Saturday, October 17, 2015

nothing quite so glamorous as a formal wedding or wine fair


The weather had cooled off finally after that hot August and September. We had a few weeks of days in the 80s but this week it has been hot again. Back up in the 90s during the day though it has been dropping down to 60 during the night giving us a 30+ degree temperature range. I used the opportunity of the cooler days to empty out the store room over at the shop in anticipation of pulling down a three section piece of the sheet metal that the shop is built out of that was up on the ceiling of the built-in part of the shop, the three small rooms which are going to be torn out and rebuilt. All the wood, including the support beams are soft and friable from termite damage.

 The (mostly) empty storeroom. The wall on the left is the back wall of the built-in part.

 Some of the stuff that was in there.

The demolition I started last year.

Even though the days have been hot, it does cool off to acceptable levels in the evening. I've been sitting out with the puppy running around in the yard. It's pleasant really as the humidity has dropped, that's how we tell if a front has moved in. There is just a slight hint of coolness in the air coming up from the ground, almost too subtle to feel unless the breeze moves a little. The pecan trees are dropping their brown and crisp leaves steadily and the Big Backyard is about half covered. They crinkle nicely when you walk through them.


I know all my readers are wondering why I haven't been writing about pecans yet because, of course, my life is intensely interesting and you remember everything, but no nuts though this year. When I got back from Canada I picked up 8 or 9 gallons of immature nuts from just the front third of the Big Backyard that had been falling since the beginning of July. After three years in a row of bumper crops I guess our trees are having a rest. To tell you the truth, while I will miss the home grown fresh pecans and the extra cash from selling the excess, I will not miss the chore of picking them up and shelling them.

I do have some left over from last year that I never got around to shelling.

Marc hauled the old truck bench seat, our first outdoor furniture we put under one of the pecan trees where we sat and watched the sunsets in the winter when we first bought this place, to the transfer station today. It was falling apart and had been colonized by fire ants on more than one occasion. I'm working towards getting a real outdoor bench seat but I won't put it back in the same place, I'm going to plant the azaleas that are currently in pots there. Besides, it's not really the best sunset viewing spot.

It looked like this when we first dragged it out there.

Here's the space now sans bench seat.

And I have finally started on some new waxes. Not my next body of work of course. Why the hell would I start on that next? These are just warm-ups since it's been so long since I did any model making, a set of three magnolia leaves that will have various stages of the flower to seed added to them.






12 comments:

  1. Looking forward to the magnolia art. You capture the botany so well. I also used to have energy to tear down walls and move furniture, but that is in my past, and like your pecans harvests, i do not really miss it.

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  2. To tell you the truth- I WAS wondering about your pecans. I'm serious.

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  3. Looks like lots of progress to me.

    Love the magnolia leaf.

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  4. You are really busy.It will be fun to see the next botanical.

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  5. I always slide through the photos first and then go back for the text/photo combo...I thought you had painted the leaves with black gesso and then satin finish..SO GOOD! You are amazing, I want to move in to your shed space...and eat your pecans.

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  6. Reality is----work.
    Love the stairway to nowhere.

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  7. i'm grateful for some cooler air finally. 97 was brutal earlier this week. now, if we could just get some rain...

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  8. It's always fascinating reading about your various projects.

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  9. I can never remember when it's pecan season, so I hadn't given it a thought :) We had to put Pinkie in the garage last night. We knew it would be cold, & sure enough there was ice in the bird bath this morning!

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  10. How weird about the pecans! I wonder if something happened, weather-wise, that killed off the crop? Too much heat or rain or not enough, maybe?

    I must say, the tree looks MUCH better sans the truck bench. I love the elephant.

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  11. I love that you put that seat under the tree to watch the sunset. One of the first things we did when we moved into our dream house 13 years ago was to put a bench under our small willow. The tree has grown as big as the house now and the bench remains, albeit, now acting as a plant holder. It is my favorite garden spot and holds a wonderful memory.

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  12. That's quite a renovation project.. but I am now itching all over.. fire ants! I like how you've dressed it up in the seat's absence. :)

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