A Changing Landscape

About a year ago Lindsay and I were able to redo our backyard. By that, I mean actually live in it. We needed some help getting all of the weeds out, mostly because every time we would spend some time out there, the weeds would be back within a week. So, one Saturday morning a landscaping crew came out and within an hour our backyard went from overgrown brush to bare dirt.

A week later, Lindsay and I spent 3 days carting 10 tons and 350 wheelbarrows full of gravel from our driveway to our back yard. It has been an amazing change for us and our small house has gone from 1 living room to 2.

Before: None of these plants were planted in our yard,
just weeds that blew in over the years. Over the years
we found lots of scary critters back here: snakes, centipedes,
pack rats, lots and lots of spiders and others.

After pulling the weeds, we laid down the weed
barrier to help keep the yard weed-free longer. This was
a lot of work and a lot of the nails ended up being bent
by all the calichee in the ground.

After 2 days of carting gravel, we ended up here! I still
don't know what we were thinking about doing this in July
in the Arizona heat, but we are very happy that this is done.
This year, we plan on adding some container gardening for
fresh veggies and flowers.

This is the fire pit that Mom got us for Christmas. It's been used
numerous times and helps keep it warm and mosquito free.
I took this shot with a 10 second time exposure to try and
capture some of the flames.

A Day at the Desert Museum

Wednesday, Sister and Niece joined Scooter and I for a day at the Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum in town. It was a perfect day for being out in the desert, a few whispy clouds, a nice breeze and not too hot. The best part about the Desert Museum is that everything there is native to the Sonoran Desert.

This huge lizard was just hanging out in the sun outside of the Bear exhibit. Sadly, the bears have been retired as they are too old to be crawling up the mountainous sides. They are now in a grasslands "retirement home."

This little guy was hanging out next to the other lizard, but it was at least 1/4 the size of the other.

In the Hummingbird Aviary, there were a number of nesting mothers. This little one shoved herself down into her nest while people were taking pictures. They ask that you turn off your flash while photographing the nesting birds, but too many people ignored that and after a while the little bird flew off in frustration. Their nests are no bigger across than a small coffee cup. Too cute!

A tired desert wolf hanging out under a tree.

Some pretty flowers blooming on one of the many trees at the park.

A pretty desert flower from Niece's imagination. Watercolor pencils with a brush.

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After the Desert Museum, we all went out for lunch at El Minuto Café, in downtown Tucson. It's an OK restaurant, but I wish we had just gone to Micha's, which I feel is a much more authentic Mexican Restaurant. Niece had a burger! And the rest of us had one of their other dishes. Overall, a good meal, but it seemed like we were the only one there.

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For the evening, Scooter lit a fire in the fire pit out back and we hung out there with blankets and watched the sunset and numerous satellites overhead. It is always surprising how many stars you can see out here, even living in a huge neighborhood like we do. We all had a great time, and it was a wonderful way to spend a perfect Arizona day.

Welcome to Northrop Grumman

Ok, so this is a little late posting…

About two weeks ago, and after four years of hard work, Scooter was offered a position with a local company as a Graphics Illustrator. He'll get to work with a number of 3D modeling programs that he has studied in school, as well as do traditional sketches for reference materials. He'll start his new position on the 31st of March. Just wanted to say how proud I am of his hard work and dedication to pursuing a different path in his career.

This is a post he made on-line a few weeks ago on one of the Motorcycle Message Boards:

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“Around 11am today I got a call from the department manager, J.D., for the illustrator position - he's been in Huntsville, AL - all he wanted to know was what kind of salary did I expect?

I shot him my number. He told me that it had been recommended to him that they extend me an offer but that he had to now negotiate with the recruiter.

The recruiter said that I will be getting a CD in the mail with all the pre-employment paperwork for my new position. I'll need to print some up, fill them out and fax them back. The recruiter is in West Virginia. I think the HR Dept. is in FL.

Anyway, I got the job. I start the 31st. I'm psyched.”

— Scooter

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Figure Drawing

Well, here are my latest two drawings from the Tuesday Night Figure Drawing class held at the Stone Avenue Gallery. My first, which is vine charcoal on newsprint, was the long pose. I'm not entirely happy with the drawing, as I think there are a number of elements that are unresolved, especially, the area where the man is holding the gun and the right foot. The parts that I do like are the way the fabrics work together and the left knee and boot.


My second drawing is a quick sketch using water-soluble graphite on brown paper. I like this one much better. It's a looser drawing that has more character to it. It was my second attempt of the night to use the graphite, with my first attempt on a sand-paper like material. When I put the water on the graphite, it rubbed the front of the paper right off of the backing. Oops! So, I quickly re-sketched Cecil and made attempt number two! I really like the water-soluble graphite and can't wait to use it more.


Looking at the two drawings side-by-side, it is clear to me that all the trouble I was having with the face on the charcoal drawing really was an issue. These two don't even look like the same man! Oh well, it's great practice.

Chili Cookoff at the Office

Every year in Tucson, the whole town celebrates the Rodeo by having a big parade and 4 days of Rodeo fun. At the office, they held a chili cookoff and asked anyone who wanted to compete bring their best chili recipe.

I submitted a Southwestern Pulled Pork Chili Verde and won second place! It was a recipe that Scooter helped inspire that I created the night before and it seemed to be a big hit. The winner had a traditional red beef with beans and tomatoes chili and third place was a mild red turkey chili.

Here's the recipe I submitted:

• 1 Lb. pork rib meat
• 2 Tbs. favorite pork or lamb rub
• 6-8 canned green chilies, diced
• 1 Lb. tomatillos
• 1 half white onion, diced
• 1 bay leaf
  
• 2 jalapeños, seeded and cut in half
• 1 Tbs. olive oil
• 4 cloves minced garlic
• 2 cans white beans
• 2-4 Tbs. cumin; to taste
• Dash salt
• Fresh ground pepper
• Cubed jack cheese
  

1. Place rib meat covered with rub, and diced green chilies into crock pot and turn to medium.
2. In large pot, bring tomatillos, diced white onion and bay leaf to boil, cover and simmer 10 minutes.
3. Strain tomatillos and onion, discard bay leaf and place into blender. Add jalapeños and blend until smooth.
4. Heat oil in pot, and add puree. Boil until thickened, about 5 minutes. Add mixture to crock pot and cook 3-4 hours.
5. Shred rib meat with a fork, add beans, cumin, salt and pepper and return to crock. Continue cooking until all flavors meld; about 1 hour.
6. Serve with cubed jack cheese.
   

A sampling of the entries.

20,000 Miles On My Ducati

Today, I passed 20,000 miles on my beloved Ducati GT 1000. I bought this bike at the end of July, in 2006 and haven't looked back since. The bike and I have been all over the western half of the United States from the coast of California, into Arizona (obviously), New Mexico and Colorado.

For those who don't ride, the only way I can describe it, is that it is a very freeing thing for a person to do. When you are in a car and travel, you are protected by a little piece of glass and steel and upholstery. When you are on the bike, you are constantly bombarded by smells, sounds, and movement. You really experience the planet more. You notice the wind and the clouds and that patch of wildflowers you just passed.


Yes, that does indeed say 20,019 miles and no, I have never taken this bike up to 160 mph! I'm not sure it could even go that fast.

Well, enough of my ramblings! Happy Valentine's Day everybody!

Scrapbook Night at the Office

Every couple of months, our office holds a scrapbook night after business hours. It's a chance for the multiple departments to have some time together and work on any craft or design project they like, while sharing good food and company. This week, I decided to work on Valentine's cards. I purchased some new paper from K & Company, which I absolutely love for their quality and style and some new blank cardstock.



I wish that I could be doing these crafts with family, but unfortunately we are all scattered over the US. Perhaps one day we all could try and work on a group craft. Mom, I believe you had a quilt in mind?

The Joy of Cats…

Just wanted to share some photos of my two crazy felines; Moses and Ashley. I can't imagine living without pets in the house. Not only are these two cats a part of my family, they are a constant source of entertainment.

…Moses, ever patient with a camera in his face…



…might be getting a little agitated here…



…Ashley, showing us the true meaning of a workout…

I have heard that while dogs look at their masters, they think "they feed me, they walk me, they pick up after me; they must be God," while cats think, "they feed me, they brush me, they pick up after me, I must be a God."

This seems too true. Ashley will be turning 15 this spring and Moses just turned 12, but luckily, these two act as though they are kittens. One thing I've found out about my photography habits is that I like to photograph flowers and my cats!

El Cajon Harley-Davidson Chile Cookoff

Saturday was spent at the El Cajon Harley-Davidson dealership, where we bought Scooter's bike, at their first Chili Cookoff. The chile was good, the cornbread was great and they had a great turnout. We got to see lots of custom Harley-Davidson's (not my style - but Scooter liked them), and listen to a pretty good band.

Scooter trying some of the chili.

Later in the evening we headed down to Imperial Beach to check out the scene down there. They have a great estuary habitat set up to preserve area for sea-faring birds. Unfortunately, due to the proximity to Tijuana, you cannot swim in the ocean.

We headed up the Silver Strand to Coronado and finished our evening watching the storm clouds roll in.

We had dinner at Kansas City BBQ in downtown San Diego, which is a place where they filmed some scenes out of Top Gun. It's great BBQ though.

a quick hello…

…to everyone out there who might read this. In the coming months I hope to show my varied artwork, illustrations, graphic design and most importantly, my general motorcycling musings.

I am an art director and illustrator located in Tucson, Arizona and as you can see from the attached drawings, I have a tendency to draw Ducati motorcycles, especially late model sport bikes!

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I also enjoy drawing the figure and drawing for children's educational toys.