New Yankee Workshop 20th season opening

Unfortunately Norm was not building a chicken coop.. he never did in 21 seasons of the show!

May 14,2010

Today we worked on the chicken coop..Dave has taken his time and tried to think it out but as usual he has a tough time with measurements..the old adage of measure twice cut once only works if you can remember what that measurement is! It is possible to make correct cuts if you have measured correctly in your plans..good thing it is for the chicks and not for Norm Abrams. For those of you who watch PBS..then you know about the original celebrity carpenter..for my friends across the pond..Norm had a show on our public tv where he used every expensive tool in the book to build wonderful furniture, replicas of antiques, work benches for your workshop. My dear Dad used to watch him faithfully on Saturdays in his million dollar workshop. Hubby watched too but I am not sure how much he got out of the show, So back to the coop..I have lots of cool books.."Chickens in Your Backyard", Building out buildings for your fake farm..oh wait ..I made that one up! Murray McMurray chicken catalog..I actually ordered chicks from them..so I had ideas for how to build a coop, we had a coop yrs. ago which had been a pony leanto then a goose house, then a coop..so we weren't totally unaware of what was needed. I actually had 60 chickens at one point.. but remember we are no longer eager young back to the landers..no just old er,creaky er, more forgetful.
I digress..No need for fancy..just a home for up to ten chickens. roosts, nesting boxes, safety from marauding raccoons, feral cats, fat pampered cat, geriatric cat, hunting German Shepherds, and a very interested puggie, also the occasional hawk..watch those chickens run for cover.
It took 5 weeks of ..Honey, do you have enough wood?, please let me know what else we need so I can go to the hardware, home center, biga@#$& store and buy what you need so I can get the no longer cute chicky babes the heck out of my office/guestroom, mini studio PULEEZE!!
A week of hubby's disease problems, 2 weeks of horrible snowy spring weather and rain ..molting chicks and a very mean rooster who has taken to attacking me everytime I go outside to feed his ungratefull a@#! Picture this gray haired woman throwing buckets at said rooster after being beaten about the knees and shins with a winged fury of white and black feathers. Please don't imagine animal abuse.. the buckets never connect with this wretched creature and he is sweet with Rosie the hen. Instead I pretend I am a grizzly (grizzled?) bear and I yell loudly with my hands and arms out and reduce Hubby to tears of laughter..the winged fury never attacks him..men !
So today seemed perfect to finally finish the coop and so it commenced. Hubby loves his nailer and compressor but it is old too and the motor is weak and and obviously in pain like the two of us! Luckily the oldest son left his newer compressor and we finally got the show on the road....should we put the floor in before we go any further Dear? Hubby rolls his eyes..I have just invoked the royal we...because I am there to hold things in place or go for tools which have somehow been scattered from house to porch to Hubby's shed to the hay barn to the hay bales to the top of said coop..no wonder we can't get it done, we have misplaced tools and not thought about what tools we need. I have also decided the pony oats could help mow the longish lawn while we are building the chicken palace and as I let them loose from their dirt pasture to munch everything but the dandelions the fence falls down!..yes the fence falls down..I have often told Hubby to pretend he was building fences for elephants but now the chicken digs are being built with more care and planning and strength than the pasture fence and gate! Seems our junior pachyderms had decided they needed a scratching post and actually broke the fence...the fence fell down!
So it began to rain..and then my knees began to hurt and Hubby was tiring too..but I had moved the future egglayers society from the office to a puppy pen to watch the building of their new home and there was no going back..we finished up the house to get them installed for the night and went into the house to collapse on the couch. Even the puggies were exhausted..hard work being fake farm dogs..following Daddy from house to shed to tack shed and back many times during the day. I did do more than hold things and errand run..I had dismantled the kennel panels we were using for the winged fury and his paramour, Rosie. These are not light weight and I moved the smaller ones and gate panels to the area of the coop. Youngest son will have to move the larger panels tomorrow so we can get the yard for the egglayers society around the coop and keep them even safer..
When I was raising and showing German Shepherds I moved those panels all the time, I used to move bales of hay without a thought. I could garden even if I gardened badly, and I never felt weak and ineffective..things are different now!
I no longer can do the things I used to do..but with Hubby and me together we are getting things done..slowly but getting them done.
Tomorrow I will take pics of the palace after I teach the drawing class.
Have a good night...I am sure I will sleep well tonight!!! BTW I am posting a youtube of Norm,,enjoy!

may 13,2010

so I think these are finished..one or two more to come..

May12,2010

Today I finished 3 large watercolors..started 3 others. Here is what is done.

May 10,2010

Finally got to the studio today and started a series of full size watercolors. I wanted to do animals as usual but I wanted to use watercolor and create a colorful background for the animals. I want to finish at least 6 large watercolors to have matted and framed for the June venue at the bookstore. I have been struggling with the watercolors and was not sure what I wanted to do. I used to do watercolors many years ago that had lovely transparent color and I have such a heavier hand after woring in oils for so long! And I tend to want to experiment with the color and using things to create texture etc. I started these 2 last week by using 300lb. hot press watercolor paper , spraying it with water then adding washes of a base color which I added 1 to two other complementary colors to create an abstracted horizon line and field of color and texture. Using plastic wrap on the "ground" then going back in today with drops of color, some stenciling, salt and water spray to break the horizon and create some active background to the the animals that I am adding. I am not finished with the animals and am weighing using color ink to delineate the animals in an oriental way or just using more opaque paint to give the animals finish details. But here are my efforts so far.

May 6, 2010

Today..things are calmer, Hubby's blood sugar levels are comng down, and we decided to spend a bit of time at Utah Lake so I could get pics of the Pelicans hubby saw over the weekend when he went fishing. I love these birds and had dreamed of a painting with Pelicans so this was a worthwhile outing, also good to get Dave away from the house and his so-called vacation from work. He took a week off and it has been cold, windy, and he has not felt well. I was looking at blogs I follow and Linda had seen Pelicans near her home in California today too! I like the way they fly in formations and as I told Linda, I like the way they look like large white baskets floating on the lake. Here are my pics and hopefully I will have 1 or 2 paintings by Sunday to post, one with Pelicans.
My other dilemma is that Friday evening is the reception awards celebration for the show I got in and the organizer called to let me know I had won a prize and then she divulged it was an honorable mention! It is being held in Provo, Utah and my dear young friends from the Univerity of Utah in Salt Lake City are having their opening of 3 shows in one place 40 miles north of Provo in Salt Lake City, at the same time. Luckily they are having parties every Friday for the next 3 weekends..so I suppose I should go to Provo..but I don't know anyone in the arts there even though I live in that county. Still I can make friends but ..oh what to do..
I do miss my young friends, and I will know everyone ..but I am in this other show..so I am having a hard time deciding where to go. I could have done both in a 3 hour window years ago but traffic is so bad now that it is impossible to do now. Guess I better go to Provo..but I think I would rather be in Salt Lake City..Do I sound like an indecisive child?
The one photo of the mountains is m indulgence on a beautiful and cold day. What do you call more than one Pelican? I think the one pic looks like a pile of Pelicans

May 4, 2010

Today I had planned on leaving early to my studio to start a series of large watercolors for a show in June. I had awaken with an idea that has been further enhanced by another bloggers references to Joan Mitchell and I was excited..but of course life does not always let us do what we want when we want! I noticed my husband has an infected toe. He is a type2 diabetic and this is serious. Although he has never taken the disease seriously. I worry that he might be going the way of his brother who died several years ago from strokes due to diabetic complications. He was only 53. Hubby's father and uncles all died from diebetes and heart problems early on. Now Hubby has outlived them all by reaching the ripe old age of 58 but he seems determined to undermine his own health. It is so frustrating to watch. He loves his soda, donuts, etc. He is so unwilling to give them up thinking life is not worth living if you can't induldge in the sugary things. I have tried to be an example and only keep good food in the house but he is an adult and does what he wants. Yesterday my brother's girlfriend lost her mother at the age of 63 due to strokes brought on by obesity and diabetes..so sad and so preventable.
I remember talking to a German Shepherd judge that my club had hired to judge a show. He was a surgeon..he removed legs..day in and day out from diabetics who refused to take the warning signs seriously and change their lifestyles.
I am sorry to burden you poor readers with these somewhat personal details..but it is keeping us from living our lives fully when we spend so much on meds and will have to plan for surgeries and care. Such a waste of a life. My husband is an intelligent man..but not in this area..oh if there was someone he would actually listen to.
So I called the Dr. and made an appt. for him and I am going with..we shall see what happens..then I will go to the studio and lose myself in some painting.
On a brighter note..my oldest son, Shane, and I went hiking in Salt Lake County and I am posting pics of that. The one shows the back end of a 4 ft. long hog snake that crossed the path in front of us..very cool, just couldn't get the camera out quick enough to get all of him.
The rest of the story..Hubby has to be on insulin now to try to get sugar levels under control. The good news is this might be better than the pills which go away today, and easier for him to deal with. The bad news is it happened at all.He didn't seem to care..and I was in tears. Sorry no painting in the studio today..tomorrow then.