Childhood dog memories...

While growing up, I had a dog named Lucy. Lucy was a white, long haired mutt that had little black spots sprinkled around her coat. We took her on all our fishing trips. She was a great fishing dog and would watch the bobber for hours. When I would get a bite, she would go "berserk", knowing that a fish was soon to be near. This dog loved the water, she would often jump in the water while we were fishing. Then, come out of the water and shake, shake, shake..... water going all over near by fishermen. 

One time, when I was swimming in the river and Lucy was up on the bank watching. I decide to play a little joke on her to see what she may do. I acted as if I was drowning and called for Lucy to save me. You know what, she jumped in and swam to me. I grabbed her collar and she dog paddled back to shore. Amazing, I was saved by Lucy the water dog.........

One of my favorite things to do with her was toss her a biscuit after she had eaten. She would be too full to eat, but would take the biscuit to a spot and drop it, while sniffing around. She would dig a 1-2 inch hole and place the biscuit in the hole. With her nose, she would push the dirt back over the biscuit until it was completely cover. Funny thing, her white nose tuned dirt brown, so you could always tell that she had buried something.    

In the studio, I have a stuffed dog that I call Lucy that is in honor of my beloved childhood dog. Lucy was a mix breed and loved the water. Whenever we traveled to a river, lake or bay, you could bet that Lucy was in the water. 

Paddle over to my website, LEOLAKES.com. I paint beautiful lake, river and bay maps. They make great Christmas gifts for the lake lover, lake house, or fisherman. Best lake lover gift ever....

Surprise! Bald Faced Hornet

I was out doing some odd jobs around the house and for some reason, I looked up at the eave of the house and to my surprise spotted this hornets nest on our house. It looks like it has been there for most of the summer. In fact, I feel very lucky because not long ago, I installed a new light fixture about 15 feet below the nest while on a ladder. I am highly allergic to bee stings and it could have been deadly. Apparently, the hornets are use to me being near their nest.  

I researched the hornets and discovered that they are Bald Faced Hornets. They live in paper nest and are "not too aggressive" unless you disturb their nest. They will give you a nasty sting multiple times.  

The bald faced hornets often builds nest in trees and house eaves. All of the worker hornet will die when it gets cold (November/December). The queen will fly off and hibernate over the winter. 

I zoomed in and spotted this hornet ready to attack anything that disturbs the nest. I have left the nest alone for now. They don't seem to be a problem at present. I plan on removing the nest later in the year. Interestingly, I looked on the internet and people are selling these nests for a couple hundred bucks on Ebay. I will keep the nest....... 

Oh yeah, I do decor maps! I have hundreds of lake, river, & bay maps that can be purchased right from the site, or I can do custom and personalized vintage style lake maps, too. Lake maps will add beauty to your Lake House Decor! Find out more interesting facts about my treasured maps by going to LeoLakes.com. 

LeoLakes.com

Most folks add a star to a special place on the lake such as a lake house or where they caught that "Trophy Fish". I've been doing lake, river and bay maps for approximately seven years. Over the years, I have experimented with different elements of map art in order to provide the best and most unique map on the market. Folks will be drawn to the map like a crackling fire on a cold winter night.  I try very hard to make my maps special by adding interest to the maps. LeoLakes.com

Also, each framed map or map over 16x32, comes with a certificate of authenticity, lake poem, and interesting facts abut the map. 

 LeoLakes.com

Fishing bobbers

I'm trying to make bobbers fun, again! I've just added a few fishing cartoons for your enjoyment. 

Oh yeah, check-out my maps, they make the best fishermen's gift! I have over three hundred on my website that can be purchased right from the site, or I can do custom and personalized 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 hide a tiny fish 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 LeoLakes.com. 

Fish Hatchery Tour

A few weeks ago, for the first time ever I went to a fish hatchery. I didn't really know what to expect. I always thought it would be a boring place, with tanks of varying size fish, with nothing special to see. I was wrong!  It is an entertaining and educational place, especially for kids. I was in Arkansas visiting my daughter who is a graduate student at The University of Arkansas pursuing a Phd in math. I know, a Phd in math, that's another story. Anyway, we went to the Table Rock Fish Hatchery.     

Table Rock Fish Hatchery is located in the shadows of the Table Rock Lake Dam.

Yes, it has fish tanks, but you can actually buy food for a quarter and feed the fish, which is cool. 

I tossed a few food pellets in this tank and a school of trout came up and snapped up each pellet. These are nice size, but there were some larger trout in other tanks. I saw brown and rainbow trout. it's pretty interesting watching the trout, especially when they fight over the food. Beautiful fish! 

There is a building that houses the educational part of the hatchery located at the beginning. It's kind of like a small museum with displays on the wall, large aquariums tanks stocked with large fish etc..., and a small auditorium for discussions/learning. I found it to be educational and really cool to see the large trout in the aquariums.  

The best things about the hatchery is it's well done and FREE!

The Table Fish Hatchery is a nice place to spend an hour or two. My hats off to the workers of the hatchery, they are doing a great job. Kids will enjoy the place and really find it fun to feed the fish. Now, it's not Disney World, but it is a fun educational experience. 

Hey, paddle over to my website, LeoLakes.com for a beautiful lake, river, or bay map by me. We have lake maps from California to Texas to Georgia. Folks are discovering that these decor maps are wonderfully unique gifts that become family heirlooms. Oh yeah, I hide things in the lake waters, such as a tiny mermaid/fish. Folks love to search for them. I call my maps, treasured maps because most folks have that special body of water that they treasure. My treasured maps make a great gifts for the fisherman, lake lover, or Lake house.

As you can see, a Leo Lakes map looks great on the wall and make a fantastic gift.  Click here www.LeoLakes.com for more information.

Lewis Smith Lake Map for the lake house

Customers have asked me to do an overall map of beautiful Lewis Smith Lake. It will  soon be on the website for ordering.  It will look great hanging in a customers lake house.  LeoLakes.com

Interestingly, I've hidden a tiny mermaid in the waters of the Lewis Smith Lake map. Folks love to tell me about the search for the mermaid. They say the children really enjoy hunting for her and are thrilled when they spot her in the waters. Oh yeah, some folks tell me that she moves, but I'm not sure that I believe that. LeoLakes.com

Most folks add a star to a special place on the lake such as a lake house or where they caught that big fish. I've been doing lake, river and bay maps for approximately seven years. Over the years, I have experimented with different elements of map art in order to provide the best and most unique map on the market. Folks will be drawn to the map like a crackling fire on a cold winter night.  I try very hard to make my maps special by adding interest to the maps. LeoLakes.com

Also, each framed map or map over 16x32, comes with a certificate of authenticity, lake poem, and interesting facts abut the map. 

I have hundreds of maps on my website that can be purchased right from the site, or I can do custom and personalized vintage style lake maps, too. Lake maps will add beauty to your Lake House Decor! Find out more interesting facts about my treasured maps by going to LeoLakes.com. 

Lake lovers ideas

There's nothing better than to walk into a lake house and see a beautiful lake map hanging from the wall. Here's the proof. Believe it or not, I have a lot of customers that send me photos of their maps hanging in their lake or beach house. I think the best come from Leo Lakes Treasured Maps! I have added a few to my blog. Thanks for paddling over!

Hey, paddle over to my website, LeoLakes.com for a beautiful lake, river, or bay map by me. We have lake maps from California to Texas to Georgia. Folks are discovering that these decor maps are wonderfully unique gifts that become family heirlooms. Oh yeah, I hide things in the lake waters, such as a tiny mermaid/fish. Folks love to search for them. I call my maps, treasured maps because most folks have that special body of water that they treasure. My treasured maps make a great gifts for the fisherman, lake lover, or Lake house. 

As you can see, my maps make a great gift.  Click here www.LeoLakes.com for more information.

Whale Photos

I traveled to Alaska in June and spent seven days cruising the inside passage. I got to see and photo some beautiful whales. It was amazing and they were pretty common along the inside passage. I mostly saw humpback and beluga whales. Many of the whales were traveling with their baby. Both the mom and baby stayed close together. Once you saw their tail come way out of the water, you learned that they were diving deep and it could take 15 minutes or more before they resurfaced. I watched for the blows, which was in spray spout to indicate that they had surfaced. Sometimes, if the lighting was right, there would be a rainbow around the spray. I will say that this was an Ahh.....moment. If you have never been to Alaska, I highly recommend it. Alaska is an absolutely beautiful place and I had a great time. Check-out these whale photos.

Hey, paddle over to my website, LeoLakes.com for a beautiful lake, river, or bay map by me. Folks are discovering that these decor maps are wonderfully unique gifts that become family heirlooms. Oh yeah, I hide things in the lake waters, such as a tiny mermaid/fish. Folks love to search for them. I call my maps, treasured maps because most folks have that special body of water that they treasure. My treasured maps make a great gifts for the fisherman, lake lover, or Lake house. 

As you can see, my maps make a great gift.  Click here www.LeoLakes.com for more information.

Alaska is warming?. My glacier photos.

I traveled to Alaska in June for an 11 day adventure. Three days were spent in Denali National Park, seven days cruising the inside passage, and one day in Vancouver. I didn't know it, but Alaska can get warm. One day in Fairbanks, it was nearly eighty degrees. No coat needed. Alaska is an absolutely beautiful place and I had a great time, mostly. One little problem, I got the flu about six or seven days into the trip. The flu made it more difficult, but I was lucky that it wasn't the worst flu that I've ever had.  Anyway, I didn't get to do everything that I planned, but did 85% of what I wanted to do. 

I took over 3,000 photos, yes 3,000. That a lot and I'm still going through them picking out the best of the best. Here's just a sample of the scenery.   

I got to see five nice glaciers while I was there. You can actually hear the popping and crushing of ice. There's a cold wind that blows from the glacier. Kind of cool....

I didn't see any fish or whales near the glacier. The glacier bank can be many stories tall and big portions can fall off, making a huge splash. Ships don't get too close to the wall.

An ice river! It is a pretty amazing "moment" to gaze into the glacier. They say the ice at this point is 400 years old. I guess you could say that this is the result of many snowstorms 400 years ago!

I learned that the blue ice is from the shear weight of all the ice, which squeezes the air out of the ice and the result is blue ice. Interestingly, some glaciers are advancing and growing larger while others are contracting. 

As you can see, it is an amazing place. I will go back to Alaska some day, but for now, I have pictures of whales, moose, caribou, towns, people, etc.. As I finish going through my pictures, I will post more.

Sorry for changing the subject, but I want to tell you what I do, I do treasured maps for lake houses, river lodges, and beach homes. I've been doing them for almost ten years. 

Folks are discovering that these decor maps are wonderfully unique gifts that become family heirlooms. Oh yeah, I hide things in the lake waters, such as a tiny mermaid/fish. Folks love to search for them. I call my maps, treasured maps because most folks have that special body of water that they treasure. My treasured maps make a great gifts for the fisherman, lake lover, or Lake house. 

And there's more....... I often get comments about the tiny mermaid hidden in the waters of all my maps. Folks love to tell me about the search for the mermaid. They say the children really enjoy hunting for her and are thrilled when they spot her in the waters. Oh yeah, some folks tell me that she moves, but I'm not sure that I believe that. LeoLakes.com

Most folks add a star to a special place such as a lake house, river  house or where they caught that big fish. I've been doing lake, river and bay maps for approximately seven years. Over the years, I have experimented with different elements of map art in order to provide the best and most unique map on the market. Folks will be drawn to the map like a crackling fire on a cold winter night.  I try very hard to make my maps special by adding interest to the maps. Paddle over to my website, LeoLakes.com. 

Also, each framed map or map over 16x32, comes with a certificate of authenticity, lake poem, and interesting facts abut the map. 

I have hundreds of maps on my website that can be purchased right from the site, or I can do custom and personalized vintage style lake maps, too. Lake maps will add beauty to your Lake House Decor! Find out more interesting facts about my treasured maps by going to LeoLakes.com.