Spring is here!

 Yesterday the weather guessers reported a fifty percent chance of rain. Really? 50/50? To me this defines the word 'guess'. Now I understand why, when I showed up at the University with my Junior College transcripts and they asked what my lab science was, I said Meteorology and they laughed at me. They said "We mean something based in real research not crystal balls!"  

Anyway, it didn't rain. Which was fortunate for me because I needed a top down drive in the little white mini cooper as much as I needed to visit Mary and Steve at Wise Acre Farms for a dozen eggs and Cathy needed to visit The Red Barn Feed & Supply for dog and rabbit food. She also picked up bale of shavings for rabbit bedding. It is amazing what will fit in a mini when the top comes off!

 The photo above was taken from concrete slab that crosses the creek on the east side of our property. The car is sitting in about an inch of water flowing across the road. What caught my attention was the bright magenta bush growing all alone in the background just to the right of center in the photo. For years I looked at that cliff as the solid side of the hill beyond. Then I flew over it with Christopher and discovered that it is the thinnest knife edge of a hill almost gone.

Along the way I wanted to get some photos of the purple lupine and the orange poppies together that grow so profusely along Sand Creek Road in the spring.  Fortunately I had my old Nikon because a good friend recently told me never to leave home without it.This year will be a banner year for wild flowers if the increase in early spring flowers is an indication.

The this spring does seem to be missing the lovely orioles looking for nesting spots in our trees. I am hoping that it's just early for them.

This morning's suprise

This morning Cathy went into the dog yard with her whippets so they could get some exercise. As she stood out in the warm morning sun enjoying the cool morning breeze she became aware of an intense buzzing back the way she had come. Looking back at the gate she had just passed through she saw this swarm of bees on a low limb of the tree.

At first we thought that it was a hive as we both went out at different times to photograph it, but after awhile the swarm became airborne, moving to the west side of the house and into the olive tree. Fortunately, when the swarm moved all the dogs and we were in the house.

Just over a year ago, a beekeeper from Michigan had hives of bees near here for the winter. The bees all abandoned the hives, the empty hives were taken away and a very upset beekeeper went back to his home state. Apparently, if one intends to keep bees then they have to be tended to. No sign of masses of dead bees were found so it was theorized that they had just moved off on their own. I think that this is one of those swarms of bees who are looking for a new summer home. If they move farther from the house we will be so happy to have them as neighbors but if they want to live in the olive tree then we'll have to have them moved.

Brown Cow

Brown Cow, originally uploaded by Fred~Pitts.

A snowy morning on the ranch.

First sketch in a new book

This sketch was done while watching television last night. I used a lamy safari fountain pen with a fine nib and Private Reserve "Chocolate" ink in a Fabriano Artist's Journal on a dark yellow page. The book was a gift from two wonderful friends, David and Joel.

The paper has a texture to it that the fountain pen really didn't like. Each stroke was hit or miss whether the ink would flow and where. It took much longer to do the sketch this way and the feel of the pen was kind of grating. Like drawing on sand paper.

I'm switching to woodless graphite pencils as I think the tooth of the paper will work well with it. I will at some point try brush and ink also.

O.K. let's try this again.

ink and water colors done while on vacation in Sea Ranch with my very good friends Christopher and Annie Desmond.

More current sketches

When I reached the top of the hill where I intended to sit and sketch I found Llarry our Llama laying peacefully in the shade of a tree. Thinking that this would make a great pastoral sketch I maneuvered the jeep around to a good viewing position without disturbing Llarry which was tricky on the narrow tree covered ridge. Fortunately it was a hot enough that he wasn’t inclined to move. As soon as I settled down to sketch our other animals decided to come see what I was doing. Maybe lend a hand? Anyway, I found myself surrounded by two horses, two donkeys, and a pony all sticking their heads into the jeep looking around and generally getting in the way. By the time I pushed everyone away Llarry was up and the moment was broken but I had carved this few minutes out of my day especially to draw and this is the resulting sketch. Everybody kind of standing around with “what’s wrong with him” look, except for Cricket, the old mare, who just turned her back on me.