Monday miscellany

in which our plucky heroine tries to keep cool...

It was supposed to be less hot this weekend, but I must have blinked and missed it. The bubbler/waterer attachment for the garden hose finally arrived, and my plan is to move it from one young tree to another in order to try and reduce their heat stress. 

※※※

~ well begun ~

Meant to share this image last week... Bending the cloisonné wires is the slowest part of the whole process of creating an enamel peerage medallion. It requires great precision at a very small scale, and takes me multiple hours to complete this step, before the layers of enamel can be added.

※※※

I realised this weekend that I almost never ever leave the house door open (with the screen in use for air flow) which is why I've not noticed for at least twenty years that the screening itself is damaged. I can safely ignore this particular problem that I have been obsessing about for the last few days, and move on to deal with other house issues.

※※※

The porch flooring repair and the kitchen faucet replacement are scheduled for the beginning of next week. Fingers crossed it all goes according to plan and doesn't turn up any further damage that needs repaired. In addition, I was able to pick up two more cans of the hammered dark bronze Rustoleum from Fred Meyers closeout shelf, for  painting at least the exterior front screen door, plus as much of the other two as is feasible. 

※※※

Very incremental wardrobe progress over the last week. My batik summer dress is slowly being pieced together from various leftover scraps, one or two seams per day. Though if we get the Super El Nino winter that is threatened, I'll still have a great many more days to wear it. No great loss without some gain. The Tabby Cat Cowl is also coming along bit by bit, as I mostly only knit on it during zoom meetings.

※※※

August SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	2 Talenti shelves	Talenti shelf up	greenwaste bin
2	acorncap earrings	2nd pot lid rack	recycle bin
3	teaspoon earrings	painted mailbox	greenwaste bin
4	glass button earrings	Strombecker lamp	recycle bin
5	poppy pod earrings	reglue earrings	greenwaste bin
6	red cube earrings	porch storage	x
7	x	painted grille	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes - 
- located two more cans of Rustoleum spray paint 
- finished bending Pelican wires
- frozen organic blueberries

Time of Isolation - Day 2231

Friday fragments

in which our plucky heroine is feeling scattered...

An assortment of small chores all day long starting by waking up early in order to do more fig tree hacking before wheelie pickup happened. Found a ripe fig hiding in the green fig tree that was actually yummy. Filled the bin with chunks of fig branches, and got it to the curb in time. Yay me! Still lots of pruning to do, but also managed to roughly cut back the forsythia, which seems to be trying to take over the sidewalk

※※※

~ ongoing refurbishment ~
. 

The front door of Acorn Cottage, with a repainted screen door grille, but not yet fully refurbished and repainted. The other photo shows why replacing the screening is a good idea. Today I washed both the glass panels of the storm/screen door, which took more time than imagined, but along with cleaning the door itself, has made a big difference. My plan is to use the rest of the spray paint to paint it the same bronze color as I did the grille and the mailbox, which will coordinate with the dark brown future trim color. The actual door itself, currently purple, will be painted turquoise.

※※※

All the Jill Barklem Brambly Hedge hardcopy books the library has are always checked out. Not surprising. Aside from the four seasonal ones, there is "Sea Story" where the mice travel downriver to the ocean to acquire several barrels of salt from their coastal cousins. I'd never read that one before, and it wasn't available as an ebook, so it was a treat once my number got to the top of the holds list. Rode my bike to the library this morning to pick it up, and it is now probably my favorite of all.  

※※※

My adventure taking the free summertime shuttle to Pittock Mansion was foiled by the limited schedule; the idea of sitting there on the mansion grounds for several hours waiting for the next go round of the bus was not the best way to spend the better part of a day. Chores and work may not be as novel, but are also necessary, and since the weekend is forecast to be slightly cooler than usual, enameling is on the docket instead. Possibly interspersed with some sewing, since those happen in the same workroom... 

※※※

August SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	2 Talenti shelves	Talenti shelf up	greenwaste bin
2	acorncap earrings	2nd pot lid rack	recycle bin
3	teaspoon earrings	painted mailbox	greenwaste bin
4	glass button earrings	Strombecker lamp	recycle bin
5	poppy pod earrings	reglue earrings	greenwaste bin
6	red cube earrings	porch storage	x
7	x	painted grille	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes - 
- did not break my toe when I dropped the clipboard on it
- woke up early enough to fill the greenwaste bin before the truck arrived to empty it
- zucchini stir fried with panko and lemon is really good

Time of Isolation - Day 2228

if you give a mouse a cookie

in which our plucky heroine recognises project creep...

The repainted mailbox, and replacing the grubby Rubbermaid tote bin with a new dark brown "deck box", seems to be inspiring other changes around the Acorn Cottage entryway... This morning I removed the aluminum grille from the front screen door and scrubbed it in the tub prior to spray painting. How did I never notice the very bad condition of the fixed screen underneath (hint: it was/is mostly obscured by the grille). It looks as if former tenants or owners had a cat, or a dog that really wanted outside, since there are various holes and scratched places in the screening. No wonder there are sometimes mystery insects in the house. 

I know how to replace normal (detachable) windowscreens, but this one is integral to the screen door and there is no visible way to detach it for repair. Bah! The only thing I can think of is to cut away most of it and hand sew in a piece of new screening without holes. That seems an excessively laborious and peculiar way to deal with the issue, if less of a faff than removing the door itself from the frame. I have been unable to figure any way to remove the screened section from the door, and all my online searching has been in vain. It also occurrs to me that if worse came to worse and I cannot correctly detach the old damaged screen I could even cut away the old screen and GLUE new screen in place using silicone adhesive. Again less than ideal, but possible.

P.S. Once the paint had dried and the grille been reattached to the screen door, the offending damaged screen is again much less visible, so must needs patiently wait until I figure how best to make repairs. The newly painted grille looks great!

※※※

~ small and sculptural~

These small mare and foal charms weigh only 2 grams and are 21mm (¾") tall. Their blue/green patina, which coordinates with my most recent favorite colorway initially inspired ideas of yet more earrings. Though it occurs to me that these also are a great size to be a tinyworld artifact, an "antiquity"  to be sitting on a shelf or mantelpiece. They remind me somewhat of the little votive horse artifact in the very start of Coppola's "Black Stallion" film, before the shipwreck scene.

※※※

Thursday mid-August throwbacks: Eighteen years ago Jen came to visit, time goes by in a flash, fourteen years ago G and I broke up, nine years ago there was a total solar eclipse, four years ago I began building Caer Cardboard... It is interesting to me to semi-randomly look backwards into the bits of the past captured by my writings here

※※※

I found a few more of Perlenwunderwesen's beaded creature patterns.  I want to make salamanders for my friend Acantha, similar to the ones shes researched. I figure I can adapt the axolotl pattern, once I find beads of the correct colors...

※※※

Sent a message to the Kickstarter I backed, asking them about converting the CAD files to STL files so I could take them to the library makerspace and print them, and got a reply the next day saying that they would send me STL files, once they were ready, maybe even later this month. (The pillboxes won't be ready until much later this year) I'll need to take another workshop at the library to remember how to use the 3D printers, but learning new things and practicing new things is always good. Maybe I can use the larger size model to make one for a friend who needs more space for their meds?

※※※

August SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	2 Talenti shelves	Talenti shelf up	greenwaste bin
2	acorncap earrings	2nd pot lid rack	recycle bin
3	teaspoon earrings	painted mailbox	greenwaste bin
4	glass button earrings	Strombecker lamp	recycle bin
5	poppy pod earrings	reglue earrings	-
6	red cube earrings	porch storage	x
7	x	painted grille	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- blogging is an ongoing hobby and useful aide-mémoire
- Vera of Perlenwunderwesen generously shares her genius patterns for beaded creatures
- some large cardboard pieces that worked well to support the grille while I was spray-painting it

Time of Isolation - Day 2227