We made it to Craig!

Well we finally made it to Craig. We had to stop in Rawlins last night because the wind was so bad, we thought it might actually blow us off the road. They don't call it "Windy Wyoming" for nothin'!

The wonderful people at the Balloon Fest got Bob a nine foot log. He cut it down a bit so he could make an incredible Owl sculpture. 

This is where he stopped for the day. He has 7 hours tomorrow to finish it. No problem!
Now off to the wonderful Craig Campground.

*****************************

The campground was wonderful! Very nice people, clean spots, a dog run, wonderful showers with tons of hot water and a pretty swimming pool I did not get to swim in. Darn it!
Anyway, on to our second day.....
Jon got there to start carving on his sculpture and Bob was close to half way.

We really spread out and our booth looked nice. Such a variety of art. Wood Spirits, Chainsaw carvings, AwkwardPenguins T-Shirts, Jewelry, so much more.....

Bob got down to the detail work. These owls are looking AWESOME!!!

The boys got bored and had to expend some energy. Silly boys and their big boy toys!

Ok, enough playing lets get back to work! They are getting close!

Bob got his done. WOW! This is a fantastic sculpture! And we had a nice little storm threatening us, but even with the lightening and thunder, it wasn't too bad. Mostly just noisy!

Uh-Oh! Photo Bomb!

And Jon's turned out fantastic too. Both so very talented. 

Wait...not again!

Overall it was a fantastic two days in the park. The organizers of this event were phenomenal. They took very good care of us. We had a great time and look forward to next year! :)

Oh, I forgot to mention that there were Dippin' Dots. MMMM! My favorite thing at festivals. And cotton candy flavor to boot!

Painting of Our Wonderful Home!

We had talked about painting the camper all kinds of colors and designs. It was going to be painted just like a log cabin. If anyone could pull off such a huge task, it would be Bob. But then we thought maybe-white, maroon and kelly green with swirls and swishes. That was the plan, until we bought the trailer. Now we decided maybe we could do a matching set. Matching metallic car paint to glossy house paint is no easy task. But we got sooo very close.

Tuesday morning Bob decided that was the day to get started. So we set about taping off all the windows, mirrors, signs, reflectors, bumpers, lights, knobs...oh so much you don't even think about until you actually do it. 

We started out with this:

 And covered every little thing!

Next Bob started spraying the light gray!

Got this side!

Then more taping before the charcoal gray.

Ta Da!These pics make it look easy, but it was a lot of work. We started at 10 am. I had to stop about 2 pm because the sun was not very nice to my bare shoulders! (Duh! Sunscreen, Cayenne) But Bob worked thru the scorching sun and had no lunch. 

But the payoff is this beautiful camper, neat, sleek, clean. Maybe I'll talk him into some color, flowers, smileys, peace signs, who knows. But I am sure it will be beautiful when he is done.

Our matching set!

Bonus for us: Lee and Cindy took us out to eat at the Depot! Excellent food, company and MARGARITAS! 

Thanks guys!

Frederick, Colorado Chainsaw Carving Competition June 19-22, 2013

While at the Craig competition, the mayor of Frederick, CO asked Bob and some of the other wonderful carvers, to come to his town and join in on the first ever Frederick, Colorado Chainsaw Carving Competition. After some thought, we decided to go. After all, that is why we are full-timing it, to be able to do whatever we want at a moments notice. Ahh, freedom!

We arrived in Frederick on Tuesday the 18th. The wonderful Frederick city workers were just getting the giant logs put in place. This was a nice row of logs and plenty of room to carve!

Bob got a good sized log. He was going to carve two peace frogs, but after looking at the huge log, he decided to do something a little nicer.

Log number 3. Has to be lucky, right?

After turning half of the tree into sawdust, a beautiful sculpture is starting to emerge.

The first quick carve was fast and messy. It was in the town's brand new gazebo in the park. Rick and Jon, carving up a storm.

While waiting for these wonderful carvers to finish up, those of us that do not carve find other things to entertain us. Boredom makes you do strange things!

Planking!

Owling!

Tebowing! 

Monkying! Hehe 

Finally they announced the winners!

And 

guess

who

took

???!!!FIRST!!!???

!!!!!!THE BEAR GUY!!!!!!

And here is that carving! 

BASKET DANCER

I am so proud of you Babe! What a fantastic job!

But there were other winners. Deservedly so. All the carvers did a fantastic job!

 These are very unique, fun and caring people. I am proud to be part of this very unique group. 

Faye Braaten-2nd Place winner and the only woman carver here. She does fantastic work. One of the best carvers I've seen. 

www.chainsawmama.com.

Bongo Love-3rd Place and People's Choice-"We Found Love"-Bongo's carvings are always unique and wonderful.

Jon Parker-"Out of the Darkness"-Jon is an excellent carver and soo very goofy and sweet. I just love Jon. His piece was awesome.

Rick Burgess-"Prairie Prayer"-Nice work! Even though he had an awful time with his brand new Husqvarna saw. 

Dee's piece-"Standing Tall"-was kind of unique just for the fact that one minute it was an owl and the next it was an awesome eagle. This was also Dee's first carving contest.

Poof an EAGLE! Ok, not poof! He worked really hard on this to make it perfect.

Nick Smith did a very nice piece.-"Rocky Mt. High"-The two baby bears on the bottom are so adorable. And the way he carved it so the eagle was not attached but stayed put was really neat. I wish I would have taken a better picture of this one. What I have does not do it justice.

Whittle the Wood Carving Competition

June 12-15, 2013

Day 1

Our first day was a blast! The Parks and Rec people take such good care of us! We are fed very good food, put up in great motels, and always hydrated! The park employees are just so cheerful and happy. Big thanks to Dave, Penny and Mike!!!

Bob got right after his log. Peace Loving Hippie will be out of there in just a few days!

Day 2

Our second day, I mostly stayed in to organize the RV. It is a mess. We ended up throwing the last of our stuff in every nook and cranny. What a disaster! 

The trailer is just too small for all of our inventory, so we ended up with most of it on our couches. 

We knew it would be a learning experience! And it is proving to be just that! Bob worked his behind off. He is really going fast!

My baby girl came down to help! Woo Hoo! She showed up looking so pretty. She has been sick, so I was so glad to see her smiling! 

Day 3

We found some art supplies for Kyra so she could work her magic with pastels. She is truly unbelievable!

Bob finished the Hippie! He turned out fantastic! No paint on this one.

This is our set up day. We get to take the tables, chairs, gazebo and all the small inventory over to our space and start selling. $$$

Day 4

We showed up at the park and our gazebo had been destroyed by the wind. We also lost two clay sculptures. That is so sad.  

The good news is that Bob had an extra gazebo! Yay for shade!!!

The 1 hour quick carve was at 1pm. Bob finished his 10 minutes early. 

Some of these other carvers are AMAZING!

Ron Eye-1st Place

Artist Choice and Peoples Choice

Bongo Love-2nd Place

Faye Braaten-3rd Place

Steve-Burned Cowboy

Evan-Fantastic!

Thomas Earing-Kyra loves this one! Of course!

Jon Parker-This was the cutest!

Nick-Neat combination!

And last, but definitely not least!

Chad Stratton-My second favorite (you know, after the Hippie). So fantastic, so detailed!

Bob didn't win this one with his wonderful Hippie, but we had a fantastic time!