Clark, Wyoming

Dr. Hebb had good news for Bob.  He looked at the MRI images from 2011 and the recent ones and he

Bob in Downtown Buffalo, WY

concluded that the lesions are stable and that it would not help Bob to have gamma knife surgery right now.  He wants to follow up with more images next year.

After we left the Swedish Medical Center we headed north to Bank Of America where we added my name to a bank account held by Bob there.

Finally we were ready to leave Denver and its crowds and its traffic.

We drove north up I-25 to Wyoming, past Cheyenne, and up to Casper.  We stopped for the night at Casper and stayed at the Ramada Inn, right on the banks of the North Platte River.  We enjoyed a room service steak dinner that was delicious!  So much flavor in that cardboard box!

This morning we ate the free breakfast buffet and then got back on the highway.  We drove to Buffalo, WY where we stopped so Bob could mail a package, then we headed over the Big Horn Mountains on US 16 over the Tensleep Pass.  We came down into Worland and then made our way home.

Now the truck has over 26,000 miles on it!  We will pass 30k miles before the one-year anniversary.

There were 13 eggs waiting for us in the hen house!  Both chicken drinkers were empty so we immediately filled them again.

Now I have to work tomorrow and the next day, but it will be a short work week for me!  Hey hey!

Denver, Colorado

We got up at 7:00 AM yesterday, loaded the truck with a change of clothes, loaded Buddy, and headed to Cody.  We filled the gas tank, got breakfast at McDonald's, and headed south on Highway 120.

Meeteetse, Thermopolis, Shoshoni, Hiland, Casper, Douglas, Cheyenne.....

We stopped at Casper and filled the gas tank at the Shell station and then continued south on I-25.

There were some thunderstorms and high winds as we continued south.  At the state line we got lunch at Arby's.  Then we kept going south in to Colorado.

I figured we would arrive in Denver just as rush hour traffic was building up, and I was right.  The traffic was very heavy, and it makes it especially hard because I am do not know Denver very well, and I am driving a very long truck.

We got off of the highway at Colorado Avenue and turned into the La Quinta Inn.  Bob went inside to get us a room, but came out disappointed - no vacancy.  The desk clerk said that there was a soccer game-football game-rock concert going on and that all of the Denver-area hotels would be full.  She advised us to go south toward Arapahoe Road.

After threading our way through the surface streets we made our way to Arapahoe Road and found another La Quinta Inn.  They were full too, but referred us to another one just across the highway.  It was full.

Moral of the story:  make a reservation when travelling.  It just takes a phone call.

So, we got back on I-25 and headed south toward Colorado Springs.  We turned off at the first Castle Rock exit and tried the Holiday Inn Express.  They were full, and so was the Best Western.  We got back on the highway and went to the next exit.

At the second Castle Rock exit, we found another La Quinta Inn.  As Bob went inside to inquire, I saw a big very bright rainbow in the east.  He came out with the last room!

We moved into our room and unpacked.  We got out our new Hisense Chromebook and hooked up to the hotel Wi-Fi and got it configured.  I really like it!  It boots up in less than 10 seconds, makes no noise at all, and is fairly fast.  The battery lasts over 6 hours.

Because the La Quinta is pet-friendly and we had Buddy with us, we were on the first floor with other pet owners.  You could hear dogs barking and whining in other rooms and Buddy sure heard them.  He paced and cried all night.

This morning we got breakfast at McDonald's and headed back up the expressway to Denver.  We are at the Swedish Medical Center in Englewood where Bob has an appointment with Dr. Hebb this morning.   We will find out what the next step is for treating Bob's lesions and hopefully schedule a time for it later this year or early next year.

I took the day off tomorrow, so we can take our time getting back home.  We might even take a detour and see something we have never seen before.

239 Years

We opened up the hives and installed ventilated summer floors in each one.  We pulled the feeders out and put two more frames inside in place of the feeders, and we added a queen excluder and a shallow super to each hive.

I think my hands were stung a hundred times THROUGH THE GLOVES!

I got stung on the right ear on July 4 and Bob finally took his first sting - to his hand as he was taking the veil and jacket off.  We really have some protective ladies!

After we got the bees setttled down we stood in the driveway and watched the fireworks going off for miles around the house.  You would see the flash and the sparkly display, and then a few seconds later you would hear the booming from the explosion.

Today at work we had to evict campers from our parking lot!  We major cleaned Room 006 and we had to major clean Reactor 1082.  We are preparing to start EME HCl, Batch 11.  I ended up sore and very tired by the end of day.

The day was overcast and much much cooler than it has been.  It rained a couple of times in Cody today.  It was nice to come home to a house that is cool instead of muggy and hot.  We are forecast to have a couple more days of this weather.

Clark, Wyoming

This morning I hopped up out of bed, fed and watered chickens, and got the scicle out of the shed to cut the

Venus and Jupiter closest approach.

really high tumbleweeds behind the house over the septic tank.  Bob got up a little later and walked Buddy, then he came out to help me rake up the weeds and put them into the burn barrel.

Later we got into the truck and drove over to Red Lodge for brunch at Cafe Regis.  Bob had a nice omelet and I had a bacon, lettuce, tomato, and avocado sandwich on a croissant with a side of potato salad.

We did not shop in Red Lodge because they were preparing for their July 4 parade, so we came back home.

I cleaned out the filters and the whole house ventilator heat exchanger this morning.  There was lots of bugs and dust in it.  After that I changed the fiber filter in the hallway register.  The filters are supposed to be cleaned four times per year and the heat exchanger core cleaned once per year.

This evening we worked the beehives.  Our goal was to remove the feeders and put in two more frames, remove the winter floor and install the boxes on the winter floor, put in the queen excluder and install supers.  Well, we got the hive on the left done, but the bees were so aggressive!  They were stinging my work gloves repeatedly, and then I started to feel it through the gloves!  They also stung me in the crotch!

We decided to wait until tomorrow night to work on the right side hive.  We will do this after we have smoked the hive really good too.

My hands are a little swollen now.  I took an all-day allergy tablet and hopefully that will help.

We might go to Powell tomorrow to get a load of water.