November 20, 2003
Finished copy for April Classic Gunfights: “I Shot The Sheriff (And I killed a Deputy, Too)”. The Sheriff Brady ambush in Lincoln, NM on April Fool’s Day, 1878. Going to be a good one. Of course I have plenty of artwork from my Billy book, but I have big plans to add some of the scenes I didn’t have time for back then.

Gus started doing some spec covers as part of Operation Good Covers. I want to work backwards and design a gaggle of covers that stand alone and see if we can grow into them. Gus whipped out four, including Bandit Babes and Big, Fat Liars of The Old West. Funny and intriguing stuff. When we get them roughed in, I’ll post a few and you can vote on them. Speaking of voting, we have a new poll up. What Western sites do you enjoy most? You can click right here.

Had a blood test at 11. Came in at 1.9 (not therapeutic), got yelled at for taking my coumadin in the morning. I “ruined the test”, etc. Whatever.

Went by El Conquistador for lunch. Had the poblano asado and an iced tea, got Kathy a bean burro to go ($20 cash, includes tip). Went to Wallgreen’s and got my coumadin prescription refilled ($25), then over to Foothills Photo and bought a used camera ($135 biz account). My old Nikon is kaput.

On the plane ride over to New Mexico I read Time magazine’s inside story of Jessica Lynch and the convoy ambush at Nasiriyah. Based on the initial reports I imagined a full blown ambush with Iraqi troops waiting in the dark and pouncing on the wayward convoy. Not even close. As is so typical in most human endeavors, after missing the turn to bypass the hostile berg, Lynch and the 507th Maintenance Company drove through the entire town without taking any enemy fire! There was even an Iraqi guard in the middle of the town who waved them thru (I can just see this guy, flashing a big smile and giving the “Peace Out” sign). It was only when they got out the other end of the town and the road ended that they got into trouble. They turned around and tried to wade back through Nasiriyah and that’s when the killing began. Amazing. It makes you realize, no one is really ready for anything (when 9•11 happened the most powerful nation on earth didn’t even have an armed plane to send up). Every government and organization on the planet is so pathetic it’s not even funny. We think there is this super organization behind everything and it’s really just blundering fools blindly bumping into the furniture.

”If you want your dreams to come true, don’t sleep.”
—Old Vaquero Saying