My Wink From Heaven

Posted on June 12, 2013 by foresterartist

Tiger Lily, lilies, wink, photograghy, God, love, photography, nature, anniversary

The first Tiger Lilies of the season.

Yesterday, I had a little wink from Heaven. It was Mary and my thirtieth wedding anniversary. We did dueling blogs about how we met at The Blind Date – Her Side and The Blind Date – His Side. The day before that I posted a watercolor called The Tiger Lily, and I talked about how they were my favorite flower and I felt compelled to bring them home for Mary. I also, mentioned that they were late bloomers.

Forest, forester, ponderosa pine, forest

Lovin’ the woods!

I was in the woods yesterday and had the girls with me, Blitz and Teka. I stopped at one of our usual water holes so the girls could drink, swim and air out. We walk over to the creek and lo and behold there were Tiger Lilies, lots of them. I don’t remember seeing them on our anniversary before. They were early this year. I could almost hear the wink! I wish I had bought a lottery ticket.

Lovin’ these Tiger Lilies!

So, of course I picked a bouquet of them as I am compelled by contract to do. Then I threw in a couple of Columbine for good luck.

Tiger Lily, lilies, wink, photograghy, God, love, photography, nature, anniversary, columbine

Columbine for good luck.

I placed them into a lovely silver vase to create the perfect ambiance. Just call me The Florister Artist.

Martha Stewart eat you heart out, The Florister Artist is in the building!

Blitz and Teka helped.

Tiger Lily, lilies, wink, photograghy, God, love, photography, nature, anniversary, golden retriever

Teka searches for the perfect Tiger Lily, or squirrel.

They celebrated with me and we were ready to go.

Nothing gets a girl to roll in the grass like beautiful flowers.

All that was left to do was deliver the package. For that I used FTD, or Forester’s Dirty Truck. Hey, it gets the job done.

FTD special delivery.

The flowers were delivered along with kisses and hugs. Mission accomplished and Mary was all smiles, although she did pitch the vase. Excuse me, I mean recycled the vase to be precise. Then we enjoyed a beautiful and delicious dinner of stir fry and egg fu yung that she made for us. The stir fry was more colorful than the flowers. It was a lovely and quiet anniversary.

Colorful stir fry. It’s making the flowers look dull.

So, do you think it was pure coincidence or was it divine intervention. I know what I think. I think those Tiger Lilies were my little wink from heaven.

The Blind Date – His Side

Posted on June 11, 2013 by foresterartist

100

watercolor, watercolour, sketch, portrait

Mary has always been my favorite subject. I painted this just after we were married.

Thirty years ago today Mary and I were married. After all this time I would still choose her. I am a lucky fella. This is the story of how we began. Mary wrote her version of events and it is posted on her blog Sneaking Bliss. Read them both and enjoy.

An early sketch I made of her when we were just dating.

Greg was a friend from high school and junior college. He called me up because he had a favor to ask. We met at my folk’s house for lunch and that is where he laid it on me. Greg asked if I had any plans for that night. I told him I didn’t and then he explained that a mutual friend of ours had broken up with his girlfriend. Kelly, the girlfriend, called Greg and asked him out on a date. Greg tried to beg off on it by telling her that he and I already had plans, the big liar. At that point she told him that she had a good friend at work that wanted to come along and that it would be a double date. Greg was powerless against her and agreed. Now, his next problem was to convince me to go with him. I don’t mind helping out a friend and I wasn’t seeing anyone at the time, but I had never been on a blind date or a double date for that matter. What could possible go wrong. A young college guy has standards you know, especially when he doesn’t have a girlfriend. Greg was a big strapping fella about 6’2” and after a good long while, the sight of him begging me to go was more than I could take, so I finally agreed.

Kelly and her friend worked at a camera store at the local mall. That was where Greg and I were to pick them up. I was dreading the walking into the store and meeting this strange girl that my Dad would probably describe as “pie faced”, not good. I have five older brothers and they were never going to let me hear the end of it. Greg and I sauntered on into the store where we were greeted by Kelly. She called her friend over and introduced us to Mary. It turned out she was pretty darn cute, but she had a deer in the headlights look about her. I was thinking that maybe it was going to turn out okay. We waited while the girls closed the store. Then it was off to the movies. We went to see a Charles Bronson movie called “Borderline.” On a scale of 1 to 10 as a date movie, it was a -2. Kelly jabbered the entire time and when the date was over I really had not gotten to know Mary. We dropped her off at her car, an old Triumph Spitfire, and with no kiss goodnight she was out of there. On a date scale of 1 to 10 it was about a 1, although the bright spot was that Mary seemed nice.

I did this was from a picture taken of Mary before we met.

I went by the camera store pretty regularly, because my good buddy Terry worked there. I got to talk to Mary on occasion and decide maybe I should give it another try, but this time without Kelly. So a few weeks later I ask her out again, and she agreed. Oh yah, I was a fast worker…not. This time we were going to an Air Supply concert. This was a big deal since Redding rarely had major talent showing up in our podunk corner of California. Okay it wasn’t ELO or Arrowsmith, but hey this was Redding after all. I don’t know what happened next, but somehow Kelly horned her way in, but it didn’t become a double date. It became a date with Kelly’s best twenty-five friends. Not the intimate date I was hoping for. We all went for pizza afterward and it was so noisy that I still didn’t get to have conversation with Mary. On the date scale it was about a 3.

It did leave me intrigued with Mary. I figured the third time’s the charm. I would ask her out and there was no way in hell Kelly was going to be there. So about a week later I went by the store and asked her out one more time. I was going to make sure we would have a chance to get to know each other. I was on a roll. No more lolly gagging around. When I asked her she said “I’m going out with someone else.” Ouch, I was too late. She was dating some other guy. It just wasn’t meant to be. She had moved on. I still went by the camera store to meet up with Terry, and I would talk to Mary once and a while.

Fast forward six months. There was a birthday party for my friend Wayne at his parent’s house. They were gone and it was going to get loud. My brother Pete, friend Rick and I were driving over to Wayne’s house at about 9 pm. It was a long driveway to the house with rocks like boulders and potholes like moon craters. It was dark and there was a small car ahead of us. It was a Spitfire, Mary’s Spitfire. She was driving so slowly around the potholes and dragging her undercarriage over the rocks. That car had about 3½“of clearance. We laughed at the sight of her trying to negotiate that road. When we all reached the house she gravitated to me, since I was the only person she knew there. Terry had invited her to the party and he was late. She was mad a Terry for abandoning her with all these strange people. Good for me and bad for Terry. Mary and I finally got that chance to talk and dance. We were having a great time, to the point that the other girls there were getting a little catty about this female interloper. Not me, I was doing great. The guys started wrestling, you know show off their manliness. Rick and I were wrestling team alumni and there was alcohol involved so Rick toyed with his opponents and I just watched. When Terry did finally arrived about two hours later Mary started giving him a dressing down for showing up so late. After, a little more alcohol Terry challenged her to a wrestling match. He wasn’t prepared for what happened next. It was the drunk verses the angry woman, with swearing and pain. She served up some wup ass! When she was done with him, he announced that if we thought she was so easy to beat then we should wrestle her. Then he volunteered me. She was fired up and ready to wrestle. I figured well, why not! Did I mention there was alcohol involved. She didn’t know I was a wrestler, so I went easy on her. I didn’t want to humiliate her, but there was no way I was going to let her win. She was a good sport about it and we enjoyed the rest of the evening. When it was time for her to leave I walked her out to her car. She was sitting in her car and we were alone and in the dark. I leaned over and we kissed. It was long kiss, a nice kiss, and just the beginning of many more kisses.

Happy anniversary honey, I love you.

Rematch….anytime!

A Memory In The Mist – Revisited

Posted on June 7, 2013 by foresterartist

When I first posted A Memory In The Mist I thought it would be an unusual sight for most folks. With so many people unfamiliar with teepee burners and their use, and add to that a picture of one decaying into the earth, it would be something different. I decided I would show you a few more images of full standing burners that are still around. They represent something from the past that was left behind by the forward march of technology.

pen and ink, ink, drawing, sketch, sawmill, teepee burner

This pen and ink represents an old-time sawmill with a teepee burner.

In the old days, before sawdust was used for particle board and bark was used for landscaping, it was burned. Much of it was burned to power the boilers at the mill, but excess wood waste was just burned. Today’s mill residues that cannot be used in other products are burned in co-generation plants to generate electricity. Nothing goes to waste anymore.

teepee burner, beehive burner, photography, sawmill

The Carlotta, California teepee burner was an extra-large one.

A big one like the Carlotta burner could handle a lot of mill residue. With the mill gone the old burner stands like a grave marker of the old mill site.

It is a tall skinny teepee burner in Nubieber, California.

A tall burner like the one Nubieber was built with a tall chimney. This reduced the risk of sparks starting a fire outside the burner.

This teepee burner is located between Anderson and Redding, California.

The Anderson burner was a very typical design around here. As a child I lived about a half mile from this one.

A teepee burner in use from 1932.

The teepee burner from A Memory In The Mist.

Where once was smoke now there is foliage.

Nature is resilient and relentless and will be here long after we are gone.

Here comes the sun.

A WIP Times Two

Posted on May 18, 2013 by foresterartist

My wounded paw.

That’s my hand with the bandage. If you are thinking that some emotionally motivated gesticulating by the digit wrapped in gauze was the cause for the bandage, then I’m going to disappoint you. No, Mary did not do me bodily harm, nor was it the result of some road rage incident. I had a cyst and bone spur removed. I know, considering which finger it was, I could have come up with a whopper of a story. You are welcome to speculate wildly if you don’t believe me. Now I have two WIP. One is the watercolor in the photo and the other is my hand. It looks pretty swollen in the picture. Fortunately, I am right-handed so progress continues.

Those aren’t my tears from the procedure. I’m a big boy and only cry during tragic dog movies. I took these pictures during the rain storm last week. It helped bring an end to the fires that were burning here.

Manzanita flowers in the rain.

That night after my surgery, when we went to bed it started raining again. It was hot in the house so I opened the window to let the cool air in. My hand ached and it kept me awake. The lightning flashed in the distance and the thunder rumbled through the sky. The sound of the rain falling outside was so peaceful that I finally drifted off.

Battle Creek Meadows

This rain has been a relief and has delayed our oncoming drought. Soon it will be dry again.

In the clouds.

Just the girls and I.

Tim, Teka and Blitz.

CAUTION!

Posted on May 6, 2013 by foresterartist

CAUTION Proceed At Own Risk Road Not Maintained During Winter

I don’t think Winter is the problem around here. Maybe we should delete “Road Not Maintained During Winter”, and replace it with something else. Any suggestions? I would love to hear them.

On a side note, it rained here today! No new fires, yay! (Wait, is that a Haiku?)

Sun, Smoke and Oak

Posted on May 2, 2013 by foresterartist

Sun, Sunset, fire, wildfire, smoke, photography

The sun through the smoke. Yes, that is the sun and not the moon.

The first big wildfires of the season broke out here yesterday. The Panther and Cedar fires were burn a ways to the South and just a few miles apart. With a strong dry North wind they made a good run. A huge column of smoke stretched over the valley and the sun was obscurred last night when I took these pictures. Hopefully the firefighters made good progress last night when the winds died down.

Sun through the smoke and oaks.

May first and we are already seeing forest fires. Dry down is well underway here. This doesn’t bode well for this Summer’s fire season. Here we go again.

Pheasants And The Meaning Of Life

Posted on April 2, 2013 by foresterartist

This painting for me is more than a picture of a beautiful rooster pheasant. It is me trying to express the essence of something in my life that is significant.

This painting has been on the board a long time. It is destined for my office. Oddly, I’ve never hung any of my art in my office. I guess it is about time.

Blitz joyfully returns with a bird.

Pheasant season ended a few weeks ago. It is a time when our dogs get to live their bliss, as Mary is so fond of putting it, living-bliss. I’ve re-blogged her post, because it is also about the dogs doing what they are born to do. They are working dogs and hunting is their work. They are happiest when they are working. What they do is written in their DNA.

Teka can’t wait for her turn. She stakes out my truck.

I suppose the same is true for me. If I was plopped down in the American West 200 years ago I think I would have been perfectly happy. Engaging in hunting with dogs, friends and family keeps me connected to my roots and more primitive self.

Teka was born to hunt birds.

golden retriever, hunting, photography, Pheasant

Teka delivers a pheasant to her person, Doug.

Dogs are pack animals and pheasant hunting helps them live their pack experience. The difference is that we are now their pack, but the satisfaction to them is the same.

Teka relishes bringing the bird to Doug and receiving his appreciation.

If I didn’t have bird dogs I probably wouldn’t bird hunt. The pleasure they bring to it is what makes it complete. These dogs have such heart in what they do. Hunting without them would be like dancing alone.

Blitz on a water retrieve.

Procuring food is such a basic human activity. By acquiring food myself, I appreciate the meal much more. To spend the time hunting and experiencing the joy of success with my partners makes me think about what our hunter gatherer ancestors did on a daily basis. Then to have to go through the process of cleaning and preparing this food, it puts me very in touch with the reality of what was given.

Blitz is happiest while doing her work.

When I hold the pheasant in my hand that I just killed and Blitz just fetched, I experience a blend of feelings. There is joy in the success and satisfaction of providing this meal to my family. There is appreciation for the beauty and for what this creature lost, it’s life. That leaves me with some sadness, but it is the reality of life. It causes me to not take meat in the grocery store for granted.

Blitz has a lively pheasant.

The time out in the field away from the day to day activities is a welcome break to go enjoy a more primal experience. There are things all around to be noticed that add to the richness of this time spent.

geese, Canadian Geese, photography, wildife, nature

Canadian Geese hiding in the grass.

This time means so much when spent with family.

My oldest son, Chris with his girl Nellie. This will be her last pheasant season.

family, sons, golden retriever, hunting, pheasant

My sons and Nellie.

This is also a time for me to remember my old loyal hunting partners from years past. The ones that gave me so many fond memories. Last year was Hawk’s last season only we didn’t know it at the time. He should have had many more pheasants to retrieve. We miss him very much. Mary posted about him a while back, Her Papa’s Eyes.

Hawk during his last pheasant season. An old hunting partner remembered.

Osprey Complaint Department

Posted on March 15, 2013 by foresterartist

All complaints and criticisms will get doo consideration. Oh, and bring a fish.

If you don’t like the osprey posts, please take it up with our complaint department coordinator.

Run Of The Mill View

Posted on March 13, 2013 by foresterartist

Climbing down the ladder to the chip hopper. Hey, what is that black thing?

I’m working on a presentation that I’m giving at the Redwood Region Logging Conference on Friday. I wanted to put some new photos into my Power Point presentation. My favorite view of the mill site is from the top of the chip hopper at the Pole Plant. It gives a great overview of the entire complex, so I took my shots and climbed down. I normally post lots of pictures of wildlife around the mill site, but I haven’t shown much of the complex. By just looking at the wildlife pictures from my category called “Wildlife At The Mill“, one would think this place was a wildlife refuge. In a way it is. The wildlife here is accustomed to living next to and amongst the mill site. No one bothers them and they have adapted to their environment. It is truly amazing how adaptable nature is.

Mt Shasta, Shasta, log deck, pole yard, mill site, sawmill, photography

Mt Shasta rises in the background of the pole yard and the log decks. Mt Shasta is the second largest mountain in the Cascades at 14,179 feet.

pole yard, sawmill, otter, photography, osprey, nest

The Otter Pond is surrounded by the sawmill, co-generation plant and pole yard. The otters don’t seem to mind. You can see the otter post Otter, Up Periscope. The tower with the osprey nest is just visible in the upper right corner. The osprey posts are, Osprey Remodel, Osprey Love, and Here Come The Osprey.

pole plant, poles, industrial, photography

The Pole Plant.

Looking down the chip conveyor.

A Memory In The Mist

Posted on February 22, 2013 by foresterartist

Appearing out of the mist was this large rusting hulk. A tree growing through its roof as it imperceptibly melts into the ground. These strange structures were once as common in the forested West as family owned bookstores, and like the bookstores they are slowly fading away. They have been replaced by newer and better technology. In a few decades most of these old relics will be gone. No longer a reminder of a past lifestyle. I suspect that most young folks won’t recognize it, but does anyone else?