Clark, Wyoming

The first thing we did this morning when we jumped out of bed was not taking the dog out for his walk.  No, we took the chimney brush, extension rods, screw driver, and flashlight up to the roof, removed the storm cap, and started scrubbing the creosote out of the flue.

As it turns out, Bob did not get the camera and take any pictures (I am always the picture taker), so we do not have any.

It was fairly easy to sweep the chimney, but my arms did start to get tired after a couple of minutes.  After we got it brushed as deeply as we could go, we pulled the brush back out, put the storm cap on, and I climbed down.  Then we took the Shop Vac in and cleaned out the stove.  I pulled the cook plate off of the top and we could see a big pile of crunchy black creosote that had fallen down the flue into the top of the stove.

Now it should be ready for another winter of wood burning goodness.

After we got this done we harnessed the dog up and got into the truck.  Buddy had an appointment at
Powell Veterinary Clinic for his rattlesnake booster shot.

Once Buddy had his shot we went to Linton's Big R store where I got some rabbit and deer repellant for our garden, a small wire brush, and "The Scrusher" for the front porch.

What is The Scrusher, you ask?   The Scrusher is a floor-mounted brush that you use to clean your boots and shoes before coming inside.  We now have one mounted to the front porch and this is one more thing that should help cut down on the dirt coming inside the house.  "The entire family can use the SCRUSHER® to remove dirt, mud and slush from their sneakers, shoes and boots."

We had breakfast at McDonald's, then we filled the gas tank, and picked up some food at Blair's Market before heading home to Clark.

For about an hour we were behind the house with the scicle and wheelbarrow cutting down green tumbleweeds and carting them away to the draw.  We have cleared the weeds back to over 12 feet from the house and we will cut some more tomorrow.

Weather here has been nice and hot during the day.  Clear and sunny, but hot and dry.  The nights have mercifully been  much cooler - down in the 50's.  We open the windows every evening when the outside temperature falls below the temperature inside the house.  Lately, we've had it in the mid 80's inside while it is way up in the 90's outside.

Bob warmed up some leftovers for our lunch, and had some cold watermelon with it.  After lunch I took some of the watermelon rind out to the chicken coop to watch the girls enjoy it.  They took a whole bunch of bites out of that rind!

During Buddy's evening walk he stepped over into high weeds looking for a place to do his "business" when I heard a rattling sound.  The dog jumped 3 feet straight up in to the air as if he had springs in his legs!  I began hauling him in by the leash.  Yes, he had a close encounter with a rattlesnake.  It was less than 6 feet off of the side of the road and on our property.

I went back to get a picture of it after I took the dog home and put him inside, but it had gotten up and slithered off into the brush by the time I returned.  I guess we scared it as badly as it scared us!

Tomorrow morning I am going to start digging holes for the chicken coop fenced run.  I want to do this in the morning while it is still cool outside.  Dig holes and trenches between the holes, put the posts inside, level them from side-to-side, pour QuikCrete in, water it and mix it, and leave it alone for a while.

Back to day shift on Monday morning!!

My Friday

This is the last day of my work week - it's my Friday!

It is very hot outside and the wind is really howling by.  I think the weather is going to be changing.  The Weather Channel says that a cold front is coming tonight.

Yesterday was a tough day for me - my guts were hurting, I had to keep making quick trips to the bathroom, and I had to work.  I was bothered because Lori was still trying to get everyone assigned to either permanent night shift or permanent day shift.  I didn't not sleep well because the bedroom got too hot.  But I bravely went on in to work.

About 10 minutes before I was supposed to go out the door, I noticed a bunch of red flying ants on the living room floor.  I went and got the ant spray and took care of them, but there were more coming!  I saw them coming from the wood stove!  We had a swarm of ants in the flue eating the creosote!  I was breaking out in a hot wet sweat trying to take care of this, and then I had to quickly trot off to the bathroom again!

It is so hot outside, so I hate the idea of building a small fire to smoke those ants out.  We will sweep the chimney this weekend.

Despite being uncomfortable, it was not a bad night.  Tim presented my performance evaluation to me, and I got a 3.2.  He asked if I had any problems or concerns, "Yeah, I agreed to go along with Lori's plan for permanent night shift, but I am having second thoughts about this.  I mean, I don't sleep well when I am on nights, and I am not sure how long I could keep it up."  He told me, "I can tell you that you do not have to worry about that.  It's been discussed, and it's not going anywhere."

Tomorrow morning is payday.  The pay should be deposited electronically into my account tonight.  I am going to make some big payments on some of my bills.  Maybe we will go to the Park County Fair tomorrow night.

I need to get the fenced in run for my chickens started this weekend.  I know those girls are hot inside their coop, but in a few weeks everything will cool off and we will look back on these warm days fondly.

Clark, Wyoming

I built a porch on the front of the house yesterday morning.  It was finished by lunch time.

I know that some of you are going to be horrified that I built the frame of the porch directly on the ground, but I used treated lumber and the soil out here does not stay wet for very long.

Even though this is a very small porch, it should make a big difference in how much mud gets tracked into the house during the spring and early summer.

Today we drove to Powell to do our laundry.  We also mailed a package to Mom and a package to Dawndee.  We visited the hardware store and got a chimney sweeping brush and a weed-cutting scythe.

Our little garden is doing very well.  We have 22 tomatoes growing and one of them has already started to turn red!  Our radishes have all sprouted and we planted two more square feet of radishes today.  Some of the spinach has sprouted.  All of the red and white onions are coming in.  Some of the beets have sprouted.  Some leeks sprouted.  Some potatoes have sprouted.  The only thing that hasn't come up yet are the carrots, and they might take a couple of weeks.

It has been very hot.  We open the windows in the evening when it is cooler outside than it is inside the house.  In the morning we close the windows up.  We are able to keep the house 80° - 85°F all day long (until Bob fires up the oven and heats the whole house up).

The next project I need to tackle is getting the chicken coop run fenced in.  I am sure the birds would like to spend some time out in the yard scratching and dusting themselves.  I have all of the materials to start this job, I just need the time to do it now.

Tomorrow evening I have to go back to work.  It didn't seem like I was off for three days (or nights).  These are the last three nights, and then I return to days on Monday morning.

Friday

Today is Friday, and tonight is my Friday for the week!

Lumber for the front porch.

I am still on nights, and I am sleeping during the day.  On the first day we got a knock at the door - it was the roofer coming to fix the blisters and bubbles on our membrane roof.  Yesterday we got a knock at the door - it was someone from the county assessor's office to take pictures of the house and reassess its value. 

It sprinkled at the house yesterday afternoon, but I had to drive through some heavy downpours on my way down to Cody to work.  Because it was only a sprinkle, Bob had to water the garden.  He noticed that the radishes have already sprouted!

When I come home tomorrow morning, I will immediately go to bed.  When I get up in the afternoon, I need to start digging for the foundation of our front porch.

I also need to start digging post holes for the chicken coop run.  It looks like a weekend of dirt digging is in the plans for me!

Clark, Wyoming

This morning we drove to Red Lodge and returned a PVC piping tee to True Value Hardware, then we headed north on US 212 to Laurel, MT.  We got breakfast at the McDonald's there and then went to Billings to shop at the Home Depot and Lowe's stores.

We returned to Clark with the poor Toyota loaded down!  I have lumber to build the front porch with.  I have fencing to enclose the chicken run.  I have enough drainage pipe to finish my French drain at the front of the house. When I get paid, I will return and pick up a dozen to twenty small landscaping timbers to border our walkways.

Bob made pork chops for dinner.  Then he had to go to Powell for Election Judge Training.  He rode to Powell with Gordy and Lori Stoltz.  I washed up the dishes while he was gone. 

There was a strong thunderstorm this evening.  When it rains a lot, the front of the house gets very muddy.  Hopefully the drainage trench, some river rock, and our raised walkways will help eliminate this problem.  It gets old having to wipe the dog's feet off each time he comes inside.

When Bob returned, Gordy had a load of 450 gallons of water for us.  We drained it into the cistern and I had a check for $25 ready for Gordy.  We probably have space for two more loads of water.

Tomorrow night I have to return to work (sigh).

Clark, Wyoming

Today we finished the chicken coop.  We put siding on the west wall and on the service door.  Then we trimmed it out.  It looks really nice, and it looks a lot like our house.

We changed the service door hinges and put large gate hinges on.  We attached these to the wall and the door with 1/4" lag bolts.  I want these hinges to be strong because I am going to hang a wall-mounted feeder on the inside of the door that can hold 10 pounds of feed!

Because the siding overlaps the door frame, there is no direct path for drafts to get into the coop.  The door seats so well I don't think we will need to put any weather stripping or gasket in.

We also added a heavy iron hook to the wall and a loop on the front of the door.  This is used to hold the door open when you are changing their water, adding feed to the feeder, or cleaning the inside.  With the way the winds blow here, this little feature could literally be a lifesaver!

In the afternoon we went over to Red Lodge to get supplies at the hardware store.  We also visited the bookstore/tea bar over there.  I got a book about gold mining, and Bob got 5 ounces of apple-mango black tea and 2 ounces of wild huckleberry black tea.

Tomorrow we are going to Billings to get lumber and screws for the front porch project.  I feel like I am in a race to get the outdoor projects finished up before Old Man Winter shows up again.  After winter comes again, we will turn our attentions to painting and other indoor projects.

Bob has election judge training tomorrow night in Powell.  Tomorrow night is my last night off before I return to work on Wednesday night.  It's been nice having this time off to get the truck fixed and get some things done around the house!

Weekend

This morning we drove down to Cody.  We went to Wal*Mart and had the torn up tire replaced.  The Tacoma takes 195/75R14's.  We got a Goodyear Viva for $68.  With installation and taxes it came to $81. 

We shopped inside the Wal*Mart store and got some brown thread, an electronic Scrabble game, 10W30 motor oil, a new gun-type hose nozzle, and some spray paint.

For lunch we went to Wendy's.  The Irma and Bubba's were too packed.

We went to K-mart to look at kitchen curtains.  We stepped over to the Garden Center and looked at the pitiful tomato plants.  The sales man said that he was running a "special" on the tomatoes - his boss told him to throw them away, but he was giving them away instead!  We picked out six (6) plants that had fruit already set on them.  We will see if they thrive now that they are having their needs tended to.

After this we popped into Albertson's to get some butter, then we headed across the street to fill the gas tank.  Once that was done we headed out of town and back to Clark.

Bob took a nap during the afternoon while I pulled the spare tire off of the left front and installed the new tire.  I stored the spare back up under the bed.  I also worked on hammering out the dent in the right rear fender.

Later I began working on the chicken coop.  We are putting siding on the west wall of the coop.  It took us a few hours, but the wall and the service door are covered in siding.  Tomorrow I will screw some taupe trim on.

The last thing we did this afternoon/evening was plant our raised bed garden.  We are growing spinach, radishes, carrots, beets, onions, leeks, and tomatoes.  I hope this stuff grows fast because we only have about 75 growing days left!

Now that the coop is about finished, I need to start working on fencing in the chicken yard. 

It will be nice to go back to work on Wednesday evening - I will finally get some rest!  LOL!

Bountiful Baskets

New bedroom curtains.

Yesterday morning we drove to Billings, ate breakfast at Perkins, and then started shopping.

We got a sheet of roofing steel at Home Depot and we ordered the mini gables for the coop roof there.  Home Depot orders it, and then sends you to Guardian Distribution to pick it up.  We also picked up extra curtain rods and some plumbing items.

After this we went to Mary's Health Foods where Bob got some oolong tea, honey, and coconut aminos.

Then we headed across the street to Lowe's.  Here we got replacement Studor Mini Vents for our plumbing.  I got 30 feet NDS Pro drainage pipe to be used in a trench in front of the house - we are not going to have a mud hole in front like we did this past spring!  We also got some more epoxy for the bar, and some rub on polyurethane for our doors.

Next I dropped Bob off at Great Clips for his haircut while I headed over to Harbor Freight Tools to get a 100-foot-long extension cord and some metal cutting shears.  Bob was on the curb waiting when I got back to him.

Now we were ready to start our grocery shopping.  We headed over to Sam's Club and got a couple hundred dollars worth of foods here.  Then we went down I-90 to Laurel and finished our grocery shopping at Wal*Mart.  We were very careful with what we put into the cart and only went $35 over budget.

This morning Gordy came up and helped us cut the mini gables for the hen house.  I gave him a check for $315 - what we owe him, and then he had to leave to bid on a job.

After Gordy left we went back inside and continued to work on hanging curtains in the bedroom.  I have three sets of curtains in the master bedroom.  One set is going to come back down and get hemmed up higher.  We also hung curtains in the loft, and we put the curtain rod up over the kitchen sink (no curtains for that yet!).

The curtains are nice, but they do not stop enough heat and light.  Bob said we might have to get some kind of Roman shade for the big bedroom window that we could lower when I am on nights and have to sleep during the day.

After noon we went to the Clark Pioneer Rec Center to pick up our Bountiful Basket.  We got lettuce, grapes, broccoli, oranges, peaches, bananas, apples, cabbage, grape tomatoes, cucumbers and we purchased a 7-pound box  of mangoes.

This evening we finished the roof on the chicken coop and we are working on getting the western wall siding up and trimmed out.  Then I will start working on the fenced in chicken yard.

Tomorrow we are going to Cody.  We are going to get a gun-style hose nozzle, and replace the spare tire at Wal*Mart.  Bob also wants to visit Albertson's for a few forgotten grocery items. 

Even though we are coming to it kind of late in the season, Bob is going to get a small garden planted tomorrow afternoon.  I think we have time to get a few items grown and harvested before it gets chilly.

On Tuesday I intend to return to Billings to get lumber for our front porch and mini landscape timbers for our front walk.  A proper walk and a porch will go a long way toward keeping mud out of the house in the winter and spring!

Clark, Wyoming

Federal Express delivered the checks from my early IRA distribution yesterday.  This morning I hopped a ride with a neighbor down to Cody and got the pick up truck back.  It cost $392.98 to replace the front left ball joint, repack and adjust the wheel bearing on that side, and do a front-end alignment.  It handles better now than before the mishap!

After writing the check for that, I got into the truck and drove to First Bank of Wyoming where I dropped off the house payment for the month.  Then I went to K-mart to pay off my layaway and bring the curtains home.  I also picked up four bags of compost at the Ace Hardware store there.

Then I drove to Powell and paid City of Powell $9.00 for water we purchased last month.  While in Powell I stopped at the grocery and picked up some eggs, fruit, and meats.  Then I pulled into Lil' Spark Car Wash and used Gunk to clean off the engine.

When I got home I had Bob help me mix up the soil for our raised bed Square Foot Garden.  Mixing up all of that soil was messier than I thought it would be.  I needed to shower when I was done.

Tomorrow we intend to go to Billings to do our grocery shopping.  We will also stop at the hardware store to get things to finish the chicken coop and run, to make repairs in the house, and start on our wooden front porch.

I am enjoying 9 days off since I filed for PTO (paid time-off) on my last night at work.  Even though I am not at work, I have plenty of things to keep me very busy at home.

Ball Joint

On July 4 we drove down to Cody to shop for compost to get our little garden started.  We stopped at K-mart and I made a payment on my layaway of curtains, and then we went over to Wal*Mart.  We were not successful finding compost this late in the year.

After a quick trip through the Dairy Queen drive-thru, we headed out of town and back up WY Highway 120.

We passed Gordy and Lori going the opposite direction and waved at them.

About 5 miles out of town, we hit a bump in the road on a small bridge.  All of a sudden the left side of the truck fell down and we began sliding down the highway (going 70 MPH!).

I took my foot off of the gas and slowly pumped the brakes while steering it over to the shoulder.  We slid for 4/10ths of a mile!

The driver side ball joint came apart causing the driver side front wheel to collapse!

I called USAA and found out that I have roadside assistance on my auto policy.  They connected me to Roadside Assistance and a wrecker was dispatched to us.  The only problem - this was July 4th and only one company in town was working.  We were going to have a 4-hour-long wait.

Stranded next to the highway.  About eight different cars stopped to see if they could help us, give us a lift, or give us bottles of water to drink.  That is really nice because I don't think that really happens Back East - people are too self-concerned or too scared to stop.

We were lucky (again).  The truck didn't turn over.  We kept it under control the whole time.  Not much damage appears to have been done.

Eventually Gordy and Lori were coming back from Cody and they stopped to give us a ride home.  Gordy estimated that it would cost $800 to $900 to make the needed repairs.  I surely hoped he was wrong.

Later, Eagle Recovery of Cody came and took the truck to Technical Cowboy in Cody.  Because it was a long holiday weekend, it would sit there until Monday before a technician could look at it and give a repair estimate.

For the rest of the weekend I worried about how much this was going to cost us.  It bothered me knowing that we did not have a truck or car to come and go (and out here, you really need a  good reliable truck).   Sometimes we just torture ourselves with our thoughts.

I called Chris Schuler and got a ride to work with him on Saturday and Sunday night.  I left him some money for gas since he was coming 25 miles out of his way each direction.

This morning we stopped in at Technical Cowboy and I explained to the attendant, Brett, what I needed from him.  I wanted an estimate for fixing the left ball joint, replacing any other damaged parts, a front-end alignment, and to check the condition of the passenger side ball joint.  I told him to call me with the estimate.

He called about three hours later to report that the tire was ruined in the accident - the side wall was punctured, but we could use the spare time to cut down on the costs.  He said that nothing else was damaged aside from the ball joint.  It will cost $375 (before tax) to make the repairs.  They will order the parts from a supplier in Billings, and hopefully have it fixed before close-of-business tomorrow.

How strange that only the left side was affected.  I have never had this happen before.  This is getting to be a very old truck and I think it is going to begin to nickle and dime us for repairs now.  We are getting serious about saving our big truck  down payment now.  We have to have a larger, heavier truck to get through the coming winter.

Little Bighorn

This morning we took Buddy for his walk, fed him, fed the chickens, and got our cooler out and put it on the bed of the truck.

We drove to Powell, filled the gas tank, got some fruit and dry ice at Blair's Market, then we got a sandwich and a salad at Subway.  We put these into the cooler with the dry ice. 

Finally, we got a McDonald's drive-thru breakfast and headed out of Powell on US 14A toward Lovell.

We passed through Lovell, and headed toward the Big Horn Mountains.  We crossed the Bighorn River / Yellowtail Reservoir and headed up the Big Horns.  It took about two hours to cross the mountains and descend into Sheridan County.  Here we turned onto Interstate 90 and headed north.

Near Crow Agency we turned off of the highway and into Little Bighorn National Battlefield Monument.  We used Bob's National Parks Access Pass to gain free admission and we drove up to a shady spot to park the truck. 

After hitting the restrooms, we went inside the Visitor's Center/Bookstore and checked it out.  We watched a video presentation about the history of the site and then went outside to listen to a park ranger presentation too.

We hiked up Last Stand Hill and saw the big obelisk that marks the mass grave for the fallen members of the 7th Cavalry.  We saw the marble markers that mark where each man fell.  We also visited a new memorial to the Native Americans involved in the battle.

We walked back to the visitors center and ate our lunch on the grass under a big tree while watching the other visitors come and go.  Later we drove around the site and then headed out.

To return home, we continued up I-90 to Billings.  Here we stopped at Heightened Harvests and got two big bags of vermiculite, then we continued home in the usual way with a stop in Bridger to fill the gas tank. 

The heat of summer has finally arrived and we are beat.

Hazy Day

Today we worked on the chicken coop some more.  We added siding to the south facing wall and added trim to it.

The chickens were scratching around inside the coop while we worked.  When we opened the door to check on them we found them all settled down in five little nests in their big room!  This must be instinctive behavior.  It won't be long before they are laying.

The skies were very hazy all day today.  The Weather Channel tells us that the haze is coming from northern Canada where there are forest fires burning.

Bob made a very tasty smoked brisket with buttered asparagus and canned diced peaches for dinner this evening.

I have today, tomorrow, Thursday, and July 4th off.  I go back to work on Saturday at 7:00 PM.

Tomorrow we are going to take some time off and do something fun.