September 29 2009 packing day

He goes away and
I stay to wait
and we are getting better at
our brief times apart
but only in theory
in practice
it
sucks


________
My daughter's science photo for the day, auto

September 28 2009 school

Found it!
A way to get pumpkin number one to do her school work without me standing over her shoulder.
She even said she liked it!
and there were glaciers
and finger paints
and violin practice
and trail mix
and she still has plenty to do tomorrow

September 27 2009 clean

moved about a million things around
and
I call that clean
maybe one day
I'll get past organization and
actually clean something

September 26 2009 show

We went downtown to where his pieces were on display
and walked by all the cars that were on display
I'm selling my car
and the other car
(and throwing a third in with the first)
and I think I am going to buy that car that was in the show today

oh

it will be the oldest yet
1949
I'm going to buy it.
mine

September 25 2009 nada friday

I didn't take a picture
I didn't turn on the computer
I didn't do something every day

I still think I am a firm believer that time off is more important than time on
It's a writer's input time

I definitely put in my time on friday
Just not here
and not for this
and not for you

everything is not about you

September 24 2009 day

Today
lazy day
wore my new shirt today
something about my new shirt
I'm a dork

new levels of dorkness achieved every day

September 23 2009 education

She read the story
instead of telling me one
and that was the success of the day

After so many days on the task
so many weeks
she read the story

September 22 2009 spoons

Tomorrow the artist is offering up his work to the god of sales
Let's hope all goes well

My contribution: Finding spoons.

September 21 2009 free

Today was the one day I spend finding
things for free across the country
to teach with
or to make stuff from
or to ease my life--like shelving--
it's my version of shopping.

I don't buy stuff.
I get everything I need via some other method.

Well

Sometimes I buy stuff.
Because sometimes

a) stuff isn't free
b) stuff is worth it. Like art.



Also, I hope my tomatoes don't freeze.

September 20 2009 sick

September 19 2009 tea

September 18 2009 scream

It's that day
that day where you don't want to tick me off
say
kick me out of my library room because you are twenty-five minutes late to an event you didn't post a reservation for on the door of said room
when I only ask for five more minutes
Not cool.

I'm likely to get myself my own personal post on
passiveaggressivenotes.com
of course
I'm going to call first, and talk to public relations

don't offer a public space that you remove from public access without notice
It's discourteous
and barging in because someone else made a mistake in my favor and expecting me to move
Not cool.

September 17 2009 nothing to say

what then
do I do with the moments I have left in a minute where I've used more than half being unhappy or displeased or angry
where I finish crying and there's this moment where there is not what made me over-react nor is there anything that makes me act rational, just this in-between non-experiential moment
what do I do with those
as I sit and realize that I'm done with what I had been doing but moving on doesn't give the former the credence it deserved

I chant a bit of mantra where I say
"I love you
and I love that you are strong-willed
despite what I just said
and I love that you are strong-willed enough
to put up with me"

though all that comes out is
"I love you"

September 16 2009 made of time

wrote some today, an episode that happened a while ago and has been stewing for some time

enjoyed my first day of "living with a closet." It's been quite some time since I've had a real closet
This one is the best
the most functional
the most comfortable
and it was finished yesterday by my resident fixer-upper, via my design and about a million friends' opinions swept in

Since march I've been closetless
Today it took me about two minutes from "decide to dress" to "dressed"

totally awesome.

September 15 2009 remembering

No one will remember why I keep the things I keep
because I don't tell their stories
so their stories aren't shared
and the reason they're valuable to me
is not a reason any could figure
so I thought a bit of a photo album of where and who loved the things I have before I had them
because that's why I have them in the first place
history

September 14 2009 at the park

happy mommy day to me! went to the park. bummer they haven't repaired the ropes I complained about months ago and they'd said they'd fixed. here's the pic I'm sending them tomorrow so they can actually fix it.

September 13 2009 fancy

in one moment,
one small moment
I became a mother

Gold necklace from my grandmother on my mom's side
Butterfly from her great-grandmother on her dad's mom's side
Fingernail polish from nowhere in particular
A flower from last year's birthday
And a dress from mom

She is made of everything that was before her
and she is unique because she is the only one like her.


__________

photo cropped from auto+flash

September 12 2009 Katydid

September 11 2009 sober

I was asked tonight
if I ever got tired of being the only sober one in the group
and I had to answer
that all I had to do was look around to remember I was totally and completely happy to still be sober
drunken lectures
conversations in worlds I don't care about
in words I don't care to hear
and with words they don't hear at all

And all I want to do is enjoy myself, even if the company is alternately planar to myself

I find myself in company that I don't fit with often
I've written of this before, in previous years
It's a common theme
but for the most part there really is no company I fit with
never has been

It's all I can do to enjoy what I can
because it's all in my own attitude towards it all.

No, I will never get tired of being the only sober one.
I thank my stars that I have always been that way.

September 10 2009 Finding

My literal piles, as opposed to the figurative ones I mentioned the other day,
have been moved and sorted again. In the process
I found several bits of my jewelry.
I have very little jewelry
--and furthermore never wear any, even a wedding ring--
so it was quite a surprise to find them in the pile.
My bracelet from my sister
A hat pin from my grandmother-in-law's inheritance
A butterfly hair clip from Greece as a gift from that same grandmother-in-law
--one of the first things that ever made me feel like she accepted me in the family--
And here they are again in the same location and
later tonight I will put them in the box with the other jewelry I never wear
which I save
even though I do not expect I will ever grow into a fancy stage
a dress-up stage
and my children will find it in a box as my heirlooms and wonder what it was all about.
Maybe I should write a story about each piece
because I wouldn't keep them if they didn't have a story
so that when they find them
they will be as valuable to them as they are to me.
Maybe.

September 09, 2009 It was

Swift and true flew my lesson today
addressing the most basic of issues without so much as a hint that she might be learning something

The knitting needed cut down to size, by half in fact,
and the scones from yesterday were free

The jokes were funny
the mail line was long
--twice--
and the shirt made me seven minutes late

and it was just a day
like any other day

September 8 2009 friends

It's a relationship that includes a fair amount of exchange

like zippers and a car seat and a repaired sweater

for a broken lamp that works and some fresh eggs and one of the twins to hold

or lessons for lessons, which isn't as equal as it sounds but we make it work

or coffee for company

which is how most relationships seem to go

coffee for company

but I like a piece of the London bridge in exchange for being on call to help, as much as I can be anyway.

It seems to work out in both our favors to give as well as recieve.

September 07 2009 undone

everything in my life is in flux
in between later and now is a pile that needs to be done and by the time I get there
by that time there will be another pile because all they do is shift
shape shift
category shift
purpose shift

it's not that there's a lot around that I don't need
it's that there's not enough around of what I do need
and to construct what I need takes time
and my time is perpetually split

so all I can accomplish is moving stuff from one pile into another with some things
sifted
out and placed where they belong

...and that's just my novel.

September 06 2009 Sit

Hey everybody,

some days I get left
just sitting around, being around,
then everyone walks away one by one until I'm all alone
and stuck, usually, stuck watching my own kids and sometimes theirs too,
while everyone is off being social with the adults.

I'm never quite sure where the line between being a mom and being a babysitter gets crossed,
but I thinks it's somewhere perpendicular to
when others prioritize their being an adult with their fancy adult choices
over the result of a previous fancy adult choice that results in perpetual responsibility
how do I get to be the pendulum and when do I get my turn at being an adult?

Why does my personal fancy adult choice of
not choosing what those other fancy adults do
make me the one stuck in a seat by myself all alone ensuring the welfare of children?

Should I enumerate the times I was stuck alone tonight? Waiting? Stuck, unable to walk away and inspect the reason for my isolation, to find a way into the "adult crowd"?

signed,
doomed to always sit at the big-kid table, watching from a distance of age over a bunch of little kids

September 05 2009 a toss-up day

Arose to scout for missing personal belonging lost by the side of the road two hours away
Found said item
Dropped by to enter an alert on the delivery of second lost personal belonging to an empty building
And found someone there
Missed lunch with friends
But they were open for the afternoon so we went over anyway
Expected the arrival of long-time-no-see friends
Which ended up being unexpected until midnight so we stayed put
Played a game I tend to play hit-or-miss
And I won one game outright and nearly another, on purpose

September 04 2009 Expect

to sleep, perchance to dream
but all the dreams were militant and bitter like the last words spoken before bed in a state of mind that precludes the rule of not going to bed angry
and all the bitterness awoke in the darkness with a head full of clouds and a struggle for sleep
immunities start weak, especially against militant words
and waking with the sun is too soon or too late because you can't take anything back

tiny bits of pharmaceuticals and herbs as a combat aid
programmed chemicals against the ones you didn't expect
there are no drugs for the dreams I had last night
or the dreams you had
where we tore each other limb from limb in bitter hatred
no bitter bit of chemical to wash down with water

nothing to ward off what can't be explained

September 3 2009 And then there were peaches

The sun rose and waved at the earth in shades of yellow and shades of grey
The sun rose and colored the earth in skies of tarnished gold
The sun rose and warmed the earth with shadows and yellow spots
The sun rose and baked the earth and dried the tongue
The sun rose and teased the skin that walked below with dark stings and sharp reflections

and there were peaches and the peaches were unwanted except by me so I took them

and the sun set the rest of the day

September 02 2009 Offspring

being that intelligent life begets intelligent life
--or so I would like to think, as such implies I am intelligent life
based on the idea I have been given intelligent life to foster--
being that
I think there is a level at which I think I am outranked by the subsequent generation of intelligent life.

Who else will make me lunch?
or wear a fancy dress up costume all day instead of clothes
and wander around correcting my poor arithemetic skills
and in a sweet, innocent, condescending way assure me that said skills can be improved upon with practice?
Who else requires their speech to be translated via assembling bits of alphabet
thus creating an environment in which they cannot be brushed off?
(spelling as a fishhook for mother's attention)

Who else can define infinity so succinctly before they even have an opportunity to use it against you?

September 01 2009 I have rested

I have rested my mind and my responsibilities.
I have given my thoughts to other endeavors, and friendships.
I have accomplished, and traveled, and wandered.
I have contemplated and discussed and left thoughts by the way-side.

I have rested, and I have remembered.

I have been frayed.
I have been together.

I have been missing. I have lost my mind.
I have recovered. I have rested. I have asked for help.

I have looked ahead. I have looked behind. I have looked upon places I have never imagined.
I have heard, and I have played.

I have today, and tomorrow. I have many days I have not expected to have.
I have not generally expected to have much of anything.

I have wondered.
I have been happy.

_______________________________________
Photo: portrait, no flash, macro

August 25 2009 Hot Springs

August 23 2009 Stop Sign

August 22 2009 Blue Money

This post was to be based on flickr group Money From Around the World

August 21 2009 Golden Spike

This post was to be based on the blog National Parks Traveller

August 20 2009 Salt Lake City

This post was to be based on the blog WebUrbanist

August 19 2009 Why Would You Knit That?: This ain't Grandma's afghan

For the Fishes


A not-yet-stuffed fish and, what, fish food?

For Original Blog Why Would You Knit That?
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Unfortunately, this blog hasn't posted in going on a year. Boo hoo. But I loved the oddities it has posted, especially the dissected lab animals. Yay! weird!

Also, I know the host site usually links to a pattern but there is none. I made it all up as I went. Oh well.

I nearly finished the fish tonight (too lazy to link you to the first fish post) and my son went with me and garbled some swatches together with a yarn needle and some yarn. He's very proud of them. (He's four, remember.) I'm proud of them, too. Fish needs eyes and stuffing and all the ends woven in. Almost done!

Setting up the photo was kind of fun, with our blue bench.

Photo: Indoor setting with flash.

August 18 2009 Unfortunate Names: Revel in the Immaturity

If this is what they advertise out front

I wonder what goes on in the back room

For Original Blog Unfortunate Names

________________________________

I drove by this sign twice more since I took the photo, and hours later I still don't have anything funny to say. The original blog says something funny in 2 parts, a title and a text line. Got any ideas? This one was my husband's.

Photo: auto, zoom, taken as driving past.

August 17, 2009 The Impulsive Buy: Putting the "ew" in product reviews

Review: Dark Chocolate Dreams Peanut Butter


Having been in love with chocolate and peanut butter combinations since puberty-- particularly a treat wrapped in a noisy orange wrapper with classy little individual cup-cake like papers inside, a treat that I, with a wardrobe of few prominent product-names, own a glaring t-shirt of enviable and mouthwatering recognition--having been a fan of the combo, I thought the chocolate-enriched jar of peanut butter might become a quick favorite of mine.

Instead the dry, pasty texture and tongue-sticking flavor refused to remind me of peanut butter, and I slathered it instead on chocolate chip cookies, and then chocolate cookies, and then just ate it off the spoon like a chocolate lollypop.

I would never taint it with jelly, especially the jalapeno peach I have in the fridge. (Or would I? hm...) It just doesn't go where normal peanut butter goes: on a sandwich.

Dark Chocolate Dreams? It's more like a Chocolate Hallucination. This is a jar of goodness for those cravings when they sneak up on me that first and second night of higher body temperature, or to sob into while watching one week a month of sleazy soap operas or after a hot-headed response at the husband's ornery antics. I don't even know it's peanut butter, but I don't feel quite so guilty eating it, because in the "calories race" with peanut butter (19 calories/g) and that orange-wrappered candy (5.2 calories/g) the Dreams come in at 5.3 calories/g. It's not made with hydrogenated oils like mass-produced peanut butter, or corn syrup sweeteners, instead, it has palm oil and cane juice. It has extra room at the top--"for easier stirring" it asserts--because separation is natural.

Item: Peanut Butter & Co Dark Chocolate Dreams Peanut Butter
Price: $4.75
Size: 16oz
Purchased at: City Market
Rating: 8 out of 10
Pros: Tastes like Chocolate. Chocolate Hallucination. Healthy. Convenient stirring space. Sleazy soap operas. Sobbing. Orange-wrapped chocolate-peanut butter candy. My orange-wrapped chocolate-peanut butter candy shirt.
Cons: Wouldn't go on a sandwich. Mass-produced peanut butter. Messy stirring after natural separation. Husband's antics. Real Hallucinations. Puberty. Subsequent bouts of higher body temperature. Counting calories.

For Original Blog The Impulsive Buy
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Babysitting the house in the desert, needing a treat/present/tool to make the kids quieter, I grabbed this and some spoons and sent them away. Then I had one myself. Mmmm.

I love this blog. It's all rude and sardonic. It makes me laugh. It also grosses me out on occasion. Copying it required a significant amount of actual writing. I like actual writing.

August 16 2009 Flickr: Colorado!

A uniquely Colorado dinner: Olathe Sweet Corn grilled in the husk and Colorado-grown tomato and pepper.

Flash, indoor setting, about 24x zoom from across the room to combat the flash glare.

For Original Blog Colorado!
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This should be my last Flickr group contribution, unless I have another incredibly uneventful day and need to take my very last backup-easy-Flickr group photo.

It was not necessarily a slow day, just an unphotogenic day. Car show, van ride of interesting value, canceled trip to the Utah Desert, grilled food, organized teaching resource and book shelves. I did laundry and watered my lawn. I put Hersey's chocolate syrup in my coffee this evening. That's about it.

August 15 2009 Sleeveface: one or more persons obscuring or augmenting any part of their body or bodies with record sleeve(s) causing an illusion

The Bob Dylan Experience

Credit: AH

For Original Blog Sleeveface
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A) Yes, that is me.
B) Yes, I own a "Brown Mickey Mouse" jacket.
C) That guitar strap is my daughters and DOES NOT FIT. I pinned it on the jacket.
D) Yes, those are Oreos.

E) Yes, I did this photo all by myself. It took 13 shots for composition before I put on the jacket, and 10 after.
F) Yes, this is the last shot. Interestingly, I had settled on the previous shot and turned off my camera, resetting all my adjustments, before I took this one final shot.


G) Yes, I own vinyl. LOTS. I spent about an hour looking through a part of my collection choosing potentials for this photo.
H) Yes, I have the technological capability to play the vinyl I own. And I do play it. More than I play CDs.



I) Thank you, cousin, for the suggestion on this blog! If you are not my cousin, you should listen to her radio shows. Clicky Wolf Radio.

and, oh yes:
J)Photo: Auto, 10s timer, 4x zoom, camera set up for a vertical picture (this was indeed a feat. It fell once.)

August 14 2009 Thrift Shop Horrors

Mismatched Mardi Gras

I went to Goodwill today to find a few things for my son's room's organizational makeover. The kids were over-willing to find ugly things for me to photograph today. I found something most terrible, though.


Festive Mask mounted to Country-Heart-Bordered Mirror.

Show your goods for beads by unbuttoning your gingham dress, I guess.

Not to be overlooked, there are real dried noodles in that vessel directly behind the mask. Who would donate their noodles? And who would buy donated noodles?

For Original Blog ThriftHorror
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Many people from the community post how awkward it is taking pictures in a thrift shop--how self-conscious they are about breaking out a camera.

I have no qualms. I didn't even mind when my kids came running saying: Look Mom, this is ugly!

Photo: Auto+Flash

August 13 2009 Flickr: The Protests, Political Art, Democracy, Social Change Pool

An International Call For Action......

Federal Government:"Our environment is literally choking on plastic bags." Jim Moran (D-VA 8).

Newsletter on government's involvement + political discussion on role of government + A pair of scissors in the hands of a crafter/writer= Ransom Poem of the Day, on a knit plastic grocery sack reusable grocery bag.

For Original Blog Protests, Political Art, Democracy, Social Change
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Photo: Portrait+Macro+Flash

I was hoping to get a shot of a Colorado State Senator taking questions at the Ice Cream Social at the Palisade Peach Festival for today's political photo. Since I didn't I was going to take one of the "easy" blogs, until events as described above transpired.

August 12 2009 My Recyled Bags.com | Come Learn and Share Information about Recycling, Crocheting & Green Crafting

Knitted Coin Purse

I've enjoyed a lot of use and attention from my recycled grocery sack bag that I knit a couple of years ago, and I've wanted to make a bag from magnetic tape for a while. I've had these movies stashed for ages and couldn't wait to turn them into a carrying vessel. I discovered aluminum needles are better than bamboo for knitting the vinyl magnetic strip. I also learned there's a ton of tape in one two-hour-movie, and also turns out this is as big as I can make a bag in two hours.


It'll be lined with a raw black silk and have either a clasp or a zipper, whatever I can reclaim from a rejected or broken bag at the thrift store. It will also live inside a full sized purse, lined and with matching hardware.

How to Remove the Tape from the Case

Rewind the tape.
Using a small screwdriver, remove the four screws from the back of the VHS tape.
Separate the parts of the casing.
Cut the tape from the empty reel.

Free Change Purse Pattern

Cast on 33 stitches on size 11 aluminum needles.
Knit in stockinette for about 9 inches.
On last row, knit 16 stitches, knit two together.
Fold fabric and cast off with a three-needle bind-off (click for video).
Crochet or blanket stitch up the third edge to finish the bag.


For Original Blog My Recycled Bags
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Fun at knit night. This blog is also fun because I get to talk about me and my stuff instead of someone else's stuff. Nice. I guess I'm self-centered like that.

Photo: Auto + Flash + fluorescent light + iridescent light (that's a lot of light!)

August 11 2009 Flickr: The Write me Pool

All His Fault


The guy who built the engine signed it.
Now we know exactly who to blame if anything goes wrong.
Of course, we also know who to thank when it lasts fifty years running perfectly.
An engine, is, of course, a piece of art.
Auto+Flash+Zoom

For Original Blog Write me
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It was a long day, leaving Utah before breakfast and stopping at the house with just enough time to eat and pack up the driveshafts, and driving to Eckert, and installing/fixing/drilling-bending-cutting-heating metal so everything fits. I took my normal "van upgrade" photos and was fascinated by the blue "Brad" on the red engine. It spawned conversation about how many sets of hands built our machine (likely, only one: Brad's). Then we went to an aunt's for dinner and got home late, and I browsed through the pictures and here is a "Write me" just waiting for me. Yay fortuity!

August 10 2009 Awkward Family Photos: Spreading the Awkwardness

Four Headless Couch Potatoes

Portrait of the family as composed by the shorter photographers.

submitted by Auto+Flash+10seconddelay+short stool

For Original Blog Awkward Family Photos

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This was a relatively difficult blog to copycat because all the posts there carry their anonymity through lack of context, and here on my blog I need my anonymity to be a bit broader. I don't even have pictures of my kids on my social networking sites, so I definitely not going to put their photos on this more public venue. I've spent three whole days trying to figure out how to take our pictures without our heads legitamately and appropraitely awkwardly, like, what sign can we stand behind, or what tree will conceal us? The experience has been entertaining, and I may decide to make a habit of taking awkward headless photos in the future as part of my family photo repetoire.

My humor sucks compared to the original blog writer's.

As an aside, I took a picture on the taller stool for my dad and it came out similarly awkward, as if I were inviting you to look up our noses. The angle was great on my test-shot-daughter, but awful on those of us taller.

August 09 2009 2009 in Pictures

I don't feel well today so I'm doing my own blog, funny, isn't it? Here's today's picture. My daughter took it as practice for her photo contest, or maybe as an entry. We won't know until later.

Macro Auto no flash Display (she says)

August 8 2009 FailBlog: Funny Fail Pictures and Videos

Design Fail


She's trying to die an honorable death by having her veins ripped from her arm. Come, my falcon!

Picture By: Indoor+Flash+12x zoom

For Original Blog FailBlog
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This is not the blog I had planned on today, and we got home after a long (FUN!) day and I looked back at my pictures and had gotten lucky at dinner with this one. I didn't think of taking a picture of it until my husband told me I should, and I didn't remember having taken it until I went through the day's shots. It was kind of a fortuitous photo all around.

August 07 2009 WebEcoist: Sustainable Living, Green Design and Environmental Oddities

12 Repurposing Ideas in the Shop

Owning a business is tricky and making things work with the resources on hand instead of buying a solution to a problem is sometimes the only way to hold on to the business advantage. It also allows for spontaneity: problems can be solved as quickly as they arise. Practical applications of things that already come in through the doors keep many out of the trash, but these aren't always as obvious as they may seem. It often takes a special perspective to get exactly the fix needed. In this shop, there are several clever repurposed items as solutions throughout.


The Office

Many aspects of the office demand special treatment, like files, books, and computers, but the busy daily life of an office invites some innovations. In this shop, a quick shelf was built from tongue-and-groove boards for the cleaning supplies that needed to be kept on hand. Extra wall space was in demand and was created in an existing window by using the same tongue-and-groove. Covering the reception counter top with a clear plastic vinyl sheet and supplying wet-erase markers eliminated the need for blowing through piles of notepaper as well as solved the problem of misplaced notes.

The Bathroom
The bathroom added into this shop had some oddities that needed addressed. For one, the doorway didn't face the customers, and a wall of bookshelves eliminated the obvious sign-on-the-wall option. Here the bathroom sign was mounted to an old piece of steel and attached to the frame, visible to customers and allowing access to the books. Wiring the ventilation fan to a switchplate was an electrical job easily avoided with a pull chain extended with a bit of string. That extra roll of toilet paper, usually seen wrapped in industrial paper packaging, is more conveniently located under a CD spindle pack lid, clear for easy identification, and unlikely to get greased or wet by the staff.

The Shop

The heart and soul of the operation has been assembled over many years of use. Plastic jugs that various fluids come in have been carved in innovative directions to function as vessels for parts, tools, and pieces. Aside from the light-allowing windows there are special lighting needs when working on cars. This flourescent light fixture is usually hung parallel to the floor, but in this case hangs vertically from a pole welded to a steel wheel for balance.

The tool chest served only so well, so it was altered with an additional open shelf with a lip to keep tools from sliding off, a brace to keep the lid open, the rear rigged with various hooks to make it useful all around, and some magnetic options stuck on to the side. It's the shop equivalent of a baker's rack: everything you need is there and will roll to whereever its needed.

Shelves are only as useful as its ability to hold what needs held: this shelving unit was re-assembled to have a box and some height to fit the needs of the equipment. Hoses that can't be let to hang with a kink have been carefully hung over coffee cans mounted to the side of the bookshelf.


This shop makes the most of all its open spaces and very little has been mass produced, instead, the solutions have been born out of necessity and creativity.


For Original Blog WebEcoist
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My third day in the shop working on the van build.

This blog required me to include many more pictures, but they are worth it. I've always admired the reduce-reuse-recycle mentality of my aunt- and uncle-in-law and showcasing it was a breeze. I wanted to show you the compressor rig from dividing it for the two parts of the shop; I helped rig it but I guess they didn't end up using the faucet end that I had prepared as a stopper. Wasn't necessary, I guess.

Van is coming along.

Photos: Portrait, no flash via Picasa Collage builder

August 06 Skull-A-Day 3.0

Skulls are Crunchy and Good with Ketchup

Artist A.H. contributes Dragon, with a side of Skull.

"It is a moment of insignificance, and a reminder that even humanity has a predator. All that is left is something that vaguely reminds us of ourselves. Done in charcoal, pastel, oils: remnants of life in themselves."

[Insert someone else's assessment of my work. Your assessment, if you'd like.]

For Original Blog Skull-A-Day
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I was not able to get the material for the post I wanted to do today, mostly because we did not go where I had planned on acquiring said material. I will use it a different day. I went home and drew this. It took only one screw-up to keep my dragon from looking like a cartoon. I used the flat edge of a chopstick (ironic, medieval dragon, Chinese tool) to rub the charcoal and pastels. It's just on a notecard, but I sealed it anyway. It came out nicely.

Photo: Portrait, macro, no flash. I used this custom lighting setting to evaluate white balance before I took the picture. The previous attempts came out blue; I was surprised to see the difference after the balance setting.

Did I ever tell you I am a dragon? I can tell because my shadow is a dragon. It's kind of comforting.