Sunday - to Jackson

Barrie and Kasey and I went to Jackson today to the locker plant to pick up meat scraps for the dogs. It rained all the way, and started to snow on us on the way home. We had a couple inches of new snow at home to greet us! It's so pretty.

We went to KMart before the locker plant, and got lots of stuff. Kasey has some new clothes (she outgrows things so fast) and nice warm pajamas. I'm not sure what else we got - paper towels, TP, computer paper, etc.

There were quite a few magpies and ravens hanging out at the locker plant. They wait for pickups to come in with something in the back. As they are so busy, most people have to wait for a while, which gives the birds a chance to get at their game.

This old tractor is in Bondurant, and Barrie stopped today for me to photograph it. Looks like a good subject for a painting.

I Don't Need This!

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Isn't this just what we need? The cat I call "Ugly Cat" brought two kittens home today. They came right up on the porch with her and ate some cat food. Barrie thinks that maybe she can catch them (wearing welding gloves) then trap the mother. Then hopefully Julie can find them a nice barn somewhere.

On the other hand, she might take them off somewhere and we will never see any of them again, but I doubt it. The kittens could be tamed, and Ugly is almost tame. She will come in the dining room if the door is left open, and she rubs on my legs. I think if I could ever get her to let me pet her just once, she would love it.

I have put the little "Snickers" colored pencil drawing back for a while. I may not even finish it. Now I have started a colored pencil drawing of "Lucy", one of Barrie's sled dogs.

Barrie fixed corned beef hash and fried eggs this morning. It was a late breakfast, so I was actually up and ate with them. Kasey didn't eat much, and then took a nap.

We are planning to go to Jackson tomorrow for another load of meat from the locker plant.

I have an article I got from somewhere called "And They Ask Why I Like Retirement".

Question: Among retirees what is considered formal attire?
Answer: Tied shoes.

Question: What do you do all week?
Answer: Mon to Fri. Nothing, and on Sat & Sun I rest.

Friday

Now that I have a template set up to print cards fairly easily, I am trying to get one or two packets printed every day. Here is part of what I got done this morning. Using Microsoft Word only requires a couple extra steps from what I did with Microsoft Publisher. But I never did get Publisher to print correctly on this new paper.



I have been trying to get photos of the Chickadees coming in to feed at the suet feeder at my window.

But with the help of Kat, I won't be getting any pictures. I had the window open, and it's a wonder she didn't fall out.

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It's been getting downright cold at night lately. It's been cool enough that Barrie doesn't have to get up at 5:00 to go on her training runs. She is running the dogs on 12 mile runs now, and thinks she has a 15 mile trail figured out.

I put new sheets on my bed this week and washed the duvet cover. I haven't stuffed the down comforter back in the duvet yet. It's a big job. I guess that must be why I don't wash it very often!

Wet Wednesday

I woke up this morning to a beautful rain and a very wet world. The rain made all the fall colors more intense. It snowed a little bit, and maybe we will get some more tonight that will stick.



This is my old lantern that I am putting in a painting, but wanted a picture of it in natural light with some wood in the background, because I wasn't sure what to do with the glass.

Would you believe I searched this house all over before I could find a nail so I could hang it on my front porch? Since I got the picture taken, I have remember a couple more places where there are nails, like in a coffee can in the garage. Geez! Everybody has nails, don't they (and duct tape and WD40?)





The crowds have certainly thinned out in Yellowstone. This was the web cam at Old Faithful about 7:00 tonight. It always seems to get dark here sooner than it does at Old Faithful.

I worked on my cat painting in art group today, but didn't get much done. I really need to practice painting animal hair on scrap paper before I attempt to do it for real.

Dog gone bad

This is the colored pencil drawing of "Snickers" I have been working on, but something went terribly wrong with her mouth. I don't know if it can be fixed or not. Colored pencils are very unforgiving.

Just a couple of photos of my yard and the hillside, showing the fall colors. The leaves are coming down thick today, and it is distracting. On the other hand, maybe I'll just watch them and not do anything else!!

Tried to print some new cards today on the new paper. It isn't working! The other cards were two to a page, on a regular 8 1/2 x 11 inch piece of paper. They were easy to run through the printer. These new ones should be easy - one card to a page, and the paper is 5 1/2 x 8 1/2. But I can't get my printers set up right to work with Microsoft Publisher templates for cards. Guess I will have to design my own template.

Monday

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Tracy sent me this picture she took yesterday of a bird sitting on their deck. She thought it was an immature Golden Eagle. I don't know if that's what it is or if it is a hawk of some kind. I think the board it is sitting on is a 2" x 6" - so is it big enough to be an eagle? Does anyone else know what it is?



I'm not sure if I ever posted a picture of the view from Paul and Tracy's deck in Colorado. This is three photos "stitched" together. I think if I lived there, I would sit and stare out the glass doors all day!

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I had planned on finishing a drawing today, but somehow never got in the mood for it. Instead, I did some kitchen/dishwasher stuff, some garbage out of the basement and refrigerator, did some laundry, and my favorite of all jobs, cleaned the cat's litter box.

Barrie got all the meat from the locker plant cooked up and put away - in her freezer, I assume. We will go again next Sunday for another load. She said all the cats showed up at the garage door while she was cooking.

Meat and Groceries

The Locker Plant in Jackson

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Barrie and I went to Jackson today to get wild game meat scraps from the locker plant. She brought home about 8 five gallon buckets full of scraps. Lots of meat. She has a big gas cooker with her 40 gallon pot in the garage, and is cooking it right now. I can smell it upstairs. It's not a bad smell, but is not making me hungry!

We went to Smith's before we got the meat, and I bought a bunch of groceries. I still like to get meat at Specialty Meats, but I did buy some in Jackson today. Anything to keep from having to go to Ridley"s!

Jackson was a madhouse. We were going to eat lunch some place nice - one place was closed, and there were absolutely no places to park anywhere near Bubba's, Wendy's, and The Virginian. We ended up at the Dairy Queen on the south side of town. Not a bad lunch, but fast food is fast food.

The trees driving through the Hoback were beautiful, especially around The Rim. But I didn't even take any pictures.

Cleaning, organizing, sorting, finishing some projects and trashing some! Today I worked in my studio reorganizing and sorthing things. I put clean plastic on the top of the watercolor table, and put things away that have been cluttering the place up. A nice feeling. I think I finished the old cabin that needed some work on it, and maybe finished a painting of my cat.

i went through the pile of reference photos I had on the art table, and shoved a lot of them into the drawer with the big file. Now I have to go through all those photos, and I know I will be throwing a bunch of them out.

I could not find my addresses file on my computers - none of them, including the laptop Barrie uses. I dragged out my old laptop that we don't use any more, and found the file on it. Yeah! I don't know why it didn't get moved with all the other documents.

Pink Sky

I am still thinking about the beautiful early morning skies, and took a break from cleaning today and painted this. I was happy with the sky color, but shouldn't have put so much dark grey on the left side. I think I will try more of these.

Plein Air Painting

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Kelly Park

Plein Air Painting

The Artist at Work



Potty Training, Wyoming Style

Barrie and Kasey and I drove up to Elkheart Park this afternoon. The fall colors were beautiful, but there are so many beetle killed trees that it is sad. We stopped at Kelly Park for Kasey and me to do some plein air painting.

Kasey really enjoyed painting outside, and loved her new set of watercolors. She used black a lot - I don't use black, so she thought that was pretty neat.

I am a lousy plein air artist - I just ended up with a mess, but it is still fun.

Had a "skunk alarm" go off about 8:00 last night. Jarvi and Shorty started barking in the back yard, and we immediately got the strong odor. Brought the dogs in, and smelled it a while, but it seems to be clear now, so I guess the dogs didn't get sprayed.

Thursday

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This is a drawing I did some time ago on dark grey paper with graphite and probably a white pastel pencil. I've always liked it, and don't know why I've never photographed it before. I don't always have good luck saving the whites in my watercolors, so colored paper and white pencils are really nice to use.

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I hope Barrie and I can get our act together this afternoon. We haven't yet taken our drive up Skyline. Hopefully, this afternoon. Kasey went to the doctor this morning with another ear infection. She is on allergy medicine now for a while. She doesn't feel bad, and she now has her own watercolors to take out for plein air painting. Should be fun!

I ruined the watercolor greeting card I started on yesterday. I saved the back of the card for a small painting and threw the rest away.

Early this morning (and most mornings), the sky was a beautiful golden-peach color. Instead of finishing something I have already started, I have begun a new one trying to show the early morning sky. I think I got the color pretty close, maybe not quite bright enough. Now I have to put something on the horizon and the foreground.

Judi and Lenore both bought a packet of my greeting cards yesterday. That gave me a good feeling. But if I am going to keep making them, I need to make some plans on marketing them. I'm not good at that sort of thing.