Wildlife Report

Spent two days in the Black Hills. Photographing wildlife as only Ms. Brenda can. Can't wait to get home to download what pictures I captured between dead batteries, full memory cards, corrupted data, and just pictures that I missed. Perhaps my favorite is one where I cut the head off of a prairie dog. The quintessential Ms. Brenda shot. The STP had his binoculars along and that was fun. Goober was using them to search the hills for elk. Occasionally he would claim to see one and then just be kidding. He became known as 'the boy who cried elk.' Also, he used them with out removing the lens caps. Claimed the elk were obviously using some kind of cloaking device. Must be, because we didn't see any elk.
Here then is a list of what we saw:
buffalo and baby buffalo
white tail deer and baby deer
mule deer
prairie dogs and baby prairie dogs
gobbling turkey and hens
blue birds
turkey vulture
pronghorn (antelope)
wild burros
and they were all in the wild!
Still haven't seen a big horn sheep, but tomorrow we go over the mountains again, so there is still hope. Maybe I will have pictures. (Maybe not).

The Search For Spock

I've seen the Star Trek movie twice. I have extended conversations about it with the Goober. (What is your favorite part? What is your least favorite part?) Currently I am traveling across the country, eating Whopper Jrs with cheese and collecting Star Trek glasses. So far I have one complete set of 4 and three fourths of a second set. Why do I need two sets? So when the Goober moves out and gets a place of his own he will have his own set. So he will remember the time he traveled across the country with his parents. And what great parents he had. So when his own kids are driving him crazy, he will remember that he was once a thirteen year old himself and that when he was his parents still took him out in public. So he will be kinder to my grandkids. Because by the time he grows up to be a responsible adult and moves out of my house, I will not remember any of this. I will be drinking iced tea from my Uhura glass saying. "Where did we get these glasses?" And the STP will say."I think they were a wedding gift." and I will say,"Oh, who got married?" And the STP will say,"I have been and always shall be your friend." And then I will smile and he will kiss me.
Live long and prosper.

Road Trip--Day After Yesterday

Yesterday we traveled (through Chicago!) without incident. Last night we stayed in a resort hotel. I took a bubblebath and read my book. The guys rented movies and relaxed on the couch. Today we will spend the day in our bathing suits at various indoor waterparks with people we don't know. My first order of business will be to find someone who looks worse in her swimsuit than I do. Then I will avoid all reflections of myself and slide and swim with wild abandon. Don't worry, the camera will stay in the suitcase. The only pictures I will appear in are in the background of other people's vacation pictures. See, they'll say, there is someone who looks worse in her swimsuit than I do.

Road Trip--Day 7--by the lists

Other things we didn't see along the way:
1. John Wayne's birthplace
2. The National Balloon Museum
3. The future birthplace of James T. Kirk
Important events we attended:
1. Amidala's college graduation
2. Sam and Colton's ballgames
3. The presentation of Ms Brenda's first ever giveaway to the lucky winner
Things we did:
1. Baked gobs
2. Shopped at Gabe's
Things I bought:
1. Two pairs of shoes
2. Gallons of My iced tea
3. Pretzel sticks
Things we ate:
1. Ham and little dumplings
2. Gobs of gobs
Tomorrow we head West again. We will leave early and travel long. Load 'em up, and move 'em out.

Road Trip--Day One

Today we crossed Wyoming and Nebraska. We drove past lots of historic and interesting places. But because of the distance we need to cover in the amount of time we have, we couldn't stop and sight see. We could only read about them and look at pictures at rest stops. We followed much the same path as the Oregon Trail. We saw pictures of wagon train ruts. We made one great discovery--my bladder is not what it used to be. Traveling with me today was like traveling with the princess when she was two years old and we had to stop at every public restroom between PA and GA. Speaking of the Princess, we talked extensively to her from Slovakia. Ah, the wonder of cell phones. She told us a story about trying to explain the English pronunciation difference between piss and piece. (Go ahead and say them both like Chekov and you'll see the problem.) In the book we are reading aloud in the car about Hank the cowdog, Hank claimed he was flatulent in several languages. And we had breakfast and lunch at Burger King and have a great start on our Star Trek glass collection. Tomorrow we will cross Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana. We will be on the lookout for Spock and Nero. Wagons ho!

Back East

Tommorrow we will leave for my first trip 'back east'. We are combining Amidala's college graduation, visits with families, and a road trip vacation all in one. Today I am working at Dodge City Federal, and doing laundry, and packing, and stressing. Maybe more later on what I have been thinking about Swine Flu, my allergies, and the prodigal son's brother. But today I must prioritize. And I'm putting clean underwear ahead of blogging. (But it wasn't an easy decision, cause most of you will not see my underwear.)

And The Winner Is...

I asked the STP to pick a number between 1 and 19, but not to pick seventeen. Then I asked to Booger to pick a number. Then I averaged them. Then I looked who was going to be the winner. And she didn't really want to win anything, so Ijust went with the STP's first choice, because the Boog's choice was from the same family, anyway. So that's really not as random as you would have liked it to be, but after all it's my contest. So Abi will be receiving the Handy Dandy Danger Signs of Melanoma card. (And I will be delivering it in person.) I guess I will have to have an on-line auction for the Sighting Target with three holes.
Thanks for playing.

Just for Entering

My big contest is ongoing. Winners will be announced on Saturday. I am still waiting to hear form a few previously admitted readers. (If I don't receive a comment from Uncle Michael, then I will free to make disparaging comments about him in future entries.) Since there wasn't much interest in the Harvard Beet Recipe and since I am going to throw one thing away before I shower I am going to offer the recipe here for all of you. People in Dodge City think Harvard Beets are high faluting food from 'back East'. This recipe serves 4 people who like beets and about 14 people who don't like beets. In these 'tough economic times' this is a great food budget stretcher.

Harvard Beets

1 can diced beets, drained (reserve 1/4 c. juice)
2 t. cornstarch
1/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. reserved beet juice
2 T. vinegar
2 T. butter

1. Mix cornstarch and sugar.
2. Add beet juice slowly, stirring into a smooth paste.
3. Cook over low heat until slightly thickened.
4. Add vinegar and butter.
5. Stir to blend.
6. Pour over beets and heat through.

Before and After

Yesterday we drove back to Lander to have the Booger's appliance repaired. On the way back we stopped at a Garden Center. Eight greenhouses. And a huge courtyard full of plants. Green plants. The STP had to drag me away. But before he got me to the car I had managed to latch on to a yarrow plant. And a big blue pot for the front porch. The STP agreed to get the pot for me for Mother's Day. Since we are going to be 'back east' for two weeks, I know I can not buy a lot of plants until we get back. In fact, I was not planting anything until June. So here is the geranium that I got for administrative assistant day at the bank. Alongside the new blue pot.

And here is a little lilac bush I couldn't resist when I ran into Walmart (through the Garden Center door) after the Cody track meet.

And here is a maple tree the STP and I bought together because it is ever so hopeful to plant a tree and because it was the grand opening of the new Pamida right here in Dodge City.

And here is my new yarrow.

And while we are 'touring the grounds' here are the two plants that survived the trip with the infamous truck.

And just to put things in perspective--here is the before:

And here is the current:

Except for one thing. After I took this picture this morning, the wind blew the gazing ball onto the sidewalk and smashed it to a million shards of blue iridescent glass.

(Into each yard a few dandelions must grow.)

Too bad I already got my Mother's Day present.

Wyoming--The Big Empty State

The state motto of Wyoming is actually "The Equality State". But anytime I see a map of the United States, it appears as the big empty state. It doesn't even matter what they are graphing or illustrating. When a company advertises nation-wide and shows a map of the U.S. with all their locations marked with red dots, there are not any dots in Wyoming. I saw a map where the states were shown elevated by degrees of something and Wyoming was just a big rectangular hole. On the official state map of Wyoming the state seal is printed on the map in the middle of the state. It doesn't cover anything. No rivers, no roads, no rails. Just a big empty space.

This is a picture of the map from this weeks Time magazine showing the birthplaces of several hundred of the most influencial people in the world.

See Wyoming? The Big Empty State.

Wyomingites like it that way. When I say I am new here, they invariably ask why I moved here. They don't want people to move here. They are leary of peole who move here. They are afraid some one will find out they are here. They are afraid more people will move here. I guess people who are attracted to nothing.

Hey look at this map. Here's a place with nothing. Let's move there.

Next they will take the state name off of the map. Then we will just be a big empty rectangle. We can pretend we are Colorado. Then no one will be able to find us and move here. Already we are at the alphabetical end of the list. We could just drop off the bottom quietly.

Weren't there 50 states? Alabama, Alaska,...West Virginia. No, I guess not.

Keep your eye on West Virginia. No one of influence was born there either.

Ms. Brenda's Big Giveaway

I've been thinking that I would like to have more comments on my blog. So I would know how wide my readership is. So I could feel really important like the big name bloggers who are making money with their blogs and going on Oprah and getting book deals. I don't really want to go on Oprah, or have ads on my blog, or even have a book deal. I just want comments. So, it seems to me that when those big time bloggers want more comments, they have a giveaway and they give something away to a commenter. So I've been thinking what I could give away.
I have a target with three holes in it.
I have a good recipe for Harvard Beets.
I have a handy guide to Danger Signs in Pigmented Lesions of the Skin.
So if I have a giveaway, it will serve a dual purpose of getting more comments and cleaning off my computer desk. (So I am back to starting a lot of my sentences with so.)
This week's giveaway will be one of the above items. Given away sometime this week to a randomly chosen commenter on this post.
Hurry up and comment. Contest ends soon. Remember--you have to comment to win. Please just leave a little comment. (Comments on how lame this is will not be considered.)

Two Tents?

In his quasi-awake state this morning, between the time the alarm went off and the time he really intended to get up, the STP said, "Two tents."
"Two tents?" I repeated. We only have one tent. Or was he having a Moses/Elijah vision?
"No, too tense."
"As in too much stress? Wound too tight?" Maybe it was just a description of how his day was starting.
"No, two tens."
"As in ten plus ten? Twenty? Or ten times ten? One hundred?"
"No, two tenths."
"Two tenths? Like a fraction?"
"Yes, two tenths of the order."
"What order?"
"Two bullet proof vests and eight guns. The vests are two tenths."
"Oh."
I didn't tell him it would have been clearer if he had just said 'one fifth' from the beginning. Then the only question would have been 'one fifth of what?'
Now the question remains: What exactly was the STP dreaming about and could it be related to the fact that he and Booger finished up their hunter safety course at the firing range last evening? Dave hit the target ten times. Boog hit it three times. Three tenths. Maybe two bullet proof vests are a good idea.