Artwork for Jan 07

It's been a busy month just keeping our heads above winter in wyoming. Thus only one piece of artwork and not quite finished at that. A commission for a Vicki Helmuth owner of two lovely quarter horse geldings here on the ranch. Here they are, my stylised version of Cowboy and Chico. Click to make larger.

woe is winter

Snow drifts big enough to swallow up a horse!
Mount Onastring is urupting. We have many such mountains around the ranch right now and our road continues to get filled with snow drifts. This has become a difficult winter what with snow, ice and temperatures below -23F.

sad week

A friend of ours and owner of the sweetest horse here on the ranch had a heart attack and died on Monday.He was a big, beautiful, gentle giant just like his horse.(see sept and october for pics of both.) Roger slipped on the ice on New Years Eve and hurt his knee. I called him on Monday to see how he was. He was in good spirits and guffed about how he wasn't even drunk at the time! That was about 10 am. They say he died at between 12 and 3pm. I may have been the last person to speak to him. We didn't know Roger for long but we felt a closeness to him and his horse that has us feeling a deep and painful loss. Roger helped us out a lot with heavy earth moving work around the ranch. In October his contribution to our big clean up was enormous. There is no way we could have done it without him. And just recently, with the onslaught of winter snow and wind, once again he was out there clearing the way for us to keep this ranch going. We are truely blessed to have had Roger in our life even for the short time we have known him. He will be missed terrible. We still have Tiny to remind us of his grand stature and we will ensure Tiny enjoys the best quality of life that we can bring him for the rest of his days. Roger's very good friends Amy, Sara and Ranie have offered to share his board but as it stands good ole Rog with all his hard effort has paid him up at least until the spring. The girls are setting up a 'Tiny fund' for the extras he will need. Seems to me that special caring people grow wild in this part of the country.

On Wednesday night Storm, one of the horses here on the ranch finally died after sufferring chronic bouts of colic over the passed few months. Her very caring and loving owner is grieving quite naturally. It was never hard to see that the two had an incredible bond. We are all very sad for him and the loss of a very beautiful horse. She is at least free from suffering and at rest now.

In comparison to the misfortunes above this may seem of little concern but seems to have started this whole run of adverse occurences. On Thursday of last week Mernie backed over a letter box in his company truck. This sort of thing doesn't go down very with a company trying to maintain a shining image and safety reputation. Which I think it does have. So there was a lot of paper work and hullabahlu about it all. Mernie of course went straight to work to make things good. He is a very responsible person and not one to take something like this lightly. He is also a very capable and careful driver but with the snow and all that nasty stuff that winter is dishing out right now, things like this are bound to happen. Maybe not in a perfect world.

If it is true that misfortunes came in threes we should be Ok now.

how to enjoy the wind in Wyoming

Click for a laugh. These guys are nuts but i love 'em! Ranie (featured high flyer) accompanied laughter and carryings on by Amy and Sara.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bpf3r49aZbM

woe woe,blowing snow

We've had a bunch of snow, now we have a bunch of wind....result = major snow drifts. We had to move 6 horses to our front paddock as their huge water trough has been swallowed up by snow. The wind is blowing around 55 miles per hour and gusts of up to 65 mph can be expected.That's about 100 kilometres per hour! Its...get the horses taken care of then stay inside with a good book!
(PS. No pics as we don't want to subject the camera to this stuff.)

first roo dropping for '07

Advice on New Year's resolutions........don't make any resolutions concerning eating or drinking.You'll only set yourself up for failure!
Best resolution to make is to not to take yourself so seriously.
Cheers. Ronnie Roo.xxoo

Happy New year!

That's snow cooling the champers!

New Years Eve morning

It's minus 22 degrees C (-8F) here in Wyoming right now. I think it's going to be a quiet New Years Eve for us but who knows. It was a busy year full of many changes challenges and delights. I'm not writing about the year gone by as it's all here in my blog for the finding. Just look to the right and click through previous blogs and months. It goes back to September o5 when i first entered into the world of blogging. Happy New Year. Ronnie.xxoo

reminder

Blog readers don't forget that you can click on images to make them larger, you can look to the right for previous months and click on comments to say something to me. Cheers. Ronnie.

Dec artwork

Only two pieces of artwork produced this month. I'm also working on some sketches for a horse portrait commission so I have actually spent some time in my studio this month in between shovelling manure and snow. Both paintings are modelled on a black mustang here at the ranch.
Above Kappa 11"x14" (unframed) oil pastel on hard paper and below Lumpa 17" x 14" (unframed) oil pastel on hard paper. Both will be on their way to artisan's gallery, 215 2nd street, Laramie, WY. next week to be framed and displayed. Call Brenda 307 745 3983.

looking out my back door

Quiet after the storm and so, so beautiful. A winter wonderland. This was taken without leaving the house. From left; Rosey, Flambeau and Lady.

moving snow

Its starting to look a bit like Xmas! We have drifts of a couple of feet high in places and the little truck, Max is moving through the snow like a weiner dog. Just as well we have a bigger one, Betty, that can at least get a little further when driven by a maniac taking run ups and flooring it.

Then of course there's the little tractor. We wish it was a 'big tractor' or a 'skidster' but it's the best we can do right now. It's still a weiner dog but one with a bit of power behind it at least.
The horses have food and water and doing just fine.Marvels of nature. Once they get their hay it's like...."What snow?"

Embassy, Amari, Merlin and Dewey

Here are some pics of some horses on the ranch up for sale or 'month to month' care lease. If interested email me ronnieroo@hotmail.com Embassy.Very gentle and lovable Polish Arab. Very nice to ride. About 5 months ago he was skin and bones. Now he has some condition on him he would benefit from light work to build him up gradually. He's an absolute doll! Up for negotiated lease.

Amari. Beautiful Arabian mare and she knows it! At 22 as lively as ever. Great for an experienced rider. Is more than ready to get back to work! Up for negotiated lease. Merlin. Another arab and a show off at that. A character and a lot of fun to ride. Has a bit of a limp but is up for light work. Who me? He says! Up for negotiated lease.


Dewey, one of the horses I'm working with that is for sale. Sweet, sweet boy. Right now he has no rudder or brakes but he's learning really quickly. Adorable!

belly dancin' at the ranch

Belly dancing at the ranch in my new leisure outfit given to me by my good friend Debby. It was such a treat to have her visit. The outfit is great but I just had to strip off with the workout. Check out that sexy Samsclub sports bra and on back to front what's more!
(Also a good pic of Mernie's lovely walnut floor.Just makes ya wanna dance up a storm!)

Cool Mule!

Horses come in all shapes, sizes and 'earlengths' here at On A String. Here is Ginger the mule with her proud owner Amy.

Nov artwork

Let's see, where are we up to in the Greek Alphabet. Oh yes eta, thita. Bit slack this month. Only two paintings. Few touches still needed but they should gallop on up to Artisan's Gallery to be framed before Xmas. Thita (white horse) 15" x11" Oil Pastel on hard paper
Eta (Little Donkey) 11 x 15" oil pastel on hard paper. Click on to enlarge.
They will of course frame up larger. These and the other may be viewed and purchased from Brenda at Artisan's Gallery, 215 So Second Street, Laramie Wyoming Ph. 307 745 3983

cold

Here I am ready for work. Its 2 degrees and that's in F degrees! Its expected to get colder minus: 7 tomorrow. I'll let you do the conversion to Celsius. It only scares me!It didn't take me long to realised I didn't have my gloves on Brrrrr!

Mom

Thanksgiving has come and gone leaving us still with so much to be thankful for. Mern's Mom visited us, arriving the day before her 81st birthday which also happened to be Mernie's 60th birthday.We celebrated with dinner at the Calvaryman Restaurant. See mom and I pictured above at dinner at the Calvaryman for the second time in two weeks.Doesn't she loook great for 81.

Who'd be a Turkey at Thanksgiving!!

Got a couple o' big ones there Mern!

reminder

Don't forget when reading the blog you can click on images to enlarge them, send me a comment and look back through the previous months by going to the right and clicking on previous months and blogs. Whew! What a long winded sentence. Cheers. Ronnie.