Gorgeous

A gorgeous day that is.  Can't go anywhere mostly because it's Sunday and we have to be back at the church later and also because Bill doesn't feel well.  He seems to get sick a lot, mostly allergies, I think.  Although he does have constant pain in his neck (no, it's not me).  It's caused by arthritis, they first diagnosed it back when he was in the Air Force.  The doc thinks an operation might help but that's way out of our price range.  So he takes medication for it that helps for a little while until it wears off.

Thursday we went back out on the Refuge and took some more pictures.  We went to the visitor's center and took pictures of the displays that they have.  We also saw a lot more deer and buffalo.  The buffalo were blocking the road for a while.  A mother decided to nurse her baby right in the middle of the road.  Really, I think she could have waited until later.

It's been 6 months since my last haircut.  I'm really happy with the way it is growing out.  I'm much more motivated to let it grow this time.  Bill is more supportive too which helps.

Photos of the day, taken last Thursday.

Dusty

Actually, yesterday was the dusty day.  We had a few clouds with a sprinkle of rain and then they went East.  From the West came strong winds and dust.  I think the Texas panhandle blew over us.  That explains the whopper of a headache that I had.  We had the day off but we didn't go very far because we were expecting to get dust sooner or later.  I sure was glad when it was over.

Sunday afternoon Bill started feeling better so we drove out to the Refuge and took some photos.  It was cloudy and he said that is the best type of weather for photos.  We saw several animals out and about.  It was especially exciting to see the elk.  I've never been that close to elk on the Refuge before.  They are huge and they weren't really concerned about us at all.  Later we saw several deer out in a meadow.  Lots of longhorn cattle and buffalo too but I have tons of photos of them.

Photos of the day, I think I'll post one of the elk and one of the deer.  I'll save the others for next time.

Template Designer

I didn't know there was such a thing until I saw the results on another blog.  I wondered how they did those things.  It was fun.  There will be more changes going on around here from now on since I like to play with things.

I finally got around to taking photos of my two most recent art projects.  As usual they look better in person than they do in the photos.  It's also time to start a new one.

The weather is gorgeous today.  I wish we could ride around but Bill doesn't feel well.  Upset stomach, not throwing up, just upset.  He didn't go to church today because of it.  The last several years I have gotten the stomach flu two or three times each year.  This year I got a flu shot and started using hand sanitizer and I only got it once.  I have become a great believer in flu shots and hand sanitizer.  I think Bill's problem is more sinus related than cold or flu.

Photos of the day, the first is an oil pastel based on a photo that I took after a rainstorm a few years ago.  There were some houses and power poles in the photo but I left them out.  That's the cool thing about art, you can change it the way you want.  The second picture is a colored pencil drawing based on a photo that I took almost 30 years ago.  There's a zoo called Arbuckle Wilderness that we went to a long time ago now.  I don't know what this animal is, he looks like a long horned sheep.  I should have made his body darker, he tends to fade into the background.  I may go back and fix that sometime.  Then again, I may not.

I Hate Coming Up with Titles

Especially when I don't have anything really interesting to say.  I've finished the colored pencil picture and I still haven't taken a photo of it or the oil pastel yet.  Why not?  Just lazy I guess.  I think I want to do an oil pastel next, maybe a landscape.  I picked out several photos that I took years ago.  One is of a lake in Colorado.  It has a lot of light and dark contrast in it.  I think it'll turn out good.

I just found out that Chick Fil-A (not sure of the spelling) has some stuff that is gluten free, their waffle fries, grilled chicken and grilled chicken salad.  That's great because I really like going to Chick Fil-A.  We ate breakfast out this morning, the first time in several weeks.  We had sirloin steak at Cracker Barrel.  Sounds expensive but it really wasn't especially since we split it.  Their servings are so big that we both can eat one meal.

Bill and I have agreed to stop giving Sassy table scraps.  It doesn't seem to agree with her and she is getting chubby.  Since dog food is going to be her main source of nutrition I decided to get a better quality food.  I was feeding her Purina Dog Chow which seemed to be OK at first.  But now she has developed an itch.  She only itches at night and I know it's not fleas.  It's probably all that corn, wheat and stuff in the food.  I found some food made out of sweet potato and chicken, no grains at all.  I'll switch her over gradually so her little body can adjust.

We haven't gone riding around for a long time.  The weather was pretty nice today too but we stayed home instead.  There will be other times.

It's been 6 months since I last cut my hair and I really like the way it's growing out.  I think the grow out will be easier this time.

We got new glasses the other day, spent the last of the tax refund.  It's so nice to be able to see again.

Photo of the day, I don't think this photo is a re-run, if it is, oh well.

Cold Wind

There's a cold wind blowing out there.  At noon it was nice and warm and then a front came through and cooled it off.  It's cloudy but no rain in the forecast.  This cold front is causing all kinds of aches and pains.  My hands hurt, feet hurt, back hurts.  I guess I can blame all that on the front.

I still haven't taken a photo of my last oil pastel.  I'll do it eventually.  I do have it on the wall though.  I'm working on a colored pencil drawing now. 

We got our tax refund from the feds the other day and took the car in to have a tune up.  Now it's good to go for another year.  Thursday Bill and I are going to have our eyes checked.  He needs new frames.  His old ones are being held together by super glue.  It's been several years since we've been to the eye doc.  Everything is getting fuzzy.

At Hastings the other day I found the soundtrack to Lord of the Rings and listened to the first two CD's so far.  Gorgeous music. 

Photo of the day.  While we were out riding around we found this old abandoned school.  It was built in 1942 and closed down sometime in the 90's.  I really loved the architecture.  The inside was vandalized, that was very sad.