A Very Busy Week

Posted on October 21, 2012 by Dayphoto

We finished putting the roof on the house…it has taken us three years.

That is because we do it ourselves with the help of our son-in-law, Kelly.

Although, we bought everything at once so we would match (a very good idea) we took our time to do the job.

The reason why—

we had to do it between the pinto bean harvest and the corn harvest
we are old and need help
Kelly is an Assistant Principal at one of our local high schools and only has one fall break
It isn’t possible to do it in winter (in our opinion)
It isn’t possible to do it in the spring or the summer either, because of the crops
WHAT!?!?! Hire it done?!?!?! (Terry’s words)
A week is long-enough to work on an heavy, exhausting project
I’m sure there are other reasons but these were enough for us

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This the last year…three years and we are done!

First we had to tear off the old roof and shingles and fix any broken boards that may be up there.

Then came the new roof, the felt paper and the metal.

Yippee!

Linda

P.S. I should have painted, but I didn’t think about it until we were done and I could see how badly painting was needed.

I guess I will have to do it next summer….on a metal roof. Sigh!

Wildlife

Posted on October 17, 2012 by Dayphoto

As we entered the park we were told “WATCH OUT FOR THE BEARS”!! and then given all sorts of brochures telling us to watch out for the wildlife, do NOT get close to the animals…in the Visitor Center were video’s running of people getting hurt by the wildlife.

So we were pretty open to ‘seeing’ wildlife.

It must have been the wrong time of the year

We saw very little…..

But what we saw were traffic stoppers! If we came upon cars stopped every which way (including tour bus—of which there were MANY), even in the middle of the road we knew some type of animal was up ahead.

We saw…………….

A cool family of Buffalo

An elk

A very thin deer (in Green River)

Another elk (the following two photos and the deer above were taken by Wayne Maxwell)

Taken in the evening on the second day

Lots of crows

A cool little butterfly

Several bear at the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center in West Yellowstone, Montana

(Photo by Wayne Maxwell)

Wolves

Then I saw the Three Bears

And I KNOW this is stupid, but I got to take a photo of a magpie!

Those birds are extremely hard to photograph. I happen to think they are beautiful birds.

We don’t have them in our area anymore…the ravens and the crows have pushed them out. They maybe living in other parts of Delta and Montrose County, but I, personally, haven’t seen any for a very long time.

Then, although we know we were NOT suppose to stand or get close to the wildlife…Terry just HAD to go stand by a Moose! These animals are huge!

Tee-hee-hee! HAHAHA! Laugh, snicker, chuckle!

Linda

FINALLY—YELLOWSTONE

Posted on October 16, 2012 by Dayphoto

We made it into Yellowstone Park the next day…excitement abounded in the car…WE WERE GOING TO SEE OLD FAITHFUL!!!

Which we did three different times…the first time was planned.

We stayed in West Yellowstone that evening, then went back into the park. We spent two days touring.

The amazing beauty and the exciting thought that we were walking on top of a giant super-volcano kept us all in awe

People were everywhere

I could NOT imagine how crowded it must be in ‘high’ season—summer time— as we were never without crowds ourselves.

Everything about Yellowstone is dramatic

You can walk or drive your car to just about any outstanding place possible

Those are stairs to an over-look

But I must confess, the one thing that amazed me was man-made…

The Old Faithful Inn

If memory serves me right it was finished building and opened in 1904. The building is MASSIVE and all out of logs and stone.

The second I saw it I wanted to spend at least one night there. We checked to see if there were any openings…If you want to spend a night or so at the Inn you MUST make reservations a YEAR in advance! And the rooms are down right pricey. But for once in a life-time….

$400 was way too much for us and there wasn’t one anyway.

Ah, well…one can dream.

Linda

Jackson Hole and the Grand Tetons

Posted on October 15, 2012 by Dayphoto

In Jackson, Wyoming….Jackson Hole refers to the valley. The Mountain Men of yore called valley’s hole, thus Jackson Hole. We found

Antler arches…amazing pile of antlers…on each corner of the city park square

The we saw the Grand Tetons in the Teton National Park. I remember seeing this when I was fourteen years old and fell into awe with them at the time. My awe has not changed…they are still wonderful!

Photo by Wayne Maxwell.

We rode the tram to the diamond and double black diamond ski slope at the peak of of the Tetons…

The wind at the top was S.T.R.O.N.G!

ButBut the view….

WOW!

I could never ski down this, but I’m sure there are those out there that would delight in tackling this mountain

The moon that evening was perfect….

The next day we made it to Yellowstone.

Linda

P.S. Terry lost the first two games…then after that they tied! 🙂

More About Our Trip

Posted on October 14, 2012 by Dayphoto

As you know we traveled over Douglas Pass into Wyoming, heading to Green River. Along the way we had to travel around Flaming Gorge Dam

WOW!

We went through Vernal, Utah, which impressed me with all the flowers lining the streets and loaded around all the public buildings.

It looked like they used three colors of the ‘wave’ petunias…the effect was outstanding.

In Green River, we walked along the walk way…there we saw these amazing gold fish…none of us had ever seen gold fish of this type and size before….gold/red bodies and black heads

Lucky for us a couple of local men were fishing in the area and caught one. They told us we were looking upon

spawning salmon!

He quickly threw the fish back into the Green River, since catching a salmon during spawn season is illegal. Since none of us were fishermen we were delighted to see a spawning salmon.

Another stop I, personally enjoyed, was the museum at Pinedale, Wyoming

If you ever get to go there you will see exhibits of the fur traders, Plains Indians, a early settlement exhibits.

Pinedale is not far from where the Annual Rendezvous occurred during the Beaver trapping days.

I could have spent HOURS there….

but on we had to go.

Of course, I was excited to see what was in-store for all us on down the road.

Linda

Douglas Pass, Green River, Wyoming and Wild Horses

Posted on October 10, 2012 by Dayphoto

We met Terry’s family in Green River, Wyoming to begin our trip. We live close to the Utah border and they live close to the Wyoming border, meeting at Green River had us (both) driving 6 hours and a few minutes to the destination.

Our route went through Grand Junction and over Douglas Pass, to Rangely, Colorado then onto Green River, Wyoming. I DO NOT LIKE DRIVING DOUGLAS PASS!!! Pretty much straight up with lots and lots and lots (are you car sick yet) curves and straight down with lots and lots and lots (you are car sick now, I’m sure) plus the two-lane highway needs some tender loving care.

The colors were spectacular!

My photo doesn’t give them justice, but here is an idea.

We stayed in an Inn in Wild Horse Canyon, then the next day we drove through the Canyon and we saw a herd of wild horses, (which I thought was really cool).

Of course, you have to take my word for it that they were wild, they are wild.

We looked upon civilization

From the top of the canyon and even saw a train heading somewhere.

The start of the day was pretty cool. We will end the day in Jackson Hole.

Stay Tuned!

Linda

P.S. Marie ,from My Little Corner of Rhode Island, is doing a daily 4 o’clock photo, which I thought was a good idea. I asked her if I could steal her idea and do my own 4 o’clock photo showing how the day is moving into the long nights of winter.

She said “SURE”! Actually, she said “steal away” so I did!

These my two 4 o’clock photos on October 9, 2012 in Delta, Colorado.

The shadows are thick but the sunlight still plentiful.

Linda

We Took a Fun Trip Last Week

Posted on October 9, 2012 by Dayphoto

We took a little trip with Terry’s sister and her husband last week. We went to Green River, Wyoming, then to the Teton National Park and on to Yellow Stone. On the way back to Green River we traveled a small way into Idaho.

One of the fun things we did was crossing the Continental Divide (we are easily pleased) not once but four times.

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In very simply terms the Continental Divide separates the water sheds of the Pacific Ocean from those of the Atlantic Ocean. It runs the crest of the Rocky Mountains. And, since I love history —

The western part of it from Glacier National Park in the Rocky Mountains to the Great Lakes watershed marked the northern boundary of the Louisiana Purchase and was the border between the United States and British North America until it was superseded by the 49th Parallel in the Treat of 1818.

But I digress.

There are many other hydrological divides in America, however the “Great Divide” the Continental tends to follow a line of high peaks along the main range of the Rocky Mountains, at a much higher elevation than other divides. I’m sure there are readers of this blog that know more about the Continental Divide than I do.

For me and my fellow travelers just finding the signs and knowing we were standing on the top of the Continental “The Great Divide” was picture worthy.

Linda

The Party’s Over—Corn Harvest is Near

Posted on October 7, 2012 by Dayphoto

Willie Nelson
The Party’s Over

Songwriters: Daniel E. Stein

Turn out the lights

The party’s over

They say that

All good things must end

Call it tonight

The party’s over

It froze last night….

I am always rather sad this time of year. (the first killing frost time)

A bitter sweet sadness always take over on me. Although, I enjoy the thought of no more dragging the hose to water, and weeding the gardens, it also means that the dark, dreary days of winter are looming just ahead.

Time to think of putting everything to bed….digging the tropical plants and storing them in the basement, cleaning up the walkways of weeds, picking up all the garden ornaments and the summer furniture.

Out in the fields Terry and I will be adjusting pipe and I will gather and bring in and store the siphon tubes for another winter.

The good thing about the freezes is the field corn will start to get closer and closer to drying down for harvest. Depending on the how fast everything dries down harvest will start sometime this month.

Happy Sunday,

Linda