EMMY & GRANDPA MIKE

HOWDY FROM DURANGO, CO

Here we are at the EconoLodge in Durango, CO. We left the Walrath's home in the St. George area of Utah at 7:30 a.m. and had a full day of driving – nearly 500 miles. We expect to reach the Mile High Warnocks easily tomorrow. We'll give you highlights of our trip in other posts, but I did want to "connect" and let you know that all is well with us.

This motel is so old that the only grounded outlet is in the bathroom. So, the cord to the laptop is stretched to the max and I'm perched on the edge of the bed as I write. Of course, I could just use the battery, but both Mike and I want to use the computer this evening. But first – he says we're going out to eat. KW

VISITS: MILO & CLINT

We arrived at Milo and Billie's in Boise at 3:30 yesterday, just as T. was driving up to the house with Mason. Perfect timing! T. is a senior at Borah High this year and helps her parents by picking up the boys at their respective schools. As soon as Gage and Milo were home, we went to find a couple of geo-chaches -- what else? When Billie was home from work, we went out to dinner and had a very nice visit. We left that family and drove on to Clint's in Hagerman, arriving about 9:20 p.m.

Through a misunderstanding, Clint had prepared dinner for us. We were just sorry that he had rushed home after working in American Falls all week to fix dinner. Well, we had the leftover shrimp fajitas for lunch and a delicious "veggie pizza a la Clinton" for dinner. He has learned to make pizza from scratch because he didn't like buying it. He's a good cook and expanding his culinary abilities.

Clint works four 10-hour shifts per week so has Fridays off. We enjoyed spending the day with him. Mike took us to three geo-caches in the immediate area, and Clint explained the sites. We also drove into Gooding so that Clint could do some banking and picked up a few groceries. It was a quiet, restful afternoon.

We drove through some beautiful fall foliage between Lewiston and Boise. The tamarak yellows amongst the evergreen conifers were outstanding, not to mention the gullies and draws filled with vibrant reds, yellows, and oranges. It's beginning to look like fall in the Lewis-Clark Valley, but when I opened the car door at Clint's, the chilly air smelled like autumn -- dry leaves. [In this photo I'm enjoying the fall colors on the Malad River near Clint's house.]

Tomorrow: on to Ivins, Utah, to visit Chuck (my brother) and Joanne Walrath. We expect it to take 9-10 hours. Chuck said they would have supper for us. KW

JUST ABOUT READY

We've spent the last week doing "last minute" chores. We've made Christmas gifts, prepared two houses (and one doghouse) for chilly weather, taken a vehicle for repair, eaten food that might spoil, given Nellie a bath. We've washed clothes and counted out undies, downloaded maps and geo-caches, packed our toys as well as essentials. We said "au revoir" to friends, and put some services on hold. We've had long phone conversations with almost everyone we will visit. We're as ready as we'll ever be. If we've forgotten it, we don't know what it is. We'll think of it half an hour out of town.

Speaking of forgetting, I had a close call yesterday. We were leaving the farm when I decided to check upstairs one more time. I couldn't imagine why. But when I walked into the sewing room, there were three pink bears in the middle of the bed. Baby Bear was distraught, thinking I was leaving without her. Big Sister Bear and Cousin Bear were trying to comfort her but worrying themselves. I must have heard them crying. This afternoon we spent quality time together, making Big Sister Bear a "Hannah Montana" vest and tacking bows on their ears. Then into gift sacks they went to be delivered and hidden away in their new homes until Christmas. I can't help but feel pretty good about that.

I have a box for Boise and a box for Denver. I've packed dried pears for some and elderberry jelly for all. And if we need dessert, we can slice the chocolate zucchini bread. If you don't see a new post here for a few days, you'll understand we're off on an adventure. KW

IT AIN’T OVER YET

The satellite dish installer called before 8:00 a.m. today. I gave him directions to the farm. He seemed to understand and read them back to me. His English seemed fluent enough but he spoke with a heavy accent. I felt we hadn't really understood one another and had a sinking feeling about his ability to find us. Sure enough! Between 10:00 and 11:00 we had several more calls from him. He didn't understand that he had to travel the whole grade. The words "on top" eluded him. I had said 10 miles; he understood 3 miles. Nevertheless, he persevered and was willing enough.

The installer announced that first of all he would have to call the tech number because there was no dish on the work order. That in itself was an appalling omission when we were requesting an update to HD. "Now, there will just be one dish, right?" asked Mike. "No sir. You have to have two dishes. Just one dish doesn't work. There were problems and the company no longer uses just one dish," explained the installer. But we had been told by Dish India that the install in town was wrong, that we should have only one dish, and that there would be just one dish at the farm. "I don't have room for another dish," said a frustrated Mike. And this proved to be the case. So, after calls to his main office, the entire update was cancelled. Mike made two calls to Dish India before our service here was restored.

Well, it just isn't over yet. I told Mike I admired him for not throwing in the towel three days ago. I offered to wean myself from television altogether. If I were the "alpha do-er," I'm sure I would have given up. And you might remember that we haven't been handled well by Cableone, although the local office was sympathetic and ultimately helpful.

On a lighter note, I made two batches of elderberry jelly – both successful. I have enough juice for two more batches. And I have been working on bears, although that was disappointing in a way. I didn't realize that my old Singer Athena 2000 has really given up, so I was unable to sew here. I'm breathing deeply and knowing that everything will work out – everything will come together. It will be all right. KW

TESTY TOWN TIME

You haven't lived until you need something from a company that has outsourced its customer service to another country. It's a long – and probably dull – story. All we wanted was a deal on our satellite service so that when we're in town, we could pause service on the farm and when we're on the farm, we could pause service in town, hopefully maintaining just one account. "We can do that for you," said customer service. And from there it's been a week of maddening discussions with one rep after another, the game plan changing with every call. Tonight we are on the farm with our HD set in place and no satellite service. The good news is that we'll finally get around to watching those movies I borrowed from friends. The other good news is that a service guy is coming tomorrow to upgrade our satellite service. Maybe he'll have suggestions on how to deal with this problem.

Since the mice seem to like to store things in our oven, we put a trap in there when we left last week. Sure enough! Got one! [No photo]

Yesterday (Saturday) I attended the wedding of Spencer Hagen and Sarah Long in Grangeville. Spencer is Polly and John's second son. It was a lovely event and great to see family and acquaintances. Since Mike was tied up with other obligations, I rode with Harriet and Bill – also fun.

It was so nice this afternoon that Mike said I should get out of the house. I wanted to stay in and work on bears, but then I remembered that now is probably the last opportunity I'll have to make more elderberry jelly. The elderberry bushes / trees on our place and nearby are not doing too well. I think they got hit when the fields were sprayed. But we were able to put together enough berries for several batches of jelly. I juiced the berries today and will make the jelly tomorrow – along with "bear work." KW

EYES -- AND SOME PERSONALITY