Morrell Mushroom Quest

Well, this weekend was calmer than last weekend (remember the pasture fire post?). We finished the pasture burn that we couldn't finish last weekend and all went as planned, dang it! Not much to journal about when all goes well. With our recent rains and sunshine, mushrooms are in season. Had to go out and hunt some morrell mushrooms. It's been years. This post shows how that went and a couple bonuses of the hunt.

Lifetime Worst Air Travel Day

Everybody need a 'worst' of every activity we do. We need something to compare future activities against. So, I guess I am pleased to have set a new worst air travel day for me. All future travels MUST be better than this one. This was the convergence of three storms: bad weather, mechanical trouble (prior day) and a busy holiday (Spring Break). And as much as all of us like to TELL everyone of bad travels or bad traffic, nobody really wants to hear the whole story. So I tried to graphically show what the day was like. Much less painful to see than pages of text.

Tribute To The Ford 8N Tractor

I love this tractor! My family owned one when I was growing up and my brother has one now that I can use. It's not a perfect workhorse but it's lovable.

The picture was transferred to the journal with a neat product called Sheer Heaven, and can be found on the Art Papers section of Jessica Wesolek's website http://cre8it.com. This is not a paid endorsement, but it's a neat product. Print the picture onto this product at your computer and, with rubbing alcohol, you can transfer it to your journal.

I used a grid to show what I consider the unique or memorable attributes of the tractor. Too bad I can't capture the gas fumes of a flooded out engine, the really really slow cranking speed of the starter motor, the long grinding time before the engine fires, or the wobbly front wheels as you flash down the road at 15 or 20 m.p.h.

Garden Planting Time

Every Fall and Spring I have a date with a machine. The garden needs tilling, and that's my role in life. The wife does the planning and everything else. I have one task and success depends on the tilling machine RUNNING. Is that too much to ask?

Spring Break

We used our daughter's college Spring Break to go down to Oklahoma. The eastern part of the State has plenty of lakes and hills and trees, etc. We wanted to get in some hiking, rapelling and top-roping. Kansas is rather vertically challenged and places to use our ropes and gear are minimal. We don't do anything radical and we don't do technical climbing. We rented a cabin at Lake Eufaula and drove to Robbers Cave State Park for the fun stuff. Never been to either place and I'd go back again.

Me And The Beast

We live 9 miles out of town in pasture land. Small rodents abound, and we are in their back yard. Sometimes they end up where they shouldn't. This journal entry tells of a recent encounter and it's resolution, real and imagined. I liked the challenge to get a believable perspective. It's not perfect but what sketch is? Everyone in the story lived to tell this story to family and friends. The varmint's perspective would not be my perspective.

Sick Time

Well, I thought I made it through the flu season successfully. Co-workers and general population were not getting the flu as much, and there were fewer articles in the paper about it so I was SURE I had it made. Nope. A month ago I got it. Took me out of work three days. Thought I was better so I went back a day then relapse for another day. Mainly fever. Fellow members in another journaling group I'm in (LTJ) had been having flu, too, and one of them mentioned ginger tea, so I had it on hand. Don't know if it made a difference but is tasted good when other stuff didn't. On the seventh day I just had to sketch something! A catalog laying around had this cute cover photo; "SmartPak Canine". I'd like to give credit to the photographer but the cover credits don't give credit. I'm a dog lover and 'Sarge' just reminded me of dogs in my past, and the whole pack slumber thing is too cute.