Saying Goodbye

Last Saturday - Memorial weekend, we drove to West Yellowstone, MT to pick up the granddaughters and bring them back to Butcher Creek to spend a week (while the parents went to Mississippi to look at a job). After eating lunch, we loaded up and decided to drive through the park, by the Artist's paint pots, out through Gardiner and on home.

It took us 45 minutes to get into the park because the traffic was so bad. We stopped at the paint pots and hiked the 1/3 mile to the view point. A lovely day for a hike and the girl's loved the bubbly mud - Madison thought it looked like eyeballs when it popped into the air. We got to see a bear just a little ways off the roads, lots of buffalo with brand new babies, elk and some sheep that looked pretty sad with their raggedy hair since they had started shedding.

We stopped at the God Bless America travel bug cache and left off the travel bug. It's still sitting there so if it's still there in 3 weeks, guess i'll pick it up and take it through Idaho and over to the original cache near Alexshuman. Picked up these little croc travel bugs - the pink one is named Madison so going to take them to CO with me tomorrow and place them in a cache there. (if I can find it, my gps cost a fortune and I'm not too happy with it so thinking it is going to be sent in for repairs - does everyone else's gps flake out and tell you to go one way 28 feet and when you start heading that way, it tells you to go a different direction 95 feet - oh well, I digress)

We got home about 6:30, ate sandwiches for dinner and sat on the deck for a while. Then, I told Jules - "We need to take some carrots out and say goodbye to Dudley. Tata is taking him to a new home tomorrow. His feet are hurting so badly that he can't stay here any longer."

I cut up some carrots and took the girls out to feed them to the horses. Then Jules went and sat on the big rock in the front yard, hanging tightly onto her stuffed Dudley, staring at the mountain and crying her poor little heart out. "I don't want Dudley to leave, I want him to stay here".

Last summer Dudley would limp for a few days and then seem to heal up. This summer, he was limping and at first, we thought it was because he hadn't had new shoes in 8 weeks (need to change them out every 6.) Unfortunately new shoes didn't help and when JW took Dudley to the vet a couple of weeks ago, she told him that he had degenerative hoof disease and there was nothing she could do for him. He would just continue to get worse and worse. The only thing we could do for him is to give him this stuff called butte which is a pain reliever. Dudley has never liked medication of any kind, we were not even able to spray him with fly spray as he would just go crazy. To give him butte, John would have to hobble his front legs, then tie one of his rear legs up. It would take both of us to hold his head still long enough to squeeze a couple tablespoons of this paste stuff into his mouth. We decided the best thing to do would be to take him to the open sale auction and sell him - we're not exactly sure what would happen to him but it was the best thing for him.

Tata went out to talk to Jules and then she asked if she could go see Dudley again. So I took along the camera to snap a few pictures.

JW was Dudley's best friend - it was so hard for him but early Sunday morning, he got up and headed into the auction. 5 hours later he came home with an empty trailer. The girls and I had gone out to spend some time with Badger because he was really missing his partner. They hadn't been able to spend much time with Badger because Dudley was always pushing him away so it was fun for them to be able to go out into the pasture and pull Dandy's (dandelions) for Badger - "who is going to feed him when we go home?"

I told Jules that we were going to dig up an old bush and plant a new bush that we would call the Dudley bush. On Thursday, we went to the Rocky Mountain Flower Farm in Red Lodge and when I told one of the lady's who work there what we were looking for, she took us over to the bushes the deer wouldn't eat. She showed us several including a spirea named Little Princess. Of course, Jules wanted that kind so the lady showed her the 20 or so bushes she had and let Jules pick out the exact one she wanted.

We worked and worked Thursday night to get out the old cedar bush but just couldn't get it done. Tata and Jules finished digging that out on Friday morning and when I took my lunch break, we got the Dudley bush planted. Can't wait until the pink flowers start blooming.

JW has been looking on the website for a new horse - it is not good for Badger to be alone - horses are herd animals and don't do well alone. He found several paint horses for sale - when I told Jules I might buy a painted horse, she said "why don't you want a real horse". JW said that Friday when I took the girls into Billings to see their great-grandma Mary, Badger went into the barn and just hung around him while he was doing some work. He said the next morning when he went to get him off the pasture, there was a young calf who had come over the fence into our pasture so Badger was just hanging out with the calf in a corner.

John is going to go check out a mule and a horse tomorrow - this time we are getting something that me and the girls can ride. The girls will be back over this way in a couple of weeks so hopefully we'll have a new horse that they can enjoy.

Jules sent me this story a few weeks ago (her Dudley is a large stuffed horse that I bought for her when she was here exactly 2 years ago so 2007 not 2006 - typed exactly as she wrote it)

Dudlyl and I mett in 2006. So I bought Dudlyl. My Nana said. "Ther's go home. When we got home I showed Dudlyl Nana's Dudlyl. Nana said "They almost look the same. But yours has a dot on its fourhed. Then the wind blew Nana's Dudly's hair bles. I said "Hey they look the same. See? Yes I do. I rode on my Dudlyl.


We'll miss you Dudley but it was great that we could have you in our lives for 5 years.

NEXT

I am almost finished with JW's quilt - just have to finish tacking down the binding on one side - woo hoo. Told him I had to finish it before I go to CO and spend a week in a confined space with people from all over the world and end up with swine flu.





Also got this little thing ironed together so I can work on it in my spare time in CO - have to blanket stitch around all of the pieces of fabric. Bought this about 3 years ago in Payson when hairball and I ran into a quilt shop - thinking it's about time I get it done so I can hang it on the wall in my new guest room. (Now if I only had some guests to put in that room.

The Tale of the Whole Wheat Tortillas

Okay so since I've been faithfully working out 1 hour a day on weekdays - prepping my body to do some hiking if this snow ever stops and we can actually drive in to the hiking trails - I decided I should try to make some whole wheat tortillas. I also decided I should use olive oil which is actually good for you instead of lard.

I put 2 cups whole wheat flour, 2 Tbsp olive oil and 1 tsp of salt in a bowl. Mixed this together thoroughly and then added 1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp hot water. Then pulled this mixture out of the bowl to knead for a while.

Normally when I make tortillas, I knead the dough in my hands by twisting it and turning it and as I do this, it turns into a very manageable dough. What i found with the whole wheat dough is that as I kneaded it, it got stickier and stickier.

So I formed it into 6 balls and lightly coated each with a tiny bit of olive oil and left them on the counter to set a bit. While they were setting, I browned up some chopped onion and garlic then stirred in a bunch of chopped green chile and shredded pork. Added about 1/2 cup of water and left that to simmer on the stove.

I then heated up my griddle with the intention of rolling and stretching the whole wheat flour tortillas and cooking them up. I discovered that they rolled pretty good as long as there was plenty of flour to keep it from sticking. After rolling it out as much as I wanted to, I picked it up off the counter to stretch it out. It did not stretch at all. I put it back on the counter and rolled it out some more until it was as thin as I wanted it to be. Then placed it on the griddle to cook.

JW teased me about these saying they would never be able to be used to make a burrito. And since the first one felt a bit crispy, I thought he was probably right. We were both rather surprised when I put one on a plate, spooned on some green chile and rolled it up very easily.

Now came the taste test. We found them to be edible but the whole wheat totally overpowered the green chile. Back-up plan - a bowl of green chile accompanied by bite size Tostitos.

So, while the whole wheat tortillas might be more healthy, the occupants of this house are going to stick with the traditional enriched white flour tortillas made with lard. But, at least, I can say I tried.

Fabric Galore!!!! - and no two pieces the same

So last Friday, the Montana Shop Hop started - for those of you who don't know what that is - it means that from April 17 to May 9 about 40 quilt shops in Montana are participating in the circle of friends shop hop with special things for shop hoppers - including a grand prize of a new sewing machine.

Well, there are 6 circles and due to work, Saturday was really the only day I could try to complete a circle to fill my passport and get one drawing in for the prizes. Since we'd never been to Glendive, I decided my quilting partner and I would get up very early Saturday morning and drive to Glendive to be there when they opened at 10 and then work our way back home stopping at the 6 shops in the Eastern Circle.

Since I work at home and don't get out of the house very often to really meet anyone, my "quilting buddy" is also my best friend and hubby. Just don't let him hear us say that. (it's really hard meeting people when you don't have kids in school - think they need a website for people who just want to find a friend - someone with common interests). So I coerced JW into being my chauffer for the day and also told him that he was going to have to carry a passport so we could get two chances to win the sewing machine.

He was so good all day and so funny talking to all the ladies in the shops. At Glendive, he carried my pile of fabric up to the counter and announce that was his pile. I had to buy quite a few fat quarters because at the Enchanted Room, they had all of them on sale for $1 a piece.

We left Glendive and drove back west to Miles City. As we got off the interstate he kind of made a comment that the quilt shop probably burned in the horrible fire they had there a couple of weeks ago. I told him no way. However, as we drove through downtown and by the block that had burnt, I found that the only building standing on that side of the street was a smaller number than the address we were looking for - it had indeed burned down.

We drove back through downtown and stopped at Subway where I had my favorite Italian BMT with lettuce, onions, tomatoes, jalapenos, black olives and pickles and hot mustard - it's about the only place we really enjoy eating. I especially love the salt and vinegar chips.

After eating, we drove further west to Forsyth, picked up some more fabric and then back the 95 miles to Billings - having to get there before 3 o'clock when the first of 3 quilt shops we had to stop at in that town closed. It was a quilt shop that I had never been to but after some searching, we finally found it. JW helped me pick out some fabric for a Christmas hanging I want to do - a hot pink stocking filled with goodies - it's the perfect width to fit in the window by my front door.

<--- fabrics for my Christmas wall hanging

Then we went to Backdoor Quilts - my normal quilt shop. I picked out a number of short bolts (they sell you these at $5 a yard but you have to buy the whole rest of the bolt. I also needed 1/2 yard of a gingerbread brown color and 1/2 yard of orangy-red that would match the salmon on the alaskan panel for the quilt I want to make for the new grandchild.

While I was getting my fabric cut, JW kind of fell in love with a quilt on the wall - it had elk on the fabric and he was really wanting a quilt of his own to take to "summer camp". So now I have one more project and of course this one has to have priority over the others since I have to get it done by June 27.

(And no alexshuman, I have not forgotten I have to get you a quilt made too - I picked up a few fat quarters that I'm thinking will look good in your quilt - really want to get that one started. )

Last stop was at Bernina quilts where JW burned his hand on a price tag on a sewing machine - I keep telling him that the price of new machines is why I'm perfectly content to keep sewing on my almost 30 year old viking - at least it's not made of plastic). The ladies there teased him a little but then also told him it was nice of him to do the shop hop with me. Here, JW picked out fabric he wants me to put around the Packin' In panel that I've done for a quilt for our bed. Plus, he helped me pick out some fabric for a border for the upstairs bedroom quilt (however, because one of the short bolts I bought at Backdoor quilts happened to be the perfect color of the room, I'm going to use that instead.

<-- packin' in panel with fabrics to turn it into a king size quilt - now if I only had a plan.

For a reward, I treated JW to dinner at famous dave's - he had the brisket sandwich and I had a salad - then on home cause "we had animals to feed".

Next year, if he's nice, I'll take my vacation at this time and we'll do all 6 circles - I think that would be a blast. (However, I'm sure my "partner" would use other words to describe that")

Elk Picnic???

The company I work for decided that in order to improve their bottom line for the quarter, all employees had to take 6 days of vacation between Jan 1 and mid-April. Not that I don't enjoy vacation but I only get 17 days a year so kind of like to take it when I want to. But insteady, I had "forced vacation" this week. JW isn't working so had to think about him when trying to plan what to do this week. He didn't want to go south to visit family - he has this attitude of "if they won't come and see us, I'm not going down there". Course, money is a little tighter this year so couldn't plan a big trip - or would have went south without him.

Springtime in MT is not exactly the time of year to be playing MT tourist. Too much snow to go to Glacier Park. Too many museums and other things are only open from Memorial day through Labor day. We've had over 2 feet of snow in the last 10 days. Beartooth Pass is still closed for another 6 weeks.

So Monday, I got this bright idea that we would drive to Gardiner (the Northern gateway to Yellowstone National Park) the next day and spend the night. Then Wednesday, we would drive into the park and do some snowshoeing. We knew most of the park is closed but they do keep the 53 mile stretch from Gardiner to Cooke City open year around.

We got to Gardiner about 3:30 Tuesday afternoon. JW had physical therapy in the morning and then we spent a little time in Livingston and the Backporch Quilt Shop. (was looking for some yellow and orange fabric to use for flames for the campfire in my Packin' In quilt.) We walked into the few open junk stores in Gardiner to see if we could find any little treasures.

We then checked in to our room and walked across the street for dinner. I ordered the tri-color pasta with portabella. I'm beginning to think that most little restaurant's don't actually know what a portabella mushroom is because the last 3 times I've ordered a dish with portabella - it has had only regular little mushroom slices in. The "tri-colored" pasta isn't exactly what I had pictured - it was ravioli - about 1 1/2" x 3" squares that were brightly striped white, red and green. Not really bad - just not something I would order again.

Wednesday morning, we got up, ate breakfast and headed into the park. When you go in through the north entrace, the first thing you get to is Mammoth Hot springs area. So we had to drive up past the terraces.

My favorite part of going into Yellowstone Park this time of year is that it is so peaceful - you can pretty much pull off the road anywhere you want without worrying about causing a big traffic jam.

We were surprised at how little snow there was in the park so we figured out very quickly we weren't going to be doing any snow-shoeing.

In the summer, most of the buffalo can be found in Lamar Valley towards Cooke City but this time of year, they go anywhere to find food. We saw at least 1000 of them in various little groups - since there was a little snow, they seemed to find it easier to walk down the pavement.

We got to Cooke City around 10 - I was thinking we could go into the "junk" store and look around but they shut it down for the winter. Good thing cause not too many places to pile snow except in front of buildings. Whoever owns the car below is going to have fun digging it out as it may be staying snowbound for a few more weeks.

We turned around at Cooke City - mainly because the road is closed just past the town so had to drive back the way we came.

When we got back to Mammoth area, we found that the elk who had been eating when we had entered the park were now settled down for their mid-day rest.

The weather was gorgeous and it was a great day to drive through the park. Especially enjoyable when we get up this morning to another snowy day. Oh well, what's Easter without snow.