Big Array of Bouquets & One Crazy Covid Positive Guy

 May 15, 2021

   Last year's Ocotillo Fire devastated our Cave Creek riparian riverbottom, so imagine my surprise to walk out there late this morning and see this giant lady blooming like crazy.

Big Array of Bouquets

   You can clearly see her burned scars at the base, but somehow, someway she has survived to bloom again. Someone told me these giants are about 250 years old, so you can imagine the "residents" she has witnessed along the creek.

Covid Positive

   Well, I have been vaccinated (2 shots, Phizer) and I have worn masks everywhere and I have socially distanced myself until the cows come home, all for the past 14 months, and this morning, I found out I tested positive for Covid. 

   It started two weeks ago when I had a bit of a headache and a ticklish throat. I was a little concerned but since I had been vaccinated, and I didn't display any of the classic symptons, I just assumed it was allergies and not Covid. Then two days ago I read about Bill Maher testing positive even though he had been vaccinated, so I drove down to the Holland Center and had the test done and at 5:47 A.M. this morning they texted me that I am positive for Covid. One good thing is, Kathy is negative.

   Insidious stuff, this is. The only saving grace, so far, is that the symptons are mild, with headaches and a slight fever, but no chest pains, or loss of smell or taste. The conventional wisdom is that the vaccine reduces the symptoms? Hope that holds true.

Daily Whip Out:

"The Stories We Need to Hear"

   And, yes, the above saguaro is modeled after the saguaro up top.

"Often when you think you're at the end of something, you're at the beginning of something else."

—Fred Rogers

Zane Brother Puts Shirt On My Back

 May 14, 2021

   I have a Zane Brother who is a military contractor working in Riyadh, Saudia Arabia. I casually mentioned I needed some new Western styled, collarless shirts, and lo and behold, Randie Lee O'Neal found an Indian tailer in Riyadh, had five custom, collarless shirts made and shipped over. They arrived yesterday.

Uno Admires Custom Western Ryadh Shirt

   Perfect fit from half a world away. The tailer is this guy.

Thanks Randy and Akram for getting the Western collarless shirt deal down perfectly! Now I know what the old vaqueros mean when they say. . .

"Be yourself. Know your proportions. And have a good tailer."

—Old Vaquero Saying

Punk Kid From Issaquah Finishes Off Sketchbook #29

 May 13, 2021

   Finished another sketchbook (#29). And, one of the things I like to do when I finish a sketchbook is cull out the best notes, quotes and sketches for a mini-review.

Daily Whip Out:

"Saguaro Landscape Splash Page"

(after Moebius)

   Random Note: When people have forgotten their history, what is the story they need to hear? A reminder of where we've been. Someone needs to set things right. I think I know who that is.

Daily Whip Out:

"Dixxy Strikes A Pose In The Twilight"

   What is the last thing anyone would expect in a Western?

Daily Whip Out: "One Young Punk"

   What is the first thing anyone would expect if Juni Fisher is co-creating her?

Daily Whip Out: "As The Crow Flies"

   Our story will be impossible and we will do it anyway.

Daily Whip Out: "Dixxy Handles Hunk!"

"It is one of the great secrets of life that those things which are most worth doing, we do for others."

—Lewis Carroll

   Here's a note (second one, below) that sums up so much of my life.

Daily Whip Out: "Dixxy Rides On"

"I can't live where I want to, I can't go where I want to go, I can't do what I want to, I can't even say what I want to. I decided I was a very stupid fool for not to at least paint as I wanted to."

—Georgia O'Keeffe

Daily Whip Out: "Classic Crow" 

"My mind still thinks I'm 25. My body thinks my mind is an idiot."

—Old Vaquero Saying

"A man's character isn't his fate; a man's fate is the joke that his life plays on his character."

—Philip Roth, as quoted in the new biography which has been abandoned by its publisher

Punk Kid From Issaquah Nails Final Page

   And, on the last page of sketchbook #29, I let this guy have the final scene.

Weston Allen Bortscheller Nails It

Daily Whip Out: "Boulder Ambush"

"It's such a big dream, I can't see it all."

—Edward S. Curtis, our True West magazine cover boy for September

Statue Power Off

 May 12, 2021

   One of the fun things I did with my grandkids in Issaquah last weekend was to play a customized game of monster. At their request, I chased the kids around the house and tried to catch them, but with one twist. They each got one reprieve by yelling out "Statue Power" which freezes the monster so they can escape his clutches and the poor ol' monster has to hold the frozen pose until he hears the magic release phrase: "Statue Power Off!" You'd be surprised at how long two grandkids can play this simple and silly game.    

   Or, if you are a grandparent yourself you are no doubt nodding your head and saying out loud, "Duh," or, one of its derivatives.

Statue Power

   Of course, one of the ironies of being in the Northwest is that it's becoming known as the land of downed statues. Someone told me a statue of Lincoln was brought down, or defaced, in Portland?

    Abraham Lincoln!? Really? Who's next? Well, one surefire prediction would be any white guy with a rifle.

Daily Whip Out: "Et Tu Brute Force?"

Statue Power Off

   I'm not one of those who think all statues are created equal. I'm painfully aware we went through a long period where losing generals in the Civil War got more than their due when, in my opinion, they really shouldn't have gotten anything. So, the idea that statues are inviolate is not on my values list.

   Still, I have a hunch, there are a few statues who are feeling a little out of sorts these days. 

Daily Whip Out:

"Minuteman Head Explodes"

   And, of course, this guy recently has had a bad run of luck in New Mexico and Arizona.

Daily Whip Out: "Kit Carson On Fire"

   With some statues being preemptively taken down as a precaution.

Daily Whip Out: "Carson Still Riding High?"

   In the future, I have a hunch that the only thing that will help some statues survive is if the plaques at the base of the sculptures are repurposed, you know, like this.

On this spot, Wyatt Earp shot down

a racist cowboy who used the N-word.

"The past is a foreign country. They do things differently there."

—L. P. Hartley

The Long Way Home

 May 11, 2021

   Here I am with a kindred spirit. This bearded geezer statue sits near the heart of Issaquah, Washington. 

Kindred Spirits, Issaquah, Washington

   Someone told me he once ran the bases forward in a game with Squimm, which is pretty amazing, since I once ran the bases backwards in a game with Needles. He lost his virginity in his rambling years and I lost mine in a '64 Nash Rambler. The comparisons go on and on, but the fact remains: I broke the zipper on this borrowed fleece jacket and had to remove it by pulling it off over my head.

   We had a ton of fun visiting our grandkids, but there was one downside.

Flight of the Disgruntled

   I must say I am through with flying for a while. Sky Harbor was mobbed both ways. A flight delay going up to Seattle (no crew), I found myself standing in the boarding line across from a guy with a T-Shirt that read, "I'd Rather Have Covid-19 Than Biden As My President." I wanted to lean over and say, "Sure hope you get your wish," but I didn't. Masks all the way up and back, all the way through the flight, which was packed to the gills. No open middle seats. Drinks on Southwest have been reduced to four choices: Coke, Diet Coke, Seven-Up or Water. Just oppressive and stifling and not fun at all.

   Minus twenty on the tolerable scale for a grumpy old man.

"There is a fine line between angry and grumpy. Angry isn't nice, but grumpy is funny."

—Rick Wakeman

   

Walla Walla Or Bust, Hits to New Mexico

 May 9, 2021

   This weekend, we found ourselves up in this neck of the woods.

   Walla Walla Bing Bang

     We came up north to celebrate with this birthday girl.

 Deena Carolina Bell Bortscheller and

her two all stars, Frances and Weston

   On Saturday we went to watch this slugger.

Weston Rips One to New Mexico

   I heard a chant I had never heard before. Also, worked on some color ideas.

Daily Whip Out: "Silhouettes for Dixxy"

"Hit it high, hit it low, hit it to New Mexico."

—Issaquah Little League Chant

Solving Life In Issaquah

 May 7, 2021

   It's Deena's birthday, so we flew up to Seattle to celebrate. Woke up this morning to these two little tooters coming in our room to solve some life.

   And, so we solved some life!

“A problem well stated is a problem half solved."

—Old Vaquero Saying 

The History Ping Pong Wars Continue

 May 5, 2021

   In 2021, Cinco de Mayo falls on May 5.

   You're welcome.

The History Ping Pong Wars Continue

   The arguments rage on. Some statues are coming down, while others go up. As some wag put it, history is a fable agreed upon, that is, until enough people rise up and reject the fables they were fed and replace them with their own. And so it goes, like a ping pong ball going down a sewer drain, careening and banging from side to side, for all eternity.

Daily Whip Out:

"Kit Carson Still Riding High?"

   This is a concept sketch for an upcoming feature in True West on the up and down nature of history. Here's another one.

Daily Whip Out: "Bloody Horse Final"

   And another.

Daily Whip Out: "Billy' Big Ol' Hat"

   Just when you thought it was over, here comes another Billy the Kid series.

New Billy the Kid Series

"My favorite childhood memory is my back not hurting."

—Old Vaquero Saying

Rothko Inspires Me to Whip It Out And Whip It Fast

 May 4, 2021

   Is it possible to be inspired by a painting and a painter one has little respect for?

BBB In Front of A Rothko

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

August 13, 2016, 2:18 PM

   I hedge my disdain—"little respect"—for this painting because I believe in the edict that "Art is anything you can get away with." Marshall McLuhan said that and I have nothing but respect for THAT quote, and by extension, Rothko certainly fits the bill here. So, what I'm really saying is, I respect Rothko's ability to get away with calling this a finished painting.

   So, sometimes I do warmups, not with Rothko in mind, but when it's done, I am certainly reminded of him and his unmitigated gall.

Daily Whip Out: "Transition #4"

Freeway History

   For almost all of my years of college (1965-70) driving back and forth from Kingman to Tucson, we took 93 south to Bell Road, then took that farm road over to I-17 south and around the curve on I-10 to 40th st. where the freeway ended, then we motored south on surface streets to Baseline Road and took that east and then south on Maricopa all the way down to the farming community of Maricopa and then we took farm roads to Casa Grande where we picked up the freeway again and hopscotched our way into the Old Pueblo. Only certain sections of the freeway were open and we had to get off and on all the way.

   What a thrill then when the whole shebang finally opened up and we could cruise all the way from Phoenix to Tucson without stopping.

The official opening of the Broadway Curve

on I-10 in 1968

   Not so much anymore. I've reverted to surface streets. Less traffic. Oh, and don't get me started on that farm road named after my family. There were two stop signs on the entire stretch in that period. And the name reference is a joke. Bell Road was named for some other farmer's bastard son.

Look What Stuart Found for True West Classic

The Last Ride of Bonnie McCarroll by Juni Fisher, July 2011. This will appear in the July 2021 issue of True West magazine

"We feel through the senses, and everyone knows the content of art is feeling."

—Mark Rothko

Something to Crow About

 May 3, 2021

   There was a time when I thought I was completely lost, without any redeeming value. Thankfully, the feeling only lasted for a couple decades. And the bottom line is, I'm still standing.

Daily Whip Out: "Someting To Crow About"

   When I was a lad growing up in Kingman, Arizona, if there was heat in town from Boulder City, looking for someone to run, the word went out for Billy Logas to meet them way out of town on a lonely road where a quarter mile was marked off, just beyond the cattle guard. I witnessed many drag races out there in the middle of nowhere and got behind the wheel a few times myself.

Daily Whip Out:

"Drag Strip Memories On Stockton Hill Road"

Stockton Hill Road Today

   Two weeks ago I gave a Zoom lecture to a Beginning Journalism Class at NAU. The professor who introduced me is a friend, but one of the lines in his introduction made me wince. 

"Bob used to be a big deal in radio back in the latter part of the last century."

—Prof. Martin Sommerness

The "Oh, Good, My Hat's Still On My Head" Rant

 May 2, 2021

   Nothing says "Dude" faster to a Westerner than someone in a photo touching their hat. You know, like this.

"Is my hat still there? Better check."

   Granted, it's mostly models in Western Wear ads and for that I blame the photographer.

"Okay, now touch your hat to make sure

it's still there."

"Oh, good. Still there."

"Wow! Still on my head.

What are the odds?"

"You can never be too careful"

"Oops, wrong finger"

"Just being safe. It's kind of windy in here."

"See? What'd I tell you? My hat is gone

and replaced by semi-dead flowers"

   I'll let Horseman, Author and Recording Artist, Juni Fisher explain:

   "You know the photo. Like in the old Shepler's catalog: hire a model, put him or her in the clothes, and say 'and here's your hat...' and the hat is right out of the box unshaped, red and yellow chicken feather tuft in the hatband and all. 'Oh boy, that looks great,' says the photographer. 'Now hook your thumb in your belt loop. Good, good. Now put your hand on the hat like you're about to tip your hat. Good, good.' Gaaag. As if anybody who wears jeans and a hat as their regular dress has their thumb in their belt loop and is touching the brim of their hat. 

   "Nothing, and I mean nothing wrecks a hat faster than tugging the hat up or down by the brim. Nothing mangles the fibers of a crown faster than lifting and mashing on it. Does all that mangling on a good hat make the wearer look "authentic?" Nope. Makes the wearer look like an uninformed newbie. Does a person who's accustomed to daily hat wearing have a work hat that's dirty and maybe a little knocked out of shape? You bet. Did they make it that way on purpose? Nope.

   "Here's the quiz. An experienced hat wearer touches their hat:

a) Putting the hat on (and they handle it by the base of the crown, and not by the crown or brim to do so.)

b) Taking the hat off (same handling)

c) While giving their hat a "snug-down" when the wind picks up, or as a rider heads into a higher level of activity. (same handling)

e) All of the above. 

   "If you answered 'e' you're probably not going to get hired to do that gunsel photo shoot. Breaks yer heart, don't it?"

—Juni Fisher

Nobody In The Crosshairs

 May 1, 2021

   We've got some weird trends going right now.

Daily Whip Out: "Ahead of The Storm"

   Thanks to a request from Jill Kuehny of the Caldwell, Kansas Historical Society I found an original board of Wild Bill in Kansas that I thought they might like for a show next week and I gave it another go.

Daily Whip Out:

"Wild Bill In The Crosshairs"

   This piece is in my "Wild Bill: The First Gunfighter" book on page 60 if you want to see what I changed and improved.

   Big, clunky quarter horses, blinged out cowgirls who look more like eighties Madonna. Somehow, some of our southern neighbors have stayed more true to their original style.

"A Guard of The Rancheria"

—By Frederick Remington

1889

  

A Present Day Brazilian Vaquero

   Flair and panache never goes out of style.

Nobody In Particular

I was quite astounded— almost dumbfounded—by the new movie "Nobody" starring Bob Odenkirk, a comedian in an action movie?! After hearing some decent buzz and being a fan of "Better Call Saul" Kathy and I bit the bullet and paid for the viewing—$19.99!—last night. And, man oh, man, is that some fast and furious storytelling. Totally outrageous, quick cuts and the obligatory family falling apart, but very believable and then it goes to full-blown ridiculous in a Jackie Chan, over the top, cartoon violent, choreography, kind-of-way. I laughed and laughed until I cried. It was cathartic. The perfect movie for these pre-post-pandemic times. I expect we'll see more of Nobody.

“We had a star that was willing to put in all this hard work and prep like crazy for such a long time [a reported two years!]. I think the only person who was worried about the action was Bob, because I knew it was going to be great.”

—Nobody director, Ilya Naishuller on the notorious bus scene

How Many Women Is Too Many for The Cover of Women of The Wild West?

 April 30, 2021

   I believe I have enough individual coverage of the most famous women in the Old West for a decent book cover, but which ones do I use? And how many should I composite, all together? That is my creative question for today.

A Quick Inventory of Available Images

  Well, for one thing, it probably wouldn't hurt to have a famous Mexican Mamacita front and center.

Daily Whip Out: "Las Tules"

   Or, I couldn't go wrong to include a famous female who consorted with outlaws, you know, the one with the crazy, cool name.

Daily Whip Out: "Etta Place"

   Or, even a famous captivo who perhaps did not want to be "rescued."

Daily Scratchboard Whip Out:

"Olive In Shadow"

   And, of course, a certain Apache warrior would definitely be a must.

Daily Whip Out: "Lozen"

   And, naturally, we need to keep it diverse, thus, this fine figured woman.

Daily Whip Out: "Zulu Bandita"

   And, we need coverage of the Wild West Shows and Rodeo Arena performers. . .

Daily Whip Out: "Vera McGinnis Rides High"

Oh, and we can't forget this little criminal.

Daily Whip Out: "Pearl Hart"

   Okay, who am I missing? Ooops. Can't forget the hatchet lady.

Daily Whip Out: "Carry Nation"

Daily Whip Out:

"The Nude Duel That Will Not Die"

   Oh, and then there's the cigar smoking entertainer who left an estate worth $4 million dollars.

Lotta Crabtree

(1847-1924)

   Now, how do we composite all of these fine looking women onto one canvas and make a compelling cover out of it? My first reaction is, it can't be done because it'll be too crowded. And my worst fear is, it will look like a bad, high school annual, with postage stamp faces.

   But then I remembered a certain album cover back in the day. 

   True it was crowded and bit too much. But, it couldn't have been any cooler—and it still is!

   I just noticed this, but isn't that Johnny Weissmuller (as Tarzan) between Ringo and Paul? And did you know, Shirley Temple is in there twice? I know, I know, I'm slow. Give me a break, it's only been 54 years!

   Rough sketches tomorrow, plus all the women I left out, like Sakajawea and Annie Oaklley and, the list goes on and on. . .

"So let me introduce to you, the act you've known for all these years. . ."

—The Beatles, title track, Sgt. Peppers 

Bonus Quote:

"Go to the net, or stay behind the baseline. Don't get caught in the middle."

—Old Tennis Coach Saying