"Mary, Can You Change The Music, Please"....

 Good "I hate the f%@*king Eagles, man!" Saturday Morning, y'all.

Well, ya know, it's one of those pre-programmed stations whose playlist just overplays certain songs and certain groups.

Big Al and I arrived at the counter to the mellow sounds of "Take It To The Limit" to order some coffee. Al always gets a small expresso cappucino. He normally stays only long enough to finish his morning jolt, but today was a bit different.

"Mary, can you change the music. I hate the damn Eagles," I said rather irritably since I hadn't had my first cup yet.

"Dude, exclaimed Big Al, The Big Lebowsky!"

"Hey you mean like the Dude, his Dudeness, Duder, um, the effin El Duderino?"

"Yeh, man, Al said, that line is from the movie,"The Big Lebowsky!"

"Oh man, Mary jumps in and says, I love that movie!"

Next thing you know, we three are recreating our favorite scenes like bowling alley confrontations, the sweater, the rug, the Dude's penchant for a white Russians... stuff like that.

Al and I got our coffees, sat down and for another twenty minutes or so, we're mixing the movie with other subjects like the finer points of welding (Big Al's a metal sculptor) and my Air Force paintings in the Pentagon.(I had just received my new copy of ASAA's "Aero Brush" magazine and brought it along to read.)

His cappucino finished, Al gingerly extracts himself from the leather sofa and as he heads for the door, Al turns and stops, smiles and points to the heavens and says, "I hate the f%@**king Eagles"... Ha!

"Take It Easy" was playing on the radio.

No cups, yet...

 Copyright 2023/Ben Bensen III

"A Friend Liked The Photo Better"...

A friend liked the photo better, so I sold it to him...

 

Good "on the road" Wednesday Morning, all bodies!

A couple days ago, first thing in the morning at Giddy Up, with a first cup I decided to draw this rusted stirrup that I found behind one of the western saddles outside.

It took a bit longer than I anticipated, but I got it done to my satisfaction before the gang showed up...

 

So, I sketched it as is on one of the Giddy Up coffee tables and posted it. David, who earlier had bought a saddle painiting I did, saw this post and loved it. He thought that the real rusted spur sitting on the table in front of the Giddy Up branded logo was gonna be a nice edition to his collection. 

 

So, he asked to purchase just the photo... How could I refuse him.

 

Check's in the mail, man...

Copyright 2023/Ben Bensen III

"The Kingbird Returns!"

The Kingbird is known for the red gold crown he flashes!

 Good "westfull wetreet!"Wednesday Morning, all bodies.

A warm, humid breeze had been gently wafting its way throughout the soft fragrant new leaves of our cypress trees. I turned to the east along side of our long gravel laden driveway to check on our neighbor's very tall pine tree that is slowly dying. So sad.

A horsefly buzzes by my head as I get closer to our next door
neighbor’s property. They have three horses in the pasture and the flies aggravate them as well as all horse lovers. I’ve not been bitten yet this year, but just the other day, two of them zoomed into the opened car door to bounce around the interior and the windshield.

The annual aggravating "Gadfly!"

                                                                        

 We used to get annual visits from the Eastern Kingbirds that would sit along the fences to intercept the flies midair. Their aerobatics are fun to watch and their presence certainly make a difference, but I hadn't seen them this year.... Until now, yeah!

It's gonna be another air "Battle Roya!" to "decrease the surplus gadfly population!"

First Hampton Inn cup!

Copyright2023/Ben Bensen III

 

 

"I like EX-CA-VA-TORS," he said..

Tonka Toys... Sorta!

 

Good "late morning TBT" Day, y'all.

Well, there's a new kid in town. One of them, named,"Ben" is four years old and his little brother, who's name I've forgotten, is three.

 

Just about every morning for the last month or so, they drop by with their mother, a wedding photographer, named Whitney, to entertain and terrorize the coffeehouse. Two days ago, the boys were wearing their plastic, red, firehouse helmet as they colored with their brand new set of crayons given to them at the firehouse.

 

I was told about a week ago, by Ben, that he likes construction machines. And, he knows the names of many of those thunderous, ground shaking instruments of destruction and... construction. Backhoe loaders, bulldozers, steam rollers, EXCAVATORS, he knows them all.

 

"He likes to draw them all, Mr. Ben," Whitney said.

 

"I like EX-CA-VA-TORS," Ben said. So, I made a deal with the little Ben.

 

"Hey, Ben, I said, " I like drawing machines and I'll bring my drawings and share them you if you promise to show me how you draw an EX-CA-VA-TOR!"

 

Well, a small crowd gathered around to see my sketchbook of about a dozen construction scenes... and to see Ben's own artistic interpretation, but it was not to be. He was not into performing for the crowd today. Impressed, Whitney inquired about purchasing prints for the walls of the new house they're building in Franklinton and that's pretty cool.

 

But, later, he and I did analyze the work and name all the of those magnificent, mechanical earth movers."

Fun to be a kid again... with another kid!

 

Second cup!

"Making The Best Use Of My Time"...

Thirst quenching for the Soul...

 Good "expecting two phone calls" Wednesday Morning, y'all.

Not that I'm gonna get either one... Just sayin'...

Had a fun morning on Monday with some of the LAG pals at Giddy Up. It was fun to sketch with a cup of coffee and "chew the fat" with the pals till the sun came out full force and practically blinded everyone at their sketchpads. My effort was rather half hearted, I think. 

Hated to do it, but I left everyone to get to my doctor's appointment early only to spend over an hour "Waitin'". I wasn't sure I could stand another home renovating program on TV in the medical center's lobby.

So, I snuggled up to this incredible thirst quenching machine with my sketchbook. I was sure they'd come and get me before I finished the rendering... Thirty or so minutes well spent, me thinks!

First cobweb clearing cup, y'all.