January 15, 2007 Bonus Blog
I saw former Kansas farmer and current neighbor, Joe Yaeger, on the road and he said it got down to 22 degrees at his house on Sunday night. The young girls who movied out of Chuck Van Horn's old place (their daddy bought them the place for $750,000 and they got bored and left), evidently had a water line bust and it was spurting water all over. Joe went down there, but Bruce B. was there and got it shut off. J.D.'s well is frozen, he shut it off and can't get it back up. I called him to tell him his chickens all of a sudden laid six eggs. His lovely wife said J.D. was out working on his well. They've been using swimming pool water for the past two days. When I went on my bike ride this morning I saw Mike Barro out breaking up the ice in his horse troughs. Frost and dog's breath everywhere.

I went home for lunch and sketched and painted several outhouses. This is for a True West Moments, Westerns Channel piece that premieres next month. Jeff asked for historical photos of outhouses and believe it or not, we can't find any in our massive archives. So I'm left with painting a few.

Got back into the office at three and went over some great cowgirl photos from The National Cowboy Museum in Oklahoma City. Great stuff. Hadn't seen any of them (and that's saying something!). Chose several dozen for an upcoming photo feature. Mark, Meghan and I also went over the 2007 editorial agenda and we got some creative ideas.

Spanish Salutations Via The Library of Congress
"I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate you on True West Magazine and True West Moments. You are doing a great deal for the preservation of the historical West. The format of your magazine is simply outstanding, combining the historical West with the modern West. It is a wondeful window for travelling into the past.

"I am not American by birth, but by adoption. I was born and raised in Spain, but I feel as American as apple pie. I emigrated to this country in 1977 and I found no better way of immerse myself in America than focusing on the history of the West. For I truly believe that this country's true self can be found in the American West. I owe this country all that I am and I also believe that the American dream is alive and well, if you truly believe in it, like I do.

"I work at the Library of Congress and if I ever can be of help, please, do not hesitate to contact me."
—Juan Manuel Perez, Ph. D.

Thanks Juan. I will be contacting you about several articles we want to do concerning Spanish influence in the New World, like, which side of the horse do the Spanish mount? No, really.

Onion Headline de Jour
Arizona Man Steals Bush's Identity, Vetoes Bill, Meets With Mexican President

"With the pride of the artist, you must blow against the walls of every power that exists, the small trumpet of your defiance."
—Norman Mailer, who allegedly had a very small trumpet