Second Blog?

I'm considering a second blog on which I will post about my life in my new apartment in Boulder.  I'll keep this blog, removing the "Day-to-Day" bit, and continue to blog about my visits here.  

I think I last blogged about my neighbors taking a load of cast-off furniture from another cabin to the apartment on Friday.  I've inherited a highboy, a computer desk and a television.  I'm now waiting for a bed from another Eldora resident who is replacing a double with a queen and I'm reassured it's very clean.  In the meantime, I continue to load my car, dividing what I would normally consider a load, putting most of the weight on my uninjured left arm, and taking items down to the apartment.  Head and eye are greatly improved.

I made one unintended trip on Saturday when Dixie, the three-legged resident dog whose owner allows her and her running mate Jimmy to run free, appeared on my doorstep.  After having two conversations with the owner's boyfriend that bordered on threatening because he resented having to pick up Dixie from my cabin in the evening, I had met with the owner and told her I didn't want him providing dog pick-up in the future.   After initially acting conciliatory,  she called a few days later telling me not to allow Dixie into my cabin.  I called Boulder County Animal Control the next day, explained I was getting tired of being put on the defensive because these dogs' owner was allowing them to run free and asked them to give her a warning.  On Saturday, my car was full, so even though Dixie wanted to come along when I left to go to the library and on to the spring to get water, I had no room for her.  Although I was annoyed at myself for allowing the situation to control my actions, I drove on to Boulder and unloaded the car in the hope Dixie would be gone when I returned and she was.  Since then, Jimmy was here yesterday and Dixie has been here twice today and is still here even though it has been almost 80F degrees and I have little shade on my lot.  I've put out water for her, had to chain her up when the fox just came to eat and have called Animal Control and left a message to determine if the warning has been issued, in which case the dog owner is simply ignoring it.  I hate to have Animal Control pick up Dixie, but may have to resort to that tactic if this continues.


Over the weekend and today, when I wasn't using gasoline, which I can ill afford, to make trips up and down the canyon to the apartment, I took advantage of the intermittent good weather to do some furniture priming and painting. 


I had purchased this little wall-mounted storage unit not too long after I started living here in the cabin in late summer 2010.  It was originally pale wood with red painted trim and looked as if it had been hand made for a child's room.  I painted it my favorite Krylon Oil Rubbed Bronze...

I decided, since I won't be able to stream music once I move my computer to the apartment, I'd leave this here since it houses dozens of tapes (as well as some DVDs that I play on a personal DVD player my niece gave me) that can be played on this old clock radio....

Radio reception here is nil.  I had one of these that I used nightly in Phoenix, put it up behind the car seat with a favorite tape in it when I moved, the tape warped in the heat driving from Phoenix to Missouri and ruined the tape deck.  My friend Evelyn in Phoenix gave me this replacement when I visited her winter before last.


While I was priming and painting the small storage shelf, I was also working on this writer's lap desk I'd had for about the same length of time...

The top was so badly damaged, sanding wasn't doing the trick, so I decided I needed some sort of filler.  When I was in Boulder on Saturday I stopped at Home Depot and found this product...

...it's about the consistency of Spackle and I found it much easier to work with than regular wood repair products.

While I was working on these two things, I got started on the bottom of the secretary...

...pulled the drawers out and removed the hardware and sprayed them with this wonderful primer I also found at Home Depot...

I had done battle last week trying to prime the top of the secretary using Odor Free spray Kilz.  Whatever you do, don't bother with this Kilz product.  I drove back to Nederland to Ace and returned the first can because no matter how much I shook it, it came out literally like that fun string...

The second can was barely an improvement.  I finally used both thumbs and all my strength to press down on the nozzle and emptied the can, but the finish is so rough I'm going to have to sand everything down before I paint.

On the other hand, this Rust-Oleum Painter's Touch Ultra Cover Primer is wonderful.  Shakes up and sprays easily and goes on smoothly.  I had read about this paint on a craft blog and am so glad I sought it out and tried it.  I got two cans and that was enough to do the entire bottom part of the secretary, including the drawers, the interior and both sides of the drop-down desk, from which I removed the hardware so I wouldn't have to tape it off...

...It was really too windy today to finish this up, but I wanted to get it off my plate, and I ended up with some mottling, but I don't think this will be apparent once I paint it which is going to have to wait until next week.


Yesterday I also washed the cabin windows on the outside and put up the screens so I can get some air in here during the day when it gets hot...

...not sure I want this big open space available to the bear at night so will just have to hope it continues to get down into the 40F degrees at night!   Teddee

The Wind in the Willows...er Aspens

You would think from looking at this photo that we are having an ideal Memorial Day...

...those stupendous Mountain Bluebird blue skies and just that little cloud in the distance.  But the winds have been annoyingly strong all weekend.  My neighbors have an anemometer....

...which you can barely discern against the background of trees.  I think it probably looks much like this image from Wikipedia...

I didn't know what these were called.  This is what Wikipedia has to say about anemometers:

An anemometer is a device for measuring wind speed, and is a common weather station instrument. The term is derived from the Greek word anemos, meaning wind, and is used to describe any airspeed measurement instrument used in meteorology or aerodynamics. The first known description of an anemometer was given by Leon Battista Alberti around 1450.^[1]

I asked my neighbor what speed their anemometer was measuring the wind gusts because I thought NOAA was way under-forecasting when they said as high as 28 mph today.  She said the highest they had was 50 mph, but because their anemometer is mounted too low, it usually measures about 20 mph under one owned by another resident in Eldora, so she was figuring 70 mph.  That seems more like it.  I can usually tell based on the noises various pieces on the cabin and outbuildings make.


I hoped I would be able to capture the winds whipping the neighboring aspens by using the same camera setting that enabled me to shoot falling snow last winter, but no luck.  You can see the tree tops bending a little in this photo, but it's not capturing the true magnitude of the wind gusts...

...and here they are straight again...

If I took enough of these images I could make an animated flip book...couldn't remember what these were called and had to look it up.  Love Google and Wikipedia.  A person can type the most poorly formatted question into Google Search and have it successfully interpret what you're seeking and direct you there.  In this case, this "duh" question, "Is there a name for the moving cartoons made by putting a different image on each page of a book?" typed into the search box took me to "Animation" and Wikipedia has some wonderful information on the subject:

Early examples of attempts to capture the phenomenon of motion drawing can be found in paleolithic cave paintings, where animals are depicted with multiple legs in superimposed positions, clearly attempting to convey the perception of motion. [I love this!  My comment]:

A 5,000 year old earthen bowl found in Iran in Shahr-i Sokhta has five images of a goat painted along the sides. This has been claimed to be an example of early animation. However, since no equipment existed to show the images in motion, [What about a potter's wheel?  My question] such a series of images cannot be called animation in a true sense of the word.^[1]

A Chinese zoetrope-type device had been invented in 180 AD.^[2] The phenakistoscope, praxinoscope, and the common flip book were early popular animation devices invented during the 19th century.

These devices produced the appearance of movement from sequential drawings using technological means, but animation did not really develop much further until the advent of cinematography.

So, making a bad segue from jumping antelope to foxes, I have been worried sick about Vixen, but was hoping she'd make an appearance and ease my concern before posting anything about it.  Unfortunately, not.  I haven't seen her since Friday night at which time she came at the appointed hour, ate her kibble and raw egg...

 
...while I sat on the bench under the cabin eave and watched her and chatted, then came up on the deck, took this huge piece of chicken from my hand and trotted off in the direction of her den.  No sign of her Saturday morning or Saturday evening, Sunday morning or Sunday evening.  Finally, about dark, the male fox I dubbed Valentino showed up...

There must have been some telepathizing going on because I'd been to-ing and fro-ing about putting out some chicken bones, wanting her to have them if she showed up, but not wanting to attract the bear, and had finally decided to put them out, opened the door and there he was.  But he's very flighty and left without taking the bones or another piece of chicken breast I put in the bowl...unless he came back after I shut the door.


...so now I'm trying to come up with a logical scenario...one that doesn't involve her being killed...and have come up with this:  After being attacked in the den, being injured and losing her month-old kits last spring, Vixen got pregnant again very quickly [gestation 52 days according to Wikipedia], which puts it at about May 5, needed nourishment badly so started coming for whatever calories I could provide, but remained so thin she just didn't look pregnant.  Brought her guy around a few weeks back so he'd know where to come for food when she couldn't.  Gave birth Friday night and can't leave the kits.  All this time she's been trotting off with pieces of chicken she was taking it to Valentino and now it was his turn to do for her and he didn't come through.  I can just hear the conversation...."Do I have to do everything?!"  

I do hope she's OK.  Teddee

Hidden Treasure

Today I decided to paint a mirror I'd purchased last year at the Goodwill in Lafayette.  My original intent when I purchased it was to use it as a top for this old wash stand that is serving as an entry table... 

The top is not only cracked and warped, my mother had covered it with some faux wood-grain tile which I attempted to camouflage by painting it last fall...

The mirror turned out to be too large and I'd had it propped against the wall over this wash stand all winter.  We were having a lovely day.  Sunny, almost hot with just the mildest breeze, so I decided I would be able to paint the mirror frame.  I hadn't decided whether I was going to keep it or try to sell it to Tim at The Wild West Mercantile, but didn't like the dark green and faux wood of the frame...
 

I cleaned the mirror and used a damp cloth to clean the frame.  There was a bit of a rough spot on one side and I decided to sand that down before I painted.  As I was sanding, I started to see some interesting color and what looked like incised vines...

...I kept on sanding and found that the green paint, if dampened, came right off, leaving the surface below intact...

I ended up with this...

Paint shreds were everywhere and I had to use a paint brush to get them from between the frame and the mirror...

That wood color does a rather nice job of picking up the darker color in the grape leaves, but I could see on the corners where it was worn that it was actually that really cheap paper from which some inexpensive frames are made so decided it needed painting.


Because of my discovery, I had to tape off not only the mirror, but the painted bit in between the faux wood bits...

I decided to paint it black.  I won't know until I take the tape off whether I'll like it with the grapevine motif.

I'm using Krylon Fusion...

I thought it was just for plastic and had bought it so I could spray paint some white plastic hangers I have that stick out like a sore thumb against this dark paint I used on the interior of the cabin.  But I noted it could be used on wood so thought I'd give it a try.  They got the lid right on this one.  Easy off.

So now I'm waiting for the second coat of paint to dry...and Dixie is pouting...

Not only did we not go for a ride today, but I made her stay in the cabin while the fox and I ate lunch outside.  I was reading at the picnic table and the fox stayed around quite a long while, eating and even coming up on the deck.  I have concocted a scenario to make sense of her reappearance and apparent need for company.  I'd been wondering why all of a sudden she was able to spend so much time away from her kits.  Today I noticed that something had almost chewed her gorgeous tail in half and I'm now wondering if something killed the kits and she got injured in the fray. 


I have got to try to get some photos of this funny thing that's happening with Dixie and the fox.  Dixie is outside and the fox comes to eat.  Dixie starts barking and tries to pursue the fox on three legs.  The fox trots off, staying just in front of her.  I call Dixie back and when she turns around and starts to return to the cabin, the fox also turns around and starts for the cabin so then we have the fox pursuing the dog!   Up to now my first thought has been to stop Dixie from possibly injuring the fox, but I can see the fox has that part well in hand so I'll have time to stop for the camera on the way out the door the next time it happens.


OK.  So it's done.  I think I like it...

I sanded some off here and there on the black part so a little of the brown shows through and touched up the grapevine bit with Tim Holtz's Distress Ink in Walnut Stain because the sanding had scuffed it up a little.


What do you think?  Teddee

There Once Was a Little Girl...

I threw a tantrum this morning.  I had a real temper when I was little and my mother used to taunt me when I acted out with that little poem, "There once was a little girl who had a little curl right in the middle of her forehead.  When she was good she was very very good, but when she was bad she was horrid."  She also believed in corporal punishment and as a result I learned to control my temper, but I always told my mother she beat it into me, not out of me.  It lurks at my core and occasionally I let it loose when I'm really frustrated.  Actually when I'm alone and frustrated and there seems to be no good reason not to let it rip, it's kind of liberating.  

I was trying to get ready to go out earlier today.  I decided I'd take Dixie, return the last of the three library books I'd finished, check out a couple more and perhaps drive to Central City.  I've been in a testy mood for several days.  I'm not sure why.  My allergies are flaring up a bit so I've been contending with congestion and a runny nose, itchy eyes and eustachian tubes; the fox hadn't shown up this morning and I was worried about her; and it's the last week before the Social Security check arrives so, as usual, I'm being forced to really curtail my expenditures.  But the IRS came through yesterday with the refund on that double dip payment they'd helped themselves to, so, even though I'd socked the money into my savings account, I should have been in a pretty good frame of mind.  Whatever.  

It seems as if no matter how hard I try, I can't get this one-room cabin organized so living here isn't frustrating.  Last fall as part of the continuing effort, I made tags for these baskets I use for my clothes...

It took some doing to get the type situated on the page "just so" so I could cut out the printed categories using a tag die I'd purchased.  Then I punched holes in the tags and used some cute little ribbon to tie them onto the baskets.  This really did help me keep my clothing where I could find it more easily.  But today I was trying to find a black vest.  I knew I'd worn it not too long ago, but it wasn't in the Cardigans/Vests bin so I looked in the Tops bin, then the Scarves, Gloves and Hat bin.  Nada.  Finally, in frustration, I dumped everything that hadn't already been pulled out on the bed onto the floor...

...this photo does not do justice to the mess I created.  I never did find the vest and had to change what I planned to wear.  I got my book and purse, put Dixie in the car and left this just this way, went to the library and drove to Central City.  

Central City is a really neat old Colorado mining town that has preserved its Victorian/Edwardian past...

 The town even has its own "opera house"...

I am drawn to this era and would be very happy living here I think.  Central City and adjacent Blackhawk, the local "sin city," have numerous casinos, but I don't really enjoy gambling even if I'd had the money and I  didn't want to park and leave Dixie unattended for long.  I drove through town and ended up at the cemetery.  

 

I decided to get out and take a look thinking the tombstones might be interesting from an historical perspective, but this was one of the most disconcerting cemeteries I've ever been in.  Back in the Midwest, and I think in most parts of the country, even old cemeteries are tended.  They are always grass covered and the plots and headstones are upright and in nice even lines.

Maybe it was just my mood--when I dropped Dixie off at her owner's bookshop on our return I mentioned where we'd been and she said she'd been at the cemetery last fall and found it "very peaceful."  

I was the only one at the cemetery and it was overcast and very quiet.  The only sounds were a squirrel and, believe it or not, a raven.  I wasn't frightened, but felt sad the town wasn't doing a better job of taking care of the graves.  

I'm only going to post a few photos although I took dozens of individual markers.  But let me know if you think this looks "peaceful"...

One disconcerting issue was that the graves were so haphazardly situated.   I don't know if the trees had grown up among the tombstones or if the graves had been dug in among the trees, but as you looked up the hill through the trees there were tombstones scattered hither and yon up the rise as far as you could see.  It was kind of like the Body Farm with tombstones.

  

Appropriately, this abandoned mine building loomed over the whole scene...

I thought about holding these until Halloween, but it is what I did today.  

There was some beautiful carving on some of the headstones...

So, if you narrow your focus, you can find beauty anywhere.


Oh, yes, when I got back I had to clean up my mess.  I made lemonade out of lemons and took advantage of the situation to pack up most of my winter clothes so I can take them to storage.  I finally found the black vest...in this hat box!

Bed and floor are clear and I'll be hitting the hay soon and opening one of the two books I checked out of the library today.  And the fox has been here while I've been doing this blog so she's OK as well.  Teddee