Pictures Will Have to Do

I am so tired.  Had a nice tour of the Heritage Fire Museum here in Emmitsburg.  Find more on their website at FIRE HISTORY  Take a look.  Nite, nite!

 

 

 

 

Happy Mother's Day!!

Happy Mother's Day - to the woman who got her pilot's license when I was in high school.  Who went on to get a nursing degree.  Who taught me life lessons and who understands the meaning of life; live every moment!  You ROCK, Mom!

Rennovation and Rejuvination

Work is happening at the Capitol.  Are they paining?  The tulips are quite finished, but the azaleas are amazing.  Sat down with Idaho Senator Crapo''s staff member Peter today and talked about wildland fire.  It went well.  Enjoyed a nice lunch at a little Mexican place and just spent a couple of hours listening to a very interesting presentation on cancer in the fire service.  Tak- aways from the presentation: quit smoking.  Eat well.  Exercise.  As you say so well, Mom, "if you live long enough, you are going to die!"

Tonight, the big lavish banquet.  I'll take my camera.  Chief Redwine will be driving up from Emmitsberg to join our table.  Check out the background in this first picture!

 

Rainy Day DC Morning

Out for a drizzly walk before heading to the Hill.

Leavin', On a Jet Plane!

Off to DC.

 

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When it Rains, Sometimes it Pours!!

Just as I was leaving work and heading home last night......

Another Fire

In Case You Were Wondering

It's 17:42 on a Friday.  I am about to leave work.  Exhausted.  This was an interesting and exhausting investigation.  Here is the report.  Enjoy the weekend; I still have alot to do, but am getting closer!!

News Report

Grrrr!

As if I didn't have enough to do already!!!  Everyone is okay.
Wednesday Fire

Yikes!

Expanding Herd!

Today, our cow herd doubled in size!!  Welcome to the world, Michael Martin Murphy - we were talking about the song writer before Mike left for work - seems like a good name for the little guy.  I considered "Freezer Burn" too, but that seemed harsh!! 

Elk feeding out under Rising Moon

Moran, Wyoming.

30 Years!

Thirty years.  Thirty years of dedication, service, nights of training, calls into the black of night.  To help.  That's what it's all about - helping someone who needs to be extricated from their crumpled up vehicle.  To move someone into an ambulance.  To pull hose and keep LPG tanks cool in the heat of a fire.  It's about a Team and working with others.  It's about doing this for 30 years!  Congratulations, Captain Trumbower.  We are all so very proud of you and your leadership.  I stand, humbled, by your side.

Station 3 Wednesday Night Training

Here are some pictures of the Hoback Wednesday night training.  Enjoy!  Wednesday Training

This is really Awesome!

Today's advice.

I couldn't have done it any better!

Enjoy!

How to Age Gracefully

Spring in so many Ways!

 Welcome chicks!  Five new barred rock chicks reside in our warmed (72 degrees) bathroom.  Cheep, cheep, cheeping they spend their days growing.  In 24 hours, tiny feathers sprout!  It's amazing to watch them grow.  Outside, we harvest 4-5 eggs/day from the others.  Chickens are pretty darn easy, kind of fun, and the eggs are really great!  I recommend them for even the busiest folks. 

 

On the window sill, some other babies!  They look out to an overcast and wet spring day!  Perfect! 

 

I spent 4 hours cleaning the inside of the Hoback roundabout yesterday, pulling all the snaggly woody week skeletons out.  Then dropped and raked down $40 worth of flower seeds.  Couldn't ask for a better day to be optimistic about their sprouting futures. 

 

The greenhouse climbs into the high 90s during the day, but overnights are still a bit cold dropping into the mid 20s.  We're getting there though! 

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On The Way Home From Work

This is where we live.

This is Wyoming.  Elk drinking in the Snake River.  Deer in the foreground (look closely, there are three!). 

This is my ride home from work!  I'll take it!

Like to Laugh??

This one will make you laugh!! You've GOT to watch it!!
Funny Firefighter Video!

Spring in Teton County

A glimpse of spring.  And a visit from Chris and Braxton.   1.  Melting pond on way to Pritchert Pass.  2.  View from top of Pritchert Pass, April 3, 2016.  3. First sighting this year of sandhill cranes! 4. The fuzzy and wonderful pasque flower.  5. The boys in the swing.  6. Rhubarb peeking its leaves up. 

Uninspired

 Really????  I took some time off work today to start getting the greenhouse ready.  Yesterday was sunny and warm......the greenhouse was 87 in the afternoon!  And look what is going on now!   Arrrrrrggghhhh!!  So, I have been pulling up high altitude gardening blogs.  Found one I really liked.  Check her out.  Kate lives in Park City.  I think we would enjoy each other's company!  Kate's Blog  She even uses the same blogger as me!!  Check out the giant pumpkin she grew!!  That's pretty impressive to pull off in Park City, UT!

 

So the bags of dirt (I am embarrassed to tell  you how much I spent on this dirt) are for tomato growing in the greenhouse.  The amount spent would have bought a bunch of organic tomatoes!  But what's the fun in that? 

 

One of the problems of being brought up an Illinois farm girl is that you take dirt for granted.  Plant the seeds and get out of the way in Illinois!  Not so around here.  To start, the "free" dirt is heavy and filled with clay.  It goes from gooey mud to hard as a rock.  Not many plants can handle this kind of dirt.  Poppies, I have found, are successful.

 

I bought a ranunculus last week.  Beautiful thing.  Makes me think of peonies; oh, how I wish they would grow here for me!  I remember three big bushy plants out by the apple trees on the Illinois farm.  Dripping with ants, we would pick the flowers and vase them.  How lovely a flower!  Here is a neat blog site on growing ranunculus and anemones Peonies-Like Beauties

 

So until things warm up, I am forced to dream, plan, buy store flowers, and clean the chicken coop.  Joy.  Off to do that next after I put on my winter boots and jacket!

 

 

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Spring weather, Wyoming-Style!

Out the front door, this morning. Hope you had a nice Easter!

 

 

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Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

Wine rack made from old irrigation pipe! A marble top will complete the project, once it is cut to size.

My husband is amazing! Just sayin'!

 

 

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Picture from a Friend

A friend shared a picture he took of the happy concert-couple. We really had a good time - MUCH better than I expected!!

A Night Away

The rumor was - there were to be 17-20,000 people at the Zac Brown concert last night.  Pushing way out of our comfort zone and normal routine, Mike and I got Jack to watch the dogs (thanks Jack!) and got a Tiny Cabin at Fireside Resort, a seven mile bike ride to the concert in Teton Village.  A bit uphill getting there, we rode north over a clear bike path as the sun sank in the southwest. 

Neat tiny cabin!

We parked our bikes in the Teton Village Fire House - thank you TVFD!!  Then walked down to the troops to say howdy and good luck!

 

Although a bit chilly, it was a great night for a concert.  Although there were a couple of fights, the concert went smoothly.  Neat venue, isn't it?

 

 

The night's coolest siting - 3 very large, very high airplanes flew over just before Zac began singing.  Our ride back to the Tiny Cabin went well - downhill and without incident!  It was a great get away!! 

Dear Sister Sandy

This is where I was sitting when we were talking today!  I want this sculpture!  I sat on a black park bench looking west to the setting sun!  So good to talk and hear about your move, your puppy, your upcoming visit, your life!



Thanks to an afternoon break, I got to get outside and walk today!  What a treat!  Here are some of the sights from my walk.  Fairfax, Virginia.  A Saturday afternoon in a bustling place.

Hotel of occupancy since Wednesday. 

Perfectly manicured grass.

The tulip trees are blooming!

Spring.  Sweet Spring.

 

The Start of The Day

It would be easy to figure you were going to have a bad day when you realized your dog peed in your open carry on bag.  Yup.  Smoke is pissed (!) I was leaving.  The mess wasn't too bad to clean up and really, once I got over being mad, it was kind of funny.  He knew he did wrong. 

So, I sit now in Fairfax, VA readying for a Vision 20/20 Fire Symposium.  Check them out at http://strategicfire.org  Then check your smoke alarms.  Are they older than 10 years?  Do you have one in every bedroom?  Just askin'.

It was a great day to travel.  No hitches.  Good connection in Denver and arrived here to 75 plus temperatures!  Wow.  Heat wave!  There are 4 people here from the little less than 600,000 people state of Wyoming!  This is really cool news, indeed (yes, of course, I know them all!)

So, despite an angry dog, all is well.  I am about to seek out dinner and beverage!  Friday morning, I get to moderate a session - a very big honor for me.  This is a great gathering of people all trying to figure out really smart ways to keep people from dying in structure fires.  Glad to be part of the group! 

More later!

GF Carrot Cake

Sunday morning on a rainy, snowy 36 degree day.  Dark and overcast.  No reason to be outside!  Dinner with Todd & Janet tonight so time to cook!  This gluten free carrot cake has 7 cups of carrot solids!  The juice is in the fridg - a great way to use the "remains" from the cold press juicer.  Recipe is below.

         
Heat oven to 350 degrees.

7 cups of carrots are needed for this recipe.  If you have a cold press juicer, the pulp from pressing carrots is perfect!  If not, you need to do a whole bunch of grating!  Once you've got your carrots, add 1 cup of sugar, stir it up and let any extra juice pull out.  Drain that extra juice off before adding to mix.

Mix dry ingredients:
2 3/4 c gluten free flour (or regular flour)
4 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
2 t cinnamon
1 t salt

Mix and combine:
2/3 c granulated sugar
1 c lite brown sugar
2 sticks softened butter
5 eggs
1 1/2 t vanilla

Mix dry with wet ingredients, then add carrots.  Put into pans of choice (I used 2 8" cake pans) and bake 45-50 minutes.  Cool.  Frost

Cream Cheese Frosting
1 pound room temp cream cheese
10 T softened butter
2 1/2 c powdered sugar
2 1/2 T sour cream

I roasted unsalted pistachios, rough-chopped and pressed to the side of the cake.  MANJA!!

Well Piping

This is a story about the well that went dry.  As you may recall, a new well had to be drilled here at the Becker Place late last fall.  The old pipe, all 300 plus feet, wasn't worth much.  Mike has been looking at it and thinking the only way to get better at welding - well, is to weld!  So, he has been hard at welding and planning for the last several weeks and today the swing is set and complete!  Note the special touches - cedar wooden head piece (with brand).  Swing made of Trex (with brand).  This thing is double tough!  It took both of us, grunting and cursing, to get that swing hung!

As spring flirts with us all, a swing back and forth, watching the snow melt and the dogs get muddy; it was a nice afternoon tribute to Mike's effort of creative and practical (reduce, reuse, recycle) art piece. 

Nice work, Trumbower!!

The artist enjoying his handiwork!  All that is missing is the gin and tonic!