I too, am an artist, or at least trying to be, as I look around and I don’t even have much of anything to show anyone, much less completed projects, or anything nearing the things you have done. I found it fascinating that you say that you approach things in a third-grade way, for I do the exact same thing. The only difference is you have a lot of art output, where I have none. I am too much of an lazy person and a perfectionist too. Hopefully I’ll change my habits in the new year. It is a great fear of mine that I will wake up one day and have reached the age of 80 and have achieved nothing in my life.

I don’t think you have that problem though. I like the fact that you post old as well as new stuff on your blog, and a blog is a great tool to get your work out in the public and have it be seen, noticed, and remembered by people who wouldn’t normally see it, or unfortunately pass over it while reading an article in a magazine.

And I’m sending you a virtual (((hug))). Thank you for your blog, keep up the good work!

You know, when I was a kid visiting Natural History museums, I always wondered about the artists who painted extinct animals and background landscapes, and that kind of thing. It’s a talent I’ve always been in complete awe of, especially since I myself have all the artistic talent of your average turnip. But it really is a thrill to get a regular “fix” of this kind of talent (and wonderful material) from your blog. Thank you.

I have a scene that you might want to portray. Fremont County, Wyoming, outside of Dubois, my home town. I had climbed high up on a badland bluff and sat on the slope to rest a spell and take in the land before me. Not unusual; I’d been doing it since the late 50’s. (This episode being in the summer of ‘99)

I happened to see a wasp land off to one side of me, two, maybe three feet away. She had two small green caterpillars in her grasp and landed next to a burrow she had previously dug and that I had not recognized during the several minutes I had sat there. She put one down and took the other into the burrow, backing out and tamping in red clay soil that she flung in with her legs. While she was tamping the clay with her head a thief appeared from under a flat stone some seven inches or so from the burrow. A wolf spider (a generic name in my book, not being an entomologist). To be brief, the spider stole the second larva slick and clean. The wasp was in the burrow and could not see. The spider timed it perfectly. The wasp emerged from the burrow to gather the second worm, but it was gone! Her reaction amazed me! She initiated a search pattern that would be the envy of the Coast Guard. The details are complex, and I haven’t time to describe it now. I would be happy, no, delighted, to give a more complete description if you are interested.
Contact me if you are interested. I have more observations of critters in action if you like. I once observed a cockroach do a double take. I have tickled that large Golden Orb spider in Florida. I found a marmot once with a broken back. Even got stuck by a stingray (hurt much but not long).
I think that everyone has marvelous contact with other species. Most people shudder. I try to prolong the moment. Once had a pet jumping spider. Actually, it adopted me. More if you are persuaded.
Again, welcome back. You are the kind of person that makes me realize that humans and critters are motivated by similar needs, and can sometimes create comedy, pathos and longing to know more.