February 10, 2005
Whipped out the train conductor scratchboard in quick time this morning and passed it off to Gus, who scanned it and is trying to find a type font that is appropriately groovy. Vacillating between Gold Rush, Thunderbird and Wood Type. Gus has put an illustrator curve on the type with a drop shadow back, against a red field. Not there yet. Need to whip out another couple locomotives tonight so we can get it in the can.

Worked until around eight last night on another train painting. I enjoy the solitude.

Good talk with RG this morning about circulation. It's our biggest challenge this year and we've got to get focused on increasing our reach. We are putting out a very expensive product and it needs a wider audience. Tell a friend.

Raining again. My advice to you: buy shares in Weedwacker. We are going to have weeds up to our armpits in a month, then it will all go brown just in time for fire season.

Took Mike Melrose to lunch at El Encanto today. He thought I might deliver bad news, but I told him I just wanted a good ol' fashion Iowa lunch. Mike had the "N"—Mexican sea bass special. I had the Sonoran enchiladas (flat, not rolled) with an over easy egg on top (my new fave dish, I bought $26 biz account).

Attacked my desk and answered mail most of the afternoon. Got the piles down to where I can see over them.

Paul Harvey, Jr. called and wants to do a radio bit off of Outlaw Annie's appearance in the latest issue of True West. I assume this is for his dad, Paul Harvey of "The Rest of The Story" fame.

We are going to submit two of the Westerns Channel True West Moments in the annual WETA awards. I talked to Jeff Hildebrandt this morning and he suggested "Good Saddle-Bad Saddle" and "Hats Off to Ya'" an ode to hat styles in the Old West. In addition, we will be submitting a cover (Dale Evans), articles (History of Rodeo and The Pitchfork Ranch) and our promotional postcard series (very groovy, Abby does 'em). WETA (Western English Trade Association) is having their conference and awards banquet in Anchorage, Alaska this year. Joel and I are going. Never been to Alaska. Looking forward to it.

I talked on the phone at length to Robert Love, the owner of the O.K. Corral in Tombstone. He gave me the history of the ownership of the West's most famous corral and it is quite a story in itself. Of course the corral and the actual gunfight site were owned by different people and putting them together wasn't an easy task. The reenactments didn't really start in earnest until the 1970s, and of course today they come off every day of the year, at 2 P.M. Except Christmas day.

“Among creatures some lead and some follow.
Some blow hot and some blow cold.
Some are strong and some are weak.
Some may break and some may fall.
Therefore the sage discards the extremes,
the extravagant, and the excessive.”
—Lao-Tzu (600 BC)