A little less west

This week Georgia's "Cowgirl Up" hitch cover and floor mats are right at home. Although we didn't have to travel as far, we are now in "Cowboy Country"; the land of the Oklahoma State University Cowboys who squeeked out a football victory over Colorado last nite. Cowgirl stadium is just up the road. We are housed in Granduate Student and Family Housing in a neet little 2 bedroom apartment. Just outside our door you can see the bright lights of Boone Pickens Stadium and hear the announcer from the football game. Also we were warned that traffic would be intense from about 5:30 to 6:30... and it was. "Our street" McElroy was solid for that full hour. Really nice folks here also. and as with everywhere (when you reach this age) I ran into several people from my past at Illinois. Today, I get to touch base with the dean of the OSU (south) vet school, Dr. Mike Lorenz who was a "young buck" with me at UGA. Here are a few pictures. Carreker Hall where we "live"; the front of the vet clinic; Zara who keeps us all on track; Carolyn and Sue, 2 of the technologists (John wasn't available) and a shot of the radiology vet students when they are not doing radiology. All across the nation senior veterinary students are studing for and taking the NAVLE (North American Veterinary Licensing Examination) and they are all freaked out... happens every year. For the first time in years, I had to take an exam; the Oklahoma Veterinary Jurisprudence Exam. Had me a bit uptight also... Apparently I passed because I am allowed to work in the clinic here. Oh, the male student second from the left is actually from Valparaiso, IN. We are now looking forward to home, but also returning to Stillwater next spring.

Cody to Custer

Again, before we start, it's time for another healing finger update. Probably the last time, at least for a while. Now that that's done, Here are some pictures to give you a touch of the scenery between Cody, Wyoming where we stayed after spending a cold evening waiting for Old Faithful in Yellowstone. We were here on our "family vacation" of 1976, and Georgia really loves Cody. Although we "breezed through" and had to get on the road to cross the Bighorn Mountains, we did get to see the "Buffalo Bill Trail Town", a replica of the old west and some fantastic lifesized bronze sculptures. The sculptures were very like the Remington Art of the old west. These life sized sculptures are all around their gallery. Their website is: http://www.mtgcody.com/

The scenery changed as we went east from Cody, with sparce "grassland" (where the antelope roam). Then we hit the Bighorn Mountains. After that we finally got back on the interstate. That was good because it was getting dark. We arrive in Rapid City, ready for a good night's sleep. You Illinois people; I don't want to hear you complaining about the wind. Have you ever been to Rapid City??? It is windy! Today was a short trip to Mount Rushmore and back through Custer State Park where we were flooded out when camping in 1976. Saw lots of Buffalo poop there, but no Bison.. Did see a few wild turkeys and deer. As usual. there will be many more pictures for my facebook friend.

Day trip to Palouse Falls

We didn't get out Saturday, so had to modify our plans to go to Kennewick, WA for a weekend trip and modified it to a day trip to Palouse Falls State Park and return via Clarkston, WA and Lewiston, ID which is really one city divided by a river (The Clearwater, I think). These cities are located near the spot where Lewis and Clark met Sacajawea. If you don't know who she is, you need to look her up. But before we get to the trip, here are this week's pictures of the healing fingers. Only one little scab left, then we will see how much scar tissue will remain. We had a beautiful day with some sunshine. That may be the last sunshine we see in Washington if the weather reports hold true. We headed to familiar Colfax just north of Pullman, then went southwest toward Walla Walla about 50 miles. We wound our way out of wheat country where the green fields of winter wheat were interspersed with the short amber wheat stubble. As the wheat fields diminished, more rugged terrain with sparce vegitation (much sagebrush) came into view with lots of cattle scattered on the hills. Tiny towns would crop up here and there. We did find a McDonald's in one little town. Fortunately Mapquest accurately guided us to the State Park, but we were beginning to wonder as we left the state highway and although we weren't in the mountains found ourselves winding back and forth on little serpentine roads. Then out in the middle of "nowhere" was a sign "Palouse Falls State Park". We crossed 2 cattle guards (again; if you don't know what they are, look them up.) We came up over a rise and there was a little parking lot. I went to the bathroom and saw the sign about local inhabitants. I didn't tell Georgia about it til we were leaving. We didn't see any. Probably too cold??? We walked down to the rail and OMG Would you believe this is sitting here in the middle of someone's "pasture field"??? I think they call it a range out here. The falls itself is 198 feet high, but appears to start about half-way up the wall of the cliff. The falls is the Palouse River dropping before it winds it's way to the Snake River about 6 miles away. The Snake joins the Columbia near Kennewick where we had planned to go on Saturday. To give ourselves the chance to see more different terrain, we chose to take the "long way" back to Pullman. Believe it or not, there about 20 miles from the park, we went through Starbuck, Washington. No green and black labels here. The only green we saw had a yellow deer on it. I doubt there is a latte in town. Then we hit US 12 which follows the Lewis and Clark trail to Clarkston. By the time we got to Clarkston, it was dark, so we didn't get to see as much of this town as we would have liked. We went across the river to Lewiston, Idaho, then climbed up out of the valley on 195 where we had had come down in August on our way through the Nez Perce reservation to Missoula, Montana. After we got to the top, the road straightened out and we went about 30 miles to Moscow where we had a great Pizza at Gambino's. Got one large enough that I will be eating pizza for lunch for 2 days. But really good pizza. Once we were in Moscow, we felt we were essentially "home" as it is only about 8 miles from there to our room. A short, but satisfying trip to see more of this beautiful creation called earth. Oh, then to top it off, on PBS last nite, we say "Cloud, Stallion of the Arrowhead Mountains". Pretty interesting since we just came across the Montana Rockies last week and saw free ranging horses.

What a trip...

Before I update you on our recent trip west, I need to indulge the followers of the healing fingers. I think we're making progress.

We left Tuesday evening, later than we planned and made it to Madison, Wisconsin. That was OK, we could make up the time the next day. Well, that was fine until I decided to surprise Georgia and stop by the Mall of America in Bloomington, MN.. I think it was worth it as she seemed to really enjoy being in shopping heaven, even if it was only for a couple of hours. That night we made it to St. Cloud, MN, knowing that we could make it to our next planned stop by the next evening by driving a little extra. About here there was a little disappointment, however because we had expected that we would be at the right place and time for beautiful fall tree colors. However, we forgot about the cold snap that swept across the area just ahead of us and frosted the trees before they had developed their color. Our goal for that evening was Glendive, Montana, just across the North Dakota, Montana line. We didn't take into account that the pheasant season had just started and eastern Montana was included in the hot pheasant hunting country, so every rooming place was surrounded by pick-up trucks and filled with hunters. It had gotten dark about Bismarck, ND, so that also made the trip a bit unpleasant since we were missing the scenery we had come to view. We decided that rather than taking the "through the country" route that we had planned for daytime travel to Glacier National Park, we needed to stay on the interstate and go on to Billings for the night. 3 hours later, we find that Billings is hosting the Northern International Livestock Exposition (NILE) as well as a state teacher's convention, so every room in Billings was booked. On to Bozeman where we had secured a room. After a few hours of sleep, we found that Bozeman was a beautiful spot on the earth surrounded by several mountain ranges. We also experienced our first Hilton Garden Inn..... good place. To give us some time at Glacier, we pushed on to stay in Great Falls, Montana, only 3 hours from the east entrance to the park at St Mary. Check out this western disabled parking spot in Great Falls. My, my, I have never seen such majestic mountains as we saw going up the "going to the sun" road. Oh, another small surprise. Although the web site said the park would be open til Oct 18, we found building except a couple of primitive rest rooms locked up without a person in sight. There were a few adventerous souls on the road and we did enjoy the free trip up into the park. We know the road would be closed to going completely across, so that wasn't a disappointment. If you get near this area, it is worth the trip. On the way out, just past St. Mary we rounded a curve and Georgia got a dream come true experience. There along the road was a band of horses. She jumped out and started snapping pictures. We made it to Kalispell, MT where we had booked a room (no more chances taken) about dark, so we didn't get to go into the west end of the park. Got a good night's sleep before making the last leg of the trip to Pullman. We took state roads southwest to get to I-90. Just outside Plains, MT after talking with Greg on the phone, Georgia saw a herd (flock) of Bighorn sheep resting on a cliff along the road. That was a thrill for both of us as the horses and a few deer were about all we saw besides cows to this point. Well, we did see a herd of bison on the blackfoot reservation. Once we hit I-90, we were ready to be in Pullman. Believe it or not, as beautiful as it is, we were no longer impressed with scenery. I think we have OD'd again. Since we went through Moscow, ID on the way, we stopped at one of our favorite Mexican Food places (Casa D' Lopez) so we could crash when we got to our room in Pullman. So now, with one day of work under my belt, we are settled in for a couple of weeks.

Another Monday later

I think this week has brought wonders in the healing process. Still some tender areas and some "tingly" areas. Maybe next time, I'll take more time with the camera.

Healing progress

For those few of you who are following the progress of my finger healing, rather than asking the obligatory "how are your fingers?", here is the update from this morning. At this point they have released me on my own recognisance (sp)... Bandage as I like (mostly to not freak out other people), and call them if I have questions. For those of you who have not formerly witnessed the miraculous, healing response of the mammalian body, I'll post pics every once in a while so that you can see how we are designed to overcome adversity.

for the goarophilliacs

For those who are interested in following the healing progress of the fingers. Here's an update. While sitting in the hand surgeon's exam room waiting to be seen, I decided to make use of the time alone with my unwrapped fingers and snap a couple of pictures with my cell phone. I think I might have been too close. I am to go back in another week to see how we are doing. They are quite pleased with the appearance today. Took out the last stitch and wrapped them up again. So far I have watched 7 different people wrapp the same 2 fingers 7 different ways. Some seem to be better than others, but all get the job done. Til next time, here's how they look today.

Crafting Camp 09

Having finished the "Hoosier Cabinet" (thanks Mel for the identification) another restoration project waiting in the basement was a walnut chair that Georgia's mother had "antiqued" in the 60's or 70's. When she no longer had room for it, it came to our basement on Main Street where it waited for about 10 years, then roughly another 10 at our present location. In the meantime, several pieces of carving had been lost. In discussion with the Springfield Knellers, we decided that Blaine and Jude would come Monday - Wednesday and we would "craft". In addition to the chair we decided it was a good time to rebuild the bird feeder that belongs outside their window in Springfield, and we would carve a goose if we could borrow Rod's chain saw. In the many years we attended the Covered Bridge Festival in Parke County Indiana, I marveled at the "chain saw artists". In addition, I always thought those large wooden geese where cool. Several years ago, Jeff had a bunch of oak log sections. Thinking of the wooden goose, I talked him out of one of them and brought it home to dry in the garage. Since carving was required to restore the chair, I thought it was appropriate to include the goose carving in the session. Although some pictures will be included here, my facebook friends will find more pictures there. We need votes. Since we broke off her head, we have the option of facing it forward or turned back in a more "resting" mode.. Please help us decide.

I picked up the boys Sunday evening. Monday morning we had local farm eggs, bacon, zucchini (that the boys brought along), and vidalia onions combined into an "omletty thing" which we cooked on the grill and ate on the deck. During these 3 days, I used up a bunch of coupons I had purchased last spring from the local boy scouts. Georgia, who was still in Indiana was a bit jealous as we told her that we ate at Dairy Queen, Texas Roadhouse, Subway.... Oh yes, we did squeeze in a visit to Lil Porgy's thanks to Jacqueline who had asked us to pick up some irises at Greg and Mel's; which is just down the street from Porgy's.. And the boys got to visit Aidan and Ava for a bit. That's enough about the food. Monday morning, we fired up the chain saws and started freeing the goose from the oak log. Obviously we couldn't all work on the goose, so we also glued small pieces onto the chair legs that I had previously "depainted" (see the chair in a pile.) The boys also brought their fishing poles, so some fishing was done to keep us from getting too bored from doing the same thing for too long. I think Jude caught over 20 fish and Blaine caught one rather large bass which satisied him. Tuesday, we rebuilt the bird feeder and found that compound miter joints are not as simple as the look (unless we simple severely missed something.) You can see the goose emerge from the log as the pile of sawdust grew. We assembled the chair on Wednesday. We cleaned up the garage and I told the boys they could fish as I worked on the head of the goose. Here's where the tale turns south. Several years ago, I bought an angle grinder which was adaptable as a biscuit jointer (the rage in wood joinery several years ago.) While shopping, I stumbled onto another was to get more use from the angle grinder. OMG.... something just wonderful.. a chain saw adaptator... talk about some power carving???? more refined than a chain saw and more "hungry" than a sander. We had used this little wonder on Tuesday and it worked well. We could get it into places too small for the chain saw. Then I took it apart and put it away... Fast forward to Wednesday morning. The chair is assembled and the glue is drying. The bird feeder is rebuilt and ready to go home for sanding and painting. The garage is clean and the body of the goose is coming along. We had "knocked off" the head, so had to make up a neck and do the more intricate carving of the head. So I sent the boys to fish, picked up the angle grinder with chain saw attachment (forgetting to screw in the handle for the left hand which keeps both hands safely away from the whirling cutting chain. You guessed it.. The boys hadn't even gotten their lines wet when I managed to thrust my left hand into the running tool of destruction. I got the bleeding stopped and wrapped up the 2 mangled fingers. Blaine came to check on my because he didn't hear the machine running. That's when I started hearing that line that would be repeated several times that day.... "are you OK???" The answer to that question is always relative. We pulled Jude away from the pond and went into Champaign to the emergency room. As we were getting in the car, Georgia called to tell us she was "on the road". Her goal was to get here in time to go with me to take the boys to meet their family. Today was root canal day for her. After the ER, the sent us to the hand surgeon (who had done my carpal tunnel release surgeries.) He looked at the fingers which were now being rewrapped for the 4th time. Looks like they will have to heal on their own.... there's nothing to put together.... As I am waiting between the assistant and the doctor with my hand unwrapped, Georgia shows up... think it pretty well grossed her out, but she held it together. Notice the insignia on my cap in the pictures while I'm holding the tool of the day. Now If you really want to see, scroll on down to some pics of my reformed fingers. I'm OK.... quit playing the guitar years ago.... didn't loose any fingers... just a small piece of my index finger distal phalanx.. and typing is really awkward. And for some time my dad will again be correct about the use of my left hand. (A really inside joke).