Rain! Heat ...Stuck inside.

Maybe my heart is in creativity in all shapes and forms.

I am not talented in drawing or painting. However I can make excellent stick figures and cartoonish figures.

Cartoon I did for Mules and More Magazine years ago. See? I can draw a line!

I read some articles debating the use of AI Art and some other articles which discussed the positive uses for AI in doing graphic art and commercial art. 

I've experimented so far with two AI generators. NightCafe and wombo. Both are free, both can be done from your computer or your smartphone. 

These are the simple AI art things a person can do.

I like to delve even further into the realm of 'interesting-ness'. I admit. It can be ho-hum and sort of pretty in a strange way. But since I was stuck with evading the heat and humidity, I thought I'd dabble in another form of abstract art. 

I went on a Horse kick and got this:

I mean most of this looks pretty and abstract. So I decided to get creative.

I combined two 'creations' from a photo of my favorite box elder tree in the winter.

I typed in Tree Ents for one image and Tree Ents with cottages for the second image using the above tree as a base image.

I combined the two to create my own mystical Tree Cottage.

It looks like some strange house straight out of a story like the Hobbit.

I can see where an AI application like this could be used to create a book cover, an album cover, or even perhaps a poster. [Each of the sites do offer prints for a pretty nice price and offer a way to sell your artwork as an NFT.] 

I could see this as a book cover!

I really wanted to create something with a horse in it so I went over to Nightcafe and started experimenting.

This looked like freaky flying horses with red farts.

It was not something I wished to work with. The one below looked vaguely like Wrath Horses stuck in a Swamp of Sorrow. 

The one below involved the words: Horses, clouds, angels, wings, 

...and something strangely creepy, but it held my attention with a ... 

This IS It!

I wanted something more dark and strange.

This was the original.

Here is the final edit.

I stopped right here because this exemplified what I thought was the definition of 

a

Nightmare.

Okay, this is not for everyone at all. I mean it has a certain scary awful dystopian feel to it. It is dark and a bit frightening.

I like scary movies though and this really resonated with me. It was all created with just words and then run through Artificial Intelligence and a Neural Network.

Let's end on some happy and cheery doodles.

Steam Punk Flowers and Clouds

What the dashboard of creation looks like:

Tropical Beach Cheerful Lifeforms...
I don't see the life forms, but at least it is cheerful and in the rather fantastical and weird style of Kincaid paintings. The colors are pretty, but I don't see any beach!

In all things of nature...

The Mystical world of Infrared. 

Sometimes I take hikes and meander about on the least popular trails on KVR. 

These trails are unappreciated and often missed because they don't offer ice caves and magnificent wonders of the world.

One can imagine Tree Ents moving about on the bluffs with their gnarly twisted roots that seem to be able to hang on rocks with no effort.

Yet they can resist flash floods and high winds....

to teeter above...

ever watchful from the bluffs...

...

and guide you along a wonderous world of 

something else...

These are places that stop you in your tracks and humble you deep inside. If it doesn't, then you are not a living cognizant creature.

I took Bill along this trail.

I cannot tell you the joy I took in showing him this world of pines/bluffs/trails and snow.
He kept stopping in his tracks and saying:

"Oh wow. Oh Wow!"

Over and over again. 

He mourned over the fact that he'd lived in our area for nearly 26 years and had never explored this region.

Yes, his job, his family and bringing up children had been his priority. And now...

I could show him the magical landscape around him. 

As we parted ways at our vehicles, he asked me this.

"How did I not know about this before?"

My answer was fairly simple. I replied, "You didn't have time for it before."

In all things of nature

There is something of the marvelous.

~~ Aristotle

Relentless

 

This is about Charlie. 

He is a mix of Pekinese and Mini Dachshund. The Dachshund in him requires that he hunt and that he hunt hard. Here he is searching out mice and voles in the snow. He captured a vole just a few days ago. He is all about getting another one, even if the last one bit him on the lip. He will track any animal and believes deer are game for the chase.

His little size means he can't chase well. He usually stands after he loses sight of the deer and just looks around. After all, he is a low rider. His chest is 3 inches from the ground.

The Pekinese in him asks that he be extremely loyal to a member of the household. And Lazy when it suits him. He tolerates me, but fawns over Rich. Here he is on his pile of blankets on the loveseat couch. He looks entirely enthused about my hat on his head doesn't he?

The moment Rich comes in to sit next to him, he sprawls against my husband. Rich's hand absently reaches down and pets him. Charlie's eyes close and nothing else in the world matters. 

In the mornings, Charlie waits for Rich to get up and then fusses over 'The Great Awakening' making sure I know WHO is important in our household.

This all from the little puppy I brought home that Rich objected to. 

"What good is he? Just a fru fru dog!" 

Charlie has been anything but the couch potato. He has become the Therapy Dog that I did not intend him to be. He has shown great wisdom in Who in the house needs his comfort.

And when it suites him, he is relentless on mice and voles.

What a happy accident this was for us. 

Some happy things...

Not all is gloom and doom.
In fact we are doing fairly well considering the circumstances.

Yesterday I picked up my order from Farmer Danika and she did include sweet yummy treats just as I asked. Rich was happy and pleased.

He IS a ham if I point the little camera at him.
What a total goof. But this is what keeps us going day after day.

Did you know that a mini Daschund/Pekinese can retrieve?
Charlie comes to Rich or I each evening to play ball. He stands and grunts at us until one of us goes out to the porch and tosses a ball.

It is a hoot to watch him and play. After a few throws, Charlie will just watch the ball roll away and then give you a hard stare, or just turn his back on it. He isn't a die hard fan of retrieving. Seems he is more interested in seeing our reactions and making us do things for him!

What a cad!

I've started to replant the Hens and Chicks into some bizarre and interesting little 'pots' ... not pots. My Non-Fairy Garden is starting to take shape.

More on that as I get more work done.

I think I'm going to have some fun with this.

Be silly if the world is too overwhelming.

"You must never stop being whimsical. And you must not, ever,
give anyone else responsibility for your life."
~~Mary Oliver 
Wild Geese

Guess who is coming to town!

Miss Lily!!!

With a bit of hard work and some juggling of schedules, I will be able to pick Lily up tomorrow in the Dells. 

I'm sort of really kind of...well yes...

excited.

I love all my Grands and wish I could visit with each of them for a week. At the end of Lily's visit, I get to spend some time in Wausau with Elena and Sterling. I can't wait for that either.

Later this month, Dennis will be coming to spend some time at the farm.

Now all I have to do is figure out how to retire and just spend my summers with the kids. Hmm, kids, farm, and seeing state parks. I have that on my list!

Well, in reality, that isn't going to happen, so ....I will muddle through the best way I know how.

I had a bountiful harvest yesterday from the garden! I've never grown sweet corn before as I always figured the wild critters would get it before I could.

But as luck would have it, we have a huge harvest of corn!

And it is delicious! So I grabbed my pails and went to work yesterday in the forenoon to harvest goodies from the garden.

I had some beans, grape tomatoes, some Roma tomatoes, and some Beefeater type tomatoes. I filled a 5 gallon bucket twice with sweet corn.

Of course it was hot and humid. I froze 5 bags of corn on the cob for having this winter. I still had a 5 gallon bag of sweet corn.

So I sent an email to my neighbor telling her that I was having a crisis of too much sweet corn, and the bucket was looking for a home in some tummies.

Her crop hasn't come in yet but I like to share.

She answered that she had a family of expert corn eaters and would be grateful for a bucket of corn.

Here is my harvest which includes onions, zinnias, and peaches from the market in town. I couldn't resist trying to create a 'still life' out of the produce I picked and cleaned.

It looks like another warm humid day in SW Wisconsin. Lots of work to get done!

We had another two inches of rainfall last night. I don't think we are facing any sort of drought this year.

Farm Life 101

Never expect the expected.

Wake up each day and enjoy what you have.

Wake up each day and be prepared to work.

Most of all, enjoy the simple things in life.  The bounties of the garden.

Like calves, beautiful horses, mules, and donkeys. And Dexter Cattle.

Hounds barking for breakfast.
Or ones that are just plain silly.

Beautiful sunsets.

And so at the end of the day, I remind myself how lucky I am.

It isn't hard is it?