Xmas/ New Years letter

MAY YOUR GIFTS BE PLENTY AND YOUR TROUBLES BE 'WEE' ONES!

The Year 2011 (see past entries for more details and pics!)
Spent a lot of quality time in my studio producing work more on a realistic side than usual. Discovered the beauty in coffee washes.This was a result of accidentally sticking my brush into my coffee!
   Started a blog just for arty stuff see http://rondaeden.blogspot.com Cut and paste or click on the horse painting down to the right.This burst of creativity lasted until March when i decided to do the Ozark 100 with the precious help of Yvette Haeberle. What an adventure! Did it.!Got the buckle. Yvette lived through it and i am so grateful for her help. People who crew for me deserve the buckle much more than i do! Would i do it again.....You bet ya!
   In May Cormey and I embarked on a promotion for  'The Brothers Foot', the kiddie's book we put together. It was hosted by VS Grenier of Children's Books Online fame and it went really well. The phone interview was very special. Doing anything creative with such a gifted artist as Steve Cormey is always a great privilege. Especially as no one will ever get this privilege again.(See November news) We touched briefly on the second book, The Brothers Foot and the Rabbit Proof Fence during the interview.Now it has become my mission to complete this sequel. In fact,  it has just moved to the top of my list of NY resolutions.
   Having spent a lot of money getting to the Ozark trail 100 in Missouri i found it necessary to trim my endurance ride list some what. Still, I managed 15 rides (with one pull), 460miles , and 170 LD miles.For our local ride Happy Jack, 2011 saw the Athersons handing over the reins to the Haeberles after many memorable and highly successful ride seasons. I'm sure Bob and Mary Jo will still be around to enjoy many more from the back seat. It will be their turn to just have fun.
    Earlier this year (April) Mernie and I  purchased some property in Wellington, Nevada. A lovely( although somewhat unconventional) dome house in Smith Valley on five acres. Horse property of course! The plan is to some day move there but until that time, we can look forward to' fixer-upper' vacations. We did one of these in October but we came home early due to the well crapping out on us. Mernie had hurt his leg (just when i thought my Mern was invincible) so he couldn't do too much anyway and, as things always come in threes, the truck broke down in the middle of nowhere on the way home. So much for our little get away! Oh well.
   Mernie bought me my 100 mile endurance horse, Kipling 'the Silver bullet' for my birthday on October 1st. Kipling and i had already begun a successful endurance career together a few years ago and we make a good team. Now we are both learning to slow down, take it easy and set our sights on the Tevis!
   On November 18th my dear friend Steve Cormey passed away after only a short battle with cancer. He was diagnosed only a few weeks before. He died peaceful in his bed in the mountains that he loved. To say he was very much loved and will be missed is a gross understatement. His memory and beautiful music lives on forever; as will 'The rambuctious 'Brothers Foot!'
   My goodness it is now December and we are close to turning the page to a new year. It was a year of beginnings and ends, firsts and lasts. My Mum use to say, 'time waits for nobody'. How true! Enjoy the time you have and embrace the adventures that lay waiting for you and yours in 2012. For me, I'd like to take the experiences of 2011 and use them as spring boards for the events of 2012.It was a good year! Happy New One!
Ronnie xxoo



Last years little blurb!
2010
Time to contemplate the New year. As you can see from the top picture here taken from our back door, the first couple of days into 2011 gave us blizzard conditions here on the ranch.See actually blog for pics) Mernie is currently outside moving snow. Not snow which has fallen, but snow blown in from elsewhere. They didn't want it either! Our well went out on New Year's day and the  pumped stopped leaving 64 equines, three people and a fat barn cat without water.Lots of ice, but no water. Mern had to haul in water from Rod and Beth's place over the road to tide us over until the water situation was fixed. All is 'well' now but it's still cold. See the picture below. If you can make this bigger you will see the thermometer has no mercury. It's down as far as it can go.Well below freezing.
As for NY resolutions, yes i have given it some thought. I think this will be a year of change. Or at least the beginning of some changes. I want to revive my studio practice and have started already with new media and style ( see http://rondaeden.blogspot.com ) . I want to slow down, do more yoga and meditation, read more and talk less. I'd like to spend more time with Mernie and start planning the rest of our lives together. We are approaching retirement. Whatever that means! I think 2011 being the beginning of a new decade, will see changes or new beginnings for many of us. I know they'll be good ones. Happy New Year. Ronnie

RIP CORM with NEVER EVER DYING LOVE

RIP me mate Corm.

We were married for a while but that was a bit silly. With the years and some maturity I have come to realize our relationship was more of a brother and sister thing.A solid ever lasting friendship (Corm, being much brighter than me, figured that out much sooner than I did.)

Steve Cormey, much better known as Cormey passed away peacefully in the place he loved on 19th November. Just last Saturday. I spoke to him on the phone Wednesday and he sounded weak but quietly happy. I made some silly jokes, whinged about the wind in Wyoming and blabbered on while he politely listened and laughed at my nonsense. Somehow, I knew the end was near and could sense the peaceful fading away of this great spirit cherished by so, so many.
To know him was to love him. He touch the hearts of people he never even knew with his music, his smile and the light in his eyes. His talent as a musician, writer and  visual artist was astonishing and yet you'd have been hard stretched to find a more kind and humble human being on the face of the earth. He spent more time praising the talents of those around than giving himself any sort of credit for his own wonderful achievements.
He excelled at giving but failed hopelessly at receiving. He only knew how to give. He enjoyed life to the fullest and graciously accepted responsibility for his downfalls.He never wanted to hurt anyone. He was a good, gentle and kind soul to everyone except himself . He chose to live the rigorous life he lived, knew the consequences and enjoyed his life to the fullest. He was who he was and we all loved him. He filled so many lives with joy and laughter and yes.......broke a few hearts.
Don't feel sad for Cormey, he's at peace now. He did it right! He died with no fuss and bother. He died in his beloved Grand Lake warm and safe in his bed. He died without a long and drawn out suffering and without the need for charity. I really believe this is how he would have chosen to do it. He did it right! Like a painting, its never really finished, just stops in a right place.
Corm's Ok now. My heart goes out to those left behind, particularly his family and of course Shelley. I can't find the words to describe the pain she must be feeling now. Shelley, if you are reading this, please know you are constantly in my thoughts right now and my shoulder, amongst many, is waiting here to try to help you through this. Please don't hesitate to call.  307  399 9435. Be strong my dear!
And Corm, if you are watching and listening, watch over her will you. See the big hole you have left to be filled only so much by your music.
Oh, and thanks for listening to my whinging and turning off the wind for us here in Wyoming!
With Never Ever Dying Love, Ronnie Roo.
Cormey's advice to others....DON'T PAT THE DOG!!!   see video......
 http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1231895565  may have to cut paste and scroll down for these links...

Cormey.m4v

www.youtube.com        Love this! 

Mules for sale in Nevada

Lovely mules for sale.

Mule team for sale in Nevada.  Pair of molly mules, Susie and Melissa, 16.1 hands, both 10 years old, brown and out of Percheron cross mare.  Mules go as a team, or single, ride and pack.  Mules have been used for farming and pleasure driving.  They have been in a four-up and were part of the 33 mule team at the Best Show in Woodland, Ca in July 2011.  Mules are easy to catch, very friendly, clip and trailer and shoe.  $4000.00 OBO.  Please contact Cub Wolfe at 775-465-9099

(If you are interested we may be able to help you get them here too.Ronnie)

New 100 mile Endurance horse

Meet Kipling my new Endurance horse. Another grey, part Arabian gelding around the same age as Flambeau. I rode this guy in a few rides in 2009 and he did really well.He just flies! This picture was taken at the Shamrock ride in 2009. He hasn't done anything since 2009 and you can add a big belly to the picture if you want to know what he looks like now. We bought him last week and i am starting him on a slow conditioning routine aiming toward him becoming my 100 mile horse. I've promised Mernie I'll stay away from the front runners for a couple of years. I've learned my lesson about running too fast too early and my goal is longevity now. This guy has a great personality abet a little on the arrogant side! You can see that can't you? So now i have a couple of book ends i will be seen to be riding my own horses more next season.

Elk Creek, Basin Wyoming

Did a 50 and a 25 on  Flambeau at Elk Creek in Basin Wyoming. Turtled it both days but ended the week end with a healthy, sound horse. What more could a girl want. Love the Tolman rides. They feed you so much that although I'm a light weight at the beginning, by the time i go home I'm a middle weight. Any more of these rides and I'd be a heavy weight in no time. LOL!!!
(More commentary to come)
Photo by Karl Creations click to enlarge.

Rushcreek Reunions's last ride...or NOT!

Photo by Karl Creation! Mule at sunrise in Nebraska

Maximilian Mule. Photos by Karl Creation.
First day rode the 55 on Flambeau with friend Julie and we managed to turn before we got to the 'emphasized' PIE PLATE designating loop 1. So as it was we did loop 3 backwards. Lovely benevolent management let us go ahead and do the other loops out of order for a completion only which is all we wanted. It worked out well as i managed to take away the best award of all which is of course 'the turtle'. Rushcreek has the best turtles! And i got another complimentary one when i whinged about my turtle from last year falling of his block and breaking to bits. They also gave  the pie plate I (we) missed on day one. Smart farts!! LOL
Oh and a really lovely rope basket from Max Tack for ride three days after a mishap which left me with a bruised ribs and swollen knee. Love a sport where you get an award for being totally nuts!
I rode the Holly Kennedy's Mule, Maximilian, on 30's the other two days and he did great! Love that mule!He now has 90 miles under his ears and is off to a promising career  running with the fancy Arabians. There was another mule called Francis on the trail. I really thought she was beautiful but Max told me later he didn't think much of her because....he said........"she's got big ears!"
Yvette, Sue, Herb, Gary and Dale rode 3 days of 55's and finished with no problem. They did us proud! Dorothy Sue rode her lovely Foxtrotter mare Foxy for the first time in an  LD and did great and Leeda rode Larka ( DS Montana Skylark ) fabulously to a top ten finish and did it again with no hitches on Sunday. Yeehah. Those two make a good team.
It was a really fantastic week end with lots of laughs and good stories to tell. Theresa and Lyle and all their crowd are the most helpful and friendly folks you will find  and we hope they change there mind about making this the last Rushcreek reunion.

Finally found it!! What a Dork!

Happy Jack ER 2011

Great Ride!
 Our local ride, Happy Jack up in the scenic mountains just above where we live and have our boarding stable in Laramie, Wyoming is always a blast. I love helping out as much as i like riding ( well almost!)but this year there was a lot of help as it was Bob Atherton's last year as manager and the Haeberle family was weaning their way in to take over next year when I'm sure they will work my butt hard!
  I rode Flambeau on the 50 the first day and we came in on a wing and a prayer. He was pooped on loop 3 where we were passed and beaten by a little girl in running shoes! My friend Leeda rode the 25 on Larka and i rode Larka on a 25 on Sunday sharing a good part of the trail with 'the Fisher gang' which is always a blast. That was 50 miles for Larka in her hardy bare feet!
There was an accident early on Saturday  and a shameful 'race in' through the vetting in the afternoon but otherwise a fairly uneventful week end.
Oh i did get stung by a horse fly that entered my shirt and made I everyone on the trail stop while i stripped and danced. Always happy to provide a bit of free entertainment on the trail.
R

Photos by Karl Creations. Click to enlarge.

Thoughts on Twitter

Hmm! So far I've landed in the middle of someone's heated relationship argument and received a couple of sales pitches. Is this just a new way to get and give junk mail! ?
Maybe its just for Twits!

Head and Shoulders ..and 'Other Things' Shampoo ! Re Tweet

R: Tweet Aug 10
A friend I was talking to at an endurance ride mentioned how effective Head and Shoulders Shampoo was for removing the crud  that builds  up infront of a gelding's sheath because he doesn't let down when peeing. My gelding Flambeau is a prime example of  one with this dirty habit  and I have to scub the area to get it clean. Of course I went straight out and got some Head and shoulders shampoo and was amazed at how easily the crude came off. That night while showering I happen to notice a bottle the same shape but with Equate as the name. On closer inspection it turns out to be the generic, and half the price version of Head and Shoulders. So there you have it! We get the brand name for our horses and let the husband do with the cheaper generic form. Typical!
But now i'm wondering.... does he have the same problem?
LOL

I KNOW YOU RIDER

See Commentary below photos! Click on photos to enlarge.

Crockett clogging to The Wyoming Wind!Yee Hah! See the aspens behind. Ride camp was set in a meadow surrounded by aspen groves! Truly beautiful!

Taylor Fisher with one of her awards. See Cheyenne there in front with the 'Cousin It' hairdo!!

Gracie our Curly Pinto!

Flambeau on the 50 first day. Photo by Pascal Karl or Karl's creations. ( Any blurriness is due to my rotten scanner!)
I Know You Rider Endurance Ride held on spectacular Forest and BLM land near Mountain View, Wyoming is another ride not to be missed for great fun and magnificent scenery. This is the first time this ride has been put on and it went exceptionally well thanks to Beth and John Buzis, volunteers and Vets. The bugs were bad but they are everywhere right now due to so much moisture so it's a matter of lathering up with bug spray, covering up and keeping on the move! Now i know what the Aussie expression "No flys on me mate!" really means). I made a niffty and very effective fly slapper from a crop and a bunch of leather strips. Flambeau is quite used to being whacked about the head (LOL only joking) and I'm sure really appreciated the beating!
I got there early and helped to set up and mark trail. My special job was to hide bears in the woods! Tie dyed beanie bears in keeping with the 60's tie dye theme of the ride which was named after a song by the Grateful Dead. There was a lively foot stompin' blue grass band call The Wyoming Wind on Saturday night. They really added a festive feel to an already up-beat week-end and we were graced with a performance of clogging and jigging by none other than Crockett Dumas!
The kids had a ball galloping around ( and even changing leads) on their stick ponies and splashing about in the water troughs.(Gotta love a sport that has everything for ages 4 - 80 and beyond)
We did have a couple of potential disasters that were thankfully averted. Gracie our Curlie Pinto that I brought along only as a companion for Flambeau and to maybe ride the fun ride on choked badly on a packer cube on Thursday evening and had to be trailered 20 miles to Dr Ben Osbourne's clinic in Ft Bridger. His partner worked on her for almost 3hrs to get her unblocked. A lovely man and dedicated vet who was, I'm certain, dragged away from a social event to attend to this. I am soooooo grateful! And to Beth also who in the middle of managing the huge event, chose to come along. Gracie is fine now thanks to these dedicated souls.
On Friday, John's big beautiful Paint Conan managed somehow to get his halter wedged into his rear shoe (yes go figure that one ) and then cast himself against the trailer. Little me and little Beth rolled him over thanks to Mernie educating me on a trick to do this some weeks before. Other than a few scrapes Conan it doing fine also. In fact I had a super time on him Monday helping to take down ribbons with Beth. Yes I got to ride up the pipeline again!
Great Ride guys! Especially for the first time ever. Imagine how great it will be next year! See you there where I can ride up to you and say," Hey,  .........   I know You Rider!"
Peace!!! R

Shamrock 2011

Shamrock 3 day Pioneer, really hard to beat for pure enjoyment with the works.
See here yours truly on Montana Skylark (Larka) on the first day 55 mile.

An excellent week end! The first day was great on Larka and the second day I rode Maximilian Mule and the third day Larka again.

Mule and sunset photo by Cheryl Winters. Big Thanks.

ding the super mule Max on his first LD ever was sooooooo much fun. I rode with Martha De Rio and Amy Nager. We really booked along on the first lap but had to pedal hard on the last lap in the heat. All finished well.
Shamrock is one of the best rides in the region for fun, beauty, good food and hospitality plus. Not to be missed!

Photo by Karl's Creations. I don't bother even taking a camera when the Karls are at a ride. Love their work!

Dorsey Creek, Otto, Wy

Montana Skylark (Larka) Super Mare got a perfect vet score the second day.( Photo by Ross Tolman)
Love the Tolman rides!!!! The Tolman's are the ones who run several rides up in the Big Horn area including the Big Horn 100. They are super friendly, well planned and affordable rides. The Dorsey Creek ride is held in the 'badlands' around Otto, Wyoming very close to where the Tolmans live.
I drove our rig with

three horses ( Desi for Dorothy Sue, Gunny for a boarder Jill Kristensen to pick up and of course  Montana Skylark( Larka) for me to ride 100 miles) on Thursday and spent a leisurely day on Friday riding DS Desperado (Desi) around the badlands and napping in the afternoon. The only other Larrikin there was Bonnie S who came with Don. Don Golfed while Bonnie rode like the wind as usual! Us Larrikins did very well!! Others were not so lucky. Mary R fell and broke a wrist and Vicky W fell and knock her head but is thankfully OK.The horses went whoopy all over the badlands before they were caught.
The second day was windy so the horses were all a little stir crazy. The best thing is ... THE RAIN held off. No trudging and sliding sideways through wet bentonite. Nothing worse!! I rode with Beth on her fantastic Phantom the second day and had a great time. Got to catch up( and make silly bird calls )with a good friend. Rode a good part of the way with Sue Lyke the first day so got to catch up and have fun with two good friends! This is what it is all about.Or should be methinks. Sometimes the rides are not what you would call enjoyable so we describe them more as adventurous instead. This is OK, but sometimes we forget the importance of enjoyment. This week end was pure enjoyment! Tim French marked the trail magnificently so i didn't get lost( getting lost is hardly enjoyable) and i got to spend some time with him taking down trail and going for a ride on Monday.More catching up with a good friend .We laughed at the tracks the runaway horses left the day before. Holy Cow!! Some tracks went straight up and down places you wouldn't dare to ride. Crazy animals!!
Next ride is Shamrock on July 4th week end, then the Bighorn 100 on July 16 th. Gosh has it been a year since i camped out up on the mountain in the dark. Guess so!
Click on images to make bigger.
Cheers R

dome house pictures

Dome house from the outside. Fenced yard, big deck, some landscaping. Sort of cute. Total disaster inside!

Double garage with loft  (to be apartment) above. In great condition. Upstairs will be the living space while we work on the Dome.

Upstairs inside the dome. Smells marginally better now the carpet has been ripped out.

The loft apartment. This will be really neat once it is insulated, dry walled, has floor covering and furnished.Right now it makes an ideal camping spot! See below

OMG what's that living in there?

Now for the BEST. This is our back yard. The property of 5 acres backs up to BLM land with lots of riding trails right out our back door! We are surrounded by lovely horse friendly neighbors like Jim and Georgia Kinninger who loaned me their handsome TWH, Boojoe (phonetic Sp?) to go tour the area. At the back is Jim on his TWH Blue, an equally handsome blue roan.As you can see I'm in Heaven!!!
CLICK ON IMAGES FOR A BETTER LOOK.

Maximillian Mule

Got Maximilian in training for a 100 mule endurance ride somewhere. Piece of cake for a mule.(Although he's prefer a carrot). Nothin' like a good mule.Well here's one and he has a good mule buddy called Emanuel Notoriass. Amy Nagler, super mule girl has not one, but TWO good mules here at OAS. You may not know when you've got yourself a good mule but you'll sure as 'ell know when you've got a bad ass one.

Still here Nevada somewhere in the future

Almost looks like life just stopped after the Ozark. Well it was an event hard to top! But yes I'm still here doing this and that and a few other things. Sometimes ( actually a lot of times) its difficult to sit down and write a blog after a hard day on the ranch. It can and will happen though.
Life is good here. No traveling with horses due to an outbreak of a deadly disease spreading throughout the states. We are staying put until we know its contained. It's just not worth the risk when you have 70 + equines under your professional care.
The big news is we have purchased a property in Wellington, Nevada. This 5 acre former horse boarding facility  sits in a little oasis surrounded by mountains and settled sparsely by equine friendly folks. The house itself is a total disaster so only working vacations are being planned for now. It will be a while until we move there. I've asked Mernie to send over a picture from his file but that may take 'a while' also so stay tuned. Ronnie.
Oh and it's less than 100 miles from the Tevis!!

Some pics from before the Ozark compliments of Weiwen

Eating eyeballs Weiwen prepared.Washing down with Mernie beer!

From left to right Larka ( DS Montana Skylark), Ronnie and beautiful Weiwen.
See next post for commentary on an incredible ride.

OZARK 100. It CAN be done!!! 23rd April 2011

Rough draft, Pictures to come

This 100 mile ride through the beautiful Ozark Mountains of Missouri has been off and on my list since the middle of last year. The one in September that i almost went to saw NO completions. The trail was in bad shape thanks to Mother Nature's wrath and needed a ton of work. Since then it has received a great deal of sweat and attention from to Barry Cole, Paul Sidio, the Forest Service and other folks donating there precious time and toil.
Well, there were still people warning me not to attempt it but i needed a 100 under my belt to qualify for the 2011 Quilty to be held in my home town of Adelaide in Australia. So I roped Endurance Rider and good friend Yvette Haeberle and her trust little dog Pip into going with me.  It sure doesn't hurt to have a doctor along although thankfully those services were not required. Yvette was also there at the Big Horn last year (see older posts) so she was aware these rides are not without drama.
We met riders  Kerry Greear, Marirose and their trusty crew Colleen at Bass River Resort and set up camp. Actually Yvette set up camp in the pouring rain for everyone while K and M went for a pre ride and i went off to visit with my good friend Weiwen. Weiwen now lives in St Louis and agreed to meet us there and rent a cabin for everyone to share. It was soooooooo nice to see Weiwen she is as beautiful as ever.
Yvette and i arrived a day early so i took a pre ride to check out the trail that,  as it turned out we would not be on. Poor Yvette was waiting at the southern trail head but in true form yours truly went in the wrong direction and ended up about 18 miles north. Heart attack no 1 for crew! It was getting dark so i headed down county rd 78 and found a farm house. "Yoo Hoo, i think i'm lost" i called out! To which a reply came " come in and have some birthday cake." So a little girl held onto Larka while she demolish their lawn and  i sat on the veranda eating chocolate ice cream cake. They called for help which took about an hour so i just joined the family celebrations.
That was a lovely ride in spite of the mix up as the weather was pleasant for the only time of the trip. The rest of the time is was stormy with torrential downpour.
The ride didn't start until 7.35am  Saturday morning and was almost canceled due to severe flooding. Luckily Paul knew the trail well enough to figure an alternative route. We had to repeat sections of trail and road to give us our miles and still sloshed in water in total darkness most of the way. We were going well will Paul's horses General Lee and Piper leading. His friend Todd ( lovely guy) was riding Lee and both horse knew the trail well. It was scary but an incredible experience to be trusting the horses in the darkness moving at a good clip while riders blindly hung on.No light were used as it messes with the horses' night vision.If it hadn't been for a wreck i got into when Larka got tangled in something all would have been fine. I came off lost a stirrup and thought it was all over red rover. Anyway all i got was a bruise to my knee and nose, Larka returned promptly to the herd and we were off again. Only now i had no stirrups and was a bit banged up so the next twenty miles was sort of painful. BUT WE FINISHED!!!
23 something hours on flooded trails in pouring rain, lightning and thunder. We had the best crew friendship can buy but guess what, they could get to us due to flooding. They were stranded on the hwy praying we we OK. Heart attack no 19!
No one went for BC as we were all pooped! Larka, Dorothy Sue's mare other than leg weary and ravenously hungry look like she could go another hundred. Actually all horses (and Nelly the mule) looked pretty darn good. The order we came in was Paul, Todd, Kerry, Marirose, me and a rider called Keith who was on his own and constantly lost. He made it in time tho.
I've miss a bunch of things out  as i know this is going on and on and on. We have to ask Yvette and Colleen to tell us about their "Children of the Corn experience another time!
Cheers for now and thanks to all the wonderful management volunteers, vets for proving THIS CAN BE DONE!!!!
Yee Hah! Quilty Bound!

DS Desperado, Desi

CLICK TO ENLARGE

Manny, Notoriass Manuel

It's 7.30 am and I'm thinking the mule would rather me go feed him and his buddies than sit here and finish his portrait. So I'm leaving it here at this point.Scroll down to see another pic and Info on Desi.

This weeks OAS featured equine/Desi for sale

Manny Mule (Notoriass Manuel) Endurance mule extraordinaire! owned by Amy Nagler.
Sprinkled with a little snow frosting!
Portrait to come.

Here is a flyer from when we were trying to sell Desi last year.Click to enlarge.

this weeks featured equine

Angel's Grace aka The Curly Paint is a part Bashkir Curly and part Morgan mare belonging to OAS. I am adding portraits to the weekly photos as a way of practicing painting in Photoshop. Lots to learn! Cheers Ronnie.

This weeks OAS featured equines

Photo by Chris Compton bottom photo shopped by yours truly.

This weeks's OAS featured horse.

Big ole gentle giant. Myles, owned by Marjorie Daley.Click to enlarge.
For this week's featured equines go to http://rondaeden.blogspot.com  or click on painting of Arabian horse down and to the right. 
Thanks Dawn!!!

where to get my prints

www.cafepress.com/ronniesprints
contact me for originals
ronnieroo@hotmail.com

www.cafepress.com/ronniesprints

How long do you persevere with a project? I have this site www.cafepress.com/ronniesprints out there to sell my artwork and seem to be flogging a dead horse.Pun! To me it seems just perfect but i don't seem to be getting anywhere with it.( To go to this site from here scroll down to see the links,cafepress). I have prints and mouse pads and cards then a link to my other cafepress site that has all kinds of other stuff. I have to say i thought it would go better than this. Should i just stick at it or go in another direction.I welcome any ideas and feedback. Just a little bummed i suppose. To get to my 'artwork in progress' site go down and find the image like the one above and click on that.
Cheers for now Ronnie.

Bloody cold

The top picture is of the temperature this morning. The last time i saw F and C degrees come together like this was when i first arrive in the USA. I came from 104 F in Adelaide Australia to 42 below in Fraser, Co. This place was once considered 'Ice Box of Colorado until contested. I guess there's always somewhere hotter or colder than where you are! Click on images to see better. The pic at the bottom was yesterday and we don't know by that how cold it was as the mercury on the thermometer had disappeared! It hasn't been above 0 since Monday!

New Year Blizzard and Resolutions

Time to contemplate the New year. As you can see from the top picture here taken from our back door, the first couple of days into 2011 gave us blizzard conditions here on the ranch. Mernie is currently outside moving snow. Not snow which has fallen, but snow blown in from elsewhere. They didn't want it either! Our well went out on New Year's day and the  pumped stopped leaving 64 equines, three people and a fat barn cat without water.Lots of ice, but no water. Mern had to haul in water from Rod and Beth's place over the road to tide us over until the water situation was fixed. All is 'well' now but it's still cold. See the picture below. If you can make this bigger you will see the thermometer has no mercury. It's down as far as it can go.Well below freezing.
As for NY resolutions, yes i have given it some thought. I think this will be a year of change. Or at least the beginning of some changes. I want to revive my studio practice and have started already with new media and style ( see http://rondaeden.blogspot.com ) . I want to slow down, do more yoga and meditation, read more and talk less. I'd like to spend more time with Mernie and start planning the rest of our lives together. We are approaching retirement. Whatever that means! I think 2011 being the beginning of a new decade, will see changes or new beginnigs for many of us. I know they'll be good ones. Happy New Year. Ronnie