A roaring rumbling ruckus disturbed my otherwise tranquil state of mental soul sleep. I was staring at the screen benumbed by game number 3,485 of solitaire at 4:45 pm.  Most of the time it's a false alarm. The chickens squawk, a dog barks and a piece of plywood, precariously perched, topples to the floor of the shop with a flutter, a clatter and a bang. Always ready (for that is the natural state of trained operatives like myself) I was on my feet in a flash-bang.  Ten steps in half a blink had me out the door and face to jowl with Mr. coyote who was, as always, looking for a free meal. The chickens (and one duck) had scampered and scattered and, to their credit being now *rooster-less, made it to the front of the hen house. I had left the birds under the watchful eye of guard dogs Billie and Trigger.  My holler, super-enhanced muscle memory speed and ejector-seat propulsion into their world (the world of chasing things) had them on their feet and joining in the chase. The brown fur-clad assailant fled, mouth empty, into the desert pursued by his domesticated and too slow canine counterparts. I counted my chickens, closed the coop and returned to the important work that awaited me at the desk. Thusly, a portion of this past weekend was squandered. O yeah, I did paint a bit too.  Check out new work here.

*Last rooster killed by coyote Oct. 2014 

Monday morning blues start off with these three new ones that just rolled off the brush this past week. Are you a football fan? Well, neither am I...anymore.  I told my little wifey that if she wanted to make some serious money last weekend she should bet against the teams I'm rooting for.  I guess I should have taken my own advice.  I am pretty much batting 1000 in recent years in my pitiful prognostications when it comes to the NFL playoffs.  Since 1998 I have sworn off allegiance to my childhood home team only to be sucked in to the vortex almost every season when the playoffs come around.  Thankfully I have my little easel, my old guitar and a few happy ducks and chickens to bring me back to the glad reality of the life of an artistical expeditionary. A couple of these are still available for sale or on auction here.

Happy Anyo Nuevo!

Three new paintings to cloud the horizon of your new year outlook.  January first woke up to three inches of snow here in Catalina. Carmen took a picture of the trash trailer outside the bedroom window.  It was the only picture taken of the beautiful snowy desert we had for a total of 16 hours.  All the friends south of the border in the snowless land thought is was magnificent. I thought it looked like, well, garbage covered with snow. Tonight we might dip below 20 degrees.  For the desert that's pretty cool. To keep the chill off, these three are available for purchase here.  Happy new year!