Well I Was Gonna Brag But.......

There was a benefit for the gal that I have been posting about. So I decided to be brave and donate a framed picture that I have taken for the silent auction. My worst fear was that no one would put a bid on the picture and I would feel oh so stupid and then I thought oh what the hell, a buck is a buck and even if it brings a dollar it is better than nothing huh?

When David and I walked into the benefit Jessica excitedly told me that there was a $50 bid on my picture! I couldn't believe it actually but it felt pretty good it did.

So on with the story. Later on the original bidder crossed off her $50 bid and put a $20 bid in instead. Apparently others thought that it was a tacky move and they themselves did some bidding on the picture. Now I have heard two varying accounts of what the picture actually brought in the end. My sister in law Kelly thought it was $27 but one of the organizers of the benefit thought it was $50-$60. So I still am not sure what the picture brought, but again, it went for a good cause and I am sure every little bit helps.

Here is the picture that I donated. I took this in Arizona and may have posted it in one of my Arizona trip report posts. It is of a Yucca tree (is that right Rachel and Melvin) that we saw driving through the desert. It is an 8x10 framed and matted-the glare is from me taking a picture of the picture!

She's Encouraging Them On

Lenny and Kelly are in the middle of a mess but in the end it will be so very nice. After mom passed Len and Dad swapped houses and Lenny is in mom and dad's old house. The house was built in 1976 or so and had never been updated. Let's see if I can take you down memory lane (many can remember this as my friends and I spent a lot of time at this house cuz everyone loved my momma). The carpet in the main section was brown and gold and an industrial type nap. In the dinning room was gold shag carpet with absolutely beautiful (not) wall paper on the walls. The bathroom had pink shag carpet with pink sink toilet and counter top and to top it all off the walls were done in pink textured wall paper. The living room had gold shag carpet and some sort of textured wall paper. And then there is the kitchen. It had black and white square linoleum, very dark oak cabinets, green (yes I said green) counter tops and walls-walls were covered with some product or another much like paneling. What wasn't wall papered was covered in very dark colored paneling and throughout were dark rough wood covered beams.

There was a sunken 'fire pit' (Karen you remember that....I have a picture somewhere of you passed out on the couch in the fire pit!) that had brown shag carpet and a built in seating area covered in white and brown striped upholstery. Behind that was a wet bar that was covered in brown shag carpet as well. (oh man lots of time was spent with friends and family at that bar!)

Upstairs are two bedrooms and a nice large bathroom. Before the remodeling they were covered in shag carpet and textured wall paper walls (green and brown). The kids replaced the carpet in the bedrooms and put down tile in the bathroom, they also put in a new tub and toilet and stripped off the wallpaper and painted.

The basement had never been finished, it was Lenny's first project. He (and some friends) put up sheet rock and painted. It is now a livable space.

And then the outside. In the front were brick pillars and overgrown shrubs. David and I helped them yank out the shrubs, knock down and dispose of the pillars and replace the shrubs with much smaller ones.

First of all I just know that mom would have been so pleased to know that Lenny is living in her house. She loved that house and being in that area. And even though she was resistant to changing color schemes etc she would be pleased to see how nice it has become.

So Len when you feel overwhelmed by the project and stressed a bit, think of your granny silently encouraging you on and being ever so happy that you are in the house.

A picture of the demolished kitchen. They are having cabinets custom made by my cousin Curt Krohn.

A view from the front entry of the house through the kitchen and into the dinning room. There was a wall between the kitchen and dinning room with a doorway only. Len and Kel have opened the two rooms up which I think looks very nice.

Looking from the front entry towards the family room. To the far left was the bar, the near left is the fire place area that was sunken (they raised the floor to make it more open). You get a sample of the old carpet here...that will be replaced. In the future they are going to replace the bar as well but re-design it. The steal pole was once covered with that rough dark stained wood. They are going to box them in with a more up to date something or other.

From the family room looking up at the second floor. They tore out the old staircase and railing and are replacing it. You can see, in all of the pictures, that they have removed all of the paneling. They are going to have it all taped and then paint.

Here is what was once the pink bathroom. The picture does not do this justice as it looks beautiful with the updates.

When the entire project is completed I will post pictures. But for now I just wanted to do this to encourage Len and Kel as it is absolutely no fun to live in a remodeling project....you guys are doing a great job and it will be wonderful when done.

This Hair

What am I gonna do with em they are driving me nuts! Too bad my old co-worker Paula doesn't read this as she always gave me grief for referring to my hair as 'em' like a person...she says it's hair not a person!

Anyway....what to do...grow it out, cut it again, what what what do you guys think anyway! It is now in the 'I hate it' stage. What am I talking about, the only time I LIKED my hair is right before I found out that I was going to loose it!

Well it is now getting curly and unruly and is of course too short to 'do anything' with but just long enough to look shaggy. And being the fashion expert that I AM NOT I need help. Oh it was much easier being bald-but much colder!

LOL remember the look.....still had the eyebrows here!

Now remember I have a wedding to look good for (OK to look presentable for!) which is why I am freaking about this hair!

Speaking of the wedding I did finally find a dress-yes I will wear a dress. And this is not a sundress but is an off the shoulder not at all like me elegant but not flashy dress! AND it is actually comfortable, a must for me! I just now need to find someone to shorten it and hopefully make a shawl type thing that will cover my port for pictures.

By the way, David will be sporting a tux....me in a dress and David in a tax all in one place. A sight to see to be sure!

Back to the hair. Do I keep trimming them do I just let EM alone looking shaggy and grow....what what what. Jan you got any ideas?

More good news for my type of cancer

On my way to my infusion yesterday I again saw the gal that has recurred that I talked about previously in the 'Life Slaps You In The Face' post. This time I had a chance to say hello to her and gave her a hug. After she left I had to hold back tears and I didn't realize how difficult it is to actually know someone and see them (I will be seeing her weekly) and know that their prognosis is not good. Shit it's scary it is so damned scary. I will not be dwelling on recurrence I don't think but it really brings to light that it certainly could happen. So I search the message boards and blogs for good news to counteract the fear that sometimes wells up and overcomes me. I also know that this happens to most everyone as they near the end of their treatments. While you are going through treatment you are battling the disease weekly with infusions. Once those are done it may feel as if you are no longer doing anything to fight. That is not true of course because the treatments have done their work but it is a true fear that we survivors have.

I hesitate to even put this in writing because the last thing that I want is for my family to worry about my emotional health but I need to use this board to get it out and so I am. Please don't worry about me but allow me to vent.



These two posts were on the cancer blog that I frequent and certainly do back up what my oncologist tells me in regards to my prognosis. I have HER 2 cancer and am taking both Herceptin and Tamoxifen.

One of my last year's flower bed flowers

Another attack on HER2 comes in form of vaccine
Posted Jan 6th 2007 10:00AM by Jacki DonaldsonFiled under: Breast Cancer, Drug, Research, Daily news
There are sometimes silver linings to the darkest of cancer clouds. I know -- because I have the dark cloud of HER2 positive breast cancer hanging over my head. HER2 positive means the tumor removed from my breast was aggressive. It aggressively over-expressed a protein that accelerates tumor growth. And it led to a poor prognosis -- that might be considered a good one too.You see, research on the whole HER2 issue is turning up some pretty powerful potions. Like Herceptin -- the drug that miraculously cuts recurrence upwards of 50 percent for positive women like me. I was a lucky recipient of this drug. And the pharmacist who mixed the drug for all 17 of my infusions tells me it's really a good thing I have this HER2 problem -- because the drugs created to attack the problem may just cure me of my disease.So in an odd turnabout -- from bad luck to good fortune -- I am not so sad my tumor was aggressive. It means there are bonus treatments for me. And if my cancer comes back and Herceptin no longer works, there is another drug called Tykerb. And now the Army is leading its own breast cancer vaccination study. The focus -- HER2.Early study results from Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. suggest a 50 percent reduction in disease recurrence for HER2 positive women who receive a vaccination of AE37.AE37 targets HER2 and boosts the body's immune system so it can battle the protein before it stimulates growth. It's similar to Herceptin, but the activity of AE37 stimulates a patient's own immune system to recognize the cancer target rather than interacting with the target directly.Should the Food and Drug Administration decide to support this study, it will proceed to Phase 3 testing, which includes a much larger pool of participants.

A star fish Brent found while in Isla last year






Tamoxifen reduces the risk of developing cancer for years following treatment
Posted Jan 4th 2007 2:00PM by Kristina CollinsFiled under: Breast Cancer, Drug, Prevention, Cancer Pre-vivors
Results presented at the 2006 annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, says that it appears Nolvadex (tamoxifen) reduces the risk of developing cancer years following completion of preventative therapy among women who are at high risk of developing breast cancer.
Data from a clinical trial, including 7,145 women who were at high risk for developing breast cancer, was reevaluated at 10 years follow up. They found that breast cancer was reduced by 29 percent among women treated with tamoxifen compared to those taking the placebo. The preventative effect on breast cancer, specifically hormone-positive breast cancer, was actually improved at 10 years compared to the five-year follow-up.
The researchers concluded that women who are at high risk of developing breast cancer continue to benefit from tamoxifen, even five years following completion of treatment.
Talk to you doctor if fall in the high risk group for breast cancer. There are individual risks and benefits for tamoxifen and it may prevent physicians from recommending its use in certain women.

So having gotten that off of my chest......on a lighter note...David look whose sleeping on our couch!

And this is the dog who has her own bedroom with her own full size people bed. Now apparently she has her own couch as well!

Wonder who has the run of the house in this family...could it be the dogs.......used to be you kids guess you have been replaced....haha.

Nothing Left To Steal

Is what the sign said and apparently it worked! Before we left the last time David tacked this sign to the cabin door. No one seems to have entered the property while we were gone thank goodness.

The sign was originally thought of out of frustration but then it became humorous and is still on the door of our cabin!

We pulled into our property Friday at about 11am to find it cold cold cold! Turned the two little electric heaters on and left for the day so it could warm up. When we came back later in the day it was still cold but good ole David decided we would tough it out and do some work (Mikey I know you are feeling sorry for me...I just know it!). It was so danged cold that when Lenny called me I was shivering while I talked to him. At that point I think David took pity on me and we headed back to the hotel. Saturday morning it was nice and toasty inside. We spent the weekend sealing the walls and ceilings in the spare bedroom and the kitchen/dinning room and stripping coat after coat of shellac off of the floors.

It's damned hard work for a couple of stiff old folks like us! We used heat guns to soften up the shellac and then 'peeled' it off with scrapers. Next time we are there we will use a product to get the residue off, then wash the floors with paint thinner and then sand!

We were both aching whining messes at night. Our hands hurt, our backs hurt oh it was bad but it sure felt good to get it done. We called Lenny to tell him of what we thought was a GREAT accomplishment and he said 'Oh well we got our stairs tore out and rebuilt'! So no sympathy coming from him I guess.

On the way up Friday I caught the most beautiful sunrise and perhaps the most vibrantly colorful picture I have ever taken. This is on Howard Lake as the sun rises.

And a bit closer of the mist rolling off of the open water.

And in Walker the mist as it rolls off of the open water there.

On the way home we passed by Mil Lacs Lake. This picture does not do justice but it looked like the frozen tundra that goes on forever.....it looked cold. Didn't seem to bother the ice fisherman though.

Is it spring yet??????? Peeko and I are cold, well I'm cold until I have a hot flash anyway!

Nothing at all to take pictures of

Our friends Mikey and Jan were just home for Christmas and couldn't wait to "get out of this godforsaken state"!


Mikey and Jan are 'fulltimers'. They live in their motorhome and travel the countryside. They love the life that they began last winter and they have gotten terribly spoiled in regards to the weather. They have in fact become pansies and whine about our cold weather....they now sport a tan all year long lucky devils that they are!

There they are tan as can be with their grandson.

So, I am beginning to agree with Jan. Her and I are both amateur photographers and I am finding nothing, not one thing interesting these days to take pictures of. So since it is cold out with snow on the ground I am going to post a few pictures of warmer climates and bright colors.

A very colorful wild flower on our property last summer.

The beach on our favorite island in Mexico. We will be there again on February 22nd....can't wait! You can walk out for quite a way before it gets deep. The water is warm and a beautiful blue and the sand is absolutly white. Ummm I can feel it now between my toes. Our island (I say that like we own it......) is 1 mile wide by 6 miles long and each side and point is different. One side is windy and rocky, I can spend hours crawling on the rocks looking for shells and playing in the waves. The other side that faces Cancun is very calm but has sea grass in the water. The north tip is the beautiful beach and the south point is rocky and windy. The food on the island is great especially if you get off the beaten path into the colonials (where the people actually live). Isla M is an old fishing village that is slowly (much to our dismay) becoming more commercial. It was my mom's favorite spot to vacation with us. We have also gotten our neighbor and friend Jessica, my cousins Shelly and Sharon and my Aunt Etta and my son and his fiance Lenny and Kelly addicted to this little slice of heaven.

And an isla sunset.

This weekend we go back to the northland to work on the old floor of the cabin. We have hopefully not gotten broken into again. Although I dont know why anyone would - there is nothing left to take. If (and that is always a big if) the sun is shining I hope to take a drive or two and take some new pictures.

Life Slaps You In The Face

At my infusion appointment today I saw a lady from our town who had had breast cancer and gone through treatment a few years back. I had heard that it had recurred and today she was receiving treatment once again. She is around my age-perhaps a bit younger. I have no clue what type of breast cancer she had or if Herceptin was available and an option for her cancer...but boy seeing her there certainly gave me reason to pause.

Even though I am very positive and am sure I can beat this thing, once and a while it crops up that yes it could come back the devil that it is. Seeing her today certainly brought it right to a head. It's pretty damned scary. But I guess we never know, do we, about anything.

Having voiced that thought, I really don't think that it will come back (so don't be worried friends and family that I am going down that negative path) but I do know that it could and if it does we will deal with that too and it will be OK.

Jessica and her friend and Jean and I took the dogs to the off leash dog park in Kato this week to enjoy the wonderful weather. What a great place these off leash dog parks are. Look at Peeko's ears when he plays with Jack. They fly in the wind...

And then poor little Peeko gets cold (or sucks Jean into thinking he's cold).

What a baby...gotta love em!

Happy New Year To You All

I can hardly believe that it is already 2007! I need to wish Ryan and Jen (our son and daughter in-law) a happy anniversary. They were married 2 years ago last night. Happy anniversary you two.

Cabin update-David finished hanging the new ceilings in the spare bedroom and the kitchen/dinning rooms. Now all ceilings are complete. I stripped numerous layers of shellac off of the floor in the spare bedroom, cleaned it and it is now ready to be sanded. Our next trip up we will strip the floor in the kitchen/dinning room and get it ready to sand. After that David says the 'big work' is really done. We still have to get a boiler hooked up and water running in the cabin but he says that's not such a much.......whatever, he's the guy doing it not me!

SO, soon we will have a spare room for anyone that DARES to come visit us in the northland! I don't know, we've been broken into up there three times and were robbed once in Mexico.....do you see the black cloud? I am actually laughing, what else can you do but laugh?

No new news on recovering our stolen items although we did talk to a fella who goes by the name of Chopper White and is a tribal leader of some sort (I don't even pretend to understand how it all works on the reservation!). We were lead to Chopper by a resident of Longville. Chopper did say he would find out who broke in so we shall see how that pans out.

I did get a few good pictures of an eagle. This fella was in the same area two days in a row and he was kind enough to take flight for me when I whistled at him.

Here he is fluffing his wings ready to go.....it's pretty amazing how these huge birds can perch on the very tips of trees. Maybe even more amazing is me driving around on my own in the northland with my camera on my lap looking at the tree tops......and not going in the ditch...too funny!

And off he goes. I DID stop the car to take these pictures or I would have been in the ditch.

While it was raining at home we were getting snow in the northland. I love how it sits on the evergreens.

WTF

Yup I say WTF......we were hit again on Wednesday night. They came back for the air compressor......WTF anyway huh?

We have talked to the neighbors surrounding us and have suspicions about a few. It sounds like that because of the population around here the Cass County Sheriff's dept really doesn't do much of anything in cases like this. Drugs are very wide spread in the population and folks do not have the means in which to get their drugs (no one works) so they steal. Go figure huh?

Now I am angry, in fact I am GD mad. I no longer feel safe. When it gets dark I drive with the damned car doors locked. WTF.

Well it's snowing out today and it's beautiful. Perhaps the dogs and I can walk in the woods and get a few nice pictures........maybe then I will feel better.

To be continued.........

So the plan was

The day after Christmas David and I (and the dogs) headed for the northland in our separate vehicles at 6am. The sunrise was beautiful and we were so looking forward to getting back to our little piece of heaven.

The plan was that I would stop at the hotel to get us registered, David would go on up to the cabin to get the heat on and then come back to the hotel for lunch. As I was nearing the hotel something told me to continue on to the cabin rather than stop at the hotel first. I was ahead of David so got to our property first. As I neared the driveway a very large hawk or an eagle that was not yet matured (did not have a totally white head) was hovering at the end of the driveway and I thought, hummm that's strange. Well strange had only begun! When I turned in the first thing that I noticed was that our cable going across the drive was down. Driving up cautiously (I have learned to trust my instincts) I saw the door of the shed open but there were no tracks in the snow. I found that someone had broken into our shed and stole a number of things. One of them was my (yes mine not David's!!!!) 4-wheeler

OK so David's 4-wheeler is being stored at Lenny's which is why it didn't get taken...minor detail....

The most awful of all the things that were taken were the kitchen cabinets that David had lovingly built last winter for the cabin. Those make me want to cry.....or strangle whoever did this to us! Come to think of it I like strangle better!!

They also broke into the cabin through the front door taking tools and various items.

So rather than working on the cabin, yesterday was spent with the County Sheriff (who found footprints in the dirt in the shed, one pair seemingly a woman's as the boot was smooth on the bottom and foot very narrow with a heel-certainly not mine!) and then off to town to buy another saw so we can work today.

We are hoping that these people will be caught because they took our trailer (which is homemade and very recognizable) and of course the 4-wheeler should be able to be spotted. But then again perhaps not.

And so it goes.....

And a very nice Christmas it was

This was an odd year for David and me as his two kids (and their spouses) were not able to be home for the holidays and Lenny and Kelly flew to Michigan to spend time with her family for Christmas Eve.

Christmas Eve found David and myself on our own and off to Mistake (yes MISTAKE) Lake Casino. I did have a great time playing the 2 and 5 cent machines and played a long time on my $40. David, he didn't do so well. You know, I don't know why I thought that perhaps Mom would bring me some luck from above (she was the lucky one at the casinos) because when she was alive and we would go.......sitting right next to her I would get nothing and she would hit it big. That lucky streak ran right past me and went to Lenny dang it!

Christmas Day was family day and it was nice. David's mom and sis, Lenny and Kelly and my pop were able to be at our house. We had the traditional ham (David's mom makes me ham every year because I love it and it is the only time that I get it) but this year I made something other than turkey. I did a beef loin in the oven and it was fabulous. The day was relaxing and full of good food and family.

I hope your day was enjoyable as well.

How Lucky I was

December 24th 2001
Just 5 short years ago, if you were dignosed as HER2+, your oncologist would tell you "your cancer is aggresive and your prognosis is poor". If you were stage I to III, you had to wait for a recurrence before he would give you Herceptin. There was a myth that it caused heart attacks. In 2001, if you were diagnosed with brain mets, your survival was measured in months. There was very little information on HER2, Herceptin, or metastatic breast cancer on the internet.Today, thanks to dedicated researchers we have turned the corner. Women who are HER2 positive now have a better prognosis than those that aren't. Tykerb another targeted therapy drug should be approved by the FDA in February. Great strides in HER2 vaccines are being made at Walter-Reed Medical Center and at the University of Washington. There are many new compounds in the laboratory ready to enter Phase I trials.

The above was posted on one of the message boards that I frequent. It is amazing how far the treatment of my type of breast cancer has come. I am HER2+ as well at Estrogen and Progesterone positive. After I had my mastectomy my surgeon told us that I was both lucky and unlucky. Unlucky because I had one of the most aggressive cancers but lucky because new treatments, very good treatments, had just been developed. I am currently receiving the Herceptin that they talk about in the above.

Yet another reason to be thankful.

I am not crazy

Last night was the chemo brain web conference. Both David and I listened to it. Featured was an oncologist and a breast cancer survivor (who also suffers from chemo brain).

Most oncologists do not recognize this as a symptom of chemotherapy and I have quit talking about it to mine as he does not recognize it either. I do not fault him for it, it just is not a widely studied thing as of yet. However, the featured onc during last night's presentation is doing PET scans of the brain in patients who have received chemotherapy which do in fact show differences in the brains metabolism as people are going through chemo. It is like having a MUGA test done periodically (that is the test I get to see if my heart is functioning OK during treatment). If this becomes a standard practice, you can get a baseline PET scan and periodic scans during treatment. If your scan shows changes you could forseeably (is that a word???) choose an alternate treatment OR at least feel better in that yes you are suffering from chemo brain.

I need to tell you that tears ran down my face while listening to this conference...SERIOUSLY. I know and David knows that I am just not right but it has not been recognized by the medical profession. The cancer is gone, I am through the hardest of the treatments and therefore I should be back to my old self.....NOT.

What I feel is I would guess like someone who has a brain injury may feel (forgetfulness etc) or someone who has had a stroke may feel (know what you want to say but the words don't come etc) or someone who has alzheimers may feel (I did not put that there I KNOW I didn't put it there but yes I did!). I used to multi task, was a fabulous multi tasker and did my job very very well...plus kept up the house. Now I cannot even imagine learning a new job skill. Most ads talk about being able to work in a fast paced environment. To even think about it overwhelms me, I wonder how in the hell I could do it! That's what scares me the most. At home David and I laugh about it (once again thank goodness for understanding husbands) but in any other environment I just don't know.

Now I also am aware that my age and the fact that I am in menopause does not help these symptoms. And I am thankful for the chemotherapy, would not have done anything differently. I just feel relieved in knowing that SOMEONE in the medical field, and an oncologist at that, is recognizing this symptom.

Stats show that about 10-80 percent of the people suffer from chemo brain. AND, the worst cases seem to be those of us with breast cancer because of the specific chemo cocktails that we get (AC-Taxol then Tamox and Herceptin or drugs of the same sort). Some get better totally, some recover partially and others do not, they suffer with it always. After last night's web cast David said we will make quite a pair in the northland, one with chemo brain and the other with Alzheimers lost in the woods. But we wont care...kids just come visit us once and a while will you????

If you are interested at all in listening to the webcast (it is an hour long) you can do so my clicking on the link that I provided in a previous post, they will replay it.

So again, just having this acknowledged is a large help to me, I am tearing up as I type...frigging cancer anyway damn it to hell!!!!!!!!!! (Hey I think that's healthy isn't it to get angry once and awhile???)

Gotta close with something pretty. The beautiful wild flowers on our property up north.



Love ya all and Happy Holidays.

I Own IT-IT Does Not Own Me

It being of course breast cancer. Way in the beginning I decided that this beast was not going to own me, control me. I am taking charge.

So, since I happen to own it I can do whatever I want with it right? Well this year I decided that I would decorate my tree with the pink ribbons that signify breast cancer, frosted balls, white lights and a bit of tinsel. I think it's quite nice and sort of fun. What do you think Lenny, is it better than the ones that I have had that YOU say look like I rolled them down a hillside? For a few years I would go into the fields and woods collecting weeds to decorate my tree with. Apparently Lenny didn't see the beauty in those trees...haha.

The first picture shows the top of the tree. Under the angle is a BC ribbon ornament that
Kelly S gave me last year and was the inspiration for the tree this year.

And the full tree

And the tree at night

Thanks to my neighbor Chrissy for helping me string the lights. David used to do this for me (I hate it and I suck at it) but he quit on me dang it! You know there is a knack to it, one that I learned this year and it looks oh so much better. You don't just go around and around the tree you go from the inside of each branch to the outside of each one (or almost each one)! 50 years old and just learning how to put lights on a Christmas tree!!!!

Happy Holidays to all of my friends and family.

And oh I have to say happy 21st birthday to Krystin G, my cousin Shelly's daughter, happy birthday to you.

Day three-the Grand Canyon

The weather was cool so we weren't able to hike down into the canyon like we had wanted to....next time. This place is too beautiful to describe, pictures will have to do.

It's always an adventure when with my husband!

As we had our own private tour guide (Melvin) we were able to see sights and learn a few tid bits that we would not otherwise have learned. On our second day we drove through a canyon, Canyon Dechelly. Most people drive around the upper rim and look down, not us, we drove through the canyon. David had upgraded our rental from a little 4 banger car to a Jeep Larado with 4 wheel drive and it was a good thing as the terrain was interesting in the canyon. This is a view of just a few of the 'gullies' that we drove through.

And the only wildlife that we saw in the canyon...man this was a big bull!

And our veiw as we drove through the canyon, quite impressive.

Years ago, our private guide tells us, the Anasazi (meaning the ancient ones) people lived in this canyon. Below is a picture of the communities that they lived in. These shelters are high up in the mountainside and one wonders how building them was possible.

They also told stories with these hieroglyphics. Again, these are written high up on the mountainsides!

And a picture of a ceremonial hut that the native americans use. It is called a Hogan and the doors always face east.

Now with so much to look at one can understand why our driver.....David.....has a difficult time keeping his eye on the path. While driving out of the canyon (thank goodness we were driving out not in!) we all were tossed around in the Jeep because David had hit something and hit it good. He had hit a very large stump with the left front tire.... damaging the rim and flattened the tire. Now remember we are in a canyon, cell phone service is non existant. Thank goodness we were close to coming out of the canyon and close to a town. David and Melvin got the tire changed and the rim banged back to almost normal and Rachel and I laughed for a good long time. I had to get a picture of the only injury that was incurred. David was bounced around so hard that he hit the top of his head on the roof of the Jeep...see the red mark?

After our canyon tour we were invited to Melvin's mom's for a traditional native american meal of mutton stew, bread (which was like our pita bread), steamed vegetables and mush. The meal was fabulous and Melvin's mom is a great host. Melvin's family works very hard at holding onto the old ways. He and his mom speak to each other in their native dialect, Melvin has built a sweat lodge and they have a ceremonial lodge (a Hogan). It is a very peaceful place.

BUT, getting to her house was no picnic. It seems that we brought the Minnesota weather with us as the day started out sunny, it then began to rain, then sleet and finally snow.

The storm as it made it's way towards us.

And the snow as it came down.

And last but not least, a cool looking tree with it's knarled trunk that Melvin spotted.