Winter Woodpecker

Between the hardwood trees in our ten acre woods, I spotted a pilated woodpecker searching for bugs in tree holes and under bark. I took these photos with my new Nikon d810, 28-300mm lens.

Knock, knock, anybody home. All of these photos were taken, handheld from about 70 feet away. Some photos have been cropped to show additional detail.

Peek-a-boo, is there a nice juicy beetle at home that wants to become take out food? 

The pilated woodpecker is one of my favorite birds. I often see them in the ten acre woods flying from tree to tree. When they become serious, they can make the wood chips fly. 

These birds are very shy. Normally, when I see them, they see me and fly away. I was lucky and was able to take these photos without the woodpecker detecting me. 

I have often seen the woodpecker turn its head from side to side. I think the woodpecker is turning its head to better hear for bugs under the tree bark. I was able to watch this beautiful bird for about 10 minutes and took 20 photos before the pilated decided to fly away.

Checkout my maps: LeoMaps.com

"Life is short, reduce screen time and increase stream time, get on a big stream."

Happy Valentines

Happy Valentines Day!
I've done it all for valentines, gifts, roses, balloons, spa treatment, etc...but I've found that being simple is best. For her, she likes to be surprised on Valentines morning with her favorite candy, shaped in a heart on the kitchen counter and of course a good meal! 

Occasionally, I create cartoons for fun. Here's a couple based on valentines. 

Also, if you like my cartoons, checkout my vintage style lake, river and bay decor maps. I call my maps treasured maps because most folks have that special body of water that they treasure. These maps make great gifts for the lake house owner, lake lover, or fisherman. I have over two hundred on my website that can be purchased right from the site, or I can do custom and personalizes lake, river or bay maps, too. If you would like to see more and read about my treasured maps go to LeoMaps.com.

Lake Decor Maps

Amazingly, I've been painting vintage style decor map of lakes for the last five years and I think I have become a map elf (see my studio picture below). Anyway, one of my favorite things about painting maps is the comments that I often receive from customers about how much they love the maps. Here's just one comment from a very recent customer. 

"Hi Larry, I received the map today of Great Sacandaga Lake. It's absolutely beautiful. I bought it as a gift for my cousins who have a place up there and I visit regularly during the summer. I'm sure they're going to love it as much as I do. Thank you again!" 

My maps make great gifts for the lake house owner, lake lover, or fisherman. I have over two hundred on my website that can be purchased right from the site, or I can do custom and personalizes lake, river or bay maps, too. I have maps of Lake Winnipesaukee, Table Rock Lake, Greers Ferry, Lake Lanier, Gaston Lake, Choctawhatchee Bay, Toledo Bend, Raystown, and many others. Oh yeah, I hid a tiny mermaid in the waters of all my maps that folks love to search for. Find out more interesting facts about my treasured maps by going to LeoMaps.com. 

Oh yeah, this is part of my studio! I think I have become a map elf!

Cat Scratches Monitor!

It's unbelievable what's happened in the Old Field Studio, recently. It all started when I was working on a lake map. I was about to print the map when I noticed scratches on the flat screen monitor. I thought, I have never noticed these before, wait a minute; there are multiple scratches across the screen. Where did these come from?

A closer inspection indicates that they are fairly deep and appear to be claw marks. I had only two questions: how did they get there and who was responsible. If you look closely below, you can see them.

I immediately had a suspect in mind, "Stormy" our rescue cat. The big mystery was why would Stormy just arbitrarily scratch my computer screen? Well, the answer to that question is very simple, take a look at my screen saver.

Here's what I think happened. My computer will go into sleep mode when it's not being used, but will wake-up and the screener saver will come on if the mouse is moved. Old Stormy likes to roam around the studio alone and hunt for whatever. Stormy must have played with the computer mouse and the screen saver came on with the three owls. Stormy, thinking he had hit the owl jackpot took a few swipes at the owls. Boom, that's how I got scratches on my computer screen. Oh yeah, Stormy has been banned from the studio!

Here you can see a picture of Old Stormy on his cat perch "none too happy!" Folks the moral of the story is to keep your cat away from your mouse. Yes, that is one of my decor maps. I was going to put this picture on my the LeoLakes web site, but may not due to Stormy being in the picture. Oh well, Check'm out at www.LeoLakes.com they make a great gift.

"Life is short, get away from the big screen and get on a big stream!"

Music Lake

What is lake music? Well, there is a lake near Music City (Nashville) that has a long history of lake music. There must be music in the waters because many, many country music stars and song writers live on or near the lake. Stars like Johnny Cash lived on the lake, Taylor Swift lived near the lake while going to high school and this is just to name a few.  The lake didn't create the stars, but it certainly seems to have helped. It must be those foggy mornings with a blue heron flying over and the sun just rising over the water that is a catalyst for great songs and music.  I just finished this beautiful art decor map of Old Hickory Lake the “Music Lake”. 

The lake is actually named after Andrew Jackson “Old Hickory” the 7^th president of the United States, but could have just as well been called the music lake. In fact, I hide a musical note in the waters to emphasis the lake’s music heritage. The lake is printed on canvas from a watercolor painting and the waterfowl is hand painted.

I call my maps treasured maps because most folks have that special body of water that they treasure. These maps make great gifts for the lake house owner, lake lover, or fisherman. I have over two hundred on my website that can be purchased right from the site, or I can do custom and personalizes lake, river or bay maps, too. If you would like to see more and read about my treasured maps go to LeoMaps.com. 
 

"Life is short, reduce screen time and increase stream time, get on a big stream."

Wanted-Reward.......!!!

BOLO - Be on the lookout for a cat in a ski mask! Authorities have indicated that there have been many robberies near big river by a cat in a ski mask.

The thief always takes the fisherman's dough. Get it, dough as in catfish bait. he he he. Hope you enjoyed!

Life is Short, get away from the big screen and get on a big stream!

Checkout my fine Lake, River, and Bay maps! Makes a great gift!

BaitRageous Cartoons

A few cartoons to brighten a cold winter day, enjoy!

Life is Short, get away from the big screen and get on a big stream!

Checkout my fine Lake, River, and Bay maps! Makes a great gift!

Norfork Lake Vintage Style Map

I just completed this 2ft x 4ft map of beautiful Norfork Lake. Norfork Lake is located in Northern Arkansas near the Ozark Mountains. Checkout these Canadian Geese flying over the lake.

I added a Bald Eagle to the map because Eagles have become much more common. I guess you could say that this is a birds eye view.

Here's one of my favorite birds, the Great Blue Heron. The Heron appears to be floating over the water looking for a nice fishing hole.

I placed this vintage plane over the waters to give the map a touch of adventure. This map holds a lot of secrets. Find out more at my website!

Below is the actual map of Norfork Lake. I call my maps treasured maps because most folks have that special body of water that they treasure. These maps make great gifts for the lake house owner, lake lover, or fisherman. I have over two hundred on my website that can be purchased right from the site, or I can do custom and personalizes lake, river or bay maps, too. If you would like to see more and read about my treasured maps go to LeoMaps.com. 

Remember that life is short, get away from the big screen and get on a big stream!

See more at www.LeoLakes.com