March 18, 2008
Still cool out in the mornings and with a jillion weeds blanketing the desert floor so it smells mighty sweet on the morning bike ride. Been missing the million dollar women on the ten thousand dollar horses at the arena at the end of Old Stage Road, so that has been nice. When they are in the arena I have to turn back before Buddy Boze Hatkiller sees them and wants to play. I did see Mike Barro out feeding his horses yesterday and told him, "Hey, Mike, we had Barro's pizza last night and it was delicious." He turned, bowed and genuflected in my direction as I added, "Kathy wants to know if you put heroin in the crust." He laughed.

As I mentioned the other day, from time to time I get these crazies who want me to authenticate their photos. They claim they will bide by my decision, but as soon as I tell them I don't think the photo is who they think it is, they turn nasty. Case in point: this guy from Texas evidently put some photos in an auction and before they went on the block, the auction house asked photo experts Bob McCubbin and Craig Fouts to give their opinion that the photos are authentic. Evidently McCubbin and Fouts gave a thumbs down to the photos. So, next the guy comes to me. I inform the guy I'm not a photo expert, but that one of the photos which is purportedly of Emilio Kosterlitsky of Rurale fame, doesn't look like him, at least to me. So I get this response:

"All cowards are exactly the same, its been the same for 100 years. At least you can sleep knowing you helped a young historian do what was right, and not a bitter, lying old man who just does not want anyone in the world to own an antique photograph. I hope you feel good about yourself and your magazine. I just wanted you to know that you are the liars who pervert Western history to make money, not me."

This eccentric Old West collector is not alone. As big prices are realized for Old West photos it seems like more and more of these guys are coming out of the woodwork. Which leads me to. . .

The Top Secret Project Update
Through the stripper Amber Glowe (see yesterday) Richard Wahd ended up with Remington's waterlogged 1888 sketchbook. He wants big money for it. Unfortunately, Richard's third wife, Rachel (below), left him and took the sketchbook as collateral.



Rachel wants half the profit and she also wants a divorce. He replies: "She also claims I'm a misogynist but what does that bitch know?"

Just between you and I, very little of the above scenario is made up.

Started scene number three of the owl sequence last night. Got some decent amber glow (maybe too much):



Need to add about six more figures and add in the big trees behind them where the owl is perched. Hope to finish this scene tonight. Worried that it's not the perfect image I see in my head. Gee, I wonder what ol' Eugene has to say about this?

"Artists who seek perfection in everything are those who cannot attain it in anything."
—Eugene Delacroix