Getting Back At It

There are many things to get back at...procrastinated, multiple, many, numerous interests and distractions.  I guess blogging is one of them, but many blogs I follow have lapses.  But in my opinion, writing is important.  In this day of abbreviated text habits that are finding a place in many forms of written language, it's important to keep up with basic English skills before they are totally lost.  That is assuming these skills were in my possession at one time.

Speaking of misplaced interest, I started "running" again.  Yes, it's in quotes for a reason.  Yesterday went well, but I was surprised that it was only 2.2 miles.  No wonder I didn't feel dead after the run.  But today, I decided I would just go a route and not worry about time or length.  It was 3.1 miles and it felt at least that long, plus the 2.2 from yesterday!  But the good news is that I got my lazy butt outside to do it.

It was a beautiful day to be out, too.  Being a school and work day, it was relatively quiet, until I realized it was the first Wednesday of the month and it was 1:00 PM.  So, my peace was shattered for a few minutes while the tornado siren went off.  As I ran further, I entered a gravel part of a road where the grasshoppers were very numerous.  They frantically hopped and flew out of my way.  They obviously have a bit of a brain in that small head.  One did accidentally land on me, but I felt it's rear legs pushing off almost instantaneously.  I'm sure it was the smell that drove him away!

The rest of the "run" was more of a sight-seeing adventure.  It was nice to get out in the town.  I think that was something I had missed.  For the almost-four years that we have lived here, I have been running in most months.  When I started running here, I really knew none of the residents of the houses here.  But now, it's kinda fun to look around as I go and see people's houses, yards and gardens.  It feels more like home.

So, I've been running two days in a row and might need to take tomorrow off.  But if I can continue some regular running, maybe it will become more running than not, and I can actually call myself a runner again!  Maybe I can also call myself a blogger, or dare I try "writer?"

Tomatoes!

=It seems like it has taken a long time for the tomatoes to really start ripening.  I've gathered a few here and there since the end of June, but not a lot.  But now - wow!

It was an odd spring for many reasons, not just the weather.  I started some seeds, but ended up being gifted better seedlings.  I planted those, gave away a few of mine and wondered why I bought all those seeds.  The plants grew crazily and I was a bit worried at first, wondering if I'd get only foliage and little or no fruit.  I guess I really don't need to worry about that now.  I believe I am at the start of being overwhelmed with tomatoes.

I labeled my plants when I planted - when Mom and I planted, that is.  But I will need to work hard to really know what each variety is, since the plants are too big to get to the little stake in the ground near the base of the plant!  (Note to self:  draw a diagram noting the location of each variety.  This will be easier to identify tomatoes as they ripen!)

And what should I do with all these tomatoes?  Eat, can, eat, make salsa, eat, make juice, etc.  I may even try my hand at canning a home made Bloody Mary mix.  We'll see about that!

What a Spring!

And here is May, already!  We've had some hints of warm weather, but it's hard to believe that summer is just around the corner.  The kids are winding down the school year, gardening is getting started, and our schedule for the summer seems to be filling up!

Our girls are getting ready to end the school year.  It's been a challenge keeping up with them - our organization has slipped and we seem to be a bit more frantic now.  But we'll make one more effort in order to reach the end!

Gardening is finally getting started.  I planted some cool-weather crops several weeks ago, but everything seems to be very slow getting going.  I will be calling a person to 'till up part of my backyard to add to our garden space.  Also, we'll be putting in some garden at a property about a block away - I think that will be where the pumpkins and watermelon will go.

And our summer schedule is filling.  We have Girl Scout camp, vacation Bible school, BWCA trip for me (hopefully), family vacation, Fit Families demonstration, Root River Power Association, Ag Days, Garden Club flower bed maintenance, in addition to our personal garden and home maintenance.  And we need to go fishing.

So, there seems to be a lot going on now.  All this while I am recovering from a bout of pneumonia.  It was only a mild case, but I still DON'T recommend this to anyone!  So, don't do it!

New Form of Watercolor

Okay, I don't REALLY know that this is a new form of watercolor, but it's pretty neat.  The girls must be experiencing Spring Fever, too.  They were very excited to see that the snow had melted enough that they could get into our small garage.  That's where the sidewalk chalk lived for the winter and they were anxious to use it. 

And even with the driveway wet, they had a blast!

And the driveway was not the only thing that was colored!  Unfortunately, since it was Sunday night, I did not have time to wash the jackets prior to school.

Bisqued!

Check out the bisqued pieces - especially the color of the mugs.  The green ware really was slightly green to start (see previous post) and now it's more of a terra cotta red!

And the girls' pinch pots turned out good - just as expected!

Pottery

I have had a good time recently regarding pottery.  I took an "Intermediate Pottery Wheel" class at our local pottery studio in Wykoff - Blazing Star Studio.  It was a lot of fun and I learned some different techniques and how to do some new things.  My goal now that the class has ended is to improve upon what I've learned and practice.  One of the other good things about the class was the social aspect of it - working in my basement can sometimes get a little lonely.

In addition to the class, I finally did some meaningful work with the clay I harvested from Dad's property.  I took this clay from near his creek early last summer.  I remembered this clay from my childhood.  I had played with it a bit during my "exploratory missions" in the woods.  Of course, I had no thoughts about how to work with the clay further.

After I harvested it, I worked to take out as much foreign materials as practical, then rehydrated it and finally made it into a workable body of clay.  All this took a bit of time, mostly because it was gardening season and I just wasn't getting into the studio.  So, I finally worked with it on the wheel a few months ago and saw that it seemed to be okay with the wheel.  At that time, I felt I needed to practice some more before I seriously tried to do anything with that clay. 

And now that I have been doing some wheel work and feel better about my own skills, I worked with Dad's clay some more.  And it is very interesting to work with.  Now, I only have experience with two commercial clays, so it's not like I am very experienced when it comes to pottery.  However, it is fun to see and feel Dad's clay.  It seems very easy to work with, but has a limit of how much it will withstand before getting too wet and tired!

The first thing about the clay is the color.  Clay seems to come in many colors.  I have worked with a pale grayish clay and one that is more red in color.  This clay is more yellowish with some green in it.  I am not sure this is very appetizing...but who needs appetizing clay?

In working it up, it seems easy to center on the wheel. 

And when I opened the piece, It acted like it was dry, although it was not.  But when I worked with it and recentered it, the clay came back together.

And from then, it seemed to work very well as I made my first coffee mug.

After I finished a couple of mugs, I was able to pull some handles.  Yes, those are handles hanging from the table - this is a G-rated show, people!!

Additionally, I did a pot project with our Girl Scout Daisy troop - we made flower pots for a future plant project.  So, we made the pots by hand at our last meeting.  Here is where you can see the difference between the clay colors.  And notice the eclectic shape of the handles on the test mugs!

As I write this, these items are bisquing in my small kiln.  I really have no idea to the specifics of how to fire Dad's clay.  I am starting as a bisque to cone 05 and will see what happens.  I don't really expect much to happen at this level.  But, thanks to Michael at Blazing Star, I will probably put a piece of test clay in a glaze firing to see if it can withstand a cone 6 glaze firing.  This will give me an idea if this clay will be considered a stoneware or an earthenware clay and I'll have a better idea how to do the glaze and final firing.  Apparently, an earthenware clay will basically melt in a cone 6 firing.

It's neat for me to think how much I've learned in pottery, but it also leaves me with knowing that there is so much left to learn!



Very Neat Webcam!

Check out this website - it's the Raptor Resource Project webcam on an eagle's nest at a Decorah fish hatchery.  It might seem a little boring, but it is mesmerizing to watch the eagles sit on the nest.  I have seen when one parent comes back to the nest to change positions with the one on the eggs.  As the one on the nest moves around, it is often moving the grasses around to keep everything snug.

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/decorah-eagles

To Sell or Not

Okay, I've been back and forth about selling a bike for quite some time now.  It started when I bought my tri bike over a year ago.  I said I'd sell one (Joe's idea), if I bought the new one.  I put it off for a while, lending it to my brother-in-law for last summer's Minneapolis Duathlon.  So, he borrowed it, but didn't ride it.  I have it back, now, and I'm still faced with the potential sale.  Joe says we should sell it.  Of course, he has a bike in the basement with ZERO  miles on it!  Those on my side say you can never have "too many" bikes - I only have three!

So, with that said, if you know of anyone looking for a 54 cm '05 Trek 2100, just let me know.  It's a sweet bike, but really it may be slightly large for me.  It has some miles on it, but not a huge amount, and is in pretty good shape.

By the way, here's a photo of Joe's bike, in case anyone is interested in that one!