Fur In The Paint

Gallery
In many ways that is what my business is, an anomaly. It is this small gallery, in the middle of a tiny little town, in the middle of nowhere, in a very sparsely populated state. (um . . . something is seriously grammatically wrong with that sentence. I’m just sure of it.) So with the recent boon of work I’m like Whaaa?

I’m sure you are all a little tired of hearing this but we are still shockingly busy. I have worked a 10 hour day every day this week, with the exception of one 12 hour day. Currently the work load is primarily framing and printing service coming in locally and from various parts of the country.

So I’m tired but feeling totally blessed. I also know that I’m in a luxury business and who knows how long it will last so we just keep workin’ it while we can.

Trees
This is a photo of some trees growing in the family field. This year it’s in alfalfa. There are actually three trees planted. (Thaaat’s right planted in the field. No free range scrub here.) Mike’s mother planted one for each child many years ago.

This is probably considered more than an anomaly by the locals. It is probably considered downright crazy. I mean you pull trees out of the field, you certainly don’t plant them in it.

People used to occasionally ask me about the trees and why no one has yet taken them out. I usually shrugged non-committedly. Mind you I didn’t grow up in a state that is at war with free range trees and weeds. Frankly I like them (the trees that is.) And I am pretty sure they will remain in the field as long as a Majorowicz owns the ground they grow on.

Turtle
On my drive into the gallery, as I was about to cross the bridge over the creek near our farm, I see a rather large (over a foot long) Snapping Turtle by the side of the road. I pull over (as I am want to do whenever a critter is on the road) to make sure it gets safely off the road. I prodded her a bit to see if she had been hit by a car since she was hunkered down and not moving. This of course evoked a lunging snap which made me jump even though I was standing safely behind her.

So I lean in to get closer look (yes. . . still from behind) and I see she is planning on laying her eggs in the gravel on the road’s shoulder. She had dug out a deep pocket through the gravel and into the mud. So I leave her be and hope no one runs her over. Hopefully my bothering her made her move on and choose a better place than the road. I can’t imagine they would make it in that location.

Oh and how do you get a snapping turtle off the road? Sometimes you can herd them, like a very slow moving cow. But the easiest way is to get a stick, let it bite it and drag them. I think our creek has a healthy population of Snappers since I usually see one on the road several times a year. (Note to self: no barefoot wading in the creek.)

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