Movie Day and Bull Elk

July 27 – Although it was our day off again, we did go out and check sites and the bathrooms after we walked this morning. We only had a couple leaving so Bill went back out and did them while I cleaned the bathroom and changed the bed and did some general housework. Then we decided to re-do the window in the door for what we planned as the last time! We took Manual’s black frame off the inside and put the new white one on and it would not draw up tight. I knew the other didn’t either but thought we just hadn’t tightened up the screws enough. Well, we had to take it all apart and take the glass back out as it had slid down and over and wasn’t quite inside the tiny tabs on the frame. So we lined it up again and put it in the door and it all drew up tight. I just have to push the butyl down in the crack and then trim it. It looks good though.

Then we showered and had lunch and left for Durango. We only had three stops planned. We went to the movies and saw “The Watch” with Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn and it was so funny. Not Academy Award material but a nice afternoon of entertainment. Then we stopped at Wal-Mart. It was pretty quick as we split the list and met back at the check out. Last stop was to fill the truck then we headed back to Ignacio to the casino for dinner. We thought we were entitled to the $6.99 steak and shrimp dinner but we didn’t have high enough ranking of player card so we only got a 20% discount from the regular price. It was a good meal though. The fried shrimp were big and very good and we got 4 per plate along with a 7-8 ounce flat steak, big baked potato and the best steamed veggies. There were strips of jicama, snow peas and carrots. It was plenty filling. We had coupons to each get $25 on our player cards from the casino. These are only good once per person per month so we squeaked by for July. I didn’t do as well as Wednesday but left with $27 dollars of the casino’s money.

We got home around 7:30. Today we diapered Xena and it was full. We think she has some kind of kidney issue as she is drinking an awful lot and she has had a couple of accidents and her urine is close to clear. We checked out the camp and I baked two bread puddings. I had some stale bread so before we left today I cut it up and left it to finish drying out. It was too much for the baking dish I planned to use so I put the overflow in a personal size dish. We’ll give it to Harlan or Marion and Jerry. Once it cooled a little we each had a serving for our dessert/nighttime snack.

The neighborhood bull elk

July 28 – It was back to work at the office today. I had the last of my muesli and some yogurt for breakfast. It really does seem to hold me longer. Bill dropped me off and then he was going to do 3 loads of wash until some of the sites left. I think he only had 6 to do today. The girls were happy to see me this morning at 9. There were only 2 of them and they had people lined up and I could at least do the drive up window so they didn’t have to do both the window and the counter. It was busier for them all morning that it was for me. I balanced but for a moment I thought I was going to be $5 short. I thought I gave back $5 too much in change. I had a rash of $20 bills first thing. I took the bag of scrubbies up that I made and let those that worked today each pick one. There are 2 that I’ll have to catch this week.

Up closer

Bill picked me up and we had lunch. Marion sent him home with some avocado/tomato salad for me. It’s very yummy and easy, I’ll have to start making it. Bill left to pick up firewood and I was cleaning up lunch and folding the laundry, and he came back right away and said to get both cameras and get in the mule. The elk had crossed the road and was right beside Tiffany camp and much closer to try and get a photo of. I took a bunch but haven’t looked yet to see how good they are. Then we sat in the mule and watched him cross the road and trot down the road side of the fence until he found a spot he was willing to jump over.

I came home and finished laundry and did email and started looking at places to go next summer. I did some research on things to do to improve the seal on our toilet. There is no general consensus of the best thing to use but one recommendation was coconut oil, so I tried it, but no go. Tomorrow I will try the Vaseline.

Bill grilled buffalo brats and brat burgers for dinner and I made corn on the cob and steamed snow peas. After taking Xena for a walk and chatting with Newell and Anne (Manual’s girlfriend) we came back and shared the rest of the bread pudding. I got my shower and here I sit back at the computer getting ready to check those photos and post another blog.

Before bed I put together a pan of caramel rolls to take to work tomorrow.