Oh My, My!

One case canned peaches!

One very big sunflower!

Newly Appointed!

Big news for me - I have been appointed by the Governor of Wyoming to serve as one of five members for the Governor's Fire Council! Here's proof!! Click to see Governor's letter

What does this mean? Well, a couple of trips to Cheyenne, for sure. Getting to know some new people, learning new things and having something that looks really good on my resume!! As they say, that and $5 will buy you a coffee in Jackson!

Just like eveyone else, our summer has been filled with non-stop activities! We are enjoying lovely fall weather although it is very dry. I must share this great new recipe with all you fellow bakers - it is amazingly good!Recipe Here

At last, I close with a picture of the Red Rock Fire. Both Michael and I have had the opportunity to be up on this fire. Always good to do that once or twice a summer.

August 2011

I have been nudged to update this site, and rightfully so. Once again, a summer with too many projects. Big morning plans got nixed when a call came in for a medical assist. Here is a great picture Michael took after he called the helicopter in.

This afternoon, a grass fire is right out our friends' door, Doug and Addie, and I start to think about my wildland gear and if it is all ready. They should be alright, unless the wind direction changes, and even still, they have good wet space around their ranch. Our grass here has dried out and there is plenty of it to burn now.

The following slide show will compare the garden and greenhouse from earlier this year. Brussel sprouts do well here, as you will see! Ending picture is the cherry jam I've worked on all day thanks to my friends Butch and Marsha letting us pick their sour cherries.

Just to make sure we don't worry about being bored, this Thursday friends Gary and Diana arrive for the big birthday bash on Saturday. How cool that we will not only celebrate Michael's birthday, but Gary's too!! And, of course, Kenlyn's as well. Should be a good party! Hope you are all enjoying your summer too!!

Flying High!

What an amazing flight over the Tetons. Record snowfall for this time of year. These images followed by some July 2 garden shots! Addie, check out your greenhouse! And look, Dad, the lettuce is growing! Enjoy!

Goodbye Pop, You Will Be Missed

The Kinzer Family and friends gathered June 17 to celebrate the full life of Kenneth R. Kinzer, my grandfather. "Pop", as we called him, died in April and would have turned 97 on June 16 this year. Check out these pictures from the trip!

First one is a picture of Pop taken in 2006. I was so lucky to be able to see him on Illinois visits! Next up, and from left to right: little brother Mike, sister Kristen, Linda, me, and Dad after the service. Then two pictures from Dad's garden. The lovely row of lettuce is a heirloom lettuce from Italy. I'm hoping it will grow in Wyoming! Then a picture from Diana's yard, followed by Mom's yard filled with hostas and then her posing in those hostas! The next picture is my 101 year old Aunt Ione (Pop's sister) and her lovely daughter Carol. Then a few others thrown in for good measure! I had a great time over the long weekend touring gardens. It is a hot and humid place back there, but plants sure grow there!

Meanwhile, back on the home front, summer came. We are not going too flood to badly, so it looks at this point. There is garden work, yard work and horses needing to be ridden! Better get at it!!

Fishing Derby 2011

What an amazing day for the Ice Breaker Fishing Derby!! Michael's boat team was made up of himself, Jason Wright, and Kevin Watkins. They caught some nice fish and enjoyed the south end of Jackson Lake. I fished with Ben Petersen and Bob Morley. Benni caught the winning fish for the derby, a 29.6 pound lake trout. Here are pictures. What a beautiful place we live!!

Jason's laker.

The winning Team!!

The lovely Teton Mountain Range - still a bit snowy!!

Danny Bess's boat caught two big fish for second place in the Derby. Both weight over 25 pounds!

Maybe It's Really Gonna Be Spring!

I know. Most of you have cut your lawns several times and your gardens have long since sprouted - I bet some of you have plants setting some kind of fruits!! Well, our long-awaited spring has arrived and we are darn sure glad about it! Here's some pictures from the home-fort taken just minutes ago. Raised bed planters made of culverts works well. Michael says they cut real well with a SazAll! I see their longevity being much better than wood planks. Everything will be covered - the weather says 27 degrees Thursday night! Yikes!!

Haven't figured out where to put these two yet. Below are some planted.

And the pretty fountain corner. Yes, that is a hanging basket filled with cherry tomatoes. And yes, they are blooming, some have even set fruit, but I got it at the greenhouse on Saturday!! I will be gaurding it viligantly from the dreaded frost!

Hope you are enjoying your spring season and have a basement to go to if a tornado shows up! Have you seen our mudslide?
Click here to see the land slide. Most likely, soon to follow, flood pictures!

One Foot of New Snow!

This yard art bird ain't too happy! We awoke to a foot of new snow this morning! Amazing, wet snow piled on top of everything! It's really quite lovely if you're not sick of it - most people are way over it now. Cabin fever has become contagious and is now affecting many people in our area. I witnessed a shouting match the other day that was a direct result of cabin fever. Ugly business there. It's still snowing. We live in such an amazing place!!

Bird feeders.

Fire Academy & Weekend Fun

The National Fire Academy, Emmitsberg, Maryland. Brick walkways thread through the campus. On the bricks, names of firefighters killed in the line of duty. We students are all reminded in our journeys across campus of our mission in the fire service to help prevent these line of duty deaths. Walking these pathways is riveting, somber, and profound.

I was there for a two week class on the stuctures and systems for fire protection. Much learning ensued. The weekend between was AMAZING!

Mom flew in from Illinois and we packed the weekend full of fun. Highlights of the weekend include the following: First and foremost, getting a DC cop to rip up a ticket that he had just written and put under the wiper of our rental car, getting to and from successfully without getting lost or mugged to the Capitals hockey game on Friday and the Kennedy Center for a symphany on Saturday using the Metro, a tour of Mount Vernon Saturday morning and a delightful side adventure to Old Town Alexandria for a wonderful Thai lunch. Sunday morning we found the FDR Memorial and got out of a DC parking ticket!

Mom next to FDR

The Kennedy Center
On our walk to the Kennedy Center, I snapped this photo of the open court yard area at the Watergate Building.

Winter in Wyoming

While some of you watch your snow melting away, ours just keeps piling up. More snow forecasted for the week ahead. You gotta love it to stand living here!!

Cutter Race Weekend!!

What is referred to - and certainly is - the biggest tailgate party in Jackson, the Shriner's Cutter Races, finished this afternoon in light snow flurries and thundering hoofs! What a great weekend!

This year's challenge was to build a "camp" that Roy Chambers, turning 85 in a few days, could cozy up in and enjoy this 40th year of Cutters Races. Michael pulled out all the stops; the hunting camp wood stove, a EZUp tent with sides, the Weber grill, Mr. Heater, and good old country music for Roy. Why he liked it so much, he came both days!!

Thanks to the great crowds, the Shriner's Hospital should get a nice bit of money. The saying for the race, "The Cutters run so the children can walk." What a great way to raise money! Here's a few more pictures from the weekend.

Looking forward already to next year!!

Ya Ain't Havin' Fun Until You're Stuck!!

photo by Addie Hare

Thanks Addie!!

A Beautiful Winter Day!

Friends Mike and Amy won a snowmobile ride with the company Michael works for and when the day came to go riding we said, "okay, we'll take you!!" And what an amazing day we got! Starting out chilly at 11 degrees, temperatures climbed to quite comfortable. We headed up to Togwotee Mountain and found new nooks to explore and great snow to ride. Lunch at the beautiful Brooks Lake Lodge, my original place of hire in Wyoming, and a great ride back to the rig and trailer. It was a fine, fine day. More pictures follow.

Such a handsome husband I have!!

For Those We Love

Yesterday morning, I jumped in an ambulance to help be part of the treatment of 15 people for carbon monoxide poisoning. The extended family was celebrating the holidays together in their large home north of Jackson. The furnace man came to service a heater that was not working properly, started feeling bad, recognized the symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning, fetched his gas detector, immediately notified the family, instructed them to call 911 and got them all outside into clean air. Jack, the furnace man, was the hero of the day.

As an emergency responder, events like this tend to shake you up a bit. You start thinking about the ones you love and how tragic yesterday could have turned out and how you would never want it to happen to those you love. Make sure you understand carbon monoxide and if you don't, call Michael or me. Make sure you have a carbon monoxide detector - at least one - installed in your home if you have a fuel-burning appliance.

Here is the link to the news article. Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless, deadly gas. Thinking of all those we love!

Click here for news article

Merry Christmas to All!

Wishing you all a safe and joyous Christmas. Here are some pictures from my afternoon cross country ski trip. We're certainly having a white Christmas!

Thanksgiving Blessings!

What a nice visit back to Illinois! My Dad's father, Pop, at 96, Mom (who would rather I not mention her age!) and me on Thanksgiving Day at the LaSalle County Nursing home after a really good Thanksgiving lunch. We had great visits with family and friends. I regret not having taken more pictures. Would have liked one of Dad and Linda, Kristen & Mark, Mike & Liz - guess I was too busy eating chicken wings! And since when does eating a half pound of wings translate into gaining two pounds of weight?? I also missed getting one of you and Gary, Diana. You'd think a past pro photographer would do better....

Got word of a Lewis family get together up at the new place out by Starved Rock. Here's a funny picture of Michael and Mom taken in the Adventure Park while we were trying to figure out how to find the Lewis Family.

Dr. Lewis, his wife Nancy, behind them John, Mom, Bob, Me, Bob's wife Laura, John's wife Sue.

So many blessings this Thanksgiving. We made it through Wyoming in a snow storm just ahead of Interstate 80 being closed for the rest of the day. Phew!

Eggs-tra-ordinary!

The new Aracana chickens are laying now - and look how beautiful the eggs!

It's a real November day in the mountains. This morning's low was 17 degrees. A skiff of snow dusted the walkway. Vetran's Day. A day to thank those who serve. A day off for us government workers! Breakfast with Micheal Shane and, well, a day off! Michael T. always has plenty of puttering - old Red (his old red pickup)is presently dead with an unknown electrical issue. I may bake a little, take the dogs for a walk. We gather up the processed elk this afternoon and wings and beer with Seth. A day off. Mmmmm, how nice.

Life is good.

Scott's Visit

For those of you whom might not know, killing an elk with a bow is a very difficult task! Michael's brother, Scott, had the incredible experience last Monday on a north slope in the Gros Ventre Wilderness on a very steep slope at 12:35 in the afternoon. I made the right choice to take that day off work so I got to be part of the event.

What do you do with a big bull elk eight miles back into the wilderness? You pack him up on your horses - not an easy task on a sloped hillside - and hope they can make it up the steep slope! Once atop the ridge, all we had to do was to get back down it and make the 8 mile hike out! Everyone slept well that night.

Other activities peppered Scott's visit.

Like a couple of days spent fishing on Jackson Lake!

Yes, that's Butch enjoying the day too!

I can't believe more of you don't come out to visit!

We so enjoyed spending time with you Scott. It was a day to remember the rest of our lives; I'm so glad I could be part of that amazing day!!

Good Times for All!

Thanks Addie for the amazing cake and great picture of Michael and Kenlyn!! A great time was had by all. How can you go wrong throwing a party with 40 pounds of Alaska King Crab, 5 gallons of Snake River Lager, and a pile of great friends?? The afternoon and evening turned lovely and we all were most thankful for that turn of weather!

The kids had a great time too!!

How lucky we are to have so many good friends!! The table was full of food. It was a great party!!

After the nice, long weekend, we look forward to the arrival of Michael's brother, Scott. He joins us for ten days of bow hunting, seeking the elusive wapiti (elk) with his bow.

The weather has turned fall. It's lovely during the day. Night time temperatures dip below 30. The zucchini gets covered nightly and is still alive. I'm not sure why we even bother actually!! I've pulled about 6 zuchs off the plants. Next year, I'm putting carrots where the zucchini lived. The row of sweet, succulent carrots was well worth the planting. And not one day over 90 degrees this year. How perfect of a summer is that???

Other news items: the flies are stupid and plentiful right now. My fan tail fish seems to have gotten over his swim bladder disease and frolics around the aquarium with the other gold fish. The dogs are great; starting to grow their winter coats. I haven't introduced you all to Methuselah the mule, because, ultimately, we probably should lead her to the killing hole so she doesn't have to suffer during the winter. She's very old. Rest of the horses are doing well. I should get Hot Shot back in the next couple of weeks.

Enough for now. Stay safe, enjoy the fall and celebrate your friendships!!

Weekend Away!

Ah the weekend! And a long one, at that! We got in the truck, found a sitter for the kids, and headed off to Hailey, Idaho to witness the Erin saying "I Do".

Blessed by amazing weather, the two made their vows in a beautiful mountain-spiked meadow on Friday afternoon. Weddings are such good reminders of what being married is all about! Thanks for the invitation, we had a great time!!

Found out today, that we came close to not making it over to the wedding. A 14,000 acre fire closed Highway 20 through Idaho for several hours; fortunately after we had passed through. By the time of our return, yellow grass had transformed into black, scourched earth and water tenders poised at several pull outs.

Got home to find out it had rained over a half of inch while we were away. There was enough time to make a pass through my raspberry patch last night and ended up with a fat gallon of the plump, delicious berries! I have so many this year, I'm making raspberry vinegar!

Michael got to go play for a day on a local wildland fire. After the rain and the predicted cool weather this week, that fun is most likely over for the season.

Big birthday bash for him on Saturday. Anyone wanting to make the trip is invited! We'll have a case of king crab to cook and a keg of beer!