finished shelves

here is the final shelf.


here is the new tv with dvd shelf. the tv is so huge. i can read subtitles from across the room. the coat rack and book shelf were my shelf first creations.


this is the shelf that required the toggle bolts.

top right, notice the codex seraphinianus--my favorite book. if you ever get a chance to open one please please take the opportunity.

the top shelf is MINE. my change bowl gets my keys, wallet and sunglasses. the shelf also collects stuff and requires regular purging.

Ice storm 2009

yep, we have been iced-in. i have been doing all kinds of domestic stuff. i made tabitha a knitting chart. well, i provided the envelope of technology and she provided the creative juice. she exercised her google-foo and found an old tapestry that had a representation of desired heraldic design. i mashed it around in photoshop and converted it to the proper resolution for easy coloring. tabitha sat down to it and tweaked it until she was happy. i then imported it into illustrator where the graph and numbers were added. this is the result.

she plans to knit it into a sweater for tristan.

the ice then sleet then ice then snow made for a wonderfully wintry scene.


the kids love it.


toly especially likes the snow.


happy day for them


tristan really really loves the snow too.

he spent more time outside today than indoors.

sledding is a favored activity.



i got to stay home for the second day in a row and worked on my new shelf.


henry the-show-dog is a snow-dog. he loves the snow too.


tabitha and rome came out to see the majesty.


the trees are laden with ice.


tristan is a great big brother.


ice everwhere


heavy and beautiful


i took the kids for a pull.


geared up for the ride


ok, let's go


they survived the final curve.


one more time.


henry needed to get into the action.


again, again..


sweet elysium


henry had never seen me play like this.


rome wanted to get into the fray


all the trees were bowing under the weight.


cute dog house


many fallen broken trees


the ice is so thick and beautiful.


not quite as beautiful as my lovely wife.


even the beautiful gate is envious.


the chickens are a bit freaked out.

fibonacci spiral

i have built, painted and installed three shelves for the freshly painted room. the narrow shelf had to be mounted using toggle bolts since there were no studs to support the shelf. i use the old timey kind that have a spring and open in the wall like a butterfly.

you have to drill kinda large holes in the walls but the result is normally very sturdy.

the final shelf needed to be large and look nice. we had a standard shelf there before that i'd re-purposed which looked kinda crappy. i decided that i needed to design something to exactly fit the intended space in a balanced fashion. i also thought i might like it to have an asian flair. having never designed any structures intentionally before i struggled to find inspiration. i really like phillip stark but he's way out of my caliber. i remembered, probably from some PBS special, that there is a magical proportion for rectangles and it has something to do with rectangles spiraling like a nautilus. a little google-foo later and i found the fibonacci spiral.

after spending far too much time in adobe illustrator and trying to turn that thing into shelves. i decided to steal the basic rectangle and move on.

i nested the rectangles and added recessed staggered shelves in the two fibonacci rectangles. here is what i have so far.

don't mind the messy garage.

i'll sand, fill, paint and mount it later.

Henry the Show-dog

not to be confused with a dog-show dog. there is a colloquial phrase that incorporates the term "show" to mean great or the best. i'm not sure of the history of this but we have adopted it. although i stopped short before calling kassi my show-girl. that is just too weird.

anyway henry is the true show-dog. yesterday while i was at work tabitha was cleaning the house and paused in front of the sliding-glass door and henry spotted her and started going crazy barking and jumping against the fence frantically. tabitha ran out there to see what the trouble was. he promptly ran over to the cattle stock-tank where a pullet chicken had fallen in trying to get a drink. she promptly scooped it up. it was barely alive and freezing wet. she brought it into the house in a cardboard box and set it next to the warm wood stove.

the chicken is fine and happily laying eggs today. henry knows that those chickens are part of his pack. he fiercely protects them and guards his boundary with extreme prejudice. we feel safer everyday he is here. the neighbors are frightened of him because he is so huge and foreboding. i'm sure that strangers think the same thing.

we were told by his breeders that he'd start really guarding things at eight months and get more and more serious about it as he approached two years old. he does the classic great pyrenees dragging stuff around the fields. it's like he rearranges things for some aesthetic reason. he destroyed a few things but that is our bad leaving them in his domain.

he doesn't have easy access to the immediate yard but easily clears fences of this height. since he was a small puppy i have taught him to stay out of the yard and he respects that rule even when the gates are open and kids running back and forth. we plan to get a another great pyrenees in the spring--a girl. i guess having a pair of them is an almost infallible defense.

so, kudos to henry the show-dog and exhalations to his guarding prowess.


POST SCRIPT
i have made serious effort to be sure that the chickens have unfrozen water as often as i can. i might have to purchase a waterer heater--yet another electric appliance for the bill.

This seems like a fun idea.

meme from Naturally simple who got it from Tabitha:

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me. I will try to make these be about or tailored to those five lucky people. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:
- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
- What I create will be just for you.
- It’ll be done this year
- You have no clue what it’s going to be.

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you have to put this in your journal as well, if you expect me to do something for you! And please link to your blog so that I can visit and read in case we are new friends.

double yolk

we have finally finished the painting--mostly. the room looks great we love it, regardless what the home depot employees think.


the furniture is still away from the walls but here is another view.


princess kassi was trying really hard to keep busy while we painted.

toly managed to get paint on him on several occasions.

the girls are really laying lately. we even got this huge egg yesterday.


it was like a goose egg. this was our egg haul yesterday.


when i cracked it to make french toast (morning cake) this is what i found.


all the years here we have never gotten a double yolk--twins. i guess we got twelve eggs yesterday after all.


luckily it was a three day weekend for me. we'd have never finished in just two days. every time i re-enter the room i am startled and overcome with glee. now if i can just keep the kids from smearing everything before it dries.

can't buy bright paint without complaint

why is is that people feel the need to discourage us whenever we plan to purchase brightly colored and vibrant paint? "oh you probably better take those paint chips home and view them in your house." or "are you sure you want that color?" or "nobody paints their buildings that color." or "this color will make your room look smaller." we love our bright colors and will never be dissuaded by the local self professed interior designer working at home depot.

in true omelay fashion we needed to get the kids involved.


the paint is gloriously bright.


toly was especially excited to paint. he even followed my instructions very closely.


wax on, wax off...


after everyone got plenty of paint on each other we shuffled them to a hot bubble bath.


tabitha and i finished the walls first coat and painted the ceiling (white). we sat back as the sun set and watched our room glow from the natural light. even this morning we are still excited about our new color.


it snowed yesterday morning. very cold burrrr.


cold cat


catching snow flakes


henry is completely unfazed by the cold. it is all fun and games when a boy enters the yard.

livestock guarding duties are postponed until further notice. that is, until i appear to get ready to feed him then he promptly runs to the most immediately threatening corner of the paddock and barks at the air. he does this to show that he has been doing his job well and acts a self promotion role. i encourage these quirks.

i wonder if his fur will always stay this soft. he is like a big teddy bear. well, HUGE teddy bear. i picked him up the other day and guess he weighs 120 lbs. as i recall his parents were about four inches taller at the shoulder than he is now. i can't imagine how much he'll weight when he is full grown? his parents were rail thin and expected to hunt for part of their food. we are just happy to have him well fed and diligently guarding our homestead.