Spring Skiing

Caveat: this is not for the faint of heart or sensitive of nose.  Nor is it suitable for children, members of the SPCA, the inherently squeamish - and, frankly, anyone with a modicum of good sense.  If you fit into any of these categories, stop reading NOW!  Or, continue at the risk of being highly offended.  You've been warned!

Once upon a time in a state far, far, away (Minnesota) there lived a boy on a family farm.  The boy milked cows, slopped hogs, herded sheep, forked manure, hauled hay bales, shoveled grain, picked rocks - just like numerous other farm boys in that long ago time and far away place.

Winters were long and cold.  Animals sheltered in the barn at night, but were let outside on warm days.  They took care of business, both inside and out.  Lots of business!  Snowstorms were frequent, resulting in multiple layers of business and compacted snow.  Come spring, those multiple layers would slowly melt down and form a pool of thick, odoriferous slop several inches deep.

And then it was time for Spring Skiing!

First, carefully select your tow vehicle.  A cow of course, but not just any cow.  An old cow couldn't get up to speed quickly.  A young heifer, on the other hand, could jump start you right off your feet.  Next, get a firm grip on the chosen cow's tail, holler HI YO SILVER!  And you're off!

These were short rides.  20' in 5 seconds was the course record.  If your ski boot (overshoe, actually) hit a submerged obstacle and you did a face plant into the muck, the ride was even shorter.

Tow vehicles kicked up slop so best keep your mouth shut and eyes nearly so.  As for clothing, well... let's just say it was heavier afterward.  Didn't matter really; farm boys smelled like self-propelled turds pretty much all the time.

Oh yeah, those were the days!

Butterfly lll

Here's the last of 3-piece set.  They were fun to do, a little tricky, screwed up 3 others.

All hung.  Ready for next project.

Slim

Slim recently joined our household.  He's 5' tall, weighs in at 21 pounds.  He's severely underweight, which is probably the reason he becomes light-headed at times. 

Slim's job is to shed light on Trish's jigsaw puzzle today.  She cranks up Slim's dimmer - and he becomes even more light-headed than usual.  We dim Slim some sometimes, like when we watch TV in the evening.

The picture shows him hiking, but he's frequently seen arms akimbo, showing dismay, doing the funky chicken and so on.  He's very expressive.

Home Improvement

We did a couple outdoor improvements awhile back and are quite pleased with how they came out.

First, we added permanent shades and access doors to the SE side of the patio.  It provides sun and wind protection, and adds privacy. 

And then we have the new Bark Park, a place for Trish and the 'kids' to hang out.  It's at the rear of our lot, an unused space that's now getting a lot of use.  They spend an hour or two out there every day, weather permitting - and it permits most of the time. 

That's not real grass, in case you were wondering.  It's high-end artificial stuff, professionally installed.  LHC population is 52,000, which doesn't include several thousand seasonal visitors that own homes here, but are citizens of other states or Canada.  So, the number of homes is a lot higher than the population would indicate.  And I doubt that even one out of a thousand homes has a real grass lawn.  When Minnesota relatives come to visit, we have to take them to one of the many parks every other day or they suffer severe grass withdrawal, get twitchy and irritable.  Pathetic.

Butterfly II

This is my second acrylic chain pull butterfly.  Will do one more, then move on.   Metallic paints don't show well in pictures but are dynamite on the wall in direct light.  This one has gold on top, silver on bottom.

Parker Goes to Sea

Trish took Parker out in the kayak for the first time yesterday.  Unlike Artie on his maiden voyage, Parker did not attempt to walk on water.  She was well prepared, had her PFD on, also doggles to protect her eyes from the glare off the water.  She's a smart little bitch.  And way cool, to boot.

Butterfly

My fourth attempt at acrylic pour butterfly and second attempt using the chain pull method; the first one was terrible so I wiped it off the canvas before it dried.  This has several minor flaws but still pretty enough to hang.

Despite the name butterfly I've yet to see a single one making butter.

Nor eating butter, for that matter.