the weather, she is good
What glorious weather! Yesterday was bright and sunny with temps in the upper 60s. I put fresh dirt in all the containers for this years deck-top garden and planted my peas. When it was time to get down to work, reading and drawing, I had to do it outside. When the migraine hit, I reluctantly gave up and went inside.
But I slept that migraine away in time for today, which will be even better weather-wise. So, coffee, bagel, stories, paper & pencils in hand, I’m ready to move out on the deck and work. Outside! I wonder if I can rig up my computer out there? Would that be too crazy?
hmmm…I should consider making a space with some cover and maybe wiring up an outlet with power and ethernet (the wireless dies on the deck). Amazing how the sun inspires!
how dare you
“Remember: that giants sleep too soundly; that witches are often betrayed by their appetites; dragons have one soft spot, somewhere, always; hearts can be well-hidden, and you can betray them with your tongue.” – Neil Gaiman
a done heron
so, i experimented w/the heron….washed her with a cobalt oxide. after i brushed it on, i rinsed most of it off so that it looked like it was just in the crevices, but this stuff is so strong that the entire piece fired an intense blue. i was shocked but not totally displeased. when dealing with ceramics, so much is left to the fire gods.
took her home and then this morning i buffed her with wax and a pearlized white pigment to give some depth and light reflection. i think she turned out pretty ok…not what i was going for, but i kinda like the look.
here she is near the pelican…
a furry path in my future
Today I met with a lovely woman who runs a wildlife rehab facility out of her home, specializing in rabies-vector mammals. I’ve been looking to find a way to work with animals, going over the different possibilities including zoos, vet clinics and animal shelters. After researching and pondering what would be best for my situation and interests, I’ve decided that wildlife rehab would be the most satisfying for me.
I do want to include other animals at some point and there are a couple places that work with raptors and other birds that aren’t too far away and I think after I get my feet wet, so to speak, I may expand to do a day or two at one of these facilities as well. But for now, I think I will learn a lot and be very happy helping out our local raccoons, foxes, possums, skunks and other furry critters.
So, in a few weeks I get my pre-exposure rabies vaccines (series of 3) which will be just in time for baby season!
water birds
The pelican is done. He came through firing without cracking or exploding, which is always a happy thing. I used a pigmented wax finish on him like the others and think he looks rather fine. He’s about 8×6 inches.
thieves & scoundrels
Got a letter from AT&T credit card that they were going to start charging me $60 a year service fee unless I charged a minimum of $2400. I haven’t used this card since 2006 when I paid it off in full. I thought the account had been closed.
It is now.
So, cautionary note…don’t assume an inactive account, no matter how many years ago, is closed. They comin’ for us…all of us.
dragon box
just finished sculpting a little clay dragon box. now i get to mull over what sort of finish…glaze? paint? pigmented wax? choices, choices…
the morning after
thought i’d upload some photos from last night and this morning in between bouts of shoveling. as usual, more on flickr…just click on a photo to get to the set.
the deck out back at the height of the storm last night
under the deck this morning
chicken wire and ice
icicles under deck
gate looks about ready to come off it’s hinges
a very blue sky
right before things got really intense
right after i shot and uploaded this batch of photos, the storm got really intense. it’s supposed to peak around 7pm through 9pm. that’s more than 24 hours of snow. the power lines are sagging, tree limbs are coming down, and i’m not sure how much more the deck will hold. hopefully the power will hold out, but i’m not holding my breath. anyway…have a look at my white world. there’s more up on flickr.
down the road
our white oak in the front yard
judy’s house from under the white pine
downed limbs under the white pine in front yard
the stunted dogwood
deck stairs off back of house–look at those power lines.
thunderful blizzard part deux
What fun! Another 18″-24″ of snow is expected by the end of the day. Started last night around 6 or 7pm and has been going great guns, with a bit of sleet, thunder and lightning thrown in. Now, I remember thundersnow happening in NM on many occasions, but this is only about the second time I’ve experienced it in this neck of the woods. Kinda cool actually. Just nature reminding us of who’s really in charge.
Brni tried his hand at one armed snow removal this morning. He posted a tutorial here: http://brni.livejournal.com/393330.html
Before I took over shoveling the back of the car out, brni told me to grab the camera. Some rather amazing ice formations developed on the grill of my car.
Those little horizontal lines are actually ice and nothing more. Click on any of the photos to go to flickr to see a larger, more detailed view. Really kinda cool!
BLIZZARD!!
some pictures of lots and lots of snow.
the deck
my car
my neighbor (if you can find her)
deck steps
brni’s car
backyard
pelican
Another new sculpt in what I hope will be a fun waterbird series. This one is drying. I’m thinking of doing more pelicans because they are just so prehistoric and they make me happy. I’ll probably end up doing the “ugly” birds: cormorants, boobies, frigates, etc.
the cone of shame
Loki’s latest foray into the world of veterinary medicine has resulted in her wearing “the cone of shame.” She’s just too good at removing IVs. Vet said it took her less than 30 seconds. I only wish we owned a video camera so that we could record the hysteria that results in Loki trying to traverse her world with this thing on. You see, she doesn’t walk, she trots and runs with exuberance and just doesn’t get that this stupid collar is bigger than her head. She also runs with nose to ground, sniffing out who’s been in her yard, and well, she practically flips herself over when the collar hits the ground before the nose does.
Fun as watching this is, I’ll be more than relieved when she’s home later today, sans IV and the cone of shame.
i want to tell you about the weather
That’s a safe subject, isn’t it? Well, maybe not in these times of “climate change,” but I’m sure it’s safer than politics. Athough…I suppose even the weather comes under the umbrella of politics nowadays. Oh well, I want to tell you about the weather anyway.
It’s positively wild out there today. It started yesterday with gray clouds and little drizzles, but with an ominous feel to it. I went out early to de-xmasize the deck out back. Unraveled the little white lights from the white pine garland that both wove their loopy way along the railing and then down underneath, where they lit up the grotto (our euphemism for the bricked in area under the porch). By the time I’d begun to take down the garland, trying to unwrap the wire from it so that I could safely take it down to the gully to add to the debris pile that the chipmunks live in, the rain started coming down in earnest. So there lay the garland, still mostly looped around the railing.
As the day went on, the rain just sorta spit and spat in starts and spurts, never really amounting to much but making outdoor activity unappealing. We went to the movies around 2 in the afternoon to see Sherlock Holmes before it left to be transformed into DVD format. If you haven’t seen it, go…go now…the sets, costumes, grit and grime of late 19th century England needs to be seen on the big screen.
Later, as we sat down to a dinner of homemade vegetable soup and organic tater tots, our dog, Loki, with impeccable timing, vomited right in the middle of the room. She continued in this endeavor throughout the rest of the night. The weather had taken a nastier turn as well, with the winds picking up and the rain coming down in slants and intermittent sheets. The rest of the evening was taken up with rushing the poor dog outside every 20 minutes or so to relieve herself of the contents of her guts. It was iffy whether this would end up being another emergency vet visit, but as her misery eased and the winds intensified, we made the decision to wait it out till daybreak.
She’s still miserable, but I think she just needs rest at this point. She’s not dehydrated or feverish and her gums are nice and pink. I’m going out later today to brave the high winds and predicted thunderstorms (in January?) and 60 degree temperatures (in January?) to buy organic chicken breasts to boil with rice for the sick dog, a new dog bowl which will make it difficult for her to wolf down her food whole (which I believe is part of her problem), and more paper towels.
I try not to complain too much about the weather since it’s one of those futile things to complain about, but really, it’s so much easier tending to sick animals when the sun is shining.
first day with baked goods
this was the first day of the new sculpture session after the holiday break. it was nice to be back in the studio among artists and friends. we have two new students this session…one is an accomplished sculptor and the other is brand new to clay and working in three dimensions.
i brought the heron in to finesse the details and then set on slats to dry before firing. everyone seemed to like this latest effort. jennifer said that i’m pushing the limits of what clay can do with that long snaky neck. we’ll see if it makes it through firing. i think this year i’ll be looking at water birds, herons, pelicans, cormorants and the like. i started a pelican today which i’m fairly pleased with at this point. i think i’ll be needing extra studio time this session. i have a lot of birds in my brain, so i need to release them and once a week is just not enough.
this was also the first day i left brni alone since his surgery almost two weeks ago. i was a bit nervous about it. it’s hard to take care of someone 24/7 and then leave them, even for a mere three hours. of course, he was fine when i got home and i’m sure it was probably a relief to him not to have me hovering over him.
our friend, jack came by for a visit bearing a box of baked confections…cannoli, a lovely little fruit tart and a very chocolatey thing that found it’s way on brni’s dessert dish. thank you, dear jack.
new sculpt ~ heron
started this one yesterday and finished it this afternoon. this one went very quickly…i guess it was time for it. here’s some pictures of it as it dries. it’s 12″ high.
you can see closer views of it on flickr, as usual.
an end to my enslavement with a bird on top
We received a letter and packing slip in the mail, informing us that I have won my freedom from the Iceman. The cords will be forever cut and the demanding cooler will be shipped back to it’s place of origin on Monday. From that day forward, Brni’s shoulder will wear bags of frozen peas and I will allow whatever ice is left to melt in the sun. An offering tinged with a smirk and a freeing shrug.
So, it’s been ten days since Brni’s shoulder surgery and he’s doing phenomenally well. He had his second PT session yesterday and his therapist was practically giddy with his progress. At the same time, Brni’s mood has lifted a great deal, almost as if a switch has been flipped. He’s looking and acting more like himself. Definitely coming out of the anesthesia/drug induced doldrums. I find it almost magical how a body can go through so much and heal so quickly.
It’s an amazing process, but one I hope very few of us need go through. But, if you do, I hope you are surrounded by love and kindness, for that is the true healing salve.
And, as Brni heals, my head turns to look at the lump of clay waiting for me on my work table. This one might be a bird, maybe a heron stretching her neck to the heavens.
Haiti-how you can help
Almost instantly, after the disastrous quake hit Haiti, donation scams sprang up on the internet and mailboxes began to fill with spam. And then, of course, Pat Robertson opened his assmouth…but that’s another story.
Here’s a list of legitimate sources that you can choose from if you feel moved to do something to help.
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/haiti-earthquake-help-victims/story?id=9547030&page=1
don’t melt my cold cold heart
I have been lamenting about the temperatures outside climbing into the upper 30s and 40s. It’s January and winter and it should be cold and it should stay cold. I want it below freezing for the next week or two so that I can store bags of ice outside. Brni’s “iceman” is a cruel master and demands to be fed round the clock.
I have been thankful for below freezing temps, reveling in the feel of the icey deck under my bare feet at 4 in the morning. I’ve even taken to walking around outside in nothing more than a thin sweatshirt and sweatpants in hopes of encouraging the arctic cold to stay around and caress my body and my bags of ice. I asked the crows and chickadees to carry my message of gratitude and love to the north wind and invite it to blow down on us with chilly abandon.
But the wind is retreating and the stupid sun is warming everything up and threatening to thaw my bags of ice. Brni mentioned to me that layers may be the solution and it looks like this just might work. Here’s what I’ve done…
I moved the cooler off the deck and down below onto the cold bricks in the shady part of the grotto outside the cellar door. I wrapped the cooler in two layers of old quilts and wrapped the old quilts in large plastic trash bags. And now I wait to see if the ice can stay cold and hard through this reckless and unseasonable week of warmth.
how disappointing
that i can find no one with the courage of their convictions. they are nothing but unfortunate fictions and fantasies.
busy and crazy and hopeful
I’m so tired. It’s surprising what a toll it takes on a person to care for another who is infirm or disabled or just indisposed. What is strange is that everything I’m doing, I do normally throughout the course of the day. I make coffee, get breakfast, lunch, dinner. I straighten, clean, make the bed, feed the animals, etc. The only additional tasks are emptying and filling the “iceman,” hooking Brni up to the machine, extra errands for things like bandages, thermometers, ice, ginger ale, etc. And watching over (hovering?) Brni to make sure he’s O-K-A-Y.
[That's the real thing of it. The making sure he's okay. Making sure he's taking his meds, comfortable, clean, fed and watered. To all my nurse-friends out there, I bow my head to you.]
In the everyday, no-surgery world, Brni does an amazing amount of work around here. I honestly had not realized how much until the past few days doing both my stuff as well as his stuff. And I’ve begun to realize that his stuff is way more than I thought. I’m coming away from this with a new respect for the usual, every day chores that Brni does just as a matter of course. I guess it takes something like this to open our eyes to the little things that take up time and really do matter.
So, yeah, I’m tired and stressed with the added responsibility, but I’m also happy to do it. It’s a good kind of tired and the stress is worth it if it means Brni can get through his day without constant pain. Tomorrow is his first physical therapy session–the next step on the path of healing.
Wish us luck.
the iceman cometh
pictures of life post brni’s shoulder surgery. here’s the “iceman” which is essentially a small beer cooler with a fish tank pump in it. this is the thing that has enslaved me. i fill it to the brim with ice, fill again with water enough to cover the bottom of the pump, hook up the massive blue hoses to brni’s shoulder pad and then plug it in. it whines frigid water up into the shoulder pad, keeping brni’s shoulder from swelling and reeking havoc. he needs to be hooked up to this 24/7 for 2 weeks. i love fishing ice out of the cooler out on the deck at 4:30 in the morning. it’s what i live for.
this is what happens to a brni when linked to the iceman.
today we removed the dressing for the first time. it looks like the surgeon was unable to save the top of brni’s sun tattoo, but to compensate, added some lovely purple marks of his own.
wow. this is a tiny tiny incision! amazing what they can do laproscopically, isn’t it?
but, no matter how bad things get, you can’t keep a good brni down…well, maybe down, but never offline.
i apologize to brni and the universe
brni just informed me that this miserable malady is my comeuppance for declaring (every time he gets sick) that i never get sick. that i always manage to stop a cold or flu dead in its tracks before it takes hold.
he’s right. i should have kept my mouth shut. please forgive me, universe.
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