Dear Bret took these for me to enjoy!

I have always been fascinated by the powers of the Universe and by the beauty of the skies, especially the cloud formations. I spent many years taking pictures of these beauties and had a bunch of them in an album. Now this was back in the day when you took the roll of film out of the camera and took it in to the store to be developed. At that time you got an actual 4" x 6" picture that you could put in an album.

                                                           

One of the most beautiful pictures I had was one entitled "The Wyoming Cloud". Now granted the skies in Montana are one of the most spectacular sights in this world, but the Wyoming Cloud was a true work of art.  Alas, like all things bright and beautiful, my album was doomed.  Enter a son in law!  Open season for the Bronco's.  Stir up my natural desire to wager.

We started out small, "Here is a lovely shot of a cumulus over  Pikes Peak. " Well rats!  What are those Bronco's doing?  "OK, this Buttermilk Sky over Fowler on the way to Kansas the day after Al died."  Crap!  Now I was sure the Bronco's could not lose every game, so I was finally down to the wire.  "Alright, Jimmie, the Wyoming Cloud against all the others you are holding.  This will put me back in charge of my album!"

What is that famous poem that says something about "Ah, somewhere birds are singing and somewhere children shout, but there is no joy in Mudville, for mighty Casey has struck out!"  Or something to that effect.  Who would have ever dreamed that the mighty Denver Bronco's could lose every damn game!

So there I sat, a defeated woman and the new son in law!  Now one would think that a boy in his position would have been eager to please, but such was not the case.  I have the album and a few scraggly clouds that no one really cares about and somewhere over at Jimmie's house in the bottom of a box buried in a closet is the beautiful Wyoming Cloud, lost and forgotten.

But Bret took these for me one afternoon while I was gone and he just thought they were pretty.  I had one as the wallpaper on here until he got his new bike and now he sets there on his Harley smiling so I can see the $6,000 worth of dental work.  And why did I get up this morning thinking about that cloud in Wyoming?  I miss the days of dropping my film off to be developed.  I miss the jumping in the car and going somewhere far away on the spur of the moment.  I guess the cloud represents a part of my life that is gone and forgotten and it is just another thing I need to let slip away. 

 Life does take it's little twists and turns on the way from the cradle to the grave, doesn't it? 

Here is my Mohawk!!

Hey, look at that! Bet you think this is my mug shot, but it is not! This was taken when I renewed my drivers license.  You should know that a lot of thought went into this.  I have always thought of hair as a necessary evil and envied the men who could go bald and get away with it.  I can pass male pattern baldness to my son, but I can't enjoy the benefits myself.  Is life really fair?

For 25 years my late husband had gone to the barber out here on the Mesa named Louie.  He is right up there by Brian's Small Engine Repair on the South side of Santa Fe Drive.  Forgot the address and if you think I know where the phone book is, you are giving me way too much credit.  Just drive out Santa Fe and watch on the right.  Blende Drug, Frank's Meat Market, and pretty quick you see the turning pole.  Go in the back door and tell him Lou sent you.

Back to this tale.  Louie did not want to do this.  I actually had to get firm with him.  After much haggling he got out the clippers and this was the result.  Not the end of the story by a long shot, but I left there with the first Mohawk I had ever had and I felt good!  Life is too short to not try the things I want to, if you know what I mean!  First stop, step daughter's house.  Whoa on that reaction! 

"What have you done!  I was going to take you to the fair and look at what you have done! I am taking you no where!"  I was crushed!  This would have been my first outing with her in 23 years and I had blown it~!  Laugh Out Loud on that one!  Next I was reported to the son-in-law who came and rang my doorbell.  When I opened the door, he just started laughing.  My kind of boy!

I loved that Mohawk and I put that sticky crap on it several times a day so it would stand up nice and tall.  I knew this needed to be preserved for posterity, so since it was drivers license time, off I went to the DMV.  The guy taking the pictures was a little cool at first when I explained that this was my first Mohawk and I wanted the best picture ever on my license.  Bless his heart, he took several shots before he got the one he was happy with.  Tell me the government does not love us little people!

I want you to know right now, that an old lady with a Mohawk will draw a lot of attention.  The people at church were astounded!  They soon recovered.  This was Lou after all, and she never did like hair.  Ok, this was people I knew and who knew me.  Off to the grocery store next.  Safeway on the East Side.  Tough place to play too since it is the East Side.  I was amazed at how many of the little "wannabees" and "gang bangers" in the parking lot smiled at me!  First they looked at me with their hard little eyes and I smile at them, and they everyone smiled back!  I think if we all got a Mohawk we could solve a lot of problems.  Could be wrong, but it was fun.

I still like to watch the faces of people who need my identification when I hand them my drivers license.  First they look at it, then they immediately look at the top of my head!  I just tell them "My wild and crazy days, last week!"  I am thinking I really want another wild haircut, but this time I will have Louie just shave it all except two circles in the front and I will shellac those suckers up good and  make me 2 horns.  Secretary at the church shakes her head when I say that, but the preacher thinks I might.  Tell me what you think!  Hit the comment button down there and if I get 2 yes votes I will do it and put it on my next license.

To my friend online who did not know I ever had a Mohawk, I first blogged this back on October 21, 2009, so it is no secret.  You just thought you had read all my blogs!  Now you got a picture to go with it.

And finally the time change is here!

See that face? That is a very happy face because the time change has finally gotten here! I can let the fowl out and it is not even 7:00 AM yet. I got my young self busy on that changing of the clocks very early, assuming I moved them the right way. One year I did it the wrong way, loaded the grand kids in the car and arrived to an empty parking lot. I then called one of the church people whose number I remembered. He was very quick to tell me where my mistake was.

I hate this time changing. This particular one, I like because I am a very early riser, but the one next Spring is the one that makes me postal! I would like it if the government would kindly leave my clock alone!  They can figure all they want and give me statistics until the cows come home,  but I still know there will be the same amount of daylight hours.  My ducks and geese wake up when the sun comes up.  If I need to leave early I have to open the pen door in the dark and that leaves them vulnerable to predators.  Sure, things can come in the daylight and eat them, but it is a lot more likely in the early morning hours before the sun pops up.

Now, here I am and it is 7:20 AM.  The water fowl are out and swimming around.  They are fed and happy. There was just a moment of confusion when they saw Icarus, the cat, perched on the feeder in their yard.  Normally the cat does not linger when I open the door.  But today she thought she would like to visit a little while.  The geese started to make a circle around her, but being the agile creature she is, she escaped that trap.

So now that my life is on this even keel with the sunshine and stuff, I may be able to get something done around the place.  Oh, I doubt that!  Next I will bellyache cause it is too cold!  I know me pretty well after all this time.

Well, that is my thoughts for the day, so go have a good one and try to keep the cart between the ditches.

Oh, Gino, I can hear your house from here!

I have a new pseudo friend on this side of the Niagara Falls! Now pseudo may not be the correct word here, but I can not find the one I want.  Pseudo means pretend, or spurious and I guess he falls it that category.  I have never met the man, but have exchanged several emails.  I know his political affiliations and know he likes fine wine.  I in turn shared with him my venture into the wine tasting arena and the 5 day bout of dry heaves that followed.  So I guess this qualifies us as friends.

I make seed catchers and sell them on eBay and Gino breeds and sells Canaries, so this is a match made in heaven.  He needs my seed catchers to keep is house tidy and I need his money to keep my house period.  I just want you to take a look at some of his canaries.  I remember way back when mother had a canary.  She kept it in a cage that hung from a stand, much like the grandmother  on Tweety and Sylvester did.  I do not remember momma having that little bun in her hair, but I can go with that!

What I do remember is that momma also had a cat!  Oh, you can see where this is going can't you?  Now the only thing I recall is momma coming home and a pile of yellow feathers and no cat.  Now, I am sure I would not have gotten the licking I did if someone were not pretty sure that little Louella figured in somewhere in the equation of open bird cage, pile of feathers and cat nowhere to be seen.  I am just as sure, that I did not do it, whatever it was.  I am also very sorry that had I did that it was the wrong thing to do.  The sad part is, mother never did get another bird!  Do not know where the cage went either.

Now, if my dear mother, rest her soul, were alive today, I would be for getting her one of these birds.  Let me go look. Oh, I would take either #4 or #6.  Did you see those?  It is this first link.  Highlight it and then click and click again.  Least that is how it works on mine. You will figure it out. But those two have messy hair and look like ornery little boys.  Gino tell me these little fellows are singers to the max.  I really like that early in the morning!  So does he, hence the covers to block out the light!  LOL

http://buffalo.ebayclassifieds.com/birds/niagara-falls/canary-red-bronze-red-varigated-yellows-yellow-varigated/?ad=6629253

Now if the birds were not enough, look at these little bulldogs.  They are so cute!  I did not even know there were such things as French Bulldogs until he told me.  I love these puppy pictures!  They have the shortest little legs.  I am sure Gino can give you way more info than I can.  See, my job is to see something that I think is unusual, cute, interesting, moving or evil and report it back to you, so you know about it also.  I know this man works very hard taking care of his birds and dogs so they are very healthy, unlike the puppy mills you see on 20/20.
http://www.napoleonesfrenchbulldogs.com/

Ok, that is it for today.  Just check out these 2 websites for my friend Gino.  They are free and may make you want to get some kind of new pet.   Gino is far away, but check out the local pound.  Oh, oh!  That is not politically correct!  Check out you local animal shelter!  That is better.

Have a good one!

My token Republican wins re election by like 79%!

Hey, tell me I do not know how to pick friends!  Elections are now over and the token Republican that I call friend in Kansas has won his seat back by an overwhelming 79%.  When I was down there in the Spring my nephew was on the "Get rid of all them!  Everyone of them!" kick.  Twas then I told him, "No, kiddo, you got to check their record. See if you really want to do that.  It is a matter of the devil you know or the devil you do not know."  Apparently he listened.

My friend Joe Siewert and I can set and discuss and you all know my philosophy.  I am the Bleeding Heart Liberal who wants to save the world.  My friend Joe is the Conservative Republican who also wants to save the world.  I even have a picture of him on my phone and I have been know to flip it open and show people that I am not all bad.  I actually have more than one Republican friend, but Joe is far away and I only get to see him once or twice a year. 

So, I send out a big Congratulations to Joe Siewert back in Kansas.  I don't remember his district number, but it is around Hutchinson or Pretty Prairie somewhere.  The important thing is he gets to continue in his job, although he would not starve without that income because he is a farmer.  Joe and I will continue to fight the good fight and just this one little word of warning to the boy,  "Remember your roots and remember that Democrats and Bleeding Heart Liberals also have a stake in the nation.  Oh, and go get 'em Tiger!  I am behind you all the way, nipping at your heels!"

It is the annual Handweavers Guild of Pueblo Sale at the Vail Hotel!

I would like to cordially invite you to the 26th Annual Handwoven Holiday Sale

November 5th – 13th

10:00 A.M. – 6:00 P.M. Daily

Historic Vail Hotel, 217 S Grand Ave, Pueblo, CO

(Union & Grand Downtown)

The sale will showcase one-of-a-kind hand-crafted items, including handwoven kitchen and bath towels, table linens, rugs, blankets, tapestries, hats, bags, wall art, jackets, scarves, wraps, basketry, gourds, exquisite pottery and jewelry, handmade cards, ornaments, roving along with hand-spun, hand-dyed yarns and more…..There will be demonstrations of weaving and spinning at 11:00 and 2:00 daily.

If you ever just wondered how to go from the first picture to the second  picture your are going to get your chance to learn.

All you got to do is show up at the Vail Hotel on Friday the 12 of November at 11:00 AM. Well any time between 11 and 2 cause I am going to be there to give you a demonstration. Oh these demonstrations are so much fun! Did you happen to pick up that the first 5 letters of the word spell DEMON? I have been told by the avante guard that I am to behave like a lady! That failing I am not to get too far out of line! I am not sure that they told everybody this, but they might have. There are a couple other women there that we need to caution from time to time and the one in particular knows who she is!

I guess what I am telling you is this sale runs a full week and we have us a good time! Not rowdy, mind you, because I would never do anything to embarrass my dear friends, but this is an event that you need to attend. We work all year getting ready for this sale and there is beautiful workmanship in all our products. All I can say is it is a very good thing that some of the members work harder than I do! Could not pay the hall rental on my meager showing, but I have my lotions and soap there, so that buys me a spot.

And then there is the table over by the door with cookies, coffee and hot apple cider! These people are not only damn good weavers, knitters, gourd decorators, artisans, craftsmen, but accomplished bakers as well. And trust me on this, they all try to out do each other so there will be some cookies on that table that will make Betty Crocker green with envy!

So I hope to see some of you there and when you show up be sure and tell somebody that Lou Mercer sent you! Got to get my brownie points in, you know. A good time will be had by all!

John Clay, my friend in Beulah, is now a stone cutter !

See this little fellow here?  Remember all the beautiful wood carvings he did, like the tree stump he made into a beautiful dragon up on Pine Drive?  Well, guess what the little fellow is doing now?  Stone!  He is making some of the most beautiful pieces of art I have ever seen and he is doing it by chipping away at stone.  A regular Micheal Angelo if I ever saw one.

And do you see that big smile?  He is actually glad to see me!  This is taken at the Beulah Arts and Crafts Fair that I have been trying to get to for 30 years and never made it yet, but this was the day Val and I went up and just got lucky!  Serendipity, they call that!

(Sam, if you look real close on the right that is half of Melinda's face.)

So I went by his shop and checked out the Hawk he is working on.  In my usual haste I did not visit with John about what kind of stone this is.  I do recall a lady who had a gravel pit telling me that Beulah has some on the most beautiful marble in the world and that if I needed any she had access.  So from that conversation and the feel of this, I would say it is some kind of marble.  I do know Beulah has pink marble also.  I have seen some of John's stuff that is much lighter.  I am going to just publish a bunch of his work one of these days.

This is the back side of that Hawk.  I do not know how much more John has to do on this, but it is very smooth.  This just amazes me to no end!  I know rocks are very hard and I can not imagine how that man can shape something like that out of anything that hard, but you can rest assured I am going to visit that boy in the very near future and come away a much wiser woman!

But still I go back to this!  This is the Dragon's Nest that he started last Spring.  This is made out of a tree root and still needs a lot of work to be the work of art that John saw the first time he touched this.  I am going to nag him into submission on finishing this thing if I have to buy it myself!

 

Now I know I have once more given you a report and raised more questions than I have given answers.  Bad Lou!  Some day I will remember to take the notebook with prepared questions, write down the answers legibly, remember where the notebook is at when I write......There is just so much to do and so little time!

But anyway, hats off to John Clay!!  A Beulah Artisan, Stone cutter, Wood Carver, friend, handyman and just all around great guy! This man is going to make his mark on the world and I will be here to say "I found him first!"