We did our errands and I went out to the shop to work on the Farmer Robot.
I replaced his ‘hands,’ having found an old pair of work gloves. I stuffed the fingers with plastic peanuts and the palm of the hands with plastic bags. I drilled a hole in one side of the gloves so I could screw them onto the arms – having learned the hard way that if you don’t do that, the hands ‘disappear.’ I then wrapped some duct tape around the bottom of the gloves – also having learned the hard way – that if you don’t, wasps make nests in the gloves.
I laid him on his back in order to be able to glue new eyes in and have them stay on, instead of falling off before they are dry. When I eased him down onto his back, water came streaming out! Apparently he filled with water during all the heavy rains we’ve been having. I left him on his back and finished painting the lower part of his overalls and legs.
Later today I’ll turn him over, seeing if more water comes out, and also so I can paint the lower part of his back and legs. When I stand him up again, I’ll use duct tape around his neck to keep as much water out as possible, then tie the bandana back on.
My husband will use our truck dolly to give him a ride from the shop to his spot on the right side of our driveway pad against the house. When he is back where he lives, we’ll take pics to show you.
I’ve almost finished the 2nd piece in our metal critters refurbishing project. There are 8 more in the shop, with more to come.
_______________
,I think I told you that we got fiber optic Internet and TV when we finally got the opportunity recently. We’re very happy with the Internet. There is much less lag time than there used to be. The TV, however, is VERY upset when the system goes off, in a sudden power outage, for example. It takes forever (seemingly) to get to the point where it is up enough that our remotes again work. We decided to get a UPS that will live in the entertainment center with the TV plugged into it. Our power outages are of very short duration. We have a generator that comes on when the public power is out. It switches on by itself when it detects the public power is off for a certain amount of time. It switches off again when it senses we have public power back. A couple of mornings ago, our power went off and on several times in succession. I thought we would never get the TV back again.
The UPS we ordered came this afternoon and my husband hooked it up awhile ago. Now we’re waiting for the TV to resurrect itself and be able to watch TV again. Fingers are crossed that we have this small irritation solved now.
________________
I find it almost impossible to believe what a gorgeous day we’re having. It is normally in the mid to high 90s with a heat index in the triple digits. Right now it’s sunny and 78 degrees F. with a light breeze. Stunningly beautiful!
I hope you’re enjoying your day, too. :0)
This poor little guy we call the “Farmer Robot.” He stands to one side of our garage door, keeping watch on the yard and our garden. As you can see, he needs quite a bit of refurbishing.
I started work on him yesterday. I scraped the peeling paint, removed the farming gloves and bandana, and generally cleaned him up as much as possible.
I’ll get him some new work gloves, stuffing them with plastic bags to give them some shape. I’ll replace his bandana, and his eyes.
I got a first coat of fresh paint on him yesterday and will continue the work today. I hope I can make him look reasonable again.
Filed under Lewis Art, Lewis projects, Lewis yard art
I finished the box turtle and put him out in the rock garden again. I cleaned him thoroughly, replaced his eyes, freshened the paint, and sprayed him with polyurethane to protect him as much as possible.
I started another critter this morning. We call him the “Farmer Robot.” I’ll show you pics of the sad shape he’s in tomorrow.
Filed under Lewis Art, Lewis projects, Lewis yard art
Years ago my husband and I start playing in the shop, making yard critters out of scrap metal. We chose the pieces as we decided what we were trying to make. If we couldn’t find it, my husband made it, such as cutting the feet on this box turtle out of scrap metal we had.
All this has become much harder because salvage yards and dumps don’t allow people to wander around anymore. There are liability issues, so it’s very hard to find scrap metal and parts.
We had a wonderful time making these critters and deciding where they would ‘live’ in the yard.
Sun, water, and temperature extremes take their toll on metal yard critters, so every once in a while, we take them to the shop for some much needed attention.
This is a “Box Turtle.” The pictures don’t show all the damage, but his eyes fell off, his ‘nose’ is peeling badly, and he has a lot of rust.
There is a lot of peeling paint on his back, and his feet had to be hosed down to get rid of ‘critters’ who wanted to live there.
More rust on his tail.
I spent 2-1/2 hours in the shop working on him this morning, and he is drying now. I spent quite a while washing him. I then freshened his paint, paying particular attention to all the peeled spots. I made him new eyes and glued them on. I will spray him later today with polyurethane to protect the paint as much as possible. I’ll take a pic or two and then we’ll put him back in his spot in the yard and I’ll start on another critter.
So far, my husband has put 9 critters in the shop for refurb and there are more than that to come. It’s a good thing I enjoy painting!
Filed under Lewis Art, Lewis yard art
Today is a pretty day, though the humidity is still high. Thanks to a neighbor’s super-kind compliments about our mailbox decorations, we will change our decoration when we leave to go to Lunch Bunch. This is what we’ll put up –
We will enjoy catching up with our long time friends as we have every Friday for over 17 years now. It’s impossible to explain how close we feel, having shared highs and lows, laughs and tears all this time. The number of people at lunch changes from time to time, depending on who is being visited, which other friends took time to be with us, but the core remains the same – Kay, Linda, and me, plus my husband who was ‘graciously’ taken in as an honorary member of Lunch Bunch. Kay’s husband also joins us from time to time when he isn’t working. He is in high demand because he can run many huge machines like an artist – a vanishing skill.
When we come home, I’m planning to get out and weed whack the yard. My husband got the recalcitrant riding mower running and got the main part of the yard done. I need to do the parts he can’t get with the mower, of which there are many, followed by leaf blowing to clean things up, and then spraying with KillzAll weed killer to discourage new growth. I don’t know how long I’ll last in the heat, but it’s good knowing I can come in, jump into the shower, dress in clean clothes, and maybe even have a nap this afternoon.
Tomorrow is the official start of “Lewis Refurb 2021” where I wash, scrape and thoroughly clean one of our yard metal critters, then repair or replace parts, repaint, and finally spray with polyurethane for protection so it can go back outside. The sun and rain and temperature ranges are very hard on them. I’ll do the best I can to give them some more years as members of the Lewis family. I’ll start with our “Box Turtle.” –
This is what he used to look like. I’ll take a picture when I get started so you can see what Mother Nature does to our ‘creations.’ The poor thing is NOT a happy camper right now.
The other thing I’m hoping for this weekend is that my husband will be in the mood to cook out. I have some kielbasa and some lovely veggies that would make a delicious meal. I’m hoping we can have a late dinner, sit and talk on the deck, with our rope LED lights on, making things festive, while we enjoy the evening and our animals.
I hope that you’re having a nice day today and that you’re looking forward to an enjoyable weekend.
I had a really nice thing happen when I was down at the bottom of our driveway, getting our mail before heading to town to get a haircut.
I got the mail, and was ready to get back into our truck when a truck was driving by. I waved, and started to my truck. She stopped. I went over, and she asked me if I made the decorations that are on our mailbox. I told her that my husband and I made them together. She asked me if we sold them. I told her, “no,” because we can’t make the same thing twice, and we don’t want to disappoint anyone.
She went on to say that her family detours through the neighborhood so they can see what we have on the mailbox! She was quite effusive in her praise and my spirits went through the roof. I told her that she had really made my day. Then I had to apologize because we’ve gotten lax on changing the decoration with the pandemic. I told her we would do better.
When I got home I talked to my husband. He didn’t seem as thrilled as I was, but just now, hours later, as I type this, he asked,’ Do you think we should change the mailbox decoration?” :0)
We’ll do that as we leave for Lunch Bunch Friday morning.
Her kindness has also motivated me to get started seriously on the refurb of our yard critters.
The predicted rains haven’t started yet, so I will try to harvest some veggies today. I’ll post some pics after I wash and bag them. Happy to live on top of a ridge line right now. We may need a boat by the end of this…
I sold this tote on Amazon Handmade last night. The image doesn’t show how sparkly it is. It will go in the mail tomorrow. :0)
My SIL and some friends are renting a house on the beach for a week for lots of peace and relaxation. She took this photo this morning, pre-sunrise. I am so happy she can get away and soak this up! And WE can enjoy her vacation vicariously!!! :0)
Yesterday the postman delivered a big box with the things I ordered to try a couple of techniques new to me – acrylic pours and crackle paint. Here is the link to a YouTube demonstration if you’d like to watch
Here is the URL is the link above doesn’t work for you – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RTCTlsXtdQ&list=RDCMUCYOO4iZpEqJxTv4_ItyTQSw&start_radio=1&rv=5RTCTlsXtdQ&t=0&ab_channel=MiiPaintings
I will wait until we get some rain to play in my art room.
Have a fun Sunday!
I’m finding it hard to grasp that we’re already into May, and a third of it is gone!
Arkansas is having a ‘monsoon’ season this year. I’m growing some veggies in a raised bed square foot garden and they are loving this weather. It’s been cool and wet. For example it’s overcast, looking like it could rain any second, and is only 49 degrees right now. Friday I was able to share some spinach and lettuce with good friends. I’m planning to do my third harvest of the season today, if the weather will cooperate.
Yesterday, after over a year of absence, I started accounts on Facebook and LinkedIn again. My accounts had been hacked and I couldn’t change my passwords or get any help from support at either place, so I gave up and closed my accounts. I missed some of the people I had met, so yesterday I created a new email address so I could sign up again. I have no idea of anyone remembers me anymore or will connect with me again, but I figure it’s worth a try.
My latest project – after putting the house back together after new carpet and porch flooring – is to switch my winter clothes for summer ones. Funny timing, since we may be setting a record for the coolest May we’ve had since I’ve lived here, but I’m in the middle of it now. I have the actual clothes switched. Now I’m trying to get things organized, plus I’ve promised myself I will try things on, going through for things I can donate.
We are continuing to enjoy getting healthy, individual portion meals from Real Food and from Stu’s Clean Cookin’, both of which have opened in the past year in Greenwood.
We haven’t been putting up mailbox decorations for awhile, due to the chaos in the world. We finally put up my favorite recently. I think we can all use a hug.
I hope that you are having a good start of a new week, too.
We haven’t bothered to change our mailbox decoration for several months due to several factors. We had put up my husband’s favorite of the decorations we have made –
Yesterday we were getting the mail really late in the afternoon. I asked if my husband minded changing the mailbox decoration. He agreed, so we put up MY favorite, Calvin & Hobbes. This one makes me smile, and I think that with all we are all going through these days, it’s good to get even a virtual hug.
Filed under Lewis Art, Lewis Mailbox Decorations, Lewis projects
My body is letting me know that today might be a ‘take it easier’ day. Yesterday my husband and I did some cleaning out of our shop.
It was half as large as it is now when we first had it built. Now it’s 64’x24′. It’s a wonderful place. We have been able to set up some ‘work stations’ in there, so we don’t have to move so many things when we’re working on our projects.
It’s also large enough that we can be kind of sloppy about how much we keep out there. My husband started the clean out yesterday. Then he came and got me because about 25% of the shop is ‘mine.’ We cleaned out a whole lot of ‘stuff’ that should have been thrown out a long time ago. My husband burned it in our burn barrel, so now it looks like someone might care about the building – hence, my body complaining. :0)
Several of the yard critters we have made over the years are badly in need of a spruce up. Sun, wind, rain, and temperature changes are really hard on things that are outside. (We discovered that most recently when one of the shutters on the front of the house simple fell off the screws and anchors attaching it to the brick and shattered on the rocks below.)
I have cleared my work table now and will work on a critter we call a “box turtle” first.
Filed under aging, Arkansas, Lewis Art, Lewis yard art, Organizing/DeCluttering
Two days ago I went to my art room full of good intentions to clean things up and organize. I’ve been reasonably productive lately, so things are really a mess. :0)
I started with my drafting table because that’s where I do most of my work. As I cleaned it off, I got some ideas for new magnets to make for sale in my booth in Rags & Roses. The cleaning stopped as I started gathering the things I wanted…
Today I will go up and see if I can actually finish cleaning off the drafting table, as well as tackling more of the art room…
I’ll start painting the clothespin magnets as soon as the glue dries. :0)
Filed under Lewis Art, playing in my art room
Filed under Lewis Art
Filed under bleeding tissue paper art, Lewis Art
We usually change the decoration twice each month, putting up something special for each holiday. Since the pandemic began, we’ve just had the Tasmanian Devil up. (below)
Since the schools are open now, the bus comes by at the bottom of our driveway again. We finally decided it was worth the trouble to put something different up.
We probably will only put up things not tied to any particular holiday until things get back to what passes for normal, but it’s nice to change the look of things. The decoration we have up now was the first one with more than one image, plus the first one with 3-D ‘legs’ attached.
Filed under Lewis Art, Lewis Mailbox Decorations, metal art
I’ve been having fun in my art room the past couple of days. I’m having a great time creating “Jewels” from my old jewelry collection parts. I’m hoping that these will be adopted out of my booth in town, finding a home where they have hit the right note with someone. :0)
Filed under Lewis Art
I just had a good time finishing up the last 8 bookmarks. I enjoy painting them, gluing them, sealing them, etc., but it’s a whole other joy to choose special do-dads to be attached to them. :0)
I will get them ready to take to the booth Carla and I rent at Rags & Roses Collective in Greenwood.
Filed under Lewis Art
I’m a bit hard on books. Mine tend to have dog-eared corners on some of the pages, maybe a note to myself here and there in a margin, or they might show how much I have read them by staying open at certain spots.
When I read books belonging to someone else, like the library, a friend, or now – while I’m reading my husband’s collection of the Honor Harrington series by David Weber – I use a bookmark so that I can return them in good shape.
I’m using a bookmark I made years ago. I don’t really like it, but it’s the only one I have. THAT’S what got me going on making a bunch of new ones.
So far, I’ve finished 8 bookmarks. I’ll take the ones I’ve finished to the booth tomorrow.
I enjoy choosing a doo-dad to attach to each one, making it different from the rest. I have a whole collection of odds and ends that I paw through to find one that grabs my attention.
I may be the last person on the planet to need a bookmark, since fewer people seem to read for pleasure now, and those who do may be using a tablet, but I have a great time making them. I hope that someone who visits our booth at Rags & Roses finds one of these fun, for themselves, or for kids or grandkids.
I’ll finish up the rest of them soon.
Filed under Lewis Art, playing in my art room
These are hand-painted, super light-weight wooden earrings. They are 3 inches in diameter.
I just finished listing them on my Etsy website, Eyecatching Earrings on Etsy, if you’d like to see them, and more.
Filed under Lewis Art, playing in my art room
Yesterday I got the findings attached to the newest batch of hand-painted wooden earrings. I got them listed for sale on my Eyecatching Earrings site on Etsy.
Filed under Lewis Art
Tawny Frogmouth Owl-hcreations72 via Penny Yaffe Krakow
I LOVE this bird! So ugly she’s beautiful. AND unique in the world.
Lowes
I will finish the yard clean up today from our storm last Friday. I have used all the picking up branches and using the leaf blower to try to clear up the yard as a stand-in for my elliptical trainer since Friday. I have done at least two sessions each day in the hot sun, getting my heart rate up, breathing hard, then resting and drinking LOTS and LOTS of water to re-hydrate. I’ve been finishing that off with an abbreviated session of yoga each day to stretch out my poor, sore muscles. I had one day of neck, shoulders and arms really complaining about working with the leaf blower again, so finishing today will be a good thing.
I have a haircut this afternoon! I go to Tangles in Greenwood, owned and operated by Michael Remillard. He has cut my husband’s hair and beard, plus my hair, for years now. He makes us look presentable, and that’s no small task! I went really short last time and I have really liked it, so I’ll ask him to do that again. I just wash and blow it dry every morning. No muss, no fuss. Wonderful! If you would like to contact him, his phone number is 479-357-9305. He is the best.
I have lost almost 10 lbs via South Beach now. I am about to break into new territory on my losing-the-lard efforts, rather than re-losing what I lost before. I will be really happy when I reach that point, and will probably make you roll your eyes with my jubilance when that goal is reached. :0)
Gfycat
I am trying to finish my newest earrings today, putting various findings on them, (pierced, post, or clip-on) so I can take individual pictures of each pair and list them for sale on my EyecatchingEarrings on Etsy website.
I have no big project today, other than finishing the yard clean up. If I can do that, plus get the newest earrings finished and listed, I will be happy with my day.
The newest painted wooden earrings are 3 inches in diameter. I painted each pair a different solid color and then had a lot of fun adding a floral design to each one.
I will add the findings to each pair – French hooks on some, posts on others, and clip-on’s on some.
I will then take individual pictures of each pair and list them on my earrings website for sale.
If you would like to see more, please go to EyecatchingEarrings on Etsy
Filed under Lewis Art, playing in my art room
More Fruits from my art room –
I love making these signs. They are 6″x8″ hard wrapped canvas boards. I have fun with my Unicorn Spit paint, let them dry, spray them with fixative. Let them dry again. Then I print the saying on them. I’m going to take these to Rags & Roses Collective in Greenwood to put in the booth I share with my good friend, Carla.
“Attitude”
“Attitude to Spare”
“Not Lazy”
“Sarcasm”
“Nicer Person”
Filed under Funny Signs - Humor, Lewis Art, playing in my art room, sass
I’m of two minds about putting up decorations on our mailbox these days.
One of the school buses comes right by our house, and used to stop at our driveway years ago when our son was attending school here. I think about the kids seeing what we have put up twice each month, hoping they get a kick out of the decorations.
Since the schools are closed, maybe through the end of the school year due to the threat of COVID-19, it may be like throwing a bottle in the ocean. Maybe no one sees our decorations but us and our good mailman.
Now we put them up in a spirit of hope that the world will soon get through this awful time.
Filed under holidays, Lewis Art, Lewis Mailbox Decorations
May the dust of your carriage wheels blind the eyes of your foes.
May you live as long as you want, and never want as long as you live.
May your fire never go out.
May your well never run dry.
May we be alive at this time next year.
May the roof above you never fall in and those gathered beneath it never fall out.
May the hinges of our friendship never grow rusty.
May the Irish hills caress you.
May her lakes and rivers bless you.
May the luck of the Irish enfold you.
May the blessings of Saint Patrick behold you.
I can resist everything except temptation. ~ Oscar Wilde
HAPPY ST. PATRICK’S DAY!
Filed under holidays, Lewis Art, Lewis Mailbox Decorations
Chanse Hart via Bethany Kerr
I’ve been having fun this afternoon playing in my art room.
I’m working on a suggestion regarding earring designs from my friend/sister-in-law, and have 3 pairs in the works. I’m also having fun painting a gourd. I can only do a little bit at a time, waiting for things to dry in-between steps, but it’s really good to spend time up there again.
I went up there today with the idea I would clean things up a bit and ended up with paint all over me and new, fun projects instead…. :0)
Filed under Lewis Art, playing in my art room
creativeartworksblog 