Assignment # 8 - Happy Trails to Summer

How do cowboy's say goodbye to summer? Deadwood likes to take in the most summer activity of them all ... a baseball game. This assignment is pretty open ended. It can be an event, a picnic, or a simple day trip. The point Deadwood would like to make is get out and say goodbye to summer!Perhaps there isn't enough time for a real goodbye to summer. If you prefer to say hello to fall then we would like to see that too. - DD

See the results here.

Deadwood Dick tagged for Assignment #8

Cowboy "Juke Joint" Johnny and his recently engaged gal pal have tagged Deadwood Dick and his trusty companion to come up with assignment #8. DD has certainly been quite the active contributor with his quests for urban graffiti. We enjoy his images and admire his tenacity....what will he come up with next?


Kowboy Klaus, I hope you don't mind me borrowing the sheriff badge from your tagging. I hope I did you proud! - LKB & CS

New pics from Assignment #2

Cowboy Steve, Leslie, and Bruce had a super time in the Berkshires. It was great to go to the mountains, attend a conference, and see lots of contemporary art. It was truly an eye-opening experience for Steve, as you can see below - these upside down trees greeted him at the entrance to MassMoca. Check out the new pics for Assignment #2 by visiting the CC Flickr page before it changes (or go to the assignment #2 set later).

Remember, there are only a few days left to "take your cowboy on an adventure"!

To create the next assignment, I tag HEATHER and the frecked kid. - lkb

TOYS THAT KILL

Who knew our little people were such a vicious bunch.
I'd say this is slander.
I had to order it. -jcl

Assignment #2

February 2007 (2nd half)
"Take your Cowboy on a trip or have an adventure"

I have been tagged...

In honor of Emily and Cowboy Sue's trip to Scotland (they left Tuesday), I proclaim the next assignment to be the above. As many already have had mini-adventures inside and in their neighborhood (both of these would be good future assignments), I suggest that you take your cowboy out of his element, to a place you haven't been before or visited in a long time. This will be a great time to explore the next town or simply a new place. I will be going on a trip within the next 2 weeks to go to a symposium at MassMoca in Western Massachusetts, so will likely use this as a chance for Cowboy Steve to broaden his horizons in the Berkshires. I'll make a new set soon on Flickr, to which you can post (don't forget to cross post to your personal Cowboy set too) and use those tags. The more we use of the latter the more hits we get. Yee haw! Now get thee to having fun! - lkb

PS - we got one request on Flickr Marnie for you to cross post your image of the tiny black cab and the Sheriff to the London Black Cabs pool. You should! and also comment back. No kidding, here it is: "Nice pic - would you mind adding it (and any others like it) to the London Black Cabs Pool when you get a chance? Cheers! :)" Wow, he lives in Essex, England. We're getting global views!

Image from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101587/

Welcome Marnie!

Marnie adopted the sheriff last night and she already posted some great stuff on Flickr. It seems the sheriff was under the impression that he was moving a little further south than the Wedge.
-vadra


Here we see the sheriff looking out the window at our lovely snow. Photo by Marnie- see more at http://www.flickr.com/photos/cowboycollaborative/.

The Holiday We Love to Hate

Let's reclaim St. Valentine's Day from the corporate entities that have bastardized it. In "the pagan book of days" by Nigel Pennick he states that, "In Scandinavia there is a tradition of running labyrinths on this day." He does not go into further detail. Maybe there aren't any conveniently located labyrinths to run around in but we can still take inspiration from it even if we don't live in Scandinavia. If you are lucky enough to have snow then go make a snow labyrinth- or at least a snow cowboy. Or go sledding or skiing or just run around in the snow. Snow is good- don't let people convince you otherwise. If you don't want to play in the snow go see PAN'S LABYRINTH, or watch THE SHINING. Or LABYRINTH (I nearly forgot the obvious). Build your own labyrinth in your house using pillows, blankets, books, Little People or whatever you have lying around and then try to get your pets, children, roommates, etc... to find some nice treasure you've hidden within it. Or invest some time exploring the labyrinth that is your brain. And don't forget to include your cowboy pals in the celebration.
-vadra


http://www.zdf.de/ZDFde/inhalt/22/0,1872,2093206,00.html

BRANDED

What is the correct word for a "group" of cowboys? A gaggle of cowboys, a murder of cowboys, a flock of cowboys? Well, as we have a large coalition of cowboys it would seem appropriate for the Cowboy Collaborative to have a brand or symbol. Like the Double R, the Circle K, and such. But this is a cruelty-free collaborative and there will be no branding of cowboys. Otherwise we will take them back- so play nice. Using some fonts in Photoshop I came up with a few but I welcome others to submit ideas too. Somethin' simple and ranchy (not raunchy)- you know, like a brand.
-vadra

Passing the buck to Cowboy Steve

The collaborative continues to grow as we find homes for more orphaned cowboys (FP cowboys and other Little People donations are gladly accepted at the ranch). Our next assignment will be coming up on the 15th- as no opinions as to frequency have been expressed I will go with two assignments per month for now- to be posted on the 1st (rabbit, rabbit, rabbit!) and the 15th. I tag Cowboy Steve to be the next assigner.
-vadra

Assignment #1

February 2007
"Bring your cowboy to work"

While this is a photo based project I don't want to limit it to photography. I would like to encourage people to explore other options if they want to. So bring your cowboy to work- take some photos, draw a picture, make a movie, write a story, sing a song- whatever you like- then post it (we will need to look at additional posting options if we want to include music and moving images). I'm not sure how we should organize our images but I don't think I want to set a time limit on assignments. And how often should we post a new assignment? How about once a month? And we can take turns creating assignments. Any suggestions?

-Vadra

What is the Cowboy Collaborative?

While three of us have been photographing Marlboro Man, Marlboro Hombre, and Cowboy Steve for many years the Cowboy Collaborative is a new venture that takes advantage of the web (blogs, Flickr, ebay, etc). We are in the early stages so bear with us as we figure out the best method of posting the numerous cowboy adventures and photos. We will have assignments that cowboy keepers may participate in if they so desire. Or they can just photograph and post when they feel so inclined.

The Cowboy Collaborative is:

Friends
Cameras
Cowboys
Travel
Photos
Migration
Fisher Price
Enthusiasm
Connections

(see "Once Upon a Time in the Midwest" post for cowboy history)

-Vadra

Once Upon a Time in the Midwest

Once upon a time, long ago, in a town called Ann Arbor, two friends lived together in the Happy House. They sometimes received mysterious things in their mailbox that did not travel through the post. One of these things was a cowboy. He was a welcome addition to the family. Due to his uncanny resemblance to a certain billboard they called him Marlboro Man. He eschewed the costly and detrimental habit of his namesake. (Despite his name he has never been an advocate or shill for any large corporation or product.)

Marlboro Man was a good traveling companion and often went on trips with them. A good-natured and photogenic chap, he enjoyed being photographed and never complained about anything. There came a time when Vadra moved away from Ann Arbor. Joint custody of Marlboro Man was agreed upon and so he spent part of the year with Mauraway and part of it with Vadra and continued to travel with each of them.

Vadra started using Marlboro Man in her art. She even found him a stunt double but he turned out to be too tall for the job. He was one of those Texas cowboys by the looks of his hat. It didn't take her long to find him a more suitable home with her friend Leslie. Leslie had lived in Texas for a spell so she could relate to him. Leslie named her new pal Cowboy Steve after a well-known actor and comedian.

Meanwhile, Marlboro Man spent less and less time with Mauraway and this made Vadra feel guilty. One day she came across a cowboy who was the spittin' image of Marlboro Man. This one also arrived in her mailbox, but this time via the post. Upon his arrival they realized that he was Marlboro Man's long lost brother. The new cowboy was a nattier dresser and tanner than Marlboro Man. He was from New Mexico while Marlboro Man's roots were in Wyoming. They decided to call him Marlboro Hombre due to the familial connection and striking resemblance to Marlboro Man, in additon to the many years he spent living in a border town. He went to live with Mauraway and the brothers now enjoy visiting one another several times a year.

One day in the very recent past, Mauraway alerted Vadra to a large group of orphaned Little People (for that is what they call themselves), including another cowboy who looked like MM and MH. Vadra adopted them and decided to find homes for the other cowboys. Thus was born the Cowboy Collaborative.

Giddy up!

The gang is almost all here! We'll be all together, saddled up, and ready to go soon, so check back for some amazing adventures. Head Honcho, we await our first assignment!