Finally, I am invited!

I have been waiting for a couple of months to be invited to a knitting and crocheting users site named ravelry.com. You can keep track of your projects, yarns, needles, find or share patterns, chat in forums, get inspired...just what all creative people need! I can't wait to snoop around and take a tour. Already found a few ideas I would like to try. By the way, thanks for helping me with my recent projects mom!

A Few Laughs for Monday Night!

This video cracks me up. I can't wait to hear my granddaughter laugh like this! Turn off the music in the sidebar. While you're at it, look at some of the other hilarious laughter clips!

More Work for the Weary

Soooo...still painting outside. Hmmm...this is getting old. Painted the entryway, which is board after board of windbreak, it's a cool thing and very efficient, but a pain to paint. I'll never get to the studio at this rate..as it calls, or should I say "screams" to me. So here's an oldie and favorite, that I have never posted on this blog.

Belgian, and I don't mean 'waffles'

(Check out the other blog from today to see before and after photos)
If you are an artist (photographers included), you know what I am about to say is what you also notice, as you go through your day-to-day life. Like the other night..I was driving back from town at about sunset and the full moon was already out and it sat right straight over the road as I traveled east. The sky was pink on top and blue near the horizon. Ah, wish you were here! Then there was the field of fading sunflowers as they drooped, heavy with their seeds and stems and leaves curling and dying. The pheasant as she squawked and lifted in flight over the milo field. The pumpkin as it lay in the patch, wilting away, sinking in and shriveling to waste. The large fat brown spider as it spun it's marvelous web in the afternoon sun, on the west side of the house, a perfect pattern only to be gone in a few days leaving me wondering, what happened? The rolling hills with fields of a myriad of fall colors and textures as they become home to one process or another, either disked, harvested, left for fallow, or ready to be harvested. The way the sun catches the greens and yellows turning them to gold! And most of all, the Belgian horses that live in a field that I often pass. They played 'hard to get' at first, but when I decided "Fine, I'll take some pictures of the cows across the road instead!", they quickly trotted over to the fence as if to say, "Oh take our picture, too!" and my camera had a 'hay day'! I plan to do some large drawings/paintings of these two, they are too cool! Yes, everyday is filled with sights that take me to new depths of thought and possibilities. Wish you were here!

Re-Siding Project is DONE!!

Hallelujah! We are done with the north side of this house! Break out the champagne and noisemakers, wooo hooo! As you can see it made a big difference in the looks of our little farmstead house, old look at the top and new look at the bottom. I guess the lady we bought it from was in the area the other day and came by and sat in the driveway, most likely to "ooo and ahh", you see very few abodes around here - taken to this level of "curb appeal". Leave it to the 'Big City Kids' or we guess they sometimes have referred to us as 'greenies'. Not so much anymore. The original photo was taken about 14 months ago. The only thing not on the house yet is the new dark brown storm door. If you view the new look in larger size you can see that the big tree on the left is still trying to "come back", it was devastated by the May storm/tornado. We are working on the south side painting and we will be done with the outside of the house for now. And just in time, G. fell off the ladder yesterday, hurt his shoulder, but is OK, very sore.

Back from KC

As some of you know, this is my favorite time of year. I had a nice visit in KC and on the way out, I thought I would take a photo or two of this house that is down the street from my parents. They decorate it with life size ghouls and goblins. My dad said he can imagine little kids might not want to walk that way to school. (They are probably bussed anyway, the schools are too far away.) But at night there is more, the windows are lit up and ghosts and skeletons are flying in them, you can kinda see that if you select the photo to enlarge it. There was steam coming off of the "dummies" but my photo doesn't show that. Gave it an eerie feeling, even in the daytime.
Stay tuned, the re-siding is done and before and after pics will be posted tomorrow night. Yeah! Now on to the south side - to be done!!
BTW - we gave up on Hughesnet, and have gone with ruraltel. It's Lightning FAAASST!

Hangin' with my Peeps

Hello from KC, been here for a few days to be with my dad who celebrated his 82nd birthday. Having a good visit spending time with my mom, dad, brother and sister-in-law. Pickin' up a few things/materials that I can't get at home, like a true prairie resident; have to go to the big city for supplies sometimes! Hmmm..I think I hear thunder. Weather is changing. Go Broncos, go Chiefs (but go Broncos! when they play each other) and cross your fingers for Rockies! Check back on Thursday for photos! Will have some true "before and after" photos of the homestead when I get back, as I hear the north side is DONE!! Getting ready to take another class with Kaye Franklin, oil and pastel artist from Texas for 4 days. I learned a lot from her last year and hope to glean more from her this year, too!

It's Always...

something! We are back on dial-up for at least 7 days. Don't think I have the patience to 'post' much with the lack of speed. I sure get fired up when I have to sit down and make a phone call to HughesNet and complain, and then be lowered to dial-up. Someone from Iowa will be down within 3 - 5 days to check it out. Just one of the perks of being remote. Ha! Re-siding is almost ready for final paint. Scallops (half rounds) look great. G. has knocked himself out with the design and engineering. He is a saint! It has been days and days of work. It hailed a little tonight and gave me the heebie jeebies for all the work that has been done to get it's first taste of hail since it was ruined 4 months ago. This has been the wettest spring and summer here for some time. Can't get the wheat planted and can't get the milo harvested at this rate.

Well..

How 'bout them Rockies!!???!
For full report go to http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/sports/

Now we'll wait for the Indians or the Bo-Sox to step into it, I'm rooting for the Indians!!

Blog Action Day

Today is "Blog Action Day", where thousands of bloggers take on environmental issues at their sites. I am late in posting this, but you can always read back to 'today', Monday, October 15, on a blogger site. Some of the sites are supplying some very thought-provoking and interesting subjects! Click on the bar below and once there, go to the left side bar and click on "who is participating"!

Cashing in on the Mother Lode!!

Hey Mom and Dad, you won't believe it! My neighbor went to the movies in town last night and they gave him the leftover movie popcorn. He in turn gave it to us this morning. We are in heaven! (including dogs, they know when it is around and they swooped to the table where it was set, presented to me a while ago.) But seriously, someone who knows that I love popcorn is anyone in my family! So, should I eat it til I am sick? No. Can I freeze it? Probably not. Well, here's to a few football games or movies this weekend, where I don't have to go into the kitchen and fix some, anyway. I LOOOOVE POPCORN! One of my favorite units to teach to little kids was my "Popcorn" unit about this time of year...so here's to Popcorn!! Leave comments of how YOU like YOUR popcorn and when.

A River Runs Through It

Even with all the milo crops in the fields adjacent to our little 8 acres rooted in and taken hold, we are once again inundated with rivers of water flowing over the edge of the fields and into our property and pond, that was dry and is now at flood stage again. That is with 1 1/2" of rain. It is wet and has put a damper (so to speak) on the siding project, but guess who is out there in the wet and cold? Not me, but someone is...I think I will go to the studio and do something else this afternoon. Spent way too much time on computer this AM. Even went back to bed for awhile, snuggled in with those "snuggle pups" and was awakened by big dog as he was having a 'racing and barking' nightmare. I always wonder if 'I' do that when I am being chased in a dream?? LOL.

Don't Knock It

In my convo's with others, I often hear, "I'm not interested in what people in my past life (high school, college) are doing. I am so 'over' that time in my life," almost as if it's 'uncool' to seek out or stay in touch with your past. Think about it though, people from that era are probably more important to your life, than anyone else, besides your immediate family. There is still much that goes on in your life that is based on that period of living. You formed a lot of your work ethic (or not), how to connect with others in a sincere way, you found out who were your friends and tightly held onto them, as you weren't necessarily with your family anymore, you were flying free, and needing guidance and 'tether' and role models. G. and I still have those relationships, with each other and those who live "away" from us. I feel it is paramount to one's better being, that you stay in touch with those "others". They are your brothers and sisters. G. was able to go to Denver this week, he had a lot of 'stuff' to take care of. He (and I) stays in touch with people from his H.S. and college years. Speaking for both of us; their family, most often, is 'your' family, no different than whether you have seen them recently or not, you have a "history" with them, you care about them. (I don't know, am I generalizing here?) They, also, were a part of your growth into adulthood. After many years, G. reconnected with his friend, and I believe it benefits them both, in ways one can only feel; no words can explain. I wish that for all people. It's seems comforting and it validates much of who you are!

Up 'til the last minute...

Kids get so excited about Halloween and some adults do, too! When I was a teacher, I would wait until the last minute...even after searching and looking at costume ideas for weeks, to pull together the final 'get-up' for the classroom. One of my more successful ideas occurred during the time Martha Stewart was in prison, I rented a black and white jail outfit, donned a blonde wig and wore an oversized 'Martha' blouse. I researched her jail ID number and put it and the name of the institution on a piece of sticky tape and was 'Incarcerated Martha'. Now I wish I was still in the mix for more Halloween celebration, because I would be.....



'Darth Vader Kitty'!

The Art of Crafting

Between all the work we are doing on the north side of the farmhouse, I have been able to steal away some time to enjoy 'the studio'. Above my granddaughter's crib are various works(needlecraft and others)done by some of the women in her immediate family. This 'name plaque' is my contribution. It is made from an unpainted wood plaque/frame and routed wooden letters. I enjoyed the color selecting and the painting, it was all steady hand practice. While I was at it, I tried some very small work with the toothpick holders. They will be offered on my etsy.com site. See the sidebar for the 'etsy' address. Would love to do more unpainted wood stuff, it's very therapeutic!

Fence Webs

This week was the first episode of "Law and Order:SVU" and the character who was really into spiders, stated "one is never 6 feet away from a spider". Well, here it would be about 2 feet or less, but I found the web building at the chain link fence very beautiful this morning, in the mist. So I took several photos and this one came out pretty good!

Snuggle PUPS

As the weather starts to change, dogs begin to get more snuggly, the red dachshund, especially. As you can see, he snuggles with the other dogs, whenever he can. He sleeps with us in the bed, and then snuggles deep against me, pushing me, until I have very little room left. I care now, but in a few weeks, I'll bet I won't care, as it gets cooler still. Re-siding is still going slow, until we get around the windows and the doors and the wires that come out of the house. Its gotta freeze soon, the flies are unbelievable!

Re-Engineering

Doesn't seem to matter what we get into, the major amount of time we spend on whatever we touch at our farmstead is spent on RE-ENGINEERING, due to the age of everything here and the lack of contracting knowledge, I guess. Since Saturday, we have worked many, many hours, and finally are starting to see ourselves about 1/3rd of the way or better on this re-siding project. Lots of measuring, rebuilding, with a little frustration to go along, and then G. is helping with planting and crust busting. Today, I found an inchworm...I have never seen one before, I put him on my arm and let him do his "inching" so I could look closely at him. They are interesting critters, with grabbing feet in front and grabbing feet in back and they really do 'inch' along. Reminds me of the song we used to sing and what a help it was for learning about "doubles" in math:

Inch worm, inch worm
Measuring the marigolds
Could it be, stop and see
How beautiful they are

(Chorus:)
Two and two are four
Four and four are eight
Eight and eight are sixteen
Sixteen and sixteen are thirty-two

Inchworm, inchworm
Measuring the marigolds
You and your arithmetic
You'll probably go far

(Repeat Chorus)

Inchworm, inchworm
Measuring the marigolds
Seems to me you'd stop and see
How beautiful they are

We used to try to sing it in 'rounds'. What fun! More fun in the studio this week, while G. is in the fields, I am 'craft' painting for practice and working on steadying my hand with small projects. My fine brush strokes are out of practice, but improving with each project.