Where is Summer rushing off to?

Seems like it was just July 4 and now we are moving to the middle of August.

On July 12, we went hiking to Glacier Lake (jva & abe went up there with JW in 2002 while they were here). The lake was still partially frozen and we had a heck of a time getting over to the farther part of the lake. The snow was piled deep on the trail. So one more scary snowdrift to climb over for this old woman. Since I made it over, I was a little less stressed coming back but then, I walked too close to the rocks and next thing I knew, one leg fell through the snow all the way up to my hip. That was not fun trying to get up and continue forward off the drift (especially with a whole bunch of people watching). The good thing was that no one else was brave enough to climb over the drift, so we had that whole side of the lake to ourselves. JW caught 1 fish, put it on the stringer and then didn't catch anymore so that one got turned loose.

It was an absolutley gorgeous day and a nice hike. Kind of steep but only 7 miles round trip.

The next day, Blaine and his family showed up on their way to the new home in Idaho. It was so great to have them back on this side of the country.

B & J stayed for a week and then they went on to Idaho and left the girls with us for a week. While B & J were here, we took the girls fishing at Wild Bill (the same lake we went to for the reunion). They each caught a few fish - nothing large enough to keep so had to just throw them back.

And we took them up Beartooth Pass to play in the snow. It was kind of cold though and they needed mittens. There was quite a bit of snow up there for late July:

JW had lots of fun spending time with the girls. Every day around 10, he sliced apples for them or found them some kind of snack. He made 3 swings for them in the tree and they spent a lot of time swinging. He took them on walks up the hill and helped Jules plant some flower seeds in a cup to take home with her. And the girls and I made a cake - they had fun licking the beater.

The girls loved their room.

On July 24, we had to take them to their new house. We decided to take a long drive through Yellowstone to see the water that spits in the sky and the bubbling water and the buffalo. Jules counted 162 buffalo. I told Jules about pine beetles and how the red trees are dying because of the pine beetles. So then Madison kept asking "why are the trees red", "why are the trees red". Finally, I asked her "Why are the trees red". She answered, "Cause a mosquito bit them".

It was fun in the park but even with staying just outside the park, there wasn't enough time to do what we wanted to do. Really need to go back and spend a few days. We didn't get to the paint pots again (somehow, we always miss the turn off - or maybe we needed to go north toward Mammoth).

On the 25th, we got to their new house around noon and ate lunch then kind of vegged a bit. JW cannot stand just sitting around so he decided that we needed to head home the next morning especially since B had to work. It was hard leaving them but it's great to know they are just over that mountain and a ways down the road so we can drive over for 3 or 4 days weekend when we can afford it.

As we came home, we saw this dreaded site:

The fires of August have started - This one was up above Wild Bill Lake in the area where we had taken our Timberline Lake hike a few weeks earlier. Knowing how much dead wood is in there, it is amazing that they have actually got it mostly contained now.

Back to reality and JW is back to searching for a job. He has apps in all over the place including back in AZ at the Ray mine where life started for us. Hoping to hear something soon from someone. Who knows where life will lead us. Maybe JW is done working forever - it's been kind of nice having him around all the time.

All we know is if we are meant to be in AZ at this time in our lives, that's where we'll end up. Not exactly our first choice but.........

4th of July

So while the rest of the world including JW was out enjoying a wonderful 3 day weekend last week, I was on call and virtually stuck at home. So instead of doing anything like cleaning the house or laundry, I literally spent the entire day from 7:15 a.m. until 10:00 p.m. Friday working on a quilt for the girls' room. Wanted to handquilt it.

Here's a picture of it on the bed: (I haven't totally finished all the quilting I want to do on it - for right now have only quilted around some of the fairies. Will do more quilting on it this fall but for right now, it's just a little warm to be sitting under a quilt - even with a very light cotton batting.)

Froggie Prince cube was added to the room by Aunt alexshuman. Not too much fun to blow up with a vacuum cleaner. - especially when the only one you have that will blow air is one used for cleaning ashes out of the stove so you have to totally clean it out first. But we got it blown up.

Since this is the fairy room, our own little Tinkerbell has decided it's for her. We keep the door closed but anytime I go in there, I have to make sure she hasn't snuck in behind me. The other night she did get in and several hours later we heard her scratching on the door trying to get out.

Meanwhile, while I was home. JW hiked up to Sylvan Lake for the night. He did some fishing and caught some golden trout. Not sure what is on the agenda for tomorrow. Hoping B, J & the girls are here Sunday. Tata can hardly wait to take the granddaughters fishing.

Hike of the week

So far this is the absolutely best hike. Saturday morning, we got up at 5:15 and after a breakfast of crispy bacon and Kodiak Cakes (just add water - wheat and other grain pancakes - a little more wholesome than the family tradition of Bisquick), we headed east to Red Lodge. From there, we headed south past Wild Bill Lake (where we fished 5 years ago for the reunion) and on another 5 miles to the Timberline Lake trailhead.

I wasn't sure how hard the hike would be but I had read the description in the hiking book. It is only 4 1/2 miles from the trail head to the lake so I knew I could do the mileage. However, this hike also had an elevation gain of 2000 feet so in 4 1/2 miles that's pretty steep.

We got to the trail head and started up the hill - up up up we went. JW was totally surprised when we got to the 3 mile mark as we had only been hiking for 1 hour 37 minutes. He could not imagine we could have walked that far in such a short time. We have been averaging 1 1/2 miles an hour so we are getting faster.

After the 3 mile point, the trail switchbacked up over a hill, then we reached a point where we had to forge the stream. Now the water in this little stream was roaring down the hill. And the way to cross was over 2 logs - kind of side by side but with a 3" gap between. Brave person that I am, I sat on the log on my rear and kind of did a cheek-walk across the water. Good exercise i'm sure cause i could feel the burn.

Anyway, once across, we walked on to Gertrude Lake and talked to some guys camping there for a few minutes. Told them we were going the extra half mile on to Timberline Lake. They had heard the lake was still partially frozen and thought we may have to blaze a trail through the drifted snow to get there.

This is where the trail led to:

We knew the lake had to be just beyond that hill. However what we didn't know is how deep the snow drift was or how soft - sinking in snow up above your knees is one thing but any deeper than that and I'm not sure how we'd get out. We started climbing up the hill to the left of the snow. Believe me, it is a lot higher than it looks. When we got as far as we could on the rocks and I had made the mistake of looking down to see how far I would fall, JW started across the snow. That's when I got really nervous but also determined I was going to see this lake. So, after doing my panic thing for a while and shuffling my feet in the snow to make sure I wasn't going to do the slip and slide thing, I followed him across the snow and down a little bit to this view:

I was totally amazed. Even told JW that the reason I like national parks is because they always have the neat lakes like this one. At least that is the only place I'd ever seen them.

We decided we needed to walk over the hill to our right so we could see the rest of the lake since we could only see a portion from this view. We got to the top of the little hill and found we were going to be ploughing through snow drifts to get where we wanted to be. I told JW to go on ahead as I needed to take a picture of these tiny little blue flowers.

They were only about 3/8" across and were scattered across the area. I love these little alpine flowers - usually they are purple, yellow or white so I was totally amazed to see an actual blue flower.

We hiked on to the other part of the lake and had to stop for a couple of pictures before JW was allowed to start fishing. The kind of milky spot in the lake is ice that hasn't melted yet. It was a little cool with the wind coming across the water but I found a huge mostly flat rock (It had to be 5 feet high, 8 feet long and 6 feet wide) so after eating a lunch of kipper snacks, string cheese and an apple, I laid on the huge rock to sun myself and rest up for the hike down. It was so peaceful and we had the entire area to ourselves.

At about 2, we decided we needed to start down. When I got to the snow to go down the hill, I was a little braver this time and got down quickly. At the stream, I crossed again by sitting on the log and scooting across. At about 3:30, we stopped 3 miles from the trail head to eat a granola bar and rest a few minutes, then at about 3:48, we started the final descent.

JW made the comment that there was no way we would reach the truck by 4:30 (which we were kind of hoping for) So, being in the lead, I picked up the pace and we pulled into the parking lot at 4:32 (a little off our goal but to do 3 miles in about 45 minutes and with my old arthritic knees, I was very proud of us - I always walk slower down hill as it is a bit painful).

When we got to the truck, we headed back home - stopping in Red Lodge long enough to buy a few fireworks for when the granddaughters get here (smoke bombs, snakes, tanks, hens laying eggs - all the little non-explosive ones that you can see in the daytime since dark is too late around here in July) and we got a shake from the Red Box Car.

Wasn't sore at all. Hardly tired and for the first time this summer, I didn't take even one Advil all weekend. Sure wish all of you could come and go hiking with us. Would love to share this area. I am on call for 4th of July weekend so next hike is an overnighter to Sylvan Lake - round trip 12 miles but at least we'll get to rest all night before hiking out. At least, that's the current plan. HAPPY 4TH TO ALL OF YOU.

These boots are made for hiking!!

Finally we have gotten back into hiking mode. And we're doing great - have 3 good hikes under our belts for the summer and plans for at least 4 more.

First - up stillwater river - approximately 10 miles round trip - documented that in an earlier blog.

Second hike - Father's day. We went up East Rosebud. Stopped at signage and it said 3 1/2 miles to Elk Lake. JW said he wanted to see if I could make it the first leg of the trail and I thought, no problem, we hiked 10 miles up Stillwater, 7 will be easy. We got to Elk Lake and it was very nice and peaceful

and JW said "I forgot about this little lake" (translation: we really haven't walked as far as I was thinking we should so we're pressing on). Fortunately, JW had taken a picture of the signage

at the trail head so I knew how far the next lake was. 2 1/2 miles - wasn't tired so sounded easy. The trail got very bad - due to the "winds of November" there was blowdown everywhere. We scrambled over logs, under logs, around logs, up the rocky trail then over snow packed trail until we got almost to the 2nd lake. There right between a 50' drop off on the right and a steep rocky cliff on the left was a pile of icy snow.

Being the chicken I am when it comes to heights anyway, I insisted that I was going to somehow squeeze between the snow and the rock since the snow was a little melted on that side. There was no way I was going over the pile of snow - especially after just seeing another hiker almost slip down the slope. So i sucked in my gut and wiggled in that way and finally came out the other side although I was extremely wet. The view of the lake was definitely worth the pain:

Fortunately the trail crew had followed us up the trail so on the way back, they had cleared out most of the blowdown. 12 mile hike and I felt absolutely great the next day. No sore legs at all.

Third hike: Saturday, June 21 we decided to take a leisurely hike to Mystic Lake and do some fishing. 3 miles to the lake - 6 mile hike. Not bad. I remembered that trail - a nice walk through the woods. Jill and her two nephews and I had hiked it in 2001. Since they were little boys, it couldn't have been a bad hike. What I didn't remember that it was uphill most of the way and that there was a part where you are on switchback trail across a stretch of large boulders.

But it was a great day and we hiked on. We got to the lake and settled down to do some fishing. The lake is way down, this rocky beach should have been covered with water. Plus there was a ring of 4' high snow drifts around the side of the lake we were on so we had to meander over the drifts to get to the waters edge.

Unfortunately, when we tried fishing, the wind was blowing just enough in our direction that we'd cast out and the wind would blow the lines back into the shore. Solution to that was to hike on to the far end of the lake so the wind would be behind us. The far end of the lake is another 2 miles (seriously) and goes over the top of that hill on the left side of the above picture. I am so glad we had a leisurely day. JW caught 3 rainbow and turned them loose. I rested for the return 5 mile, 3 hour hike back down the hill. Actually, I started hiking back down 30 minutes before he did so I could take my time and take more pictures. But again the view was fantastic and it was a great day - 10+ hours of wonderful entertainment for the price of a couple gallons of gas and a can of sardines.

Next hike: Saturday - June 28th - Timberline Lake. All in preparation for the 26 mile, 4 day hike in August from Cooke City (just outside of Yellowstone park) back down to the East Rosebud drainage. HIKE ON!!!

Added note: My 60th birthday, i plan to hike from Many Glacier Lodge to Logan Pass in Glacier National Park. Get yourselves in shape and meet me there.

Renovation of one room is complete

Woo hoo - JW has finished our family room in the basement and has moved on to the next project. We love it and are talking now of putting pine up on the ceiling of the bedroom. Since we're getting the house just about the way we want it, it's probably time to put it up for sale and move on -- hoping we don't have to do that.

Here's some pix of the transformation of what JW is now calling the "man cave" and I call my office.

The room when we looked at the house.

The reunion in 2003

2005 when we started actually renovating this room.

I liked the yellow but apparently JW did not.

And finally how it looks today. At last, one room totally done.

Are we in Seattle yet?

So since May 21, we have been blessed with almost 9 inches of wonderful glorious rain. The weather has been cool - I think it got to 55 or so yesterday. The weather is supposed to continue like this at least till the weekend.

The things I planted aren't growing very much if at all, but they are healthy and I haven't had to water a single bit. And when that sun comes out, the grass is goiing to really take off in the pasture (unfortunately so will the weeds).

One major benefit of this nice cool wet weather is that the lilac bushes are blooming like crazy - wish I could overnight a bunch of cut fresh blossoms to g'ma to enjoy.

And my bleeding heart is thriving on the cool weather too, just wish I had a place to plant it where I could see it more often. It's on the back of the house and if I forget to walk out there to look at it, I could totally miss these cute little flowers.

Finally some "fun"??

So since JW now has all week to work on home projects, Friday night he asked me "What are we doing tomorrow?" I told him that I wanted to go for a walk. "Okay, let's "walk" up the Stillwater". So yesterday morning, we jumped out of bed early and drove up past the mine to the end of the road. We then got out, donned our packs (mine only weighed about 10 pounds since I basically had my camera, lots of water and my rain jacket as we are having afternoon thunderstorms).

We checked the sign at the trail head and it said 3 miles to Sioux Charley Lake - even though I haven't been on a long walk in a couple of years, I figured I could do that since the trail wasn't steep. So we headed up the trail. 1/4 mile there was a sign post saying we were now in the Absoraka-Beartooth Wilderness.

We walked and walked and walked - for the first half mile or so we were right along side the Stillwater as it crashed over boulders. JW commented that he would like to see someone come down that river in a kayak - which would be hard mainly because you would have to carry the kayak up to the top. (Wonder if alexshuman is up to that challenge)

We stopped after about an hour and had a granola bar. Then we went on. We came to a nice view point so we pulled off the trail and stopped for a few minutes. Then we heard someone yell and we saw a young couple - they said they were making noise because they didn't want to surprise a bear and she had seen my black boots and wasn't sure what it was. They were from Missouri - out visiting one of his friends in Billings and decided to go hiking. Then they asked us where the trail went - we told them it was 3 miles to Sioux Charley Lake and that's as far as we were going.

He whipped out his gps and said they had come 2 1/2 miles. JW said the lake must be just beyond the rocks up ahead. They stayed there to eat lunch, we went on up the trail to the lake to have lunch. Just a little ways up the trail, we saw this view and thought we were getting close to the lake.

Well, when we got there, we realized it was just a wide spot in the river (couldn't possibly be the lake) so we continued on thinking any minute we would get to the lake. Finally after we had walked for another 30 minutes, JW decided we would walk 30 more minutes and if we didn't reach the lake, we'd stop and eat lunch wherever we were.

We didn't reach the lake but did stop and sat on some big rocks to have lunch. That consisted of a can of fish steaks with green chiles packed in soybean oil, 2 string cheese and a few Sing Buri cashews from Costco (those things are delicious) While we sat, we decided that the "wide spot in the river" had to be the lake. After lunch, JW hiked up another 1/4 mile or so and then when he returned, he stopped to rest and I headed back down the hill. I knew he'd catch up with me anyway. We stopped a few times to rest and were amazed at the number of people hiking up the trail at 2 in the afternoon as it was starting to get a little warm. Also, we were dumb-founded that so few of them even had a bottle of water with them.

We got back to the truck about 20 after 3 and home by 4:00 to sit and put our feet up. I was so tired that JW cooked dinner while I vegged. Today, I feel great - not sure I want to do another 9 mile hike until next weekend. But I do know that every day I'm going to be hitting the hills in back of the house to get my long legs ready for lots more hiking.

What a mess

Here's some pictures of our mess. Every day JW cleans up, then he drills more holes and makes another mess. Last night we decided that since I had bought 12 lights and he thinks we only need 11, we'll put the other one in the downstairs bathroom - finally no one will have to take a shower in an almost dark bathroom.

Here's a picture of the room, all the ceiling down, wires in place for the new lights. So as soon as we get the speaker wire we need and get it in place, JW can start putting the ceiling back up. Will be nice to be back down in my corner office instead of on the kitchen table.

Typical Van Haren Project

Wow!! What a whirlwind the last month and a half has been. The trip to AZ was better than anticipated - really enjoyed seeing everyone and wish in retrospect that I had been able to stay longer. Then on to RI for two weeks of spoiling my favorite nietas.

Followed this by a trip for Mother's Day to Devil's Tower. That was wonderful - we went out early in the morning and were able to do a leisurely walk around the tower having the place to ourselves in the nice crisp air.

Then back to real life and due to a management shakeup at the mine, JW gets to be retired for a while. All we know is that we don't plan to move - may need to tighten our belts a little (that will be a good thing) and then we'll see what happens.

So now that JW has nothing better to do with his life, it's time to put the honey-do list up as a top priority. First on the list was finish the basement flooring. 700 sq feet of dura-ceramic tile later, that was starting to look good - especially since it had been just concrete since early-2003. However, it hasn't been quite warm enough to put down the sealer in the seams so that part remains. He also put a new toilet in the downstairs bathroom - yes, no more short avocado green toilet woo hoo.

Second on the list was the recessed lights in the ceiling - this according to JW was going to be fairly simple. We figured out how many lights we needed and purchased them. 12 in all along with a Tuscan Bronze Ring to put around them as I didn't want white or silver. At last my downstairs world was going to be well lit.

Last Wednesday morning it started raining and raining and raining. JW spent the day finishing up the trim around the walls by the floor. Thursday morning, he came down to the basement intending to cut 12 6" circles in the ceiling and get those lights up - would only take him a couple of days.

By 10:00 a.m., he decided that he was going to have to cut too many holes in the ceiling to drill through the cross beams so it would be best for the ceiling to come down. At 11:00 am, he brought in the sawz all and started cutting through the drywall. WAIT STOP - never mind that I was sitting at my desk in the corner working and was being showered by dust. I convince him that OK - first, he needs to cover up the TV, the two chairs that are in the room (we moved everything else out when we started working on the floor) and I needed to move my computer upstairs to the dining room table for his "3-day project of installing lights".

By 12:00 I am safely moved upstairs, we've eaten lunch and he is back downstairs ripping out a 15' x 30' piece of ceiling. I notice that white dust is drifting upstairs into the kitchen. I open the doors thinking that will clear the air. I get off work at 2:00 and head downstairs to help. My job is to pile the cut pieces of drywall outside (keeping them out of the rain though or we'll have a mess). Later I am allowed to use the hammer to break smaller pieces of drywall off where it is nailed to the cross-beams but being a woman, i'm definitely not allowed to touch the power tool.

5:00 PM, we have finished taking down this part of the ceiling (we decide not to do the 2nd 8' x 36' piece as it is getting late) and we want to finish the one side and get the lights up before we delve into the other side. We spend the next hour cleaning up downstairs - as JW is finishing up the last bit, I head upstairs to start warming up dinner. Upstairs is a nightmare - there is 1/8" of white fine powder on everything. I clean off the counters, grab the dust mop, give the floors a lick and a promise and decide to head to the shower.

By 7:00 we have eaten and settle down to watch a little tv before heading off to bed. As we sit in the basement with the exposed cross beams, I comment on how I like the look of wood compared to a painted drywall ceiling.

Friday morning, get up and I go to work. JW sits down for breakfast and starts looking on the internet to see what he can find to put up on the ceiling. He comes up with some pickwick paneling. We decide to go that route. I call Lowe's and they have 38 bundles of this but I need 50 so we decide we'll go in Saturday morning and check it out before we order more. JW spends most of the morning mopping downstairs and cleaning white powder upstairs. We decide that we aren't cutting any more drywall until we put up plastic sheeting to keep it from coming upstairs.

Saturday, we go into town and find what we need at Lowes. They have a generic brand that is quite a bit cheaper and will actually look more rustic so we decide to go that way. (At the cost of that 1/4" thing stuff, I can't imagine how much the thick tongue and groove knotty pine we got from Alexshuman would have cost). We also buy a light green and dark green paint for the basement so that I can get it painted.

Sunday, JW spends the morning staining some of the pickwick to put on the ceiling. Late in the afternoon, he comes down and starts putting up plastic sheeting so he can start doing something. He informs me that he isn't taking down the rest of the ceiling until he gets done with the other side. I inform him that we need to because I don't want fine white powder all over my newly installed ceiling so it is coming down first. For once, I get my way and we work till 6:30 taking down ceiling. We get about half of that side done.

Monday morning (the last day of what should have been an enjoyable 3 day weekend), we have a nice breakfast and then decide if we get downstairs, we can get that ceiling down in about 2 hours and then we can do something fun - maybe go for a drive in the rain (6 days it's been raining - almost 6" so it is going to be gorgeous when that sun comes out and things really start growing). Anyway, as we are tearing down the rest of the ceiling, I make the comment that "since the ceiling is down, we should look at a theater system and get some speakers installed" as it is something we had wanted to do for the past 7 years.

By 10:30, we have the ceiling down, cleaned up the mess, cleaned up ourselves and are heading into town to look at a surround system for the basement. We go to one place and are amazed by what they have and they say they will come out and help us determine how many speakers we need and where they should be placed. We head for home, another fairly cheap project is going to end up costing us 10 times the original price of the lights, take 3 weeks instead of 3 days and JW comments "Maybe we should....... "

Heading south

I'm heading to AZ in a couple of days to spend some time with family. I'm anxious to do that and yet, I'm also nervous. Nervous to the point where if something came up that prevented me from going, I think I wouldn’t even be sad.

I know that I spend so much time in this house alone - communicating only through the typed word that it is hard for me to get out among actual people. In my work, I have people who every day tell me "thanks", "fantastic", "you rock". In my real life, I rarely hear that so I feel totally inadequate around others - I just want to blend into the background. I'm moving further and further into the background and spend more and more time thinking about the things that I should do to help people less fortunate than myself but too afraid to actually put any of my ideas into action. I feel myself slipping back into the person I was in my early married years, the person who would cross the street if I saw someone coming down the sidewalk who might talk to me. It is getting more and more difficult to get out even to go to church – once a week, I run to the post office and go to the grocery store to pick up the needed supplies for the next week then I rush back to the safety of my home.

We've moved so far away from family that it is hard to feel close to people you only see once a year or even less frequently. And we only see them if we make the trip to see them since other than my mom and kids - no one has been to my house since the reunion in 2003. None of the family has come up here – we’ve even offered to purchase airline tickets for some of JW’s family to get them up here to go hunting with him but they won’t do it. Even JW’s nephew who recently moved a few hours north of here didn’t stop by to say hi or even e-mail us to let us know where he is. Really make a person feel unwanted

True, I have a brother who lives only a little more than 30 miles from me but I never see him unless I my Mom is here and then he feels obligated to spend time with her so I see my brother and his family by default. I've heard how miserable JW has made his life by going to work at the same place he worked – I think if JW had chosen to remain as a mechanic and not climb the management ladder there probably wouldn’t be any conflict there but who knows. There would probably be something else to drive a wedge between us – I never know exactly what causes the conflicts because despite repeated requests for information in the past, I’m never given any information. Since I don't know what I have done wrong how can I be expected to change.

I have a sister-in-law that I am afraid to try to get close to again - she has hurt me too many times in the past and I'm just not going to set myself up for further hurt. Sad but true. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve seen each of them in the past 2 ½ - 3 years.

I know that I've made a lot of mistakes in my life - things I can repent of but things I can't really change. I have 2 children whom I love dearly but I wanted at least 6 children – I wanted big family gatherings filled with love because that is what I grew up with. But instead we have a very small family currently scattered from one coast to the other so I really cannot even remember the last time we were all together without any extended family around.

And yes, I am having a big pity party for myself today and you are all invited.