August 2015

Summer Projects
(photo by Connie Blackwood)
2015

 I’ve done a lot of things this summer from attending five art shows to hiking and some travel as well. But pound for pound (literally) this has to be my most significant summer project this year.

After digging back the hillside from our garage in late spring and early summer, I started collecting rocks from an area down behind the garage and stacking them up to form this wall. With the exception of digging the rocks out of the hill behind the garage (which I did with my tractor and backhoe), all the work was done by hand, with each rock being moved several times in the process of getting them into place. The wall is about 30 feet long and 12 feet tall at it’s tallest point. Doing some rough calculations to figure out how much weight I’d actually lifted in the project I came up with the answer “a whole heck of a lot.”

This version of the wall is much better engineered than last year’s failure so I’m hoping I’ll have to find some other way to stay in shape next summer!

Patriot’s Dream #45
Livingston, Montana
2015

Patriot’s Dream #44
Livingston, Montana
2015

Shaggy bears (as in yesterday’s photo) and shaggy dogs seemed to be getting a lot of attention that day.

Patriot’s Dream #43
Livingston, Montana
2015

This bear across from my booth at the art show I was in over the 4th of July got his photo take a lot. He perhaps needed some flag apparel to match what many of his photo companions were wearing. Still I think this is the first bear that’s appeared in my Patriot’s Dream series of photos.

Out of Frame
Bozeman, Montana
2015

This shot of a bronc rider was poorly focused and poorly framed. Normally I would just delete it but for some reason I find it appealing, more so in color than in black and white.

Hard Landing
Bozeman, Montana
2015

I hope this cowboy didn’t have his tongue between his teeth when he hit the ground.

Living Dangerously
Bozeman, Montana
2015

This guy had his tongue out, often way out, of his mouth during almost all of his ride on this bronco–kind of risky behavior if you ask me.

How Not to Rope a Steer
Bozeman, Montana
2015

Admittedly I don’t know all the ins and outs of the process of roping a steer but I pretty sure it doesn’t involve wrapping the rope around your horse’s leg.

Rope Ready
Bozeman, Montana
2015

Good Guys, Bad Guys
Bozeman, Montana
2015

I’ve got a few more images to post from the ranch rodeo we attended last month. As I’ve mentioned before, contestants in this ranch rodeo had to be working ranch hands on a ranch running at least 200 head of cattle. They are not professional rodeo cowboys like you generally see at a rodeo, but they’re damn good at what they do.