Disappearing Strawberry Jam Lid

It was nice, quiet weekend and so beautiful. Saturday we went to TRC to the bazaar there. It was interesting to see the differences from bazaars in Gillette. Here making jewelry is BIG. Beading, natural stones they polish, cut and string - they do it all. There were some beautiful pieces. There was the usual baked goods and needlework with painting, photography and carving thrown in for good measure. I bought some gifts for the family. A young girl of about 8 was selling handmade soap and her mother had a diverse variety of items. She also had low sugar strawberry jam. Ken bought some of that. We then wandered around town a little and ended up at La Pinata for brunch. It reminded me of Lulu Belle's in Gillette. The gentlemen behind us was eating a bowl of something that looked pretty tasty. I asked him what it was - Menudo - hmmmm - Menudo. Enjoy! Ugh I'm sure I saw hominy in it; so didn't order it. Hominy is not on my list of edible foods. Later I learned hominy was the least of my worries; the main ingredient is tripe. Tripe. Let it roll off your tongue and think about it. It doesn't even sound good, just strange. Trrrripppe! I know, I know I've eaten (and liked) some very strange things – chicken feet, catsup sandwiches, baked beans on chocolate cake, heart – but cow stomach tips the scales for me!! And Ken – Mr. I’ll try anything – just kept HIS mouth shut tight also. After lunch we stopped of to try the hot mineral baths. OM! OM! OM! Such a life we are leading. We are used to putting on a swim suit; then going out through the cold to the hot tubs. Communal bathing. Not here. It is completely private and no going out in the weather – no matter how nice. Back at the house we decided to try the strawberry jam. The lid was stuck a little so I pried it off – we haven’t found it yet. It flew off, bounced on the floor and went into nana land. I have searched everywhere – even taking the furnace vents off and checking in both of them………..beats me. Put a plastic bag on it, screw the ring down and forget it. Mmmm pretty good jam!
We went to church Sunday and I finally realized what my eyes are seeing when we walk in the door. We have finally gone over to the other side – instead of baby paraphernalia spread all around there are wheelchairs – lots of them – just inside the door waiting to be used. People are SO funny! I’ll just leave it at that. After church we had brunch then headed to the state park by the lake. Not 26 miles east to the lake; not 78 miles west to the lake – ½ mile to the entrance. What a spot! No wonder this area spends time here. Notice how big the pontoon is in this picture. For a cool $1,000 you can rent a pontoon and sleep on it for 2 days and 2 nights during the holidays. This is a special Holiday price. There are 10 lanes at the boat ramp and I haven’t a clue how many boats can stay. Elephant Butte Lake is NM’s largest lake and recreation area and after touring around we believe it. On Dec 13th there will be a luminary walk down on the beach with several booths, hot drinks and then a boat tour with the boats decorated. More about that when I see it. One of the strangest things we saw was a pontoon boat that died somewhere out on the lake. We saw this strange contraption coming through the channel. As it rounded the corner I could see it looked like a pontoon in the middle. It quietly and slowly went to the ramp, straddled the boat trailer there and delivered the boat so they could take it to the boat doctor. There are RV's boondocking on the beach everywhere. This was Thanksgiving weekend and it was warm and georgeous. I'm not sure how I would like having TB raised that high in the air on the one side. However, the campground has all types of camping. You can get nothing, water, electric and/or sewer. All for $18 max (if you don't have an annual permit.) My other fear would be getting stuck in the sand. But, obviously that is unfounded as many are doing it. We haven't used our awning yet as we are facing in the wrong direction so someone left site #58 and we moved into it. We worked today getting the awning up and secure. Several in the park asked me if we aren't worried about the wind taking it off. My philopsphy is we've lost them driving down the road near Butts, MT NOT using it; they have come out driving up from Casper in the wind. If the wind is going to take it at least we will have USED it. However, Dennis at the park has his tied down like he helped Ken fix and their's survived 70 mph wind just before July 4th this year. Just in case I took pictures of what it looks like out. Besides it's blue. TB is maroon, grey and black - we need a different color. NOT! LOL! It is game night so enough of this for the day.

Happy Turkey Day!

Another Holiday Season is here and once again we will spend it differently. Different seems to have now become our new normal. This year we will be spending Turkey Day with our new found RVing family. We are soooo thankful I googled Lakeside RV Park. As I will be going back to Wyoming twice this winter we have made arrangements to stay here until at least the end of March. Besides it will take more time than that to explore this 1/4 of the state. We have driven by or through all of the parks in TRC and EB and are convinced this is THE spot for us. Today there will be 50+ for dinner. (Pictures after the fact.)

The little rat Whitney didn't turn her phone on until just a few moments ago; so we couldn't synchronize the parade this year. They are going to Travis' folks for dinner; Kev and Lori are in Kansas/Missouri and Erick/Vanessa are at her folks. I visited with the boys--ok I talked to Ethan while he made noises then KaCe tried to talk to me while Ethan screamed in the background. "Sharing" is becoming a nasty word to Ethan. I made up a song (on the spot) about him and he wanted to hear more. (Note to self: you NEED to record these songs so you don't have to keep making them up on the spot!!)

Having us gone at this time of year is hard on them and us. I remember how I hated it that Mom was down south over the holidays so I shouldn't be surprised at our feelings. I didn't realize just how hard; which is probably why I planned early to go back in December. I remember this season in 2002 - -leading a griefshare (http://www.griefshare.org/ ) class. The pain was so raw then and I couldn't imagine 1 year down the road let alone 6+. I really couldn't get my head around the fact that the cycle just keeps going round and round and round. The order may change and you may not go through every phase; but the cycle keeps on keeping on. I'm sure that some high paid counselor would say this year is difficult because we have made so many life changes, blah, blah, blah. OK so I'll give myself that and vent a little. I AM very happy, content and peaceful. More peaceful than I've been in years. I helped make these decisions and wouldn't change any of them. Ken is doing awesome; we have many new "instant friends = IF's" (Note to self: you need to describe IF's); but K.C. would have been 20 this year and I think that is riding on my back a little. In my mind he is still that ornery, loving, brash 13 year old but at times, like now, I get blindsided and so wish he was here for just one more "bellybump". With those thoughts in mind I realized I probably need to work on his website (http://www.timehonoredtributes.com/content/biography.asp?oigta=&bio_id=749) and "deal with it". Becasue even if he was here; he wouldn't be the same K.C. we left with that morning. None of us are the same. Of course, I haven't updated the email address since I retired and will have to wait until Monday to even access the backside. Put it on the list!

I helped a new IF make some business cards and found a great new free clipart website http://www.freeze.com/ Thus I spent last night redoing ours. The good thing about mucking around with the design is I am learning more about MS Office 2007. Lord knows I needed those lessons. I took pictures at Happy Hour last night and am taking the camera today. Hopefully I can get some snaps. Here is the campfire area. Behind it is the trail from the upper level. The 5th wheel on the corner is Maynard's. There is a story about how he managed to get that spot - a sweeeeeet one. Maynard was given a laptop from a friend. He knew little about computers and didn't realize that he had to clip a couple more times when MS office kept asking for his key............yup he can't access his work now. Here, another IF, Debbie, is explaining to him how she maybe can fix it. If that doesn't work, I'll call Nathan (work for MS in Seattle) and ask him if there is a way to find the key buried in there somewhere.

It rained here on and off during the day; however it ended it with sunshine. So far I am getting my daily dose of Vitamin D. It has been chilly a couple of times here; but I really can't say it is cold.

Toby and Sue

Marilyn and Georgia

Linda and Sue

Estella

Nancy and Harry

Loren and Marilyn

Clay and Sharon

Yes, today was a thankful day. We are so fortunate - - - - - we could be in any number of horrible situations, countries, circumstances - - - - but we aren't. Thank YOU, Lord!

Letter of the alphabet

Well I am trying to figure out how to add a video thing. I've spent several hours tonight and will have to finish this another day. However, I'm leaving the ABC boy for viewing. I need to edit the video's; but I am clueless on how to do it. I'm going to have to google more stuff. This decision is very dangerous for me.........................it get sidetracked SO easily and eventually lose the purpose of the beginning journey. Good grief! I now have the answer to the question: If I edit a post, will it change the date? NO. I have had to edit this post several times in order to get everything correct and I still have that first video here. No I have not edited much! Get'er done, girl; get'er done!!
I LOVE YOU TWO!!!

A little side trip takes us to Texas.......

This blogging stuff is not for the weak!! (Sorry, I think I've already said this somewhere else...) Thursday we decided to take a "little trip" and look the country over. We left REAL early 11:00 a.m. (yup! we hurry everywhere like that. Shameless, eh?) First I had to watch the weekly "lawn maintenance" guy (Dave) freshen up the yard. They do this once a week and whenever anyone leaves. Great group of folks running this place. Very friendly and like to laugh (now who would think this would make ME happy?)

Then,Ken, the trusty (trustee, trusted, trustor???) navigator plotted a course and we headed out to make a little circle ending up coming through Arrey/Derry ( I thought). Hillsboro is an old town; but it is still a town. We'll come back here and explore sometime. That day we needed to use the restroom. (Yes, we were good little folks and followed the rules set down by my parents when I was a child and they owned a "one store town". After using the RR, Ken bought a jar of Bumbleberry Jam. (Bumbleberry????) Whatever. The country reminded us of "Cow Valley" in NE Oregon and we passed several old towns. Towns in the 1800's sometimes were wiped out by influenza. (And once again, in our lifetime, health officials are gearing up for another wipeout. It's not if; but when.) I just following the directions as given and wasn't aware when we bypassed the to Hatch and Arrey/Derry signs and headed to Deming.

Like I said the navigator is not to be trusted. :) The "mountains" are very sharp and angular. They are probably about 5000' high.

In Deming we found $2.11 gas!! Allright, gas this baby up!! (It is still $2.60 in EB) I can't wait to call Whit and tell her the good news! It's coming down. (Hmmph! Like this is going to impress her. She bought gas at Safeway in Casper for $1.68 this morning!)

Well since we were in Deming we might as well trundle on down to Mexico! It's only 29 miles. Hmmm, do I smell a plot here?? Yup! Let's visit a Pharmacia! First we stopped at "The Patio" for lunch!!! Good, good, good! Oh my word! Listen to those arteries snapping shut again this week!!! They had ribbon fries!! Groan! Wait! I DID have some vegetables - tomatoes/lettuce on the BLT I had. :) They we headed south to Columbus, New Mexico with the intention of coming straight back up that 29 mile stretch and continuing on the circle. Little did I know the circle was widening and it was 2 pm. (Note to self: put the meds in your purse and LEAVE THEM THERE. OH yeah and put the PASSPORTS in there also!!)

We pass a huge RV park in Columbus and decide we better check it out later. We park on the U.S. side and walk over. We wander in and out of a few stores and finally end up at the Pink Store. Very interesting. Lots of great "stuff". However, I no longer can just buy stuff willy-nilly as we are holding hard and fast to the "something new comes in; something old walks out" rule and I'm not ready for any walking parties yet. BUT I did decide we may just remodel the bathroom and put a new sink in and here is just the one I want.....

It is a nice quiet color. I can't make up my mind which one it will be. There was other wonderful "stuff" there.........and I left it there. While I was designing our new bathroom Ken was busy buying a belt. He has been grumping about belts for a couple of months now.................hmmmm was THIS why we detoured. I'll have to think on that.

We visit a couple of pharmacia's and Ken buys another belt in front of a grocery store. I go in and decide to buy a Pepsi for Ken. Hmmm. OK. Pepsi or Pepsi Retro???? Pepsi - take it to the counter, she rings it up and I see it says 5.00 (OK I watched the lady of front of me give US money; but I'm thinking. $5.00???? I thought that it cheaper......the meds were kind of..........OK. Just smile and hand the nice lady a $5.00. She smiled and gave me back $4 dollar bills and 54 cents in change. Ok that's what I thought. When I get outside I find that Ken has narrowed the belt search down to three. And I thought I took a long time. Finally, he paid and went wandered on toward the good ole US of A. At the border the nice guy tells us that next years we'll have to have our passports. (Don't forget them.) We then toodly on toward Columbus. Whit calls while I'm checking out the RV Park which turns out to be a state park with hookups. While Ken yaks with her I turn the wrong way............where IS the navigator. I panic about 3 minutes later, but Ken says ahh we wanted to go to Texas anyway. (Since when?) Off we go to El Paso. On the way I counted 15 Border Patrol vehicles. In that 60 miles stretch I thought that was a lot of them. We made it to El Paso in fine time and headed up I-10 to Las Cruces. Brain wave! Brain wave! We really AREN'T far from El Paso - why don't we go to the Sun Bowl?? Let's check this out. In no time we are in Las Cruces and I think man, I can get a Sam's Club fix. Let's find it so we won't get lost like we did on Thursday? Now doesn't that sound cool? Who cares, I'm driving, we're stoppin'. Well, that was a great stop. I found the little boys' gift at a more than reasonable price. I also throw in a few more "necessities" and we head to TB. We got home in time to relax a little from our strenuous day! Yeah, right!

Saturday I explored TorC's main street, washed the pickup and generally vegged. I looked online for Sun Bowl tickets and waaaalaaaa - they aren't even priced that bad so off we'll go on December 31st. Now, off I go, I've had a rough day.

Thank You Veterans

Saturday we went to TRC for the ceremonies at the Veteran's Memorial. It was a very moving experience. When we visited the other day we didn't realize that they were in the process of finishing an exhibit. It was for the MIA's (from any war). There was a huge gun on the west end of the memorial. Saturday they had a huge circle around the gun. It was made from empty military boots with names on them. We met and visited with many great Vets from New Mexico. What an awesome tribute this place is. The thing is it's not done. They have planned a tribute to 9-11 and to embellish a memorial to fallen law enforcement officers/fire fighters. We will vi

sit whenever we are close by to see how this park evolves.We wandered around long enough to get hungry so we had some "ribbon fries". When I look closely at the picture of Ken I'm sure I can see a bump on his chest where his arteries are slamming shut. :) We then walked next door to the Vet's Home where they were having a car show. There sure were some beautiful rigs. My favorite was the blue one Ken is looking over.

It was PRISTINE! I'm sure brother Ron had a '56 Ford like this one. The convertible beside it reminds me of what I think our friends Wayne and Linda had when they dated and got married. However, there is no WAY they had this color of yellow back when this car was popular. The little truck was a hoot! Dad used to tell us about my uncles when the watermelon truck came through the Burnt River Valley in Oregon. One uncle would drive the truck and get up very close behind the watermelon truck. The other uncle would "hop" in with the melons and begin throwing them back to the third uncle in the back of their truck. I'm sure this truck is just like the one they had.

My grandpa Wilson had a truck like the milkcan truck. The green car was all original. Nothing new was added. Awesome. Anyway we had a good time. We are getting to know the immediate area pretty well; but tomorrow we will toodle out to Las Cruces. It is medicine time. We are having such a goot time and Ken is pretty much without pain. The humidity is low and the temps very mild! We are still wearing shorts and short sleeve shirts. Once in a while I put a sweater over my shoulder we have "happy hour" in the shade at the clubhouse. Hmmmm we must be retired and getting in a routine.

A Garden even I can keep alive!

Thursday was a great day! I finally got that we are in a "garden" site. The garden is a huge Aloe plant ( think) The good news is even I can keep this garden alive as it is all cactus. :) Iwas going to check at the local Wally World (WW) about getting a plant. I rethought that as I don't want to press my luck. I've kept a chinese plant thing alive for 2 years. A record for me! It is so quiet here. We took a drive in the afternoon to Truth or Consequences (TRC). It is a very small town which stretches out over the hills. There is a WW there that is different than any place we have been to. It is quite small and compact. The locals here say the "real" WW is in Las Cruces. I think we will go down there and to El Paso next Thursday.

In TRC we found the Veteran's Memoral Park. It is very impressive. Here is a picture of Ken by the miniature Vietnam Wall. TRC was able to procure the Wall after it finished a tour. It is about 1/3 the size of the one in D.C. Behind it is a star made with markers all around that describe every war/conflict the U.S. has ever been in. We'll come over here on Saturday for the event that is planned here.

We spent more time touring around the town. We found the Elks Lodge; a car dealership which includes the local barbershop, WW and many small restaurants and businesses we'll have to explore another day. When we
arrived we came into EB at milepost 79. We didn't go on the interstate to go from EB to TRC so decided to go on I-25 to complete the circle. We got on at MP 83. About 2 miles up the road the entire interstate was shut down and we were all herded to the right to go through a checkpoint. Immagration was looking for something; but we apparently looked ok as after asking who, what, where, etc, we were waved on.
I spent today not feeling well; but perked up this evening. There is a happy hour at the clubhouse every day at 4:30 so we went again tonight. There were twice as many folks tonight, many of whom are from Alaska. We visited with a fascinating lady talking about how they got their supplies into their home. Another lady invited me to go with her and a couple of others to go on an overnight gambling trip next Monday. Hmmm, we'll see. We are SO happy here in this little town. Quiet, warm, friendly.

The wind blew us to the City of Elephant Butte

Woke up early this morning to the wind blowing. We thought about staying another day in Las Vegas; but gave that up as a bad idea. So we started out. It took us 2 more hours than it should have but we made it here and were all set up by 3 pm. It is a great park! We are back in the corner on the outside. Noone is beside or in front of us and it is landscaped very attractively. When we checked in we were told that the owners will be catering turkey for Thanksgiving Dinner and we just need to provide salad/dessert. I need to to work tomorrow; but we can't wait to explore and will make a foray out so we know where to go for the Veteran's Day ceremony in Truth or Consequences (TRC) Saturday. Elephant Butte Lake is 40 miles long and 4 miles wide with wildlife galor. Ken is even enthused about going fishing after he saw some big one at the grocery store. The City of Elephant Butte is only 10 years old; and it appears to be poised for more growth. We checked the 10 day weather forecast and it is going to be in the high 60's. SIL Betty told us it snowed in Wallowa County Oregon last night. Hmmmm! Snow or wearing shorts? Snow or nah! I'll just stay here.

Ken, the starter went out of the MH :(

OM! OM! OM! Well, yesterday, (Sunday) we leisurely got up, had breakfast, watched a movie and decided we'd leave about 11 am. Ken went outside to do "his thing" and I did "my thing" in the house. One of my things is to start the MH, let it idle then drop the jacks in preparation for takeoff. I do this because I "have memory to remember each step". Thus, I sat down, turned the key and nothing. Okay let's start this again. Turn key to the right. Nothing. Ken comes to the door and then goes back, opens the hood and does some wriggling, stomping, banging and each time says "try it now"; "ok, try it now". This went on for about 1/2 hour. He comes to the door and says "Well, the starter has finally gone out. I'll have to drop it out and get it rebuilt. " Then he came into the house, sat down and took a nap. We've been having problems off and on all summer so we were not surprised. We also were not particularly upset at the schedule being thrown off. What better place to be than in the back of an Elk's Lodge, on WARM black pavement and Ken won't kill himself getting this done. Well, it took the rest of the afternoon with him banging on metal; grunting; dropping things on his face so that today he looks like Roddy on the movie Planet of the Apes, much muttering and "hand me that 3/8" kumquat on the hex things with the extension on it". My roll was to sit in the sun, reading my CJ Box book, going hmmm; that's too bad; are you bleeding bad and handing him "stuff". I diligently got on the internet; looked up starter "doctors"; found the addresses; plotted them out on Streets and Trips and got ready to do the laundry tomorrow while we waited for it to be rebuilt. Bright and early today we started out at 7:45. After 35 miles (in town and all around) we found a very nice little alternator/starter shop. We left there and went another 43 miles from place to place looking for these "special" bolts. We found them; went and got the laundry done; picked up the starter at 4 pm and returned to the MH. Ken couldn't lift it up so I found some rope and we jury-rigged it up so that I could pull it up as he guided it. Well at darkthirty we finished. The TIME HAD COME! "OK, try it now." NOTHING! Wriggle, pound. "Try it now". NOTHING! Wriggle, mutter. "Try it now." "NOTHING, NOTHING, NOTHING!" I sit in the driver's seat and say a little prayer. We did the try it now a few more times. I look down at the gear shift. Hmmmmmmmm! I get up and VERY QUIETLY walk out and mutter, "Honey, ahhhhh is this thing ahhhh like a car? Uhhhh, if I left it in R (I now think this means RETARDED.) uhhhhh would that affect it starting? He very quietly says, "Well, go take it out and see." YUP! It spun quicker than a button on an outhouse door! Started right up!" The long and short of this is - I no longer can mutter at Ken when he drives, stops, forgets to take it out of gear, gets up and walks away. Hmmmm! You know, it takes two of us to wander down the road. I drive; he navigates. SO tomorrow we head out to Las Vegas 48 hours late! Who cares; our plans are written in JELL-O anyway. Let the adventures continue!

Movin' On

Nephew Joe, with flag in air is the judge for the roping; brother Ron is expounding eloquent on something and there sure were a sea of horses waiting to run.

We finally got everything nipped up; rearranged; stored; amended and checked out. The 4th Annual Elks Team Roping on Oct 25 & 26 was a great hit. It was held in East Pavillion at CAM-PLEX in Gillette, WY. In the connecting building was the annual charity Chili Cookoff.

SIL Bev and Ken waiting for customers.

We had the same slot last year and knew we would probably sell concessions and beverages to them. The teams for the team roping doubled from last year. The Concessions skyrocketed also. I worked in the concession stand Saturday to give Carla, the secretary, a chance to understand roping bookkeeping. Saturday night we had a calcutta and a steak feed.

We left for Casper Monday at noon to finish up work and celebrate an early birthday with KaCe who turns 3 in early November. He is all about Thomas the train so that is the theme this year of everyting including Halloween. We had the boys stay home with us Tuesday so we could spoil'em up good!KaCe and Kiley who is 3 months younger. Little brother is grinning in the background!

Wednesday we headed out to Cheyenne where I toured the Herschler Tunnel where we are going to have lunch for the Legislators in February and met the head of the Wyoming Cultural Division as well as the ED of the Wyoming Cultural Trust. With the details sewed up; Ken and I headed to Colorado Springs - a nice little 4 hours drive. When we got here I went to get a birthday card and some bottled water and got lost. I sure do know the housing development between Academy Road and I-25! LOL fifty times!

We visited with our daughter Lucky and toured the shop she co-owns with two other ladies. It is in Old Colorado City, in the heart of shopping and is an attractive shop. She is turning 40 this monthe so we had to give her a bad time. We leave for Las Vegas, NM early in the morning (about 10ish :) )