I wonder if we will ever be able to plant outdoors. This is where the sprinkler ran on the lawn all night. It's just now melting, and it's noon.

I've been working on two watercolors this morning, and think I have probably ruined one of them, maybe both. Oh well. I have about four more watercolors started that I can ruin after I throw these out!

Plus three or four colored pencil drawings.

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I need to stop reading for a while. I quit reading two books yesterday that I couldn't get into. Then I "checked out" a book from the Marmot Library Network. It's "Animal Dreams" by Barbara Kinsolver. I have two of her books that were wonderful. Can't get interested in this one.

Did you know Barbara Kingsolver and Stephen King played in a band together in their early days? Just a bit of trivia.

Show and Tell

Thursday

I am still cleaning out "junk" and pieces I know I will never finish. This is one of the first colored pencil drawings I did when I first got my pencils out after 20 or 25 years.

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In this day in 1930 - Mrs. M. Niezes of Panama gave birth to the first baby to be born on a ship while passing through the Panama Canal. (Bet you didn't know that!)

On this day in 1886 - Grover Cleveland became the second U.S. president to get married while in office. He was the first to have a wedding in the White House. (I think I'll watch the movie The American President this afternoon.)

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I just gave up on two books. I tried to read Catcher in the Rye, and decided it's terribly boring. Why have I heard about that book all my life? The author does have a unique style of writing, but I've got too many other good books to waste time on one I don't like.

The othe one I quit was The Raven, by Edgar Allen Poe. I didn't even make it five pages in that one!

The willow bush down by the garage leafed out. Seems like it just got green leaves overnight.

This is the "season of plastic bags in the bushes". Doesn't seem to be as many this year. And I will say one nice thing about Ridley's - their bags are gray, so they aren't as visible as white ones.

Wednesday

Now playing on XM, Toby Keith, "Shoulda' Been a Cowboy."

The dance costume for the next recital. I think it has something to do with Michael Jackson? So is this kid going to grow up to be a musher or a dancer?

I promised to post this picture of the Biffle familywith their new baby, a girl named Landee Celeste. This was taken when she was one hour old. Everyone looks so proud, and the expression on the Grandads' faces is priceless.

Congratulations, Lance and Tiffany, Tom and Kathy, and Vicky and Mark!

I started a new watercolor today of a snow scene. I think I should paint snow until I finally get it right.

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I've learned that whatever hits the fan will not be evenly distributed.

I love cooking with wine. Sometimes, I even put it in the food.

I really need to work on painting snow - badly!

It helps when I crop the painting. This one will probably end up on the shower floor. It was an experiment in painting a snowy tree using a Daniel Smith Triad.

Maddy slept in the horse trailer last night. The striped kitties are out and about. I just happened to look out and see her climbing over the back fence and tear up the hill by the ditch. By the time I holllered downstairs to Barrie, I saw she had come back and was on the hill behind the house. Sure enough, she was "skunked." Barrie gave her a bath in peroxide and baking soda, and put her in the horse trailer for the night.

I have been editing and revising the book I wrote in November. Somewhere I read to avoid the use of the word 'there', especially beginning a sentence. So I used the MSWord 'find' feature on the entire manuscript. I couldn't believe how many times I used the word!!

• The fundamental reason for middle names is so you will be able to tell when you are in real trouble.

This is pretty much what it looks like here this morning. Maybe not quite as much snow, but it's still coming down at 10:30 this morning.

These are very small studies, about 3: x 4".

I could tell you that Kasey knows "Gee" and "Haw", but Barrie tells it better. This is what she posted on Facebook yesterday:

"Kasey and I ran a 6-dog team on the 4-wheeler today, sure had fun! Did a little leader workout, and kc now knows gee and haw(thou not sure on right on left yet, hehe) We got caught in a hail storm on the way home, she was still laughing, lil toughy."

I tested her out on it this morning, and she knows.

My friend Pam is living in Penn right now. Their apartment walls were pretty bare, and Pam just painted this in watercolor. It don't know how big it is, but it must be pretty large. Isn't it breathtaking?

I am cleaning. This is how I start - take things out of cupboards. There is no way I am going to watch VCR tapes. Some have been recorded from TV. And some of these have already been transferred to DVD's. So why are they still cluttering up my entertainment center?
And I also started going through reference photos and old paintings that I will never finish. This is just a beginning of "purging" the files.

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Judi mentioned that Blogger puts in spaces in her post. I'm having the same problem. I even edit my posts in Html, and remove all spacing tags. But the spaces are still there.

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It snowed last night, and is wet and rainy today. More snow is forecast for tonight.

Saturday

A cute Calvin cartoon

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Sally had this on her blog yesterday. I was amazed at how difficult this is.

http://www.humorsphere.com/fun/8787/colortest.swf

I can't make myself work on the drawing of the cat. I'd rather read. And since I very rarely make myself do something I don't feel like doing, I'll probably spend the day with my Kindle.

Thursday

Julie (Day Care) is closed today, so Kasey hung out with me upstairs for a while today. This is Lucky, her stuffed horse. I think he came from Wells Fargo. He looks just like the horse Barrie rescued from wolves up the Green, so he is named Lucky. I think he is wearing a dress (or maybe two) and an apron.

I asked Kasey this morning what time it was. She looked at her new watch and told me it's Christmas time. When I asked her again later, she said "It's 29:10:40."


My "do over". I quit fighting with the paper on the last attempt to draw Sambo. This one is on the Mylar (drafting film). This one may have a chance.

Wednesday

We had a great birthday celebration at Wind River Pizza last night.

Kathy gave Kasey a watch for her birthday. Kasey was so delighted with it.

Barrie examining the watch. Kathy also make cupcakes, and decorated them to spell "Happy Birthday Kasey". Kasey chose the one with the "Y" on it.

I can't get up any enthusiasm for the colored pencil drawing of the cat. Instead, I got out an old drawing I started on "Mylar", (drafting film) of some chickadees. I love that drawing surface for colored pencils. It will erase, and you can draw on the back of the translucent film.

Below is a colored pencil drawing I did on the film a few years ago of "Dan".

Finished drawing



Work in progress.

I think maybe I'll start the black cat over on mylar film.

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Dear Aunt Em,

Hate Kansas

Hate you.

Took the dog.

Dorothey

Tuesday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KASEY! Four years old today. Chuck, Kathy, Sunny, Barrie, Kasey and I going out for pizza tonight.

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No progress on the colored pencil cat drawing today. I'm considering a "do-over". I think the paper will be great for graphite drawing, but doesn't work for colored pencils. I had never used it before, so now I know. I'd rather quit and start over now, instead of wasting so much time on it.

I have two great-nephews graduating this year. Zack from Natrona County High School, and Ryan from University of Arkansas. Two very special and very talented young men.