Little Bluff cabin cam March 31 - delightful clouds this morning, kind of chilly with a wind chill in the mid-30s - perfect for walking fast to keep warm. I get my covid shot #2 today -YIPPIE COYOTE!!! (10am update - it is SNOWING! Windchill is 27)

Those covid masks really come in handy when your dog has gas, or rolls in something that's not very sweet!

Journal updated on the 22nd

PRINT OF THE WEEK SPECIAL (above) - click here

03/01/21 Here's my "activity" chart on my watch for February with each day's "goal" met - longest day was 43,181 steps.......

03/02/21 The heirloom daffodils at the old homesite here are popping out of the ground all over with lots of yellow blooms all curled up tight and ready to burst forward to signal the beginning of spring. Only two brave souls have opened their eyes though - the rest are waiting until the “all clear” signal gets out that they won’t freeze to death, haha. There was one other that did bloom just before the big winter storm, but it only lasted a day. I wonder if he will open back up again?

My little commercial cargo van finally has some new feet with a little bit of tread - first time in four years I’ve been able to find anything but city tires for it - they simply don’t make them, and no tire store has been able to find them. I did finally discover an off brand “trail” tire - Falcon - that will give me a little more bite in gravel and mud, had them shipped overnight for free, and the local farm/tire store in Jasper installed them yesterday. It was like driving a completely new vehicle home - YIPPIE! And they were the cheapest tires I’ve bought in decades. I’m hard on tires and typically only get 15-20k before they need replacing. We’ll see how these work.

We had two gallery visits in February, the second one being on Sunday (YEA Ron and Kathy!). Last night was our first visit for March - a pair of advanced photographers who had been photographing the upper Buffalo River area all day. I am happy to open the gallery literally at any time of day or night, but I almost messed up last night. The photographers were scheduled to arrive at 6pm, and it was pizza night for my bride and I. I started the cooking process about 3:30 (making the dough) but had trouble getting the wood-fired pizza oven going - wet wood was the culprit (actually it was the operator who did not plan ahead to provide enough DRY wood!).

When I finally got the oven cranked up it soared to nearly 1,000 degrees! That’s a little too warm, so I had to let it burn down a bit to about 800. Each pizza only took 60 seconds to bake, and I must say they turned out to be the most beautiful color of golden brown crust ever! Reports are they tasted pretty good too. Only problem was that I got a text from the gallery guests who were about to arrive and there were still three slices of pizza on my plate - what to do?! Not wanting to abandon the pizza or my guests, I left the cabin with the pizza on a paper plate and munched all the way up the hill - I had to go open the front gate first. First time I recall eating pizza while hiking on the trail up to the office, but it worked! Sorry ladies - I didn’t bring them any.......

As the ladies were about to leave a barred owl began to hoot out there somewhere nearby in the dark woods. And a 3/4 moon appeared on the horizon - both right on cue! Thank goodness for the moon - I didn’t have a flashlight nor a jacket but the moonlight warmed me up and lit the way back down the trail - and I even found my discarded paper pizza plate along the way (I reuse them)!

GOT MY FIRST COVID SHOT at my hometown Cobb Pharmacy in Russellville this week - YIPPIE coyote!!!

THANK YOU EVERYONE WHO WEARS A MASK! (And why wouldn't you - it's the only civilized and proper way to go about your day. I hiked 24 miles yesterday wearing one, and I didn't lose a single freedom, haha. We've been wearing them everywhere we go since last April, but of course I look BETTER in a mask to begin with!

03/12/21 Kinda foggy this morning...

03/18/21 SNOW!

03/20/21 - It was raining when we arrived and there was already a group of hikers gathered at the Lake Leatherwood Trailhead, a trail I had built for the city of Eureka Springs. As we approached the soggy group my hiking companion, Aspen, ran over to the hikers, made his way into the middle, jumped up, and laid his muddy paws upon the chest of a lovely young lady. Our eyes met, and I knew right then and there my life would finally be complete. You see, months before I had hired this springer spaniel puppy to find a life mate for me, and this was his first (and only) attempt - big score for Aspen, and for ME! By the end of the hike that day our fate was sealed, and while it would be another two months before I ever saw her again, it was love at first sight. Many friends and onlookers said it would never last, couldn’t ever work, blah, blah, blah.

20 years ago today we returned to the that very same trailhead to be married. They were all wrong, and not only did she indeed complete my life, my lovely bride expanded it into the far reaches and beyond of my wildest dreams of happiness. GOOD DOG ASPEN!!! I signed up for 50 years, so tomorrow we begin the next 30 - YIPPIE COYOTE!

FYI, I picked the first day of spring to be married on because that’s something easy for me to remember, and since the date varies from yet to year I only have to remember it’s the first day of spring, not the actual date! HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MY LOVE, and HAPPY FIRST DAY OF SPRING to everyone else!

03/22/210 Our weekend was filled with computer work (Saturday) and yard work (both days). We put the finishing touches on an updated version of the ILLINOIS WILDFLOWER guidebook (by wildflower expert, Don Kurz), and was able to get it uploaded the printer’s server in Illinois with no issues - yippie coyote! In the past we’ve been unable to upload large files like this from our hard-wired DSL from the local phone company, but a refresh over the winter fixed the issue. Whew... We publish three of Don’s books, and he is always so great to work with. This paper version of this updated guide will be available in a couple of months, but we also plan to have it available as an ebook at some point. I was planning on maybe a full day of work to get all of Don’t updates completed to the guidebook file (mostly scientific name changes), but as usual it took me almost two WEEKS! At least it is done and will be a great update.

The next project was the puppy fence. That darn fence that I’ve been struggling with for months and months revealed a glaring shortcoming - the dogs came back from a romp with a toxic cloud that was so intense we were unable to have them indoors even for a few minutes - oh my gosh they stunk! It was like a direct skunk spray on steroids. My bride led the charge and got them both bathed, but it took three or four different mixes to make them almost neutralized. Guess what - just like hiking in very cold weather, our covid masks proved to be quite useful!

Anyway, we figured they were escaping through a five-strand barbed wire fence into our neighbor’s pasture - something we don’t think they’ve done before and so had not covered it up with the new puppy fence. But now I’m convinced we need it so I stretched about 100’ of the puppy fence we had left, ordered another 600’, and to make sure spent nearly all day yesterday shoring up other parts of the mile-long puppy fence (armadillos and/or skunks and/or rabbits have been chewing holes in the fence, and sometime the pups are able to squeeze through. One time yesterday I found the pups on the outside of our front gate with no way to get back in! Oops.

It was a SPECTACULAR weather all weekend and a delight to be outdoors working. Spring is slow to come to the high country, but at least we are seeing a few popcorn trees POP, and a very few wildflowers appear. Our place is on a high ridge so the seasons are delayed a bit getting here. SO NICE to have our little stream and waterfalls running clear and beautiful! Here's a bloodroot and the inside of an acorn we've been seeing a lot of -

Our 20th anniversary dinner came from page 411 of the Cloudland Journal book (there’s a recipe section in the book). Cloudland Cajun Grilled Tuna and Cloudland Banff Pasta. Funny, but once I became allergic to alcohol last fall (too much hand sanitizer and I had a single shot of whisky or tiny cup of wine each night), I’ve not had even a sip of anything (but continue to use sanitizer). Both recipes called for a 1/2 cup of red wine, but with none in the house I had to go beg from Pam’s mom. The funny part is that while her parents are fully immunized, I’m not yet, so they left a box of wine on the front porch and I filled a small water bottle - contactless wine pickup! The other funny part is that 20 years ago her mom was the one who drove Pam to Arkansas so we could elope (Pam suffered with a terrible back and could hardly sit up, and could not drive), and she also delivered a bottle of champagne. THANKS JUDY!!!

Turns out that the special tuna and veggies were enough for us and we didn’t cook the pasta - maybe later if that little bit of wine left is still there, hahaha... FYI, the Cloudland Journal ~ Book One is still available in hardback ($10 - from us ), or as an e-book (also $10 - from Amazon CLICK HERE ).

03/23/21 A bird pooped on my bird canvas - twice! (This is a canvas print I was trying to make yesterday but each time the canvas print came out of the printer it had what appeared to be bird poop on it (I couldn't figure out how a bird could get inside my printer!). Turns out it was actually defective canvas with these random splotches - I had to trash 1/3 roll of expensive canvas (and wasted a lot of ink), but I finally got a good one! At least we use canvas that's made in the USA (Austin, Texas).

03/24/21 Sunrise from Pam's swing - another BEAUTIFUL day is upon us - and we got another load of firewood - YIPPIE!

Little Bluff cabin cam March 25 - kinda foggy after an inch of rainfall overnight...

03/26/21 Early-morning view from above showing the sea of clouds below...

03/27/21 Ahhh, someone needs to get the LAWNmower out!

03/28/21 skunrise from Pam's park - a chilly wind chill in the 30s!

03/29/21 My lovely bride after she stacked all of the pizza oven wood - YIPPIE! (thanks Kennie and Spanky Woods for the delivery, and to me for cutting it all into thirds before stacking!):

Journal Archives - previous months

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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