I'm through with the watercolor cowboy. This is the first watercolor portrait I've ever been able to paint. I think it's because I always tried to make a painting look like someone I know. This is from a photo I took years ago of a stranger at the Winter Carnival. That's sure a motley looking beard.

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For some reason, Blogger won't let me put text above a picture any more.

My novel is over 50,00 words now, so the pressure is off. But my hero is in prison in Texas, and I don't have a clue what prison life is like. I've got to get him through ten years of prison life before he can become successful in life and go out and find a girlfriend (or maybe get a dog.)

Maybe I should shorten his sentence?

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Now playing on my iPod, Glenn Campbell, "Rhinestone Cowboy".

Gina, when Michael was in first grade, he used to bring his Glenn Campbell record to school and we would play "Rhinestone Cowboy". Wonder if he remembers that?

KC is a musher!

A musher is born! She is standing on the runners behind the sled.

Barrie put Kasey on the sled today with Scortch (I think), and poor Scortch was terrified, but Kasy was delighted. She says she wants to do it again, again, and again.I think we have another musher in the family!

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Didn't finish the painting yesterday like I said I would. Maybe today.

I am SO close to the goal of 50,000 words to finish the novel. I'm at 47,000 words now. Not that the novel will be finished, but it means I can have a free "proof" copy of what I've written. I'm kind of at a standstill right now. My hero is about to hit and kill a pedestrian and is going to spend about ten years in a prison in Texas. And I know nothing about prison life. So need to do some research.

Saturday

Tracy called yesterday. They went to their condo in Florida for Thanksgiving. She said they were going to watch the lighting of the St. Petersburg Christmas tree. She sent me this picture. It was 75 degrees there. She wore shorts.

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Culinary experience extraordinaire this morning! I had Barrie get me some bologna at the store yesterday. I've been having a craving for it.

Barrie and KC had sausage and hot cakes for breakfast. I had a bologna sandwich on Wonder Bread.

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Kat just came upstairs with half a plastic Easter egg, a bright orange one. Wonder where she keeps finding this stuff?

Today - write 2,000 words and finish the cowboy painting. I swear I will get it done.

I wonder if Rollie ever played on this course?

Friday

Once again, I am offering my services to help you put up your Christmas lights. I posted this picture last year with my offer. I can't understand why no one called!

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Barrie, Kasey and I ate Thanksgiving Dinner at the Stockmen's last night. No cooking and no cleanup! Connie was our waitress, what a nice treat to see her. I taught her in first grade, and then taught all three of her kids. Hmmm, she looks about 16 now.!Terry was also working, and got a nice hug from her too.

No wind to speak of today. Nice.

I started the painting of a cowboy in a hat yesterday, and am going to work on it again today. Also need to write some words.

Damned Wind

Happy Thanksgiving, Everybody!

This is a great Calvin cartoon.

Interesting picture I found on the Internet.

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The wind is so nasty. I can't get warm this morning. Love winter, like the snow, hate the wind.

I lived in Casper once. Maybe it was worse there, but it sure seems like the wind blows a lot here. My friend Lenore showed us how to identify someone who lived in Casper. They walk leaning into the wind. Whether it's blowing or not, they lean.

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Now playing on XM Radio, Dierks Bentley "What Was I Thinking."

I love that song. I think I knew that guy back in my younger days.

Wednesday

This buck is looking a little tired. He has been chasing does up and down the ditchbank behind my house. Don't know where his girls were when he showed up yesterday. He walked up into the trees and started thrashing his antlers around, breaking off small branches. Then he wandered off.


KC hung out with me yesterday afternoon while Barrie finished a house she was cleaning. She brought her snacks and water up. She entertained me with her "Scarlett O'hara" persona, rolling her eyes, tilting her head, and flipping her hand, telling me someone was just "soooo stupid". I won't say who.

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Ahh, self discipline. Of course I can do it. I have been kind of wanting a new camera. The new DSLR cameras will take videos. I really want one. So here is the deal I am making with myself. If I can sell two cameras and some accessories on EBay, I can have the new one.

I think Kat has forgiven me for taking away her new climbing "tree". It gives her a perfect view of the bird feeder, which has been busy lately.

And Kasey is enjoying the little table and chairs downstairs. I didn't get a picture of her "working", but she's been busy.

Kasey, on her way out to feed dogs this morning. She has a new stuffed dog, not new, I guess, but Barrie just got it out. It has a harness. I think it's snarling at me.

I notice Kasey isn't wearing any pants. Hmmm. I presume they were in the pickup.

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Just made a decision this morning that has made me calm and relaxed. I asked Barrie if she wanted to go out to eat dinner Thursday, and she does. There will be just the two of us. I called the Stockmens. They are open until noon, then again from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM. Perfect!

Now playing on XM Radio, Montgomery Gentry,"Back When I Knew it All."

Monday

I need to be careful when I mention I want to move a table. Before I could give it a second thought, Barrie had this table upstairs and had taken the little table and chairs set down to the living room. As you can see, I don't have the clutter cleaned up where I want to put it - under the windows. Have to finish sorting magazines and do something with the books.


But now I can't put the table down. The cat thinks it's a tree, and that we brought it upstairs just for her.

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A friend sent me this photo - thought I would share it.

As usual, the NWS (National Weather), was far off in their predictions. They forecast 12 to 15 inches of snow in the valleys. I think we might have an inch or two.

Sunday

Now playing on my iPod, Buffy Sainte Marie, "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee".

I just moved my braided rug upstairs today. It's been in the living room downstairs and I never spend any time there. My Mom gave me this rug for Christmas about ten years ago, I think. I love braided rugs, so this one is now up here where I can enjoy it.

I've got a long, antique table downstairs I think I will move up here too. It used to be under the window up here, and I'm not sure why I moved it downstaris.

I have a small child's table and chairs up here. If I move them downstairs, Kasey would get more use out of them, and I could have my old table.

I have debated about the downstairs desktop computer. I've already had it repaired once. By the time I pay for a second repair job, I will have spent as much as if I had bought a new one. The only reason I am ordering a Dell is because I have the monitor, keyboard, mouse and speakers to go with it.

Friday

Now playing on XM Radio "The Jack Benny Show".

I found this in my basement the other day. It's done on a piece of mat board with a ball point pen. I did it in 1972 and it is signed "Duene LeClair".

I have a copy of "Song of Hiawatha" and most of the the margins on the pages have small pen and ink drawings by Frederick Remington. They're wonderful. I used one as reference for this pen and ink "pointillism". I've never read the whole poem- just can't quite get through it, and the drawings are too distracting.

A Visit From Dan

I heard Chloe meowing on the front porch this morning, and when I opened the door, Dan darted in the house in front of Chloe. Their mother left these two in my driveway in 1966, still pretty small. They were wild then, but food works wonders.

After several litters of kittens, in self defense, I had them both spayed. Then they just disappeared. Chloe has been hanging around some, but I hadn't seen Dan for about a year until this morning. She is in good shape - Probably has another home somewhere. Cats are very fickle.

Dan, the one with the tail.

Chloe and Dan enjoying Kat's canned cat food.

Taken in the summer of 1966. They were still pretty wild. (Roger just pointed out that they would be 44 years old if they were born in 1996. Oops! I guess I meant 2006.)



I did a colored pencil drawing of Dan.

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Downstairs destop Dell computer won't boot up. Ever since I had it repaird and Mike installed Windows 7, it has wanted to boot from the CD drive. I could go to "setup" and change it, but it would never hold that setting. This morning I can't get it to boot at all.

I want to find someone who can come here to fix it. The CPU weighs a ton. Barrie had to take it to Rendezvous Pointe the last time I had it repaired, and we had to pick it up there.

I don't use that computer a lot - I use my laptop upstairs, but it has a beautiful 24" monitor, nice for editing photos.

Wednesday Art

Now playing on XM Radio, Dan Seals, Marie Osmond - "Meet Me in Montana".

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Just learned not too long ago that Dan Seals died. He left us some great music

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Vicky rearranged the walls in the art room today, and it looks great. We have lots of portraits up.

These are Vicky's portraits

This is Vicky's too. It has plastic on it and reflected so badly from the window that it was hard to photograph. I finally took it at an angle. How about those eyes! Great.

Vicky moved my work all together on one wall. I only have one portrait. I started a new one today, set it up on the easel across the room to look at it, and went off and left it. Maybe someone with a lot of talent will come along and finish it!

Tuesday

Now playing my iPod, Tom T. Hall, "Faster Horses".

Well, I did ask for snow. But I sort of forgot to order snow that came down, not sideways. I don't think any of this snow hit the ground until it got to Rock Springs. And it only lasted about 30 minutes.

I must be getting to be an old timer here. I can remember when the wind didn't blow in Pinedale!

KC has been to dance class today. Barrie took her for ice cream afterwards. I think Kasey's hair is another inch longer than it was yesterday.

Monday

Now playing on XM, Tim McGraw, "Living on Refried Dreams".

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I've been looking through my new book of William Matthews watercolor cowboys. Love the way he paints hats. Anyway, I kept thinking I had done a pencil drawing of a cowboy, way back in the past. So I went on a search in my basement (the scariest place on earth) and sure enough, found this guy lurking down there. It's about 11x 14. I really think I could draw better back then than I do now.

This guy was standing talking to Stan Murdock while watching the team weight pull at one of winter carnivals we used to have. I took his picture. Have no idea who he is. Wonder if I could do a watercolor and put a Williams Matthews type hat on him?

I found this pencil drawing in the basement too.

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Ah, success in the kitchen! I made a big pot of potato soup last night. That's a little hard to ruin. Leslie (my stepdaughter) called me not long ago and asked me if I put noodles in my potato soup. (I do.) That's the way Leslie's and Tracy's dad made it, and we decided he learned it from her Grandmother, his mother-in-law.

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Roger asked about Kat. Really, she is totally harmless. Once in a while KC gets scratched, but usually Kat doesn't even have her claws out. I think her weird behavior stems from the fact that she never had litter mates to play with. She will race across the floor and leap through the air and land on my foot, and act like she is tearing me apart.

Saturday

Life can be tough for a sled dog in Wyoming. Barrie took this picture on her training run. It makes me laugh. They are using whatever snow they can find.

Somebody has decreed next Wednesday as "Unfriendly Day." It's the day you are to go through your Facebook Friends list and "unfriend" a bunch of them.

Barrie didn't get mouse traps when she went to the store last week. I decided I would get them at Ridley's today. First I took stuff to the recycling center. Then I bought a few groceries. And forgot all about the mouse traps and came home without them.

Wake up and get to work, Kat!

Friday

Absolutely nothing to post today. So I found an old photo I got onthe Internet several years ago. Some photographer got lucky, and took lots of photographs of some polar bears in Churchill in a dog lot. They were playing with the dogs.

Just noticed today that my Christmas cactus is covered with buds. I don't know why it blooms for me. I know they don't like a lot of moisture, but it's ridiculous to let them go a month or more without water.

A very blah day. Cold and windy, no sign of snow. Don't feel like painting, and don't feel like reading. And the cat is attacking her tail with a vengeance. Maybe I'll watch a movie.

Wednesday

Now playing on XM Nashville Taylor Swift "Mine."

My William Matthews book came today. I love this guy's work.

This book was selling new on Amazon for over $200. Yikes! I got a used one for $15, and it looks new to me. Even still has the dust jacket.

Our ranks are thinning in our art group. Nancy is a snow bird and has flown south. Rollie and Judi are on their way south. Pam is going to be gone to Hawaii for two weeks.

And I want SNOW!

Tuesday

Definitely top on my "To Do" list today - find the manual that came with my clock/radio/iPod player. It used to turn the iPod on at 12:30 every day. Now it has an annoying alarm that goes off at 8:00 AM, then keeps going off during the day. And the time is wrong.



KC at dance class. Interesting how they all seem to be doing something different. Kasey is just grinning at her Mom. This is great, but I hope she doesn't forget her dance moves to the hard rock music!



Something else on my wall, one of my favorites. It's a little handmade cross from the Mission San Juan Capistrano. Tracy and Paul and I visited the mission when we were in California. A lot of stuff in the gift shop was pretty commercial and "touristy". But this little cross was made by a local Indian "Marcos." The mission is a beautiful place.

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I am dubbing another copy of a VCR tape to a DVD. Did one yesterday. So frustrating. I can do the exact same thing I did yesterday, and the machine does something different.

Monday

I have no new pictures, except for things hanging on my wall. (Yawn). So I stole a couple of Barrie's pictures today of her training run this morning.

Holy Cow! Who Let the Dogs Out? That's lot of dogs.

Dog butts - view from the sled.

This enameled metal piece is hanging in my upstairs bathroom.

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I seem to remember a weather forecast that said we had a 70% chance of snow today. I saw an old Beverly Hillbillies show where Granny had a cricket in a box to predict weather. Maybe the weather service needs a cricket.

Wall Art

Now playing on XM Radio Faron Young, "Hello Walls".

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Now that's an old song. I was living in Casper when it was popular, and I think I had just broken up with a boyfriend. I remember the song, but not the boyfriend.

I love this enamaled metal stuff. This is a sun which I bought when I remodeled upstairs. It is on the wall above the stairs. When I saw this, I knew it was exactly what I wanted for that spot. It's about 30" wide.

I have several Kokopelli items. I don't know where Tracy got this switch plate cover, but she didn't want it and brought it to me.

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I have found a home for my old Southwest Art magazines. Yay! I sure hated to just throw them in the bin at the recycling center. Terry H. wants them. I also found someone who wants my old Pastel Journals. If I don't declutter and get rid of some old magazines, the floor is going to cave in.

Tried a very small painting of a hat today. I liked the colors I mixed, but now I'm not sure which colors I used.

I am listening to the Nashville chanel on XM radio this morning and was enjoying the music until I realized the Nashville chanel has commercials!! No, no, change quick!

Watched a funny movie last night, "Beer for my Horses". Toby Keith plays the part of a red neck small town deputy sheriff in Oklahoma, with some comical coherts. Willie Nelson is in it too.

Writing the novel is not as much fun as it was last year. I took a couple of writing courses, and that kind of took the fun out of it.

Thursday

Now playing on my iPod Marty Robbins "The Hanging Tree".


Barrie took KC down to Tara Bolgiana for a Halloween photo. Tara is an old (I mean former) student of mine and is a very talented photographer. Her studio (and home) are right across the street from me. It was very busy that day, as Tara invites the public in for free Halloween pictures.

Check her work out at her web site.



Another funny picture from the Internet. This makes me giggle. It was a windy day in Ireland.

Maybe you remember the "boot tree" in Montana I photographed. This picture is of a Texas style "boot tree".

I ordered a book of William Matthews watercolors of cowboy portraits. The price for a new one on Amazon was over $200. I found a used one for $15.

Thursday

Now Playing on my iPod, R. W. Hampton "The Buffalo Skinners"

I got a new CD yesterday, old fashioned type cowboy music, R. W. Hampton. Nice and relaxing. Probably won't see any of his songs in the top 20 country and western music. He's recorded about a dozen albums and won lots of awards. I copied them to my computer and have them on my iPod.

Pam and I were discussing the art work of William Matthews yesterday. I was surprised when I got the CD. William Matthews did the painting for the CD case.

Found a couple of cute dog pictures on the Internet.

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We filled up the art room yesterday. There were ten of us there. Lots of fun. I think I was the only one there who didn't accomplish anything except ruin one sheet of water color paper.

Wednesday

Charm sent me e-mail, wanting to know the name of the town. It's Shoshoni.

After posting the pictures of the abandoned main street, I thought I would post something pretty. The Shoshoni church is on the highway through town. There is a house right next to it that was the minister's house. I don't think they have a minister in residence now. One comes over from Riverton, maybe.

I think this little church has been designated a national historic site.




Another gourmet dish comes out of my kitchen - and then straight to the garbage.

When will I ever learn to just eat frozen pizza and TV dinners? I browned some hamburger and chopped onions, I put in mixed vegetables, tomato sauce, some beef granuals, salt and pepper. I peeled one potato and cut into half inch cubes. I put it in the crock pot for 7 hours. I even made dumplings and dropped on the top the stew at the end. It smelled so good.

The damned potatoes were still raw! So I put it all in a pan on the stovetop, and simmered it for another hour. The potatoes were still hard. Those little cubes should have been mush by that time.

I had one potatoe left in the sack, and that is in the garbage too. What the heck was wrong with the potatos?

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I did get about 4,000words written for the NaNoWriMo . There are about 157,000 people taking part in this, and they have so far collectively written more than 55 million words. The people in larger places get together in places like Starbucks and all write together. Not sure if I would even want to do that. I'd rather sit at home in my pajamas with a beer by my side.

King Kasey

Meet King Kasey, who came home with a bunch of candy last night. Barrie made the scepter with cardboard and duct tape. Can't live without that duct tape! I'm not sure where she found the robe. Food Basket would be my first guess.

Barrie and Kasey made the crown with cardboard, stickers, buttons, and a lot of glue. Pretty creative.

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Heard on the radio that a woman was not buying Halloween treats. Instead, she was going to clean out her refrigerator and give away left overs. She thought green fuzzy stuff would be appropriate

I'm supposed to be starting on my 50,000 words for NaNoWriMo this morning, Nevember lst. It's almost 11:00 and I haven't written a word yet.

I got a good sized pile of paper ready to throw away last night. Then the cat got in it, and it is kind of scattered.

I found directions for how to use duct tape and WD40. If it's supposed to move and it doesn't, use WD40. If it's not supposed to move and it does, use duct tape.