Rest In Peace 399

It was reported two days ago that our favorite grizzly bear, 399, was hit and killed. She was hit by a drvier going the speed limit at 10:30 pm. Luckily the drive was not injured an drepored the accident.

I am posting a few of the hundreds, perhaps thousands that we have taken of her over the years. The last was taken when her cub Spirit was looking at her with a mouth full of flowers.

Clear skies and a special thanks to 399.

Prairie Agate Rock Shop, Crawford, Nebraska

As we travel, besides wildlife, we also keep an eye out for rock shops. So, when we passed one in Crawford, Nebraska I told Renita and of course we had to turn around and check it out. The door was open, and the proprietor was sitting in an easy chair enjoying the sunshine. Parking, we saw that the yard was full of the usual. Piles of rough rocks and rows of bins containing slabs.

Gary, the owner told us that he had lots of fossils, polished slabs, and high-quality rough inside. He told us of the titanothere skull his son had dug out and prepared and that it was enclosed in a glass case. It was a perfect two horned specimen and other large skulls were nearby. One case contained wooly mammoth teeth and teeth from other Pleistocene mammals.

All of his specimens had documentation that showed they had been legally collected and Gary showed an incredible knowledge, one of the most knowledgeable we have ever met. I asked him if he had any blue agate and he proudly told me all about the Nebraska State Gemstone, Nebraska Blue, Its found in the White River Formation which is the rock that that Crawford rests upon. As he told us about it he took out a UV flashlight and explained that much of the agate emits a strong green fluorescence.

We both decided we had to have some for specimens and for making jewelry. He handed us each our own uv light and then showed us piece after piece. Now not all the agate fluoresces only that which contains adamite. That mineral will then only fluoresces if it also contains some Uranium Oxide. Uranium is in almost all the petrified wood and fossil dinosaur bone out west. One storey goes that the first atom bomb partially was made from uranium collected from such fossilized wood. As he showed us piece after piece, we grabbed each one and he suggested we should go into his Ultra Violet Dark room where he had many specimens on display. All were for sale, and we left the room with more exquisite pieces. We now have so much Nebraska Blue that we probably have a lifetime supply. When we return to Wyoming next spring the first order of business will be to make a case full of cabochons for our summer shows! If you are ever in the town of Crawford, Nebraska be sure to stop in and enjoy the rocks and fossils! Clear skies, and of course rock on! Ps I am having trouble taking pictures of the green color as my uv light overpowers the green fluorescence with the strong visible purple that the light emits. Arrgh!

Making Apple Cider

Arriving at Hamilton we started the day right with Eric and Jenny hugs. It had been a long two days of driving from Salt Lake City, where Renita had a yearly exam. From there we drove six hundred miles to Hamilton, Montana. Upon arrival Jen told us it was a special weekend, Apple Days. The next morning we went downtown and arriving early were able to buy two homemade apple pies. Taking them back to their house we ate a quick lunch and then went to one of their friends farm where their huge extended family had gathered to make apple cider.

There were quite a few people there but after being shown around we found spots at the cutting tables. Our job there was to inspect the apples for worms and cut the wormy portion away. Apparently, worms give the cider a bad taste. The apples were first giving a bath in a weak bleach solution before moving to a rinsing blue tub. From there they were rinsed a second time in another tub before they were scooped out and moved to the cutting tables, (Eric was the main scooper).

If the apples had a worm hole Renita and I would cut them in half before chopping them into smaller pieces, ( it reminded me of my career as a teacher where I sorted good and bad apples). Next, they were taken to the cider press which used an electric drill powered press to force the juice out of the apples. Even though there were four tables of cutters this was the slowest part of the operation and we spent four hours chopping apples.

The juice was then carried to the bagging station where Jen filled each bag with a gallon of cider and then placed each bag in the sun. Meanwhile another person asked us to guess how many gallons of apple cider would be made. Renita and I were not even close as the actually number was 297. Luckily it was cool and many of the stations had tented roofs, so it was bearable. Tired and sore we left before they distributed the cider and Jen brough back the gallon of cider we were given for our stint at the cutting table, (my lower back was sore for the next two days). It was really neat to take part in the cider making. As we worked for at least two hours we were given glasses of apple cider to spur us on! Most of the apple grown around Hamilton are Macintosh but some brought other apples from as far away as Washington State. Thanks for the opportunity to join in making Apple Cider! Clear skies

Disappointing Fall Colors

This year the fall colors have been extremely disappointing. While our trees here are not as colorful as the Midwest or Northeast, they still usually put on a nice show, just not this year. It has been exceptionally dry and extremely warm, (nothing like Arizona and Nevada). These factors along with the still raging forest fires have all added to the poor leaves display. Still there is some color, but not as much as usual with the red oaks that dot the evergreen forests. The bright spot has been the aspens that are now showing their yellows, each grove/stand all turn at the same time as they are really one organism.

The two pictures were both taken as we drove up the Snake River Canyon, from a visit to the doctor. We still haven’t started our snowbird migration and have been confined to our place as I am still recovering from surgery. It wont’ be long now before we head out and the last visit with the doctor was good so we are about ready. Safe travels to all and of course clear skies. (I hope to add to this post wit a few more pictures from Renita.)

Doctors, A Birthday Present, Wildlife In the Park, and getting the New Park Model Ready for Winter

We made plans with our friends for our yearly hike up to Taggert Lake. It’s a well-loved place and you have to get there early, or you may have to hike a long ways just to get to the trailhead. Unfortunately, the smoke from a nearby forest fire was so thick that we decided to postpone the hike until it cleared. The next day I went to a doctor and found out other tests were needed. After that tests I had to make an appointment to have surgery and so our hikes, for this year, are done. The surgery went fine and I was released but confined to the house.

As I sat at the dining room table Renita, and I noticed movement across the street in our neighbor’s flower garden. Her flowers were doing great, and it attracted a deer which stood there eating flower after flower. Cars were stopping and the deer ignored them. Finally, it had eaten its fill and moved on, (the deer may have cronic wasting disease). The deer come into our park when deer season starts and even elk, moose and bear have learned the park is a safe haven. While we haven’t seen the bear others have and it also leaves large scats, one of which was in our backyard.

We usually go to Grand Teton National Park for a birthday present. Instead, our friend Barbara called us to tell us that she had a consignment of larimar rough, so we bought it all. Larimar rough sells for a dollar a gram.

Nothing like buying yourself a birthday present, (when we saw, grirnd ,and polish we lose seventy per cent of the original rock), so a twenty gram piece will end up as a six gram finished cabochon, which by the way is now about a thirty karat stone).

Finally, our place is almost ready for winter! A local glass man replaced our two broken windows. Next our contractor skirted it and now we are waiting for a warped door to be replaced and an electrician to replace the wiring where a nail caused a short. It won’t be long before we leave on our migration. We have a person lined up to shovel our roof, when needed and another to winterize it, (two years ago we received twenty-one feet of snow, the houses here have to withstand a snow load of eighty pounds per square foot). Clear skies

Grand View Hike, To the Top, 2024

Each year we try to hike to the top of Grand View Point. The top of the peak, is on the east side of Grand Teton National Park, and is the best view of the Teton’s . Of course, its prime bear territory and so carrying bear spray is mandatory, (about half the people we meet do not carry any). We decided to make the attempt on our second trip this week to Jackson, Wyoming. This time we got there early so we could buy a luggage carrier for the Suburu. Hopefully we can now pack the car so that we will be able to see out the back window. The Thule carrier was on sale at REI, and they had one that fit our car. It was an easy install and before long we were on our way to the Grand View Parking Lot.

Passing a large buffalo, bison herd, we stopped for a few quick pics of the huge bulls.

Arriving at the parking lot, there were only a few horse trailers and a few small campers, so we parked, geared up, and took off up the trail, (top picture). We immediately noticed how dry the ground was, and that we kicked up dust with each step.

The trail started up and for us anyway got harder. We are both in our seventies and so each year we have to take it easy with quite a few rest stops along the way. We noticed a dearth of any flowers and saw that many of the trees showed sign of pine beetle disease.

Normally the trees can overcome the infestation, if there is sufficient rain, but this year has been abnormally dry, (pictured is one of many dead trees). We quickly reached the sign where the trail divided and now the hike became quite a bit steeper. Resting often, we reached a rock that marks the halfway point, and taking a picture of Renita, we continued up. Now I would like to mention that quite a few younger hikers passed us as we stopped, but its ok as the only race we have is against our inner voices. They seem to say you are too old for this, but we ignore them and exhort each other to continue.

Finally reaching the place where we could see several people eating lunch, we greeted them and took each others pictures. Sitting down I almost sat on my phone, but Renita reminded me about how much it cost when I broke the glass several years earlier.

We told the others that the true summit was only a short hike away and after finishing lunch we hiked there for the mandatory summit shot.

On the way back down, we stopped so Renita could take pictures of Two Ocean and Emma Matilda Lakes.

We had made the hike to the summit! Clear skies, and of course, if you go remember, “To the Top!” (thanks Steve G. for sharing your climbing motto).

Star Valley Pickleball, The Grand Opening of the New Courts

Besides lapidary and wildlife photography, we also play quite a bit of pickleball. It keeps us active and helps us to acclimatize to the six thousand foot elevation. It’s a great way to meet people and we look forward to playing the fun game.

Our club started with nineteen people in 2010 and has grown to three hundred and sixty members. With skill levels from 2.5, beginner to 4.5, (each level is 0.5 increase), and even perhaps 5.0. At first the founders, Mary, pictured at far right, and her husband, had taped the pickleball courts over the tennis courts. There were two which converted to eight. As the club grew we needed more courts and another four courts were added where a bumper boat pond had been located. It quickly became obvious that this wasn’t enough and another four courts were planned and finally finished this past week, (we now have sixteen courts). To celebrate the new courts opening the club held a grand opening event. To inaugurate the new courts members could put their names in a hat and if drawn be the first to play.

Renita decided to put her name in and she was drawn for the 3.0 skill level!

The President of the club gave a speech about the growth of the club which was followed by the ribbon cutting ceremony. After that it was game on and all sixteen of the courts, new and old, were busy! Thanks to all who worked so hard to raise money for the new coursts and to the park who agreed and provided the land! Game on and of course Clear Skies! Before the SVRR Park added the Pickleball courts new lots sales were sluggish at best. Now the lots sell almost as fast as they build them. Any rv part without them is at a disadvantage. Our park is the largest rv park west of the Mississippi!

Great Horned Owl

Our friends Fred and Becky drove up in their golf cart. They were excited as they had found the park’s great horned owl. Another photographer had posted pictures of it on our parks Facebook page and Fred had gotten pictures of it sleeping. He showed us the pics on his camera and gave us detailed directions on how and where to find it. Getting our camera gear ready we opted to walk over, we needed the exercise, but after carrying the heavy gear I started to complain as we got mixed up and took a couple of wrong turns, Renita looked it up on Google Maps and we found the reported location.

We looked at the wrong tree and couldn’t see the huge owl until a kind lady came out of her house and pointed at the owl. They have such great camouflage! It was sleeping and had its back to us. She told us that the owl had been there all day. She also said there were two others, but we never spotted them. As we took pictures of its back it woke up and started to preen.

She also told us that everyone had great feathers from its previous preening, (I didn’t have the heart to tell her that collecting feathers was against the law). Renita meanwhile found a great vantage point and motioned for me to come over as she could see its eyes. As usual she had found the best spot and directed me to where I could take a good full body shot. It had its eyes open and was watching us!

As we continued to watch, another lady came over with her small dog and asked what we were looking at. The owl then crouched and stared at us, or should I say it stared at the small dog. It was probably trying to decide if the dog would make a great breakfast treat!

Luck was with the dog as the Great Horned Owl decided that its intended prey was protected, and it didn’t swoop down. Losing interest in the dog, it turned away from us and we decided to head home. It was a nice break from rock work. Thanks Fred and Becky! Clear skies

Cabbing Time

It’s cabbing time and so in the cooler mornings we grind stones, (it reached 91 F for the past three days). A front has passed through, and the temps are now down into the eighties. Our humidity is usually about ten percent and so it’s pleasant without needing air conditioning. Each year, after all our shows, we make an inventory of what we have sold. Next we locate the rough rocks and saw them into slabs, (using a slab saw). From there we draw the shapes before using a trim to saw rough shape them into what we call preforms. These are now ready for us to grind into finished pieces, called cabochons, before giving them a finish polish.

To do this we select the preforms and then grind them on diamond wheels. The first wheel has a grit size of 100, wheel two is 220, and the third wheel is the special wheel that we think of as a magic wheel with 400 grit. Thie first two wheels are rigid, but the third wheel has a pliable backing that takes the edges off the preforms and cuts them into their final shape. we grind these by hand, as using dop sticks is unnecessary, (unless the stones are too small to grip, which are used for rings or earrings).

After washing the cabs, we inspect them for any scratches before finishing them. Wheel number four has a grit size of 600, wheel five is 1200 and the sixth wheel is 14000, (we also have a wheel coated with 50,000 diamond grit but it is rarely used.

Finally. we give them a final polish on a buffing wheel. The last step is to inspect them for any flaws or scratches before saving them in glass cases. We only finish about fifteen cabochons every third day, this gives us a few days for my back and hands to rest/recuperate). The cabs are then stored and taken on our winter travels. We turn them into jewelry when the weather is too bad for fishing, birding, or hiking. Clear skies and rock on!. I still enjoy making cabs even though we have made thousands. It’s still amazes me that we can take a rock and turn it into a stunning cabochon/piece. For safety all cabs are ground with water to minimize dust. We do not wear jewelry and also wear a N 95 respirator/ mask, a lab apron, and a safety shield. Our cabbing machine is a Genie, which was made by Diamond Pacific, a company in California.

Summer shows and friends visits

It’s been a crazy busy three weeks! In that time, we have attended, set up, and sold at three shows, had visits from two sets of friends, and even found time to go fishing. While I have already discussed the Alpine and Cody Shows, which are multiday shows, we also had a very abbreviated show at our rv park.

Renita did take an image of me actually working at the Cody Show, (several had suggested that I make her do all the work, which is not true as I do help her with advice…. She also took some images of the 4th of July parade at Cody, Wyoming.

Last week our dear friends Bob and Nancy visited us. Unfortunately, hot weather arrived and their VRBO did not have any air conditioning. We don’t have it either and we never had air conditioning when we lived in Gillette. Here the temperature drops as soon as the sun sets and is usually in the forties or fifties. Bob and I did attempt to go fishing at my secret fishing hole, but the altitude made the walking treacherous and so after an hour we slowly headed back to our place, (we caught and released four large trout, three cutthroats and a brown. These are all wild native fish. That evening they told us they needed to return home, but not before we taught them how to play Jokers and Pegs. Last weekend we had a record sales in the show at our park. Renita was so busy with the credit cards that I almost felt guilty, but she knows better than to let me mess things up. My job is to tell stories, which are mostly true. We may sell at another show but we really need to make cabochons to replace all that we have sold. Our biggest selling stones for this year were made of Kingman turquoise, larimar, and Wyoming jade. We usually make the stones in the summer and then finish them into jewelry in the winter time. We have also played quite a bit of Pickleball, and even though we love playing we have been beaten badly, even getting pickled, (when you don’t score a point). It doesn’t matter as long as we get our exercise and try to improve our game, have fun, and don’t fall!

Finally, we were visited by an old friend Robert Woolery. I mentored him when he was a new hire in Gillette and he told us he won teacher of the year in his Arizona and Syracuse Schools. It was so nice to see him again and to tell old teaching stories. Thanks for the visits! Clear skies

Yellowstone 2024 Grizzlies and a New Life Bird

Each year we look forward to the Cody, Wyoming Wild West Arts Festival. It’s three days of parades and fun and we set up our booth to sell our Jewelry. We always plan on a few extra days to enjoy the surrounding area by making day trips to Yellowstone National Park. This year was an exceptional year as we spotted a new bird for a life list and encountered three grizzly bears. Our friends Fred and Becky had already made a trip to Yellowstone and had encountered several Harlequin ducks. These ducks are small sea ducks that nest in areas with rapids. They had told us that the ducks were located at Le Hardy Rapids. As we drove through Yellowstone, I spotted the sign for the rapids, and we parked in the lot hoping that the Harlequinn ducks were still there. As we walked down the short trail, we could see them perched and resting on a flat rock! We were both elated to see the beautiful ducks and told other visitors, (they did not seem terribly impressed, definitely not birders).

Continuing our drive, we hoped to see some black bears and perhaps a grizzly. The day before we had encountered a bear jam where a sow and her new coy, (new cub of the year), put on a show. The bear has been given the name Raspberry and her new cub is called Snow. The sow was grazing in open spaces between fallen trees and it was comical watching the cub keeping up with mamma bear. Raspberry didn’t have any problems crossing the log jams, but each fallen tree was an almost insurmountable problem for the little cub. It would pull itself up and then lose its balance as it fell off the fallen timber.

Still, it managed to tag along, and we watched them for forty-five minutes before they disappeared in a cove of fallen timber. The next day we drove back but just missed the pair and so we headed to the Hayden Valley and Lamar Valleys. We didn’t see any bears at Hayden Valley, but it was filled with Buffalo.

Many of the bull bison were dusting themselves in dried wallows to give them some relief from insects. At one spot the bull was very near the road, and it glared at us as we quickly stopped to take its picture.

Forgetting us it rolled over in the dried ground creating a cloud of dust!

What a sight. We decided it was time to go even though we were at least twenty-five yards away, which is the required distance to safely view the huge animals. Passing Canyon Village and Tower Junction we decided to drive up the Lamar Valley looking for bears and wolves. The valley was full of buffalo herds, but we didn’t spot much else. However a coyote posed right next to the road.

Further on we used our binoculars to glass the canyon walls and spotted several mountain goats. They were so far away that you really couldn’t see much, just a white goat shaped object. Reaching the Northeast entrance we passed through Cooke City and then Silver Gate. As we left Siver Gate we saw about twenty people watching something.

The something was the largest Grizzly bear we have seen in quite a while. It was grazing about one hundred yards away and we didn’t get a great image as it was surrounded by bushes. It finally disappeared into the brush and several people decided that they would try to push the bear back into an open area for more pictures. What could go wrong? We decided to leave as we didn’t like their idea. Continuing we turned right and drove the Chief Joesph Highway. At a rest area you can walk out to enjoy the view of a steep and narrow canyon. It had been a great two days with new life birds and a huge grizzly bear. Of course, any trip into Yellowstone is always filled with memories of wildlife and scenic views to calm ones soul. Clear skies