Field Trip With Peculiar Sights

Happy Birthday, Louise!!

Yeah yeah, I know I told you I’d be telling you about the newest coloring book. There’s too much to show and tell, and I don’t know how to best present it or condense it.

Instead, I’ll show you some fun photos. This is how artists reload their mental files of raw materials for future paintings and drawings. After too long of just traveling in the same small circles I get dizzy and dumb.

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While I was away, it rained hard, and Trail Guy took this photo of the Middle Fork of the Kaweah, looking downstream off the Dinely bridge.

I went to visit The Captain, who LOVES her animals. I didn’t photograph her with the ball boa constrictor or the rats that are supposed to become its food but instead are pets. No rodents or reptiles for me, thanks anyway.

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This is Ernie, a Halflinger, which is a small draft horse. He is the most beautiful combination of colors, my favorite sort of horse, which is “sorrel with a palomino mane”. If he was dry and brushed, he’d knock your socks off with his beauty.

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Meanwhile, back at the ranch. . . no wait, I was at the ranch. Trail Guy was at home with Samson and the wild turkeys. Last time I counted, there were 26 of them challenging Samson while he fluffed himself up and bounced sideways. I picked him up and we ran after them, growling and being large and fierce together.

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Samson

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Here is what I really wanted to show you. I took both of these photos without realizing the common theme until I saw them on the computer. I’d call these both peculiar sights.

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Makes me laugh every time I see these. Just spreading a little holiday cheer!

Merry Christmas!

Maybe I’ll tell you about the new coloring book next week.

Want to go for a Walk?

Sometimes I go for walks.

No, lots of times I go for walks.

It is sort of assumed that when women want to hang out with friends that they go shopping and go out to lunch.

Not this woman. I call a friend and say “Want to go for a walk?”

It is one of the best things about living in Three Rivers.

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A peculiar sight. . . it happens occasionally on my walks.IMG_2143

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A Few Days Off Work

Finish the mural early, take one day off work, okay, why not two because I have company, oh go ahead, take three. I am the boss of me, and my boss gave me 3 days off last week. Why?

Because I completed the mural one day early. 3 days off? How about a bonus?

Never mind.

What does a Central California artist do with 3 days off?

This one does yard work, has company, entertains a lamb, works on a mural, does more yard work, has a handrail added to her studio, and watches her company and husband begin to build a fence.

Want to see some pictures? I didn’t photograph all the activities mentioned because sometimes it is hard to carry around gardening tools, paint brushes, a lamb and a camera at the same time.

 

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What are these guys doing??

 

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Sweet Pea wants to know.

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Hey, Babycakes. Want to go to Mineral King?

 

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Just kidding. It’s a mural. (Later we scrubbed the bird poo off of the sky, in case you were bugged by it.)

 

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When Cowboy Bert and Trail Guy began working on a fence (I didn’t take photos), we decided that Little Lambie-poo would be happier if she were let out to hang out with the people. It was clear that she chose Cowboy Bert to be her mama. Two manly dudes, lumber, tools, and a lamb.

Meanwhile, I worked a bit on my studio mural. Pretending to be productive eased my conscience about taking off 3 consecutive days, in spite of receiving permission from my boss.

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Mineral King Road Lore

On the Mineral King Road there are 4 water troughs. Some years I think I will memorize the elevations and mileage markers. More realistically, I can remember their names and order of appearance.

This one is called Trauger’s, after Mr. and Mary Trauger (what was her hubby’s name? She was the one everyone talks about!) who had a home above. It’s my guess they built there because of the spring. Duh.

The National Park Service has spray painted all sorts of information on these historic items. Sanctioned graffiti, perhaps? Back in the olden days, they were places you could fill your radiator after it boiled over on the steep, nay, very steep Mineral King Road.

Mary Trauger planted sweet peas. They bloom near this water trough each spring.

HEY!! What are you doing up there? That is Trail Guy, formerly known as Road Guy. It bugs him when the troughs aren’t flowing, so sometimes we stop on the way up the hill so he can clear junk out of the stream and get the water flowing through the pipe into the water troughs.

He may be known as Trail Guy, but deep down inside Road Guy still exists.

REMEMBER, Mineral King Tee shirts are available through my website and from Trail Guy himself. This is the season for tee shirts. We are the people who have them. You may be a person who needs one. We can help.

Trail Guy Climbs White Chief Peak

While I was working in Wilsonia, Trail Guy was climbing White Chief Peak. Off trail stuff doesn’t suit me with my lack of depth perception, so I am always a little relieved when I don’t have to go with Trail Guy on these more adventuresome excursions.

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See the peak on the left? with the flat top? That’s White Chief. I still sort of want to climb it. Maybe next year?

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This was Trail Guy’s view from the top. I didn’t ask which direction he was looking and am too embarrassed to ask because I should recognize stuff.

Trail Guy said this old foxtail was petrified. I wonder. . .

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He saw a pika, which is correctly pronounced “PEE-kuh”, rather than “PIE-kuh”, which is how pica is correctly pronounced. Can you even spot it in the photo above?

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During the week of his ascent up White Chief, he saw a doe with triplets! This is a very very rare occurrence. (a peculiar sight!) Most of the fawns now are losing their spots, but these three are still small and dotty.

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Careful on the road, you wee ones!

Peculiar Sight

One recent afternoon my husband called me into the living room to see something. I could tell from the sound of his voice that I should hurry and bring a camera. (25 years of marriage teach all sorts of non-verbal communication.)

Outside our living room we have a ladder leading up to the roof. I don’t know why. Michael wants it there, so there it is. He is a great husband – bit of a neatnik, loves to putter around the property, and an awesome BBQer, so if he wants a ladder outside the living room window, he may have his ladder there. (Why am I digressing into his good qualities? It is at the suggestion of my friend Jennifer in her blog.)

The raccoons like the ladder. The cats do too. This is Kaweah and Perkins. If Zeke was there too, all three might not have fit into the frame (or the ladder might have collapsed).

Isn’t it odd what amuses a California artist? Not much going on in Three Rivers (outside of planning for the studio tour or working on The Cabins of Wilsonia)

“Get a life”, I hear some of you thinking. (Yes, occasionally I can hear your thoughts.) Guess what? I have a life and I love it!

Peculiar Sights

Last week I took a break in the middle of the day. Yes, I know I should have been drawing. It was a spectacularly difficult week with 5 Bad Things to face, so I went for a walk, okay? Alrighty then.

I was just boppity-bopping along, enjoying the January sunshine, contemplating matters of consequence, praying about the first 2 bad things (the other 3 were in my near future), hoping my foot didn’t hurt too much, looking for things that might make nice drawings or paintings (later, after The Cabins of Wilsonia is finished).

Look what I encountered:

That is a little pile of snow. Look at it closer. It really is snow!

Sometimes it is just weird in Three Rivers. Perhaps it is just weird in California. Maybe I was seeing things. Maybe I should have just stayed inside and kept drawing.

Peculiar Sights

Back in the days when I walked a lot of miles, I photographed and showed you a series of what I called “Peculiar Sights” in Three Rivers. (A central California artist has to find her amusements wherever she can!)

Plantar fasciitis takes a very long time to heal, and now, with the help of an acupuncturist friend, I believe I am back on my feet. Slowly. This means my little camera is back in my pocket, and the peculiar sights might begin appearing on the blog again.

Mineral King Bridge, Part 5

Here is a peculiar sight. The fan carries away toxins created by the welding of galvanized metal. Who knew?

Isn’t this a nice photo? These 2 men have worked together for years. Kind of just warms your heart, no?

This one is even better! It is my personal favorite. This man would rather be climbing Vandever than contemplating matters of consequence while wearing a uniform beneath it. Gotta commend him on his work ethic – knows the cabin folks are counting on him to be there for them on this project.

And here is one more peculiar sight for you to puzzle over. Hey Sawtooth Six, you paying attention??

Peculiar Sights #11

In Three Rivers, it is common to watch the river. We cross over certain bridges, or take certain walks and always check out the river to see how it is changing with the seasons. When one frequents the same routes, one comes to accept the sights as normal. I’ve been walking across the Dinely Bridge regularly since January 1999, and I am used to the views. However, there is something rather curious there- it is this vase of flowers, regularly updated and replaced.

The story is that someone’s Mom’s ashes were scattered from the bridge, and her son keeps fresh flowers there in her memory.