It's a Wonderful Life

I hope you have made it your tradition too.  To share a nice meal, turn the lights down, que up the old, black and white version, and watch, again, It's a Wonderful Life.  

We kept our annual tradition and did just this tonight.  What a great movie.  Think of all the lives you have touched over the last year.  There are so many things that you probably don't even realize which have made a difference in someone else's life.  

I think of a recent suicide.  Heart wrenching for those left behind.  I wish Clarence the Angel would have been around to show him all the people he touched.  All of his generosity and giving.  And now, he is gone.  

Mike and I and the kids went for a beautiful winter walk this afternoon.  The sun came out, it felt warm enough to take off the rabbit hat and tie the top layer around my waist.  The sun, far to the south, was shrouded in a halo of frosty ice crystals. Elk tracks zig zag and criss cross helter skelter through the flat white snow laden fields.  We walk a mile, then turn up a boot path I have been beating down since the snow started to fall.  It's an incline and I drop my coat and hat alongside the trail to be picked up coming back down.  We pause at the top of the hill, breathing hard, taking in the vast expansive rural scene.  It is quiet.  No birds.  No elk on the hillsides.  Just the sound of the dogs leaping through the deep snow and the crunch of our boots under foot.  The air is fresh and clean and smells like snow.  Shadows lengthen and we turn back. 

Rooster rabbit-jumps into the deep snow, his nose guiding his body to the next smell.  He buries his head deep looking for the mouse that surely was just there.  Ruby tries to keep up, her short legs never touching the ground in the open field.  They romp and play and have the best of time together.  So much joy the dogs show us.  Watch closely and learn. 

There is no tree, there are no decorations and there are just a few wrapped gifts here in this warm and wonderful country home.  We are surrounded by gifts; a vast view to the south out our windows, wood to burn in the fireplace and heat up our mornings, an espresso machine so generously given to us by friends who should know how much they touched us with this generous gift, two loving dogs, a friend and partner to share the days with, good food and good spirits, family and friends who reach out and check in, making it oh so very clear how loved we are in this life we share all together.  

It is, indeed, a Wonderful Life. 

A Site for the Bee Club

 We did it!!  We have a live, working website for High Mountain Pollinators & Bees!!  Pretty stoked!!  Check it out HERE.  

California was good.  Rainy, cold, but there was much good wine to taste.  Pictures later.  

The gal who watched our house while we were away scored hundreds of points when she sent me this awesome image of Rooster!!!  This dog LOVES snow!! 

Thanksgiving Day

The sense of unwinding can be felt.  A giant nation-wide exhalation into a long weekend of food, family, and probably a football game or two.  There is a genuine thankfulness to Thanksgiving, even when you are retired. 

We have made some great friends here in Star Valley and we are thankful for all these new, fun people in our lives.  They, however, all have family or left town.  We celebrate this day of thanksgiving with each other.  Two good friends, walking through life side by side, sitting in our home on our farm feeling incredibly thankful this year. 

Mike smoked a turkey on the Traeger grill which was simply stunning!  It looked delicious, it smelled amazing, and was the juiciest most tender turkey either of us have ever sunk our teeth into.  Spot on, job well done, Chef Trumbower!!  

We kept it simple.  Turkey, some just made mashed potatoes, gravy from the giblets, and a hot sour cherry pie.  While we sipped wine and enjoyed the somewhat simple Thanksgiving me, we ticked off all the dishes missing and were happy for their absence!  And we took inventory of all the many blessings in our lives. 

I hope your Thanksgiving was equally as refreshing and relaxing, delicious and delightful!  

One More Step

 This was a very good class!  One more class and I will be a Master Beekeeper! 

People Pestering Me

People!  People!  I'm trying to retire here!!  Just kidding and thank you loyal fans for pointing out the lack of postings.  I mean really, the last post has Rooster in green grass on a warm fall day.  It was -9F this morning and snow now covers that grass. 

Winter came serious-like to this area.  The bees cluster tight in their wooden boxes, shivering to stay warm.  Shivering, shivering all day, all night long.  The first day it's decent outside, they will fly to poop.  That's a long time to hold your poo.   

The elk have been a daily event in our field and a daily worry after they knocked down a section of fence and the mules figured out where, got out, ran down the road, and visited with our neighbor's herd.   The elk come down from the mountain in the evening and head to our neighbor's saifoin field.  Then, they string a line of steamy bodies toward the mountain in the morning.  We soak in the hot tub listening to their calls.  This morning's snow plow activity messed the world up for them.  There was a moment when the herd - 200? 300? elk - was running our direction.  I had the binoculars on them.  A herd of elk running our way, steam encasing the whole lot of them.  Antlers above the dense pod of anxious bodies.  A scene I shall not forget soon.  The beauty of it.  They finally got a break and ascended into the dark forest.  

We have been loving "Somebody Feed Phil" on Netflix!  This guy steals my heart with his love for food, for people, for places, and for his parents.  It's a cool show.  Five stars!

I won something today.  Yes, remarkable!!  Bought some raffle tickets, as I do every year, to benefit a fresh food entity in Jackson.  I won a $958 package!!  A turkey (like one that was raised on a farm), a magnum of Jackson Hole wine, and a carving set made by a very exclusive and expensive knife place in Jackson.  Check them out!  We have absolutely NOTHING to do on Thanksgiving (so so sad) as it seems our entire resume of friends all have family.  We miss you Family, so far away.  

New in the kitchen, Swedish cinnamon rolls.  Holy moley, these things are amazing!!  I will be offering them frozen when my Jackson online outlet reopens.  Take the frozen roll out the night before you want it, pop in a 350 oven for 25 minutes, slather on the cream cheese frosting and take that first bite.  Ooooo, a bit of cardamon in the dough, almond meal oozes with cinnamon sugar for the filling, all sweetly braided into a lovely thing.  Before you come and visit, make sure I have some ready! 

Soon it will be time for our annual tradition of watching "It's A Wonderful Life".  We will turn down the lights, turn on the old version, and watch it knowing exactly what comes next.  And that would be us wiping tears away.  Every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings.  What a great tradition, what a great show.  

Here are some photos that tie to the above update.  Happy Thanksgiving.  All the many blessings! 

Rooster in the snow

Winter walk

Elk Tracks

Elk in the field

Rolls just out of the oven

Dressed in cream cheese frosting

Hive holding shivering bees! 

For The Love of a Dog

Yesterday.  Warm fall day.  A slight breeze.  A dog who has absolutely stolen my heart.  Rooster.  The Gentle Giant. 

Next year's garlic crop is in the ground.  707 cloves of pungent goodness!! 

Midwest Vacation

 I got to partake in the Omaha Bee Conference on Saturday, after flying from Salt Lake City to Omaha.  This has been a bit of a messed up trip, but I arrived without incident, got my rental car and found my hotel.

Pre-conference, I was invited to join a group of bee people for dinner.  South and west of the city, I drove through brown cornfields, dropped down into the Platte River drainage, flanked by a sandstone bluff to my left and an amazing sunset to my right.  My phone mapping app took me right to the driveway turn, up a narrow steep gravel driveway to a magnificent home perched on the bluff overlooking the shining sunset colored Platte.  It was stunning!  Inside, I was greeted by warm and friendly Midwesterners, bottles of nice wine lined up on the counter while the man who made mead tried to get me to drink his brew.  Not that fond of mead, I declined and found appetizers.  We went around the room with introductions.  I received the award (a unified applause from the crowd) for the person who came the furthest distance.  

The lasagna was pulled from the oven and we settled into places at various rooms of the spacious house.  I sat next to Mike who spoke of queen rearing for the club.  The fireplace chimney sported an amazing quilt, studded with peacocks, designed and created by Pam, the cook, the homeowner, and the very capable and competent woman; albeit, not the warmest of candidates in the room.  

The next day's conference quickly helped me realize this somewhat extravagant adventure was well worth the money and time spent.  The first presentation presented the effort to plant prairie strips in agricultural fields.  CRC benefits included, these strips of grasses and flowers brought pollinators, birds, and foul to the midwestern fields again.  Quite an exciting project.  For those of you who have known me a long time, having planted an acre of prairie in Illinois at Mom's place, this project resonates!!

The day moved on from one amazing speaker to the next culminating with a beekeeper from the Yukon who has a mere 30 frost free days to grow!  His bees don't get much time!  Quite the engineer, we were treated to data, pictures, and tips of keeping bees in very cold climates. 

Sunday was a day of relaxation as I made my way to Lincoln to spend time with my very good bee friends, Sheldon and Courtney.  They were kind and housed me in their Tiny Home, taking the upstairs bed and giving me their downstairs bed.  We all settled in and it was delightful.  A long walk in a park, and a stunning visit to the Sunken Garden filled my camera with images.  

Monday was spent working with Sheldon on a Necroscopy Certification course.  We got a ton done.  My experience with fire investigation helped create a course that will be worthy for others to use.  I camped out at Barnes and Noble for the afternoon and we reunited to eat burritos, drink beer, and talk more about bees!

Today, we shared breakfast and said our goodbyes.  Off to the International Quilt Museum went I for a tour.  Found my artist; Freedy Moran!  A gifted now 92 year old lady making the coolest ever quilts!  Her work grabbed my heart and my desire to give something like this a try!!  Great winter project!! 

Here are some images.  It was a surprisingly great few days in Nebraska!! 

Heart Break

Brene Brown, one of my favorite thinkers/writers, has a new book of words that describe feelings.  She says if you have ever had a dog and it dies, you know the word heartbreak. 

Smoke started getting ill two weeks ago.  First, we thought it was kennel cough but the antibiotics weren't working.  He kind of got better, and then got worse.  This weekend, his white count escalated significantly - despite the antibiotics.  Spots were found on his liver, a tumor was pushing on his gall bladder, and a lymph node on his neck continued to swell. 

The doc, a sweet young gal from somewhere south given her accent, cried saying she wished she could have done something for him.  We all cried.  Mike, me, the doctor, her assistant.  Smoke stands, getting our last love and scratches.  He already has a port from all the care they have been giving.  He goes quietly, laying down, just like he would at home.  A quiet, peaceful death surrounded by loving souls.  

Hearts break for our Smoke Dog.  The most expensive dog we have ever owned thanks to all this vet time trying to get him better.  Oh well.  

Mike digs a deep hole in Freedom.  Where the new greenhouse will go.  Sad day.  Sad sad day. 

Here he is with his buddies, Rooster and Ruby, saying hello to Goldie.  The Hanger Cat. 

Heart break.  When you know that friend - the one who gives you unconditional love, the one who looks up at your eyes with happiness and love, full of expectation of what the day may bring - that friend is gone from our life. 

His collar will join Rusty's, Lucy's, Sally's, and Butch's, hanging to remind us of all those furry friends we have had the joy of spending our lives with. 

And those who are left, Ruby and Rooster, are held close with love.  They fill our hearts and help the sadness ease.  

Extraordinary Moments in an Ordinary Day

 Magical Moments.  Caption Below picture. 

Headstone, Kemmerer Wyoming

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.  Horse shoes made into arch.  Lion's Park, Cheyenne, WY

Bringing the sheep down off the mountain.  Tin Cup Pass, WY

Long Live The Bees

Thanks to the help of many friends - some of you who follow this post! - High Mountain Pollinator & Bees is now a proud local non-profit and part of the 2022 Old Bill's Fun Run.   Thanks to many generous donors, this event helping to raise funds for local non-profits, will match donations for groups on the giving list.  

Our group's mission statement is: To provide quality education to beekeepers and promote pollinator habitat.  There are no avenues for formal training in this region and enhancing habitat is always a good thing.  

This is a tax write off, a way to help us get started, and a very good cause!!  Consider making a donation so our little group can grow, we can help beekeepers become more educated, and plant more pollinating plants.  It's a win-win for everyone!!  

Click on this link.  Choose Old Bills, then Conservation & Environment, they enter High as the keyword to search.  It's as easy as pushing the "Simple" button!  If you give us $10, we will get that plus a percentage from the pot!  Last year that $10 was worth $15.70!!  Pretty cool thing!!

We had an observation hive with live bees for people to see at the event.  The Queen was marked with a blue dot, a drone was marked with a red dot, and many workers were marked with a white dot.  Everyone really enjoyed seeing the bees on the comb.  We handed out packets with fringed phacelia seeds so people could go home and plant some pollinators!  It was awesome seeing the positive response at our booth!! 

Here are some photos from the event and a QR code to scan if that is helpful!  Thank you for considering giving up some green for our effort!! 

QR Code for Old Bill's Donation Site

Hollyhocks, Sour Cherry Trees, and Goldie

How is it that I - who consider myself to be a fairly educated gardener - have gone this long believing that hollyhocks are a perineal plant??  How is it so that I have paid $35 and more for these lovely spiking towers of flowers to learn, just this week, that alas, they will be gone the very next year.  I have been robbed.  

And how is it also so that every time I have bought a sour cherry tree, the nursery owner says, "oh, you should really have two trees....." and I bite, sucker that I am.  Today, I learned ALL sour cherry trees are self pollinators.  Who knew??  My friend Susie has one.  On Sunday and with an invitation, I got the last of its cherries, gawking over the shiny red orbs, translucent in the afternoon light, beckoning to become a batch of amazing sour cherry jam or a coveted sour cherry pie.  She kept saying that if I didn't take them, they were leaving them to the birds.  The birds????  Sister, that is criminal.  I came home with overflowing containers.  Thank you, Susie.  Your lone tree on the hill does a very good job of self-pollinating!!

And then there is Goldie.  We were pretty sure we were out of cats here on the farm.  Packs of coyotes howl nightly in the not-too-far distance.  And as the voles are eating the roots of the very precious few hollyhocks I have - and now know won't even be come back (gasp!) - well, I decided we needed more cats.  

About a year and a half ago, Mike got two gray cats from the Walton Ranch.  All responsible measures were taken, they will fixed, we paid for that, and then released in the Old Barn.  Food was provided and water (complete with a UL listed heater so we don't burn down said Old Barn).  Racoons came along and ate up the goodies, provoking aggressive trapping measures usually resulting in a few less racoons.  However, there has been little activity from the cats.  We have a camera set up on the food, so we were pretty sure we could conclude, maybe one gray cat was still around. 

Some friends - who coincidentally happen to be from the very Illinois neighborhood I grew up in! - have a litter of extremely cute kittens.  Quite spontaneously, I grabbed one the other day.  They were happy to see the kitten go down the road.  His name was to be Smokey. 

I'm pretty sure Smokey got found by an owl or a male cat on his very first night here.  No sighting of Smokey has occurred since day one.  When I finally confessed I had brought a kitten home to El Hefe (Michael!), he lectured me on how you never bring just one kitten home, you must bring two. 

So, I grabbed another when I visited a week later!! 

Her name is Goldie.  And El Hefe fell in love with Goldie.  She spent three nights in the barn and is now comfortably housed in the airplane hanger with food, water, and a litter box.  She has a chance of making it!  

Meanwhile, I have had my second shingles shot.  It laid me down yesterday.  Perfectly incapable of anything than feeling really awful and trying to sleep away the day to escape the pain.  My hair hurt, it felt that bad.  Tonight, I put up 137 bales of beautiful second cut hay.  The weather forecast is good.  Hot and dry.  The sun is shining!!! 

My Espresso Machine Almost Killed Me

 Some folks from Las Vegas who used to rent our place are tied in tight with the coffee business.  He may very well be the top dog who runs the Pete's Coffee shops there......As he knows coffee, I mentioned I might be interested in investigating getting an espresso machine. 

The ten-person Las Vegas clan came to Star Valley this 4th of July (found an AirBnb not nearly as great as our place, so they reported!), toting along with them Brad's espresso machine.  They brought it when they stayed here too. 

The machine is a massive thing, weighing at least 45 pounds.  Tired of toting it back and forth, there was an opportunity here and the machine is now "staged" at our place - ready to be carted to their address next time they visit.  Brad gave me the Barista Lesson and a couple of bags of really really good Italian coffee beans.    Really good!  Mike and I were enjoying two or three double-shot espressos every morning complete with foamed milk! 

Then, last week, I had the giant I-almost-burned-down-the-house scare.  Then my heart started beating irregular.  Thursday was not a good day.  Doing some online doctor research, I concluded I had PVCs happening.  A lot.  The info on the web was telling me anxiety and caffeine were two ways to trigger this cardiac event.   I tried to relax, started drinking decaf, and by Monday, things were back to normal. 

Not sure why I did not think of all that caffeine and how it might affect me......As of last Friday, I am done with all fashions of caffeine!!  I know, I know, there is a bit of caffeine in decaf, but it will be a much less dose than what I was taking!!  I guess that's why energy drinks are not the best either. 

It is a beautiful thing, that espresso machine! I'm glad I'm still here to enjoy it!! 

Some other images from the week.  My morning work space, apricots made into jam, and honeyberry scones.  I will get better at this Retirement-Thing....

Close Call

It's been a long time for a posting and this is not how I thought I would kick off further posts, but I must tell this story.  

Lunch was served and I was pawing through the refrigerator finding some tomatoes and two big fat red peppers which I decided to grill.  I started the Weber, set the red fruits and vegetables on the grates and closed the lid.  

I had a busy afternoon.  Checked in on my bees over at Circle Drive; one hive is doing well, the other needs to be treated and needs a prayer.  Went to the grocery store.  Half way down the baking isle, the light turned on.  I had forgotten about the grill.

Panic hit, of course.  I almost left my wallet in the shopping cart which was immediately abandoned.  I jumped in the car and started calling people who might be near.  They were not.  Racing down the highway, I anxiously looked to the northwest to see if there was a smoke column.  I hit 80 mph a couple of times.  As I peeled into the driveway, nauseous with anxiety, I arrived at the hot grill and turned it off.  I did not burn down the house. 

Twenty four hours later, I am still jittery.  Today, a big rump roast is smoking on the Traeger.  Every now and then, a puff of smoke sets me into waives of anxiety and then I recall it is the Traeger.  

Years ago, I remember holding my phone close to my ear, trying to get close to Will, the man who had just burnt down his house in Jackson when he left his grill burning.  "No one got hurt, Will," I said, "shit happens.  It's just a house."  Now I can feel his agony, his guilt, his shame.  I got lucky.  He did not.  Most everything was lost in his home. 

I came so close I could feel how I would feel.  It was not a good feeling.  

Today, I show a friend the inside of that grill.  He is amused and says, "it wouldn't have burnt down your house."  He is wrong, of course, and I enlighten him to the many calls I have been on which started with the bbq grill.  There are a couple of things on this farm that you must not leave when you start them.  The hydrant that fills the horse tank.  The gas grill.  

FYI, these vegetables were not wrapped with foil, this is their fully charred and cooked corpses. 

Save the Bees!

Beekeepers usually have a reason to start beekeeping.  Some do it for the honey, for profit.  Some do it to pollinate plants.  My interest in bees began with the news that honeybee populations were in decline. 

Save the bees.  

This, I have come to learn, is terribly challenging.  There are long cold and dark winters, there are mites that want to suck the fat out of your bees, there are a myriad of challenges to keep bees alive.  They are intriguing, perplexing, and awesome. 

When the call came in at 3pm on Tuesday for a swarm very near where I was located, I had all the right things to capture these wandering bees.  Save the Bees!!  And save the bees I did!!  Angie now has a hive of (free!) bees.  Beekeeping can be so fun some days. 

Meet Rooster, A Love Story

These things never come at a perfect time.  It was a week before I would retire and commence a giant move to Freedom from Hoback where we had wedged ourselves in so thoroughly both Mike and I would marvel at the sheer quantity of stuff we have accumulated in such a small space.  

Ting.  The Facebook messenger tinged a message from Rebecca Koch, the Spinone dog breeder from Victor, ID whom I had been following since the day I met Carl - a spinone puppy - in the old Jackson post office.  Carl calmly laid on the floor beneath his owner and looked up at me with those big yellow eyes saying - deep dog voice here, "Hello.  I like you.  You look like a nice human."  Of course I asked Carl's owner what the breed was of the lovely young dog with giant paws and on that day I fell in love with Spinones.  

Rebecca is one of the very few US breeders for this Italian bred bird hunting dog.  She sells pups for $2600.  No way, no how am I ever going to spend that kind of money on a dog!!  So, I continued to follow her Facebook page, even going so far as to name a female pup she kept posting - Myrtle (my great grandmother's name).  I wrote it in the comment line on Facebook. 

Two weeks later, Shannon, the gal at our front desk, announced during our office Christmas party, that her husband had gotten a pup in trade for fixing this lady's boiler.  It was some kind of bird dog she reported; my eyes getting bigger and bigger until she opened her pictures and showed me a picture of my Myrtle!!  We laughed and laughed and laughed for the chance of it!!  

So Myrtle got named Olive and Shannon's husband fell in love with Olive.  

And then the Ting came to my phone.  Would I be interested in fostering a spinone, asked Rebecca.  A young male had landed in her kennel, bred by a breeder in Washington who sold the dog to be a show dog.  The young dog had chewed on a very expensive table and the owner wanted his money back for the dog and the table.  The breeder, filled to capacity, asked if Rebecca could take him and look for a rightful owner.  

Ting.

I reminded Mike that once he said, "If I ever get a ranch, I'd have 25 dogs!"  We drove up and over Teton Pass to meet Rooster. 

Rooster came to Freedom the next day.  Smoke and Ruby, the heeler dogs, were not impressed.  The rule for acceptance would be if Smoke began to mark/pee inside it would not work.  When Rooster had an accident one morning because his owner was too asleep to recognize he needed to go out to pee, his owner saw the pool of pee and immediately threw Smoke under the bus.  All day I stressed that Rooster would have to go back.  Happily, the epiphany came to my brain and I realized this pool of pee was Rooter's not from Smoke and all has been good since.  No pee and no arguments bad enough to draw blood.

So Rooster is staying.  Both Mike and I are off next week to travels and Rooster will return to Rebecca's where she will hold him in safe keeping until I return, anxious to reconnect with this big spirited dog!  Rooster and I were meant to find each other.  A love story. 

I have a lot to learn, but I sure hope I can be as good of an Owner for Rooster as he is a dog for me!  Make sure to see all three pictures because the last picture is sure to make you laugh!

 

Michael's Turn to Be Honored

 36 years of service!  Captain Trumbower was driving to a station for training with some crew members and came upon this!  What a nice honor and tribute!  A great crowd of Jackson Hole Fire/EMS members there to pay their respect and give thanks to a man who has given 36 years of dedicated and committed service to the organization and to the community!  

Thank you Captain Trumbower! 

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE! 

Last Call

 I had asked my favorite dispatcher to be working on my last day.  I would sign off, she would sign me off.  Last call.  They do this for line of duty deaths in the fire and law enforcement service.  It's the most emotionally impactful thing you can sit through at a funeral.  The dispatcher comes over the PA calling the passed away official's call number...."2247"  "2247"  "2247....no response, out of service"  Rip out your heart strings!!  I was not prepared that day I sat in the Presbyterian Church and heard this final ceremony for a deputy who had died.  And I will never never forget it either.  

But I am just retiring, I assured my emotional dispatcher.  I had no expected this beautiful tribute.  Thank you all who made this happen.  I hold it near and dear.  And yes, I get choked up and cry each time I hear it!!  Thank you all. 

CLICK HERE TO HEAR FINAL SIGN OFF FOR BC5

The Word Got Out!

 

The announcement has hit the press.  Last day, next Friday, May 6.  It has been such an opportunity for both Mike and me!  On to the farm in Freedom!!