March 7, 2004
Spectacular day out. Mid-seventies, t-shirt weather. Took the dogs down to the creek, which is finally worthy of the title, since it actually has water in it. Grass has sprouted up everywhere. Bullfrogs were screaming in heat last night (how do they survive for so many months with no water, then spring forth full-grown, croaking and bellowing all night long?)

This morning, Carole forwarded me an e-mail she got from a friend in Texas named Brad. Here’s what he had to say about this blog:

"I have been reading Bob Bell's recounting of TW life on the TW website. I'm up to March 2004. Reading about y'alls troubles has made me feel better about being me."

With that said, I must admit I constantly wrestle with the things I want to accomplish in any given day. And if you have been reading any of this since I started almost four years ago, you know I rarely if ever live the life I envision for myself. So, in the spirit of full disclosure, here is the regimen I dream of living:

• Up at five. Swam fifteen laps. Water really cold, but I just dived in and did it. Breathtaking and I feel invigorated. Did 200 situps while planning my day in my head. Ready to go to the creek.

• Ran down to the creek in the dark with a miner’s helmet on so I could see, picked up 10 river rocks and ran back up the hill, beating the dogs by about ten meters. They are panting and looking up at me with total wonderment, like I am the Deerslayer, or something. Kathy came out and felt my muscles and told me that she and the dogs are full of awe and wonder at my physical prowess and condition.

• Started a fire in the studio stove and bailed into “gesture sketches” to get warmed up. Banged out 15 loosey goosys using a live model who looks quite a bit like Reese Witherspoon.

• At 6:30, Kathy brought me a Spartan breakfast of two pieces of fruit and a prune. Declined the hot cup of coffee. I’m flying high as it is. Things are really moving, but I did have a bit of a dustup, trying to explain to my wife why Reese Witherspoon was in my studio.

• Finished the 10 gesture drawings and bailed into the script for my top-secret time travel graphic novel. Wrote three pages of dialogue, switched gears and knocked out five rough sketches for the illustrated companion to the text.

• Took a shower, read the paper and went into the office early.

Now here is what actually happened this morning:

• Woke up at five and went back to sleep. Finally got up at seven, looked out at the pool and decided it looked way too cold. Went out and got paper. Drank two cups of coffee in bed to wake up. Thought about going out to the studio but decided to read my new Tombstone book, by Lynn Bailey.

• Got out to studio around ten, looked at my e-mails and saw that Jeb Rosebrook has pitched Reese Witherspoon on playing Vera McGinnis (our TW cowgirl last fall) in a movie. Imagined what it would be like to sketch her in the nude.

• Came back over to the house and made my own breakfast, frying up about six pieces of bacon, three eggs and two pieces of toast. Felt real guilty about eating all the bacon. Thought about Elvis croaking on the John and how much bacon he used to eat.

• Went to the creek at 10:30. Dogs went up the house and rested and then came back to help coax me up the hill. They ran circles around me, laughing at my creaky, old man gate. Wanted to kick them but couldn’t get close enough.

• Decided not to go into the office because it’s Sunday.

“I look at a stream and I see myself: flowing irresistibly over hard obstacles until they become smooth and, one day, disappear—flowing from an origin that has been forgotten toward an end that will never be.”
—Miriam Makeba, South African singer