Friday May 25 2007

Barn on Horse Creek Road

8x10 Study/Sketch - Mixed Media

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This little painting was finished and framed recently. When they are not a major piece, I call these small pieces studies or sketches. It started with watercolor, and I added pastel and colored pencil to finish it up. Am taking my prints out to the barn for the art show. And hope some destructive rodents don't get in there. I'm trusting my cats to take care of them. Now I will also need to revise the price list of the prints to reflect the nicely done matting and shrink wrapping. That will involve some computer work and getting a list printed up. I'm thinking of taking the prints to the Green River Rendezvous 2007 Street Art and Craft Fair. You have to rent your "booth space". So a decision will need to made about that soon. I don't much like doing that kind of thing, but now I have all these prints (investment) and need to sell them. My weak point is business/marketing.

It is a dark and dreary morning, with a stiff breeze blowing. Years ago, it would have been raining with this kind of weather, but its iffy whether we'll get any moisture or not. The forecast doesn't call for more than 20% chance of rain all week and supposed to get warmer.

So far all that is planned for today is the usual routine, plus 3 loads of laundry, changing the bed, and later this afternoon we're both going to get some more hay from Tom for Bobbi, so she can be kept in the corral. i.e. I'll drive. Tom lives in Bargerville, between Pinedale and Boulder. The propane man came this morning to fill our tank. Then Joe went out irrigating. I've got my occasional miserable "allergy attack" for lack of a better description.

This is the weekend the Boulter family (see the March 25 entry) is supposed to come to spend a few hours here during their family reunion. The Boulter's were the ones who homesteaded our place in the early years of the 20th century. John Boulter said he would call me to finalize the visit but I haven't heard from him. I had planned to have some refreshments for them, but don't know whether to do that or not, and would need to be working on it tomorrow. I need to look up his letter and see if there is a phone number and maybe call, although they probably would not be there. Maybe they'll just show up. ??

Joe agreed to have a horseshoer come to trim Bobbi and Nube's feet. I need to find a good one and make the arrangements. Joe has always done it all.

Yes we did get some sprinkles of rain.

Thursday May 24 2007

Corral at Sunset

All went well today for our writer's group business meeting, Sublette County Artists Guild. I got got the cake made and everything finished up in time for our meeting. Charm came a little early and helped me finish up. She, Kay and Barbara also helped serve, I'm very grateful for their help. I'm always a little sorry at times like these that I don't have a large table to serve a bunch, however we managed fine with TV trays and holding our plates in our laps. Thirteen of us attended. We had a good meeting and got all the items on the agenda discussed. It took longer than I thought it might, but we had a very productive meeting. I'm proud of the group for all the community service things we are taking on and the way many are volunteering. After the fact, I wish I had taken a picture of the group, but was pretty occupied. We'll have another chance for that. It was so good to see everyone again. Oh yes, nearly forgot to tell you that I'm president of the group again. We all just kept our positions again for the year.

It's been very overcast and chilly all day. Bobbi got herself out of the corral into the yard this evening and we had to catch her and put her back. Fortunately she didn't get into the field or the job would have been a lot more difficult. At least she didn't go wild and try to escape or get to running around the yard or jump the fence. The dogs had to stay in the house so they wouldn't stir her up in the yard to where we couldn't catch her. So that got Sparky bent all out of shape. He was very indignant for quite a while. He thinks he's in charge of everything - the dominant dog. So not much else went on to talk about. I heated up leftover corned beef and cabbage with salad and store bought rolls for our dinner. And we have some of the strawberry cake roll for dessert. I'm ready to put my pjs on.

Wednesday May 23 2007

Tipis at the Museum of the Mountain Man

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We left for Pinedale about 9 a.m. this morning. It was very frosty early and breezy. Stopped first at the post office and was able to say hi for a few minutes to Debbie.

Took Joe right up to the clinic for his blood test but they didn't have any vials? so were getting some from Big Piney and said to come back in the afternoon. We got parts for Joe and this took several stops. His big truck emergency brake drum was sent off to Salt Lake City to be relined. Got gas. Then went to Falers for a few groceries, mostly fresh things. Mushrooms and zucchini looked extra good and I make a casserole we like with those. It has hot Italian sausage in it. I saw Charm in the store. While I was in there I ordered flowers for Mary Caroline.

By then we were just in time for lunch at Rendezvous Pointe - roast beef and scalloped potatoes carrots and homemade rolls. We sat with the Myers and Kellys and I really enjoyed the visiting. Judi had a great opportunity to get some books at a garage sale and I was able to pick a bunch of mostly art books. She will bring them out tomorrow. I can't wait to see them all.

At one we went back to the clinic, but then the blood pressure machine was broken? and he has to wait some more. He didn't get out of the clinic until 2:20 and hardly anyone else (patients) was there. I took the dogs for a nice walk near the Museum and liked the way the tipis looked so took some photos. Went back to get Joe and he was still sitting right where I left him. So I went and emptied the recycling stuff. He was done when I went back the second time. The drive home was pretty. The temperature dropped from 65 on the bank's termperature sign to 47 by the time we got home. It was nearly 4 p.m. when we got here, put groceries away, got a nice phone call from Sheral and Noleen.

Not surprisingly I wasn't feeling ambitious enough to do anything for tomorrow's SCAG business meeting. I never got the cake made yesterday, but I did get the agenda and the new meeting schedule typed up. Since we had such a big dinner at lunch, I made us a french dip sandwich. I worked a little more on my tipi pastel painting and its certainly changed or evolved from when I started it. It may be a keeper. I went out to feed the cats about sunset and took some more sunset photos.

TuesdayMay 22 2007

After The Rain - West

After the Rain - East

Finally.....we had a wonderful rain yesterday that lasted all day long. At 5 p.m. it began a blizzard with snow or freezing rain and wind and that lasted about an hour. Then it began to clear up. It got below freezing last night (have to check that lilac bush), the moisture on the grass was frozen with the drops flashing rainbow colors in the sunrise and all the ponds on the field were frozen. This morning doesn't look like we will get any more, but the forecast is still for rain and snow. Bobbi's corral is a muddy mess.

Snow Yesterday Afternoon - Nube - 5 p.m.

Yesterday I was able to shop online for some more pastel colors - I got all the unison greens and all the lights. And a couple of brushes from Dick Blick. So guess I'm in the pastel painting business for serious. I'll go ahead gradually and get the other colors too. When I did the quick draw at WAA it took a whole $5 stick of white to cover the painting. That was an eye opener.

Oh, I found that file of lost photos. They automatically went into a file I never made called digital photos - sometimes things do make sense. So added a few more down below to go with the messages I took them for. It's a little heavy on pictures, but that's o.k. If you check down through as far as Wednesday the 16th you will see them.

And thank goodness I finally figured out a way not to struggle with the spacing in the blog by searching for the answer. Probably everyone else already knows this, but it is <> with a p in between them ("it" won't let it stay in there to show you) begin paragraph; and < / p > end paragraph (letters with no spaces) and ta-daa everything comes out perfectly. A lot of extra time has been wasted trying over and over to get the photos, paragraphs and spacing to be uniform. Drove me nuts! I have to conform to "it". Though it may not be obeying me and coming out just as I'd like it, at least it will be neater.

Monday May 21 2007

Antelope

This is a painting I did from many years ago

and gave it to Debbie,

maybe for her high school graduation.

Came across it while working on sizing

photos of paintings for my website.

It doesn't actually have the red this strong in the painting.

It's very overcast, 38 degrees and is supposed to be 50% chance of rain and probably snow in the mountains today and tomorrow. Made Joe waffles and ham for breakfast. I have to get a shower and wash my hair. Today I'll get the bills paid online. I even actually enjoy that. Have to call the florists in Pinedale and Green River to get flowers ordered for Memorial Day.

Housecleaning....eehhhh. Cooking....eehhhh. And I'll work on my painting. The clinic is supposed to call with Joe's ekg appointment. I'll have more days away or busy in the next two weeks. Thursday is our first Sublette County Artists Guild business meeting of the year. I'm president and in charge of planning the meeting. Its going to be here and will be at about 2 p.m. My fresh strawberries and cream cake roll sounded like a good plan to have for the dessert and coffee. So in the next couple of days will need to go to the store for some fresh things. It's been a while since I went to the store - May 9 to be exact. Sunday Joe will go to Pinedale to put flowers on his brother's grave there. Then Monday we will go to Green River to the cemetery to put the flowers on Joe's family's graves and maybe see some of his friends. That will probably be a chance for shopping at Walmart. Maybe I can get my bedding flowers there for my pots. Thursday next week I go back to Pinedale for a haircut. Rambling on, aren't I. But I'm drawing a blank for writing anything today. Maybe later there will be something more interesting to talk about.

YESSSS!!!! At 8:50 a.m. its raining. I can hear the rain on my studio roof. Wonderful. Hope it will last a while, we need puddles. Days and days would be good.

It rained steady all day. By 5 p.m. it turned into a blizzard and snowed and blew for nearly an hour then began to let up. It was about 30 degrees by then and breezy.

Sunday May 20 2007

Venus and Luna

This photo I lifted from Spaceweather.com,

where there are more interesting pictures,

and where I read that on the 22nd

Saturn will be next to the moon.

Last night there was a beautiful sight in the Western sky. A crescent moon with Venus just below it. I've seen it a few other times in my life. My grandmother showed me the same thing once when I was about six, but the star was close to the tip of the moon. I've never forgotten that and think it was she who instilled my love of these beautiful things in the universe. It is a special memory standing together in her back yard watching that same moon and star. Now that memory seems as if it could be a sharing and continuity of awesome things passed down from our earliest ancestors. Perhaps when she was little she also stood on a summer night like that with her grandmother. She would be amazed and thrilled at all we can see today in the photos from huge telescopes and that man has walked on that moon.

My Photo of the Moon and Venus in Wyoming

I took photos of the moon and venus, and quite a few other things during the last several days, and then downloaded them off the card and thought I put them where I usually file them, but couldn't find them anywhere. So that is why I lifted the photo of spaceweather.com's photo of the moon and venus. (Days later I did find the file with the photos.)

Yesterday we had some thunder and hard wind again, with another 10 drops of rain. It got up over 70 but still felt cool. Sparky was terrorized by the thunder, but we are working on ignoring all that instead of consoling him. It seems he is a little better than he used to be, but while I try to ignore him, Joe holds him on his lap. So much for that theory. Today the morning was gorgeous, but by afternoon clouding up again and very windy.

Joe has nearly everything out of the shed where the cats live, so I've raked the ground in there while I could get to it and cleaned the place up. Also am watering the yard - it needs water badly. I can't believe how dry it is for the middle of May. I have lost three of my nice plants, all dead, and I'm sure it was because of that very long cold spell we had with 40 below for so long. They had done well for three summers. BUT!!! .....It looks like my 30 year old knee high lilac bush is going to bloom for the first time!!! (I would not be one bit surprised if it froze and killed the blossoms now.) I put three of them in when we bought the ranch from Joe's dad and this is the only one left.

Since I had several new paintings to hang I worked on reorganizing the Art Show in the Barn this afternoon. It is ready now if people want to come and see the artwork. I will have quite a few more new pieces to be framed too. Presently I'm working on a pastel painting of a tipi, which is not going well, but I intend to persevere.

Today I changed the sheets and did two loads of laundry. We had rib steak and onion roasted potatoes for dinner. We share one steak, so there is only one bone any more and I have to keep track of whose turn it is to get the bone, not an easy task. Raven got it tonight and it was really big and juicy. Her eyes were huge when she saw it. Sparky knows the routine and expects special scraps in his bowl if he doesn't get the bone - they are so funny.

Sorry I didn't feel up to going in to the dance recital last night so I hope I will have another chance to see Connie and Bernie soon. Maybe we can have lunch some day when they are in Pinedale again.

Saturday May 19 2007

View Toward the Big Sandy High Country Across Leckie's

The faint road lower left center is the Oregon Trail

and the one going up the distant hill goes to Big Sandy Openings

1955 International Stock Truck

Mechanic King Again

Joe's working on his old yellow stock truck. He's taking out the drive line, I think he said. He has two tractors and four trucks to maintain. Between his mechanic-king on all his equipment and irrigating he's been spending a lot of time outside in the nice weather. Then its watching the NBA playoffs, but most of that is with his eyes closed.

Yesterday afternoon I spent some enjoyable time working in my photo program and printing out a lot of prints for painting reference. Now to see what I do with them.

Yesterday I gave both dogs a bath and then brushed them out, the entire day of spa treatment. What an improvement and I bet they feel lots better. Raven is not lady-like at all and gets totally muddy, full of dirt and filthy, frequently snacks on horse manure. Sparky wasn't a lot better. It was a new experience because for the first time I bathed them in the bath tub. This is because I can no longer lift them into the utility room sink. The double sink is the perfect place to wash them because, once they are in there, there is no bending over. But the bad part is I have to lift them in and out. Also the hose with a sprayer I had wore out and I've never gotten another one, so it was the tub or the hose in the yard. Sparky was first into the bath tub. And he didn't want to get in but with encouragement he did and we got the job done. He loves to have a bath. Raven came in a few times to see what was going on. Draped with a towel to catch any unallowed shaking off, Sparky carefully jumped out of the tub and I led him with the leash to the back door and turned him loose outside to dry.

Later... after I rested... it was Raven's turn. She never comes in the bathroom much, and was scared to death of the prospect of getting into that white "pond". It took about 10 minutes of encouragement and me in the tub sweet talking and trying to get her to jump in. She weighs about 70-80 pounds now, (and Sparky is 65). Have you ever tried to move an 80 pound dog who doesn't want to budge?? She was glued prostrate to the linoleum saying "Mom ask me to go in any bottomless mud bog full of anacondas and I will go, but pulleeze....not the white pond!!" So at one opportune moment when she stood up from cringing on the floor, I grabbed her around the middle and got her front legs in and cutting her off from getting out, shoved her back end in too. Oh..... that wasn't so bad after all.... and of course she loves the scrubbing and attention. I couldn't believe the icky dark brown water and all the floating hair in our tub. When she was all rinsed off, and had the towel draped over her she daintily stepped out with never a shake and out the back door. So maybe there is hope that next time she will jump into the tub for me.

Well of course the whole bathroom needed to be cleaned and mopped up. I think I clogged the drain and have to work on that today. Then a washer full of sopping towels and the rug was run. Wish I'd gotten photos of them being bathed, but I had my hands full, so maybe next time. Later that evening I brushed out big wads of loose hair from them both. They fight over whose turn it is for that procedure and I have to keep ordering one of them back from trying to get under the brush so I can get the first one done. And Raven just cannot hold still. She is more wiggly than any dog I've ever had. I just sort of keep taking swipes with the brush as she passes by and eventually have brushed the whole dog. Still to do is to clip Raven's toenails, which also scares her to death. She shakes like a leaf through that whole horrid operation.

Yesterday evening I was invited to go to a dance recital in town tonight, but not sure I'm feeling up to going and driving home about 10 p.m. I'm spending the day considering what exactly to do, so that's iffy. Connie, who bought the lodge from us, called and invited me or us, as her granddaughter is in the recital and she wanted me to come and see them. What are the chances of Joe going? I'll let you know.