"It is Art!"

I had been eye-balling this chicken crate for about 3 weeks. It sat in front of one of the antique shops by my home. Each night I drove past and it was still there—waiting patiently for me to buy it. As you can see, I had to bring it home. The door still works and even has the patent pending information stamped on it. I Googled the maker, W. J. Carpenter Company and they are still in business over in Virginia. No web site, just old fashioned wooden country goods if you want to drive over there.


My crate is old. I knocked the dust off with a hard jet of water and let it dry in the sun. My boyfriend looked at it and started the "What the Hell..." and my look stopped him right there. I informed him it was "art" and I am going to hang it in my studio. Right next to my cool paper wasp nest still stuck on the branch—minus the wasps.

How Was Your Weekend?

More leaves I picked up from a neighbor.

It is a polite question that coworkers ask each other on a Monday morning. I am so tired I can hardly walk. My hands are callosing from raking leaves. I had a good weekend. Call me crazy, but the only thing I missed was running out of time for baking the new yeast roll recipe I found.

I have an obsession for composting. I get excited when the worms start showing up in it. It is labor intensive and that is how I get my exercise. Turning compost, adding more nitrogen (Lucy and Lacy's rabbit poop), shuffling in the coffee grinds that I have absconded from work. One friend is a vegetarian and me brings bags of vegetable and fruit peelings. After months of working a pile of leaves you can lose a kindergarten class in, I have Black Gold.


My seed orders have came in and I have started my seed peat pots. My son has a 1980 K5 Chevy Blazer that we keep covered until he can restore it. He doesn't know it—but I have turned it into a greenhouse. There is a row of seed trays geminating on the dash where the sun shines on it. It is working perfectly. Kind of a strange dichotomy though, a gas guzzling Chevy truck being used as a greenhouse for Mom's organic garden. I like it. I also store the rabbits hay in the back of it, he doesn't know that either.

Have a good week, my friends.

Pile of seeds from friends and catalogs.


I will have Purple Coneflowers coming out of my ears. 90% came up from seed. Go Blazer Greenhouse!

I Love You Too, James

My grandkids and I are separated by states. They are in Alabama, I live in Texas. They have already told me I am not like the other grandmas, which I take as a compliment. When the grands and I are together, we are up at sunrise eating bacon and waffles. Then heading out the door for a long exploratory hike or swim at the beach. They fell in love with my basset hound, KatieBelle. I love to cook for them, and play games in the evening. Our separation is painful for me. I hope to see them soon. I love you more.

V.... Vaughn

Sunrise


Sunset

Saturday I met Virginia Vaughn. She taught a plein air painting class from sunrise to sunset. Literally. I thought getting up at 4:00 a.m. would get me to Calvert, Texas in time to paint the sunrise. I was late by about 15 minutes. The sun does not wait for anyone. Virginia makes it look easy. She has a beautiful style of impressionism and holds her paint brush like a pallet knife.

Early spring in Texas can be volatile . That day, it was a gorgeous rainbow prism colored sunrise and about 1.5 hours later a front blew in, taking our clouds with it. We were given an ultramarine blue sky and wind gusts of 30 mph. We had to anchor our easels and hold tight to our thumb boxes. We had a great, small adventurous group. No one was afraid of getting up early, crazy weather, and using bright, bold colors on their canvases. I hope to paint with them again.

V, I hope you get picked as our Texas Artist. You are the real deal.

My attempt. Why do I always try to do the hard architectural stuff? Whyyyyy?


Two sisters, Barbara and Cecilia. I enjoyed watching them together, such love!

Valentine Chicks

This is what I received for Valentines Day. Chickens. And I could not be more pleased. Well, unless I loaded up on Basset Hounds. As soon as you walked in the door of the Post Office you could hear the cacophony of peeps. I love the box, LIVE BABY CHICKS! Peep Peep!!


My birds came from Murray McMurray Rare Bird breeders. Every chick was healthy and rearing to go. Since I ordered the "Rainbow Layer" mix, I do not know what breeds I have—other than 26 baby hens running each other over. I can tell by the coloring there are at least 7 different breeds in my clutch. And one is a crazy Turken.

It is hard work being a chick. Whew—I am tired....

Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day to all my friends out there. This is my first "heart day" with my new family that rescued me. Kerrie named me Ruby, after a beautiful red jewel. We are going to adopt a basset hound girlfriend for me—and for Kerrie. As soon as our new fence gets finished my new sister will come home to us. We cannot wait! Have a wonderful Valentines Day.

Spring in Texas

The sign is here. My yard filled with Robins this week. And Cedar Waxwings, Goldfinches, Ruby Crowned Kinglets, Purple Finches, Bluebirds and about 10 others. Which brings me to The Great Backyard Birdcount this coming weekend. For 4 days you make a list of all the birds that are seen in your yard. Last year I bingoed with a Greater Roadrunner in the front flowerbed. I was lucky enough to get a photo of him as well. Here is the link: www.birdsource.org