Painting of Reflection on Water – Ann Ardon Fine Art
Look at these! These are so good they bring tears to my eyes. Painting realistic water and realistic snow are extremely difficult, and yet some people are talented enough to do it.
Gustavo Silva Nunez – DeMiked
Eric Zener
Filed under water paintings
Artist Unknown
Artist Unknown
Svetlana Cameron 2010
Filed under paintings of children
“And Yet Love” – Paul Militaru Photography
“Beauty” – Paul Militaru Photography
“I’ve Got a Crush on You” – Paul Militaru Photography
“Mimosa Flower” – Paul Militaru Photography
“Passion and Love” – Paul Militaru Photography
“Reaching Red Fingers” – Paul Militaru Photography
“Red Stars” – Paul Militaru Photography
“Refinement” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Paul Militaru Photography
credit: unknown
Yesterday, even with the concrete mixer, vibrator, and help from our friends, we really worked hard to get our ham radio tower base form filled.
Today, my husband is finishing making new ‘arms’ for the cart on which the concrete mixer sits as a small thank you for our friends help. If he finishes today, we’ll call and see if they’ll be home so we can return the concrete mixing stuff and give them some more tomatoes.
Otherwise, other than normal stuff, today is a quiet day. No ‘have-tos,’ no rushing around, no working a lot in the heat (although I need to do some stuff in the garden and check for ripe tomatoes.)
A day to regroup, play with the dog, enjoy having a/c when our heat index is in the danger zone for the rest of the week.
Filed under Encouragement
Amber has decided she likes Molly’s bed under my computer counter. She goes in and out over and over, stepping on my feet, making my chair swivel, squeaky toy in her mouth. She thinks it’s a great game.
I think we’re over the hump on her digestive problem now. She has remained playful and happy throughout, but is now almost completely back to normal. I’m going to start giving her a bit of puppy food again and we’ll see if that’s a problem or not.
She is spending more and more time with us inside. We taught her “PLACE” (the big bed in the living room) and she either plays contently or goes to sleep, over and over. She and Molly sit together on the bed, or Molly chooses to sit elsewhere, but isn’t freaking out. Amber is dive-bombing her less over time.
One of her favorite things now is for either my husband or me to come over and sit on the floor beside her ‘place.’ She knows it’s then okay to come sit with us, play, and love – and we do a lot of that.
This morning we worked on “DOWN.” She didn’t want to cooperate at first, but changed her mind when she discovered she got a cookie if she was down. We’re working on SO many things all at the same time. One of the important things now is to take food from our hands without teeth. I’ve found that if I touch her eat, she will take the treat more gently. Who knew?
We keep reminding ourselves, one day at a time.
Meanwhile, I’m making sure that a couple of times a day, Molly and I sit together. She’s my lap dog, and she loves it. I don’t want her to feel she’s getting lost in the shuffle of training the new puppy.
Filed under Amazing Animals, Family
Elegant Animalistic Tattoos by Joanna Swirskaby
via Christopher Jobson on July 14, 2017 – Colossal
“Wrocław-based tattoo artist Joanna Swirska inks carefully considered depictions of animals tinged with psychedelic splashes of color. Her most common subject is the humble feline which seems to make an appearance in nearly half of her works which run the gamut from graceful to fantastically absurd.
You can follow more of her recent work on Instagram. ”
Filed under Creativity, Tattoos!
“Scene of the Balcony” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Paul Militaru Photography
This morning we made sure we had electricity and water at the ready for the pouring-the-ham-radio-tower-base project. My husband and I emptied the back of the truck of the 16 sixty-pound bags of Qwik-Crete, stacking them on the ground close to the form. I then went back to Yeagers to get 14 more bags.
By the time I got back, our good friends Dave and Laufrain were here. We started at 10:00.
The concrete mixer would handle up to 3 sacks at a time. Most of the time we kept it to 2 sacks. But the mixer did a wonderful job. They also brought a vibrator, which was an electric vibrating pole-looking attachment that got the bubbles out, made sure the mix was good, and really did miracle work for us. There was very little hoeing to be done – mainly to move the poured concrete to the opposite side of the form when necessary. Dave finished the top off with a regular concrete smoothing tool, encasing the metal attachment base in its proper place in the middle of the concrete.
The tower base will attach to the metal we encased today. It is meant to ‘open up’ allowing one to ease the tower down on its side if necessary, and then be pulled back up into position.
We’ll bring all the parts of the tower (4 ten-foot sections) plus the huge antenna top, and will lay them out, ready to be cabled and then put together on the ground. The actual antenna will be off the ground, supported on ‘something’ so that my husband can be sure it’s responding to the correct band width level before we haul it up into place.
We’ll install guy wires on stakes pounded into the ground to keep it secure.
Here are some close up pics of the base.
My husband wanted me to put the date on one side
and his call sign on another. He was okay with me using my finger.
When the concrete sets up a bit more, we’ll use a brush on the metal in the center to get the concrete off.
We would have been dead trying to mix this much concrete by ourselves, with hoe and wheelbarrow. Our friends made it a much more bearable process. Dave will also bring another tool he has that will help us stand the tower up when it’s ready.
As partial payment for our friends’ efforts, my husband is going to replace the rickety wooden ‘arms’ on the cart the mixer is on with some nice metal arms that will probably outlive all of us. :0)
We’re lucky to have such great friends.
Filed under Lewis projects
This was posted on Facebook yesterday. They said she is called a “Secretarybird.” I think she’s beautiful, and a wonderful sight with which to start the day.
Filed under Awe-Inspiring Photography, Mother Nature
Elegant Animalistic Tattoos by Joanna Swirskaby
Christopher Jobson on July 14, 2017 – Colossal
“Wrocław-based tattoo artist Joanna Swirska inks carefully considered depictions of animals tinged with psychedelic splashes of color. Her most common subject is the humble feline which seems to make an appearance in nearly half of her works which run the gamut from graceful to fantastically absurd.
You can follow more of her recent work on Instagram.”
Credit: Christopher Jobson, Colossal
Filed under Tattoos!
We’ve had a really poor year for hummingbirds.
How many we have varies from year to year. One year we remember fondly we would try to keep our heads perfectly still and count the number we could see. There were SO many, we would be laughing, unable to get an accurate count.
This year we had seen a few, but far between, in that our spring was longer, wetter, and cooler than normal. While that was wonderful for humans, I think it discouraged the hummers from coming to see us.
We went ahead and built the hummingbird bird bath above, hoping that when they finally came, they would enjoy it.
All of a sudden yesterday, while I was in the front talking to our wonderful handyman Foy, I saw FOUR at one time in the wisteria! I was amazed. Either our wisteria hasn’t bloomed enough or at the right time, or I wasn’t in the right place at the right time, to see them.
Since then, I’ve seen TWO at once several times going to the deck feeders.
But not one have we seen even TRY the bird bath!
I decided months ago that it didn’t really matter to me if the hummers, or any of the other birds, liked the birdbath or not. I love the LOOK of the thing, and I’m even happier with the SOUND. I find it very relaxing to stretch out in a chair, cold drink or hot coffee at the ready, feet propped up, closing my eyes and enjoying the sound.
Foy and Judy had some iced tea before they left yesterday and Judy mentioned the ‘water feature.’ I told her it was built for the hummingbirds, but that they didn’t seem to like it. She just looked at me and said, “Their loss.”
Isn’t that a great attitude? :0)
Filed under Amazing Animals, Attitude, Favorite Things, Lewis projects
Well, I pruned the tomatoes in the nook planter, taking out a LOT of particularly the plant on the left side of the planter. Then I moved to the 8 foot brick planter to the east of the house where the other tomato plants are, pruning them. I got pretty ruthless, because I want all the nutrients and energy going to the parts of the plants that might actually produce.
The plants don’t look pretty now, but it looks like they’re responding to the pruning, fertilizer and Seven I put on them about a week ago.
Here is today’s harvest. We’re really pleased with our crop this year. We’ve been oohing and ahhhing at lunch and dinner, eating a BUNCH of sliced ripe tomatoes at every meal except for breakfast. We particularly enjoy giving people we like bags of tomatoes, since we have more than we can eat. (I now know how to can, but I hate to give any of them up when I can eat them fresh off the vine.)
Our friends Laufrain and Dave (our friends and bowling buddies) were telling us last night how pretty the tomatoes were and how good they tasted. :0)
We also gave some to our driller and brush hog master, Foy, and his wife, Judy.
Who can ask for more from a bit of work to grow them?
Sheer luxury!!!
Our man-for-all-next-to-impossible-chores, Foy Brown, spent most of the afternoon here yesterday, brush hogging. He has a really nice looking Kubota tractor with a front end loader on the front and an 8 foot wide brush hog attachment on the back.
We needed to have the easement cleared where my greenhouse is – and the ham radio tower WILL be. The grass, blackberry briars, and other assorted weeds were my chest high, and sometimes higher. We need to be able to lay the pieces of the tower down on the ground in order, run two kinds of cables through it, test the system, and then put it together and haul it up.
After Foy finished brush hogging to the east side of the house, you can clearly see the greenhouse! If you’ll strain your eyes a bit, you can see the wooden edge of the form for the base of the ham radio tower to the right of the greenhouse.
This is the view to the north of the greenhouse.
He then went across the edge of the civilized part of our back yard, where I’ve been trying to lop down and throw weed trees. He did a wonderful job. We still have weed trees, but they’re growing in extremely rocky ground, between rocks just shoved down the side of the hill when our house was built 30 years ago. You can’t tackle this area with any kind of riding equipment. I’ll lop what I can of the remaining trees.
You can see where I’ll need to do a bit of clean up, and then a LOT of spraying with the nice weed killer that is on its way to us.
We showed Foy where he could go down past the pile up of rocks and get to the area we would like to have cleared to renew our fire break. He did a lot of work yesterday, but then a part of the hydraulic line broke. He’ll need to get a new part to repair the tractor – now in the back off the edge of our world, ready for him to climb down and repair it. He said he’ll be back before Saturday to finish up what he can do back there.
Between the help drilling the hole we needed for the radio tower and the brush hogging, Foy is worth his weight in gold.
The next step on the ham radio tower is getting 16 bags of sac-crete. Our friend Dave has a concrete mixer! He’s going to bring it and help us mix and pour the concrete, we think tomorrow. Hooray!
Filed under Friendship, Lewis projects
Right now, our friend Foy Brown is using his tractor and brush hog to try to get the area where the greenhouse and tower base are, plus trying to clear some of the land in the back as a good fire break. He’s having his lumps not getting stuck. My husband is monitoring, to be there in case there are questions or problems.
Amber
He just brought Amber in from the deck and dumped her into the office with me. That’s no problem, but Molly is under my feet in her bed, and Abby, the cat, is sprawled out on my husband’s chair.
Molly
Abby
It will be interesting to see if we can all co-exist for awhile together, or if I’ll need to leap up and let Molly and the cat out….
Smoke is outside somewhere, so she’s missing out on the possible excitement.
Smoke
Filed under Amazing Animals, Family
I finished the wall hanging last night. We’re letting it dry, and then we’ll bring it in and hang it up and see what we think. You can’t really see the 3-dimensional aspect of the moon in this picture. I hope it shows up better when the piece is up on the wall. Will take another pic later.
Filed under Lewis Art, Lewis projects, metal art
This is the back of the piece.
And this is the front. He’s about 2 feet tall.
Filed under Lewis Art, Lewis Mailbox Decorations
“Lady Swan” – Paul Militaru Photography
“Seagulls” – Paul Militaru Photography
“Stars on Lake” – Paul Militaru Photography
“Tail of a Blue Peacock” – Paul Militaru Photography
“Two and a Shadow” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Paul Militaru Photography
$251.22 later, we have discovered that Amber
She DOES have
As of this morning, we’ve switched from feeding her half a can of the easy-on-the-tummy dog food we keep on hand to a whole can twice a day mixed with a combination of probiotics to help her get her regularity back and metronidazole for the fever, which signals a mild infection.
While we were there, we weighed her. She now weighs 41.6 pounds. We got two cases of the special cans of dog food, a 6 pack of Sentinel, since she’ll be in the 50 – 100 lb zone the rest of her life. I just fed her, using a can of the special food, plus the two kinds of probiotic and the crushed up antibiotic. She ate it all quickly with relish.
The vet was really happy with how HAPPY she seems, even at the vet’s. She wanted to play with a little girl while we were there, and also another dog. She didn’t do a great job on the leash and didn’t calm down until she was up on the table in the vet’s office, but he was smiling at how affectionate she is.
Unless we have continuing problems with her digestion, our next appointment is August 7th, when we take her in to be spayed.
Filed under Amazing Animals, Family
“The Shady Black Sea” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Paul Militaru Photography
Carol Auclair Daly sent me a message, pointing me to the website ArtPeople.net. It’s a wonderful collection of all kinds of art by very talented and intriguing people. I wanted to share the work of Aravisdolmenna, who creates ‘Fun Art.’
Aravisdolmenna via ArtPeople.net
I love the creativity, using every day things, but thinking way outside the box.
Aravisdolmenna via ArtPeople.net
Aravisdolmenna via ArtPeople.net
Aravisdolmenna via ArtPeople.net
Aravisdolmenna via ArtPeople.net
Aravisdolmenna via ArtPeople.net
Aravisdolmenna via ArtPeople.net
Filed under Creativity
The Man of Science
Have I told you I hate wasps?
I know they probably do all kinds of wonderful things to make our environment better, but I have to tell you I’m not impressed.
It seems they are EVERYWHERE around our place this year. Not only that, they’re hostile!
I spent two days last week with my arm swollen from a sting I got while walking Amber. We were going around the perimeter of the square foot garden and BAM! It took me two days for the hurt on the back of my arm and the itching on the opposite side, and the swelling to start to go away. Thankfully, I’m not seriously allergic – but this reaction is more than enough for me.
I never got stung by anything until last summer. Now it seems the memo has gone out that all the red wasps in the area are on the lookout for this old broad.
I’ve been trying to cut down our weed trees across the back that cut off our view. We have a metal flower we made and attached to the telephone pole in the back. Well, guess who has made a nest under the plastic bowl we used as the center of the flower. When my husband and I were chain sawing some of the weed trees a couple of days ago, we disturbed them and they came flying out with a vengeance. My husband didn’t see them and wasn’t bothered. I almost had to run to the next town to get them to stop chasing me.
The weed trees are still pretty thick around this.
This we call the popadoo bird and the wasps get inside the metal around his neck and nest.
There’s another next inside the electrical box beside the people door to the shop. My husband and I went to the shop to get a decoration to put up on the mailbox this morning. We opened the door and I started to turn on the light, almost putting my hand on a wasp on the switch inside the door. I gasped and stepped back, and the wasp came right for me. I tried to knock it out of the air with my purse – making probably a funny sight – no no avail. He actually came and sat on my sunglasses on my FACE! I pulled them off quickly and through them on the floor – a little hard on the glasses, but better than getting stung between the eyes. My husband tried to step on it, but missed. He flew off up toward the ceiling in the shop. We got the mailbox decoration and came back out.
I’m making it my mission to rid our place of wasps – as much as humanly possible. I’ve armed myself with
Between the two of them, I’m hoping that I can get to the point I’m not continually cringing, carrying a fly swatter, or running for my life.
Filed under Mother Nature
We’re making some progress on teaching Amber to stay on the dog bed in the living room while we’re spending time together in the living room. She’s really antsy, but she’s getting the idea. It’s to all our benefits, because this allows her to spend much more time with us. Otherwise, she’s busily driving Molly nuts, dive-bombing her, licking her, trying to get her to play, putting a paw on her, or chasing her, if Molly won’t settle somewhere. There’s also the issue of one or more of the cats taking exception to her chasing them.
We say, “PLACE!” and lead her to the dog bed, making her lie down, and then saying, “Good Dog!” and giving her a treat. We might have to repeat this a couple of times, but she’s getting the idea!
Filed under Amazing Animals, Family
“On Water in Balloons” – Paul Militaru Photography
I think this looks like great fun. I wonder, though, if the balloons allow you to float upside-down, as well as rightside-up?
Filed under Paul Militaru Photography
The view is opening up!
My friend, Cathy, wrote, suggesting we try a weed killing product she thinks is great. It’s called KillzAll. You buy it concentrated, mix it with water, then spray it on what you want to kill. I ordered a gallon this morning. We can use it while we’re fighting with these and after we finish, plus be prepared to spray again whenever we see their ugly heads springing up. If we spray at the first sign of green in the spring, maybe we can keep them under control without so much work in the heat!
Filed under Gardening, Lewis projects, Mother Nature
Our friend, Foy Brown, is helping us get a hole large and deep enough to put stakes and grout slurry in for the base of the 45 foot ham radio tower we bought recently.
He has a compressor and a rock drill, but when I went out there to check on them, they were using all kinds of shovels, picks, pick axes, etc. They THINK they can get the hole deep enough, though it’s one rock after another, making them fight for every inch.
Foy said, “Don’t take our picture sitting on our butts in the hole.” :0) My husband is sitting on the form they’re going to put into the ground when they can get the hole deep enough.
You can see how close the tower is going to be to my greenhouse. I’m not happy about that, but the tower needs to be at the highest point of our land 60 feet away from the closest power pole, and this was the spot. If my husband had found the tower first, my greenhouse would probably have not been built…
The tower will have strong guy wires attached to stakes going into the ground, so we would have to have catastrophic weather to cause the tower to fall on my greenhouse. If we have super bad weather, it’s more likely my greenhouse will lift up and try to wrap itself around the tower.
Since it’s hot outside, rather than overcast as we had hoped, I’m checking on them every half hour or so, bringing cold water and babbling at them so they have to rest a bit.
If we can get the form into the ground, the next step will be buying lots of bags of sac-crete to mix up in our wheelbarrow to fill the form.
More pics to follow as progress is made.
Filed under Lewis projects
Mehmet
Filed under Awe-Inspiring Photography, Faces
I finished the basic color blocking yesterday and then started on the LOTS of shading needed on the piece. The size is about 3 feet across by 2+ feet from top to bottom.
Here it is with the moon attached. I did a lot more shading this afternoon, but will wait until tomorrow to take more pictures.
I took Amber out to the shop with me, but she was finding a LOT to eat that she shouldn’t. I spent more time taking things out of her mouth and trying to find ‘safe’ things she could chew on, but she wouldn’t settle. I ended up taking her back to the porch and then going back out to do some work on the piece.
I have no confidence that what I’m doing is going to work. I’ll just keep on keepin’ on and hope for the best.
Filed under Lewis Art, Lewis projects, metal art
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