Wet Wednesday

I woke up this morning to a beautful rain and a very wet world. The rain made all the fall colors more intense. It snowed a little bit, and maybe we will get some more tonight that will stick.



This is my old lantern that I am putting in a painting, but wanted a picture of it in natural light with some wood in the background, because I wasn't sure what to do with the glass.

Would you believe I searched this house all over before I could find a nail so I could hang it on my front porch? Since I got the picture taken, I have remember a couple more places where there are nails, like in a coffee can in the garage. Geez! Everybody has nails, don't they (and duct tape and WD40?)





The crowds have certainly thinned out in Yellowstone. This was the web cam at Old Faithful about 7:00 tonight. It always seems to get dark here sooner than it does at Old Faithful.

I worked on my cat painting in art group today, but didn't get much done. I really need to practice painting animal hair on scrap paper before I attempt to do it for real.

Dog gone bad

This is the colored pencil drawing of "Snickers" I have been working on, but something went terribly wrong with her mouth. I don't know if it can be fixed or not. Colored pencils are very unforgiving.

Just a couple of photos of my yard and the hillside, showing the fall colors. The leaves are coming down thick today, and it is distracting. On the other hand, maybe I'll just watch them and not do anything else!!

Tried to print some new cards today on the new paper. It isn't working! The other cards were two to a page, on a regular 8 1/2 x 11 inch piece of paper. They were easy to run through the printer. These new ones should be easy - one card to a page, and the paper is 5 1/2 x 8 1/2. But I can't get my printers set up right to work with Microsoft Publisher templates for cards. Guess I will have to design my own template.

Monday

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Tracy sent me this picture she took yesterday of a bird sitting on their deck. She thought it was an immature Golden Eagle. I don't know if that's what it is or if it is a hawk of some kind. I think the board it is sitting on is a 2" x 6" - so is it big enough to be an eagle? Does anyone else know what it is?



I'm not sure if I ever posted a picture of the view from Paul and Tracy's deck in Colorado. This is three photos "stitched" together. I think if I lived there, I would sit and stare out the glass doors all day!

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I had planned on finishing a drawing today, but somehow never got in the mood for it. Instead, I did some kitchen/dishwasher stuff, some garbage out of the basement and refrigerator, did some laundry, and my favorite of all jobs, cleaned the cat's litter box.

Barrie got all the meat from the locker plant cooked up and put away - in her freezer, I assume. We will go again next Sunday for another load. She said all the cats showed up at the garage door while she was cooking.

Meat and Groceries

The Locker Plant in Jackson

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Barrie and I went to Jackson today to get wild game meat scraps from the locker plant. She brought home about 8 five gallon buckets full of scraps. Lots of meat. She has a big gas cooker with her 40 gallon pot in the garage, and is cooking it right now. I can smell it upstairs. It's not a bad smell, but is not making me hungry!

We went to Smith's before we got the meat, and I bought a bunch of groceries. I still like to get meat at Specialty Meats, but I did buy some in Jackson today. Anything to keep from having to go to Ridley"s!

Jackson was a madhouse. We were going to eat lunch some place nice - one place was closed, and there were absolutely no places to park anywhere near Bubba's, Wendy's, and The Virginian. We ended up at the Dairy Queen on the south side of town. Not a bad lunch, but fast food is fast food.

The trees driving through the Hoback were beautiful, especially around The Rim. But I didn't even take any pictures.

Cleaning, organizing, sorting, finishing some projects and trashing some! Today I worked in my studio reorganizing and sorthing things. I put clean plastic on the top of the watercolor table, and put things away that have been cluttering the place up. A nice feeling. I think I finished the old cabin that needed some work on it, and maybe finished a painting of my cat.

i went through the pile of reference photos I had on the art table, and shoved a lot of them into the drawer with the big file. Now I have to go through all those photos, and I know I will be throwing a bunch of them out.

I could not find my addresses file on my computers - none of them, including the laptop Barrie uses. I dragged out my old laptop that we don't use any more, and found the file on it. Yeah! I don't know why it didn't get moved with all the other documents.

Pink Sky

I am still thinking about the beautiful early morning skies, and took a break from cleaning today and painted this. I was happy with the sky color, but shouldn't have put so much dark grey on the left side. I think I will try more of these.

Plein Air Painting

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Kelly Park

Plein Air Painting

The Artist at Work



Potty Training, Wyoming Style

Barrie and Kasey and I drove up to Elkheart Park this afternoon. The fall colors were beautiful, but there are so many beetle killed trees that it is sad. We stopped at Kelly Park for Kasey and me to do some plein air painting.

Kasey really enjoyed painting outside, and loved her new set of watercolors. She used black a lot - I don't use black, so she thought that was pretty neat.

I am a lousy plein air artist - I just ended up with a mess, but it is still fun.

Had a "skunk alarm" go off about 8:00 last night. Jarvi and Shorty started barking in the back yard, and we immediately got the strong odor. Brought the dogs in, and smelled it a while, but it seems to be clear now, so I guess the dogs didn't get sprayed.

Thursday

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This is a drawing I did some time ago on dark grey paper with graphite and probably a white pastel pencil. I've always liked it, and don't know why I've never photographed it before. I don't always have good luck saving the whites in my watercolors, so colored paper and white pencils are really nice to use.

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I hope Barrie and I can get our act together this afternoon. We haven't yet taken our drive up Skyline. Hopefully, this afternoon. Kasey went to the doctor this morning with another ear infection. She is on allergy medicine now for a while. She doesn't feel bad, and she now has her own watercolors to take out for plein air painting. Should be fun!

I ruined the watercolor greeting card I started on yesterday. I saved the back of the card for a small painting and threw the rest away.

Early this morning (and most mornings), the sky was a beautiful golden-peach color. Instead of finishing something I have already started, I have begun a new one trying to show the early morning sky. I think I got the color pretty close, maybe not quite bright enough. Now I have to put something on the horizon and the foreground.

Judi and Lenore both bought a packet of my greeting cards yesterday. That gave me a good feeling. But if I am going to keep making them, I need to make some plans on marketing them. I'm not good at that sort of thing.

Wednesday

More Dots

I finished this pen and ink of some antelope last night. I used two different size pen points on it. They are both very fine, but there is a noticeable difference.

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Judi and Rollie just took a trip to Faming Gorge, and she asked me to post the photos I had from there. They are old photos, scanned from some slides. Chuck was spawning salmon on a creek at the reservoir, we think it was probably Sheep Creek. I know I took a lot of photos, but evidently didn't save them all.

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I am convinced that my cat is "special". I sat on the front porch a while this afternoon, and "Chloe" visited me. She is one of the old cats I had spayed. She is quite friendly and rubbed on me and wanted to be petted. When I came in, my eyes were itching, and I was sneezing. But my cat doesn't bother me !very much She sleeps in my chairs and on my bed, and I do OK with her hair, as long as I don't rub my eyes. I at one time really thought I might be outgrowing the allergy, but I guess not.

I had hung a suet cake in the pine tree in the front yard. Some magpies discovered it and cleaned it up in no time. I put a new cake in it today and hung it at my upstairs window. Maybe the magpies won't bother it there.

Tuesday

Camping on Casper Mountain

Barrie, Kasey and Emily had a wonderful camping trip to Casper Mountain. Here is the pickup and horse trailer, and the four-wheeler she used to run the dogs on the trails up there. She didn't even put the tent up - she and Emily slept on the ground, and Kasey reclined in her car seat at night, and for her naps in the afternoon. The other mushers there all had Siberian Huskies - Barrie had the only Alaskans.

This a happy camper - lots of chocolate ice cream, lots of dirt, and playing with some puppies.

On the way home

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I printed some more cards today and ruined five of them because the printer was running low on ink and the colors didn't print accurately. I wasn't watching closely enough.

Barrie is picking Kasey up about 4:00 today and we plan on driving up Skyline Drive. Should be a beautiful drive.

laundry?

I decided I would do my laundry today. I had let it go a long time, and really had too much for one load. But I put it all in at once anyway. Too full! The soap didn't dissolve, and I had a mess. I ended up having to take it out wet, and wash it again, making two loads instead of one. It is all in the dryer now, and will probably take forever to dry.

That's the kind of thing a young college kid away from home for the first time would do.

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I finally finished my second artists' trading card this morning.

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How about another humorous photo of the day? I liked this one.

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It rained some time during the night. It's a beautiful day today, and I might drive up Skyline or somewhere.

more pen and ink

I have been putting some more work on this pen and ink - added a few million more dots and made the background a little darker.

An Experiment - two prints stitched together

Tracy has a vaulted ceiling in her living room, and high wall space where the living room opens up into the dining room. She has talked about putting a shelf up there, but I think she has given up on that. Now she thinks she would like a large, very long painting. I certainly can't paint anything like that, but am curious what could be done. I wonder if a drawing like this could be "stitched together" and if some company could reproduce it onto canvas or paper.

I have never looked into doing something like this, and have no idea what it would cost or the quality of the image.

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I got three more packets of greeting cards done today. I have not given up on painting some watercolor cards that don't end up in the trash.

I'm almost finished with the book of Stephen King short stories. I have several new books waiting for me to get to them. And Tracy forgot to bring some books she had planned to bring to me, and said she was going to mail them. Wooo Hooo! I love having a bunch of new books waiting for me!

Friday

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Another "Funny Picture of the Day from my Google homepage.

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This is what remains of a pencil drawing I started quite a while ago. The mother was in the drawing, and I just wasn't happy with her. So I erased her as much as I could, and cropped the drawing so only the fawns were left. It's about 5 x 7, and I'm not sure it was worth saving.

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This pup is still on Barrie's race team. I named her "Possum", but Barrie has long since renamed her Tulip. I'm not sure how old she is now - about 10, I think.

Barrie and Kasey left this morning with about 20 dogs to go to a sled dog symposium/campout on Casper Mountain for the weekend. A high school girl from Big Piney is going with her. This girl is very interested in sled dogs, and Barrie has given her a couple of dogs. I wonder how Kasey will do sleeping on the ground in a tent? I bet she will love it.

I have been printing out more greeting cards, and have them in plastic envelopes in sets of eight. I still don't know what I will do with them, but I bet a lot of relatives get them for Christmas!

Wednesday

Humorous Picture of the Day

On my Google Page, I get a daily Fun Picture of the Day, This was on a few days ago, and I thought I would share it.

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Kasey thought she might like to sleep with her dogs. She has a fun Mom, but not that fun. She slept in her own bed!

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About the old picture I posted - Rollie thinks they are coyotes, and they probably are. I did a little research on early Nebraska coyote and wolf hunts, and found this interesting article:

Wolf Bounties in Nebraska

"The large number of claims coming into the [Nebraska] State Auditor's office for bounties on wolves and coyotes has led that official to make an investigation," said the New York Times on January 20, 1902, "and he has arrived at the conclusion that the farmers and ranchers in the western part of the State have gone into the business of breeding these animals for the bounty market. In one instance it was found that one farmer had raised more than 100 wolves last Summer from several animals he had trapped and penned up for that purpose.

"Other cases were unearthed where from fifty to sixty of these animals had been reared. In October and November they were killed and their scalps presented for redemption at the office of the County Clerk of each county. The State law authorized the County Clerk to pay $3 from the county fund for each coyote or wolf scalp presented, and he certifies the fact of payment to the Auditor, who pays $1 additional, making $4 for each wolf or coyote. The State Auditor declares that this pays better than hog raising, and naturally the farmers have turned their attention to this industry.

"The law was passed years ago when the wolf and coyote were the great foes of the cattle and sheep men. In the last ten years $150,000 has been paid by the State alone as bounty. The Legislature of 1899 appropriated $60,000 for the purpose, and of this amount $43,000 was immediately demanded by holders of old claims. The remaining $15,000 was gone within six months, and when the last Legislature appropriated $15,000 it was at once swallowed up by holders of old claims.

"There are now on file with the Auditor claims aggregating $25,000, and by the end of next year this figure will be doubled. These figures indicate that instead of being killed off, the wolves are increasing. The explanation is now simple."

--------------------When I think of a rancher or farmer in Nebraska in the early 1900's, I see an honest, upstanding and hard working man. I guess the "good old days" is a myth. Men were dishonest, greedy and corrupt back then too!

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Our art group meeting was great today. Judi rearranged our displays so we can display the little trading cards that some of us are working on. Judi has done several. I have only done one so far, but have another started.

Tuesday

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While cleaning out another corner of my computer room, I found an envelope of very old pictures. At first I couldn't even remember where they came from. Seems they were some of my grandparents photos that had never been identified. I'm not sure how I ended up with them.

The photo above was very small, not in very good shape, and I had no idea what it was except that it was a lot of armed men. After I scanned it at a high resolution, and made some improvements in Photoshop, I could make it out better. Looking at it full size on the computer screen, I see it is a photo taken of what I assume was a wolf hunt. I guess it could be coyotes, but I think those are dead wolves hanging on the wagon. I think this was probably taken somewhere in Nebraska. There are sure a lot of guns! I think I will google "early Nebraska wolf hunt" today to see if I can find some information.

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This cow moose was on the ditchbank in my back yard last night. She is one of the biggest I have ever seen! I never saw a calf around her. It was almost dark, and hard to get a decent photo of her.

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Today in History:

1949 - "The Lone Ranger" premiered on ABC. Clayton Moore was the Lone Ranger and Jay Silverheels was Tonto.

Monday

Some very old pictures I just got scanned. Bill and Alice brought me some old pictures my Mom had put aside in an envelope with my name on it. They must have been extra copies of some she had in her photo albums.

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I'm pretty sure my uncle took this of me when he was home on leave from the Air Force in WWII. He was a photographer in the Air Force and had a super camera with him. This was taken at our house in Albin, Wyoming. I remember the rabbit thingy on the wall. It held two spools of thread and the carrot was made of fabric and was a pin cushion.

The calendar was from the Albin Lumber Company. It showed a scene with very large mountains. Albin was on a very flat plain without even a hill in sight!

I also remember the piano - my Mom decided one time I should have lessons. I learned to hide when it was time.



My uncle Bill, my Mom's brother, ranched in eastern Wyoming. I think this was taken somewhere near Hawk Springs. That is my cousin with me, Cleo Ray. I loved to go there because I got to ride the old gentle horse they had. Cleo would rather play the clarinet and raise flowers. He is the University Librarian at the University of Adelaide in Australia. Definitely not born to be a rancher.

Hmmm. Is this Kasey or Barrie?

Gate Repair

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Barrie decided the front gate needed some work on it. She took it down, sanded it, and hung it up a couple of inches higher. She has washed it, and plans on putting wood seal on it tomorrow. It is looking really nice.

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This is the tent Barrie and Kasey will take with them to Casper next weekend for the sled dog symposium. I bought this tent several years ago, spent one night in it at Fremont Lake, and decided my days of sleeping on the ground in a tent were over. If I camp, it will have to be in something like a comfy little mini-van!

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I planned on working on a colored pencil drawing, but didn't. I took my plein air watercolor kit out in the yard today, and "kind of" tried to paint my quakie trees. i didn't gt much done in the way of painting, but it was such a beautiful day that I just enjoyed sitting outside.

I grabbed Kat and took her out with me. I was out for a couple of hours, and she never quit sounding like someone was standing on her tail, and never quit checking the front door to see if it was open. What a wuss she is!

Saturday

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I took this photo of a calf moose out my upstairs bathroom window. I'm pretty sure he is a calf from this year, so his mother must have been around somewhere. Shorty had been my "wildlife alarm" ever since he moved into my back yard. Without his alerts, I would miss a lot of it.

I guess I have never paid much attention to a moose's eyelashes before. So long and thick!

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I love this Calvin and Hobbes cartoon.

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My plans for the afternoon are to complete the color pencil dog drawing I have been working on for a while.

Some time soon I want to drive up Skyline, and also to Green River Lake. The colors are changing fast, and I don't want to miss it!

Friday

Lotsa' Dots

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I finished the pen and ink stipple drawing of trees today. I think the background needs a little touching up, but I am happy with it. For some reason, I am really tired of pen and ink right now!


Cooking for a Crowd: This is Barrie's new cooker. I think it is 8 gallons. She cooks rice and meat for her dogs in it.

The artist and the critic.

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It has been a perfectly beautiful day today. I love this time of year. As I look out across town and towards the creek, I can see many trees that have turned to a beautiful golden color.

Barrie and Kasey and the sled dogs are going to a sled dog symposium in Casper next weekend. They will camp on Casper Mountain with other mushers and she is taking a four wheeler so she can run her dogs on trails up there. I think she plans on getting some meat from a friend and fellow musher in Glenrock. She is still getting meat from Specialty Meats, but some days the bear hunters beat her to it. She is also trying to make arrangements with the locker in Jackson to pick up game meat.

Thursday

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Natalie posted this picture for me of Paul and Tracy at Long Lake. Ward, Natalie and kids and Paul and Tracy hiked in. Paul was so mad at himself because he didn't take his fishing pole. Gene Andrews, both Sr. and Jr. were up there and catching fish.

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Gina asked about the Artist Trading Cards. As long as they are 2 1/2" by 3 1/3", I guess just about anything goes - watercolor, oil, acrylic, pencil, pen, etc. Make some, Gina! I have heard that trading these cards is a big deal in some places. They have trading groups organized all around the country.

I counted 20 robins on my lawn yesterday. They were working around the sprinklers, looking for worms, and are also into the chokecherry bushes. Barrie won't park her pickup in the driveway any more because of the robin poop. My truck is in the garage, and the carport is hers. As I don't go anywhere much, it works, because she has to move her truck out for me to get out of the garage.

This is a quote sent to me by a friend:

I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.

Wednesday

Kat has earned her Kibbles!

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This is what greeted me at the top of the stairs this morning. The cat had mostly lost interest in it by then. As she won't go outside, this had to have come from inside the house. Barrie said she has noticed the cat hanging around the refrigerator in the kitchen lately. The mightly hunter is sleeping on the top shelf of her condo pole right now.




I started another 5" x 7" greeting card last night and finished it in art group today. Judi, Vicky, and Terry put pen and ink touches on their watercolors, and I think it really adds a lot. I need to do more of it, especially with small pieces like this.

Vicky brought a small plein air she had done of Fremont Peak. It was incredible. All I can say is WOW. Maybe I can photograph it next week. I hope I can get some more plein air done.

I started on a watercolor of Square Top today, but all I got done was the sky.

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After getting dog boxes on her truck, Barrie put more boxes in her horse trailer. She has quite the setup for hauling sled dogs and equipment now. She took her trailer out to the dog lot this morning and brought 20 dogs in to Vern Aultman for their rabies shots.

She was a little late getting back into town, so I had Kasey up, dressed and fed when she got back. As I am always alseep when they get up in the morning, I wasn't sure what to do. Kasey knows the routine, though. When I got her up, she headed for the bathroom and said "I go potty". Then we found clothes, panties and training pants. I put her sock on her, and she went to find her boots and put them on herself. (Wrong feet, but I left them that way). Then she headed for her high chair and told me she wanted her "Ego". How easy is that??

Barrie didn't take her to day care until late. Vern and Rose have been nagging her because they haven't seen Kasey for so long, so Barrie took her out there. She laid on the floor with a piece of paper and a pink highlighter, and enjoyed herself while Vern vaccinated the dogs.

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My thoughts are with Chase and his entire family. Best wishes and hopes for them. He is too young for that kind of health concern.

Big Stuff and Little Stuff

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Artist Trading Card 2 1/2" x 3 1/2"

Greeting Card, 5" x 7"


Kasey's Crayon masterpiece, 14" x 17"

I finally tried one of the little artist cards yesterday. I liked it, so tried the same scene on a greeting card. While I was painting, Kasey drew in my big sketch book with crayons. She is into making long lines. She really wanted to paint, but I convinced her it was my turn. I have ordered a children's pan set for her and some new paper. I think I can set her up at the little table I have up here and put plastic on the floor and let her do it on her own.

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Reading "Brown Bear, Brown Bear

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Paul and Tracy went home yesterday. They had such beautiful weather while they were here, and had a great time.

Tracy and I pulled the hard drive out of the old computer, and I will probably install it as a second hard drive in the new one. Not sure how soon I will get that done. I feel like I need to do more reading about exactly how to do it. They took the old monitor home. I'm not sure why I ordered a new monitor. They one they took is a really nice one - flat panel 24".