Happy Burning Pumpkins Halloween to you all

Happy Halloween everybody. To celebrate here are some photos from the recent Jack-o-Lantern burning at the Hoes down festival in Capay Valley, CA.

I have been helping my friend Mike Carson, do the Hoe's Down festival at Full Belly Farms for a while now. And if I am able to visit California in the fall I always try to make this fair, it is that fun and comes HIGHLY recommended from me.

Well one year after a lone day at the forge (this is the time where you get a little loopy) we carved up some pumpkins. Of course one thing lead to another and it ended up on the forge to see how it would burn. Once we figured out you needed to cut a hole in the bottom of the pumpkin, flaming Jack-o-lanterns were born (eat you heart out Green Goblin).

We get a big turn out for this nightly display all from word of mouth, because it is not in the fair's program. Here are a few photos from this years Hoe's down festival. This years pumpkin burning comes with a small twist, a cheesy one. Cartman from South Park would love this, Cheesy poofs burn and burn easily. In most of these photos you will notice one Jack-o-lantern on the forge and the other with flames coming out of it. The flame source for that other jack-O-lantern is cheesy poofs. So if you find yourself without any candles at home or at the store just get some cheesy poofs, fill you Jack-o-lantern up with them and toss one lite match in, instant flame.

Wild Northern California

I was down at the Mother in Law's place during the last bit of September, 2009 to help replace some windows. My Mother in Law lives out in the country of Penn Valley, CA. Which is in northern California near Nevada City.

Being out in the country she see a large amount and variety of wildlife go through her property. What from birds to turkeys, rascillay rabbits to raccoons to deer to coyotes to foxes to mountain lines and even a bear. While there I was able to get some photos of the wild turkeys and deer.

Along with the wildlife you can also see some fun farm / ranching equipment around the area. I walked down the dirt road from my mother in law's place to go take some photos of this old truck with bits of old cars/trucks in its bed (see photos below). While walking I came across this old horse or ox drawn wagon under a big oak. I think the owner had it out there as a marker. One you can use while giving directions to your place. "Just drive up the dirt road for a 1/2 mile take the right fork and go up the driveway that has the old horse drawn wagon by it". Or at least that is what I think.

Idaho Statesman photo contest

Well the annual Idaho Statesman "Idaho Outdoors" Photography contest has been published. And of course my dad won the grand prize again, for the third time. He seems to be lucky on these odd years. Here is a link to the webpage.

My Uncle, Walter Kaiser, received two honorable mentions, his girlfriend Jennifer Rogers received an honorable mention and I received two honorable mentions (#'s 48 and 52). One of these years one of us will beat out my dad for the grand prize.

Here are the two photos that received the honorable mentions in the contest. One is from my photographs of the Bear that was cruising around the Easley Gulch and Baker/Newman Creek cabins this year. I captured this image while at my Uncle's cabin near Newman Creek in the Sawtooth National Forest of Idaho.

The butterfly photo is from 2008 and is a picture of a mountain blue. I took a lot of photos in this spot because the area was just infested with insects alighting themselves on the plant. The photo was taken just up the Easley Gulch road near our family cabin in Idaho.

Jamie Kirkpatrick's Kobo show

My ceramic artist friend Jamie Kirkpatrick just had a show at Kobo in the international district of Seattle, WA. Here is the shops website. I got a few photos from his opening a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately he had to take his show down this past Saturday. Because he is moving to Colorado. So all you people around the Denver/Boulder Colorado area be prepared for some awesome ceramics coming your way. And if you are lucky you might even get him to teach some classes out there too.

Anyways, the first photo is of Jamie (on the left) and Matt Allison (on the right). Matt is also a very talented ceramic artist, highly recommended. The second photo shows Jamie, Matt and Larry Naylor (another ceramic artist on the far right). All three of these guys have been a resident of pottery northwest here in Seattle. Larry is still in his residency there.

The rest of the photos show Jamie's pottery. Most of this actually came from a recent wood firing on Whidbey Island in Al Tenant's Kiln. He got some great pieces out of this firing.

So go on down and check out Kobo, which in itself is an excellent store. I believe Jamie still has some of his pottery there.