The Bug is Back!

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Keith drove a rental to Amy & Kevin's to visit and bring back my sweet green car.
Kevin's mechanic got him running beautifully, so that even in blinding snow, Keith made it home.
That's the end of the story, the beginning started in October 2010.
I decided a road trip to Mom & Dad's would be just the ticket, no planes or trains, I wanted the thrill of the black top.
I've been on many a road trip - in the 60's with the family from Panama to Wisconsin in a VW Bus, in the 80's with the kids driving from Louisiana to Winnipeg to visit Mary and her kids, to the 90's in our big bust out of Louisiana in a rented U-Haul to Seattle, Richard & Arlene.
This would be my first all by myself, but I was game and prepared.
Keith got Kermit checked out by the local mechanic, I had my route mapped out, my favorite foods in the cooler for picnics and my lucky charm - Edgar - what could go wrong?

3 in 1 - The Father, the Son and the.... sweetest baseball player the Mariners will ever have!

yummy bologna sandwich, mayo, butter....darn good

Just before the rain came down, crazy hard.

First stop - Livingston Montana - grand old hotel

on the road with the sun rising....

then this...over heated engine - woe is me - called Keith on our newly purchased cell phone - "what do I do?"

Back to Livingston - two mechanic shops and lots of walking around town....

The water pump busted, causing the thermostat to stick or something. With new parts on the engine and old parts in the back floor board ....

I'm back on the road again....taking side roads, tired of the big interstate...

Nebraska

Edgar points the way...

to Missouri...

visiting my brother Jehd & his wife Cheryl

In my short visit they took me on so many rides - the gator, the bass boat,

not this cool old plane,

but yes on their Baby - a very sweet Cessna...

a birds eye view of their home.

their are a lot of trees in Missouri!
I had a great time with them, loved their home and playing card games and eating home made pizza, Jehd's specialty!

On the road again - driving to Louisiana.

Every visit to Louisiana includes stopping by St. Joseph and seeing Mrs. Mac.

Sisters!!

Sisters!!!
and more games!

and of course I visit my family, by brother Ed and his wife Mitzi,

and my sweet Mom & Dad

always a good time!

My bro getting me ready for the road again.

First stop, Shreveport - my "cuz" Kim.

Next stop Amarillo.

No, no, no! Busted down in Santa Fe,

Ominous with the crows circling above..

ends with a tow, me to the hotel and Kermit to the VW place.

While I waited I took a walking tour and

drank....and ate.

Two days later I'm on the road again....

only to break down again - 5 hours after being "fixed" on a

snowy, isolated mountain road with no cell phone service. I wave down a car - a 1950 jalopy for pity sake... his cell phone had service, so I called Farm Tow yet again and waited 2 hours by myself for the tow truck...

it just kept snowing...

Kermit didn't like it!

deja vue

This break down (and if you are keeping track it's number three!) happened on a Friday afternoon, when the town of Durango is shut down for the weekend. I couldn't get anything done until Monday. So in the mean time I happened upon this cool nature trail...

Come Monday, after many phone calls between me and Keith and my brothers and folks it was decided that I would hop a Greyhound home and get a trucking service to bring Kermit back to Washington.

On the bus...

which involved a 6 hour lay over (during the night) in Salt Lake, puking babies, snow delayed buses, missing bus connections because of delayed buses, serpentine belts being lost, and too many stories for a two day trip, that ended happy with a shared ride with a fellow traveler and his wife who picked us up in Ellensburg and took me to Wenatchee where Keith scooped me up in his arms to never let me go again.
OK that was a bit dramatic but it felt like that at the time.

"Nothing but Blue Skies do I see"
So the trucking service didn't pan out, but lucky for us Kevin's family came to our rescue, a friend of theirs brought Kermit with a rented tow thing to their house and their capable hands which brings us back to the beginning where Keith drove to their house for a visit. Next post will be photos of his trip.
It's good to have the VW back. Thanks so much to everyone who helped me out along the way!!

This road trip just called out to Keith and his song writing mojo... "Me and My Beetle Kermee"

Snow Shoeing Days

January began with very cold and sunny days with lots of fluffy snow. Half way into the month everything changed. There would be wafts of warm air towards evening, a few evenings the temp rose into the 50's! Rain fell instead of snow and the clouds rolled in to stay. Other nights the temp dropped making the morning walk to the barn a slippery adventure. Today on the last day of January, the sun is coming out (Hello Sun - we sure missed you!) and it's cold again (below freezing) Hopefully the snow will start falling again - ironic that the Northeast is getting all the snow that we want!

There isn't a lot to do on the Farm these days, no fields or gardens to maintain. The grounds to hard to build fences. Thank goodness the animals still need a little of our time to keep them happy. So Keith and I have been snowshoeing, quite a lot. We are getting out into the snow more this year because I now have fantastic winter wear (light weight and super warm) and we have poles to go with our snow shoes thanks to our neighbor Dorothy who had some extra ones in her garage. I'm no longer falling down and getting wet when I snow shoe!!!

We snow shoe around Longs Trail(butts up against our property) and ...

the farm.

The Vineyard.

When the weather changed the hens started laying like crazy. Time to put up the sign and time for a new sign.

The plaque with the eggs painted on can be flipped to show the word "empty" when we have no eggs to sell. I left plenty of room on the sign in case we have produce to sell this summer.

We also snowshoed up Potato Creek - a dirt road about 3 miles up river from us.

Evidence of the 1994 Tyee Fire is everywhere, but you also see the new growth of planted trees by the forest service.

Love these trees.

Two weeks later we went up Potato Creek with our friend Anne-Renee. The snow melt was so thorough that we sometimes felt a bit over prepared for the hike.Below are 3 sets of photos from the two hikes taken from the same spots, just for comparison purposes.

Lots of Beaver Dams on Potato Creek.

With the lack of snow the beaver workmanship was seen more readily.

Last weekend Keith & I went up Preston Creek which is about 12 miles up river from us. We figure there would be better snow and there was. But also lots more fog.

"Don't jump Keith"
The hike is all up hill and the views are suppose to be beautiful. We'll go back when it's sunny, because it's a real nice hike. Any one want to join us?

Here are a couple of videos of our goats A-R took. We call it:
"Goats on Parade"

Cold Cold Days

It has been a very cold New Year.
The mornings start with temperature readings below zero, warming up by 3pm to balmy numbers between 8 and 12 degrees. However there has been no wind and lots of sun which equates to Beauty.

The river is beginning to freeze, on top and from the bottom up.
The Entiat River is one of the few rivers in North America (the world?) where ice will form on the bottom of the river bed while the top water rushes over. It's amazing to see....hard to explain and photograph - at least for us, we need some of our great photographer friends - Kiley, Rob, Guy, Kent, Didi - to come over and capture this phenomenon.

This is a fun "sculpture" of snow and ice.

The snow started to slide off the roof of this shed, then it turn cold and ice formed underneath.

We have made snow trails around the farm....

for Fun Farm Snow Walks!

Cinder is so pretty and so cold!

After being out for her chilly walks she loves to snuggle in the blankets.

Cinder, Bandida and Franny were all sleeping together on the Chaise, but as soon as we brought out the camera they started to scram. I don't think they want anyone to know that they can get along.
Reminds me of our House of Representatives....

Besides standing by the fire, and cuddling with the dogs, I''m beginning a new project.
I'm piecing a quilt, using Keith's mom's house dresses, some old shirts of Keith's and my sewing scraps. This is my first patch using fabric from 2 house dresses and one shirt.
It's a 1898 Ladies' Art Company design called "Box Quilt".
I'm making it for our 1958 Shasta Trailer which we purchased back in August.
Only 79 more to go!

Speaking of August here's a little story...
we bought this trailer from our neighbor and wonderful lady, Musie.
Our plan is to get it running so that by October we can hire someone to feed the farm animals, pack up the dogs and head down the road with Shasta being pulled by Big Max(our gray truck) and visit some folks and see other sights.

Our friends Anne-Renee and Julie were with us that weekend when we picked up the trailer.
Typical of us we had chores for them. Julie and I worked in the garden, gathered vegies and cooked while...

A-R was given the task of making a Turkey Ramp.

- and didn't she do a fine job? I bet there is no better Turkey Ramp in the State of Washington!
We manage to get it in place - which was not easy, that thing is heavy!
There was just one problem - the turkeys wouldn't use it!

I had to go up there to coax them down - I got the lone rooster to come down then, well watch the video for the rest of the story...

We celebrated with the perfect wine courtesy of Anne-Renee!
How about one more look at a great summer day, just for old times sake...

Now back to the present.

Brrrrr...Happy New Year Everyone!