictures Vicki is wanting for a display at the funeral scanned in and got them printed out late tonight.  I'm so tired!

Sunday

We were going to go down and visit at Mabel's when Vicki and Wayne got here, but we got a call about 10:30 that Mabel had quietly slipped away in her sleep this morning about 10, without ever rousing.  Such a blessing to her, she's been in pain for so many years now and hasn't had any fun.  When I would see her lately, she always looked unhappy.  She was still at home when we got there and looked so peaceful and her face looked years younger without the pain that was always there to see.  Andy and Susan were already there when we got there.  We had a good visit with family, then Andy and John helped the mortician move her out to the car.  As they were passing through the fragrent lilacs at the gate Andy mentioned how she would love that her last trip from home was through the lilacs.  I think they have mostly gotten the funeral planned, it was hard because people started showing up and staying to visit while they were trying to get paperwork finished.  Uncle Harvey, Aunt Virginia, Marion, Doris and Betty came over, had a good visit with Betty!  We went to grade school together until her family moved away from town.  Mom made a meal and brought it down for everyone, such a big help not to have to worry about feeding everyone!  We all sat out on the lawn in the evening, it was a hot day today!  Ken and Karma Whiting came by, visited with him about his Mom, she is in the valley with Mel now, he was in Utah for a time, and she was in SJ.  We left for home about 8ish.

saturday

We went to the chrome in the dome this morning.  As we were walking around in the dome we came upon a car and John said it was like one that our first grade teacher Natalia Greer had.  About that time we overheard a conversation between 2 guys standing by the car and one was telling the other that the car had belonged to a Natalia Greer of St. Johns!!  What a coincidence!  He said a car dealer bought the car from her estate and had fixed it up.  It had been rebuilt from bottom to top, a different more powerful engine installed body work and repainting done.  It looked nice!  We told him that Natalia taught us and he thought that was cool.

This afternoon John got a call from Connie, Mabel wasn't doing well, they haven't been able to rouse her from sleep.  She only roused briefly yesterday when they poked her with the iv needle.  We went down to see her.  She was sitting in her chair, and John talked to her and tried to get her to repond, but she never did.  She was holding her head up, not supported on the chair, I don't know how she could do that and be asleep.  When John rubbed her foot, she did rouse a bit and mutter, but when Connie told us she had sores on her foot, he probably hurt her and she that brought her around a bit.  I'm not sure she's really sleeping, but she isn't awake either, not sure what's going on.  We left for a while and went up to Mom's to visit, then ate at El Camino and went back to Mabel's.  Doc Wilson had been by to see her, he said to wait and see how she does tonight.  Carl said when his Mom was dying, she did the same thing, couldn't be roused from sleep.  He said it was because her kidneys were shutting down.  Maybe that's what's happening with Mabel.  Called the boys when we got home to let them know.  Vicki and Wayne are coming up tomorrow to spend a few days. 

Today was Roy's birthday, not sure how old he would have been, in his 100's.  Shirley set up a mock chuckbox on the dining room table in his honor, it was cool.

"Benture" Day

We left about 8 this morning on a "benture" trip.  We went to Winslow to find the graves of Frank and Quini Higgenson.  We met then when we were digging at Brigham City in the early 90's.  There were such an exceptional couple, they were in their 70's and raising 2 grandchildren.  Quini said that she just wanted to live long enough to see those 2 kids grow up and then she would be happy for the lord to take her.  I can't remember exactly the reasons they had the kids, John remembered that the parents were drug addicts and he thought maybe one or both had been in jail.  Not sure, but they took the kids to raise.  Quini was from Spain, I think.  Frank was working there when he met her.  His first wife left him when he was away, I think in the military, but not sure.  He had at least one child with her, a boy that disappeared in Australia  He was out sailing and went missing.  So sad!   We always told Frank he should write his history, he had such an interesting life.  I think he was working in Spain for a contractor or something when he met Quini. 
We also drove down Winslow main and stopped at THE corner and I had John take my photo there, then we visited La Posada, one of our favorites from the days when we spent lots of time in Winslow.  They have opened up more rooms there, the part that was still railroad offices is now a part of the hotel.  It was kind of dark and I didn’t care for how they've decorated it.  There are lots of paintings done by the owners wife hanging and they are so weird!  But it's still a cool place.  We ate lunch at Sonic, I had a chicken wrap and sweet potato tots, pretty good!  John had a burger and fries.  We also stopped in at Brigham City, they have done a lot more work on restoration there, more walls up and they put log walls up for two rooms so people can see how they were.  They're keeping the yard cleared of Camel Thorns, that's good.  Unfortunately, the dining hall is in bad shape, the wall that John Hohmann worked on way back is coming apart again, guess he didn’t fix it very well.   Stopped in at WalMart to pick up a few items,  then headed for home.  We stopped at the Jackrabbit Trading post, and got photos of us with the rabbit, got snacks and a few souvenirs and then stopped at Obed, it's a weed patch!   From there, we went to Holbrook, where we stopped at the Wigwam Hotel so I could take pix.  They have old cars parked outside the wigwams and one said Doc Hudson on the license and it looked like the car from the movie cars!  Cool.  Then we headed for home by way of Snowflake.  They were working on the road by Petrified Forest on the way down, putting down oil, so we wanted to avoid that.  We got home about 4.  Whew, a long day!  Julie and Eric called John while we were at Jackrabbit.  Connie took Mabel to the ER, she thought she was dehydrated, and they wanted John to go help her out of the car.  Eric was at our house when he called, so John told him to go help as we were at least 2 hours from home.   Don't know why they can't get the ER people to help, but they won't ask.  Just after we got home, Eric showed up again, Mabel is still at the ER, he said they are giving her IV's to get her levels of something up before they let her go home.  We wonder if they won't keep her in the hospital.  Julie wanted to know if John would go down and help them get Mabel in the car, he said if they call before we go to bed at 9.  

thursday

John loaded up the dump trailer with green stuff from the yard and we took it to the dump this morning. Lots of stuff, the trailer was full!

It's been windy this afternoon, and I haven't ventured out much.  John rearranged the sculptures in the yard and we went shopping.

Benture Day

We took a day off and drove to Winslow today to look up the graves of Frank and Quini Higginson.  We just learned last year that they had both passed away.

We left about 8 this morning on a "benture" trip. We went to Winslow to find the graves of Frank and Quini Higginson. We met then when we were digging at Brigham City in the early 90's. There were such an exceptional couple, they were in their 70's and raising 2 grandchildren. Quini said that she just wanted to live long enough to see those 2 kids grow up and then she would be happy for the lord to take her. I can't remember exactly the reasons they had the kids, John remembered that the parents were drug addicts and he thought maybe one or both had been in jail. Not sure, but they took the kids to raise. Quini was from Spain, I think. Frank was working there when he met her. His first wife left him when he was away, I think in the military, but not sure. He had at least one child with her, a boy that disappeared in Australia He was out sailing and went missing. So sad! We always told Frank he should write his history, he had such an interesting life. I think he was working in Spain for a contractor or something when he met Quini.
We also drove down Winslow main and stopped at THE corner and I had John take my photo there, then we visited La Posada, one of our favorites from the days when we spent lots of time in Winslow. They have opened up more rooms there, the part that was still railroad offices is now a part of the hotel. It was kind of dark and I didn’t care for how they've decorated it. There are lots of paintings done by the owners wife hanging and they are so weird! But it's still a cool place. We ate lunch at Sonic, I had a chicken wrap and sweet potato tots, pretty good! John had a burger and fries. We also stopped in at Brigham City, they have done a lot more work on restoration there, more walls up and they put log walls up for two rooms so people can see how they were. They're keeping the yard cleared of Camel Thorns, that's good. Unfortunately, the dining hall is in bad shape, the wall that John Hohmann worked on way back is coming apart again, guess he didn’t fix it very well. Stopped in at WalMart to pick up a few items, then headed for home. We stopped at the Jackrabbit Trading post, and got photos of us with the rabbit, got snacks and a few souvenirs and then stopped at Obed, it's a weed patch! From there, we went to Holbrook, where we stopped at the Wigwam Hotel so I could take pix. They have old cars parked outside the wigwams and one said Doc Hudson on the license and it looked like the car from the movie cars! Cool. Then we headed for home by way to Snowflake. They were working on the road by Petrified Forest on the way down, putting down oil, so we wanted to avoid that. We got home about 4. Whew, a long day! Julie and Eric called John while we were at Jackrabbit. Connie took Mabel to the ER, she thought she was dehydrated, and they wanted John to go help her out of the car. Eric was at our house when he called, so John told him to go help as we were at least 2 hours from home. Don't know why they can't get the ER people to help, but they won't ask. Just after we got home, Eric showed up again, Mabel is still at the ER, he said they are giving her IV's to get her levels of something up before they let her go home. We wonder if they won't keep her in the hospital. Julie wanted to know if John would go down and help them get Mabel in the car when they leave, he said if they call before we go to bed at 9. Baked cinnamon rolls when we got home, yumm!

wednesday

We unloaded the trailer of gravel that John got yesterday and got another one and unloaded it, too!  I'm not sure if this was load 3 or 4?  The yard is looking good!  I just wish we'd done everything in the smaller size gravel, it looks and cleans up so much better!  The areas with the bigger size look pretty crappy!  After we got everything covered, I used John's blower to blow off leaves and stuff from the big gravel.  It helped, but it still has gunk in it.

John noticed that the spruce tree had a big crack in the ground below it, it looked like maybe roots were doing it?  We then noticed that the tree is leaning out towards the driveway! Yikes!  John got a cable and connected it between the ponderosa and the spruce, hopefully that will hold it if it tries to uproot and tip over!

I put the cushion on my hanging chair this afternoon and sat in it for a while and enjoyed the warmth.  It was a bit too breezy or it would have been perfect!

John made green chili beans with pork for supper tonight, it was much easier for me to chew the pork than it is when we use beef.  MM good supper!  Watched TV this evening.

The Day After

Woke up with a tender face.  My cheek is sore, I think from the injections, and the tooth area is throbbing. 

We walked this morning, it's been while since we have and I figured I would be way out of shape again, but I made it to the creek without too much pain!  Yea!  The water is still running, not as high, but I expected it to be dried up by now. 

I didn't feel much like eating this morning, so I cooked up some oatmeal and had it.  Easy on the sore tooth! 

Ali Edwards posted her Week in the Life plan yesterday and I spent some time this morning looking at what she has planned for her album. I think I'll get her templates for this year, last year I used a different set than she did.  Maybe this time I'll finish up the week!  Last year we were doing the barn and there was so much going on that I never got the album finished up that week and then kind of forgot about it.  I have my notes from the week and the photos and did do a page on the blog about the first day, so maybe I can go back and finish it now. 

John got a load of gravel and we unloaded and spread it out.  I thought one would do all we need, but it's going to take 2 or 3 more to finish up.  We got the smaller size rocks and it looks so much nicer than the big, I wish we'd used it everywhere!

Ouch!

As I was eating breakfast this morning, I suddenly had  a sharp pain in my mouth.  I thought I'd gotten a piece of something stuck in my gum, but after flossing, brushing and a water pick the pain was still there and I suspected maybe a part of the tooth had broken off  so I called Dr. Tenney's and they said to come up and they'd check it out.  Turned out a piece on the back of the tooth was broken away.  I've been having pain in a tooth since shortly before I had them cleaned last, but it was only minor and I coudn't tell for sure which tooth, so I didn't do anything about it.  Dr. Tenney glued the broken part to the stable part since it wasn't broken clear off and they put me on a list to call if they had a cancellation. They had a no show this morning, so I was able to get back in today.  He drilled out the huge filling, a "gift" from my childhood dentist, I'm sure, and was able to get the broken part off without it pulling off down into the bone, which he was afraid it would do.  He put a pin in the tooth that was left and built back up the missing part, then did a crown prep on it.  I'm sore and the tooth is hurting me this afternoon!

They are starting to cut down the trees at the old school, when I went by on the way home, they had topped off a couple of them.  Kind of sad to see the old trees go, they made such nice shade to sit under to watch parades!

After sleeping off the deadening, I checked out a couple stores for outdoor tables for the locust tree.  Found some at the Dollar Store, but they want $30 for tables that look like they're worth $10!  Didn't get one. 

Went with John up to Zebell's house to pick up a satellite dish and a cart he gave him.

Went to bed early, I was worn out and my face is sore.

sunday

Cold morning!  I was kind of expecting to find snow on the ground, but there wasn't any.   Cloudy and the weather says there is a 30% chance of snow.  I'm so ready for warm weather to come and STAY! 

Did laundry, burned DVD's so I can clean up my hard drive. 

John and I went for a drive this afternoon up south of Eagar.

Mom called me with info about Stewart.  Nelson has been going to the hospital every week when he's in the valley, but they've always had an excuse why he couldn't see him.  We were all beginning to wonder why.  Last week when Nelson stopped by, he was able to see Stewart.  He said he was burned worse than he remembered him being, but he was awake.  He couldn't communicate very well, they have tubes down his throat, so it was hard to understand him.  Mom didn't know how long he would have to be there.  They think they've pieced together what happened.  They think Stewart was laying on the floor wrapped in a blanket in front of a heater trying t stay warm, when the blanket caught on fire.  From the amount of burns, Stewart was probably asleep.  He was wet when they found him, so they think he poured water over himself to put out the fire, then he made it to his bed, where he collapsed.  He'll have to stay in the valley after he gets out of the hospital for treatment, not sure where he will stay, Mom said there is a place next to the hospital where he could stay if he will.

Cold, Wind, Snow

Burr, the wind sounded so cold this morning!  The air was hazy and there was a light snow in the air.  The mountains around us look like they are getting some.  Then it started hitting us, we got some big fat flakes and a bit on the ground. 

I made bread this morning, I'm liking it much better now that I just use the breadmaker for the dough and bake the loaf in the oven.  I like the size better.  I also made buns, yumm, burgers for lunch!

Ali Edwards is getting ready to do A Week in the Life again, I did it last year, but never got it all printed out, I have part of day one, is all.  Wish I'd completed it!  I think I'll do it with her again this year and try and keep up!  I am way behind on my project life too.  I thought it would be much easier to do it that way than doing layouts that I never print, but I'm just not keeping up. My prints at home just aren't that great, so I need to have them printed elsewhere and I forget to get them ready and take them to the drug to print.

Friday The 13th!

The 13th being on a Friday always makes me think of my Dad.  He always told me he was born on a Friday the 13 and that's why he had bad luck.  I looked it up once and he WASN'T born on a Friday, LOL, so much for that theory. 

John got out early and cut down a bush that came up by itself, I think the birds must have planted it, it's right under some wires.  We're making it easier for people to see the sculptures in that yard.  Kind of sad tho, making it more visible also makes our cozy little break place under the locust less private and cozy. Hope the tree will fill out more this year and hide our spot in leaves!  Last year a lot of the branches died, so the tree was more open and less of a tent feel.  He also burned piles of leaves and later I went out and raked up the yard where he removed the barrels and the yard by the x pond.  The yard is looking better.

John also made a turtle this morning.  Beva is wanting some yard art and when they were here she was asking about my turtles and wanting to buy one, so I figure she would like one. 

John decided to give Brad Goodsell a piece of art for giving us the old pot, and we took it up and delivered it this afternoon.  I think he liked it.  John said Brad gave him the idea for the piece,so it seemed fitting that he have it, it's the one he calls timepiece.

thursday

John remade my compost bin this morning.  He used one of the shelves he got yesterday, cut it in thirds and made three sides.  Then he got some hardware cloth and lined it so the stuff will stay in.  Now if I can just learn how to made compost, I've tried, but it never has worked for me.  By the time we finished up the temperature had dropped and the wind was picking up.  

John leaves a note on his shop door with his phone in case someone stops by, he got a call just after lunch, there was a lady that wanted to buy more prints.  She came by before with a group of ladies.

I spent some time working on catching up on my blog, I keep getting behind.  I'm still a month behind adding photos! 

John got the barrels and the rest of the stuff on the upper lot moved to the back  He unloadd the stuff we got back from ShowLow and got it scattered around.  He decided he wanted to give a sculpture to Brad Goodsell because he gave us the pottery, so he is going to give him the timepiece.

I picked peas today and put 4 bags in the freezer.  They were getting too big, don't know why I never thought of freezing them sooner!  I picked most all of tem on the side against the wall, there are still some on the south side.  I wonder if they will bloom again or if they're done?

Strong Winds today

Strong winds were predicted for after 11 this morning and it started picking up about then.    We went to St. Johns to get some shelving material so John can clean up the "pre-art" on the ground on the south edge of the lot and on the northwest edge.  He also got some extra to redo my compost container in metal instead of the wood pallets.   We stopped by Mom's to pick up the grating and she gave me Dad's old coats.  She said it was time, after almost 8 years she is ready to part with them.  I am going to see if any of them fit Andy's kids, if not, Mom wants me to donate them to a thrift shop.  The one that I liked best is the one I remember Dad wearing the most, an old grey worn one. 

Went to the library this afternoon and the thrift shop looking for parts for a chicken John is building.  Bear and Destiny stopped by again today, they bought one of John's scratch boards, Sweet Dreams.

Endings

We went to ShowLow and Pinetop today to pick up John's artwork at the ShowLow City Hall and the Casbah.  Saw the other John Wilhelm at City Hall and visited a bit with him, he says Curtis is doing well, (he has lukemia)  and so is the new baby.  Got our art there, then headed up to the Casbah to get what we had there.  We were both upset, they had removed the sign saying Wilhelm's Art from the front of the store, and we found our spot dark!  They had removed the light we paid for and paid to have installed and moved it "because Valerie wanted it". Had they asked we probably would have told them she could have it, AFTER we left,  but to move it before our month's rent was even up was so rude!  How could we expect to sell anything when it was too dark for customer's to see the art!  They had gradually been encroching on our space over the past year, putting other artists stuff closer and closer to where our stuff was, blocking it a bit and using space we paid for!  That upset me, but this seemed like such a slap in the face to us!  Being sarcastic, I told Don it was nice that they'd taken our light down for us, that's when he said Val wanted it so they'd moved it to her new space.  I should have told me we wanted it and were taking it down!  We might have considered going back to the Casbah in the future if the ecomony got better, but this cooked it for us, we'll never go back!  And I wouldn't recommend that anyone else rents space there!

Feeling Sick

I woke up this morning with an upset stomach and didn't feel well all day.  Don't know if I ate something bad or what.

Easter

We met Andy's family at Brady Spring for a picnic this morning.  It was a bit breezy, but not too bad.  I think everyone had a good time.  When we left the kids were making a bridge across the little pond.  The adults had all scoffed to ourselves about it and said it wouldn't work.  They had it about a third of the way across and Andy walked out on it and it held him!  Jessie said they got about halfway before they left  Josh did fall in and got one leg wet, I expected someone to fall in and get totally wet.  The guys played golf and frisbee and Andy and Susan hid eggs for the kids to hunt.  I thought Jessie was going to have a big crash, she and Michael ran for the same egg and crashed, but she managed to stay on her feet.  Her eggs weren't so lucky, they all fell to the ground. Wish I'd been faster thinking and got a shot of the eggs in the air!  Sure is quiet at home tonight!  My face is hurting, it's either wind or sun burned.

saturday

monday

Just read on facebook that the place where Vicki works burned yesterday! 

MESA, Ariz. -- Mesa firefighters say nine businesses went up in flames Sunday after a fire started in a strip mall.
No one was inside any of the units at the time. Officials said the fire started in the middle of the Granite Reef Plaza near Power Road and Main Street just after noon and quickly spread to both ends of the building.
The fire was fueled by wind gusts as much as 30 miles per hour.
Sixty firefighters from Mesa, Gilbert, Apache Junction and Rural Metro responded and managed to save one of the units

April Fools Day!

I think our April Fools Day joke is the wind!  It's blowing today just like it did on March 1st.  And the NOAA says we have a chance of snow tomorrow!  There go all the blooming tree blossoms.   Bummer, it looks so pretty in Eagar right now. 

I raked up around the wood pile and started stacking it.  Last summer when John was cleaning up just before we were evacuated, he hurridly moved a wood pile that was up closer to the house to get it farther away.  So he just dumped it and it's been there ever since.  We will have a lot more time to spend on the yard this summer, no barn to take up the bulk of our time! 

Did laundry too.

saturday

John has been cleaning up the back yard, loading up steel.  We took 2 loads to the dump today, they have a container and will let you dump for free!  Yea, it would probably have cost $100 or more for all we added to their stash!  Guess they sell it.  I did some raking in the back yard this morning, it's looking good, John is going to move my square foot gardens down there, he wants the upper yards to show off his art. People are coming here to look at it and he's even sold a bit.  I'm not sure I like people wandering around in my yard all the time!

Our neighbors, the Swansey's, just down the street had a moving sale today, they are buying a place in Andy's area, sounds like a nice place, they're off the road a few miles and sounds like maybe lots of space.  We bought a toaster oven and a cute little electric heater that looks like a fireplace complete with fire, cute!

We ate lunch outside today, it feels good to be able to eat out again!  Jessie started the season for us by wanting to eat out while she was here. 

Took pix of trees in bloom today, spring has rushed in!  Almost overnight the trees are getting leaves and the forsythias is in bloom as are fruit trees.  My forsythia is blooming and our elm is leafing out.  The locust still says spring isn't here yet, so we may have massive frozen blooms around town.  Our pear hasn't bloomed yet. Glad to see spring arrive!

thursday

john cleaned ray yard
moved sculptures
ate lunch at mcd's
took jes home about 2
got pix from library at 5

wednesday

cleaned yard
ate supper outside

tuesday

We went back up to the falls today and met Mom and Carleen at the Midway.  We had a picnic and a fun time. 

Stopped at the new Rock Shop on the way home and checked it out.  Pretty cool stuff!

monday

mabels funeral day

monday

The wind blew hard all night long.  It ripped the white tarp on the awning over the boat.  I was happy that my greenhouse made it through okay.  I have 3 tulips up, one has a flower bud!   We checked out my plants, then took Jes to the museums.  We were going to check out the rock shop, but it was closed.  Checked out the new shop in the Lockhart building, and stepped into the bar to see the mural.  The bar is dark and depressing.  The shop is pretty rough, they are still remodeling in there.  Jes and I got blizzards, kind of made me feel sick, I'm not used to that much sugar!

sunday

Jessie and I  picked 2 carrots, some peas, radishes, and a bit of lettuce from the greenhouse and tasted them.  Yumm! 

Then we went shopping for the stuff to make a couple of wreaths for easter  I got the idea from a picture Jana posted on facebook.  We had fun glueing eggs onto our wreaths, adding grass ribbon and bunnies.  They turned out cute! 

Jessie and John had chicken for supper and I had a pizza.  Then we watched Bering Sea Gold Rush and Mythbusters.

saturday

We planned to meet Andy's fam at 20 ft falls for a picnic today, but with all the car troubles Andy is having they couldn't make it so John and I went by ourselves.  John picked to go by way of Whiting Homestead and boy was it muddy!  I wasn't sure we were going to make it, when it started getting muddy I remembered the time we started out this way with Jessie and had to turn back because the road became impassable with snow.  We did make it this time.  We didn't drive all the way in to the falls, the road looked pretty muddy, so we parked down the hill and walked.  There is more water running than last year when we visited, but not as much as we have seen in the past.  The water wasn't running when we passed by on Wednesday, but was when John picked Andy up on Friday, so it hasn't been running long.  Enjoyed visiting the falls. 

Then we went to Andy's and picked up Jessie.  Andy was working on his sub, fixing the water lines.  We ran to ShowLow to pick up some antifreeze for him so he could get it going.  Hope it's all fixed up for a while now!  We stopped at McD's for our traditional first night supper with Jes, then came home.

Friday

John ran over and picked up Andy this morning so he could work on his sub.  In testing, he found the fuel filter was plugged and changed it out, but that didn't fix it, it still wouldn't start.  So then they got the module thingie that Andy figured was the problem and changed it out.  While he had the distributor off to replace the module, he got a new one of those and put it on.  While they were working on that, Connie stopped by, they wanted John to replace the fuel filter on their van, it was running rough and a guy at the parts store told them it was probably plugged.  Couldn't get it in the garage, so Andy ended up putting a new one on in the parking lot.  Glad he was here to do that!  The guys said the old one was okay and that wasn't the problem.  They also had some gas cleaner they put in the tank and headed out.  Eric was unavailable, so they asked if we could come get them if they broke down.  Thank goodness they made it home!  Andy needed to get his car running so he could get home.  After he got his back together, the car started, yea!!!  He hooked up to the car hauler and took it with him.  He called later, he never made it home, a heater hose ruptured and he lost his antifreeze!  Susan brought him water and he was able to limp on home.  Bummer, seems like he's having a run of bad luck right now!!

thursday

Woke up at 7 after not getting to bed until 4 am!  I feel like I've been run over!  We found blood on the pickup starting at the front passenger wheel well and going all the way back and on the trailer!  John first thought it was the rabbit that ran out in the road and he thought made it back safely, but I remember them saying we drove through some elk blood by where the elk was hit, so that's probably where it came from.

wednesday

John called the guy in SJ that we'd been thinking of having do our prints.  Yikes, his prices are so high there is no room for any profit for us!  His price for an 8 x 10 is double what we were charging!  And he just photographs them, doesn't scan so I'm not sure how well they would blow up big.  Guess we'll just have to do mail orders with Alan, his prices are so much cheaper that we can afford to do that!  I decided to try photographing John's latest scratchboard myself and see how it would turn out.  I printed it out, but it's hard to tell, my printers are so much lower in quality than Alan's. 

We went to the dump and shopping this morning.  It's still cold out,

Andy called he is broke down in the valley, we are going to get him and bring the car home.  We drove to Concho and met Brian, following him way the heck out in the boonies to get his trailer, drove back to Concho and on our way to Mesa.  Picked up Jessie, had trouble with the lights and brakes on the trailer, Brian sprayed WD 40 on the plug to "clean" it before we left because it was having trouble connecting to the truck.  We stopped and tried everything to get the lights to work, but nothing would work, put on the extra light harness John brought along, but it didn't want to work right either, I think the WD 40 got in our plug too.  Went on with only the tail lights on the trailer working and hoping no one would rear end us!  Stopped in Globe to gas up and got sandwiches at the gas station so we wouldn't have to stop again, they were yucky!  Made it to Mesa, took a wrong turn off the freeway, finally made it to where the sub was parked, met Andy, Jennifer, Cindy and Hailey there, took an hour or so to winch the car up on the trailer, I was afraid John was going to have a heart attack from all the exertion!  Went to the college where Brandon and Brittany were just getting out of class, visited for a bit and headed for home.  Stopped for gas in Showlow, dropped Andy and Jessie off at the bus stop,where Susan picked them up, and made a slow trip home through elk country.  We did see several groups of animals on the way home, both before we left Andy and Jessie and after.  The guys saw where someone had hit an animal, the animal was still laying in the road and they said we drove through it's blood!  But they were all off the side of the road and we made it safely home about 4 am, exhaused and sore from the long trip.

tuesday

Still cold, we saw a bit of snow in the air this morning.  I ventured out to the greenhouse and pulled weeds, boy can they speed up and grow when you're not looking!  Pulled a couple that were in with the peas that were getting pretty tall. 

John took the entertainment center out of his studio and put up a pro panel and hung pictures.  He ordered a museum type hanging thingie like they have at the library and old school to put on the wall.  He's getting pretty fancy! 

He had a meeting with Phelps and Paul tonight about the lighting for the outdoors at the old school.  I think they are going to start working on that soon.

monday

More snow today.  We thought maybe it was going to clear up, but it didn't and we got fluries off and on.  Not much sticking and it mostly melted.  Read on facebook that Nikki and Tristan had snow where they are!  Tucson and Thatcher, wow!

John had a dentist appointment to get a filling in his tooth.  I'm still having pain, he said if it keeps hurting I may have a crack in the tooth, bummer! 

Returned books to the library this afternoon.

Haven't ventured to the greenhouse today or yesterday, didn't want to open the door and let the heat out.  Hope all is okay in there!

Had a horrible day, everything seemed to go wrong!  John wanted more business cards and bios printed out, simple right  Wrong, the cards didn't want to print so I thought I'd just change the printer.  The desktop didn't have a driver for the other printer, so thought I'd just do them from John's puter.  It didn't have the program for the card to show up.  Spent a frustrating time trying to find the program to download.  Finally chatted with someone on the Avery site that gave me a link, downloaded it and installed on John's puter.  Then his puter didn't want to print right, the right fonts weren't installed and so it just changed the fonts and printed.  Not the way John wanted them.  Finally found the fonts on the puter, had to copy the entire font folder, it wouldn't let me copy just one font.  Then I found that it didn't keep the names so I had to open a billion fonts to finally find the one I wanted, and got it installed.  And that was just the cards!  Searched and found the bios, tryed printing out 10 pages with much frustration, the print command didn't work, turned off the printed and rebooted the puter.  The printer spit out some more cards, apparently it ran out of paper before it was done and forgot to let me know.  Then, I printed out 10 of the bio front pages.  Turned the papers over and tried to print the back page on them.  Printer doesn't print, then after much trying it printed out one facing the wrong way, I'd rotated it before I sent it to the printer, so tried again, same thing!  Flattened the file, saved it and opened in PSE.  Printer doesn't want to print again, but finally, I got it done.  Took me the whole day and I am thinking I want to run away from home,  LOL!  Calgon, where are you when I need you!

sunday

Woke up to the wind, John called me about 6 am to tell me he saw snow in the air while walking to the studio.  It didn't last long, by the time I got to the door to check, it was over. 

Here's what the newspaper is saying:

Winter Storm Warning

A winter storm warning is now in effect from 6 am Sunday to 6 am mst Monday.

* Timing: expect snow showers early Sunday to become steady snowfall after sunrise Sunday. Snow will then be heavy at times through the day Sunday, becoming showery again Sunday night into Monday.

* Snow accumulations: storm accumulations by Monday morning will range from 15 to 22 inches above 7000 feet, 10 To 18 inches from 6000 to 7000 feet and 4 to 8 inches from 5000 to 6000 feet. Amounts north of the higher terrain will be slightly less in each category.

* Snow levels: around 7000 feet Sunday morning, dropping to near 4000 feet by Sunday evening.

* Other impacts: southwest winds 20 to 30 mph with higher gusts are likely through much of this storm. This will create areas of significant blowing and drifting snow as well as very low visibilities.

Precautionary/preparedness actions: a winter storm warning means severe winter weather conditions are expected or occurring due to significant amounts of snow and strong winds producing limited visibilities.

Driving will be extremely dangerous during this storm. If possible, postpone traveling in the warning area until this storm passes.

For the latest road conditions and closures call the ADOT Freeway Management System at 1-888-411-7623 or visit their website at www.Az511.com.

Humm, that's way more snow than the National Weather Service says is coming. 

Today: Snow. The snow could be heavy at times. High near 37. South southwest wind between 18 and 21 mph, with gusts as high as 37 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. Total daytime snow accumulation of 2 to 4 inches possible. Tonight: Snow showers. Low around 18. South southwest wind between 13 and 18 mph, with gusts as high as 33 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New snow accumulation of 1 to 3 inches possible.

saturday

It's windy today!  We checked the weather and it looks like more winter is coming!  Hey groundhog, your six more weeks of winter are up!  It's time for spring!  No more snow!!

I spotted two pea pods today!  The plants are blooming like crazy and I have been wondering if they needed bees to pollinate, but I guess not!  Maybe the breeze that comes in through the vents is enough or maybe they don't need anything to produce!

We took the bed apart again and put the metal base under it.  Just like John thought, it's too high with the wheels under it.  I sure wish they'd gotten my order right and brought me the skinny foundation!  The only reason I got the foundation and didn't keep the one we had was because he told me he'd get me the skinny ones.  Guess I should have told them to take them back and bring the right ones, but it was late, they showed up after dark, and the old bed was taken out of the house already and I was tired.  I should have called the next day and told them I wanted them to get the narrow ones!

On the way to Bashas I saw a Forsythia bush in bloom!

Brush fire near airport closes U.S. 60

Posted: Saturday, March 17, 2012 4:23 pm

Brush fire near airport closes U.S. 60 0 comments

Updated 03/17/2012, 4:25 p.m. - A brush fire is burning near Forest Energy off of U.S. 60 near the Show Low airport. Highway 60 is closed at east and west at Highway 77 and at Bourdon Ranch Road. 

A large pile of wood debris is burning at the pellet plant Forest Energy, on the east side of Show Low. Linden, Taylor, Show Low and Navajo county officials are on scene. There is no evacuation of any White Mountain communities at this time. U.S. 60 has been closed east and west bound at Highway 77 and at Bourdon Ranch road. Officials are working to contain the fire to the south side of U.S. 60 at this time.

From facebook:

White Mountain Joint Information System - 593

Per Show Low PD: Brush Fire on US 60 At Forest Energy US 60 and 77 Closed Drivers Being Diverted to Bourdon Ranch Rd

Brush pile at Forest Energy burns; forces closure of U.S. 60

Brush pile at Forest Energy burning; forces closure of U.S. 60

Photo by Karen Warnick - The Independent

Posted: Saturday, March 17, 2012 4:23 pm | Updated: 12:43 am, Sun Mar 18, 2012.

Brush pile at Forest Energy burns; forces closure of U.S. 60 michael Leiby - The Independent White Mountain Independent | 2 comments

UPDATE: 12:00 a.m., 12/18/2012

According to ADOT's az511.gov U.S. 60 has been reopened to allow traffic both east and westbound.

UPDATE: 9:00 p.m., 12/17/2012
SHOW LOW – Fire and Police officials are advising people that the fire at Forest Energy is likely to produce a lot of smoke throughout the night.
“There is a large amount of logs, mulch and vegetation burning at Forest Energy,” Show Low Police Commander Brad Provost said. “The fire is expected to burn throughout the night and produce large amounts of smoke.”
Provost said that as far as he knows air traffic at the Show Low Regional Airport has not been affected. Show Low Fire Captain Brent Mix said there have been no injuries. Provost advises motorists that US 60 is closed between SR 77 and Bourden Ranch Road until further notice and that the Show Low Police Department,
Navajo County Sheriff’s Office, the Arizona Department of Public Safety and Arizona Department of Transportation are providing security and traffic control.
He said a call came in to the department at about 3:38 this afternoon (March 17) about a tree fire near Forest Energy in the vicinity of 40th Street and US 60. Provost said firefighters from the Show Low Fire Department arrived within three minutes of the call at which time they were confronted with a large brush fire.
“As of 6 p.m. there are 50 firefighters working this fire. Assisting Show Low Fire Department are Lakeside, Pinetop, Snowflake, Taylor, Linden, White Mountain Lake and Vernon Fire Departments. State and Forest Service resources are being used as well. The actual size of the fire is currently unknown,” Provost said in a press release.
He said the fire jumped the highway earlier today due to high winds but four crews and a blade have contained the fire on the north side of US 60 and that as of 6 p.m. there were no evacuations ordered.

Weather report on our upcoming storm:

Today: Mostly sunny, with a high near 63. Breezy, with a south southwest wind 11 to 14 mph increasing to between 25 and 28 mph. Winds could gust as high as 44 mph.

Tonight: A slight chance of rain before 11pm, then a chance of rain and snow. Snow level 8700 feet lowering to 7600 feet. Increasing clouds, with a low around 32. Breezy, with a south southwest wind between 20 and 26 mph, with gusts as high as 43 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New snow accumulation of less than one inch possible.

Sunday: Snow. The snow could be heavy at times. High near 36. Breezy, with a south wind between 15 and 22 mph, with gusts as high as 38 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 2 to 4 inches possible.

Sunday Night: Snow showers. Low around 22. Southwest wind between 9 and 13 mph, with gusts as high as 29 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New snow accumulation of 2 to 4 inches possible.

Monday: Snow showers. High near 34. West southwest wind between 8 and 17 mph, with gusts as high as 33 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New snow accumulation of 1 to 2 inches possible.

Monday Night: Snow showers likely, mainly before 11pm. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 13. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New snow accumulation of around an inch possible.

Wallow Fire defendents to accept plea agreements

Posted: Friday, March 16, 2012 5:00 am | Updated: 2:08 pm, Fri Mar 16, 2012.

Wallow Fire defendents to accept plea agreements 0 comments

Two cousins accused of starting the largest wildfire in Arizona's history will reportedly accept plea agreements.
Caleb Joshua Malboeuf, 26, and David Wayne Malboeuf, 24, are scheduled for a change of plea hearing March 27 in a Flagstaff federal magistrate court. The two were initially set for a trial on March 26, to be tried on five counts each including failing to control a fire and causing a fire on federal lands.

The details of the plea agreement have not been released.

Oh What A Beautiful Morning!

3 1/2 weeks on our new mattress and I woke up about 2 am in a lot of pain, I try to sleep on my sides because my sleep apnea is worse on my back.  For a long time I've had to sleep mostly on my right side because it hurts too bad to sleep on the left.  Lately, both sides have been painful and I toss back and forth between them. This morning my right side was shooting pain down my leg.  I couldn't get back to sleep and finally got up.  Don't know why this bed would be doing that, but I never had the right side hurting before this bed.

It was a beautiful morning!  We walked 2 miles and for the first time this year I walked without my Mickey jacket or a scarf!  I think I can leave off the leg warmers now, too.  Yipee! 

The wind started blowing in the afternoon and the weather reports say it's going to cool down again and we'll get snow on Sunday!  Bummer!  Maybe I'd better not put away those leg warmers and jackets yet!

Sickish

I woke up this morning feeling congested and sickish.  I started sneezing yesterday and my nose ran all afternoon and it's doing the same today.  I took vitamin C and echinacea, hopefully it will help.  We didn't walk this morning, I didn't feel good enough to walk. 

It was 90 in my greenhouse today! I opened the upper door, and checked back later and it was still 90!  Wow, I may be needing the shade cloth sooner than expected.

Sandy and Gary had a run in with a deer just outside Kanab on their way to Taylin's birthday party!

Their poor vehicle!

And the poor deer!

A Birthday Visit

John and I walked our 2 miles this morning, after lunch we went to Snowflake to visit Uncle Harvey and Aunt Virginia.  Uncle Harvey is going to be 96 years old on Friday!  We had a good visit, he told me a story about one time when he and Aunt Virginia went fishing with Mom and Dad.  He said they left me alone with them while Mom and Dad went up the stream looking for a better fishing spot.  Uncle Harvey said there I was left with 2 people who were almost complete strangers and I was walking around saying "I need you, where are you, come back to me."  I wonder how old I was?

I had a nice surprise waiting for me when I got home, my CD from the Mountain Saddle Band was in the mailbox!!  I've been listening to it this evening.  Some of the songs I heard last summer live when we were at events they were playing at.  So far, I'm liking it.

Yard Tour

Harv, Roy, Beva and kids came up today to see the bear and the yard. The kids all loved the sculptures and all had to get their pictures taken with them.  It was fun seeing their excitement! 

It's Here!! Maybe.

I think spring is here today!  It was calm and warm enough that we got a short walk in.  We turned around at the corrals, didn't want to push it, then when we were almost back to the highway, I remembered I wanted to check out Nutrioso Creek and see if it's flowing as high here as it was yesterday down lower on the creek.  Oh well, there's always tomorrow.

Where did the horses go?  The corral is empty and the horse
trailer is gone. 

Lovin' the pea blooms.

Nice day!  65.7 at 3 pm.

This evening we attended a party at Wilhelm's for Harv, Roy, Beva and their kids, Audrey, Derrick and Erin.  Had a fun evening. They're on a short trip down from Utah.

Grandma, Julie, Erin, Connie, Shirley, John Roy and Harv

They're White!

I've been wondering when my peas were going to bloom and have been on the lookout for purple flowers because that's what color they usually are.  I walked right past some blooms today before seeing WHITE flowers on my way back past them!  I guess I got a different variety this year. It's official, my peas are in bloom!  I wonder how they are going to pollinate?  Guess I need to do some research and see if I need to help them along.

The peas are in bloom!

John is working on the log for the bear.

He's also working on his boat.

Studying the plan.

I went with John to return the left over pipe that a friend had furnished him for his log twig.  His lay down yard is out on the road to Casa, I had forgotten he owned that property, long ago Casa borrowed it from him to use as a campground for Pecos. Funny the memories of those days that are coming back to me.  We saw a bunny on our way back to the pickup, he froze allowing me to get several photos.  Guess he thought he was invisible.  I walked down to check out Nutrioso Creek, which runs across the road, and it's running a lot more water than we have been seeing on our walks.  I wonder if it's running higher there now, or if it's getting water from somewhere else?  Have to check that out on our next walk.

Looking towards Escudilla

The frozen bunny thinks we can't see him.

Nutrioso Creek is running.

I spent most of the day adding photos to my blog, it takes so long to upload a photo, it gets exhausting!!

It's Fixed! We Hope!

John's car has had a strange problem for a while now.  When it's really hot and the car is closed up, it won't start.  It happened to him at work one time and he had to hitch a ride home, then it happened here at home recently.  He researched it online and found some answers and took it up to LeSueur's to have them find the part that needs replacing.  They had it a couple days and then called to say they couldn't make it have the problem!  What!  That's NOT what John asked them to do, he asked them to find the part under the dash, get the number off it and replace it.  So we brought the car home for the weekend, we needed it.  John did more research and found exact instructions to find the part and Andy helped him find it and read off the part number.   He ordered the part and got it and today we drove over to Andy's and he replaced it for us.  John couldn't wad up small enough to get under the dash.  Sorry LeSueur's, you lost out!   And we probably saved a bundle of money!

The road was covered with birds that flew away when cars approached.

I visited with the kids and Susan while the guys were changing the part.  Got some pictures of Jessie and Pupsy playing.  She has Pupsy trained pretty well, She won't let her bug people, she tells her to go lie down and Puspy does it!

Playing catch with Pupsy.

It looks like Pupsy is balancing the ball on her nose!

 We went to ShowLow to shop after we left Andy and ate lunch at Arby's, I tried the Turkey Corned Beef Reuben sandwich, I saw an ad on TV for it and was curious. It was good, I think this is the first time I've had a Reuben.

Our lunch.

My Reuben Sandwich

We stopped at KMart first to get DVD's, WalMart told me that Sony doesn't make DVD's anymore last time I asked for them there.  Funny how they make them for KMart!  Found out today that WalMart doesn't have Benefiber anymore either.  Seems "it's getting too hard to find".  KMart had it, I didn't get it there because I like to get the big container and they didn't have it.  Seems like WalMart has fewer and fewer things I want.  I did find some onion plants.

 

Yipee, I found onion plants today!

The onions are planted.  Wow, there were a lot of them!

I love walking in here and seeing all the plants growing!

Picked some lettuce, a radish and a carrot.

Gold Rush Friday, we watched the new episode,  I thought it was funny that Parker and Christo talked about having a "man crush" on Tony Deets again.  John looked it up to see what a man crush is, it is when you admire someone and wish you were like them or want to be them.  Too funny!

Also watched Bearing Sea Gold, there are a few people on this one that we really dislike!  Wonder if they will bring it back next year?  Not sure I'd watch it if they do.  Seems like these guys get way more gold than the Hoffmans!