Labwhiners2005

Been having fun getting to help paint a mural the past few days.  Last painting day is tomorrow!  It has been fun watching kids display their painting talents, learn their interests by what they paint, and meet a couple of neat girls from Minnesota spending some time this summer in Strangely.

Have about a dozen greasewood knife handles ready to haft a blade into.  Tim finished a big painting on Sunday, is now building the frame for it.  Been too many gnats around to go out rock or tree hunting, but the camping bug is sure giving us itchy feet.  After the big holiday we may have to hit the road, till then we will leave the road for everyone else.  Tata motor company in India is starting production of a compressed air car.  Kind of interesting.  Also, Hanksville, Utah (San Rafael Swell) is the site of the latest 'Jurasic bone jackpot'.  You can read all about it at the Salt Lake Tribune site.

We have been having fun, our first camping trip of the year, and getting to spend time with John and Brad.  John has a blast out camping while Brad moans and groans with the lack of video and a great excess of boredom and bug bites.  Callie got sore feet running through the cacti and over hot sand.  Callie has recovered, but Brad is still suffering from a lack of entertainment in a small town.  Brad has really grown the past year, the teenage years can have so much change for everyone.

 

The wildflowers are very impressive this year, bursts of color everywhere, thanks to all the winter moisture.  The Sega lilies, onions, claret cups, ball cacti, and evening primrose are almost finished with their blooming.  The prickly pear, loco weed (legumes), penstemon, gilia, larkspur, colorado 4 o'clock, greasewood, indian paintbrush, desert candles, prince's plume, and buckwheats are in full bloom now.  I have lot's of pics and no time to work them up!  Sure is fun to have that as my worst stressor!

The FDA issued a warning this past week about a Salmonella outbreak in Texas and New Mexico linked to tomatoes from one packaging plant.  Make sure you buy only products with an unbroken skin, then wash them before you eat them.  You can't control stuff you buy already prepared or in a restaraunt, but ya' takes your chances!  Could the quality of our water supply be causing some of these problems? 

 

Our tomato plants seem to enjoy growing in the horse droppings from the fairgrounds.  The lettuce also likes it...Did Tim wash that lettuce before he ate it???  What's your guess?  We have had a nice second spring this week with plenty of rain.  The rivers about are up to flood warning stage.  The river is coming up into the ditches by the green bridge, and the three pound size carp are spawning in the ditches.  May have to try spearing one or two for supper today-built a nice spear and a couple of walking sticks yesterday.  It was another no sleep night, but at least I got a few e-mails read!  Tim has made a few nice knife blades this week, one of Brazilian agate had a really nice inclusion, an opal blade hung together, and he made a Christmas tree point about five inches long.  Have them in a glass display box - an aquarium turned upside down.  Still haven't been out kite flying, but maybe soon.

Started watching the DVD series, Planet Earth- as you've never seen it before- from BBC Video-(checked out from our college library).  Awesome photography!  A great white shark launching itself completely out of the water with a seal in it's mouth, painted dogs running down impala, a snow leopard and her cub filmed in the wild.  Leanna outdid herself in getting this series, it is wonderful!

 

We are looking forward to company coming later this month, I actually can see most of the floor in the extra bedroom.  Beans are coming up in the planter boxes and Tim's tomato plant has a quarter sized tomato on it.  My tomato plants are just starting to bud, but we are eating romaine lettuce.  This friday at 5 pm at the Vernal museum a NASA spokesman will be speaking.  Then at 9 pm at Steinaker lake the local astronomy buffs will have their telescopes set up for a little stargazing.  Since it is just past the new moon, there should be some really good views.

 

Little excitement in the neighborhood yesterday evening.  Tim said he smelled burning wood.  We went outside, a neighbor asked me to call in a fire, which I did...turned out it was the fire department doing a prescribed burn two houses down from us, where they are putting in some new apartment buildings.  There must be 40 new homes going up in town and a new motel.  We are really an oil boom town again.  Jobs open everywhere with no place for people to live.  There must be some serious stuff going on with the oil shale for all of this building up.   

Today I dug up a dock plant in the garden, ate some of the leaves raw, and blanched the rest of them like you do spinach.  Very interesting....One thing I did not expect, the stems exude a slime that feels like aloe vera juice, and may be one of the anti-itching components of the dock.  It feels like a good non-greasy lotion, kinda like witch hazel.  The flavor of the raw leaves reminded Tim of spinach, to me it had a much firmer texture, but not as much flavor as spinach.  Cooked, Tim said, "Spinach", I thought it tasted very lemony and more like chard.  I'm boiling the stems down now to see what kind of a lotion it might make.  Am not sure what I will do with the root, probably dry it for future use.  I've been reading a lot on different plants, compiling the information just for my own use and local plant information for our local museum.  It is really interesting what is hiding out in the hills and sneaking into town.  Here's the scoop so far on dock.

 

Curly dock, Narrow dock, Yellow dock, Sour dock, Tanner's dock, Wild Pieplant, Wild Rhubarb, 'Wild Red Desert Ginseng'-Canaigre (Rumex hymenosepalus)

Belongs to the Polygonaciae (Buckwheat) family.  Dock is high in iron, vitamins, and oxalic acid.  Used as a laxative, liver stimulant, and blood purifier.  In the 1800's an anti-itching ointment was prepared by boiling the roots in vinegar until fibers softened, then mixed with lard.  Acne treated by steeping 1/2 teaspoon of root in tea, taken three times a day for a week, then stop taking for a couple of weeks (probably to prevent dependence on the laxative effect of the root).  The root contains anthroquinones, chrysarobin, and rumicen.  The roots produce a yellow dye (Navajo yellow wool); containing chrysophanic acid, emodin, and tannin.  The plants and roots were used in tanning leather (tannic and oxalic acids), and you are supposed to dig the roots in the fall.  Canaigre (wild red desert ginseng) is NOT a ginseng, no matter what that health food store clerk says.  

 

Another interesting plant is Skunkcabbage, California false hellebore (Veratrum californicum).  It's flowers are poisonous to insects, killing honeybees also.  Powdered roots are made into an insect powder.  Veratrin is the poisonous substance and found in the young shoots and roots of the skunkcabbage.  We are a little dry here for that to grow, but I rmember seeing it up in the mountains near Kremmling.

 

The Sego lilies are starting to bloom.  It is the state flower of Utah-the Utes who called it 'Sago' showed the early settlers how to use it for food.  We have one growing by the pickup, it hitched a ride in on a rock, probably.  The dock was possibly brought in by either a bird, rock, or the wind.  Dug up two elm trees and moved some hollyhocks today, hope they like their new home in the 'south 40'.  Have had showers for the past couple of days, might be muddy out there, so we may go check out a petroglyph site tomorrow.    

I'm still awake, couldn't post any pics, so will just give a quick update.  There is a Native American Artists Exhibit May 10 thru July 31 at the Wilbur D May Museum in Reno, Nevada--free admission---more fun and even cheaper than the slots!  Dean Barlese does some very impressive beadwork, and it is on view there.  The park around the museum is a lot of fun.  We spent some time there with grandkids, hiking to the Basque sheepherders monument, catching frogs and crawdads, sailing a boat, flying rockets, chasing the dog, etc.

 

We are having fun in the hills and in the garden.  Almost warm enough to think of camping...was 38 this morning, but warmed up to shirtsleeve weather pretty quickly. 

Have no bad news to impart to you...Bad news is just like old leftovers in the refrigerator, they don't go anywhere, just get to smelling more, and turn all sorts of interesting colors.  This is just some ramblings of the day...

 

Enjoyed the last of a good bottle of wine from our friends Rick and Kathy this evening.  Kathy finished her first oil painting Tuesday night, now she just has to sign it, polyurethane it, and frame it.  Looks really good, I would be proud to have it hanging on a wall in the house.  Watched a video, Step Into Liquid, which has some of the best water photography you could ever wish to see, plus one of the best outlooks on life you could ever find, epitomized by one word...Stoked...enjoying the day as it happens...the best is happening all around you, even if you are grousing over the bad weather, bugs, tawdry people, whatever...see the good stuff..it is there...

 

Lat night I forgot to turn the water off on the west forty, so the peas and elm trees got lots of water.  The stock tank is a swamp, with two of the tomato plants from the house swimming and gasping for air...The tomato and cucumber plants in the garden seem happy, and I forgot to cut the asparagus and dig worms for the fish.  Did get all of Jeremy's gold pans sealed...yes, I'm gonna peddle a few pans for him...gotta post some pics.  Also sealed a few of the lids I painted with petroglyph symbols.   They are fun to do.  Have reproduced a few in sandstone, fun, and painted a few on metal tin covers like cookies or candy come in.  Amazing what you can find around the house to paint on.  My rug painting experiment is getting very close to completion (after 8 or so years), and I actually sewed the front and back of John's leather shirt together.

 

Tim is still suffering from his cedar/juniper tree allergies, sneezing and snuffling about like a zombie in the twilight zone (well, maybe not quite that bad).  He made a really nice Christmas tree obsidian point today, plus two meals that were fantastic.  He is a wonderful person to spend life with.  Tomorrow he says we get to go "out there..." I can't wait.  I must sound like a dog waiting to go for a ride, but that's not too far from the truth, as I took Jake's place in the truck...love to go out rock hunting, camping, whatever with Tim...He is the best...

Went a whole month without a sleepless night, then this week have had two of them.  The multivitamin/calcium/melatonin bedtime combo seems to have fizzled.  Am pretty sure it is just the pre-menopausal stuff, but have been worried about my son.  Maybe that is stressing me more than I think.  Gotta get this under control as I can be as loony as anyone after a sleepless night, running off at the mouth, trying to accomplish too much, and feeling like something the cat buried.

 

Anyway, here we are...me bored shitless, did all the work I could on my paintings...gotta wait for paint to dry...could work on pics or John's shirt, or wash dishes, but that sounds a lot less interesting than pounding the keys here.  Hope I don't miss any daylight hours today.  Lots of wood, bones, and skulls to play with, rocks to wash and sort, and three oilfield drill bits to put somewhere in the yard.  Found the drill bits up on Raven Ridge under a slab of sandstone.  Clyde told me the one with a chain link welded into it was used as a 'tong weight.'  They hang it off the side of the oil derrick to balance something.  These drill bits are what made Howard Hughes the man he was back in the last century.  They weigh somewhere between 40 to 60 pounds each, and, yes, Tim did gripe about me hauling 'em home.

 

Clyde also told us that there are some new beaver ponds up on East Douglas Creek...gotta go see the new ponds.  They will keep water running a little longer this summer.  His zebra/horse colt is due within the next month, the mare is starting to get an udder.  We got to try some yak meat earlier this month, really good stuff!  Sometimes we miss having pets or livestock around, but love to get out camping much more.  Am thinking about dumping the croppie/bluegill into the town pond, but gotta clear that with Branson first.  Can't put 'em in with the goldfish...they are mean critters.  Animals sure tie you down, except for our neighbors, whose dogs bark at night and can't reach water during the day.  May get to fly the kite this week, have to see where we wind up out there.  Tom may be going out with us Tuesday, but not too sure where we are going to take him.  Also Jer may show up, so I need to clear out bedspace for him, move wet paint somewhere else!  Hmm, maybe he will help me move the fishpond...

 

There I go with another project, but an elm tree is humping a root up under the tank, so it needs to move a couple of feet in some direction.  Gotta dig up a couple of elm trees trying to lift the garage off of the ground too.  Have got too many cherry trees in the garden, it is so hard to thin them out.  We ate the first of the asparagus two days ago and the pea plants are starting to grow.  Volunteer leaf lettuce is coming up in the garden also. 

 

 

 

 

 

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We had a great time hunting cephalopods today.  Tim managed to snag a little part of one, and I snagged a whole bunch of pictures.  Now have about 200 pictures from just this month to work up, so have my work cut out for me.  Don't know what kind of snake Tim found today, but he is about 4 feet long, and really, reallllly good at hissing and striking.  We left him out there on Dead Dog.  May get to go kite flying next week!

We went out to Raven Ridge yesterday and found some wonderful twisted trees and one wild sheep that eluded it's sheepherder and dogs when they moved to a new area.  She appeared to be in good shape, but as there is no water in the area, am sure she will be feeding the coyotes, ravens, eagles, magpies, and maggots within a few days.  She was hanging out by the sheep corral, looked fat and like she might lamb at any time.  The sheep left a few wildflowers behind, so hopefully can add some pics soon.  Still having a hard time posting pics, can only load one pic at a time---sloooowwww dial-up, I guess.  Walked in one of the huge tunnels installed for the Deserado mine train.  Would be a really neat place to take the grandkids, musical instruments, or maybe just cool off on a hot day.  There was still water and ice in the tunnel/culvert.  No animal footprints, but maybe they don't like the mud and water.  Found a big bunch of greasewood someone had chopped off, so now have lots of stuff to work up into walking sticks, knife handles, and battle axes---yep, this old battle axe is going to make herself one, maybe...let's see, that wood is so dense, I can wrap a rock in some of the wet rawhide from last years deer hunt onto the greasewood shaft with some of the pinyon sap to hold the whole conglomeration together.  Just might work.

 

The cedar trees are stripping so easy...this is definitely the time of year to be cutting them.  The pinyon trees are putting out sap also.  Tim started sneezing, and we saw the rabbitbrush or one kind of sage blooming, so they must start early.  The cedar trees were putting out yellow dust.  Speaking of allergens, learned today that some allergens are retained in clothing even after repeated laundering, especially topical ointment type stuff.  The only way to get rid of the allergy is to also discard the clothing it came into contact with.  Some people who reacted to a rubber allergen in shoes had to throw away the socks they had worn with the shoes to completely recover from their allergic rash.  Also, bottled water sold in the same state it is bottled in is not subject to FDA inspection/regulation.  Those bottles of water are probably less healthy than drinking out of a fishtank.  Speaking of drinking, overhydration/drinking too much water can cause a drop in sodium.  Is a problem, we have been so indoctrinated to drink water, that we may be overdoing it.  Best to drink just if you feel thirsty.

 

The Evening Grosbeaks and finches are singing for their breakfast, so I better go fill the feeders.  Tulips should be blooming in a day or two, and there is at least one stalk of asparagus ready to pick!  Ahh, Spring!  Tim is even talking about 'shearing' off the beard!