Beginning of a New Week 8-2-2021

Dolceluna

I’ve been using a new face cream. What do you think?

We just got back from doing errands and I’ll fix our lunch in a minute.

The scales are finally beginning to notice my efforts to lose the lard more. I’ve lost 2 pounds in the past 2 days. Re-losing – so no confetti thrown until I’m in new territory.

The new addition to my exercise regimen starts this week, too.

• Monday – yoga stretching plus exercises with weights
• Tuesday – yoga stretching plus 15-30 minutes on the elliptical trainer.
• Wednesday – yoga stretching plus exercises with weights
• Thursday – yoga stretching plus 15-30 minutes on the elliptical trainer
• Friday – yoga stretching plus exercises with weights
• Saturday – yoga stretching plus 15-30 minutes on the elliptical trainer
• Sunday – yoga stretching

Yesterday I cleaned and started re-painting the “peacock” yard art critter in our shop. The biggest part of the refurb project on this one is gluing new beads on the ‘feathers’ and around his neck. I’ll show you when he goes back outside.

Yesterday I also cleaned off my drafting table in my art room. I gathered my supplies for my “acrylic pour” experimentation. I also watched several YouTube videos on various techniques several really talented people are using. Today I bought some Minwax Pre-Stain Wood Conditioner to add to my supplies. I will find a heat gun or grab my hair dryer. Later this afternoon I hope to gather my intimidation and throw it in the trash.

I hope that you’re having a great day, too.

“Dog with Bone” is Feeling Frisky

Our “Dog with Bone” yard critter is back up and feeling frisky. With the rains we’ve had, he had been in three pieces in the shop for quite awhile. In fact, when I took our dog Amber out with me, she wasn’t used to seeing him and barked, running over to check him out.

I plan to start cleaning another “shovel bird” today.

One of the reasons I was outside with Amber was to check on our elephant ear plants. They seem to be happy.

Our Box Turtle Has New Life

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.

Box Turtle Refurb – Before

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!

Thoughts on a Friday 6-18-2021

EnchantingMinds.net

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 –

Pepe LePew and Penelope

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.

New Gloves for Everyone!

In my travels around the yard recently, I noticed that the robots on either side of our garage door needed some refurbishing. Each had a pair of gloves that had almost rotted off with the combination of wind, sun, and rain. I got a couple of pairs of old gloves from the shop, laboriously stuffed the fingers and palms of each with plastic bags, and they sat on our table waiting. Yesterday was the day. My husband did most of the work on getting the new gloves on once I removed the old ones with a combination of a screw and wire. I then added duct tape around the top of each to prevent wasps from building nests inside the gloves. (Lesson learned the hard way.)

This one is a “Cleaning Robot.” He has a broom in one hand and a ‘dust pan’ in the other, ready to do a quick clean-up when needed. His bow tie used to be bright red. Since his has really faded and is also rotting, a new one is on the way. He is made from a combination of an old propane tank and scrap metal, plus an old set of fireplace tools.

 

This is our “Gardening Robot.” He’s ready to help with mowing, planting, filling holes, mulching, and more in his tennis shoes and overalls and heavy gloves. He wears a bandana around his neck. We’ll get him a new one at Yeager’s today, I hope.  He is made from an old propane tank, a metal box for his head, tube iron and scraps.