WY before WA

 I rolled into Riverton at about 9pm on Sunday night.  My plan was to get my to-do list done before I headed to WA on Saturday to see my older sister and bro-in-law.  What was my to-do list, you ask?  Well: 1) change title on stink bug and register it in WY, 2) sign up for Covid vaccination (got the 1st shot), 3) do my 2020 taxes, 4) get phone plan/new #, and 5) go thru clothes and see what I have anymore.  I accomplished 3 of these 5 things - I'm waiting on paperwork for the stink bug and it's too damn cold to be in the garage going thru stuff.  I learned that my Korean phone won't work on the American network, so I had to get a new one and dadgumit... I like the fool thing.  It's way easier to manage than my last one.  I did get another Samsung and I appreciated how everything was easily transferred over.  

This was part of the view in KS - I'm not sure what was making the cloud/smoke look like that, but it was pretty cool.

Now that's a lot of smoke.  Hope everything was OK there as well.  It was beautiful and warm all the way through OK and KS, though it was quite windy the whole time.  Then I got to WY.

Those of you who are familiar with this state will know that the side of the hill/mountain that gets the sun will lose it's snow first.  You'll also know that snow sticks around well into May.  Well... it also comes back.

I just really liked this pic.

Getting home, I finally was able to see all the packages that I'd had sent to Mom's house.  I may have had a bit of a sickness... an ordering online sickness.  The box is my cats that E sent from Korea - he put them in a vacuum bag, so that's why they fit.  Hehe.

My stuff.  Lots of music, T-shirts, jewelry, and you can see Ford's squished face up at the top.

This is Levi.  He was my helper when I was opening all the packages and then he seemed REALLY protective of Atreyu.  He's super sweet and the first of my mom's cats to think that I was ok.  In fact, he loved me right away.  

Remember how I said the snow comes back?  Well on Monday this was my view on the way to Lander to try to register the car.  

I usually love coming down this road in the summer - it's beautiful... that day it was just snowy.  Good news is that the roads weren't bad and I never needed to turn on the Stink Bug's 4-wheel drive. 

This is Lucy, she was the 2nd of Mom's cats to warm up to me.  Trampus has also now decided that I'm ok.  The only hold out is Chevy, who seems to think that all I'm good for is opening the door for him when he wants to go out.  I'm gonna put "cat concierge" on my resume.

  

At first, it was just a light dusting of snow... 

...then it got a little more serious... 

... and now after it hasn't stopped for over 24 hours, it's REALLY snowy.  The funny thing is that it's not bitterly cold out.  The roads are ok but slushy.  I did have to use the rake outside to clear enough snow off my car to not be a hazard when I went to the store.  This is wet, heavy, soak-into-the-ground snow, which to be honest is really needed around here as the snowpack on the mountains is usually all the moisture we can get during the summer.  

Speaking of going to the store, I have a problem... every time I go, I come back with more snack-type foods.  Peanut butter filled pretzels, apples, sour cream and onion toasted ritz chips, vegetable chips, and recently Cheez-it's snap'd.  SO I'd say that I really missed having familiar snacks around.  I had to stop myself over and over today from getting more snack foods since I'm heading to WA soon.  The last thing I need to do is overwhelm Mom with my snacks!  Hehe... I also need to do take an inventory of what she already has because we don't need 2 of everything, either.  Anyway, it's been nice being back and being able to chat with people at the grocery store and such.  I always have to laugh when they ask where I came from because it's always the same - originally here, but I've been around a lot.  Speaking of such things, I was telling Mom about a conversation that Todd and I had had about things that would make us happy and one of them was "where would you be happy buying a house and settling down?"  I eventually laughed and said I'd rather buy an RV so that I could go and bug people without being an inconvenience.  Mom started laughing and said I've always been that way because when I was young we were in a 5th wheel trailer while Dad was working as a boiler maker.  Apparently we came home to the 'big house' and I asked when we were going 'home' - to the 5th wheel.  When we did go back, Mom said I said "Ah, this is home."  Mom thought I was nuts - 5 people in a 5th wheel is a little crowded, apparently.  Just goes to show, once a gypsy always a gypsy.  Oh and apparently a guy at Mom's job thinks I'm a "total babe" which made me laugh.  

Anyway, I'm heading to WA on Friday since most of the snow and nasties should be gone by then.  On my way back I'm either going to swing down thru SLC or swing north thru MT, depending on the weather.  I haven't seen much of MT, so I think that could be fun.  Also, I applied for a job at a liquor store down the street, which could be fun.  Something to do while I study and figure out what's next.  Gotta keep the bank account happy, you know what I'm saying?  Also, having a US W-2 next year is going to be AWESOME.  For those who are wondering - Turbo Tax is the way to go.  The tax forms for me this year look SO much more understandable than last year.  Not that I made enough for the gov to want their cut anyway.  

So that's what has been going on.  I'll be in WA for about a week or so, then I'll be back and seeing about getting that job.  Love to all, hope you are doing well, and stay warm... or cool, whichever is appropriate for you. :D