2010 Total Lunar Eclipse-Stevensville, MT

Pictures I took with my little point and shoot camera on the winter solstice, Dec. 21, 2010. The sky was very clear, so I had a great view, unlike much of the country which had snow or cloud cover.

I also did a running commentary of the event on my Facebook page. You can view it there. http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/profile.php?id=100001388917486 . You will have to scroll down to the correct date.

These are some pencil sketches I did on scrap paper. I have to redraw them in my sketch book and also onto my paint boards, so I'm going to get practice. My younger brother, Bob. My youngest sister, Beth. Myself. They are not perfect, but close enough so that the resemblence is evident.

It is my goal to produce a finished, painted portrait of all the members in my immediate family, including my parents. Since I have five sisters and two brothers, this will keep me busy for some time.

New, Improved Version

Completed monochrome.
Pencil Sketch
Photoshopped
Original Photo

See post below for the original portrait. This one is much, much better.

My wife, Cindy, from a portrait she took of herself while we were living in Jacksonville.

Flowers and Fur

We saw beautiful flowers all the way. These are a couple of them. The sunflowers are in Nebraska, I don't know where the purple ones are.




The burros are in the Badlands. They frequent the middle of the road, stopping traffic and begging for food. I would have laid on the horn and driven through. Cindy had to stop. Of course, they had to swarm her. One of them stuck his head through the window and tried to take a bite out of our potato chip bag.

I snapped the antelope and the bull bison in the Badlands from about 30 feet out of my truck. I really like this picture (antelope drinking) and intend to paint it someday. The bison are part of a managed herd. All the animals inside the fence are cows and calves. The handlers don't confine bulls because they get nasty and create trouble.

Along the Road

From flat land to Paradise

I've never liked flat land. I will always be a mountain man.

From Hay to Eternity

Devil's Tower, Wyoming

This is the core of an ancient volcano that has weathered away. It stands more than 800 feet above the surrounding plain. The Indians who lived here explained it this way. One day seven girls were playing when a bear chased them onto a rock. They prayed to the rock to save them and the rock began to grow. As it grew higher, the bear tried to claw it's way to the top, but couldn't. The claw marks are still visible on the sides. Eventually, the rock grew up to heaven and the girls are there, known as the Seven Sisters. We call them the Pleiades.

We were about eight or ten miles away when we took these pictures. Pretty large even at that distance.

Farm, ranch structures

These were taken somewhere west of the Mississippi. No idea which state.

Lukie loves it. He's so much happier here. He's told me numerous times.


This ranch is about seven or eight miles away from our place. Love the entranceway.


This was our "home away from home" for three days until we found the cabin.