yellowstone diary...and beyond

We are having a bumper crop of acorns this year. The acorn abundance varies from season to season.  Some years, there are hardly any acorns.  This year if you sit anywhere under the trees, you'll get hit or have a near miss.  Those little suckers hurt you when they are falling from 40-50 feet, and the wind is blowing.  sometimes it sounds like machine gun firing.  We had an funny incident a few years ago when a visitor who lives and works in some small city's police department somewhere, not a police officer.  He was sitting on the deck with us when an acorn hit one of the empty vintage metal chairs with a loud "thwang" He dove under the table so quickly we were all dumbfounded about what he was doing.  Of course, we laughed at him and made fun of him, but since he was a visitor, he had to put up with the ribbing.  I always wonder what his version of that event he told to his friends... Yeah, I hear this single shot, sounds like a 38 or maybe a ...

Much to my surprise, and to almost everyone else, my daughter Elaine eloped with Chris to Nashville to get married on Friday 13th.  I'm not sure if the date was planned, or just circumstance, but married they are.  After the initial shock, I'm pleased that she actually found someone she feels that secure with.  Chris seems like a nice guy judging from one dinner together, but if Elaine thinks "He's the one!" that's good enough for me.  I look forward to meeting my son-in-laws family.  That felt funny saying son-in-law.  I was teasing Elaine that she married a grandfather.  All in all, she and Chris pulled off the surprise of the year. She told us via text and photos.  I hope I can get them in the proper rotation as each picture became a better and better clue.  Ken, Than and I were sitting on the deck enjoying the day as these pictures came through a few minutes apart.  what a tease!  I appreciate it much more today than I did on Fr...

On Tuesday, I had a long over due appointment with my Otolaryngologist who is getting all set up to perform more surgery in November on the growth in my left ear.  We started this procedure last year with the first surgery, and are now completing the process of removing the "goop" I don't remember exactly what it is called. anyway, it's non-cancerous, and if left untreated I would lose all hearing in that ear, regardless of hearing aid.  It's same day surgery, not painful at all.  In Yellowstone, friends quickly learned to use my right ear if they really wanted me to hear what they were saying, and they also were adept at repeating the important parts that I missed, not the whole sentence.  Hard to explain. I also had a funny observation.  Well, funny to me. When I was getting dressed for the doctors appointment, I put on a pair of Mary Jane  style shoes, plain leather shoe with a single strap across ones instep. Then when I was stretched out on the exami...

Over the past few days, Than and I have emptied the storage shed where Steve M. had excess furnishings and a lot of personal memorabilia.  We're sorting some things that might be interesting for the Celebration of Steve's Life on October 4th. It's still hard to grasp that he is actually dead. Flora did a lot of reading and marking some of his journals. One of  the things that was there was Than's dad's desk.  Steve has used it since he came back from San Fran, but couldn't take it to Milton Hilton. So now it is Than's turn. It sure looks nice in the sun-porch.  My junk next to it needs to be dealt with. I didn't realize how much stuff was to the left of the desk until I saw it in the photo, attached We just had a full moon yesterday, I think, so it is still rather full.  Moon rise was about 9 PM, so it was rather dramatic.  The river seems really still, and the reflections is lovely.  I took a few pictures with the new camera.  I tried ...

Today, September 13, is my Granddaughter Clara's birthday.  One way she celebrated was having back surgery yesterday.  There was a bulging disk that was repaired yesterday, and today we're at Friendly's celebrating. In all seriousness, she is felling great and in great spirits.  She has some physical therapy to do, but expects a full recovery including going back to dog grooming. A few hours after surgery.  Susan wouldn't let me record anything as she was coming out of anesthesia--not that she said anything, but nonetheless. As you probably figured out after that Clara picture, my new phone has a better camera than the previous one.  I could have had photo remembrance of Old Faithful under a full moon with this one as there are quite a few manual adjustments if one chooses to use them.  I also figured out how to attach my camera to our spotting scope with this neat gizmo Than bought.  I've attached a few photos from that. I just changed location...

One of the things I missed while in YNP was picking flowers.  It was strictly prohibited and taken quite seriously.  So Rose and I and sometimes Steve, would walk past the meadows of flowers and not be allowed to pick any.  I have a lot of pretty pictures, and a book of flowers to eventually identify them, but I had no flowers.  Now that I'm home, there are very many wildflowers, weeds and regular flower gardens that I can freely pick. I have had about 3-4 bouquets that I enjoyed in the garden.  They looked lovely at the party, along with the huge bouquet that Dan S. brought to the party.  All of that to tell you  the story of the flower picture.  I like showing the yellowstone readers some stuff from here. the phones are too slow to send many pictures, so I put them here in the blog. Most of this bouquet is from my neighbors garden.  They left for Florida and give me permission to help myself.  except for the first bloom o...

I know listening to the radio Saturday night doesn't sound like a barrel of monkeys, but it truly is a relaxing way to spend the evening. Especially since I was radio deprived in Yellowstone aka YNP.  Way back in the day, 1990's I started listening to Saturday night PBS radio shows while Than did the race track announcer at Greenwood Action Track.  The newest show, Live from here  isn't as good as  Prairie Home Companion,  but I may just be reluctant to change.  The music is really good. The comedy is amusing, sometimes roaring funny. I dropped my phone in the toilet bowl the other day.  I didn't even realize that I had lost it.  Than comes out of the bathroom asking why my phone is in the toilet. I have lost almost all the the phone numbers I had. How annoying.  I did get a new phone, so another phone to learn. Will it ever end. Please call me to find out if I lost your number.  I probably did.  Whoever is reading this, plea...

We had our Sunday of Labor Day Party, on Sunday obviously.  The weather held out pretty much.  There was only one time when umbrellas had to go up and only for 15 minutes or  so.  I heard there were a few storms in the area, but it didn't rain here until middle of the night.  I didn't hear that either. The party itself was great.  I was hugged by folks every time I turned around. Deb and Mike with the grill, hot dogs, and hamburgers made the food super easy, and super good.  The hamburgers were getting rave reviews. Deb and Mike were willing to share the secret. Start with regular flat beef patties, season with a salt, pepper. garlic powder mixture. reshape the patty in your hands to form a ball, then re-flatten into a patty. Mmmmm. I wore my Yellowstone T-shirt at the party so a lot of folks were reading it and asking questions. So many of my Obsidian Hall buddies who signed the shirt were talked about quite a bit. It was fun talking about Yellows...