July 18 update

I've managed to trap only four kittens so far. One of them is in a trap in the front yard right now, and I hate it. The kittens are so scared and cry. I just want to go out and turn them loose.

I have tried to keep the two mamma cats in the house a couple of time to keep them out of the traps. It's not working very well. They don't want to be in the house, and one of them even learned how to open the screen door. They have been in the traps, and feel trapped in the house, so I may have problems capturing them for their trip to the vet next week.

I talked to my brother last night, and he says Alice is supposed to be able to go home today after lunch. This has really knocked her for a loop.

A woman and her husband who work in the office building down in front of me were just up here. She said they have been entertained by watching my kittens, and were concerned when they saw the Animal Control truck up here several times. They wondered what was going on. And they also said they wanted a bobtail kitten. I have two, but they are younger than the others, and it may be a while before they are caught.

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Click on photos to see a larger version

Two more cemetery pictures. These were both taken at the Sacajawea Cemetery out of Fort Washakie. The building is the old chapel.

July 17 - Taking care of cat problem

Catching Cats

I called Julie this morning about my abundance of cats and kittens. She brought up two live traps for me. This may take a while, as I am wondering if there is any chance of catching more than one at a time. But Julie said she will check back often and left me her cell phone number. She also says she thinks she can find homes for the kittens, as people are wanting them. She says they will be easy to tame down.

I have an appointment with Susie on Tuesday to have my two original cats spayed, and will keep them. I will miss watching the kittens, but they are out of hand. They don't do what outdoor cats are supposed to do - grow up and leave home. Of course, some of them "leave home" by going down on the highway.

It used to be an ideal neighborhood for cats up here - lots of old abandoned buildings and places for them to live.

Julie came in to look at my computer while she was here. Pinedaleonline had a picture of her son, Jesse, in Rendezvous, which she had not seen. I printed out a copy for her. She caught me up on what her two sons are doing now. I taught them both.

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Judi promised me it wouldn't be goulish of me to post some cemetery pictures. Fremont County, and especially the Reservation, have some great cemetaries for wandering through and taking picures.

Click on photos for larger versions

This was taken at the St. Sevens Catholic Cemetary just before Halloween. There were a lot of Halloween decorations on many of the graves.

This says it all.

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When my mother was hospitalized in Riverton a couple of years ago, I had lots of opportunity to drive around the area, so I visited the St. Stevens cemetery, the Sacajawea cemetery, the Washakie cemetery, and the LeClair family cemetery. Very interesting places.

July 15

Two more pictures of Shoshoni:

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This is the little Presbyterian Church in Shoshoni. It is so pretty. They don't have their own minister, and I think one comes over from Riverton. I had thought this church was on the National Registry of Historic Buildings, but I'm not sure. It sits right on the highway that goes through town, and makes the town look good.

And this is on a side street in Shoshoni, on a vacant lot. There are lots of scenes like this. I keep thinking I will paint these two trucks. When you drive around town, you will see a pretty well-maintained house with a nice yard right next to an old abandoned house. I think it is a wonderful place to wander around and photograph.

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My brother e-mailed me and said that Alice is doing better. I hesitate to call her in the hospital. I think sick people should be left alone to sleep without having the phone wake them up.

Yesterday a doe with twin fawns went through my back yard on the ditchbank. Her fawns are big and healthy looking. I didn't have time to grab the camera.

Then last night, just about sunset, a big buck was in my back yard, right under the window. The light had turned that golden color it gets close to sunset, and I can still see his velvet antlers and slick and shiny coat in my mind's eye. I have seen him several times before, and thought he was a five point - but as I watched him last night, I see he is a six point! WOW!

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Two Old Photos

These are old photos I took a long time ago with my old Minolta camera. The deer was a slide, which I scanned. I was doing a lot of black and white photography at the time, and even had my own darkroom. I really enjoyed it, but I don't miss the smelly chemicals.

Click on photos to see a larger image

This deer was standing beside the road close the Air Force buildings on the Boulder Road.

There used to be some beautiful old buildings and barn beside the Boulder Road up close to Hittles. I loved to explore and photograph there. Sadly, they are all gone now.

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I finally saw a hummingbird at my upstairs feeder. I'm not sure if that feeder leaks, or if the wind has tipped it so much that all the feed has dripped out. At any rate, I need to get some fresh sugar water mixed. It is a fancy blue glass and copper feeder, and it wasn't worth the money. I think it might leak, and the birds like the old fashioned plastic with yellow flowers better.

After living at 109 Canal Street for about 40 years, the town of Pinedale has sent me a letter telling me that number is incorrect. They tell me the street address is 525 Canal, and that I need to put up new numbers.

I wonder how many other residents in town are having to change their address? I just hope UPS and FedEx will be able to find me. I don't think I'll rush into putting up new numbers for a while.

I called my sister-in-law in the hospital in Riverton yesterday afternoon, and she was sleeping. When I called again later, my brother was there, so I visited with him. Alice is having kind of a hard time. She has a bladder infection, and they don't seem to be able to get the antibiotics to knock it.

Another Cool Night

Another wonderful cool night last night. My thermometer said it got down to 37 degrees.

My brother called last night and we had a nice visit. He said my sister-in-law was in the hospital and plans to be home by Tuesday. Bummer! That's no way to spend your summer, Alice!! I will call her later today.

The hummingbird I saw yesterday must have just been on his way through to someone else's garden.

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Here are two photos I took in Daniel.

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The cows were in a corral right in front of the old Daniel School. They had climbed right up into the hay, and were really enjoying it. I took lots of pictures of them, and knew this one was a keeper when I saw how their heads were lined up. Sometimes I name my photos - I call this one "Let's Do Lunch"

And this is the purple tree, which has stood next to the highway in Daniel forever. I took it from across the road, using a slightly telephoto lens, which really brings the mountains up close.

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I am almost finished with an oil pastel painting of mountains and a river. I worked on it some yesterday, and can't get the river right. I may end up putting a lot more trees to almost hide the river. I don't think I like oil pastels very much, but I have to give them a chance. This is my first attempt using them. Also, I bought a large set, quite expensive, so should keep trying.

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Doesn't Feel Like Summer - July 12

I have been sleeping covered with just a sheet, but in the middle of the night, I felt cold and pulled the blankets up. When I checked my little weather station, I found it got down to 35 degrees here last night. I had every window open. No wonder I got cold!

I finally saw a hummingbird in the yard this morning. I have had my feeders up so long that I took them down and put fresh sugar water in them. Seems like lots of hummers should be here, fighting over the feeders, but they are late this year. At least they are late coming to my house.

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Click on photos to see a larger image.

I don't usually get up very early, or at least I try not to. Even after being retired for several years, sleeping in is a luxury. But I got up early one morning last fall and drove up to the lake and got this picture of sunrise over the lake. This is a genuine photograph, no tricks.


This is a small 6" x 10" watercolor I did a couple months ago using a limited palette of three colors. I had never attempted to paint using just three colors before, and thought it was a great experience. I need to do it more often. I also need to brush up on the anatomy of a fish!

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Rendevous - July 11

Rendezvous Time! I used to take part in all these activities. I drove around town a bit this morning, and it was so crowded with people on the streets, and lots of booths and tents selling their goods. I didn't even feel tempted to find a place to park and and go "shopping".

I also saw a couple of old grubby-looking big busses in the parking lot of the grocery store with grubby -looking Rainbows hanging around. I had my camera with me, but didn't try to photograph any of them.

I finally got to visit with Tracy, after missing a couple calls. She called me from her cell phone while shopping at Target. Their lives are so busy. Paul is a partner in a law firm in Frisco, Colorado, and Tracy works as the Office Manager for the firm, as well as doing some paralegal work. They will be here next month with their boat and camper for some time at Fremont Lake. I am so looking forward to seeing them!

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Reference photo for the watercolor painting

Click to enlarge.

The only artwork I did today was scrub off some of the old wood background of the painting I am doing of my old red wheelbarrow. I got so carried away with it that it looked like the wood was going to be the main focus of the painting, not the wheelbarrow. I wish I could loosen up with my painting and stop trying to make everything so detailed and realistic.

July 10, 2008 more Photoshop

Here are a couple of extreme photo fixes I did last year. I hadn't looked at them for a long time, and kind of enjoy putting the "before" and "after" pictures side by side to see what I actually did.

click on photos for a larger image

Many of you recognize this store at Daniel. Don't know for sure what I was doing when I took the picture, but it is definitely tilted. Yes, I was right in front of the bar, but I hadn't been in there! By the time I finished cloning out things like the power lines, straightening the image, cloning some grass in front, and adding the sky, and changing the colors and mood, it reminded me of the Stephen King book "Needful things".

I have this neat Photoshop filter to make fog, and I used it on this old stump. After I added the fog, I used the "eraser" tool to erase the fog from the stump and bring it back.

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This is how photojournalists get in trouble. They can make a woman politician look older and uglier in their photos, they can fake things in a picture, and some of them have been caught at it. I won't try to pass any of these "edited" pictures off as the genuine thing.

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I am trying very hard to be productive today, like haul some garbage from the yard down to the dumpster. I have some old wire border fencing that I am getting rid of, and some old flower pots. I'm not too interested in doing it. After all, I cleaned out the dishwasher today, isn't that enough work?

Wednesday July 8 - Art Group

Shoshoni

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This photo is for Vicki. She has mentioned seeing the artwork on this old abandonded store building in Shoshoni. This was Sid's Gambles store, and Sid sold everything you could imagine, plus some you couldn't. Sid's store was in several different locations through the years, but this is the final one. This location included the old Park Cafe, the old movie theatre, and I'm not sure what the other business was, a grocery store, maybe? The movie theatre area still had sloping floors. Sid had the place packed from basement to ceiling with his merchandise, and it was an adventure sometimes to just get through the mazes. Finally the fire marshall shut it down.

Through the years, Sid's son has brought merchandise out onto the street and sold most of it at auction. I'm not sure if they ever got all the merchandise sold.

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When I was first starting to learn Photoshop, which is the computer program I use to edit photos, I made a collage from two photos I took from the same location on Ehman Lane, one in the winter, and the other the next summer.

This antelope and her three fawns were beside the Fremont Lake Road. I thought they posed nicely for me. The third fawn was behind the others, and I cropped it out of the photo

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It was nice to get together with the art group this morning at Rendezvous Point. Barbara is back from California. Judi wasn't there - she is having WAAY too much fun with her family.

Conley finished an awesome watercolor of a jumping trout, which he is having framed at Ruth's.

Ruth is bringing Graham Flatt back again in Ausust for a workshop. I attended his watercolor workshop last summer. He is an incredible artist and a inspiring teacher.

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Tuesday, July 8 - more photos

Clarisa Mine

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Although I was disappointed with South Pass City, I did think the old Clarisa Mine was interesting. I couldn't find a way to drive close to it, however. The lighting was so bad, the sky was white, so I did some creative editing on the photo and ended up with the following:

Another image with a boring, plain, too-white sky. So I replaced it with a better sky with my photo editing program.

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After crawling on my hands and knees and dragging my air conditioner out from my under-the-eaves storage space, I haven't used it since the first day. The weather has been beautiful, not too hot, a nice breeze, and a few clouds. I'm certainly not complaining!

I've started on a new watercolor painting of my old red wheelbarrow. I set up the "arrangement" against the house and photographed it. I am using something new - Instead of liquid masking fluid, I bought some masking film. Seems to work fine.

I haven't taken many photographs lately. When I look towards the mountains and see how bad our air is, I know I would be disappointed in any landscape photos. Guess I should do some plein air painting.

I wonder if we will ever have clear skies again?