An amazing painting of a woman dying in childbirth

This is one of the most interesting paintings I've ever seen because of what it tells, the story of a young mother dying in childbirth.
The painting is one of a gallery of paintings that can be seen at the Campus Martius Museum in Marietta, Ohio.
Marietta was the first legally authorized town to be located in Ohio. The first settlers arrived there on April 7, 1788. More on the town later, but let it be known that most of those who arrived in 1788 had been soldiers in the American Revolution, and they named their town Marietta in honor of the French Queen Marie Antoinette because of her support of the Americans in their revolution.
A lot more can be said about all of that, but for the time appreciate all that you can see in this painting.

Workhorse of the Oil Fields: Pumpjacks at Ease

Please " click " the photo to get the real picture.
You can see pump jacks as they are called or some of the equipment used to pump oil out of the ground everywhere you look in some parts of the southeastern New Mexico "oil patch."
Here are some of those pump jacks all parked and ready to go when needed.
They are off the highway just south of Loco Hills, New Mexico. " Loco " is the Spanish word for " crazy. "
I do not know where the town got its name, and there really is very little to the town today except for some oil field offices. Many of those offices struggle to stay open today because of New Mexico Bill Richardson' s excessive use of environmental rules. His rules have driven a lot of oil companies out of the south eastern New Mexico oil fields. Between him and the environmentalists who work with President Barrak Obama, further development of oil resources in southeastern New Mexico is at a standstill as everyone waits for further costly restrictions expected because of Obama' s " green initiatives. "
Protect the environment, yes, but it can be done without destroying the lives of people.

The Spirit of the People of Artesia, New Mexico

Drive down the main street of Artesia, New Mexico, and you will see some of the most incredible sights: sculptures that tell the story of Artesia in a most wonderful way.
There is the sculpture of the oil well with crew that is representative of the discovery of oil in southeastern New Mexico in 1924. There are people around the well who all played roles in the discovery and development of the petroleum industry in Artesia and southeastern New Mexico. One of those statues represents a woman who used her own intuition to select the place to drill that discovery well after a geologist gave up.
Down the street are statues of a woman reading from a book and two children looking up at her, obviously listening. The first thought is the woman is a teacher, but no, she is reading from a book about " Billy the Kid. " The statue is of a woman who helped develop Artesia, Sallie Chisum. The famous outlaw was one of her admirers. The title of the sculpture with the two children and woman is " The Spirit of the Pioneer Woman. "
Then on down the street is a raring horse with a the wonderful figure of a vacquero or Mexican cowboy, and how wonderful to see, so much life in the horse and so much joy in the man in the saddle.
There also is a statue of a cowboy running some cattle not far away.
There is a lot of information on all of these scupltures and the individuals they represent, and it is inspiring. But what all of these sculptures together represent is the wonderful spirit of the people of Artesia.
I met a man in the town the other day who said the people in Artesia are friendlier than anywhere he'd ever lived.
Oh, in case you did not know, you can double click the pictures to fill your entire screen! What joy and life in these sculptures--and the joy and life and pride they must give to the people of Artesia, New Mexico.

The F-117 Stealth fighter refuels from Ohio National Guard KC-135 over the New Mexico desert

The Stealth fighter looks like something out of Jules Verne! It looks like it should not fly. But, it does and in this sequence, it flies up, edges closer and closer to the KC-13 tanker. Then the boom operator aboard the 121st Refueling Wing KC-135 from Rickenbacker ANGB literally flies his nozzle into position so the Stealth can refuel. The strange-looking aircraft is not there long. Then it unhooks, seems to float off and disappears.
Fun to see!