Pictures of Pictures

Good morning, hope this is a start of a great weekend for all of you. I see Ben is off to New Mexico. Have a good trip Ben and hurry back.

Ever since I can remember, I could pick up a pencil and draw a picture of something. I wasn't great but you could recognize what I was drawing. As I got older, that skill seemed to get better. I remember once when I was in grade school, I had an assignment to draw some insects. I got an "F", because the teacher thought that I had traced them. Same thing happened later that year (or the next, memory fails me) when I was assigned for homework to draw a certain bird.

Drawing with a pencil was easy, but never pursued it. I made my living at engineering design which is nothing more than drawing pictures of mechanisms or structures. Doing that for long hours every week, there just didn't seem to be any reason to "draw" anything extra.

OK, I am semi-retired, which means that I am only tired 80% of the time and closing in on 90%. Anyway, I have some free time now and decided to take up painting. After checking out the different media available, I found out that oil is the easiest, acrylics next, and water color the hardest. I don't know where finger painting fits in. . .

So, I decided to take up oil painting. I did a couple of so, so paintings and found out that putting acrylics under the oils helped fill in the details. Anyway, my oil painting days were numbered. My wife could not stand the smell in the house. OK, I solved that problem by switching to acrylics. That is when I verified that it was definitely harder than oils. Of course, that could be just for my style.

I am not a very good painter, as you will see. For example, I am now working on a painting of the Texas south west desert with a longhorn cow (Benita?) in it. I pencil sketched the cow by looking at a picture that John Wells had posted of Benita. The pencil sketch looked just like the picture I was using as a model, but when I tried to paint it, it did not turn out to well.

Another thing I can not do is people and animals. People are impossible for me and animals are a little better, but I am sure you could find better animal pictures hanging on elementary school walls drawn by first graders.

I have done, I think, about 14 acrylic pictures. I am going to show you 6 of them today and would like for you to be critics. Also, let me know which one you like best and which one you think is the worst. That will help me with future paintings. In a future blog, I will post some more for you to judge. All of these paintings were done with acrylic paint on 11" x 14" canvas.


This painting I call "Dock on Lake". It was inspired by memory of the Appalachian Mountains:

This on is titled "Mimosa" and is a view from my yard this Spring:

This one is titled "Mushroom-Morning Glories" and was from my property. Do you notice that my titles are short and sweet?:)

The title of this on is "Road to Dawn" and is a figment of my imagination:

Do you think that you can guess the title for this one? Will tell you what it is below the picture.

The above picture is titled "Mushroom". Complicated names aren't they?

OK, the last picture is my favorite of all I have done. It was from a pictures that I took of a field in North West Pennsylvania. A trip back in time. When I was a young kid, fields like this were common.

Those small bunches of hay (or straw) at the bottom of the stack were on every stack in the field. I wonder if that is just that farmer's design or trade mark of if it serves a purpose?

I will post some more for your critical eye. Please vote on the best and the worst.

Well, I did some wondering and wandering today. Some paintings were from my wandering around and some just from my wondering. . .

Western (Cowboy) Movies

I live in Cut and Shoot, Texas, which you all know from my profile. Cut-N-Shoot is not an ordinary name for a town. Just down the road a couple of mile is Security. I wonder if way back then, when the cutting and shooting got too bad, everyone headed for Security? Just a wondering out loud.

There are a whole lot of stories about how it got its name, but I may tell you more about that in another blog. I will tell you that Cut & Shoot originally was a lumber town, created from the forest resources that surrounded the area.

Now that I have given you some background information, let me go on with my blog about western cowboy movies. I loved those movies ever since I was old enough to watch them. When my Mother wanted to go shopping, she and I would catch the bus and take it the 8 or 9 miles into town. She would let me go to the movie theater (it only cost a quarter to get in) and I would spend the time watching cowboy movies. You might remember Roy Rodgers and Dale Evans, Gene Autry, and many more. And on TV there were so many, like Sky King, the Cisco Kid, Marshal Dillon (that was before Gun Smoke), and many, many more. Now on the Western Channel they have a lot of the old TV shows and a lot of western movies.

Now, let me make the point that bothers me. Some of these westerns are so wrong on the scenery and area where the action is supposed to have taken place. One very good example are the stories that were suppose to be taking place in East Texas. I have seen some that had Houston, Galveston, Cut and Shoot, Beaumont, and more as the location of the action. Not just the very old shows, but there was one with Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin that was suppose to be near Galveston. They all showed dry desert with large mountain ranges in the background.

When I was working in Michigan, I got a good job offer near Houston. I had been from Maine to Florida, and from Pennsylvania to Colorado and up through Montana and into British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario but had never been to the South West. Even though I was then in my mid 30’s, I was still a cowboy fan and was so excited to see Texas. I couldn’t wait to get on that plane.

Well, as we were coming in for a landing, I looked out the window and all I could see were trees, trees, trees, and a lake here and there. What?!?!? Could this be Texas? And flat, too. What a disappointment. Yep, all those cowboy shows I had been watching were all wrong.

OK, I admit, I still watch them on TV

Just Dreaming about Dreaming

OK, things have got me wondering again. I had an email discussion last night with a friend and one of the subjects was dreams. Are not dreams a real wonder? Even science can’t completely figure them out. They know for sure that a person dreams during the stage of sleep know as rapid eye movement (REM), they know the normal duration of a dream, but they don’t know for sure much else.

They are pretty sure that animals and birds dream. Dang, if I think I have mixed up dreams, I wonder what animals dream about. I know my dogs dream, they even talk (bark and whine) in their sleep. Maybe they are dreaming about that big old pig.

Science has some theories, though. One is that dreaming enforces long term memory. Another, is that it clears the memory of junk (do believe that one – from experience) and some believe it re-sets the brain. How do you reset a brain? Maybe it is like defragmenting your hard-drive???

Ok, another thing. Do you dream in color or black and white? The fellow I was chatting with says he dreams in color. I told him that I never dream in color and that my dreams seem to be getting less frequent. Well, maybe I spoke to soon. I am trying to piece this together.

I had a dream last night. It was a jumble of things but the location was a family camp we had in the hills of Pennsylvania, but it had changed into a busy place with all kinds of people, a very large swimming pool, a paved road where a trail is suppose to be, and I had a problem that I couldn’t solve and now I can’t remember what the problem was.

OK, here is the weird part. I woke up at the end of the dream and remember thinking that for the first time that I can remember, the dream was in color. Well later, I woke and got up (actually the dogs get me up) and could remember most of the dream, but do not remember it in color.

Now, here is the question of the day. Do I dream in color but just can’t remember in color or do I really just dream in shades of grey and thinking it was in color was still part of the dream or a figment of my imagination? Your guess is as good as mine.

Do any of you dream in color? My wife does. I have heard that dreaming in color is more prominent in women than men. Maybe that is because women notice color more than men. Hey, let me know which way you dream. We could have a vote. Color, Black & White, or Some of Both.

This ones for the birds

Good morning on this mid-week bog down day. I was just a wondering again. Why do people change and some of them so suddenly.

As you all know who follow this blog, that we have dogs. Three of which get groomed every month. Before I go on, let me give you a little background on our groomer.

He is a great guy who has been grooming for many, many years. He loved horses and dogs and through out his life, had raised both. But dogs became his life and for many years, he both bred them and groomed them.

When we got our first Shih Tzu, we inquired about a place to get her groomed. We were told about this guy. We tried him and have been using him ever since. We even purchased our second Shih Tzu, Chang Le, from him. He raised many different breeds and had a large, very nice kennel. Dogs became his life.
Well, one day he had a heart attack and died on the way to the hospital. They were able to bring him back. He told me that the electric shock really hurt and he kept thinking “Let me die, let me die”. But he lived through it with no apparent side affects. Was told to quit smoking, but still does.

This was the norm for him for many years and then he decided that all those dogs were too much trouble. He got rid of all his dogs, but purchased a pair of Boxers, which he bred (old habits, I guess).

Then one day he bought an vintage muscle car. Kept it for a short period and sold it. Then he got another one, a green Dodge Charger.

Nice looking car and it goes really fast. . .

All was going well, until one day we brought our dogs in for grooming and there were birds everywhere, and I mean everywhere. The grooming building was full of them, there were some outside, and he said his home was also full of them, some he let loose in his home.

Here are some samples:

And some yellow parrot type birds:

And multi colored birds:

And orange / red ones:

Multi-colored parrot type:

Did I tell you that he cooks for them?

Now, most of the grooming building is taken up with bird cages. In this next picture, you can see one of our dogs on the left and the birds on the right.

And looking the other direction.

His wife had died years ago, so that couldn't have been the cause of the sudden changes. The death experience was only a year or two ago, so that could have caused it. I wonder. . . . or could it just be normal to decide to be different. Look at me, when I turned 65 I quit cutting my hair and beard. I think I am normal but a lot of people have a different opinion. Wonder why???

MY EARLIEST MEMORIES

First off, I want to thank everyone for the suggestions that helped me with writing a blog.

No pictures today, just ramblings. I need to go through boxes and boxes of old pictures that I inherited from my Mother and scan some of them. Most of those were taken back when she was young. The later ones sure help jog my memory of when I was a kid.


My earliest memory is of my Mother holding me up showing me my Dad's picture. She did this many times during WW2 when my Dad was in the Army, so that I would recognize him and know him when he returned. Must have worked. What is your first memory? Hey Ben, did you remember coming over on the May Flower?

Since we lived in Pennsylvania, I remember my Mother bundling me up and I would go out and play in the snow. Just loved being out in the snow. When forced to come in, never wanted to, I played with toy cars. As I got older, other toys were added, like Lincoln Logs, American Bricks, Erector set with a motor for indoors and tricycle, sled, and toy guns for outdoors. Always preferred to be outside, no matter what the weather.

When I was 5 years old, we took a trip to Maine and stayed a week in a cabin on a beautiful lake. Only way into the cabin was by boat. No water or sewage. Drank the water out of the lake and went out back for the other. My Mother was a obsessed with cleanliness and of course boiled the water. I used to take a cup and when my Dad took me out in a boat, I would yell at my Mom back on the shore "Hey, Look!!" and I would dip the cup in the lake and take a big old drink. Dad would laugh and Mom would get mad (or pretend to).

The summer after I turned six years old, we moved out in the country about 8 or 10 miles south of Butler on the road to Pittsburgh. It wasn't a large place (probably less than 2 acres) but big enough that it had an orchard, room for gardening, and more important, a large stretch of forest behind it, in which I spent most of my free time. I have always loved the out-of-doors and nature and wild-life. You might say, I grew up in that woods, except for weekends when we would go to the Allegheny River to visit Grandparents. There I spent most of my time in or on the river.

That woods back of the house had a pipe-line right-of-way cut through it and the part that came down over a steep high hill was just perfect for skiing in the winter time when there was enough snow. At the time I had a brindle colored Boxer dog that was always with me, even when I went skiing. She just loved to chase you down the hill and if she could catch you, she would jump on the front of the skies, which would make you fall in shower of snow. Then she would come and lick the snow off my face.

Back when I was pre-school age, I remember that there were out-houses at my Grandparents' house, even though it had inside facilities, and at my Uncle's farm. Those little buildings are a past part of American architecture and served many a generation quite well. Those two were three holers, with two high seats and one low seat in the middle. You knew you were growing up when you graduated from the low seat to the high one. Hey Ben, you lived on a farm back when you were a kid, did it have an out-house?

I have a lot more memories and will share some more with you later, but for now, I know you getting bored. So, I will leave you with a couple of short stories about out-houses.

***
Two guys were in an out-house. The one gets up and some change falls out of his pocket and down the hole. He immediately pulls out a 20 dollar bill and throws it down the hole. The other guy asks him why the heck did you do that. The first man answers and says, "you don't think I would go down there for just a quarter and a dime, do you?"

***
I was watching the "Country Reunion" show on RFDTV a while back and heard Johnny Lee tell this story about a lady who made really good biscuits. He said that he and his friend just raved about them and couldn't get enough of them, they were sooooo good. Later they both visited an out-house and Johnny's friend accadently dropped his old jacket down the hole. His friend went down and retrived it. Johnny asked why he did that since it was such an old worn out jacket anyway, and his friend answerd, "Cause there was a biscuit in the pocket"

Forgive me, I just couln't resist the jokes.

ANNIVERSARY, ETC.

Happy Anniversary, Dear.

Yep, it was 46 years ago when we eloped and got married in a little church in Mayville, NY. Was the first time I was in New York since I was 5 years old.

It was not an usual elopement. No ladder. Anyway, her house was a single story. Had a "best man" and a "brides made". And the night before the wedding, we told my parents and an aunt who was visiting. Just came out and asked them if the wanted to attend a wedding tomorrow. They asked who was getting married, and I told them I was. Dang, you could hear a pin drop.

It all worked out, they attended, we honey-mooned in Ohio (See Kathie, I have been to Ohio), and here we are 46 years later. The following is a picture of a reception that our family friends put together. A good time was had by all.

I was told by my dog Chang Le, that I had misrepresented something dear to him in an old blog when I was talking about my dogs. I had printed this statement: "After a few years it was decided (Chang disagreed loudly) that they all should be neutered." He wants all to know that he was not neutered.

Mr. Chang says that it sounded like he was (gulp) neutered. It was hard for him to say that word. Just look how sad, lonely, and hurt he is:

OK, I must apologize if there was any misunderstanding. Mr Chang says that he is very willing to share his king size bed with any female, if she is ready and willing. . .

He also found out that he enjoys posing for "Play-Dog" (grin):

Any way, he wants you to see just how lonely he is and just how empty his love nest is. He is either going to join the lonely harts group or the foreign legion. Just look how sad he is:

Thank you all for helping us celebrate our anniversary. It is nice to have friends like you.

IT DISSAPEARED

My blog dissapeared. When I clicked on "Publish Post" it just went away. I looked for it and under drafts, but I only found the first paragraph. Dang, were did all the rest go. Don't have time to do it over now, maybe later.