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Archive for June, 2011

Short Walk At The Homestead

Posted in Hikes, My Family, Wildflowers on June 30, 2011| Leave a Comment »

     Bob and I went for a short walk down the road where I grew up along Silvis Hollow Road. The very comfortable summer weather was inviting.  I pointed out some initials carved into the rocks that border the old “Joe Blair Hill”. This is the name we locals call this hill since a lawyer by the name of Blair lived on the flats just prior to going down slope on this hill. I am sure the initials were of some relationship to the Blair family.     

   Along the way, I showed Bob where I had earlier taken the photo of a buck and doe. The photo turned out better than I expected due to the darkness of the early morning woods.

We later turned north onto the Rupp Church Road and shortly exited to travel along through the woods. I showed Bob some of the areas I trapped, hiked and hunted as a younger person. I found it great to see old haunts again.

Milkweed blossom

  Later I dropped off some rocks at my friend RandyTost’s home. He wasn’t home so they were left on the porch. Randy is wanting to make some tomahawks for his grandkids. He plans to insert the rocks into live trees and allow the ends to grow together to engulf the rock. This was a method used by Native Americans in the past. Whoops… he now knows where the rocks came from.   Me and the river!

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Zoo Day

Posted in Misc. Nature, Uncategorized on June 29, 2011| Leave a Comment »

   Laurie likes the zoo. I can’t argue that fact! We went early to avoid the bulk of the crowd. This makes for a much more enjoyable visit. I enjoy the vegetation and flowers just as much as the animals. The keepers have done a great job with various plantings and landscaping. Many areas resemble natural habitat. And this is outside of the areas where the animals roam.    

Purple Coneflower

Lion in the grass

I actually enjoy the aquarium section of the zoo as much as anything. Strangely, in the aquarium section I enjoy the fish native to our area of Pennsylvania more than the exotics. Call me weird!                                              

Springboks

                                                  

We were fortunate to be at the polar bear area exactly when a trainer was about to work with the polar bear…through the glass, of course! The bear has learned many commands from the trainers. He mentioned the polar bear is the least trustworthy of all the bears. they are extreme predators and may mistake an action of someone leading to an attack. This particular bear weighs in the 800 pound class.                                               Brook trout

Globe Thistle

   A native red-wing blackbird caused much torment to an ostrich. I wonder if the bird had a nest nearby.

The trip was a pleasant excursion for the two of us. the day was beautiful too.                                

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      Elk  Yesterday, on the 28th, I went for a walk along Buffalo Creek from Worthington, Pennsylvania to present-day Shadyside. (Used to be known as Yellow Dog.) I saw two longbeards, a deer, kingfisher; carp, suckers and bass. The evening before I saw a deer from my deck. One never knows what might appear in my wildlife enhanced habitat yard.

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Smoke-In-The-Sky

Posted in Historical on June 23, 2011| Leave a Comment »

  

Smoke-In-The-Sky

   The Armstrong County Historical and Genealogy Society will be hosting native American reenactor, “SMOKE-IN-THE-SKY” (Jon Miller of Hopwood, Pennsylvania)  on July 16th at the Armstrong County Historical Museum. He will be discussing many things concerning the native Americans that were common in our area of Pennsylvania during the 18th century.

Topics will include native modes of warfare; village life; mixed blood and the art of tattooing using fish teeth and natural dyes and pigments. Jon is heavily tattooed as the photo shows….that is not paint! He will demonstrate that technique also. The tattooing shown in the photo was a common way of decorating the body by  native traditions. Some of the tattos were completed by Jon himself using the fish teeth!

Jon lived two years as a native warrior in a wigwam. Should make for some most interesting discussions!

Jon will be present from 10:00A.M. to 4:00 P.M. on the 16th of July. The museum will be open also as will the Native American Room.

The museum is located in Kittanning, Pennsylvania at 300 North McKean Street.

Contact me if you desire additional information.

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Walking Around The Yard

Posted in Misc. Nature on June 21, 2011| Leave a Comment »

   

Wild Leek Seed Pods

  After a nice bike ride in the morning and working on the painting of Gettysburg, I spent some time in the yard. The yard can be a great place to think. Suzie, my springer spaniel, hasn’t been feeling well so I didn’t keep her out very long. Oh..the fun we had when she was a younger dog. She couldn’t wait to go outside. Now, I often need to coax her. I dread our futures.

Damselfly

Anyway, camera in hand, I took a number of photos in my yard and along the creek. The minnows are as big as eight inches in the deeper holes. They love it when I throw bread into the waters.  I saw a number of Damselflies along the water and vegetation. They dart around and are difficult to catch on film.

Daylily

  I called in some crows. The young crows are out of the nests here. I stand by a tree and do some young crow caws in distress and the older birds bombard the trees. they are obviously concerned about their offspring.

     In one area of my flower garden I noticed some colors that didn’t fit. A large moth was settled in. This unknown specie was about 3-3.5 inches in length.

 

 

 

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Latest Additons of Art

Posted in My Art on June 15, 2011| 2 Comments »

I have added five more paintings on my web site. See column on right and click on “latest paintings” under wildlife. Hope you enjoy!

        COPYRIGHT LAWS APPLY TO ALL ART

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Flag Day Hike

Posted in Hikes, Misc. Nature, Wildlife on June 14, 2011| Leave a Comment »

     My Old Glory Flag waved proudly as I left to drop off the car for inspection. I parked early and headed down the tracks to see what wildlife I would see this fine morning. I traveled approximately three miles one way down the tracks. These are the same tracks mentioned in a spring blog. The back waters of the Allegheny River flow alongside the railroad tracks. The results of this back water are a number of islands directly across Manorville and McGrann, Pennsylvania.                                              

Robin

   

Spotted sandpiper

  One can easily see the importance of wetland sites on such a hike. Wildlife abounds! I saw, at least, 15 squirrels, including two fox squirrels. I, also , saw one deer. Waterfowl abounds her too. I witnessed two different wood duck hens with their young. of course, I saw a few drakes too.  

Wood duck family

 

On the return walk I chose to walk along the river’s bank and the backwaters. Here I saw plenty of bird life. I noticed beaver tracks. I walked up to about 25 feet of a feeding raccoon. The critter was searching for acorns in the leaf litter. I saw several groundhogs. I noticed some geese and a merganser on the river too.

 

'Coon

  I am thankful to still be living in America where I can fly the flag proudly. I am hearing of many places where the flag is now considered non-American. Some of our leaders consider te flag a symbol of oppression. Sad!

Hind beaver track

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A Walk

Posted in Uncategorized on June 13, 2011| Leave a Comment »

  

ATV caused erosion

  I had a mild asthma issue and was feeling a little sluggish. I had a few errands to conduct and I decided I would force myself to walk along a dead-end township road to attempt to reinvigorate myself. the road is in Rayburn Township, Armstrong County here in good old Pennsylvania.                                             

This is a road the township leaders recently allowed ATV travel. I left the road to travel past a  gate (that was knocked or pulled over) into various side roads; gas lines and old logging roads. The garbage thrown about and erosion caused by the ATV and 4-wheeling traffic was astounding and disappointing. I have always had problems as to why mankind insist of destroying and vandalising  property.

Cottontail

  I traveled along wooded areas and did see one deer and two rabbits.                                                           

Oxeye daisy

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Franklin Union Baptist Church

Posted in Uncategorized on June 11, 2011| Leave a Comment »

    I enjoyed a great and enjoyable morning at the Franklin  Union Baptist Church located near Worthington, Pennsylvania. The event was a Father’s day breakfast and, unfortunately for them, me as a speaker! The ladies of the church supplied a great breakfast buffet. Yum-Yum!

I spoke and discussed how my paintings begin from early sketches to the final painting. The young people really asked me some questions following the talk. I tried to encourage them.                                             

The church

        

Pastor Scott Jones and sons

  The pastor of the church is Scott Jones, a very nice young minister. I met some new individuals and had the opportunity to see some good friends. Hope they enjoyed the day!

Later on a played music at the First Methodist Church in Butler, Pennsylvania. This event always is well attended. Great people and some great ministers. Reverand David Panther and Pat Nelson.

 From the nature side of my life, I saw a doe and her two fawns on Thursday and my first firefly of the season too.

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Fishing On the Allegheny

Posted in Fishing, Misc. Nature on June 8, 2011| Leave a Comment »

  

High water damage on island vegetation

  I haven’t been fishing this year until this morning. The rain and high waters, not to mention, the spring gobbler season kept me away from this interest. I hurriedly decided to go this morning and left the house by 5:15 A.M. I have been having a reprieve from bad allergy symptoms and felt the need to head out for some fishing recreation.

The first trip out for me usually ends up not so well and this first time out fell into the norm. Once on the bank of the Allegheny River at Kittanning, Pennsylvania, I came to the realization that most of the previous gathered worms had escaped. The second, not so favorable, experience was I had lost all of my hooks, swivels and weights on five of the first six casts. Not the start of a good morning.

Lock # 7 at Kittanning

  I moved farther down the river and had success with the snagging issue. I did become caught on something rather regularly and lost a few more riggings. I had a few bites most likely suckers for the action on the pole end was subtle.

I quit fishing around 8:00 with no luck. However, I spent some time walking along the shore. I discovered something of interest. I saw a 36 inch log about four-inches in diameter. On the log I could see a blue nylon stringer tied. I waded out a few feet and gathered the log and was very surprised to see a 13-14 inch walleye attached. I released the fish. I swear the walleye smiled back at me in appreciation!

I saw a number of mergansers; gull and a couple of mallard ducks. I saw the heads in the water of a couple of soft-shelled turtles. I saw a muskrat and a flock of around 15 to 18 Canada geese. They were flying in formation in the fog. I have never seen formation flying at this time of the year. I had a nice-sized carp jump in front of me twice. I think the fish was taunting me!

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Some New Wildlife Art Additions

Posted in My Art on June 3, 2011| Leave a Comment »

    

Springtime Bear

 

Check out five new additions on my web site. Go to right column and click on “latest paintings” where June 2011 is shown.

Copyright Laws apply to all art!!

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