Trail Guy nailed some boards together for me several years ago, and I painted redwood trees on them. We got on a roll, and he pounded a few more of these panels together, but sales slowed and I moved on. We were cleaning out an area in the workshop and 2 of these appeared. I delivered one to Stem & Stone, where it adds attention-getting eye-appeal to the store front.
Screenshot stolen from Stem & Stone’s Instagram
The other needed some reworking. It was made from fence pickets. I painted a single tree in the middle, and it looked as if someone with a vee-shaped mouth took a bite from the top. Alas, I took no photos of the previous awkwardness.
Feel like watching paint dry? Here you go:
Greatly improved.
P.S. It’s not a mural, but I did use mural paints instead of oils.
Home Depot is a mess. In 2021 I bought a mini-refrigerator. It only worked for one year. In 2022 I bought another one, which wouldn’t fit in my car. They put it in their Will Call department (or something similar) and I returned with the pick-‘em-up truck to retrieve it the next week. They couldn’t find it. I chose another. Did I or didn’t I take it? I sort of remember canceling the entire transaction, and I think a friend got me one from Costco instead, but my memory is a mess. Home Depot sent me a refund check, which I returned to them. Two years later, I got another refund check from Home Depot. This time I decided that if they are dumb enough to keep giving money away, I’ll take it. In early October, I received a third check from Home Depot. After about 7 or 8 phone calls, I found a human who told me that I had purchased 3 refrigerators from Home Depot. Hunh? It took them three years to refund my money?? I cashed the check.
Hey there, Jackson.
2. I am a mess in my bookkeeping. Why do I not know if I got a refund or not for all those refrigerators? Ugh. I’d rather draw or paint or teach people to draw than fiddle with numbers, paperwork, phone trees, and records.
Finished and mailed 2 red scarves to Foster2Care in Cleveland. Now I have to figure out how to use the leftover red yarn.
3. Phone calls are a mess. For many years after Kodak croaked, I used Shutterfly to print my photos and to create photo books. Several months ago the site stopped working. My photos won’t load. I postponed calling them because those kinds of phone calls require much time and patience while listening to menus, terrible hold music, and people with difficult accents reading polite scripts. It took 45 minutes for Shutterfly to determine that the problem is DuckDuckGo. I told them that I will no longer be using Shutterfly because I am unwilling to download another browser.
Redbud trees become yellow-leaf trees.
4. Keeping life simple creates a mess. Well, not exactly a mess, but some sacrifices and some work. Since I insist on keeping life simple by not downloading another browser, I will not be able to print photos or photobooks unless I spend time looking for another company.
Hey Pippin, I’m tryna keep Mom’s car clean here. Do you mind??
5. Laura Ingalls Wilder’s life was a mess. My favorite blog, The Frugal Girl, posted What I’ve Read Lately. One of her books was Prairie Fires: the American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Caroline Fraser. That book sparked more discussion than any of the others mentioned. It also led me to Wilder, a podcast by Glynnis MacNicol which completed and corrected (and stole some of the magic from) the Little House books. The impact and influence of those books is worldwide, transcending several generations, and now, sparking controversy. Warning: the final episode on the podcast was full of vitriol and cussing so I didn’t finish listening.
This door was a mess until I painted it. It’s more interesting as a photo in its messy state.
6. Staying current with computers is a mess. While editing a new book, Word lagged. The spinning beachball of doom responded with rotations every time I did anything on the book. I went online to see if there was any help. The main information was that Word needed to be updated. In attempting to update, I learned that my laptop must first be updated. I called Apple and learned that my laptop is maxed out in terms of updates. (They think a 2015 is old?? Listen, punks, I have a NEW car that is a 2004, so what are you talking about??) So, wanna know what I did? (I figured this out all by my lonesome—please be impressed.) I divided the 187 page book into 2 documents, so there! Now I can keep my 2015 going, while all those know-it-all children keep buying new things (probably made by slave labor) and putting their old (probably functional) machines out there into landfills (or their mama’s basements.) But I’m perfectly reasonable and calm about it all.
7. AI is messing things up. But if you want to find things on the internet, information NOT created by Artificial Intelligence, type what you are seeking into the search bar, followed by a space and -ai. That’s a minus sign with the letters “a” and “i”. I haven’t tried it yet but learned about it on a non-AI using blog.
My herb garden is a mess, so I’m showing you this photo from a previous year.
8. AT&T is a mess, and they are messing with me. In 2023, I tried unsuccessfully to get a phone reconnected at the cabin. AT&T had no humans available who could handle landlines in California. They couldn’t understand how to flip a switch to activate the phone, which was already in place from previous years. They insisted that a tech guy needed to drive up the hill to do the job in spite of merely flipping a switch in the past. Alas, the road was unpassable for the AT&T giant truck. So, we decided to do without a phone and have managed without one for three summers now. A few months ago I got a letter from a collection agency that I owe AT&T $666. (evil number!) Au contraire, they provided no service, I had no phone, I never received a bill, I owe nothing. However, this crock of barnyard fertilizer has cost me several hours on the phone with the collection agency, and several dollars in mailing things in a manner that no one will be able to lie about receiving my documentation. They insist that I owe them, and I insist that I do not. I wonder if I can get through to Dave Ramsey so he can tell me how to deal with these stupid hon-yocks.
Why can’t I remember whose screen door this is?? Apparently my memory is a mess.
BONUS—This made me laugh: A dear friend recently said, “You can lead a man to knowledge but you can’t make him think.” Gotta be thankful for dear friends!
Perhaps November will be less of a mess and we can learn some good things together.
I’ve been getting my art printed on notecards since 1987. In the olden days, a package consisted of 2 each of 5 designs. In the olden days, people communicated on cards and mailed them with a stamp rather than talking into a little machine and tapping something. This meant that I had 1000s of cards printed at a time. Some of those pressruns produced uneven amounts of cards in a set, which meant leftovers.
What if I make packages of those old designs and sell them at a discount? There are six different designs, all in random amounts in a box, collecting dust on a shelf.
The ones circled in red are what is available. (For the curious reader*, the sets from left to right are Kings Canyon, Sequoia, and Tulare County Landmarks.)
These were printed a long time ago. If someone had told me back then that I would become a blogger (a what??), an oil painter, a painter of murals, a knitter, a resident of Three Rivers, and that I would drive an automatic transmission car, I would have laughed out loud in disbelief. (And if someone would have said “LOL”, I would have looked at them with puzzlement. It used to mean “Little Old Lady”.)
Okay, decision made, packages compiled. Each package contains 4 different cards (and envelopes), mostly chosen at random with the exception of the first one on the upper left below. I have more of that drawing than any other, so every package contains one of those. They will be $5 a package, as opposed to my current cards. (The current ones are $10 a package and are all the same design within a single package.) These will be potluck.
It will cost too much to mail them, so they will only be available in person at the upcoming Holiday Bazaar.
*For the Very Curious Reader, the drawings from left to right, top to bottom: Kings Canyon overlook, General Sherman Tree, Four Guardsmen, Clover Creek Bridge, Exeter Woman’s Club (yeppers, that is the correct spelling), the Hilliard House (burned down in 1983 but never forgotten around here.)
No reason for this photo. Just hoping to make you smile.
Some recent thinking has led to this listicle for you.
The Ivanhoe Library mural is getting closer. I am waiting on several decisions that are outside of my power.
My hope is to begin the week of November 10, but since the library is only open on Tuesdays and Fridays, and I teach drawing lessons on Tuesdays, this project could take a V E R Y L O N G T I M E.
The annual Holiday Bazaar at the Three Rivers Memorial Building is scheduled for November 22 this year. I haven’t participated in quite a few years, and this year I hope to do so.
If I don’t participate in the occasional bazaar, boutique, festival, or fair, people forget about my art.
When going through my notecards to decide which designs to reprint, I had a good idea. Maybe… I’m thinking about packaging leftover notecards from old pressruns (when I sold assortments) and selling them at a discount. This requires more thought, perhaps even another blogpost while I bore you to pieces with my thought process.
The 2026 calendar is completed but not yet revealed or on my website or ready to be sold.
Waiting for a special size canvas to arrive for one oil commission with a deadline and to decipher some notes for a special commission without a deadline. . .
In case the previous elephant didn’t make you smile, maybe this one will do the trick.
While I am wading through unbloggable territory, I’ve been able to attend to some of the business of art. This means lots of computer and phone time, along with digging around in filing cabinets. The phone time isn’t as awful as when you actually need assistance, because most companies are available with live humans if you are spending money with them.
B O R I N G
It had been quite awhile since I stocked up on supplies. This meant chasing down old invoices and lists and emails to discover product item numbers, or what size a customer requested, or doing inventory to see if certain things were actually needed. I made lists of what is here and there, up in that basket, out in the workshop, in a filing cabinet, in a drawer, on the spinning cardrack. Then I evaluated what I really need alongside what I might be able to use if it only takes a few more dollars spent to qualify for free shipping.
B O R I N G.
I ordered old notecards, new notecards, this year’s Christmas card, clear bags for packaging, blank boards for packaging drawings, canvases, and drawing paper. The goods came from three businesses plus from three different sellers on eBay. Almost all orders qualified for free shipping.
B O R I N G
At least I have internet access, experience to wrestle through the various sites, a laptop that knows my passwords and user names, a phone that works (mostly) to call businesses when their websites don’t work, the time to get it all handled, and money to pay for these things.
So there. In all the boredom, I can find some thankfulness.
I spent a day in Visalia with a friend, and we walked around downtown, marveling* at the changes from when I worked there 35+ years ago.
We snooped. Climbed to the roof and took photos all directions.
It wasn’t clear enough to see the mountains to the east. I realize these photos will mean nothing to people who aren’t from the area.
We marveled at a building that has been completely remodeled since the olden days when I worked nearby. the owner happened by at the time, recognized both of us, and gave us a tour. I didn’t take any photos inside.
We also ran into another friend of ours. Visalia is the Big Town, the county seat, but Tulare County is still small enough to feel at home, even in the Big Town.
*I have verbed** the word “marvel”, which may actually be legitimate.
**And now I have verbed the word “verb”, which definitely does not pass a grammar test.
Looking upstream on the Middle Fork of the Kaweah River.
Looking downstream on the Middle Fork of the Kaweah River. There is one almost indiscernible red tree in the distance.
I painted that view with that tree about 15 years ago.
Naked ladies, still going strong. Odd.
There is a yard that we can count on to have wonderful fall colors each year.
Comb Rocks.
This is a deep canal for discharging water when the power plant makes electricity. I think they are not operating any longer. Personnel shortage was the reason we heard.
Jimson weed (looks like giant morning glory minus the vining capability)
This is where the water goes when SCE isn’t making electricity.It ends up in the river, and the people with this yard get their own personal stream.
Looking downstream, this time from a slightly different angle, which shows another red tree.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JB! (IF YOU ARE STILL ONE OF MY TENS OF READERS AND EVEN IF YOU AREN’T)
I have become (and am becoming) friends with a group of bloggers from all over. Elisabeth in Nova Scotia puts together something called “Cool Bloggers Walking Club” each October, and the participating folks send her photos of their walks each week. Her idea is to get us all moving our bodies for a minimum of 10 minutes a day. I am the only blogger I know in real life, and it helps me to get to know other folks who blog regularly. It is good to have other people to learn from (and occasionally help, but they usually know much more than me.)
Today and tomorrow I’ll show you some photos from recent walks. (Yes, I am still working. . . but there isn’t anything bloggable about it at the moment.)
Hmmm, mine bloomed in August. Why are these just now showing up in October?
The Catholic church has such peculiar architecture. It is one of my easy walks.
In the storm last week, the elephant appeared on Alta Peak.
Hurry up, Time Change. It used to happen around this time of year; now it doesn’t happen until November, so my neighbor and I walk by flashlight many mornings. Yes, two churches in our neighborhood, and we go to yet another one 2 miles down the road.
That’ll do for now. Sorry it isn’t about Mineral King. That’s a seasonal topic, and that season is over for this year.
We went walking up the Mineral King valley in search of brilliant fall color. This was easy to find, so many yellows, but of course we wanted oranges and reds too.
The cottonwoods are yellow; it is the aspen which turn orange and red, so for stronger colors one must walk farther up the trail than rather just hanging out near the pack station.
We call this the Yellow Tunnel.
The cottonwoods look so faded when viewed from the other side.
Crystal Creek is still flowing. The colors are very subtle looking up the ravine.
We spotted some orange through the cottonwoods, so Hiking Buddy and I continued on up the trail while the men turned back to begin tackling the chores of cabin closing. Not only do they close our cabins, they also close cabins for neighbors and are responsible for the water system for our little neighborhood, which they take very seriously.
That orange turned out to be a little disappointing. It was only the very edges of these few trees. (You might have to squint to see it here.)
But these trees were electric!
Franklin Creek was so tame, especially compared to my August adventure with K.
Each year in the fall I am determined to learn what shrub turns red. In the summer when it is green, I don’t notice it and don’t remember my annual autumnal intention.
Somewhere over there is where K and I were scrambling through the rain, cold, and hail to find our way home. We knew where we were going but not our exact route.
One last look at the Park’s packing shed.
WHAT? How did I miss this piece of brilliant advice all summer??
What I want to know is this: will a bear leave if I simply shout “BEAT IT, BOZO!” or do I have to say “GET OUT OF HERE BEAR!”? Who taught the bears to obey this command?
The next day was closing day. It was very cold, low 40s while we completed our chores and buttoned it all up for the season.
This is how it looked back toward Mineral King from partway down the road. Snow was expected up there. We closed in the nick of time. (Who is this “nick”?
Just for fun, this is the scenic spot where we stopped for some lunch on the way home.
It is always a bittersweet time. While we believe that summer goes way too fast, it is always a relief to be home, to stop driving that wretched road, to be able to go to church on the weekends, to keep up with emails and texts, to not be continually living in flux with duffle bags in plain sight, and to not worry/wonder about the water system or bear break-ins (in both locations.) Besides, we miss our cats.
