Provo Canyon in the Winter

Provo Canyon is beautiful any time of the year. When we drove through it just after a big snow storm we were amazed at the breathtaking beauty of the gigantic granite mountains. I'm sharing a few. The road is a wide and safe highway, but ice and snow on it can be hazardous. We were going up the canyon, but we passed miles and miles of stalled cars on the other side who were headed for the Lower Basin. They were waiting for the road to be cleared near the mouth of the canyon, where ice had caused an accident. Beauty has it's price, I'm thinking.

We missed our beloved Tyson and Chelsea and Crystal and Jordon so much that we drove up to Idaho to see them just before Christmas. What a joy to be with them again. They are so alive and delightful and loving and welcomed us with open arms. We couldn't be prouder of them and the successes that have made with their lives. May God bless them forever and continue to guide them. They are our family. While traveling to be with them, I snapped a few pictures of our beloved Idaho, also. We visited our best friends, John and Paige, who live in the quiet dreamy countryside west of Boise. The sun was setting as I took pictures of the surrounding farms, the Boise Mountain Range, and the Owyhee Moutanin Range. While driving home I was lucky to get a picture of a train on an overpass over the freeway down by Glenns Ferry. Another pictures shows the heavenly rays of early morning bathing the very productive farms around Jerome and Gooding. As we drove over the snowy and slick and hazardous Sweetzer Pass we had to stop a couple times for truck accidents. I got a picture of some of the snow on the mountainous pass. We truly enjoyed our visit to our precious family in Idaho.

Snowy Christmas at Home

This winter we have enjoyed sooooo much beautiful snow on the Wasatch Mountain range that towers over our humble little home. Gosh, I didn't know there was so much awesome beauty to be seen. I don't think the Austrian Alps have as much beauty as this gigantic mountain range in the Rocky Mountains. We now own a snow blower and it gets used just about every day. I think I really love our little home here in this heavenly valley surrounded by the mountains.

On the Mountain Top and Devils Kitchen

We spend a lot of time on car trips, enjoying the bounty of God's creation here in Utah. We love heading for the mountain passes and deep canyons, finding a fairly decent road and following it. One day we took Highway 6 into Spanish Fork Canyon. What a gorgeous drive. We were amazed at the way the highway crew cuts through the gigantic granite mountains, then lines the passes with concrete that looks like it is part of the mountains. Gorgeous! We passed a train loaded with coal as it wound it's way through the passes on its way to the valley. The train snaked along, passing under us in some places. We passed oil donkeys, refineries for the crude coal and other minerals, and gigantic modern mines billowing white spirals of gases into the crystal clear sky. Not a sign of polution the whole trip. Very relaxing and interesting drive. We stopped on top of the world and surveyed the humungous water reservoirs and lakes hidden in the Rocky Mountains. We picniked at the Devils Kitchen and saw the most breathtaking sight I've ever seen! I'm sharing a few of the pictures.

Thoughts

Today is kind of a milestone in our old lives. When our precious son died so suddenly in a needless way, the world came to an end. The lawyers filed a wrongful death suit against the company that caused his death, and today it will be ended. For that, we are thankful. My old heart aches...... why don't folks take better care of each other? If we weren't so selfish I think we would find it very easy to put others first. If everybody put others first, we would all be in first place.... (sigh)..... I'm crying a lot these days...... I hope the tears will soon turn off...... but I don't know how they will when I miss my precious daughter and son so very much. I pray constantly for Heavenly Father's help and I know He is helping me. That is a message I would love to tell everybody...... Pray... always.... He does hear and answers and comforts.

Why I love my Front Porch

This is the reason I love to sit on our front porch. When I stand at the front window of the livingroom and look out, I am greeted by the majesty of the Wasatch Mountains. I love it. Every morning they display a different mood. Sometimes the clouds are very heavy and low and cloak them, making it impossible to see.... that is when my old imagination goes to work. Other days, the foggy clouds linger near the top and I can only imagiane how tall the gigantic mountains are. The fall colors are gorgeous, and the fringe of perpetual snow is encouraging. In the high desert the snow is very important. This is my favorite view, so far.

Spanish Fork Home

We finally signed the papers and are in the mind-boggling process of opening boxes and setting up house. Excitement, exhaustion, fun, memories, and surprises at what we find are emotions that we experience each day. I'm posting some pictures of our home. We love it here. There was a gorgeous snowstorm one Saturday evening and night, but the rest of the time it has been the typical Indian Summer and we feel so blessed.

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!!!!

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.

Jigsaw Puzzles

I love to do jigsaw puzzles. I really enjoy doing them when the picture is one of my own photographs. This link will take you a site that is a marvelous jigsaw puzzle page.

My Puzzles Jigsaw Puzzle Gallery - JigZone.com

New Exhibit at IS Fair

I spent all of yesterday finishing the colored pencil art work I was doing for my son on the day that the man arrived to tell me that my only son was found dead. I have been saving the pencils and the picture for months, hoping I could get back to it and finish it for my beloved child. It is finished. Today I'm going to enter it in the Fine Arts Division of exhibits at the annual Western Idaho State Fair. My dear husband says it looks excellent. I am happy with the finished art work. Time does heal, but it is still lonely and sad and it will take forever ............ tears come very easily to my heart and eyes these days.......

Neighbors left for Eugene

It is kind of a sad day here in the motorhome. Our dear neighbors of several months, have boughten a lovely home in the green city of Eugene, OR, and pulled their new trailer out this morning at 6:30. I gave them lots of hugs and Pepper waved at them and licked their shoes frantically, making them laugh. It won't be the same around here without them. She is a gardener and she will be in heaven gardening at their new home.

At 3:30 this morning in the mobile home park next to this RV park, there was a terrible fire that killed a family. The fire trucks are still over there. Very tragic.

The wild fires are burning so badly here that we can't see the mountains anymore, and we live at the foot of them. We desperately need some rain the help put the fires out.

On the patio I'm growing a lovely flower, Lisaanthus (eustoma), and am posting a picture of it that I took a couple days ago.

Sunrise at RV Park

When I walk our little cocker puppy early in the mornings, I am lucky enough to see some gorgeous sunrises. The most interesting ones are when the clouds are still lingering in the east, and some of the smoke and haze from the wildfires are in the air. I'm posting a couple I took last week. This morning when I walked Pepper, there was a full moon and it was bright as daylight, almost. I love the summer mornings and the warm air with the gentle breezes in the early morning just before daybreak.

RV Park Living

It's been awhile since I've taken the time to post. Today I'll add a few pictures of the Hi-Valley RV Park where we are staying until the middle of Sept. It has been triple digits weather-wise, and I'm staying very close to the AC. When I gardened at our old home, I suffered heat exhaustion a few times, and now I don't tolerate the heat at all. My old body doesn't cool itself down like it used to and I get very sick. We added an outside sunscreen to the motorhome front windows and that helps immensely in keeping the rig cool. Plus our awing over the patio/lawn area is huge and it blocks out the heat. The pictures will show our humble home. The most important thing that we really love about living in THIS rv park, is the fact that it is very clean, the staff are very friendly and helpful, and we feel very safe. Not all rv parks offer those qualities.

Owyhee Desert Wild Flower

While driving through the picturesque Owyhee Mountain Front, on July 4th, I took a picture of a gorgeous wild flower that lined the dusty dirt roads. I picked one bloom and was amazed at how soft and different it was. The center was filled with long brush-like filaments, and the long lance-like petals radiated out from the center. However, the leaves were a total surprise. They were pale sage-brush colored, harsh to touch, and tended to curl into the middle vein. What a fantastic flower to find on a gorgeous summer drive.

ArrowRock Dam Drive July 9

We are really old, but we have a nice car and we still enjoy a pleasant drive into the desert or mountains or the farmland in Idaho. July 9 we drove up into the towering mountains that make up the east ridge of Boise City. We traveled about 70 miles on one-lane dirt roads to get to the tiny run-down mountain town of Atlanta. It is a treasure of a little town with lots of Idaho history. Some of our friends have summer homes there, but we didn't visit them. We just stopped at a little pole-lodge restaurant and bought some pepsi to drink on the way home. I'm posting a few pictures of our little drive. First we passed Lucky Peak Dam that was built to store irrigation water for the Boise Valley and Treasure Valley farms. Then we followed that reservoir to the next dam, Arrowrock. There were lots of boats and skiiers and jet skis on the water. After leaving the beautiful structure of the Arrowrock Dam, the road hugged the sides of that reservoir until it petered out and became the North Fork of the Boise River, a tributary that feeds into the two dams. The first part of the drive was landscape filled with sage brush, the second part was shady from the old tall evergreens. We stopped and picnicked beside the river and let our little cocker puppy stretch his legs.