SNOW

The irrigation wheel lines, standing patiently in the fields awaiting their summer work, have a water line pipe that runs down the center of the wheels.  The pipe sits 39 inches above the ground.  The pipes are now covered in snow. 

Mike spent over six hours plowing snow on Saturday.  I shoveled roofs.  

Lucky was spotted this weekend!  He is still alive!! 

I love how the orange hive glows in the above picture!! 

Todd, Janet, Bella, Smoke, Ruby and I made a trip into the Swarm Hive.  It was a great ski in, although the dogs worked very hard.  This is Janet standing by the hive and bees were flying!  They are still alive!!  We got it dug out and enjoyed the outing very much!

So Many Topics

 So many topics, so little time!!  

Mike's Mom Janet:  We worry about Mike's mom Janet who fell and suffered a broken hip requiring surgery.  Janet seemed to be doing well until a recent event and now she is really quite depressed.  It's hard to hear your mom sound so depressed.  We wish she would get better, be happier, start feeling well again.  Thanks to the amazing support Brother Scott and Steven are giving with the wise words and wisdom of Stephanie to help guide decision making.  We feel so far away right now.  To be by Janet's side and just hold her hand......I hope today is a better day. 

Mike Bought a House!  With the sale of the Hoback House, Mike has reinvested in a brand new home just five minutes out of Thayne.  It has an awesome 900 square foot garage and really comfortable living space.  Real-estate is crazy-competitive in Star Valley and one of the concessions made to win the house was taking it as-is.  So, he will be putting in some vinyl planking, carpet comes on the 22, a giant (expensive) glass shower door needs to be hung, and door knobs and pulls are installed (and look awesome!).  It is a very very comfortable house which I could easily move into....however, this is retirement investment.  With the rental money coming in from this place, we can start thinking seriously about retirement.....This is a picture from the day I found the house, snooping around this new subdivision neighborhood.  The name of the subdivision is North Forty.  I like that name!  It was prior, a hayfield. 

Shriner Cutter Races:  Big weekend this last weekend with plenty of snow, lots of people attending and supporting the racers and the Shriner's, and a sloppy to miserably sloppy track.  The track made a difference for the racers.  Neither of our racer friends won.  Also, no horse or rider was hurt, and that is always a good thing and a big relief.  It was awesome to get out and be amongst People again.  I've been behind door and behind mask since last March....when COVID showed up on all of our doorsteps.  I miss people.  A lot.  We are now vaccinated.  I did not wear a mask, but did keep good distance.  No harm in being careful, of this, I am certain. 

At the Fire Department:  After a 45 day public comment period, our Teton County Commissioners voted to nix fire treated wood shake shingles from roofs in the wildland urban interface areas.  There was considerable opposition, despite every fire agency in the valley standing up tall and in support of this effort, even to the point of specialists getting hired to speak.  I am appreciative and respectful to those three commissioners who leaned forward and voted yes on this important move.  Wood shakes lose their fire resistance rather quickly in this high altitude climate.  A synthetic shake does not.  If you want that shake look, there are options.  Maybe in five or ten years, the opposition will understand why this is an important local step forward in building a more wildland fire resilient community. 

Jackson Hole makes it into TIme

 Not a big surprise, our little town is the topic of a really good piece written in Time.  Check it out by clicking on this blue link  TIME PIECE

The author does a good job of spelling out our town's reality.  Really rich people live here.  Really really rich people.  He is accurate to assess the skiing scene and it's COVID hazards.  We are still open.  And there are plenty of people here.  And we need them.  This town's business is tourism.  There is no industry, the few cattle ranches are about sold out to subdivisions, and we happen to have the most beautiful mountain range in the nation right out our back door.  There is a reason people love to come here. 

And that they continue to come affects us all.  Directly, Fire/EMS still has a robust call volume.  The county feels secure enough with the money they are seeing come in from said tourists that budget strings have loosened.  We have not lost one position and money is coming in to train.  Thank goodness!

As we approach a year of this new-normal COVID world, Jackson has much to be thankful for and much to consider.  Many businesses have been impacted, but they are still open.  New construction is strong.  There are still jobs to be had.  However, workers will be driving from an hour or more away as realestate has become unattainable for the average family.  It is true, the billionaires are kicking the millionaires out of Teton County.  

Hope you enjoy the piece and I hope you are well and safe and living every day LARGE!!  

  

Bad Recipe

While I write this note about a very bad recipe, Mike's mom is undergoing surgery for her broken hip.  Oh dear, Janet, we are thinking of  you today and hoping for your speedy recovery.  

It does seem trite to write about a bad recipe when things like this are going on with loved ones in far away places.  I hope you will forgive me and recognize it is a distraction much needed during a stressful time. 

In a prior post, you may recall the recipe for the beeeautiful Bundt cake with hibiscus frosting.  Part of the cake's beauty was its form so I ordered a brand new bundt pan.  It's called a Heritage Bundt pan and is supposedly the rage on Amazon.  You can find it here.   Even if I never figure out this recipe, I am glad to have the pan.  

It got lost in delivery.  Of course.  Was to be delivered on Friday.  Now, I have been watching, anticipating, and expecting its delivery - the whole recipe revolves around the special cool-looking bundt pan!  A very helpful UPS man (Bill, he is THE MAN!), found and recovered the mis-delivered pan and redirected it to my hands.

The anticipation grew.  I had all the ingredients.  Carefully reading through the recipe directions, I got to the part where it said "add the butter...." What??  There is not butter listed in the ingredient list.  

So, I pulled up the recipe at my work desk today and there it is, right at the top.  Butter is listed.  Dang it!  Even without butter, this cake turned out beautiful and delicious - although dry.  Butter will help!!  I recommend you try it and make sure you get the entire recipe copied.  

I Love Facebook

 The title of this blog might take some of you by surprise, but I do love Facebook.  Tonight, I jumped on and watched an amazing rendition of "Bridge Over Troubled Water".  Wow, it was so moving.  Then I scrolled on to find a very tall black man tap dancing with a very short white kid.  That was super cool.  That kid was amazing!!  And then, there was a picture of a similar aged kid holding a big, iridescent trout, just out of the hole in the ice and his dad who posted it wrote, "Hooked for Life!".  You should see the smile on that kid's face - I still get those smiles when I pull a fish out of an ice hole!! 

And then there is Misty's List.  A local shopping site, punctuated with crazy political rants that get entertainingly swear-word accentuated and darn right bloody while also showing off the goods of Lincoln County (the county just south of Teton County).  I have found some good things on this site.  There is quite a bit of junk too, but you can get good at breezing through periodically; just checking to make sure something good didn't come up!!  Good things go fast!!

There is certainly a heaping helping of crap, but it's sort of like looking around the Re-Store.  Every now and then you find something so unique and so special, you are just glad you make a habit of coming in every now and then.  

Sometimes you get to enjoy little kids with big, iridescent trout, and that makes it worth coming back again and again.  

Find the good.  Find the good.  It is still QUITE out there!! You just have to open yourself up and look! 

HOOKED FOR LIFE!!  

Gadget Girl

Kitchen gadgets make life easier.  A good sharp knife is critically important.  This year, an anonymous gift arrived from Amazon - much to my delight - someone sent me a brand new Globe knife!  Wow!  What a great gift.  I tried to identify the sender but he/she is being very coy.  Thank you for this amazing gift.  I have already drawn blood due to its sharpness!  I wish I was a bit better at sharpening these important gadgets,. but for now, my new knife is razor-sharp!  

Diana gave me a battery-operated pepper mill a long, long time ago.  Made by Puget.  It's really really great and we still use it and love it.  I think the batteries have been replaced once. 

My newest gadget arrived yesterday and was triggered from my first attempt at home made ravioli (see earlier blog post).  It was a success, but rolling out that pasta by hand was rather exhausting.  Just got the pasta maker attachment for my Kitchen Aid and it ROCKS!  I used it to make crackers last night and it was sooooo much easier!  Pasta making next.  I only got the pasta one; I think I can cut to make noodles.....

There is a recipe for poppy seed lime bundt cake with a hibiscus frosting that I found the other day.  I fell in love immediately.  Recipes can hit you that way.  You see a picture of the final creation and you know you MUST make it!!  Of course, I don't have a bundt pan shaped like that, so one is now on its way from Amazon!  

A well-equipped kitchen must have a food processor, a Kitchen Aid, a blender, a good scooper (for ice cream or cookies), a hand can opener (why, tell me, would anyone need an electric can opener??), a carrot/potato peeler, various cookie sheets and pans, mixing bowls, measuring cups and measuring spoons, and a kitchen scale. I have become a huge believe in a kitchen scale!  I have a cold press juicer that cost a few days of work which I really love too.  The apples off our tree in Freedom make a delicious jice 

Some gadgets I have not been that thrilled about would be the spiralizer.  I've used it a few times but overall, it takes up more space that it's worth.  I got a herb grinder from Food 52 that I thought would be awesome.  It's cast iron, really heavy thing.  Thought it would work great on grinding things up.  It did not.  It's a heavy paper weight and I don't even use it for that!!  

Of course, for jam making, I am especially proud and pleased with my copper pot.  It was outrageously expensive - made an impressive gift from Mike.  Even he was impressed when I told him he had bought it for me!!  A bit of magic goes into every batch of jam I simmer in that orange piece of artwork.  It is lovely, at rest or at work. 

Now that I am in the manic-sourdough bread-making mode, having two proofing baskets and a good scoring lame with, of course, that kitchen scale mentioned above, have been pivotal in making consistent good loaves of bread.  Last week, I sold 13 loaves through our local Slow Foods in the Tetons   This neat marketing online source has given me a way to sell my bread and it sells out right away!  Clearly, Jackson needs a bread shop!!  

What is your favorite gadget?  What do I still need that I don't even know about.....???

Recipe of the Week and Snowmobiling

Thanks to a plethora of very ripe bananas and a bag full of fresh cranberries, I whipped up an original recipe this week which turned out delightful! Banana Cranberry Bread with Cranberry Cream Cheese Frosting.  

I took a general banana bread recipe and threw in 2 cups of fresh cranberries.  Then I took a couple of cups of cranberries, mixed in some sugar and some grated up a couple of kumquats for that unmistakable orange sensation.  This mixture was baked for 10, maybe 20 minutes; until the cranberries looked cooked.  After it cooled, these were added to the cream cheese frosting mix (which ultimately needed more powdered sugar; it was a bit thin).  The remained lined up on top, as you see.  The frosting was over the top delicious!! 

We finally got a day and enough snow to go riding on Sunday.  Mike and I went up into the country we elk hunt.  Seeing the landscape and trails in winter wonder was really great!  The machines worked well.  This picture of Mike is at the top of the ridge.  We were contemplating the trail below, knowing how it looks in the fall and wondering if we could make it down the tight turns, the narrow trail, the heavily wooded timber.  We did, but it took some real riding!!  Great day!! 

One Big Experiment

I got my vaccination this week.  Mike got Pfizer, I got Moderna.  We both get our second shot later this month.  

Personally, I have zero concerns about this new-style vaccination and feel fortunate to be one of the lucky ones to have this opportunity to vaccinate early.  I have had five positive COVID contacts thus far (that I know of) - all of them at work.  Providing vaccinations to those of us in the emergency service world is paramount.  I am sorry there are states that have put emergency responders lower on the priority list.  In uncontrolled emergency incidents, our chance of risk is higher - dare I say - that even the risk of the nurses and docs in the emergency room.  Our hospital tests all ER patients as they come through the door and has top of the line PPE (we have the personal protection equipment as well, but working a fast-moving scene provides ample opportunity for masks to not be tight, glasses to fog up, and cross contamination to occur).

In my head, I have written several blog spots on this topic.  I ponder why people are so opposed.  Parents vaccinate their children against measles, small pox, polio and most parents never think twice.  Many of those people who are opposed were vaccinated as a child.  Cases of polio have decreased over 99% since 1988.  As humans, we have practically eliminated polio off the planet.  And this happened because everyone got on board and vaccinated.  Shouldn't we be working toward this same result with COVID-19?  

The vaccine is new technology, new science.  I suppose that concept could be frightening or exhilarating - all depending on how one frames it.  iPhones were new technology once.  These little devices which we depend on so thoroughly, are the very tracking machines that some worry about with the vaccine.  If you think you will be tracked after getting the vaccine, you are already being tracked through your phone, I assure you of this.  

Worried about what will go into your body with this vaccine?  Hmmm.  What are you putting into your body these days?  Have you really been honest with yourself on this?  Processed foods and preservatives?  Smoking things and dragging crap into your lungs?  Oh, I could go on, but won't.  Do an inventory and think about what goes into your body this week.   

There has never been a vaccine created in such a short time frame.  Will it work?  We shall see.  I feel a bit part of the Big Experiment and that's okay.  I applaud Science for this new technology!  We could be on the road toward many many more cures because COVID showed up on the block.  

In the fall, I got a flu shot.  Once I am finished with my second COVIC shot, I will be heading to get a shingles vaccine.  Then my second pneumonia shot.  I see all of these as opportunities to lower the risk of illnesses and enhance my already great lifestyle.  The magic of Science!!  And I am thankful to live in a place where one has full access to these risk reduction opportunities.  Imagine living in a country where all these health opportunities do not exist.   

Thank you Wyoming.  Thank you for putting emergency responders' right there on the top of the vaccination priority list.  I am honored and proud to be part of the emergency service world and I am beginning to feel a slight bit safer.  

It will, however, be a long time before I quit wearing a mask!!  Stay well, stay happy, and here's to 2021!  May the year ahead unveil many more discoveries for us all!! 

Mike's comment, "big arms".  Ah, thank you, Dear One!!  Yes, I have been blessed with strong, large, fat and flabby arms!!  You gotta love your partner's honesty!! 

Recipe of the Week, #2

I could feel it coming.  It's been an undercurrent all of my life.  This fall, when I found the nice fresh raviolis in the deli section the pull became stronger.  A delicious quick meal.  Saute up some onions and garlic, throw in a can of diced tomatoes and tomato paste, some oregeno and basil and dinner is served.  Then the guests staying at our house sent a picture of their lovely daughter, Lilyjean, eating raviolis.  The ones grandpa makes every year for Christmas.  It's a family tradition.  

I had all of the ingredients and a full free day.  The 00 Flour, eggs, oil.  The green ball above is the ravioli pasta ready to chill and colored up in kale powder green.  

There is no pasta maker in our lives.  Remarkable.  Mike is certain I have every kitchen gadget known to man and woman, however, I have no pasta maker.  This pasta dough was rolled with a rolling pin.  I may very well use this year's Christmas money (thanks Mom & Dad!!) for the Kitchen Aid attachment for pasta rolling.....

Each rav was filled with things I found.  Some burger left from tacos the other night - seemed weird, but what the heck!  Some parmesan cheese.  Some pumpkin seeds.  An egg.  I whirled it up in the food processor, ready for filling the ravs! 

I will say, this was a success!!  They are simply delicious!!  One recipe made about 30 ravs; enough for dinner and enough to freeze.  My oh my.  

It was bound to happen sooner or later! Manga!  (Or however you spell that!!)

  

Happy Holidays 2020

 As you get the last details ready for this holiday weekend coming up, Mike and I wish you a healthy and safe holiday season. 

We love this picture taken of us at Todd & Janet's fall wedding this year by friend Debbie Meagher.  If you were getting a mailed holiday card, this would be the picture on the front!  But, you are not getting a card in the mail!!  

Life changes.  Challenges come, opportunities sprout.  We miss family terribly.  Through all this, we have felt the amazing support of our parents, helping us stay mentally grounded and well.  Thank you Janet, and Jean, and Ken for being there when we need to talk or like to listen, for sending texts that make us laugh, and just, well, for being such a huge part of our lives - even though we cannot be together. 

I have watched FEAR take ahold of friends.  Fear is an ugly thing.  COVID hits pocket books (and the worse may be coming....), affects life styles, and infects loved ones.  News, TV, and social media breeds on fear.  Lots of other things out there breeding on fear too.  It's a fragile time.  The COVID triangle.   The virus, the financial impact, and the mental impact.  Again, I bow to my parents' and friends' support in helping me stay strong and well mentally.  I work hard every day to not let Fear permeate my being.  Positivity and optimism are my choice in life.  

For those of you who read this greeting, we wish you good health and a positive and optimistic outlook for your life, the things you believe in, and the way you want you life to be.  Every morning we make personal choices.  You let the things come into your life that you allow.  Live the life you want, sing, be happy, celebrate life.  It's still worth living.  Even with a mask on!! 

Meet Moose

 Mike's mule Cosmo had to be put down earlier this year due to an injury that was something which could not be fixed.  It was an incredibly sad day.  We love our livestock.  We patiently put up with their quirks, their sometime rebellious moods, we laugh about their personalities, and we are proud of their strong work.  They become friends we trust with our life and that's a pretty big deal.  To say goodbye to a trusted friend is never very easy.  Rest in Peace at the Walton Ranch burial hole, Cosmo.  You were the ugliest good looking mule we've ever owned.  You looked like a Milky Way bar with your chocolate spots and creamy colors filled around them.  You made Mike swear more than once, you let Ruby ride on the saddle, and your adventures with Trumbower gave us so many good stories to remember and share around the campfire.  You were a good mule. 

So the search began to find another.  And a search it has been, indeed.  We almost made a trip to the northeast corner of Wyoming seeking a potential mule until veterinarian friend, Ken Griggs, took one look of the picture of the mule's teeth and advised us this mule was much older that was being advertised.  Then friends Seth and Alden took a four-plus hour road trip to find a mule with an ugly abscess on its face (clearly the side they did not photograph) and left with an empty trailer.  Thank you two, that was really nice of you to do that for us!   

Seth kept looking.  For us and for himself.  He found our mule, he announced.  And it looked like a real candidate!  So we went for a drive yesterday.  I took the day off and we drove south to Utah. 

There were some early signs that pointed to how our day might go.  The thermos of coffee dumping all of the coffee out into the lunch bag.  The bag of dogfood ripping as Mike tried to transfer the food into the mouse proof container.  I had bad feelings about taking the red diesel Dodge and said so. The failing air condition at end of summer and the funny knocking sounds during hunting season gave me a strong feeling we should have hooked to the old green Ford.  

We arrived at the mule's owner's house around noon on a blue sky, breezy and mild winter day, red Dodge diesel towing the trailer.  Mike saddled up the tall, dark mule, anxious leaving his two girlfriends in the small fence paneled yard.  

Off they went into the open flat field to the south of the mule's home.  Wagging his head and crow hopping a couple of times, it was clear he was not at all pleased about leaving the girls.  Mule Owner and I watched with anxiety, wondering how long before Mike ended up in a heap on the ground.  Further and further they rode off, Mike at the reigns of a mule that doesn't have a very good steering wheel, Mule Owner and I holding our breath as he rode further and further off into the distance (Mule Owner quietly proclaiming with a low and ominous tone,  "I've never ridden him that far away before").  He turned the mule to cross to the other side of the field.  Back and forth, round and round, crow hop or two thrown in, and back he came, a measured and calm walk, returning to his girls.  Mike liked him.  The mule's name is Moose. 

So all seemed to be going well.  Mike did not get dumped, he liked the mule, we bought the mule, and followed Mule Owner to vet to get health certificate.  Off to the gas station to get fuel for the Dodge.  Fueled up, we pulled onto the side road to take us to the interstate and then suddenly, another funny sound and the rubber smell of burning plastic sent Mike making a dramatic U-turn with trailer back into the parking lot. Gray acrid smelling smoke was billowing out of the hood and especially on my side.  I was pretty sure we were about to watch our Dodge burn to the ground and I was thinking "get your purse, get the dogs, get the mule out of the trailer, and call 911".

Fortunately, it was just a major belt smoking to it's final breaking point.  I guess that is better than burning up the truck, but it was a big deal.  Mule Owner came to the rescue, brining a new belt, calling a mechanic friend, spending the remainder of his afternoon helping Mike replace the compressor (a new one delivered by a couple of young kids in an old beater Buick, cost of said compressor charged to Mule Owner's credit card - I would later repay him on his Venmo account) and figure out how to thread the serpentine belt in a very limited work space with a very limited tool selection.  Another friend of Mule Owner showed up in a red flatbed pickup.  Where did you come from, I asked.  I saw JT over her under the truck and thought I might be able to help!  Amazing, said I. 

As Mike crawled into the truck to turn the key three and a half hours later, I asked how we might repay them.  Both lowered their eyes and gave and "ah, shucks, we don't want any money" response.  Pay it forward, one said.  I can attest, there are still good people out there in the world!!  They will get gifts of gratitude. 

The sun dropped below the horizon and Mike started the engine.  The belt stayed in place.  We were on our way home!!  We arrived in Freedom before 8:30pm with a tired mule, two tired dogs, and two happy passengers!  Moose bayed his mournful mule holler, missing the girls left behind, under a starry sky with a bale of good alfalfa hay for eating.  He was happy to get some grain from his new owner this morning and this afternoon will be meeting his new buddy, Gus.  

Welcome to our Family, Moose.  We will love you and take care of you just like we did with Cosmo and that we do for the others in the family.  We know you will have quirks, strengths and weaknesses.  We will do our very best to insure you have a long and healthy life.  I think you will like it here.  Please take good care of Mike. Thank you for not dumping him onto a field in Utah yesterday! 

And the Dodge goes to the shop on Monday. 

  

Recipe of the Week

 With good intentions, I begin a series called "Recipe of the Week".  

Mike says it is the best Cesar salad he has ever eaten.  The dressing, whipped up by hand, has just the right mix of fishy, salty anchovy and garlic.  Below are the directions.  

Take three slices of oily, smelly, salty anchovies out of their can and onto a cutting board.  Don't worry about the drops of oil that coat these delicious morsels.  Chop the fish meat into small pieces. 

Peel a sumptuous clove of garlic (if you have garlic from my garden, your clove will be fat, juicy, and spicy) and coarse chop alongside of the chopped anchovy. 

When you tire from chopping these two ingredients into tiny pieces, flatten out your knife and press down on the two, working the mixture into what looks more like a slurry of combined goodness.

In a small bowl, place the yolk from the egg you just went out and gathered from the hen house coming in and separating out the white into the sink garbage disposal into the bowl.  (If you have no chickens, I am sorry for you).  Beat it up with a wire whisk. 

Add fresh lemon juice.  About half a lemon was right - around 2 tablespoons.  Wisk.  Add a squirt of very good mustard.  Wisk.  

Now dribble, ever so slowly, good olive oil into this mix whisking, whisking constantly.  The mixture is going to thicken.  I added a few drops of water when I was getting pretty tired of whisking.  

To finish, add the anchovy/garlic slurry and some shredded Parm cheese.  Whisk and be ready for a real taste bud treat. 

I cheated with the croutons and was delighted with the results.  Took some older bread (whaaaat, bread in our house??!!), cubed it and put it in a pan with olive oil.  Heated, threw in some seasonings and done!!  Croutons made without a cookie pan and/or oven!!  

Mix the dressing into your chopped Romaine, divide into serving bowls, top with croutons and cheese.  Be prepared for the best Cesar salad you have ever eaten. 

Today is a Big Day

 Today is a big day.  Today, Mike sells his Hoback home.  

I'm sorry I do not have a picture of the house as we prepare to sign the paper work to make it so. 

In the works, a hope to get some farm land just west of our place in Freedom and the hope to buy a house in the area we could rent for that needed retirement income......

There should always be a picture in a blog.  Here you can see a slice of the land Mike is hoping to buy, just on the left of the frame. (The markings on the picture is to direct the Harvest Host guests where to park).  

Dirty Socks

 Mom sent me a GREAT book (Nose Dive), inspired from my excited sharing of smells.  Which, amazingly, I have been able to smell.  It is a sense which disappeared years ago.  I figured of all things, losing one's sense of smell can't be the worst thing a human body experiences.  

Anyway, I will spare you the details of how, but my smell is back.  Mike finds my joyful proclamations funny as I open the jar of dark roasted coffee beans and take a giant smell in shouting out how goooooood the coffee beans smell.  But exactly what do they smell like? 

And that's what inspired the book.  Mom heard the author on NPR (because she listens to it non-stop!) and new I needed the book. 

Did you know smells are volatilized atoms?  AND, here is the really cool part, many atoms are similar to others.  

This is a picture of ALL the kraut I have sitting on the counter, happily fermenting away.  Some of it is waiting to be jarred up, some of it is bubbling away.  Our house smells like dirty socks!!  And now I know why!!  The atoms the ferment throws into the air are certainly similar to those of dirty socks!!  And I'm just 20 pages into the book!!  

I need adjectives!!  Incidentally, I have plenty of kraut!  Some of my Fans have discovered that this stuff is not only delicious, but good for you too.  Mike and I eat it on our eggs, our sandwiches, and our steaks.  Certainly a good addition for building up immunity - not a bad idea right now!! 

It has been snowing.  A bunch!

This is a picture out the back door yesterday morning, before it snowed another half foot.  Winter came early this year!! 

Happily, we found my elk before the big storm came. 

Thank you Miss Elk for standing still so long so I could make a good shot.  Your meat will be relished and appreciated!  We are so lucky to have a freezer packed with lean, organic meat.  This year, I have asked the processor to put aside the burger (with some pork fat mixed in) and I am going to make a variety of breakfast sausage.  Please send me your favorite recipes!!  

I love the smell of breakfast sausage sizzling in a pan but I have no clue of how to describe that smell......the greasy smell of pork fat filling the air and making me hungry!!  

I Never Thought of That!

As Mike awaits the final sale of his Hoback house, he threw out the idea about a month ago that we should look for some snowmobiles.  I was all in!  Of course, as life goes, once you start thinking about something, you start seeing that something.  One of the guys we snowmobiled with back in the day had this sled up for sale.  His son was selling the other.  A person we totally trust, they were purchased without hesitation.

And as we loaded them, Mike quipped, I could have bought a couple of mules for what we paid for these things!  I never thought of that!!  

Word around the valley - north and south - is that snowmobiles are a hot commodity.  No one wants to be in a tram car on the ski hill and many are thinking snowmobiles are the perfect social yet isolated winter activity.  The trails will probably be busy. 

Don't they look a bit like bees??  These are two stroke sleds.  Pull the cord and blap blap blap they growl!  An 800 and a 600 engine size.  Get stuck once, and you have your daily workout!  

Yes, it's a bit redneck, however, once we spend the entire winter in Freedom, these toys could be a very nice distraction to impending boredom!!  

Raising Funds

It is a tragic story.  One of a 9 month old in his stroller.  Mom runs into the tent to grab a coat while dad leaves.  Dad see the back of the stroller and figures all is well, gets in his truck and backs over his nine month old son who crawled out of the stroller. Tragic, heartbreaking, and an event that brought the community together to do something.  Something for this young couple that lost their beautiful baby boy.  Someone started a Facebook page and they did a community fund raising event through an auction.  Local people donated a ton of things.  I think they had close to 800 items donated.  I donated a sour cherry pie.  It fetched $90 and was delivered this last weekend.  

I also donated a case of wide mouth pint jars with lids and rings.  It fetched $55.  Those are almost collectors items this year!! 

The family is overwhelmed with the love and care from the community.  They have more money than they need, so I have heard, and will help out other families when needed.  

I doubt there are many more things more difficult to endure.  I hope they find some very good counseling so they can go on with life.  

Still Hunting

Well, Mike is still in camp.  Turns out, big horn sheep are as elusive - if not more - than elk!  Weather played a part as well as a few other things.  It's all good.  He loves it there.  And so did I!  I relaxed.  I remembered what it feels like to relax!  Read an entire book in a day!  The Bear was a great read and I liked it a bit more than its counterpart, The Road  Both are stories about the end of the world - I know, right?  Still, both were great reads.  I always like Cormac's writing; even though it is dark and frightening!  I read The Road when Mike was in camp a couple of weeks ago, lying in bed, gobbling up the words, imagining the destruction and terror until after midnight one night!!  Crazy.  Very unlike me!! 

And I relaxed more.  Days with long naps.  A ride to look for sheep.  Nights of constant patter on the tent, rain and more rain.  When silence came, you knew the rain had turned to snow.  And I wrote.  I wrote pages and pages.  Mainly about camp.  If I ever scribe a book, it will be titled "The Best Chapter in Life" and it will be about wilderness/hunting camp.  Below, you will find Part I. If you have time to read it, I warmly welcome and invite your thoughts in review.  

Stories.  There is time for stories in hunting camp.  And when they are told, everyone listens!  It's remarkable.  Nothing is pulling anyone's attention away.  Stories and good listeners. Wow. 

Here are some photos.  I never take enough pictures. 

The ride into camp (and Gus's ear, bottom left!)

Mike's Taj mahal Tent!  It's huge!! 

And a great location for an afternoon nap! 

The Shark's Tooth!  Cool, right?!

Heading back into camp, crossing the Elk Fork River. 

Good grief, Seth, SMILE!!  Alden, Seth, Mike and Kathy

Part One

Nothing, yet everything is remarkable about this morning. 

I sit basking in the morning sun in a camp deep within the Washakie Wilderness.  I am the sole human being in camp.  The other living warm blooded animals include four watchful dogs, sixteen head of stock - horses and mules - two loud chattering and somewhat obnoxious squirrels, and an occasional bird song.  A flicker yak-yak-yaking in the distance off my left shoulder.  A stellar jay squawks a commanding cry in the valley below. 

Cabin Creek sings its mountain stream song, the omnipresent white noise of camp.  Ned, the wrangle horse, wanders around weaving through the canvas tent landscape, eating the late fall grasses, the bell strapped around his neck sounds his location each time he moves. 

The early morning fires, set to make coffee and warm tents, are mostly out.  A breeze, gently wafting about, in no particular direction, carries hints of smoke from the stoves, still warm to the touch. 

On the portable radio, the NOAA weather channel forecaster chatters on about a wet cold front bringing rain turning to snow for this evening.  This long-lasting dry fall with 20 degree mornings and 75 degree days have parched the landscape.  The trails are dusty, dried, and trodden.  The dust is micro-fine, light in the air, surrounding the horses and their riders in a haze of floating dust.  Some moisture would be a good thing for this water-starved landscape. 

We are good friends with the owners of this camp.  Their third year here.  Seth and Alden work hard to bring a bit of civilization to their tiny spot in this enormous wild country. 

The ride into the Elk Fork Camp is a pleasant nine mile ride.  Ambling along the trail above the Elk Fork River, cottonwoods make their final season exclamation, shimmering in fluorescent yellows.  The warm afternoon chinook wind peels off the leaves and makes a confetti show, leaves piling up on the dusty trail. The season of rest is coming soon. 

Junipers appear along the trail, laden with purple berries and the smell of good gin.  This landscape is surprisingly diverse; aspens, cottonwoods, junipers, pine, sage, grasses, wild roses make their living from the water the Elk Fork delivers.  The river rolls down this wide canyon carving its way to meet the Shoshone River, the confluence down by the parking lot and the road.  The road that makes its way to Cody or to Yellowstone National Park, depending on which way one turns.  This road, a river of its own. 

The work here is not work for the weak of body or spirit.  The season begins mid-summer when the Elk Fork is big and roars carrying the winter's melt off downstream.  Deep and fast, the river is dangerous.  This river is crossed six times traveling into camp.  The frigid spring run-off can push a horse and its rider off balance or tip a mule and her load plumb over into a torrent of fast-moving and powerful current.  The river's spring time cacophony demands attention.  Stock work to keep their footing as they make their way across stream, over unseen boulders, large and small, rounded by the river's persistent hands.  

Fabric tents are erected under the support of logs cut and carried to the tent sites.  Topped off with a canvas fly, these cloth four sided structures will shelter the weary and cover the dining table while coffee and meals are prepared and consumed. In all kinds of weather events. 

To heat these fabric structures requires copious amounts of firewood.  Dead trees must be felled using a crosscut saw.  This saw, long bladed and shark toothed, is operated by a two person crew - one person pulling the other doing this same effort, come their turn.  A push, rather than a pull, renders the saw into a flexible useless piece of equipment and the effort must start again.  Pull, rest, pull, rest, pull, rest. 

With this great effort and time, trees are dropped, rounds are cut, rounds are split, split wood is gathered and stacked.  It is impossible to appreciate the work invested in a single stick of firewood until you grab the handle of a crosscut saw, spend an afternoon splitting rounds into firewood, pickup those enormous piles of wood and stack them in various tents. 

Nothing here is simple.  The oven does not just turn on, it too is heated by wood.  Careful burning and flue adjustment is required to turn out a cake, a pan of brownies, or morning biscuits to sop up rich sausage gravy.  Illumination is provided from fuel-fired Coleman lanterns, their silky mantel socks filling with fuel and glowing bright white in the darkening tent.  The outhouse sits over a hole which must be dug and re-dug every spring.  Water is fetched from Cabin Creek in galvanized pales.  Sweet, cold water.  

The day winds to an end.  Lanterns are cranked off, stoves are dampened down, and sleeping bags are zipped up.  Breath in, breath out.  Wind rustles overhead in dead trees which seem far too close to the tent.  The night sky is black and brilliant with stars and planets; the paintbrush-swath of the Milky Way traces through the sky.  A meteor scratches a line across the sky landscape.  One night while in camp, it is warm enough to sit with chin up, gazing into that great abyss above, pondering wild places and the frightening enormity of it all.  

Planning, Packing, and Panic-ing!

Mike and I are headed to Seth and Alden's hunting camp.  On Thursday!  Yikes!  Today is Tuesday.  I have been pre-making dinners.  Time to pack.  Time to plan.  Time to panic a bit, still lots to do!!  

The break will be very good.  Last week was super-stressful with staff members testing positive for COVID, more staff members being sent home to quarantine, and those remaining showing distinct signs of the COVID Jitters. 

But don't worry, it's not a big deal, per some authorities.  What a dumb ass.  Tell that to the >200K people who have died.  I'm sorry, this is a big deal and those of you whom I love, keep being careful.  You do not want this virus, it is real.  But, hey, that's just my opinion!! If you are going to be careless and get it, please don't hang out with those who do not want it.  Just sayin'.....

Postings from camp when we get out.  Snow coming.  4-6 inches Saturday night in the high country....

October is Fire Safety Month

 You might just enjoy the Chiefs' messages on fire safety!  Fire Inspector Bobbi Clauson put this together to get to our kindergarten kids for Fire Prevention Month!!  Take a look at the video by clicking on the video below! 

Mr. Fitzgerald and Mrs. Palermo!

 Gray clouds and drizzle brought in the fall afternoon as guests of Todd and Janet made their way to the river side setting at Broken Arrow Ranch.  Pop up tents covered hay bales (Trumbower hay, of course) and an arbor stood front and center.  The bride dressed while the gathering of dearly beloved waited.  

Pictures may best reflect this great afternoon.  The rain quit.  The sun actually came out a bit too.  A wonderful time was had by all as Todd & Janet finally tied the knot!  They've been together for 20 years!!  I think their relationship has stood the test of time!