I've been working on The Cow Cavalry again...and I only have two and a half pages of script left to rough edit!!!!!! I'm really excited!!!!

True, there is still a long(ish) way to go before the whole thing is locked, but once I have the rough edit down, from there on out, it's primarily tweaking. That is going to be time consuming and a lot of mathematical figuring, but at least I know how to do that now, thanks to the kind help of fellow-filmmaker and composer Bradley Jamrozik. I do not cease to be thankful for his explanation.

Anyway...that's been what I have been doing all day long. :)

I don't think I mentioned it here, but Granddaddy fell last week and broke the 'head' off his left femur (if I heard correctly).

He had a hip-replacement surgery late Friday afternoon. They got him up today for the
first time since the surgery. Generally, they like to get the patients up within the first 24 hours of surgery, but he had an elevated heart rate they were a bit worried about and he was still sleeping off the anesthesia and the pain pills. (Pain pills containing codine are evil...) [Okay, so I don't really know which kind of pain medication they gave him, but still...]

This fall and broken hip was quite providential as it turns out (of course, everything is, but somethings are more noticeably so). It appears that Granddaddy may actually have Parkinson's. We would never have known that (or, I think, even suspected it) if this hadn't had happened. The symptoms that Daddy was talking about and Mom quickly looked up do sound rather like some of the things we had noticed about Granddaddy and his functionality.

Daddy says Granddaddy was quite clear this afternoon and was actually talking in full
sentences (he's not done that clearly in two years!) (Apparently one of the Parkinson symptoms is difficulty in expressing oneself.)

On a related note, the therapist who came in the afternoon was none other than my
therapist when I broke my wrist. It appears she is still saying nice things about me. :D ("I worked on your granddaughter Racheal."--to Granddaddy, who, according to Daddy replied, "She's a good girl." That's kinda special. :]) I guess being a stubborn turkey leaves good impression sometimes. ;P (Of course, by that point in my life, having been a "therapist" myself, I knew the importance of giving it everything you have and trying to make the therapist's job a pleasant one.)

Anyway, it was an encouraging update on Granddaddy. 

We likewise got an encouraging update on Grandpa today. I went with Mom and Grandpa to the doctor today (I like the oncologist--he's nice and he treats Grandpa with respect instead of blowing him off 'cause he's an "old guy"--which at nearly 91, I guess you could say. :]) Grandpa's GIST cancer is apparently stable (yay!) The last CAT scan had shown what Dr. S thought was new growth, but this new one is more encouraging.

So...two encouraging reports about my two different (and totally different personalities!) Grandfathers.

Oh, and I got some more work done on The Cow Cavalry today. :)

Right! So I'll quit being an impertinent tease and tell...ahem...show you what it was!!

Drumroll, please!! (Or the guitar tremelo I'm hearing on the currently spinning CD will work just fine...)

There! How's that?

I basically took the text from my promo video and turned it into this! It isn't exactly what I was thinking, but couldn't figure out how to do what I wanted initially. In the end, I think this is better. Besides that, it really kind of fits with the whole tenor of my documentary and the way I'm putting the stills together. (Down to the vague yellow...)

I like to bring Independent Christian films that I think look interesting to the attention of my friends--and I just so happened to stumble on this one this morning!!

Oddly enough, I just finished the Crown and Covenant series (Douglas Bond) and had been thinking what outstanding films they would make! Apparently, I am not the only person who reads books with the possiblity of turning them into films running in the back of my mind. ;)

It's my impression that they are in the pre-production stage on this.

And now...without further ado...Duncan's War!!!

P.S. Weebly updated again! Notice anything different?
(Sorry, no prize if you do! ;D)

So...it really wasn't wild; but some folks might have thought I was being rather wild when I tore up the stairs in my excitment and first rattled at one sister and then the other the news! The Florida Archives (www.floridamemory.com/) must have updated their site because I found not one, but two pictures of Major Pleasant Woodson White! (He was one of the top men in the Florida Commissary Department during the War Between the States.) I was so excited because I really needed a picture of him.

To further expand on a related topic, I progressed from page 4 to page 7 on my Cow Cavalry script. That entailed planning and/or putting together nine more AfterEffect compositions and putting seven interview clips into the timeline in PremierePro. I really have my head into this right now...which is a good thing. I'm making progress, which makes me quite happy. :) (Check out my 'offical blog' for some pictures.)

I took a break from editing for about two hours in the afternoon and helped Mama get the tomatoe cages out of the garden, pull stakes, and wind up the soaker hose. I only managed to break one of the stakes off in the ground. I also clobbered myself with another one; it cracked (but didn't completely break), but when it did so it whacked me on the scalp. I yelped quite nicely and checked my hair...no blood--nothing wrong here that a minute won't fix! I enjoyed the work, but was most definitely ready for something to eat by the time we were done.

Such was my "wild" Wednesday...a fairly good day all told. :)

An old friend my mine from a long time back just completed his second short film!! It's a hilarious little Western. What makes it especially fun is I know (or knew) everyone but two of the actors!

Enjoy!

I saddled the beast up this morning and went for a fight...er, ride. He was an absolute booger most of the morning, fighting me nearly the whole time. I have discovered I start to really get grouchy with him about the time I'm in need of a drink--which happens faster when we're fighting with each other.

Anyway, I also rotated the cows--which is where the soggy boots come into the story. I had gotten the 'girls' over into the north pasture when I remembered that I needed to go take care of the gates into the woods. I grouched at Snip some as he kept poking his nose into the grass while he should have just been standing and waiting for me. He's started doing this a little more than he used to.

After closing the last gate, I remounted and clucked at Snip. I went down to the creek overflow and let him drink, then on the spur of the moment decided that we should go through the creek area. It's been a couple weeks since the last time--and the water is higher. I pretty much remember where the low spots are (the benefits of being very familier with the terrain) so I thought we could get through without too much problem. I rode through half a dozen spider webs and tried very hard not to freak out too much about it. I didn't see any spiders, so I didn't completely go nuts. :)

Well, we managed to get almost all the way through the bayhead before the wetting came. I purposely didn't go the way I go when it's dry back there because it would assure a swim for Snip and a soaking for me. Neither did I go the way I had the previous two times because last time I nearly boxed us in--and I wanted to avoid any more spider webs if at all possible. I should have known that the water was going to be deeper at this particular spot--we were shooting here a couple of years ago--but I plowed Snipper down anyway. All of a sudden I realized that there was no helping it...water was cascading into my boots and I was at least calf-deep in the water (which means Snip was in about half-way up his withers). I'm not sure he didn't even swim a stroke or two. Anyways, I kept pushing and he climbed out (kind of steep right there). I pulled him up, hooked one leg over the saddle horn, removed my boot and dumped the water out and then repeated the process with the other foot. I grabbed the boots by the spurs and carried them with me like that--sort of upside down, trying not to drip water onto my pistol. Then I headed to the house with my feet encased in soaking wet blue argyle socks. Those feet stayed out of the stirrups mainly--I can't exactly reach the stirrups bootless anyway (except with my toes stretched . I did find that it was easier to bump Snip with (essentially) barefeet than it is in my mud-boots. He behaved like a gentleman all the way back to the house, even when I dropped my boots over the electrice fence.

I'm going back to the bayhead now--but not with Snip. I'll be lugging my camera... :)

I have gotten in two more voice overs. I sent back to the first talent to please re-do his. Not because it was bad--it was OUTSTANDING--but because there was an over abundance of room echo. Savannah and I racked our brains and sent a few suggestions on how to perhaps conquor that annoying problem. I tried to fix it in SoundBooth before I sent the e-mail, but I couldn't get it down enough to suit myself. (It wouldn't sound professional at all, no matter how grand the lad's voice is!)

The second talent sent 13 takes (on one recording) of his voice over. It took a little sisterly consultation to pick the best take. :) I must admit that I cracked up ever time I listened to one of the takes as he was attempting to sound slightly weepy on that one. (That wasn't the one I picked by the way!)

Granted, while the above is exciting, I was the most pleased to get a rough, "unrehearsed" take of the first five minutes of the narration! Mr. K is going to do just splendidly, let me tell you. I really like the fact that he sounds like one of the men he is reading about. Clear, articulate, and yet an accent like none other. :) I don't even mind the fact that he drops the 'g' on '-ing' words. He adds character to my words that I like.
 
So...that's my Cow Cavalry update...and I just realized that it is almost 11 o'clock and I'm still sitting here in my apron and I haven't washed the breakfast dishes yet! I got a little sidetracked this morning if you can't tell!

This afternoon, I held my very first ever audition as a filmmaker. The young man who auditioned is a fellow I've "known" for about 2 years via christianfilmmakers.org. I've had him in my "friend" catagory for a while even though we've never met in person...

Anyways, Bradley Jamrozik, composer and now voice talent, landed the part of one of the two nameless Confederate veterans.

I wouldn't say that the audition was necessarily very professional, but it was fun. We had several hearty laughs--and it wasn't all over his accent. Turns out I don't know how to say "Illinois" properly! :D

I sat and wound feed sack string the whole time--except when pasting quotes or running down a YouTube video of Robert Duvall as General Lee in Gods and Generals. Bradley listened to that video and shook his head--there was no way he could do that accent. (Neither can I for that matter.)

Turns out that Bradley's Southern accent only ranges as far south as Tenneessee--though in reality, he nails Kentucky better than Tenneessee. At first, I wasn't sure he was going to be able to cut the mustard--which made me feel kind of bad because I knew he really, really wanted to. In fact, he was the first to answer my call for voice actors. He looked kind of disappointed when I made one of my scrunched up thinking faces. Because I really wanted to get him a part, I kept prodding him. The more he talked, the better sounding he got.

I had two quotes that I instant messaged to him--the first is the one he landed. The second one--well, that one just wasn't coming out of him. I find it impossible to pronounce "negro" the way he did. :) Of course, that quote is rather difficult to read anyways because of the structure.

Naturally, we also ended up talking about instruments for a few minutes, both of us being musicans to one extent or another. :) This is his latest peice...Political Triumph. I think it is beautiful.

In other Cow Cavalry news, I'm still waiting on three more voice overs to come in. I am working toward a September 1st deadline. Not because it has to be done by then, but because I want it be done; besides the fact that I really, really, really want to see if I can
enter it (and hopefully make it to semi-finals) in the SAICFF. (They usually open submissions in October.)

I haven't heard from Mr. K since I sent him the narration...but hopefully soon. Savannah and I need to work on "Dixie" a little harder, but her wrist is really bothering her right now. Speaking of which, since I'm not working outside today, I probably ought to go finish practicing my cello. I started right before lunch and never got back to it due to dishes and Bradley's audition (which called for updates in all the places I keep a running tab on what's going on.)

Update 1: Filmmaking

So far, I have two completed voice overs, done and delivered and waiting to fall into the timeline. Tomorrow, I have an over-Skype 'audition' with another fellow. A friend's brother has one of the quotes he is working on. Yet another is in the process of finding time to record his Southern accent for me. I just sent two of the quotes to an old friend for him and his younger brother to fight over. :D

I am really, really excited... :D

Update 2: Snip

Yes...the horse qualifies for an update. He's a stinker. Like normal...

I've been working him a little harder than perhaps I was. 15 minutes straight of trotting in circles, figure eights, and such like, open the sessions. Then I take him into another area of the pasture and try to lope him. (He hasn't bucked since I changed out the saddle pad!) I say 'try' because most of the time when I want a lope I can't get it. I think this has to do partly with the fact that I am so busy fighting with him to keep going straight without drifting off to one side or the other (trees, ye ken). This keeps a pull on his mouth; besides, if he picked up speed while going sideways like he does, he might actually trip himself! After a while of back and forth and frustration (some days more than others), I take him for a walk/trot back into yet another section of pasture. I end up by walking him back to the horse lot; quite frequently with my feet out of the stirrups. The last two days I've done so singing the Confederate version of "Yankee Doodle"--it's quite fun!

He just about ran away with me today. I did manage to get him stopped using the one-rein stop technique (barely). He's been tossing his head again. He actually didn't do as much of it today as he had done the last few rides. When I went to Smith's Tuesday I ended up talking with a ferrier whose wife is a vet--and he told me that horses tend to do that when their teeth need to be 'floated' (or ground down). I'll keep that in mind, but I'm going to continue to observe Snip's behavior before I pick up the phone; especially since it wasn't as bad today as it was yesterday and yesterday it didn't seem as bad as the time before... 

I got off both yesterday and today and gave him a serious nose to nose scolding. Not that it does any good--but when I'm feeling irascible (like I have the last couple days), it makes me feel better. It also keeps me from wrapping the reins around his head in fury. (Doesn't help anything and it really doesn't make me feel any better.) 

Update 3: Fence

Since last I wrote about the fence (I think)...I got the first section wired, took down another section of chainlink, and built another H-frame and planted a corner post. The latter three is what I did today. I got a sunburned nose today because the wind was honking so hard that there was no way my hat would have stayed on--so I went hatless. At one point, somebody in a green pickup drove by and waved at me. I'm pretty sure it was Tommy. :)

I am not moving nearly as fast as I would like to on this fence project. I'm working steady (when I do get over there--which has been twice this week), but I just can't seem to work very fast. I'm simply wearing out too fast. By the time I've been over there for 45 minutes my arms feel so heavy. I don't know what in the world is wrong with me...if you can't tell, I'm slightly frustrated. Normally, I can work on fence for several hours straight without feeling like I'm ready to keel over, but not lately. Anyways, I'm just going to keep right on plugging along--even if it takes me twice as long as I think it should, the job will get done.