I’ve gotten a handle on my gardens now, so tonight I went out and took some photos.

Here’s a couple of photos taken before my trip,

And here’s what it looks like now (ignore the grass, the starter is out on the lawnmower),

Still lots of weeding and wacking to go yet...

And here’s my latest acquisition, a pool, fountain and a fogger (I love the fogger!),

She went poop!!! Yippee! (Read my last post). Yup, pretty pathetic. What an exciting life I have.

Well, Peaches is on her 9th life (she’s the one from my last post, about sleeping on the garage door and getting stuck between it and the garage frame when Christian shut the garage door).

Yesterday I took her to the vet because the night before, she was vomiting, and yesterday was lethargic and not at all interested in eating. They took an X-ray, and she has a bowel obstruction. When the vet told me how much surgery would cost, I had to say no. I haven’t yet met a cat that I would spend $1,000 on, even though some of them I’ve loved dearly. So they hooked her up to an IV and kept her overnight. Today I ran away from home because I didn’t want to get a phone call telling me she had taken a turn for the worst.

I went shopping...

...and when I got home, Christian said they had called and said she was looking better, and to call back at 5 to see how she was. So at 5 I called, and they said I could pick her up, she was much better and was eating, and not vomiting. No pooping yet, but at least no vomiting. So now she’s home, wandering around the house, trying to get outside, sitting in the window and salivating over the birds at my birdbath, but still no poop.

And some people would think my life is boring, when the highlight of my day will be to see my cat take a poop.

My new bull came yesterday. His name is Dex, and he is 7/8 Dexter and 1/8 Jersey. I’m hoping to breed him to my Jerseys and get more dual purpose cows. Dexters are an old breed from Ireland, and are a small dual purpose breed (beef/dairy). Jerseys are a dairy breed, and I just don’t do much milking anymore (too hard on the back), and on top of that the Jerseys have been so genetically built up that they’re very susceptible to milk fever (when the cow gives birth, the demand for milk literally pulls the calcium from the body, which shuts down the organs), and I’m tired of dealing with that. The less drama in my life right now, the better.

Oh, talk about drama! Peaches, the blond cat that I’ve shown here on my blog, lost at least half of her 9 lives the other night. She was sleeping on top of the garage door when Christian closed it. He thought he heard something, so he went and unplugged the pool pump, went back and tried opening it, heard some more noise, stepped outside and looked up, and there was Peaches, with her head between the garage door and the frame of the house. He raced back to the garage door opener and opened it, she dropped to the garage apron and laid there. He picked her up, head lolling, and bought her into the house. He said he thought he had broken her neck, but then she started to revive and kick and scratch him. He set her down, and she ran off, a little uncoordinated. He got her and bought her into my bedroom and told me what had happened. I held her for a while, and the only thing wrong with her was the she was swallowing a little loud. By the next morning, she was back to normal, and right now she’s laying on my studio floor talking to me.

Anyway, back to my bull. He’s just about 1 year old, so he should be very capable of breeding Daisy May (this spring’s heifer calf) next year.

This is Daisy May, with Dex checking her out.

And here is Fries, checking Dex out (Fries will be going bye-bye in October. Yummm, ribeye steaks... apologies to any vegetarians reading this).

And here is a photo of Dex’s grandsire (Shelbo Miniature Cattle). Yes, that’s a full-grown bull. He’s a purebred, so Dex won’t be that small.

How can so many weeds grow in a bare three weeks?!?! This the time of the year that I absolutely detest Minnesota. It's so muggy and hot, you step outside and you're drenched with sweat, and if you don't want to be covered in mosquito bites, you have to practically bathe in Off, which I'm not too crazy about. I wish I were back in Oregon... cool ocean breezes and no mosquitoes or horse flies.

Our last night on the road :( We should be home tomorrow.

 I'm not looking forward to coming back. It's all going to come crashing down. I really need to be careful and not let everything suck me back down into a rut where I just come to a standstill and just give up. I hate having to struggle so. I've been trying to soak up every good feeling from this trip that I can, just to help me through those rough spots.

Even with all of the bad things that happen on these trips, they are so worth it. There is always something new over the next rise or around the next bend. On occasion, it's been a terrifying, stomach turning downhill 7% grade road, but usually it's something that just soothes my soul, gorgeous snow-capped mountains, open ocean vistas, beautiful horses in a pasture, rolling golden wheat fields, an old abandoned house out on the prairie, herds of cattle, a lone pronghorn antelope, a small gift shop/expresso/nursery in a tiny town on a back road (my RV kitchen sink has an orchid, 3 fuschias, 2 cactus plants, a Lewisia plant, an Azalea snippet from Oregon, a wild strawberry plant from California, and a tiny desert plant from Nevada).

And my favorite thing to watch for, a roadside ditch or embankment with unusual rocks. I have rocks in my bays from every state we've gone through except for North Dakota, which is why going up some of these mountain highways on the way home I'm crawling at a grand 25mph. LOL, coming over one mountain pass in Idaho a couple of days ago, I was happy to see 25mph speed limit for trucks. Usually they're 55, except in Wyoming, where the speed limits on some of those switchbacks is 65mph. I remember the first time David and I saw that, we just looked at each other in disbelief.

Another lovely day, walked the beach and just enjoyed the sun, even though it was cold and windy.

How do I put feelings into words, the way the ocean makes me feel? Peace... sustaining... healing... awe... filling... exhilarating...

I sprinkled some of David's ashes there. We went through here 13 years ago, and it was on that trip that I saw the ocean for the first time, and fell in love with it. David didn't enjoy the western coast all that much, but I did. After the resurrection, I'm going to have a gypsy's wagon, and travel these roads, every single one of them.

Tomorrow we'll head on up the coast, and then head inland to Mt. St. Helen's and Mt. Rainier. Scottie wants to go back to the mountain where we drove through the clouds, which was Mt. Rainier, 5 years ago.

Photos, the ocean, which pictures just cannot come close to the reality

A sea lion, laying on his back and soaking up the sun

One of Oregon's lighthouses

We stopped at the beach at low tide, so the tidal pools were accessible. It was neat seeing starfish and sea urchins.

We are heading home now. We went as far south as we were going, and are now heading north and then east. We've had a couple of easy days, only driving 100-200 miles a day. We went along the Avenue of the Giants for a ways, then went back to the campsite. Yesterday and today we've been following the coast up into Oregon. I love Oregon, it's second only to Montana in my heart.

Photos to share, Scottie and Pip snoozing together

Scottie in the redwoods

The boys and pups

My sister says my RV looks like a matchbox car next to the trees

Nick, looking like he wants to fly

The flowers at the campground. I would love to have flowers this large. Just ain't gonna happen in Minnesota.

Nick and Scottie at the ocean

Peace and beauty

This is absolutely my favorite photo. This young boy dancing on the beach for the pure joy of the ocean.

Even with all of the trials and tribulations of being cooped up with 4 males in an aging RV for several weeks, I am so glad I was able to make this trip. I've been able to start planning for the future again, something I haven't been able to do for several years now. When I get home, it's going to be a huge crash back to the daily worries, but I'm hoping enough of the peace and hope and beauty that has come with this trip stays with me to keep me going.

I'm making public resolutions so I can go back in time to remind myself of them, and hopefully some of them I will accomplish:
Become more active in witnessing about Bible truths

Buy a Dexter bull calf and start transitioning from dairy cows to dual purpose ones

Build up my herd to have meat to sell every year

Fence in all of my land, and partition it into separate pastures for rotating

Buy some sheep

Have the boys build me a tower like the one we saw on top of a house out here, and buy a new RV... OK, OK, have to dream a little, can't be practical all of the time.

Full blown, up-chucking panic attack today. Drove on a 10 road today. If you're at all afraid of heights, don't go on the road past Ferndale, California. Had to turn around and go back.

Later: My stomach has had a chance to settle a bit. We went back to the campground and I took a nap.

I was talking to a gentleman here, a retired music schoolteacher, who was here with his wife. They live up by Portland and come down here to meet up with his wife's brother to go motorcycling. He was describing the road that I turned back on, said that was the longest stretch he'd ever ridden with his face lower than the rest of him (the other end of the road had a very long downhill stretch). Sure am glad I turned around.

It was quite interesting talking to him. His family was originally from Iowa, and after WWII, his dad, who had fought in the war, got a job teaching in New Mexico. The first weekend in their new home, at 9 am, gun shots went off next door. His dad jumped up and reached for his rifle, thinking he was still in the war. Turns out the next door neighbor (who was in his 70s) used to be a peace officer and every Sat. morning strapped on his 6 shooter and went out to his back yard to practice his draw (it was a small town).

That's one of the fun parts of traveling, getting to talk to people from all over. When we were in Idaho, there were a couple of young ladies from Germany. When I told them my grandmother came over from Germany, they asked where from, and darned if I couldn't remember where her family came from! Getting old...

Got a few more photos to post. This one is the mountains seen from central Oregon.

On the way up to Crater Lake 

Mountain range after mountain range, you can see for miles and miles

Crater Lake, which is actually the caldera of a volcano. The island is the volcano after more eruptions.

Squeak helping Lukas with his DVD player

Scottie snoozing away

Another long day. And a day of extremes. We started with snowdrifts up on the rim of Crater Lake (and with 10 being the absolute drive from hell for an RV, Crater Lake is a 9), and then to Medford with temperatures in the low 100s, to the California coast, where the temperature right now is a nice cool 57 degrees. I really hate campgrounds that advertise Wifi at the sites, and then don't have it. The campground we're at tonight fits right in there. I called about noon to reserve a site and asked for a site that had good wifi reception, and the girl told me that the entire campground was wired. So we finally get here and guess what? No wifi. They've been having trouble with it all day, and they have someone coming to fix it real soon. That was 3 hours ago. On to the Redwoods National Park tomorrow. I'm going to try to get a reservation at campground close by there so we can make a nice lazy day of it. I'm getting frazzled with too many 15 mph switchbacks.

I've been to the top of the world today, and taken a couple of roller coaster rides down the other side. I love the names people think up, a small farm called 'Roadkill Ranch, and a creek called 'StinkingWater Creek.' Amazing the things you see when you get off of the freeway.

We're in Oregon tonight, and may be on our way to California. We'll wait until tomorrow night to decide on that. Lukas had a nasty bloody nose in the middle of the night last night, and I was debating calling 911 at one point. Was stuffing pieces of toilet paper up his nose, and it was soaking through and running down his face. Lots of ice and pinching his poor nose finally stopped it, and he finally went to sleep with a wad of paper still in his nose. Took a bit of his mustache with this morning when I pulled it out. We've got 2 humidifiers running in here now, and hopefully that will help. Too much hot, dry desert air. We really need to get to the ocean and then home.

Time for some photos. Scott, the boys and the dogs at the salt flats,

When you get out of Salt Lake City, you'll start seeing rocks piled up along the side of the freeway. Kids come out and write their names with the rocks.

A dust devil in NE Nevada

Desolate land, NW Utah

Scottie and Pip

Hot and pooped out dogs

Craters of the Moon in Idaho. These are lava flows.

When the lava flowed, it formed tubes when the outer skin cooled, but the molten lava inside continued to flow out of the tube, so there are hollow tubes of rock all over, some small and others quite large. The ceilings eventually collapse and leave holes in the tubes. We went to Indian Cave, one of the larger tubes. Here's the boys in the cave and then going up on part of the collapsed roof. It's really neat inside the tubes, very cool, with water dripping, and doves cooing from nests they've built in the caves.

I really have to take more advantage of the technology that I have available. This morning we wasted an hour and a half driving around Idaho Falls looking for a grocery store or Walmart, and Idaho Falls isn't that big of a town! We're in Arco, and next stop is Craters of the Moon.

Sitting in a campground in Salt Lake City, cleaning beads that I made back in April. I just might get caught up cleaning beads on this trip. Have I mentioned I love my iPad, cleaning beads listening to Bachman Turner Overdrive, with tomorrow night's campground programed into GPS HD so I don't lose my way and end up in Taos, New Mexico, like the last time we got lost.

I can see why the government owns 80% of Utah, the vast majority of it is uninabitable. There is some fantastic scenery in spots, though. David's ashes continue on their journey with me. They've been on roads that would have curled his hair. He did not like the mountains. I continue to miss him terribly. We didn't have the best of marriages; having a handicapped child places incredible stresses on the best of marriages. But we had more ups than downs, until the company that he worked for was purchased by an international corporation. In 2001 they installed a computer dispatching system, waited a week or so to get it up and running, then laid off all of the senior dispatcher. No severance pay, no 2-week notice, nothing but a final check. That is what really killed David, to be treated like that after putting in over 20 years. He turned more and more to drinking to cope, and over the last couple of years he became bitter and angry, and it was increasingly difficult living with him. My life now has a sense of freedom from the angry words and worrying about his declining health, but I still miss him and what could have/should have been.

I have decided that after we return, I'm going to have the boys clean everything out of the RV and get it all cleaned up and I'm going to sell it. It's become difficult to take care of Lukas properly in it, and things keep breaking down. Whatever I get for it can go for bills, and God willing, in a couple of years, I may look for a newer, larger one.

More photos to share, the Tetons. This is a view that I've been taking a photo of for almost 40 years now.

Neat storm clouds

Nick checking out the Tetons

Mark taking the dogs for a walk

the dreaded Flaming Gorge, in southern Wyoming and northern Utah

and Mark being a ding-a-ling. See Squeak, the white dog? That's the edge of a cliff, and at least she's got a harness on!

my niece, Debi, with her daughter and granddaughter. They live in Grand Junction.

and then into southern Utah and the Arches National Park. Gorgeous scenery!!!

Finally, someplace I've never been before, Arches National Park. Hot here, 96 in the shade, but gorgeous!

It's Friday already. Today we'll be in Grand Junction to drop Mark off. Since he has to be back to work next week, he'll be flying home after he's had a chance to visit with my niece and some old buddies from here. It was 28 years ago this month that David and I were married and came out to Yellowstone on our honeymoon. I scattered some of his ashes before I left the park. He didn't enjoy the West, but I have good memories of our trip out here. Yesterday we spent winding south out of Wyoming. You just have to love a state that posts 60mph signs on mountain switchbacks. After we left Wyoming, things got a bit dicey. There were thunderstorms popping up all over. I wish I could have gotten a photo of some of the lightning bolts with the mountains and mesas in the background. It wasn't too bad until we came down Flaming Gorge. That's the road that posted signs 'switchbacks, 9 more to go, runaway truck ramp 1/2 mile ahead.' I did NOT enjoy that road, especially after my brakes overheated. Dang! Tonight we'll have to decide what we're going to do next. Home? California? Idaho? Don't know yet. :)

We're on our second day in Yellowstone. Last night we stayed at the KOA outside of West Yellowstone. The kids really enjoyed it, with its swimming pool. I went back to the candy store in West Yellowstone and bought all kinds of fudge to put in the freezer. They make the best fudge there. We're heading down to Old Faithful today, and then on down to the Tetons and Jackson Hole. I don't have the ability to express how much I love this area, the contentment and just quiet joy it brings to my mind. Except when I have an old fart on a motorcycle zoom by me yelling at me to follow the speed limit, which was 25mph on a very narrow, busy road with lots of people walking out on. Obviously he's never driven an RV before. You don't stop on a dime with them, and also, I'm in a meandering mode. I don't know if I'll ever get out here again. I'm going to savor my time here, not rush through it.