foiled and foiled again

Why is it that I am always busy but I don't seem to be getting anything accomplished!

I finally decided what to do with the magnolia leaves, paring it all down to the basics, and got the wood cut and sanded so the metal plate will 'float' away from the wall and the hangers and was ready to put it all together and the last bit of the adhesive would NOT come out of the tube. So, now, I'm waiting for new adhesive to arrive.

Drove out to the nursery Sunday, about a 30 minute drive, to find they were closed. Closed on Sunday. You know, that day when people are off work and have time to work in the yard and garden, but that's what they do out here in the country. Because...church. As if that's not bad enough, the feed store and the hardware store here both close at noon on Saturday. About the only thing open on Sunday is the grocery store, the pharmacy, and the gas stations. So, no, I did NOT get my tomatoes and peach tree. And I still need to get the last yard of dirt.

I did finally get the cast glass chicken head glued to the can to slip force over the neck that originally held a gazing ball (I'm guessing) in this iron sun stand that I picked up at an estate sale. My little piece of country folk art. I had wanted to glue it onto the hood of the truck for a hood ornament but the husband wouldn't let me.

And finally got an email from the art consultant yesterday asking if us vendors had received our purchase orders from A & M and if so did we have trouble logging into the link provided. Still no PO for me. As I said before, I am hesitant to get out the model making stuff even though I did for the leaf that failed so spectacularly, because I may be having to start on the art work for the small animal hospital job but I'm anxious to start on some new panels and spring being here is also calling me outdoors and every project outdoors is major so consequently I'm just piddling around trying to do small things to fill the time.

That may be why I feel like I'm wasting my time...no major progress to be seen on any front.

upgrading

Because getting an iPhone for the first time wasn't challenging enough, I decided to upgrade my Snow Leopard OS to the current El Capitan, something I had avoided doing before because I had heard and read all sorts of horror stories about switching over but so far, it's been unproblematic. It took a while to locate my folder of pictures that didn't automatically reappear but it was there and I needed only customize the sidebar on the finder. And my JEdit app for working on my website was disabled and so far I haven't been able to get it reinstalled but I have gotten two recommendations for a text editor so I think that will be resolved with no problem. The biggest thing I'm having to adjust to is my 'smart' mouse. Before, if I wanted to scroll up, I would slide my finger from the bottom to the top of the mouse; if I want to scroll down, I would slide my finger from the top to the bottom. Now, it's exactly opposite. I will get used to it but for now I'm having to be conscious of how I stroke the mouse.

The iPhone is not so much of an adjustment as my husband has had one for years. Once I upgraded my OS, moving all the info...pictures, music, apps...to my phone was simple. The biggest problem is having to re-enter all my phone contacts by hand as there is no way to transfer from flip phone to iPhone. I suppose they could do it at the Verizon store but that would entail a trip to there.

And I opened an Instagram account. It seemed pointless before though I had the app on my iPad but I don't carry my iPad around with me all the time. It's what I use instead of a laptop when I'm away from home.

OK, boring. All this tech talk.

It's spring here, though we will have more cold weather before winter is completely gone. Today, I'm going to the nursery to get tomato plants and whatever else for the new raised bed and at least one peach tree to plant over in the shop yard. My friend Wesley asked why when there was a peach orchard just down the road, and true, I will buy peaches from them, but I still want one.

early blooming peach tree in my neighbor's yard

time to get with the program

Well, it's happening again. I'm being dragged kicking and screaming from my little cave into the modern world. Marc finally followed up on his threats of getting me an iPhone. I was happy with my little flip phone. It was uncomplicated and did what I needed it to do...make phone calls, text, and tell me what time it is. Plus, it fit nicely in any of my pockets. And since I don't carry a purse, and we all know how mostly useless pockets are in women's pants, this is a big deal.

I haven't activated it yet. Right now I'm making a list of all the phone contacts in my old phone since I may have to enter them all in by hand on the new phone. But even if there is a way to magically transfer my contact list, it's not a bad idea to have a list of phone numbers elsewhere other than the phone.

I'm guessing hoping that I can transfer all my data from the iPad to the iPhone via my iMac. iYiyiyiyi!

So long little purple Lazer. It was a good run.

magnolia leaves and garden beds

I had decided that I was going to get these magnolia leaves mounted and done last week and this. I've been bouncing ideas off several of my artist friends hoping that their thoughts and opinions would help me solidify my own vision of the piece. About the only decision I've made thus far is that I am not going to mount the three on a single back board but each piece will hang individually and the steel needs to be more rusty.

My trouble is, I can't decide between two options. Some days I like it with an additional piece of wood behind the metal and other days I like it like this, just the leaf on the metal and this is the original concept.

I'm rapidly reaching the point where I am tired of deliberating about it and am ready to be done with it. When that happens I usually fall back to my original position.

I've been given advice on several ways to get the steel rusty quickly but so far I'm just leaving it out in the open and spraying it with water now and then so that I can control just how much it rusts. Of course, now we are having dry windy spring days and it's not happening as fast as I would like it. And some twiddling needs to be done with the length and position of the sticks.

The other thing we almost have accomplished is getting the first raised garden bed actually done. The pieces have been put together for a 4' x 16' bed and I went and got the first of 3 yards of dirt needed to fill it. It ain't well built or pretty, but it's progress and we will have a garden again for the first time in almost two years.

the dirt yard

Fortunately, our grandson was out working on one of his trucks and when he saw us shoveling dirt, came over just after I took this picture and did it for us and faster than we would have done.

when things go terribly, horribly wrong

You might remember I posted about carving the rose leaflet out of wax for a platform for the small pink flower to sit on. 

Well, I finished it and Marc made the mold and I filled it and it went straightaway into the kiln late afternoon on Wednesday. Marc set the schedule for drying the mold overnight and then moving on up to casting temperature on Thursday. So he went over to the shop Thursday morning to check on it and the kiln had malfunctioned and it was glowing red hot at nearly 2300˚, hot enough to melt batch for glassblowing. Casting temperature for our work is generally around 1500˚, sometimes hotter depending on how deep and narrow some of the elements of the piece are.

He shut the kiln off and cracked the door and by afternoon, while it was still too hot to take the mold out of the kiln, it wasn't too hot to take a picture or two.

So here's what a closed mold looks like when you get it hot enough to boil the glass and mold material and fuse the plaster and silica flour to the glass. (For you glass people out there I used Bullseye transparent lt. green, olive, and grass green in equal parts, all fine frit.)

The kiln shelf is toast, ruined as the glass and plaster at the bottom fused to the ceramic shelf.

It blasted two holes through the mold at the point of the leaf tips and the mold, which is usually soft as chalk after firing, was pretty damn hard and I needed a hammer and a putty knife to chisel and break it off.

I got as much of the mold off as I could and then soaked the piece in vinegar for an hour or so and then used a metal brush to get as much of the mold material off that was going to come off. What remains is hard even though it looks friable.

So instead of a nice rose leaflet, I have an alien geode.

it's spring! no, it's winter. it's spring! no, it's winter

And so it goes here on the Gulf Coast Plains in February. The finches of both types are still here and also an occasional brown headed cowbird and a robin. We don't usually see too many robins out here though they were plentiful when we lived in the city. All the usual suspects are here as well...sparrows, bluejays, cardinals, titmice, chickadees, wrens, doves, warblers...and they would empty the totem bird feeder four times a day if I would fill it that often. Regardless of the temperature outside, the birds are convinced it's spring.

a bad picture of the brown headed cowbird

As is the 10 petal anemone, usually the first wildflower to make its appearance.

And I finally caught the squirrel climbing the rebar up to the totem bird feeder.

Other activities...

I am far behind in reading blogs and I appreciate that y'all still read and comment on me. And speaking of blogs, I lost about 20 followers overnight a couple of weeks ago because Google has decided not to count those that don't have Google/Blogger accounts. If I was up on this stuff I could have alerted those of you that got cut so if you are still here, I have added a 'notify by email' link on my sidebar so you can continue to keep up with fascinating me.

I've been trying to take advantage of the nice days to get some work done in the yard but really all I have managed to do so far is move the two stunted blueberry bushes and pull up some of the clover around the bluebonnets that are growing in the yard.

Beyond that, I have been working on the mounting for the magnolia leaves trying to decide what it is I want to do with them. I have several configurations going...all mounted on individual pieces of steel on a piece of stained interior grade plywood and framed with the narrow black frame I've been using (to hide the edges of the plywood), the previous with a stick from the magnolia tree worked through the leaves, or just the leaves on their pieces of steel and hung separately. It would probably help me decide if I would just go down and get the piece of plywood and stain it instead of using foam core board in a mock-up. Guess I'll do that tomorrow.

well, cry me a river

So the takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon is finally over, or nearly, except for the remaining 4 patriots terrorists. They want to leave but they don't want to go to jail and they don't want the FBI looking over, checking (or confiscating) their guns. Apparently they think the only option is to die in a gunfight with the FBI which they expect to storm the place guns blazing. They were still posting their 'come join us and get some guvment blood, there are no laws left in this land' scree and demanding the release of all participants, still vowing to fight to the death several days ago, or they were until the FBI has apparently finally cut off their cell phones and their internet connection. Mostly though, they are just scared little boys who want to go home but don't want to face the consequences of their actions.

You'll have to forgive me for not having any sympathy for these knuckleheads. They'll find out pretty quick that there are still quite a lot of laws in this land. I think the FBI and other law enforcement is being pretty damn lenient letting any of these armed wannabes go without charges after occupying and damaging the Preserve by bulldozing roads, rifling through artifacts, tearing down fences, terrorizing the community, and in general, being belligerent assholes.

Somehow they failed to understand that the land they are trying to liberate for 'the people' is already owned and operated by and for 'the people'. And, in truth, they were not doing this for the people but for themselves. They wanted the land turned over to the ranchers so that they could overgraze it, log it, and mine it for their own profit. Apparently the subsidies, the agricultural exemptions, the pittance they pay for grazing on public land as compared to what they would pay for privately owned land, the cheap loans, all provided by the government that they were up in arms against, all of which they enjoy, weren't enough. To hell with having conservation that protects the land from the activities of humans, that protects the land for the survival of the other creatures that call this planet home, that allows part of this country to remain a wilderness.

Now that the leaders are arrested and one of their number is shot and killed (who got exactly what he wanted, told us all he would rather be killed than go to jail and so he resisted arrest, ran from the law nearly running a man over, and reached for his loaded gun) they're all, we didn't want violence, we are a peaceful group, after a month of being armed to the teeth, publicly declaring that they would fight to the death if law enforcement tried to remove them, almost begging the FBI to come and take it.

What they don't seem to realize is that waving their pocket constitutions around (of which they have no clear understanding, along with their ignorance of history) and flag flying while engaging in armed insurrection against the duly elected government by the people does not make them patriots. A patriot fights for the country of which the government is the legal representative.

What they are, in the end, is just a bunch of selfish entitled religious right wingers who decided to take by force what they had no right to.