A Lazy Day in Carbondale, KS 05-28-11

It was a somewhat lazy day today.  I spent some time trying to catch up with business on the Internet and wandered around the yard looking at the flowers and the birds and the green-green trees and thinking how different it is from SCalifornia.  Finished up a few fiber postcards using Ruth's machine - ready to mail on Tuesday for the AAQI.  They are due on June 1st, so I guess I will overnight them from wherever I can along the road on Tuesday.  Talk about pushing a deadline - of course, I forgot that Monday is a mail-less  holiday, so I should have had them in the mail earlier this week.  No chance of that - it is hard to sew whilst driving on the Interstate.  

This is Ruth and Charlie's house, which is built into a rise (not really tall enough to be a hill).  It gives them coolness in the summer and warmth in the winter and is also safer in a tornado.  Although they have never had one really close.

This is a view of the side of the garage.  And in the back the roof is only a foot or so above the ground.

The wood deck and the koi pond are under this native walnut and also an elm beyond it.  The pond is to the left where you see the white pots. 

There is a male Hairy Woodpecker at the feeder.  Downy Woodpeckers also visit, but they are about 6" while the Hairy is about 9".  I never could get a picture of the resident Baltimore Orioles, they are very shy.

Notice the glass stylized image of a Komondor in the window, Griffin, a Komondor, lives in this house!.  The vine is a Porcelain Berry.    

This is a different clematis than I have seen before.  It is Clematis integrifolia 'Rooguchi'.  When the flowers open the petals curl up and back like the outer petals of a fuchsia. 

Here is a beautiful iris for Suzanne!  I've seen so many lovely colors whilst driving and couldn't take a picture.  This was my mother's favorite color - maybe you know the name. 

The Cardinal kept coming back, but was always hiding in the Chaste Tree.  So bright against the grey.

 
I've seen huge clumps of yellow iris along the roadside and in yards.  I'm thinking they must naturalize and somehow survive the slugs and snails.
 
I'm heading home tomorrow.  I'll try to Blog every evening, but I am going to be making tracks across Kansas to New Mexico, Arizona and into California.  Should be home by Friday. 

On-the-Road to Kansas City, MO 05-27-11

Here is a view I rarely have!  I am riding in the backseat of Ruth Power's sedan and her husband Charlie is driving.  I missed the side view mirrors and the brake pedal, but Charlie is a good driver and I was comfortable.

In the past I was surprised about these layers of rock under the top layer of soil.  They show in the road cuts all along the highway. 

We were en route to the Arabia Steamboat Museum in Kansas City, MO. http://www.1856.com/ It was amazing and I enjoyed it very much.  Arabia hit a submerged snag (a walnut tree) and sank in 1856.  It was found and excavated in 1990's by five local men.  The steamboat was carrying supplies up the Missouri River to the settlers all along the river up into South Dakota, so there was a little bit, or a lot, of everything needed to build homes and communities in the "wilderness".   Pictures are allowed without a flash and I took many of many different things.  I'm posting images of "sewing" things because most of those who read this Blog will appreciate them.

Every item displayed has been frozen after being removed from the ship uncovered in 45 feet of mud and silt in a cornfield which was once the path of the river.  As time and workers are available the items are cleaned and dried and some are put on display - it is somewhat like an old fashioned general store.  The guide said they have about ten more years of recovery and conservation of the "stuff" still froze.  Clockwise above starting from top left are many types of buttons including glass from Austria and printed china from the US, a bowl metal buttons and buckles, half of a bowl of many sizes of needles, thimbles, hat pins, ink bottles (don't know about the taller bottle), gold pen holders (the old fashioned nibs fit in one end and were dipped into the ink bottles).   

Here is a closer view of the buttons in the bowl at top left. 

Of course, those people out on the prairies needed hats and there were stacks and stacks of them.  All have been frozen, thawed, dried, cleaned and reshaped.   As a be-hatted person I can appreciate this!

There were many containers of beads to use as trade with the native Americans and for ladies decorating hats (and quilts?).  This display was about the other items the natives wanted in trade.

We were there for about 2-1/2 hours and I could have looked for several more hours, I think.  But I was about dead on my feet and so were Ruth and Charlie.  We refreshed with some ice cream and headed back to Carbondale, KS, about an hour and 20 minute drive today.   Just a few sprinkles of rain along the way.

 

Of course, we had to visit the facilities.  And I had to take a picture of this cute little soap dispenser - and myself in the mirror.  Do I look tired?  I am exhausted tonight and am going to bed as soon as I post this Blog.  It is only 10:30pm!

On the Road - Carbondale, KS 05-26-11

Ruth and Charlie Powers live waaaay out in the country with their two dogs, a barn and lots of green, green countryside around them.

This huge tree shades the deck and the koi pond.  See the "Gold Standard" parked by the garage?

I don't know if I have ever tried to photograph a pond, but I found it very difficult.  All that welcome blue sky reflects and the koi are hard to spot.

 
This is a little better, but still a lot of sky!

Even closer I could avoid some sky.  I wanted a picture of this unusual white/black koi.

While Ruth and Charlie worked in the yard I lolled in a chair on the deck and watched the birds.  Hard to get pictures.  Here is a hummer at rest.  There were three flying around - each claiming their territory.

I moved closer to the feeder to perhaps get better pictures.  But this woodpecker just peered at me over the roof and wouldn't come any closer. 

The cardinal was also wary, only perching for a minute or two in the Chaste Tree which has just started leafing out.  There was also a brilliant oriole, but once I stood up he stayed away from the front of the house.

A house full of quilts and dogs!  Grif, the Komondor, stretches out in the hall so he can keep an eye out.

 

Timber, the German Shepherd, is very quiet and gentle and huge.  Maybe 165 pounds. 

The bedroom I am in is off limits for the dogs, so far I am not having any allergy attacks, but I am careful about taking my meds at the right times. 

On the Road - Grand Island/Lincoln to Carbondale, KS 05-25-11

Rain pretty much all night and into the morning - lightning and thunder, but no tornadoes!

Sometimes the clouds looked like they were pleated - all in black - grey - white.  The  pods are something I cut near Ogallala hoping I can identify the plant when I get to the computer or a book on plants.

Rain continued and it became darker and darker.

Before we arrived in Lincoln, NE., which was less than a hundred miles, things looked a little brighter, but the wind was very strong.

This building houses the International Quilt Study Center and Museum.  Personally I think they could have done better, but I know that some people love it. 

The major exhibit ended on Sunday and the staff is busy installing the next one, Mosaic quilts from England and the USA.  But there is a smaller exhibit of Nebraska quilts which are quite wonderful.  Ruth and I both liked this one the best.  Pictures are allowed without a flash.  The label that accompanied the quilt is below.

Click on the pictures to enlarge them.

We did see another sandhill crane!  It is on this imaginative quilt made about 1864.  The label says the quilt was made in Germany, but I don't think that sandhill cranes or blue jays (in the adjacent block) live in Germany.  I'll do a little more research. 

Sorry for the quality of this image - I usually take two and keep the best one, but I slipped up on this.

We arrived at Ruth Power's house about 7:30pm, at the dinner Ruth's husband Charlie had ready for us and then hauled all our stuff out of the car.  They are already in bed and I am going as soon as I post this Blog. The weather is supposed to improve tomorrow. 

On-the-Road Ogallala to Grand Island, NE 05-24-11

We had hoped to spot a sandhill crane lagging behind the migration, so we drove the 50 miles around Lake McConaughy peering into every shorn wheat field and low marshy tract of land.  But no luck.

We are not in a hurry so we stopped for wildflowers (the book is in the car tonight!) and birds and interesting viewpoints.

We even spotted some large trout in the flooded margins of the lake.

Someone took pity on the tourists driving this loop road and provided a Rest Stop.  As you can see there is a trail trodden in the grass indicating that tourists at least checked it out.  We didn't. 

We stopped beside this marshy area to look for birds - lots of red-winged blackbirds - and at a few other places. We saw many Eastern Kingbirds, swallows, house sparrows, vultures, a few hawks, but no cranes.  

We turned off the road to the Ash Hollow Visitor's Center only to discover it doesn't open until Memorial Day.  But there were wildflowers blooming along the road, including this blue penstemon.

Ash Hollow was an important stop for the pioneers splitting off from the California bound trails.  The ash groves provided shade, wood, fresh water and a chance to rest before heading off along the North Platte River for the Oregon Trail.  We read that there are remnants of the ruts made by the wagon wheels and indications of a sort of capstan used for lowering the wagons down into the hollow.  Although the land appears somewhat flat, it is full of ravines which were to steep for wagons.

These metal cranes at the Crane Meadow Visitors Center were the only ones we saw.  The center had already closed at 5pm, so we didn't even have a chance to see the displays.  Next time?

 

We looked for a motel of our choice, but settled for a Holiday Inn in Grand Island, NE.  Since we were tired and rain was threatening we decided not to drive anywhere else and had dinner in the empty dining room and discovered why it was empty.  I doubt that either Ruth Powers or I have ever left grilled salmon on our plates, but what we were served was dry and tasteless.   They even ruined the baked potato!  As I have been writing I have nibbled on crackers from my food bag and will probably dream of a great breakfast before we go on to Lincoln  to visit the Int'l Quilt Study Center and Museum at the Uof Nebraska.  The weather predictions are not favorable, but we'll just keep going as fearlessly as we can!  

On-the-Road Denver to Ogallala, NE 05-23-11

This morning Ruth and I skipped the not very appetizing free breakfast at the Comfort Inn and had coffee and 'munchies' from the Brown Palace Hotel Coffee kiosk across the street. 

We claimed a table to the side of the very elegant lobby with tiers of iron lace balconies and a delicate stained glass ceiling.  Here is Ruth with her carrot bread, along with the small bouquet provided on all the tables by the Brown Palace Florist.  For me, the lovely vases of flowers all over both hotels were a joy - just a breath of Spring (although I'm sure the flowers are mostly hot house blooms).   

My treat was a pear/walnut muffin with a sweet glaze on top - fabulous - and the coffee was as good as Starbuck's.  High praise from this Starbuck's addict.

On the concierge desk the flowers were white hydrangea, multicolored tulips and sea holly. 

We packed the car and headed north on I-25.  This picture is looking off to the west at the Rockies topped with increasing piles of clouds.

This is just to show how light the traffic was after we turned onto I-76.  Fascinating to watch the clouds change and move east above us.

 
Far off to the north we could see rain storms dropping their loads.  We had a brief heavy shower and a few little spritzes, but could see various storms like this one in the distance.
After driving a short distance due east on I-80 we checked into a motel at Ogallala, NE, and walked across the driveway to a little Mexican restaurant that was quite good.  As we walked about two hundred feet back the rain started - perfect timing!  There has been fairly steady rain and thunder and lightning, but we are dry and comfortable and ready to hit the hay.