Dancing Through 2012 Summer

     It's been a jam packed summer & I've neglected my blog terribly.  As a result there's lots to include here, so I'll apologize if this is too long.   I mentioned Gary and our daughter Riki playing in the National Fallen Firefighter's golf tournament, but forgot to include that Gary won the men's long putt and Riki won the women's long drive.
      I told you in the last blog that our beloved Spicy had been ill, but we were still hopeful.  Unfortunately, after four weeks of force feeding him, his little heart just wasn't strong enough for him to recover and we had to make the tough decision to let him go on June 29th.  Those of you who have been there know how tough this is.  Thanks so much for all the kind words, emails, facebook sharing, cards, etc.  They really helped a lot.  Although we knew we'd get another dog, we wanted to give ourselves time to grieve and heal before jumping into another pup.  More on this later.
     We spent two weeks in the forest, one in July and this past week.  In July we were hit with almost daily thundershowers.  They seemed to hit right at suppertime each day.  Our trip this past week was a complete turnaround with only one rain storm, at about 3am one night.  We enjoyed the river with Gary's sister, Pam and her family.

Pam & Jim Cooking Breakfast

The Leffler Family

Joe and friend Julie with Hank

Chad missing his girls

On August 18th, we celebrated International Geocaching Day, by all going to visit the Fairy Forest Pot of Gold, a geocache located behind a campground.  It started about 10 years ago with painted rocks in a "Pot of Gold."  Since then it has been added to by hundreds of people and now is about an acre in size.  There is everything from small villages, to eyes in the trees, to waterfalls & lakes, to Stonehenge, and much, much more.  It is really amazing. I've included a few pictures, but they don't do it justice, since there is so much.

Gary at the Pot of Gold Geocache

Stonehenge in the Fairy Forest

     I have to include one last picture of Gary and Rusty relaxing.  In the background is the very low Bear River.   Of course, we enjoyed the sunshine, food, great company, campfire stories, and fun times.  Right behind where Gary is, we spotted a nice bull moose crossing the river, the next day.

     Summer is fair time in Uinta County, WY.  I entered 6 quilts and 2 pieces of jewelry.  It's the first time I've ever received all blue ribbons.  In addition my bracelet I learned to make at Escapade last summer won the Reserve Grand Champion Ribbon.  Needless to say, I was pretty proud.  The gals at a local quilt shop (R & V Quilt Shop) had asked me to teach a class, so it was exciting when the quilt I taught turned out to be a Grand Champion winner.

Escapade Crystal Bracelet

Grand Champion Quilt

      Gary decided to enter the Wyoming Senior Olympics this summer.  They were held in Cheyenne, Wyoming the first week of August.  The Wyoming Quilt Shop Hop was also going on, so I was able to convince Gary it would be fun to do the Eastern loop.  Because the Quilt shops are so spread out in Wyoming, they organized three loops.  You needed to complete one loop or 14 shops to qualify for entry for prizes.  Since we were in Cheyenne, the Eastern loop was the shortest (only 460 miles) to visit Casper, Douglas, Lusk, and Torrington.  We had gone through Laramie on our way over and were staying in Cheyenne.  We also stopped at Green River shops on the way over.  All together, we visited 11 quilt shops on the trip (four of them twice).  It was great fun seeing new shops and of course, I had to get some new patterns, kits, and fabric.  I think I'll have plenty to do this winter. 
     In addition to all the quilt shops, I arranged for us to get out yearly blood draws done while we were in Cheyenne.  We usually get this done in Evanston, in conjunction with their annual draws at the State Hospital where I retired from.  This year, the timing didn't work out, but since they have weekly draws in Cheyenne, we were able to get them done there.  It turned out to the morning of Gary's singles billiard tournament.  While I'd given Gary plenty of excuses should he not do well, he wound up a two time gold medalist, winning his age group in both singles and doubles.

Two Time Gold Medalist

      Like most of you, we also enjoyed watching the Summer Olympics whenever we could.  While in Cheyenne I wandered into a pet store and of course, ran into some puppies.  In talking with Gary, we decided we were ready to add another puppy to our family.  On August 22nd, we brought the cutest ball of fluff home.  He's an 11 week old male Shih Tzu.  We weren't sure of the a name, so I posted his picture on Facebook and asked our friends to suggest  names.  The favorite turned out to be the one we selected, "Bandit".  I think you can see why.  Other great suggestions included Zorro, Trooper (like a black and white patrol car), RoVer, Rider, Scamp and Cowboy. 

Bandit's first day home

Bandit drinking from the lickit faucet.

     Of course, the downside to a puppy is the housebreaking, chewing, etc.  He's so darn cute though that it's worth it.  He'll be anxious to meet all our winter friends in another month.  Hard as it is to believe, it's time for us to plan our trip South.  We plan on leaving Wyoming around Sep.10th.  We hope to make stops in Richfield, UT;  Lone Rock Beach at Lake Powell, UT;  Meteor Crater, AZ; and Scotty's Reservoir by Pinetop-Lakeside, AZ.

  The other exciting news from the Summer was receiving my Medicare card and information.  Since I will become eligible on Oct. 1st (turning 65 on Oct. 31st),  I called to make the initial appointment with the ankle surgeon and have it scheduled for 9:30am on Oct. 1st.
     I think that's finally it, so I'll just tell all our RVing friends to travel safe, so we can see you soon in AZ and to our WY-UT friends and family, we'll miss you, but look forward to seeing you again next summer.

Soon to be Dancing Our Way South................................

Hugs, Katy, Gary, Rusty, and Bandit too!