An alligator parade

There are some people that are enjoying the winter weather. These people are the snowmobilers. Since Dale refers to snowmobile tracks as alligator tracks, I thought it was appropriate to call this an alligator parade. 

There was a special run on today that went between four different places (on snowmobiles). It was a fundraiser for cancer. I didn't realize it was going on until I drove by the first stop point. I was surprised to see so many snowmobiles at one spot.

It was obvious that all of the riders were enjoying the beautiful sunshine and the nice snow pack. It looks like they had nice snowmobiling all the way long the trip. I noticed that there were both adults and children on the snowmobiles.

So it is true there are people out there who really like this weather. But for me it's getting a little bit old I can't wait for spring.

I do have to note that I find it quite funny there is a "do not snow mobile here" sign across the street from my place. I see so many snowmobilers whip right past that sign ignoring it totally. It doesn't take them a couple minutes to come back. There's a 10 foot drop off at the other end of the park. This goes for everybody, read the signs. They are there for a reason.

See me not

Our little Misty Blue was quite the cute little puppy today. Duchess got a hold of some of the toys that she wanted to play with and when that just wouldn't give them back she decided to sneak in to get them.

Misty Blue got underneath the doggie bed and then she's snuck over to where the toy was laying and slid her paw out. Of course Duchess just figured out what she was doing and then Misty rolled over and said "who me?"

Lately I've gone to calling Misty Blue "booboo" like Yogi Bear and BooBoo too. She seems to answer to it pretty well so I think that's going to be a good nickname for her she's our little BooBoo.

Snow snow go away

Some call it cabin fever.  Others call it the winter blues. All that I know is that I am sick and tired of Winter. We got around 6 inches of snow today. This evening the wind started blowing so hard that the snow is coming down sideways. I am not sure if it's still snowing or not but what I do know is there's a lot of snow in the air.

I am writing the blog tonight on my phone. I am using the new technology where I speak and it writes. So hopefully I catch all the weird thing is that it does. At the end of every sentence I have to say the word "period". I am considering purchasing a program like this so that when I write my book then I can just speak and it will type. I'm not sure how much I like it. But its definitely something worth trying for a for a time.

Wherever you are reading this from I hope that you are enjoying better weather than what I have here tonight. If you're in the same storm; drive safe, be safe, and stay warm.

Silk Painting

You will probably see this same title several times.  One of the art styles that I am working with is Silk Paining which is also referred to as wearable art.  I had to work with the frames that I had at home.  I had a frame for 11" silk handkerchiefs (but I was out of the white silks.)  I also had a frame for an 8" X 60" scarf and the boards to make a frame for my 35" silks.  I decided to practice on the 8" X 60" scarf. Notice the frame is made up of cardboard.  It is 3 layers of cardboard nested together (horizontal, vertical, then horizontal).

Wet silk stretched

I soaked the white silk before starting.  I wanted to do more of a blended color with some pops of color but something that could be worn with a more colorful shirt and not clash with the shirt.  I didn't have any particular shirt in mind.


Painted Silk

The key to working with blending was to get everything done before the silk dries.  I had to flip the frame over several times.  I took a risk and I took a spray bottle an gave it a good spray down half-way through.  (I stepped out into the three-season porch.)


Silk in color set process

Depending on the dyes that you use, there are different ways to set the colors.  The dyes I use require a chemical set in cold water.  I was a little scared when I saw the water starting to turn blue.  I thought I was losing all of my additional color.


Silk hanging to dry

Doesn't everyone hang their drying clothes over the kitchen sink from the cupboard above?  The 12:17 from the clock on the wall is AM just in case you are wondering.  It isn't uncommon for me to stay up too late at night.


Dried Painted Silk

In controversy at lunch the next day, 12:10 PM, I took the photo of the dried scarf.  Since lighting is everything, I took it to the main entrance and hung it on the screen door.  I got lucky and the sun was out for those couple of minutes.  Although I liked the way it turned out, I was expecting it to be a little more vibrant.  I guess that I used too much water as I worked the colors.



Finished silk in sunlight

As I practice more, I will share the pieces with you.  One thing you need to know about art is that it takes a lot of work trying to figure out the right technique. And just when you think that you have it, something surprises you.

Another beautiful sunset

We made a fast trip to Litchfield tonight to pick up more diabetes testing strips. On the way home we pulled off on a country road to walk the dogs. The sunset became more and more brilliant as we drove.

Let me clarify that, Dale drove and I rode.  It was beautiful!

MONDAY!

Do I need to say more than that?  I don't often have the stereotypical "bad Monday" but today is pushing the limits. 


First of all it snowed just over 4 inches, the plow packed a two foot drift across my driveway so I had to blow snow out of my driveway to get the dogs over to Dale's place.  I took an early lunch break to remove snow.  Before I could do that, Dale had to drop off the remote for the garage where the snow blower is stored.


As Dale drove up to drop off the remote, instead of stopping he sped up and a small vehicle came whizzing by (I'm not good at equipment names but I think it was a small skid-loader used for snow removal.)  My first reaction was, "WOW, they are moving fast. If they don't watch out they will run into the back of Dale's pickup."  It was a neighbor from down the road and I see him whip by periodically. 

What I found out a short time later was that they were chasing Dale around town.  Behind the skid-loader a ways was a pick-up with a plow.  They were all over town today so I didn't think anything about it. 


Then on the work aspect, two weeks of work disappeared with an update that was done last Friday.  After half an hour of negotiations, we figured a way to restore the back up so that I could move the work to a different environment.  WHEW! What a day!

Re-organized

I have a lot of movies still to copy over to DVD.  I have been feeling very overwhelmed by the project.  I decided that it needed my special organization to motivate me again.

All the tapes here, on the table and in the open drawer, are from when I owned a video camera.  I still own it. It no longer works and I haven't had a chance to dispose of it.

As I was organizing today, I thought of my digital camera that has a digital recorder. Now wandering through my mind is the question "I wonder if I can find a program to change these movies into digital movies right away?"

For now I will get these movies onto discs. While I research my next project.