Caroling & Chili in Elk Mt.

Sunday we spent with Jason's parents, Bill and Dee, in Elk Mountain. Jason made a huge pot of chili, which he entered in the fire department's annual chili cook-off. And the winner is...Are you suprised? Its a wonder what you can do with road kill! J/K Jason came in first out of 16 for his yummy elk chili.

Jason's chili is closest to the camera in the tan pot.

The drive to Elk Mt. was very pretty.

The roads were not bad but Shelby was holding on!I didn't get any pictures of us caroling because it was so COLD but I did take pictures of the new fire house. Bill is the chief! A lot of hard work, fundraising, and grant writing went into this building, and this is just his volunteer "job"! We are all very proud of him and the rest of the Elk Mt. fire crew.Bill & Dee in the fire house's new kitchen. Got to keep this short, Jason and I leave for Atlanta tomorrow!

'Twas Nearly Christmas.....The Annual Christmas Tree Adventure!

Twas nearly Christmas....and yet again we were too busy chasing poachers and artifacts to find a tree! Then, when we were able to schedule a day for our annual adventure, the Mother Nature chose not to cooperate (however dreams of a white Christmas are looking like they might come true, finally). With bad roads all around and holiday travel plans coming quickly, the chances of us meeting with parents and friends to find a few trees were nearly gone.

Nearing desperation, the we decided to risk the wind and cold to find a tree on our own. Teresa, now being an experienced tree-hunter, quickly found a nice stand with some likely candidates. We were surprised no one had taken them home before us!

Unfortunately, we soon realized the tree was a little too large for our home. (Luckily, that observation came about before I got too much sawing done.)

Perserverance paid off, though, and we did find a very lovely tree to grace our house this Christmas season. Most surprisingly, we even ran into a nice man with a red apron and a chain saw who wanted to help us prepare it for the tree stand--an opportunity not often seen in the wilds of Wyoming!

Anyway, the tree is now nestled into the corner of the living room, adorned with the ornaments of the past few years' travels--and a few dozen S'mores ornaments (the ones appropriate for this holiday season and not in use decorating the mantle, the kitchen, the bathrooms, the. . . .).

Continuing with the "green" theme this Christmas season, and in no way related to the hectic schedules we have created for ourselves, we have decided to save paper and not send individual Christmas cards this year. We will still support our friends in the logging industry, though, and will continue to wrap Christmas gifts. Although, I wouldn't be surprised if the paper is recycled from a slightly used magazine. . . .

Check back before the New Year for the "end-of-the-year" review!

(No "wild" trees were harmed in this blog posting!)

Adventures of Blaky in Wyoming

For Jacob & Mrs. Lisa Kopacek's class at West Wood Elementary:

My grand adventure started in Laramie, Wyoming with Teresa and Jason Sherwood. As soon as I arrived, they put me to work! I learned how to make pasta with game meat. It was ok, but I preferred the peppermint ice cream we had for dessert. The second day in Wyoming I helped decorate their Christmas tree and tended to the Sherwood’s indoor winter garden. You see Laramie, Wyoming is 7,200 feet above sea level so it can get very, very cold and the growing season is super short. The Sherwood’s are growing fresh herbs to use in their pasta recipes.

While I as in Laramie I patrolled with Jason who is a Game Warden with Wyoming Game and Fish. He enforces the hunting laws and protects wildlife, like me! There are a lot of black and grizzly bears in Wyoming. Most of them live in Yellowstone. Because I did such a good job watching for poachers and checking ice fishermen, Jason dubbed me a Junior Game Warden. I even got a badge! I got to play with the siren and lights!

My last day in Laramie I spent locked in the Wyoming Territorial Prison. Just kidding! The old prison is now a state historic site where people can visit and learn all about the men and women who were incarcerated there between 1872 and 1903. Teresa is the curator of the prison. She takes care of the old artifacts, designs exhibits and gives tours to local school children. Teresa introduced me to Bertha Ward who is a volunteer at the prison and descendent of one of the inmates. Bertha’s grandfather was Clark Pelton. Clark spent time in the Minnesota prison at Stillwater in 1878 for robbing stagecoaches. He also was incarcerated in the Wyoming Territorial Prison for murder.
Before I left Wyoming I said goodbye to the Sherwood’s dogs, Tilley and Shelby. They were nice but they kept trying to eat me. Next I’m off to the Big Apple, New York City!

Running on Back Log

It has been awhile!
Starting with the more recent…
Yesterday I installed two new text panels for the women inmate exhibit I’ve been working on for months! In May, when I thought everything was ready to be installed, my computer crashed and I lost all my designs. I wasn’t able to start working on this project again until about two weeks ago. We finally found a printer in town who could handle the size we wanted, my intern helped me track down artifacts, and our two seasonals (hired to restore the windows on the old Broom Factory) helped with installation. It was an exciting moment!


Jason and I spent Thanksgiving in Wheatland with family. Erin and Alex came down from Casper to join us. On our way through Sybille Canyon, we stopped to say hit to Teddy the buffalo and saw two female big horn sheep. On the way home the roads were slick and we almost hit a deer! Thank goodness my husband drives like James Bond under stress!

Sheep butt!

The weekend before Thanksgiving Jason and I went to Sheridan to help decorate Trail End State Historic Site for Christmas. It is a mansion so you can only imagine! (I didn't take photos but the curator Sharie did... Sharie, can you send me photos?)

Here are the elk that hang out in this big fenced pasture in the middle of Sheridan. Jason was working (hunting season is ALMOST over) but for Halloween I decorated pumpkins with our friends Meg, Bryce, Steve & Beth. You can check out Steve & Beth's blog to the right.

Here is Meg and the pumpkins!I carved a moose for Jason.

It is finally getting C-O-L-D in Wyoming! We’ve had some snow and are enjoying our fireplace. Last weekend I started decorating for Christmas. We’ll post pictures when everything is up and in its place.

Until then,Happy Holidays!

Hiking and Hunting

About a month ago, Shelby and I went to Lake Owen to hike the Rail to Rail trail in the Medicine Bow National Forest. It took us about 45 minutes to drive from Laramie. On the way, the wind was howling and it started to rain. Despite some hail and temperature drop, we persisted and had a nice hike along the lake and on the new trail.

Shelby hates to have her picture taken so I had to sneak up behind her! Wyoming Thistle:

We saw a Red Fox on the way home: The weekend after that, my good friend Erin came up (over?) from Nebraska to interview for the curator of education position at Fort Casper. (Of course she got the job!!!) Erin and I took a short hike at the north Crow reservoir at Curt Gowdy State Park between Laramie and Cheyenne. Both Tilley and Shelby came with us. We should have taken our fishing polls!

Yesterday, I went “hunting” with Jason. I didn’t know what to expect. We left early in the morning (early to me, late for Jason) and started off outside of Medicine Bow looking for pronghorn. I took my zoom lens but like any good hunter who practices with his weapon, I should have done the same with my lens! I’m a little rusty and wildlife photography is harder than I thought. We crawled around in the sage brush despite the 35 to 50 mph gust of wind. That’s right, it was WINDY!

Blurry pronghorn...

Jason aiming at blurry pronghorn...

Don't worry girls, he didn't take the shot!

After a morning hike with little success, we had lunch at the Dip in Medicine Bow. The owner is a folk artist who painted all the ceilings and tables in the joint. He is most well known for his hand carvings of cowboys, Indians and all things Western. He uses ONE piece of wood and NO glue for an entire carving. We were impressed.

After lunch we went towards Elk Mountain looking for, what else, elk! We hiked through the beautiful aspen stands but didn’t see any. Jason said he could smell them. We did however see a bald eagle, golden eagle, pronghorn, mule deer, a badger, a variety of ducks and a big green frog! I was most excited about the bald eagle. One of Jason's famous "short cuts"!Before it got to dark we went to Jason’s parents’ cabin for dinner. Yummy chicken curry. Too bad I couldn’t stop sneezing. I guess rolling around in greasewood and sage isn’t good for the sinuses. Oh well, it was worth it!