Little Bluff remote cabin cam June 30 - it's been a long and winding nighttime month of June for me, many sleepless nights with camera in hand (actually on a tripod), and several thousand photos taken in Arkansas and Colorado. This one of an old favorite barn in Historic Boxley Valley and the Milky Way was taken just a few hours ago this morning. I'm DONE shooting for this month! (but July will hopefully find more advetures and beautiful things to point cameras at) HOPE YOU'VE HAD A HAPPY JUNE!

Our new 2024 ARKANSAS WALL CALENDAR is IN STOCK AND available to order! I will have a limited supply at the gallery for pickup ($15), and a few retailers will stock them eventually (BUBBAS BUFFALO RIVER store on the square in Jasper has plenty). But you can order direct from our distribution partner, the University of Arkansas Press right now here.

Journal updated June 19th

06/19/23 Cool and clear this morning and in fact it is quite DELIGHTFUL outside during my two-mile warm up hike before work. I’ve got a mountain of work to do just to unpack and organize equipment before I can dive into things that have piled up while I’ve been in Colorado.

My lovely bride and her dad have been busy cleaning out the garage and building a set of large shelves and filling them with all my junk (well, actually only part of my junk would fit). SO NICE to be home, as always!

My long drive home from Colorado was pretty easy, and I spent a few hours in northeast New Mexico photographing the Milky Way with the Capulin Volcano. SPECTACULAR dark skies with a zillion stars - only problem was a few clouds parked right in front of the brightest part of the Milky Way that was my main target. Oh well, not a perfect shot, but what the heck - how many times does a guy get to spend the night in total silence with a volcano and Milky Way (after a few hours of shooting I moved on to and got a few hours sleep at the National Grassland near Felt, OK.

Then it was a smooth ride the rest of the way back home, just in time for a special dinner treat my bride cooked up - she’s been mixing up a lot of unique salads and other treats - like a banana and puff pastry delight we had during the F1 race yesterday in Canada - in fact I ate four helpings!

Back in the office it’s SO NICE to be able to work on a large computer monitor and normal keyboard. I’d been using a skeleton setup back in camp and having to go back and forth between two computers (one of their screens didn’t work at all) - next trip out I’ll bring my full screen setup which will allow me to type like normal. AND see the photos I’ve taken - I still have not seen 90% of the photos I took on my trip (probably a good thing...)

GREAT to have the 2024 calenders completed and in stock - in record time for us (usually we don’t get them until fall). Most orders will go through the UA Press web site, and probably a few retail stores will stock them. We have a limited supply available for pickup at our gallery, though generally no direct phone or mail orders through us.

SURPRISE DISCOVERY!!! You may know that our two latest picture books went out of print last Christmas and we’ve not had any available - we only do a single printing of our picture books, and out of the 20 I’ve done 17 are officially out of print and no more available. (unless you find them on a local bookstore shelf - none at our distributer). BUT I happened to discover a case of the final book, ARKANSAS GREATEST HITS, and four copies of ARKANSAS SPLENDOR in our locker in the shed at the campsite in Colorado - YIPPIE! I brought them all back with me and they are available for sale - either pickup at our gallery or you CAN order direct through our web site - CLICK HERE - all will be autographed, and be sure to make a note in the comments section of the shopping cart WHO you would like the book autographed to, if anyone (otherwise I’ll just sign it with a Happy Trails!). STRICTLY LIMITED to the few we have on hand, and when those are gone there won’t be any more (no more secret lockers hiding books).

Pam has been cleaning up the area within our circle drive in front of the cabin and had a mountain of dead sticks and storm debris piled in our giant fire pit. As I was heading out last night to test some new Milky Way photo capture equipment, I torched the pile and we had a nice bond fire for a little while - looked great in the twilight of a summer’s eve. OOPS, it’s not officially SUMMER yet for another couple of days - maybe we’ll have a hot dog roast to celebrate!

My lovely bride has been busy cleaning up our front "Park" area and last night it was time for a little bond fire to burn down a mountain of debris from recent storm (this fire pit is 6' wide). I'm back home for a few weeks playing catchup (and maybe using some ketchup on a hot dog or two roasted in this fire pit - our wood-fired pizza oven has been taken over by a pair of bluebirds and is now a maternity ward so no pizza for a while).

06/22/23 SO DELIGHTFUL this morning - the air is cool and SWEET! Our pup's trip to the river never happened yesterday - our cabin AC unit broke down, gave up the ghost, simply stopped working. OOPS! I couldn't find anything amiss and quickly called the repair shop, which I'm sure is swamped with lots of other calls so we're still waiting. The cabin is well insulated and remained comfortable, but it also gives me an excuse to spend more time WORKING at the gallery sice the AC there is just fine. Today I'm headed out to do some prep work in a remote area hoping to get a special Milky Way photo sometime in the next week. In the meantime, do note that I'll have the gallery open for walk-ins tomorrow and Saturday, 9-3, with the new 2024 calendars available for pickup (or ORDER HERE) AND a limited supply of my two latest pictures books that have been out of print and unavailable since late last year - found a supply in a storage locker at the campsite in Colorado. ORDER HERE or pickup at the gallery this weekend!

In the meantime here's a photo I took on my way home last week - the Capulin Volcano in northeast New Mexico...

06/25/23 HEAP-BIG thunderstorms flying by just south of us this afternoon, up to "half-dollar-size" hail. We could use some of that ice in the air at our cabin - the AC is still out and the temps inside continue to climb. My bride has rigged up a cool air transport system to blow cool air from the garage (that AC is working) into the mud room with one floor fan, then another floor fan in the mud room blows the cool air into the kitchen and living room. COME ON RAIN! (Note - we didn't get a single drop, but good news that our AC should be fixed by the end of the week - YEA!0.

AND last night this was my view from the Roundtop Mountain Trail overlooking Jasper for the colorfuul ending to the Buffalo River Elk Festival -

06/26/23 This is at Tea Table Rocks just after the massive storm blew thru yesterday afternoon that brought large hail ("half-dollar size"), high winds (60mph), and heavy downpours (3-6"). The storm was south of us and we never got a single drop at home!).