ravens in motion

Bridal Vell Falls is Spectacular!

Even in the fall, when it is only a mist.

You've got to go...it's only 4 hours away.

Coming down into the valley

the road is bordered by evergreens and oaks.

Turn a corner and suddenly

there are the granite giants.

No words help.

Basset Update

T & Me Watched TV

Watching TV with the man of the house can be a little boring.

But I love him, so the choice is to hang out with him while we watch boring stuff vs. watching TV in the other room, alone.

Nothing's on anyway, so why not hang out.
But I can only take so much!

Tonight I learned about a weird WWII bomb.
The Earthquake Bomb.
Its 4" solid steel nose, and directional tail fins made it spin down 100' underground where it would explode, literally blowing the ground up. It could take out whole buildings.

The Atomic Bomb changed everything.
It still blew up the ground, but added raging burning explosions and radiation.
Who needed a little earthquake bomb anymore?

Now we are watching Modern Marvels on the History Channel.
Extreme Fire Fighters:
Red Adair and Boots & Coots.
Red did miraculous things in Kuwait.
Blowing things up. This time they were blowing up the oil fires.
With foam and water and air.
A whoosh and there you are.

Fascinating.
It seems that all the aircraft shows are gone.
So we revert to little boy thrills.
Blowing things up.

Poor Buster is blown up pretty often by the Mythbusters.
Can he live through a boating explosion?
Falling off a bridge? Having a steel-toed boot crushed with his ballistic gel foot in it? You know the routine.

Our lucky little boy got to make a video with T.
It was titled KABOOM!
And I'm not making up that capitalization!

Fireworks is their love.
And buildings imploding.
Things on fire.
T really wishes he was a pyrotechnician.

It would mean more fun, more often.
So he thinks.

Engines have exploding going on in their pistons.
Mini explosions, mini fires.
I wonder how he ended up in that line of work.

little bitty artwork

Time to make the ATCs (artist trading cards).

It seems that I will not paint, so how about a teeny little card to decorate?
I think I can do it, once a month.

T challenged me, "How about skipping the Mod Podge this time?
But I love my Margery!
(we call it Margery Podgery, when you can't find it, you call out, "Margery...")

O.K. It's a deal!

I sent out my last month's ATCs.
Afterwards I realized I could have done a cool thing with the modge podge, I could've made things 3-D.
My Grandma and me could've popped right out of that card!

I don't know what the ATCs do for the recipients, but I do know that what they do for me.
I am committed to art.
I get that creative muse activated.
I have so much fun!!

Now if I only could get organized.
To my great regret, little tiny pieces of paper have always been trouble for me!

I believe in little scraps of paper! For notes, for telephone numbers, for important dates and directions.

The problem has always been that they hide and get lost.
Scraps of paper are always lost, but I've never lost faith.
They're so handy!
How simple to rip a corner off the newspaper or an old envelope.
(why is the envelope lying around? I really don't know, but I must have had a plan for it.)

So I'm proud to say that I'm organizing the proliferation of ATC stuff.
And I'm only taking up 3/4ths of the dining room table, down from 4/4ths!
And only using 9 cute little boxes instead of 15.

Very proud indeed!

The Basset is ok AGAIN

We always have to worry about the basset.

1st of all, she's too itchy. Allergies...I didn't know dogs had them, she's allergic to dust and pollen, so she needs meds. She needs to stay inside off the grass cuz she might breathe the allergens outside. She also gets sunburned easily.

She also needs special food: DD...
which stands for 'dumb dog' as in:
"This dumb dog costs so much darn money!"

I guess it also could stand for
"This darling dog costs so much darn money!" Either way.

Then she's too fat.
"Don't let basset hounds get fat, it's bad for their long backs."
So we cut back her $$$ food.
Then she's too thin.

Then she stinks.
"Wash her with special $$$ soap for her allergies."
Then her ears need ear cleaner (that REALLY stinks).
Her nails grow too fast and are too tough to cut at home, so she needs to take downers to relax for the nail cutting technician at the vet's.

She can't swim. We don't worry about this because she pulls gently (with all her might: bassets are heavy boned & heavy muscled dogs!) away from the ocean when we're walking.

Then she needs patting ("whine, whine"). Then she needs a new island...Isn't the leather barcalounger enough?
Or the master queen~size bed? Or the leather couch? When is enough enough!

Now the poor basset has surgery.
To remove many bumps...a bumpectomy.

The vet removed more than 1st thought.
More because "Those could cause her some trouble later" and more because she always costs MORE.

Now her poor foot...well, actually, with bassets a foot is almost the whole leg...her foot is wrapped up in gauze (purple) and adhesive tape (white). Her hip bumpectomies are stitched up with metal staples.

All in all it's pretty gross.
She was in pain when she got home from the vet hospital.
She needed drugs, narcotics.

I had to give my date of birth so they could track me down if Opal suddenly became drug addicted and she "needed" more pain relief. But she only needed one day's worth.

She's so strong and brave, and clean and sober.
If the basset becomes any more "sensitive" to life itself, will we finally succumb to purchasing a velvet pillow...with golden tassels?

Probably.
She's almost 11. (April 24th...same birthday as Peaches).
Maybe she'll get through her dog years as a tough old girl, sensitivity be damned!

Good dog.