Saturday, September 21, 2019

falling limbs and mixed results


Another limb has broken off the same pecan tree. It's hanging down to the ground as it has not completely detached yet. This makes #5 in the last six weeks or so. You can't see the first limb down as it is on the other side of the tree from this view. It's a little bigger than #3 and #4.


More rain yesterday Friday. Another inch combined Thursday and Friday. It was coming down pretty hard for a while and this one section of the roof diverts just a ton of water to the same spot and of course it's right next to the slab so I was out there with the hoe sort of clutching the umbrella between my shoulder and neck and basically resting it on my head, which of course causes the water to seep through the fabric, hoeing channels for the water to drain away into the low spot in the yard. I have a new gutter there that's supposed to catch this water and channel it away but Rocky only put a downspout at one end and the other end just gets overwhelmed and it doesn't help that it is already full of leaves because we haven't got the screens on yet. We're going to remedy the situation with another downspout but can't until it stops raining. Hence my activity during the rain with the hoe. I get very nervous now when water is up against the slab. I don't know why I even bothered with the umbrella. The only thing it kept dry was the back of my shirt.

Something else the rain has brought...mosquitos!

Well, my snowflakes are pretty much a disaster. I used clear powder because I don't have very much white and even though I never made a sample I thought it would be OK. Wrong! They all came out dark gray. Even the five I did with the opaque white powder (top right) came out light gray though I think they are passable especially if I use white powder and a blue color on top.

sizes after firing: 4 7/8”, 3 7/8”, 2 1/4”, 1 1/4”

My little experiment for the fungus came out encouragingly though the color I blended is not quite pink enough. 


I'll try a more complicated test with two of the shapes next. And Thursday I worked on the base for an owl feather 


and I have another feather I'm going to work on today. That is if I get myself motivated. Which I did not and got nothing accomplished besides going to the store for baked beans.

The new road surface, or under layer, dried out fast yesterday considering the day's rain but it's already getting washboarded and developing ruts and puddles.

Saturday today is our 2nd annual I Survived Harvey Block Party. I signed up to bring the baked beans, something I have never made in my life, but the only other thing on the list was the hamburgers. And no, I'm not making baked beans from scratch, I'm taking gussied up canned baked beans.

Here's a picture that has absolutely nothing to do with anything in this post.






10 comments:

  1. Gussied up baked beans? When I make baked beans for a party I buy Bush's Baked Beans ( as many cans that I need) and add a teaspoon of molasses for every 2 cans of beans and a handful of yellow onion diced real small then I put a layer of bacon on top and bake it until the bacon is done.
    We had a few branches down from the rain storm that hit us on Thursday night. David slept right through it like nothing happened.

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  2. You are certainly busy. That last photo is beautiful. Looks like that pecan tree has to go.

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  3. I love the last photo, it really shows the lushness of your area. Here's hoping you can get the gutters sorted out. We have one scupper on the (flat) roof that dumps water on top of a palm tree which spreads out the water flow. When the tree gets too big to serve that function, we'll have to do something because water will be up against the slab. The water in Houston is just frightful, I'm glad you're not there

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  4. That photo DOES indeed have something to do with the rest of the post as it shows a storm coming in. Or at least that's what it looks like. It's beautiful.
    Dang it on the snowflakes. Could you do a piece about pollution's effect on even the purity of snow? Haha.
    I love their shapes, anyway.
    Hell yes- why go to the trouble to make baked beans from scratch when Bush's does it so well? I add molasses and sometimes brown sugar and onions like Leanna but I also like to add a little bit of ketchup and mustard. And of course the bacon if no one is a vegetarian. They will be delicious!

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  5. Sorry. About the tree && the snowflakes. Maybe you can hang them in the tree as some sort of commentary on the disaster we're facing?

    I have a bunch of baked beans to eat - Mike got bbq for his dad today & they gave him double baked beans and NO HUSHPUPPIES. What the heck. At least I'm getting some bbq & baked beans out of the deal. Nice to already have breakfast made :)

    LOVE the last picture: moody sky, lush landscape, little black & white dog..

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    1. Oh for heaven's sake - my keyboard is possessed (by the ghost of William Shatner, apparently) & I forgot to go back & fix that first sentence.

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  6. The yellow is fluorescent and the light is eerie, and Minnie is just staring it down. Oh, yes, and she's black and white and is her own sort of contrast.

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  7. snow flakes are perfect, just don't keep mentioning you thought they'd be white, and the fungus a delight

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  8. I can attest that canned baked beans can be delicious. Can you paint the snowflakes or does that not work?

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    1. no, painting won't work, at least not on these. but the woman who developed this modeling glass says mixing a bit of white enamel with the white glass helps considerably so I may try that.

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I opened my big mouth, now it's your turn.