Phase III

Phase I occurred in my mid 20s when I lived in Seattle.  Very few Phase I pieces were produced and those few hovered between amazingly amateurish and painfully pathetic.  What else could one reasonably expect?  No lessons, no study, no practice, just buy the stuff and do it.  That's me, hate sitting around in classrooms listening to instructors.  I have the attention span of a grasshopper and a tendency to fall asleep within minutes if not actively engaged or entertained.  So, just jump in head first, screw it up really good, maybe learn a little, screw it up less next time.  Maybe.

That said, the very first Phase I product, now 40 years old, has survived a dozen plus moves and as many 'toss or keep' decisions.  It's hanging in the hallway here in LHC, even as we (don't) speak.  I'm fond of it - more for the theme than the skill it displays.  Figured it out?  Yup, we're talking painting here.  Phase I was oils.  Oils dry slowly.  Not the best medium for a man in a hurry.  Here's the lone survivor of Phase I.  We'll call Phase I the JDI period.  Just Do It.

Flash forward 30 years for Phase II, which was brief, just a couple consecutive winters in Columbia City, OR.  I was living with Patty at the time; many readers knew her as an accomplished artist/illustrator.  She had a large inventory of art supplies that included acrylic paints.  I borrowed a few acrylics, bought a few more, and proceeded to paint a tot-sized chair left behind in one my rentals.  The chair (below) now serves as a color spot in our living room.

The second - and last - Phase II piece was an act of desperation.  I'd been searching high and low for colorful tiles that would fit into the top of a plant stand, couldn't find any.  The tiles that came with the plant stand were your standard natural clay color; I finally gave up my search for new tiles and decided to paint the old ones.  Where I got the idea for a Pacific NW Native American totem pole theme, I don't recall.  Anyway, that's the direction it went and here it is.

I'm thinking Phase II would be appropriately called the PBN (Paint By Number) period since it involved no mixing or blending or other cool artsy techniques.

Phase III started a week ago when I opened a Christmas wish-list gift from Trish: a starter set of acrylic paints.  Phase III is a blank canvas in every sense of the phrase.  I suspect it'll trend towards semi-abstract.  To be continued.

Benched

Five weeks ago I pulled a muscle in my left forearm, not sure how, working in the yard I guess, didn't seem like a big deal at the time.  Golfing a few days later and executing one of my notorious whack-that-little-dimpled-sucker-into-the-next-state drives, I further aggravated the arm: very sore, internal bleeding, lovely purple skin fading over time to ugly yellow-green. 

I skipped my Wednesday golf league for a couple weeks to give the arm some healing time, wrapped it in an Ace bandage and played in the couples Sunday scramble 2 weeks ago.  Dumb ass!  Did the same thing all over again, only worse: sorer, purpler, yellower, greener, uglier - with the extra added attraction of a doorknob-sized knot near the elbow.

Went to see the sawbones, diagnosis: rippeduptendonistic soreashellarmitis.  Those weren't the exact words but it was 2 l-o-n-g words, both containing 20+ letters, with a few extra Zs and Xs thrown in for good measure.  Treatment: ice for a week, then heat, 6-8 weeks estimated heal time.  It's been 2 weeks since the most recent injury, discoloration finally fading out, knot not responding to treatment (Trish thinks it's a hematoma, could take months to go away), still plenty sore.

So, I'm benched indefinitely, limited activity, on waivers, seeking one-armed bandit work.  I'm the world's worst patient.  Impatient!  Hate it!

Yucaipa, CA

Yucaipa, in the San Bernadino Mts, has a population of 51K and an excellent regional park.  We stayed here 3 years ago and are delighted to be back.  The park has RV and tent camping, trails, water slide, frisbee golf, 3 small lakes stocked with large trout, game fields and more.  I rank it one of the top 4 parks we've visited in North America.  The other top-ranked parks are one each in MN, NB, OR.

Middle Lake, lots of fishing.  Saw a beautiful 8 pound trout caught by a teenage girl who was justifiably proud to show it off.

Upper Lake with woman, dog, rocks, fishermen.

Fantastic weather here, mid 70s for highs, sunny, 40ish for lows.

Slab City

See my NYE Trip post of 12-17-11 for Slab City background info.

It's not your mother's campground and one night was more than adequate, although we'd planned to stay for 2.  Lot's of trash lying about, some self-propelled and humanoid in appearance but most of it inorganic.  'Tis indeed a strange brew with more than a touch of post-apocalyptic.  We're not sorry we stopped though, have to cater to one's sense of adventure and curiosity, after all.

To be fair, the people we chatted with, the ones who were passing through or just there for the winter, weren't strange at all.  Sandi (see below) was okay, too.  Most of the folks we assumed to be permanent residents, however, were decidedly lacking in visual appeal and basic social skills - like responding to smiles and a friendly 'Hi' from Trish and I as we strolled around.  Stoned?  Mentally challenged?  Possessed by non-verbal alien life forms?  Several bricks short of a full load?  Hard to tell, probably a mixed bag of the above.  Or, maybe they're mostly normal, unresponsive only because they're tired of being considered the main stars in the ongoing freak show.

Artist and sophisticate in residence, Sandi. Trish bought 3 of her finer pieces.

The Range has live music on Saturday nights.  There's lots of comfy seating - if you're into getting goosed with bare rusty springs sticking out of 30-year old bus seats and (un)stuffed furniture.

Main entrance to the Range, no bull.

Salvation Mountain.

Gotta LOVE it!

Once a pickup, now..........?

Whatever.

Yeah, REPENT!  Or we'll throw your miserable sinful carcass in the cell in the back of The Bible Truck and drive you around so everyone can hiss and boo and throw nasty rotten stuff at you.

A parting shot of Salvation Mt.

Lemon Aid

The Lemon
The vast majority of newer AZ homes are built on a slab so there's no crawlspace.  No crawlspace means no worries about water getting under the house, no vapor barriers, no venting.  It means that directing runoff rain water away from the foundation is not critical to the long term health of the structure.  It doesn't rain that much here anyway, it being a desert. 

When it does rain here, though, likely as not it'll be a downpour, a regular flash flood gully washer.  Most homes here don't have gutters and downspouts; water just runs off the roof and continues on its merry way to its gully of choice, no problem.  No problem, unless: a generous share of the roof's runoff water just happens to be channeled to a spot directly in front of the main entry.  And that's the case at 400 Stallion Lane: any attempt to enter or leave the building (take your umbrella, Elvis) when it's raining will be rewarded with an impromptu shower.  That's The Lemon.

The Aid
It rained last week and the entry shower was fully operational, bring your own soap and towel, please.  Trish said, 'We should do something about that, divert the water somehow.'  Duh!  Why didn't I think of that?  She went on to suggest a rain chain, a device that serves the same purpose as a downspout but is a quantum leap more attractive.  Right on, Babe!  But first, let's move the shower nozzle so the rain chain doesn't block half the entry.

So, it's off to Lowe's for gutter and brackets, and online rain chain shopping.  Several websites offer rain chains of copper and aluminum.  There's your basic, plain-Jane rain chain drain from Spain* and your more elaborate devices like strings of funnels, in various shapes and sizes.  I opted for the hammered aluminum funnel, a clean, sleek design that elegantly and eloquently reflects the highly refined, yet subtly understated, tastes of the sophisticated homeowner (that would be me).  Oh yeah!

Lemon Aid Pix

We like the way this little project turned out.  It really was a little project but the reward seems not so little.  I'm now qualified to act as design consultant on similar projects you may be considering. Consulting fees will be dependent on the scope of work, certainly affordable by anyone with a high 6-figure income. 

* Mine came from India.  But some of the others may be from Spain.

NYE Trip

Hosting a NYE party has been a long standing tradition for us.  But, this year we're doing something quite different, taking the EDGE on 6-day excursion to southern CA and spending NYE in a municipal park we like.  The park is in Yucaipa and has a muni golf course nearby.
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En route, we'll spend a couple nights in Slab City, aka The Slabs, an abandoned WWII military base southeast of the Salton Sea.  Slab City, featured in the movie Into the Wild, is now an off-the-grid (boondocking) hangout for RVers.  The 'permanent' population is a colorful mix of dropouts, aging hippies, Jesus freaks and artist wannabes.  Come winter, hundreds of RV snowbirds join the action, most of which I assume, are relatively mainstream types.
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Over the years, the locals have created many pieces of imaginative junk art and have painted graffiti/murals on the few remaining structures.  There's a year-round flea market (of course) and there's often live music in the evenings.  It's an interesting one of a kind place and the natives are reputedly friendly and fun.  I'll take lots of pix for the blog so check back in late December. 
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Ho, ho, ho.  I've gotta go.

Christmas Family Album

Here are selected members of our extended family in their Christmas finery.  They all wish you a great holiday season and new year!

Ranger the Wonder Dog

Pancho the Musician

Grunt the Party Animal

Lil Ms Liza Lizard