There are times that I like to take my laptop computer with for different projects away from home. But I don't want to haul out the big heavy computer bag I have. And at these times, I really don't need to take the power cord, extra discs, etc, just the laptop. I have been looking at the computer sleeves that are for sale in the stores. Well, it got me thinking. Why buy, when I can go to my yarn stash, find some yarn that I like and make a sleeve for the laptop. And viola, I did it in a couple of days. This will help to protect my laptop when I take it some where with me and I can leave the laptop in the sleeve when I do use the big bag.
I used a cotton yarn, size h hook and just crocheted a bag with a flap to fit the laptop. It is gonna work just fine.

Today is Christmas Day. The day we celebrate the birth of Christ. Savior of the world. This is Angel in one of her Christmas sweaters. I got her two, but one is too small, has to be replaced. She does like her sweaters. She also received a new blanket that I whipped up in a couple of days. She really likes blankees. Our first Christmas in a long time without our George. He is missed very much.

No pictures this time. Just some thoughts on this time of the year. Have been sitting here all day long looking out the window at the fog. We have had a very cold fog here and it doesn't look like it is gonna lift anytime soon. Visibility has been no more than 1/8 of a mile if that. And that is in town, so out on the highway, it is probably worst.
It is December 20th, four more days to Christmas. I have done all my shopping, although tomorrow, I am thinking of getting Angel another sweater. I have gotten her already and the past couple of days I did crochet up a quick blanket for her. As if she really needs another sweater and blanket. But as this is our first Christmas without our George, trying to make it special for her.
As Marshal has a doctor's appointment tomorrow and we didn't want to brave what the weather could be this year, we are staying home for the holidays. Which is fine. I would like to be with Mason this year also, as he is older and will be more fun on Christmas Day. I sent off my packages the other day. I do believe that this is the last year for packages for Christmas. It just costs too much to send the packages. My thoughts are to send gifts on birthdays and probably gift cards for Christmas. That way, it won't take too much out of the wallet this time of the year.
The countdown for Christmas is on and in 4 more days Christmas will be here.

On Saturday, September 26th, we headed out again with the gang from the Senior Center for another ride. Turned out to be the perfect day for a ride. Not too hot and not too cold. The weather was perfect and autumn like. Well, it is autumn as you can tell by the above picture. The leaves are really beautiful. The reds and oranges were so bright and pretty. In some places the aspens were just changing, or in other places completely changed and falling, or not even changing in some spots. The trail we took were good in most places. One side trail that I took, I should have gone up instead of down. It was hairy about halfway down. Then another spot, going down hill, the whole bunch of us had trouble. That spot, I did the downhill for about 50 feet or so sideways. Was glad that it wasn't longer than what it was. We had a crew of about 10 ATVs and 12 people. One couple had never gone off road before and they really enjoyed the ride. All the trails we took we could go back in the Jeep or pickup and have just as much fun.

As you notice in one or two pictures, Angel was having fun with the ride. She does like her rides. I did take a lot of pictures and it was hard to pick just one to start this off with. Click on My Pictures to the right to see more.

We aren't gonna have good weather much longer for the rides, so have to put the ATVs up for the winter. Hate that. Well, Marshal's won't be put up, the plow will go on it and we will use it to plow the driveway as needed.

I have finally completed the latest Christmas gifts. I found a free pattern for a crocheted back pack. I fell in love with the pattern. So decided that since I really haven't come up with something for two granddaughters, that this would be perfect. I made one in different shades of green also. I do love the pink one though.

We have just returned from our latest adventures and we had a good time. Yes, that is Angel in the above photo. More on that later.

For several weeks now, I have been bugging Marshal about going some place, just to get away. So he decided that he would head to Washington. Well, after doing some thinking about it, he decided not to go. But I kept talking and told him that we could head over to the Cub River and spend a few days. He could fish, Angel and I could ride the ATV in the mountains, and George could sleep. He finally agreed that it was a good idea. Cub River is only like 50 miles from home, so it isn't that much a big deal to take the trip over there. Only takes us like 2 hours to make that trip. You ask why does it take that long to go only that far. Well, first off, it is only about an hour over there to the road that heads back into the mountains. And then maybe another half hour to the campground. We go 14 miles from the highway and about 10 of that is dirt, washboard road. So have to go very slow on the dirt road. Oh, and watch out for those idiots from Utah that only know two speeds. FAST and FASTER!!!!!!!!! No matter what the conditions are!!!!!!!!

So last week in between doctor's appointments and what else that was going on, I managed to get the motor home loaded and we hit the road on Thursday, August 20th. Got there around noon and the campground had one site occupied. So we had the pick of some of the choicest sites. Found a double site, and got all set up. The double was just fine. Our friends the Jones were joining us when George was done with a doctor's appointment on the same day.

Weather was pretty decent. Not too hot and not too cold. Expected it to be really nice and cooler than what it would be in the flatlands.

Thursday we kinda of rested and just sat around. Angel and I did check out the campground and all sites close by. Got used to riding the ATV again.

Friday morning, I sat around visiting with Judy Jones and just relaxing. Friday afternoon, we climbed aboard the ATV's and headed to the Cub River ATV Trail. It leaves the campground, goes down to the river and winds up and over the mountain. It goes along the main road, but away about 25 to 50 feet. Checked out several things that I had not seen last time I was at the Cub River. Found the spring coming out of the mountain that ended up down at the Cub River. That was neat. Yes, I took lots of pictures. By clicking on My Pictures to the right here, you will see all my pictures.

Friday turned out to be pretty hot, especially if a person was in the sun. So since Angel was in the sun all the time in her basket, I devised a canopy to go over her basket to protect her from the sun. Yes, it is Mickey Moused, but it worked just fine to give her shade as needed.

On Saturday, after Marshal was done fishing, we took off on another trail ride. This time to the German Dugway. My main idea was to end up at Copenhagen Basin. That is, if I could keep the others going. This trail was not an easy one. Several spots on the mountain going up were really rocky and very slow going. Didn't have to go down to first gear or 4 wheel drive, but it kept me pretty slow. Lots of wonderful scenery to see. Once we reached the top of the mountain, the others did not want to go further, so we turned around and went back to the camp. I really enjoyed this trail. I know that my son, Stanley, would be envious of his mother. And he would have fun on his dirt bike taking it. LOL

I forgot to mention, Thursday night, a few more people came into the campground. But on Friday evening, it was like a gate had opened up and the campground filled up quickly. There was only like 3 sites left empty. One thing we noticed, most of the vehicles had Utah plates, very few were Idaho. Saturday was very noisy due to all the people in the campground.

Saturday evening the clouds started moving in, but we didn't think anything of it. Come on, it is August in Idaho. It did cool off some though. Sometime after midnight, it started to rain. Not too much at first, but by sun up, the rain was coming down real good. Those that were staying in tents sure were miserable. LOL

On Sunday morning, it finally quit raining. Got to watch those that were in tents try to gets things dried out. But it was too cool to really dry things. Marshal had put down our awning on Saturday, so most of our outside stuff was dry or damp. Since it was halfway decent and the guys went fishing, Angel and I loaded up and headed out to Franklin Basin. It was a half way decent ride. Some rough spots, but not as bad as German Dugway. So we made pretty good time. Saw a couple of roads that tempted me to see what was down them, but I resisted. Since I had told someone where I was gonna be, figured that it would be best to try and stay pretty close to my announced route. We did end up at Franklin Basin and it was a pretty spot. Somewhat cool, but livable for us. The night before I had taken a good look at the topo map to see what roads were available in Franklin Basin. So I chose the road to Egan Basin to make a change in scenery. Not a long road, but nice ride. Towards the end of the road, I looked down at the road to check things out, lifted my head up and in front were two very nice good size bucks. They were fantastic. So close, that I could almost reached out and touched them. I stopped, killed the motor, and reached for the camera. The whole time, they did not move more than 50 yards away from us. Got some good pictures of them. Sure do wished that I had more of a telephoto lens on the camera though. They finally left for parts unknown, but gave us a few minutes of staring at each other. Then it was back to heading back to the camp. Coming down the canyon that leads to Cub River, we scared up another buck. He got into the trees before I could get close enough for a good picture. But he was curious about us. Must have been my red hat from the neighbor and Murdock Chevrolet!!! LOL

About lunch time, Marshal came back from fishing and the clouds let loose. We had a good ole mountain cloudburst. The rain came down hard and heavy. At several times, the water was running so fast through our site, that I wondered if we needed a boat. It rained like that for a good hour or so. Since there wasn't much else to do, I had read quite a bit, in fact, finished up the three books I had left and I did some serious work on a Christmas gift while we were there. I took a nap. When I woke up, most of the people had cleared out of the campground and the rain had quit.

That afternoon, we loaded up and headed for the Franklin Basin. Marshal and the rest wanted to see it. So away we went. I did take down Angel's canopy, as it wasn't needed due to the clouds. We arrived at Franklin Basin and decided that since it was still decent, we would go as far as where the road ran into the highway in Logan Canyon. Well, about 5 minutes after we made that decision, it started to rain. At first, thought it was just a quick shower, and then it turned into a deluge!!!!!!!!!!! Everyone, except I, had a rain coat, but George had an extra one that I could wear. And we decided to head back to camp. I took Angel's extra blanket and wrapped her in it, put her on the seat in front of me and leaned over her. That was to help protect her as much as possible from the rain, and to help her stay warm with my body heat. And we headed back as fast as we could go in the rain. About halfway back, the rain let up some. Then almost the way back, we stopped for a minute to rest up and the rain quit. I took off my gloves, leather by the way, wrung about a quart of water out of them. Wrung Angel's blanket out and got quite a bit, but she was damp, not real wet. My pants were soaking wet and heavy from the water. About the only thing that wasn't wet was my boots, (water proofed) and my sweater and tee shirt (had the rain coat on). As the pants were my last clean pair, I had to dig a dirty pair out of the laundry to wear for the next two days!!!!! LOL Everything back at camp was soaking wet, even having the awning out did not protect any of it. We called it early that night. Oh, and Angel was just barely damp, except for her head, which was outside of the blanket. She did not suffer any ill effects from the ride. It was a real fun day for all.

For most of Sunday night, it rained. And it came down good. Still raining come Monday morning. When it finally stopped, we got things ready to head home.

Altogether, we did a couple of good rides, Marshal caught like 15 fish, we ate 9 of them and brought home the rest. It was nicer coming home, as there wasn't any dust on the road, due to the rain.

I am now ready to take off again. Hate sitting at home.

The above picture is of my surviving great uncles on my dad's side of the family. Yes, great uncles. Both are in their 80's.

My great grandparents, John Albert and Marthann Priest Hunsaker were married in 1900. My grandmother, Hortense, was born in November, 1900. She was the oldest child. They had ten children, all that lived to adulthood and raised families of their own. The youngest being born 28 years later. For several years, my grandmothers were having children within months of each other. One of the places that my great grandparents lived, was at Bothwell, Utah. The house they lived in, is still there, remodeled some, but still there. All of their children and several grandchildren were born there.

My grandmother, Hortense, was a sickly person, having had polio as a young child. So my father and his older brother spent a good many years growing up in their grandparents home.

One of my cousins brought some stuff that they had found in the attic of an old house they used to live in. In this stuff, was two postcards, one written by my grandfather, Howard Smith to the Hunsakers about the health of my grandmother, Hortense. The other written by my grandmother to her parents. Both cards were written in 1934. I now have them in my possession. It made my whole day to get these postcards.

One of the things we did was shared memories of our childhood and memories of stories we had heard while growing up.

If I have figured it out right, we had 4 generations there. It is kinda of hard to figure out the generations, as we had the uncles, children (my father's generation), grandchildren (my generation), great grandchildren, great great grandchildren and maybe one more generation. All together we had 52 people. Out of the ten children, there was only 3 with no representative there.

It was a fun day and we really enjoyed ourselves. We will have another reunion next year. More pictures can be found by clicking on the link My Pictures to the right.

A month or so ago, husband and his son made plans for us to meet at Jacob Lake, Arizona and camp out together. The idea was to have a long weekend, kick back and visit. The kids have purchased a pop up camp trailer and are pretty anxious to use it as much as possible. Which is good for them and the granddaughters. Although there were a few problems, it was basically a good weekend and we all had lots of fun.

We left a day early. Even though we could have made the trip in one day, we are retired you know and it is nice to just ramble along down the road taking it easy. Which we did. We left late enough in the morning to miss the commute traffic in the Salt Lake and Utah valleys. Hate that commute traffic. We spent the night at RV Corral in Kanab, Utah. A nice park with nice size sites and full hook ups. They also had wireless internet, so I was able to get on line and do some email. The next morning, it was a leisurely 35 mile drive to Jacob Lake up on the Kaibab.

Some of the sights we saw while on the road, I did manage to get some pictures of. You can click on the link, My Pictures to the right and see them. But I will tell you something about some of them. First off, I saw a sheep camp heading down the road. I thought that a certain uncle of mine would love to see a picture of that one. I did try to get a picture of the side, but for some reason, probably I was too slow taking the picture, I didn't get it. Oh well. Another sight that brought a chuckle to me, even though I didn't get any pictures of them, was in Kane County, Utah and Fredonia, Arizona. In the small communities, money is really tight, so they make do. One way is to take patrol vehicles, put a dummy in them and park them just pass the speed limit signs. This is to fake out the tourists going through town and make them slow down. Saw several in like Mt. Carmel Junction, Mt. Carmel, Kanab and one other, can't remember the name. Then saw one just outside of the rv park in Kanab and on the road in Fredonia. I am sure the locals know all about them. In like 4 days, none were moved or changed spots.But I did notice that vehicles were slowing down when they came to them. 

Now to the rv park we stayed at in Jacob Lake.  It is called Kaibab RV Camper Village.  On one of my Yahoo RV groups, I asked if anyone had stayed there and what their impressions were.  The main one that came out, was that the park had problems with the electricity staying on.  And it was possible that the park would run out of water, especially at night.  There is no water on the Kaibab, so it has to be haul in.  So with these facts in hand, we went into the park.  First off, we did arrive like 11am.  Most parks the check out time ranges from 11am to 1pm.  Upon entering the office, I found the clerk on the phone and having trouble handling that.  As we weren't in a big hurry, it was no problem.  The clerk was handling a reservation over the phone.  The more she talked, the more I realized, she is the type that has trouble chewing gum or walking, or talking.  And definitely not three at one time!!!!!  She did good to muddle through one item at a time.  The son had paid for both sites for one night to reserve the sites.  I told the clerk to separate the two, apply one charge to me and charge me for two nights.  I thought that I was pretty clear.  But it took her a good 15 minutes talking to herself to finally come to that conclusion.  Then she says that Karl would direct us to the site and direct us in backing up.  I explained that we preferred to do our own backing.  We have a system and it works for us.  She said fine, but it was company policy.  I say, I don't care about company policy.  Well, the guy comes into the office and I explained about our backing up.  He said that was fine with him.  So off we went to the site.  First off, notice that it is still occupied.  No problem.  Well, Karl says we can either take the empty site right next to our site or park in another part of the park until the site was cleared.   Well, I look at the site he says we can have.  Well, there is a large tree in the middle of the site and just about 8 feet away is a large boulder.  Our MH is a 102 inch wide unit.  No way, we are gonna get into a site that is maybe 8 feet wide.  So we opted for parking some place else.  The unit in our site finally left and we moved over to the site.  Several hours later, the son and family show up.  And Karl is leading them.  Now the son is a novice when it comes to backing a trailer.  Well, Karl, had him completely screwed up within 5 minutes.  And then he raises his hand and starts to spin it.  I told Marshal to help his son get into the site and told Karl that Marshal would talk the son into the site and he could get out of the sun.  In less time then what it took Karl to get Earl messed up, Marshal had them into their site. 

The electricity only went out three times.  And I made a trip to the office each time.  And came away with the feeling that they really didn't care.  Each time they were blaming other campers in the park, and I got asked if I had turned all our electrical on at one time.  Basically it was shoddy workmanship.  They had too many units on a breaker switch, which needs to be changed out.  As this problem has been ongoing for several years, I don't see it changing anytime soon.

While there, we made a trip down to Lee's Ferry so that Marshal, Earl and the girls could go fishing.  Well, it was so darn hot there, 109 in the shade, they only stayed about 30 minutes.  We stopped at Marble Canyon Lodge and I took a serious look around.  Used to stay in the area quite a bit many years ago.  Some changes, but I could still name off the different buildings. 

Another day, we went down the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.  Took the road to Cape Royal.  A road that I have always wanted to take.  It was well worth the trip.  Then it was to the lodge at the rim and other than lots of people, it was still nice.  We did manage to see the true male tourist.  Had to take a picture.  He had black shoes, black socks and shorts on.  So typical!!!  LOL

On Sunday, we loaded up and headed home.  The kids headed south to Gilbert where they live and we headed north.  The trip home was pretty quiet.  Nothing to speak of.  We spent the night in Nephi, Utah at High Country RV Park.  And then on home the next day. 

We have a group within our Senior Center that love to ride our ATV's out on the trails of Oneida County. And we have lots of trails to ride on. This ride has been in the planning for several weeks now and we were finally able to get out and do it. Our destination was the Samaria Mountains, southwest of Malad. We all pulled out outfits to Woodruff, Idaho and parked in the field next to the house of one couple going on the ride. Lots of room, as you can see we needed it, from the picture. We had 11 ATV's with a total of 15 fifteen people. And 3 dogs.

We hit the road around 930am and headed to the mountains. The country has really dried out since it has quit raining, so the roads were really dusty and we had to spread out to stay out of each other's dust. Most of the vegetation is still pretty green, but you can see it turning brown. Didn't see any wildlife, unless you count cows and birds.

There is a legend that there is stolen gold or silver, whatever hidden behind an iron door somewhere in the Samaria Mountains. According to the legend, the loot came from a stage robbery. And the robbers hide it behind an iron door. This is suppose to have happened back in the 1880's or so. To date, no one has really found the treasure or if they did, haven't said anything about it. Well, we didn't find it either. But then I have no idea where in the mountains it is suppose to be.

We did see some really nice country and traveled through 2 states. Was able to see south as far as Brigham City, Utah and the Great Salt Lake. North was Elk Mountain, just north of Malad. West into the Pocatello Valley and towards Utah. East was the Malad Valley.

Saw quite a few wildflowers that are still blooming. Due to the moisture we have had this year, they are still really nice. The wild roses were the most surprising. Blooms were really big, bigger than I have seen wild roses before.

We were gone like 5 hours and had a ball. Only problem we found, when we got back, none had escaped the dirt. We were all filthy.

To see more pictures, click on the My Pictures link to the right.

Here are a couple more pictures of me holding the 2nd place plaque that we took in the 4th of July parade and a picture of our float and the ladies and gentleman that rode the float. We are still pretty up in air celebrating our win. This was the first year for the Senior Center to have a float in the parade and to take a prize sure does make all of those of us involved with the project feel real good.

Today across our great country, we celebrate the 4th of July. A wonderful celebration for all of those that enjoy it. And this is Angel and I at the wheel of our truck fixing to get into the parade held here in Malad. On Friday afternoon, the Board of Directors came to my garage to decorate the trailer belonging to a couple of the directors. We spent 2 hours decorating. Well, really we spent about an hour actual work and another hour goofing off. But if paid off for us. We had 7 volunteers from the center wanting to ride the float. And they truly enjoyed the ride. The weather today was not perfect, but close to it. The whole hour we were in the parade, there was a breeze to keep our volunteers cool, but not cold. The morning was mostly cloudy, so they weren't in the sun too much. This is the first year that our center had a float in the parade. The main idea was just to get some of the seniors out and about. And to let others know that there was a senior center in town. Our director, her husband and a couple more members of the board rode their ATV's behind us with signs advertising some of our activities.

We did not expect any awards, just wanted to get out in front of the public. Well, we were awarded 2nd place in the non commercial catagory. Needless to say, we floated through the parade. Thrilled all of us so darn much, we may come down some day!!!!

I will make a recommendation at our next board meeting that this be a yearly thing for the center.

Click on the link to the right, My Pictures to see more pictures of our float.

As ya can see, this is a small bag. I whipped it out in like an hour or so last night. It fits a need that a friend, Bev and I have. We went out for the day yesterday and had a girl's day out. Did some shopping without our husbands. Who think that since they are retired now, that they should accompany us everywhere!!!! We found a sale at Shopko for MP3 players. And since it was a good price, we each got one. I will use mine for audio books and music. And then listen to it while traveling.

I got to thinking that in the past I have seen people walking, running, etc around holding their MP3's and Ipods in their hands and what would be good for me to hang onto my MP3 player while walking. So I whipped out some yarn, a crochet hook and went to work making the holders. One for me and one for my friend. With the handle, a person can hold onto the bag like that, or loop it on a belt loop. I have a similar bag for my cell phone that I hang from a belt loop. Yes, I know that I can buy the holders at any store that sells such things, but this helps me use up some of my yarn. And by making it, makes it personal. Next project is a small bag for my friend's cell phone.

On May 30th weekend, there was the Port-Neuf Mountain Man Rendezvous set up north of us in the middle of a field. For years I have been reading books about mountain men and the rendezvous' that they held back in when the beaver trade was big in this country. Mountain men basically explored most of the Rocky Mountain area and named quite a few places, rivers, creeks, mountains, etc. They opened up the West basically. When I first heard about the present day Rendezvous', I wanted to check one out, but had not had the chance. Well, this time, I decided that I was going. So talked to Marshal about it, he also has been reading the same books as I. We asked a couple of friends if they would like to also go, as they are interested in the same things as we. So loaded up Saturday morning and off we go. We wanted to do it in the morning, as the heat was expected for the afternoon. There weren't that many people around the trader tents, so we were able to enjoy looking at what people had for sale. Mostly things that dealt with that era of our history. Found lots of things that I would have loved to purchase, but held myself back. Did see a buffalo pelt I would love to have. Also a cannon. But Marshal just walked away!!!

The picture is of one of the visitors at the rendezvous. The guys fell in love with her.

I highly recommend that if there is a rendezvous close by, to check them out. Most of the participants dress in 1840's dress, have black powder rifles and pistols. It is interesting to see what all they have and do.

We finally got to take a trail ride with the ATVs here a week ago. It was Memorial Day weekend.The weather was really nice, not too hot, not too cold, just right. This ride there was 6 of us with ATVs. The above picture shows Marshal and friend George coming through a mud hole. One that I had gone through first and had a ball going through it. Not real greasy, but enough that I did have mud flying.

We left the house about 10am in the morning. First road we took was Old Canyon on the west side of the freeway and up the mountain towards Malad Summit. Expecting to not really see anyone, we ran into quite a few on this first trail. Almost like traffic on the freeway!!! We found a very nice spot to have lunch and then we hit the trail towards Devil Creek Reservoir. There were quite a few fishing and camping around the reservoir. It was decided that we would head up New Canyon Road towards the Oxford mountains and head on down to Highway 38 west. No one had been on that trail, so it was a first for all of us. Once we got off the main road, it was a trail. We went up and down, across creeks and more up and down. There was a couple of spots that require our full attention and going very slow. For most of the trail, it was slow going. Finally came out where we could hit the Third Creek trail and head towards the highway. Saw some real pretty country. Most of the riding was on the flank of Oxford peak.

After hitting the highway, we headed towards where Two Mile Canyon road intersects and headed over the mountain towards home. As we came out of the canyon, the storm that was moving into the area was getting closer and we were wondering if we would make it home before it started to rain. Well, we got the wind, but no rain until after we had been home for about 30 minutes.

We got home about 530pm. So we spent the whole day on the mountain and had a ball. Saw some new territory and want to go back and look at it closer.

No pictures this time. Just some thoughts. I am sitting here looking out my window to watch spring time arrive finally. The wind is blowing though, but that is a normal spring time thing here in southeast Idaho. Some clouds in the sky and maybe a thought of rain. But it would just be a thought, nothing serious. No matter how much moisture we get, we can always use more. This country is called a high mountain desert. And at times, it is dry like the desert. Temps have really warmed up and that sure is nice after all the cold that we had so far this year.

This last Sunday I did something that I have never done before. I got up before the whole church and spoke for a few seconds. For Sacrament Meeting, the bishop changed it some. Instead of speakers, after the Sacrament, we were to request our favorite hymns, with the reason we like it and then everyone would sing the hymn. Well, I just happened to be the last one. Although I have lots of favorite hymns, I finally settled on Battle Hymn of the Republic. Now you ask why that one. Well, it was written during a dark time in our history and it helped with moral. And at this dark time in our history, I see it as hope that things will get better.

It definitely wasn't easy getting up to speak, but I did it.

I have this feeling that our summer is gonna be HOT and long. Don't like it that way, but it is shaping up to be that way. So I have come up with an idea. And hopefully I can stick to it. We have such a nice deck and pretty yard, I may spend more time out there in the evenings after it cools down. Now that I have wi-fi in the house, I could carry my laptop out doors and do some things out there on the computer. Would be better than sitting here in the house. Will see how it pans out.

More later.

Spring has arrived. I think. These are two flowering bushes in our yard. The first is a honeysuckle. Or a forsythia bush. Depends on which part of the country you are in. I prefer honeysuckle myself!!!! It is in full bloom and is very pretty. Second bush is a flowering almond. Not quite in full bloom yet, but when it is, it a beautiful pink flowered bush. I really love it. Both bushes do attract lots of bees, wasps and birds. And they do add to the beauty of the yard.

Well, I know it has been a while since I added anything to my blog. But the world just gets in the way at times. And I have been pretty darn busy the past couple months. Ah, you ask, what have I been doing. Well, several projects.

First, have been knitting socks left and right. Well, whenever I get the chance to sit down and work on them. Have managed to finish a couple of pair. I worked up one pattern that I found on the internet. Really wasn't too happy with them. The pattern was a broken rib type of pattern. The sock is worked with a knit 1, purl 1 rib for two inches, then you go into the pattern of knit 4, purl 4 for like 4 rows, then move the knit stitch over one. After getting it done, I tried on the first sock. Was not too happy with the length, I like my socks longer, but I could live with this. So did the matching sock. The sock does not fit my foot as I would like it, but it works all right. Nope, no pictures. I would have to dig the pair out of the drawer whenever I think of it to take one. Maybe in the future if I think of it. I got thinking maybe a sock with a regular type rib would work just fine. So I borrow some ideas to make my own pattern. I did a cuff of knit 1, purl 1 for about 2 inches. Then into a regular rib of knit 2, purl 2. I worked on this for a length of 14 1/2 inches before I did the toe. The length is better and the fit is more to my liking. In the future, may do more of this pattern. I have now sat down and am figuring out a crochet tube sock. Working on the cuff right now. I may post the pattern when I am done.

Still working on the books for grandchildren. I am working hard on the Colors Books. One down and two to go. Since I brought the project upstairs to work on, I have been able to really make some serious inroads into that project. The grandchildren that will receive them this year, will get two on their birthdays and then 2 at Christmas. And that takes care of a couple of Christmas gifts for this year.

Recently I received this picture in a forward from a friend/family. Can't remember exactly where. Well, a friend dared me to put this picture on my blog. And for me to say that I could offer to make one for someone if they had enough money for me to do the work. And it is gonna take quite a bit of money for me to do this job. And for me to put in very small print, say that I didn't do it. Well, can't change the size of the font.

I have just finished my latest project. Another pair of socks. I have fallen in love doing socks. These are two needle tube socks. I have problems using double pointed needles, so I took a pattern and adjusted it to using two needles. Other than having to sew a seam almost flat, they were fairly easy to do. I now have four pair of these socks and want more. But while sitting here working on this last pair, I thought, why not do some in crochet. So I will look for a pattern on the internet for crocheted tube socks. If I can't find one, will make one up. But before I do, I am gonna do some serious working on the teaching books that I am doing for grandchildren and have a birthday gift to do up for a birthday coming up.

Well, it has been more than a month since I put anything on the blog. Mostly because I have been so darn busy with life. And it doesn't look like it will be slowing down any time soon.

Some of the new yarn I have gotten using the gift card for Joann's that came from step son and family in Arizona, I decided to use for socks for me. I found several patterns using two knitting needles. I have tried to use double pointed needles in the past, but I am all thumbs with them. I mean, gee, a person is handling like four needles at one time. Well, I picked one pattern and started into it. Learned how to turn heels and more practice of short rowing. Well, I had one sock down and was working on the the second when I had to throw away a couple of socks due to wearing out. Got thinking, my socks with heels always wear out in the same spot, just in front of the heel on the sole. Especially the socks that I crocheted last year for myself. So decided to knit tube socks. Back in the days that I wore tube socks, I didn't have that problem. I then went looking for a two needle tube sock pattern on the internet.

Have I ever mentioned that I love the internet. I have not bought any patterns for years. Whenever I want a new pattern, I check out my Bookmarks and if there isn't one there, I type in the search engine what I am looking for. I may not find exactly what I want, but I have come close many times.

Back to my sock saga now. Well, couldn't find a pattern for two needles tube socks. So decided that I could modify a pattern for use with two needles and went to work. Well, the first couple of patterns weren't too bad, but I just didn't like how they were turning out. So back to searching for a pattern on the internet. Found one that really hit me, like this is the one. So I printed it out. I finally finished the sock yesterday while I was waiting for Marshal to finish up an appointment. Had to wait until we got home to sew the seam. I then tried the sock on. It fits quite well. Especially since I had to make several different modifications to the pattern. First off, the yarn in the pattern was a heavier weight then what I was using, so had to add stitches to make the size I needed. And as I was working in rows instead of rounds, had to remember that little fact. Which I forgot when I was working on the toe. In the pattern, it says to knit every other row. Well, not thinking, I knitted every row on the toe. After a couple of rows, it hit me, I needed to be purling every other row. Oh well. The socks are for me and this one looks just fine. I am now working on the cuff for the second sock. Hopefully the sock will be done before winter is gone.

I am still working on a number's book in the plastic canvas. In fact the last one that needs to be done.

And along with those projects, I am tying a quilt for our bed right now. That is taking up most of the room here in my office. Need to get it done also. Just a simple quilt made out of scrap material that I have had for years.

Some day I am gonna retire!!! LOL

I am getting caught up with things. I finally was able to take a picture of the gifts that my DIL in Oklahoma made for me. The black tote bag is the one that she monogramed. Isn't it neat. The little blue bag, she did one afternoon while we were sitting around the house. It is for my Jeep. I love both of them. The black tote has braces in the sides to hold it up. Take the braces out and it collapses and folds up for easy storage.

After spending the night at Roswell, New Mexico, it was back on the road towards Gilbert, Arizona. No, didn't see any UFO's while in Roswell. We made pretty good time, as there was no bad weather to contend with. Our route took us to Ruidoso, New Mexico and then down to Alamogordo. The route then took us through White Sands and up over the mountains to Las Cruces. Here we got onto I10 and headed into Arizona. As we didn't expect to make it to Gilbert that day, we found a park in Willcox, Arizona, home of Rex Allen. I do need to sit down and write up some reviews for a website that features reviews of different rv parks. Next project.

Upon arrival in Gilbert, we went straight to husband's son's driveway. Our plan was to park in their driveway for a few days. The driveway is long enough and we can hook upto water and electricity. It was so nice to be someplace that was nice and warm. Was able to wear either a sweatshirt or tee shirt during the day. Did have to use the heater at night though. This DIL also knows what to get me for Christmas. A gift card to Joann's. I love shopping there. And they have one pretty close. So we made a visit there for yarn. Yes, I picked up more yarn for a sweater for me and sock yarns. I have been wanting to knit socks. I found a pattern on the internet that is for two needles and no double pointed needles. I just can't manage knitting with more than two needles. I have been working on the sweater. Found a nice pattern that I like. After the sweater is done, then it is to socks for me.

After spending four days in the warmth, it was back on the road to the north country. As weather reports were predicting snow for Flagstaff, we decided our best route would be up through Las Vegas. Don't like going through there, but had to due to snow. There was construction on the freeway in Las Vegas and we ended up on a detour through one of the bad sections of Las Vegas. I was not a happy camper until we got away from that area. Back on the freeway, we made some good time. Marshal was wanting to make it at least to Utah before we stopped for the night, but didn't happen. It was dark by the time we arrived in Mesquite, Nevada. Found an rv park at one of the casinos for a cheap price. So parked there for the night. Mainly a asphalt parking lot with hook ups. No wi-fi in the park either.

Our thinking was to get up early enough to make some serious mileage that last day on the road. And we had good weather until we got close to Salt Lake City. About 75 miles south of the city, the snow was coming down. The road was wet, so we were okay. Our thinking was to get home around the middle of the afternoon. Well, the first wreck was south of Salt Lake and that held us up some and put us in the start of the afternoon commute. The next wreck was at Layton, between Salt Lake and Ogden. The back up was like 11 miles long. By this time, the weather had really gotten bad. The roads were slushed covered and slick. And traffic was bad. Took us about 2 to 2 1/2 hours to do like 40 miles!!! We finally got home about 8 pm that night. Both of us were pretty tired. Unloaded what we needed and that was it.

Next morning, we went to the main chore of moving snow. There was about 18 - 20 inches in the yard and about 4 inches on the sidewalks and driveway. A friend moved quite a bit, but we still had some to move. Once the snow job was done, Marshal put the motorhome in the garage and we finished unloading.

Unless we have to make an emergency trip, that motorhome is not moving out of the garage for the rest of the winter.