Monday

Well below zero again last night.  I'm staying warm and cozy indoors. Wish we would get more snow.

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I submitted one assignment for the online drawing class I am taking.  Instructor says my lines need to express more light, dark, fast and slow qualities.  Huh? I was supposed to do a gestural drawing of a seagull.

 

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I dug through my DVDs last night and got out the movie "Straight From the Heart" to watch.  It is a romance, set in modern times.  The widowed rancher brings a girl from New York to his ranch in Wyoming, because his sister is forcing him to meet women, and she put an ad in a singles magazine for him.  And of course they end up in love.  Nice scenery.  The horses, which were supposed to be wild mustangs, were obviously muscled up quarter horses, some with saddle marks.  And the cattle they vaccinated were all roping steers. 

 

Anyway, I thought I would check on Amazon to see if it was available as an instant video.  It wasn't, and I was shocked to see that the thing is selling for $80 now!  I bought my DVD in 2010 for $9. 

 

I did buy the movie "The Parent Trap", the old version, starring Hayley Mills.

 

 

 

 

Sunday

I got four of the six hooks put up today for coats and backpacks.  Barrie had to help me tighten the screws after I got them started.  Kasey had to eat lunch and then took a nap, but she had decided which hook she was going to use for her backpack. We'll have to wait until some things are hung up before we decide where to put the last two hooks.

As the screws weren't tight on the hooks yet, Kasey said, "I'll just hang my coat on the floor."

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Made myself an omelet in the bake pan of the George Foreman grill this morning.  It was way too much for me to eat.  Chloe came to visit, and I put the leftovers on the front porch for her, along with two pancakes left over from yesterday.  Kat won't touch human food, but Chloe will probably eat every bite.

 

 

Attack of the wrapping paper!

 

 



Saturday

I rearranged my pile of things to go to the Food Basket this morning and moved most of them to another location, so I can put up the hooks I bought last year for coats, back packs, etc.  I got a new Black and Decker drill from myself for Christmas, so I can get it done now.  It will be nice to have a place to hang things instead of chair backs or just thrown down on the dining room floor.

 

I should have posted this Calvin cartoon before Christmas.  Oh well, Calvin is always funny.

Tracy got a  kick out of this one and sent it to me last week.

 

How true!

 



Friday

Kasey came home yesterday, so we had our Christmas last night.  Opened presents, and had a ham dinner.

 

 

These pictures are for Roger.  Barrie told Kasey that Santa knew she wasn't going to be home Christmas Eve, but he left her new Barbie doll here for when she got home.  You can tell from her face how much she likes it!  What a thoughtful Santa!  Thanks.

 

 

I gave Barrie and Kasey this Keurig drink maker.  Seems a funny present to give a little girl, but she can make her own hot chocolate or cider with it, and do it all by herself.  She made me a cup of coffee this morning.  We also have a variety of hot tea.  No muss no fuss.  Just put your cup under the spout of the machine and push the button. Nice machine!

Thursday

I woke up feeling ambitious this morning!  That doesn't happen very often.

I started to clean the kitchen counters the other day, but left everything on the countertop in Barrie's way, and she put it all back. Today I washed the outside of all the cannisters I have on the counter, and cleaned the counter under them (and the stuff I had stashed behind them). Ahhh, one tiny corner of my world is neat and clean!

This is the pile of bags I had piled on top of the cannisters, or took out of the pantry with beans, pasta, and rice.  I never knew what was up on that shelf anyway.  I filled the cannisters and threw all these bags out.  I actually threw out a little bit of rice and pasta that wouldn't fit in the cannisters, just so I didn't have to deal with the bags.

I made a bowl of snack crackers, and have a loaf of bread going in the bread machine.  Now can I sit down, open a beer, and read the rest of the day?

My friend Pam who is in Pennsylvania now, did this "zentangle".  Wow!  She said her eyes are crossed now. 

Wednesday

 

Tracy, Paul and Daisy went hiking in the snow yesterday (in Silverthorne, CO.)  Looks like they got some new snow, and it looks like fun.

 

Lenore's granddaughter, Teegan, came with her to art group today.  She lives in Silverthorne, but they have never met Paul and Tracy. She is sure a cutie.  She is the same age as Kasey.  

Do you drive a Chevy?

Merry Christmas!

Sunday

I tried to put a weather sticker on my blog page.  Well, it's there, way at the bottoom, and I wanted it up higher.  Tried to move it up, but it didn't work.

Tracy called.  She is gettig both an iPad and a new iPhone (for her job).  She'll be busy getting them both set up.

Someone asked me about the artwork I had hanging on my walls and seemed surprised that I have very little of my own things.  I have one pencil drawing of a mountain man, and a pastel portrait of Max, the Silky Terrior I used to have.  I do have three matted and framed watercolors, but have not hung them up.

I guess my favorite artist is Carol Grigg.  I have two very large prints of hers, one upstairs and one in the living room.  Here is the one I have upstairs:

I have several more small prints she did.  Her work is almost in the style of Chinese brushwork.

 

Here is one of the three prints I have upstairs, by Ted DeGrazia, from Tucson.  His studio was close to where I lived when I was in Tucson. 

 

And that's about all I have on my walls.  I do have a collection of wildlife busts in bronze that my sister-in law did. 

 

I do have more wall space, but sometimes a blank wall is soothing, especially when you live in a cluttered house!

Saturday

Productive day, I guess.  I put one load of laundry in the dryer, and another in the washing machine.  Washed some pots that were sitting in the sink, and filled our big humidifier with about 12 gallons of water.  Now if I just had someplace to put the clean clothes.  I  have slowly cleaned out the dresser drawers in my downstairs bedroom for Kasey.  Now I have no place to put things.  There is a perfectly fine dresser in the garage that Barrie brought home, and I have begged her for it.  Maybe she'll give it to me for Christmas!

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This is my solution to a lot of crap!

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I have registered for an online drawing class from Artists Network University.  There are four lessons with homework, reading assignments (online) and critique of your work from the instructor.  I have books on drawing, and have watched some tutorials.  But I have never really had a lesson.  It starts after Christmas, and I am looking forward to it.

 





Friday

Well, I woke up this morning, went in the bathroom and looked in the mirror.  I was still there, so I guess the world didn't end today.

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Had a nice visit from my friend Bobbi from Big Piney.  She and I taught together in Pinedale, and had so much fun together, both in and out of school.  Her husband, Matt, teaches art in Big Piney high school, and I think Bobbi teaches fourth grade.

 

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Someone posted pictures poking fun at Wyoming.  This one makes me laugh so hard.  I was valedictorian at Shoshoni, and had about fourteen kids in my class.

 

 



 

And I think many of us have always felt this way about Jackson. 

 

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My watch list of Amazon videos grows every day.  I probably won't ever watch all of them I've marked for my watch list, but I've found some real jewels.  I even found  "The Lone Ranger"!
I also have "Lilies of the Field", "East of Eden", "Paint Your Wagon", to name a few.  These are movies I would never pay for, but I'll watch them if they're free.  

 



Thursday

 

So it is already Friday in Australia and China.  And the world has not ended there. I have a question.  Is the world supposed to end sequentially time zone by time zone?  Does this mean New York will be gone two hours before we go?  It's mind boggling, so maybe I'll just quit worrying about it.

I like the guy who posted a message to all his Facebook friends, "Before the world ends on Friday, please feel free to deliver all your valuables to my house on Thursday."

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It was below zero again last night. 

 

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Missing Kasey!  I'm not sure if she comes home Christmas night or the day after Christmas, but that is when we will have our Christmas.

 

 





Wednesday

A little Christmas humor:

An old man calls his son and says, "Listen, your mother and I are getting divorced. Forty-five years of misery is enough."

"Dad, what are you talking about?" ...the son screams.

“We can't stand the sight of each other any longer,” he says. "I'm sick of her face, and I'm sick of talking about this, so call your sister and tell her," and he hangs up.

Now, the son is worried. He calls his sister. She says, "Like hell they’re getting divorced!" She calls their father immediately. "You’re not getting divorced! Don't do another thing. The two of us are flying home tomorrow to talk about this. Until then, don't call a lawyer, don't file a paper. DO YOU HEAR ME?” She hangs up the phone.

The old man turns to his wife and says, "Okay, they’re both coming for Christmas and paying their own airfares."

 

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There was a crisis at Rendezvous Pointe this morning.  Someone took the No. 5 ball from the pool table.  The pool playing bunch were not happy!

 



Tuesday

It was below zero last night.  It's only up to 20 degrees at noon today, but the sun is shining.

Barrie finally got a truck that runs (work truck) and the snow plow mounted on it.  Just in time for her to do some plowing yesterday.

I took a class in etching years back, and this tree is one thing I did.  Pretty complicated process, but I enjoyed it.  It involves a steel plate, wax, and acid.  There was a big etching press at the high school that we used. 

I still have a few prints I made - this tree, some chickadees, a team of horses, and an owl.

Monday

Happy Snowy Mondy!  Finally we have snow, and as always I take pictures of it just like it's the first time I've ever seen snow.

 

The birdfeeder has been very busy this morning.  Lots of chickadees, and I'm not sure what other bird is.  Maybe a Pine Siskin?  I love the snow on the roof of the feeder.

 

 
Clingy snow, sticking to wires, branches, and fence posts.  But the wind has just come up, so things will change.

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I watched the remakes of two old movies yesterday, "Rooster Cogburn" and "Ocean's Eleven". The old ones were better.  Jeff Bridges was good as Rooster Cogburn, but not as good as John Wayne.  And the cast of "Ocean's Eleven" didn't even compare to "The Rat Pack".  



 



Sunday

I will have to say, after watching ten nights of the NFR, I really know all the words to "The National Anthem".  Loved watching the world champions claim their awards.

Several years ago, the girl who won the barrel racing said in her speech, "I would never have been able to do it without my horse."  I still think that is the funniest statement ever.

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Got out the box of old pictures again today.  I started on them some time ago, but will never get them all scanned.  And I don't really want to.

 

 

This is a newspaper clipping about Lynn V, Lana F, Tracy, and Ann M winning a trip to Washington DC for National History Day.  Carmella V. went with them.

I was in Aspen visiting Tracy when President Bush and Margaret Thatcher came to town.  I bought a commentorative envelope with the postmark.  We went out to the highway to watch the motorcade when they went by on their way  into town.  But I never saw the President or Margaret Thatcher.  All the windows in the cars were black.  But they were in there somewhere.

 

I especially enjoyed two of Tracy's neighbors.  They drove a pickup out to the highway, unloaded two big recliner chairs and a cooler of beer, and enjoyed the parade.

Friday

I just finished watching "Christmas with the Kranks".  It's not a new movie, but I had never seen it before.  I have read John Grishom's book "Skipping Christmas", which the movie was based on.

 

I finished this little pen and ink yesterday.  I think I will do more of these.  They are quick, and kind of  fun to do.

 

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I'm about rodeod out.  Two more nights of the NFR, and then it's over for another year.  I have to admit I am getting hooked on the Duluth Trading Company commercials for "manly pants" . Makes me laugh.

 

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This is one of the cutest pictures I've ever seen!

Thursday

I wish I had taken my camera with me to Rendezous Pointe yesterday.  The Angel Tree gifts are coming in, and they store them in the art room.  There's hardly room for five people in there, the gifts are stacked up in front of the windows, and along one wall.  What a generous group of people we have in Pinedale!

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I worked on a small pen and ink yesterday, but didn't make a lot of progress.  We had both pie and brownies to eat!

 

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The rodeo was great last night.  Shane Hanchy won the tie down roping last night on Sweetness.  Yay Sweetness!  Karen said that was the only night of rodeo she had missed seeing. 

 

I have been watching Les Shepperson from Midwest in the bulldogging.  I thought I had gone to school with his father, then decided it must have been his grandfather.  When I looked at his bio,  he is indeed the son of the guy I went to school with, so I guess I'm not as old as I thought I was.  His father was Frank Shepperson, and his aunt Sally was also at Laramie.  Sally barrel raced, but she also team roped with her brother.

 

I wrapped Christmas presents this morning and got them all done.  I tried to make gift tags on the computer, and the printer would not work.  I finally took the ink cartridges out and reinserted them, and that worked.  Darned little printer must be twelve or so years old, and still keep chugging along.

 



Tuesday

I don't seem to be writing my blog every day.  I guess that's because nothing happens here.

The NFR is rolling right along.  The bulls seem to be be winning.  There were only three qualified rides last night, and only two the night before. 

Trevor Brazile placed third in team roping last night, and that clinches his title to All Around World Champion for the tenth time!  Wow!

Chloe showed up yesterday, and acted like she was here to stay.  She ate a little, came upstairs and went to sleep.  Kasey got home kind of late, and she came up to get Chloe and put her outside for me.  I will never know where Chloe's other home is.  Sometimes she comes up the road from the south, and sometimes she comes off the ditchbank from the west. 

 

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I just fed some cranky chickadees.  They ran out of food before dark yesterday, and I didn't refill the feeder until late this morning.  I swear they look in the window at me and scold me.

 

 

 

That explains it!

 

 

 



Sunday

Sunshine is almost too bright this morning.  I need to wear sunglasses indoors.

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Kasey came home from the Christmas Parade last night with a bag of candy and other goodies.

 

Barrie didn't come home with her.  She had a company Christmas party.  Kasey told me that Mom was doing a "growing up thing".  Barrie was a little startled when she come home and I asked her  if she had done some growing up.

 

 

Kasey used  my colored pencils to draw in her sketchbook last night.  This is a Panda in a bamboo forest.  I love his eye patches and his little pink nose.

 

 

If you were five years old, you would be able to use your iPad in this position.  She was finding the correct shape in a pattern sequence, and never missed one.









Friday

We got maybe an inch of snow last night, and the snow is melting off the roof right now.  Barrie took her plow truck this morning.  Do you think she really found enough snow to plow?

Barrie went to the post office yesterday and brought me four packages.  The Fed Ex guy was here too, and left seven boxes on the front porch.  It took me a while to get the boxes in the house, and I haven't even opened them all yet.  A couple of them are from Paul and Tracy, and I think I have figured out what is in the rest of them.

 

Another small sculpture I did from Sculpy years ago.  His head looks too big for the rest of him.  Sculpture is the hardest thing in the world to photograph.  I used to take pictures of all of Alice's sculpture, and it is so frustrating to try to get the lighting right, the background, and the right angle so the piece doesn't look distorted or out of proportion.

 

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Enjoyed watching the NFR on television last night.  My favorite team took sixth place in the tie down roping, Fred and Sweetness.

 

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Pearl Harbor Day.  I don't remember the day, I wasn't old enough, but I remember a story my Dad used to tell about it.  It was on a Sunday, and the bank was closed, but three women were working to straighten out some clerical errors.  The phone rang, and after one women answered it, she turned to the others and said "Pearl Harbor has been attacked!"  One of the women said, "Oh, did she work here?"



 

 

 

 

Thursday

I just changed my XM radio from Prime Country to The Highway.  Prime Country is playing nothing but Christmas music, which is nice, but I'm already tired of it.  Besides, I have a Christmas playlist on my iPod with all my favorites.

A real quick pen and ink sketch I did this morning, based on one of the Frederick Remington illustrations in "Song of Hiawatha".  It's 5" x 7".

 

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According to Yahoo Weather, it's supposed to get cold this weekend and get down to below zero.  Some snow would be nice.



 



 

Wednesday

Nothing but gray skies.  No snow, no sunshine.  Bleak!

I took some paper, and an ink pen to art group today, and all I did was sit and look through Southwest Art magazines.  I thought I could get enthused about doing some pen and ink drawings, but didn't find anything to draw.

But there were some delicious goodies today.  Conley baked chocolate chip cookies, and Vicky baked some Christmas cookies.

After everyone went to lunch, Vicky and I decided to do some cleaning in the room.  The ceramics people had left their box of paints out on the floor again, and Vicky and I decided to clean under the sink so the paint could be put away.  There was so much unused junk under there!  Old rags, dried up paints and I don't know what else.  We threw a few things away, but left a lot of it out on the table so the ceramics people could go through it. 

Hope we're not in trouble.

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Found a few more photos of art work I did years ago.

 

I wonder why I don't do this any more?  I did this with a modeling clay called "Sculpy".  It dries hard when you bake it in a low oven. Then I painted it with an acrylic bronze paint.  It's about 6" high.  I enjoyed doing it, so why don't I do more?

 

Another thing I never do any more is scratchboard.  I love this old tree that I photographed at Fremont Lake.  I also did an etching of it.

Tuesday

How can it be Tuesday already? 

The snow Gods keep teasing us, just enough to make the ground white, then it melts the next day. 

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I'm uninspired when it comes to drawing or painting.  I decided to go through my file of art work from way back, and see if I could get enthused about something.

 

 

I have the hardcover book "The Song of Hiawatha".  It is illustrated with pen and ink drawings in the margins by Frederic Remington.  The pen and ink drawings I did above are about 9" x 12".  Frederic Remington's little drawings are about 1 1/2 inches.  I never did finish reading the poem, but enjoy just leafing through the book and looking at the illulstrations.  Every page has small drawings in the margins, and there are several pages of larger drawings or paintings.

 

Maybe I should get the pen and ink out again?

 





Sunday

I finished Christmas shopping this morning in my pajamas, and ordered two hams -- all on line.  My shopping is so simple now, and I have Paul's and Tracy's sent directly to them, so I don't even wrap them.  My family stopped buying for all the neices and nephews several years ago.  I think they did it mostly for my benefit.  I have 5 neices and nephews, and when they started having kids, it was a real hassle to come up with ideas.  I started giving gift certificates, and Alice finally suggested we just buy for our own kids.

I love shopping online.  You can browse to your heart's content, your feet don't get tired, and you can leave your "shopping cart" overnight if you want to think about it longer.  And you usually don't have to pay tax, and many items are free shipping. 

 

I just can't leave this buffalo alone.  I have drawn him a couple of times.  This one is small, just 5" x 7".

 

I finished the watercolor sky in the painting of quakies I started. 

 

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Pinedale has a "severe weather alert" on the Yahoo weather today.  Wind and rain?  Yea, whatever.

 

 



 



Saturday

Stuck in the smokehole of our tipi



I hope the above link will work for you.  I usually just like traditional Christmas music, but I got a kick out of this one. 

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I know I said I wasn't going to take part this year, but I did it.  National Novel Writing Month just finished, and I managed to get more than 50,000 works written in one month.  Why?  Because it was there, and I wanted one of these cute little winner gadgets to post on my blog.

 

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I read the obituary in the Casper paper this morning of Mike Svilar, a man from Fremont County that I have known many years.  He led quite a life.  The Svilar family were very well known in Shoshoni, Riverton, and Hudson.

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PAHLEEEZE Mother Nature!  Send us some snow!



Friday

I painted bamboo in my sleep last night.  Time to take a break!

I once painted this scene in my little Moleskine book, looking out my bathroom window to the neighbor's back yard.  What does it say that my best view is out my bathroom window? I have tried to do an 11" x 14" of it several times, and this is the best I have been able to come up with.  I was disappointed with the sky, but I guess it looks better now that the painting is finished.

I am ready for a "quakie fix".  I always paint quakie trees when I get stressed out painting other things.  I started a new one today.

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Did you ever see anything cuter than this?  This calf was three days old, born in a zoo in the USA somewhere. 

 

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Toby Keith writes almost all his own songs.  Did you know he did not write "Red Solo Cup"?

 

 

You're right Pablo.  So does a good book.







Thursday

Another boring, sunny day.

 

The Moose Won!



My friend Heidi sent me this photo.  The hunters tied one of their own on the roof of the truck, got some moose heads, and drove down the interstate like this.  Yes, they were arrested, and yes, alchohol was involved.  Gotta love it.

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My Christmas cactus (yes, it's a "Christmas" cactus, not a Holiday cactus) is so healthy looking this year, and doesn't have one single bud on it.  One whole side of it died last year, and I never did get any pieces rooted to fill in the bare side, but what's left is beautiful.  I have some vermiculite, so I will try again to get some leaves rooted to plant on the bare side.

 

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This guy is on his way to the National Finals Rodeo, and hoping they got that dam finished so he can get across the Colorado River.  Cute picture.