Unusual visitor to the salt block!

I place a salt block behind our house ever spring in order to photograph whatever wanders by. Interestingly, a bunny rabbit came by and munched on the salt block. I have never seen a rabbit eat at a salt block. I'm not sure, but maybe its common? The rabbit is hidden behind the grass. It appears he is licking the salt block.

 

I have found very small claw marks on the block. I wonder if very small animals eat the salt at night, mouse, moles, etc... 

The other morning a deer wandered by and I was lucky to get a few photo's. He is a beauty.

I am actually in our house while taking this photo. We live in a western cedar house and I think the wildlife believe it's a big tree.

 

Here's a great picture that you can actually see the fuzz on his rack. I bet he's going to have a massive rack come fall. Normally, this deer will be back a few more times and I am excited to get more photos as his rack matures.

 

Hope you enjoyed. Remember life is short, find out what's in your woods, river, lake, or bay!

Ok Honey!

Some may know that I occassionally draw cartoons. Here's one that I recently created. I hesitated on posting this cartoon, but I think it's so funny that I couldn't resist. Some may say that I got in the gutter, but I think, I got in the toliet.

Hope you enjoyed!

 

Santa Rosa Island Art

I just finished this painting of beautiful Santa Rosa Island and Santa Rosa Sound. I remember the family vacation to this area when I was just a kid. We actually camped at Fort Pickens State Park. While there I exploded the island, which was very exciting to me because it was my first time to the sea. One time, I came upon a very large ant hill and saw many ant going in and out. I sensed that I should not disturb them. Lucky for me, I now believe they were fire ants.

Any way, I have fond memories of Santa Rosa Island, so I painted this decor map of the area. If you look closely, you may see a mermaid near Gulf Breeze. I like to hide things in the water of my paintings. Checkout my website at www.leolakes.com for more beautiful river, lake and bay art. Great for the beach house or gifts. Many sizes to choose from and comes on canvas.

When fish aren't biting!

Ever wonder where fish go when they're not biting? Well, here's Buttermilk fishing hard and the fish are right under his nose!

Harley Rider ?

Here's the ugliest Harley Rider you will ever see! 

Not really, I came upon a fuzzy headed owl sitting low in some green clover. He appears to be a young Barred Owl (Fuzzy Head) probably just a week out of the nest. I could see that Fuzzy Head wasn't munching on clover; he was just exploring his new world. If you look closely below, you will see one of the parents near, sitting on a fence post in the background. Fuzzy Head's parents keep a close eye on him and continue to feed him.

In fact, young Barred Owls may remain near their parents for up to 6 months. When Fuzzy Head grows up.

Fuzzy Head was probably born in the nearby tree with up to three brothers or sisters. A few days ago, I did notice that two Owls were in the clover near the tree but didn't have my camera so I moved on. Now I wonder what may have happened to the other young Owl. Their only predator, other than man, is the Great Horned Owl and I have seen several in the area.

After a while, Fuzzy Head must have gotten nervous with me being near. He leaped to his feet and flew back to safety.

It was obvious that Fuzzy Head hasn't been flying very long because he looks awkward in flight.

When he landed he quickly swiveled that Fuzzy Head around to peer back at me with those coal black eyes.

Life is short, find out what's in your Lakes, River, Bay, or Woods 

 

Irrational fishing !

Here's another one of my brilliant fish cartoons. You may like it or not, but it is irrational.

Now you know....... why fish are irrational and remember, get away from the big screen and get on a big stream.

Custom and personalized lake maps

You know what, it feels great to know that you have created something that folks love and enjoy. I realize that the folks receiving my maps, treasure their special lake, river or bay, just as I do my favorite place. I put a lot of care into each decor map, whether it's a custom, personalized or a lake map that I have already painted. One of my favorite things is reading comments from folks who have purchased one of my decor maps. So, I thought I would publish a few in this blog post.

Larry, Yough print arrived safely yesterday! It's beautiful, can't wait to give it to my husband for his birthday! Found the fish & Mermaid, great conversation piece! Thanks for all your help; I'll definitely recommend your website!

Hi Larry, It just arrived. It's beautiful and we love it.

Thank you Larry - Monday is her birthday. It’s so perfect! Take care.

Larry, got it, looks great. It’s going up to lake house.

Hi Larry, received my map yesterday. Love it and have found the fish and mermaid. Thank you again.

Leo, I am so glad I bought it! It's so much more than I imagined. It's really beautiful and I know they are going to love it. So.... Thank you so much and I'm sure you will be sending me or someone I know another map again!

Hi Larry, letting you know the map arrived. Thank you! It's very special and we are going to enjoy it so much.

Larry, thank you for your help. We love the map; it turned out exactly as we had hoped it would. It's off to the framers and we can't wait to get it up on the wall. I'll be sure to recommend your services in the future.

 If you would like to learn more, visit my website www.LeoLakes.com .

When a cat chases a mouse, bad things happen?

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 that I use. 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!"

 

Bad Trout

Ok, here's one of my cartoons that I do in my spare time. I must have been watching a mafia movie when I deamed this one up. Enjoy!

Santa Rosa Island Map

I just finished a painting of Santa Rosa Island located on the Florida panhandle. I've been to this area many times, fishing, vacationing and exploring. The white beaches are as white as sugar and the water is beautiful.

My father was stationed at Egin Air Force Base during WWII. When I young, we went on an adventure to Santa Rosa Island and the surrounding area. It was one of those childhood trips that I will always remember. Anyway, this decor map is of the east end of the island. I will post a map of the west end of the island at a later date with more about the adventure. See more of my decor maps at  www.LeoLakes.com makes a great gift from 10x20 to over 4f tx 8ft.

 

Drama at the Rookery

When you are near lakes, rivers and bays, you usually see many birds. That was the case when I recently visited the Venice Rookery located near Venice Florida. This is a noisy place, squawks and shrieks are everywhere and if you look closely, you can see drama at the rookery. 

This appears to be an egret carefully doing some housekeeping, however this is far from what's actually happening. This egret has broken into her next door neighbor's home (nest) and is looking to rob the home of valuable furniture (sticks). I think us humans would call this breaking and entering, and thievery. I wondered what will happen when the great blue heron comes back from a day of fishing? 

  

It didn't take long for the homeowner to arrive on the scene. The great blue heron was petty angry to find the egret in her nest. A chase ensued and the egret was flogged back to its nest. 

 

Finally everything is back to normal in the neighborhood, but I don't think these two will be neighborly friends. 

 I was able to capture a nice photo of this ibis flying over the rookery. Checkout its curved beak, the perfect tool for catching its prey.  

 

The Venice Rookery is an island in the middle of a pond. This picture gives you an idea of the size and numerous nests on the island.

 

These two egrets are headed out to fish. They will be gone a few hours and will return to feed their chicks. Their mate remained on the nest until they arrive, once back the mate leaves to go fish as the drama at the rookery continues.

 

Interestingly, my daughter is a college student at Sewanee and is taking an ornithology class. She's majoring in biology and has been memorizing 20 birds a week (Bird name, calls, Latin name, etc..)

Now, when we are outdoors with her, she comments on every bird sighting and sound. I wonder where she got her love of birds? 

 

 

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

Spring Fawn

Spring has definitely sprung! My wife looked out our bedroom window and spotted these deer. I was lucky to get a few photos of this mother deer and her two off-spring. Both fawns were bedded down and one was still asleep, while the other was being cleaned by its mother deer.

Looks like both fawns are now awake. I was able to take about a dozen photos without them discovering me because I was using my long range lens. Oh yeah, I was taking the pictures from inside the house. Our home is western cedar and I think the animals think it's a tree, I am able to take alot of good animal photos.

 

Look at how comfortable these two are, not a care in the world, however Mom's starting to move on. Nap time is over!

 

Must be time to roam. If you look closely, the fawn on the left is still a bit sleepy.

 

What's in your woods, river, lake or bay! Adventure Outdoors!

Can you feel the warmth?

I just finished a large print of beautiful Norfork Lake, which is located in Arkansas on the North Fork River.

I always add waterfowl flying over the map with shadows, this makes them appear 3-D. Also, on canvas printed maps, I repaint the waterfowl and others areas to make them pop out of the map.

Normally, I add a vintage plane flying over and if you look closely, you may see a mermaid or fish in the waters.

Here's the end result. This is the traditional style map and I also do a more creative style. It's difficult to show the detail and color on the internet. I try to have the golden colors come through like a crackling fire. Can you feel the warmth? See more at www.LeoLakes.com

Wise Old Owl

The other evening my wife came in from shopping and said an owl was up the street perched on a line. I can't pass up a picture of wildlife so, I grabbed the camera and off we went. The big question is if I will make it before he flies off. Luckily, he was still there. I was hoping it was a great horned owl because I only have a few photo's of these owls. When we arrived, I could see it was a barred owl, which are very common in this area.  

Darkness was settling in, but I was able to use a flash. The picture turned out nice and I like the color of the sky. This barred owl was perched ready to pounce on any rodent that rustled by.

This photo is kind of eerie because of the red eyes from the camera flash. As you can see, Mr. Owl is looking straight at me. I wondered what he is thinking? Probably, "Will you leave me alone, I'm working here." Anyway, Mr. Owl did fly off just after this picture was taken.  Not a bad meeting with the wise old owl, but I don't think he liked me.

Bad Fish

When the boat starts filling with water, most fishermen think that they forgot to put the plug in before they left the dock. Well that may not be the real story when fish go bad!

I hope you enjoyed my little cartoon, but remember, get away from the big screen and get on a big stream!

St George Island and Apalachicola Bay Decor Maps

I’ve painted a new map for my collection of decor maps, St George Island and Apalachicola Bay. This beautiful area is located on the panhandle of Florida. Apalachicola Bay is known for its oysters and its name comes from the Indians that once lived in the area. St George Island is a small peaceful and relaxing island with many beautiful beach homes. 

I like to hide a few things in the waters of my maps. If you look very closely you may find a mermaid, fish, dolphins and maybe a shark swimming around. 

Here’s a great bay poem for Apalachicola Bay.

“As I wake each day and look through the sun’s rays, the most amazing scenes appear in this bay, as the sun arises just above the shore, I feel the grace and beauty of this place that I adore.” LKO 2011

If you like my Decor Maps, see more at www.leolakes.com.

"Get away from the big screen and get on a big stream."