More Medieval Farm Fun!

 

Isn't it amazing that this lovely, halcyon woodsy vision is on our property? Is it any wonder that our friend the bear chose to stroll through, no doubt enjoying the view? This break in the trees leads to our stream which we are so fortunate have because it's now how we're watering our gardens. As I referenced in an earlier post, our well was presenting with low water pressure and we are being conservative with the hose watering.

Here's Bob down by the stream ready to dip in and fill the buckets. It's really quite pretty here... if one scares the bears (and coyotes and bobcats and probably a few stray mountain lions!) away. (*1) Anyway, this has become a daily event in our modern efforts to re-create how our medieval ancestors lived. Some things never change!

Fill those buckets! Tote that weight! And then we schlepp them up the hill to the awaiting water cart and pour the water into the bigger buckets. Bob is much stronger than me so he carries a couple of buckets at once; I can only manage one. But who's counting? It's all in good, clean medieval fun!

And then we push that cart up the hill (of course it's a hill!) and through the gate and away across the lawn to the various containers and vegetables that need refreshment. But all our hard work is paying off as nothing has died despite the continued drought. In fact the vegetable garden is really productive, serving up a bounty of Swiss chard, okra, lettuce, parsley, squash, peppers and the first tomatoes. (Soon to come: hazel nuts, grapes and beans.)

(This is a picture from earlier this year because I'm too lazy to go out and re-photograph the vegetable garden. It's too hot and I'm hungry. And I guess too honest.)

(*1) Not to mention watching out for ticks and leeches and variously infected mosquitoes... scary world we live in!

Bob At It Again!

 

Alright, here's the requisite snow picture. The only nice thing I can say about that is how lovely and regal Robin the Good looks silhouetted against all that white nihilism.

I apologize for my blog-posting absence, but I've preoccupied with the abundance of snow (yes, officially the "s" word) that has appeared outside. I guess I could exclaim, "Finally!" as we've had a negligible amount to date, but I prefer to grumble, "Is it spring yet?!?" as everything is harder and wetter and colder to do when there's a foot plus of that stuff outside...

So while I've been complaining, my partner Bob has been busy improving our life indoors. Remember how he made this fabulous balustrade and railing? Well, he got to work making another section of our upstairs so much nicer.

 Behind the door of our office, there has been a "problem site", to put it politely. We have a sorta-closet alcove that previously harbored a slew of boxes with our accumulated tax stuff and other assorted paperwork. A partial improvement occurred a few years back when Bob installed a random set of cupboards in which to hide our financial records. I scored a low cabinet at work (remember when I "worked"? No, blissfully, I don't either!) and we had always meant to install it beneath the cupboards. 

I tried this one day like a year ago, and was chagrined to discover that because of a narrow strip of baseboard trim, the cabinet wouldn't fit. I mean, we're talking so close and yet so far... Said cabinet then resided in our office, stacked up and unusable until Bob came to the rescue and sawed away that bit of molding. Now the cabinet fits! And we places to actually file things...

Here it is open, with Robin the Good surveying our finances...

Truly, the most exciting outcome of this operation is that Bob and I then spent part of a day throwing out tons (and I mean tons) of outdated paperwork and tax returns from like twelve years ago and random bank statements from banks we haven't banked at in a decade. Liberating! Plus all that paper becomes perfect fire starting material for our wood stoves...

And here's yet another cabinet that Bob improved! Is there no end of his home-improvement wizardry?!?! In the kitchen, Bob had fashioned a narrow cabinet next to the stove, perfect for stowing cookie sheets and other flat stuff. Bob has complained that it was too dark so he took some noisy little tool that cuts into tight places and he created a window.

                                           

Hey Presto! Let there be light! (Yes, that's Bob waving from the inside of the cabinet. ) I fear Bob may be at an end of cabinet repairs; I wonder what he'll start on next?

Now What's He Doing?

 

Good gravy! Bob's so full of projects that it'd make your (or my!) head spin! (*1) Now what's he doing?

Yes, it involves our stairway. We've lived here for just about ten years (a decade!on January 3rd...) and Bob has always said he'd make us a lovely railing in an effort to help us ascend to the dizzying heights of our second storey. 

And now he's sprung into action, making good on his word. 

See that lattice work at the top? That's all that's been between us and precipitously plunging to an untimely death for lo! these ten years. This lattice was erected in the midst of a snowstorm, shortly after we moved in here. There was nothing- NOTHING!- on the edge of the landing. It's bad enough that I suffer from extreme fear of heights but one day our then-dog Jules started backing out of the room at the end of the landing and all I could think was, "My god! Our beloved dog is going to die!" So we dug out these two pieces of lattice that were stuck in what was then the carport and hastily installed them. And there they stayed for ten years! At least it worked...

The first thing Bob had to do was level off all those white vertical slats that the house's previous owner had sawed off at oddly irregular heights. That accomplished, Bob then added a top member and wide upright boards to offer a place to screw the plates that will hold the railing into.

Looks better already! Bob has a really great idea for this whole project. The railing is going to be a simple metal bar but the screening at the top that will replace the lattice... Just you wait! I'm really excited!! It will be magic! (*2)

(*1) I mean, I can vacuum and clean up assorted animal poop with the best of them , but Bob DOES things like re-roof part of the barn and make driveway gates and chop up thirty cords of fire wood. Big stuff. Things I can't do! But I've been entrusted with spackling in nail and screw holes and probably painting. I can't hurt myself on those things...

(*2) Remember how wonderful the gate was that Bob made me for my birthday? Well this will be amazing in a whole different way. Stay tuned.

Thankful Rita (*1)

 

So I have successfully located Mommy's famous turkey head centerpiece again this year! Of course, I forgot to procure a pineapple, so this year it's installed on a log. The mini squashes are from our garden, and the brand new blue tablecloth is on its virgin voyage; thank you to Beatrice and John for Bob's birthday gift! It will be gravy and cranberry stained by day's end.

What am I thankful for this year?!??! Fuck 2020! It's almost (thankfully!!) over... hooray!

Let's see: I know I'm thankful for Bob; a heckuva guy. He fixed the barn roof recently, finishing up while recovering from an eye procedure- service above and beyond the call of duty. He (as we all know) is a great sculptor and a fun guy to have around. (He also doesn't lose it when I do things like buy a new horse. Gotta be grateful for that!)

I'm thankful every minute of every day for Robin the Good. A splendid friend and a wonderful dog. (She asks, "What's a "dog"?!?") My partner in gardening and studio time and pretty much everything else. My little shadow...

I think I'm grateful for having two horses. Sometimes they can be a pain in the ass like when they want to kill each other when food is involved... like all the time (so much for peaceful herd animals!) But in general, Maggie and Neko are entertaining and I can ride one of them. (Maggie is amused by my requiring Neko to do weird stuff; she watches us in the round pen and laughs.)

I'm thankful that I have a nice family, even if I didn't get to see them this Thanksgiving. Hello Cathy! Hello Beatrice! Hello John! Maybe next year? I promise to get a pineapple for the turkey head. (And John: I especially miss that cranberry sauce you make!! A tragedy to be without it!)

I'm grateful for all our wonderful friends. We may not be able to visit in person now that the weather is colder, but at least making contact on the phone is a good thing. It's good to know they're out there.

I'm so existentially glad that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won the election that I cannot say anything else without stumbling all over myself and becoming redundant. Thank you to all 70+ million Americans who voted for them. Democracy lives!

I guess I'd also have to admit to being thankful that we haven't contracted COVID 19. So many people have died and I go back to my previous statement that 2020 pretty much sucked. 

Onward and upwards as we hurtle towards a new year!

(*1) I am making a sideways reference to the "Thankful Arnold House" in Haddam, Connecticut. Bob and I have never been but pass the sign occasionally and say to one another, "Wonder what that's all about? We'll have to go sometime." I used think that that was some guy's name- "Thankful Arnold" but after visiting their website, I found out Thankful was a woman's first name and Arnold was her last name. Here's the link; they have an exhaustive section about outhouses from those times. Exciting!

Thnakful Arnold House

 

Nu Horz

 

OMG! Suddenly- after much anticipation and delay- Candy/Candy/Nico/Neko*(1) is here! I feel like I'm hallucinating... She's so laid back, so zen, so chill; she got off loaded from the trailer and we put her in her pasture and she fell right to eating. Good girl!!

Meanwhile, "Horse Number One" aka Maggie is carefully sequestered on the other side of the fence*(2) and her eyes are bulging out of her head:

She's like, "Who's that and where did she come from?!??!!?!" Hopefully, they become fast friends and live happily ever after. I will be keeping them separated for about a week. If they seem accepting of each other that's great. If they don't... well tough! Life may be a bit more complicated for the near future but isn't that what makes life fun? Just wait until grain feeding time... then the excitement will really begin.

Anyway, I'm sort of surprised that Robin hasn't seemed to notice that we have a new horse or has decided that all horses look alike or something because (atypically) she is not barking. Glad some one else is low key; my head is still reeling that we*(3) now own two horses.

That's Maggie thinking things over. I trust she will like having pasture company in the form of another equine pal. She hasn't seen one of her own kind in a while. I have been letting her smell my hands and clothes when I come back from riding but this is an escalation. 

At least the arrival of Horse Number Two (they're now like those multiple wives of sultans) has kept me from obsessing over the endless parade of crazy news. NOT!! See *(4) below.

*(1) Although officially, her name is Neko... by popular demand.

*(2) I'm thinking of the old adage, "Good fences make good neighbors". Hahahhaha: Get it? "Good NEIGH-bors"?!

*(3) Thoughtfully including Bob in my insanity.

*(4) And speaking of insanity, how about the entire rethuglican party deciding to go all positive for the virus? Does that surprise anyone? No masks, no social distancing... what a bunch of losers!

Quarantine Day ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Between Quarantine in general and the dark, cold, rainy days in particular, I'd just as soon crawl back into bed. Or stay in bed once it reaches something called "morning". I need sun! And flowers! And... trips to nurseries and garden centers!!!!!
I remarked to Bob that I'm sort of a junkie. I started itching and scratching and twitching and generally behaving in unpleasant and unattractive ways because I (and I'm assuming many others) am experiencing a spring in which I can't do one of my very favorite things: go to nurseries.
So I called around. Many garden centers/nurseries are open- but only if you pre-buy and pick up at curbside. This really cannot work in the horticultural arena. I need to look at and mentally combine combinations and colors. Also, I need to pick out my own plants; how can anyone else know which
specimen I think is best suited to my purposes?
I did locate one garden center in the next town over that said as long as you wore a mask and practiced social distancing, you could wander around and get your fix. Needless to say I was in my car and barrelling towards nirvana in a matter of minutes...

And here's Bob (and one of his new sculptures) proudly displaying his mighty row of garlic. He's done a fine job of organizing and weeding and mulching the vegetable garden. Bob is also displaying a more stoic approach to the cold wet weather and seems more inclined to spend time outside. Just yesterday, I got all excited and gathered tools and tarps only to find that the clouds had rolled back in and the sun had retreated. I retired to my studio.

Here's a shot of the lettuce row. The cover protects the tiny seedlings against too much rain, sun or even spatter after a quick rain shower. Bob is going to transplant the seedlings soon; I can't wait for those first tender little shoots! One of Spring's great pleasures!

Here's another view of the seedlings. It's so important in this time of death and uncertainty and lack of leadership and tragedy to have a hopeful outcome to look forward to. Great organic things to eat! Not having to run to the store for picked over produce! Yay!
This is why I'm craving warm, sunny weather: I need that time outdoors to move plants around and remake and remodel garden beds that have become chaotic and weedy. Just to dig in the dirt. Even our perpetually sunny dog Robin the Good has been melancholy and not sure she really wants to go out. (Lots of standing at the door but not moving when the door opens. Sigh.) My mission today is to cheer her- and me!- up.

What We Do For Fun, Part 102

This is Maggie the Mexican Pony's field. At first glance, this may seem pretty- all those dainty white flowers. And they are pretty: millions of tiny stiff asters... which Maggie won't eat. I proposed to Bob that I would mow the field and eliminate the flowers, before they set seed.

No, we don't have a huge brush hog or a tractor or even a riding lawn mower. We have a simple push mower and Bob has a weed whacker. Together, we decided to conquer the "Back Forty". For scale, here's the lawn mower in context:

That's the lawn mower, and by the time I had taken this picture, we'd mowed and whacked nearly half the field. Not an easy task but the day was pleasantly cool/warm and the bugs weren't bad. It's sort of like that classic Barbara Kruger piece, "It's a small world until you have to clean it". Things get bigger as you push equipment through it.

Right in the middle of the field, there is a mysterious area with dead grass in it. It's about the size of a large dining table and appears to have been burned. Weird. Maybe the aliens have landed here in their miniature space ship in attempt to create our very own Area 51. We may never know!
Anyway, we did about 2/3 of the pasture in two rounds this afternoon, before and after coffee. Bob weed whacked the edge of the field so that the electric fence would once more work. Here he is, again, with a helpful pink arrow pointing at him in the distance:

 You can see the area (dimly) to the right where we haven't mowed yet. Maybe tomorrow? Can't do everything in one afternoon!

That's a zoomed in version of Bob weed whacking, with a pile of fire wood waiting to be rescued. That was one of the several reasons we had for clearing the field. This pile of wood has been there since last last spring, before the tornado. We've had so many other stacks, heaps, piles and mounds of wood that this was not a big priority. But we needed to clear so that we could drive the truck down into the pasture and move the wood. I'm waiting until cooler weather so as not to disturb hornets, snakes and other varmints who may be hiding out!

A Post After the Elections

It's nice to be able to think about something other than politics (Go Blue Ripple!!) like the fact that Bob made this wonderful tile top table. It's got a great stable metal base with an attractive diamond pattern (maybe I'll photo that later) and these tiles were "found" down by Bob's studio. Amazing the stuff that turns up! I love the variation in blues among the tiles...

And you don't see items like this everyday! Our delightful and talented friend Roberta charmed me with an elaborate birthday package. This repurposed Osage orange (with a found alien hand!!!) announced my new magazine subscriptions (Remember that I use them in collage making). But that wasn't all: beneath the carefully wrapped orange was a lovely length of African cloth- perfect for upcoming project! and as if THAT wasn't enough, Roberta also bequeathed me a huge assortment of bulbs! Species tulips, scilla, daffodils, hybrid tulips... amazing! Any one of these gifts would have been more than generous but altogether, I'm overwhelmed! And really? It actually is nicer to receive gifts when least expected! Thank you Roberta!

And here's pastel upside down Robin to remind us that dogs enjoy getting mentioned, too! Robin's been very happy; I think she likes the colder weather, even if I don't. It makes her super frisky and nuts. She's been doing mad loops around the yard at like a million miles an hour. Craziness runs in the family.
I am trying to catch up with myself. It's hard to believe that it's almost Thanksgiving and the year is drawing to a close. So much has happened and continues to happen (and I'm not just thinking of politics!!! A decades worth of "incidents" in a day!) Remember that we experienced a tornado and we are still cleaning up from that. The tree guys are eagerly awaited to take down a whole bunch more dying spruces (the weather's been against them). I have a bunch more planting and yes! I have more studio ideas to implement. And don't get me started on the changes going on at work... anyone want to hire an artist? Actually, I have ideas in that department, too!

Enough! Enough!

On my way out the door to work this morning, there was a gigantic swooooosh! noise which startled Bob and me and Robin. We glanced out the back door but saw nothing and figured it was probably the town crew as they're delivering dump trucks full of gravel to the excavation at the end of our road. I didn't think any more about it.
But about an hour later, Bob called me at work to explain that he had figured out the noise. As if we hadn't had enough tree damage, the second half of a giant oak that had been damaged in the tornado (remember that episode) let loose. That was the giant swoooshing sound.

The final punchline to this new and updated disaster is that the tree catapulted earthward crushing another section of our fence and landing smack in the middle of my Shade Garden. This is the very Shade Garden that I strolled by yesterday- while swatting gnats and mosquitoes away- admiring just how nice it was and thinking how lucky that at least one part of our property had been spared in the tornado! Hahahaha! The joke is on me!
So Bob sprang into action and sawed up most of the large pieces before I got home so that we could correctly assess the extent of the devastation.  Here's Robin looking for bodies: (You will notice the bent and mutilated fence behind Robin. Bob straightened it so Robin can't escape but it's nicely twisted!)

Fortunately, while there is crushed foliage and general chaos, none of the rhododendrons or oak leaf hydrangea were totaled: just wrecked enough that they'll look awful for the rest of the season. And there are plenty more twigs/sticks/branches/leaves to pick up! Oh joy! Just what I wanted to do! More clean up! (And don't even ask about the leafy juicy things like hostas...)

I'm not kidding: I didn't need more restoration work! This part of the garden had been my solace after the other parts spent the early summer being cleaned and returned to "normal". I guess I have to be grateful that Bob or Robin or I weren't standing underneath when that half a tree let go. But can we please have an end to tree destruction?!?!!?

Home Improvements

Just be glad that this posting isn't what I initially had in mind: a political rant celebrating the ostrich-skinned downfall of Paul Manafort (hopefully leading to the ultimate removal of The Orange Menace and Co.) Instead, I am focusing on subjects closer to home.
Like the bedroom, fr'instance. Next to my side of the bed, about four feet up on the wall is the above hole. The former owner of The BauHaus Chicken Coop, Ken the Kreative Karpenter, used to spontaneously redecorate the house with a saws-all. We figured out that this particular hole was carved out to accommodate a television set that was viewed from the bed that had been placed in the opposite direction from where we have it. (We position our bed in configuration with lay lines so that our heads point due north). The hole has remained untouched for the seven years we have lived here, as is, until today. Literally, it was a rough hole with exposed studs and a view of the back side of the bathroom, and a towel used to block the right hand side which opened onto a no man's land that exists behind the bedroom and bathroom. Not a pleasant place!

(There's the hole in configuration with the lamp above the bed.) For some reason, as I looked the hole this morning, I was newly provoked to ask, "Why are we living with a sizable hole in our wall?" I promptly removed the ceramic foo dog, the small metallic wind up walking alligator and the small basket of jewelry that had resided there and began cleaning, thinking I would commit to a small construction project. I decided to attempt to box in the hole.
I was preempted by Bob, who mercifully rescued us and set to doing things in the correct way. I will admit to thinking that I could have sliced up a few odds and bits of sheet rock and wedged them in and thrown some paint on it and called it a day. Bob does things the way they should be done, with drills and screws and skill saws and measurements. Here's a practical demonstration: the furniture was moved aside, tools were laid out and chaos ensued so that order could ultimately be imposed.

I admit that my contribution was reduced to vacuuming six and a half years worth of dust from the hole. (It was so bad that I didn't even photograph it for posting here! I had to bath my foo dog...)
But several hours later, Bob had neatly enclosed the space and all that awaited was for me to spackle the screw holes and paint it (at a later date).

 Big improvement! Neatly boxed in and clean; I was all set to fill in the holes and prepare for the eventual paint job but the spackle had been unused for a couple of years so it was moldy when I opened the can. EEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWW!!!! (It smelled sour, too!)

Hahahahaha. I had to include this to share the grossness! I'll post pictures after we've procured new joint compound and the hole is finished. Betcha can't wait!

Almost Ready

(Yeah, that's Tilda Swinton (again). She keeps popping up, this time on our ceiling. Don't ask.)
I'm almost ready to begin working in my studio again. Almost. I have loads of ideas, which I have been jotting down on envelopes and bits of scrap paper at work but I haven't been (seriously) in my studio for three weeks. I entered last Thursday and cracked my skylights and opened a window but just wasn't feeling it. And then my muses growled at me so I went out to do some gardening instead.
I guess it makes total sense. I worked so hard, doing three shows this late Winter and Spring, I know my artistic muscles just need a break. And it's been a good and well deserved vacation!
I know I've suggested that we artists are not factories and there is truth in that. But we do get asked (constantly) to "show only your newest and bestest work". Whatever!
So I'm obviously brimming over with new ideas (Womp Womp) and entertaining possible type-faces and fonts in my mind, but I'm not committing anything to fabric yet. I'm also toying with the next artist's book which will be an intense contemplation on income disparity. Lots to ponder there!
The other thing that's been keeping me going and making me happy (besides Bob and Robin and even cranky lame ol' Maggie) is gardening. Yes, we suffered mighty set backs from that blasted tornado paying an unwelcome visit, but every few days brings another load of logs removed from yet another garden bed and more liberated lawn. My shoulders ache tonight, but it was refreshing to be able to walk directly across the yard and not have to take an enormous detour around the felled giant of a pine tree. Hooray for Bob and the new chain saw!
I know it's obvious, but boy do I love plants and gardening. I have been constructing a birthday wish list and it's all plant material. I think I suddenly discovered all the cool colors and shapes that conifers come in: lumps! bumps! comes! shafts! pyramids! blobs! pancakes! It's exhilarating. I am especially drawn to round mounds this early summer. Maybe I've explored tall narrow forms enough for a while and realize I have no mounded evergreens at all. And space! I do have more space to play with now that those trees have fallen... endless possibilities.
Wish us luck.. The tree removal men are due on Wednesday. I don't even remember what the house looks like with trees resting on it. And we have a spectacular idea in store for the stumps... stay tuned!

Things to be Thankful For

I don't know about you, but I'm plenty thankful for lovely mushrooms like the ones above that are growing on a stump in our back yard. They look like constellations. Here's the whole group of them:

I think they're as nice as anything I could have planted.
So here's a bulleted list of reasons to be thankful this Thanksgiving season:

• For Bob! He's a great guy and a good cook. Plus, he and our good friend Joe finished my studio ceiling the other day. Yaaayyy!!!
• Jule the Dog; the perfect dog who's only psychotic like .09% of the time.
• Maggie the Mexican Pony who may have soundness issues of late, but is a very nice horse.
• My studio- with new ceiling or not, one of my absolute favorite places to spend my time.
• Good friends and family members. They don't vote republican and they're not total weasels.
• A car that got me home yesterday. Although it threatened to leave me screaming at the side of the road, it came through and made it into the yard.
• For Stop and Shop being open today, although it is Thanksgiving. Bob and I sort of didn't really plan ahead as our family wasn't celebrating until later in the week. So we didn't consider that maybe other people (like the ones that work at stores) should be with their families. We were able to purchase ingredients to make Quesadillas and pumpkin pie for tonight. (Frozen, on sale pumpkin but pie none the less!)

So there! That's my 2015 list. Happy Thanksgiving!