Falls int the Glen

My mountains are beginning to look like teepees.

Blind as a. . .

I picked up my specs. They're no line bifocals and it's a bitch. I don't need them with the computer, so I probably won't be wearing them too much during the day. I've worn 'em for about 15 minutes. I took 'em off to do something on the computer and my eyes hurt.

But when I do wear them, the walls look like they're breathing!

Grandpa, Jeanne and Aidan

Mile High City

We made it to Denver!

Cael and Great-Grampa Holt

Mmmmm. Cookie!

It's still not too late

My birthday is coming up. There are still a few shopping days left.

Coming Storm

Since it has been so stormy here lately, I thought I would try to paint a storm.

A short, sad story

Last week, I went to the DPS office to renew my driver's license. I haven't had to go for a while because I am a model citizen and had been able to renew through the mail. Apparently, the cut off age for that is 45, because this time I actually had to go down to the office.

The lady behind the counter takes my license and asks, "Are you wearing contacts?"

"No. Why?"

"Your license has a corrective lenses restriction," She replied.

"Really? I though that had been taken off." I hadn't worn my glasses since I was 19 or 20, and I had passed all my eye tests. Whenever I look at my license I only saw the "M" for motorcycle. Turns out, they'd moved the corrective lenses thing to another line. The bastards.

"Let's check your vision," she says.

"Sure," I said cockily, strolling over to the little box that looked like Spock's hooded viewer on the bridge of the Enterprise. This'll be a snap, I think.

"Read line five," she said.

I peer into the viewer, and see four groups of four numbers. The first two look like a string of 8s. The third looks like it has a 3 and a 5 in it. The last string is a solid gray bar. Apparently that wasn't the correct answer, because she told me to bring my glasses and try another day.

So on Monday I show up with my glasses and she makes me read line number 4! Hell! I had been able to read that line on Friday without my glasses! I guess, if you're wearing glass you don't have to see as well as someone who isn't. And I had already made a reservation for a new eye exam. (Everyone is getting tired of holding my books and magazines four feet from my eyes to read.)

Forty-five sucks.

Cael, Christopher and Isaac

Cael watches Christopher and Isaac, his foster uncles, play.

Triple Falls

I was thinking about Lewis and Clark, and remembering the stories of the first Europeans to enter Yellowstone, and I got the idea for this painting.

Or, after having to give away my paintings with big mountains and large waterfalls, I decided to paint a big mountain and a big waterfall. You decide which story is better.

After the Rain

Waterfall in the Woods

Great-Grandma and Aidan

Cael Holt

Jerry Holt family

Date is set

Ann Turner and I set the date for the Reunion. Mark your calendars. Mark your kids' calendars. If applicable, mark your grandkids' calendars. The reunion will be 7/31 to 8/2 at Centennial Lodge just outside of Valera.

The winner is: Centennial!

With Ann Turner's recent news, and in the absence of any other input, I have decided that the Roger Holt family reunion will be held at Centennial Lodge, in historic, and bustling, Talpa, Texas!

Gary and I will be getting together later in the year to visit with the proprietors and arrange everything. Please check your date books. We're aiming for July, but anytime will do. Let me know when is best for you.

Cabin in the Hills

Can you tell I am on vacation this week?

Purple Mountain Range Redux

This should look familiar. I have painted it before. But these 18x24" canvases make everything look better.

Sunday's effort

While Gary visited a buddy of his who showed up in town, I spent a couple of hours painting. Gary peeked over my shoulder and said, "I want that!" (I didn't have the heart to tell him he still had to take a painting home with him. None of this "Next time I'll take this one" crap.) So I have been instructed to name this one "Sold to Gary."

Happy Memorial Day!

I went with Gary to the National Cemetery in San Antonio on Sunday. He wanted to visit the graves of some of his Afghanistan buddies. One had contracted an illness an died suddenly. The other, Clint, was killed by an IED. It was touching to see Gary kiss the head stone.

I haven't mentioned lately that I am proud to be Gary's cousin. And I'm proud of his service to our country in Bosnia and in Afghanistan.

Vacation time

Since Sean is coming in next week and Gary's coming for a visit this weekend, i am taking a week off, beginning at 9 am this morning. I just have to go in and open, then It's the Life of Riley.

We had 5 inches of rain last night, and another storm is on the way. I know you're not supposed to curse the rain, but could I have a day off with sunshine, please? Right now, the forecast calls for rain through next week.

Fredericksburg okay with everyone?

Ann Holt suggested we have the reunion in San Antonio, and I countered by suggesting Fredericksburg, TX. For the record, I don't mind meeting somewhere in the middle between TorC, NM and Fredericksburg, VA. Leslie suggested Pigeon forge because that gives the kids something to do. Fredericksburg is only an hour from Fiesta Texas in San Antonio. There is a B&B that's in our service that can accommodate 25 people. It's called Runnymede Country Inn. It's at the edge of town. There's a pool for the kids. It's near the Golf Course for the middle kids, and it's only a couple of miles to the shops on Main Street for the older kids. Since we're thinking about July, the third weekend in July is chock full of events: Night in Old Fredericksburg on Marktplatz, Parimutuel horseracing at the fairgrounds (right across the road), and Trade Days at Sunday Farms. Here's a link to this year's events you can look at. And for Gary, Steve and me, there's a brewpub on Main Street! For anyone who is interest, Sea World and Fiesta Texas, as well as the sights in San Antonio and Austin are a day trip away.

Comments?

New Website

Since I have become addicted to painting and using the Bob Ross DVDs I bought, I wondered if anyone had a definitive index to the Joy of Painting shows online.

No one did.

So I started a list of what paintings were in what series, and collected in which Joy of Painting compilation. Today, I introduce The Bob Ross, Joy of Painting Fan Site!

Like I didn't have enough to do.

Ocean Breeze

I felt like painting a seascape. I just bought a box of 18x24 inch canvases on eBay, and this is the second large painting. I like using the larger canvases. The paintings seem to look better. It could just be me, though.

Desert Scene

Another gorgeous day lured me out onto the back porch where I painted this desert scene. Bob call his version Southwest Serenity. Mine is more prosaic.

Memorandum: To Whom it may Concern

I have instituted a new policy at the house: Anyone who comes to visit must take a painting when they leave. If the backlog continues, I may require weekly visits from everyone, or everyone to take multiple paintings. How does this affect you, you ask? Well, if you come to visit, you will leave with a painting. I have already informed Sean of the new rule, and since he's been in SC so long, he will have to take three. Maybe four. It depends on how much I paint before he gets here.

If the situation worsens, you will be required to bring a trailer when you visit.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation with this new policy.

The Management

Down to the Pasture

I kept waiting for sunshine yesterday. It never came. This morning I decided to paint come Heck or High Water. Dad suggested the title.

Roger Holt Family Reunion

This post is intended for every member of the Roger Holt family. So listen up!

It's high time we all got together. Everyone! All of Roger's kids. And their kids, and their grandkids, and even their great-grandkids. If I do the math right, that's 38 people.

The question is: Where do we get together? I thought about somewhere in the middle: halfway between Truth or Consesequences, NM, and Fredericksburg, VA. A quick glance at a map puts that somewhere between Little Rock, AR, and Memphis, TN. Ann Holt even suggested on a beach somewhere. Any suggestions?

The next question: When?

Since the reunion would require some driving, flying or hitching, I was thinking that it should last at least two days, and maybe as many as four. Dad has said he wouldn't be able to go until July and he would have to go back to work in the middle of August.

If you have any ideas, please post them in Comments so everyone can see them and discuss.

Deep Forest Pond

One should never tour a sausage factory, because somehow, the sausage won't ever be the same. In the same way, I really shouldn't tell you that the background trees should have been a darker green to separate them from the ones in the foreground.

Springtime Waterfall

All right! Enough of the baby pictures and reunion nonsense! Let's get back to showing off!

Happy Birthday, Cael!

That must be some tasty cake!

Ebb Tide

This is a crappy picture of a crappy picture. All that white in the waves? Doesn't exist in the painting. It exists in the photo, however, because light is reflecting off the weave of the canvas. The lower half of the painting was covered in liquid clear, which tends to have that sheen.

Blue Angel Crash in Beaufort, SC

We heard from Sean this afternoon. He said, "I just wanted to let you know we are all okay." Mom asked him, "Oh, why?" That's when he told us to watch the news. A Blue Angels jet crashed in his neighborhood, setting a house on fire. He said he didn't hear it so much as feel it.

Just wanted to let you know.

Remember them while they are like this. . .

. . . because soon, law enforcement officials will be screaming in frustration, "Them Holt boys!" like Boss Hogg did.

Mountain Sunrise

Well, the weather finally cooperated with me, and I got outside to paint. When I started, I knew I wanted to paint the sky this way, but I didn't know how the bottom would turn out.

Easter in Texas

We don't get snow too often in Fredericksburg. Maybe once every couple of years. When I was a kid, we would pray for snow days, unaware we were putting the length of our summer vacation at risk.

I was a crappy day on April 7. We had rain. We had sleet. And we had two snow flurries. One with teeny tiny flakes around noon, and this one about 4 pm with quarter-sized flakes. The ground was too warm, though, only the sleet stuck.

Attention City of Fredericksburg, Texas

All last year, the neighbor on the back corner has been remodeling his house. It looks pretty good, too. His lot, like ours, is fairly deep, and part of it includes the seasonal creek bed on this block. On the side street is a low water crossing with a flood gauge. About twice a year it rains enough to put water up to two or three feet above the street.

Late last year, the neighbor divided his large lot, and put the part of the lot directly across from the flood gauge up for sale. One of our neighbors protested to the city, complaining that since they couldn't put a permanent structure twenty feet from their fence (which is directly behind our neighbor) how could anyone build a house on that tiny lot? The sign disappeared and we thought no more about it.

In early March, several dozen dump truck loads of red clay were piled on the lot. Now I'm not a builder, but even I knew what was up. Someone was going to raise the level of the lot and start building a house. This time, not only did the person behind the lot call the city to complain, so did the person next to the first neighbor, the person next to him, and the person behind him (who is out neighbor on the other side). The person delivering the dirt said he was told water didn't stand on that lot. And we complained too. A city councilman suggested we call Brian Jordan, a city employee and ask him to look into it. Once the piles of dirt were delivered, work on the lot stopped.

The week before Spring Break, the owner of the lot hired someone to spread the dirt. The person behind the neighbor was told that as long has he left a six foot strip from her property line to the dirt to allow water to drain, he was okay. Everyone on this block (except the neighbor who sold the lot) called the city to complain.

Then it began to rain. It rained the entire week of Spring Break.

This is a photo of the seasonal creek taken during the rain. The white truck you see in the background was a city truck, parked in the deepest part of the low water crossing so they could decide whether or not to put up barricades. (They never do, and everyone with a big truck or SUV drives down our flooded street at 40 mph spraying water ten feet into our front yard.) Now, our back yard usually has water on it after a big rain. This time, the water was a bit deeper:

When I wandered out to take these pictures, the water at the deepest point was one inch over my ankle. Do you know what happens when rain strikes piles of dirt? It washes the dirt away. Here's a photo of the lot that water never stands on. It was taken a few hours after the rain ended:

We called Brian Jordan at the City again, and it is obvious that he has more important things to do than take calls from the public. (And yes, Brian, it was as it sounded, a personal problem. Sorry to have disturbed your busy fucking day. I hope you don't get too angry at the City Councilman who told us to call you. Heaven forbid you do any actual public service.) Allegedly, someone came out and took a look. There were no witnesses to the visit, and no one from the city has called us to tell us what is going on.

Aidan Dallas Holt - 1st photo

His first photo. You know, who needs a photo album anymore? The Internet will keep this photo alive for all time.

Enchanted Rock

I think I'm starting to get the hang of this. . .

Spring on the Pedernales River

I like this scene. It's from a real locale, but stylized a bit. Mom insisted on the birds.

Roger Holt family reunion idea

Last night, as I was watching Bob Ross paint something, I realized that we needed to have a Roger Holt family reunion pretty soon, while all three of Roger's kids are alive. Donn's Parkinson's Disease just rocks along, Ann's cancer seems to be under control, and Dad, well, he's okay, but he's 75.

So the idea is to get all three of them together, with as many of their kids as possible. Since our generation and our kids live in four states, that could be difficult! Maybe we could meet in the middle, somewhere.

Last year, Gary and I decided that since we were the single ones, we would have to be the ones to keep the cousins together as a family, and not let us drift apart. Time to live up to that promise, I think!

Happy Birthday Aidan Dallas Holt

Sean called a little before 1 pm this afternoon and said Aidan was born. More details to come!

Rodney & Jeanne's Babies

Sometimes I don't understand my brother. His and Jeanne's oldest boy, Shawn, is out of the house and in the Navy. Brandon is a junior and will be gone soon. Katie is a Freshman and will be out in just a few years. You'd think the two of them would be rubbing their hands together in anticipation of running around the house naked, but no! They've decided to become foster parents! Right now, they have three kids under 2. Katie has told them that she doesn't "do babies" so Rodney and Jeanne are getting lots of diaper practice. (Brandon has a job, and lucks out that way.)

Mountain Lake

The weather was beautiful today, so I drug out the paint and tried something a little different.

Baby news

I got an email from Sean the other day. Joanne went to the hospital last week thinking the baby was coming, but they eventually sent her home. She's due on April 7. Sean says Aidan Dallas Holt (who I have decided to call "Little D") is stubborn. I think he's warm and he knows it's a cold world out here.

First Snow - Redux

I gave the previous version of this painting to a co-worker who whined that I hadn't given her a painting. But I like this scene, so I painted it again. I'm getting the hang of painting mountains, but I need to work on my trees.

Autumn Glacier

The glacier is shrinking because of Global Warming.

Hill Country Creek

Spring has Sprung

I went with dad to the Hospital today so he could fill out some forms for his cataract surgery on Wednesday. Hanging in the hall was this huge painting of an old German homestead in a field of bluebonnets. I didn't feel brave enough to paint the house, so I painted up the road a bit. You know, right after you turn off the highway and go into the gate. The old limestone house and barn are behind the hill.

This is the kind of stuff I really want to paint: the Hill Country! And I think I've figured out how to do it!

No More Crap Titles - "First Snow"

I like parts of this, and hate other parts. I failed to achieve the effect I was going for. The light dusting of snow in the foreground looks like exposed rock. The pine trees look like their lit from below.

Crap Number 17

I know everyone is tired of me posting these things here. But, I realized a few weeks ago, that the Internet is about the only place I can show off.

So here's another painting.

Crap #16

Another Bob Ross imitation.

Dear Mark Shuttleworth,

I'm not quite ready to abandon Micro$oft. For the last three weeks, I have been living in Ubuntuland, on a second hand machine. I've had some problems:

First, Xsane crashes when I try to use my scanner. i press the scan button and the Xsane window goes away.

I tried to install the recommended firewall on the computer, but everytime I would get to the install screen, i would click the "Next" button and the window would go away.

I tried to use gnomad to manage my Dell DJ. But anytime I tried to add music or ceate a playlist, the window would disappear.

I can see now that a Windows-less existence may be nigh impossible.

I'm not giving up, but for the next couple of weeks, the old Windows machine is back on the desk.

How Psycho is my Boss?

Your Boss Is Not Psycho

Even though you might hate your boss at times, your boss is pretty fair and upstanding. If you're having trouble with your boss, you may just be having trouble with authority in general.

Is Your Boss Psycho?

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 329 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

The Movie of My Life Would Be. . .

The Movie Of Your Life Is An Indie Flick

You do things your own way - and it's made for colorful times. Your life hasn't turned out how anyone expected, thank goodness! Your best movie matches: Clerks, Garden State, Napoleon Dynamite

If Your Life Was a Movie, What Genre Would It Be?

An Important Announcement

I have called this press conference to put some rumors to rest. I will read a short statement and I will take no questions.

I wish to announce that there is no freaking way I am the father of Anna Nichole's baby. I did not have sexual relations with that woman. I may b e one of the few who didn't, but I didn't.

Thank you. That is all.

Crap Number 15

My aunt, Ann, asked for a windmill painting.

Geez. I haven't even master trees, yet! So I thought I would try to paint a windmill.

I think I should stick to mud puddles.

Breaking-Up isn't so hard to do, girls break up with me all the time!

Dear Bill Gates,

Bill (Can I call you Bill? I've given you enough money that I feel like you should at least be on a first name basis with me.), I hate to break this to you, but I won't be upgrading to Vista. In fact, soon I will be leaving the all-embracing arms of Micro$oft, and I wanted to tell you, because you're like a friend to me.

You need too much space, Bill. Every Windoze upgrade requires more space on my hard drive than the last one. Vista needs 20Gb of hard drive space. My first computer had a 4 Mb hard drive, and I never thought I would fill it. But now you need a drive that's 500 times bigger than my first one? Well, that's just greedy, Bill.

Then there are the demands for money. More and more money. To Install Vista, I should upgrade my processor, increase my RAM and add a video card. Bill, for that amount of money, I can buy a new computer.

But what hurts the most, Bill, is your lack of trust. You simply cannot bring yourself to believe that I am an honest customer. Every time you force a badly needed security update on me, you make a point of telling me you are making sure my copy of Windoze is legal. I had to prove the copy was legal when I installed it, and you made my computer call Micro$oft HQ with my information! So sometime between the installation and update, you seem to believe that I have scrapped my legal copy of Windoze and replaced it with a pirated copy. And Vista will only let me change hardware a handful of times before I have to buy another copy. What if my new processor is defective? I have memory card problems? Tough, you say. Buy another copy, and make the check out to cash.

And not only do you believe I'm a software pirate, you believe I am a music and movie pirate, and have packed Vista with all sorts of watchdog software that will disable my system at a moments notice if it believes I'm using illegal files! No trial. No "We need to talk." You'll just disable my system.

So, as you can see, Bill, it's not me. It's you.

I'm dual booting, Bill.

I know. I know. It is unfaithful of me to treat you in this manner, but Mark Shuttleworth doesn't treat me like a criminal. He welcomes me into the arms of Ubuntu with a smile, and not a bludgeon. He's not asking me to change, Bill. He accepts my computer for what it is--older but not yet ready for the scrap heap; not ready to be dumped for the latest hi-speed processing floozie from a corporate shill or yours.

We can still be friends, Bill. At least until the end of XP's support cycle, the second Tuesday in April 2009. Then I'll be letting Ubuntu move in with me.

You have a year, Bill. Let's make the most of it.

Jeff

Sometimes I say to myself, "Self, your amazing!"

I got this old computer from the office. A 1.7gHz, 40 GB HD , 256 MB RAM, computer that we are updating in anticipation of eventually migrating to Vista.

I want to make it a PVR. So, I replace the CD-ROM with a dual layer DVD burner, put in a wireless card, and a TV tuner. I added a 250 GB hard drive as a slave, but I can't get Windows to see it. So I make the big hard drive the master, and leave the 40GB unconnected. I try to install Ubuntu. When it comes time to reboot, I get an error 18. WTF? Turns out, the BIOS won't support the big hard drive.

Cursing, I shut down, reconnect the Windoze HD, and run Belarc Advisor to get the motherboard info. I go to Intel (on my computer in the house, I do this sort of stuff in the work shop out back) to get a bios update, make a bootable floppy, and go back out to reboot the computer. It updates the BIOS. I unplug the Windows HD, reconnect the big hard drive and reboot.

UBUNTU FINISHES THE INSTALL, AND IT SHOWS 215 GB FREE!!

The next step: Try to configure MythTV and actually get it to work. Before I do that, I need to make sure the wireless card can get to the Internet and find a place to put it.

Which Science Fiction Author are you?

I am: Arthur C. Clarke Well known for nonfiction science writing and for early promotion of the effort toward space travel, his fiction was often grand and visionary.

Which science fiction writer are you?

Another painting!

Yeah. I'm sick of seeing these too.

Yet another attempt

After two weeks of cold weather, it was 60-some degrees Sunday afternoon. So I broke out the paint and played around a bit. Once more, I tried to paint the Pedernales River again. This time I wanted to work on the cloud and make it a bit more noticeable than in the previous attempt. I also made the dead tree a bit bigger. I even stuck a distant hill in the background. One of these days, I'm gonna get this right.

My accent

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland   "You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.
The South
The Inland North
The West
The Northeast
Philadelphia
Boston
North Central
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Digital Art

I tried painting this scene with oil paint, but didn't quite make it happen. So today I tried it in Photoshop.

Crap Number 12

More Bob Ross Wet-On-Wet action today. I thought I would try another mountain scene. I saw Bob Ross paint this and thought it was pretty. What do you think?

Which Superhero are you?

Your results:
You are Spider-Man

Spider-Man 85% Hulk 70% Superman 70% Green Lantern 65% Supergirl 62% Iron Man 60% Robin 50% Catwoman 50% Wonder Woman 42% The Flash 40% Batman 35%

You are intelligent, witty, a bit geeky and have great power and responsibility.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz