Friday, September 7, 2007

Retirement Day for Virgil




Today is Virgil's last day at work. He's a little nervous that his coworkers will try to get even with him for all the jokes and tricks he's pulled on them. He didn't even take his lunch with him, that's how concerned he is. Toooo baddd (giggling). There is a retirement party for him at noon and I'll go. However, due to "no cameras" allowed in the Fed Bldg, I won't be able to get pictures of it.

We've had a couple terrific thunderstorms lately. Then with the wildfires burning a few miles away, the daytime sun is gorgeous. The setting sun in the evening is a breathtaking ball of fire. I'm posting a couple pictures. Tomorrow we are pulling this old RV out onto the freeway and heading for Spanish Fork, Utah!!!!! Yeah!!!!

Sunday, September 2, 2007

August Storm




Usually we get a good ole thunderstorm in the evenings, when it has been a very hot summer day in this arid desert of Idaho. However, this summer has been different. Nice, but quieter with no evening storms. But.... a few days ago we got a warning on the TV channels that a big 60 mph storm was headed our way! The Owyhee Mountain range tempers the winds, but we still got a thrill out of this one. I peeked out the windows of the motorhome livingroom, to see what was going on. There were just a few high clouds and it was very calm. I grabbed my old camera and stepped outside to get a few shots. It was so calm and warm... no sign of a breeze or danger. The school bus stopped and let a little child off, then left. Nice quiet afternoon. Except of the quickly approaching clouds in the distant west. I went back inside, knowing that everything was going to change in a few seconds. Sure enough. Next time I looked out the window, there was a brownish band of clouds spreading rapidly from the western horizon. I stayed glued to the window..... in a few more seconds the winds hit.... the lovely shade trees here snapped and whipped around like crazy.... the brown winds lashed all the cars and motorhomes..... ripping one of our awnings outerlayer and shredding it. Wow! The storm lasted about an hour then it was rain. We needed the rain badly, so we enjoyed listening to it. I'm posting a couple pictures of the storm clouds that started the terrific desert storm.

Wild Mustangs





Here in the Idaho high desert, there are so many beauties and marvels of creation. The wild mustangs that mingle with the ranch horses, are one of them. Some of the ranchers who depend upon the wide open range to run their cattle and horses on, are very protective of the rolling, mountainous desert, and especially the wild horse herds that run free there. When it looks like the herds are inbreeding and become unstable, the ranchers will release one of their best stallions to run with them. This increases the beauty and the strength of the mustang herds. Now that is a good thing, except with more folks living on the desert, there has to be an equilizer.... and that is often the roundup of the mustangs.... and they are tamed and put up for adoption under close supervision, to the public. We know folks who have adopted them, and they make the very best horses for families. Last week we visited the arenas where the adoptions were, and the horses. The BLM crew was there giving demonstrations on how to gentle the horses, and help in a lot of other ways. To make sure the mustangs are adopted to the best families, and there are about 5 families to each mustang, they have very rigid rules. One of the rules is, the horse remains under the protection of BLM for one full year before family can apply for full adoption. Here are a couple of my pictures of the "Roundup of the Wild Mustangs."

Lunar Beauty

Just after the lunar eclipse last week, the moon was gorgeous. Here in our area, the clouds were high and swift and added to the mystery of the night. When my husband drove off in his old pickup in the morning, to go to work, it was still very dark. But the moon was bright as daylight, almost. Then I noticed the night sky full of clouds and the moon was lighting them from behind. I grabbed my old camera and took a few pictures. Here is one.