I've been doing some drawing lately...mostly bird dogs...with colored pencils and pastels. I think I'm getting progressively better. Here's one of Nick's English Setter, Sam...my first bird dog drawing:

This is a pastel portrait of a beautiful little French Brittany, Arrow:

This is a pastel of a great little English Pointer, Belle:

And, finally, this is a pastel in progress of a handsome, multiple champion German Shorthaired Pointer, Clown. I think he's shaping up nicely:

I'm enjoying this and will get more adventurous/ambitious and include birds and hunters soon. More to come.

Fish Stew!

A great new way to enjoy fish! Lamborns brought us a bunch of striper filets from Lake Powell...and I knew we had to start using them before they freezer burned. So I looked up a recipe...and combined two lbs of striper with a pound each of salmon and sole. The recipe was something like this: In a big stockpot, drizzle some EVOO and drop in three bay leaves. Toast the bay leaves. Take two of them out and reserve. Put a layer of oily fish (salmon and sole) cut into 2" chunks, on on the bottom of the pot. Then layer in sliced onions, sliced peppers, sliced potatoes, slice tomatoes (or canned tomatoes out of season), garlic, one of the bay leaves, chopped fresh cilantro, dried parsley flakes, salt and pepper. Then a layer of striper filets, also in 2" chunks, then repeat the layer of other ingredients, then a final layer of striper. Top it with a cup and a half of vinaigrette (I used rice vinegar, EVOO, and herbs...and any fish juice from the thawed fish). Bring to boil at med high, then lower heat, cover, and simmer for 35-45 minutes...or til veggies are soft and fish is done, but not dry. MMMM, good. You might want to add some red pepper flakes or some Sriracha sauce to taste...as part of the pre-cooking seasoning.

The pic doesn't do it justice. It was delicious served over a slice of toasted, crusty, home-made oatmeal bread.

Valentine Party 2-12-2010

We teamed up with the Robertsons and invited 10 other couples over for V-Day. We made food assignments. Wow, we got great appetizers, salads, meats, and desserts! We all spent about 1/4 of what we would have spent at a restaurant, the food was better, and the home atmosphere allowed for more and better conversation and some fun games. Kudos to Mom for decorating beautifully! All we brought in were a table, a few chairs, and some candle sticks. Everything else was ours!!! We had a great time with wonderful friends and chefs!!!

Keep up the Great Blogging!

I have really enjoyed your humor and creativity...and your pics! It's a great way for an old man to keep up with his kids and grandkids! Thanks...and please keep it up!!!

Here's my cheater's way of posting....a link to a post I already made on a bird dog forum.


http://wildwestgundogs.com/forum/no-chukar-map-t70.html

I hope you enjoyed it.

Love you all,

DAD

Hellloooooo, anybody out there?

Thanks to all of you for a wonderful time at the Lamborns!!!! Wish everyone could have been there... but one day that will happen. Thanks to those who initiated the party, planned the food and fun, cooked, ate, played, laughed, and, yes, cried. It was a great time...one that I will cherish as I do every occasion when we get our awesome family together. I love you all. You are all different, but we have learned to enjoy each others' differences, take some ribbing, and just have fun together! So, thanks. These are not wall hanger pics, but they may help preserve the memory...some of our memories need more preserving than others'! :)

Here is a link to a photo essay I made on another site. I'm too lazy to do all the work again to post here, so Emily helped me post the link. Check it out. I had a blast this year. Don't know if next year will be as good, so I wanted to remember this one. I would really like to bring more of you, who are interested, along with us. It's a fun time. So, here's the link:

http://www.uplandjournal.com/cgi-bin/ikonboard312a/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=2;t=54774

I hope it works. If not, it's Emily's fault. If it works, I'm a genius!!! :)

It worked! Thanks, Emily! You are the source of my genius!