Easy Does It

 "A Walk in the Woods" just sold for nearly $10 million.  

(And no, it wasn't painted by Hunter Biden.)

So why....?

You might recognize its creator's name: Bob Ross.

This was the first of Ross's 400-some TV paintings -- 31 seasons, 403 episodes over a 40-year period on PBS.

And he did each painting in 30 minutes. 

Ross, who died in 1995, still has a Youtube channel with hundreds of thousands of subscribers.  His paintings are in collections across the country, including the Smithsonian. However they're rarely up for sale -- Bob Ross Inc. owns many of the originals. Even the museums who own Ross paintings usually got them as donations. (For an appraiser, this is an automatic signal: strong provenance, combined with rarity, generally equals Big Bucks. It's called "replacement of like and kind" in appraisal talk -- but if there are few 'comps,' or comparisons, the values often go up.) 

Ross was an adequate painter. But his real gift was encouragement.

'There's no secret to this. Anyone can paint. All you need is a dream in your heart and a little practice,' Ross said in his first episode. 

And he kept that easygoing approach the rest of his life. 

When to Knock -- When Not to

 

I can relate to this -- my Master's paper was three times as long as it needed to be --

 and three months late. I finally finished it, 3 days before we were married.

I can't even use the dogs as an excuse -- because we didn't have any back then. 

"Like us??"

Figures...

 

A child's shoe, laces intact, was found in a rock salt mine in Austria -- it dates from the second century B.C. 

The shoe was excavated by archeologists in the western village of Dürrnberg, where rock salt mining took place from as early as the Iron Age, it said in a recent press release...

Archeologists discovered the shoe among other organic remains, including a fragment of a wooden shovel blade, as well as remains of fur with lacing that might have come from a fur hood. The remnants of the shoe’s lacing found preserved were likely made of flax or linen, according to the release. (A kid's US size twelve -- or Euro 30 -- in case you're wondering.)

While I appreciate the archeologists' careful work, etc etc...I had an entirely different take on their discovery. 

Observation #1:  Our kids were forever losing things that should have stayed connected to them: coats, mittens, socks, shoes and sandals. And inevitably it was just one of the pair. We usually discovered the item was missing at the last minute, when we were headed somewhere, and it was time to put them on. I'm convinced some of these ghost wearables disappeared out the car window while I was driving, based on similar things noticed alongside the road. 

    But did the girlies know where the missing item(s) were? Nope, they magically disappeared. I can't think of many times that we found them, either. 

Observation #2:  I can just hear the prehistoric mom about all this -- probably halfway home:

    'You left your shoe WHERE? Back in the mine, along with your jacket and shovel?? We don't have time to go back and get them. And I don't have time to make you new shoes and a coat -- what am I going to do with you!?!

Hey, what can you do... just love 'em. No doubt one of our daughters' leather sandals will reappear in a dig hundreds or thousands of years from now. Let the scientists wonder where the other one is!

Best Harbinger of Fall - 'Jack Frost'

    This cartoon, to our girlies, was the first sign that autumn had come...and Christmas wasn't far behind! Sadly, we can all sing the "Thanks, Mr. Jackie" song verbatim, thanks to seeing it umpteen bazillion times. 

But it's fun, anyways.

Monday Stuff On the Way To Other Stuff: Making Progress

 Oh, it's lovely to write those two words.

    Now that we're not schlepping to Fort Garland or parts elsewhere, looking for a house (NINE trips), other things are finishing up, including appraisal reports (yay!) and collecting money for the house payment (booo...). We've also started looking for furniture -- when you move into a fifth-wheel, you don't keep much in that department.

The weather has moderated: warm but not overpowering, and some nice cool nights for sleeping. Colorado's fall leaves change quickly up in the mountains, but down here in the flatlands, it takes a bit longer. At least those #@!! grasshoppers are quickly disappearing. 

Upward and onward. I love Fall.

So... CSU's coach got after Coach Prime because he kept his hat and sunglasses on during interviews. Sanders' response? He got EVERYBODY on the team sunglasses to wear. "Ya look fly," he assured them. Aaah, CSU is just ticked because they lost.

You can stop looking for the missing F-35 spy jet -- they found debris in a field a few hours northeast of Charleston. 

The Story of the Leesburg Stockade Girls.

Rescue the shark! Mission accomplished.

Some very strange (and occasionally amusing) court cases.

Patrick Mahomes eats Doritos. Every night in bed. I would too, if the Brick would let me get away with it!

A stolen Van Gogh painting is back in its Dutch museum home -- it was returned, wrapped in an IKEA bag.

An Alabama band director gets tazed and arrested after he refuses to make his high school band stop playing after a football game. Tazed??/!  I wonder what my high school band director, Bob Stiles, would have thought about that.

Lauren Boebert apologizes, after her theater outing -- she should!

Here's what Colorado landmarks look like from space. The word "weird" comes to mind. 

The wistful story of Enos, the largely-forgotten American space chimp.

Odd photos from history, including the world's largest horse. PLus this little gem, featuring one of the strangest artists in history -- Salvador Dali. (It took 28 tries to get this photo right.)

Wait a second -- Grace Kelly married into Monaco royalty...because of Aristotle Onassis?!?  Also:

Odd and wonderful things found in books.

Julie Silber shows us around her current exhibit of House pattern quilts, at the Iowa Quilt Museum.

"No evidence?" Really??

Ten heroes who are barely known.

Photographic proof for why you should stay off narrow 4WD trails, unless you know what you're doing. (This guy didn't.)

A journal is forced to 'unpublish' a paper that was written in part with AI. (Of course it was published, before readers noticed.)

A prankster crashes Fashion Week -- wearing a trash bag! He almost got away with it, too.

Making mittens out of an old sweater.  (From One Hundred Dollars A Month)

Random acts of kindness.

More silly Hugh Jackman commercials, including:

   Maximum Jackman (in more ways than one)

AND The Truce:

I do feel badly his 27-year marriage is coming to an end. Long unions like this are growing increasingly rare. (In case you're wondering, the Brick and I are staying together -- hopefully for another 41 1/2 years.) 

Korean moon jars: plain, basic -- and very sought-after.

Arrogant people who got their comeuppance.  

Some of the highest-valued collectible items in the world.

A whole list of 'physician side hustles' -- that non-doctors could take advantage of, too.

Remember the Secret Service agent who insisted there was another bullet from JFK's assassination? Now a retired nurse is backing him up.

Is President Biden tottering and doddering on purpose?  I had not thought about this intriguing possibility, but a Phil Hartman 'President Reagan - Mastermind' skit on SNL was mentioned as possible 'proof.' Interesting to think about...

That would certainly explain the Six Billion Dollar Iran Deal...

A 175-year hunting tradition is finished for King Charles and his family... their lease on an estate near Balmoral ended. Hey, for dedicated hunters, this is serious!

Making hot chocolate 'bombs' with corgi-shaped marshmallows.

And yes, you can buy these marshmallows -- but they're not cheap: $2.50 each, or 5 for $10. Or make your own marshmallow 'Corgi Butts.' (No, I am not making this up.)

Jennifer Granholm's grabby EV journey gets the police called. I don't have a huge opinion about this former Michigan governor, anyways -- but the staffers deserved it. Speaking of:

  A Mile High in Denver...a fitting tribute to Jimmy Buffett, who we lost recently. Yes, he lived in Colorado for a while.

A Christmas fabrics 'Oops' kit that might come in handy -- from Shabby Fabrics.

A literal river of red wine flows down the streets, after a Portuguese distillery accident.

The oldest DNA shows up in a man from Montana, with strong Blackfoot Indian heritage. The same DNA is prominent around  Lake Baikal. Could modern Native Americans have ancestors who crossed over from Siberia? The DNA evidence suggests it's certainly possible.

 A neolithic farmhouse discovered along a highway in County Cork, Ireland.

"Side hustles: the real inflation hedge," an interesting perspective from the doctor's side, thanks to the White Coat Investor.

Odd facts behind some very silly comedies.  Did you know Bob Barker and Chuck Norris lived next door to each other... and Norris taught him how to fight during the making of Caddyshack?

"Serial killers are the most dangerous people you'll never want to meet."  Piers Morgan talks about an 8-part documentary on interviews with serial killers...and it's chilling.

A woman ditches her corporate life to live out in the boonies. With her boyfriend. In a very classy cabin they built. Not exactly the 'back to nature' life she wants us to think...but interesting, nonetheless.

Have a great week. 

The Brick, out mowing our friends' field. Fall colors are juuuuuuust starting.

Go Buffs! Go Blue!!

 I don't know how they did it, but Colorado's Buffs pulled off a double overtime victory over the CSU Rams. What an amazing -- and long -- game.

The Wolverines did okay, too...though they didn't look as good this time.  They finally woke up and played better football in the second half.

College football life goes on...

Sharks and Whales Post Redux

 This post was such a favorite with you, Gentle Readers.... that it was hacked. 

I deleted the original, and thought I'd send it back through via a new file. So enjoy...if you're a shark-lover like me. 

-----------------this originally ran in July 2022 --------------------------------

 It's Shark Week this week. 

    No, it's not celebrating Son #1, the cardshark. (Who's really good at it, by the way.)

Not these guys, either.

The Discovery Channel started this 'tradition' back in 1988, in honor of our oceanside chompers. Frankly, I thought the original Jaws movie was stupid. What idiots would go out in the water, and seemingly ASK for the shark to get them? 

But I kind of enjoy the tension of other shark-related movies. Will the hero/heroine get away? Get chomped? What about the little kid? (There's always one, staring wide-eyed at what's going on. Or a clueless bimbo. In a bikini.) Who's next on the list? Deep Blue Sea's got my overall vote... because you not only have the Mama (who's terrifying)...but a whole shiver of babies. 

And they're all hungry.

Here's a taste.... brrrrrr.

And then there's Sharknado -- which assumes that windspouts will pick up sharks and ptooie them all over the landscape. (Which has actually happened at least once.)

Where they can then be dispatched by chainsaw.

There are six of these. And I've watched every one. 

I know. Pathetic. The Brick thinks my love of shark movies, from The Shallows to The Meg, is silly. I don't care -- as long as he'll watch them with me. Big sighs and eyes rolled back to the ceiling are tolerated. After all, he's the one who grew up oceanside in Jacksonville, North Carolina -- not me.

Then again, there's the whole business of whale movies -- which he enjoys!

Okay, I do, too...

Maybe you don't know much about sharks. No matter -- there are plenty of creepy news flashes out there right now to give you a shiver...

Like this one: sharks have been spotted 100 feet from the New York shoreline.  

Or a whale in Massachusetts -- that promptly jumped on top of a fishing boat. (It's ok -- didn't sink. The boat, that is.)

The Great White that was supposed to be feeding on a school of smaller fish -- but got real interested in the diver, instead. 

Or just playing tag. The scary way.

Fix yourself a 'Blood in the Water' shark drink, and settle down to enjoy these fishy bits and pieces. Chum, if you will. (Jello shots a la predator are nice, too.)

Who knows -- you may enjoy Shark Week. Just don't bite off more than you can chew.

                          

                   SNL fans should get that last one. 

2022 either, for that matter.