dealing with issues, in-between, object #11, and a surprise

I spent Tuesday morning dealing with two issues. One was reordering one of my meds through their website and they’ve changed the secure log-in to a different system and the website refused to recognize me so I finally called and got that taken care of and then I created the new account (we found you!) with the new system so hopefully I can just go online next time. The other issue was trying to find out why I had not received any royalty payments since last November. I inherited some mineral and oil/gas rights that had been played out long before they came to me but new technology had an oil company looking again and they brought in three wells so that was a nice surprise. These wells have changed hands several times and so in early May I emailed the current owner asking why I had not received any royalty payments for the past 5 months. They responded that my inquiry was assigned to a case manager who would get in touch with me. Three months later, nothing so I called and pleasantly, I didn’t have to wait more than about 15 or 20 minutes to talk to a human. While I was waiting I went on the owner portal only to discover we had received a payment that morning. The woman who answered my call told me that the case manager was still investigating my inquiry but she looked at whatever she looked at and while it wasn’t a complete answer she did say that it looked like the wells hadn’t been producing much. I know that when the price of oil gets too low per barrel, oil companies will shut down some wells until the price goes up and maybe that’s what happened. 

Other than that I’m back in the in-between state, finished one project but haven’t started another. There’s a drawing I’ve been wanting to do for a friend but I’m also jazzed by the shadow box. I’ve done a few little thumbnail sketches of some possibles. While I thought about that yesterday I spent a good deal of the day reading Artemis by Andy Weir, his third novel after The Martian and Project Hail Mary.

Until I decide this might be a good time to do a 100 objects post. I just did a brief count, 32, of the paintings/prints or sculptures I have either bought or traded for in our collection excluding the four paintings I inherited from my parents, the bowl forms which I think I will present as one object, and my own work. I’ve pondered if the entire collection should be considered one object or each piece a separate object. I guess we’ll see how desperate I get for an entry. So, object #11 is this lithograph bought in 1979 at an outdoor festival, Elephant March by Nancy Louice (or Louwie, hard to read the signature). 

Not the first piece I bought but a very early one. It is desperately in need of reframing, currently in the frame Marc made for it out of rough cedar. It’s a little the worse for wear having never been professionally framed.

One more thing. I was out walking around the yard yesterday and this caught my eye.

That green leaf sticking up from the stubs of the bridal bouquet plumeria that froze to the ground last winter because it was just too heavy and big to dig up the sunken pot and haul it to the garage when it would have to be cut back to even fit in the garage is new growth. You might remember I did eventually dig the pot out of the ground because I wanted to use it for something else and when I did I just plonked the root ball back in the hole because orange cosmos were growing in it and I had to fill the hole with something. There’s actually another little leaf growing just below and to the right that is hard to see. So, I’m amazed. We’ll see how big it gets before winter comes back around.