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Bode

August 2, 2010 by larrysmailart

I haven’t painted many paintings of pets. I don’t know why except the fact  I don’t pursue the issue for interest. I painted a Rotweiler named Logan two years ago and a Lab last year, I believe. I recently completed a painting featuring an acquaintance’s pet dog named Bode. Briefly, she (Kathy) spotted this dog in the woods near her parents home. With time the two became inseparable. She doesn’t know the reason why the dog was there… abandonment most probable. Fliers were placed about with no one responding.

"BODE"

I met Bode once and he is quite friendly. Health issues plaque him. I am totally aware of health issues with a beloved pet. Suzie, my springer spaniel is 95% blind due to complications from diabetus. However, she is quite the happy little dog. I feel for Bode and Kathy.

The photo I tried to take hasn’t captured the true colors of the  completed painting. I attempted approximately 10 to 12 photos with different outside lighting conditions. (The photo shown here was taken prior to adding additional colors to enhance the accuracy of Bode’s hair color.)

LATEST “BODE” PHOTO

The photo shown here is a true color of the above painting. I hope you enjoy the completed work.

"BODE" completed art

Posted in My Art | 2 Comments »

Summer Hike

July 30, 2010 by larrysmailart

Limestone Run

I decided the temperature was cool enough that a hike would be the proper thing to do. My “to do” list was changed. I headed for the Limestone Run area of Armstrong County to see what things of interest would be available. The climb to the top of the hill caused moisture to form within the various parts of my body prone to perspiration. (I had chosen to wear a light flannel shirt to help control skeeter bites.”   The walk allowed me to approach to about 20 feet of a resting deer. The deer was behind a fallen tree. The sudden snort alarmed me and the vegetation allowed only a hint of reddish- orange deer color to be viewed.

The “fungus among us” time of the year is at hand. The rainy, hot and humid days with ample rain has allowed many specie of fungus’ to grow in the woods.                                                  

Indian Pipes- a parasitic plant.

                                                                                                                                                     

While strolling along the creek I noticed the shiny shell of a turtle. The “wood Turtle” had, apparently, recently left the water. He wasn’t very considerate to me and avoided coming  out of it’s shell for a good photo. Eventually, I placed him back into the water and in short order the head and feet emerged and off the turtle went. My dad used to call them “land turtles”. However, they are always in the water or close to the H2O supply.

Wood Turtle

I edged around the creek’s bend and I could see muddy water along the shore. I thought a turtle may be digging  around, but upon checking, deer tracks were scattered along the bank. They get thirsty too.   

Posted in Butterflies and Insects, Misc. Nature | Leave a Comment »

Few Hours At The River

July 28, 2010 by larrysmailart

I spent a few hours along the mighty Allegheny River this morning. A fog engulfed the area. I enjoy watching the fog drift past me like  wisps of smoke from a wood fire. One never knows what might appear as the fog lifts.

I didn’t have a lot of worms, but, I did manage to catch a couple of nice smallmouth bass.  I had some subtle nibbles at times. The end of the pole would dance, but ever so slightly. Suckers?   I used to catch a lot of Eastern Sand  (We would call them Sand Pikes in our youth.) Darters. is fish never grew to over nine inches or so. They were difficult to catch. Their mouths were small so bigger hooks caused many a miss. I had one interesting thing happen. A muskie followed one of my retrieves to within six feet of me. The Two-footer remained in site for several minutes.

Mother mallard (Notice the yellow duckling.)

Other critter sightings included a mother duck with two ducklings and various small birds. I quit around 9:00 in the morning and eventually went to the church to prepare a 16 foot 18th century-style cardboard ship for vacation Bible school.

Posted in Fishing, Wildlife | Leave a Comment »

Butterflies

July 27, 2010 by larrysmailart

Black Swallowtail

Monarch butterfly on a swamp milkweed flower.

 
I knew I would be recycling this day so a summer hike surely would be good.  You know the old phrase:  Kill two birds …. I chose to concentrate on some old gas well roads in hopes of finding bear tracks or, better yet, see one. Wild critters were not in abundance this morning, but as the sun warmed the flowers many butterflies began to flutter around. 

I saw my first monarch butterfly this morning. I, casually,

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

checked some milkweed leaves for the white, yellow and black striped caterpillars. I didn’t find any of the caterpillars. However, I discovered two on my “personal stash” of milkweed plants.

Bumblebee on Bull Thistle

Posted in Butterflies and Insects | Leave a Comment »

Fishing and Wildflowers

July 15, 2010 by larrysmailart

On Monday, July 12th, my friend, Frank Maus and I spent some quality time trolling for muskies. Although we didn’t catch any we enjoyed the day on the Allegheny River. (I jinxed him!)  We did see deer; gulls and other things of interest. I saw one muskie at the surface of the water.

Fort Run/ Allegheny River

The mouth of Fort Run flowing into the Allegheny River.

Today, July 15th, I fished a little south of the lock at Kittanning, PA. I failed to have any luck too. (Frank jinxed me from afar!) I saw some mallards; gulls and a plover. I watched two young fellers wade across to the island. They were waist deep.

The island.

  

I decided to do some exploring for whatever I could find of interest. Wildflowers seemed to take the priority since many were in blossom along the shoreline.

Cardinal flower...a vivid red color.

              

Oswego….better known as Bee Balm.

                                                                        

Turk's Cap Lily

Posted in Fishing, Wildflowers | 2 Comments »

THE MUSIC I PLAY

July 8, 2010 by larrysmailart

I enjoy playing music.  After quitting the nightclub and bar scene around 1982, the guitar was seldom picked up. When the mood to play “hit me” I would play along with albums and cassettes at that time. My aunt was instrumental at my resurgence when she and others started a campground along Cherry Run called Maple Grove. She asked to come around and with further encouragement from my wife, Laurie, I did just that.

Acoustic guitar work with the gospel band; IN TRANSITION

Playing along with Roy Rubin from New Castle

I have played many types of music and my style of playing varies dramatically depending on the fellow musicians I am engaged with at the time. I can’t explain this  but the variances just happen. Since I started to play the guitar once again I have played many types of music: contemporary and traditional gospel and hymns; traditional country and bluegrass; polkas; square dance  music; western swing…I occasionally may  play some rock but, to be honest, I do not actively seek it.  (Maybe a sign of maturing.) Prior to my quitting, I played  country; top 40; oldies; hard rock; country rock and others.

I am happy to be able to set in and improvise (fake) my way through with many bands. I have made many friends since coming back to music.

The photos above are a few of the nine or ten bands I played along with over the 4th of July weekend. (That can be tiring.)

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A MORNING ALONG THE ALLEGHENY

June 29, 2010 by larrysmailart

A great morning indeed! The weather is changing, so I decided to head out early for some morning fishing. I had a lot of worms gathered in recent landscaping ventures.  I went below the dam at Kittanning and wet some worms to see what I could catch.

All told, I caught one smallmouth bass; one channel catfish; one flathead catfish; one sauger and one carp. I missed a few nice bites due to messing around with my camera or watching critters.

Other wildlife sightings included; gulls; vulture; mergansers; mallards; various small birds and a big Norwegian Rat!

I had to quit by 10:00 to go with my step father, Bob to pick up some cabinets for his garage.

Posted in Fishing | 2 Comments »

MY LANDSCAPING FOR WILDLIFE

June 25, 2010 by larrysmailart

The stream with vegetation that was absent in earlier times due to a failure to understand natural world.

People seem to enjoy my landscaping ideas for the most part. I tend to think “out of the box.” The stream that flows across my back yard was in a bad condition when I purchased the place in the later part of  the 1980  decade. I could easily step across with little effort.  The top of the water was approximately six inches from the top of the yard making for easy flooding problems.

The dock for dipping hot feet.

I carried and place many rocks and added them  within the stream itself and I,also, lined the banks with them.  The results were quick. The waters begin naturalizing. The width increased substantially and the depth did too. I planted mostly natural flowers and plants. I added trees and shrubs here and there. Today the stream looks like something one might see in the forest or a park. I have great-blue herons and green herons stopping by for minnows. I see kingfishers flying through.  Frogs are  about. And I occasionally see water snakes! (Laurie doesn’t care for them.)

Another area has lush Pachysandra growth with a meandering trail.

The meandering trail.

The gazebo.

The gazebo area has a stone trail surrounded by flowers, etc. The rabbits and chipmunks are common here. My mother and new step-father were married in the gazebo last August of 2009.

My brass light with its natural tarnished-patina. That is the way I want it so don’t be offering to polish it!

My intent with my landscaping is to create habitat for wildlife as well as to beautify my yard.  I keep a count and to date I have identified 56 birds either on of flying over my place;  15 various mammals and 6 reptiles and/or amphibians. Hope you enjoy the photos.

The stone bench.

The wheel along the rail fence.

Other landscaping thoughts that materilized is the rail fence with an old wagon wheel against it. (Another rail fence is planned for the back yard since I transferred over 15 tons of materials to make some huge raised beds.) 

 

  

 

 

 

side deck steps

 

 The main deck over the garage roof has an elaborate series of landings and steps that angled around to allow travel from the deck to the back yard.

Fern among some weathered posts.

 

Another stream view.

 
 

 

 

Posted in My Landscaping | 2 Comments »

MUSKIE FISHING ON THE ALLEGHENY

June 21, 2010 by larrysmailart

A view along the Allegheny.

My good friend, Frank Maus and I spent some quality time fishing for that elusive muskie on the Allegheny River. Frankie is an exclusive muskie fisherman. His determination is routinely proven by his knowledge and skill with that specie known as the muskellunge. He catches  plenty of them. I have read in the past that some say catching this fish is the equivalent of 1000 casts per fish. That thought may be accurate!    

We began the fishing excursion by using surface plugs at a couple of spots. We fished this way for about one and a half hours before we starting trolling. The day, although later warm, was beautiful with blue skies and low humidity.    

Quiet waters.

We kept talking and discussing the old jobs we retired from and the laughs we used to experience there. Suddenly, the sound of line rapidly exiting a reel was heard. I remember saying , “Which pole?”  There is always a small amount of time that occurs when this happens until your mind hones in on reality.   

Frank immediately sped up the boat to help set the hook.  He grabbed the rod and the water exploded behind the boat and we both realized that a nice fish was on the end of the line. Frank landed the fish and I held the pole as he attempted to get an accurate measurement.  

The muskie!

The muskie was at least 46 inches. Have you ever tried to measure a fish of that size while it is yet  in the water and moving? Frank always works at playing the fish for a short time, getting a photo; measuring and releasing it quickly. A sign of a true conservation-minded individual.  

Frank releasing his muskie.

Top of the line predator...notice the eyes and teeth.

    In earlier times, the Allegheny River was considered to be part of the Ohio River and was called such. The French during the French & Indian War era (1754 -1758 ) called the Ohio River here, “La belle Riviere.” This meant, “The Beautiful River” in English. And a beautiful River it is!

The plug is about 7 inches long.. to compare.

By the way… I didn’t catch anything.

"La belle riviere"

Posted in Muskie Fishing | Leave a Comment »

FATHER’S DAY 2010

June 20, 2010 by larrysmailart

Father’s day is not a happy day for me. On Father’s Day,  June 20th, 1999, my father,  Allen K. Smail,  passed away unexpectedly. I was the one to meet my mother as  she entered the hospital to stop her and tell her that my father (her husband) had passed away.  So, you can imagine the emotions that occur each Father’s Day for me. This grief  is still strong even after the eleven year expanse of time. I miss him.

My father, Allen K. Smail as a young soldier in the Air Force. I am so proud of him!

The other aspect of Father’s Day for me is the fact that I never became a father. I guess that fulfilling was not to be in the cards for me.

But to all of you fathers .. I wish you all a Happy Father’s Day!!

Posted in My Family | Leave a Comment »

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