If you liked the previous painting by Jory Sherman, there are more treats in store. The Winnesboro today has published a Father’s day piece on him that you can view here. They even show some of his paintings.

His paintings exude vibrant colors and are a delight to the eyes. His western books also create images with words and use some clever thinking. One of his latest books, Vigilante, depicts two gunman following another horseman who doesn’t want to be followed. Jory has them using a switchback technique that is pure genius. Now for the rest of the story go to his website and purchase the book or go to Amazon where you can find his books as well.

Jory Sherman has written over 300 books, most of them westerns, but not all. Also, you can find his short stories in Amazon shorts.

When I saw the native Columbine at the local Garden Extravaganza, I fell in love with her. Her flowers looked like red sunbonnets with bright yellow faces peeking out. Memories came flooding back about the times I walked down the forest paths as a child and came upon her. Of course there were many of her, but all just as beautiful. Each flower is a tad bit different, some in perfect symmetry and others more elongated or square.

The Columbine pictured here from my garden is the native one that has rich crimson and gold hues. It is known by different common names-’grandmothers bonnet’ is one of them.

The columbine plant does not grow very tall, average is 12-18 inches, but its deep, rich colors make up for its height. It can brighten a green spot in your garden grandly. As having a delicate nature, it does need some partial shade and somewhat richer soils.

However, don’t bother to protect it over the winter, as it will disappear long before that and pop up in the spring without further
ado.

Look for a rainbow of colors coming in Part 2.

My tile work is something that I figured out on my own, after working with my husband, remodeling houses. I was doing the tile cutting, and got pretty good at it. Right now, I have just finished doing another picture, which is a palm tree, which will go into the corner of a small bathroom, which will be the shower also. There are 2 flamingos to the left of the tree, and about 5 butterflies spread around. Right now, this picture is on my dining room table.

To start with, you have to have a wet saw, to cut the tile, then collect different colors, to use in different pictures. I never did this while we were remodeling houses to sell, but when we decided to move into our barn, 13 years ago, I decided to see what I could do.

The first picture I did, was the clipper ship, I drew up the picture on graph paper, and then re- drew it on the tile which I lay out on my Dining Room Table. then #2 the picture of our barn, over my stove, #3 The mermaids #4 the tree in the corner, with a girl on the swing, #5 was the aquarium, where I acquired a little wet saw, that was like a jig saw, and I could write my name in my work,. #6 the iris around the jacuzzi.
To be continued in Part 2

Depending on where you travel in the United States, you may run into different native animals. Take the black bear for instance. He gets himself into predicaments sometimes. Scroll down to see the video story of a bear that did just that.

In northern Michigan, around the Traverse City bay area, police are called to use tranquilizer guns on bears that decide that a tree above people is a nice place to roost. Ask a bear for the real reason, however. Of course, this is an occasional thing, not a regular occurence.

Near Gillette, Wyoming we find the elks living in the forested regions and outside populated areas. However the antelopes, smaller and more deer-like, like living in and around the towns. But why not, they eat the sage grass and help keep the lawn down. They don’t seem to have an affinity for gardens, which is a good thing.

According to Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds Catalog these melons are “legendary,” were originally introduced in 1926 and “rediscovered in Macon, Missouri” and are “one of the most popular heirloom varieties.” Who knew? All I did was buy a pack of seeds at Walmart! The funny thing is that I’ll bet dollars to donuts here at next year’s fair there will be more than just me bringing those big babies in. I had at least 3 people to whom I gave melons personally contact me and say that the melon I gave them was the best they had ever eaten. It will be fun to see if other people plant them. I’ll feel like I started something in our little valley.
Living here is an adventure. Today we were without electricity for 14 hours in 32 degrees of cold with a furious snowstorm blowing outside…white out conditions most of the afternoon. I had a big fire in our fireplace all day!! On November 20th, inauguration day, we also lost our electricity for 12 hours. If it wasn’t for our generator, we wouldn’t have seen any of the festivities. Today I didn’t start up the generator. The problem is that we are totally surrounded by the Tonto National Forest and some incredibly rough country…Hell’s Gate Wilderness, Madazal (sp!) Wilderness. If you want to know what I mean, look for a satellite view of Young on Map Quest. You’ll see nothing but this little spot of a town surrounded by nothing but dark green forest as far as the eye can see. We are truly isolated.
Well, nice to hear from you. February is my month to prune fruit trees and spray them with an oil spray to keep bug-eez away. For the last couple of years we’ve had no fruit due to late frosts and ELK! Unfortunately, they love apples! The good news is that they have never bothered our garden. I’ll keep my fingers crossed about that because if they get in your garden, they will destroy it in one night.

“Interestingly enough, I do have a BIG garden. My husband Tom laid it out but since, his disease (Alzheimer’s) has incapacitated him, I do it all. Our whole garden is 6000 sq. ft. We have irrigation set up for 25 rows that are about 35 ft. long. We have 2 rows of asparagus that are about 65 feet long. We have a strawberry patch too within these confines. Last year because I was working alone, I only used 12 rows but was remarkably successful. We harvested over 300 ears of the most wonderful sweet corn you ever ate! We bought it from Henry Fields Seed Company…Bodacious and Honey and Pearl. Both were the absolute best ever!! My melons (both my cantaloupe and watermelons) along with my squash won blue ribbons at the Gila County Fair so I felt very good. I should tell you about my watermelons. I bought them at Wal-Mart. They were called Moon and Stars (??!!) and they were the biggest (about 38 – 40 lbs.), best things you ever ate. I had 22 of them and gave many away. We thought they were the best melons we ever ate as did many of the people I gave them to. Anyway, if you want to take a flyer, give ‘em a try! I might add that our soil quality here is poor, a lot of clay. We have worked hard at enriching it. I have added probably in 5 years at least 300 bags of processed manure plus 50 bags of Amend (a product meant to break up clay soil) and this spring hope to add possibly 50 bags of forest mulch. That will do it for soil improvement. I’m thinking that our robust garden of last year was a tribute to my soil improvement program.”

Can anyone guess where in the United States that Mary has her garden? Please do comment and see how many are close to the right answer!