After the storm

After the storm over the mountains, it cleared up to be a gorgeous day.  Check out the light new dusting of snow on the mountains.

The birds were enjoying themselves!

Woodpecker

Love this cute guy with the red face.

Snake River

This is the Snake River between Jackson and Hoback Junction.  It's pretty calm in this stretch.

When I got back from my drive, I went down the side of the cabin to turn on the water for the trees and when I turned around, Foxy Lady had followed me down there.  She was less that 4 feet from me.  She is really a quiet thing and almost scared me to death when I turned around.  

The storms come mostly from the West here, which means they come in over the mountains.  That makes for surprises a lot of times because we don't see them until they are here.  This one will probably bring a short rain shower down here at the cabin, but it appears to be bringing a dusting of snow up there in the mountains.

Foxy Lady Spent the Day

Foxy Lady spent practically the whole day in the yard here at the cabin.  She even caught some dinner.

Tipperary and Shamrock spent their day in the window seat watching the bird feeders.

I did some reading and then went out to dinner.

Painting done!

Well the second coat is on the wall and all the tape is removed.  I think the newly repaired and painted walls look fabulous!  I admit I am a bit prejudiced.  You can even see the quilt that Mom made for Vance for Christmas.  It hangs in a place of honor right at the top of the stairs.

Looking up the stairwell

Looking away from the stairwell

Looking toward the stairwell

Painting

Got my paint this morning.  It was still on sale Woohoo!

It took 1/2 a can of paint and 1/2 the day to trim everything on the stairwell and the downstairs hall.  

Lets just start by saying I hate rolling paint and paint rollers.  I was almost done with rolling the first coat down the stairwell, down the hall and back on the ceiling.  Just before I got to the end of the first coat, I broke the handle on the roller. AAAAAHHHHH!!!!  I just quit right there and washed up everything. 

I'll go get another roller handle tomorrow and do the second coat early in the day when the light is good down there.


For now, I'm gonna visit with Foxy Lady for a while and then I'm gonna go find some PIZZA!  I earned it!

Spring is starting to settle in

The kitchen painting went so well, I decided to do the stairwell and the hall downstairs.  I had no paint because I missed the operating hours on Saturday, so I spent most of yesterday taping and spackling.  I'm all ready to go once I get paint tomorrow.

Yesterday afternoon I did some reading and relaxing and made some chocolate chip cookies.  All in all, a good day.

Today I'm relaxing.  The sky is clear except for some lovely fluffy white clouds.  Spring is really starting to settle in.  I can sit outside without a jacket.  I have the windows open and the birds are singing and the trees are starting to fill out and the flowers are starting to bloom.

Are You Handy?

Were your parents handy?  Were they Do-It-Yourself-ers?  Mine were.  Mom cooked, sewed (with and without a machine), knitted, crocheted, painted, gardened, etc.  Dad worked on cars, built shelving units and boats and put together a Heathkit television.  It's in my blood.  I've always been pretty handy.  Sometimes I'm nervous, but I am willing to give something a try if I have a few instructions.

Well, my aunt and uncle are not what I would call handy people.  They are good as gold, but they are no Do-It-Yourself-ers.  They are the type who have to hire people to do things.  And up here, that means expensive.  

They live in what is called Gros Ventre West (GROW VONT WEST) which is full of really REALLY  nice, big, expensive homes.  

They do not live in a big, expensive home.  Well, maybe expensive.  They bought this property when the area was first opened up years ago.  It's up on top where you can see forever in just about every direction.  There are neighborhood guidelines about how high above the ridge your house can go.  Can't block anybody else's view, you know.  Anyway, they live in a tiny cabin where only the top floor is level and the rest is half below ground and down the side of the hill.  From the road, you can't see much and it appears to be absolutely TINY.  It's a big joke. When they tell people where they live, all they have to say is the tiny cabin up top and everybody knows.

It's been wonderful visiting them through the years and they have been wonderful hosts.  Vance leads all his guests on wonderful hikes to see out of the way lakes and waterfalls, bugling elk, and wonderful vistas and wildlife.  Ann treats everybody like they are family.  She makes you feel so at home and she cooks the most wonderful meals, almost always from scratch.  What apple pies!

Well, they have lived here well over 20 years and I don't think the few (non log) interior walls have been painted since they moved in.  They still have their original sink and stove and oven and all that.  They are people of normal or below-normal means (teachers) who live in a resort town where literally everything is expensive.  They re-use everything and I am sure that they never throw anything away.

Anyway, while I was here, I wanted to do something for them, but I wasn't quite sure what it would be.  I mean besides my house-sitting chores of filling the bird feeders, keeping the pond filled and filtered, whipping up hummingbird feeder syrup, watering the trees, watering the lawn, feeding the cats and giving Tipperary his pills.  

I was noticing that there were stained places on the walls that would not come clean, so it came to me that I could paint the kitchen for Ann.  I was a bit nervous about this, so I called Mom to see if she thought they would freak out if I painted.  She told me to go for it, so off I went to Sherwin Williams.  I brought a drawer from the kitchen that is close to the current color of the kitchen and used it to pick paint.  Also picked up a brush and blue tape.  Even though everything had to be trimmed, it didn't take near as long as I would have expected.  I'm pretty sure I did a good job.  I sure hope they like it.  I'm considering doing more tomorrow.  We'll see.

So that was my day as a handy person on vacation.  

Under the weather

Both literally and figuratively.  Spent a good bit of the day in bed and never did make it out of my PJs.

A thunderstorm blew in and when I say blew, I mean BLEW.  The gales where such that I would not have been surprised to see the Jeep rocking on its tires.

My buddy

Well, Mom was supposed to join me up here this week, but now the prices have changed so drastically that she is not coming.  Looks like I'll just have to make do with Foxy Lady for a buddy.

Last night I was feeling terrible - headache, chills, etc.  I think I overdid it.  My face was beet red.  I must have gotten sunburned, although I don't know how.  Maybe it was part windburn.  I didn't think I was out in the sun that much, but then again, up here it doesn't take much because we are so high and the sky is so clear.  I guess I'll take it easy for today.

Out to find some nature!

Took off in the car to find some nature.  It's been raining almost every day, so when it was so clear this morning, I could just not be contained in the cabin.  Here are some of my better shots from today.

Mt Moran and Falling Ice Glacier

Bison

A very crisp shot of the Sleeping Indian

Mt Moran

Mt Moran

Beaver Lodge

Crystal!

Today is my first crystal clear beautiful day.  

Here are some early shots from the cabin.

Sleeping Indian

Looking down toward the Hoback

The Grand Tetons

The Grand Tetons

Today was hummingbird feeder day.  I had to refill 4 of them.  Those little guys are hungry! And I had to go to K-mart to get more sunflower seeds yesterday for the other guys.

I'm gonna take a shower and head out for a photo safari.  More pictures later.