Saturday

I woke up this morning to the sound of Barrie chipping ice away from the bottom of the front gate so we can close it. The neighbor's Pit Bull comes up on the front porch all the time now to eat cat food. Wish I had a cap gun, or maybe even some small firecrackers. I love dogs, but Pit Bulls are another story.

My plan for today is to get the cat tree put together. It would fit better downstairs, because my upstairs room is getting so crowded. But I want it upstairs, so maybe I will do some organizing and rearranging up there to make more space. Some of the things I have up there could be stored away, even in a downstairs closet if I need to. And I'm going to try to arrange my two tables into an "L" shape, which will give me more space to set up the cat tree. I would like to have it where it's not blocking my view out the windows too much

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Vicky brought me some pictures from my Retirement Picnic. Thanks, Vicky! I didn't have any pictures from that celebration! You will notice Cristy and Joe in the back!

How to Ruin a Painting

How to Ruin a Painting

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The top photo shows the painting after I painted the trees, water, and reflections. Then I looked at it for a while and foolishly decided it needed something in the foreground. So I put some dark, heavy trees in front, and some bright colors, and the whole effect of the painting was lost. I did this a couple of months ago. I think now I am getting better and quitting when I should.

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Another summer photo of a finch in my chokecherry bushes.

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According to the package tracking information, the cat tree is supposed to be delivered today. It will have to be assembled. The way my day has gone so far, I might wait to do that.

I ordered some new ink cartridges for my photo printer. I usually order from Amazon and take advantage of their free shipping. They did not have two of the colors I needed (My printer uses eight cartridges.), so I ordered "compatible" cartridges from a different source. I opened one today to install in the printer, and when I snapped the plastic cover off, the ink ran out all over my hands and some on my clothes. I was more careful when I opened the others - did it over a wastebasket, and they were all defective. The company will replace them, but I don't want replacements. I am not about to dig those messy things out of the garbage and return them. I have asked for my money back, but don't know if they will do that. I will only buy genuine Canon cartridges from now on. Live and learn!

The forcast said it would be windy today, and it is. A slight chance of snow, but probably not. My thermometer said it was 3 below zero this morning.

Thursday

I didn't spend any time at all upstairs today, and did not touch a pencil or paintbrush, nor a puzzle or book! I'll try to make up for that tomorrow!

I cleaned out the dishwasher and filled it again, made macaroni salad and muffins, and put away a bunch of clutter in my kitchen and cleaned off the counters. Also made a half hearted attempt to clean out the refrigerator.

I took four bags of trash to the dumpster, and even got the dead television out there. I had to get the TV down two flights of stairs. It wasn't too bad. It is a flat screen, not too heavy, and I just went slowly, one step at a time. Then I put it in the back of the pickup and drove down to the road.

Saw fresh moose tracks going down the road in front of the house.

Barrie got my big monster TV up on the shelf in the entertainment center, and hooked up. I haven't tried to use the DVD/VCR player with it yet, but the Dish hookup works fine. I sure like having that larger screen.

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Kasey decided to wear my boots tonight. She has never been able to get them on before. Yes, they are on backwards, but she managed to walk around quite a bit with them.


When Barrie brings the five gallon buckets in to fill with water in the bathtub, Kasey likes to "help Mamma" and carry one of the buckets into the bathroom.

Wednesday

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I've never had much success painting flowers. I did this iris in art group today, and it is probably the best I have ever done. But that's not saying much. It's about 6" x 8".

I ruined about 8 or so greeting cards trying to paint roses. They were SO bad.

My fellow painters fuss at me because I never remember what colors I use in a painting. This iris was done with just three colors . I have promised to make notes of the colors I use (hope I can remember).

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More Television Woes It's not supposed to be so hard to watch TV! Some time ago, the big elephant sized 32 inch TV I had upstairs died. I managed to get it out of the entertainment center and pushed up in a corner. It must weigh 500 lbs! Then I brought my 23 inch flat screen from the living room upstairs. Last summer, I bought a 32 inch flat screen for the living room. I later decided I needed a larger TV upstairs (for my old eyes), and ordered a 32 inch flat screen from WalMart. And they delivered a bicycle!

So I have been putting up with the smaller screen. Today, that TV died. Barrie had tried plugging in the elephant TV one day, and we found that it worked. So I now have it sitting on the floor in front of the entertainment center. There's no way I can lift it up in there, but Barrie will help me.

Two Works Finished

One of the benefits of having so many things started at the same time is that sometimes you can finish a couple in the same day! It gives you a sense of accomplishment.

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I posted a photo of this painting before, as a work in progress. I am calling it finished now.

This is the pencil drawing of the calf I have been working on. I enjoyed doing this one.

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I have ordered a "tower" for the cat. She gets on top of everything, and I think she will like it. Maybe it will help keep her off other things. It has scratching posts, several platforms, and a "condo". Some of those cat towers cost as much as $400! Good grief! I even saw one that had a built in litter box. I'm not sure where I will put it. There's more room downstairs, but I seem to spend most of my time upstairs, so will fit it in somewhere up here.

It is so much easier to edit photos on my new laptop. The screen seems so large and bright compared to my little laptop.

It came with Microsoft Office 2007, but not really. It is a trial version, and I would have to buy it to keep using it. I tried removing the program and anything to do with it, but Microsoft has a way of getting in your face and making some things hard to do, like get rid of them!

I have a disk for Office 2003, which I got installed. It has Word, Excel, and Powerpoint. It also has the complete Microsoft Works, which I seldom use, but it's a good program.

Sunday

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Kasey and I are doing a watercolor in one of my little plein air books with a small field set of watercolors.

Kasey is trying out her mom's shoes.

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Barrie was in the picture taking mode yesterday. She kept grabbing my camera and "shooting"

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I have finished my online "Sudoku" puzzle today. I try to do one every day - it's about the only exercise my brain gets!

I found one of the missing puzzle pieces in the middle of the studio floor this morning. The cat had it hidden somewhere and brought it out. I think there are still three pieces missing.

My front gate still won't close - ice build up, and I have left it open all winter. But now the neighbor's dog (I'm sure it's a Pit Bull) has discovered the cat food on the front porch, and is a regular visitor. When I try to chase him away, he just backs up and barks at me. He makes me nervous, and I want to keep the gate closed. They have a small fenced yard. I don't know why they don't use it.

I have been debating whether to make a jello salad or a macaroni salad, but time has passed and I don't feel like making either one. Guess I will depend on yesterday's kielbasa and potato casserole and a piece of toast.

Saturday

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I was still in my pajamas this morning when Kasey came, although it was late. Barrie and I were both taking pictures of her with a new toy. I sat on the stairs, and she made me move over so she could sit beside me.


When Barrie was little, she had a cute little battery operated dog that walked, wagged its tail and barked. I brought it up from the basement and put new batteries in it, but it wouldn't work. I found a "retro toy" on the internet that I thought was similar. This one is much smaller, doesn't walk as well, and has to be turned on by a switch on the bottom. The old one had a leash that turned it on and off when you pulled on it.

I was disappointed in this one, but Kasey liked it, and the cat is terrified of it! But after about 5 or 10 minutes, Kasey was looking for one of the balls she throws for the cat.

I am going to give myself a rest from the new computer today. I was going to put in a video that I am trying to "paint along" with, but "Gone With The Wind" is on, and I guess maybe I'll just work on the drawing of the calf.

Friday

A day in the life of a cat

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Thank goodness the cat spends quite a bit of time doing this, because when she's not sleeping, nothing in the house is safe. She steals kleenex or anything else that looks interesting, she gets up on everything, she scatters the rugs and pillows. I don't have pictures of any of these activities because she moves too fast to photograph.

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I spent most of the day working on the new computer. Got a couple of programs installed, like Photoshop, and got it set up to print over the wireless network. I also copied all my photos to it. I was supposed to make a recovery disk, but am not sure that was successful. It said it would take 21 CDs or 2 DVD two layers disks. I did have some of the DVDs but got the message that the first disk had an error when the computer verified it. I tried it again (takes a couple of hours) and got the same message. So I quit for now and did not even try to make disk 2.

Late night

It's very late, and I am still up. My new laptop computer came this afternoon, and I have just barely begun to work with it. The screen size is SO much better for old eyes. The keyboard is also full sized, with the numeric keys on the side. It was easy to set up for my wireless network (well, with Barrie here to help). My e-mail is set up, and I am getting my internet links entered.

Barrie and Kasey were here for supper, and Kasey stayed with me while Barrie went out to feed her dogs. Kasey is distracting when I am trying to work on the computer. Not that I'm complaining!! She is just so much fun and entertains me non-stop. She played ball with the cat a lot tonight, and she gets so tickled and giggles when the cat chases the balls.

Wednesday

Today was our art day at Rendezvou Pointe. I didn't accomplish much - painted the creek on my snow and tree scene, then washed it all off again. I did get a better start on the trees. Whenever I get frustrated with my painting, I paint quakie trees.

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I went back to the files for old photos again. This is a picture I took of Madge's cabin up at the museum. I edited out the chain link fence in the background and replaced the sky. Madge was a icon in the community when I first moved here. I wonder how many of us will ever have our house featured in a museum?

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On one of my early morning trips over South Pass to Riverton, everything was covered with frost. I stopped out past Boulder and took this picture of a frosty cottonwood. Terry was talking about frost on trees this morning and we discussed how to paint something like this in watercolor.

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Dee C. painted with us this morning. Dee and I taught together for years. It was great to have her there. After art group, Dee, Melanie S, Toni B. and I all went to lunch at the Patio. We need to do that more often.