Friday

This portrait of Grinder is not one of my best efforts. I can see where I need to make changes, especially the hair under her chin. It looks like a fake Santa beard in my drawing.



This is "whiskey art" without the whiskey. I printed out the photo of the butterfly onto a piece of paper palette, cut the size of my printer paper. A paper palette i s used in oil paiting, and is waxy on one side. If you print onto the waxy side, the ink will not sink in and will remain wet for a while. I laid it, ink side down, on a piece of hot press watercolor paper and burnished it on the back so the ink transfers onto the paper. I think it works better than whiskey, but I've only tried one print. I wonder if it would work with wax paper?

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What a lazy day! Bright and sunny out, and not too cold. I was going to take cardboard boxes to the recycling center, but Barrie said she would do it, so I just came upstairs and worked on the dog drawing.

I am listening to XM Radio old radio classics. Just finished hearing the radio show of "The Day the Earth Stood Still". Funny, because I just watched the movie last weekend in West Yellowstone.

Thursday

We just finished putting our Chistmas lights up.

Call us if you need help with yours!

Wednesday

I don't even know who took this picture of Barrie and her team in the race at West Yellowstone.

Kasey was hanging onto Shorty's collar part of the time. Short rode in the back with Kasey and Jarvi rode in the middle in the front seat. Jarvi gave a lot of disgusted sighs because I was there sitting in her place.

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Helen, Lenore, Pam, and Vicky and I were the only ones at art group this morning. Judi and Rollie are on their way to Shar's house for Christmas. And Conley may be having surgery on his leg today.

I started a painting of an old tractor today. I'm not sure how to paint the seat. Every old tractor I know personally has the seat reversed so the driver sits on it backwards. This one maybe has a post hole digger on the back, I'm not sure. But I'd like the paint the seat the correct way.

Monday

So good to be home! I am seriously considering taking a nap today, something I never do.

We have some snow, but I was hoping for more. The sun is shining so bright that it almost hurts my eyes to look out the window.

It looks like Barrie will probably be keeping the little black horse that was abandoned up the Green. He has four brands, none of which are Wyoming brands. Mike said that the horse will be put up for auction, and Barrie can bid a small amount and have him. She has been training Kasey to answer the question "What do you want for Christmas?" with "A black horse!"

Click on images for a larger view

Another little painting from Snake River Canyon

Tickling and Giggling

Another photo from Snake River Canyon on the drive home yesterday.

Sunday and Home

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We left West Yellowstone this morning about 10:30. Not very early, but we had all day. Besides, we were hungry for a good breakfast of eggs, sausage and hash browns, so we took care of this before we left town. This picture shows what the roads were like pretty much all the way home. Nice to have a good 4wheel drive truck and a good driver!

At the dog lot when we got back. Barrie is unloading dogs, and then fed them. She dressed Kasey in all her winter gear and let her feed Jarvie and Shorty. But then Kasey dropped her gloves in the snow and her hands got cold. I wish I had gotten a picture of Kasey trucking through the new snow, but it was too dark.

The best traveller in the world!

Saturday

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I tried this little painting for fun last night. It is just 4" x 6" in the little book that came with my plein air painting kit. This paper/paint combination doesn't do much with the effect of salt on it while still damp.


Barrie sprained her wrist yesterday, and put algyval and vet wrap on it. So Kasey had to have some vet wrap too. Kasey didn't leave hers on long.



Watching "Peep" on my laptop in the motel room



This is what happens when you forget to bring along books for a child. She reads the bible!

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Sure hope we don't have to spend the rest of the winter in West. Snowing and blowing, and more is predicted for the next week.

Race Day

Barrie is probably out on the trail for her race today. And Kasey and I are just hanging out in the motel room. We just got back from their Continental breakfast. Not too bad, but not my idea of breakfast. Kasey ate two helpings of peaches, three helpings of yogurt, and a piece of toast. She was a bottomless pit.



This picture makes me laugh. John Barron was at the vet check. Barrie lived with them both in Alaska and Montana, and John introduces her as his daughter. They were laughing and talking, and when I took a picture, this is what I got. They don't look like they are glad to see each other, do they?


As I have said before, Kasey is so easy to travel with. The motel didnt have any cribs, so Barrie built her a little "nest" on the floor in the corner. It was very warm in the room, so she didn't have her fleece sleepers on. After she laid down, she called out to me "Grandma, I'm tired", and that's the last I heard from her until 8:30 this morning.

A pretty drive yesterday. I took this in the Snake River Canyon

The motel has some interesting decorating. There are several of these on the wall, and I like them. I think I might like them better without the imitation arrowheads, though.

Road Trip

On the road to West Yellowstone with Barrie, Kasey, and 29 dogs, more or less. Barrie is even bringing the dogs that are not on her team so she can make sure they are fed and taken care of.

Colder than &*#@*! Did I spell that right? I hope Kasey and I will be able to watch part of the races, anyway. If not, we will be couch potatoes in the motel room. I really wish Kasey could be there to see her Mom hook up her dogs and start a race. Maybe there will be someone who could give us a ride back to the motel room after we watch for a while and before we freeze.

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This is Dan. She is one of the original kittens whose mother left in my driveway several years ago. I had her and her sister spayed, but not until they had kittens. Anyway, I have not seen Dan since early last spring. She showed up on my front porch this afternoon. Af first she acted totally wild. I fed her, and the next time I opened the door, she came right in and rubbed on my legs and let me pet her. Who can figure? She is fat and healthy looking.


This is the beginning of a colored pencil drawing I did of Dan. It finished it, but I don't seem to have a photograph of it.

Wednesday

So COLD this morning!! If Barrie hadn't already had my pickup started and warming up, I might have been tempted to stay home from art group!

Click on images for a larger view

I posted some pictures of paintings from others in the group earlier, but didn't get pictures taken of Vicky's work. The framed one is an oil painting she did sometime in the past. She is doing such beautiful work.

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I just made motel reservations for three nights in West Yellowstone for the sled dog race. Barrie and Kasey and I will go tomorrow morning.

We are expecting it to be so darned cold that Kasey and I might end up spending a lot of time in the motel room while Barrie is out freezing her you-know-what. So I will be taking my computer, some watercolors and drawing stuff, and some books. I'm not sure what Kasey will need. Books for sure, crayons and paper, and maybe some of her movies on DVD to watch on my computer.

Our furnace didn't come on this morning, and Barrie had to go down and tap the black plastic thingie like they showed us. That is the third time we have had to do that, so I called them this afternoon to come replace the part. Probably won't get it done until next week, because we will be gone until then.

Someone came into the art room at the senior center today and announced that the crows were attacking a red pickup. My first thought was that there were meat scraps in the back from when Barrie trims meat she gets for her dogs. Instead, it was two black plastic garbage bags of cans for the recycling center. A bunch of ravens had gathered and were trying to get into the bags to see if there was anything good in them. Funny birds, but a little spooky, too.

Going on a Wolf Hunt

Hunting with a camera, that is . . . .

This is the carcass the wolves have been working on. We drove close to it to check it out this morning. This horse is wearing the same kind of shoes as the little black horse Barrie brought down yesterday. So it appears the two horses were left or lost up there together. As the little black horse had stayed right in this area, he would have probably been the next meal for the wolves.

Didn't see any wolves this morning, by the way.





Two pictures I took on our drive. There are a couple of inches of snow up there, and we have more snow in town than there is up the Green.

Kasey met the little black mustang this morning. He has several brands on him, and the brand inspector was to come look at him today.