First Official Day Of Winter

Hey, it's been winter for me since it snowed on October 1st. Since then it's just been a matter of seeing what days it's NOt going to snow or be below freezing.

That's why our "Making Memories" trips have been put on hold. Too many places to get stranded around here. Just think...only about four more months until it MiGHt me time to travel again!

I love it!!!

My Baby Turned 27 This Week!

27 years old this week, my baby was born and this is where he was born...

Les got to hold Corey before I did. Because I had to have an emergency c-section, I was still loopy on drugs. So, when this picture was taken I wasn't even aware that there was anyone in the room. In fact, I don't even know who took this picture of the happy father and the newest member of the family.

(flash forward about 25 years...Corey and Derek on the day he was born).

A note I put in Corey's baby book...

First pictures of Derek via cell phone...

Corey was a good baby. He was pretty good about sleeping through the night except for his feedings or a diaper change. I do remember those 2:00 a.m. feedings. There was no cable in Omega at the time and the only channel that came through was the CBS and it was nothing more than looking through a snowstorm. He was also ALWayS VERY hungry and wanted to nurse about every two hours. Consequently, I seemed to be tired most of the time. He hATed having a wet or dirty diaper on his bottom and would pitch a fit until he was changed. I learned to nap when he did no matter what needed to be done in the house. I had to have my rest when he rested.

How grateful I am for Corey and the man he's grown into and what a responsible husband and father he is to his family. He is a son I am very proud of and love very much.

This reminds me of when we visited Sherry on her ranch in Montana and I went out to gaze at the stars. (see blog "Twinkle, Twinkle Lots of Stars dated 9/20/09).

A Budding Artist

This was sent to me today via text message. It's a coloring that Derek did today in church. I'm sure it's the first of many "scribble/scrabbles". But isn't it lovely?

RMOTC Christmas Party

Friday night we attended the company Christmas party at Three 3 Crowns Golf course. We wanted to be fashionably on time, so we arrived about 6:45 since I thought it began at 7:00. Boy was I wrong! People had been there for at least an hour already socializing. We would have been there sooner if the wind hadn't kept blowing us back home!


We had a wonderful buffet dinner and then played a "Name That Tune" game. I won two prizes - a $10.00 gift card to the brand new stadium seating movie theater and a free car wash. The car wash will be used much, much later - maybe sometime about next April. I correctly named the song and artist of "The Devil Went Down To Georgia" by Charlie Daniels (can't understand why I knew that one) and "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" by Marvin Gaye one of my old-time favorite songs.

It was so nice to dress up and wear real make-up. This was only the second time I'd dressed up in nice slacks and a blouse since the move here and it felt really strange.

Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho It's Off To Work I Go...

Good morning Mother Nature! This is the temperature when I got in the car the other morning and by the time I got to the carpool parking lot, it was -13 degrees. What's three degrees difference though, huh?

The temperature in the greenhouse between my office and the rest of the department...

Scooping up the snow outside of my office...

Do you think it was snowing???

Can you see how cold in the greenhouse? Seriously, the foggy looking stuff is the ice crystals floating around.

Yes, it was plowed, but more snow fell...

This is looking outside one of the greenhouse screen windows towards the back of the office...

This is the time/weather clock in Mary's office. It measures wind speed (23 mph at that moment), wind chill (-29 at that moment), actual temperature (-7 at that moment), average wind speed (17 mph during a ten minute period) and notice the humidity - 3%. Eat your heart out south Georgia people!!!

The snow isn't so pretty after it's been piled up and mixed with dirt...

It's been so cold, that even the North Platte River is now frozen...

I'll Have A Large Serving of "Plumber's Butt"

Joe took me out to dinner last night to the "Outback Steakhouse". It was our first time of going there during the year since our move here.

This is what I HAD to look at during the course of my meal. The following items were on the Outback menu and made my decision of what to order a little difficult:


Walkabout Soup® of the Day - Hmmm, maybe he's pants slowly receded while he was "walking about to his table?

Classic Roasted Filet Wedge Salad - need I say more about the "wedge"?

No Rules Parmesan Pasta - apparently there were no rules about pulling your drawers up! (I kept wondering what his waitress thought every time she came to his table).

Sweet Glazed Roasted Pork Tenderloin - I was seeing lots of pork.

Baby Back Ribs - I was seeing the backside of his baby back ribs.

Outback Special - I didn't think his "outback" was so special!

The Melbourne - Description....As big as the name implies, this porterhouse is like two steaks in one - a flavorful strip and filet tenderloin together, seared for a juicy taste.

Lobster Tails - Description...Two cold water tails simply steamed or seasoned and grilled, served with your choice of two freshly made sides. I'll bet his tail was a little cold!

The Bloomin’ Burger - It was bloomin' all right!

The Outbacker Burger - I saw more of his outback than I wanted to see!

Chocolate Thunder From Down Under - I was hoping there'd be no "thunder from down under"!!!

Sydney’s Sinful Sundae - Need I say more?

But, all in all, I had a wonderful date with my sweetie. It was a so nice spending time doing something entirely different for us. I love my Joe!!!

On Guard

This is a picture I took today of the furry kids through the blinds in the kitchen. They are on point waiting for one of the pesky, irritating BIG brown squirrels to hop into one of the trees or run along the power line.

You see how badly the snow and the cold bothers them...NOT!!!

Derek and His Blocks

The other day Corey sent me a picture to my telephone. He was doing the laundry and Derek was busy in the living room...building blocks. He did this all by himself! Isn't he just a genius?!?! This is something he rEAllY enjoyed playing with the time that Joe and I kept him while the kids went out of town.

All I can say is - like father, like son!

'Twas A Blustery Day In The Neighborhood

Wyoming is known for it's wind, but this last week was not to be believed. I was sitting outside Walmart waiting for Joe to get off work and was entertained watching the people come and go from the store. There were people who lost their hats, shopping carts being blown to and fro, mothers holding onto their little ones so they wouldn't blow away and those plastic sacks floating up and down and all around. The wind even blew so much that on a couple of occasions, I almost lost my balance. Now that's some wind!

So while I was sitting there in my car, as it was rocking back and forth during some of the gusts of wind, I thought about Piglet and Pooh for some reason.

First REAL Cold Spell of Winter 2009

For the last few days we've had snow and frigid cold temperatures which mean it's been below freezing and even in the single digits and wind chills around -25 to 0 degrees. This picture shows some of the snow that's been riding around on the bottom on my windshield for the last couple of days. I was amazed at the beautiful aqua blue that has showed up on it which shows that the ice is colder than I can ever imagine. It looks like the same color that you seen on icebergs and glaciers on the Discovery Channel. Isn't it beautiful?

This is the intersection right next to our house...

I park my car in front of our house which is the bare spot in front of the truck on the right hand side...

Someone was giving free wagon rides outside the Albertson's grocery store. It looked very Christmasmy with the snow falling down...

Joey At Work...

Aw...doesn't he look cute with his air-cooled, fully automatic hairnet?!?! I was lurking behind a counter when I snapped this picture of Mr. Deli Man helping a customer...

Here he's ready to go home after a long day with lunch bag in hand...

This is what the moon looked like outside my office last Thursday morning with snow on the mountain ridge.

December 1st, 2009

When I left work today and got into the truck, this is what I saw on the passenger seat side after a few hours of snow in the field...

Driving through the field...

Coming up on the one lane bridge and holding my breath until I pass over it...

I finally reached the two lane highway...

and this is what it looked like driving to the interstate...

The the snow started to drift up on the road...

The state mows the sides of the road. I never could understand why since there is not a lot of traffic and lots and lots of open land. Then I found out it's so that the snow doesn't drift so badly at the side of the road if there is nothing to stop the snow - like unmowed grass.

This is what my car looked like when I reached the parking lot in Casper. That was after running by the lab to pick up sample bottles and then I had to go pick Joe up from work at Walmart. By the time we reached home, it had been two hours since I'd left the oilfield.

Last Day of November

Leaving the oilfield yesterday these three antelope ran across the road in front of me. Then....


They collected a couple more and ran back across the road...

Then there was another incredible sunset coming from the direction of Georgia...

Then on the other side of the highway I saw this incredible sight. It was the moon coming up in the middle of pink clouds in a beautiful blue sky...