We are at the 66th Annual Lumberjack Fiesta in McCloud, CA today.
There’s an axe throw bullseye, right in the beer can. No, that isn’t me.
Mary arranging the booth. We are representing Red Tail Publishing today. It’s a beautiful day in McCloud!
That’s me and Buddy The Wayward Wolverine.
Thank you Linda Martin Andersen for the opportunity to be a guest on your blog!
“Timber Sports–Lumberjack Skills in Axe’tion” by Tim Livingston and posted by Linda Martin Andersen
“A Writer’s Playground”–A place to find wordplay, writing, and monthly calendar activities for kids and those young at heart.
To learn more about the Livingstons check here:
https://theforesterartist.com/about/
Readers, please welcome Tim Livingston. In an earlier blog post, we gave Melissa Barr, our guest zookeeper, our best animal cry. What if we give Tim our best forest cry: TIM–BER. I just realized we’ll be calling Tim’s name when we do that. Must be meant to be.
Oops, did anyone besides me hear a tree…
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Osprey
Osprey portrait in pen and ink.
The osprey family has been quite busy lately. The young birds have been practicing for their first flight.
The young osprey in training.
The parents had been flying around the tower trying to entice the fledglings to take wing.
This is how it’s done kids.
Then the heat came. We had seven straight days over 108 and it peaked at 116. It was way too hot in the nest tower!
Trying to assume a cool position in the tower.
This was the incentive to motivate the young osprey to fly. After the first day of extreme heat, they fled the tower.
The osprey nest was finally empty.
Down along the river in the shady oak trees is where they took refuge.
This is much better than roasting in that steel tower.
When the heat settled down, back to the tower they went. After, being in the tree I thought they might not return to the tower. As it turns out they weren’t entirely ready to give up the nest.
The nest tower is still home.
They still want to roost there at night, and they know this is where they get fed. They are like teenagers that still depend on mom and dad.
When it’s time to eat, they tell their parents in no uncertain terms.
The parents seem to debate each other whose turn it is to take care of the noisy offspring. They rarely go into the nest anymore unless they are dropping off a fresh fish meal.
I fed them last time!
Mary posted the latest pictures from our wildlife camera. Some pretty neat shots and a composite she put together.
The area where the trail cam is located has blackberries and some old apple trees. Both favorites of the local black bears. They come by to check the ripening status of the fruit.
We like our little get away up in the mountains. No cell phone coverage, no electricity, it is a place we can truly be unplugged.
Enjoying the view of our neighbors, even if it is their backside – bliss.
Bald Eagle resting in a pine tree along the Trinity River.
“I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments by those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.”
James Madison
The Fledgling.
The osprey chicks don’t look much like chicks anymore. They are nearly fledglings.
Feeding the babies.
Parent brings a fish. They have grown fast and eat the fish on their own.
Careful where you stand while taking pictures.
Projectile poop keeps the nest clean.
Sorry, didn’t see you there, hehehe.
Wing exercise is important preparation for that first flight.
The osprey parents are constantly flying in and out with fish.
We hit a hot spell a little while back, 109 F one day and 111 F the next. Osprey will fluff up their feathers and pant like a dog in the heat. When it gets that hot one of the osprey parents will stay in the nest and shade the chicks.
It’s been hot here!
It’s really hot on the tower.
This hot neighboring osprey shades it’s babies.
Mary and I have our little get-away spot we love to go to. When we are there, we have lots of friends stop by. Check out her post!
We originally set up hidden cams at various locations to catch claim jumpers. It’s a nice treat to capture the local critter population. Here is a sampling of what passed through the last 2 weeks. Of course, panning a little bling with my Tim is pure bliss.
The Tiger Lily
Wild Bleeding Hearts
Deer Brush
The California Poppy. The state flower of California.
The Wild Rose
Replay the Fun
The Backdoor Artist and I joined Mark Mitchell of
Make Your Splashes, Make Your Marks
You’re Invited to replay the Free Q&A
Mark Mitchell, illustrator extraordinaire and proprietor of Make Your Marks, Make Your Splashes Illustration Course Interviewed Mary Livingston, The Backdoor Artist, and me Thursday, June 20, 2013.
Have you ever done pro bono artwork. It is an excellent way to get positive exposure. As artists we have all done artwork for friends or family as gifts. Try taking it one step further and do some artwork for your community, church or charitable organizations.
A steam traction engine hauling lumber.
The pen and ink shown above was done to aid the Shingletown Historical Society, a small community historical society that works to preserve their community legacy. They are a small organization with dedicated volunteer members. They have more enthusiasm than money. At the time, Red Tail Publishing still did book manufacturing for other independent publishers, a service that has been discontinued. The historical society hired Red Tail to do a reprinted edition of Way Back When, a book about the local history, written by Myrtle McNamar over fifty years ago. The original cover art was lost long ago and the previous reprints of the cover were reprints of reprints. At one point the only copy of the cover art was on a tee-shirt that had been produced for a fund-raiser. The cover art had become so degraded that an acceptable copy could not be produced. Mary, of Red Tail Publishing, asked if I would like to create a new piece of cover art for the project, and I agreed. We used an old photo provided by the historical society as a basis. I flipped it around and changed the background to make it work for the cover, and you can see the results below. The Shingletown Historical Society, at no charge, got permission to use my illustration for their book, but I kept all rights to the art.
I have done other art donations, such as illustrations for our church newsletter, and donations of artwork and commission work for local non-profits. Being an artist has not been my primary career, so I have been able to do this simply because I want to. It is a gratifying way to give back and a nice thing to support local organizations that in turn are trying to help others. It is also a great way to get your art seen by folks and to build good will. Who knows, you might even get published.
Here is a link to the Shingletown Historical Society, also here.
THE FORESTER ARTIST 