I was mending fences with a temporary fix in the morning, painting in the afternoon, and keeping a close eye on Rob in between.
Temporary Fix, Twice and a Dead Battery
Thursday morning, when Rob took his morning walk, I accompanied him as I usually do. But Comanche was out grazing near the gate so I left him to go see where he’d gotten out. Shasta was still behind the gate and irritated that she, too wasn’t free to roam. I didn’t realize it at the time, but Rob was having some pretty scary reactions to the walk and he’d gone back inside to sit down. However, since I knew he was still mending and trying to gain strength back after his surgery, I only did a very quick fix on the fence before I went back up to the house to find him weak, cold, and shivering on the couch. He didn’t want to go to the emergency room, so we didn’t. The symptoms passed and he stabilized after about an hour. Then he took a nap. When he woke, he felt better but his blood pressure was still a lot higher than it had been, so he took it very easy for the rest of that day.
While he did that, I did some more with my painting of the hydrangeas.
Second time around
In about an hour, I looked outside, and there was Comanche again, outside the gate. When I tried to start the 4-wheeler to go back down there to do a better temporary fix on the fence, I found it was dead. So I got more steps in on my pedometer, this time carrying a bucket with tools, wire, and hay strings. Without the ATV, carrying the roll of barbed wire was out of the question, so I made another temporary fix, albeit a better one than the first time. I used deadfall trees to help, too. LOL, it’s not pretty, but it’s held now for a few days, so I think it’ll last until I can make a ‘real’ fix later.
The broken spot is across the creek. Right now the creek is dry, but every time it floods, it tears up the fence and it’s been a while since I’d last checked on it. Comanche beat me to it and found no fence at all left standing after the last flood. That’s been a long time ago, too.
While I was working on the fence, a young squirrel with a lot to say came to visit with me on a nearby rock. I have good video of him, too, and will edit and get that added to YouTube soon. His other eye is damaged, but he seemed otherwise alright except maybe a little skinny. But maybe young squirrels look like that, I have no idea. I brought a handful of corn out to him later, but he was nowhere to be found.
Back to Painting
Now, as I write this it’s Saturday. I need to try and wrap up the hydrangea painting today. Rob didn’t have another scary episode, but was extra weak and tired since then. This morning he felt better, but still tires very easily. Monday is his follow-up visit with the cardiologist, so hopefully there will be some encouragement there. By next weekend, if he’s feeling stronger, I’ll be able to go to the studio. I won’t be there this weekend. In the meantime, I’ll be painting in my old office/studio, which is where I paint between trips to Alpena anyway.
Contact Mad Rox: (479) 409-3429 or madison@madisonwoods and let me know which hat I need to put on 🙂 Madison for art, Roxann for real estate, lol. Or call me Mad Rox and have them both covered!
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Author/Artist Info
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Roxann Riedel is a salesperson for Montgomery Whiteley Realty, artist, owner of the only ginseng nursery in Arkansas, and the author of books and this website. Madison Woods is the pen-name she uses for her creative works. She’s a self-taught artist who moved to the Ozarks from south Louisiana in 2005. Her paintings of the Ozark-inspired scenes feature lightfast pigments from Madison county, Arkansas. Her inspiration is nature – the beauty, and the inherent cycle of life and death, destruction and regeneration. Wild Ozark is also the only licensed ginseng nursery in Arkansas. Here’s the link for more information on the nursery
There’s always a discount for paintings on the easel 😉
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