The Fox And The Song

Posted on October 1, 2013 by foresterartist

fox, vixen, pen and ink, art, wildlife, nature

The Gray Fox

When I was a young child my mother had the record album Jimmie Rodgers Sings Folk Songs. I loved this record. One of the songs on it was The Fox And The Goose.

I came upon this little gray fox not long ago, and this song played in my head all day. I think the fox was a vixen, because she posed like a Parisian runway model.

The Fox And The Goose

by Jimmie Rodgers

Well, the fox went out upon a windy night,
Prayed to the moon, a gonna give him light,
He had many long miles to go that night,
Before he’d reach-a that town-o, town-o, town-o,
He had many long miles to go that night,
Before he’d reach-a that town-o.

Well the fox, he came to a great big pen,
Where the ducks and the geese, they were kept therein,
He said, “One of you’s a-gonna grease my chin,
Before I leave this town-o, town-o, town-o,
One, one of you’s a-gonna grease my chin,
Before I leave-a this town-o.”

Well, he grabbed the grey goose by the neck,
Throwed a duck up across his back,
And he did not mind their quack, quack, quack,
And their legs all a-dangling down-o, down-o, down-o,
No, he did not mind their quack, quack, quack,
And their legs all a-dangling down-o.

Well old Mother Flipper-Flopper jumped out of bed,
Threw back the shutter and stuck out her head,
And yelled, “John, John, John! Well, the grey goose is gone,
And the fox runs away from the town-o, town-o, town-o!”
“John, John, John! The grey goose, he’s gone,
And the fox runs away from the town-o!”

Well old John went up to the top of the hill,
He blew his horn both loud and shrill,
And the fox said, “I better hurry up with my kill,
They’re gonna soon be on my trail-o, trail-o, trail-o!”
Yes the fox said, “I better hurry up with my kill,
They’re gonna soon be on my trail-o!”

Well the fox, he came to his cozy den,
There sat the little ones, eight, nine, ten,
Said, “Pop, Pop, Pop, you better go back again,
‘Cause it must be a mighty fine town-o, town-o, town-o!”
“Pop, Pop, Pop, you better go back again,
‘Cause it must be a mighty fine town-o!

Well the fox and his wife, without any strife,
Cut up the goose with a fork and a knife,
And they never never had such a feast in their life,
And the little ones chewed on a bone-o, bone-o, bone-o,
No, they never never had such a feast in their life,
And the little ones chewed on a bone-o.

The End

A San Francisco Day

Posted on August 13, 2013 by foresterartist

Lost in the wilderness again.

The Empty Nest….Not Quite

Posted on July 19, 2013 by foresterartist

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.

Osprey, fledgling, nature, wildlife, photography

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.

Osprey, fledgling, nature, wildlife, photography, nest

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!

Our Growing Osprey Family

Posted on June 27, 2013 by foresterartist

pen and ink, osprey, fledgling, art, artist

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.

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.

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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 Tiger Lily

Posted on June 10, 2013 by foresterartist

Tiger Lily

The Tiger Lily is one of my favorite wild flowers. It is a late bloomer in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and it prefers riparian zones. When it blooms I am compelled to pick a batch to bring home to my honey. In fact, it is the one I like to bring her the most. That is why I picked this flower to paint. Now Mary can have them all year. I sketched this painting a number of years ago. It is based on a picture I took a long time ago and have since lost. Without the original photo I had to wing it. I hope Mary likes it. I think it is the last watercolor that I had started, but not completed. It is now time to move on to new works.

FIRE At The Mill!

Posted on May 23, 2013 by foresterartist

We weren’t expecting to have a fire threaten the mill. The photos below tell the story.

Firefighters in pencil.

I added this sketch of the firefighters after “Z” at Zeebra Designs called for folks to draw in her post Time Out For Art – YOU CAN DO THIS. Here you go Z!

The rain has been replaced by wind and dry conditions once again. Fire returned, only this time instead of in the woods, it was at the mill. With winds blowing 25 to 30 mph a fire broke out at the mill next door and was being blown right at our site.

fire, mill, photography, wildfire, firefighters

The fire started next door.

It was all hands on deck. The crew poured in from all over the plant site to fight the fire.

Everybody pitch in.

Hoses were laid and water was flowing onto the fire. Soon, the regular fire crews arrived on scene.

This firefighter is patrolling for spot fires.

We were afraid the fire would spread into the pole stacks, or God forbid, the chip pile.

fire, mill, photography, wildfire, firefighters, fireline

Clearing fireline.

Our dozer was building a fireline in case the fire tried to jump the canal.

fire, mill, photography, wildfire, firefighters, logging truck

The logging trucks had to stop while the fire was being fought.

The air tanker arrived ready to drop fire retardant.

Air tanker

The effort continued on the ground and we held the fire at the edge of our mill site.

Eating smoke.

Then the Helicopter arrived with the Bambi Bucket.

Air support.

The helicopter was scooping water from the Sacramento River to dump onto the fire.

fire, mill, photography, wildfire, firefighters, logging truck, helipoter

Making the drop.

With the spread of the fire was stopped, mop up operations began.

Mop up operations.

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Mopping up is putting out all the smoldering embers.

Our crew moved fast to get water on the fire and the fire department responded quickly. Together we were able to stop the fire before it could get into our yard. As a result of everyone’s quick action this wasn’t a big problem for us. I’m not certain how the neighbors fared, but I think they did okay also.

The crew at the other mill were busy battling the fire in their chip pile.

This is just another reminder that we are in for a long fire season this year.

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.

Maybe Baby Osprey

Posted on May 15, 2013 by foresterartist

Osprey

I haven’t posted an update on the osprey for a while so here is a pen and ink for fun. I think we have chicks in the nest, however we can’t see anything yet.

I think this parent is taking caring of a little bundle of joy.

The other parent waits patiently by the nest.

For about the last month a least one osprey has been hunkered down on the nest incubating the eggs. Late last week this pattern changed and now there is a lot of fussing about going on. I think they are feeding chicks or at least one chick. The chicks will hatch about a week apart.

Fussing around in the nest.

Time for some personal grooming.

Osprey parenting.

A view of the nest from the lumber yard.

The weather has been clear warm and windy here. In fact it hit 100 degrees last weekend. That is on the warm side this early in the year. I think it is going to get really hot up on that tower.

Another sunny day and a view out over the back forty.

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.