Bits of home and office

Bits. I made some beanbag pillow coasters out of fabric that I loved to look at. I thought about selling them on eBay, then was glad I didn't. They worked for awhile, but eventually the beans inside got soggy and weird. I was using real beans, and the condensation from the outside of the mugs and glasses eventually made the beans think it was time to either disintigrate or sprout. Or get mooshy and give out an unpleasant odor. But they were fun while they lasted. The Favorite Horse Stories book was recommended by someone, and I think it had an actual short story with a tapir in it. I'll have to look it up again. My hand-written notes under the book list several tapir species with numbers. I see I was deeply into some project, because the books are about digital documents and the folder contains photos and slides. What else is new?

This mug came from a trip to Chicago to the Brookfield Zoo, where I was invited to take part in a meeting with other IUCN/SSC members to brainstorm about a virtual library. I had put the 1997 Tapir Action Plan online, which only seemed natural to me, and then I found out it was the very first IUCN action plan to go on the Web. Cool. I'm proud of this achievement, and to have been in the forefront of something. So they wanted my input for the digital library. I like buying mugs as souvenirs. It was a nice thing to have as a keepsake, but I also bought them for presents. I couldn't have found something less bulky and heavy that I liked as well? I guess not! The credit card swiper terminal on the right is for the Tapir Gallery Gift Shop. I remember how I got started in 1996 or 1997. I went into the local bank and said I wanted to do business online, and they said, "We've never done this before, but we're going to take a chance with you because you've been a reliable customer. We're going to set up a credit card processing account for you as a test case!"

Elvis at the back door

This is Elvis at the back door. It looks like someone has been trying to get in using the screen. Before we moved here, the garage had been converted to a family room and the deck and sliding glass doors were added. The area wasn't quite level, and on more than one occasion, the glass door simply did a belly-flop into the room. The carpeting prevented breakage, but one time it nearly landed on me and one of the dogs. We kept trying to get it fixed, but the landlord was a do-it-yourselfer and he couldn't get it right.

Badger art and snow

I drew this badger in the mid to late 1970s, and took the photo today. It was amazing to me that I used to be able to go to the basement educational department of the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History and check out taxidermied animals the way you'd check out a library book. I could take them home and draw them again and again until they were due back. I've always liked this badger. The drawing is done in dark pencil, and is about 12 x 16 inches, I think. It was one of my best. Sometimes I'd go to the museum and draw the bigger animals in the Hall of Mammals or draw dinosaur bones. Kathy, who worked with me in my graphics business was also an artist, and when work was slow, we'd sometimes go draw. But the post date of this picture is the day I took the photo. I want to be able to draw as nicely as this again, but I'm rusty and it's not coming easily. For an enlargement of the badger's face, see my web album.

This pic is nothing special, it just shows what the snow was doing. That weedy stand is my garden. I'll have fun with it again in spring.

(Your visit to this blog helps us build traffic to support tapir conservation. We usually have some badgers in the gift shop!)

A beautiful day in Palisade, Colorado

From morning until evening this was a gorgeous day to be out taking photos. I'd driven off the Internstate on some road in Clifton and couldn't help but stop for a few pictures. The air was crisp and cold, and the vista was magnificent. This is Mount Garfield from the Clifton side.

Mount Garfield on the left and Grand Mesa on the right. Palisade is nestled in between, but you can't really see it from here. Maybe some of the trees are in Palisade. I think this area is all Clifton where I'm standing.

Grand Mesa under snow and clouds.

Here's Grand Mesa from smack dab downtown Palisade at 3rd and Main.

Grand Mesa from the sidewalk in front of our house on Milleman Street.

The Bookcliffs from our front yard. The snow was gone by late afternoon, but as always, the play of color and changing light fascinates me.

The Bookcliffs and Milleman Street. This is looking eastward or maybe somewhat northeast toward the Rockies, much too far away to see.

Sunset on Grand Mesa from our back yard.

I love the feel of the sky this evening.

While the sunset isn't spectacular, the sky glows behind the trees making a beautiful way to end a day of changes.

Drawing again and Palisade scenery

I've taken up drawing again after having done very little or nothing with it for years. It seems your eyes and your muscles start all over again, or almost all over again, after this long. It feels clumsy and it's frustrating, but I decided I wanted to see how good I could get before I get much older, since it's something I used to do pretty well. I began taking a class at the art center in Grand Junction.

It's all exercises at this point. The infamous gesture drawings. But truly, if you can learn to do them well, it will help a lot. If you ever wonder if gesture drawings have any point, find some by Rembrandt.

Peach trees and snow at the end of Milleman Street. This is looking approximately west toward Grand Mesa.

I suppose this would be southwest. There's Grand Mesa and some smaller hills.

Simple and small. The early days of TPF. The gift shop items are in the white cabinets. The rugs are from Salasaca, Ecuador, brought back by Craig Downer.