Another chapter

Nelda fell Dec11. The firemen came, picked her up and put her to bed. Later that night, she needed to get up, fell again, knocked Pres over and he broke his hip. Ambulance took them to the hospital. 

Left hip is the broken one. 

Pres after hip replacement. Doing well. 

4 days later, both moving to Life Care rehab center. Can go into assisted living at Pointe Frontier if they recover mobility. 

Van ride. 

The staff pulled their beds together in their double room. That was kind of them. 

They spent 1 night together there. December18 4 am, Nelda passed peacefully into eternity. May have had a pulmonary embolism or heart attack. It doesn't matter now. She had a predisposition to a lot of things. 

Pres and Nelda at the family Thanksgiving 2016. 

She was doing well 3 weeks ago. 

Jazz their dog got to visit Pres in the nursing home. 

Dec 11

Beautiful mountains as the sun went down. 

Saw the moon going down this morning. Nelda fell in the middle of the night. Pres fell trying to help her and broke his hip. She took an hour to crawl to the living room, get the phone and call 911. Ambulance took them to hospital. Now waiting surgery for Pres. He is 87. 

The sunrise was beautiful this morning. The roads were dry. 

Breakfast and up in a chair morning after hip replacement. 

Willis and George lending moral support. 

Dec 5 - 8

This is December 8. Casper had -31 degrees. Terrible wind chill!

Headed to Ft Collins to taxidermy before we get more snow this week. 

This part of the post is Dec 6. 

IWe had 4 semis come in this weather this morning. Shipping open cows to Omaha. By the time the second one was loading, the blizzard blew through!

Now we are waiting for our special meeting company to get here. 

               Such special visitors!

 Impromptu guest book. 

Chris and Kate had Orlinda for their special meeting company. 

We stamped some cards Dec 10 with some of the neighboring ranch ladies. 

More elk, and a delicacy!

This hunt began December 1. The hunters were from Alaska. 

A nice 6 point bull. 

  The  first one was a 5 point. Just as George was taking the picture a big snowflake gob fell in front of Randy. Looks like snow on his nose!!

They said fresh elk tongue was a delicacy where they are from. The natives love it. 

So, we aim to please!!  Boiled it, cooled it, peeled it, sliced it!  It had the consistency of a rubber tire chunk. Some liked it. 

Nov 28

The men moved the cattle across the Platte River at the Overland Ranch Savage lease. It is starting to freeze up today.

 George went down and started feeding down there. 

Interstate 80 and 30 are both closed today. This is the way it looks when they let the traffic go after being closed for hours. Wall to wall trucks and cars trying to make up for lost time. 

The windmill aereator that George installed at the Miller Lake a couple of weeks ago, is working. It kept a large area open to the air. This will keep the ice from freezing over and shutting the oxygen off to the newly planted fish. 

The windmill pumps air into a hose that makes bubbles and inhibits ice forming. 

This is taken Dec 29 after weeks of freezing weather, some below zero. It is keeping the lake open. 

Liz making gingerbread cookies with Grandma. Cracking eggs, stirring, and using the rolling pin "by myself" is so interesting. Brothers are all in school. 

We sent some home to the boys. The frosting and features are all askew. They seem to be kicking their legs up in the air as they got manhandled onto the cookie sheet before baking. Then we had to go read the Gingerbread Man story and sing the song!!  Fun times for both of us. 

Playing monopoly. Random moves with money being paid indiscriminately. That's the way 3 3/4 year olds play. Very stress free, no worries about buying or selling property!!  Roll the dice and ask the other person for a "purple money". 

The next day we made a cake for Grandpa G. 

Mom is keeping busy at the quilt store cutting out and making up apron panels. One lady saw what she was doing and bought 5 to make for gifts. 

Thanksgiving

So fun to have kids and grandkids visiting. 

At Chris and Kate's house Wednesday night. 

Sleepover at Grandma's house 

Goose hunting in the snow. 

We got a snowstorm in the night. Started out early, kept checking the road report on the phone. Interstate 80 and highway 30 both closed. It stopped snowing both here and Cheyenne, but the roads are still closed!  So we have lots of food here. We had hoped to go to Cheyenne and take family pictures with Pres and Nelda. 

Shooting some clay pigeons, Thanksgiving afternoon. 

Big boys and littles all enjoying it. 

For our warm weather friends, note how Wyoming kids dress when watching goings on in the snow!!

Hunter-opoly seems to be a hit. 

Another set of monopoly players. 

Pizza and soda, lots of laughs, fun times. 

Grand dogs outside wanting inside to join the fun. 

Nov 21

There were 3 trumpeter swans on the lake when they got there to set up the windmill. 

George is getting so many projects done this fall with the beautiful weather. He built an aereator to keep the lake from freezing and killing the fish this winter. 

Heading out to Laramie this morning. George is taking Kate and me. November 22.  Highways closed Laramie to Cheyenne because of wrecks. Very slick roads. 

The digital speed limit signs are 40 or 50 on this bad stretch. They had freezing fog earlier.