Bob Boze Bell's Blog – December 2011 Archive (26)

December 29, 2011

Deena Bean got me five yoga sessions for Christmas and I attended my first one in a long time. Debbie Payne met me at the door with open arms and we hugged. The studio is about a block from the True West World Headquarters so that is sweet. Really felt good to go again.

We had a big pow wow on Tuesday regarding our Wall of Truth. Here are my notes for the meeting:

The Wall of Truth

• What we do is…

December 29, 2011

I'm going to run this photo in my editorial for the next issue of True West. Here's what I know about the photo. The driver is my grandfather Bob Guess. His wife, Louise, is in the back and the baby is my aunt Sadie Pearl. She was born in September of 1915 and her daughter, Tap Lou thinks Sadie looks to be about six months old, so the photo possibly was taken in 1916. The location of the photo is also up for grabs but Tap told me her mother was born…

December 28, 2011

I woke up at midnite last night mulling an idea. As sometimes happens to me, I finally got up at two and went out to the studio to write the idea down. Actually, I typed it out in an email to myself at work.

Dire Warnings

To heed, or not to heed



The warnings were dire. Airplanes will fall out of the sky. Elevators full of people will plummet to their deaths. Remember the Y2K hysteria of 1999?…

December 23, 2011

The Deen is flying in tonight with her fiance Mike. They're landing at 11 from LA, getting out to the homestead at midnite. The Boy, Thomas Charles, will be picking them up and bringing them out. Great to have the family together for Christmas.

Of course, I miss my mom and dad and grandparents at this time of year. Here's another photo from the Tap Lou Duncan Weir collection of my mother Bobbie. Photo is from about…

December 22, 2011

Just got some great photos of my my grandparents from my cousin Tap Lou Weir. This is my grandfather, Bob Guess, his wife, my grandmother, Louise and their first born daughter Sadie Pearl at Steins Pass, New Mexico. Love the hat.

And here's my mother, Bobbie…

December 21, 2011

For some reason our December issue is outselling anything we have done in years (in some outlets we are selling double what we normally sell). Many on our staff didn't like the cover (too busy). Why, do you think this nondescript image of a gunfighter did so well?…

December 21, 2011

We've got a kid who is getting married in March. This person of interest plans on using the back yard for the ceremony so Kathy got the landscapers out this morning giving them all orders to trim and clean. One of the things that is going to get pruned and cut down to size is a cactus that has totally gotten out of hand.

We planted it in 1986, or so. Here I am with my daughter Deena, with our dog Dusty standing next to it (actually,…

December 20, 2011

My Westerns Channel producer, Jeff Hildebrandt, met me in front of the True West World Headquarters this morning at eight and we drove up to Prescott in the early morning fog. Here's the conditions at Humboldt, just before we got to Dewey:

We…

December 20, 2011

My Westerns Channel producer, Jeff Hildebrandt, met me in front of the True West World Headquarters this morning at eight and we drove up to Prescott in the early morning fog. Here's the conditions at Humboldt, just before we got to Dewey:

We…

December 19, 2011

Worked most of the weekend on finishing the Not-So-Gentle Tamers painting. I wanted to add some prickly pear cactus in the foreground as a symbol of the toughness of the land and the women who tamed it, so I took a walk to audition cactus.

 …

December 16, 2011

If someone had told me even five years ago that my phone would take photos as good as my Nikon, I would have laughed at them. Well, I'm still laughing, but it is sweet that I can see a scene while I'm driving and snap off a couple phone photos while driving 75 mph (don't tell DPS or Kathy, who was sleeping when the following shots were taken). A week ago I was on the way to Vegas for Cowboy Christmas and as we approached White Hills on highway 93 I…

December 15, 2011

Carole Glenn came into my office just before lunch with a big smile on her face and handed me the March 2012 issue of True West, hot off the press from RR Donnelley in Kansas City. Yes, our office copies of the special Centennial Collector's Edition are in the house.

 …

December 15, 2011

On our way to Vegas last Thursday, we stopped and walked out on the new Pat Tillman bridge and I took this shot looking at Hoover Dam. Love the landscape in that area (what's the name of that butte in the back?). Breathtaking view straight down.

It…

December 14, 2011

It's been raining here for two days straight. Finally started to lift a bit at noon when I went home for lunch. Took this photo of the clouds lifting over Sugarloaf. Looks more like Hawaii, no?

A couple weeks ago, legendary Creeker Lew Jones…

December 14, 2011

It's been raining here for two days straight. Finally started to lift a bit at noon when I went home for lunch. Took this photo of the clouds lifting over Sugarloaf. Looks more like Hawaii, no?

A couple weeks ago, legendary Creeker Lew Jones…

December 14, 2011

I just received this stunning confession by Marshall Trimble on drinking and driving:

This is a word to the wise for all my email friends.  I would like to share an experience with you, it has to do with drinking and driving. As you know some of us have had brushes with the authorities over the years.  The other night I went out for drinks. After consuming too much to drink, and knowing full well that I was wasted, I did something I've never…

December 13, 2011

Eight years ago today, I woke up in Valencia, Spain (we were visiting my son who was spending a year studying abroad from NAU, Northern Arizona University) and he and I walked to a small restaurant to get coffee. Saw a newspaper with the headline that Saddam had been captured in a spider hole on a farm in the town he was from. Famous picture of him having his teeth examined, which it turns out is an insult to people in the region (having your teeth…

December 12, 2011

Back from Cowboy Christmas. Had a wonderful time seeing old friends and meeting new ones. Attended the NFR Finals Rodeo on Friday night. Charlie Daniels opened the show and kicked some major patootie. Noticed Hip Hop is creeping into the soundtrack (three different samplings). Inevitable, really.

Lots more to say about Cowboy Christmas, but I'll save it for later.

I mentioned last week that Lew Jones gifted me with a…

December 8, 2011

Kathy and I are heading out for Vegas this morning. Driving the Old Trails, thru Wickenburg, Santa Maria, Wickieup, Kingman, Santa Claus, Grasshopper Junction and White Hills. Always brings back memories. When we first moved to Kingman for good in 1956, the road to Wikieup was dirt, because the Prescott business lobby didn't want the road paved, because they wanted Mohave County traffic to come through their town (we had to drive to Ashfork on 66,…

December 7, 2011

Well, it won't be out to subscribers for three weeks, but here's a sneak peek at our Arizona Centennial issue:

And here's the finish on Not-So-Gentle Tamers which will also appear in the issue:

 …