April 7, 2009
Dear Friends,
It’s time to update you on our whereabouts and summer doings.
Just before we left Arizona,
we attended the Senior Center’s Spring dance, called, (what else?) The
Senior Prom! A 6 member group called the Keepsakes sang songs from the
late 50's and 60's all night long. It was hard to sit down and take a
break, the music was soooooooo good! We really enjoyed it!
On our way North, we tried to a permit to hike the Wave, a beautiful red rock
formation along the Arizona/Utah border by hiway 89. They only give
out permits for 20 people per day. 10 are by applying by mail through a
lottery system and 10 are given out by a drawing in the morning for the
next day. The morning we were there, 58 others also decided to try.
We didn’t get drawn out, but will try again on one of our trips north or
south. At least we learned more about it and how the system works.
We faxed our backcountry permit to the Grand Canyon
last Friday and are hoping to get a permit for September. It’s also
done by lottery. We hope to hike down the South Kaibab trail, spend 2
nights at Bright Angel Campground, and hike up the Bright Angel Trail,
spending 1 night at Indian Garden Campground. Gary is going with me
this time, as is Kay (the girlfriend who hiked with me last year), and
her husband. We’re going down and up the South side, as we won’t have
anyone to drive us or the trailers around and there is a kennel on the
South side, where we can leave the dogs. Keep your fingers crossed for
us. We should know by the end of May, if we’re drawn out.
Gary’s pool team finished their league in second place and were very
happy for that. Now they’re aiming for first next year. Gary wound up
fifth in the average (missing fourth by one one/hundredth of a point).
All together there were about 100 in the league, so that’s a pretty good
finish. He won an award for high average on his team. Now he’s
playing at the local Senior Center and continues to place in the top 3
in the local tournaments.
In the past month, I’ve finished some quilting projects, by doing the machine quilting and binding. I also took a class in Urie, WY
(about 35 miles east of Evanston). It was to make a cool hot plate
holder. I made two in class and have since made two more for gifts. I
also got a new old machine for Mother’s Day. It’s a 1936 Singer
Featherweight. I’ve been wanting one ever since I was working while
there was a FW workshop going on at Kokopelli’s. The most intriguing
thing to me was they were constructed for the owner to be able to
service and maintain them. Quite a change from today’s computerized
machines. (Yes, I still love my Bernina!!!) The Bernina tech told me
to get an AC line stabilizer to use mine with a generator and/or
inverter, to make sure the computer wasn’t damaged by varying electrical
loads. I discovered I could get a FW for about the same price, so with
my daughter’s help, bought one on E-Bay. It arrived on
Monday and
it’s great. I was really nervous about buying it on E-bay, but the
seller had a great reputation, so decided to try it. My machine was
born (or issued it’s serial number), on November 5, 1936. Everything
works and it stitches beautifully. I’m putting some effort into
restoring it more fully, so although it looks good now and is clean, it
will look even better.
We’ve hired all our campground hosts and
are just waiting for the snow to melt. The road is open to the Ranger
station and our campground is only one mile further, so we hope to get
up there by next week some time. They’re supposed to take more trees
out of our campground, along the river, where they couldn’t spray last
year. We may need to stay at the Ranger station until that’s done. It
again depends on the snow level and if the tree cutters can get in okay.
Rusty gave us a scare when he hurt his back. We think it was most
likely a pinched nerve and all seems to be well now. He and Spicy had
their birthdays in April, turning 11 and 6 respectively. Like us,
they’ve slowed down a bit, or at least Rusty has, but are great
travelers and wonderful companions.
We were able to watch Ameray
compete in the WY State Tumbling and Gymnastics Championships and take 2
firsts and a third for her age/ability group. Meghan had one of the
starring roles in her middle school musical last night and was awesome.
We have more music recitals and school and athletic competitions to
attend and always enjoy seeing the grandkids shine.
We’ll be at Stillwater Campground on Hiway 150 between Evanston, WY and Kamas, UT, until the week after Labor Day. Our mailing address for the summer is at our daughter’s, 401 Twin Ridge Ave. Evanston, WY 82930.
We don’t have good cell phone reception, but are usually in an area
where we can get messages almost every day. If you’re doing to be
traveling though, please give us a call and let us know. Even if you’re
going to be in Salt Lake City, let us know too and we can meet you for a chance to chat. It’s only about 100 miles from us.
Dancing between the snow flakes and sunshine, Gary, Katy, Rusty, and Spicy
