Charles Roka – http://www.fineartandyou.com
“Innocence” – Donald Zolan – http://www.wallcoo.net
Rainy Day
pinterest.com
“Widespread heavy rain and strong thunderstorms will be likely throughout the morning and early afternoon. Another round of storms will be possible late tonight into Friday morning”. -Joe – meteorologist from KFSM, 5 News, Fort Smith, AR.
I’m so happy that we again dodged the bullet of a really impressive-looking, multicolored blob of severe weather that might have come through here. I hope that everyone who WAS in the line of bad storms is all right today.
We just had some rain last night and will enjoy being inside and dry today as several waves of heavy rain – but not severe – come through.
Filed under Mother Nature
Catbert Wisdom
“Catbert is a fictional cat, and the “evil director of human resources” in the Dilbert comic strip. He was supposed to be a one-time character but resonated with readers so well that Adams brought him back as the HR director.”
This is the back of the metal mailbox decoration we made. You can see where I tried to blend the support pieces into the design when I painted it.
I hope that others who pass our driveway also love the sarcasm and wit of Scott Adams, and enjoy the mailbox decoration we made.
Filed under Lewis Art, Lewis Mailbox Decorations, metal art
Metal Sculpture from Found Things – Take 19
Steampunk Sculpture – Susan Beatrice – Bored Panda
Welded Scrap Metal Animal Sculptures – John Lopez – Bored Panda
Filed under Art From Found Things, Creativity, metal art
Beginning of Week 2 on Nutrisystem
I ate and drank the last of the contents of the ‘Magic Red Box’ (Turbo 13) week on Nutrisystem. By the end of the week, though, due to my not paying enough attention, I guess, I was down to a bar for breakfast, a shake, a bar for lunch, a bar mid afternoon, and a ‘Hearty Beef Stew” that was the size of my eyeball for dinner (plus veggies, of course, and lots and lots of water.
I’m recording everything I eat and drink, plus my daily activities, on NuMi, their tracker, to keep me honest.
I lost almost 5 lbs (4.8) during the week, which is WONDERFUL. I just measured. It shows I’m down a bit more than 4 inches, but measurement is an iffy thing, kind of like interpretation of ‘facts’ you hear on the news, so I’ll believe it more when I measure at the end of week 2.
This morning I dived into the freezer and got the first of my actual ‘choices’ for the first month – a turkey sausage and egg muffin. YUM! I was also supposed to eat a Powerfuel, but I honestly was too full after the muffin and the 16 oz bottle of water, so I put it in the fridge and will plan to eat it later.
This week starts the way we’ll be eating for the foreseeable future. So far, my husband is resisting at least half of the veggies, isn’t trying to drink water (though he drinks unsweetened tea during the day and a sugarless apple cider hot drink) and refused the Powerfuel this morning, He doesn’t want to talk about NuMi, much less try to keep up with it, so I won’t bug him about that. I’m going to TRY to get him to eat and drink what he’s supposed to on his Diabetic plan, but he’s a big boy and can make his own choices. That said, his blood sugar this morning was the lowest it’s been since we’ve been monitoring it and he has lost 3 lbs. !!!!!! :0)
I will start trying to do yoga and the elliptical trainer each day now. My husband refuses to ‘exercise,’ but is in much better shape than I, so I will not criticize.
Main feelings of both of us at the beginning of week 2 –
- we’re both glad we started the program
- my husband has found a few food items he wants to change on our order for month # 2, but we’re able to do this whenever we want online. They post a deadline for making changes, so we know when the last day is for changing choices
- neither of us has been hungry, though occasionally we long for old, bad habits a bit
- we’re happy that our primary doctor was pleased to hear we had started the program. We have a regular, follow-up appointment in 3 months, and we’re hoping both our weight losses and blood test numbers will be improved.
Filed under Challenges, Changes, DIET!, exercise, Healthy Eating, taking care of yourself
“Pigeon on the Stones”
“Pigeon on the Stones” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Paul Militaru Photography
Attitude for a Full Life
pin by Amr Hadi
“As long as I am breathing, in my eyes, I am just beginning.”
— Criss Jami
Filed under Attitude, Favorite Quotes
Before-After Power Company
Yesterday I told you that the Electric company guys were here to cut back trees where they encroached on power lines. This is to increase the changes that their customers won’t lose power in a storm and that they can actually get to the poles to repair any damage.
This is a trio of three evergreens essentially grown together to make one bird habitat. We had to have part of the tree cut back pretty severely several years ago when we added geothermal heating and cooling in order for the big tractors to be able to dig and maneuver. If you look carefully, you can see a power line essentially going through part of the tree.
This is one view of the ‘before’ the power company did their work.
After – This is a bit different view, but you can see that they really cut the top out of the trees to free up the power lines.
Here’s another ‘before’ shot, showing the encroachment of the tree into the lines.
After – You can see in this pic that they essentially cut down half of one side of the tree.
I’m a bit sad. I don’t know what happened with all the birds that were living there. Hopefully, they’ll survive the trauma and come back, even though their digs are looking pretty damaged. The power company didn’t come to make landscaping changes – they came to protect their power lines. We like power, and we don’t want our trees to be the cause of anyone losing theirs. We also want the men working on the lines to be as safe as possible. It’s just a sad day when trees that have been there for longer than 30 years have to be sacrificed…
Filed under Challenges, Changes, Mother Nature
New Iris
Last fall I cleaned out the planter where the ‘new’ iris were, the ones from Nanna’s Iris Garden in Charleston, AR. I transplanted iris all over the yard, and still have some that need to be planted. This is one of our new ones and I think it’s really nice. I cut the top bloom and brought it into the house for us to enjoy, leaving the rest to bloom outside.
I love this time of year, each time I take a trip around the yard, I find something that fills my heart.
Filed under Arkansas, Gardening, Greenwood, Mother Nature
Metal Sculpture from Found Things – Take 18
Steampunk Sculpture – John Lopez – BoredPanda.com
Steampunk Sculpture – Karen Cuolito – BoredPanda.com
Steampunk Sculpture – Igor Verniy – BoredPanda.com
Filed under Art From Found Things, metal art
Survey Tape
Arkansas Valley Electric Company
This picture shows some of the equipment being used, but the season is wrong, showing them clearing branches after a bad winter storm.
The Arkansas Valley Electric Company guy woke us up this morning, telling us that they were bringing their equipment today to cut branches that were too close to electrical lines. We have seen them on the main arteries of Greenwood over the past few weeks, sawing down countless branches so that we hopefully won’t lose power during spring severe weather due to trees falling on power lines and bringing them down.
I just came in from trying to mark all of our guy wires on the ham radio tower, plus electrical lines going low across the area where their equipment is coming up to make sure they see them. My husband brought a PVC pole we use in the garden for them to use to hold up the low hanging lines so the equipment can go under them safely. I also unplugged the electrical cord that goes from the house out to the greenhouse so it wouldn’t get run over.
They have a regular pickup truck, a big vehicle that has a radial type saw on the end of a long pole that can cut horizontally or vertically, as needed. There is something else that is causing big chips to fly in all directions, so we’re keeping our animals inside until they are finished.
The biggest problem area that I can see is our triple evergreen trees that are practically grown together, home to countless birds. The tops of the trees are really encroaching on the power lines. They might have to aggressively attack those to protect their power lines.
We are due for severe storms Thursday, so I’m delighted that they are out there now cutting away the stuff that might cause problems.
Filed under Arkansas, Greenwood, Mother Nature
Reading for Pleasure – A Quality of Life Thing
The Writers Circle via Cathy Ruggiero
Our lives have been fairly stressful lately with lots of challenges and changes. The result of all this effort is that our lives are improving, slowly but surely, but I’m finding I need to escape awhile each day to maintain what is left of my sanity.
I’m enjoying the last in the series “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” by Anne Brashares right now. I can dive into the books, losing myself in the process, cares falling away like leaves in the fall. I emerge – reluctantly – when I need to – feeling refreshed. I wish that everyone could enjoy the act of reading for enjoyment.
After I finished school – getting my Master’s Degree as a Reading Specialist – I couldn’t. I would pick something up, unconsciously tensing up, reading as though I would be tested on whatever I was reading later, mentally taking notes to be regurgitated whenever asked. I almost lost my love of reading because of years of reading what I HAD to read. Kind of an indictment of the school system, isn’t it?
I regained some of that joy when I began teaching. I loved sharing my joy with my students, many of whom had such frightening lives daily on the north side of Tulsa, Oklahoma, that they didn’t have any interest at first. I taught them phonics by singing a stupid song and playing my guitar. They loved the singing and the movement, and learned that letters make sounds, working together to make short words, and then combining to make longer ones. Once the magic of the printed word on the page made sense, the ‘light bulb moment’ showed in their bright eyes and wide grins.
Statistics about adult reading are depressing. I guess too many people are working so hard to make ends meet and take care of their families they think don’t have time for reading. My heart goes out to them because a good book could help them deal with their situation so much more easily.
As soon as I finish the last book in the series of the Traveling Pants, I found two more books by Anne Brashares that I haven’t read yet, and then I’ll dive into another Jack Reacher book by Lee Childs. What are YOU enjoying today?
Filed under Hobbies, Reading is FUNdamental
“Camouflage in Case of Danger”
“Camouflage in Case of Danger” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Paul Militaru Photography
Metal Sculpture from Found Things – Take 17
Steampunk Sculpture – James Corbett – Bored Panda
Steampunk Sculpture – Mari9art – Bored Panda
Steampunk Sculpture – Hulk – Bored Panda
Filed under Art From Found Things, Creativity, metal art
Entertainment Center Purge Project
Yesterday I started a new cleaning/purging/give away/throw away/reorganize project – the entertainment center in our living room. The shelves cover the wall at the end of the room and are brimming over with DVDs, books, gadgets, throws, afghans, ‘fru-fru’s’ (as my husband calls them, and more.
This project is fraught with peril because my husband doesn’t want me to do away with any of his DVDs or books. I will simply see if I can reorganize them a bit and clean thoroughly (yesterday I did a first pass and choked on the dust.)
He has an idea about using the computer to record all of our DVDs onto the computer, rather than having the physical DVDs. I’M the one dragging feet about that. I told him that he can do that with his DVDs, but I wanted him to leave MINE alone. :0)
I’m am going to seriously go through MY books and the other things in the shelves, seeing which I can sell on Amazon or donate to the local library for their next fund-raising sale. I’ll need to get up on a ladder to reach the back of each shelf, and that may be the extent of my exercise today.
This will be a several day project, with my trying to get more and more ruthless with each pass. (I’m starting with the large shovel ….)
Hummingbird Bird Bath is UP!
Last year I saw the prettiest picture on Facebook of a hummingbird bird bath. This one is very different from the one we saw, but we enjoyed putting our spin on the idea.
This tub has a hole in the center where the water can come in. We have a trashcan under it with a pump. The system is set up to recycle the water, only using more water if the level in the trashcan goes down below a certain point, at which time the hose automatically turns on to add the needed amount. The PVC pipe is drilled with holes to make the spray. The system is on a timer, so it starts up at about 8 am and turns off at about 8:30 pm.
I put bricks and stones in the bottom to be at a level where hummingbirds can sit or stand. They can play in the water, then warm up and dry off on the rocks. For some reason, we didn’t have a lot of hummingbirds visiting our deck, even though we had several feeders out and then built the bird bath. I like the bird bath enough, though, if only for the calming sound of the water, to make it well worth the effort – whether the hummingbirds like it or not. :0)
I’ll put out feeders this morning, just in case we have some hummers around.
Filed under Arkansas, Greenwood, Lewis projects
Greenwood Arkansas Tornado – 1968
April 19, 2018 marked the 50th anniversary of a tornado that practically wiped Greenwood, Arkansas off the map. It happened just after school let out on that day in 1968. 13 people died and hundreds were injured. Half the town square was obliterated, the tornado blowing away over 400 businesses and homes in the space of 4 minutes.
Greenwood Tornado 1968 – GreenwoodDemocrat.com
On April 19th of this year commemorations were held all over the city. Books were published by the Greenwood Democrat that we could buy, showing photos and giving details of that day. Farmers Bank also published a book that they were giving away to citizens. People gathered to see a video, ask questions of the survivors, and appreciate what happened. Others gathered at the square. Survivors recounted their memories of the day that devastated Greenwood. The tornado was national news in 1968. They figure now that it was an F4 tornado.
Through the tragedy, though, people rebuilt. Survivors with homes intact offered rooms, clothes, and food to those who needed them. Ham radio operators helped with communications. Surrounding towns provided help. Help was offered from far away, as well.
There were 2000 residents of Greenwood in 1968. Today there are around 10,000. Instead of giving up and going elsewhere, the strong people rebuilt the town, building a stronger sense of community than ever before.
The photos of the devastation tear your heart out. The people of Greenwood were stronger than 4 minutes of Mother Nature’s wrath, though – stronger than anyone knew.
My husband and I found Greenwood, Arkansas when he took a job in Fort Smith in 1987. We feel lucky to have found such a wonderful place to live.
Filed under Arkansas, Greenwood, Mother Nature
Greenwood AR Car Show 2018
Photographer Unknown
We went to the 31st Annual Greenwood, Arkansas Car Show yesterday. I think it gets larger every year as word of mouth spreads about how enthusiastic we are about incredibly restored and souped-up cars. Proceeds go to local scholarships and charities. There are the wonderful cars of all types, models, years, of course, and there is food and drink, country music, door prizes and awards given in several categories for the entrants. Many of the cars are for sale.
The good businesses around the square shut down for something like this, knowing that the events are good for the town, the charities, and fun for the people. They close off three sides of the square to traffic, allowing the main road to stay open.
We spent about an hour there. My husband was interested in the engines. I was interested in the shape and colors of the cars. The oldest car I saw was a 1926 Ford. Something older than we are! :0)
My favorite is always a 1932 Ford Deuce Coupe. There is something about the size and shape of that vehicle that calls to me.
Photograph by Dave Koontz
I have to tell you, though, that as much as I like a Deuce Coupe, I’ve been drooling over a deep purple Jeep that is in a lot on the way to Fort Smith lately –
The 1st Greenwood AR car show was in 1987, the year we moved to Greenwood and had our home built. It has been wonderful to watch it, and the town grow and thrive.
creativeartworksblog 