On The Arkansas

Well, it's 1 a.m. and I just got home from a business meeting in Little Rock, Arkansas. Figured what's a few more minutes of no sleep in order to post the journal entry I sketched while I was there.

A couple of my peers recommended the river trails built along the Arkansas River in Little Rock. Drove to Murray Dam and Lock and spent the time until sundown walking this great trail. The city built a HUGE bridge for pedestrians over the river and lock system. As if that wasn't enough to gawk and sketch, a crew was repairing the shoreline rock, right under the bridge! I had a front row seat, as did the dozens and dozens of citizens coming out to walk/bike/run/photograph on a nice full moon evening. This was a jackpot way to spend time away from home. I pulled out my sketch gear and got busy.

Headlamp

Times have changed. In the old days, when a headlight was out, you needed to buy a heavy glass sealed beam. Remove and replace took some time. A bracket around the face of the lens sometimes moved and the headlamp would need to be re-aligned. These days it's a lot easier. Amy's low beam went out on the passenger side. The new halogen beams are a snap to replace. Then I got to lookin' at the old bulb. It was actually a busy piece of equipment with many surfaces interacting, and a very colorful O-ring. The chrome base of the glass bulb even had ornate cut-outs. This thing just called out to be sketched!

Pictures for Winna

At my friend, Winna's, request, here are pictures of our house, with a fresh coat of paint. The pictures don't show the left and right parts of this crooked ranch style house. Didn't paint them and I wanted to show the paint. The siding is Masonite with imitation wood grain. The siding came alive with the new paint. Didn't realize how dull the old paint was.

In the first picture, note the intersection of the porch roof and the house roof. That's where the wasps came out of to sting me.

In the second picture, the eave is 16' above ground where the walkout basement is. That was one tall ladder I had to climb. Glad I don't freak out with height.

I just took these pictures tonight because we have major rain moving in from the Gulf Coast tropical storm. Won't see the sun for a while, and it's the sun that makes the color pop out. Next I'll recondition and refinish the deck and porch woodwork. Never-ending.

Ah-Fresh Paint

Time to paint the house. Mostly done as I post this. Took a while to get started because of rain, heat, and other obligations/fun. It sure looks nice now that it's done. Just wish it lasted a few more years between paintings. These latex paints sure beat the oil-based paints of my youth. Painting buildings around the farm was a protracted effort. Clean-up was a real job. The youth of today that learn how to paint won't know what they missed.
Note: The main color of our house is yellow, not the version of salmon that my scanner chose.