Why, what did YOU do on your day off?

Ah, life in the country. Sort of. What did we do on our day off? Replaced the dog run, which she snapped last night while attempting to chase god-knows-what off into the woods. Changed the water filters in our house and Sparky's. Cleaned out the woodstove and the chimney. Printed out the forms I need to file Sparky's taxes....ran out of ink. Again. Looked at the new struts for my poor broken car (the first step was ordering them, now we've looked at them. Eventually I guess we'll have to install them, as we've had them for several days and they don't seem inclined to install themselves. But not today.) Cleaned the kitchen. Did laundry, which turned out to be a bad idea because now the washing machine seems to have some sort of ISSUE that will also have to wait till another time because there's only just so much excitement I can take in one day. Why does everything break at once?

On the plus side, the Raggedy Anns came out really well, considering that I should have looked at pics of them first instead of going from memory...I forgot that Ann has red-and-white striped legs. I have red and white striped fabric, but I didn't realize my mistake until they were done. On another day I might have removed the legs and made new ones. Another day, not that one. So I painted the stripes on, and that worked just fine.

I have been eyeing the maple butcher block table I bought at a yard sale last summer and finally got around to sanding/stripping in the late fall. I have no plan beyond the staining of it, except that there will be a vine (well of course!) going up one leg and winding its way onto the surface. So I guess I will start with the vine and see where it progresses from there.

They may not look like it yet....

But these are Raggedy Ann christmas ornaments. WHY, you ask, am I making Christmas ornaments in February?? I do what i'm told. (stop laughing). Well I was told to make one, but I don't remember the last time I made one Christmas ornament. So there are four. I've never made a Raggedy Ann, but Sue used to bang them out practically in her sleep so I know pretty well what they're supposed to look like. Not sure how putting that red hair on these tiny little heads is going to work out, but I guess we'll see.

So we're getting through the winter as best we can; Sparky keeps buying seeds in anticipation of the herb garden she's going to plant on the deck as soon as the weather breaks. If she doesn't stop buying seeds, she's going to need another deck. And we're still sorting through Crash's treasures in anticipation of the yard sale we'll be having...again, as soon as the weather breaks. Today was in the 50s! Unbelievable how much snow disappeared in one day. But that's one day and it's still February, so I guess that doesn't constitute a break. What DID break was the nylon carport/tent thingie that Crash put up in the back yard for the purpose of parking cars while they were being fixed and that subsequently got filled with stuff...we don't know what yet. We're kind of afraid to venture in there, and now that the "roof" has collapsed under the weight of all the ice, we won't be going in there until spring and I suspect that most of what's there will go into the dumpster we'll be renting. And that's ok too.

We lost Crash last month. There doesn't seem to be anything appropriate to say (in a blog) about my Dad, but I'm sure things will come to mind over time. I think when we're young we all think our parents are going to live forever, especially in a case like this when he remained active and mentally agile into his 80s, indeed almost right up to the end of his life. I am so thankful that there were no lingering feelings of "I should have done this" or "I should have said that" or unresolved family issues or anything like that. He left behind a lifetime of wonderful memories and stories (oh, the stories!!)

He also left behind...stuff. Lots and lots and lots of stuff. Sparky has been going through it at her own pace, and has uncovered some interesting things that haven't seen the light of day in many, many years. It's a huge undertaking but it's also something to do to pass the winter months. I've never known Sparky to be bored, ever, but I think she's going to be busy for the next year...although, at the pace she's going you never know!

Cooking for the birds....

...is not something I plan to make a habit. Not really cost effective, when you can get those suet things for next to nothing at Job Lot. BUT, Sparky gave me this recipe last year that I just got around to making and it seems to be working pretty well. I would never have bothered if I didn't already have some cornmeal in my freezer that was past its prime, so I just picked up some cheap (cheep) peanut butter at the dollar store and tried it out. It's worth doing only if you have some expired peanut butter or some stale cornmeal, but the recipe only makes three cakes so really, you can buy suet things for like a dollar apiece.

Last year, because of the weather I guess, we had next to no birds at our feeders. Sparky was despondent, and I wasn't far behind. This year, however, they've returned with a vengeance and boy, are they hungry. And they brought friends; we've got birds I've never seen before at my feeder, pine warblers and actual woodpeckers (the big fat ones, not the little black and white ones). There's also something only Preston has seen, he described it to me and it didn't sound familiar so I'm on watch for that. I wish I had a bigger window in the side of my house!

Christmas is coming....

...or IS IT???

Can't believe I haven't posted anything since July. But things have been busy here at the Compound, and more than a little stressful, as many of you are aware. Anyway, there are two things that work for me to relieve stress at least somewhat; baking, which I have been doing as evidenced by the fact that my jeans are getting a little snug, and creating stuff. Even though I have things I SHOULD be making/sewing, I find myself seized by the irresistable urge to do other things, like the papier mache' trees I started. I say "started" because they've hit a speed bump and now I must wait to finish them. I hate to wait.
What happened was that I saw something in Martha Stewart or Victoria or one of those pretty magazines, and it flipped a switch in my head. The ones I saw were not made out of papier mache, but something about their nontraditional color or the way they were decorated just grabbed me. I could go back and look again, but I won't because my trees will now go in some completely other direction and that's ok. Anyway, I had a bag of papier mache' mix so I made cones out of cardboard for a base, and plastered them with the goop. That's when I hit the speed bump. They are taking FOR-FREAKING-EVER to dry, and I swear it's been like a week. They were in my kitchen, but then I moved them over to the table near the woodstove but I can still push the sides in a little with my finger. I found this site http://ultimatepapermache.com/ (check it out, it's really amazing!) where I read that if your project isn't absolutely 100% dry before you paint it, it will ROT FROM THE INSIDE OUT!!!! wow, scary. So I wait. I am not really thrilled with this mix, either, so next time I think I'll just make my own since the recipes are on the website. The mix is quite lumpy, which as it turns out was just fine for what I was doing, but I may want to do other things that I want to be smooth. Plus, it was pretty expensive for what it is, and if I can do the same thing with some toilet paper, joint compound and glycerin, so much the better.

Things To Do On Your Day Off....

...don't usually include moving small buildings. Crash (visible supervising from the Crashmobile from a safe distance) decided to buy this shed so he'd have a place to store his Crashmobiles where they'd be easily accessible. The only problem was how to get it to where it needed to be. It was brought to the house on a flatbed, and without a plan past how to get it home, it ended up being dumped on its side in the driveway. Our neighbors, a which include several large men used to lifting heavy objects, offered help but for some reason it was politely declined. I was at work at the time or I might have tended to disagree with that decision. Anyway, several days later we were faced with several engineering/physics problems. How to get the thing righted and moved out of the way? Preston came up with the method you see here, which was working for the moment, but after a couple hours of jacking and pulling with the truck we hadn't gained a whole lot, and with just the two of us we lacked the manpower necessary to make it work.

Our neighbors watched this from their back yard for as long as they could stand it, then came over and said "we're GOING to help you"...and proceeded to accomplish in 5 minutes what we would have taken the rest of the afternoon to do (if at all).

There's a moral to this story, and I'm pretty sure I don't need to tell you what it is.

Is It Just Me.....

...or are people really taking leave of their senses at an alarming rate? Recent events here in the valley seem to indicate a definite departure from--well, common sense--but since both of the following incidents were witnessed by yours truly, maybe it IS me. You be the judge.

So, I pull up to the pump at Cumby's to get some gas. It's not really busy, only two of the pumps are occupied, including mine. I go inside to pay and get the milk and daily whatevers, and when I come out only one pump (out of a possible 6) is occupied, and that would be by me. BUT, while I was inside, a car pulled up behind me to wait. With 5 other possible choices. Okay, maybe he/she is too lazy to pull around and face the other way, but even assuming that to be the case, there are still 2 other pumps open. So I figure, maybe they think I'm all done and going to leave. Still doesn't make much sense to me, but maybe this is the guy's lucky pump or something. I put my whatevers in the car and disengage the nozzle from the pump. I proceed to pump a significant amount of gas which of course takes a significant amount of time, and the person waits until I'm done and during this time NOBODY else comes in to get gas so all the other pumps remain open. Make any sense to you? Maybe he/she wasn't in a hurry, and it's really nobody's business if they didn't mind waiting, but why in the world would you pull up behind the ONLY car at a 6-pump station? Why?

Example #2, even (to me) more baffling. Today I go to my local Chinese restaurant for take-out. It's raining, has been raining heavily for the last hour. The parking lot is packed. Two spaces are available, way on the farthest end of the lot. I'm not fazed, it's only rain and at this point it's not too heavy. What does frost my shorts is the fact that somewhat closer to the building a car has pulled in purposely sideways and is taking up two spaces. Nice car, looks new, out-of-state plates. Two people are in the front seat, apparently sitting there talking. The part that annoys me is that there's an elderly woman walking slowly with a cane, through the rain, from the far end of the parking lot when these two people are sitting there having a discussion that I'm pretty sure could have been accommodated by ONE parking spot. The bitchy part of my brain visualizes me knocking on their window and politely asking them if they're aware that there are, in fact, other people. But the sensible part of my brain counters with the argument that this is how road rage happens and people get shot. Anyway, I go in and get my food. Come out, and the car is still in the two spaces. I get in my car and proceed to back out of my spot into the crowded parking lot, making the 15-point turn now necessary because the aforementioned car has now pulled out and parked IN the lot, so instead of occupying two spaces, they are now blocking them completely, along with a good portion of the space in the middle of the lot. I resist the urge to sit there like a jackass blowing my horn, also the more appealing urge to ram the car out of the way with my bigger one (no road rage here). As I pull by the car to leave, I see that they probably would not have noticed either, because they're now engaged in...well, something other than conversation.

Now I'm FAR from perfect. I do brainless things all the time. But I try not to let anybody else find out about it (some of you, and I can hear you, are laughing hysterically. Shame on you). Not always possible to keep it a secret. Not even usually possible. But I guess I secretly always assume everybody else has their shit together for the most part, and it always messes me up when I witness something that tells me that the rest of the world is probably just as addled as I am. While this seems like it should be comforting, it's actually a little disturbing. Because I can only too easily imagine the people running my town/police force/country doing things like...oh, losing something you had 30 seconds ago when you have not moved from that spot, and walking out the door without the very thing which precipitated that trip into town in the first place, or forgetting the name of the person to whom you were just introduced almost before the handshake is over, or not being able to decipher ones' own notes a mere two hours after one has written them.

I guess I was hoping it WAS just me.