Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Pens, painting and paper . . . . .

First THE pen.  It’s the one in the picture.  Our friends Eileen ↓062512_001& Ron gave Holly and I each a hand made pen.  Each pen they make is unique.  Ron and Eileen have been making these for some time and have sold some in Door County and they’re looking for other outlets to sell their pens to.  They’re very nice.  I love ‘em.  ■  Painting:  I’ve been working on some paintings of the Farmer’s Market that we have in Cary every Sunday.  Lots of good produce and other goodies.  And lots to paint.  By painting I mean I’m painting on my iPad using an app called “Brushes.”  062612_001The first one is to the right.  I’ve begun the 2nd one (there will be at least 3), and should finish that in the next day, or two.  Paper:  The copy machines at UPS are having a difficult time working with the paper sizes that I use.  That’ll take us (me and UPS) a little bit to figure out.  ■  Libby and Maggie Bryd (our new grandchild) are in town.  Libby and daughter are staying with one of Libby’s dear friends, but she’ll be up to our home Tuesday.  Now I need to prepare the house for more company.  ■  And once again I've stayed up way to late.  It’s way past time for bed.  ‘Night.  ■

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Party was a success . . . . .

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We hosted a surprise birthday party this past Saturday for multiple friends’ birthdays.  It was a fun party with a lot of fun friends.  ■  Working on getting another drawing done.  I’d like to get it out this week.  ■  Tomorrow morning, if I wake up in time, I’m heading up to Lake Geneva to take some pictures.  Then I’ll try drawing some of the buildings that I’ve taken pictures of.  We’ll see how that goes.  ■  No work today.  Summer is really slow at the store.  I’d love to see business pick up.  ■  We’re having company this weekend.  Should be fun.  Haven’t seen these folks, Eileen and Ron, in quite awhile.  They’re on their way out to Washington D.C. to see Eileen’s daughter and husband and grandkids.  ■  Time for bed.

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Getting carpet cleaned . . .

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Finally got our area rug cleaned.  Between dogs and time it badly needed cleaning.  I wish the rest of the carpet in the house needed cleaning, but it needs to be replaced – not cleaned.  ■  Learning to play my square-neck dobro is coming along.  A lot depends on the picking hand with learning various picking patterns.  The finger picks, as I’ve told people, make you feel like you’re a 5 year old trying to walk around in your father’s galoshes.  I’m starting to feel like I’ve grown to 10 years old, but it’s still hard to walk in ‘em.  ■  Cleaning the house this morning.  Getting ready for some company.  Gotta run.  ■

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Sold a Larrivee!

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Sold a Larrivee guitar today.  Larrivee makes beautiful, but rather expensive acoustic guitars.  It’s been a standing question from my boss – “sell any Larrivees?”  This afternoon I could finally answer “Yes.”  Nice close to the Saturday work day.  ■  Our next door neighbors invited me over for dinner tonight seeing that Holly is up in Green Bay visiting her mom.  Had steak, salad, potatoes, and corn on the cob.  Delicious.  ■  After I fed the girls (our dogs) their dinner I gave them their “treat” – each a small rawhide bone, which they love.  Zoe, while working on her rawhide, started to shiver and shake and tried to stand up, but couldn’t get her legs working correctly.  This episode pass in about 15 seconds and then she was fine.  I’m guessing that she had a small stroke.  I’ll give the vet a call Monday morning.  Right now she’s in our bedroom after digging out a nesting spot in a pile of cloths destined for the washer.  I’ll be watching her carefully tomorrow.  ■  TFB.

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Where does the time go?

I see once again I haven’t posted for awhile.  Where does the time go?  ■  Today plumbing occupied my day.  The outdoor spigot that we always use to water our plants has been dripping – worse this year than in others.  I decided to try and fix it with my neighbors help.  What I thought would be a 10 minute project turned into a hunt for parts.  Turn off the water; get spigot apart;  need at least a new washer if not total new part; run to Ace in Cary, Ferguson Plumbing Supply in Crystal Lake (closed at 5:00 & I got there at 5:15; Home Depot; Menards; and finally Ace in Fox River Grove.  No one had the washer I needed.  Headed home and Jac (our miracle man neighbor) had left some liquid silicon which would help the bad washer hold up.  We reinstalled the old parts and it worked!  By saying “it worked” I mean that when I turned the water back on there were no leaks.  ■  With that said, I’m beat and going to bed.  ‘Night. ■

Friday, June 1, 2012

Quick drawing of an Indian home . . .

060112_001It’s a quick pencil sketch of a home in India.  I’ve since added palm trees, but I need to darken the house lines before I send it to my customer.  ■  Two cold days in a row.  What’s spring/summer coming to?  It’s 43ยบ out – and it’s June 1st!  ■  Work tomorrow and then Cribbage.  It’ll be good to see our Cribbage friends.  ■  I need a few more “Abby & Zoe” cards before I can start the “Abby & Zoe” book.  Got to get busy.  ■  It’s time for bed – TFB.  ‘Night.