Winter Time and Spring Dreams

End of the Green

Winter looks like it has made it to Wyoming. Had a great gardening year and am already looking at seed catalogs for this spring. I will start my first indoor seedbeds in February. Below find a few of my winter photos taken over the last couple of weeks.

River Ice Starting to Form

No Freeze For My Garden - Not Yet

Well, well, well, the garden didn't freeze. Got nipped just a bit but is looking good and the next ten days will be warm enough to keep it growing nice. Tomatoes, onions, carrots and beans have been exceptional this year.

August 21 Garden Update

I haven't posted here for a few weeks. Why? Too busy with visitors, the garden and everything else, summer. The garden is doing great the heirloom tomatoes are terrific and bearing heavier than expected - that is a good thing.

Doesn't seem that long ago, middle of February, when I planted my first flats of flowers, tomatoes and onions. Now that was half a year ago, and it will not be long until the process starts all over again.

Love those garden veggies and the flowers too.

Richard Wheeler - An Accidental Novelist

Richard S. Wheeler’s, An Accidental Novelist –A literary Memoir, is so well done and so mesmerizing that it seems I was with him every step of the way. Wheeler who weaves some of the very best western literature ever written is again at his best with this one.

He tells the story of his life through his journey from a, not sure this job’s for me, newspaper-man to successful author. It is a story with settings from the upper Midwest, to southwestern desert and finally home in the mountains of Montana. Wheeler, like he does in his western tails, reels in the reader from the start using his unique blend of storytelling through truthfulness, humor and historical context.

The story is also an emotional journey, from happily married through heart wrenching divorce to the lonely writer and full circle to happily married and fulfilled in Montana.

For anyone who loves westerns, wants to be a writer, is a writer, or just wants to read a heck-of-a-good book, this one is definitely for you. How good was it? As I finished the last page, I couldn’t stop and immediately downloaded the first of his wonderful Barnaby Skye novels, Skyes West – Rendezvous, and started reading. This was a novel I read and enjoyed thirty years ago, and it is still captivating. Today I believe I will download another of Mr. Wheeler’s works.

Think you have read the best western books ever? Not if you have not read Mr. Wheeler.

How Cold Was It ?

Cold here last night, must be winter in Wyoming, finally.

Went for a walk and my shadow froze to the sidewalk, so cold when I got back I opened the refrigerator to warm up.

 

Still felt cold, think maybe I am getting sick, looking forward to getting a fever and finally warming up.

 

As senior citizens we felt like we might need additional help for the extreme cold. We called the fire department to see what we needed to do. They said start your house on fire.

Back In School

Kids in America are back in school and instead of celebrating that fact, we are already looking at test score data. When I was a kid in grade school (1950s) we took one big test a year. Now kids seem to be tested over and over and we are never happy with the results. Maybe if we just had one test like the old days we could be happy.
Anyway, from where I sit I can hear kids on the school grounds, this time of year, and I feel like all is as it should be.

Summer Ending Soon

 Notice the days are getting shorter? No more sun at nine in the evening. Fall may not be far off, but I really like the change of seasons.

Remember the old joke, name the four seasons? (Salt, pepper, mustard and catsup)

My seasons are, Golf, TV Reruns, Vacation and Football

Heat Wave

At four this afternoon it was 101 here in town and 66 degrees in the town I moved here from. Maybe my move was a bit premature, should have at least waited for winter.

Ø So – how hot has it been?
*It has been much too hot this summer, today I saw a dog chasing a cat and they were both walkin’.
*In the kitchen sink hot water now comes out of both taps.
*Today I bought my first stock-Gatorade.
*So far this summer the days have been: almost tolerable, hot, really hot and ARE YOU KIDDING ME!
*Late this afternoon the temperature dropped just under 90, I felt a bit chilly and went to the closet for a jacket, decided against the stocking hat and gloves

Time For Senator McCain to Act Like a Statesmen Instead of a Putz

 Leading Senate Republicans are now telling the White House, they will try to block the confirmation of Chuck Hagel, President Obama’s nominee to be secretary of defense, setting up a showdown vote on Friday.

Mr. Hagel, a former Republican senator from Nebraska and decorated Vietnam veteran, had earlier appeared to have at least the 60 votes required to break a Republican filibuster. But Senator John McCain of Arizona, who is looking more and more like a disgruntled

 X-presidential candidate and other Republicans who had said they might oppose Mr. Hagel but would not back a filibuster. Now they are saying they will not support ending debate until they receive more detailed answers to questions about the administration’s response to the attack on the American Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

And what exactly was Chuck Hagel’s role in Libya? The same as mine, and yours, not one single thing, and that my friends is what is wrong American politics, time to clean house, get in some new blood,  find people who care more about this country than their petty concerns.

 

 

Wanted - New Pope

The Pope is stepping down. Seems like an OK move to me, 85 years old is old enough to retire, even if you are Pope. I am not Catholic but would be interested in the job as I am semi-retired and looking for a part time job. Might have to share the job on second thought, I might be good for about 20 hours a week. Is there a golf course in Vatican City? That would influence my decision.

Iceburger for Lunch

Snow in the east and snow here in the mountain west. Looks like old man winter is back! Groundhog said it would be an early spring so this one should be fast moving.

Living in Wyoming is a pure joy, play golf one day and ski the next –gotta love it.

Did get pretty cold last night, had an iceberger smothered in chili for lunch just to warm up!