July 19, 2005
So far, eight people have died because of the heat here in Arizona. Supposed to be 116 in Phoenix today. But when I get to feeling sorry for myself I always think, Hey, I could be in Needles, California where it's 125 degrees, with Colorado River humidity thrown in to boot.

A correction on the Sandra Bullock marriage deal:
"Jesse James was born in 1847. That would make him 157 years old, not 128."
—J.Rae

I blocked in the copy for the Spicer hearing today and also rewrote the Lang Ranch spread. Went home for lunch and started the Milt Joyce confrontation with the Earps painting. Worked on it for about five hours. I think I ruined it! Damn! Damn! Flam! I just hate it when I overwork stuff. I want it to be bold and loose, but too much bold deadens everything. And I’ve got dead going on everywhere. Instead of bringing it in to be scanned I left it at home so I can look at it tonight and determine if I should redo it, or just live with it. Tough choice (see below)

Got a call from Tomcat who’s one the road with Christina. They’re doing a big roadtrip to see Old Route 66, Kingman, Vegas, North Rim of the Grand Canyon, Colorado City (Polygamy Central!), Zion, Monument Valley, Canyon de Chelly, Painted Desert and Meteor Crater. Tommy called me as they came into Kingman and asked where was a good place to eat, and I told him "Good luck." Actually, I sent him downtown to the Kingman Deli. Later, in Vegas he called me and asked me to Google cheap hotels. The Sahara has rooms starting at $59 (Isn’t Google amazing? What did we do before?).

Came back to the office at 4:30. Meghan is working hard on the editing of CGII. Lots of questions and corrections. Robert Ray warned me I need to get my part of the book done as quickly as possible so he can have a week to scale images, etc. My deadline is a week from tomorrow. Basically a week to finish 12 images and plug seven copy holes. My art wish list includes:

• Doc & Ringo Standoff (half done, big sucker)
• The Earp Posse (making dust on the road to Charleston)
• The Maxey City Shootout (Cow-boy Dick Lloyd rides into a Saloon and a poker game for the last time)
• Nekkid Fandango (Curly Bill forces dancers to strip nude and keep on dancing)
• Curly Bill’s Dinnertime Nap (Bill told everyone in a restaurant to not leave as he passed out in his plate. Everyone was afraid to move, thinking he was faking it as an excuse to shoot them. Eventually, he woke up, paid and left)
• Cow-boys treeing town (half done)
• Birdcage Opening Night (Locals dancing up a storm with hanky panky going on up in the private boxes)
• The Dodge City Gang (group shot of Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, Luke Short and Doc Holliday standing behind a faro table in the Oriental).
• Gas Light Shooters (Tucson cow-boys shooting in the air as the gas lights are turned on for the first time on March 18, 1881)
• Finish Papago Station painting (all but done)
• Rattlesnake coiled to strike (goes with George Parsons diary entries about all the flies, and pestilence in Tombstone)
• Virgil, Allie, Wyatt, Warren, Texas Jack, Doc, and Turkey Creek Johnson on train, armed to the teeth, looking glum. Other passengers are wary. Who are these odd ducks?
• Hume being relieved of his pearl handled pistols in a stage robbery

Of course I’m scared I’m going to do crappy art because I’m rushed (I’ve only had a year to do this).

"Being scared can keep a man from getting killed, and often makes a better
fighter of him."
—Louis L'Amour