Ten Things Learned in May

This month’s Learned List will be full of irrelevant photos. Not much was photogenic.

  1. Did you know that only 2% of the population takes the stairs when there is an elevator nearby? I learned this from Michael Easter, the author of The Comfort Crisis.
  2. The Mineral King Road repairs are in progress.
  3. I learned (again) that sometimes there are no answers; my viburnum snowball bush is dying for no apparent reason; I also learned that all the websites say the same things, which is a whole lotta nothin’. This is how it looked about 4 years ago (the white flowers on the left).
  4. I read The Comfort Crisis after hearing the author on a presentation called “America’s Labor Shortage”; one day after I finished it, Mike Rowe interviewed the author. I highly recommend this book.
  5. The author I am working with on the book about TB taught me two new words: “grok” and see #6. “Grok” is a verb that means “to understand profoundly through intuition or empathy.” 
  6. “Tyro” is a noun meaning “a beginner in learning something”.
  7. Milorganite is a slow release fertilizer that just might solve many of my gardening woes, along with something called “Nitro Humus”. Can’t wait to try them!
  8. The Frugal Girl mentioned having “titers drawn”: titers are blood draws to test for antibody levels  for immunity to things like measles, mumps, rubella, etc. If antibody levels are high enough, you can avoid unnecessary vaccines.
  9. Sometimes, a person needs to know when to say “When!” I have withdrawn from painting the murals at the big Catholic church until October; they may have to choose another muralist if they don’t want to wait. They contacted me last September, with the idea I would be finished by December of 2022. Perhaps I will be able to finish by December 2023, or perhaps a more hardy soul will be able to tackle this in the heat of summer. (Not this little gray duck.)
  10. I knew this, but you might find it helpful. A gopher snake resembles a rattlesnake. If you can see the head or the tail, you will see a gopher snake’s head isn’t diamond shaped nor does its tail have a rattle. But the patterns and colors on the body are awfully similar. This is a gopher snake. I have no photos of a ratttler. (Nope, don’t want any either). #10’s photo was gross. Here. Wash your eyes out with this.

Six Garden Meanderings

 

Apparently I haven’t gone back to work yet. But I am throughly enjoying late springtime in Three Rivers.

  1. I looked up online why garlic bulbs grow too small and the reasons are legion. Planting too close together, too early, too late, too shallow, too deep, beginning with small cloves, not weeding enough, and the most likely: poor soil.
  2. The roses are getting tired.
  3. The bugs are eating the basil in some places and not in others. Good thing someone taught me about rooting cuttings in water so I haven’t completely wasted my money buying these plants.
  4. I am determined to get these cuttings of myoporum rooted so I can plant this hardy groundcover in a rough area of our church grounds.
  5. You are curious about the porch plants that showed up with the cats last week? They are called “Queen’s Tears”.
  6. This is the pile of rocks that I helped move the other day. Maybe I’ll go back to work soon.

Walking on Memorial Day in Three Rivers

On Memorial Day, Trail Guy suggested we walk to see the river. For those of you outside of Three Rivers, that is the middle fork of the Kaweah River. (There are five forks to the Kaweah River: South, North, Middle, East, and Marble. I know: five forks = Three Rivers. Weird.)

We passed by a neighbor’s stunning penstemon.

Then we cut through the Memorial Building parking lot, an appropriate route for the day’s theme. Our neighbor girl called it the Remorial Building because you go there to remember people, so that’s usually how we pronounce it. (It’s on purpose, just like “prolly” and “liberry”.)

The river was charging, although it wasn’t as hot out the past few days. (A friend told us that there is enough snow in the mountains to fill Kaweah Lake 5 or 6 times this summer!)

Edison has wisely blocked off the parking area where people often leave their cars when trespassing at the river. However, it didn’t stop these stupid honyocks from leaving this mess.

A catalpa tree was at peak bloom.

We decided to see if anyone we knew was around to give us a garbage bag, and made it to our friend Barbara’s house. She provided a large garbage bag AND SOME ARTICHOKES!! I LOVE ARTICHOKES!

Excuse me for shouting. Barbara is a terrific gardener with the best yard in the entire town. It is a privilege and a thrill to hang out there. If you are a long-time reader of this blog, you may recognize the place from my early ignorant and fumbling attempts at plein air painting. (This link, and this one too.)

The sand was thick and abundant at the little trashed beach. Good thing we got a big bag, because there was more than we thought. Some stupid chick is now minus a sandal. Too bad. 

When the beach was restored (yes I put my feet in–you didn’t doubt that, did you?), we continued back through the Remorial Building lot. Had to stop to restore a flag to its clip.

I was going to walk back to Barbara’s to help her garden, but realized it would take too long and I wanted to get to work. So, I drove back, and we worked together for several hours. I learned about Nitro Humus and Milorganite, a nitrogen rich fertilizer that is slow releasing and will not burn the plants. I also learned about Sluggo Plus, which takes care of those horrible little jaws on legs also known as sowbugs, and that there is spray to keep the deer from eating geraniums. Gardening is an expensive hobby if you want to keep things alive and thriving. Maybe there is hope yet for my often discouraging attempts.  

Thus we conclude a walk in Three Rivers on Memorial Day. (So weird to not be in Mineral King!)

 

Six Meanderings

  1. Tulare County roads department is supposed to finish making the lower part of the Mineral King Road passable this week. Whether or not it will be open to the public is not known.
  2. When it is hot, the cats lie on the concrete of the front porch.
  3. Front to back: Pippin, Jackson (whose tail is always up), Tucker.
  4. When the heat backs off a bit, I hope to return to this painting. Yeah, yeah, I could use the swamp cooler, but you may have noticed that I’d rather be gardening. When I actually do work on it, you will get to see some photos.
  5. This place has the most beautiful views of Moro Rock and Alta Peak.
    6. So does this place:

It is good to live in Tulare County this time of year (but remember, you don’t want to move here because often we have terrible air, we are all fat and undereducated, and there is no Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods.)

Why I Almost Fell Asleep

I almost fell asleep at my drawing table one afternoon because:

I got up really early to go walking.

Here is the lower Salt Creek crossing on the BLM land; I turned around here.

It was so beautiful out, not hot yet, and I was moving enough for the mosquitos to not catch me.

There are a few Farewell-to-Spring flowers alongside the road, along with Common Madia, and some Elegant Clarkia. (Just practicing the names so I don’t forget; only the Farewell-to-Spring show in this picture.)

We went to see the river.

Trail Guy and I walked to see the river, which is flowing fast and full.

The March floods took away the measuring stick. Since I didn’t know what those increments actually referred to, I don’t miss it. Yes, feet, but so often the river wasn’t touching the stick at all, and it still had measurable water in it, so go figure. . .

The buckeye are in bloom.

Rocks.

And then we moved a pile of heavy rocks. No photos.

And that’s why I almost fell asleep drawing for fun.

 

 

Drawing For Fun

A friend of mine drives for Sequoia Sightseeing Tours.* He had some passengers from Michigan and learned that one is an artist. So, he told her about me. Because people can’t get to Sequoia through Three Rivers right now (wrecked roads from winter floods), they sometimes don’t know how to spend their time. My friend suggested they visit my studio (not open to the public but open by appointment.) 

He called to ask permission to give them my contact information. I said yes, then I vacuumed the studio, made sure things were put away, and hung out the flag. 

I thought that it might be fun for them to see a piece in progress, so I opened up my flat file drawer labeled “In Progress” (Captain Obvious here) and pulled out a drawing that I started so long ago that I can’t remember when or why. I think it had something to do with drawing for fun.

I began working on it, realizing that I draw for money, not for fun. This is because:(1) if I drew for fun, there wouldn’t be as much time to do other fun things; (2) if I didn’t draw for money, I’d have to get a job; (3) if I drew for fun, those flat files would be so full that they wouldn’t open; (4) if I drew for fun, I wouldn’t have paintings to sell, only drawings; (5) if I drew for fun, I’d end up putting a ton of money into framing, and where would that money come from since I wouldn’t be drawing for money?

This is from a photo taken in 1997 and used to draw the little picture you see next to it. It is the light, shadow and detail that appeal to me. (This drawing was on the back cover of the dust jacket for The Cabins of Mineral King, by me and Jane Coughran, published in 1998, long since sold out.)

I looked up from the drawing and saw this out the window.

Back to the drawing board.

In spite of listening to an interesting podcast, I almost fell asleep at the drawing table. That’s because I got up really early to go walking. I’ll show you tomorrow.

P.S. The people didn’t call. Maybe they fell asleep. 

 

 

 

*If you take a tour with Sequoia Sightseeing, ask for Steven. He is terrific!

Maintaining

Workwise, I have a whole lotta nothin’ to share. Any day now, I could get a green light to begin on some murals (when it is too hot to paint, thanks, all you decision makers). So, I am enjoying the free time to continue yardening, meet with an old friend, help out on a church project, and unfortunately, deal with an insurance claim.

 

These iris love wet feet. They are not natives but are domestic flowers that have escaped someone’s yard and established themselves in this seasonal drainage on one of my walking routes.

Yes, we love red, white, and blue around here.

Only one of my favorite dutch iris bloomed here.

But then look what showed up by the studio!

The lavender is abundant, luxurious, extravagant, and if I had my thesaurus handy, I’d keep going.

Remember when I showed you some pistachio trees mostly submerged along the highway? (Scroll to the bottom of that linked post to see the picture). Part of the grove got planted in a seasonal lake, which filled up this spring and the pump couldn’t keep up. Those submerged trees drowned.

Morning sun is so beautiful on our surrounding hills.

While sitting at The Fourway (that’s what we call a main intersection, because it used to be the only stoplight between our rural areas and the county seat; now there is one more, but we call it “Spruce” because that is its name) WHERE WAS I? At the Fourway, waiting for the light, amused by the message on the back of the pickup ahead.

 

On my way home, I stopped for gas at a super busy little place along Highway 198. Been there before, no problem. This time, a problem. Sigh. Poor Fernando.  The guy in the huge pickup who backed into me was watching out the other side. It rocked the car as I was waiting to pull out onto the busy frontage road. I was afraid to get out and look, but he signaled to me that it was small damage. He was a gentleman, instructed me to take photos of things, including his insurance coverage and registration. Then when I got home, I learned that he had already called the insurance company (we have the same one, which helps.) 

With 247,000 miles, should I get this repaired? Should I start looking for another car? (Not because of a little bumper divot, but because of the high number of miles, and the catalytic converter on the edge) How does one find a manual transmission? How does one find a simple car with a manual transmission? (Only Honda or Toyota need apply, because of Mark and Foreign Auto in Visalia.)

Life is a series of decisions and choices. (My very wise dad used to say that, causing me to roll my eyes, and now I fully agree.) Life is also about maintenance. 

I will try to maintain here.

Thoughts About Life in Three Rivers

Thoughts About Life in Three Rivers was my first thought for a title. Perhaps a more accurate title would be “Thoughts About Life in Rural California.” Or simply “Life in California”. Or even “Life in These United States”.

Last week at 12:30 AM the power went out. Trail Guy made coffee that morning using our campstove, a logical and competent move.

After a few hours, we decided it would be prudent to hook the refrigerator and freezer to the generator, since these unexplained power outages can go on for hours. This is a little Honda generator, very efficient, lightweight, easy to start; we bought it last summer just for circumstances such as this. 

The new generator wouldn’t start.

(That’s a topic for another conversation.)

Around 9 AM the power came back on, but the situation brought home the uncomfortable truth that we rely heavily on electricity, which is becoming less reliable.

  • Our landline phones used to work without electricity until they became fancy cordless phones; now they are being replaced by cellphones which often rely on wifi due to spotty cell coverage, and the wifi relies on electricity.
  • Same situation for texting, which relies on cellphones, which rely on electricity to recharge
  • We communicate via email, which relies on computers, which need electricity to charge. And those computers rely on wifi which needs electricity.
  • The state badmouths normal cars, telling us to get electric vehicles. Then they tell us to not charge the vehicles.
  • Homes aren’t supposed to be built with natural gas anymore, and some states are outlawing gas stoves, pushing electric stoves.
  • Gas-powered chainsaws, leaf blowers, lawnmowers and other tools are being replaced by electric tools; the batteries to run those tools need electricity to be recharged.

We are told to switch to electric everything at the same time less electricity is being generated.

The three power plants in Three Rivers aren’t generating very often (one is kaput); water is now considered a “non-renewable resource” for generating electricity.

A year ago, a big freeze in Texas proved that those windmills and solar are not reliable.

Solar panels don’t get enough sunshine when we have overcast days or wildfires.

The more “gentle” the generation of power, the more resources those items require to be built and to run.

Windmills kill enormous numbers of birds; the ones in the Atlantic ocean are killing whales. Solar panels and batteries use precious minerals, mined in terrible conditions by horribly abused people. Disposing of those batteries puts toxic stuff in the landfills. 

All this is supposed to be “saving the planet”? Do these people not understand how electricity is generated or what the downside to all the alternatives are? 

Where is the logic in this push to use electricity, while at the same time we are generating less?

Something is happening to common sense, and it is not an improvement.

Cowboy logic is endangered.

P.S. My opinion is not about politics: it is based on logic and reality. The poor decisions of the lawmakers are not based on logic and reality but based on what benefits the lawmakers, what looks or sounds good to the lobbyists, the media, and giant blocks of low-information voters.

Happy Birthday, Ann! (stay in Florida)

Sold in Spring 2023

If you are getting this post in your email, go to the internet and type in jana botkin dot net (type it in computer style, not the way it is written here).

Sales have been slow. I am not defining “spring”, precisely, and it isn’t over yet. However, I am not producing very much: just editing and formatting 2 different books, teaching drawing lessons, communicating occasionally with the folks on 2 different pairs of murals, and wondering if there will be any reason to paint towards selling at the Silver City Store this coming summer.

 

Lest you think I am bored, your Central California artist is never bored. I am yardening, meeting up with an old friend from high school, cleaning out closets and rooms at church, yardening some more, reading, knitting, walking with my neighbor, and yardening (in case you were wondering.)