• About
  • Contact
  • Lloyd Baker,  Centenarian Surveyor and Singer
  • Profile

Life in the Loony Lane

~ Getting through life one chuckle at a time.

Life in the Loony Lane

Category Archives: Blog

Goodbye, Beautiful Fall

29 Saturday Oct 2022

Posted by June in Blog, Events, Nature, nostalgia, Places, Wyoming

≈ Leave a comment

We were gifted with an absolutely gorgeous fall this year – and it didn’t seem to want to go away, which was fine with us.  The pumpkin patches were beautiful, combined with an array of colorful and oddly shaped squash, delicious apples, corn shocks, and fields of bailed hay – always very photogenic.  I am a sucker for old wooden wagons, antique tractors, and hayrides to complete the picture. 

But it is winter now, 14 degrees last night with snow on the ground.  We have everything as ready as it can be for the four feet (or more) of snow that comes our way and keeps us company until July.  Well, maybe not quite that long.

For those of you that love playing in the snow, this may be a good winter for it, if the predictions I’ve read are accurate.  I’ll just take pictures of it.

TELL YOUR FRIENDS – JOG WITH MY BLOG!

© Copyright 2013 Life in the Loony Lane | June Johnston. All Rights Reserved
Powered by WordPress

Advertisement

It’ll Be Easy, They Said

22 Saturday Oct 2022

Posted by June in Blog, Events, Humor, Places, technology

≈ Leave a comment

Change your cell service, they said.  It’ll be easy, they said.  

I didn’t want to change cell service, but I had no choice.  Old people like me prefer not to change much of anything!  I have a natural aversion to big companies, but I wound up with one!  We all thought everything was just ducky since it was all working.  Then I got an email telling me to get my service changed.

I told them I already had, two weeks ago. Upon checking they determined that my number had not been ported- out, or not ported- out properly – I was never sure which.  So – they did it and that’s when everything became not so easy!

Nothing would work!!  Nothing. 

All kinds of things were going on behind the scenes between three entities and I kept checking with them.  Nothing was getting any better.  More weeks passed with the email messages continuing,  telling me I needed to get it changed. Everyone was trying, but nothing was working.  Two more port-out attempts were made before they said, “You are completely out of our system now.”   Two days later I got another email telling me to git-r-dun.  Sigh. Still – nothing was working.

Continue reading →

Flutes, Woodpeckers, and Bob

04 Friday Jan 2019

Posted by June in Blog, Flutes, Humor, Music, Places, Senior Citizens, Wyoming

≈ Leave a comment

img_1559

 My husband has decided that he wants to learn to play the flute.   I feel fortunate that he chose a relatively quiet instrument.  During early marriage, he decided to learn the guitar, but was too busy with work and family so gave that up.  Now in “later marriage” we’re back to learning music again.  Thank goodness he has his man cave.  I can close the door.  Maybe lock it if need be! Continue reading →

Lloyd Baker, Centenarian Surveyor and Singer

28 Saturday Jul 2018

Posted by June in Blog, Events, History, Humor, Places, Senior Citizens, Wyoming

≈ Leave a comment

Born in Afton, Wyoming in 1911, he was raised on a farm south of Etna and graduated from the University of Wyoming in 1940 with a degree in civil engineering.

With very primitive tools, Lloyd performed his first survey in Cokeville, Wyoming, about 75 miles down the road from Etna, the town he settled in when he “came home.” The loop within those few miles took him from coast to coast working as a surveyor.IMG_9727 Lloyd Baker age 106

Wyoming was calling him home, however, and he returned to Etna in 1974.  After obtaining his license, he established Lloyd B. Baker and Associates which continues to this day, now with  Astech GPS, Traverse PC, and Visual Cadd software.  He told me he could find any point he needs to on his 4-wheeler with tracks, under the four feet of snow we usually get during the winters. Lloyd continued working until past the age of 106.  He said he didn’t see any reason not to!

Baker loved to dance and especially loved to sing.  He entertained at two rest homes in the valley on Sunday evenings. He could still mostly remember fifty songs.  One of those, “A Nest, The West, and You, Dear,” he sang for me, which was a delight. 

Cheyenne Frontier Days was a highlight for him this past summer.  It was the first time he had attended and had the delightful privilege of being photographed with ten beautiful Rodeo Queens! 

Lloyd had always been an advocate of taking care of your body.  He believed our bodies were meant to last a thousand years and if we give it what it needs for nourishment and don’t give it junk that is not nourishing, we’ll be fine.  He relayed to me that he had arthritis once but it was interfering with his work, so he quit drinking milk, starting using real butter instead of margarine (which he feels is plastic) and stopped taking his vitamins.  It wasn’t long before he felt fine.  Lloyd ate a little meat, had a bit of “sweets” after each meal – always carried Peanut M & M’s in his pocket,  consumed no chlorinated or fluoridated water, no bleached flour in anything, and was a believer that proper elimination is a must.  He also used no soap.

Lloyd had five children,  17 grandchildren, over 40 great grandchildren, a couple of great, great,-grandchildren. 

The last time I saw him I asked, “ What are some of the benefits of being a 107?” He quickly replied, “Everyone treats you better.  After 100 you get treated a lot better.”

Lloyd left us on July 9th, 2018.  He’s probably already surveying the heavenly clouds!

TELL YOUR FRIENDS – JOG WITH MY BLOG!

© Copyright 2013 Life in the Loony Lane | June Johnston. All Rights Reserved
Powered by WordPress

Speaking of Love

08 Thursday Feb 2018

Posted by June in Blog, Events, flowers, Food, Humor, Love, Places, Valentine's Day

≈ 2 Comments

IMG_1319

February is the month when you will find the florist’s shops overflowing with roses.  Floriography was a method used by Victorians to send messages to others without uttering a word – thus the roses became symbolic of love, especially for Valentine’s Day.

There are several other flowers or plants that suggest love as well.  Lovegrass is a very beautiful perennial with ornamental, wispy plumes. Its Greek name is eragrostis:  eros meaning love and agrostis meaning grass.   It’s also used as fodder for livestock. Continue reading →

Fly, Turkey, Fly!

22 Wednesday Nov 2017

Posted by June in Blog, Events, Food, Humor, Places, Thanksgiving Day, Wyoming

≈ Leave a comment

The first Thanksgiving in this country has many variations including what was for dinner. (Hint: it wasn’t beef.) They had whatever they could get their hands on which included different kinds of birds, deer, and crops they had grown. The cornucopia, also called the horn-of-plenty, is a symbol of those crops.
The origin of the turkey as the preferred bird for the meal is also debatable but the story I like best is that in the 1950’s the Saturday Evening Post ran a Thanksgiving cover (painted by Norman Rockwell) of a family around the dinner table with a scrumptious turkey as the main dish. It caught on like wildfire!
We all strive for the perfect
Continue reading →

Sunday Morning Breakfast

27 Friday Oct 2017

Posted by June in Blog, Events, Food, Places, Restaurants, Wyoming

≈ Leave a comment

Sunday Morning Breakfast.

I love small towns!  It’s just that simple.

We have been blessed to go to breakfast with some very special friends on Sunday mornings at Tootsie’s in Thayne, Wyoming for several years now and I am ever more aware of just what a gift that is.   They are wonderful people.

I also enjoy the camaraderie of the other breakfast guests in the restaurant.  Friends may wave at each other across the room, call out a greeting, or just smile – but it’s special.  Some may stop for a minute Continue reading →

Crazy Woman Creek – The Story of a Heartbroken Woman

20 Wednesday Sep 2017

Posted by June in Blog, Events, History, Nature, Places, Wyoming

≈ Leave a comment

Twelve miles from Buffalo, Wyoming, you can step back in time and feel the presence of a woman gone mad.  Wyoming has never been an easy place to live – you have to really want to be here, but at the beginning – when this wonderful chunk of real estate was not yet a territory – things were much more difficult. 

There are a number of stories as to how the name Crazy Woman Creek, Crazy Woman Canyon, and Crazy Woman Battlefield, came to be – the name alone conjures up visions of horror

One of the most valid stories seems to be that during the era when whites traded Indians for their furs, a misunderstanding led to some Indians scalping a white man right in front of his bride (also white). Her blood-curdling cry was so horrifying that the Indians were afraid of harming her.

She, no doubt, had the same dream most of us have – a future- with her husband, children, a warm, loving home, only to have it shattered right in front of her eyes.  In a split-second, all of that was taken from her.

She wandered the hills alone the rest of her life, never finding her sanity again.  Often she was sighted and fed by various mountain men, only to disappear once more.  One kindly gentleman built her a cabin and she was eventually found dead there, apparently of starvation, years later. 

If you listen carefully, while winding your way through that hauntingly beautiful canyon, you may hear the maniacal cry of a distraught, heart-broken woman.  The wind gently whispers its sad secrets as the creek ripples through the canyon, leaving history in its droplets. Such tragedy in the shadow of the beautiful Big Horn Mountains is beyond sad.

TELL YOUR FRIENDS – JOG WITH MY BLOG!

© Copyright 2013 Life in the Loony Lane | June Johnston. All Rights Reserved
Powered by WordPress

Our Beautiful Grey’s River

15 Tuesday Aug 2017

Posted by June in Blog, History, Nature, Places, Wyoming

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Blog, family, flowers, History, Nature, Places, Recreation, United States

We went road-tripping’ into the  Greys River area this past Sunday.  It is such a beautiful forest.   Lot’s of nice camping spots for tents and RVs alike.  It’s known as the river with a road beside it.

IMG_9911 Greys RIver

At Alpine, a nearby town, there is a huge, beautiful lake known as the Palisades, where the convergence of Salt River, Snake river, and Grey’s flow into it.   The gorgeous Snake River Canyon goes up to Jackson Hole on the east, and northwest the highway will take you to Idaho.

John Grey, AKA, Ignace Hatchiorauguasha, a very well educated half- Iroquois, was responsible for breaking Britain’s hold on the fur trade which led to the acquisition of the Oregon Territory for America.  The river was named after him.

IMG_9874 Flowers Greys

The Greys River is about 62 miles long and starts high up in the Wyoming Range, 45 miles south of Alpine.  It is a beautiful, rushing stream that separates the Wyoming Range from the Salt River Range on the west.  If you ever have the opportunity to camp along that river you will love it.

IMG_9905 River grasses Greys

It is considered one of the best playgrounds in the area, offering superb trout fishing, canoeing, rafting, kayaking, hiking, horseback riding, and of course, abundant deer and elk for the hunters.

 

IMG_9940 Greys RIver sign - Copy jpg for blog

This post shows just a few of the abundant wildflowers in the mountain valley.  What could be better than being surrounded by mountains, some about 11,000 feet, a wonderful mountain stream, and the serenity that only that scenario can provide?

IMG_9938 FLowers on the Greys

However – if I were camping in a tent, I might choose to sleep in my car, lest an unfriendly bear pays me a visit!

 

TELL YOUR FRIENDS – JOG WITH MY BLOG!

© Copyright 2013 Life in the Loony Lane | June Johnston. All Rights Reserved
Powered by WordPress

The Magic of A Wyoming Morning

30 Sunday Jul 2017

Posted by June in Animals, Birds, Blog, Dawn, Events, Nature, Places, Poetry, SAunrise

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Poetry

 Warmth of the coffee mug clutched tightly in my hands

Contrasts sharply with the chill of the early morning.

Three deer meander through our yard, munching, carefree.

They look my way and go on about their business.

My love joins me.

Together we look across this beloved part of our world Continue reading →

← Older posts

Archives

  • October 2022
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • June 2019
  • January 2019
  • July 2018
  • February 2018
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • February 2016
  • December 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013

Blogs I Follow

  • reddirtinmysoul.com/
  • The Humor Column
  • The Write Spot Blog by Marlene Cullen
  • Haderlie Farms
  • Humor Columnist Blog
  • Life in the Loony Lane
  • Cooking Without Limits
  • Life in the Marsh
  • BREVITY's Nonfiction Blog
  • Wolff Poetry Literary Magazine
  • Aerogramme Writers' Studio
  • First 50 Words - Prompts for Writing Practice
  • Storyshucker
  • Fiesta Friday
  • Boomerrantz
  • Getting the Picture
  • Barb Taub
  • Charlotte Hoather
  • Bean Soup & Pretzels!

Categories

  • American Flag
  • Animals
  • Birds
  • Blog
  • Dawn
  • Events
  • events
  • flowers
  • Flutes
  • Food
  • History
  • history
  • Humor
  • Jackson Hole Wyoming
  • Links
  • Love
  • Music
  • Nature
  • nostalgia
  • Patriotic
  • Pets
  • Places
  • Poetry
  • Quotes
  • Recipes
  • Restaurants
  • SAunrise
  • Senior Citizens
  • Senior Citizens
  • Snow
  • technology
  • Tetons
  • Thanksgiving Day
  • Valentine's Day
  • Veterans Day
  • Weather
  • Wild horses
  • Winter
  • Wyoming
  • Yellowstone Nat'l Park

Recent Posts

  • Goodbye, Beautiful Fall
  • It’ll Be Easy, They Said
  • Ghosts of Eldo Past
  • Happy New Year, Everyone!
  • Santa’s Sad Saga

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 61 other subscribers

Blogroll

  • America's Test Kitchen
  • Andie Duncan
  • Barb Taub
  • Country Girl
  • Geezer Guff
  • Holistic Health Care
  • http://butterflysand.com/about/
  • Leanne Cole
  • Ree Drummond Pioneer Woman

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 61 other subscribers

Blog at WordPress.com.

reddirtinmysoul.com/

The Humor Column

by Scott Sevener

The Write Spot Blog by Marlene Cullen

Just Write

Haderlie Farms

Farming at 6000 ft in the mountains of Wyoming and loving it...

Humor Columnist Blog

Sheila Moss writing about the funny things in life that happen to everyone

Life in the Loony Lane

Getting through life one chuckle at a time.

Cooking Without Limits

Food Photography & Recipes

Life in the Marsh

Wife. Mother. Everyday Me.

BREVITY's Nonfiction Blog

Daily Discussions of craft and the writing life

Wolff Poetry Literary Magazine

A Poet's Place | Wolff Poetry Literary Magazine is Publishing Poetry Submitted by Published & Emerging Writers,

Aerogramme Writers' Studio

Books and Writing | News and Resources

First 50 Words - Prompts for Writing Practice

Write the first 50 words of YOUR story in a comment.

Storyshucker

A blog full of humorous and poignant observations.

Fiesta Friday

Food + Friends = Fun

Boomerrantz

Getting the Picture

A pictorial record of life as I see it.

Barb Taub

Writing & Coffee. Especially coffee.

Charlotte Hoather

Soprano

Bean Soup & Pretzels!

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • Life in the Loony Lane
    • Join 61 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Life in the Loony Lane
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...