From a Lost Kitty to a Snow Storm Pause

We began our day in Evanston, Wyoming, at the Best Western with a moment of heart-pounding stress.  Returning to our room after breakfast, Snoopy was nowhere to be found!  After searching high and low, we couldn't find him anywhere.  I envisioned him escaping while Jim put things in the car.  Jim worried that perhaps the housekeeper had inadvertently given him a chance to escape.  Finally, we decided neither of those events had occurred, and he must have made his way under the bed.  After removing all the bedding, the king mattress, and moving apart two box springs, his head popped up from beneath them.  Somehow, he had fit in between the wall and the enclosure they put under hotel beds these days.  Unfortunately, Snoopy has a good memory, so now we will have to block that space carefully each time we check into a room.

Heading east from Evanston, we continued along I-80 today.  The first thing that we noticed was a striking range of snow-covered mountains running east to west, parallel to the highway beyond some wind generators.  They are the Uinta Mountains in northeast Utah, the only east-to-west trending mountain range in the contiguous Rocky Mountains.  It looked as though they had a very generous snow accumulation over the winter.

This area of Wyoming has many interesting geological formations visible from the highway.  Buttes with very steep sides and flat or narrow tops appear regularly.  Created from a plateau or mesa, the surrounding softer rock wears away over time, leaving the harder core standing alone.

Another beautiful feature here is stratified rock made up of distinct, visible layers called strata.  Formed by sediment or volcanic material deposited sequentially over long periods of time that vary in color, composition, or grain size, these combine to create the visible layers.

We observed that there is a lot of natural gas being collected in this area, with sites bringing it out of the ground as well as what appears to be processing equipment and buildings, too.

This area deals with wind and substantial snow in the winter, and you can see snow drift fences constructed along the road to control drifting snow.  Once, we thought we saw a live elk standing by a snow fence, but after passing by, we realized it was a metal sculpture!

 

 

The straight roads here extend for miles into the distance, and after a while, it becomes mesmerizing, and you have to work hard to stay alert.

A serpentine-shaped ridge stood out to us along our drive, and a snow-draped hill foretold what was soon to become a challenging drive in the snow!

Approaching Laramie, Wyoming, we drove into a snowstorm that made visibility of vehicles in front of us almost dangerously impossible.  Prudently, we decided to stop for the day at our age.  Finding a Best Western motel, we waited out the storm and then headed into town for dinner.  The hills around town were covered in snow.   

 

Driving into Laramie, we passed by the University of Wyoming, one of the many universities in the western United States that Jim acquired for yearbook production when he worked as a professional photographer.

Upon the recommendation of the front desk at our hotel, we had dinner at Wyoming Rib & Chop House. It was delicious and the best baby back ribs we've had in a long time.  A perfect way to end the day!

 

Boise Idaho to Evanston Wyoming

After a quick cheese omelet at the La Quinta motel in Boise, Idaho, we started earlier today in heavy rain.  We are now 582 miles into our trip and were looking for fair weather after a long, rainy drive yesterday.  Finally, we could literally see light at the end of what seemed like a rain tunnel on the horizon before us amid a wind generator farm. 

The edge of the weather front tormenting us formed a straight line framing the blue sky beyond.  It was a welcome sight.

While helping us empty our home for the trip, our grandkids, Matthew and Andrea, had introduced us to Clementine oranges, and we were thrilled to find them at a Love's Truck Stop already peeled to eat.

The blue skies and clouds only delivered rain in brief intervals as we continued.  In this photo, we are passing what appear to be three grain silos Declo, Idaho, shortly after our first crossing of the Snake River.

Near Tremonton, Utah, the snow-covered mountains, including Mendon Peak, glowed white beneath dark, threatening clouds.

Escaping the rain, we encountered Willard Bay Reservoir.  Though we could only photograph a small portion of it, in the distance beyond it broadened into a large body of water.

In Morgan County, Utah, we grabbed a quick photo of "Devil's Slide" just off the edge of the highway.  This is an unusual geological formation located near the border of Wyoming in northern Utah's Weber Canyon, near the community of Croydon.  Two parallel limestone strata that have tilted to lie vertically protrude 40 feet from the mountainside, descending for hundreds of feet down the mountain, with a 25-foot erosion channel situated between them 

Near Henefer, Utah, close to Salt Lake City, an American flag flies proudly before the backdrop of white clouds and blue sky.

Cows are abundant along this stretch of Interstate-84 in Henefer with their recently born calves.

Turning easterly along Interstate-80, we start to see the red rock bluffs near Coalville, Utah, as we pass through Echo Canyon, part of Utah's famous red-rock country.  The color is caused by iron oxidation-essentially a natural rusting process.

 

In Tremonton, Utah, a small barn with a crooked roof and a white home caught our attention.

We arrived in Wyoming at 2:32 pm, crossing parts of three states today.  It feels like progress at 951 miles from Sedro Woolley, and not quite one-third of the trip.

We checked into a Best Western motel in Evanston, Wyoming, tonight, ate a spaghetti dinner in their on-site restaurant, and saw taxidermied animals in their lobby of local wildlife that were so expertly created it seemed like the live animals were present.  Outside, a fountain was decorated with an elk statue.

     

 

From Hops to Happy

Starting out this morning from Yakima, WA, along the highway we saw a field where hops are grown.  It is recognizable from the poles used to support the plants vertically from 15 to 25 feet to expose them to more sunlight.  Hops prefer to grow in well drained soil in a temperate climate following a winter dormancy period, and are used by brewers of beer to achieve a desired bitterness, aroma, and the preservation qualities of beer.

The terrain for much of the morning consisted of flat high desert amid rolling hills and cultivated fields.  Occasionaly we spotted a sparsely situated home, farm. or business sprinkled amid vast stretches of land reaching out to the distant horizon.

We crossed the Columbia River into Oregon and the rain began in earnest.  Near Pendleton we saw a sign that read "Beware of Solar Glare" which seemed like a strange warning until we spotted solar panels spread across a hill.  Less explained was the name "Deadman Pass" that we traveled through which I researched to learn had acquired its name because of violent incidents that occured during the 1870s as travelers along the Oregon Trail were killed by Bannock or Paiute warriors. 

We stopped in Boise, Idaho, tonight as we felt weary from the rainy driving.  Plus today we crossed a time zone.  Perhaps it's psychological, but it seems the new later time made stopping a good idea, too!  The motel had TV dinners AND ice cream available in the lobby, so we didn't have to hunt down a supermarket nor a restaurant with our room having both a refrigerator and microwave.  Snoopy has settled into traveling quite nicely and he gave this latest room a decided vote of approval.  Jimmy's asleep and I am going to say good night to all.  We'll see what adventures tomorrow brings and hopefully we'll slip far enough south to escape the rainy weather.

 

Packing Up-Headed East

Moving 3,333 miles from Washington State to Florida is no easy task at this elder stage of our lives.  After almost five years in the same home and ten years in Washington we had accumulated a lot of things in addition to the possessions we always thought we could never part with for decades.  

Possessions are a funny thing as they accumulate because every acquisition becomes either attached to you via heartstrings or because you just might “need it” some day or because it previously belonged to someone whom you held dear.  Nevertheless, we managed over the course of a few weeks to either give away, donate or sell probably 75% of everything we own.  It was a freeing experience as if the weight of all those items was physically lifted from our shoulders.  The more we parted with the better we felt.

Now we are reduced to three U-Pack pods whose combined area is the size of a small bedroom.  A truck will deliver them to Florida and we have started a cross country trip with Snoopy who is also an elder at this point.  He traveled all day like the seasoned traveler he was in his youth.  We headed south on I-5 in a slight drizzle and made our way around Seattle on Hwy 405.  The rain was light on Interstate 90 and cleared by the time we reached Snoqualmie Pass with its scattered patches of snow.  We reached Ellensburg by lunchtime and ended today’s journey in Yakima.  Ready to rest, we found a Best Western just off Interstate 84.  A good day and a very nice spot to relax.

Saving Seeds

As fall approaches, it is evident that all things have preservation on their minds.  My cosmos flowers are producing mature seeds within the drying remains of the last of their blooms.  These flowers have produced an abundance of blossoms from the packet of seeds I procured at Butchart Gardens.  Now my goal is to claim enough seeds to repeat the pleasure of their presence again next year in my garden.

I collected the dried flowers with their pods of fat black seeds, and then gently persuaded the pods to release their bounty.  The remainder went to the back yard for my mother squirrel to peruse.  She too is bent on preservation, with evidence of the feeding of her young visible in two rows of nipples along her light gray belly.  She is thin from the effort and the dry, hot summer we are experiencing.

Whenever I connect with this world around my home, the pleasure it brings is immeasurable.  And for me, this is preservation.

A Job Well Done

This is a tale of two jobs accomplished in the short course of an hour with one miraculous machine and a very competent operator.  The completion of both jobs probably saved Jim and me from an early grave.

The first was the trimming of cedar tree branches growing over our roof.  The glorious cedars living behind our home have gotten too zealous in their reach toward the east to greet the rising sun. Extending their boughs at least six feet into the area above our roof, while the branches were not touching our house, they did have the potential for causing damage during a windy winter storm. What to do?

Reaching from the roof to trim them was definitely not an option.  We don't go up on the roof under any circumstance at our age.  No ladder could safely reach sixty feet into the air.  Trimming from the ground with a pole trimmer posed the danger of one of us being impaled by a branch.  It seemed like an impossible task!

Luckily, there are companies that have both the equipment and talent to do this with the help of a lift. That, and a couple of different types of chain saws, made this a twenty minute job that was accomplished safely.  Plus the limbs were quickly disposed of by a team of workers feeding a chipper.

After a few additional moments, the lift was repositioned to the front of our house when the crew learned of our additional dilemma-the need to reach the top of a thirty foot flag pole to restring it in order to fly a flag.  In quick order, the young man operating the lift was able to determine the empty pulley at the top of the flag pole was still functional.  He sprayed the pulley with some oil to make it work better, before treading a loop of cord through it that we provided.  Securing this cord safely at the bottom, we now had the ability to install a proper flag rope with hooks for a flag.

The tree trimming company did not have to do this, but they did while the equipment was on site.  A team of young men helped two old people with a task they had worried over for eighteen months, and without asking for an additional dime.  Nevertheless, a tip was in order.  We were very happy with the entire experience.

A couple of days later, we pulled the flag rope through the pulley using the cord, fastened the flag on its hooks, and proudly raised our stars and strips.  With a light positioned to illuminate the flag at night, we had completed our quest to utilize the massive thirty foot pole in front of our house for what it was intended to be used for-a flag pole.

In the process, we gained the pleasure of meeting a very nice team of young men who did both jobs superbly.  We are grateful for both jobs, and for them.

   

White-crowned Sparrow

Sometimes a moment of pleasure arrives in the most unexpected way.  Occasionally, it is even a shared pleasure.

After mowing the grass, weeding, trimming shrubs and watering my plants today for a rather lengthy time, I was finishing up with a rinse of the sidewalk and driveway in the front of our house.  Washing away the scattered dirt that had accumulated from my labor with this final act was a sort of mindless task, and I was feeling tired.

A small puddle of water formed at the end of our driveway during the process.  I was musing over the amount of water I was using for this cleanup, and tossing around the idea of about a gallon of water being somewhat frivolously put into the ditch to just dribble away, when a white-crowned sparrow landed in my puddle.

First he seemed to merely want a drink of water.  We've had no rain for about a month of any measureable amount.  I felt instantly better.  One of my favorite birds, and the most vocal of those who visit our birdfeeder, was happy with this excess water.  Then to my amazement, he decided a bird bath was in order.  He spent several minutes sloshing around in the water while fluffing his wings and tail feathers.  What satisfaction I now owned while watching his moment of pure pleasure in utilizing my no longer "wasted" water. 

Sometimes I think God sends little messengers like these to thank us for our efforts.  "Well done," rang in my imagination.  Suddenly, fatigue was replaced with gratefulness on a Sunday afternoon.

I believe the universe sings to us, if only we listen.