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

A Broken Fishing Pole!

Looks like little Bobby may be in trouble for catching an 18 lbs cat on his daddy's fishing pole!

Check Out my vintage style Lake, River and Bay Maps! They make really cool gifts.

Custom Vintage style Lake Maps

Here's a custom lake map that I did for a customer in Minnesota. This map turned out great and is now hanging in a lake house over looking Meadow Lake. I sometimes place a star at the location of the lake house which folks really enjoy. Also, I have had folks request this poem that my wife dreamed up. I place it around the map or insert it in the map somewhere. They love the poem.

"I Love this lake, The most amazing scenes appear in its wake, The sun arises just above the shore, Giving grace and beauty to this place I adore." LKO

I hide a tiny mermaid/fish in the waters of all my lake map paintings that folks love to search for. 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 LeoLakes.com. 

As you can see, my maps make a great gift. To see more of my work click 

See more at www.LeoLakes.com

Night Fishing !

It's raining worms!

I bet if you are a fisherman, you've dumped your worms or bait overboard, haven't you? I know that I have. It's feeding the fish to make them become a trophy, however I wonder if this is littering and against the law? Anyway, the fish may think it's raining worms.

Check Out my vintage style Lake, River and Bay Maps! They make really cool gifts.

The Fountain of Youth!

My first cartoon of 2015, the "Fountain of Youth." I hope you find your Fountain of Youth!

Check Out my vintage style Lake, River and Bay Maps! They make really cool gifts.

Happy New years

Out Foxed?

A few years ago, I wanted to find out if foxes were roaming in our woods, "the ten acre woods" as we call it. It's named from the Winnie the Pooh story, "hundred acre woods." Anyway, here's what happened, enjoy!

Yesterday, I took my bottle of Fox urine and motion detection camera 
'Critter Cam" to the ten acre woods with the goal of photographing a Red Fox. I found an ideal spot with tracks in the snow about 20 feet from a tree that would be a great place to attach Critter Cam. I placed Critter Cam on the tree, pointing to the trail. 

Thinking like a Fox, I found a small shrub that's a perfect spot for a Red Fox to hike or squat. My thinking is that Mr. Fox will be sniffing out the fake trespasser and will zero in to the shrub while Critter Cam takes the perfect photo. I very carefully took out my bottle of Fox urine also known as Fox valentine perfume, which has a handy dandy spray nozzle on top. I sprayed the small shrub like you would if you had a can of bathroom deodorizer and just finished letting off a stink bomb in your first dates, bathroom.  

Unfortunately for me, I had gloves on and some of the spray ran down the bottle. I guess you could say I Fox Peed on myself, Dang it! Well anyway, all is set, so I hiked back home. Arriving home, I open the door and was attacked by Creamy, Gray, Stormy, and Kibble our cats. Dang Fox urine! In the next few days I will check back to see if I met my goal, Red Fox photo. Cross your fingers! 

At 6:30 this morning, I awoke and took off to the woods to check Critter Cam, my motion detection camera. I have it placed on a tree near an animal trail, which I have sprayed Fox urine around with the goal of photographing a Red Fox. For EIGHT day’s I have checked critter cam. Each day nothing, except for a squirrel coming near. But today, I think, I believe, it appears, I have a photo of the critter. Not out foxed, It does look like a fox? 

I call this goal accomplished. Now for a photo of a Bobcat, do they make Bobcat pee? Also, as in earlier posts about this subject, I have learned a bunch. One, I found Fox urine to be difficult to get off, I spilled a little on me, which Ajax and Bounty wouldn't even get off. Two, it attracts cats. Our cats Gray, Smokey, Creamy and Kibble smell this stuff out no matter where I put it and go after it. Here is Creamy out in the woods smelling fox pee and interfering in my Operation Fox Photo.

Mmmm, feels good to accomplish a goal! Do you know "What's in your woods".

Do creatures stir on Christmas night?

A couple of years ago, I set out to determine what happens in my backyard on Christmas night, would I see reindeer, eves or maybe Santa? The goal was to use my infrared, motion detector, camera and capture a picture of what may be stirring on a cold Christmas night.

11:50 pm - The first picture that critter cam caught was of our cat, Creamy. All looks normal on Christmas night.  (Picture number 52 and temperature of 31)

3:17 am - Then a picture was taken, but I don’t see anything that would have set off the motion detector. Hmm, this seems odd. (Picture number 53 and temperature of 31)

7:14 am – Again our cat is caught walking past the camera. Well, it appears that I was unsuccessful with pictures of just our cat. The more I think about it, the camera should have been on the roof because this is where the reindeer should have been working. However, I have determined that the camera didn't capture any creatures between the hours of 11:50pm and 7:14am, approximately 7-1/2 hours. So, it appears that critters do not stir on Christmas night. Feeling sad that I didn't get a picture of a reindeer, I went outside to see if I could find out what had set the camera off at 3:17 am.

To my surprise, I saw a round object in the snow. 

After a closer inspection, it was a red bell. Wow, could this bell have come off Santa’s sleigh when he was leaving our house?  I believe at 3:17 am, Santa left our home and this red bell fell off his sleigh. The bell must have fallen near the camera and it triggered the motion detector. Wow, I can’t believe it, Santa's sleigh bell. Should I mail the bell back to the North Pole? 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Visit my website to see more. I have over two hundred lake, river and bay maps on my website that can be purchased right from the site, or I can do custom and personalized lake, river or bay maps, too. If you would like to see more and read about my treasured maps go to LeoMaps.com. 

As you can see, my maps make a great gift. To see more of my work, click here www.LeoLakes.com. 

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