August 8, 2006 Bonus Blog
I saw the news helicopters circling over the Seven Sisters a little after five. I knew what it probably meant but I couldn't believe it. Steep thunderheads rolled in overhead at about three, and it was so dramatic I asked Robert Ray if he brought his camera. He, Abby Pearson, Robert McElroy and I went out back and watched while Robert shot off some digital frames of the dramatic cloud banks (they went straight up at least a thousand feet). The irony is it never rained where we were.

As I got closer to Grapevine I saw the SUVs coming back, and every driver had their cell phones to their ears. Not a good sign. I turned the corner and sure enough, Grapevine Wash was running solid at about three feet. Still, brave (or foolish) locals were braving the water and wading across in their big trucks. Even though I was in a Ranger I got in line and passed the dozen or so cars parked along the edges of the road. Kids stood by the banks and watched wide-eyed as the once bone dry wash churned at about 5,000 cubic feet per second.

Five trucks ahead of me made it across, but just as I came up a sheriff's car with the lights on pulled around us and screeched sideways as the deputy got out and waved everyone off. The guy ahead of me was steamed and they exchanged words, but the water was too loud and we couldn't hear them. The Ram Dodge Dude slammed it in reverse and waved me off, like I was a piss ant in his way. I suddenly played like I was a deaf mute and looked at him with my mouth open, which enraged him (covert hostility can be so much fun ).

I went back to the office and met Trish Brink and Joel Klasky. I told them I was flooded out, couldn't make it home. Trish invited me and Kathy to Harold's and we met up there for a beer. Placed slammed. New owners.

Tried it again at about 6:30 and it was fine. About six inches of water. So Arizona. T-Bell, Kendra and a guy from Sweden, Lars, came rolling in at seven from Orme Ranch (they are through for the summer). I made tacos for them and they drank several beers. As they tried to drive away to a party in Tempe, Kathy drug them into the living room and made them watch some TV show on teens with brain damage who were in accidents after drinking "only two beers." I remember seeing a much cruder version in high school called "Mechanized Death." The message was the same though: when autos flip, it really creates a red landscape. It seemed like this updated version was improved to say, Mechanized Death: 6.5. The kids just drove away very slowly, but I was a kid once and I know what that means.


Top Secret Project
Worked hard on several scenes of San Carlos reservation life, and one of Remington who had to draw the locals over the shoulder of a soldier (in this case Tom Horn) because the Apaches were too shy. Some neat effects, Need to put the female in. Have good reference, want to work on that tomorrow.

Got the following from Alan Huffines at about four. Perfect!

Pedro: "Aren't you pretty good at drawing, like, animals and warriors and stuff?

Napoleon Dynamite: Yes. Probably the best that I know of.