Daniel, Wyoming: July 2010 Trip

Took my annual trip to Granma's this July: Had a nice visit with Hazel and her family. This shot is from Hazel's house. Granma's can be seen in the middle of the view with the Green River in the background.

I did a 5 hour float through 7 Mile Ranch. This next shot shows 7 Mile Ranch. Granma's is far off to the upper left. The river was perfect for this float on July 7, 2010. 75 to 80 degrees, sunny, and a light breeze - it was a beautifl day!

I caught one nice brown trout and had several good strikes. The river was running a little high, so I spent most of my time navigating the kayak, with an occasional cast.

7 Mile Ranch in Daniel, WY, has some of the best trout fishing around. The Mayfly hatch was in full bloom this week and guided floaters I passed on the river this trip were catching more fish than they could count.

Granma took me to a block party in Pinedale, WY, on the 4th of July. I got to meet a lot of real nice Pindale folks and had some good all-American food, too.

I did some exploring in the Windriver Mountains this trip. Saw New Fork Lake and Little Halfmoon Lake for the first time. The road into Little Halfmoon was almost impassable with a Ford F150 4X4 pickup. New Fork Lake was beautiful as seen in the shot below:

This trip was one of the best I've had over the past 15 - 20 years. I love it here in the Summer and always think of these trips as rare and treasured opportunities to return to a place I think of as home. The local people are welcoming and the kind of folks you'd want to have as neighbors. The vistas are breathtaking. The wildlife and natural wonders are some of the most unspoiled you can find in North America. I hope to be able to call this place home as long as I live.

Greetings from Coldwater, MS, and Memphis, TN!

Greetings!

We have moved to Coldwater, MS.

I started a new job in Memphis in August, after being laid off by the last company I worked for in Virginia. No surprise they were hit hard by the economy.




















So, we are in a beautiful new place. It's a 3 bedroom, has fireplaces in the living room and master suite, a large open floor plan with lots of unfinished space upstairs to finish later.

I played the role of Butler in SME's 2009 production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat last August. It was great fun and the SME friends we made in 2008 and 2009 are awesome!

I did a lot of work on the house in Floyd county, VA, to get it ready for sale:

A new sidewalk to the front door and new front steps.

We installed gutter drains.
























Dinner with Lois in Memphis for her Birthday.

These are a few of the highlights from 2009. More will be posted at a later date.

CHRISTMAS 2008 AT THE WIEBES IN VIRGINIA!!!!

Here we are with Artie and Ninnie! Boy was it cold when we took this. Burrrrr......

Thanks, Laura Lee, for taking the picture. Lois and I couldn't have done it without your help.

















And, here it is at night....


















Dinner with Lois, Don, and Laura Lee: Had a great time entertaining our neighbors. Surf & turf, cold cucumber soup, and finished with my first try at a real desert. What fun!

More pics from Tewksbury...

The 2-stall barn - looking down Fox Holl Road toward the house. The tall pine tree to the left is the one I planted in the early 1970's.

















The white building was JBW jr's original shop in Oldwick from 1961 to 1971. He started in the left side of the building and moved to the right side in the mid-1960's.
















Went to a Whitehouse Wind Symphony rehearsal with Casey Bork. The playing was awesome. So much talent in that group! Casey has been like a father to me since I was 11 years old. A life-long friend, we stay in touch and share a strong bond, both for family and our love of music.
















This is the sign in front of Old Turnpike School, the middle school I attended from 1971 to 1974.

More pictures from Fall 2008:

This is the farm where I grew up on Fox Hill Road, near Oldwick, NJ. The house has been renovated with a garage and new addition off the old living room.

















The barn we built in 1967 looks mostly as it did then. The shed row on the left and the cupola are new.

















This shows the new addition. Many of the trees we had are gone. The apple trees are mostly gone. One pine tree I planted in the early 1970's is over 50 feet high. And, the huge white pine trees on the other side of Fox Hill in front of the house are still there.

















The small barn where I raised chickens and we kept our pony, Patty, is gone, but the 2-stall barn is still there.

















Here is our favorite beagle, Hermionie, pampered puppy, on the couch.

















Blacksburg Community Band at a concert this Fall. I'm playing 1st trombone.

FLOYD FEST 2008:
Had a great time at Floyd Fest this year. This is the local Bluegrass/Folk music festival. Lot's of great talent. Good food, great times. The highlights were the kids playing. This little fiddle player, Adam Larkey, was awesome on the Pickin' Porch!!! I think he is 9 yrs old.

Saw other good acts: Crooked Still was another highlight.
















SUMMER MUSICAL ENTERPRISE: Did "Anything Goes" August, 2008

This shot is with Ellie, our stage director, Charlotte, choral director, and Matt, who played the cameraman and ship's captain.

I had two roles in the Summer Musical Enterprise's production of Anything Goes, a Cole Porter classic.

I was cast as the reporter and the drunk. The only Latter-day Saint on the cast, and they cast me as the drunk... what irony. And, what a fun experience. All the way through, it was a great time. The cast and orchestra were terrific.

An all-around good time.

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The closing shot is after sunset above Fremont Lake.

Dinner with Granma. This restaurant was really low key, and the food was really good. We had a nice time eating in town and visiting. Caught up on things and talked about getting together this Fall... if the airfares aren't too high.

Main Street through town has changed a lot in the past 30 years. Now it's more commercial. Faler's was sold to someone who renamed it, remodeled, made it look like a lot of other grocery stores... another community institution gone.




Lot's of oil rigs on the Mesa. And, lot's of summer travelers rolling through town.