Tag Archive for 'karl'
Yesterday afternoon, Cherry Creek, just above Pinos Altos, New Mexico.
We came to New Mexico for the snow :)!
Overlook above Pinos Altos – We got high!
RV’s are cheaply constructed houses that roll down the road. Things shake lose as well as break like house things from normal wear and tear.
One of the things that “broke” this trip was the plastic lever that throws the dead bold on the “front” door. But you can’t buy only the plastic lever.
The entire front door lock assembly was awaiting our arrival here at Rose Valley RV Ranch. Steve decided to install today.
Karl has become accustomed to “Adventures with Steve” – they take off in the Jeep with a first stop at the local bakery for sustenance and then on to some wonderful venue for a run around and who knows what.
But this morning, things were delayed as the door assembly was tackled.
As many things RV do, this turned out to be less than an easy fix.
Patience is not going to be on any of our tombstones…
Even Bob kept an eye on the progress.
Oh, brother…might as well catch a nap.
Finally, the thing was finished. Karl and Steve went off in search of adventure and serious napping could be had.
And then it was evening. Another day done. Another desert sunset.
Thursday’s story.
We left Montana with very little snow on the ground. We are about 600 miles south. It snowed most of yesterday, although it was the flurry type so maybe 1.5-2 inches of accumulation.
Karl is thrilled. We finally made him come in late afternoon after a walk around the lake in the morning and down the Poudre River Trail in the afternoon.
But it didn’t stop overnight – another 2-3 inches as of this morning and still snowing. So… roads are not snow covered, but they do report icy, slushy conditions and snow through the day. We’ll keep an eye on conditions as if it looks ok we’d like to get through Denver today.
But it might be another day in the snow.
It is no secret that Karl gets royal treatment and has since I brought him home at 7 weeks of age. But, although he has shared my and now also Steve’s tidbits from the table, he had never taken anything from table or counter until the incident of Karl in the Wedding Cake
The wedding cake was carrot cake and I did not hear anything but “YUM!” from wedding guests. Subsequently, we have had 4 or maybe 6 more single layer carrot cakes from the same bakery. They are that good! Karl reacts the same way as he did to the wedding carrot cake. He can be out in the yard napping and hear/smell/all of the above the cake being cut. We can’t hardly blame him as we’ve been mostly unable to resist buying them.
But then… I made a batch of corn muffins. We eat a lot of New Mexican inspired food.
Digressing a bit, the recipe comes from this cookbook, circa 1976:
This was a church women’s project from the church Steve and his young family attended when they lived in Silver City, NM and Steve was a deputy sheriff in Grant County. According to Steve, Olga (Ulga below is a typo…) Harper was an excellent cook and many of the New Mexico recipes in the book are hers, incuding the corn muffins:
I love this recipe. I make it as muffins. I tinkered using 1 cup frozen corn instead of canned, jalapenos instead of green chiles (the canned green chiles we get are bland) and I put 1/2 the batter in a food processor and blend it smooth so the muffins are slightly less “chunky” than the original. It takes about 5 minutes to mix and get in the oven.
Back to topic…Karl LOVES these corn muffins like he loves the carrot cake! Jalapenos and all.
Seriously, he knows when they come out of the oven and anytime either of us grab one he is right there. He gets more excited over jalapeno corn muffins than meat… jalapeno!! – they are “hot”!
Carrot cake and corn muffins – maybe he should have been Carl.
Misty mornings giving way to mostly gray skies continue. Temperatures hover between 25 overnight to near 40 during the day. Yesterday after a crunchy walk/snowshoe around the mountain loop, I went to the front porch.
Snow melting off the roof provided a symphony in the form of drips and plops on the snow and rocks.
I started with Karl for company…
Bob joined the party.
And…
…finally Steve.
With everyone feeling in tip-top shape and the weather calling for partly sunny, we loaded Karl, snowshoes and provisions in the Explorer and set out for parts East. The plan was to head over Marias pass, skirting the south end of Glacier National Park and then north towards the Canadian border to see what we could see.
However, the weather was not as advertised. It was snowing – heavily at times. The road south of West Glacier, MT was starting to get slick. The skies were heavy and gray. We turned in to the park to see about winter rates for entry with the idea that we would save the gas and go home but be armed with knowlege about the winter park fees….summer one time entry rates are $25 per car!
Well, now…the park has “senior” rates of $10 for a lifetime pass and “senior” is 62…and Steve is 63, so “Yippie – cai – oh – cai – ay”! – we got a pass and having it in hand we decided to drive the 8 miles of Going-to-the-sun Road that is open in the winter and at least let Karl out for a bit.
First stop, Apgar, where it was snowing heavily.
We continued on…
Ha – a bit of blue sky! This is close to the classic composition of photos of Lake McDonald excepting that most choose to take this shot on a blue sky, sparkling water, bright summer day…
That little bit of blue sky was the last blue we saw…
…until we hit the valley floor. And in the photo above – around the bend…there lies the road home.
It was a beautiful day.
The valley warmed up, the cloud layer dropped and it looked to be a dreary, socked in day. We went looking for sunshine.
We’ve noticed that often there are patches of sunlight to the south so the initial thought was to go around the lake thinking we might get some sun in Polson on the south shore. Polson was still under the clouds, but there were spots of light and blue further south singing their siren song.
Just before NinePipes, the Mission Mountains started making an appearance. We headed for Charlo and the National Bison Range area.
Charlo, MT was originally a trail crossing for freighters hauling grain and other goods from the rich Ronan Valley to the railroad at Dixon. The place was first called Big Flat, then Charlotte, and later Charlo, in honor of Chief Charlo of the Flatheads, one of the few chiefs who refused to sign Special Commissioner James A. Garfield’s order (August 27, 1872) removing all Indians of the region to the Jocko reservation. Joseph Dixon, a governor and US Senator, was instrumental in establishing the name Charlo.
The Bison Range is technically in Moise, MT but most know Charlo as the “gateway”.
This was my first visit to the range.
First visit for Karl, also!
Steve told us that in the summer, it is bumper to bumper on the roads that wind through the open range.
Today, though, we had the range nearly to ourselves.
Not even buffalo, antelope or elk…
White tail deer, though – we saw a LOT of deer!
And a river runs through it.
And there was sunshine.