Last flight...

It was very smokey both here in the valley and in the mountains Monday morning, we took off just a frog's hair above the minimum visibility. Took a little over an hour to reach hunt'n camp, then we circled the area trying to figure the right place to scatter Dad's ashes. Found the area we were looking for and let'r rip.  It went well. 

I was doing fine with all of this til we got back to the house and T gave me a big hug and said, "Thank You for letting me do this for your Dad, he was quite a guy."    Yep, he was...

Dad's place

Fly'n and Hunt'n...

Dad and his best friend are going to be hunt'n together again...

 

We haven't been able to fly Dad up to hunt'n camp since T had a knee surgery, then flying, and off roading commitments all over the West.  Last Thursday worked for both our schedules.  So, I did a bit of checking and figured a way to scatter the ashes.  Most of Dad (saved some for my brother), and two big packages worth of wild flower seeds (suitable for the area) where mixed together, rolled up in a painters cloth, secured, and made ready to fly.

 T picked me up very early as we wanted to miss as much of the heat thermals as possible. Got all the maps plugged in, plane out of the hanger, gear & Dad stowed, fired up the engine, and checked the visibility. T doesn't have a IFR, and the rule around here is 3 miles or less visibility requires a IFR. Had to shutt'r down, as vis was down to 1.5 miles by that time. T was very apologetic, told him not to worry, there was no rush, and I certainly hadn't heard one word out of Dad complaining about the delay. (All the fires around us are not only making the heat worse but the air is horrible as well.) We rescheduled for early Monday morning, and if the TAF METAR maps hold true we should be good to go. Dad will be flying one last time...

Family blessings...

You should'a been there. It was so much fun.

the ranch in LaCenter where the wedding was held

I got a great daughter in law, and three more awesome grandkids! 

Jacey, Amy, Sean, Bailey

Grandkids: Taylor, Jacey, Tyler, Bailey, Terry

 The wedding was a hoot, with a live country band, open bar, catered food, outside in the yard of the ranch in the top photo.  It was small in numbers, but large with love.

The Cowman & Dad would have loved it. They were there in spirit, I'm sure. 

A bright sunny day with a slight breeze. Two fish'n ponds, dancing, and games of shoes, a restored 55 Chevy to admire, babies to cuddle, and littles running around.

As you know if you've been reading this rambling blog for any length of time... Dad was always trying to find me a boyfriend. (More for someone to take him shoot'n and hunt'n than anything, but they could see trouble written all over me.) Now it seems he has passed that monumental task on to my family, LOL.  No sooner had I gotten up there than Amy took me aside and said, "I can't wait for you to meet the friend who owns the ranch where we are having the wedding.  He's a widower, looks and talks just like Sam Elliott, and is the nicest guy!"  

We had a family BBQ the night before the wedding, three of my six sister in laws where up there for the wedding and met "Sam" that night. So for two days each one would take me aside and point to "Sam" and along with a couple of head nods would say something about how perfect he would be for me. OMG, I finally asked one SIL if she was feeling alright, because she seemed to develop a severe eye roll and head nod whenever "Sam" was in the vicinity. LOL.  I don't see anything coming of that, but it doesn't matter because I'm so incredibly blessed that they are my family. 

On the road...

YeeHaw, leaving early Thursday to make the 8 hour drive up to MySean's for the wedding Saturday. I've filled up with fuel, had the Rav serviced, and loaded up with a few goodies to share. Willie is staying home to guard the place, as he's not a good traveler, and there is going to be a lot going on up there.   The next door neighbors love him and are watching over him while I'm gone. So he has backup.

I'm taking most of my long guns and shotguns to store in Sean's safe. Come to think of it, he was awfully quick to tell me he had room for them...

The house sale is moving along, though my brother is neither happy with the escrow or the price.  This is a fair deal for everyone involved. Letting my attorney & realtor deal with that. If push comes to shove I will take it to the Judge, tired of all the obstruction. Nothing pleases him.

A flock of 23 turkeys were back in the neighborhood a couple days ago. They worked their way chasing bugs through my yard. I was out there, but didn't have my phone on me. By the time I got my phone they had moved on to next door. Watching them chase bugs and chatting back and forth tickled my funny bone.

Found a fabric I had been looking for for quite some time. In fact I had wanted it years ago to make a quilt from for a grandson. Now I find it and he's too old to like it. LOL, well I'm not, so I got a yard of it.

My photo isn't very good, so not sure you can see their names. There's: Pole Cat, Slim, Owen, Gus, Luke, Tex, Squirt, Horace, El Rey, Hal, Jeb, and Hap. All good ol cowboy names.  I could make throw pillows from it. What would you do?

crankbaits & real estate...

Friday evening my BIL & SIL took me on a boat ride up river.  Beautiful evening, water cold, air perfect, salmon jumping.  We saw several flocks of turkeys, a few mergansers, one bald eagle, a couple deer herds, and very few people or boats.  I love the river up here, it's clear, wild and free.  50 ft holes and shallow riffles abound. 

My brother in law fished as we drifted the eight miles back down river.  My sister in law and I were more than content to just be on the water.

I asked my BIL what his favorite lure was. He said the "old" Wiggle Wart, but he said they are hard to find these days and he lost his last one a few years back.  I'd never heard of a Wiggle Wart (what a fun name). The next morning I did a little research and found this:

The "old" Wiggle Warts are Storm pre-Rapala. The dogma is the older ones hunt better, have a louder rattle, and more erratic action, and are less likely to get hung up. Far as I can gather one of the ways to tell old Warts is they have Wiggle Wart printed on the underside of the bill, and newer ones have Storm printed there. I found a few old ones in online auctions, and will give them to my BIL, he has been so good to me.

The house is in escrow! Monday morning my realtor called to ask if the lady that looked at the house on Thursday and loved it, could do another walk through. Yes, of course. She came, we did the whole house/garden tour in more detail. They left, and my realtor called about a half hour later. She wants the house and is paying cash, (so no inspections needed) with a 60 day escrow. We signed the papers that day.  Never even had to put the for sale sign up!