Rock Painting – Roberto Rizzo – via article by Hidreley – BoredPanda.com
Monthly Archives: July 2021
Hilarious Signs
Hilarious Signs – Taura Sitkauskaite – BoredPanda.com
Filed under Funny Signs - Humor
Wonderful Wood Art
Filed under When Wood Comes Alive
Lard Progress Report – 7-31-2021
Short answer: I lost an inch off my hips and a half inch off my thighs since the last time I measured, a bit over a month ago.
Total loss to date since my heaviest: 30 pounds and 28.7 inches.
Ongoing focus:
- IF I eat in-between meals, have plenty of ‘approved’ snacks READY
- Concentrate on my exercising, since it seems to be yielding results
- Monitor scales, but don’t look to them for applause
General: We are eating carefully at lunch, and then eating a frozen meal from either Real Food or Stu’s Clean Cookin’ in Greenwood. We are happy with the variety, and we’re eating controlled portions.
I’m trying to do a session of yoga stretching daily, plus work with weights M-W-F, plus a session on the elliptical T-Th-S – unless I’ve been outside doing yard work. Then all bets are off.
Filed under Challenges, DIET!, exercise, getting the lard off, taking care of yourself
Garden Update 7-30-2021
The sum total of my ‘harvest’ today. With the over 100 degree F. heat, even with our irrigation system, the tomatoes are boiling right on the vines. I’m afraid we’re almost finished for the year.
I do have some tomatoes from the last harvest in the fridge. They are getting soft, though, so I’ll cut them up and freeze them for stews later on.
I told you before that I still need to harvest our sweet onions from our raised bed, square foot garden so they can start drying. “I” tend to “boil right on the vine” in this heat, too, so I’ve been putting the task off.
We’re supposed to have a cold front moving through this Sunday, so hopefully I can do this, plus start to clean up the garden for the season. Right now it looks like no one cares. :0(
On a happier note, here are the some of the elephant ear plants –
Filed under Gardening, Square Foot Gardening - Raised Beds
Love Has So Many Forms
Filed under love
Mama and Baby Snail
Mama & Baby Snail are refurbished and living on our front porch now. I finished repainting these yesterday and brought them out late yesterday afternoon.
Next will be cleaning and repainting our “peacock.”
We have Lunch Bunch this morning, so I don’t know whether I will start the peacock cleaning today or start earlier in the morning tomorrow.
Filed under Lewis Art, Lewis projects, Lewis yard art
A Bit More Progress
One of my long-time friends came over yesterday for us to fax a document for her. When we finished, I walked her out to her car.
She said, “You’re looking good. What are you doing?”
I grinned from ear to ear because it felt GOOD to hear that. I KNEW I don’t look, “Good,” but comparatively speaking, maybe better. I told her about concentrating on my exercising rather than the scale.
She wouldn’t have told me I looked bad, but she didn’t have to say anything at ALL.
Now I feel more motivation to keep on keepin’ on!
Thoughts on a Thursday 7-29-2021
Since I griped to you about not getting my long-awaited J.D. Robb book, (# 52 in the series that just came out in paperback,) I have received TWO. I’m watching my Amazon account now to see if they are charging me for both copies of the same book. Can’t make me happy – either not enough or too much of a good thing. :0)
We just came in from working in the shop very briefly this morning. I finished painting the latest yard critters to be refurbished, “Mama Snail & Baby.” I’ll take pics when we bring them out later today when the paint is dry.
I have TWO mouth-watering art techniques I want to try as soon as the refurbishing project slows down: “Acrylic Pour” and “Impasto Painting.” I’m enjoying myself immensely watching YouTube demonstrations, trying to learn what I can before throwing caution to the winds and trying it. I would like to find some wrap around canvases first, so that they wouldn’t have to be framed to be enjoyed.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=acrylic+pour+with+silicone+oil
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=impasto+painting+technique
My husband is hoping that our grass will get ‘brown and crunchy’ due to the high heat and lack of rain. I hate to tell him that we MAY get a cool front and some rain Sunday…. maybe the weather people are being too optimistic.
Have a wonderful Thursday!
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
Wildlife
We’ve had an amazing several days on our trips to town. Almost every day we have seen deer, either standing beside the road watching us, or jumping in front of our car, scaring us to death before we can breathe enough to appreciate their beauty.
Yesterday it was a doe and two fawns crossing the road. The mother went first, followed by her baby, and then, when we thought the show was over, another fawn followed them.
I don’t know if it’s the really hot weather we’re having lately (heat index of 113 F. today) or what. Usually, if we see them at all, it’s early in the morning or just before dark in the evening. Now it’s in broad daylight.
I love it – but I HOPE we can give each other enough space not to get hurt.
Filed under Amazing Animals, Mother Nature
Beautiful Wood Sculpture
Filed under sculpture, When Wood Comes Alive
The Wisdom of Dogs Continues
“Read books. Lots of books.”
“Give hugs.”
“Find contentment in creating chaos.”
“Protect what’s yours.”
“Accept everyone for who they are.”
“Get into mischief.”
“Pass on your wisdom.”
Filed under Amazing Animals, Favorite Quotes
UGH
Our mailbox decoration represents a return to our ‘normal” summer in Arkansas, rather than the cooler, rain-filled summer we’ve had this year. We’ve gotten quite spoiled, not fearing heat stroke as we mow, weedwhack, tend our flowers and square foot garden veggies.
All that ended about a week ago now. The rain stopped, the sun came out with a vengeance, raising our actual temperatures to 100 or more in the afternoons, and the heat index to surge even higher. UGH.
The only thing left in the garden now is sweet onions, weeds, and our two planters of tomatoes.
My husband managed to get the civilized part of our yard mowed, mowing right before dark one evening and then first thing in the morning the next day. I followed that with weed whacking right before dark night before last, and then finished it up last night and blew the debris off our sidewalks and driveway pad with our leaf blower. I was planning to use our push weedwhacker this morning in the area behind our shop and beside our garden, but we talked about it and decided I would really be risking heat stroke. I walk outside, with my headband on, and I’m instantly wringing wet. I think we will only do what is absolutely necessary until this “Punishment from Mother Nature” passes. We might even wait until fall…
I WILL pull the sweet onions and start drying them soon. I don’t know how much longer the tomatoes will make. Even with our irrigation system, the tomatoes are almost boiling on the vines. Happily, my elephant ear plants and phlox or doing well, even with the heat. I’ll try to get out and get pics for you.
When I get out there early enough, I’m still working on the refurbishment project of of our yard critters. Right now I’m repainting “Mama and Baby Snail.” I post a pic when they’re ready to go back outside.
Every summer I regret the fact that we ran out of money when we were building our home over 30 years ago. We managed the main house and the small shop, but we had to give up my dream of a pool. I taught swimming every summer from age 14 through college to help pay for my education. We live on top of ridge line, and had to dynamite several times to be able to have our basement, septic system, and the pool. We got the first two, but not the third. Every summer I dream of a beautiful in-ground pool. Of course, I also dream of Sven, the gorgeous pool man, coming to take care of it – and me. (If I’m going to dream, I’ll include it all… :0) )
I hope summer is being kind to you.
Yet Another Character-Building Exercise
I wrote recently of keeping priorities straight and focusing on the good happening in the world. That doesn’t keep me from being aggravated that the book I ordered – that was SUPPOSED to ship yesterday – did not.
If you’ve been reading my blog for awhile, you know that one of my favorite authors is Nora Roberts /J.D. Robb. “Faithless in Death,” the newest paperback in the In Death series by J.D. Robb, was supposed to ship yesterday. I had pre-ordered it, then re-read the 51 previous books in the series to be ready for the new addition.
I received an email from Amazon yesterday, saying the shipment had been “delayed.” No explanation as to why, or when it WOULD be shipped. Arrrgh!
To help myself wait for the new addition, I bought and read her “Sign of Seven Trilogy” – Blood Brothers, The Hollow, and The Pagan Stone.
Patience is not my strong suit. I am TRYING to keep my bubbling personality, but you may be able to hear my teeth gnashing…
Filed under Favorite Authors & Books
Stunning Pencil Portraits
Filed under drawings
Too Many Elephants?
Baby Elephant Pictures – Inga Korolkovaite – BoredPanda.com
Filed under Amazing Animals, Awe-Inspiring Photography
Bearly There
More Art by Andrey Sagalov
Wood & Bone Figures – Andrey Sagalov – designyoutrust.com
Filed under sculpture, Wood & Bone - Andrey Sagalov
Happiness
I believe, more than ever, attitude is all.
You can choose to be mired down, despairing over the state of the world, Covid and its aftermath, personal problems, etc., or you can CHOOSE to concentrate on what is inspiring, hopeful, and uplifting. You can live in fear or you can CHOOSE to slug on, doing the best you can at any given time, and deal with what happens.
This doesn’t mean you live with your head in the sand, ignoring the important things happening around you. It means you work to change what you can and handle what you can’t change in the best way you can.
I choose to concentrate on what is RIGHT in the world – what is BEAUTIFUL – what is hopeful, and what fills my heart.
Filed under Attitude
Rock Painting
Filed under Roberto Rizzo, Rock Art
Never Enough Funny Signs
Filed under Funny Signs - Humor
Thoughts on a Monday 7-26-2021
Isn’t this bird wonderful? I want to try to cheer him up.
We are having a quiet day so far today, and I am grateful.
Summer is definitely here now with an afternoon actual temperature of 96 and a heat index at 100+. Little or no rain in the forecast until further notice. UGH
The wonderful news is that my husband got the repaired part back in the Corvette yesterday and the vehicle is now sitting in our garage! WOO HOOOOO! After paying the service department at the Chevrolet place in Ft. Smith $85.00 to look at it and tell us the part we needed had been discontinued, we spent $10 for a tool. We didn’t need to buy the replacement part we found on the net – though it was good to know we could have. My husband got the part out, pried the top off the ‘module,’ soldered 4 wires, put it back in the car to test it, and IT WORKED. He took it back out, sealed the top back on, put it back in again (able to get 5 of the 6 screws in) and all the warning lights disappeared.
We were going to take it out for a test run, but he’s going to call the shots on that. He is really sore – particularly the rib muscles on his left side – from lying on the car, stretched as far as he could to reach and fight with recalcitrant parts for HOURS over a three-day period. He has bruises bungs, gouges and scrapes over the backs of both hands and one arm. I’m trying to get him to rest as much as possible over the next several days.
Since he’s like the Energizer Bunny, even when he’s hurting, he got out right before dark and used the riding mower to mow the back yard. Then it was too dark for him to see. He’ll probably finish the yard today, but I’m HOPING he’ll wait until right before dark again. I’ll get out and do the weed whacking today.
The “refurbishing-of-the-critters” project is ongoing. I’ve cleaned and repainted 12 yard critters so far, and am currently repainting a pair of critters we call “Mama Snail and Her Baby” in the shop. I should finish those in the next day or two and will post a picture. The next larger critter is a “peacock” I’ll start after that.
I’m considering shaving Amber, our 95-pound yellow lab. Yesterday I vacuumed the tiled area on our first floor (utility room, dining area, kitchen, pantry, and two half-baths) and easily got an entire dog’s worth of hair in the vacuum canister. I’m due to vacuum the carpeted areas today (foyer, office, and living room) and will probably get another complete dog’s worth. Her hair, as you can see, is short. It amazes me that she can shed that much and still be covered with the normal complement of hair!
It is SO hot here now, that it doesn’t matter that we have an irrigation system on our raised bed, square foot garden. The only thing doing well out there right now is our onions. This has been a really weird growing season. We still have our planters of tomatoes. They aren’t pretty this year, but they are really delicious. I’m going to start trying to pull the onions, spreading them out to dry on a trailer we have with a grilled bed on it, perfect for lots of drainage. I’ll then clean out the garden bit by bit, trying to work in the morning or just before dark to avoid a heat stroke. :0) Right now it looks like no one cares about it. I’ll take pics when it’s more under control.
Happy day to you!
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
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