Dog person

I love this bumper sticker.

***
But what if your dog thought you were an idiot?

Don't touch my screen!

People who know me, know that I don't like it when people touch my screen. My computer screen. That's not exactly accurate,.. I hate it when people touch my screen! When you touch something it leaves finger prints. I guess it comes from wearing glasses. I always keep my glasses clean so I can see clearly. There's nothing worse than finger prints on something you have to look at or look through.

As you know if you read this blog I work as a graphic artist. It really bothers me if someone tries to touch my screen while I'm working, pointing at this or that. You can point at it without touching the screen. If you touch it you will leave a mark or a scratch. Then I'll have to deal with it. Forever!.. And that really bothers me!

I'm disturbed by screen touchers, but what I really don't like are touch screens. I know a few things about plastics. They don't make a plastic that can't be scratched, I don't care what they say. Show me a non-scratch plastic and I'll show you how to scratch it. Why would you touch something you had to look at? Clearly designed by people who never wore glasses or have no visual sensitivity. When I heard that they came out with a touch screen computer like it's this wonderful thing, I'm thinking I totally hate that idea! I hope they don't all become like that. I don't want to look at something with a million finger prints and scratches on it.

And here's the real kicker. When I'm working on my computer with a customer watching and they start touching my screen. What am I going to do? I have to sit there and let them violate my screen like that.

You don't go to the museum and start fondling all of the paintings!... "Oh look at the boobs on that one!"... touch touch touch...

I've thought about having a sign made to put on the boarder of the screen that says, "please don't touch my screen." But I don't want to put a sign on my screen..

I can't stand it when people stick things on screens...

Montana forest

I couldn't resist just wandering around in the forest for a while today way up in the mountains of western Montana. It was cool but not cold with the sun making its way in through the trees. The air had that sweet intoxicating mountain smell that might just be one of the best things about summer. There weren't any anoying bugs. It was just beautiful in the woods. I could have wandered around in the forest for hours.

Smell the latex

I haven't been posting that much lately. I suck in this respect. Not only that, I haven't been cycling as much as I should. My house needed painting and I've been doing that. It's no excuse though and I realize. I'm so burned out after work and then I come home and paint.

But there's a certain calm in painting. Houses... (there's no calm in art painting/ oil painting for me. That's like work. I always stress when I do that.) But house painting, you're up on that ladder and spreading out the latex.. It's a summer thing. Mindless in a way, but rewarding too.

That's been my world. Up on a ladder painting my house. The smell of the latex. The clink of the extention ladder as I raise and lower it. The feel of the water when I clean out the brush.

Well there's that.

I want to something about the King of Pop but I can't find the right direction. I loved some of the music. There's something strange though, and not just about his death.

Wild Rose picture

I was taking a picture of wild roses and a bee swooped in to roll in the pollen.

Boating to Wild Horse Island

This is what the sky looked like on my way back from Wild Horse Island as night closed in on Flathead Lake. I didn't see any wild horses on the island, but I did see several big mule deer bucks in the velvet. They were too far away to get a picture.

I retain all rights to my photos.  Please do not use any of my photos without permission.

Out west

This Buckaroo walked by me today so I took his picture.

He was heading west last time I seen him...

Ride a bike to work

It was the perfect day to ride a bike to work. It rained last night and today it was clear and cool. Nobody was on the bike path. My favorite time to ride a bike is after a rain shower. The air felt cool on my body so I didn't break a sweat. It wasn't even 60 degrees and no wind. I saw various birds, and one squirrel. I felt sorry for all of the people driving to work in cars. It's nice to be able to ride a bike instead.

Last night I repaired the front brake on my single speed. If I pulled the lever the caliper would go in but then wouldn't return to fully open. And it felt terrible like metal grinding on metal. It started to do that on the SpokeFest ride at the end of last summer. Instead of fixing it, I just quit riding it and switched to my regular road bike, but now I've been wanting to ride it again. I hardly ever have to do anything to my bikes, but now and then you have to fix something. Usually a tire.

So I bought a new housing and cable thinking that would be the easiest fix. I had ruled out the caliper and the lever. It ended up being the cable housing. It's working fine now and I rode the single speed to work.

Morning on Flathead Lake.

Morning on Flathead Lake. When the day starts out like this it's going to be a good day for sailing. It's always nice at Flathead Lake though even when it's stormy. There aren't really any bad days. I really should get up earlier and see the day break, but I just wanted to sleep in. When I did get up I took my camera and coffee down to the shore.

Bear Grass

The Bear Grass is blooming in Montana. Now and then I'll see one and the top is broken off, like something came along and ate it.

Where's my camera ! ?

I freaked out today. My boss came into my cube and said "Don I have an assignment for you." She wanted me to go out and take pictures of the local area for a project. Where is my new Nikon?! It must be at home I thought...

I usually carry two camera bags with cameras in them to work. I almost never go anywhere without them. I had one bag with the little camera in it but I coudln't find the big one with the big camera. I'd been at home for lunch and went inside my house and left the windows of my car open. Did someone walk by and take my camera? I just didn't know. I remembered another artist at work had lost a camera out of his car.

At work, I'd parked my car under a tree for shade. Did I leave a door open? I did leave the windows down a little. I know that. Did I leave my camera in the car where someone could see it and take it?

We'd been picking things up off of the floor at work as we were going to have the carpet cleaned. I usually plop my camera bags down on the floor in my cube. I hauled stuff out of there did I haul off my camera and forget where I put it?

I drove home after work and looked around the house. No camera. Then I drove back to work. No camera.

I was sick about it. I started to think someone must have taken it out of my car when I left the windows down at lunch.

Then I thought about looking in my truck. Yesterday I'd taken my truck to a place to drop off a bunch of tree branches and then drove it to work. After work I'd gone to the store and covered up my camera bags with a vest so they wouldn't be seen in the cab. I was in a dark mood yesterday after work and stormed inside when I got home.

There it was in the cab of the truck. My new Nikon. What a relief. I think I'll sleep with it tonight.

Lavender's blue

Diane wrote a heartbreaking post about riding the school bus when she was young and looking different than the other children. Lavender

***
let the birds sing, and the lambs play
we shall be safe, out of harm's way

Gertrude's old pink cabin

They are going to paint Aunt Gertrude's old cabin so I decided to take a picture before it lost its pink patina. They're painting it the same color but it won't be quite the same. Well at least not until the sun and weather ages it properly. A lot of people I've been close to have gone through this door. It's a door into my past.

Now people build great big homes along the lake. There's something lost in them. I'd rather stay in a place like this.

Aunt Gertrude always had a bag of yarn and would crochet things. She made me an afghan and a poop duck, and she made things that looked like poodles to put toilet paper in. She was prolific, and there was something calming about being around her while she worked. She was like a spider spinning her endless web looking through old cat eye glasses.

I don't bother putting extra toilet paper in a thing that looks like a poodle but I might if I had one...

If you look closely there's a little bird poking its head out of the bird house that's sitting on the electrical service box. I bet that bird is realted to birds that came here when Gertrude owned the pink cabin.

***After Aunt Gertrude left, Aunt Mildred and Aunt Dorothy moved in. They weren't really my aunts like Gertrude was, but they were other people's aunts. So I called them aunt as did everyone. They were no spring chickens. Mildred had gone to the Art Institute of Chicago. She had a potters wheel in there, painted and composed music. I used to go there and talk art with her while I was going to art school. She gave me a great big book on Leonardo. I also have one of her pots. A tea pot.

All of those aunts are dead and gone now. The people who come and stay there have no idea.

I retain the rights to all of my photos.  Please do not use without permission.

Morning picture

I don't even know what to say about this. A picture from this morning.

Is there life on Mars?

It's a God awful small affair
To the girl with the mousey hair
But her mummy is yelling, "No!"
And her daddy has told her to go
But her friend is no where to be seen
Now she walks through her sunken dream

Natalia got me thinking about the whole abortion issue. These words came to mind.

GM bankruptcy

This is an ad from a 1922 Chevy dealer catalog. They were trying to sell cars to farmers. There was sort of a fine line between cars and trucks back then. Now GM has been selling farm trucks to city folks, but I think the gig is finally up on that idea.

Mitt Romney was on the Today show with Matt Lauer this moring. Lauer gave credit to Romney for calling the impending bankruptcy of the auto industry. Well it might be that billions spent to float GM and Chrysler was intended to avoid a total melt down of our economy while everyone came to terms with bankruptcy, or to try and give it some time to find someone to step in and take over.

And who names their kid Mitt anyway?...! Don't get me wrong,.. I like Mitt Romney,. If only he didn't seem like a used car salesman..

I guess what really bothers me about GM and Chrysler, and Ford for that matter is they mananged to convince everyone to buy great big trucks and SUVs, and then loaded them up with every possible option and charged 30 to 40 grand for one. Way more than people need for transportation in an urban setting. Now even reasonable people think they can't get by without an SUV or Truck for their daily transportation.

It's no wonder the whole idea imploded when gas prices went up.

The wind in the trees

I used to dislike the wind. I was going to say I hated the wind but I didn't hate it. I guess it's like a person who grows up on the prairie and feels crowded by the mountains. Tonight the wind is blowing in the trees. I'll leave the window open and let it in,. to take me out onto the prairie.