More of What Artists Do in Their "Free" Time

(And exactly what is "free time", anyway? Bob and I seem to specialize in lurching from one major project to the next. I admit to lying about all that free time we'd have after the chimney.) Here it is the end of November and we're still finishing up the horse fence. Which involved plenty of digging and driving in of all kind of fence posts. Remember us digging holes, several months back? Lots of holes as previously announced in another blog posting, in almost another life time...
So far, it resembles a mini Christo (and Jean Claude) project. We have hundreds of feet of electric poly-tape horse fence festooning the "back forty" awaiting final connection to the posts. As we are using several varieties of posts- mixed metal and wood- we need different insulators. Those are the plastic devices that afix the tape and wire conductor materials to the posts. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that the company that sells you poly fencing doesn't sell all the various shape of connectors needed... thank goodness yet again that Bob and I are clever and capable and will create our own insulators and adapt those that are available. Bob thought to use those little plastic electrical tapes that are used to bundle wires. We found them at Home Depot in exciting neon colors (they were out of black)and it made the job that much more festive and entertaining. I think The Horse will likewise be amused at our sense of playfulness:

I am being ironic here, as it was a pretty miserable day to be doing this relatively lightweight job. It was drizzling and chilly and we were chilled to the bone.
Oh and an aside to all of our tasteful friends who no doubt will shudder when they see the screaming white plastic fence bisecting our property: we will replace the white tape with nearly invisible wire in the future. We are also sensitive to the graphicness of this tape fence, BUT as it offers superior visiblity, The Horse will see it and not try and run through it. It's a temporary fix to get Crispin home and carefully contained.

Catching Up and Thanksgiving Fragments

This delightful chunk of carpentry derring-do is direct from the roofline of our BauHaus Chicken Coop. Bob removed this and a few other similar artifacts while tying the chimney into the roofline. Pretty punky wood and a surfeit of nails made for an interesting photo, but let's just say that I am glad to have this particular section replaced by sounder ingredients!
Anyway, I feel like I've been a tad remiss in the entry department of late and that is partially due to a last spasm of household projects inspired by the waning days of fall and the advent of true winter. We, as mentioned previously finshed the chimney and woodstove installation in the house- and haven't turned on the blasted blast furnace since! Also, Bob is enjoying the warmth of his own studio woodstove, again installed with the help of our good friend Joe.
Today we made impressive progress on the erecting of electric horse fencing. Some elements were already in place, including the electric box in the "equine facility". We fortunately inherited a good quantity of metal fence posts which we will install tommorrow. Today we dug holes and put in the heavier-duty cedar posts that will anchor the pasture. The Horse, aka "Crispin", had better respect the fence and appreciate what we have done for him. He will dwell in a superior (albeit small) barn which he will be able to access and exit 24/7 whenever he pleases. He has a nice view and expansive and commodious grazing areas... no complaints please.
Best of all is that Bob and Rita are free once that fence is complete!!! Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

October Nor'Easter and Plenty of It

Here we are in October, all ready for that first now of the season... Not! I'm certain I'm not alone in lamenting the apparent passing of this year's Halloween. So much for tricks vs. treats!

I know, I know; it LOOOKS beautiful but you can have it! Thnak goodness the snow saw fit to go and melt away. The last few days have been almost balmy: in the seventies and nice.

The newly finished chimney is emitting a fine dribble of smoke. We cooked and heated water for washing dishes and stayed warm. Bob just finished installing the woodstove in his studio so we feel somewhat prepared (hahahahahahaha) for winter.

What Day Is It Anyway?

Hey! I know what day it is! It's 11-11-11 and this is the very first posting I've been able to do since thw famous Power Outtage of 2011. It's like "How many days were you out for?" We all get badges of Courage and Honor and Triumph in the Face of Adversity. We had no juice for eight days and struggled with schlepping buckets of stream water to flush and tossing out endless refrigerator re-stockings (after the losses due to Irene waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in September...) and figuring out how and what to eat for the next meal and wear to shower...
But it had it's lovely momnets such as the interior of my windshield. I sat in the car and collected swell images painted by Master Illuminator Jack Frost himself.
Here'sa few more:

I guess I should rejoice that I can still discover beauty in cold and ice as it seems last winter never left...

Thank goodness that the wood stove was finished only five days before we lost power! At least we were nice and warm. Don't get me started on the perfidy and lies of Connecticut Light and Power caused by their greed and deregulation! To hear them yatter on about how they could never have predicted a freak storm or the severity of snow on leaf-laden trees made me crazy. Never heard of underground line? I heard today that they will try and pass on the cost of restoring energy to we, the consumers. We already pay the highest cost for enegy in the country... Revolution, anyone???