Friday June 22 2007

Sunset Thursday Through A Plume of Smoke

The Horse Creek fire, burning in the Wyoming Range west of Daniel, went from 30 acres around 2:30 PM to 560 acres by 8:00 PM Thursday afternoon. Fire crews from the U.S. Forest Service, a Type III helicopter, and 9 wildland fire engines from Sublette County are currently on the blaze. More crews and equipment have been ordered and are on the way. There are pictures and a story on http://www.pinedaleonline.com/. Its about 65 or 70 miles WNW of here. Not sure if there have been others, but this is probably the first fire this spring. Its very dry. It got pretty smoky here this afternoon.

I painted a small study of trees yesterday afternoon and think its worth framing. Will tweak it a little more. Boy the moths are thick right now. After dark hundreds are just banging on the screen. Rather disgusting actually.

Thursday June 21 2007

Blackie Welch

The photo today is of an old friend who has since passed on. He loved camping and being in the outdoors. Joe and Blackie really got along good. Edna Earle was a special friend too. Such nice folks. She lives in Texas now and that's where the painting is. That's Edna Earle sitting on his shoulder waiting at camp for him to come back from fishing! This is one of the images I used for submitting to the Governors' Portrait Project. So thought it might be good to put on the blog today.

This is the first day of summer, and its really the most lovely day. Windows are wide open. Cicadas are humming (unless that's my ears ringing) and the meadowlark is singing its heart out. A grasshopper sparrow is also adding his music. The curlews soar past every now and then, with their beautiful soft whistle. I love to see them with a huge long bill and their cinnamon color.

This morning I worked on the email for a while as usual. Gloria wrote about her trip to visit kids and grand kids in Twin Falls and Debbie wrote about their trip to Curtis' family reunion in Kansas, so I really enjoyed sitting with my tea and reading about their trips. Seems like they really did a lot of fun and interesting things in a few days. Wish I had gone over to Twin Falls to be with Gloria there, sounds like a nice visit.

Don't know how interested you are in the things I should be doing but am not, - this is the second day of the SCAG writer's contest for kids, this time in Big Piney. I'm not going. Its better left to someone who knows what they are doing.

A lot of Gloria's family will be getting together again this weekend - this time in Prescott AZ. Gloria is going. Sounds like Beverly will go to visit her cousin, Gloria's daughter Donna, who lives there and has planned the weekend. They are getting better acquainted again after all these years and that's wonderful. They were together a lot when they were kids, and then life happened. And quite a few of the rest of the family and friends may also go for the weekend, except for me. I'm not going. It's even further than Twin Falls. Beverly is leaving on the trip tomorrow morning.

This afternoon I ordered two medium sized print racks online from Dick Blick to use when I have the booth to sell my prints at Rendezvous time. They will be a great help to have for the Art Show in the Barn too. Of course I took that opportunity to order some more art supplies. I really like this online shopping experience, sitting here in my chair and spending money.

Wednesday June 20 2007

Red Poppy Green Bug

Haiku Verse

by Lynn Thomas

Like a flock of red
birds in a gusty breeze fly
scarlet poppy petals

Whoop-de-doo!! Made the deadline for the Governors' Portrait Project. I guess I proved I'm still an artist and not a computer professional though. Still I think the presentation looked pretty nice. And I think the images are on the CD. I never count my chickens before they are hatched, but will continued to think positive and see what happens. Wish me luck!!

So about 11:30 took the envelope out to the mailbox. It will be postmarked today, the deadline. It's beyond my comprehension why I didn't get it done earlier. At the UPS box there were two ground squirrels and Sparky and Raven each got one. Raven nabbed hers right away. Sparky's gave him quite a chase. Sparky must have gotten bit by his, he yipped, spit it out, and then went right back to the fray, but today there are two less varmints on Big Sandy to Elkhorn Road. They swam on the way back in the creek and again in the ditch and are tuckered out flat in the yard sleeping now.

Isn't the crimson poppy spectacular! They grow like weeds here, and have too many in their bed. Its amazing how all those huge petals unfold out of that small pod.

Saw the hawk's nest in the tree, and as it has for a while, it sure looks abandoned. Wish I knew if they got their young ones raised or not. If so, they must be out soaring somewhere. That reminds me I saw a totally black hawk several times in the last while. And don't tell me its probably a raven or a crow. It has flown by quite close a number of times, and may be a melanistic peregrine falcon. Falcons are becoming more common lately and reclaiming their place in the environment. They aren't nice to have near your bird feeder though.

Windows are open. Ice tea tastes especially good. All the housework and laundry is waiting for me to do. Got our lunch over with, potato salad and grilled ham and cheese sandwiches. Now will get to work cleaning this place up, and maybe spend some of the afternoon out in the yard again. And later its time to pay the bills on line. Joe has gone out irrigating with the dogs.

Had a very nice surprise come in the mail Monday. Nancy sent me a very big very beautiful lightweight blue outdoor self watering pot. I'll shop for a nice plant for it, and then take a picture to show you. Thank you for your thoughtfulness dear friend Nancy. I love it and you too. At the same time Joe got his Father's Day gifts from the kids, real Vermont maple syrup and some blueberry and raspberry preserves. Thank you guys very much, he's already enjoying it every day, and asked for the homemade waffles this morning. I rarely have those kinds of things for breakfast, opting for whole grain cereal or my favorite avocado on toast, but did this morning just so I could try the syrup and it is light and delicious.

Tuesday June 19 2007

Skulls on Tree in Muddy Canyon

The visit yesterday with the Barn Door ladies went well and I got images they wanted sorted and sized and emailed off to them in the afternoon. The contractor and another person have to approve us after they see the photos. They want large paintings. But I was surprised they want generic Wyoming landscapes, no wildlife or western, so take that subject matter out and doing the paintings should be quite easy.

Yesterday afternoon was spent getting portraits I've done scanned and properly sized for the governor's portrait project submission. So that pretty much filled my day, just working on those two things. Today I had planned to do the required cover letter, bios, list of info about each portrait and hopefully I can come up with enough reference letters from past things I have. This morning I began to work on getting the images onto a CD and my CD program kept saying it wouldn't work, and that there was no CD in the slot etc. so I gave up and didn't go any further doing cover letters and copies of stuff. But later tried again and figured out that it was actually putting stuff on the CD and still saying it wasn't, so now there's two sets on there. I got rather upset about the program actually. Its the first time I've tried using the CD writer on the new computer and it didn't work. (Dreading a call to the tech guy in India!) The submission needs to be postmarked tomorrow and I can make that. Maybe I'll be in the mood to finish it up in the morning and get it into the mail. I'll have until about noon. I had given up thinking it was a lost cause, but I should make the effort. I'm also a little upset that they are accepting artists from several other states too.

Today there were two meetings I didn't go to. The Sublette County Artist's Guild (writer's group) held the Caryn Bing Memorial Writing Contest for kids today, and the man who came to teach the kids about poetry did an adult workshop tonight. Although am prez and should have been present, didn't feel up to driving two hours to go to it. This afternoon there was a meeting for the new conference and arts center as well.

So instead of going to the meetings this afternoon I worked in the yard. It was time well spent. And except for the mosquitoes was a nice day to be out. Got all the wells around the shrubs cleaned out of weeds, and got them all watered. Not sure the crab apple tree is going to come back from the winter kill, but it has sprouted a frail looking limb. Also worked a little on the flower potting project. This may be the last time I do that, spend all that money and don't even get them planted before they are dead. Lost all the dahlias, most of the impatiens, and about half of the zinnias. None of them are hardy enough for a killing frost. Most of the petunias are going to be o.k. but all the flowers were frozen off of them.

Helped Joe a little after lunch, he's been working the last three days trying to get a probe into the well to keep track of how far down the water level is. He's worried something is going wrong with the well. I hope he can figure it out. Anyway he was drilling a hole in the base of the hand pump to put the probe through and the drill kept binding or kicking back, and when it did that I was supposed to kill the power at the main switch. So that took most of an hour.

Made breakfast for dinner - ham, hash browns, toast and eggs with avocados and strawberries. Worked on the emails after dinner.

Monday June 18 2007

Tom, Joanne and Joe

Dinner last night was good, and sure enjoyed seeing Tom and Joanne. We had a good visit. They got here about 4:30. The time seemed to go quickly. I showed Joanne where the cats she gave me and their kitties eat and sleep. We think since the wagon has been moved in to the big shed from the garage, that I can cover over the top of the wagon and put some rugs in for them and they can have a nice warm winter house in the wagon. We looked at the artwork in the barn too, and I printed them out a photo of the Muddy Canyon Mare and Colt rock formation.

This morning Joe said the hose was frozen and it had gotten down to 27 degrees. I looked out at my flowers and they are all drooping badly. I will go out soon to check the damage and water them, if the hose is unfrozen by then.

Hurried and vacuumed. The ladies from The Barn Door, Wendy and Mary Lynn, arrived about 10:30 this morning. We looked at the artwork, and they explained that what they will be decorating is not a home but the big new bank in Pinedale and they want some artwork on the large side. Large landscapes in all seasons of Wyoming, rather than ranching or wildlife. I'm honored, excited and enthused to be considered for this project, along with Ruth and Bart, other artist friends. This afternoon I will email some photos of the things they especially liked for a meeting they are having soon with the contractor etc. Then will wait to hear if they like my work. If yes, then several large pieces will have to be done by the end of August.

On the 20th is the deadline for the submission for the Governors' Portrait Project as well, so today I was going to scan and put on CD some of the portraits I've done and send off the submission materials for that. This is the one that would total five paintings at $10,000 each if I were chosen. Both projects should be feasible timewise. I am confident I could commit to and accomplish this.

Wish me luck!

Sunday June 17 2007

Daddy and Me - Big Bear 1940

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads!!

Today the main event is that Tom and Joanne are coming to dinner so I'm working toward that. They should be here maybe about 4 p.m. or so. Will have rib steak, onion roasted potatoes, corn on the cob, salad, maybe bread of some kind, maybe not. All yummy, and not too much work. Joe asked for rhubarb pie, so I will make that from the rhubarb Dan brought from his garden from a recipe from one of my ranching neighbor ladies.

In between will try to work a little more on the flower potting project. It doesn't seem to be getting done very fast. And interestingly, the temperatures are still down below 35 degrees every night. Today is chilly, overcast and downright windy. The hay is getting a little taller with the warmer days. Joe mowed the front yard this morning while it was still nice. He's out working in his shop.

Reduced my email box again this morning and called Charm to visit. I was SO SORRY to hear how sick they are. Hopefully you will be feeling better really soon. What a bummer! Betty also called this afternoon and we had a great visit. Its been 112 in Mesquite, too hot for June. Amigo seems to be feeling fine too, so that is good.

Joe's father's day gift from the family apparently came on Wednesday and wouldn't fit in the mailbox so our mail lady left it on the ground (and there are cows out there). Although he's usually good about going right out, Joe didn't go out and get the mail that day. So it was still sitting there when she came back on Friday and she couldn't get us on the phone since we were gone to town so she took it back to the PO and we have to pick it up from there, not sure when that will be. Now the PO ladies are worried about us, but it was just the way it happened. Some days we don't go out there and get the mail and that was one. I never even thought about it because that's one of his chores. That's the day I was finishing the portrait. I'll call and ask them to bring it back in the morning.

Saturday June 16 2007

Bob

Gina and Lynn - taken by Sally this afternoon.

I'll write about today tomorrow...... Sunday morning and I'm back. Yesterday got busy. Joe mowed the back yard early. He's been doing the yard watering, timing each move exactly. He seems happy to be doing that and so am I. He also cut up some, what he calls beaverboard, or particle board for me. When he cleaned out the garage, a couple of large pieces were something he wanted to get rid of and I said I could paint on that if he would cut them up into standard painting sizes. It cut up into about 60 pieces, mostly 8x10s to 16x20s, so guess I have to get busy using them now for sure. They will all have to be gessoed first.

Don't even remember everything from yesterday, but did clean house and got a few more flowers planted. That flower project is coming along slowly. Baked some cookies and took some banana bread out of the freezer. After lunch, Gina, her sister Sally and Bob came over to visit. It was great to see them. All three of them are working in the "oil patch" these days for some kind of water recycling business at the gas wells. They told me the name of it but I can't remember offhand. I really enjoyed meeting Sally. But I already knew I liked her. She lives in Arizona in the winter and comes back here in summer. We have first gotten acquainted over the Internet, reading each other's blogs. Then decided we'd go in together for a booth at Rendezvous. She and a friend will be selling their original jewelery and I'll be hawking my matted prints. Long Tall Bob was looking good as usual too. He and Joe visited. We had snacks and ice tea, hit the art show in the barn, gave the horses treats, and showed Sally where I stored all my "stuff". I thought I was taking pictures, but didn't have the card in my camera, so Sally sent me some of hers. Thank you very much Sally. I hope you don't mind that I've put them on the blog.

After they left I got my hair washed. Sheral and I had been visiting yesterday and they have company this weekend. They all came over about 4 p.m. and their friends are delightful. Dick and Glenn had been out on the ATVs the day before and got way back in on Muddy Ridge, and had a few hairy trails to negotiate, but seemed none the worse for wear. It made a good story. Sheral and Jan stayed home, I believe Sheral said they had a nap. But we did enjoy meeting them and we had a nice visit. Glen is a podiatrist and says he's almost retired. They live in Bountiful. One thing he talked about was a flood they had there when it got hot very quickly in the spring of 1983. One day was 100 degrees and it melted all the snow in the mountains causing a flood. Unbelievably they had 5' of water in their houses there. They also saw the paintings and we had more cookies and bread. I was a little late with Joe's dinner. I fixed us some chicken fried steak. It was a good day.